Monthly Archive for September, 2008

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Sunday Photo – The Caroline Face

Published on September 21, 2008 in Sunday Photo. 2 Comments Tags: photo.

It is one thing to read about the Caroline Face on the east side of Mt. Cook, but nothing beats standing at its base and trying to pick out a ski line down it.

: The stunning Caroline Face on Aoraki (Mt. Cook), New Zealand

In 2006, I took a trip down to this region of New Zealand with Chris Figenshau and Steve Romeo from Jackson Hole, and once there we met up with Kiwi local, Grant Guise (in Kiwispeak, Grant is pronounced “Grunt”). After a few days of skiing, it became obvious why New Zealand produces so many good alpinists and ski mountaineers – the conditions and mountains are burly! Between howling winds, storms and sheets of ice, we didn’t get much done, but it is one of those areas where just being there is oftentimes enough as it is such magnificent scenery.

The tip of the Tasman Glacier can just be seen at the bottom of the photo, which leads up to the precariously placed Tasman Saddle Hut and then the Kelman hut beyond that, which is a popular starting point for alpine climbs and ski descents. For more information on backcountry huts in New Zealand, check out the New Zealand Department of Conservation (DoC) website here.

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Pick Your Poison – Methods of Ascent (part II)

Published on September 20, 2008 in 05 Uphill. 5 Comments Tags: uphill.

Learning to skin is like learning the alphabet-something you have to do before you start spelling words or linking tours together. It’s a lot like walking, but a bit different. Booting is walking, but unless you are on firm snow, your range will be severely limited as nothing saps your energy like post-holing in deep snow. Snowshoes can be learned via The Twelve Step Program (take twelve steps – now you are an expert), but they lack any sort of glide and don’t climb very well, or if they do, then they don’t float very well. Snowshoes are popular with snowboarders, but eventually, if the boarder is serious about getting deep into the backcountry, she’ll switch over to approach skis or split boards.

: Skin if you can… boot if you must. Greg “GVD” VonDoersten punching out the final feet to the summit of Mt. Damavand, Iran.

Skinning is the most complicated method of the three, as it requires not only the skins, but a touring binding as well and a tad of technique. Still, these are very small prices to pay if you are planning on touring more than once or twice.

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Pick Your Poison – Methods of Ascent

Published on September 19, 2008 in 05 Uphill. 1 Comment Tags: uphill.

For ski mountaineering, there are three main methods of traveling over snow; skinning, booting or snowshoeing. Of these three, skinning is by far and away the most efficient and versatile. Booting works well when there is an existing boot track, or when the going gets steep. Snowshoes are better than crawling, but not by much. Regardless of which method you choose, a critical factor is that everyone in your group uses the same system as the pace and route selection is radically different with each one. A skin track will wander much more than a boot track and snowshoes will be somewhere in-between. If you find yourself in a mixed group, the first discussion you should have is where, or if, you will regroup when your party gets separated, because they soon will.

: Birds of a skinning feather… stay together. Sol Mountain Lodge, Monashees, BC

Continued tomorrow…

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Grand Teton – Skiing Topo

Published on September 18, 2008 in Trip Reports. 5 Comments Tags: climbing, tetons.

It took me three attempt to finally ski the Grand Teton, but it was well worth it. Part of the beauty of skiing this peak is that there is no one particular crux to it, but it is more a sum of all of its parts. There is some great skiing on it (as well as some crap-skiing), but more than anything it is a grand adventure. It gets skied quite a bit nowadays (5-10 times per year?), but don’t let that fool you – it is still a burly line with lots of exposed skiing and objective hazards like rock fall, avalanches, ice climbing and possibly some rock climbing. Ski it at your own considerable risk!

: The Ford/Stettner ski route on The Grand Teton.

View 1.6mb High Res pdf version here.

The most common line is the Ford Couloir to the Stettner Couloir, also known as the Ford/Stettner, or the “Chevy Couloir” as it is near the Ford. One of the main reasons it took me three attempts to finally ski this line is because it is hard to find if you are not familiar with the mountain. For safety-sake, most ascents start in the dark, which makes it easy to get lost. I drew this topo from memory a few months after finally skiing the Grand, so take it with a grain of salt.

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The Law of Luggage

Published on September 17, 2008 in 14 Travel. 2 Comments Tags: travel.

The Law of Luggage states:

“The amount of gear you carry will expand to fit your luggage.”

This is closely related to the idiom that nature abhors a vacuum – if there is extra space in a pack, duffle bag or sled, it will be filled with extra gear whether you need it or not. This causes all sorts of problems, including painful (and costly) travel logistics and immobility due to excessive weight.

: Many tons of the lightest climbing gear on earth. I don’t know why we decided to bring all this, but it made sense at the time. Mark Holbrook, Katmandu

The Law of Luggage applies to day packs as well as expedition duffle bags. For backcountry skiing day trips, the best way to lighten your load and increase your mileage is to start with a small pack so you just can’t carry much to begin with. For expeditions, especially with the new fifty pound per bag weight restrictions, those sexy oversized expedition duffles will be your worst enemy by the time you stuff them full of 110 pounds of gear, not to mention the duffle weighing eight pounds itself. You won’t be going very far or very fast if you have to carry two of those behemoths. The fifty pound limit is actually a blessing in disguise as it encourages a tighter, lighter gear selection, which in turn means you can get by with a smaller sized duffle.

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Chuting Spree Clue #4 – Win K2 Tele/AT Skis

Published on September 16, 2008 in Chuting Spree Contest. 27 Comments Tags: contest.

Follow five weekly clues and be the first to correctly identify where the skis are hidden to win a pair (any size, any model) of K2 Telemark/AT skis of your choice!

Clue #4 of 5

In 2006, two European “daredevils” attempted to ski a new line on this MOUNTAIN which was described by the first person to ski the peak as “…the absolute top end of extreme skiing.”

Click here for the contest rules.

Clues:
Aug 26th – Identify the Continent
Sept 2nd – Identify a State, Country or Province on this continent.
Sept 9th – Identify a Mountain Range, Zone or City
Sept 16th – Identify a specific Mountain
Sept 23rd (SUPER CLUESDAY!) Identify the exact spot where the skis are located and send in your answer.

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Featured K2 Ski Anti Piste (available at Backcountry.com – click photo below for details)

With a nod to the poster art that obscured telephone poles throughout Seattle during the city’s emerging “grunge” scene, the Anti Piste defies conventional ski design by introducing “rocker” to the telemark world. Rocker initiates on a dime and is so maneuverable it gives the sensation that you’re skiing on a shorter ski. But add our new, longer, less reactive tip and a wider waist, and you’ll also enjoy more stability and predictability than you’ve ever dreamed of in soft snow. Just like your grunge concert, the Anti Piste will blow your mind, and redefine what you expect in performance.

Conditions: 20% hard snow, 80% soft snow
Dimensions: 135-102-121
Sizes: 167, 174, 181, 188
Weight: 1875g (174cm)
Inserts: Mid-core and +2cm
Construction: Triaxial braided wood core

Mini Rocker, Mod Tech, progressive

Chuting Spree Clue #4 coming at 10:00

Published on September 16, 2008 in Chuting Spree Contest. 0 Comments Tags: contest.

Tune in at 10:00 for the forth clue in the K2 Ski Chuting Spree.

The clues are getting a bit harder to research now that it is coming down to a specific mountain somewhere on the planet. This is clue #4 of 5, with the final clue being given at 10:00am Mountain Standard Time on September 23rd. As a hint, if you can identify the mountain in clue #4, you might want to do a little research on its ski mountaineering history, including landmarks and/or likely places to stash a pair of skis.

Happy turns & good luck!

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The Classic Diaper-Seat Harness

Published on September 15, 2008 in 02 Gear. 7 Comments Tags: harness.

After years of looking, I still haven’t found a harness that works better for general ski mountaineering than the trusty “diaper-seat” design. This design is at least 25 years-old and its most famous incarnation is the Black Diamond Bod Harness, (named after Rod “The Bod” Johnson who designed it) although many other companies make them as well. The diaper-seat name comes from the idea that after the waist belt is put on, you then pull the leg-loops through like a diaper and clip them off.

Because you are usually wearing thick, warm clothes when ski mountaineering, padding is unnecessary and is even undesirable as it absorbs water. A spare set of gloves can provided extra padding if you need it, like when pulling a heavy sled. This style of harness works well for glacier travel, alpine and/or technical rock climbing, kiting, rappelling or hauling sleds.

: The time tested “diaper-seat” harness design.

Advantages:

- Can be put on/off while wearing skis
- The leg loops can be dropped to drop your pants while still remaining tied in
- Has no padding or lining to get wet.
- Is compact, lightweight and inexpensive
- Can haul sleds off of the gear loops
- Has a full-strength rear gear loop for belayed skiing and/or glacier travel (or sled hauling)

Disadvantages:

The two major disadvantages of the Diaper Seat design is that it is decidedly unsexy and very low tech in a high tech harness world, and there is a higher chance of ROTT (Risk Of Trapped Testicles) if you spend a lot of time hanging in it.

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Sunday Photo – Little Pine Couloir, Utah

Published on September 14, 2008 in Sunday Photo. 2 Comments Tags: Utah.

This photo of Little Pine slide path on the north side of the Little Cottonwood Canyon road leading up to Alta is a good reminder of why just saying “yes” to skiing is a good idea.

: Petra Pirc followed by Fred Marmsater in Little Pine slide path, Little Cottonwood Canyon.

We did this as a Dawn Patrol outing, and from the start, it didn’t seem very hopeful as the valley was completely socked in with fog. Thinking that it was just going to be a good workout, we started out from the trailhead in poor visibility, but about a third of the way into this 3,600′ beauty the visibility started to clear and we found ourselves above the inversion in beautiful weather with ideal powder snow condition on a huge south facing slope! The hardest part about Dawn Patrolling is often just waking up, but with memories like this, it makes it a bit easier.

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Ski Mountaineering Racing Info

Published on September 12, 2008 in Racing. 4 Comments Tags: Racing.

A few years ago I was very involved with ski mountaineering racing, both as a participant and later as a race organizer. It is an incredibly fun sport and aside from the events themselves, there is a a huge amount of carry-over as far as general ski touring goes. After only a single race or two, you can pick up enough tricks to add thousands of feet to your daily touring regime. In an effort to help people get into the sport, learn some of the tricks and organize races, I’ve compiled some of my previous web-based tutorials under the “Gear & Food” tab.

Ski Mountaineering Race Info - click here.

Ski Mountaineering racing is huge in Europe where it is almost a blood sport with national rivalries, fan clubs, drug testing and some inconceivably fast skiers. I didn’t believe it until I saw it myself, but some of the top racer can routinely climb at over 5,000′ per hour. The U.S. racers have the horsepower, but we are lacking the country-wide infrastructure where people can race every weekend if they want and attend races which all have the same basic lengths and vertical (homologation).

The video below shows World Champion Stephen Brosse ripping his skins in 16 seconds at the Black Diamond PowderKeg when it was a World Cup event. Note that he barely stops!

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