After torrential rain to 11,000′, then a deep freeze, then three weeks of little to no snow and high winds, you’d think the Wasatch BC would be toast, but it has been surprisingly good. The south faces are corning up and the ice crust is breaking down. The ridgelines are still skating rinks, but there’s some excellent recrystalized powder in mid elevation, sheltered slopes. The wild card is that you can go from creamy snow to glaze ice in one turn with almost no warning, but aside from that, the BC is fun and stable. That said… MORE SNOW PLEASE! Continue reading ‘Wasatch Conditions – Jan 30′
Monthly Archive for January, 2011
The Fall 2011 OR Show has come and gone, and as usual, it was great fun. I probably did more skiing and less reviewing than I should have, but with so many fun people in town it was hard to say no. The skiing itself was a skiff of powder on top of bullet-proof ice, so I expect narrow, stiff skis will be making a comeback as they probably worked best on the day of the demo. Continue reading ‘OR Show Recap’
At the recent Outdoor Retailer Show (details forthcoming) I was asked by three different companies for recommendations regarding a female Ski Mountaineer. I know they/you are out there…
Job Description:
- Go to exotic locations, climb beautiful mountains and ski them
- Provide product feeback
- Public speaking about the glories of Ski Mountaineering
- Photo shoot pose-downs
- Teach the occasional SM clinic
- Attend tradeshows and/or ski events
- Attend sales and/or design meetings Continue reading ‘Job Opening – Female Ski Mountaineer’
Silverton, CO was great as always, and it was fun to see some friends, do some skiing and enjoy the fantastic mountains. The first day we skied a very aesthetic little couloir known as “Crown Royal” as I think it goes off of Crown Peak. Conditions were mixed, but the chute was a 5-star beauty with some wild little rock fins standing out like Easter Island figure-heads. Continue reading ‘Silverton Mini TR’
I’m heading to Silverton, CO this weekend with my avalanche airbag to give a slideshow at the Silverton Avalanche School. It will be the Alaska Family Values show (I know, I know… I’ll put together a new one soon) and it is open to the public with a reasonable entry fee which I believe goes to a worthy avalanche-type cause. Continue reading ‘Silverton Slideshow – Jan 15th’
Have I mentioned what a great season the Wasatch has been having? We haven’t had any significant amounts of new snow for two weeks, but there is still some excellent powder to be had. The 4-6″ trace we had on Sunday (a virtual dump by CO standards) freshened things up a bit, but was so light that you could still feel the bottom. Shame.
One of the best moments of the last few days was getting a chance to tour with George Lowe who was visiting from Golden, Colorado. Due to our large group (six) and George’s flight, we didn’t actually get a chance to make turns together, but it was still fun just to be out in the mountains with such a legend. I usually don’t pay much attention to who did the first ascent of any particular route, but there is something about George Lowe routes that always makes me think how exciting it must have been to be the first person up mega classics like Moonlight Buttress, Lowe Route in LCC, Lowe Route in Lone Peak, the Dorsal Fin in LCC and many others. Any one of those would be a climb of a lifetime for most people, but George happened to be the right guy at the right time and stacked up hundreds of them, to the point that he didn’t get around to naming them, and thus the proliferation of “Lowe Routes” all around the American West. Continue reading ‘Touring with George Lowe & Tidbits’
I’ve owned, broken, loved and hated about 15 different avalanche shovels over the years and admit to being very opinionated about them. Shovels aren’t rocket science and I can usually tell if I’m going to like a shovel or not just by deploying it and shaking it like a baby rattle. If it is loose, janky and unbalanced, it is only going to get worse with time as the very nature of shoveling causes wear, tear and loosening of the joints. At the very least, shovels need to have a telescoping handle, a largeish blade, semi-flat back, strong shaft to blade ferrule, square shoulders so your foot doesn’t glance off and be made out of high quality material, which currently means 6061 T6 aluminum. Handle configuration (D vs. T), rescue sled slots, thingies that fit in the shaft, pivots, curved shafts and storage containers are all distance considerations for me. Weight and cost are also secondary considerations as similar shovels all weigh roughly the same and the price difference between a good shovel and a bad one is maybe $40 dollars – not a huge difference in itself, especially considering a good shovel will outlast three bad ones.*
With all this in mind, I was thrilled to read an independent report put out by the Austrian Alpine Club which came to the same conclusion. They tested ten different shovels and gave top honors to three Voile models and the G3 AviTech, which has been my shovel of choice for the last six years. My AviTech has started to loosen up a bit and recently I crushed and cracked the top edge in a fit of impatient cook tent excavating, so was thinking about replacing it when a new shovel from K2 appeared out of nowhere. I didn’t even know K2 was making shovels, but they scored a bullseye with this one, although I don’t think it will be available until Fall 2011. Continue reading ‘Shovelful of Love’
As part of my lightening-up bender, my old beacon pouch got the chop and was replaced with a new one. The old one was fine, but it succumbed to the Law Of Luggage, which states that the amount of crap you take with you will fill all existing carrying space and then some. It was a fine pouch, but it was too heavy as I always had it filled with junk because I could. Plus, it had a pocket for a GPS/cell phone/multi tool right next to the beacon, which caused E22 messages – electronic interference. My old pouch is on the left, the new one on the right. Continue reading ‘New Beacon Pouch’
Now that the snowpack has filled in to about the 6,500′, the Wasatch backcountry is officially open for the season. This is good in many ways, but one of the biggest benefits is that a low elevation snowpack means that many of the bigger lines are now skiable and most importantly, there are many, many more options available than just Cardiac/Silver & Days.
I brought out my Contour POV camera today, but between the weather being kind of greybird and me pointing it too far towards my feet (you get a sore neck just reviewing it – “Look up! Look up!”) the only worthwhile shots came at the Coalpit rappel/downclimb. I’ve heard a few people say they have seen this filled in enough to ski through, but I have always done some sort of downclimbing or a handline rappel. There are ropes fixed all over this section in various states of decay. Most of the time you can get through without them, but in low snow conditions they add a nice bit of security. Continue reading ‘Coalpit Hand Rappel’
Iceberg Ski Snoggin’
I was hoping that the three-headed love child I had with Brad Pitt after our night of reckless Hollywood play-pal fun would make the front page of The Sun, but that will have to wait. For now, it is just your standard issue “Daredevil’s Super Iceberg Ski Stunt.” Continue reading ‘Iceberg Ski Snoggin’’