Monday, November 30, 2009

Sunday, November 29, 2009

Olympic Nordic Trails Have Been Rolled


I suggest caution on the downhills as you will probably be dodging rocks, and so I stuck to the flats. Excellent skating conditions, but still rock skis only. I had a great 10K workout.

Summer Trip ... Tetons as an option?



I imagine that with 10 days we might be able to do the following: warmups on Baxter Pinnacle and Symmetry Spire, the East Ridge of the Grand Teton, and the Cathedral Traverse. As per the pros and cons ... one of the best pros is a committed partner, and Larry is one of the best, add to that good weather, AAC Climber's Ranch, and easy air travel access. On the cons side are long walks in and out, and a lack of snow and mixed routes. Still, a pretty appealing alpine vacation!

One of the enclosed pictures shows a climber on the summit of Teewinot looking over at Owens and the Grand Teton. The other picture shows the East Ridge (and easier Koven route) on Owens, and the ridge over to Gunsight Notch, the Grandstand (fabulous bivvy spot), and the North Ridge of the Grand ... The Cathedral Traverse.

Friday, November 27, 2009

Video of the 2008 Chamonix Climbing Trip

As we start to sort out climbing plans for the summer, I would like to review the various options day-by-day. Starting with the French Alps ... the pros include easy access, fantastic routes on ice or rock or mixed ground, huts, culture, while the cons include cost, weather, and crowding on some routes.

This four minutes movie slideshow covers the amazing 14 day trip that Larry and I had two summers ago. With fantastic weather, moments after arriving in Chamonix we were on a tram to a hut at 12,000'. We did 11 routes, with Larry freeing rock up to 5.10a; Hock kept up but just barely, as Larry was seriously fit! Larry also teamed up with a Vermonter that we met and bagged the first ascent of the season on the Jager Couloir ... Euros don't enjoy surprises like that in their own mountains.

Tomorrow we'll consider the pros and cons of a summer climbing trip to the Tetons.



Thursday, November 26, 2009

78 Days Until The Olympics



I received an email yesterday from Yosuf and his brother Robel. Both of them, as well as another brother Benyam, are graduates of NCS. I taught Robel to ski when he was in 6th grade, and he raced for three years on our cross country team. He then spent four years racing for the Colorado Rocky Mountain School, and then on to the University of New Hampshire Ski Team. Click on this text to access a short video interview with race footage from the 2006 Games in Torino. Robel is currently training for the Vancouver Olympics, and he remains the only Ethiopian ever to compete in the winter games.

NCS: Happy Thanksgiving



We had a sit-down dinner for 270, with families traveling from Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Bermuda, Switzerland, and 10 different states. The traditional feast capped off 36 hours of events: two parent dinners, a development office breakfast, classroom visits, a theatrical performance, two dance performances, a book fair, a jug-band jam session, an international food fair, a tour of the student residence construction site, and of course, a 30 minutes speech by the Hockmeister!

FYI ... our students helped raise 11 free-range birds, baked 77 pies, harvested 110 pounds of potatoes, 55 pounds of squash, and hand picked all the salad greens that we ate today.

Nordic World Cup Video




I hope everyone had a fantastic Thanksgiving. Now that all the families have left NCS it is time to catch up with my blog. Video from last week's races in Norway are starting to make their way on to You Tube. Click on the text to access some video of the US women racing in the sprints, the 10K, and the 5K. Kikkan had an excellent start to her season. Saturday the world cup moves to Kuusamo Finland ... go team, go!

Of course, here in Lake Placid we still have no snow. Despite the deer hunters in the woods I am going for a long hike with poles, and I'll keep my fingers crossed for the snow that is supposed to come on Saturday.

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Still No Snow


As you can see from this picture of Mirror Lake and the High Peaks in the background of town, a front is moving in and snow is predicted for Friday and Saturday ... heavy at times! We are getting ready for the traditional NCS sit-down dinner for 275 on Thanksgiving. Enjoy the celebration with your family and friends.

Frank checks in



Former NCS student, and charter pilot, Frank K. has blocked out the time for the Fossil Icefest in December. The enclosed pictures are from his recent charter flight where he flew clients to Guaymas - a small town on the Ses of Cortez - for a sailing trip. Look for him next month to put down the rod and reel, and pick up the piolet. Are you sharpening your tools and crampons?

Sunday, November 22, 2009

High School Reunion




Yesterday I drove down to Long Island to honor our high school lacrosse coach - Al Butler - and to celebrate the 40th anniversary of our Long Island Championship team. In the first picture you can see John Gettler a star from the 1968 North Shore Championship team shaking the coach's hand. In my two years on the varsity we were 30-5, and I was named an All-League defenseman in my senior year ... can you pick me out of the lineup? (Click on the images to enlarge the photographs.)

World Cup Kick-off


Yesterday was the start of the World Cup season, with a large field on hand in Norway. The conditions were hard and fast, and the best American results were Kikkan's 21st place in the 10K women's race, and Freeman's 22nd in the men's 15K. The skating course was lightning fast, and the men's race was won by a relatively obscure Norwegian biathlete. (Norway posted a double winning the women's race as well.) Click on the text to access sprinter Andy Newell's blog, and watch two minutes of coverage from the races. It is supposed to snow later this week in Lake Placid ... Yahoo!

Friday, November 20, 2009

Another Blast from the Past!


Sometime around 1976 or 1977, Jonathan Waterman, and I went into Mount Katahdin with hopes of climbing a new route in the North Basin. Despite the rumors the drips of ice on that big wall came nowhere near the ground. As a consolation prize, in bitter cold conditions (air temp below -25 degrees F, not to mention the wind), we did an early repeat of the Cilley-Barber route. (Click on the picture to enlarge the image.)

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Bouldering with Dave

Taking an hour off from the office I did some easy problems on the Yurt boulder. Meanwhile Dave and one of our 9th graders were working on some of my old test pieces. Nick knows that the standing offer from Hock is a trip to Ben and Jerry's for any student that can get all 12 problems. Here he is working on the last one! This two minute video is called "At The Feet Of ... The Master." Dave and Larry are the go to - rock guns - on campus; the NCS masters! Enjoy.

Global Warming


Click on this text to access a short video produced by the Asia Society, entitled "On Thinner Ice: melting glaciers on the roof of the world." David Breashears is interviewed and responsible for the photography. Also interviewed are scientist Lonnie Thompson and historian Orville Schell. The video graphically portrays these himalayan glaciers as the "canaries in the coal mine" of the emerging problem of diminished sources of fresh water in Asia.

Monday, November 16, 2009

Alpine Starts


Click on this text to read a very short essay on alpine starts from the AAC newsletter. It captures the debate about "how early to start" just perfectly ... how many times have you had this conversation with your alpine partner?

Nordic Training


After being on the road for quite awhile, I treated myself to running the nordic ski team practice today from 3-4:30. We did a ski hike over varied terrain with stops for a variety of plyometrics. The pictures shows Lucy (white hat) and the younger girls on the team gearing up with Liz who is one of our other coaches. (Click on the image to enlarge the photograph.)

Sunday, November 15, 2009

Brian Turns 55!



Call him on his cell phone and wish him well. I believe the weather has been good down-state, and that he is celebrating this event in the Gunks. (As an aside, Greg did you hook up with him, or did you decide to just hang out in the Big Apple?) The enclosed picture is from the Palisades - scene of my 50th birthday celebration - with climbs of Starlight Buttress and the famous bivouac El Presidente made in the moraine. Also as Brian, Danny, and Mark remember this was also the scene of Lewy's run-in with the horse packers over the card table!

Summer Plans?


No doubt you are hatching schemes and dreams about a big trip for next summer. My current thoughts are the Cordiller Blanca (Huaraz) or the French Alps (Chamonix). Of course I am open to other suggestions. The enclosed picture shows from back to front the following: upper portions of the Peuterey Ridge, summit of Mount Blanc, Aiguille du Diable, Gervasutti and Jager Couloirs, and a host of pinnacles on the Chamonix Aiguilles. (Oh, remember to click on the image to enlarge this fanatastic photograph.)

Canadian Rockies Ice Climbs


Click on this text to access a video of Twight and Rackliff soloing some hard routes in the 1990s (including Polar Circus). The gear is a bit "old-fashioned" but the standard of alpinism is obviously cutting-edge. This video is sure to get you excited about the upcoming ice climbing season. Enclosed is also a summary from Twight's website ... While working at Wild Things I learned my way around the video camera and editing gear. First I shot and cut a paragliding video. The sport was quite fresh at the time and we recorded some fairly entertaining and harmless accidents. When Randy Rackcliff and I went on a road trip to the Canadian Rockies John Bouchard loaned us a VHS camera, which, at the time, was very high tech. Randy and I recorded each other soloing a few different ice routes. I don't know where the raw footage is otherwise I might "re-master" it but as it is the clip is a truthful record of a particular era. This trip is documented by a single paragraph in the chapter titled "I Hurt Therefore I Am" in my book "Kiss or Kill" but a full article is posted on the site under the title "Naked and Savage."

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Climbing in South Africa



I am in Charlotte North Carolina making a presentation to educational consultants, and I just received pictures from Greg and Tori. They are hoping to write an article for a climbing magazine about rock climbing in South Africa (a place called Boven) ... needless to say you don't see an leopards sleeping in trees in the Adirondacks. On a different note, I see that my blog just had its first reader from Saudi Arabia. Finally, Brian turns 55 this weekend and is celebrating in the Gunks.