EARLY SEASON SKI IN THE ADIRONDACKS

Whiteface Auto Road - 10/16/10 from Matt Charles on Vimeo.

The Fossil Tribe In The Sierras

The image is poor quality, as I just snapped an iPhone picture of the photograph in my cabin. It seems like it was just yesterday we gathered on Conness, however it was quite a few years ago, We are all getting older. WHEN WILL WE GATHER AGAIN. (Front and center - Lewy - with his larger than life persona, sadly he will not be with us when we gather.)

Our Teenager Lucy

Lucy turned 13 yesterday, and we had a great birthday party!

Cell Towers in the Himalayas

Well it seems that I can not get my iPhone to call from my campus, or Mount Marcy, or the Cordillera Blanca, but it seems that I can do video chats from 8000 meter peaks if I bring an iPhone 4 to the Himalayas. NOT SURE HOW I FEEL ABOUT THIS?

(Click on the image to enlarge it.)

Snowing in the Adirondacks

At about 7:30 am, the rain turned over to snow. Not much accumulation is expected, however I have my fingers crossed for 4-5 inches so that I can do some touring on the golf course. Gary is up today, and we are planning a couple of hours of cragging ... We'll have to pretend we are on the Eiger north face.

I have posted two very encouraging charts below.

Video: Gaston Rebuffat

Watch three minutes of rare archival footage. The premier French guide of the 1950-60s. He climbed the first post-World War II ascent of the Eiger North Face, and he was on the first ascent of Annapurna. Here you see him scampering up alpine rock, with never a piece of protection in sight, or a shirt untucked! Fluid, controlled, and graceful.

Gaston Rebuffat from shim_a_du on Vimeo.

How Do You Feel About This?

CLICK ON THE IMAGE TO ENLARGE IT ... I have been on via ferrata in the Alps. They are fun, they are cool, they make the mountains more accessible, but do they jive with our wilderness ethic? Is this the thin edge of the wedge? Will we eventually see cables on climbing routes, as we do in the Alps? I never much liked the fact that there are fixed lines on the Hornli ridge of the Matterhorn, or on the South Face of the Geant for that matter.

CLICK ON THIS LINK TO ACCESS THE ENTIRE ARTICLE.

NCS Halloween

At school we always celebrate special events on Wednesday, which is the day when nobody gets homework. The Dining Room gets decorated with ghoulish pictures, the students and staff dress up in homemade costumes. I came as an iPad, as the students know I am a bit of a geek.

Video on the Math of Rock Climbing

An entertaining and enlightening four minutes spent talking about "ape-index," and fall factors. It is produced by Emory College, and is well worth a view. Remember this ratio: total distance of fall/total rope out. Then remember that the closer this is to - MAGIC NUMBER - two, the worse the fall and impact.

Two Months After The Andes

Aside from the great memories, and fantastic photographs from Matt, the fourth, and final, toenail just came off this morning! 

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

A mortal splendor: meteors are not needed less than mountains:
shine, perishing republic.
But for my children, I would have them keep their distance from the thickening
center; corruption
Never has been compulsory, when the cities lie at the monster's feet there
are left the mountains.

John Robinson Jeffers (January 10, 1887 – January 20, 1962) was an American poet, known for his work about the central California coast. Most of Jeffers' poetry was written in classic narrative and epic form, but today he is also known for his short verse, and considered an icon of the environmental movement.

THE ALPS ARE GETTING HAMMERED

Back Home

A short and successful trip, just a bit over 48 hours, and multiple appointments in Santa Fe and Boulder. I do wish I had stayed another day so I could have done some rock climbing.

The Flatirons are in View

However, I am in town for just 24 hours and my three appointments will take all my time. (The picture is taken of the Pearl Street Mall, a delightful section of Boulder.) It is clearly snowing up in the high country, Loveland opened for skiing today. The temperatures are cool in town and I am killing myself that I didn't stay over and do a route.

AAC Library

Have you ever visited their blog? This is an awesome site. First, you can keep up and read summaries of the AAC events. Second, you can access the AAC blog "Inclined," or you can access "AAJ Briefs," as well as a host of other mountain related blogs. Third, you can access the link to iTunes where you can watch videotapes of the speaker series held in Denver. (I am in Chicago waiting for my connecting flight and am listening to Tom Hornbein talking about his West Ridge of Everest climb.)

Video: Sierra Couloir

Hi Fossils. Next to "Aunt Fanny's Pantry" in the Valley, and the South Face of Cathedral in Tuolumne, the snow and ice gully on North Peak is the climb I have done most often in the Sierras. My guess is that I have done this route 6-7 times, including a 28 minute solo ascent with Mark a decade ago.

Following on the Middle Couloir of North Peak from Andrew Yasso on Vimeo.

AIRPORT BIVY

It seems that few extended trips to the mountains come without some unplanned airport bivvies! Matt caught this picture of me trying to cat-nap at 2 AM while we were waiting for our flight out of Lima back to the states. (Of course, airports never seem to be willing to dim the light, or turn off their repetitious PA announcements about terrorism threat levels.)

Nordic Race Season About To Start

Believe it or not, in just two weeks the US Nordic Team flies to Europe for its first races of the season! It is a long season, which does not end until mid-April ... everyone will be trying to peak for the World Championships to be held in Oslo in late February-early March.

CLICK HERE TO ACESS THE FULL ARTICLE.

Another Andean Picture From Matt

Tocllaraju is one of the most prominent 6,000 meter peaks in the Ishinca Vally. Five years ago I climbed the NW Ridge (left-hand skyline) with Larry. This summer we hoped to do the West Face, although it just didn't work out ... they say three times is a charm though.

HARLIN ROUTE ON THE EIGER FREE-CLIMBED

A pair of Swiss guides climbed the Eiger Direct and it went at M8, 5.13c.


CLICK HERE TO ACCESS THE SHORT ARTICLE ABOUT THE CLIMB

Huntington Ravine

I am not sure, but it look like the snow in Central Gully is climbable, and often that means that Pinnacle Gully might be climbable.

MORE ANDES

A 6,000 meter peak at the head of the Ishinca Valley ... great photo Matt!

Beautiful Adirondack Day

It was 20 degrees this morning, and then it turned into a crisp Fall day. Just before sunset I went for a short hike, and snapped this picture of the moon rising over Cascade.

THE ANDES

I just received a CD from Matt of pictures from this summer in the Cordillera Blanca, so for the next few days I will profile the best of his images. This first photograph is of the South face of Pisco, the route we took was the left skyline ridge ... AWESOME JOB MATT!

Shrinking Glaciers

Another photographic project in the works comparing the photographs from the early 20th century in the Karakoram Range with current pictures to help document the effects of climate change. This is a short trailer about this important scientific work.

International Ski Mountaineering Federation

A new video, to raise the profile of ski-mo in the United States. As you can see from the footage it is a major sport in Europe. And while we will not be racing the haute route, we will be booting, ripping the hide, rapping, and front-pointing just like these guys and gals. GET PSYCHED!

(REMEMBER, if you click on it after the video starts you can watch it on the YouTube site in large screen format.)

Burgers

Well Fossils, have no fear, the freezer is full of meat and Selden is raising another bull calf, named Duke. We will have burgers and steaks for many Icefest gatherings to come!

CLICK HERE TO ACCESS SELDEN'S BLOG TO READ THE ARTICLE, "MEET THE DUKE."

Himalaya Film Festival

If you are in Manhattan, this looks worth checking out ... Click on the photo to enlarge the image so you can read it.

The Best Unskied Lines In America

The ESPN website has a four part article on the most awesome unskied lines in America. Chris Davenport's vote - and he has already skied a handful of routes on the Big Mac - is the South Face of Denali, roughly following the Scott-Haston route! (FYI ... The prominent line left of center is the Cassin Ridge.)

CLICK HERE TO ACCESS THE FULL ESPN ARTICLE.

Snowing Heavily In The Alps

This satellite image from yesterday shows snowfall depths from Europe. Orange denotes 25 cm of new snow on Saturday.

BEFORE THE SNOW ...

The US Ski Team was finishing a dry land training camp in Lake Placid with some sprint time trials ... Of course it was held in a torrential rain! These guys and gals are focused on speed, - a high intensity, interval based block of training - and so no doubt you were not seeing them out slogging around in the heavy, wet, afternoon snow.

50 Minute Ski Tour

Before heading out for the long drive to New Hampshire - to meet with sisters an clean out dad's apartment - I went for a nice early season tour. Five laps up and around the NCS ski hill on an old pair of Europa 99s with skins.

VIDEO ... Rescue on the Valhalla Traverse in the Tetons

Rescue on Valhalla Traverse from getungrounded on Vimeo.

First Tracks

We had 6-8 inches of very heavy wet snow fall today, and maybe some more coming tomorrow. After a busy day with the ribbon cutting ceremony, I managed to get out of the office at 5 PM and do a short 30 minute tour.

Hock making headlines!

One of our Korean mom's sent us a few copies of the article that came out in the Korean version of their "Wall Street Journal." Of course, at the moment I am thinking less like a headmaster-CEO, and more like a skier as we are getting pounded by heavy wet snow. In another 90 minutes I am grabbing my rock skis and heading for the trails.

Great Rates To Fly To The Alps

Stegs has done some investigating Boston - Geneva for under $500 round trip ... Lock in your seats.

CLICK HERE TO CHECK OUT THESE LOW AIRFARES.

KEY DATES ... GET OFF THE COUCH

1) December 17-20 ... The Fossil Icefest ... climb early season ice, and blow off some CO2 before the holidays

2) January 14-16 ... The Mountainfest sponsored by the Mountaineer ... rub shoulders with the big boys and girls

3) January 23 ... Berkshire East Randonee Race ... Check out your system for the haute route, then spend the day making turns

4) February 5 ... The Lake Placid Loppet (25K or 50K)

5) February 12 & 13 ... The Canadian Ski Marathon ... 160K from Lachute to Ottawa

6) February 18-20 ... The Haute Route shakedown cruise ... location to be determined

7) March 11-26 ... The Haute Route and Hornli Ridge

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

"Great things are done when men and mountains meet;
This is not done by jostling in the street."

This was found in William Blake's notebooks c. 1807-1809. A favorite of mine, he was a great poet, painter, printmaker, and engraver.

Hock's Ethics Class

This obviously has nothing to do with mountaineering, however I thought I would show you a quick snippet of a course I teach to 9th graders once a week. The curriculum is based upon Michael Sandel's, famous Harvard course "Justice" which was filmed for TV last year. Even if you have never read even a smidgeon of philosophy I urge you to watch some of his Harvard class, they are incredibly engaging.

>

CLICK HERE TO ACCESS MICHAEL SANDEL'S HARVARD WEBSITE.

Glacier Chasers

An interesting article in a British paper about the effects of climate change on the Alps and it's glaciers. In particular, this is a nice summary of the glacial retreat in the Grindelwald area.

CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE.

Chamonix to Zermatt

CLICK HERE TO ACCESS THE DAY-TO-DAY ACCOUNT OF THE HAUTE ROUTE.

The Earliest Ice Climbing in New England

While the real ice climbing season is at least six weeks away, there is always ephemeral early ice climbing to be had up in Huntington Ravine on the side of Mount Washington. As the Harvard Cabin caretaker in the mid 1970s I remember fondly those late October mornings placing my tools, afternoons splitting wood, and reading in a quiet and empty cabin at night. As per the picture, the conditions look pretty darn good for October 10!

Day One of the Haute Route

So on day one of the haute route we will take the ski lift to the top of Grand Montets, cross the Argentiere Glacier (passing under some of the most spectacular ice climbs in the alps), skin up to the Col du Chardonnet, a quick sideslip down a 55 degree slope with a belay, and then on to the Trient Hut. (CLICK ON THE PHOTOGRAPHS TO ENLARGE THE IMAGES.)

Get Psyched For The Haute Route

As we head toward Zermatt, on one of our last nights out, we will stay in the Vignettes Hut with the Dent Blanche in the distance. Are you psyched for this fantastic ski adventure?

Important Gear Report

A Black Diamond research report on rope worn carabiners and their propensity to sever ropes in a fall. A must read for all climbers.


CLICK ON THIS LINK TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE.

NCS Crag

Gary was up this weekend and we had a glorious day for some
climbing. We each managed nine laps (5.5-5.7) before we headed to the
Fossil Cabin for single malt and the sunset.

Craziest Rappel You'll Ever See

The Lee Vining Mobile Mart

It appears that there was a knife fight at the Mobile Mart in Lee Vining on October 3rd. There were five people involved in the fight and two were injured. The police have suspects in custody. The Mobile is a central eating establishment that almost all climbers in the Sierra visit regularly. At the moment the speculation is as follows:

- There was a fight over the last draft beer on tap
- The price of the fish tacos drove someone nuts
- There was a fight over a cute waitress who could lead 5.12c

Yahoo for Peru

Just before I went to climb in the Andes I re-read Llosa's "Death In The Andes.". While we were climbing in Peru Matt was reading his "Conversation In The Cathedral."

CLICK HER TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE.