CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO A RECENT TALK ABOUT HOW TO RECOGNIZE AVALANCHE TERRAIN, AND HOW TO PLAN SAFE ROUTES IN THE ADIRONDACKS.
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
High avalanche danger on Mount Washington
The enclosed photographs of Left, Odell's, and Yale gullies, as well as the Headwall are looking pretty alpine. It got me psyched to start thinking about a New Hampshire road trip.
Monday, January 30, 2012
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Just back from Manhattan, and still skiing on the lake
A brutally long day that started with a 3:30 AM prep session for my board meeting, followed by 8 hours of meetings, a train ride home, and then a horrific car ride through a blizzard at exits 27-28-29, and an arrival home at 1:30 AM on Sunday. A snowstorm tonight means we will be back skiing hilly terrain tomorrow on the Olympic trails.
Saturday, January 28, 2012
Winter Alpinism in Chamonix
Lesueur - Les Drus in winter (with variation exit) from Jonathan Griffith on Vimeo.
Climbing the Lesuer route on the North Face of the Dru. Ueli Steck is doing a "tune-up" for another Himalayan trip.
Friday, January 27, 2012
Thursday, January 26, 2012
January Thaw
To call it a January thaw is really a gross understatement, it has been just a crummy winter. Anyway, I am back out Nordic skiing on our lake ... Better than nothing but still a great disappointment.
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Monday, January 23, 2012
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Loppet training
With only two training weekends before the Lake Placid Loppet, which is then followed by the Canadian Ski Marathon, we tried to log a lot of kilometers the past few days. Conditions are hard and fast, with shallow squirrelly tracks ... You need to keep your wits about you on the big downhills.
Saturday, January 21, 2012
20K, 1000', and a great sauna afterwards
About skiing Fridtjof Nansen wrote:
I know of no form of sport which so evenly develops the muscles, which renders the body so strong and elastic, which teaches so well the qualities of dexterity and resource, which in an equal degree calls for decision and resolution, and which gives the same vigor and exhilaration to mind and body alike. Where can one find a healthier and purer delight than when on a brilliant winter day one binds one's ski to one's feet and takes one's way out into the forest?"
THE FIRST CROSSING OF GREENLAND
Alex Honnold Interview
Honnold nails a highball problem in the Buttermilks. CLICK HERE TO READ THE PLANET MOUNTAIN INTERVIEW.
Friday, January 20, 2012
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Monday, January 16, 2012
World Cup Nordic Sprints In Milan ... Kikkan gets two podiums
Sweden took top honors in both the individual and team event, but American Kikkan Randall had a great weekend with two silver medals. Jesse Diggins, who is only 20 years old and has kicked butt all season on the American circuit, showed that we have some depth on the women's Nordic team.
CLICK HERE TO GET ALL THE DETAILS FROM THE FASTER SKIER WEBSITE.
Saturday, January 14, 2012
Great day at Taos Ski Valley
Sunny, warm, good cover, no lines even on a holiday weekend ... Everything you don't find in the East.
Friday, January 13, 2012
Almost, but not quite there
My travel odyssey started at 3 AM, unfortunately halfway down the Northway I realized I left my wallet on campus, and retrieving it meant missing my flight. So, that meant six hours to kill in Albany and then another three hours in the Las Vegas airport, before an almost midnight arrival in New Mexico ... Which of course means a 6 AM departure on Saturday morning for Taos and a day of skiing with alumni ... Needless to say I am shot!
Two highlights thus far: a spectacular sunset on the Grand Canyon, and then seeing this sign in the airport, and almost jumping in a taxi, to go demo a machine gun!
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Skiing Taos
I am heading to an alumni ski reunion in Taos, one of the only places with good snow in this off year. CLICK HERE TO READ ABOUT TAOS IN THE NEW YORK TIMES.
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Adirondack Ice Climbing
Obviously not the best Winter, but as you can see, stuff is climbable at Chapel Pond ... ditto for Cascade Lakes and Pitchoff.
Monday, January 9, 2012
Twilight skiing ... Before heading to Manhattan
Multiple laps around our lake, with great views of Cascade, Pitchoff, Big Slide, Van Hoevenburg, and the High Peaks region. On the road by 5 AM tomorrow.
Saturday, January 7, 2012
Friday, January 6, 2012
Ski Mountaineering Traverses ... It's not a fashionable activity any more
As I toy with the idea of doing a ski traverse of the Catamount Trail which goes along the spine of the Green Mountains of Vermont, I started to think of some of the great ski journeys Rowell and Gilette did in the 1970s and 80s. The traverse of the Brooks Range and Ellsmere Island, the circumnavigation of Denali, as well as The Great Circle were all adventures that deeply touched me when I was younger. Of course, that also brings you back to the journeys of Shipton, Tilman, and the Bullock-Workmans on foot.
Skiing steep chutes is all the rage, hucking cliffs, or footage of deep powder are what ski movies are all about. However, even though it's not fashionable, turn your browser to Steep Edge Films and rent THE DINOSAUR'S TRACK: KARAKORUM SKI TRAVERSE 2005. The sense of adventure, the wildness of raw nature, the traditions of our sport ... It's all there.
Zermatt Avalanche ... Everyone is stuck in town!
No traffic in or out of this isolated mountain town ... But as the Guardian report indicated ... Many of those stranded are taking the attitude that "there are worse places to be stuck than this." ... Now ain't that the truth!
Thursday, January 5, 2012
Pointe Lachenal
In 2008 Larry and I did the easy traverse of Pointe Lachenal in Chamonix. This is the crux pitch of the M6 Solar, on the backside of Pointe Lachenal ... So Larry when are we going back?
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Sunday, January 1, 2012
Trapp Family Nordic Center
Inspite of the dearth of snow in the Northeast, the coverage in Stowe was quite decent. Brian and I, as well as my daughter and two friends spent a good day logging some kilometers. We think our total was about 20K and 1000'.