PLANNING NEXT SUMMER

GORE-TEX® TRANSALPINE-RUN 2013 from PLAN B on Vimeo.

It seems a long way off, however my experience is that if I do not lock in firm comments from partners it does not happen. At the moment there seem to be three options tossed out there: Peru, Alps, domestic trip (Diamond, Leaning Tower, or Lone Pine Peak). My hope is to start or end the trip with a good mountain run ... although not necessarily a stage run like this!

UROC ... and the winners of the Skyrunning championship

A TERRIFIC FIELD OF RUNNERS, AN EARLY WINTER STORM, AND A VERY COMPETITIVE 100K ULTRA RACE OF CHAMPIONS. CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL REPORT.

If Larry and I try the Diamond next summer, I am also thinking about ...

Given these crazy thoughts, I may hop in the car at 3 am on Saturday morning, drive to New Hampshire, and run a half-marathon to see if I can get qualified. Of course, the bonus is that I will get to see another one of Lucy's cross country meets.

North Country School from Balanced Rocks ... it doesn't get much better than this!

Another cross country meet

In a five team meet, Lucy again placed just outside the top ten, but finished much stronger than her first race. She finished 13th of 79 runners, with a personal best 5k trail run of 23:14. St Paul's top runner broke the course record, and Lucy was the fifth fastest on her team, which is now 2-0. My sister Jody and her husband Chris provided great encouragement and photos.

A box of gems found on Mount Blanc

With glaciers melting all over the world, a metal box full of rubies, sapphires, and emeralds was found on the Bossons glacier, a remnant from the 1950 or 1966 airplane crashes. CLICK HERE TO READ THE NEWSPAPER ARTICLE.

Climbing Movies On Netflix

CLICK HERE TO READ THE ARTICLE.

It is snowing out west ... get ready for winter

Art Of Skinning with Donny Roth from Dynafit North America on Vimeo.

Ski Hill Loops and Laps

One of my favorite workouts on campus takes about 70 minutes. It involves 4k of hiking, 500', and between 5-8 laps on an easy 5.2 rock climb. The gorgeous weather continues in the Adirondacks.

Are the dolomites on your bucket list ... A bit of running, via ferrata, and climbing.

Trail Running Dolomites Alta Via #1 from holimites.com on Vimeo.

A long day at the annual JBSA meeting

We started our drive to central Massachusetts at 4:30 am, and were back on campus at 8 pm. Our ten junior boarding schools had a collaborative marketing meeting at the Williston Northampton School. On the drive home we took an hour out for a nice trail run in the Berkshires.

Spectacular sunset run

It was a busy weekend, traveling to Rhode Island and then Vermont to see alumni. Of course an added bonus was that I was able to see Lucy's first cross country meet. On Sunday evening, after attending Eileen Rockefeller's book launch party, I decided to change into my running shorts and take advantage of the incredible trails at Shelburne Farms on the edge of Lake Champlain, with the Adirondacks in the distance.

Fred Beckey ... 90 years old and still going strong!

CLICK HERE TO WATCH A TRUE FOSSIL CLIMBING ROUTES AT 90 YEARS OLD.

Lucy's first high school race

In a four school meet with about 60 girls, St. Paul's won handily, and Lucy finished the 5k course in 24:02, finishing 13th. SPS had the top time of the day in 21:50. A great first event for my daughter. (As I had to visit alumni in Rhode Island and Vermont I had an excuse to attend the meet at the Brooks School.)

One of my favorite workouts

Running laps on our hilly sugarbush loop, with the rest intervals doing yoga and bouldering. I was out for 90 minutes, in gorgeous weather, just before sunset.

The New Breed Of Runners

Important thoughts about clipping your anchor

A MUST READ ON WILL GADD'S SITE.

Big second ascent ... North Pillar of Twins Tower

CLICK HERE TO READ JON WALSH'S TRIP REPORT.

Revolutionary new avalanche airbag

CLICK HERE TO READ ABOUT THIS FORTHCOMING BLACK DIAMOND PRODUCT.

Climb to the Castle

It was a chilly, but beautiful morning on the Whiteface Toll Road. I ran up to the halfway point (2.5 mile and 1100') and took some photographs of the big dogs from the USST and the US Biathlon. There were quite a few collegians and youth skiers also in attendance. Liz Stephans and Tim Burke won handily. Will we medal in Sochi?

Cragging in your ski boots!

No doubt my TLT 5 boots would edge pretty well, better than my old double Koflachs, although I am not sure I would take them to the crag!

DYNAFIT TLT 6 review by Wildsnow

It looks to be a good upgrade, however for many fossils this might be the time to get the older TLT 5 boots on sale! CLICK HERE TO READ THE WILDSNOW REVIEW.

G2G ... on my bucket list ... spectacular scenery

Grand to Grand Ultra Event Trailer 2013 from Grand to Grand Ultra on Vimeo.

The Perfect Expedition

Four people head to the Cordillera Blanca and do it all: bouldering, rock climbing, ice climbing, and high altitude mountaineering. They only thing they forgot is ski gear, and I am definitely taking that as well. This is my idea for a fossil gathering, of course the goals may be more modest than V12 boulder problems, M6 ice, and the last unclimbed face in the range. CLICK HERE TO WATCH PART 1. CLICK HERE FOR PART 2.

Become a Saranac Lake Sixer

Not everyone can collect the seven summits, or 8000 meter peaks, or even the 46ers of the 'dacks, but everyone can become a Saranac Lake Sixer ... Mount Baker, Scarface, St. Regis, Ampersand,Haystack, and McKenzie. CLICK HERE TO READ ALL ABOUT IT.

New research on exercise

CLICK HERE TO READ THE NEW YORK TIMES ARTICLE.

2k farm loop

Yesterday after a day of faculty orientation meetings I did a couple of laps around our farm. The loop is mostly flat but with great views of our lake, surrounding mountains, and of course our livestock.

Climbing Sherpas ... the service industry with highest fatality rate in the world

Disposable Man from Outside Magazine on Vimeo.

Big Descent Of The Brenva Face Of Mont Blanc

I SOLOED THIS ROUTE IN THE 1970s, AND CAN NOT BELIEVE THEY RIDE DOWN THIS ... CLICK HERE TO READ THE TRIP REPORT.

Rory Bosio ... reflections on her record breaking UTMB run

CLICK HERE TO READ HER STORY.

Seven advantages of Dynafit bindings

NOT THAT MOST OF YOU NEED CONVINCING ... CLICK HERE TO READ THIS SHORT BLOG ENTRY.

New favorites ... Dynafit feline shoes

Those that read the Fossil blog know that I won a pair of shoes in the post race raffle at the ADK 80k. After 3-4 hikes and trail runs I am very impressed. CLICK HERE TO READ A DETAILED REVIEW.

Sunset on Mirror Lake

Celebrating our 29th anniversary

Will climate change doom the ski industry?

CLICK HERE TO READ THE STORY.

The Ultimate In Peak Bagging?

I am a 46er, having climbed all 4000' peaks in the Adirondacks. I have climbed around a dozen of the 54 Colorado 14,000' peaks. There are a small handful of folks that have climbed all 14 of the 8,000 meter peaks, and a bigger group that have climbed the seven highest summits, one per continent.

But nobody has been to the summit of all 118 Andean 6,000 meter peaks. CLICK HERE TO READ ABOUT THE GUY CHASING THIS PRIZE.

Laps on the Middlebury Snow Bowl

On the way back from St. Paul's School, I broke up the tedious drive with some hiking with ski poles. I would have loved to do a few more laps but did not think to bring a headlamp.

Pointe Helene voie Andy Parkin

THIS OUGHT TO GET YOU EXCITED ABOUT THE FOSSIL ICEFEST, CLICK HERE TO WATCH THIS VIDEO.

ADK 80K results

St. Paul's School ... a new chapter starts for Lucy

Yesterday we made the 4+ hour drive to Concord, New Hampshire to drop Lucy off at her new school. With 475 students, a 2000 acre campus, a 150 year pedigree, and facilities the envy of many a small college, it was a little bit intimidating. To make matters even more challenging, in our packing we left out one bag of stuff - seems like dad may be to blame - the bag with all the athletic and dress shoes!

Needless to say we are sending them by FedEx, but it means she goes to the first dance, the first dress up (Hogwarts style) dinner, her first classes (in non-dress code shoes) and a cross country practice in her ratty old minimalist sneakers. Of course Lucy is pretty unflappable and so is coping well, however she had hoped to start off with everything firing on all cylinders. On top of that, as she is honors math, there is no way for her to be scheduled into an art class this term ... bummer.

The picture is of Lucy and Selden searching for her chapel seat.

Julien Chorier and the 2013 UTMB

CLICK HERE TO WATCH VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS OF HIS RACE.

2013 UTMB highlight video

LIVE - THE NORTH FACE® ULTRA-TRAIL DU MONT-BLANC® by UltraTrailMontBlanc

VERTICAL ... issue #42

Fantastic magazine. It has pretty limited distribution in shops and newsstands, however it is inexpensive - and readily available - electronically for only $3.99. This issue has many wonderful articles including ones about: Messner's dolomite climbs, the central pillar of freney, and the needles of California.

Team NCS before the start of the race

FKT ... Traverse of the Northern Presidential Range

CLICK HERE TO READ ABOUT JAN'S RECENT RUN.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK ... ultrarunner Geoff Roes after the 2010 UTMB

"I don't know that I would ever want to live in this town but it is certainly a really special place. I used to think that we had some towns in the U.S. where people are really into outdoor recreation (Boulder, Moab, Bend, all the Colorado mountain towns, etc), but CHAMONIX makes all of these places seem like they're filled with a bunch of couch-riding, overweight Americans."

Final thoughts on the ADK 80k

Despite rain showers and mist, it was a great course, well run, and a thoroughly enjoyable event.

Unfortunately there was a very small field for the inaugural running event, although Sunday's mountain bike event (on the same course) was well attended. That said, there were a number of high quality competitors. Fastest lap time on this homologated 19.4k lap (1,400') was around 1:20. It was turned in by a recent college grad who does a 4:13 mile. The 80k winning time was just 8:01.

Team NCS spent most of the day in second place (Melanie had the fastest female lap time), however in the final 2.5 kilometers I was struggling with my knees and the downhills, and gave up a place. Truth be told, I ran the hills pretty aggressively until the end, however I was reduced to a crawl on all the downhills in the last 5-6k.

After the race, the skies cleared, the food, ale, and fiddling were awesome, and the small field meant everyone walked away with nifty prizes. Of our relay team, three people (including me) nabbed new running shoes. Lucy and I also walked away with great new swix ski hats ... mine was a more classical color and styling, while hers was wildly colored and vibrant. Many ibuprofen later, the knees feel reasonably good.

I highly recommend this event next year for a fossil gathering ... although with significant growth in the size of the field expected ... glory and new shoes will be a lot harder to come by!

KUDOS to Brian, Karen, and the High Peaks Cyclery Staff.

Lucy finishing her 20k lap

She still is holding on to second place, and looking pretty good.