A beautiful but brutally cold tour

I left work at 2:15 pm, grabbed my pack and was skiing up the toll road by 3:00 pm. I toured up the bottom 4k and about 1100'. Spectacular views were mixed with very windy and sub-zero conditions. I was treated to a superb sunset on my ski back down.

8000 meter peaks from space ... way cool

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Check out the video "NYSEF Time Trial"

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Skiing the Cordillera Blanca

Days of My Youth TRAILER from MSP Films on Vimeo.

BLAST FROM THE PAST ... skiing Monte Rosa

I must have 6-8 pairs of old, but quite useable skis with three-pin bindings. Given that I have burned through all my old touring boots, Selden has gotten sick of me whining about needing some vintage leather boots. So, she scored a terrific pair of Asolo Snowfield boots for a song on eBay. Today I teamed up my Christmas present with my oldest pair of tele-skis, and toured up the Whiteface Toll Road. 

Cruising down the 10% gradient I was amazed that this was the exact setup that I skied Monte Rosa with. It is almost impossible for me to imagine skiing the 15,203' Dufourspitze in this rig

Slim Pickens In The 'dacks

The day after christmas and only a dusting and a few short snow squalls predicted for the next several days. Still I skied for an hour on our lake and then later in the day skied for an hour on the toll road. Lucy is doing a nordic ski camp with NYSEF on the trails at the ski jumping facility which have man-made snow.

DID YOU KNOW ... Hemingway ... Galtur, Shruns, Gstaad, Jamtal valley, Weisbadener Hutt

No doubt we all know about Sun Valley, but having done a traverse of the Silvretta Range last year, I just found out that in the mid-1920s this was Hemingway's stomping grounds. Tagging summits, drinking hard at all night poker games (one day he won the ski school and three nights later he lost it at the card table), and of course writing. THE SUN ALSO RISES was finished here, short stories like THE SNOWS OF KILIMANJARO, AN ALPINE IDYLL, and CROSS COUNTRY SNOW all use this section of the alps as a backdrop. (The picture from 1926, skiing in Gstaad, with his Paris wife - Hadley - and then Hemingway and John Dos Passos.)

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Ice Climbing In The Himalayas ... a tutorial on how it is done

Bonfire of Vanities by BroadbandMovies

MERRY CHRISTMAS

That special time after Santa has arrived BUT before presents get opened.

How can just two days make such a difference?

We need the snow goddess SKADE to work her magic

Still skiing ... but just barely

By late this afternoon the front had moved through, the temperature inversion had disappeared, it had started to snow, and there was still a 1.5k loop that was hanging in there. The bottom is going to drop out of the thermometer and by Christmas Eve it will be -20 degrees.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO ALL THE FOSSIL ALPINISTS

Ice Advice ... michael kennedy, kitty calhoun, jack tackle, and jay smith

CLICK HERE TO READ THIS GREAT INTERVIEW.

Honnold and Croft talking about risk and rock climbing

CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE NORTH FACE SPEAKER SERIES.

The Rise Of Superman ... flow and human performance

The Rise of Superman Official Trailer by OutsideTelevision

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, the psychologist with the unprounceable and unspellable name, has long been know for his work on "flow." Now there is a book in the works that looks at "FLOW" from the lens of extreme athletes. 

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Yuck ... what a way to kick off the first day of winter!

Rain, sleet, and temperatures in the 40s ... even on the summit. Touring up the Whiteface Toll Road was a slush fest, and while it was a good workout for an hour, there was nothing fun about it. Tomorrow I think I need to get back to the dawn patrol at the ski area.

BLAST FROM THE PAST ... ice climbing in Scotland

In the mid-1970s I found someone who would watch the Harvard Cabin in Huntington Ravine for me and I headed to Scotland with Jonathan Waterman, James Balog, and John Thackeray. Jim was writing an article for Outside magazine, John T was going to try and get a fourth for his trip to the Himalayas, John W was going to show the world how to climb steep ice and drink beer, and I was going to just hold on to the tail of the tiger.

Jet-lagged and just arrived from Glasgow, we headed up to third class the Anoach Eagach in "full on conditions," got drunk under the table by the Scots, and woke to a violent rainstorm the next morning which collapsed all our American made tents, and only my Scottish vango tent was left standing.

We managed the Tower Ridge on Ben Nevis, while we watched a party get avalanched out of a nearby gully, stumbled down Gardyloo assuming it would avalanche with each step, spent the night on the floor of the CIC hut, and headed to Chamonix the next day .... and that is another story.

Looks like a white Christmas

In this picture white (SW corner of New York) is bad, all the other colors indicates that New England is totally snow covered. On a more specific note, cross country skiing on the Olympic Trails is phenomenal.

The lost treasure of Athualpa

CLICK HERE TO READ ABOUT AN EXPEDITION LOOKING FOR THIS LEGENDARY TREASURE TROVE.

Sunset laps skinning on the ski hill

It is even colder on the NCS campus!

Avalanche Safety Website ... a must see

CLICK HERE TO VIEW THUS INFORMATIVE ORTOVOX SITE.

Check out the video "NCS Ski Mountaineering Loop"

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Patagonia ... Sustainable fashion

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A MUST SEE ... First Light: journey to the roof of the world

FIRST LIGHT Trailer from ARC'TERYX on Vimeo.

A dawn ski at -5 F

QUOTE OF THE WEEK ... mark twain

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” -Mark Twain

How skating came to Nordic skiing

CLICK HERE TO READ THE COMPREHENSIVE ESSAY ON THE SKI HISTORY WEBSITE.

Strong performance from the US ladies in Lillehammer

Lillehammer Relay Ladies from CrossCountrySki.us on Vimeo.

How to clip into your anchor ... a must watch!

How to Break Nylon and Dyneema Slings from DMM Climbing on Vimeo.

Short on snow in the 'dacks but still skiing on the lake

Freezer Full Of Meat

Matt on his recent trip, elk hunting with his bow out in Wyoming.

Skiing at Rikert Nordic Center

Coming back from Boston (attending the TABS conference), I stopped at Middlebury Gap for an hour long workout.

Check out the video "NCS Ski Practice"

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Serious backcountry skiing ... Serious shopping

CLICK HERE FOR COMPARISON SHOPPING ON AVALANCHE BEACONS AND AIRBAGS.

Avalanche Control, The Olympics, And Sochi

CLICK HERE TO READ ABOUT THE STATE OF THE ART FOR THE 2014 WINTER GAMES

Ice Anchors

CLICK HERE TO READ THE COMPREHENSIVE ESSAY ON UKCLIMBING.COM

Geoff Smith, a legendary adirondack mountain man passes away

CLICK HERE TO WATCH A MEMORIAL VIDEO