Are Mountain Climbers Selfish ... New York Times

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/27/opinion/mountain-climbing.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share

Peggy’s Cove bouldering ... another retirement destination

https://gripped.com/profiles/nova-scotia-bouldering-at-peggys-cove/

A capricious April 27th

The NCS students were in shorts for half of the week and today snow flurries off and on all day! On our way to Tom Clark's memorial.

A great video of Tuckerman’s Ravine

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=CM7YknhIKeU

Trail running on our farm

Most of the Adirondack hiking trails as well as the Olympic Nordic trails are still a little too soggy and muddy. However, the 2K perimeter loop around our farm's pasture is quite dry and runnable, as long as you don't twist your ankle. Pretty soon though I will be able to get out on mountain trails.

Easy hike on a spring day

There is still snow on the Marcy summit dome, but clearly poplars are leaving out, birds chirping and frogs croaking, and mud season is almost behind us. Spring has come and I will be thinking about trail running, hiking, and rock climbing before too long.

First stops on retirement are Peru and Chamonix.

CBD ... wonder drug or overpriced placebo?

https://www.runnersworld.com/health-injuries/a23506689/cbd-oil/?utm_campaign=socialflowTWRW&utm_medium=social-media&utm_source=twitter

TRAINING FOR THE UPHILL ATHLETE: a manual for mountain runners and ski mountaineers

In the past two weeks I have read several strong reviews - notably at Faster Skier and Wild Snow websites - and so having already consumed their previous volume, Training For The New Alpinism, I took the plunge.

This is not a book you zip through, and maybe this is not even a book you read sequentially. However, having just dipped my toe into it I can say ... production quality is exemplary as are the photographs, the writing is clear and engaging, finally the content seems spot on.

Spring has come to the Adirondacks ...

It is time to transition to mountain running and rock climbing. Also time to clean skis and put storage wax on them. Time to make some repairs, and search for odd broken parts, like a cable binding wire. Of course, you keep an old pair of skis handy for the freak snowstorm that always seems to show up at the end of April or the beginning of May. 

Just by chance I stumbled upon this delightful video - made in 1975 - of one of the last traditional Norwegian ski makers.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=339&v=UbPVqUbcjDY

Blurring the lines ... is this a climb or a trail run?

Kilian Jornet is always worth watching. 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?email=SAL_STVALongDayOut_190416&cmpid=crm%7Cem%7Cmm%7Cmm%7C4847081&v=8NxXh3UqpAE&rid=6864750&lid=SALOMON%2BTV&feature=youtu.be&sfmcid=aG9ja0BuY3Qub3Jn

Patagonia worn wear ...

A great little article about their tour through the northeast this winter fixing things.  

Of course, you can be cynical and just label this a feel good, inexpensive branding campaign.  Sure there is that component, but you also have to acknowledge that Patagonia looks after the "triple bottom line," in that they make money, do good things for employees and communities, as well as try to be as environmentally responsible as possible.

I believe they came to Lake Placid, but I missed them because I was on the road fundraising for school ... I look forward to their next visit as I have a bunch of stuff to be repaired.

https://www.patagonia.com/blog/2019/04/business-is-good/

Feeling like spring ...

Of course, still plenty of snow to ski in the high country, but 'tis the season for trail running on dirt roads.

Alta was great but I am heading home

I am heading back from our ski reunion, and am delayed in Newark for three hours. It snowed almost non-stop in my four days at the Alta Lodge. On three afternoons I also managed to do a nice skinning workout, after I finished riding lifts.

Another great day at Alta

I need to come back and do the South Ridge of Superior (left-hand skyline).

The common goal of all training programs ...

Awesome day at Alta

It stopped snowing at mid-day and even cleared up for awhile, giving us our first views of the mountains. It is snowing again this morning, and will probably do so for most of the day. I even managed a short skin yesterday afternoon, but the summit road was closed, and going solo into grizzly gulch seemed unwise, so I just stayed in the dense trees.

Alta ... not looking like this now!

It has been snowing for the past 36 hours and will continue snowing for another 3-4 hours! About 2.5-3 feet on the level, and up to double, or maybe triple that in areas of high wind deposition. Needless to say, they have periodically closed the roads and are doing round the clock control work.

Who knew ... avalanche airbags are a growth industry

https://industrialjournalism.com/2019/04/08/global-avalanche-airbags-market-development-history-current-analysis-and-estimated-forecast-to-2025/

BLAST FROM THE PAST ... #27 Mountain magazine

I pulled this old issue off my shelf; it was the issue devoted entirely to ice climbing in the Alps. A couple of years after this issue was published, I started ticking off the historic list of climbs. Of course, the essayist Ian McNaught Davis gave me pause as I read his humorous and contrarian, "Snow Job."

Still good skiing but ...

The wide open pastures (like the biathlon range) have lost their cover, so Stash and I are sticking to forested loops.

The Jackrabbit website weekly snow report is enclosed below ...
I'm back from travels to Norway. Sounds as though it was "spring conditions" the past two weeks with the actual skiing totally dependent on the "weather of the moment." Now that it is April, Mt.Van Hoevenberg is not grooming as extensively as during the regular season, but there is still good cover on all the trails and will be for several more weeks. Cascade is closed, but the Paul Smiths VIC has 15-25" and will also offer several more weeks of skiing. Jackrabbit Trail also remains mostly skiable with just a few open golf course areas coming bare.

In the backcountry, Lake Colden reports five feet of snow with 7-8' higher up. The Loj, South Meadow, and Upper Works approaches to Lake Colden all still have good cover. Skis or snowshoes are still required for travel in the High Peaks and will be required for several more weeks.

Tomorrow, Friday, looks to be a mix of snow and rain followed by 50s and sunny on Saturday before more April showers Sunday through Tuesday. As the previous report said, "keep skiing".

Will Ice Climbing Be In The 2026 Olympics?

https://www.outsideonline.com/2392312/ice-climbing-winter-olympics-2026

Risk analysis and hard climbing in Patagonia

A nice video of a recent French ascent on Cerro Torre with a light-hearted introduction to 3x3 matrix for risk analysis. Of course, in the end they do what most of us do ... hell let's just go for it!

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=8Zc7_q9DJDM&time_continue=549

A trip to the Grand Teton Climber’s Ranch is on my retirement list

https://spark.adobe.com/page/q5RlSHxwm2HQa/?fbclid=IwAR1KxGfYrXItt9rUuLJID0ekFrM_DfghMm-BKV7cR3qdmtGfj5GJWv4i-uk

Still touring on the Olympic trails but ...

There are bare patches poking through, and spring is definitely on the way. However, there is still a ton of snow above 3000 feet.

Excrement on Denali

Well, we have all taken a crap and tossed it into a crevasse ... on Mont Rainier, on Mount Hood, on the Mer de Glacé, and as this article points out, also on Denali. What we have not factored in was the rapid retreat and glacial melt around the globe. 

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/03/31/climate-change-could-soon-melt-years-worth-human-poop-alaska-park/3299522002/

QUOTE OF THE WEEK ... from Lost Horizon

I am listening to this delightful book again, which has so many wonderful passages.

Early in the book, Conway and his party, meet with Chang, a monk from Shangri-la, on the Tibetan Plateau. Having seen an enormous mountain dominating the view, and having heard that this fabulous 28,000' peak was called Karakal, Conway has the following exchange.