Brilliant Day In The Adirondacks

Skiing with my dog, eating leftovers, and seeing my grandkids. Tomorrow is the first day of December and I already have 15 days on snow.

Amanda and Jon are packing the car to head back Connecticut. Lucy just had a good result in a collegiate time trial in Quebec, and will be heading back on the long drive to SLU in another hour or so.

Snow storage ... the adaptive key for Nordic skiing in America

This doesn't solve Climate Change but it is one of the ways we will need to adapt. Bravo to Craftsbury! 

https://fasterskier.com/fsarticle/innovation-and-the-science-of-over-summer-snow-storage-at-the-craftsbury-outdoor-center/

FKT ... WHITE MOUNTAIN HUT TRAVERSE

 Katie Schide is not really well known in America, in either the trail running or ultra community ... but she is tearing it up in Europe. A great little video of her attempt to break the record for the 52 mile Hut Traverse record in New Hampshire.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DQSiygnDm-U&t=17s

An ode to snow

Excellent essay by a former climbing partner, Jon Waterman. 

In the late 1970s we climbed extensively in the White Mountains, Katahdin, Scotland, Chamonix, and in RMNP. He even gave me a sniff at the first winter ascent of the Cassin on Denali. However, when I asked him what were the expected low temperatures ... it blew my mind!

https://www.wildsnow.com/27211/confessions-of-snowman/#more-27211

The pain cave

Lucy and the Saint Lawrence nordic team are up in Quebec for the traditional Thanksgiving training camp. They had been on snow for ten days prior to Quebec. However, late fall for nordic racers is all about intensity work, and in this phot from two weeks ago, she is clearly in the pain cave, with a difficult ski bounding workout. 

While I have spent the fall getting ready for an ultra run, and the 160k Canadian Ski Marathon in February, you can be quite sure I will not be doing these workouts. My memory from back in the days, was that these tough bounding workouts brought you to your knees and puking in occasion. 

JFK 50 mile ... DNF

So, a DNF is always a disappointment. After all, you sign up and train for two months, to complete the damn thing. However, during the fall I began to have the sneaking suspicion that my knees were not going to tolerate the pounding for 50 miles.

My fitness was up to the task, but I feared my joints were not. And so my "B goal" was to complete at least 50 kilometers (31 miles). And having run 52 kilometers over the toughest and hilliest part of the course, there is some satisfaction.

Race day dawned chilly and beautifully clear, and the sunrise over the South Mountain was spectacular. The route was historic. The race well organized. The selfie was taken at 6:29, moments before 1200 runners took off.

POSTSCRIPT ... Muscles and energy level were good the morning after, however the knees hurt quite a bit, and I was hobbling around like I was 90 ... ibuprofen, CBD cream, and single malt all helped. By Monday morning I was ready to jump on the ergometer and take Stash for a jog.

Great article about weight lifting and life ...

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/22/well/the-zen-of-weight-lifting.html?algo=identity&fellback=false&imp_id=663127536&imp_id=834876167&action=click&module=Science%20%20Technology&pgtype=Homepage

Mountains of the Mind ... Robert Macfarlane

As I am re-reading this wonderful book. And as I am also spending time seeing friends before the big trail race, I decide to visit the National Gallery. Their collection of Hudson River School painters are all part of this change in how mountains were perceived. Two oils, one by Bierstadt and the other by Cole.

Was she the best female alpinist ever?

Watch this terrific video of Catherine Destivelle climbing in the Mont Blanc Range. While the footage is from the Grand Capucin, the Grepon, and the Verte, the video also reviews her groundbreaking first ascents from two decades ago.  

https://vimeo.com/97325417 

Hazard’s Way ... 2001 Boardman-Tasker Prize Winner

I have just re-read this brilliant book by Roger Hubank. It is incredibly well written, and focuses on the coming of age of a young, well to do, medical student through the lens of the Boer War and the very active climbing scene in the pre-WWI Lake District, centered around the Wastdale Head Inn.

I had the good fortune - decades ago - of climbing in that area for several weeks, and so know something of its climbing history. Despite the wonderful scope and range of this "climbing novel" which touches on issues of class, gender, Empire, and Victorian virtues, I fear it will never be a popular read in America. However, for the American reader willing to do a fair amount of googling, to research people and events alluded to, it is a "cracking good yarn."

In my googling, I found out that the Barn door Traverse is no longer possible due to recent renovations ... now that is a pity.

Last run before JFK 50 miler

So, even on a well sanded dirt road, it is clear that the trail running season is behind us in the Adirondacks. Those that remember their high school history will recall some of the important civil war events that took place along the JFK 50 mile race route.

A Proud Dad

Yesterday, Senator Gillibrand spoke at St. Lawrence University in northern New York. As the top government major at the school my daughter was asked to introduce the Senator and hang out with her.

Mountain Search And Rescue Gone Wrong

Hilarious ... a must watch!

https://www.climbing.com/videos/animation-hors-piste-the-worst-mountain-rescue-team/

Dirtbag: the legend of fred beckey

As a climber it's impossible not to know the name, to be captivated by the archival climbing footage, and interviews with luminaries who were his partners over the years. His legacy of routes is astronomical. However, one also can't help but think ... Wasn't one of those many girlfriends worthy of a longer relationship?  Wouldn't 85-90-93 years old have been a time to stop and smell the flowers? 

Available for free with Amazon Prime, or stream it for $.99

One week until the JFK 50 miler ...

How timely is this essay!  Of course, it gave me no real insights into how I would do, but quite interesting in an academic sort of way. I read Hutchinson's columns religiously.

https://www.outsideonline.com/2405298/ultrarunning-prediction-study#close

Changing of the guard ...

I put away the hiking and rock climbing gear, and dragged all my skis up to the house from the Fossil Cabin. The Mount Van Hoevenberg Olympic trails officially open tomorrow, although I have already logged seven days on snow.

Beautiful run on a dirt road ...

But I wish I was skiing! Ten days until the JFK 50 miler, so I grind out a ten mile run, into a headwind at 5 degrees, with nanospikes on my feet. The scenery was brilliant.

Winter is here ...

And a full moon setting behind our barn. Sharpen your ice tools, base wax your track skis, and touch up the glue on your skins.

Great early season snow conditions

Waiting for the storm ...

Saturday was my fourth day on snow this season, another great tour on the Whiteface Toll Road. Sunday was a 12 mile hilly run on a dirt road. Today, I am just waiting for the flakes to fall to ski up the toll road again ... maybe tomorrow I will be skiing on the Olympic nordic trails.

Oh, and did I mention Pitchoff Right is in, and had climbers on it all weekend.

Beautiful sunset over Street and Nye

Revisiting Mountaineering Fiction

Since my return from Chamonix I have decided to revisit some old favorites. I have re-read First On The Rope and am currently working through Dougal Haston's Calculated Risk. Next on the list are North Wall and Elizabeth Coxhead's One Green Bottle. Good to hear North Wall is being re-published. 

http://footlesscrow.blogspot.com/2019/11/roger-hubanks-north-wallreviewed.html

Terrific early season ski tour

Great conditions on the Whiteface Toll Road. I only skied up 1000' vert, and saved a little gas in my tank for an afternoon run.

It's going to be single digits tomorrow!

QUOTE OF THE WEEK ... Robert Service

While reading the complete collection of his poems, I came across his prelude for for "The Spell Of The Yukon."

Will this become an issue for rock climbers trying to make the Olympic team?

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/07/opinion/nike-running-mary-cain.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage

The Climbing Cholitas

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hGxxvefRk9A

Squeezed in a 2.5 hour run before the storm

My ten mile “run”

It was a beautiful day, but with the snow squall for the first hour, the mud, the huge puddles, and the downed trees from Friday ... it was hardly a run. My dog Stash loved it though.

Adirondack Ice ... season may start soon

Given the ice we saw forming on Pitchoff yesterday, and the cold temperatures forecasted for next week ... I bet we see something forming up next weekend on the North aside.

Vermont Backcountry Skiing

With cold weather moving in for the next ten days, and prospects for Nordic skiing rapidly approaching, its time to get psyched. 

So, Gary thanks for the article, I will look for the movie on this side of Lake Champlain.  For now, it's time to touch up the glue on my skins, tuneup my AT gear, and maybe get some new liners for my Dynafit boots. 

https://vtsports.com/the-new-ski-move-about-vermonts-backcountry/

JFK, “The Soft American,” and the JFK 50 miler

As the President-elect, JFK penned an important article published in Sports Illustrated magazine which can be viewed at the link below.  His insistence that physical fitness was a key component to our greatest as a nation, eventually saw a nation-wide phenomenon of many communities nation-wide, hosting 50 mile walks. 

In three weeks I will run the JFK 50 mile race. This has been on my bucket list for a very long time, but it has been impossible during the past 20 years as the headmaster if a small boarding school the time surrounding Thanksgiving was always a big NCS event for our parents and students. 

The race website describes the history like this:

The JFK 50 Mile was first held in the spring of 1963.  It was one of numerous such 50 mile events held around the country as part of President John F. Kennedy's push to bring the country back to physical fitness.

When Kennedy was assassinated in November of 1963, most of these events were never held again.  The one here in Washington County, MD changed it's name from the JFK 50 Mile Challenge to the JFK 50 Mile Memorial in 1964.  The JFK 50 Mile in Washington County, MD is the only original JFK 50 Mile Challenge event to be held every year.

Although open to the public, the JFK 50 Mile is in spirit a military race.  It always has been and always will be.  In 1963, the initial inspiration behind the event came from then President John F. Kennedy challenging his military officers to meet the requirements that Teddy Roosevelt had set for his own military officers at the dawn of the 20th Century.  That Roosevelt requirement was for all military officers to be able to cover 50 miles on foot in 20 hours to maintain their commissions.  When word got out about the "Kennedy Challenge", non-commissioned military personnel also wanted to take the test themselves as did certain robust members of the civilian population.

https://www.si.com/vault/issue/43278/16

The nordic season is getting ready to start ...

The Para-Olympic Team has a training camp at Mount Van Hoevenberg, and the Snow Factor has been busy 24/7 making snow.