MOVIE OF THE DAY ... meru

I have seen it before, but getting ready to workout in my basement, I noticed that it was free with Amazon Prime; so I am watching this outstanding video again.

https://www.amazon.com/Meru-Conrad-Anker/dp/B013WF4E9M/ref=nodl_

Broken Arrow Skyrace Cancelled ... no surprise

I had hoped to run the Vertical Kilometer (VK) and the 26k, combined with a climbing/hiking trip in the High Sierras with Mark. Maybe this is all for the best, as it will give Mark more time to recovery from his recent surgery. A new thought is to maybe run the 30k Great Trail Race on October 4th, and come out in mid-September for some climbing ... MARK SHOULD BE READY ... right? 

On our way to get gas and milk at Stewarts ...

Stash and I jogged a dirt road for 75 minutes.

MOVIE OF THE DAY ... bouldering with epic tv

Friday I was skiing on tge Whiteface Toll Road, and yesterday I was trail running. This is the shoulder season in the Adirondacks where some start to dust off their road bikes, but today I am looking at weather forecasts. Will there be some good, warm, sunny weather next week for a bouldering day trip to the Gunks? This seven minute video is to get my psyched for the upcoming change of seasons. 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=nbrDjCcL4ag

Skating up the Whiteface Toll Road

Yesterday Lucy and Stash were dancing in the snow, I was chugging along behind on waxless AT gear.

MOVIE OF THE DAY ... Steve House and Masherbrum tales

https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=t2V7JcmYBPw

Social distancing but lucky to have great exercise options

Yesterday morning, just across the street I had a great hill, on a backcountry road, to do an interval session. Just before dinner, a four minute car ride brought me to a great ski loop for a 50+ minute workout.

MOVIE OF THE DAY ... Kilian Jornet skiing the fiva route



Only 8 minutes long but it blows your mind.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=LIfhbMVN3fY

Skied into Marcy Dam yesterday

The tour was quite scratchy as I went late in the day. It was typical northeastern spring conditions ... mud, rocks, stream crossings, slush, impossible to wax for, so glad I had my Atomic skinteks. 

MOVIE OF THE DAY ... Unbreakable: the western states 100



The film company - JourneyFilm -just released it for free on YouTube (link below).  The epic ultra-race pitting four of the world's best going head to head. It's still ski season in the Adirondacks but trail running season isn't that far off. 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=zy1as6CTYXI

MOVIE OF THE DAY ... A line across the sky

Given the self-isolation we are all doing, whether you are working from home, laid off, or god forbid, getting sick, you probably have more time to watch outdoor videos. Here is a good one ...

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

Social distancing on biathlon trails

I hope everyone is well and staying safe out there.

Skiing Huntington and Tuckermans Ravine



A nice video to get you psyched for a spring trip to Mount Washington ... if the virus will let us.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=eO9GtA1L-uE

A massive ski tour in the Alps





La Promenade is subtitled in English but well worth viewing.  They spent 22 days traversing across the entire Valle d'Aosta. Oh, to be a young stud again.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Ps_jngsL-A

America’s Backcountry Ski Huts

I have sampled numerous huts in the Alps, but except for Chimney Pond, as well as Carter Notch and the Harvard Cabin (not mentioned) I have never sampled any of America's finest. Maybe next season that will be one of my goals.

https://apple.news/AaUsESgDRQQisz_owmQEw7A

100th day on snow!

Yesterday I did a 50 minute classic ski on the 1980 Olympic trails. Unfortunately, in the previous 12 hours a chinook had decimated the trails, keeping me to the flatter terrain. It seems like it is time to head to deep into the backcountry higher up on the mountains where the snowpack is quite deep. 

Shoulder season in the Adirondacks

It varies from year to year, but sometime from mid-March to mid-April you can do it all ... ski tracks, ride lifts, backcountry ski, on sunny days boulder, run on dirt roads, and if the temperature drops, ice climb.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK: mark twight

When climbing in Nepal with Jeff Lowe, he was asked how he rationalized the weight of the Walkman and all those batteries. Mark Twight replied: "When the going gets tough, the tough turn up the volume,"

To be frank, I was not very fond of this book when I read it in paperback. However, I enjoyed it more as a book on tape, listening to it on several occasions.

Listening to Bonington's autobiography on the way out to Bozeman was engaging. However, on the ride back I need something with the literary equivalent of jolt from Red Bull. Kiss Or Kill is so bombastic and over the top at times, that it keeps you awake, even if it's pushing midnight and you have been driving cross country for 12 hours.

Then to, I realized on the trip back, that my spring skiing adventures will segue into climbing ... and this will be the kick in the butt I need to get to the High Peaks Cyclery rock gym.

Back home ... yahoo!

Well I got enthusiastic welcomes from Selden, Lucy, and Stash, however our new dog, Phoebe was a little weary of me. Today, I took Stash over to the Mt. Pisgah Ski Area (closed as are all NYS ski area) and skied four laps (1150' vertical). When we were done Stash clearly was looking at me ... is that all?

QUOTE OF THE WEEK ... from The English Patient

I have read and listened to the book 3-4 times and watched the movie at least as often. The book on tape got me through Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and Pennsylvania today.

Near the end of the story, when Caravaggio and Almasy are having their heart to heart chat, the English patient says ... "She feeds me morphine. He feeds me condensed milk. I think we may have discovered a balanced diet."

Yesterday morning ...

Somewhere in Minnesota doing my morning jog. Today I hope to blow through Illinois, Ohio, and well into New York.

Leaving Big Sky Country

After the Great Plains, the Badlands, and the windy Prairies, the mountains of Montana were a welcome sight. Heading back east, now that the National Championship 15k Classic mass start has been cancelled.

Heading home after a great ski tour in Yellowstone

We entered via the original - northern entrance - of this first National park established in 1872. We skied on a snow covered road, dodging bison and their poop all the way. The SLU crew skated on perfect crust conditions, while I skied in on my waxless skintecs.

Knee pain ... check out these exercise

I will be trying out this sequence on the long drive back to Lake Placid.

https://www.outsideonline.com/2355786/knee-pain-causes-relief-exercises

NCAA 5k Skate National Championships

With professional sports cancelling their seasons, the Minneapolis World Cup cancelled, as well as the Junior Nationals, I had my fingers crossed. The race went off as planned, and Lucy finished 31st. About 9 seconds away from top 25 which was her goal. So a solid performance.

Karl Schultz, also from Lake Placid and skiing for UVM finished 5th, earning All American honors. She is really looking forward to the 15k mass start classical race on Saturday.

In North Dakota and Bozeman here I come!

On this long drive to Bozeman I starts and end each day with a 40 minute run; in the middle of the day I pull out my pad for a yoga session. Yesterday morning it was a state park outside Chicago and today a dirt road in North Dakota. At 10am tomorrow I will be on my nordic skis cheering Lucy at the NCAA Championships.

Road trip to NCAA championships

The last time I drove cross-country, it was the spring of 1978 and we were headed to Oregon and the Cascades. A warmup before we flew to Denali.

Since then I have flown to all my mountain trips, skipping over the flat parts of America ... staggering how flat and big the mid-west is!

Perfect Crust Skiing

A short workout before I started packing for Montana.

The 2020 Olympic venue is ready



The enclosed link will give you the details of how the event will run in August, at the Tokyo Olympics.

https://www.climbing.com/

Another tour on the backside of Pitchoff

I head out tomorrow on the long drive to Bozeman.

North side of Pitchoff

Nice to be back in the Adirondacks ski touring.

More Zermatt

The Zermatterhof had a delightful collection of oil paintings, hanging in various places on the first floor. With the Matterhorn so prominent, and dominating all views, it's no wonder that landscape artists have sketched and painted it for the past two centuries.

Back in the ‘dacks

Back from Switzerland, but only for a few days, before I head out to Montana to watch my daughter in the NCAA Nordic Championship.

I Thought I needed a quick reminder about the "treasured heights" of the Adirondack mountains. A great introductory read, and proof that you don't necessarily have to travel 4000 miles for a big challenge ...

http://treasuredheights.com/backcountry-skiing-in-the-adirondacks/

Lucy qualifies for the NCAA Nordic Championships

https://saintsathletics.com/news/2020/2/29/nordic-skiing-hochschartner-headed-to-ncaa-championships-saints-close-eisa-season-at-middlebury.aspx

Leaving Zermatt

A final breakfast buffet at the incomparable Zermatterhof.

Great memories of mountain routes done in my youth and routes never done. Fresh memories with old friends. Stretching legs and blowing off carbon dioxide. Some great turns, and a realization that my knees will only allow just so many in the future.

I bought a book for the journey home, part Swiss history, part travelogue, and part literary analysis. After all Conan Doyle, Herman Hesse, James Joyce, John le Carre, Hemingway and many others sought refuge and inspiration here.

Reflections on alpine barns

Many of the barns and hay storage structures in the Zermatt area built on small stilts capped by a large, flat, round stone which keeps mice from getting in. It made me remember how nicely this town has accommodated the old and new, the natural and man-made world, and how elegantly tourism, community, and harmony with surroundings can be done.

Yesterday was another big day ...

An easy hike up to Zmutt, a small village that is 500 years old. Then hot chocolate at Jagerstrube, and a skin up past Stafel, under the base of the North Face of the Matterhorn. (This was my long time dream but it will need to wait for my next reincarnation.) The day ended with a ski into Furi, down through Moos, and a hike through Winkelmatten to our hotel.