Morning shakeout …

An hour of bouldering (laps on the traverse wall) and yoga at the Mount Van Hoevenberg gym.

Charlie Porter a climbing machine

https://www.adventure-journal.com/2022/04/historical-badass-climber-charlie-porter/

David Hochschartner (Hock)

Skimo fastest know times!

https://www.statesmanjournal.com/story/news/2022/04/28/jack-kuenzle-mount-hood-fastest-known-time-speed-record/65352461007/

A great day with a great friend …

Lenny and I were the "Best Man" at each other's wedding, a long time ago. He is a longtime Yankee fan and season ticket-holder and we spent the day at the ball park. (The roving camera caught us on the big stadium monitor.)  Beautiful day, Yankees won, and we discussed going back to the Alps in September.

Risk, risk tolerance, and the climbing feedback loop

It reminds me of my experience on the south ridge of Hunter, although we bailed much earlier. 

https://www.patagonia.com/stories/a-partial-ascent-of-mantok-0/story-118601.html

How to climb the Eiger North Face

Once upon a time - maybe 40 years ago - I would have salivated over this beta. Those days are long gone, but it's still fascinating to read, the "blow by blow by descriptions," and look at these "up close and personal" pictures. 

https://uphillathlete.com/climb-eiger-north-face/

Hamstring exercises to help your classic technique

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=KdxTSshAMIA&feature=emb_imp_woy

April 24, 2022 … The last day of the Whiteface ski season

A pretty good morning riding lifts with my Skimo race gear. And another transition week … lower volume with a touch under 14 hours, but still almost 5500' vertical. I nordic skied, exercise biked, hiked, bouldered, rode lifts, and rowed my ergometer this week.

If I do either Gothic Mountain Tour or the Grand Traverse …

Then I need to get a copy of this booklet, to explore a bunch of other ski tours while I am in Colorado. It seems like the Wasatch, Sierras, Tetons, and Cascades are ripe for a similar sort of guidebook. After all, it's not just about chutes, steep and deep, or the 50 most awesome descents! 

https://www.frontrangeskimo.com/blog-1/2022/1/2/book-review-light-tours-of-colorado

Still on my bucket list … March SellaRonda in the Dolomites

https://www.sportiva.com/blog/anton-krupicka-sellaronda-pt-two

An important solo of the Eiger North Face

http://www.alpinist.com/doc/web22s/newswire-laura-tiefenthaler-solos-the-eiger-north-face?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=Read%20more%20»&utm_campaign=UA-2270135-1

Whiteface and Mount Van Hoevenberg to re-open

Well, with over a foot of new snow, we will have groomed skiing for 3-4 days longer … yahoo!

BLAST FROM THE PAST … demise of the wood ski

I am perusing Setting First Tracks, a hundred year history of Madshus from 1906-2006, and the rise-fall-rebirth of the Norwegian ski industry.  The photo is from the 1974 World Championships in Falun, and it is Norwegian Magne Myrmo winning the race on wooden skis … the last time that ever happened. Much of the decline in the Norwegian ski industry revolved around the Central European alpine ski companies - like Fischer - having longer experience making fiberglass skis. 

I am reminded, that it was in 1974 when my lacrosse coach suggested I do more training on nordic skis - to save my knees - that I got my first pair of skis. These Bonna 1700 skis served me well, until I broke them on Mt. Washington in 1978, the year I was the Harvard Cabin caretaker in Huntington Ravine.  As I was signed up for the Canadian Ski Marathon the next week, I hiked down, hitched to North Conway, and bought a pair of fiberglass Fischer skis. Of course, that was just the first of many changes the nordic world was going to endure in the next decade! 

Back in the days of snowy winters …

In 1938 skiing off the roof of the Timberline Lodge, at the base of Mount Hood.

Yesterday was a classic spring day but today …

We are getting hammered with over a foot of heavy wet snow. Thankfully, I know enough not to put all my skis away in April.

The snowflake guy

Interesting short video …

https://m.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=55&v=ao2Jfm35XeE&feature=emb_title

First bouldering of the spring

The Mount Van Hoevenberg Climbing Gym is open for business.

Still skiing

New thriller, a novel about a murder on a Himalayan climb

Getting ready to read the Kindle sample online, and it has gotten good reviews.  Written by an author who has actually climbed the 8000m peak, Manaslu.

https://www.amazon.com/Breathless-Amy-McCulloch/dp/0593315499

For long days in the mountains train your body to burn fat …

A series of three articles from the Uphill Athlete website about fat adaptation. The quote below is from the first article, as is the link enclosed.

https://uphillathlete.com/nutrition-fat-adaptation/

"As highlighted above, because carbohydrate ingestion before and during endurance exercise of low to moderate intensity (Zones 1 and 2) reduces the body's ability to utilize fat as a fuel source (5), the goal of every endurance athlete should be to train the body to use a greater contribution of fat as a source of energy (for example, by training in a fasted state). This also has the added benefit of reducing the body's reliance on eating carbohydrates during endurance exercise, thus sparing muscle glycogen levels. This enables you to tap into your carbohydrate store when you need it the most, during those higher-intensity moments—on steep climbs, when you pick up the pace to get down before dark, and through strenuous moves or cruxes on a long alpine route. This is known as fat adaptation."

Ski and climbing gear for big Alaskan routes

https://www.wildsnow.com/31254/gear-for-ski-alpinism/

Skiing volcanoes this spring?

https://skimo.co/volcano-skiing-gear

A new wrinkle in the Mallory-Irvine mystery

https://www.salon.com/2022/04/08/the-third-pole-mount-everest-mark-synnott-mystery-china/

Last Skimo laps at Killington

Third times the charm, and we got a spectacular day. So, I managed just about 6000' vertical in my 2.5 days skinning.

Good Skimo laps at Killington

A guys weekend at Killington

The weather has been iffy, but fun seeing college buddies, and skinning lots of vert.

Nordic Guys almost pull out the win in the Grand Traverse

https://fasterskier.com/2022/04/nordic-nation-a-backcountry-ski-race-on-skinny-skis-simi-hamilton-and-ben-koons-take-second-at-the-2022-montane-grand-traverse/

An interesting but relatively unknown character … freddie s. chapman

https://www.adventure-journal.com/2022/04/there-was-no-defeating-alpinist-and-wwii-saboteur-freddie-s-chapman/

A few beautiful days however now it’s time for April showers …

But yesterday morning I had a great time riding lifts with my skimo race gear.

The Pierra Menta skimo race

https://blog.strava.com/galleries/pierra-menta/

La Grande Course … the six skimo biggies

https://m.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=59&v=NB1Yb-NZozw&feature=emb_logo

Another good week …

Last week included my 111th day on skis since November, and I logged just under 15 hours, a touch under 4500' vertical, as well as 171k (111.2k bike, 48k ski, 12.5k run, and a couple hours riding lifts).

Skimo makes it into theNew York Times

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/18/sports/olympics/skimo-ski-mountaineering.html

Spring skiing doesn’t get any better than this!



Competing at altitude, living at altitude, and being born at altitude

https://www.outsideonline.com/health/training-performance/altitude-natives-research/

Grand Traverse starts Sunday at midnight

This and/or the Gothic Mountain Traverse are on my bucket list for next year.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=X2eZa0AwWJs&feature=emb_title