A burly Adirondack Day

Out and back on the complete Jackrabbit Johannsen Trail. (He is a stud, recently graduated from Williams and skied D-1 college circuit all four years.)

BLAST FROM THE PAST … winter climbing in scotland

In the winter of 1979, I got someone to act as an interim caretaker at the Harvard Cabin, and I flew across the big pond with Jon Waterman, Jim Balog, and John Thackeray to climb in Scotland. After a long travel day, we third classed the Aonach Eagach, and had a memorable night in the Clachaig Inn.  A massive storm, allowed us forego our desire to pick off Glen Coe plums, and move up to Fort Williams. In the next few days we proceeded to talk a good game in the pubs, while we got drunk under the table by locals. By this time Thackeray had headed to the Alps to climb with Roy Kligfield, a gunks regular working abroad.

Eventually a decent day arrived, we hoofed it up to the Ben, watching a guy get avalanched out of a gully, which caused us to turn our attention to - "classic" - rather than "hardman" routes. Tower Ridge was climbed in the winter in the 1890s, but we found it spicy enough, and given that we were Americans and not sassenachs, we were allowed the rare privilege of a bivy in the CIC Hut.

It continued to rain, and so Jon and I headed to Chamonix, but that's another story. 

World University Games are rapidly approaching

Back on my skis

I had a good 90 minute tour at Scott's Cobble before Jon, Amanda, and our two grandkids joined us.

MERRY CHRISTMAS and a happy new year

As always, books are a key element; 2034 a great geo-political thriller, a guide to Sierra Trail Runs, and a book about bouldering in Scotland. (Selden and I are planning a trip to Scotland for 2024, which is our 40th anniversary. 

Of course there were a variety of non-flouro waxes and ski tools which Lucy picked out, and Selden got frames and pictures of some of my biggest climbs: Brenva Face, Gornergrat Glacier peaks and ski mountain routes, as well as a picture of Pinnacle Gully in Huntington Ravine. (All climbs which I soloed back in my youth.)

Iconic Canadian Rockies Ski Traverse

Unfortunately, another item that will have to wait for my next reincarnation.  However, maybe a small section might be manageable. 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=84W50M2wFTs&embeds_euri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.adventure-journal.com%2F&feature=emb_imp_woyt

Lucy on the cover photo!

She is leading the first leg of the national biathlon club relay, which her Crosscut team was able to hold on to, and win. Last March the National Championships were held at Mount Van Hoevenberg. Lucy had a fourth place in the 7.5k sprint, and a fifth in the 12.5k individual race. 

Ski conditions continue to be superb

Beautiful Day

Terrific tracks as they groomed this morning, so it looks and feels like winter. However, it is supposed to rain the day before Christmas, and then the temperatures plummet.

Yesterday was my 25th day on snow

Yesterday, I skied up the Whiteface toll road for a hour, and thankfully there had been lots of traffic, so a firm ski track was in place.

As for the rest of the week, it was chaotic, and more about recovery, given several mandatory long travel days. Despite this, I logged just under 13 hours, 115k (88k bike and 27k ski), 2150' vertical, 2 strength sessions, and another late afternoon riding lifts at Whiteface. 

Green Mountain Skimo Series

These are on my "to do" list this year … maybe every other week.

https://catamounttrail.org/cta-events/green-mountain-skimo-series/

ski tour on the Whiteface toll road

A nice firm track was skied in.

Re-reading DIRECTISSIMA: the Eiger assault

Published in the late 1960s, it's available online from the Internet Archive.  This first successful climb of the Eiger Direct, was a massive expedition, almost Himalayan in proportions. Of course, it was also when John Harlan fell to his death, after a fixed rope he was jumaring on broke. Thus today, it is referred to as The John Harlin route.

A ski song set to “Jingle Bells”



The big storm finally came …

We got about 18-20 inches of dense snow, which should make a great base for the rest of the winter. The driving is awful, and so, since the start of the storm on Friday morning I have been breaking trail, out our back pasture, to the ungroomed biathlon loop (see the trough below).  As you can imagine, it has been hard work and slow going.  But peaceful, quite scenic, and most importantly it finally feels like winter. 

ANOTHER BLAST FROM THE PAST … camping out on Commonwealth Avenue in Boston

Eastern Mountain Sports was founded in 1967 in Wellesley, but in late 1968 they moved into their flagship store on Commonwealth Avenue. In the early 1970s they held a fantastic annual sale, which also included all of their rental equipment. These yearly sales drew huge crowds, which meant that fanatics (like me) cased out the joint the day before, and slept on the sidewalk overnight, to be first in line. The next morning my college buddies, and I were probably 10th in line, and we were sure we would get everything we wanted. However, the crush of hundreds of people behind us, meant the gate was crashed when they opened the store. This Gerry expedition down coat was my prime goal that morning, a secondary goal was a Sierra Designs expedition tent, which was sadly ripped out of my hands in the melee.

I have used this massive puffy on two Denali trips, a big solo on the Italian face of Mont Blanc, as well as on numerous overnight bivouacs paired with my half bag. It is festooned with many duct tape patches, ripped pockets, and a funky zipper. Now a days, I use it to walk the dog, stay warm while waxing nordic skis, and keep it in the Hockmobile during the winter, in case I am caught in a blizzard and have to bivy.

Hoping this snow report comes to fruition!

Biathlon season off to a good start

https://player.cloudinary.com/embed/?cloud_name=ibu-production&public_id=Video%2F2022-2023%2FWorld%20Cup%2FTWIB_ALGB_Ridanna_YT2&cloudinary%5Bsecure%5D=true&cloudinary%5Bprivate_cdn%5D=true&cloudinary%5Bcname%5D=assets.biathlonworld.com&cloudinary%5Bsecure_distribution%5D=assets.biathlonworld.com&player%5Bcontrols%5D=true&player%5Btransformation%5D%5Bstreaming_profile%5D=full_hd_lean&source%5Bsource_types%5D%5B0%5D=hls&source%5Binfo%5D%5Btitle%5D=This%20Week%20In%20Biathlon&source%5Binfo%5D%5Bsubtitle%5D=Check%20out%20the%20schedule%20for%20the%20exciting%20Season%20Opening%20week%20in%20Scandinavia%21

All the World Cup races are televised, and can be watched on any device free. 

1960 Olympics … Squaw Valley now Tahoe Palisades … now getting buried in snow

https://m.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=16&v=E7LHqLowjIU&feature=emb_title

Getting the Christmas Tree

Fascinating research on Tor des Geants ultrarunners

https://us4.campaign-archive.com/?e=c79c623384&u=78f317c106f0e913583f17c21&id=627f95ecfe

An excellent morning riding lifts

Skiing easy trails on my Skimo race skis.

Last week was another decent recovery week; I cut down volume as my knee joints have still not recovered from my ultra a month ago. I logged 12 hours, just under 3400' vertical, and 140k (104k bike, 33k ski, 3k run). Additionally, aside from one strength session, last week was my first day skiing at Whiteface.

Best Recent Sweat Science Books

https://www.outsideonline.com/culture/books-media/sweat-science-holiday-book-list-2022/

BLAST FROM THE PAST … mount st. nicholas

In the fall of 1974, I spent three months climbing in the Canadian Rockies. Stephanie White, Bill Trollenberg and I were all from Union College, and we climbed many peaks, after a tuneup on Mount Rainier.

This peak - just under 10,000 feet - was climbed via the obvious snow ridge, from the Bow Hut perched on the Wapta Icefield.

What a difference grooming can make!

With several days of crappy, wet, and warm weather, as well as above freezing temps yesterday, I thought Mount Van Hoevenberg would be a washout. However, it was quite nice, and I stormed up some hills. Still, a 2k loop gets pretty boring after an hour.

Thankfully cold weather and more snowmaking are on the way.

The continued demise of tropical glaciers

https://www.planetmountain.com/en/news/environment/vanishing-giants-tropical-glaciers-colombia-facing-extinction.html

Arnold Franck … famous producer of early German mountain films

The link below is to his first skiing film (December 1920) called Das Wunder Des Schneeschuhs (The Wonder Of Skis).  Be sure to watch the section between the 5-6:30 minute mark of the crevasse fall … been there done that … and thanks to Gary for pulling me out

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=qVzsoNjJz8s&feature=emb_title

Trail running in the Andes has a long history going back to the Incas

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ONeedVaBugc&feature=emb_imp_woyt

A good week, but discombobulated training

Selden's surgery went well, as has her recovery … keeping our fingers crossed. Travel, friends visiting, barnchores, and crappy weather limited me to three ski sessions; but I'm not complaining as I have been on snow more than most. Despite all this, I logged 15.5 hours, 3350' vertical, 3 strength sessions, and 169k (143k exercise bike, 18k ski, 8k run). 

Mulled wine for your next camping trip

https://www.adventure-journal.com/camp-recipes/campfire-mulled-wine-perfect-way-ride-storm/

Re-reading an old classic … PIONEERS ON SKIS

My first edition was published in 1977. And, while the prose is not lyrical or gripping, it is serviceable. There are some wonderful stories which span skiing in the Colorado, Denali, Lake Placid, Stowe, Canadian Rockies, and Norway.

I particularly loved the story from the 1930s when they got permission - Adirondacks as per New York Constitution are forever wild - to cut a downhill trail down from the summit of Mount Van Hoevenberg which paralleled the Olympic bob run. Of course, just like modern day advocates hoping for backcountry glades (like Vermont), the answer is often yes, just don't cut any trees more than 2 inches in diameter!

The Super Tour started this week in British Columbia

The premiere domestic nordic race series kicked off with four days of racing in Sovereign Lake. With the exception of the U.S  and Canadian Teams skiing in Europe on the World Cup circuit, most of the best North American nordic skiers were on hand. My daughter Lucy has been in retirement, running a congressional campaign in Montana, but since Election Day, she has been back in training, so she drove north to jump in a couple of races.