BLAST FROM THE PAST: east ridge of the grand

In the mid-70s, my college buddy Murph, and I bivied part way up the east ridge of the Grand Teton.  It started raining that night and so we retreated the next day.  My next encounter with the east ridge was in the mid-80s when Michael Franklin and I attempted a winter ascent.  It snowed considerably during our bivy and we immediately went into retreat mode, thinking the east ridge snowfields might avalanche.

Over the years I have climbed the Exum Ridge many times - including the complete lower Exum - as well as the Petzoldt, Underhill, and North Ridge of the Grand. I will probably have to wait for my next reincarnation for another attempt on the East Ridge. 

More ski lessons for Dave

Ski lessons for my six year old grandson.

My son Jon was the expedition photographer.  This was just Dave's second time on skis. 

Putting Alpinist #91 and #92 with the rest of the collection …

When I realized there were still two articles I wanted to read, and they were both wonderful. The first by Bernadette McDonald remembering Polish climber Wanda Rutkiewicz, and the other by Christopher Elliott, about his solo climb of the Campanile Basso in the Brenta Dolomites.

This article is less about the Campanile Basso climb, and more about reflections on the nature of the moral imperatives climbers owe. Not just what do we owe in climbing ethics, to climbing community, but what do we owe to the nation, global communities, and humanity.

The focus is on three climbers from the 1920s-1940s, and their relationship to climbs on the Campanile Basso, but also to their reactions towards the spread of fascism. There is no mention of our current global trends, but one must guess it was in the back of his mind, when he wrote the article.

If you get a chance, check them out.

Just back from a wonderful ski

A beautiful sunset, and so nice to be able to ski until after 5pm. The big bonus - in addition to fabulous tracks - was that it was 29 degrees. That's the warmest it's been in almost a month!

February 18 … put it on your calendar

The 90 pound rucksack challenge in honor of the Tenth Mountain Division.

In a gutsy performance Diggins takes a bronze in the 10k

BLAST FROM THE PAST: skinning up Monte Rosa in 1992

The day before we had climbed Castor and skied the Schwarztor tour to the Monte Rosa hut. The next morning at 4am, Gary and I climbed the peak and did a glorious 10,000' vertical descent back to Zermatt. (Thanks to ChatGPT for the painting.)

Heading back to Zermatt in three weeks … yahoo!

KLAEBO: greatest of all time

It was unbelievable to watch him separate himself - so convincingly - from the field, on the very steep, final uphill, in yesterday's sprint.

Saw this by chance and was reminded of fond memories …

While Lucy was racing in college, I always looked forward to the Dartmouth Carnival race.  The campus vibes, the old school course at Oak Hill with lots of narrow twisty trails, and the long history of skiing and climbing at the Dartmouth Outing Club, made it loads of fun. 

Interesting article about the original ski boots …

Before there was really such a thing as a ski boot!

Well Worn Beginnings — The Journal journal.alpsandmeters.com

Silver Medal for Ben Ogden

Well it's been fifty years since an American male has won an Olympic nordic medal. Bill Koch won silver at the Seefeld Olympics in 1976.

A fantastic day for the entire team, as all four women advanced to the heats, with Julia Kern making it to the finals. Three of our four men advanced to the heats, with JC Schoonmaker making it into the semifinals.

However, Ogden showed great power putting the hammer down on the final big uphill and separating himself from all but Klaebo. Watch out for the team sprints, where he will probably be teamed with Gus Schumacher.

The impact of melting glaciers



Why Earth's melting glaciers matter more than we think youtube.com

Another cold week, with more snow, and the Winter Olympics

I met up with my college buddy - Klink - at Flanagan's Pub in Schroon Lake to shoot the breeze and watch the Opening Ceremony in Milan.

As per exercise, I logged just over 15 hours, on 155k (113k bike, 37k ski, 5k run), with 3300' vertical. I also spent a morning alpine skiing with Skimo race gear, I did one strength session, as well as a bit of PT stretches.

More COROS data

I have just started to tune into my sleep data, this doesn't look too good!

Frida Karlsson crushes the 20k skiathlon in the 2026 Olympics

Karlsson Wins Gold as Diggins' Freestyle Signals What's Still Possible fasterskier.com

What a beautiful place to live

Olympic biathlon schedule



Re-reading Lost Horizon

With that in my mind, I asked ChatGPT to paint a picture of Conway and his party arriving over the Shanghai-La pass, and heading to the lamasery. A wonderful book if you have never read it!

Olympic nordic race schedule

Remember, Peacock will stream these all live, and the time difference is six hours.

Snowing, and today will be my 70th day on snow



A beautiful day, giving way to a beautiful night



BLAST FROM THE PAST: green shoenards!

Best climbing shoe for edging I ever had. I bought my pair in 1975, and they were amazing for climbing in the Gunks. Super stiff shank, so they were not really comfy to walk in, but you could use them for approaches. I used them on a number of climbs in the Tetons as well.

A cold but very good week

I logged just over 14 hours this week, on 139k (90k bike, 35k ski, 10k row, and 4k run), with 4075' vertical. I also managed to do a strength workout and a stretching session, but no alpine skiing.

One month to go!

I asked ChatGPT to take two photos of me and Lenny and turn it into a travel poster for Zermatt.

Cold but beautiful skin up toll road

A third Winter Olympics in Lake Placid?



A third winter Olympics in Lake Placid? Explorer event examines the possibility adirondackexplorer.org

The evolution of classic skiing

A very short - fun video - from Koch, to the old days of one pole classic, ending with Klaebo the current master. 

The Evolution Of Classic Skiing youtube.com

Fantastic ski conditions in the ‘dacks

Yesterday, out doing intervals at Mount Van Hoevenberg.

Heart Rate Variability and your training

The key passage is as follows:

Daily fluctuations are normal. Hard sessions or unusually long workouts often cause short-term drops in HRV, and that's not a problem provided values don't fall well below baseline. What matters is the seven-day trend and whether that trend begins drifting downward.

Chronic suppression tells us several things:

• the autonomic nervous system is not recovering
• training stress exceeds adaptive capacity
• intensity distribution is likely wrong, even if volume looks reasonable

Using Heart Rate Variability to Guide Training fasterskier.com

Historical and current update on 2026 Winter Olympics



https://www.skiinghistory.org/article/cortinas-olympic-rewrite

A good training week

During the past week I logged 14:40 hours, on 141k (105k bike, 29k ski, 5k run, 2k row), with 2700' vertical.

I also managed one morning of alpine skiing on skimo race gear, two strength workouts, as well as one stretching session.

Given the frigid temperatures and the big storm that followed the loppet was shortened and the field was small. That said, Lucy cruised to the win, and I logged some good kilometers skiing on the course, while cheering racers.

Sad week with the passing of Karen Delaney

A pillar of our community, a warm, generous, and wonderful person. A terrific mom, athlete, nurse, mountain guide, church member, and a loving partner to my buddy Brian.

It was a moving and touching funeral mass, followed by a celebration of her life, that brought out our entire community, on a day when temperatures never went above -8 degrees.

Asking ChatGPT to paint a picture

I uploaded a picture of our house, and asked it to paint a watercolor of me skiing back home, with a full moon and stars twinkling. Getting my grandson psyched for his February visit.

A nice quote and photo from VINTAGE SKIING



Yesterday my 60th day on snow this season



Two weeks until the Winter Olympics and Six Weeks Until Zermatt

A watercolor by John Singer Sargent

Pretty damn cold but …

A wonderful morning riding lifts with my skimo race gear. Moreover, it's only going to get a lot colder in the next few days!

Cold snap has started but the skiing is great

I did a 25 minute warmup with Stash on Old Mountain Road and then 55 minute ski on the 1980 Olympic trails.

Another good week

This week I logged 15 hours, on 125k (83k bike, 29k ski, 7k run, and 6k row), with 3500' vertical. I also managed one morning of alpine skiing, one strength workout, as well as two stretching sessions.

Excellent skiing at Mount Van Hoevenberg

Skinning up the toll road …

With my buddies John and Gary, and then a stop at Gary's 10x12 cabin.

A fantastic single malt

Drinking some whiskey with Gary and John. They were running laps on Pitchoff Right today, and I was skiing. Tomorrow we are going to skin up the toll road.