Happy Birthday Selden

She scored big time on this birthday ... Three books, a tractor hitch,
and sawzall blades ... no dresses, jewelry, or fancy shoes for this
lady!

Scratching Anorthosite

After the morning faculty meetings, but before the planting of the flower garden, I grabbed a couple of quick laps (5.6) on the NCS crag with my soloist. I am going to try an do a lot of my climbing in big boots before I head off to the Cordillera Blanca with Matt H. This evening we celebrate Selden's birthday, (about a week late as usual), her birthday always falls on the last - busy -days of school.

Beautiful, Breezy, Crisp Day

Back from my quick trip to DC, we were stuck inside all day with end-
of-school meetings. I did sneak in a quick hike up Owl's Head before
dinner with the family. Tonight a frost is likely!

Missing Snow?

A video of Salt Lake City nordic racers doing some skating workouts in the Wasatch during the last week in May, on the terrific Spring crust. Of course, they time it right so that have velvet corn to telemark down on their racing skis. Looks pretty good to me, but then again you would have to trade that late season skiing for Adirondack black flies ... what kind of trade-off would that be!

Checking in with the US Nordic Team

Check out the first on-snow camp of the new training year!

Haute Route 2011

Here is another video to get you psyched for the upcoming alpine adventure. This summer is the time to build the training base, secure family "buy-in," and start to review your ski mountaineering gear needs. In terms of training the critical elements are general aerobic endurance and leg strength to handle the 20,000' of vertical climbing. On a related note, after graduation I talked with one of our families that resides in Switzerland, and we shall be welcomed with meals and showers.

NCS Graduation

This last few days have passed in a flurry of very late nights, over-scheduled days, high emotion, and far too-litle exercise. In particular, the last 48 hours have been a blur of eating at special events, schmoozing with parents, and speech-making to the assembled multitudes. The enclosed pictures are from: the graduation ceremony, one from our end of the year performance of "Alice in Wonderland," and one from our equestrian drills. In another 90 minutes I head off to DC for an alumni event and a meeting at NAIS. Then back for a couple of days of meetings with teachers, and then finally I can catch my breath before next weekend's alumni event.

Tragedy in the Cordillera Blanca

So What Fueled Shackleton's Endurance?

Any Fossil could have guessed the answer ... Single malt! Now an archaeological dig has confirmed what every Fossil surmised, the success of that heroic polar adventure was directly related to a liberal supply of scotch. It brings to mind the rather large quantity of that elixir which Hock, El Presidente, and Mike B flew into the Kahiltna glacier with in the 1970s. And while their stove failed on Denali, and their diet was monotonous on the West Rib, they found that you could always barter for goods on the glacier with high quality scotch. (As always click on the image to enlarge the photograph and read the text.)

Giri-Giri Boys At It Again

Two well-known Japanese alpinists climbed one of the unclimbed plums of North America. The South Face of Mount Logan in the Yukon is well over 8,000 feet high. They climbed in impeccable style - three days alpine style - descended the East Ridge and did a 30 kilometer glacier trudge back to their camp. These two are no strangers to the frozen north, having already done a link-up of the Isis and Slovak Direct on Denali during a previous trip.

CLICK ON THIS LINK TO ACCESS THE FULL DETAILS

May Training

Despite a busy school schedule and lots of travel, I did manage to keep reasonably fit. For instance, I did some kind of exercise on 25 days last month, my short hikes yielded almost 4000' of climbing, and seven short bouldering sessions, combined with the equivalent of six full-length rock pitches signal the real start of the climbing season. My goal in the next 6-7 weeks is to lose a few pounds, log significant vertical, and lead some pitches every week to get ready for a potential climbing trip to the Cordillera Blanca.

(As always you may click on the image to enlarge the screen capture.)

Training for a Speed Ascent of the Nose

Alex and Uli speed climbing The Nose on 5.20.10 from Chris Falkenstein on Vimeo.

Uli Steck and Alex Honnold are in Yosemite Valley training for a speed scent of the Nose. They are hoping to break Hans Florine and Yurji Hirayama's record of 2:37:05. This short video, shot with a big zoom lens from El Cap meadows, shows the two climbers getting ready for the "King Swing." (As always you may access the video on vimeo and see it in a larger format.)

On Your Next Himalayan Expedition Or Trek

A recent new York Times article explored the significant growth in yoga facilities in Pokhara, as many travelers look to continue their yoga practice while they are on the road. The article reviews both minimalist and high end luxury ashrams. It made me wonder, so has someone started a similar business in Huaraz, the gateway to the Cordillera Blanca?

CLICK HERE TO ACCESS THE ARTICLE

TED Talks Video

In this short video - slightly more than four minutes - Matthew Childs shares 9 Lessons about rock climbing that are also applicable to life. He illustrates his points with pictures from the Sierras and the front range of the Rockies. Excellent advice and well worth watching and remembering.

Women Climbing Guides

In the entire six million acre Adirondack Park there are only two women working as full-time rock and ice climbing guides. Nationally - and internationally - this mirrors the trends in this male dominated sport, with almost 70 percent of participants being males.

Click here to access the New York Times article

20 Second Video

This short piece catches Gary climbing the face holds on the bottom section of "Unexpected." A dozen feet above Gary the nature of this short route changes dramatically, as it overhangs with monster jugs. Come on up and see how many of the 39 routes you can do at the NCS crag.

Laps on "Unexpected"

At 5.7 and overhanging, six consecutive laps certainly got me pumped and blowing off carbon dioxide! We also did laps on "Hock's Blessing," and "One Taste," which are 5.6 and 5.5 respectively.

Gary at the NCS crag

A quick break from work, as Gary was hanging out at his lean to for Memorial Day. We did 12 laps of easy and moderate routes.

Black Diamond and Gregory Sold

Rarely do I include news from the business pages, however when two critical outdoor gear companies get bought out, that is news for Fossil alpinists. It seems that all current outdoor management types will be left in place. Click on the image to enlarge the photograph and read the article.

Ski Mountaineering in Peru

A bit out dated, and in need of tighter editing, this is still an interesting and valuable article for those who want to take their boards to the Cordillera Blanca.

(As always click on the image to enlarge the photograph.)

Click here to access article

More Data on Tropical Glacier Shrinkage

While I lament what the retreat of glaciers in the Andes, Himalayas, and African mountains mean in terms of climbing, the real issue is that these glaciers are the source of fresh drinking water for hundreds of millions of people, who will be adversely effected by climate change. (As always click on the image to enlarge the photograph.)

Peruvian Thoughts

It's not set in stone, however Matt and I are closing in on some mutually agreeable dates in the Cordillera Blanca. This is a relatively compressed time frame, although certainly feasible. Any one else got two weeks off?

Quote of the Week

Last evening I read a sample of "The Fatal Mountaineer," a biography of Willi Unsoeld. Much of this 30 page snippet was about the ill-fated trip in the late 1970s to Nanda Devi, a story that I was quite familiar with. Nevertheless, it got me reacquainted with a seminal figure in American mountaineering and outdoor education. It inspired me to re-read the account of his futuristic climb of the West Ridge of Everest in 1963.

Long a proponent of experiential education, he often maintained that ... "RISK IS AT THE HEART OF ALL EDUCATION." Or alternatively, "IT HAS TO BE REAL ENOUGH TO KILL YOU" ... an educational maxim that he lived AND died by.

Late Breaking News

If you are not familiar with it, the website "Top 100 Climbing Sites," ranks all the climbing, and mountaineering related sites in the world ... Fossil Alpinism has just broken into the big time at #196 ... yahoo!

As a related aside, if you are looking for something conected to the mountains, or just trying to noodle around ... check this site out!

A Beautiful Spring Day At NCS

It is hard to believe but the temperatures the past several days in the Adirondacks have gone above 80 degrees - unheard of really. Quirk of fate? Climate change? Who knows? Enjoy this 180 degree, fish-eye lens view of our campus. Thanks to John E. (As always, click on the image to enlarge the photograph.)

Chas

A former student of mine - NCS '84 - Charles and his family getting ready for him to ride off on a century charity ride, raising money for abused children. Back in the day he was a strong hiker, climber, skier, and all-round good guy.

Piano Recital

Lucy - along with all the other instrumentalists at school - had a recital last evening. She played a minuet from Mozart's "Don Giovanni." Normally a Sunday evening performance would have mandated a dress-up dinner occasion, however with graduation two weeks away, we want students to keep their dress clothes fresh hanging in their closets.

Two amazing things about the recital. First, Don her piano teacher has been at NCS for over 50 years, and has taught many a virtuoso, including a current music director of big-time Broadway shows. Second, of our 90 students, about half take individual music lessons.

A Few Hours At The NCS Crag

I took another break from paper work, and this time I brought a rope and self-belayed laps on the crag. The 5.5 route, "One Taste," was a perfect climb to work out the kinks with my soloist device.

Virtual Himalayan Art Museum

Just another plug for this great cultural resource. Enclosed is a link to a scholarly article about Tibetan buddhist thangkas, or pictorial scrolls. Enjoy.

CLICK HERE

Fantastic Sierra Climbing Video

This ten minute video follows Peter Croft and Conrad Anker as they climb "Solar Flare" on the Incredible Hulk. The Sawtooths are an incredible place, and they are still awaiting a first Fossil traverse. Mark-Brian-and I went in 5 years ago to try and do the grade VI 5.9 traverse, and bailed due to poor weather. I strongly recommend this video. (Is this a new genre, a high-end alpine sport route?)

The Incredible Hulk - Solar Flare from Granite Films Jim Surette on Vimeo.

More Bouldering

I took a break from paper work this Saturday afternoon and hiked up to the NCS crag. I did ten laps of an easy 35 foot high problem called "Buried Treasure" (5.2). This short video films just the lower half of the route and the background music is from the soundtrack of "The English Patient."

An Intriguing Book

I was reading the blog "Faster Skier" and I came across a pithy review of this book. A bit of research and it was immediately put on my Amazon wish list (hopefully someone in my family will get it for me). It seems to be an outgrowth of the 10,000 hours line of research, and it references Gladwell's "Outliers."

Cabin to be moved

Now that Selden has cleared the rest of our property, the Fossil Cabin will be moved down hill and away from the other buildings so we can have more privacy and howl at the moon to our hearts content.

The Matterhorn

After skking the Haute Route from Chamonix to Zermatt next March, I am also hoping to do a climb in the Pennine Alps. My routes of choice are either the Hornli Ridge or the North Face of the Matterhorn. The short video profiles a hard, new mixed route on the South Face of the Matterhorn.

Terrific Sunset

A couple of days ago, as Stegs and I were trading war stories,
watching the sunset to the background music of ten bleeting lambs.

A Delightful Hour

The weather was terrific, and just before dinner I did an hour of bouldering and yoga out by our yurt in the NCS sugarbush. This short video catches me climbing doing laps on a simple 5.6 problem to the tune of Jimi Hendrix and "All Along the Watchtower."

Gearing Up for the Haute Route

This short video is to help you stay motivated through the summer, the 2011 Haute Route trip is going to happen. Stegs was sitting on my deck the night before last, sipping wine and talking gear. To that end I bring you a thought and a decision to be made ... you need to have a harness for skiing on the glacier. 1) Your climbing harness will do; 2) absent that you may borrow an NCS climbing harness. (These are safe but I'll be honest they are not light.) Or, 3) you may purchase your own. With that in mind I have enclosed a link to an "Off Piste" review of the Black Diamond Couloir, their lightweight, full featured, ski mountaineering harness.

Times Article ... a 13 year old on Everest

Click here to access the article

It is hard to get worked up about this, of course from the kid's point of view, it is probably easy to see that climbing seven summits would be a lot more fun than sitting in math class! From the dad's vantage point, being on Team Jordan is probably a lot more fun than having a real job. Nevertheless, it is an interesting article ... what do you think?

Quote of the Week

"It's always further than it looks.
It's always taller than it looks.
And it's always harder than it looks."

More La Casa de Zarela

Well, my summer schedule already seems pretty jammed with development office travel, and so I am not 100% sure that I can actually carve out enough time for a climbing trip to the Cordillera Blanca. However, if I can manage 14-16 days to travel to Peru, know that La Casa de Zarela is the best place to stay in Huaraz. (There is nothing like doing yoga on the roof-top terrace and watching an Andean sunset!

My iPad Has Arrived!

Not quite the revolution that Steve Jobs promised but pretty darn slick. I downloaded the Netflix app and before I could click my heels three times I was watching the - just released - video "North Face." Be reminded, this is historical fiction, although most of the story line and climbing sequences are accurate. It was a fabulous climbing film, perhaps the best ever made. For a climber there would have been enough magic, pathos, and heart-stopping moments if they had scrupulously recreated the Rainer-Angerer-Kurz-and Hinterstoisser tragedy, however I suppose the film was enhanced for the average viewer with the addition of the overlaid romance and Nazi background. Still, the artistic liberties taken: portraying the Swiss guides as "oh so helpful," and "going out on a limb" so to speak, or the tired cinematic cliche of cutting the rope, or even the unearthing of gear at the Death Bivouac, all rankled a serious historian.

Given those qualifiers, I strongly recommend this German film with English sub-titles. (When you are done no doubt you will go to your book collection and want to re-read "The White Spider.")

More Alta Ski Reunion Pictures

Larry has collected all the photographs from our alumni and put together a great Alta video. I uploaded a few pictures from my time out on the "groomers." As you can see we had fantastic weather and fantastic snow.

Hock's First Day on the Crag

The weather is going to be gorgeous this week, and I hope to do a bit of climbing on the NCS crag every day. Yesterday I did three laps on "Hock's Blessing" (5.6). The photograph is of Lewis - an NCS student - on the lower section of "Dirty Dave" (5.3) which then finishes on the 5.7 crack just visible above. The other picture is of Nick, Sam, and Katie getting ready to do "Vermont" the classic 5.7+ on our crag.

I have been talking to Matt - who has almost attained Fossil age and stature - about heading to the Cordillera Blanca. As always such conversations bring up a wave of nostalgia ... terrific weather, good times with Larry and Gary and Reggie, 6000 meter peaks, Oscar, Cafe Andino, and of course, La Casa de Zarela, and the lady herself Zarela Zamora.

Happy Day

On May 15, 2010 Jon graduated from SUNY Plattsburgh with a degree in journalism (a minor in literature). During his time at college he may have struggled with the required courses in math, science, and foreign language, but he was able to get a great deal of professional writing published ... much of it paid work.

For instance, if you click on the enclosed link you may access his short sketches of the five essential films that all Liberals (also commies, socialists, and anarchists) should watch

CLICK HERE

Chamonix Memories

This is another French video of one of the routes that Larry and I climbed in 2008, the Traverse of Crochues. This is an easy rock ridge traverse in the Aiguilles Rouges with a fine snow descent to a wonderful hut by a lake.
Click on this link to access the video.

More About Climbing Skins

No doubt all of the Fossils have put their skis away for the season, everyone that is except Tori and Greg down in the Southern Alps of New Zealand. However, many of us are gearing up for a trip on the classic Haute Route next March, and so while our gear is stored, this may be a good time to look around for close-out sales. Enclosed below is an article on climbing skins reprinted from "Off Piste."

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Climbing Skins


Climbing skins are, obviously, essential equipment for backcountry skiing. For a piece of gear that we use as much as we do, climbing skins do not get a lot of press. Skis are more fun to talk about for sure, but a good skin is key to a good day.


Dynafit Manaslu Climbing Skins

I have a variety of skins going at the moment. Dynafit makes a skin to match their Manaslu ski and I have used them quite a bit this winter. The skin's unique attachment system interfaces with the slot in the tip of the Manaslu ski. I am not one for equipment designed for a single use, but the tip attachment system does work well. It is easy to release and I have never had any trouble with it getting kicked free or falling off during use. The skins are one of the better gliding skins out there,too, and their uphill traction is pretty good, not the best, but i would rather have a skin that glides well and climbs pretty good than a skin that glides ok and climbs the best. One of the best things about the dynafit skin is that it stays pretty darn dry in all conditions, and it is, as you might expect from Dynafit, nice and light. The glue has been reliable, but I question its ability to stand the test of time as it seems a bit thin. So far so good, but time will tell.


G3 Alpinist Climbing Skin

Another skin I have been impressed with is the G3 Alpinist. It has proven to glide as well as any skin I have, and climbs great. Like the Dynafit, the G3 skin is also quite light. It is tough to compare them as they are cut to different width skis, but they definitely fall into the lightweight skin category. The cool thing about the Alpinist skin is its unique and functional tip attachment. The system uses two swiveling clips and the design accomodates a wide variety of tip shapes. It has proven to be bomber. With a season-and-a-half of use, the glue has proven reliable, too.

Black Diamond GlideLite Climbing Skins

The last pair of skins i have in the mix is a pair of Black Diamond Glidelites. They offer a great reliable tip and tail attachment. The tail clip is similar to to the popular tail clip systems available, but i think it is one of th best. My complaint on the GlideLite is that the glide does not measure up against the Dynafit or G3's. The old blue and white GlideLite had one of the best glides around a few years back, but the newer version is sluggish. They do climb great and the glue is the oldest of all the skins i have and has stood the test of time well.


Key to a good skinning experience is good skin care. It is not rocket science to treat your skins well, but there are a few key elements to using skins.

Rule #1 - Do not let the glue side touch the snow.

Rule #2 - Keep them folded glue side to glue side when not in use. I fold them in half as best as the wind will allow.

Rule #3 - If the glueside begins to ice up, tuck the skins inside your jacket on the descent, and or you can scrape the glue side against your ski edge - holdskin on either side of the ski edge and run it over the edge - and then stuff them inside your layers to warm up.

Rule #4 - keep the glue clean. Things like pine needles, sap, and animal fur will compromise your skin glue.

Rule #5 - Be sure to dry your skins over night

Rule #6 - Keep the skin side away from open water. Skins ice up when they get. stepping in wet snow or letting the tails dip into a creek on a creek crossing will set you up for clumping. I like to carry a plastic ski scraper (it has numerous applications) and use it to scrape my skins if they begin to clump up at all. A ski scraper and some skin wax go a long way, but applying skin wax without scraping them will limit the effectiveness of wax.

Question for Larry

Have you gotten your custom-made 333 skis yet? I don't know how I got here, but I watched Michael Lisch's "How We Make Your Skis" video. Enjoy. (Next time I am in the Sierras I think I'll stop in to see him, as he parks his trailer near the Mammoth hot springs.)

Video trailer: the wildest dream

Due this summer, the full-length motion picture that features Conrad Anker and Leo Houlding recreating some of the climbing scenes of Mallory and Irvine on Everest, ought to be a good one. On a related note Julia Roberts is going to produce another film biography of Mallory, due out in 2012.

Training for Alpine Climbing

Steve House's blog entry about how he trains for his big alpine climbs. Not many fossils can keep up a regimen like this, but it is worth looking at and doing a scaled-down version.

CLICK HERE TO ACCESS THE ARTICLE