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

Running the Huayhuash … not sure if this is an FKT

Beautiful mountain vistas, and this 15 minute video, brought back such great memories.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=3hfaWejpsSI&feature=youtu.be

Heading West on May 3rd

Still plenty of skiing to be had in the East, but I am looking forward to my trip to the east side of the sierras … ski touring, bouldering, trail running, and shooting the breeze with my buddies.

Who would have known, that the New York Times would publish an essay about American hot springs, with Travertine mentioned in the lead paragraph. For us, that has always been an obligatory stop on a trip to Yosemite or Bishop. 

 https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/30/travel/hot-springs.html?action=click&module=Well&pgtype=Homepage&section=Travel

Continental Divide Ultimate Linkup

REEL ROCK 16

Thanks to my buddy, I was able to watch "Cuddle," the video about Caldwell and Honnold's Continental Divide Ultimate Linkup.  I have not seen the other videos in this year's Reel Rock, but this 39 minute film, is definitely worth the price of admission. 

It brought back so many memories of my 4-5 trips to RMNP over the past 50 years!

Avalanche Airbag Data

https://www.wildsnow.com/31127/an-avalanche-airbag-data-set-all-about-weight/

The most important of all strength exercises

More strength training will be key, in my next season training goals. I hate being inside working out, or cutting down aerobic sessions for disciplined strength workouts.  But, for my overall health, I just have to do it!

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/23/well/how-to-do-squats.html?action=click&module=Well&pgtype=Homepage&section=Well

The new speed record on the Matterhorn from Zermatt

Kilian Jornet has the much publicized speed record from Cervinia, this record is a bit tougher from Zermatt, and has gotten less publicity.  Nevertheless it blows my mind!

 https://m.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=80&v=AQnt2kKMsGw&feature=emb_title

Biathlon Nationals

This was the largest domestic biathlon event ever in America, with almost 200 athletes, in all age categories from U14 to 70+ years of age.

Lucy finished fourth in the open women's category, shooting 80%. There were a couple of the top women missing because of covid. However, it was a very solid race, given that she has only raced 30k and 50k races this past month.

Ski touring repair kit

https://skimo.co/backcountry-ski-repair-kit

Glop on your skins is inevitable in spring … here is what to do!

https://skimo.co/stop-skin-glop

Another Arctic or far north thriller

In the past 5-6 months I have read many Arctic thrillers, and even several non-fictional travelogues.  The titles include: Arctic Meltdown, Arctic Drift, Point Deception, Black Ice, Smilla's Sense of Snow, and I am now waiting anxiously for Where Blood Runs Cold to be available on kindle for those of us in America. 

My latest novel of this genre is a post WW II classic, The Blue Ice by Hammond Innes.

Yearly skiing milestone

Yesterday, was my 100th day on skis, since the beginning of November. It was also a good week of training … 16 hours, 4750' vertical gain, and 179k (109k exercise bike, 56k ski, and 14k run).

Plenty of skiing left …

But clearly mud season is upon us!

An extended version of the making of Honnold’s VR film

Makes me want to go out and get one of those virtual realty headsets.

https://www.redbull.com/int-en/making-of-the-soloist-vr