A nice compact history of skiing

https://skimo.co/history-of-skiing

Date of first day on snow in past decade

Thinking of ski season and my bucket list

 The Pierra Menta and the Patrouille des Glacier have long been on my bucket list. Browsing through Ben Tibbett’s blog posting, I believe that train has left the station, and I’ll have to wait until my next reincarnation.

https://www.bentibbettsguiding.com/pierra-menta-the-ski-mountaineering-race/

Some Quick Denali Memories

My first trip to Alaska came about because I ran into Mark Ewing in Chamonix and then Mike Brochu in Yosemite. Of course, in those days Park regulations were strict: you had to have at least a party of four, radio communication, an onerous gear list, and names/addresses of your standby rescue team. We were all good except when our fourth - Patt Carr - bailed, and was replaced by a complete dud.

Over the span of years here are a few snippets from my potpourri of my memories: We got sponsored by Chuck Roast and North Face. Drinking whiskey with Bridwell at the glacier landing strip. Foolishly cutting loose my sled full of gear for a five mile ride down the glacier. Crawling out my tent one morning to see all the glaciers had turned black from a volcanic eruption 125 miles away. Sitting out a 17 day storm at 14,000’. Our Titanic drinking at the Fairview Inn after two summits as well a couple of our failures. Finally, I would love to go back for a week, just to ski around the glaciers. (Selden painted this watercolor off a photo from our first trip.)

Climbing with Mark at Donner Summit in 2013

Snow looking a bit skimpy so far

Looks like no road trips in my immediate future, unless I find someone who wants to drive to Canmore for the final weeks of Frozen Thunder!

Planning on Zermatt again … March 2027

Hopefully, this will not happen this winter, and curtail train service to Zermatt. Last year, a different avalanche cut off train service at St. Niklaus on our way in, and we had to offload - chaotically - to a bus, and reload at Tasch. https://snowbrains.com/swiss-village-of-randa-threatened-by-weisshorn-hanging-glacier/?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAcGRvZgVzcnRjBmFwcF9pZAo2NjI4NTY4Mzc5AAEfcfn4HZfSOVGnsBLa0cOD-akcxxpCMgyUyDOyWi4nfP9-I0LelR5yBascqxA_aem_ADPOUibw4OTPJ9n1knhOiw

Start of my ninth week post-surgery

Well everything from pre-surgery to the PT rehab has gone remarkably well; so much so, that I am considering surgery on the other knee as soon as the ski season is over. This week has seen two milestones: a return to easy jogging and easy L3 intervals. I logged 14.5 hours, on 133k (105k bike and 28k run), with 2200’ vertical. I also did two PT strength workouts and a couple of ROM stretching sessions.

Chomping at the bit for snow!

David Hochschartner (Hock)

BLAST FROM THE PAST … yosemite baker’s dozen

Pretty hard to pick favorites over such a big time span. I mainly focused on climbs from back in my youth, and climbs found on the valley floor. So, I have only included two routes from Toulumne, which has been where my focus has been for the past twenty some years.

First post surgery jogs … yahoo!

Hoping Ted doesn’t feed me this line

Another “skier” postcard I got in Moose, Wyoming this past summer. One of these days - no doubt - I will fly out to Utah to see my college buddy Ted; I am also hoping he will pick me up at the airport in Salt Lake City.

Hmmm … maybe worth a road trip

Nordic skiers are out and about at Menihek!

More chilly nights and thinking about ski season

David Hochschartner (Hock)

Sun rising, hard frost, and the full moon setting

Great weather continues as does my rehab!

Week seven from surgery continues to bring continued increases in volume, vertical, and strength. I logged just over 14.5 hours, on 138k (112k bike mostly with resistance, 24k run, and 2k ski-erg), with 2250’ vertical gain. I did two PT strength sessions, as well as stretching and range of motion exercise.

How true it is!

This holds true for all endurance sports … nordic skiing, trail running, track athletes, and all mountain athletes.

College buddies

Got up early to get an hour of exercise before I jumped in my car for the two hour drive to lunch and the Union College homecoming football game.

Super Helpful Ski Weather Blog

Chilly temperatures - maybe snow making - but no snow in the next ten days. https://nyskiblog.com/weather/

Perusing the book Yankee Rock And Ice

"The first real stimulant to New England ice climbing standards took the adventitious form of a visiting professorship. During the academic years of 1927 to 1930, Harvard University hosted the British geologist Noel E. Odell, a name that readers ofthe romantic epics of early attempts on Mount Everest will at once recognize. Odell occupied, for a brief span, a position in New England ice climbing somewhat analogous to that of Fritz Wiessner on rock (chapter 7) and the great skier Jackrabbit Johannsen on snow: a migrant from an area with more advanced standards who raised the sights of the New England locals."

Selden’s article from The Journal Of The American Revolution

https://allthingsliberty.com/2026/10/payback-attack-on-the-delancey-house/

Fifteen Memorable Eastern Rock Climbs

GUNKS. Horseman 5.5 High Exposure 5.5 Yellow Ridge 5.7 Arrow 5.8 Pas De Deux 5.8 Birdland 5.9 ADIRONDACKS. Regular Route Chapel Pond 5.5 Tilman’s Arete 5.7 Pete’s Farewell 5.7 Hesitation 5.8 Gamesmanship 5.8 Slim Pickins 5.9 WHITE MOUNTAIN Thin Air 5.6 Whitney Gilman 5.7 Sliding Board 5.7

Another good rehab week

Decreasing pain meds while the volume is increasing is certainly a good sign, additionally I continue to make incremental gains in knee flexion. Last week I logged 14 hours, on 145k (127k bike and 18k walking), with just under 1650’ vertical, as well as a couple of PT strength session, and some PT stretching for range of motion.

Long day: to and from the NY Giant football game

They blew a ten point lead, with a minute left in the first, and then fell apart in the second half. The tailgating was fabulous, and I had a great time with Lenny.

First real snow of the season

We got our first measurable snow this morning

Just a dusting here on the farm, but about an inch at higher elevations, and certainly measurable at the Whiteface Atmospheric Research Center.

Cold snap coming and thinking of ski season

I have started to use this mug for both morning tea and whiskey during cocktail hour.

A wonderful day and 126 degrees of flexion

BLAST FROM THE PAST: a bakers dozen of my best eastern ice

Summary of recent nordic combined nationals

https://nordicinsights.news/2026/10/11/niklas-malacinski-tara-geraghty-moats-win-nordic-combined-national-championships-in-lake-placid/

Cold Snap coming

Late Friday into Saturday we will have temperatures 20 (or more) degrees colder than normal, and bring with it, measurable snow at higher elevations.

Pictures from the Nordic Combined National Championships

Fifth week post-surgery

My rehab progress continues: knee flexion continues to increase, incremental gains in volume, vertical, and hours of exercise, as well as enjoying more outings. This week I logged 14:20 hours of exercise, on 138k (122k bike and 16k run), with 1600’ vertical gain. Additionally, I had several stretching/range of motion sessions, as well as two, targeted PT, strength sessions.

This is not a political blog but I couldn’t resist

Thanks for an assist from chatGPT.

Spectating the Nordic Combined National Championship

Spectacularly day to watch the jumping and skiing! My college buddy Klink came up for the day.

A great story, a fantastic tiny college and a wonderful video.

I bump into these Nordic skiers all season long. In late October they are doing laps on the Whiteface toll road whenever 2-3 inches of snow falls. As soon as Mount Van Hoevenberg starts making snow they are there. https://cms.fasterskier.com/2026/10/paul-smiths-dougherty-national-title/

My plan for upcoming months

In the past two days I have had good conversations with my PT guy and my surgeon, now that I am in my fifth week post-surgery. I mostly just asked them if my concept of a walk-jog-run progression, as well as my thought on volume and vertical progressions seemed realistic. With their proviso - (“don’t do anything stupid”) - they seemed to think it was manageable. Then of course, I set out alterations to include inevitable seasonal change of activities.

Another sketch of my climbing history

The North Ridge of the Grand is a fantastic route, and at the time of its first ascent (1931) probably the hardest alpine climb in America.

More thoughts about ski season

In a humorous sort of way …

More World Cup photos from my buddy Klink

It was a good week, with UCI races and continued incremental post-surgery gains. I continue to log more exercise, this week managing 13.5 hours, on 108k (96k exercise bike and 12k hike), with 900’ vertical ascent, and also several stretching and PT strength sessions.

Starting to think about ski season

Skiing has started in Ruka; in two weeks there will be tracks also in Canmore; and of course there will be tracks over Thanksgiving at Mount Van Hoevenberg. Given my new knee, I am hoping to be nordic skiing on easy terrain after Thanksgiving.