VIDEO: climbing the croz spur

Croz spur with Slovenian start- Grandes Jorasses from Jonathan Griffith on Vimeo.

ADIRONDACK ICE

This picture was from a few weeks ago, when Robert (Union College '78) climbed Roaring Brook Falls (NEI 3+). The photograph was taken from the first belay stance.

Trap Dike Gets Skied

READ THE TRIP REPORT AND WATCH THE SLIDESHOW.

Extreme Skiing NCS Style

Last week Dave skied the Trouble Slab, a 45-50 degree, 5.2 rock slab, high above our campus. Perfect conditions yielded to his athletic tele-jump turns.

JI Nordic Racers at the Scando Cup

Latest Chamonix Snow Report

The 1972 Chouinard Catalog

One the most prized items in my climbing library is this copy of the famous and trend-setting mail order catalog. In a world with no Internet or blogs, few books and magazines that covered climbing, nor a plethora of specialty shops, here was a thin tome that spelled out the philosophy and announced the vision for a new generation of alpinists. I started climbing the year this catalog was produced.


CLICK ON THIS LINK TO READ AN INTERESTING ARTICLE ABOUT THIS SEMINAL WORK OF ART.

Petzl Counterfeits

Five Ways To Improve Your Yoga

CLICK TO READ THE ARTICLE FROM YOGA JOURNAL.

Alpine Touring

CLICK ON THIS LINK TO READ THE ARTICLE.

Extreme Skiing in Chamonix

Glen Plake, from moguls to ski mountaineering. from sébastien montaz-rosset on Vimeo.

North face of the Matterhorn

A short video following a Fall ascent of this classic route. It has always been on my "hit list" and part of me wants to bring enough gear in March just in case!

North Face of the Matterhorn from ffatcamp on Vimeo.

Light Is Right

John Bouchard in the early 1970s making his mark in Chamonix. Later he steals the best local gal (Titoune), gets an MBA and starts Wild Things. His mantra "Light is Right" effected all of us, and especially influenced his young employee Mark Twight. Enjoy this page out of an early Wild Things catalogue, compliments of the Cold Thistle website.


CLICK HERE TO ACCESS THE 1984 WILD THINGS CATALOG.

No Snow in Chamonix?

It has not snowed in a month, however as the cognoscenti know, there is good snow to be found ... even powder stashes.

Somewhere in Chamonix from Felix Hentz on Vimeo.

100th Dartmouth Winter Carnival

A short video about the nordic races at this legendary event.

Carni Love from Revived Films on Vimeo.

Steve House Interviews Colin Haley

FOLLOW THIS LINK TO THE SPORTIVA WEBSITE INTERVIEW.

Looking Pretty Good for 84K

5 Great Books of Mountain Exploration

A wonderful short essay introducing you to five fabulous books. I am familiar with four (Shipton, Whymper, Tilman, and Herzog), and I am totally unfamiliar with Freshfield's "Around Kanchenjunga" ... However if I can get aided copy maybe I will take it to the Alps holiday. I strongly encourage a look at Mark Horrell's blog.

CLICK HERE TO ACCESS THE BLOG.

Shredding it

Larry's son Pete at the Tow House on the NCS Ski Hill ... Getting after it

More Canadian Ski Marathon

Day #2 ... with 70+ kilometers behind them, Lucy and Hannah pull into my gu stop to fuel up for the last 12 klicks. No whining, mostly good technical skiing, and they only used the survival shuffle for the last few kilometers. Next year we aim to have a team of four and take the youth title back to NCS.

Canadian Ski Marathon

Some large blisters ended our day early after 40k and about 2000'. However, a superb day, the kids skied quite well, and faster than I imagined. Tomorrow we aim for three sections and 45k.

Video: skiing Kashmir

Kashmir - A Skier's Journey: Ep1 from Jordan Manley Photography on Vimeo.

Chamonix and the Alps

The Alps started the season with copious and frequent early season snowfalls. However, there has been no snow for a month. Instead, there have been long stetches of sunny, warm weather, and settled snow conditions. Of course, my wildest fear is that we get over there, the weather turns, and we have two weeks of non-stop storms. (This is similar to what happened in the early 1990s when I went across the big pond ... All I can say was that we did not get any climbing in but we skied unbelievable powder ... Not a bad trade-off I guess.)

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

With one month to go before we head to the Alps, I thought I would use a Dougal Haston quote cited in the Connor's book. After all, Dougal was one of the first Brits to jump into the Alpjne Winter climbing scene.

"In winter, the mountains seem to regain their primitive, virginal pride, and no more do the howling, littering summer masses tramp their more accessible slopes."

Adirondack Avalanche Conditions

During the past stormy weekend two skiers had an unplanned bivouac in a snow cave, on their way to ski the Dix slides (pictured). Snow conditions were challenging, and there is an avalanche warning for all Adirondack slides. Be careful in the backcountry.


CLICK HERE TO READ THE NEWSPAPER ARTICLE.

Canadian Ski Marathon

We are getting excited! The goal for the two NCS racers - Lucy and Hannah - is to do a total of 84-105 kilometers. As you can see from the course profile, it will be a big challenge. I will be along as the pack mule, carrying the extra clothes, wax, first aid equipment, and food. (Click on the image to enlarge the graph.)

The Ueli Steck Training Regimen

The man, the myth, the legend!


CLICK HERE TO ACCESS THIS PHOTO-ESSAY.

Reusch Block Test

Today in Larry's Earth science class students did a reusch block snow stability test on a 30 degree, north facing slope. The culmination of the snow physics unit comes in ten days with student presentations of their avalanche research.

Extreme Skiing NCS Style

The picture is from my last lap of a pre-dawn ski. I realized that it was going to be a busy day, and that my only chance to tour with the demo skis from the Mountaineer (Karhu Guide XCD and silvretta 500s) would be very early by headlamp. However, now my young staff are stopping by the office every free period they have ... the word is out ... the Trouble slab a 5.2 friction climb on campus is in perfect condition. During the past 30+ years it has only been skied a couple of times, first by Lindsay Putnam, ex-USST racer and a charter member of the "Ski To Die Club." Yesterday, it got its 4th and 5th descents.

Too old, and too much work is the answer I have been giving the young staff!

The Munter Hitch

A concise and important article from CLIMBING magazine on the key uses of the Munter hitch, the Munter mule, and the auto-blocking Munter.


CLICK ON THIS LINK TO ACCESS THE ARTICLE.

Shangri-La Ski Expedition (part 2)

Shangri-La Ski Expedition Part 2 from camp4 collective on Vimeo.

Nanda Devi, Spies, Plutonium, and the Cold War

A little known episode in American mountaineering, is the attempt in the 1960s to plant a plutonium powered listening device on top of Nanda Devi. The CIA enticed a bunch of prominent mountaineers to become trained as spies, and to place this device in the Himalayas so that it might pick up information about China's nuclear tests. I have read Takeda's very good AN EYE AT THE TOP OF THE WORLD, and intend to get a copy of Kohli's SPIES IN THE HIMALAYAS.

CLICK ON THIS LINK TO ACCESS THE TRAILER TO THE DOCUMENTARY FILM PROJECT.

Shangri-La Ski Expedition

Shangri-La Ski Expedition_Part 1 from camp4 collective on Vimeo.

Haute Route Training

Dick skied up the ski trail to Cardigan Mountain. This old ski trail is maintained by the Dartmouth Outing Club and climbs about 1000'. He reported very crusty conditions from the Saturday evening rain. He also skated a very fast 20k on Saturday ... He appears fit ... We will reserve judgement on how he handles his ice axe!

Terrific New Blog ... The Mountain Library

While I was doing a bit of research on the life and times of Dougal Haston I came upon this great website. Well worth checking out.

CLICK HERE TO ACCESS THIS BLOG.

70 K Marcialonga

These guys are serious studs! This famous Italian classical marathon ski race, has the winners double poling the entire course, even the final kilometers which are all uphill ... nordic animals!

More about the Vasaloppet

Lake Placid Loppet

The NCS crew a few minutes before the gun went off for the 25K race. The course is a tough one, climbing over 1800' in the 15.5 miles. Nevertheless, all the students exceeded their goals, and almost everyone won a medal in their category.

Ski History of the Cascades

Lowell Skoogs has put another chapter of this important work in progress on-line.


CLICK ON THE LINK TO ACCESS THIS ARTICLE.

Five Weeks Until Chamonix

Another beautiful day in the Alps. You can see skiers heading down the ridge from the Aiguille du Midi to ski the Vallee Blanche. The weather has been cold and clear, but they need some new snow.

Ski Prep for the Loppet

Norwegian Birkebeiner

In honor of the upcoming Lake Placid loppet and the Canadian Ski Marathon I posted another short video of one of the most famous long-distance events in the world. At 55K it is not nearly as long as the Vasaloppet, however it does climb up and over a mountain! As with many of the Scandinavian distance ski events, it is tied directly to an important historical event.

In this case, almost a 1000 years ago, there was a civil war, with rival claims to the Norwegian throne. Legend has it that two burly warriors skied Prince Hakon to safety, thus all the competitors carry a 3.5 kg pack to symbolize the infant prince. (A recent historical novel suggests that Hakon's mom may have accompanied the two warriors over the mountain.) A couple of my recent graduates skied it last year with their Proctor Academy teammates. Lucy and I plan to ski it when she turns 16. The race usual draws about 15,000 participants. I have skied the American Birkebeiner, which had 9,000 entrants the year I skied it, and I managed to finish in the top 100.

Another bit of History: Joe Tasker

Here is another of "Bonington's Boys" featured prominently in the wonderful book THE BOYS OF EVEREST. I first came in contact with Joe Tasker reading Mountain magazine in the 1970s, in particular, the article "Five and a Half North Faces" touched me deeply. It recounted a very productive summer he had in the Alps with Dick Renshaw. I corresponded with him briefly in the late 1970s about Dunagiri as I had a permit to go to the Garwhal.

He died on the north-side of Everest in 1982. His climbs were notable, and he did much to ignite the "light is right" ... Do it alpine style approach to the big mountains. Among his most important ascents were new routes on Dunagiri and Changabang, and a first British winter ascent of the Eigerwand.

I am pleased that the Cold Thistle blog has unearthed a period piece from the 1970s, where Joe Tasker talks about the state of the gear, and the process of gearing up for a big climb. If you are a Fossil alpinist, then you are old enough to remember all of these items ... Including the Chouinard alpine hammer and salsas wart-hogs. Enjoy the walk down memory lane.


CLICK HERE TO ACCESS THE ARTICLE.

Vasaloppet

I am getting my NCS kids psyched up for the Lake Placid Loppet, and so I am going to show them this footage of the much larger (15,000 skiers) and much longer (90 K) race in Sweden. NCS manages all the feeding stations, and I chaperone our fastest skiers around the course.

A Bit of History: Dougal Haston

It has been almost 35 years since Dougal was killed in an avalanche in Leysin. (Ironically, he was killed in the exact manner that one of his characters was despatched in his unfinished novel CALCULATED RISK.)

Dougal burst on the climbing scene in the late 1950s climbing new routes in Scotland with Robin Smith. He went on to do an early British ascent of the Eigerwand, was a major force in the creation of the Eiger Direct, took over the International School of Mountaineering after Harlin died, summitted the South Face of Annapurna with Whillans, and the Southwest Face of Everest with Scott. (The enclosed picture is Dougal leading the Hillary Step on Everest.)

A climbing figure that has grown to mythic stature since his death, and no doubt would have made the transition to light Himalayan alpine style attempts had he lived.

INTERESTING CLIMBING BLOGS

http://andyhouseman.blogspot.com/

http://chamconditions.blogspot.com/2011/01/sorry-to-say-we-were-late.html

http://alexandrebuisse.org/blog

http://andyturnerclimbing.blogspot.com/


http://andyturnerclimbing.blogspot.com/

American Avalanche Institute ... Level I

AAI Avalanche Safety Weekend at Alta, Utah from Edmond Stevens on Vimeo.

Quote of the Week

"Play for more than you can afford to lose and you will learn the game."
Winston Churchill

Clearly this was not meant for Alex Honnold on Half Dome, nor for solo climbers in general, however it does seem to fit the scene.

The Matterhorn In Winter is Bittersweet

This picture from Gornergrat, was taken today from a Zermatt webcam. The essay about a March 2006 attempt on the Hornli Ridge was published on the website SummitPost.


CLICK HERE TO ACCESS THE ARTICLE.