Saturday Soup

We've been having weird weather in the Wasatch. On Thursday night, I was doing some stealth training on some groomers at about 8800 feet, and it was pouring rain on me. Wanting to get above the rainline, on Saturday morning, Tim, Jon, Jeff, and I went to Alta, up Cardiff, to Cardiac Ridge, back up to the towers, and then off south facing Superior Shoulder. As you can see (or not) by the picture above, visibility was not great. Case in point: Cardiac Bowl is really big. But, we couldn't find it, and instead ended up on Cardiac Ridge. Still we got some decent skiing in.



















On our descent of SF Superior Ridge, things got a bit tense when I kicked off two small slabs of new dense snow that had fallen that morning. These slabs ran down a gully and I held my breath that they wouldn't propagate. They didn't. To the left is a District shooting crack.

Hopefully things will settle out quickly. Skiing 20% "powder" isn't the greatest, but with fat skis, it is ok.

Speed Ascent

Check out this video. Huge peak (7000 meters) that usually takes 4 days to climb. Benedikt Bohm and Sebastian Haag did it in 10:41. 9.5 hrs up. 1 hr down.

I'm Drawing the Line, Right Here.

Or that's what I tell myself. But then I'm pulled back into the mountains. Then when I find myself hanging on a ledge with one whippet or dangling by one arm next to a water fall (see below), I recommit: that's it, this is where I draw the line! It's a vicious cycle.

Das Pfeif

Objective: Pfeif's NW Couloir

An older avalanche.

Timp and Box Elder . . . soon.

The east ridge of Das Pfeif.

Scrambling in ski boots.

The NW Couloir. "Holy $(mack) we're skiing that?"

Hope your edges are sharp.

I'm using 2 cm of plastic to support myself above a big fat cliff.

The Rap.

Ping pong or skiing? It's all in your hands (or feet).

Northeast face.

Ethan and Miya.

Grand Targhee Rando Race

Photo from www.grandtargheeevents.blogspot.com

The first rando race of the US Ski Mountaineering Series season was held this Saturday at Grand Targhee in Wyoming. It was a team event and I partnered up with a Brian Harder, a Jackson climber, Exum guide, cyclist, and PA (among other things). Dave Bergart kindly put me up in Victor.

As you can see from the photo above, we started out fast. I did my trademark "Fast and Fade" start, which involves me sprinting off the line 'cross style and then getting caught and dropped by the front group. The first leg of the course was a long steep climb from the bottom to the top of the Grand Targhee resort -- about 2000 feet. On the first climb, there were four teams at the front: Kroger and Cary Smith, Brandon French and a new (and very fast) racer from Montana, Zahan and a Driggs guy, and me and Brian. I faded a bit when the slope turned up -- like 40 degrees up -- and I tried to zig zag up the hill instead of power climbing it like the front runners. Eventually, I had to suck it up and power climb like everyone else, i.e., stomp the skins, hunker down, and hang/pull on the poles. I hung with Zahan's team to the top where Brian (who was waiting) helped me deal with my skins. We were the third team to leave the transition.

We ripped the DH and arrived at transition no. 2 as the other two teams were pulling out. The second climb was a bootpack -- no need to skin up -- so we put our skis on our back and booted and scrambled up the toilet bowl. Some tree branches and root aids were involved. Three quarters of the way up the climb, I had to shift into four wheel drive, and using both hands and feet, climbed up to the lip of the bowl. When we arrived at transition no. 3, Cary and Kroger were gone, and Brandon and his teammate were getting ready to pull out.

We ripped the DH again. At transition no. 4, we were all together. Kroger and Cary were the first out, followed by Brian and then me. Brian took a couple steps and his ski fell off. Wanting to keep the pressure on, and afraid I might get dropped, I opted to go ahead. I started skinning and Brandon and his teammate followed. As I started out, I had hopes of catching Kroger and Cary. But they were going fast and opened up a gap. Behind, I knew that if Brandon wanted to go, he could, but he was sticking with his teammate. About two-thirds up the climb, Brian got around Brandon's team, bridged up to me, and we went to the top of the final ~2000 foot climb together. Brandon's team, who had some skin problems, followed and Zahan's team was in tow.

We hit transition no. 5 just as Kroger and Cary left. Once again, we had a smooth transition -- quick smooth rips, fast buckles, no dropped skins, etc. And we ripped the final DH once again, or tried to. The snow had a bit of a zipper crust making skiing challenging. I invoked my 34 degree rule, which is, "if less than 34 degrees, straighline it. Midway down, Brian stacked it up and nearly lost his ski. Luckily, he didn't and he got it on (the ski and the race).

We crossed the line together, and celebrated a great race. As we found out soon after, we were actually the first to cross the line, even though Kroger and Cary were ahead of us. Unfortunately, they missed a turn and went off-route. Bummer. They were definitely the strongest team.

Finish order:

1. Brian and me
2. Brandon and co.
3. Zahan and co.
4. Cary and Kroger

When the individual events come around, expect all of those guys to be in the mix. They are fast!

Stats:

Our time: ~1 hr 28 minutes
Total Vert: ~4400 ft
Time climbing: ~1 hr 18 minutes
Time descending: ~11 minutes

Who says it's all about the down?

I went to bed smiling

Last night as I was laying in bed, I realized that I had a big grin on my face. That was odd because I had just spent the night (until 12 am) trying to find and transfer my old computer files to a new computer. I've had computer issues the last couple weeks. My work computer got dropped when I slipped and fell on ice. My home computer died all of the sudden.

In trying to find all my old files and transfer them to my new computer (I know there's a program that does this and probably an easier way to do this, but I am what I am), I came across lots of photos, which reminded me of all the good times I have had since I got a digital camera. I had good times before that, but they weren't captured on disk.

Here is one of the first trips I captured on a digicam -- when 1 megapixels were a big thing. This was a day trip to the top of Timpanogas.

Joey and Chris on the saddle overlooking Provo on the one side and Aspen Grove on the other.

Someone booting up the South Summit.

Proof that I once tele'd and liked it.

Heber Valley and Deer Creek from a hanging valley on Timp.

The "glacier."

Big mountain with lots of possibilities.

Joey, Molly, and Katie. You decide which ones are the dogs.

I've been skiing and stuff. Free skis.

>

 

Tim, Bart and Alex on Dawn Patrol 12/17/08. Cold. Jon had a heart attack. Matt forgot his poles. I left my beacon in the car. Kris came to accept the hard fact that telemark bindings and boots are slow. Tim surfed some scrub oak on skinny skis. Alex brought cookies from Vermont in a ziploc that had some hippie save the earth sticker on it. Bart has not shaved yet and filled his stache and beard with frozen snow, and other stuff, like slobber. It's early in the season and sketch as far as avy conditions go, but we got some good exercise and some good turns.

 

Some aspens up Porter Fork on 12/13/08. I made my way towards Gobblers, but bailed because it was snowing hard, I was wet and alone.

 

I got the Bluehouse Districts mounted with Dynafits. Chris at White Pine drilled them and I mounted them.

 
FREE SKIS (the Rossignols, not the ironing board). If you want them, you can have them. They have been used, mounted, but probably would work.

And I'll do a lot of my posting over here this winter.

http://www.bluehouseskis.com/bluehouse-dawn-patrol/its-time