Keeping track of Evan

Non stop cold smoke

2012-01-30T07:55:00.001-08:00

Good times keep rolling, 2-2.5 meter snowpack at treeline, and setting up nicely!

Getting into the groove

2012-01-14T20:45:00.001-08:00

Fitness is coming back, the snow keeps piling up, and the cold smoke is all time. Enjoy.

Another season begins...

2011-12-23T22:18:00.000-08:00

And here is a video to prove it! Back at blogging again...look for regular updates.

I am alive...

2011-08-29T19:56:00.000-07:00

And finally have some time and inspiration to write something down!

'Summer' as the time between June 21 and September 21 is commonly referred to, has been an enigmatic entity in my life this year. We usually think of Summer weather starting in the beginning of June consisting of shorts, swimming and big climbing days, but alas in coastal British Columbia, we accept the fact that it is often June-uary - cold and wet. And La Nina kept its icy, er soggy grip on us on the coast. So after getting home from Italy psyched and strong, the projects were lined up, and soaking wet.

No worries, a new bike entered my life, and to Benny (my dog's) delight I spent way more time spinning pedals then clipping biners. But June-uary had another laugh, in the form of 'the hand of god' as my friend Brad calls it. It is the phenomena of riding wet rooty trails on the coast and your bike just flies out from under you like the hand of god pulled the tablecloth with dinner all set...and dinner came crashing down to the floor. I was dinner, and one of my ribs and my intercostal muscles were the china. Benny sat on the trail watching me in pain with the wind knocked out of me wondering what I was up to. There were animals to chase and trails to run, could I get on with the show? I hobbled out the last 5km of my ride and ate some pain killers knowing all too well I had done some damage. Xrays, the doctor and the physio confirmed a broken rib and nothing too much worse. "Can I climb and bike?" asks the wounded exercise/endorphin addicted victim. 'Light exercise is fine, but let pain be your guide.' I guess I have a high pain tolerance, because two days later I was doing things like climbing Freeway (10 pitches, 11+) and working on my 13c severely overhanging project with good progress...with the pain of what felt like someone stabbing me in the abdomen being my guide. I quickly adapted the 1 day of biking, next day of climbing, with working on a new multi pitch project as my summer schedule. And alas July became Jul-ember, cold and wet, and I soon realized that my goal oriented climber mentality was taking to trying to ride new bike trails cleaner and faster more than failing again on my project.

And then it was August, and I had nothing to show for it climbing wise, but man was biking so much fun! My two month staycation of no work and just play in Squamish (with a broken rib) had evaporated and it was time to work again for pretty much the entire month of August, with a few days of frenzied, and I mean the tiger has been let out of its cage recreation. So of course, there are no good pictures of June and July, but the theme of my August has been stopping to smell the flowers. I have spent the last 3 weeks up at my backcountry ski lodge in the Valhallas, doing maintenance, glading, and best of all a bit of hiking guiding. Literally, stopping to smell the flowers, and wow, why have I not done this before? So let my photos be a guide of what I have been up to. Follow along...and in case you were wondering, I 1 hung my project before leaving to come out here, so it has burrowed its way into my brain gnawing at me to come and send it when I get home this week.

August, a time for fun in the sun, right?

Smelling frozen flowers, La Nina laughs again!

Don't worry summer showed up...

Ya, it really is like this here every day, skipping through wild flower meadows

Shannon Ridge line still holding lots of snow for August

Heather on top of Big sister with some big Valhalla views.

Jasmin and I then had 2 whole days off together for the month of August, so we decided the best idea was to cram as much as humanly possible into the 48 hours as we could. Saturday was my pick, the 35km 7 summits in Rossland, an ultra classic ridge crest mountain bike ride that is literally single track forever. It was that good. Sunday was more Jasmin's pick and a bit of mine too...we climbed an alpine rock route on the west face of Gimli, the showcase peak of the Valhalla Range. Then on Sunday night we basically fell asleep on the dinner table. But our Kootenay Klassic weekend was well worth it.

Buff singletrack and wildflowers...forever!

More 7 summits

It might have been 4,000' up, but it was also 6,500' down!!!!

Jas summitting on Gimli

A close up of the ice breaking up in Mulvey Basin below Gimli. Its the middle of August after all, time for the lake to thaw!

I love this shot, south face of Asgard on the left, Valhallas stretch to the north, this is where Jasmin grew up, lucky her!

After another week of hiking guiding Jasmin went to the coast to climb in the Tantalus range with her dad for his 60th birthday, how cool! I am still at the lodge, in major labor camp mode, alternating days of firewood and staining the lodge, staring at the wood letting my rage to play build, and finally exploding in my random day off of epic kootenay mountain biking. Last week I rode in Kaslo, a great 2 hour ride called the access trail, lots of single track and technical hill climbs. Then the other day I was riding some local stuff near New Denver, and was stalked by a cougar, but luckily my ballsy hound scared the cat off...I guess (thankfully) cats don't like dogs! And finally today I went for the local ball buster, a lap up the Idaho Peak. Idaho is quickly becoming famous for epic 5,000' car shuttle mountain bike laps, but me being the avid ski tourer and slightly anti mechanized travel type, decided to bike up the logging road to the summit. The cars driving by to hike from the summit ridge made me feel like I was at the front of the peloton on the tour de france, blown away that I would even consider powering my self up the 20km/5,000' uphill. In my head I conjured up bumper stickers like "I bike to shuttle drop offs." because in the end why do we have gears and pedals? But 2.5 hours later we (Benny and myself) made it. I had heard rumors of some epic ride down the north ridge so I decided to give it a try and followed the bike shuttlers tracks. Half old mining roads (eye watering fast) and half crazy good singletrack it was an epic ride. I snapped a few shots from the top. Enjoy, and get out there and have fun!!!!!

Yeah, the theme of the Kootenays in summer, epic vistas, epic wild flowers, epic biking, and epic use of the word epic.

Kilometer 19 of the climb, one more to go, summit in sight!!!!!

Views to the south of Kokanee glacier

Valhallas, with Gimli on the left side horizon.

Cool view across the mighty Slocan Lake to my neck of the Valhallas, Big Sister and Vingolf are visible to the trained eye. Very cool to see 2 summits I had been on in the previous week from here! New Denver is the town on the lake.

Hoping the trail on the ridge was the right one to follow! It was!

My partner in crime ends the day the only way we know how to around here, by jumping in a river (or a lake!)

Catching up: Italy

2011-06-19T10:03:00.000-07:00

Well, it seems like my last post about April skiing in the coast range, roger' pass and Alaska disappeared into the matrix somewhere. And as winter is SOOOO far away on the calendar (but not in weather here on the coast!) I am going to move on to some posts about Italy!

This year Jas and I decided that our European travel itch would be scratched in northern Italy. Rumors from our ex-pat mountain guide friends that live in Chamonix told tale of great food, quiet crags, steep limestone with tufas and rest days on the beach. Did I mention the great food and tufas? Well, we pulled the pin and made plans to visit Castelbianco, Italy, a small town just inland from Albenga, located between Monaco and Finale Ligure. Rolling green hills, medieval villages, cherry trees, rivers, gelato, pizza, fresh herbs, the beach. This place has it all. And awesome crags with very few people. We were psyched. So we spent the next two weeks getting fit in this valley, mostly climbing at a few crags, and quickly tackling some harder projects after getting fit.

Jas had spent the previous month hitting the bouldering coop in Squamish and actually using the hangboard. Me? I just kept skiing 6 thousand foot days as I worked 33 days straight teaching and examining ski programs for the AMGA. So needless to say my arms were NOT fit. It felt pretty humbling to be flailing on 11+ for the first few days, when the memories of my last days on the rock in the fall were of firing a few 13s in a couple of tries. But by day 8 on the rock after 5 months of zero climbing and training I was back to sending 12+, so it felt good to be back in shape. Well, rather than chat too much, here are some photos to capture what life was like in the far eastern coastal corner of Italy. Did I mention huge blocks of Italian hard cheeses for just a few euro? And the gelato?

Enjoy

Castelbianco and the Terminal Crag...steep tufas!

Tolmachevo 7a, a brilliant route at Terminal.

Castelbianco

Approach to Erboisteria crag.

The old town of Finale Ligure

On one of our 'rest days' to the beach in Finale, we decided to do a 7-8 pitch seaside traverse we had heard tale of. A few hundred meters of 5.5-5.10a climbing about 10m above the sea sounded like a good idea to us! More on the feet then the arms, so it qualified as a rest day climb, especially since I just wore approach shoes for it.

Rapping in to the sea

Yeah, life is pretty good!

Next post: Arco!

Super Tour of the season?

2011-03-27T20:33:00.000-07:00

It had to come to an end...the best season of powder skiing I have ever had at Valhalla Mountain Touring. Something like 80 of 90 days of the calendar winter with measurable precip. WOW...that just says to me, non stop blower pow with no weak layers. I have never skied so much deep powder over 35 degrees in my life. So many new lines opened up at the lodge, and so many runs skied in the best conditions ever.

But it had to end, and now I have been home on the coast for a week, and am in the midst of teaching a Ski Mountaineering Guides Course for the American Mountain Guides Association in the Coast Range of BC. Of course, I had to squeeze in 1 ski tour on my only day off for the next month - take that with a grain of salt, as my 32 work days will all be skiing!

I tried to rally Jason Kruk and T-Tony Touch...Jason was in with out hesitation as he spent most of the winter in Patagonia suffering, but Tones couldn't ditch on work...again. Oh well. Jason hatched the plan, a link up of 3 stellar North Faces in the Duffy Lake zone just north of Pemberton. The Duffy is like the Roger's Pass of the coast range, only just getting REALLY discovered in the last few years. Road side, big glaciated vert easy access is the name of the game.

This Trifecta includes the North Face of Matier, which I had skied once before (and guided in summer too many times to count!), the north face of Slalok (#1 on my skiing hit list on the Duffy) and the North Face of Taylor into Heart Strings (which I didn't really know about). On the map the stats are pretty sweet, about 9,500' of total ascent, tons of glaciers, and maybe 12-15km of mountain travel. All in a loop from the car, so no shuttling hassles. We were concerned it might be a long day, and I had to get home not too late, so Jason knocked on my door at 5am for the 1.5 hour drive from Squamish. In hindsight, we made a big mistake in the morning, as we got to the quality Mt. Currie coffee company about a half hour before they opened, and didn't want to waste any time, so we opted for the gas stations finest blend and baking. Little did we know how fast we were going to cruise the day.

The tour plan...too good to be true?

I wasn't too worried about the fitness aspect...I have been averaging 6,000' of vertical a day out touring for 6 of 7 days a week for about 2-3 months now, so I guess you can say my baseline fitness was doing alright. Add to the that the fact that I had just had 3 days off, which I haven't had since Dec 12th. Energy ready to burn! Jason, I wasn't to sure about...but I always know he can dig REALLY deep. Two years before we did the 50km, 7,500' vert Garibaldi Neve traverse in 9.5 hours, so I knew he was good for it.

Jason in front of the Matier Icefall with Slalok behind. Cold, stable weather and snow means we can sneak into the hills in the danger zones.

So at 6:50am we were off, head phones on for us both, (me with some awesome XX remixes), stripped down to some light clothes, charging ahead in the early dawn light. We opted for the direct and committing approach up from Joffree Lakes just to the climbers right of the icefall, with the confidence of a low avalanche danger and cool temps with no solar effect just yet. As we inched higher and higher the fresh snow got a little deeper, with about 10-15cms of new from the day before laying untouched by the wind on all elevations and aspects. It was going to be a good day!

By 11:15 am or so, we were on the summit of Matier, taking it all in. We had beat a group staying in the near by Keith's Hut to the summit, and had about 11 heli assisted ski tourers dropped in our zone.

Working our way up to Matier

************WARNING!!!! ELITIST TIRADE!!!!!!!! **********************
I have no problem with heli skiing and heli assisted touring...IN NON-ROAD ACCESSIBLE LOCATIONS!!!! We were on the summit of Matier before noon, with out starting in the dark, 5,500' up from the car. Do you really need to kill our winters anymore than burning the gas to drive up the highway by getting a helicopter to the top of a peak that is accessible EASILY under your own power from the car? I don't think so, and to further put my nose up in the air, I think we did DOUBLE the downhill vertical for the day than the heli-assisted ski tourers did!

Jason works his way along the exposed summit ridge of Matier

Back to our story...we dropped in on Matier in knee deep blower pow...epic big sluffing turns on 48 degree terrain. With gravity on our side, we blitzed down the Matier glacier to the flanks of Slalok.

Can you say psyched?????!!!!

YES!!!!

A quick 1500' climb got us to our next summit. I think it was about 1230pm. How was that possible? We were worried about getting this done before dark, and now we had 7000 grand in the bank, with 3,400' of blower pow at our ski tips! So, nothing to do but drop some more 45 degree pow! And for a LONG WAYS. Slalok is a skiers line, sustained and sweet for a long time. It's like an amazing heli ski line that you don't need a helicopter for!

Jason on the way up Slalok

Me engaging high gear off the summit of Slalok

Jason in the meat of the run down Slalok with the icefall in the background.

We stopped in the low elevation range of 5,000' or so right by Joffree Lake to take a second period break. With a 2,000'+ climb up Taylor to come, we decided to suck down the H2O and munch back the calories (I was fueled almost entirely by my mother in laws ridiculously good organic baked goods!). Feeling good, I just got in front and charged the trailbreaking at a 2,000' an hour pace that felt like I could do forever, and in a little over an hour, we were on the summit of Taylor. A beautiful skin across the broad craggy summit ridge had us looking down yet another sweet 45 degree north face. WOW, I didn't even know about this line before today, and it couldn't have been sweeter.

Jason in front of our run down Slalok, on the way up Taylor.

Having skied about 100 days this year, I let Jason go first on every run, as I almost always go first as the guide all season long. He was PSYCHED. But his legs started failing him a bit for non stop 40+ degree 1500' powder shots. So I teased him as any good friend would do about stopping in the middle of the run and we shouldered our skis for the 10 minute boot pack back to the ridge to drop into Heart Strings, another classic run, tucked into the cliffs and trees that would bring us back to our cars no sweat.

Jason looks for his line down the north face of Taylor

Dropping in on Heart Strings...another classic.

And at 3:48pm we were back at the car. To be honest, I felt like I could easily do another 3-4 grand of vertical...I was so invigorated from so much great skiing and feeling so fit from a long season in the hills; its great to feel that way, as those days are all too rare. I relished in the after glow of a safe and successful mission in the hills with a good friend, and we blitzed home down the highway to some quality tunes and a great dinner out with some awesome friends to celebrate my birthday (which was the next day!)

Thanks Jason for being a super psyched and motivated partner for big lines on the rock and the snow!

March Madness

2011-03-20T17:55:00.000-07:00

Well, March is almost over, and here is a video I made in the beginning of the month, but I have been WAY too busy skiing powder to remember to post this one on the blog.

3-4m snowpack right now, no persistent weak layers, cold fluff everywhere from summits to valleys.

Enjoy the video!

The fun just continues

2011-02-25T21:15:00.000-08:00

4 new ski runs in the last 2 days as my buddy Tony is here helping me 'hut keep' during a self guided week. Here is a video of a new line we skied today we named 'Fireball' because at the bottom of the run Tony reached into his pack and pulled out a flask of the hot cinnamon whiskey. Now that is class, and that is how runs get named! Enjoy, I know I did!!!!!!

And it just keeps going...

2011-02-22T17:18:00.000-08:00

Still blower, still deep, still skiing steep with more bravado then normal.

Here is a quick vid from this afternoon...face shots and sluff management!!!

When it all comes together...

2011-02-20T18:36:00.000-08:00

The snow pack, weather, time of year and people all aligned last week, and the result was maybe the best week of the last few years of ski touring here at Valhalla Mountain Touring.

I should have stopped to take more photos and pictures, but oh well, the skiing was just too good. Here is a quick taste of what we sampled.

Hope to ski with you here soon!

Young's Peak

2011-02-03T09:29:00.000-08:00

Day 2 at Rogers Pass dawned clear again and even colder. -27c is not a friendly temperature for ski touring. The day before we did battle with the cold by skiing in the sun, and that was perfect. The problem is in the -20c range, that skins and ski wax don't really work that well. We left the car with the plan of going up the Asulkan Valley to take a peak at skiing the couloir Forever Young. Usually in Rogers Pass if the weather is good all of the big lines have a track or two in them, as it is home to some of the most accessible high quality ski touring in the world. However, it has really not stopped snowing for a month in BC, and these are the first few days of consecutive clear weather, and only a week or two ago was one of the largest avalanche cycles in a long time in BC. So for good reason people have been a little slower in getting to the big lines.

As we crawled our way up the deep Asulkan Valley, skinning uphill in down coats and face masks, we got to a view point of Forever Young, and instantly both Jasmin and myself knew today wasn't the day. Huge fracture lines were all over the basin, but the only piece of snow that hadn't slid yet was the one in the guts of Forever Young. After skiing a big line on Mt. Rogers the day before, I didn't feel the need to push it again today, even though plan B was still going to put us into some big terrain by going up and down the ultra classic 7 steps on Youngs Peak.

The couloir is dead center. Notice the 1.5 meter + fracture lines left of the chute and right of the bottom. Not today thanks!

I have tried 2 other times over the years to ski to the top of Young's Peak, but both times been thwarted, either by snow/bad vis or touchy avalanche danger. Jasmin on the other hand has been up there twice. So we pushed up and up and up until we reached the last steep step to gain the summit. Classicly, it is guarded by a 40 degree headwall, with some big runouts to the valley below. I mean 3000' of run out to the valley bottom. Fortunately the terrain does bench out below the headwall so you can convince yourself that you won't get flushed all the way out to the valley bottom.

Jas punches up the headwall

Jas felt the urge to put a track all the way to the summit, so I wasn't going to slow her down or get in her way. Fortunately for us, the summit headwall had an old avalanche crown, and then some more recent sluffs and debris, once again giving us the confidence to travel safely through the already slid terrain. Some steep skinning, some booting, then back to skins and we were pushing through to the summit with some more bluebird 360 views of the mightly Selkirks. I am truly convinced that there might not be anywhere in the world as good as this mountain range for ski touring, with its combo of snowpack and terrain. 6,000' lines in blower boot top powder from wild glaciated summits!!!

Last slope to the summit.

Jasmin contemplates the vastness of the Selkirks

Dropping from the summit...only 5400' to go

I think I see the highway...

1 more day of high pressure is in the forecast, but after almost 13,000' feet of skiing and 30km travelled in two days, we will see what we motivate for.

Days off...

2011-01-31T20:53:00.000-08:00

With almost 4 meters of new snow in the last month, it was really nice to wake up to some cold and clear arctic high pressure up north in Canada. The snowpack has doubled in depth, tightened up, and the last storm finished off with a sweet icing of cold smoke. All of this has coincided with my first few 'days off' from life at Valhalla Mountain Touring. I know, tough life that I live, having to be up at a backcountry ski lodge full time. But its nice to ski some where different, drive a car, and watch TV in a hotel room!

With the good weather and free time Jasmin and I have decided to hit up Rogers Pass, and our timing is perfect! So day 1 we decided to try our hand at Mt Rogers, one of the bigger summits off the pass. The stats are simple. Put your skins on at the car and start climbing. Climb until its too steep to skin, and then throw your skis on your back. Boot it up to the unskiable summit with ice axe in hand. Look down the 3,000' rock walls off the summit, go back to your skis and slay cold smoke for a LONG ways back to the car. It's about 6,500' vertical feet in one climb up, with a 800' 45 degree headwall at the summit. I like those numbers.

But lets let the stellar photos from the day do the talking!

Enjoy...

After 4,000' of up, we are finally getting to the glacier, with good views of the Roger's Headwall

Looking back at some skiers in front of Mt Tupper

Jasmin, and her hot hot pink ski pants leads the way up the 48 degree headwall

Nothing like a knife edge ridge to the summit. Rogers Pass elevation: 1300m. Summit of Rogers: 3200m. It's a long ways down to those valleys

Skiing down the headwall, glad it had slid before we got there, giving us the confidence to travel safely up the old path.

Post headwall powder shladdelling in the alpen-glow. Life is good!

Deep Days of January

2011-01-09T18:44:00.000-08:00

The hose was aimed at us last week for 70cms of new snow. Nice to see the snowpack grow and the ski quality continue to be mind boggling.

Enjoy a few photos from Fred Marmsater who is up here visiting this week.

New Year's Week

2011-01-02T16:27:00.000-08:00

For the second year in a row, New Year's week has delivered the goods. 40cm+ of cold smoke fell for the first few days, and then arctic air kept it light and fluffy for a few more. Summits, powder skiing in the sun, and 40 degree open shots. It doesn't get much better. Take a look at some photos from last week:

Katy Drops down Ruby's Nose in blower pow

Ken makes sure the top of Ruby's Nose is 'safe' for us

Jas let's her big skis rip on Crown Jewel

Kelly on the split board on Crown Jewel

Crown Jewel

Benny with some birthday face shots. He's 3 now.

Last summit of 2010: Rugged peak on Dec 31!

Rugged Peak

Yes, those skies are real, no photoshop for the arctic blue sky.

Storm Skiing

2010-12-30T21:42:00.000-08:00

Well, the snow gun was turned on for us. A cold air mass has settled its way down to us wringing out every last drop of moisture in the atmosphere. 40cm + has fallen, and with snow densities so low that feathers seem heavy, the constant trickle of snow from the sky has kept pace with the slow settlement rates.

Personally, these cold storm days are my favorite. Endless face shots, so cold you stay dry, and bottomless powder. What could be better? Here is a quick video to get you psyched, because we sure are! Remember when the snow hits my helmet cam, that the cam is 6 ft off the ground...

Finally, an UPDATE!

2010-12-15T17:57:00.000-08:00

Well, climbing caught up with me and free time didn't, but let's just say the fall trip went really well for me. The hit-list including sending such classic trad lines like The Alien Roof on the Rostrum and a free attempt on Half Dome in Yosemite (12b) and the spectacular overhanging off fingers to roof of Desert Gold in Red Rocks (13a), and some sport lines up to 13a. There was also the IFMGA mountain guide meetings in Boulder, as well as a climbing trip to Moab before hand, where me and my old college best friend (also a mountain guide) Adam George got to school some europeans on Indian Creek splitters and climb scary desert towers hung over. A productive season for sure, but maybe my last in the desert SW for a few years, there is just soooo much else to climb in the world!

But now I have fully transitioned to winter and am writing this from my winter home at Valhalla Mountain Touring. Yesterday Jasmin and I battled our way 16km up the road on the snowmobiles, with the powder over the head on the sleds. Somehow the old little 340cc machine with huge new powder skis got me to the lodge and we made a shuttle trip up to bring in some basic supplies. A bit of digging and turning on the water (well almost!) was the goal of the day. The beauty of having a micro hydro electric system is that the power and heat has been on all fall so we got up the hill to some warm lodges heated with zero carbon footprint!

Now back to the water system. Every year it seems there is some little hiccup at startup that keeps me from sleeping at night. This is either my 6th or 7th winter up here, and I have almost learned about every little system up here from snowcat mechanics to micro hydro systems to septic tanks; I always joke that my job description for running this place would be a page long! This year's minor hiccup was the water. Jasmin went under the sauna building to turn the water on for that building and went under it with out a head lamp. When she got down there she just turned the only switch should could feel. We went into the lodge and tried to turn on the water with no luck at all. No water. Oh no. No flush toilets, no shower, no running water? All the little perks that make our lodge one of the comfiest around? I went through the whole system to try and figure out what was going on. The water all comes from Ruby Creek where we have a tiny dam that feeds water into a water box and to the hydro electric system. I skied up to check it out. All full. Now I had no idea except either a pipe burst or was clogged, either one was NOT going to be fixed this winter! After two stressful hours I went back under the sauna just to see the valves, and realized (with a head lamp) that there was two switches there; one for the sauna building and one for the main water line to all the buildings. Jas had turned all the water off! With a quick flip of the switch all the stress was washed away and life was good again.

Today the snowcat started right up and I even had time to bust out a quick 2,500' of the first turns of the season at VMT. And it is oh so good right now! 125cms at the lodge, with 15cm over night at -7c. That spells cold COLD FLUFFY smoke. WOW. So good to be back at it, even if it means I am working 15 hour days right now for start up...it is oh so worth it for being able to ski 6 days a week from now until the end of April.

Enjoy this quick vid from todays 'lunch break' tour!

Half Dome: Heavier, slower and almost free

2010-10-26T20:23:00.001-07:00

If this doesn't sum up why I climb, I don't know what does! 5.9 jugs on pitch 17 of Half Dome at Sunset

I love climbing. I really do, and maybe that is why it frustrates me so (so so so) much sometimes. There is always another route, harder and longer, waiting to be done as soon as you clip the anchors on the last route you are still finishing. It is constantly motivating and driving me; and often times frustrating me. But in the end it is always inspiring and brings me to the most amazing places along side the most amazing people.

So this October has found me in Yosemite with my wife trying to pursue my life long climbing ambition of free climbing big walls. I have done almost all of the major formations in Yosemite, in a day, going as fast and furious as we could, pulling on gear and stepping on bolts with the summit being the main objective. But as I have matured with my climbing, and taken it to standards that I have never thought possible (I one day dreamed of sending 5.11a trad and have since done 5.13a trad) one form of climbing has always stood out as the highest form of climbing, in my mind. Big Wall Free Climbing. Maybe it was the Huber brothers doing multiple free routes on El Cap, or Lynn Hill freeing the nose in a day, or my late, great friend an climbing partner Micah Dash free climbing the Freerider, but I was inspired, and have gradually tried to build up to free climbing the big walls with in my reach.

Having done a few small alpine walls, 10 pitch lines in Squamish, and small walls in Zion free, it was time to try something bigger, and that was Half Dome. My wife and I had tried to do Freerider on El Cap a few years ago, but sickness and snowfall stopped us half way up. We figured this time around we would try something a little more bite sized, only 23 pitches instead of 35, and 5.12a instead of 5.12d++. We also figured we would do it over two days, and haul a small pack and sleep on the small but comfy Big Sandy Ledge.

Right off the bat are about 4 easier pitches, and then you get to the first free variation around a bolt ladder. A quick 5.11a traverse left to a heinous and awkward 5.11 dihedral brings you to a good ledge. Jasmin was leading this pitch and did a great job fighting through the Yosemite weirdness. The next pitch, dubbed the 'Higbee Hedral' after the pioneer of this free variation Art Higbee, goes at about 5.12a. It has a short, but fierce stemming crux off the belay to a ledge and then 20 m of funky and hard 5.11c crack above. It took me a few tries to stick the crux moves, but I managed to send the pitch, which puts you at the top of pitch 5. Now we had 12 more pitches of 5.10- and under to get to our bivy ledge. Tons of stellar pitches and easy climbing got us to Big Sandy at sunset, but the crux was by far trying to haul our 'light' pack behind us. We brought way too much extra food and water, and trying to hand haul that gear behind us was wearing us down - hopefully not too much.

Jas and I settled in to a romantic shiver bivy on our ropes and my Mutant pack with a delectable meal of tasty bites, cashews and chocolate bars. All the while the crux pitches of the route are right over your head, taunting you all night while you try to sleep on a crooked and sloping bivy ledge.

12 hours of 'rest' later we gave it our best. The first pitch off the ledge in the Zig Zags, is about 5.12a, and it was the warm up pitch. I was sending the whole route to this point, but Jas had hung once lower down, so I asked her to lead this pitch so I could try and warm up on it. She tried hard, and came close, but couldn't send it, and try as I may, I could not send the pitch. 5 times I lowered down to a no hands stance, and tried again, but fatigue from the day before, cold temps, and no warm up added up to not being able to pull off the tips climbing crux. Which is unfortunate, because I managed to scrap my way up the next two pitches with (5.11 and 11+) and then only hung once on the final crux 5.11d slab pitch, which would have been easy to try again.

But on this day, the mental fortitude was not with me. Without a doubt, this is the hardest discipline of rock climbing. Trying to climb your hardest pitch after pitch after pitch, either all day or day after day is so mentally and physically taxing. At the same time however, it is the most motivating thing in the world. Now I want to train harder next year, and try harder the next time around. Go back to Half Dome, and try it in a day with out hauling a big pack behind me. Think about my weaknesses and try harder then ever to overcome them so I can reach my goals. Sometimes failing just makes you want to throw in the towel and pick up something else entirely, but I guess that is the difference with climbing, most of the time failing makes me want to come back and try harder!

Here are some photos and a cool time laps video of sunset over Yosemite from half way up Half Dome...

Looking up at the 23 pitches of the NW Face of Half Dome

The 5.11a traverse pitch 4 into the Higbee Hedral

At the belay of pitch 15

The first 5.12a pitch of the Zig Zags, pitch 18

Spectacular pitch in a spectacular place: the 5.11d slab pitch 22.

Summit!

Quick update from Road trip land...

2010-10-13T17:23:00.000-07:00

Well, we made it to Yosemite, finally.

First hit was the Slocan Valley for a week of maintenance before the snows at VMT (video to follow) and some family time. Then we hit Smith for a day, or 3 pitches, as we drove south to Lake Tahoe. But that is where we detoured to skip out on the big fall storm that closed all of the High Sierra road passes. Well, it was easy to decide on a few days of hot springs and sport climbing in the Owens River Gorge as we waited for the weather to clear up. A few pitches a day between rain storms, and before we knew it the weather had cleared and it was time to take the hound to the kennel and settle in to Yosemite.

Sad times as we dropped off Benny for two weeks, but so it goes in Yosemite. Since we got here we have tackled 'The Crucifix' IV 5.12- on our first day - amazing - then the Rostrum via what I call the excellent alien adventure...the first half of the excellent adventure, make a belay and then the Alien Roof variation. That adds two SOLID pitches of 5.12 trad to ye ol Rostrum, good times! I managed to not send the Alien that day, but we came back the next morning so I could send, nice to have some success on such a classic line I have looked at for years and never thought I could do...a wild and inspiring pitch for sure.

Now we are racking up for bigger lines, but lets see how the bodies and minds hold up.

Enjoy a few photos.

Family hike near June Lake while we wait for the weather to clear

I have driven by Mono Lake for years, but never stopped before...this is what I have been missing!

True Love in the Camper with an 80lbs lap dog.

Blinding light in the East Side hot springs...oh wait that is just my white thighs

Storms and light on the East Side

Oh ya, we have been climbing too...the 50m '5.10c' big hands pitch on the Crucifix. The regular NEB route is behind us.

Quick trip to Chile

2010-09-19T15:27:00.000-07:00

Although the weather is getting quite winter like here in the NW, I fooled my body completely last week with a last minute, short trip down to Valle Nevado in Chile. It happened like this:

The phone rings while I am sitting on my couch resting after throwing myself at more climbs over my head. Its Mike Hattrup from K2, skiing legend, childhood idol, and my contact at K2 skis.
'What are you doing in September?' Me: 'Climbing, why?' Mike: 'Want to go skiing in Chile for a week? We'll foot the bill."

Ummmmmmmmmm, YA!!!!! Who wouldn't? So there it goes, we all rallied and spent 5 days ski touring in the Andes, in the Valle Nevado ski area slack country.

I will spare you with blabber, and make this more of a photo post. Basics were this: lowest snow in 15 years, hit a rock on every run, blown away by the mountains there, no jet lag, lots of sucking wind at altitude, winter camping with a stove with no lighter, lots of Chilean Red wines, friendly people.

Here are the photos.

Aconcogua from the plane at sunrise

View of the Andes halfway thru the 65 switchbacks up to the ski hills

Valle Nevado backcountry skiing

Searching for the wind filled lines

Looking for the deep snow with El Plomo (5400m) in the background

Graham gets some September recycled powder

Sunshine ski touring

The Incas summited these glaciated peaks over 500 years ago, with their 8 year old children and then left them on the summit as sacrifices. Puts 'mountaineering' in perspective. This is a replica of the 'mummy' of that 8 year old boy that was found 40 years ago on the summit.

If at first you don't succeed

2010-09-02T10:25:00.001-07:00

Ironman and the Turret loom behind camp

You know the rest of the saying. Sometimes it hurts to say it, but you can say it with me right now. “Try, try (try, try) AGAIN!” This is kind of a basic tenet of alpine climbing, or maybe all climbing really; actually, life itself. So what am I trying to get at here?

If you followed my last post, it was a video from the a trip I took to the Adamant Mountains in 2008, a recap of some attempts, successes and failures from a great 10 days in the mountains. A lead in to climbing there again this season. And we did climb there again this year…

July 13th we (Craig and Jeremy) decided to drive to the Golden, BC to pack and prep to fly into our glacier camp at the base of some amazing summits. Camp would be a 10 minute walk from 2 unfree-climbed 600m alpine big walls. Drool.

But for the few days leading up to our departure, way too much time was spent looking at the weather models, trying to figure out if we had any chance of some long awaited BC summer high pressure. For details I can’t really get in to (let’s just say extenuating personal circumstances of a team member) we decided to give it a try anyway, and by the morning of the 14th we were waiting to fly in from a random logging road, and watching the black clouds prevent our passage.

Back to Golden where we spent the next 4 days hanging out, watching the weather and waiting to fly in to the mountains. Before we know it life got complicated, the weather sucked, and we were hauling ass back to Squamish to at least go rock climbing at home, and salvage a bit of work while we could.

Sorting and packing for 9 days on the glacier

Flash forward now to August 5th, and it’s time to try and fly in again. This time, it’s not just us, but a total of 11 people, aka ‘Alpine Man Camp 2010′. It is a huge crew of our friends, so we are pretty psyched about hanging out in some amazing mountains with all of them. Once again the forecast looks iffy for a few days after we get in, but we are optimistic about some good weather for the later half of the trip; we have 9 days, so hopefully half of them might be good.

Andrew shows off his secrets for waiting out storms in the tent

We know that at the very least, the day we fly in will give us perfect weather, and by 10am we are racked up at the base of the north face of the Blackfriar for Craig and my 4th attempt at free climbing this 600m wall. Everything is going well for us, except the time. We get so high up on the face, into new territory for us, but it’s 9pm and starting to get dark. The 4 more pitches of unknown and dirty terrain are going to take us at least 5 hours to climb and descend. Our packs are just a bit too light and fast – no bivy gear, extra food or water, and besides, we still have 8 more days on the trip. So we decide to wrap, and figure we can start climbing at 5am on the next attempt instead of 10am. Seems logical, right?

Pitch 1 of the north face of the Blackfriar

Well, the next 5 days prove us wrong. Welcome to the hours of time blending together; I still can’t discern what we did on what days during that period of time. Fog, rain, and snow all collaborated to keeping us in the sleeping or cooking tents non-stop. The saving grace was hanging tough with some really good friends, so jokes, stories, and philosophizing were the themes of the times. “Fester fiesta 2010.” We would fire up the satellite phone to get weather forecasts, only to go further into depression. It just wasn’t going to happen on this go-around, and by day 5 we realized that when the weather got good, we needed to jump on that opportunity to actually get out of the mountains and not be stuck there running out of food.

Jeremy losing it in the tent after at least 100 hours of non-stop tent time

Finally the weather broke enough for us to escape, and we fled the glacier as fast as we could, so we could regain our sanity outside of the confines of our tents. Oh well, at least I know what I might be trying to do again next year!

Adamants again!

2010-08-04T22:19:00.000-07:00

Ok, I have been a slacker, but here is a video from my trip to the adamants in 2008.

We are flying in the morning for another crack at some of these walls...stay tuned for an update when I return!

French Files, Part 3, Verdon continued

2010-06-28T11:27:00.000-07:00

Okay, I have been slow to blog, because now I am back home in Squamish, and have been loving climbing here, mountain biking with the hound, and catching up with good friends...but here goes with some more French climbing.

So the next route on tap for us was Pichenbule, a 10 pitch classic in the main part of the gorge. We rapped in under cloudy skies, but thought nothing of it. After battling with another round of bad French guide book beta, we finally found the start. A few pitches of 5.10-5.11- climbing took us back to a big ledge system where we had rapped down to for La Demande. However this time when we got there the rain was starting to fall. Not wanting to rap down to the gorge bottom in the rain and walk out and hitch hike back 15km to the top of the gorge, we tried to claw our way to the top via a very well bolted 6 pitch 5.6.

Halfway up, it stopped raining, so we decided to rap BACK down to the ledge and continue the route. Well, we got 1 pitch back up on Pichenbule, and then the dark clouds of doom started rolling in. Oops. We abandoned our way onto another route that was a 5.9 or so. Luckily for us it was a bolted hand crack, and as the skies opened up to rain and hail, I clawed us out for 3 pitches of sopping wet limestone. Lightening was cracking all over as well, keeping nerves on edge. We dragged ourselves over the rim safe and sound, albeit wet, but we didn't have to walk and hitch hike home!

The next day dawned clear and we rapped down to the halfway ledge to try and finish the route. We did 6 pitches of brilliant, hard as nails 11+ face climbing, but were starting to feel tired after 20 pitches over the last 2 days. We fired the rest of the route and retreated to the gite for a well deserved rest day and some quality french wine!

Here are some shots...I will do one more post about the rest of our Verdon time!

You think those clouds mean it will rain? The base of Pichenbule

Pitch 2 Pichenbule

Pitch 3 before the rain

Luckily for us the cracks are bolted and you can climb them in the rain

The weather the next day...lots of folks out enjoying the sun!

The French Files, Part 2...the Verdon!

2010-05-28T03:16:00.000-07:00

We left the Gorges du Tarn and headed straight for the multi-pitch adventures of the Verdon Gorge. Single pitch sport cragging is great, but the memories really are made on the all day 10 pitch routes for me. Hanging on the walls, vultures circling below, azure blue river pounding away in the gorge 1,000 feet below you - this is what climbing is all about for me! Oh yeah, and did I mention it is a paradise in the south of France? Can you say amazing wine for 4€, great local produce and anamazing gite we were staying in that was only 23€ a night, totally solar powered and beautiful? Life is getting better every day.

I will break down the Verdon trip into a couple of posts, each focusing on the big routes we did. After countless hours of internet research, it seemed as thought there were 3 pretty classic long routes to tackle, at a good spread of grades as well.

Our first day we decided to try our hand at La Demande, 6a+, 400m. This was the original route that climbed the tallest section of cliff at the Verdon Gorge, as was kind of like first ascent of El Cap for the French in 1968. Being the major weakness of the biggest cliff, the climbing felt right at home being from North America and having done my time on the trad classics: chimney's and cracks, BUT with tons of bolts! I love France!

So in classic Verdon style, we drove up to the top of the cliff, walked 2 minutes to the rap station, and abseiled down 400m to the gorge bottom. We then walked 15 minutes to the base of our route and Voila, we were climbing. Being the first long route of the year for us, Jas and I were psyched to start off mellow for us for a route graded 5.10. Pitches went well, the climbing was fun and it was not nearly as polished as I feared it might be.

Good times for us, and we felt warmed up to tackle the next big route in the gorge: Pichenibule...but that is for next week!

For now here are some photos...and if you want any info on the Verdon, check out this GREAT article from UK Climbing: http://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/page.php?id=2076

Jas starts the 'approach'

The first few pitches of leaning cracks.

Jas follows the crux pitch (5 I think?)

Jas in the exit chimneys. 5.8 chimneys forever with bolts!

Back at home in our lovely Gite!

The French Files, Part 1

2010-05-21T02:54:00.000-07:00

Winter finally came to end for me kicking and screaming…it held on for dear life as long as I could let it (or as long as my cool work opportunities could let it!). The season came to a close with helping to administer the AMGA Ski Mountaineering Guides Exam. We ran this program in a new venue: Hatcher Pass and Girdwood Alaska. I would show you all the cool places we went, and fun videos of the candidates working hard and skiing really cool things, but 10 days of long hours and hard work led me to be the biggest bumbly ever on the plane flight home. I didn’t realize my pack was open under my seat on my first flight back from AK, but my camera, ipod and altimeter watch all fell out. Ouch, that is a huge loss, can you say take a match to $1000 dollars? Well, you can’t dwell on that stuff to long, its only money and material goods. Lucky for me, I have great jobs and am not in dire straights financially while I live my dreams. Really, LUCKY ME!

So I got ‘home’ to Squamish for about a day, and then had to go to some meetings for the Backcountry Lodge owners of British Columbia in Penticton, so I got to actually rock climb for a day in Skaha! So psyched to be on the rock again, even got to almost onsight an 11d on the first day, except the baby butt smooth and WET rock at the chains sent me for my first big whipper of the season! Good times.

We returned home to Squamish and basically packed for the next adventure. 5 weeks in France! Clipping bolts, drinking red wine, eating soft cheeses. Holiday!

We started our journey in the Gorges Du Tarn, an area in the Midi-Pyrennes in southern France. It seems that the Tarn is not quite on the radar for global/European tourists, but very much so for the French. No one really spoke a lick of English around there, and Jasmin was forced to open up the corners of her mind of grade school French, and did pretty well. We found a ‘gite’ or room for rent adjacent to someone’s house – very common here, and very practical. We had a small two story place, with a kitchenette, couch, bedroom, washroom, walking distance to everything in the small town of La Malene, all for 32€/night! We stayed in the gorges for 10 days getting hopelessly pumped as we opened up our climbing season.

The gorge is filled with small, old style towns, including monestaries and castles up to 1500 years old. Quite scenic with all the old places and architecture and very green. Trails everywhere for walking, and over 2000 climbing routes in the 3 small river valley’s of the region. What more could a climber want? It was also quite wet; we had rain every single day, but luck for us the rock dries fast and most cliffs are steep enough that they stay dry in all but the heaviest downpours. That is what else a climber could want!

The limestone of the gorges is all a bit overhanging and extremely pocketed. It tends to be sharp, so our skin, baby soft from ski gloves, took a beating. But the 25-30m overhanging routes whipped us into shape pretty quick, and by the end of our stay I had already sent a slew of 5.12s, so the head was back in it. Good thing, because the next leg of our journey has taken us to the classic Verdon Gorge, for some committing 1000’ foot long multi pitch old school style routes…but more about that next time. Enjoy some photos from the first part of our trip.

The town of La Malene

Jasmin climbs 'C-100 Francs'

Guide's Course Video Wrap-up

2010-04-13T21:03:00.000-07:00

Okay, all I have time for is to post the link for this video I just made of the AMGA course I taught last week. Enjoy!

Now I gotta get set for a few more days of ski touring in the Chugach, based out of Valdez.

The Final Stretch

2010-04-09T09:02:00.001-07:00

The 10 day ski mountaineering guide course actually culminates with a 3 day mini-exam, so that candidates are then tested and certified to an assistant guide level. Over these 3 days, we take a close look at how they perform in 9 different areas:

Risk Management
Client care
Technical Systems
Application
Terrain Assessment
Movement Skills
Mountain Sense
Professionalism
Instructional Technique

As examiners, we give the candidates an objective, and then they make the appropriate plans to try and accomplish that objective. For these 3 days we based ourselves out of Keith's Hut in the Cerise Creek drainage off of the Duffy Lake Highway. If you haven't been to the Duffy, you are missing out. Basically, it is like the Rogers Pass of the Coast Range. Road side access to 5,000 vertical feet of relief, with chutes, glaciers, summits and pillow lines every where you look. Typically, it has a deep coastal snowpack as well. We never got any of our 3m + probes to hit the ground once at and above treeline. I was speculating that up high on the glaciers, the snowpack was at least 4 meters deep.

The first day's objective was to tour in to Keith's Hut, get settled and then take us on a quick powder skiing tour near the hut.

Day two was to try and summit Mt Matier and ski the Anniversary Glacier and some other smaller summits in the area.

Day three was to ski the Twin One glacier and ski out from the Hut.

Here are a few photos of the days to give you an idea of what we were up to. Right now I am trying to edit a video that will showcase what the candidates do during these exams.

Touring for Powder below Joffree Peak

Can you find the skiers? White out turns on the Anniversary Glacier

Danny shows us his Alpine Guide rope coiling prowess

White out peak scrambling. Rime doesn't ski so well, let's leave the skis behind for the summit of Hartzell.

Touring below the west buttress of Mt. Matier

Matt thinks another day might be appropriate for the NW face of Matier.

The first group makes its way to the Anniversary Glacier

Danny trying not to lose it with another night of tour plans.

Burning the Candle from Both Ends

2010-04-03T21:44:00.000-07:00

Sometimes that is what the guide certification process is about. The alarm goes off at 5:45 am, coffee maker is turned on, weather is checked, bag is packed, lunch made, thermos filled. Skins? Check. Ski boots? Check. Gloves, hat, goggles, sunglasses, warm hat, gore-tex....check check check. And then the candidates show up at my house at 6:55am for the morning guide's meeting and briefing. We discuss the overnight changes in the weather and snowpack, the anticipated hazards associated with our day, and then review our plans. We pile out of the house and head up to the hills for more ski touring fun.

That is how every day has started for me lately, and they haven't been finishing until around 7pm at night, when the tours are done, the candidates debriefed, weather and snowpack discussed and plans finalized for tomorrow. Then its dry out my gear, unpack, eat dinner and go to sleep. Repeat the whole process the next day.

But we have fun out there everyday, because after all it is ski touring/mountaineering, and we are climbing peaks and skiing mostly powder. This week has been a blitzkreig of spring storms, that are seeming more like December than April. Low freezing levels on the coast of BC, has resulted in over 120cms of cold smoke at Whistler this week. It just doesn't stop...which isn't necessarily that great if you want to do some ski mountaineering! The last few days have been spent going over short roping and glacier travel, and attempted ski of Cayoosh on the Duffey Lake Road, tree skiing on Chief Pascale on the Duffy, and some more touring in the Blackcomb Backcountry.

Here are some shots to give you some visuals of what we have been doing this week.

Snowpack evaluation on Chief Pascale

Short Roping up Disease Ridge at Blackcomb

Disease Ridge

More Disease Ridge

Coming around to Blackcomb Peak

The Ringer

2010-03-31T21:21:00.000-07:00

Well, it's not quite like going through the ringer, but some folks might say that going through your training and examinations to becoming a certified guide is a tough (both physically and mentally) endeavor. Right now I am in the middle of teaching the American Mountain Guides Association (AMGA) Ski Mountaineering Guides Course based near Whistler, British Columbia. This program entails candidates learning and showing proficiency in various ski guiding techniques, including, but not limited to, snowpack assessment, crevasse rescue, skinning, short roping, downhill guiding...you get the point, a wide variety of backcountry skiing skills. It takes years of personal experience and prerequisite course work such as avalanche training and wilderness first aid, to even get accepted to the program.

I have gone through the ringer. I have done all of my trainings and became certified in Alpine, Rock and Ski guiding, and it took me quite a few years to do so. On average, it takes most candidates tens of thousands of dollars to put them selves through the program and about 3 to 5 years to complete the entire certification process. In the end, it kind of adds up to a PhD in mountain travel. So if you ever wonder why you should hire a certified guide, it is because someone has put them through the ringer and checked to see if they have what it takes to travel with people safely in the mountains.

We have just finished the first few days of the program, and it was greeted by about 80cm of fresh snow in the Whistler region. Wet and wild to say the least. The first two days were in heavy snow and concentrated on technical skills, and not so much skiing and touring.

Day 1's first objective was avalanche beacon tests to see if candidates could find and extract 3 avalanche beacons buried about a meter deep in under 7 minutes. The second test was the construction of rescue sleds and subsequent lowering of a victim down a few sections of steep slopes.

Day 2 focused on crevasse rescue techniques.

Day 3 (today) was about getting out and touring and some rope work on steep technical ascents as well as guiding a few technical descents.

Here are some shots...I have to go to sleep to wake up and do it all again tomorrow! Everyday we meet at 7 am and our end of the day meetings have been finishing at 7pm...and then the students have to go do their homework assignments!

Find that beacon! Probing for a buried target.

Pete Keane bringing us up through rock steps on Blackcomb Peak

Rob Hess tells us how to guide between bites of PB & J on the summit of Blackcomb

Candidates lead us up through some glaciated alpine terrain on Decker Mt.

Ski descent of the 9th Hole on Decker. Can you say 40 degree blower pow?

Deep powder week

2010-03-23T08:11:00.000-07:00

Well, it has been the driest winter in about 20 years, so 'they' say. Despite that, every single group that has been here this season (VMT) has skied untracked powder, I am not making that up. Sometimes it was settled out, and at the end of the day a bit moist, but there was always a place for every guest to get some untracked. 2 weeks ago was the deluge that my soul needed. 80cms in 6 days, and 4 of those days were the standard, ultra-light, champagne, make UT snow look heavy kind of days. Here is a link to a video from the group that came in that week.

Enjoy!

http://gallery.me.com/seanstaniforth#100081

Helmet Cam

2010-03-10T19:24:00.000-08:00

Ok, finally got a helmet cam, but now my computer is too slow to deal with some HD video...you know what will be next then!

But for now here is a rough little vid to get you psyched on skiing powder again. We had a strong cold front blow through on Sunday night into Monday, and it dropped 30 to 40cms of good old fashioned Kootenay Cold Smoke.

Enjoy

Behind the Scenes: Outdoor Research

2010-03-04T08:58:00.000-08:00

This past week a group of athletes, desingers, product developers and marketing folks from Outdoor Research came up to Valhalla Mountain Touring to try and help push Outdoor Research even further to the forefront of making some great gear. The idea behind the week was to get out during the day ski touring, putting some gear to the grindstone, and then talk about the progression and development of everything at night. In my mind it was an incredible week of getting all of the different people to work together and to see and hear what everyone has to say about the products from the snowpits to the factory floor.

The week was a mix of sunny high pressure, light amounts of new snow, and some touchy days of avalanche activity. Overall, a mix of cold and dry, warm and wet, and a few temperature ranges in between. What could be better for testing gear out? Everyday we all swapped, gloves, pants, coats, etc...and then brainstormed and fine tuned what we put to the test.

But don't be fooled we had a ton of great powder skiing, a few summits, amazing food cooked by Annie, great tunes played by Alex K (VP of marketing) and Jasmin on the uke and guitar, and tons of pics and video to document the whole week.

I gotta say, there is some great gear and some really cool projects coming down the pipes right now from Outdoor Research. Two items of note are the Trailbreakers pants and the Radiant Hybrid Hooded top. The TrailBreakers use a waterproof laminate on the lower legs, and a woven soft shell on the thighs, with huge thigh vents and great pockets - obviously these were made by Uber ski touring/IFMGA mountain guide Martin Volken! The Radiant Hoody is the ultimate cold weather fleece. Highly breathable grid fleece under the arms, and smoother, warmer fleece on the rest, it is a great piece for alpine and ice climbing with its integrated hood that easily fits under your helmet.

During the week, myself and fellow IFMGA mountain guide Martin Volken filmed a few 'How To' videos on common backcountry skills, and we got some great skiing footage to get you stoked. Not to mention some of the new and improved product ideas! It was an amazing experience for me, and a testament to OR's commitment to work with people like you in the field and make some great gear to facilitate some even better times in the hills. Enjoy the photos from OR employee Charles Lozner!

"Hey, nice coat!" "You too!"

"This is how the Swiss eat appetizers. Try it." Martin Volken

Product Development Meetings post skiing

Shannon Lake

Dan, the boss, shows us how to alpine slackline in ski boots!

Yours truly checks out alpine snow stability

Sweet powder bliss in Grizzly Bowl

Classic Valhalla Skiing in Cariboo with Pyramid peak in the background

West coast sales director Dave Mahoney slays some pow

It's a tough job, but someone has to do it...me getting some!

Rockies Ice Classics

2010-02-26T18:56:00.000-08:00

So I finally got some free time to go and check off some classic ice climbs in the rockies. I have been living in Canada for 5 years now, and have never even come close to ticking off some of the most famous ice climbs in the world. The time was now, with a week for me to escape from the comfort of home at VMT, and my good friend T-Tones Touch aka Tony Richardson having a week to escape from Vancouver and the Olympics hoop la.

Both of us hadn't climbed ice in ages so we decided on a quick warm up in Field, BC with a climb of Guiness Gully and the the Extra Stout finish. 6 pitches of soft, warm, and plastic ice allowed us to get in the groove. An early finish and we were off to the ice fields parkway to stay the night at the Rampart Creek Hostel situated within a few KM of some of the most sought after ice climbs in the world.

Number one on our list was the 'show piece' of the Canadian Rockies, the famous Polar Circus. More of a day alpine route in my mind, the climb is only a short half hour walk from the road, but covers up to 10 pitches of technical ice with all of the standard mountain objective hazards to be dealt with, mostly avalanches. With a benign avalanche forecast and moderate temps, we were psyched and woke up early to make sure we had the route to ourselves. Fast travel in the dark via headlamps got us to the first pitch before the sun even woke up. A quick snack to let the light grow and we were off, getting more and more in to the groove with every pitch. Long rope lengths of steep ice led to great fixed belays and before we knew it we were topping out at noon, with a quick series of rappels bringing us back to the truck by 130pm.

We made the 2 hour commute to my sister-in-law's place in Canmore and made a plan to tackle the Sorcerer, labeled as the 'route to do in the Ghost River area if you only have time for one route.' But before we knew it, a deer changed our plans - poor soul, tried to play chicken with my truck and lost, but so did my grill, bumber and headlight. A quick look in the ditch confirmed she was on to the next adventure - which is good because my big sally vegetarian self was not looking forward to putting the deer out of its misery. As fate would have it we left the tailgate of the truck down and lost T-Tones' helmet some where along the way. So a 180 back to Canmore, a stop in the gear store for a brain bucket, and by noon we were clipping bristlers at Haffner Creek. A short walk, plenty of bolts and our egos were massaged by being able to send pitch after pitch of M7 and M8 off the couch. Good times and sore arms brought us back to Canmore to set up to try the Sorcerer again the next day.

Attempt 2 goes smooth as silk, and we enjoy the steep and dry 4 pitches in a spectacular setting. A quick turnaround had us back to Canmore before the sunset.

Originally we had wanted to cap the trip off with Nemesis on the Stanley Headwall, but alas, tired arms, too many early starts and a broken ski binding had us going to Lake Louise to kick and scratch up the classic Louise Falls. A million parties meant we tried our hand on the classic trad mixed line 'Lowe Impact' just to the right. Steep M8 and shitty rock had me hanging my way up, but it was a fun jaunt in a beautiful spot.

The journey was done, missions accomplished and now it is back to life at VMT...

Enjoy the photos...

T-Tones touching Polar Circus

Turning the Pencil

Sunrise over the Ice Fields

Polar Circus Upper Pitches

Post P-Circus chips and pilsner

The Ghost

Poor Deer, Poor 'Yota

The Sorcerer

P.3 on the Sorcerer

P.4 on the Sorcerer

The Persistant Weak Layer (PWL)

2010-02-03T07:49:00.001-08:00

The last week and a bit has allowed me some time to escape the wilds of BC to journey down south to UT. Meetings with the AMGA (American Mountain Guides Association), a visit with my parents and catching up with good friends before I return to my semi-hermit existence at my backcountry lodge in British Columbia Valhalla Mountain Touring.

The last 10 days skiing around Utah has been eye opening - 3 avalanche fatalities in the super dicey snowpack that has seasoned avalanche veterans running scared, and cocky locals pushing the limits. The situation in Utah is this: some early season snow sat around in the hills for weeks of high pressure. This created an extremely weak and faceted snowpack that was then pummeled by up to 80" of snow just over 10 days ago. Huge natural avalanches were popping out all over. Ski patrollers were getting caught in bounds, a few unfortunate people lost their lives. But all the while people are skiing in some wild places, pushing the boundaries of what is safe, and maybe even getting away with it. What gives? What is going on? Is it safe out there?

I have alot of thoughts on the topic, as I am an opinionated, IFGMA Mountain Guide and former avalanche forecaster. I know that I am very conservative, but I have also skied my share of big lines in big committing places. The difference I guess is that I have time on my side - I spend around 120 days a year ski touring. I get my fix, my itch is scratched. But when I come down to UT and see what people are skiing with the snowpack they have, it gives me the chills. The problem right now is that we have what is called a Persistent Weak Layer. This faceted snow at the base of the snowpack isn't going anywhere, and it isn't going to heal very quickly either. People may think it will, but if there is one thing I have learned from my time in the hills, it's never, EVER trust a PWL. They stick around, (hence the name Persistent) and just when you least expect it, WHAM! You are in a big avalanche.

And right now is the time in UT that kind of scares me the most. Avalanches have stopped being triggered on a daily basis, there is no new significant loads, people are starting to ski in more radical terrain, but the PWL is still there. The shallow trigger points are out there, just waiting for the 3rd, 10th or 75th skier to hit the sweet spot and pull out a large unsurvivable avalanche. Yikes. Bruce Tremper had a quote in his "Staying Alive in Avalanche Terrain" book that has stayed with me for years now. Since I don't have the book in front of me I will paraphrase. Basically he said if are 99.99% certain that a slope is not going to avalanche, and you ski 1000 slopes with that confidence, then you will get caught 1 time. If I ski a big avalanche slope every day I go out skiing (some days I don't ski any, some I ski quite a few), than that means once every 10 years I will get caught. If I have a 40 year ski touring career, I will get caught 4 times. I don't like those odds. And skiing in avalanche terrain right now in UT is like trying to beat the house in Vegas, but the dice are loaded in the house's favor just slightly.

Part of the bigger picture problem in UT is that skiers here don't regularly ski in a PWL snowpack. The central Wasatch is host to a pretty forgiving snowpack, with the avalanche danger usually associated with new snow wind loading. The PWL doesn't live here very often, it usually just stays at home in places like Colorado. Coloradans are well trained in dealing with the PWL, and they skip through powder meadows, ski the trees, and generally just bide their time until late March/April when the spring conditions start to settle things out. So some folks have stopped seeing slides and are starting to go for it. Maybe an old slide path that has already avalanched is safe - but maybe not. Stop and dig on the reloaded bed surface and see if that PWL is still hiding out.

For now, while I am in UT, I am skiing like a Coloradan. Skiing dust on low angle crust on south aspects during or right after a storm. Steep skiing is confined to TIGHT trees, where on north aspects the powder is soft and deep. LAB (low angle bull sh*t) is the story on sheltered and shady terrain, where I am still having fun, traveling through the hills and staying fit.

Stay safe, dig around, learn about the PWL, and respect it before it schools you.

Kathy proves you don't need to be in the gnar all the time to have fun.

LAB skiing in the sun, so lame, why bother?

It might only be 30 degrees, but the sun was warm and the cold smoke kept getting in my face.

A post for the K2 blog

2010-01-30T11:44:00.001-08:00

Here is a blog post I wrote up to kind of introduce myself and the lodge for my new ski sponsor K2. If you haven't skied on the new series of K2 skis you are truly missing out. Right now I am starting to amass my quiver, and the first two pairs are in the rotation. My slugger of the line-up is definitely the Sidestash. Not for the faint of heart, it is a bit beefy for weight (a little over 9lbs) but with tip rocker, metal, and some side wall/cap construction, this ski delivers no matter what you are doing. High speed GS turns, quick reaction tree shots, mega float in the deep pow. I am very excited about these skis. I have them mounted with Dyanfit TLT classics for weight savings, and ski them with my Scarpa Spirit 4 boots. The other pair I have is the Waybacks. Super light at under 7lbs, I pair these with my Scarpa F3's for the long, far and fast tours. These skis still float really well at 125mm at the tip, and I barely notice them on my feet. Check out the whole backside line, you won't be disappointed...

Any way, here is my blog post, with some great photos from a few weeks ago by Fred Marmsater, amazing shots!

If you are reading this, you are a die hard skier. And if you are a die hard skier, then you have, or should have, a dream to ski in the backcountry of British Columbia. Long since my youth, I have flipped through the pages of ski mags, and more and more photos of the skiers Shangri-la have graced the pages of those mags. There are a few good reasons for this, and I have come to fully appreciate them over the last 5 years as the manager, lead guide, and now owner of a backcountry ski lodge in the Selkirk Mountains of British Columbia.

Tucked away in a sub range known as the Valhallas, Valhalla Mountain Touring sits along the west side of the Selkirks. About halfway between the powder skiing meccas of Nelson and Revelstoke, we are graced with the perfect ingredients for backcountry bliss.

First things first, skiing is nothing without the mountains. Even if it snows just a little bit, people will ski the hills, just look at Colorado! The Valhallas might not be the tallest peaks in the world, but the deep lake filled valley bottoms are up to 7,000’ vertical below craggy summits. A few neves and glaciers dot the big peaks, and the snow starts to pile up in October. Not too far from the coast, so the moisture can make it, but far enough away that the storms cool down in temperature, and the air is not arctic cold. High enough mountains for snow to fall all winter, but still low enough that you aren’t sucking wind. Spruce and fir grace the hillsides to give you shelter and soft snow in the gnarly storms, but treeline is gained quickly for widespread vistas on the days when the snow isn’t flying. And the best part of it all? Hardly anyone around to enjoy it. This ain’t Was-Angeles, and there is no fighting the I-90, I-70, LCC, Sea-to-sky highway parking lots.

Every week of the winter a group of about 12 people make the journey up to our place in the hills. And what they get is what I just preached about. In my mind the resorts give us the skills, the ski area boundaries give us a place to test our skills and push ourselves, and the unexploited backcountry of the world, like the Valhallas, is where we go to have our adventures, to make memories and to fulfill our dreams that we started to have when flipping through the magazine pages...

Here’s a few shots to inspire you to get up to the Promised Land of British Columbia. Take a vacation, quit your job, win the lottery, marry a cute Canadian girl (like I did). Do what it takes to lay down some tracks in BC! And stay tuned…I will keep you posted on how it goes up here in powder Mecca.

Skinning up to Rugged Peak

Crown Jewel delivers the goods

First turns off the summit of Rugged with Big sister in the background

Steep pow on Ruby Peak

More quality turns on Rugged

Lately...and thoughts

2010-01-10T15:51:00.000-08:00

Last week was yet another stellar week of skiing at VMT. Often times I repeated my mantra of why the interior of BC is the best place on planet earth for ski touring: mountains + climate + lack of people = UNBELIEVABLE. I mean really, can you name somewhere else with the terrain and snow quality that we consistently have in the Selkirks? Blows my mind away all the time.

Wednesday and Thursday some cold high pressure settled in on us, and we took advantage of it by tagging some summits and skiing endless and effortless powder in the cold January sun. Here are some shots:

So much snow, so little time...

Blair tagging a summit above Shannon Lake for its 2nd known winter ascent

On the way up to Rugged - "5 star day for the highlight reel"

Fred going for the summit of Rugged

Do you trust this man with that tool? I don't know if I do

So now we are settling in to a new week at VMT with some long time locals. I think it is one guests' 10th or 11th time up here. He is 71 from Rossland, BC, retired and can't out ski most of you reading this post. Right on!

But to continue my ramblings...I find my self surfing the web for good sites with ski touring adventure on them. There are a few quality ones like Andrew Mclean, Greg Hill, Lou Dawson, Steve Romeo, Joe Stock, Jason Kruk, my wife and Andrew Wexler. But I am always on the look out for some good climbing/skiing adventure content...any one know of some good blogs I am missing? And on another note...I read and see lots of stuff on the web and in magazines about tips and techniques, but not too many from certified guides. Ya, there is great stuff from these people I mentioned before in the ski world, and their experience speaks volumes, but I get alot of the same questions out there sometimes, and maybe I will try and answer some of the common stuff I see come up here, if anyone out there in cyber-landia gives a shit!

The one that came up this week was from a relatively novice backcountry skier who was expressing her fear and intimidation of the backcountry. How to grasp all of that when you can only get out there 10-20 days a year? The obvious is to take an avalanche course, but what are the most important things to take away from a course like that? I came up with 2 really important things to keep close to you for getting out there and coming home safely:

Know how to recognize avalanche terrain. If you aren't in avalanche terrain, then you won't get caught! Use all of your tools, like maps, photos, history, local knowledge, inclometers, tree flagging, etc, and determine with out a doubt that you are in a place that most likely will not be avalanche terrain. Have your tools and your identification techniques and know how to use them.
Choose the right people to go out with. The human factor is one of the most important parts of staying out of avalanches. Go with someone who will listen to your fears, explain what they think and see (and listen to what you think and see) and who will stick with you no matter what. Even though I often guide groups of 12 in the backcountry, I often recommend people to be in no larger than a group of 4 or 5 in the backcountry with 3 or 4 being ideal. That way no one is left lagging and decisions are easy to make.

Those are my 2 tips for those starting out in the backcountry. If all else fails, take a course, or higher a CERTIFIED guide to take you there!

Rugged Peak

2010-01-07T20:23:00.000-08:00

I always tell folks who ask when to come to VMT that January is one of my favorite months of the year. Why they ask? Is it the short days so I have an excuse not to ski 6 grand plus everyday? Is it the cold temps so I have an excuse for sleeping in and not getting outside until it warms up a bit? No and no, it is all about the cold smoke on south aspects. And Rugged Peak is home to some of my favorite ski lines here. Yesterday we spent the day skiing perfect pow from summit to the valley bottom for 2,000' vert thigh burners, all in the sun, with no warm coat on, while it was a high temp of -12c!!!! Hopefully I can steal a couple of shots from my buddy to post up, but in the mean time here is a vid from a few weeks ago that I have been slacking on editing...enjoy!

Happy New Year's at VMT

2010-01-03T19:22:00.000-08:00

Lots of friends and lots of skiing big lines lately at VMT...a few first descents last week before the surface hoar and facets were buried, and then heaps of great powder skiing. But not too much rambling from me today, just a few photos from last week. One of these days I will catch up with a video or two...lets hope 2010 is a good one!!!!!

Jas, Benny and Theo making their way to the summit of Rugged Peak

On the way up to the top of the Shannon Ridgeline...with the Wragge drainage in the background...so much to ski, so little time!

A rare view from one of our highest skiable spots atop the Shannon Ridgeline...first time I know of anyone skiing from here!

A virgin couloir no more...what a great new line from the obvious notch...can't wait to ski it again!

Holidaze at VMT

2009-12-25T14:03:00.000-08:00

Lately we have been settling into life at the lodge for the winter, with the first groups at the lodge. Here are a bunch of photos from the last little bit, I will be making a video at some point here, so stay tuned.

Conditions are great, 135cm HS at the lodge, which is 40cm higher than this day last year. Lots of sun and high pressure right now, so some summits, and skiing in the low angle mid winter sun!

Coastal kids come to play at VMT...woo hoo!

Jas skis across Rugged

Lodge life: Salad, beer, thermos, radio, drill, chips, salsa, etc..

X-mas eve on top of Rugged Peak with Jas!

Skiing thru the burn

Benny getting his behind Jas

The Selkirks...so nice

Let the ski season begin!

2009-12-10T17:33:00.000-08:00

Feeling cold? check
Legs burning? check
Lungs aching? check
Big smile on Benny's face (and mine!)? check
Up in the wilds of British Columbia with no one around for miles? check

It must be the start of ski season at Valhalla Mountain Touring. Jasmin and I came up and opened the lodge the other day, and now we are trying to transfer our strong climbing arms to our weak skiing legs! Oh, how the transition hurts!

Right now the snow is about 120-140cm deep with all the alder and brush covering up really nicely right now. but don't take my word for it...here's some footage from today's quick get in shape tour. 3,000' vertical never hurt so bad/good.

Snow at Home, Warm sun in UT

2009-11-13T07:41:00.000-08:00

The road trip continues, even as my inbox starts to flood with reports of epic early season powder back in British Columbia - for all of you VMT skiers, my guess is there is about a meter of snow at 2000m near the lodge right now, not bad for November! So while rainfall warnings and low snow levels continue at home in Squamish, sunny days and warm sand stone continue to be the norm in Southern Utah.

Since I last wrote, I spent a few days in Red Rock,NV escaping the cold spell, driving to Moab, UT through a blizzard, taking part in the AMGA Annual Meetings, climbing in Indian Creek, UT and then finally back to Zion, UT. Lots of driving in the desert SW in the last little while, but that is the price you pay for road tripping some times.

Moab was highlighted by good times with good friends before, during and after all day meetings. Sometimes it meant skipping meetings to go and climb down in Indian Creek! When the meetings were done we dropped down for a quick hit at the creek so that Jasmin could send a project from last winter Ruby's Cafe. She easily dispatched it after a few burns, so we hopped in the car to head back to Zion.

Jas was all set to climb with her gal pal Mandoline, allowing for what I call a reunification of the Fembots. These two ladies seem to crush the traditional rock scene back home in Squamish, sending 5.12 trad like it ain't no thing. Now they were going to apply them selves to a few fun days in Zion. Meanwhile my original partner bailed, and I turned to the world of Facebook to find a rope handler for a few days in Zion. Low and behold facebook delivered in the form Jason Kruk. I also had to make a climbing rope appear as well, as after a full season of use my trusty Petzl 9.4mm Fuse had finally kicked it. I can't even begin to count the amount of pitches this rope had put in since March, including new free routes in the alpine, and long sandstone free routes in Zion...if you want a tough handling lightweight rope, look no furter. Luckily Petzl is in UT and was able to connect me with a brand new 9.4 Fuse for the rest of my trip. You can read a review here if you like.

Jason is a (not that young anymore) crusher from Squamish, and he was fresh off a 7 day ascent of Golden Gate on El Cap with his partner in crime Will Stanhope. Those two have been getting into trouble in climbing destinations around the world for years now. Jason regalled me with tales from the captain, and it sounds like he managed to free all but 5 feet of the 41 pitches of Golden Gate. Will sent them all. Proud.

Now it was time to tackle some sandstone. Day 1 we decided to check out the Gentleman's Agreement right above Springdale. Rob Pizem freed this one in February, and graded the first 4 pitches 13b, 12c, 12a, 12a, but after Jas and I went up and checked out the pitches last month, they are more like 12d, 12a, 11c, 11b, so don't be intimidated and go try it! Well it was not in the cards for us that morning. Clear skies, and temps in the 70s meant roaster hot conditions for the pitch 1 tips crack. No go for us after 3 tries each, so we packed up early and headed down the hill for some cocktails in the sun.

The next day we decided to try Brian Mckray's new route Silverback which is just left of the classic Monkey Finger. Wow, what a route, and if you are up to the task of long, hard, sometimes wide, and almost always sandy climbing, then you should go for it! The route is quite 'modern' as in bolted anchors and plentiful protection bolts on the pitches. So much so in fact that you really only need 1.5 sets of gear for the route, which in the desert is pretty nice. Granted you need a double set of nuts and finger gear and one of each cam up to the mighty #6 camalot. I will post some pictures here, and get you psyched...but unfortunately we didn't get any shots of the last pitch, which is one of the best in the park. Splitter 12+ finger crack to a roof at the end. WILD. But be warned that the pitch before that is 5.12 OW - number 5 and 6 BD required!

Squeeze chimney p1 - mandatory entrance exam.

Wide, loose and sandy, p2, but wait it gets classic, don't worry!

p3. Classic 11+ Zion funk. Lots of bristlers, so super safe.

p4. gives you some loose 10+ face climbing with lots of bristlers as well.

And then gets into some classic flare climbing with this wild roof at the end.

p5. One of the best in the park, 120' of wild steep hands in this crazy flake feature. So good, and so high off the deck, gotta love it.

p6 is the bear of the route. Starts with tight hands in a flare and then finishes with 5.12- OW. Fun.

Jason gets psyched following the OW. So glad for the bristlers.

More Zion action...Tatooween and Plan B

2009-10-19T08:22:00.000-07:00

The fun just doesn't stop for Colin and I...we are keeping the 'dream itinerary' alive with our last two days of climbing.

First up was the relatively new route, and probably seldom repeated Tatoween V 5.11. It lies in the massive south facing amphitheater of Mt. Kinesava on the edge of Zion. WOW. There are so many great lines (and new ones to do) that I really shouldn't tell you about them. In fact stop reading here, and don't bother to come to Zion. It is sandy and loose, the climbing is way over rated. Ha. Back to Tatoween.

So new guidebooks, like the one from Supertopo.com for Zion, really get you psyched on new spots in an old area, and that is what struck us about this line. By my calculations it is probably about 1700' tall, and almost every pitch is 5.10 or harder, and the way we did pitches, they were all about 160'. Add the 2+ hour approach and the same for the descent, and you have your self a full fledged grade V desert wall that is all free. What more could you ask for?

We woke early and starting walking at first light. After a cool and sandy approach we arrived at the base just as the sun was hitting us. Highs in the 60s were forecasted which was just barely cool enough for climbing in full desert sun. We didn't stop moving the entire day and climbed pitch after pitch of 5.10 and 5.11. A few broken foot holds were a testament to the rarely climbed nature of the route and the full adventure component it involved. We were a long way away from help if some thing went wrong, so both of us tightened up our climbing a bit, slowed it down, and practiced what I call '4x4' climbing, meaning distributing your weight on all 4 appendages as much as you can incase anything does break. As an example, at some point high on the route, I was linking together 2 5.10+ pitches for another monster 175' pitch, when I foothold snapped, but luckily, or unluckily my fingers were locked into a perfect finger lock, and I pretty much scalped my left index finger. The dreaded flapper pulsed blood and throbbed in pain until I could get to the belay and tape it up tight. Now I am struggling with putting this sucker into cracks, but oh well, it's only flesh and will regrow eventually!

We summited at about 5:30pm, and had 10 rappels, and a two hour walk out. With sunset at 7pm, we knew we had some time of walking in the dark, but oh well, that is the price you pay for gong big in the short fall days. Overall, I highly recommend the route...be prepared for long and sometimes scary pitches of 5.10+, some friable holds and lots of walking. Put your adventure cap on tight.

Mt Kinesava...home to Tatoween and many more classics to come!

Pitch 1: 5.11 fingers

Way up there on the route

Still high on the route.

Summit!

Summit shang ri la...how many people have ever been here? Maybe a dozen.

Descent.

Walking in the dark.

Ouch, the dreaded flapper!

The day after, we woke up slow, but didn't want to take a rest day, so at the crack of noon we went into the canyon to check out a 5 pitch route called Plan B, 5.12. Yet another 5 star stellar crack climbing classic of Zion. Pitch after pitch of real deal pulling pretty much exhausted what we had left after Tatoween the day before. With a pitch breakdown of 5.11+, 10+ OW, 12 (3o foot roof!), 12- and 11, we were pretty much in rest day mode at the top. Now being pleasantly worked, overfed, and over caffeinated, the plans start to take place for the next cycle of climbing...stay tuned!

ZION!

2009-10-14T15:15:00.000-07:00

We just finished our first few days of climbing in Zion, and I must say, soooo inspired. So much rock, so little time. I compiled a vid of the first 2 routes Colin and I have done. First was Freezer Burn, an old Mugs and Wheels free route, that both of us slipped in the sand on so no send, and second was Sheer Lunacy, a 7 pitch 5.12 to the left of Moonlight. I was super psyched to onsight the route, so a great start to climbing in Zion. I will let the vid do the rest of the talking...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgf5JrD6qyI

And so the road trip begins...

2009-10-08T18:47:00.000-07:00

Well fall usually means a few things for me. Work slows down (or stops). Temperatures drop. The truck gets packed. The southwest beckons. All of these things have fallen in to place with a few modifications. This year we have a camper and the dog is our new co-pilot.

This year the journey started with a stop in Smith Rocks to break up our drive to Utah. Now I must say that Smith Rocks climbing is my kryptonite. It totally defeats me, or at least I let it get to me way too much. I am not, and have never been a good crimper and techy face climber; give me a thuggy crag or steep endurance jug haul any day. When I get to Smith, my ego is crushed and I take my climbing down almost a full number grade. But you know what? It is refreshing to have climbing not be about chasing grades, and to be about the line...a lesson we learn a little latter on in this installment. When I at home in Squamish, I guess I get caught up in the numbers, as its your local crag and you have done so many of the lines that you might as well push yourself harder. Then you leave town and try and chase those grades...but put the brakes on, and get back to my traditional climbing routes, where climbing is about the line and the ever so cliched journey. But you know what? It is!

So I had fun trying to onsight classic Smith 5.12 after classic 5.12 and either falling once or dogging the shiznit out of them. For me I guess the line of the 2 days was onsighting the classic Sunshine Dihedral, which they call 11+ with scary gear, but I guess its all relative to me the crusty old trad climber, as it felt way easier and safer than some run out slab like Dreaming.

Beleive it or not after two days we were so cold, and had no skin left on our tips so we started driving for Utah...being chased through eastern Oregon by a blinding blizzard. That is what is supposed to happen on our way home in late November, NOT on the way south in early October! Oh well.

We rocked down to St. George to check out some of the classic limestone of the Wailing Wall and Cathedral Cave. This place has been raved about for a few years, and well its pretty good fun. I think I have been spoiled miserably by going to Kalymnos last spring, and my ideal desert location will always involve splitters and red sandstone, but we had a great time - I mean who wouldn't love this place, great rock, soft grades and plentiful bolts! We did a few of the classics in the cave and tried our best on the wailing wall, but by the next day, the north winds had kicked in and we couldn't even warm up with out freezing our digits off. At least my new super puffy Outdoor Research Virtuoso Down Coat was a welcome and necessary addition to the pack.

After freezing our butts off we ran down to the truck and heading down to St. George where we pumped out a few laps on the un-inspring but extremely fun Chuckwalla and Turtle Walls. 40 feet of super steep jug hauling with your shirt off, who could complain.

But of course the conversation between Jas and I went back to what inspires us to climb, and these sport routes in St. George were just not cutting it. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE sport climbing, all you have to do to believe me is go check out my 8a.nu scorecard! My first love, and true motivator is always the long traditional free routes of the world, like my last post about the Space Buttress. So we decided it was time to check some places out for the next part of our journey - next stop Zion and the seldom visited Kolob Canyon. We had to be in Salt Lake for this weekend's American Alpine Club Cragging Classic so we only had a day to check the place out. Our decision was to check out the sport climbs (I know, more sport climbs!) Namaste and Huecos Rancheros. UNBELIEVABLE. Kolob is amazing and we got to look at the line of 'Wind, Sand and Stars' a IV 5.12 free route that we are going to do next week for sure. But for now here are some shots from Kolob, that just don't do it justice. Go do these routes, if only for the 2 hour round trip walk in the South Fork Canyon in green meadows and tree stands at the base of 1500 foot sandstone walls. That is what inspires me to climb...

Next stop, cragging classic and then Zion!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

First snows...

2009-09-21T21:51:00.001-07:00

Just a quick hit to celebrate the changing of the seasons, and that it was ushered in with new snow across BC. I was working in the Whistler Alpine region, and awoke to 5cm of new snow yesterday morning, and after talking to Dale up at the lodge, there was a fresh dusting there as well. Deep powder days are not far off now, and our season is almost fully booked!

Space Buttress (and beyond...)

2009-09-02T08:00:00.000-07:00

So I finally had some time to head to the mountains for some climbing of my own. I love being a mountain guide, but it is always great to hit the hills with your amigos and have a little less responsibility on your shoulders. But then again, when you head to the mountains with your friends you tend to step up your game a bit.

For me, I knew where I wanted to go. For years now I have been staring at the improbable looking geometry of the Space Buttress of Mt. Gimli in the Valhalla Mountains. Whether it is from the north at my winter home at Valhalla Mountain Touring, from ascents of the super popular South Ridge of Mt. Gimli, or across the valley from Kokanee glacier park, this buttress has been calling its siren song to me for years.

This year a new guidebook came out for the West Kootenays, and that is always a good motivator for getting after it. The description in the book says that the Space Buttress on Mt. Gimli is one of the hardest technical alpine rock climbs in Canada. Now I don't know about that, especially with what some of the Canadian alpinist crankers have been sending, but it does provide for 1000 feet of slightly overhanging rock climbing, with a few points of aid waiting to be freed. I recruited Jeremy Blumel, the merry prankster, granite crankster for a go at this wall...here is the video of our trip.

We spent 1 day checking out the route to see if it would go free to the half way point, 1 day trying to send the first crux with out adding any bolts, and then went back up to add a variation and send to the summit. What a line...thanks Dave Lussier et al, for your pioneering efforts in this backwoods mecca of BC.

After a few days of getting scared in the 'pine, Jer and I shifted gears big time, and decided to hit the quartzite climbing mecca of the Back of the Lake at Lake Louise in Alberta. The most scenic, compact cragging I have done in a long time, it was super inspiring to climb their for a few days, and Jer and I set our sights on the two trad classics of the region, Scared Peaches (12a) and Where Heathens Rage (12c). So fun, here are a few shots of Jer going for the send on Heathens...Thanks for the shots Fiona!

Jer definitely NOT on kitty litter in the alpine

The classic Heathens Whipper

Team orange on the Space Buttress

UWall

2009-08-10T11:05:00.000-07:00

I finally got some time off, and it coincided with a cool down in the weather in Squamish. In case you missed all of the whining from your friends in BC and the PNW, it was ridiculously, record breakingly, motivation destroying hot for along time here. Vancouver and Seattle both recorded there hottest temperatures EVER, yup, ever. It hit 104F in Seattle. We don't have AC on the coast here, just lots of lakes to swim in. So glad that is over with.

So less than 48 hours after the heat wave breaks, Jasmin and I miracuously have some shared time off, and we are packing puffy coats, yup insulated jackets (!) into our bullet packs to head up on the multi pitch classic University Wall in Squamish. It was so great to be wearing fleeces and long pants again in the first week of August with sticky temps on the granite. If you haven't heard of UWall it is one of the steepest and cleanest (at least for the first half) pieces of granite crack climbing in Squamish. Long, hard and reverred, this climb has it all, steep, overhanging thug fest wide climbing, and delicate and run out face technician pitches.

I had been on it a few times before over the years. My first time was with Steve "The Roadie" Seats back in 2001. I could not really climb 5.12- trad back then, but boy did I try. And Steve did too. He was a bit of a mentor for going for it on lead, and tried pretty hard with no fear of falling and its consequences. To this day I try and embody some of those traits while trying to send! We got schooled back then, pulled on lots of gear and I even had to do a hook move on my nut tool to get us off the last pitch which was missing a few fixed knifeblades making the free climbing possible!

This year I went back up in June with my buddy Jesse Huey who has a love-hate relationship with the climb (which many people do!). And alas neither of us sent, but I only hung on pitch 2 due to its early season wetness. I was pretty content with my performance, until Jasmin lit the fire under my ass to really send it with no falls. So we headed back up, and I am happy to report that I dispatched with it, pretty psyched. You can see my description on the link above. Here are a few shots of the day, enjoy!

Jas on P2 leaving the Shadow corner for the UWall free variation.

Me being content and mellow after sending the first 3 5.12- pitches

Jas following the funky p4.

Jas following the exciting p6 free variation, run out on the wafer thin flake on the right!

Wow, an update!

2009-07-27T13:03:00.001-07:00

I know, it has been a long, long while, but that is the nature of the chaotic summer life I live. One week I am on Rainer, the next in Boulder, then Squamish, and who knows a helicopter flight to some alpine climbing. Not having a steady schedule can throw you for a loop sometimes, and blogging is one of the first things to be a casualty. Well, now I can update you and throw some pics and ideas for adventure your way...

I will catch you up with part one here, and the return to alpine guiding/climbing. One of my first trips this year was for Mountain Madness guiding the Kautz glacier route up Mt. Rainier. If you haven't climbed Rainier, it is an incredible mountain, that is quite a great achievement to climb and a perfect stepping stone for climbing the big glaciated mountains of the world. The Kautz Glacier route is a really fun climb, that starts with a few pitches of easy ice climbing to a nice steep glacier walk to the summit. On this trip we were met with heinous winter weather, and a perfect sunny summit day, followed by a visit from the Jet Stream, winds lashing us on our last night on the mountain. Overall, some hard work and a great climb, here are some shots:

Ahh, the first day of summer...and 6 inches of new snow at 9,200'!

Sunshine above the clouds on the way to High Camp on the Kautz Glacier Route.

After this trip I found some time to actually do some climbing in Squamish, and was able to get up a few routes, like the University Wall, which I only hung in one spot due to abnormal wetness, or my impatience to climb the route before it was dry! I spent a great deal of time climbing in the dihedrals on the Chief as well, avoiding the crowds and climbing the steep and impeccable granite of the sky crag ledge zone. If you are up to the task, the routes Men Holding Hands, Getting down on the Brown, and Brothers in Arms are all 5.12+ trad routes and are all AMAZING. Check it out on www.mountainproject.com, which by the way, is an amazing resource for online route info. I even got a chance to do my favorite route in Squamish, with my favorite person in the world: Freeway with Jasmin! If you haven't done this route, GO DO IT NOW! So good, 8 pitches of impeccable granite, short cruxes, good gear, great positions. We honored the gentlepersons of leisure club with our 3pm start and were back down at the car at 7pm, having both cruised the route, which is a good fitness gauge to feel like you can waltz up 5.11 cracks.

Jas starts up Freeway at about 3:15pm

Happy climbers on Freeway

After this I was onboard for 2 weeks of alpine guiding and instruction with Kuan and Mike for Canada West Mountain School. The boys were here to learn the skills of mountain travel and I was going to try and show them how. We started off with a week in the Spearhead Range near Whistler, where we climbing summits like Blackcomb and Decker and learned stuff like crevasse rescue and snow anchors.

Finally last week, we flew into the Tantalus Range and the luxurious Jim Haberl Hut for some more peak bagging. With high pressure all week, we managed ascents of the SE Face of Dione, North Face of Serratus and the East Ridge of Alpha. All classic and amazing, it was a great way for these guys to end their trip out to BC!

The boys summit the E Ridge of Alpha

Finishing off the North Face of Serratus with Dione in the background

Mike cooks up some burgers a the hut. Alpine climbing is so hard...

On the way up Serratus

Well, summer is slowing down, and the next 2 weeks have a bit more alpine guiding on tap as well as the Squamish Mountain Fest. I am forcing my self (so hard, I know) to take off for about a month to climb for myself from late August through September...time to climb in BC before the fall gets here! Time flies when you are busy and climbing all the time!

Help Find our Missing Freinds!

2009-06-05T18:28:00.001-07:00

Some great friends are out climbing in western China right now, and they are overdue, having missed plane flights. They are attempting some cutting edge alpine climbs, and are some of the greatest folks around. Stateside, a search and rescue mission is being organized with 2 friends enroute to China and a few more headed to go help out. Right now we just need everyone's positive thoughts for a good outcome and donations if you can afford it, to help with the rescue costs...

For more info, and to donate, check out:

http://www.adventurefilm.org/index.aspx

Thanks for your time, and please feel free to forward this around to any one else you know!

Evan

Kalymnian Vacation Continued

2009-05-14T01:53:00.000-07:00

So lots of times my posts are about some things that are a bit more adventurous, but this place is hedonism at its finest. Pure fun, no stress (except which 5 star route to climb, what beach to swim at, and where to go out for dinner) and very low on the adventure scale. But that is okay, I will be home in Squamish in 2 weeks, and I can have plenty of adventure with mulit pitch trad routes on the chief and then summer alpine rock season will be in full swing. For now, I will continue to clip bolts, and take big safe whippers.

Here are a few more photos to keep you jealous or stoked, you choose.

However, we did come across one guy who has truly inspired me here. This place is very international, with climbers from every country in Europe and North America. A dozen languages are probably tossed around at the cliff every day. But one group of Spanish climbers has a member of their team who is pretty rad. You see he has one leg, the other is missing from the hip. He huffs it up to the cliffs every day on crutches, and then procedes to throw himself on routes up to mid 5.12. It is truly a unique style, and has to be seen to be appreciated. He climbs 'a muerte' which is espanol for 'to the death' a popular spanish climbing phrase to try as hard as you can. He truly tries until failure and takes some big whips, yelling 'puta puta puta!!!!' when he falls. You can look that one up for yourself.

The 1 legged Spainaird showing us how its done on an 11d.

Anyhow, some shots to keep you psyched...

Jasmin on our mode of transporton the rest days.

Checking out the ruins of an ancient castle on the island.

Sunset over the climbing sectors.

Our friend Clee, cruising a 12b Amphora at the Odyssey Sector

Kalymnos = Paradise Found

2009-05-03T04:13:00.000-07:00

Okay, a quick interlude about where and what I am up to now, in the midst of my remaining ski posts from the winter.

Jasmin and I have wrapped up our safe and successful ski seasons, and have decided to treat our selves with a month of 'hard earned' vacation. Now, a lot of you may think that my work days are vacations, and that yes, I do ski powder and climb mountains for most of my work days. However, ski guiding takes its toll on the body and soul, and I do need to check out from my responsibilities of keeping everyone safe in the mountains from time to time. Sometimes I go on 'holidays' for some alpine climbing, or long trad routes, but this time, we needed a hassle free, life is easy kind of trip. Maybe I am getting old, or maybe I have more money to waste now, but regardless we decided to venture to the Greek Island of Kalymnos for some amazing limestone sport climbing.

After spending a few days catching up with my family in New York City, we kept on flying all the way to the small island off the coast of Turkey. Our host, the proprietor of Lambrinos Studios in the town of Massouri, picked us up and took us to our room. The sun was lazily hanging on to the horizon, and I stepped outside on our top floor balcony to take in the view.

The Mediterranean to the left and the Grande Grotta to the right. Life is good!

We have since spent the last 3 days getting acquainted with the rock and the cuisine. Lots of tufas, stalactites, feta cheese and clean air whippers on the steep terrain. Here are few photos to get you started...

Our Canadian Friend Haima, 'warming up' on some steep tufas.

Jas onsights 'Cyclops', F6c

Haima works out the move son 'Ivi' F7b.

Yours truly works on 'Zawinul Syndicate' F7c+. After onsighting the crux, I pumped out on meter 30 with another 10m to go!

Jas enjoys some post climbing watermelon, while I work on my beer with a name that rhymes with fun.

Wether you like it or not, I will keep you updated sporadically on my vacation. For now, I think I have to go have a swim in the sea...

Wapta Traverse, Part 3

2009-05-03T03:51:00.000-07:00

I know, I am such a slacker, but the last 6 weeks have been incredibly busy and all over the place for me. After finishing the wapta, I still had a week of work at VMT, then Rogers Pass and finally Kokanee Glacier. Somewhere in there I also managed a 1 day lap on the Garibaldi Neve Traverse. Now I am sitting on my patio, overlooking the Mediterranean sea and incredible limestone cliffs on the Greek Isle of Kalymnos. A month here will let me catch up on things like my blog on rest days, and get in shape for the rest of the climbing season! Although I can't complain about being out of shape, as 2 weeks into the season I have already onsighted a ton of 5.12s and am getting close to a 13a. More about Greece later. For now, let me finish up with the rest of my ski season.

To be brief but to close off my Wapta traverse, our next day was spent as a day trip from the Bow Hut tagging the summits of St. Nicholas and Mt. Gordan. Nice mellow skis up glaciers the enitre time to get to the summit of Mt. Gordan, and the weather was starting to agree with us. Although it was a 'balmy' -24C that morning, the winds were calm and we managed to even spend a few minutes on the summit, getting an absolutely crystal clear, 360 degree view of the heart of the Canadian Rockies...

Mt Gordan with views towards Mt. Balfour

We skied down the variable conditions to the flats below St. Nic and then 3 of the 4 of us went for the boot pack up to its summit. About an hour round trip, with the use of ice axes, had us moving along and standing on the knife edge summit. It was truly a spectacular spot and we had a blast skiing back down to the warmth of the Bow Hut.

Heading to the summit of St. Nic

Descending from St. Nic

Looking back at Mt. Gordan with a party on the traverse

Skiing home under St. Nic

The next day we packed our bags and headed over the traverse to the Balfour hut, which is situated of course at the base of Mt. Balfour. We got a decent look at our objective, but the clouds and winds started to pick up. After getting to the hut early in the afternoon, we then spent the remainder of our day practicing crevasse rescue right outside the door.

The next morning we awoke to zero visibility, 70km/h winds and 10-15cm of new snow. Needless to say the avalanche danger had increased and we were going to be attempting the crux of the traverse. I decided to have us wait out the weather for a few hours, holding out for an improvement, but alas, it wasn't in the cards for us. Instead we headed back toward the Bow hut, as that is the only other way back to the road. It still involved a few hours of white out navigation with the GPS, and some folks getting knocked over by the severe winds.

Once back in the hut, we warmed up with some tea, and decided to head out that night and have a hot shower and greasy food.

Overall, the trip was a blast, and considering the oppresive arctic conditions, we managed to get a lot done. Everyone had fun, and most importantly, everyone came home with no frostbite and all their fingers and toes intact!

Wapta Traverse, Part 2

2009-03-24T18:16:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I have been a slacker with part 2, but that is because I got to the coast of BC and the weather went splitter for 36 hours...so I rallied a crew and we punched the Garibaldi Neve Traverse in a day. Oh well, like any good mountain person, responsibilities get thrown out the window for fun. But here is part two, with another post to come about the Neve Traverse!

The next day dawned cold with an arctic haze. When it gets to be below zero farenheit, any moisture in the air tends to freeze pretty quickly, and today was no exception. With a low of around -30 celsius there was no rush on getting out the door. At those temps your skins and ski wax don't really work that well.

We spent the morning brushing up on the essential skills for the terrain we were travelling in. Avalanche and crevasse rescue in and near the Peyto Hut was definitely in order. Everyone needs to review their rope systems and knots from time to time, and there was no better excuse to wait for it to warm up then practicing essential skills!

Knot Practice at Peyto Hut

Finally, around midday we mustered up the courage to brave the cold and headed for a day trip up the north summit of Mt. Rhondda. Sitting across the glacier from the hut, it is an easy day trip, with about 2,000' of elevation gain up glaciers all the way to the summit ridge. The cool thing about the summit ridge is that it is the continental divide, at roughly 10,500', as well as the border of BC and Alberta, and on a good day the views are amazing.

Up and Down Mount Rhondda

We retreated back to the warmth of the hut, and got ready for the 8km traverse over to the Bow Hut for the next 2 days. This is a pretty simple leg that takes you up about 600 vertical feet to the broad col between 2 summits and then down the Bow Glacier to the Bow Hut. You spend virtually your entire time on the glacier, just getting off to basically go to the hut. The nice thing about the Bow Hut is that it is fairly popular (meaning social) and stocked with fire wood, so you actually have quite the warm and cozy atmosphere there.

Skiing down to the Bow Hut

We settled in for 2 nights, with the plan for the next day being a day trip to the summits of Mt. Gordon and possibly St. Nicolas. Things were starting to warm up, and overnight the temps only dipped down to the mid -20s celsius. Inspired by our new found warmth we got ready for a great day of ski mountaineering...

Part 3 on Monday!

The Wapta Traverse, Part 1

2009-03-17T22:19:00.001-07:00

Last week I was fortunate enough to guide the Wapta Traverse for the Alpine Club of Canada. If you haven't heard of the Wapta Traverse, it is by far the most classic ski mountaineering traverse in North America, and I would say it is our version of the famous Haute Route in Europe. The traverse can take parties anywhere from a day(the super-humans), to an average 4 days, or a leisurely 5-7. The longer you take on the traverse, the more time you have to summit numerous peaks enroute.

The route starts via the Icefields Parkway between Lake Louise and Jasper, Alberta, where you climb up from the 'highway' (it is a loose term for a 2 lane road that is barely plowed in winter!) to the continental divide, where a high plateau of interconnected ice fields and glaciers weaves its way back down to the trans-canada highway. You average about 7-10km of travel a day, with about 2-4 thousand vertical feet to get from hut to hut.

We were going for the classic Wapta Traverse, which starts via Peyto Hut. Upon starting our journey, the weather forecast was looking frighteningly cold. I don't mean chilly, I mean forecasted daytime highs of -25c and lows of -35c. For those of you on the farenheit scale, -40 is where both celsius and farenheit are the same. These temps are with out wind chill. COLD.

So of course it all starts with some gear sorting andpacking, making sure we have the essentials. We met in Lake Louise the night before and divided the group gear and checked our equipment to make sure we had it all.

Gear Packing in the Lake Louise Hostel

There are a few key essentials to remember about this trip. First is that it is glaciated, so we need to carry harnesses, ropes, and ice axes as well as the necessary crevasse rescue gear. Second is that it is a hut trip, so we don't have to carry too much excess stuff, and can try and go with lighter packs! Stoves, cooking utensils and foam mattresses are all provided, so basically food, spare clothes, sleeping bag and down booties are all you really need to add to your day pack. Don't get me wrong, the food weight adds up, but it is a lot easier than carrying a stove and tent!

The next morning we began our journey at Peyto Lake with our 10km and 2,000' slow climb to the hut.

Skiing across Peyto Lake.

We spent about 5 hours making the journey into Peyto Hut and settled in for a cold cold week on the Wapta...

Part 2 tomorrow!

March Powder

2009-03-15T15:12:00.000-07:00

Just a quick post with some photos from a week ago. March has meant the return to snowstorms on quite a regular basis. Someone the other day mentioned to Dale that in the Columbia Basin, the snow pack is estimated at 70% of normal. Well, we both agreed that with 2-3m on the ground here right now it is pretty much an average winter. Just goes to show you the magic of the Valhallas...the snow just keeps coming.

Speaking of the snow, check out these shots...

Chris, another satisfied customer!

Storm shots...Graham getting some.

Marta getting some pow before heading back east

We even got some sun...and powder in Shannon.

End of the Good Stability

2009-03-06T07:52:00.001-08:00

Well, the snow is back here in full force. Yesterday saw 50cms of new snow, and day time highs of -10c. You know what that means...COLD SMOKE. Best powder day of the season for sure, I skied 8,000' vert with most of the group, spending the day in the white room. Photos to come.

For now, here is a video from the end of the bomber stability high pressure two weeks ago.

Enjoy!

High Pressure Pow

2009-02-20T13:36:00.000-08:00

Well, the high and dry has set in up north in British Columbia, which means it has been dumping down south. I don't mind so much, because it means its time to get back into the alpine and ski the BIG lines in more stable snow. When things set up right, you can really tuck your way up into the mountains inhospitable nooks and crannies, and do some amazing skiing.

Here is a video from last week of me and a bunch of skiers from the Reno area...enjoy!

If you are really wasting time on the internet you can check out the rest of my posts at evanstevens.blogspot.com

High Pressure High Routes

2009-02-02T21:07:00.000-08:00

All of you VMT devotees...I am in Utah right now, so some trip reports from down there. The word at VMT though is snow, and more snow. Probably close to a meter in the last week, with Dale telling me that there was close to 30cm of new snow this morning and more on the way.

Some folks in Salt Lake City see the high pressure on the weather map, hold their breath and hang up their skis. Others like Andrew McLean charge 10 in 10 days, or myself, I try and get after some longer higher tours that I haven't done in a while, especially since I live in British Columbia these days! Back home in BC, the storms are rolling in, with lots of weak layers being preserved by the more northerly colder temper regime (I am snow geeking out here!). But part of the beauty of the high desert is the strong high pressures and rapid stabilization of the snowpack in these warmer temperatures.

Blah blah blah. You can log on to the Utah Avalanche Center website, and see for yourself, the decreasing avalanche danger. Not that it is fully greenlight out there right now (is it ever?), but things are pretty good and I am slowly building my confidence in the snowpack here and ramping up some tours in some bigger areas.

Sunday we started off with a tour from Big Cottonwood Canyon to Mill Creek via Reynolds Peak, the Wilson Chutes and Gobbler's Knob. Lots of ridge walking in the sun, and great settled, soft and consistent powder on the north facing shots. With a car stashed in Mill Creek, we got to ski out over 4,000' down the NW side of Gobbler's in amazing snow as well. I'll let the google earth image and the photos do the rest of the talking.

Google Earth image with our tour drawn in

Walking along Gobbler's Knob Summit Ridge

Richard drops into the Wilson Chutes

Looking 4,500' down the last run of the day to Porter Fork!

Today (Monday) we decided to tackle the crown jewel of the Wasatch, Mt. Superior, with some skiing in Cardiac Bowl and a long and beautiful ski out Mineral Fork. We went for the long ascent of the East Ridge of Superior for the added ski mountaineering aspect of the day and summit climb. Once again some great north facing settled powder and some billy goating on ridges and entrances so we can sneak into Mineral Basin where hardly anyone had been. Maps and photos will give you the full picture instead of my babbling...

The East Ridge of Superior. Classic.

Hiking up the East Ridge.

Dreamy and creamy turns down from the Summit of Superior.

Poking around to find the entrance into Mineral Fork

Mineral Fork void of tracks

Some more google earth images of the tour. I think red was up and blue lines were down!

Get out there and enjoy it while you can, I have 4 more days until I head back up to the land of snow (Canada). The weather forecast says atleast 2 more days of high pressure here in Salt Lake though...hmmmm.

Storm Diaries

2009-01-11T20:55:00.000-08:00

While the coast has been getting rain of biblical proportions, the interior of British Columbia has been getting pounded by METERS of snow. We have had avalanches run that have not run in anyone's living memory. Up at Valhalla Mountain Touring, we have been braving the weather in the safe tree skiing right out our door, and not stepping any further away. Making ski decisions in times like this in the backcountry is easy, avoid anything even remotely close to avalanche terrain at all costs! The clear weather is here, so now we will get to see what kind of damage mother nature has caused.

Here is a bit of a video diary from last week, enjoy!

You can check out the rest of my posts at evanstevens.blogspot.com

Snowed In

2009-01-07T14:15:00.000-08:00

I can't really say that I have been snowed in before at Valhalla Mountain Touring. We have so much safe tree skiing close to home, that even when the avalanche danger is High, we can still get out and have fun safely. But the pineapple express has something to say about that right now. Just a few hours to the west, the coast is getting pummeled, and people are building arks, leading their animals 2x2 to safety. At just under 6,000' feet of elevation, we are weathering out the storm as all snow, and with night falling, we should just squeak it out as all frozen precip.

However, since we finished our ski day yesterday, it has snowed almost 45cm in about 18 hours. Strong winds have been afoot as well. Waking up this morning with the warm temps and big dose of 'Sierra Cement', we knew we were in for some interesting times. But when you are at a ski lodge in the backcountry, what else are you going to do, post to your blog? So being the good troopers that we are, we set out, at an exceedingly slow pace, but eventually made it up 1200' vertical to the top of some glades right above the lodge. I don't think we could have done it with out puppy power though. My 1 year old mutt has been genetically engineered (read cross breeding) with long legs and big webbed paws, and he has lots of energy to burn. So with our old skin track just barely visible, I gotta give Benny credit for breaking about 60% of the track. At least someone earned their kibble.

On the way down, it was point 'em straight and lean back, and leap frog each other's tracks. And that was on 30 degree slopes. Anything steeper would have been too sketchy! At least it has been an amazing last 2 weeks of non stop cold smoke, and now we have a super fat mid-winter snowpack. The cold front is coming, and we should get some nice fluff laid down on top of the heavy stuff. I guess right now we have too much of a good thing. It's like eating a few too many nachos, time to sit on the couch and digest...

Here are some shots from the last stint of cold smoke to keep you psyched! Thanks to backcountry.com's Tommy Chandler for the shots!

Getting deep at VMT

2008-12-30T21:28:00.001-08:00

It might sound like a joke, but lately the snow has been coming in by the foot, not by inches. The storm hose is pointed right on British Columbia, and the cold smoke just keeps piling up at Valhalla Mountain Touring. We are in full swing here, with the 3rd straight week of operations, and this week has a bunch of friends from UT and CO up here to ski the pow. But instead of ranting and raving, and storytelling, I will let the pictures from the last 2 days do the talking.

Get up here! We still have some spaces for this winter!

All photos by backcountry.com's Tommy Chandler.

Me checking out the snow as the season starts, keeping it safe

Jasmin testing out the snow on yet another storm day.

Lindsay Yaw asks for the snorkel.

Me trying to get above the snow, but that is hard to do right now!

Jonn Webb taste testing the snow.

Cold, cold smoke

2008-12-16T21:11:00.000-08:00

The arctic air mass has taken over British Columbia. I know what you're thinking. It's Canada, you all live in igloos and it is cold all the time. But alas, no, SW BC is actually quite mild in the winter, and that is what makes skiing here so great-it's not frigidly cold! Right now it is so, so, so bitterly cold here that we can't even really ski on shady slopes. The snow is so cold that your wax just doesn't work.

It has made for some interesting plan changes for me this week. Originally I was supposed to be skiing in Roger's Pass. We did two days there, and it was literally some of the coldest outdoor recreation I have ever taken part in. We skinned up to treeline one day, only to met by 25km/hr winds at -24 degrees Celsius. For you math majors out there, that equals a -40 degree celsius wind chill (and -40 is where farenheit and celsius are the same!). This artic front also brought with it heinously strong winds, jacking all the snow at treeline and in the alpine.

We decided to pull the plug and head a bit south to the family's lodge in the Valhallas. A bit of protection from the wind and slightly warmer temps tempted us and Valhalla Mountain Touring has delivered yet again. We have just spent the last 2 days tracking out the cold powder, first a bit in the trees, and then today in the blazing sun. I gotta tell ya, it might be freezing cold out, but that is the bet time ever to ski the pow in full sun, the snow just stays as cold smoke all day long!

So, a video here to keep you psyched, and some photos from today as well...

Benny and Jas racing for the freshies!

Richard heading towards sunny powder on Rugged Peak

My Karhu Storm's getting psyched for 2 grand of cold smoke.

Richard steals some of Benny's powder

Finally, WINTER!!!

2008-12-08T19:32:00.000-08:00

Living on the coast of British Columbia has its pluses and its minuses. The rainy fall, when the snow line hasn't lowered down, can be quite tough. I have spent the last two weeks desperately trying to find some winter outdoor recreation: 3 skiing attempts, and 1 ice climbing attempt. Actually, the 2 days of clear and dry weather were some of the best days of bouldering I have had in Squamish!

But quietly in the interior of British Columbia, winter has started, and about a meter to a meter and a half (3 to 5 feet for the yanks) has slowly started to pile up, and just this last storm cycle a good half a meter has just been added. I did all that I could in the face of more rainy weather on the coast and packed up my truck to drive to the interior.

As my friend pointed out today, I luckily married into a backcountry ski lodge in this zone, and guide their full time in the winter. So I took advantage of that with my wife, father-in-law and dog to go test out the ski legs in our own private backcountry ski paradise at Valhalla Mountain Touring. I shot some video of the day, so I will let that speak for itself. Winter is in full swing here, and the powder is dry and fluffy. Besides we have to start training our new puppy for his winter of ski touring - as you can hear from his yelping in the video, he was having fun.

Come join the fun! We still have a few spaces left on trips this winter...

Road Trip Continued

2008-10-29T15:18:00.000-07:00

Okay, so Yosemite served up a HUGE portion of Humble Pie, much like it always does. Free climbing El Cap is HARD work, and I don't know if I was fully prepared for it. But in the end, getting sick to the point of vomiting and temperatures in the 30s prevented us from doing any free climbing, and forced a hasty retreat from 22 pitches up the wall. Oh well, the big stone isn't going anywhere, so I can come back again next year!

It was then off to Smith Rocks for the American Mountain Guides Association Annual Meeting. I managed to squeak in a few days of climbing before and during some meetings and trainings, and even got to tick some classic Smith Rock's routes, including Toxic and Chain Reaction.

Smith Rocks at Sunset

The Classic 11b Toxic

Classic Smith Views on the warmup

Trying to figure out the beta on The Quickening 12c/d

All in all, it was an amazing event to support the non-profit AMGA, in furthering their cause on training and certifying guides in the US...you should read more about the AMGA, and if you do hire a guide always try and hire one that is certified and/or trained by the AMGA.

At the last minute the keynote speaker bailed (it was supposed to be Jack Tackle) and yours truly had to step in and give a presentation on climbing in Squamish and my alpine trip to the Adamants this past summer (which I blogged abit about here). Free flowing beer aided my cause, and my 2 hours of prep time proved to be more than enough to really get together a pretty good show, or so I thought. Lots of videos, great pics (from friends who know how to use a camera) and some hopefully funny self depricating stories all added up to a good time. The same night also had a silent auction and raffle raising thousands of dollars for the AMGA. There were also 2 days of clinics on all sorts of great topics. Next year the event will be in Moab, UT so make yourself available to check out this fun event.

After the meeting was done I left Smith to pick up my wife in Yosemite. We jumped right back in the car and clipped some bolts and soaked in some hot springs in Bishop for a few days. Feeling the need for more crack climbing, we have now relocated for a 2 weeks in Indian Creek. I will keep you posted on the good times had down here in the red desert!

Fall Road Tripping - Part 1 El Cap

2008-10-08T17:30:00.001-07:00

Okay, so I have been a slacker with blogging. September came and I actually had to work a bunch. Well if you call teaching a bunch of keen 20 year olds how to climb in Squamish and the Coast Mountains Work, then so be it. But it was all in the name of 3 months of no work and all play before the winter snows have me pounding out the vertical on the skis.

Part 1 of my journey has taken Jasmin, my wife, and I down to Yosemite, where we are just super psyched to climb as much as possible. After a few days of cragging, we decided that what we really want to do is get up on El Cap again, but this time with no aiders, trying our best to free climb it via the route 'Freerider'.

Freerider is no walk in the park, and it checks in at around 30 pitches, with most being hard 5.10 to hard 5.12. Neither of us are expecting to send it on this trip, but we both want to check it out to see if it is possible to ever do the unimaginable: free climb the most iconic big wall in the world. It has always been a dream of mine, and will likely be a multi trip endeavor but who cares! It will be a lot of fun trying!

But free climbing big walls is HARD work. Day one we climbed the first 10 pitches, and rapped back down to the valley floor via some fixed lines. Yesterday we packed up our haulbags and got prepped to be on the wall for 4 days. Today we jugged back up and hauled our 100+ lbs bags up about 1200' - a third of the way. Tomorrow we get down to business and drag our butts up El Cap trying to free climb as much as possible. Stay tuned...I will keep you posted on how it goes, as well as the rest of the road trip, which will include Smith Rocks, Indian Creek and Spain (I guess that is a flying trip not a road trip!)

The first 100', only 3,300' more to go!

Jasmin soaks up some intense CA rays 1000' feet above El Cap Meadow

Jas heads out on pitch 11 of Freerider

Climbing in the Rain

2008-08-28T09:04:00.001-07:00

Summer seems to have ended way too early here in coastal British Columbia. Normally August is a month filled with sun, warm weather and endless high pressure, allowing trip after trip into the mountains. Instead, every few days has brought a storm with an inch or two of rain, followed by days of unsettled showers. As a result my mountain trips have canceled and I have been heading to the steep sport climbs to stay in shape and try new link ups and extensions.

However, there is a diamond in the rough, so to speak, here in British Columiba. When times get desperate and it is raining like this there is a some salvation to be had in the form of a world class limestone cave hidden in the hills of Vancouver Island. When I say world class, I mean it- this place is loaded with tufas, stalactites, pockets, flowstone and edges, as good as any where in the world. A little information can be found here and there about it, so I will leave the details a little more vague for you google detectives out there to research the mecca known as Horne Lake.

Senja Palonen works Subdivisions 12c/d. Photo by Rich Wheater

Now granted this place won't ever become too popular for a number of reasons. First there are only about 30 to 50 routes there...not huge. Second is the grades. The main attraction is this massive amphitheater about 100 feet high and 2-300 feet wide. The easiest route in this cave is the cliffs' 'warm up' which is a really steep 11a. After that there is pretty much 1 route at every grade from 12a to 14b. You have to bring your A-game to have a good time here, and be fit for full on 30m enduro-thugfests. That being said these routes are world class, knee bar, heel hooking, tufa wrangling gems, requiring 3-D full body climbing tactics.

Me (Evan Stevens) working knee bars on Save the Pushers, 13a

The last reason keeping people away? It is slightly epic and expensive to get there...let me just recap our latest journey.

Yesterday was one of these desperate rainy summer days in Squamish, so we rallied 6 people to meet up for the journey to Horne. The trip starts by getting to the ferry terminal at Horseshoe Bay, about 45 minutes from Squamish - remember this place is on an island. So forever a climbing dirtbag, we try and save costs however we can, and one method is by 'smuggling' each other onto the ferry. It costs $50 each way just to bring your vehicle over to the island, and then $14 each way per passenger. So we did what any cheap climber would do - hide 5 people under your gear in the back of the truck - voila $64 dollars for the ferry ride split by 6 instead of $134 for each ride. Yes, I know, it is stealing and I am a bad man, but what is a desperate climber to do when it is raining?!!??! So inevitably we got busted, and forced to pay the full price, oh well, it was worth a shot, at least they didn't arrest us!

Will Stanhope works a rest on Save the Pushers. Photo by Rich Wheater

Or so we thought. When we got to the island and drove off the boat, it seems that they had called the cops, telling them we were driving around with people in the back of the truck. Yes, I know again, bad idea, no seat belts and dangerous for the 2 people (and my dog) in the back, but it was a short drive to the cliff, and we were carpooling to save funds and the earth! Luckily for us, the nicest cop in the world, I swear the nicest cop ever, pulled us over. He told me I couldn't keep driving with people in the back, that 2 folks had to get out. He turned his cheek when they started hitch hiking, and let me go with a warning instead of a $750 ticket.

So with only about a 15 minute delay we were at the crags ready to climb. While packing our bags up at the truck, I basically inhaled a yellow jacket and was stung in the mouth. WHAT IS GOING ON???? Seemed that the stars were alligning against me, trying to keep me from climbing at Horne Lake. Luckily I am not allergic, and we got to the cliff.

Luckily for me I persevered. I got back on my project, the classic of the cliff, a massive, 14 bolt 35 meter long 13a called 'Save the Pushers' and sent, so for me all the epic struggles were worth it. This thing is so crazy steep, you lower off 60 feet away from where you started into some amazing Arbutus trees, and crawl your way back to the ledge. Everyone else had a blast and we stayed dry and got pumped while the rain fell out in the trees instead of on our heads, protected by the massive cave.

Will Stanhope shows you how steep it is here-but the clip loaded sideways so turn your head...video from Mike Doyle

Enjoy these teaser photos and video clip, get strong, blow some money and find Horne Lake.

Adamants Part 3

2008-08-18T12:14:00.001-07:00

Last time I left you (scroll down) I had just been HAMMERED by weather trying to free climb the Blackfriar. We spent the next day drying out and licking our wounds, ready to pounce the next day for another free attempt of this 2,000 foot wall.

Staring down Blackfriar from camp

The day dawned clear and cold and we headed over to try our luck again. Freezing cold temps met us as we climbed in the shade for 6 pitches back up to our previous high point in no time flat. We were feeling like we could do this, all free in a day, which would be a first for any of the big walls around here. The next pitch proved to be a bit alpine. Going light, all I had was a pair of running shoes to keep feet warm at belays. I quickly put them on for the next pitch, 5.9 ice/rock jamming between a snow patch and the wall. Gear doesn't work too well in this scenario, so I ran it out for a good 50 feet to a nice ledge where the snow was gone and I could put my rock shoes on. The pitch then started to ramp up a bit - steep and with a small crack, which I had to dig out protection with a nut tool on lead, only to reveal RP placements for pro. No time to stop and think of how scary it was, so I just kept on firing to the next ledge.

Following Craig's proud 5.11+ onsight gardening fest

Craig stepped up for his next lead which was more of the same, 5.11 free climbing with small gear while gardening out the crack. We began to watch the time add up, as cleaning and freeing your pitches on lead takes a LONG time; almost 1.5 hours per pitch. At this rate there was no way we were going to make it. In fact I slowed us down big time on the start of the next pitch, trying for a long time to make my self fit into a tight squeeze chimney right off the belay. At 6' 2" and a 180 lbs, size was not on my side, I just couldn't get my hips into the thing. So I handed over the lead and Craig wriggled his smaller frame into the crack and fired off another 50m of gardening after that.

2 hours later and 8pm in the evening we decided to make the obvious call. Gardening and doing this route in a day were not going to happen. We had broken the sacred alpine free climbing rule of British Columbia - stay on south facing rock! South facing alpine rock in BC gets dried off in the sun, and doesn't allow as much moisture and vegetation to thrive, keeping the rock clean. We were trying to climb a north facing route and it just wasn't working. Oh well, lesson learned. Back to camp with our tails tucked between our legs.

The next day we decided to test our theory and headed for a new variation start to the classic Gibson-Rohn route on Ironman. Looking at the line it was obvious that we had a few pitches of slammed shut corners that were still climbable, so we took the power drill in tow to place a few bolts for pro if need be. Craig led the first pitch and fired off a nice 55m 5.11c putting in 6 bolts on lead AND still managing to free the pitch while dragging up the drill. Impressive.

Me (Evan) drilling on lead, p.2

Pretty soon after starting it was obvious that my pitch was going to be hard with out much gear. I placed 3 bolts right early on while aiding the feature, and then was able to work over toward a super thin crack and place a few pins, and finally get some regular gear in. Craig followed the pitch clean at 5.12- with some wild full body bridging, so we knew our new route would go free. 2 more pitches of splitter clean cracks lead us into the regular route on Ironman, where we than rappelled our route so we could re-lead that 2nd pitch and free it. We called our new variation 'Man of Steel' being that we bolted a new line on Ironman, it is always fun to have a play on words.

Craig following the last pitch of Man of Steel

We awoke the next day to a vicious thunderstorm early in the morning, so pancakes and extra coffee seemed in order. By noon the weather was good and radio reports had the weather being horrible for the next 3 days after this. So we bucked up and left camp at the early alpine start time of 1pm to climb the standard route on Ironman, 10 pitches V 5.10+. As we started it was obvious that the weather was going to deteriorate, so not wanting to get caught in a storm we simulclimbed almost the entire route, getting back to the base 3.5 hours after we started. Minutes later the skies opened up and we fled back to camp.

10cm of snow the next day left us festering in the tent, watching movies on the Ipod waiting for the helicopter to take us out.

Now all I have to do is stop climbing every day in Squamish so I can get around to edit my hours of video to post up here!

The Adamants - Part 2

2008-08-04T08:45:00.000-07:00

Well, I gave you all the quick intro just 2 weeks ago, and now I am back.

But I am so loaded with killer photos and great stories that I will break this up into a few posts.

We landed at the head of the Austerity Glacier in the heart of the Adamant Spires, a remote group of peaks about 100 miles north of Rogers Pass, British Columbia. My trusty partner Craig McGee guides in the winter for Canadian Mountain Holidays in this area so he was chock full of lines for us to try. We built our snow camp, racked up and tried to sleep, giddy as two kids on christmas (in my case Hannukah) morning, ready to try the 2,000' formation known as the Turret.

Digging camp at the base of the Turret

Racking up in the AM

The formation had never been climbed in a day or free climbed so of course that was our goal. We walked 5 minutes to the base and picked what looked like the best line. Info on the route was virtually non-existent and the two pictures of where the route went had 2 different lines drawn in! A few hours later and about 1,000 feet of climbing brought us to the base of the headwall. We had battled a bit of loose rock and tricky route finding to this point, and now the vertical headwall took on the character of an onion skin. Peeling, hollow giant flakes were the name of the game, as we cautiously tread up another pitch or two.

Craig tackles the headwall of the Turret with Mt. Sir Sanford in the background.

About 400 feet from the top, the scary climbing got the better of us. I came up to a 7 piece anchor that Craig had made, and he still didn't feel good about it. The next pitch was a 100 foot traverse across perched blocks that was looking to weigh in at 5.11 r/x. We had enough and bailed.

We then turned our sights to trying the first one day and free ascent of the Blackfriar, another 2,000 foot wall close to camp. We did about 6 pitches of amazing Black Canyon of the Gunnison style free climbing until the skies opened up on us. I was on an intricate and run out 5.10 pitch when waterfalls starting pouring down the route. Not having a solid piece of gear in to bail on I kept climbing in the rain until I could make the anchor. Of course the anchor was guarded by 10 feet of ice climbing- this is the mountains after all! A minor epic saw us off the cliff soaked to the bone and hustling back to camp for dry clothes and warm tea.

Me bailing off the Blackfriar in a storm.

Back in camp we were feeling the mountain beat down. Adamants 2, Craig and Evan 0. But I have been in the mountains enough to know that humility and failure are a big part of the game and that is what keeps you coming back to try again. So we dried our gear out for a day, and rested up camp, to get ready to try the Blackfriar again...

The Tantalus Range

2008-07-06T22:45:00.000-07:00

Summer finally kicked in for us in the Pacific North-wet last week, and my timing couldn't have been better for a 5 day trip to teach some folks about alpine climbing. Working for Canada West Mountain School, I met with my two climbers Mike and Lou at a coffee shop in town at 7 am. A little caffeine, some pouring over maps, and a ten minute drive took us to the Squamish Airport. The heli pilot gave us a quick briefing and we loaded the bird for the hop up to the Jim Haberl Hut in the Tantalus Range of coastal British Columbia.

Black Tusk Helicopters setting some climbers up with Alpha in the background.

The Tantalus Range is an amazing string of peaks that rise out of the ocean just west of the highway between Squamish and Whistler. If you have ever driven to Whistler on a clear day and looked west off the highway, you are smacked in the face with 6 - 7 thousand vertical feet of steep, rocky peaks with tumbling glaciers pouring off their ridgelines. The problem with climbing in the Tantalus range has always been access. Steep forested hill sides guarded by major, fast moving rivers prevent easy access, and that is where the heli comes into play. For a few hundred dollars per person Black Tusk Helicopters will drop you off and pick you up at the Jim Haberl Hut, right in the middle of the range. We chose this option, and after the 6 minute flight straight up, we were practicing crevasse rescue on a glacier by 8:15 am. Unbelievable!

The Jim Haberl Hut with Dione in the background

The hut fully styles you out, completed in 2006, with its bunk beds with mattresses, hardwood flooring and walling, propane grill, outhouse, etc...it is full on alpine bivy luxury. You can walk out your door to technical alpine terrain. What could be better 15 minutes from my house in Squamish.

So with 5 days of sunshine and warm weather forecast, we set to making plans for some of the classic climbs in the range and a bit of instruction as well. First off we climbed Serratus, which is literally a 15 minute walk from the hut. Steep snow slopes led to some easy rock scrambling and the summit at 8:30am.

Summiting Serratus with Dione in the background.

Warm weather meant alpine starts: 3am wake up calls and walking by 4am so we could get the best snow conditions before the heat of the day. It also meant sunrises on the summits.

We did some skills and then ramped up for an ascent of Dione, one of the more prominent peaks in the range. This one required a few hours of glacier travel on the approach, front pointing up a steep couloir, and then 3 pitches of 5th class rock. By all means, a well rounded alpine ascent, requiring a wide skill set.

The SE face of Dione with the Rumbling Glacier in the background

Approaching the summit of Dione

The shadow of Dione from the summit

We climbed a few more small objectives the next day and then headed back down to the heat of the valley. Overall a great trip in an amazing spot just a short heli ride away from Squamish. Get up to the Tantalus if you have a chance!

Climbing above the Lake Lovely Water area.

Zombie Roof

2008-06-12T18:10:00.001-07:00

So obviously I am fully into rock climbing season now and ski season is over for me after over a 100 days on the snow. What can I say, I love both sports just as much! But if you get bored of my rock posts, you can always scroll back to some skiing ones and relive the powder dreams at evanstevens.blogspot.com.

For now, I guess I am on a bit of a roof crack binge. The last few days a bunch of us have decided to tackle Zombie Roof, an ultra classic 5.12d roof crack that is right next too some of the most classic 5.8-5.10 routes in Squamish. I have walked by this climb for 10 years now, and only tried it for the first time yesterday. After sending 'My Little Pony' the other day (see one of the older posts), I was feeling inspired to try this thing.

It is on you from the word go. It's about half as big as My Little Pony, but there is no real sections of cruising, just technical tight hands, finger locks,laybacks, ringlocks, heel-toe camming, and whatever body english trickery you can come up with. All of my other (smaller) friends are getting some good hand jams in at the lip, but my meaty paws are making me work a bit harder. Oh well, I haven't sent yet, but it will probably check in at a bit higher grade for me, more like 5.13a.

Good fun all around, check out my next attempt at making videos here...let me know if you are into the climbing vids, and I will keep 'em coming. All the climbing footage I ever see these days is always bouldering, deep water soloing or sport climbing, so I am trying my hardest to get some shots of hard trad climbing out there!

My Little Pony

2008-06-10T11:47:00.000-07:00

A bizarre title for a post for this blog...but let me explain.

You see, My Little Pony is the twisted name that my good friend, and bad ass mountain guide Craig McGee gave his new 30ft, 5.12+ hand and fist roof crack that he free climbed last fall here in Squamish, B.C. Go figure...

Recently, a friend and I went to check this thing out, and try and do the second ascent. It is a perfect route for us to tackle right now, because 'June-uary' is in full effect in the Pacific North-Wet; the rains will not stop! Luckily there are a few secret caves that stay dry in the rain, so climbers like me can get their fixes!

Here's a video of the route and our day...I did end up sending it with the gear in place, so I have to go back and do it placing my own gear - and hopefully get someone to shoot some cool footage of 'the battle'.

Climbing Again - The Ace-Drizzle Memorial Route

2008-05-20T17:54:00.001-07:00

The skis are back in the closet again; at least until I am in the North Cascades next week skiing volcanoes! So that means it's climbing season. Time to get back into shape and climb the rocks. Being that my wife and I are moving back to Squamish, British Columbia next week, we decided to cruise the home front here in Salt Lake City. Feeling the need to climb some granite cracks, we decided to test our mettle on a newer gear route called the Ace - Drizzle Memorial Route, 4 pitches, 5.12c. (As it is a newer route you can read about it on www.mountainproject.com, which is an incredible on-line free user created guidebook to everywhere!) You might find the name interesting, and it is worth noting...It is named (and I quote the First Ascensionist Chris Thomas here):

In honor of our good friends Brian Postlethwait and Andre Callari, who were killed while climbing in the Ruth Gorge of Alaska in May, 2007. Brian and Andre were two of the most badass climbers, skiers/snowboarders, pilots, adventurers, husbands, brothers, sons and friends that ever lived, and this is part of our tribute to the amazing people that they were.

I had met these guys briefly before they died, and am great friends with some of their best friends, and everyone only attests to what stand up guys they were. What a great way to preserve their memories in the communities they were a part of!

Chris Thomas sending the crux 12c pitch. Photo by Andrew Burr

On Saturday, Jasmin and I went up to check this route out. It is rare that either of us can fire off a 12c trad pitch first go, so we knew we would have to put a little bit of time into sending it, so we got up there and worked the moves and the finicky gear out. I must say that one of the things that really helped on this pitch was the Black Diamond C3 Camalots. BD's newer micro cams are pretty awesome for tricky small protection placements. I have aliens and tcu's on my rack and now C3's, and I find with hard trad climbing that you really need a mixture of devices as different cracks take different brands of gear. However, more and more I seem to be going to these units. The narrow heads, and slightly stiffer cables mean I can stuff them safely into small and tricky spots. For multiple placements on this route, all I could put into the crack were C3s! They are also built to last. Aliens and Ultralight TCU's have some durability issues, and I seem to wear them out with my abusive use patterns. The first piece we placed on this pitch was a sideways green C3 and it was getting worked by my repeated 15 foot falls at the crux. At the end of the day, it held its original shape and function - a testament to its durability.

Getting the feel for the C3's in some good granite.

To keep going on some gear reviews here, I must say that my new shoes were pretty sweet as well. I am sporting some Evolv Pontas shoes, and their no stretch-synthetic material and sticky rubber are treating me right. The Ace-Drizzle is an overhanging tips crack, and you really need to paste your feet on some micro holds to climb this thing, and these shoes provided.

Today we went back up for round 2. With temps in the 90's in SLC, we waited for some shade and headed up the canyon. On my second try today I was able to fire the pitch, having the gear placements and technical beta dialed in. Jasmin didn't send, but she was pretty close, so we are going to cross our fingers and hope it doesn't rain tomorrow, so we can go back up and she can try again! I was psyched to fire off a hard trad pitch this early in the season; I can't wait to step it up some more in Squamish, B.C. this summer!

What it Takes to be a Ski Guide, Part 4

2008-05-09T01:10:00.001-07:00

Today was the last day of the course/exam, and things are all wrapped up. I made a flight back to Anchorage, and have a few hours to kill before my 1am red eye back to the lower 48, allowing me to decompress and chill out for the first time in 10 days. Can you feel the weight lifting off of my shoulders?

This is not an easy process - either for the aspiring guide or the instructor/examiner. The long days, lack of sleep and continuing challenges of touring and guiding day after day had taken their toll on everyone with a touch of fatigue setting in...but that can tell you a lot about a guide, as they process these issues, and still manage to guide and have some energy in the reserves for the anticipation of whatever issues may come out of the blue. Granted these courses tend to push people a little hard at times, as the candidates aren't used to juggling so many things day after day, but anything can happen in the mountains, and we need to know that these candidates can handle and manage all of these things before we can allow them to pass the examination component of this course. As a result, a 50% failure rate in guide programs throughout the world is not uncommon. Most aspiring guides usually fail at least one exam in their path to full certification as a rock, ski and alpine guide. This is for sure one of the toughest parts of the examining job, as you have 'journeyed' with these candidates through the last 10 days, helping them to achieve their goals, and they don't always make it. But so it goes...if everyone passed just for signing and showing up, then being a certified guide wouldn't mean a thing.

At least for the last 3 days we got to hammer out a few more quality ski lines, possibly some of my last few turns of the season, as I will be diving head first into climbing season this week. In fact my last few turns were on one of my favorite runs on the planet, the Cherry Couloir on Python Peak. This dog leg chute drops right off the small summit down about 1,500' vertical, lined by cliffs holding an angle in the mid 40's. After that, another 3 grand of cruiser turns take you back to the car - you gotta love the big vertical of Alaska!

I already have a potential trip guiding in Valdez for next April, and I can't wait to come back! This place continues to blow my mind, and my last turns (possibly?!!?) of the season will carry me through to next fall...

Marc leads Julia up the Python for some practice guiding

Rapping down into the top of the Cherry Couloir right off of Python's Summit

Julia Niles rips down the guts of the Cherry

Joey Vallone showing us how its down on the lower part of the Cherry

Yours Truly getting in some amazing final turns of the season

What it Takes to be a Ski Guide, Part 3

2008-05-05T22:00:00.000-07:00

Well, we are down to the final stretch, only 3 more days left of the ski guide course. For the last 3 days we were on a point to point traverse, that started off quite spectacularly with a heli-drop. Our friends at Alaska Rendezvous Heli Guides lined us up with a drop on top of the 7,000' foot peak known as 'Ice Palace'. This run was only guided once this season, and has some pretty interesting positions to say the least. Crevasses and ice falls border almost every turn on the top of the run, and everyone's adrenaline was high, when we were left by the bird perched on top of the line with packs full of 3 days worth of gear. Joey and I led the group down to demo some guiding techniques, and 3,200' later we were all stoked with the unbelievable amount of boot top powder we just skied in the first week of May.

Ice Palace

So we then traveled up and over a glaciated col, skied down another huge shot to the massive Tonsina glacier. We skied about 8km up that glacier to go over another col, and dropped down to the Tsina glacier and camped amidst the never ending peaks and glaciers.

Small skiers head down to the massive Tonsina Glacier

This was a big day, and we have been driving the candidates pretty hard. 12 hours out on the snow has been pretty standard, and none of us have averaged more than 5 hours sleep for the last week. Every certified guide I know has been put through the wringer, and it is important to know that your guide can keep going no matter what. Call it a rite of passage, or what ever you like, it is a hard process and you have to be able to keep up for days on end.

So of course we kept going the next day. We woke up at our beautiful camp, and trekked up another 2500' feet to another col that led us to the Hoodoo glacier, winding our way through more ice falls and crevasses.

Mark finds a path up to the Hoodoo Col

As instructors, we were almost hoping for some bad weather, so we could see how the candidates navigate up the big white glaciers in fog and whiteout conditions, we got a little bit of fowl weather, but it cleared out in time for our descent onto the Hoodoo.

Whiteout clears for us at the col.

We dropped onto the Hoodoo, made camp and busted up Girls Mountain for a sweet 3,000' of later afternoon skiing.

The Hoodoo Glacier and Girls Mountain

Time to camp again, and we actually got 6 hours of sleep, and took it easy on the candidates the next day, with only one short 3,000' climb and ski out the backside of Girls Mountain down to the Worthington Glacier and the cars.

Backcountry.com Athlete Julia Niles takes us down 4,200' feet to the cars

Sound like a lot? Well it has been, and like I said, we still have 3 more days of skiing left!

On another note, it is always interesting to see what gear all of the guides are hammering on...especially when there are a few items that are in almost every single guides pack. First of course are Dynafit bindings. Light and bomber, there is no other choice for ski guides. The other items would be for camping. Jetboil stoves are universal as well; light, small and super efficient. The Black Diamond Firstlight (and other BD hyperlight tents) are the ONLY tents I see people with for winter camping - not amazing in the rain, but perfect in the cold and snow. Finally would be a plug for a new piece of gear I am using, the Outdoor Research Exped sleeping mats. I can't believe how well I slept on the Downmat 7 DLX, best night of sleep in the backcountry ever for me. Period.

Okay, enough of a post for now...hope this inspires you to check out some new places, and if you hire a guide, to consider hiring an AMGA certified guide. We still have a few more days left, so check back to see what else we come up with for these aspiring certified guides!

What it Takes to be a Ski Guide, Part 2

2008-05-01T23:49:00.001-07:00

Day 2 and 3 of the AMGA Ski Mountaineering Guides Course just wrapped up. We spent day 2 finishing off our technical skills, by teaching the candidates glacier travel and crevasse rescue techniques on the Worthington Glacier right off of Thompson Pass. You have to love this place...20 minutes of skinning from the car and we are on a glacier, skiing towards a crevasse to huck ourselves into and get dragged out of.

Candidates hanging out in the crevasse.

As you can imagine, it is essential to know how to be able to haul someone who falls into a slot out of it. It isn't exactly a walk in the park, as you have to arrest the person's fall into the slot, then build a ski anchor as you hold the person's weight on the rope so that you can escape their weight and build a hauling set up to get mechanical advantage so you can pull the person out of the slot.

Ben fighting the pull of gravity as he arrests a crevasse fall.

The plan for Day 3 didn't include any more rescue and technical skills assessment and practice, so obviously it means that it included some ski touring. We were all excited to get out and cover some ground and ski some of the big terrain that the Chugach are famous for. The weather here has been a bit less than ideal. Joey Vallone, one of the instructors I am working with, keeps running into tons of skiing rock stars he used to ski with, who are here to film. However, they have been sitting on their butts for weeks, as clouds and unsettled weather have kept the helis grounded. Lucky for us, we are traveling under our own power and can get around in the mountains as we please, and capitalize on the small windows of good weather.

Working our way up a run called RFS (Really F-ing Steep!)

Luck for us, this actually meant some good views and visibility in the afternoon, and the added bonus treat of 10-15cm of fresh pow - not bad for May 1st!

Instructor Howie Schwartz helps candidate Mark Hanselman pick and choose his way down the glacier.

We got some good runs in, and got to look around and drool in anticipation of the next week of refining guiding skills. Julia Niles works with Howie on figuring out where we will go for the next 3 days.

Finally we sat down with some maps to plan a 3 day ski traverse off of Thompson Pass. If the weather agrees we might get dropped off further away from the road by a heli, and ski back to the cars - if not, good old lungs and legs will get us far far away! I'll let you know how it goes in 3 days!

Joey Vallone getting ready for some AK Heli Time!

What it Takes to be a Ski Guide

2008-04-30T00:22:00.000-07:00

I finally made it to Valdez, Alaska for the American Mountain Guides Association Ski Mountaineering Guides Course. For those of you who don't know, the AMGA trains and certifies guides in the Alpine, Rock and Ski disciplines, and when a candidate is certified in all three disciplines, they are considered an IFMGA (International Federation of Mountain Guides Association) Mountain Guide. It takes most people in the U.S. 3 to 6 years to complete all of the trainings and certifications to become a full Mountain Guide, and right now there are fewer than 60 who have completed this process (in the U.S.). Last year I finished this task, sort of your PHD of mountain travel, and have now been asked to start to teach and train the next round of guides. This crop includes guides from Alaska, Washington, Wyoming, Colorado and Idaho (to name a few) and also includes fellow backcountry.com athlete Julia Niles, who is on her way to becoming one of the few fully certified female mountain guides.

This course is 10 days long, and I thought it might be interesting (and entertaining) to give everyone a picture of what it actually means to be a trained and certified guide. Most developed countries in the world REQUIRE guides to be certified in order to work. This seems to make sense to me, you wouldn't want to trust your life to a doctor that wasn't board certified, so why trust your life to a guide that isn't certified? The land of the free, aka the U.S., has developed a guiding culture that did not require or put an emphasis in this certification process, but that perspective is starting to shift. More and more clients, guiding services and land managers are starting to see the importance of guide certification and the standards of practice and safety it brings to the table.

So here you go: I will bring you into the world of guide training and certification, and you can see what it takes to be a ski guide!

First things first, being a mountain guide means having a TON of gear (luckily I get to work with backcountry.com!) I had to put away the bike and the cams, and load up the skis, ice axes, crampons, rescue sleds, shovels, etc..., for one more stint of skiing this year.

I met up with my fellow instructors, Howie Schwartz and Joe Vallone, for some planning and prep for where and when we were going to take the candidates. Pouring over maps, past itineraries, recent snow pack data, and weather reports, we came up with a plan for the course.

Day 1 was today (Tuesday) and it entailed testing the candidates on their technical rescue skills. In our minds it is essential to know that the people I will be out in the mountains with on a course like this have my back.

The First of 4 drills was the construction of a rescue toboggan, loading a patient into it, lowering the patient 300 feet down a 45 degree slope (through 2 anchor stations that they construct out of skis) and finally dragging the sled 300 feet across a slope. This all has to be done in 70 minutes.
The second drill was finding 3 buried avalanche beacons in a 300 by 300 foot area in 7 minutes or less. Usually 2 of these beacons are buried about 10 feet apart and are at least 3 feet deep in the snow, with the third beacon being at least 5 feet deep in the snow.

The third drill was the construction of an emergency shelter with a tarp, shovel, and 3 pairs of skis and poles in 30 minutes.
Finally, we had the candidates dig some snow profiles (snow pits) so that we know their assessments of the snowpack are up to snuff.

Sound like a lot so far? It only took us 10 hours to get all of this stuff done...and tomorrow we still need to assess the students at crevasse rescue! After that we will start to get to skiing the big lines and covering some ground in the amazing Chugach Mountains...

Stay tuned for the next 10 days as I keep you posted on the daily trials and tribulations of what it takes to be a ski guide!

You can catch up on my other posts at evanstevens.blogspot.com

Utah in the Spring - does it get any better?

2008-04-15T11:05:00.000-07:00

So I have a temporary leave of absence from my ski season...I finished up in British Columbia at Valhalla Mountain Touring with an unbelievable 2 weeks of late season powder skiing, and uber clients that wanted to ski 7 to 8 grand a day. I got home to Salt Lake City where the cold smoke continued to pile up, so with my wife Jasmin working hard to finish up her thesis for grad school, I phoned up some lungs with legs for a quick morning tour last Thursday up Mill Creek Canyon. Tom, Paul, Ashley and I met up early for a pseudo dawn patrol and broke trail in the boot top fluff for a few laps in West Porter Fork. 5 hours and 7,500' feet later, we were all smiles, all wondering if this was our last shot at the soft white stuff for a while.

I got home, ate some lunch and packed up the car to head down to Indian Creek for a few days of rock climbing in the sun. It was a little bit of burning upon re-entry into climbing, as I hadn't touched rock since Christmas, but in Indian Creek, technique trumps strength, so I faired pretty well, having lived down in the desert for a few years of my life. I broke in the arms, and the new evolv shoes, got a little sunburned and a lot pumped.

Pulling down on Slice and Dice at the Creek, photo by Rich Wheater

Overall, could I ask for a more perfect few days? Utah in the spring is a blast. One day I am skiing perfect pow, and the next climbing the best cracks in the world in a t-shirt. Life is good, but my spring will be short lived...

Next week, the ski season continues for me. As it would seem from everyone else who posts to this blog, it is time for the seasonal migration to the big mountain motherlode: Alaska. I am happy to report though, that my trip should bring it down to Earth for lots of you folks. No helicopters, film crews and big budgets. We're talking cheap hotels, cheaper rental cars, bag lunches, winter camping and fully human powered endeavors on the peaks of Thompson Pass in Valdez, Alaska. The first week I will be showing a couple of folks the goods, while the next two will be spent training the next round of aspiring ski mountaineering guides, as I teach a Ski Mountaineering Guides Course for the American Mountain Guides Association. Stay tuned...here's a shot to tease you for the next post:

As always you can track my new and old adventures at evanstevens.blogspot.com