Friday, November 20, 2009

Haunted By Ice

So today was a great day indeed in that great ice climbing mecca the ghost river valley, Alberta. Drew and I got the early start and drove in via the very new and improved "I can take my Vespa in" road, excited at the prospect of swinging the old hatchets around. The day dawned great for said climbing and soon enough we were ascending the frozen scapes.
Drew on top of "Anorexia Nervosa", a bad name for a good climb.
At this point, after doing the last pitch and belaying in the glorious sunshine, the wind picked up and flew me vertically for a few seconds, it was not enjoyable for either mind or body.
The route, a good one indeed.
Drew getting the final sticks, thanks buddy for a great day. Looking forward to some climbing and skiing after my next trip to the coast leaving Sunday.

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Oh wow..Its deja Vu

Well today was a great day in the local backcountry visiting the winter simulator. Neil, Jeff and I were thankful for the winter tires as we broke trail in the 40cm on the highway with the Korean car, KIA. As we left Canmore, rains fell down and sprinkled our ambitions and made us think about our future. We thought we would "take a drive to check it out" and at the very worst have tea in a parking lot somewhere. Well the drive paid off and we enjoyed excellent early season powder conditions that were reminiscent of the, dare I say it 06/07 year. This is the year that climbers became skiers, people quit there jobs and the rockies turned into a mini version of the Selkirks where things were skied and mentioned after that they may never be skied again......Its on...sorta...maybe...hopefully!
Here we see Neil entering the white room for a little R and R.
Here we see Jeff and Neil digging in the snow trying to find reactive layers. Besides the storm snow instabilities we found the October rain crust at the very bottom. Note that there is over 100cm here and it is Nov 17! I will look more into this very interesting situation later this week.

Monday, November 16, 2009

Alpine Sliding in Real Time

So on Sunday I saddled up with Marc-Andre and Chris for a day of early season ski exploring. What a good thing to feel the stick of the skins on the snow and the familiar movement of the up-track again. Winter is my favorite season and It is upon us. We enjoyed some pretty decent snow conditions on a south aspect which was missing the Oct crust that is reeking havoc on north facing terrain. The biggest threat today was a hitting rocks which we avoided at all costs by tapping into the chi of the mountain. Chi is not like chai which is a pleasant spiced drink but is the energy of the universe emitted by all things....
Marc is an excellent skier in this photo, moments before he went "down periscope" and had a very good look at the early season snowpack.
A nice lunch break in the sun. There is almost nothing better than being in the hills with friends? Chris is in fact playing the air-ski here.
Once again, Marc enjoying the early season conditions in the Rockies. After putting in a few runs on this slope we ventured back to the car as the temperatures hiked and the hazard went up. Its nice to ski south facing areas so early in the winter without fearing for your life and ski bases. I must say at this point that it is Nov 16th and I feel like we got away with robbery!

Sunday, November 08, 2009

The Moment Accelerate

What a ride its been these last few months! First and probably biggest was my transition from retail man to rep man. After 5 years on the floor as a buyer and manager I took a Job as a sales representative with my friend Rob Owens for a number of focused outdoor companies namely Patagonia, Petzl, Ambler, Sea to summit, orthsoles, Oboz, Julbo and Adventure Medical Kits. So far its been great and the learning is sure to not stop for a long, long time. I have been on the road, coffee and big grimace on hand as of late, here is a glimpse....
Lately I have really gotten the ice bug and every chance I get I have been trying to get out there and swing the tools a bit.
Early Season Louise Falls with Drew "MIB" Henman.

Grotto Mtn, Playground. The very wholesome Jen Olsen putting the rope up for Mike and I.
While in Ventura,CA for patagonia sales meetings I got the chance to head out to the fabled desert scapes that is Joshua Tree. We dodged the sun, climbed a few classics, drank some nice grapes and enjoyed great company in that desert we did. Like all S.cal climbing zones I felt like I was climbing for the first time and It was a blast to get royaly spanked on routes that Royal Robbins probably soloed in 63' with pocketed hands...soo nice!
We did stumble upon quite a scene atop of one of the formations in that O' so glorious mecca of JTree. An annual meet for San Diego climbers was taking place on the summit of intersection rock. There is something to be said for topping out on left ski track only to be met by a rag tag and rather jovial assortment of characters, I am just not sure what it is? Either way I enjoyed the candy that roller girl was handing out even though the general feel of the place gave me a feeling I have not had since all night dance parties when I was 16.

J tree is a special place, full of special people.