A little Turkey day recharge...

This past several weeks I had the privilege of working on a trip to Antarctica with some of the most amazing people one could work with. The trip was a huge success. Everything seemed to go as smooth as possible. The weather was impeccable, blue skies every day, which I have to contribute to some of our crew "drinking it blue" with serious dedication. The boat was mind blowing, the staff consisted of some of the best people I have worked with, and the terrain wasn't half bad either!

We cruised across the Drake Passage, a crossing renowned for being one of the gnarliest seas out there, in mellow conditions both ways. Along the trip I saw several different whales, hundreds of different seals, thousands of penguins, and amazing birds that never ever seemed to stop flying. The meals on the boat consisted of four course feasts at every sitting with multiple main course options every time. The most amazing thing, the skiing we found was fantastic! The Antarctic Peninsula really showed us some amazing terrain. It is always a little bit of a gamble when you are going to these remote locations. You can't really be sure what type of conditions you might find, what the weather is going to do etc. Well, we hit it right. It wasn't like skiing face shots up in AK or anything, but we were skiing some pow, and even when it wasn't pow, it was still high quality skiing. Way better than I could even expect, especially for a continent that is technically a desert!

After the trip I cruised back to the states for a few days to relax and see friends before I am charging back down on Friday for a trip up South America's highest peak, Aconcagua! It has been nice to be home, although I think I expected CA to be a little warmer, as I left all my warm gear in duffles down in Argentina!

Luggage is packed...

all the gear is on the truck heading down to the boat and we are planning on boarding and heading out this afternoon. If you want to follow our trip check out alaskaheliski.com, iceaxe.tv, or iceaxe.org/kids!

Buenos Aires this morning...

Had an uneventful flight here from Seattle. Minus the 45 minute delay due to one super tall passenger not being able to fit in his seat, and another tiny passenger not wanting to give up her massive seat, we all got here with luggage and piece of mind.

It is always fun stepping off the plane and into a new culture. It was interesting enough when I returned home to Washington from a little over a month in California. That was just a climate change. Here in Argentina it is Spring rather than fall, and other than the obvious language differences, I am looking forward to getting more into things here. I will be down in the southern hemisphere for about six weeks, so I should get to see some things.

I am settled into the hotel and going to head out on the streets to see what is around. Tomorrow night we are heading to a soccer match so I am psyched about that. I know some of you at home are watching this with bated breath, so I will try to stay up on the old blog as much as possible...

Fall in Cali

I have been loving life down here in Northern California. Had a great trip with Brian down on Whitney when I first got down here. Since then I have been climbing around Tahoe and skydiving at Lodi and trying to Base jump as much as possible. The weather is starting to roll in though, and winter is in the air. My time down here is also starting to run short. I will spend one more weekend in Lodi then head to Yosemite to have some fun before returning home. I have a plane to South America to catch on the 30th and two expeditions to pack for before that!

If you want to check out pretty rad website, check out Baffinbase.com. It is trip that is going next season and is sure to be amazing! I am still wrapping my head around the idea that I get to go to both polar circles this season!

Winter Trips...

There are still a couple of trips going this winter if people are looking for things to do. There are a few spots left on the Antarctic Ski Cruise if people are interested. We will be meeting in southern Argentina on the 5th of November and heading off to Antarctica to have the trip of a lifetime! Skiing, penguins, and lots of ice!

After that trip I will be guiding a trip on Aconcagua in early December. This is a small group trip, so is limited to only one, maybe two more people. If you are interested in getting to the top of the highest mountain in South America let me know.

I will be spending my time Skiing in France in Jan. and Feb. I will be based out of La Grave, but will be up in Chamonix a little bit as well. If you haven't skied in the Alps before, it is a must-do. The trams take you up for longer runs than anywhere in the states and you can ski mellow glaciers or steep couliours. It is the perfect place to really learn how to ski-mountaineer.

In March and April I will be back up in Alaska for the heli-season. Points North really does provide the full package. We all stay at a killer lodge with full-time chefs and the beautiful blue heli's are parked right outside our door. Massive Alaskan powder filled faces are the name of the game up here.

Get in touch with me at benmitchell17@gmail.com if you are interested in any of these trips. I may be available in late Dec. for some ice climbing in the States as well as May in Alaska or Europe if anyone has any custom ideas..... Hope everyone is getting out and staying safe!

Last Trip on Mt. Rainier!

Heading up for my last trip on Mt. Rainier this season. It has been tough climbing the last week or so. The weather has been going off and the snow and winds have been up. Since I was up just a few days ago it has snowed over a meter on the upper mountain and people are skiing on the Muir snowfield where we were wearing crampons only a short time ago. Hopefully we can punch through the new snow and stormy weather. It is looking like we might be getting a little window on the tail end of this storm tonight, so I am hopeful!

More fun from the summer

This was a panorama that I took looking south from our camp on the North side of Forbidden peak. That is Dale and Marc, our two examiners in the photo. It is really an amazing place, that North side. It gets overlooked because it is so easy to access the West Ridge from Boston Basin. Although the rock might be a tad bit better on the West Ridge of Forbidden, I think for full value alpine appeal, it is hard to beat that NW Face of the North Ridge. You cross big glaciers to get to it. Ascend a big snow face to get on the ridge, then stellar rock climbing to the summit....

Some Pics from the summer...

Danny wet and miserable on Eldorado

The NW Face of the North Ridge of Forbidden

Fall in the Cascades

It is certainly fall here in the northwest. The weather has changed and although we seem to be getting days of good weather here and there. It is not summer anymore. As I spent the last two days couped up inside watching the deluge of rain come down I can attest to the current wet state of Washington weather.

I attempted to climb Mt. Rainier last week with a group, and we got turned around at about 13,000 feet due to weather. I will say that the entire mountain is as bare as I have seen it in years. We are all wearing crampons up the Muir snowfield and the route, although it still goes, is no cakewalk. I am heading back to big snowy to begin my last program of the season there. It would be nice to get up one last time!

IFMGA Certified!

I passed my Alpine Exam and am now a fully certified IFMGA mountain guide! I am so fired up about it, it has been a long and hard road and to have finished today is a huge weight off my shoulders! Thanks so much to everyone who has helped me along the way, and congrats to the other candidates on the exam. Marc and Dale, you guys crushed it as examiners!

I will post a better trip report on the exam, there are a lot of good pics and stories coming!

Terrible Thirst and Brilliant Rock on a Cascade Classic!

This Trip report has been sitting in my "to be finished pile" for some time now. It is amazing that anything ever gets done at all around here! Danny and I had been out training for our AMGA Alpine Guides Exam for several weeks. Enduring poor weather, long approaches, and stressful climbing all in the name of training. This climb up one of the most classic ridges in North America stands out among many stellar climbs.

We left the house around four am. Only about an hour later than we had planned, no big deal. The drive up to the Stuart Lake trail head was uneventful. I have been forced to get out and move logs, rocks or other objects on prior occasions. We had chosen this approach rather than the standard approach from the South side due to its proximity to Leavenworth. In hindsight, it may have been easier to just do the extra hour of driving... We found the climber's trail up to Mountaineer's Creek no problem. It was after this that we began forging ahead on our own trail. After spending at least an hour extra, as well as substantially more effort, contouring along the side of a massive boulder field, we dropped down to the base of the ridge. All told, it wasn't terrible, and with the knowledge of how the trail goes now, it was an easy walk out that way.

We cruised up the snow to the base of the route. We had chosen to take a snow gully up to what the Becky guide book had described as "moderate 5th class slabs." Danny climbed up, down, and all around finding nothing that evenly remotely looked like the description and finally punched it through to the ridge on chossy steep blocks. Apparently the way to climb it nowadays is from the toe of the ridge, but in our haste to climb we had skipped asking around for any extra beta.

We short-roped up the ridge on what is some of the most amazingly featured and solid rock I have ever been on. We had committed ourselves to guiding each other other on the route. So rather than simul-climb or solo any of the easier ground, we guided each other. Good practice, but not as fast as we could have gone.

About half-way through the day, we were each feeling pretty thirsty. It should be noted that we each took two liters of water on the route and no stove. We wanted to see how light we could make it. So the gear was light. One axe between us. Two sets of aluminum crampons, small alpine rack of protection, tiny pads, and not much food or water. This plan worked out well except for the water. That was not enough....

We gained the Great Gendarme pretty early and climbed through the amazing 5.9 pitches quickly. They are as good as they say. Super fun laybacking to begin with, followed by a killer exposed wide crack. These pitches really are not to be missed. It started to get dark towards the top and we found a nice bivy spot just as it was getting dark after a few route finding debacles.

We woke to another beautiful day, and my one luxury item, a can of Red Bull really hit the spot! We finished the last 100 feet to the summit with no problems and began our tricky descent down. We chose to descend the West Ridge for the reason that it would be more difficult than the standard descent down the Cascadian Couliour. Remember, we were training for the guides' exam, so nothing should be simple.

It took so much longer to get down the stupid thing than we thought. We ended up coming down the West Ridge Couliour. It was rotten and chossy and dry. After more than 24 hours on the move in hot weather with only two liters, we were getting pretty zombiefied! The first dribble we found in the gully was some of the best water I have ever had.

The walk back up to Stuart Pass, then Goat Pass, then down the Stuart glacier in order to get back to the base of the route was also an infinitely longer way than we had planned, and by the time we got to our ski poles stashed by the climbers' trail, we were ready to be done. But, alas, another several hours of walking needed to take place before we could be out of the hills. The walk out took substantially less time than the walk in. Mainly due to the fact that we stayed on the trail that time.

All in all it is a great climb. I would recommend it to anyone. The upper North Ridge is a fantastic climb as well. Basically that is just all of the climbing on the best rock. It is not to be missed!

Busy times in the Cascades...

Summit of Baker

The heat wave is on!  It broke 100 degrees around here in Washington.  For those of you who live in hot climates, I don't know how you do it.  If it gets above 90 I feel like I am going to melt.  But melting or not, there is climbing to go do!  In the last week and a half I have climbed Adams, Baker, Mt. Rainier, Stuart and the Tooth.  It has been a bit hectic to be sure.  Tomorrow we have plans to head into either Boston Basin or Eldorado depending on the status of the roads.  

Danny watch Chris sending on lap 3 of the Tooth

Sunrise on Disappointment Cleaver, Mt. Rainier

Climbers on the South Side of Mt. Adams

Kids Climbs...

I just got done with a Moondance kids climb.  I have done several of these kids climbs now.  They are always a ton of fun.  They are kids ages 16-17 who have been out backpacking and climbing for about three weeks prior to coming to Rainier.  It was another great climb.  The other guides I was working with were great, and all the kids did fantastic.  It never ceases to amaze me how well the kids do.  They are just laughing and having a great time the whole trip.  The best part is that when they get tired, you just feed them some sugar and they are strong again!  Congrats to all of you on the trip and I look forward to another trip with you all!

Great Times in Twin Falls!

Had a great time learning how to BASE jump last weekend.  I went out to the Perrine Bridge out in Twin Falls Idaho to meet up with some friends who were going to help me get into it.  It turned out that it was a team weekend for a whole BASE/Wingsuiting team out of Cali as well, so there were a ton of people to hang and jump with.  

A super special thanks goes out to Matt Gerdes and Marty Tilley for all the help over the weekend.  You guys are fantastic!  Now I just can't wait until my new rig shows up!

Success on Denali

I just got back from guiding another successful trip on Denali.  We climbed the West Buttress in good style this year.  A total of 15 days on the mountain.  Good weather and a great crew made this years trip super enjoyable.  Here are a few pics, both courtesy of Tim Amos.  The top one is our summit photo, the other is a cool panoramic taken from the "Edge of the world."  I will get my pics sorted and do a more in depth report here in the near future.

Flying On!

We are all packed up, gear has been flown in along with half our team.  I am sitting in the hanger at Hudson Air Service waiting for the planes to make the round trip back to Talkeetna to pick the rest of us up.  I will be out of touch for the next few weeks.  If you want to follow our trip, check out the dispatches at the RMI website...

Wish us luck!

In Alaska Again!

So I am back in the great state of Alaska!  It is always fun coming up here.  Returning to Talkeetna always seems to take on the feeling of some sort of homecoming.  There are so many people to see and catch up with.  I think the energy here is so great because everyone is either prepping to fly into the mountains, or they are super psyched to be back out of them.  

Most of the crew for this years West Buttress trip arrived at the airport with Walter, Patrick, (the other guides) and I yesterday.  Our final climber will be meeting us this morning for breakfast.  It seems like a good crew.  We are guiding a full group this year, so that means 9 climbers and 3 guides.  It is little different beast from the smaller groups.  It seems like I have been alternating between large and small groups for the last several years.  

Today will consist of us spilling our backpacks and prepping all our gear and food in the hopes to fly on tomorrow.  We also have to go to the NPS and have a climber orientation.  These few tasks will certainly eat up our entire day.  

Summer in Washington!

Well at least maybe it is Spring, but at least it is sunny out and I was wearing shorts all day yesterday!  My return to Washington brought me right into a massive rain cycle.  Kind've a bummer when you have made all sorts of plans in your head.  Rain is really the least conducive element to outdoor activity.  Sure, you can run, maybe bike, but you are always working around the weather, hoping to get something fun in.  Thankfully it let up over the last few days and I have been able to really enjoy being back in Leavenworth.  

We spent the last few days ground launching our speed wings out at Aerial Paragliding in Cashmere.  It is great to have a toy that can be used when the winds are too high for breaking out the big wing.  I am super psyched to be flying on the new 10 meter wing I got.  It is definitely faster than the 12 that I was on previously.  

Today  I am doing chores around the house, but still managed to get a good run, a bouldering session, and some work done by 3:00.  It is great to live somewhere that has such good access to so many things.  

Some Pics from the Exam...

These are just some interesting pics from the exam.  I am still working on getting the movie put together.  Between coming home, unpacking, repacking, and getting some skydives in, I have been busy!

What goes in a Ski Guides Pack?

Jayson and Jamie working on the sled.  One of the less glamorous 

Parts of Ski Guiding.

Marc leading us down the Cherry Couloir.  There is a pic of this from afar in

another post.  Funny enough, I got some radio transmissions from my PNH buddies across the pass as they were speedflying around Girls Mtn. just before we skied this!

Passed my Ski Exam!

So I am now a certified Ski Mountaineering Guide!  One step closer to getting my full IFMGA mountain guide certification.  The exam went well.  Everyone showed up prepared and the energy of the candidates was really good.  Cheers to the examinars as well, you guys really made it go smoothly.  I really thought that I was going to be able to blog my way through the exam, but it turned out to be so busy that I really couldn't be bothered to keep up. I will put together some photos and post them. 

At the moment it just feels really good to be home.  I am hanging, watching it rain and packing stuff back up to head up to Leavenworth and get settled into my new home!

Great tours, hammering winds, and broken down cars...

It has been a busy week of skiing and training.  On Wednesday we went up to the 27 mile glacier and toured up to Tomes Temple, across the north side of Tomes, and back onto the Worthington Glacier.  We finished up the day with a ski of Acapulco and back to the road.  Just over an eight hour day.  

The day began with a nice warm tour up to the icefall on the 27 mile glacier.  The snow was firm, and about as steep as we wanted to be skinning, even with out ski crampons on.  Towards the top we switched to booting and finished out the approach to the glacier on foot.  It is amazing how warm you can get up in the alpine, those glaciers just turn into ovens.  

We gained the southern ridge of Tome's Temple and cruised to the summit.  The decent was a bit exposed so we did some belayed skiing off the top and through some old debris.  The day finished as we accessed the Worthington glacier and Acapulco.  It was firm skinning again and short-roping to the summit.  A great tour overall.  None of the skiing was amazing, but still fun.  The tour really had a lot of transitions, from skiing to skinning, to booting and shortroping, which made for great training for the exam.

On Thursday Julia and I tried to ski from behind the Tsaina lodge up to RFS.  It quickly turned into a mission as we slogged through isothermic snow and avoided the countless willow trees.  At least we learned the lesson that we certainly would not be taking that approach this season. 

Friday we broke down.  About a mile or so from the pass Julia's borrowed car started smoking.  We pulled over, luckily facing downhill, and checked under the hood.  A belt was broken wrapped around the fan.  For someone as car illiterate as me, that means take it to the shop.  So we coasted all the way back down from the pass and the car is in the shop now.  That makes having car trouble in AK 100% for me over the last three years! 

Thanks Leki!

I wanted to throw a huge thank you out to Leki for their scholarship.  There are several companies in the outdoor industry that have set up scholarships for guides working towards their AMGA/IFMGA certification.  This season I was fortunate enough to receive the 2009 Leki Scholarship.  These scholarships really help us get through the programs and I really want to thank Leki for their help.  Thanks guys!

Pics from Sarah Jones!

Thanks for the Pics Sarah!  Sarah is one of the in-house photographers at PNH, she was able to get these shots on a few days when she was out shooting my groups.

Taining days

I have settled into my new home for the moment in Valdez.  It is good to get back into Anna's B and B.  She is the sweetest lady who houses and feeds all of us in the AMGA courses and exams in Valdez.  It gets to be a pretty busy house when somewhere around 20 of us are all staying on the same block and she is cooking for all of us.  

We went up to ski at Cracked Ice two days ago.  Found great skiing on the North aspects.  It was good to be out doing a nice tour.  I certainly missed the heli and my heavy alpine ski setup, but there is also something great about touring up and earning your turns.  It is also pretty exciting to be out training with the other candidates for the Ski Mountaineering Exam.  Practicing everything, discussing everything, everybody's nervous energy is great.  It really seems like a good, solid crew in the exam.  

View of Cherry Couloir on Python

From Cracked Ice

After our tour on Cracked Ice we went and practiced our crevasse rescue drills.  It went well for everyone, but I am sure we will all run through it a few more times before Mon.  It is interesting how all of us have all trained a ton for this specific test, and most of us have all pulled people out of crevasses in real-life scenarios, but it is still stressful to do the drill with someone standing over you with a little notebook to grade you. 

Yesterday we toured up to the Berlin Wall.  We picked the North Ridge approach to make it a little trickier and ended up battling our way up through rotten snow and howling winds.  There was no question that we were going to take the simpler approach from the south col for our second lap.  All in all, settling in well.  Looking forward to the rest of the week training and sending this exam!

Valdez...

Had an unreal season in Cordova.  I am missing it already.  I arrived in Valdez yesterday, thanks to Northstar and PNH for hooking me up with the A-Star ride over, beautiful flight.  I am here to prep for and take my AMGA Ski Mountaineering Guides Course, man that is a mouthful.  It is also amazing to be back in the world of quick internet, so I should be able to post more often.  Gotta go, some touring to do....

Flying in the snow!

I just liked this shot of the glacier...

Had a good time hiking in the backyard yesterday.  Ended up doing two laps back there, and getting to fly my speedwing down twice.  It was a full on snow storm, so it was pretty interesting flying in the weather.  I wasn't sure how wet it would be toward the lower elevations, but the winds were down and the visibility was okay, so I made it happen.  

We also had a massive bonfire last night.  Yesterday was down, as is today.  So we were doing out best to burn it blue!  Hopefully we'll get some fly days in soon.  

Want an Idea...

So for all of you climbers, skiers, and adventurers out there; I am sure you get asked on a regular basis what it is you do out in the wild mountain world.  Most of our friends have no real idea what it is we do, the hazards seem unreal and the consequences unacceptable.  People in general consider most of what goes on to be crazy, adrenaline junkie type of things.  I know for me it has always been tough to describe what it is I do, and more importantly why, to those that I care about.  If you are looking for a good movie that really explains why people are called into the mountains, I highly recommend Steep.  It is a documentary that came out a few years ago about the evolution of steep skiing.  The people in the movie are fully skiing bigger lines and in more serious terrain than most of us, but the sentiment is there.  Whether you love skiing, love the mountains, or know someone who does, you should check this movie out.  

All Time in the Zone!

We have had two amazing days in the zone.  April Fools was no joke out there!  We had been down in the Chugach for over a week and everyone was doing their best to keep the spirits high.  But all the stress and worry went out the window on Wednesday morning when we finally woke to brilliant blue sky and incredible snow in the zone.  

Ice Box, Worm Glacier

Sometimes it is tough up here in AK, waiting for the sunny days to get out and fly the heli's.  It seems like it never happens enough.  But then you get a day out and you remember that it is worth any down day to ski deep, steep powder on some peak deep in the range.  When it goes off here, I really do believe there is nowhere better.

The guide meeting in the morning had us all on pins and needles, dying to get out and check out how much snow there really was in the zone.  We knew it would be deep, and we knew the winds hadn't been huge, but watching the weather is nothing compared to really getting out there and putting your hands in the snow.  We all agreed that we needed to start off slow and get a real handle on the snowpack before we started increasing the angle.  Lucky us, there was about 45 cm of super light snow on top of a classic Chugach snowpack.  Sluff was moving around, but we were able to ski some awesome runs.  

The first day out we skied in snow so deep and light that it was pretty much a face-shot on every turn.  We hit four different runs, and got eight nice long laps.  I think my favorite runs of the day were either Nailed It, or our first run down Ridiculous.  Each one of those is about 3500 ft.  and super aesthetic.

Sarah J. slaying with her heavy camera pack on!

Yesterday was just as good as the day before.  We awoke to a little cloud cover, which broke in no time at all.  The satellites were showing a bit of low pressure pushing in, and we thought it might turn into a half-day if it really came in on us.  But once again we scored, and had another killer eight run day!  

So part of heli-skiing is putting in landing zones and pickup zones.  It can be pretty important if you want to put a heli in somewhere tight to have it flat and flagged, especially if the light gets a bit bad.  So yesterday I was on top of a run called Barney Finger Dip.  It is a bit of a tight landing for the pilots, the blades are only a couple of feet from a big rock, and the pilot has to keep power up on the heli for a toe-in landing.  That means that basically the heli is still flying while we are all getting out and the skids are hanging out into space.  Pretty great if you ask me.  But, the point of the story is that we skied off the top and into the best snow we had found all day for about 4200 ft straight.  And trust me, the snow was fantastic everywhere, so the best we found was unreal.  It was so good in fact that my crew got to the bottom and we decided to "hot lap" (go back right away and do it again) it.  Pilot J takes us right back up and as we are coming into land this is what I hear in my headset, "So I take you in for a tough landing, you take me right back to it, and you didn't even build me a good LZ?"  It wasn't even until this point that I realized that I had forgotten to put it away.  Needless to say, we spent a good bit putting in a bomber landing after that.  Then skied some more of those best turns ever!  Thanks Pilot J!  

Antarctica Cruise 2009

There is an amazing trip happening this fall down to Antarctica.  It is a cruise leaving from Ushuaia, Argentina through Drake Passage to the Antarctic Peninsula.  The trip will include tons of wildlife adventures as well as trekking on the continent and skiing.  There will be a bit of a skiing bend to the trip, with amazing ascents and first descents to be had.  I had the chance to talk with Doug Stoup, the expedition leader, and the trip sounds unreal.  It is being organized through Ice Axe Expeditions and Points North Heli-Adventures.  So the guides are all great people I have been working with up here in AK.  The pics and stories from last season trip are fantastic and I am fired up for this trip.  Get in touch with me if heading to the southernmost continent and hanging with penguins and sea-lions while skiing some first descents sounds like fun...  

PS- thanks to Kip Garre for the photos

Chugach Skiing, Does it get better?

We had some unreal skiing last week.  This week started out just the same.  Our group headed over to the Cordova Glacier and skied in the Bulls-Eye and C.F.C areas.  It started out as a pretty slow day, and after a late launch we ended up skiing till the end of the day in great new snow conditions.  It was one of those days that leaves you

 scratching your head.  It looked like maybe we might get out for one run in the morning, but it turned out better than we hoped.  That is the Alaska weather for you! 

We were down today and yesterday.  It is currently snowing in Cordova.  Lucky for us, we still have the backyard to go play in.  A group of us hiked up yesterday and then again today.  The skiing was great all the way back down, even through our own little "James Bond Trail" at the bottom.  Today was pretty windy at the ridgetop, with visibility going about 150 feet or so.  There was no question as to why we weren't flying helicoptors...

Heli-skiing, Ice-climbing, and Touring

So the season so far has been marred by a bit of wind up here in Cordova.  When I say a bit, I really mean a lot.  It has stopped us from flying more than a little in the early bits of the heli season.  Unfortunately it has also led to some questionable snow quality as well.  Luckily it has been snowing and we were able to get out a bit on Saturday.  I went out with a few other guides to do some scouting and check out the conditions.  Things were skiing much better than over the last week and we were finally able to get on some steeper slopes.  Skied Guilt Trip, Better than Sex and Ridiculous and were able to find some great turns on each of them.  We also got our storm boards up to keep an eye on the snow totals. 

 

Putting together the PNH Activity Center

There are some other exciting things happening up here at PNH.  We have been getting after some of the ice around Cordova.  There are several flows that have formed up around town and the cannery.  It has been great to get out after some of them with the guides, as well as taking clients out to get a taste of ice climbing when the heli can't fly.  Another great new program we are working on is Heli Assisted Ski Touring.  We can get a bump out on a heli into the zone and then tour from there.  This is a great option on grey days, when we can't really fly all day, but maybe we can us a hole to at least get out and ski.  Kip, CJ, John and I made a foray into the field to check out some potential touring areas and were super stoked on what we found.  There are also a handful of us up here who are into speed flying, so we have gotten a few flights off of Eyak and the Backyard behind town.  All in all, the activity around here has been great, and everyone is fired up for the season.  

In the States

So I am back in the States.  Washington to be exact.  Had a great trip in France, better than I even thought it could be.  I have more pictures and video to put up from that trip, so stay tuned.  I am heading up to Alaska tomorrow for the heli-season in Cordova.  Super fired-up to get up there, sounds like things are going great this season.  I will let you all know how things are up there as soon as possible.

Helmet cam speed riding

The music got cut off, I will try to get it uploaded with tunes at some point, but right now I am in Switzerland and too busy skiing to take care of it...

More Speed Flying...

Great day!  Sunny weather, decent skiing.  It is more hardpack than I have seen here yet, but still great to cruise around in the sun.  Alan and I went out and had a pleasant late start, apres-ski action and still managed to have some fun.  The winds were up pretty good, so I ended up flying mainly on the lower mountain.  Speed flying is amazingly fun.  The skiing has been so great in the last couple weeks that I haven't broken out the wing, but each time I do I realize the true freedom involved with flying.  Can't wait to fly in AK this season!

 

San Christophe x2

So I meant to post about the San Christophe tour about a week ago, but as with so many other things, the skiing was good and I never got around to it.  So now that I am writing about it, I have actually gone and done it a second time...

Sophie skiing her "Best day ever"

The tour begins by riding the lifts up through La Grave, including the drag lift.  Just for the record, the drag lift only began running, and the first time I did this tour, we skinned up.  Then you ski off of the backside of La Grave and down into the San Christophe Valley and to the town of San Christophe.  The scenery and skiing is really top notch.  South facing, so it is in the sun, and just fun.  The ski out is a nice mellow trip down the valley, with some amazing views along the way.  

Looking down to the San Christophe Valley

The highlight of the trip might even be the food at Marie Claude's.  After skiing down into San Christophe you stop and eat lunch in town before catching the shuttle to Les Duex Alpes and heading home.  I have to say, some of the best food I had on my trip was at Marie Claude's after a stellar ski to San Christophe.

At long last!

So here it is.  This video has been epic for me to get up on the blog.  Between Blogspot, Youtube, and my inability to figure it out it has taken several days.  But not it is up, so I hope you enjoy.  This was a stellar day.  Deep, and great, and we got to open each run.  

Each of these runs was special.  For me they really made up some of the best things about La Grave.  Great skiing with amazing people in unreal snow.  These road runs here go for around 2500 meters.  For those of you who think in Imperial terms, that is around 8,000 feet.  Then you hitch back up to La Grave and ski another.  These are massive laps, and getting to open (first turns down) them makes it even better.  This season has been touted as one of the best seasons in the Alps for 40 years.  I am sure this depends on where you are at, and whether or not it is the best in however-many-years, I am certainly happy with it.  

One other note about this day.  We got to ski the Polichinelle in fantastic conditions.  This is the run that one of my heroes, and the hero of many, passed away skiing several seasons ago.  It was certainly a reflective experience being in there, a steep narrow couloir that slyly links into several other couloirs snaking the way down the hill, knowing the history of the place.  Doug Coombs was an inspiration to many.  Being up in Alaska skiing, and now here in La Grave, I have had the opportunity to talk to so many people that he was able to touch.  He lived an amazing life, and I wish that I could have met him.  

T-Bar Heaven (From early Feb.)

The storm looked like it was going to hit hard a bit east of us, so we piled in the car and headed out to the Queyras.  This is a small area close to the Italian border.  For those of you who didn't know parts of Italy have broken records for snow-fall this year.  Just meters and meters of base with deep snow continuing to fall.  The plan was to ski these amazing little hills with great trees and powder while the storm was on, then head back to La Grave in time to see the top open.  

We skied at Abries for a day to begin with.  Luckily for me, Kurt had spent a week here earlier in the season and had dialed in many of the runs to hit.  The most amazing thing about the place is that nobody seems to ski off-piste there.  For the entire day we were the only ones skiing epic runs off of the north side of the resort right down to the road.  They even had a shuttle bus at the base of the road to take you back to the lift.  Honestly, when I say we were the only two skiing these slopes, it is the actual truth.  Not one other person back there.  The terrain was all time as well.  Steep, tree skiing in over-the-head powder.  Lot's of steep little mini-golf style terrain.  It was fun to ski something totally different than the alpine style skiing in La Grave.

We skied Abries again in the morning the following day, and moved over to San Veron in the afternoon.  They had a very similar north aspect that you could drop off of and head out a valley to get back to town.  The most interesting part was the very upper north face pitches.  They all dropped off into the amazing couloirs.  Unfortunately we skipped them due to lack of visibility, but I think they deserve a trip back for sure.

One of my favorite parts of the whole trip, was how many t-bars there were.  T-bars that went on for miles.  It was one t-bar to another, for well over 20 minutes and over a thousand meters.  Reminded me of riding the t-bar down in White Pass when I was a kid.  We got word that the telepherique looked like it was going to open the following day, so we headed back home and with perfect timing, had another amazing day at La Grave...

Epic Touring

It has been so good over the last few days.  Specifically the last four days have been unreal.  Chasing storms and skiing some of the best conditions possible wherever we went.  In fact it has been so busy that I am only now getting the video footage put together in any viewable manner from a tour that was on the 31st of January.  

This tour was up to the Twois Eveches just up the valley behind our house in Les Hieres.  Kurt, Alan and I headed up to the Col du Lautaret to start the day.  We skinned up the backside of the Twois Eveche from the Col.  The day was amazing, sun was shining, just a slight breeze to keep us cool.  Really could not have asked for better conditions.  It was a little under four hours for us to get up to the top.  It is amazing watching all the tracks and other randonee skiers around the Col who are just skiing up and down.  Specifically on the south side runs that just aren't skiing as well snow wise or adventure wise.  

We convened at the top of the ridge and switched to downhill mode.  We are all using the Marker Duke bindings, and I have been really happy with how they ski.  The fact that I left my Dynafits back in the States might help the Duke's cause on the weight issue uphill.  One problem we all found was that they can be hard to switch from ski to tour and vice-versa when they are frozen.  Either way, it didn't slow us down much.  

The entrance into the couloir was steep and firm, but once we got into it the skiing was great.  Not quite pow skiing, but good gripping hard-pack skiing.  The run was around 1600 meters or so, plus the ski out the valley through the little summer villages and right back to our doorstep.  All in all, and incredibly aesthetic line.

Another Brilliant start to a day...

I got back home last night from a great trip out to the Qeuras for a few days.  We ran into splitter weather and deep powder.  In these little areas where we were literally the only one skiing off-piste.  But we came home to La Grave last night with the hope that Meteo France would not lead us wrong and we would see a blue day here and the telepherique open to the top.  As I look out my window and sip my coffee this morning it looks like that may come true.  La Meije is covered in a thin veil of clouds, but they seem to be dissipating as the sun comes up.  I really think that seeing the sun come up, and the view across the valley are worthy reasons to live up in one of these villages on the hill.

Went and had a tour with Waldo yesterday.  We toured up behind Les Hieres for a few hours.  It ended up being an incredibly flat tour, but nice to get out at least.  The high pressure has been sitting over our area for a few days now, and it has been nice to see the sun.  Alan and I went and skied some runs up at La Meije today.  The snow is back to the firm, fast, edgy type of skiing.  It was a zoo getting up the telepherique today though, especially since they closed it from P2 up at 1:00 today.  The reason was good though, they are putting a new piece on that will allow them to have five cabins on at a time rather than three, that'll speed things up.  

Looks like we will be going for a tour tomorrow, not sure for what yet, but I am sure it will be fun.  Stay tuned for more info.

A Fine Snowy Cycle

Miles checking out a snow profile

It has been snowy here in La Grave.  The skiing has been fantastic and we have been getting after it.  The mountain was only open up to the mid-station over the last few days, but even so it has been great skiing.  Today they finally were able to open the top station and it was bluebird!  The snow came in a bit warm, so the powder definitely reminds me of skiing back home in Washington.

  

I also moved into the little village of Les Hieres.  It is small village just up the hill from La Grave.  In the morning I can either catch a ride down or ski down.  Then I hitch back up at the end of the day.  I actually skinned back up the other day, not too bad really.  I am living with two Scottish guys both named Alan and a Scottish women named Sophie.  They are all really great people and I am pretty stoked to be up here.  

This weekend was super busy here in La Grave though, there was a festival called Swallowmania going on.  It is all about demoing big swallow-tail snowboards and all sorts of skis as well.  It is good to try out new skis whenever you get the chance.  I find myself often getting new skis that I haven't tried before, so when they are around it is fun.  I must say it was super nice to have the big demo skis for the heavy powder. 

I skied La Vaute again today with Miles, Liz, Erin, Clayton, and Ida.  It was a great ski.  Between the abnormally long lift line (two hours by the time you got to the top) and me being a little under the weather, that was the only lap I made today.  

So Good...

Here is some video that I have put together from the last couple of days.  It was a battle figuring out how to get this to upload onto Blogger, but I made it happen in the end.

Some Snow and La Freaux

Joe in La Freaux

Had some good new snow last night.  About 5-10 cm depending where you were.  Skied from the 2nd station all day.  The top was closed again, which is fairly normal with storms.  Had a bunch of good turns in the trees though.  It was still fairly low coverage, so you've got to ski with care and watch out for hidden obstacles.  Met up with some of my friends from the states who've been living here the last few season and skied out La Freaux down to town at the end of the day.  We are still counting on a storm to last through the week... Let it snow!

Snowed Out! Via Ferrata it is!

Sebastion climbing the Ladders

It is snowing here in La Grave!  We are all excited, and I am looking forward to seeing this place with a bit more snow.  The telepherique was closed today again.  This time for the wind and snow, so a bit easier to deal with.  So instead I went with a couple of Belgian guys to go do a via ferrata.  It was just down the road a bit and was called Pont D'sarine.  For those of you who don't know what a via ferrata is, it is a route up the rock using metal ladders and a cable to climb.  The ladders are like pieces of rebar in the rock and you wear a harness with two clip-in points in order to secure to the cable.  It is something we don't have in the states.  This was just a short one, about 400 meters or so, but super fun.  I guess they have huge routes throughout the alps, and were originally put in to use for black-market transportation.

France!

Sleepy Little Town of La Grave

So I am in France now, La Grave to be exact.  It was an uneventful trip over.  It is always a bit stressful figuring out the connections to get where you want to be, and the anxiety of waiting for all of your bags to come out on the luggage ramp never seems to get better.  But sure enough, I arrived in La Grave with no problems.  I am staying in the Gite (hostel) at the end of town currently.  It is a nice place.  My biggest issue so far seems to be my lack of any French speaking skills.  I am am used to a France where everyone speaks English, namely Paris.  It has been fun trying though.  I have been spending most of my freetime practicing French in my workbook when not skiing.  

The mountain La Meije, towers above the constantly shaded village of La Grave.  It is over 7000 ft. from the top of the telepherique back down to town.  Not a bad bit of vertical.  So far the snow has been firm, but skiable, and I have had some good days.  It is a place where you can get lost and put yourself in a bad place pretty quickly.  I also made my first speed flying flights yesterday.  I just flew from about halfway down the mountain, wanted to get a bit more dialed in before flying from the top.  The word on the street is that we are looking at a bit of snow come Sunday night, so we are all hopeful.

Brutal Weather!

We are starting a Winter Seminar tomorrow on Mt. Rainier, and it has been snowing non-stop for days around here.  There is more snow on the ground here in Ashford than I have ever seen.  Which, Really could be said for just about everywhere in Western Washington this year.  Pretty amazing.  It should be fun to get up on the mountain.  We are all just a little stressed with the amount of snow that has fallen, whether the road to Paradise will be open on time, the avalanche hazard, and a freezing level that is supposed to jump up to well over 6000 ft!  Who knows though, maybe all the forecasters will be wrong and the weather will break!  It will certainly be great big mountain training!

Space Odyssey 2009

After spending the day hanging tin foil around the house and painting little Christmas tree ornaments into planets the New Years Festivities kicked off for us in Seattle.  It was a fantastic party with astronauts, aliens and monoliths all in attendance.  I will say that I did more decorating for that party than possibly any other party I have ever been a part of, and it was fantastic.  Thanks for sure to Billy, Casey and Selby for hosting!

Me, Mike, and Casey on a mission

Went up to Crystal mountain on Friday as well.  Unfortunately, I had a brutal start to the day.  Highway 410 closed down about 15 minutes prior to me trying to get through due to downed timber apparently.  So I did miss the opening turns of the day.  But it was still super fun to ski with Seth Waterfall and some of the gang at Crystal.  I grew up skiing there, and have amazing memories of the place, but it has been two seasons since I have skied there.  Let me say that I was not disappointed.  Though I may have missed the opening of Chair 6, I was around for North Back's opening.  I am a big fan of that area, and getting to ride Northway rather than having to take the shuttle was worth the extra people skiing there.  It is a little bittersweet knowing that those were probably the only turns I will be making there this season.