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.

Ice in WA

So it has been unseasonably cold in WA this year.  For those on the westside of the state, they have been driving around with a foot or more on the ground for some time now, and transportation in the cities was all but shut down until just a few days ago.  While this may have reaped havoc on the urban areas, it sure made some great ice climbing.  Waterfalls all over the state have been climbed, including climbs at Index and Skookam falls, which don't really form up all that often.  

I went out and climbed The Pencil about a week ago.  It was a super good climb.  It is up near Drury Falls in Tumwater Canyon outside of Leavenworth.  The climb was wet and cold, but it felt good to swing some tools.  I would certainly say that the crux of the climb was the three-plus hour approach that it took us to get up to it.  Casey and I cruised the river crossing with no problem in our borrowed aluminum canoe.  It was more the slogging through nipple deep 4 percent snow over a brutal boulder field that made the trip.  It really wasn't all that bad, but let's just say it was a bit frustrating at the time.  The last 100 meters of the approach took us a good 45 minutes.  It was standard slogging in deep snow- dig, dig, stamp it out, move a little bit, do it again.  

Soon after we arrived, a spout of water opened towards the top of the first pitch and proceeded to drench the left side.  We climbed the right side no big deal.  I was super stoked to let Casey put up the rope, as I ended up being pretty worked just following.  We climbed the second pitch with frozen gloves and wearing our puffies.  The final third pitched looked to be quite good, but between the waning daylight and our frigid appendages, we decided to make the trek back down the canyon.  It is a super aesthetic climb for sure.  I would love to go back sometime and finish the last pitch.  The first pitch was great, steeper than I expected and a real rope stretcher.  Highly recommended if you can get on it.

Post Christmas

A happy crew after the Willy Wonka Golden Ticket 

session at Steven's

Things were a blur leading up to Christmas.  After such a late winter, when it finally showed up, I had a tough time leaving it for the mess on the westside.  But, it was good to see family and friends over the holiday.  I made the drive back over to Leavenworth today, after sitting on Snoqualmie pass for an hour while AC work was done.  

It is still snowy around here, rather than the black slush on the side of the road that I left behind, and that is reassuring.  Back up to Steven's tomorrow.  The backside will be opening up for the season tomorrow.  I am super stoked for that, but after getting back there for the super secret session earlier this year, I am worried I might have too high of expectations.  Either way, it will be good to be on the skis.  

Cionek making the first turns of the season

 in Tunnel Creek

Winter is upon us..

It has been an epic long fall here in the Cascades, not to mention elsewhere, but it has  finally turned white... and it has done in brilliant style for sure.  I have been wandering aimlessly around for the last several weeks.  This is always a tough time of year for me, not a lot of work, too cold and dark for a lot of activities, and no snow.  I find myself shifting aimlessly and questioning whether my life is really moving in the right direction.  Fortunately for me, the snow starts falling and winter begins and those questions of direction seem to be washed away with my first turn.

I started this blog with high hopes.  But as you can see the last entry was from this summer, and my feeble attempt at a blog has sputtered and failed.  I am however, fulling planning on making a much more valid second attempt.  Even powering through the difficulties of a completely crashed hard drive and loss of all the pictures, articles, and music I have accumulated over the last year, I will make it happen.  So stay tuned, and it will be worth your while.