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!