i ran into a blog reader who recognized me and snapped a photo of us - thanks mark!
if your a backcountry skier in the pacnw you know turns all year (TAY) is an amazing resource. there is nothing better than seeing a trip report from the day before for the same area you plan to ski. well one thing would be better... to see actual video footage of it. it's not great, but it's a start.
again the avy report sent us into the trees. copson, kurt and ellen joined me today. lots of wind affected snow on the kendall ridge made us super cautious to start out, but a pit and many ski cuts later and we saw nothing to be scared of.
when the avy report says "high above 4,000 ft" we ski trees. copson and i ran into rvg, hayes and erin in the parking lot so we joined forces. rvg then lead us up the most aggressive route to the kendall ridge possible. we skinned (and some boot packed) up 50+ degree crusty slopes. you were either on point with the kick turn or you were going for a long unpleasant ride. i loved every minute of it. i reckon it was a great chance to see a new part of the kendall ridge.
we found crust down low, pow pow up high and good times all around. it felt bomber but i dug a pit anyway and found STM Q3. nothing moved slid or whomphed all day. the avy report said high because of the eminent storm and wind. they were late, but by the time we left it was really coming down. i bet tomorrow will really be high avy danger. and now - the feature presentation...
shane mcconkey the ski world lost one of the best yesterday. here is a shane mcconkey tribute video (thanks TetonAT.com).
candide thovex
all i can say about this video on candide thovex is "INCREDIBLE! .. point blank pirid" (as T.I. would say). candide charges these lines with the smooth aggressiveness style of a black mamba.
ever since high school i've wanted to make movies. these days i get my thrills with the digital camera and some quick pasted edits. eric williams, tom roberts, peter blouin and i used to make "extreme sports" movies in media class back at portsmouth high. i'd love to see those now.
greg hill not to be outdone greg hill who has skinned and skied a million vertical feet in a year has taken to bringing his hi def camera with him on his ski mtneering adventures. it's awesome stuff and it makes me want to put a bit more effort into the videos i post.. maybe i'll add some music next time.
skinning up hyak under the dead lifts. you might remember hyak from the 300 foot wide avalanche/landslide that happened during our january warming.
snoqualmie got 15 inches of fresh so we decided a dawn patrol was in order. ellen and copson joined me, fraser didn't. as we got to the lot hopes were high until we started skinning. there was a somewhat nasty crust on top, not a death crust mind you, but certainly enough to squash the dreams i had as i sleep drove to ellen's house at 4:45am. someone mentioned they thought the snow would be better once we got to the top. i agreed verbally, but doubted it. however the top 500 feet was better and the skiing was really fun. with the inversion and the sun it was a perfect morning. i'm grateful i have friends that are willing to dawn headlampsand battle sleep monsters for 2,000 ft by 8:30 am.
after posting a couple of these photos on facebook i received the following question.
"Holy crap, where was this and where do you live that you can so quickly pop out for a quick ski?"
my response:
"i live in seattle. snoqualmie pass is 45 mins away. woke up at 4:30am, started skinning uphill in the dark and skiing downhill with the sunrise. my buddy was at his microsoft desk by 9:30am after 2,000ft of skiing and a coffee stop on the way home.
it's possible.. you just gotta want it."
ellen and steve - run 3
my new favorite ski jacket - the mtn hardware synchro
i've been tweeting to my facebook for some time now. basically updating my status from the iPhone. in the last few weeks i've volunteered at a couple races and tweeted updates to my facebook status via the iPhone. the problem with doing that is only my facebook friends can see the updates and know what's going on. i'm now going to use twitter so when i post a race update everyone can follow along, facebook friend or not.
the other obvious reason is to update twitter and thus anyone who cares with race status of my own.. when i get back to racing.
scratchy and crusty out there today but still better than cleaning the house or sitting on the couch.
law dawgs todd and mark, as well as my bc staple steve copson and i set out with the objective of skiing the 40+ degree crooked couloir off snoqualmie mountain. with no real beta on the couloir ther was a very real chance we would have had to rappel out of the couloir.. making it extra bad ass of course. the sun made a short appearance but by the time we got to the summit it was full on white out blizzard at 6,200 feet. because we were a mere 500 feet from the top of the couloir we forged on. navigating by brale and hopeful not fall off a cliff or cornice. it was only a few minutes until it became obvious that proceeding would be foolhardy. we simple couldn't tell what we were skiing into. so we skied down from the summit the way we climbed and left the crooked couloir for another day.
the skin up phantom
around cave ridge it got steep and crusty
mark is pointing at the final pitch to the summit. it's right in front of him, we just can't see it.
i'm an artist
my gear... get some!
my new favorite ski jacket - the mtn hardware synchro
today i volunteered at the chuckanut 50km as i have many times now. krissy and her crew, including her mom peggy put on a great race with an awesome vibe. this year was once again stacked with top notch talent, but the canadian montrail team crushed it! canadaaaaa!! (i'm waving my fist in the air right now). montrail canada team member aaron heidt won the mens race by a large margin with greg crowthler in 2nd and hal koerner 3rd. montrail canada team member elli greenwood who also won the orcas island 50km took the woman's race handily.
"the crew" - porsha, krissy and peg (oh and dagan who is not pictured)
top 3 males - hal koerner 3rd, greg crowthler 2nd, aaron heidt 1st
pretty sure this is called "hallin' ass lundberg style"
i met chris lundberg when i was living in the teton's this past summer. he is one of lisa smith-batchen's many amazing friends. we had a couple of adventures together, and many track sessions where i watched in awe of his potential and raw speed. i liked him a lot and we had a similar mountain mentality.
unfortunately chris is sitting in burn care unit of the slc hospital right now. an adventure gone wrong that might cost him his foot and a few other digits. here is the back story of what happened and here is the blog where they are posting progress updates. give a read, drop a positive note and send some positive healing vibes for me.
... and get well quick chris. we're all thinking of you.
I'm an ultra distance athlete who incessantly seeks out backcountry adventure. I'm an UltraRunner by trade, but I'm a multisport athlete at heart. Ski mountaineering in the winter, trail running and cycling in the summer. After 10 years in Seattle I moved to Salt Lake City because the Wasatch Mtns are simply amazing. I'm from New Hampshire originally, where I learned to "Live Free or Die". In December of 2005 I decided my desk job at Microsoft was in fact death... so i quit. I've been gettin' after it in the backcountry full time ever since. I coach, train and write the Ask the Coach column in TrailRunner Magazine
again the avy report sent us into the trees. copson, kurt and ellen joined me today. lots of wind affected snow on the kendall ridge made us super cautious to start out, but a pit and many ski cuts later and we saw nothing to be scared of. 
when the avy report says "high above 4,000 ft" we ski trees. copson and i ran into rvg, hayes and erin in the parking lot so we joined forces. rvg then lead us up the most aggressive route to the kendall ridge possible. we skinned (and some boot packed) up 50+ degree crusty slopes. you were either on point with the kick turn or you were going for a long unpleasant ride. i loved every minute of it. i reckon it was a great chance to see a new part of the kendall ridge.
and battle sleep monsters for 2,000 ft by 8:30 am.
i've been tweeting to my facebook for some time now. basically updating my status from the iPhone. in the last few weeks i've volunteered at a couple races and tweeted updates to my facebook status via the iPhone. the problem with doing that is only my facebook friends can see the updates and know what's going on. i'm now going to use twitter so when i post a race update everyone can follow along, facebook friend or not.
