Snuck a Shasta rip into a work trip. Summit + a bump back up to ski a ridgeline out. Snow to the lot. Spring perfection, timed the corn perfectly. Definite Tuckerman's vibe in Avalanche Gulch
Ski descent of Pico De Orizaba. Unexpected snow storm overnight made for the best big mountain skiing I've ever done. Able to ski powder turns from the top all the way down the glacier. Highest peak I've skied, linking turns above 18K' was no joke.
Exploring Mt. Rainier. Could not get an alpine start and solo, so summit was not on agenda. Skinned to Muir Camp -> skied a couloir above that down to the Fuhrer Finger route -> ascended to point where crevasse navigation solo in whiteout conditions felt ... unwise 😅. Rainier might be the coolest mountain I've been on. Can't wait to come back.
Mount Adams. Summit, then SW Chutes and back up for a lap out. Summit skied well, soft and no sun cups or runnels. SW Chutes blew my mind. 3K'+ of 35-45° smooth corn perfection.
Dawn patrol to unnamed peak. Booted the final summit push with crampons. Pencil hard wind crust for the ski down . Just like being home at Mt Washington, but with better views 😁
Great race given the conditions they had to deal with. High wind, frozen conditions, low visibility, light snow. Couldn't summit and some very spicy descents. Bagged 8th Male (9th overall). - PROCESS: Pacing was solid throughout. Made the conservative call to downclimb the top of Right Gully. Right call. Totally blew it on nutrition and hydration. - PERFORMANCE: Legs not quite as strong as last year, but overall more consistent performance than last year. - PLACEMENT: Cracked top 10, picking up two spots from last year. Got lucky, though with Frank and one other missing the Hillman's ascent.
Poking around Silver Fork Creek. Good mix of all the conditions.
Grand Traverse. Amazing race. Did not get to go through to Aspen due to Avy risk, but incredible experience nonetheless. Yeuhi was a great partner, kept up the pace for us on the many many skating sections. 9:09:56 official time. Result: 63 of 228 teams; 23 of 53 in class (M 36-45). Feel pretty good about that coming from sea level.
Exploring Mt Equinox with Chris. Big day out with a sprinkle of type 3 fun, hitting power lines, little Equinox, and the front side slide. Been watching the backside power lines for 10 years, awesome to finally ski them in full pow.
Night ski from the hotel in Grindelwald. Mind-blowing. Skinned from the hotel. Skied down facing the north wall of the Eiger lit up under the clear sky and full moon. Couple powder turns to boot.
Backcountry tour in the 'Daks with Chis. Started at ADK Loj with Trap Dike as objective. Decided to bail on that when we got to the bottom based on red flags. Happy with the turn back, too much free flowing water under the snowpack and recent icefall overhead plus warming weather. Algonquin's slides were Plan B and Coldend SE slides was Plan C. We passed on those too due to too many blown-out rivers trying to get there. Went with the safe fallback of bumping up to Marcy and grabbing a couple of laps on the summit cone and long ski down the Van Houv back to camp at Marcy Dam. Weather could not have been better. Warm and calm up top with edge-able firm snow. We kept a chill pace and watched the abductor all day, could feel it as a limiter, but overall not bad.
Afternoon ski tour at Avoriaz. Sweet 3,500' descent from just off one summit all the way to valley floor. Not bad to end with beers, oysters and baguettes on sun deck with fam.
Big Cottonwood Canyon. Considerable rating and skiing alone, so went for a big day tree skiing and poking around low angle bowls. Maybe top 5 lifetime powder day. Aspen glades so good. Cold (4°F leaving lot), so snow stayed cold and light most of the day. Even got a complement on my skiing from a guide....still got it 😂 Mill D North TH -> Little Water -> Lake Desolation via Powder Park 1 -> 2x laps Beartrap glades -> Beartrap West -> the Cone -> Mill D North TH.
Another night your. Under the tram up the Eiger this time. Much more like resort skinning. No complaints.
Day 1 Cascades spring skiing (July is spring, right?). Shakeout fresh off the plane before meeting JS tomorrow. Late start and skiing alone, so called it at the saddle above Crater Rock. Crossing the bergschrund to the summit headwall alone at 4PM didn't seem wise. 4K' incredible slushy corn on the way down.
Day 2 - Mount hood laps woth Jonathan and Jeff - Zig Zag, Crater Rock, Palmer. Second lap was perfect corn.
Super fun race, exceeded all expectations. Amazing course layout, perfect condition, and great turnout.. Fixed line straight up the head wall was a bold move, glad I got there before the line backed up. Pretty happy with my performance overall I think I came in 14th. Cracked the top 10 leaderboard on hillman's! Forgetting my poles at the boot pack transition was not my finest moment, but managed to recover and ski down the Sluice with ax in hand instead of poles.
Christmas night skinning up the Morzine side. Had sights on Point de Nyon. Decided against it once I got to the first summit given considerable avalanche danger, wet slabs I'd seen during the day, and ongoing drizzle.
Dawn patrol. 1.5 laps on Mount Glory off Teton Pass. Was expecting survival skiing. Pleasantly surprised to find light pow top to bottom 🤟
East face of Taylor. Slow going up with route finding and breaking trail, had to drop in little below summit. All time boot-top blower pow coming down. Broke a ski and had to do the descent with just the toe in. Made for some ginger turns that would have made my level I avy instructor proud (real backcountry skiers ski lightly in avy terrain...so I am told)
Dawn patrol to Col De Thorens. Variable wind effected snow and lots of side hilling on boiler plate without ski crampons made for slow going. Sunrise at the col was well worth it.
Start with the positive. Nailed my risk management plan... Winds hit me when I reached the ridge, blowing hard enough to make standing difficult. I scrambled the ridge to just below the top pitch. Ended up switching to crampons and downclimbed given the wind, active rockfall, and very unforgiving run-out. Skied out a sad cat track ribbon back at the resort, so at least scored some final turns for the trip. Mellow laps on palmer would have been better, but nothing wrong with a little Type II+ fun ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Back up to Col de Thorens then over to ascend the glacier. Objective was Mont de Gébroulaz. Turned back about 200' shy of the summit. Rest of the way was mixed class 4/5 scrambling - doable but I did not see a skiable line down so risk/payoff (being out there solo) was not worth it. Awesome adventure.
