Full Moon Ski

Got out to ski by the light of the full moon tonight. Twas beautiful and much brighter than my piddly tripodless camera shows. But you get the idea.

Relief from Symptoms of SAD - Snow Affective Disorder

Today things were absolutely crazy!! Totally wild. Nutso even. I nearly lost it.

It SNOWED!!!!!!

I can't even remember when the last time it did this and it makes me sick to think about it so I wont. I'll just focus on the good.

I headed up early to Sunlight Mountain to get in a few hours of skinning workout. The flakes had started to float down and my conversation with a couple of guys from ski patrol went something like this: "Huh? What are these white things in the air?" "This is very strange phenonemon" "We must go and investigate".

And it didn't let up. Funny thing was, when I got back down into Glenwood Springs it had been dumping like crazy. We measured the snow depth in our yard which had been grass but four hours earlier!!

And we got a few more inches after that! Now you can see why I almost lost it.

I wandered around the hood in a daze, taking a few photos.

It was like a late Christmas and Santa hadn't played a cruel joke on us by putting coal in our stockings.

I hope the snow drought has broken, purleeeze, pleeeeese, Ullr, don't back out on us now.

We're off to the big mountain tomorrow to get some turns in. Fingers crossed we'll have some heap big fresh powpow for manana. And relief from my symptoms of SAD - Snow Affective Disorder - is more than temporary.

A Trip Down Memory Lane or Up Memory Mountain (to be more accurate)

Above: The Monte Rosa massif in Switzerland. From left to right Nordend (4609m/15,121ft), Dufourspitze (4632m/15,203ft) and Lyskamm (4527m/14852ft) above the 7 mile long Gornerglestcher.

At this time of year many look back over the previous twelve months but for me the last few weeks have been extremely busy and largely consumed with packing and moving house. (We've moved just a little ways up the Colorado River to Glenwood Springs.) In my opinion packing is very overrated (unless one is going on a big, fun trip somewhere) but in the process I did unearth some old photos and memories which I think are worth sharing. So I hope you will indulge me on a little trip down memory lane, or up memory mountain in actuality.

Fifteen years ago I was stuck in the London rat race. I was in my early twenties and knew this was not for me. So one day I threw in the towel, moving quickly from a career in finance to being a professional mountain bum in Zermatt, located in the Swiss canton of Valais. It was early summer and my goal was to hike and run trails and climb as many peaks as possible in the Alps. Zermatt was a perfect location as it is surrounded by jaw dropping scenery (the Matterhorn perhaps being one of the most photographed mountains in the world), miles and miles of footpaths to explore, 32 peaks over 4,000 meters and all travel is on train, by cablecar, foot or bike. I literally went a whole summer without once taking a ride in a car (which are banned in Zermatt). There were so many things about that summer which were spectacular and life changing for me, I could talk about it endlessly and no doubt the only person who would be remotely interested in my babble would be myself. Ultimately the experience confirmed my absolute love for the mountains and now I can't imagine life without them.

Above: Myself on the left and Johanna Bergkvist on the right, climbing Pollux. I met Johanna early on in the summer and we shared a love for rock climbing. Most days would find us on a little crag just above town or bouldering up in meadows around Findeln. I'm still in touch with Johanna after all these years (hate to love Facebook) though she is now back in Sweden.

If there was a common thread through the summer and the mountains it was friends and partners. As most know it is a challenge to safely travel and climb in the mountains without good partners. As well as meeting Johanna I was fortunate to become friends with a gang of young up and coming local mountain guides. Not sure if they just wanted to practice their english on me or were impressed with my beer drinking skills(not) but they took me into their fold. Consequently I was able to climb some of the major peaks in the area while hanging onto their coat tails or ropes in this case. Amongst many fantastic days there were three climbs which were stand outs.  

The Matterhorn: In July the snow cleared sufficiently for us to summit the Matterhorn via the Hornli Ridge which although a technical easy climb was by far the biggest exposure I have experienced. Climbing up the shoulder one could peer (dizzily) 6,000 feet down the north face. Although the route is very crowded I benefited from having friends in the biziness (ha!) and Martin Lehner (one of the guide gang) and I summited ahead of the pack and were a third of the way back down before meeting the ascending masses. Watching the sunrise over Mont Blanc from the summit of the Matterhorn in solitude was an incredible experience.

The North Face of the Breithorn: One day Mario Julen and I came up with the wild idea of summiting the North Face of the Breithorn from Zermatt in one push. Although the Breithorn is an easily reached summit  from the south walking from the Klein Matterhorn cable car station, the north face is a technical snow, ice and rock climb. It is most frequently climbed after an overnight stay at the Gandegg Hutte. We, however left Zermatt on bikes at midnight, rode several miles up gravel roads to Findeln, and then hiked to the Gandegg Hutte for an early breakfast at 4 a.m.

Above, the Gandegg Hutte on a different day with the north face of the Breithorn looking behind.

From there we descended down scree slopes to traverse the Breithorngletscher in the dark. After dropping a few legs in barely covered crevasses (luckily not all at the same time) we finally reached the base of the climb. Unfortunately I do not have any photos but it was spectacular steep snow and ice climbing before popping out on the summit several hours later. We were greeted by the masses who had walked from the cable car who were somewhat surprised when we expained our route in response to their questions about from where we came.

Tour of the Monte Rosa: 15,200 feet high Monte Rosa, also known as Durfourspitze straddles the italian-swiss border and is the second highest peak in the Alps (after Mont Blanc) and gives its name to a group of spectacular peaks high above Zermatt. Many of these peaks are over 4,000 meters and so one day we set out to summit as many as we could in one push. Catching the last cable car up to the top of Klein Matterhorn one evening we hunkered down in the cable car operators quarters for a few hours sleep before we left just before 2 a.m. First we summited Castor, an easy snow climb before beginning the traverse of Lyskamm - a massive and airy 5km knife ridge. It was a little precarious in spots with one high adrenalin moment when I plunged my ice axe into the precipitous cornice and my hand went all the way through. If it wasn't still dark I would have been able to see Italy several miles below through the hole I inadvertantly made in the snow. Lucily the cornice held, as did I, and we made it across in time to see the sunrise from the eastern summit. I know of no better place than to be on a mountain as the suns warming rays first strike the earth. That's the Matterhorn in the distance by the way.

We continued on, ticking off Signalkuppe and Zumsteinspitze both pleasant snow climbs, before hitting up the biggy of the trip - Dufourspitze. Here we had an enjoyable rock scramble (though we kept our crampons on) to reach the summit of the highest mountain in Switzerland. With Nordend (another 15er), the final summit of the Monte Rosa Tour, in the bag we began the long hot and brutal descent down the Gornergletscher for a late lunch at the Monte Rosa Hutte. I was so exhausted I could barely eat but summoned up enough energy to continue on the climb back out to the Gornergrat cog railway. It was a big day as the following diagram, drawn up by one of the gang, shows:

Over the period of 17 hours we traveled 25km (16 miles), climbing almost 6,500 feet and descending almost 10,000. We reached 7 summits over 4,000 meters. Most people attempt this tour in several days but when you are young and mad about mountains as our group was.....

Thanks for joining me on my little jaunt down memory lane. Happy New Year!

Facet Farming

After a good November for snow, December has been dry, dry dry. There's been a couple of minor snowfalls but nothing to write home about. The conditions are some of the poorest I can remember in Colorado. Indeed we have heard old sheepherders tales this is the driest since 1969. Jeepers! Still, we are making the most of it and getting out there to farm the facets - the technical term for sugary snow that cold nights and endless dry sunny days create. More postively we could describe it as recycled powder. All the same it is fun skiing. Chad got to try his new carbon fiber DPS surf boards. Big thumbs up judging by the giggles and grins.

At this time of year the north facing slopes where the best snow/facets lies are lucky to see more than a glipse of sun. Makes for dark skiing, goggles required, and dark photos.

Putting the breaks on too hard in an incohesive and bottomless snowpack sends you down deep...you kind of get a faceshot....like the ones we are endlessly dreaming of:

Please send us some more snow!!!

Stormy Solstice

To mark the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year and the longest night, it seemed appropriate to go skiing, since so much of my time on planks these days is in the dark. Just a few hours after the earth tilted back towards the sun and in the gloom of the pre dawn morning we climbed up Sunlight Mountain.

And being the first day of winter the weather was appropriately stormy. Purdy new skis in purdy new snow:

Here comes the sun which we will see more of every day from here on out... but barely a glimmer of light through the clouds.

Happy winter everyone!