Today’s post is from Mountain Lessons guest blogger Taylor Schefstrom. If you follow me on Instagram, you’ll recognize her as my intrepid and loving sidekick. While I’m largely to blame for dragging her into a handful of races this season,…
After skin difficulties and some hard-won lessons at Alpental last week, I was both nervous and excited to get back on snow this weekend for the Subaru Vertfest Mt Bachelor race. The weather was amazing, with blue skies and a…
Yesterday was the first SkiMo race of the season for me. To anyone in Colorado that must seem late, but to those of us thus-far confined to the Pacific Northwest, we’ve only just begun to have a snowpack, let alone…
This weekend heralded a true return of snow to the Pacific Northwest, and with a less-typical SW flow, the Mt Hood area received more snow than the more-Northerly cascades. With an avalanche class lined up for Sunday, but a clear schedule…
This past weekend, Taylor and I drove the 4.5 hours down to Southern Oregon (or “So. O.” as she calls it) to take advantage of some good-looking weather. We had in mind a ski circumnavigation of Crater Lake, and with…
When I started researching techniques for partner skimo racing, a common theme emerged: lots of winning teams use a towing system to attach the partners to each other. I had an inkling that this happened because my Camp Race 260…
Registration for the 2014 Wasatch Powder Keg is now open! The race will span three days on March 7th – 9th: March 7 – Sprint Race $20 – one climb/booter/descent March 8 – Individual Race $65 – 6500′, 10 miles…
I used to be a freeskier. That even sounds funny to write, but it’s true. What I mean by that is that I used to measure the quality of my skiing by my speed, the steepness of my lines, and…
Mt St Helens – Worm Flow winter route – 5500′, 11.3 mi, 3:37:01 car to car. I’m past whining now. Everywhere in the West (barring BC) is pretty shy of snow. I could keep whining about how this was forecast…
Before we begin, a word of caution: the idea that I am about to give you is an infectious one. It sticks irrevocably, like when someone tells you to notice your breathing and then tells you to stop, but you…