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…
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…
The GoreTex Grand Traverse (formerly the Elk Mountains Grand Traverse) is the grand-daddy of North American ski traverses. Departing Crested Butte at midnight, the unsupported course climbs roughly 40 miles past two checkpoints before finishing down Aspen Mountain into the town…
Intro Today, I am very happy to roll out a new series on Mountain Lessons: the No Excuses interviews. Any semi-serious athlete knows that it’s damn hard to maintain momentum and keep growing in their sport. Families, commitments, work, laziness–…
Yesterday, as you might have noticed, I had the opportunity to attend the Northwest Snow and Avalanche workshop. Similar workshops occur on an annual basis around the Mountain West, and they’re a great way to get you avalanche brain back…