New Mexico Climbing Guide

Jack Roberts Death on Bridalveil Falls

2012-01-16T18:29:00.000-08:00

On Sunday 15 Jan, 2012, another friend of mine died “doing what he loved most”, ice climbing on the incredible Bridalveil Falls in Telluride, Colorado. He suffered a fractured hip and went into cardiac arrest sometime thereafter while he was being evacuated from one of the most ethereal locations on earth. Perhaps he bled out internally from his pelvic fracture. No matter the cause, he had time to suffer and contemplate life. I wonder what Jack, the author of Colorado’s best ice climbing guidebook was feeling at the time of his would-be rescue.

It’s been said that when people die in the mountains, “at least they died doing something they loved.” Other grow bitter with those words, I think simply out of grief and the loss of a loved one. The mountains are dangerous, no doubt. So is driving your car, but I’ll bet unless you own a Ferrari, it’s not the most rewarding time spent. Steve Jobs died doing what he loved, nobody says, “don’t venture into the treacherous field of making awesome computers.”

Yesterday while I was leaving South Korea, a close friend sent me some of the most inspiring prose:

So many people don’t get “it,” regardless of what “it” is.

“why don’t you retire from that”

“there was nothing I could say…because anything I said would not be understood. I would have been speaking a language he could, or would, not comprehend. While many don’t understand why you (me) travel around the world to compete in a sport they are even further from understanding; know that I, and a few others like me, get it and support you with everything we have. Keep pushing hard ! Enjoy the camaraderie that comes from pushing hard, and suffering, with others. Once it is formed, it is an unbreakable bond that is only understood by those who share “it”.”

What defines us are the actions we take, the people we touch, and what we give and receive. I hope that Jack loved every step up the splendid falls, savored the smell of the incandescent blue frozen waterfall ice, and realized that he leaves a legacy of ice climbers who share all the things that make climbing special. Your family and your friends will miss you. I hope you know that with every swing my ice axe that you are part of that energy, as are others who have inspired and helped me become who I am: Craig Leubben, Guy Lacalle, and many more. Thanks for helping me get "it". God speed.

(Post-dated blog for respect for family notification)

SOUTH KOREA ICE CLIMBING WORLD CUP, 2012 - EPILOGUE

2012-01-15T04:46:00.000-08:00

UIAA Ice Climbing World Cup, Cheongsong, South Korea

REPRESENTING THE USA AT THE COMMENCEMENT - imagine that.

This year was exceptional in South Korea with the second ever UIAA Ice Climbing World Cup in Cheongsong (Nature Song). The culture is rich, the people so friendly and the organization of the competition and event being second to none. There were more than 127 athletes representing 24 countries at this competition. Only the top 40 are ever listed in the results, I was good enough to get listed and beat my previous rating of 36th in 2009-10 and am presently ranked 34th for 2012.

MEN'S QUARTER FINAL

This as my third year of competing in the World Cup and I have been lucky to meet some of the most interesting people along with all the travels. This year, Kendra Stritch makes her debut and is from Minnesota. Although most people think she's from Canada, she's actually from Minnesota. Ian Holmes is joining up with Gordon to form the Canadian consortium. The Russians pretty much crushed the entire field of all comers, hold a couple of Korean slots. Somehow, Bendler fell off. Someone must have greased his picks because that hardly ever happens. I would buy a lottery ticket before betting Bendler would fall in the first round.

THE IMPRESSIVE CANADIAN, IAN HOLMES GIVING ONE OF THE RUSSIANS A LIFT.

I am happy with my meek performance this year since although I did not make it to the half final, I climbed well and had recognition from the athletes and judges and route setters congratulating me on making good progress with making no stupid mental mistakes, climbing strong, and with consistency. Actually, I was just afraid that the belayer wouldn’t be prepared for how heavy I would be if I fell, so I just didn’t fall – ha ha. Markus didn't think it was funny, he really did think I would get dropped - didn't happen. However, one athlete fell a long distance and got harpooned in the abdomen by one of his axes. I checked him out and he had to be sent to the hospital for a perforated bowel.

I don’t feel like much has changed with my climbing in the past couple of years, but perhaps I can’t see the grass growing. Funny though, I’ve put on 10 pounds and only have about half a dozen training days total this year. Time in the pilot seat is what’s keeping me where I am, but I know I am not as efficient as I could be.

Although some of the best climbers fell early and some surprises by underdogs were seen I’m still a long way from being where I want to be. Sometimes there are doors that are before us that we have a choice to open and walk through. Simply cracking the door open isn’t good enough. I have some personal goal choices to make. I’ve taken a hiatus this past year in training and am ready to get back at it. I’m happy with my performance here this year and am looking forward to doing even better next year. Even though it is distant, it is likely my favorite world cup venue now that Val Daone is no more.

The ice competition season isn’t over yet, far from it in fact. Next on the hit list is the first ever TEVA Winter Games. I’m fortunate to have been invited to compete at this competition in Vail, CO. It is a different climbing format. The routes will not be as difficult and there will be two climbers facing off on identical side by side routes as this format is generally much more exciting for spectators. It will be similar to the 2007 Asian X-Games in Shanghai, China when I went there with Timy Fairfield to set the competition routes. I feel more compelled to attend this event on USA soil since I want there to be a World Cup in North America and there needs to be a good showing of competitors at “home games” to assure that it happens.

There is a movement for Competition Ice climbing to go to the Olympics and there needs to be a more organized International event and venue in the USA. However, there needs to be financial support for this to happen. I’m sure that there is someone or some entity that would be willing and able to help this cause, I just don’t know how to connect with them. I have lots of ideas though and can see it happening. Perhaps there will be some glimmer of hope when I visit Vail.

SOUTH KOREA ICE CLIMBING WORLD CUP, 2012

2012-01-15T04:35:00.000-08:00

SOUTH KOREA ICE WORLD CUP, 2012

FULL MOON SET AND GETTING READY TO CHASE THE SUN ... TO SOUTH KOREA

Sitting in my seat and looking down on northern Russia and towards the pole, the temps are -50C. Unfortunately, the temperatures in Kirov, Russia were -38C with moderate winds and snowing during my first Ice World Cup. I knew that it was going to be tough going for the next 2 months and that I had a long way to go and a lot to learn about the mixed climbing scene in Europe.

ANTICIPATION.

Over the next three years, and logging many trips across all the ponds to Korea, Romania, Italy, Switzerland, France, and Russia, etc., I found that the American scene had somehow lost its way in the evolution of mixed climbing. The standard that I thought was so high was, in fact, not. Perhaps it was the climbing media’s portrayal that mixed climbing was a “dead-end sport,” or perhaps it was those who were leading the scene got their asses handed to them, they ran out of vision, or simply “got their cups filled,” but there was a sudden ceiling effect.

Going to the French National competition, I met up with Jeff Mercier. I had helped set the competition route at Ouray on the “diving board” that he made famous with his go-for-broke dyno to the finishing hold, barely making the magic happen. Jeff and crew has never slowed down with his “no figure 4 rule” in the competition left all the World Cup competitors launching for holds so far away that it just inspired everyone to throw harder. Jeff’s style isn’t for everyone, but it is fun to climb his routes in his style.

Stephanie Mereau took us to Le Usine, France last year for a proper schooling. This monstrous cave is home to dry tooling at it’s most refined extreme touting grade of D15 (like M15 without the ice). Later, I climbed together with Markus Bendler. I’m not sure what the grade difference is between North America and Europe, but I couldn’t knock off one of Bendler’s “M9s” when I can on-sight M11 back home. You should see one of his “M12s,” a completely blind horizontal dead point to a hold about 3mm deep. Marcus has won over 40 World Cups and can nab that hold 1/20 attempts on a good day. Needless to say, I’m still in my infancy of the learning curve in this game.

KOREAN ALPINE FEDERATION'S INDOOR 5 STORY ICE CLIMBING TRAINING CENTER.

Many countries have proper teams, supported financially, and have coaches. I’ve never had a coach for ice climbing, but I have coached. Intimidating as it is, being an athlete from the USA to compete at World Competitions still inspires me. It’s a big challenge, not only to participate, but to take on droves of Russians, South Koreans, and many other countries with formal teams.

I love the sport of this type of climbing, but it can be so taxing in so many ways. It’s the time machine that kills me: planes chasing the sun over the pole and around the earth, long bus rides, train transfers, and many nights in a foreign bed, on a floor, or on a couch. It’s all worth it though. That’s part of the cost of the ticket to live this life and have it be a memorable one without regrets. Keep on following that dream !

Korea World Cup

2012-01-08T08:38:00.000-08:00

I'm looking forward going back to Cheongsong and once again representing the USA as an "Army of One." It's time to go back to the "big pond" in the climbing competition circuit, the World Cup. South Korea is host to the opening UIAA International Ice Climbing World Cup Competition. This is by far the biggest event in mixed rock and ice climbing competitions anywhere in the world.

Flyer by UIAA

After being injured with a torn bicep muscle, I am managing to stay healthy and have had a fairly descent recovery thus far, but my pre-season training suffered. I had not climbed a route until I took second place at the indoor mixed competition in Colorado Springs in November, 2011. I'm a bit intimidated this year since I know how hard the competition routes are and how honed the other competitors will be, but I hope that I am on the uprising of performance at this point. Anything can happen in competitions though.

It's hard to get all my affairs in order prior to departure. Passport, competition license, reservations, airfare, and all the logistics it takes to get there...and back. The guide service suffers and Strike Rescue is getting ready to launch a new program at the University of New Mexico's EMS Academy. I'll be working while resting. I'm still working with the US Forest Service on permits for avalanche courses and keeping up with continuing medical education. There's always work to be done, even while on the road.

I stay up all night the day of the flight, not only because I'm afraid I'll miss my flight, but also to feel somewhat human when I land in Seoul. Crossing the International Date Line and having to compete is not so easy, but it's easier than going to Europe for some reason. I manage to squeeze in one more work out under the halogen lights on my climbing wall in the back yard and get my last green chili fix before heading to the airport. I'll crash out on the plane with knowing that my friends and family support me.

Ouray Ice Competition ... Rules ? Occam's Razor Failure.

2012-01-08T08:31:00.001-08:00

So people are asking me about what happened at the Ouray Ice Climbing Competition, 2012. Well, I got disqualified. Conflicting information and rules led to me following some other competitors looking at the route with binoculars and camera. Here's the facts and the latest e-mail I got from the Competition Director:

Marc,

Congratulations on being accepted as a competitor in the 2012 Ouray Ice Festival mixed comp. We are excited to have you participate and hope your psyche level is high and that you have been training hard.

The competition is an invitational event and seeding will be determined by a jersey draw at the competitors meeting to be held on Friday the 6^th. I will notify you of the time and place of the meeting once we have all of the details worked out.

Vince Anderson is setting the route again this season and the route will be located near the lower bridge in the Ice Park by the vendors area. If you are in Ouray and see Vince or any Ice Park employees working on the route please do not watch. I do not mind if you look at the route from the viewing stand area, but anyone caught scoping the route from the gorge floor, on a nearby route or watching work being done on the route by the setters will be disqualified from competing.

I will be in touch in the coming weeks with more details on the comp for you and if you have any questions please feel to drop me an email.

Once again congrats and I am psyched to have you giving your all in Ouray.

Cheers,

Comp Director

In all fairness to the Ice Park, and to my own demise, it does say on the web site that there should be no binos or cameras on the web site. I failed to see this and relied on Bill's e-mail above, and the fact that other competitors were doing the same and I was somehow singled out. However, the rules here change every year and there needs to be some standardization. It was o.k. to use these things several years ago, the comp route was a red point last year (meaning all the competitors actually got to climb on the route before the competition), and this year it's all different.

The part that really bumbs me out is that another competitor felt so threatened by it that they had to make it a big deal rather than approaching me directly. As competitors, we are only able to gauge ourselves against other competitors to measure ourselves. What a pity that they felt so insecure about themselves to have it wind up this way. Furthermore, the fact that the officials decided to take action based on that person demanding action or else they would not compete, and action was taken to grease the squeaky wheel without all the facts presented, is even more disappointing.

When I asked who made the complaint, they told me to divulge the names of the others who were also engaged in the viewing with cameras and binoculars. I refused to give the names of the others who were also doing the same. I don't feel that it is in the spirit of the competition or fair to others who were in the same situation I was.

I'm not so sure that there's any advantage from the use of adjuncts to view the route. To view the route with binos or photos does nothing. Watching someone climb the route is altogether different since seeing someone climb will show where the holds likely are and how to do the moves. The use of adjuncts to view the route is more of a mental exercise since adjunctive viewing offers nothing over viewing with the naked eye aside from perhaps calming the nerves a bit. The Ouray competition is different than World Cups since the climb is on a wall and part of the difficulty is simply finding the correct hold. In World Cup, it's a no-brainer where to go, but the holds themselves are difficult to stay on.

The funny thing is that other athletes in the past have done the same and no action was taken. I recall an athlete actually getting on the route prior to an on-sight competition and nothing came of it. I get it that they are trying to have consistency and uphold the rules. I don't feel like my actions were subversive or in any way compromised the integrity of the competition. Why? There's no advantage of looking at the route since you can't even see the holds. In fact, photos of the route were posted on-line prior to start of the competition (not by me) anyway, the day before the competition.

I hope this doesn't ever happen to anyone else in the future and perhaps this will allow better insight for the powers the be as to how this can be avoided in the future. I set competition routes the Ice Comp and Jeff Lowe in 2000, with Michal Gilbert in 2001, and again helping Jason Nelson by setting the unforgettable diving board finish when Jeff Mercier beat Inez Papert by a single move. I've worked as a belayer on the suspended platform before I started competing. So I understand what goes into making a competition run in Ouray, the associated headaches, and the politics. I appreciate Vince Anderson's efforts as a route setter this year and can only be sad that I was not allowed to climb his route.

At any rate, I was not able to be heard, I didn't get to compete, and that's a wrap. Time to move on. What a waste. That's the way it goes with competition climbing. There's ups and downs and rolling with the punches is just part of the game. So this is my perspective and only my opinion. I respect the decision made, but don't agree with it.

I appreciate all those who can understand and support me through both the good times and the bad. I love mixed climbing. It's my favorite form of climbing and I enjoy competitions most of the time.

The good news is that I got to spend some time with friends and go climbing on some of the hardest routes in the USA. I got to help new ice climbers put on their crampons for the first time and help other competitors sharpen their picks. I was also able to refocus and set sights on loftier goals like getting back to the Hall of Justice where I still have projects, the UIAA Ice World Cup, and the Winter TEVA Games in Vail.

Ouray 2012 Mixed Rock and Ice Climbing Competition

2012-01-02T19:25:00.000-08:00

For the past two years I ahve been on a World Cup rampage to try to hone my skills as best I can and submerge myself into the "big sea" of big competition climbing. I've taken 26th in difficulty and 19th in speed in 2009 and then lost momentum in 2010 with no placement. Albeit, I have been busy: completed my UIAGM/IFMGA Mountain Guide Certification, continued with my PhD, rebuilt the house, obtained a contract with UNM to teach Strike Rescue courses, and restarted work as a Physician Assistant. It's been a busy year. Needless to say, I don't ahve much expectation for sending hard lines or winning any competitions. However, the first time I really climbed this year I took 2nd at the City Rock climbing competition in Colorado Springs on the way back from a PA conference.

The Ouray Invitational Ice Competition is this coming weekend and so I've put in some time and will hope to do well. I go back for a day of work and then off to the first UIAA World Cup in South Korea. I am super excited to kick things off this year back in Ouray. It's been about 3 years since I've competed there and I'm hoping that the route will be much better than it was the list time. Hell, I'd rather fall off crappy ice than be called out of bounds like I was in Saas Fee, Switzerland when there's no boundary lines (not going back this year simply to make a statement). Ya, nothing but sour Suiss grapes there. That's o.k. Angelika Rainier (Italy) got totally screwed on the finals in Korea. There's always something in competitions. Even if you're on the podium, you feel that you could have done better. Somehow, its never enough.

Either way, it's all about the journey, and I've learned so much and come so far from where I was. I realize how much I stand on the shoulders of those before me, and the shoulders of my friends. I revel in the competitions not only to push myself but to reconnect with those I share a special bond with - of the element of hard mixed climbing - competition or not.

Angie knows how ADHD I can be so she's coming to NM to help us out with the Strike Rescue (SR) course at UNM this next semester. Justin Spain and Jason Williams are the other instructors that will be taking lead roles. She went with us to Mexico to explore the Crystal Caves with the National Geographic. We have a great team and I'm looking forward to this new year of 2012 and the challenges it will bring.

Mixed Rock and Ice World Cup 2012

2011-12-18T18:38:00.001-08:00

I'm looking forward to the next 3 months, January, February, and March. They are my most favorite of the year without question. The Fall semester is over, the sun has lowered into the winter sky, and the temperatures drop to once again encase the mountains in my favorite crystal lattices of ice and snow. No bugs, few crowds, fires in the wood stove, it just gets better. How? Because climbing is now funner than any other time of the year. Sure, I like to rock climb, but I love to ice climb.
I'm looking down the barrel of the UIAA International Ice Climbing World Cup once again and am really excited to be going back for my third year of participating in this incredible competition. I have gained so much as a climber from these competitions it's difficult to put into words. It's hard to sum up the days, the weeks, the months on the road. Sharing a drive that all the competitors have during these competitions is beyond explanation.
Sometimes, the World Cup feels like a traveling circus, doing stupid human tricks for a couple days, then getting back on the road with the "carnies" and doing it all over again in yet another country. What breaks up the madness of the competitions is the development of a family. We speak different languages, share good times and bad, and learn about each others cultures and traditions.
I hope that I will be able to continue to represent the United States of America this year as best I can in this forum...on all fronts. I'm looking forward to freeing up some time and getting away from school, from work, and the all of my "local duties" to get back on the circuit. And although I think this year will bring some change to the ice climbing realm it should be a great year to get back to some of the older stomping grounds and realize the future.

Getting ready for the road,
Marc

Guided Climbing Threatenend in the Black Canyon of the Gunnison

2011-10-20T10:47:00.000-07:00

Climbers are an easy target, believe it or not. Why ?? Because climbers are like cats and trying to herd them together for a common cause is nearly impossible. Climbers can't even agree on ethics, ratings, or access issues.

My thought is that people climb for many reasons. However, one of the common threads that everyone shears in climbing is the sense of freedom. We, meaning all of us, are becoming more threatened from many angles. One of which is the banning of guiding in the National Parks. Although I don't personally guide much in the Parks, I see it as a threat to all guided climbing. The trend will then become to close down climbing altogether. Think that's far fetched ? Think again.

I would ask anyone who is interested in preserving climbing in some of the most beautiful places in the world, like the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, to take action against the oppression. How ? Here's the recommendation form the American Mountain Guides Association:

The Park has already heard from guides, and what they really need are comments from the general public and clients.

What can you do now?

1. Email your client list, friends and fellow climbers today urging them to submit a comment by Oct. 27th. Use Facebook, your website, blog and any other communication vehicles to get the word out to your clients.

2. See below for a sample email to your clients, friends and fellow climbers.

It's in all of our interests to raise awareness and take action on this important issue today. The deadline for comments is Thursday, October 27th. Thank you for supporting the future of the profession in the U.S.

For more information, visit http://parkplanning.nps.gov

The National Park Service wants to ban guided climbing and prohibit members of the public from being able to climb with a professional guide in one of our country's most adventurous wilderness climbing areas. This is a national threat, which could set a debilitating precedent for guided climbing access in National Parks across the country. We are requesting your urgent support to help preserve guided climbing access in the Black Canyon as well as in other National Parks the U.S.

Here is another way how you can help:

Send an email to Ken_Stahlnecker@nps.gov today using the talking points below. Our goal is to have 500 people (who are not guides) contact Ken Stahlnecker opposing the Park's plan to ban guided climbing in the Black Canyon and urging the Park to preserve guiding climbing access in this unique venue.

Dear Ken Stahlnecker,

Chief, Resource Stewardship and Science

National Park Service,

Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park

I am writing to urge you to keep guided climbing access available to the American public. Along with Yosemite National Park and Red Rocks National Conservation Area, the Black Canyon is one of only a few climbing venues in the country offering big wall climbing opportunities. There is often a scarcity of willing and adequate climbing partners to tackle the bold and remote terrain of the Black. Because climbing requires a team of two unless one is free soloing, my options for experiencing this unique wilderness area will be substantially reduced or eliminated altogether if guided climbing is banned in the Inner Canyon Zone.

Having the option to climb with a professional guide is necessary for me to be able to experience the vertical wilderness in the Black Canyon. Partnering with a professional guide will enhance my opportunity for an experience of adventure, challenge and self-reliance. I see no difference between climbing with a professional guide and climbing with a non-guide partner who happens to be stronger or more experienced than me. It is not uncommon for climbing partners to be of varying levels of experience. Climbing successfully in the Black always requires the self-reliance, commitment and personal fortitude of both climbing partners regardless of their varying experience levels.

Rescue in the Sandias

2011-09-25T12:14:00.000-07:00

Rescue on the Shield, Rainbow Dancer, 5.11 R Sandia Mountains, NM.

When working as a PA in the CCU/ICU, and there were few patients in-house (in the hospital), I used to say "wow, it's slow." The nurses would then "psssst" me, or say "oh great, now you blew it," meaning I somehow jinxed the "calm" and soon the floor would be overloaded. I never witnessed bad luck coming to fruition immediately, but it eventually happens. We can only hold our breath for so long. Such is the case with rescue work. This summer is starting to remind me of the 1996 season in the Sandias when there were 11 total fallen climbers where rescues were called and only 4 survived.

I've been on rescues on nearly every rock face in the Sandias, and have pondered where a worst nightmare case scenario might be. I still have those locked up under my hat because I don't want to "jinx" anyone. But this week one of those events came to fruition. A 26 year old female fell while lead climbing on the second pitch of Rainbow Dancer on the Shield, the Sandia's most formidable face that stands more than 1000 feet tall, rivaling some of the biggest faces in United States. She had climbed up and apparently pulled on a piece of rock that broke from the wall. It is unknown exactly how far she fell, but she hit the ledge below and became an instant critical trauma patient.

Her friend rappelled her from the ledge to the ground, then made a brief attempt of carrying her out, but only made it a few meters before realizing that it would not be possible, nor ideal to continue. He then ran for help. He eventually found someone far below on the Piedra Lisa Trail and asked them for a first aid kit and to call for 911 for help. The climbers had neither a first aid kit nor a phone. We actually got none of the information above, we only knew that there was a fallen climber with a broken leg on the Shield. The the BCFD and NMSP Incident Commanders had sparse information and could only guess as how to respond, but sent crews out with the hope of success of finding her and begin to effect a rescue. People watched like "Eiger Birds" through spotting scopes, but seeing someone on the Shield from Albuquerque is next to impossible.

Only some of the ground team of rescuers were able to reach her since the way to the base of the Shield is difficult terrain. She was actually more critical than what was thought and the clock was ticking for her. Radio communications from Justin Spain came through my headset in the Blackhawk helicopter that she was unstable and had poor lung sounds. We flew around the cliff faces waiting for the final packaging and preparation to have the patient hoisted up. The hoist mandated that the pilot hover close to the face of the Shield and with the tail rotor nearing the trees on the steep ramp at the base.

Preparing for hoist up against the Shield

The New Mexico National Guard has several premiere flight teams and medics. Today, they helped civilian rescuers help others. I've been fortunate to have worked with them on many missions like this one over the past 30 years while doing rescue work. Long story short, their medic administered pain medicine to her and was hoisted back up with the patient. She was wrapped up in multiple splints and secured into a litter.

I won't go into the details of the patient's injuries, but we had to perform life-saving measures by decompressing her lungs with large bore catheters and administering 2 units of blood in conjunction with her IV fluid once she was loaded into the Blackhawk. Myself and Drew Harroll, MD attended her into the ambulance and then into the trauma room at UNMH where we passed off care to a 20 person trauma team quietly awaiting our arrival.

Although I've run 1000's of trauma calls, I find that my heart is being able to provide care to mountaineers where few others can. Most mountaineers don't help others. They don't have time for it in their personal pursuits.

The very fast hoist and transfer to Johnson Field at UNM. The Blackhawk flew in at about 200 m.p.h. and lost nearly 3500' in elevation to get this patient to the trauma room.

On another note, I've been publicly accused of putting in too many bolts in the Sandias on the web site Mountain Project. Perhaps my style or ethic rubs some people the wrong way. I've scraped up enough people to know that bolts save lives. I now publicly challenge those who condemn me to come out and take my place and rescue their friends, family, and climbing partners. The same holds for anyone who prefers to slander rather than resolve issues. In Albuquerque, the rescue community is bonded together with a focus rather than scattered.

I hope that this climber will be able to recover. I know from my experience that had we not been able to get to her that she would have died within a couple more hours at best. This is the most critical trauma patient that I have brought out of the wilderness that has survived...but she's not out of the woods yet.

I love to climb and ski and I love medicine. Bad things happen, no doubt. But mitigating risk is part of the game. Preparing for a consequence is also part of that game. Everyone is involved, whether you like it or not. I'm happy to be a part of Strike Rescue as well as Albuquerque Mountain Rescue and to offer my abilities to those who need it when things go wrong.

El Portillo, Chile (cont) Video

2011-08-09T18:03:00.000-07:00

I thought that I would have more time to write on the blog, but I spent most of my time skiing, partying at El Portillo with all the cool people we met, or being a "touron" in Santiago. Chris and I owe Camile a huge thanks for not only showing us around Santiago but also for taking us to her home in the beautiful Isla de Maipo, a wonderful farmland and massive vineyard region.

My partner, Chris Chaput, is more than I could ask for. It was great to work with such a colleague and we will be working together again in the future towards more high-level courses and adventures, no doubt. We've been putting our heads together to put on something like this in Colorado.

Kerry had a great time and hopefully will be going back again next year. I think the trip made a good impression on him, so I hope the word will travel. If it weren't for Kerry pushing so hard to go on this trip I'm not sure that this magic would have come to fruition. We were ready to pull the plug with all the complications of the volcano, switching flights at the last second, and having to make this happen at the last second, but you can see from the video that it more than paid off. I'll NEVER regret this pilot run with this program. It was awesome.

A photo is worth a 1000 words, but this video says it all. I think the BMG program is awesome and Chris and I have more dreams of bringing the same quality programs to the States in the future. In the meantime, I'll bet you wished you were there:

El Portillo from marc beverly on Vimeo.

El Portillo, Chile

2011-07-30T15:07:00.000-07:00

Travel to Santiago, Chile is relatively painless in more ways than one compared to going over seas either to the east or west from North America. After having to pull the plug on Bariloche, Argentina because of the major amounts of ash that was threatening the area, it was easy to come to the decision to head to El Portillo. Made famous in the USA by Warren Miller, this South American gem is like stepping into a time capsule of what skiing used to be like in the 1960's. Families, huck dolls, and an eclectic international crowd now make up the majority of the patrons. Mountain Guides, ski guides, and ski instructors frequent this area not only for its access, but also its skiing. The Chilean Andes is an incredible place to spend some much needed cooler temperatures while the rest of the USA is baking in the sun. Great skiing on several aspects, an incorporable and delectable menu, as well as wonderful accommodations are some of the major benefits of traveling south of the equator, as one might expect.

Other points of interest are the fact that people bring their families here and the kids have a sustaining relationship with the staff. This isn't Vegas so you'll likely come back and know people that you have met before. There is a strong American influence not only with style (Chris Davenport's "Ski with the Stars"), but also some of California and Colorado's best ski instructors and guides work here. It's no wonder the die hard winter enthusiasts conglomerate in great locations like these in the "off summer season" when forests close, work is sparse, and the economy is being crunched. This is a little slice of heaven for clients and the work force.

There must be something said about the dining room. We have our own "team" of wait staff. They make sure that our meals are delivered with astounding presentation, that the wines are excellent, and that everything is to our satisfaction. Deserts are simply off the chart. For me to try to describe it would be a dis-service.

Today, the skiing was excellent. a plethora of people come and go for a week at a time. It's great to see so many people from such a diverse background. In any other ski area in the USA there would be moguls, bumps formed from so many skiers making the same turns at the same locations. But here, days after a storm, there are still fresh lines to be had within the ski area. Outside the area, or places that one must hike to, there are simply no tracks at all. The Roca Jack, a counterbalance sling-shot lift that takes up 5 skiers at a time on a single cable is where Kerry and I started one of our ascents. We gained about 2000' elevation and skied fresh fluffy powder back down to the ski area on 46 degree+ slope angle. With Aconcagua in the background, it's hard not to feel lucky to be able to ski in such a place.

Chris Chaput and I have been looking at starting to bring clients down to South America for a winter experience during the USA summer.

Austier Mountain Medicine and Strike Rescue

2011-07-26T21:47:00.000-07:00

Perhaps one of the most exciting new events in Emergency Medicine Services since the advent of the BS-EMS degree at the University of New Mexico is the highly anticipated debut for the UIAA IKAR recognized Terrestrial Strike Rescue course. The course will not only be a Strike Rescue certification course as well as provide and National Fire certification, but will also be the first university-backed, internationally recognized rescue instruction course in the United States that will offer college credit towards a degree.

This is going to be a 400 level course that will quickly review the standard rescue skills to get the participants capable in the vertical environment, introduce all the concepts in modern rope rescue for all disciplines, as well as delve into the literature and learn how to formulate critical thinking for rescue work. This is an integral part of the BS-EMS program that will help Paramedics be more productive and competitive in the job market.

We're putting together the topics and syllabus for this course late this summer/early fall. The SR team is a group of people with various backgrounds and experience. This course promises to be extraordinary. We hope that you'll be able to get into this course since seating is indeed limited and expectations are high.

There will be NFPA, Wilderness, and Alpine Industrial rescue techniques described and displayed by our professional instructors and utilized by the students. This is likely on of the best opportunities around when it comes to rescue work in the outdoor industry when it comes to training. See yo in the classroom this Spring !!!

Say it Ain't So

2011-07-26T20:52:00.000-07:00

One of the most wicked photos ever ! National Geographic photo.

With the Chilean volcano continuing, we had to make a change of location from Bariloche, Argentina to the infamous El Portillo, Chile. Up to 9" of ash was dumped on our target ski grounds of Bariloche. Since all I can think about is visions of trying to ski in Pompeii, it was the only good decision to chase the sun and find better conditions elsewhere.

We're getting everything packed and meeting up tomorrow to over the final plans of what we'll take and what we'll leave behind. Skiing close to Aconcagua, the highest North American summit is a great experience. Skiing in Patagonia during the sweltering summer months, while the dog days of summer in New Mexico are taking full responsibility for creating my lowest energy state, is also an alluring prospect. I love winter and what cold temperatures bring to the land.

Stein Pulls and Can Openers

2011-07-07T22:18:00.000-07:00

What is the definition of a Stein Pull ?
Stein pulls are something that most people like to do at the bar with their favorite ale. For ice climbers, it's a necessary technique of levering the head of the ice axe at the head while the pick is forced onto its point.

Dennis van Hoek from the Netherlands using two Stein pulls at once in competition at Rabenstien's Ice Fight.

Moreover, an upside-down Stein Pull, also known as a "can opener" is one of the more interesting and seemingly mystical moves in mixed climbing. Big moves can be made, and a lot of real estate covered over what seems to a a blank slate. Sometimes Figure 4 or Figure 9 moves can also be incorporated with either of these moves. There's always at least one of these moves, and usually 2-3, in every World Cup Ice Climbing competition route, and in every mixed competition route for that matter.

At my home wall I have several of these worked into my training since these moves involve different muscle groups than just straight-on dry tool climbing. Hopefully by the winter of 2011 I will have been able to get my design of an Ice Can and a Dry Can model on the market through Ice Holdz. They already have great holdz for mixed climbers to train on, but they hope to be coming out with another line of products that should be great for training and local gym use. This model would revolutionize the way ice climbers are able to train since the new models would be modular. You will be able to use the same backing and merely switch out the face on any given Ice Holdz or dry Holdz. Cool concept.

Ice climbing season is something that has definitely become a much longer season for me with the advent to training year-round for this type of climbing. I love having my own training facility in my back yard so that I can climb with ice tools anytime I want to. I had hoped that rock gyms would make their facilities more accessible to mixed climbing, by using non-peak hours to open their doors for this purpose.

Although mixed or dry climbing may seem contrived to people, remember that the sport of climbing is contrived to 99% of the population and that climbing is a fringe activity to begin with. It's only because of rock gyms and birthday parties that rock climbing has gained exposure in the USA. I personally like this form of climbing the most. Don't get me wrong, I still love to rock climb, but I like climbing with ice tools more.

Climbing with ice tools also allows me to climb in many locations that I would not otherwise be able to climb in since there ice actually ice. Ice is a transient medium that comes and goes and is constantly changing throughout its existence. It has only a narrow margin of temperatures that it likes to exist in for any length of time, adding to the wonder of the frozen world it creates. Waterfalls have long been a place of beauty and many are sacred to native peoples. They are even more sacred to ice climbers when they freeze, making time stand still.

From a little bar in Val Daone, Italy, where the "other type of Stein" is used.

Jemez Mountains Las Conchas Fire 2011

2011-06-27T20:02:00.000-07:00

Usually I write about good and exciting things. Today I have to write about something intense. The Jemez Mountains are on fire. I grew up in the Jemez and spend a great deal of time there not only rock climbing but hunting, backpacking, and enjoying the amazing place that the Anasazi roamed. I went to summer camps there, and grew into the person that I am today. This wonderful time lapse video shows only day 1 of the fire that is the biggest fire in the history of the Jemez Mountains on record. Los Alamos National Laboratory, the town of Cochiti, and many other places are under mandatory evacuation.

The winds of change are upon us...all of us. I see the futile efforts of the C-130 bombers that carry so much slurry that they can barely gain elevation to get over my house on their way to the fire, watched the flames rip across the sky scape of the Jemez last night as the reports said only "1000 acres burned", but it was 49,000 acres ( burning 2,000 acres an hour), and think of the places that I've been that were lush with green and filled with elk are lost to a flame and a darkness. All of the Los Alamos crags, Cochiti Mesa(one of the first bolted sport climbing areas in the USA), and many other climbing areas both old and new, are now compromised.

Most of the best climbing are bolted sport routes that have been established by many people. The bolts themselves are likely suspect after a fire such as this can ruin the temper of the metal. To what degree is unknown. The photos of green pastures and climbing in a pristine area such as the Jemez are gone for now.

For me, I almost wonder if I should go back once the fires are done. For me, it's like knowing that an old friend is dying a slow and agonizing death. Going back once the fire is over will be like going to see my friend's torched body in a casket, yet waiting for their offspring to grow up to take their place and be green once again.

Yes, I'm sad. I know that the mountains should have burned a long time ago. We think we have control of the forest somehow. We do not. I grew up believing that Smoky the Bear concept was good. Now, I'm not sure. The United States Forest Service has been very good about not having forest fires. Maybe we need to accept the fact in the USA that death is a part of life, or maybe we need to accept that we can do a better job. That the cycle is a circle, and that from death there is life.

Our society has evolved since the early and mid 1900's. Out thought process on how we "manage" natural resources should also evolve.

Over the last 5 years I have lost many personal friends in the climbing world, mostly to avalanches. Certainly, if I were in another line of work, and not only in guiding, that I would find that friends would die from other causes.

The fires are necessary and will purge the foliage and the decay. I will be off on another journey in my homeland to find other places to make good memories and "new friends" while reflecting upon the loss of this one.

So lift your glass and toast: here's to enjoying the moments that make our lives extraordinary! I'll miss the Jemez in what is was, and through the smoke and carnage, will learn to appreciate the dawning of a new era.

Bariloche, Argentina. PSIA and AIARE combination course.

2011-06-22T15:23:00.000-07:00

Well, the poster pretty much says it all. Well, not really. Bariloche is one of the newest places that Americans are starting to visit as the cost is lower than Portillo, Chile, or Las Lenas, Argentina. Not only that, but the views are spectacular since there are Patagonian alpine mountains and large lakes in the valley floors. The temperatures are generally mild, the food is great, and there's more to do than sit around and drink on your time off from skiing.

This is the first time in history that PSIA is going outside the USA. Chris Chaput is the PSIA Instructor Trainer from Telluride Ski Area who teaches ski school Ski Instructors around the world. Last year he went to China to train their ski school members. He also made it to Taos Valley Ski School and Ski Santa Fe, both in New Mexico. For this course he is taking the clinic into the backcountry as well as the groomers to provide a PSIA Level 1 Certification.

AIARE is the world wide standard in avalanche instruction. We will be covering all the AIARE level 1 material and providing a certificate for this course as well.

We feel that integrating these two courses is a great way for those ski instructors, entry level ski guides, or anyone who wants to become a good backcountry skier to get a great deal of hands-on before the North American winter season approaches. The students will be sharp and ready to use their new skills without having to take precious time off of work in November or December and will go into the following season with TWO certifications!

Personally, I'm really excited to see this program go and am looking forward to providing the same course in the winter season in the USA and perhaps Europe.

Even though it's 106F at Red Rocks, Nevada already, and the fires are burning and razing Arizona, we have our sites on cooler places.

If you would like to register, please click here.

Home updated and redesigned.

2011-04-30T16:46:00.000-07:00

For the past 11 months my house has been more like a tent. The roof leaked, the windows separated from the frames when the wind would blow, and the yards were not so functional to say the least. Then, I had the discussion with Chrissie and we decided to pull the trigger on the refinance. We wound up paying less for our mortgage that we did prior to the redesign and remodel. The key to all this new change was my father, Jim Beverly.

I grew up watching my father starting out in landscape design. He worked for some small construction companies during the sprawl of suburbia as an architect. He gained recognition and started out on his own building some of the best award winning houses in New Mexico. His signature designs stem from an appreciation of the ancient Anasazi. Their incredible buildings found specifically at Chaco, are an immense complex of pueblos strewn over many miles in the remote New Mexican high desert landscape. The walls of places like Pueblo Bonito have cardinally aligned walls. Some pueblos are solar pueblos and some are lunar. Pueblo walls are aligned with other pueblos in other canyons with large buttes in between them.

If you don't know anything about Chaco Canyon, WATCH THIS VIDEO.

Obviously, a culture that was in existence for nearly 1600 years has something to teach us. My father has picked up on many of those nuances and uses what he has leaned in the design of the houses he designs. He can visualize how the potential house will integrate with the environment the house will be placed in to reap the largest benefit of the local aesthetics, a kind of Southwestern Feng Shui of sorts is the best way I can explain it. He then takes all of that and considers the practicality of the people who will live there and develops extraordinary functionality.

Jim Beverly has been awarded top prizes in the Parade of Homes. He lives in his own master pieces. I have been fortunate enough to help him with menial tasks along the way like cleaning up the construction site, wetting down the uncured stucco, and running odd chores here and there.

Now, I am even more fortunate. Jim Beverly is helping to update my home. A new roof that works and will last for at least 30 years is now up and protecting the home. New awesome windows are installed all around and new stucco. He's not a fan of Stoe, but it's great since the guy doing the work is also talented and has worked with my father for over 20 years. We built an additional storage unit and have revamped both front and back yards. the grading is now set so that the water will drain off the lot and not into the garage. A new Drolet wood burning stove is now the main source of heat. Jim put in a patio wall with an incredible design that allows for a large patio that provides protection from the elements and privacy from the street and city park. We've increased lighting with solar tubes in the garage and the bathroom. We've replaced the garage doors that were falling apart with new insulated doors.

The city gave us a discount on the windows, and placing xeric landscaping. The windows, the new roof and the stucco have made the casita tight and weather proof. The heating costs have gone down more than $200 per month. It will be nice to live in a place that is palatial for a guy like me. The training wall has also been worked into the mix.

Yes, I'm bragging on my dad, but don't take my word for it. Check out the before and after picture(s). I'm psyched. In these times of economic hardship, I'm happy to say that I'll be paying less for more. I'm happy that we'll be making less of a carbon footprint in regards to using natural gas and electric for heating and cooling. I've put a lot of work into this project as well and I'll admit that its been stressful at times, but I can't wait to reap the benefits once its done.

Jim Beverly Designs is a great custom homes design company. He'll be working on some friend's houses in the near future, but can design a new home for you if you're in the market.

I'm happy that this portion of my life if coming to a close. Owning a house can indeed be a black hole of money, labor, and an emotional sink hole. However, it's a nice place to rest weary bones from long trips to wherever around the world. It's also the office, so it's nice to make a warm cup of coffee, have a gin martini by the backyard fire pit, or get in a good climbing sesh on the backyard wall. For now, the major renovations are over and it's time to get back to business.

Grigri 2 - the coming of age

2011-04-18T16:36:00.000-07:00

The new Petzl Grigri 2 is what I've been waiting for. As a mountain guide, I look at any device for multiple uses. The Grigri 2 not only provides great security, hands-free descents for double rope technique and counter balance rappels, but also offers light weight and space saving for those staunch about those kinds of things (like airlines and every climber out there).

I've been using it to put up new routes as well. The handling is a little more compact. The ropes that most climbers use are in the 9mm range and the Grigri 2 handles this range with ease.

Over the years I have used the regular Grigri in drop testing and have abused it more than anyone out there...I'm almost sure. I've done so many pull tests with the Grigri that I've incorporated it into my armamentarium for rescue work holding 2kN loads ! The new Grigri 2 is made with the same workmanship as the standard Grigri and I'm sure that it should be just as good, and perhaps better ! I say this because mountaineers and guides will now have a new weapon to use with those smaller ropes when dealing with crevasse rescue or smaller static lines for big walling.

You can order your new Grigri 2 at the strike Rescue store:
http://store.strikerescue.com/store.php?crn=235&rn=480&action=show_detail

There's limited supply and Petzl has been on a six month back order.

I'm excited to have this new tool in the tool box for sure. Personally, I use the Petzl Omni carabiner so that I also never have to worry about cross loading my belay device carabiner. We;ve recently integrated this biner into the Albuquerque Mountain Rescue's litter spider. It's got beefier stock aluminum too.

I think that everyone will be upgrading to the new Grigri 2 sooner than later.

Addendum: Yes, there was a recall. The recall notice comes after a recent finding where someone was using the device incorrectly and found that they could "lock it open", essentially turning the Grigri 2 into an plate device and by-passing the drum's added friction. Although people should never let go of the brake hand, it happens all too often and presents a potential hazard. It was an incidental finding and no injuries have occurred, but Petzl thought that it was siginificant enough for them to recall the device. Only the updated Grigri 2 will be sold through our store.

Bergführer - Mountain Guide

2011-03-16T05:58:00.000-07:00

March 15, 2011

Today is a special day for me. Not only was I able to go ski with a friend, but also a motivational mentor of mine who was also evaluating me on my last day in the process of me completing my certification as an international mountain guide. Vince Anderson is perhaps one of the USA's most celebrated alpinists of all time. It was only fitting that he was able to tell me after the last ski run, "wait to make strong turns at the bottom of the chute to finish up getting your pin!" The "pin" is a statement that you have completed the Certified Guide Program. The echo of my whoop filled the valley.

We skied the San Juans, old stomping grounds for both of us, and the setting of some of the most beautiful mountains in the world.

Skiing the avalanche chutes at Chatanooga, looking down on highway 550. Vince Anderson photo.

The UIAGM/IFMGA/IVBV is the international foundation of mountain guides. I've always wanted to perform well in the mountains whether it was in guiding, working, climbing, skiing, rescue, or instruction. Knowing that I meet the international standard is something that I have spent several years on. The process of going through all the courses and exams is good, but sometimes quite frustrating. At times it is difficult to see the light at the end of the tunnel, but today, with the sun high in the bullet blue sky over the San Juan Mountains of Colorado, that light is brilliant.
Heaven's Eleven. With only about 20 descents on this highly committing line ending in a cliff, we were fortunate to use this as a "warm-up." Vince Anderson photo.

I'd like to thank all the people and guides who have inspired me, who have put up with me, evaluated me, and honed me. This is a major accomplishment for which I am indebted to many, including myself.

Skiing Wheeler Peak 13,161' and the Peace Sign Chutes Area near Taos, NM

2011-02-07T21:23:00.000-08:00

Feb 2011

After getting home from a manic and massive European World Cup competition circuit (see older blog post(s), I had to fly back over the pond to home in NM. Jet lag is one of those things that is a continual bane. I simply resolve myself to the fact that I'm going to feel like crap until I get home and recover for a few days.

What better way to recover than to go with my friends Kerry Joel for some skiing up in New Mexico's premiere ski area, Taos. Today we didn't go to the ski area until after the tour. Wendy gave me this killer little video cam for Christmas, so I've been using it a bit and having some fun with it. Here's some footage from some great backcountry skiing on Wheeler Peak (NM's highest peak at 13,161') and some steeper skiing in the Peace Sign Chutes area on the way back to the lodge !

Skiing Taos Backcountry Wheeler Peak, Peace Sign Chutes Area Feb 2011 from Marc Beverly on Vimeo.

The Icefight 2011, Rabenstein.

2011-01-31T04:01:00.000-08:00

This past weekend was the Icefight in Rabentein, Italy (really part of Austria since everyone there speaks German, and is located on the border of Italy and Austria). It s a very small village tucked away high in the Southern Tyrol Region and is home to one of the best organized competitions I have ever been to in any capacity.

The people there are amazing. Markus was telling me that the community built the climbing structure and hosts the event purely on sponsored dollars and from volunteer work. Loads of local show up to witness the best competition ice climbers in the world compete on a self standing, well engineered tower of hard mixed climbing and man-made ice.

As a competitor, you get to spend a lot of time in the isolation zone. The more successful you are, the more time you get to spend in isolation. Another way to get to spend time in isolation is during the qualification rounds and to be the unlucky person who draws to go last out of all the competitors, that would be me this time.

Really, its best to only have a little time in isolation. It can be cold and, given enough time, one can psychologically undo oneself. It's difficult to know exactly when to warm up and when to get physically and mentally ready to go. Competition is so different than real world ice climbing in many ways since there are so many more factors and pressures that come into play. Its easy to start casting doubts and let the phantoms of failure creep into your mind. Finding a good focus is a skill. The more pressures I seem to put on myself, the worse things get. It seems like the less care about failing in a competition, the better I perform. It's hard not to care.

Learning from failures is an important part of competition climbing.

Evgeny Kryvosheytsev told me over dinner that he has been in more than 700 competitions. That's nearly a competition every day for two solid years if they were done back to back ! Markus Bendler said on the drive home that on his second World Cup Ice event his first move was to step out of bounds over a red line and be disqualified. Competitions are tough, there's just no two ways around it. Learn from mistakes or become part of the collateral damage, that's the choice. I guess that's one of the things that makes climbing so appealing, that there's always something to learn or some way to make yourself better.

Like the rest of this trip to Europe, I am fortunate enough to be able to go with friends to new climbing areas. Markus took me to some of his crags near his home in Austria. It was great to climb at yet more cool places. I'd love to spend more time climbing with Markus, but he's going to Romania and I'm going home to the States.

I've had my fill of the World Cup tour for this year and after the shenanigans in Saas-Fee, I'm not psyched about investing more time and money to go to the next UIAA World Cup competition until some issues area addressed. Maybe they will learn from watching places like Rabenstein. I like learning from the competition climbing about my abilities and my weaknesses. Rabenstien always allows me to make the mistakes so that I can become a better climber. Can't wait for next year !

Kandersteg, Switzerland to Innsbruck, Austria

2011-01-26T04:06:00.001-08:00

Saas-Balin - mixed climbing (will have to post the photo here later)

Leaving Saas-Fee in the past was hard since my rental car didn’t like the elevation, the cold, the grade coming down from Saas-Fee, or some combination of all since the engine ceased on the hairpin turns several times. The big surprise was that not only did the power brakes go out, but the steering wheel locked when the engine shut down. I got lucky and somehow didn’t have an epic going over the railing and taking the plunge as I followed Rob and Ramon (both from the UK) on our way to Kandersteg. Rob and Ramon had rented a flat and said I could stay with them for a nominal cost for a couple of days on my way to Innsbruck. They woke me up, as promised, and told me they were on their way out of Saas-Fee at 8:00 am. That just about killed me since I was at the athlete party until about 6:00 am.

We boarded a train with our vehicles and traveled through a tunnel and under some major mountains impassable otherwise by roads, and popped out directly in Kandersteg. This little town must have been chiseled out of pure stone by God himself. This is where I would go if I was given the choice if I had to spend eternity on Earth.

We settled into their flat after settling up with the man who grew up in the next house over and now rents his place to visitors. Rob and Ramon were serious about getting in some ice climbing from the time we got in, so we packed up our stuff and headed out. Rob drove his right-sided Land Rover to the crag. I couldn’t believe the amount of ice in proximity of the valley. I’ve never seen anything quite like it, even though they swore that there just wasn’t that much ice. My jaw agape, we arrived at our trailhead that led to a nice little crag where lots of beginners were climbing. No major mixed climbs were being done, and we took a small walk around to see what was in good condition to climb. We found something that we thought looked good and we climbed a nice line that I figured went about M8 (climbing on rock with ice tools) until a curtain of ice could be gained, mounted, and climbed.

My tools are the new Petzl Ergos and I was having a hard time getting them to get into the ice. I figured my problems stemmed from a combination of my depreciated skills of throwing into the ice and the fact that I have only been climbing rock with ice tools for so long. Maybe its one-in-the-same, but anyway I felt klutzy and slow on real ice. After getting off the climb, I bouldered around a bit without a rope and just off the ground so that I could get my “sea legs” back. It didn’t take much.

The next day I hung out and rolled around Kandersted to get an idea of how things were. There was some sort of historical event going on and people were dressed up in traditional regalia. Catching up on e-mails and rest, I did make it over to see some of the sledging. I brought back a poster to commemorate this visit as I’ve been trying to collect posters and such to decorate my garage with. I like seeing posters of events that I have been to as it reminds me of good times. I didn’t pick one up from Saas-Fee this year.

Dennis Van Hooke and Marianne Van der Setine brought Gelle (?) with them to come and climb some ice. I wound up making some plans to go to Innsbruck to stay with Christina Huber, another athlete from the World Cups that I’ve been to, and to hook up with Markus Bendler and train before Rabenstien. I wound up climbing with Gelle on an ice climb that looked difficult, but I figured was rated only to about WI4+ (usually 5+/6 apparently). Gelle is an accomplished alpinist and was on the K2 expedition in 2008 and lived to tell about it. A young man, he is working on becoming a mountain guide and wanted to learn some skills. We only did two pitched together, but I guess he picked up some quarky tricks from me since he mentioned that he climbed exactly how I did over the crux, using a knee post to gain a higher tool placement. I hope that I helped him out in some way and hope to climb with him again, but would also like to ski with him since he’s an Olympic skier as well.

I left around noon from Kandersteg and drove to Innsbruck. I figured I spent about 60% of my drive in tunnels. Absolutely amazing are the tunnel systems in Europe. Colorado should look at putting a tunnel from Denver to Vail and include a train system for that corridor. I took a couple of wrong turns but quickly corrected them and drove fast to make up for any lost time. Driving small diesel cars on narrow and winding European roads is entertaining and demands full attention. I haven’t seen one car wreck since I was in the USA over a month ago. In Albuquerque I would see at least one car wreck per day.

Finding Christina was an epic. I don’t read, write, speak, or understand any language besides English and Spanish. She speaks pretty good English, but explaining directions to me was less than useless. I was able to get an internet connection near the airport at the backside of an apartment complex and she sent me some vague directions that got me close enough. I saw her standing on the street waiting for me and I pulled over and she jumped in. After dinner, I went to a reggae party with her boyfriend until late-thirty. It was fun to check out the scene, but I was so tired from the climbing and traveling I had to go to bed.

The next day I took Christina to breakfast and dropped her off at her university since she had some exams to take. She gave me directions to the city center and so I played tourist on my day off. I got a couple of Austrian hats for Logan and Sierra and caught up on e-mails and business at where else but McDonald’s. It seems to be the only place in Europe that offers free wi-fi. I took a tour of some of the old chapels and learned a lot about some very old history, stuff that was never covered in my history classes in school. The ornateness and workmanship that went into the Tyrolean region is astounding.

Christina dropped me off at the local rock gym and I met up with Peter Albert, a mountain guide from the area. We got in a good boulder session focusing on big holds and long moves, more specific for mixed climbing. He's a not only a great mountain guide (his reputation preceeds him) but he's also a very down to earth guy. So much for my "rest day" ! We went to dinner afterward and then went back to his flat where we enjoyed some Brass Band music playing ska on horns and drank a Bavarian beer !

The next day Christina and I got up to meet her friends and go skiing in Garmisch, Germany. Her dad runs the ski area, so it was pretty cool to see what was going on there. It turns out that the World Chamionships will be going on for the following week, so a huge portable bleacher and town was being set up. Helicopters were flying overhead carrying loads up the mountain while we skied some fresh powder. Christina is very supportive of her friend who was seriously injured in a ski accident last year. Her friend is now an adaptive skier who can hang with the best. It was really cool to get to ski with her crew and get some ski training in for myself as well. I'm always learning.

Skiing is a good way for me to get away from the stress of competition climbing. It's helped me get past Saas-Fee and start looking towards the next competition.

Enough can't be said about the hospitality of my "competitors" / friends from the ice climbing competitions. It's been a great way to meet a lot of really cool people and see many new places this year. I feel extremely fortunate.

Chamonix Wrap-up; Skiing

2011-01-25T23:00:00.000-08:00

Augille du Midi

I've wondered what it would be like to live in Chamonix over the years. The town is host to one of the biggest outdoor tourism locations on the face of the planet since there is any activity to be had within about an hour from the town square. Not to mention that the best cheeses, meats and tasty beverages of all types support the gnostic experience.

A view from the Augille du Tacul

Chamonix is perhaps best known for its skiing first, and then its climbing. If funny that Gordon and I didn't even have Chamonix on our radar when planning our tour for the UIAA International World Ice Climbing Competitions in 2011. The chain of events that happened bring about a cancellation of the competition in Val Daone, Italy spurred us on to find other places to go and other things to do.

Since Stephanie was so gracious to show us around we gained far more than we ever could have form competing in Val Daone. L'Usine and the Zoo were two of the highlights, but having a chance to shoehorn in some skiing in Chamonix was great. Here's a great clip of some of the skiing we did by that Lukasz Warzecha put together:

Behind the Scenes - Skiing in Chamonix from Lukasz Warzecha - LWimages.co.uk on Vimeo.

Behind the Scenes - Skiing in Chamonix

I would have embedded the video here, but Austria won't let me do it.

Unfortunately, I also heard from Margaret Wheeler, President of the AMGA, that all Aspirant Guiding for 2011 is prohibited in France due to a major overhaul of the French program. I have heard from locals in Europe that this has to do in large part to the fact that aspirant guides were trying so hard to push the limits to prove themselves that there was a high mortality rate of aspirant guides. I can fully appreciate this since I have been there, done that, in the AMGA program. It's an unspoken peer pressure imposed by an adrenergic system fueled with one-upmanship that contributes to aspiring guides to push it too hard, too fast to reach a standard that may or may not be tenable objectively or subjectively. I lost a few friends last year to this exact issue. I'm glad they are looking at this problem.

2011-01-22T03:13:00.000-08:00

Most people who have my Facebook account have seen this video. I've toiled a bit over why I compete thereafter and have been a bit on the sour grapes thought process. After seeing Justin Spain going through very similar problems in the UIAA competitions last year, I thought that the judging might have gotten better, I guess not. It's hard to not get down over something like this and I did submit a protest and appeal, but was told by Pavel Shabalina that I would just lose money in the process, so I just went to the bar and tried to get over it. When I walked into the bar, the route setters were there and immediately told me that they were sorry for not having a red line and that the judge shouldn't have pulled me off.

People asked me if I was coming back to compete in Saas-Fee or another UIAA World Comp last night. I said, "you want my answer tonight ? " I think that the people I was competing against should be the most upset since they didn't get a chance to better me or not. What a waste.

Gordon and Malcolm have been great energy and have picked me up out of the mud. Its great to have good friends to be there when things go bad. I'd love to say that I learned something from this competition. Maybe I did learn something. Perhaps I learned that I don't have control over all the elements in the competition environment as I thought, and that I should be ok with the fact that I didn't fail to train, didn't mentally prepare, or wasn't ready in some way.

I have only one more competition (not a UIAA comp). I'm not sure how I'll feel about it all in a week or a month or next season. Time to go to the mountains after Rabenstien. Competitions are good to make me a better climber, but I need some head space after them.

French National Competition, L’Argentiere Le Bessee, France

2011-01-17T01:02:00.001-08:00

Lappin' and Nappin' in Usine, France. Stephanie catches up on much need rest and Marc takes a spin on one of the best mixed lines in the world.

We got fired up that there was going to be another competition that we could go to in France since the Val Daone competition in Italy was canceled and we got on the road with our rental car and drove from the Scarpa Boot factory in Asolo, Italy to meet

Stephanie Maureau, who was already invited to compete in the final. Gordon and I drove through Chamonix and under Mont Blanc and then on for another couple of hours to the southeast to arrive at her parent’s house. They were more than accommodating and made us feel at home. Of course we ate the best cheese from the region and had some incredible genepi, local drink made of the flowers in the hills right behind the Maureau’s chalet.

The competition was in L’Argentiere Le Bessee, meaning that we got to drive up through the stunning mountain pass village of La Grave, one of the world’s premiere backcountry skiing locations.

The format of the competition was such that Jeff Mercier and crew put up a new dry tooling crag that was still under construction when we arrived. The key to any good dry tooling area is that the rock is usually bad enough that nobody else wants to climb it. The holds are drilled pockets and the feet are poor at best. The climbing is generally great though since long dynamic moves give rise to hard climbing on steep overhanging terrain.

Unfortunately, there were only 8-9 routes and there were nearly 40 competitors, half of which were the Russian team that got there early and clogged up the routes. They cued up 4 and 5 spots in advance for a climb while climbing on another route, which made it impossible for others to get in on a climb.

As usual, however, Alexy Dengin and Ludmilla were more than hospitable to Gordon and I and let us climb with them. The climbing was fun, but overall. In general the competition was supposed to be about fun and climbing, but it became difficult when there was too many people at the party, so to speak. Poor organization made for a semi-dangerous situation by having so many people in too close proximity and with large amounts of rock fall. Some of the competitors were snatching my water without asking and trying to take over our route even when we were on it, making for some hard feelings as evident by on-line postings. It’s funny that some people take it so seriously, but when there’s money on the table some people seem to turn into a ruthless competitor.

They should have given a time allotment or managed the climbing to some degree since some people didn’t even have a chance to climb the routes. It might sound like sour grapes, but it’s hard not to when one travels so far and invests themselves into the process only to have to experience such a poor process. Mostly, it fostered a lot of poor sportsmanship. I was able to get what I needed out of the day and climbed hard and climbed well, although after they closed the preliminary time allotment.

We stayed and watched Stephanie win the women’s finals and then left, not even going to the party afterward where they were playing slow reggae. The next day we got up and went climbing at Usine, perhaps one of the best mixed climbing experiences I’ve had. The cave is unreal. The guys from France have a great thing going at Usine and have had some great climbing competitions hosted in the cave, complete with DJ and lights! Seems like something that we could do at the Hall of Justice in Ouray, Colorado at some point.

I’m definitely inspired to put climbing routes up like what is in Usine, but Jason Nelson and I were already on the same mind set. The traditional way of climbing in North America is to climb on slopy little holds and pray that your tool doesn’t skate out. Perhaps this is seen as “alpine” or something but is not the style of climbing that I like. Rather, I prefer to do long moves on good holds and minimal foot placements. I’m not sure how people will take to this style back home, but there’s got to be room for everyone.

Aside from the experience at the competition, we managed to keep a good attitude and pull off some shenanigans:

LWimages RAW - Usine from Lukasz Warzecha - LWimages.co.uk on Vimeo.

I'm looking forward to more climbing at the Zoo in Chamonix and the next, and best, International World Cup at Saas-Fee, Switzerland, 2011 !! So send your good vibes from the other side of the pond.

Seoul and Cheongson, South Korea World Cup 2011

2011-01-10T03:23:00.000-08:00

Ice, Ice, Baby. Rollin' in Seoul, we found a gem of a place to climb. An indoor ice climbing gym that includes some great mixed climbing ! The rock gym aspect isn't too shabby either, but Gordon and I had the joint to ourselves, so it was awesome.

There's loads of stores here in Seoul too. I think I've counted over a dozen small shops that carry more high end equipment than REI in Albuquerque. We were told that Korea sells more North Face equipment than all of Europe by Andrej Pejeck.

This trip to Korea wasn't so lucky in the IWC for me, but it's been a great experience to see new culture and see new places as well as meeting many new people.
We got some great photos and video that we hope to put together at some point. There's so much to see and take in.

I gave away a Beverly Mountain Guides / Strike Rescue shirt to my old friend, Alexey Dengin, from Russia. He helped me immensely last year after the competition in Rabenstein where I was able to get on some of the competition routes (something we can't do at a UIAA IWC wall), and was able to put some techniques to use and to the test for improvement for this year. He's a great guy and has good English, so we are able to chat quite a bit and have some fun.

There's definitely a separation of regions, mostly based on the languages, that takes place on the "traveling circus" (as I call it). The Euros have absorbed us from North America, and so that's generally who we hang out with. Marcus Bendler kicks ass and takes first, then the Russians pretty much run the show. They turn out in masses, 15-20 on this trip alone I believe, and that's maybe half as many as were in Kirov in 2010. It's just a small band of Euros and we bond together and support each other through good times and bad while on the tour.

This time, Angelica Rainier was wronged of her rightful win when she was pulled off her climb at this first World Competition by a judge who got overzealous that she did not clip an anchor with her rope before progressing.

They actually pulled her off the route by pulling the rope from the other end. She complained and was rightfully given a chance to repeat the route. Unfortunately, a hold broke on her when she was about 2/3 the way up the route and she fell off.

She was so cold and tired by then that she was not able to make the complaint and do yet another attempt on the route again. She was shattered emotionally. All felt that she had been stripped of a championship that included 3500 Euros (about $5000). Its a tough roller coaster for all the climbers at all levels. There's really good climbers who say that they could easily climb the routes we do, but then again, the competition aspect is a whole other animal with loads of internal and external pressures not found in recreational climbing. It seems that no matter what happens, no matter how well we did, it's never good enough.

Here we are huddled like penguins and trying to keep warm while the Korean wind blow down the canyon before the award ceremony.

Although it was great to hang out and get a good cultural exposure, I'm growing weary of being the North American climbing cheering squad. I want to make the next round and be able to climb. I need to climb smarter and harder. This is a steep learning curve. I don't think that someone (most people) will be able to show up on this platform/venue and be able to do well right away. All parties involved would like to see more Americans and Canadians involved with the IWC, but I'm sure that most people do not have what it takes to make a commitment to do well in here. Most people will never even make it out of qualification rounds. I guess I'm still throwing this out to North America: get on board and become the best mixed climber you can be.

Marc

Cheongson, South Korea

2011-01-09T16:18:00.000-08:00

Yes ! I'm back on the UIAA International World Ice Climbing circuit and representing the USA, imagine that. I'm just sponsoring myself on this one and have a little more experience going into this round. I'm looking forward to seeing new places, meeting new friends, and gaining more experience.

The winter that seemed like it would never come because of rains and warmer temperatures finally made it to North America. With only one week of real freezing temperatures I wasn’t sure I was going to see winter at all. But as planned, Gordon McArthur, a friend I had met through an ice climbing competition in Ouray, CO several years ago, flew from Canada to meet up with me at my home in Albuquerque, NM and he must have brought winter with him. The lowest temperatures on record descended and were a wake-up call for the months ahead.

We stayed up all night training on my climbing wall in the backyard that I made specifically for mixed rock and ice climbing, something that is not readily available on the North American continent. Our flight was early the next morning for the month of competition climbing in Asia and Europe.

Flying into Seoul, Korea for my first time I am filled with the excitement of being able to be the first and only American athlete to compete in the International World Cup Ice Climbing competition in the far southeastern reaches of Korea. It is a great sense of pride that I am the only person from the USA and so I get to hang the flag. Several other Americans have competed in the IWC before, but never in Asia. South Korea is home of two of the best competition ice climbers and the country has great pride in sponsoring the first IWC on Asian soil.

This is my second year as a World Cup competitor. I don’t have the jitters like I did the first year since I know what to expect from the climbing and I know most of the other athletes. It’s the exposure to the culture and environment that is now overwhelming. New events in new places are exciting and a good cause for foreign travel to not only major cities, but also to the heartlands of these countries, affording an experience I would not have otherwise had.

Gordon and I are a Team North America of sorts and have gotten together with Malcolm Kent from Denmark in Seoul. We spend a couple of days before the competition strolling through the markets and seeing some of the arts and architecture of this ancient and great city. The economy is clearly thriving and there’s no shortage of anything. We find a good selection of mixed rock and ice climbing gear in shops that are crammed together like sardines in a can. Prices are equivalent from back home.

We meet up with the Korean representative and all the other athletes for long bus ride to the venue. I am happy to see many old friends and the excitement of competing once again surges through all of us as our laughing and sharing quick “where have you bens?” are exchanged. We also miss those who cannot make it, are no longer competing, or have passed away. The UIAA IWC is a fairly small circle of people on a grand worldwide scale.

The exotic foods catch many of us off guard. New tastes, textures, and flavors of foods are not something that I am used to, but I go for it and enjoy a rare occurrence of a new experience.

Getting off the bus the athletes are met with movie cameras and a small gathering of the local people who clap for us as we are directed into the registration room. We pick up jerseys and accept gifts from the country. This time it’s a tea pot.

Inscription and dedication evening is preceded by an incredible feast. Several drum and fan dances are performed, representing Korea’s heritage. Then it’s off to bed after a long day.

Winter Losing its Grip?

2010-12-20T16:26:00.000-08:00

Last week, I skied in the Sandias where the unforecasted storm dumped a mere 36" of snow in a single storm. I was using a shop-vac to get the standing water off my roof. Having construction on the house doesn't help in times like this and there was a load of leaks until the water could be taken off the flat territorial New Mexican 1980's style roof They didn't build a pitch in the roof for drainage back then for some stupid reason.

Photo by Jason Nelson. The new caved coined the "Hall of Justice" because of the Superhero theme that Nelson started when putting up the first mixed routes.

Driving into Ouray, Colorado this week, I was shocked to find no snow in town and a dwindling Ice Park from RAIN !? The temps in Ouray have been balmy and it hasn't been freezing for nights on end. The Ice Park that was open to ice climbing is now closed to the public until conditions improve since the ice has dwindled to look like a late Spring melt-down. The avalanche danger is high to extreme so I'm glad I'm climbing rock with ice tools once again.

Meanwhile, I came to climb with Jason Nelson. He has put up a climb, "Holy Girl Pile, Batman" WI4 M12, in a remote cave that I have been wanting to get on for nearly two years. I figured it would be a good time since I am getting ready to return to the International World Ice Climbing Competition as there is really only 2 or 3 routes of this difficulty in the USA. The difference is that climbing outside is really nothing like climbing in a IWC. On real rock one can spend a lot of energy looking for the next hold. It would be rare that someone would be able to walk up to a climb rated M12 and be successful on the first attempt.

The climbing is awesome and highly exposed. The climbing is overhanging from the time one gets on the route. After the 6th bolt the climbing gets intense and technical. I had a good time working through the route and figuring out where the holds were and how the moves go.

We're also putting more bolts/extensions in the routes he already has established. This cave is going to be a spectacular place to train for IWC. I was in Vail last week and decided that it would be o.k. for training too, but the harsh reality, is that I'm still not really sure of how to train the best, most optimally, for the IWC. On-sighting climbs is a great skill, but there's more to it than just being able to read where the route goes, and more to it than brute strength. Technique and confidence may trump everything.

having my confidence shattered in several venues over the years, its hard to pick oneself up out of the mental mud pit and persevere. But this isn't an option I'm talking about, it's a mandatory shift in daily perception. Gotta' get up every day punch that clock and figure out how to be the best with what ya got.

There's no coach to tell me how or when to train, watch what I eat so I don't develop a worse blood dyscrasia, how to work around a fused cervical spine, or an aging body. The love of the mixed climbing movement keeps my spirit high. Really, it's this sport that saved me from a bitter otherwise. Thanks to all those whose shoulders I stand on, those who continue to develop this sport of mixed rock and ice climbing, and those who hold the key to be my inspiration.

What keeps us going is the personal challenges that we set for ourselves. New Year's Eve is coming and so is the time to consider what challenges will make us rise to the occasion and better ourselves.

Ice Holdz Petzl Ergo Gear Review

2010-10-12T11:16:00.001-07:00

It's Time
I was fortunate enough to finish my training wall this summer and put up some Ice Holdz in conjunction with a new upside down stein pull hold that I created in order to get ready for the upcoming Mixed Rock and Ice World Cup Competitions in Asia and Europe. As well, I was able to preview some of Petzl's latest creations, the new Ergo Ice Tool.

Having used the tools of the Jedi Master's, the Nomic, for the past several years for personal use and in competitions, I wondered how much more radical a tool could get. A new tool should not compromise performance on mixed terrain (rock, moss, plastic, wood, etc.) while staying true to ease of throwing into ice. This is sometimes a hard balance to create. The ERGO tool is clearly the next stage in the mixed climbing arena.

I was able to use this tool on real rock at a local climbing crag in Albuquerque, NM as well as on my wall throwing into Ice Holdz. It definitely takes some getting used to in the trust department, but the tool clearly holds on better to dime edges and complex holds than any tool I have used before. Moreover, when punching into an upside down stein pull, you are able to get higher (placing more leverage on the hold), allowing a longer throw afterward. This is a huge advantage. I'm still learning with these tools, but I think they will be the number one arrow in my quiver this year when I hit the mixed terrain.

Check them out and put yours on order at the Strike Rescue Store
http://store.strikerescue.com/store.php?crn=242&rn=492&action=show_detail

For Ice Holdz, well, check out the video and you be the judge. These holdz are great practice for throwing into real ice. The y work best in moderate temperatures and are awesome for preseason training. Even having 4-6 of these holdz will greatly diversify your training. Mentally, it switches your focus from rock holds to having to swing into ice. They're easy to mount onto your home wall or gym. They're not that expensive and for what you get out of them you'll be happy you have some to train on.

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Physician Assistant life, MRA Conference - speaker on Naica, Las Cuevas

2010-06-16T08:16:00.000-07:00

Thoughts on the Medical System

This last month was good to get back into the medical role once again. The medical world and the role of a physician assistant (PA-C), are always changing in some ways, and in other ways it will always remain the same. Working with people that have medical ailments is a passion for me and I like to help when and however I can.

The part I find most disturbing is that the corporate machine is "business as usual" and people, the patient, is still just another piece of meat that there is no compassion for. I can understand how the medical system is in trouble as there seems to be a delicate balance to keep it all together. I don't believe that government bailouts are an answer to any problem.

Programs that support children are always good. Programs that enable people who could otherwise work long term are bad. The abuses on all ends are atrocious. Its difficult to think that by acting locally, that things can change, but we all have to do our part.

I talked with Dr. Tryon a bit and found out that he has a custom group of people that he follows. He's checked out of the main stream and abandoned Medicare for his practice. He's essentially a "hired gun patient advocate." Truly, if you are in a hospital and don't have an advocate, you will have a harder time. There is value in having an on-call care provider 24/7, and someone who knows you well.

My advice is to stay healthy, exercise regularly (never stop), don't eat bad food, and be nice to your fellow human.

Moreover, I'm wondering about how medicine and SAR are converging. People are now being charged for SAR costs, much like they are for medical bills. Does the State have an obligation to pay for these costs, does the State have an obligation to charge for SAR services? Are there other alternatives ? Volunteerism does not seem to be enough. There are fewer and fewer volunteers in these times of economic difficulty. Those who are new to SAR do not have any skills since the programs for kids are fewer. Kids are interested in instant gratification since that's that we are training them to do. Interesting chain of events.

National Mountain Rescue Conference, Juneau, AK 2010

Click to follow link

With over 90 government authorized units in the US, Canada and other countries, the Mountain Rescue Association (MRA) has grown to become the critical mountain search and rescue resource in the United States.

The National Spring Conference 2010 is being held in Juneau, Alaska and I've been asked to present as the keynote speaker, presenting on a recent National Geographic expedition to Mexico that Strike Rescue was contracted to do. Although I have done many presentations over the years, I have not been a keynote speaker before. This should be exciting.

Cueva de los Cristales (a.k.a., Fortress of Solitude)

The topic I'm speaking on is Heat Illness. I've learned more about the effects of heat through the doctoral Exercise Science program that I am in at the University of New Mexico. This information will be coupled with the trials of running an expedition 300 meters underground and at temperatures of 48 C and humidity of 90-95%. There's no escape and there's no help if something goes wrong, so there's no room for error.

I came up with some tricks to manage this environments and the physiological issues surrounding them as well as some non-traditional ways of getting in and out to help mitigate the risk. Hope to see you at the conference !

National Geographic will unveil our expedition later this year and it promises to be exciting !

AMGA Ski Mountaineering Guides Exam 2010 (cont)

2010-05-09T19:39:00.000-07:00

Alaska - Girdwood and Hatcher Pass 2010

It's been a long process, but this video pretty much sums it up:
Beverly Hattrup American Mountain Guides Association Ski Mountaineering Guides Exam 2010

It's been a long road and we actually aren't told if we've passed or not until at least two weeks after the exam. So, all of the candidates will be on pins and needles until the results come out. I felt pretty good throughout the exam and I was able to glean a lot of great information from the examiners and friends on the exam.

Enjoy the video.

Marc

Alaska AMGA Ski Mountaineering Exam

2010-04-18T15:45:00.000-07:00

Back on the road again. this time it's to Hatcher Pass and Turnagain Pass in Alaska to take the (hopefully) last of my AMGA exams, the Ski Mountaineering Guides Exam. It's a grueling process and a tough exam not only to take, but also to prepare for. Up to this point I've invested thousands of hours to getting to this point, where I'm feeling like I meet the international guiding standard.

I've been previewing the areas and have been fortunate enough to ski with Ed and Erin at Hatcher Pass. Ed runs Hatch Your Trax web site and has posted one of my videos to show how brutal the conditions can be for some, but also how good it can be !

The stability of the snowpack is in general Poor at Hatcher, so I went to Girdwood to check out Turnagain Pass. Unfortunately, it's been raining for 4 days now...snow in the highlands, but you have to get there starting from about 1000' where the stability is mostly Good.

Sitting around the coffee house perfecting my bookwork for the exam, I've had a chance to work with Tyler Jones, another exam candidate. It's been a good time and we are pretty much ready for everything except poor visibility. Someone please invent goggles that pierce the fog so we can see where we're going ! Better yet, make a set that also picks out where the avalanche trigger points are so we can ski around them !

Hope to have a "happy ending" out here in AK ! I'm sure I'll learn more from our instructors/evaluators than they will form any of us. Still, we are trying to impress them with all of our best skills and guiding techniques.

Russian Video of the World Ice Competition

2010-03-18T08:03:00.000-07:00

Alexey Dengin from Team Russia put this video together of their tour of the IWC. I suppose we should do something like this, but I just haven't had the time. Enjoy !
Ice Club 2010

New Mexico - Pecos Wilderness Back Country Skiing East Face Santa Fe Baldy and Penitente Couloir

2010-03-04T14:26:00.001-08:00

Barely having enough time to take a breath in between avalanche courses, I was able to get out for a big day in the Pecos Wilderness. There were a couple of ski shots that I had my eye on for several years and really didn't have anyone who had the time or interest to go out with me, especially since I'm kind of a short notice personal trip taker in light of everything else going on.

On the way back from teaching a Southwest Adventure Guides Level 2 avalanche course in Silverton, Colorado at the end of February, I asked Justin Spain if he was off on a Tuesday and if he would be interested in going to do a couloir and a fairly big and committing face on a long back country ski tour. He of course was psyched to go and asked what the plan was. I let him in on the scheme and we packed bags and got up early the day of the tour.

The tour started at Santa Fe Ski Area. We hiked up and over Deception Peak, then over to Lake Peak. The snow filled in a majority of the gaps that usually make for interesting rock climbs and bouldering problems. Overhanging corninces lined the ridge all the way to Penitente Peak and the lee sided aspect produced small slab avalanches during the storm. We cut through a cornice between Deception and Lake Peaks and it initiated a small avalanche that went down into the Santa Fe watershed. It's looking like the people of greater Santa Fe will be able to drink water this year since there is a large amount of snowpack in the watershed !

We hiked down the east ridge of Lake Peak and towards Penitente Couloir (I'm callnig it that since it's on the way to Penitente Peak, but it's kind of a misnomer since the couloir is actually on the Lake Peak massif). After a hundered feet of post holing down from the summit we put skis on and made our way to the couloir notch.

The notch was inviting and a good ingress into the couloir was a bit of a skiing jump into a vacated fetch zone. I realized that the fetch was devoid of snow, right down to the ground, so I nixed the plan to jump in and take a few turns to the left in an anticipatory effort to ski cut the top of the wind slab. I'm glad I didn't since the wind slab was bullet hard underneath a few cm of newer snow. So, I hiked up and gained a nice ski entrance on the wind slab higher up and to the East side of the notch. It worked great and I was happy that my edges were carving well along the 52 degree slope of the drum-tight snow that was compacted by angry winds from the North. The fetch that had no snow took up 50% of the entrance, so the turns were limited by that distance. Nonetheless, I was able to get down the couloir in good style and gain softer snow 20m down. The remainder of the turns were fantastic.

Turning out underneath a rock band, I was able to stop midway down the slope and wait for Justin who had made his entrance along with me just to get past the first 20m and get established into the couloir. We snapped some photos of this spectacular couloir and had a great time laying tracks all the way down and into more open terrain.

From the bottom of Penitente Couloir we skinned and skied down to the Windsor Trail and then up to Puerto Nambe where we caught the Skyline Trail up to Windy Point. The valley fog that was covering Santa Fe all morning was a result of the 8cm of dense snow that had fallen the day before. Rime ice was plastered all over the rocks, trees and escarpments at tree line and into the alpine terrain above 12,000 feet elevation. The fog moved in as we started up the Skyline Trail, which was perfect since it shaded us from the sun. The short wave radiation was bouncing off the cirrus clouds and had already heated up the dense snowpack to where the moisture easily stuck onto our ski skins. I broke out a bar of skin wax that seemed to help a little bit, but the snow was changing to slush so fast that it was becoming nearly futile to travel since the weight of the snow under the skis was taking a toll quick. The only cure was to advance to a higher elevation where the snow was colder, and so we did.

Windy Point had the sign for Baldy and we looked up through the clouds. A surreal landscape of large cliff faces separated by long vertical snowfields intermittently shined through the whisking clouds as they rolled from around the ridge and across the East Face of Santa Fe Baldy.

Large cornices poised like sentinels ran the length of the East Face ridge. No ski tracks were seen, but I had found out that there were some other travelers that passed through prior to the storm that had taken their turn, but now there was sign of them being there, making it feel quite remote for New Mexico.

Justin took the lead and got us to the summit in short order. We eyed the descents into the Lake Kathryn area and decided that those lines would have to be saved for another day. The East Face was too inviting.

Pulling out my cordalette, we decided that we were going to cut a cornice and let it drop onto the slope below to see how the snowpack would behave and if there would be any slab avalanche danger. I stepped 1.6 meters from the edge of the cornice and it promptly broke at 1.5m back. One of my skis was in the air, the other with 20cm behind the fracture and I was able to jump back while holding on to the cordalette and Justin giving me a quick belay. That boy sure is getting fast with the belay ! The cornice broke out some 6-7m along the ridge as it was quite undercut and heavy. It pummeled onto the slope below and triggered a small, slow moving slab that ended up entraining a large amount of wet avalanche debris that went nearly all the way to the bottom of the face over a very long minute. Although the snow wasn't moving fast, and the debris would not have really buried a skier, it could have knocked a skier or snow boarder down and carried them a long way.

I looked across the slope and saw where the other crew had entered the East Face. It looked like they did a ski cut right underneath the largest set of cornices and above a cliff band. I wondered if they had triggered an avalanche if they wouldn't still be there when we arrived a few days later. It seemed like a risky entrance where they cut across the underbelly of the gargoyles that overshadowed the cache of good skiing below.

We then cut another cornice and got the same results. I figured we could get into the East Face shot by hacking away at a cornice and making a realistic entrance and then making a drop entrance and onto the 62 degree face to make a coule of turns and gain a nice protected saddle where a broken vertical ridge running up the East Face doesn't quite meet the summit ridge.

The turns were better than I had imagined and were quite easy, but an aggressive mindset is what gets one onto the boiling plate, so I jumped in with my torso forward and skis parallel to the slope. A couple quick turns let the remaining snow slide and I stopped to let it go by.

Then, Justin jumped in and set up next to me. We skied the turns that only come in a dream. The could had parted and a nearly blue sky gave us the pat on the back as we skied onto more gentle grade of low 40s, then upper 30s. We started out in the debris and then moved our way out into the open slope once the angle subsided and risks abated with each turn.

Justin took a near perfect line the entire fall line. I moved over at the half way point to another slope and ripped through the snow on a small ridge on a rock back and then to more open gladed terrain and met him at the bottom where a piece of cornice had rolled all the way to the bottom, nearly 1,200' down.

We laughed in amazement at the quality of line that this was and realized that THIS is what memories are made of.

We took out our lunches and had a great bite to eat on a large flat granite rock. Then, we skinned up our skis and hiked back to the ridge. It wasn't over yet. We had to use ski crampons to make our way to the South Ridge, but it was worth it since we had a clear shot on corn snow all the way back down to Puerto Nambe. We left big deep turns in the open trees for nearly 1,000'.

Once at Puerto Nambe we augmented our plans to return back over Lake Peak via Penitente and just opt for the Windsor trail egress. IT was a great day and we didn't feel like we needed to push it along any more.

We celebrated with margaritas and Mexican food at Maria's in Santa Fe. I'm glad that I have an opportunity in my life to share my experiences with an up-and-coming mountain guide like Justin. Enough can't be said about having a good partner on high adventure outings. Solid teamwork with good methods for attaining shares goals is a fortunate circumstance that should not be taken for granted. I'm fortunate to have friends like him and can't wait to get out there once again with them to make more great memories !

That's what dreams are made of.

New Routes in Ouray - No Longer Your Father's Poser's Lounge

2010-03-03T10:03:00.000-08:00

After getting back from Europe, I went to see Jason and Lisa Nelson up in Ouray, Colorado. Jason and I headed out to get more mixed climbing in before the season draws to a close. As fate would have it, Jason and I got in one day of climbing together before we decided that there needed to be some more new mixed lines in the Poser's Lounge on the way to Camp Bird.

Check out Jason's new write-up

We established a couple of new lines. The first is a major extension to Troglodyte. It now goes all the way to the top where the Goldline anchors are. The next is a traversing linkup that starts on Troglodyte, then crosses through the crux of Goldline and then past Fist Full of Steel, then finishes on Cinnamon and Cider. Although I'm not sure how hard these lines are since ratings to me are now in a contrived state, then climbing is fun.

Thanks to Clint Cook for letting us borrow his drill (I left mine at home) and to Bill Leo from Ouray Mountain Sports (OMS) for letting us spend some cash to get bolts and hangers on-demand!

I hope everyone gets a chance to get on these routes.

SKIING is the paradoxical universe that I live in. I"ll post something here as soon as I can get the photos up and modified.

European Wrap-up

2010-02-12T06:23:00.000-08:00

Photo: Stelian Pavalache

Aside from all the new friends made, experience gained from going to all the World Competitions (including Rabenstein), and finding a way home through winter storms and airport closures, I sit down with a Starbucks at the airport and wonder "what just happened?" The whole trip flashed right by and I'm a month and a half older and already making plans for the remainder of the winter. Skiing is on the docket and I have 3 more avalanche courses to teach at Red Mountain Pass and in NM. In April, I'm gearing up for Alaska once again, this time for the AMGA Ski Mountaineering Guides Exam.

Here's some great images from Lukaz:

http://lwimages.ifp3.com/root/lwimages/iphoto/main2.cfm

Although the Ice World Ice Climbing Competitions remind me a lot of a traveling circus in many ways, it was enthralling to see so many new places, meet great people, and learn new skills. It's a highly demanding circuit. Those who wish to compete in only one or two competitions get a taste of the tour, but I feel that having stayed and competed in a11 of the competitions including both difficulty and speed has given me some insight on the training and mandates of the style of climbing necessary to be competitive in that venue. Most of the time it's a "downer" for the athletes since only one person can win. But even then, the winner knows that they could have done better. It's always that way. We know we can push ourselves, but its the times when we exceed our own expectations that we as athletes revel in the moment. That's the time when it all comes together and the stars align and our performance becomes memorable. We live for those times and anticipate their existence in our future. Experiencing a moment like this is what keeps us going.

I'm already building my own training facility to work on this and hope that I can interest some other good mixed ice climbers to train hard and become a competitor. The UIAA will be working with the Olympic Committee and will hopefully turn this into an Olympic event.

As it stands, there will be 5 World Cups next year. The sport is growing and there is interest in holding a World Cup in the USA. If you are interested in helping out, please contact me. Sponsors, athletes, and others interested in making this happen should join forces. The North Americans will need to train hard if we are to be competitive.

In the meantime, I'm glad to be back home in NM and am looking forward to getting in some more skiing, climbing, and getting back to feeling "normal" in this time zone for a while. I'll be back in school this semester as well and can't wait to start using the thinking side of my brain for a while. I'm hoping to get some good research going with the Exercise Science department.

I'll have to go through all the photos that Justin compiled while we were on the trip. I don't think I've seen many of them, we just shot first and will look later.

Snow on !

UIAA European Open Ice Speed Climbing Competition in Romania

2010-02-07T06:43:00.000-08:00

2/7/2010

Finishing up the 2010 Ice World Cup Circuit

So all of the preparation, planning, logistics, and thrill of competing in the World Cups in all the venues that we’ve been to over the last month and a half have been…extraordinary. The Euros like that the underdog Americans have made an appearance. Justin and I have been interviewed by media at every event. It’s intimidating since none of the Americans have ever made much of a presence in Europe.

I’ve learned so much in such a short period of time. New friends have been made, new connections with climbers from all over Europe and Asia have been established, and I had the opportunity to see many places and cultures that I have wanted to see since I was a kid. I have been encouraged and inspired by some of the world’s best mixed rock and ice climbers. The blood lines of experience from many of the original competitors have been passed down to the next generations of climbers that we are competing with. Markus Bendler learned to climb hard mixed lines and was trained by Harry Berger who I have also climbed with in Ouray, Colorado in past years. There’s less than 3 degrees of separation many times as this is a small community.

There is a lot of energy to get a World Competition in the United States. All of the competitors and UIAA Organizers have been very positive about the USA presence on this entire circuit. They feel that it makes for a more international competition. Furthermore, it validates their Olympic movement. There is a lot of energy being put into mixed climbing becoming a venue at the Winter Games. This may not happen in my lifetime of being a competitor, but perhaps I am contributing in some way to make this happen. Both Justin and I are interested in putting together a circuit of sorts in the USA. I have been told that I have two months to tell Urs (the Swiss coach representing the Ice Climbing Federation) if it might be possible to position a mock World Competition in the USA for next year. Although I am excited about the prospect to put an event on, I also realize the implications of taking on such a task from my experience with the Ouray Competitions in the past.

Therefore, I think it is prudent to call on anyone who thinks they have a possible venue, organizational structure in place, and the interest to consider hosting this type of event. I would be more than happy to have a lengthy discussion with those who would like to contribute. Justin and I have some great ideas, but we would need a lot of help to accomplish something of this magnitude.

An event like this in the USA means something different for every individual person. I can’t see anything bad about an event like this on a personal note and I have a laundry list of how it can be a good and positive thing not only for the general ice climbing community and those in the industry, but also for the USA.

We didn’t attend the competition for the finals. Rather, Malcolm drove Urs, Leight, Justin, and me 40km to the north on a mountainous, winding, and snow packed icy road to the north to visit the castle of Dracula. Yes, we learned all about the history and creation of Dracula on a cold, dark, blizzarding day in the Transylvanian Alps. The drab mid-century décor of the castle, along with the foreign feeling was good enough to have some Halloween-style fun. I couldn’t help but think about how many people had been killed with sharp tools in and around the Braun Castle, and now here we are to compete in an athletic event, having a different way to use our sharp tools, and nobody dies. What a concept!

I do know that when we got back and saw the finals, this is what Markus Bendler looked like as the 2010 overall Ice World Champion !!! This guy is a MACHINE I say...maybe he's a Terminator.

Back to Skiing!

Well, we’re in Romania and its puking snow. We competed in the UIAA Open European Championship – Romania. It was laden with Russians and they really wanted us to compete to “make it more interesting.” Ya, it was interesting all right. I missed my first round of climbing out of 5 chances and also got no practice or warm-up before having to climb. I pulled the picks right out of the ice with my Russian-made fifi ice axes on the first round. The second round went better since I made it to the top. I just wanted to get up the thing for a change without the ice breaking. Then, a Bulgarian put a ice tool through his thigh. He was bleeding and limping. There’s really nowhere for someone to get medical care here, but a family doctor was present at the ski are base and came over to take a look. She said to just leave it alone. I told the competitor that I would suture him up for free if he would like, and he agreed. I left the competition and took him into the Red Cross aid room where I was able to break out my medical kit, do a proper job stitching his leg back together, and returning him to the event.

Fortunately, I didn’t miss my turn, so I got a chance to climb again and this time I reached the top. Sweet! Only more than half as fast as the Russians, but I made it. It’s all I can do to get up the climbs without gacking myself in the legs or piffing myself with a crampon tip. I blame my weight pulling the ice apart, but I’m sure it’s my technique that holds me back. I just don’t have a lot of interest in speed climbing because it’s just a side show to the main circus event for me, the difficulty competition, and a way to have some fun. I don’t take it seriously enough to be a real competitor, yet I’ve scored higher in speed climbing than I have in difficulty. What’s up with that?

After today we’re hitting the slopes on our way back to Bucharest.
With all the snow that is falling over the last two days it might be possible that there could be some good skiing available. There’s some quite steep terrain around, up to 60°, or so we’ve heard. There’s not much in the way of rentals here. They have no telemark equipment anywhere, so Leigh will have to learn how to turn with her heels locked down. There’s no touring equipment available for rent either so I guess we’re not heading out to the back country.

I'm ready for some green chili chicken enchiladas!

Romania

2010-02-04T02:13:00.000-08:00

2/4/2010
Italy to Romania

Levaing Rabenstein was difficult. The logistics were easy enough to go, but after having a great experience being able to climb on the structure and having made friends with a few of the Russians and gleaning some technique tips from them, the long trip to Romania ahead was the “down” part of the emotional roller coaster on this ice climbing competition tour.It’s true, there’s a lot of highs and lows throughout the competition. The experience is overwhelming at times and I’m sure that it will take some time for it all to sink in.

We made it out of Italy and flew into Romania where we met Pavel Shabalin, one of the UIAA Competition Judges. Myself, Pavel, Justin, and Leigh all took the train(s) to Busteni together. We had some great complex discussion about the competition and its organization, the athletes and their backgrounds, and shared a few war stories of ice climbing. Pavel drew some pictures of the Russian words I was trying to learn and wrote them out in both Russian and English. “Cat”, “spoon”, “potatoes”, and “cup” sound very similar. The language is complex to be sure, but not nearly as bizarre as Chinese is to both of us ! We were invited to come and train in Moscow and Kirov in the future. Pavel is one of the main coaches of the Russian Federation team. That’s a pretty nice honor.

The train ride into Busteni reminded us all of the train ride to Kirov, but it was definitely not the same. It was only two hours to get there. The exchange rate is about 3.5 Lei = 1 USD. Some things are cheap, and some things cost the same. Busteni is a bustling ski town that is cheap to stay in for the most part. There’s a lot of youth mixed in with the older generation. There’s lots of 1950’s architecture, but more style than what we saw in Russia. Maybe the Romanians were not in as much a hurry to get things built after World War II. Anyway, Busteni is a great little town, nestled up against the Transylvanian Alps. It’s a ski town too with the Kalinderu Ski Area gaining nearly 1300m of elevation right out of town. They claim 40% advanced ski terrain. I’ll have to partake in the assessment after the competition.

I took breakfast at a small restaurant the first morning here and was able to order an omelet! We tried to order scrambled eggs in Milan and they wanted to charge us 42Є (that’s about $75 USD). I think we could have bought a few chickens and scrambled our own, in addition to whatever else. Anyway, I took a walk in the first proper snow storm I have been in since arriving in Europe, and made my way to the ski area where the new climbing structure is located for our competition.

This structure is quite impressive. It looks like the U2 concert stage from this year. It has three arched legs supporting a horizontal keystone ring at the top that a modular climbing wall can be created and dismantled quickly in order to make any combination or series of climbing. It’s the 4th dimension!

Competition head. After having climbed in Rabenstein, I finally feel like I have a clue as to how the climbing behaves, some of the intricacies of the style and technique, as well as gaining some confidence. On-sighting an M12 finals route is difficult to say the least but I’m feeling like I can piece it together now. Time is the major influecial factor. It drives the decisions made while climbing. Going fast is prudent, but going too fast is careless. The Korens lost the last competition in Saas-Fee this year because of a careless mistake.

Markus Bendler has swept the continent clean of all the major ice climbing competitions. He would not have to even show up or compete in Romania since he has so many points, and is already the undisputed World Champion…again. Nobody has ever heard of him in the USA. I guarantee that once he makes his way across the pond, he will be on the front cover of any given magazine. He’s also a very nice guy. He signs autographs and poses for photos with kids who look up to him. He is a European hero. It makes me wonder why Americans idolize professional athletes from baseball, football, and basketball. Most of them are a bunch of creeps who hardly give a kid the time of day.

There’s just a few days left. Inscription of the athletes starts today and the competition is going to be shown on Romanian National tv as well as streamed live via internet:
http://www.evenimentelive.ro/iwcbusteni.html
Check it out if you’re bored at 2 am in the Rocky Mountains. This event is represented by 32 countries and is on the Olympic scale. I’m daunted by that fact, but I’m also willing to give it my best shot. There was a point where Justin and I had discussed bailing out and going to Chamonix to ski, but we pulled our shit together, got our chin up, and are ready to give it all we got. I’ll pull my bicep from my humeral head before I come off that wall tomorrow.

After the Ice Fight

2010-02-02T14:23:00.000-08:00

1/31/2010 - 2/01/2010

So it finally happens. One of the Russians that I was trying to talk to in Saas-Fee opened up and started talking to me more in Rabenstein. He clammed up in Switzerland after I wasted him in a foosball game during an athlete meeting, called me "professional", and walked away. But he came around again in Rabenstein and has been working on communications again. In fact, Alexi is a very nice guy and is quite fluent in English, although not so much after a long day and in the evening. That’s when he starts teaching me Russian. He’s also kind of a Patrick Swazey knock-off, especially at first glance.

Beyond that, he’s also helping Justin and me with our climbing techniques. The World Cup "Ice Competition" is definitely more about circus tricks than actual ice climbing. He’s been standing on the podium periodically in the World Competition circuit over the years and was taught how to climb by his father at the age of 4. He started to compete at about the age of 16 and has been in the circuit ever since. Luda, his girlfriend is also as impressive as a climber and her English is the best of all 16 Russians. She is also very nice and helpful and has opened up to us as well by using her fluency in English. We climbed with them for two days after the competition.

In Rabenstein the Americans and the Russians stayed in the same hotel. Most of the Russians that have talked to us to this point have only used communication for a means of obtaining information. These two have made a concerted effort on their part and we wound up spending a lot of time with them climbing as well as hanging around the hotel and sharing stories, music, and jokes.

Climbing in Rabenstein after everyone had left was a boon for Justin and I. We were able to get more time on the climbing structure there than anywhere else, getting us precious contact time with the climbing medium as well as a good workout, things we have not been able to do since we are on the road all the time and are without a home base. 45 degree over hanging terrain on sparse holds that demand good body mechanics, technique, and power is exactly what the Physician Assistant ordered.
The men’s and women’s finals routes were still up and so that what a mix of Slovenians, Russians, and Americans climbed together. I brought Justin’s speakers and iPod to make things a bit more exciting. The Tomalov brothers and Luda definitely produced by skipping holds on the routes haphazardly and seeing what they could do and how far they could go between holds.

Leigh got to do some ice climbing on the sometimes more than vertical ice on two of the towers. One of the routes was out speed competition route. Justin ran a few laps on the ice as well. I did the men’s semi finals route, the women’s finals route (with one cold hang to rewarm my hands) and got it on the second try on the first day (and straight away on the second day), and then tried to roll up the men’s final route, only to break the fourth hold. So, we called it a day, packed up our stuff and hiked the 2km and 300m elevation back up to our awesome accommodations.

This is the Tyrol region and there are many cables crossing the valley that transport milk, hay, and supplies to and from the ranch houses high above. The cows are free to roam in the summer, but are kept inside large barns that look like houses in the cold months. A small dairy next door to us has workers busy in the wee hours to have the milk out to Merano by 06:30 every day, snow or shine.

I’ll be sad that we have to leave this beautiful place. Although we do not have much contact with the outside world from our location of lodging, I could see how I could become entranced with this place and not ever leave. It’s a mini utopia. Having looked at the map and know that the vast mountains to the north would be a lifetime of exploring, skiing, and climbing, it's a tempting thought to just keep going. We are also very close to larger towns and accommodations, so it’s not that far out there, but it’s far enough. The Dolomites are nearby, but we aren't alpinists this trip.

Meanwhile, Justin, Leigh, and myself continue to have the conversation of “are we going to Romania or not.” Options abound for us in other known locations and we have to be cautious once there of pick-pockets, thieves, rip-off artists, etc., so we aren’t thrilled at the prospect of going. However, this is a climbing trip first and a ski trip second, then whatever after that. I know that I want to finish what I started, a tour of the World Mixed Ice Climbing Competition circuit. I would like to do my best this year at getting experience and then making a game plan to come back and do better. This is the ultimate personal goal in my life, so it’s time to make it happen. Being able to share this experience with Justin since we were training last fall has amplified the experience for me as well. Having a good committed climbing partner who is capable and easy to get along with is difficult to find. Being on the road with someone day in and day out and being as good a team as we have been is rare.

I’m really excited that he shares the same fervor for the sport. He will certainly have a different experience than I have had, but he is the next generation in the sport and has a ton of potential. Imagine, I trained him to climb mixed rock and ice at our local crag and then in less than 4 months went to Bozeman, Montana with me for his first ice competition. We took third as a team in our division. Now, he’s got the huevos to train hard and become a world competitor. Awesome.

Rabensteinäs Ice Fight 2010

2010-02-01T23:53:00.000-08:00

Rabenstein Ice Fight 2010
1/30/2010
Go Time in Rabenstein

The amount of stress was quite low to begin with, but I also knew that this competition had pretty much the same players as the other World Competitions, it’s just not as well known or attended…yet.

The event held here is a very well run event. They have a good isolation area and have good routs set on an impressive structure. They have jerseys that we got to keep as a memoir, there are heated buildings to re-warm up in, and they made wooden slat platforms for the spectators to stand on to keep their feet warmer. They have a bar with espresso for only 1.5Є and serve great food. There’s also an ice skating rink for kids to play at.

Many of the women have black hair, and facial piercing seems to be the norm, whether it’s a nose or lip piercing, it seems that it’s vogue. The people speak Italian and German, but everyone communicates in English as the common language. That seems to be the common thread around the world.

The climb:

I came out of a quite bout in isolation (it could be up to 3 hours) and tied into the rope. The holds are a mix of granite and plastic holds. The granite holds are tricky to stay on. The ice axe must be place just-so and not waver from that position or it will pop off and you’re done. The starting wall was a mere 45° overhanging by my rough judgment. We have to start with two axes on the starting hold then bring both feet off the ground. Easy enough, but the next moves become harder and further apart. You must be able to find the next hold’s “sweet spot” that the axe will settle in on while holding your body weight on one locked-off arm in a static position. You only get a certain amount of time to climb the route, 12 minutes in this case, so you don’t have time to gain recovery by shaking out an already burning forearm pump. Moving fast is mandatory and is almost preferable to keep the “pump” at bay. Breathing is also mandatory but is easy to forget to do when you get focused on a climb and in a situation like this.

The climbing to start was actually not too bad. I’d rate it at about M9+/10- to where the ice roof started. Each hold presented a different technique to get to establish and maintain body position on. The flow from one hold to the next is a continuum of understanding not only the holds, but how the axes behave on those holds at the angle they present themselves in. In addition, you must be able to understand your body, its position on the climb, subtle motions and foot placement that so defines how the next movement will be. In a way, it’s like playing a game of chess. You have to sleuth out what the moves are in advance, pace yourself, make sacrifices when needed, and double clutch into high gear when its time.

Filled with good energy and not feeling too pumped yet, I made a move to the second to last hold before getting to the first ice roof. I was looking forward to the series of figure 4’s and figure 9’s across the ice traverse as I had gotten pretty fast at these moves and have it figured out. It was going to be a pump fest, but there was a rest on vertical terrain at the end of the traverse. I raised my left tool to place it in the last hold and my right tool popped off. I was lowered to the ground and two guys were trying fervently to untie my figure 8, the only knot allowed in competition here. I told them that “that was an American fall,” meaning that I was a mere 92kg, the biggest and heaviest ice climbing competitor they had ever seen. These small men of 60-70kg don’t set a knot that hard.

The route setter, Mario, was there as a judge and told me that I should have not set my entire tool how I did and proceeded to educate me on some of the finer points of how I should have placed it. It’s a good thing too, since that’s why I’m here, to learn and get better. We laughed together and I told him “thank you for setting the routes and inviting us to compete and that I will be back next year.”

I made it 3 slots away from qualifying from the Semi-finals, so I’m getting better in some way. Maybe I’m not as nervous and scattered, I’m finally getting over my illness that I picked up in Kirov, or I’m learning the medium, or maybe it’s some combination, but the more experience I gain it just makes me a better climber.
Leigh came between the difficulty and speed competition. She flew in and Justin set her up with a bus schedule and I was able to get someone to pick her up in Moos, Italy and bring her directly to us at the B&B. I greeted her in the bar and gave her a hug. Jet lag yet? Hmmm. Maybe tomorrow. I took her bag upstairs and Justin was quite happy to see her. We all got ready and went down to the speed climbing competition.

It was dark and they allowed us have one practice run. They clipped me in with one carabiner and I told them that we needed two. With great reluctance they produced another carabiner and clipped it in to the rope, but not to me. I made sure it was fixed and then carried on. Speed climbing up 25m of slightly overhanging ice on technical terrain of undulating ice features is not an easy task. It’s easy to piff an arm or leg with flying axes and crampons. The breaking ice is also hazardous as well as skating through and banging shins on the ice itself. “What the heck, I’m only doing it twice tonight and I’m out fo the difficulty competition” is what I told myself. Justin told me to “just have fun,” so I did.

I climbed / ran up the tower and I nearly blacked out by the time I got to the top. Our inefficiencies compared to the Russians is evident by the great time discrepancies between us, but we were there to have fun and so we did! We screamed and yelled at each other to “go faster,” “move those feet,” and whatever else we could think of. People got on our band wagon and started to cheer as well. It takes good energy to get things rolling.

After the speed competition I grabbed hold of Harold Klammer from Italy and told him I would buy him a bier (beer). He had a van and took us all back to the bar at the B&B and we had a round of Forst Bier. Somehow he manages to keep buying the beer. I don’t mind Markus Bendler buying the beer because he keeps winning the competitions and making money, but I owe him some beer too.

Both Justin and I have invited the Euros over to go climbing in the USA. We even managed to get Alexi from Russia to open up and speak a little English with us and invited him to come as well. I guess the Russians have to obtain visas in order to go anywhere outside Russia pretty much, so it’s an ordeal for them to go. There’s still a fair amount of Patriotism there too however, and most of the Russians find it a bit difficult to talk with the guys from the USA for some reason. It seems to be getting better as we are climbers, but because of the nature of the competition being just that, a competition it harbors the competitive attitude and spirit to a certain degree.

Angelika Rainier is our tour goddess behind the scenes. She had given us really good information on how to get around and has offered to take us from Rabenstein to Milan where we will be able to catch our flight to Romania. She took the first Women’s World Cup in Kirov and is a strong climber. She also works in the Department of Epidemiology in Merano, Italy full time and is able to be a strong competitor on this circuit. She trains often here in Rabenstein so it goes to figure that she has solid climbing ability.

SaasßFee to Milan

2010-02-01T08:27:00.001-08:00

1/28/2010
Near Epic Travel
No matter how good the train system is in Europe, there’s always something that can go wrong. So I’m glad we missed the first bus out of Saas-Fee, Switzerland since that would have placed us on the first train out of Brig that derailed on its way to Milan. There also happened to be a good snow storm moving through the area with high winds. Who would have known the night before when we were at a great outdoor ski party at the base of the ski lift and where the ice skating arena is in Saas-Fee. There they had a the ski team descend the mountain with torches, a ski bunny named “Snowly,” some guy skiing with 10 foot skis, a guy skiing with a fan on his back blowing him uphill, a pyrotechnic expert with fireworks on his back, and some freeride skiers and snowboarders hitting a jump at the bottom. The show ended with a great fireworks display and a hot wine drink.
After that, a big party held at a local pub had a solo guitarist playing American classics. The crowd, most of whom could not speak English, was singing in perfect chorus the words to all the songs. How can that be? Justin and I played foosball with a family who had everyone from the daughter to the great grandparents in the bar singing, drinking “bier” and carrying on until about 23:00!
The good news in missing that train brings the bad news that the rail was then closed and we had to take a bus from Brig to Domodedossolo, Italy in order to get onto a train going to Milan. The silver lining here was that we got to go over a mountainous pass that had tons of great ice climbing in the area. In fact, there were ice climbers rappelling off the snow bridges to gain access to the climbing. There was everything from big and fat waterfall ice on low angle (easy) terrain, to the intimidating daggers that hung off the tops of caves, the kind I like to climb. This area is located right on the Swiss-Italian border. The border was easy cross since we were on the bus, but there we about 20 people standing in the cold. They had been off-loaded and were professional-looking people who were hitch hiking to Brig. With the snow storm moving in, the women with only tights on their legs looked like they were about to be in for a surprise. Cars zoomed past and only a few stopped to pick up the soon-to-be frozen white collar workers who had nothing but their briefcases.
We ate lunch before getting on the train. Inconveniently, Justin can’t eat the large array of Italian pastas, pizzas, and other gluten bearing foods, so finding a restaurant is sometimes a challenge. A gluten-free diet is a lot tastier however, and it’s good to find those places since I don’t like filling up on starch.
This part of Italy has more English-speaking people than Daone and there seems to be more money in this valley since there’s a train instead of a bus service. It’s a really nice train to boot. The bathroom looks like something off of the starship Enterprise and there’s loads of room for skis and snowboards. Justin and I were able to get in a few pull-ups, push-ups, and dips while traveling, but it’s hard to feel good when you spend all day traveling, and trying to stay hydrated and fed while making connections.
We got to a hotel and bartered with the English and Spanish-speaking man for a price. We immediately made our way into the town and found a nice pub where we got a good glass of local red wine. We ordered some meat, sausage, and I got some dumplings since it was a suggested “local favorite.” Too much starch however, and I felt bloated. Good thing I had to walk back to the flat.
The next morning we got up and went to the local open air market and bought a half a chicken each for breakfast. We are constantly faced with the anxiety and idea that because many of the competition climbers are driving to these events and staying in their vans that there are no provisions. We keep thinking that there will be no stores, no food, and possibly no water. So we bought some food for about 25-30Є and packed our stuff on the next bus to Moos, Italy.
This drive was much more exciting with the mountainous venue immediately out of Balzona. The winding road led up through northern Italian wine country on terraced terrain and scattered castles. The narrow road switched back and forth and passed through multiple snow sheds. We gazed out at the valley below and we approached snow line. The cliff bands became more prominent and the avalanche gullies were separated by housing developments and ranches. The ranches or farms that were established more than several hundred meters higher than the road had a cable guiding line going to it that provides a faster, more efficient way of transporting loads to and from the ranch house. Many of the cables were not marked and would be impossible to see from a helicopter. From my days working at Lifeguard (an air ambulance service) cables are extremely dangerous things for helicopters to fly into. So I suppose that the helo pilots know exactly what they’re doing here.
We drove into Moos and were dropped off by the bus. A man drove up who spoke no English, but called out “Marc, Justin.” We threw our stuff in his car and got his name, “Fritz.” We tried to figure out what his role in the scheme of this was and never really understood until he took us to his B&B up the valley in Rabenstein. He and his wife own and operate the B&B next to the church that overlooks the valley below. Anyone who wants to go to a really cool place to take a honeymoon vacation should go to Rabenstien, it’s quite the place.
On the way up to the B&B we stopped and took a gaping look at the massive ice tower erected between avalanche run-out zones. This tower is 25m high and is larger than the Val di Daonne structure. More technical terrain could be attached at will to in-situ anchor points.
A news crew was filming and interviewing the route setters and wanted a word with Justin and I. We obliged and so I guess we were on local Italian news as “the Americans who made it to Rabenstein!” I guess we are validating the competitions by just being here and adding credibility to the event. The newsgirl had red hair and a pierced nose and was very nice. We were a bit embarrassed to be giving a tv interview since we had not even climbed yet, and certainly weren’t the local heroes.
The Russian’s showed up in brute force and entered 13 unexpected competitors, along with 3 Ukranians. One of the Russian’s holds the world speed record. If you see these guys in action, it’s impressive. They are dead serious about speed climbing. They train for it and have specialized equipment and study the techniques. The funny thing about a speed competition is that it is something that has no practicality outside of the competition. I would never climb that fast on real ice because of the high risk of falling or getting injured. I must admit, it’s a fun competition. Where else can you use axes like a ninja and run up water that’s frozen vertically like Jackie Chan? Justin and I have a good time doing it.

Glacier Skiing in Switzerland

2010-01-27T04:32:00.001-08:00

1/27/2010
The Day Off
I’m finally taking a day off from skiing and ice climbing and getting busy with standard work issues that have been put on the table and not dealt with. We’re packing it up in Saas-Fee and getting ready to head out on the busses and trains of Switzerland and Italy to make our way to Rabenstein for the next climbing competition, locally known as the “Ice Fight.” It’s by invitation only and we are fortunate enough to be invited!
This is that part of traveling that’s a drag. Packing everything up and waiting for the next movement. My next movement is a series of pull-ups, dead hangs, front levers, and hanging crunches off the balcony. It’s hard to stay in shape on this circuit for the Americans, as I’ve already stated.
Yesterday was fortuitous, as we ran into the staff over at the Mountain Guides’ office and the girl there told us that they are having a town party with skiers carrying backpacks on fire coming down the mountain. I guess this is a good photography opportunity in any regard. There’s always something going on at the ski area.
I was able to fulfill my requisite days of skiing complex glaciated terrain and made my personal descents as well. Justin was a trooper and tolerated my wanting to drop in on some big terrain. Good thing he’s got faith in me! We did a great ski tour down a 46 degree slope with waist deep powder for about 200m that gave way to the moat around the glacier. It was covered with scant snow bridges, so it got exciting for a moment as I made my way out onto the glacier. I probed out a nice are to belay Justin from and had him cross the snow bridges. Once on the main body of the glacier we enjoyed another 1300m of glaciated powder and then skied to Saas-Fee.
We’re looking forward to Leigh Caswell coming out to join us from the “505” (New Mexico). I keep trying to get this girl to get busy on the mixed ice climbing since she’s so inherently strong and has ability to do well. Maybe seeing the next two competitions will inspire her to crank hard! Leigh is also the President of the Alb. Mountain Rescue Team now. She’s doing some really good things for the team and is a visionary for the future of how rescue will actually be done in Abq. – a pretty big task to say the least. Anyway, I hope she has a great trip out and it’s going to even more fun with more of a crew from back home to travel with! We’re all looking forward to skiing in Italy near the Dolomites as well.

Quick vid to entertain

2010-01-26T00:39:00.000-08:00

Gordon made this with video that I shot of him climbing during the ice competition.

It gives a pretty good overall show of the ice comp. Good to have you out, Gordon - hope you have a safe trip home and hope to catch up to you in Canada for some ice climbing !

And check this out...it gets intense.

non-HIPPA related med report

2010-01-26T00:08:00.000-08:00

1/23/2010
26 y/o male c/o finger laceration secondary to a speed ice climbing competition event:
The patient was able to rip the protective leather finger off the third digit of the glove and still create a full thickness laceration. The finger of the glove was still on the ice pick what the subject was lowered to the ground.
Mild hemorrhage was immediately controlled by the patient and then myself since I was present and witnessed the event (have it on video).
The patient was prepped and draped in a non-sterile fashion in a Swiss climbing bar with a dirt floor in Saas-Fee only 20 paces from the ice climbing event. No local anesthesia was used, but the patient enjoyed general anesthesia effect from the multiple alcoholic beverages that were given him by the locals who insisted he partake in the festivities at the time of being provided acute medical care.
The patient was taken to a Red Bull table in the bar where the best light was. Hemostatis was achieved by using a finger tourniquet. Irrigation of the would using the tap water out of my Camelback in my Avalung backpack was the only water available. Power irrigation was achieved using a 10cc spring loaded syringe and 18ga angiocather from my trauma kit in my backpack. My First Assist, Malcolm Kent (another athlete) was able to maintain control of the water supply.
The 1cm x 0.5 cm 90 degree angular full thickness laceration to the 3rd digit on the medial side of the right hand is located between the DID and PIP. Exploration showed no deeper structure involvement and the patient had good motor and sensory distally. No tendinous involvement.

Multiple photographs from by-standers were being taken but the flashes did not interrupt or hinder care. Red Bull and Vodka and Rum and Coke drinks had to be removed from the table several times throughout the procedure.
No gloves were able to be used and no drapes were available. So, I used sterile 4x4 gauze as a drape and sprayed my fingers down with the water irrigation solution.
5.0 Prolene was used to place three interrupted sutures and close the wound. The tourniquet was released and a sterile bandage was placed over the wound site. The last suture was difficult to place since the bar lowered the lights and the band started to play rock and roll with the speakers being right next to the table.
No splint was available besides bar straws, so I just advised the patient to try and keep the finger straight and refrain from flexing.
The crowd cheered when we were finished and the Americans stayed at the party.
I will be following the patient since he is my roommate and I’ll be skiing with him for the next 3 days and ice climbing with him for the next two weeks at the World Competition circuit throughout Europe. I will make sure that the stitches stay in longer if he is placing more force on them than necessary while ice climbing/skiing.

1/26/2010
Day three after the incident, the patient shows me his wound and it appears to be weeping with subsequent sticking to the bandage. I placed a small amount of Neosporin ointment near the wound and re-bandaged with an American Flex-fabric Band-Aid. The wound looks good and there’s no sign of infection.
Will consider taking out the stitches after the Rabenstien Ice Fight competition in northern Italy.

NOW THAT's what friends are for !

2010-01-25T12:23:00.001-08:00

1/24/2010 -1/25/2010
Monster skiing in Saas-Fee
Saas-Fee to Saas-Almagel and more…
The last two days have been amazing in the ski department. Skiing off-piste terrain within a ski area on glaciers is super fun. I was able to log 7100m of downhill skiing with the Swiss Guides and we had some high-end clients from the good-old USA. They were from Backcountry Magazine and doing a photo shoot, so we were able to ski some good steep terrain and through a load of complex glaciated terrain.
We did a series of descents including skiing to another town…again. This route is part of the Haute Route that goes to Chamonix, France. Justin and I skied some of this the other day when we toured to Zermatt. Once we arrived on the main road in Saas-Amagel we were able to call for a taxi ride back to Saas-Fee. Easy.
I got a great workout in and am looking forward to one more day of skiing.
Meanwhile, Justin and I are trying to put the plans together for our egress from Saas-Fee and onto Rabenstein for yet another ice climbing competition. As competitors from the USA, we’ve been well received to a “locals” competition and we are really excited about it.
I think my hair is getting longer as the weeks go on. There’s too much going on and there’s hardly time to spend on the loads of things that usually hang over my head.
Gordon McArthur from Canada has already come and gone and should be getting home sometime tomorrow. The time is flying and our World Ice Climbing competition circuit has taken on a life of its own. It’s nothing like competing in Ouray where there is only one long weekend. Our circuit is a serious road trip.

Saas-Fee Ice Climbing Competition 2010

2010-01-23T05:23:00.000-08:00

1/22/2010

World Mixed Ice Climbing Competition number THREE !

The Saas-Fee Ice climbing competition is a stupendous even that I was glad to be a part of. The difficulty competition was a great event and well organized while being in one of the most high-energy areas I’ve ever seen.
I felt really good in the isolation booth and got a good warm-up. There’s a lot of anxiety in there with all the athletes trying to get good head space. Some stayed out of the heated booth, some had headphones, some slept, and others sat or paced around, pretty much par for the course. A doctor doing some research by polling the athletes was the only other point of note.
The only issue I had was that the media, wherever they were from, were so intrusive that they were pushing me out of the way to get video coverage of either Markus Bendler or some other well known local athlete. The cameraman was pushing me out of the way when we went to the preview the qualification route.
I was still pretty nervous before going to compete, but I knew that I would feel better once I tied into the rope and got going. It’s good to get some competition experience in a short period of time, and that’s what I was after on this trip. Ya, I’m and “old guy” at 39, but it’s been something on my tick list for years, finally making the dream come true.
Putting on my boots was painful as I had blisters on my heels from the ski tour to Zermatt with the rental boots. I waddled out into the Ice Dome and took a look at the route. I couldn’t wait to get onto the ice so that I could relieve the pressure from my heels.
There were two qualification routes and half the men athletes were assigned to mine. I also knew that for me to make the Semi-Finals round would be a tall order since I had a stacked field of heavy hitters. It was going to be a push, but the climbing looked fun and doable. The whole thing was son live video internet stream, so lots of friends and family were able to watch if they were up early or cared.
The first steps up the ice were easy and then the transition to an overhanging ice feature. I was able to cruise the figure 4’s and 9’s to gain a hold. I heel-hooked and did a mantle move to a no-hands rest. Later, Yevgenny Kryvosheytsev, a champion ice climber, told me that he was impressed with that move since I have a different climbing style, more like an alpinist, not a sport climber. The next holds were rock holds bolted onto a slightly overhanging wood structure that I was able to cruise through to gain another ice feature. The pump start coming to my arms but I knew I had to keep moving. I wasted some time at the no-hands rest taking a break and knew that I would need to move faster later. It was later and now was the time to just keep going. I made two more clips and then went into a series of futile fig 4’s and 9’s while trying to shake the pump out, but to no avail. I needed someone to chop off one of my legs so I wouldn’t weigh 92 kg anymore. My hands greased off from my tool that I left hanging in the ice.
I turned around to face the crowd and had a monster smile plastered on my face. Blank stares from the people watching told me that they definitely weren’t experiencing what I was. To them it was just another disappointment that another athlete didn’t reach to top or do something spectacular.
Moving fast is a requisite, not an option. Although I felt like this was my best performance thus far, I know that I have a long way to go before I can be a true contender, and I’m a pretty good climber back State-side, on-sighting M10, but Europe grows climbers on trees. They expose the youth to climbing and there’s full-on ice climbing camps and competitions available from the time the kids are 8 years of age, and they come out in groves. Climbing in any form is part of the fabric of the society, and is not considered outlandish or extreme like it is back home. The Russians train at a facility for mixed climbing as well as train for speed climbing. But they also have a coach and funding available, whereas, Americans (as well as some of the Europeans) are self sufficient. Sponsors help, but the amount of funding is limited, especially in the present economic environment. My vision is only that, my vision. It is something that I would love to see happen.
Anyway, I didn’t make the Semi-Finals, nor did any of the North Americans, and close doesn’t count.
The speed competition was a horrific experience in trying to shove my blistered feet back into my fruit boots. I’m so tired of getting blistered feet. Each step up the ice made back of my heels rub more against the raw skin that was already peeled down to the dermal layer, weeping and bleeding through the socks. Getting ready at the starting gate I tried to focus on the climbing and forget about the pulsing pains shooting up the back of my feet with each step. No complaining, I told myself…time to harden up! My axes continually caught or pulled through the ice and my first time was very slow. I was glad I stayed on the ice and didn’t fall off. Staying on the ice and not getting hurt is half the battle. The other half is to move fast and efficiently. For my third time speed climbing ever I wasn’t expecting too much, but I wasn’t expecting to be like that. The second round went better since I was able to suck it up, but I nearly had to roll over to where my pack was to change my shoes when I got finished climbing. Even had I made the finals, I wouldn’t have been able to climb again, it was over.
Justin Spain had a way different experience, both good and bad. The lad has a set of lungs and likely has a good VO2max and was able to make descent enough time to get him into the final round. We cheered him on with American vocality. Unfortunately, he fell off the shit pile of ice and gacked himself in the finger with a sharp speed climbing tool that took off the finger of the glove and was still sticking on the pick even after they lowered him to the ground. Seeing the piece of cloth on the pick I pretty much thought there was going to be blood, even if Justin didn’t know it yet since he would be pretty adrenalized.
Sure enough, he had a good full thickness laceration that was going to need some prompt care. Fortunately, I brought a wound and suture kit along for just the occasion. We went to the bar that was an easy 20 steps away through the plastic door. This is the famous bar that boasts a climbing traverse across the ceiling. If you and get hurt it’s your own fault. The blood poured out his finger until I placed a tourniquet on it and I was able to inspect, irrigate, and suture the wound while Justin enjoyed some free drinks from the crowd that gathered and took photos of the procedure. The lights dimmed and the band got to playing as I finished up the final stitch. Then we gathered up the Brits and got on with the party after the finals finished.
One thing I was sure to do was to tell all and any of the locals who were working the Ice Competition event was to say thanks for hosting the event. I know all too well from having worked for years at the Ouray, Colorado Ice Festival how much slave labor goes into putting something of this magnitude on. I think they appreciated the praise.

Saas-Fee to Zermatt Ski Tour

2010-01-21T14:46:00.000-08:00

1/20/2010
Saas-Fee to Zermatt, Switzerland ski tour
Ski touring in the Swiss Alps is a spectacular adventure and experience. It’s a big day to go from Saas-Fee to Zermatt on skis, especially on-sight. I needed to rack up a little more mock guiding time for my upcoming AMGA exam, so Justin helped be a great bro and helped me out as an acting client.
We rented our gear in Saas-Fee and the local guide’s office helped me out with a loaner shovel since I didn’t bring one to Europe. Other than that, we had the rest of the requisite equipment except for a map. The Swiss maps are among the best in the world. We went back to our hotel room and planned the route, AMGA style and no skimpy plans.
Boarding the tram and then jumping onto the Alpine Train, we were excited to get going on our journey. They stopped the train at the half-way point and we jumped off. Several other people tried to get off the train and everyone else yelled “no” to them, and they promptly got back on board since this definitely was their stop. The tunnel runs through some culverts to an electronic door. We stopped there and got geared up.
We emerged from the culverts and it was a very bright bluebird day. Looking at my log book I got our bearings and figured out which direction we needed to go. I did a quick assessment of the snowpack to ski down the first couple hundred feet that ran out onto the glacier. It was good and stable, so we made our first turns. Once on the glacier we went into roped glacier mode. The local UIAGM guide, Peter, told us that the snow bridges were not obvious and were also weak and that it was easy to punch through into a crevasse.
Justin and I split the rope into equal amounts and we space ourselves out. The snow was completely untouched. There were no tracks whatsoever and the distances were large. The peaks were beautiful and there were no sounds except for a light breeze. The sun was strong, but a storm was coming in and would be enshrouded soon, so we soaked it up as much as we could.
We snuck around the corner of a ridge and found ourselves looking at the final skin up the next 1000m to Adler Pass. I knew we needed to stay a couple hundred meters away from the right since there was a large rock escarpment and we could be hit with a spontaneous rock volley, even though it didn’t seem likely since there was no active rock fall. However, I’ve seen large rock faces slough off several times in the past while in Chamonix. So, I started heading up a nice graded slope and promptly punched through the snow into a small crevasse. My skis were not parallel to the crevasse and I popped though easily. I yelled out to Justin, “heads up” and I fell into my armpits. Being able to lean back while falling in I was able to pretty much catch myself with my left arm on top of the snow and stem my knees against the walls of the slot to prevent going in any further. I told Justin, “take, take” meaning to tension the rope. He was already lying down in hockey stop position, so it wasn’t like I was going anywhere. He snapped off a couple of photos and I pulled myself out and we continued on.
We got out into the middle of the glacier where 10,000 soccer fields could be placed and made sure of our next bearing. We cruised up the Adler Pass though incandescent bled glacier fields. The last 20m to gain the saddle were a bit taxing since the wind was cold and biting. We also had to kick out of our skis and boot up that last section since the wind slab was so hard.
We stopped near the rocks at the saddle, put on another jacket layer, took the skins off our skis, got some hot tea from our thermoses, ate some food and looked out over the 3100m descent that fell away into the Zermatt valley far below the Matterhorn. The clouds were now building and the forecast was for a fresh 3-5cm of snow. We had good bearings and map coverage until we reached the Zermatt ski area(s), and made a horrible assumption, but I’ll get to that later.
From Adler Pass the first few hundred meters were icy and then gave way to a breakable crust on about a 46 degree slope until it ran out to lower angle terrain and higher quality of skiing. Another few hundred feet below that, the cash box lay waiting. The snow became stupendous and we were able to carve out great turns for 1500m on the glacier. Monster hanging glacier rose above and sat idly on top stone yet uncovered from the last ice age.
We dodged through intermittent moraine rock fields, and then finally, the snow turned into worsening conditions at about the halfway mark. We were able to follow our route for the most part, but the glacier became increasingly dry and would not only be poor skiing on ice, but would also be a potential fall hazard. We deviated slightly and the angle was too shallow to ski in the fetches where the snow was deeper. We would up skinning downhill a bit, then ran into a cliff band. We navigated it as the sun went down and wound up in the valley floor that a small creek ran down and into the ski area that we were aiming for.
Once we finally reached the ski area we were dumbfounded to find out that the only way to get from our location within the ski area to Zermatt was by train. We found a restaurant and an old man answered the door. In his broken Swiss English he was able to tell us to follow an old trail that would take us into a small village.
By headlamp we skied this trail and gained the village. From there we could only find a footpath that was located on the opposite side of the ski area. The sign for the footpath said “CLOSED.” We hiked back up hill and found a bar that was closed to ask for directions. A lady and two men opened their electronic digital locking doors and told us by really broken English that “no ski to Zermatt…trail…yes.”
We skied back to the “CLOSED” sign and made our way into Zermatt! We stopped at a restaurant and grabbed a Hot Bailey’s and Hot Chocolate and some dinner. Then we took a taxi back to Saas-Fee!
I was so psyched to be able to get in a route like this. It was a big day and well worth the trip out here in and of itself, let alone to be able to compete in one of the World's biggest and best ice competitions.

Arrival in Saas-Fee, Switzerland

2010-01-19T00:02:00.001-08:00

1/18/2010 - 1/19/2010
Milan, Italy to Saas-Fee, Switzerland
Up and at ‘em ! Moving on to the next competition venue on a cold and foggy morning in Milan, we caught a ride by shuttle bus to the train station. We must be headed to Switzerland because all the transfers ran like clockwork. No waiting around. The train out of Milan was fast and smooth and only made a few short stops. Waterfall ice and climbing crags littered landscape when we got into the mountains. I was able to get some studying done by reading some of my textbook for the spring semester at UNM that hasn’t started yet.
Malcolm Kent from the UK had given us some food when he dropped us off from our trip out of Valle di Daone, and I carried it in a bag with two bottles of champaign that Emilo, the owner of Zamberlan boot company had given to Justin and I at the last competition. We ate the food, but left the bubbly for another time, likely in Saas-Fee.
Gordon McArthur is supposed to show up from Canada today/tonight. This will be his first World Competition and I’m sure he’s super excited. We all have a flat in Saas-Fee, and as you can imagine, it’s pretty nice. A quaint chalet with a bomb shelter serving as the game room downstairs comes complete with incredible views of some of our ski tour lines that we’ll be doing later this week.
We strolled through the town after getting settled in. The 1:25,000 maps are available at the local gift shop and the magnetic declination is about 0, so that makes navigation a bit easier in whiteout terrain. I’m pretty psyched to get some big days on skis here, especially since I’ll be taking my AMGA Ski Mountain Guides Exam in Alaska in a couple months.
The Swiss take the Euro, but give change in Franks. They don’t take Euro coins however, and so we’ll be stuck with buying trinkets with our leftover Franks when it’s all said and done. Pretty good scheming, I’d say. The exchange rate is nearly 1:1 with the US dollar, but they don’t take US that money. They nail you on currency exchange, so the best bet is to use the evil Visa card.
Ryan Nelson, a hard mixed climber who pushed the limits early on in mixed climbing history has been sending me information on Facebook about what to do and where to go! He’s becoming the best tour guide and single best information point for the entire trip so far. Really, Ryan should be climbing with us at this competition. I remember seeing him and Jarrod Ogden putting up hard mixed lines in Ouray when I was still coming to grips that what they were doing was even possible. I’m sure Ryan could train up and get on the podium. Yes, this is a call to arms. Not only Ryan – you know who you are out there. Answer the call, push your limits, and train hard. Hope to see your name on the docket for the World Ice Comps someday!
We took a quick peek at the venue for the competition here is Saas-Fee as well. It didn’t appear that anyone was working on it or was in shape for competition, so we took a closer look. Holy crap, they would never allow this in the USA (something cool and fun). The structure is fixed inside a 10 story parking garage in middle of the spiral drive! The wall is bolted on, fixed with cable and manipulated with a monster-sized winch on the -5th floor. Yes, the minus 5th floor. The parking garage is built on the side of a cliff as there are no high-rise buildings in Saas-Fee to ruin the viewscape. Ice runs down the semi-symmetrical looking climbing structure. The holds look like real rock holds and are mounted on extremely overhanging terrain. Large blocks of ice have been hoisted up and fixed speckling the structure with volumous opportunities for outlandish mixed climbing terrain. I can only hope that I have the drive to get up this thing and have as good a time as it promises to be.

Competition day in Valle di Daone

2010-01-17T11:43:00.000-08:00

1/16/2010-1/17/2010
Competition day in Valle di Daone
I went through the usual labors of getting up, but added clearing my respiratory tract from my recently acquired illness, a production to be sure. Breakfast was good and the skies were clear. My pack was light since I didn’t have to take much more than the essentials, harness, helmet, fruit boots (crampons), iPod, and a thermos.
77 men squeezed into the isolation room where there was two warm-up structures. The one inside was well fitted to doing regular climbing, but was also set up to do upside down stein pulls and long side pulls. It was spray painted with “WELCOME” in English! It was nice to know that we were putting the US flag firmly on all the UIAA competition venues this year, and we have been quite welcomed here in Valle di Daone in general.
There is a lot of talk about this sport going Olympic. In fact, the opening ceremonies even had an Olympic-style fire, symbol and all. With the amount of international participation, it’s hard to believe that it would not be a good fit for the winter games. In fact, it would be one of the few excellent spectator sports. Perhaps someday it will make its way to the big time, but for now it’s big enough for me.
It’s interesting to inside of a room full of enough nervous energy that one might be able to run a small town’s electrical needs from it. I was one of the last people to climb since that’s how the draw came down this time. It was the first time I had to wait until the end to climb and I was, in a way, happy to have the time to warm up properly and get focused.
From previewing the route I could tell that the moves on my given line were long and powerful. So went through some of these moves on the isolation work board and felt pretty good about them. The passing hours and eventual decline in athletes in isolation left a bored few of us playing hacky sack with an empty Red Bull can. So although none of the six of us could speak a common language, we could all play the game together.
Finally, I was called and I walked to the transition isolation shack behind the climbing structure. I went inside the small wooden storage shed and was locked in with two other athletes. I could not stand up inside but was able to sit down on a bench seat next to a small ceramic heater.
Once I was called for the last time I was led through a tunnel and out to the climb. I took one last look at the climb. I was hesitant to even start. I wanted to make sure that I wasn’t going to break some rule that I wasn’t used to, like a false start. It would be easy to be disqualified if you had one foot on the ground, both axes on the starting hold, and then moved and axe from the hold. I also was pretty damn nervous, but felt in control. I was also a bit worried since the belay was asking me how much I weighed. “90 kg” I told him. He was a bit unnerved as I guess I am the heaviest competitor in history. There’s not a lot of 200 pound competition ice climbers running around, most are below 80kg and usually closer to 70kg. “Ya, I have to haul it all up there” I told him, and I tied into the rope.
I climbed very slowly and very tentatively, so much so as to a fault. I also realize now that I should be more aggressive kicking into the wood. This is something that I have never done before Kirov, and that experience was futile in -30°C. I reverted to tracking, a style of climbing using only the holds for my feet that I used for my hands, a very common American style of climbing. I got up past the third clip and my foot slipped off a hold while I was in a full bicep lock off upside down stein pull, leaving me lowering myself with a one arm decline. I immediately grabbed harder as the anxiety sky rocketed, a wicked cycle that makes for a brutal pump in the forearms. I was 1/3 the way through the route and I just want to get higher and didn’t really care about my time. I was able to shake out my arms for a brief moment but had trouble with my gloves stacking up and essentially entrapping my hands on each other while trying to grab the tools.
I could hear friends cheering for me and I pulled hard to the next hold. I placed the tool on the right side and could not see a hole to put the pick into, so I fished around for a second and then popped off as I lost power and hooked my tools together.
There’s nothing like a good ass beating to realize how different the climbing style is here in Europe. The techniques and demanding mix of dynamic and static climbing are far beyond anything that we train for in the states. My only regret in not making it further in the competition is that I will not be able to climb more on these climbs to gain more experience. I know that it is up to me to come up with a better training regimen if I am going to come back and be a serious competitor in this venue.
The speed climbing competition was held on a large snow mound that they had trickled water down on to try to make an ice surface for climbing. It seemed like a good idea, but many of the ice hold pulled out during competition, breaking off large faces of the frozen façade. One of the guys from the Netherlands ripped through the ice with a tool and lacerated the medial aspect of his forearm. Some thought that he might have actually broken his arm at first, but it was just a small laceration that the local medical authorities decided that he needed to go by ambulance to a hospital far away to get stitched up. I offered to stitch him up back at the hotel room, but he was already involved in the drama, so they took him away.
Justin Spain and I both had a great time and made it to the Semi-finals in the speed climbing competition. We beat some Russians, some of which are the fastest speed climbers on the planet, but we didn’t make it to the finals. Speed climbing is quite fun, but perhaps one of the most dangerous things we’ve done, besides taking a car up and down the Valle di Daone road.
I am inclined to come back to Valle di Daone to compete again. I would be great to see more of the area climbing and skiing. Many UIAGM mountain guides run this event and are helpful with information. The competition routes are well set and a lot of work goes into them. I told the route setters “thank you.”
I’m hoping to actually feel good for the next competition is Saas-Fee, Switzerland. In Kirov, I was sleep deprived, and in Daone I was sick with a respiratory infection. We’ll see. I’m still enjoying the journey and am learning a ton!

Day before Daone

2010-01-15T06:30:00.000-08:00

1/14/2010 - 1/15/2010
Rested pretty much all day yesterday and then we made a trip into town to pick up some more provisions and check e-mail at the local library. Food isn’t as expensive as petrol is.
Both Justin and I ran headaches all day long. He got a stuffy nose, but then got over it quickly. I on the other hand, got a full blown sinus infection. I got yet another horrible night sleep and had to physically get up at 5 am just to breathe. I hate that. Blowing my nose and scrambling for some kind of medication I might have in my bag to control the symptoms was not helping Justin sleep, so I went downstairs to read my book and blow my nose in private.
Still feeling physically strong, we packed up and started walking to the pharmacy in Daone, about 6km down the road. I loaded up on everything I could and was happy that I could breathe through my nose once again. We were able to thumb a ride both ways, so it was easy to get around.
We met Dennis who was hanging out in his van once we were back at the competition area. He brought 3 other Dutch people with him. They told us that they too had been ice climbing up the valley and found the same sketchy conditions that we had come across the day before. The Dutch crew is good energy and all smiles. It turns out that Dennis also got a sinus infection. I attribute it to the train ride epic to Moscow. It’s about the right incubation period and we all have the same symptoms. Hmmmm.
We went back to our sweet accommodations and I went to bad to warm back up since I felt like I was running a bit of a fever still. We had to load back up once more nad go register at the UIAA office in Daone, then back up the valley. It’s bit of a dog and pony show, but I’m really looking forward to climbing tomorrow and doing my best. Tomorrow is the next competition and I need to have my game face, put on my big boy pants, and “harden the $%&* up.”
Got registered for the competition and we're loaded guns and ready to go ! Should be fun.

Italy - The Road to Valle di Daone

2010-01-15T06:27:00.000-08:00

1/11/2010
The bus took us as far as Vestone and it was a dark when we arrived. We had asked a load of people what the accommodations were like beyond there and everyone said that there was nothing. No hotels, no stores, and no other provisions. So, we got a room at the only local hotel in Vestone. There was a bar downstairs, but nobody was drinking anything, they were just watching soccer on the big screen tv. We got the typical looks from the locals and headed upstairs to our room where we discussed what to do next.
None of the other athletes were coming until days later and we didn’t want to be stuck in this town, so we figured we would try to go up valley somehow. The trick was going to be finding someone willing to drive us since there was apparently no bus service into the Trentino Province, and none of the locals from Berscia knew anything about Valle di Daone. We lucked out and met Michal, a bank worker in Vestone who was hanging out in front of a café when we passed by. He recognized us as ice climbers and was the first person to know anything about the Ice Masters climbing competition in Daone. We seemed thrilled to meet us and offered to take us up the valley, all the way to Daone in fact, once he got off work! We were very happy to have made that connection with him since there were no other taxis and we would have been hanging out and trying to thumb a ride with all of our equipment.
Vestone was the last place we had internet connection, so we made our last correspondances from there. Justin got an e-mail from the organizers of the Italian competition and they gave him a phone number that I was able to use on my Skype account to make a call and get instructions on how to get to our lodging, the Agritur Manoncin. Michael knew where this was and drove us up the windy, twisty, and narrow road out of Vestone to Ponte Caffaro, and then up a more gripping road up to Manoncin.
The light was dim as the sun was setting and there was a light fog over the lower valley where the lake was. Up to our left was an old Napoleon fortress that has significant historical note, for it was here that the later struggle between the Axis and Allied forces was fought when Germany threatened to gain ultimate power.
We drove into the Valle di Danoe and the superstructure of the next competition was in full display under bright lights. It was an amazing structure and very artistically created. Although I’ve seen this structure in videos, it is something completely different to see it first-hand.
Passing the structure to gain the entrance of our lodge is as impressive. We drove up a steep embankment and the owner of the lodge was outside waiting for us. We offered to pay money for the ride, but Michael would not take any. He wished us good luck and was on his way.
The lodge was actually a newly renovated bed and breakfast. The husband and wife owners spoke no English, but the man spoke Spanish, so I was able to communicate in broken Spanish. He showed us our room and then we went downstairs for the proper registration with our passports.
The B&B was a house that the wife’s grandfather bought when he moved from Argentina. They had only recently updated the entire place and the mortar still smells fresh in the bathrooms. Family heirlooms and Italian folk art décor are scattered about the commons area. More notably, this is the first place that we have been able to drink water directly from the tap from since leaving the States.
The Dolomites (little Dolomites) are the mountains that encompass this region. It is interesting that not many people, even the locals, know much about Valle di Daone. It seems to be a well kept secret, but there are so many other places for people to go and visit or vacation.

1/12/2010
I was up early after a good night sleep. Justin tossed and turned and woke up with a headache. I typed some journal entries and then we had breakfast. I had gone through the local ice climbing guide book and figured out where we were in relation to some of the climbs. We only had to walk 6km and gain 300m in elevation and we could do that on a paved road. So, we packed our gear and headed out at the crack of 10:00 am.
Walking up the valley, we were impressed by the grandeur of the area. The rock quality was amazing granite with many large boulders that we stopped and climbed on our way up the road. The reservoir came into sight, as did a large 400m granite face. We scanned it for climbing routes and found a few, but the rock was wet since it was south facing so we would not be able to go sport climbing there on this trip. But it was interesting to know about it.
We reached the reservoir and hiked all the way to the top end where the river enters. Along the way we could see the ice climbs lined up on the north face. We had been told that the climbing was no good on the ice since the temperatures had been warm and the quality of ice was poor. We looked at the local favorite climb, Regina de Lago, and indeed, it was running water with a high flow, spraying mist into the air, starting at about 2/3 the way up the climb. The other climbs near there were getting sprayed from this waterfall, so we decided to head back, cross the reservoir, and try to climb something else.
A low angle climb that had a nice pillar finish was in sight and a guided party had just bailed off the first pitch. The ice looked like it got thicker near the midway point of about 100m from the bottom, so we thought we might give it a go. We cruised over and met the party as they were hiking out. They confirmed my thoughts that the ice was a bit too thin and that’s why they bailed. The guide said that he was not able to get any ice screws in since the ice was too thin. I told him about Notre Dame, a WI6 pillar that was just around the corner that we passed up, but he didn’t seem thrilled to have a look.
We hiked up to the base of the climb and Justin took a look at the ice. I asked him which pitch he wanted and he said I could start. The guide was right when he said the ice was thin and eggshell. Granite slabs don’t adhere to the ice very well since there are not a lot of cracks for the ice to bind to. I climbed the first 70m and was able to place only one ice screw. At the belay I was able to get in three short screws in, two of the all the way, so I was happy.
Justin’s lead was entertaining and was also a rope stretcher at 70m. Since we were alpine climbing in our full sport climbing regalia including our competition boots, leash less ice axes, short quick draws and only one rope, we were a sight to see. Our equipment is meant more for steep to over-hanging terrain. I would have preferred to have glacier crampons and a mountain axe for the first 1.5 pitches. But then we got to the good climbing.
A short 35m pitch gained the base of the pillar where I elected to stage the next belay from. The pillar was a brittle chandelier and would not accept ice screws. It also didn’t like for me to swing my tools into it, so I was left with hooking on the delicate cauliflowered faces. Being a bull in a china cabinet was definitely not the way to climb.
I got about 4m up and went to weight my right tool and it ripped out. The left too was weighted quickly enough to fracture the ice that it was on and it raked through about 5cm of ice before catching on something and preventing a fall. I said “oh, shit” and I could feel Justin on the belay making the rope taught. We couldn’t see each other since he was behind the pillar and I was climbing the front face, but he could see the ice that I was bringing down once it fell off. The WI6- pillar was short, but held my attention. The angle eased off and the ice became more homogenous. I was able to get in a couple of ice screws on the 35m pitch and finish off in the avalanche gully above on some trees.
Justin came up and told me that he was climbing out right of my line just a tad. It seemed like he had a good time of it and we were both pretty happy to be in our position. The light snowfall throughout the day and the grey skies didn’t enshroud the valley, so we had great views and fairly good temperatures all day long.
We went back to the B&B and ate some food, then headed down to the local bar. The man who owns the bar ice an old ice climber who pioneered some of the ice climbing routes in the valley. Looking in the bar, there was a light on and nobody present. We opened the door and said, “hello?” A large man with a veterans cap on came out of the next room and greeted us in Italian. Old ice climbing photos lined the walls and volumes of guide books and hand drawn routes were shelved by the 1970’s-style juke box. I ordered a couple glasses of red wine for us and we sat down at the small bar.
He brought over the local guide book and showed us some routes and wanted to know what we had been up to. He is apparently the local information source, so he wanted some information. He flipped through all the climbs located near Regina de Lago and I cited the one that we climbed. I informed him that it was in difficult condition and not the usual grade. He nodded, and as all ice climbers understand, ice grades are highly variable. It was good information for him also that we were the only party out of 4 to summit a climb that day, including two local Italian UIAGM guides that had given us a ride back down to our lodge.
Justin ordered a Coca-Cola. Once I saw that when it was getting poured from a tap, I ordered one too. I can’t ever remember seeing Coca-Cola on tap, so I had to bite even though I don’t drink sodas.
I asked the man in my broken Spanish with an Italian inflection if he had a guide book to sell. He said yes, and I ordered one for Justin and I each. We also asked that he sign the book, it’s always a good idea and I always sign my book if someone asks. We paid up and walked the 2km back to the lodge.
On the way back, the route setters were still busy working on the sequences and making sure everything was ready to go. Route setting is hard work. Anyone who tells you different isn’t a good route setter. After having worked with Timy Fairfield in China when I helped set the Asian X-Games climbing competition routes, I realized how hard it is to set for an international venue for today’s athletes. Many long hours go into making a creative line that tests the skills of the athletes. Some are the world’s best competitors. We couldn’t stand around and watch the climbing since its not sportsmanlike to sneak-preview, but it was hard not to look at the structure.
Words really can’t describe this thing. It’s like some kind of space vehicle that landed on Earth. Actually, it looks more like the Crystal Cave that we just explored down in Mexico where the world’s largest selenite crystals are found. The cave looks like Superman’s Fortress of Solitude. This structure is similar, but you can climb on it!

Back to the EU

2010-01-11T09:56:00.000-08:00

After the monster train ride from Kirov to Moscow, we caught another ride on the Metro and then hopped back on the train to Domodedomo airport "in" Moscow (:45 min outside of the city). Justin took a separate flight then me. All the athletes were scattered around the airport and looked like zombies walking around, aimlessly looking for some rest and a way out. I caught a flight through Brussels and had a great dinner on the plane, the finest airplane food ever.

Justin and I met back up in Milan, Italy after a series of delays in flights. After a good night sleep in a hotel room and a hot shower, we had a hot breakfast then hit the road. We took a bus to the train station. The bus driver performed some impressive road rage on a small passenger car complete with finger throwing and a full-on attempt at running the car off the highway. I was sure the small car would pull out an Uzi and finish the deal, but we somehow successfully made it to the train station without any gun fire or grenades going off.

It was easy enough to buy a train ticket for 8 Euros, but the 50 Euro fine for "not validating the ticket" was more than enough to pull my trigger. I paid our fee and we got off the train at Brescia. I immediately went to the "Customer Care" department and attempted a civil approach in explaining our case that we were foreigners and that we were sorry for our misunderstanding since we have traveled in a lot of trains and they are all different. Some have it so that you pay up front and get on, some have you scan your ticket when you get off. They're all different. Since the lady started talking over me, increased her tone, shortened her interval between words, and didn't want to listen to my case (not to mention the language barrier - Spanish and Italian are two different languages), I got heated up a tad. Those who know me know that it could have been a bad scene, but I was able to keep the extent of the explicates to a minimum and was able to have them write out my case in Italian on a "beg for forgiveness form."

The bus ride out of Brescia and into Vestone was quite impressive. Loads of old architecture, fields, and marble/travertine quarries had me thinking about my dad. He's an architect and I've grown up with an appreciation for architecture, something I haven't seen much of lately. The amount of industry along the valley is impressive. There's also a large cross section of races and backgrounds among the Italian people. For the most part, they are helpful and friendly. I think the train manager should move farther north (or maybe to the East Coast of the USA) to fit in.

We got a flat for 50 Euros and settled in for the evening. Justin broke out some tunes on the iPods and we tapped into the internet to check on friends, family, and what the status of the next competition will be. Our room has a 3 story bouldering wall right out the back window. We might be able to get a good workout on it tomorrow, who knows ?

We both feeling a lot better today and I think the jet lag might be going away for good. One more good night sleep, and I'll be a happy traveler.

We've been on the road and up for so many days, it's hard to remember what day it is. In fact, Justin had a different day on his watch than me, so we couldn't really figure it out until later tonight. One nice thing is that the sun is present and is about 3 times as high as it was yesterday!

From Russia ... to better days ahead

2010-01-10T05:26:00.002-08:00

1/8/2010
A blank stare
In Moscow we had to find our way to a train station. Since neither Justin nor I read or understand Russian, we were limited to form recognition of parts of works. So we would look at a Russian name and say it in English as best as we could. Even though we could kind of communicate with each other, all bets were off when we had to talk to someone else. The Russian language looks like the English and Greek alphabets were speeding in a car together down the autobahn and then were involved in a major trauma scene.
We finally made it to our train station after working our way through the impressive metro system. We had no cell phones or any other means of communication, but we had a time and a place to meet our contact. Luckily, we looked like out of place American ice climbers and we were snatched up by Michelle, our guide to Kirov.
All the athletes lined up to get on board once we were all assembled, and we were assigned a cabin. There were four of us to one cabin and we took all of our baggage in the room with us. Needless to say, there was no room to move. Our beds were small and cramped and we settled in for the 14 our train ride on the Train. The crew of about 15 athletes fell asleep fairly quickly as there was nowhere else to go, no commons area and no amenities otherwise.
I have not slept well since arriving in Russia and the train trip didn’t help. I was up 4 times as it was intriguing to see the train stations at the stops we made as well as looking at the bleak countryside light by moonlight. Once I’m awake, I have a hard time going to sleep. My mind wanders and with all the excitement going to the World Competition, my nerves are a bit fried. I wake up in the morning more tired than when I went to sleep. The jet lag has taken a severe toll.
We hopped on a bus that took us to the hotel. Some athletes look as bad as I feel and some are asleep in their seat as soon as they sit down.
Arriving at the hotel, we are given rooms and have to report back within the hour to register for the climbing competition. All the foreign athletes are in a small room upstairs in the hotel when 20-30 Russian athletes arrive and register. Most of them are teenagers. The rules are explained in several languages and there is some confusion with interpretation.
A short walk from the hotel brings us to a large tower, a ski jump tower to be exact. Underneath is our climbing venue. We are ushered to the isolation building that is an old building with no heat. The temperature outside is minus 29°C. Ice becomes brittle at minus five. The “warm-up area” is a timber post and lintel system inside the hallway. Competitors swing wildly past each other on the monkey bar structure in hopes of getting some kind of warm-up.
I’m leaning up against the wall and as I look down, the whole room shakes, as if a bomb went off outside. I looked at Justin to see if he felt it, but his face tells me that I am the only one feeling it. I realize that I am in trouble. The jet lag, travel, and excitement have taken their toll. I now know that I am punch-drunk tired and I am not ready to compete. My heart drops into the pit of my stomach. I get more nervous since I know that I am in a weakened state and am not strong enough to even get a good warm-up session in before heading out to take my turn at on-sighting a climbing route in this competition. It’s over before it’s begun and the room continues to shake intermittently. I almost can’t stand up without losing my balance.
Trying to get a warm-up on the flexing timbers, my muscles are at about 60-70% capacity. My name is called out in Russian and I am taken to the venue. They tied my knot and I am looking at the route. I laugh out loud and look around and know that I only want to lay down right there and go to sleep. It’s crazy to think that, after all the training and effort to be afforded a chance to be where I am, that I cannot even climb. I am trying not to internalize the shameful feeling that somehow I screwed up to be in this poor of shape.
They prod me to climb, so I get on the wall and start. Both axes on the starting hold and I begin to move across the traversing opening moves. The third move goes to overhanging terrain and the weight of my body feels like a ton of bricks. The cold penetrates past the skin and my arms feel like lead. I try to kick into the boards, but my crampons bounce off. I let go and drop to the ground.
We are allowed a second try, so I get back on thinking that somehow I might get a better flow to the climb and that by some miracle that I will be able to get moving upwards. The second round I get a twinkle of power, but only briefly. I do some figure 4’s and figure 9’s and get through the same moves and one more. Then, the high feet come in pulling the overhang to a very long stretch to the next hold. This is my main weakness in climbing since short people have an easier time crunching up and bringing their legs up to move past the overhang and I am not a short build.
I’m too cold, too tired, and I can’t think. I look at the hold and I now see two of them. Double vision isn’t what I needed. I simply let go and I’m done with my first World Competition climbing event. I’m completely embarrassed. I feel I’ve disgraced everyone, including the route setter, friends, family, and sponsors. I just want to puke. As cold and miserable as it was, I stayed around to watch Justin climb. Justin, unfortunately, did as poorly, but was also the victim of either the language barrier or unfair judging since they called him “outside the boundaries” on his second attempt at the second hold. They counted his highest point however, so we tied for 33rd place out of 38.
The route was too hard right off the deck since we weren’t the only ones who suffered as bad. Nearly 1/3 of the climbers has fallen there and never even made it past the first clip. In fact, nobody even finished the climb, not even the world’s best climbers could not finish it. As a result, there is a complaint to be filed by the judges to the overseeing body of route setters. I’m not sure how any of that will work out in the future, but it was a rough start for the newcomers from the USA.
I wasn’t really phased by the ordeal since I couldn’t expect that I knew that I was pretty much doing well just to make the appearance and to expect much more would be unfair. Justin was upset for a while but he got over it quickly after I told him how I did and reassured him that this was only the first of a long series of competitions this month. We weren’t in Ouray where we only had one shot for the whole year. We were on the World Competition circuit and would have at least three more opportunities to tie in. The rest of the evening was spent socializing and meeting some of the people involved in organizing the competition as well as some of the other English speaking athletes.
The following day we were able to go to the Kirov indoor rock climbing gym where all of the local people climb and train. I was shocked to find out that this was the only place that many of the Russians have ever climbed using their ice tools. So, they are familiar with all of the climbing holds used in this competition in Kirov, whereas we were learning on-sight, meaning that we had never seen the holds or were able to hang off of them. This is a clear hometown advantage. I would have liked to of climbed in this gym at least once before getting on the route. The locals make all their own holds out of 1 part polyester and 3 parts sand, but wouldn’t share an exact recipe, all interesting and good information for me or anyone else who might compete here in the future. Anyway, we all got a good session of climbing in under more hospitable conditions. It felt good to move and I got into bett humor quickly.
We dressed up for the speed climbing competition in the early evening. The sun had set hours ago and the ice climbing wall was lit up with bright lights and a disco ball with music trying to pump a good vibe through high winds and blowing snow. I had never competed in a speed climbing competition before, although I had set a few of the lines in Ouray several years ago when they used to have speed climbing competitions. Dennis Van Hoak lent my his speed climbing tools and I gave it a go with a couple of warm-up tries. I as moving well enough and thought I might have some fun. Indeed, I had a load of fun in the competition round. I climbed well all the way up and nearly hit the buzzer at the top when I pulled out a chunk of ice that sent my flying, leading to my disqualification. I would have made the next round had I stayed on, but it was not to me.
Dennis was really upset since he fell off only three moves up the ice. Having taken 2nd in a World Cup speed climbing competition, he was a bit disturbed. I gave him some good words that it wasn’t his fault and that he still has more competitions. It seems like a nice way of coping with failure when we look ahead at the next round. It sooths our emotions somehow and is like a little sugar after having swallowed a heap of bitter.
More socializing and hanging out watching others climb in the semi-finals and finals competitions for the remainder of the stay in Kirov. There’s really no nightlife for foreigners that we knew about, especially with the language barrier.
The finals route ended as expected. The girls all failed at the ice since they have never thrown their ice axes into virgin ice. The men finished as expected with Markus Bendler finishing first. Harold Klammer from Italy might have been closer to the podium, but he dropped an ice tool and was not allowed to continue. Russians finished out the top remaining slots.
We were still on the clock since we still had to pack, eat dinner, and catch a bus to the train station all within an hour. We got on a train the took us about half way back to Moscow and we went into the bar and had a good time with al the athletes and some of the local folks. Unfortunately, we had to be dropped off at the half way city for some strange reason. Likely it was an error on the organizers part. This set us laying on the terminal floor for four hours until the next train came through to pick us up for the remainder of the trip. At least on the second leg we were able to get a bedded cabin and catch some sleep, although I didn’t sleep much. Go figure. Time to start changing something.

Kicking around Moscow

2010-01-05T19:32:00.000-08:00

1/5/2010
Thawing out from an active morning in Moscow is an active endeavor. Justin Spain and I had had to cruise in to the Kremlin (where we were ejected from with our Avalung backpacks previously) to see what all the hubbub is about.
There were tons of kids being separated from their parents at the checkpoint. That would freak me out as a parent. Ya, just send my kid into the Kremlin and I’ll pick them up in a couple hours. Hmmm. They let me go through and Justin followed, trepidatiously. Why they let the tall American with a yellow jacket through is beyond me, but we just kept going and didn’t look back. All the rest of the locals were ushered off somewhere and we rolled into the Kremlin somewhat unattended.
It was 09:30 and the sun was barely above the horizon. The center of the main plaza was empty except for about 4 other people. We rolled into some of the cathedrals and witnessed some impressive history I’ve only seen or read about in history books. Some of the artwork on the walls dates back to about 1030 a.d. and graves of many Catholic Saints were laid to rest inside of metal caskets. The Muslims had built some incredible structures that the Catholics had laid claim to and subsequently placed golden crosses on top of. The struggles of religion have always been a major point of strife and more lives have been lost due to holy wars than any other reason. This became very clear standing among these cathedrals.
The fortress of the Kremlin is impressive. The hand cut cobble stone roads frozen at -10C this morning have seen so many people come and go through the ages. Nobody talks, perhaps because of the lack of having the freedom of speech, but the silence here as opposed to the bustling Capitol Hill undeniably reflects the cultures differences. There is no laughing or joking around. Being light hearted is somehow unacceptable, unprofessional, and inexcusable. I’d be in a lot of trouble if I lived here.
Justin’s got the iPod cranking and I think that’s the most music our hotel floor has ever heard! No complaints by the other people here yet.
Tomorrow is a big day. We have to meet our sponsors to Russia and get on the train to Kirov. We will say good-bye to Moscow and take a night train across some of the 51% virgin and uninhabited territory of Russia. It’s time to relax and try to stay warm and recovered in preparation for trying to give it our best shot in the competition. The temps are suspected to be about -20C at competition time – sporting for sure.
Marcus Bendler is the present World Champ. If you’ve never seen someone like Bendler or Will Gadd climb, it’s impressive. Bendler is featured on YouTube with some inspiring ascents during competition. The IWC competition presents itself that any competitor has a chance to do well. I’m hoping to do well, and rise to the level of the competition. Justin and I are representing the USA in this competition. I’m sure that the other competitors will be out to trump us. Anything can happen, so we’ll just do our best and hope to get this first competition off to a good start for the remaining three. It’s just the beginning of the 6 week circuit.
We’re sharpening tools and crampons tonight. We have a train to catch. I don’t want to think about anything besides sleeping tomorrow night and I want to stay out of the cold for a change!!!

International World Ice Climbing Competiton 2010

2010-01-04T20:36:00.000-08:00

2 – 3 January 2010

Flight across the Atlantic to Russia

As a Mountain Guide, I take people into the mountains to attain a goal who are in the same shoes and have the same excitement that I have for this trip to Europe for the 2010 UIAA International World Mixed Rock and Ice climbing Competition. For some, climbing a 14er in Colorado might be a life-long goal. This competition is extraordinary for me and is one of my life-long goals to participate in.

To date myself, I learned how to climb ice with a mountain axe (not a technical ice climbing axe) and when it wasn’t fashionable to fall. Since then, I have chosen to climb on ice axes without leashes, following a more progressive path, and even learned to love the heel spur, an additional crampon that allowed the climber to alleviate some of stress of hanging on by transferring weight to their legs. The spur allowed some to achieve climbing at a level that was previously thought impossible. The use of spurs also allowed for a more enthralling visual experience for spectators. Then, some people took the spur off and went on to climb hard routes “bareback” or “spur-less.” Now, the spur is not allowed in competition, a shame since the evolution of climbing should be embraced and not clipped like the birds of a feather condemned to not experience their full potential. Climbers are presently forced into contrived series of climbing moves in competition routes using “figure 4s” and “figure 9s.” If you can’t do these moves, then it’s going to be a show-stopper. Perhaps the reader can feel my sentiment as a bold statement, but I believe that part of the reason that many people get into climbing is to be able to express their own style and technique. It appears that conformity is etching its place here as it has across the remainder of the climbing culture, a pity.

The opposite is true in Ouray, CO, where I’ve had the great privilege of competing for the last three years. There, the competition routes have been set in a more traditional/alpine style that are more based on the skill of finding a hold on cryptic rodentie and progressing in a generally vertical, straight-up fashion. Sometimes, the competition route is covered with verglass, a thin ice layer that usually never holds my weight of about 200 pounds (90kg). So, I’ve set my sights on climbing in a competition that I know where the holds are and I’m not worried about them breaking. The IWC climbs are standardized so that every climber has an equal opportunity to climb a route that will be generally the same throughout the competition, so there is no advantages to going last, per say.

Although I have grown up climbing on ice, and I call myself an “ice climber,” I spend less than 10% of my ice climbing time actually on waterfall ice. I spent several years learning how to climb bigger and more intimidating ice climbs in the Canadian Rockies. When I was going through Physician Assistant School, I was fortunate enough to land a family practice rotation in Ridgway, CO and I spent most of my time off doing night solos of all the climbs in the area, including Ames, Bridalveil, as well as the Ouray and Silverton area climbs. Dragging a rope behind me, I found it easier to climb at night and by headlamp without any pressures from other parties, the main objective hazard in ice climbing.

Taking the flight from Albuquerque to Chicago Midway, then on to Dulles Washington was an easy first leg. The awakening that I was going to Russia became apparent once checking in at Dulles. Having traveled a fair amount, I never ceases to amaze me how large the discrepancies are between the “haves” and the “have-nots.” At home, I consider myself always bordering on the “have-not” side, but compared to the rest of the world, I have more than most. People see how I get by on meager earnings and ask me “how can you do it?” “Everyone has a different reality” I tell them. Mostly, I am happy be alive and be able to experience the places, people, and events that have shaped me into who I am. Today I am a competition ice climber headed for the World Cup in a foreign, and in the past, a hostile land.

My father and my grandfather were not able to go to Russia, and there may be a possibility that Russia may not welcome Americans once again with the resurgence of communism under Putin’s rule. I wonder how we will be seen in the Russian’s eyes once we are on their turf, the largest geographical, and still a political powerhouse, country in the world. Will it be different in Moscow than Kirov? What about general safety? So many people have been afraid of the perceived low level of safety and stability of the country. I can definitely feel the distance between the cultures just in getting on the plane, but I’m looking forward to dispelling the mystery and making friends and establishing relationships that could possibly tie our countries closer. I wonder if the language barrier will be as limiting as I predict.

Training Blues

Last week was a heavy hitter on the training side and I’m still feeling the effects. It’s now been three days off from climbing and I’m itching to get back into getting some hang time on the ice tools. I know, however, that I can’t afford to push it too hard this close before a difficulty competition. I know my body after several years of ice climbing competition how I need to do things. Everyone beats to a different drum and has a different training regimen. In training with other people it becomes necessary to help each other out since none of the ice climbers I know in the USA have a climbing coach. We are all self-sustaining on all fronts and so we lean on each other to train and climb with. People who don’t climb hard routes find it difficult to understand our “selfish and non-recreational style.”

Timy Fairfied has been as close a coach for me as I could possibly have. He has participated in International World Climbing Competitions and he has the heart and soul of a competitor. He has taught me how to climb better for sure, but has also been able to forge my minds perceptions into strong positive beliefs that allow for completion and success. He still continues to inspire and coach young adults and helps good climbers become even better. Timy has also inspired me to travel and test my mettle outside of my comfort zone. I’ll always carry a little bit of Timy with me, especially on trips like this. I once went with him and Brandi Proffitt to China to set a UIAA competition for the Asia X-Games, so this competition won’t be too shocking, but this time I am a competitor, a bit nervous and excited.

This is a journey that I dreamed of after completing my first Ouray competition in 2007. I brought up going to Europe to compete in this circuit to many people, but nobody was interested and thought it was not worth going. I remember watching another of my inspirations, Will Gadd, appear at the IWC in climbing magazines and even as a cameo in Petzl’s CD movie, “Picth Sorbet.” From there, I become enthralled with the possibility of making my own reality.

Climbing is an interesting activity. Some people take climbing as a loose recreational hobby, especially since the advent of climbing gyms and the high relative safety that accompanies that theater. Another theater has introduced more people into Ice climbing than any other in the world, the Ouray Ice Park. It also has a high safety margin when compared to the way I learned how to climb ice. Now, I train those who are willing and ready, how to climb hard on rock, sometimes even before they have ever tried to climb on ice. This makes for a physically strong climber, albeit, not a strong alpine awareness. The evolution of climbing and its techniques are never-ending. Perhaps tomorrow’s clever climbers will come up with something new and revolutionary.

So, my training has taken the mandatory abrupt turn and instead of working on cryptic alpine-style routes that are also somewhat physically demanding, I have had to work on my power and confidence on the “euro-style” of mixed climbing in order to even think I could show up and sign in for this competition. To the lay person, climbing in one style generally looks like climbing in any other form. However, I can attest that this is far from the truth.

The climbers from Europe are very strong, driven, motivated, and supported by their country and sponsors. I have worked diligently for three years to seek sponsorship in the United States. My efforts have been fraught dead-ends during a hash economy. The USA Olympic Training Committee was completely unsupportive, but it’s understandable, since mixed rock and ice climbing is not an Olympic sport. Having said that, I was extremely fortunate to be picked up as an Ice Holdz team member and received modest financial support. This was the fuel I needed to continue looking for sponsorship and PMI Rope came through with a little more money, enough to cover my rail travel throughout Europe! I was elated. Huge thanks to those two entities. I hope that anyone reading this will support them.

Running track based on my personal VO2 max, climbing days, rest days, eating “right”, not drinking alcohol (as much) and not traveling so much, all spells disaster for personal relationships. I thought that my eating was in check last year when I was counting calories, but I obviously was mistaken when I developed a myeloproliferative syndrome, a condition where my white blood cells were generated, but didn’t turn into full-grown cells. In addition, I had anemia, which contributed to a fairly major fatigue problem. Falling asleep in the middle of the day on a whim isn’t good. I started to eat more and somewhat indiscriminately and became better, I realize that eating is more important than I gave credence.

1/4/2010

Got up yesterday morning and drank some fairly expensive coffee downstairs in the hotel. I worked on my research project for about 2 hours and then checked in with the hotel to see if we could stay for another day since we were told that we did not have a room the day before. Luckily, we got a room. That freed us up for a large chunk of time that we were able to devote to running around greater Moscow unbridled.

We took the swanky Metro to the town center and tried to get into the Armory, Unfortunately, they didn’t allow our Avalung backpacks in, or maybe we had too much of a tan, but we as soon as we got through the metal detector check point, they kicked us out.

So, we ran around Red Square at -22°C and checked out some cool architecture at St. Gabrial’s’ Cathedral. We strolled through the vendors, all of which sold the same trinkets. I bought a couple CCCP t-shirts and we rallied to a rock gym that Justin had found on the internet. Justin’s really good at sniffing stuff like that out with today’s technology, something that most people here are completely oblivious to.

We took a metro to as close as possible and then hiked a km or so to get to what seemed to be an educational compound of sorts. We made our way up to the 4^th floor with the help of two Moscovite girls who spoke the best English we’ve encountered so far. They were able to get us into the gym saying that “we were with them”. We paid our $150 rub and got to climb on their wall that was located in a quite large structure that included a full gymnastics floor, a superimposed track, and tennis courts. The wall was about 150m long and had a good selection of bouldering and tope rope and lead climbing. They desperately need rope. I would have left mine, but we need it for the remainder of the trip. I showed then some IceHoldz and they were a bit perplexed. I left some literature with them about indoor ice climbing and they seemed put out that I would give them information. Perhaps it’s because they can’t use the information or there’s just no way could they ever afford doing this activity since they are limited by their government in what expenses can be covered. The ropes were so bad that when I went to tie in, the rope end felt like a bag of worms since so many people have fallen on the first 8m of it. Justin took up that first 8m, coiled and clipped it to his harness, tied in short, and got stares from the manager of the gym I don’t think the manager understood our thought process. Our though process was, “don’t fall.”

The youth seems to be a lot more accepting and outgoing. Once people here get to be about low to mid 20’s, they seem to have a stern affect. There’s not much smiling, joking, or laughing in any venue. Moscow, in general, is a very quiet and a very clean city. There is no trash anywhere, period. There is also no advertising signs or billboards cluttering the viewscape, that being what it is. Busses and trains run constantly in every direction on overhead electrical power lines, reminiscent of the 1920-30s in the United States. They are quiet and don’t spew CO.

The architecture is by and large rigid, geometrically square, and functional for the time being. I seriously doubt that many of the homes and apartment complexes will be able to be refurbished and brought up to modern day standards easily. My fear for Moscow is that a small earthquake could be absolutely devastating. Justin walks around shaking his head at all the fire hazards he sees. It’s amazing that the amount of public responsibility is at such a high standard and that is what enables this city to not have large disasters. The United States seems to have way more events that could carry a larger threat should it occur in Moscow.

It’s been good to get here early and have a chance to get over the jet lag. We are about 13 hours opposite from home, and the change is a bit grueling, especially at this high latitude. I’m reading my textbook for advanced environmental exercise physiology and the only research that shows helping out with jet lag is Bright Light Exposure (BLE) and melatonin. I have neither. I do have Ambien (works well) and loads of alcohol (blahhh). So spending some days here in advance is a good thing.

Americans stick out like a blinking strobe light here. We are wearing standard clothes for the States, but the Moscovites wear lots of fur or black, brown, and dark drab colors. It’s not my style at all, so I was considering buying a large fezz (or whatever the furry hats are)…ya, right.

On another note, the last time that a UIAA Ice International World Competition was held in Russia was also in Kirov. Will Gadd was the last North American to compete in this competition here, and it was at the time when the revolutionary transition to leashless tools and spurs made an explosive appearance on the ice climbing scene and the front cover of climbing magazines. It was a pivotal point in ice climbing history.

Winds of change

2009-08-25T21:27:00.000-07:00

So the new administration has firmly taken hold and you've gotten rid of your klunker and purchased a new vehicle in the sake of getting ahead ? So now it's time to get ready to climb some rock, get out to the mountains for a hike, or have a mojito. Better yet, do all three. I make the best mojitos around (from a stolen recipe) !

It's off to the San Juans in WONDERFUL Colorado to do a three day guided trip into Chicago Basin. Then, back to NM for some more fun with rock climbing. Our guests are having a great time out in the New Mexico sun and the southwestern chili is as good as it ever is.

Justin Spain is working for Beverly Mountain Guides now and is off to take his AMGA Rock Instructor Course in Estes Park next week ! Good Luck, Justin. He's a great guide already and this will only make him better. I can't wait to glean new information from him when he gets back.

I am feeling awesome now that I am a UIAGM/IFMGA Aspirant Mountain Guide. I'll be hoping to host some guests in Europe this coming year under a fully certified guide. Contact us for details since I'll already be there to compete in this years International World Ice Climbing Competition. There are several venues and I'm hoping to be a competitor. Come join the USA crew at one of the venues (Italy, Switzerland, Russia, Slovenia, or Romania). Otherwise, plan for some skiing in the Alps!

Meanwhile, back at home, we've been busy and have put up more sport and traditional climbs in the Sandias this summer. Grades range from 5.6 to 5.12 so there's something new for everyone.

Ted Geving is back in town as well - good to have you back. He will be making some tweaks to the new web site and showing off our new BMG logo !

Stay in shape and get out and climb with us soon. We look forward to hearing from you.

All the Best,

Marc

Skiing New Mexico and Colorado 2009

2009-04-11T14:09:00.001-07:00

Although New Mexico isn't known for its skiing, certainly not outside of Taos, there is a load of good skiing to be had that's close to the road and fairly steep. The Southwest Nordic Center runs a series of yurts near Chama, NM that are a great place to hike into and base out of for a fun backcountry skiing, snowboarding, or snowshoeing adventure. This last road trip took Kerry Hanes and I to Cumbres Pass where we were able to find some fairly steep skiing (up to 50 degrees). We skied this entire bowl and had a great afternoon.

Afterward, we moved on to Wolf Creek Pass and got in a great few days of backcountry skiing. A nice long tour from the Wolf Creek Ski Area to Big Meadows Reservoir via Gibbs and Spruce Canyons were a good morinig outing.

Then, the Western State Mountain Rescue Team in Gunnison, CO 5 year reaccreditation was held and I set the technical rock rescue scenario. They passed all 5 disciplines of the test. They have great energy and are willing to learn new techniques. I hope I never have to see them working for real with me as a patient, but I'm sure I'd be happy to see them if I needed them ! I've been an evaluator for the Rocky Mountain Region of the National Mountain Rescue Association for a long time and have seen nearly every team in the region perform under stress. It's a difficult task, but the real test is when things really hit the fan and someone's life is at stake. These tests assure competency and provide a good venue for continuine education. There is no professional rescue team for Search and Rescue in this (or most other) area(s). Volunteers do the best they can to help out fallen backcountry travelers in the United States.

Another week of Strike Rescue work kept me busy in Colorado. Tough conditions on a semi-spring snowpack provided a lot of work indeed. A high learning curve for those involved and future planning for other more intense projects are in the works !

On my way back to New Mexico, I stopped off and stayed with Chris and Amy at their place on the Dallas Divide. The next day Chris and I went out to ski the Snake Couloir on Mt. Sneffels. The gate was opened and plowed up to the Ruby Trust Mine.

We rode motorcycles with our packs and skis up to the mine. It was a good thing too since the gate was locked on our way back and we had to jump around the gate. The miners are great folks and their request is that people park at the gate until the county officially opens the road. Ouray County won't opent the road until the avi danger subsides. The Forest Service has its own opinions, and so the story goes...complicated.

Dropping into the Snake Couloir is a big commitment for sure. We did two rappels with a 30 m rope.

I did a lower and then a single rap off a single HB offset nut onto the wind slab that marks the high point of the Snake. A quick test pit showed easy shearing on layers 30cm and 60 cm down, but no failures in compression. The upper layers were a solid hard wind slab that I had confidence that we would not break through. I ski cut the top and nearly lost one of my Dynafit skis as the back end popped out. Good thing I locked the front.

We skied down to the dog leg in a few links as the avi danger subsided farther down from the 60 degree start.

Petal hops were a great technique to use as the couloir became only as wide as our skis. The lower section turned from a breakable crust to powder at 12,000'. we then hiked up to Lavender Col and then skied back down to the motorcycles on mixed conditions for a total of 6880' elevation for the day on skis !

Ouray Ice Competition 2009

2009-01-26T17:58:00.000-08:00

01-16-2009
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http://www.beverlymountainguides.com

Anyone who saw the route knows it was a tough year. Anyone who was on it, knows it was impossible. Someone asked me what the route was rated. I replied M20 since nobody sent it. Granted, it’s doable, but not on competition day and not in the conditions it was in. Overhanging verglass ice made for an improbable ascent. Brutally cold temps at night (10F during the comp) contributed to sublimated detachment and brittle ice on the competition route. Most competitors fell within a few feet of one another ( a couple of bolts apart). The route may be doable on a better day when a climber can reef on the holds, but not this day.

Speaking for my own performance on the route, I felt that I did a poor job of reading the route. Being 6’4” with a +2” index and strong lock-off ability did me no favors in trying to over pull through the opening moves to save time. My second placement hit ice and I felt secure. However, when I looked down at the placement, I could see the ice spalling from under the pick. Needless to say, that placement popped and I was off. Embarrassed and disgusted I was lowered off and wished Stephen Koch good luck and not to take anything for granted. 14th place this year wasn’t what I set my goals on, and I didn’t represent what I’m capable of.

Beyond the agony of self defeat, I was amazed at the amount of people that showed up to cheer and jeer me on. Jason Williams, Justin Spain and Ben Goddard were instrumental in helping me train hard this year and they were letting me know they were in the stands. Thanks guys. The Shooks made the journey and got some ice climbing in as well. Nic and Rose Mary came, bought me dinner after cheering me on, and enjoyed shopping at OMS shortly thereafter. Chrissie brought Logan and Sierra to watch “dad” climb not only mixed rock and ice for the first time, but also to be a part of the Ice Fest in Ouray. All my friends and climbing family from Ouray and elsewhere were having a great time and being a part of a great memory that will last forever. I feel so fortunate to have such great support from these people.

What can I say but, THANKS !

I’d like to publicly thank Chuck O’Dette and Petzl for sponsoring me and having me be a part of an elite team of world renown climbers. It’s a great crew that shows up every year and gets people from all ability levels involved in ice climbing and then throws an incredible party after the competition. PMI has been another great sponsor. Their ropes have kept me alive for many, many years whether pushing my personal limits in climbing or doing rescues in the middle of the night. Their Tech gloves have been great to climb mixed rock and ice with.

On another note, I was happy to coach several people this season so far in the contrivances of mixed climbing. I hope to bring more people into the sport and am thinking about holding a clinic on hard mixed climbing techniques next year. Seems I’m a good coach/cheerleader.

I’d also like to thank Vince Anderson who put so much time and effort putting up this year’s route, Erin and Mel who ran the Fest, Bill Whit who ran the comp, Conrad Anker who MC’d the Comp and took my information at breakfast in the wee hours before the start at the athlete’s breakfast, and everyone who played a role in making the Ice Fest and the Ice Competition happen not only for the competitors, but everyone who enjoys climbing in Ouray.

Having been in the only International Climbing Competition in the USA on an annual basis, I have to say that it’s a great experience. It’s now my third, going on my fourth season in competition and it’s a great experience. My personal goal is to be in next year’s competition and be able to give it everything, to have a good run, and to make the finish or to be gassed out trying, but not to fall off of a chincy hold.

I told Jay Smith at lunch the other day that my heroes are also my friends, there’s not many sports out there like that. I hope to compete again next year and hope to see everyone out there pushing themselves and living life !