Bariloche, Argentina. PSIA and AIARE combination course.

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.

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

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

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

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.

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

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.