Glacier Skiing in Switzerland

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

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

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 !

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

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

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

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.