swoosh swoosh swoosh WOOSH!

Greetings Blogworld!

Things have been crazy around here. We last wrote about our snowcamping experience on a beautiful but frigid moonlit night on the snowy white flanks of Mount Shasta. The storm that had blown through the week before kicked off a near-non-stop barrage of pacific storms that have more than tempted us to go and enjoy the deepening snowpack.

So we've been running around doing this and that, keeping the laundry and the food runs ahead of the calendar so we can bug out for long day trips and 'vedge' out the next. This month is a little smoother sailing. But there are still more snowdates to come, and despite this high looming over us right now, hopefully a few more storms.

So don't worry, there is a lot of things in the works. Some test footage from a new camera. Tales of triumph and tribulation. Nutritious, delicious snow, and more. We'll slap some cool posts together in the coming days and and over the next few weeks as our winter hopefully produces another good run before it gives way to spring and skiing gives way to more hiking and climbing...

For now, here's a shakycam xc skiing video tidbit:

SHASTA!

Trip Report - Snow camping at Shasta and Transceiver clinic
Mount Shasta
February 13 - 15, 2009

We finally did it. We went snow-camping. It turns out snow camping is a lot colder than you think, but Shasta was beautiful. We took the long drive up to Shasta and stayed in a very nice hotel on the first night, called the Cold Creek Inn. Eric, Kenneth and I decided to take a transceiver workshop up at the mountain. I didn't realize how close we were going to be the mountain but Shasta stood proud above us the entire time we were there.

Shasta in all it's glory!

The Cold Creek Inn was quaint. We stayed in a suite that had two rooms and everyone was comfortable. We got there really late at night, so the hotel having late check-in was very helpful. The hotel provided an interesting breakfast of oatmeal, Nutri-grain bars, fruit cups, boxed juice, and tea. I'm pretty sure we still have a V8 in the fridge from the hotel as well. After our morning "meal" we headed to a mountain gear shop named The Fifth Season, and met our workshop leader, conveniently also named Eric. After meeting at the store, the group there for the workshop drove caravan style up to Bunny Flat.

Walking on Bunny Flat

Bunny Flat sits at the foot of Shasta. Shasta appears intimidating at first, but it's beautiful features are the real dominating factor. The workshop was a lot of fun. We had to use our transceivers to find other buried transceivers in the snow. They were buried a few hundred feet apart, but not to deep. It seemed like a really easy task, but I can only imagine how nerve racking using a transceiver could be if there was an actual life attached to the other end of one. It's an important thing to learn if one wants to travel in back country snow.

Kenneth searching for a transceiver.

After the workshop was over, we enjoyed some tuna sandwiches and Bugles by the car. Over lunch we decided it would be a good idea to get camp set up before the sun started to go down. We piled all of our gear into backpacks and onto the sled, and went to go find a spot to camp. At first, Kenneth was going to snowshoe, and Eric and I were going to ski. Eric had some trouble going up hill on his Telemark skis, so we ended up going back and getting our snowshoes also.

Our wonderful sled.

We found a spot not too far from the car, and started to set up camp. Snow camping is hard. Usually it takes us about 5 minutes to set up a tent, but I'm pretty sure this tent took almost two hours to set up. First you have to pat down the snow with your feet. You have to wear snowshoes though, or you will sink into the snow. Then you have to figure out the snow stakes.

The stakes we had weren't working so great at first, so we had to reassess the situation, and start over from scratch. After figuring out the stakes, we had to prop up our A-frame tent with a pole. That took forever because the pole kept sinking down into the snow. OK, so we have a tent up, now we need to build a trench in the snow floor of our tent. We went to a snow camping talk at REI, and Zoo (the guy giving the lecture) told us that you build a trench so that the cold air drops into it, while you sleep above it. I don't know if that worked or not, I couldn't tell the difference, but I know it took a long time to shovel out the snow.

Time to build a kitchen.

Great, we finally got camp set up just as the sun started to go down. We were looking forward to a beautiful moonlit night, and hoping to eat something soon. Next, we had to dig out a kitchen. Snow camping requires a lot more digging than regular camping does. It just kept getting colder while we were setting up the kitchen, and Eric and I were starting to feel the absence of our puffy jackets. Some how I managed to forget them, but we had enough layers to survive. I will never make that mistake again, though.

The sunset was marvelous.

Making dinner was interesting. You can never leave your mitts off for too long on a cold night near Shasta, so we had to do things quickly. It was uncomfortable, to say the least. It took forever to boil snow for water and most of the time we just sat there, cold, staring at each other, wishing for hot food. The good thing was that our food only took about five minutes to make once we had boiling water. We feasted on a ramen spaghetti recipe invented the night before, and hot chocolate.

After dinner, everyone pretty much just wanted to get into their warm sleeping bags and sleep. Eric managed to take some beautiful night shots of our surroundings, but that was about it for the night's activities. There was no campfire, no singing to a guitar, no drunken conversations, no s'mores. It was cold and boring. I think Kenneth might have had a sip of bourbon but that's about it. The night was beautiful though, it was a full moon and the snow glistened. It looked like a million diamonds were spread all around us in a meadow of white. The night was still too cold to enjoy for long. The temperature dropped to about 18 degrees Fahrenheit, and we were feeling it.

Eric's night shot.

It was a long night. A cold long night. I actually fell asleep, which still amazes me now. I slept with my head in my sleeping bag all night and with my booties on. When morning finally came, I was so relived. It was crazy to see all of the people coming down from the mountain that spent the night up there. We thought we were crazy for snow camping, but some people climbed half way up the mountain just to camp! Everyone that stopped by our camp said it was very windy. I'm glad wind didn't play a factor in our experience.

Morning at Shasta was also beautiful, and cold. We took a second to enjoy the wildlife visiting our site, but then immediately tore down camp and proceeded to find the nearest, warmest, yummiest breakfast place in town. We found a restaurant in town called Lalo's, and their breakfast was the best part of snow camping. Boiling water again for two hours to make oatmeal wasn't going to cut it for this crew. We needed hot tea, coffee, omelets, and bacon. It was crucial to our sanity levels.

Our little snow camping friend.

Shasta is a very magical place, but I would only snow camp there again if I was planning on climbing it. Snow camping just for the hell of it doesn't make sense. It's cold, uneventful, and well, COLD! I can't wait until we go car camping again. I'm going to cook a hot meal on my propane stove, have a nice warm fire, and enjoy some drunken banter with a dripping s'more in my hand. Nothing compares to it really. I would definitely go back to Shasta, hopefully to ski next time, or to snowshoe around. Although we will probably find ourselves at a nice hotel (or motel) that night, were it is nice and cozy.

It sure was a beautiful morning.

Photo Gallery:

Shasta Snowcamp

Free Your Heel and Your Ass will Follow

You don't always need a lift to enjoy good skiing. Nordic skiing offers a number of ways to enjoy the snow covered wilds without the cumbersomeness of snowshoes or the trudgery of postholing. The unifying concept is that in one way or another, your heel can pivot free and allow forward motion under your own power.

There *was* a trail here at some point!

Amber and I took up cross-country last season.  Even though in some ways it is more challenging, Amber preferred it as an introduction to skiing since she could work on balance and technique without the mental stress of always being pointed downhill.  In the process we've fallen in love with Nordic skiing.

The Summit Lodge at Royal Gorge, a large, groomed, Nordic trail system

For one, Nordic skiing can be very economical.  A trail pass for a groomed cross-country center typically costs a of fraction of the price of a lift ticket at a downhill resort; there are even nooks and crannies where you might find free groomed skiing, and the savvy can leave the Visa Card at home and cut their own trails through the virgin white.

A variety of Nordic skis

While the more downhill-oriented Nordic equipment, like telemark, can rival the cost of high-end alpine gear, the price of a high quality cross-country or backcountry touring set-up is comparable to a bargain basement alpine ride.   But enough about money, it's the skiing that is so freakin' fun!

One side-effect of Nordic skiing is the strange, sudden growth of antennae

They say going up is half the fun, and it's just that part that seems so boring to some folks and attractive to others.  When you get a good rhythm going, and you have good form, gliding forward in a continuous motion seems almost effortless (though in reality it takes a surprising effort to maintain such a smooth stroke).  Climbing steeper hills can require interesting techniques or special gear, but just when you're peaking, then comes a downhill portion beckoning you to relax your lungs and take a free ride down.

Snowbound roads make great ski highways (Glacier Point Road, Yosemite National Park)

It's a total interval workout, whether you're touring over rolling hills, or alternating climbing and carving.  I find it really gets my juices flowing, and while alpine skiing is exhilarating, Nordic skiing has its own special rhythm and harmony that I think, is an even better high.  Plus, after a long day in skis, getting your tracks on the up and the down, you'll sleep better than any chair lift ever did.

Climbing with Hans

A few weeks ago, Eric and I were at the climbing gym when we noticed that Hans Florine was giving a lecture. (Hans Florine is an American climber famous for holding the world record for the fastest climb up El Captain, in Yosemite.) We thought to ourselves, "hell yeah we should go to that!" I was actually amazed that the bouldering wall and big walls didn't completely lose climbers when his lecture started. I guess that goes to show who the real climbers are.

The Nose of El Captain

Hans was hilarious. He showed us some video of him and Yugi (his climbing partner) hustling up the nose on El Captain, more than once. He shared stories of failed attempts, and records that were broken three days later by his rivals. Hans prepared a slide show of information we needed to know about the climb, and the history of his ascents. There were other hard core climbers in the audience, and some of them had also climbed with Hans before.

At the end of the lecture Hans was signing books, posters, and DVDs. We ended up buying a copy of Wall Rats, which is a movie about Hans Florine taking a couple of advanced child climbers up the the nose El Cap. Good thing they took credit cards! We also got a signed poster, which is always a plus.

It's been so much fun learning the history of climbing. It's a relatively new sport, and some (if not most) of the record setters are still alive to tell their stories. Not many sports have that going for them. Seeing people like Hans go out there and tell their stories reminds me why I like climbing. It creates adventure, laughs, stories, and friendships. And I love all of those things!

YouTube: High - Low
Masters of Stone Clip of Hans and Yugi setting a speed record on The Nose

Holiday Recap Pt. II

Trip Report - Winter Fun in the Southern Sierra
Lake Isabella / Kern River Valley / Greenhorn Mts, Wofford Heights, CA
January 1 - 5, 2008

After a couple days at work between Christmas and New Year's, Amber and I headed south to meet some Santa Barbara friends for a sort of ski trip with other stuff mixed in. We stayed at a rental lake house near Lake Isabella, in the Kern River Valley. A short drive away is the small ski resort Alta Sierra (formerly Shirley Meadows). We spent the next few days playing up in the Greenhorn Mountains and also in the Kern River Valley.

View to the east across Lake Isabella

Friday most of us seized upon Alta Sierra's 'Friday Special' which was a comprehensive learn-to-ski or learn-to-snowboard package for only $60. The trip was a bit of a belated birthday celebration for Traves, who was dying to try snowboarding. Keely and Traves signed up for snowboard lessons, while Mike, Amber, and I took a downhill skiing class. The place is tiny, and only has two short lifts, but as newbies of one sort or another it didn't matter much and the price meant we really got our money's worth.

Amber and I did cross-country several times last season, and I had skied a few times as a teenage, but it was good to get fresh bearings on the downhill skis. Amber soon got comfortable on the easy-turning downhill skis and went to work learning to make big esses all the way down the slope. Mike, having never been on skis at all, struggled a little more. I marveled both last year with Amber, and this year with Mike, at how difficult it is to communicate the motions of skiing. Something that seems so natural once you get it, is in reality, awkward, counter-intuitive, and difficult to communicate. But although he tumbled several times, Mike was getting it as the day went along, and was really a trooper. He would get a lot out of this YouTube Learn to Ski playlist we found before the trip.

Snowboarding seems terrifying to me, and Amber has had a bad experience with it before, but Keely and Traves took to it pretty well! By the end of the day, Keely was boarding good distances in a very controlled manner before stopping. Traves had a different approach, he would go as fast as possible and then bail. What seemed terrifying to me was very enjoyable to him, as he would howl with delight after each crash. All in all, everyone had a good time on the mountain that day.

Driving into Kernville

The next day we took it a little easier, flopping around much of the morning, then several of the guys went hiking in the afternoon. We searched for some hot springs, which turned out to be a bit of a bust, and searched for snowshoe rentals, which turned out to be a bit of a bust... The redeeming factor that day was braving the black ice for a delicious dinner at the Kern River Brewing Company, which came highly recommended. Also we were able to recon some of the climbing areas in case we should return some day. Oh, and the champagne, don't forget the champagne.

Surface Hoar

Rime on trees (notice how it coats the windward side)

Though we couldn't find snowshoes for a hike, we did go and have a good time in the snow on Sunday. Amber and I loaded up all the snow junk we could muster and everyone else suited up as well as possible. We hiked around to find a good hill for which Keely had the foresight to get some sleds. When we arrived that morning there was good-sized hoar frost crystals on top of the snow, and the trees were covered in what looked like rime. I dug a test pit and Amber, Keely and I did our best to work through a snow assessment.

Finding the right place to play

Keely enjoying a sled ride

Then the real fun began... We divided into two teams, and spent hours building two huge snow-forts. We stockpiled snowballs then had a breif snowball fight that completely exhausted us. In the afternoon, the sun disappeared and it got pretty chilly, but everyone was doing well. Some snowboarders were screwing around nearby as well. Finally we truged back up to the car, and headed back down to the cabin to unwind.

Traves and Brett build their fort


Our snow fort has deadly spikes!

All-in-all I really enjoyed the trip. The propane tank went out one night and left us without heat for a little while, but he lady who ran the place came and fixed it first thing the next morning. The house had a nice view, and was a good deal since the area sees more visitors in summer, due to the lake. There is also a lot of rock climbing in the area, which we scoped out a bit. Since the valley stays snow-free, it would be fun to return in winter and do some climbing, as the weather was really good for it. Another reason I love California: each season brings so many different options!

Photo Gallery:

Lake Isabella / Shirley Meadows

Aerial Ski Tramways

As it turns out, I love skiing. I once flirted with snowboarding, but only because when I was 16 I thought boy snowboarders looked cooler than boy skiers. The fling with snowboarding ended very quickly. Being frustrated, cold, and on my ass the entire day was not my idea of a good time. Skiing, however, is the exact opposite of that. I was happy, warm, and on my feet. I was also wrong about boy skiers. They are just as cool as the snowboarders, and just as cute.

Eric and I rang in the new year up near Lake Isabella at "the lake house." We went with a group of friends to play in the snow at Alta Sierra, and to drink massive amounts of champagne. We had been cross country skiing before, but never downhill skiing. This time we went downhill skiing, and had a blast!

One aspect of skiing, is finding a way to the top of a mountain. This is really the only way to achieve true downhill skiing. If you were to ski uphill you would be cross country skiing, or possibly ski touring. These are all completely different animals, and this particular weekend I was tackling the art of downhill skiing. To get up hill, most people use a ski chair lift. Ski chair lifts are one aspect of skiing that stood out to me about the last trip. I almost forgot how much I hated the lift.

Image Credit: Chris Pimlott -- cc-by-sa-2.5 license
Short Cut chair lift at The Canyons, Park City, Utah

I dread the ride every time, and I always think I'm going to end up on my butt at the end of it. This time however, was different. I just stood up and glided off the lift. Amazing. How did it work? How was it that I didn't fall? The answer? I was on skis, not a snowboard.

The lift can be brutal to new snowboarders, and new skiers. Not only did one of our friends need the lift stopped for him after he fell getting off it the first time, but he also ended up taking out a cake that happened to be sitting near the lift area. We still don't know what a cake was doing on the slopes, but our friend managed to ruin it with his skis. Lifts are a hell of an invention, and downhill skiing wouldn't be the same without them.

In 1936 Sun Valley Idaho opened a ski resort, equipped with the very first chair lift. The new lift was located on Proctor Mountain, and parts of it are still in use today in Boyne Mountain, Michigan. Ski lifts were originally patent with the name "Aerial Ski Tramway" and were created by Sun Valley's creator, W. Averell Harriman. He was a former New York Governor, and was also loaded. His design was inspired by banana loading equipment used for fruit ships, and that is exactly what I feel like when I'm in one. A piece of cargo being shipped.

Lifts are scary. If you're not careful, you could end up like a piece of cargo fruit. Stripped like a fallen banana, and found hanging by your underoos. Skiing is super fun, but ski lifts still make me nervous. My throat always drops into my tummy right before I have to get off, but somehow I manage to pull myself together and get off of it in one piece. Lifts are a necessity to downhill skiing, so I guess I just need more practice on them. Hopefully no more cakes will be sacrificed.

Holiday Recap Pt. I

Action Report - Success on Cathedral ...err Arlington Peak
Santa Ynez Mountains, Santa Barbara, CA
December 28, 2008

Michael, Amber, and myself atop Arlington Peak

After spending most of the holiday week either with family or prepping Amber's car to take over the role of Adventuremobile from the Golf *tear*, we needed some release. We had planned to go to Mt. Pinos for some winter action, but that plan fell through due to exhaustion. Sunday was our last day in the Santa Barbara area, and we needed some release before heading back to work.

Hang glider soaring over the Santa Ynez

We met up with Michael, and decided to tackle the Cathedral Peak trail, one of the most beautiful 'hikes' in Santa Barbara, and possibly the toughest. I say 'hikes' because there is a lot of scrambling and bouldering involved, and during an earlier attempt this year we turned back due to time. While the route is occasionally class 1, much of the time is spent on class 2-3 terrain; a maze of boulders and manzanita brush.

The "trail" is the ridge leading to the summit

The Cathedral Peak trail is one of the only trails in the Santa Barbara front country that feels like a real mountain experience. It's rarely exposed in any dangerous way, but once you climb up on the "Dragon's Back" the terrain drops off to the left and right. Essentially you pick your way right up the east ridge of the mountain. It's about 3000 ft. of elevation gain in 2 miles, most of that the latter half of the hike.

Arlington Peak is on the left and the "Dragon's Back" route is the rocky ridge leading up to it from right to left

Amber had a hard time getting warmed up. I think we were a bit drained and also had perhaps too-heavy a breakfast. We estimated the hike would take about 4 hours, but it ended up taking closer to 6. Mike was a powerhouse the whole time, he never has to slow down (except to wait for us). If you're looking for a hiking partner who can keep a blustery pace, get in contact with this guy.

View down to the trailhead (yes, there is a reason it looks straight down!)

As we got closer to the top, Amber got her energy back and was really trucking along. Soon we were on top of Arlington Peak, and although I have been to many vistas in the Santa Ynez, this one is worth the trouble. On top of that the storms earlier in the week and winter air made for one of the clearest days I have seen in Santa Barbara. We could see practically all of the Channel Islands, the Santa Monica Mountains, and the Santa Barbara and Ventura coasts. We also had a good vantage point to see the fire scars from both the Tea Fire and an earlier fire in Goelta.

View to the Channel Islands


Anacapa and Santa Barbara Islands


View through the gap between Santa Cruz and Santa Rosa Islands


Land scarred by the Tea Fire

Though the sandstone tooth of Cathedral Peak was just across the way from here, the hike to Arlington is the bulk of the trail and very strenuous. We decided to call it a day there, have a snack, then head downhill to feast on Mexican food. Needless to say, all the scrambling and high-stepping (plus a few holiday pounds) left us all sore for days. Amber and I recovered just in time for the next holiday adventure...

Photo Album:

Cathedral Peak (Santa Barbara)