Archive for the 'mountain' Category

13
Jun

snow lion

By sphincterboy 2 Comments
Categories: backcountry and mountain

Indian Peaks Wilderness, CO 6.7.08. Snow Lion is the couloir just right of center. Ascent is just to the right of the cornice on very nice, steep (50 deg) snow.

 Conditions were pretty good until we got high up when it was warm enough to get things on the mushy side. Small pieces of the cornice were crumbling off as I finished; it was a little disconcerting to see them tumble harmlessly by twenty feet away.

 The dog visible in the picture was the trip leader. He was a mostly-black lab mutt who effortlessly climbed 45-degree snow (D6 rating) and and pretty much completed the perfect dog-day by chasing a ptarmigan and rolling in a recently melted-out, rotting and very putrid deer carcass. It doesn’t get any better than that!

Oh, except for the fact that the pub in Nederland had Avery Maharajah (tripple IPA) on tap. Now THAT is an exclamation point!

02
Jun

Imogene

By sphincterboy 1 Comment
Categories: endurance, mountain and travel

For those of a particularly masochistic bent, registration for the Imogene Pass Run (Ouray to Telluride, CO) is now open. I registered this morning as the (presumed) only entry from Team BaconStrip. OK, I know this does not involve bikes, skis, or active camming protection, but it is fun in a painful sort of way. This is probably the best short trail race in the country and entry is highly sought-after; registration usually closes in less than a week.

Site is imogenerun.com

 You’ll go…you wanna go.

 Another post and pix from Long’s Peak will follow as soon as I can get off my lazy ass and post ‘em.

-SB

15
Mar

signal pk!!!

By nooninator 12 Comments
Categories: Skiing, adventure, backcountry, comrades, endurance and mountain

That’s Stubbie, the smoothest biker you’ll meet, badass alpine shredder, in the resort and B/C and a beer drinking extraordinaire!!!

So I took a much needed break from the bike, in particular, the 1speed!  Last night my buddy Greg (Stubby) called and told me to meet him at Aarons in the A.M.  From there we headed west on I-80 to Cisco Grove, parked, and did the giant slog up to Signal Pk  We thought we were going to ski the north shot on the backside, but noticed if we did another short traverse, we could scrounge a lil more vert out of it.  So of course, we said, let’s do it, and screw the skins let’s just boot pack up this bitch!  By the time we got to the top it was a freaking blizzard out!  Which was off and on… bluebird, blizzard, bluebird, blizzard…We waited for Mr. Sunshine and sure enough he came.  We ended up skiing down an east face that was one of the sickest “Warren Miller Style” screw that, “Powder Whore Style” lines that I skied this year.  Well, maybe not that big, those guys go big!  Nonetheless, it was fanfuckintabulous anyway!  Smokey and Salomon’s lines were pretty sick too.  Not bad for a few mutts and some old dogs!  Ha!  We dropped it like it’s hot, dropped it like it’s hot!  So what we skied down we had to skin up, another freaking slog fest!  When we got to the top we finished off our vittles and waited out the blizzard again… and guess who decided to show his bright face?  That’s right, Mr. Sunshine… so we strapped our shit up nice and tight and skied another sick line down the south face of Signal Pk and took the long semi-downhill traverse back to the car… this was were Smokey and Salomon were really able to show off the speed and not so graceful agility… I think they got broke the fuck off, well, so did Greg and Aaron and I!!!It was a six hour day and we weren’t lolly-gagging around either.  Maybe a lil, like pals do I guess!  Sorry Wolfy, no pictures, to busy skiing!  Sorry for not calling everyone else either, it was a last minute thing and we left early.   Later dudes and chicks, Nooner   

08
Feb

12 More Turns

By localcrew 1 Comment
Categories: Skiing, Videos, adventure, backcountry and mountain

This video is making the rounds. It’s likely you’ve already seen it, but if not it’s worth a peek. Of note is the thin margin of error at work here. These guys were playing it safe, making good choices, and were snow savy (the victim of the slide had his Masters in snow science). Still, things didn’t turn out so well.

08
Feb

Me and Lynn Hill

By sphincterboy 4 Comments
Categories: mountain

Greetings from the Front Range…

I spent yesterday evening at the grand opening of the Bradford Washburn Museum of American Alpinism, at the headquarters of the American Alpine Club (americanalpineclub.org). (BTW, if you’re a climber, you should be a member–it’s cheap and the club is an invaluable advocate for mountain-type people like us.) There were a few celebrity climbers there including Lynn Hill, the phenomenal woman who is regarded as one of the finest rock climbers of all time. She sent The Nose in Yosemite Valley, at a time when a) it was not thought possible to free-climb the route, and b) it was definitely not thought possible for a tiny female to do it.

I’ll admit I was too shy to actually go up and say hello, so I entertained my friends with an imagined conversation.

Me: “Hi Lynn. I’m John. You may not know this, but we have something in common.”

Lynn Hill: “Really? Like what?”

“Well, we’ve both freed an old aid route in the Valley.”

“Huh. Which one did you do?”

“Oh, it was [indistinct mumble] ssgghtsh.”

“What?”

“Uh, mmfsttbbls rrchhsalghtz.”

“Sorry, I can’t understand what you’re saying.”

“Uh, never mind. Hey, look, you can get Fat Tire over there for two bucks. Bye Lynn, seeya out in the woods.”

Well, Lynn Hill and I in fact have both freed old aid lines in the Valley. The difference is that hers was 30-some pitches with a 5.13c crux that had never been done, and mine, Royal Arches, was a crowded, 13-pitch 5.7 trade route with a half-dozen moves of 5.9+ that were usually avoided by the use of a short fixed line. (But hey, it was thin 5.9+ man! And it was scary!)

Wolfy, I still count that among my better days on the mountain. The beer sure tasted good that night.

SB

05
Feb

For a limited time only

By localcrew 3 Comments
Categories: Skiing, backcountry and mountain

I’m a little torn about mentioning this to y’all, but, well, someone had to ski it. It’s been a great January and I’ve yet to see any tracks on this local peak. That changed this morning.

I have to confess I’m a little concerned about the access to this place. There’s a number of No Trespassing signs peppered in the trees leading up to this spot. And though I’m pretty sure we did a good job of staying on public lands and using public right-of-ways to reach what the topo-map indicates is a thoroughly public-owned piece of lovely skiing, I’m going to err on the side of caution and let the pictures speak for themselves.

So, no beta for you!  Those of you who have scoped this line will put it together easy enough. And if you do, please be so kind as to not give away anything in the comments.  The last thing I’d want is for the guy who put those No Trespassing signs up to see his (publically owned) backyard on proud public display. Keep it  stealth, and we might be able to enjoy this a bit longer.

Near the base of the main shot:

Topping out, looking South:

The squigglies that made the gigglies:

Shagmeister, Pow Commando. Making it look tasty:

31
Jan

D.P. 1/30/08

By taldor 2 Comments
Categories: Skiing, backcountry and mountain

With the persistent snow and cold temps, ’strippers have been regularly patrolling the Mt. Rose b/c on the early shift. We convened this morning for a CC bowl session and the conditions are as good as they’ve ever been - it looks like the time is right for a peak-to-valley-floor run this weekend. It was difficult, but I managed to “pinch it off” partway down and get a few snapshots - clockwise from top left: Brad L., Captain Redbeard, Clair, and B.L. enjoying the view.

D.P. 1/30/08 - small

31
Dec

Sick Pow on Incline Peak!

By Wolfy 2 Comments
Categories: Skiing, backcountry and mountain

Tahoe Backcountry Skiing
Check out this hoser! Who knew knee droppers could do that shit! Yeah Yeah…

Nooner, TheRestlessApe, Pyrofloptic, Tongaroo and Wolfy (me) hit Incline Peak today with Juni and Chloe rounding out the quadrupedal auxiliary (Smoky on the semi-injured list). If you know the area, you can tell from the pic where we were. If you don’t, get a map, view the exif on the pic for the time of day, put 2 and 2 together… Coverage was so so, as was depth, but the compact layer beneath last storm’s 6 inches or so made for some NIIIIICE turns! Got three runs in and Nooner said he was heading back tomorrow. I even defended a cool steep line against Nooner through some rocks and trees. Then the ride out was fast super-g’s through a boulder field! Not a lot of damage considering…

All in all for the depth of snow it has developed pretty well over the last few weeks. Very skiable in the B/C. And if this prediction is right complaints may be on the decline by the weekend. (That is the Draino Gazette-Urinal tho…)

Post up your experiences this weekend! And link up the photos!

Wolfy - Incline Peak

TheRestlessApe - Incline Peak

-M

26
Dec

Day 1 in the B/C 4 Me!!!

By nooninator 5 Comments
Categories: Skiing, adventure, backcountry, comrades and mountain

This past Saturday Smokey and I meet up with Juni, Wolfy, Dave, Dave and Ray for a lil’ backcountry in the Mount Rose  area.

It was a beautiful sunny day, didn’t really know what to expect considering the not so considerate SNOW GODS lately!  Actually I was kinda expecting crappy conditions with crappy conditions…. what we had in place was Sick mofoin powder with crappy conditions!

We pondered a bit below hourglass on what to ski.  Wolfman and myself noticed some fellers skiing our lines climbers right (more appropriately, skiers left) of hourglass… pow lines!  Needless to say, the two Mikes, the two Daves, Ray, Juni and the subtly cracking Smokey headed that way and we’s all had sick lines with the occasional rock jib!

On our way back up to ski the last pitch of the day we ran into your friendly neighborhood tattooed man.  Around that point I believe we lost a Dave and Ray, but added one of our TBS mates and one of my 24 hour mates.

Short story short… Wolfy, Dave, myself, Juni and my BONKING WOLFDOG headed back to the realities (holidays) of the world!  Huck Tatar soldiered on! 

Very few pictures that day… low battery!

Nooner

22
Oct

Bacon Strip ASSEMBLE! Open Space meeting at Rancho Tues. night

By localcrew 0 Comments
Categories: Noticias, Uncategorized, access and mountain

What: Open Space Plan Public Input Workshop
Where: Rancho San Rafael Park, Wilbur D. May museum
When: October 23, 5 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.
Why: Washoe County Open Space is at stake!

Tuesday night at Rancho San Rafael park offers a good chance for concerned folks to get involved in Open Space planning. Here’s a bit of information from the County’s website:

Tuesday, October 23, 2007 : Open Space Plan Public Input Workshop
Have a say in Washoe County`s Open Space Plan

The Regional Open Space and Natural Resource Management Plan is the County’s guide for making decisions that maintain the region’s natural heritage, landscape and wildlife. The proposed update was developed over the last six months with the assistance of numerous partner agencies and the public. For the first time, a natural resource management component has been added into the plan.

Open Space Plan Public Input Workshop

Tuesday, October 23, 2007
5:00 - 7:30 p.m.

Wilbur D. May Museum
Rancho San Rafael Regional Park
1595 N. Sierra Street, Reno

Information: Lynda Nelson (775) 823-6511

And here’s a link to a recent story about this by the RGJ. Hope to see some of y’all there. Probably going via Xtracycle straight to the meeting and would love to see a big old cluster of bikes parked outside.

« Previous Entries
Close
E-mail It