The snow is my compass once again and it points West come December. After taking care of some unfinished work regarding my MS degree, I took off for the south. I made it to Knoxville, TN after the 1st day of driving. Pat was able to play host to me which I was real appreciative of. It was a short, but great visit. Next day I was bound for Starkville, MS. This is where Delores lives! I took her, and our friends Natalie and Emmet climbing over in Alabama. I think for all of them it was their first time climbing outdoors. They were super pumped! Here are some pictures of them climbing.
Since the snowfall has been a bit tardy showing up in the Wasatch, my starting date of work got pushed back until the 10th. That means I didn't have to rush out of the south and head for Utah. So, I spent a week down there getting to know the area more, which was a real treat.
Before I knew it I was on the road again, Utah bound. I had my first stop in Kansas City, and then Denver. I went up to Wyoming to bypass the roads in western Colorado. Up in Wyoming, it was -10F actual temperature. A big shock compared to climbing around in T-shirts and shorts just a few days ago in Alabama.
The weather forecast for the Wasatch is looking real good for skiers. It snowed a couple inches down in the valley last night (so more up in the mtns.), with 10 inches expected tomorrow and another system moving in next weekend. Looks like I didn't miss anything this past November out here!
More pics from the road trip are here: http://picasaweb.google.com/Kyle.Walcott84/RoadTripDec09#
So counterintuitive. Inside reading about the outdoors. On the 20th I graduate and go to the school of mountains. This is exciting news. Lets see and in other news, I am doing a big candy cane drive of the country. I've never been south of Maryland so this will all be new to me and I couldn't be more grateful! I think I'm exactly where I'm suppose to be in life and I couldn't be more happier.
I'm also anticipatory about a couple of things. Less than 2 weeks from now I'll be seeing Natalie, a girl who I worked with this past summer and one of her good friends, Delores! The plan is to go caving, camping and climbing! In Mississippi!! Whoohoo for a new state! The other thing on my mind is skiing. I just love skiing. I am so excited about this season coming up! I got distracted by old footage I've had on my computer. I heard that a guy who I skied with is coming back to Utah this season. He's been living down in Bolivia, guiding some mountain biking tours on some pretty crazy shit. So this video is a tribute to him.
ok. time to be more present. Concentrate on reading about the outdoors...
Here is a video I made from the job I had up in northern vt. It was a pretty great job and I'm glad I got to spend so much time in the woods and working. New York for a couple of weeks, then back out to Utah.
I've been here in VT, working for the Green Mountain Club since August 8th. Things have been fantastic. I have a pretty laid back boss, I have excellent co-workers, and I live in a hut on top of Mt. Mansfield.
The work is sometimes less than exciting, but you have to make your own happiness. Happiness just doesn't go out an find you. I've been able to hike a few of the more exciting trails leading to the summit and have had some excellent conversations with people on the summit. One guy in particular was someone who I consider an "old salty dog" who use to be a Yosemite climbing bum who climbed Denali back in 87. This shocked me because 1987 was one of the worst season to climb the peak and it took true guts and grit to get to the top. In perspective 6 of every 7 people failed. This guy was in his late 60's, bagging the highest peaks in each state. He told me he clicked off 26 the last 3 weeks. He seemed like a kid in a candy store. Very happy and excited. It was inspiring to see.
So coasting along on a minimal budget with out a job is about to come to an end. Soon, starting August 8th, I will be coasting along on a minimal budget with a job! Whoohoo.
It's been since Mid-January. Times are tough in the job market. I would say that I learned more in the outdoors over that duration than I ever would anywhere else. I put myself in situations and taught myself some new tricks. Here's a tick list of what I've been up to. I think I packed a couple of lifetimes the last 7 months.
100+ Days of skiing in the Wasatch. Many over the collar, really freaking deep days of skiing. 2 new pairs of skis. A fair bit of climbing, hiking, & running in LCC & BCC. Mt. Rainier via Kautz route. Mt. Hood - skiing on some of the deepest days they had this season. Tetons - Hiking Zion, SW Utah, Gunks - Climbing up up up and away. -6 score in Wii Golf. Beat that Tiger.
The job is working with the Green Mountain Club. Here, I will be a caretaker for the summit hut on Mt. Mansfield. So you can find me there 5 days a week. The other two is my time off and I plan on seeing what VT. has to offer for climbing. This job runs into mid November. From there who knows where I'll be, but I hope to make my way back to Utah. The snow is my compass needle.
July 6th-7th Being unemployed with no obligations does have its benefits and being mobile is one of them. On July 4th I was celebrating my independence by packing up my life into my little Mazda and headed for the Cascades. 12 hours later I arrived at "The Farm", a house for the guides who work for RMI. While here, I met up with Mikey, a guide who I worked with when I was up in Alaska. He played host for me as we drank other peoples beer and shot off the potato gun. The next day, we were on the fence of what route to do on Rainier. He let me decide, and between Liberty Ridge and Kautz, I chose Kautz. Liberty had to many objective hazards for my liking and felt that it was to late in the season for the committing line. One of Mikes friends, Erik, came along with us. We had a bit of a late start (10am) for the first days hike up to high camp. The weather was looking grim, but we knew we would hike out of the cloud level.
We broke out of the cloud level around 8.5k and set up camp around 11k. It only took 6 hours to go from the parking lot to high camp! We were moving fast, or so I thought. I was pretty happy with that. Here's a pic of me and a pic of our high camp area.
The wind was incredible that night. I might have received a combine 30 minutes of sleep before the wake up call for the alpine start. We left by 2am. This was imperative because we retreat down the same way we go up and there is a tight section where rock and ice fall were a major concern for mid day hours. A view of the route from high camp & a pic of Mikey ice climbing around 2am! Whoohoo.
The top is within eye site, still 2k away & views all around:
Camera died at the summit (I do have video of it), but here are some pics on the return down. Rappelling a few hundred feet with a 50 meter rope was mentally draining. Rap 20 meters, drill a V-thread, rap 20, drill a v-thread. etc..
Once we hit our high camp, we took a 2 hour nap, and then proceeded to glissade down most of the mountain.
Rainier was such sweet mtn. to climb that I'd like to head back earlier in the season next year to get on Liberty Ridge.
Yesterday was another great day of climbing in Big Cottonwood Canyon. I went climbing with Brenton who will be climbing a few days with me up in the Tetons come July. Todays objective lied on the Mule Hollow Wall. Mule Hollow has a bit longer approach than other climbs. This means more seclusion from others. We didn't see a single sole around.
A view of the wall. It's at an angle that makes it look like a bunch of trees. In reality its a huge 500 foot slab.
The climbing was sweet. Great features on the quartzite. The first pitch was money. The next two were just long run outs/wondering off route type climbing.
A view of the bottom of the climb & a view of the first pitch.
We covered a lot of ground relatively fast. After the climb five rappels brought us down to the ground. Hiking out I managed to bang up my knee, directly on the knee cap! It's still really sore. Ice Ice Ice! Cause tomorrow there might be plans to go up to the Lone Peak Cirque.
The past few weeks here in SLC has been pretty wet. It's usually raining during the day with an hour or two chance to go out for a run. Climbing has been put on hold. Last Friday was the first day in a while that it didn't rain a single drop throughout the day. Escaping captivity of the house, I made plans to meet up with Shelby and go climb in Big Cottonwood.
The highlight was climbing a new route we both haven't done before. It took us longer to find the route than actually climb it! Or so it seemed. It was a long single pitch climb with a small roof to pull at the top which was protected by a bomber #8 golden jesus nut. I was so happy to find that and it boosted my confidence if there were to be a penalty from falling.
Traditional climbing is my absolute favorite type of climbing. I seem to have complete tunnel vision in each and every move I do over the rock. I think I have such high focus because I know I am really taking all responsibility in my own hands. The consequence is real in what you do, whether it be hand/foot holds or gear placement.
This route had a run out start (first piece was about 25 ft. high), but it was relatively easy going. After that the middle section as pretty low angle/big hold climbing. Then you reached the crux roof. It was a pretty exciting climb and since there are many different ways to go up the long roof, I hope to be back. Certainly not a one and done type climb.
Well, the time has come to make life a little more adventurous. With yet another (3rd) unsuccessful job prospect out here in SLC, it's time for me to get moving. The idea is to secure a seasonal job over in the northeast coast starting late July. Until then, it's all about living in the Tetons. The Grand Teton is a peak I've wanted to climb for such a long time. I plan on having a solid 2 week window up there so hopefully I'll have opportunities to climb more than just the Grand, but that one is certainly what I have my eyes set on when I first get there. There is so much to climb there and I hope to get on some not-so-know routes as well.
What else is new? The other day I went on a hike in BCC, which was amazing. A view of the Twins
A cave/mine shaft I found along the way. It had a certain Indian Jones feel to it.
Later in the day my housemate went for a jump. He loves jumping off things and out of 115+ jumps, today was one of his worst jumps by far. A strange wind picked up just as he jumped off the cliff (In Rock Canyon, Utah) which violently brought him to the ground. He's relatively ok. He left some skin on the asphalt but gained some wisdom.
Stew immediately regretting his decision.
Stew with his knee's, heels and hands bruised. He also managed to hit his head against a boulder. Very fortunate he was wearing a helmet or things could have been messy.
Stew's shirt which he will now wear on all of his jumps.
After a marginal weekend at best I decided to dust off my climbing gear to get my butt kicked. I traveled down to St. George, where the sport climbing dominates the area. However my buddy Garrett and I had different plans in trying to climb as much in the traditional sense.
Garrett is a much more seasoned climber than I so I took this opportunity to re-awaken the muscle fibers in my forearms to really push my limits right off the bat.
Garrett leading a 10.b in Zion (northern part in Kolob Canyon)
Beauty in Zion
Me heading up pitch 1 of Rat Race (Snow Canyon, St. George) 5.9R This climb had everything. Off-width, crack, slab, runouts, chimney. It was a beast! Little bit of technique in everything. We decided to link this route up with Will's rush. Overall a 500 ft. climb. The idea was to have an early start and try to beat the heat but that didn't work out so well.
A side view of the climb we did in Snow Canyon. The low/center of the pic shows a pretty big obvious roof which, on its left hand side is a big crack. This was pitch 1 of Rat Race.
I'm glad to be back on the vertical world. It brings you to places you never knew existed. Climbing also brings you to challenge both your physical and mental attributes. I find myself each year bringing my body to new levels it never knew existed. This summer I hope to climb a bunch in the canyons (BCC & LCC) and when Garrett visits, the Lone Peak Cirque.
I haven't posted in a while. It's hard to stay present and reflect on the day when all you're doing is waiting for an e-mail or phone call to let you know if you got a job or not. This especially holds true when so much is contingent on getting a job. Bills, planning a vacation home, going on a gear buying binge, and just knowing what's in store for your future has what's been racing in my head. After three interviews my patients are wearing thin. However today I haven't had a single thought (until now) regarding what was previously stated.
This is what I live for. Interesting perspective on some of the peaks that I've done in this photo.
I had such an amazing day in the mountains. My head gets clear, problems/stress gets put on reserve, and I live in the now. Going with an old housemate and his brother, we decided to do some skinning where ever the snow levels were at in Big Cottonwood Canyon.
The weather was amazing. The snow was even better. We scored some snowmobile hookups to bring us to the top of Brighton and from there, it was skiing in an open bowl on the backside of Brighton (Clayton's Bowl) and skinning around; doing some laps in there.
Did 2 laps in here.
Andy on the 2nd lap.
1st set of my tracks about to be doubled up!
This will not be my last day skiing this year. There's to much snow to say no.
5 A.M. the alarm clock rings. Up and out. With everything packed and ready from the previous day the morning doesn't take to much effort. Before I know it I'm at the White Pine TH in LCC. The main objective is White Baldy, accessing the summit via West Ridge and to have a ski descent down the North Face. This early in the morning makes snow at all elevations feel like an ice skate. It's incredible how well skins work. With relative ease we make it to the Red Pine Lake with a clear look at the route.
White Baldy to the left with the ridge center.
Things became more complicated than what we were expecting once on the ridge. Snow became more firm, ridge line became more narrow and steeper with greater penalties of falling. After a few sections where we thought were the "curx", we halted at the false summit and planed to ski off of that.
Shelby at the last "crux" of the day.
View looking north.
Conditions were firm at top but the snow became more forgiving with each turn down the face. This was my first tour with Black Diamond Megawatt's. These skis can do it all and held impressive edge control down the face.
Since pictures do better than words, here is a short edit I made of the day.
Being the first winter out west, I've never had the opportunity to experience a ski season this long. It's May and the skiing is phenomenal. Today Keith, Brian and myself headed up the American Fork Twin Peaks. The top elevation is 11,489 which casts a shadow over Snowbird Ski Resort. In route, one must go up East fork along a ridge and traverse west towards West Fork. The game plan was to ski a popular line called Pipeline.
The Twins, with the ridge in view (lookers left) leading up to East Twin. Pipeline is the obvious chute lookers right off of West Twin.
Standing on top of West Twin looking at where I came from.
Ski tip shot going into the main chute.
The conditions were pretty good. We entered in at 10:30 and things were nice and soft. More skiing awaits. As you can see there is no shortage of snow.
