Eyes Of The World

Out of the States

2011-12-26T06:11:00.001-08:00

I've been less than a mile away from Canada, running the Jay Peak Mountain Marathon. I've been about 20 miles away from Mexico when seeing the White Sands park in NM. Never once have I stepped outside the country until now. I just got back from a fishing trip to Panama, where I was a camera man off shore of the Darien Jungle.
Staying in Panama City for the first night, I didn't feel that far from home. Just another city with shitty drivers but filled with crappy cars.

Then we took a bush plane into Pinas Bay. About 20 miles from the Columbia border on the Pacific Side of things. I think I still felt further away from home when I was in Alaska. However, seeing how some of the natives live there is interesting. A society becoming more and more western.

The fishing was all time. We caught a big sail fish, had a few Marlin bites (one was a 500lb+), caught a 100lb+ tuna, and countless Dorados, saw dolphins, and got unclose with some sea turtles. I was lucky enough to capture most of the moments on film and hope to interpret what I saw when I go back to edit it all.

The whole area had a Jurassic Park feel to it. The entire Peninsula that we were on was made up of 100% basalt, (volcanic rock). I brought some home and gave it as a Christmas presents... Santa delivering some coal.

Winter 2010-2011

2011-07-24T19:16:00.000-07:00

I finally have finished editing a season edit. I enjoy the creativity in this piece, trying to show a fraction of the amount of fun we had throughout the winter days. It truly was one of the deepest snow years Utah has seen in a while. All of this is backcountry skiing in Central and Southern Wasatch. Next year I'll be mostly skiing in the Uintas. I look forward to the new scenery, new snowpack (more of a continental one), and also helping out with the Utah Avalanche Center (Uinta division) as much as I can.
Enjoy the video!

New Chapter

2011-05-14T19:40:00.000-07:00

I was going to write a big long winded piece about my new job but upon reflection I'll keep it short. Live your dream, each day. This video has been the past year of my life doing exactly what I want, which eventually led me to a professional job. I'm excited to have this new life where everyday is not a Saturday, however each day I'll still be living my dream: Editing/Filming/Climbing/Skiing

This past year...

By the way, this winter has been absolutely absurd which copious amounts of snow. Utah is pretty sweet. So sweet that I'm finally planting roots in this great state.

Lisa Falls

2011-03-06T22:40:00.000-08:00

"At least once a year, the mountains deal me a healthy dose of humility. When I found myself repelling knee deep in a water fall while it filled my ski boots, I realized today was one of those days" - Shelby

The plan was hatched two days ago. Lisa Falls or Pfief...maybe South face of Superior? At any rate, Shelby (my ski buddy) wanted a big time adventure. Reading about Lisa Falls has always sparked my interest. It would be an enormous day. Sitting at work up at Brighton I was just contemplating if this would actually happen. Two co-workers were intrigued and wanted to come along as well. Joe (who always seems like he's up for a big adventure) and Corey (who's just looney tunes crazy sometimes) wanted in. Perfect!

The day started out leaving a car over in Little. We wanted to go via Broads Fork and not up Tanners. This added a little bit of mileage/vertical and time but that was alright with me. It would be less time with the skis on my back and booting up something. The idea of booting up a slide path never really excites me.

Heading up to the north side of Sunrise, gaining the saddle on the lookers right. We would gain the East Ridge of the East Twin from there.

On the ridge.. It was a windy one looking down Little Cottonwood Canyon.

The wind was stronger than what I thought it would be. Clouds were rolling in to and I just had an unsettling feeling about 400 ft from the summit. Thank goodness with such a large group, there was no complaining about me pulling the plug on the summit bid. So we did a variation of Lisa Falls, which who knows, could be even steeper than the original from the top!

Shelby skiing down. Right after this little bit, we join the original Lisa Falls run.

A pretty steep, no fall zone section

The rappels at the end. Shelby about to get wet. It was before and after these rappels that really drained me. Lots of tedious down climbing on slick wet granite rock was not reassuring.

Long approach, Steep skiing, narrow chutes, down climbing, anchor building, rappelling, post hole walking... this run had it all. And 3 of the 4 of us were late for work that night up at Brighton. Underestimated the exit greatly.. I am beat up from this type of outing but look forward to more like these.

Before the New Year

2010-12-26T20:05:00.000-08:00

I've been real lucky to ski a bunch of new lines so far this year. The snow base is deep and what seems to be above average for the year. Certainly much more than last year. Mineral may be my new favorite spot. Quite a bit of solace, minus the Powder Birds, but that's a-okay. Enough room for all to play in. Here is a quick edit of the past few weeks..

There are still many days left in the snow calender year. I'm really looking forward for the next few weeks. Another storm system is brewing up mid week this week. There's no such thing as too much snow.

Cold Days

2010-11-21T21:08:00.000-08:00

The forecast called for lots of snow. That's what happened. And what came with such a big storm, meaning... measuring the the snowfall in feet, was wind. Penetrating wind. Wind drifts everywhere. Pockets of danger everywhere. It's almost hard to keep your head together when venturing out in such conditions. Which way do I go, am I going the easiest way, when is this wind going to die down, where is the steep stuff I want to avoid!! This talk may seem like something from mid-February, but no, it's still before Thanksgiving. The Wasatch is playing a little trick and pretending to be the middle of the winter. The ski run delivered but by the end of it my bones where cold to the core. I wanted no more. I wanted inside. A hot shower and a pb&j after this outing made me feel like I was in a four star resort. I need to continue going out in these adverse conditions to help me for bigger things, but today, I just felt shot.

Me at the end of the day. Frozen.

This day will keep me hungry for more when I get back. Leaving to NY for Thanksgiving tomorrow.

Washington

2010-11-19T11:38:00.000-08:00

About a month ago my friend Andrea has surgery on her ankle. I decided with only having a short window of opportunity, to go see her. She gave me a quick and dirty run down of the Seattle & Ferndale/Bellingham area. There is a big difference coming from Utah. Everything is green in WA. After being on sensory overload of how lush everything was I took some pictures, and realized I missed this part of the outdoors.
Here are some pictures to show you what I mean.

By spring time, I hope to be back. This time to ski & hopefully, all contingent on the recovery of the ankle, with Andrea!

And a short video edit I made about the trip:

Times are a changing..

2010-11-10T15:40:00.001-08:00

And just like turning on a light switch, winter is here. Last week the Wasatch received over 30 inches of snow! Amazing!! Early this month, I went out on some solo ski tours. It was exciting as I checked out a couple of new areas that I've never been to before. Going solo is quite enjoyable. No indecisiveness whether or not you want to go here or there. You just go.

Early November... North Face of Patsy Marly

The next day... Skied a bowl Near Sunset Peak (Backside of Alta)

The view down LCC. Superior is looking mean!

Today, I went with Shelby, my BC Ski partner. We went back to Patsy Marly's north facing shot to ski it...this time in powder.
Video of Shelby here:

So much fun. Hope the season continues like this!

Moab-->Wasatch-->Bed

2010-10-14T15:45:00.000-07:00

I've been really fortunate to have some great mentors in the mountains. My buddy Zach just got back to the states from guiding over in Switzerland and we met down in Moab. Out of the five days, we climbed 4 of them. Either burning up in the heat on single pitch stuff off of Wallstreet or waiting for things to cool off for some longer things. The catch with that is you better bring your head lamp!!
Ancient Art goes up that corkscrew looking thing on the left!

The view out towards Castleton Valley. Still going up at this point. Getting dark!

Me at the base of the corkscrew part of the climb. You can see it in the background

We were always trying to find the window to climb. Heat, wind, storms all played a factor. We got to climb The Owl in Arches right before a huge storm cell hit!
This is a picture of The Owl, minutes after we got off it, with the storm coming right at us.

Parting shot at Arches NP

After that little get-a-way I headed back to SLC and Zach followed suite a couple days later. We did a lot of climbing in Little Cottonwood. We got to do a lot of classics. Crack in the Woods --> Hand Jive, Becky's Wall, Pentapitch (Sasquatch Variation), Satan's Corner (getting rained on!)
Here is Zach on Hand Jive.

Fall colors looking up LCC with the final pitch of Pentapitch in view. It's a small cryptic friction traverse to the thin crack that goes up!

After a bit of climbing, my shoulder started to act up. Its sore, so I'm taking a few days off as I do not want to aggravate it too much before winter comes. And winter is knocking at our doors with whispers of La Nina talk drifting about the internet forums. During this downtime I've been building a website! Check it out @ www.glacierview-alaska.com I've also been building a bed frame! Check THAT out! I can make my own bed!

Running

2010-09-13T12:39:00.000-07:00

Running dominated my time during high school and college. I don't think a single coach truly appreciated my dedication, as I normally took winters off to go skiing. However, when I was running competitively I gave it my all. Fractions of a second mattered to me over a race that was 5 miles long. With that kind of mentality, you can see how one can become obsessed to an extent. It wasn't healthy. College summers consisted of working on a tree farm for 50 hours a week and then running 80 miles a week. All to put your body at a new level (speed) it's never seen before. After college.. well, after Junior year, I never can say I got back in the swing of things with running. I never raced again. Whats the point? I'd never be as fast as I once was nor will I become dedicated that much.

After this ski season I felt like my lungs and legs were in pretty decent shape. So I went for a run. I've continued running all throughout and I finally feel like I am a runner once again. It's great! I love it! I'm even starting to name some runs here in Salt Lake like I use to at Oneonta. See, at college we'd name some runs to do. For example,.. "oh, lets to red barn" or "hey, lets go run east to west" Just naming runs gives it some value in my eyes rather than the boring, lets go for 60 minutes.

So today, I ran "Bypass". This is a 4 mile loop. Starting at Snowbirds tram base, running through the bypass road...all the way up to the end of the LCC road and back down running right underneath Mt. Superior. It's a big circle. After .2 though, your saliva is incredibly thick, your head is pounding and you just want to give up. The run is not only at 9,000 feet, but it has a steady uphill to start! This is the second time I've done this loop. You need enough time to forget about how much the run hurts before going back to it.

I'm excited. Tomorrow I will be flying back to New York. Very old familiar run loops will come into mind. New Paltz Rail Trail, OCP (Orange county park) loop, and some runs up in Albany. It'll be great to judge and see how fit I am from where I once was, since the altitude here hurts your times slightly.

Last week in Indian Creek after a fantastic run.

Tetons

2010-08-28T15:15:00.000-07:00

The Grand Teton is such an iconic peak. If you caught a glimpse of it, you'd want to stand on top.
Here it is in all its glory.

When I met up with Sergio, we decided to throw in an extra dinner "just in case". Why not, I was carrying around a 110 liter bag, figure I got the room. It turned out to be a good call. On the approach we hiked to the moraine camp sites, just below the lower saddle. That night, it rained.. i yelled outloud some expletives to mother nature and then all that rain turned to ice with a few inches of snow on top. Dang!!

Next day heaps of people were coming down from the lower saddle, not even giving the mtn any effort because of the ice. Some did, and reported too much ice to even think about it. Sergio and I figured the sun has to melt things off throughout the course of the day. So we got a hold of our loved ones & told them we'd be an extra day; called up the rangers & asked for another day on the mtn (got it) and figured the 3rd day we'd climb the route. By the way, the lower saddle has cell phone service! Or else, we would of had to hiked back down 8 miles, 5k feet....

So, we packed up everything from the moraine and moved ourselves more up the mtn on the lower saddle. Mostly it was for something to do for the day and also a change of scenery.
Sergio on the lower saddle with the Grand behind.

We ate the extra dinner that evening. I had 3 snickers bars for the following day. 1 for breakfast, 1 for the summit, and one for camp before the hike out.
The sunset from the lower saddle did not disappoint.

Most of the climbing was low class 5, so we simu-climbed a lot of the route (upper exum). We ended up doing the route exactly aside from one spot!!! We went up some fantastic looking arete that went about 5.6 instead of hopping in the v-pitch.
Me thinking when is the climbing going to end!?

Sergio following me up.

Last little bit to the summit!

Me at the top!

Me back down at the lower saddle with the grand on my left. The right sky line leading to the summit was the route we did.

A Parting shot. Until next time...

Alaska

2010-08-12T18:34:00.000-07:00

I arrived in the lower 48 last night, drove to Jackson, and tomorrow will set off on another adventure to climb the Grand Teton. More on that later. Let me recap Alaska. If there is one place any climber, hiker, skier, or plain vacationest tourist should see, it would have to be Alaska. The peaks are inspiring to see. They can be nice to you and they can also be mean.
I went up there to guide for MICA Guides. You can view the little promo-vid I did for them here:

It was great taking people out and showing them the time of their lives. I appreciated the work much more this go around. I feel as though I have matured a lot since 2007 when I worked for them last and had the opportunity to learn new rescue systems from some of the other senior guides. It's a nice confidence boost going into a job application knowing/understanding these skills.

The fellow guides were a blast to hang out with, climb with, and work with. I will really miss there presence but hopefully our paths will cross again. I have a feeling they will. It seems I always run into old familiar faces somewhere randomly.

The real cherry on top was at the end of my time there. I had 3-4 days to basically climb or do whatever I wanted. Unfortuently this summer was a wet one, and that continued for my last hurray trip. This made me change my plans, so I decided to road trip to Talkeetna. Along the way, and inbetween 2 different low pressures that were burrowing through from Anchorage, I had the chance to see the great one, Denali. Looking at it from the south I could see my future. Forget Europe, forget about South America, Denali has all that I need in my lifetime to cure my needs. Putting things on a time line is arbitrary. But I do want to work my body and increase my hard skills to accomplish clicking into my skis at the top and ski down, along with (a long-term future goal) climbing the Cassin Ridge. I have a feeling yearly pilgrimages to the Alaskan Range are in store for me.

So, sklpping ahead to today. I am at the Climber's Ranch in the Teton National Park, looking at this big hunk of rock called the Grand Teton. I am over the hype of climbing this thing. It's iconic, its looks like a fun climb, but the hole area around here has this weird vibe that I can not stand. I almost want to leave, but will do it just to do it. Maybe my tune will change when I am in the mtns. Or maybe I should just move to AK and be among hundreds of "grand tetons" w/o a single person around.

Drifting around for a bit

2010-06-30T15:12:00.000-07:00

June came and went real quick. It started with me rock climbing a lot and ended with a phone call which will place me in Alaska at the end of this week. In between all of that I had the chance to see good friends, family, and also turned 26 in an airport terminal.

Belaying up my roommate Eric on the West Slabs of Mt. Olympus (5.5 Grade 3) Most of the climbing I've done were in Big Cottonwood Canyon. Also, I made a trip out to American Fork & occasionally bouldered in Little Cottonwood when climbing partners were non-existent.

Mini-HaHa on Lake George. This was during my visit back east. Only there for a week.

Me and the parents on Lake George

Me getting ready before one of my best friend's wedding. So much fun, the visit back home was much to short. Perhaps life may drift me back that way. I miss them all.

My friend, Andy, getting ready to tie the knot.

The day after I returned I got a phone call from Don, seeing if I wanted to spend the next month and a half up in Alaska. Why not? I fly back to Utah August 11st, depending on if they still need me or not; or better yet if I want to climb something big while I'm up there.

May Recap

2010-06-06T14:47:00.001-07:00

May was an interesting month. It started off snowing 7 feet in 4 days. May 3rd and 4th where some of the deepest days of the year! Who would of thought? My friend Mike swung on through from Ouray at that time and was in for some classic Wasatch Powder. Video of those days here:

Rapid warming after that caused numerous afternoon wet slide avalanches. The following days I got my things in order for a trip to southern Utah. First I did some bouldering to warm up on, and than climbed some sport routes in the Utah Hills (which is Limestone rock! pretty cool!) After that, Garrett and I headed to Zion to do some free climbing in the park. The cragging areas there can not be beat with lack of crowds, quality setting, and aesthetic lines. After that we headed to St. George to climb at Snow Canyon. Video of it all here:

Another storm came through Salt Lake upon my return. Powder day on May 24th! Unbelievable! But believe it!! My roommate Lee and I and one of his friends Aaron skinned up Alta and had one last amazing powder run for the year. Video of that day here:

May 24th!!!!
Aaron

Lee

Not a bad May to remember.

Small World

2010-05-30T11:22:00.000-07:00

I came across a new photo editing technique called Tilt/Shift. It's pretty basic and fun to use. Essentially less depth of field (defocusing) everything other than what you want to be in focus will play a trick on your eyes, making the subject look miniature. I played around on it with some old photos. The pictures that hold the best effect are ones that are not zoomed in and hold a lot of subject matter.
Shelby on top of Timp's ridgeline.

Mike down in Ouray, Colorado.

The following two came out awesome! Jaya hiking with some guests on the Bomber Glacier, AK.

Winter Recap

2010-05-28T20:34:00.000-07:00

This winter was an endless adventure. The skiing and the climbing made my soul dance. It'll be hard to forget the events that happened the last few months. I worked nights, 8 bucks an hour bumming chairs up at Brighton and lived the dream. I consider myself extremely fortunate to put into action exactly what I want.
This is normally what I looked like about 4 times a week after touring for the day. Pretty exhausted and usually had about 30 minutes to relax before work. Hard to feel sorry for me though. Normally the day was absolutely amazing and usually I learned something about myself or the mountains.

The control panel where I stop the lift after a beater wrecks himself getting on or off the lift.

A view from the top Silver Fork. I had lunch here!!!!!

Down and out! Just got done skiing Box Elder Peak after an unsuccessful bid earlier in the season.

Sweet sweet powder turns. My tracks. Putting the zipper down with the megawatts.

It be hard for me to put up all of the photos. Check out my videos that I made throughout the season here for more goodies..
http://www.vimeo.com/user605148

Loving Life

2010-01-28T09:13:00.000-08:00

Working nights has enabled me to get out during the day and take advantage of the Wasatch...a lot. Depriving myself of a vertical world this summer/fall immediately got me jonesing for ice, no matter how cold it was. And let me tell you, it was cold when I first arrived in the beginning of December. With an actual temperature of near zero, I got bit and slapped around by the mountain. Wearing skimpy clothes for ice climbing doesn't help much either. Why would someone do this?! To feel more alive!

(Almost off the Great White Icicle WI3, 4 pitches)

This year I've been focusing more on leaving the safety net of ski resorts and venturing in the backcountry. It's allowed me to have a much more intimate connection with the mountain, where I spend 3 hours or so of "skinning" to ski a single line. The rewards have kept me grinning from ear to ear. So far, the outings have mostly been grabbing some low hanging fruit by meadow skipping. Hopefully the snowpack will become stable so I can knock off a few lines on my tick list.

(Jeff skiing "100 Turns", near Tom's Hill in Big Cottonwood Canyon)

(Seth making beautiful turns off of Wolverine Peak)

(Me on top of Toledo, LCC)

I'm still drawn to the resort when the days are super deep. Enjoy some point of view video the week it snowed over 7 feet of snow.

Leaving the East Coast

2009-12-06T12:51:00.000-08:00

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#

Inside Outside

2009-11-12T20:23:00.000-08:00

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...

Snow sliding with Jason from Kyle Walcott on Vimeo.

Summer/Fall Work

2009-10-27T17:00:00.000-07:00

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.

Mansfield Movie from Kyle Walcott on Vimeo.

Mt. Mansfield

2009-08-23T12:44:00.000-07:00

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.

Here are some photos of "home"

Funemployment is about to end.

2009-07-29T11:08:00.000-07:00

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.

Rainier Via Kautz Route

2009-07-15T19:47:00.000-07:00

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.

Short video edit of some of the views we saw:

Rainier quick edit from Kyle Walcott on Vimeo.

All the pics I took:
http://picasaweb.google.com/Kyle.Walcott84/MtRainier#

Cottonwood Candy

2009-06-26T08:36:00.000-07:00

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.

Weather Window

2009-06-22T12:46:00.000-07:00

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.

Scenic pictures from the climb:

Next week good weather!

Shoestring budget

2009-06-08T08:37:00.001-07:00

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.

Time To Climb

2009-06-03T18:10:00.000-07:00

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.

A day in BCC

2009-05-27T20:29:00.000-07:00

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.

White Baldy

2009-05-17T18:32:00.000-07:00

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.

May Ski Tour from Kyle Walcott on Vimeo.

Skiing in May

2009-05-07T13:04:00.000-07:00

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.

Summit Fever on the laptop.

2009-05-02T21:50:00.000-07:00

I received word that my friend (Mike T.) reached the highest point in N. America (Denali). After the emotions of feeling happy for his accomplishment, this news has made me extremely contemplative on different objectives I would like to accomplish this summer.
Lone Peak cirque (Utah), Diamond (CO), The Grand and the Wind River Range have all been dancing in my head.
It's been a rainy day so between eating, workingout out, and watching Generation Kill with my housemate, I've been glued to the computer plugging in for beta on all of these wonderful places. It's never to early to plan and have your sites set on something. I say one of the most important aspects of accomplishing a long climb deals with preparation and to complete each of these endeavors will take quite a bit.

Helmet Cam

2009-04-28T09:40:00.000-07:00

This past winter I bought a point of view camera. Self taught, it was only until a month ago that I figured out I need to convert the video file to a different format so my computer can edit it without having it jump around. So when the season is done I plan on going back to my old footage and creating a nice season ending short video. In the mean time, check out my last short edit to get an idea of what I've been up to this winter. This was April 15th. The camera is by VIO-POV and I use Final Cut to edit it.

Powder Skiing in April! from Kyle Walcott on Vimeo.

It's Been A While

2009-04-27T20:45:00.000-07:00

Boy, it's been a while since I posted last. Nothing has really inspired me to write in here, aside from the crazy amount of skiing and climbing that has taken place.

Some pics of the field where I worked at. Ironically, this was the last week I was in the field so I'm glad I brought out the camera.

I also had the chance to play host to many visitors, meet new life long friends, and catch up with old ones.

My Dad rippin' up Snowbird's finest. First real powder day in all his life. 90 something inches fell the 2 weeks he came out. If you count his travel days, over 100 inches. Lucky dog!

Mom and me at Arches. Fall time 2008.

John inside Zion on one of our canyoneering trips. Me and John met during the training week for Second Nature. Ironically I saw his van "Big Sexy" a few days before, randomly at Arches. Our passion for the outdoors made for weekly excursions across the state on our weeks off from work.

Andrea ripping up Mt. Hood. I met Andrea very randomly through a series of events which led me to Oregon. We hit it off kinda rocky with her speaking badly of Snowbirds snow, but we finally connected.

Zach climbing in LCC. I'm grateful for meeting him. He showed me many sweet lines to ski at Snowbird and took the time to wait for me. This guy can flat out rip the mountain.

MIkey and me on Mt. Hood. We both tried out for a job working up on Rainier this summer. He got it! He's a beast of a climber and has taught me the ropes so to speak. I first met him up in Alaska where we both worked for MICA guides. Right now, he's somewhere in Denali's West Butt. Hoping the best!

Brian and Broni. My brother and his girl friend came out for a week. Here is a picture of him climbing in Green Valley Gap, UT. The picture of both of them is from the top of Observation point. That rock wall face right next to his right ear is Angel's Landing, one of my future goals.

Well thats about it. To much more and I'd be boring you all. So if you don't see your picture it's either of two things. I either have your picture on my old computer or you need to come out and visit!

Summer of 2007 in AK

2008-03-19T16:51:00.000-07:00

Here is a short edit I just made in the last 3 hours. Just bored on my day off and re-visiting in my mind one of the greatest places on earth.

Adirondack Ski Trip March 10th-11th

2008-03-15T18:31:00.000-07:00

Waiting in anticipation for the big move to Utah, I decided to take a trip one last time to the Adirondacks with a fellow MICA guide, Jonas. Reports of 8 inches of fresh snow that Saturday got me quite excited to say the least.

Upon arrival, we decided to climb up and ski down one of the Adirondack High Peak's, Dix Mountain.

The weather was great, however what I didn't realize is how much ice they received from the storm! The entire trail up to Dix was completely blown in. We brought enough to stay the night at the base in case we were too exhausted from the complete bush whack we had to do. Caring 187's on your back isn't exactly ideal in these conditions for the 5 mile approach.

So we finally bust out of the trail and onto the slides. For the most part, the snow on the trail soft enough to get a boot in. However, on the slides, the initial first 2 inches consisted of an icy layer. We changed into crampons and had out ice tools for a possible self arrest. Once the top layer shattered, it was nothing but very very hard pack snow or boiler plate ice. Sadly speaking, no way you could lay an edge and ski this terrain. You can view the darker shades of snow in the pictures which is in fact boiler plate ice.

After some deliberation, we decided it was best to head back down. It was simply getting too steep and a fall would warrant a serious injury if you couldn't self arrest. I am very much of the school "up is optional, down is mandatory." Going up wouldn't be much of a problem, however the return down would of been quite sketchy.

We were able to strap on our skis lower down the mountain. Still not able to sink our edges into the snow. Here is Jonas:

And finally, the only spot where you could edge was at the end of Wrist Slide:

Sweet view at the bottom of Wrist Slide

We decided to stay the night in the lean-to. It hit -7 Monday night in Keene Valley, so it was a few degrees colder up on the mountain.
Overall, it was a great adventure. I only regret bringing my skis. Here are some scenic shots from the rest of the trip..

Chapel Pond Ice Climbing

Lake George frozen over enough that I walked on it: