Mt. Baker, ColemanDeming

Our season opener was a ski/snowshoe climb of Mt. Baker. Snow blocked the road about 2 miles from the trailhead. Doug, Dan, Pete, Jim and Mark about to hit the trail.



The weather was warm and the snow was soft. Jim, Pete and Dan snowshoeing and skinning up to camp.






Mark skinning up the ski approach.






Our camp at 6,100'. Mt. Baker in the background.






Jim above Colfax Peak and Pumice Ridge.






Mark climbing the final 1,000'

Jim on the summit.

Doug on the summit

Mark about to ski from the summit to the road

Huge blocks of ice calving off of Colfax Peak






Jim almost back to the trailhead.

Now it's time to plan our next climb!

Awesome Lightning!

This evening an incredible series of thunderstorms rolled across Grand Portage Bay between 9:00 p.m. and 1:00 a.m. It was some of the most intense lightning I've ever seen in this area. I photographed the lightning for almost 3 hours from my boat shed on the Lake Superior shoreline. The image above was a 9 second exposure, with an aperture of f8 and the ISO set at 200. I got really lucky on the image below, as the lightning flashed almost immediately after I hit the button on the remote shutter release, and it was a very bright flash so I hit the button again right after the flash. It ended up being only a one second exposure!

Manic!

photo stolen directly off Andy's web site :) More here on what the gear was for:

http://slcsherpa.blogspot.com//12/light-and-fast-ski-mountaineering-part_12.html


I've been rather manic the last week or so. Not able to get out. But knowing there is an end to that nonsense. I start devouring the Internet chatter and searching things that interests me at the moment. Thatwill be ice soon enough. At the moment it is skiing. Primarily trying to get the gear I want for this winter before it is sold out and unobtainable for another season. 2 pair of skis and 2 pair of binding to go yet.



Although 2 years old now, this a good piece I found and read while dicking around in my manic phase today. In this game everyone seems tohave an AHA MOMENT.



Mine was theski from the top of the Grand Montets tele over to the base of les Droites North face2 months after Andy wrote this. Took me another couple of months to wrap my head around $1000 ski boots. But I have not looked back. More like damn the torpedos and full speed ahead! And you thought race bike andcar parts were expensive?



"Everyone does it. Bloggers, or as I prefer,
those that keep "online journals", always seem to give unsolicited advice about
how to go faster, be more efficient, or do things better. After a 3 hour
aggressive conversation with a couple friends about training methods yesterday,
I decided to put down my thoughts in a multi part series on everything from
training, gear, clothing, partners, etc."



"They showed up on skinny skis and funny boots (F1s and early model Dynafit race
boots). From the gun, I had trouble keeping up - even on the flats. By the
time I landed on Box Elder's panoramic summit, Sam had been waiting for days and
the other guys were half way up the Pfeiff. I was utterly blown."



More here:



http://slcsherpa.blogspot.com//12/light-and-fast-ski-mountaineering-part.html





http://slcsherpa.blogspot.com//12/light-and-fast-ski-mountaineering-part_12.html

This one's for footnoteMaven...

The footnoteMaven has posted a very special edition of Friday From the Collectors. If you read closely, a heretofore well guarded secret is revealed. . .

In honor of her post I did a quick look through my scanned photos and found these "candid" pictures of several women in my family who wear glasses and who had their picture taken with them on.


My great-grandmother, Susie Yarian Phend, holding two of her grandchildren, Phyllis Phend and Josephine Phend (they are first cousins).


My grandfather (Rolland Victor Phend), his grandmother (Lovina Berlin Yarian) holding his daughter (Phyllis), and his mother (Susie Lula Yarian Phend). About 1923. Grandpa had glasses too but they were not always worn by him, as evidenced in the picture below.


Phyllis Phend, about 1924. Handwritten below the picture was "Dady's Specks"

Fresh Snow

Post Labor Day weekend storms have delivered new powder to the mountain. Big swings in freezing levels and large volumes of precipitation will bring dynamic conditions to the mountain. Come prepared for a variety of challenges.

Seven days of stormy weather and complex conditions have shut down both independent climbers and guided parties from reaching the summit. Check out updates to the DC and Muir Snowfield for photos and current conditions. Photo taken from Camp Muir during a stormy sunrise.

Chipmunk

Look hard and you can see the tiny chipmunk on the left side of the tree stump. We saw him last time we went to the mountains.

"Glaces"...a history of ice climbing and technique

Just one of the many historical photos in "Glaces", Beyond Good and Evil., Mt. Blanc Range.

I like to read. I like to collect mountaineering books or at least have in the past. Obviously one of my passions is ice climbing. I come by that honestly having been lucky enough to havestarted waterfall climbing at the "golden" era of Canadian waterfall activity in the Rockies.



So I have autographed copies of Bill March's book, Chouinard's, Jeff Lowe's, Twight's, Will Gadd's and most recently Steve House's. All great books in their own way. I've talked about most of them here on the blog. But always special to me to have autographed copies even from guys like Chouinard or House who I have never met.



Some I think are more important historically than others. And some stand out for their influence on the English climbing community.



As a student of ice climbing history living in North America I have long known that Chouinard didn't invent the curved axe. And that the curved axe didn't really make the huge leap in climbing difficulty that some have implied. The climbers did generally and not all of them were from NA.



That was left to others living in the Mt. Blanc Massif and in Scotland and the gear they used or designed.



But that story, their story, has never been seen in one place that I know of, until recently...very recently in fact from what I have seen.



Leave it to my friends at Blue Ice to publish the most recent European tome on ice climbing, "Glaces: arts, experiences et techniques" by Jerome Banc-Gras and Manu Ibarra



There is a lot here. I could tell you more but my French is limited. No English version yet but I know they are working on it. It will be well received.



Short ummary of contents?









History

From Antiquity to 1908: Ice as an adversary

1908-1968 : La glace des faces nord 1908-1968: Ice faces north

1968-1998 : La glace des cascades 1968-1998: The ice cascades

1998 a nos jours: La glace sportive 1998 to Present: The ice sports

Ice

Snow

mixed

The gear

The gearprogression

Safety equipment

Maintenance

Choosing the route

Choice of technical equipment

Selection of protection

Organization of gearaterial

Moving on the ice

Which route?

Analysisof the possibility of collapse







The historial accountswhich I found most interesting by:

Walter Cecchinel

Ludger Simond

Bruno Sourzac

Will Gadd

Pavel Shabalin

Christophe Moulin

Ueli Steck

Fred Degoulet

Philippe Pellet

Jerome Blanc-Gras























"Glaces: arts, expériences et techniques" by Jerome Banc-Gras and Manu Ibarra is available from Blue Ice France now. Send them an email encouraging them to do a English version!





http://www.blueice.com/en/products/glaces-arts-experiences-et-techniques



Some more shots from the book that should give you an idea of how much a treat this one really is.











From ancient history to the most modern techniques, tools and climbers, it is all here.