There are many reasons to venture out into the mountains. For this crew, the downhill drives the journey into the Cascades for the classic Isolation Traverse.

A famous first descent this was not. The range itself, the Neacolas, is only famous within small circles, and a great spot for some good-old-fashioned human powered soul skiing.

The Grand Canyon is something many Americans associate with their youth, that family trip half endured and half enjoyed. But that view is not enough for a smaller subset driven to experience the power of the ‘Grand’.

Here in Alaska there has been a warm snap. Above freezing temperatures and liquid precipitation has wreaked havoc on the snowpack. A slide closed the Seward Highway for a day just south of Girdwood. All I can do is wonder what mother nature has in store for us this year.

Bacon. Fatty, cured, made of pig, mmmmm bacon. I don’t eat much so why did I order 40lbs of that tasty skillet fodder? Its fuel for little metabolic furnaces that’ll be in overdrive Dec. 18, our put in date for the Grand Canyon.