As featured on Backcountry Magazine’s “Mountain Skills” video series. For more videos, check out their site.

VertFest is back -  bigger and better than ever!

Come join us for 2 days of clinics, demos, films and of course the biggest rando rally in the Northwest!  It all begins on Saturday February 12th at Alpental with Ski Photography clinics with Grant Gunderson and Jason Hummel.  Sidecoutnry Adventure Skiing with pros and guides from Pro Guiding Service; other clinics will include Advance Beacon Skills and Snow Pack analysis.

Once the fun is over on the mountain, come join us for the Backcountry Film Festival at the North Bend theater in the evening.   There will be awesome gear raffles, a chance check out the latest product showcased by our sponsors and time to enjoy a beer and food in our beer garden and oh course some great backcountry films!

Sunday the 13th is race day, so don’t drink too much on Saturday at the film fest!

For more details checkout the official VertFest Facebook page for all the up-dates, details and info as it becomes available!

Get ready for ‘HurtFest’ 2011…same Vert, more Fest!

Declaration of Mountain Travel: Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness

I have been in the guiding business for just about 20 years now. I would be lying if I said that I became a mountain guide to interact with a large diversity of people. I simply wanted to go to the mountains and needed some type of job that would make this possible. Being from the Valais in the Swiss Alps made becoming a mountain guide seem like a logical conclusion. What I did not know then was that some of my best friendships would arise from people who were so-called “clients” of mine.

Not all of my clients became friends, but certainly a lot of them seem to live very interesting lives that have captured my attention in many a hut or tent. I have had the pleasure to roam the mountains with doctors, surgeons, dirt bags, lawyers, carpenters, accountants, nurses, teachers, scientists, physicists, CEO’s, CFO’s, (and SOB’s), house wives, cops, marketing managers, engineers, restaurant managers, slackers, industry reps, photographers, software developers, electricians, construction workers, movie producers, fighter pilots, marines, home builders, and many more. They come from a large diversity of socioeconomic backgrounds, though most of them make a decent living. I have been with these people on short trips, long trips, trips that were casual or where we all were scared, where the weather was on our side or where we were not invited into the mountains. I have been quietly observing these people for many years now and how they adapt to the unpredictable situations that the mountains will throw at them. Many of them get taxed to their maximum physical and emotional ability and very quickly their true colors start shining through.

Martin, in Norway, 2008

Once we make the commitment to go into the mountains, we all get reduced to pretty much the same class. What we want needs to be carried on our backs and [that reality is where] the first switch occurs. In the “civilized world” we generally acquire more goods and services to make our lives more comfortable and better. Of course, once you have to carry all your belongings on your back, the story changes almost instantly. We start paying attention to what we really need and what we could possibly leave behind. Once this switch has been made, I have seen many of my clients experience some sense of liberation. The mountains of the Pacific Northwest are extra special that way, since there are no huts, helicopters, gondolas or porters to help out. But even in a place like the Alps with its amazing infrastructure, the story does not change all that much. Once we leave the last gondola behind, we still have to carry our belongings from one hut to the next on our very own backs. We are all pretty much the same that way, no matter what our background may be.

We keep returning to the mountains because we have experienced a great sense of freedom and fairness out there and have created some of the happiest memories of our lives. And, as I was writing this short piece, I realized that this thought sounded curiously similar to the first sentence of the Declaration of Independence. “We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” I wonder if Jefferson, Franklin, Chase and company would have liked ski touring?

The week was a mix of sunny high pressure, light amounts of new snow, and some touchy days of avalanche activity. Overall, a mix of cold and dry, warm and wet, and a few temperature ranges in between. What could be better for testing gear out? Everyday we all swapped, gloves, pants, coats, etc…and then brainstormed and fine tuned what we put to the test.

• Sweet powder bliss in Grizzly Bowl

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• Dan, the boss, showing us how to alpine slackline in ski boots

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• West Coast Sales Director Dave Mahoney slays some pow

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• Classic Valhalla Skiing in Cariboo with Pyramid peak in the background

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• It's a tough job, but someone has to do it...me getting some!

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• "Hey, nice coat!" "You too!"

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• Shannon Lake

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• "This is how the Swiss eat appetizers. Try it." Martin Volken

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• Yours truly checks out alpine snow stability

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• Product Development Meetings post skiing

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But don’t be fooled we had a ton of great powder skiing, a few summits, amazing food cooked by Annie, great tunes played by Alex K (VP of marketing) and Jasmin on the uke and guitar, and tons of pics and video to document the whole week.

I gotta say, there is some great gear and some really cool projects coming down the pipes right now from Outdoor Research. Two items of note are the Trailbreaker Pants and the Radiant Hybrid Hooded top. The TrailBreakers use a waterproof laminate on the lower legs, and a woven soft shell on the thighs, with huge thigh vents and great pockets – obviously these were made by Uber ski touring/IFMGA mountain guide Martin Volken! The Radiant Hoody is the ultimate cold weather fleece. Highly breathable grid fleece under the arms, and smoother, warmer fleece on the rest, it is a great piece for alpine and ice climbing with its integrated hood that easily fits under your helmet.

During the week, myself and fellow IFMGA mountain guide Martin Volken filmed a few ‘How To’ videos on common backcountry skills, and we got some great skiing footage to get you stoked. Not to mention some of the new and improved product ideas! It was an amazing experience for me, and a testament to OR’s commitment to work with people like you in the field and make some great gear to facilitate some even better times in the hills. Enjoy the photos from OR employee Charles Lozner!

Also, huge thank you to all the participants, spectators and volunteers who made this event a success and the post-race party such a good time.

Race results and photos can be found on our VertFest site.

Check out The Snow Troopers site for more videos, including posts from their current trip up in Alaska.

Hope to see you all out there next year for the 5th Annual VertFest,

Cheers,

Racer # 659, aka the turkey.

Mike, on the Haute Route

If the trip to Chamonix during Blizzard of Aahhh’s piqued my interest in the big mountains, it was the time I spent with John Falkiner in Verbier in the ensuing years that cemented it. It was Falkiner who took me on each of those adventures and became my first mentor.

Mike, on the Haute Route, a little more comfortable with the descent than his first time in Chamonix.

Fortunately, I was intimidated by the alpine environment as much as I was drawn to it, and recognized that if you wanted to play there, you either had to hire a guide or educate yourself. I had more time than money, so I purchased Freedom of the Hills, which most mountaineers recognize as the unofficial text book of their sport, and studied additional books on route finding, navigation, first aid, knots, anchor building, avalanche hazard, and winter camping. Over the next several years, I took as many trips into the mountains as I could, and enrolled in avalanche, rock climbing, glacier travel and crevasse rescue courses, as well as wilderness first aid.

Haute Route crew

Climbing the same mountain over and over again may seem limiting from a learning standpoint, and in some ways it is. However, witnessing the dramatic transformation that a mountain undergoes is an education you don’t get from changing locations frequently.

The hazards on a route can change day to day and certainly week to week. So you can imagine the transition that occurs during the May through September guiding season, let alone from year to year. On one specific slope your primary concern may shift from avalanche danger in early season unconsolidated snow, to crevasse hazard as the snow melts and the bridges become thinner, to rock fall when the melting snow exposes previously buried rocks.

On belay

Though I cherished my time at RMI, as a skier, it was tough to walk down a perfectly good 9,000 vertical foot ski slope. After my second season, I quit guiding on Rainier and enrolled in AMGA’s newly formed ski mountaineering certification program. About the same time I met Swiss guide Martin Volken. He owned a ski shop and guide service that he ran out North Bend. He is one of the most capable and level headed people you could ever hope to be in the mountains with and I was extremely fortunate to have him as my next mentor. With the help of Martin’s preparation, I passed the AMGA ski mountaineering exam 10 years ago, and have been guiding for him ever since.

I still remember the thrill I got from being in a place where I had absolutely no business being while shooting Blizzard of Aahhh’s in Chamonix. In my eyes, that’s the job of a guide: take someone somewhere they shouldn’t be on their own, and make them feel safe and comfortable. It’s passing on that same exhilaration that makes guiding enjoyable 20 years later.

Evan, swimming in pow for Valhalla Mountain Touring, British Columbia

The concept was introduced to me by my friend who ski tours, trail runs and climbs hard all the time, and basically it boils down to this:

1 Vertical Foot of Elevation Gained = 1 Calorie consumed.

Simple, I know, but extremely difficult to execute. When the season starts it isn’t that hard to stay on track with food, calories consumed and energy expended. Maybe it’s the light layer of extra girth on my frame from a fall of sport climbing and campsite beer sessions that is there to burn off. Or maybe its because I can’t really get more than 3-5 grand of vertical feet in the short days and tired lungs of December. Either way, as the season progresses, the fat reserves are gone, the fitness increases and the days get longer and the battle to maintain the equilibrium of the equation ensues.

So back to my typical morning at Valhalla Mountain Touring and how I maintain the balance.

Breaky on the table. Yum.

7am: Hot breakfast is served. This is usually something like eggs benny, waffles, or breakfast burritos.
Calorie count: 800

730am: Make lunch, and snack on the days goodies. This is what I call ‘breakfast desert’ as I am a firm believer that every meal must end with something sweet. Most likely victims of this meal are brownies, chocolate chip cookies or date squares. Lunch usually consists of 2 sandwiches (either PB & J, cheese and fixings or dinner left overs) and piles of fresh baking and trail mix.
Calorie count: 300

8am: Start touring

9am: Eat the first wave of snacks. Usually a brownie
Calories: 300

Counting up vertical.

10am: Eat half of the first sandwich.
Calories: 200

1030am: Rip the first 1 to 2 grand of epic powder.

11am: Eat the other half of the first sandwich and don’t forget to follow with something sweet, every meal gets desert!
Calories: 200

1200: More snacks and start nibbling on the next sandwich.
Calories: 200

1230: Ski another mind boggling dose of powder.

1pm: Start wondering if I brought enough food to break more trail through the 30cms of fresh fluff. Eat another brownie and save the last one for the last hill climb.
Calories: 200

2pm: Hit a summit and ski a great line down the mountain. Throw on the skins for another lap and finish off the last sandwich.
Calories: 200

3pm: The early crew is feeling the pull of the sauna and tired legs. Send them home to the lodge and get the late crew psyched for the afternoon push. Eat a cookie.
Calories: 150

4pm: Pull the skins at the top of the last run and inhale the last espresso brownie you have been saving all day. Drop a 2 to 3 grand home run back to the lodge, where the sauna is hot and so are the appetizers.
Calories: 300 (you saved a huge brownie for last!)

Fueling up for the next day.

5pm: Devour appies, which is usually nachos, baked brie, pizza or something equally cheesy and delicious
Calories: 700

6pm: fall asleep for 10 minutes after eating and the sauna, but then race back to the lodge to help with dinner prep.

730pm: Dinner is served. Amazing organic salad, unbelievable main courses, delectable desert. Have 2 of each course.
Calories: 2,000 plus another 500 for your drinks

930pm: Pass out to do the whole thing again tomorrow.

Vertical feet skied: 6,500’
Calories consumed: 6,500’

Wake up starving the next day.

Evan enjoying his dessert on another adventure. Infrared, 5.11+. Big Bend Butte, Moab

*Check out more of Evan’s adventures on his blog evanstevens.blogspot.com

Our well intended photo shoot for Outdoor Research, which was to take us around the Fitzsimmons and Spearhead Range in the Southern BC Coast Range, seemed ill-fated. Some of our athletes got injured a few days before the trip and now the forecast called for arctic temperatures that would render video and photo assignments a real chore.

It is easy to loose momentum when plans need to be changed for the third time. “Let’s just do it another time” seems like a very inviting option – and sometimes it is the best option.  In our case, it was not. We certainly did not seem invited to the Spearhead Traverse. We might have been tolerated out there, as long as we were willing to deal with the 20degrees below Fahrenheit temperatures that had been forecasted.  After another weather check, we concluded that we had made the 5 hour journey into BC to get into position for a trip that actually made most sense in our own backyard.

Snoqualmie Pass. Hmmm. Not very exotic… But after all it was our backyard and here we seemed invited. Cold, but acceptable temps, heaps of fresh powder, excellent stability, and a brilliant forecast. The crew was set to go at that moment and chances were good that we would not be able to coordinate everyone’s schedule again in the near future.

There was still that lingering hesitation about the actual destination. But I was confident. The immediate terrain west and north of Snoqualmie Pass is quite rugged and has surprised many. And so I met up with well known photographer Grant Gunderson, fellow Pro Guiding Service guide Erica Engle and Outdoor Research’s Keith Karlick at my gear shop in North Bend, WA.  Keith handed out the pertinent garments for the shoot, we went through a final gear check, and off we were to Snoqualmie Pass.

Cold temperatures awaited us in the parking lot and we were glad that it was not any colder. What followed is exactly what mountain memories are made of. I won’t bore you with stories of cold feet, insane views, beautiful touring, steep couloirs, relentless blower pow, sweating and freezing at the same time or the mediocre instant coffee that seemed pretty good in a frost covered tent.

I will say this though; Outdoor Research’s immediate backyard is amazing. Snoqualmie Pass’s terrain is rugged, transition-intensive, spectacular, and accessible. The reason why it has found a following over the years is that it demands respect. You can keep learning here. You won’t get bored.  Certain tours around here get done only once or twice a year because they are simply too committing and too big. Others are just hard enough and so spectacular that they have turned into classics. They add real value to the Seattle ski tourer’s life. You can summit over a dozen ski touring peaks here as day objectives, many more than that if you are willing to sleep a night outside.  I know very few people who have summited them all.

There are not a lot of places like this backyard where you can go and ski a wild couloir in the morning, go to work in the afternoon, then go out for a great dinner by the beach with your spouse in the evening before heading to the Opera (not that I have been in the Opera lately…)

So there we were on Snoqualmie Pass, touring and skiing around in perfect snow, perfect stability and visibility. We were invited – clearly. Not much thought was wasted on the Spearhead Traverse anymore. We spent a few days reconnecting with an old friend we thought we knew so well already. Similar to when you miss a flight and end up stopping over at a friend’s house because he is there, there’s the glaringly realization is that your old friend is actually a very cool person and, darned, you really should try to keep in touch.

The Spearhead Traverse is just another great place that we did not get to this time. Because the mountains are in charge, we ended up hanging out with our old buddy Snoqualmie Pass. What great get-together.