Washington's Big Dig

I took my title from last Sunday's Washington Post front page and truer words could not have described the last days here. The largest amount of snow to fall in a day in 70 years fell on December 19th, 2009 and I relished every moment of it.

It was a hectic time for the family too, my flight back from CO was among the last to arrive at Reagan National, my mom was still stuck in Denver (it took her more than 36 hours to finally get home!) and my sister was stuck in Morgantown, WV. Despite our families' fragmentation we managed to stay in high spirits, particularly through the monumental task of keeping the driveway clear throughout the day. My dad and mine's backs were thoroughly sore that evening from clearing the driveway 3 times.

Even so, shoveling snow is somehow relaxing, kind of like washing glassware in a lab, mowing the lawn or painting a fence. A day of a few monotonous tasks mixed in with the usual thought-provoking ones makes for a nice blend and helps keep a man sane. The amount of snow was astonishing, by the end of the snow Saturday night, I was proud to proclaim we had received 20+ inches of snow! In some areas it drifted as much as 30 inches! A dream come true in my own backyard and one could taste it everywhere. I think I could wake up to a bit of fresh snow every other day during the winter.


Our house was thoroughly immersed in the winter wonderland. I especially love how long it took to get our street plowed and that it kept people home for a little while. People in Northern Virginia drive and work entirely too much (driving is a way of life here- oh wait isn't that all of this country?) Either way, I was genuinely happy to see some activity paralysis in an area where everyone expects things to get done instantly.


Unfortunately for me, my mom had my ski boots with her and I could not make a ski tour. That did not stop me from lacing up my snowshoes though, still fresh from only being used a few times in Lake Tahoe. It was real nice spending that time at home with just me and my dad, we're the ones in the family who enjoy the snow the most, I think he enjoyed digging around the yard for access to stuff.


I am very much looking forward to enjoying the snow for some days (hopefully weeks!) as it melts and is forgotten. Gosh, I feel so spoiled by this snow storm, if only we could have more snow storms like this in the east, snow storms on a Wild West scale.

Monarch ski area, Colorado

I had just finished a scrumptious dinner at the Himalayan restaurant in Big Bear Lake, CA when I got a lovely call from my mother. We chatted about what was going on lately and then she said she had an ambitious idea for a Christmas present for me, but I would have to wait until I got home to find out. I scarcely got inside the house before she spilled it out; "Would you be interested in skiing in CO for a week while I attend training for work in Lakewood?" No one in their right mind would turn that kind of an offer down!

Some days later and I had contacted my old friends Dan and Tyler who live in the Front Range and we were on! I would fly in on a Monday and leave on Friday, carefully coordinated with my mom's schedule for work so we could carpool. Despite our best planning intentions all kinds of things went wrong. I had my first 1 hour-long formal conference call for work immediately when I arrived (because my plane was 1.5 hours late to arrive) and had to take it in the baggage claim area. Our whole trip was hectic from the get-go. Thrifty rental car was all out of compact cars, so they gave her a black Hummer H3, which coincidentally was the same one my dad rented 2 years ago when he came to Denver for business. Needless to say the H3 was pretty lame; cramped interior, unfunctional small windows, underpowered and it just had an overall cheap feel to it. But, for some reason it is still a head turner, I think it is all hype.

Dan scooped me up in his Tacoma and after stopping at REI for some Telemark knee pads, we headed south to stay in Colorado Springs for the night. I went to bed early with some jet lag while they deliberated about which ski area to go to in the morning. We all decided the big resorts along I-70 were lame; exorbidant high prices, no new snow and of course crowding. Farther south, conditions were much more lucrative at Monarch ski area, which had gotten 30+ inches of fresh in the last 3-4 days. They get some of the most snow in the state, after Wolf Creek and it was clear that was our destination.

Monarch did not dissapoint! Although the runs were a bit tracked out, we seeked out little pow spots, especially ones where I could drop my knee a bit further to push it though!



The scenery was a part of CO I had not witnessed before, the Sawatch Range was pretty new to Dan and Tyler too. We all felt pretty spoiled to be skiing these conditions this early in the season. Our accomodations worked out well too, I was able to use my reward points to get us a free night and the place we stayed had a choice hot tub.

Monarch ski resort sits near Monarch Pass, which is a highpoint on US 50 where it crosses the continental divide and provides a unique vantage point to view the Sawatch range. This range and south to the San Juan range are I think among my favorite ranges in CO, and yet they are the ones I have least explored. I cannot confirm this, but Monarch ski area seemed to follow the Continental Divide, which is probably the reason why they get so much pow. A summit elevation of 11,300 feet (3,448) also helps too, everybody knows the higher you go the better everything is anyway.

Monarch was such a beautiful location, you really cannot deny the allure of the wild west if you're an easterner like me.


The last run of the day I told Tyler I would film him going along, so I did and it started off well, until I paid more attention to the camera. Watch for when I catch an edge and eat shit at the end!



Getting home after a wonderful ski week turned into a yard sale because of the blizzard that engulfed the east coast. My poor mom, all week she worked 11-12 hour days with a colleague to learn this new method in the lab. My 2 planes made it on American, she flew Frontier and hers got canceled. It took her 2 full days to finally get home. Then she had baggage issues because of checking her cooler full of critical samples and it had to be re-routed. Fortunately we all made it home safe, and for the first time ever at my home in Northern Virginia we got more snow than the wild west!

NOVA ski tour

From recent memory, I can count on my hands the number of times we have had snow in northern Virginia. I can count even less when there was enough to make a ski tour. So, it was quite a pleasant surprise to watch as 3-4 inches of wet, slough snow found its way to the earth to graces us with its presence. I'm a snow fanatic and I love it in all ways, shapes and forms, but this snow was absolutely terrible for skiing. It was so wet it would clump to the bottom of my skis and prevent them gliding.

Snow quality aside, the landscape aura that snow creates is second to none. With my work done for the day, I wasted no time in engaging with the snow, full throttle. For those who have not seen snow yet this year, I pity you, for this is my 3rd time seeing it fall in 3 different states. Snow at home is a special time:

We have a lily pond in our backyard, everyday I scoop some dead leaves out of it for the last week. Still there seems to be an endless amount and I won't stop till I can see the the darn goldfish swimming along the bottom. It is pretty though, especially when our state bird, the cardinal comes along to chat for a while.

The ski tour itself was nothing to write home about. Despite the hugely inflated anticipation, the snow just did not perform. That or my xc skis direly needed the proper wax for the warm temperatures. I had a blast nonetheless and it felt exhilarating to open up my lungs to some cold air and breathe hard.

Part of my tour took me to the farm animals at Frying Pan Park. See if you can spot the goatie in the little hut.

It is super nice to live so close to an open area in a land infested by the needs of the automobile. Too often these days we find ourselves removed from nature, I hope they can inspired to enjoy the tranquility that only nature can provide.

Work in the Wild Californian West

Please excuse my absence of blogs the past months, other obligations have kept me from composing them as often as I would like.

At the end of October, as the leaves were dropping and the field season was ending in New York I received an awesome offer from TEAMS: Would you like to do what you are doing now (forest stand exams), but in the mountains of Southern California? I did not even hesitate for a New York second to proclaim YES! The next thing I knew I was flying to the west coast, boy was it a shocker to step out of Fresno airport in the middle of the central valley to palm trees and 60 degree temps!

After meeting with some other coworkers, we cruised to the main TEAMS office in Porterville, which they share with Sequoia National Forest. On the walls of the hallways in the office are photos of gargantuan giant sequoia trees, all living happily some 50 miles or so away. I would've loved to go see them and see if they can compare to the mighty redwoods, but our work would take us to a different forest in a much drier area...

Our modest accommodations were in Gorman, along the I-5 in an area that seems to be perpetually windy, interesting there were no wind turbines to be seen. The Econolodge had a tasty mexican restaurant and a nice American style restaurant called the Ranch House attached to it. We wasted no time in trying both, but as anyone who travels will tell you, eating out all the time is expensive and potentially bad for your health. The lodging and restaurant complex:

Coming from the humid east to the dry west was an adjustment, especially for my nose which was almost continuously clogged from the dust that got kicked up so easily everywhere. It took time for us to get our data collection protocol figured out, but eventually we made it out to experience the beauty of the area. The mountain seen straight ahead is Mt Pinos, at 8800 feet the highest peak in Ventura county, the brownness of the landscape shows just how dry it commonly stays.

As one goes higher in elevation though, the precipitation increases and climatic conditions change to support a more substantial forest. Jefferey Pines seen from the road and looking towards Mt. Pinos:
As we left Frazier mountains for work one day, I caught a typical, beautiful California sunset. You can see the fog that shrouded Bakersfield that day rushing up into the highlands.


After just less than 2 weeks of working in the mountains of Los Padres National Forest, a new assignment appeared almost out of nowhere. They were sending us to the San Bernardino National Forest and we were to stay in the resort town of Big Bear Lake!

For those who don't know, Big Bear is the premiere ski destination for the LA area, perhaps because it is the closest. They put us up at the fabulous Northwoods Resort, which had a nice restaurant/bar, in-room fire places, and a outdoor pool with hot tub. I totally felt pampered, but at the end of each day working hard in the woods, I'd say we earned it.

We scouted a bit the first day, soon realizing our plots were very far apart. It was inevitable that our previous production estimates for the week were going to fall short. Our bleak outlook didn't change the fact that we were in a beautiful location:

This part of CA is very prone for fires, so our inventory had that as one objective and consequently many of the plots were laid along roads. As we were doing our work, one could not help but to step back and take notice to the vista that stretched away:


You can't quite tell for them photo, but this country was super steep, and of course super loose. See if you can pick out a 2 lane highway cut into this unstable mountain in the next photo:


I would say the slope directly below me was in excess of 80% or about 45 degrees from vertical. That would be another item that slowed us down, the relentless steep and rugged terrain. I cannot imagine trying to fight a wildfire in these conditions, absolutely miserable. For those who complain of the high costs to fight wildfires in CA, take note to the terrain that firefighters must work in and tell people to STOP building houses in precarious, fire-prone places! Nearly everywhere you go in CA are people, that state is super saturated and super beautiful:

I have such a love, hate relationship with CA. I hate the crowding, traffic and relative expensiveness; but the range of ecosystems and raw, natural beauty that it offers will always amaze me and keep me coming back for more.

Climbing at the Shawangunks

Ask any climber who lives in the Northeast about the "Gunks" and most will speak fondly of it, they might even "wax poetic" about it. This area, since it's discovery in the 1930s by the German Fritz Wiessner and Austrian Hans Kraus, has thousands of developed routes. One might compare it to Yosemite in California, indeed its cliffs are not near as tall, but the complexity of the rock and exclusive traditional routes make it just as challenging.

Of course all this was on top of my mind when I knew I would be working in the Catskill mountains, immediately northwest of the gunks. I underestimated my commitment to work up here, so an opportunity to climb did not present itself until recently. I enlisted my colleague and friend, Dave, to come with me. He currently lives in Idaho and as I write this he is getting happily married in his home state of Tennessee, congratulations! We spent the labor day holiday at the gunks, with near perfect weather, albeit a bit on the humid side. It was a real bummer to pay to climb though, $15. Most of the climbing areas at the gunks exist on private land, I am of the opinion that one should never have to pay to recreate, I will gladly pay higher taxes if it means that money is allocated properly to conservation and management of public lands.

We did perhaps 4-5 different climbs, and from the first to the last I was impressed by the quality of the rock. Dave climbs at a lower ability than me, but that was ok because we were there for climbs rated 5.fun, not anything else. In a landscape as beautiful as the gunks, it was hard not to smile at the top of the climbs.


It was a real pleasure to climb with someone who was as happy to be there as me. I lead all the pitches and Dave followed, pulling gear and gaining valuable experience for his future climbing career.

Climbing is such a novel experience for beginners, I couldn't wipe the smile off Dave's face even if I tried.


Our nice day off ended with us having to return to the motel, to get ready another week spent in the forest doing stand exams. It was beautiful to be paid for our day climbing at the gunks, another perk of working for the feds!

Catskill Mountain Keeper

On my daily commute into the New York state Catskill mountains I encounter any number of adopt-a-highway signs. One that sticks out along the cluttered curbside is the Catskill Mountain Keeper. I am always happy to notice a local citizen group that is striving to preserve the beauty of the mountains. Far too often these days land is developed willy-nilly, with little regard for long-term effects on the landscape. Such an alarmingly large amount of America looks very homogenized with shopping strip centers and cookie-cutter communities. We must look longer term and preserve existing natural areas, areas reclaimed by (new) forests after our previous couple of pillages. Anyway, that is neither here nor there, this blog is about the awesomeness of my new job working for the USDA Forest Service.

TEAMS Enterprise Unit, the entity in the FS that employs me, was granted the contract to conduct a forest inventory for the New York City Department of Environmental Protection watershed land holdings. The NYC DEP wants to know the health of their forests, most parcels were purchased very recently. An assessment of the health of the forests is necessary to evaluate the filtering capability of them for the water which wins awards and eventually ends up in Manhattan. After conducting the inventory, the bright folks working for TEAMS in CA will write a management plan to try to best preserve the status of NYC DEP forested lands as excellent natural water filters.

We do our work by watershed, or more specifically, by reservoir. Each reservoir is divided into areas, areas by stand and each stand is then finally subdivided into plots. The GIS techs in CA delineated the stands to identify where to put in the plots in the most statistically un-biased manner. At each plot I am doing an overall vegetation survey; the understory, overstory and plot invasives. To get to my plots, I use a GPS field navigator, but this merely points me in a straight line towards the plot I'm aiming for. What most regular people, and even some nature lovers don't realize, is how unbelievably rugged it is to walk when there are no trails. Sometimes I get lucky and can walk a road, like this one:


Other times, like yesterday, I am walking through a recently felled even-aged stand of oaks:

Honestly though, I really have no reason to complain. What other job do you know pays you to walk around in the woods and observe nature at its best? And yet, the previous day, I am in paradise with my plot "perched on a pedestal" like this one:

Unbeknown to the reader though, this rock perch was more than a half mile of bushwhacking up 600 feet of elevation gain. I think that will safely thwart any unsuspecting people from discovering my hangout spot.

Of course days when it is rainy, cold and miserable, I wish I had an office to escape to. These days I can't really ask for more perfect weather though; blue-bird days and temps of 70-75 and nighttime in the upper 40s, the weatherman on the radio calls it "seasonably mild."

A quick word about the USDA FS TEAMS EU, they are an entity that provides consulting services to other government agencies (the NYC DEP for instance). Since TEAMS is conducting studies all over the USA, the personnel are always on the move to the different job sites. This is unique in how it allows the people who for TEAMS to be exceptionally well-rounded, simply because they have had opportunities to be exposed to forests all over the country.

Book review: Teewinot by Jack Turner

Few books deserve the credit as having changed my life, in however small way. This book, written by a former professor of philosophy is a chronicled journey of a man who follows the release and then subsequent return of snow in the Teton mountain range of Wyoming. Through his wonderfully crafted narrative, the author makes astute observations of natural processes, provides insight into an exciting climbing environment and reflects on achieving a life bulging with satisfaction bound by connections we create with the cycles and seasons of the land. He speaks deeply of the first snows in Lupine Meadows, which areas melt out first and hence have a head start on the growing season, the wildlife that greet him regularly near his cabin during the short summer season, and a final walk around Jenny Lake to end the season.

The name of the novel comes from the mountain that the author is able to view from his cabin daily. Over 40 years of living and guiding in the Tetons has enabled the author to connect with his surroundings in such an intimate way, he knows his mountains better than anyone. As a naturalist he is keen to recognize the crowding that his work puts on the wilderness, but somehow he is able to justify it by blocking it from his mindset. However, he does a superb job of astutely contemplating the tranquil nature of the mountain landscapes.

For anyone who wishes to boost their foresight of recognizing mother nature's little gifts, this book is for you. One thing that I struggle with, and surely many others do as well, is to find meaning in my life. To observe the raw and rugged landscape of the Tetons or any other alpine arena for a lifetime is priceless. Important lessons were taken from this book. Simple pleasures as well as clarity, in life I believe, is found from developing a strong sense of mountain place and creating meaningful connections to it.

Cirque of the Towers

In the many places I have lived in over the years I have always hung a spectacular 380 degree panorama poster of the Cirque of the Towers at the Wind River Range of Wyoming. It has been a secret dream of mine to visit this alpine playground and climb my heart out. I was hoping one day to have the chance to go there, and my drive home to VA from CA provided an excellent opportunity, but not without some big hold-ups. I learned few important lessons from this trip though, in a dramatic setting.

I did not realize how important it is in choosing who you go with for extended trips into the backcountry, my usual trips are only a few days long. Your climbing partner and yourself must have a level of understanding that is often beyond friendship, everything needs to jive nicely. Anyway, the Cirque is a spectacular place and having been there now I can relate to the generations of alpine climbers who have a soft spot in their hearts for "The Winds"...

It is an amazing range from the approach standpoint. We drove about 350 miles from Fort Collins, Colorado and the last 50 or so were within view of these tantalizing peaks, they just seem to rise above the plains out of nowhere and it was astonishing:

(photo courtesy of Dan Stone)

It was amazingly dry, warm and windy on the high plains and as we headed higher and into the Winds the landscape changed dramatically. We parked at around 9,000 feet and as soon as we got out of Dan's truck we got attacked by the damn skeets (mosquitos) until we went to sleep that night in the shelter of a tent. I mean those little skeets were dive bombing almost continuously as we hiked in the entire time. Aside from that, the approach to the Cirque went pretty darn smooth. I knew it would be a miserable slog in, and it was, so I packed as light as possible.

We hiked in as far as we could the first night after arriving in the late evening, racing to utilize the sunlight as it faded. We made it to Big Sandy Lake, 6 miles from the trailhead and about a thousand feet higher in elevation. We awoke to a magnificent view:

After getting up a bit later than I'd hoped we hit the trail to go higher. We paused for a moment to filter some water and admire the increasingly alpinscape we were encroaching into:


We rounded a bend and caught our first view of a Cirque peak, Pingora (it is the rounded summit in the distance)

When we got over Jackass Pass and entered into the Cirque it was quite a surreal landscape:

Just endless possibilities to climb, scramble and wander amongst these giant pilars and spires.

I could hardly contain my excitement to be there!


Not only was the rock of world class quality, but the snow was excellent, we even saw some cool effects as it recedes into the lakes and streams that foster life in a typically barren wasteland.

It really was like a dream come true...

The subtle rugged, beauty of the landscape quickly made me forget many insignificant things, like how heavy my pack was, money, material goods, drama with people and other silly mindsets that waay too often clutter our thoughts. It was so darn refreshing to have my mind corrected by such simple splendor.

Dan and I were both pretty knackered by the time we found our campsite. It was quick work to make a delicious pasta dinner and take in our new surroundings.

That night we were treated to a superb moon rising. I love how nearly everything about mother nature seems to be amplified in alpine arenas.

So I laid our attack plan to climb Pingora Peak the next day as an introduction for Dan to alpine climbing. We awoke mostly refreshed and I rushed Dan to get ready so we could be on and off the mountain quickly, Pingora from our campsite looked so darn sexy in the morning sun:

When we awoke it was quite cold, but after hiking for awhile the sun got quite hot and we paused to take off layers.

It did not take long to eye-ball our route up, but I made sure we didn't start before I got some alpine swagger.

At one point I had such a stunning little belay station, certainly reminded me of climbing in the Austrian Alps with a little alpine garden beside me.


The view from the top was spectacular, I took a quick video to get it all in, don't mind my silly commentary.



Even the view down towards Lonesome Lake was amazing, I felt like I could watch everything thaw out and a proper spring begin!


It wasn't long before we had to come down, even so I just could not wipe the smile from my face!

As I waited for Dan on one rappel, I could not resist a self-portrait with such a backdrop!

The descent provided an excellent view of Wolfs Head and many of its routes. This peak was next on my list to do in the Cirque, unfortunately Dan wasn't up for it, or climbing anything else for that matter. The proposed route was to follow the awesome knife edge ridge line that doiminates the right side of the photo below. Still, a man can dream, I am sincerely glad these mountains aren't going anywhere either because I will be back for Wolfs Head- fo realzies!

That night was a real bummer of a night. Dan said he would not climb anymore, he was simply not prepared. I was pretty bummed about it.

Anyway, aside from that, I could not think of a better place I'd rather have been (even if Dan differed). The morning before we left I hauled ass up a snow slope to the beginning of a couloir, mainly because I wanted to get out of the bright sun and into the shade. Yet another sweet view from high up.

I had some fun front-pointing in my crampons up a small rocky outcropping to relax for a minute.

I glissaded a long way down from there, it took about 15 minutes of nearly non-stop sliding!

It made really sad to leave the Cirque, I took one last look to try and save it all between my ears.


The next photos were all taken on the hike out, while Dan was being miserable with his heavy pack, I took the time to try and capture as much of the landscape as possible with Kodak moments (-:


I will always remember the "Winds", maybe one day I can live nearby or become a backcountry ranger there- one can only hope...