An unfortunate part of moving back home means a lack of skiing areas (actually a rather severe shortage of snow). So a goal of mine and my friend Brians' was to embark on a ski excursion before we left wild and wonderful WV. A close inspection into the forecast yielded expectations for snow first, then sleet and then freezing rain- all in a matter of hours. We knew we had to act fast in order to fully take advantage of the weather. Typically we might consider going south to higher elevation resorts, but this time around we concured the best snow is north, in PA.
What started as flurries when we arrived turned slowly into a full blown winter storm, dumping an astonishing 4 inches of pow in 2-3 hours (wow-wee!). We stepped inside for a relaxing lunch, followed by a french vanilla coffee with Manner wafers to watch the flakes get bigger as they fell outside. Brian and I kind of knew this would happen and absolutely love surprises (albeit expected)- especially powdery ones! We cranked out as many runs as possible on this little mountain only to be halted by sleet for no more than 15 minutes that turned into a freezing rain and ruining the pow beneath our skis as we tele-smacked our way down the mountain. At this point we both agreed it would be wise to stop while we were ahead and make moves for Morgantown.
Upon returning to the car, we were greeted with a nice, thick glaze on everything:
A quick brush-off, a step to the gas-pedal and a couple breaths later we stopped in Uniontown at a bomb-diggity shnittle-bang family Italian restaurant for a Yueng-Ling and cheese covered pasta followed by a rich desert accompanied by a coffee. Some days life can be so good you can taste it in your mouth by the end, staying stoked with good vibes and good company, those are the days full of pleasant surprises.
So the other morning we woke up to quite a lovely surprise, a delicious frosting covering everything outside! As I had finished my finals just the day before, I thought it well suited to enjoy a mellow ski tour up to my favorite local forest, Coopers Rock.
The snow was a soft velvety powder that provided for excellent glide characteristics, I reckoned there was about 4 inches and in the open meadows, drifts up to 6 inches. I was all alone on the trails on this day, just me, the subtle ripple of the wind and nature's sugar. The trail was quite a meandering one, taking me up and down and all around- but maintaining a nice high altitude above 2,000 feet. I hope this will not be my last ski tour in WV for a while!
The tranquility of the landscape took me for a dream!
It was really nice to get out after such a tough week a slave to my course work, there is nothing better to reward oneself than with a laid-back ski tour (-:
P.S. If you are wondering where the pole is for my left hand, it is supporting the camera for this candid shot.
Technique is more necessary in mountaineering than most other sports, a small mistake can easily cost you your life. A regular neighborhood game of soccer rarely carries such risks. The climbing itself is not the difficult part, maintaining a sense of clarity in the face of danger is the most daunting task. While climbing requires strength, agility and endurance- these qualities are of no use to an individual who lacks good reasoning skills.
Using your head helps you to develop physical qualities that shine brightly when climbing. Technique offsets danger, keeping climbing as an obscure sport that does not flirt between life and death, but relishes in the connection of you with nature and the elements. Many situations are out of your hands, a rock breaks loose, a storm approaches, these experiences shape one's ability to assess risks. That is what mountain climbing is, a constant and deliberate assessing of risks. By knowing one's own ability or even one's self (among the toughest self-examining traits), one can stay within their limit. For that is the greatest thrill of climbing, the simplicity of; yourself, the rock, and the challenges that lay ahead. The imminent challenges of climbing reflect to life itself, applying technique, taking a risk, and seeing where it takes you.
Thanksgiving break for students is traditionally marked by relaxing, sleeping, eating lots of turkey and for some- dreaming about climbing (-; After exercising patience all week, sitting around and eating everything there is to eat, I made some phone calls and made moves for Carter Rocks, Maryland. Carter Rocks sits along the Potomac river just across from Virginia. A mere 60 feet tall at its highest point and perhaps a quarter mile in length, Carter Rocks is nothing to brag about.
My old friend Dan accompanied me and our climbing style for the day was traditional. I led the first route, brushing off the initial joy of anticipation. It was not so difficult, "for good technique combined with fitness is all that is needed to overcome the difficulties" (Gaston Rébuffat). We had only the time for two routes, so after Dan had conquered the climb, we moved on to a simulated multi-pitch route. It was excellent opportunity to practice setting gear, in a safe setting where one is not so tired as to make silly mistakes and time can allow for endless creativity. About 15 feet up, I set up an anchor, I was particularly fond of my nut placements, for the crack was bursting with tapers:
I belayed Dan up to my stance and then he belayed me to the top (another 15 feet). While it was a short route, it high lighted the important procedure to exchanging gear and switching belays quickly.
That is all for now, I am back in West Virginia, hopefully there will be opportunities to place more gear, even with finals looming on the horizon...
This weekend took me to sunny and beautiful Montrose, Colorado.Situated amongst the San Juan mountain range of southwest Colorado, it is in a perfect location for outdoor activities.An hour or so north of Ouray- the ice climbing mecca of North America, an hour from Telluride- an epic ski destination in itself and completely surrounded by public lands offering more to do than time can allow!Montrose really has a lot going for it, the only item missing is an extensive public transit system so one does not need a car so much!I have been staying with a wonderful couple whom I found on Couchsurfing, if you don’t know what this is check it out here: http://www.couchsurfing.com/
My first day here I had an awesome opportunity to see GrandMesaNational Forest.Located an hour north of Montrose, it is one of the largest flat top mountains in the world at over 50 square miles and at elevations ranging from 10 to 11,000 feet!It hosts quite a unique subalpine ecosystem up there, with spruce and fir trees as well several dozen small lakes.At this time of year it was completely frozen up there and we could walk out onto the lakes easily- albeit carefully (-;
I traveled with a fellow couchsurfer, Amanda Harrow who is touring Colorado and the west after spending some months working in Denver on an election campaign.She was kind enough to drive us up there, which turned out to be much longer than it looked on the map (this happens all the time to me here in Colorado- the distances are deceiving!)She accompanied me on a hike where we could not find the trail, so instead we bushwacked a bit and made our own trail through about 4 inches of snow.
The next day our wonderful hosts took Amanda and myself on an epic adventure that culminated in a nudie soak at Orvis hot springs.We had a late start from Montrose, after corresponding silly delays from all of us.Telluride easily made up for that though!What has to be one of the coolest Colorado resort towns I have seen, Telluride is surrounded on 3 sides by massive imposing mountains.
It is easy to see why Telluride is so famous the world throughout for its pop culture, the main street features great shopping, a free gondola takes you to mountain village (where the ski slopes begin), there are numerous festivals throughout the year and the food was absolutely outstanding (try the fish tacos from the stand- outta this world!).I could talk about how cool Telluride is and how much I want to live there all day, read about it for yourself here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telluride,_Colorado. We paused for a group photo of the couchsurfers, from left to right it is Robyn, Rob, Amanda and myself:
Next we embarked for Ouray, home of the infamous ice climbing festival held every year in January.Passing through town, we simply HAD to pause for a chocolate break.Anyone who has been to Ouray knows about Moose’s chocolate.I devoured chocolate in more forms in such a a short amount of time than I would care to admit (on here atleast (-; ), but fresh chocolate is clearly one of the finer things in life. Moose’s has a variety to suit any taste and I might recommend the scrap cookies- a surprise flavor in every bite!Also, an insider tip- wait for when they pull the cookies out of the mini-oven, ask for a glass of milk, devour slowly and deliberately, then walk on clouds as you exit (-;
Outside Ouray to the south we stopped to see box canyon, where the top ice climbing action is held and where a stretch of perhaps a quarter miles is “farmed”.A pipe runs along the top of the narrow canyon and water is dripped through a series of nozzles that makes for perfect ice conditions- including opportunities for dry-picking (mixed ice climbing on rock with ice tools).Just to stand there and see the world class material simply blew my mind, fully knowing the world’s best climbers would descend on Ouray in a little over a month, it was an inspiring moment.Just recently metal structures were built to better able people to view the climbers- that is me standing on the big one which is probably for the press.
More information can be found here: http://www.ourayicepark.com/The quality of the ice was a bit disappointing (lack of ice any ice actually), but the weather has not been contingent for snow or ice in this part of Colorado lately, sadly enough )-
Moving on from Ouray we continued south along the “million dollar highway”.At the start of the highway is a cool sign proclaiming:
The 23 mile highway was supposedly called this because it cost that much per mile to build, we worked it out in the car to be $9.47 per square foot.It was really an engineering marvel that I would venture to claim rivals the autbahns of alpine Austria.I wonder how much it cost to build the Großglockner-Hochalpenstraße? It is quite a famous alpine road snaking around the highest mountain of Austria. The photo below is of Bear Creek running under the road and flying off the mountain side- gives you an idea of how big the dropoff is and how difficult it was to build this road!
We drove for a while along the million dollar highway and managed to make it to the flat part, called Ironton, before turning around with nice thoughts of hot springs.At Orvis hot springs I had such a relaxing time, whew!The water felt great, wearing no clothes felt great and having a nice conversation with an older gentleman about the history of mountaineering in Colorado was nice.An hour and a half spent in varying pools of hotness, we had to put our clothes back on, kind of a sad moment after being free for so long. Sorry, no photos from Orvis (-;
Last night brought us here in northern West Virginia a lovely sugar coating of snow! In Morgantown I stepped out to the car to be greeted by 2 inches of snow and lots of ice to clear. I had some paperwork at the University, so I went to take care of that only to find no one in the office. With that I knew I had my chance to go big, Coops style (-: Skis, boots, poles, hot tea and Ipod shuffle loaded in the Volvo I headed up to Coopers Rock State Forest.
After a quick 20 minute drive I was pleasantly surprised by not a sugar coating, but full-fledged powder conditions! At about 2,200 ft (675 m), Coops is distinctly higher than Morgantown and as so gets blessed with much more snow. The average depth during my ski tour was perhaps about 4 inches, though in some places it was as shallow as 2 inches or as deep as 6 inches in drifts. There were no other skiers today either, a bit strange, but perhaps not because it is a Tuesday and most have to work. I took a moment to rig the camera on a stump to shoot this Kodak of me (in ankle pow!) on the trail:
I skied from the front gate near Intersate 68 to the overlook via the roadside trail. I am not sure how long it was, perhaps 6 or 8 miles all together- enough for a fun, mid-week, mid- morning ski tour (-; The view from the overlook was stunning. I arrived to find the clouds had cleared and to take this photo from the overlook block looking down the Cheat canyon:
After a rather agonizing tour back to the car (the inside of my heels were rubbed raw from the ski boots) I made quick time back to Morgantown in time for a brief meeting with my advisor at WVU. I had previously scheduled a meeting for the morning to discuss jobs in Colorado. I hope our area gets more snow and more ski tours come soon!
Hannes, my colleague and friend from Austria has a blog too! If you can read German and are interested he blogs about his experiences here in the states. Hannes and his girlfriend Doris are both exchange students from Austria studying at West Virginia University for this fall semester. His blog can be found here: http://hannes-in-america.blogspot.com/
If you cannot read the text, that is no problem! He is an outstanding photographer and has really done a nice job cataloging his trips with Doris all around the USA. This weekend they will go to see parts of New England and Canada.
