Still more skiing

Too busy skiing my legs off at Rogers Pass in preparation for my ACMG ski guide training course next week to report too much. Just wanted to pass on the video I made (I think it's even worst than the last) of the past week of ski touring at my family's ski touring operation, Valhalla Mountain Touring.

Wild and wacky winter 2009

I brought in 2009 with a group of friends from Utah at Valhalla Mountain Touring, my family's backcountry ski touring lodge. Tired from long days of epic deep powder skiing and arduous trailbreaking, we celebrated east coast new years with a shot of Bushmills Irish Whiskey, dressed in costumes that can only be described as... synthetic, colourful, tight where they should be baggy and baggy where they should be tight. I hadn't brought a costume, so just rooted through my duffel of ski clothes and found some Norweigen fishnet thermal longjohns, a rainbow print buff and called myself dressed for a night of apres ski shenanigans. Photographer Tommy Chandler had brought the evening's entertainment, an armload of fireworks that we enjoyed outside the lodge, shivering in the chilly temps as the snowflakes drifted down.

New Year's Eve flex off with the ladies in costume

Geared up for a chilly snowmobile ride on a -20 degree morning on New Year's Day

Sunday brought a new cat-load of guests to the lodge as well as a huge storm that began pummelling us with snow. By Wednesday morning we had received over 70 cm of snow and temperatures spiked to zero at the lodge elevation. Skiing was a downhill and uphill slog and avi conditions kept us in the mellow glades close to the lodge. By Thursday morning there was another 35 cm of snow but temperatures were dropping and rapid settlement was improving ski quality: it was classic deep powder skiing, face shots and fun tree lines all day.

At around 3:00 in the afternoon, a loud rumble and the vague outline of a powder cloud in the mist awoke me from my powder schlaedeling revelry... "BIG MOMMA IS RIPPING!!!" is all I could say to Evan over the radio. Big Momma is an avalanche path that carves a thin line through 2000 ft dense oldgrowth forest to a runout zone a few hundred meters below our huge timberframe lodge. The path hasn't produced an avalanche since sometime in the '70s and in terms of ski safety we treat it with a lot of respect. Unfortunately, the turbine that supplies our lodge with 24-7 hydroelectric power, internet, all the good stuff, is located on the far edge of the Big Momma runout zone, and when Big Momma ripped, she literally blew the building that housed the turbine apart.

When Big Momma is pissed, you'd better get out of her way

Big Momma wasn't the only path that slid on Thursday afternoon. Her cohort and neighbor to the east "Big Pappa" also ripped and dusted our snowcat road with debris despite the fact that it is around 100m straight uphill from the valley bottom. On Friday we realized we were literally trapped at the lodge until it was safe enough to build a road through the debris with the snowcat back down to civilization in the Slocan Valley. So while Evan took the guests skiing, I skied down the road to meet my Dad who was coming up from the community of Hills on the valley bottom on a snowmobile. His snowmobile got stuck with still around 7 km to go to the lodge. So while I trudged down the road in 1m of heavy snow towards him, he skinned up towards me. I passed over 4 huge piles of avalanche debris from paths that normally slide in the spring. When Dad and I finally reached the lodge, we skied over the Big Momma slide debris to the former site of the hydroelectric power house. The following video shows what we discovered...



The final 2 days of my week were spent excavating the power system. Picture me as a snow archeologist... dusting off artifacts found in the snow around the former site of the building. We hastily erected a makeshift shelter over the turbine and brought the recovered control panel (with teeny tiny wires that haven't even been disturbed!!!) down to our resident micro-hydro expert Jeff Ankemann for repair. We are currently running a gas generator in the mornings and evenings for the necessary services (lights, internet, etc.) but it will be great when we get our fossil-fuel free source of 24-7 power back on track!

My Dad peers in the hole, incredulous that the turbine is still there and still running!

Seven new guests and my friend the cook Theresa Calow arrived today. Looks like a high pressure is heading our way which means lots of cool tours to see the extent of damage this avi cycle had on the mountains. One thing is certain, once Big Momma fills back in it's going to ski really well with all those trees plucked out of it!

Skiing into 2009

In the past month I have spent 20 days on my skis. Some days were definitely better than others, with conditions ranging from bony to frigid to plentiful powder. My previous life as a rock climber feels like a dream, and my biceps are shrinking steadily while my thighs expand. It's an annual thing for me, this migration of bulk south from my shoulders and arms to my legs and ass as my activities shift from clinging to rock faces to plowing uphill and down through unimaginably deep snow. Come spring, all that hard earned leg muscle will have to repeat the journey, this time against the pull of gravity, back up to my arms so I can cling to tufas in Spain.

The month began at Mustang Powder, a plush snowcat skiing operation in the Monashee Mountains of BC where the ACMG mechanized ski guide training was being held. Myself and 23 other candidates were educated on such topics as proper powder skiing hand placement, correct intonation while saying "follow me", swooping in and rescuing clients from near death on precarious cliffs, instructing clients to spoon their tracks no more than 17.5 cm apart and how to drink from shot glasses glued to a ski without getting unsightly alcohol dribbles on your lodge wear. As it turned out, the skiing was pretty terrible what with a seriously shallow snowpack and wacky temperature changes, luckily the lodgings were comfortable, the food was great and the company was FIRST CLASS.

Here are some photos from my ACMG experience:

I might not be the slickest ski in the snowcat,

but even I know a helicopter isn't supposed to land like this!

Chris clicking in while our transport heads to the pickup

On the ridge with the valley fog creeping in.s
The girl candidates Erika, Me, Veronika, and Erica participating in some non-ACMG sanctioned good times, flanked by a few of our gracious hosts at Mustang Lodge.

All I can say is that the dark sunglasses are not because it is bright out.
The whole ACMG crew and Boris the powder hound pose down on the final morning.

When my head finally stopped pounding I decided to head out skiing at my family's ski touring lodge in the Valhalla Mountains (www.vmt.ca) with my husband Evan and his clients Richard and Kathy from Seattle. The snow was decidedly better, the only challenge was staying warm in the major artic outflow conditions that brought -25 celcius temperatures.

Evan touring with Big Sister Mt. in the background

Sun and snow, what could be better! Too bad my feet are bricks of ice!

Kathy, Evan and Benny taking in the views at the Rugged-Big Sister Col

Finally, I have made a goal to put together some video clips periodically so I improve my editing skills. Here is my first effort using clips from the past month.

November in Squamish

I spent the past few weeks enjoying all the things Squamish has to offer in the month of November. Ok ok, I know, this part of the world isn't exactly known as a great place to be in November. In fact, it wouldn't surprise me if Seasonal Affective Disorder :-( was invented here. That said, I have been managing to get out and do all kinds of cool things despite the dank air, rainy skies and short days.

I have been getting our for tons of cool runs and hikes with my dog. I have even tried to get out on my skis a bit, although we really need another few big dumps before it is really practical to go ski touring. I went to the Squamish River in Brackendale to check out the bald eagles, seals and all manner of ducks and sea gulls feasting on dead salmon. I even got out for a few brief outdoor bouldering sessions in the Apron Talus.

Here are a few snapshots and video clips from my staycation over the past few weeks:

Yum yum, rotting salmon

"Would you please take my ass off this leash so I can go eat some rotten fish?"

Evan and Benny flailing around in the brush below the Anniversary Glacier

The Road Weary Traveller

Being on the road is so great. Life is distilled down to the simplest tasks and I find myself pulled into an entirely different rhythm than I follow at home. I am awake at dawn or slightly before. I get up, pull on some clothes - whatever is handy and bunched at a ball by my pillow, more than likely exactly what I wore the day before - and crawl out of the tent. I give Benny a scoop of food and pee behind a juniper tree. Rummaging through the food bin in the truck I find the coffee, the cereal and I hunch down over the stove in the sand, making coffee. It is not what I am doing which is very remarkable or different from "home life", it is what I am NOT doing. I am not washing my face, brushing my hair, carefully picking out clothes, changing my underwear (OK OK, I don't entirely abandon this sanitary practice, it is just relegated to a less than diurnal occurrence), looking in a mirror, eating at a table, using running water, flushing a toilet, making the bed, taking out the garbage, getting ready for work. When on a road trip, it's as if I am taking a scalpel to my life and scraping away all the fluff, leaving behind the sinew, muscle and bone of eating, sleeping, playing and the barest minimum of chores and menial tasks. You will note that I have lumped 'going to work' in with the 'fluff' which shows my firm belief that if you don't want much, you don't need to work much. Unfortunately I am a bit past this point with a car, a dog, a mortgage, a student loan and all the fabulous trappings that keep me grinding out the work days (actually I really love my job and would be lost without it).

After the month that has passed since my last post I have climbed, drove, hiked, played with my dog, slept in a tent, slept in a truck, and crisscrossed five states and one province. It's crazy, but already, only a few days after being home it has all blended into one blurry memory. As far as climbing trips go, it was a pretty good one. I climbed quite a few new things (routes I hadn't done before), I got to read a bunch of great books, I took my dog on some beautiful hikes, I got to climb with some fabulous female partners and I got to spend a ton of great time with my husband Evan after a busy guiding season.

The crazy thing is, by the end of the trip, I was craving home so strongly that I didn't even really care what I climbed. Getting back to my own luxurious pocket of space in the universe was what I wanted more than ticking a route or struggling my way up a multipitch. Now that I am back here in Squamish in the rain I ask myself if I am crazy to have wanted to be back here. But the bottom line is, it just feels good! I have no shortage of things to do here, between training for my ski guide program by running, tuning up my beacon and crevasse rescue skills, and trying to get out on my skis before my guide training (and somewhat of an ACMG pre-test) begins on November 28. I also have yet ANOTHER iteration of my thesis to format which involves scanning through a 180 page document looking for spacing and heading mistakes. Attending yoga classes is also high on the list. Since I started doing yoga a few years ago, I have found it makes me feel SO GOOD to do regularly, but I fall out of practice periodically and going to classes makes me inspired to continue. Finally, some indoor training is in order for me. My power and strength slowly dwindled away this fall and I am psyched to train, possibly at the Squamish Bouldering Co-op if I can justify the steep membership fee.

Finally, some photos from my trip. You will notice there are hardly any. That's because my camera stayed in it's safe place under the seat in the truck for most of the trip. At least it didn't get any sand in it.

Me on Freerider
Chillin' at the Alcove on El Cap
Evan pre stomach flu at the Alcove on

Starting up the West Face of El Cap on a frigid day
(we had to bail cause we couldn't feel our fingies and toes)


On Beggar's Buttress


Emily Stiffler posing on Beggars Buttress


Benny getting busted inside the tent


Evan cuddling Benny while Benny winks at me

Indian Creek sunset from our campsite

Sunset at Indian Creek


Sunrise at Indian Creek




Evan basking in the sunrise on one of our early start mornings to beat the heat on our projs


Sunrise over Reservoir Wall

Road Trip Update - Yosemite

I am sitting in a comfortable antique lounge chair in the beautiful and elegant Ahwahnee Lodge. Someone is playing a grand piano so beautifully that I had to interrupt my trashy TV rest day indulgence via the free wireless here, pull off my headphones and reflect on what's happened in the several weeks since I left Squamish.

First and foremost, I've lost a lot of skin. There are those who claim that if you are a good crack climber that you won't damage your skin. If that's true than I need some serious technique lessons because I am scraped, bruised and scratched from my neck (gear sling chaffing) to my toes (from wearing rock shoes on multipitches for hours on end). Had many adventures since I've been here, and climbed some great routes. Freeblast, The Rostrum, the first 1/3 of the Nose, Hotline, as well as some amazing cragging including Fish Crack, Crimson Cringe, Separate Reality, Tales of Power. No great sends to speak of, but after a few weeks of steady climbing my fitness feels back up to midsummer levels.

As I was waiting in the lineup in front of the Camp 4 kiosk this morning to renew my site (a several hour endevour in the early AM chill) a climber who was leaving offered up his bike for free. It's a beat up 10 speed with only one speed working, seriously sketchy brakes and is really big for me. But I am currently carless because my husband Evan has taken our truck and left me here to climb while he attends the American Mountain Guides Association Annual Meetings in Bend, Oregon (he's on the Board of Directors). So... today was spent cruising around on the free bike. My rest day errands have taken me around at least 10 miles of road back and forth between Camp 4, the showers at Curry Village, the laundry at Housekeeping Camp, the Village Store, the clean bathrooms at Yosemite Lodge (with warm running water and taps that stay on!). Yes, the simple life is feeling pretty good these days.

No photos because I left my camera in my tent, but will post some next time. Until then, wish me fresh skin cells and a dose of Yosemite courage!

ACMG ski guide program Part 1 - Alpine Skills Course

My Squamish rock season has pretty much wrapped up. I managed to complete one more of my summer's goals by nabbing what is likely the first female ascent of Leviticus, a 5.12d trad pitch located practically on top of Hwy 99. I am not sad to be done with that noisy climbing zone.

A big part of the next six months for me will be my journey through the Association of Canadian Mountain Guides (www.acmg.ca) ski guide program. There will be three training segments and an exam, and you can expect to find a post on each of them in addition to my other mishaps and shenanigans here.

The first training segment took place at the Kain Hut in Bugaboo Provincial Park last week. Topics included all kinds of ropework, glacier travel, crevasse rescue and improvised harnesses.

Chris Goliaff modelling his well proportioned improvised harness

If you want to look like a true guide, you need to be grouchy, wrinkly and carrying a mountaineer's coil

The weather started off beautiful, with golden larch trees dotting the landscape and offering a beautiful contrast to the shades of white, grey and blue cast by the snow, granite, sky and glacial ice.

Snowpatch and Bugaboo in fall glory


Marmolata and tumbling glaciers

Next phase of my fall is a 6 week US road trip through Yosemite, Indian Creek and Red Rocks. YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!