11/21/14 - Daily Grind

I am back to the daily grind!  For me, during the winter, that means teaching ski school at Vail during the day and working support staff at the Red Lion restaurant at night.  I had my first ski school lesson of the season yesterday and it was such an awesome day!  We didn't have enough students on Saturday for me to get a class and I was thankful.  I was actually nervous for teaching my first class for two reasons.  First I thought I might have forgotten all the fun games that we use for learning over the summer.  And second I was worried that my expectations for how much fun I was going to have teaching were too high after such a successful season last year.  Luckily, I was wrong on both counts!  I remembered all my favorite and most effective drills for teaching the kids and I had so much fun!  Teaching skiing might be my dream job.  I haven't had a single bad day at work yet, and I am keeping my fingers crossed that this steak of good fortune will continue.  I have yet to find a place to live for the winter, which is concerning, but I am seriously considering living in a tent in the national forest in order to save rent and avoid living with wild or pot-smoking roommates.  If I can handle the cold for the entire winter I should be able to save up enough money to spend the entire summer travelling and climbing once again!  +James Schafer, +Lee Mebel, anyone else want to spend next summer climbing around Asia?  On a final note, I have to say that the way my life has changed over the course of the last year and a half has been so much better than I could ever have imagined.  Going from being miserable every hour of every day spent at work to being so happy to wake up every morning and teach and ski is something I thank God for every night!

10/10/14 to 10/12/14 - Moab, UT

To see the video chronical of the weekend click here:  MTB Moab Fall 2014 - GoPro

Goofing around at the Porcupine Rim trailhead

I love being back in Colorado.  The Alps are amazing, Chamonix is spectacular, but I love being home.  After 100 days abroad, by far the longest I have ever been away, coming home was oh so sweet.  To top it off I made it back in time for the Mighty Mighty Skier crew's annual fall trip to Moab!  This trip was going to be a little different than any other Spring or Summer trip we have done.  The crew has now expanded to include four young boys and one girl, all under the age of five.  Many of these spirited youths have never been camping before; most notably 7 week old Bradley!  With mild trepidation we hit the road.  Since my employment hasn't started yet I was one of the lucky ones who was able to head down early on Friday and get an extra ride.  We started the trip with a mellow warm up on the Pipe Dream trail.  Always fun, technical enough to keep your attention, and mostly downhill, the Pipe Dream trail is always fun.  The rest of the crew joined us Friday night and we made our plans for the weekend.  Saturday started with the Upper and Lower sections of Porcupine Rim.  Unfortunately there was too much snow to undertake the Whole Enchilada, but the lower sections are a great compromise.  I managed to win the Rambo Award by being the first person to draw blood on the trail.  During the crash I also managed to break my (borrowed) helmet, so now I have to buy two new bike helmets.  Besides my early wreckage, everything was going well, everyone was riding strong, we had a shockingly low number of mechanical issues and flats, when Hailee's

Hailee's gash, post cleaning

injury curse struck again.  Somehow Hailee bounced off a couple of rocks and managed to get a 5" gash right down the middle of her shin!  Her current streak of six injury free days was quickly reset!  I carried her on my back while Earnest and Nicole followed with the bikes until the Advil took effect.  Once the pain started to subside she walked the rest of the way, slowly but surely, down to the trailhead.  Since the urgent care center in town was closed, Hailee decided to go with a more rudimentary butterfly bandage and Ace wrap solution in lieu of stitches.  Needless to say it took us longer than normal to gather the group at the trailhead so we skipped a second ride.  On Sunday we got up early and headed for Amasa Back.  The descent of Amasa Back down the Captain Ahab trail is one of our group's absolute favorites.  Hailee and Melinda stayed at camp and babysat the kids while the rest of the crew had a great time overcoming challenges and riding stuff they had never ridden before.  We grabbed lunch at Milt's Diner, a Sunday afternoon tradition, and headed out of town.  Before making it home, however, we got one more ride in the Klondike Bluffs trail system.  I can't say that Klondike Bluffs is my favorite trail system, but we had a good ride without any injuries or mechanical issues.  Over the course of the weekend all of the kids did remarkably well.  I, for one, did not get woken up once by a crying child in the middle of the night!  With yet another fun-filled Moab weekend in the books we made the long journey home and promptly passed out.

Midway on the Porcupine Rim Trail

9/25/14 to 10/3/14 - New York City and Washington D.C.

I decided to finish off the Europe trip with a blog about my final week abroad, which was spent in New York City and Washington D.C..  Unfortunately the plan to climb with Bucky in the Gunks was derailed by a last minute trip by Bucky to the West coast, but he left me in the capable hands of Ainsley and we managed to have a great time.  The biggest highlight of my first stint in Brooklyn was the Hash run.  If you haven't done a Hash run before, you should.  We got an email saying where the race was going to start and just showed up and waited at the intersection for the race organizers to arrive.  In the meantime we got the lowdown on the regular's nicknames which were all vulgar, and all had funny, non-vulgar stories behind them.  Once the race organizers showed up they explained the rules of route-finding and we were off.  We ran around Brooklyn following arrows that were marked on the sidewalk in chalk.  Every once in awhile we would come across a circle with an X in it rather than an arrow.  At these intersections the route could go in any direction and we just had to guess and check.  Sometimes we guessed correctly the first time and found three subsequent arrows in the direction we chose.  Sometimes we guessed incorrectly and would find only two arrows before the route would disappear and we would have to backtrack and try again.  There were also backcheck markers where we would have to backtrack a few arrows and then guess a new direction to run in!  At about the 3/4 mark of the run there was a drink station, which consisted of a gatorade/vodka mix.  We finished the approximately 4.5 mile run at a bar where we gave the organizers $20 and proceeded to drink and eat until the money was spent.  It was a really fun event and lead to a very lively night where we ended up dancing to a live (and awesome) country/folk band until we were ready to pass out.  Ainsley also brought me to my first ever yoga class which was more physically demanding than I would have guessed.  After spending the weekend in Brooklyn I caught a bus for the four hour ride to Washington D.C. to meet up with some old friends.  I kept myself busy until they got off of work on the National Mall at the Museum of Natural History, which was fascinating.  Once Erik got off of work I met him at Dupont Circle for a lovely oyster bar dinner, followed by smoking pipes on the roof of his apartment building into the wee hours of the night.  The next day I went back to the National Mall, this time visiting the Museum of American History and Botanic Gardens.  The "America at War" display in the museum is incredible.  I think I spent two hours in the Cold War display alone!  After joining Erik we met up with another old friend, Kate, and had a great time of reminiscing and updating on our lives.  Of course, with three people of such diverse political leanings, in our nation's capitol, we couldn't help but get into a short political discussion.  It was a great time getting back together with some of my best friends, but unfortunately I had to cut the trip short and head back to New York.  Bucky had come back from the West coast in the meantime and he, Ainsley, Dan, Charlie, and I went to a concert at a bowling alley.  I didn't have any information going in to the night, but when I learned that it was the Eli Young Band playing at a bowling alley in Brooklyn I freaked out!  I love Eli Young Band!  And bowling!  We didn't bowl, but the music was first rate.  After Eli Young Band was done there were more treats in store.  Questlove, from the Roots Crew showed up and DJ'd the rest of the night!  I met Charlie, with whom I had a great time talking and dancing.  Dancing to country music and DJ music in a bowling alley in Brooklyn on a Thursday night hit all my fun buttons!  A few thoughts on the differences between Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Washington D.C.:
After spending the week in Brooklyn, Manhattan, and D.C. these are my rankings based on general layout, architecture, and atmosphere.
1. D.C.
2. Brooklyn
3. Manhattan
I had so much fun in Brooklyn last weekend that I could see why people enjoyed living here. It has a really awesome energy. But D.C. takes the cake because it is so open, with parks everywhere, and the architecture is so grandiose and striking I could (and did) just walk around for hours checking out all the different buildings. Manhattan is really hit or miss, I feel, depending on where you are. Central Park and the surrounding area is really cool, but then you get to the office park areas where everything feels dirty and claustrophobic. Just my two cents.

Enjoying Eli Young Band at Brooklyn Bowl

9/11/14 - Plan de l'Aiguille challenge!

In honor of Bucky's last day in Chamonix we decided to take one last run up to the Plan de l'Aiguille.  If you remember from previous posts, Bucky's PR is 1:06:00.  My PR is 1:15:23, on a slightly different route.  We took a quick lap around the parking lot to get our legs warmed up a bit and off we went.  I took the right fork this time, and it resulted in a longer, but less steep route.  Bucky started pulling away from me really fast.  My calves felt really stiff and there were a few moments where I thought for sure they were going to cramp up.  Luckily, that did not happen, and once the steepness of the trail started to mellow out a little bit I started feeling much better.  I did not wear a watch this time, which I think hurt me a little.  When all you have to compete against is the clock, it really helps to actually have a clock on your person.  Bucky pulled further and further away from me and it didn't take long before I was running solo.  Once I made it to the refuge I knew I only had about five minutes to go so I poured it on.  I made it to the top, dripping sweat, in 1:16:45.  Bucky had made it in 1:06:22.  Today marked the first time that Bucky had completed the run without setting a PR.  I think my calves were still a little worn out from the Frendo Spur ascent, and that's why my time was slower, but maybe not.  Maybe the left fork of the route is just over a minute longer than the right fork.  This time I was smarter and condescended to take the tram down.  My quads will be thanking me tomorrow!  We got back to Cham and Bucky finished packing up his last few items, bought some souvenirs, and got on the shuttle to the airport.  This will probably be my last blog post for awhile.  Without Bucky here I will be biking and swimming and having the standard sorts of adventures I have every day.  If by chance one of these biking days turns in to something epic I will be sure to write about it.  For now, however, I am saying goodbye to the blog until the backcountry skiing in Colorado gets good!  This summer in Chamonix has been everything I could have hoped for.  So much so, that by the end I was totally sick of rock climbing!  I have a few more days here in Cham, and I will be making the most of them in my own personal way, but I am looking forward to getting back to the States!  Colorado, will have to wait another week as I will be reuniting with Bucky in NYC to go climb the Gunks, and with some friends in D.C.  I am looking forward to good Mexican food (and crappy Taco Bell), Old Chicago's, speaking English, Mountain Dew, a full suspension bike with 6" of travel, American football, Moab, my cousin's wedding (anyone want to come as my date/dancing partner?), friends, family, and working (and not necessarily in that order)!  Can you believe I am looking forward to working?  Granted my work day involves skiing for 8 hours, but still!

9/10/14 - Catyoucha Man!

Bucky and my final day of climbing in Chamonix!  Somewhat sad, but man we got a lot done this summer!  With a variable weather forecast I voted to climb on the Brevant side because the routes are shorter and fully equipped with pro.  We picked a route that we had looked at in the guide book all summer, but hadn't gotten to yet.  It was relatively short, 6 pitches, but it looked sustained.  Three pitches are rated at 6a in the book, one at 6a+, one 5b, and one 5c.  As we were getting our packs set I wanted to bring the two double ropes so we could bail easily just in case it rained.  Bucky only wanted to bring the single rope.  Bucky won this debate and we got on the gondola with one single 60m rope.  As we rode up the gondola Bucky read the approach description and we realized that the route started at the top.  It was designed to be rappelled to the bottom and then climbed back up, but we had no idea if we could do the rappel with

a 60m rope!  We debated whether or not just to loop the gondola ride and go back to the flat to get the two doubles, but we thought we could find a way to hike down around the cliffs.  If anything we thought we could leave some carabiners and rappel off of one bolt down the route we were going to ascend and then we could gather all our equipment on the way back up!  There is a grassy ledge/escape route in the middle of the climb so instead of hiking to the top we decided to hike to the middle and rap down from there; thereby minimizing any gear that we might have to leave behind.  The grassy ledge escape route was no easy task, we quickly discovered.  There were some fixed ropes, thankfully, but getting across the ledge necessitated some pretty technical moves.  We arrived at the belay station for the route we were

planning on climbing and started the rappel.  Luckily there were rappel stations set up perfectly for a 60m rope and we didn't have to leave any gear behind!  As we rappelled I noticed that the route was not nearly as steep as I was expecting, but it looked very slabby.  I decided to take the lead on the first pitch (6a) so that Bucky would have to take the lead on the second (6a+).  After leading 6b and following on 6c my confidence was shaken in the Dolomites leading what I am guessing was a 5c/6a route so I have been taking it easy.  I nearly fell at one point doing a tricky traverse move, but managed to pull it out.  Bucky led the 6a+ just fine.  The next pitch was 5c and I expected to cruise up it no problem, but I was mistaken.  About two bolts in to the pitch I was flummoxed!  I had no idea how to get through the undercling/slabby/wide crack mess that I was presented with and actually grabbed onto my draw

to get through!  On a 5c!  That embarrassment behind me the rest of the pitch went swimmingly.  I decided to combo pitches 3 and 4 since it was less than 60m and pitch 4 presented no problems.  Bucky led pitch 5, which was graded as 6a in the guide book, but both of us agreed that it was easier than that.  It was a steeper pitch, and there weren't great hand holds, but there were foot holds everywhere!  Really solid ones!  I took the lead on the last 6a pitch to the summit and found it much easier than I was expecting again.  There were a few tricky moves, but they didn't take too long to figure out.  When Bucky met me at the summit I just said, "maybe it is 6a, but the pitch perfectly coincided with all of my strengths as a climber, so that's why it felt so easy!"  When we got to the summit the weather seemed to be holding steady, despite the forecast of rain, but it was about 2:00 which is really not enough time to go for another route, so we called it quits early and headed back to Cham.

9/8-9/14 - Frendo Spur

We said goodbye to Luke and Laura yesterday and with a favorable weather forecast we decided to try to cross off one of our biggest goals of the summer, the Frendo Spur (IV, D+, AI4, 5c).  The route can be completed in one or two days depending on the parties and the conditions of the snow on the route.  Considering it was going to be our first time, and we lost two hours on the day because of the changes to the tram schedule, we decided to carry bivy gear with us and do the route over two days.  We started day one with a nice hike from the Plan de l'Aiguille tram station up to the glacier.  Bucky and I slightly disagreed about how to best approach the climb.  I thought we should go straight up the gut of the extinct glacier trough to where the snow began and then straight up from there to the rock.  Bucky,

however thought the best route was to go around up high on the trail and traverse across the glacier to the beginning of the rock.  We went with Bucky's preferred route in this case, and in this case we both agreed it probably would have been a little faster to make a more direct approach.  The route we took necessitated crossing a heavily crevassed section of the glacier with sketchy snow bridges.  At one point, while Bucky was crossing one snow bridge we heard and felt the glacier whump and crack below our feet.  Bucky looks at me, startled, and says, "was that the bridge I am on?"  I said, "I think so, you should probably hurry!"  Luckily we made it though without having to use any of our crevasse rescue gear, but it was a little time consuming.  The bergschrund at the base of the rock was filled in very nicely, which was a big change from the way it has looked from the tram all summer.  Once we got to the rock we continued moving together up a 4th class diagonal ramp up the cliff face.  We continued to zig-zag through class 4 and easy 5 terrain while moving together until we came to a corner where the route description said the "real" climbing started.  We exchanged our boots for rock shoes, extended the ropes to full length, and started pitching it out.  We soon came to see that none of those precautions was really necessary, but better safe than sorry.  After climbing two pitches we decided

that the terrain was easy enough that we could go back to simul-climbing, which is not quite as safe, but it is much faster.  After about six hours from the tram station we came to the crux pitch of the rock section (5c, 5.10a).  Both Bucky and I breezed through it, even with our heavy packs, and agreed that it did not seem like 5c.  We continued to pitch sections out after the crux as the climbing became much steeper and exposed until we arrived at the bivy site after about 9 hours of climbing.  Even though the day had started out with glorious weather, when we got to the bivy site the wind was whipping and the clouds had descended so that we couldn't really see anything.  Since we had about two hours of daylight left I was thinking that maybe we should just push through to the Aiguille du Midi and sleep up at the tram station instead of bivying out in the rain/snow.  Bucky said he would rather sleep out on the sweet little bivy platform than in the tram station so we started setting up camp.  I had just bought the cheapest bivy sack I could find the day before, and I wasn't too convinced about it's waterproofness, so I was sincerely hoping the rain/snow would hold off.  Unfortunately we were not so lucky.  Just a little before sunset we could look down into the valley and watch a massive thunderstorm going on.  I have to say, it was one of the coolest things I have ever seen.  Hanging out

on a mountain, above the clouds, watching a thunderstorm below you is sweet.  As the sun went down the clouds came up, and although the lightening and thunder stayed down in the valley (thankfully), the rain did not.  It wasn't a torrential downpour or anything, but it was enough to make sleeping very difficult.  Not to mention that the thunder was so loud at times the entire mountain would literally shake.  I don't know if it was because of the thunder, the warm temperature, or a combination of the two, but we could hear avalanches tumbling down the mountain all around us.  At one point the ledge we were sleeping on was shaking so much from the thunder I was a little scared that our ledge was going to start sliding!  After a night full of tossing and turning and intermittent rain, I was very grateful to see the sun rise.  When I got out of my sleeping bag and pulled it out of the bivy sack I noticed it was very wet.  Luckily none of that water soaked through to the inside of the bag and I stayed warm, but I am not sure how much the bivy sack helped!  After a quick breakfast we began the snow and ice portion of the spur.  The beginning is a really exposed, really beautiful S-curving knife ridge.  Enough people have climbed the route through the summer that the ridge is very stepped out, making it easy enough for Bucky and I to move together.  After moving up

the ridge for about an hour we came to the base of a gendarme and where the real climbing (80° ice) starts.  The route was very stepped out, even on the ice, making the climbing fast and fun.  We were also ascending next to the rock so we were able to use a combination of ice screws and rock pro.  As we were topping out the final (near) vertical pitch on the ice the clouds decided to make another appearance, but luckily we didn't get rained on.  The last pitch was an easy traverse across the snow to where the cornice at the top was virtually nonexistent and we were there!  We shortened our ropes back up and hiked the ridge up to the Aiguille du Midi.  We arrived at the tram station in about four hours, making our total climbing time about 13 hours.  In hindsight I was very grateful that we didn't push for the summit.  The climb up the ice took a lot longer than I was expecting.  We would have been climbing for about two hours in the dark!  We arrived back at the Plan de l'Aiguille station about 27 hours after we had left it the day before feeling very satisfied.  The Frendo Spur was the last of our three major goals coming in to the summer (the other two being the Mont Blanc summit and the circumnavigation of Mont Blanc via MTB) and we got it in just under the wire!  I would have to say the Frendo spur was one of my favorite routes of the summer.  The rock was all very fast and easy climbing and the ice was elegant and beautiful.  When I come back at some point in the future I can't really think of a lot of routes I would want to repeat, but the Frendo Spur is certainly one.

9/5-6/14 - Venice, IT

Like I mentioned in yesterday's post, Venice is freaking sweet!  We added Bucky's little brother Luke on to our party yesterday and started the day with walking across the Accademia bridge (one of only four bridges that have ever crossed the Grand Canal) and catching a water bus at the entrance of the Grand Canal.  The architecture and ambiance of this city is really indescribable.  There are boats everywhere, canals everywhere, and every narrow alleyway is potentially a major thoroughfare!  We got off the water bus at the Rialto market and explored the produce stands for awhile, but I didn't find it all that intriguing.  After a bite to eat we got back on the water bus and went down to the Piazza San Marco.  Bucky, Luke and I got in line to tour the Basilica San Marco and when we turned around Laura was nowhere to be found!  We looked around for her, but to no avail, we entered the church one member short.

 There are no photos allowed in the Basilica San Marco, but you would be surprised at how many people break that rule.  At the entrance, right next to a sign that says no photography, there were about seven people clicking away!  Out of respect for the sanctity of the cathedral, we managed to refrain.  The Basilica is one of the oldest churches in Europe and is very beautiful.  From the Basilica we managed to meet back up with Laura and went to the top of the Campanile di San Marco, a bell tower and the tallest structure in Venice.  From the top of the Campanile we enjoyed unparalleled 360° views of the city.

Looking down on the Basilica San Marco

Doge's Palace

After our tour of Piazza San Marco we headed back to the flat to recharge our batteries.  Then we wandered around the city for awhile trying to find a good place to watch the sunset.  Unfortunately we left the flat a little to late and wandered around a little too long and ended up missing half the sunset, but it was still a nice place to hang out and drink some wine while dark fell.  On the way back to the flat we found a gondola driver and decided that we couldn't in good conscience leave Venice without taking a gondola ride, even though it costs 100 euros for 35 minutes.  To round off our trip we decided to go to Lido island and swim around in the Adriatic Sea.  Lido island is apparently the ritziest part of Venice, but it has a nice public beach and there is a public strip of sand 9 meters from the edge of the water across all the private beaches as well.  Sitting in the sand, swimming, and reading for a day was

a nice change of pace from everything we have done the rest of this summer, but it didn't last long.  At around 2:00 we had to grab some lunch and drive back to Chamonix so Luke and Laura could make their flights home the next day.

9/4/14 - Dolomites - Tre Cime de Lavaredo

Bucky's nights have been getting better and better.  Today he decided to try going for a hike again.  Hopefully for longer than fifteen minutes!  We drove up to the Tre Cime de Lavaredo area which is supposed to contain the quintessential Dolomite landscapes.  Unfortunately everyone knows this so you have to pay 24 euros just to drive up to the parking area!  The original plan was to climb a 14 pitch route called the Yellow Edge.  When we got to the base of the climb, even though we knew we weren't going to attempt it, Bucky just had to hike up to the base and get a closer look.  We split ways with Laura and headed up to the base.  It looks like it would be a really sweet climb, that's all we can really say, and hope that maybe, some day, we can come back and try again.  With Laura off taking pictures, Bucky

and I just went exploring.  I saw some people hiking up to a cave high on the hillside and thought we should go check it out.  The cave exited on a ledge and we realized we were on a "via ferrata" trail.  The via ferratas are like extreme hiking trails that some people wear harnesses on and clip in to iron cables through the exposed sections.  Without our harnesses, though, Bucky and I just went for it.  We didn't have any issues, but we did get to see some serious views.  And leave the beaten path a little bit.  The trail ended up crossing through a tunnel to the far side of the ridge and descended into the wrong valley.  We found a saddle that looked like it might get us back to the right side.  It certainly did, eventually, but there was a short sketchy downclimb and some serious scree surfing down a couloir before we met up with a trail again.  We continued out to a Rifugio, hoping to run into Laura, but she was not there.  Bucky

bought some food; which was a pretty big deal, since he hadn't really eaten in three days, and we headed back toward the car.  We decided to hike through some boulder fields around the South side of the Tre Cime formation rather than going back the way we came.  The Tre Cime area is certainly gorgeous, and, despite my limited experience, the quintessential Dolomite landscape!  We had to make it back to the car early to meet Bucky's little brother at the Venice airport and spend the next few days exploring the unique city.  Upon arriving in Venice we tried three different parking areas before we finally found one that wasn't a blatant rip off.  We walked to the flat we had rented for the next two nights and all of us got really excited to explore the city more the next few days.  Sometimes you see a city so much in the movies and they just pick out the really cool or pretty places so it looks like a cool city, but it isn't really (ie. Las Vegas; total crap hole of a city, but looks cool in the movies).  Venice is not that way.  Venice is freaking sweet!

The Tre Cime Formation, with cloud between the Grand and Oest towers

9/3/14 - Dolomites - Tofana di Rozes

Bucky went through another long night, but said he felt a little better this morning.  He didn't feel strong enough to climb, but he did feel strong enough to go to a hike, or so he said.  The original plan for the day was to do an 18 pitch climb up to the summit of Tofana di Rozes.  I thought this might be a little too much for Laura and I to tackle by ourselves so we all went for a hike.  Two minutes in to the hike Bucky told Laura and I to go on ahead and he would follow at his own pace since he was still feeling pretty weak.  We found out later that he turned around after about fifteen minutes and went back to sleep in the back seat of the car!  Laura and I had a very nice hike however.  The clouds were very low in the morning, but as the day progressed the clouds receded and we got to see some pretty fantastic views.

 After we got back to the Rifugio Dibona we headed down to the town of Cortina d'Ampezzo to grab some dinner and maybe find a place to stay the night.  Cortina reminded me a lot of Vail or Aspen, it was obviously a playground for the wealthy.  We managed to find a cool and reasonably priced place for dinner, but decided to head North to stay the night.  We drove up to the town of Misurina and found a nice place situated at the end of a beautiful lake.  Bucky was feeling stronger, but still not great.  That is now two straight days of sleeping in the back of a car for him!

The Tofana di Rozes.  One day we will have to come back and try again!
Hopefully without any illness!

9/2/14 - Dolomites - Cinque Torri

Bucky, Laura, and I drove for about 7 hours yesterday from Chamonix to the Dolomite area of North Eastern Italy.  Today the plan was to go climbing up in the Cinque Torri area.  Unfortunately, last night Bucky came down with a stomach bug.  Bucky was feeling terrible so we spent the morning looking for a doctor.  The doctor's (or doctor) in the area only work for about two hours a day in each little town we drove through.  After the third attempt we finally found a doctor present at the office.  Bucky got some medicine and we headed on our way.  Bucky was feeling too weak and tired to join us on our hike, so Laura and I left him sleeping in the car while we took the chairlift up to the Cinque Torri.  The rock formation is made up of five large towers and there are climbing routes all over the

Rappelling back down after a successful summit

place on all of them.  Laura and I had never climbed together before so I wanted to look for a short sport route that looked relatively easy.  After wandering around a little while I found what looked like a two pitch sport route of about 5.8 difficulty.  The first pitch went really well, except that the rock was freezing cold and my fingers were promptly numbed!  This made the route much more difficult to climb.  The second pitch was probably about 5.9 but both Laura and I had some issues.  We both made it to the top successfully, however, and after walking around a little longer we decided to go check on Bucky in the car.  Unfortunately, with our late start and wandering around, we missed the last lift down for the

day.  Luckily this hike down was no where near the distance of a hike down from the Plan de l'Aiguille so it was actually pleasant.  When we got back to the car Bucky was sleeping in the back seat and was not yet feeling any better.  We still trekked on with the original plan, however, and headed for the Rifugio Dibona and the Tofana di Rozes.

8/28/14 - The Midi-Plan Traverse

While +Laura Kottlowski  is in Chamonix she wanted to summit Mont Blanc.  She doesn't have much experience with alpine glacier travel or snow climbing, but we thought we could probably give it a go.  Since +James Schafer  and I had already done the Bosses ridge route, we thought it would be fun to try the Tois Mont route this time.  After helping Bucky with some work stuff on Wednesday morning we made it up to the Vallee Blanche and had camp set up by around 1700.  With three hours of daylight left we decided to give the Cosmiques arete a go and get Laura some good alpine rock and snow experience.  With some rock climbing, snow climbing, and rappels the Cosmiques arete has a good variety of climbing.  Laura did well, even on a tricky diagonal rappel that was only her second rappel ever.  We made it to the summit while the sun was setting, but made it back down to camp before we had to break out the headlamps.  We set the alarms for 0300 and hit the sack.

We hit the trail at 0330 on a very chilly morning.  We started up the most dangerous part of the Tois Mont route with a great deal of exposure to serac fall and a large bergschrund.  This really isn't a place that you want to take breaks, or hang out for an extended period of time.  As the face grew steeper, Laura was feeling really uncomfortable with the steepness and hardness of the snow.  After having climbed about a quarter of the face we decided it would be best to turn around.  We frontpoint down climbed a decent way before the slope mellowed out enough that we could walk down and back to camp.  With the snow freezing hard over night, Bucky and I decided that instead of going back up the Tois Mont route we should attempt to complete a route we had turned around on last week because of too much fresh snow; the Midi-Plan traverse (III, 2, 4a).  We left camp at about 0545 and headed back up towards the Aiguille du Midi.  The very first section of the ridge is a nice mellow walk, but soon enough it drops very steeply down a knife edge of snow.  At some points the ridge was so narrow

through this section you couldn't even fit your feet together side by side!  After the recent snows had wiped away any previous path, a few people had done the route the day before so we at least had a few foot tracks to follow.  However, going down that ridge, face in, in the dark, was a very slow process.  Bucky led and kicked out nice footholds which I, and all subsequent parties of the day were able to use.  From the bottom of the descent we had to cross a large bergschrund via snow bridges at two locations and from there we began to climb again.  The air was very chilly, even after the sun rose, so much so that I was wearing every layer of clothes that I brought and still wasn't overheating on the climbs.  About two hours in we came to the Rognan du Plan and had our first route finding problem.  The faint foot track led in two directions.  One leading up and over the rocky spire, and

Sunrise on the Midi-Plan traverse

one going down and around.  We started by heading up.  Bucky started to traverse across a wide rocky ledge, but upon turning the corner and looking down, he determined that it was not the proper route.  We headed back and went down and around.  I was in the lead at this point and as I approached the ridge line the snow turned more and more rotten.  Trying to actually gain the ridge was a very tricky, and dangerous, maneuver with snow crumbling under my feet.  I managed to gain the ridge with my nerves a little rattled, and belayed Bucky up from the safety of the rocks.  From there we followed the ridge up and down a few more times before coming to another place where the route was not so obvious.  The guide book says that you are supposed to rappel to a series of snowy ledges before down climbing to where the glacier meets the rock.  After one rappel and a short down climb we came to a ledge, but there was no way we were going to down climb all the way to the snow.  Luckily, many people before us felt the same and there were two more rappel set-ups that we used to get to the bottom!

Summit of the Aiguille du Plan, looking NE

Summit of the Aiguille du Plan, looking South

After reaching the snow we looked back up at the rock face and wondered where we were supposed to ascend the thing after reaching the Aiguille du Plan and turning around.  We had noticed some parties following behind us after the sun rose so we hoped that at least one of them would know the route back.  The guide book says simply to re-trace your steps, but the face we had just rappelled down looked like 5.10 climbing, not 5.6 like the guide book says.  We turned our backs on that future problem and continued on toward the summit of the Aiguille du Plan.  At this point we were on the South side of the ridge and the sun was very intense and hot.  The snow started getting very soft, even at 1030, and we removed most of our layers.  After gaining the rock, Bucky took the lead as we pitched out the final 30m to the summit.  We climbed to the summit on the North face, and being in the shade, with the wind howling, we had to put back on a few of the layers we had just removed!  It was cold enough that all we managed to do was snap a few pictures on the summit before we turned around and rappelled back down to the snow and the sun.  We had reached the summit in about 4.5 hours, or about an hour longer than the guide book said.  We talked to one of the parties as we turned back toward the Aiguille du Midi to ask if any of them knew how we supposed to get back up the rock face we had rappelled down.  All anyone knew, however, was to just go back the way we came.  When we got to the rock Bucky took the lead on the first pitch.  With a few pulls on a fixed rope that some kind soul had left behind, he managed to make it to the top of the first pitch.  I took the lead for the second pitch and had an easier time, which was good for me.  From here the fun of the route ended, and the difficulties began.  With the exception of the very first ridge, the way to the Aiguille du Plan was steep climbs followed by more mellow descents.  On the way back, then, we had to down climb all of the steep climbs.  Down climbing in the steep snow is something Bucky and I do not have a lot of experience with.  Normally when we do steep snow and ice routes you down climb somewhere else more mellow or rappel.  No chance of that here.  I was taking the lead on the way back since Bucky led on the way there, and I was moving slow and deliberate.  I tried to face downhill and walk at the beginning (much faster) but after a few of the steps we had kicked in on the way up blew out on me and I had to catch myself, I turned around and down climbed

Returning to the Aiguille du Midi (distant right peak)

face-in (slower, but safer).  The down climbing seemed to go on forever, and the going was very slow.  Two parties passed us before we made it back to the final knife ridge that we had come down in the dark so many hours before.  At that point I knew we had no more down climbing ahead of us and I was very grateful.  I never really felt secure the whole time we were climbing down, and five hours is a long time to feel uncomfortable!  It was probably a good experience for us, since there are a lot of similar routes in the area, but at the end both Bucky and I said we never wanted to do that route again.  We made it back to camp at about 1630.  The 8 hour route had ended up taking us almost 11 hours!  Add on the 2 hours that we had spent on the Tois Mont route earlier in the morning and we had been moving non-stop for 13 hours by the time we returned to camp!  We both felt bad for Laura, whom we had left at camp with the impression that we would be returning only eight hours later.  She had made the best of her time in the Vallee Blanche, going for some short hikes on the "safe" paths criss-crossing the glacier, and taking a lot of pictures.  We were also very grateful to her for having camp all torn down and packed up when we got back.  All we had to do was fill up our packs and go.  We knew that the tram had recently changed its hours of operation and we thought it might be shutting down at 1730.  Having got camp packed up by 1645 we had to hustle to make it to the summit of the Aiguille du Midi.  About half way up it was 1715 and we were really hoping we were wrong about the 1730 shut-down.  Very luckily we were and we found many people milling about and the tram still running when we reached the summit!  I checked the website today to see when the tram is officially supposed to shut down and it indeed says 1730.  I don't know why they didn't shut down until 1800 yesterday, but I am very grateful!  After 15:30 of near constant movement, Bucky and I did not have much energy when we got back to town.  A quick dinner in our bellies and we were both passed out by 2100.

8/26/14 - St. Gervais Dry tooling

We woke up to an absolute downpour this morning, a downpour that lasted nearly all day, and swelled the rivers to near flooding levels.  Either we were going to head to the pool, or head to St. Gervais to do some more dry tooling on the overhanging rock.  We also welcomed a new partner!  +Laura Kottlowski will be joining us for the next few weeks.  Since it was Laura's first day in town we decided to do more of an adventure than just a pool day.  It was raining so hard we decided to take the train down to St. Gervais rather than bike there.  The crag was very crowded when we arrived.  There were only a few routes available so we spotted one that looked OK and Bucky took the lead.  He really struggled to get up the short route, but he eventually made it.  Laura went next and made it almost to the second bolt before coming back down.  I made it to the top as well, but really struggled near the second bolt as well.  Our favorite route from our last visit had opened up by this time so we headed over there.  Bucky had to rest four times on the way up!  Laura made it about half way, but couldn't quite get over the second big roof.  I went last and made it all the way up with only one rest.  Bucky, I think, was a little jealous that I rested less so he went one more time.  Just to show me up he also did it in tennis shoes!  The second time up he was much stronger and only had to take one short break.  After that we did a bouldering style traverse route with the tools.  All in all, a really good way to spend a rainy day!

8/25/14 - Plan de l'Aiguille Challenge!

The first time Bucky ran from our apartment up to the Plan de l'Aiguille (4133 ft. elevation gain in 4.44 miles) he did it in 1:11.  I told him a goal of the summer (for him) should be to try and break 1:00.  Since then he has run it a couple more times and his fastest time is now 1:06.  My goal for the summer was to try and get to the top in under 2:00.  Now before you judge my lax goal setting too harshly keep in mind two things.  First, Bucky is a former Div. 1 collegiate x-country runner at Notre Dame and a former professional triathlete.  My competitive running career essentially ended after freshman year of high school when I started growing horizontally more than vertically.  Second, I have run once this summer, and it wasn't even for an hour, before that I can't even remember the last time I went for a run.  With Bucky out of town I figured now would be as good a time as any to make my first attempt at the run.  I didn't want him to feel obligated to wait for me, and I didn't want to feel pressured to keep up!  The sign at the trailhead says the average hiker should do it in 3:30.  When my watch said 0:32, I passed another sign that said the Plan de l'Aiguille was only 1:30 away!  At that point I knew for sure that I was going to break 2:00, but I kept the pace up to see just how fast I could go.  I got to the Refuge du Plan at about 1:08 and then I started thinking I might even match Bucky's time the first time up!  I underestimated how much longer I had by a little bit, but I still made it to the Plan in 1:15:23!  After walking around a little and cooling off I decided to run back down instead of taking the tram.  I figure, what's the point of struggling against gravity's clutches for so long if you can't turn around and run back down into her warm embrace?  After about 0:30 of descent my quads were screaming for a break, but I was so close to the bottom I couldn't stop.  I cruised back to the apartment and stopped the watch at 2:00:44.  Now my legs feel like jelly, but at least I can check off one summer goal!

8/24/14 - Les Houches MTB, VTT, DH

Check out the GoPro video here:  Les Houches Downhill MTB - Youtube
With Bucky in Munich for the last few days I have been trying to find ways to keep myself entertained solo here in Chamonix.  Yesterday that looked like sitting in the sun, drinking beer, and reading all day.  Today I decided to do something that I would enjoy, that maybe Bucky wouldn't.  And by that I mean some downhill mountain biking!  I only have a hard tail bike, but I figured it would be a good way to spend the day heading up the lift and exploring the few downhill trails in Les Houches that I've read about, but never ridden.  From what I read it sounded like there were three separate DH trails.  What I found today, however, is one trail that has some easy, medium, and hard variants.  There were a couple fun sections, but it is not really a place I could spend all day.  There was one drop that was looked like it was going to be about 3' when I rode up from the side, but I think it was more like 6'.  Either way, I landed pretty hard, but was able to ride away.  Now, I'm not saying I could compete on the World Cup DH or anything, but I'm no slouch.  I can't even remember the last time I got passed on a descent.  Well, today I got passed.  And it wasn't even close.  Maybe I can blame it on the fact that I was riding a hard tail in spandex and he was on a full DH bike with body armour, but I don't think even all that would cover it.  This guy was flying.  Luckily I passed enough guys in full DH gear that I didn't feel too bad.  Anyway, after a couple descents I decided I was done and headed back toward Cham.  On the way I took a turn up toward Merlet and hoped to link up with the Petit Balcon Sud trail.  After about an hour of fun technical climbing, the trail became noticeably steeper and nearly unrideable.   I pushed on for about thirty more minutes or so until a section where I had been hiking for about ten straight minutes.  At that point I decided to give up and ride back down.  Despite the grueling nature of the climb, the descent was really fun.  I got back to Chamonix about 4 hours after I left feeling really hungry and really satisfied with the day.  I walked to the grocery store to buy some food, totally forgetting that it was Sunday, and everything is closed on Sunday!  Oh, well.  I will find something to eat!

8/21/14 - Cosmiques Arete

After so much bike riding the last four days, I was looking forward to taking a day off and relaxing in Chamonix.  Bucky had something completely different in mind.  With relatively good weather in the forecast for the next few days Bucky wanted to attempt the Midi/Plan Traverse.  Since the traverse is a very long route we decided to spend the night up on the Vallee Blanche so we could get an earlier start.  We got up to the Aiguille du Midi around noon with ideas of climbing the Eperon face again, but were greeted with gale force winds.  At one point a gust came with so much force it not only stopped me in my tracks, but it literally ripped the sunglasses right off my face and sent them tumbling across the snow!  The Vallee Blanche is a very high traveled and relatively crevasse free area, but I still didn't feel very comfortable running, ropeless, across the glacier chasing my sunglasses!  Glasses retrieved we set up camp and I was ready, again, to relax and read and let my legs recover.  Bucky decided to solo the Cosmiques Arete while I hung out in the tent and read a book.  So about three weeks ago, after climbing the triangle du Tacul, we had about three hours to make it to the tram before it closed for the night.  Rather than hike up the ridge line to the tram station, which takes about 45 minutes, Bucky wanted to do the Cosmiques Arete.  We had done the full traverse two years ago with our guide Adam, and I remembered it taking about four hours.  Bucky thought we would easily be able to do it in three hours and make the last tram.  I was really looking forward to half-priced burger night at the Monkey Bar and I was stubborn enough that eventually we just hiked up the ridge and made a bet.  If we could do the traverse in under three hours, I would owe Bucky a burger and beer.  If we couldn't, Bucky would pay for a night in the Cosmiques Refuge.  Well, Bucky got back from soloing the traverse in about two hours.  He made it to the tram station in about an hour and a half.  We would move slower together, but it was pretty certain that I had lost that bet.

 Anyway, with the wind howling we hunkered down in the tent for the night and hoped that it would stop snowing and blowing before long so we could do the Midi-Plan traverse.  We woke up to a beautiful sunrise, clear skies, and our tent buried in about 18" of snow!  It seemed like only about four inches of new snow fell, but the wind had blown it all into our little tent hole.  With all the wind and fresh snow it seemed like the Midi-Plan traverse was out.  The terrain is exposed to collapsing cornices and high avalanche danger which is not helped at all by high winds and fresh snow.  We decided to go give it a look, however, and met another party along the way.  At the first knife ridge we made a few exploratory attempts and the snow was sloughing heavily beneath our feet and felt really unstable.  Deciding to err on the side of caution we turned back to camp and decided it would be better to just do the Cosmiques arete and then go climb some rock down in the valley or on the Aiguille Rouges side.  After breaking down camp we headed up the arete.  Even with full packs, and a little waiting around for a team in front of us, we still made it to the tram station in 1:45.  We were back down at the bottom of the valley thirty minutes before the three hour deadline had expired!  Now I owe Bucky a burger and beer, which is fine by me.  We finished the day off by heading to a new area of the Gaillands crag in the valley.  We only did three routes, but all three were very pumpy and had some really tricky awkward sections.  Despite not being able to do the Midi-Plan traverse, we actually did a lot and got the best climbing workout we have had in weeks!  I wore the GoPro on the traverse and you can check out the video here:  Cosmiques Arete - GoPro - Youtube