photo credit Delaney Zayac, via www.genuineguidegear.com
Another arrow for your quiver to boost your safety in the backcountry. A great write up originally from Genuine Guide Gear‘s website and written by Jackson Hole Ski Patrol’s Jeff Burke on the Propagation Saw Test (PST). Click the link below to learn more:
If you have yet to see it the 2011 Lake Tahoe Backcountry Vertical Challenge has people logging vert already! The new website is up and running and ready for you to start tracking some vert!
The 2011 Backcountry Vertical Challenge represents Lake Tahoe’s first ever FREE, community-wide fundraising initiative to benefit the Sierra Avalanche Center. In a quest to attain operational dollars for Lake Tahoe’s local avalanche forecasting agency, Alpenglow Sports has challenged the entire Tahoe backcountry community to a cumulative goal of 15 million vertical feet of human-powered uphill travel.
As a Tahoe backcountry enthusiast, this is your opportunity to give back to the Sierra Avalanche Center at zero cost to you! As such, every single foot of uphill travel matters, and no number is too small! While 15 million vertical feet is a lofty cumulative goal, the ultimate payoff is a $3000 donation to the Sierra Avalanche Center by Alpenglow Sports. The event is designed to motivate, inspire, and bond the Tahoe backcountry community around a vital resource for all methods of backcountry travel and recreation.
If $3000 wasn’t enough, Alpenglow Sports will be paying participants in the form of gift certificates for their progress! The event will run from November 15, 2011 through April 30, 2012. For competitive types, podium prizes will be awarded for the top three men and women, as well as for best camera edit pertaining to the event. Any skier or rider that registers data is also eligible for a FREE bi-monthly raffle! Major sponsors include: Black Diamond, Scarpa, G3, Rottefella, Marmot, Suunto, Clif Bar, Smith Optics, and Honey Stinger.
This just in from our good friend Adrian of Alpenglow Expeditions. Read his account of the first complete ski descent of the 8156 meter Manaslu! Congratulations to Adrian Ballinger and Sergey Baranov!
Sergey and Adrian on the summit plateau
Hi all, my apologies for this taking a few days. I got sucked into limestone walls and white sand beaches here in Thailand, so catching up with work and internet slowed down a bit. Below, please find my final dispatch from Manaslu, with a focus on our ski. A few highlights to mention:
I hope the dispatch below tells the story of skiing Manaslu well!
Manaslu, the Mountain of the Spirit
Manaslu, 8156 meters – First Complete Ski Descent
In 2007, after 10 years of full-time guiding rock, alpine, and ski terrain around the world, I decided to attempt my first 8,000 meter peak by guiding Cho Oyu with Himalayan Experience and the legendary Russell Brice. If I was going to guide the 8,000 meter peaks, I knew I wanted to do it with the best. In 2007 we were ultimately unsuccessful due to big storms and lots of wind. Then, in the spring of 2008, we had to cancel a North Side Everest expedition when the Chinese closed Tibet. But I knew I was on the right path. In the fall of 2008 I summited my first 8,000 meter peak, Manaslu, while guiding. Manaslu captured so much of what I love in the mountains. It was remote, aesthetic, only a couple of hundred people had ever climbed it, and the route offered up lots of challenges including steep climbing, an icefall, high avalanche conditions, and of course high altitude (at 8156 meters/26,759 feet, the Mountain of the Spirit is the eighth tallest peak in the world).
The only picture of Adrian skiing on summit day, just above Camp 4 on easy terrain
When I summited that first time, on October 3, 2008, I did not have any idea the key role Manaslu was going to play in my climbing and guiding world. Nor the path I had begun walking down. In the three years since my first Manaslu climb, I have summited Everest 5 times, Manaslu 4 times, and Lhotse (the fourth tallest peak) once. Standing on top of Manaslu a few days ago marked my tenth 8,000 meter peak summit, almost to the day 3 years after my first. And it capped a very special 2011, my fourth 8,000 meter summit in a calendar year.
And Manaslu this year was special for another reason…skiing. Each of the previous three times I have climbed the peak, I have dreamt of skiing it. The mountain is perfect for a serious ski descent; with the right skills and conditions it is possible (but serious) to ski every foot of the mountain, from the summit almost all the way into basecamp. And each of the past 4 years I have watched others attempt to ski the hill, often getting some great days in, but never skiing the whole peak. When Sergey Baranov from Russia approached us looking to attempt a ski descent, I jumped. Sergey had skied with many of my friends in Alaska, Antartica, Chamonix, and La Grave and I knew he was the real deal – a strong climber who also loves steep technical skiing.
Sergey taking a break from jump-turns at 8050 meters
After some acclimatization hikes and “get-to-know-you” time, Sergey and I began getting on the mountain with our skis. Between September 5 and September 20 we skied a bunch of days, skiing from as high as Camp 3 (6650 meters, 22,000 feet). Some of these were fantastic days, with firm, edge-able conditions on steep terrain (especially between Camps 2 and 1), and long descents. Then on September 21 it began snowing for the first time all season. While it made for some fun powder turns, it also meant avalanche danger went through the roof. On one day, I kicked off more than a dozen avalanches (some as big as Grade 3: 2-3 foot (80-100cm) crowns with avalanches running thousands of feet and propagating far away from us) in order to clean the slopes enough to descend back to our basecamp. This new snow aborted our first summit attempt, and dramatically increased the risk and the workload (breaking new trail, re-fixing rope, and replacing damaged and lost tents) for the guides, sherpa, and team.
On October 1, with a good forecast and the slopes settling, we left basecamp for another summit bid. Sergey and I had heavy packs throughout, carrying our skis and avalanche gear as well as all the normal 8000 meter climbing gear and clothing. We moved slowly but consistently to Camp 3, where we slowed even further due to new snow. On October 4 we led the charge of our team and a few others, breaking trail through 1-2 feet (30-60 cm) of fresh snow and crust to 7450 meters, Camp 4. It was a hard but perfect day of climbing that led to a long night of wind and cold. We pushed our summit leaving time to 6am due to the cold, and then climbed quickly for the summit. At approximately 8:45 AM Sergey and I stood on Manaslu’s true summit!
Adrian on the true summit with 29-time 8,000 meter peak summiter, Phurba Tashi
Steep skiing just below the summit plateau
With cold but manageable conditions, I made the decision to try to get my skis on on the top and ski from there. Sergey descended to the plateau below (the false summit) where all past skis of the mountain have begun from. With the help of Namgil Sherpa, I made a platform just below the summit cornice, removed my overboots, and stepped into my Sportiva GT skis. It was a wild place to be perched on skis – a knife edge corniced ridge with 8,000 feet of air below me, leading back to basecamp in one direction and to Annapurna in the other. Conditions off the top were steep 55 degree terrain and almost ice, so I made the decision to be backed up with a rope. After a short sideslip and a few turns I rejoined Sergey at the plateau, totally stoked and ready to ski. The turns off the plateau were hard work, with breakable crust mixed with sastrugi, and firm windswept steeps. I’ve never breathed so hard while making jump turns through these conditions.
At Camp 4, getting "Fired Up" for the steeps. Thanks Kip
At Camp 4 we took a short break to celebrate, drink warm Tang, rewarm my toes (thanks to guide Brian Warren’s stomach, I still have all of my toes despite -22 degree temps and up to 40 kilometer winds), and drop our O2 gear (we used supplemental oxygen from C4 to the summit and back to C4). We then continued our descent. Camp 4 to Camp 3 had the most dangerous and technical skiing, with multiple sections of 50+ degree terrain on very firm “snow”. The line we chose to avoid having to rappel took us far out skier’s right under the East Pinnacle. Russell Brice, in basecamp, was essential to our descent, spotting us with a telescope and giving us a route thought the many seracs and ice bulges as we made our way down the huge face. This section was probably the best skiing of the day, but also the highest consequences.
Skiing Camp 4 to Camp 3 below the East Pinnacle
Our skiing line passed Camp 3 far in the distance and continued down progressively easier slopes to Camp 2, where we rejoined the line we had skied previously while acclimatizing. We stopped for a quick break at C2 and then continued down the steep icefall. Unfortunately the slopes at this altitude had still failed to consolidate and at 6100 meters I caused a big avalanche while skiing a steep rollover in great powder. The hard slab went big and almost took me and a couple of nearby climbers down the gully we call the Hourglass. At this point, in consideration of our safety and that of the climbers below us, we took off skis and descended the climbing line (and ropes) until we passed the loaded avalanche slopes. At 5800 meters, we clicked back in, and had great slush skiing down the glacier all the way to 4900 meters, just above basecamp, where we ran out of snow. It was 3200 meters of skiing, and combined with our earlier ski of the Hourglass in safer conditions, meant that we had skied every foot of Manaslu, for the first time!
The Hourglass, in fully loaded conditions
Sergey and I are still processing the ski, and already making plans for the next adventure. Hopefully we will have the time to meet up this winter, in either the Alps or Alaska. And then… Everest 2012! This past year Everest had incredible ski conditions on much of the mountain’s South side – the Lhotse Face and much of the upper mountain would have made for stellar turns. We will be meeting in Kathmandu at the end of March hoping for similar luck! Stay Tuned.
-Adrian Ballinger, Alpenglow Expeditions/Himalayan Experience
Breaking Trail movie trailer by Powderwhore Productions:
Interesting article for all of us who play in the public wild lands of our country:
By Rone Tempest, WyoFile, Guest Writer, 5-24-11
from the Sierra Sun:
OLYMPIC VALLEY, Calif. — Community members are mourning the loss of local skiing and outdoor enthusiasts Kip Garre and Allison Kreutzen, who were killed in an avalanche last week near Lone Pine, Calif.
In interviews Friday and Monday, friends and family said they remember Garre, 38, for his quiet optimism and Kreutzen, 41, for her inspiring zest for life. Both were avid outdoorsmen — Garre noted for his humble dominance on the ski slopes and Kreutzen for her undaunting passion for outdoor activities such as climbing, skiing and kayaking.“Allison lived life as fully as anyone I’ve ever met. Whatever she did, she did with 1,000 percent effort,” said Phebe Bell, a friend of Kreutzen. “More importantly than any of her many accomplishments, Allison was an incredibly kind and loving person.”According to various reports, the avalanche occurred on April 26, with rescuers — alerted by family and friends who had not heard from the couple since they’d left three days earlier to ski the Split Couloir on Split Mountain — finding Garre and Kreutzen on April 28.
Kreutzen, an ER nurse at Tahoe Forest Hospital in Truckee, was born in San Francisco in 1969. She grew up skiing in the Sierra where her family spent vacations, weekends and holidays throughout her childhood. She attended Chico State University earning a BA in Recreation Management, before eventually moving to Tahoe City.
“If you wanted to find Allison, look for the girl wearing the crazy dress with feathers in her hair and tattoos on her arms and who knows what else, the one with the huge smile on her face and with a crowd of friends around her, laughing and chatting as she flew up some crazy hard climb,” Bell said. “She was one of the brightest lights I have known and will be deeply missed by her hundreds of friends and her dearly loved family.”
Garre grew up in Hancock, N.H., and was captivated by the freeskiing movement of the early 90s when he moved to Squaw Valley. Garre was an early supporter in the park scene before shifting his focus to ski mountaineering and backcountry adventures.
The near pro skier made descents down notable mountains including those in Kashmir, Pakistan, China, the Tetons, the Alps, Alaska, Antarctica and his beloved Sierra.
“It’s a huge devastation. I keep thinking about it and I’m so saddened by the loss,” said fellow skier Elyse Saugstad. “He was such a huge part of our community. Every time you’d run into him you’d always see a huge smile on his face. He was someone to look up to.”
Michelle Parker, a friend and fellow Squaw Valley rider, said she saw Garre as a quiet hero who always could be seen doing incredibly technical descents — yet never needing to talk about it later.
“He never really talked about himself too much but he did have a lot to talk about,” Parker said. “He was the nicest person I ever met.”
Cody Townsend, also a fellow skier, saw Garre in the same light.
“He was the kind of guy who was a leader without ever having to announce it.” Townsend said. “It’s kind of another tragedy in Tahoe and it’s an incredible bummer because Kip was one of the most unsung heroes in Squaw.”
Scott Gaffney, director of Matchstick Productions ski films, offered these words about Garre: “I’m probably going to say the same thing everyone else says, but he was probably one of the most positive guys I’ve ever known. He’s just that kind of guy. He was incredibly humble. He probably could have been a real pro skier but he wasn’t a guy who liked to market himself. He was a guy who did everything for the right reasons.”
Kreutzen’s brother Jeff, who lives in San Francisco, said Allison always looked for the best in people and in herself.
“She definitely lived an amazing life worth telling people about,” Jeff Kreutzen said. “She inspired everybody around her, and the number of people who called her a friend was overwhelming. They both lived life as much as two human beings can.”
Fellow climber and friend Mike Davis sees the tragedy as a loss not just for Kreutzen’s family and friends, but also for the community that surrounded her.
“She was one of my close friends and climbing partners. Allison was a phenomenal athlete with about everything she did,” Davis said.
A memorial honoring Allison and Kip is scheduled for Thursday, May 5, 2011, at 2 p.m., at the Olympic Valley Lodge in Olympic Valley.
If you haven’t seen this on the Sierra Avalanche Center’s Facebook page click on the photo to link to their website. Photos and info on the wet avalanche that slide across the road at Emerald Bay. Be safe out there!
from Sierra Avalanche Center
Unofficial Networks Far West Nordic Sierra Sun Outdoors
