Posts Tagged backcountry skiing
Time is running out on holiday shopping. Which is kind of scary, because with Christmas only a couple weeks away, there still is barely any snow in them hills! I woke up this morning, as I do every day, looked out the window and the Olympic Mountains are bare bare bare. It will come they [...]
There a lot of folks here in the PNW who actually ski year-round. I’m not one of them. But I do love backcountry skiing and there really is nothing like that first ski tour of the year. Despite a pretty abysmal start to the winter, we were lucky to hit Mt Rainier on a very [...]
It wasn’t so long ago that I was actually looking forward to the onset of spring. An epic winter in Whitefish, Montana, left me secretly yearning for sunny days and warm temps. Let me rephrase that, I just wanted the temps to rise above freezing so I could start training for what would be an [...]
One of the many benefits to backcountry skiing in the Pacific Northwest (besides tons of snow and huge amounts of terrain) is we don’t have to worry AS MUCH about hoar frost. Which is why, while living in Whitefish, Montana, last winter, I was always a bit nervous ski touring. Although I wouldn’t say Whitefish [...]
I’ll be the first to say, out loud, that anyone still telemark skiing or ski touring on the ‘old’ telemark bindings are crazy. Although I’ve only been backcountry skiing on the Black Diamond O1s for about a season and half, it took all of two steps to realize, very quickly, that we pin heads were [...]
I don’t think you can find a single backcountry skier in Washington State who hasn’t anxiously awaited their day on the Muir snowfield of Mt Rainier. From novice ski tourers to experienced mountaineers, Mt Rainier is a skiers playground. The below photograph was shot after a day of touring, looking down at the Paradise Inn, [...]
A Dozen More Turns is a reminder that anything can happen to anyone while backcountry skiing.
It’s raining. Yup, it’s that time of the year. Actually, this time two years ago was when the NW received copious amounts of rain. Just check out some of these photos from Mt Rainier – http://mountrainierclimbing.blogspot.com/2006/11/mt-rainier-storm-flood-damage-photos.html. Believe it or not, there are sections of the park that are just now opening from that storm. But [...]
Last night I was browsing the world wide web so I could share some avalanche education with my readers. I stumbled across the Forest Service avalanche center website and uncovered this pretty cool little interactive avalanche game.(Although I suppose calling it a ‘game’ isn’t very appropriate.) I applaud the forest service for providing such material, [...]
In the winter of ’05 a group of us took a chopper deep into the Selkirk Mountains of British Columbia. For a week we reveled in the backcountry ski terrain that surrounded us and the Fairy Meadows hut, mostly inspired, often intimidated. Temperatures were utterly freezing (at one point hitting -32 degrees!) and while we [...]
