Even the best laid plans...are subject to change

Soooo remember how I said Alan and are going to Ireland?  Yeah...about that.  We've changed that plan.  It came from a couple things.

One was the realization of the goals we want to accomplish.  We want to climb and climb a lot.  We want to be able to have different options available in case of inclement weather...and that means not just heading to a pub.

We also had a discussion about previous goals and unfinished work.  Things that were essentially left "un-done" the last time we were in Britain.  I think we both came to the conclusion that you only get so many shots at these kinds of big trips and if there's a possibility of doing something really cool, take the shot.  If you get a 2nd shot at something, you damn well better take it or you're just plain dumb.

And finally...this is what sealed it...I had a discussion with my friend Simon who's climbed fairly extensively in Ireland and Britain.  Simon's advice was to stick with Britain.  Ireland, (especially the areas where we planned to go) while lovely, can be difficult to climb.  The weather is one factor but the aspect of many cliffs is that they are north facing.  He said it's great if you have the time and can pick exactly when to go out there...in other words, you live there.  But otherwise, we're better off picking another place.

In the end, Alan and I talked it over and came to an agreement on Scotland.  I've somehow managed to get three (yes three) weeks off from work this summer for this trip.  That means I basically can't take any other time off but in the end I know it will be worth it.  And this time we're flying into Edinburgh, Scotland.  Though it was a bit more difficult to figure out, it should save us time since we won't have to travel up from London.

We have three main goals for this trip.  Anything beyond these will be great but these are where we are focusing our efforts:

1. Climb "Centurion" on Ben Nevis.  The last time we were in Scotland (late May 2010) there was still too much snow to safely climb on Ben Nevis.  So this falls under the "2nd shot" I mentioned.  It's a classic 7-pitch route that goes at about 5.9 (UK grade HVS 5a).  I would also like to do "The Long Climb", another classic route on Ben Nevis that goes at about 5.75.8 (VS 4c), but at 10-pitches and about 425 meters long (just a 1/4 mile).  For more info, check out this blog entry: http://yorkalpineclub.org.uk/blogs/?p=373

But what makes Ben Nevis even more daunting is that it's really an alpine day to do a route on it.  When Alan and I were last in Scotland we had an approach hike in to Etive Slabs that took us about an hour or so.  Two Scottish climbers we met there told us that it was easy by Scotland's standards.  We haven't forgotten those words and know very well that we have to factor in probably a 1.5 to 2 hour hike-in just to the base of the climb.

Ben Nevis

2. Climb the "Old Man of Hoy".  This is a dream climb for both of us.  The Old Man of Hoy is a sea-stack just off the coast of the Island of Hoy in the Orkney Islands.  It's a 4-pitch climb at about 5.9, but we may have to contend with some Fulmars (sea birds) that live around and on the stack.  Hopefully none of them decide to puke on us...which is known to happen.  Just getting out to Hoy will be a challenge.  A long drive to the very north end of Scotland, then a ferry ride to Mainland Orkney (the big island), then another ferry ride to Hoy.  Then after we climb the thing (fingers crossed the weather is good for us!) we get to reverse the route.  It will all be worth though if it comes together anywhere near as-planned.

The Old Man of Hoy

3. Climb the granite cracks of the small tidal island of Erraid, off the coast of the Isle of Mull.  This place is just beautiful and remote.  We'll have to take a ferry out to the Isle of Mull, which is on the west coast of Scotland.  From there we drive to the far western end of the island and park the car.  We then hike out to the island, crossing a tidal sandbar.

The main bay on Erraid

Beautiful walls of granite

I randomly found this place when flipping through the Scotland climbing guidebook I have.  I thought it looked pretty cool and the more Alan and I looked into the place, the more excited we both got to check it out live and in person.

So that's the new plan.  We also have a list of a bunch of other smaller crags and places we want to get to.  We're going to mostly camp, either in campgrounds or "in the wild" as they call it there.  Scotland's laws on wild camping are very lenient and we'd like to take advantage of that and do it on the cheap when possible.  That'll also let us shorten some approaches some days which is always a good thing.

The trip isn't until later this summer but I'll be sure to keep y'all up to date as things get closer.  Until then, stay safe out there everyone and thanks for reading!

Catching up on Winter Adventures

"Stay...just a little big longer...we wanna play...just a little bit more..."

That's what I've thought about this winter.  It's just been so good that I almost haven't wanted it to end.  But since it is winding down, I figure it's time to sit down and write a blog entry on what I've been up to.  I know it's been awhile since I've written so I'll catch up in one big swoop here.

Ok, so first after the Christmas trip to Vermont I didn't think I'd get back up there.  But then I decided to go on my climbing club's annual trip to the Adirondaks to ice climb...aka the Daks Big Haus trip.  Every year we rent a house up there for about 4 days and pile a bunch of crazy ice climbers into it.  It started on a Thursday and ended on a Monday.  So I figured, why not drive up to VT the weekend prior and then just spend the week until Thursday in VT, driving to the Keene, NY area on Thursday.

The trip worked out beautifully as I was able to play around with my (Alan's) ice tools at Moss Glen Falls (right by my sister's) and Springer Forest while I was waiting for new snow to fall.

Lower Moss Glen Falls

Upper Moss Glen Falls.  Soloing up above open water isn't something I want to repeat anytime soon.

Springer Forest Gorge

New snow (about 8" or so) finally did show up on Tuesday night so I headed down to Mad River Glen the next morning.  Wow.  What an amazing day that was.  I'd always wanted to ski Mad River in great powder conditions and this was it...or so I thought.  As I finished up that day and headed into the lodge I noticed it had started snowing.  By the time I got inside and sat down in the pub it was snowing pretty steady.  I wondered about the forecast (they hadn't mentioned this snow earlier) and sure enough we were under a Winter Weather Advisory.  I got back to Stowe and spent the evening out with my sister...it continued to snow.  We were both wondering, "What's the deal with this snow?  I love it but what's up?"  I checked the forecast again...Winter Storm Warning!  Sweet!  Needless to say, I was back at Mad River on Thursday after another 8-10" dump of fresh snow.  Another amazing day.

Quick side note...I actually injured my right kneecap on Wed at MRG.  I was in mid-tele with the right knee down and in deep powder when the bottom dropped out and my knee went down, hitting something hard down there.  I kept it moving and tried to "walk it off" which I did OK during the day.  As soon as I was sitting in the car for awhile though...ouch.  Hurt like hell.  I ended up having to take it easy with the ice climbing and I bought a set of Black Diamond Telekinesis knee-pads.  I don't ski without them now and I hardly notice they're on; they easily fit underneath my ski bibs as well.

The 2nd half of that trip was spent ice climbing in the Daks with the Potomac Mountaineering Club (PMC).  Great trip...even though I had to share a bed with another guy (Eric) and even though my knee kept me from feeling 100%.  It was still a lot of fun.  I went to that trip with a very limited amount of time on ice.  I had been once before, years back, with Alan at Whiteoak Canyon in Shenandoah National Park.  I had also spent a couple days earlier in the week soloing some easy stuff in VT.  Graciously, a couple of the experienced guys ended up doing two days of top-rope setups for us ice climbing Newbies.  It allowed us to try out a lot of different tools and see how they swing.  The third day, a couple of other experienced ice climbers did the same thing, setting up a bunch of top ropes that everyone could do some laps on.  I also got to follow Kelly on a single-pitch route and remove ice screws.  All-in-all it was a very sweet trip.  I learned a lot of new skills and made some great new friends.  I won't forget that trip anytime soon and I have to admit I was sad to see it end.

There have been numerous trips this winter to Whitegrass to ski.  For those that don't know, Whitegrass is a Nordic ski center with no ski lifts in Canaan Valley, WV (www.whitegrass.com).  You either snowshoe, cross-country ski, or backcountry ski (either using skins or skis with fish scales...aka waxless.  You could also use climbing wax but I don't think it's efficient at Whitegrass...too much time scraping and waxing IMHO).  We ski telemark (free heel) but you could also use an alpine-touring (AT) setup.

Most trips to Whitegrass have been great with the snow being light and fluffy on top, packing down fairly well a few inches beneath the surface.  The stuff in the trees has been even better and deeper...about 8-10" or so.  Lots of runs through the trees linking some beautiful tele turns.  Nothing beats just cruising down around the trees through untouched fluffly white powder.  Heaven.  Chip (the owner) has been spot on with his assessment this winter, "Utah powder, West Virginia prices."  That doesn't happen every year (as evidenced by last year) but when it does, get out and ski the crap outta that place!

For map references of where I'm talking about at Whitegrass, click here: http://www.whitegrass.com/downloads%202011/Map2011LG.jpg

A very memorable day was when I thought I was going to be skiing solo and then I ran into Patrick, an acquaintance I had skied with last year at the Gulf of Slides on Mt. Washington in New Hampshire.  We decided to meet up in Springer Orchard awhile later. After I had made a bunch of fun runs I saw a group of 3 coming up.  No big deal...didn't think much of it.  And then they got a bit closer and I hear someone say, "See!  I told you it was him...I knew he'd be here this weekend.  What's up Caaaandy Andy?"  Up rolls Alan, Gene, and Alex.  What followed was an awesome day of skiing some great powder with a great bunch of friends.  So great in fact that we decided to skip out on work on Wednesday and head back for more.  Unfortunately, Whitegrass got just enough of a light rain/drizzle to put down a thin layer of ice on top of the powder.  This made Wednesday's conditions downright difficult.  Gene was having a blast though, taking pictures with his really good camera of us falling and skiing (but mostly falling:-).

I love this place! :-)

I snapped this one of Alan and it turned out pretty well.

Good tele form...dunno where my helmet is though.  Dumb!

Gene perfectly capturing my day...ouch.

Team Red Jacket!  Alan, Andy and Gene

I think it was the weekend before that I went out there with my friend Leah.  She wanted to get in some snowshoeing so I skied alongside her (or in the general vicinity) for awhile and it actually worked out really well.  At some point we came out into Upper Springer Orchard.  On the eastern (right) side of Upper Springer is this large tree that kinda stands alone.  On that day it was just plastered white with snow and the contrast between it and the dark pine trees behind it made for an amazing scene.

Leah and the cool white tree behind her

We worked our way down to Lower Springer and I skied down a small slope and out into the Lower Orchard, which on the right side drops steeply into a drainage swale.  I was amazed at how nice the snow was there.  It helped that it was snowing pretty heavily at this time as well.  I ended up telling Leah to just head back to the main lodge...I was going to be there awhile.  Indeed.  I made ten runs down that slope!


One of the best and most memorable runs at Whitegrass this year was with my friend Jack.  There were four of us skiing that day: me, Jack, Doug and Mitch.  Doug and Mitch were skinning with their bigger skis while Jack and I were on waxless Karhu 10th Mountain skis (lightweight backcountry).  Once we skied up to Bald Knob (pretty much the local high point around Whitegrass) we decided to split up.  Doug and Mitch were headed out on the pipeline that runs south from Bald Knob.  Jack and I decided to head down to Upper Springer.  I knew of an area along the fenceline on the western edge that usually had really good snow.  Standing on top of Bald Knob I decided to give it a look and see what I thought.  Jack took the trail that leads down and around to the base of the steep drop.  Most of the time Bald Knob isn't skiable, but sometimes the left side will catch enough snow to be "do-able".  That day it was do-able.  The top was garbage but there was a line I could use to pick my way further down to where the good snow started.  I slowly worked my way around some small blueberry bushes and a bit of ice, stepping down and side-slipping to finally get to the good stuff.  Once Jack got down there below me he broke out his camera and I took off (where are those pics???).  The steep snow was actually really deep and the turns were just heaven.  No one had skied this upper stuff yet.  I flew down the steep section, past the upper fenceline opening and then down into Upper Springer, stopping before the big drop from Upper Springer that goes down into the meadow...I had to wait for Jack for this...I knew this was going to be pretty amazing.  That run down Bald Knob was sweet, but this would be better.  Once Jack caught up I told him where I was headed, "Right between those two big pines...we're gonna hit that gap fast!"  I had been in Upper Springer the weekend before and skied this same area, but this particular section didn't have enough snow...now it did and I knew it would be sweet.  Carving through that snow on the way, skis straight down the fall line, I felt like I was on the edge of control.  I had sooo much speed, yet every tele turn was flowing perfectly into the next.  It was a perfect example of why I ski tele...grace, flow, control.  Nothing is jerky.  Nothing erratic.  I cut over just a bit right to hit the gap between these huge 40+' pines and then blasted out into the open meadow below.  Once on the flat area there I figured I'd stop, though I had plenty of speed to carry me into Lower Springer.  To my surprise, Jack was pretty much right behind me.  I didn't realize he was basically following my line.  We looked at each other and just had huge ear-to-ear grins, "Wow...THAT was amazing."  I couldn't contain my excitement and we had to go hit it again.  While I'm sure the other runs were good, they could never be as sweet as that first one through that fresh, untracked powder.  If I had to pick one run that I will remember from this winter, that would be it.  Many others come close (including the one below), but this one down Upper Springer truly was "Almost Heaven".

Another Whitegrass adventure....I was lucky enough (and crazy enough) to take the unexpected day-off for the "snowquester" and head out with my friend Dustin to Whitegrass.  The snow was wet and sloppy from about Manassas, VA into West Virginia.  But once we hit the Mt. Storm area I noticed the flakes were much lighter and didn't just splatter on the windshield.  I had a feeling we were in for something good.  When we arrived at Whitegrass we were greeted with at least 14" of fresh powder.  This was on top of a nearly 2' base.  Yes, this is Canaan Valley, WV in a good year.  We skied the north face of Bald Knob that day, something that is not usually skiable.  The powder was steep and deep.  We actually cut a boot trail on skier's left along the tree line so that we could make multiple runs.  Some other areas of Whitegrass that are normally great in 8-10" of powder were just simply overwhelmed by this much snow.  We sought out some steep areas and just had an absolute blast with the unexpected gift from Ullr.

The weekend of 23/24 MAR was probably my last ski trip this winter.  Jack and I were skiing at Whitegrass on Saturday, which saw mostly "spring conditions" with some soft snow, corn snow, and a bit of a little more than dust-on-crust.  In many places there was about 3" or so on top of a very firm base.  Where you could find these conditions the skiing was fast.  On one particular run in Upper Springer Orchard you had to make very quick decisions as there were some exposed rocks and small grassy patches.  However, the snow was just a dream to ski, linking tele turn to tele turn.  On Sunday we ended up skinning at Canaan Valley State Park ski area, which had already closed for the year.  All the runs still had snow, though Saturday's warm temps had turned much of the dust-on-crust into boilerplate or very firm powder.  We did manage to find some good stuff though and as the day wound down it started to snow.  By the time we got in our last run it had been snowing for about 30 min...enough time to stack up about 1/8-1/4"...just enough to make for one last fun run.

Jack under the non-operating lifts at Canaan Valley SP and Ski Area

So that's a wrap-up on this winter.  Now, I'm getting ready for the climbing season and another international trip.  Plans are in-flux but I'll try to get a post up about all that sometime soon.