This winter my goal is a chicken-shit mentality.

After a hellish summer of climbing deaths—Johnny Copp, Craig Leubben, the Toulumne climber on the route next to us…—I began questioning my risks. If the odds caught up to Craig, they’d surely catch up to me. Novices appear to have surreal luck. They center-punch the gnarliest avalanche path on an extreme hazard day and survive. But how about me? I want to spend 200 days a year in the mountains for another 20 years. The smallest risks I take quickly pile up, unless I can outsmart the odds.

I realized skiing high-consequence avalanche terrain is my greatest risk. Especially those steep, powder-filled gullets. Those lines I crave so bad that the hazard becomes imaginary. My goal is to claim “Chicken Shit!” 10 times this winter. I’m up to four.

The first two times I chickened out were on the south face of Kickstep at Turnagain Pass—a steep run with huge consequences. After heeding my senses and bailing twice for alternate tours, Ryan Hokanson and I got Kickstep on round three.

A few weeks ago I was skinning up below the Col du Passon above the Argentierre Glacier in Chamonix, France with some random Californians I’d just met. Ahead, a group broke trail, tip to tail, through deep snow up the moraine wall. One of the Californians looked up and said, “Was that crown there before?” The skin tracks disappeared into a fresh avalanche. The debris pile, and track setters, were out of sight.

“Oh we would have heard some thing,” said another Californian and they went back to putting on their skins. I sprinted over the crest and spotted the dazed and snow-plastered track setters extracting themselves from the avalanche debris pile. Seeing everyone okay, I went back to the Californians. “Hey guys, I’m going to bail. Have a great day though!” Tic! That’s three! I skied piste at the Grand Montets. Not a bad alternative. 

Then Cathy and I tried the Haute Route, the famous trail from Chamonix to Zermatt. A route crossed by thousands each year. Being super early season, we waited for clearing storms then started from Verbier, Switzerland. We plowing through deep storm snow and crossed three passes. 

 Fifteen minutes from the Praflueri Hut, our first night’s destination, I crested a moraine wall and Cathy yelled, “Avalanche!” I skied off the shuddering slab and it piled into a deep, cracked mound.We skied the avalanche bed surface until the hut was just minutes away. Although deserted, the hut was shelter. In fading light, another heinous moraine wall appeared before us. We searched, but only found steep, whoomphing slopes.

We spent our first night on the Haute Route inside this ancient concrete water tank. That’s four. Six to go.

See more photos from skiing in France at www.stockalpine.com/posts/chamonix.html

Uncategorized

by Craig Childs

The Río Baker is the color of topaz with the visible depth of sapphire. Entering one of its gorges, a smooth, ceramic lip of water crashes into malestrom. Kayaks flash through like swift, tiny birds. Feeling this wild tumult, you can understand why one might want this kind of power. You would be a god to have this under your control.

Throw a switch and the raw, terrifying force of nature crimps down into cables and transformers — becoming the hum of millions of refrigerators across South America.

Every time you walk into a room and turn on the lights, every familiar tone of an Apple computer coming awake carries a grain of river, a hundredth of a kilowatt of what groups like NRDC and Patagonia Sin Represas wants you to think is sacred.

Kayaks take the run, skating across the water, airborne for moments. This is how you do it without taming the river, without conquering or consuming its power. You become a feather on a current and suddenly the river’s power is at your fingertips.

Conservation, Osprey Athletes, Osprey Culture adventure, chile, Conservation, dams, patagonia, rios libres, rivers, travel

by Chris Kasaar

Images of the magnificence of Patagonia abound: snow-capped peaks, flowing rivers, pristine forests, indigenous people, beautiful cultural traditions. Visual depictions of this amazing land and the people who call it home are the first thing that you notice when you arrive in this region of Chile – in airports, airplanes, restaurants, cafes, hardware mega-stores, on roadside billboards… Everywhere.

However, despite an obvious national pride for the area, the wild character of Patagonia is at risk. This is why each member of our team of  7, also known as “Rios Libres”, have spent the last few days working our way here from various points on the globe. There’s a proposal to put 5 dams on 2 of Patagonia’s most pristine rivers and we’re down here to do our damndest to create something that will help draw international attention to the issue.
Read more…

Conservation, Osprey Athletes, Osprey Culture adventure, chile, Conservation, dams, patagonia, rivers, travel

Words by Paresh Kamdar

Photos by Ryan Beck

Backcountry skiing is usually about getting away from the crowds. It is usually about spending time enjoying the beauty and solitude of the mountains at your own pace, making your own way. Why then would more than 100 backcountry skiers and riders enter a competition in a ski area on a gorgeous clear day in the middle of winter? I think the answers lies in their support for the Northwest Weather and Avalanche Center and their desire to “fest” with others in the backcountry community.

Verfest is a celebration of backcountry culture that benefits the Friends of the Northwest Weather and Avalanche Center. It is a euro-style “rando race” inviting all forms of glisse to participate in the human-powered race up and back down the mountain. The 4th Annual Vertfest was held at Alpental near Snoqualmie Pass on this bluebird Saturday, March 6^th 2010. Martin Volken of Pro Guiding proudly announced that this was the most well attended rando race yet in the Northwest with more than 100 participants!

The Northwest Weather and Avalanche Center (NWAC) provides an essential resource to backcountry travelers. We have come to love and rely on the avalanche and weather forecasts provided by NWAC. NWAC operates one of the most sophisticated and comprehensive mountain weather and data networks in the US, providing information that is crucial to the safety of mountain travelers.

The race course at Alpental is always steep and challenging. This year the cold clear morning made it extra technical with icy conditions.  The recreational category made one lap within the Alpental ski area climbing about 2,300’, while the race category climbed two laps for a total elevation gain of 4,100’. The second lap was a completely different route that took participants into the Alpental backcountry, out to the infamous “Piss pass” and back.

Local favorite Monika Johnson took 1^st in the Women’s race division completing both laps in just 2 hrs 7 minutes! Ellen Parker took 2^nd with a time of 2:39 and Kristine Kleedehn came in 3^rd at 2:44.  The Traslin brothers from British Columbia took 1^st and 2^nd place in the men’s race division. Andy’s time was 1 hr 40 minutes with his brother, Mike, just 3 minutes behind at 1:43! Kirk Turner took 3^rd with a time of 1:46. Local favorite Lowell Skoog placed 4^th with a time of 1:49. All incredibly fast given the vertical gain and technical nature of the course!

As for me, I think “suffer fest” would be a more appropriate name.  This was my 2^nd entry into this game. I worked hard at it and was happy to have improved my time over my last showing at Crystal Mountain a couple of years ago.  It took me 1hr, 26minutes to complete the recreational category of 1 lap.  That put me in 9^th place out of 41 in the category*.  I accomplished my goals of finishing without injury & of not getting lapped by anyone in the race category (in the event at Crystal in 2008, not only did I get lapped by one of the racers, Benedikt Böhm, but I later heard that he enjoyed a smoke between laps!)  It was fun to push myself and see just how fast I could tour up that much vertical. It was also fun to meet and hang out with many of the “who’s who” in the NW backcountry community. I got to have lunch with Lowell Skoog and Garth Ferber, a couple of local legends. I learned that Garth is one of only 3 employees at Northwest Weather and Avalanche Center! Wow! All that work with only 3 employees!  I shook hands with the Traslin brothers and thanked them for all of their inspiring trip reports. I met Tyler Kloster, of Karakoram and saw the prototype of his soon to be released all new splitbaord system!

Vertfest is a great event that is gathering more support every year.  It’s an excellent way to meet others interested in backcountry touring adventures and to support an essential resource that is constantly underfunded.  The free beer and copious swag from all of the sponsors added to the fun. Everyone had a blast!

A huge thanks to Osprey for their support of Vertfest for the 4^th year in a row!  Thanks also to Martin Volken and his crew from Pro Guiding for setting & maintaining the course, to Outdoor Research for organizing the event, to Alpental for providing the venue, to all of the participants for their infectious energy, and to everyone else that helped in putting this together!

Be safe out there and have fun!

*unofficial race results  – official results should be in later this week

Events, Osprey Culture, Outdoor Activities alpental, avalanche awareness, backcountry, cascades, ski, snoqualmie, Snow, snowboard, vertfest, winter

Having been a lifelong skier, I’m pretty confident of my abilities, ski most anywhere and figured I looked pretty good on the slopes.  But when I saw myself on video, I saw another skier…I thought I outgrew my long appendages, kind of after middle school? My hands would open up, flail, and then retract. I know how to compensate for shooting myself off things and going fast. But looking good, correct technique…well, not so much. Controlling a 5′8″ frame that’s all legs and arms isn’t easy!

Recently, I had the privilege of taking part in Alison Gannett’s Rippin Chix camp at the Butte (the one and only Crested Butte, which is a fitting place to hold this camp).  While Alison Gannett obviously is a rippin’ chic, the instruction and the transformation process is what this camp is about. My goal was to become a better skier in two days, but I also worried I’d get my ass kicked.  I hadn’t skied in a month, had been hanging at sea level and I was envisioning panting like a rabbit, trying to keep up.

So when Alison and her co-ripper, Carrie Jo Chernoff, rounded up a collective group of 11 women attendees on a clear Saturday morning, we sized each other up, in a friendly way.  Many of the women were both excited and apprehensive.  We talked about our goals for the camp.  Some had specific ones (I want to huck this) while others were more general (like myself, I want to see what I look like, ski more fluidly). Riding up the lift we chattered about this and that, until we gathered at the top of a run.  Our orders were to pretend we were in a couloir, sliding down the slope.  We were to use a pole plant and swivel to the opposite side, coming to a full stop.

I didn’t do so well.  Taking small steps and then incorporating them into the actual thing was what we were after, but for me, this was oddly difficult; the people I ride with just go, there is rarely any stopping and, definitely, no one analyzes technique.  After this exercise, we split into smaller groups, taking our practice points to a different playground and broke it down.  What were/are we doing?  I had no idea I had the bad dancer moving-their-hands-in-and-out-on-the dance-floor look as I negotiated bumps! I also found out that I tend to swivel my hips a lot, shakin’ it too much.  I’ve been relying on my legs and butt muscles, when I should be turning my hips first.  Alison observed, smiled and talked about these habits on the hill, but then gave us the tools necessary to improve our form and technique.  We worked through repetition, nailing the technique down.

Throughout the day riding the lifts and on the snow, Alison covered the little stuff–what is rocker, a damp ski, how to properly hold your poles, and other small, but useful trinkets of information.  We learned different types of air and hucking techniques—and along with them where to focus our eyes, pole plants if necessary—all to tackle all sorts of terrain and look for the mountain’s obstacles as play objects. I now know where to hold my “martini tray”, making sure not to serve the floor, the wrong customers and so forth.  I know that I need to have my fist shoot back, out of the stratosphere right after my pole plant or I’ll have “velcro butt”—my hands sticking to my sides. I know how to “make wine”, keeping those shins engaged and forward. Alison and Carrie-Jo were working us into a reduction, breaking and slowing all these points down.

By the end of the two days we were like Gumby, but our sense of accomplishment was immense.  Everyone came away with several points they learned and had begun incorporating it into their skiing.  As Alison says, “You’ve got one bag of tricks, but you need others for different situations.”

Kerry McCarthy is a new member of the “Rippin Chix”.  Her day job is the Marketing Coordinator for Osprey Packs. Alison Gannett is a World Champion Extreme Skier, Osprey athlete, Founder of The Save Our Snow Foundation, and an award-winning global cooling consultant. Join Alison Gannett for her other Rippin Chix camps, but be quick–they fill up fast!  Her next offerings are the Rippin Chix Mountain bike Skills Camps held in Crested Butte in June http://www.alisongannett.com/Alison_Gannett/Rippin_Chix_Bike.html

Osprey Athletes, Osprey Culture, Outdoor Activities, Uncategorized

This is how we reach the interior of Patagonia: spider-webbed windshield and a blown-out side-view mirror on a Mitsubishi 4×4 van carrying a crest of kayaks. A long and dusty road wanders beneath enormous summits. We come around the corner to find our raft listing badly, a wheel missing from the trailer, axle bent. How many times have you been in this position: foreign country, sitting on the side of a road, things gone awry? It’s how it works. You can only bring so much schedule and expectation into a wild place. Uncapping a bottle of pisco, we each take a shot. It is what must be done.

A flatbed the size of a yacht grinds up the road and Timmy O’neill flags it down. Our entire assemblage soon gets hoisted atop it, tied down, and we are gone again. Small miracles are everywhere. The kindness and openness out here saves us at every turn. I cannot help but think of that same kindness buried under earthquake rubble, families out here who have lost people they love. The memory and dread follows us as word comes of aftershocks and body counts. Lives are so fragile we can do nothing from here but pray.

Dawn. I walk through the town of Puerto Rio Tranquilo to where the river meets a broad, blue-eyed lake. The arc of the sky tilts, moon sets into peaks and glaciers. The sun cracks through a high ridge. I think, these simple faces of morning would be the same if dams were here, if this pristine valley were choked with buildings and smoke, but our lives would be changed. Only one god would remain, the small gods of these round, glistening stones, and the loud mumble of the Rio Tranquilo gone.

By sunset, we reach our put-in. The Rio Baker begins.

Osprey Note: Osprey Athlete Timmy O’Neill is in Patagonia, Chile this month with James Q. Martin and company for a descent of the Rio Baker in order to capture the epic beauty and adventure of this ancient Aysen waterway. They are documenting the trip to aid local NGOs in their efforts to prevent the river from being dammed.

Conservation, Osprey Athletes, Osprey Culture adventure, chile, Conservation, dams, kayak, patagonia, rafting, rivers, travel

I am exhausted. My body is spent. I’m having dreams where I slip into a luxurious bed to profound sleep, and the voluminous, lined bags under my eyes would bankrupt me on US Ariways. I am in Chile and life has been full bodied, in that dark French roast, 36-28-36, dank KGB kind of way. While heading south this afternoon on the bus from Puerto Natales, I was drooling onto the pages of Craig Childs “House of Rain”. Now in Punta Arenas I am running on fumes at the Hostal Amanacer where the Internet is slow and the owner is massive, as in Ignatius from the Confederacy of Dunces – hotdog cart and all, no kidding.

I am at the end of the world, not so much born again Armageddon, but more just the tip, as in the tip of Chilean Patagonia. I was invited down to speak at the Banff Mountain Film Festival y me dije, “Sipo, por su puesto, que bacan.” (Chilenismo = “Yeah dude, of course, how cool.”) I gave my show in Spanish and showed the Sender Films “First Ascent TV” episode of climbing in Alaska’s Ruth Gorge with my brother Sean. I then played LIVE rock and roll music @ the local bar Baguales until 3am with two-bands, the 1st being an ad hoc posse of want to be’s and the 2nd a consummate power trio of head bangers called Leyendas Del Rock. We raged through Zeppelin, Kiss and Deep Purple anthems amongst other covers, don’t frown; after all we’re all covers of our parents.

At 7am the next day with brain banging, compelled by the 1st splitter weather window of the season, after more than 8-weeks of cold rain and snow, I begged out of a prior ‘con promiso’ and began the hours long bus to mini-bus to trek to Japanese Base Camp. I partnered with 27-year Chilean Tadeo Sotomayor for a glorious ascent of the Monzino route of the North Tower. He was gripped, I was impatient, and together we suffered. Back at camp, Gabriela waited with juice, crackers and her radiant smile. I passed out as Tadeo salted the pasta and Steve Schneider peppered me with stories, questions and his nervy buena honda.

The next night, back in Puerto Natales, we celebrated mass summit success, at the season party for the world’s best hostal, Erractic Rock (un muy bueno desayuno, the coolest staff and wide-open, accommodating arms). We played rock and roll again for a great thrumming audience, only this time louder, longer and with 50-liters of free beer and a few special guests. As luck would have it, another window of “buena clima” appeared the following morning and we pounced.

After only a few hours of sleep and with a “hatchet in my forehead” the journey back to advanced base camp (a natural cave with a well crafted Italian laid rock floor) worked me badly. That night, another 3-hours of sleep led to a 2:30am wakeup call of melting snow, macking oatmeal and slurping black tea. On this ascent I roped up with a badass Colombian alpinist named Sebastian Munoz for a rapid ascent of the 2,000-ft long “Bonington Route” on the gargantuan Central Tower of Paine – solid crack systems through steep flanks of red granite leading to a circuitous traverse of fractured gendarmes, snow slopes and a short lived summit party of a high-five and a “que buneo hermano”, before beginning the next half of the climb, getting the f&%k down. At dusk, feet soaked, toes numb, hands battered and bloodied we slumped atop a sloping boulder wedged amongst millions in the moraine at the base of the last two-thousand foot snow couloir, my mind reeling from a “timmyo style” festival of 5-days of rock&roll to rock to rock&roll to rock. I wanted water, food and cryogenics.

Now it’s off to meet James Q Martin and company for a descent of the Rio Baker in order to capture the epic beauty and adventure of this ancient Aysen waterway. We are documenting the trip to aid the local NGOs in their efforts to prevent the river from being dammed. Thanks Osprey for the on-going support for my projects, climbing, music and my life. I am more afraid of not living than I am of dying, for the latter is a certainty and the former a call to action in all forms and to connection with people and the places they inhabit.

Conservation, Osprey Athletes, Outdoor Activities, Uncategorized

You still have a couple more days to win an Osprey Talon 44! All you need to do to win is submit your photo(s) to the Mountainfilm Flickr Pool. Make sure your photo has a title and a description. The photo should represent Mountainfilm’s mission: educating and inspiring audiences about issues that matter, cultures worth exploring, environments worth preserving and conversations worth sustaining.

Every week leading up to the contest, Mountainfilm will feature a photo on their blog, The Conversation. This week, they chose a photo of Beartooth Mountain Highway (above).

From The Conversation:

We chose this photo of the Beartooth Highway because it represents a critical dilemma we face in preserving beautiful landscapes and yet making them accessible to everyone. As the highway provides access to Yellowstone and has been dubbed the most beautiful highway in America, it certainly must suffer from congestion and (relatively) heavy traffic during the high season. However, it is also critical that Americans, and people worldwide, have access to such an important part of our heritage and the ability to appreciate its beauty. Thus, the image pertains to both an issue that matters and an environment worth preserving.

We know you’re no stranger to inspiring and beautiful wild places, so dig through your photos and submit one today. You could win a sweet Osprey pack and because there’s no better way to be inspired by the Mountainfilm mission than actually being there, for the grand prize they’ll be giving away a VIP festival package including lodging!

Events Conservation, contest, inspiration, mountainfilm, mountains, photos, Product

Are you Canadian or do you live in Canada? Are you a mountain bike rider? Are you thirsty for action?

Osprey Packs’ Canadian distributor is looking for 10 Canadian mountain bike riders to form the first Canadian Osprey Hydraulics Team. The lucky team members will receive one of our new Raptor hydration packs, which bring Osprey’s Hydraulics™ solutions to mountain bike riding. All we ask in return is that you use your pack during the 2010 season and blog and document your fun along the way. That’s as easy! Send us your application and show us your thirst for action between March 1st and April 30th 2010 to get a chance to put your hands on a free Osprey Raptor pack.

Information and details at www.ospreypacks.ca

Events Canada, Hydraulics, Mountain Bike, Osprey, Raptor

Here at Osprey, we’re all about exploring wild places to find new adventures, and protecting those special places so that future generations have the opportunity to do the same. And that’s why we’re proud to sponsor Mountainfilm. Leading up to the the festival in May, Mountainfilm is launching a photo contest to capture what the mission of the event is… Check it out.

From the Mountainfilm blog:

Mountainfilm is dedicated to educating and inspiring audiences about issues that matter, cultures worth exploring, environments worth preserving and conversations worth sustaining. That’s our mission statement and we think it nicely captures what we’re about. We wonder what it may convey to others.

To help us find out, we’re launching a contest leading up to our 2010 festival to find photos that communicate either all or any part of our mission statement. What kind of photos do we expect to find? Anything from inspiring adventure photos to landscape shots of beautiful natural spaces to portraits of people taking action and working for positive change. The contest theme is broad because we want to see all the ways that our mission may speak to you.

As incentive to enter our Mountainfilm Photo Contest, we’re offering a chance for a little fame and fortune. Every week leading up to the contest, we’ll be featuring a photo on our blog, The Conversation. We’ll also be giving away prizes each month of the contest to photographers whose images especially resonate with us.

This month, we’re giving away three Osprey Talon 44 packs! And because there’s no better way to be inspired by the Mountainfilm mission than actually being here, for our grand prize we’ll be giving away a VIP festival package including lodging! Visit the Mountainfilm blog to learn more and check out the other sweet gear up for grabs in the coming months!

Entering is easy! To submit, upload your photo(s) to the Mountainfilm Flickr Pool. Make sure your photo has a title and a description. We look forward to seeing your work and, we hope, seeing you in May!

Conservation, Osprey Culture adventure, Conservation, film, mountainfilm, outdoors