Danny Uhlmann and I thought a couple pitches of ice climbing would be fun during our day off. The weather forecast seemed fine: no precip forecasted and low winds. We took the 9,000-foot Midi lift up from Chamonix to the alpine and trudged over to our route: the Chere Couloir on Mont Blanc du Tacul, a sub-peak of Mont Blanc. As we neared the route we realized the wind was funneling through the pass where the climb was located… Here’s what ensued.

The Chere follows a gully in the rock up the right side of the Triangle du Tacul.

Danny geared up, minus goggles. We led with our faces down, blind, climbing by feel. Our frozen sunglasses protected our eyes with a layer of ice.

At the top of the six-pitch route we exited the wind venturi — and the raging sandstorm subsided enough for a cup of mud.

Then we rappelled back into the blizzard.

And experienced a nice exfoliating facial for the boys.

Final rap down over the bergschrund. Let’s get out of here!

We ran back to the Midi station and zoomed down to the warm valley below. Next time we’ll bring goggles!

Osprey Athletes, Uncategorized Climbing, Joe Stock, mountaineering

With Chris and Gavin from the UK on the summit of Mont Blanc, the highest mountain in the Alps at 15,782 feet, a couple weeks ago.

Guiding in the Alps surrounding Chamonix is the norm for American IFMGA guides. Over half of America’s 80-something fully certified guides are here this summer. Why? Not because the pay is great. The plane ticket here is expensive and the dollar is lame against the euro. It’s also not because the US doesn’t have great rock for guiding. The western US has some of the best rock in the world. It’s not because Chamonix is the birthplace of mountain guiding, either. We’re here because the guiding is AWESOME! With our customers we can zip to the alpine on a tram and climb impeccable rock all day, then whisk back to a comfortable town where guides are socializing and living their normal life. Small, non-knee crushing backpacks are another bonus.

Read more…

Osprey Athletes, Outdoor Activities, adventure, photos, travel Alps, Chamonix, Joe Stock, Mont Blanc, mountaineering, mountains, Osprey Athletes

These tracks are the first ever skied on Nepal's 21,607' Chulu West, a route that has 5.4 alpine climbing to reach this broad basin that is the lower portion of a 3,000-foot ski descent in one of the best and most visible basins in all of Nepal.

In May somewhere along the Annapurna Circuit’s long, winding, dusty road, I began to believe that after a safe and successful slaying of snow on two peaks that I had finally achieved my goals as a Himalayan mountaineer. This shouldn’t be that shocking since I have spent ten years pioneering first ascents and descents in the world’s highest range with narrow-minded focus and more than a handful of narrowly missed catastrophes blending the good times with the bad and no regrets for how we did it. This insight was forced upon me in January, when my friend Jack died in my climbing partner Jon’s arms and then I decided to take a day off from filming heli-skiing in Haines, Alaska and my friend Rob died on a routine run guiding clients. The number of passionate people I have seen meet their demise in the mountains now takes up two handfuls of digits and that is likely too close for comfort, and forces me to ponder my own fate.

Read more…

Osprey Athletes, Outdoor Activities, adventure family, himalayas, mountaineering, mountains, risk, skiing, telluride, Trail Running, ultra running

Great deeds are usually wrought at great risk. — Herodutus

This has been a tough season and the losses are overwhelming. Because so many friends died in the backcountry this year, it is in the spirit of discussion and education that I thought I would share more about some latest adventures.

There have been many moments of confusion and sadness. It has been a difficult process of personal internal recovery to get back out there.. but, the mountains are what move me.

In 2007, I skied the Grand Teton in WY. It was a long and exciting day, but fairly easy going. Everything fell into place and the mountain welcomed us at each pause. My ski partner Karen and I had planned the trip and took a long weekend off from work. We drove 10 hours from Telluride, arrived at 8pm, and our team left for the park at 12am. We climbed 7,000 ft, covering some miles with heavy packs. Conditions were great for climbing and for skiing so we pulled it off. It was my first time skiing in the Grand Teton National Park, and 16 hours after we started we were back in the parking lot, elated with the accomplishment of a great ski descent.

Skiing the Grand Teton along with climbing Lobuche and Ama Dablam in Nepal in 2005, were notable turning points for me because both endeavors went so smoothly. With these two successful experiences I was deeply enchanted with the big mountains and with bigger possibilities in ski mountaineering.

Read more…

Osprey Athletes, Outdoor Activities Grand Teton, Grand Teton National Park, kim havell, mountaineering, risk, skiing, Wyoming

Osprey athlete Kim Havell sent this video to us this morning and it’s a perfect mental health break to kickstart your day. This beautiful short from Fisher Creative captures the beauty and the reality of ski attempts in the high Himalaya — in this case on the 14th highest peak in the world — without the use of any oxygen and with no one else on the mountain with them at the end.

Kim, and the rest of the team, was attempting to complete a first descent on the mountain, but not the first descent. The peak has been skied before… they were just hoping to ski a new route from the top. The crew turned around just shy of the final summit push because of a sick teammate and other factors. Take a few minutes, grab your cup and enjoy.

Osprey Athletes, Outdoor Activities, adventure, travel, video Fisher Creative, himalaya, kim havell, mountaineering, ski

Five paces from the best sunrise of my 30s, a nearly 60-year-old Ecuadorian man with wrought fists and more than 300 summits of Cotopaxi, the mountain we stood on, Marcello Puruncajas let out a roar against the spirit of the peak we had spent 6 hours climbing. Cotopaxi’s 19,346-foot summit and my entire trip was somehow only really worth one photo, it was of this moment, a moment where our enthusiasm far exceeded our efforts. At that moment, above the equator and on the summit with this local guide who still visibly cherished his passage to the top, I cherished it too. Summits are as elusive as clear days and we nailed both.

Read more…

Outdoor Activities, adventure, travel ben clark, Climbing, Ecuador, mountaineering

This week was pretty awesome. Snow is falling and the trees still bear the last colors of summer. Jon Miller and I found ourselves atop a crag in the desert and it was nothing short of Alpine conditions. It’s a big reason to live in Telluride, Colorado, being able to leave town on a questionable day and reach sunny desert sandstone.  Sometimes, the weather is a little more widespread than we think and we jammed our hands into splitter cracks while rain pelted down and wind made it impossible to hear… all this on a 40 foot, 5.10a route before the rain really set in. Oh boy, it’s no wonder the Himalayan slopes have never felt like much of a jump from here, it’s a wild country and no matter what you want to do, something is always “in”.

Please enjoy Ski The Himalayas Season 3 premiere episode and follow along with us this winter as we prepare for a spicy Himalyan ski traverse in spring.

Read more…

Osprey Athletes, Southwest Colorado, adventure, travel himalayas, mountaineering, ski, ski the himalayas

I was just sitting on the ski area in Telluride watching the leaves change today in a drizzly meadow. I love living in the mountains in the fall. There is snow on the ground in the high country and looking west to the desert a blanket of clouds peter out and lead to splitter cracks baking in sunshine. Transitions between seasons are always so dynamic here—you can see from mountaintops to arid sandstone plateaus, summer’s orange alpenglow fades into blazing Aspens and ominous grey clouds. I’m glad to slow things down, return to the desert and rope up for a little while, this year has been a fast ride with speedy ascents and a lot of great downhill filled with giggles and whoops.

This time last year, I was gearing up for a trip with friends that challenged me in many ways but brought the team a rewarding lesson that I wanted to share. One that gave me the best winter of my life after that expedition and a lesson that I hope inspires others in how we approach back country avalanche terrain. Leading into ski season, I hope you’ll view the Ski the Himalayas Season 3 episodes here over the next 13 weeks and learn a little bit about the culture, terrain and risks that make ski mountaineering so important to us. A trailer is below, I’ll be posting each week and I look forward to sharing the adventure!

Osprey Athletes, Southwest Colorado, adventure, travel himalayas, mountaineering, ski, ski the himalayas, video

The double fisherman’s knot has plagued me for years. For climbers, this bomb-proof knot was traditionally used to tie ropes together for rappelling. Now most climbers use the flat overhand (aka the Euro Death Knot) for rapelling. I switched to the in-line overhand when the double fisherman’s made my cordelettes impossible to untie for anchors, threading boulders, or rescue scenarios. But I was still stuck using the double fisherman’s for my prusik loops. The knot would weld shut when I desperately needed it untied. And one more annoying thing: the double fisherman’s is near-impossible to teach clients.

Read more…

Osprey Athletes, Outdoor Activities Alaska, Joe Stock, mountaineering

Mountaineers see climate change. It’s shoved in our face as an observable fact. On approaches to mountains we deal with miles of moraine where maps show glacier. Once on route, we find that steep glacier headwalls, once covered by spongy neve, have become black ice. And with less neve, we see more rockfall, such as during the summer 2003 heat wave that closed Mont Blanc.

Non-mountaineers have heard that glaciers are vanishing worldwide, yet most have never actually seen a glacier. They’re often curious about our encounters with these climate-change barometers.

Read more…

Osprey Athletes, causes climate change, glaciers, Joe Stock, mountaineering