It ALL starts w/Lucia- you should get a VAN!!
Stupid things I did on the road…which may or may not be funny to anyone else
Pain cave + beauty + big weather = Awesome
Before and after our “little May blizzard”…
Outside of the summit and great skiing….so worthwhile to get “one” with the crevasses and better understand traveling and navigating around glacier fields.
Crevasse rescue scenarios feel pretty real when the wind is blowing!
Probably one of the most challenging things on these trips (outside of dealing with weather) is getting up and down mountain with big packs…
Sweet trip…great team.
Back on the pointy edge, overcome fears, practice humility (being new at shit!), more time in nature, share my love for mountains and challenges with others. That is my North Star. This winter i have spent many weeks getting more experience, learning new skills, building more confidence in my path to be a certified Mountain (Ski) Guide. With this winter / spring behind me look to apply formally into the American Mountain Guide track this summer. As always blessed to have Lucia and my family support in this undertaking… thank you!
If you give a shit…here are the cliff notes :).
VAN LIFE
Time in the Van…people ask me what do you do. I normally just think and reflect on my life. No shit. For hours and hours. I really enjoy it!
BACKCOUNTRY SKIING / SKI MOUNTAINEERING
If you ask me what i love most about backcountry skiing and more technical ski mountaineering…it could be lots of things — beauty, quiet, “big nature”, the sound of the ski poles hitting the wind buffed rocks on a ridge, the skiing!, but actually the highlight for me is working as a team with people you trust and often love (if you are with your buddies!). It is a unforgiving environment…so a great place to grow team work and decision making skills! And make memories that you will remember in your last breaths on earth…no doubt!
2) Learning new skills and developing others!
After a year of rock climbing…my buddy Chris mentored me and we enjoyed a few days of climbing at the City of Rocks (in Southern Idaho). Big trip for me…not only enjoying climbing with a great friend but accomplishing my first lead climbs and co leading a multi pitch. Still so much to learn. Also spent time with great guides/coaches/leaders with Sawtooth Mountain Guides and Big Sky Backcountry Guides. Sawtooth mountain guides (Stanley Idaho) took my Level 2 Avalanche course and also had an epic day in the backcountry with the co owner Erik. I spent two back to back yurt trips at Bell Lake Yurt in the Tobacco Root mountains (100 miles or so West of Bozeman) with the team at Big Sky Backcountry Guides. One trip with buddies and another developing more skills in more technical skiing and mountaineering.
Next for me a trip / expedition clinic to Mount Baker with mentor, friend, IMGA Mountain Guide — Ben Markhart. Spend time on the glacier, navigating in that terrain, rescue skills in crevasse, and hopefully a climb and ski from the summit! Then summer on the river…before a busy 24/25. No doubt!
The journey continues…
Here is a great memory from this winter…powder conditions in mid April in North Couloir on Long Peak in Tobacco Root mountains. Not very often skied… Pretty hard to get to:).
Desert / Dragons / Deepening
Great trip…the desert is so beautiful, massive and a great backdrop for a week of growth. Pushed into some areas that are always challenging for me: Medical trauma — got my Wilderness First Responder Certification, Exposure — keep pushing myself here and build confidence operating in varying levels of terrain. Was fun experiencing this with Kristian Bell — my deepening / changing relationships with my kids as they are now adults is a fun journey itself!
Desert Dwelling
What a place to “just be”… can see why certain people (me included) just want to BE here. Loved the guy who soled “Ancient Art” ahead of us, and when we got back to the parking lot, he was hanging by his tent — singing while he played his banjo. Perfect! Or when Kristian got tired of my hotel (as I was!) and went back to the desert for his final evening/sleep.
Enroute from Tetons to Big Sky. On country road 32 north of Tetonia — Send-IT! and driver came to this sign just put down by the snow plow. We noticed a few cars going around…big mistake when we decided to go around.
Route we were trying to take…
This road got progressively worse (after looking pretty good)…eventually complete white out / multiple foot high drifts. I checked on two trucks stuck in drift…both ok. One of them called for search and rescue and rescue snowmobiles were coming to extract them the other was sitting in his truck with his little buddy heater waiting for snowplows.
I decided to reverse (along with a fellow car who has been following Send-IT)…well we made it back. Barely — really pissed at myself for a shitty decision. After going back around..had to speak to a sheriff. Told them about 2 trucks 13 miles up and also had to take an appropriate lecture on the meaning of “CLOSED” signs.
The driver of the subaru followed me to a gas station…he thanked me and Send-IT for helping him and his pup get out of a real crappy situation. We are now buds…Ben Hamilton along with his companion Jasper (a beautiful blue heeler). Both Ben and his girlfriend Julia (via facetime) thanked me…I told them to thank Send-IT! for getting us out. Ben and I are skiing some lines today at Big Sky!
Lesson learned…511 (every state has one) is your friend. If I would have checked here is what DOT was saying about the road I was trying to pass!
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