Mount Shuksan via The North Face, White Salmon, and NE Ridge
On August 3, 4, 5, 2021 I got to climb the North Face of Shuksan via the Fisher Chimneys down the White Salmon Glacier up the North Face then up the Northeast Ridge of the Summit Pyramid. Our descent was via Hell’s Highway, Winnie’s Slide and Fisher Chimneys. This was a three day trip andContinue reading →
Three Ravine Tour: Skiing in Tuckerman Ravine, Oakes Gulf, and Gulf of Slides
I was going through some old tracks and found a track from a trip I did in March 2019. This is a pretty classic tour for me to do. The day I did this tour the avalanche hazard was low. You can see the archived forecast for the day here. The day ended up warmerContinue reading →
Mount Washington Climbs and Ski Runs
First a disclaimer: The info is the best I know but all data should be considered suspect until you have field verification. Here is a Geopdf map, with GPX, KML, and a GeoJSON data files along with a KMZ file that will put the map onto Google Earth to download of the runs and gullyContinue reading →
Red Rock Canyon Painted Bowl Descent
November 17, 2019 I have done the Painted Bowl descent numerous times both from the top of Solar Slab and Black Orpheus but I never did a GPS track of it. Yesterday I climbed Solar Slab with a friend and tracked the descent. For the most part it is pretty easy to find, particularly theContinue reading →
Personalized Visualization of an Avalanche Forecast
October 26, 2018 Avalanche forecasts currently come with some specificity through the use of “Avalanche Problems”, we now get: Avalanche Character Location Likelihood Size This methodology for forecasting allows the user to better understand the information the forecaster is trying to communicate. If you are unfamiliar with this style of forecast this short video isContinue reading →
South Sister Prouty Glacier
May 14, 2018 Had a chance to go to Oregon for some work and had an extra day, fortunately it was spectacular weather. My friend in Bend OR wanted to ski the Prouty Glacier on the South Sister. The trail head is about 30 minutes from Bend. From the trail head the route climbs justContinue reading →
Ski Touring in Iceland’s Troll Peninsula
In April 2018 I went to Iceland with Andy to ski tour. The touring in Iceland’s Troll Peninsula is logistically simple in that tours start right from the road, there are no trees to obscure routes, and the mountains are below 4000 feet with tours starting from virtually sea level. In the 9 days weContinue reading →
Gran Paradiso Map and KMZ
In my previous post I had a video explaining how I was working on a Gran Paradiso map and putting it on an offsite server so it can put it into Caltopo as a map layer to manipulate. Well that process has been completed and I have been working the map a bit more. ThatContinue reading →
Gran Paradiso Digital Map
The first time I guided the Gran Paradiso I was surprised at the maps I could get. I couldn’t find any digital maps of the area beyond the TF Outdoors layer you find in Caltopo and other apps, and the paper maps were vague. One of the things I wanted to do as I learnContinue reading →
Hokkaido Niseko Area Including Yotei
This is a rare type of post for me. I have a number of friends heading to Japan to ski or ski guide and since I needed projects to lean how to build maps I decided I would make some maps for Japan. What makes that rare is I have never been to Japan toContinue reading →
New Caltopo Layer Patagonia
New Caltopo Layer Patagonia For those that are wondering what I’ve been working on this is how you can use my maps on Caltopo now that I have a WMS server If you want to make a .KMZ file from the layer make your base layer TF Outdoors then Stack the Custom Layer (Patagonia) atContinue reading →
Ben Macdui via Faicaill Ridge Scramble with a Descent into Lairig Ghru
During my vacation to Scotland with my wife Jane, I took a day to do a little solo mission. We had been hiking and climbing a lot and the weather was marginal with wind in the forecast. Jane decided to take the train to Inverness while I went on a hike with a short scramble inContinue reading →
Ben Nevis via Tower Ridge
My wife Jane and I went to Scotland for a vacation and we had the luck of having two really good weather days in Fort William. We used that luck to climb the classic Tower Ridge on the North side of Ben Nevis. This is a classic hard scramble/climb. The ridge straddles the line between a scrambleContinue reading →
Mount Baker
The classic Volcano of the North Cascades Mount Baker has the quality of routes like Rainier but without the altitude. The North Ridge of Mount Baker is a quality route with The Coleman-Demming an interesting glacier climb. The Easton is a more monotonous glacier route but is a good introduction to glaciated mountaineering. The ParkContinue reading →
Measuring Sun Exposure
One of the important route planning skills for skiing is timing. In the winter we time for weather like wind so we can hit a run before the wind effects the snow. In spring however we time for sun exposure. Getting to the top of a run just prior to the sun hitting the slopeContinue reading →
Shuksan
Next in the series of North Cascades maps is Shuksan. This complex mountain has a wide variety of routes from the straightforward Sulfide Glacier route to the classic mixed alpine route of the Fisher Chimneys and the steeper and remote North Face. The summit pyramid requires some rock scrambling up the South Gully but alsoContinue reading →
Forbidden
I guess I should start with a warning, the routes below might have errors and does not replace good route finding skills. Use at your own risk. The Mount Forbidden area of the North Cascades is home to one of the 50 Classic Climbs of North America, the West Ridge. That by itself would make the area specialContinue reading →
Eldorado
I guess I should start with a warning, the routes below might have errors and does not replace good route finding skills. Use at your own risk. Over the years I have had the opportunity to climb a number of routes in the North Cascades teaching AMGA Advanced Alpine Guide Courses and Exams. One area thatContinue reading →
Chamonix – Zermatt Haute Route
I guess I should start with a warning, the plan below might have errors and does not replace good route finding skills. Use at your own risk. At the beginning of this century I built a Haute Route Ski Tour plan that was passed around a lot amongst American Mountain Guides. Recently a guide asked meContinue reading →
Only What Goes Up –– Can Ski Down
Imagine a person who had never seen anyone ski but had heard that skiing downhill was not only more efficient than walking, it was fun too. That person then got himself a pair of skis and went to the top of a ski area and tried skiing, again without any experience seeing someone ski. AfterContinue reading →
Upload a .KMZ File
I know people have seen my screen movies of maps overlaid onto Google Earth that are colorized so you can see how steep slopes are. Many have asked me how to do that and I do teach the process in my navigation course but the hardest part is creating a .kmz file. Once you have the .kmzContinue reading →
Graham Trail
The Graham Ski Trail is an established trail but is not on any maps that I can find. Here is a map that has it as accurate as I could make it and should help you find it. It is easier to find from the Gulf of Slides Ski Trail but from the Sherburne TrailContinue reading →
Avalanche Avoidance Strategies
There are a lot of ways to look at the avalanche problem. There is a risk to oversimplification but equally there is a risk to complicating the hazard. With that in mind how can someone that has limited experience or limited knowledge start the process of making a decision? Hopefully the bullet points below can help you.Continue reading →
LaGrave
Tuesday April 10, 2007 I am writing from France, I left April 4th just before the Northeastern US got hit with a snowstorm and arrived in La Grave the 5th. I have a number of friends that guide in La Grave and I was quickly setup with a place to stay, this had all beenContinue reading →