David Aguasca on Ahab (5.10d), Yosemite, California. Photo credit Owen Bissell

During my recent road trip with Brad Jackson to Joshua Tree, California, a familiar face joined our scene. Dressed in a green Patagonia fleece, wire frame glasses, with short, kinky hair and a mid-length beard, it took a few minutes to pin point where we had met before. A beer, maybe two, later it clicked: Space Invaders (5.11), a popular top rope near the Ahwahnee Hotel in Yosemite Valley during fall 2010.

Though I lived in the Park for over a decade, I had never seen anyone lead Space Invaders. It’s a relatively straightforward undercling/layback, but if you lay it back you can’t safely place gear. To David — as I’d later learn — leading wide/layback routes using offwidth technique on ones that are rarely led, if at all, are his primary focus.

When I ran into David this time he was working on the likely first lead of Throbbing Gristle, a 5.12a layback or burly offwidth, at the Beak Boulder. At the time of our interview a few weeks later he was a whisper away from the top. It will likely clock in at 5.12+ or 5.13a for the lead, making it one of the hardest offwidths in the world.  Video of other parties on the route.

I, like many other climbers, am generally content TR’ing or hangdogging my way up strenuous climbs like Space Invaders or Throbbing Gristle. But, ultimately, I’d like to have success, i.e., redpoint. David is doing it right now. “I like learning how to push myself that hard,” he said. “Feeling like I’m going to throw up, falling really far — it’s an enriching experience.”

Where do you live now?

Right now? – I live out of my car. Been doing that for three or four months now.

Where is your car?

California has been my home for the last two years. Sometimes I live wherever I work, when I have a job and all that. My most recent job was working as an EMT for Yosemite National Park. It’s seasonal. I usually work the summer months. May through October. I focus on climbing in my free time. When it comes to pushing my limits I prefer to pick offwidths.

Why offwidths?

I like getting on things that push my limits in that way. You’re just standing at the base and giving a really big sigh. ‘This is going to be really hard.’

When I first started climbing outside (the Gunks, in 2006) we climbed a 5.6 chimney and I knew right away that I would love doing that type of climbing. I liked the movement [and] being inside [that] space. It felt really secure. Whenever I tried to push myself on other routes, like sport or finger cracks, I would get some sort of finger injury. Pushing myself on offwidths I never get those injuries. I might lose skin and get completely thrashed and sore, and hobbling around the next day, but I’ll never strain a finger or a shoulder doing that type of stuff.

I’ve gotten into leading old routes. 20 or so years ago they didn’t have gear wide enough [to safely protect these routes]. [Today] we have gear to protect [them]. I like the process of figuring out the gear, how much to take, what pieces are important, where to place it. Throbbing Gristle I can’t lay back [on lead] as I have to stop and place gear.

Tell me about Throbbing Gristle.

The last try I gave it was a week ago. I fell probably two moves from the top, which is pretty frustrating.

I think I’m gonna go back to it this year. Hopefully Brad [Jackson] is going to go back or with someone else who is also trying it. It’s not like you get the beta and it gets easier. Every time it’s really hard. Accepting that you’re going to get beat up and thrashed. Which is why it’s easier when someone else is there to keep motivation up and keep trying it. It’s 12a, but not really.

I think Alan Nelson gave it that [rating] when he TR’ed it as a layback. But when leading it and placing gear you have to climb it like an off width. It’s number 6 Friends or Camalots the whole way. The gear is arm’s depth. The edge of the crack is wider, like a Valley Giant (#9).

I’ve fallen off a sport climb and [can] be really pumped and that will be about [it]. But falling out of Throbbing Gristle is not because I’m pumped. My heart is going at a million beats a minute and I’m breathing really hard. My whole body is worked. Like I’m put through the ringer.

Brad say’s it’s likely 5.12d or 13a. Brad has a good head regarding those numbers.

As far as I know, every offwidth that’s rated that [high] involves some upside down climbing. The thing about this route is there is one stacking move on it. The rest is arm baring. 5.13 arm-baring is pretty gnarly.

It’s one of the hardest non-stacking roof offwidths. This is an overhanging arm barring offwidth, but very overhanging and it leans and the wall also overhangs for a total of 30 degrees.

How many times have your tried it?

Three or four times on TR. Leading it 12 times now. And I’ve taken the scariest falls I’ve ever taken trying to lead it because I’m falling on the same piece of gear each time. I took my first upside fall. The last three falls on it were pretty high up. Each of those times I actually hit my belayer — from just at the top to close to the ground. It’s not very tall. I’m taking 15-20 foot falls on a 30-foot route. Falling upside and then hitting your belayer — that’s pretty scary.

Tell me about some other hard routes you’ve done.

My first 5.12 was an offwidth, my second was a chimney. My third was an offwidth.

What are some of the offwidth techniques?

The movement comes from your torso bending back and fourth. That’s what illustrates the difference between face climbing, [and] laybacking. With offwidth climbing, your limbs don’t move independently. You alternate locking them down. Your movement comes from your torso. That is the other part that confuses a lot of people when they get on an off width. It is a different type of coordination. The inchworm is the best example. [Inchworms] reach forward with their inchworm body, then pull. They stretch themselves out, grab something with their front legs, then pull and scrunch their body.

Heal Toe: The most fundamental offwidth technique. I see most of the trouble people have with offwidth climbing is getting your feet to push you up. The feet are the most important part of offwidth climbing. Your outside foot is what heel toes [against either side of the crack].

The Inside Leg: For traditional arm bar size [cracks]. Like a knee bar. Your inside foot/leg is doing a thigh lock or a knee bar. You can pull in with your inside leg while pushing up with your heal toe.

Chicken Wing: When the crack is wide enough that you can use your forearm like a cam. A good Chicken Wing will allow you to rest completely onto it. Imagine putting yourself in a push-up position and you raise your elbow up in the air. Now imagine you put the arm in the crack. The elbow touches one side of the crack and your palm hits the other. Your forearm will cam inside the crack so you can hang on it pretty well.

The Lower Body Lock:  This idea helps people move like an inchworm. This kind of movement depends on how the crack is. A good example is Ahab (5.10d) in Yosemite. Ahab is almost an offwidth but not quite, almost a squeeze chimney. You can’t quite get inside of it, or [get] a heel toe. So your lower body moves as a unit. You’re getting a high knee bar with your inside leg and your outside leg is the lower knee bar. Your legs are at a 90-degree angle to each other. When you get a good heel toe you can actually push up on it. But the knee bar allows you to stay in place while you move your upper body.

Wide Pony: Specific to roof cracks. Imagine riding a really fat horse and your knees are bent but the feet are very far apart. Sticking your legs in a roof crack upside down. The way you move is that each of your feet is a contact point. You stack your hands either with a double hand or a hand and a fist or double fist. This allows you to move your leading foot forward and bring the trailing foot along with you. You continue until you can’t hold your self anymore or you finish the route.

The Shoulder Roll: Also called the Caterpillar. When you’re in a squeeze chimney and you can no longer get heel toes, you can reach with your torso and lock your chest in place with a chicken wings and then bringing your hips up. Best for vertical [cracks].

The Sidewinder: You’re locking your hips in place and using [them] to bring your chest or shoulders up. Like the shoulder roll but sideways. Inside of a squeeze chimney, getting yourself sideways. You can cover a lot of ground efficiently. More efficient than the shoulder roll.

A follow up interview is planned for after the send.

David welcomes emails. “I really enjoy talking about this stuff,” he said at the conclusion of the interview.

Get outside and play while you can with some great tunes in your ears.

Bookending this great Trail Mix are two legends – banjo blues man Otis Taylor and Mitch Ryder. Yes, that Mitch Ryder, of “C.C. Rider” fame. We are honored to have a tune from his first record in over thirty years featured this month.

Also included are two fantastic buzz bands, Buxton and Humming House, along with cuts from Ruthie Foster, Kevn Kinney & The Golden Palominos, Darrell Scott, Dare Dukes, Tony Rice Virgin Forest, The Matt Flinner Trio, Kathleen Edwards, and much, much more! Dig in and enjoy!

Download or stream at your leisure and spread the word to your friends. And, as always, seek out a record or two from these artists and add some great music to your collection. Help support these artists who support Trail Mix.

Download Trail Mix February 2012 here.

Click here to open the player in a new window.

Download more music from month’s past here! They never go out of style.

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Devil’s Thumb Ranch
Madshus
Smith Optics
Outdoor Research

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I grew up in the Land of Enchantment – Neeeew Mexico.  It is also the home of some fantastic spicy New Mexican food and of delightfully flavorful and blazing green chile.  There is a misconception that New Mexican food is unhealthy.  Ok, a lot of it is with the cheese, oils, sopapillas, etc.  There is a place to splurge and if you find yourself in New Mexico, you should definitely try some of the traditional dishes.  What are those dishes?  Here is a post I wrote awhile ago about traditional New Mexican food.

I have recently partnered with a restaurant in Albuquerque called El Pinto. There are many great restaurants in Albuquerque for NM cuisine, but I like El Pinto because the food is great AND there is a great atmosphere there, especially on the patio!

Our mission is to show that you can have your cake, I mean chile, and eat it too. Chile recipes can fit in the athlete’s diet

The good news is that green chile is easy to get in the Front Range. Additionally, a lot of companies make their own green chile sauce and jar their roasted chile for the consumer.

I love to cook, and a lot of time my recipes come from taste buds saying, “now that sounds good.”

Here is my first EASY guilt-free green chile recipe.

Green Chile Chicken Sausage Burritos

2 chicken sausages (I got some green chile chicken sausages from Whole Foods. Chiptole, tequila lime, black bean, etc would be a good flavor scheme)
½ can black beans
1 yam
El Pinto 16 oz med roasted green chile
1 tomato, chopped
1/2 cup cooked brown rice
1 avocado
1/2 c cooked yellow corn

Cook the chicken sausages and chop into medallion pieces.  My favorite method of cooking sausage is boiling them so they are moist after they are done.  Boil the yam and chop it into small pieces.  In a large frying pan, warm some olive oil and add the sausage pieces and chopped yam.  Add black beans, 1/4-1/2 jar of green chile(to your taste, I like a lot!) brown rice, and corn.  Add salt, pepper, and cilantro to taste.  Stir and sautee for about 5 minutes.

Serve in a burrito.  Garnish with chopped tomato and avocado.   You can also serve this as a rice bowl.

Enjoy!

Oz Snowboards
Nar Gear
Black Diamond Equipment
Bern Unlimited
Madshus Skis
H2O Guides
Chuckbuddies

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Ski Retriever
Launch Pad Gear
La Sportiva
180s
House of Marley

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Climbing teams need to get their applications together quickly because the deadline for the $20,000 Copp-Dash Inspire Award is approaching at the end of February. The revered award was established in part to help memorialize and remember American climbers Jonny Copp and Micah Dash, killed in an avalanche in China in May 2009, along with filmmaker Wade Johnson.

The award is specifically to fund small climbing teams attempting difficult climbs and to help them document their ascents and adventures and share their stories with the world. The grant provides financial assistance and multimedia instruction allowing climbers to become filmmakers, photographers, and storytellers through a mix of mediums before, during and following the expedition.

Applications are accepted from January 1, 2012 through February 29, 2012. This is the third annual Inspire Awards and this year sponsors are providing $20,000 in grants and support to North American applicants demonstrating the greatest style and purpose in their climbing objectives and in their lives–the same way that Copp and Dash lived theirs.

Primary sponsors are Black Diamond, Patagonia, La Sportiva, and Mountain HardWear. Supporters include the Adventure Film Festival, Alpinist Magazine, the American Alpine Club, and Sender Films.

To apply, go to www.coppdashinspireaward.com or find The-Jonny-Copp-Foundation on Facebook. Eligible teams must be from North America with expeditions occurring between April 2012 and March 2013. Winners will be announced by March 30, 2012.

Finally, some snow started falling. Let’s hope it’s filling the mountains as well. Today we feature a handful of brands from Colorado.

Skilogik
Crescent Moon Snowshoes
Liberty Skis
Loki Outerwear
Zeal Optics
Unity Snowboards
Function
Point 6

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Yoga, stretching – everywhere you go people are talking about it. Maybe you don’t want to pay the money and sweat little puddles next to your 40 closest best friends, but you would like to benefit from the stretching aspect of yoga.  There are many, many asanas(poses) in yoga with multiple intentions. My favorites are backbends and hip openers. As a professional ultra endurance mountain bike racer, I spend a lot of time pedaling a bike and am constantly looking for ways to take care of myself.

If you hike, ski, run, bike, walk, and/or sit at a desk, chances are that you have tight hip flexors. Hip flexors allow for forward movement and the ability to lift the leg up. They are made of three different muscles – psoas major, illiacus, and rectus femoris(part of the quads). At the end of the day, stretching is probably the last thing on your mind, but spending a few minutes in a couple of these poses will prevent injury and even boost your performance and make you feel more comfortable in your daily life.

In yoga, hip openers often coincide with emotional release. The hips stabilize us in our daily life and are said to store strong emotions of anxiety, sadness, depression, and being guarded. Whether the mind-body connection is apparent to you or not, you may be caught off guard with emotional release from time to time during and after several hip openers.

Some of the following asanas are restful and I don’t want to ever move out of the pose. Others are a little more intense, my breathing rate increases, I start to fidget, and all I want to do is move out of it.

It is absolutely okay to modify these poses. If you are too stubborn to modify, try to remember the reason of doing the pose to begin with: injury prevention and release. By brutally forcing yourself into one of these asanas when the body is not ready to go there, it can and will eventually lead to injury.  It is NOT a competition.

How long should you stay in a pose?  Some practices have you in the poses for minutes while others are just a few breaths.  To start, aim for a minimum of 7 full breaths.  Breathe in to a count of 3 and out to a count of 3.  Breathe through your nose and fill your lungs all the way to the bottom and exhale all the air out  through the nose at the same rate you inhaled.  Breathe into the areas of tension.  Conscious breaths will help the body release. Work up to staying in the poses for longer.  If you have a hard time sitting still, turn on some music you like or do it with a friend or spouse.

One of my favorite yoga instructors, Tunde Borrego, agreed to be my model for the poses.  I take her classes at CorePower and what shines about her classes is her bubbly energy, her happiness that brightens the room, and her ability to keep it fun.  Plus, she is a handstand master and is gorgeous!

Supta Badda Konasana (Reclined Bound Angle Pose)

Lay down on your mat or towel.  Grab your butt and pull it closer to your heels to flatten the sacrum. Push the soles of the feet together and arms out by the sides.  There’s a lot you can do with your hands if you don’t want them by your sides – put one hand on the heart and one of the belly; you can place the arms overhead and push my palms together(one of my favorites), or you can even put your hands on your inner and gently encourage them to externally rotate.  Your knees will be elevated off the ground and with each breath, the hips will start to release and the knees will get closer to the floor.  Do not push the knees toward the floor.  They are in the air because the groins are tight and forcing them down will not have a positive effect.  To get out of the pose, you can bring your legs together using your leg muscles and put your feet flat on the floor.  I like to use my hands to help bring my legs back together because the hip stretch is intense for me.

If the groins are so tight that this pose becomes too intense, yoga blocks can be placed under the knees. Folded blankets can also be used if yoga blocks are not available.

Modification with blocks:

(Eka Pada Utkatasana) Figure Four

This pose involves balance and is not as restful as some of the other hip openers, but it feels great and it’s fun.  Start from a standing position.  Bend both knees like you are sitting back into a chair (utkatasana).  Cross one of your ankles just above the opposite knee and flex the foot.  Look at a point on the floor in front of you for balance and keep your gaze there.  Your hands can be at the heart, or on the hips.  Keep the weight in the standing heel and keep the hips level as you slowly hinge further to about 90 degrees at the standing knee.  Shift the torso and chest forward.  The goal is to ease the elbows to rest on the fronts of the shin where your flexed foot can almost grab your tricep and your other elbow is in front of the patella.

Repeat with the other leg.

One of my favorite teachers suggests gently pushing the palm of the hand into the bottom of the foot for a better connection and the other hand on the knee. It feels great.

 Floor Figure Four or Eye of the Needle

If standing and trying to balance is too much, you can take it to the floor for a more restorative pose.  Trying to balance on one leg can make the soleus muscle in the lower calf burn after standing for awhile.

Lay down on the ground with soles of the feet on the floor.  Take the left ankle and rest it on top of the right knee.  Flex the left foot.  Bring the knees in towards the chest and lay flat on your back.  Thread your left arm through the gap between the legs and bring the other hand to meet it.  Clasp hands behind the right hamstring.  If your hands cannot grab the leg without keeping the back flat, use a yoga strap, belt, or hand towel.   Lengthen the tail bone to keep a very slight curve in the low back to also stretch the spine.  Try to keep your upper spine and sacrum grounded. Breathe…

Release and do the other side.

This is a great alternative to half pigeon(next poset) if you have any sort of knee pain.

Half Pigeon (Eka Pada Rajakapotasana) 

For me, this one is the most intense.  It’s also a huge emotional release for me.  I’ve trembled and been confused why tears were rolling down my face a few times in this pose.

Start in downward facing dog.  Lift your right leg off the ground, bend the knee and start bringing it foward toward your the back of your right wrist.  When you can’t bring it any further forward, set the leg down.  The right knee should be somewhere near the back of the right wrist.  Keep the right foot flexed to protect the knee -very important.  Slowly slide the left leg back and keep it straight.  You can keep the toes flexed or point them on the straight leg.  I prefer to keep my foot flexed.

Next puff up and sit tall to level the hips before descending down to the floor. Again, flex your foot to protect the knee. If there is any knee pain at all, modify and do floor figure four.  Start to reach the arms forward with palms on the floor and lower the torso.    Lower down as far as you can without pain.  The forearms is a good place to start.

As you breathe into your hips and the groins start to release, you can walk your hands out further so the arms are straight and eventually rest the head on the ground.  To come out, lift back up the way you came in, SLOWLY, and push back into down dog.

Do the other side.

There is only one way to describe this pose. INTENSE. There will be no doubt when you are in it.

Half Floor Frog

This is one of the more restful poses.  I never want to move once I’m in it!  Lay on your stomach.  Take your right arm and extend it so the right wrist is in line with the right hip.  Bend the right knee and bring it up to the height of the wrist.  Turn head to the right and extend right arm back to shoulder height.  Bend  at the right elbow if desired.

Switch and do the other side.

Standing Frog

From standing, squat down slowly as the knees point to opposite ends of the room.  Put hands in prayer position at the heart and squat down until your elbows connect with your inner knees.  For a more intense stretch, gently push elbows into knees.  Drop shoulders down the back and hollow out the armpits.

Crescent Lunge (Anjaneyasana)

This one gets into the legs a little more, but feels great in a different part of the hip than some of the other poses.   Start with hands on the hips from a standing position, feet hip width apart. Step the right foot forward and bend the front knee to 90 degrees.  Keep the left leg straight, but lift the heel off the floor so you’re on the ball of your foot.  Keep the hips square.  If they are not square, you may need to step your right leg out a little more.  Put a bend in the left knee and focus on pushing the left hip forward to the front of the room, tucking your tailbone.  Lift arms overhead, fingers bright, and drop the shoulders down the back.  Draw lower ribs in.  Breathe…  If this is too much for your legs, you may drop the back knee to the floor.  You may also go into low lunge by hinging the torso forward and resting the hands on the ground and chest just above the bent knee.

Switch and do the other side.

Notice she has her legs hip width apart.

Happy Baby (Ananda Balasana)

Lie down on your back.  Bend knees and bring them up towards your armpits.  The goal is to try to keep the sacrum and back flat on the floor.  The grip you choose will help.  Either grab your feet from the outside, grab from the inside (as pictured) or take your index and middle finger(peace fingers) and grab your big toes with wrists facing one another.   Pull down gently drawing the knees toward the floor for more stretch.  Grabbing the big toes with the peace fingers is the easiest for me.  You can gently sway side to side if that’s comfortable.

Cow Face

This one can be intense in the outer hips.  Get on your hands and knees(tabletop position)  Cross right knee in front of the left knee. Try to sit back so your butt touches the ground, hands on the feet or ankles.

A good modification for this pose, particularly if you have tight hips is to use a blanket, towel, or block under your butt so your butt rests on the prop if you can’t make it to the floor.

If you do make it to the floor, but one hip is higher than the other, modify but putting the bock or blanket under the elevated hip.  Don’t forget to switch and do the other side.

Alright!  That’s a lot of info for you.  Start with trying one new pose a day, and maybe work into doing 3 poses a day and start reaping the benefits of more flexible hips!!

If you’re interested in yoga and cycling, see my piece from the Sept/Oct 2011 Elevation Outdoors about yoga and cycling. 

Or for more fun, follow me on twitter.

From Salt Lake City across the Rocky Mountains to Denver we hit SIA, the Snow Show, for more of the latest and greatest snow sports toys coming to market:

Kästle Skis
GoPro
Tecnica
Dynafit
The North Face
Scott Sports
Marker – Völkl
Outdoor Technology

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I figured a good way to follow up my last post would be to tell you where to snowbike!  It just so happens that there is a snowbike race series in the Leadville area every winter.  The first one was Saturday, Jan 14.  The most intriguing part?  It was at night at Copper, complete with fireworks Here is my recap:

I didn’t know what to expect, but I was excited that it was at night!  I was shocked at how many people showed up!  I think the final count of starters was 162!

I had glow stick necklaces on my bike!

TV Summit 8 interviewed me while we were waiting to start, and then things got fun.  I’ll admit that I am not the best with bike maintenance.  I turn a blind eye until it gets bad.  Let’s face it, brakes need to be bled sometimes.  My front brake had barely been working for a month, but I kept putting it off because the back brake worked and I didn’t need superior braking power for mostly dirt road riding.  The front brake got worse up at Leadville… like it didn’t work anymore.  I figured it wouldn’t matter because I still had a rear brake and the Copper course wasn’t hilly.  Well, at the start, I squeezed my rear brake and it pulled all the way to the handlebar.

“I do not have brakes….”  I had maybe 10-15% braking power.  I was already there – dressed, lights mounted, number plate on the bike.  I was there for the experience.  The course was 2 laps, so I decided to take a risk and start with essentially no brakes.  I did not start aggressively knowing I would not be able to make corrections if someone were to crash in front of me.  I was fine until we got to the the one DH of the race.  I went about 10′ down and veered off the trail so I’d be able to stop.  I walked down it and was resigned to the fact that it would be even more of a “fun” ride and less of a competitive ride. It was a little irritating, but I tried not to care. I thought about stopping after 1 lap, but decided, “eh, what the hell. I’ll just be careful.”

I had a great time.  There ended up being a LOT of walking and running with the bike through the snow – precisely what I had been doing all day at Leadville.

This was the “trail!”  The people on snowbikes killed it.  This type of course is also tough because if people are walking in front of you and you are riding, you will probably lose momentum trying to get around them and have to walk yourself.  It’s very difficult to get started again when it looks like this once you lose momentum.

The back side of the course was the most frustrating because it was road and bike path.  I had to go a speed where I could put my foot down to brake to make the corners, so that was slow.  It was actually kind of cool to slow down.  I got to see the determination in the people around me who were racing, I got to look around, and I even got to see fireworks.

It was also a good opportunity to stop and take photos and videos.  Eh, why not?

Thumbs up! Next time my brakes will work It was soooo nice to have the sprinter van to get into after the race.

The best part about it was the great attitude of everyone around – and that was “THIS IS FUN!!!!!!!”

Some of the remaining races are at night, and one is in the daylight. Ready to try it?

For more info, click here

The list?

Feb. 4th – Tennessee Pass Night Jam

Bring your lights to Tennessee Pass Nordic Center for a fast race through the trees at Ski Cooper

5pm Register/Check In @ Tennessee Pass Nordic Center, Race starts @ 7pm

Feb 11 (not part of the snowbike series)

This will be HUUUUUGE!!!!

Teva Winter Games… Mountain Snow Bike Crit!

March 3rd – Mineral Belt Mayhem

An 11 mile loop on Leadville’s beautiful Mineral Belt Trail at Night! Start and finish on Harrison Ave. during Leadville’s Crystal Carnival Weekend

5pm Register/Check In @ Cycles of Life, 309 Harrison Ave., Race starts @ 7pm

April 7th – East Side Epic

A tour of Leadville’s historic Mining District

8am Register/Check In @ Cycles of Life, 309 Harrison Ave.,
Race starts @ 10am @ 700 East 8th St.

Video from Day 4 of the Outdoor Retailer Winter Market 2012 expo:

LifeProof
Cold Avenger
K2 Skis
Backcountry Access
Utility Flame
Kahtoola
Petzl

Sponsored by: Verde PR

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Video from Day 3 of the Outdoor Retailer Winter Market 2012 expo:

Salomon
Outdoor Research
DPS Skis
Klymit
Cordura / Eddie Bauer/First Ascent
Ibex

Sponsored by: Verde PR

Demo Day Video
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Video from Day 2 of the Outdoor Retailer Winter Market 2012 expo:

Conservation Alliance
Venturepax.com
Sherpa Adventure Gear
Evolv
SUUNTO
Helle Knives
Gregory Packs
Julbo
Buff Inc.
Princeton Tec

Sponsored by: Verde PR

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Schulz followed a polar bear and her 2 cubs for weeks, documenting their behavior and capturing powerful images like this one as they flee from a male bear in pursuit.

This morning I learned that although his biography describes him as a wildlife photographer, Florian Schulz is much more. Schulz is, as John Sterling of the Conservation Alliance told us, “a truly gifted story teller who transports us to places we may never otherwise get to visit.”  Today, at the Conservation Alliance Breakfast here at Outdoor Retailer, Schulz brought all of us to the Arctic. He gave us each a front row seat from which to witness breathtaking scenery, incredible wildlife interactions and the intense threats facing this region.

The Arctic drew Schulz because so many people do not understand the depth of its richness. “So many people look at it as a remote faraway place, but we are all connected to it in some way, “ explained Schulz. “Without it, we wouldn’t have all that we have.  For example, we wouldn’t see the birds that come to our coastlines….But politicians only see potential for money and for drilling. The public doesn’t really know what is up there and I want to show them.”

Inspired by statements like, “The arctic is a flat white nothingness….” (Interior Secretary Gale Norton) and descriptions that call it a “….barren wasteland” (Sen. Frank Murkowski), Schulz wanted to document this area and reveal its true character.  He spent a total of 18 months immersed in the Arctic wilderness gathering photos, video and knowledge that he has now turned into a beautiful book called “To the Arctic” and an IMAX 3D movie that will hit theatres this summer.

Through a series of powerful images set to music combined with his penchant for storytelling, Schulz brought the entire room of people to the icy North as he described the trials and tribulations of fieldwork and exploration in a spectacular yet unforgiving landscape. His presentation was particularly effective because of his humility, sense of humor, endearing personality and his genuine passion for nature and conservation.

But, he didn’t just “wow” us with images or stories of braving harsh conditions (though he did tell some amazing ones about that). His message was simple, clear, and inspiring: “My connection to the environment is something very emotional; it comes from the heart for me especially now that I have become a dad,” said Schulz getting noticeably choked up when talking about the arrival of his son in December. “I hope we can keep this planet the way it is for a while longer…. Fighting for this is essential.”

I caught up with Schulz after his stellar presentation to gain some further insight into what drives his explorations.

Q & A

How did you get into adventuring and photography?

In high school, I thought about what kind of job I could have that would allow me to see most of the world and I figured out that if I could be a photographer, I could get insights into people’s lives, other cultures and the environment. I was already very much into observing nature and bird watching and very quickly, photography came to it, too. I had this old camera with a screw on lens – which was ridiculous, but it worked.

Originally, I was just really into observing and watching and realized that it didn’t resonate with people like it did if you could show them a picture. So, I decided to combine my fascination with observing and exploring places with taking photos because I realized that with images you could tell a story so much faster.

Why did you choose to use your penchant for exploring for conservation?

I was connected to conservation from early in my life. I was already doing active conservation even as teenager and for me, it was a really emotional thing. I started to feel like we look at the world in a completely disconnected way….we think we can build an artificial society that is disjointed from the natural world, but we can’t.

So, I decided I needed to create environmental change and it was only natural to connect my photography with conservation.  I mean, we are all not doing enough for conservation so I wanted to do more….And, photography has the power to grab someone’s attention in a split second and engage them in something they might not otherwise care about so it is a really powerful tool for conservation. You can engage someone who might not already be engaged and help them to care about an issue a little more.

What has been your biggest adventure so far?

Well, the mix of camping out in the Arctic in polar bear habitat and having close encounters with polar bears was definitely an adventure. But, another big one was when I realized we needed to expand the Freedom to Roam project to include the Ocean. I knew I had to get out in British Columbia and Southeast Alaska so we bought an old run down sailboat and went out exploring those coastlines. That was a big adventure.

Our idea behind all of this is to figure out how we can spend the most amount of time out so that we can truly get in touch with nature and animals. There is an ease that comes when you immerse yourself and you get in tune with your environment. I don’t like to be rushed because I spend a lot of time watching first and creating ideas for photographs well before I even get them. I love that part and the more slowly you can go, the more closely you can match those ideas with the actual photos you get.

What do you hope to accomplish with this work?

I hope to see the Freedom to Roam project – creating wildlife corridors – implemented on a whole different level. If we could create a national corridor system like the National Parks system, then maybe other countries would pick it up. Habitat needs to be connected so our natural system continues to flourish.

And, for my work in the Arctic, I am working on a partnership to provide a true visual account of the Arctic so people can decide for themselves if there is something of beauty to it and can decide if they are concerned about the issue and want to protect it. I want to prevent natural resource exploitation and teach people about the overlap with climate change so they can see how it will affect them and these wild places.

Your work requires a lot of patience and a lot of waiting. How do you do it?  

I’m so passionate about photography that it’s my life and not a job….I mean, I live photography.  The reason I am out there is the wildlife and incredible scenes so I spend time visualizing the images I want before I even go out and get them. I am intrigued by images and for a while they only exist in my imagination so the potential for a good shot occupies me and then, I am not impatient. And, during the process I am so in tune with my surroundings that I listen to different sounds, see nature do its thing and discover new things simply because I am out there….so I fall into a meditative state b/c I have slowed down. Even though I may wait days and days or years for a shot, I don’t get impatient because I am in that peaceful, blissful state.

What’s next?

In the immediate future, I am trying to find opportunities where I can use the book on the Arctic as part of a campaign to educate people – especially in relation to tying it to Alaska where people in America can have influence. I’d like to turn the images into traveling exhibits  – maybe a series of outdoor exhibits to reach more people.

I am also working on my next book covering Baja to the Beaufort Sea. This is a continuation of the Freedom to Roam campaign, but takes it to a new location and expands to include the Ocean. We are highlighting threatened areas and looking at the most incredible hotspots of the western seaboard between Baja and Beaufort to bring forward the idea of needing to connect marine habitats in order to preserve these areas and the animals who depend on them.

For more info on Florian and his work , go to: www.welcometothearctic.org

Elevation Outdoors’ Cameron Martindell asked Florian a few questions about his experience in the arctic in the video below:

Well, I went into the “Heathen Challenge” at Sunlight with lofty goals…and for half an hour, they seemed attainable.

After that, not so much. Ouch!

I entered the Heathen as my second rando race ever, so naturally I expected to win in commanding fashion. In fact, I placed a handsome wager on myself at the sports desk at Caesar’s, in Vegas. I also bet against Mike Kloser, Pete Swenson, and anybody else I could think of, including Pete Sampras. Fuck that guy–I’ll be bull-whipped before I get shelled by Sampras on skis. Remember that time he hurled at the US Open?! Soft is what that guy is!

Anyway, back to the Heathen. The second stop on the Colorado Ski Mountaineering Cup (COSMIC) series, the course has a rep for being tough–steep, tons of kick turns, and you descend the Defiance run three times. (Normally they funnel you down The Heathen, but poor snow cover meant we dropped Defiance instead–a 50-degree roll over, scoured bumps. It was full-value!) Shy of 5,000 feet of climbing, I figured I’d survive on one bottle and my iron will.

Saturday, January 14 dawned to splitter weather. We started at 8 a.m. and as usual, it was a pretty friendly scene. Of course, no one knew I’d placed 50 large on myself and bet viciously against them all.

This guy, and 23 others, crushed me like the noob I am.

I got a good warm up, did a few hard efforts, then called my bookie to add another five grand to my bet. I was feeling good!

On the start line I took a look around. OK, so everybody looked fitter than me, no sweat. Wait, a lot of guys and girls had lighter skis and boots than me, but hey, it’s all about the pilot, right?

Oh, how true a statement that would soon prove to be.

The gun went off and the fast men and women set the pace, up out of the base area and on to a cat track. Two minutes into the effort I walked out of my left ski–I’m pretty sure my opponents had colluded against me, but I have no proof (yet) of said collusion. I stepped back into my ski and got going again, just as a familiar looking woman passed me.

Don't I know you from somewhere?

I swear to god it was Linda Hamilton from Terminator 2. In Lycra. Kinda hot, but she spat on my “heavy” gear as she went by. Maybe she was French?

I trailed the leaders for the first climb, maybe 45 seconds off the best guys, then another 15-20 off a little peloton of 7th or so through about 15th. By the top of the first climb (2.5 miles, 1900 feet of climbing), though, the wheels had come off and the bar at Caesar’s was abuzz: I was coming apart.

I was shyte on the skinning, and mediocre on the ski...but at least I sucked on the bootpack.

Seriously, though, it was a badass event and (just like last year at the Breck “Five Peaks” race) I was amazed at how fast the front 15 guys, and five women, were going. Crazy fast. Super dialed on their transitions, fluid in their skinning, and banzai on their descents. Really cool.

I’d never been to Sunlight, either–totally great little mountain. There is some very steep terrain on that hill, way steeper than anything at Vail or Aspen, right? Maybe there’s a little pitch in Highlands Bowl or North Rim that compares, but I doubt it. Anyway, the course was indeed tough, with enough kick-turning I should be set for the next three seasons with those. They’re hosting a 12-hour event, “The Endurance Challenge” on February 25th, and I might be dumb enough to do it.

Before then, though, there’s another COSMIC race at Winter Park, January 30, as part of the Ski Industry Association trade show expo. Should be a good time and a shorter event than most.

And oh yeah, for the record, I finished 24th out of 40-something dudes. There were several DNF’s, probably skin problems and good old-fashioned biomechanical meltdowns…but no sweat, they’ll have their chances to whip my ass good at the next event. Watch for a post!

Big thanks to Todd Patrick for his photographs. Check out his website for more of the Sunlight “Heathen Challenge!”

Elevation Outdoors hits the showroom floor for Day 1. Check out the latest from these brands (links below):

Keen Footwear
Bergans of Norway
Brooks-Range Mountaineering Equipment
Vapur Water Bottles
Nikwax
Primaloft
Pertex

Sponsored by: Verde PR

Demo Day Video
Day 1 Video
Day 2 Video
Day 3 Video
Day 4 Video

Elevation Outdoors is Back in Salt Lake City! The snow is sparse in town but there was enough up at Solitude Resort in Utah to try some gear out. Here’s who we visited (and the hot new gear we got to test) on the snow at the 2012 Outdoor Retailer Winter Market:

Tubbs Snowshoes
Native Eyewear
G3 Genuine Guide Gear
Leki USA
Atlas Snowshoes
Helly Hansen

Sponsored by Verde PR

Demo Day Video
Day 1 Video
Day 2 Video
Day 3 Video
Day 4 Video

Several months ago, the cognoscenti at NOAA and the NWS hinted we might be in for another epic winter. Problem is, they were on the take, lobbied by the boozy, immoral minions of that fickle mistress, La Nina. Has her stingy, fickle grasp finally loosened on the spigot of our winter’s snows?

OK, I know the NOAA folks never said anything remotely like “epic,” but man, when they dangled the phrase “La Nina pattern” we all assumed we were headed for another 550 inches up at Dry Gulch. Dammit! Live and learn, brothers and sisters.

Fireweather suggests we might get a good hammering by Saturday morning and the folks up in Idaho are readying for up to six feet of snow in the coming days. The West Elks might get their first really good dump of the year. We can hope.

We can only hope, friends. I’m gonna be trying to get out one of these mornings, in an effort to leave a local stash absolutely skied-to-death before the intrepid Dan Vardamis beats me to it. Provided, of course, that deranged lady-monster leaves the roads passable for a mortal like me. Here’s to the end of this BS pattern we’ve been in…and hello to an…epic spring? We can hope!

Despite the horrific start to the ski season, there are still turns to be had…provided the cognoscenti will share their stashes and turn some tricks. Friday I had the undeserved good fortune to snag a day of cat skiing with the gang at Vail Powder Guides, courtesy of the American Mountain Guides Association, and the gang did not disappoint.

2011 AMGA "Guide of the Year," Angela Hawse, came along to scope the goods and make sure everybody had fun.

Now, I’m not saying it was face shots and TGR-quality lines, but we didn’t cross tracks all day and the snow was soft. No core shots, either. For this winter, that is something!

The AMGA brought along board member King Grant, some generous out-of-state supporters (shout out to Charles, Kyle, Andrew, and the crew!), as well as their Executive Director, Betsy Winter; Technical Director, Dale Remsberg; former Director and current ski-guide Kyle Lefkoff; and 2011 “Guide of the Year,” Angela Hawse.

Making it happen for the AMGA was Vail Powder Guides. Normally they run their cat operation off of Vail Pass, but because of better conditions Friday on the Leadville side, they picked us up in Camp Hale and we headed up Resolution Creek to Machine Gun Ridge and Ptarmigan Hill. They drove their cat over from Vail Pass (a two-hour trip) that morning, found us a couple little filled-in spots, served up lunch, and were a blast to work with. Their ski guides, Ben and Amanda, were dialed, too–I was psyched to watch them work and listen to their schtick. Good practice for my (hopefully) upcoming ski-mountaineering guides course in Valdez, Alaska, through the AMGA.

Lifetime AMGA member and former Chamonix charger, Kyle Lefkoff.

We lucked out on weather, scoring splitter blue skies and very little wind. The crew charged, too, including Dana, from Ridgway, who claimed to be a grandmother, but I’m not buying it. She bounced around on a set of custom Wagners and looked like she ought to be guiding!

It was cool to tag along as a “journalist” (I use this term very lightly), but just as much because I enjoy meeting the folks behind the scenes at the AMGA. I’m halfway through my course work with the AMGA, having done my beginning ski, alpine, and rock courses. I have learned a ton, having studied with Amos Whiting from Aspen; Doug Nidever from June Lake, CA; Howie Schwartz from Bishop, CA; and a bunch of good students on my outings. The AMGA has a tough task, too, training guides at the international standard, readying them for work from Alaska to Chamonix, from Patagonia to Pakistan. Consider guides have been working in Cham and Zermatt since the mid-19th century, while the AMGA is 30 years old. They’ve come a long way in three short decades and if you visit any alpine town in the world, chances are you’ll bump into an American guide making a living and taking people onto the heights. Pretty cool.

Our tracks on "Barbeque," one of the standard backcountry runs for VPG. Not the best conditions ever, but it was soft, untracked, and pretty damn fun.

I’ll try to write more about the AMGA and its programs in the coming months, especially as I prepare for my aspirant exam in the ski discipline. That might be a good starting point, just giving readers an idea of what’s expected during a course and what topics are typically examined. Stay tuned…

In the meantime, thanks a bunch to VPG, the AMGA, and my fellow skiers. And my editor, Doug Schnitzspahn, for getting us up there and doing his usual tele-charger routine. Thanks!