2012 Climb Convergence

If you don’t work for EMS you probably don’t know what the Climbing Convergence is. Technically, it’s staff training, but “staff training” does not begin to describe 160 employees from 60+ stores getting together in the heart of the White Mountains for 2 full days of climbing, clinics, training, hiking, cook-outs, camping, bonfires, slacking, and stuffing pockets with swag while perusing a vendor village.

Tent City at Great Glen, at the base of the Mount Washington Auto Road

My part in the event was limited to one day at Cathedral Ledge, but it was enough to sense the kind of camaraderie folks who work for EMS share.

Ethan and Sara setting up at “the classroom”

One of the anchor clinics I taught during the day- Photo by Dave Karl of www.skyambitions.com

Keith and Ethan teaching belay escapes and some self-rescue skills…

Anyone know what kind of snake this is?

Lunch break at the base of the cliff

Keith being Keith

It is very cool to work with a company that takes authentic training like this so seriously. Sometimes I don’t think my own family understands. We LOVE what we do. It’s not just “retail”. It’s sharing a lifestyle, a healthy lifestyle, with our customers. Climbing, hiking, kayaking, biking, ice climbing, backcountry skiing… these are the sports we represent, and these are our own personal passions. And our company puts events like this together to help us outfit our customers so they can enjoy these pursuits as much as we do… It just doesn’t get any better!

Five Borough Bike Tour

This past weekend I had the opportunity to ride in the 2012 Five Borough Bike Tour. Held annually in May, the TD Five Boro Bike Tour is America’s largest cycling event, with over 32,000 riders cycling 42 miles though a very rare traffic free New York.

While I’ve considered myself a recreational mountain biker for years I’ve never really done any road biking. With the arrival of my son Alex and dreams of our new family riding the carriage roads in Acadia National Park the next few years I figured I should give it a try. Since EMS is a presenting sponsor I was lucky enough to get a ticket to this lottery style event.

But first I needed a bike. A few weeks ago Michelle and I headed down to EMS Portsmouth to shop for some Hybrids. I wasn’t quite ready to get all lycra’d up on a high performance road bike so the resident well known Bike Tech, Rog, suggested the MARIN Seadrift Hybrid Bike, and we were sold.

All techno jagin aside, this bike is just comfortable to ride. With only a short 6 mile warm up ride around my neighborhood I left for NYC and road it 47 miles in 5 hours. Not bad for a first real road ride!

6AM, inside the Staten Island Ferry

Manhattan approaches

Little did I know my helmet cam was not charged

Looking back from near the start line, the World Trade Center Memorial building in the background

EMS Schools Office Manager, George Karaffa

Around mile 26, going strong

Approaching Verrazano Bridge… it’s always backed up when I’ve driven this way…

Crossing the Verrazano

Looking out at the Hudson

The Finish Line

Fort Wadsworth

Hard to say what the coolest part of this experience was. The empty (of cars) NYC streets? Riding through dozens of red lights? The camaraderie of fellow riders and the company of the co-workers I shared many of the miles with? The gospel bands cheering us on while we went through the Bronx? The views… the list goes on. I’ve got to say it’s definitely one of the coolest things I’ve done lately and I think I’ve been bitten by the bike bug. A Facebook friend has already mentioned I should join his crew on a similar tour in Montreal in June… hmm… that sounds interesting!

Since my helmet cam saw no action please check out the official video:

Welcome Spring, time to clean house

Well rock climbing season is here, as I’m sure you all know. It arrived pretty early after such a mild winter. I actually have gotten 5 days in so far which is pretty good considering it’s my very first Spring as a dad. While I thought fatherhood might strain my ability to get out and climb my incredibly supportive wife has allowed me to get after it once or twice a week. I can’t tell you how excited I am about getting my son out to the cliff, once he reaches toddler age of course! Having a child to introduce to the mountains and nature and climbing… well… I just never thought about it until it happened… and it is definitely a life changer.

Speaking of changes I think this blog needs a remodel. While it is pretty active in the winter months with my avalanche course posts it gets awfully quiet here round’ summer. I’d like to change that, and make this blog more useful to you, the reader, whoever you are…

Since I only guide on a part-time basis in the summer I’m thinking I’ll use this interweb space for anything climbing/hiking/kayaking or otherwise outdoors related that I do. I’ve been getting inspiration from this climber from Charelston, S.C. who I have never met before but who’s posts have been fun and insightful to read.

So changes are coming. If you have a suggestion please let me know, I’d love to hear it. I’ll be looking at re-formatting, content, etc, etc. Not sure what the end product will look like, but that’s often the case isn’t it?

I’ll be riding in the 5 Boro Bike Tour this Sunday, and will definitely get some video and pics of that event. Considering I’ve only put about 6 miles on the bike this season, that 40 mile ride will certainly be interesting.

Until next post, thanks for reading!

Rock Climbing Season has definitely begun!

I apologize for being so absent. More to come tomorrow!

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10th Avalanche Course of the Season

Despite the record breaking warm temps and early arrival of our Spring snowpack we finished another avalanche course yesterday. After a day in Crawford Notch we hopped the high speed quad on Wildcat Mountain and were actually able to see some layers in the snow off the south side of the summit. Lots of old MF Crusts still visible in the very dense wet snow.

For our ski tour the next day we headed to the familiar, but now heavily traveled, Tuckerman Ravine trail.

1st break on the Tuckerman Ravine Trail

Continuing up the busy Tuckerman Trail

Busy HoJo's

Skinning up Hillman’s Highway

Re-grouped at the top of the “Christmas Tree"

Kicking steps as the angle increases

Top of Hillman’s Highway

Choosing our line

Looking up Hillman’s Highway

Re-grouped at the bottom of the gully

Despite the low avalanche danger we got to manage some typical spring-time hazards like loose wet snow surface slides, avoiding fall-line’s of falling ice, route-finding, etc. The

The Sherburne Ski Trail was barely skiable at the bottom, with a few mandatory mud turns needed.

Spring has Sprung

Today we wrapped up the 9th avalanche course of the season. 6 hard-chargers from UCONN braved 45 degree temps, 100 mile visibility, and gusts of wind up to 10 miles per hour to put there newly learned risk management skills to use.

Bill looking at a small crown at the top of Hillman’s Highway while USFS Snow Ranger Jeff Lane chats with the group

Spreading out while we cross the floor of the ravine

Some quick snowpack observations confirmed what we read in the bulletin

Climbing up Left Gully

Topping out

Looking for some corn

Traversing over to the Lip/Sluice area

Dave gets ready to drop the lip in some heavy “mashed potatoes” snow

Low Avalanche danger allowed us to cover quite a bit of terrain. Lots of traffic on the mountain provided many opportunities to watch other people and learn from their decisions. Where the snow was getting the most solar radiation it was quite heavy.

Unfortunately the Little Headwall is open in multiple places and doesn’t allow you to connect the floor of the ravine with Hermit Lake, so we hiked from Connection Cache back to HoJos.

The Sherbi had a mix of sun/shade on it. The shaded areas iced up quick but allowed faster skiing. Glide wax would have been nice. The bottom of the Sherbi is melting out fast, not sure if we’ll be able to ski to the base during next weekends course. Let’s hope this unseasonable warming is short lived so we still have some snow left in April!

Snow Snow Snow!

Last Sunday concluded our 8th AIARE Avalanche Course of the season. Back to back snowstorms brought almost 2 feet to Hermit Lake, which set the field for another excellent avalanche course as 7 participants acquired some new skills to help them travel more safely in the backcountry.

Conditions required very careful routefinding

Skinning up the Little Headwall

Top of Little Headwall

Just before entering the floor of the ravine

Spreading out to cross the main runout

Making some snowpack observations on a small slope down and left of Left Gully

Getting some nice turns on the Little Headwall at the end of the day

Only 4 more courses left this season, and the next one is booked solid. Go to http://www.emsclimb.com/aiare1.html to see course details or call 800-310-4504 to book.