Fun Climbs Around The World

Andrea Lawrence with poet Gary Snyder

Last summer, as Tristan and I parked by the gate that bars the road to Soda Springs, near Tuolumne Meadows, a car drove up to the gate. A frail-looking older woman with white hair got out, opened the lock, and pulled off the heavy chain that loops over the posts. Using a cane, she walked slowly back to her car to drive through.

Accustomed to helping my mom , was recovering from a total hip replacement, I ran over to close the gate.

“Are you going to hear Gary Snyder?” she asked. “Would you like a ride?”

After grabbing our water, we rode  with Andrea Lawrence to Gary Snyder’s poetry reading.

Tristan chatting with two-time Olympic gold Medalist Andrea Lawrence

After the reading, at the sumptuous feast prepared by the organizers, we chatted more with Andrea Lawrence, who had been a supervisor of nearby Mono county, home to Mammoth ski area.

When we asked Andrea if she was a skier, she said yes, she’d skied all of her life. When we mentioned that we skied, and that Tristan had raced, she said that she too had raced. A little more conversation revealed that she first raced in the 1948 Winter Olympics in St. Moritz, and later Andrea won two gold medals in Oslo in 1952.

So much for the frail old lady!

She invited us to visit her in Mammoth, which, sadly, we failed to do. I recently read Andrea Lawrence’s obituary in Ski magazine, and realized we’d missed a never-to-be-repeated opportunity to speak at more length with one of the former greats of skiing. Since Tristan plans to pursue ski racing, it may have been a rare opportunity for him

Just to show I’m not a total wimp, who only skies lift-served terrain, here’s our trip into Saints John. My dog, an Entlebucher Sennenhund, is sitting on my skis so she won’t be buried under the snow!

Saints John

Breaking trail in deep powder.

A friend wanted to back country ski, so I pulled out my  (very old) Kästle lightweight skis (with metal edges!) from 1980 or so, slapped on a coat of wax, and we headed up to Sts. John.  The skis  are extremely narrow compared to any modern ski, which works well on an icy trail, since they are very light, and climb quickly.

It works less well in deep snow - they sink.

I’ve got my old Alfa  leather  boots, which are also light, so climbing proves quite pleasant. Descending is fine on the same icy roads, since they go straight quite quickly.

However, I can’t turn them. Someone else may be able to, or maybe with other boots. I’ll take a photo of the skis to show how little they are.

Still, we got out. I skied the Commando Run, from Vail Pass to Vail in these, about 20 years ago. They still work, just not as well as modern gear.

Continuing   the story of our ski trip from the top of Vail to the town of Minturn:
Once in the drainage, we skied along the creek, with an occasional break.

Tarrie taking a break …

Jump the creek? Or go around?

At the bottom of the drainage, we had to cross to the other side of the creek. We opted to go  around through the willows.

We ended at the Minturn Saloon

At the Saloon, Tarrie, who’s friends with everyone, met a former classmate of hers.  This guy (behind Tarrie) had skied the same trail — BUT … HE JUMPED the creek. Good on him. We all wimped out, wisely, I think!
Information:

Take Lift 3, the Wildwood Express lift, to reach the Wildwood Cafe.

Follow the “Lost Boy” trail along the ridge until you see the gate.

Also see Traci’s story for more photos.

We started at the top of Vail

On a glorious, sunny bluebird day, I met my friends Tarrie and Traci at the top of Vail resort, at the Wildwood Cafe. Tarrie and Traci climbed up under their own power, Tarrie with Telemark gear and Traci with alpine touring gear. I  conveniently don’t own either tele or AT gear, so I got away with being lazy and rode the lifts up — all four of them.

The gate at the start

From the Wildwood Cafe, we skied down a catwalk toward the gate that marks the boundaries between Vail resorts terrain and terra incognita.  Traci, who lives and works in Vail, had skied this tour down to the nearby town of Minturn before, but neither Tarrie nor I had been down this drainage.

Traci starts down the slope past the gate

Past the gate, we skied down an open bowl toward the aspen-lined creek. Earlier in the day, or a day before, this might have been untracked light powder, but we skied it in the afternoon, after several others had been down the tour, and the sun  turned the once fluffy powder into a thicker mush.

In spring, this south-facing bowl might best be done early in the morning.

‘Zuma Bowl, with 400 acres, almost doubles the available terrain at A-Basin. Today, 17 trails and 200 acres will add to the skiable terrain at the Basin.

I was teaching at Keystone today, so didn’t ski the bowl myself, but I plan to get out to Montezuma Bowl  soon and will take some photos and report on the conditions.

While everyone else concentrates on the 2010 Olympics in British Columbia, Colorado locals can enjoy the World Cup Telemark races right in our back yard.

Driving home from work at Keystone today, I noticed two rows of netting up beside Go Devil, the steep run where many races take place. I wondered what races were scheduled, when the radio announced the Tele world cup, consisting of four separate FIS World Cup races on Thursday through Sunday.

Lunch at Mayflower Gulch  cabins

A while ago, a friend and I skied up Mayflower Gulch. Despite the busy holiday weekend, we saw few people on this moderate trail to a spectacular view of the Mayflower Gulch amphitheater.

I used my almost antique  (1980) backcountry skis  - waxable Kastle light edge with a Rottefella three-pin binding and leather Alfa boots, while my friend used a modern Telemark set-up with skins.

From the east side of the parking lot, follow a road that parallels Mayflower Creek and climbs steadily east / southeast. After about two miles, we entered the stunning Mayflower Amphitheater with its views of Fletcher Mountain (at 13,841 feet). My waxed skis worked well for most of the climb, with only a few sections where I resorted to herringboning. My friend who used skins found the climb slower, since there are short flat or downhill sections that I could glide faster.

After a short snack break at the Mayflower Gulch ‘cabins’, I skied up and left on relatively flat terrain toward the old Boston Mine. My friend climbed steeply up to the summit of Gold Hill, where he snagged an excellent powder run down. Without skins, the trail up was too steep for me. My ski set-up, while fine for touring, isn’t suited for downhill skiing.

If you want to go only as far as the cabins, a touring set-up works fine. To ski the steeper powder runs above, I recommend AT or Telemark gear. The slopes on Gold Hill face mostly north so the snow stays good, but beware of avalanche danger and carry appropriate safety equipment.

Descend the same trail, which can be very fast if it hasn’t snowed in several days.
For more information, see Richard DuMais 50 Colorado Ski Tours (1983) , Tom and Sanse Sudduth’s Northern Colorado Ski Tours (1976), or Claire Walter’s Snowshoeing Colorado (2004).

Getting there:

Drive I 70 toward Copper Mountain (Exit 195; Highway 91) and head toward Leadville for 5.5 miles. Turn left into a large parking area on the east side of Highway 91, where it crosses Mayflower Creek.

Starting elevation: 10,940 feet
Mayflower gulch cabins: 11,560 feet
Distance: 2 1/2 miles, one way
Skiing time: 2- 3 hours climbing
Map: U.S.G.S Copper Mountain, Colorado

Dogs: allowed, but be careful of other skiers

Tristan Hechtel skiing Teacup bowl, January

My son Tristan and I had several days off work (teaching skiing) after Christmas vacation, which allowed us to enjoy skiing in Vail’s back bowls. In early January the mountain is generally quite uncrowded, since the many visitors who come here over Christmas vacation have left.

The easiest way to reach the back bowls starts from Golden Peak. Take the Riva Bahn Express lift (chair #6) past the mid station to the end. While riding this lift, you can often watch racers on the course directly below.   From the top of the Riva Bahn, ski across to the Northwoods Express lift (chair 11) and take this to the top, where Buffalo’s restaurant and the patrol headquarters at Henry’s Hut are located.

From here, several options allow access to China Bowl.  If we have fresh powder, I ski Milt’s Face. Sometimes the Slot has been groomed and gives a quick way down to the Sun Up Lift (chair 17). The quickest route to the back bowls is to ski the Sleepytime catwalk, which then allows you to traverse around to Genghis Khan and other runs in the Teacup Bowl. The runs in the Teacup Bowl - Jade Glade and Genghis Khan, often have the best snow. From here, it’s fastest to ski to the Orient Express (chair 21), but if we want to ski the Teacup Bowl again, we continue on to the Tea Cup Express (chair 36).

The Skyline Express (chair 37), the main lift accessing Blue Sky Basin, starts across from the Tea Cup Express lift.  Watch out here for long lift lines at the end of the day, when everyone is heading back down off the mountain. We usually start skiing early, head over to China Bowl of Blue Sky Basin, and leave early (before 3 p.m.) to avoid crowds.

At the end of the day, when our legs feel like jello, I often download the Riva Bahn. The bottom slopes have either green catwalks, or black bump runs, neither of which is my first choice for how to end my ski day.

Today I went with my son Tristan to ski the NASTAR racecourse. Tristan skied with a race team, initially Team Copper and later with Team Summit, since he was five years old. Unlike Tristan, I grew up skiing in our back yard in Germany and following my parents down various slopes in the Alps. My later training in skiing has been as an instructor, not on a racecourse. I’ll show photos  that show how the two styles of skiing and training differ.

Skiing at Keystone

Photo from November 2009 issue of Ski

The November 2009 issue of Ski features an article, “The Last Plateau”,

in which the authors describe techniques that I advocate in my ski lessons.

  For skiers who’ve skied with me, I often talk about ‘edge angle’ and ‘angulation’. In the section, “power through edging”, the authors, Chris Fellows and Kellee Katagi, describe the use of counterbalance in order to achieve and hold a high edge angle. I recommend their article, which includes excellent photos, as something to read on the airplane on the way to Colorado, so that you have a good visual image of what we’re trying to achieve when we rip it up on the slopes.

See the high edge angle?

I’ve also talked about the G-forces one experiences in a carved turn. The authors similarly discuss using a high edge angle to generate momentum in the turn. I took photos of several pictures in the article, since I couldn’t find them online. One more thing I really like about this article is that each section on skiing is followed by a

section with exercises. My son and I will be doing select sets of these exercises

and I’ll post photos of that in the coming weeks.

We’ve done this exercise in class!

Some of their exercises resemble exercises I’ve described in the past. For

abdominal (core) strength, they recommend alternating ball plank pulls. I show

a basic plank – not as snazzy, but simpler.

The article shows lateral flexion / extension hops, which resemble our

windmill hops; and improve balance and leg coordination.

Both they and I recommend squats

And I regularly do the prone bicycles to strengthen abs.

Last year I could do 30; now I’m up to over 40 of them; so there’s hope for all of us!