One of my favorite places in the whole world. I spent a bunch of time there in the past month. Back in Canada now. Moving. Working. Life is ever changing and busy. Will update soon.
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View from our upstairs window. Stellar evening last night in Revelstoke. Mt Begbie defines the skyline and rises over 7,500 ft above the Columbia River.
The is one of the coolest road signs I've ever seen. Wild horses. And you will often see them on the road side. Chilcotin Mtns, BC.
The Pineapple Express that bombed the BC Coast and Interior ended up as a powerful Chinook in Calgary. Temps hit 10 C and the Sun was out. I took a few hours out of my “spoken word” tour hosting avalanche safety seminars and giving talks to skate. It was like somebody hit the relief valve and I got reset. Skating does that to me.
The full pipe, deep, and shallow end at the Calgary Skatepark. The full pipe has 15' trannies, the deep end is 12' or 13' deep with a solid 2' of vert. The concrete is rough and bails are burely. I broke my left patella (knee cap) while doing a frontside air in it back in 2001. Yes I had knee pads on. I have to admit, I still think about that when I drop in there. I actually took this photo in September. There was lots of leaves and shit in there today. I ended up mostly skating the clover and huge street zone.
Memories tend to be called out of the catacombs of of my mind when time is on my hands. Typically these moments that are forever locked away in my brain need something to knock them free. A few nights ago I was up late because I couldn’t sleep. Surfing away on my computer I opened up Google Earth and spied on Mt. Baker’s Roman Headwall and Mt. Shuksan’s Sulphide Glacier and pop some old stories started to flow. Let me explain.
The top of the Sulphide Glacier route on Mt. Shuksan is a 3rd class rock scramble in the summer and a 50-55 degree chute and open face in the winter and spring. It is short, but is full on. I was standing on the summit with Craig Kelly with the intention of shredding the line. Craig dropped in first and I couldn’t see him. After a minute or so, I got close to the entrance, saw Craig getting to the bottom, and with my balls in my stomach I side slipped into the line. It was a solid 55 degrees at the entrance and the snow wasn’t that great. Now, this was an intense line for me and even though we had climbed up the slope and knew the snow, I still had to side slip for a bit to get the confidence to start doing turns. What I saw when I entered the line blew my mind. Craig hadn’t side slipped at all, in fact he laid out perfect turns from the start. No hesitation. Pretty psyched, we both went to the top again and rode back down.
Two days prior Craig, my girlfriend Andrea and I were standing on the summit of Mt. Baker. Again, following Craig we descended a variation of the Roman Headwall. Think far skiers right down a steep gully / bowl feature flanked by seracs on one side and a giant ice cliff on the other. It is beautiful line, probably 1000 ft high. We didn’t have great snow conditions. I watched Craig enter the top of the bowl, pop a mandatory ollie over a crevasse, and rocket down the entire bowl in his grace and style. That was the first time Craig had been to the top of Mt. Baker after nearly 20 years of riding the ski area. It was an honorable moment for him and I was humbled to be with him. He bought a very nice bottle of wine later that evening. It was 2002.
Our adventure on Mt. Baker. Sorry no real photos.
The summit of Mt. Shuksan above the Sulphide Gl. The line on the face is snow in the spring. I don't think it gets done very much.
When September arrives people who thrive on winter start to come alive methodically thinking and talking about snow. So begins the “wait”. In Revelstoke, coffee shop and dinner party conversations quickly turn to people’s guiding or avalanche work and their coveted personal missions.
Last week I was inundated with these conversations and thoughts during a week long avalanche class. An avalanche class in September? Yup, and one I’ve been meaning to take for about 10 years. Finally I got the chance. This class is a bit different and focuses on how big avalanches can run and their expected return intervals. A big part of the class, is using tree and vegetative damage to figure this out. Personally, for me a big portion of the class was a review, but reviews are good and our field trips took me to a few places that I’d never been. Plus it gave me a moment to reflect on last winter.
The winter of 2008-2009 was unique in the southern BC Interior. In December an Arctic Outbreak caused temperatures to plummet into the -30 arena for a few weeks. With only 50-90cm on the ground, the snow turned to depth hoar. I remember while freezing my ass off at guide training up at Baldface and quickly sinking to the ground when standing attempting to observe a snow profile. I distinctly remember thinking that this situation was fucked and the winter was going to be a tough one. It was. Just after Christmas it started snowing and in early January a big storm plowed through the southern portion of the Province. Mayhem started in the southern Selkirks. Large avalanches started ripping to the ground, not common in those parts. One avalanche was so odd. I overheard a guy pushing 30 years of experience as a forecaster, guide and rescue specialist mention it was one of the oddest avalanches he’d ever seen. I was thinking the same thing. The slide occurred up Stenson Creek between New Denver and Kaslo.
What a positive experience to head into the mountains and look at huge avalanches from the previous winter, reflect on personal experiences with them, then log this in the memory bank, helping me to set a tone for a new winter. It is almost here. Tonight is a potluck at our house and I’m sure that conversations will quickly turn to winter adventures.
Forecast that. The avalanche completely defies traditional thinking. It started in dense old timber and started mowing down trees. The fracture line photos from January 2009 were down right weird. Another avalanche similar to this occurred up Grohman Creek near Nelson.
Avalanches continue to amaze me. The thing that is interesting about the Jan 2009 avalanche cycle was how widespread huge events were in the Southern Selkirks. Winter 2009 changed the perception of avalanche forecasters and guides in certain parts of the Province.
A few years ago, I figured out that medium range weather forecasts, week 1 and week 2, are very useful for planning snowboarding, climbing, and skateboarding trips around Canada and the US. If you plan on chasing storms, or are simply trying to figure out what conditions are like these are very useful tools. In order to use them, you need to have some knowledge of hemispheric and local weather patterns, know some meteorological lingo, and sit down for an hour or two to digest some somewhat technical information. Recognize that this is fairly advanced stuff, but after some time, you will develop a feel for these products and how they relate to where you live or are traveling to.
Medium range forecasts are found at the NWS Climate Prediction Center and Canadian Meteorological Centre. Instead of daily forecasts that you are used to, these forecasts cover periods of time, typically a week and give a 500 mb chart, a technical discussion (forecast), and probabilities that temperature or precipitation will be above or below average.
We all know that weather forecasts degrade in accuracy with time. The same is true using broad forecasts that are geared for a week or two down the road. Week 1 or 6-10 day forecasts are about twice as accurate as week 2 forecasts 8-14 day. Even the week 1 forecasts can be way off some of the time – it is just the nature of the world we live in.
In a nutshell, here is what I do.
First I look at the precipitation and temperature maps from the NWS. For Canada I often extrapolate these maps – with care and I look at the CMC maps for 8-14 days as well. I ask the questions in my head, what type of weather pattern would cause either above normal or below normal conditions. Is it high pressure or low pressure. I also start asking the question, what kind of storms may we see.
NWS 6-10 day forecast of probability that the temperature will be above or below normal.
Second I pull up the 500 mb heights and anomalies map. Study this map for a while. Look at the long wave ridges and troughs and think about what these means for a specific area. Relate this back to the precipitation and temperature maps you have looked at. Keep your interpretation simple and start thinking about what kinds of storms evolve from these patterns. Also have a look at the anomalies, the difference in predicted heights and the average. It will give an idea of the intensity of a pattern. For example if the isobars, or lines on the map are tight and line up west to east, zonal flow, you can expect a period of quickly moving storms that come in one after another. In other words, it is probably going to snow hard for a number of days. If a large ridge is centered off the BC / WA coast and a trough is over the BC / AB interior, expect cool and relatively dry conditions – maybe an Arctic outbreak.
NWS 6-10 day 500mb heights and anomolies chart.
The third thing I look at and often with the 500mb map is the NWS prognostic discussion. This is a technical discussion by NWS forecasters who specialize in medium range forecasts. You can learn a great deal by taking the time to figure these out and read them. I have. There is often information that is gold embedded in them. Pay attention to the confidence rating – this is key. They use a confidence scale of 1 – 5, with 5 being the best.
After I’ve analyzed and read this information, I start to draw basic conclusions about what I think is going to happen. I don’t try and get specific about certain days, etc. I just try and think about what types of storms or high pressure may happen and what the local effects typically are. Storms or not, avalanche hazard up or down. Simple as that.
“I think that it could have been the water I made the Lemonade with last night. It came out of the creek by my house. Sometimes it gives me the shits – whatever it is just the shits” said Troy. “Oh, that must be it”, I responded. Near the top of Mt. Sir Donald, I was starting to shut down. My guts were inside out, my breathing was labored, and I didn’t have much strength. I felt like I was coming down with some sort of South American water bug. Most of the descent was in front of us. We had about a dozen rappels and 4,500 ft of walking downhill back to the car. Oddly, I could still see the humor in my situation despite my level of suffering.
I really wasn’t sure if I was going to pass out or not, so I made the extra effort to back everything up and go slow. On my first rappel, I had to stop a few times and rest. My theory was to reach deep, and just keep going, slowly and eventually I be off the mountain and back at home in bed. Slowly, but surely we made it down.
I think that the NW Ridge of Sir Donald is certainly a classic , despite my passing a water born bug, or whatever was happening to me. Most of the rock is awesome, the route finding almost non-existent, and the scenery is unbelievable. It was an excellent day to most likely wrap up the alpine season for me.
The NW Ridge of Sir Donald
Looking across to Saphire Col, the Dome, and Mt. Bonney
Troy Grant having fun.
Looking south across the Illicilleweat and Deville glaciers from the Summit of Mt. Sir Donald
Skateboarding has always been a key staple in my life. I started when I was a little kid and 25 years later I enjoy it more than ever. Mostly I like to ride pools and vert. The interior of British Columbia is the land of mountains, snowboarding and climbing, not skateboarding. Skating in BC, is like snowboarding in Manitoba or Kansas. After a week of climbing in the Sierra, I spent a week in the Bay area skating. I ended up at Santa Cruz, Portrero, Rooselvelt, Pacifica, and Lake Cunningham. The parks in California are a bit different than most places in the west. Most parks are closed in the morning and evening, are protected by fences, and have staff that look after them. They feel more private than public. The bonus is they are clean. The architecture is typically different as well. In California, the good parks have a classic pool often with tile, nice coping, and vert. I really like riding those. Figuring out a way to live cheap and dirt bag is challenging in the Bay area. There are few places to camp and clean up.
I like skating a variety of stuff and within an hour drive you can hit up pretty much anything you want. The steep streets of S.F. are great, the parks offer great pools, the locals are pretty cool. With only a week, I didn’t hit up any backyard pools, but from what I’m told it is going off right now due to vacancies from foreclosures. The Lake Cunningham park is my favorite. I ended up there most evening, because it has a bunch of pools that can keep a visitor busy for a long time. I was treated to a Wednesday night session, with a bunch of guys that rip, including Cab. For me that session, was the best I’ve had in sometime.
Heaven.
Hello. This full pipe is so much fun.
Endless lines.
Santa Cruz has a great park. It is one of my favorite places in the Bay area to hang out.
The Lake Cunningham Skull Bowl is one of my favorite pools ever.
I love hanging out in the Sierra. Unlike BC, or the Cascades, the weather is usually bomber, for the most part there are no mosquitoes, there is no bushwacking, backcountry and car camping are as easy as it gets, and the mountains are granite. Life is easy.
For the past week Al Jones and I climbed some classic routes in the High Sierra and Tuolumne. Nothing to hard, or long – we just had fun.
The standard route on Fairview is pretty classic.
The classic Cathedral Peak. Easy and fun.
We were psyched to be in the Whitney zone for the first time. We climbed the East Buttress of Whitney and planned to get up Mt. Russell, but we left due to T-storms. I got pretty inspired by the Keeler Needle and the Mitheral Dihedral on Russell. Next time.