Happy T-Day!
Happy Thankgiving everyone! Looks like we’ve finally got our first official winter storm of the season in the Southland Mountains. Mount Baldy says they got 2-6″ of snow. Up north, Mammoth reports a modest 5″ new on an admittedly meager base—but at least they’re open!
Ski Dazzle Los Angeles is Dec 4-7 at the Convention Center. Whether you go to buy gear or just to check out the scene, it’s always worth the price of admission.
That’s it for now. We’re headed north for the holiday. Then off to AZ for an MRI and hopefully some good news. If you’re traveling, travel safe this weekend, and be sure to eat a lot of turkey and pumpkin pie. Take care!
Posted in Musings | 0 Comments
The Market & Me
My apologies for the lack of new content this week.
I’ve been busy watching my personal fortune evaporate in the stock market.
While I would never argue that what has been happening at the NYSE is in any way good, it has been most educational.
The financial crisis has motivated me to learn more about our economy, the equities market, and finance in general—subjects about which I have long been ignorant.
But the most valuable education I’ve received over the past week has been what I’ve learned about myself. And this new personal insight has taken me completely by surprise (more…)
Posted in News | 2 Comments
Smoke at Sunrise
Here’s a look at the sunrise from near our home this morning: that’s a lot of smoke.
The Yorba Linda/Anaheim area fires are about sixty miles east of us, which gives a sense of just how smoky the Los Angeles Basin is this morning.
And, when I turn and look to the west, the sky is considerably smoky from the Santa Barbara fires northwest of us.
What a mess!
Posted in Current Conditions, Weather | 0 Comments
Renaming North Pal
The Los Angeles Times has an article on efforts to rename North Palisade as “Brower Palisade.”
With an elevation of 14,242′, North Pal is California’s fourth-highest mountain and the Sierra’s signature mountaineering objective—Whitney nothwithstanding.
The name change, intended to honor David Brower, environmentalist and first Director of the Sierra Club, has some powerful backers, including (according to the Times article) California U.S. Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, Yvon Chouinard, founder of Patagonia, and climbing-guide author Steve Roper.
As you might suspect, many others are not so pleased with the proposal.
In the U.S., renaming mountains is generally made prohibitively difficult by the USGS, though there are exceptions. Arizona’s Squaw Peak was renamed Piestewa Peak after Army Spc. Lori Ann Piestewa, the first Native American woman to die in combat in the US military.
While that effort was not without controversy, it was eased first by the fact that Piestewa was a war veteran, and second that it was less a renaming than a name adjustment. For many people, “Squaw” was a slur both gender and race-specific. Changing the name to Piestewa was a nice way to remedy that issue.
In contrast, renaming North Palisade after Brower addresses no such inequity.My first thought, hearing of this, was: don’t they have something better to do? Given the myraid environmental challenges, issues, crises current facing not just the Sierra but the US and world beyond, can’t those who carry on the legacy of David Brower find a more important—more relevant—way to spend their precious time, money, and energy?
It just seems so…inappropriate.
There are plenty of unnamed peaks in the Sierra which could have been chosen to honor Brower instead. How does it honor the memory of one of our nation’s pioneering preservationists to ram a name change down the throat of unwilling climbers and mountaineers all across the globe?
In attempting to strip North Palisade’s name, supporters of the effort imply that nothing less than a peak of seminal importance will do for their honoree—and it doesn’t matter if that peak already has a name with a rich history. The ‘Brower Palisade’ proposal thus calls exactly the wrong kind of attention to the man. It is self-serving, self-important, arrogant. It ignores the bigger picture. It is wrong.
That’s my opinion, at least.
Posted in Politics | 0 Comments
Gear Review: TNF Apex Bionic Jacket
I’m on a gear review rampage for the holiday season, so here’s the next item up for your consideration: North Face’s impressive Apex Bionic Jacket.
I wasn’t looking for a new ski jacket, but I knew this was a keeper as soon as I opened the box. The Apex Bionic has all the advantages of Patagonia’s windproof R4 Fleece Jacket, plus a bombproof soft-shell exterior for the trees & storms.
Posted in Gear | 0 Comments
Backcountry Mag vs. Davenport
Well…not exactly, but if you did happen to catch the cover on the November ’08 Backcountry Magazine, you’ll see the provocative headline, “New Heights or New Hype: Freeski Mountaineer Chris Davenport.” The feature article inside doesn’t exactly stake out a bold position on the subject, but it does ask the intriguing question, is Chris Davenport creating a new skiing genre?
Seeing as we’re currently waiting around for some snow around here (and otherwise bored), I thought I’d offer my own fearless take on the Davenport phenomenon, hopefully controversial enough to spark up a comment or two, but not too controversial, because we’re still worn out from the election. 
Ready? Here we go:
The Pioneer: Lou Dawson
To understand who Chris Davenport is, you’ve first got to understand who Lou Dawson is.
Lou Dawson is the first person credited with skiing all 54 of Colorado’s fourteen-thousand-foot peaks from the summit or as near thereupon as theoretically possible.
As a feat of mountaineering, it’s a big one, not just because of the sheer numbers of 14K peaks in Colorado, but because of Colorado’s notorious mid-winter snowpack, Colorado’s notoriously dry winters, and even access issues, all of which meant, in any given year, that only a handful of the fourteeners might actually be skiable, with the rest bare of snow or too dangerous, or simply (at the time) considered unskiable in any conditions.
It took Lou roughly thirteen years to ski all the fourteeners (including various unnamed high points—just to be thorough).
Now, in ski mountaineering, unlike climbing, it’s not always easy to define what is and isn’t a summit ski descent.
Everyone has their own idea.
If for example, I take off my skis to walk across a short rocky patch (as I did when I skied Mount Williamson), do I still get credit?
Part of the reason why it took Lou 13 years to ski all 54 Colorado fourteeners (in addition, of course, to the massive scale of the task) was his emphasis on style. Lou set a high standard for himself in terms of what did and did not qualify as a summit descent. This might seem foolish, but in the evolving world of ski mountaineering, style probably trumps all other considerations, because there are so many ways to “ski” a mountain.
The importance of style was anticipated way back in the 1970′s by French Extreme skiers Patrick Vallencant and Anselm Baud, who insisted on always climbing their routes before skiing them, and eschewed the use of a rope on descent (excepting mandatory rappels, which were always noted as such).
Their rigid sense of fairness was not pointless. Absent some minimal ethic of style, the sport of ski mountaineering can quickly devolve into absurdity. Imagine strapping on skis and parachute, and jumping off the Great Trango Tower. Is that skiing? Or as Baud once mused, with a long enough rope, why not “ski” the Walker Spur?
Davenport: Anything You Can Do…
Enter Chris Davenport. A former Alpine Ski racer, Chris established himself as a freeskiing force when he won the 1996 World Extreme Skiing Championships in Alaska.
Fame and fortune did not immediately follow. The sad reality #1 of ski mountaineering is that it is not much of a way to make a living. Reality #2: many of the most high-profile ski mountaineering feats (first descents on big peaks) have already been skied—and this is especially true for North American skiers.
That meant that if you were a talented young freeskier looking to support self and family doing what you love, you had to keep winning contests, keep up the withering task of writing gear companies and begging for sponsorships, keep scrapping along—or get creative.
Get Creative is what Davenport choose to do, by proposing the audacious feat of skiing all of Colorado’s fourteeners…in one year.
Right away, there were critics.
Logistically, Davenport’s goal seemed all but impossible.
And stylistically…well, what the heck did artificial time constraints have to do with mountaineering? Turning ski mountaineering—a Soul Sport if ever there was one—into a dash to bag summits didn’t sit well in the craw for many people.
Finally, insuring the controversy would not go away quietly, Davenport made no secret of his intention to commercialize the venture. There would be a film. A book. A website.
The Project: Everything But Snow
Chris Davenport’s project to ski all of Colorado’s fourteen-thousand-foot peaks in one year began Jan 22, 2006, with the successful descent of Mount Lincoln (accompanied by film and photo crew).
That Chris began skiing on the 22nd, rather than the 1st of January is telling. The 05-06 winter in Colorado began as one of the worst on record. Common sense said that Davenport needed not just a good but an extraordinary winter to accomplish his goal. It was soon obvious that mother nature wasn’t going to cooperate.
The obvious course of action was to put off the attempt, and wait for next year.
Dav did the opposite: he kept skiing—as much as possible—ticking off whatever summit happened to be skiable at the moment, waiting for a big Spring storm to turn the season around. That Spring storm never arrived, and soon Summer came, and the fourteeners project looked to be over, though Davenport had come tantalizingly close.
But salvation did come in a most unexpected form. It was in fact a Fall storm and more like it that made it possible for Davenport to resume skiing in early November (usually a problematic month in Colorado). An abundance of atypical weather that fall and then winter allowed Davenport to complete his goal, skiing the last fourteener on his list, Longs Peak, on January 19.
Yes: that was January of the following year, technically putting all the ski descents within the span of one year…just not within the same year.
Nonetheless, the deed was done, and as a commercial venture it was inarguably a success, putting Davenport on the map in a way that winning the Extreme Championships could never hope to match.
Questions
Browse the photos on Chris’ website, Ski the 14ers, and something soon becomes evident. Because of the 05-06 season’s poor conditions, at least a few of Davenport’s ski descents took place on mountains that bore very little snow.
Give Davenport credit for perseverance, but some of those peaks look pitifully bare—the kind of bare that implies a lot of walking on rocks; the kind of bare that would keep most ski mountaineers at home. The kind of bare that would seem to rule out anything resembling an Official™ summit ski descent.
And so, the inevitable questions of Style became even more intense. What was a ‘ski descent’ by Davenport’s definition? And was his project really a mountaineering feat, or simply a feat of self promotion?
Analysis
Lost in these questions of legitimacy is a fact that many critics gloss over: Davenport is a master of logistics and one Hell of a skier to boot. His ski skills, in fact, allow him to claim ski descents where others would have likely given up. He showed creativity in choosing lines that connected patches of snow that allowed him to ski, hop, jump, climb, or (yes) walk while keeping his skis on his feet, and so if he did stretch the definition of skiing in places, he did so in a way that spoke both of his discipline and his talent.
And what of this artificial timeline—the year deadline? Does it have any precedent in mountaineering’s history?
Indeed. We recognize Reinhold Messner as the greatest mountaineer on Earth not because he was the first to climb Everest, but because of the speed of his solo summit of Everest. We recognize many athletes not because they were the first to do something, but because they found a newer, quicker way to do it. Were this not so, the Olympics as we know them would cease to exist.
And yet…I cannot believe ski mountaineering is at its best when it is simply a competition with the clock.
There are other ski mountaineers who have found creative ways to advance the sport (Andrew McLean’s kite-skiing trip to Baffin Island will always top my list) despite the dwindling list of high-recognition “firsts”.
And perhaps the most timeless accomplishment that will come from Davenport’s quest to ski all of Colorado’s fourteeners will be his first descent of Capitol Peak’s South Face—a line that will undoubtedly be remembered as one of the standout achievements in North American ski mountaineering.
Coda
Davenport came to California a season or two ago. Rumor was he intended to ski all of California’s fourteeners as his next project.
Perhaps the man brings bad weather with him…once again, there was no snow, but this time it was in the Sierras. It’s not clear that all of California’s fourteeners would be skiable in a ice age. In a poor winter, no amount of creativity could overcome the Eastern Sierra’s snow deficiency. Davenport was sent home.
And I was glad. There’s something a little grating about an interloper rushing in with the intent of bagging all your mountains in a whirlwind tour and then posting photos of it on their personal webpage. I mean: the nerve of the man.
Not only that, if someone’s going to be the first to truly ski all the California fourteeners, in any time frame, I’d much rather it be myself. And I bet there are plenty of Bishop and Mammoth skiers who are hoping they’ll be the first instead.
So give Davenport credit for turning up the heat on the rest of us just a bit. And give the man credit for conceiving something new and something ambitious within our sport—and making it happen.
Posted in Musings, Skiing | 2 Comments
Yes We Can
What an extraordinary moment in our nation’s history. I have never felt so proud to be an American. I am proud that so many Americans chose to exercise their right to vote—many of them first-time voters (and many of those young voters).
I am proud that our country has once again affirmed to itself and to the world that we are a people of unlimited potential and possibility. And I am proud beyond words to have lived to see our Nation’s first African American President. I am touched by Eugene Robinson’s emotional words last night, as the results came in: for the first time in our Nation’s history, all fathers can say to their sons, “You too can be President someday.”
Those words are now true. There will be many challenges ahead. The problems we face are real and complex. But today, at least, our burdens seem lighter, our national spirit stronger, our future brighter. We have turned the page, and the next chapter remains to be written.
Posted in Politics | 1 Comment
Gear Review: Marmot PreCip Jacket
Standing in the rain waiting to vote?
Hopefully you’ve got Marmot’s PreCip Jacket with you.
The PreCip is a waterproof/breathable rain jacket with what I’ll call technical aspirations.
Like the PreCip Pant, the PreCip Jacket is a fully-featured shell at an outstandingly low price.
Check it out!
Posted in Gear | 0 Comments
Proposition 8: NO
For the past few days I’ve debating whether or not to make any personal endorsements for the upcoming election. This is, after all, a mountaineering website, and with all the competing campaign messages bombarding us, it’s been nice to keep SierraDescents as a sort of non-political safe haven (illusory or not).
That is, until I happened to browse my site today and found political ads running all across it, including a particularly contemptible ad run by the Prop 8 proponents, courtesy of Google.
I’ve pulled all Google advertising from my site, and will keep it pulled through tomorrow.
Let me also state my strong opposition to Proposition 8, which would amend California’s state constitution to deny same-sex couples the right to marry.
Since California’s constitution guarantees people equal treatment under the law, the only way to deny same-sex couples the legal right to marry in our state is to specifically single them out in our constitution and exclude them from equal protection.
That’s called discrimination.
Normally, we write laws—and especially Constitutions—to prevent discrimination; not codify it.
Same-sex couples already have the right to marry in California. Since they’ve been doing so, it doesn’t seem to have undermined my marriage. It doesn’t seem to have undermined anything, in fact.
The fabric of our society has not unraveled.
As the Los Angeles Times writes:
Look at what Proposition 8 is actually about: a group of people who are trying to impose on the state their belief that homosexuality is immoral and that gays and lesbians are not entitled to be treated equally under the law.
This is not who we are. Vote NO on Proposition 8.
UPDATE: I should clarify that Google the company is not paying for these ads; Google is simply running these ads on its ad network. There was apparently a spirited internal discussion at Google as to whether or not to carry pro-Prop 8 ads on its networks (Google itself has a strong anti-discrimination policy). Google did not, however, offer its publishers (like me) any warning that these ads would be coming, nor any easy way to quickly opt out of running them—except pulling all Google advertising, which I have done.
Shasta - Avalanche Gulch
Thermarest Dreamtime
Birch - Southeast Face
Bloody Mtn - Bloody Couloir
Williamson - Bairs Creek Cirque
