Category Archives: Mountaineering

Yo,

G here checking in from the west side.  I’ve been wanting to contribute to the great vibe Nate and Chris have going with Terravida for a while so I figured I would throw a little spring update at ya from May.

Every season has its benefits and depending on your style you may call one your “charge” season and another your “off” season.  Bottom line however is that just about everybody is fired up on the spring.  Parks are opening up for climbers, trails thawing out for bikers, rivers rising for boaters, high elevation snow stabilizing for skiers, spring festivals for ravers, adventure races for athletes, and new life everywhere for farmers.  Normally I would be turning my attention to the rivers as snow begins to melt but I had an early spring hand injury that has forced me to redirect my gaze this spring season away from my kayak.  Fortunately this amazing country is far from short on opportunities to get out and charge.  After wrapping up a Wilderness First Responder with firefighters in the Klamath National Forest in Northern Cali I got an invite to do some skiing from a buddy who lives on the Eastern slope of the Sierra range in a town called Bishop CA.  The mission he proposed was that I cruz down and spend a week skiing up and down 14,000ft mts that make up the back drop to Bishop.  It took me all of about 5 seconds to commit and get fired up on the chance to try a new side of the sport of skiing.  I have been backcountry skiing for years seeking deep powder but had never gone after high elevation summits in the late spring on super light ski gear and mountaineering equipment.  Bishop (the dog) and I found a ride down to Bishop (the town) with a couple climber chicks I know in Truckee, CA.

Cruzing down to Bishop, CA

Jessie and Renee

5am…Classic alpine start up Mt. Birch. Tennis shoes to ski boots to crampons.

Half way up Mt. Sill.

Classic Eastern Sierra summit.

It was a fantastic week and I had my camera out the whole time so I will have a Bishop Episode to share soon.

Leaving Bishop I caught a flight back to NC to spend some time on my family farm, luckily it worked out that I landed just in time to head over to the annual Jerry’s Baddle bi-athalon in Saluda, NC.   Jerry’s Baddle is a hard core fund raising event that supports efforts in research to combat the terrible disease ALS.  It is in memory of a local biker/kayaker Jerry Beckworth and is organized by Brooks Saucier.  The race combines a class 5 kayaking race with a stout 26 mile road bike sprint and leave its competitors hammered at the finish line.  It has been one of my favorite events for several years and even though I could not race this year I was super fired up to be there chillin with and supporting my east coast homies.  Will lyons and Shane Benedict helped my get some great footage of the event also so be on the look out for a Jerry’s Baddle episode from 7 Finger media.  Lee Timmons provided these great shots from the day to share with ya’ll.

Brooks in the middle of the racers meeting.

Hard to tell but everybody in this picture is scared shitless about the race.

Chris Gragtmans tags off his partner in the team division.

Paul Stamilio transitions to his bike after the kayak section, Paul is one of the strongest solo racers in the region

After Jerry’s Baddle it was 2 weeks of spring goat farm goodness, with growing gardens, baby goats, and tons of cheese.

24 hours after I landed back in Cali I found my self among one of the craziest parties of my life.  ”Bay 2 Breakers” is a downtown festival in San Francisco that began as a running race and has evolved in to a city wide outdoor costume party.  The social energy and creative expression going on with a hundred thousand people in the streets is unreal.  I would highly recommend attending Bay 2 Breakers in San Fran if you ever get the chance.

Hale-storm

Typical San Fran.

Ok so shaking off the HUGE party is San Fran I had one quick night rest back at the homebase in Sacramento then it was back to the Eastern Sierras to get my ski on again.  To be continued…

-Gareth