Gudauri pulled out all stops for a day. The day before, beautiful powder but low visibility. And the day after, powder but chunked up and crusted lower down.
Tuesday, March 31, 2015
Sunday, March 29, 2015
Friday, March 27, 2015
Probably the coolest summer camp location on Earth near the Russian border. Too bad it been abandoned since the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Friday: Just finished up my last ski day in Svaneti (day before I did some tree and meadow laps one creek down from what I skied on Tuesday; excellent as usual). I hadn't had the chance to ski way up the Becho Valley (but hadn't been recommended to either), so I went for a bit flat approach past an awesome abandoned Soviet summer Alpinist camp and into the Kvish Valley. I got outstanding views of the Svaneti range and Becho villages as well as some of the waterfalls near Ushba Glacier. Sketched myself out a bit skiing a safe approach to Kvish, but very glad I turned where I did as a high cornice released while I was eating lunch and deposited debris just a bit above the bench I had been on. My real skiing rather than just touring for views came on some beautiful corn snow on the steep Sumer trail to Ushba glacier up a couloir, where I was joined by a timber cutters small dog who followed me through the forest then departed for the border guard cabin when I went to Kvish (yes, Svaneti is very close to Russia and Sochi, and Ushba is split between two countries). Excellent skiing until one of my boot buckles that happens to lock the boot into stiff ski mode decided to self destruct. Dynafit Poland may be able to get a replacement to me but looking less likely so will have to keep skiing a kinda soft boot with the ski mode locked in by miraculous Voile strap. I brought a spare binding and now will bring a spare buckle too, as two of us in Svaneti broke the same piece on the same day and it is no fun...
Wednesday, March 25, 2015
From Svaneti: a village abandoned in 1960s during Soviet Times gets skiied. Beautiful day 1800 meters vertical.
Hike a ski back from the abandoned village after an excellent day of skiing. A little too much sun and too little time to ski up high before dinner. Really should have left earlier than 7:15. Check out @benerco on instagram or I'll be uploading some more pix here when home...
Richard heading to village Mazeri early in the morning when the mud was still mostly frozen.
Tuesday, March 24, 2015
Some ski days are really good... Skiing above summer farms in Mazeri village, Svaneti, Republic of Georgia
Today I went skiing right above the hotel near Bak mountain... After a nice muddy walk through the village, I headed onto a snowy meadow, then up a forested path just covered with big brown bear tracks (maybe a week old). Followed typical Norwegian red and white trail markers put in by Richard at the hotel up to a church and summer herding huts, then safely through some beautiful trees and onto an open peak with excellent laps on the backside to another summer farm. Continued off Bak pass into steep trees and the sides of a nice stream bed that ended in a waterfall... Had I had a rope I may have rappeled, but I wanted to ski more so I bushwhacked a bit and ended up skiing some lovely slopes of Bak and then more steep trees back to the path to the hotel. Overall an excellent day with some excited skiing. Highly recommended... BCA float weighs a bit but worth it on solo missions in the developing world like this. As usual loved my Mammut Eiswand jacket and Patagonia Houdini, the perfect spring touring combo. And growing to love the fleece lined Skida headbands for touring; the fleece is too much for Nordic but perfect for touring.
1st day in Svaneti
Delicious beer salad at the Grand Hotel Ushba.
My whip.
Also: A special shoutout to my taxi driver yesterday who'd never been to Mestia. I never imagined getting an airport taxi to drive me 8 hours but I was wrong... Sometimes I was scared on the ridiculously winding road to Mestia, but never so much that I got out).
Thursday, March 5, 2015
Fwd: 80th anniversary Thunderbolt ski race and first stab at skimo racing
-------- Original message --------
From: Ben C
Erlier this week I competed in my first ski mountaineering/ randonee race. Upon accepting an offer to work in Denver starting in August, I started looking into new sports. I've already done some ski racing, road/cross/ mountain bike racing, trail running and adventure racing. But one of my favorite activities, ski touring, didn't have the best race opportunities in Washington and doing anything other than Nordic ski racing tends to be difficult as a member of the Williams College team. So when I had a weekend off, I jumped on the chance to race up and down our local Mount Greylock. I was hoping for under an hour per lap, but not even the pros didn't make that mark. I settled for 7th place and under 2:30, most of which was from the downhill... I am not the best downhill skier, was skiing new skis for the first time on hardpack, and ripped the booster strap off one of my boots during warm-up. I learned a lot racing, which is what really matters.
In no particular order, here are the things I learned in my first skimo race.
1. Always embrace the challenge to do something new. It'll be an excellent learning opportunity mentally and physically.
2. You'll meet a lot of awesome people, some of whom you'll know and others who will be brand new friends.
3. Don't race skimo races in free ride boots. They're heavy and hurt after nearly two hours of ups.
4. Use lf or hydrocarbon waxes only... skin glue stick is really important and they don't stick well to highly fluorinated bases. Against all my speedy ski waxing education but way cheaper :)
5. Learn your transitions.
6. Ski downhill. With a bunch of fit people on superlight setups it is the differentiator.
7. Thank your race organizer. They have a pretty thankless job often.
8. Get a breathable ski/mountaineering helmet. Alpine helmets suck on the up.
9. Bring a friend. Makes conversation a lot easier.
10. Wear skintight lycra. Its the only way to go.
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