Spring Fever!

The roof pitch on 827 Go! in the Black Canyon, which is shared with the route Air Guitar that I hope to climb later this week.

Le Sectur Cascade at Ceuse.

Spring is one of my favorite times of year. The days are long, and all of a sudden it feels as if life shifts into high gear. The last six weeks have been very busy, with a trip to France and and lots of training, climbing, and preparation for my upcoming trip to Pakistan.

France was amazing! We only had ten days to climb, and some rain, so we split are days between Ceuse and the Verdon. The rock at both areas made most American sport crags--well at least those in Colorado--look like rubble heaps. My favorite route was L'age De Raison; a seven pitch .12c with stunning climbing on every pitch. I haven't done much sport climbing abroad, but it's hard to imagine anything much better then the south of France. It also was surprisingly easy and affordable to get around, so needless to say if you have the chance I would highly recommend it.

Since I've been home I've been getting down to the Black, climbing out at Rifle, training at home, and running solo laps on a nearby 5 pitch 5.10. Leading up to an alpine trip I like to up my general fitness with circuit workouts, running, and just more activity in general. My rock climbing suffers a bit with less specific training and increased fatigue, but living and climbing at high altitude is hard on your body, so building yourself up a bit for the inevitable "wasting away" is an important piece of the puzzle.

Despite all of training, I've still managed to do a couple .13+ routes in Rifle, and made an onsight second ascent of a .12+ route called Pent-Up in the Black last week. I hope to get down to the Black for one last adventure before I leave.

This year I'm heading to Latok with Colin Haley, and Dylan Johnson. Our hope is that climbing in a team of three will allow us to bring more food and fuel, and climb through the marginal weather that has plagued my previous two trips. Climbing in a team of three can be a bit slower, but often offers major advantages in safety and energy output, so I think that it increases our likelihood of success. We'll likely have the seconds follow simultaneously, with the leader climbing on two Genesis 8.5s. Since it will be relatively warm and wet in the Karakorum during June and July, we'll be taking synthetic bags instead of down. For clothing, I'll probably take a bit more weather protection that I ordinarily might; Stratus Flash, Viento, and Alverstone Jackets coupled with a Hike-T and a Cotopaxi top will likely wind up as my upper body system.

Wanted to send some congrats/props out to some other folks on the team. I was lucky to bump into Will Mayo and Peter Kamitses and Rumney a few weeks back. Always a pleasure to hang with Will, and it was nice to finally meet Pete. He is a phenomenal climber, and it was a great treat to see him climb on the 5.14 China Beach. Also want to send a shout-out to my good buddy Whit Magro. Big Congrats on being a proud new Dad! And finally wanted to give a public thanks to Mike, Dean, and Ian (miss ya' already homie!) for supporting my upcoming trip to Latok! I couldn't do it without your help--sincere thanks! Hope you all have a fun and productive summer!

From West Virginia to Eastern Idaho

Mammut had a strong presence at the New River Rendezvous in West Virginia last weekend. The weather was great and the event was well attended. Will Mayo, Peter Kamitses, and I all taught various clinics throughout the weekend while Lee Means and Shannon Walton (from Scholler) talked shop from our booth in the Vendor area. Brian Williams dropped in from time to time and answered questions for event attendees on various Mammut apparel and gear as well.

I had a great time with the whole Mammut crew and even got out for a few hours of bouldering with friends!
Other than playing catch up after being gone, i was able to get some fitness in at our local choss pile with Heather and some friends last night. I got pumped strait away and spent the rest of the evening hanging out in my Hermes harness shooting photos for your viewing pleasure...

Heather Lords on her route - The Bride of Crankenstein 5.12-

Rick also on the Bride

Jennylin on Powder Finger 5.9

Dean Lords

If you look closely you can see a group "cruxing" over 27 mile Glacier

Alaska Part III

If I thought being left on a glacier was strange, being left in Valdez was even stranger!  Andrea and Andrew had to go back to the Lower 48 and back to work while I stayed to take the AMGA Ski Mountaineering Guide Course and Aspirant Exam. The SMGC is a ten-day program designed to elevate your guiding skills to the highest standard in the ski discipline. This demanding and challenging program sharpens your skills as a guide and prepares you to become a Certified Ski Mountaineering Guide. The course includes an Aspirant Exam evaluation which tests both your technical skills as well as your practical guide skills in moving participants through terrain.  The first few days we were tested on our technical skills, like finding three buried beacons under 30cm x 30cm targets in seven minutes, or building a rescue sled from your “victim’s” skis and lowering them down a 40 degree slope, transferring them to a new ski anchor and lowering them to a required knot pass all in 70 minutes and finally digging a three person emergency shelter in 30 minuets.  Nine out of 11 participants arrived at the exam using a Mammut Baryvox Pulse beacon.  Its intuitive design really showed its strengths during my exam, and I was super psyched to have it.  The next few days had us touring around the Thompson Pass area but an almost full isothermal snow pack kept our tours limited to super early starts and early finishes (3:00am-11:00am, for example). A highlight was a heli-assisted three day tour which took us over several breath-taking cols, across seven different glaciers and traveled over 30 miles-- all while skiing amazing terrain. The best part about Alaska is if you’re willing to work a little for it there is a never-ending opportunity to ski new terrain.  You could probably ski a new line everyday of your life, if you had the opportunity!  Overall it was a great course, I learned a ton and passed my aspirant exam!  I’m looking forward to getting back home and to many future trips back to AK.

Here’s to warm rock and home, but Alaska will still be in the front of my mind while planning the next trip. Who knows… maybe I will see you up there!  For more photos or beta check out my website www.summersucksproductions.com .  It’s still in its infancy but a full gallery will be up in the coming weeks as well as video of this year’s adventures! 

 

Thanks and I look forward to skiing  and climbing with you~

Steve & Andrea Charest                

Alaska Randezvous giving us a bump to start a epic three day tour

A second group emerging from the valley fog and the only "white out" navigation over  the 

10 days

Sun rise on the Hoodoo Col

AMGA instructor Martin Volken demonstrates scoring a track  

Andrew & Steve making their way past the bergschrund on the way up Mt Dimond

Alaska Part II

There is nothing quite as disturbing as watching your friends one by one leaving you standing on a glacier by yourself while watching a storm slowly rolling in.  I was sure I was going to have to spend a night or two solo on the glacier waiting for our next flyable weather window.  So, needless to say, I was quite psyched to see the Super Cub buzz the glacier and whisk me back to civilization.

The next destination was back to familiar territory and the world famous Thompson Pass and Valdez! We picked up our new home, a 30’ RV and made the trek in the wee hours of the night to the pass, arriving just in time to enjoy a small storm which refreshed the pass with 6”-10” of new snow! We started with an old favorite called “School Bus” on the flanks of Goodwill Peak.  We found stability better than expected although still a bit touchy and skied the line in possibly the best snow I have every experienced in AK.  The rest of the two weeks was spent skiing every line possible in a variety of conditions from blower pow to bullet-proof.  The trip also gave plenty of opportunities to dial my skills for my upcoming AMGA course.  We got to see a little bit of everything while hanging out in the pass.  The good—Mt. Diamond and Python Peak and their sweet couloirs, the bad-- the Valdez Mountain Man Hill Climb (which in a matter of days turns the quiet pass into Disney Land, with over 1500 sled-necks and their nitrous oxide-powered super sleds. It’s a sight to see and actually a really fun event, but everything, and I mean everything, gets tracked!) and the ugly-- a series of fatal avalanches and a warm front/high pressure system that hung with us for more than two weeks, keeping even overnight temps at or above freezing. With the entire snow pack going isothermal and volcanic ash melting snow at an alarming rate it was unclear what the conditions would be like in the coming weeks, but we managed and skied some of my new all-time favorite lines.  

We chose to descend the Cherry Couloir (the "s"shaped couloir from the summit) on Python Peak

Climbing Python Peak

Andrea, the "Rig" our home away from home and world famous Thompson Pass

Andrew Blessing shredding inside the ping pong ball

Steve on the summit of Iceland Peak 

Alaska Part I

As folks in the Northeast were pulling on stone and praying for mud season to be over Andrea and I decided to delay the return to climbing season and keep the planks on our feet as long as we could.  In early April Andrea and I stuffed our bags to 49.9999 lbs. each and flew to Anchorage, Alaska.  Our plan was to sample more of the spectacular Chugach Mountains, get reacquainted with Alaska’s epic snow and prepare for the AMGA Ski Mountaineering Course and Aspirant exam (more on this later).

We started our journey with a short drive to Palmer, AK where we met up with Mike from Meekins Air Service.  Mike is extremely knowledgeable and will give you more beta on routes and possible objectives in the area than you ever could hit on one trip, definitely get the scoop from him if you’re out this way.  After a short recon flight in the Piper Super Cub, we landed one by one on the Scandinavian Glacier above the mighty Matanuska Glacier and in the shadow of the Chugach’s highest peak, Mt. Marcus Baker, just in time to witness a massive serac-induced avalanche run down almost the entire flank of Baker.  The Scandinavian glacier offers a wide variety of ski mountaineering and alpine climbing objectives and more importantly a very sweet hut managed by the Mountaineering Club of Alaska (MCA).  This hut would be our home away from home while we explored the many objectives on its doorstep.

Unfortunately the central Chugach was experiencing a low snow year, and just before our arrival there was a major wind event.  The president of the MCA and a few other members were stuck in the hut for 4 days with high wind and no visibility, imprisoning them in the hut. They wrote in the cabin’s log book that 2 foot thick slabs were being picked up and thrown all the way to Canada. They even tried to ski out the Matanuska but its labyrinth of crevasses forced them to return to the hut and wait it out.  So the shallow snowpack and wind meant much of the crevasse bridges were super thin or non existent- the snow on the steeps would be bullet proof and the “trade routes” would be particularly sketch. So what’s an east coast ski mountaineer to do? Climb and shred the gnar anyway!     

Keep thinking Snow

Andrea & Steve Charest

Enjoying a tasty beverage at the Scandinavian Hut, Denmark Peak and its epic couloir can be seen behind the peak 

Andrea Claiming Norway Peak after a successful summit!

 Topping out on Yah Sure to the Viking Glacier

Landing on the Scandinavian Glacier, with Mount Marcus Baker in the Background 

Mount Owen, North East Snowfields

Northeast Snowfields, Mt Owen

I am home from Valdez Alaska, where we get to ski some of the most jaw dropping lines in the world, and back to reality where there is no heli to scoop us to the top. Back to blue-collar skiing, which is a much-deserved reality check.

Got to chase my ski buddies Jimmy and Dan up the Northeast Snowfields of Mt Owen a few days ago. While I was stepping out of helicopters all spring, they were climbing peaks in the Tetons, so I was glad to have them along breaking trail up the 4000’ 50 degree face.

It is one of the most coveted lines in the Tetons—and for good reason. Besides a 100’ rap, it is a 4000’ face with a fairly consistent 45-50 degree pitch. Below the face lies another 2500’ of skiing to the Valley floor. Abundant spring storms have filled in the high alpine lines in the Tetons this year as well I we have seen them in a while. In fact, we were able to ski all the way to the shore of Jenny Lake where we stepped right onto the boat. Whew! I was relieved to get to burn a little petroleum on this trip! That’s more like it.

Jimmy under the crux chimney barring way to the face above.


Jimmy laying it down on the upper face.

Jimmy scoping the rap below.

Doug Workman
Mountain/Ski Guide

Spring in Red Rocks with the AMGA

I just returned from a great desert climbing trip. Each spring I travel to Red Rocks to work for the American Mountain Guides Association (AMGA) as a rock instructor and examiner. As AMGA instructors we have a common goal - to work with guides from many different areas and raise the standard of guiding through education and certification. This spring my work session was 16 days which included a rock guide course and a rock guide exam. Taking part were 9 participants who arrived from all over the country - Tucson, North Carolina, Idaho, Maine, Washington.


Mammut is a Diamond Sponsor of the AMGA. Mammut also provides ropes for the alpine, rock and ski courses and exams. In the rock programs Mammut provides the 9.5 Infinity ropes. The ropes are the perfect choice for the guiding exercises we do.

Unique performance rope features:

Duraflex The 9.5 diameter slides smoothly through the auto locking belay devices with two clients. This is key when belaying two seconds at the same time.



Coating Finish The ropes hold up extremely well with general course wear and tear. Red Rocks is very tough on the gear, the abrasive knobby sandstone, cactus, the fine sand can reduce the life of a rope quickly.

Enjoy the photos from the course and exam - this is what guides are doing to educate themselves and raise their standards in guiding. This gift of ropes is appreciated very much by the students and instructors, Thanks to Mammut .







Art Mooney
IFMGA/AMGA mountain guide
AMGA rock discipline coordinator

Check it out!

When I am not in the hills or down in some canyon climbing, I run a small business here in Montana called Stronghold Fabrication. Two of my good friends /climbing partners and I build all kinds of things out of steel. Spiral staircases, hand rails, truck racks and our specialty artificial climbing boulders.



We just finished this boulder for a city park here in Bozeman, check it out!! Our finest work yet, it features off widths, finger cracks, chimineys, and all the other goodies you need to have fun climbing on an artifical boulder. The frame is made from steel and then coated with some special mud.

Whit Magro