Taking the skis for a walk

What's more awkward than doing Class 3/4 scrambling up a mountain wearing AT ski boots and carrying a video camera? DOWNCLIMBING Class 3/4 terrain while wearing AT ski boots and carrying a video camera!

Got up Thursday morning for some backcountry turns up at St Mary's (no longer a) Glacier. The evening before I asked my producer if he wanted some weather video from the mountains for the next day's newscast. After receiving an enthusiastic affirmation, I grabbed the miniDV camera, the steady bag and packed them into my pack.

The drive up, I caught occasional glimpses to James Peak and could see the mountain was in an exhibitionist sort of mood; not much snow on it.

From a trip up James Peak this past spring. My route up was the left skyline.



Arriving at the trailhead, I could see that I would be hiking up in my ski boots before arriving to some snow. So the skis got lashed onto the backpack and up I went. The problem with my thinking was that there WOULD be snow to ski on. In fact there is NO snow to ski on. The glacier is the most reduced I had ever seen it and you could see its exposed ice heart shining duly in the sun.

Past the lake and at the terminus of the ice slope, I took off the pack and turned my attention to Fox Mountain behind me.

Once again from this past spring



So grabbing the steady bag, camera and leaving the rest of my gear near the trail, I made my way to the north ridge. Hiking soon turned to scrambling which soon turned into the camera resting inside my jacket like a pregnant belly to free up both hands. Finally at the summit rocks, I scraped a way up the west face and began my filming duties.

For a change, I didn't enjoy the exposure. I felt like a Golem with leaden feet climbing up and so looking down a hundred feet or so a couple of hands-widths to my left on the climb actually affected me. That and I also knew body first, camera second in case I fell.

When I get the footage of my video I'll post it up. While carrying my skis for nearly 4 miles wasn't my intention, I still had a shit-eating grin on my face most of the day. But then again some might say I'm not a smart man.



ARTIST OF POST - Iron & Wine. Seattle neo-folk. This song "Boy with a Coin" has also been getting heavy play in my iPod.