Hardwear Sessions

From time to time, our readers pitch us a story that we can't refuse. Just before Christmas, the Scottish climber Malcolm Kent offered to write a series of posts for us, detailing a season of winter climbing. Malcolm's three month (!) trip will take him across North America, and then an airplane will ferry him back to Europe for more climbing in the Alps. That is, if the weather permits, and we all know that the weather has been just a tad unreliable these days.

Along the way, Malcolm will compete at Ouray and at the Ice World Cup in Sass Fe. As a member of the British team, he'll proudly represent our neighbor across the pond at both competitions.

By Malcolm Kent, Aberdeen, Scotland

December 28, 2007

So I've cleared my desk at work, I've paid the bills with big red, bold letters on the top, I've kicked the empty cans of Tennents off my porch and into some else's and I've given the guy at the traffic lights who wouldn't let me through, the proverbial rods. Ahhhh, another brain-numbing stint in the grind is done and another climbing trip can begin. As I prepare to leave the sunshine state of Scotland's 'Riviera' coast behind again, I ponder on how I might get through the airline strikes, the fog induced flight cancellations and the 'Big Freeze' across the US and still arrive in Colorado in time?

This is gonna be no ordinary winter climbing trip either. A first for me, I'm going to be on the road for 10 weeks through January, February and March, climbing across Colorado, Canada, Switzerland, Austria and Italy. As Mr who? from where? some place called Scotland, climbs his way through a web of mixed ice routes and competitions, Mountain Hardwear will be very kindly relaying notes on my voyage of education to all those who log on. As for me, I'm going to be spending the next few hours figuring out what gear I can afford to throw out in order to get my bag to under 30 kilos. Fact... I'm gonna need a bit more time on that one.

See you at the crag...

Who on earth is Malcolm Kent?

Other known pseudonyms: Malc, Malci, Kenty... mostly people tend to call him the 'Duke.'

Mantra: 'You gotta be in it to win it... so get inolved.'

Hometown: (now) Aberdeen. Aka 'The granite city' or just 'The-deen.'

Employment: Refers to his job as geoscience, which loosely translates as being paid to sun bathe on sandy beaches in the name of training.

Years climbing:Too many as far as the bank manager is concerned. I think he's still paying off previous trips?

Climbing preference: Unlikely to ever turn anything down. Sport, trad, big wall, alpine.

By Jon Bowermaster

New Year's Eve, 2007, Puerto Williams, Chile (the southernmost town in the world)

We are off for Antarctica tomorrow and wanted to say thanks once again for all of your help and support! It is a cliche, but it is also true: We couldn't do this without you!

Be sure and tune into the website for Dispatches from the Ice, starting...today!

To find those Dispatches, point your browser to www.jonbowermaster.com or www.Antarctica2008.com

By Andrew McLean

At long last, the Wasatch Mountains are open for backcountry skiing! The high country has had traces of snow for a while, but without the snowpack filling in down low (to 7,500') it means very limited options and lots of rocks. We finally got a couple of big storms in the last few weeks which filled in the mid elevations and made skiing less of a base-ripping, edge tearing experience and much more fun. The storms came in with a lot of wind and moisture, which meant that the powder isn't quite as fluffy as desired, but it will pack out to a good base.

Steep, the movie, is getting a bit of press! Watch the Good Morning America segment on ABC.com.

Our offices sit right on the edge of the San Francisco Bay. When a winter storm comes in, we know it. This morning, I woke to strong, steady winds and constant rain. I stood in my living room and watched the rain dance in sheets across Richmond, so thick that I could barely see Mt. Tamalpais, located barely 15 miles across the Bay. This morning, the wind is so strong that I can feel our building bow under strong gusts. (The SF Chronicle reports 70 mph "gale force winds.") Not a good day to be running around outside, but we're excited to see the storm, because California has been suffering from drought. We hope the storm will dump snow on the Sierra and produce a good, solid snowpack for the next season.

All that snow will make our ski trips a lot more fun. In the meantime, we try to stay off the roads and stay dry. The last weather report predicted that snow levels will drop almost to sea level this weekend, which means that it will probably snow (if we're lucky) in the Bay Area, and I won't have to drive far to see a winter wonderland.

Our friends in the Sierra won't be so lucky. The city of Mammoth left emergency messages for city residents, advising them to load up on supplies and hunker down. The weather reports predict gusty winds over 130 mph over the Sierra crestline, and up to 25 feet of snow at 8000 feet! Our snow season has been slow, so we're happy to suffer through the storm.

Netcam view from Ahwanhee Meadows

The Yosemite Ahwahnee Meadow Cam informs us that it is currently 41.9 degrees in the Ditch, and the humidity is at 68%.

By Malcolm Kent

8 to 12 inches tonight. And I'm talking about the weather here. The reports for the southern Colorado region say that this much snow is likely to fall before tomorrow morning. As Guy Lacelle paces around the breakfast room to check out which new ice climbers have arrived in town, I ponder on how much snowfall is required in order to stop the 13th Annual Ouray Ice Fest.

It's been something of mission to make it across the pond this time. After flight delays, cancellations and some seriously intense blizzard driving in the pitch black darkness. Team Leashless breathed a sigh of relief on arrival at the now regulation Victorian Inn. This trip is for sure already feeling really different to any previous winter trips I've ever done. During our travels across the state we dropped in on a local climbing store, where Kat (my partner) discovered 25 bucks in the pocket of the cords she bought. Result. Now that's never happen on a trip before. This time we have a really solid team and it's definitely a bit weird to be thinking about the next 70 days of continuous climbing.

Today we head out to the Troglodyte Cave to begin training for the upcoming competition. Fingers crossed the snow calms down soon and we get some crisp ice conditions.

Contents of typical food box

By Victor Ichioka

With books like The Omnivore's Dilemma and Animal, Vegetable, Miracle making it onto the best-seller lists these days, it appears that Americans are taking an active interest in the origins of the food they eat. At Mountain Hardwear, this interest has taken the form of buying food directly from a local farm.

In September of 2007, our Product Manager for backpacks, Erik, floated the idea of forming a group-buying club for purchasing food directly from a farmer. His research showed that there were a number of farms in our area that were already set up to handle such arrangements. These programs fall under the heading of community supported agriculture. Fourteen people quickly signed up, and, starting in October, weekly deliveries to our offices began. Now, every Wednesday a truck arrives from Riverdog Farm with boxes of fresh produce. Subscribers to the service pick up their boxes at our company dining room. The mix of crops in the boxes varies with the season. A recent box contained a bag of oranges, a bag of bell peppers, a bag of salad greens, a large cabbage, a bunch of leeks, and some beets. A typical summer box might contain eggplant, tomatoes, melon, summer squash, garlic, basil, onions, cucumbers, corn, and peaches, nectarines, or plums. Although there is no choice about what crops people receive, recipients sometimes trade among themselves so that they more or less end up with the foods they prefer. The farm includes recipes for preparing some of the veges in the box. The whole thing costs sixteen dollars a week.

A Pale Pink Camellia sasanqua Blossom

View More Plants on Cynthia's Flickr Site.

By Cynthia Houng

We live in a small ranch house in the East Bay Hills. I've lived here for about three years, and it took me that long to tackle our front yard. (We must be very popular with our neighbors!) Rank with weeds, it is one of the ugliest yards on our block. This summer, after we returned from a long trip to the Sierras, I began to crave something more aesthetic in my immediate environment. Since our jobs are located in the Bay Area, we can't actually live in the mountains 365 days a year. We need some other way to integrate nature into our lives.

A typical suburban neighborhood, our area features blocks upon blocks of single-family homes, plopped onto skimpy lots. For such an artificial environment, our neighborhood is surprisingly rich with wildlife. Hummingbirds nest in both the front and back yards, and there are squirrels, chickadees, hawks, even deer.

During my first flush of enthusiasm, I bought a copy of Glenn Keator and Alrie Middlebrook's Designing California Native Gardens. I became obsessed with the idea of "restoring" habitat, or at least transforming our postage stamp lot into something wilder, more native, and potentially more inviting to native birds, bees, and other wildlife.

Like so many new gardeners, I picked my plants without much regard for planting schemes--or my local climate. I simply went to the local nursery and let my eye wander. I couldn't make up my mind and choose a garden theme. I wanted to grow the tropical plants that reminded me of home. I found myself admiring manicured Japanese gardens, with their tableaux. I also wanted a cutting garden filled with herbs and flowers. Before long, I'd abandoned my scheme to "go native," and purchased a truckload of exotics.

View More Photographs of our Intrepid Young Explorer

By Joy Gray

The days were getting shorter and nights colder. The calendar was getting close to the end and there were only a few days left before the Christmas Fantasy would be gone.

If young Benjamin didn't go now, he would have to wait it out for another 12 months. He carefully put on his gear-- his Mountain Hardwear baby suit, custom made for this epic adventure by the production team at Mountain Hardwear, and his fuzzy gorilla hat and mittens. He assembled his team of sherpas, Mom and Dad, and made sure they were equally equipped in their Mountain Hardwear insulated outerwear.

Complete with diaper bag and faithful scout Bogey, they ventured out into the Berkeley Hills in search of the Christmas Fantasy. After many minutes of harrowing twists and turns through the narrow switchbacks of Kensington, the group crested a hill and saw the lights in the distance. They had arrived! The full spectacle of the Christmas Fantasy was reveled and within minutes, they were whirling through the brisk winter air atop carousel stallions. As little Benjamin clung to the ride for dear life, he wondered if he would make it back alive.

Luckily the arctic resident known as Santa Claus came to the rescue. Benjamin was warmed and reassured that he would make it home safely. The return trip was much less eventful as the group took the longer route, via noodle-bowl peak and Bev-mo falls. Thanks to Mountain Hardwear and their tremendously warm jackets, the team arrived back at base camp is good spirits with many pictures and stories to tell.

In January of 2007, a team of climbers from Poland began climbing Nanga Parbat. Read "Ice Warriors," National Geographic's coverage of the Polish attempt, and view Tommy Heinrich's stunning photographs. If you have a sharp eye, you'll find more than one photograph of a MHW tent.

The 2008 Ouray Ice Fest officially kicked off this Thursday. The handfull of us here representin' Mountain Hardwear are excited we made the trip to Colorado once again for climbs, clinics, beer and fraternizing. MHW athletes Freddie Wilkinson, John Varco and Dawn Glanc are here with us - sharing beta, stories and Season 2 of the Sopranos on DVD. Nice. Here's a quick video we put together cataloging the scene at Ouray today. This footage might be quick and dirty, but it does offer a killer soundtrack of royalty-free music, so you know it's gonna rock! (Hey, we searched long and hard for this.) Talk to you all tomorrow...

Also, BIG congratulations go out to Dawn who placed fourth out of 23 in the women's comp. Dawn will be swinging her picks in the final round tomorrow at high noon. Best of luck, Dawn!

Saturday was amazing here in Ouray, Colorado. After the time-tested energy breakfast of high fat, high carb, protein-loading death grease, we arrived on scene at the crag and were ready to climb. Luckily, the weather could not have been better. Fleece shirts quickly replaced our down puffies, and before too long the men's and women's Ice Climbing finals began. Ultimately, our international friends performed flawlessly. Jeff Mercier from France took the top position with a burly four-foot dyno making him the only climber in the pack to actually top out. Ines Papert placed first in the women's category and second overall. For a comprehensive list of today's standings visit here.

And now for your enjoyment, here's our video rag from today!

Check out more footage from Ouray at PodClimber. Plus Alpinst has a nice summary of today's events, complete with interviews of the finalists.

Have we mentioned that we love reader submissions? This week, long-time reader Matt Keebler shares his enthusiasm for Bishop. We thought you might enjoy Matt's photographs and story, and hope that you, too, will be inspired to share your story.

By Matt Keebler

Bishop in winter means different things to different people. To climbers it means bouldering season! Bishop is most popular late in January or February when the temps start to get warmer, but my favorite week is Christmas week.

View Ryan's Photographs from Kauai

By Ryan Riggs, MHW International

Being the pale skinned walking sunblock ad that I am, I do my best to avoid the sun. I also have a hard time sitting still for too long when there are places to see and things to do. So, on our recent family trip to Kauai over the holidays I needed something other then baking in the sun to keep me busy. I couldn't pass up the opportunity to hike down the Napali Coast, which ended up being one of the most unique hiking experiences I have ever had.

View more photos on our Flickr site.

By Malcolm Kent

103.2fm, Ouray subliminal cuts 24-7. Crazy that you can drive 6 hours through blizzards to a tiny little town in the San Juan mountains of southern Colorado and then find the radio 'seek' engaging the best radio station you've ever heard in your life. Another day goes by, with another drive out to the evening's entertainment and yet again another seemlingly unflappable mix of high quality tunes eminate from this station. There's no way this can be anything other than one guy in his bedroom knocking out tracks in a pirate fashion. But the smoothness just goes on. No doubt - this fella must have one hell of an mp3 collection.

Every trip I've ever done to Ouray has always had a number of common threads. Things like beautiful photographs, clear blue sky days, hot tubbing and of course eating and drinking at the 'Bien'. But during the legendary ice festival, you sit in the 'Bien' necking margaritas alongside Ines Papert and Steve House. In fact if you're like us, you get to sleep in the room next to Guy Lacelle (who apparently hates people making too much noise). This is the first year that I've been in town for the week of the 'Fest' and now I look back on it, I'm made up that we made it out and decided to get involved. Quite often with ice trips, the motivation to get out of bed early in the morning and subject yourself to freezing temperatures, spin-drift and falling ice can run low pretty quickly. When you're staying in Ouray though, it's so much easier. The walk-in is barely measurable, the ice is encapsulating with 'bomber' anchors everywhere and the locals are totally welcoming. If you're British and a tight-arse though, it'll be the value for money and the exchange rate that will really float your boat.

Will hobbles around in PT

See More Pix of Will and his Injuries on Flickr.

By William Meinen

I sat down the other day and reflected on the past year. I was trying to come up with a 2008 resolution. I looked back and felt it wasn't as productive as it should have been. A broken metacarpal at the start of January kept me out of the winter mix for 2 months. A broken tibia in the spring left me hobbling around on crutches and forced me to forgo most of the summer rock season. Recently during an apres ski/stunt-gone-wrong I ended up with a broken calcaneus and a cast on the other leg, putting myself back on my arse for another solid stint of reading old climbing magazines and drinking stiff cocktails. All in all I was out a total of six months this year due to injuries.

My resolution for 2008 was clear. I will be attempting to get a year in without injuries or broken bones.

It seems easy enough. We'll see how it goes.

Anyways, I thought I would take a moment and discuss the lessons I learned about getting hurt, and some things to do to help get you back in the game as fast as possible.

by Victor Ichioka

The movie, All in This Tea, follows entrepreneur David Hoffman around China in the mid-90s as he tries to establish contact with Chinese tea farmers. The film records his quest to find and buy highest-quality organic tea directly from growers, showing scenes of him smelling various large bags of tea leaves offered for his inspection (he demonstrates a discerning nose, rejecting bags as "too chemical" after one smell), having discussions with state bureaucrats about buying and shipping tea (they try to convince him that their state-run factories can produce the quality he is after), exchanging toasts at farmers' association banquets (where he touts the virtues of worm compost), hiking the picturesque mountain trails that lead to the tea fields, visiting small production plants (where we get to see some of the techniques used to produce artisanal tea), interspersed with sequences of various tea gurus expounding on its history, its cultivation and production, its benefits, and its pleasures. As more and more Americans become curious about tea as an alternative to coffee, this film provides a wonderful introduction to its rich and varied world.

Congratulations to Paige Boucher, MHW's Public Relations Director. The Outdoor Industry Women's Coalition (OIWC) honored Paige this January with the Pioneering Woman Award. The OIWC celebrates Paige for "her tireless commitment to mentoring women in the outdoor industry, both collectively and individually with practical and heartfelt advice."

Reflecting on her experience as a mentor, Paige says, "I love to hear the many interesting and diverse stories of how people got involved in the outdoor industry. But there is no set career path and I have so appreciated the people who've given me guidance and opportunity throughout the years. It's rewarding for me to pass on my experience and knowledge to women who want to find their way in the industry and then I enjoy following their progress."

"When I started out in this industry," Paige notes, "My motivations were simple and pretty selfish. I wanted to work in the industry that was closest to my outdoor passions, but now my perspective has changed. The crisis of global warming and the health crisis that our children face due to inactivity both weigh heavily on me. But, I realize that as part of the outdoor industry, I am in an ideal spot to effect change that can make a difference in both of those areas."

Visit the OIWC's website to learn more about the organization, explore the OIWC's career resources for women, and learn more about upcoming events.

Jessa on Boldfingers.

View More Photos from Rumbling Bald.

By Jessa Goebel

Finally winter is here. Temperatures are in the 20s and 30s during the day and it's wet, snowy, and windy. It's either time to get motivated and train in the gym and migrate to warmer more ideal conditions, or sit on the couch and practice sport drinking. Since the Triple Crown has been over, all I have wanted to do is get back into route shape. So, that is all that I have been doing; training in the gym and roping up outside.

Rumbling Bald, NC is the winter spot for many Boonies. The Bald just so happens to have some of the very best single pitch mixed and trad climbs around, with the occasional classic sport route to fill in the gaps. Oh, and there is the boulder field below the cliff, packed with dozens of five star problems.

Recently a few routes there have caught my attention. The route Boldfingers is one route that has been in the back of my mind since the first time on it a year ago. Boldfingers is notorious for being hard right off the ground and having a committing crux with hard technical moves far out from gear. Even though the fall is nothing but air, if one were to come off the rock, the result would be a huge fall. Needless to say, many climbers have a hard time committing and have to back off the route.

Malcolm and his crew sent us a selection of photos from Ouray. Climbing had photographs of girls partying. We bring you photos of deer chowing, and Malcolm shopping at the grocery store. We think we're pretty darn classy, don't you?

View More Photographs from Robert and Bernd's climb.

By Cynthia Houng

This January, ice conditions in the Bernese Oberland, Switzerland, were ideal. Robert Jasper, the German climber, quickly headed to the area.

Bernd Rathmayr, a Swiss climber, joined Robert. Since the ice conditions were good, Bernd proposed that the two climb B.A.S.E., a new route on the Buechenbachfall. Two Bernese locals, Ralph Joerg and Peter von Kaenel, opened this route over the course of two days, December 29-30, 2007, and Rathmayr was eager to give the impressive new route a try.

For the past few years, Jasper has dreamed of creating a trilogy of ice falls. Jasper says, "I wanted to climb very special routes after each other. For the choice of the routes I laid more importance on the aesthetic of the lines than on pure difficulties. The lines should be ice- and mixed routes of different times of the evolution in the history of this sport. I wanted to span a personal bow over the fast-developing ice and mixed climbing of the last 15 years."

According to Daniela Jasper, Robert's wife, "a trilogy [is] an enchainment of different routes or faces," and for alpinists, it represents a special kind of extreme play. For Robert, the trilogy should link together a set of exceptionally aesthetic routes.

Warm Foehn winds from the South presented the duo with a significant obstacle. These warm, dry winds quickly raise air temperatures, softening and melting the snow and ice, creating difficult climbing conditions. But Robert and Bernd were lucky, and the conditions held.

Over three days (January 3 to 5th, 2008), Robert and Bernd climbed 3 major icefalls in the Bernese Oberland--the Almendudler (a 350 m icefall in the Almenalp valley, M9+/10-), B.A.S.E. (450 m, WI6+), and Crack Baby (a classic route in the Oberland, WI6).

Read the Alpinist's coverage of Jasper and Rathmayr's climbs.

Click on the link below to read Daniela Jasper's account of Jasper and Rathmayr's Ice Trilogy.

By Victor Ichioka

Sean McDevitt is part of our tent design team, the self-described "detail guy" of the group. He is also a mad cyclist. He generally makes a two-wheel commute to and from work and is often part of the lunch-hour ride that some of the folks at Mountain Hardwear have instituted. In addition, Sean is currently in training for his second 24-hour mountain-bike race (he described his first one on this blog earlier in the year / "24 Hours in Old Pueblo").

Sean first got interested in cycling while in the US Army. While stationed in Germany in 1990, when a bike manufacturer was offering great deals to soldiers, Sean picked up a road machine to tool around the Bavarian country roads. He ended up on a long road trip through Germany and Austria to Switzerland. And he recounts that he took the train back to the base.

Comedy Central seems to like our athletes. Last night, Andrew McLean appeared on "The Colbert Report." We always enjoy watching Andrew do his thing, and we like Stephen, too, so we thought we'd share a short segment from last night's show.

View More Photographs from the Antarctica 2008 Expedition

By Jon Bowermaster

JANUARY 12, 2008 -- We are headed down the western edge of the Antarctic Peninsula, our hope to spend the month in the Weddell Sea dashed by an unusual abundance of thick pack ice, especially unusual for this late in the austral summer season.

Instead we will travel, by kayak and sail, up around the tip of the Peninsula then southwards down its western edge hopefully getting 500 miles or so, and a degree or two below the Antarctic Circle. While the Weddell Sea side is stark, remote and foreboding, the western edge is big, beautiful, offering all the classic Antarctic scenery plus every one of its marine wildlife - seals, whales, penguins and birds. Which is proven one of our first nights out, in the Gerlache Strait, when we pass first a pair of surfacing humpback whales, then another trio of the big guys and in the near background several small groups of Orca, or killer whales. The sea is perfectly calm and they are feeding, rising to the surface, diving and - seemingly unperturbed by our presence -- in essence showing off for us.

By Jon Bowermaster

January 21, 2008 - Our journey south ended at 67 degrees latitude amidst a thick jumble of pack ice at the southern end of Crystal Sound. Our hope had been to continue south through one of two narrow channels - known collectively as The Gullet - and on to Marguerite Bay. Though we tried to nose our kayaks through the ice, following increasingly narrow chutes of water until they dead-ended in even more ice, it was quickly clear this would be our turnaround spot. To celebrate we pull the kayaks up onto a football field-sized sheet of ice and introduce ourselves to its other resident, a 400-pound leopard seal dozing peacefully mid-floe.

Our other option, besides slowly heading back north, is to sail out and around Adelaide Island, towards the British base at Rothera, to reach our hoped-for goal of Blailock Island. But after two long team meetings - one with the crew of the "Pelagic Australis," the other with my team - we opt to stay where we are for a couple more days, to profit from the incredibly beautiful weather which will certainly end soon and to avoid spending three full days at sail.

Welcome to the Year of the Rat! According to the Chinese Zodiac, the Rat heralds the beginning of a brand-new zodiac cycle.

During the next few weeks, Mike Libecki will share his vision for the Rat year. Come out and see Mike's slideshow!

Here's a list of confirmed locations. More locations TBA! If you don't see your town on Mike's list, don't despair... Just email Mike (MikeLibecki (at) aol dot com) for more info, or to offer him your couch.

View Malcolm's Pix on Flickr

By Malcolm Kent

25th Jan, 2008

It's been a tricky last couple of weeks travelling and climbing around Colorado. Tricky because I've spent most of the time trying to avoid illness. However this hasn't really gone to plan and for a number of days, illness has got the better of me. New week, new area and in this case a new country. So hopefully this will mean I can give the virus a kick up the back side.

This is our last day in the Vail area. I'll be honest, as climbers we're firmly in the minority. This is the skier/snowboarder home. Within a short drive is Breckenridge, Vail, Copper and Keystone. Again today the snow has dumped, a total bonus for people carving turns through the self raising flour, but a catalyst for four-letter profanity if your trying to wade your way up to the crag.

This is the most money we've spent on the trip so far and has made us understand just how great Ouray really is. It's a total climber's paradise and great value too. But equally there's no way that a mixed climbing trip to Colorado could be completed without stopping at the place where it all kicked off.

By Cynthia Houng

Food in a can--one of camping's greatest culinary pleasures! Who can resist such classic recipes as "spam on a stick" or "spam and eggs with onion"? I had a friend who was quite proud of his Spam and Velveeta recipe.

But why limit yourself to Spam? My friend Eric came across Gizmodo's review of a new German product, "Cheeseburger in a can" ("Cheeseburger in der Dose"). You may laugh at the "cheeseburger in a can" concept now, as you're cozy behind a computer screen, but I guarantee that after a day-long trek, you'll be happy to sit down and ingest your share of sodium-laden processed meat.

"Cheeseburger in a Can" comes to us from Germany, a land that not only approves of canned meats, but sells canned meat products in every possible iteration. Canned weiners, canned ham, canned herring, canned goulash--it was only a matter of time before German food technology evolved to create canned cheeseburgers. Just think of it this way--it's a cheeseburger that will never go bad. In the event of a nuclear war, you can curl up under your fleece blankets, share a canned cheeseburger with the roaches, and settle back to watch the stars.

Find yourself moved to acquire this product? "Cheeseburger in der Dose" can be yours for just 3.50...euros. (That's like five dollars, but can you really put a price on convenience?)

What is your favorite canned meat product?

by Victor Ichioka

Tent designer Martin Zemitis says, "I love the mountains, and backpacking is the best way to explore the High Sierras." He recalls signing up for a Sierra Club backpacking trip when he was 11. That trip to the backcountry of Kings Canyon National Park planted the seed of a love for wilderness that grew exponentially in the following years. At the age of 14, Martin was taken by neighbors on a rafting trip down the San Juan River in Utah. On that adventure, the feeling of remoteness, the beauty of the surroundings, the sense of exploration, all nourished his growing connection to the outdoors. By the time he was 16, Martin was working summers for a river-running company. He has been rafting, kayaking, backpacking, and flyfishing ever since.

In high school, with a couple of friends, he started an outdoor equipment company, Sierra Mountaineering, building backpacking accessories and small day packs. "We rented an industrial sewing machine and taught ourselves to sew," says Zemitis. The impetus for this enterprise was the desire to have gear that met their needs. On their forays into the backcountry, he and his friends realized they needed pieces of equipment that were not available on the market. Their solution? Make the gear themselves.

By William Meinen

With a new year came many new challenges. My first challenge was learning to walk again. My second challenge was learning to climb again. The physio was going well, and I was starting to hobble around sans crutches. Bob (my physiotherapist) was impressed with my progress. I asked him if it would be alright for me to start climbing again.

"Whoa there tiger. I wouldn't push things too quickly." Bob replied. "You'll want to ease yourself back into things very slowly."

"Can I go skiing?" I asked, knowing very well what he would say.

"That's even worse. Try swimming some laps at the pool first."

"What about some XC skiing?" I was getting desperate.

"Hmm. I suppose you could try it and see how it goes."

My partner Brandon Pullan always has something up his sleeve. When I told him of my physical status, he quickly set a plan in motion for the weekend. His web savvy skills helped him find a new area with supposed 'great potential for mixed climbing'. The report also said the approach was a bit on the long side but do-able via skis.

"Let's just ski in and take a look to see if it's worth while. It'll be good for you to get some exercise." Brandon said convincingly. He also convinced a mutual friend, Danny, to join us. With our bags packed with some ice climbing gear (just in case) we headed into the Evan Thomas Creek area.

I've been on several scouting missions with Brandon before. Most of the time they just end up in a wild goose chase that results in nothing but a frustrating bushwhack. Every once in a while we stumble across a magical area.