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Alpinisme Usually fun, often beautiful, occasionally dangerous - I've been climbing, skiing and scrumbling for a while now, and as far as I can tell, I'll be doing said things for a long time. Forthwith are a few sections covering my pursuits. Nothing too hardcore here (Mark Twight I ain't), but it's all good to me. FOR SALE: I'm getting rid of loads of gear. Jump to a category: Chronological Index | Ice | Rock | Snow | Peaks | Ski | Hike | Essays | Other ICE »Alaska Ice Climbing, Chugach Range, Alaska I have had the great fortune to twice climb in Alaska, both times with John Bradford, a widely respected climber, guide and good friend. My first trip in March 2001 was a 10-day affair, visiting five areas and climbing multiple routes. I returned in March 2002 to again head into the Chugach Range, hunting for beautiful and remote ice. Both trips are collected here. updated: 3/27/02; two trips »New England Ice Climbing, White Mountains, New Hampshire In early-January 2000 I headed back up to the Whites to do some ice climbing with International Mountain Climbing School. The ice was a little thin and I was a little under the weather, but we still managed to get up a few routes and I had a lot of fun. A year later I returned with Brian Connors to climb some moderate classics and attempt a ski tour and descent over Martin Luther King Jr. Weekend. Now that was an interesting trip. The following February Brian and I went back up to Crawford Notch to attempt a gully route on Mt. Webster. We made two relatively successful trips in the lean Winter of 2002. We came back when it was a little fatter in 2003. There were solo trips here and there, and some good times together again in 2005. All 10 trip reports are collected here. updated: 3/6/05; 10 trips »Mid-Atlantic Ice Yeah, you heard me. Who says there's no ice south of New Hampshire? Well, most of us who live here say so. But occasionally a few flows come in, and the ice addicts trudge out to scratch their way up a few, er... "routes." Here's to cold weather! Keep it coming. updated: 2/08/04; three trips and a how-to ROCK »New River Gorge and Seneca Rocks, West Virginia A weekend and change on West Virigina stone. Representing the State of Utah: Brian "Halibut" Cabe! Rounding out the trio, the everpresent menace of Brian "General Disarry" Connors and yours truly, Professor Chaos. Oh for fun. updated: 5/19/02 »Seneca Rocks, West Virginia After a little downtime in the summer of 2000 I decided to try to confront my relative inexperience on rock. So I went to nearby Seneca Rocks and shimmied my way up a few routes. It was wet, it was humbling, it was fun. As a residual effect of that trip I found a new partner, Brian Connors. After a few times out on local stone he and I went back to Seneca so I could give it a second shot, and later, a third. I'm sure there will be many more, and rest assured, I'll bore you with each and every one, right here. updated: 5/19/02; four trips »New England Rock, White Mountains, New Hampshire In early May of 2001 Brian, Dan and I made a trip to New Hampshire to climb some of the classic rock routes on Whitehorse and Cathedral Ledges. The weather was unseasonably warm and impossibly, improbably beautiful. A fantastic time. updated: 5/8/01, one trip »More New England Rock, White Mountains, New Hampshire Brian and I went up to do The Prow. At least that's what we thought... updated: 10/22/03, one trip »Scrumbletypeg: Adventures at Your Local Crag Well, it's not that there aren't places to climb in the Washington, D.C. area. Because there are. And everyone knows about them. And there you go. Brian and I do a lot of cragging at Great Falls. I'll add more photos as the years wear on and I have stuff worth posting. For now, you can see some fake aid shots and an abandoned traverse attempt at Great Falls, along with a little bit of beta from a few areas at Sugarloaf and Old Rag Mountains. And the odd other thingamajig. updated: 12/10/01, eight and a quarter trips, more or less »White Mountain Weekend, Presidentals and Mt. Washington Valley, New Hampshire A day of sloggin' and a day of craggin' with two good friends in summer on rock and various other earthen surfaces in a beautiful area and the weather was actually good for two full days - it was the talk of the town. Beat that, Yosemite! What's that? Four months of gorgeous skies? Oh. Nevermind... updated: 8/28/00; one hike, one rock climb MOUNTAINEERING (also, see Peaks, below) »Mt. Shuksan and Colchuk Peak, Cascades, Washington Clear to the other side of the country for a looksee. That's what we did. We did the to, as well as the fro. Yessiree. More snow than you wag the tail of an onery dingo at or about, or around, even. No sleep 'til Bellingham, lungs afire and great, smile and say how-do-you-do handsome bags. I tell you, you must go. And so we will. Again and again. And that is all I have to say about that, among other things. updated: 6/10/02; four-day trip »Mt. Shuksan, Cascades, Washington This one is about friends, failure and what to do about both. In that order. I have nothing more to say. updated: 7/29/02 »Eldorado East Ridge, Cascades, Washington An exercise in patience and pacing, offering some of the best climbing and views in the Cascades as well as one of the more heinous approaches I've suffered, with Mother Nature adding none-too-subtle commentary all the while. As a package, one of the best times I've had in the mountains. Yes, the ridge is cool. updated: 9/4/01, 47¾ hr. trip »Cascades Climbing, Washington and Oregon, 5-10 July 2007 Some quality time in the Goat Rocks area, on Mt. Adams and Mt. Hood with my bud Adam. updated: 2/9/08; let's call it a journey »Mt. Daniel West and East Summits, Cascades, Washington Three guys, a big tent, lots of precip, a gross of Fritos. You cannot possibly want more. updated: 10/27/03, 2-day trip »Mt. Shasta, Cascades, California In February 2000 I was invited by a friend to come out and do a ski mountaineering trip on Mt. Shasta, 14,162 feet, over Memorial Day Weekend. I couldn't resist and wasted no time in buying a ticket. We'd planned to do a ski approach, climb and moderate ski descent of one of three routes, depending on conditions. Sadly, while I was getting stormed off Mt. Whitney, my friend, John Miksits, and his partner, Craig Hiemstra, were involved in an accident on Mt. Shasta. They were attempting the Cascade Gulch route and reports are that they summitted from the col between Shastina and Shasta, but were caught in a whiteout on the descent. My friend's partner was found dead, likely from a fall, in Hidden Valley. I flew out and participated in a volunteer search and rescue effort following the accident, but unfortunately we found no trace. A small group of friends did return to the mountain over Memorial Day Weekend to climb the mountain, make peace there, and search for our friend. On 28 May 2000 we found John, a month and a half after the accident. updated: 6/24/00; one-and-a-half month ordeal and then some »Mt. Baker, North Cascades, Washington On 27 June 1999 I completed a successful climb of Mt. Baker, the highest point in the Northern Cascades at 10,781 feet. It was my first time on a glacier and was easily one of the most exciting and beautiful climbs I've done to date. updated: 6/29/99; three-day course »Mt. Whitney, Sierra Nevada Range, California A buddy of mine and I drove out to Mt. Whitney while on a business trip in late-November 1998. We drove up to around 7,000 feet and walked up to around 8,800 feet, taking in the beautiful rock architecture. In mid-April 2000 I returned to Mt. Whitney for a technical alpine ascent of the Mountaineer's Route but our group was stormed off the mountain and experienced serious avalanche conditions in the gully at 13,000 feet. Details are contained in Mikey's U.S. Highpoint List under state information for the peak. updated: 5/30/00; three-day trip PEAKS »Mikey's U.S. Highpoint List As you might have read elsewhere, I have a very, very loose goal of climbing to the highest point in every U.S. state. Most aren't that hard, though a few are, depending on weather and route. I don't take the greater goal overly seriously; at the end of the day it's something to keep me focused. I try to knock off a couple per year, depending on where my travels take me. updated: 5/28/01; 13 attempts, 11 summits so far »High Peaks Traverse, Adirondack Mountain Range, New York Over St. Patty's Day weekend my friend Adam and I successfully completed a two-day winter linkup of the two highest peaks in the state of New York. Beautiful trip and a great time in the mountains. updated: 3/18-19/05; two-day trip »Great Range Traverse, Take #2, Adirondack High Peaks, New York I was here to once again attempt a winter Great Range Traverse, on which my friend and sometime partner James (aka Wallhack) and I had failed miserably last season. We had tried to ski it. That turned out to be an unthinkably, preposterously, inconceivably bad idea. So we thought we'd try it again. updated: 2/14/02; three days of searching for a reason »Great Range Traverse, Take #3, Adirondack High Peaks, New York To the point: This was our third and most probably last go at the traverse. We'd tried twice in winter. With skis and without. That would be a no, and a no. The truth is we went into this little walk in the woods as a final recon for another cold-weather outing. What we found was that... well, I think we're just happy to have been there, done that. updated: 9/16/02; done in a day »High Peaks T[RE]verse, Adirondack Mountain Range, New York During 11-12 December 1999 I returned to the Adirondacks to attempt a traverse of the two highest mountains in New York: Mt. Marcy (5,344 ft.) and Algonquin (5,114), over two days, in winter. I went solo. Weather turned miserable. And so did I. The trip was a textbook case of what can go wrong in the mountains. Looking back on it retrospect I can laugh a little at my quasi-epic. But at the time it was anything but funny. updated: 12/13/99; day and a half trip SKI »New England Skiing, Pinkham Notch Tour, White Mountains, New Hampshire, 9 February 2008 Solo. Up. Down. Up. Down. Up. Out. »New England Skiing, Mt. Garfield, White Mountains, New Hampshire, 26 January 2008 Once more, with peeling. »New England Skiing, Zealand Notch, White Mountains, New Hampshire, 5 January 2008 Or thereabouts. »New England Skiing, Sherburne Ski Trail to Tuckerman Ravine, White Mountains, New Hampshire Now if only I knew how to ski. updated: 3/4/07; short, happy day »New England Skiing, Nancy and Norcross Ponds, White Mountains, New Hampshire A little bit higher now. updated: 3/4/07; bit o' day »New England Skiing, Camden Hills, Mount Megunticook, Maine Unintentionally long tour involving much booting up a little hill and a tiny bit o' plankin'. updated: 2/19/07; long day »New England Skiing, Pinkham Notch Tour, White Mountains, New Hampshire Six miles on the classic. One of which was actually skied. The rest, busting trail in three feet of unconsolidated crap. You do the math. updated: 2/17/07; day o' pain »New England Skiing, Pemigawassett River Tour, White Mountains, New Hampshire I'd describe things as flat. That'll do. updated: 2/03/07; half day »New England Skiing, Nancy and Norcross Ponds Tour, White Mountains, New Hampshire Introductory day out. Not far up the trail, but fine day nonetheless. updated: 3/26/05; half day »New England Skiing, Mt. Garfield Tour, White Mountains, New Hampshire Lots of miles on whipped cream. Dee-lish. updated: 3/05/05; fun day »New England Skiing, Camden Hills Tour, Maine Too-big planks on cute little hills. Big fun and only one wrong turn. updated: 1/30/05; one long morning »New England Skiing, Rumford Whitecap Tour, Maine Getting ahead of myself, and the next round of snow, come to think of it. updated: 2/06/05; half-day trip »"Skiing" the Great Range Traverse, Adirondack High Peaks, New York I went back up to the Daks for a third time to attempt the Great Range Traverse, an approximately 20-mile linkup of nine 4000-foot-plus mountains in the High Peaks of the Adirondack mountain range. My partner on this trip was James Burns. Most folks consider trying the Great Range Traverse in winter rather, um... ambitious. We decided that it would be a good idea to try to do it on skis. We got spanked. Hard. updated: 2/21/01; one and a half days of pain »Mostly Lake Tahoe, Sierra Nevada, California Not climbing, necessarily (well, maybe a little), but some of the usual suspects, so I thought I'd implicate. A night of plastic pulling and a weekend of skiing in a most beautiful setting with good folks. updated: 12/3/00; two days of bliss HIKE »Shenandoah Trio, Blue Ridge Mountains, Virginia Over the course of two days in winter, 5-6 February 2000, I completed a solo traverse, for the third time (2nd time solo), of three peaks in Shenandoah National Park: Old Rag, Hawksbill Mountain, and Robertson Mountain. My route was approximately 25 miles long, through generally one to three feet of snow. The mountains were all but empty over the weekend and being out there alone was a very beautiful and cleansing experience. These days I frequently do this traverse as a training hike, in a day. My best time is 6 hrs., 38 minutes. updated: 2/7/00 »Old Rag Mountain, Central Shenandoah National Park, Va. A friend of mine and I first climbed this old favorite in mid-August 1998. The mountain's overrun, but for good reason. I've since seen the summit of Old Rag 60 times, numerous times in winter. Even had to turn around in an ice storm once about 500 feet below the summit. It's a fun little scramble that I now do over a couple hours a few times a month to stay in shape. In the Fall of 2000 I got the chance to try a few rock routes on the mountain with a couple friends. I hope to do more in the future. updated: 10/21/00 ESSAYS »Talking About Climbing With Mr. Bumby A collection of my thoughts on various climbing-related topics. The pieces range from the emotional, to the tongue-in-cheek, to the clinical, to all-out ranting. Updated now and again, as the mood strikes. updated: 12/7/01 OTHER »Organizations That Matter Give something back. Be passionate. Get things done. These people do. Consider giving them a look. »Patagonia A gratuitous shot by Charlie Fowler and the most beautiful climbing photo I've ever seen. updated: 5/16/01 »Ama Dablam, Nepal Himalaya, Khumbu Region To my mind, possibly the most beautiful mountain in the world. And some time within the next 10 years, I hope to climb it. updated: 1/10/00 Jump to a category: Chronological Index | Ice | Rock | Snow | Peaks | Ski | Hike | Essays | Other