The Infinite amount of snow

Today was another great day of climbing. Despite the 36" of snow that fell upon the Laurel Highlands, Joel joined Laura and I for some fun at SCII. As soon as we could see the cliffs, we knew we were in for a treat. The cold weather the past week had built up some great lines that were begging to be climbed. We slogged through the knee -to -waist deep snow down to the cliff. We were treated to some great climbing in a pristine setting. The clouds cleared and provided us with some bluebird skies on several occasions. The ice was new and untrodden, presented many challenges and left us all (except Laura) pumped. It was one hell of a good time. Dr. Bob and Regina showed up before noon, dropped a line on the centrals and enjoyed the fun as well. We were hiking out as it was getting dark... Heres the photos that Laura and I snapped during the day... Enjoy

Clermont FL to Wauchula FL

Ahhhh...we are back "home". Or at least our "winter home". We are so happy to be here!

Daytime at White Sands National Monument

After our night of camping at White Sands, my friend Roger and I also spent the whole day exploring the dunes. White Sands is such a unique environment... this is my 3rd visit to this amazing place and I doubt it will be my last. It was such a thrill to watch the light change as the sun rose higher over the dunes. The sky went from shades of pink to a rich, deep blue.



Above: In order to get the perspective seen in this shot I had to lay flat on my stomach on the sand. The camera was only a couple of inches off the surface of the sand.

One of the challenges we had during this visit to the dunes was finding areas of the dunes that were untouched by footprints. Due to some recent snow and rain that had fallen, there was some moisture in the ground and thanks to the colder temperatures the dunes were actually kind of hard and not the soft, loose sand that is normally found here. Because the sand was somewhat hard, footprints were not being erased as quickly as they normally would be by the wind. As such, there were many more footprints than you normally see here which made finding a "pristine" dune quite difficult. After a bit of hiking and exploring, we were able to finally find some areas that had not seen any recent traffic.



It doesn't take very long to get a sun tan while hiking amongst the dunes. With such a bright, reflective surface the sunlight actually bounces up from the ground and in a way you are being bombarded twice by the same amount of sunlight. After only a few hours of hiking in the dunes, our faces were starting to get red. Thankfully, though, this time of year the days are pretty short and before long the sun was getting low in the sky and once again it was time to seek out a location for sunset.

Below: I don't know if these are technically mammatus clouds or not, but they sure looked like them to me. I call them "Cloud Bubbles".



After a bit more searching we found another spot in the dunes that was relatively untouched by foot traffic. We each looked for some nice Yucca plants that we could frame in our shots and soon the last of the sunlight was working its way up the length of the Yuccas.



Before we knew it the sun was below the horizon and we were once again treated to a beautiful pink glow in the sky. This place is so amazing during the dawn and dusk times of the day! Truly one of the most unique natural treasures in this world... I can't wait for my next visit!

Grab Your Ice Axe and Head for the Hills!

All right folks, this is it! You can ski 7,500 feet of vertical this weekend at Paradise!

First the hype.

Rarely during the winter does the weather turn so nice for so long! I made a run from just above Ingraham Flats (11,500') to Longmire (2,700'), and that's almost 9,000 feet in one run. As you'll read later in this post, I wouldn't particularly recommend skiing the lower 1,500 feet, but 7,500' isn't too bad, is it? With this intense temperature inversion in effect, it may be warmer at 5,500' than at 2,700'. In fact, at Camp Muir on Thursday morning, the temperature was 46 degrees! I could almost smell this coming weekend's barbeques in the Paradise lot, the sun tan oil, and the kids having a great time in the newly groomed snowplay area.


Now the beta.



The snow is setting up and developing into good corn. On the way up from Paradise this morning for a patrol to Camp Muir, the snow was set up enough to walk on with just boots (around 10:00 a.m.). The skinning was great, until I got to just below Pan Point. It was set up enough that it took two tries to get up a particular pitch I was trying to ascend. If you're going up early, I'd recommend a pair of crampons and an ice axe.


Just about everything was skiable in the Paradise area today. The snow is nice and smooth, but BEWARE! This afternoon's heat was bringing down small wet loose avalanches in steeper gulleys. Read the latest avalanche report from the NWAC: http://www.nwac.us/


Edith Creek Basin looked awesome and smooth. Mazama Ridge really looked nice. Once through the gauntlet at Pan Point, the rest was just a beautiful skin up to Camp Muir! The ski penetration eventually got to around 1-2 inches. That's nothing compared to slogging up in waist deep snow.


Once up to around 9,000 feet, the snowfield becomes badly pocked with sastrugi, and we're talking BIG sastrugi features. Not fun to ski through. If you're up on the Muir Snowfield, remember, it's always a good idea to have the "bearing sheet" for the compass bearing, if the weather should turn bad.


Camp Muir is open and ready for business. The toilets are shoveled out. The public shelter is accessible. Would someone please shovel the snow out that's drifted inside? Be aware that I tested the public radio, and it seems to be dead. I shoveled snow off of the solar panels on the roof. This may solve the problem. Bring a Verizon cell phone just in case of an emergency. Remember you need a backcountry permit (free) if you are just staying at Camp Muir and not going above.


I made it up to Ingraham Flats in a turtleneck T-shirt. Now that's rare for January! I was able to skin right up to the top of Cathedral Gap, but on the traverse past the Gap, just to be safe, I took the skis off and put the crampons on. But I could've walked with my crampons all the way from Paradise. Once I was back out on the glacier, the skis went back on and I was able to skin up to about 11,500' before it was time to turn around. The snow was nice styrofoam. If you're interested in heading up above Camp Muir, remember you need a climbing permit and a climbing pass whether your purposes are just skiing or climbing.


The ski down was great through Cathedral Gap. In 10 minutes I was back at Camp Muir. I left Muir at about 3:00 p.m. I skied through this terrible sastrugi that I described above, but then I dove off down the Nisqually Glacier. It goes! For those of you interested in skiing down the glacier, remember to bring along a friend and some extrication gear. The snow was getting soft in the afternoon making crevasse falls more likely. Since you're on a glacier, technically you need a climbing permit and a climbing pass.


I hit it at about 3:30, when it was a little on the soft side. Who knows how things will be this weekend, but I would try to stick it a little earlier. The slopes above on the Nisqually Cliffs were getting some warm sun. Be weary of avalanches coming down, and especially rockfall! Beware of a lot of little rocks and pebbles in the snow.


Once down on the flat part of the Nisqually (around 6,400 feet), I was surprised at how fast I was able to cruise. I crossed over to the west side of the glacier, and skied down the nose of the glacier to the terminus. It was very soft, a little too soft. I had my first biff. From there it was a cruise to the bridge. Bring a friend with another car for the ride back up to Paradise!


I continued skiing the Nisqually River bed down to Cougar Rock Campground where I caught the Wonderland Trail for the rest of the push to Longmire. All in all, I skied just about 9,000 feet of vert. But I wouldn't recommend this last bit from the bridge on down. With a few creek crossings and some wet feet, it was a bit of a jungle boogie.


In a nutshell, the skiing, the climbing, the sledding and/or just suntanning at Paradise looks great this weekend and if you're from Washington, you'll know that we need to take advantage of this!

Bluebell evolution

Virginia bluebells (Mertensia virginica) are one of the first wildflowers to bloom in this area.

The leaves appear first, then spread open to reveal the buds.



The stalk gets longer, and soon the buds are too heavy to stand up straight.



Bud color goes from pink to purple, then the blue flower opens. When it fades, it will turn pink again.



Every now and then there will be a flower that is pink or white instead of blue. None in this bunch so far.

A stalk with several open flowers.



Among friends.

Jackson Visitor Center - Final Weekend to Visit!

Yup, the Henry M. Jackson Memorial Visitor Center (JVC), whose design has been loved, hated, and debated since its opening in 1966, will welcome its last visitor on Sunday, September 28. It is closing to prepare for the demolition and move to the new JVC, which will open at 10:00 a.m. on October 10th. Between September 29th and October 9th, the Paradise Ranger Station (in the upper lot) will serve as the main NPS contact point at Paradise.

Here's some background on the now infamous "space saucer" of Paradise. The NPS commissioned its construction as part of a 10-year effort called MISSION 66. MISSION 66 set out to improve infrastructure and visitor services for NPS in time for its 50th anniversary in, guess what, 1966. The Paradise visitor center was originally known as the "Paradise Day Use Facility" until 1987, when it was re-named in honor of Washington Senator Henry "Scoop" Jackson. "Scoop" had originally secured congressional funding for the project and personally selected the architects.

The future of the oldJVC is significantly less promising. With the initiative to build a new visitor center came the $880,000 contract to demolish the JVC and rehabilitate the lower parking lot. Sometime late next year, you should be able to park your vehicle near the current information desk or bookstore. If the weather holds, this fall the contractor intends to start salvage operations of reusable materials and also carry out removal of fuel tank and hazardous materials. Final demolition will begin in the late spring of and will be completed by the end of the summer.

NOTE: If you're visiting the park this weekend, September 27 and 28, there are no entrance fees. The NPS is waiving fees on Saturday in celebration of National Public Lands Day and on Sunday in honor of newly naturalized United States citizens. The JVC at Paradise will be open from 10:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m. through Sunday the 28th. Come on by, because it's your last chance to lounge in those creamy orange couches and chairs.

RootsTech :: Day One

The day began with the Keynote Address by Jay Verkler (with a little assistance from a few other people). It was rather mind-boggling listening to his vision for the future of genealogy research – if only it were possible to live to 2060 to see if his vision becomes reality! Wow. Mr. Verkler has recently stepped down as President and CEO of FamilySearch. In that capacity he helped guide and transform FamilySearch into a leading genealogy-tech company that is bringing online so many wonderful digital documents.





Along with many of the other 4,000+ attendees, I went into the Exhibit Hall after the keynote address The hall was absolutely packed! I found Thomas MacEntee handing out the geneablogger beads and picked up mine.





Michele Goodrum and I were chatting away like old friends when a “crew” came up and asked if they could interview one of us. I said sure, and then literally pushed Michelle in front of me as I stepped aside!





Luckily, Michele didn't hold that against me and graciously allowed Bart Brenner to take our photo.





And, here is Bart...

The first session I attended was Mining Newspaper Archives. It was a little disappointing as it was mostly about the process of getting the newspapers digitized and online. They also only discussed two of the sites available for newspaper research.



After lunch with Michele, it was off to the RootsTech Genealogy Idol presentation. Each of the contestants did a great job and congratulations go to Marian Pierre-Louis for winning the most votes and becoming the first Genealogy Idol.





I must say, I was very impressed with the enthusiasm and style of Elyse Doerflinger. She is going to make a wonderful teacher.



Evernote was the topic of the next session I attended. I had heard of Evernote but had never taken the time to learn anything about it. I think it definitely has possibilities for research purposes.



As with Evernote, I knew almost nothing about tablet computers so was hoping that Jill Ball could tell me all about them in her “Galaxy Girls” presentation. Jill discussed some of the benefits of the Samsung Galaxy tablets as well as their limitations. Then went on to talk a little bit about some of the apps and widgets that are not specifically genealogy apps but can be useful in doing research.



All in all, it was a good day – attending interesting sessions and seeing “old friends” once again!