Trust In The Alpine Guide Service

Acadian driftwood 🌞 🌝

A few highlights of the best week of my summer. Biking, running, foraging, climbing, paddling, connecting and reconnecting.

We should all be so lucky 💗

What two traits make for the best partner in high risk activity?

I got into this conversation the other day with and outside of and the dialogue that followed was really insightful. Curious to hear your thoughts 🤔

Guiding last weekend for was borderline too much fun. Less than ideal conditions were overcome once again by incredible people with incredible attitudes. Already looking forward to next year with possibly a more inclusive name? Massive props to for an incredible presentation Saturday night and for setting up the 101 crew!

Hey you! Wanna learn more about Splitboarding?! Join me next weekend and let me pass on some tips from over 10 years of touring and guiding across the US. Saturday I’ll be leading a classic 101 course and Sunday there’s a slot or two available for a 301 clinic where previous experience is a prerequisite.

Triggered (did not get caught in) my biggest avalanche of my 18 year backcountry travel career in British Columbia yesterday. !Warning geek alert! The slab was about 50-60cm of cross loaded snow sitting on a convex roll over. The intended decent was on the other side of the “skillet” of snow at the top of the line and sat on a known persistent weak layer from late November. To get across I traveled as fast as the pitch would allow, and as close to the corniced north face to not be afraid of that weakness. Mid traverse, a subtle ridge mid crossing, functioned as a trigger point about 10 feet downslope of my traverse. The slide ran to the valley bottom, bent over small trees and would be graded size 3.

Happy solstice everyone. You included. 🫵🏻

Katahdin sits in the geographical heart of Maine. Nestled in the center of Baxter State Park this mountain is home to an uber classic moderate alpine rock climb called The Armadillo. This is an account of a winter accent.

It started how most outlandish things do. Suggested by over whisky and tea in the bunkhouse the night before. “You know it’ll be the best weather of the week and that’s saying something. No one will believe it if you do it. Grab Mcdermott and go!” It’s true, we’d always dreamed of being crazy enough to climb it in the winter but conditions never made sense until this day.

What’s lost in translation here is that had as much experience with roped climbing at that time as I do surfing….next to none. What anyone that knows him can confirm however, is his overwhelming charisma in the face of challenge. Maybe that’s what it takes to regularly surf Maine breaks in February? Either way, this soon to be father agreed to the contract of the rope and we sent.

Ryan and I took off for the adventure of a lifetime while the crew and the rangers watched in the meadow. (After getting in some lazy laps during our approach of course). As we inched up the technical mixed approach in ski boots and crampons, we were rewarded with perfect dry granite for the summit push from the top of the pillar. I wish we could have known they were down there with eyes on us laughing at how much we had willingly bitten off.

We eventually topped out at sunset and had the privilege to ride the Cathedral Ridge chutes in the absolute worst snow conditions possible. Refrozen freeze thaw concrete. In the dark. And for me with a broken high back, meaning my lead leg had next to no control over the front of my Goat. True adventure.

We arrived back to the hut to a literal roar of applause, cheer, food and whiskey from of our friends upon opening the door. The rest of the evening consisted of telling the tail and sharing the stoke of a community of people that are hopelessly lost in one obsession: flirting with mountains.

Land of the Wabanaki.
designs

📸

So much gratitude for and his hospitality on this past trip to SLC. So proud to be part of the . So lucky to have so many fond memories to reminisce over as the front country becomes increasingly more dystopian. Now let’s all stay put and take care of each other!



@ Mount Timpanogos

HBD Maine. You’ve captivated my heart since the day I was born. As a young man you thought me the values that defined me. Now, as a man, I travel far and wide, searching for experiences that challenge my abilities as an outdoorsman and human connection as great as what I’ve found in this great state. As I reflect, I find that none can compare. How lucky am I to be able to call my this state my origin? The most lucky.
Next week some of my most cherished friends and I will go back into the heart of my state for a long week to celebrate and be challenged by its awesomeness. I. Can’t. Wait.






📸

Keepin spirits high over here in Little Cottonwood!

Annnnnd I’m blushing 😊
Repost from
•
Welcome our newest member and one of the most stoked guys out there . Hailing from the sea coast of Maine, Owen started his uphill career hiking his backyard hill with a skateboard deck and some stapled down bike tubes in ‘91. Gear has changed a little in the last 25 years but the feeling is just as good. After living and guiding in the Sierra Nevada’s for years, Owen has returned home back to the Ice Coast and spends most of his winter time riding old lines on Mt.Washington in New Hampshire and new ones on Maine’s Katahdin. Summers are reserved for guiding climbing and sea kayaking trips around Acadia National Park. Stoked to have Owen on the team chasing New England turns and beyond on his Bonsai split!
•
•
•