The Tieton Valley

Onie on The Western Front, Tieton River Valley

Lane Peak - The Zipper Ski Descent

Improvisation . . . on the fly.  A washed out climb/ski of Mt. Rainier turned into a soggy descent of Lane Peak in the Tatoosh.

The original plan had Jaime and I climbing in Tieton on Saturday, meeting Doug and Alex in the parking lot of Paradise on Saturday night, and then climbing/skiing Rainier on Sunday.  Things didn't exactly go as planned.  On Saturday, we got in one pitch of climbing at the Bend before getting rained on and retreating to the car.

Eastern Sierra Ski Junket

Torrential winter rains in the lowlands pay off with a deep spring snowpack in the mountains. I've been holed up with my head down for a few months, but I recently lucked out with a fantastic weekend of spring skiing in the Sierras.

I've been messing around with video recently, so instead of the usual photos I'll offer up this amateur hack job. You gotta start somewhere.


Easter Sierra Corn Fest from Chris Winter on Vimeo.
Amateur nostalgia from a memorable spring ski trip to the Eastern Sierras.

Mt. Hood Backcountry Turns

I spent a great weekend searching out turns in the backcountry around Mt. Hood this weekend!  Here' s a little footage to inspire your next tour!  Go get some.

Pocket Creek December 2010 from Chris Winter on Vimeo.

The Desert Diaries - Epinepherine to Big Sur

Epinepherine

After a great day skiing the Mt. Hood backcountry, I finally have the time and motivation to finish up the report on our month-long road trip through the desert southwest.  I’ve been home almost three weeks, and new memories of Cascade powder turns have started to push aside slightly older memories of sandstone walls.  Before the trip began, I knew in the back of my mind that we would be returning to Portland just as the ski season was ramping up, thinking that the anticipation of fresh snow might help my re-entry into the day-to-day.  Well, sure enough, it’s snow time!  So I better finish up the report on our trip so I can move on to colder and fluffier pursuits.

After six days at Indian Creek, we drove back to Moab to reload.  Our original plan was to head back to the Creek for two more days of climbing, but over breakfast at the Wake’N’Bake we pulled up a forecast, which called for cold, wet weather.  Vegas, on the other hand, looked sunny and warm.  Sin City here we come!

The Desert Diaries - Indian Creek

You only get one first time.  In the midst of that new experience, the doors swing wide open and you suddenly perceive a new reality, new opportunities, and just maybe a new part of your life thereafter.  The rush can never be duplicated, but each time you return to your new found pastime, you try to recreate the unmatched eye opening feeling of having a life-long veil lifted off of your head.  Those moments, the feelings, the sensations, the little details, stick with you for the rest of your life, and if you’re lucky you get to experience that rush at least a few times before you move on.  If you build it up too much ahead of time, searching out that high, you might just be disappointed.  But when you take things as they come, those rare fleeting moments catch you by surprise and create memories that sustain and inspire you for the rest of your life.

The Desert Diaries - Cochise Stronghold

Kristin and I just wrapped up a great week in Cochise Stronghold in Southern Arizona.  We spent two days in the Eastern Stronghold, clipping bolts and stretching out my ribs.  We then took a rest day, drove over a mountain pass, and descended into the Western Stronghold, where we spent two more days climbing multi-pitch routes in and around the Sheepshead.  I'm basically climbing pain free, and we got in some excellent routes.