Tuesday, October 17, 2006

Pre Season Training!

Dudes!

I was training up in the Sasquash Mt's last weekend and hooked up with these sweeties for a climb up to the ridge and some SERIOUS shredding into the bowl... They were serious Back-Country nuts, no Avy gear and minimal cold weather equipment... don't know how they do it.

These chicks kicked my ass on the climb, I got to get crackin' on the pre season training... I barely got ahead of them at the top for this shot! (however climbing behind them on the way up wasn't by any means un-pleasant !)

Sunday, October 15, 2006






You forgot the picture of us and Simon...

Saturday, October 14, 2006

Taos Mountain Film Festival 2006

Eric, Kirk, Christina, and I (dan) made the trek to the 6th annual Taos Mountain Film Festival. Paul, Erika, and family made their annual pilgrimage to Taos Ski Valley to see fall colors and hike to Williams Lake. The weather was perfect for the film festival (i.e. it rained Saturday and Sunday -- and snowed in the higher altitude), so Paul and his son Karl joined us for a film or two.

We decided that this did qualify as an AAS event in that there were several AAS members present, we got to see a lot of outdoor adventure film footage, and I almost fell off a curb into a large truck so we had the appropriate level of danger requiste in an AAS event. I think we will categorize this type of event as an educational seminar/conference event.

Anyway, the films were great and we saw some really good rock climbing, mountaineering, skiing, and kayaking. I think by the end we had gotten our fill of films for the year. Really, how many times can you see some 20 year old kid rip down a 2000 foot 50 degree slope and only make 4 turns the whole way? I think 100 is my limit. I must say the tribute to Doug Coombs was nice and really showed a big mountain skier with style and grace. In the footage he carved turn after turn down the steep slopes.

One of the highlights was having beers with Simon Yates Saturday evening. Eric and I purchased signed books before his slideshow. Later that evening we ran into him at a local bar and bought him a few beers. He was really quite down to earth and interesting to talk to. He definitely had some interesting commentary on Joe Simpson and Touching the Void.

There were many other highlights to the films and events, but I am not going to rattle on about it anymore. This local film festival could make for an annual event.