Skiing Bearhat Peak

It's been a while since I have made the time to post something. I am still alive and well for any of you who were worried. I'm going to try and do some posts over the course of the next couple of days chronicling the rest of my summer since returning from Denali: it's been pretty fun. After that I hope to begin writing and reflecting on the aforementioned trip to Alaska. A month since we returned safely and I feel like I'm mentally ready to work through remembering all the ups and downs of our adventure.

July 16th of this summer was the first Saturday that the Going-to-the-Sun highway was open all the way to Logan Pass and there was still plenty of snow to be had. I will admit that I was burnt-out on traveling on snow when we flew off the Kahiltna Glacier. But a week of not living out of a tent can do wonders for moral. I also probably have a short memory when it comes to remembering suffering in the outdoors. So, as the weekend rolled around, I couldn't wait to do some low-elevation (less than 11 thousand feet...) ski mountaineering.

Bearhat Peak has been something I've wanted to ski for a long time. A fellow teacher of my dad's had mentioned long ago that he had skied from the summit. On the 4th of July four years ago, we had given it a try, only to have a lack of snow foil our plans. We still summited but left our skis behind at the Hidden Lake overlook. Now armed with 4 more years of climbing and skiing experience, the peak came easy and the descent was super-fun.

Here's a video of our trip. I tried my first voice-over in this one. My sister encouraged me earlier this year to incorporate my writing with making videos, crafting a story in a sense. I hope to get better at combing words with pictures and video to create something more memorable than each could be on their own.


Skiing East Bearhat Peak from Colter Lane on Vimeo.
Not your average hike in the Park. My favorite ski buddy (Dad) and I climb and ski East Bearhat Peak in Glacier National Park. Fresh off of a 3 week trip in Alaska on Denali, we were hankering to summit a peak and get some good skiing in before the ski season was over for the year.

In Need of More Silence

A couple of weeks ago, I hauled a sled with camping gear into the Jewel Basin for a little over night ski trip. The weather was supposed to be good, I had a weekend free, the snow was supposed to be great, and I needed to train for Denali. I was by myself because I had difficulty convincing anyone else to go in with me. The snow was great, so it must have been another reason...I swear I shower and use deodorant! I had a great weekend running around and skiing in the mountains by myself. After hauling in the sled 6 1/2 miles up the road to Camp Misery, the parking lot/trailhead of the Jewel, I set up a camp and prepared some delicious tuna-mac for dinner. I was all wrapped up and ready for some shut-eye when I realized the full moon was rising. So I had my own little "Moonlight Dine and Ski." I took a lap up to the ridge above my tent and skied amazing snow, face-shots included, via light from the moon. The next day I toured around the area, skiing cool north-facing shots before breaking camp and wrangling my sled back to my pickup. Here's a little taste of the trip in video form:


Winter Camping in the Jewel Basin from Colter Lane on Vimeo.

I find that I definitely enjoy skiing, climbing, hiking, biking, and any other number of things much more when I'm with other people. You can feed off each other's enjoyment, laugh at each other's mistakes, share in the glory of the scenery and amazing-ness of the the experience, and share in the decision making. Even pictures are better with other people in them. However, I do enjoy getting out by myself. I can go my own pace, do what I want to do, and not have to worry about anyone else. One other nice thing is that it's quiet. At one point on the Saturday I was in the Jewel it was snowing and if I stopped all I could hear, or more appropriately "sense," was the falling snow around me. There are very few times in my life where I feel as though I have been in a quieter place. Absolutely no distractions from other people, technology, machinery, media, etc. It was as if my world was on pause and I was getting to experience a single moment in time repeated indefinitely. The snow was beautiful in its silence; I was enthralled.

Reflecting on that time in the woods, I have to wonder how many occasions do we have to really experience quiet? We have so many media influences bombarding us every day. I've seen people of all ages who seem to be addicted to music, needing to be "plugged-in" to their mp3 players. While substitute teaching recently, the class was watching 180 Degrees South. In it the filmmaker takes off on a journey to reach Patagonia, following in the footsteps of Yvon Chouinard and Doug Tompkins. The class was being taught about media influence in their lives; being asked if they could go 6 months without video games or music players. But there were kids in the class that we (me and a co-teacher) couldn't even get to un-plug and watch the movie!

Through all of this we miss out on two things: 1) Interaction with the people around us, and 2) Time for reflection on what's going on in our lives, both of which I feel are extremely important. My challenge for anyone who reads this is to become aware of how much media influences your life, how much you willingly expose yourself to the bombardment of technology and information. I won't encourage you to give it up completely: I think that would be rash and selfish in its own way (if I threw away my cell phone, it limits the ability of others to contact/coordinate with me). Find ways though, to take breaks and seek to engage actual human beings more and give your life some reflection.

First Ski Movie

Here is my first-ever ski movie, made from footage taken two weeks ago in the Flathead Mountain Range while skiing with fellow ski junkie Caleb. I imagine it's a little rough, but I hope you enjoy.


All About the Climb from Colter Lane on Vimeo.

Two things I have noticed about myself through making this flick: 1) I need to smile more. Come on, dude, you're outside skiing! 2) I need to learn to close my mouth when I'm skiing. It's one thing to want to taste the snow, but save it for a snow pit or something. Again, smile more. Enjoy those turns.

Ski Modification: Twin-Tip Tail Removal

There are a number of projects that I've been working on recently, one of which is turning my pair of "in-bounds" skis into some backcountry powder hounds. I bought a pair of used touring bindings and mounted them on my white Fischer Kehuas. Telemark bindings now come with a free-pivot mode for skinning uphill. For those of you still thinking that telemarking = touring, which I still think is very true, there is better technology out there these days. Anyway, after the bindings were mounted I wanted to cut off the twin-tip tail (actually an old Doug Coombs trick) to better enable me to stick them into the snow while transitioning between skiing and skinning or building quick belay anchors in a more technical skiing environment. Not to mention I'm saving weight by shortening the skis...

I cut six centimeters off the tail and ground a notch to help keep my skins in place while climbing. It's been suggested that I seal the now-naked ends with an epoxy or JB Weld and after the first coat and a day of skiing the protection is chipping a little. I don't really see any problems delaminating but I still don't want water in the cores. It will most likely just be a continued maintenance issue unless putting some heavier-duty JB Weld and grinding it off smooth would be better.


Ski Modification: Twin-Tip Tail Removal from Colter Lane on Vimeo.

This is my first video in a long time, but I want to get back into making them. It will be just one more avenue for creation to add to the quiver along with still-photography and writing. The video may be a little slow and boring so feel free to fast-forward through it. Any suggestions on editing in the future will be much appreciated.