Skied the fearsome north face of Spider Mountain on a trip during Dec. 3 – 4.
Short writeup of the trip at Turns All Year.
Finally, the full view of the north face of Spider at dawn.
Working our way up the beautiful, steep face, serrate peaks forming shadows behind.
Eric skiing.
An edit I put together showing highlights from my championship season on the 2011 Freeskiing World Tour.
Llaima, Villarica, Lanin – three iconic, snow-covered volcanic cones in the Araucaria region of Chile. I rolled along with an incredibly entertaining and strong group of skier-climber friends from Santiago – Sebastián Rojas, Armando Moraga, and Javier Durán. Over the course of three days we skied all three of those summits.
Here is a story about the trip on Chopo Diaz’s Chilenieve.com.
Here is a video showing the second of our climbs and skis, Volcán Villarica.
During the weekend of September 10-11 my friend Sebastian Rojas and I took a trip into the Santuario de la Naturaleza Yerba Loca. This beautiful natural reserve is just up a canyon above Santiago, and some of its most beautiful peaks are easily seen from where I live in Farellones.
Cerro La Paloma as seen from my bedroom window.
It was a Saturday morning when Seba and I headed up into the park. We left his truck at the end of the road and started walking. Our objective for the day was to arrive at Piedra Carvajal, a stone shelter built against a huge boulder offering protection from the elements and surrounded by scores of magnificent peaks, including La Paloma and El Altar. Separating us from the shelter were about 3 miles of snowless trail followed by 7 more with the skis and skins once we reached snowline. Though the distance is long, the Yerba Loca valley is an enchanting place and the miles pass easily. Each few minutes on the go earned us new vistas into the gullys and cliffs of the towering walls on either side. Soon we reached the Terminator, a renowned multi-pitch waterfall ice climb, and dozens of other lesser ice formations that make this area an amazing destination for ice climbers as much as skiers.
Sebastian partway up the approach to Piedra Carvajal.
Looking for critters.
View of La Paloma from Piedra Carvajal.
We finally made it to the stone shelter and spent some time sitting by the stream taking in the last rays of sun before it disappeared behind the ramparts of the high peaks encircling us. We quickly made ourselves comfortable in our sleeping bags in the stone shelter, the stove between us, my small iPod speaker playing Beastie Boys as we cooked pasta con crema y atún and drank tea, occasionally throwing stones at mice who got too brave in their forays out of their holes. We fell asleep easily and woke at around 230AM, fired the stove up again, eating as much as possible and drinking more tea. By 330AM we were on our skis, ascending into the higher reaches of the valley by the light of a full moon. The brilliant light totally negated the need for headlamps, and we pushed up into the sparkling dreamscape, unsure of the line between waking and sleeping, imagining and reality.
The temperature in the last hours of the night was terribly cold. Our water bottles that we filled with hot water before leaving camp were slushy with ice crystals and we wore all of our layers of warm clothing despite our aerobic pace and pounding hearts. My right foot has always been more prone to cold than my left, and I started to really worry about getting frostbite during the last hour of the night. I finally had to take a break and pull my boot off and try to rub feeling back into my frozen foot. I busted out a pack of footwarmers but they weren’t helping. As I was struggling to find any warmth Sebastian took my foot and put it inside his jacket and in his armpit, giving enough of his body heat to my frozen appendage to bring it back to life. After some time I crammed my foot back in my ski boot and we started climbing again. I felt much better.
Hace frio.
During this time we finally had lost the light of the moon, but the edges of the horizon had taken on their first colors other than the blackness of night. As the atmosphere began to light up, the few remaining planets and stars of the galaxy behind it seemed completely reachable, as though we could choose to go there as easily as the peaks we were traveling towards. The stars in the sky disappeared completely and the colors in the sky above us became brighter as we climbed a long snaking couloir, but we remained deep in shadow. We gasped the icy air as we put in a track through soft, deep snow, knowing we wouldn’t feel the comforting rays of the sun until we gained the ridge nearly 2,000′ above us. We put our heads down and did the work, finally cresting the last few feet and crossing to the east side of the pass at around 15,000′. We sat on a dry rock, reveling in the solar and thankfully-windless warmth, looking east into the huge, remote peaks of the Olivares Valley, 20,000′ giants made small by the vast distances we gazed across.
Nearing the top of the long couloir.
Looking ENE to Nevado Juncal and the Olivares Glaciers.
How much farther could we go? The long and cold night had worn me down and I was feeling the altitude in a slowly building headache and shortness of breath. Sebastian on the other hand, said the altitude wasn’t affecting him. His years of experience as a guide on Ojos del Salado, Chile’s highest mountain, made me believe him, but his shortness of breath also told me he wasn’t feeling his strongest. Our goal was to find a way to Cerro Altar’s southeast face. Altar is the bigger, badder sister of La Paloma. A 17,000′ monster easily seen from the metropolis of Santiago. From the Yerba Loca valley there aren’t many obvious ski lines, so Sebastian and I were attempting to get to the back side of this already-remote peak where, through the inspection of old black and white photos, we suspected there could be a ski line. From where we now rested we looked directly up the craggy, towering ramparts of Altar’s south ridge, the southeast face still hidden by a subsidiary ridge splitting a system of glaciers that spilled away ahead of us. We had two options – go completely to the bottom of the ridge and then ascend again on the other side. This route would almost certainly work but it would cost us almost two extra miles each way of travel. Or we could try to find a way to cross the dividing ridge and get to our goal much more directly. After a short nap and a bit of deliberation, we decided to climb the dividing ridge to see if an obvious access to the summit pyramid would present itself.
From our resting place, what looked like a moderate climb turned into an exhausting slog. With both of us wallowing in chest-deep snow and approaching 16k’ in altitude, we reached what would be our high point for the trip, a notch on a jagged ridge separating us from our ultimate goal. The southeast face of Altar, despite all our effort, still remained partly obscured by more complex terrain on the ridge. Ultimately the ideal access to this part of the mountain, though having been previously accessed by mountaineers, will remain unsolved for us as skiers until we have a chance to return and try again.
We now were far, far from Sebastian’s truck back at the Yerba Loca parking lot. We set our sights first on getting back to and skiing the couloir we had climbed before dawn. We were feeling dejected about not getting closer to our goal, but as we dropped into the S-shaped couloir we began to realize what an amazing descent we were in for. The snow was absolutely amazing! We took turns skiing long stretches of the line, flying down towards the valley, leaving clouds of cold Andean powder hanging in the air behind us. Down and out we dropped, and then began down the first of many miles of rolling, curving valley that lay ahead, enormous ice-clad peaks sliding past us in a three dimensional panorama of alpine excellence. The powder stayed soft and predictable for miles, eventually getting warmer and stickier as we dropped out of the frigid heights and neared the shelter.
If this is failing I don't wanna win.
We took a long time to regroup at camp, lounging in the comfort of what turned out to be one of the warmest days of the season, a siren announcing the onset of spring. Finally with loaded packs we headed down the long valley. Though only a few inches of snow remained for long stretches of travel it was all we needed to continue sliding. We sweated as we poled and skated across the long flat sections, wearing only our baselayers and sunglasses. Inevitably we came to the end of the snow, found the shoes we had stashed the day before, made our packs heavier still with skis and boots, and continued on our descent past cactus, shrubs, horses and streams. Such a contrast between the warm horse pasture we now found ourselves in and the scene of me with my foot in Seba’s jacket before the sun came up that same day. That contrast is the freedom being a skier offers, and why we’ll be back to try again.
Almost done. Altar is the highest point on the horizon behind Sebastian.
Y de la S from Drew Tabke on Vimeo.
I’ve fallen behind on keeping the blog up to date in the last few weeks, so here’s a quick summary of what’s been going on in my (temporary) neck of the woods.
There was a competition at Ski Arpa, nothing less than the Chilean Freeskiing Championships! I skied a bit loose, crashed on 50% of my runs, and ended up in 14th-ish. Lars CA won on the basis of him being better at skiing than everyone else who was there, and for the women Soledad de las Nieves Diaz took the top spot. I cried, she’s awesome, a truly great champion.
Then I returned to Farellones and it snowed a bit! Very welcome on this snow-lacking year. Lots of road runs with friends and some nice tours as well. I also competed in my first-ever skiercross, and was taken out within the first 10m by a frothing Chilean. Next time I will bring shoulder pads and better rental skis.
Then I had an awesome day guiding a group of kick-ass Canadians in the Valle Nevado backcountry. Bill Keenan was the freestyle skiing world champ in ’83, was a stunt double in a James Bond movie, among other awe-inspiring daredevil feats. I first met him two years ago while hitchhiking from Farellones to La Parva. This year I had the honor of taking he, two of his kids Dave and Justine, and German freeskier Marcus Hartinger, on one of my favorite runs in the VN area. We skied amazing snow off the top of the Tres Puntas lift into the Rio Cepo valley, completing a 1,400m run before hiking out to the road. We scored a ride back to Valle Nevado, skied back to Farellones and scored happy hour beers at El Montañes. Great day.
Snow conditions were getting grim in the Farellones area, so I took the opportunity to cruise to Las Trancas/Termas de Chillan with my good friends Goñi and Chiqui. Also along for the good times were Mario, Claudia, Stefano, and Beni. Awesome friends, a huge snowpack, a beautiful place to stay with Goñi (his lodge, Ama Wellness), good food, amazing ski touring, and hotprings make for a three-day vacation of epic proportions. Awesome.
Now I’m back in Santiago. Its currently raining in Farellones, but I’m sure its deep pow above the town. This weekend I’m going to go on an overnight ski touring mission with Sebastian Rojas up the Yerba Loca valley. Tuesday I think I’ll head south again to the land of less wind and more snow. Chao!
I arrived to my summer ski home in Farellones, Chile, about two weeks ago. Though the winter has seen below average snowfall, a series of small storms in the last few weeks created awesome skiing conditions and I’ve been aprovechando of my good luck, skiing awesome snow at Valle Nevado almost every day. After skiing, time is spent in typical Farellonino fashion, hanging out with friends around the parrilla eating meat and sharing a drink (or ten).
I’ve also been lucky enough to spend some time with the always-busy Philippe Boutille, head guide and owner of White World Freeriding Company. In addition to his guiding and teaching, Philippe will be leading the safety side of the second stop of the 2011 FWT at Ski Arpa, Chile. We skied together this week at El Colorado during one of the avalanche clinics which he offers and it has been really cool to learn from a life-long snow safety expert. The depth of investigation and attention to detail in the snow pit analysis we did at a few spots around the area were enlightening and really fun. The FWT competitors will be in good hands for the event at Ski Arpa.
But stop #2 at Arpa isn’t for almost two weeks. Right now most concerning is getting to stop #1 of the 2011 FWT, the Red Bull Powder Disorder at Las Leñas, Argentina. A huge storm just blew through the central Andes, leaving 4 feet of snow at Portillo, Chile. Good for skiers at Portillo, bad for people who need to drive the Paso Libertadores beyond Portillo to get to Argentina, and hence Las Leñas. The pass closed yesterday and it is unknown when it will reopen. Lars and Silas Chickering-Ayers, Soledad and Chopo Diaz, and myself packed our things into Chopo’s Subaru this morning and are ready to hit 10-12 hours of road separating us from our destination, but we’ll be on hold ’till the pass opens. Stay tuned for updates (hopefully) from Powder Disorder at Las Leñas, Argentina.
I arrived in Chile about five days ago and things have been going great. First, it snowed a bunch right before I arrived. Then I confirmed that I am officially riding for Valle Nevado Ski Resort. Its awesome.
Then it snowed some more. Then I won, for the second year in a row, the Columbia Snow Challenge Snow Maratón at Valle Nevado. It was awesome.
Up next, a big storm forecast for this weekend before we head to Las Leñas, Argentina for stop #1 of the 2011-2012 Freeskiing World Tour. Its gonna be awesome.
Timp from home. The line goes R from the central high point, down to a rappel in the v-shaped constriction.
I just got back to Seattle from two weeks at home in Utah. Its been a great, and long, ski season for me so in going to Utah I figured I’d do something crazy and leave my skis behind. Well upon arrival an absolutely beautiful line on Mt. Timpanogos (Timp) seen from my parent’s driveway in Midway, UT was begging to be skied.
I’d laid eyes on it thousands of times in my life, but through the ski and mountain experiences I’ve had since I left Utah a few years ago it now looked different. A ski line rather than a mystery. I called my good friend Mikey – he works at Black Diamond and has often helped me with my gear needs. He, being the generous dude he is, got some skis and boots for me, as well as an ice axe and crampons. Since it was July, jeans and a t-shirt were all I needed in the way of ski clothes.
Mikey came to Midway and stayed with us there the night before. We started early the morning of July 3rd, climbing up into what I think is the most beautiful mountain in the Wasatch. The previous days’ party at David Wintzer’s badminton tournament was wearing on me as were the painful borrowed boots. But I took the advice of one of my favorite adages: “Shut the f*** up and learn to buck up,” soon enough we were on the summit ridge. I made a phone call to my mom at that point. She, my dad, and Mia were on a hike in the area and were scrambling to get to a point where they’d have a view of the line – a little mid-hike entertainment. TV? Hah!
Mikey on summit ridge.
Droppin' in, party time.
Dad and Mia watching' the action with binoculars.
Mikey and I prepared and dropped in, skiing incredible summer snow high above the Heber Valley. It was a record-breaking Utah winter that allowed us to ski such an amazing run so late in the year. We arrived at the cliff we’d have to rappel and made an anchor at a tree. The rappel was uneventful and soon we were continuing the long run into the valley.
Gotta be tough to ski.
Mikey nearing the brink.
We'll just pile some rocks on this rope and rappel this 100' cliff.
Mikey rappin'.
Moats and rocks kept us on our toes.
Rapperfall?
We eventually ran out of snow a mere 15 minutes from the car, and my mom and Mia were there, in flip-flops, to compliment our solid skiing technique and admirable mountaineering prowess. Burgers back at my house were a must, with a view of line making each tasty bite that much more justifiable.
A linkup of Mt. Baker’s North Ridge, Park Glacier Headwall, and Coleman Headwall.
Route illustration, summer conditions. Up the long orange dots, down the short green line, up the short orange dots, down the long green line. Scurlock photo.
On June 20th, 2011′s Summer Solstice, Davide, Liz and I had one of our best days of the whole year on the beautiful, ice-clad volcano of Mt. Baker. A lot of ideas and visions get thrown around in planning ski trips into the big mountains; large objectives, perfect conditions, and link-ups of multiple lines. Ambitious trips often get shut down before a single part of them are realized.
I had gone up Mt. Baker several times previous to this trip intending to ski the Coleman Headwall, one of the most striking volcanic icefall lines I’ve ever seen. Conditions were never quite right, either too icy, too stormy, or too dangerous for any other number of reasons. Sometimes this would result in just turning around and heading back to the car. Sometimes consolation prizes of other cool lines were had when we couldn’t get to our original goal, such as when I skied the Roman Mustache with Reed and Sam.
Sometimes failure is still success. Roman Mustache, June 2010.
So when Davide, Liz and I headed up the volcano on the night of the 19th, planning camp and then climb a route we hadn’t climbed to the summit of the volcano, and then ski one or two lines we hadn’t skied, we knew well that failure was a distinct possibility. But we went for it nonetheless, determined to feel it out and give it our all based on what conditions allowed us to do.
We had one of those days where everything we envisioned came to fruition. After hanging out in Bellingham all day waiting for Liz to get off work and drive up from Tacoma, we arrived at a perfect bivy spot below the glaciers just before dark. We had easy travel in the morning across the Coleman Glacier to the N Ridge, and solid climbing conditions up the ridge, through the crux ice step, and on to the summit.
Davide and Liz heading towards our cap, skinning through a massive new swatch through the forest caused by a large avalanche earlier in the year.
Morning of the climb at our bivy.
Heading across the Coleman Glacier toward the N Ridge.
Liz and I having lunch just below the summit.
It wasn’t too windy on top with the weather staying mostly stable aside from a few high clouds. Liz was sleepy from working all week (and not climbing for months due to tendonitis), so Davide and I took advantage of the good time we were making and skied the top 700′ of the Park Glacier Headwall – a perfect 45°+ ramp dropping off the E side of the summit. We climbed back up, reconvened with Liz, and packed for another descent.
Davide, mid-descent on the Park Glacier HW. Baker Lake below.
Just as Davide and I were clicking in to our skis, Liz strapping into her splitboard, our friend Adam Roberts arrived on the summit. We intended to meet him there but figured that he changed his mind since he was much past his estimated arrival. But there he was, a last minute arrival, ready to drop in on the Coleman HW with us. Adam had just watched another friend of ours, Eduardo Blanchard, drop into the same line solo. Due to the blind roll-over at the top, we didn’t know what the conditions would be like on the line, only that we could see his exit track thousands of feet below on the mellow slopes of the glacier.
Liz strapping in on the top.
We crept towards the edge of the the most unbelievable convex roll I’ve ever skied down, a nemesis in the form of a ski run that has haunted me for years. As happened on one of my previous attempts, as the slope steepened, the snow hardened. Our group slowly worked our way down, the slope sneakily growing steeper and icier with each meter of progress. Finally I reached the point where the convexity relented and I was able to actually see the main slopes below my ski tips instead of just thousands of feet of air. I made a traverse into the center of the face and waited as my friends did the same. Finally through these scary upper slopes, the snow began to welcome us more and more, the slope angle easing a bit as well. Each turn lower yielded better and better spring corn snow, and we were soon able to let our skis and boards fly, fully enjoying the skiing rather than descending in survival mode.
Adam Roberts on the icy convex rollover from hell.
Liz just below the crux. Davide photo.
Ed Blanchard got this picture of our group after his solo of the same line. Davide, Liz and I are together just below the rollover, Adam is lower in the center.
Adam can grip and rip.
Low on the face before traversing left to cross the 'shrunds.
Liz back on the glacier.
A look back.
The skiing was incredible – a singular experience possible only because of the collective worth of previous experiences. As a skier rather than a climber, those turns in the middle of the Coleman Headwall were the summit I’d been striving for.
We exited onto the glacier using snowbridges that offered reasonable passage across two enormous bergschrunds. A long traverse, filled with countless looks over our shoulders at what we had skied, brought us back to our camp where we quickly packed up and booked it back down to the car, then on to Bellingham. Mia came up from Seattle to meet us and join us for dinner. We were delirious with effort, the afterglow of accomplishment, fatigue, and a strong pint of beer. Ever so slowly, being the longest day of the year, the sun went down and we parted ways.
Sometimes avalanches are nice to skiers after all. What a nice run this one created.
I’m so freakin’ stoked. I’m going to be a guest guide for PowderQuest’s Summer Ski Escape in Chile from July 30th to August 5th. I met David Owen, owner of PowderQuest, while in Chile last summer and I’m really psyched to work with his company this summer. Spots are still available for the trip and I need help filling them, so check out the PowderQuest site and tell your friends. After the trip comes the Red Bull/Freeskiing World Tour event in Las Leñas, Argentina, followed by the Chilean Freeskiing Championships at Valle Nevado (which is still pending an official press release/schedule). Its going to be an amazing ski season in Chile, you should go.
