There is a really good snowpack in the southwest right now.
Mrs G. and me have been touring twice in the last week, the snow is perfect...a solid two feet of base with four inches of fluff.
Climbing is suddenly far away...
May I add that Green Mountain is a good snowboard destination as well.
An easy hike leads to nice turns.
There are ample places to construct a booter*, and there are numerous small lines to drop.
(* a good jump)
In the closing years of the last century, we would ski the southern slopes of Green Mountain.
This little beauty was always some of the earliest turns in the PNW, due to slopes covered in heather and grass...
Have any of you kids ever skied or made sweet love (like me) on the fine slopes of Green Mtn?
Let's just say that this is the canary in the coal mine.
The west is running out of water....
Fast.
Are you ready?
I was out in Lake Mead the other day, pretty amazing to think that Los Angeles, Pheonix, San Diego, Las Vegas and parts of Mexico relies on a source of water...that is drying up at a rate of 20 feet a year.
Click on this NASA link for the plain truth, be sure to hold your mouse over the photo of the lake.
Earth Observer lake mead photos
I was up at the mountain yesterday, we have a really good snowpack going on, with a warmer first layer of snow that should provide for some good ice.
The VHM was just a thin strip of white, not even close to climbable. Watch the link I posted for your awnser....After all, it is ice in the middle of the desert.
As for the flows that seep out of the limestone bands behind Red rocks.... that is a long way to hike for ice that might fall off when you touch it.
But it does look good! JM is much more of an expert than I about such matters....
We topped out on Rainbow mountain a couple of winters ago to the sight of a ten foot wide river of solid ice that dissapeared down to the climbers left of Rainbow wall.
I am a climbing high steel rigger.
We do stage shows and convention work.
This summer I also became internationally certified as a rope access technician.
There seems to a lot of work for climbers, we aready used to taking care of ourselves in difficult situations.
I am sick of the labels...I climb! Trad, sport,alpine, pebbler, ice, trees, all fall under the simple term...climber.
By choosing to climb, I choose to live my life without without limits.