“What is the impact of the closing down of the Wilderness on the development of children’s imaginations? This is what I worry about the most. I grew up with a freedom, a liberty that now seems breathtaking and almost impossible. Recently, my younger daughter, after the usual struggle and exhilaration, learned to ride her bicycle. Her joy at her achievement was rapidly followed by a creeping sense of puzzlement and disappointment as it became clear to both of us that there was nowhere for her to ride it—nowhere that I was willing to let her go. Should I send my children out to play?

There is a small grocery store around the corner, not over two hundred yards from our front door. Can I let her ride there alone to experience the singular pleasure of buying herself an ice cream on a hot summer day and eating it on the sidewalk, alone with her thoughts? Soon after she learned to ride, we went out together after dinner, she on her bike, with me following along at a safe distance behind. What struck me at once on that lovely summer evening, as we wandered the streets of our lovely residential neighborhood at that after-dinner hour that had once represented the peak moment, the magic hour of my own childhood, was that we didn’t encounter a single other child.

Even if I do send them out, will there be anyone to play with?

Art is form of exploration, of sailing off into the unknown alone, heading for those unmarked places on the map. If children are not permitted–not taught–to be adventurers and explorers as children, what will become of the world of adventure, of stories, of literature itself?”

An excerpt from Michael Chabon’s excellent Manhood for Amateurs.

Note: This was written back in April.

View 2011-04-10 19:25 M Trail in a larger map

Over the next week or so I’ll be trying to catch up on this a bit, including TR’s from an attempt on the Grand Teton and other misadventures.

Stay tuned.

Nothing like a little altitude gain to both humble and inspire at the same time.

A recent project had resulted in the acquisition of a Burton S-Series splitboard and I took it out on its maiden voyage yesterday in Jackson. Snow King is the local in-town hill up there and in spite of the recent warm temps and sun, there’s still a good stretch of snow stretching from summit to parking lot. After a couple hours at the Boardroom getting the bindings and skins dialed, CB and I drove over and started skinning up. Sitting at my desk for as long as I have, I quickly felt the effects of too little exercise as we gained altitude. I kept up pretty well for the first three-quarters of the climb, but soon had to slow down and take frequent breathers as my lungs kept trying to exit through my mouth. The snow had been falling off and on all morning, but the clouds parted during the ascent and kept things pretty warm. There were a few spots were we had to boot pack along the cat track – things are melting out pretty quickly now – but we soon crested the summit ridge and were greeted with a wide panoramic view of the valley and the mountains on the other side of the King. The wind was blowing pretty stiff, but it felt good after having shuffled up in the sun.

View the set at Flickr

Pull skins, eat some cashews, gloves on… I managed to convert back to ride mode pretty easily, but it took a good 700 feet of descent before I felt comfortable enough—and capable of—linking any turns. It was a bit icy up top and the steep angle made me a bit hesitant, which resulted in quite a bit of scraping and butt-sliding, but I was grinning through it all, just to be out and winded and in the process of it all. The boots I was riding were my older La Sportivas, but they’re just not quite right for this. They did great going up, but aren’t stiff enough for my liking on the way down, and were pretty uncomfortable going toe-side. There’s still some adjustments I’ll need to do to the board setup. I think my stance could be a bit wider as it was tougher than normal initiating toe-side turns on the steep sections. It’s definitely a bit heavier than other setups I’ve used, but not worth worrying about. The older Burton interface was a little problematic though. My left binding popped off a couple of times, which hopefully was just a result of not pushing down the locking tab far enough. Other than that it was a great ride down, considering it was only the second time I’ve boarded this season (sigh). Once we were left with about 700 feet to go the angle softened up and I was able to feel a bit more relaxed and managed to sync up my turns all the way to the grass.

Overall? The best 1500′ lunch I’ve had in a long time. A definite eye-opener towards future trips and possibilities, as well as my current fitness levels. There’s still plenty of terrain to explore up at Teton Pass this spring, and it was a good kick in the pants to get out of my office/cell and do what I know makes me truly happy.

10 Seconds in the Tetons from sethsquatch on Vimeo.

Last June my friend Hamish Tear and I spent the morning out on Jenny Lake in order to take a few shots from the middle of the water. It was tough to get the shots lined up because of the waves from the shuttle boats, but I think it was worth it just to get out and on the water for a bit…

I’m behind a bit in posting both trips and photos, but hopefully can catch up in the next week or so. There’s a trip into the Wind Rivers with the kids to post, and a little hike up Mt. Rainier to write up, so please stay tuned. I’m planning on a trip up in the Tetons tomorrow morning as well, so hopefully I can get some traction and get this all moving again.

To tide you over until I can do things right, please enjoy this wee video that Mark put together from the Rainier trip…

There’s nothing quite like a looming Big Trip staring at you from the calendar to inspire a Little Trip outside to get some miles and elevation under you… A couple weeks ago the weather was just perfect for a quick leg stretcher up one of the hills just behind the house. I didn’t have any pretense of being in shape, but wanted to see how it felt to climb something steep in the snow and to take advantage of the sun before the weather was supposed to come back in the next day. Prater Canyon sits directly to the west of our home in Star Valley Ranch, so it was just a quick drive up along the golf course to the mouth of the canyon. It’s a pretty rugged bit of country back there – you don’t see the jaggedness of the cliffs until you actually get back inside the walls of the narrow slot, or can get up on one of the shoulders of the neighboring hills – but it’s quite impressive.

The snow was packed down pretty well at the entrance to the canyon from the snowmobiles, and as soon as I stepped off to the north I was post-holing up to my thighs before I could get up on the steep stuff. It was already starting to melt out a little on the lower slopes as they’re so steep with a southern exposure, but with my big boots I managed to quickly get up into the more solid snows above. A small herd of deer was sitting above me in the shade of a scrubby-looking bunch of trees, but soon began to traverse back around when they saw me coming up. There really wasn’t much to this trip, other than a lot of zigzagging across the open snow and trying to keep a good pace. I stopped to take a few photos and managed to drop my camera case with the extra battery and memory card, which tumbled down for quite a while before I lost sight of it. It left a good trail though in the snow and I figured I could track it down pretty easily on the way back down.

Reaching the top of the main shoulder I turned and took a number of shots of the spreading valley below me. I had brought up a two-way radio and called up the family to go out on the porch while I used the signal mirror I’d brought and said hello with a few sun-flashes. The mini-summit where I’d landed leveled out only for a few yards before heading back up into the trees and onto higher elevations, but I needed to get back to my Saturday so I ate a quick bagel sandwich and headed back down, plunge-stepping back into my tracks and trying not to tip over forward on the steep sections. I quickly found my camera bag and shuffled back to the car, with only a mile and a half under me, but almost 1700 feet of elevation gained which felt pretty good. It was mostly just nice to get outside in my own backyard and enjoy the warmth of the sun on my back while the wind kept things nice and cool as I climbed. I’m going to need to pick up the pace if I’m going to be ready for any kind of Big Trip this summer, but it was a good little stretch that was worth the few hours away from home…

The plan was to get up early enough to catch the sunrise, but I took too long to pack the night before so it wasn’t too hard to sleep through a couple snooze cycles with the alarm. By the time I was in the park, the sun was already up, so I hustled up to Antelope Flats with the intention of first skiing over to Mormon Row and back before heading up to Bradley Lake. The skis were borrowed from my brother-in-law, so the fit wasn’t exactly perfect, but I managed to get about 200 yards down the trail before realizing what a terrible skier I was and that I’d be much happier and productive hustling up a trail to the lake on snowshoes.

I turned around and headed off across the road to the Taggart Lake trailhead. In the winter, the road between the trailhead and Signal Mountain up near Jackson Lake is closed to vehicles and opened up for skiers and snowshoeing and the like. The parking lot was mostly empty, with just a few cars full of dawn patrolers getting a late start like myself. I thought about putting on the skis, but knew it would be more painful than fun and resigned myself to clomping around for a bit on the Tubbs. The sky was cloudless and bright blue by now, and the sun was high enough to throw some long shadows in front of me as I plodded through the alternating pockets of powder and crust alongside the skin track. It’s tough to be stealthy and silent on snowshoes in those conditions, as I had wanted to try to see a moose or something, but the snow was really squeaky and the crust was thick enough that each step was a veritable snow implosion.

The trail was well packed in, but it didn’t stop me from doing a little cross-country trail breaking of my own. I tried to stay out of the track as much as possible, as the cleats and claws of a snowshoe can really tear it up for the skiers, and it made for a much more effective workout as I broke trail on the upper slope above the actual trail. Reaching the split to Taggart Lake, where the trail goes through some thick young post-fire growth, I opted to stay to the right towards Bradley Lake, just a bit farther up the trail. The way to Bradley stayed up on a bit of a ridge, so as I continued to climb, the flat white expanse of a frozen Taggart Lake came into view. The trail started to get a bit steeper here, and transitioned from the openness of the old burn area to the colder and thicker forest proper.

The ridge continued for only a little while before I could see to the north and where the lake sat at the foot of the imposing flanks of the Grand and her neighbors. A few ski tracks dropped down into the trees which I followed before picking up a more well-used trail which took me right to the edge of the lake. A quick breakfast of salami and cheese and crackers, as well as a few photos and I was heading back to the car.

Once I got back up onto the ridge it was nice and just downhill enough that I kept up a pretty good pace and managed to get back to the car without too much of a problem. My heels were feeling it and I ended up with a couple of blisters that I’m not too proud of, but other than that it was definitely worth the effort to get up and out of the house. If nothing else, as the first real outing of the year, hopefully it will get me moving a little more consistently as I try to catch up on my mileage goals for the year and take advantage of the amazing little slice of the world where we live…

See the entire set @ flickr »

Hardly deserving of an official Altitude Slickness trip report, I spent the night outside in my car last week up in the Grand Teton National Park, and blogged a bit about the evening’s activities over on The Armchair Mountaineer.

Selah.