High Altitude Skiing in Mexico Holly Walker, a friend and fellow ski mountaineer, approached me this summer with the idea of skiing in Mexico. I immediately said: “That is the stupidest idea I’ve ever heard… When do we leave?” So in November I found myself in Mexico with a huge ski bag and a harebrained scheme to ski the 3rd highest peak in North America, Pico De Orizaba. Most people looked at me quizzically when I explained this plan to them…”you can ski in Mexico?”. The answer is yes!…sort of. […] SnowBrains | December 31, 2013 6 Comments
Ueli Steck Solos 26,545-Ft Annapurna’s South Face Successfully Ueli Steck has successfully summited 26,545-foot Annapurna’s south face on October 9th, 2013. He sent a text from base camp at 2am on Oct. 9th that simply said: “Summit, alone, South Face.” This is the first time Annapurna’s south face has been climbed solo. Ueli has attempted the South Face of Annapurna twice before unsuccessfully. In […] SnowBrains | October 10, 2013 1 Comment
All National Parks are CLOSED Right Now | Jimmy Chin Video: “The National Parks Are Treasures” This video just came out last week, which is very ironic as all National Parks in the USA are closed right now. Jimmy Chin is a professional mountaineer and photographer and is highly respected in all mountain communities. In this video, Jimmy tells us why National Parks are special. We need the USA to figure out this current budget issue […] SnowBrains | October 1, 2013 8 Comments
Skiing in Peru’s Cordillera Blanca: Copa and Quitaraju This May and June I had the opportunity to join a trip to try and ski some high peaks in Peru’s Cordillera Blanca. This report is from the third part of our trip: attempts to ski Nevado Copa and Quitaraju. Check out the first and second parts of our trip here: Quebrada Ishinca and Artesonraju. Having been denied summits twice in a […] Climbing Lee Lyon | June 25, 2013 4 Comments
Skiing in Peru’s Cordillera Blanca: Urus, Ishinca and Tocllaraju | Photo Tour This May and June I had the opportunity to join a trip to try and ski some high peaks in Peru’s Cordillera Blanca. This report is from the first part of our trip: the journey from Switzerland to Huaraz Peru, and our adventure into the Quebrada Ishinca. I entered this trip with some hesitation, for a couple of reasons. […] Backcountry Lee Lyon | June 18, 2013 16 Comments
Skiing Peru’s Cordillera Blanca: Video Reports from Urus, Ishinca, and Artesonraju This May and June I had the opportunity to join a trip to try and ski some high peaks in Peru’s Cordillera Blanca. This post gives a little taste of what we got up to. It features two videos: one from our acclimatization climbs on Urus Este and Ishinca, and one POV video from Artesonraju’s SE face. Stay […] Climbing Lee Lyon | June 17, 2013 1 Comment
Mt. Rainier Conditions Report: 3 Days on Rainier & 21,000’ of Skiing | Photo Tour While the ski season is winding down for most folks this year, I decided to cram in a few last steep turns before packing my skis away for the months ahead. Tioga has been skiing great, but it’s days were numbered and the weather was for once telling me to go north and get some big mountain volcano skiing. After […] Zeb Blais | May 12, 2013 4 Comments
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