Crossing Paths With Sylvain Saudan

New Englander Dave Watson, who recently skied from the upper reaches Pakistan’s K2, crossed paths last week with the legendary French-born extreme skier, Sylvain Saudan – known in some circles as “the skier of the impossible”. Both Watson and Saudan base themselves out of Gulmarg, Kashmir for a little while each winter, working and enjoying the incredible snows that fall in this corner of the Himalaya. Apparently, they both use the same tailor in town, so it wasn’t long before their paths crossed. Check out …

Holmenkollen Ski Jump

This is a bit of a diversion from our usual posts here at AdventureSkier, but it was too cool to pass up. We can thank the Norwegian Tourist Board for giving us all a take at the famous Holmenkollen Ski Jump, which is being rebuilt with plans to reopen this May 2010.

From the VisitOslo.com website:

“The Holmenkollen Ski Jump was the main arena for the 1952 winter Olympic Games, and plays an important part in the Norwegian skiing tradition. The jump is a national and international …

Avalanche in the Adirondacks

Two northeastern skiers were caught in a dangerous soft-slab avalanche on the Angel Slides below Wright Peak in the High Peaks of New York’s Adirondack Mountains on Febraury 27, 2010. Like most landslide paths, alpine gulleys and steeper faces in the Adirondacks, the Angel Slides are naturally prone to avalanches. In February 2000, another avalanche was triggered here and claimed a skier’s life. The skiers involved in this past week’s avalanche are lucky to be alive and relatively injury-free, and some recent reports about the incident …

Photo of the Week: Alpine Sunshine

Winter has finally begun to loosen its grip on our northeastern mountains. The days are getting longer, windchills on our summits are more likely to be above zero now and then, and with some high pressure sliding over us, it’s a great time to enjoy a little alpine sunshine.

Here’s a shot of Vermonter Forrest Twombly, high above the Champlain Valley on Friday…

Apres Ski: It’s Hard to Beat a Single Chair Ale

There’s no doubt that the enjoyment of a nice beer at the end of a ski day is often a wonderful, if not essential, way to make the transition from skiing back to normal life. It’s so great to bask in the euphoria of the skiing experience, reminisce with a few friends and let your endorphins settle down before doing much of anything, really. To many skiers, a beer, apres-ski, is what makes a good ski day complete.

The New York Times Magazine recently published a nice …

Avalanches in the White Mountains

Nearly 60″ of fresh snow over the last week has once again transformed our northeastern mountains. With 8″ of wind-driven snow having fallen this past Sunday night on the higher summits of the White Mountains, slab avalanches will remain a considerable risk on many steeper slopes in the coming days. If you are heading to the higher summits of the Whites, please proceed with caution and consider hiring a guide (see our Trips/Guiding page). As a good reference and source of current snow and weather …

Photo of the Week: Alpine Sunshine

Winter has finally begun to loosen its grip on our northeastern mountains. The days are getting longer, windchills on our summits are more likely to be above zero now and then, and with some high pressure sliding over us, it’s a great time to enjoy a little alpine sunshine.

Here’s a shot of Vermonter Forrest Twombly, high above the Champlain Valley on Friday…

Now That’s a Forecast – Part 3

Although backcountry snow conditions recovered remarkably well after this winter’s January Thaw, there’s no doubt that our northeastern mountains could use a little bit of fresh snow. With southern New England picking up much needed some snow last week, and the rest of the northeast picking up varying amounts of snow over the last several days, the snow gods seem to coming around again…

The image below was taken from a recent forecast for the High Peaks region of the Adirondacks. Keep up on the latest …

Skiing the Bretton Woods, NH Backcountry

Our friends at FamousInternetSkiers.com have recently posted some nice images from their skiing adventures in the Bretton Woods, NH backcountry. Enjoy! …LINK