Happily ahead of Par

What a feeling! I couldn’t keep the smile off my face today, I was so excited to be in fact at Par and now slightly ahead of it. Each creamy corn lap was fun, each summit exciting. Damn I cannot believe how long it took me to get back on PAR. June 1st I fell behind and now its Oct 10th, so many days spent playing catch up. The farthest behind was probable 75 000 feet, and then I would gain some, loose some.  And now finally on day 283 I am ahead of par. At an average of 5480 ft a day I should be at 1550840, and I am at 1553460 ft, exactly 2620 feet ahead. Yahhhhhh.

And when I hit par, on the summit of Volcan Viejo, I showed the mountains that hill is still kickin’

Pretty tough to time that one with my self-timer, but five tries later and I got it.  From there I rewarded myself with a nice dunk in the hotsprings.

This hotspring is kinda warm, not hot, but so refreshing on this warm spring day. Then a last tour up and home.  My seventh 10 thousand footer in a row..

And now I am celebrating,a steak on the barbecue, a bottle of Merlot and I am going to skype call anyone I know back home.

5 times 10 000 = good math

Well as I said its all athletics right now. You may have notice my skiometer jumping in 10 000 foot increments for the last 5 days. Pretty wicked, 52 040 ft in the last 5 days. Still not quite on par but pretty f-ing close. Not tomorrow unless I really kill it, which I won’t. So most likely I will hit par on October 10th.

Pretty simple existence right now, wake up, computer stuff, get out, run up and down and up and down, hit 10 grand, head home, relax for an hour, take the dogs for a 30 minute bike ride and eat, call home, feel homesick,edit a bit,go to sleep, repeat.

50 Classic Ski Descents of NA

This book looks amazing, exactly like they say, ” a visual and inspirational” book. I don’t imagine it is anything like a guide book but more a coffee table book to stare and and dream through. I know that the few lines I helped them with are mouth watering; I can only imagine what the whole book is like.  Definitely a book worth having. I can’t wait to get my copy.

The book is a large-format compilation of iconic and aesthetic ski descents from Alaska to Mount Washington. Created by ski mountaineers Chris Davenport, Art Burrows and Penn Newhard, Fifty Classic Ski Descents taps into the local knowledge of contributors such as Andrew McLean, Glen Plake, Lowell Skoog, Chic Scott and Ptor Spricenieks with first person descriptions
of their favorite ski descents and insightful perspectives on ski mountaineering past, present and future. The book features 208 pages of gorgeous action and mountain images from many of North America’s top photographers. Whether you are planning an expedition to Baffin Island’s Polar Star Couloir or heading out for dawn patrol on Mount Superior, Fifty Classic Ski Descents is a visual and inspirational feast of ski mountaineering in North America.

Books will be distributed by Wolverine Publishing beginning November 10, 2010. http://wolverinepublishing.com/ and available to pre-order at a 10% discount until November 1, 2010: http://bit.ly/buXM2W

A special limited edition of 200 books will be available directly from the publisher. Each Limited Edition book will be hand numbered and signed by the authors, and come in a hard bound case for collectors. If you wish to order a Limited Edition contact Chris Davenport: chris@steepskiing.com

The book brings in many local/accomplished skiers including Hilaree O’Neill, Lou Dawson, Jimmy Chin, Chic Scott, Pete Patterson, Kristoffer Erickson, Lowell Skoog, Mark Synnott, Greg Hill, Kevin Quinn, Eric Pehota and others. Photographers include Christian Pondella, Will Wissman, Brad Washburn, Chris Figenshau, Keoki Flagg, Ruedi Homberger, Whit Richardson and Jonathan Selkowitz to name a few.

If this book looks interesting to you I would encourage you to order soon. I know that the 14ers book sold out quickly and I bet this one will gather even more interest.

Thanks to Michael Davies for his donation and words of advice. Conveniently Youtube has videos on IT band stretches..