It snowed over 1 meter last week, and storms keep heading our way. This has been one of the greatest winters I can remember. We have been skiing great untracked powder runs every day. All of the big couloirs are filled down to the river. A lot of the runs that normally require the use of the rope have so much snow that you can just link turns through the technical cruxes. It is amazing. This is not a winter to miss.

Check out some recent photos at Smart Mountain Guides

The powder has not disappointed, as you can see from today’s photos, (Saturday). We woke up to sunshine, views of Mount Yotei and about 12 inches of the lightest freshest powder you could imagine. The temperatures dropped considerably late yesterday but the frozen toes and noses paid off today after our first turns. Check out Tara Gorman and MacKenzie Mailly getting really deep, pictures of the famed volcano, Mt. Yotei and the wind affect on the peak of Mt. Annupuri.

The rest of our clients arrived and we all got out to ski together and tour the resorts here in Niseko. There are 4 resorts that share the same mountain, sounds crazy but this mountain is very big. We purchased all mountain tickets so we were free to roam anywhere we wanted.

After finally arriving in Niseko, Japan after a grueling travel experience,
we had the luxury of soaking in the Japanese Onsens, (japanese hot springs
mineral baths), what a relaxing way to start our Japanese experience. Our
first ski day was amazing, it is funny how ski culture differs but yet is so
much the same, (especially snowboard culture, ha-ha). I will expand on this
more later. We had a fabulous Japanese ski guide, Toshi, who took us all
over the mountain and out of bounds, (similar to going out the gates at

Forgive me for being a Grinch, but Nepal definitely has us beat when it comes to Holidays. The entire month of October is, more or less, consumed by two massive festivals and great debauchery. Then, the rest of the year is filled with scattered holidays and sacred weeks. If you really tried, one could find a reason to celebrate for each and every full moon, most new moons, and a good portion of the days in between.

It appears that I’m back in the States. The holidays loom, snow piles up upon the roof then slides onto the lawn. I plow the driveway, fight with old logging equipment, talk to my colleagues in Nepal on the phone.

Hi Everyone!

After being in England for almost 7 weeks, I am finally home. It has been quite the journey in this time, experiencing everything the Grit could throw at us: success, failure, ground falls, injuries, good weather, horrible weather, awesome locals, generous hosts, and way more climbing than we could hope to cover in the time we had.

November 20, 2008

Transit, Again.

They’re de-icing the airplanes already. The fog that swaddles Kathmandu, tucked into the serpentine alleys, the early morning roadways all calico with bicycles, the odd bus, the vegetable sellers – all behind me now. For now.

The last weeks in Kathmandu, of course, some blur of last meetings, work unfinished, hurried goodbyes. My heart littered across the valley, strewn like fourth-of-July candy along the parade route, and parts of it now, still, leaking through the windows and fuselage of this airplane headed home.

October 22, 2008

October 8th, 2008

I think my motorcycle is a vegetarian. I’ve tried to explain this to my Nepali family, but it falls upon deaf ears. This year, yet again, I found myself compelled to rattle and shake my way across the bad roads to the ancient city of Bhaktapur and whittle away an afternoon with my family drinking the local rakshi (moonshine), watching Hindi movies, and then sacrificing a helpless duck and spreading the blood across my bike – all to appease the vengeful goddess, Durga.