Ten places I want to ski before Climate Change overtakes the snow

I just spent the last 2 weeks researching the Dolomites, Holy Cow! They are beautiful, big, littered with couloirs, long valleys and rifugios that are ridiculous in the level of service you expect to find above 6,000'. That pushed me to make my wish list where I want to ski before the snow goes away.  I thought I should share my list  and hope I hear some more ideas from you:

Canada

• Roger's Pass
• Fairy Meadows/Sorcerer Lodge
• Wapta Traverse

Europe

• La Grave
• Dolomites
• Chamonix/Courmeyeur

Asia

• Manali/Simla
• Hokkaido

South America

• Chile-Volcanoes

Africa

• Morocco/Toubkal

Those are my ten places to ski before Climate Change, so where do you want to go?

Workout of the Day-Next week begins the Periodization for Opening Day!

Some might think that some east german cult abducted me with all this talk of periodization! I actually suffered memory loss and recall some bright lights and sharp pain in my neck before waking up with this idea, however Mulder and Scully are on and I am back to working out, whew... With that out of the way, Periodization is a systematic approach to reach optimal performance at a particular time of your choosing. For someone like myself, it also performs the role of injury prevention.

The combination of sport specific and general core fitness will help me start the ski season and absorb some of the high impacts that occur at the higher speeds of downhill skiing.  Today I did a leg centric routine combining maximal strength and work capacity.


Warm up: Shoulder band stretch from 8' bar, 3 sets of 10 air squats

WO 1:      Back squats 3-5 sets working up to a set of 3eps at maximum load

WO 2      2 Kettle bell (8-16 kg) 3 reps(9 total per round) of sumo deadlift/dl & clean/dl & snatch for as many rounds in 15 minutes.

I felt worked but not over the top. Good enough to begin the next 8 week periodization cycle for mid-December opening day. If you are interested in following, let me know and I can post an actual schedule for the 8 week cycle.

Google Sidewiki entry by Matt

Makes the expression head in the sand seem more relevant.

in reference to: The Associated Press: Saudis ask for aid if world cuts dependence on oil (view on Google Sidewiki)

The Legend of Glen Plake and the legacy of the Blizzard of Ahhs

I first saw Glen Plake in the Greg Stump Film, Blizzard of Ahhs. That experience showed many skiers the world of skiing steep, big mountains, which cracked open my reality and inspired me to turn skiing into a vocation as well as a passion. Youtube now makes everyone a film-maker and twenty years later Glen and legendary Chamonix guide, Remy Lecluse, ski the peaks of Peru, my heroes! Enjoy watching the evolution of a skiing icon...

Fall Gear Review-Are you looking at filling a quiver or just seeking the one?

Snow is falling in the high country across the west and I am feeling a strong buzz that needs to ski! On that note a quick look at our quiver of skis and see what the new season has to offer us. For myself, I look for 3 to 4 types of skis to cover my season.

For inbounds/resort skiing, I like to have an all mountain ski for powder and off piste, then a set of carving/race skis for firm conditions and fast skiing. My all mountain ski is 95-110 under foot with regular alpine bindings or a Marker Duke or Baron, since I will do limited touring and more hiking around the resort. The carving/race ski is optional, however Salomon or Volkl offer you an opportunity to enjoy hardpack and carve it like a samurai with a new blade.

For the back country ideally two set ups will give you the best range for the variability of the snowpack throughout a season. My first set is a fat ski with a dynafit binding for early to late season deeper new snow conditions. This ski should handle powder, crud and some firm conditions equally well. With the new design of reverse came tip and zero camber in the rest of the ski, this generation of skis bring a dedicated tip that will float to the top effortlessly while allowing the rest of the ski to engage in dicey conditions.

The second touring ski is usually much lighter and narrower at the waist.  It will also have a dynafit binding.  This ski will be used for pre-season snow patch searching expeditions.  After the first big dump of the season, this ski won't get pulled out again until late April and into the summer volcano season.

While it is nice to have a quiver of 4 skis, it is possible to get away with only two pair of skis, and maybe even..yes, I'll say it...one pair of skis.  If you are looking to add to your quiver, I would highly suggest trying out the new non-traditional cambered skis.  They will allow for the best powder days to become the best powder days EVER!  As a one ski quiver goes, remember to buy a ski for the conditions that actually exist where you are skiing them and make sure your boots fit.  Often times a new boot can make an old ski feel young again!

Check out the new series of 'tech' bindings.  Dynafit has become the Kleenex of lightweight touring bindings, but now there is a new player in the market.  G3 (better known for their tele bindings and skins) has released a new binding that can be used with any 'dynafit compatible' boot.  The term 'dynafit compatible' will be going away and the term 'tech compatible' will become the norm.  Now that there is more than one player in the game, I guess we must change our old ways...hmmm.

Workout of the Day

I finally put down the laptop and got off the couch,  after finishing a grad school homework binge, whew! I actually did workout, seemed hard but steady:

Warmup
Best stretch in the world, jump rope and 10*pushups, v-ups and air squats.

1st workout
2 sets of pull ups to warm up
1 set max pull up (I got to 17:)

2nd workout
10* 30 seconds for each exercise , with 60 second rest followed by each set. Exercises are pull-ups and thrusters @ 20-60 kg.

For weight, go as high as you feel comfortable, with 300 seconds you should be able to do it with near failure toward the end.

Today's workout courtesy of Crossfit Seattle

Workout of the day in Seattle, All about the legs!

Warmup
3* 10 air squats/10 push ups 10 v-ups

Round 1(max 20x)
1*10 back squat just bar
1*20 back squat just bar
1-3 rounds at higher weight till max @ 20 reps

Round 2
4* 20 Wall Ball & sprint 100 meters

Notes: Last round of wall ball just about claimed my breakfast, great start to the ski season try it!

New Ideas for a new season

As the cold front hits Seattle, I am frantically organizing my life around the coming ski season, certainly a problem with a one track mind. Last time I mentioned some new ideas about my approach to fitness and taken the next step to start a new company with a good friend of mine, Christi Masi, founder of the Healthy Bride & Healthy Goddess and all around multi-sport bad-ass. The new venture is NW Athlete, a fitness program based on Rob Shaul's Mt Athlete for the Northwest and my clients who for years have asked about mountain fitness.

For the last year I have worked out with Crossfit and found a new level of durability and strength to compliment the usual running and climbing. For me, this compliments my new passion in sustainability as this makes all mountain sports a long time pursuit with the knowledge I am doing everything I can for fitness and injury prevention. As Christi asked me for a top ten list, here is what we came up with for our top ten reasons for getting fit for ski season:

1. Because you are tired of skiing the one day tours and want to do a three tram ride day at La Grave or ski off Rainier and still have the stamina for all the beer you can drink afterwards.

2. Your kids are becoming better skiers than you, and you want to blow their minds this year by leaving them in the dust.

3. You are one year older this year and you know you better work at getting in shape so you don’t hurt yourself this year.

4. That trip to Rogers Pass will be WAY more fun if you can ski the mountain top to bottom without stopping.

5. Those new skis will feel lighter if you actually workout a bit more...

6. That couloir/traverse/ski descent just keeps calling to you and THIS is the year!

7. You want strong legs and core anyway.

8. Your BFF is begging you to do it with her.

9. To get your friend to go on BCA Guides trip this season, you have to go.

10. Because you know it will be a great season if you get of the couch and just do it!

With that in mind, an hour a day starting now will get you ready, starting Oct 15 I will start posting workouts you can follow and ask about for the first 8 week periodization program to get you ready for the December opening day!

Cheers,
Matt

Get up Stand up

Sometimes, getting back to basics really enables one to strip away the useless fluff and unleash the machine within, or at least that is the misconception I operate under. As sport specific as climbing and skiing are, the core, adaptive fitness takes a back seat, til now...

With the growth of Crossfit and Mt Athlete, I think it is time to reconsider what real mountain fitness is. First, let's examine some benchmarks to gauge what constitutes a fit skier or climber. Then we will break down the components.

Skiing requires dynamic leg strength and power endurance to competently ski a big alpine run in any condition.



Touring like nordic skiing delves into deeper muscle endurance and specific fitness that must be trained in the discipline.

One aspect that all of these disciplines have in common is adaptive, core fitness.

Grad School versus Skiing

After 1 1/2 quarters of school, skiing feels a little put out from neglect. My inner hedonist keeps telling me, 'go ski, that's your job!' The overwhelmed student looks at the hedonist with bags under his eyes pleading for some discipline to get the work done, then play. So far the student is edging the hedonist since the purpose of the degree is Sustainable business MBA.

Studying for the next generation of business actually entails studying business today, which currently hits my threshold of time. Luckily the crust in the PNW backcountry keeps me from losing my mind, I enjoy the chllenge to bring balance to this new phase of my life.

Trying to link in Technorati Profile and join the greater community.