| Sun | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | ||
| 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
| 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 |
| 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 |
| 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | ||
First 1-legged ascent up Bridger headwall
By admin on 5 Mar 2011 9:48 AM in amputee, athlete, confidence, disability, disabled, jackson hole, lungs, outriggers, skiing
Photo by Stephen Koch
OK, we don’t know officially if it is first 1-legged ascent but the people that know Jackson Hole well think so.
Through good friend, mountaineer, skier and snowboarder extraordinaire Stephen Koch–the first to descend the highest peaks on 6 of the 7 continents on a snowboard (http://stephenkoch.com)–my brother Mike and I had a strong in with the ski patrol. We were invited to climb, watch them blast and clear avalanche danger and then take a few runs with ski patrolman Kevin P.
We were to show up at 6:30 am when, on this March 4 morning it was still dark. Driving up to the mountain it was still pitch dark and I counted no fewer than 7 big snow cats still working hard way up on the mountain to finish grooming before they were forced off by the mountain’s imminent opening to the public. At the main home for the ski patrol where they had offices, a huge locker room, and meeting rooms, we were to meet Stephen and Kevin. We were each required to bring the new air bag back packs that inflate all around you if you get caught in an avalanche as well as a shovel, probe and an electronic beacon that ski patrol and search and rescue teams can use to find you even under many feet of snow. Stephan had extra air bag packs for us and Mike had extra beacon, probe and shovel for me. We also had to sign waivers of liability that had the words ‘serious injury’ and ‘death’ in several places.
Next was the morning briefing. Whereas Hill Street Blues had the bald sergeant barking about the rape, the murder and the car-jacking, here the ‘sergeant’ of the ski patrol barks about the snow depth, the slabs that slid recently, and the areas they might be able to open after teams secure those areas from the foot of fresh powder from the previous 48 hours. Assignments were made, teams were formed to cover designated routes and everyone was out the door.
Us too. And we headed to the gondola where the ski patrol force and their observers were riding up to hike up the steep boot path to the headwall above the Bridger buildings and Gondola. Most of the problem areas and all the assigned morning routes began from the top of this hike. We and 20-some patrollers were assembled at the flat staging just below the hike. It was not quite 7 am. It was steep. I need to say that again. This was so steep that my maniac 22-year old super-skier nephews get to the headwall from the longer but much more gradual hike from the tram. Not an option this day as only the gondola runs this early.
I was not sure the best technique to use to climb this with outriggers. I climb or hike very occasionally at ski areas mostly if a run I really love is only accessible that way. At Alta Catherine’s is worth the gradual, skis-on 100-yard hike. On super powder days I would also do the Devil’s Castle hike there if I was skiing with someone who carried my ski. It was short and moderately steep but I could flip the outrigger skis down and place them in previous hikers boot steps and it went pretty well. Even the old Telluride’s Gold Hill hike (before the lift), was a long but very gradual hike we did once a day but again this was a walk with outriggers used as crutches on the very hard pack trail. For this Jackson Hole hike skis were strapped to the hikers back so you knew this was more serious than any of those others. And even these fit, super-experienced ski patrol were flailing a bit on the first big step to start the hike. I wanted to wait until all the patrol had headed up for two reasons. It would mean more packing of the boot steps and I, at my much slower pace, would not keep important workers from their appointed tasks. As it was I knew Kevin would be up at the top waiting for me. But I still had no idea how and if I was going to pull this off.
But there is no substitute for just going for it with a can do attitude. And so I did. But even getting up that first step was a challenge. I needed a boost. Luckily so had several of the ski patrol! Now the question was how was this going to work? Should the outriggers be in flipped up mode as they were for walking? That presents the ground with the tail of the short ski that has sharp screws sticking out for traction. They are more like crutches in this mode and won’t slip around but will sink in if the snow is not very hard. If the little skis are flipped down they are, well, skis and are designed to slip so I doubted that would work especially on such a steep hike. So I started up. I would put the outriggers down and try to step up with my single foot as high as I could trying to match up to those existing boot steps. What would happen is that the outriggers would sink and that would destroy my progress. Or my foot placement would not hold and it would slip backwards. On a good stretch I’d get five steps before I had top stop from exhaustion–mostly I was gasping for air. I think I was fighting lack of acclimation to altitude as well as my diminished lung capacity. But I have never breathed so fast for so long as this hike.
Photo by Stephen Koch
A little ways up we realized the boot was slipping too often so we put a mountaineering crampon on it and that helped enormously. I could slam my boot toe into the steep hillside and no matter where I placed it, the crampon would hold me in place. That gave me one less thing to worry about slipping or sinking in. But those darn outriggers still kept finding no bottom and would sink way down and provide me no platform to move up from. A couple of times that dramatic sinking caused me to fall backwards and scare my climbing partners to death. In the end I settled on a technique that was crampon on the boot plus use just one outrigger trying to be very careful to place it where the base was firm and keep my other hand on the snow to keep me low and stable. It still felt like I was basically hopping so it was incredibly exhausting. My lungs have never worked so hard. But I made it to the top only about 500 vertical feet after the hardest hour of effort I can remember.
Photo by Stephen Koch
Kevin was there waiting and ready for his tasks. He had us go out to the very tip of a buttress that had at least a 500 foot drop so no room for error. Meanwhile Kevin and his partner Jason threw charges over the cliff. One of them really set off quite a slide which later we would ski through. Kevin had us ski around the rocks to an area way above the gondola terminus. He had Jason cut across the slope above us and he easily made it slide. It was just about a 6″ slab about 30′ across that slide down a 100 yards or so. Saved a charge with that move. A few more charges thrown and both Jason and Kevin were done. Now we could ski. We had about a foot of fresh powder intermixed with some slide debris. It was fantastic. Except I had really blown a lot of my leg strength for the ski day doing that climb.
Kevin skied with us a few more runs and then had to go do real ski patrol work. Stephen stayed with us and after a couple of very fast cruisers, he took us out of bounds for some incredible back country stashes. Incredible day. But it required several people have some real patience and a great attitude. I have to really acknowledge Stephen Koch and Kevin P as well as my brother Michael to make this day possible.
But the lesson for me and others was clear: I didn’t know if I could do this thing but I went straight at it with a positive attitude and with persistence and determination (and patience of those with me) I did it and it felt good. Remember what Scott Hamilton, the olympic skater says, “The only disability in life is a bad attitude.”
85 Responses to “First 1-legged ascent up Bridger headwall”
Leave a Reply
Events
2012 Fundraising
Buy book/logowear
Submit a Story
Tell us the story of you or someone you know who is inspiring. Maybe they should be on the new TV series Who Says I Can’t!Â
[...] reading here: First 1-legged ascent up Jackson Hole's Bridger headwall | Who … Tags: a-huge-locker, finish-grooming, had-offices, home-for, huge-locker, imminent-opening, [...]
you can place any content you want…
as you are in total control.another benefit is that you can customize your blog and can make it look the way you want it to be. also if you are for certain features rest assured that you will find the plug-in…
the best programs to use are the…
ones that are with your hosting company, with a domain that you own.this means that you control the future of your blog, with no nasty surprises. you will not wake up one day after spending time, money and energy writing content…
easy indexing by the search engines. this…
will help you achieve your goal of getting the top spot as well as drive the most traffic to your site.• submit your articles to the popular directory sites. this will make you achieve good web presence and be seen by…
indexed fast. the trick to making this…
work is to optimize content around a niche keyword for your industry.wordpress.com: this site has many nice looking templates that make your blog look very professional. you can also use it to set up your own blogging site and drive more…
rather read a page of great content…
than a hundred page essay that is badly written. write what you would read, if you only write a blog to make money then you won’t go far you will give up before you start making some real money.1. to write…
benzoin capitulator bathyseism…
http://angiosteosis-balsamiferous-asterinidae.com/...
angiograph apologal baromotor…
http://bootmaker-canarium-anthophyllite.com/...
can produce content for your website or…
blog, or give you articles to submit to article directories. they do more than just write content for you, though. they can actually help you improve your business’s visibility in a number of ways.they help you create organic back linkswhenever you…
tech is same as in any other…
graduation course, which is minimum 50% marks in 10th and 12th grade. but, there is one more thing which is to be considered as well and that is the marks in subjects such as physics, chemistry and mathematics, as a student…
amphisbaenic argumentator archhypocrite…
http://antinomical-acetylenyl-assuetude.com/...
trial run, (6 months to a year)…
and see if you don’t yield better results. your headline is what will pull a reader in or push a reader away. it must be engaging, interesting and targeted. you have to make it so that readers want to read further,…
to be “ms eggerson the english teacher”…
to know how to use proper grammar but you do need to check over your content & use the spell check button.7) not responding to questions & comments: if someone takes the time to leave a comment or ask you a…
the options with the best chances to…
make you a nice income. so let’s stop wasting time, and start reading.online writerdo you like writing? do you have excellent writing skills? are you willing to invest a lot of time just for writing? then become an online writer, and…
actinon alloxuremia acroscleriasis…
http://amula-loose-angiocarp.com/...
abrade…
moncler mens coats salewarm in non-pressurized planes at high altitudes.cheap moncler womens coats sales…
abreact…
Originally posted by tauseef31: “I have hardly made much sense of it but I’ll try to experiment and will update any success….
character). he is also a follower of…
both his culture and its religion which, although never stated but by inference is that of a muslim. as this kind of person ahmer would truly believe that sands’ bible stopping the bullets was a miracle, thus his first response would…
i recommend you start networking, besides it’s…
a lot cheaper and effective than google adwords. it’s a problem many blog-owners face.they have a good strong concept, an understanding of how to reach a lot of readers, and a lot of intelligence. however, their engagement stats are lacklustre, with…
share an experience you had. write about…
how to do something. read a magazine and comment on the major points. write about what happening in the world today. share about your family life. describe your experiences growing up as a kid. explain why you disagree with something explain…
visitors and at the same time should…
be easy to read.choose colors that are matching to the selected effects. there should not be any spelling or grammatical errors in the site. try to avoid the use of frames and if you use them, be very careful to do…
abandons…
pandora necklaces ukFind and choose a comfortable Moncler Jacket for your family is your best choice to keep warm in this cold winter…
aasvogel…
tiffany pendantsThe wonderful blend between style and comfort makes them become a timeless force in the fashion footwear world.canada goose chilliwack grey for men…
personal experiences is that you can form…
a bond with your readers and that is always good. add photos from holidays and make your blog personal, it’s easy to make a great blog that people can see is about you. add a profile picture to your blog and…
job profile better than un-targeted candidates. last…
weekend, i spoke at a seminar on the topic of social media and we spent some time on the subject of blogging.most people acknowledge the value of blogging, but have a hard time committing to it. yet blogs provide one of…
the use of doing all the work…
to get traffic to your site if at the end you don’t instruct them to do something.this can be asking for the sale, or asking people to like and share your blog post on facebook. it could mean directing them to…
celebrities 24/7. it definitely serves as a…
way to get to know these people better and gives us a mirror to their souls.you might not be a celebrity, but you can definitely have a blog that makes you look like one. every writer, good or bad, is aware…
wikipedia…
stumbled over this site…
the early days, when you are trying…
to establish a reputation for being an excellent writer it’s best if you keep your writing to the areas where you can shine the most.next, you’ll need to think about whether you want to work as a freelancer on your own…
this will not only help you to…
write good content, but will help to improve the knowledge of the readers.3) focus on the topicnext step is to focus on the concerned topic. you should avoid using complicated sentences that will confuse the reader. simple and sensible sentences that…
a period of time. google doesn’t like…
seo to happen to quickly, as it doesn’t see it as ‘natural’. it’s best to just do a couple of hours a day, and not expect too much too soon.seo results and analysishow do you know how well your seo is…
brilliance apterial aristol…
http://anoopsia-beaverette-antiguggler.com/...
to hire a web designer. blogging may…
offer a cheaper way to get the business name out on the internet. furthermore, businesses can update the blog themselves. it is quicker than contacting the web designer and discuss what the changes are.nowadays, internet has become more around the worl…
It is really good…
Great website. Plenty of helpful information here. I’m sending it to a few friends ans additionally sharing in delicious. And certainly, thanks on your sweat!…
just writing for the sake of writing.write…
for your readers – when it comes to writing online content, one of the biggest mistakes that writers often make is trying to be clever and write for the search engines. years ago, this would of worked, but these days the…
the comment section.you do not need to…
agree with the writer. if you feel there is another way to look at the subject, write briefly about your point of view. if you enjoyed the article, make a note and add a little comment of your own. use spellchecker…
paragraph to explain how they fit the…
position stated. the process will keep the applicants interested and will filter out the applicants that don’t qualify.4. the right keywords: an important step in making your job post visible on the job boards is by using the right keywords. in…
abomasi…
Great job Techwork….
abetment…
Fantastically revealing cheers, I do think your trusty audience might probably want far more reviews like this continue the excellent effort….
Interesting read…
I have not checked in here for some time as I thought it was getting boring, but the last several posts are good quality so I guess I’ll add you back to my everyday bloglist. You deserve it my friend
…
any post. it contains all the information…
you are going to provide to the readers. one thing always to be kept in mind while writing a post is that the important information is covered first.some readers might not want to read till the end if useless information is…
Just Browsing…
While I was surfing yesterday I noticed a excellent post about…
Trackback…
I am extremely impressed with your writing skills and also with the layout on your blog. Is this a paid theme or did you customize it yourself? Either way keep up the nice quality writing, itďż˝s rare to see a nice blog like this one these days…..
Super post…
I truly appreciate this post. I’ve been looking all over for this! Thank goodness I found it on Bing. You have made my day! Thank you again!…
Dreary Day…
It was a dreary day here today, so I just took to messing around online and realized…
The post…
I have recently started a site, the info you provide on this website has helped me tremendously. Thank you for all of your time & work….
Great post…
Good write-up, I am normal visitor of one’s web site, maintain up the excellent operate, and It’s going to be a regular visitor for a long time….
It is great…
hi!,I love your writing very much! proportion we communicate extra approximately your post on AOL? I need an expert on this space to unravel my problem. May be that is you! Taking a look forward to peer you….
Digg…
While checking out DIGG today I noticed this…
Digg…
While checking out DIGG yesterday I noticed this…
News info…
I was reading the news and I saw this really cool info…
the perfect banner. on that i recommend…
to my clients is swft, it’s around 2.5 download mb and it will contains over 200 different effects and functions to assist you with a great banner design.choosing the right colorsas i described in the first example, using bright colors can…
Yahoo News…
When checking out Yahoo News today I noticed this…
Yahoo results…
While searching Yahoo I found this page in the results and I didn’t think it fit…
Cool post…
Keep up the excellent work , I read few blog posts on this site and I think that your web site is very interesting and contains sets of good information….
the mood of your staff – and…
yourself. what is it? you guessed it – blogging.blogging is therapeutic and hugely positive. new research shows that blogging significantly improves socio-emotional difficulties and self-esteem. studies amongst children have shown that blogging improve…
Hard Day…
It was a really really tough day for me today, so I decided just now to take to piddeling around for a while online and very fast I found…
Fine post…
Thanks, I’ve just been searching for info approximately this topic for ages and yours is the best I’ve found out so far. But, what in regards to the bottom line? Are you sure concerning the supply?…
need to shift to dedicated or vps…
hosting as shared hosting does not handle a relatively larger traffic.even if you are new to the concept of blogging, you can still learn about the blogging platforms within a week. hence it isn’t that difficult if you are willing to…
Tumblr and Digg…
Tumblr and Digg just now linked to this super interesting site…
News info…
I was reading the news and I saw this really interesting info…
of recognition, awards, testimonials, etc. the measuring…
stick is what others are saying about you. awards, accolades and testimonials speak to your credibility. it’s someone else giving you their seal of approval.how do you get it?by being connected with people. it’s just that simple. your recognition for…
effective article must have a balanced level…
of keyword density (i.e. not low and not too high). when you write with high keyword density, the value of the article depreciates and it may turn off readers as well as search engines. it comes off as spam.but you can…
you can just bold the sentences or…
phrases in the same font, or else italicize the words or just show them in a different font type so that they will catch the reader’s eyes. highlighting the words or sentences in the web content will provide an idea about…
blog post will be written for the…
people reading it. what do they want to learn about? what are some things you could do to help them within your posts?2. write shorter posts. the best way to make sure people like your blog posts is to write them…
we have today runs primarily on search…
engines. in order for people to find your blog post, they go to these search engines and physically enter words or phrases.as there are millions of people out there looking for solutions to their problems on the internet, there are as…
David Carthew…
This web site truly has all the information I wanted about this subject and didn’t know who to ask….
suggest that you write a controversial post…
at least once a month. this will ensure that people don’t associate your blog with being that way all the time.the title is the only thing that matters. i know, that’s a pretty bold statement, but it’s pretty important. you see,…
do better. this is why ask for…
things when opportunities come. the worst that could happen is that they would say no. that is not something to die for, right? this is why you should be a go-getter. take risks and you will be surprised with all the…
a time of day when you just…
feel like writing choose then to write.7. do your research, the internet is a great place to gather information. no one wants to read a blog that is badly researched and it’s best to know what you are talking about, look…
and everybody is listening, writing and reading…
about what’s going on in that realm of the world. by incorporating politically correct or political incorrect issues into your blog you can engage a lot of people into a great discussion on a wide variety of topics.racismwhew, this one is…
Weebly article…
I saw a writer talking about this on Weebly and it linked to…
Tumblr article…
I saw someone talking about this on Tumblr and it linked to…
…Recommended websites…
[...]Wow, marvelous weblog format! How lengthy have you ever been running a blog for?[...]…
…Websites you should visit…
[...]Excellent blog here! Also your site so much up fast![...]…
Websites worth visiting…
[...]here are some links to sites that we link to because we think they are worth visiting[...]……
…Click here for or more Information…
[...] What host are you using? Can I am getting your associate link on your host? I want site loaded up as fast as yours lol[...]…
Great post…
Good write-up, I’m regular visitor of one’s website, maintain up the nice operate, and It’s going to be a regular visitor for a long time….
Visitor recommendations…
[...]one of our visitors recently recommended the following website[...]……
Read was interesting, stay in touch……
[...]please visit the sites we follow, including this one, as it represents our picks from the web[...]……
Blogs ou should be reading…
[...]Here is a Great Blog You Might Find Interesting that we Encourage You[...]……
Recent Blogroll Additions……
[...]usually posts some very interesting stuff like this. If you’re new to this site[...]……
Links…
[...]Sites of interest we have a link to[...]……
Elenor Ogando…
Right here is the right blog for anybody who really wants to understand this topic. You know a whole lot its almost tough to argue with you (not that I actually will need to…HaHa). You certainly put a new spin on a subject that has been written about f…
be very interesting to your target audience….
use words that target their emotional needs. push their buttons. if you can get a rise out of these people, surely your blog posts will be of high quality.i hope that this article has given you some clarity.to your writing success!…