Hoka One One Review

Hoka One One Stinson EVOLast year I wrote a piece on running different. In it, I focused on the impact that the barefoot running movement has had on running technique. It’s not like the technique is new or even “lost”. It’s just that the jogging craze of the 70’s popularized heel striking and things went downhill from there.

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Early Season Bliss

East and West Hourglass Couloirs, Nez PierceThe early snow of October kept my gaze toward the high peaks most of the month. Some friends got out right after the storm and skied powder on the Middle Teton Glacier. It looked fantastic although they didn't ski from the top of the "notch" below the summit pyramid. Various commitments kept me from getting up there right away but a window opened a couple of weeks later and I rallied the usual suspects for a look-see.

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Death Canyon to String Lake Trail Run

Dropping off Hurricane Pass into the South Fork of Cascade CanyonThis past Saturday I ventured out onto one of the area's classic trail loops, the Death Canyon to the South Fork of Cascade Canyon. This run climbs over 6,000 vertical feet in about 24 miles. It travels from the White Grass trailhead, past the Phelps Lake overlook, up to the Death Canyon patrol cabin, hangs a right up to Static Peak divide, summiting Static Peak, then down across the basin on the west side of the range, into Alaska Basin, over Hurricane Pass and finally down the South and Main Cascade drainages to the String Lake parking lot. We traversed an amazing amount of alpine terrain on mostly runnable trails.

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Grand Teton Speed Project, version 2.0

Although I realize that the speed game does not appeal to everyone playing in the mountains, summertime presents another seasonal opportunity to test oneself against the clock and others in the mountain environment. We covered this territory several times in blog posts this winter and spring reporting on efforts to climb and ski the Grand Teton and other lines in the range. With the melting of the snow pack, we are left to travel similar ground on foot as we push personal limits.

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Black Ice Couloir Trip Report

Nate Brown cruising the iconic Black Ice Couloir, GTNPIn June, 2001, after making a solo ascent of the Black Ice Couloir, the iconic alpine ice climb on the north side of the Enclosure in Grand Teton National Park, I told myself that I probably didn't need to go back there. It was my second solo of the route, my third ascent ever, and I figured I had seen and experienced what I needed. But two Saturdays ago saw me, Nate Brown and Andy Dorais front-pointing our way up perfect, if not brittle, alpine ice choking the Black Ice.

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