The Stove

Another Verstovia pano.

Since I have been doing a ton of snow boarding lately, I thought why not do a post on it. The last couple of days has been spent in class, and in the backcountry (which is always teaching me new things, so its kind of like class as well).
At the beginning of the season (November 2011), my good friend Dana showed me the wonders that lie on top of Mt. Verstovia. In fact, Dana, Steph, and I have all taken the liberty of leaving our boards strapped to a tree at the treeline of Mt. Verstovia (let's just call it 'the Stove', okay?). It was a wise decision indeed since we have gone snowboarding literally every weekend for the past 3 months (barring a couple weekends)!!


The man, the myth, the LEGEND!! Steve R. on a patented Stove run.

Just this past few days I have had the good fortune to get out two times in three days! This last trip being an exceptional one. The stage: A beautiful blue bird Sunday morning with slight hints of Winter's mischief clinging to eaves and gutters in the town. Upon arriving at the first stop, Picnic Rock (elev. 2,550), I stood and gazed down at the immaculate bowl of the Stove. It looked like I had the absolute privilege of sharing it with only two other boarders, Steve Rifenstuhl (a local legend) and his equally awesome and outdoorsy wife Adriana. They were kind enough to have gotten up hours before me in order to break a very nice trail up this behemoth of a mountain.


Deep powder in the bowl.

The weariness from the 1.5 hour trek up to picnic rock left my body instantaneously as I gazed over the perfection the Stove had to offer and I strapped my board on and had a pretty decent run down into the belly of the Stove. From there I followed suit and started the 'Mt. Doom' walk up to a good drop in point.




I had only been in this 'heaven among earth' once so I decided to get as high as I could. I just kept walking and walking until the pre-broken trail stopped a few hundred feet short of the summit. On my way up I had spied an incredible and untouched run that included a killer cliff drop off a snow bank. I positioned myself directly above this feature and strapped in. Epinephrine filled my veins. My heart started to beat even faster than it had in order to get me to where I was; staring straight down the mouth of a terrifyingly good time. I dropped in, feeling as if I had too much speed I pulled up just short of the cliff's lip. I gulped as I stared down into what I was about to hurl myself off of. I unstrapped and hiked back up to the drop in spot. This time I wasn't going to stop, I promised. I hit the bottom of the drop well but I took a quick seat in the clouds of powder and continued on down for what would be one of the longest and most enjoyable runs I have done in the backcountry. The bowl of the Stove is WHERE IT IS AT!!! On a totally blue bird day the bowl has the absolutely best runs anywhere; or at least the best runs you can access without a helicopter.




I spent the rest of the day killing my legs hiking up and down the Stove and bombing off gaps, down hills, and just enjoyed having a Winter playground all to myself. The special thing about this place is the lack of any signs of civilization. For a good part of the day, I was completely alone. Surrounded by the mountains and left to my own devices. There is something very profound and utterly unique about a place like this that can cause concentrated moments of self reflection.



Snowboarding has given me a chance to broaden what it is I enjoy so much about rock climbing; and that is an experience distilled through a lens of athleticism and nature you get when interacting with your environment.


Mt. Edgecumb, as seen from the Picnic Rock outlook.

As the day turned from blue bird and calm to overcast and windy, I retreated to the shelter of Picnic Rock. This is a huge hill/mountain that abuts the greater Mt. Verstovia. It has more than a few runs to choose from, but for the most part they are all very short. But, what they lack in length they more than make up for in terrain. You can't go more than a hundred feet without bumping into a sweet kicker, drop, or cliff. The features are everywhere and there is usually more powder on this side of the hill since it stays in the shade and when the wind kicks up it gets all of the powder off of the ridge.



A little kicker at the top of a sweet run on Picnic Rock.

I played around on the front of PR for a while before my legs systematically shut down. There was just so much powder everywhere, but I just couldn't manage another (albeit) short hike back up. I grabbed my pack and bid a fond farewell to the mountains and of course the Stove, before dropping in one last time.

The Flux Capacitor

A couple of sunny days here is all that it takes to remind you of how endlessly beautiful this place can be.



Steph and I have now been living in our new little cottage by the sea for the last month. October came and went like the leaves on the alders and maple trees. I have been busy at work as a para-educator, filling in at the local Highschool, middle school, and elementary school. I even applied for a job as a para-professional at the elementary school and will find out if I got it (after an intense interview by the school board) on Monday, so wish me luck.



I have really enjoyed my new life here in Alaska, but it does leave me pining away for the basalt, granite, and rhino rock of Washington. Hell, I even find myself day dreaming about pulling plastic :) The weather here has turned very rainy, and while we did get a stretch of beautiful weather last week, it looks as if there will be no more tales from the Whale Wall, at least until the Spring, maybe. I was pretty psyched about the possibility of bolting this wall, and it still may happen, but for now, I turn my prospects to other endeavors.



Steph and I have been volunteering at the local Search and Rescue chapter here, and in January the free EMT class starts that we have both signed up for and have been eagerly awaiting.
Even though there is really no climbing up here, or even a decent climbing gym (there is a dead vertical 30 foot wall at the community center that I work out at, but its really not made for training, if you get my drift) I still try to stay in shape. I have been purchasing monthly passes to the community fitness center here which has a lot of really new equipment, a basketball court (damn you basketball!!) and later this month they will start to install something that I am very excited about, a bouldering wall! I've asked to be on the planning committee for the wall and met the person who is spearheading the project and it seems like it will be a pretty sweet little addition to the gym. They received a grant for developing the center and have something like $1,500 to play with. For now it sounds like the most expensive part will be purchasing the lumber, and I would love it if anyone out there reading this has a good lead on cheap holds. New or used.



So, besides the new bouldering wall that has yet to materialize, the only real climbing I have to look forward to will be on my return trip to Washington this December for Christmas. I'll be arriving Christmas eve, and staying for two weeks! I'm so stoked to hang out at Stone Gardens and check out the SBP which I have never been to. Plus, I can't wait to break in my new snow board at the resorts. The back country here is starting to expose itself, but so far the only option is Bear mountain which is a pretty involved day, and Steph and I just haven't had the time. However, Verstovia is starting to accumulate some nice base layers so hopefully I will have some sweet backcountry reports in the near future. For now, I have been rediscovering my hiking bug and making the trek up to Picnic rock several times last week after work. The sunsets have been spectacular, the views have been bewildering, and I have yet to come face to face with a wild bear (fingers crossed).







The atmosphere in this town is very different than a lot of places I have lived. The people here like to shoot things and eat them. I'm no vegetarian, and I certainly enjoy plunging my dull omnivorous teeth into a nicely cooked hunk of venison, but it is odd to be surrounded by so many guns sometimes. I went to the range the other day with Steph and our friend Adam who is a straight up gun connoisseur/enthusiast. It was a blast (did everyone get that pun?)! I got to shoot a 9mm glock (very fun), and an AR (even funner!), as well as Steph's new rifle, a sweet 23. We were actually trying to site her new scope so we could engage in the rampant killing that takes place here ourselves but something jut wasn't panning out. On a trip to Orien's, a sporting good store here in Sitka, where our friend Adam works and was kind enough to site her rifle for her for free, a father and his two daughters walked into the store. The two little girls couldn't have been more than 10 and 8 respectively and the father was asking for deer tags for the pair of them. The guy behind the counter grinned and turning to the two little wide eyed girls, probably with a combined weight of 90lbs, said "Are you guys gonna kill Bambi?". That made me laugh.



But that's just what I'm getting at here, the culture is just different. Little girls here play with barbies, and wear pink; and at the same time they know how to work a single shot bolt action 22 to push Bambi's wig back and bring back a few pounds of venison for the parents. It's a culture of hunters and gatherers. People collect berries and shrooms in the summer, and hunt deer/ducks in the Fall and Winter. Do they need to to do this to survive? I guess not, I mean, there's a completely functioning grocery store here, in fact there's two of them. I guess the argument is that we live on an island and anytime you can cut down on spending money on food that's brought here by barge, ferry, or plane you kind off feel good about yourself.




I have had more than a handful of meals here that were completely homegrown. Meaning the bulk of the meal was either caught here, grown here, or harvested here by the people who made the meal. I think my favorite has been either deep fried duck tenderloin, or golden chanterelle pizza.



Well, I was going to plunge into some weird philosophical rant about misconceptions, guns, and hunting, but maybe in a later post. I'm more prone to keep talking about what's on my mind and what the future looks like.
One of my favorite things to think about lately is where we will be moving next. At first it was going to be somewhere far away and semi-exotic, but instead, after a climbing drought such as the one I'm experiencing, we have talked about moving to Bishop, California. If all goes according to plan we would leave Sitka late August/early September and make our way down to the bouldering mecca. Stopping of course in Squamish, Leavenworth, Smith, etc. etc. on our way down, only to arrive at the beginning of the season in mid October. I really have no words for how psyched I would be to live in Bishop for a year. To have those boulders at my fingertips year round, not to mention all of the other amazing climbing destinations a mere car ride away, is kind of mind blowing to conceptualize. On the other hand, it's not as easy as all of that. There are jobs to consider, living accommodations, and planning how this could contribute to the next step in our lives. But for now, I love to think about waking up every morning to a blue bird sky and couple thousand boulder problems on perfect rock.