International Man of Mystery...

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I grew up in the Boston area and lived there until my junior year in high school when I attended the Mountain School, a semester program run by Milton Academy in Vershire, VT. I then attended Colby College in Waterville, ME. During my time at Colby I studied anthropology, spent a semester in Northeast India, and became fluent in Nepali. Before I became a guide I earned my black belt in kenpo karate and taught karate for 6 years. I began guiding in college on the rocky coast of ME with Acadia Mountain Guides and on ice at the International Mountain Climbing School in NH. After graduating I took to the highway and drove from ME to WA for the big mountains and glaciers. I spend my winters in lovely Ouray, CO guiding in the famous ice park. I am currently working towards becoming a certified guide through the American Mountain Guides Association. I live, work and play in the hills and on the rocks. On the rocks both literally and, well, with ice.

Sunday, July 24, 2011

Mount Baker: North Ridge

If you have ever looked up at Mount Baker's North Ridge it practically screams 'Climb Me!' Dwight from CT heeded the call and he and I set out up this spectacular ridge climb. The wild exposure and a few pitches of technical ice climbing, in addition to perfect weather made for an unforgettable day.

Dwight and I set out at 3:30 am up the steep slopes that gain the North Ridge at around 8,800' we weaved our way through a few high crevasses and traversed to the base of the ice headwall. A couple pitches of ice led us to some more steep snow, and finally the summit plateau.

We made our way to the summit and descended the Colmen-Demming, the standard route of ascent on the north side of Mont Baker. As we arrived at camp it started to feel like a big day of climbing. We packed up and hiked out feeling quite satisfied with our accomplishment. Down at the car, we looked through a break in the trees up at the mountain and saw the graceful North Ridge looking down on us, 'nice work boys'.
Posted by at 12:35 PM

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