After waiting most of the winter, we have finally received some much-needed snow in the Colorado Front Range.  Wet, heavy, and perfect for snowballs, this stuff has turned the trails to mush.  I competed in the Adventure Xstream 12-Hr at Moab last weekend-where Will and Jenny Newcomer did an excellent job with the race, as usual-and have since been spending most of my training time running and paddling.

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Well, another Elk Mountain Grand Traverse has come and gone.  This backcountry ski race requires teams of two to traverse 40 miles and 8,0000′ vertical from Crested Butte to Aspen.  The race started at midnight on Friday night.  Once again, the course proved as heinous as ever with 0 degree temperatures and 50 m.p.h. winds on top of Star and Taylor passes.  Faces and fingers were frozen, eating and speaking nearly impossible.

My partner, Bryan “Wick” Wickenhauser, and I ended up 4^th place after 9 hours 35 minutes of racing.  Jon Brown and Brian Smith ended up 7^th and Jari Kirkland and Tucker brought home 2^nd in the co-ed division.  Mike Kloser and Jay Henry won the race.  It was a decent showing for Team Salomon/Crested Butte in one of the toughest races we do all year.  Teammate Travis Macy opted for a summer option and won the solo division at the 12-Hour Adventure Xstream Moab race.

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National Geographic Adventure has posted an excellent article to their Adventure Blog about Project Athena, a non-profit organization co-founded by Robyn Benincasa, of Team Merrell-Zanfel fame, and her friend Melissa Cleary, an excellent athlete with more than 40 marathons under her belt.

The goal of Project Athena is to assist women with breast cancer or other health issues, to realize their athletic and adventurous goals. The organization grants “Athenaships” in an effort to encourage those dreams and to help make them a reality. For instance, in this story, Robyn and a group of very athletic ladies, including two cancer survivors, set out to compete in the Costa Rica Costal Challenge.

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I have fallen off the wagon and wreaked my right ankle in the process.

So the story goes: left Moscow where I had my laptop stolen, got back to Portland, OR after being a day late for my flight,  and had to lay my motorbike down to avoid something worse.  I have always figured that bad things in life come in three’s and so I should be done for a while.

Had to wait two weeks for the kaleidescope of symptoms to pass in order for an x-ray to be useful.  A little prodding by my friends and my mother had me finally going to the doctor who was kind enough to give me a month off of the foot, saying that the x-rays show no break but I most likely had a very bad combination of ligament and tendon damage that is going to take some time.  I told him that I would give it two weeks and I had to get back to training.  He said he would then see me again in two weeks.  Funny doc, real funny.

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Erik Weihenmayer and Chad Jukes have completed one of the most challenging ice climbs in North America, the 360 foot tall Bridal Veil Falls in Colorado. The route is a tough climb for any experienced ice climber, but it presented even more challenges to these two athletes who had to overcome their own persona disabilities along the way. Weihenmayer climbs with no sight and Jukes is an amputee, having lost his right leg below the knee.

Craig Stein, who did an amazing job covering Primal Quest Montana last summer, has written an excellent article on the climb. Here is an excerpt from that story:

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Way back in June we told you about Todd Carmichael, the american adventurer who was planning an attempt on the solo, unsupported speed record to the South Pole. Now, months later, we can update the story with the news that Todd did indeed break the record. 

The attempt was dubbed Expedition Earth and on November 12, 2008 Carmichael set out from Patriot Hills in the Antarctic in pursuit of his goal. There were set backs almost from the start. Bad weather slowed his progress, and by the end of the first week, the bindings on his skis were broken, and beyond repair with what little equipment he carried with him. Things looked grim, and the prospect of actually walking all the way to the South Pole, rather than skiing, didn’t seem all that promising. But walk he did, dragging his heavy sled behind him the entire way. 

The old record for the solo, unsupported South Pole Trek was 39 days, 9 hours, and 33 minutes, set back 2006 by British adventurer Hannah McKeand.  Todd arrived at the South Pole on December 21st, exactly 39 days, 7 hours, and 49 minutes after he had started. After nearly 40 days out on the ice, he broke the record by 1 hour and 44 minutes, a difference of just .2% of their total time out on the ice, the equivalent of a photo finish for this type of endurance challenge. 

Congratulations to Todd on this amazing achievement. Not only has he become the first American to go solo and unsupported to the Pole, but he also did it record time.