Hot Waxing Climbing Skins

It's that time of the year again. The solar is on but it's still snowing. This creates wide fluctuations in snow surface temperatures and snow consistency leading to the dreaded glopping of skins. Anyone who's spent anytime touring in the spring knows what I'm talking about. It's absolutely maddening. I've covered many aspects of the climbing skin in these pages but this final detail has eluded publication here until now. For those new readers, you can catch up here, here and here.

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Tremors in the Force

It was time for a gut check. I needed to step back and look at the bigger picture. It's true. I was fit and ready to skimo race. I've been training all season and the upcoming Wasatch Powder Keg was going to be my final race of the year. I was facing the last week before the event and it was time to rest. The problem was that this taper was corresponding with a spell of splitter high pressure which had the high peaks drawing my thoughts and ambitions like the sirens in Homer's Odyssey.

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Steve Romeo - 6/1/71 - 3/7/12

Steve and me high on the Grand Teton, Jan. 2007Yesterday, one of my favorite and long time ski partners, Steve Romeo and his ski partner, Chris Onufer, were buried and killed in a massive avalanche on Ranger Peak in Grand Teton National Park. They were reported missing late last night and a quick SAR fly over this morning yielded two beacon hits within a debris pile. Their bodies were recovered earlier this afternoon.

Steve was my first real Teton ski partner. I remember how excited I was when this notorious Teton character, Randosteve, asked me if I wanted to get out with him. I was pretty green back then. Not sure if I was up to his ability level. But ski together we did, and often, for two or three seasons. I'm a better skier for it. Steve had a knowledge of the range that few possessed and I was honored to be tagging along. He was always game to go big, often pushing the conditions just a hair and several of his close calls inspired healthy debate within the ski community.

What was cool about Steve was that he was willing to put his successes and failures out in the blogosphere for all to see. He shared his strong opinions and let others share theirs'. He created TetonAT as a vehicle to promote his "Live to Ski" attitude. And he was doing just that on his last day.

We'll never know what happened on Ranger Peak that day. Doesn't really matter. I lost another friend and a great partner. I will continue to Live to Ski in his honor. - Brian