The Mountaineer: March 2009

Sunday, March 29, 2009

Spring Skiing on Haystack

Yesterday, "Wiener" (store manager) and his brother "The King of Keene" took out some youngin's from St. Lawrence University for a little BC skiing on Haystack Mountain. Just a beautiful March spring ski in the backyard.

The two "wise" McClelland brothers with their young BC Skiing grasshoppers, pose at Indian Falls en route to Haystack.

Climbing off of Little Haystack to the drop in point.

Going down!

Climbing back up out of the belly of the beast.

Looking for "babes", put your shirt on pasty white boy your scaring them away!

Out on the Johannsen Face of Haystack Mountain, lap 2 for the spry grasshoppers.

Monday, March 9, 2009

SKIFEST 2009! A GREAT TIME !

In sunny spring weather our 7th Annual Adirondack Backcountry Ski Festival this past weekend. Here are many photos from the event. Email any photos to the Mountaineer that you took this Skifest and we'll include them.

Saturday morning at the shop attendees arriving for guided tours and demos.

"Advanced Tour" getting aquanted before their trip to Wright Peaks Angel Slides.

"Karhu Traverse Tour" departing on their 13 mile scenic tour.

At the nearby Otis Mountain ski demo.

Riding the ropetow at Otis Mountain.

Karhu/Dynafit Sales Rep Kaz "working" hard at Otis Mountain!

Lots of gear to test... for FREE!

A nice sunny saturday.

Saturday's Intermediate tour enjoying a break on the trail.

"Karhu Traverse Tour" article by Mike Lynch of the Adirondack Daily Enterprise

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

2009 ADIRONDACK BACKCOUNTRY SKI FESTIVAL

This weekend is our 7th Annual Adirondack Backcountry Ski Festival!

The Mountaineer in Keene Valley, NY will be hosting the seventh annual Adirondack Backcountry Skifest the weekend of March 7 & 8, 2009. The Backcountry Skifest celebrates the ski experience both here in our own backcountry and in the greater ranges of the world. Backcountry skiing means skiing on natural snow in natural terrain, and combines all of the elements of touring, climbing and downhill skiing into a real winter mountaineering experience.

Local backcountry gurus and Cloudsplitter Mountain Guides in Keene Valley will lead guided tours for all ability levels on Saturday and Sunday. Backcountry Magazine will host a dinner at the Keene Valley Lodge and two or three backcountry ski films after dinner at the Mountaineer on Saturday night.

New for this year, demos and mini clinics will be held at Otis Mountain in Elizabethtown on Saturday. Otis is a private ski area that offers a great venue for testing out the latest skis and boots as well as clinics on skinning, beacon search and more. Mini-clinics and demos will be free of charge!

‘We are incredibly lucky to have such a great group of local and guest guides for this event who are willing to come out and share their depth of experience and knowledge with other skiers,’ says the Mountaineer’s Vinny McClelland. Intermediate nordic skiers can traverse the High Peaks through Avalanche Pass with David Thomas-Train and Tony Goodwin, while intermediate downhill skiers will head for a favorite glade or backcountry trail with Colin Loher and Bill Dodd or Emilie Drinkwater and Jim Sausville. Experienced backcountry skiers can join a tour of one of the High Peaks' challenging slides with Jesse Williams and Jeremy Haas.

Major sponsors for this year’s event include Primaloft and Backcountry magazine. Garmont, Scarpa, Voile, Dynafit, Black Diamond and Karhu have generously provided the latest demo equipment for event participants. Additional sponsors include Mammut, G3, Ortovox and Marmot. The Skifest is a benefit event, with proceeds supporting the New York State Ski Education Foundation’s Nordic racing programs and the Adirondack Ski Touring Council, stewards of the Adirondack Park’s backcountry ski trail system, including the famous Jackrabbit Trail.

VIDEO FROM INTERMEDIATE TOUR 2008

Monday, March 2, 2009

MORE GRIVEL!

We just had the FedEx guy drop of 4 HUGE boxes direct from Grivel Italia! As one of the few US shops to carry Grivel products we have all your axes, crampons, and parts needs covered.

Check out our "Grivel Store" or give the shop a call.

ITALIA!

BANDANA'S

Many years ago we started making our own logo bandana's. Aside of the numerous uses for a bandana, they started popping up all over the world!. Throughout the store we have pictures of our customers/friends proudly displaying these iconic rags. From Mount Marcy to Mount Everest, Afghanistan to the Antarctica. Come by the shop and pick one up, take a picture (tasteful!) and send it in to us for the store/blog to display.