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Decided it was time for some moutain skiing, so Mark Davis and I headed up to Granite, to see what snow may be left. Snow line starts around 3000 feet, so you have to hike in about 2.5 miles. Since Mark and I have climbed this many times, we head... (Read More)

Time to hit some other trails, and some with snow. Granite was great, no one on the trail, and snow at the upper levels. Mark Davis and I headed off the main trail as soon as we hit enough snow, and started kicking steps straight up to the top. W... (Read More)

Hit the trail for this weeks training hike. Up in 1:45, and round trip in 2:50. Lots of people on the trail for Saturday, looks like everyone is thinking its summer already. Great conditions for hiking, and 40 pounds felt good all the way up.... (Read More)

Off to the top again, for another training hike. Hit the top in 1:40, and round trip in 2:50. Running full 40 pounds now, and feels good. The weather was horrible. Rained the entire hike all the way up and down. But, it also meant, very few p... (Read More)

Another great training hike. Mark Davis joined me, and we headed up in the morning. Hit the top around 1:55, and round trip of 3:10. Overall rain all the way up. Snow was still at the top, but the conditions were wet. ... (Read More)

Hit the hill again for training. Up time was 1:40, and round trip was 2:55. Overall, good run. I love going when everyone else is getting off the trail. Hit the top before sunset, and returned in the dark. William joined me, and did great. H... (Read More)

First time up Si for this weekend. Also summited the next day on Sunday. Went up in the late evening, sun was down by the time I hit mile one. Very little traffic, but it was pitch black all the way up. Overall time up was 1:40, and round trip ... (Read More)

Hit Si in the late evening. It was dark by mile 2, and only ran into a few people around mile 3 on their way down. They seemed a bit out of it, but I hit the top in good time. 1:40 up, and 2:50 round trip. William also hiked with me, and had ... (Read More)

Climbed Mount Si again today, leaving the parking lot at 2:45. Took William with me, and hit about 30 people on the way off the mountain. By the time we hit mile marker 3, no one else was above us. We topped out at 1 hour and 43 minutes, and staye... (Read More)

Third time is a charm. Left the trail head at 3:03pm, with William in tow. About 40 cars in the parking lot, hit all the traffic up to mile 3, then the trail was all mine. No one else was on the mountain, topped out about 4:45pm, just as the sun ... (Read More)

Hike #2 for the week. Got an earlier start, hit the trail around 1:00pm, hitting the top around 2:30pm. Dumped about 12 pounds of water, and returned as quickly as possible. Hit the bottom at 3:50pm, making a time of 2 hours 50 minutes, with a 40... (Read More)

Being off for Christmas, it seemed a good week to get back into hiking. Decided to climb Si three times this week, something I've not done before. Started out about 3:00pm, hit the top at 4:50pm. Recent snow had turned to ice at the top, making ... (Read More)

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Last climb of Bandara for 2009. Mark Davis and myself (Matthew) head out to get back into the normal weekend grind. First on the trail, and first to the top, with a round trip time of 3 hours 30 minutes. Not bad for a 20 minute break on top, and ... (Read More)

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Two summits in one day, a rare day in Washington hiking. Mark Davis and myself (Matthew) set out to summit Mount Defiance, a good hike for training. Definance is a longer hike on the Bandara trail. You end up going 2.5 miles up Bandara, and then h... (Read More)

Its Sunday, and therefore is a hike day. Today is Red Mountain, a favorite off the I-90 West ski area exit. Temps were a bit warm, so no William or Buddy today. Mark Davis did join me (Matthew) though, and we made good time to the summit. Round t... (Read More)

Buddy, William and I (Matthew) hit Bandara around 7:00am on Sunday. Its was raining in the valley, so fog was all over the mountian. We were running a bit late, but were still first to the trail head. We hit the summit at 1 hour 50 minutes, and fi... (Read More)

Mark Davis, William, Buddy, and myself (Matthew) hit Bandara today, at about 6:30am. Bandara is off Exit 45 on I-90 going East from Seattle. The road, is a 5 mile back track to a parking lot. With all the snow fall this year though, the road i... (Read More)

Well, we are back. Its the Three Amigo's !!! William, the man on point. Buddy, the security guard. Matthew We hit Si for the first time in exactly 6 months. Its summer time, since there were already people on the trail when we headed up at 6... (Read More)

Mike and a friend, Nik, attempted to climb Mt. Shasta via Casaval Ridge. I flew to Oakland today and met Nik, who had flown into San Fransisco and rented the car earlier that day. We drove straight up to Dunsmuir, CA (near Mt. Shasta city) stopping... (Read More)

Arrived in Lima, Peru at approx. midnight local time. Amazed how fast Spanish comes back when your immersed in it and forced to use it. Had 2 meals on the plane: Dinner was ravioli, salad, a roll, and passion fruit cake. Snack was a ham, cheese, a... (Read More)

Spent two nights on Ravens' Ridge near the Santa Fe ski area. Climbed to 12,400 for three days in a row and slept at 11,800 to acclimatize for Aconcagua. I leave for South America next week and this was a perfect way to refresh my altitude and cold... (Read More)

Just a quick snowshoe and scramble up to the false summit of Lake Peak near Santa Fe, NM. Lot's of "Christmas snowshoers" on the trail this weekend. A couple more weeks and they'll all realize that this sport sucks, haha, and they'll go b... (Read More)

On Sunday, the pass was closed, so no luck going back country skiing. That left Mount Si to climb, since its this side of the State Patrol road block. Mark Davis and I set out about 7:30am, and hit a foot of snow from mile one through two. At mile... (Read More)

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Mark and Matthew head out for late November hike, with snow levels being very minimal, we set out for the Kendal Catwalk. Trail was snow bound from the parking lot up. Following the PCT trail, we hit knee deep snow at about the 5000 level. Once ou... (Read More)

Mike and Z climb Lake Peak (12,409') to learn the route and find camping areas for Mike's acclimatization for Aconcagua. This is my new favorite climb near ABQ, it's short and high altitude, and it has spectacular views. On January 10, 2009 we will... (Read More)

Quick training run for January. I was my birthday and I "had to get out of the house for a while" according to Z. So I loaded up the pack to 65lbs, put on the double boots, and scrambled up one of the nearby foothills to a nice resting sp... (Read More)

Mike was in Seattle this week so we hit up Red Mountain on Saturday morning. Left the trailhead at 6:30am, summited in 3 hours, and was back to town by lunch time. There was a thin glaze of ice on the top 1-2 hundred vertical feet that made progres... (Read More)

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This was my first time to climb Mount Adams, so I decided to climb it in one day. I drove down Saturday night, after watching the weather forecast for the last few weeks, with the idea to climb on Sunday and take Monday off to recover. Drove the ... (Read More)

Great day for a Bandara run. William, Buddy and myself (Matthew) set off and hit the trail head at 6:25am. Little bit of rain with the temp showing 47 in the parking lot. Hit the summit in 1.50 flat. Temp read around 34, so it was bit colder. Sn... (Read More)

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Last of the summer hikes up Bandara. Started early and we hit the top around 9:00am. Clouds were very thick, but looking to break on the way down. Its great to see winter already coming, since the climbers will all be leaving the trail soon. Tr... (Read More)

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Next weekend we're planning to hit Santa Fe Baldy...but not from the normal route. Instead we'll be packing in to Lake Katherine and then climbing to the peak via the North East ridge. I'm not sure what to expect since we had near-record snowfall t... (Read More)

Mark Davis and I, hit Alpental ski area around 8:00am, to skin up and get a few runs in, before the chair opened for the last time in the season. What a great day, fantastic Spring skiing conditions.... (Read More)

Well, its been 6 months since I've trained for a climb, and Buddy and William joined me on this trip. Yes we have a new boy, William. 6 month old Flat Coat from Shasta California. We did good, summited and completed the hike in 2:45. That w... (Read More)

Day 1 - The weather is beautiful and everyone is eager to get going. We check all of our gear and load up the van. So far the team seems like a great group of people, we all get along nicely and conversation is mainly based on learning about each o... (Read More)

Left the house at 4am. Upon arriving we discovered that the access road was not plowed for the last 1/2+ mile to the trail head parking lot due to a fallen tree. We missed the turn off to the trail and walked about an extra 1/2 mile past the parkin... (Read More)

In 2007 after climbing Mt. Whitney I set a goal to climb Santa Fe Baldy in the winter of 2008. What a better day to achieve this goal than new years day! The 14 mile hike (all above 10,000') is one of the most tiring things I've done in my life.... (Read More)

After a big dump of snow I (Mike) decided to finally strap on my new snow shoes and take a hike up Sandia ski area. It was quite cold today, in the single digits (f) when I left, and the wind was brutal. Next time I will remember to bring a balacla... (Read More)

Its snowed 36 inches in the last 4 days, and Alpental is still not yet ready to open. Left for the summit at 6:30am, and ran into the state patrol, requiring 4 wheel drive to go up on the pass. The parking lot was empty, and had not been plowed for... (Read More)

Bandara Road opened back up last week, after being closed for 8-10 weeks. Good news, since there is about 12-14 inches of snow in the parking lot. Got started around 6:30am (Matthew), and headed out while snowing. Since not many had come before u... (Read More)

5+ hours of driving, on the wrong side of the road. A chair lift ride. 6 miles to get to the top. Snowing all the way up. Summit temp 15 degrees F. 6 + 4 miles down for missing the chair lift before it closed at 4:30pm, who knew. 6 hours driving b... (Read More)

After hearing so much about Si, I finally decided to baseline myself against all the WA natives. I brought all my hiking gear to Bellevue decided to race the sunset after work on Monday. I did it in 2:50 round trip (day pack only, no poles) - not b... (Read More)

Mark and I (Matthew) spent Sunday running out the PCT train on a training run up to the Commonweath Basin. Snow started at about a mile in, and ran about 2 feet deep at the top of the Basin. Mark broke trail for the last section ending at the botto... (Read More)

Another Saturday speed run up Mt Si (Matthew). Snow at mile mark 3 and up, led to to a fast time of 2:45 total round trip. Not many on the trail, so the going was good. Started out around 5:30am, and finished before 8:30am.... (Read More)

Weather was not to bad, a bit of rain. The number of regular climbers is now starting to slow down on this trail with the bad weather coming. Time was good, finished in 2 hours 50 minutes, with a 5 minute break included at the top. Ran a 55 poun... (Read More)

Well, we decided to start the weekly tradition of training once again. Bandara is always the favorite, so off we went, rain and all. Snow was falling at the top, around 5000ft. Temp dropped to 35 degrees, but the colors were just beautiful. Lo... (Read More)

Mike Muscato and Zarina Jolly climb Whitney and summit. Someday I will add some more pictures to this one.... (Read More)

Finally did it, skied Red Mountain. This is something Mark Davis and I have wanted to do for quite some time. This Sunday started off, looking like a good rainy day. Mark was unable to make it, so I headed off alone, looking to give Red Mountain an... (Read More)

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First, but unsuccessful attempt at the 3rd of the 7 Summits... (Read More)

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The day before christmas is always a great day to get out. Mark and I decided to try out the new AT back country ski gear and headed out for the back valley at Snoqualmie pass. We started out around 7:00am, still dark. The track from the upper Apl... (Read More)

Mark Davis and I (Matthew Davis) head off to Snoqualmie pass to get ina simple hike, and map out a trail for winter. Snow lake, is a hike that runs up an over the ridge to just due northwest of snoqualmie mountain. The trail itself is very easy a... (Read More)

Its the end of October, and this Sunday its raining at 800 feet above sea level. Mark Davis and Matthew Davis, met at the standard park & ride meeting spotk, and headed out about 6:10. It was raining all the way up to exit 45, where its decided... (Read More)

Its a cold rainy day as Mark Davis and I (Matthew Davis) head out at about 6:15 to the top of Snoqualmie pass. We park at the head of the PCT trail, where they head up to the junction of the PCT and the commonwealth basin trail. Its raining all t... (Read More)

This hike started at 6:30am in the morning, with Mark Davis and myself (Matthew) heading up to Snoqualmie pass. We decided to try for Red Mountain, a peak that has eluded us for a few years. You start this hike by getting on the PCT (Pacific Cres... (Read More)

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After dropping off the rental car at the airport, and catching a cab back to the meeting place where the team was staying, we all piled into an old dodge van, and headed for Talketna. Talketna is a small town, which acts as the take off point for to... (Read More)

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Winter hike on Mount Rainier, summit attempt and RMI Denali training... (Read More)

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