Spring is here - climb and ski

I spent the weekend rock climbing and skiing near Mammoth Lakes with students from the Thacher School. The conditions were perfect for rock climbing -- cool, crisp, and dry -- yet they were also perfect for spring skiing at the resort and in the backcountry. At times like this I couldn't ask for more. Fantastic!

The Sartorialist - a short film by Tyler Manson

I love this short film by Tyler Manson - a talented film maker from a family that I have been very close to for many years.

I am inspired by the reference to "a visual life." There is something to be said for simply getting out there each day and being in one's surroundings. There is always something surprising, revealing or just plain beautiful to experience. I have learned a lot about perspective and design just from reading/viewing The Sartorialist blog as well.

Galen Rowell spoke of a similar sort of inspiration in his descriptions of running in the mountains with a camera. In fact, his stories of just getting into the mountains and recording his feelings on film is one of the things that originally inspired me to take a camera on a climbing or mountaineering trip.

Intel, "The Sartorialist: A Visual Life" from Tyler Manson on Vimeo.

Backcountry Powder - short movie

Thacher Skiing the Backcountry at Mt. Pinos from Brian Pidduck on Vimeo.

I took 2 students from The Thacher School up to Mt. Pinos to ski after a recent storm blew through Southern California (February 25-26th). We found some pretty good powder on the northern aspects. This trip was a day trip from Ojai: departed at 6:20 AM, back by 7:00 PM. If it hadn't been for an accident, and traffic, in Frazier Park, we may have been able to get to the beach to catch a few waves before sunset! Not a bad day for Southern California.

Powder at Mtn. High, San Gabriel Range

After another foot of snow fell in the San Gabriel Mountains this week, I made a Thursday trip up to Mtn. High with some students from The Thacher School. I ventured out to the west of the ski area and found good coverage in the trees and glades. This was one of the few times that I didn't take a camera, but I recorded some of my turns on my very low resolution (!) camera-phone and have included them here. In some cases I was only 40 yards from the top of one of the lifts, but I had the place pretty much to myself, that is except for one run early in the day in which 8 students, a faculty member from Thacher and I put tracks down a bowl faster then you can say "So Cal."

Dry powder on the northern aspects

One of my favorite runs of the day

Below the West Summit, late in the day

Grace Lowe, MacKenzie Boss and Jake Gannon on the bus ride home.

Backcountry Powder Skiing on Mt. Pinos on Super Bowl Sunday (Los Padres National Forest, California)

Alex Macmillan, a senior at The Thacher School (Ojai, CA), and I discovered 5-6" of fresh snow on Mt. Pinos this past Super Bowl Sunday. We left Ojai at 6:20 AM, and by 8:30 were skinning up the first hill before dropping down our first run of the day (the first image below). We marveled at the gray-blue skies, the cold (22 degrees F), the thickly rimed needles on the conifers, and, of course, the superb skiing. Mt. Pinos is described as a nordic ski area (with a road to the top but no lifts), but with the right snowpack it also has good backcountry downhill skiing.

We made it back to Ojai in time for Alex to join his classmates for a Super Bowl party and for me to enjoy the rest of the afternoon playing in the sunshine with my twin daughters Adeline and Daisy. I may be a little biased as a seventh generation Californian, but I am consistently surprised and impressed by the variety of landscape and the potential for honest adventure in our backyard.

A-Mac on our first run of the day

Alex Macmillan - aka A-Mac

Skinning back up after one of the best runs of the day

Skinning up through Jeffrey Pine encased in rime below the summit plateau

Glade skiing below the summit plateau

Man in the landscape: Alex airing off granite boulders

Second to last run before heading home

Hitching a ride back up the road. We squeezed into the back of a Ford Bronco (I emphasize the "squeeze") of a snowboarder also named Alex. He turned out to be a Chewonki/Maine Coast Semester grad as well. Small world! Thanks for stopping and giving us a ride buddy!

Sycamore and the Pink Moment in Ojai

Ceanothus Silk Moth

My favorite moth of the chapparal - the ceanothus silk moth (Hyalophora euryalus). I have seen a few of these already this year, although it is a little early in the season. By the spring they'll be out in force.

Sea Walls

It is human nature to seek out boundaries in nature. Coastlines are one of the most classic examples. After all, there are few things quite like standing on the edge of the continent (or close to it) and gazing out on the expanse of the Pacific. (My family has owned one of these beachfront homes in California since the 1910s)

Heavy armament is required, however, to live here. Concrete, rip rap, steel and wood are assembled into bunker-like forms that bear evidence of how tenuous beachfront property really is. Battered by storms and salt, the sea walls and homes are in a near constant state of decline. Jeffrey Manson, a friend of mine, has a good song about the "armored coast" - you can hear his work on his My Space music page.

Sea walls represent one of human being's relationships with nature. They are fortification against the elements, and in many ways they diminish the aesthetic and ecological function of coastlines, but they also allow us to sit on the edge and look out on something that will always be bigger than us.

New Years Day at Pitas Point, California

I grew up and learned to surf along this stretch of coastline north of Ventura. It is still one of my most favorite places in the world.

I am delighted to be able to share it now with my daughters Adeline and Daisy.

We were treated to this remarkable sunset at low tide with Santa Cruz Island on the horizon.

Santa Cruz Island, Channel Islands National Park

Three days on Santa Cruz Island - returned home just last night. I don't know how to write about Santa Cruz Island without sounding trite. The emotion and wonder that I feel about this place now, however, is the same as what I felt when I first visited as a child. Maybe it is because I am a Californian, but the landscape, unique animals and the ranching history are captivating.

Eastern Santa Cruz grassland and Anacapa Island

Cavern Point

Sea Caves

Island Scrub Jay

Santa Cruz Ironwood

Scorpion Cove

Ravens, Smugglers Ranch

Windmill

Smugglers Ranch

Morning Glory and Yellowbanks

Farm Equipment

Sunset on Montanon Ridge