Joining the Minksy Expedition

The Cassin Ridge on Denali (center of photo)

I have been given the distinguished honour to join the Minksy Expedition this May in Alaska.  The leader of trip Sir Charles Edward Snyder III sent post inviting me on this exciting and grand adventure.  The task of the expedition will be take our dear friend Minksy to the summit of Denali, the highest peak in all the land, and spread his ashes there in salute to his brave and courageous life.

Sir Charles Edward Snyder III, or Chip as his friends call him, is letting me
know that we only have two pitches left to climb.
East Buttress El Capitan, Yosemite California

I first met Chip on a grand California Odyssey.  One that is sure to go down in the history books of dirtbag royalty.  I was sunning myself near the large boulder rocks of the Buttermilks in Bishop California, when this strapping young lad and his trusty dog approached me.  In a gesture of good will Chip offered me a smoke and sat down next to me to ask me where I was from and how I had managed to make it all the way out here into these vast and rugged hills.  

As we sat there enjoying a peaceful afternoon, smoking under the California sun, I told him about how I left the quite territory of Montana by way of a new contraption.  The bicycle, I told him, was about to change the world and would be forever known as one of the greatest inventions of all time.  I regaled him with the grand stories of adventure that I had had, peddling my little legs round and round in circles to propel my steel and rubber carriage.  I had ridden through many a new land to reach the golden mountains of the Sierra Nevada.  The Great Basin of the Nevada Territory, the strange and nuclear sites of backwards Idaho, and along the River of the Snake. And I told him that it was here in California, that my future was to unfold in a plan destined to make me rich beyond my wildest dreams.  

Chip listened closely as his faithful companion Cooper sniffed about looking for rodents or maybe a hare that she could bring us back for diner.  Those first days together in the golden mountains of California intertwined our lives together and we sealed our friendship by way of the rope.  

My California Odyssey, in the end, brought me wealth and riches far beyond the mark of material possession.  In what was to be a two or three month exploration.  Where I was supposed to climb the highest and most famous cliffs of California.  Turned into an eighteen month long voyage that brought me from the peaks of the Sierra Nevada, to the Mojave Desert of Joshua Tree, and back up the coast of the Pacific Ocean through the alien landscape of Orange County all the way to the Great City by the Bay.

By the time I made it back to the Montana Territory, the bicycle had made a small revolution in the quite hamlet of Missoula.  There one could see families on day long outings, cruising the river side, picnicking in the meadows beneath the mountains, and stopping by the markets, overlooking the days fresh made goods that smell of fresh herbs, and ripe fruits and vegetables.

Denali,  The Great One, or The High One, as the Athabascan Indians
kindly referred to her.  At 20,320ft Denali is the highest peak in
North America.

Equinox Ski Challenge

Hi there everyone....   A little catch up on this springs events.  I just competed in my first bike race ever at the West Yellowstone Equinox Ski Challenge.  I rode in the solo 12 hour category.  This being the first year that they have allowed snow bikes on the ski trails.

I recently purchased a Surly Pugsley snow bike from the guys down at Summit Bike and Ski here in Bozeman.  And with a tender spot on my ass from a season of skiing and not biking, I saddled up for the 12 hour race.  There were 4 categories at the event; 3,6,12,&24 hours.  You could enter as a team or as a soloist, and you could run, ski, or ride; or do all three if you wanted.  The event was to raise money for the Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Montana, and all prizes were awarded through a raffle at the end of the event.

This was a place that people came to set personal goals, and personal bests... I set mine, for sure for sure.  This was also the first snow biking that I have ever done, and it took me getting spanked down hard to figure out the tire pressure thing.  These bikes can be ridden as low as 5 pound of pressure (psi) in the tires.  At about mid day I had let out a ton of air from my tires and I was still struggling hard.  I had an impossible time keeping up with the other riders, and at one point I was pasted by a jogger.  The conditions mid day were very sloppy in the soft snow and the bike course was getting rutted out and difficult to ride.  Finally a nice lady passed me and shouted, "Let some air out".  This was the best advice I heard all day, but by this time it was 6pm and I'd been on the course for 8 hours of butt blistering punishment.  I had been riding at about 9-10 psi, so I dropped down to 4-5 psi and my world changed.  The bike bounced on each peddle stroke on the soft tires, but at least I had traction and I was moving.  Then the sun went down and the course started to firm up again and I caught my second (or third) wind and road a couple of fast laps before my finish at 10pm that evening.

They were fast, I was slow
They were brave, I was just a happy fool

The night time riding was a blast and I wished at one point that I could have ridden the whole 12 hours at night instead of the day.  I even thought for a moment that I should have entered the 24 hour category.  Maybe next year, eh.

I was super impressed with everyone of the athletes that showed up.  Kat Hinkman won the 24 hour ski (again) this year. Way to go Kat!!!  She skied 291km in 24 hours.... ouch!

And Alex Lussier almost broke the course record with 319km skiing and biking for 24 hours.  He missed the course record by .9km... ouch!!!

It was so impressive to see these people set a pace and hold it all day, and then all night long... again,,, ouch!

In the 12 hour solo category I place 4th.  Riding 120km (74.5 miles).  I was also the only person that did not ski in the 12 hour solo category.  Which for most smart people, they started skiing sometime mid day when the snow conditions got to soft for riding in.

Other highlights where the very large bear tracks on the trails in the morning, the big face plant that I performed at high speed coming down a hill, barely missing a collarbone crushing tree, and right in front of the camera man.  I hope he got the shot.  I landed arms and head deep in soft snow and had to laugh a little at myself as this was my first face plant from off of a bicycle.

And finally the food...  We (Justene I mean) made a ton of amazing food for me for the race.  We had veggie meat patties, rice and beans w/ spinach, and the best damn date balls that I've had.  In fact, the food was too good and I ate a little to much at one point during the race and had to ride a couple laps burping up the sweet flavour of dates and honey.

Cheers everyone,,, go ride a bike!

Letting more air out of the tires 

into the night
all photos by Justene Sweet

Junkie

by Dr. Muse

My friend is a junkie
He says we're the same
Mountain climbing to him
Is like his needle in my veins

He wanted to get me high
And take me for a ride
We'd go up and down in the his basement
He said I'd see the other side

So climbing and smack
Are a lot the same
That's what my junkie friend said
That's what he claimed

All that night
And thru the next few days
I assisted him with his arm
As he continued to get blazed

And I sat there and watched him
Like the mountains sometimes do
Even from this point
We just can't know someone else's view

Now I like to joke
About my own junkie
The difference between smack
And climbing around like a monkey

I wonder if some day
One of us will know
He'd have to climb mountains
I'd have to do more than blow

Now as I prepare
For my next trip
My junkies all jacked up
He needs to get a grip

But once we get on the mountain
That place we go for fun
I'll put my junkie on a leash
And watch that monkey run

Sometimes I even go alone
So I can surrender
To the ego and voices
It's climbing in December

The cold weather seems to work wonders
And sometimes it burns
My poor hands and my poor feet
Someday I'll learn

I have to keep telling myself
That everything will be OK
Even though it's starting to snow
And the sky is turning dark and even sour grey

I'll summit this mountain
And descend to the city and the pit
As long as I can handle myself
As long as I can handle my shit

So I check in with my junkie
To see what he has to say
He couldn't care less
He's having another wonderful day

At least at this point
At least I can say
My junkie's a monkey
And we love getting high this way

My monkey my junkie
My king my queen
There are angles and demons
If you know what I mean

Someday soon
You'll learn as I did
There's a price for you life
And it's cheaper to be a kid

So why grow up
It's totally up surd
We're allowed to have fun
Or haven't you heard

This is not a discouragement
To be telling the truth
It's far better than some sex counselling
From that old Dr. Ruth

It's going to be rough
And at times I despair
I'm a mid thirties adrenaline junkie
With minimal cares

There's even the depression
Since my last dose
My junkie does the monkey
So well so gross

So just what is it here
That I'm trying to say
It's what the mountains do for us
It's where we go to pray

Ride the Future

posted by Christopher

I've seen the future of Human-Powered Mountaineering, and it's hot white and surly.

That's right, I got a new bike.  And not just some new bike, but the Hummer of all bicycles; the Surly Pugsley snow bike.

If you haven't heard of a snow bike, or fat bike, it is a bicycle with extra large super fat tires.  These tires are so fat that it makes me want to piss and giggle when I ride it.  The tires are huge and they hum on the pavement at high speed.  The idea here  with the extra fat tires is for flotation on snow or sand or whatever medium that comes your way.  The tires are made to be able to ride at incredibly low air pressure; as low as 5-30 psi.  Super Cool!!

The traction is amazing, and yesterday was my first test ride with the new machine.  I rode from my house to work at Bridger Bowl ski area.  A 16 mile ride, up Bridger Canyon Rd, and in a bit of snow storm.  The tires worked amazing on the slick and icy roads.  I've ridden for years in the winter on mountain bikes, and I've ridden with studded tires on my bike before too.  The performance and traction yesterday on the Pugsley (with non-studded tires) was far better than I've experienced before with any other bicycle.

I left for work at 6am and started riding by headlamp out of town and into the canyon.  By sunrise I was out of the city lights and enjoying the peacefulness of the morning ride.  Once up into the canyon, the winds started to howl, and the visibly became difficult as the snow swirled into my eyes as I tried to hide my face behind the hood of my jacket.  I love this type of masochistic nonsense.  My feet froze, I was hot sweaty and cold all at the same time, and the ride was brutal on my poor tender bum from months of not sitting in the saddle, but I loved it.  I grinned, I howled out loud, and I felt like a crazy man on a mission.  Then I got to work for the day, taking people out skiing...  ( i love my job at Eagle Mount )

The ride home was equally exciting.  The wind was blowing harder, and I was forced to peddle the whole way back down the canyon road.  My bum hurt, pellets of snow stung me in the face, and the traffic on the road was a constant reminder that I must be crazy to be doing this.

But I'm so excited about the idea of being able to ride up snow-machine roads, and access backcountry ski terrain totally human-powered, that morning rides, and suffering a little, are just a small part of becoming the human machine.

Can you see the beauty in the irony here?

Knowing your limits is more about failing than succeeding.
Just try...

The stoke is back.
That feeling of madness mixed with divine purpose.
It's the way of the peaceful warrior.
The modern language of the climber, surfer, or ski bum.
It's the way we show the world who we are,
what we want,
and that once the stoke comes boiling up from the inside;
we'll do anything.
Anything that comes to mind.
Whatever we imagine.
Proving to ourselves,
and to the world;
that nothing is impossible.
Just keep trying...

The poster on the wall says it all

I've entered the Equinox Ski Challenge March 24th in West Yellowstone.  This is a xc-ski, snow bike, or run challenge, for 3, 6, 12, or 24 hours.  I'm super stoked.  I haven't entered a competition is 20 years.  The Equinox Ski  Challenge sounds awesome, and is fundraiser for non-profit organization here in Montana that focus on community health; mental and physical.

I've entered in the 12 hour challenge category, and while I'm not worried about placing, or winning, I'm stoked to try.  I'll be stoked to just make the finishing line, with or without peeing in my uniform.

Wish me luck.

Hyalite Canyon's New Era

posted by Christopher

Here is an article that I wrote for the Bozone called;

Hyalite Canyon's new era

A number of years ago, a famous Canadian ice climber moved to the Bozeman area and changed everything.  Turns out he wasn’t even Canadian, but had grown up right here in Big Timber.  Little did that matter because every ice climber in the world knew the name Joe Josephson, and his name was sin-ominous with hard Canadian ice climbing.  He is also the author of ‘Waterfall Ice, Climbs in the Canadian Rockies’, one of the best climbing guide books ever written.

Shortly after Joe Jo moved back to Montana he produced another stunning guide book called ‘Winter Dance’. This time for the ice climbing areas of south western Montana and northern Wyoming; namely Hyalite Canyon and Cody, Wy.

The new guide book was awesome and right away more people started climbing in Hyalite Canyon.  But the access into the canyon was a big problem for the majority of the winter, because once the winter snows came the road became impassable.  Then the unthinkable almost happened.  The County and the Forest Service almost closed the road to winter traffic.

Joe Jo and his friends knew this couldn’t happen, and in a four year effort of working with the County and the Forest Service, and starting the South Western Montana Climbers Coalition, along with a 501c3 non-profit called Friends of Hyalite, Joe Jo made history again.  In came the New Era of Hyalite Canyon.  

For the last four years, because of Joe Josephson, Bill Dockins, and the ice climbing community of Bozeman; the road into Hyalite Canyon is being plowed .  Open to everyone, including backcountry and nordic skier, hikers, kite skiers, ice fishermen, sledders, and families looking for that perfect Christmas tree.  Hyalite Canyon boasts many things besides being a world class ice climbing destination.  It is the most used canyon in the state of Montana, and now Bozeman’s favorite backyard is open to everyone all winter long.  And all this is thanks to a bunch of people passionate about climbing frozen waterfalls.

Now that the road is plowed, Bozeman and Hyalite Canyon is on every North American ice climber’s radar.  Hyalite Canyon has become a reliable destination, offering the most accessible and longest season of any ice climbing area in the United States.  There are 230 established routes in the canyon, and some of the hardest routes in North America.  Hyalite is a spectacular place, and the canyon its self has created the ice climbing community that lives here.  This is because right next to some of the super hard routes that are making Hyalite famous, are nice easy beginner climbs.   And everyone gets along.

As Whit Magro says, “There’s no drama in Hyalite, everyone is super supportive of one another”, and that is one of the reasons Hyalite is so special.  Without this type of attitude of support from a greater community, the sport of ice climbing would not be where it is today.  And Whit is at the fore front of the New Era of Hyalite ice climbing. 

Whit started climbing here back in 1998 and remembers chasing around the likes of Jack Tackle, Doug Chabot, and Alex Lowe.  Fourteen years later, Whit has helped establish some of the hardest routes in Hyalite, and he has done this in the same bold style the original pioneers used.  It takes a special kind of person to be really good at hard ice climbing, and Whit has that special knack for climbing really hard, scary, and totally dangerous routes with confidence, style, and good old fashioned Montanan humility.

Whit is also an advocate for the new trends in ice climbing, and he sees the growing popularity of Hyalite Canyon as a way to further the evolution of the sport for both beginner climbers and those people out there pushing that standards of what is possible.

Having the road plowed into Hyalite has put Montana on the map as a world class climbing destination, but it is not only the ragged and crazy ice climbers that are benefiting from this road access.  It is the town of Bozeman and our economy; it is the skiers, the ice fisherman, the families that want to go for a hike in a pristine winter wonderland.  It is everyone who calls Bozeman home that has benefited from the work being done to keep access into Hyalite a reality.  So the next time you run into one of your crazy ice climber friends, say thanks, and find out how you can help and become one of the Friends of Hyalite.

Christopher Bangs has been climbing ice for sixteen years and is the owner of Human-Powered Mountaineers here in Bozeman.

Having the road plowed has opened up some of the best backcountry skiing
in Montana.

Climbing through heavy spindrift is like trying to swim and climb
at the same time 

Early morning sunrise from the parking lot trailhead on another special
day.

Snow Storms

some of my best days,
are storms days

those days when being outside in the cold,
somewhere on a mountain side

i feel the most,
of what it is that i would call life

i feel the most of myself,
and the most of what the world has to give to me

the snow flakes,
the wind in my face

the motion of my skis across the snow,
and that silent voice from the mountain that speaks to my heart

some of my best days,
are snow storms

when the world inside my mind,
needs to be let free

to scream like the wind around me,
and fall like the peaceful snow

to be outside on the side of a mountain,
in the turbulence of a storm...

are some of my best days

Alaska, the early days

Walking to highway near where I lived outside Valdez, AK.

posted by Christopher

Some things happen by accident, and some things happen all on their own with no rhyme or reason except that it is exactly how they should happen.  Alaska was that place for me.  Where I found myself and lost myself all at the same time.

I was young and I was opinionated.  I knew what I wanted in life, but I did not know how exactly to get it, or what to do in those desperate times when life demanded that I pull it all together and prove myself to my family and my peers.  (Sound familiar?)  Yes well, like I said, I was young.  20 years old to be exact, when I found myself living in a tee-pee outside of the town of Girdwood Alaska.  I was a ski-bum, and I was damn proud of it.  The world around me didn't make much sense, but skiing did.  The motion of my skis against the mountain, the feeling of weightlessness against the constant tug of gravity.  I was living my life for those ephemeral moments that I was able to capture on skis.  And this made sense to me then.

My tee-pee that I lived in was a couple miles from the town centre.  Each night I walked home with my trusty dog Rio leading the way through the forest.  Rio knew the trail well and he knew my commands, and each night we walked home with out headlamps or flashlights because Rio would just lead the way.  Some nights we encountered Moose on the trail and we would have to detour or wait for out turn to proceed.  These were the golden years of my life.  Where I learned the most about who I am, while at the same time, I was just looking for that next big rush, that next peak to climb, and that next meal to fall into my lap.

We didn't have much money, Rio and I.  And we scavenged what we could to keep the dream alive and keep the search going for those ephemeral moments that marked my life like constellations on a clear night.  I could have looked harder to find a job during my first winter living in Alaska, but I wasn't looking to find a job.  I was looking to find myself.  Like some far off meaning that my school teachers had  forgotten to write into the curriculum.  I wanted to know the real me, and I wasn't going to give up and turn myself into someone that I couldn't identify with.  This was the stubborn independent side of Chris Bangs.  The side of Chris Bangs that thought if I took a job that wasn't perfect for me, than I would turn into a version of me that I didn't like.  Like I said, I was young, and I was learning the art of ski-mountaineering, Alaska style.

I was also learning how to ice climb, and this too I was learning all on my own.  I don't know which is more desperate, learning how to ice climb by ones self; or the total search of self discovery.  But for me the two came hand in hand.  Ice climbing taught me how to do one thing at a time.  How to pay attention to one thing with all of my attention, while at the same time, total chaos was happening all around me.  I'd be up there, on a frozen waterfall, plenty high enough that if I fell, I'd be dead, and the whole world of chaos would be screaming in my ears, "Chris, Christ, your a fool man, the shit is falling apart all around you, your getting hit in the face by plates of ice so stop smiling and grinning; your on the verge of death you fool,,," and I'd keep going, like a deaf composer, writing my own tunes, singing louder than those voices of reason and sanity.  Those weren't me.  Those weren't my fears.  I'd found something that I can only now look back on and consider.  I'd found Zen.  Zen in the midst of all the chaos.  That was when I moved to Valdez, the epicentre of skiing in America.

No heli required!!!!

The little black dot in the centre of the photo, (is a skier). 

That's Thompson Pass behind me.  In three years I climbed and skied everything
close to the road.  The same terrain that put Valdez and heli-skiing on the
world map.

For the price of lunch, you too can steel runs like this away from
high priced heli skiers that don't know zen.

My last day in Alaska, self portrait from the summit of Hogsback.
 Earning my degree in Alaska Mountaineering. 

Downtown Anchorage!!!

19 mile wall, directly above the cabin that I lived in.