Thank you for being a part of the RockClimberGirl community over the years — while I’ll still be blogging here (albeit infrequently), I wanted to share the news about a new adventure that I embarked on earlier this year.

I’ve gone rogue.

Rogue Outreach provides social media problem solving and content marketing services to organizations of all sizes.  After building the RockClimberGirl community (with a day job as an attorney and in environmental policy), I went to work in Digital Engagement with REI, gaining invaluable skills for solving social media and content problems at scale in an enterprise.  From there, I had the pleasure of working with a variety of brands in the outdoor industry, and ultimately decided that I could best serve my clients by operating as an independent consultant.  So Rogue Outreach was born.

For more information, please visit http://saralingafelter.com, and sign up to receive occasional Rogue Outreach updates including:

• Dear Sara:  Answers to questions about social media and content from real people working with real companies
• Take Five Fridays:  Resources that will help you do business better and more happily; and
• Social and content best practices you won’t find anywhere else.

Thank you, as always, and say hi if you spot me at your local crag this season…

Where life used to revolve solely around climbing, if you’ve been around awhile you know that I’ve diversified.  Saturday marked the start of my fourth season of trying to learn how to ski — a task I wouldn’t highly recommend taking on in your 30s, but in some ways, I wouldn’t trade it.  Trying to learn to ski as a grown up has been humbling, and after years of lessons with various instructors, it’s also reminded me that learning new things is hard, which I try to remember when I’m the one doing the teaching, in other areas of my life.

The whole reason I started skiing was to get into the backcountry.  I found as a mountaineer that my lack of comfort on snow (read:  snow terrifies me) was a liability — I moved slower, and less efficiently than my climbing partners because I wasn’t comfortable with the way snow naturally moves.  I fought to keep my grip with every step, burning up precious calories.  I thought that learning to ski would help me build comfort with the natural movement of snow under my feet (or boots, or skis), which would help my mountaineering.  Plus, the idea of swishing my way up a slope in solitude, away from the crowded slopes of a ski area, is a frequent daydream.  My daydreams, however, never actually involve the coming down part.  In reality, when it comes to the coming down part, my true nature — my climber nature — comes out.  When I’m standing at the top of a slope, looking down, my ski partners cheering the powder and the angle of the terrain, all I can think is “where’s my ice axe, crampons and how do I get traction?”

I haven’t yet developed a skier brain.  Maybe this season.

In preparation for another season of trying to develop a skier brain, I signed up for last week’s Pro Guiding AIARE Level 1 Avalanche Course.  I’ve been trying to get into a course for the last couple of years, and for various reasons have had to postpone, which has meant — for me, and my risk assessment — staying out of the backcountry and sidecountry and sticking to the groomed runs.  This year, we’re headed up to the Methow for a hut trip in January, and my rule before we go was to complete an Avy Level 1.  So, we signed up for the first weekend in December then prayed for snow.

And maybe we shouldn’t have prayed so hard.

The classroom sessions were okay — it’s tough to stay engaged in a classroom session from 5 to 8:30 pm on a Monday and Wednesday, but our instructors did a good job of keeping the lecture nights interesting, sprinkled with case studies and real-life experiences as well as drilling some of the textbook basics of planning and preparation for a day in avalanche terrain, decision-making, and companion rescue.  Then, Saturday morning I scrambled eggs to go, packed up thermoses of tea and soup for lunch, and we headed up to Alpental for the on-snow portion of the training.  We spent two full days on snow — Saturday practicing beacon and probe searching, then doing a short tour to practice digging pits and looking at snow conditions; and Sunday doing a tour to practice our field observation skills, practice evaluating terrain and spotting terrain traps, and working our way through a rescue scenario.

The on-snow days were challenging considering my skiing ability (or lack thereof) and the conditions (lots, and lots, and lots of snow).  Saturday was — humbling — to say the least, but guide Erin Smart was amazing.  She helped me get down the hill in one piece, and was above and beyond encouraging and supportive.  I could have written off skiing as “not my thing” after that particular run, and instead, I’m looking forward to scheduling a private lesson with Erin, to try to overcome some of the challenges I’m still having when it comes to deep snow.

I was able to opt to snowshoe on Sunday, so that I could finish the course without being in over my head on the skiing for day two, which was great — although not nearly as easy as I expected, being a novice snowshoer.  We toured up to Source Lake and near Snow Lake Divide, and the snowshoeing was strenuous but beautiful and peaceful, and the two of us on snowshoes weren’t that far behind our skiing classmates until the steep downhills.  Turns out, descending deep snow on snowshoes is more strenuous even than falling downhill on skis — but thanks to patient guides and travel buddies, and Louise, the 20-year veteran snowshoer in our party who coached me on the way down the tougher terrain and kept me company on the hike out, the day was completely worthwhile.

I expected after the training to be afraid to even set foot in the mountains, for fear of the difficulty of partner rescue, and the increased knowledge of the risks involved.

And I was completely wrong.

Instead, I’m completely jonesing to put trips together, reading the NWAC weather and avy forecasts daily, ordering topo maps for the places I’d like to visit this winter, and looking at the calendar to figure out when I can take a few ski lessons to get my skills up to start the season.  The training did not give me a false sense of confidence — I know, firmly, that I’m a novice who needs practice, and who will be choosing my tours conservatively to avoid avalanche risk.  But what it did give me is an ability to read a map, read the avalanche and weather forecasts effectively, and look at aspects, elevations, and possible tour options in the safety of my own warm cozy living room, so that I can make tentative plans that suit my skiing ability and the conditions myself.  And then, I can get excited about those plans, because I made them myself, and then, when I get to the parking lot, I’ll look up and know what to observe to choose which option is the best choice for that particular day, instead of always just getting to the parking lot, looking up, feeling unprepared, and deciding to buy a lift ticket instead.

A huge thank you to Chris Simmons, Erin Smart, Dave Jordan, Solveig Waterfall and Matt – you were all very effective instructors, and did a great job of meeting a large group of students where we each were.  In large groups sometimes I can feel a bit “left behind” because I’m (it’s true) slow, and I didn’t feel that way at all with this class even though my skiing and snowshoeing ability wasn’t quite up to par for the touring we actually did.

On Sunday, partway up the trail, I pulled off the trail to let a faster-moving group of ski tourers by, and a gentleman in the group asked if I was with the Pro Guiding Avy class.  I answered yes, and he smiled and said “Thank you.”  I guessed that the smiling man was Martin Volken, the owner of Pro Guiding, who nearly all of my skier friends — including some nowhere near the Pacific Northwest — steered me toward when I asked for suggestions of AIARE courses around Seattle.  Thank YOU, Martin, for assembling such a great team of guides, and for providing this service to our community.

If you play in avalanche terrain, I’d highly recommend this course.  Play safe, out there.

More on my own journey from avid climber to recreational dabbler some other day — but today, I wanted to just share a link to my friend Brendan’s blog post over at Semi-Rad.com.  I already went all long-winded in his comments, so I won’t duplicate that all here… I’ll save it for another day.  Here’s the link.

A Climbing Accident, by Brendan Leonard

Have a good day today, whether you’re out climbing El Cap or walking across the street to buy milk.  Live it well.

Please help spread this announcement far and wide — access at Gold Bar could depend on the climbing community’s compliance with this agreement. From the Washington Climbers Coalition:

As of Winter 2012 the Washington Climbers Coalition (WCC) has secured access to the gate on the road which leads up to the Gold Bar boulders and the approach to Zeke’s Wall. Climbers who are members of the WCC are welcome to climb at the Gold Bar Boulders and to park there for access to Zeke’s Wall, as guests of the Manke Timber Company. Please note: all climbers using this road must be members of the WCC and have a WCC sticker as well as a valid Discover Pass.

Full information is online at:  http://www.washingtonclimbers.org/Climbing/goldbar.htm

Please spread the word!

I’ve had an okay ski season, all things considered, but today, looking out the window at a sunny day and clear skies, all I can think is sunshine, warm rock, and climbing bolt to bolt on 5.7s I’ve climbed a hundred times before as warm-ups because I’m so far out of climbing shape I don’t even know what climbing shape is anymore.

I’ve got a ski vacation next week that I’m really excited about, so there’ll be a little jaunt where I embrace winter, but I can’t wait to climb.  My hands are sweating just thinking about it.

How about you?  When does YOUR season start (or does it never end?)

But, my amazing friends Fitz and Becca are about 10,000 downloads away from the one million downloads mark, for the Dirtbag Diaries.

What does that matter?  Well … in the grand scheme of things, it doesn’t.  Who really cares about one million downloads.  Or 5.16.  Or 5,000 followers.  On the other hand, the fact that Fitz and Becca and their contributers’ stories have been heard by ears somewhere near a million times literally gives me chills… it reminds me that there are a whole lot of “us” out there, and gave me pause to think about the part that the Diaries have played in my life.

I started out a fan.  I’ve listened to the Diaries for years… usually storing up several episodes at a time to binge on during late night solo drives on big, long stretches of open road.  Through the wonder of social media, I connected with Fitz and then bumped into him (he has a rather … um … recognizable voice) and met Becca at a crag in Leavenworth, WA.  They welcomed me around their campfire that evening, and a treasured friendship that has grown into familyness blossomed.

So, now, the least I can do is point y’all toward my all time favorite Diaries.  Download.  Listen.  Let tears come to your eyes, and laugh out loud at the shared, familiar hilarity of living life by saying “Yes” to it.  Be thankful for the lives of adventure that we each get to live, and for the talented storytellers that connect us to each other.

And far be it from me to pay attention to numbers, but, would you care to help push the Diaries over the million download mark?

May I recommend you start with (or, re-listen to) five of my all-time favorite Diaries.  The links below are to files you can listen to live; if you’d like to download the podcast, visit iTunes and search for The Dirtbag Diaries.

Now, my top five favorite Diaries, in no particular order:

1. Unseen But Felt
2. Scars
3. Three Eights to Eternity
4. Sixty Meters to Anywhere, by Brendan Leonard
5. The Shorts — Friends in High Places, by Kelly Cordes

Love you, Cahalls.  Thank you for the gifts that you give us (your fans and listeners) and me (your friend).  Please, please keep up the good work.  For a long time to come.

I know there are Diaries fans reading this.  Chime in with links to your favorites, in the comments!

Dear American Alpine Club:

I should have joined eons ago.  I know.  It’s been on my to do list — literally — for years.

I’m going to Rockfest in Mazama this weekend, and I nearly joined when I registered for Rockfest.  I’m not sure what stopped me.

But today, when I received this announcement from the talented Abbey Smith on behalf of the AAC, it tipped me over the edge.

Love,

Sara, your newest member.

Climb with a Legend!

$1,000 cash +
$500 Black Diamond gift certificate +
your choice of weekend adventure:

• Maple Canyon sport climbing with Brittany Griffith
• Castleton Tower with Jack Tackle
• Alpine bouldering with Jason Kehl
• Ice climbing with Kim Reynolds

Click here to join now: http://www.americanalpineclub.org/p/climb-with-a-legend

I just reviewed The Love Letter by Fitz and Becca Cahall over at Elephant Journal… if you don’t feel like reading the review, the short version is, I loved it.  For a long list of reasons.  But if you don’t feel like reading the review, you won’t want to read them here either, so I’ll keep it short.

FYI – EJ puts up a paywall if you visit more than a couple of articles (or the same article multiple times) during the day.  If you want to share that link with friends but you’re hitting the paywall, you can share the link:

http://bit.ly/e5Apiq

with your friends.  Though, really, I’d encourage subscribing.  I’m writing non-climbing stuff there and loving it, and find myself reading more and more.

Enjoy, and give the Love Letter some love.

I was having dinner with one of my amazing, incredible, talented climber girlfriends tonight, and she mentioned that her upcoming AMGA certification Climbing Wall Instructor Training course may be cancelled because of low enrollment. The course needs two more enrollees in order to run.

Have you thought about starting AMGA training? Now’s the time!

The Climbing Wall Instructor Certification is described here on the AMGA website. The full information about the upcoming course is available from the training provider, Colorado Mountain School. Students will learn:

• Client orientation and instruction
• Teaching general climbing skills and movement
• Teaching top-roping and lead belaying techniques
• Equipment and facility use
• Rescue and emergency procedures

And registration is $350.  To register, don’t email:  Call CMS directly at 1-800-836-4008 and ask for EJ.  If you or someone you know has been thinking about taking the course, do it!  You’ll be in excellent company, if so!  :)

When I wrote my first post last year about my beginning forays onto the ski slopes, I got a few notes indicating that readers would rather I stick to climbing… that there are enough ski blogs out there already.  Well, I say… tough.  I’ve become a skier; and now that I’m finally learning to ski uphill, too, I think I’m justified in including an occasional ski adventure here.  I’m going to make this one big ol’ long ski post, so that for those of you who don’t give a rat’s you know what about skiing, it’s easy to skip.

I’m freshly back from the Arc’teryx / Mountain Gear Coldsmoke Powder Fest up in Nelson, BC.  I worked the fest in 2010, and went to spend time with friends and help out as a volunteer in 2011, and I swear… it’s one of the highlights of my year.  Partly, because of the incredible friends I get to spend time with while I’m there, and partly because I just love Nelson, BC and the Whitewater ski area.  I’m working on getting my skills up so that I’ll be a strong enough skier to participate in a clinic or two in 2012… and I’m already looking forward to my next trip to Nelson.

A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of dragging kickassgirl Tiffany to another ski event — the Outdoor Research / Mountain Gear Vertfest up at Alpental ski area.  I was there volunteering, and Tiffany took demo and gear review duties for the day.  A huge thank you to Outdoor Research for hosting her, and here’s Tiffany’s story from Vertfest 2011!

After Tiffany’s story, I’ve added a few gear notes myself, since I also recently sprung for my first AT setup after much demo-ing, question-asking, and nail biting.  Enjoy!

And finally, a safety note… these reports involve AT boots, bindings and skis… but we were skiing on area.  If we were headed into the real backcountry, it would be with beacons, shovels, probes, and way more training and education than I have at this point.

It goes without saying, but I’m going to say it anyway.  Mountains are dangerous, a point driven home quite deeply by the grief that was palpable among the community at Vertfest this year as the local ski community mourned the loss of Monika Johnson.

Please, be safe out there.

Now, for Tiffany’s story.

However, I have friends who backcountry ski. I never got into it, thinking the terrain would be too steep, I’m not strong enough and I’d never be able to keep up.

Then a few girlfriends started making noise about jumping into the sport. I found Karhu’s 156cm Betty skis on sale, followed by G3 skins on sale. I started sniffing around for a pair of boots that actually fit and started to research bindings.

Enter: Outdoor Research’s VertFest at Alpental, the demo booths and a very big day of Firsts.

It was my first time:

1. Experimenting with demo gear.
2. Putting backcountry gear to use on snow.
3. Spending a full day out with another girl (no boys!) on the slopes.
4. Not fearing the hills at Alpental.

It couldn’t have been a better day.

And the guys at the tents who helped me out – Dan at Scarpa, Roger and Eddie with Black Diamond, and Paul with Dynafit– were super nice and were so patient with this newbie who had lots of questions.

When I walked into the demo area, I was afraid I wouldn’t find anything that fit me. I’m small (4’11”) and wear a size 6.5 shoe. I nearly started dancing in the Scarpa tent when I found a size 23 in the Scarpa Gea (pronounced “shjay-ya”). They fit well initially, but over the course of the day, the lining needed tweaking to take care of circulation issues. After a few adjustments, I could have worn them all day long, and that was even without heat-molding which addresses the fine-tuning of fit and comfort. The shell has a great small profile, the boots are super lightweight and — well — awesomely bright green.

For skis, I found 155cm Black Diamond Joules, with a Fritschi Freeride binding.

The bindings were nice because they were instinctual – just like my downhill set up. The skis, however, were a different story. As Sara said when we started our first run with our BD skis, “Wow. This is a lot of ski.”

It was, especially compared to my narrow little 149 cm length Volkls, but they were surprisingly manageable for my first time out after a little getting-used-to. Turning was a wee bit tricky at first, but thankfully, snow conditions on the hill were forgiving (think spring corn snow) and visibility was great, so my mind was at ease and turning became a snap. Next thing you know, I’m flying down the hill, doing sharp turns that I’d typically only do after a few days into the season. This was run #1 of the year for me and it felt great.

After a quick bite to eat – I typically look forward to lounging in the lodge but not today! – I changed out the Scarpa Geas for the Black Diamond Swift boots, even though they only had a 23.5. When I pulled them on, they were immediately comfy and roomy, which I knew meant they were too big. I cranked down the buckles (which, yeah, I paid for in lack of circulation) so the ride wouldn’t be too sloppy. I really liked the dial on the side that controls the cuff around the calf.  The shell has a larger profile than a Gea and while noticeable, that didn’t bother me too much.

In the Dynafit tent, the shortest ski available was a 169cm (!!!) Mustagata with Dynafit Vertical ST bindings. I was so stoked to try these bindings since I’d heard so much about them. After stepping in, hearing “click” of the two pins engaging and pressing my heel down, they immediately felt really solid. I peeled out of there to the lifts, really wishing I could try them with skins.

While the Mustagatas were skinnier and longer than the Joules, they edged nicely and surprisingly, I didn’t have too much trouble turning with them. The bindings felt solid. I was afraid I’d pop out of them easily because it doesn’t seem like there is much binding the boot to the ski, but I was really impressed.

For being as small as I am, I’ve really started to adapt the ultra-light mentality within the past year and am trying to do that with my ski gear. The Geas and Dynafits sold me on it. When I saw my backcountry guru friend Kevin later that night, I made a beeline for him and started to excitedly chatter on about what I did. That’s when I realized, I could definitely get into this.

Tiffany Royal writes about outdoor, cooking and home remodel adventures at everyfrog.wordpress.com.  When she’s not playing outside, she’s usually at the climbing gym, Lowes or cooking on her cherished gas stove while her friends come over to eat and then borrow her tools.

I’d second Tiffany’s raves about the sales reps working those demo tents.  I’ve been skiing demos, with the help of sales reps and ambassadors helping me with gear selection and tuning for the last year.  Having worked ski fests myself, I know it can be cold, hard work — but seriously, having the privilege to demo skis with expert advice from reps gave me so much great knowledge and more confidence when it came time to buy my own setup.  If you’re new to skiing and/or backcountry gear, find an open to the public demo, and don’t be afraid to ask newbie questions.  I’m a gear reviewer and have been involved in the outdoor industry for a couple years now, and ski gear was SUPER intimidating for me!  I really appreciate all the great advice and patient question-answering from the many ski and boot reps I’ve gotten to know along the way.

After demoing more AT rigs than I can count in the last year, I decided on the G3 Jam skis based partly on its geometry — I’d narrowed down the kinds of specs I preferred and the Jam was close on paper, and, I’ll admit it — I’m just super fond of G3.  Their topsheets are my favorite in the industry (yes, I’m a girl sometimes), and I have a special place in my heart for companies based in North Van.  I was thrilled to get to try a demo pair (thanks, Tom and Pinnacle NW!) at Vertfest while mine were on order.

I choose Fritschi Eagle bindings after demoing AT bindings from a variety of manufacturers… while the Dynafit style bindings I tried are SUPER sweet for the uphill, I’m in the enthusiastic “learning” stage of my downhill skiing and it’s a rare day that I don’t have an on-hill ejection (or double ejection).  The traditional AT bindings are easier for me to get back into after an “oops” on the hill; Dynafit-style bindings are a breeze once you get used to them from what I hear, but I’m perfectly happy with my Eagles for now.

The more I ski my G3 Jams the more in love I become.  I’m finding my balance on them… weight forward in groomed conditions, and I finally found “neutral” for powder this weekend… and they turn like I’m skiing racecars.  I’m finding them to be exactly as billed by G3:  light for the uphill; asymmetrically shaped for easy turning; a perfect one-ski-quiver geometry that I’m digging on everything from groomers to slush to my completely hilarious experiments so far in powder…  oh, I’m getting all ski-lusty just thinking about them.

PHEW.  Wow, even for me, this is a long post.

One more topic:  boots.  I have had a terrible time finding any ski boot that I can wear for more than one lift run at a time — I have trouble with numb toes and nearly unbearable pain over my instep and in the arch area in most boots I’ve tried to ski in.  Based on in-store fittings and the advice of friends, I gambled on a pair of Scarpa Geas, the same boot Tiffany demo’d at Vertfest.  It was truly a gamble — I have calcium deposits and bony protrusions thanks to spending the last few years abusing my feet in climbing shoes — so I was trusting all my friends who said that the Intuition liners in the Scarpas were the ticket for someone with feet like mine, even if the Gea shell was a bit narrower than my instincts told me to go for.

My buddies were right.  I wound up in a size 24 shell because the 24.5 was just too big — I measure a 24.  Most of my friends with Geas and Maestrales (the men’s version) have gone a half size up from their measure — but since Scarpa groups the .5 shell with the next full size (different than the rest of the industry, I’m told) it’s good to try both shell sizes that may be a fit for you.

It took two heat moldings (the second by the highly recommended folks at Backwoods Mountain Sports in Ketchum, ID) but I am now in love with my Geas.  My first “tour” in them was a dawn patrol at Baldy in Ketchum… four hours of skinning and 40 minutes of skiing and I didn’t have a single complaint about my feet.  Usually, I don’t make it 20 minutes in a pair of boots without being on the verge of tears.  The more I ski in them the more I love them — heat molding made all the difference in fit, and I don’t have numbness or pain in them if I flip the middle two buckles open and pop them into “walk” mode for my time on the lift.  I’m hard to please when it comes to my feet, and I love these boots.  I actually wore them for half-days at a time up at Coldsmoke even when I wasn’t skiing because they kept me warmer than my winter boots I brought, they walk so well, and they’re just plain comfortable.

That’s it.  This year’s ski gear novel is now finished.  A huge thank you to everybody who’s helped me get this far as a skier (especially Teresa, with whom I can’t quite keep up, but she hasn’t yet let me pop my skis off and boot pack even when I’ve been nearly hysterical with fear — you, my friend, are an INCREDIBLE teacher).  And thanks so much to the many, many reps who work cold, long ski gear demos — you really do open the sport to new participants, and I’m an example of that.

And if you’re demo-ing gear — bring it back on time.  The guys and gals in the tents have spouses and kids to get home to (and/or turns of their own to sneak in once the tent’s taken down).

Get out there.  Be safe.  Ask questions.  Have fun!