Whiteout

The San Juan Mountains: the most avalanche prone range in the U.S., containing one of the highest concentrations of peaks over 14,000 feet tall. It was here I started my most recent trip.

I had been getting reports of extremely low temperatures and the mountains did not disappoint with night time temperatures below -10. Exploration in the strictest sense was virtually impossible. Waist deep snow and extreme temperatures confined trips that were intended to go deep into the mountains to the outermost edges of the wilderness. I traveled with frustrating slowness, a 1 mile per day pace.

It was interesting from an engineering perspective how my equipment failed during the trip. The nylon and rubber of my waterproof backpack became stiff and cracked. The windshield of my vehicle developed a long horizontal crack shortly after reaching warming climates. Plastic buckles shattered as if made from glass.

But worst of all was the discovery that leather boots freeze absolutely solid. Every morning I woke up only to wrestle for an hour with boots that felt as if they had been forged from cast iron. I usually spent an hour slowly turning them over my campstove, wasting precious fuel, until they became pliable enough to go over my feet. Even then they were agonizingly cold and uncomfortable. Nothing I did prevented their nightly solidification.

Someone could get lost out here...

-2016-
bayou goula towhead

-2015-
the sea test

-2014-
the circumnavigator pt5
the circumnavigator pt4
the circumnavigator pt3
the circumnavigator pt2
the circumnavigator pt1
falling dream
the darkness
one hell of a mile 3&4
he will return
the believers
the horror pt2
the horror pt1
traces
death valley
whiteout

-2013-
paradise of outlaws
the mountain climbers 1&2
brought to surface
one hell of a mile 3
primordial
the lost world
inner gorge
a ghost story
the riddle
slaying the minotaur
heart of darkness
bayou
public lands
organ music
two sought adventure
the virgin river
the road north
preparations

-2012-
steal the world
the end of the world
el dorado
the valley of the kings 2
the valley of the kings 1
one hell of a mile 2
one hell of a mile 1
the mountain climbers rr4
heroes rr3
rainy roadtrip 2
rainy roadtrip 1
the transgression
sandstorm
sinister 2
sinister 1
dehydrated
anatomy
sleepwalking
new chapter

-2011-
like sedona?
torn in two
blink
bridge to nowhere
the door
hitting the wall
elusive 2
elusive 1
harquahala
hole
pick up lines

-2010-
revisited 2
revisited 1
which way?
lost mines
chute
monolith
freeze
slice
in their footsteps
a dance with death

-2009-
goodbyes
undercurrents
casting the bones
mountain thief
the deer hunter
strange temple
sanctuary
burial pt. 3
burial pt. 2
burial pt. 1
the apparition
return to hell
forsaken
the lower depths
underground lake
stretch sewer
the hidden lab
shadow movements
meager rations
sw8: the conclusion
sw7: lost gold mines
sw6: the big tubes
sw5: gold!
sw4: el calderon
sw3: redondo
sw2: ghosts
sw1: westward bound
leviathan
formaldehyde dreams
the underdark
in the beginning