2016 Ely Bristlecone Birkebeiner

The Ely Outdoor Enthusiasts resurrected the Bristlecone Birkebeiner, a cross country ski race. They have cool photos on their Facebook page from past Birkebeiners. Birkebeiner is a name for a cross country ski race, with its origins going back to the year 1206, when the 18-month old illegitimate son of the King of Norway was smuggled to safety in a backpack by soldiers on cross country skis. For some Birkebeiners, racers carry backpacks with a weight simulating the infant.

You would think that with how cold Ely is, it would be easy to hold a cross country ski race, but it seems that warming trends and lack of snow the past two years have made it really difficult. This year the organizers set the date and said the race would be held no matter the weather--if it was warm, it would just be a mud run. That made it much easier to plan and save the date. Fortunately the weather was great, and over 30 people turned up with their skis.

The long race (12.2 km) started at 9 am, and then the short race (6.1 km) lined up to start five minutes later.

The race was held at Ward Mountain Recreation Area near Ely. I had never done the loop, so it was fun to see what the course was like. Most of it was a narrow path through pinyon and juniper, siwht some open areas. When we started the race, there were some people who took off so fast I didn't even know it was possible to move that fast on skis! I shuffled along, hoping to finish in time to see the kids' race, which would start 55 minutes later. The race had lots of little ups and downs. I crashed on one turn at the bottom of a little hill since I didn't want to ski into the sagebrush. I wasn't exactly smooth, but I really enjoyed being outside and getting some exercise. My friend Brooke finished ahead of me and got this photo of me near the finish--in about 55 minutes! Woohoo!

I went up to the Kid's Ski route, a 1-km out and back.

They had started it just a few minutes earlier (I needed a few minutes to recover at the end of my race), so it took a while to catch up to the kids. But I eventually did, finding Desert Girl in her tutu and Desert Boy with a very determined look and not minding that one of his boots wasn't very secure in the ski binding.

They both wanted to win a ribbon for being in the top three, even though they had very little experience with cross-country skiing (like two practices and that's about it).

They fell a lot and complained some, but they kept moving.

Desert Girl got passed and at the end was very frustrated because she finished fourth. It was a hard lesson for her to learn, but a good one, that you can't always win (and as a six-year old in her very first cross-country ski race, she shouldn't expect to!). I tried to emphasize that just participating and finishing made her a winner.

They soon awarded ribbons, and Desert Boy got second for the kids.

It was great to see kids enjoying the outdoors so much!

We did a photo of all the ribbon winners.

I think this girl was the biggest winner of all. She was the last person to finish the course, but she was nine years old and did the 6.1 km race and finished with a smile! Way to go!

I asked the kids afterwards if they wanted to do the race again next year. 

They didn't hesitate to say yes. I think we'll be spending more time outside, so it's already a win for all of us. Thank you Ely Outdoor Enthusiasts for getting us outdoors!

2016 Lehman Cave Lint Camp

Not many people visit Lehman Cave in the winter. That makes it a great time to clean the cave! About 25 volunteers gathered for a weekend in January for the annual lint camp. Lint refers to the particles that fall off our clothes (you know, what you find in the dryer lint trap). Lint is constantly falling off our clothes, including when we're in the cave. But in the cave, there's little wind to blow it away, so it just drifts onto the cave formations and over time makes them look duller. It also provides an unnatural food source for cave biota and can even change how speleothems (cave formations) form.

Along with lint, lots of hair, dirt from shoes, and other assorted things get left behind in the cave. Armed with simple tools like forceps and paintbrushes, we started dusting down the cave, using dust pans and plastic bags to capture the lint and other debris. It is an amazingly soothing and fulfilling activity, which might help explain why everyone doing it seems to have smiles on their faces! (Or they were happy to pose for the camera.)

Katie came from Crystal Cave in Sequoia National Park so she could learn how to put on lint camps there. She found a high ledge that had quite a coating of lint and dust. Below you can see the line between what she's cleaned and hasn't cleaned.


Some places are very difficult to clean, like in between popcorn. Tiny brushes and forceps work best here.

During this lint camp, an old hot cocoa mix was found in the cave. Who would have brought it in? And how long ago?

Fungi and springtails were still deriving some nourishment from it. A tiny gray springtail is in the photo below, inside the blue O.


We also lucked out and found a larger cave creature, a pseudoscorpion. This one is endemic to the South Snake Range. It's a predator, at the top of the invertebrate food chain in the cave. But it's only about an inch long.

Families regularly come to the lint camp, and it's neat to see how they all work together. In addition to cleaning lint, another big job during the weekend is restoration. That means removing old trail debris to find the natural cave floor. Buckets are quickly filled up and it's cool to find popcorn or rimstone dams under the sand.

Even the ceilings need to be dusted! It's not as easy as at home, though, due to all the soda straws and stalactites.

We had a group of kids who worked really well together. Plus they are so close to the floor that it's easy for them to see things adults might not.

On Saturday afternoon we gathered for a group photo. We were waiting for a few people, so I decided to have some camera fun. I told everyone to move their lights around during a long exposure.

Then I was reminded of what we had done during a Batblitz--some writing in the night. We assigned letters, did some practice shots, and ended up with this:

Then it was time for the official photo:

Next up was a reward for all the hard work, a tour of the Talus Room, an area of the cave that's usually off limits. It's a humongous room, more than a football field long and with the ceiling more than 100 feet tall in places.

The next day it was back to work, but for some folks in a different area of the cave. People often get attached to a particular spot they're working on, and if they don't finish it, want it saved for them for the next lint camp. The amount of dedication is amazing.

The work can be tedious, but it is rewarding.

Here are some newly uncovered rimstone dams in the Gothic Palace. They had been covered up for decades, and now everyone can enjoy them.

Lint camp kind of turns cleaning on its head--in the cave it's a fun thing to do!

Update: Here's a great article in The Ely Times by Ross Johnson about lint camp.

Winter Ascent of Wheeler Peak - Day Two

 If you missed it, this story begins here.

Day Two. I slept off and on during the night, anticipating the next day's trip to the top of Wheeler Peak. The warm water bottle at my feet eventually cooled off. I tried opening a hand warmer to put in my sleeping bag, but it was too old and didn't work. So I tried thinking warm thoughts. Winter camping is definitely not my favorite, but it wasn't too bad. And then the wind started, making the trees rustle all around us. I tried not to groan. Wind meant that the hike to the top would be extra cold. We could face extreme wind chills. We could face icier slopes. Somehow the early wake up time didn't seem so bad, it meant that I'd be doing something and not just imagining worse-case scenarios.

Our plan was to get up at 3:30 a.m., but some others in our group were up earlier. After all, when you go to bed at 6 p.m., it's easy to wake up early. I wasn't exactly eager to get out of my sleeping bag because it would be cold, but soon enough it was time to get going. With lots of layers, we started snowshoeing towards Stella Lake, our headlamps on and illuminating just a tiny part of the landscape ahead of us. Soon we started up the gully above the lake, the skies gradually lightening. I had hoped for a beautiful sunrise, but it was just kind of gray.

Soon it brightened enough we could turn our headlamps off. The snow in the gully turned out to be wide enough I could switchback up it.

The wind continued, with gusts strong enough we would just stop and brace ourselves and wait for them to pass. The gully was long, but it wasn't that bad. The snow was fairly hard packed, so we weren't sinking in much.

When we got to the top the sun started coming out, making for marvelous landscapes. The lenticular clouds over the North Snake Range were a little alarming, but we weren't turning back.

Four of us took off our snow shoes. Our leader, Paul, continued towards the top with his on, while Jodie switched to crampons, and the rest of us chose to just wear our mountaineering boots. I had to do a quick patch on my heel, which was sore, but not blistered. (I've learned if you take care of hot spots soon enough, you can avoid the blisters.)

Then we were up and towards the peak. The summer trail is further to the west, so this was a new view of the peak for me. It didn't look that far away. We had already gained 2,000 feet and only had 1,200 to go.

The views were marvelous, and I stopped a lot to take photos. It looked like such a different place with snow on it. But I was a bit surprised by how much rock was visible, the winds had really blown a lot of snow away.

Paul, with his snowshoes, opted for the snowy part of the ridge, and the rest of us alternated between snow and rock, depending on what seemed easier at the time. I certainly learned during this trip that snow can have so many textures.

 As we climbed higher it got colder, and clouds covered the top of Mount Moriah to the north. I hoped we wouldn't be in a cloud bank at the top of Wheeler.

I thanked Tom for wearing such a bright jacket, as it turns out well in the photos!

We kept plugging along. You don't want to stop too long, it's too cold, so you just keep putting one foot in front of the other.

I was in awe of the stunning views. The winter light certainly makes the landscape even more dramatic.

Finally I was at the top, catching up with Paul and Jodie.

We tried for a group shot, but Tom kind of got lost.

He really did make it to the top, as shown by him signing into the summit register. It was just barely accessible in the mailbox on the top.

Paul at the top. He had organized this trip, and we were all so grateful to be at the top. It was cold but gorgeous.

Soon the clouds started rolling in.

I couldn't leave until I walked the summit ridge, though, as some of the best views are at the end. The snow was hard packed and I stayed on top. On some other trips I've postholed my way to the end of the ridge, which isn't very pleasant.

The clouds actually made for really interesting scenery, especially with the sun on the landscape below them.

Jodie and Paul had already headed down. Tom was next, still in his boots, but with his ice axe out. Mike and I decided on crampons, and those turned out to be a great choice.

You can barely tell it's me, I had so many layers on! Three on my head, five on my torso, three on my lower body.

The clouds made for more dramatic scenery as we hiked down. The crampons allowed us to stay on the snow, which turned out to be a very easy descent, even easier than hiking in summer where you really have to watch your footing on the talus.

The steepness wasn't bad at all, and it was fun going anywhere on the mountain where we wanted and not being constricted by a trail.

When we got back to the chute, Tom decided to have some fun and started sliding down it with his ice axe ready to slow him down if he got going too fast.

The patterns in the snow were really cool.

And then I saw a pattern that made me do a double take. Was this an avalanche? It sure looked like it. I hadn't noticed it in the morning, but we had probably crossed right over it in the semi-darkness without giving it a second thought. On the top left of the photo you can see a crack in the snow, which might have been where it originated. It was in a spot that I never would have suspected for an avalanche, as it came from the side into the gully, and I thought an avalanche would just come straight down the gully.

As we continued down, I saw some movement on Stella Lake. Were those people? Sure enough, they were. Two skiers were ascending, hoping to find some better snow on the other side of Wheeler Peak.

We had started hiking from camp about 4:40 a.m. and made it to the summit in about five hours. We spent about 20-30 minutes at the top and then it took about two and a half hours to get back to camp.  I was ravenous and eagerly ate some ramen noodles I had brought along as extra food. We all packed up and made our way down to the trailhead, and I got there about 4:15 p.m. Almost 12 miles in 12 hours of hiking. The hard-packed snow certainly made travel much easier than it could have been.

Many thanks to Paul, who organized the trip; Greg, who invited me but then couldn't come; and new friends Mike, Jodie, and Tom. This was an amazing experience!

Paul at Stella Lake on the descent