Jim Frankenfield
==> December 2001 Holiday Letter <==
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Holiday Greetings, friends and family!
As I reviewed my address book and sent out Christmas cards there were a few things I realized.
The first is that it has been a long time now since I had the privilege of living, working and traveling abroad. I still have many friends from that time on my list, including many in other countries. When I returned from abroad roughly ten years ago I hoped to be able to at least travel again and perhaps to be able to work internationally again. While that never happened (aside from two short trips to Europe for conferences) I still hope that some day I will be able to visit new parts of the world again, and maybe to visit some of you in your own countries.
Another realization is that it has been a long time since I had the privilege of immersing myself in the fascinating fields of science and mathematics. While my studies in these fields were a financial black hole I remember fondly the times when I was able to appreciate the wonders and challenges of science. To my friends who have remained in these fields, I hope you continue to enjoy such fascination and challenge.
Finally, I have realized that I am very fortunate to know such a wide variety of great people who have widely differing lives, opinions and stories to tell. Many of my friends are almost as "colorful" as some people may consider me to be. Thanks to all of you for brightening my life and keeping things fun and interesting.
As for what I've been up to over the past year ...
In the first few months of 2001 I was out skiing a bit in Oregon and Utah as well as teaching a couple avalanche safety courses. Photos from a few ski trips are still on my "Realtime Photos" page but have sunk to the bottom of the list by now. So scroll down if you are looking for these. In March I organized one of my annual ski trips to Blanket Glacier in the Monashee mountains near Revelstoke BC. On the way back I had a chance to ski tour around Nelson a couple days and spent a day at Kootenay Pass touring the Gaz-Ex avalanche installations. There are still some photos from these post-trip outings on the Photos Page also.
Throughout the winter and spring I made use of my old VW bus which had broken down up at a higher elevation on the logging roads by Diamond Peak. We had such little snow in this area that I was able to drive up to within half an hour of the bus all winter. (Of course this was probably what finally finished off another vehicle in my fleet - an old gray Chevy LUV truck!) On December 31 of last year I actually skied to the top of Diamond Peaks lower southern summit.
April through June saw more ski touring since this is the best season in the Northwest. The bad weather finally goes away (mostly), the trailheads thaw out, the days are longer, and some impressive vertical relief is accessible. Up to at least 5000' on some of the volcanic peaks. As the spring progressed I also transitioned from skiing entirely to partially doing some rock climbing and on Memorial Day we went to the Alvord Desert for a long weekend. This is a dry lakebed or Playa out in the Great Basin near the NV-OR border. It is a truly fascinating place.
Throughout the early summer I continued to do some guiding and instruction and actually did more rock climbing than I have in a long time. I decided it was time to get back into that at a more active level.
The big trip of the summer was to the Battle Range, which is a group of peaks within the Selkirk Mountains. We were taken in by Alpine Helicopters of Golden BC and left for the week. This is a really remote and wild area with incredible relief - high peaks cut by deep valleys, all in a high density. One of our group had been in Colorado in the Rockies there the week before and his first comment after Don flew off to return to Golden was "Wow, this sure isn't Colorado". So if you've ever been to Colorado imagine someplace much more wild and much larger (although not higher in absolute elevation). I finished this trip by exploring the Hermit Range in Rogers Pass before returning. I climbed Mt Tupper (which is the summit which I am on in my Holiday card this year) after hiking up to the Sifton-Rogers col the previous day to gain a view of the North Face of Sifton. I also had extensive views of the northern Selkirks from there.
In the late summer and fall I took the opportunity to do a few routes in Oregon which I've never done before, including the Jefferson Park Glacier on Mt Jefferson, the "South Face Gully" route on Broken Top, and one of the easier technical rock routes on the west face of Mt Washington. As well as continuing my rock climbing at Smith Rock now and then.
My photo pages come to an abrupt halt in late September. As the fall progressed I became busy getting the Avalanche Center up and running again, and the weather usually deteriorates anyway. There is a time period with too much snow to walk around but not enough to ski. But after running the fall fundraising auction for the avalanche center I took a well-deserved break and have just returned from Rogers Pass BC where I was the hut custodian in the Alpine Club of Canada Wheeler hut. I was involved in team-teaching an avalanche safety class and left from there so we had somewhat of a rushed trip, but the time in the hut was great fun. We did only a few short ski outings but got out each day after organizing the hut and shoveling the snow which fell in great abundance during our stay.
So that is a quick overview of the past year. I've left out the endless hours of computer work, the never ending political hassles of trying to use our public lands without enough money to buy a land manager or legislator, and the many other boring things in life which we all must live with in one form or another. Running my own guiding business and the avalanche center take more of my time than I get to spend outdoors. But in the end I think I have more adventures per year than many people, and I'm thankful for this.
In the coming year I'm looking forward to a week in the Fairy Meadows hut in April (high mountain terrain with ski tours over the glaciers), possibly a trip to Ecuador if there is enough interest from clients, and the usual array of guiding and instruction.
I wish you success in the year 2002. Don't forget to leave a little time for fun and adventure!
Jim
