MOUNTAIN KHAKIS - Built For The Mountain Life Blog

Meet Ben Peters - Kayaking Junior Champion

Whitewater kayaking and kayak competitions, despite their extreme nature and high level of difficulty, are no longer adult-oriented activities.  Ben Peters is the 2006 and 2007 C2 Junior Olympics champion.  He competes in freestyle, downriver, boater-cross and slalom.  Last year Ben was in China with the Olympic Development Team and trained on the prototype slalom course for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Ben is 15 and lives in Hudson, WI.  Other than kayaking, Ben competes in alpine ski racing, high school track and high school soccer.  I first met Ben at Canoecopia 2008 in Madison, WI and was impressed by his maturity, determination, love for kayaking and true appreciation for Mountain Khakis.  We are excited to be partnered up with Ben and look forward to tracking his progress.   

Professional Climbing Guides Institute

MK Ambassador Albert Nugue is the General Manager and Director of guide training for Southern Yosemite Mountain Guides.  He was recently named President of the Board of Directors for the new non-profit Professional Climbing Guides Institute (PCGI):

PCGI is a nationally organized, non-profit, non-membership based institute that develops and implements training curricula and standards solely for the education and assessment of professional and aspiring rock climbing guides.

In a nutshell, the mission of PCGI is to further develop and define the safety standards of guided rock climbing through enhanced standards, education and training.  PCGI currently holds several different training courses, including top rope guide, single-pitch guide, multi-pitch guide and more. 

This is a new and unique program that was developed based on the need for affordability, opportunity, choice, U.S.A.-specific standards and overall updated assessment methods and standards.  Check out the website for more information.

Kayak Trip Report from Lauren Burress

MK Ambassador and super-talented young kayaker Lauren Burress checks in from Tennessee with an update:

Easter weekend we finally got to run the Piney.  I've been waiting two years for this.  The beginning of the Piney was very mellow.  Then a few tributaries poured into the creek and it started to get a little faster.  The Piney has a lot of natural beauty, from the gorge section to the many tributaries and waterfalls.  The first drop we came to we scouted and ran and it was pretty cool because you landed right in a hole that just fed you out in to the big pool below.

Everest ER: Namche to Tengboche

Another Dispatch from the Edge from MK Ambassadors Tayloe and Kristin:

photo courtesy Press Club of Tibet

28 March 2008, Tengboche, Nepal, 12,810 feet

Today we trekked from Namche Bazar to Tengboche.  Pretty brutal uphill climb gaining over 2000 feet, up up and up.  Once again, the scenery was unreal as the peaks are starting to surround us closer and closer.  Will stay the night here and head to Pheriche in the a.m.  We will spend several days there at the HRA medical clinic organizing our medical equipment and gear.  From there its on to the Big E.  Several days trek into base camp and there will be no Internet until we are settled in camp

Trip Report: Avalanche Education in the San Juan Mountains

What do you get when you have more than 400 inches of snow, the hairiest mountains in Colorado, and the most avalanche prone highway in the lower forty-eight?  You get the San Juan Mountains of southwestern Colorado.  The only place you would want to spend four days getting your level two American Institute of Avalanche Research and Education (AIARE) certification.  I recently got back from Durango, CO working on my AIARE level two.