Entries By solveig waterfall
Posted by: Solveig Waterfall
Categories: Guide News Guide Grant
Valdez, Alaska, is an incredible place to be in April. Long hours of daylight make for excellent opportunities to log massive amounts of vertical in the backcountry. When the skiing is good on Thompson Pass, there is no shortage of dramatic peaks and aesthetic lines.
Taking my AMGA Ski Mountaineering Guides Exam there this spring, I spent a majority of April in the area training with friends and fellow guides becoming familiar with the Alaskan terrain and snowpack.
The days leading up to the exam were filled with anxiety and endless “what-if’s” and “well-maybe’s.” Soon the other exam candidates and I found ourselves in the thick of eight days of late-into-the-night tour planning, strategizing, and pouring over weather forecasts, raw remote data, weather models, avalanche hazard forecasts, and various other slightly cloudy crystal balls. The general idea being to sort through all the data until you find a summary you like. Forecasting for an area as large as Alaska is quite difficult and many times during the week we were reminded that the forecasts were never quite wrong, but that the timing of the forecasts were usually off.
Conditions varied from thigh-deep powder in the east facing couloirs of the Iguana Backs zone, to some of the stiffest, carvable wind-board I’ve ever skied on the Berlin Wall and Odyssey.
The last few days of the exam we had great weather and flyable conditions. We employed the mechanical advantage of Valdez Heli-Skiing to get a ride into the Hoodoo glacier area for an overnight ski tour. We started with a descent of Acapulco Peak in the sunshine and finished with a long ski out of the Worthington Glacier in whiteout conditions.
Going through the process of being examined by your peers, learning from other exam candidates, and dealing with the stress of guiding new terrain and on-the-fly tour planning has been invaluable in helping me excel in all other facets of my guiding and personal endeavors.
Passing the exam and becoming one of only a handful of certified women in the U.S. is a huge honor and I am proud to represent RMI Expeditions.
- RMI Guide Solveig Waterfall
Posted by: Solveig Waterfall, Zeb Blais
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 14,410'
Congratulations Dan & Dean!
Posted by: Denise on 7/31/2013 at 1:23 am
Congrats John and Dean! Looking forward to lots of pictures.
Posted by: Catherine on 7/30/2013 at 10:15 pm
Posted by: Adam Knoff, Solveig Waterfall, Mike Haugen, Win Whittaker
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 14,410'
Awesome!! Congrats everyone! :)
Posted by: Elise on 7/26/2013 at 11:43 am
Posted by: Billy Nugent, Solveig Waterfall
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 14,410'
Jennifer and Nick…I am so happy for you. You are awesome!
Posted by: Karen Pratte on 7/15/2013 at 9:20 am
Posted by: Eric Frank, Solveig Waterfall
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 14,410'
Way to go Herb!! We are so proud of you. Love, mom
Posted by: Jean Yu on 7/8/2013 at 12:13 pm
Congrats to the team and especially to Ed! I am so proud of you.
Posted by: Gayle hutton on 7/8/2013 at 11:39 am
Posted by: Win Whittaker, Solveig Waterfall
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 14,410'
Posted by: Adam Knoff, Solveig Waterfall, Nick Hunt, Steve Gately, Chase Nelson
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 14,410'
Wahoo! This is a day to remember, huh?
We are soooo proud of you!
Posted by: Vicky on 6/21/2013 at 10:17 pm
Yooray! Such an achievement! So proud.
Posted by: Gerri on 6/21/2013 at 3:42 pm
Posted by: Casey Grom, Solveig Waterfall
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 14,410'
Now that’s a different kind of expedition than Albert Pike. Congratulations Tim! Can’t wait to hear all about it.
Posted by: Erik on 6/10/2013 at 8:39 am
Way to go Dad!
Posted by: Madison on 6/10/2013 at 5:11 am
Posted by: Mike Walter, Solveig Waterfall
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mt. McKinley
Elevation: 11,200'
Posted by: Mike Walter, Solveig Waterfall, Ben Liken
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mt. McKinley
Elevation: 20,320'
On The Map
Congratulations! Villy you made it! Greetings to everyone! Have a save trip home. We are looking forward to a thrilling report.
Tina & Klaus
Posted by: Tina on 5/26/2013 at 12:51 pm
Congratulations to Solveig and the entire team
Posted by: Tom Waterfall on 5/26/2013 at 10:35 am
would you like to have a great vaccation in morocco just click here
Visit & Discover Morocco
http://moroccodreamsadventure.com
this site provide all informations you need to know about morocco
Posted by: brahim ait on 9/22/2017 at 11:56 am
Congrats to you Solveig on completing the prestegious AMGA Ski Guide Certification and adding another line on your already impressive reseme. Reading about your latest adventure brought back fond memories of my climb with you, Josh and Lance on Rainier last August 22-25. Although I did not summit, I really enjoyed the adventure and the fellowship of our Climbing Team. I hope to one day sign up for an Everest Basecamp Trec . . . Maybe your Husband would be the Guide! Be safe, enjoy the adventure and keep living the dream. Doug Kennedy - The Songee Guy - a thin red cord binds us together as a Climbing Team !!!
Posted by: Doug Kennedy on 1/23/2014 at 4:20 am
View All Comments