Instagram story viewer> @roger_romani> Posts

Roger Romani

@roger_romani

147

posts

603

followers

707

following

Semi-pro student
Snow sliding enthusiast
Skiing the CA 14ers: ⬇️

POSTS STORIES REELS TAGGED

Download All

Another years trip to Alaska ✅.As always, it was work to figure out the conditions, but once things started to align, we got it good. I was especially appreciative of the good training cycle I got in this winter when, literally hours before we were supposed to leave the anchorage area, I broke my skis (probably the last pair of G3 sendr 112s on the planet), and had to replace them with 300g heavier skis. It took me a while to understand them, but my the last few days of the trip I’d started figuring them out a bit more :).Getting to do stuff like this depends in large part on your crews ability to put in big days and get on more committing terrain, and our crew absolutely crushed it this year. Thank you gentlemen 🫡. .We had a drone this year and got a few more clips, and hopefully something comes of them! by @roger_romani

81

3

a year ago

Despite the world class ski mountaineering and rock climbing hosted by the Sierra, relatively little attention has been paid to combining these two hedonistic pursuits in my home range. Arguably, this has been for very good reason: the best climates for each sport are basically opposites, and there’s relatively little overlap in the large amount of heavy gear required for both activities. .Nonetheless, the idea of linking a great alpine climb to a great ski descent took hold of my mind long ago, and hasn’t loosened its grip since. @mattrandall9 and @g_cully55 s work on the East Buttress of Mt Whitney was an impressive confirmation that this all was possible, and @mtnlover1990 and my east ridge of Russell ascent as part of the close out of my CA 14ers ski project only heightened my interest..This spring, Matt and I linked up the ultra classic Swiss Arete on the CA 14er Mt Sill with the admittedly less classic L shaped snowfield to complete a long term dream of mine. The obvious linkup to the V notch remains to be done. While we think we might have been first to do this, it’s an obvious enough linkup that I wouldn’t be surprised if we weren’t the first party to complete it..While the rock cruxes with skis on our back were relatively mellow, mixed climbing on snowy slabs in TC pros was frankly very scary. Very much beat down by what is generally a soft 5.7 in regular conditions, Matt and I staggered onto the summit just as the sun was starting to set..We started rapping at sunset, and ended up burning a good chunk of the rack replacing buried rap stations. In classic style, we skied what would have been good snow earlier in the day just as it was refreezing around midnight..All in all, it was a solid car to car effort and a classic adventure in multiple senses of the word. Was it “fun?” I mean, no, but that certainly won’t stop me from thinking about doing something like this again! by @roger_romani

131

5

2 years ago

Human powered spine skiing, Alaska. When everything lines up, this place is the center of the skiing universe. It only took four years of waiting to get conditions like this :) by @roger_romani

80

6

2 years ago

¿Donde esta la biblioteca? by @roger_romani

70

2

2 years ago

A med student and physics PhD candidate walk up a 14er that rarely goes… Was so stoked last spring for @faye_ski96 and @roger_romani when they rolled into the @mountainramblerbrewery after the down-climb and slog out! I bet this thing is near bare right now.I recently saw a Redbull athlete has this line pinned to his feed, and talked about how intimidating it is. I might have been the only one intimidated there, posted up from afar. I soaked in the sun on the Thumb admiring the endless lines in the Sierra and snapped some photos while @ritvikjmishra lapped a few thousand more feet. by @roger_romani

133

2

2 years ago

Back to school post (22nd grade edition) by @roger_romani

108

4

3 years ago

Middle Palisaide: April 15th, 2023, 14,018’, NE face, car to car with @therealharkinbanks ..The CA 14ers project really came down to 3 super hard (in multiple senses) lines: the Clyde coulior on Starlight, the PDB (or Muir Disconnect) on Muir, and this line, the NE face of Middle Pal. This was the last of the big 3 I completed, and when I finally let myself believe that I could make my crazy dream reality..This line just screams at you from the junction of the S and N forks of Big Pine creek, an otherworldly beautiful face of snow hanging above huge cliffs. I had looked at it for years, dreaming of making hop turns in this place seemingly apart from the plane humans normally occupy..I had been scoping this line all season (and for years before, including a 2019 attempt with @mtnlover1990 ), and was already scheming of getting on it before hearing that a very strong party including @nathan358 had nabbed the first descent in years just days before I was planning on making an attempt. That was it: go time..Ethan and I were able to “ski” all the way from the ridge, a rarity even on this extremely rarely skied line. The middle section was simply sublime: soft jump turns in a location that seemed in that moment to be the center of the universe. We downclimbed the steep snow ramp to regain the glacier below, and celebrated, safe, dream complete..Looking back on this line months later, I simply feel lucky. This was one of these rare perfect days in the mountains where the world seems to fall at your feet, and each step and motion feels imbued with meaning. Ethan complimented this day perfectly, an extremely strong, confident and levelheaded partner who was there to have the same deeply fulfilling experience I was there to have..From here, there wasn’t anything to stop me from completing my years long dream: just a sprint to the finish. by @roger_romani

108

3

3 years ago

Mt Muir, 14,000’ and change, Pondella-Davenport-Boyer (PDB) line/east coulior, mid March, car to car, possible first solo ski descent. Part of why I waited so long to post is I put my phone away for the real parts of the ski descent, so none of my photos show much of the cool parts of the “ski mountaineering” experience, but hey, why post good photos on a photo sharing app when you could spray in the caption!.I have been eying this line for years and following conditions, but made an extremely last min call to go for it, literally Friday at 6 pm, due to a partner getting sick. I drove to REI, bought 50 feet of webbing and extra bail nuts, and started the long I5 drive to the eastside, avoiding the then closure of 395 at Lee Vinning. I fell asleep at the trailhead at zero dark three hundred, and set the alarm for a sunrise rather than alpine start to get some semblance of sleep..The Whitney road was closed at the valley floor around 7k (?) giving me a sporting 7k or so of vert to do. I moved efficiently through a completely buried Portal to the turnoff the North Fork of LP, where the hoards split off the main trail to thrash up the MR. In a welcome break from the summer, I was very lucky to have the entire south fork to myself, an experience I won’t soon forget. I broke trail to trail crest in boot deep pow..The PDB drops into the wild East face of the Whitney-Muir crest, through seemingly impossible terrain. I elected to skip the scramble to the summit (I hate exposed slabby summit blocks) and instead started from the top of skiable terrain. Since I had a rope, I elected to ski cut the top of the line on rappel, just to stack the odds as much as possible..The upper section was perhaps the most special and wild piece of ski mountaineering I’ve ever done. The top bowl steepens and narrows into a 1.25 ski width slot, off camber, with easily 55 degree plus snow, off one of the greatest alpine ridges in the lower 48. I shamelessly sidestepped the sun baked refrozen stuff, but got to make a few unforgettable pow jump turns, hip on the snow to hip on the snow. .Continued in comments. by @roger_romani

115

11

3 years ago

THE DREAM IS COMPLETE!! After 8 years of dreaming, planning, training, recruiting partners, failing, and chipping away at this extremely daunting project, last Sunday I completed what’s been without a doubt the largest project of my life in the mountains: skiing all of California’s 15 peaks over 14,000’ tall. I am so, so happy and proud, and still can’t believe that this is actually something I accomplished. It’s just surreal..First, an enormous thank you to all of my partners on these peaks, any one of which is a mega challenging endeavor: @mtnlover1990 (x3!) @ski_smith (x2!) @maddiehl @tylerkarow @ryanfaye @nahlaachiboi @therealharkinbanks and many more on Shasta. Thank you also to my family and friends who supported me through this selfish and very long project..I’ve done a fair bit of research, and as far as I can tell, both John Morrison and Chris Davenport have previously skied 14 of Californias 14ers. In addition to their lists, which I believe they considered complete, I skied the Clyde Coulior on Starlight Peak, a peak which is sometimes considered an independent 14er and sometimes a sub peak of North Palisaide depending on the list. Personally, to me this is a striking independent peak, and the list of CA 14ers wouldn’t be complete without it. Additionally, even if it isn’t an independent peak, the Clyde is arguably a far more aesthetic descent of North Pal (compared to U Notch). In any case, these sort of things ultimately come down to matters of opinion about which lines count in which conditions, if you need to ski from the true summit or highest skiable point, etc etc etc. That said, to the best of my knowledge, I am the first person to ski this list of 15 CA 14ers (although it’s definitely possible someone else did, if so let me know!). .My freshman year of college, I was scared to ski the West Face of KT. I couldn’t rock climb at all, and almost passed out the first time I was above 14,000’. My first real ski tour I couldn’t even do a second lap on Jakes. It took me multiple tries to ski Shasta. I worked really hard and didn’t do a lot of the normal things people do in college and their 20s. I made my impossible dream reality. You can too. by @roger_romani

192

42

3 years ago

Valdez, Alaska. Fair means. March 2023. .BBQ angle 🎥: @whatareyoudoingkyle On location 📷: @fritsvp by @roger_romani

68

3

3 years ago

White Mountain Peak (14,253’): ever since I first looked at this mountain, I knew it would be a solo ski. It’s in too rarely, it’s too big, and the skiing is too objectively not worth it for a second person to realistically agree to do it with me. A few weeks ago, I “skied” it car to car in arguably the biggest ski day of my life..The route up was relatively straightforward, if long, just 9k up from the desolate valley floor on the west ridge. The 13k ridge proved to be more difficult and slower than I expected, with something like a half mile of snow covered class 3. I summited a bit behind schedule at about 5:30 pm, as the sun was setting over the entire east side, stretched out in front of me..With wind so strong on the summit that I had to crawl, I knew weather was coming in and I had to get out of there. Due to low coverage on my route up and backup ski line, I elected to ski the southwest drainage off the summit. For those (presumably very few of you) looking to ski white mountain, spoiler alert, don’t do this..The first three thousand feet went relatively smoothly (although slowly, I was skiing in the dark), and I ended up in a snow covered river valley. Several waterfall downclimbs left me soaked and committed to continuing down the still fairly reasonable canyon..Below 10k until the road at about 6.8k, the canyon narrowed into a slot perhaps 20’ wide in places, covered with horrible willows and with a barely melted stream at the bottom. Hour after miserable hour, while snow was falling, I bushwhacked and downclimbed, making brutally slow progress. Some 100 ft sections took me literally an hour, with me having to saw a path forward with my leatherman..Probably the most messed up thing was that the @garmin inreach that I had borrowed and was fully charged as of 6:30 that morning had died when I checked it at 4 am, alone, in a storm, and unable to move further down the canyon. This was my insurance policy if stuff really hit the fan, and it was completely worthless. If you have one of these things, don’t bother trusting your life with it, it could very well die if you ever have to use it for real. by @roger_romani

109

18

3 years ago

What you’re seeing are likely the first photos of someone skiing “Black Hole”, an eastside line that @fritsvp and I skied a month or two ago. To our knowledge, we were the fourth and fifth people to ski the line, and with only solo parties riding this line previously (@_zakmills @twisted_equipoise_jewelry @ski_smith ) these photos are probably the first of someone skiing inside the coulior.. Black Hole is a technical and striking line, with two to three mandatory rappels depending on conditions, and an angle that perfectly scratches the exciting but not terrifying itch (at least in the moderately good snow conditions we got it in). We downclimbed the top hundred feet or so to the first rap station, a decision I feel pretty good about. It probably would have been possible to ski, but it was so bulletproof falling in a place you shouldn’t fall was a real possibility. We also decided to rap and ski the rest of the coulior under the exit cliff rather than to traverse off above it, again due to high consequence and only barely edgable snow. Luckily, the rest of the coulior had far better snow. .Thanks to @twisted_equipoise_jewelry and @ski_smith for the beta and support, to @ski_smith for putting in the rap stations a week before and of course to @fritsvp for taking this wild ride with me! I swear one day we’ll ski something cool that doesn’t need a rope….On a side note, as I’m sure many people have, I’ve wondered about how much to bother posting on this app. I like seeing what my friends are up to of course, but posting things that I’ve done myself often just feels like spraying. What makes it slightly easier to justify though is being able to look back at my own posts from the past, and remember what were amazing days with amazing people, and thinking, wow, I’m pretty lucky to get to do all this stuff that makes me so happy and fulfilled. So with the goal of being able to look back on days like this and smile, I’ll try posting a little bit more in the future. by @roger_romani

134

9

3 years ago