Climbing

Not only have I become addicted to Geocaching lately but I am now determined to climb each Highpoint in all the 50 States. My obsession started with Mauna Kea sort of by accident and now after a recent monster roadtrip, I have added Nebraska, Iowa (yeah those aren't too tough you can imagine) and South Dakota. I am hoping to tick off Mount Elbert and a couple other 14'ers in Colorado over the weekend as well. Looks like I have no choice but to head back to Denali! Harney Peak stands at 7242 feet above the surrounding Black Hills National Forest. I have to say this is my favorite Highpoint…

The Pakistani Askari Aviation helicopters were finally able to retrieve Marco Confortola from K2's BC yesterday and airlift him to Skardu. He is receiving treatment for severely frostbitten feet and supposedly hands as well. A clearer picture of what happened on the night of Aug 1/2 is starting to emerge. Marco said that he and Gerard decided to bivouac below the summit on their descent as it was too dark to risk going down any further. They ran into Wilco and began the descent together- this is when the serac collapsed and sadly took Gerard down with it. Wilco claims to have seen some…

Reports on what actually is happening on K2 right now are sketchy but what we do know so far is this: a large ice slab broke away from just below the summit on Friday and took the fixed lines down with it. A group of roughly 17 climbers were descending from the summit and therefore stuck after the avalanche. Some have made their way down the steep icy slopes, some are still missing and supposedly three climbers are confirmed dead- Gerard McDonnell, who supposedly died while trying to descend and Hugues d’Aubarede with his porter Karim, who were killed in the avalanche itself. Dutchmen…

While taking a quick break on the Big Island in Hawaii, I decided we might as well climb Mauna Kea! At 13,796 ft, Mauna Kea is the highest mountain (volcano) in the state of Hawaii. The hike starts at the Visitor Information Center at roughly 9600 feet and climbs over 7 miles through nothing but volcanic rock to the summit cone. The true summit is another mile up the road- a jump over the barriers and a short rock scramble up the hill and you have reached the summit pyramid! At the top you have spectacular views of Mauna Loa, all the telescope and observatory buildings and down the East side…

I have been spending the week in the Chamonix valley- my second home as I like to call it. I am enjoying a laid back hiking week with no major climbing as I am here with my brother and some friends. Though it is hard to repress the urge to throw on your crampons immediately when you see those glaciers.... Unstable weather has been coating the valley for most of the time though the last two days have been bluebird sunny and brilliant. The rain is returning tonight and the snow conditions in the high mountain remain precarious in certain areas. If you can read French, the up to date snow and…

This video was made in april 2006 and document a character called Sodá, an enigmatic person who make´s habitable sculptures, recolects water from the rain and lives in a cave 20 meters up the floor

Brake down your mental scheme ! organic habitats, rain water collector,apocaliptic proposal vision and this man who lives in a cave. Ahuuuuua !

Our objetive as a video producer is to comunicate the practice of rock climbing in Mexico through the video.

Frank Mendez climbing Dali at Mt. Evans

Buildering

Just starting to get caught up on a lot of news this morning, but apparently some great bouldering happened in Colorado very recently. Jamie Emerson reports that Angie Payne made the first female ascent of European Human Being (V12) in Rocky Mountain National Park. pimpin’ and crimpin’ has some additional photos of Angie on the problem from a prior attempt. Finally, the ClimbingNarc gives us full coverage of not only Angie Payne, but also of Alex Johnson’s recent send of Clear Blue Skies (V12) and Alex Puccio’s send of The Marble SDS (V11/12) all in Rocky Mountain…

While the “top X” of anything can be heartily debated, take a look at this clip from The Top 20 Classic Boulder Problems of North America released last year by Flashed Climbing and Rock & Ice. Over 500 top climbers were asked to name the most classic boulder problems in North America. This is a countdown of the top 20. The all female cast features some of the sports top climbers with each problem show casing a different athlete such as Cerre Francis, Kate Reese, Charlotte Jouett, Alli Rainey, and others. Director and producer Nathan Cando has created trailers for Hollywood…

Cloudveil is having a big end of summer sale with discounts ranging from 20% - 60% off regular prices. The sale runs from 8/22/08 through 9/1/08. After browsing the sale myself for deals, I can tell you there are definitely some stellar buys in there (via Splitter Choss).

As I mentioned in my last post, we moved to Colorado this week and I was obviously excited about all the new climbing opportunities in my backyard. In my rush to get on some rock, I ignored the fact that my body was exhausted from all the packing, driving, unpacking, and moving around of heavy boxes and furniture. Instead of resting, I decided to head to Carter Lake early this week after work. Why there first? No idea really, just probably the simple fact that it was listed near the front of Phillip Benningfield’s Colorado Bouldering! So guess what happened? Yep, I tweaked my index…

I wrote a few months ago about my eventual move to Colorado. Well, after much effort, I’m finally here. My wife and I drove the 1520 miles from Blacksburg this past weekend and we’re trying to get settled. On my prior post both here and on my personal blog, many asked where I was planning on living and offered up a bunch of suggestions. We had to do a quick close on our house and had only two weeks to find a place to live during the busiest time of the year. We ended up renting in the southwest part of Longmont. So far it seems like a decent compromise - the area is much cheaper…

OGDEN - Utah's High Adventure Mountain Film Festival, September 18-21, showcases high adventure activities with films, parties, awards and special panels in Historic Downtown Ogden. Films range from rock climbing and ice climbing, to extreme skiing and snowboarding, and other mountain-sport categories. The "Above the Summit" category will highlight films featuring people who participate in the sports with disabilities. This category also features people who are positively involved in the community. The "Show Your Shorts" category consists of amateur film makers showing off their mountain…

Black Diamond, an international climbing company, will host the HERA (Health, Empowerment, Research, and Awareness) Women's Cancer Foundation's 7th annual Climb4Life in Salt Lake City, Utah on September 18-21, 2008. The weekend event will consist of various activities for both kids and adults such as learn-to-climb clinics, multi-media presentations by Jason Kehl and Joe Kinder, parties, massage, yoga, and many others. Both experienced climbers and newcomers, including men and kids, are welcome to join. Exum guides and hundreds of participants will be participating in the "Climb For A Cause."…

Good news to all students of University of Colorado at Colorado Springs! As part of the Student Outdoor Leadership Expeditions (SOLE) Program which aims to provide outdoor recreational experiences to students, a rock climbing event will be held on September 13 at Castlewood Canyon State Park. Other outdoor activities and trips are also lined up for the entire month of September. There will be Whitewater Kayaking on September 20; Father Dyer Peak on September 21; and Eleven Mile Reservoir Canoe, Campout & Climb on September 27-29. To get more details on these events, please visit www.uccs.edu…

U Climb, an organization aiming to bring people closer to the outdoors by teaching rock climbing, will be hosting a two-day rock climbing event in Red River Gorge, KY., on September 13-14. Sponsored by Mountain Gear and Mountain Hardware, the U-Climb event will consist of professional climbing instruction from Red River Outdoor guides. Participants will be divided into small small groups to get hands-on rock climbing experience and will be taught on different climbing techniques, voice commands, knot tying, belaying, and others. Registration for the event begins at $159 for youth ages 10-17…

Aiming to promote physical fitness and introduce rock climbing to young individuals, New Jersey Rock Gym (NJRP) will begin its Youth Climbing Classes on September 2, 2008. The classes are open to children, ages 5 to 14. Experience is not necessary. Students will be taught by experienced NJRP instructors on various climbing techniques, knot-tying, top-roping, bouldering, and climbing safety, among others. Instructional climbing lessons will be offered after school hours and on Saturday mornings for eight weeks. Students can attend their classes one or two days per week. The tuition fee of the…

Climbing at 55: Bad ideaAlbany Herald On-line, GA - 17 hours agoWith a herculean effort I resume climbing. Halfway there. Can’t give up now. Wait a second. My waders are buzzing. Cell phone? Now who could be calling me?

Postgame: Catching up with Yesterday's Stars: Keith BoydThe State Journal-Register, IL - 20 hours ago“Climbing mountains. Mount Rainier. Mount Hood. Mount St. Helens after it blew up.” “Tom is a real good buddy of mine. He and I get together and do these

Daily MailCat Man - the human 'tiger' who enjoys climbing trees and eats raw Daily Mail, UK - Sep 6, 2008The tiger aficionado - naturally - enjoys climbing trees and must eat meat 'every day, just as a tiger would.' This should be 'as close to raw as possible,

Exotic climbing liles set the stage for fall bloomThe Daily Advertiser, LA - Sep 6, 2008Gloriosa lily (Gloriosa superba), sometimes called climbing lily, is a delicate-stemmed perennial vine that supports itself as it climbs by means of

YMCA unveils its new outdoor climbing wall todayFlorida Times-Union, FL - Sep 5, 2008The Winston Family YMCA in Ponte Vedra Beach will unveil its new 25-by-25-foot outdoor climbing wall in a grand opening celebration from 10 am to 2 pm today

"Zillertal is such a beautiful area. Probably one of the few places in Europe that has amazing bouldering, sports and alpine climbing all so close together and all of such a high standard and in such...

Stephan Siegrist and Ueli Steck have free climbed Paciencia (900m F8a) on the north face of the Eiger. "Finally we made it! Five years have passed since Stephan Siegrist and I first ascended the...

'Are you creative?', we asked and 53 climbers responded with a resounding yes. The brief was to design FOUR graphic adverts for any products from either La Sportiva, Petzl or Beal. Frank Bennett and...

'C3PO' reports on UKBouldering that British climber Ryan Pasquill has succeeded on Bah Bah Black Sheep (F8c/+) at Ceuse, France. Bah Bah Black Sheep was first climbed by Dave Graham in 2002 and has...

"Free soloing is too forbidding for it to ever become popular. It is an activity for those with a precise knowledge of their own ability." says Alex Huber in a recent interview on the Alpinist...

So I have been out of the climbing game for a while and my grip and pull up strength are pretty poor right now. I am going on a trip in a month

I have developed some strange backpain which prevents me from running nowadays. Since I have to have some cardio on my non-climbing days (cardio is

So I decided to get out (actually in) for some bouldering after several years of not climbing at all. I went to my buddies shed which is mostly

Hey all, I have been climbing for about 2 years, and I;m starting to push into the mid 5.11's. I'm really tall and lean and I climb with a lot

If I were dedicated enough to follow the recommendations of many, and go to the gym three times a week to do 60 minute ARC sessions, I think I'd

So you are sitting there, say belaying your partner from the top of the pitch, half watching another climber on another route. He's on a thin face

Hound Ears this October is going to be my first comp and i was kind of curious. I've heard a lot about problems being seriously downgraded at triple

thinking of making my own bouldering pad... it could be a fun project to test my seamstress skills and to add a little personal flair to my gear!

Doing a little research-how do people carry their stuff (i.e. shoes, guidebooks, extra fleece, ect) on outings as they move between boulders? Do you

Since so many people ask for advice on here about starting up a gym, I thought I would be pro-active and post something. This is not all

Ranger Steve gets the monster group (93 total) going at the Little River trail day. On Saturday, August 16, 2008 a total of 93 volunteers (we think this is a new SCC record) showed up at Little River Canyon as part of a trail day for the Access Fund's Team Works event. Little River is home to hundreds of sport routes, a canyon strewn with water worn boulders, and stellar whitewater kayaking. This event was part of the Access Fund's TeamWorks which encourages youth climbing teams to get involved in access related projects. The youth climbing teams from Escalade and Adrenaline gyms were a total…

Bob showing us all the magic footwork at Panola Mountain. When climbers sit around the campfire and tell tales of the legendary climbers of the South, one name always seems to float to the top. More wild stories of finding long lost boulderfields, first ascents of classics and climbing "how it should be" (no fancy gear, leave no trace, just do it), have been told about Bob. We have all heard the statement "Yeah, I think that was done by Bob back in the 80's", much to a new would-be-first ascentionist surprise. He has been called "The Master" and "Yoda" by a gallery of friends, students of the…

Everyone at Split Rock for the Summer Board Meeting On Friday evening, June 20th, 2008, The Southeastern Climbers Coalition held it semi-annual board meeting at Split Rock on Little River Canyon in northeast, Alabama. The meeting was attended by 25 climbers and SCC board members which may be a new record for attendance. The meeting was informal but a great opportunity to plug in on what the SCC is doing now and planning for the future to preserve climbing areas for future generations.

Building a wall to shore up erosion below the Mulletino boulder. On a steamy Saturday, July 12 morning with forecasted thunderstorms threatening to crash the event, over 50 volunteers rallied to be a part of the first annual Horse Pens 40 Access Fund Adopt-a-Crag trail day sponsored by the University of Alabama.

Laurel Knob in North Carolina On July 19th, the Carolina Climbers' Coalition will launch 'Playing for the Pay-off' at the Triangle Rock Club in Morrisville NC. The focus of this event will be to raise money to close the mortgage for Laurel Knob--a fantastic granite dome located in the Cashier's Valley of NC. Several years ago, this wonderful climbing area was slated for development, but in an amazing effort, the Carolina Climbers' Coalition (with the help of many sponsors and supporters including the Triple Crown) purchased this area to secure climbing access forever. The CCC has now closed…

In 1988, American alpinist Ed Webster teamed up with Robert Anderson, Paul Teare, and Stephen Venables to climb a new route up Mount Everest’s massive 12,000-foot-high Kangshung or East Face....

Do you wanna go climbing with some great climbers like Steph Davis, Will Mayo, Dean Lords, Dean Potter, and Sean Jones? Well now you can if you’re both lucky and...

There is a good case that alpinist Walter Bonatti, born in Bergamo, Italy in 1930, was the greatest mountaineer of the 20th century. He called his climbing philosophy "the pursuit...

A couple weeks ago at the Outdoor Retailer trade show in Salt Lake City, Globe Pequot Press and Falcon Guides received a few advance copies of their forthcoming guidebook Bouldering...

An already deadly summer in the European Alps turned even more tragic with the deaths of eight more climbers on 15,780-foot-high Mont Blanc, Europe’s highest mountain, early last Sunday morning....

EDITOR'S NOTE: In late July, West Sider Keith Jeffers joined three other mountain climbing enthusiasts to scale Washington state's Mount Rainier, at 14,417 feet one of the tallest peaks in the U.S. The 2000 ...

Authorities say they received a 911 call from the climbing partner of 38 year old John Higginbotham to say that he had fallen down the mountain.

The big claim with La Sportiva's latest approach and climbing shoe, the mystically-named Gandalf, is that it has the durability to log up to 3,000 days of mountain climbing.

A Franklin County couple who were stranded at the 8,000-foot level on a mountainside in the North Cascades of Washington state since Wednesday began walking down the mountain Friday to a point where were picked ...

Success comes in small packages, too. It comes not only to those who reach the summit but to those who climb high and stay there.

“There’s no chance of finding anyone alive,” the French interior minister, Michèle Alliot-Marie, said while visiting the area.

Mountaineering has become more dangerous as the traditional expeditionary culture, which had emphasized mutual responsibility, gave way to an ethos stressing self-preservation.

Getting to the top was once a noble pursuit. It’s not so clear today.

One inevitable measure of a mountain is simply how often climbers escape with their lives. By that standard, K2 stands almost alone in the world.

Eleven people died this week on K2, known as the world’s hardest and most dangerous mountain for climbers.

Submitted By: Mitch MusciLocation: Mitch Musci : PhotosStorm near Creede, CO

Submitted By: RemoLocation: WI : Governor Dodge State Park : Group Camp B, Plan B Area +...Start with right hand on small nob, left hand on small crimp, work your way up crimpy face into sidepulls up to a great jug rest, hike your feet and go for large ledge out left. Topout. Pictures coming soon.

Submitted By: brianmillerLocation: brianmiller : Sliding Board with EvanMe, working up Sliding Board's third pitch.

Submitted By: brianmillerLocation: brianmiller : Across the Universe, fall 0...Just before the Milky Way pitch

Submitted By: brianmillerLocation: brianmiller : Across the Universe, fall 0...A view into the valley from Mt. Willard.

Rock climbers in the Czech Republic leap from one soaring outcropping to another, risking painful landings or worse, if they miss.

On the canvas that is Devils Tower National Monument a 1,300-acre preserve in northeastern Wyoming the park’s eponymous tower of rock is a wonder to behold.

Two rock climbers, Hans Florine and Yuji Hirayama, broke the record for the fastest ascent of a 2,900-foot wall in Yosemite.

Dean Potter, one of the world’s top climbers, has been trying for weeks to cross the Hell Roaring Canyon on a rope with no tether 900 feet above a dry riverbed in Utah.

Instructor Lara McCluskey tests rock-climbing pants; photos

The summer bouldering season of 2007 was one for the record books in Rocky Mountain National Park.  It seemed like every week a new double digit problem was being established or repeated en masse.  Back in early May of this year, I had a post of RMNP bouldering videos where I predicted that the summer of 2008 would be one for women to shine in the alpine areas of CO.  So far they have not disappointed at all with three different women making the first female ascents of 3 V12’s. Starting things off was Alex Johnson, who made a fast 1 day ascent of Clear Blue Skies (V12) at Mt.

Eddie attempting the overhanging 5.12 finger crack Dog Crack near the Wawona Tunnel in Yosemite Valley: Here is the full gallery: Related PostsBeth Rodden Climbs 5.14 Crack In YosemiteVideo of Sonnie Trotter Climbing Cobra Crack 5.14Devil’s Lake TradDosage 5 To Premier June 4th In BoulderMartina Cufar Comes to America

Largo Lunge is one of the more fun easy problems in Yosemite’s Camp 4.  As with just about all problems (of any grade) in Yosemite though, this V0 is no gimme.  Here is Mrs. Narc getting it done: For a full gallery, click here Related PostsYosemite Bouldering: CandylandMore From YosemiteYosemite Bouldering: Park LifeYosemite Trad: Dog CrackDosage 5 To Premier June 4th In Boulder

Last week it was confirmed officially on the MVM site that the paid premium section would be going away by the first week of September (as I had reported back in July).  I for one can’t wait to see what they come up with for their newest rollout.  There are many things I would like to see, however my secret wish is for more old school footage from back in the 90’s.  I guess the non-HD nature of the old footage would apparently disqualify it though?  What are you hoping to see now that you don’t have to sweat actually paying for anything?? Related PostsMVM…

This past Friday, Mrs. Narc and I begrudgingly headed south to the Red River Gorge in Kentucky for a weekend of sport climbing.  I say begrudgingly because neither of us were overly excited about going.  I hadn’t been to the Red in a year so I should have been especially pumped about going, but for some reason I couldn’t find my mojo.  We were so apathetic about the trip that we put off making the decision (and packing) until Friday morning before we left for work.  At about 5:45 am on Friday when I should have been leaving for work I spontaneously decided that…

Ice climbing in California sounds a bit like surfing in North Dakota, but frozen waterfalls in the Sierra can become a shining vertical playground in winter.

“Every year we go ice climbing, and I set up the wall to practice here at home.”

Its perfect microclimate for making ice attracts climbers, connoisseurs and simple spectators. And after the ice climbing, everyone can thaw out in Ouray’s simmering hot springs.

I am an athletic and professional rarity a semiprofessional ice climber. My job description reads: "Find the wildest, steepest, craziest ice on the planet. Climb it."

The world's elite ice climbers take over the frozen walls of the Uncompahgre Gorge this weekend at the 11th annual Ouray Ice Festival in Ouray, Colo.

I’ve been trying to write about the lessons learned from the failure of my last company (albeit quite slowly) and I read a post this morning from Mike McDerment of FreshBooks that covers some similar topics. His post is titled 7 ways I’ve almost killed FreshBooks and I can second every single point he makes. Luckily for FreshBooks, they’re still around and thriving. I especially appreciated his first point - “Thinking we had to move faster than we did” As entrepreneurs, we tend to immediately feel the pressure of getting our idea to market as quickly as…

The other evening I went bouldering on Flagstaff Mountain above Boulder. The after work climbing scene was quite crowded as I expected, but on the way home I witnesses the strangest thing. I was actually being tailgated by a cyclist riding down the road. Mind you, I was still driving at or slightly above the posted speed limit. Making the experience even more humorous was the fact that he was giving me dirty looks for apparently holding up his descent. Welcome to Boulder I guess…

I wrote a few months ago about my eventual move to Colorado. After much effort, we’re finally here. My wife and I drove the 1520 miles from Blacksburg this past weekend and we’re trying to get settled. On my prior post both here and on my climbing blog, many asked where I was planning on living and offered up a bunch of suggestions. We had to do a quick close on our house and had only two weeks to find a place to live during the busiest time of the year. We ended up renting in the southwest part of Longmont. It seems like a decent compromise - the area is much cheaper than Boulder…

The lessons learned from the failure of my company are going to be in no particular order, so I decided to start with one that I’m already applying to my next project - creating admin tools as early as possible. With FeedCraft, we took the approach of getting the application launched as quickly as possible with the main features we needed (which I think was wise, but I’ll have some thoughts on this in later posts). In the rush to launch, we put off developing admin tools such as user management, basic content management, and some support related items. Simple database scripts…

I read this article on Mashable (via Fred Wilson’s tweet) and had to post this quote on building web applications: Determine a basic need -> Create a service that satisfies it in the simplest way possible -> Open it up. It sounds simple, but it’s not; determining a basic human need, like the need to share photos or the need to communicate with short text messages is a hit and miss affair. … I believe now that in many cases it is better to reduce the number of features to a minimum, open the application up via an API, and let the community build on what you have started. This…

Belated, but better late than never... here is my trip report for my recent long weekend at the Tieton climbing area, on US 12 outside of Yakima.We pitched camp at Windy Point Campground, which was wonderful... rustic, but a step above our previous weekend's stay at Frenchman's Coulee. Windy Point's water is portable but I wouldn't say potable... but the campground is small, the sites aren't on top of each other, and it was a nice place to stay. Kari, Don, Steve and I arrived all about the same time, and rolled out the "Veranda" (Kari's enormous Costco tarp) to pitch the tents on (and, the…

The suspense, I'm sure, is just killing you, while you wait for my trip report from this weekend's Tieton trip. The short version will have to suffice for now, since I'm slammed by both jobs at the moment, and my extracurricular activities have overstepped their bounds a bit. A full trip report (already named, but not yet written) will follow as soon as possible. In the meantime, here are a handful of random thoughts from the trip: Big group climbing trips can actually be a crapload of fun, if you have the right people along.The world's greatest climbing trip breakfast is bacon and…

Labor day weekend is fast approaching, thank goodness. It looks like the trip for Tieton is shaping up... Kari and I are heading down Friday night, then a whole herd of boys (and Teresa) are coming out on Saturday. We'll climb Saturday at Royal Columns, I think, then we've got a tick list at South Fork and Lava Point, so hopefully it will be a good weekend. I still need to pick up a snake bite kit, and it will be an adventure since none of us have extensive Tieton experience... I've just been there two climbing days, and only to Royal Columns, so we'll hope to cover some new territory.After a…

Some day, I'm going to have to take a day off from both jobs to actually get some sleep and write a longer than a paragraph blog post. No long winded trip report this Monday... just a quick "the weekend was fantastic, we climbed as much as we could given the weather at Vantage... it was HOT." The summer desert climbing routine... wake up as early as possible, get out as early as possible, climb until your shoes melt and you get woozy, siesta and swim until it cools off, then hit it again until you wind up cleaning a route by headlamp.Nice.It's not getting my apartment clean, my laundry done,…

So, weekend plans are back up in the air. Kari and I are thinking maybe Vantage... She just picked up the new guidebook; the weather forecast is hot but dry; and it is Jack Johnson weekend, so the concert campers aren't going to be the worst in the world. We will see... Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless handheld

Due to Labor Day weekend, here goes a Tuesday edition wrap-up of the past week. Muztagh Tower: Nangpa La hero Pavle Kozjek in fatal fall Slovenian Gregor Kresal was evacuated from MT BC on August 19th. On August 26, news arrived that Dejan Miskovic was trapped high up on Muztagh tower, where Slovenian Pavle Kozjek had fallen to his death. Two helicopters picked up Ales Cesen and two of his mates from K7 and dropped them at Muztagh BC to assist Dejan who however managed to down climb to lower altitude where Askari helicopters could pick him up. Pavle’s legacy: “climbing with…

More bad news from the world of mountaineering today, as The Alpinist is reporting that Slovenia Climber Pavle Kozjek is missing on Muztagh Tower in a remote region of the Karakorum in Pakistan. Kozjek went to the Tower, along with Dejan Miskovic and Gregor Kresal, to attempt a new route on it’s unclimbed North Face. Miskovic placed a call yesterday morning to friends telling them that he and Kozjek had set up camp high on the mountain, and when Kozjek climbed out of the tent that morning, he stepped out onto a cornice and fell over the edge. At the time, it was thought that a rescue…

Polish Piotr Morawski has submitted a debrief on his Polish-Slovak Alpinus Expedition. Together with Peter Hamor, shortly after their very demanding Annapurna attempt, they made a beautiful traverse of Hidden peak, in alpine style and hard conditions, ending with a cool ascent to GII, ahead of dozens of climbers burning with “summit fever”. Here goes Piotr’s account: Baltoro once more It’s was not even three weeks since I had come back from Annapurna when I found myself on a plane to Islamabad. As if time had stopped, and it was. A year or two ago… I was on my own this time,…

A massive serac swept part of the Mont Blanc du Tacul trail Sunday, media reported. It is feared that 8 climbers perished on the popular climbing route. Back home, K2 survivors have started to share details of their experiences. K2 - Norwegian team “The climb up was ok,” reported Lars Ebbessen. “Øystein turned after the Bottleneck and descended to C4. The others continued. Half way up Cecilie gave her bottle to Rolf who progressed at a slower pace, and summited without O2 with Lars, some time before 5:30 pm. They talked to Rolf from the summit, and later met up with him on the way…

Weight: 2 pounds, 2.7 ounces MSRP: $500 La Sportiva has created another fine technical boot with the new Batura. I’ve used the Nuptse in the Himalaya, the Nepal Top all over the North Cascades and Ouray, the Trango Ice Evo and Women’s Trango Evo GTX in Patagonia and at home in the San Juans. I’ve been happy with all of these La Sportiva models, which tend to fit narrow feet, like mine, especially well. I’m psyched on the new Batura because it fills the gap between the warmth of the Nuptse, as a quasi-double boot, and the technical performance of the Nepal Top or Evo.

Is it a tradition? Not yet. I just stumbled upon some fun stuff this week and thought I’d share. This first video may make all of my friends think less of me, or they might totally understand. I can’t decide if I think it’s totally awesome or a sign of the end of the world. The Large Hadron Collider has received some bad press. Evidently, some people are worried that this huge super-collider could produce micro black holes or stranglets. Crazy stuff that particle physics. I think this video might be some kind of PR stunt to make the biggest science experiment of modern…

I bought some more bicycling clothes so that I could attempt to get in two rides per week without creating a constant need to do laundry. I’ve got new shorts, new socks, … I was psyched up to give them a try today. I rode “Pink Lightning” (my ’80s Schwinn Super Sport racer) and as I rounded the first round-a-bout, I was starting to wonder if I was doing something really dumb. I’ve never really ridden on a cold day and wasn’t sure how much internal heat I could rely on to get me through the 40 minute ride. My fingerless gloves were woefully inadequate…

After all of the weekends spent with family, Mark and I had one day left of Memorial Day weekend to get in a little climbing. The summer monsoon was back with a vengeance, so we opted to head out early and try to tick a few routes at the Palace in the Poudre Canyon. We stopped for sandwhiches in the morning, and then drove the narrow winding road up the canyon. At the first bend, the road snuggles up against the river at the Picnic Rock recreational area. And there, in the middle of the river, was the wildest thing I had ever seen. Somebody must have spent hours building this stack of rocks.

My parents and little brother were in town for the first few days of the long weekend, so we head another excuse to spend time hiking in the mountains! This time, we drove up high in the Rocky Mountain National Park, and ended up hiking several miles down the Ute Trail. There’s nice pictures from the day in the gallery. The trail does not gain or loose too much altitude. But it starts high and stays high. We parked our car at around 11,450ft, and started walking up the gradual slope from there. It’s amazing what a difference a few thousand feet can make in your hiking, even for…

It’s fall and back-to-school time! Due to the completion of my master’s thesis last winter, and teaching at Colorado College last spring, I haven’t actually taken any classes in over a year. And it’s been about two years since I took a class for … (dun-dun-dun) … a grade! Image from Nasa Visible Earth So, this fall, I’m taking a class called The Atmospheric Boundary Layer, where we’ll spend 16 weeks learning about that thin layer of air that lays between the surface and the rest of the sky above us. I have had one day of class, and so far,…

The tide has begun to turn my fellow Weekend Warriors. With September comes the end of the glorious summer months and the beginning of fall. I can feel it on my morning bike ride to work, the air is becoming cool and crisp once again. So dust off those warm clothes and get ready for the next season of fall and winter climbing and skiing. I've compiled some videos this week that should shift your mindset and get you stoked for autumn.Watch as Sonny Trotter attempts Rhapsody, an E11 in Scotland, while battling with the brutal wind that is trying to blow him off the climb. This is one of the…

Seventy Million years ago in the mountains of British Columbia the strikingly clean granite of the Bugaboos was finally uncovered setting the stage for world class North American Alpine Rock Climbing. Just shy of 51 degrees North “the Bugs” are located in the midst of the Purcell Mountains of B.C., a range of mountains sandwiched between the Canadian Rockies and the Selkirks.Amidst the Bugaboos sit the mighty Howser Towers, (featured in issue 14 of Alpinist magazine). These perfectly symmetrically, sound granite peaks have been inspiring climbing’s greatest talent for decades and are…

Richard Riquelme, AAI's wonderful Equipment Shop Manager, and his wife Laura, are celebrating the birth of a baby boy, Samuel Uruchi Riquelme. He is adorable and healthy, and already seems to be smiling as much as Richard does. We are very very excited for the entire family, and can't wait for little Sammy to come visit us all at the office. Here's a picture of the little guy and his proud father --

Cascades:--A 27 year old man fell to his death from Mount Si on Thursday afternoon. While not a technical route, the super popular hiking trail on the mountain has a difficult finish. The last two hundred feet to the summit requires third class scrambling and the summit itself. This incident came on the heels of two other rescues last week. To read more, click here. --And not too far from Mount Si, a 47 year-old man fell to his death on Guye Peak on Tuesday. The details of this accident have not yet been released, but it appears the man was a hiker and not a climber. The South Face of Guye…

AAI's final Mt. Erie rock climbing programs are running this Saturday, September 6th, and on Saturday, September 20th. There are still spaces available for these courses, so sign up now! For more information on Mt. Erie rock climbing, visit the AAI program page. The course will cover equipment selection and use, knots essential for climbing, an introduction to anchors, belaying and climbing technique, and rappelling. And don't worry if you don't have any gear, we'll rent you everything you need for $10 - that includes rock shoes, a harness, and a helmet!Call or email now to sign up for a day…

The topic of climate change took exceptional relevance here at Mount Rainier after the floods and wind in November of 2006 caused significant damage throughout the park(check out the Mt. Rainier N.P. report documenting the flood's damage), forcing our gates to close. This was not the first storm that hit this park hard, nor will it be the last. There is a high likelihood that future storms will cause similar damage (if not worse) and climate change will have as-of-yet even greater undetermined impacts on the Park's resources. The result of this event and uncertainty brings into question the…

I swear summer just arrived in the Park about a month or so ago and now it already feels like fall. Sure, it isn't fall YET, the equinox isn't until Sept 22, but those folks who have spent a day or two up on the mountain recently may argue that fall is in full effect. A quick check of telemetry up at Camp Muir over the past few days shows below average temperatures this week. In fact, the thermometer didn't go above 50 degrees and in addition to the cold, the wind speeds have steadily averaged 30-40 mph, with spikes reaching 63, 66 and 71. Brrr...Average high and low temperatures for the…

What do you get when you combine an unsatiable hunger for ski and snowboard "turns all year" (TAY), a slushy snow slope, a pond and some folks dressed up to the nine's in costumes resembling some of Stan Lee's worst superhero nightmares? Give up...You get the 6th annual Snow Cup Last Sunday, skiers and boarders gathered on Pinnacle Peak to enjoy some of the last remainders of the summer snow atop Pinnacle Peak, then skiing or boarding down the slope into the waiting pond below (Brrr...) The TAY enthusiasts will be excited to know that this week's stormy weather (though a disappointment for…

This summer has seen a flurry of interest in climbing Mount Rainier FAST... Justin Merle set the pace by breaking Chad Kellogg's record (4 hours 59 minutes) by 10 minutes on July 11th. His friend and colleague, Liam O'Sullivan, raised the bar a few weeks later by sprinting up and down the mountain (Paradise to summit and back) in 4 hours 46 minutes, besting Merle by 3 minutes... Last week, Lhaka Gelu Sherpa threw the gauntlet down in hopes of smashing that record. With 13 Everest summits under his belt and a previous Everest speed record (the current record is held by Pemba Dorje Sherpa),…

Did you realize that there is a phone number any U.S. Senator can call to get public information on the fly? We plebs have 411, but they have something better. Something tailored. Something that addresses their senatorial needs. U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell mentioned this number to me, and shared a cool story about another "famed" senator using it to locate his favorite authors after reading their books. So the story goes, Senator XY would finish a novel and then call the author to say how much he liked their work. Now wouldn't that be cool? Who wouldn't appreciate a phone call from a U.S.

Burgers and Fries During dry periods between rain showers, we’d head to the Smoke Bluffs for a few pitches of climbing. Many of the cliffs at the Smoke Bluffs face south and the combined action of wind and sun dry the rock quickly. After a particularly heavy rain, we headed to Burgers and Fries. This cliff [...]

In Squamish, we continually come across climbers I’ve met at distant climbing areas, many of whom live on other continents. When I started climbing, the climbing community was much smaller and everyone knew most local climbers. Today, I don’t come close to knowing many climbers in Boulder, Colorado, despite living there since 1984. But I continually [...]

Calculus Crack, Tristan Hechtel on pitch one On our first clear day, we again headed up to climb Calculus Crack. Though wet, we thought we could climb it even if some water remained in the crack. We took a good look at the Apron and discovered that, at the end of the first pitch of “5.7 [...]

Continued rain prevented excursions on the longer routes on the Chief, but periods of dry weather in the morning allowed us to climb  at the Smoke Bluffs. Last year, at Squamish, we  enjoyed sunny skies and did a number of longer climbs up the Apron and also climbed Squamish Buttress, a route to the Chief’s summit. [...]

Sibylle climbing at the Neat and Cool Cliff, Smoke Bluffs The sun shining during our first few days of climbing lulled us into complacency and we took a rest day, foolishly planning to climb more long routes the next day. Unfortunately, the next day dawned grey and progressed from drizzle to showers. After a few days [...]

Un Ciel Pour Le Soleil–Charles Dube I grew up in the 70’s and 80’s, and properly terrified of hitchhiking. I was taught from an early age that hitchhiking leads to being imprisoned in a basement for several decades. Or worse. Since I grew up to be someone who spent massive amounts of time traveling across the country alone, I firmly stuck to a no-hitchhiking policy. I mean, as far as I could see, nothing really good could come of it, whether hitchhiker or hitchhikee (?), and the potential consequences are definitely impressive and not cool. A clear case of risk far…

Hi Steph Can u pls post something on your blog about veganism. Why vegan? What’s on your food list when training and climbing ? I’m a vegan climber myself and I’m very happy that there r vegan athletes like u r . Be good XVXDX Daniel Dear Daniel, I’ve been vegan for about six years. A year or two before that I had a funny experience in Patagonia. It’s much more first world down there, in the town of El Chalten, nowadays. But when I first went there in 1996, you couldn’t even buy real stove fuel for your camp stove. We would travel down with a couple bottles…

Christian the Lion video (click to watch) Since over 12 million people have watched this video, the chances are good that you’ve seen it already. But in case you haven’t cried enough today, here it is. You will cry, in a good way I had a bizarre conversation with a friend the other day, about the US meat industry. One thing that’s always made me cry (in a bad way) (along with everything else about it), is knowing how sensitive cattle are to smell. Their noses are many many times more sensitive than ours. Have you ever driven by a large cattle operation? The smell is so awful…

Divers (The Funky Lowlive’s Low Immersion Dub) Boozoo Bajou Hi Steph, First of all, I just wanted to say that I think you are totally inspirational and engaging - I’ve found reading your site more compelling and insightful as a male climber than most things I’ve read written by male climbers. It’s really refreshing to listen to someone talking about what climbing really is, and I don’t often find that honesty. I must admit I’ve only recently heard of you, but I’ve skimmed through your site a few times and now have your book on order. Looking forward…

Dear Steph, I read your book not too long ago and just read about your free soloing adventures at alpinist.com. I would just like to thank you for your frankness and honesty. You truly are an inspiration, and a fantastic role model to all female climbers. Having started climbing “relatively late” in my life at 21, you have shown me that with hard work and determination, along with a strong belief in yourself, you can truly accomplish anything. Thank you, Fellow rock dweller and wanna be soloist, Danielle Dear Danielle, Thanks for the nice words–it means a lot to me. And…

Ian Hibell spent the last 40 years of his life touring the world on bicycle.  Between 1971 and 1973, Ian Hibell would become the official bearer of the title “first person to complete a Trans-Americas expedition by land.”   He started off at Cape Horn and finished his bike ride in Alaska three years later.  He would later write a book, “Into The Remote Places”, that would explore this journey, as well as many others he had completed along the way. On August 23rd, 2008, while touring on bike in Greece, Ian Hibell was tragically killed after a collision with a…

The state of Illinois is being forced to close 11 state parks after lawmakers recent made a $14 million dollar cut to the Illinois Department of Natural Resources funding.  All eleven parks will be closed on November 1st, 2008.  The Illinois DNR is also being forced to layoff 39 employees, 36 of whom are full-time.  These employees include park rangers, security, superintendants, and park technicians. Earlier this summer, Illinois’ General Assembly passed the state budget which included a 24% decrease in DNR general funding.  This funding is used to pay park salaries and maintain…

John McCain or Barack Obama. Biden or Palin? Which of our Presidential candidates represents the best possibility for a clear-cut future to our Outdoor heritage? Which candidate will fight for our outdoor rights, fight global warming, get our nation away from foreign oil, and represent the “new” direction that each party is spewing towards a different government? I thought it might be a good time to check in on two of the leading outdoor and conservation organizations in America. The National Rifle Association (NRA) and The Sierra Club are both big advocates of legislation geared…

The 21st International Festival of Mountaineering Literature is to be held at the Shakespeare Centre in Kendal on the 21st of November 2008. The festival will draw big names in the climbing world - Steph Davies, Andy Cave, Andy Kirkpatrick and others will all be there, discussing the festival theme of ‘Partners - Who Needs Them?’. UKClimbing.com are pleased to host the annual writing competition in conjunction with the festival. Entries must be on the festival theme of ‘Partners - Who Needs Them?’ and must be under 1500 words. UKC will be judging the entries and will…

Rock climber John Higginbotham is in critical condition tonight after taking a 40 foot fall on Virginia’s Afton Mountain.  The fall occured on a very technical part of the mountain and authorities are attributing the fall to equipment malfunction.  It is not known what piece of equipment authorities are referring to, at his time. John Higginbotham’s climbing partner phoned 911after the fall.  Rescue crews were on the scene within minutes and had to extract Higginbotham from the side of the mountain, bring him up to the top, then air lift him to the University of Virginia…