Wool Pants

Here’s a review of wool pants for winter wear by the Gear Junkie. On quite a few mountain trips – 2 of them 3 weeks long – I used a pair of wool mailperson’s pants that I bought in a surplus store. They were lightweight, very wind proof, warm, dried fast and much tougher than any poly pants I’ve ever had. But I lost them.

This summer, I bought a pair of surplus wool army pants from this place. (I paid about $30.) I used them on my canoe trip and they were super fab. Very tough, very warm - even though I was constantly walking in the water - and windproof. I think they’ll be excellent for this winter’s ice climbing. (Although, I have my eye on these for ice climbing. Whadda ‘ya think? They’re Italian so they’re very stylish.)

You Think You Are Tuff?

Maybe you think you’re tougher than these guys. Well think again. BTW, acting tough is inherently dangerous. And don’t try this at home – these are professionals.

Horseplay

There was some horseplay & some climbing at VE today.

 

Horseplay 11-23-09 from rgsletten on Vimeo.

Vertical Times

Follow this link the the latest issue of The Vertical Times, A publication of the Access Fund. There is some nice artwork in there too.

Itching For Ice?

You can build one of these in your back yard like this professional ice climber did. More info here.

 

Bouldering In The Lunch Room

Who needs holds when you’ve got a table?

This Is Refreshing

Andrew Skurka has done many long solo backpack trips – including a solo backpack trip from Duluth to Ely in the winter. He’s now planning a 4,500-mile ski, trek, and packraft trip around Alaska and the Yukon for 2010. I found this statement about his upcoming trip refreshing:

“Although there is an opportunity to, I do not wish to associate this expedition with a particular cause (e.g., sustainable energy or nature deficit disorder) because my personal experiences and the experiences of others have shown that, regardless of one's sincerity, it tends to be an ineffective and distracting effort. I've essentially concluded that if I really wanted to advance a cause, I would have much more of an impact by working for that cause or finding a conventional job and donating my income. Neither of these options sound more appealing than the GAYL. Plus, I've discovered that it's somewhat liberating to say that I'm doing this expedition because, in essence, I can and want to -- I think I'll be a better person for it. This desire for personal enrichment is at the root of every successful expedition anyway.”

Climbing In Yosemite

A relative newcomer to climbing, reports on his climb of one of the classic hard climbs in Yosemite.

“It's almost exactly five years to the month that I started climbing. I took up the sport at the rather advanced age  of 38—an age when most serious climbers have already entered the sunset years of retirement. Seth, a decade younger, is one of my older partners. But as alpinist Mark Twight once told me, there's nothing to stop the average climber from trying the hardest route in the world.”

Who Needs A Rope To Climb?

Here’s Dean Potter flying from near the summit of the Eiger.

Inspiring!

“They’re Smarter Than We Give Them Credit For”

Hunting for the elusive ice worm in Denali Park, that’s the comment made in the video below as this group draws a blank finding them.  “Ice worms are small, dark colored relatives of earthworms, known only for sure to live from northern Oregon to Alaska, with some distant relatives living near Bomi in eastern Tibet.”

There’s a bounty paid for locating them in the Alaska Range – which includes the Denali area. So maybe you could pay for your trip up there if you’d just dig long enough.

 

These folks find them easily in a tunnel through an avalanche cone.

Packrafting

For crossing water on those backpacking trips, these look like fun.

 

And then you can also run the waterfalls, like these people.

 

Climbing In Slovakia

This guy solo climbed a lot of new routes in the Tatra Mountains of Slovakia. Since he forgot to bring his ice tool, he had to make one up on the spot. Here’s a photo of it.

I wonder if Emily has been here.

Early Season Ice

Her story is here.  Nice hair color, huh?