Perfect Weather

It’s perfect weather outside for watching ski videos.

“Two Ladies And A Vampire”

A story about two women fairly new to climbing (one of them had only been trad leading for two years and one of them had never done a multi-pitch) completing a multi-pitch 5.11 climb at Tahquitz. Good quote:

“There I was, shaking from the stress, stomach cramps, hands sweating, and asking myself “why do I like being so scared so much?” Good thing my mom does not know I am here!!!!”

Black Hills Climbing

Rev Your Engines

 

I wanna go here to “rev my engine.” What a great description:

“The Cinque Torri are, by definition, everyone's "gym": for alpinists and sport climbers, for beginners to experts alike. It is on this jewel, made up of the most diverse boulders and towers, that the alpine season is prepared, that the "engines are revved" before climbing the massive walls nearby, such as the Tofane and Lagazuoi. In summer the ropes of alpinists intertwine with those of sport climbers who converge here to escape the summer heat and to enjoy the unique surroundings.”

Wouldn’t if be fun to “intertwine your ropes with alpinists?”

Dyneema vs Nylon

DMM has a video testing falls on slings – both nylon and Dyneema as well as a report on the tests.

Here’s a long article describing what to be careful of when tying into an anchor based on the results of these tests.

Don’t leave slack in your sling when you’re attached to a belay anchor. Use the climbing rope if you can. An 11mm Dyneema sling will break with a two foot fall if it has a knot in it.

Once curious point in the video is that tying an overhand knot in a nylon sling, reduces the force.

V.S.C.

Before my Birthday present from Lisa, I thought the cool people used these blue bags for carrying gear and lead ropes.

Now, since I got a brand new Yellow bag, fresh from Slovakia, I realize that only the V.S.C. people have yellow rope bags. Sorry, kids, I’ve got the only one. Thanks, Lisa.

A Headline You Don’t See Much

It’s typical to see headlines about a new 5.13 or harder climb. This is a headline you don’t see much:

“Trotter and Moon Climb Chief’s Easiest Route.”

“As one  of Canada’s best rock climbers, Sonnie Trotter’s name is usually associated with cutting edge first  ascents like the unrepeated Forever Expired 5.14d and Cobra Crack 5.14 but with the addition of his new moderate route on the Chief, that’s all about to change. After 70 hours of hard work, Trotter unveiled his new route The Squamish Butt (North Face Variation)  5.9, a climb…”

This is the rock face they’re talking about; “The Chief" in Squamish.

Moderate Multi-Pitch Climbing

Most of the time, the climbing stories are about high level, very difficult climbs. Here’s a story about climbing a 12,000 foot mountain in the Sierra that includes 15 pitches of 5.6 climbing.

If We Had A Wall Like This

If we had an 800 foot granite wall in MN like this one in Index, WA,, I think we could raise $300,000 to keep it from being dynamited.

Richard's Special Day

Richard, you know him, you love him. It's a special day so give him a call, write him an email or just leave a comment.

Delicate Arch

When Dean Potter climbed this icon a few years ago,there were no clear rules about not climbing it.  Now the Park Service is developing a climbing plan for Arches Park in Utah.

 

The photo below shows him free soloing it.

 

 

 

Geological Failure

A pedestrian in Milwaukee watches as a sinkhole forms and swallows up an SUV. Rain is inherently dangerous.

 

 

Women in the Black Hills

Mel, Renee and Janine went out to the Blacks Hills on Pin Fest Weekend. Details are sketchy. They had a good time and they all came back. They must be interviewed soon! I nabbed these details off facebook.

They Climbed Goatskin, at Rushmore, The Meat Counter Area. Here is a photo of them a-fixin’ to go. They commented that it was an awesome climb.

Here is someone else's photo of the view from the top. Looks nice!

NEWS RELEASE - Rescue Did Not Involve Exum Climbing Parties

Today at 3:30pm

On Wednesday, July 21st, 16 climbers were rescued from the Grand Teton after a thunder storm resulted in multiple lightning strikes. Several recent reports have been incorrect regarding Exum's involvement in the rescue. Our guides and climbing parties had reached the summit early that day and were already off the mountain when the storm hit. Some of our guides went back to our hut at the lower saddle only to provide assistance to the rangers. The injured climbers were not members of guided parties - they were climbing on their own. For more information on the rescue please see the Grand Teton National Park website:
http://gtnpnews.blogspot.com/

The Grand Teton's Exum Ridge
Photo: Tom Bowke

The Wildest Dream

The Wildest Dream is a new movie – see Lisa’s post below – about Mallory on Mt Everest. Here’s the trailer. Here’s a review of the movie.

Aug. 10 The North Face and REI are hosting a free showing of the newest National Geographic documentary "The Wildest Dream." The Film follows the journey of Conrad Anker and his discovery of the body of George Mallory, a mountaineer who is suspected of being the first to climb Mount Everest, even before Sir. Edmund Hillary. For more information visit www.thewildestdream.com, tickets are free and only available online here.

I got a letter today...

 

Lisa,
I am Elliott Krizek the Community Outreach and Special Events Lead for The North Face in the St.Paul/Minneapolis area. In searching for local clubs and organizations to work with and I stumbled upon Women on the Edge and was quite intrigued. Following Christ myself and having worked with multiple churches in the area, I have never come across a group such as yours. I wanted to let you know of some up coming events Women on the Edge and others at St. Andrews might be interested in attending.

Aug. 5 at 6:30 The St. Paul Store will be hosting a Chi Running Event with Chris Fuller a certified instructor of Chi Running and Walking for information you can check him out at meetup.com here's his link:

Aug. 6 at 6 o'clock The Uptown store in Minneapolis will be hosting Dr. Ralph Bovard. Dr. Bovard worked at a Doctor at the base camp of Everest and is coming to the Uptown store to share his experience of Everest. Feel free to come Early and receive a complimentary massages from Mayfield Chiropractic.

Aug. 10 The North Face and REI are hosting a free showing of the newest National Geographic documentary "The Wildest Dream." The Film follows the journey of Conrad Anker and his discovery of the body of George Mallory, a mountaineer who is suspected of being the first to climb Mount Everest, even before Sir. Edmund Hillary. For more information visit www.thewildestdream.com, tickets are free and only available online here.

Anyone want to go?

Grand Teton Lightning

I’m glad Lisa. Mel and Carl weren’t up on the Grand when lightning struck.

“In addition to the group at the Belly Roll, another team of five climbers was above that feature on the Owen-Spalding route and a third team of four was 100 feet from the summit on the Exum Ridge.

Skaggs said a lightning map showed at least six or seven strikes in the area. A professional Exum mountain guide aided the party from the Belly Roll down to the 11,650-foot high Lower Saddle.

“Multiple patients reported being struck three, four, five times,” physician A.J. Wheeler, co-medical advisor for Grand Teton National Park said. “We saw a whole range of injuries from bumps and bruises to lightning burns and electrical injuries to secondary trauma from being thrown,” by lightning strikes.”

Mountain Skill Training

Will Gadd just finished his first 4 day seminar on mountain movement. I like this part of his post:

“One of the many small things I learned is how important good lugs on your soles are for gripping on steep slabby terrain with loose bits on it. This type of terrain is a real PITA for many people, including me, and we were able to test various shoes on the sliding board (rocks and gravel on steep plywood) I built. Movement was important, but footwear was much more important than I had thought it would be. What is excellent for, say, Grand Teton style rock hopping (sticky dot-style rubber) is truly horrible in other conditions. Because most of us don't test our footwear carefully in controlled environments we don't get to see the pluses and minuses.”

Professor Failure

Sometimes failure is just failure. Sometimes it’s not. A video from the series “Steps to the Summit.”

“Pretty Strong Engagement With Fear”

At about 35 seconds into this video, Steph Davis says “There is a pretty strong mental dialog and a pretty strong engagement with fear” when she free solos. I buy that.

Steph Davis: So In Control from Prana Living on Vimeo.

New Grigri Design

3 new or re-designed belay devices due out in Spring 2011.

WISE Photos of Heart and Soul

The first “Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) satellite has just completed its first survey of the entire sky viewable from Earth -- returning more than a million images that provide a zoomed-in look at celestial objects ranging from distant galaxies to asteroids.”

“Located about 6,000 light-years from Earth, the Heart and Soul nebulae in the constellation Cassiopeia form a vast star-forming complex that makes up part of an arm of the Milky Way Galaxy. The nebula to the right is the Heart, named after its resemblance to a human heart.”

Climbing Faster

This is mostly directed to multi-pitch trad climbs, so not as important when going to VE. They are five reasons for going faster; this is my favorite:

“Closing time: important matter, this: everyone knows the most important feature of summer evening cragging is the debrief pint, and making closing time can be a struggle in midsummer if you try and fit one last route in - a little swifter on the crag equals plenty of chilling time!”

Head to Head Climbing

This is from the recent Arco championship in Italy. Head to head climbing competition.

“Lurking Fear”

3 women climbing “Lurking Fear” on El Cap in Yosemite. This is apparently a training climb for them as they are attempting Mt. Proboscis in the Cirque of the Unclimbables in the Northwest Territories of Canada.

Ladies of Lurking Fear from Emily Stifler on Vimeo.

Fun With Water

I just got my ski boat out of storage. It’s designed to do 3  4 things well:

1. Accelerate really fast so it’s easy to get up on skis
2. Go super fast in a straight line
3. Have a very smooth wake
4. Barefoot ski

It’s fun to ski behind or use to pull an inner tube. If you’re interested in using it, let me know. It’s also fun to go up and down the Mississippi from the Ford Plant to downtown St Paul.

Here’s a video of what it’s designed to do very well. (I am not quite this good.)

Speed Climbing Competition In Singapore

Relay team climbing competition up 650 feet walls on the outside of a new hotel in Singapore. 

Great Arch of Pabbay

 

In the Outer Hebrides of Scotland there’s a climb still waiting for its first, clean ascent.

…a complex arrangement of poor holds that you'd never see from under the roof looked to be the crux. 95 metres off the boulder field below with the waves crashing and a freezing gale blowing the ropes all over the place and tangling up slings and jumars and other bits of random kit I roughly memorised the position of these holds before I got the hell out of there and kind of hoped it went away!"

 

 

I'm just a lass, you know

I was in Edinburgh, Scotland last weekend, here are some photos. I love that place...

Black Hills Climbing

Richard and Ron are planning to go climbing in the Black Hill the last weekend in July. They would love to have a couple more climbers join them. Is it you? If you are interested in more information, leave a comment or email Richard.

There is also a trip brewing Labor Day, again leave a comment if interested.

“It Just Got Tiring”

A report about the fist free climb of a 29 pitch 13.d route in Italy.I like this quote:

 

"Every hour was sheer horror," he said. "Exposed climbing on loose rock, all belays hanging, 3,000 feet of air below. It just got tiring in the end..."

Edinburgh

Totally climbable....and 10 stories high.

Bouldering ay Mary’s Lake

Looks like Jake and Hannah are having a good time in Estes Park this summer. Seems the hazards here are cold water and green feet!

 

Red Wing Friday

As you can see from the photo, Buddy the dog had more sense than we did – he stayed in the shade.

Fabrice, Peter and I climbed a lot of hot routes. Then we watched The Warden and Mike climb – they were super hot.

Ron showed up for a rare cameo appearance and we heard more about his Black Hills climbing trip. All photos here.

The video below is of The Warden climbing “Paradigm Shift..”  (Normally, a 5.13. In the sun, a 5.18D) What a guy!

 

Couple of things I re-learned today:

• Before and after the crux, the climbing is not so hard. (Why is that?)
• On a hot day, the bugs stay in the shade.
• When you’re drenched in sweat, even your feet slip around in your shoes making it harder to smear.
• Drinking beer when you’re dehydrated is highly efficacious.

    

 

 

How Do You Get A Botfly Out Of Your Head?

If you’re hiking the entire length of the Amazon, and you get a Botfly in your head, how do you get it out. (Hint: it involves superglue and the spine of a tree. This video is not too sassy, so don’t worry.)

The Botfly Living in Ed Stafford's Head from Walking the Amazon Videos on Vimeo.

Heel-Toe Camming

A primer on the technique of heel-toe camming and how it helps relieve strain on the arms.

Half Dome In A Day+

“When did I know I had bitten off more than I could chew?  I think it occurred to me about 10 feet into my 25 foot fall…WOOOOOOOOOOO!”

The story of how two climbers, on their first visit to Yosemite, start climbing Half Dome in the morning of one day and end up finishing about 3AM the next day.

Ten Sleep Canyon

This is where Fabrice and Peter are going to climb this September.

"If That Ain't Country..." Climbing in Ten Sleep Canyon. from Cedar Wright on Vimeo.

Just Another 5,14

“A little over a week ago, Jacinda Hunter, 31, nabbed the FA of her project Fantasy Island, a 5.14b in Utah’s American Fork Canyon. This is an impressive feat, considering that Hunter manages to find time for climbing along with a registered nurse career and four children.”

Well, no wonder she can climb so well; she’s probably used to climbing the walls at home with 4 kids around.

Unveiling the Potential

Climbing and yoga camp sponsored by Prana.

A Very Old Rock

A recent photo taken from 1800 miles away of an asteroid that’s 4.5 billion years old and about 80 miles across.

“ESA’s Rosetta mission has returned the first close-up images of the asteroid showing it is most probably a primitive survivor from the violent birth of the Solar System.
The images show that Lutetia is heavily cratered, having suffered many impacts during its 4.5 billion years of existence. As Rosetta drew close, a giant bowl-shaped depression stretching across much of the asteroid rotated into view. The images confirm that Lutetia is an elongated body, with its longest side around 130km.” 

Looking For Climbing Partners

A relatively new climber describes his experience in finding people with whom to climb using some of the internet climbing forums.. I like this part:

“But I am still looking for that 'partner' who lives down the street and has the exact same work schedule as me and has just a few more years of experience. But then aren't we all.”

How Wacky Is This?

Three friends go climbing with their kids. And get written up in The New York Times. Is that whacked or what? What will these parents think of next?

“To the uninitiated, these tactics sound crazy. Just the thought of hanging 10 or 20 feet, or more, off the ground can churn some stomachs. But if you can trust the ropes and your climbing partner, the experience is exhilarating. There’s a peacefulness to studying the rock in front of you and finding the pattern of holds that will take you up.”

I’m Sure This Will Ruin The Mountain

I bet putting a few hundred bolts in a rock that is hundreds of feet in the air will just ruin this mountain. Especially a mountain in British Columbia - ‘cause there are so few of them up there.

I always think it’s such a shame to let people into the mountains. Because they will ruin them. Unless it’s me. And a few of my carefully chosen friends. Because we won’t ruin the mountains. Really, we won’t. Because we are real rock climbers. Not tourists. 

Friday Red Wing

It was not so humid as last Monday so the rocks were dry. It was so hot, that shirts were optional.

Fabice, Pete and I and dozens of mosquitoes climbed for a few hours in the shade. One mosquito followed me to the top of Annadonia. Fun, huh?

“It’d Be Better To Stay On The Ground”

“From a purely rational point of view. it’d be better to stay on the ground.”

Hard to argue with that statement from one of the Huber brothers as they attempted their record-setting climb of El Cap in 2.5 hours in July of 2008. This trailer is from their movie “To the Limit.” (They ended up climbing it in 2 hours 43 minutes. That time was beaten in October 2008 by about 6 minutes.)

If we did speed climbing here in Minnesota, it’d kinda take the fun out of climbing. I calculated that to climb “Looking for Lust” (probably the tallest climb at Red Wing) at the speed these guys climbed El Cap, would take about 3 minutes. (They climbed 3000 feet in 163 minutes.)

Climbing in Croatia

Here is Richard trying the first few moves on the most difficult climb in Paklencia Park in Croatia. I know he would have flashed it if we had a rope. I thought the rock was interesting, kind slick like it had a high clay content.

Here is a great Bird's eye view of the cayon on this site