Ben Nevis

Dave Macleod is one of Britain’s hardest climbers. Here’s his story of his first trad ascent of a big wall on Ben Nevis in Scotland. In the photo at left, he’s resting. I like this:

“Like many young climbers, I used to think that topping out was my goal - completing the route. It took some really hard routes for me like Rhapsody and Ring of Steall to realise that while I was battling with them, I was right on top of my goal. The progress, move, by move, session by session was the fun part. Topping out was superficially nice, but also an empty moment - the end of the line until another inspirational piece of rock could be found.”

And here he compares trad climbing to sport and bouldering climbing:

“Climbing where your life depends on what happens in the next seconds felt quite a lot more engaging than looking for the next bolt. You are never giving, and taking more from the experience of climbing than when you really must get that next hold. I could never do this type of climbing [trad] all the time. It would be utterly draining. The carefree days of sport climbing and bouldering are also one of my big reasons to go climbing. But neither could I always be carefree and never really put myself on the line. I need both.”

Boulder Problem

This looks tough – it took her at least 3 different outfits to do the climb.

Fun With Rocks Party

Here’s a 4 minute video of our Fun With Rocks party last year. (The first minute or so is the best.) We will NOT be having the costumed dancers this year. Hope you can make it this Sunday at Yarusso’s.

Talk to us if you need more info about it.

Survivors’ Club

Just finished a book called Survivors Club about the “secrets and science that could save your life.” Filled with stories and studies about why some people survive accidents and others don’t. It refers to rules about how to survive various types of accidents, such as the 1-10-1 rule if you fall into very cold water:

“If you think you have just minutes to live, that becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy…You have 1 minute to get your breathing under control, 10 minutes of the ability to move your muscles, and 1 hour before you lose consciousness.”

And the theory of 10-80-10:

“10 percent of us will handle a crisis in a relatively calm manner…around 80 percent will be stunned and bewildered with impaired reasoning, lethargy, tunnel vision; in short we’ll turn into statues…and 10 percent will do the wrong things.”

The author has a website where you can take a short test about what type of survivor you are. (If you buy his book, you get a special secret code so you can take a much longer test.) I took the short test and achieved an unimaginable score of 112% out of 100%. I think I was the world champion survivor. (But I might have cheated.)

The part about people freezing into inaction, relates to climbing, I think. We have “limited attentional resources” and suffer from “brainlock.” “…with your heart pounding and stress hormones pumping, it’s no surprise your mind can freeze up for a few seconds.”

According to the Air Force survival course the book mentions, there is a “Rule of 3” for survival. You cannot survive:

3 seconds without spirit and hope

3 minutes without air

3 hours without shelter in extreme conditions

3 days without water

3 weeks without food

3 months without companionship

Elf Visit At VE On Tuesday

Despite a policy against elves, we spotted one today at VE.

VE Elf Mpeg from rgsletten on Vimeo.

Kind of A Grand Christmas Carol

Mel found this, the carol is near the end.

From summit post - a trip report titled Grand Anxiety about a climbing trip on the Grand Teton.

At this juncture, rigor mortis is beginning to set in and unless I get to the hut soon for a hot meal, I may be fodder for the mortician's table by midnight. I became increasingly frustrated by the pace. Finally, we conquered the pitch and after another twenty minutes of talus navigation we were at The Hut.

Nondescript. Not your father's Holiday Inn. Not your mom's Motel 6. Room for sixteen to sleep on the floor, arranged like sardines. Exum provides the sleeping bags and pads and a three burner gas-operated stove for heating water. Paper towels and defecation kits. That's it. After milling about and getting acquainted with our sleeping quarters, Kevin called a meeting and laid out the agenda for Friday's summit attempt. We would rise at three and begin climbing by four, achieve the summit before 8:30 and after a three to four hour descent, be back at the hut by noon. Nice plan.

With everyone's packs reorganized, hot meals ingested, and marching orders disseminated, we retired to our packs. I took a sleeping pill, inserted ear plugs, shut my eyes and proceeded to lay in my pack for 6.5 hours sleeping nary a minute. Ten climbers shifting, nine hikers sniffling, eight marmots searching, seven cowards crying, six people coughing, five guides were talking, four geezers farting, two lovers giggling.....one jackass snoring. At 12:30 a.m., to make matters worse, the wind started pounding the hut mercilessly. I guess the majority of the gusts were in the 50 mph range, with some hitting the 60-70 mph mark.

Rock Climbing In Laos

When you get to Laos, why not climb rocks like these women describe in this post. And, according to this article, she is getting paid $80,000 to take a year off work. What a great country.

Lisa Nabs Her Project

She’s been working on this off and on for awhile. And today she nailed it. But she said she’s not going to count it. Because, the deal was, when she made it, she was going to buy herself the prettiest, the bestest, the coolest, rope in the world. And today, after doing the climb, she didn’t buy it. Wow, my head’s in a whirl. (Ask her about the soundtrack if you wish.) Video’s about 1.5 minutes; crux move starts at the 45 seconds mark.

 

I Fall Off The Ceiling

Jen got busy with the camera and here I am, falling off the ceiling again. Hey, I did get a lot closer the 3rd time I tried it today. So I got that going for me.

Amy On The Double B

Here’s Amy leading on the double B. Thanks to Jen for video taping this. (It’s about 3 minutes.)

Jen On Double Buttress

Here’s Jen leading her first (I think) “double butt” climb. She’s unstoppable now. (It’s 2 minutes.)

Monday At VE

Tan, Amy, Lisa, Jen and Peter were there. Tan did her first overhanging lead, Jen did her first “double buttress” lead, Amy did lots of hard stuff, Lisa finished the hardest moves of her arch project on lead and I fell off the ceiling 3x.

I did get some feedback on these climbing videos. “Keep ‘em short.” So I will try. And I know, unless you’re the climber, the belayer, a witness – or – just a really nice person, most of the videos aren’t that interesting to watch. Kinda like this one I made.

Ever Want To Do This?

Ever want to brush an elephant’s teeth?

 

Or clean off a sheep?

Both from the new book by National Geographic called The Image Collection.

Slab Climbing Hints

Lots of good techniques for climbing slabs in this article. Including:

       Butt out, heels down

        Use thumbs - not palms - to push down on holds

Thin Ice

Here’s a 1:05 minute video of us climbing at Sandstone. We were skating on thin ice. At the very end, you can hear steel crampons on stone.