Fun With Rocks

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

“What Is Climbing About?”

Alex Honnold is interviewed about speed climbing and is asked “What is climbing about” and he answers:

“I have no idea what climbing is ‘about,’ but speed climbing is all about getting down in time for dinner. It's just a nice way to get tons of climbing into one day.”

Complete interview here.

I Am Special So It Doesn’t Apply To Me, But You Should Read This

I notice when I am climbing with others, that I am so much better than they are. It’s kinda of a shame too because they seem to try so hard. And yet, for me, it’s easy to be as good as I am. This article describes why I think that way:

“In the 1950s, 12 percent of high school seniors said they were a ‘very important person.’ By the ’90s, 80 percent said they believed that they were.

In short, there’s abundant evidence to suggest that we have shifted a bit from a culture that emphasized self-effacement — I’m no better than anybody else, but nobody is better than me — to a culture that emphasizes self-expansion….Citizenship, after all, is built on an awareness that we are not all that special but are, instead, enmeshed in a common enterprise”

Luckily, that part of the article that refers to citizenship, doesn’t apply to me. Because I am special, and you are not. Sorry, but the truth hurts.

Four Weeks In Patagonia Waiting For Good Weather

They spent a month in El Chalten waiting for a good weather window to climb. When they got it, they had a lot of company.

“The block of ice bounced off my helmet hard enough to make my ears ring and make me wonder if I might pass out. My partner Jim and I were climbing an ice-choked chimney high on a mountain called Standhardt. We were several pitches up the chimney, no wider than my shoulders in places, and there was no safe spot to put the belay. We hung a backpack off of an ice screw to block some of the debris funneling down the chute, but mostly all I could do was hold the rope and cower while Jim led up.

Suddenly a rope dropped on Jim's head. Another team of climbers was rappelling down the route, over our heads. At best, this meant gridlock; at worst, a climber-triggered ice fall.
So this is what Patagonia has become, I thought: crowded and overrun by climbers.”

Monday, March 14, 2011

Disco Climbing

Rare footage of disco moves on a boulder. This is certainly one way to get loosened up before a climb. (Actually, once he starts climbing, the crux moves are over.)

Sunday, March 13, 2011

Fingerboard Pyramid

Here’s part 4 on fingerboard training by Nicros. (The other parts can be found here.)

Fingerboard

Resoling Climbing Shoes

I always wait too long – until I have a hole in the rand – so I have to pay more. Here’s an article that explains the whole process. In the comments, one person says she’s resoled her shoes 6-8 times. That’s a lot of wear!

Top 10 Climbing Spots

Carolyn George’s full list of her Top 10 Spots is here. She likes Norway for ice climbing and Thailand and Greece are her top two rock climbing locations. There are also a few more prosaic locations, like Zion or Canadian Rockies.

Friday, March 11, 2011

Liz Hits The Roof

OK, really, just the ceiling. Here’s one of her new projects. All photos here.

Clip & Drop

A Brit’s technique for getting comfortable falling while on lead. I think you’d also end up building your endurance if you’re falling at each clip and then re-climbing.

Fear of Falling - clip-drop technique from SteepMedia on Vimeo.

Teaching Climbing In The Karakoram

North Face sponsored climbers set up a clinic for teaching high altitude porters who live in the Hunza valley of the Pakistan Karakoram climbing skills. Best part of the video is them repairing a rickety wooden bridge and then driving across it. (2:50 into the video.)