Everest, Then & Now

A comparison of gear used on Everest in 1953 and today. I know today’s mountaineering suit is better than these from ‘53, but I love the look from back then.

 

"Yell With Effort”

Ali Rainey writes about her new-found love of climbing steep and overhanging routes on her trip to Spain.

“I want to be screaming with effort and flinging my hands at holds more often than not…For the first time since arriving in Spain a month and a half ago, I actually tried hard enough on a climb to yell with effort – for three moves in a row, before I whipped off, laughing as I fell with utter joy and delight. At last! I finally felt okay enough to push it hard enough to try – and it was so much fun! Explosive climbing, powerful climbing, steep climbing – yes!”

Cycling And Astronomy

What does bicycling and planetary knowledge have in common? A lot if you’re wearing a Pearl Izumi biking short.

Improving Your Climbing

Lots of great tips here from a trainer. I liked these:

“Justen is a big proponent of breathing audibly on the route to hear yourself. Getting me to

breathe more audibly while climbing—not in a weird, forced way … but rather naturally—was really helpful.

Warming up: Two routes, each climbed back to back. If you can’t climb a route twice in a row, it’s not a warm up. On the first time up, notice things that you do wrong and on the second time up, eliminate them. Take care of whatever it is that’s going badly on that day, right away on the warm up.

Warm up the eyes, too. Look around and try to get your focus going. Focus on particular things and notice them. Get your focus working so it’s very precise.”

Single Line Rappel

Instructions on single line rappelling with a Cinch or a GriGri.

Fitz Roy Panorama

From Rope and Summit website is a link to a great panorama.

“Here’s a link to an amazing 360 panorama that was shot by our Brazilian friend Irivan after his successful climb of the route ‘Mate, Porro, y todo lo demas’ on Fitz Roy”

When Is A Boulder, Art?

When you move a 21 foot high boulder 106 miles, it becomes art. I wonder if we moved it all the way to Minnesota. And put 15 different boulder problems on it. That would really be artistic. This same guy dug a trench in the Nevada desert a few years ago as another art project.

Red Rock Sisters–Natalie & Killer

Last Thursday in Red Rocks, Natalie and the Killer climbed on their own. This video is in honor of the sisters doing it for themselves.

Get Up Offa That Thing- A Video Review Of Red Rocks

If you don’t get up offa that thing, how are you ever going to get to the top?

Red Rocks, Grocery Carts & Our Hot Tub

The house we rented was called “The Oasis.” The name didn’t make any sense to us until we saw the neighbors’ yards.

Here’s the back yard of our rental house:

Here are what the neighbors’ back yards looked like:

One nice touch, which I haven’t seen elsewhere, was the ready availability of shopping carts. Many of the front yards in our neighborhood had grocery shopping carts parked right on their front gravel pads. That’s a nice feature when you want to spend the night under a bridge.

The biggest attraction of our house was the hot tub. Here we are celebrating its use with our good friend Jimmy.

The Boyz Primping For Climbing; What Happens In Vegas…

What happens in Vegas, doesn’t always stay in Vegas. This video demonstrates why women are always waiting for the men to get ready. It’s tough to be a girl!

Cat In The Hat With Rings

Pete, Eric and I climbed "Cat in the Hat" at Red Rocks on Thursday. And there was a cat in the rocks that ate all our food while we climbed. It was a ring-tailed cat and it took my entire bag of trail mix.

Here’s Eric high on the “Cat”

Here’s Pete placing gear on the first pitch:

 

Pete coming around the long traverse on the 4th pitch:

 

 

Eric, finishing off his lead of the 4th pitch:

 

I only led one pitch on this route and I had a nasty leader fall. It was kind of a wedgie.

 

 

Miriam “Killin’” It On Trad Lead

Miriam, Pete and I went to the Calico Basin today and Miriam did her first trad lead. She killed it.

Here she is belaying Pete up the route she just led. Look at that rope management!

Here are shots of her gear placements.

Way to go Killer!

Red Rocks Day Quatro

40-45 mph gusts all day. Warm temps – 76 – but windy enough to make it hard to climb. Here’s Killer leading a pitch on “Man’s Best Friend.” You can hear the wind and see her clothes flapping.

And here’s a shot of Pete, at the summit of that route, with his hair blown straight up.

To escape the wind, some of us went to the California Crag. And found a rock that looks exactly like a silhouette of the state of Minnesota. Here’s Dawson climbing it and holding onto the MN/Canadian border.

Black Corridor – Red Rocks Part Tres

We climbed in the Black Corridor for most of Monday. Overhanging, big heuco climbs and delicate, balancy face climbs. Dawson and Eric

were on fire. The Killer onsighted several routes as well as Natalie and Anika. While Pete and I wandered around looking at different walls, the others met Wolfgang, a local 72-year-old climber, who showed them some smooth moves racing up several 5.11s at “Sweet Pain Wall.”