Developing A New Route In Yosemite

Alex Honnold bolts and climbs part of a new route in Yosemite. This is part 2. More info here. 

Use Your Feet Or "Look Ma, No Hands"

Usually, in climbing, more effective footwork helps us climb harder routes. This woman has very effective footwork. She's thinking outside of the Sox! shoe by flying a plane with only her feet. Her lucky shirt reads, "Look Ma, No Hands."

Mountain Climbing In Peru

Using donkeys to carry their loads, climbers get to the base of a Peruvian mountain. At base camp, they have a hot tub with all the latest electronics. This a part two of a four part series.



Peru Expedition episode 2 of 4 - Road to Basecamp from vincent van beek on Vimeo.

Backpacking In The 21st Century

Why wreck your back when you can have your own ATV robot? It can carry more than 1000 pounds and move faster than you can.

Taking Out The Trash In Antarctica

There's currently a group attempting to ski across Antarctica in winter using two tractors, a caboose and a supply trailer. Here's what it's like for them to take out the trash in 50 knot winds. Here's their blog. 

"Climbing Is No Big Deal"

Ueli Steck says the future of mountaineering is climbing with minimal gear and a paraglider. This video shows him learning to fly and then climbing and flying from a summit, where he says, "Climbing is no big deal; it's daily business. But then, lunging off.."It appears as though he's about to be blown off the summit with his 'chute.

He obviously got good enough with his flying to climb three classic Alp peaks in one day. Story here.

Greg Drives Me Up A Wall

At VE the other day, I was working on the ceiling so Greg offered to drive me up the wall in his boom lift. Here's the result:

Hanging Out On The Ceiling

Joe and I climbed the new ceiling route at VE Mpls while The Killer belayed.

Dangerous - Or Fun - Houses For Kids?

- That’s going to require at least ten stitches.

A collection of mid-20th century homes filled with exciting play areas for kids. "Exciting" in this case meaning lots of opportunities for getting hurt.

We never lived in a house with these design features but we still found plenty of ways to get hurt: sidewalks, skates, bikes, playing tag, knives, stairs, roofs, ladders, bees, etc.

It seems to me, we try so hard to make modern life safe, that we are surprised when we're reminded that the world itself is dangerous.

- Red arrows show the direction of travel of children’s bodies

"Fear Counted For Nothing"

Bolting routes for safer climbing was quite controversial at the Red Rocks. Here John Long describes how his initial dislike of bolting turned into an enjoyment of it as he and Lynn Hill do the first ascent of a classic Red Rocks climb Levitation 29. I liked his quote about how climbing a bolted route compared to climbing a trad route:

"The experience immediately cast me onto the indefinite ground between two worlds: one known and established, the other a strange but alluring universe where fun meant everything and fear counted for nothing."

Ceilings At VE

I've spent about 7 hours putting holds back up on the ceilings at both VE St Paul and VE Mpls. I am very inefficient at it - hence the large amount of time - but it is good practice on hanging from a belay and learning rope management. It is a little freaky to belay myself and climb across the ceiling. But, it's easy to get used to.

Both ceilings should be ready now for you ceiling animals; like Liz, Marianna, Killer.

North Pole On A Budget

Each April, a temporary North Pole city is set up on a chunk of floating ice. Tourists fly into the camp, from far northern Norway. One option is to helicopter to the true North Pole from the camp. That will only cost about $21,000 and take about 5 days. Much cheaper - in time - than trying to ski there on your own

45 Days With Reindeer

Cold and dangerous according to the narrator. But they got to camp outside.



Post-Trip Update from Outwild TV on Vimeo.

Cave Climbing In Norway

Now the hardest route in the world, this 8 minute video shows how Adam Ondra bolted and climbed this cave in Norway.



VIDEO: BD athlete Adam Ondra making the first ascent of Change, the world's first 9b+ from Black Diamond Equipment on Vimeo.

The History Of "Spuds"

Royal Robbins learned about the use of nuts for protecting climbs in 1965. Worried about the damage pitons were doing to some of the popular crack climbs in California, he promoted the use of nuts in this article from a 1967 magazine.

In England, where this idea originated, they were also called "Spuds" after their inventor Spud Murphy.