Fun With Rocks

Sunday, January 30, 2011

Training & Gear For Patagonia Adventure Race

Here’s how local guy, the Gear Junkie, is preparing for his upcoming adventure race in Patagonia.

What Happens If You Fall 1,000 Feet Down Sgurr Choinnich Mor?

I just love saying “Sgurr Choinnich Mor.” It rolls right off my tongue.

“It may sound like the kind of incident only a character from a Roadrunner cartoon could survive, but a climber in the Scottish highlands fell over 1,000 feet down a mountain and was then found by rescuers standing up and reading a map.

His climbing team feared the worse when they saw the 35-year-old slip on loose rocks and plummet from the summit of Sgurr Choinnich Mor, five miles east of the famous Ben Nevis mountain in Scotland's Grey Corries Range. Rescuers in a Royal Navy helicopter had expected nothing less than body recovery duty.
Yet when they scanned the craggy slopes they spotted what they at first thought was another climber, as he was standing up and reading a map trying to work out his location.”

Shooting For The Lip

When Alex Johnson’s not shooting for the lip to snag the crux of a hard boulder climb in Bishop, she’s shooting from the hip to relax.

How To Find Bolts Buried Under Ice

You use a metal detector as shown here by Will Gadd. This is the story of their ice climbing from a cave full of icicles onto an overhanging face full of ice thrown up by a nearby waterfall. (I had an earlier post with this article but I didn’t see this photo until today.)

Friday, January 28, 2011

Not Sure Why This Is So Hard

I can think of only two reasons he’s having trouble on this climb:

He’s forgotten that rock climbing is just like climbing a ladder
The music is so annoying, it’s distracting him

ADAM ONDRA - Working Golpe de Estado in Siurana from BERNARTWOOD on Vimeo.

New Dress Code - High & Tight Baby, High & Tight

I’ve had a few requests (from women) that men in the gym adopt a new dress code – high and tight shorts. Like this guy I captured climbing today. So boys, keep that in mind when choosing your outfits to wear to the gym.

(I won’t have any trouble with short shorts. I’ve known for years that I must look good from the back. Whenever I was lecturing people – pointing out how much I knew in contradistinction to their abysmal ignorance – and then left the room, I could hear them muttering “What an ass!” I was so proud of how I must’ve looked leaving the room.)

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Spray-Ice Cave Climbing

Will Gadd ice climbing in Canada’s Helmckien Falls area:

“I am sure of little in life, but of this I am sure: The Helmcken Falls spray ice cave is absolutely the wildest, best, most insane ice climbing area I've ever seen.”

Lots of great photos and more of the story at the link. Including how they used a metal detector to find the bolts they installed last year which were under this year’s ice.

Five pitches of ice, and:

“the first 60 feet are only overhanging at about 30 to 45 degrees … but then the climbing goes horizontal in this weird 3D upside down icicle forest for a 150 plus feet. And it all went free, on ice, with only two drytool moves!”

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Hard To Believe, Showing A Girl Some Moves Isn’t Appreciated

What’s this world coming to? I read this in an online advice column and was stunned:

“Last week I was at our local climbing gym, and I saw this really cute girl there. I offered her some beta and started climbing with her so I could get to know her. I’m new to climbing, and she was a pretty good climber, but I figured suggesting some moves and showing her some problems would be a great way to break the ice and get her to talk with me. I asked her if she wanted to join my friends and I for dinner that night, but she turned me down. What gives? “

If you can’t show cute girls (boys too!) some new moves at the climbing gym, what’s the point of even going? (Unfortunately for me, I have shown all of my moves by now and have no new moves left. Drats!)

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Training Vs Fun

For me, It’s tougher to train when I climb with others. It’s so tempting to dump the training routine I planned and just go have fun climbing with someone else. At the “Dream in Vertical

” website, she says:
“In the past, I

haven’t really focused on training much, since having fun and staying psyched is higher on my priority list (because training is hard to do when you’re not actually psyched or having fun). Now, however, I am really excited about returning to the Creek,…”

Her solution to this dilemma is to train for a specific type of climbing she’s going to do in a few months’ time. I’ll have to think about that; all I really do is train to get stronger. I don’t have a specific type of climb I’m working on. It might make it easier to focus.

Nah, it’s still too much fun to dump the training and just go climb.

Speed Climbing In Fruit Boots

This is fun to watch and it’s short. I think you’d need fruit boots to go this fast. You can make your own fruit boots if you follow these instructions

Avocado Gully Speed Ascent (8:59ctc) from Rock & Ice on Vimeo.

Sunday, January 23, 2011

“Riding The Bull”

Mixed climbing in Bull River Gorge Alberta, Canada. He really does ride a big icicle down.

Gordon McArthur from Karman Line Productions on Vimeo.

Nasty, Hard, Frightening and Cold

Scottish winter trad mixed climbing. Man, that looks like it’d be awful. At 8:15, look at the tiny stopper he’s using for pro. It’s a “Massive adventure all squashed into one day” as he says on the video.