Ten Sleep

A video by Cedar Wright and an article by Ali Rainly about Ten Sleep.

“Summers in Ten Sleep are pure climbing bliss. No matter where else I climb, no matter how much my climbing tastes diversify and change, I’ve realized this summer (summer No. 11 for me here) that it’s not just the climbing that makes this season my favorite every year. It’s the aura of the place, its magical beauty combined with an impish sense of humor that characterizes the whole climbing scene.”

MINI-DAWGZ_THE MOVIE_TEN SLEEP_WY_2011 from Cedar Wright on Vimeo.

A Woman’s Climbing Story

I love this story – she climbs because she loves to.

“There are 638 mountains in the Colorado Rockies over 13,000 feet high. I’d climb them all, if my 60-year-old joints allowed it. I want to possess these mountains as they possess me. I want to know everything about them — the density of their forests, the color and scent of their flowers, the angle and texture of their rock….

I climbed until the vision in my left eye clouded over, and my ophthalmologist scheduled cataract surgery. I climbed until a boulder toppled over, pinning my right leg beneath a ton of immovable weight. Now there’s a permanent dent in my calf –– a badge of courage, or foolhardiness.

I’m going to keep climbing until my heart gives out and they find me beside the trail, belly up, my grinning skull a whimsical warning to those who dare to venture out on their own.”

Something Good About A Hurricane

These guys found something good about the latest hurricane.

Huts In The Mountains

Carolyn George reports on a climb she just did in the Swiss Alps. Her story points out some major differences between mountain hiking/climbing in the Alps and in the U.S. For example,

“In Europe, there are lots of lifts to access areas, even in places where you couldn’t imagine a real use for them. Sometimes the lift is just to access a house, a pasture for cows or sheep, a small village or just for leisure. But I am always grateful for them as they save my

body from overuse. We parked the car in SaasAlmagell…. and took a small lift up to a tiny hamlet in the mountains. From there, the paths winds through a steep cliff, over manmade bridges, metal steps bolted onto the rock and onward to the Almageller Valley. It is such a contrast from the States, where no manmade structure is allowed in parks or in the mountains. Here, everything is made to be playful, yet it doesn’t seem to really interfere with nature. It’s discreet and not shocking at all”

She also mentions the trail is marked by rocks painted red and white. Could you imagine the horrified cries if we painted rocks as trail markers in the U.S.? Can you imagine how difficult it would be to get permission to build lifts up to cabins or shelters? Can you imagine the outcry if someone wanted to bolt steps into rock? (Some people in the U.S. want to take out the cables on Hlaf Dome which have been helping people climb up the back of Half Dome. Cables that have been there since 1919.)

Flying the Canadian Rockies

Will Gadd has great photos of his flight across part of the Canadian Rockies here. His latest post mentions his difficulty contrasting his flight over the mountains with his friend’s recent accident from flying.

‘So three of the absolute best flights of my life are juxtaposed with horror. My images of the Bugaboos, of landing and sleeping in the alpine meadows south of Revelstoke, of just the idea and joy of a flying adventure are mixed with images of a badly broken friend.”

 

How To Look Good Sport Climbing

From a self-described 42 year-old trad climber “with a graying mullet” comes some advice about looking “kewl” at the sport crag. I liked these quotes:

• “If you’re kewl, you carry a jug of water in your hand as you do the approach.”
• “Guys, remove your shirt. Always. No matter how cold the temps. If you do not do this, you are not kewl.”
• “Pantomime the beta.”

“A Little Bit Scary”

That’s what see says just before she jumps off this rock in Norway. After she jumps, she says “That was awesome.” Looks like fun. This is from Dave MacLeod.

Our Trip to Yosemite

This was my fourth trip to Yosemite – the second time I’ve done any climbing there. This trip was only a little climbing and a lot of hiking.

The summer season in Tuolumne is very short – this year the high camps opened the 2nd week of August and will close after the first week of September; 3 weeks. There is a lottery to get permits for hiking the high country because it is quite a demand for such a short period of time.

This is about a 5 minute summary of our trip.

Exercise for Longevity

Here’s research indicating that only 90 minutes of light exercise per week adds about 3 years to life expectancy. I figured out that 90 minutes per week over the course of the average life expectancy of Americans, means you will have exercised one full year over your lifetime. So it’s best you do something you like, ‘cuiz you’ll spend at least a  year doing it.

Sunrise Camp–Tuolumne

Of the three camps (out of six) we stayed at, the Sunrise Camp was my favorite. It was in the middle of a a boulder field which the staff used to hone their climbing. Our tent is right behind this boulderer.

The front of our tent looked out at this view of a meadow with a 400 foot granite dome in the background.

From the back of camp, this was the view:.

 

You do have to hike about 5 miles and 1,500 feet vertical from the main highway to get here – not far at all. The best story I’ve read about hiking these high camps is here.

Making A New Multi-pitch Route

Sonnie Trotter’s story of the 5 days he and a friend spent cleaning and preparing a new 1,200 foot 5.9 route on Squamish. He did it as a gift to other climbers. I like this quote:

“The work was tedious, as any new route developer will tell you. Sometimes it consisted of shifting boulders or removing a 20-foot long root system. At other times, we were on our hands and knees with a toothbrush, scrubbing the stubborn lichen from the rock.  I can understand why other climbers wonder why we invested so much time and effort. But we did have fun - level-2 style. For whatever reason, this climb was more gratifying than most routes I can recall in 15 years of climbing.”

Do You Believe Danger Signs?

I have noticed a “Chicken Little, The sky is falling!” syndrome when it comes to signs. I am no longer sure if something is really dangerous just because someone put a sign saying it is dangerous. I am not alone in disbelieving signs, as is evidenced by my recent trip to Yosemite Valley where I encountered this sign at Bridalveil Falls.

This parent was unconcerned about placing his kids on a “dangerous” rock. And the people in the photo below flat-out ignored the sign in order to scramble up the wet, slippery rocks. As did I. Only a pansy would pay attention to the sign. (I may be wrong about the danger there - but I certainly wouldn’t want my skirt to billow up if I believed the sign and didn’t get closer to the falls.)

What Happens When People See A Bear?

We stayed at Tuolumne Meadows Lodge. They have shared canvas tent cabins with little wood burning stoves. And communal bathrooms. (It looks like a refugee camp for rich, old, white people.)

There was a bear that hung around the camp and climbed into the trees. You should always stay away from bears – unless you have a camera handy like I did. (I, unlike the others, had a good reason for getting so close to the bear - I wanted to document it for Fun With Rocks. The others, had no good reason for being there.)

 

I took a short video of the bear climbing down the tree. Unfortunately, I shut the camera off just before it ran past me about 10 feet away. (But come on, 10 feet was plenty of distance for me to outrun an angry bear.)

Tuolumne Meadows

Just returned from hiking in the Sierra high country above Tuolumne Meadows in Yosemite Park. Down in the valley it was about 100 degrees; in Tuolumne about 75. Before hiking, we went climbing and I tried aid climbing for the first time on “Horseshoes and Hand Grenades.”

It took me about 2.5 hours to climb this 70 foot, overhanging, right leaning crack. (The guide told me it would take him about 20 minutes.) But the hardest part was cleaning it on ascenders.

Flinging Yourself Into The Air

I can think of only one reason to do this:

FUN

I can think of one reason this won’t ever happen commercially in the U. S.:

LIABILTY

In fact, in Britain, where this stunt is done, a guy missed landing in the net and died.