Travels & Tribulations of Blake Herrington

Camera Skills

2012-01-30T14:22:00.000-08:00

Here's a little write-up I recently had published in Climbing Magazine.

Cerro Torre

2012-01-21T15:03:00.000-08:00

For a beautiful and iconic peak, Cerro Torre certainly has one bizarre history.

A few days ago, Jason Kruk and Hayden Kennedy climbed the SE Ridge of Cerro Torre. They finished off a project that had been tried numerous years by many different climbers, which was to follow the obvious ridge line taken by the Maestri Compressor attempt (eventually successfully climbed by Bridwell and Brewer). Jason and Hayden then smashed out over 100 of tshe bolts on the compressor route. Amid all the controversy, the climbing world went nuts after someone facebooked about having watched this through a camera lens. What a crazy 21-st century internet alpinism phenomenon to have sparked such outrage and anger. I never considered climbing Cerro Torre on my two season in Patagonia, but I have climbed on a much easier satellite peak and know some of the folks involved. It seems like many of the rants and arguments are based on false premises, so here are some facts and dates:

1959 - Cesare Maestri claimed to have climbed the Northern Aspect of Cerro Torre (CT) for the mountain's first ascent. Maestri lost his camera and his partner died on the mountain. His claim to have climbed CT is now mostly dismissed as a lie.
1970 - Maestri returned to CT, which had not seen a "2nd" ascent. His team climbed up the SE Ridge of the peak, placing hundreds of bolts next to 5.7-5.10 cracks, and eventually abandoning the more featured and protectable ridge to drill long bolt ladders rightward across a blank wall near the summit. His team stopped atop the rock and didn't summit the peak's ice and snow pitches. He also removed ~2 dozen of his own bolts on the decent. This route was soon repeated (with rivets and aid climbing used to overcome the broken-bolts sections) and the climbers (Bridwell/Brewer) did summit the peak for the first ascent of the "Compressor Route".
2010 - David Lama made a big fuss of his pre-climb and pre-trip proclamations that he was going to climb the compressor route and then create a bolt-protected freeclimb up the CT headwall, equipping pitches with more bolts (placed on rappel). Faced with massive controversy, he agreed not to rappel-bolt, and eventually didn't do much of anything apart from run around town with a scary-looking posse and cause a lot of noise and concern that there'd been an accident when his Red Bull Helicopter spent weather windows in early 2011 swooping in and out from the peaks near his party as they aided the Compressor Route.

Last season when I was in Patagonia, at least two teams (one USA one CAN) were attempting to complete what they and other had begun calling a "fair means" ascent of CT's SE Ridge. I asked Colin Haley about the term, and he described it as not using any of Maestri's bolts for upward progress. The Canadian Team was Jason Kruk and Chris Geisler who (last season) reached a new high point on this multi-year project. They added somewhere between 1-4 bolts and esatblished new pitches on more naturally-featured rock which they described as the line's logical continuation, well to the left of the Compressor bolt ladders. This season, Jason Kruk succeeded, joined on this route by Hayden Kennedy. Congrats on an awesome ascent!

On the way down, Jason and Hayden removed over 100 bolts from the compressor-placed bolt ladders. This makes their SE Ridge finishing pitches now the only established option in this part of the mountain, and will likely be the end of the line for the wild and weird Compressor saga.

Here are a bunch of mistakes I've seen folks make when arguing about the route:

They didn't free climb their route. They used aid to ascend the rock.
There were no guided ascents of this route. Local guides aren't suddenly out of work over this. This wont hurt the local economy. 90% of the visitors to El Chalten are not even climbers.
These "bolts" were more like pitons than modern expansion bolts. Jason and Hayden were able to easily remove the whole unit from the wall, nothing left in place. Since the remaining tiny holes aren't adjacent to their variation, they'll only be seen by folks descending the mountain. Any negative visual impact would be minuscule compared to the previous situation.
There weren't teams of climbers lining up to get on this thing, or who would now have spent/wasted thousands of dollars just to try the compressor. Sure there might be 2-6 people every year who made this route a primary goal, but I'd be surprised if it were even that many.
They didn't climb along the terrain of the bolt ladders without using the bolt ladders. They continued pushing new pitches up terrain well to the left of the blank, right-trending compressor bolts.
They did place bolts (somewhere from 1-5) or used the ones Jason's team had placed on a previous recent attempt.
They are Canadian, American, and removed bolts placed by an Italian. If you're bothered by Americans removing bolts in Argentina, are you equally bothered by Italians placing them? Is it ok for visitors (however defined) to place bolts, but only for locals (however defined) to remove them?
With an ascent of CT now requiring more skill, longer weather windows, and much more rare conditions, folks will be looking to other overlooked peaks for adventures.

It seems agreed upon in climbing that the superlative style is onsight, ground-up, free, and without any bolts. To me , any ascent closer to this style is a "better" ascent than one further from this style that reaches the same point. By this measure Hayden and Jason's ascent is a big accomplishment. I am left with a few questions about the ascent and descent, but I've met and hung out a bit with Hayden and Jason and certainly give them the benefit of the doubt.

A few things I am still wondering about:

If the "Fair Means" ascent was merely defined as not using even one of Maestri's bolts for upward progress, wouldn't hand-drilling a bolt or rivet ladder off to the side of Maestri's qualify as a successful fair-means ascent? This didn't happen, but to me, the definition needs to be more precise.
If Hayden and Jason used any bolts at all for "upward progress" then the implication is that some number of bolts is acceptable but Maestri used too many. If so, how many is ok and how or by whom should that decision be made? Is it always a judgement call made in the moment?
If one considers it acceptable to remove the compressor bolt ladders, would it be logically consistent to EVER argue against the removal of a bolt ladder when variations were established that reached the same point with fewer bolts?

Without a bunch of self-imposed rules, we'd all just summit peaks of our dreams via helicopter, so as as stilly as much of this can seem, I think it's interesting and important to the sport.r

Desert Pictures

2012-01-16T10:51:00.000-08:00

My pal Forest Woodward just got around to finishing up some photos of the time we all spent at Indian Creek and Zion back in October. Here are a few of his best shots.

First Winter Ascent in the Stuart Range

2012-01-13T10:42:00.000-08:00

Colchuck Balanced Rock (8,200') - The West Face route follows the sun/shade line.

Walking across the frozen lake

The West Face of Colchuck Balanced Rock was first climbed in 1980, and saw an FSFA (that's a first "second first" ascent) when Mark Twight and Mark Johnston reported their "New" route in the 1984 American Alpine Journal. They reported 12 pitches up to 5.10 and A2. This route is now considered among the region's premier climbs, free at 5.11+. It lies amid other fabled granite mountains such as Dragontail, Mt. Stuart, and Prusik Peak in the Central Cascades.

With an excellent window of unseasonably calm winter weather, I wanted to get into the mountains and have an adventure. However, winter thus far in the Cascades has been much drier than normal, though quite cold. I had doubts about the cyclical melting needed to turn powder snow into swingable ice on the area's standard winter routes. Instead, my thoughts turned to a different challenge: grovel, freeclimb, and impromptu-aid climb up an ascent of a summer-season alpine rock route. I gave a call to my friend Nate Farr, who had also established a new route on 'CBR' in the last few years. (Nate's & Co.'s route - Ours ). Not surprisingly, Nate was also motivated by the forecast and hoping to try something in the mountains. He was in with the plan and I reshuffled my work schedule to get a couple days free.

The approach was 4 miles of skinning (in climbing boots) to a ski stash and the commencement of slogging. After 4 or 5 miles of tromping through the snow, we skittered our way across the frozen expanse of Colchuck Lake.

Once across the ice, 1,200' or so of step-kicking up firm neve in a couloir led to the small cirque below the peak. As our quasi-functioning jetboil sputtered its way towards another round of hot drinks (30 minutes per brew in these temps), Nate remarked that "This might be one of the stupider things we've tried".

And that says a lot coming from the guy who pushed 40 pounds of our food out the floor of a moving aircraft, only to have its sil-nylon drybag explode across a bombardment zone of bare ice and jagged rock.

The moon was bright enough to wake us up at 1AM, when (already having been in the darkened tent for 7 hours) we thought perhaps dawn was breaking. Eventually we got up and brewed some coffee and got psyched. The first few pitches were definitely the crux. Snowy sand and turf groveling yielded to delicate swings with one tool each.

I took a fairly good-sized whipper when an ice-crusted green alien ripped out as I attempted to gingerly aid my way up a sideways slab move. Just before the route's signature dihedral pitch, I threw a little alpine hissy-fit after forgetting my ice tool at the belay and committing to the irreversible snow-and-sod mantles equipped with just my boots and gloves. The traverse start to my lead and one piece of gear between me and the belay made it impossible for Nate to tag me up an ice tool, so I began excavating snow and frozen dirt with my hands. Note to self: never underestimate a good 'turf stick' in the Cascades.

We basically jugged each pitch as the follower, except for the time when Nate told me his 3-RP anchor wasn't jug-worthy. If he weren't half-a-rope above me, he'd have witnessed another little fit right about then as well.

Stuart, the North Ridge in the center

Finishing the corner pitch

More Stuart

Nate has hands of fire. I kept my gloves on for all my leads.

Nate nears the summit

Self portrait next to the summit's namesake boulder.

We were both able to do a fair amount of rock-shoe leading, and the well-protected nature of the climbing made it easy to hang on a piece to don gloves or let the circulation recover mid-pitch. We both remarked at one point or another than we were actually enjoying ourselves in the moment. If you're having fun while doing it, rather than as a retroactive impression, I think you are succeeding on any winter alpine objective.

We topped out to an amazing sunset over Dragontail, Stuart, and Rainier. Despite the predicted window of good weather, it never really turned sunny in our part of the range, but a high-cloud ceiling never snowed on us either.

Rapping from the summit

We threw on headlamps, packed up camp, plunged step our way back down the crusty avalanche gully, reversed our frozen lake crossing, hiking deproach, and four-mile ski back to the car in record time.

Trout Creek

2012-01-09T12:50:00.000-08:00

Central Oregon's Trout Creek may soon be temporarily closed due to raptor nesting, so when I saw a forecast calling for sun and 40 degree highs last weekend, I headed down. I was joined by my lovely wife Allison on our three-day sports extravaganza. On Friday we skied a tour of Skyline Ridge and Nason Creek, on Saturday we clipped bolts at Smith Rock State Park, and on Sunday we jammed and stemmed amazing splitters.

We had planned on two days at Trout Creek, but dense fog on Saturday convinced us to head onward 25 miles to Smith Rock State Park. But would it be sunny there? I used 1800 - BING - 411 to get connected to the Terrebone, OR Thriftway, where one of the store's checkers quizzically answered my meteorological inquiries and we were off.

Here's Allion on Zebra Zion. Despite this pitch of crack climbing, everything else we did was bolted. However, we had only brought down 2 quickdraws on the trip. (Trout Creek = Splitters with fixed anchors). After seeing us make a few "trad draws" via a set of wires and carabiners raided from cams, as well as utilizing my webbing belt/chalkbag as a runner, a local took pity on us and loaned us draws for the day. Thanks!

The sunset at Smith Rock was beautiful, with the Crooked River and Asterisk Pass framing and reflecting the glow.

The sun is only on the wall at Trout Creek these days from noon to 4:30, but we still managed to climb 6 routes up there.

Local guru and guidebook author Jeff Wenger and partner for the day

TRing in the direct sun doesn't provide many photo opportunities, but here is Allison working her way up 'The Ruiner'. We also climbed U2, Monster, Mr. squiggles, JR Token, and something else.

Jeff and the crag dogs

I think Trout Creek is the most convenient trad climbing anywhere. You don't need much gear, the routes are laughably close together, all pitches end in fixed lower-off carabiners, the locals are friendly, and the views are amazing. I'm definitely excited to keep ticking off more and more routes on every visit.

Free Trout Creek Guidebook

Getting Horizontal

2012-01-04T15:33:00.000-08:00

How do you learn to hand-jam out a 20' roof?

Build one.

Ingredients

2 "2x12" boards, as long as you can fit in your climbing space
About 8' of "all thread" (the threaded rod that determines width) - cut into 12" sections
4 washers and 4 nuts for each section of all thread

I originally installed two pieces of all-thread at 6 different spots along the length of the crack. This was overkill. I think all you need is one piece roughly every 2 feet, and you can put it through the boards in the middle of the board, or an inch toward the "jamming" edge. Use a drill to put matching holes through the boards, and put a washer on the inside edge of all the nuts. I used 3/8" all-thread and washers. Having a 3/8" ratcheting quick wrench also really helps speed up any width adjustments. Consider drilling some big plastic hand/foot holds onto the sides for heel hooking or to use with one hand.

I drilled 4 small 2x4s to the rafters, then drilled the roof crack to the 2x4s. No sanding, no painting, no tape, and no scrapes or gobies to speak of.

AAJ Routes

2011-12-30T00:08:00.000-08:00

The folks who run the American Alpine Journal put this story of one of our new routes up on their site today:

I think this makes 6 consecutive American Alpine Journals that I've contributed stories and pictures to.

And since my new home in Leavenworth came equipped with many more back issues of the journal, I've been engrossed in scheming about trips to far-flung places and realizing just how much climbing has changed in the past 15 or 20 years. I feel fortunate to be involved in the sport at a time of such easy information-sharing and internet researchability!

And on that note, anyone interested in South America climbing (or just about neat places with pretty pictures) should check out the amazing online guide compiled by Rolando Garibotti.

Photo by Joel Kauffman

Rolo's already posted updates about some great new routes and climbs this year, including the STEEP FA on Aguja Poincenot by 'local boys' Mikey, Jens, and (part timer) Joel. Local-boy-turned-Pata-guru Colin has also been up to more awesome ascents amid a Christmas heatwave.

But since it has been 35 degrees and raining in the Cascades, I've been coming home from never-ending work days to run laps on the 14' roof crack I built in my basement. I still eat a bunch of empanadas and alfajores afterwards, just to make myself feel Patagonian.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Training Tip - Save $$$, Climb More!

2011-12-14T08:53:00.000-08:00

"You always bring the best snacks" garbled my partner, as his cold, chalk-covered fingers stuffed teriyaki jerky down his parched gullet. We'd just climbed Ariana on Colorado's Long's Peak, our puffy jackets stuffed with treats for the top of the Diamond. "But why do you bring so many little tidbits of different stuff?

Kelly licks his lips in preparation for free snacks.

I had a secret...

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Do you want to get better at something, such as climbing? Practice doing it. A lot.

Money can buy you happiness, but only up to a certain point. That's $75,000 (annual household income) for the general public. But for the dirtbag climber, a Toyota Tacoma doesn't count as a household regardless of how many nights you've slept in it. I'd wager my last package of Top Ramen that climbers quit becoming any happier once they've achieved much lower income levels than most Americans. They represent the "alternative leisure class" and would rather have more free time than income. I also think most climbers derive unusually large amounts of happiness from friendships, learning, (cheap) travel, outdoor adventures, and other inexpensive activities. They (and I include myself in this group) don't need a lot of money in order to be happy and take part in what does make them happy. So what does this all have to do with training and getting better? Basically everything.

I'm more qualified to give out economics wisdom than climbing advice, but if you save money and climb more, you wont need to read the internet for climbing advice anyway. So back to my quality and variety of climbing snacks?

One of the ways that I earn money, get free flights, and generally make my outdoors addiction possible, is by constantly looking for ways to spend money. But I don't really want to spend it. I just want to earn things with my credit card by running up charges and paying them off before any interest accumulates. This actually improves my credit as well. Credit card offers will give users some money back on all their purchases, or award them with airline miles for spending money. There are lots of ways to spend money (IE get cash back or airline miles) without really losing that money. Folks used to by money from the US Mint. Some people have 2 or 3 (or 14...) accounts with Amazon Payments, allowing them to spend money by paying themselves several thousand dollars each month, and then just depositing these payments back into a linked checking account. Want to fly to Patagonia and Pakistan for free? Spend money with a card that gives you a slew of miles for signing up, and more for each purchase. But the snacks... what about all those snacks?

At the time that I climbed Ariana, I was using a particularly lucrative (RIP) refillable debit/gift card. I could go online, use my (cash back) credit card, "buy" $2000 of credit on this refillable gift card (earning $40 in cash back on the purchase), and then go to the grocery store. As long as the average value of my purchases was less than $2, I would essentially get my snacks for free. I'd gather up bananas, OJ, yogurts, jerky, Snickers, and head to the self-check-out lane. I'd scan each item on its own and pay for it with my pre-loaded gift card, choosing the "$100 cash back" after each purchase. Groceries in hand, I'd then walk over to the in-store bank branch, deposit my ~$1000 into my checking account, and go climbing. In this way I'd buy a 30-cent banana, spend $100.30 on the purchase, make $1.70 profit, and still end up with a Banana. It was a self-run "pennies for pitches" system, usually resulting in free and delicious meals and (at the very least) the ability to earn back money spent on fuel. Get better at climbing by practicing climbing. Get the free time to climb by spending and saving wisely, every bit counts.

Smarter dirtbaggery through economics.

Earn and save enough money to cover your basic expenses, and then do what you love. And when you find yourself with good food in abundance, share generously, even as friends eat into your profits.

Myself low on Ariana - down jacket filled with food.

Published - Climbing Magazine

2011-12-01T12:10:00.000-08:00

My wife Allison lead the final pitch of the route 'Captain Beyond' and our friend Rob Kepley took some early-evening shots. One of them ended up here! I just got to go along for the ride and enjoy the stellar climbing, then write about the experience. Congrats to Rob on the great photos in the current (December 2011) issue of Climbing Magazine.

Goals

2011-11-28T09:54:00.000-08:00

Leavenworth isn't the front range, and winter days aren't all 60 and sunny here. I'm glad to be here, but I'm going to have to change how I train and stay in shape. Writing down goals and having some metrics have been proven to help with this sort of endeavor.

Short-Term Fitness

Hangboard or climb at least 3 nights a week in the winter
Learn to skate ski, do so at least 1x a week

Short-Term Climbing

Send every route at the Powerhouse wall in a day - (almost did this one first try)
A FWA in the Cascades
Gain a broad knowledge of local ice conditions and routes
Leavenworth Routes - Ruthless and Supercrack in the Spring
Index Routes - Another UTW free climb (Good Girls, Wildest Dreams...) and Stern Farmer
Boulder V8

Medium-Term Climbing

At least 2 new Stuart Range routes
Freeclimb a bigwall at Washington Pass
Canadian alpine granite
Tick every route at Trout Creek
Redpoint Moonlight Buttress
Link up Cloud Tower to Rainbow Wall - or send Rainbow Country

Long-Term Climbing

Kyrgyzstan? Pakistan? Waddington?
Establish a new 5.13 near home - the elusive and impossible grade in Leavenworth

Alpine Blissing

2011-11-16T17:08:00.000-08:00

Early this summer, Allison, myself, and friend Scott Bennett organized a week-long "Alpine-Stravaganza" up in Rocky Mountain National Park. After 6 miles of beautiful hiking, we found ourselves in the Glacier Gorge cirque, surrounded by alpine rock climbs, elk, a huge array of food, perma-dry bivy caves, scrabble games, and a tug-of-war contest known as "hunker down". We did a little climbing as well, and Graham Zimmerman made a movie!

Fall Road Trip: Glacier Gorge

Since I'll no longer be frequenting Glacier Gorge, here is my list of the top routes in the cirque.

1. Chiefshead Peak - Cowboys and Indians (IV 5.11c) I never did this climb, but heard great things from those who did. I'm armchair ranking it #1. Longer than the diamond, trickier routefinding, less visited.

2. Arrowhead Peak - Ithaca - III 5.12a (or Eldo .11b) - Every pitch was rad. Just dont fall on the first one, which is 120' of slab with no pro of any sort.

3. Birds of Fire - Chiefshead Peak - III 5.10+ This climb was my first in the cirque. A bit monotonous, but still immaculate.
.
4. Arrowhead Peak - AIrhead III 5.11+ - The crux pitch is the best I climbed in the cirque.

5. Spearhead Peak - Obviously Four Believers III 5.11 - Climbed this one with my wife and only got us lost a couple times!

6. Chiefshead Peak - Flight of the Kiwi III 5.10+ Bonus points for a new line sans pins or bolts.

I'm sure every route in Glacier Gorge is worthy, the above were just my personal favorites. Other routes I did while a Denverite: Stone Monkey (most of, pre storm, w/Lisa, Scott) Arrowhead (with Lauryn, Forest) Magical ramble tour (with Scott, Forest)

Fall Ticks and "Blake-ing"

2011-11-09T16:50:00.000-08:00

The blue cord worked better than the pine needles and leaves I tried first.

Not washing my jacket has paid off once again!

Despite the lack of updates about recent climbing and outdoor adventuring, I have managed to do some fun pitches this fall. Allison and I had a great trip through the Castle Valley, Indian Creek, biking through Arches, and then climbing in Zion.

In the Castle Valley, we climbed Fine Jade (my 8th time up the route!) with Clayton and Forest, before staying with Clayton in Moab. From there it was on to Indian Creek where we had a fun time with Garrett Grove and the Bellinghamsters, my friend Scott Bennet, as well as desert-dweller Alf, who showed us some great new routes that Scott made short work of. Forest and Allison also won send-of-the-day Blue Moon beers (courtesy of the generosity of Coors' best photographer, Rob Kepley) by dispensing solid 5.11 pitches first-go.

In Zion, I was feeling sick but still was happy to climb Moonlight Buttress with Scott. In deference to subsequent parties, all snot rockets were blown well to the sides of the splitters. This was Scott's 2nd go on the route, and my first time. It was interesting to see body geometry defining the cruxes. Scott fell once, and lowered back to get it clean, completing his send of the route. Oddly, I didn't fall at that spot (standing up off the Rocker Block) which is where he had fallen both times. However, I had a much harder time on the last purple camalot splitter (our 2nd-to-last pitch) where offset ringlocks off the belay frustrated me. Forest and Allison and our friend Jenny hiked to the top and met us with lunch and beers. Forest lowered down and TRed the last 100' 5.10 section, which is probably just about the coolest TRing session one could imagine, 1000' up the wall in Zion Canyon atop Moonlight Buttress. It's incredible to believe that this route was ever rated .12d (let alone .13b) since it is MUCH EASIER THAN THAT! I think all the holds in the corner must be growing with time. The ".12-" purple camalot splitter is the only pitch I think I'd have issue with next time. But as for ".12d"...

I managed to climb Beethoven's Fifth, an all-gear line of thin corners and twin seams at Boulder Canyon's old school trad bastion - Bell Buttress (5.12d with some 5.11 or 5.10+R). My pro was an example of "Blake-ing" something. Allison belayed me, and I knew I couldn't pause to fit much in during the wild slapping and pinching sequence (that's what she said...). I found an old bit of tat in my pants pocket (not doing laundry pays off again!) and used this as a shim, inside a petzl rubber quickdraw-keeper. I was then able to just grab the quickdraw off my harness, reach up, and slot in the wire, without having to re-finagle gear in hand from my tenuous stance. A Leavenworth neighbor of ours coined the term "Blake-ing" last summer to mean, among other things, bizarrely yet successfully improvising your way out of a SNAFU. I think this qualifies

I just made a short trip to Trout Creek and Smith Rock with new neighbors and old friend Sol Wertkin. Trout Creek was amazing. Many thanks to Jeff who showed us around and makes an excellent guidebook! Just watch out if you hear late-night talk about the one-armed-weasel. I climbed Alchemy (flailed the onsight, sussed it out rapping, then sent...) and was inspired by many great lines. This place is up there with the Lower Town Wall for the best single crag in the NW! It seems like bouldering/skiing/ice-scratching season now here in Leavenworth, and I can see the snow line creeping down the mountains.

--- Nuts and Bolts for Moonlight Buttress Free - Onsight Rack:

2x blue alien

3x green alien

5x yellow alien

5x purple camalot

2x green camalot

1x red camalot

1x set of largish wires, no RPs

8-10 draws

What is a First Ascent?

2011-10-31T10:31:00.000-07:00

In the good old days before the interwebs ruined climbing and everything had been sent, pre-grizzled hardpersons climbed peaks nobody had ever stood atop. Those were first ascents. A little later, people climbed the same peaks via completely different terrain, maybe via more difficult, enjoyable, aesthetic, or seasonally-dependent condtions. They went to the summit as well. Those, also, were first ascents. But in the days of infinite variations, stopping at the end of "technical difficulties" 1/2way up the mountains, and failed attempts retroactively labeled as new climbs on features that might not really have summits, what is a first ascent?

In the 1990s, the prolific Euro duo of Piola and Anker climbed about 12 pitches, or ~2/3 of the West Pillar/prow of Cerro Pollone, one of the northernmost peaks on the ridge that inclues Cerro Torre, Pierre Georgio, Quatro Dedos, etc. They drilled a single bolt at each belay, presumably by hand. This was despite the presence of very solid cracks at all belays. I don't know how long this would have taken, but I'd imagine that even for ubber-alpinists, fixing this hardware into the dense granite must have taken close to an hour per bolt, though maybe the follower was jugging (off a non-bolt belay?) or doing something productive during the hammering. I wonder if they'd have reached a summit in the short Patagonia weather windows if they'd left the drill at home.

In 1999, the prolific 'Merican duo of Donini and Crouch climbed the entire West Pillar of Cerro Pollone to where the terrain dramatically turns into a narrow ridge with small ups-and-downs on the way to the peak's summit and farther, to the (then) unclimbed East summit. From the Donini and Crouch high point, there is roughly 5 pitches of granite ridge traversing and a bit of 5.10 and/or ice rime and/or overhanging snice mushrooms, in order to reach the mountain's summit. They named their route "A Fine Piece" and described it's FA in the American Alpine Journal.

Our view of the feature we wanted to climb before rappeling our 3 approach pitches. Where else would one begin?

In February, Scott Bennett and I began at the toe of the pillar and traded leads, with the leader freeing every pitch onsight. From atop the two previous high points, we climbed on to the peak's summit, and then East Summit (in betwwen summits using a couple rappels and a point of A1). We thought we had begun with the line of the prior two parties, as it appeared the only thing even remotely climbable on the prow of the pillar. But we didn't see any bolts for a few hundred feet off the glacier, and climbed sustained 5.11 up to 5.11d. We eventually started to see tat and belay bolts. After a bit of correspondence with local guru Rolando Garibotti, it turns out we were left of the first few pitches on A Fine Piece. All the pitches that Donini and Crouch had aided (and described as something like "maybe a bit of 5.11, maybe not even that hard", we apparently avoided by climbing other terrain that was likely more difficult. So we didn't freeclimb all of "A Fine Piece" but we did freeclimb a route on the mountain. Then we used aid to reach the lower, East summit. So did we do a FFA? An FA? Did we do one? Did Donini/Crouch? Does anyone care?

Here's a video that Scott made about our FA, FFA, or "NA", whatever you choose to label it.

Any label of semantic distinction placed on our climb might be useful for clarification, but it would also likely be reductive of the experience we had and wont change what we accomplished. As the sun set beyond the Patagonian icecap, I remember the elation of realizing that we wouldn't be bivying in a phonebooth-shaped chimney covered in water ice, but that we could sneak out right and find an honest-to-goodness ledge. I remember how happy we were that the looming offwidth we knew we couldn't protect would be avoidable with 5.10 finger cracks, and the total relief upon pulling our final rappel ropes after finishing the traverse. All these things wont be changed by any post script of abbreviated labels. As long as one honestly recounts their experiences, I don't know if the definition of FA is tremendously important for any of us apart from the editors of Alpine Journals, but it does provide some interesting discussion fodder for campfires and car rides.

The Secret to Sending?

2011-10-07T11:20:00.000-07:00

Despite what the Beastie Boys say, I think it takes plenty of sleep, and some creative snack skills.

Sierras, Rainbow Wall

2011-10-06T17:10:00.000-07:00

I recently got the chance to do a few days of "work" for CAMP USA, and this time it wasn't doing manual labor in their Denver-area warehouse. This was the cause for my first ever visit to the Sierras. And finally let me climb Red Rock's "Rainbow Wall". I also learned that the high point and low point in the continental USA are merely 100 miles apart. However, only one of them houses an 18-hole golf course. Take that Mt. Whitney!!

I met up with Jesse, (1/2 of the climbing-crazed staff of CAMP USA) and our trip began with a 100k Evolution Loop thru-hike with Sierra Mountain Guides. These guys have blended the skills and philosophy of ultralight alpinism, long distance backpacking, and mountain running, and are working on designing some guided/supported trips in the mountains near Bishop, CA that they can offer as part of their guiding service.

Are we having fun yet?

Jesse VS The Storm

They also use and sell a ton of CAMP gear, and Jesse, myself, and unheralded badass Justin Lichtner got to go along and help them on a trial-run of their trip. After 3 days in the mountains talking gear and sharing stories with the guides in the group, Jesse and I found a couple days to climb white granite near Whitney Portal and on Lone Pine Peak.

On Lone Pine's south face, we climbed the ~15 pitch Beckey route on the Bastille Buttress. I'd rate it 3/5 stars, and although the rock was clean and there were a couple great pitches, it was fairly crumbly and grainy throughout. We had hoped to free the old bolt ladder, but it proved blank, apart from the constant crumbles.

Maybe after some major scraping, a 5.14 slabster would be all over it. We'd hoped to climb the North Ridge of Lone Pine that same day and after being in the sun all day with one quart of water each, we managed to slog over to the start and do the first 2/3 of the scramble before bailing down to the north and completing a loop to our campsite at Whitney Portal.

BAIL!!!

The Sierra are definitely a "desert range" and the sharp granite was joined by sharp, spiky plants. The day before this, we climbed maybe the best 5.10 finger crack I have ever seen/done. It was called Boney Fingers, and is laser-cut for over 200', with occasional knobs and blobs protruding from the wall. Climb this thing if you are ever in the area, or at least drool of the guidebook shots of Croft soloing it.

On our return trip, we stopped in Red Rock to climb the Rainbow Wall!

I got to lead all but 2 pitches of the route, and we both had a blast. This route is spectacular. It is also very "non serious". You can bail from anywhere with plumb-line raps using a 60m rope. There is no loose rock or weird routefinding. The protection is great. The rack is light. And it is in the shade. Jesse and I had hiked up to the base of the wall the evening before, where we randomly ran into my good friends Lisa Stern and Scott Bennett, themselves just returning from the Rainbow Wall via the better-looking direct "Rainbow Country" variation. Scott gave us a few extra draws, and with 14 QDs, a rack to #1 camalot, and a couple extra finger pieces, it was easy to link any two pitches on the route.

Now I am packing up and preparing to move away from Denver, with a planned October stopover in Zion and/or Moab.

Ah, Washington...

2011-09-19T14:27:00.000-07:00

Like most stories meant to frighten kids, climbers, and other scare-able sorts, tales from the northwest have more fairy tale than fact. In truth, the Cascade Range is diverse enough to defy description. It houses big wall granite free climbs and snowy skyline ridge scrambles. Fertile valleys grow bright fruit and bitter hops, producing unique meals and microbrews. Strong espresso and stronger beers bookend quintessentially Cascadian car-to-car pushes. And everywhere, amid every climb, the landscape itself will grab you. The mountains' complexities tell of the region's history and ongoing geologic turmoil. The rugged nature of this range has shaped its culture and climbing, both now tangled stoutly together. The landscape lurks as a character, figuring into the region's stories and experiences. And despite disparate views of politics, economics, religion, and probably even sport vs trad, the residents scattered throughout these sleepy mountain towns all revel in a pride of place and an eagerness to share their connection to the Cascades.

I'm moving back to Washington from Colorado at the end of October.

First a quick trip to the Sierra, and maybe Zion as well!

Summer Slideshow

2011-09-15T01:32:00.000-07:00

Scott and Lauryn, checking the box scores (?) before climbing

Multi-use pack frame insert

Ginnie, Jonesing on the evening light at the North Early Winter Spire

Beer has food value, but food has no beer value

A crack climb in Rocky Mtn. N.P. - Forest Woodward shot

Tom the Kiwi - Index, WA - Zoom 5.10+

Heart of the Country 5.10- Index, WA

Flipping and Flopping my way to Liberty Bell

Following Scott's onsite of Thin Red Line's first 5.12 pitch

REEEEACH!

Silver Star and environs

Getting "all up amongst it" on the double roofs pitch

Big Kangaroo, North Cascades

Loaded for bear on Big Kangaroo

The turning of gears: Part 2

2011-09-13T10:26:00.000-07:00

The Paul Harvey style "rest of the story" - in which our gear and its owners reunite.

My Camera: It was 2 days after our climb until I got around to cleaning out the car and taking inventory. All gear present and accounted for, minus the camera. My only clue as to its whereabouts came from a picture taken in the dark atop Mt. Alice, showing the camera around my neck at that point. Calls to the visitor centers in Estes Park and the trailhead yielded no turned-in cameras. Faced with a responsible ultimatum from my wife ("I don't think we can afford another camera just to get it lost again...") I set out hiking.

I ran 7 miles up the Wild Basin trail to a pair of lakes where we had stumbled onto the trail 4 or 5 days prior. Much of the trip up was interspersed with off-trail diversions, crashes through brush, logs, and snow adjacent to the path, where I imagined I may have stopped for a snack or headlamp resurrection, and left my camera on the ground. Despite concocting innumerable scenarios to explain where I "must have left it", I returned empty handed. If it was still up in this valley, it was above treeline, laying in the creek or sitting amid rubble and snow up higher.

A few days later, now at least a week since our trip, I parked at the Wild Basin trailhead yet again. After 5 miles of iPod-fueling hiking and passing dozens of other hikers, I strode past a couple hiking down, both listening to music and carrying ice axes. Several steps beyond them, I stopped turned and shouted. I'm not sure why.

"Hey... um... you didn't go hiking up there by those lakes, did you?"

"Yep."

"You didn't go up toward Mt. Alice, did you?"

"Yep."

"You didn't by any chance happen to find a camer, did you?"

Pause. Mouths fall open.

The friendly folks had indeed found my camera (sans lens cap) and had also gathered up the remnants of its fully-obliterated camera case. Marmots are hungry up there. Despite a week of laying amid snow and rock at 13,000', it still functions perfectly.

-------------------------------------------

Scott's Jacket: After climbing Thin Red Line on Liberty Bell, Scott and I descended down the trail to the Blue Lake Trailhead. We had parked and hiked up to the wall from a spot on the other side of the peak. At the trailhead we hoped to encounter someone I might know, or at least someone with a car and the inclination to give two smelly climbers a ride down the road. We found both. AAI guide Mike Pond, who I had met a few years ago in Red Rock, was there with some friends, having just climbed The Passenger. They happily gave us a ride down Highway 20, and Mike casually mentioned he'd heard we'd been up in the Enchantments. We told him yes. He asked if we had climbed at Colchuck Balanced Rock, to which we also applied in the affirmative. He and another friend from Leavenworth had been up there a week or two after our climb, had found Scott's Jacket, and had "just figured it was probably ours". It was waiting for us back in town, safe and sound.

-------------------------

Mt. Ruth Camera: As Garrett Grove and I slip-and-slid our way along a muddy gully on Ruth Mountain, we clung to the limbs of krumholtz to keep from sliding back down with each step up. Snowmelt was flowing down the steep and eroding terrain, and I veered off the path, preferring brush to class-3 mud slicks. Beneath a clump of recently snow-matted mountain Azalea, I spotted a mud-covered digital camera. It had seen better days. And probably very few worse ones. Upon bringing it home and changing the batteries, I was actually able to get some of the lights to flicker, but no other signs of life. The memory card, however, worked perfectly. I posted some of the included photos on a lost-and-found section of a climbing website, and within 24 hours had been emailed by the owner, the owner's neighbor, and another friend who had gone climbing with them. They had lost the camera in 2008, and via the magic of the internets, were getting their pictures back. Digital is great, but even when we all used to drop off our film to get developed, it surely never took 3 years!

The turning of gears: Part 1

2011-09-08T08:24:00.000-07:00

Camera accounted for atop the summit - but not for long

Or maybe this should be called the returning of the gears. This summer I've witnessed three instances of astounding and unlikely gear returns, and the stories are almost as interesting as reading about the newest 8aNu bouldering extreme radness. These are actually the human interactions which (in a well-written form) make any "climbing story" worth reading (and hence not really about climbing).

It was dark out, and had been for some time. Not just general inner-city "neon haze" dark, or starlight and moonlight in the mountains dark. It was "deep-woods dark" and I'd been missing any number of obstacles (fallen trees, creeks, snow) that had stood in front of my stumbling figure for the preceeding hours. I'd been awake over 40 hours and hiking or climbing for the prior 22. But I didn't realize it had been a mere 22, and I was convinced that it had been more like 25. And this was yet another reason that the marked trail junction, when I finally limped onto it, seemed masochistically proud of the "5.8 miles" remaining to reach the car. I figured we'd missed our hoped-for 24hr "in a day" window. My headlamp had been flickering in and out of functionality since it had bounced and slid down an icy snow slope somewhere above an alpine lake. I had downclimbed (downcrawled?) kicking frozen steps with wet tennis shoes, putting my knees in the divots, and finally clawing at the divots with bloodied fingers as I kicked more steps. My feet had already been confined to rock shoes for 4,000' of granite that day, so what was the harm in spending a few minutes intentionally slamming tender toes into the ice? That had felt like hours ago, but was probably more like 45 minutes, 2 miles, and a crossing of treeline. From the trail junction I can recall the eery blue LED of my ipod, and the bizarre tranquility expressed by the BBC announcer as I passed the miles listening to a radio recording of history shows on the origin of Greenwich Mean Time, and the astrolabe. When I reached the car at 23:45 into our "day" scott had been there long enough to already have the jetboil and some hot drinks fired up. I emerged from the dark carrying my upturned helmet in my hands like an empty offering plate, a supplicant worshipper from the woods, praising the NPS for at least extending the road THIS far. We soon realized that the car wouldn't start, and I was too tired to care. With no cel service and an NPS ranger station audaciously closed at 3AM, we had no choice but to sit tight. I fell asleep in the front seat wearing my wet shoes and chalkbag. And somewhere in the dark behind me, my $400 camera lay missing.

-------------------

Only P2 of L.I.B. but already too high to be dropping your gear off the route

From a hanging belay 6 pitches up Colchuck Balanced Rock's 'Let it Burn' (1000', 5.12a, Hasson-Holsten 2010) Scott violated a generally-accepted principle of locating oneself in such a position - keep everything clipped in. It could have been his shoe, which would have been worse to lose. And it could have been his helmet, which would have exploded to bits. But dropping his stuffed-into-a-pouch rain jacket was pretty bad as well. Especially as I nervously slabbed my way towards the factor2-avoidance potential of some protection, only to hear him suddenly cursing and shouting from back down at the belay. After completing the route and descent, his search turned up nothing, and we hiked out minus one new jacket.

-------------

(This story is invented, but is probably not as interesting as the reality)

Here's my "I can't believe someone is going to find
this camera 3 years after it gets lost" face.

Some time in the fall of 2008 (true) a group of friends--climbers, firefighters and outdoorsy types all--headed up to Mt. Ruth for a late season ascent of the Ruth Glacier. The mellow outing provided staggering vistas of Nooksack Cirque, the Northern Pickets, Slesse, and fresh snow on the high peaks. The week after their climb it snowed several feet, burying the steps they'd kicked as well as the camera they'd dropped along the way...

Choss Dogging and FA Failure

2011-09-06T14:23:00.000-07:00

Psyched for the choss, or whatever we'd find.

"Nice Dogging Bro!"

"I'm freeclimbing!" replied Sol, the stress evident in his reply.

Of course I hadn't meant to imply he was hanging on the rope. Sol was definitely going for it, onsight and free. Halfway through Sol's 45 minute lead up a pitch on our new route in the North Cascades, we had gone through elaborate contortions to fetch and tag him up our #6 camalot, and he was finally and safely offwidthing into what we hoped would be a belay cave. It was sweet vindication of our FA dreams after our earlier project was revealed as a festering, yet vertical, heap of orange gravel. On this lead I hadn't meant to imply that Sol was "dogging" or hanging on the rope, but rather that he was being an enthusiastic "Choss Dog", an alpinist happy to embrace the occasional creaky, crunchy, and crumbling stone. Today we were sending, and on varnished golden granite, but the day before we had bailed off an unarguably chossy alpine project.

After several years of looking at the vertical wall of Tower Mountain's NE Face, and one climb of the peak's SE Ridge, I was joined by Sol Wertkin and Scott Bennett for a serious attempt on the wall. "Tower Mountain" is English for "Cerro Torre" and we hadn't brought our compressor. I think that spelled trouble from the start. Despite an appearance and scale eerily similar Long's Peak's "Diamond", Tower turned out to be an amazing, isolated, BASE-jumpable wall of crackless garbage and horizontal bands.

Upon realizing how close we were to the vertical kitty litter of Mt. Hardy, Sol started laughing and groaning. He knew we'd have to do some serious choss dogging to get up this thing.

Note Sol's groan of non-thusiasm at the end of the video. That basically sums up the face.

After walking under the face on the North Cascades' version of Broadway Ledge, we picked one general line where the rock was somewhat less "cereal-esque". But after 40 minutes and 40' of gain, Scott hit the dead end. Sol and I hadn't even been willing to step off the ledge. And recon from left and right showed that even this best rock was still largely blank, and largely overhanging.

The August ski run on the hike back to our bivy was among the trip's highlights.

We gave up and hiked the 9ish miles back to Hwy 20. This made something like 38 miles and .5 pitches of climbing in the prior 3 days for each Scott and I, but that is just part of the mystery of checking out these hidden corners of the Cascades. Back at Washington Pass, we busted out the food, maps, and guidebooks, and started planning the next day's adventure, confident that splitter stone awaited those who endured a little choss to find it.

Published - Frey

2011-09-03T12:43:00.000-07:00

Check out the September 2011 issue of Climbing for an article I wrote about Argentina's granite spires. My friend Forest Woodward took the killer photos down in Frey.

Also in the September issue are pictures of my friend Lisa Stern, and my buddy Scott's trademark calico car, taken by Garrett Grove when he was out for a visit last fall. Those appear in an article about the South Platte, a granite and wilderness wonderland that has been one of my favorite surprises about living in Denver. The South Platte article was penned by guidebook author and front-range rock ninja Jason Haas.

(New) International Trade Routes

2011-08-25T17:48:00.000-07:00

We were going! Mt Bute was on the radar, and for Graham, Scott, and myself, each ebullient with some summits on big trips this year, an expedition to the B.C. Coast Range had us buzzing for months. In early summer, psyche levels were at a 10. Then Graham hurt his shoulder and was out of the picture... Strike one.

Next we heard that National Geographic was filming a BASE-jumping movie at the very same peak this year, palpably knocking our "wilderness" enthusiasm down to an 8. After a record-setting year of cold and snow (think dripping walls) and the revelation that some Hollywood hot shots were filming GI Joe at Mt Bute as well, our remaining 6-out-of-10 on an enthusiasm scale was simply inadequate to justify the trip expense.
An 8? Yes.
7? Maybe.
6? No way...
New plans were set.

We loaded packs, climbing gear, food (sure it wouldn't be enough...), took pictures of topos, bought ourselves a map, and went hiking. And then we hiked a little more. Eventually we found ourselves in Cathedral Provincial Park, British Columbia, roughly 23 miles from a one-lane dirt road where we'd left the car. It was time to go climbing. I've heard it said that "You don't fly halfway around the world to repeat routes", and I felt like an approach of this scale merited the same outlook. (flying globally or hiking in this far seeming fairly equivalent by the last mile or two...)

Nearing the Deacon, just one more valley to cross

During our trip from August 10-17th, we climbed a new route on the 1000' north face of a Canadian peak called 'The Deacon' as well 2 new lines on the south face of Cathedral Peak and the north buttress of Amphitheater Mountain, these last two falling just within the US. Although the area's Eastern (think rainshadow) location makes for more stable weather than peaks closer to the coast, we woke up to snow flurries on day 3, the only break in a week of excellent weather. The much-appreciated rest day was made better by the encounter with 3 friendly guys from Bellingham, along with their playing cards, tarp shelter, and Yukon Jack whiskey.

Scott keeping warm post-send

The Deacon (AKA the Sentinel, as in Yosemite's Sentinel Rock)
& the FA of "The Heretic"

The Deacon was the best climb of the three new routes, with the peak and other looming walls lying in an obscure cirque which hid the face until we were literally just beneath it. We scoped lines and ID'ed the two existing routes the afternoon of our arrival, realizing that both existing lines avoided the peak's steep main face. Early the following morning (we knew the NE facing wall would only get a few hours sun) we headed up and started in the middle of the face, vaguely aiming for a splitter we could see to be maybe 700' up.

Pulling into the steep splitter hand crack we were aiming for

Thin face climbing and miraculous crimpers on pitch 2

Hand cracks up high...

With multiple 5.10 pitches and a thin 5.11 layback seam protected by RPs, the splitter cracks high on the wall felt like icing on a very rewarding cake. (is there any other kind?)

5.10-, 5.10+, 5.11, 5.9 Glory!, 5.10, 5.10, Low-5th soloing...

We called our line "The Heretic" ( 1000' 5.11 )

Fun with night photos and the crew of folks from Bellingham

Cathedral Peak - FA of "Last Rights"

Orange is our route, (Last Rights) yellow is the Doorish SE Buttress

Scott following down low (photo emailed by friendly nearby climbers)

On Cathedral Peak, we began between the existing South Face (Beckey Route) and Sancta Civitas (Doorish route). The rock was featured and individual pitches compelling, but the peak overall is so ledgy, jointed, and broken up, that it became a choose-your-own adventure outing, where we were never forced onto a particular line or singular weakness. The crux pitch ascended the headwall avoided by the Beckey route, with the prior pitch crossing over the Beckey route's ramp moving left-to-right. The toughest pitch (5.11+ or 5.12-, reach dependent) began with easy climbing to a roof, tips crack, and powerful sequence to the thank-God face hold. We cleaned and redpointed this pitch (Scott sent, I failed a couple times on lead and followed cleanly), everything else was climbed onsight and gardened on lead.

The crux went up to the crack left of the roof
underclinged right, then pulled into the tips cracks and straight up.

Me following up high after failing 3x to redpoint the crux

We named our climb "Last Rights" in keeping with the area's catholic theme and considering our wandering, rightward-trending finale in search for the best-looking climbing.

"Last Rights" 1000' 5.11+

Amphitheater Mountain
FA of "The (Middle) Finger of Fatwa"

On a threatening weather day early on the trip, we ascended a line on the North Face of Amphitheatre Mountain that had some of the best alpine granite I've ever been on, but was the shortest of the three routes. The system of cracks and corners resembles a hand, and was long-ago dubbed the Middle Finger Buttress. We began with some easy flake laybacking and face holds to the immediate right of the "Left Side" route before Scott zeroed in on an overhanging flake and ringlocks splitter - solid 5.11 climbing.

I continued up a thin 5.10 corner and then traversed straight left, moving across the top of two corners and an overhanging bird-beak arete to a belay below the double roofs.

Double 5.11 roofs...

From this perch Scott 'monkey-barred' his way out the successive overhangs and chimneyed up to a ledge. A couple long 5.8 pitches/simuling on lower angle ridge-crest brought us to the top and a dive for cover under the overhanging summit walls just as it began to hail.

The (Middle) Finger of Fatwa 5.11 ~ 500'

Several routes and features on Amphitheater have Muslim-themed names, hence our Saudi-and-Sawtooth inspired double pun "Finger of Fatwa"... long hikes out yield cheesy wordplay I guess.

The splitter on the wall facing the camera was
part of our new route on Amphitheater. Here was
some rest-day cragging with Dana from American
Alpine Institute in Bellingham.

I'm sure that all three are destined for obscurity. But who knows. Maybe peaks and routes on this cross-border circuit will become the new international 'trade' routes.

The trip's "nuts and bolts" :

1 solitary can of beer, consumed too soon
1 petzl E-Lite
1 60L Cilogear Pack
1 70m 9.4mm rope
10x single runners, 2x draws 2x doubles
1 set wires
2 sets cams to red camalot, 1 x #2, #3, #4
Mountain Hardware 2-person tent
Jetboil and 2 small cannisters
Puffy Jacket
OR Synapse shell
Stocking Cap
3 socks (total)
~5 days worth of food + some fish
2 nature valley bars, gifted from Andrew from B'ham
1 strange John Irving novel
One 4L Dromedary, 1 gatorade bottle
Unknown but insufficient quantities of snack units...

go climb 'Let it Burn'!

2011-08-10T14:32:00.000-07:00

I am in Washington and British Columbia for a summer trip, and recently spent some time in the Enchantments and North Cascades.

At Colchuck Balanced Rock cirque with my friends Garrett and Scott, we climbed the 'West Face', the final 60m of 'The Tempest' and made the likely 2nd ascent of "Let it Burn". Scott and Garrett suggest 5.11a for the (once 5.12a) West Face, but agreed that it's a gem regardless of the letters we define it as.

Let it Burn was established last fall by local granite gurus Jens Holsten and Max Hasson. Their route is one of the very best rock climbs in the Cascades and should get climbed a lot.

Scott and I both onsighted the first 3 pitches (Scott lead the 5.12a) but then I fell above this. I lowered back to the belay after cleaning some funk and sussing out the moves, and since Scott was still sans-slips, he ropegunned the pitch and I followed cleanly. This drama basically repeated itself on the final 5.11c pitch as well. Let it Burn gets about twice as much sun as the rest of CBR, and after hiking up and climbing a bunch the day before and then spending most of the day on Let it Burn, my elbows were cramping with dehydration, making the final 5.11c "wild reachy boulder problem" feel rather cruxy. After a rest and our last sip of water, I at least followed it cleanly, so we (I) didn't onsight, but we did make a team free ascent of the route.

Bring a single #1 and #2 camalot, a single purple TCU/Blue Alien, and doubles from green alien to #1 Camalot, plus many wires.

Bailure or Failure?

2011-07-29T09:27:00.000-07:00

Check out the Spring/Summer 2011 Alpinist Magazine (Issue 35) for an article I wrote and some pictures I took related to the psychology of "success" or retreat, and embracing unknown in the mountains. The piece was prompted by a trip last year with my friend Nate Farr to NW British Columbia.

Thanks to Nate for being a great partner when decisions got tough and for Katie Ives at Alpinist for the help in editing!

4 Peaks - 23 hours - Quadruple Lindy

2011-07-24T10:27:00.000-07:00

On Friday the 22nd, my friend Scott Bennett and I climbed the 3 biggest faces in Rocky Mountain National Park, plus 'The Barb' (III 5.10, 900') on the NE Face of Spearhead peak, in 23:45 car-2-car.

Leaving the car at 3AM, I already hadn't slept in 20 hours...

Longs Peak - Diamond: We started up a running-with-water Crack of Delight (5.7) and followed it to Broadway ledge in one simul pitch. From there we did Pervertical Sanctuary (5.10+) in 3 pitches then traversed down and right to the "Forrest Finish" (very slimy, more running water) where maybe 80 or 90 more meters of climbing led to the top of the Diamond. Although this is supposed to be 5.9 or .10b or something, I must have gotten off route a bit on a crack-switch, and definitely felt like I was engaged in some 5.11 slimy crimping. This was the day's freeclimbing crux for me.
Spearhead Peak - The Barb: Although not done as part of the original "Triple Lindy" linkup as conceived by Copp and Cordes, we couldn't walk right past such a beautiful peak and granite face without going up! We soloed the 70m to Middle Earth ledge, then almost managed the route (5.10b/c ~6 pitches, ~900' of climbing via N. Ridge topout) in one simul-block, but I ran out of slings and gear just shy of the pin-protected crux. Scott swung through and led the final crack out on the face, and we hurried on up to the summit. At this point dehydration and allergies had my throat so swollen I had trouble talking, let alone shouting.
Chiefshead Peak - NW Face - Flight of the Kiwi: The NW face of Chiefshead Peak had been part of the original linkup, with Jonny and Kelly choosing to climb Path of Elders into Birds of Fire's upper pitches. Scott and I chose a route I had helped establish last year (III 5.10d) and knew quite well. We managed to retrieve one of my cams, justifying my decision to skip work and go climb mountains. Scott had a good time for his first go up the route, and from the arcing ledge atop the face, we again scrambled on up to the true summit.
Mt Alice - East Face: Huh? What the heck is Mount Alice? Where is it? I thought I had seen it last year from Chiefshead, and my friend Jason had just nabbed a likely first descent via one of the peak's plum ski-lines, so Scott and I generally knew where to go to find the mountain. Plus we'd taken a digital photo of the topo map in Scott's car. That's probably 1/10 of 1 of the 10 essentials! However, it's still a LONG ways from anywhere, with the fastest and quickest approach or descent being roughly 9 miles. We followed the continental divide through growing shadows, and eventually found our way (through much snow and boot-skiable terrain) below the 1000' East Face. We did the route (5.8 Central Ramp, wandery, much vegetation) in one mega simulclimb block, a 70m pitch, and a 30m pitch, the last via headlamp. After scrambling to the summit, we limped our way 9 miles down the valley to the car. I fell in a creek, and Scott's car wouldn't change gears from Park, but we'd managed to climb Rocky Mountain National Park's 3 biggest faces, and Spearhead's NE face, in 23hr45mins. I fell asleep in the passenger seat, my head resting on a wet rope and my chalk bag still around me waist. I'd been 43 hours without sleep, but Scott had climbed the Diamond 3 times in the prior 4 days, so I think he might have fallen asleep still wearing his wet shoes as well. All told we did probably 20 miles of hiking, over 10,000 of elevation gain, stood atop 4 different peaks.

The original "Lindy" was done 8 years ago by Jonny Copp and Kelly Cordes. These two local hardmen thought that the Longs, Chiefshead, and Alice contained the 3 tallest technical faces in RMNP. Their day and the Pennings/Donahue connection of Longs/Spearhead/Petit Grepon/Hallet/Notchtop stand as the two most impressive RMNP days I know of. Thanks to Kelly for the info and psyche. Since Spearhead is definitely not the 4th tallest, maybe the true Quadruple Lindy awaits...

F.A.* on the Spearhead, and shooting with Jordan.

2011-07-20T09:31:00.000-07:00

Graham and Lauryn on The Barb

I just got back from a week up in one of Colorado's choicest locales, Glacier Gorge. I was fortunate enough to be joined by a passel of good friends, and we enjoyed local beer, steak, scrambled eggs, pancakes with maple syrup, grilled sausage, alpine scrabble games, great music, and even managed to climb a bit:

Graham, Scott and I climbed a stellar .11d on Arrowhead

Among the crew up there were my friends Forest and Garrett, two guys who make world-class photography look easy. I didn't take many photos of my own on the trip, because with "Michael Jordan(s)" in our midst, my shots didn't amount to much.

The second day up there, I climbed Spearhead peak with Forest and Scott.
Our apporximate route line:

I think we did parts of the following climbs:

Stone Monkey
Four Stoners
Obviously Four Believers
All Too Obvious
Syke's Sickle
Stratospear
The Ten Essentials
The North Ridge

That's an 8-route linkup! somehow accomplished in 6 or 7 pitches...

Also while up there I sent the thin hands roof splitter "Revenge" (5.12-) on my second go, and did Syke's Sickle (complete), Airhead, and Arrowplane on the Arrowhead Wall.

Forest and Scott on (magical mystery) tour

* Freeclimbing Absurdity

Pining for the 'Pine

2011-07-06T09:50:00.000-07:00

Fearing loud noises and confused by flashing lights, I fled the crowded melee of Front Range fireworks, and headed up into Rocky Mountain National Park on the 4th of July with my wife Allison to climb Spearhead Peak.

We did most of the route "Obviously 4 Believers" with some variations here and there due to wetness (only on p1) and routefinding errors (only on every pitch I lead). The route is stellar and things in Glacier Gorge are ready-to-go! Nothing more needed on the approach than a good pair of tennis shoes, though some trekking poles were nice. The trail is mostly snow starting from just past Mills Lake.

The pitches as we did them:

P1: 65m 5.9 up-right wet to Middle Earth Ledge

P2: 70m (20' of snow climbing) to 5.10 fingers, to flake, move way right, pass fixed belay, up flakes and cracks, past short 5.10 hand section (reach past pretty flowers) up short splitter 5.10 fingers, belay in shallow LFC. (Guess this is actually part of "Three Stoners" to avoid the wet Eye of Mordor.

P3: Follow right-side of flakes system to end of long ledge, move left to bolted anchors - 25m? 5.9?

P4: Try unprotected 5.10/5.11 face straight up, get freaked, downclimb, go WAY right, to far end of ledge, step right, join quasi-unprotected flare/RFC on All too Obvious, up past two pins, move left and belay in hand cracks 40m?

P5: Up through small roof on 5.10 finger locks, after finger splitter, go left on 5.8 face knobs to horn and 2-junky bolt belay. Short Pitch

P6: Step off flake, clip old bolt, reach past crux to wet slopers and more dissapointing seeping holds. Pull on bolt to move past. This is .11a? Undercling left and then up the corner. Heinous rope drag on rope stuck under flake. This ledge is shared with Stone Monkey on left. 15m? 5.10A0

P7: Out left to triangle chimney, becomes 5.9 hands, then 5.10 off-fingers. Belay where terrain rolls back. Should have gone right on ledge and climbed rightmost system. But still a good, kinda mossy pitch. 35m 5.10

P8: Easy rambling up and right.

1x 70m rope, 1x blue alien and blue and yellow camalot, 2x green alien to red camalot

Park Season!

2011-07-01T12:56:00.000-07:00

Edited Conditions:
As of 4th of July I've been up the Loch Vale valley twice and into Glacier Gorge once. No snowshoes, crampons, axes, or boots are required for any of the rock routes, and the approaches are melting out fast. All bridges (including to Mills Lake) are fine.

Even though the snowpack is roughly a month-behind its typical melt-out schedule here in the Colorado hills, I made two trips up into Rocky Mountain National Park last week. for some rock climbing.

My wife Allison and I climbed the Petit Grepon (one of North America's 50 Classics!) in 10 hours car-to-car. Pretty good considering it was Allison's first time out in a long while, and more than half of the approach was on snow.

Later in the week, Scott Bennett and I repeated (most) of a route I'd done once before, called Sublime Buttress. This route is definitely THE LINE to do on the Cathedral wall. At roughly 1,000' of steep climbing, it's longer than the vaunted diamond (Broadway to Table Ledges, as commonly done) and only an hour or so from the car. With a pitch and a half to go, a rain and hail storm compelled us to stop. However, in rigging out rappel and starting the descent, the weather cleared and we noticed a rad-looking hand crack and flake around the corner to the right. We un-retreated, and headed around to the right and up the flake. However, after Scott lead the first variation pitch, thunder storms and down clouds moved in again. I leapfrogged his hanging belay and kept rallying, psyched to find gear and good holds on the steep wall. I pulled up and over the top of the wall and scrambled to a belay alcove beneath an overhang. Though not shown as part of any route in the guidebook, this wall is covered in holds, so this feature may have been climbed before, but it was fun to have a bit "new routing experience" when we'd consigned ourselves to bail a few minutes prior. By the time Scott had followed the pitch, snow, hail, rain, and lightning were all around us. We shared our last snack and rocked out to some Ozomatli for 30 minutes while the storm ebbed and flowed. After things cleared we rappeled the Sublime Buttress route proper, a steep and clean descent easily done with 2 60m ropes.

Nuts and Bolts:

2x 60m ropes for rappel, otherwise 1x60m and walkoff

Rack: one blue alien, a few small wires, double cams from Green Alien to Yellow Camalot

Pitch 2 overhangs the whole way, but with good pro and hand jams

"Is there a jug somewhere around here?" "Yeah, I'm standing on it"

Delicate climbing on pitch3

The aesthetic flake that compelled our un-retreat

On Pitch 3, bring a soloist mentality. You are in ledge-fall potential for about 50' of 5.8 edging to start the pitch. On Pitch 5, go hard left just off the belay, and at the next major ledge system, had traverse hard left again, then straight an incipient crack and flake.

Viking Pride

2011-05-26T12:27:00.000-07:00

Kinda like this guy:

Actually, the Viking pride of which I speak is reserved for graduates of Western Washington University! Bellingham is definitely THE place to be in Western Washington, and I think that as far as alpine climbing goes, there's no better university in the USA to attend for great access for the big peaks. World-class alpinists like Carlos Buhler and Alan Kearney (WWU grads...) would probably agree.

We Vikings may not have the resume-cache of Yale Bulldogs or Stanford Cardinals (aparently some sort of tree...) but we do ok for ourselves nonetheless.

Check out the contest submissions (above) of my good friend and pro photographer Garrett Grove (WWU Grad) and vote for his photos:

Nate Farr (WWU Grad) just got back from a climb on Mt. Huntington in Alaska, where they rallied up the Colton-Leech route to the summit ridge. Sounds like they were among the first guys to have success on a peak in the Alaska Range this season.

More of Nate's Adventures

And although the northwest is covered in much more snow than normal (the cross-cascades highway just opened, 2nd latest date in history) alpine crusher Sol Wertkin (WWU Grad) has been getting after it on the lower-elevation walls, including a soaking wet thrutch up Snow Creek Wall's "Pressure Chamber".

And while I'm on the subject, check out the beautiful shots from some trips done by Darin and Owen (WWU Grads) who have done some rad trips as a climbing team.

The Pasayten Wilderness / Desert Towers / El Cap

And although I've posted it before, Christian and Teresa (WWU grads and stars of the video) who run the VertiCulture site from Outdoor Research, are constantly updating it with all kinds of cool stories and movies. Next time you're bored and need a dose of desk-bound adventure, check it out!

Tips for The Black

2011-05-25T10:49:00.000-07:00

Having done a smattering of the weekend warrior routes on either side of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison, here are a few things that I've noticed...

Late in the day, shady, still sweating in a t-shirt

It's always hotter down there. Even the north-facing routes in the vicinity of the Astro-Slog rappels get sun until around 1pm in late spring. Your car is the coolest spot you'll be in all day.
Wear Long Pants - Even though it's warm, long pants are your friend vs grainy stone and poison ivy. When Nate and I went down the 'Prisoner of your hairdo' gully in late spring, we were wading through huge thickets of poison ivy. But with long pants, we didn't notice a thing.
Free Camping - Can be found just outside the park entrance on the north and south rims, where the land is owned by the BLM.
Free Entrance - to the south side's NPS area, requires getting past the gate before 9am on weekdays, and probably earlier on weekends.
Yes, both sides are the same height - When looking across the canyon, it's easy to convince yourself that the other rim, towering above, must be taller than the wall you're on. It's not.

Ending another wandery pitch

Bring LIGHT approach shoes - The gully approaches don't require much scrambling or downclimbing, so an ultralight pair of old running shoes will be a lot lighter to climb back up with, and wont slow you down on the approach.
Know your line - Routes can be wandering and have dead-ends that look like the way. Take a picture of the wall and use your digital camera screen to figure out where you are and where you are going.
The worst rock - is often the stuff immediately in contact with the pegmatite layers. It's darker and looks better, but it got "over-cooked".
Bring many slings - Every route I've been on has splitter pitches and meandering pitches, and it is often hard to tell from one belay where your next will be. Lots of slings are your friend, quickdraws are not.

My Black Canyon Climbs - In order of Quality

Scenic Cruise - One of the nation's best 5.10 routes. 4:55 (second time up it) with Scott - I lead the 2nd half in evening shade.

Journey Home - 25' of 5.9 R (but not X) face climbing leads to 4 or 5 pitches up a steep corner, consistent at 5.10- and easy route finding.

Astro Dog - The canyon's classic 5.11? I'll have to climb Stoned Oven to see which is better. Mostly 5.10 with 3 harder pitches. Leave water and food for yourself at the rap anchors you use to descend, then you can encounter these prizes on the return up the wall.

Comic Relief - Right Side - If you take all the right-hand (harder) variations, you can climb 5 of the route's 6 pitches completely different than the left-side options.

Trilogy - Excellent crack and face climbing, bakes in the first half of the day. Neither climber should fall on the 5.10- traverse on p1.

Atlantis - A LONG route, in the sun all day. Lots of face climbing on good rock.

The Flakes - 1800' of mostly 5.10 crack climbing. Oh yeah, and that chimney is 120' of no gear. Good rock, but legitimately x rated.

Checkerboard - The first couple pitches are forgettable, but the last couple are fun and exciting. Eldo-style in the Black.

The Dylan Wall - Some chossy roofs but very good rock at the crux pitch.

Escape Artist - A couple good pitches, nice and shady most of the day.

Wednesday 5/18 - Pics from Patagonia

2011-05-13T14:44:00.000-07:00

Movies, photos and free prizes. New routes and 2nd ascents / first free ascents in Chile and Argentina.

We're going to talk about our trip to South America, from the lovely city of Buenos Aires, into the alpine granite of Frey, good food in the lake-side hut, and then a 40-hour bus odyssey to the big stone of the Fitz Roy range.

Here's a sample movie Scott and I crafted about the first of our three climbs...

Towers Round II

2011-04-25T21:14:00.000-07:00

Success on the Castle Valley linkup!

12 Hours
5 Towers
2 Stoked Climbers
1 Giant Sandwich!

Rack - 70m 9.2mm rope / 1x#4, 3x#3, 1x#2, 2x#.75-1, 1xFinger Cams
Routes (in order of appearance) - Fine Jade / North Face / Honeymoon Chimney / Jah Man / Value of Audacity

How did that rappel work???

In our case, the "Damaged Rope" was the short side of the rope, plus various gear tied on. We rappeled on just the "ok rope".

Looking the Part

2011-04-07T23:06:00.000-07:00

My jacket is dry now, and mostly clean. Within it I'm warm.
But the cuts from crystalline granite don't wash out. Barefoot on brick I grope for a light switch. My hands create currents in the stagnant basement air. Knuckles hit brick and mortar, opening my almost-healed gobies. That'll look real professional in the interview.

I should be able to locate this switch in the dark, especially since I just left the basement five minutes ago. The bulb snaps backto life, confining shadows to the farthest corners and behind the biggest boxes. I can detail the properties of three space-age fabrics on my aging softshell, but still require a rematch with my as-yet-unpresentable shirt. Even at 5'9" I have to duck beneath rafters, moving to the table and my still-hot iron.

I plug it in anyway. Fully committed.

And lay my shirt, 'The Shirt', across the board's gaudy floral print. A wedding gift from my parents, I was married in it and waited tables in it, staining the front with $90 wines nightly specials. But it's my fraying softshell that magically fits just right. I'll take the de-laming hood and sticky zipper over a poorly-starched collar and cufflinks. With my jacket on I'm atop a new route in Patagonia, or chicken-wining my way through a wet slot on a FFA I never thought would 'go'. But "Job Interview for Dummies" didn't mention interviewers swooning over Schoeller. The iron steams and I'm back in the basement.

"Are these wrinkles growing?" This shouldn't be the "5.10" of modern Americana. For everyone else, it's more like the tie-in knot. I thought I'd done a good-enough job the first time. And if job interviews were all held in similarly dim, mirrorless basements, I would have. A new tie, my concession to modernity, did little to hide to hide the wrinkles still in place after my first attempt. More Americans know the half-windsor than the figure-8, bowline, and clove hitch combined. But if I'm going to start each day by tying a noose around my neck, I resent not at least using something I could rap off.

Scraped knuckles brighten as I press harder. Prepping a costume I'm loath to don, I doubt I'm ironing so much as bludgeoning the fabric into submission. Maybe if I scrape off the oatmeal crust and rinse out the coffee stain, I can just sport outerwear at an interview.

I turn off the iron and grab my shirt. This time I remember to face the doorway before killing the light. Pacing memorized steps out past darkened coat hooks, I remove my jacket. And today I'll simply focus on feeling warm, without it.

Red Rock Update

2011-04-02T14:33:00.000-07:00

I just got back from a few days doing some teaching of squeeze chimney and offwidth climbing at the Red Rock Rendezvous. That place is amazing!

Red Rock was reached via a 3-part ride from Denver.

Two local guys from CU gave me a ride to Zion, where I cragged for the day (sent Dire Wolf, 5.12- fell off the 5.11- ) and met YOSAR guru Sam Piper.
Turns out Sam and I knew about a million of the same people, and Sam gave me a ride out to I-15.
Jesse Mease from SLC picked me up at a grocery store, and we finished the drive to Red Rocks, celebrating our arrival with an ascent of "Heart of Darkness" and the first time up Mescalito Tower. Descent from the Mescalito is really easy if you just keep heading back and left (facing away from the loop road) and follow cairns and ledges on south side of the summit ridge. One 25m rappel from a tree at the end is required.

After the climbing clinics, I was around the area for a day and a half contributing cockamamie suggestions for new climbing clothes/gear to the company Outdoor Research. From the owner (an avid skier/climber) to all the other folks I have met in the Seattle office, (who remodel their workspace by dry-tooling the cubicle walls...) Outdoor Research is fully staffed with friendly, motivated, and inspired skiers and climbers. They have given me some clothes to test and abuse, in return for my ramblings posted to their Verticulture site. It may not be a 'Bank Bonus', but still pretty good deal on my end, and I'm forever grateful for the help. Rather than just be one in the crowd of good gear-making companies, it sounds like OR is making a big push towards unique and innovative stuff that you can't get anywhere else. Anyone who stumbles across this post and has a gripe about gear or an idea for "the holy grail" of climbing items, definitely share it as a comment, email, or message to OR. It's great that they are small enough (and not run by a board of directors or larger corporation) to have the freedom and desire for constant improvements of their gear.

P1 The Gobbler

DoWT: Not onsight-down-solo terrain for me...

After the design meetings, my friend Sol Wertkin came down, to celebrate Spring Break in Vegas. Or at least nearby to Vegas. Despite some snowy and cold weather (lots of falling ice derailed our Ancient Futures attempt...) we managed to have a blast. My favorite three days were:

Sol on Cloud Tower Crux

Triassic Sands (4 pitches) in 40MPH winds + Gobbler to Dream of Wild Turkeys.
Cloud Tower with Sol and our friend Kurt Hicks. We got the "non-sight". Sol fell on his crux onsight attempt. I sussed out the sequence* and punched it to just above where tips turn into finger locks, but had sandbagged myself into thinking it was all over. Instead, the crack narrowed and more green-alien laybacks awaited. I got pumped out and whipped my way back down.. Kurt got the TR flash of this pitch, and had his token fall on the very last move of the route, a super-impressive effort on his onsight of the route's final 5.11 pitch.
Texas Hold 'Em into Lone Star - Perfect temps in the shade and a good time with Sol made this route a blast. Sol crushed the route's 5.11c crux pitch on his third burn, holding on to the swinging barn door move with a guttural monkey shout that was echoed back our way by Tad McCrea, an ubber-psyched fellow Washingtonian on Epinephrine. Sol then hauled the pack on this pitch so I could follow it free. My 5.11c pitch (the easier of the two) was hemmed and hawed over, and eventually sent onsight, so I earned the no-fall day of all 21 pitches. The most memorable pitch pulled through a huge roof band that would require a second rope fixed to the lower anchor in order to be rappel-able without getting stuck in space. Think Incredible Hand Crack, then make it drastically overhanging and leading to a hidden escape route. Our friend Jens has a good writeup of this climb here, and I'd suggest a double rack to a #3, with one #4. No wires, one purple TCU/Blue Alien, and a 60m rope is fine, since the descent is a walkoff from atop Black Velvet Peak.

Rapping in Red Rock: often the crux

Ice and Snow falling down form Black Velvet Peak - Too wet to climb on Sandstone

Red Rock has finally changed the management policy to allow for the replacement of old and unsafe bolts with new bolts in the same spot, and that's a big step in the right direction. There are real signs toward a new policy for adding bolts/route, and the BLM has hired a climbing range who is reaching out to the community. Pretty cool stuff!

Me sussing out Cloud Tower's crux

*Note to self for Cloud Tower (and don't read it if you don't want the info): Get to the rest with left hand in the arete bucket, left foot in the corner, right foot on face. Put left foot on good arete chip. Right hand up on tips crack layback. Left hand pinching above the bucket. Now cross through with your right foot into a layback, using a higher and worse foot hold than the one your left is on. Bring left foot up to bucket hold. Stem. Smile. Keep in mind that it's green aliens for a long ways, it doesn't really open to yellows and get an easier until you are basically done with the corner.

Published

2011-03-07T10:09:00.000-08:00

Too bad authoring a 'Classic Climb' doesn't make me a 'classic author'. (Heck, I'd settle for "classy.") While I was in South America, the March issue of climbing ran a feature I wrote, with photos by my friend Max Hasson. I added it (along with a bunch of other stuff) to my "Published" portfolio.

But for a good look at some material that is certainly both classy and publishable, check out my friend Forest's shots from our first 2 weeks together in South America.

Papas Instantas!

2011-03-04T08:32:00.000-08:00

For those times when regular mashed potatoes aren't going to cut it...

Instant Potato Powder
Instant Polenta or Gnocchi Flour
Milk Powder
Salt
Garlic powder or pieces
Parmesan. Lots of it.
Red Pepper Flakes
Bacon Bits or Salami pieces
Sundried Tomatoes
Olive Oil, to taste

Use your pre-made freeze dried meal the first night, then keep the foil pouch and it becomes your all-purpose dish for the remaining meals. Papas Instantas doesn't even require truly boiling water, and is a super-quick and simple dinner after a long day. Having the zip-lock-top lets you make hot food, close it up, and stash it inside your jacket for a "pouch o' heat" while you pack, unpack, and let your food cook.

...The Rest of the Story

2011-02-28T18:29:00.000-08:00

Twelve years ago, when Scott and I were in middle school and likely more interested in Magic Cards than mountains, Jim Donini and Greg Crouch climbed the West Pillar of Cerro Pollone, in Chilean Patagonia. The account of their climb (and the fact that it hadn't been completed to the summit) inspired me several years ago:

"...featured tons of high-angle free climbing on superb rock. The summit view from the top of the pillar is astonishing ... probably the best I've had in Patagonia. ... I think the whole route would go free with just a few short sections of 5.11. The right team should be able to peel the whole thing off in a single day."

Well.

Cosas Patagonicas Libre!

2011-02-15T19:11:00.000-08:00

Scott and I woke after our climb on Guillaumet to the appearance of several teams of climbers who had just arrived in the mountains. Apparently the weather would stay good for several more days, which had compelled some folks to wait and plan bigger objectives, and others to try and to cram back-to-back climbs into the six days of splitterness. We had no more food, but psyche in abundance. And an unrepeated route established when I was 3 years old was beckoning...

Freeing new ground on Mermoz. Shame about the crummy rock...

Rather than hike down all our gear and have to figure out different approaches in totally new corners of the range, we decided to leave our gear cached up at Piedras Negras. And although we both badly wanted to try and climb Fitz Roy, we realized that fitting in our resupply trip and a multiday route would likely leave us high and exposed when the weather window slammed shut. With designs on the next peak in the massif, we high-tailed it town town, dreaming of lines on Aguja Mermoz.

Some time on Rolo's excellent 'Pataclimb' website showed us that there really weren't many routes on Mermoz. We were initially drawn to the Red Pillar, a steep line of patina and splitters on the East face. But as Scott said, "I didn't come to Patagonia to clip bolts." (The Red Pillar is a Kurt Albert route, established with bolted anchors every 100' and many protection bolts next to cracks.) Instead, we were intrigued by the description for 'Cosas Patagonicas', an unrepeated route up the Northwest face of Mermoz, established by SEVEN Italian climbers in the late 1980s, and graded 5.10 A2. Rolo thought that the route might be climbed free. We were eager to see about that.

Our first day of climbing began with 4 pitches of 5.10 cracks and stemming corners on what we believed to be the major dihedral system of the route. But when pitch 5 quickly turned into an endless seam, passing through several roofs, we decided that our rack of 2 pins and 2 RPs wasn't adequate for the hours of tedious thin aid climbing. We rapped back down. And while swiging around the face, we noticed that the parallel corner system 15 meters to the right had a variety of fixed gear and remnants of rope. We'd found the line after all, and we spent the next few hours investigating the first two pitches, before deciding to return the next day.

Tequila, Beer, Sending...

That night, at Piedras Negras, we used much of our liter of Sol Azteca tequila (hiked up from town with sugar and citrus drink mix for alpine margaritas...) to pour drinks for friends who had just sent the Red Pillar of Mermoz and two new routes on Fitz Roy. And we guilted other climbers (all hiking out the next day) into donating their leftover foods to the "Scott and Blake Freeing Cosas Patagonicas Fund" (AKA our dinner and snacks for the next day.) The concept of 'leftover' food being anathema to my very existence, and something unknown when hanging around Scott, our takeaway of multiple GUs, bars, and two pasta/dinner units was a HUGE surprise boost. Thanks so much to Kate, Mikey, Tomas, and Magnus for the calories, without which I don't think I could have rallied the next day.

But supplied with adequate snacks, and leaving our bottle of beer and one freeze-dried meal in camp, Scott and I awoke at 5AM again to climb back up the glacier and scramble/slog/sidehill our way along on the ~2 hour approach. The first pitch was mine.

I had aided this pitch the day before, finding soaking rock, a couple old fixed aid pieces, and some tough climbing. In early morning temps off the snowfield, I tried to link this pitch into the pitch before. Excited about cruising through a section of tension-y "fiddly wiring", my hopes, morale, and down jacket were all shredded when I pitched off on the final few moves. But as I aided the last bodylength up to the ledge Scott shouted up that I should lower back down and clean the gear. He was going to redpoint the pitch. With my much-memorized beta and his superior freeclimbing and wet fingerlocking skills, he pulled through for a clean send, and we carried on. The next couple pitches were drier, with obvious route finding and as-good-as-it-gets granite corner climbing. I took over to lead when things again started looking grim.

We belayed underneath a leaning chimney, leading upwards into a roof and offwidth slot. Not having climbed 'Astroman', I didn't recognize the resemblance, but Scott compared this to the infamous 'Harding Slot', only this one was running with water. And we didn't think it had ever been freeclimbed.

Strange angle, but the tag line is hanging straight down

A short pitch lead into the chimney, which proved more of a stembox, with alternating cracks on either side. I soon learned to only use fingerlocks and handholds at chest height or lower, lest my arms act as conduits for the icy water to run from the cracks and down my arms under my sleeves.

Higher, the crack began to overhang, but it also widened into good hand jams. Stemming at my limit beneath the flow of water, I pulled up, groped for positive holds, and pulled the patented undercling-kneebar-hipthrutch-fingerlock move to wedge myself upwards and inwards, breathing deeply to expand myself to the slot's contours. And pulling up the rope to clip the first of the Italian bolts (they had drilled a bolt ladder on the right outside margin of the slot) I allowed myself a scream of success. Some 5.9 chimneying (is there any other kind?) lead up a flat stance in the sun, allowing my soaked clothing to begin drying as I hauled the bag and Scott followed.

The final three pitches up the corner were stellar, including an open book that felt like some of the purest lines in Squamish, and long pitch of roofs, flakes, and corners, that is one of the best pitches I have ever done, anywhere.

From there we did a long pitch down and left, joining the line of Hypermermoz. It was already well into afternoon, and we had more than 1,000' of climbing remaining. But we had freed Cosas Patagonicas and weren't considering stopping.

300' pitches of simulclimbing lead to steeper terrain and consecutive corners we could pick out on the topo. This being the 21st century, our topo was a digital camera screen's playback of a photo we had taken of a website's digital picture of Mermoz, with the three routes drawn in. But as the sun began to set, we knew we had joined the Argentine route, and that there were were only a handful of pitches separating us from mellow terrain near the summit. We made it to the top without headlamps, though it was close enough that we had both taken them out of our packs, and began using them immediately for the descent.

Hours of single-rope rapping down a dark ridge and face isn't something that inspires me to return to the mountains. We lost the rap route a few times and left some slings, but largely managed to stay on track. We had to stuff our second rope in the pack, lest the wind blow it completely off of our shoulders, and I hazily recall the dim glow of my E-lite illuminating a maddening tangle of our (now thrice-core-shot) rope, blowing loops and bytes up and away from me as a sought to tame its tangles.

We crossed the (now very hard) trifecta of snowfields one final time, laboring to cut steps that would be possible for our cramponless feet. And as we rounded the col and looked down on Piedras Negras from 1,500' above, the sun was rising and we were able to turn off our headlamps and make our way make to the now-deserted camp. Beer, our last bit of food, and maybe even a shot of 'Sol Azteca' proved an excellent dinner/breakfast/pre-pass-out combo.

Cosas Patagonicas - Aguja Mermoz

First Free Ascent (2nd Ascent) 2/11/11

6c / 5.11

Ours and a slew of other new routes were done during this window.

Nuts and bolts:

1x 60mx9.2mm rope - now 3 coreshots and garbage
1x 60m 8.1mm rope - 1 coreshot and garbage
1x cams to #5 camalot, doubles in mid sizes
1x wires, with good RP selection - usefull
1x 30L Cilogear bag - hauled on some pitches
7x snack units ea, thanks to Mikey and Kate
1x CAMP awax w/hammer
1x E-lite and 1x BD mid-size headlamp
25' tat

Did Not Have:

Crampons (left in camp) or boots/shoes (one pair stashed at base of route, another at descent area)
Bivi bag, sleeping bags

Did not need:

Pins, tool.

Raps down Argentine route in high winds. Got lost a bit. Mostly 30m raps. Some rope retrieval pitches. Some new anchors. 9.2mm rope went from one soft/core shot to 3 total blowouts. RPs useful to crux p2, required cleaning of placements, and pulled rope to re-lead for free ascent. Highly recomended as a free climb, could be done easily at 5.10 C1/C2

28 hours round trip from Piedras Negras, very light out upon return to camp. Hard ice and snow from cold and avies had covered our approach tracks, so much kicking and chopping (no crampons) was required to traverse beneath face after descent.

3 hours hiking to Piedras Negras with light packs, but dinner en route and beer+tequila for others in the alpine. ~2 hours approach from Piedras Negras to the face, with gear cached from attempt and route recon the previous day.

First Ascent of Las Vent'uras

2011-02-14T09:06:00.000-08:00

Sunset over the ice cap

Boundary Bay Oatmeal Stout vs Great Divide's Belgian 'Colette'. Riding my bike to sunny baseball games at Coors Field. Sneaking good food into a bad movie at the dollar theater. Feeling too full to want more food. Being warm. These and similar thoughts dominated my mind as we drudged down the final few hundred feet of glacier to our camp at Piedras Negras. I was thrilled to have pulled off a new route after a week in the range, but at the time, probably even more thrilled to just crawl into a tent and pass out.

Why do I spend all my time at home thinking about going climbing, and all my time climbing thinking about going home?

After months of training, linking up routes across Colorado and Utah, scheming up silly ideas and re-plotting logistics, finally climbing on the big peaks of Patagonia is hard to describe. And these peaks ARE big. The climbing is steep, physical, abrasive, serious. It wears out people and their gear. Even one of the smaller peaks (Aguja Guillaumet, the most northern of the Fitz Roy range) has an east and west face each nearly 2000' high.

Still my lead block

A week ago, a dozen climbers convened on the cluster of A-frame cabins in the center of El Chalten to drink tea and grouse about the weather. Nothing new, except that this time, there were hints of optimism mixed in. As Mikey and Colin explained to Scott and I about comparing the two available climate models to extrapolate the forecast, someone else mentioned under their breath that if we only listened to Mikey "We'd never go into the fucking mountains..." That particular someone else being from Maine, we recalled learning the day prior that natives of his state "have been doing so much with so little for so long, that now they can do everything with nothing forever." Well, whatever the hell that means, we couldn't disregard the apparent optimism. So as the Maine-iacs headed off up the trail to the Cerro Torre valley, Scott and I set about packing and eating in preparation for what looked like 2 days of OK weather in which to try something new on Guillaumet's west (windier but sunnier) face.

A 20 minute taxi ride from town and three miles of wooded hiking along the Rio Electrico brought us to the base of a 3,300' uphill slog, treeline, a small glacier, and our temporary home among the black rocks (Piedras Negras) where crumbling choss abuts white granite.

Don't fall into stuff. (crevasses, moats, bergschrunds, other climbers) And don't let stuff fall on you. (Ice, rocks, other climbers) On our first full day, I went over glacier travel 101 with Scott. We climbed the Giordani Ridge (1000' 5.5) to reach the northern end of the mountain, and traversed three snowfields to a vantage point beneath the face. What had looked good in photos now looked even better in person. A direct line from the very toe of the face, through roofs to the summit. If only that chimney will be a go. With our gear cached at the base, the 2-hour approach well-sorted, and solid steps across the steeper snow aspects, it was time to eat, sleep, and get pysched. This wasn't training any more.

I took the first lead block, mostly cruising up easier terrain on the steepening line of a major left-facing corner.

Scott sleeping while he should be belaying me

A 5.10 hand crack and snowy slot reminded me how fun and frustrating it can be to rock climb here. It also let me turn the sharp end over to Scott for the chimney.

Long stemming pitch to the roof

A band of roofs splits the face at mid-height. Rather than climb out and over, our prospective line appeared to burrow through these overhangs. With Scott leading Out of view, the winds whipped our lead and tag line like strings of a marionette. I guess that makes me the puppet. All I knew was that the ropes were moving slowly. What I would learn when following the pitch, was that Scott had turned the corner to find a 100' offwidth and chimney, full of ice in the back, and with the view down past one's feet being 700' of vertiginous air. He also kicked open our #5 cam as he abandoned it to the #6-sized offwidth, leaving him essentially unprotected for much of the pitch. Inspiring. And through the roofs things were looking possible. We didn't like the wet cracks above until we encountered ice-choked cracks even higher. It was simply too soon post-storming to hope for only dry rock.

Scott on the frozen splitter

Below the overhanging summit block, Scott took his last lead, a vertical hand crack, to a leaning, overhanging, thin-hand splitter. And it was on this pitch, not even the route's mental or physical crux, that frozen hands and brutal gusts sent him for a short lead fall. He got back on and finished the pitch right away, but we didn't pull the rope to re lead. I tried to follow it in gloves and still had numb tips. Circulation returned as I shamelessly yarded on gear while seconding.


Another crack full of dripping ice tentacles.

I lead an easy pitch that we thought would have us up-and-over, but it dead-ended. From here, the two nearest crack systems that breached the headwall and onto the summit plateau were both filled with big daggers of water ice, and poured forth constant streams of water. We made one short pendulum/rappel to reach a crack further left, and I lead up onto the top. As I fumbled for a headlamp, Scott threw down the rack and rope and we scrambled up to the true summit.

Blake leads, with the lower half of the face visible

Everyone waits for 'windows' of weather here. Windows that they can fill with cracks. (well, the climbing of them anyway). Windows are called Ventanas, and cracks, those are the fisuras. Ventura is an old Spanish word for fate, or experience. We called our route the Vent'uras, meaning window with cracks.

Las Vent'uras

West Face of Aguja Guillaumet

600m - 6c / 5.11 A0

Scott Bennett and Blake Herrington - 23 hours from Piedras Negras camp - 2/8/11

Desnivel Magazine - Our "Icy Rift System"

Nuts and bolts:

1x9.2mm rope (now coreshot)

1x8.1mm rope

1x30L Cilogear Pack - Hauled on a few pitches with tag line

1x rack to #5 Camalot - doubles in mid sizes - #5 good call

1x Wires

1x CAMP Awax tool w/hammer

1x light ice axe
2x light boots/shoes
1x e-Lite
1x mid-strength headlamp

6x 'snack units' each - 3L water

3x pins/hooks - Do Not Need

1x Space blanket - DND

No Crampons, we kicked in steps and cached gear the day before
No bivi or sleeping bags
Lots of gloved climbed in wet terrain up high
Got lost on descent, rapped N. Face - Bad Idea - anchor shenanigans
23 hours total trip from Piedras Negras
Worst weather day of the 6-day window

We had carried sleeping bags, a 2-man 4-season tent, sleeping pads, and crampons up to Piedras Negras camp, which is reached via a 20 minute ($25) taxi ride, and about 3 hours of hiking.

Someone in El Chalten...

2011-02-09T08:33:00.000-08:00

Has a good sense of humor:

Those were posted around town, and it took me a moment before I stopped to read the fine print. Maybe David sold his gear before abondoning the project.

Someone else in Chalten (well, lots of someones) hve had an inescapable sense of cabin fever when it has been storming, and have now out to the mountains beneath a blue sky. Scott and I did that this week, and found a new route in the process. We are running back up into the mountains today to catch the last bit of the good weather, but here are a few shots from our 22-hour round trip day on a linea nueva!!

Blake gets things started

Scott follows splitters

Views north to the Rio Electrico

Cold and icy terrain late in the day...

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Viva Frey!

2011-01-31T11:12:00.000-08:00

Reorganizing, not bivying...

After 8 hours of overnight busing, I was awoken this morning to our the screching halt of our bus refusing to travel any further. I am currently midway between Bariloche, in Northern Patagonia, and El Chalten, in Patagonia sur. However, my friend Scott has his laptop along, so I was able to check email and post some pictures from a week of climbing the granite spires and needles located in two valleys above the refugio (alpine hut) called Frey. Scott and I were up there with my friend Forest, and ran into some other folks we knew as well.

Frey delivered the goods. We experienced 80 degrees days of perfect weather, some Patagonia stormage (on a much-needed rest day) and pitch after pitch of perfection. The (climbing) highlight was when Scott and I linked up perhaps the two best routes in Frey in a day, both on the Torre Principal. We didn't bring cameras along though, and really didn't have much else for that matter either. In all, we climbed 15 pitches of 5.10-5.12 on a shared half-liter of water and one bar each. But the routes were superb. First up was Rolo Garibotti's tribute to a friend (Teo, we don't forget you... or Teo, No Te Olvidarmos) and after this was Sinestro Total. Rolo rates 'Teo' 5 stars (out of 3 possible) and Scott and I agreed, with the phrase "This is the best rock climb in the world" being shouted by both escaladores at least once.

Scott on the variation to Sinfuentes-Weber

'Teo' ascends the South (AKA North, AKA shady, cold, and fully gnar) face of the biggest spire around. We knew it was going to be game-on when the first pitch (graded ~5.8 on the topo) featured an overhanging and leaning thin-hands crack we both called solid 5.10+. And from there things just got better. The final 250' was overhanging granite scoops and huecos, gusts of winds, shouts of exaltation, and the occasional sightings of nearby condors. From atop the West summit, we engineering and scrapped together a rappel to the North, bootying a new cam, several wiregates, and a some slings that we rapped off later. From here, we cruised up Sinestro Total (~9 pitches, 5.10+) and managed to rappel back down to terra firma just as it got dark. Lacking both watches and headlamps, we ended up doing some confused rappelling, with Scott leading a pitch for our stuck rope, and the day's final rappel being made from the webbing belt that I had donned that morning.

Forest taught us a bunch about using tricky light, as here on Aguja M2

Drying our laundry before the storm and snowy/sleety/hail

Each night around the Refugio (wine-selling, dinner-making, merriment-creating alpine hut) we would laugh, hang out with friends, share plans for the next day, and rave about the one which just ended. Also up in Frey were the sweet tunes of Sean Villanueva and Nico Favresse, a couple of world-class musicians who moonlight as 'rock stars'. Nico managed to free an aid roof on the Aguja Frey at lowerish 5.13, and Sean walked a newly-installed highline between two of the vertiginous towers high on the ridge. I'll eventually link to some pictures that my friend Forest took of all the goings-on thereabouts.

And as for now, it is off to El Chalten and more new and exciting adventures.

Buena Suerte familia y amigos!

5 Spires linkup

2011-01-13T12:44:00.000-08:00

We're 1-for-3 on attempts at 5-spire linkups. Rocky Mountain National Park was a success, while Cathedral Spires Ridge and Castle Valley resulted in 3 spires each. However, those failures just inspired future attempts, with more daylight and better logistical knowledge of the terrain.

Last week Scott Bennett and I tried the Cathedral Ridge 5-tower linkup (Cynical Pinnacle, Poe Buttress, Sunshine Wall, The Dome, The Bishop). Just 2 weeks out from the year's shortest day, we didn't have time to fit them all in, but I know I want to try again.

Here's a movie Scott made about our day.

Wunsch's Dihedral (I lead the .11d/.12a finger crack, Scott linked the overhanging hands and subsequent fingers corner in one 66m lead)
Mississippi Half Step (2 pitches, 5.11d, perhaps the Platte's best climb of this length)
Regular Route on Sunshine Wall (5.11a) - 5 STELLAR pitches, from overhanging cracks to runout face
Equinox Roof on Sunshine Wall - First two pitches (5.10) linked as one

Another 5-spire linkup that would be fun: Liberty Bell, Concord Tower, Lexington Tower, North Early Winter, South Early Winter.

There must be others, but those are really the only ones I can think of.

Nuts and Bolts:

1x70m rope
1x #3 Camalot
1x #2 Camalot
2x Green Alien to #1 Camalot
1x hefty set of wires
2 pairs of shoes for me (crack climbing ones for wunsch's, face climbing for Half Step)
Days are SHORT in early Jan!

11 @ .11

2010-12-27T13:49:00.000-08:00

A good 5.11, but not in the Cascades...

The 11 best 5.11s in the Cascades:

Colchuck Balanced Rock - West Face 5.11+ and V1 to the balanced-rock summit
Prusik Peak - Der Sportsman Haven't done this one, can't wait to spend a week up at Prusik and climb it, among many others
South Early Winter Spire - The Passenger Climbed this one with Rad Roberts and Brandon Workman on my "Bachelor Party" but would love to climb it again and redpoint the crux pitch, or maybe try the direct finish.
Mt. Stuart - Girth Pillar Iqw ant to do this via the Ice Cliff Glacier for the complete experience, even if it means missing the lower North Ridge rock climbing.
Le Cornes - Sprung Cock Erect If it's really better than Springbok, it must be stellar
Dragontail Peak - Dragons of Eden This one involved some (lots) of hanging and cam pulling for me, would like to redpoint it. The original line is 5.12-, but only one 5.12 pitch, which can be avoided via good 5.10 climbing to the right.
Gunsight Peak - West Face I was along for the 2nd ascent of this route in 2006, 20 years after the FA. We did it at 5.10A2, but it was freed on the ~~3rd~~ (4th) ascent by Max Hasson and Jens Holsten.
Mt. Stuart - Gorillas in the Mist Technically one of the easiest routes on the list, a direct finish awaits.
Castle Peak - Fred's Hip (AKA Colorado Route) Unrepeated. Informed speculation based on climbing near the route and seeing the rock quality and size.
Colchuck Balanced Rock - The Scoop Great climbing on perfect stone. Indian Creek in the Cascades on the namesake enduro corner.
West Fury Peak - Mongo Ridge Unrepeated, and maybe the stoutest route in the Pickets? Almost certainly the worst rock (by a large margin) and the most serious undertaking.

I wonder how many folks have done more than 5 of them? Who has done the most? Jens Holsten has done 7, Sol Wertkin 6, I've done 6...

And since this is probably half of the 5.11s in the range, the list wasn't too hard to come up with!

Honorable mentions: South Early - Direct East Buttress (with bolt ladders free at 5.11), Vanishing Point on Dolomite Tower, North Early Winter Spire - West Face

Wiregate Carabiner Review

2010-12-07T22:33:00.000-08:00

Does size matter? This question, historically the domain of trashy women's magazines, is now relevant to the ever-evolving climbing gear industry—in particular, rapidly shrinking carabiners.

A carabiner in the hand is worth... roughly $7.95. FS Mini on right.

The Metolius FS Mini wiregate now stands as the smallest full-strength carabiner on the market. It looks and feels like the imitation 'biners my non-climber friends use as key chains, but with a strength rating of 22 kN.
As manufactures make gear lighter, they often make it smaller. "Small" becomes "nano" and nano becomes "mini." The savings of a few grams per 'biner on a full trad rack translates into a major reduction in weight. But at some point, the shrinking size begins to seriously undercut in-the-field utility.
Available in a melange of colors to match various cams (or color-coordinated outfits), the FS Mini is significantly smaller than similar offerings from competing companies. Even though the C.A.M.P. Nano 23 is 2 grams lighter, for example, it's significantly larger than the FS Mini.

n an early fall excursion up The Diamond on Colorado's Long's Peak, the small gate opening and my cold digits made for several frustrating fumbles on desperate clips. In fact, its size resulted in a near total inability to open and close the gate after clove hitching ropes with diameters larger than 9.4mm. While testing the FS Minis with a set of 8.1mm half ropes, the opening felt spacious and tying clove hitches was a snap. Unfortunately, the twin and half ropes that fit so well were frequently paired with gloved hands. My decreased dexterity made clipping and tying into the 'biners just as frustrating, even when the rope size was no longer a problem. The small interior also made it difficult to triple-up a two- or four-foot sling into an alpine draw. I was aggravated as all but the smoothest and skinniest Dyneema runners bunched up when I racked for the next pitch.

The FS Mini works well as an accessory carabiner to hold my chalkbag or approach shoes, but not as a knot-bearing workhorse. I'd recommend larger models like DMM's Phantom or C.A.M.P.'s Nano 23 that have similar (or lighter) weights while maintaining their functionality in a wider range of situation.
There is definitely such a thing as "too mini" when it comes to carabiners. So does size matter? Yes.
A note to readers: In researching the FS Mini for this review, I came across conflicting weight specs. Some websites and retail stores reported that the 'biner came in at 25g. Others, including metoliusclimbing.com, reported 23g, which would make it the lightest carabiner on the market along with the Nano 23. To resolve the discrepancy I weighed numerous FS Minis from my local gear shop on a postal scale and came up with a consistent 25g.

Pros: small size saves room in pack; lightweight (but not the lightest).
Cons: limited gate opening doesn't work for cloves hitches, wide runners, or desperate clips.

Verdict: 2 out of 5 stars

Don't be a Tool

2010-12-06T10:22:00.000-08:00

I occasionally write little reviews of products for Alpinist, which is good writing practice, and also allows me to own or borrow some new gear. Typically, big items like tents are loaned out, and smaller items are given to the review for use, and to keep afterward.

The Alpinist editor who contacts companies and sets up the reviews was recently confronted with the following response from a company's PR folks after specifying an item or two for the review:

"Obviously, giving away equipment and then receiving a low rating wouldn't be much appreciated"

WHAT??

As Mitch Hedberg would say... "You've got no faith in the product itself."

If you aren't willing to allow for an honest review of your gear, don't let it be reviewed. To agree to a review with a guilt-laden caveat that the reviewer "owes" a good review is total bullshit.

On Edge

2010-12-03T13:41:00.000-08:00

The Naked Edge is the best rock climbing route in Eldorado Canyon, and hence the entire Colorado "Front Range". It has been free soloed, it's been ascended by a blind climber, and 'The Edge' has seen its share of memorable moments. I'll certainly never forget my first time on it (a little over a year ago) and I don't think anyone else would either. This morning, my friend Scott Bennett and I climbed the route (round trip from the bridge over Boulder Creek) in 1 hour and 13 minutes, belaying the whole route.

The start of the Naked Edge is roughly 300' above the ground. We scrambled a low-5th-class ramp, I took a belay climbing through the Cave (5.8) and then began to lead.

I linked pitch 1 (5.11-) and pitch 2 (5.10), though I was nearly blown off the wall near the top of this section, after pulling around the prow of the arete into 50+ MPH wind gusts. I had to re-tighten my helmet in light of wind gusts that seemed able to dislodge it from my head. Eldorado Canyon functions as giant wind funnel, and the Naked Edge forms one of the two prows which project out into the canyon from either side. On a day when local weather stations recorded 55 MPH gusts and dust was blown into our faces while racking up in the parking lot, Scott and I chose to literally hang our asses out from "the edge" and into the gusts.

Scott followed quickly, and set off up P3, which is a rambling 5.8 section along the crest. We couldn't hear each other at all with the wind blowing, but when he started yarding in rope, I took him off and was soon following this pitch.

From a sheltered alcove on the lee side of the arete, Scott took the lead for a link of the final 2 pitches, both 5.11-.

Pulling over the top and running to the belay tree, I was immediately aware of the relative calm, a highly-welcome surprise in light of our necessary downclimb of the East slabs. Scott raced by me on the slab downclimb, but offered some key routefinding info to prevent any more off-route-adventures. We checked our cel-phone timer and high-fived at the bridge. The wind kept blowing.

Nuts and Bolts:

1x Blue Alien
1x green alien
1x yellow/green hybrid
1x yellow alien
1x #1 Camalot
1x #2 Camalot

5 dyneema draws and 5 dyneema runners, 2 wiregates on each

One GriGri, one ATC (hangable) and one 45m chunk of 9.5mm rope

One of these things...

2010-11-19T15:21:00.000-08:00

... is not like the other.

And it was after 4 glasses of $95-a-bottle wine that I had this point driven home to me yet again, this time by the crunching sound coming from my pocket. But let me start properly...

Pulling rope for our 4th trip down the Vertigo Rappels

My wife Allison and I share a car, an arrangement that works out well since her university, my restaurant of employment, and the university's library, computer labs, printers, and gym are all within 2 miles of our home. However, as Allison is doing a clinical rotation for her physical therapy program, she commutes daily to a hospital which is ten miles (and hence about 45 minutes in Denver traffic) across town from our home. Bereft of car, I've been biking, busing, and relying on generous climbing partners in order to hit up the local crags this fall.

And so it was yesterday, when Allison dropped me off at the downtown Denver bus station so I could catch the 7:37 towards Boulder. Three thermos caps of coffee, $5 (note to self: bring exact bus fare or suffer the indignity of overpaying) and 20 pages later, the bus dropped me off in Superior, CO, where my friend Scott Bennett lives. We quickly sorted gear and packed some food. I badly burned a bagel in Scott's toaster, a situation which we temporarily remedied via copious amounts of butter. But with just a couple candy bars between us for the day, I decided to save half that bagel for snacking at an upcoming belay.

We wanted to climb a lot of pitches, and Eldorado Canyon on a weekday is a great place to do it. With one 60m rope, a single set of cams to #3, and palpable enthusiasm, we climbed Le Toit to Rosy Crucifixion, The Naked Edge, the Doub-Griffith, Vertigo, and The Yellow Spur, topping out at dusk and getting back to the car 8 hours after leaving it. I broke out the quickly-turning-stale bagel at a blustery hanging belay halfway up the Doub-Griffith.

"Want some Bagel Scott? That lint and fuzzy pocket detritus onlys add to the food value!"

"Uhhh, yeah. I'll stick with the Snickers right now."

After racing darkness down the descent trail, we sped out of the canyon and back to hwy 93. Here I caught a southbound bus at 5:40, had a quick dinner with Allison, and went to work for a pre-scheduled wine tasting. Surrounded by maps of Italy and charts denoting grape varietals, the mathematics of 23 windy pitches + just 8oz of water began to result in instant tipsyness. The differences between one wine's "earthy nose" and another's "hints of iron at the start" all blended together until I shifted in my chair and was awakened by the CRUNCH of the burnt and stale bagel, crumbling into dozens of charred bits, and filtering through the hole in the bottom of my pocket and onto the restaurant floor. And I looked up, grateful that nobody noticed so I wouldn't have to explain the sordid story to a group of people who were actually used to drinking $95 wine, and not carrying bagels/pizza/sandwiches in the side-zip pockets of their softshell pants.

If you go to Red Rock...

2010-11-15T09:32:00.000-08:00

Skip the crowds and climb Challenger

Splitter fingers on pitch2

Working the roof beta in 60MPH winds...

Definitely get on Risky Business

Rad Roberts finally gets some bomber gear on pitch3

But with a slot canyon approach this fun:

Jason Killgore in all-terrain mode

Don't miss The Breathing Stone

Scott Bennett styles the the arching roof

All photos taken by Garrett Grove III, Esquire

Cold Comfort and Ultralight Rappels

2010-11-09T11:33:00.000-08:00

Kelly climbing in a puffy jacket on Ariana, fall 2010. No sun at all on the route.

Make full-length rappels with a chopped and re-tied rope. And stay warm enough to rig up all those rappels without your fingers going numb. Or just forget climbing altogether and perfect the beer stash.

.I broke out the crampons and ice tools this week, but up to now, it has been a very warm fall in Colorado. Heck, just over a month ago I climbed 'Ariana' on the Diamond (East Face) on Long's Peak... rock climbing at 14,000' on October First!

My lead, still wearing all the layers

The Diamond day was thought up by my friend Kelly, who wrote an inspiring story about coming back from a major ankle injury, training and rehabbing all summer, and making the ascent during a time when doctors had told him he'd be lucky to manage some light hiking. We climbed with a single 60m 8.9mm lead rope, and 65m (to match the stretchy 60) of 6mm static pull cord. This is THE LIGHTEST setup for a route that require full-length rappels. We ended up making about 10 raps down the face, using a system I'm fond of that isn't too widely practiced:

For rapping with one single rope and one (~6mm) pull cord, thread the rope through the anchor, tie an overhand on a bight, clip it to a locker, and clip this locker to the rope on the other side of the anchor. The single rope is now essentially 'fixed'. Now tie the free end of the single rope to the 6mm cord. Both climbers can rappel on just the single rope, rather than trying to equally break the pull cord and rope simultaneously. Then just pull the pull cord after each rappel. Your knot and locker wont fall down the cliff, because even on a full-length rappel, the rope, running through the other side of the anchor, will be too heavy for the knotted area to go into free-fall mode. This method also allows for full-length rappels when you have had to cut and re-tie a rope, or half your rope. Just make sure that the half of your system with the knots in it will be your pull cord (no knots to pass, since you're not rapping on this) and be careful on 'snaggy' pulls.

Clean feet, new shoes, and beer. True perfection.

My friend Sol Wertkin showed me the value of a beer stash, when even my snobbish 21-yr-old sensibilities were unable to resist the draw of a cold PBR after 3 days out in the North Cascades. Sol's foolproof method is to use the mesh harness bag, which nobody EVER uses for harnesses, and stash beer + a big rock in the first stream one encounters on the hike in. By the time Kelly and I climbed Ariana this fall, I'd probably put such stashes into practice 6 or 8 times in Rocky Mountain Park, and finally upped the stash value by including my flip-flops in the bag as well! The only thing better than an apres-climb chilled beer was drinking it after trading my sweaty and stinky shoes for clean feet and some comfy flops for the drive home.

But our trip up the Diamond was still chilly (I had 5 or 6 layers on), and with winter around the bend, I figure it's a good time to come up with some handy ideas for staying warm out there in winter temps.

Shoes in jacket between pitches or burns on your project
hot hands on wrists, lightly taped in place
hot water bottle in the jacket
Thermos of Hot Water + thermos lid + Instant Oatmeal packet (Brown sugar flavor) = warm, sweet, hydrating snack
Put your energy bar in warm spot (inner jacket pocket) for 10 minutes before chomping down. Chipped teeth (and scary dental bills) mean avoid frozen snickers.
Three Musketeers bars are the least freezble candy bar
Don't own a thermos or water-bottle cozy? A wool sock around the bottle will keep your nalgene warm (or at least ice free) for hours.
Tired of your Camelback hose freezing solid? Blow all the water back into the main reservoir at the end of each drink. Water in the hose freezes much sooner than in the bladder inside your pack. Use gatorade, which doesn't freeze as easily
Use a chemical hand-warmer plus rubber band to keep batteries (cell phone, camera) functional
Balaclava, knit caps, and something covering the back of your neck is essential. With all this stuff over your ears, learn to communicate belay commands through the rope

Fall Photos

2010-10-29T14:34:00.000-07:00

I just returned from Indian Creek and the Castle Valley, fortunate enough to witness those two spots after the season's first snow on the peaks above. The week before, I hosted my friend Forest for a few days, and most of the shots here are Forest's, from our trip to the South Platte's Wigwam Dome.

This week Scott and I met our friend Garrett in Indian Creek, where we climbed for a day at Way Rambo wall (Scott's ringlock skills earned points for onsighting the crag's hardest route, Slice and Dice, while I earned a solitary point for the subsequent TR flash). We all then headed to the Scarface wall, where I lead some fun routes I hadn't tried before, onsighting The Cleaner and Desert Vuarnet (more points) and Garrett got revenge on the classic 'Scarface'. Scott worked 'Death of a Cowboy' (or vice versa) and Garrett made good on his promise to tackle the sustained wideness of Big Guy.

Following this, Scott and I headed to the Castle Valley, where we hoped to link up Castleton Tower, The Rectory, The Priest, Sister Superior, and The Convent in one day. We wanted to start on the North side of the ridge, and walk/climb our way South. The second plan was to start on the South and work North. However, without being able to bring bicycles (I rode the Amtrak home) and without meeting any climbers to help out in a car shuttle, we resorted to starting and ending at one spot and traversing the whole ridge twice.

The Convent (L) and Sister Superior, from beneath The Priest

By 7am we found ourselves atop the ridge, and I began the first pitch of Fine Jade as the sun's rays first hit the Rectory. Temperatures in the parking lot (1000' lower and much less windy) had been well below freezing at night, and my hands were instantly numb. After barely making it through the first pitch without feeling below the wrists, I had the worst episode of screaming barfies that I can remember. I was shouting so much that Scott thought something was seriously wrong with me (well... something new) and he offered to self-belay the pitch if I'd fix the rope.

The instant and seemingly-irrepressible urge to vomit my instant oatmeal/instant coffee breakfast all over the cliff did slowly pass, and I brought Scott up so that he too could have a bout of the 'barfies'.

Garrett on Way Rambo... not the Convent

We quickly finished off the last two pitches on the Rectory, rapped down, and began hiking North. Two or three tedious hours of running/sliding/falling/scrambling along the ridge past Sister Superior Tower had brought us to The Convent, but we only had a vague idea about the location of our intended route, the Power of Audacity. We eventually ID'ed the climb, with Scott this time leading the first and third pitch, while I got the mellower p2. The route was good, but not great, with a tough 5.11+++ first pitch roof flare. The final "5.8 chimney" reminded me of the last pitch of the West Face of Colchuck Balanced Rock, in that 5.8 chimneying was a euphemism for something far more sinister.

After 3 rappels (only one of them off a legit anchor), we high-tailed it back to Sister Superior, where we found that our remaining water, jacket, long-sleeve shirt, and camera tripod had been taken, presumably by a group who day-tripped to this one tower and didn't know we were heading back to it. Crestfallen and tired, we had quick tour up Jah Man before we again found ourselves trudging along the crest's constantly-eroding terrain.

With every footstep slide out from beneath us, it felt as though we were being chased by gravity, and only through continuous forward movement would be prevent being pulled down the hill in either direction. The trick was to sprint between 'islands of security', which could have taken the form of plants, large rocks, or any other rare object that offered temporary stability.

Scott and I seriously contemplated the no-water and no-windbreaker headlamp-ed attempts of The Priest and Castleton, but eventually decided to head down the ridge to camp and re-hydration.

Red Rock Retrospective

2010-10-08T15:29:00.000-07:00

I spent about 2 weeks in Red Rock Nevada during this Spring, enjoying the gracious hospitality of my friends Julie and Viren Perumal, and climbing obscure routes in the park with some friends and photographer Garrett Grove.

Check out our article in the November 2010 issue or Rock&Ice Magazine, or read an extended rough draft below. And see some shots at the bottom of the page for an upcoming article we hope to do as well.

An invisible line exists in the desert, somewhere between the last slot-machine-equipped Starbucks, and the first sign alerting motorists to beware of wild burros. It's bounded by an ever-dwindling swath of cactus and creosote, where the headlong expansion of modernity confronts an embodiment of conservation. And it's the story of these two forces, which is, to say, much the story of the American West, that defines our sunrise approach. We're in southern Nevada's Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area to learn how "un-Vegas" of an experience can be had while crashing each night just off the strip. And that means a week of dawn-to-dusk days; schwacking, canyoneering, and being constantly "almost lost" while approaching the most remote walls of the park's 196,000 acres. With every bout of scrub oak wrestling, and each airy crux that just goes on natural gear, it's becoming obvious why these pristine canyons attract climbers from around the world. Routes like The Warrior, Adventure Punks, Lady Luck, and Jet Stream prove that rather than a few crowded classics, many of the Red Rock's best routes are new, or largely neglected. But with a total bolting ban in the park’s wilderness, continued delays by the Bureau of Land Management, and the pending construction of a 20,000-person community on the hillside facing the park, Red Rock is in trouble.

This morning, as each morning before, The Warrior is taunting us. It begs to be climbed. As our crowded rental car passes the last prefab housing tract and crests the shoulder of Blue Diamond Hill, the route’s massive right-leaning corner system catches morning sun on Cactus Flower Tower. The Warrior is one of the most obvious lines in Red Rock Canyon. So why was it unclimbed just five years ago? We contemplate the guidebook's description yet again. “Arduous approach”, that's what we planned for. “Six #3 Camalots,” we can scrap together four and run it out. “Kneepads are nice” … hmm, those clouds do look little dark, maybe something else for today. We fumble excuses, turn the page, and embark on another all-day adventure. And each morning, The Warrior is still what we see.

Red Rock Canyon (more accurately canyons) is a National Conservation Area administered by the American West's biggest landowner, the BLM. Derided by environmentalists as the Bureau of Logging and Mining, the agency presides over Indian Creek and Red Rock, while most US climbing destinations are run by the National Park Service. Surveying First Creek Canyon from 5 pitches up the slabs of Lady Luck (5.7 1000') it's refreshingly easy to forget the bureaucracy and focus on the beauty. But lost in a sea of agency acronyms is the fact that the NPS and BLM feature vastly different policies for climbers. With frequently-updated management plans and dedicated search-and-rescue squads, the NPS is the over-active parent to the BLM's laissez faire babysitter. And while this arrangement has worked for Indian Creek, in Red Rock, the hands-off-approach emerged after the implementation of a total bolting ban in the park’s wilderness. Climbers have been restricted, without chance of redress, by an out-of-touch agency suggesting out-of-date guidebooks for an activity it calls ‘rockclimbing.’ As snow and sun alternately shower our cactus-crowded ledge atop Lady Luck, we eye suburbia's push toward the Wilderness boundaries. And I wonder if enough time in the desert can make one blind to these contradictions.

Early on the trip, we drive the park’s one-way loop road to the Pine Creek trailhead. The day’s double-header is a pair of neglected trad classics: Challenger (500’ 5.10d) and Jupiter II (600’ 5.11+). The lights of Vegas glow above the darkening Blue Diamond Hill, and five pitches off the deck we pull ropes and cross our fingers. On a day when Las Vegas registers winds of 65MPH, we’ve spent 10 hours on a wall which, to quote the guidebook, “seems to somehow amplify any winds that may be blowing.” But the immaculate corners and improbable roofs overshadow all temporary discomfort. Our rope slides through the anchor and flirts with gravity before eloping into the wind. Again we’re caught off guard by crashing and tearing noises overhead. Through lips chapped and bleeding, we debate the cause of these eerie sounds, rule out rockfall, and credit the anomaly to swirling gusts ripping through the canyon’s narrowing walls. We wait in the dark as no rope falls, our tangle instead flaps sideways and off into the blackness. We abandon one rope and reach the ground with our second, happy to return for a daylight rope-retrieval-repeat of Challenger. After sunset, glow from the strip makes the city’s presence obvious. By day, one forgets about it entirely. And it’s a hillside of yucca and derelict mineshafts, perhaps Nevada’s most valuable real-estate, which makes this escape possible. The same hillside, facing the canyons of Red Rock, is where developer Jim Rhodes wants to supplant sagebrush with suburban sprawl.

Describing Rhodes as controversial is like describing Fred Beckey as prolific. It’s an accurate, if not-at-all adequate description of the man whose unpaid taxes and corruption connections have become legend in southern Nevada. After winning an April, 2010 decision to apply for denser zoning on the unsettled hillside facing Red Rock, Rhodes decided to pay the $490,000 in delinquent taxes on his suddenly-more-valuable property. He can now take a “major project” proposal back to the county commission, a group which has shown little historical deference to the advocates of restraint. Any development facing the park is likely to mirror Rhodes’ initially-thwarted 2003 plan for 5,500 homes, stoplights and strip malls. A suburb of 20,000 may become the immediate view from Red Rock.

After finding a straight-sided chock stamped VB on our climb, I phoned long-time local Paul Van Betten about his 1986 first ascent of Jupiter II. He described early forays into upper Pine Creek as hikes up the pristine canyon, punctuated by “oh, holy shit!” moments, as more and more unclimbed lines emerged. Jupiter II is one of Paul’s “all time favorites” and he was happy to learn that the wind still plays its noisy tricks high on the wall. Our conversation turned to the ban on route development inside the park, and plans for a housing development just outside. Van Betten can’t hide his disgust for Rhodes' plans, and describes the BLM as “really silent” on the issue. This lack of any stance on the development is confirmed by the BLM office responsible for Red Rock. Van Betten has witnessed three decades of changes to the park, and he sees the wilderness bolting ban as a “dereliction of duty on the BLM’s part.” Adamant about the area’s untapped route potential, he insists that Red Rock “has 1,000 Levitation 29s, if the bolting could go on.” But Van Betten also sees the restrictions as an obvious reaction to the tactics of local climbers, whose rampant chipping and scarring at nearby limestone crags “has been a failure to police ourselves.”

On our fifth day in Red Rock, May temperatures finally make an appearance. This will be our first climb without a recurring fight over the highly-prized belay jacket. I've brought two pairs of shorts and one pair of pants on the trip. After living in the same pants for four days, pride, if not prudence, demands I implement the unused 2/3 of my wardrobe. But what was worn as a great choice for the morning's two-hour hike now looks like a recipe for disaster. I'm racking to lead the last pitch of Adventure Punks (5.10d, 600'). The route's crux looms overhead. And it's knee-scrapingly, ankle-scarring wide. I'm always nervous about the ".d" grades, more so given my knowledge of the pitch’s history. The 'Adventure Punks' were a prolific cadre of 1980s hardmen who favored boldness over bolting. Richard Harrison, Jay Smith, and Paul Van Betten, perhaps the most adventurous of the ‘punks’, trained on Red Rock’s crags, and carried their skills ground-up to summits throughout the park and around the world. Their attitude contradicted the era's prevailing 'route construction' philosophy, but lead to some of the area’s best and hardest climbs. And as I rack up to lead, I recall how it was the crux offwidth on the group's signature route which nearly put an end to the Adventure Punks.

Richard Harrison had onsighted the route's offwidth finale with a hip belay from partner Nick Nordblom, one #4 Friend, and an apparently more-than-adequate set of brass nuts. Sixty feet of leftward-leaning 5.10 separated Harrison's stance atop the route from his last piece. And while following the pitch, the swami-clad Nick Nordblom violated one of the Adventure Punks' rules. He fell. With no other gear in place on the arcing corner, Nordblom’s fall sent him spinning across the wall. The shouts of both men filled Pine Creek Canyon, joined by the distinctive "PING" of metal coming undone. Harrison was pulled onto a piton, the piton was pulled from the anchor, and both climbers dangled from a single 1/4" Rawl which the bolt-shy Harrison had begrudgingly placed.

With courage derived from the presence of cams unavailable to the Adventure Punks, I squirm, squeeze, and chimney my way upwards and into the slot. Moving my chalkbag and #6 out onto my left hip, I walk up my #5 Camalot and imagine the scene 27 years prior. Harrison, facing the same squeeze, adjusts his swami until his knot is to the side, places his #4 Friend, and commits to the head-spinning runout. I place my big cams, clip the 2 retro-bolts, and finish off the lead. I'm able to claim success, if not exactly style. But hey, Harrison’s rack was a whole lot lighter than mine was. And he was probably wearing pants too.

The Adventure Punks avoided bolting to preserve a tradition. Today’s climbers avoid bolting to preserve their bank accounts. And those who do bolt, carefully avoid admitting it. When $150-per-bolt citations were instituted by the BLM, Van Betten stood up at a meeting and offered a ranger $300 on the spot. “I’d just seen a new splitter crack and wanted to buy an anchor.” The ranger wasn’t amused. The installation of bolts, sans pre-purchasing, went underground.

Prior to 2008, Red Rock had a resident climber ranger, and would occasionally allow for anchor replacements. “In theory anyone could get a re-bolting permit,” recalls Greg Barnes of the American Safe Climbing Association, “but in practice it was nearly only the ASCA.” For the last two years, even the ASCA has been barred from replacing the park’s aging hardware.

We glance through Red Rock’s newest guidebook and notice first ascent information from the 1970s, but few similar details for the modern classics. Officially “anonymous” routes are now the norm. And we’re keen to learn if these secrecy-inspired shenanigans are worth the extra effort. A towering fin of white stone separates the Pine Creek and Juniper Creek drainages. Striding the crest single-file, we compare echoes down either side and stare ahead at the Jet Stream Wall. Lacking both ambition and the required four #00 TCUs for the sandbagged crux of Jet Stream (600’ 5.12c), we set sights on Drifting (500’ 5.11c), a plumb line of patina edges, discontinuous seams, and recently-drilled bolts. Intricate face climbing and thin cracks typify the climb and again we don’t see another party all day. Unlike Levitation 29, Time’s Up, and older nearby routes, topping out on Drifting wont leave the bittersweet taste of bolted cracks in your mouth. After such an outstanding route, we joke about owing the first ascent team a round of beers. Luckily for the dirtbags among us, anonymous creditors rarely collect.

Given delays by the BLM, anonymous new routing is likely to continue. According to Lee Kirk, Lead Outdoor Recreation Planner, the BLM is currently working with the Las Vegas Climbers Liason Council to develop what's called a "Memorandum of Understanding" of its plans to interact with the local climbers' group. Although an overdue step in the right direction, the Memorandum of Understanding wont change the park’s bolting rules, which will require an updated Climbing Management Plan. This climbing plan won’t be started until the adoption of a new Wilderness Plan. And a timeline for the park’s completed wilderness plan is vaguely described by Kirk as “years.” Given the aging alternative of quarter-inchers and soft sandstone, illegal replacement is likely to continue.

We weren’t the only climbers who felt drawn each morning to the long corner on The Warrior (1100' 5.11a). Rob Dezonia, a Vegas local, also noticed the route each time he’d approach the park. But unlike Red Rock climbers of the prior four decades, Rob decided to do something about it. In the fall of 2006, he cajoled a semi-willing partner into a pre-dawn start for Cactus Flower Tower.

The partner, his brother Pat Dezonia, had been bribed with the promises of a free sushi dinner and full day of adventure. The duo embarked with a “whole arsenal of gear” and, in the words, of Rob, a lingering question as to “why the hell that hasn’t been climbed”. What the Dezonias found was yet another untapped line, this one featuring five varied corner pitches of 5.10 and 5.11 climbing, runout patina face holds, and the confirmation that unclimbed classics still await the ambitious. By our final day in Red Rock, we could submit excuses no longer. With our “minor arsenal” of gear and carefully memorized approach instructions, we set out for The Warrior. We found a demanding route, at times excellent, at times scary, and ultimately unforgettable. In short, it typifies what makes these routes worth climbing.

Atop the spire we compared scraped knees and pantomimed the endless fist jams of pitch three. Having finally reached it, we all felt reluctant to abandon our trip's final summit. Pointed shadows of the mountains, a yawning line of teeth, stretched eastward across the desert floor. The early-evening sun and the peaks of the park were calling our attention towards Las Vegas, towards development, and towards the very thing we sought to escape. And just over the hill, we could see that it was approaching.

And a few more for something we hope is coming up...

AstroDog

2010-10-03T22:31:00.000-07:00

My friend Scott made a great little video about our climb of Astro Dog, the first time we'd been to the South Rim of the Gunnison River Canyon.

Brought to you by...

2010-10-01T21:08:00.000-07:00

Coke, Office Depot and the U.S. Army... how could I ever drive cars without you?

Lots of folks who write various personal climbing blogs put small logos and ads on the side of their blog, as a way to publicize the companies that give them gear. That might make sense for Chris Sharma and Sterling (AKA the 'Right Rope for Chris!) because Sharma's well-enough known to the new climbers of the world that some of those climbers really might think he sends 5.15 only because his new 9.4 is a Sterling, and not a Mammut or Beal or whatever. However, for lesser known climbers, and less climbing-relating products, the efficacy of such ads is far more questionable.

Does it really make sense to buy sunglasses from Julbo, or Native, because someone with an online climbing blog, even a fairly decent boulderer, gets these sunglasses free and wears them? Does the average climber know the first thing about sunglasses, lenses, UV light, or anything else that would legitimize their endorsement of a given brand of shades? I don't think so. If you collect sponsorships like action figures, then you've obviously got to fit some company into the "eyewear" logo slot on your blog, but I don't think it makes sense for the companies' return on investment. My assumption is that wholesale on sunglasses must be incredibly cheap, otherwise these companies wouldn't keep giving them out without much in return. And if you're advertising for sunglasses on your climbing blog because you really think that it is going to bring customers to that company, I'd hope you are mistaken as well.

But in homage to these less-than-ideal sponsorship situations, I was inspired to compose a summary of 3 sponsorships that are important to me:

The free Wendy's burger boasts an enviable amount of food value.

Wendy's - On the back of every single Wendy's receipt is a form in which one can phone into the 1-800 number, take a short automated survey, and get a 5-digit alpha-numeric code for a free $3.50 burger. It's easy to collect a handful of receipts upon visiting a single Wendy's, these places are ubiquitous, most of the time when I ask they let me get other menu items that total less than $3.50, and the creative among us may realize that there is no way for the Wendy's employee to validate that one's code wasn't made up 30 seconds earlier in the parking lot.
Chase Bank - Chase is always offering all kinds of great things like $150 for opening a no-fees account, and 25,000 miles (AKA free round trip ticket) for starting a new checking account. With no closing fees, it's pretty darn easy to take a free climbing trip once a year by repeating this simple process each 12 months. "...thanks to Chase bank for supporting this expedition."
US Mint - There are many credit cards that offer a certain small percentage back, in cash, on all purchases. These usually don't amount to very much, especially for the thrifty low spenders. However, the US Mint sells money! You can buy dollar coins, for $1 each, in boxes of $250. Buy a few of these, take them to the bank on your way to go climbing, and you've just made $50 or $60 bucks for a day on the rock, just by swinging into the bank and paying back your credit card purchase -- with the very thing you purchased! Let's see Native Eyewear try to match that.

And to prove I occasionally do real work for money, you can read an article I wrote about Jens Holsten in the current (Autumn 2010) issue of Alpinist Magazine, and an additional short piece on my experiences working with the magazine.

Who the Hell?

2010-09-22T13:28:00.000-07:00

There were 3 separate visits to this webpage (all on Sept 6th) directed via Google after someone had searched "Who The Hell is Blake Herrington".

Sometimes I wonder the same thing...

I was in the Black Canyon with Scott Bennett for 3 days last week:

Day 1 - Scenic Cruise (3 pitches) into "The Dylan Wall" (now free at 5.12a) and we decided against a boiling-hot continuation via 'Twisted' so we finished on Journey Home and still got fried.

Day 2 - We climbed the Checkerboard Wall (morning shade), then went down to the river and swam, had lunch, and waited for more shade on other aspects. A couple of the key pitons are gone from Checkerboard Wall (including the only piece after the post-crux runout) so it's a little more serious than the guidebook describes and also would host a few more routefinding conundrums if you spend time searching for now-vanished pins.

Scott insisted we had to climb the Scenic Cruise because he "sure as hell wasn't going to walk up that gully." So we began the Scenic Cruise at 2:45 and finished the route in just under 5 hours, early enough to enjoy another lovely sunset from the overlook at 7:45.

Day 3 - We surrendered to the sun and hid on one of the North-facing walls. We climbed all the right-side variations to Comic Relief. This is a stellar ~6 pitch route, and with all the possible variations, you can climb "Comic Relief" twice, but really only climb one pitch the same. All the right-hand options are harder, but still nothing too rough. Halfway up this route, we detoured onto the 5.11+ crack pitch of Perfect Art, which Scott onsighted. There's an anchor atop this pitch, and it's a very worthy mid-route distraction from Comic Relief.

The other memorable facet of the trip was our booty count. We ended up with about 6 or 7 stoppers, a new C3 cam, 2 quickdraws, a couple other carabiners, and a pair of 5.10 Guide Tennies with quite a bit of life left in them. Hauling the extra pair of shoes up from the base of the canyon was a little annoying, especially since they clearly fit Scott's feet and not mine, but I suppose we could feel good about ourselves for reducing litter in the national park.

Wed. 9/8 - Golden, CO

2010-09-03T10:01:00.000-07:00

Come out Sept 8 for some movies and stories from 2 trips to the Coast Range of Alaska and B.C. as well as some photographs and video of a new route done this summer in Rocky Mountain National Park. Climbing from ~5:00-7:30 beforehand at Wall of the '90s, and then Happy Hour across the street to follow.

The Stikine Story

2010-08-24T23:45:00.000-07:00

It is said that true adventure begins when things start to go wrong. Or at least not-as-planned. By this measure, if none other, Nate and I did little besides adventuring on our trip. The Coast Range created cruxes that our months of training had done little to train us for. And the ability to climb the scariest M-whatever, or jam the most painful ringlock did little good when we were getting swept downstream by rivers, or nervously dodging the grizzly whose tracks we'd followed all morning. It also didn't help us when trying to build ourselves a pair of boots...

Does this look mountain-worthy to you?

Pack it up, pack it in...

From the border crossing at Bellingham, we'd had 20 hours of winding roads and Canadian Public Radio until reaching the dock at Tattoga Lake, 100 miles East of Petersburg, AK.

Doing my best to not fall in. I usually succeeded.

Collecting our gear into an Eisenhower-era float plane, we were transported 50 miles west by a bush pilot kids might imagine to be Paul Bunyan's shorter, surlier, and more chain-smoking uncle. He personified the societal-fringe castaways that one only finds at Tattoga, the DMV, and other remote outposts of humanity. And somewhere in the course of loading gear and flying the plane, my partner Nate's boots had left our company. We still don't know if they were left on the plane's pontoon, or else improperly stored and unintentionally jettisoned mid-flight. But we did know that our intended route, the North Ridge of Mt. Ambition, was not a climb for Nate's barely-there Nike tennis shoes.

Putting our years of bushwhacking experience to work

Dismayed by the boot situation, we began hiking as planned, expecting two days of rough travel to reach the icecap and surrounding peaks. We were soon enjoying a few hornet nest 'adventures', river wading 'adventures' and surprise crevasse-spelunking 'adventures' on route to the Scud glacier. At times these would combine to create 'superadventures', such as when I stumbled into a hornets nest and nearly tripped over backwards into the river.

And after gaining the toe of the Scud , we were treated to the further 'adventure' of determining just how far our food, pitons, and climbing shoes had traveled from the initial impact site of our obviously-exploded supplies airdrop.

Fortunately, these days of adventure provided us with ample time to design shoe improvements using now-expendable parts from A. my tennis shoes B. the plastic frame sheet from a backpack, C. Dyneema, SilNyoln, Tyvek, and other space age fabrics from our ill-fated glacial bombardment, and D. a brain-damaging quantity of Seam Grip. Nate and I had met five years ago, when we studied politics and Econ, respectively, at Western Washington University. And so lacking in any knowledge of design or engineering, our boot construction brainstorms were not subject to the types of pesky limitations (reality... for one) that would likely have plagued a more well-informed team of alpinists.

Nate rocking the omni-shoes

We were the third ever group of climbers to the area, with mountains peaks having seen one or no prior ascents. Gazing up to the summits, we watched the peaks shed seracs and stone thousands of feet down to onto the Scud. I sorted, rationed, and fretted over our drastically-reduced food stores while Nate went to work, transforming his well-used around-town kicks into what he dubbed the "omni shoe." They may never win an Editor's Choice, or a Guide's Choice, but without alternatives, they were pronounced to be Nate's choice, and may merit contention for the 2010 Golden Seam Grip Award. With stiff-plastic insoles (thanks Cilogear framesheet) Nate's shoes were made stiff enough to frontpoint. We'd been out 3 or 4 days and had already used EVERYTHING we'd brought (minus the first aid kit), often for things other than the intended purpose. We racked up and set the alarm for 2AM.

Our neve and alpine-ice route lead us 1,500' up the wall between Mt. Ambition (to our South) and Mt. Endeavor (to our North). Nate compared this part of our route to something like the Nisqually Icefall on Mt. Rainier, and we were happy to hit the ridge crest and no longer be under seracs as the sun rose.

I was relieved to put on rock shoes and begin my lead block, but immediately realized that the grey stone we'd hoped would be clean granite was in fact some band of sedimentary garbage. Calling this stuff kitty litter would be an insult to the makers of Fresh Step. After 4 pitches of "oozing" up the crumbling filth, we had some introspective moments, deciding weather we wanted to commit ourselves, our one backpack, sleeping bag, and can of fuel, to several thousand feet of rock-climber Russian Roulette. We backed off.

Choss-aneering on our soon-aborted attempt

Fortunately, the rock in most of the range is granite, or granitic.From the col above our icefall, we turned north and the stone instantly improved. We rallied our spirits and adjusted to a new reality. Mt. Ambition was yesterday's news, and we were now going to make the most of our already-completed climbing by heading North up Mt. Endeavor. Though less visually striking than Ambition, Mt. Endeavor is only a couple hundred feet shorter and still a significant hunk of rock and ice. Our route from here would entail an additional 2-3,000' of easy rock climbing to reach the summit. We were the second party to reach the top of Endeavor, and named the climb Arete sans Chaussures (arete without boots) D 5.6 Moderate-Ice 4,000’ - difficulties in getting off the mountain, after a 4,000 foot route, were exacerbated by the fact that we had not intended to climb the mountain during that weather window, and knew nothing about its complex architecture. We ended up making a series of v-threads, leaving rock anchors, doing some downclimbing as a storm came in, and sacrificing about 70 feet of tat, along with many nuts and pitons. In homage to ratings in the black canyon guidebook where we'd trained together this spring, we give the descent from Mount Endeavor a "PDW" for Pretty Damn Western.

One of the things I most like about alpine climbing is the need to be resourceful, creative, and willing to adjust to surprises as a team. Our trip to the coast range provided ample opportunity to revel in these facets of climbing. And although overcoming such challenges isn't something easily reflected in a route description or journal article, it remains my most endearing impression of the trip, and the part of our performance for which I am most proud.

After a couple well-deserved rest days of rationing our calories, rebrewing our dwindling coffee supply, and eating "oatmeal plus" (it's oatmeal, + whatever scraps, crumbs, and gravel we'd collected off the glacier), we set out to climb the West Buttress of Peak 8,692’.

Pitch numero uno

A few miles and maybe 2,000' of elevation gain on a glacier brought us to the base of the route, whereupon Nate fell into a crevasse, just to keep the adventure quotient up there.

Nate leads out on some nice rock

Soloing high on the crest

We climbed through shattered by mostly solid granite in four steep pitches to the aesthetic ridge crest, which continued, at around 5.7, on up to the summit. This had also been reached once before. Our route was named the Dalestrom (Dale + Maelstrom) in honor of our human-tornado of a seaplane pilot. We rated it 5.9 2,500' but after finally being able to pull on some decent holds, it could have been 5.8 or 5.10c, it was just nice not to be raining rock down on the belayer.

Simulclimbing on the upper buttress

Following the descent off this peak, we knew we'd be cutting up slings and rope for any future rappels, and the ongoing 1,000-calorie diet was taking its toll. Without a lot of energy, we decided to spend a day in camp organizing and cleaning up. I built the ultimate alpine shower system (sorry ladies, no pictures) and we took turns scrubbing off the accumulated grit, gravel, and gunk of the past week. I was probably cleaner than Nate to begin with, as I had unexpectedly gone "swimming" in one of our first day river crossings.

The shower was created by finding an overhanging van-sized boulder, and tying a trekking pole such that it hung over the top of the boulder, but was anchored into the base with a climbing rope. I boiled 2 liters of water, put them in our dromedary bag, and clipped this to the trekking pole. Strip down, open up the valve on your dromedary, and voila... you've got burning hot water splashing you in the face while the rest of your body is freezing. It felt amazing...

Happy to be off the glacier

Marine Schwacking

On our final day out we were hoping to get off the glacier and into the stream crossings before the river had risen to its peak. Unfortunately, the river was MUCH HIGHER hiking out than hiking in. Experience helped us to know which side of the valley to be on, but we still enjoyed a thorough tour of the flooded woods on all sides, complete with crotch-deep wading, slide alder schwacking, and a bizarre combination of the two activities that was somehow even worse than it sounds.

The fact that our river was full of glacial silt meant that you couldn't tell if a given spot was covered in 3 inches or 3 feet of flowing icy murk. Many times we'd suddenly step in holes or trip over hidden logs and rocks, shouting out beta to the person behind. Reaching the shores of Yehiniko Lake and building a much-dreamed-of fire was satisfying beyond words.

Thanks to the American Alpine Club and the Mazamas for helping us pay for the trip, and thanks to Nate for being a great partner on the adventure.

Mt. Endeavor is at the top left

A few notes on logistics and gear - The drive North from Bellingham took about 19 hours, and was memorable. BC just keeps on going! We narrowly avoided running out of gas after refusing to refuel in Stewart, Alaska, but it's a good idea to fill up whenever possible anywhere North of Smithers, BC.

Nuts and Bolts:

2x 60L Cilogear Backpacks
2-person expedition tent
MSR Whisperlite Stove and 4 bottles of white gas (used 3)
2x 20-degree sleeping bags
2x 3/4 length thermarests, the lightweight orange ones
Insulated Jacket, and ultralight rain shells
windstoppery Softshell pants and long johns
Rock shoes, tennis shoes (left at toe of glacier) and boots (one pair)
2x 60m half ropes
12 slings, a double set of cams, 1.5 sets of nuts, 5 pitons, 6 ice screws, crampons and 2 tools each
3-Liter dromedary bag and 2 nalgenes

Bring an iPod, make sure your airdrop is done onto soft seasonal snow, bring more tat (100' feet), bring a small book with lots of pages, expect the unexpected, take more photos of non-climbing time, keep camera out of the river when you fall in, don't fall into the river, watch out for hornets, don't let Nate make "experimental" dinners, bring a big bag of all-purpose soup mix, bring more snickers and fewer powerbars, Seam Grip and Duct Tape are invaluable...

Lots of Fluff

2010-08-24T00:57:00.000-07:00

If you're like me and get annoyed by endlessly positive, vague, and "fluffy" reviews of products, Alpinist has the answer. It has relaunched the Mountain Standards reviews. I am writing a few (a couple done, a couple on the way) and there's absolutely no pressure to write anything slanted positive or negative about the gear. I am happy to actually see some bad reviews being written. I was surprised to see the Osprey pack get 5/5 stars (zippers have no place on a climbing pack, and look at all those clips and buckles!)

Maybe I'm just naturally cantankerous, but I gave 2/5 on my first review, and expect to see more reviews where folks are honest and understandably critical in their assessments. The Mountain Standards blog also accepts suggestions for products to review and potential new reviewers, should anyone have an idea or be interested.

If only I could review food and get some endless free samples. Snickers vs Toblerone, Sharkies vs Gummy Bears, après-climb beer from Great Divide vs après-climb beer from Boundary Bay, dried apricots with glacier gravel vs dried cranberries with glacier gravel. The possibilities are endless...

Tempest Tamed

2010-08-20T22:51:00.000-07:00

A couple summers ago, my friend Sol Wertkin and I climbed the 2nd route on the peak "Colchuck Balanced Rock" in the Central Cascades. The area was our "good weather" bail option, after the west side of the mountains was engulfed in a storm. However, the storm reached across the range and we ended up climbing through intermittent precip and winds on our route. We named this climb "The Tempest", and we couldn't believe how good the rock was, and how continuous the cracks were. Although we aided much of the route, its potential as a stellar freeclimb struck us as obvious.Occasionally, it's nice to be right.

Last week, Ben Gilkison and Andrew Philbin made the likely first free ascent of the Tempest, by climbing from ground to summit, and onsighting or redpointing each pitch as they moved up the mountain. Both Ben and Drew had a no-falls day, placing gear on lead in the style required of a first ascent. Ben had previously been on the Tempest for a day last summer, when he and I were climbing the route together. On the same trip to this cirque, I'd lead the whole route while climbing with Sol, both of us easily aiding out the roof on pitch 2 and enjoying the softman version, a 5.11 freeclimb with 20' of easy aid.

Hand traversing into the 5.9 corner (Pitch 3) on the balmy first ascent.

In the American Alpine Journal Sol and I had (presumptuously of arrogantly) predicted "If freed, the route is a good contender to emerge as one of the Cascades’ best and hardest alpine rock climbs." The verdict from those who've done it is that we weren't exaggerating. We'd thought that the 2nd pitch roof would be around 5.13-, and the upper headwall 5.11b. We rated a long corner in the middle of the route to be 5.9++. They ended up going at 5.12d, 5.11, and 5.10a.

Drew Philbin on the 5.10c layback atop pitch 1.

In the one-and-a-half summers since our climb, 3 or 4 more routes have all been added to this peak, featuring excellent stone and climbing.

It is awesome to see traffic on these new routes. Congrats to Ben and Andrew on their ascent.

The Sublime...

2010-08-18T12:48:00.000-07:00

I spent 3 days this week having a BLAST in in the local alpine environments. Short approaches, no bugs, minimal brush, no glaciers, and perfect stone. If I try really hard, I can almost convince myself that psuedo-alpine climbing is more fun than the real thing! We shot laser beams, and we did some stellar routes as well.

First off, my friend Joe Sambataro and I went into the Cathedral Wall to try a new-ish (and supposedly quite good) 1,000' route called the Sublime Buttress (III 5.11c).

We found it to be an AMAZING route with lots of variety and stellar climbing. The info on this is hard to gather, so here's what we recall:

The Beta:

The Cathedral Wall separates the Andrews Creek drainage from the Sky Pond/Cathedral Spires/Etc drainage in Rocky Mtn. Park. Hike towards the Sky pond for10 minutes after the Andrews Creek trail splits off right, and you'll see the wall. The Sublime Buttress follows the prow of the longest and steepest sweep on the Cathedral Wall.

The climbing is a mix of excellent face holds, roofs, and thin cracks. Most pitches have some runout sections, but nothing harder than 5.10- or so. The crux of the route comes on pitch 2, which is overhanging for 20 meters. This pitch sports a thin-hands crux down lower, and a wild 5.11c pull around a roof up higher. Gear on this pitch is very good, with one fixed nut in place.

The sixth pitch was (I felt) the most demanding lead of the climb. I used all my runners and still had horrendous rope drag. The pitch moves left around or over several roofs and flakes, then tackles a long runout to some delicate moves before gear is again available. From here, climb through a flaky whitish band, and make sure to pull past the white rock, and over the last roof, at a spot on the left where a crack continues onward. I nearly climbed out a 2 different spots further right, both of which would have put me into the terrain of dead-ending crimps on a steep face.

The first two belays can be made at large trees. All other belays (except the summit) have one bolt and copious available gear. There are no protection bolts or pitons on route.

The first pitch, 5.6 slab. Easy and fun, but hardly a warmup for the crux.

Pulling out the roof on pitch 2. It's continuously overhanging until this point.

Joe on pitch 3 (5.8 R or X). Awesome face holds, felt like Red Rock climbing.

Pitch 4- 5.8 face and crack to the prow of the wall.

Joe finishes pitch 6 in style

The final pitch takes a 5.10 hand crack, slightly overhanging, to the sudden topout.

Gear - One 60m rope is fine, with a couple pitches (3, 5) being about 55m long. Bring a set of nuts and double set of cams from green alien to #2 camalot. Bringing several 4' slings would be wise.

Descend - Scramble up the ridge, staying on the right-hand side. After passing a couple steep gullies and fins of rock to your left, head down a large gully leftward that brings one directly to Mirror Lake. 15 minutes back down the trail, and you're at the base of the route. Bring walking shoes on route. With two ropes, one could easily rap the route (single-bolt anchors in place atop p3,4,5,6). You'd need to leave tat or gear atop the wall for the first rappel.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Following this, I spent a couple days in glacier Gorge with my wife Allison. She rocked the light-up disk for some nocturnal photo fun.

We played frisbee and swam, chased Elk, made awesome alpine desserts*, and we also climbed the 8-pitch "Barb" (III 5.10) on Spearhead Peak.

Long's Peak and cool lighting on the ridge overhead.

The route is excellent, with a bunch of splitter granite cracks and interesting knobs.

We had the luxury bivy in the meadows at the base of Spearhead, so it only took about 15 minutes to walk to the start of the climb. Allison did great on her first climb in the peaks of Colorado, and we avoided getting lightning-ed or hailed on. Thumbs up rating to 'The Barb' and our Glacier Gorge bivy, both absolutely sublime.

*Get some instant Jello Pudding. The chocolate and pistachio flavors are better than the chemical-tasting lemon or buttersctoch. Mix the appropriate amount of milk powder (err on the side of extra) with 2 cups water (colder is better), in order to make 2 cups milk. Pour in pudding powder, and shake vigorously for 1 minute. A nalgene works wonderfully for doing all of this. Immediately put the nalgene or other container into a snow bank or cold water, and leave it for 5 minutes. Enjoy the deliciousness!

Stikine Select

2010-08-13T11:41:00.000-07:00

I just returned to Colorado from a 2 week vacation to the Coast Range, climbing with my friend Nate Farr. We were on the British Columbia side of the Alaska/Canada border, about 50 miles East of Petersburg, AK and in an area that had likely been visited by just two climbing groups, one in 1967 and one in 2003. We managed to complete 2 new routes, got shut down by 'rock' quality on Mt. Ambition, and had an amazing trip. I'm busy back at work in Denver, but will be writing about the numerous non-climbing cruxes and unforeseen challenges we faced. We built a pair of boots, and had a very 'creative' food menu due to an aerial food drop that turned into more of a carpet-bombing mission.

In the mean time, here are a few photos from our excursion. Thanks a million to the American Alpine Club and the Mazamas climbing club of Portland for the grant money which help fund our expedition.

New Route in Rocky

2010-07-27T15:39:00.000-07:00

Checking in from the North Pacific Seaplane base of Tattoga Lake, British Columbia, I have to post a cool video my friend Graham Zimmerman crafted about our new route, established last week, on the Northwest Face of Chiefshead Mountain in Rocky Mountain National Park. This wall is notorious for tough routefinding and long runouts. We were happy to do the line ground-up, onsight, and without the need for bolts. I've found that not owning a drill or knowing how to use one has significantly reduced the time spent bolting on new routes. There's potential for a couple excellent variations, so check out Graham's video and get on it!

We didn't summit the peak (a huge ledge runs above the continuously steep face, and all routes end along this ledge) but if there hadn't been an ongoing thunder and lightning storm, it would have been nice to scramble up to the top out. Perhaps a good reason to go back...

Here's the evidence of Graham's technological prowess, and now I'm off to pack my bags for the float plane! (One to throw out the window onto a glacier, and one to hike in on the aproach. )

Nuts and Bolts:

2x 8.1mm 60m half ropes
2x cams to #3, 1x #4
1x set wires
1x ice tool w/hammer for pounding pins
3x pins and one beak - tried to use beak, didn't work
One 30L pack for the follower
Got wet and cold and Electrical storm atop the face on the first time, bailed from there, returned with Joe Sambataro one week later, did the right-side variation, and more pitches to the summit.
No need for ice tools or crampons

Tuesdays in the Park

2010-07-21T22:36:00.000-07:00

July 20th was my fifth consecutive Tuesday spent in Rocky Mountain National Park going climbing on the high peaks. Two weeks ago, I climbed Birds of Fire on the Chiefshead Mountain, which is a fantastic route, but follows a mostly bolt-protected line. Last week Scott Bennett and I climbed the Diamond face on Long's Peak (my first time on the mountain) and carried our sleeping bags over to Glacier Gorge, where we bivied at the base of Spearhead Mountain. The following day we did all but one pitch of Stone Monkey on Spearhead, before a hail storm scared us off. And in my trips to this beautiful little cirque, I noticed an appealing line of corners and cracks on Chiefshead, just left of our line of ascent. When I found out that the line was apparently unclimbed, I was determined to give it a go before leaving for Mt. Ambition on 7/25...

Wet Weirdness

2010-07-09T13:21:00.000-07:00

One of the oddest things I've ever seen in the mountains.