Wed. 9/8 - Golden, CO

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

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?

Lots of Fluff

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

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.

The Sublime...

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.

Stikine Select

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

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!

Tuesdays in the Park

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

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

Solstice Day 4.1

I went back to Rocky Mountain Nat. Park this week with Scott Bennett, intent on trying to cram even more climbing into a car-to-car outing. We planned to climb 5 spires in two different valleys. Here's my amateur attempt at a video of our day.






Tower Day from Blake Herrington on Vimeo.


Nuts and Bolts:

1x 70m 9.7mm rope
2x approach shoes
1x light axe and aluminum pons (did not need)
1x set wires
1.5x set cams to #3
1x long sleeve, wind shirt, and toque
~15 hours round trip
Zowie is an adventure