mountaineering

Separate Reality (which is as real as it gets)

http://pbpl.physics.ucla.edu/~hristo/Separate%20Reality.jpg

a climb only possible after the invention of cams, i think? (ditto all of indian creek)

plz more pictures of blonde hot stuff climber dude kthx bye

HI DREW

http://pbpl.physics.ucla.edu/~hristo/trad/SR1.jpg

http://pbpl.physics.ucla.edu/~hristo/elcap/half%20dome.jpg

lol beefcake

http://pbpl.physics.ucla.edu/~hristo/elcap/Salathe%20Wall.jpg

haha i've got pants just like dude on the right

Thanks for the beefcake bro. Sad to see Badakov's not a natural blonde. *cries*

i think maybe i need to post more pictures of actual alpine climbing, hmmmm

http://www.brianpostphoto.com/images/rapidtransitcathedral.jpg

http://www.alpine-guides.com/images/alpine%20tech%20alpine%20course.jpg

http://www.umich.edu/~climbing/images/ice.jpg

mixed climbing is fucking terrifying

http://www.dave-stephens.com/iceclimbing/banff/johnsoncanyon/johnsoncanyon06.jpg

barf

http://www.alpinedave.com/ice/source_lake_mixed/M7_loren_lead2.jpg

http://www.waltonsmountains.com/ice/VI0303.jpg

hardest shit in the world (The Wheel of Life V16)

http://daihold.com/gallery/Australia/TheWheelOfLifeV16-3.jpg

http://daihold.com/gallery/Australia/AmmagammaV13-2.jpg

TS: canyoneering vs mountaineering.
canyoneering=a few moments of adrenaline-pumping fear interspersed amongst much fun. less awesome. less of a sense of accomplishment.
mountaineering=haven't done much really but what i've heard makes it sound pretty hellish, with the main plus being being able to say you've done it.

I can't find any pictures of it, but the maddest climbing I've done is climbing the south coast chalk cliffs. This are generally done with ice climbing boots, crampons and axes, using warthogs for protection. There is something indelibly daft about stomping down the prom at saltdean in short t-shirt, plastic boots and a belt full of axes and spiky protection.

Talking of Mixed Climbing, Scottish Grade III provides some of the most fun you can have in the mountains.

i'm interested in both canyoneering and mountaineering, but the latter seems more compelling, maybe simply because you're going up rather than down (because being above everything is more interesting than getting into a secret place? don't think that's it, really. i'll leave the freudian stuff to someone else). maybe also because you feel like your body is better protected on the mountain, ie more clothing/gear?

both interest me more than rock climbing alone because both are much more likely to allow me to see something/get somewhere i couldn't otherwise. the sense of accomplishment of ringing the bell (like i'm gonna free climb) is pretty great, i guess, but maybe i'm less into that sort of thing, and i'd rather play with words when problem-solving. plus i'm unlikely to develop the arm strength. is there a term of art for post-climb claw-hands?

If the rest of mountaineering gear is as awesome as crampons and ice axes, then cayoneering isn't even on the same page.

i suppose my conception of mountaineering is totally ignoring crevasses

you can avoid crevasses and still have a lot of fun with crampons and ice axes though...do a winter summit of Mt. Washington is where I did that. Mountaineering gear is so Batman.

i've always thought ice axes and crampons were pretty cool, despite not being a gearhead of any kind. maybe i just thought they went well with the outfit.

I'm kind of fascinated with the Southwest and canyons, mazes of buttes, boulder fields, all kinds of geology that's super visible out there b/c of the lack of topsoil & vegetation. But that's largely due to the greatness of a writer named Craig Childs. Also because people have historically LIVED there and learned to live with the landscape instead of against it (because otherwise you might died) and you can apparently sometimes find their routes if you know what you're looking for -- cf stories of reaching down off an edge and having to commit yr weight to the existence of a handhold and then realizing there's a measured sequence of hand- and footholds all the way down, carved hundreds of years ago.

never heard of this Craig Childs. this book might interest you.

Ed, did you ever climb the chalk cliffs of Eastbourne, or Beachy Head? I read this history of Beachy Head and it mentions some wild stuff about how dangerous chalk surfaces are, how these "fingers" of chalk break off and form highly unstable towers. Was that going on the faces you climbed?

http://www.bandmerch.com/java2/BandMerch2/Display/ProductImages/1869F.png

rock n' roll, dudes.

I was climbing the much more stable and slabby cliffs at Saltdean. The chalk is moist enough and soft enough to get some great holds with ice axes and crampons. I used to maintain the southern chalk guide, I shall dig it out and tell you exactly what beachy head had/has to offer.

maybenot so good

yeah, probably not so good at all. it is unfortunate that Everest's greatest challenge is its altitude, and not the climbing itself, which means that anyone with the $$$ and the time to get in shape can get up it eventually. K2, only about 800 feet shorter, is substantially more difficult, which reduces traffic considerably (also: kills way more people than Everest does).

This kinda lost in the morass of May season Everest summits, but three guys summited Lhotse's South Face - which as about as difficult as you can get in the Himalyas.

OK, this is freaky...

Free soloist Michael Reardon, has been lost at sea in Irland. Con Moriarty, whose house Mr Reardon was staying in, told an Irish TV news station that Reardon had just finished a climb and was standing on a rock shelf at the base of a cliff when a wave hit him from behind, knocked him on his back, and carried him out to sea.

The accident occured west of Valentia Coast Guard Station yesterday evening. The alarm was raised shortly after 5pm yesterday when Reardon was unable to get himself out of the sea.

Mr Reardon, who was 36, had been in Ireland for the past month along with a photographer who was taking pictures of him climbing for an American magazine. He was due to return to the United States today.

Mr Reardon's wife Marci and 13-year-old daughter are expected to arrive in Ireland tomorrow morning.

Valerie O’Sullivan, a photographer from Killarney who had accompanied him on a number of climbs, told The Times that his death had shocked the climbing community in Ireland.

“He was standing below a climb he had just completed and the photographer, Damon Corso, was about 30ft away taking pictures of him. Michael was on a real high after the climb. He was about 10ft above the sea and he let go and had his hands out, celebrating, to say he had completed the climb of his life. But then a wave just came in. The wave hit him on the knees and he lost his balance and slipped on the algae. He was shouting for help but there was nothing Damon could do.”

My greatest claim to mountaineering fame is that I attended college in Minnesota with the climber who eventually found the body of George Mallory on Mt. Everest. He was a long time guide on Mt. Rainier and well known in international climbing circles most of his life.

Back then, he and I would talk about mountains in the PNW a lot, because we were both homesick for them. His favorite saying was 'go for it', always spoken with gleeful zest. We dropped acid together in college. It was his idea. Really. He even bought my tab. Pretty lousy blotter, but how were we to know?

this thread reminds me of patagonia catalogue in a good way

i'm sad that i've never really mountaineered. river wolf should lead a pansy mountaineering trip for feeble nerds with no upper body strength.

whoah, I just came here to post about the Michael Reardon thing!

bell labs: okay! I am happy to!

...I am going to City of Rocks in ID for 8 days and am :D :D :D :D :D

...and my homey just got back from climbing the Snowpatch spire in the Bugaboos; hopefully I can go back with him later this summer.

http://www.bugaboorock.8m.com/images/snowpatch,spire,from,bugaboo.jpg

also, I just bought a new rope!

OK, I'm awed...

First successful climb of K2's west face ever

More info here

05:15 am EDT Aug 21, 2007
(K2Climb.net/Madrid. Story updated 10:35 am, EDT) At 12: 50 pm, local time today, Andrew Mariev and Vadim Popovich checked in over the radio - from K2's top! The west face has been finally climbed.

Summiteers back in C6 - 9 more climbers in camps above 8000m

At 6:15 pm, local time the sumiteers have reported safe and sound from C6. Back from the summit, Andrew and Vadim had rested for some time in C7, currently occupied by Shabalin and Tukhvatullin.

In addition there are seven team members currently in C6, while Penzov, Shamalo and Cherny provide with support from ABC.

As night falls on the Karakorum range, Victor Kozlov has reported on weather conditions finally improving: "Clouds are not wrapping K2 any longer, and the wind is decreasing," the expedition leader told Russian Climb.

Earlier this morning, the Russian climbers on the west face of K2 woke to red storm clouds, poor visibility and 30/50 mph winds. In a 10 am radio call, Shabalin and Tukhvatullin were reported holding in C7 (8400 m), while Mariev and Popovich were out scouting above the camp.

Four climbers were holding in C6 at 8150 m after a wrecked attempt to ascend further. The Jannu climbers were meanwhile approaching the high camp 6 as well. Serguey Penzov is still descending, and is now between C1 and ABC.

None of the climbers is using supplementary oxygen.

wow, this thread is giving me one of those "what the fuck have I done with my life" mindbenders. That is so awesome you made it to ABC on Everest, Drew.

-- Dandy Don Weiner, Tuesday, May 29, 2007 10:08 PM (4 months ago) Bookmark Link

:( :( :( :( :(

http://cascadecrusades.org/SkiMountaineering/eldorado/eastridge2007/DSC_3153.jpg

*sigh*

Moraine Lake went on my Places I Must Visit list the first time I ever saw a picture of it. It wasn't even labeled and I had to do some google fu to find out where it was a picture of.

Ha, wrong Moraine Lake. Mine's in Banff:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c5/Moraine_Lake_17092005.jpg/800px-Moraine_Lake_17092005.jpg

The avalanche tragedy on K2 is worldwide news now (11 dead now), but this guy's story is worth reading. It's one of those random event climbing things that lead to survival/death.

Yeah, I was just looking over that story myself...

The NYT has a pretty good article on the whole thing and a decent graphic map

Fred Beckey (video)

cool video!

i was searching for a good climbing thread but didn't think to search "mountaineering" is river wolf still posting?

i climbed a little bit in high school/college. not much at all, all indoor stuff too. the college where i work now has a wall and a bouldering cave, free access anytime, they rent shoes/equipment, too. so i've been messing around a bit since starting this job, and i kinda want to get into it a bit more.

any recommendations for good shoes for beginners/novices? i like the velcro ones, real easy to get in/out of. also, is it true you should buy a size lower than normal?

also, currently reading krakauer's "into thin air." wow....