The Euro Adventures of Jonny and Micah

This is the first of two reports from alpine masters Jonny Copp and Micah Dash, who are spending their spring and summer in the French Alps after getting denied access to the Tibetan Alps this year. All photos by Jonny.

Had the Tibetans not rioted, Micah Dash and I would have been caught in the epicenter of an earthquake that killed over 60,000 people this May. I’ve been learning more and more that timing is everything. And when I start to disbelieve what I’ve learned, another incident occurs to drive home the lessons.

Micah and I had planned to attempt a new route this spring in a remote region of Tibet, heading after this soaring unclimbed line that inspired us. We were fired up. But by April the Chinese Government refused to grant Micah and I our permit to climb in the region due to discord on the Tibetan front. The Olympics, essentially, were getting in the way too because of the increased media exposure.

We had the time and the psyche, so we had to head out. We ended up in the Alps. And from day ONE in Europe we had amazing serendipitous meetings, close calls in the mountains, great food, wine and cheer in towns, and even though it was the worst May for weather in 7 years, we climbed almost everyday – sometimes while it was snowing on alpine routes or while it was raining on overhanging limestone (no worries!).

The low-point (otherwise known as the highpoint) of our trip was part way up the West Face of the Petit Drus. A new route on the feared face was our main objective. It’s feared because 8 years ago half of the mountain fell off lifting a dust cloud that rose and floated from France to England. This major collapse of the wall’s infrastructure was seen by all in the Chamonix Valley, and the face has had few visitors since.

The wall wasn’t as scary as its reputation (as is usually the case). Never-the-less, it was a full alpine adventure with thin ice corners, steep, gloves-off rock climbing, crazy weather, and a tiiiiiiny leeetle bivouac site perched on the edge of a gendarme. It snowed that night as the storm moved in, and we didn’t sleep due to the cold and spindrift. That was our highpoint, or low-point depending on perspective.

The trip moves on and is still at hand! We are lovin’ the sweet French limestone in Ceuse, the granite in Chamonix’s upper valley, the Via Ferrata approaches and the European pace of life. And that leads us right back to timing, which is everything. Today: a glass of wine at 8pm with the sunset and a BBQ.

Salud, Jonny Copp

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Northern India's Himachal Pradesh - Part Two

This is part 2 of the post Tea Boss - A Trip Report by Pat Goodman who was part of an expedition to northern India that Backcountry.com was proud to sponsor.
Part 2 - if you missed part 1 check it out.

Base camp was quiet without Dave and Fred around, Ramm and Pream spoke little English so we mostly played cards. One afternoon a group of 18 or so local Porters and Police came through camp with a dystopian reminder to the severity of our location; the body of a fallen trekker. They had it bent in half stuffed into a backpack and it appeared to be a man. The skin around his head and torso was mostly gone and the lower part of his body was swollen and fleshy where the ice had preserved it, the rank stench was slightly camouflaged by sticks of incense.

4:00 am came quick and as I stumbled from the tent with my BD headlamp and the pack I had loaded the day before my mind drifted to my family and the family of the fallen man - was this a bad idea?

My objective sprung upward from our base camp to a height of 5300m. Goya was the name of this peak its south west ridge had been climbed the year before (IV 5.9 600m) and looked like fun. My plan was to climb alone, rope soloing on the harder terrain. I had a 70m Sterling Nano, some stoppers, cordage, my trusty Misty Mountain harness and a serious case of “gotta climb somthin”.

It took me an hour to reach the ridge from base camp. The climbing was mostly moderate with short pitches of 5.9. I choose to ascend the ridge right of the line that had been climbed the year before, it provided good rock and some exciting moments. The rope never came out of my pack; I love the free feeling of soloing! Goya’s summit was big and offered great views of the surrounding valleys and mountains; I named my new route in honor of my illness - “P.K.D.” IV 5.9- (550m). The climb took 8 hrs round trip.

When Dave and Fred returned to base camp we traded stories of our recent adventures and spent the remaining three days bouldering and watched the season change from summer to winter.
Our trip back to Delhi and the US was trying!

We had huge problems getting our gear back to the road in Tingrat – our prearranged deal with a local horseman fell through and required lots of hiking and yelling to remedy. Our bus from Manali to Delhi broke down three times, turning a 12 hr ride into 23 hrs. But, we managed to get a few large bottles of wine onto the plane; the flight to India was hindered by the absurd expense of booze.

The wine went quick, as did the flight and soon we were back in the US scrambling to catch our connecting flights home and say our goodbyes. The drive from Charlotte back to Boone, North Carolina was the longest leg of the return trip – it was hard to shake the fact that everybody was obeying traffic laws and driving down what seemed to me the wrong side of the road…

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This trip was made possible by the gracious support from our sponsors; Mountain Hardwear, Backcounrty.com, Sterling Ropes, Black Diamond, Montrail, Misty Mountain Threadworks and PROBAR.

A special thanks goes to our families, Chris Strasser, Kurt Smith, Tommy Chandler and Kendall Card for going over and beyond in their efforts.

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Tea Boss? - Trip Report from Pat Goodman

This Trip Report comes from an expedition that Backcountry.com sponsored. Their objective was to climb in India's Himachel Pradesh. You may remember them from the pre-trip story featured a couple of months ago. We're glad they are back, safe and sound...mostly.
Part 1

“Tea Boss?” Spoken with a mixed accent of Nepali and English, was our wake up call while staying at base camp in India’s Miyar Valley. We had hired two Nepali cooks in Manali, the largest town closest to our current location, one days drive and three days of hiking away. Ramm and Pream had the good fortune of escorting and cooking for three smelly hyperactive Americans wanting to spend 31 days in the cold mountains climbing rocks. Along with Freddie Wilkinson and Dave Sharratt, I was climbing in and exploring a remote valley in northern India’s Himachel Pradesh.

The flight from the US to Delhi, India was long but not so bad, getting off the plane in 100 degree weather at midnight was awful. Not sleeping for 24+ hrs was no elixir to the raunchy stench and overly crowded streets outside the airport. We managed to get an overpriced taxi to agree to take us to some hotel we pointed at in a Lonely Planet guidebook. En route to the hotel a man sitting juxtaposed to our driver played some Indian pop music from his cell phone and began his inquiry as to why three Americans were traveling with so many heavy bags.

After we attempted to explain our trip he asked if we would like to forgo the hotel stay and the bus ride the following day, buy renting his taxi for the 12hr drive to Manali. Hmmm, we all looked at each other with suspicious grins. He insisted we talk to the taxi company representatives in charge of booking such services. So, I’m still not sure if it was the best idea or we just did not have the energy to deal, but we left Delhi at 1:00am with some dude named “Happy” hopefully going to Manali. After a long drive (16hrs) we spent a day in Manali purchasing food, last minute supplies and with the help of a local travel agent also secured a Jeep ride over the Rothang Pass and into the Miyar Valley.

Another long drive led us to Tingrat – the end of the road and the beginning of 5 small villages accountable for miles of well kept farm lands. With 14 porters, mostly local high school kids, we hiked for days past fields of green peas and soon found ourselves camped in a spectacular spot known as Dali Got surrounded by some of the most visually stunning granite mountains I have seen.

Over the next week we acclimatized and made an ascent of a formation that had been dubbed “The Orange Tower” via a 1,000' crack route on the south face. We found the rock solid and featured, with a crux 5.11 pitch and a few awkward pitches, no falls were taken - our route was the first to summit the 5200m peak.
Next, we set our sights on another unclimbed peak - Peak 5960m.

Starting around 1:00am intent on a mixed route up the north face, that eventually lead to a super rad looking west facing ridge, we climbed a mix of snow, ice and bad rock for about 1,500' to the col on the ridge. After simul-climbing for a few thousand feet to a height of around 5700m, the sky turned grey and snow began to fall. We waited for an hour or so but eventually had to descend. The many rappels down the ridge eventually landed us in a glacial valley quite foreign to us known as the Dali glacier that inevitably led to a cold bivy.

After some rest at base camp we moved our high camp kit beneath the west ridge on the Dali glacier. Waking early one morning we geared up for another go, but this time I was hampered by sharp pains in my lower back and unable to climb. Dave and Fred made quick work of the ridge (West Ridge - IV 5.9+) from our new location.

Another refresher at base camp fueled us up on dal, rice, alu pratha, roti’s and lots of tea. We decided the next obvious objective to be Mount Mahindra, 5900m. Mahindra’s south face juts upward from the Dali’s glacial ice exposing perfect grey and orange bullet-hard granite soaring for 2,500 feet, it’s three separate summits look like guard towers on a massive castle wall. All three summits were untrodden, although a few attempts over the years came close.

We restocked our high camp on the Dali and glassed a route that wandered up the middle of the face and ended on the middle tower. The first four or five pitches had previously been climbed by an Italian teem a few years prior. Before we could get off the ground the little demons in my back once again reared their ugly heads, my condition seemed to worsen as we gained altitude, and once again I was forced back to base camp. Dave and Fred blasted the route over the next few days, finding lots of wandering face and flake pitches with the occasional splitter corner crack. They named their route “Ashoka’s Pillar, V+ 5.11r”.

While Fred and Dave battled Mahindra, I was also at war. Sharp, jarring bursts of pain from my kidneys crippled me, not climbing was killing me; my mind was a mess, I needed to be up in the clouds, gripping granite, swinging ice tools, freeing stuck rap lines and absorbing the breathtaking summit views.....(to be continued)

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Destination: Hispar Glacier in Pakistan’s Karakorum Himalaya

Backcountry.com is stoked to help support customers Steve Su and Pete Takeda on their climbing expedition to Pakistan's Karakorum. This is the first update of a few we expect to hear from them.

September 3, 2007

Steve “CM” Su and I (Pete Takeda) depart Denver, bound for Islamabad via London. Our final destination is the Hispar Glacier in Pakistan’s Karakorum Himalaya. The area – due west of K2, and the famous Baltoro area - has many aesthetic peaks , many of which are unclimbed. We are leaving fairly late in the season to take advantage of colder temperatures and stable post-monsoon conditions – better we hope, for peaks in the 6000 to 7000 meter range.

September 4 – 6, 2007

We arrive in Islamabad 48 hours later. On the calendar its taken three days, with an overnight flight delay due to an engine malfunction on Heathrow’s tarmac . It seems that two of our bags have come up missing so its an extra day in Islamabad, capitol of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. The city has the usual sights, sounds, and smells of a busy South Asian city. Though our guide Nafeez insists that the current political and social climate is fine, he suggests we, “stay and relax” in our room at the Regent Hotel while he, “arranges everything.” We notice that our van dropped us off at the entrance of the hotel, inching with stealth through a crowded parking lot and minimizing our public exposure. At night we see a US Consulate warning on the news. Frankly, I do not feel any feel any more concerned about my security than in any big city in the States.

September 7, 2007

We wait on our baggage. The British Airways desk asks if we can’t wait until Monday – three days from now for our bags. It’s ridiculous. The plan us to leave tomorrow for a 17 hour drive north, up the Karakorum Highway to Gligit. Then it will be a shorter drive the following day to Hunza and the trailhead at Hispar village. A four day hike should put us in Base Camp. But first we need our bags.

Oh the possibilities...see anything you'd like to climb?

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