Adamants Part 3

Last time I left you (scroll down) I had just been HAMMERED by weather trying to free climb the Blackfriar. We spent the next day drying out and licking our wounds, ready to pounce the next day for another free attempt of this 2,000 foot wall.

Staring down Blackfriar from camp

The day dawned clear and cold and we headed over to try our luck again. Freezing cold temps met us as we climbed in the shade for 6 pitches back up to our previous high point in no time flat. We were feeling like we could do this, all free in a day, which would be a first for any of the big walls around here. The next pitch proved to be a bit alpine. Going light, all I had was a pair of running shoes to keep feet warm at belays. I quickly put them on for the next pitch, 5.9 ice/rock jamming between a snow patch and the wall. Gear doesn't work too well in this scenario, so I ran it out for a good 50 feet to a nice ledge where the snow was gone and I could put my rock shoes on. The pitch then started to ramp up a bit - steep and with a small crack, which I had to dig out protection with a nut tool on lead, only to reveal RP placements for pro. No time to stop and think of how scary it was, so I just kept on firing to the next ledge.

Following Craig's proud 5.11+ onsight gardening fest

Craig stepped up for his next lead which was more of the same, 5.11 free climbing with small gear while gardening out the crack. We began to watch the time add up, as cleaning and freeing your pitches on lead takes a LONG time; almost 1.5 hours per pitch. At this rate there was no way we were going to make it. In fact I slowed us down big time on the start of the next pitch, trying for a long time to make my self fit into a tight squeeze chimney right off the belay. At 6' 2" and a 180 lbs, size was not on my side, I just couldn't get my hips into the thing. So I handed over the lead and Craig wriggled his smaller frame into the crack and fired off another 50m of gardening after that.

2 hours later and 8pm in the evening we decided to make the obvious call. Gardening and doing this route in a day were not going to happen. We had broken the sacred alpine free climbing rule of British Columbia - stay on south facing rock! South facing alpine rock in BC gets dried off in the sun, and doesn't allow as much moisture and vegetation to thrive, keeping the rock clean. We were trying to climb a north facing route and it just wasn't working. Oh well, lesson learned. Back to camp with our tails tucked between our legs.

The next day we decided to test our theory and headed for a new variation start to the classic Gibson-Rohn route on Ironman. Looking at the line it was obvious that we had a few pitches of slammed shut corners that were still climbable, so we took the power drill in tow to place a few bolts for pro if need be. Craig led the first pitch and fired off a nice 55m 5.11c putting in 6 bolts on lead AND still managing to free the pitch while dragging up the drill. Impressive.

Me (Evan) drilling on lead, p.2

Pretty soon after starting it was obvious that my pitch was going to be hard with out much gear. I placed 3 bolts right early on while aiding the feature, and then was able to work over toward a super thin crack and place a few pins, and finally get some regular gear in. Craig followed the pitch clean at 5.12- with some wild full body bridging, so we knew our new route would go free. 2 more pitches of splitter clean cracks lead us into the regular route on Ironman, where we than rappelled our route so we could re-lead that 2nd pitch and free it. We called our new variation 'Man of Steel' being that we bolted a new line on Ironman, it is always fun to have a play on words.

Craig following the last pitch of Man of Steel

We awoke the next day to a vicious thunderstorm early in the morning, so pancakes and extra coffee seemed in order. By noon the weather was good and radio reports had the weather being horrible for the next 3 days after this. So we bucked up and left camp at the early alpine start time of 1pm to climb the standard route on Ironman, 10 pitches V 5.10+. As we started it was obvious that the weather was going to deteriorate, so not wanting to get caught in a storm we simulclimbed almost the entire route, getting back to the base 3.5 hours after we started. Minutes later the skies opened up and we fled back to camp.

10cm of snow the next day left us festering in the tent, watching movies on the Ipod waiting for the helicopter to take us out.

Now all I have to do is stop climbing every day in Squamish so I can get around to edit my hours of video to post up here!

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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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Sk8boarding Descent

REI of the north (that's mec.ca) is having a video contest for their customers. This one is laughable. Makes the adage "Crazy Canuks" ring true.



Perhaps the Huber brothers could use this technique on their next attempt of the nose.

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Gregory Goes There With Joe Kinder

Gregory makes backpacks, period. No fluffy fleece jackets, no pink flip flops, no "lifestyle" clothing...just packs. And they do a fine job of it.

When I saw this video of Gregory climbing athlete Joe Kinder it reminded me of the places I've been with my Gregory pack. I've had it for about 6 years now. It's one of those huge "kitchen sink" type packs that are so easy to fill up, almost too easy.

Their tag line is "Gregory Goes There" and thinking about it, if my pack could tell of it's adventures to "there" what a slew of stories it could tell. More than a couple adventures in the Tetons, that sketch day on the Kautz Glacier of Ranier, overnight camping in the Uintas and more.

Let us know what you think of the vid by dropping a comment. Personally, I think it's pretty cool. Leaves me wanting to watch more.



FYI, the pack he's wearing in the video is the Targhee which is actually a backcountry ski pack but it's streamline fit makes for a great approach pack as well.

If you watch the video in a higher quality YouTube player click here.

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Watching Liquid Sky in Indian Creek Utah

Another installment from the Kim Havell files as she hits Indian Creek, Utah for more crack climbing. Photos by Mark Fischer - www.markfisherphoto.com

One of the most exhilarating aspects of climbing can be ascending and descending a tower. A couple of weekends ago, Ren Terquile and I headed up to the North Six Shooter desert tower in Indian Creek, UT. On the tower are two classic routes- a 5.11a called the Lighting Bolt Crack, and then an off-width variation called Liquid Sky- 5.11c/d.

The approach is half the battle as it is an adventure to get to these places, get up to the climbs and to meet their various tests. It is a humbling experience for many and a different level of exposure and commitment for most.

That morning at camp, Ren and I got to chatting with Andres, a dynamo Columbian with a penchant for wide crack climbs. He mentioned he was headed up to the Liquid Sky challenge and we said we'd see him up there. Several hours later, Ren and I did the tricky four wheel drive access in - lucky for us, this was his fifth time climbing the tower and so his memory of the access and route served us well.

As we approached the cliffs, we noted the dangling individual, photog Mark Fisher, off the roof of the tower, and above the crux section, in position to shoot Andres on his attempt at Liquid Sky. From our perspective, it looked like a pretty exciting position from which to capture Andres’s progress.


Ren and I assembled our gear, and prepared for our tower approach, a tricky scramble through cliff bands and alleuvial fans. With us were our pets- Scout and Tarzan- both of whom are advancing in age and adventure capabilities. We carefully progressed up the route with awesome views of Andres making his way up the first pitch.

When we arrived to the base of the climb, Andres was belaying his partner, Mary, from the base and had combined two pitches from his anchor position on the face. As Mary moved upwards, Ren and I got ourselves situated for the four pitches ahead and he took off on the first pitch. Due to another party behind us, Ren combined two and half pitches before setting up an anchor to belay me up.

From our anchor at about one hundred and fifty feet up the Lightening Bolt route, we watched Andres maneuver his way through the strenuous and difficult off-width section and crux of the Liquid Sky Variation. There is no better all body work-out then an off-width struggle, and Andres used his strength and incredible off-width technique to flow his way through the challenges of the pitch.

Ren and I progressed upwards through the last two pitches, grunting through the final chimney at the top- giving us a slight taste of Andres’s neighboring route’s adventure. We met up with both him and Mark on the summit, and took in the fabulous views of the Canyonlands, stretching for miles around us, and the abrupt angle of the neighboring South Six Shooter tower from our unique perspective.

Photo credit - Mark Fisher - www.markfisherphoto.com

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First Ascent in Indian Creek

Ah yes, crack climbing. Despite skiing some amazing powder in the backcountry yesterday morning (pictures to follow on my next post) I was thinking about climbing today.

I was checking out a new(ish) website from the Momentum Gym guys in Sandy, Utah called Momentum Video Magazine and on the front page was a "free" video of Cedar Wright getting the first ascent on Yellow Submarine in Indian Creek. (was it my connection or did it load slow for you too?)

What a stellar video! I realized that about 1/2 way through the video my palms were sweaty. Pavlovian response? I'm thinking the next high pressure we get here in Northern Utah that leads to mid 60's in St. George that I'm heading south for some rock.

Momentum offers some free videos but like a magazine this video mag requires a subscription. The teaser for Volume 3 was pretty cool. They need to be putting that teaser vid on YouTube if they want to generate more buzz about the video mag. (then I could post it here....)

With the annual subscription at $69.95, like any climbing dirt bag worth his spit, I'm sticking to the free vids for now. Is there anyone out there with a subscription willing to chime in about Momentum VM? If given the choice would you buy a new C3 for your rack or nab a video mag subscription to feed the climbing jones?

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Steve Su and Pete Takeda go to Pakistan

This past fall Backcountry.com sponsored a trip by Steve Su and Pete Takeda to attempt peak 6890 in the Karakorum of Pakistan. For Steve, this was a year of major climbing accomplishments, including one day ascents of Supercanaleta on Fitzroy, the Frendo Spur, and the North Face of the Eiger. If you haven't heard of Steve it's because he's a normal guy living in Boulder raising a family and working as a computer programmer. But when he ties into a rope, watch out- he's virtually unstoppable. Plenty of people you have heard of can't keep up with him. Pete's no slouch either. Enough spray about Steve- here's the story...

Upon arriving to base camp summer like conditions gave way to fall. Temps were no longer warm enough to melt new snowfall and the mountains were starting to show their winter coats. We would have 20 or so days of fickle weather with on and off snow showers before a significant weather window arrived.

The mountain we chose to climb is peak 6890 in the Karakorum mountains of Pakistan, approximately 70 miles west of K2. This is a seldom visited area compared to the peaks along the Baltoro glacier. Peak 6890 is majestic peak with a steep rocky south face crowned with Peruvian-like snow flutings.

There is no easy route up this peak. The route we chose was the prominent south ridge. By quick observation it is an inviting line until you follow it to the summit slope where the ridge abuts a huge ice cliff. It is the kind of thing that you would never know if it was passable or worth passing due to objective hazards until you where standing right there. After some debate, we decided we would throw ourselves at it with 5-6 days worth of supplies.

The Climbing
Day one on the route started off with climbing a 1500 ft couloir which takes us to a 1000 ft rock wall.

This was the first big obstacle of the route. Much of the lower wall was slabby and sparse on features. We should have guessed this due to all the water streak marks covering the wall. By the end of the day and into the night we were half way up the wall. With no place to set up a tent, we each chopped a ledge to sleep on and called it good for our first night out.

The next day we topped out on the rock wall
and were now on the south ridge. It was a relief to be on easier terrain again, 60 degree snow slopes. However, on the third day the snowy ridge gave way to the next big obstacle, a 2000 foot section of exposed rock.

While scoping out the route previously, we predicted that this would be the most difficult part of the climb. The climbing proved to be fairly complicated, mixed, off-width, aid and finger crack climbing all in the opening pitch. The 3rd and 4th days brought intermittent snow squalls and slowed progress.

We only managed 1000 feet of climbing during these two days and were forced to another open bivy. This time the bivy was not so pleasant with the wind swirling snow into our faces.

By the fifth day time was running out and we still had a ways to go. We kept cracking away at the technical terrain but were just not fast enough.

At this point, we finished up a section called the black fin
where the ridge narrows down so that you can just about straddle the ridge giving you a feeling of really hanging it out there. By this time it was dark and cold, and the terrain was more convoluted. I lead out in hopes of finding a bivy spot but hit a dead end and had to retrace my pitch. It probably took several hours before we could find a reasonable place to bivy.

Pete meanwhile was going numb from the cold while belaying me and could not wait several hours more for me to climb the next pitch. There was nowhere to bivy except down. This meant that the climb was over.

We couldn't reclimb the technical terrain again with our limited supplies. We had climbed about 4500 feet and still had another 3500 feet to the summit. And that’s how the cookie crumbled.

Steve Su

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Christmas Gift idea #1 - Alpinist Magazine

If you've got a climber in your life and you want to give them something unique that will bring both Christmas cheer and climbing awe throughout the year you should consider a subscription to Alpinist Magazine. Beyond the personal gain, this is another reason to give Alpinist this season. Read below. (Click the image to give Alpinist as a Gift)

Alpinist isn't your ordinary magazine. In fact, I see it more as a coffee table publication that arrives in my mailbox four times a year. The writing is pure and the images stunning while keeping to the core of it's name - alpine climbing. Add to that the 100% post-consumer waste recycled paper and earth friendly ink and Alpinist stands above the rest of the climbing "magazines".

We're sorry to hear of the loss of our friends in Jackson and hope that some of our readers and Backcountry.com customers will consider a subscription to Alpinist this Christmas season.

--news story about the fire

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Goat Sighting in Kolob Canyon, Zion National Park

A co-worker at Backcountry.com sent this vid to me of him and some friends climbing in Kolob Canyon which is the lesser known side of Zion National Park. Personally I prefer Kolob to the mayhem that is the main entrance by Springdale.

The routes in the video are Half Route and Namaste. The climber that is sporting the Goat is Perin Blanchard who is an admin over at MountainProject.com The first goat sighting is around 2:41 but the climbing is fun to watch the entire time. The rock formation is really wild, especially for a "Zion" wall. Check it out.

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Prophesy Wall and Angles Landing

November 2-4, 2007

Participants: Jentry M., Mark G., Jocelyn B., Paul L.

When a good friend turns 28 years old I recommend making him the Czar for the weekend. The Czar calls all the shots, when to eat, what to do, and how many lashings you get if you misbehave. As you can imagine it was a great weekend.

In typical weekend-warrior fashion we packed up and headed out of Salt Lake at 6:36pm Friday. We spent the night at Jocelyn’s mother’s house in Cedar City and hit the back roads through the small town of Enterprise, Utah to Prophesy climbing wall. With a set of Black Diamond Camalots the Czar orders us up the mixed sport/trad route, Sticky Revelations 5.10a. Here is the Czar, Jentry, in action, notice the extraordinary distance end to end of his femurs. Having a rock climbing novice on the wall, it was Jocelyn’s second time ever climbing, the Czar dictated a 3 pitch climb that we all conquered mightily. We took a classic “Goat” shot to give the readers some perspective and rapped back down to another climb on Prophesy wall.



Then the Czar lead us up a two-pitch 5.10c route called The Visionaries. The second pitch was a little tricky, but we prevailed yet again. The Czar has a knack for great camera shots, check this one he took .


After some good climbing we headed back to Enterprise and went to the Buckshot Grill for some triple-decker burgers and fries, at the Czars command of course.

We camped outside of Zion Park Saturday night and then wanted to get somewhere with a view, Angles Landing did just that. We started the hike and the Czar pointed out our summit. The hike was beautiful with the fall season golden leaves. The trail travels along an exposed ridgeline and the park service has put in chains for people to hold onto in the sketchier spots. As you may have suspected, the Czar ordered Mark to not use his hands for balance at all during the hike. The summit was reached, the lounge position assumed,


and some vulture watching took place. We saw some big wall climbers going up the northeast face of Angles Landing, maybe in a next year I’ll learn to aid climb. After another nice fall leaves shot at the bottom of the hike we got on the park shuttle and headed back to our car.

That evening Jocelyn made a superb birthday meal, we watched the sun set and then headed back north. Another great adventure weekend survived and we lived through the Czar’s commands, at least until next November...

Check out the Czar birthday weekend complete photoalbum

-- Paul

All photos copyright to Paul Larkin

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The Battlefront of Indian Creek

Trip Report: Indian Creek, Utah

As the weather starts to change, temps drop, and there is not quite enough snow yet to start skinning, some of the folks in Telluride turn to the desert for off-season fun and weekend warrior projects. Groups head to Moab for biking the Slick Rock experience, and others head to Indian Creek to battle it out on the beautiful parallel sided sandstone cracks.

So, it's now weekend number three for me. Still getting reduced on a daily basis but the strength and endurance is slowly returning and I am hoping to step up to some of those climbs that are on my "hit list". This weekend, I was in the presence of greatness with some rad climber couples. Dave M & Ximena, and Melanie & Winslow-- all versatile, hard climbers from Telluride that love what Indian Creek has to offer us in way of humility, strength, and highs.

With the threat of weather the past few weekends, the crowds are still not too bad, and we get first dibs on all the routes we want on Saturday at the Reservoir Wall. Mel and I each warm up on an easy 5.10 big hands crack. Ximena charges up "Pente"- a classic route at 5.11- and 160 feet- an enduro pitch with some great rests and beautiful moves for those of us with small hands, myself included. Winslow puts up a sporty flaky 5'10 crack, "Dr. Carl" on a face around the corner from us- tricky and a bit loose, it offers us some excitement. Later that afternoon...

Read the rest at TheMountainCulture.com
Kim Havell is a Telluride based athlete represeting Backcountry.com, Cloudveil, CAMP-USA to name a few.

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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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Goat Sightings in Little Cottonwood Canyon

If you're a climber and especially if you're in Utah, then these past three weeks have been amazing. With afternoon temperatures reaching the low 70's the sun warmed granite of Little Cottonwood Canyon has been at its prime.

For the most part I've been climbing at the Crescent Crack Buttress and the Gate Buttress and although there was one day with plenty of crowds (a Friday afternoon) I've seen only a couple of parties otherwise.

Yesterday afternoon my buddy Rich and I arrived at the Schoolroom to find we were the only ones there. Far cry from two weeks ago when there was a University of Utah climbing class there. We enjoyed some good conversation that day as we headed up Schoolroom West.

Plugging gear has been on the menu and yesterday I was "served" while heading up the first pitch of Bushwhack Crack. As we started up a couple of guys I knew showed up (Dan and Matt) and just after arriving at the first belay I snapped this shot of Dan setting up anchors at the top of the first pitch of Schoolroom Direct:

I commented about the goat on his helmet and he tossed back , "I've gotta keep the sponsors happy". (His wife Liz works for Backcountry.com)

After leading the second pitch which goes up and to the right we descended a bit and then rapped down to the base of the wall. I was second to rappel and after pulling the rope I walked back to the start of Bushwhack and found Rich talking to a guy named Mark who was belaying his buddy on top rope. I thought they were long time friends as they were talking about ski traverses in the Ruby Range of Nevada but after another minute or two of good conversation I realized they had just met. It's a pretty cool community of climbers when you can spark up a conversation with a fellow climber whom you just met and talk about similar passions for the outdoors like you're long time friends.

Mark's buddy Paul rapped down and as he arrived I noticed he too was sporting the goat on his helmet. He actually had a black on one the other side in addition to this white one.

Paul, if you're out there comment below with your e-mail address and I'll make sure you get a Goat shirt or a water bottle. Great running into you out there and I'm glad to see you sportin' the goat.

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SplitterChoss.com - Western Colorado Climbing

I met a guy at the Outdoor Retailer show back in August and he mentioned his blog called SplitterChoss.com. He gave me a sticker (yea, blogs have stickers too - including Lou's WildSnow.com thanks to Louie) and it's been sitting in my sticker pile for weeks. After reading about the Backcountry.com employee sticker party it got me filtering through stickers and there it was, splitterchoss.com. So I jumped over there to check it out.

Seems like a cool website and blog, touting itself as the source for Western Colorado rock and ice conditions with route beta, rants, gear reviews and other riffs to go with your morning coffee reading time.

One post that caught my attention was a riff about Colorado peaks, including the ever popular 14'ers. It's worth the read and as you can see splitterchoss.com is now in the blogroll.

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Cirque Traverse Report - Part Two

Continued from Part One.

After Pingora, you get up around 12,000 feet and stay there for most of the day, a fact that wasn't doing anything for our speed. Even still, we had plenty of daylight left and a full moon coming after that, so as long as we could will our legs to keep working, things were looking good. Here's Ari rapping off the Sharks Nose.



Yours truly on the summit of Block Tower. Block Tower sports an easy, if grovelly chimney, and would be the last of the technical peaks. After that, we had to rap into and ascend out of your garden variety loose death gulley, and then we'd put the climbing gear away and begin the enduro hiking festival™.



The Cirque



#10, South Watchtower(I think). With the sun going down, we would still have to hit Pylon Peak(to the right), drop down to a water source of questionable quality, then hike up Warrior I (in the sun on the left), and then across to the Warbonnet.



Ari hitting the Sending Sauce™, and me a little whacked out, but stoked. I have to plug the sweet Mountain Hardwear Transition Jacket. I'm not a gear geek, but Mountain Hardwear killed it with this one.




So, once the sun went down, the moon came up and we made it to the Warbonnet at about 11:30 on saturday night. Unfortunately in our stupor we got suckered onto a sub peak, and not the true summit and turned around when the climbing (in our tennies and no rope) got too hairball. We reluctantly decided that was good enough, and started the long walk (about 3.5 hours) back to the car. After going cross country through the wilderness we stumbled into the parking lot at 3:30 am, 23.5 hours after leaving (and 10 hrs slower than the record set by Dave Anderson!). It took a while (and a handful of vitamin I) for the pain in my knees and feet to recede before I realized how much fun that had just been.



p.s. Of course the whole point of this was to make it back to see Sonvolt and Alejandro Escovedo at Red Butte Gardens Sunday evening. It was a great show and the beers tasted especially good that night...

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Cirque Traverse Report - Part One

The Cirque of the Towers in Wyoming's Wind River Range is one of the premier alpine rock climbing zones in the lower 48, and I'm lucky enought to live about 5 hours from the trailhead. Although the ideal trip to the cirque would be packing up a week's worth of stuff on horses and heading in for a long trip, sometimes the need for a fast, surgical mission comes up.

One such occasion came up recently and I asked a good friend to head out for a weekend trip to try and do the entire Cirque Traverse, car to car. Not a light mission, but do-able, and somewhat necessary given the demands of life in the city. We left the Backcountry.com office around 4:30 on a Friday and punched it to Wyoming, getting to the trailhead around 10 or 10:30 pm. We put together some sandwiches for the next day and crashed out.

Up at 3:30 am, ate some breakfast, and began the eight or so mile hike into the Cirque. The trail in is very well traveled so hiking at night was straightforward, and before we knew it we were rounding Arrowhead Lake and saw the sun's first rays were hitting peak #1, Pingora.


After a little soloing up the south buttress of Pingora, we tied in and pitched it out to the top since neither of us had climbed this section before. Didn't see many folks up that early in the Cirque, but a few were already on route.


Next up, the uber classic east ridge of Wolf's Head. That's Ari walking across the ridge to the start of the route. For gear, we had lightweight Black Diamond packs, about 4 camalots, a handful of stoppers, and a Petzl Dragonfly 8.2 mil rope. The route involved some easy climbing up to about 5.7 and a few rappels off of each technical peak, so this was about as light as we wanted to go. To the left you can see the Overhanging Tower (peak #3), the Shark's Nose (peak #4 and #5), and part of Block Tower(#6).



Here's Ari nearing the top of the ramp section on Wolf's Head. Lots of exposure, perfect rock, fun climbing and sick location. About this time we were surprised to run into Adam and Trent, friends from Salt Lake City already on the route. It was their first trip up there and they were psyched. We stopped long enough to look around and agree on how awesome it was to be up there, and on we went.


Maybe the sweetest pitch of the day - the hand traverse on Wolf's Head.


Pinogra sure looks small from the top of Sharks Nose. At this point it was mid afternoon and we still had a long way to go...

To be continued....Check back in a few days for Part 2.

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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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