In November of last year, I went to Switzerland to be a part of the Mammut Eiger Extreme Test Event. We were briefed on the new product line and tested the Nordwand jacket and pants on the Eiger. Because of the size of the team and the time constraints (weather), we climbed the West Ridge to the summit then traversed the summit ridge and dropped down onto the summit icefield on the North face. It was a fun experience. I'm the guy on the bottom right of the X.
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Photo courtesy of George Dijmarescu
]]>For day to day posts, pictures and news I use Facebook and Twitter, find me on there to check out stuff that I think is cool enough to share but maybe not appropriate for this site.
I try to only post the things that I find to be significant from a broad interest or historic perspective. Recently the climbing/ski community has been rocked by the passing of several highly experienced athletes. Fellow East Coaster and K2 ski company teammate Kip Garre was killed in an avalanche in the Sierras that also took the life of his girlfriend, Allison Kreutzen. In the Bernese Alps, Swiss legend, Erhard Loretan died in a fall on his 52nd birthday. Deepest condolences to the families and friends of all the adventurous souls who have passed in the last few months.
The spring climbing season in the Himalaya is going strong, with climbers acclimatizing on Everest and other peaks. Swiss athlete Ueli Steck just blasted up and down Shisha's South Face in a blistering 10.5 hours. This guy is so awesome, I'm stoked to see what he does next. He's got permits for Cho and Everest North side. Hopefully we will see him float the Everest Super Coulior (Japanese>Horbein) to end what could be an amazing season. American skier of the Gnar, Chris Davenport is currently on the south side of the Big E guiding a friend, perhaps he will find time to ski a line or two.
There may be some other ski descents going on, I haven't heard of any except for the Lhotse Ski Expedition. This is a trip no doubt put together by Jamie Laidlaw. Jamie skied from over 8000 meters on Lhotse in 20??. He's been on the route before so he knows what's up and if the conditions are remotely reasonable I think he'll send it. With Jamie on the trip is Kris Erickson, who is a total badass as well. Kris has skied on Cho, Shisha and G2 among many others. These guys are a class act and I expect they will come home with mind-blowing imagery that The North Face will use in future campaigns.
This post is loaded with links, check them out, all are interesting. Please send positive vibes to all the folks out in the hills now. Remember, "The mountains don't care who you are" and "There is no conquering going on here, just pure fun". I feel like someone older and wiser must have said those phrases before me, but I don't know who. Peace
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A "ripcord" handle is attached to the shoulder strap, when pulled, it releases the compressed air from a small cylinder which inflates the 150 liter airbag in less than 3 seconds. The idea of avalanche airbags is that of "inverse segregation", which means that the largest particles of a moving fluid make their way to the surface. The bag increases the volume of the user while reducing density and increasing buoyancy. Simply put, it will keep you on top of the avalanche debris, so even when your legs are broken, at least you won't suffocate.
The weight of the airbag and cylinder is approximately 1,500 grams (3.3lbs), roughly the weight of a liter and a half of water. This will soon become standard kit for anyone traveling in avalanche prone terrain. The likelihood of surviving an avalanche increases dramatically if the victim is not buried. I must say that these tools are not a free ticket to get rad and be free of consequence. The whole idea is to use good judgment and not be caught in a slide, but we all know that shit happens and it is best to be prepared for the worst. These packs will retail for nearly $800. Yes, it's pricey but not nearly as expensive as a funeral.
Please consider taking an avalanche education course. It is likely you will learn a lot, and you'll also be putting in that much needed practice time. American Avalanche Institute.
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Other adventures include, summiting Everest, downclimbing into an active volcano, swimming with great white sharks, and kayaking off 180 ft waterfalls. This is one heck of a list and a great database for future vacations. The see the story, go to National Geographic.
]]>New line of Petzl Charlet ice tools - QUARK NOMIC ERGO from Petzl-sport on Vimeo.
]]>"AZADI: Freedom" Official Trailer from b4apres media on Vimeo.
I'm excited to see this movie. Seems like it will be a great look into a very complex situation. The battle for Kashmir has been a long and difficult one. Anthony Bonello and B4apres will give great insight into the current situation and how the locals are carrying on with their lives while living in the shadows of tanks and fighter jets.
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First Korean Oh summits Annapurna becoming the first woman to climb all 14 8000 meter peaks. Then the Spaniard Pasaban tops out on Shisha to become the second woman to send the 8000ers. Now on K2, Austrian Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner is in position to be the first woman to climb all of the 8000ers without the use of supplemental oxygen. Reinhold Messner was the first to accomplish this in 1986 and since then only 10 people have been able to pull it off.
Another amazing attempt is going on as well, Swede Fedrik Ericsson is going for a ski descent of the Cesen route. Fred is back for another attempt after his trip last year was cut short by the death of his partner. He is super strong and has already skied sections of the mountain that were previously unridden, the most dramatic of which is the huge bowl that drops off of the shoulder. It starts at 7800 meters on the lowest point (top of the S-SE spur) and extends up and over to the Bottleneck at 8300 meters. This feature on the south face is probably one of the most appealing slopes to ride on K2, huge, steep, exposed, super dramatic no-fall skiing. Huge respect to Fred for riding this. I had dreamed so many times of dropping into this wall, a 3000 vertical foot shot hanging on the south face, I'm so happy he got to ride it.
The usual weather window for K2 occurs around the 1st of August. This is not like an Everest window where the winds die down and the weather is good for a week or two. This is a K2 window, 3 days maximum. From the forecasts that I've seen, it looks like the 5th and 6th have low winds up high (14 km p/h). That would mean that the climbers would leave base camp on the 2nd or 3rd depending on if they were skipping camps on the way up. Some climbers choose to climb from bc direct to camp 2, stay the night, climb to camp 3, rest for a few hours, then start a summit push from there. This may be the strategy for a few of the strongest people but since no one has reached the bottleneck, there are no ropes fixed. I'm sure there has been a collective discussion in bc to sort out who will fix the ropes. The folks fixing the ropes will most likely follow a more conservative ascent schedule, launching a summit push from the traditional place, camp 4 on the shoulder.
The next few days will be very interesting ones, as this will likely be the last attempt of the season. With many teams already on their way home, there are few left. If the weather doesn't hold, most will be forced to leave due to depleted resources on the mountain (food, gas, O2) or to travel agendas. Hopefully the weather cooperates and all top out like in 2004. If so, we will see, the first complete ski descent, first woman to climb all 14 8000ers w/out O2, first couple to summit together (George and Lakpa). Maxut and Vassilli will complete their project of climbing all 8000ers w/out O2. As well as some other stuff that includes frisbees, golf clubs, hacky sacs, beer bongs, etc.
Positive vibes to all the the folks out there! Check out Fredrik's site for the details on this expedition
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Well, the race is over. S. Korea's Ms Oh Eun-Sun topped out on Annapurna this week, becoming the first woman in history to climb all of the worlds 14 8,000 meter peaks. Her closest rival in the "race" is a Spanish woman who has expressed doubts about Ms Oh's climb of Kangchenjunga. Too bad such a great moment is spoiled by controversy. Yeah, she may have some insufficient proof of summiting but whatever, it's only climbing. It should be a great moment for Oh, she completed her project and she is stoked. Now the ethics nazis chime in and discount the validity of her send, that is just a bummer. Some will hear about Oh and say "thats cool, she's hard", others will ask questions about the style she climbed and chip away at the radness of it. Climbing is a selfish and pointless activity, we do it for ourselves and to reach a goal and have people discount it is a bummer. Seems some folks have a skewed perspective on reasons for climbing and they project their type-A competitive judgments on the "achievements" of others. There never seems to be a lack of critics chiming in from the peanut gallery. Strong work Eun-Sun Oh, you sent it, I'm super stoked for you.
links to articles:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/freddie-wilkinson/korean-climber-facing-a-m_b_555600.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8646995.stm
If she summits Annapurna, she'll have completed them, although there is some dispute on weather or not she topped out on a couple of the mountains. Here is a story from the BBC.
A Korean climber may this weekend become the first woman to scale the world's 14 highest peaks. It's one of the most formidable feats in mountaineering - but doubts have been creeping in about her right to claim the glory.
A year ago three European women were leading the race to conquer all 14 mountains in the world above 8,000m high - Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner of Austria, Nives Meroi of Italy and Edurne Pasaban of Spain.
But over four months in 2009 two rival South Korean climbers scaled an astonishing four peaks each, catapulting one of them, Oh Eun-Sun, to the top of the league table.
She is now on the slopes of her final mountain of the 14, Annapurna, with a Korean TV crew, which is planning a two-hour live broadcast on Sunday, when it estimates she will reach the summit.
Nothing can be taken for granted. But if she succeeds it will be a bitter blow to Edurne Pasaban, her nearest rival in the race, who ascended Annapurna herself on Saturday and is about to leave for Tibet to tackle the last peak on her list, Shisha Pangma.
For the full story by Stephen Mulvey, click here
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