Thursday, June 30, 2011
Sierra weather is looking good
That settles it ... I am also bringing my Nordic race skis
After reading a FASTER SKIER.COM article (and video) about elite skiers training last weekend on groomed trails at Donner Summit I have decided I will need to bring rock gear, AT gear, and Nordic gear for the long weekend.
CLICK HERE TO READ THE ARTICLE AND WATCH THE SHORT VIDEO.
Heading To Squaw Valley
The Snow Leopard, Peter Mathiessen, and The Historian
Nicknamed "The Historian" by my fossil climbing buddies, it is not surprising that I have a bit of the scholarly bent in me. One of my favorite websites is called THE MOUNTAIN LIBRARY. This morning at 6:00 AM when I was browsing, I found this link to a 1999 essay about, and an interview with, author Peter Mathiessen. Prolific writer, environmental activist, and arch defender of wilderness and wildlife, fossil mountaineers probably best remember him for his 1980 National Book Award winning THE SNOW LEOPARD. This link is not my usual bill of fare, nevertheless an important piece for all that love wild country.
CLICK HERE TO ACCESS THIS WONDERFUL COMMENTARY AMD INTERVIEW.
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Download or Stream Your Favorite Mountain Films
A fantastic looking new website. It has climbing, skiing, mountain biking, kayaking, BASE jumping, and mountain culture films. You can buy them and download them to your computer, or rent them and stream them on to your computer. There are many titles here that you can not find anywhere else ... THE BAT, EIGER SOLO, CELEBRATION AT CAMP FOUR, DER BERG RUFT, HARD GRIT, AND EVEREST UNMASKED.
CLICK HERE TO ACCESS THE SITE.
Monday, June 27, 2011
It has been an incredibly wet spring, and the summer has started out no better in the Adirondacks. Roped pitches and bouldering have been possible as long as you can duck out of the office in between storms. It also helps to frequent spots that dry out quickly like Owls Head where these pictures were taken.
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Saturday, June 25, 2011
A BIT OF HISTORY: napes needle
Napes Needle with Leo Houlding from Matt Pycroft on Vimeo.
In 1886, in the Lake District, on Gimmer Crag, the ascent of Napes Needle is thought to signal the origin of the sport of rock climbing. Still graded hard severe (5.6) it demands care and thought and gear. In the summer of 1977 just before heading to the Alps I spent several weeks in the Lake District and Wales picking up partners. I wanted to climb Napes Needle, but only found a partner interested it's harder, near neighbor ... The famous crack on Kern Knotts.
Thursday, June 23, 2011
GAMES CLIMBERS PLAY: a selection of 100 mountaineering articles
I have been dipping into this great anthology before bedtime. No doubt if you climbed in the 1960s or 70s many of these stories and articles will be familiar. Last night I re-read: Patey's THE ART OF CLIMBING DOWN GRACEFULLY, Campbell's DOUGAL HASTON - CUMHA DUGHALL, Amy's THE GREATEST CLIMBER IN THE WORLD, and Tejada-Flores' seminal piece, GAMES CLIMBERS PLAY. Pull it off the shelf, re-read it ... and of course enjoy the cartoons. (CLICK ON THE IMAGES TO ENLARGE THE CARTOONS.)
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Steck ... the man, the myth, the legend
A decade ago he discovered the NCS crag, he has single-handedly (with help of students) trundled loose rock, dug out stumps, and unearthed climbs. Today he was out at 7 am cleaning the crag, and when I got there at 8 am he was doing bouldering laps on the 150 foot long, 5.11 low traverse.
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Still Skiing Big Lines Out West ... Static Peak
Thanks to Steve Rando and the Teton AT website ... Definitely one to bookmark!
Icy Static Peak North Face from randosteve on Vimeo.
Monday, June 20, 2011
John Dickey is going climbing again in Kyrgyzstan ... Would you be going back if you were him?
A decade ago, he had a traumatic expedition, in which he was lucky enough to get out alive. The climbing looked fantastic, but I am pretty sure I wouldn't be going back ... Read the blurb about the book and his story from Amazon. Com ... OVER THE EDGE: A year before America woke to the madness of Islamic terrorism, four young American rock climbers were pulled directly into its line of fire on a rock climbing expedition 80 miles from Afghanistan. Oblivious to the volatile mix of ethnic strife, drug smuggling, and militant Islam brewing there, the four had been seeking extreme adventure in the "Yosemite Valley" of Central Asia. Greg Child gives a riveting chronicle of their capture by militants of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (linked to al Qaeda), who dragged them through six harrowing days of gun battles before the four made their dramatic escape. . --Lesley Reed
CLICK HERE TO READ AND LISTEN TO THE NPR STORY.
Father's Day on Chapel Pond Slabs
THIS IS POSSIBLY THE BEST, MOST SCENIC, EASY MULTI-PICTH ROUTE IN THE EAST. IF YOU HAVE NOT DONE IT IN AWHILE COME ON UP, STAY AT THE FOSSIL CABIN, AND ENJOY!
Sunday, June 19, 2011
The Queen ... Chronicler of Himalayan Climbing
CLICK HERE TO READ THE OUSTIDE ONLINE ARTICLE ABOUT ELIZABETH HAWLEY.
(My favorite line, was the story about Messner being interviewed by her and when asked about his current marital status, he checked all the boxes: single, married, divorced, and living with girlfriend.)
Saturday, June 18, 2011
Light Is Right
I am hoping to get to the East side of the Sierras in late August after a business trip to the Bay Area. Imagining that maybe Mark's knee will have healed, or that Danny will be available, I wondered how light my pack MIGHT be for a classic day trip like Matthes Crest. And so this morning I packed two day packs, one conventional and the other with the super light gear I have been slowly acquiring ... an impressive ten pound difference! Where did the difference come from? The 11 oz pack pictured, a wind jacket/pant combo that was 6 oz, a 9.2 mm instead of my standard 10 mm rope, a CAMP helmet that was 6 oz, a CAMP ski rando harness (4 oz) instead of a standard BD rig, gu instead of the traditional lunch of cheese-salami-orange, and one water bottle/iodine tablets instead of two quarts of water. Finally, I left the rock shoes out of the super light pack figuring I could climb the route in my SPORTIVA approach shoes.
Hiking the Olympic Biathlon Trails
Trying to drop a few pounds and regain the fitness I had in the Alps. The biathlon trails are not as steep and as rugged as the Porter Mountain nordic loops, however as folks mountain bike the biathlon trails, they are mowed a bit in the summer, so offer better hiking with poles. I went out for 45 minutes jaunt, and then read some old climbing magazines in the Fossil cabin. I re-read a great article on the history of climbing in the Ruth Gorge ... Should we go there instead of Peru?
Another Dougal Haston Blast From The Past
I just started re-reading Dougal's novel - highly autobiographical - which he finished shortly before his death. A quick read, a nice forward by Doug Scott, thin characters, but a definite window into the heart and soul (heartless would be more apt) of a man at the cutting edge of 1970s climbing. The dust jacket photograph taken by Mick Burke is from a winter bivy on the North Face of the Matterhorn. Dougal's climbing career, more or less, followed the traditional progression: Scottish rock, Scottish ice, hard routes in the Dolomites, a tour of the classic hard routes of the Western Alps, winter routes in the Alps, and then the Himalaya.
Dougal made several attempts on the North Face before he finally had success in the early 1960s.
A Bit of History ... Scottish ice climbing
No doubt readers of this blog have heard me talk about that historic week on Ben Nevis, when in 1961 Wheech (Robin Smirh) and the Old Man (Jimmy Marshall) climbed all the hard routes in sight. Certainly I urge you to see the video re-enactment Pinnacle (Hotaches films), flip through your old copy of Ken Wilson's COLD CLIMBS, and of course you need to read the famous SMC essay below.
CLICK HERE TO READ THIS ESSAY ABOUT THE FIRST ASCENT OF ORION FACE DIRECT.
Trailer for a new rock climbing video
It has been hard to get motivated for rock climbing this Spring ... Snows lingering into April with May-June absurdly wet. Use this short piece for some external motivation, and get out there on the rock.
Friday, June 17, 2011
Resorting to Madness
The trailer for a documentary about the problems caused by ski resorts an the associated real estate growth and development.
Are They The Hot Ticket? Read these Gear Reviews, If You Are You Looking To Upgrade Your Backcountry Skis?
CLICK HERE TO READ LOU DAWSON'S WILD SNOW REVIEW.
In addition you ought to read this more in-depth coverage.
CLICK HERE TO READ DANE'S REVIEW ON COLD THISTLE ALPINISM.
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
BLAST FROM THE PAST
Having just re-read THE PHILOSOPHY OF RISK, and listened to THE BOYS OF EVEREST, I was reminded of what an amazing climb the 1970 route on the South Face of Annapurna was. It was way ahead of its time, and Dougal Haston and Don Whillans were simply brilliant. Dougal had been a climbing star after the Eiger Direct, however this climb put him in the Mick Jagger, rock star category. (Remember, click on the photograph to enlarge the image.)
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Storms have stopped ... laps on the NCS Crag
After a busy day, I headed up to the crag with my soloist to run laps on some moderate routes. The bugs were bad. The rock was wet. However, it was great ro scratch anorothosite!
Monday, June 13, 2011
Sunday, June 12, 2011
Saturday, June 11, 2011
Hard and Free on the Grand Capucin
THIS IS ESSENTIALLY A CARABINER COMMERCIAL FOR PETZL, HOWEVER THE CLIMBING FOOTAGE, AND VIEWS OF THE MONT BLANC MASSIF ARE SUPERB!
Women's Bouldering Championship
Bouldering World Cup Womens Finals • Vail, Colorado • 2011 • LT11 from Louder Than 11 on Vimeo.
GET PSYCHED. GET OFF THE COUCH. CLIMB SOME ROCK.
Friday, June 10, 2011
Thursday, June 9, 2011
New England Ice Climbing Is Just Six Months Away
Watch Steve House soloing two classic New Hampshire test-pieces ... Repentance and Remission. Thanks to Dane at Cold Thistle for unearthing this Patagonia/Granite Films production.
BACON FOR THE FOSSILS
Lucy and Selden picked up five piglets to raise for meat. Notice that one is named after a famous climber - Cassin - in honor of the fact that we will have some tasty meals coming up at the next gathering of the Fossil clan in December. So it's not too early to send your screws out for sharpening, or ask for a nomic ice tool for Father's Day.
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Easy Laps on Owl's Head
A hot and humid day, even in the Adirondacks it hit 86 degrees! After the last day of our end of year meetings I headed out for a short hike and some mild fourth and fifth class soloing on the summit. It was quite windy as we have a front moving in, and tomorrow we will have high winds and hail.
Hoping to do the regular route on the North face of Half Dome?
No doubt this is still on many fossil hit lists, however after watching this video, I think we will probably all want to take the longer hiking trail and cables to the base of the route. Watch this very recent rockfall.
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Dougal Haston, Clint Eastwood, and The Eiger Sanction
Dougal's ISM guide service helped to turn Clint (Jonathan Hemlock) and the other actors into "climbers." Dougal also was hired to be the Safety Officer, however after a fatality on one of the first days of filming he was moved to a lateral position. (Hamish MacInnes took over as safety officer.) Dougal ended up also working as a stunt double for Anderl, the Austrian climber in the green parka. I watched this murder mystery on Netflix recently and the climbing scenes hold up surprisingly well. The movie was panned however when it came out in 1975.
Monday, June 6, 2011
Sunday, June 5, 2011
Skiing a 6,000 meter Peruvian Peak
Remy Lecluse and Glen Plake ski Callangate, in the Cordillera Blanca outside Cusco.
Tutamankakama from Rémy lécluse on Vimeo.
Skiing in the Himalaya
This video is called "Rice On Ice" and along with a bunch of hot-Euros, it features Glen Plake. These folks skied numerous lines in the Kulu region of India.
Rice on Ice, Extreme skiing in Indian Himalayas from Rémy lécluse on Vimeo.
Cragging
The past few days have been gorgeous, and that is supposed to change with 3-4 days of thunderstorms on the way. I headed up to the NCS crag to get some easy laps in before the weather deteriorates. Graduation went well, and now it is time to set a climbing goal or two.
Meathead Films and skiing in the East
Last night we had our end of the year staff party, and I had a short chat with Jake, the 20 year old son of my assistant head. He is an NCS ALUMNUS, and an amazing competitive free-style skier, but he also skis for this video company that just shoots pictures in the East.
"Work It Out" - iTunes Movie Trailer - Meathead Films from Meathead Films on Vimeo.
Friday, June 3, 2011
US and Canadian Nordic Team ... May ski camp
A 75 second video of these studs going through their on-snow and dryland paces.
Thursday, June 2, 2011
MOUNTAIN CAKES
Since 1981 at NCS we have had a friendly student competition to see who hikes the most miles. Every year we make special cakes to honor these dedicated hikers, and print a limited edition T-shirt for the "nasty nine," or "terrible ten," or in this case the "dirty dozen." for those that are counting - it's a baker's dozen - oh and by the way my daughter Lucy in the top row made the cut.
