Climbing and Oudoor News from Here and Abroad - 12/30/10

Northwest:

--Four snowshoers were lost on Sunday after losing the main trail in the Gold Creek Snow Park.  They contacted 911 after having left their cars 4 hours earlier, and deputies maintained contact with them to find them.  Snowmobiles were used to search the area, however on Monday these snowshoers were found in an area that was inaccessible to the snowmobiles.  They are expected to be returned safely by Monday afternoon, although 7 inches of new storm snow is making things challenging.

--A snowboarder was found face down in the snow by Mt. Hood Meadows Ski Patrol last week, shortly after the last chair.  Ski patrol attempted to resuscitate the 15-year-old boarder, however after being unsuccessful he was taken down to the lodge and pronounced dead shortly after.  The initial autopsy shows that the cause of the young man's death was not due to injury, and he had no known previous medical complications.  The investigation continues,

--A climber was caught taking draws off a sport climb in Smith Rock.  The people who spotted him lectured him quite calmly about the ethics of the area and how draws left on a route were not meant for the taking.  The whole interaction was caught on camera, and has sparked numerous discussion on the forum boards about draws left on sport routes. 

--Three men were rescued after an overnight stay on Mt. Brown in Glacier National Park.  They were found after a call/text to 911 enabled rescuers to pinpoint them.  They were able to build a shelter and fire to come through the night in excellent condition. 


Sierra:

--A powerful system has pounded California and the Eastern Sierra with unprecedented December snow and rain. Mammoth Mountain Ski Resort reports that snowfall  has set a new record for the snowiest December. Some reports are stating that up to 15 feet of snow has fallen at the resort.

--Another snowboard death at a Mountain High resort in Wrightwood California adds to the toll of early season fatalities.  The 2010-2011 season seems to be off to an ominous start. 

Desert Southwest:

--As the snow flies and the rain falls in the Southwestern United States, some interesting things are happening.  The tiny community of Mount Charleston, about an hour outside of Las Vegas, was evacuated last week due to avalanche danger.  Mount Charleston is a world renowned sport climbing destination. 

--A group of hikers was rescued after they lost the trail near the Tahoe Meadows off of Highway 431. 

Alaska:

Mount Foraker from High Camp on Denali

Photo by Jason Martin

--Former AAI Guide and Climbing Ranger, Coley Gentzel was interviewed last week in an article about a day last season on Denali.  It appears that the perfect climbing day in 2010 was Father's Day.  A record, 54 climbers reached the summit in an absolutely perfect window.  Additionally, the article in the Anchorage Daily News, hits a number of other Alaska Range season highlights

Notes from All Over:

--UK climbers, Will Sim and Jon Griffith, recently completed an ascent of the east face of Patagonia's Piergiorgio.  The pair chose the route with little knowledge of it's history and almost no knowledge of the challenges in store for them.  And though the route had been completed before, they took it on as if it were a first ascent.

--Ouray Ice Park is open!  The park opened up on 12/27, after weeks of warm weather and rain destroyed much of the ice in the park, and left the standing ice too dangerous.  Park officials believe the park will remain open, and be fully functional by the time of the annual Ouray Ice Fest.  .

--Over the past year, Squaw Valley, California-based pro skier Mike Wilson, with the help of sponsors and partners, has raised and spent over a million dollars filming six episodes of what the 24-year-old calls an "action-sports-based-adventure-travel show." The pilot, now complete, will be shopped around major networks next week.

 AAI Program Coordinator Dyan Padagas getting after it on the First Ascent of Pricks and Ticks (II+, 5.9)

Certainly women are doing amazing things in the mountains.  Why aren't there more films about them?

Photo by Jason Martin

--The Banff Mountain Film World Tour is currently making its way around the United States, Canada and the rest of the world.  An interesting question has arisen around this tour. Where are the women in adventure film?  The Banff Facebook page has addressed this question, here.  And the Heli Ski company, CMH, has also addressed the issue,

--Certainly the weather over the holiday's was challenging for many people trying to travel.  All of the winter storms have left thousands of travelers stranded.   My advice, fly somewhere you don't mind being stranded, and blame it on the airlines/weather when your boss is calling you on Monday morning.

--A new, comprehensive report has been produced detailing the invasive species which causes Sudden Oak Death, and the general effects of it.  This disease has devastated forests in Oregon and California.

--Ski lifts derailed at Sugarloaf ski resort in Maine on Tuesday, injuring at least 8 people at the time of the initial report.  While the injuries appear to be minor, a spokesperson for the resort called this a "big deal." to see a low quality cell phone camera taken from a skier stranded on the lift above, 

Climbing and Outdoor News from Here and Abroad - 12/16/10

Northwest:

--The American Alpine Institute International Mountain Day event was a great success on Saturday!  Over a hundred people participated in the combination of our rock rescue trainings and our avalanche awareness seminar.  The event was built around safety for locals and was put together as a benefit for the Central Asia Institute.

--A man died Saturday after falling off a ski lift in Idaho's Kelly Canyon Ski Resort. According to the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office, 52-year-old Steven Edward Yount died from a massive heart attack. Yount was with two other ski patrollers doing maintenance when the incident occurred. The other ski patrollers heard a noise and looked back to see Yount on the ground. 

--It looks like we have some cougars near our home base in Bellingham. 

--For a town crawling with climbing enthusiasts, Bellingham has relatively few places for them to play during the long rainy season. Sure, there are three climbing walls here, but access to them is limited and none of the facilities is dedicated solely to climbing.  That is about to change. Greg Dotson plans to open a climbing gym in a 5,000-square-foot space across from Bellingham High School. 

--Crystal Mountain ski resort recently announced a new targeted opening date of Dec. 22 for its Mount Rainier Gondola, the first gondola ski-lift in Washington.  The resort earlier planned a grand opening of the gondola for last Friday, but installing the new equipment took longer than anticipated since construction began eight months ago. 

Sierra:

--Three rock climbers were rescued on Tuesday afternoon from El Capitan in Yosemite National Park. According to Park Spokesperson Scott Gediman, it was a two-day rescue operation.  "With the help of the Army National Guard helicopter, the CHP helicopter and our Rangers, we were able to rescue the climbers." 

Desert Southwest:

--Las Vegas police say an arrest has been made in vandalism at Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area. Two weeks ago, visitors discovered damage to several petroglyphs. Someone spray painted over the ancient art, virtually destroying them. Police say a 17-year-old suspect has been arrested.

-- A student in the Prescott College climbing group fell more than 20 feet down a mountain face and broke her leg on Sunday, according to the Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office.  The Sheriff’s Office Response Team arrived at the Granite Mountain site to rescue the woman within 30 minutes of a 10:30 a.m. call for help. 

--Erik Lambert of the American Alpine Club wrote a nice round-up on the National Climbing Management Summit in Las Vegas.  This event took place in late October.  AAI guide Scott Massey attended to represent the American Alpine Institute at the Summit.  To learn more about the event and what they accomplished, check out Erik's blog on the Summit.

--A mining company recently received approval to open Utah's first-ever strip mine for coal in the small community of Alton. Few new coal mines have opened in the West in the past ten years since most developers focus on expanding existing mines, not reaching into untouched wilderness. This new mine will be located 10 miles from Bryce Canyon National Park.

AAI Guide Ian McEleney climbs a moderate route in Joshua Tree

Photo by Jason Martin

--A new website has been developed for Joshua Tree's seventy-fifth anniversary. 

--The Access Fund is keeping tabs on a huge public lands bill that, though unlikely, could potentially pass Congress during the lame duck session. The ‘‘Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2010’’ includes provisions that would enact the controversial Southeast Arizona Land Exchange Act. The Access Fund and Arizona climbing community have long worked to protect climbing in central Arizona, first through the Friends of Queen Creek and then the Queen Creek Coalition (QCC). The Southeast Arizona Land Exchange bill would destroy hundreds of existing roped climbing routes and thousands of bouldering problems by transferring US Forest Service lands to Resolution Copper Mining (RCM) for a block cave mine. 

Notes from All Over:

--Sad news in the search for a Mt. Baldy hiker missing since Saturday, December 4th. A body believed to be that of Michelle Yu, 49,  was found last Thursday by search crews. .

--Milt McAuley, the father of hiking in the Santa Monica Mountains whose guidebooks and guided hikes popularized the trails that cut through Los Angeles backcountry, has died. He was 89.  McAuley, who continued hiking until 3 years ago, died this week of natural causes at his home in Canoga Park.

--Officials at Cannon Mountain in Franconia, New Hampshire, said a teenager from Massachusetts died Sunday after a skiing accident.  Cannon Mountain's manager said Thomas Nester, of Wakefield, Massachusetts was skiing with a friend on the mountain's Zoomer Lift Line trail when the accident happened around 10:15 a.m. Sunday.


--Black Diamond has issued a voluntary recall of a limited portion of Avalung packs. According to a company press relase, the intake tubing may crack under cold temperatures.  The recall pertains to a limited manufacturing run of Black Diamond AvaLung Packs sold in 2010, which can be identified by a PO number and model combination presented on the following website: www.BlackDiamondEquipment.com/AvaLungRecall Any Avalung within the production run should be immediately returned to Black Diamond for inspection and/or replacement. 

--Two skiers and their dog were caught in an avalanche in Montana's Tobacco Roots over the weekend. All three survived the incident. 


--On Sunday the flatlands of Minnesota saw unusual avalanche activity.  The preceding video shows the collapse of the Minneapolis Metrodome's inflatable roof.  Tons of what looks like powder tears a hole through the ceiling and pours into the center of the football stadium.  Needless to say, the day's game was postponed.

--Mick Fowler was elected President of the UK's Alpine Club following what is thought to be the first contested election to the prestigious post in the Club's 153-year history.  The clear favorite of AC members, in both an opinion poll and a ballot held at the club's AGM in London, Fowler is expected to devote his three years as president to attracting more active alpinists into the AC. Fowler exemplifies the style of exploratory mountaineering championed by the Alpine Club, and having as its public face a climber who is still pushing the boat out on big mountain routes can only be of benefit to the club's image.

--Interior Department and Wyoming state officials have agreed to a $107 million deal that could permanently protect 1,405 acres of state school parcels in Grand Teton National Park, Governor Dave Freudenthal announced late last week. Freudenthal made the announcement after the state Board of Land Commissioners voted 4-0 for a plan to sell the four parcels to the Park Service one at a time between January 5, 2012 and January 5, 2015. The deal is still subject to approval by the Wyoming Legislature, and the U.S. Congress must come up with the funding.

--Russian Valery Rozov braved temperatures as low as minus 30C to climb a mountain in Antarctica, and then jumped off the top of it.  The climber and base jumper from Moscow wanted to leap from the peak of Ulvetanna mountain in the Drygalski Mountains in Queen Maud Land.  Almost 9843 feet above sea level, the summit of the mountain named Wolf's Peak in Norwegian looked a daunting task for any mountaineer, let alone one intending to plunge down the sheer face of rock using a wingsuit before deploying a parachute. 

--Canadian researchers are in the process of developing a camera that could help the detection of avalanches. The infra-red camera has been developed by researchers at the University of Calgary in Canada and it detects temperature changes in the snow pack.

--An important new product is making its way around the internet.  These new Tevas are perfect for the outdoors woman who needs to not only make it happen in the mountains, but in high society.

Yangshuo Climbing Festival 2010

China's third annual Yangshuo Climbing Festival, sponsored by The North Face and Black Diamond, took place on Yangshuo's world-class limestone with more than 550 climbers from 17 countries in attendance. The week included clinics taught by Yuji Hirayama, Sam Elias, Emily Harrington, and Liu Yongbang, plus informative slide shows, a climbing treasure hunt, climbing videos, music, food, beer, and socializing. The twin goals of the Yangshuo Climbing Festival are to promote a sense of community among climbers throughout China in a fun, friendly, and casual atmosphere and to support the sustainable development of rock climbing in the Yangshuo area China.

Free Climbing and Aid Climbing

Rock climbing has two distinct and different disciplines:

• Free Climbing
  
• Aid Climbing

Free climbing is when a climber ascends a rock face using only his hands and feet, as opposed to aid climbing where he places gear and either grabs it or stands in aiders to make upward progress. When free climbing, climbers use ropes and equipment to protect themselves only and don’t rely on it except for safety. Free climbing is perhaps the highest and most aesthetic expression of the climbing game since it requires strength, ingenuity, skill, and experience to be successful on the most difficult routes.

Aid climbing is technical rock climbing that requires the use or aid of climbing gear, including cams, pitons, bolts, nuts, and hooks, which holds the lead climber’s weight as he moves upward. Aid climbing is used when the rock is featureless and the climber is unable to use hand and footholds for upward progress. Sometimes climbers make only a few moves of aid on a free route, which is called French free climbing.

Most Climbers are Free Climbers

Most rock climbers are free climbers, using only their hands, feet, balance, and wits to climb a rock face. Occasionally, however, every free climber will use an aid move or two, like grabbing a quickdraw or a couple pieces of gear, to climb past a difficult rock section. When you climb like this, using occasional aid moves to speed up your climb or enable you to pass the hard parts, it’s called French freeing or French free. This type of climbing not only allows you to climb long routes more quickly, but it also allows you to climb routes that are at a higher difficulty level than what you usually climb. French freeing originated at the Verdon Gorge in southern France in the 1960s and 1970s when climbers pushed long routes up steep limestone walls but were unable to make all the moves so they grabbed gear or placed hooks in pockets to bypass hard sections.

Free Climbing Uses Hands and Feet

For most climbers, rock climbing is free climbing. Free climbing is simply using only your hands, feet, strength, and balance to move upward. Equipment is used only to protect the climber from the effects of a fall, not to aid his movements up a rock face. The free climber avoids using any gear to advance upward, using only his physical skills to climb.

Aid Climbing Uses Equipment

Aid climbing is the other aspect of rock climbing, which is when a climber relies on his equipment to make vertical progress. Aid climbing is when a climber grabs a quickdraw clipped onto a bolt to pull past a hard move on a sport route or when he works his way up a featureless overhanging wall by placing cams and nuts in cracks and stands in aiders suspended from that gear to ascend. Aid climbing is how most big walls, like those in Yosemite Valley, are climbed.

3 Types of Rock Faces for Climbing

You will find three basic types of rock faces when you’re climbing:

• Slab
  
• Vertical
  
• Overhanging

  Slabs are Less than 90 Degrees

  Slabs are rock faces that are angled at less than 90 degrees or less than vertical. Climbing a slab requires a good sense of your feet and how to use them as well as balance and rock shoes with lots of friction. When you climb a slab, the general rule is that you keep your weight on your feet. You usually smear your feet on tiny holds on the rock or simply rely on the shoe rubber to hold against smooth rock. This foot technique is called smearing and the holds you use are usually called friction holds or smears. Usually your hands and arms are used for balance rather than pulling because it’s your feet that keep you on the rock and moving upward.
  
  
  
  
  

  America’s Best Slab Climbing Areas

  Here are some of the best slab climbing areas and cliffs in the United States:
  
  • Tuolumne Meadows, California
    
  • Joshua Tree National Park, California
    
  • South Platte Area, Colorado
    
  • Whitehorse Ledge, New Hampshire
    
  • Looking Glass Mountain, North Carolina

  Vertical Faces are 90 Degrees

  Vertical faces are exactly that—rock faces that are angled at 90 degrees, which is more or less straight up. Usually climbers will consider faces that are slightly less than 90 degrees to be vertical since they are climbed by the same techniques. Like climbing slabs, footwork is very important when you climb vertical cliffs. You keep your weight over your feet as much as possible, which avoids taxing your arms too much, and getting pumped and falling off. Foot techniques include inside edging, outside edging, and smearing. You also need to find your center of gravity and sense of equilibrium, keep an upright body position, and use your hands and arms for pulling.
  

  America’s Best Vertical Climbing Areas

  Here are some of the many excellent climbing areas that offer vertical climbing:
  
  • Shelf Road, Colorado
    
  • Smith Rock, Oregon
    
  • Red River Gorge, Kentucky
    
  • New River Gorge, West Virginia
    
  • Shawngunks, New York

  Overhanging Faces are More than 90 Degrees

  Overhanging faces are those rock faces that are overhung or angled more than 90 degrees. Climbing overhanging faces requires, of course, lots of upper body strength, an apelike attitude, and excellent technique. If you don’t have a combination of these three factors, you might get off the ground but you’re not going to climb too high. Surprisingly, climbing overhanging faces also requires exacting footwork where the climber uses his feet in specialized techniques like heel hooks and toe cams, which help take the climber’s weight off his arms.
  

  America’s Best Overhanging Climbing Areas

  Lots of great American climbing areas offer overhanging climbing:
  
  • Rifle Mountain Park, Colorado
    
  • American Fork, Utah
    
  • Red River Gorge, Kentucky
    
  • Kaymoor at New River Gorge, West Virginia
    
  • Rumney, New Hampshire

Moving Over Stone

Climbing is all about movement. It’s about moving your body across vertical terrain, about moving over stone. It’s about staying in balance. It’s about finding equilibrium. It’s about using your hands and feet to make upward progress.

Climbing is Natural

Climbing, along with walking and running, is one of the natural activities that humans do. It’s a natural thing to do. We’re built to climb. We just climb. We climb trees, we climb hills, we climb mountains, we climb little rocks, we climb big rocks. Our ancestors climbed to get away from fierce predators and enemies, they climbed for safety.

Kids Know How to Climb

Little kids climb for the sake of climbing; of stretching their bodies and boundaries; of finding how high they can climb. They climb for the adventure and the view, to see what’s on the other side of the fence. Later the adults and parents tell the kids: “Don’t climb. It’s dangerous. You’re gonna fall and hurt yourself.” So we stop climbing and that natural innate sense of climbing begins to get lost as we keep our feet planted on sidewalks.

Climbing is Learning to Use Your Body

When we go climbing though, we re-find that ability to move across difficult and unfamiliar terrain and in the process we discover a new sense of adventure and joy in the human process of moving over stone and slope. Climbing then is about learning all about our body’s machinery and how it works and how we can use it in the vertical world. We learn its advantages and strengths. We learn its weaknesses. We learn how to compensate for weakness. We learn how to be strong and in control. We learn flow and grace and the joy of movement.

Climbing is Moving Over Stone

When a lot of people think about climbing, they tend to think about gear and safety systems and, of course, gravity and the consequences of falling. All the specialized climbing equipment, climbing systems, and judgments we make to stay safe climbing are very important, but climbing, when you get strip it down to its basics and its essence, is simply about movement over rock.

Our Ability to Climb

Our ability to climb is what gets us up a rock face. It’s that simple. It’s just a man or a woman using their hands and feet to climb a rock. The equipment is our back-up, what we rely on if we’re not skilled enough to progress upward with our human bodies or we’re too weak to climb higher.

The Art of Face and Crack Climbing

To become a climber, you have to learn the techniques of free climbing, you have to learn two different disciplines—face climbing and crack climbing. Each requires a different skill set that has been developed over the last 110 years by climbers around the world, who through trial and error developed lots of specific skills, techniques, and tricks to ascend faces and cracks. Learn them here then get out and practice on your local climbing gym walls or better yet, go outside and get vertical.

Buying A Climbing Harness

A rock climbing harness is an extremely important part of your climbing equipment and can significantly affect not only your safety but also your overall climbing performance. Therefore, it's very important to find harness that fits your climbing needs, style and experience level.

As you know rock climbing is considered a pretty dangerous sport, especially when safety standards are neglected. If you care about safety, as you should, first thing to check when buying a harness is whether it is approved by either Union Internationale des Associations d'Alpinisme or European Committee for Standardization. These organizations provide safety tests for various types of equipment, including climbing gear. If you purchase your climbing harness from a respected store there is 99% chance your gear will have all the necessary safety certification. However, double checking won't hurt.

Just like when buying climbing shoes you need to decide where you are going to climb and what's your climbing style. This will help you buy a climbing harness that fits your individual needs.
Gym climbing:
These harnesses are specifically designed for gym climbing. While they meet all safety requirements you can easily and quickly get them on and off. These harnesses are really light and since you don't carry up a lot of supplemental climbing gear while climbing in the gym they often have only two gear loops allowing you to carry everything you need for gym climbing.
Traditional climbing:
This type of climbing usually requires carrying a substantial amount of climbing gear. Therefore, harnesses for traditional climbing often have 4 gear loops so you can take everything you need on the wall with you. In addition, these harnesses feature adjustable leg loops so you can fit them perfectly and tightly on your legs. Since you will be spending a lot of time on the wall, a good fit is very important and can help avoid traumas.
Ice climbing

These harnesses are relatively similar to those used for the traditional climbing but the materials as well as the design are adjusted for winter conditions. They will have ample space for additional gear and will easily fit over your winter clothes.

Once you've identified what type of harness you need, you need to try it on. Ideally you will need a small climbing wall to fully test it and the majority of specialized climbing shops will offer you this opportunity. Put the harness on and make sure the waistbelt fits comfortably and doesn't move to much. Also, pay attention to pressure points. You shouldn't feel any excessive pressure while hanging on belay, otherwise look for a different harness. Try readjusting the rise and the leg loops. It might solve some of the pressure problems. Remember, there is a huge variety of climbing harnesses. Try several ones before you find what you really need.

Sydney Harbour Bridge Climb - An Amazing Experience And Breath Taking Sydney Harbour Views

Sydney is a glamorous city with so many iconic landmarks, and the Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge are two of the most famous and globally recognised. The architectural beauty of the bridge is something that you can truly appreciate only when you climb the bridge. The Bridge Climb in Sydney offers its visitors exactly such an opportunity. Tourists and locals alike enjoy this adventurous activity. Everyone should make at least one attempt at climbing the bridge when they visit Sydney.

The Bridge Climb tour is open during different times of the day. The best time for the climb however would be either dawn or twilight since that is the time that the whole landscape reflects the changing position of the sun most dramatically. You can see the whole city illuminated in different shades and hues over a relatively short period of time. Most people have explored Sydney only at ground level. But the moment you start climbing the bridge, you get a totally new perspective of Sydney. So even if you are quite familiar with the city, you will still get new insights from the climb.

If you suffer from a fear of heights, then this is a good opportunity for you to overcome your fear. You would be exposed to heights in a very controlled environment during the Bridge Climb that is one of the best ways to overcome your phobia. To make the climb absolutely safe, the whole route has carabineers, chains, ropes and handrails, which would make climbers feel safe and secure. All climbers are also required to wear a special jump suit and they are always strapped to a railing for safety. For the entire duration of the climb, you would also have the assistance of experienced guides to help you. They are specially trained to help and assist people who have a fear of heights. The climb can definitely help you overcome your fear, especially if it arises from psychological factors.

The Bridge Climb in Sydney is a fascinating experience and everyone should experience it. But unfortunately, not everyone is allowed to climb. People with certain medical and physical conditions are not allowed to climb for safety and health reasons. People with heart conditions, epilepsy, pregnant women, and those who have had recent surgery would not be allowed for obvious reasons. Safety is given top priority during the climb and the health and safety precautions adopted by the authorities are very stringent.

No matter what the prevailing weather conditions, the Bridge Climb in Sydney still goes on without any interruption. Only when extremely high wind conditions and electric storms occur, are the tours halted. People who have experienced the climb always give very positive feedback. They are also highly impressed by the quality of the guides present for the climbs. You can find lots of reviews on the Internet where people share their tour experiences. If you travel to Sydney, make it a point to include the bridge climb in your itinerary.