January and February Climbing Events

-- Jan 27 -- Seattle, WA -- Altitude Illness Seminar 

-- Jan 27 -- Bellingham, WA -- The Biology and Ecology of Winter Tracking: Wolverine Behavior and Track Identification. For more information about this event, please contact Dave Moskowitz by phone 425-891-4745 or email davem@wildernessawareness.org. 

-- Jan 29 -- Truckee, CA --  Lost Trail Lodge Ice Climbing

-- Feb 4 -- Munising, Michigan -- Michigan Ice Fest

-- Feb 5 -- Mammoth, CA -- (Ski Mountaineering) Mammoth Chase  

-- Feb 12-13 -- Alpental, WA -- VertFest sponsored by OR

-- Feb 12 -- Seattle, WA -- Northwest Collegiate Climbing Challenge (UW)

-- Feb 18 - 21-- Cody, WY -- 13th Annual "Waterfall Ice" Fest

-- Feb 26 -- Seattle, WA -- AAC Annual Benefit and Awards Dinner

FOR MARCH: Red Rock Rendezvous....Don't forget that there is a lot going on in Las Vegas in mid to late March. Following is a quick breakdown of everything that is happening:

• March 12-15 -- Learn to Lead: An Introduction to Traditional Rock Leadership
• March 12-14 -- AMGA Single Pitch Instructor Course
• March 14-17 -- Basic Rock Camp
• March 15-16 -- AMGA Single Pitch Instructor Exam 
• March 17      -- Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour in Las Vegas
• March 18-20 -- Red Rock Rendezvous
• March 21-24 -- Basic Rock Camp
• March 22-25 -- Learn to Lead: An Introduction to Traditional Rock Leadership

 

Book Review: The Sandstone Spine

I have attended the Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour a dozen times.  And every time there is a spectacular story about a person or a group of people that go on an epic adventure.  Commonly those on the trip are participating in an adventure outside my expertise.  For example, they decide to kayak from Australia to New Zealand, or they bike across China, or they walk across Australia...

These phenomenal films taught me that not every adventure has to revolve around climbing and/or skiing.  Indeed, adventure merely needs to be something that inspires you, no matter the medium.

It was with this in mind that I picked up The Sandstone Spine by David Roberts with photography by Greg Child.  Roberts is well-known for his mountain writing.  He has authored or co-authored seventeen books on climbing, adventure, and the history of the American Southwest. His articles have appeared in numerous magazines and journals, including National Geographic, National Geographic Adventure, the New York Times and The Atlantic Monthly.

Greg Child is a well-known mountaineer and author.  The Australian-born climber has tested his metal in every venue including on 5.13 routes, A5 big walls and on Himalayan peaks like Everest and K2.  He is a North Face athlete, an Outside Magazine contributor, and was responsible for the award-winning climbing tome, Postcards from the Ledge.  Additionally, Child has repeatedly been an athlete at Red Rock Rendezvous, an event that the American Alpine Institute is heavily involved with.

Roberts and Child joined forces with Vaughn Hadenfeldt, a local wilderness guide, to make the first complete traverse of the 100-mile long Comb Ridge in one continuous push.  The Comb is literally a Sandstone Spine that slices out deep into the Arizona desert, starting just east of Kayenta.

The sandstone ridge is comprised of thousands of rock spires, turrets and jagged teeth and is home to hundreds of Anasazi and Navajo ruins.  Ancient cliff-dwellings and petroglyphs dominate the route from the start to the finish.  As does difficult and dry terrain.

While each of the three men were world-class adventurers at the start of their trip, none of them were spring chickens.  At ages 61, 53, and 47, the trio's adventure had a different taste than many of those that are commonly written about in the magazines and journals.  Each of them were at that point in their lives that society likes to refer to as "middle-age."  And in many ways, their adventure along the Comb took place at three levels.  On the top level, it's the story of three friends on a great adventure.  On the second level, it's the story of the Anasazi, natives who disappeared hundreds of years ago.  And at the third level, it's the story of middle-aged angst among the men.

Roberts is an excellent adventure writer.  He does a wonderful job of weaving the different parts of the narrative together.  At one moment we are on the Comb with the three men, worrying about water; and in the next we are with Mormon missionaries, trying to find a way through the steep and unforgiving desert landscape.  Books like this are the reason that I read adventure narratives.  They are striking and engrossing stories.

At the American Alpine Institute we run trips in a handful of desert environments. We do trips at the foot of the Eastern Sierra, just outside Death Valley.  We run trips in Joshua Tree National Park.  And we run trips in Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area.  Sometimes in the heat of climbing a route, we forget that we weren't the first people to discover the area, that people have been traveling beneath our lines and routes for years.  Ultimately, Roberts' book gives us both a taste of what we love to do -- go on adventures -- as well as a taste of the history of these beautiful places.  There is no better combination...

National Park Service Invites Public to Fairbanks Open House on Denali/Foraker Mountaineering Fee

The American Alpine Institute just received the following email from Denali National Park:

The National Park Service (NPS) is holding an open house in Fairbanks on Friday, January 28 as part of the public involvement process examining approaches to recover more of the cost of the mountaineering program in Denali National Park and Preserve. The open house is taking place from 5:00 – 7:30 p.m. at the Morris Thompson Cultural & Visitors Center (in the classroom) located at 101 Dunkel Street.

Beginning at 6:00 p.m., Denali staff will give a 30-40 minute presentation on the mountaineering program and fee. Official public testimony will not be taken during the open house, but park staff will be available before and after the presentation to provide additional information and answer questions.

Currently each climber of Mt. McKinley and Mt. Foraker pays a cost recovery mountaineering use fee of $200. Income from this special use fee helps fund some of the cost of the mountaineering program, including preventative search and rescue (PSAR) education, training for rescue personnel, positioning of patrol/rescue personnel (including volunteers) at critical high altitude locations on the mountain, the CMC (human waste) program, and administrative support. Since the cost recovery fee was implemented in
1995, the number of fatalities and major injuries has decreased significantly. This is directly attributable to the increased educational and PSAR efforts made possible through the cost recovery program.

When the special use fee was initially established it covered approximately 30% of the cost of this specialized program. Even though the fee was increased from $150 to $200 in 2005, current fee revenue only covers 17% of the cost. McKinley/Foraker climbers make up less than 1⁄2 of 1 percent of the park’s visitors, and in 2011 Denali will expend approximately $1,200 in direct support of each permitted climber. The average cost per visitor for all other visitors is approximately $37. In recent years, the park has diverted funds from other critical park programs in order to fully fund the mountaineering program.

The NPS is seeking ideas regarding two key questions:

1. Is the current mountaineering program the most cost effective, efficient and safe program we can devise? 

1. How much of the cost should be recovered from users, and what options are there for how those costs can be distributed? 

Comments from the public will be accepted through January 31, 2011. Comments may be submitted via email to: DENA_mountainfeecomments@nps.gov or faxed to (907) 683-9612. They may also be sent to: Superintendent, Denali National Park and Preserve, P.O. Box 9, Denali Park, AK 99755.

Additional information on the mountaineering program and the mountaineering special use fee is available on the park website at www. nps.gov/dena.

Climbing and Outdoor News from Here and Abroad - 1/20/11

Northwest:

--Friends are remembering a Calgary man who died in a weekend avalanche in British Columbia as an avid backcountry skier, accomplished climber and safety-conscious adventurer. Manfred Rockel was killed on Sunday in Kokanee Glacier Provincial Park near Nelson while on a backcountry ski vacation with fourteen friends.

--Lyle Knight and Marc Piche made the first ascent of a new WI 6 in the Okanangan Valley of British Columbia.  They have named their new 400-foot line, Mythologic. 

--First it was milk, then eggs and then bread that began to disappear from the shelves of The Siding General Store, the sole grocery store in B.C.'s picturesque mountain community of Field. Then, five days after the avalanche danger shut down the only highway leading into and out of the town of three-hundred people, the liquor was disappearing.  Finally on Tuesday afternoon, part of the Trans-Canada Highway reopened after the extended closure.

Sierra:

--Fifty-million years ago, powerful forces deep underground launched a new wave of mountain building that swept southward from British Columbia through Nevada and California, and on into Mexico. It was the beginning of what would become today's High Sierra.

--A series of large storms hit the Pacific coast throughout December and into January, causing power outages, road closures and massive snow accumulation in the Sierras. Some Eastern Sierra residents saw as many as three days without power, while flights to and from Mammoth Yosemite Airport were canceled for more than five-days at a time. While good news for “snowed-in” vacationing skiers, record accumulations kept backcountry skiers inbounds as the snow settled.

Desert Southwest:

--The Bureau of Land Management is accepting comments on its proposal to offer special recreation permits for groups within Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area in Cottonwood Valley and along the 13-Mile Scenic Drive. Under the proposal, permits would be required for weddings, running and mountain bike races, charity fundraising events and other large group gatherings.

Rocky Harvey's Plane after Crashing in Joshua Tree National Park

Photo Courtesy of the Desert Sun

--The morning sky above Joshua Tree National Park was bright blue and dotted with a few clouds as Rocky Harvey eased his van out of the driveway. He headed to Roy Williams Airport for an 8am flight with his instructor, Warner Henry. They would fly to Palm Springs, and Rocky would land his plane at an airport with a tower for the first time on his own.

Alaska:

--Solo winter Denali Climber Lonnie Dupre is getting there. On the 18th, he was at 14,200-feet and had made a carry to 15,200 feet, which in the regular season is the bottom of the fixed lines. As of this writing his plan was to be at 17,200-feet by the time you read this.

Mount Foraker from 17,200 feet

Photo by Jason Martin

--Denali National Park has released the 2010 Annual Mountaineering Summaries. 


Notes from All Over:


--The parents of a Boy Scout who died last year during a 20-mile hike in extreme heat are suing the organization whose famed motto, "Be Prepared," sets a standard they believe the hike's leaders failed to meet. Michael Sclawy-Adelman was 17 and close to reaching scouting's highest rank -- Eagle -- when he collapsed and died during the hike in the Florida Everglades in May 2009.

--More than one-hundred people gathered at a bonfire and candlelight vigil Monday night to mourn and honor 16-year-old Joshua Waldron, who died Saturday from injuries he sustained in a skiing accident at Maine's Sugarloaf Mountain Ski Resort. 

--A nineteen year-old woman was rescued Tuesday after she got lost at the Eldora Mountain Resort. The Boulder County Sheriff's Office said Gree R Garcia, was skiing at Eldora with her boyfriend and her boyfriend's brother. At 3:30pm, the group split up so the men could get in one more run. Garcia said she planned to continue downhill to the parking lot, but inadvertently traveled southward, and went out of the ski area boundaries.

--Last weekend, an amazing new variation was added to the ephemeral Gorillas in the Mist, a 500-foot thin-ice testpiece at Poke-O-Moonshine in the Adirondacks. Three top Northeastern climbers completed a the line that they called Endangered Species (3 pitches, M6+ NEI5+ R). 

--The New York Times ran an incredible article this week about planes melting out of the glaciers in Bolivia and in the rest of the Andes.  Apparently, the glaciers melting from climate change are revealing many secrets, including long lost planes and pilots.

--Rocktown Climbing Gym in Oklahoma City has made use of their local cold.  They have farmed ice on the front of their building.  To see photos,


--Several bottles of key expedition equipment are making their way back home to Scotland more than one hundred years after being abandoned in Antarctica by Sir Ernest Shackleton.  The British explorer's unsuccessful South Pole expedition of 1907 left quite a few bottles of alcohol buried beneath a hut in Antarctica. The stash was discovered last year. 


Manufacturer Recalls and Equipment Issues:

--Backcountry Access (BCA), the North American manufacturer of avalanche safety equipment, has just announced a recall of its latest beacon, the Tracker2. BCA representatives say they have isolated certain issues that could cause a potential malfunction in the T2 units.

--The United States Consumer Products Safety Commission announced a voluntary recall of 3,500 Avalung backpacks due to a suffocation hazard.  The backpacks, imported from China by Black Diamond Equipment, include air intake tubing that can crack at cold temperatures. 

--Totem Cams sold prior to December 31st 2010 are being recalled.  The color anodizing of the cams gives them a surface hardness that may affect their holding power in certain areas of polished limestone and when the cams still retain their layer of anodizing on the area in contact with the rock. 

New Rope Technology

In 2001, I was climbing a big wall in Zion National Park with two of our former guides.  Prodigal Son is an "easy" aid route that ascends the Northeast Face of Angels Landing.  As it was late in the Fall and it was getting dark early, we elected to fix the first aid pitches and then complete the ascent to the top on the following day.

On the second day of the climb we made our way to the base of the wall in the dark.  The approach was not pleasant.  We had to forge the freezing Virgin River at 5am.  And then we each began to jug the fixed lines with mechanical ascenders.

For some reason, I was the last person to climb the ropes.  As I climbed up the second rope, dawn was breaking and it was much easier to see.  And what I saw was terrifying...

Near the top of the second line, there was a hint of white peaking through a seriously damaged rope sheath.  The line was core shot.  And I was below the damage!

I quickly climbed through the damaged section of rope and clipped into the anchor.  Safe.

Three of us climbed up that rope on jumars.  The bouncing motion of our movement and the dynamic nature of the rope caused it to repeatedly rub on the sandstone, allowing the coarse stone to saw through the sheath.

Ultimately, we finished the wall.  But that particular incident has stuck with me for years.  Indeed, it has made me extremely cautious while aid climbing and constantly concerned about sharp edges while free climbing.

Recently the rope manufacturer Beal, revealed a new technology that they are calling Uni Core.  The concept is that the core and the sheath are integrated and that it will be much harder for rope damage to have a catastrophic effect.


Certainly the catastrophic effect of the knife on the rope would have been mitigated by knots in the rope.  Aid climbers on jumars are taught to knot the rope as they climb for just such a possibility.  And indeed, in my situation back in Zion, had the sheath completely come apart, I would have been shaken up, but okay.  I had placed knots in the rope.

I haven't used one of these ropes yet and have no idea how well they handle.  But as this is a major jump in rope safety, I thought it important to discuss it here.

Route Profile: Epinephrine

Many climbers consider Red Rock Canyon's Epinephrine (5.9 IV+) to be one of the best routes of its grade in the world. With over fifteen pitches of climbing, Epinephrine is a phenomenal route that places one in an incredible position high above the Black Velvet Canyon.

The chimneys on Epinephrine are behind the pillar at the bottom of the wall.

Many look at the moderate 5.9 grade and believe that this route will be a walk in the park. The reality is that Epi -- as the locals call it -- is a route that includes significant difficulties that one doesn't often encounter on a regular day out at the crags. Indeed, the route is known for one major feature: a long 5.9 chimney system.

The first third of Epinephrine is dominated by chimneys. These chimneys are incredibly smooth inside. Some have even equated them to glass. It often feels that the inch at a time gains inside the chimneys might be lost at any moment from a mild slip or fall. Difficult passage inside the chimneys are exacerbated by the fact that the route is so big that a pack is absolutely necessary. To move through the chimneys one must drag their pack between their legs.

 

Climbing the Chimneys on Epinephrine



A climber in a chimney on Epinephrine.

Once the first third of the route is completed, the difficulties ease, but there is still over a thousand feet to climb. The second third of the route ascends an exposed headwall which drops off nearly a thousand feet. There is a great deal of 5.9 terrain in this section of the climb, but the climbing feels significantly easier than that of the chimneys. The 5.9 climbing in the central part of the route is "normal" 5.9. In other words, it feels like any 5.9 that one might find on one of the shorter routes in Red Rock. This section goes significantly faster than the first section.

The last third of the route climbs a massive mid-fifth class ramp. One climbs pitch after pitch after pitch of easy terrain that slowly allows altitude to be attained. Finally after traversing an exposed tree ledge, one finds himself at the base of an easy scramble which leads to the top of Velvet Peak.

Red Rock Canyon is famous for its moderate (5.6-5.9) multi-pitch routes. There are literally hundreds of them. At the upper end of moderate climbing, Epinephrine stands out as a spectacular and unforgettable adventure.

Wilderness Navigation - An Overview

There are many parts to wilderness navigation, but four tools stand out as being the most important.  First, a good topographical map.  Second, a compass.  Third, an altimeter.  And fourth a GPS unit.   Each of these items is a complex tool that takes a great deal of time and energy to use effectively.

The following video, made by the owner of Midwest Mountaineering, Rod Johnson, is a brief overview of the components required for successful wilderness navigation.

The map, the compass, the altimeter and the GPS must all be used in conjunction to one another.  A climber should never depend solely on one of these items, but must practice using them as complimentary tools.

The best time to practice with navigation tools is when you need them the least.  When the weather is good and it is possible to see everything, then there is little need for these.  But when the weather is good, it is also possible to see what real-life features look like on a map. Understanding what the real-world looks like vs. the world in a white-out when you are completely reliant on your understanding of your tools is incredibly important.  If you can get your systems worked out in perfect weather, then you'll be ready for it when things are less than perfect...