Climb of a Lifetime

The 2009 Everest season is underway! I just read the my favorite Lakpa Rita Sherpa was honored by the Ministry of Tourism this week for being the first Nepali to climb the Seven Summits. Pretty cool-Go Lakpa!

Two of the people in the group I descended Denali with last summer will be climbing Everest with Alpine Ascents this season: Kathy Setian and Michael Morales. Go Kathy and Michael! I will be watching their progress here: http://www.alpineascents.com/everest-cybercast.asp

Still no word on when and if the North side of the mountain is going to open up.  I will be interested to see how Russell and his huge Himex team do on the South Side this year and look forward to the Discovery Channel taping of the IMG team as well.

The whole story about Federico Campanini and his death on Aconcagua makes me so sad and also angry. I know it's a big controversy and probably will remain so for a long time. All I can say is that when I climbed Aconcagua a few years ago, we came across a man who had spent the night out in the open probably 100 feet from the summit and appeared to be suffering from both hypothermia and HAPE. He was given tea and physically warmed up to the point where he could at least stand. Then my guide Lhakpa Rita Sherpa, brought him down the mountain. One person brought him down. Granted the man could walk but not very well and he was definitely disoriented. 

I will not comment anymore on the subject as I don't know the circumstances around the rescue attempt, this video, etc. but it is still devastatingly sad and worrying to see.

Pemba Dorje Sherpa, aged 31, and his younger brothers Nima Gyalzen and Phurba Tenzing, intend to stay 24 hours on the summit of Mt Everest. They will use the time to pray for peace in Nepal and the rest of the world.

The three have reached the summit a combined total of 16 times and Pemba still holds the record for the fastest ascent from base camp to summit in 8 hours and 10 minutes.

Babu Shiri Sherpa, now deceased, held the record after spending 20 hours atop the summit of Everest. Pemba and his brothers hope to beak that record in May. Best of luck to them and be safe!

Rob Gauntlett, the youngest Briton to summit Everest, and his climbing partner James Atkinson were found dead in the Mont Blanc area today.  There is no official word on the cause of the accident as of yet though they were discovered in a couloir on Mont Blanc du Tacul, near Chamonix. The two men had been ice climbing on the east Gervasutti route of the 4,360m mountain yesterday.

Over 13 months in 2007 and 2008, Rob and partner James Hooper traveled from Pole to Pole using only human and natural power; more than 26,000 miles using only skis, dogsleds, sails and bicycles. You can read more about all of Rob's expeditions on his website: http://www.robgauntlett.com/index.php

My condolences to Rob's and James' family and friends.

Dean Potter gave a slide show presentation this Friday at my local climbing gym- Planet Granite in San Francisco. He is a rock star! He really inspires you to get out there and climb!!

Jeep World of Adventure Sports recently aired a show on Dean Potter and his free soloing of the Eiger.



Jeep World also recently aired the 3 week climbing trip of Beth Rodden, Tommy Caldwell and Chris McNamara in the Grand Canyon with their free climb of Grapevine Buttress.

Ice climbing season has pretty much begun so I have been trying to gain an ounce of upper body strength in preparation. I have been heading to the rock climbing gym a couple times a week for climbing and bouldering which has been a blast. I am slowly improving but since I am pretty much a Gumby, I dare say my technique is not that great.

While trolling for technique tips, I found Danny Logan's cool videos on the Expert Village channel on YouTube. I think I am going to try the Bat Hook tomorrow!! :)

 

I have become addicted to Hulu lately. You can watch entire episodes of shows you may have missed on TV but best of all they have some great climbing movies. For example, they have the entire series of Jeep World's K2:

And an intro to Rock Climbing and gear:

Check it out!

 

In 1953, we all know that Sir Edmund Hillary and Tensing Norgay were the first to summit Everest. What many people do not know, however, is that only 3 days before, Tom Bourdillon and Charles Evans came within only 300ft of the summit. Tom designed two types of breathing equipment for this expedition (seen below)- one closed circuit system and one open circuit system.

 Tom and Charles used the closed circuit system on their attempt at Everest's summit and had to turn back when the system froze in the extreme cold. Hillary and Norgay then used the open circuit system, which was seen as inferior yet more reliable on their attempt and this same system has been used in oxygen units ever since.

In the closed system, oxygen in a climber's exhaled breathe is recycled and put back into the mask. This allows the oxygen level to stay constant and enables a climber to go almost twice as fast as a person using an open system. The bugs that Bourdillon and Evans encountered have now supposedly been fixed by researcher Roger McMorrow. Will we soon see these systems being used on 8000m mountains?!?

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article4775071.ece

I was in Keystone, CO this past weekend for a friend's wedding and decided to take a couple extra days to climb some 14ers. This time of year in Colorado is absolutely gorgeous with sunny, cool days-perfect for hiking. In addition, you don't have to worry so much about being off the mountain by lunchtime since there arent too many afternoon thunderstorms this time of year. I was extremely happy not to have to start hiking in the middle of the night.

I found a fabulous website:  http://www.14ers.com

The site contains details on every single Colorado 14er including route guides and classifications, trailhead access status, weather reports, detailed photos of each route, driving directions, you name it. You can even create your own checklist to chart your progress on the quest to climb all 58. Has anyone made an equivalent for the California ones?

The first day I climbed Grays and Torreys. Tons of people were out as it was the weekend and a pretty nice day, albeit a bit windy. Grays and Torreys are connected by a saddle so you can climb both in one trip. Supposedly most 14er purists say you need to have 3000' of elevation gain on each peak climb to count it but I didnt feel like hiking all the way down to the trailhead and back up again! Neither did anyone else it seems.

The next day I climbed the highest peak in Colorado- Mt Elbert. This was a gorgeous hike through the forest (which is sadly dying because of the pine beetle) then above the treeline with unlimited views of the rest of the Colorado range. I ended up hiking with Rocky- the awesome Texan who has climbed 37 of the 14ers- and a couple from Scotland-Ian and Jasmin- who were vacationing in the US. We had a blast chatting about everything from guns to Prairie Home Companion.

Only 55 more to go!

Not only have I become addicted to Geocaching lately but I am now determined to climb each Highpoint in all the 50 States. My obsession started with Mauna Kea sort of by accident and now after a recent monster roadtrip, I have added Nebraska, Iowa (yeah those aren't too tough you can imagine) and South Dakota. I am hoping to tick off Mount Elbert and a couple other 14'ers in Colorado over the weekend as well. Looks like I have no choice but to head back to Denali!

Harney Peak stands at 7242 feet above the surrounding Black Hills National Forest. I have to say this is my favorite Highpoint hike so far as the scenery is absolutely stunning and we had such a perfect day. This is supposedly the highest point East of the Rocky Mountains and West of the Pyrenees. Nothing is higher in New England? Greenland? Interesting. Anyway, if you find yourself in Rapid City, SD for some reason- definitely head to the Black Hills for some hiking and great rock climbing.