ClimbingNarc.com » Mountaineering

News & Notes – 3/29/2010

Narc — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 13:40:43 +0000

Deadpoint Magazine reports on an 8 year-old girl from New York sending Power Of Silence (V10) in Hueco Tanks.
The Enlightened Chuffer captures a few shots of Daniel Woods working what could potentially be the hardest problem on Boulder, CO’s Flagstaff Mountain.
Excellent interview with Royal Robbins
Check out this video of a new gym being built in Atlanta. Once completed Stone Summit will be the largest climbing gym in the country, and it will be the site for 2010 Youth Sport Climbing Nationals as well.

When Finnish boulderer Nalle Hukkataival went to Spain earlier this year it was assumed that he would try his hand at the infamous First Round First Minute project at Margalef since its bouldery style would no doubt suit him well. It turned out he never got the chance to try FRFM as it is apparently a closed project. In the comments of a recent post on his blog Hukkataival says that, “When I went to Spain, my main motivation was to try a very well known project, but I was not allowed to try it.”
In a post titled Live and Learn, Bolt Smart Joe Kinder addresses questions over some routes he bolted at the Red River Gorge in 2008 calling the situation “embarrassing” and “something that I have learned a drastic lesson over”.
Splitterchoss.com had a couple interesting route development posts of late as well. One post is about The Eight Unfortunate Truths of Route Development and the other asks the question Do First Ascentionists Own The Rock?
In other Red River Gorge news, a gate has been installed along the trail to PMRP areas Solar Collector and the Dark Side to remind climbers that those areas were not free and to encourage continued donations to the RRGCC.
The Cleanest Line blog brings us this amazing story of one man’s journey from life in East Germany behind the Berlin Wall to a career with Patagonia.
Never Stop Climbing interviews Fitz Cahall, the man behind popular online climbing media Dirtbag Diaries and The Season. If you haven’t seen it yet, here is episode 9 of The Season in which Matt Maddaloni continues his work on the “anti cam”:

The Season Episode 9 from Fitz Cahall and Bryan Smith on Vimeo.

2 separate couples donate $2,100 to the Access Fund for a day of climbing with Chris Sharma
Colin Haley used a helmet cam to shoot this video of his solo ascent of Aguja Mermoz in Patagonia. I enjoyed how the video demonstrated some of the solo-ing systems he used as well as the spectacular Patagonian scenery; however, I did not enjoy the motion sickness brought on by the constant head bobbing in the footage. Just thinking about it as I write this is making me dizzy again. Watch the entire 13 minutes at your own peril.

VIDEO: BD athlete Colin Haley wears a helmet camera during a solo ascent of Aguja Mermoz in Patagonia from Black Diamond Equipment on Vimeo.

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Update: To follow up on the FRFM tidbit and the notion that Big Up has something to do with who can climb on the route, Big Up says on their blog that “we don’t tell Chris what to do, that is some silly speculation. It’s pretty standard on top-end routes to respect the equipper’s effort.” Make of that what you will.

News & Notes – 3/29/2010 from ClimbingNarc.com

News & Notes – 1/27/2010

Narc — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 14:10:15 +0000

Despite all the joking around about the Outdoor Retailer Trade Show there were a few cool products unveiled at the show. Probably the most intriguing thing I’ve seen so far is the upcoming Red River Gorge iPhone App from Wolverine Publishing. Coinciding with an upcoming release of a 3rd edition of the Red River Gorge guidebook, the iPhone app looks to be a fully functional guide that you can take with you right on your phone. The possibilities for something like this are pretty amazing so I can’t wait to see the finished product. You can read a bit more about it at Western Colorado Climbing.
Iker Pou did the 2nd ascent of Chris Sharma’s Demencia Senil (5.15a) at Margalef, Spain. Pou is no stranger to the type of hard pocket pulling needed on Demencia Senil as he is well known for his early repeat of Wolfgang Gullich’s finger tweaking testpiece Action Direct (5.14d) back in 2000. Here’s a video of Pou doing a neighboring route at Margalef, Llamps y trons (5.14c):

For all the props Chris Sharma gets for his First Ascents of super hard sport routes, he also deserves credit for bolting a lot of these new lines as well. Lately, he seems to be one of the few top climbers that actually bolts his own projects. In that vein, he bolted a new 50m line at Oliana dubbed Chaxiraxi (after their dog?) that could be one of the hardest routes in the sector according to Daila Ojeda’s blog:

This place is wonderful and the lines are five stars of course! and now also Oliana has a new line of 50 meters bolted by Chris the last week… the name is Chaxiraxi and it can be one of the hardest route in the sector… 9b?? We will see that the machine says.. If it’s like this Chris has bolted four 9b routes in Catalunya Golpe de Estado 9b in Siurana, Neanderthal 9b inSanta Linya, First round First minute 9b project in Margalef and Chaxiraxi 9b project in Oliana. And with this line Chris has bolted in Oliana 10 routes. Looks like Chris doesn’t want just to send the hard routes, he want to create it too.

Finnish bouldering powerhouse Nalle Hukkataival has done his first 5.14c, Duela la realidad, in Oliana, Spain
Also in Oliana, Jon Cardwell and Dave Graham both recently dispatched the 5.14b Identifacation y placas
Desert Rat Productions has been hard at work on a guidebook for Moe’s Valley, a small bouldering area near St. George, UT. Check out their website for a free preview of the guide. They hope to have it ready by early Spring.
If you live in the Ft. Collins, CO area Pat Ament’s The Disciples of Gill will be featured tonight at CSU. The movie is being shown in the Clark A Building Room 103 and it starts at 7pm. Tickets are $10.
Renan Ozturk and Cory Richards completed the first ascent of a new line on Tawoche, a 21,000′+ peak in Nepal. Throughout their trip they somehow found the time, energy and internet connection to put together some pretty amazing video dispatches. The final dispatch is below and the others can be seen here.

TAWOCHE 2k10 dispatches #5 from renan ozturk on Vimeo.

It’s cool to see companies like The North Face supporting projects like the one Ozturk and Richards just completed, however it’s not cool to see them doing things like this.

News & Notes – 1/27/2010 from ClimbingNarc.com

New AAC Grant Inspired By Jonny Copp & Micah Dash

Narc — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 20:30:45 +0000

Alpine climbing is not really the main focus of this blog, but its something I’ve long been interested in. The images and stories brought back from remote mountains are something I think any person with a sense of adventure can appreciate.

Unfortunately 2009 provided many stark reminders of the dangers associated with mountain adventure, most notably the loss of Jonny Copp, Micah Dash and Wade Johnson in China. Hoping to preserve their memory and inspire other small teams to share their adventures, the American Alpine Club recently announced the $20,000 Copp-Dash Inspire Award:

Jonny and Micah believed the summit meant something, but style was everything. They pursued climbing in the same manner they lived—with vigor and passion, and with a strong desire to share their adventures with the rest of the climbing world through photographs, videos and slideshows. The Copp-Dash Inspire Award has been formed, therefore, to support climbers who choose to follow a similar path, both in life and in the mountains. The fund’s goal is to assist climbers before, during and after expeditions with financial grants and multimedia instruction to help empower them to share their current and future adventures with a wider audience.

Sponsored by Black Diamond Equipment, La Sportiva, Mountain Hardwear and Patagonia, and with in-kind support from Adventure Film Festival, Alpinist Magazine, American Alpine Club and Sender Films, the Copp-Dash Inspire Award will help support small teams tackling difficult climbs in the great mountains of the world who plan to personally document and share their ascents through a multimedia blend of storytelling elements.

Entries will be accepted until March 31st of this year.

American Alpine Club Copp-Dash Inspire Award

New AAC Grant Inspired By Jonny Copp & Micah Dash from ClimbingNarc.com

Pete Takeda Remembers Jonny Copp

Narc — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 16:24:00 +0000

Writing on the Cleanest Line blog, Pete Takeda remembers his friend Jonny Copp. Pete Takeda Remembers Jonny Copp from ClimbingNarc.com Related posts:New AAC Grant Inspired By Jonny Copp & Micah Dash Micah Dash, Jonny Copp & Wade Johnson Lost In China Video Tributes to Micah Dash, Jonny Copp & Wade Johnson Micah Dash Slideshow CO [...]

Pete Takeda Remembers Jonny Copp from ClimbingNarc.com

Climbing Videos: Alpine Climbing In Canada & Alaska

Narc — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 11:53:36 +0000

One of the trends in the online climbing world that’s gaining popularity is the self-filmed expedition report. While quality photographs of alpine expeditions make for great eye candy, they struggle to capture the full scope of what it’s like to be in the mountains. Fortunately for those of us stuck sitting at a desk climbers are more and more willing to carry a camcorder (increasingly HD to boot) in order to chronicle their trip for sponsors and/or general public enjoyment.

One recent expedition to share a window into their experience was that of Jason Kruk, Will Stanhope and Matt Segal. Reporting on his blog, Kruk recounts their successful expedition to free routes in Canada’s Bugaboo Mountains. Capitalizing on dry conditions, the trio successfully freed an old aid route called Chocolate Fudge Brownie at 5.12+ as well as a route called Sendero Norte, also at 5.12+.

The North Vancouver/ Miami variation to Chocolate Fudge Brownie – Photo: Jason Kruk

Here is a video the team put together while working their way up CFB:

Another expedition to share their story via video is that of Zack Smith and Renan Ozturk. The pair recently made a trip to Alaska’s Ruth Gorge where they were thwarted attempting a big link-up. Despite not achieving their main objective, the pair brought back some amazing HD footage of what it’s like to be in Alaska pushing ones limits. Also worth reading is their report on Black Diamond’s website where they speak to the difficulty of returning to the mountains after the tragic passing of their 3 friends earlier this year.

Climbing Videos: Alpine Climbing In Canada & Alaska from ClimbingNarc.com

Craig Luebben Killed In Cascades Icefall

Narc — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 16:10:47 +0000

Climber, guide, author and Climbing Magazine Senior Contributing Editor Craig Luebben was killed yesterday while climbing on 8,120-foot Mount Torment in Washington’s Cascades:

Craig Luebben, 49, an experienced climber, climbing author, and climbing guide from Fort Collins, Colorado was killed yesterday, August 9, after been hit by falling ice on 8,120-foot Mount Torment in Washington’s Cascade Range.
Craig, a friend and fellow author for FalconGuides, was climbing with Willie Benagas in preparation for an American Mountain Guide Association (AMGA) test for their coveted Alpine Guide certification. After the accident, Benagas was able to call rescuers who picked the pair up by helicopter yesterday afternoon.

2009 has been a rough year for deaths in the climbing community to say the least. Our thoughts are with Craig’s friends and family.

Photo of Mt. Torment from SummitPost

Update: More details here

Update #2: Full report at Stewart Green’s excellent About.com blog and a recent interview Luebben did with Frontrangebouldering.com

Craig Luebben Killed In Cascades Icefall from ClimbingNarc.com

Video Tributes to Micah Dash, Jonny Copp & Wade Johnson

Narc — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 11:40:52 +0000

It’s been several months since I last watched The Sharp End, Sender Films’ last movie. I had forgotten about the segment in the movie that featured Jonny Copp & Micah Dash doing their thing in India, France and elsewhere. Sender Films has been nice enough to share that segment with everyone online to help commemorate their lives as well as the life of Wade Johnson who helped produce the segment. It’s actually a little bit eerie to watch as Copp & Dash are nearly buried in an avalance during the filming, and they talk candidly about the inherent dangers in what they do.

In addition, here is a clip put together by friends and family to help remember the 3 who were lost:

Our thoughts remain with the friends and family. Stay tuned to the Adventure Films Blog for more updates.

Video Tributes to Micah Dash, Jonny Copp & Wade Johnson from ClimbingNarc.com

Micah Dash, Jonny Copp & Wade Johnson Lost In China

Narc — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 12:19:50 +0000

It’s not often the untimely death that sometimes finds those that use the mountains as their playground hits home in the rock climbing community, but unfortunately that is exactly what has happened with the recent passing of Micah Dash, Jonny Copp and Wade Johnson. As you have no doubt heard, the trio were likely killed by an avalanche while attempting a climb on Mt. Edgar in the Western Siuchan Province, China. The Adventure Film Festival blog has been a great resource for news and touching stories throughout this entire ordeal and I highly recommend checking it out for the full story.

While I never met Jonny Copp or Wade Johnson, I did have the good fortune of meeting Micah Dash on a couple of occasions. My first introduction to Micah was at the local climbing gym when he came in early 2008 to give a slide show about his recent ascent of the Shafat Fortress with Jonny Copp. As you can read in my report at the time, I was immediately taken by his enthusiasm and charisma.

I ran into Micah again this past February when we were in Boulder for ABS Nationals, and he reiterated his desire to come visit our gym again to share stories about his upcoming trip to China. Both Mrs. Narc and I were looking forward to seeing Micah again and the fact that this will never happen has touched both of us despite only meeting him briefly. As you read all the stories on this unfortunate accident from around the internet I think you will find that these three guys have touched countless people in a similar way.

Our thoughts are with the friends and families as they deal with this incredibly tough time.

I’ll leave you with this essay I found while paging through one of my mountaineering books the other day:

Mountaineers climb because they love the mountains, yes; but they climb too because climbing prepares them boldly and tenaciously for death, then guides them faithfully to the edge of another world, a world I now recognize as the world of the dead, and there allows them to dance, mountain after mountain, year after year, as close to death as it is possible to dance; which is to say, within a single step.

“The Mountain of Love and Death” from Mountains of the Great Blue Dream by Robert Leonard Reid

Micah Dash, Jonny Copp & Wade Johnson Lost In China from ClimbingNarc.com

CO Based Mountaineers Missing In China

Narc — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 19:36:27 +0000

The news of the possible disappearance in China of Boulder, CO based climbers Micah Dash and Jonny Copp along with filmmaker Wade Johnson has been blazing around the internet today on blogs, news sites, twitter and The Facebook. Visit this blog for all the updates. My thoughts are with the friends and families…

CO Based Mountaineers Missing In China from ClimbingNarc.com

Pictures Of The Bolting On Everest

Narc — Tue, 12 May 2009 12:55:12 +0000

My current obsession with rock climbing was spawned back in High School by an obsession with reading about mountaineering. While not as obsessed with the mountains as I used to be, each spring I still pay at least some attention to what is transpiring on Mt. Everest. There normally isn’t much that happens on Everest that is worth talking about on a climbing blog, but this season there has been a wrinkle added to the mix: bolts on the Big E.

Bolting has always been a lightning rod for controversy in the rock climbing world, and since Everest is likely the first of the 8,000 meter peaks to have bolts added there is no shortage of controversy there either. On a mountain that is overcrowded with guided clients, full of litter and covered in old ropes a few bolts to make things safer seems like something that was long overdue. Just listen to guide Kenton Cool describe the old method of protecting the area of the Yellow Band that was bolted above 24,000 ft:

The band is made up of limestone, marble and calc-silicate and is very compact with just a few horizontal striations that offer almost zero options for anchoring fixed ropes. In the past, rope has been tied to existing old rope frozen in place with little or no idea what is securing the rope to the mountain. Each of the 7 times I have climbed up through the Yellow Band, I have thought to myself that this spot is a disaster waiting to happen. Sometimes 8 or 9 climbers are all pulling on fixed rope that is secured by a very dubious anchor.

Like all the other armchair climbers out there my opinion matters little, but I don’t really see a problem with this bolting initiative. The slippery slope argument that a small amount of bolting could lead to more “dumbing down” of the mountain is valid, but when viewed in comparison to what is already being done adding the bolts is just not that big a deal.

UKClimbing has posted a few pictures of the bolts being hammered home that you can see by clicking here.

Pictures Of The Bolting On Everest from ClimbingNarc.com

Sir Edmund Hillary Dead at Age 88

Narc — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 23:21:55 +0000

Sir Edmund Hillary, probably the first person (along with Tenzing Norgay) to summit Mt. Everest in 1953 died Friday in New Zealand. Famous for both his strength and his humility, Hillary dedicated his life after his Everest success to furthering humanitarian causes in the Everest region. While not directly related to rock climbing, I think it is safe to say that his efforts some 55 years ago have inspired generations in all walks of life.

Sir Edmund Hillary with Tenzing Norgay after they summited Mt. Everest in 1953.

Update: Here is an article with a bit more story on his life.

Sir Edmund Hillary Dead at Age 88 from ClimbingNarc.com

News & Notes – 11/7/07

Narc — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 18:11:39 +0000

I realize lately that I have been spending too much time blogging about myself and not enough time talking about all the action going down elsewhere so here goes nothing:

During his recent work on Trice, Jamie Emerson made a slight deviation from the line of Trice and nabbed the 3rd ascent after Karn and Moon of AKR (V11). Nice work Jamie. Only a couple of weeks left before Jamie hits the road.

Jamie sending AKR

Photo: Chuffer

Since we last heard from Dave Graham, he has made his way back out west to finish off a few more lines at Rifle. He repeated Stockboy’s Revenge (5.14c), did Benign Intervention (5.14b) second go and flashed Slice of Life (5.13d) .
Somewhat unheralded strongman Kevin Jorgeson, who made very short work of Ode to the Modern Man (V14) earlier this summer, recently established another heady highball boulder problem in Bishop, CA. While the V8/9 crux of the newly established Footprints is down low, the problem climbs more than 40 feet up the tenuous North Face of the Grandpa Peabody boulder at the Buttermilks. Jorgeson considered it be his first “solo” which is saying something if you have seen his other highballs like The Beautiful and Damned (V13) that made Chris Sharma retreat in fear in King Lines.

Kevin Jorgeson high up on Footprints (V9)

Photo: Giovanni Traversi – Climbing.com

Si Moore has made a very late season send of the RMNP V13 benchmark Nuthin’ But Sunshine.
Daniel Woods and Jon Cardwell have setup shop in Europe. After some struggles with conditions they were able to get out and make the 2nd and 3rd ascents respectively of Incubator (V13) at Zillertal. Daniel also flashed Total Brutal (5.14a) at the same crag. Next up they are off to Swizzy. It should be interesting to see how they do on the problems there.
Last week I reported that Mike Doyle repeated Fifty Words for Pump (5.14c) at the Red River Gorge. Here you can read his thoughts on the climb as well as confirmation that he apparently did adjust the bolts to make the clipping a little less cruxy. His girlfriend Audrey Sniezek has been having a good few weeks as well. She onsighted Cell Block Six (5.12c), and she was recently added as a new USA editor on 8a.nu.
Check out this pretty cool analysis of the ascents in the 8a.nu database. Without having access to the actual database, any analysis is kind of hard to do on observation alone but it is still an interesting read. I for one would like to see “Mr 8a” find some way to allow others to tap into the really incredible wealth of information that is currently being stored in the 8a database.
8a.nu has also added the V and YDS scales to their scorecard system. Somewhat pointless if you ask me.
On the mountaineering front, Tomaz Humar recently soloed the 3000-meter south face of Annapurna (8091m) in a 4 day push. First climbed in 1970 in a traditional weeks long assualt on the mountain, the south face of Annaurna is one of the great challenges in high altitude mountaineering. It famously claimed the life of Anatoli Boukreev during an attempt in the winter of 1997.

News & Notes – 11/7/07 from ClimbingNarc.com

NOLS Alaska

Narc — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 16:59:52 +0000

Approximate location of my NOLS course with Anchorage and Denali NP pictured.

Back in High School, circa 1999, I was required to read Krakauer’s Into Thin Air for an English class. The reading of this book (several times over) changed the course of my life by planting the seeds for climbing in my mind. Due to the flat nature of Wisconsin my main outlet at the time was to rock climb, but I set a goal for myself to one day experience what it is like to live in the mountains.

In the Summer of 2004, I realized this goal that I had set for myself back in High School when I took a course through the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS). After a cancellation of the course in British Columbia that I originally signed up for I ended up taking the Alaska Mountaineering course. I have added as many pictures as I have to my picture gallery and you can click below to read more.

After gearing up at the NOLS Alaska headquarters in Palmer (1 hour north of Anchorage) we headed north roughly 7 hours on a school bus until we were let off at Castner Creek. After that we slogged our way East into the Delta Range and onto the Castner Glacier. One notable feature that you will notice missing from many of the pictures is snow. From what I recall the Summer of 2004 was the hottest on record and it showed.

We spent about a week getting acclimated to our surroundings and learning the basics of how to live in the mountains. Despite the lack of snow it was really cool to spend time living on the bare glacier and adapting to the special circumstances that arise from this. Namely, your surroundings are constantly melting!

The weather those first 2 weeks was not really ideal as it managed to rain at some point in just about every day. Despite this we spent quite a bit of time learning how to use crampons, ice axes and how to setup ice anchors. We even had to help create a runway for our resupply pilot. This was after a day spent with minimal food because the resupply was a day late due to weather.

After 2 weeks of spending most of our time beneath a 1,000′ tall break in the glacier we made our move to surmount this obstacle and gain the upper part of Castner Glacier. Our end goal was to traverse this portion of the glacier and descend via an adjacent glacial valley, the name of which I cannot remember.

The process of surmounting this 1,000′ climb was challenging and very rewarding. The climb took most of the day and it really put our newfound cramponing skills to the test. With our 70+ LB. packs strapped to our backs, the crux portion took us up a steep incline that we did not have time to protect with ropes. It was a very cool feeling to be able to stick to the ice using our crampons and navigate this section safely.

When we arrived at the top of this section we were rewarded with the best camp of the whole trip. Perched upon the 1,000′ face we had just climbed it offered spectacular views of the entire valley we had just come up. You can see most of the tents setup in the picture, but I spent as many nights as I could sleeping outside on a ledge 50 feet down the cliff from the main tents. Truly spectacular views of the incredible peak White Princess and the Alaskan landscape greeted me each morning.

Now that we had gained a bit more altitude to about 7,000′ above sea level we finally encountered snow. This raised a new set of challenges relating to safely navigating crevasses and the like and it was really an incredible arena in which to learn. Pictured at left is me preparing the dough for our pizza in the kitchen that we spent a few hours building. It was definitely worthwhile to have a nice sheltered place to cook and hang out.

While on the upper glacier we spent a lot of time exploring and attempting to summit a few peaks. We found that our route over to the adjacent glacier was near impossible to navigate due the scarcity of snow so we resolved to return back down the same route we had used to come up the Castner Glacier. Also, we unfortunately were unable to make it to the summit of any of the peaks we tried which was one of my great disappointments of the whole trip. This also coincides with my only negative from the trip: the motivation of others. I went into the trip expecting to be with 11 other people that were super psyched about mountains and the process of climbing them, but I found that many of the people didn’t seem to share my same passion. For the most part everyone was great to be out there with, I just feel that I didn’t get everything out of the trip that was possible. Overall it was a great trip and I highly recommend a NOLS trip to anyone that is looking to explore the outdoors in places that they normally would not be able to go.

Again, check out the picture gallery for the rest of the pictures.

NOLS Alaska from ClimbingNarc.com

Midweek News – 08/22/07

Narc — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 18:17:00 +0000

Here are a few interesting stories to check out

Splitterchoss has a couple of cool tidbits on climbing at Rifle.
- First is a post about a feature story done about climbing at Rifle Mountain Park in the Glenwood Post Independent.
- Second is news about a new guidebook for Western Colorado climbing that will feature updated Rifle information among many other areas. The book will be published by Wolverine Publishing. Check out my post on the new Red River Gorge guidebook for some samples of their work which is awesome.
Mike Doyle is back on the road again after taking a bit of a break upon returning home from his lengthy roadtrip to places like Hueco, Smith Rock, RRG and Australia. In the past month he has been in Riggins, ID, Maple Canyon, UT and Rifle. He has done 13 routes 5.13 and harder in just the past 3 weeks.
This is probably only exciting news to me, but a team of Russian mountaineers have put up a new route on the hitherto unclimbed West Face of K2 in Pakistan. K2 was the peak featured in the laughable film “Vertical Limit” and it is probably the toughest of the 8000m giants to climb via any route. This was the first new line put on the mountain in 21 years (and not for a lack of trying).
Even if you are not into mountaineering, the latest pro blog at climbing.com by Freddie Wilkinson is still a really good read. He recounts the sort of emotions a climber has when going on a rescue.
Check out the video of Steve McClure climbing one of the hardest routes in Great Britain, Mutation (5.14d), after you read the write-up at Dr. Topo.
Last week I raised a question after watching the new MomentumVM video in which it was said that Ben Scott only goes to Area D at Mt. Evans once a year to “lessen impact”. It seemed like a strange thing to put in a video. Courtesy of Chad Greedy, here is a more lighthearted take (along with mass repeats of Seth Allred’s new V11 Two Ton Tongue):

Midweek News – 08/22/07 from ClimbingNarc.com

Big "E" Update

Narc — Fri, 18 May 2007 12:30:00 +0000

Summit fever is in full effect again on Everest this year. With 480 ascents last year and well over 200 already this year, Everest is almost turning into your local Colorado 14er…but not quite.

The Super Sherpa expedition I had written about earlier seems to have been a success. There is no word on the speed record but Apa sherpa did summit which brings his total number of visits to the top of the world to a staggering 17!

Meanwhile, on another 8000m giant Dhaulagiri, the news is not nearly as good:

2007 is becoming increasingly tragic on Dhaulagiri. After Italian mountaineer Sergio Dalla Longa slipped to his death just a few meters from the summit, last weekend two Spanish mountaineers Ricardo Valencia and Santiago Sagaste died beneath an avalanche which burried Camp 2 on Saturday 12 May.

Big "E" Update from ClimbingNarc.com

Super Sherpa Expedition

Narc — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 21:28:00 +0000

Along with my passion for rock climbing news I also have a fading obsession with armchair mountaineering. With May rapidly approaching that can mean only one thing: it is Everest Season.

Sadly, I haven’t been doing much reading on the subject in the past few years. I have already read most of the books (several times over) by the classic mountaineers like Messner and Kukuczka and with a few exceptions mountaineering doesn’t hold my attention like it used to. However I stumbled across a very cool expedition that will be comprised entirely of Sherpas:

The expedition’s “mission” is to demonstrate the exceptional value of the Sherpa people, publicise the beauty of Nepal, and shed light on the Sherpa culture and its immense contribution to high altitude mountaineering. Furthermore the project aims to film a documentary of the ascent and all funds will be made available to the Sherpa children who live in the Himalayan foothills.

Sherpas that are climbing with the expedition include the all time summit leader (Apa Sherpa with 16 summits) and the speed record holder (Lhakpa Gelu Sherpa with 14 summits and an insane record time of 10 hours 56 minutes 46 seconds).

Super Sherpa Expedition from ClimbingNarc.com