Climbing 2014 02

TECH TIPS 

SINGLE-HITCH BELAY ESCAPE / SELF-B ELAY SAF ELY OLYMPIAN  GLACIER TRAVEL BASICS  / TRAIN LIKE AN OLYMPIAN 

THE

MEGA ISSUE!  INSPIRING  CLIMBERS 

ASTONISHING 

OUR WORST IDEA EVER BY ALEX HONNOLD AND CEDAR WRIGHT

CALL IT A COMEBACK!

ASCENTS 

HOW TO RECOVER FROM 6 COMMON INJURIES

MIND-BOGGLING 

FIRST ASCENT FIELD GUIDE

ROUTES  ADAM ONDRA / UELI STECK / PSICOBLOC / HAZEL FIN DLA DLAY Y / CHRIS SHARMA / LA DURA DURA / KILIAN JORNET / ALEX MEGOS / CLIMBERS AGAINST CANCER / JIMMY WEBB / JEFF LOWE

SKILLS AND TRAINING FOR NEW ROUTES

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don.bowie | advance basecamp south face annapurna | nepal 2013

ISSUE 322 

ANDREW BURR

FEATURES  20 First Ascents

Matt Samet, Alli Rainey, and other first ascensionists talk about the what, why, and how of establishing new routes. By Andrew Tower

42 Golden Piton Awards

Climbing  editors  editors debated the biggest, baddest, coldest, and boldest ascents of 2013 to bring you the winners of the 12th annual Golden Piton Awards.

Ice isolation: Erik Kelly on the solitary Coat’s Corner  (WI4), Huntington Canyon, Utah, located about 25 miles from Joe’s Valley, Utah, a premier bouldering destination that also houses world-class ice in winter. ON THE COVER: Golden Piton winner Hazel Findlay stems the Yosemite testpiece Book of Hate  (5.13d). While some can chimney through this cleancut corner, most endure 115 feet of pumped calves and sweaty palms. Photo: Ben Ditto

By Dougald MacDonald

58 Inside the Sufferfest

Biking to and climbing all of California’s 14,000-foot peaks seemed like a fun idea. Then came the flats, spats, and butt gobies. By Alex Honnold and Cedar Wright

66 The Eternal Comeback

Pro climber Majka Burhardt is no stranger to injuries. Her secret to recovery? Patience. Here, she sheds light on coming back from common climbing maladies.

C O N T E N T S   2 |  F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 4

CLIMBING.COM

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ISSUE 322 

C O N T E N T S   4 |  F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 4

SKILLS 26

8

No Partner, No Problem

Editor’s Note

Learn the art of self-belay on toprope, and you can work your project anytime.

Flash

10

75

19

What Ueli Packed

The Guide

In early October 2013, Swiss über-alpinist Ueli Steck made an audacious, blazing-fast ascent of the 8,000-foot south face of Annapurna. Here’s what he did and didn’t pack.

HEALTH AND  TRAINING 

35 Gear

40 Semi-Rad

28

78

Mind/Body Training

75

Single-Hitch Belay Escape

First ascents involve a lot of heavy liing and elbow grease. Lighten your mental load with these fun gym games that help you deal with the unknowns of new routing.

Clinics

Escaping a belay doesn’t have to involve tons of complicated knots and steps. Guide Eli Helmuth shows how to do it with one simple hitch.

76

80

Mixed Climbing Conditioning

Rope Team Basics

The 2014 Winter Olympics includes a mixed climbing event. Here’s a look inside one athlete’s training regimen—one you can do indoors at any time of year to improve your own icy pursuits.

Want to climb Mt. Rainier next summer, but have no idea how to move on snow? No worries—our in-house guide explains the basics.

GEAR  30 Power vs. Hand Drills Want to get into route developing? Get the inside scoop on when to use a power drill or a hand drill.

35 Approach Shoes When getting to the climb is as big an adventure as the climb itself, turn to one these five top performers.

ANDREW BURR

Crack master Jean-Pierre “Peewee” Ouellet nabbed the first ascent of Mexican Snow Fairy  (5.13+), Long’s Canyon, Utah, in December 2012. Ouellet used a toilet brush to scrub and clean the almost 150-foot splitter finger crack.

CLIMBING.COM

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MARMOT CHOOSES  THE NEW GORE-TEX® PRO PRODUCT TECHNOLOGY 

LEADING SINCE 1970 WHICH OF OUR GOLDEN PITON–WINNING CLIMBS OR CLIMBERS WAS MOST INSPIRATIONAL TO YOU THIS YEAR?  Ueli Steck. The strength, skill, speed, and balls this took is otherwordly.

EDITORIAL

Editor SHANNON DAVIS

Art Director

Hazel Findlay is my hero!

JACQUELINE MCCAFFREY

Gear Editor JULIE ELLISON

Ueli and his climb—spe-  cifically, his downclimb. Downclimbing is scarier than climbing up. Ueli. Aer what happened on Everest, it’s great to see him back at it doing amazing things in the mountains.

Marmot Alpinist Men’s Jacket GORE-TEX® Pro product

Mountains are no place for compromise.  And Marmot knows it. Tha t’s why they trust GOR E-TEX® fabrics to ensure their garments are durably waterproof, windproof and breathable. Guaranteed. In GORE-TEX® gear, you stay comfortable and protected. Anything less is just a compromise.

DURABLY WATE RPROOF,  WINDPROOF, BREATHABLE COMFORT AND PROTECTION

Destinations Editor

Jeff Lowe. He put up about half the climbs I dream of doing.

AMANDA FOX

Editor at Large DOUGALD MACDONALD

Senior Contributing Photographer ANDREW BURR

Staff Photographer BEN FULLERTON

Outdoor Group Associate Producer CRYSTAL SAGAN

Psicobloc! So sick!

Intern DEVON BARROW

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Group Publisher JEFF TKACH [email protected]

Climbers Against Cancer. Everyone should use their sport to bring good into the world!

Advertising Director SHARON HOUGHTON [email protected]

Midwest Account Manager

Steck. Amazing feats of endurance inspire me the most.

CHARLOTTE SIBBING [email protected]

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Western Account Managers NICK FREEDMAN [email protected]

Hazel Findlay!

JOHANNA WOLF [email protected]

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Marketplace Manager SUE SHEERIN [email protected]

Account Manager SEAN BONSER [email protected]

Psicobloc. It brought climbing into the spotlight and made even non-climbers excited about the sport.

Contributors: Visit  climbing.com/contribute Retailers: To carry CLIMBING magazine and CLIMBING magazine publications in your shop, contact Bonnie Mason: 1-800-381-1288 x95175. MOST OF THE ACTIVITIES DEPICTED HEREIN CARRY A SIGNIFICANT RISK OF PERSONAL INJURY OR DEATH.  Rock climbing, ice climbing, mountaineering, backcountry skiing, and all other outdoor activities are inherently dangerous. The owners, staff, and management of CLIMBING do not recommend that anyone participate in these activities unless they are experts, seek qualified professional instruction and/or guidance, are knowledgeable about the risks involved, and are willing to personally assume all responsibility associated with those risks. ©2013. The contents of this magazine may not be reproduced in whole or in part without consent of the copyright owner. The views herein are those of the writers and do not necessarily reflect the views of CLIMBING’s ownership, staff, or management.

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© 2013 W. L. Gore & Associates Inc. GORE-TEX, GUARANTEED TO KEEP YOU DRY, GORE and designs are trademarks of W. L. Gore & Associates. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Kilian Jornet. He’s mixing disciplines in a way that’s superhuman in terms of fitness, but very human (and accessible) in terms of skills and gear.

BROWSE AREAS, ROUTES, PHOTOS, COMMENTS, ETC OFFLINE , AT THE CRAG, ON THE ROCK.

EDITOR’S  NOTE 

You’ve Already Won BY SHANNON DAVIS

THE VIEW FROM THE TOP OF WASHER WOMAN TOWER IS ONE OF THE FINEST I’VE SEEN ALL YEAR. Far

below this 500-foot  behemoth, the White Rim of Canyonlands National Park forms an amoebic border around countless red canyons and winding networks of striated rock. My climbing partner, Brad Petersen, director of the Utah Office of Recreation, points out the Colorado River and the Maze District beyond.

MOUNTAINPROJECT.COM / MOBILEAPPS IPHONE AND ANDROID

 When we open the summit register, we find the notebook inside to be signed  just infrequently enough to be pretty gratifying. Not too many people stand here, and we’ve topped out on one of those perfect fall desert days that makes you think about nev er going home. For me, the climbing was difficult enough to be enjoyably challenging but not impossible. A perfect day. This was my personal Golden Piton moment of 2013. Climbing’s Golden Piton Awards, a program now in its 12th year, honor the  biggest and boldest events in the world of climbing. And it was one helluva  year. The feats you’ll read about in editor at large Dougald MacDonald’s feature (starting on p. 42) are absolutely superhuman and truly inspiring. No, I’ll never solo the south face of Annapurna or send  V15 (dude, please), but the achievements at the upper echelon of our sport have a beautiful trickle-down effect. Dedicate yourself to climbing, and you’re an instant winner with a lifetime of personal Golden Piton moments ahead.

WORK FOR IT!  SCORE AN EXPEDITION GRANT In the six years that the Millet Expedition Project has existed, it has funded 70 expeditions to 40 countries. That’s more than 300 individual winners practicing 30 different disciplines (from climbing to diving to skiing) and getting the scratch to set out on the trip of a lifetime. Where would you go? Belgian paraplegic climber Vanessa Francois summited El Cap with a grant from the project last fall. Now, for the first time, Millet, the French gear and apparel company, is opening the project to U.S. entrants—and I’m a judge! Head to milletusa. com, download the application, film a three-minute video introducing yourself and any team members, and send the whole deal to milletexpeditionproject@ milletusa.com before March 13, 2014. Inspire us!

DOWNLOAD YOUR LOCAL AREAS, TRIP DESTINATIONS , OR ALL 100,000+ ROUTES. ONCE DOWNLOADED , YOU NO LONGER NEED TO BE ONLINE!

SUMMIT FOR SOMEONE Last fall, a dozen readers joined me in raising money for Big City Mountaineers, a non-profit that gets under-resourced urban teens into the wilderness on weeklong expeditions. The results—boosts in graduation rates and better relationships with peers and mentors—are astonishing, and our crew ensured that 70 more kids had all direct costs for their trips covered. We’re doing it again this year, and as an incentive, every reader who joins our team gets a free guided climbing trip into Wyoming’s Wind River Range and a gear package totalling more than $700. Find out how to join at climbing.com/sfswinds.

scarpa.com/phantom-guide

You only get 26,320 days, more or less. How will you spend them?

FLASH 

Paige Claassen Solitary Men (5.13d/5.14a) Val Masino, Italy Climbing for a cause: Paige Claassen has been traveling since July 1, 2013, on her Lead Now climbing tour with a mission to raise money for women and children around the world. She began her stint in Waterval Boven, South Africa, where she made impressive ascents of several 5.14s, including Digital Warfare  and Rolihlahla , and at press time, Claassen had just le China for India. Despite humid and drizzly conditions in Italy, she managed the first female ascent of Solitary Men  (5.13d/5.14a), a bouldery route on a 30-degree overhang. Check out the video series of Claassen and her team at climbing.com/video . RICH CROWDER

CLIMBING.COM

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FLASH 

12 |  F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 4

Dani Arnold

Eidfjord, Norway Because of its northern locale, Norway only gets a few hours of light every day in the winter, so ice climbers in the area are well-versed in ignoring nightfall as an obstacle to climbing. In January 2013, photographer Thomas Senf worked with Swiss light artist David Hediger, a team of professional climbers, and Mammut to illuminate these “frost giants,” named from Norse mythology. The setup required several different rope arrangements, complicated pulley systems, 500 meters of cable, colored flares, spotlights, and headlamps. THOMAS SENF/  MAMMUT

Peter Vintoniv

Long Dong Silver (5.9 A3) San Rafael Swell, Utah Climbers sure can’t resist their towers, even when said spires are characterized by loose rock, poor protection, and only 100 feet of climbing, like you’ll find on this minaret west of Moab, Utah. Photographer Andrew Burr calls it “some of the most horrifying aid climbing around.” One hangerless bolt and an anchor positioned below the true summit comprise the permanent protection, so bring your hammer and some long, thin pitons (as well as a few large cams for the top) to have some semblance of safety. If you do get the courage to surmount this spire, enjoy your 360-degree view of the surreal moonscape. ANDREW BURR

CLIMBING.COM

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FLASH 

Brittany Griffith Sicilian (5.11)

Indian Creek, Utah Thanks to its relatively short stature and location 50 feet to the right of the ultraclassic splitter Scarface  (also 5.11), the 50-foot Si-  cilian  probably doesn’t get as much love as it deserves. This fun route moves up finger and thin-hand cracks, with abundant options for finger-stacks, jams, and laybacks. This photo appears in Chris Noble’s new book, Women Who Dare (falcon.com ), which profiles 20 of North America’s best female climbers, including Griffith, Lynn Hill, Sasha DiGiulian, Steph Davis, and more. Personal stories of success and challenge accompany dozens of aweinspiring photos. CHRIS NOBLE

Read our review and see more photos from the book at climbing.com .

14 |   FEBRUARY

2014

CLIMBING.COM

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FLASH 

Sarah Hart Born To Be (5.12b)

Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada Sarah Hart spends “just another day cragging with me in a tree snapping pictures,” photographer and area guidebook author Rich Wheater says. This short but powerful route features Rifle, Colorado-esque limestone in the unlikely spot of Vancouver Island. As part of the western province of British Columbia, a hotbed for climbing (think Squamish), the island itself is home to limestone routes, basalt bouldering, and granite domes. RICH WHEATER

16 |   FEBRUARY 2014

Amanda Berezowski Devil’s Butt (V5)

lem, and Spring Bay—which are home to most of the established problems, though there’s potential for dozens more. The rock is Take one step onto the textured, with everything pristine beaches of Virgin Gorda, and you’ll realize why from crimpy slabs to splitters to gymnastic roofs. this Caribbean hotspot is gaining stature as a climb- Bring extra chalk if you’re a heavy sweater, as temperaing destination: Hundreds of huge, immaculate granite tures never dip below 60°F. Find more info in A Guide boulders are scattered to Bouldering and Traveling along the sand, with most lines in the V0 to V5 range. in the Virgin Islands  ($25, fixedpin.com ). The island is home to four national parks—Devils Bay, RICH CROWDER the Baths, Fallen JerusaVirgin Gorda, British Virgin Islands

CLIMBING.COM

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ISSUE 322 

First Ascents First ascensionists are the backbone of our sport; without them, what would we climb on? We rounded up a panel of avid FAers to discuss this ocontroversial topic, along with some first-person perspective of new routing. Also, when to use hand drills vs. power drills, a few training ideas, and brand-new routes across the U.S.

Characteristic white tick marks adorn the sides of Mexican Snow Fairy  (5.13+), Long’s Canyon, Utah, while first ascensionist Jean-Pierre “Peewee” Ouellet works the route. Peewee said the route was so painful that he was only able to try it once every two days.

THE GUIDE  ANDREW BURR

CLIMBING.COM

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THE GUIDE  First Ascents

Mikey Schaefer works the 2,000foot north face of Middle Cathedral in Yosemite, which he called Father Time  (5.13b). He finished it in October 2012, following a 40-day effort over two years.

BY ANDREW TOWER

THE RULES OF accepted

practices in route development are often unclear and confusing; they differ from region to region, usually because of the area’s history, local ethics, laws regarding drilling, and more. To help decode the topic, we picked the brains of a unique cross section of first ascensionists to help paint a picture of the first ascent landscape in America today.

THE PANEL (1 OF 5)

Matt Segal Matt Segal’s first FA was Iron Monkey  (5.14) in Eldorado Canyon, Colorado, in 2006—a traditional line Segal initially stepped away from to become more competent and confident in placing gear. Since establishing Eldorado’s hardest trad route, he’s put up hard, often runout lines in the modern “headpoint” style—practicing on toprope to dial in the moves—to manage the calculated risk required for such ascents.

The Art of Development FACEBOOK FLASH POLL What’s the best/worst/funniest route name you’ve come across in the U.S.? 20 |   FEBRUARY

2014

INTERVIEW 

Advice, wisdom, and motives from some of the sport’s top first ascentionists

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Zen and the Art of Masturbation  (5.12d), Red River Gorge, Kentucky  //

Developers have long been catalysts in the climbing community. How do you view the role of developers, and is it understood by other climbers? Matt Segal: I think there has always been controversy around first ascents, and there will always be. Climbing is somewhat of an arbitrary activity with no real rules. Each first ascensionist makes his or her own rules, and it’s only natural that someone is going to be challenged. Alli Rainey: From the time I first started climbing in 1992, it seems like climbers have argued and bickered about ethics around everything in climbing. I tend to think in a more unity-oriented manner—as in, it’s more important for us to get along despite our differences. We should present a united front to create climbing coalitions, educate the public and young climbers, and get more people climbing. Yeah, the crags are crowded, but obesity is an epidemic, and people  just need to get outside and do something! Which is why we need to keep bolting, too, of course. So I’d rather put my energy into issues that I consider more crucial.

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 Jonathan Siegrist: I think that in general, the public has absolutely no idea what it takes to develop a route, let alone develop an entire area. There will always be a dialogue about the importance of conservation and the desire for access—and there should be. I wasn’t around, but it sounds like things were actually worse in other eras. Nowadays, you chop a tree down, and you receive empty Internet threats.

Matt Segal makes the first ascent of Orangutan Roof  (5.13+), originally an aid line, in Independence Pass, Colorado, in 2008.

Back then, you bolted a crack, and you would actually get the shit kicked out of you. It’s all about where we draw the line as a community for what is right and what is wrong. Developers are definitely at the forefront when making those ethical decisions, and it’s not always black and white. Matt Samet: Here’s how I put it: People who put up routes actively and avidly are much more in contact with the ethical boundaries

of our sport than people who just repeat routes. Any time the sport has been pushed forward, it’s been via a first ascent. You’re not  just exploring your limit, but also what you can do within the interface of the stone. I think people don’t understand how big a gray area it is when you start preparing and cleaning rock. I don’t think there’s any black and white. There have been plenty of asinine cases where the community feedback is overwhelmingly negative,

but there are plenty of sport routes that don’t exist without tactics like aggressive cleaning or gluing. I think it’s very easy if you haven’t put up routes—especially sport routes—to assume some stance of ethical purity, but, you know, all rocks are different. Cliffs vary. Routes can have perfect rock and then 10 feet of choss that you have to clean. When you get into

it, you start to understand that, and you’re much less likely to criticize others’ climbs. Cole Fennel: I think there is probably more “controversy” now just because the number of climbers is far greater than ever before. The Internet certainly isn’t helping in that department.

Magnolia Thunderpussy  (5.9), Granite Mountain, Arizona  // Darkie the Bum Beast   (5.12d), Foster Falls, Tennessee  // Liberace’s Anus (5.9-), Socorro, New Mexico C L I M B I N G . C O M | 21

THE GUIDE  First Ascents

THE PANEL (2 OF 5)

Alli Rainey This Wyoming local began her development career after bolting a 5.11 on the clean and solid rock of Shinto Wall in Ten Sleep, a limestone sport crag in her home state. Finishing the drilling in a mere three hours gave her a false sense of the strenuous work required for cleaning and bolting routes, but she went on to make first ascents of more than 15 5.13s in the area.

There always seems to be some bit of controversy around the secretive nature of area and route development. Do you think that routes or areas are the “property” of the discoverers until they feel it’s okay to share the location? Segal: I don’t think that areas are the property of the developer; that said, I have kept projects a secret until I sent them. When you find a route, clean it, unleash the sequence, chalk it, etc., you get attached, and  your ego gets involved. You don’t want someone to come out and “steal” all your hard work. Some people don’t really respect the art of first ascents, and they think it’s all about climbing hard. But it’s not. More than half the battle is having the vision to see a line. They would be skipping the whole process. Samet: I’ve never found an entire virgin area before, so I’ve never really faced that dilemma. I got in early in Rifle [Colorado], but it wasn’t much a secret then. I had an interesting talk with Jason Keith, though. [He is a former employee at the Access Fund, and he still consults with them.] He mentioned that most access issues don’t come up at existing crags that already have crowds. They come up at new crags where someone’s kept

the whole thing a secret, and then word leaks out. Like if the place had been developed in a vacuum, and then suddenly a bunch of people show up and all kinds of weird stuff happens. I can see both perspectives. It certainly helps to have feedback from the community when  you’re developing, but it also helps not to have a circus descending. Fennel: I see both sides, but it’s hard for me to take pity on people who bitch about secret crags. They aren’t the ones putting in all of the effort to get an area established in the first place. I’m not a secretive person by any means, but I definitely don’t choose to spray about how sick new walls are until the finders have picked their lines. That said, I bolt for more than just myself. Unlike some developers who primarily bolt routes near their limit, I really like finding crags with a good grade range, and then fully developing it—even the mega-moderates. I probably would feel a little different if I lived in an area that has crowding issues, though.

Why do you think there aren’t more women out there developing areas? Rainey: There are still far fewer female climbers than male climbers, so that’s part of it. Also, it’s a ton of physical labor, and

 you get really dirty. Maybe that’s just a stereotypical thought that women—on the whole—don’t like to get insanely dirty and covered in moss, spider webs, dirt, and drill dust as much as men. Nor do they like to use heavy power tools and show up at home with bashed knuckles from the wrench slipping. Or maybe they do, and I’m  just out of touch with that aspect of femininity. Also, I find it impossible to bolt and climb at full power. I have to do one or the other. Bolting wrecks me. It doesn’t seem to wreck the guys quite as much, but maybe that’s just my perception or excuse. Samet: There are still more males than females in climbing. That balance is changing, but I think it’s just boys with power tools. Seriously! Why is it that it’s all men in manual labor and construction? I don’t know. Men like to bang on shit, hammer shit, drill it, break it, and use big expensive tools… And women know better. Siegrist: I’m not totally sure. I suppose you’d be better off asking the ladies. Regardless, I’d love to see more women establishing routes, and I’m guessing that with the wealth of talent out there now, we will be seeing more of it. Fennel: Beats me. At my home crag, we hardly have any women climbing, let alone developing.

Jeff Mahoney in the process of bolting his new route, Peanut Butter and Chocolate  (5.8+), Alabama Hills, California.

New Additions Put one of these brand-spankin’new routes on your tick list Route development isn’t limited to 5.14 projectors and sponsored climbers. From the work of full-time parents to weekend warriors to college students comes hundreds of first ascents across the country every year. We worked with mountainproject .com to select a few soon-to-be classics spanning the states, from historic crags like Seneca Rocks to unpublished areas in the Washington hills.

Peanut Butter and Chocolate (5.8+) Chocolate Block, Alabama Hills, Sierra Nevada, California October 2013; Jeff Mahoney, Chris Wing, Katie Martin, Alex Lau, Carole Christianson, Shin Nimura, Mark Buntaine, Julian Lim ÎThis

175-foot sport climb holds some of the better rock in the area, despite the obvious “crumbling cookie” flake that Mahoney thinks will be gone fairly soon with traffic. Thoughtful climbing, fun moves, and a few runouts lead to “one of the best views in the Hills,” Mahoney says. As far as having a huge FA party, Mahoney says he’s “all about sharing the experience with climbing friends who may not ever have the opportunity. It’s about sharing and having fun—and scaring the bejeezus out of the group with all the holds that end up breaking on virgin rock.”

Aunt Jemima’s Bisquick Thunderdome  (5.12d), Ten Sleep, Wyoming  // Post Orgasmic Depression  (5.11a), Pinnacles National Monument, California  // Nuke 22 |  F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 4

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Is a first female ascent a positive thing? Rainey: I think it’s a big positive! It probably inspires other women more than first ascents by men. And we are not men; we are women—we don’t compete against men in athletics for a reason. We  just have different bodies, and that’s the way it is. For me, it’s most inspiring to see other women climb strong and try hard.

How has development changed over the years for you and for others?

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Samet: Regarding access, we used to think we could  just walk up to a cliff and start spraying bolts into it, and climbers certainly did! I mean, we did that only 25  years ago. Land managers had seen very few bolts in America, and most of the time these crags were godforsaken places that no one went to or cared about anyway. You could drive into places like Rifle or even the Flatirons [in Boulder] or Eldorado and drill bolts. Climbers put up so many routes so rapidly in the mid- to late 1980s that land managers didn’t catch up until the mid-1990s. Now everyone’s caught up, and if you go bolting a crag on someone’s private land,  you’re going to be in a lot of trouble. Also, now people put up a lot more moderate sport routes. You didn’t used to see that. Back in the day, there weren’t that many hard routes to try, so people who were bolting routes were just trying to find something harder to climb. Then this whole idea of pleasure climbing

emerged and took off. A lot of people who can climb 5.12, 5.13, or even 5.14 are putting up 5.10 because they know there’s a huge demand. Originally, when sport climbing was conceived, you only put bolts on faces where there was no other option.

Chris Hirsch employs a hand drill on Eye of Sauron  (5.11-), Custer State Park, South Dakota.

Is it the first ascensionist’s responsibility to regard the safety of future climbers when establishing a climb? Siegrist: Yes, to an extent that is reasonable. Bolts will eventually fail regardless of the metal or placement. But it is the responsibility of the bolter to make routes safe for the foreseeable future, and clean routes to a degree that avoids seriously injuring the climber or belayer. That being said, there is also an important distinction between bad bolting and airy bolting. I prefer not clipping every other move, and I also enjoy the mental battle of runout routes. So I don’t bolt clip-ups, but I also don’t think that this makes me an unsafe bolter. Segal: No! But it is their responsibility to give an honest account of their ascent. Did they toprope it first? Did they pre-place the gear or plug it on lead? I think that’s the only responsibility of first ascensionists. Rainey: For me, yes. I approach it this way: I don’t want anyone to die or get hurt on a sport route I established because I didn’t clean it well enough or I put in a bad bolt. But, as a whole, when you’re getting on any route, it is buyer beware. It’s certainly a mistake as a climber to

THE PANEL (3 OF 5)

Jonathan Siegrist A consummate sport climbing developer and nomad, Jonathan Siegrist is driven by an unyielding desire to establish hard, aesthetic lines. So far, he’s managed to rack up around 20 first ascents in the 5.14 range—up to 5.14d!—and is always prowling for more.

the Gay Whales for Jesus  (5.7), Smith Rock, Oregon  // Harry Butthole Pussy Potter  (5.8), Horseshoe Canyon Ranch, Arkansas  // The Morning Poos  (5.8), CLIMBING.COM

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THE GUIDE  First Ascents

automatically assume a route or a hold is safe  just because it’s there. The newer the route, the more potential for danger. People should go into it with this awareness. Samet: I don’t think it’s that binary, but I think it’s the responsibility of the first ascensionist to be clear about the style in which he or she established a route to let climbers know about the potential risks. Take my route Primate (5.13) on the south face of Seal Rock in the Flatirons. I toproped the unholy f*** out of it, and then I pinkpointed it with a couple pieces preplaced that would have probably ripped. But I never said I did otherwise. I never let off the impression that you could just show up at the base with some cams and go for it. You have to be honest with your community and build some clarity. Fennel: Yes and no. First ascensionists need to be putting in quality hardware, but individual climbers need to have good enough judgment to make decisions for themselves.

Red-tagging: Do you have a rule? Segal: Be respectful and talk to the person who is claiming the route as his or her own. Making a first ascent takes a lot—more than most imagine—to clean, bolt, and figure out protection and sequences. But I think climbers ought to know their role, and if they are not actively trying something, they should pass it on. Rainey: In Ten Sleep, we

don’t red-tag. The equipper gets credit and naming rights. Whoever wants to can climb it whenever it’s ready. Of course, if someone has a problem with this, he or she could red-tag it, and everyone would respect it... for a while, anyway. Siegrist: Red-tagging is 100 percent legit. Establishing routes is hard-ass work, and it takes a ton of time and money. I’ve paid for every bolt, hanger, drill bit, perma-draw, and drill I’ve ever used. It adds up. But, most important, it’s the vision of the developer, and we all get attached to a dream. Developers should have plenty of time to do their thing. There is no standard time limit—whenever that person has given up, it should be open. It would be bullshit if you bolted  your dream route and tried it every weekend for six years, and then some wanker came along and was like, “Hey dude, time’s up!” Get a drill and a wire brush, and make  your own contribution. If  you are busy, or you don’t plan to get up there for a season or more, it’s time to open that gem to the community. Samet: If I bolt it and have a tag on it, stay the f*** off! I don’t know about the length of time. If you’re actively trying it and you’ve put all this time, money, passion into it, I think it’s lame for someone to jump on it and take the first ascent. Fennel: One year after equipping or as long as the developer is putting serious effort into it. I respect red-tagging in all aspects. Not that I think that people should physically hang red tags on boulders, but I think climbers should

THE PANEL (4 OF 5)

Matt Samet The former editor in chief of Climbing caught the first ascent bug 25 years ago as a teenager. He’s established everything from steep limestone sport lines to X-rated traditional fright-fests, and he’s witnessed firsthand the oftencontroversial growing pains the world of development and bolting has endured.

give whoever found and cleaned a boulder some time to work a line before  jumping on it.

Having seen the violent nature of cleaning new routes, it seems like the difference between cleaning and manufacturing is a gray area to the layperson. Is there a rule for what’s OK to do and what’s not among first ascensionists, or is it based more on situational awareness? Rainey: The latter. It really depends on the crag, the quality of the rock, and what it will take to make it safe and climbable. Some areas are so clean that a developer can literally just put the bolts in, brush a couple holds, and be done; others, not so much. In my mind, sport climbing is supposed to be safe and fun, so the primary goal is to develop routes in a fashion that allows this to happen—not leaving frag-

Jealous of Gentry (5.9) Little Seneca Lake, Wind River Range, Wyoming  July 2013; Brett Verhoef  ÎMost

people overlook Little Seneca Lake on their way to classic backcountry alpine climbs in the Wind Rivers like Gannett Peak. However, “that area in the Winds has a wealth of undeveloped potential due to its remote location,” says Verhoef. A pumpy hand crack splits the first 20 feet, and then it eases back in angle and difficulty. Consider a spotter for the crux, which is getting off the ground with no protection.

Glasnost Crack (5.10-) Upper Wall, Capulin Canyon, Cochiti Mesa, New Mexico November 2013; Josh Smith, George Perkins, Calita Quesada ÎThis

trad line offers a second pitch to two neighboring moderates, Moondog (5.9) and Full Monty  (5.10-). A hand crack leads to a wide section below a roof, and then back to hands above, followed by face climbing to the top.

A Touch Too Much (5.10+) South Peak, Seneca Rocks, West Virginia November 2013: Andy Weinmann, DJ Shalvey  ÎA

long reach with no good feet at the crux inspired the name of this new route (that, and some classic AC/DC). Seneca Rocks has a storied history, and some believe it’s climbed out. But Weinmann discovered this gem while establishing another line called Lost and Found . Sustained and steep, A Touch Too Much continues to push 5.10 climbers after the crux with a series of crimps, edges, and sidepulls.

Fly Fighter (5.11b) Iron Mountain Crag, Skagit, Washington  August 2013; Brandon Workman ΓSteep,

physical, and mostly gear with great rests,” says Workman. “It turned out to be a dandy.” Don’t be intimidated by the chimney; it’s easier than it looks. Two bolts protect some chossy spots, but the rest of the route takes sinker cams. Bonus: The approach to this crag is only about five minutes.

Nyctophiliac (5.12-) West End Wall, Volunteer Canyon, Arizona November 10, 2013; Jeremy Schlick, Wade Forest  ÎPowerful

hand and finger jamming on steep terrain leads to several boulder problems, and a good rest appears before the finger-crack crux. “Nyctophiliac is certainly one of my finest lines,” says Schlick. “The gear is unbelievably good.”

Clear Creek Canyon, Colorado  // Magical Chrome-Plated Semi-Automatic Enema Syringe  (5.7), Lumpy Ridge, Colorado  // Drunk Rednecks with Golf Clubs 24 |  F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 4

Sometimes, you don’t need expensive tools for first ascents: Peewee uses a toilet-bowl scrubber to clean the dirt out of Mexican Snow Fairy  (5.13+).

ile stuff behind that can potentially hurt people on the rock, and making sure there are no ground-fall potentials, death clips, ledges to hit, and so forth. Siegrist: It largely depends on the area. Some areas require aggressive cleaning that borders on manipulation, or perhaps glue reinforcement, and this is just the way it is. Other areas are blessed with near-perfect rock and take only a wire brush to clean up. In general, you know when you’re cleaning a route, and you

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know when you’re changing it. When in doubt, always consult a local. Samet: I think it’s a pretty big gray area. Unless the thing’s been drilled—you know, Bosched out with a bit—people aren’t going to know it’s chipped. By the time a route gets popular, so much chalk gets built up that it’s hard to tell the chipped holds from the natural. I have different hammers, framing and geology, and they have different heads. Is using an adze chipping? Should I use just the head? Who’s to say?

THE PANEL (5 OF 5) Cole Fennel

Cole Fennel is a Fayetteville, Arkansas–based photographer and avid FAer. Hunting around the Arkansas hills for new crags, he’s put up somewhere around 100 routes and established entire new crags on public land.

(5.8+), Diablo Canyon, New Mexico

 //

Once you have the hammer and you’re banging on another tool, you’ve probably crossed a line. If you’re using a chisel or a drill bit to clean, you’ve probably crossed a line, but I think everything up to that is probably fair game. If you don’t take loose rock off routes, it’s going to hurt  you, cut your rope, or kill  your belayer. Fennel: That’s a gray area for sure. I have never chipped a hold or drilled a pocket, but I have glued the shit out of some choss, and I’ve also been part of some serious cleaning efforts. I guess it would be hypocritical to say I am totally against manufacturing or enhancing holds because I spend a good chunk of my summers in Rifle, but I never see myself crossing that line.

If you had to give burgeoning developers one piece of advice as they break into establishing their own routes and boulder problems, what would it be? Fennel: Be open to criticism. Segal: Always check your intentions, and don’t let  your ego and the desire to be the first cloud your  judgment. Rainey: Clean it well, and when in doubt, rip it off. Better to leave a huge rock scar than to leave a flake that could kill a future belayer. If you don’t agree with that, then don’t bolt it. Find a cleaner line. Siegrist: Find a badass old-schooler that has spent years bolting and pick his or her brain. Buy

some beers, sit down, and get everything out of that person that you can. A mistake in bolting can mean everything from serious injury to access endangerment. Look to the masters for advice and mentorship. They know what’s up. Samet: Spend as much time as possible assessing a line before drilling it. If it seems difficult because it needs cleaning or is overhanging, do as much as you can on toprope or with removable bolts. You’ll save yourself more work if you do your research. I’d also say don’t be committed to putting up every route you look at. Some of them just aren’t worth it. I’ve wasted hardware on something that no one ever climbs because I just couldn’t stop myself.

Panty Shields  (V3), Horse Pens 40, Alabama  // Princess, I Wanna Leaha  (5.9+), Spearfish Canyon, South Dakota CLIMBING.COM

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THE GUIDE  First Ascents

SKILLS 

Solo Toproping Maximize your time on a project with basic self-belay techniques BY DOUGALD MACDONALD

When Tommy Caldwell or Mayan Smith-Gobat work a free climb high on El Capitan, the crux may be finding a belayer willing to put in days of duty in an isolated and exposed location. Often, the solution is to go alone, rehearsing the key pitches by solo toproping. Whether you’re an active first ascensionist or just want to do some laps after work without a partner, solo toproping is a handy technique to add to  your repertoire. Though there are several methods, all share a couple of aspects: Before ascending, the climber fixes one or two ropes to an anchor above the pitch, and then climbs self-belayed by ascenders or progress-capture pulleys clipped to the rope or ropes. (A progress-capture pulley is usually used for hauling a load—it allows the rope to roll smoothly in one direction but stops the rope if it’s pulled in the other direction.) Solo-toproping techniques vary mainly in their back-up methods. And you must  be backed up—never depend on a single device. Some climbers hang a second rope alongside the first and clip into bights pretied in the backup rope in case the primary rope or belay device fails. Others

26 |   FEBRUARY 2014

climb with two different devices clipped into two separate ropes. (This is the method recommended by Petzl, which makes the most popular devices used for this technique.*) Top climbers such as Caldwell, Steph Davis, and Matt Samet prefer the method described here: two devices on a single static rope. Here’s how to do it: Anchor the rope. For simplicity’s sake, we’ll assume you’re toproping a single-pitch climb. Ideally, your rope should be clipped to a solid anchor below the top of the cliff, so the rope does not rub over any edges. If you’re setting up the toprope from above, build a backup anchor above the cliff, and then set your primary anchor below the lip. In this method, a static rope is safest and easiest to use. Safest because it won’t bounce much under load; this reduces dangerous wear. Easiest because the devices will track well along a static rope as you move. Climbers experienced with this method recommend a 10mm or thicker static rope for security and rope longevity. Note: If you’re using a second rope as a backup, this second rope must be dynamic, in order to absorb the shock you’ll  generate if your primary system fails. After returning to the bottom of the climb, coil the extra rope and let it hang above the ground, or clip a water bottle

or other weight at the bottom of the rope—this will add a little tension, helping your self-belay system slide smoothly up the rope at the start of the pitch. Set up your self-belay. Although many different ascenders and progresscapture pulleys can be

used, most climbers using this method prefer the Petzl Mini Traxion or Petzl Microcender, or a combination of the two. Petzl recommends always using two different devices to maximize the benefit of the backup. Following the manufacturer’s instructions, attach the two devices to the

rope, one above the other. Make sure the devices’ cams are properly locked onto the rope—inattention at this step is the most common cause of self-belay failure. Clip both devices to  your belay loop. You must use either oval locking carabiners or anti-crossloading locking biners.

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The top device is your primary self-belay. To keep it in the ideal position for braking (and separate it from the other device), connect the top device to a chest harness, a pair of slings draped over each shoulder so they cross in the middle, or a single sling. (Caldwell drapes a headlamp strap around his neck and clips this to his device.) Unlike a true chest harness, this system is not load bearing, but simply holds the device in position. Use a bit of webbing or an adjustable strap to connect this system to the top ascender, using the same clip-in hole as the locking biner on the device. Make sure that no cords or straps from your clothing or pack can interfere with  your self-belay devices. Climb. Before starting up the pitch, test both devices to make sure they will lock properly under weight. Gently bounce-test the system in a safe position at the base, and make sure the devices don’t interfere with each other. If the bottom device bumps into the top device, extend the top device with a quickdraw, using locking carabiners on each end of the draw. If you do this, make sure  your chest harness is still comfortable and keeps the top device positioned upright on the rope. You may need to push the devices along at the start of the pitch, but soon the two should slide up the rope as you climb. If you have clipped intermediate anchors or protection points along the route (on an overhanging climb, for example), never climb above these pieces without unclipping the rope from them first. Escape the system. There are at least two situations where you will need to escape from your self-belay system. At the top of the pitch, you’ll need to unclip from the devices in order to descend. Less commonly,  you may need to escape from the system if you can’t do a move or otherwise run into trouble. When you reach the top of the climb, use slings or personal tethers to clip into the anchor. Be careful not to climb so high that  your self-belay system bumps into the anchor—this will make it difficult to unweight the devices and escape from the system. It

may help to clip long slings to the anchor before you climb, and then clip into these slings when you reach the top, so you are hanging well below the anchor. Once you are securely anchored, remove both devices from the now-unweighted static rope. Attach your rappel device to the rope, and rappel to the base of the climb. If you must climb past the primary anchor to retrieve  your backup anchor, first clean the primary anchor and pull any slack in the rope above you through the ascenders, before you start climbing again. Note: Never climb on a slack static rope using the toprope self-belay system. A fall onto a slack static rope could injure you (even fatally) or cause the system to fail. You also need a way to get up or down if you can’t do a move. This means you’ll need to unweight the self-belay devices mid-pitch, and then either rappel or ascend the rope. To prepare for this, always carry some extra gear on your harness: an assistedbraking belay/rappel device (Grigri, Cinch, etc.), a backup ascender such as a Petzl Tibloc or Wild Country Ropeman, and a double-length sling to use as a foot loop for ascending the rope or unweighting the devices at your waist. The various techniques for escaping the system using these devices are beyond the scope of this article, but whichever method  you use, practice while you’re still on the ground. Final note. Stay alert whenever you reattach  your self-belay system—when  you’re ready to do another lap on a route, for example. This is where most mistakes happen. You must be sure the cams on each ascender are properly engaging the rope before climbing or weighting the system again.

*Petzl has published an extensive analysis of self-belay toproping, including its recommended method and various alternatives. Google “Petzl self belay.”

REALISE YOUR EXPEDITION DREAM ENTER BY 7 MARCH 2014, AND MAYBE YOU’LL BE SELECTED AS ONE OF THE BEST 2014 PROJECTS BY A JUDGING PANEL OF PROJECT PARTNERS. WWW.MILLET-EXPEDITION-PROJECT.COM/EN

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CLIMBING.COM

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THE GUIDE  First Ascents

TRAINING 

Create-a-Crux Visualize first ascents at the gym to strengthen mind and body BY ANDREW TOWER

DURING WINTER, rock climbers

experience a patience-testing stretch of inclement weather, making it difficult to climb outside consistently. Consequently, more climbers flock to the gym and recommit to a training regime to prepare for spring sending. Forget the treadwall, autobelays, tedious lines for the lead wall, and campus and hangboards. Where you’re going to thrive is through bouldering. But we know how boring it gets after weeks of hiking up and down the same taped problems. Enter Max Zolotukhin, who climbs, trains, and serves as a route-setter for

a trio of Planet Granite gyms in California. You can usually find him in the middle of a group of climbers taking turns making up problems beyond the tape they affixed weeks before. “The folks I typically train with are a couple of the other setters in our crew,” Zolotukhin says. “Our gyms don’t usually have more than a few double-digit problems at a time, so climbing on the same established lines gets stale pretty quickly.” Though most of us struggle through the more average-human grades, it’s the same conundrum. The solution? Start making up  your own problems. Besides being

a great change of pace from the normal circuits, there are very practical reasons for creating your own sequences. “The problems we do set [for the gym] aren’t always the best for training purposes,” Zolotukhin says. “A problem with a kneebar crux might be fun for the customers to project but may not be ideal for a proper training circuit.” When you create your own problems, you have limitless opportunities in execution, and  you’re free to practice whatever weaknesses you have. You’ll also push yourself mentally to be more creative in the problem-solving

process, which can help you find better, more efficient ways to move through cruxes on tough projects outside. We’ve laid out a typical training “plan” you can apply to your own sessions when the going gets tough and you’ve run out of routes, or you’re just looking to spice up your training routine. FIRST ASCENT FRENZY

1. Find a group. Zolotukhin admits to making up problems that suit his own strengths. “Having others with fresh perspectives around will help challenge parts of your

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28 |   FEBRUARY 2014

climbing you may not have realized were lacking,” he says. Don’t complain if one of your partners chooses a powerful line up a steep wall that doesn’t suit your techy, vertical skills; you might not ace the problem, but you’ll gain valuable lessons while improving  your weak points. 2. Take time to warm up. Zolotukhin spends the first half hour or more on easier problems. Start at V0, and slowly work your way up through the grades. Don’t rush the process, and don’t be afraid to repeat some harder taped problems you’ve already done before  you start the game. 3. Keep limits in mind. Take turns creating problems. Look at a wall that inspires you, and make moves that do the same. In the beginning, it will be harder to create problems that aren’t too easy or overly hard. With time, though, you should be able to strike a balance with problems that are one to four grades below  your maximum redpoint ability. The idea isn’t to project them for  your entire climbing session, but instead try a variety of problems on different walls. 4. Project efficiently. The best method Zolotukhin has found when trying harder problems is to give a good flash attempt, but if  you fall, start again from the hold that kicked you off—not from the bottom. Trying the moves

in isolation will help you piece it together instead of wearing  yourself out and cutting your session short. 5. Let there be a winner. Whoever climbs the problem first from bottom to top without falling gets to make up the next one. Keep moving around the gym, trying different combos on different walls. The variety will challenge all  your muscle groups and technical skills and give you a bigger bag of tricks to pull from when you go outside.

FACT: 61% of climbing gyms have seen an increase in participation/membership by adding TRUBLUE Auto Belays*

www.autobelay.com 877-565-6885 Designed for climbers, engineered for safety.

6. Take it seriously. Zolotukhin’s crew will approach made-up lines  just like any taped route in the gym, and even come back later in the session to repeat particularly hard or interesting problems. If you struggle on a certain project and can’t top out before your crew moves on, make a point to go back and work on that weakness. 7. Know when to quit. If you regularly climb V7 and suddenly have trouble on V3s and V4s, your session might be over. However, because there’s no specific grade attached to the problems you’re creating, and therefore no real benchmark in difficulty, it can be hard to tell how rapidly your session is ending. Zolotukhin recommends a simple, direct method. “If  you start to regress on moves that didn’t feel too bad earlier in the session, it might be time to call it a night.”

MAX’S TIPS TO CREATE BETTER PROBLEMS: Leave out the circus tricks. “Create a problem that is relatively straightforward, with minimal feet and comfortable holds that have little chance of causing injury.” ¬

Switch it up constantly. “If you want to work certain weaknesses (e.g., crimps or dynos), that’s your prerogative, but we usually try to mix it up and not get too attached to one idea or another.” ¬

Don’t make it easy. “I try to make up individual moves that I think I won’t flash, but that I can do in a couple of tries. If you have a problem with four to six such moves, then it’s probably in that ‘one to four grades below your max’ zone.” ¬

Don’t be scared to fail. “Finding a move that may or may not  be possible for you is one of the most interesting ideas in climbing. We used to joke that if you can touch a hold, you can grab it, and if you can grab it, then you can stick it.” ¬

Scan the code above to see how Santa Barbara Rock Gym incorporates auto belays into their facility. Or visit http://www.autobelay.com/climbing-gyms/ 

THE GUIDE  First Ascents

GEAR  EQUIPPING A ROUTE WITH BOLTS, n o matter the number, size, or type of hardware, is no easy task—you still have to drill a hole in solid rock. What tool you use, however, can either ease or aggravate the already-difficult task. We pitted the two bolting options (hand and power) against each other to see which drilling method is king of the mountain. *We compared the specs for the Petzl Tam Tam and Rocpec combo to the Bosch 11536C-1 (only the Rocpec is pictured) as two standard setups seen in many first ascensionists’ kits.

CATEGORY

HAND DRILL

POWER DRILL

Size

Much slimmer and more portable than a power drill. Hammers typically won’t exceed a foot in length, like the popular Petzl Tam Tam (10.4” long). The hand drill’s narrowness and two-piece setup (hammer and drill) make it as easy to stow as a couple of cams.

At 12.25” long, a drill like the Bosch 11536C1 seems manageable when comparing its length to a hand drill, but it is nearly as large in width as well. The sheer bulkiness of power drills makes them harder to pack for long hikes to remote areas. (Imagine filling three Nalgene bottles taped together side by side.)

Hand Drill

Weight

Can you say featherweight? Petzl’s Rocpec drill kit with the Tam Tam hammer barely registers on the scale at 1.6 pounds, about the weight of a No. 6 Camalot. Big bonus: Hand drills are much less expensive than power drills.

The Bosch 11536C-1 tips the scales handily at 6.25 pounds, which can overburden  your pack on ende avors to backcou ntry crags. Some, like the Bosch, come with a slimmer, lighter battery, but they typically have a shorter lifespan.

Hand Drill

Drilling

It’s almost barbaric in execution. Line up  your drill, and hammer it in. Twist a little, and pound again. Repeat until you’ve reached your required depth. The repetitive beating is torture on your arms and body, making continued use exhausting.

As bolting goes, it couldn’t be simpler.* Position the drill, pull the trigger, and push steadily until the hole is sufficiently drilled. Because power drills weigh more, it’s a little tiring, but it’s nothing compared to the taxing movement of hand drilling.

Power Drill

Limitations

Its biggest shortcoming is the energy and time drilling by hand requires. By the time you sink one route worth of bolts,  you’ll b e so zapp ed that cl imbing the damn thing will seem improbable. Plus, it’s harder to create a hole as precise as a power drill’s, and neater holes mean stronger bolts.

You need energy, and not the kind you get from rest and a granola bar. Power drills run on batteries, and if you’re out of juice, you’re out of luck. Though battery technology is steadily improving, drills still suck up power like a camel at an oasis.

Power Drill

Hand vs. power: which drill to use on the rock

EDGE

BY ANDREW TOWER

Smackdown! 30 |   FEBRUARY 2014

*THAT DOESN’T MEAN BOLTING IS A SIMPLE UNDERTAKING. IF YOU’RE CONSIDERING DRILLING, YOU SHOULD CONSULT A SEASONED VETERAN FOR BEST PRACTICES AND LOCAL ETHICS.

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CATEGORY

HAND DRILL

POWER DRILL

Speed

Depending on the rock type, an average hand-driller can spend upward of 30 minutes per hole.

With the right technique, you can power through each new hole in about 45 seconds.

Power Drill

Learning Curve

First-timers can expect some serious arm soreness and likely some botched holes. Plus, you might give up too early (because it’s so tedious), and thus drill too short a hole. (Never an issue with a power drill: Braaapppppppp!)

Though it’s more involved than punching a screw through drywall to hang a picture frame, the same principles apply. A steady hand will yield clean bolt holes right out of the box.

Power Drill

Acceptability

If you’re allowed to bolt in an area, then  you’re always going to be able to use a hand drill.

Many areas, including national parks, ban the use of power drills within their climbing zones, narrowing your options if you want to place bolts.

Hand Drill

Durability

Hand drills don’t have moving parts or batteries—with the simplicity comes durability.

Power drills are no slouches on toughness. They’re made to withstand abuse, but like anything mechanical, the moving parts will eventually wear out and/or need replacing. Proper care and cleaning will lengthen the life of any drill.

Hand Drill

WINNER: IT’S A DRAW!

EDGE

Each method has its advantages. For a backcountry route deep in the wilderness—and when you’re bolting on lead— it's hand drill all the way. For an overhanging limestone cave, break out the power drill. Like anything in climbing, use the gear that the situation requires. Be mindful of your neighbors and the rules, and respect the climbing area.

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THE GUIDE  First Ascents

WISDOM 

To Bolt or Not to Bolt Knowing when to drill permanent pro is half the battle BY MATT SEGAL SOMETIMES YOU SEARCH

for first ascents, and other times first ascents find  you. In 2011, I traveled to Liming, China, with the purpose of establishing new routes on the amazing sandstone walls outside the remote Chinese village. (Read about it at climbing.com/liming-  china.) Not knowing what to expect, I had dreams of establishing China’s hardest traditional climbs.

that it would be possible to climb the route using traditional protection. I spent a few days cleaning and trying the route. Due to the soft nature of sandstone, some holds and gear placements had to be cleaned. I scrubbed the red sandstone and tick-marked all the crucial climbing holds and gear placements. I was able to find just enough gear to protect

and knows the score with tricky catches. I placed all the gear effortlessly but still entered the crux a little nervous. The climbing is extremely insecure: pasting your feet on sandy holds, slapping the slopey arête with your right hand, and bearing down on tiny crimps with the left. I got halfway through the crux, which was about six feet above my nest of two small cams, when my foot

from the awkward fall but felt lucky to be alive. Stanhope was in shock; he had just recovered from a terrible climbing accident where he ripped gear out of the famous gritstone route Parthian Shot  in England. He hit the ground from 60 feet, shattering his heel, and belaying me brought back some painful memories. Completely freaked out, he said I should place a bolt, and

these is all my own, and I don’t always feel the need to equip routes with the greater community in mind. Some people might view my approach as reckless and feel a route like Air China should actually have more than one bolt. I always try to have a minimalist approach to establishing new lines, but others place a higher importance on repeatability. To each his

he wouldn’t belay me if I didn’t. Battered, I mulled over the prospect of tainting my dream of e stablishing a 100-percent gear route with a bolt. Finally, I realized it wasn’t worth risking a 60-foot ground fall where the nearest hospital was who knows how far away. I later sent the route with the bolt, calling it Air China (5.13+ R). I operate under a philosophy that routes don’t need to be repeated safely, so I don’t establish them that way. The joy in climbing routes like

own—but it’s important to think through your bolting philosophy as a first ascensionist. Have a reason to place—or not place—each bolt. In the end, is this route still far from a sport route despite the bolt? Yes. Did I enjoy the process of projecting and eventually sending the route? Yes. Did I personally find the process cheapened because I added the bolt? Yes. But some sacrifices need to be made so your friends don’t have to scoop your brains back into your head.

Matt Segal taking the terrifying fall from the crux of Air China (5.13+ R), Liming, China.

On our first day climbing, a route caught my eye, and I knew it was the one. It was a subtle crack system that paralleled an obtuse arête. Establishing a new route is a creative process, and I had found my canvas. For me, going ground up is always ideal, but often times a route needs pre-inspection. Holds need to be cleaned, gear placements found, and hard sequences solved, especially if a route may be dangerous. After staring up at the line, I came to the conclusion

32 |   FEBRUARY 2014

the route and make it possible. Two nests of microcams would protect a blank 5.13+ section, but it might be a little dangerous; the gear was small but seemed good enough. In retrospect, the allure of creating China’s hardest trad climb may have clouded my judgment, but the idea of placing a bolt never entered my mind. Eventually I was ready to pull the toprope, and with my trusted partner Will Stanhope belaying, I went for the lead. Stanhope has belayed me on numerous sketchy leads

skated off a tiny foothold. I was airborne and completely out of control. I felt the rope catch me for a millisecond, and then I continued to fall and spin around the arête where I eventually flipped upside down and fell head first. I ended up hanging upside down about eight feet off the ground. My fall had yanked the gear so violently that the rock exploded. The fall was around 45 feet, and if I had fallen from any higher, I probably would have hit the ground head first. I was pretty whiplashed

    )     4     (     Y     E     K     C     I     D     N     H     O     J

ISSUE 322 

Approach Shoes Building a quality approach shoe is an art—and a science. Manufacturers take wildly different materials and delicately press, weld, glue, or sew them together into a cohesive unit that should get you from your car to your climb as effi ciently as possible. To better understand each component, we’ve broken down the layers and examined how they work. Plus, we highlighted our testers’ top five picks.

Outsole Lugs, as seen on this shoe, dig into the dirt for grip on trails. Some approach shoes have a shallow dot pattern that creates more contact between the rock and rubber, so they smear better on slabby stone.

Midsole As the middle layer between the outsole and the footbed, this is the main shock absorber that decreases impact on your foot. Two common materials are polyurethane foam (PU) and ethylene vinyl acetate foam (EVA). PU is dense and strong, with a longer lifespan than EVA, but it isn’t quite as so. EVA is lighter and cushier but less durable.

Drop This refers to the difference in “stack height” (the measurement of material between the bottom of your foot and the ground) at your heel and forefoot. The smaller the drop, the more minimalist the shoe, and the more you’ll feel the ground beneath your feet, which helps for approaches that demand precise scrambling and technical movement. Hiking boots and traditional trail runners have higher stack heights and drop, which provide more cushioning and support for heavy loads.

Forefoot Plate This higher-density foam or plastic piece provides additional support and protection for the ball of your foot.*

Upper This is the top part of the shoe that adds support and guards your foot from outside threats. The upper can be synthetic, leather, mesh, or some combination to offer varying degrees of water resistance, breathability, and insulation.

Heel Wedge This midsole component, usually a soer foam, absorbs impact during initial heel strike to provide a more comfortable ride.

Footbed Also called the insole, it sits directly beneath your foot. This foam insert comforts and supports, molding to your foot’s unique shape. If you really love a shoe, but need more arch support, for example, try an aermarket insole.

G E A R  

BEN FULLERTON (3); SHOE COURTESY LA SPORTIVA; MIDSOLE COURTESY FIVE TEN (INSET)

*Midsold is not from the La Sportiva shoe pictured on this page.

CLIMBING.COM

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G E A R  The Big Review

Get There Have it all with these 5 approach shoes BY DEVON BARROW AND JULIE ELLISON

It’s no easy feat to build a shoe that offers support for long hikes, precision and “feel” for technical scrambling, and comfort to keep feet happy. This  year, we thought outside the box to see what we were missing in the realm of approach shoes. What we found was a host of light hikers that not only competed with our favorite approach-specific kicks, but a few that also offered more comfort and climber-friendly details at a lower price. After approaching climbs in Canada, Utah, Colorado, California, Wyoming, Kentucky, West Virginia, and a few other locales, our testers were sold on each model’s individual performance. Whatever  your environment, discipline, or budget, we’ve got a shoe for you.

36 |   FEBRUARY 2014

Approach Shoe

Salewa Capsico

Patagonia Rover

$110; 11.4 oz.; salewa.com 

$125; 8.8 oz.; patagonia.com 

Performance

None of our testers wanted to like this shoe. “Is this a Croc?” one quipped. But after the first use, every tester was hooked. “You can tell the product designers are rock climbers and understand exactly what we need in an approach shoe for cragging,” one tester said. With sticky rubber, a tread pattern that gripped trail and rock equally well, and a stable ride, these were excellent for scrambling up loose gravel and dirt-covered trails to the Optimator Wall in Indian Creek, Utah. At the crag, testers flipped the rubber heel band to the front and folded down the mesh back to slip them on, giving their feet a break between routes. “It’s an approach shoe turned comfy slip-on turned lightweight descent shoe,” said another tester who clipped the stealthy package to her harness for multipitch routes in Yosemite. “They’re perfect for cragging, bouldering, and even long routes.” With a wide forefoot, tortured toes and feet have room to expand and spread out. A combination mesh and leather upper proved highly breathable, and a sturdy toe bumper wrapped up and around the front of the foot for added protection.

They’re so light and low-profile that it seems these shoes couldn’t possibly handle a strenuous approach that gains 1,500 feet over rock-strewn desert washes and slabs. But that’s where they shined for our Castleton Tower tester on her hike to the base of Kor-Ingalls (5.9). The climbing-friendly outsole gripped a sandy trail, dirty slabs, loose ball bearings, and rock edges with aplomb, and Patagonia’s proprietary rubber even clung to wet granite while boulder-hopping in Guanella Pass, Colorado. Testers lauded the barely-there feeling from the fourmillimeter drop in the midsole. The thin sole also boosted confidence during technical scrambling: “It felt closer to my rock shoes in performance than my other approach shoes,” one tester said after the tricky East Ledges descent from the East Buttress (5.10b) of El Capitan, Yosemite. A combo of mesh, synthetic leather, and a beefy toe rand offers protection and breathability. Tothe-toe lacing allowed testers to cinch the shoes all the way down for security when scrambling, and this system made them perfect for low- to mid-volume feet.

Cons

Tightened all the way down, the simple pulland-cinch laces provided a suitable fit for technical scrambling, but narrow feet may still swim. Some smaller-footed testers felt unstable on sidehills and the super steeps.

The mostly mesh uppers limit practical use to summer and shoulder seasons in arid climates. Long approaches and multi-day loads may overwhelm the shoe’s svelte undercarriage.

Conclusion

Get over the looks, and you’ll find a comfortable, versatile, and highly trail-worthy shoe designed for what every climber needs. It’s an ideal quiver of one for short approaches.

An impressive level of grip, stability, and protection for such a minimalist package. The supreme breathability and technical-scrambling prowess made this an instant winner.

Testers’ Favorite

Mighty Light

Bottom Line

*ALL WEIGHTS ARE FOR A SINGLE MEN’S SIZE 9 SHOE, UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED.

MAKE ’EM LAST

Delamination, one of the most common durability issues, is the breakdown of the glue between the outsole and the midsole. Most shoe layers are bonded with an adhesive, typically a heat-activated glue held together by strong chemical bonds. The number-one cause of delam is heat, so don’t leave your shoes baking in your car between climbing trips or in direct sunlight. And as tempting as it is, don’t put your feet up right next to the campfire or leave your shoes next to it to dry. The same goes for your rock shoes: As soon as you take them off, put them in the shade or in your pack at the crag. Otherwise, the glue can weaken, disfigure, and eventually delaminate. However, if you experience a wagging rubber tongue coming off the toe soon after purchasing or without much wear, it could be due to ineffective contact between the glue and rubber, which is an error that occurs during manufacturing (usually from not having the two surfaces perfectly clean when gluing). Contact the company directly to get them repaired or replaced.

Ahnu Moraga Mesh

Merrell Proterra Sport Gore-Tex

La Sportiva Mix

$120; 15.7 oz. (size 10); ahnu.com 

$140; 13.5 oz.; merrell.com 

$100; 10.3 oz.; sportiva.com 

Dirty secret: Traditional approach shoes with stickier (read: softer) rubber compounds, shallow lugs, and thinner, flexible midsoles generally don’t make stable, comfortable trail shoes when you’re hiking through mud or snow or carrying weighty loads. However, it’s these conditions where the Moraga excels. Our testers experienced instant comfort at first wear with these light hiking boots. One tester donned them for the three-plus-mile hike through a rocky streambed to a fourth-class scramble to get to Reese Mountain in Wyoming and immediately touted the “plush” and “cozy” feel. “It’s like combining a house slipper and a combat boot, with t he weight of a trail runner,” he said. “I never worried about the rocks rolling over my feet on th e loose trail.” But the comfy ride isn’t limited to hiking. This pair also stuck to rock “just as well as my dedicated approach shoes,” one tester said. The Moraga got the job done on granite slabs at Reese and sandstone blocks around Moab, Utah. Plus, deep lugs had traction on varied terrain, from hard-packed snow to oatmeallike mud and everything in between.

For minimalist-shoe fans who also go offtrail, the Proterra Sport is a perfect fit. Our testers used them as a trail runner and approach shoe, praising the pair in both venues. Our barefoot-runner, hippie tester was smitten: “I had a more natural gait on trails,” he said. “Plus, they stuck on my feet like glue while I was bumbling around the talus in the West Gully of Mt. Evans. I wouldn’t classify them as purely minimalist due to a stiff upper and sturdier sole, but they do outperform their size.” The Gore-Tex upper offers full waterproofing, and the burly bottom is a 10-millimeter PU midsole (more rigid than other EVA-midsoled minimalists). These shoes performed especially well through wet weather. They kept testers’ feet dry during a very moist fall and winter in Colorado, and the M-Select Grip rubber on the outsole stuck to slimy rock during some fifth-class scrambling around Boulder. The shoe is designed with pathways of smaller lugs to funnel the water out from under the foot. Hint: Get the non-GTX version for a more flexible upper and a smaller price tag ($100).

When a tester chooses a shoe for alpine bouldering areas in Colorado and  loose climber trails in Indian Creek and Moab, Utah, we know we have a candidate for a do-it-all approach shoe. “It’s great for nearly every type of climbing I do, whether my objective is big or small,” one tester said. A huge wow factor for the Mix: Testers found the Frixion XF rubber was just as st icky as their favorite rock shoes. “After my climb, I took off my rock shoes and put on my approach kicks. When I started the slabby descent, I realized I hadn’t sacrificed any stickiness,” another tester said. Plus, an area of flat (non-lugged) rubber on the outsole in the toe (front and outer edge) provided a larger “climbing zone” for edging and precision on scrambling approaches. A low-profile design gave these shoes a nimble feel when navigating boulderfields and treading lightly up a crumbling cone of scree toward Washerwoman Tower in Canyonlands, Utah. The wide forefoot and narrow heel gave testers’ feet the comfort they needed after long days of climbing with the snug fit and security they needed for tricky descents.

Despite a mesh upper, testers found breathability lacking in conditions that were sunny and 60°F. The slightly “clunky” feel made them less than ideal for technical scrambling.

The utility cord–style laces tend to come untied easily. A bit pricey for a shoe w ithout sticky rubber, but you do get Gore-Tex waterproofing.

One plank-footed tester felt pinched on steep downhill descents. Some testers experienced more pebbles sneaking in the top of the shoe on scree-covered hikes than with other shoes in the test.

If you want ultimate stability without the weight of a full-on, over-the-ankle hiking boot, these are comfortable while offering maximum support and protection from rolling rocks and sliding scree.

Great for long days on rough terrain where  you want a nearly ideal combo of comfort, stability, and agility to navigate tricky scrambles and short climbing sections. Perfect for damp climates, too.

Sturdy, light, versatile, sticky, and durable: The Mix is your pick if you want a shoe that has struck a great balance between being technical and easy to wear all day.

Comfy Armor

Maximum Minimalist

Sticky Workhorse

CLIMBING.COM

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G E A R  Tested

Fourth-Season Essentials 7 products to keep you rock climbing through winter BY JULIE ELLISON

Socks for climbers -SWIFTWICK

ASPIRE

Compression socks for climbing? Believe it. After shivering for a few hours on Castleton Tower near Moab, Utah, one tester decided to try the Aspires the next day for Washerwoman Tower, and she was immediately sold. “It added a nice layer of warmth in a thoughtful design,” she said. “No toe seam to get in the way, a thin profile to fit in the shoes, and wicking properties to keep my feet dry.” Plus, she reported less fatigue during the six-hour effort thanks to increased blood flow from the compression of the foot that the Aspire provides. These socks were also ideal for wearing with light approach shoes that act more like rock shoes. $13 to $36, depending on height; swiftwick.com 

Take the edge off -AVEX

HIGHLAND AUTOSEAL

STAINLESS TRAVEL MUG

Climbers are serious about coffee. And this tricked-out travel mug is a seriously cool addition to the scene. With a large and easy-to-push button on the top side, you can effortlessly press the button down. Other mugs put the button on the underside, forcing your thumb to do all the work. While we drank our liquids too fast to really test this, Avex claims this double-walled, vacuum-insulated mug can keep drinks hot

38 |   FEBRUARY 2014

for up to seven hours or cold for up to 20 hours. One tester lasted about five hours in 40°F temps in Yosemite, California, and his 20 ounces of coffee was still hot. The best part of this mug is that  you can slide the push button down, essentially locking it, which prevents the button from being accidentally pressed (similar to what can happen to your headlamp) and spilling liquid all over the gear in your pack. Oh, and did we mention this thing survived a 30-foot tumble through talus? $25; avexsport.com 

“I could not believe the durability of this piece,” said another impressed tester. Sixty grams of PrimaLoft One kept testers warm on overcast and 42°F days, but when the sun finally came out, the combination of synthetic insulation and airy face fabrics meant the whole unit breathed and testers never overheated. One drawback: The hand-warmer pockets were directly under the harness and thus hard to reach, but a Napoleon pocket on the chest held sundries in an accessible spot. $170; eddiebauer.com 

Durable warmth

Pebble wrestler’s best friend

-EDDIE

BAUER FIRST ASCENT

BACKDRAFT

-METOLIUS

SESSION PAD

“The chimneys and offwidths of the Utah desert are some of the toughest proving grounds for apparel, and if anything functions well and emerges unscathed, it’s a winner in my book,” said one tester after rocking the Backdraft for several pitches of wide (and wider) cracks. Stretchy nylon softshell material on the back withstood extended scraping and dragging across calcified sandstone while the lightweight 20-denier ripstop nylon in the sleeves was immune to repeated jamming and abrading.

Winter means one thing to some climbers: prime bouldering season. Whether you’re a dedicated boulderer or a beginner, the Metolius Session Pad is an ideal mat to fit every dirtbag’s car, needs, and budget. With a simple bi-fold design and an elastic-flap closure system, the Session is excellent for newbies, seasoned vets who want to add an easierto-carry small pad to their collection, and dabblers who don’t want to drop a lot of dough. It has 12 square feet of landing

space in a surprisingly light ninepound package. “I put this on and immediately forgot I was wearing it—that’s how light and slim it is,” one petite tester said. Through four months of testing, climbers never bottomed out, even in the middle, thanks to an angled hinge, and the pad still looks as good as new. One great detail was the small carpet sewn into the middle of the pad, so you don’t have to carry an extra towel to wipe your shoes before you pull on. The elastic-flap closure system was snug, so you can’t shove a ton of gear in the pad, but shoes, water, and chalk pot fit  just fine. Hint: Close the pad up first, and then shove your gear in it. $149; metoliusclimbing.com 

High performance, high value -SCARPA

STIX

Instant-classic alert! Cobbler genius Heinz Mariacher (the man behind some of the sport’s most notable shoes like La Sportiva’s Mythos and Testarossa and the Scarpa Boostic) has struck gold again. The Stix packs top-end performance in a surprisingly easy-to-wear synthetic-leather slipper. Testers loved this shoe for anything and everything steep: from the short and horizontal Kill By Numbers (V5), Joe’s Valley, Utah, to the 80-foot and varied Colossus (5.10c), City of Rocks, Idaho. “Out of the dozen

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pairs of performance rock shoes I’ve owned, these have struck the best balance between stiffness and sensitivity,” one discerning user said. That’s thanks to a stiff but pointed forefoot and Scarpa’s X-tension rand design; the combination allows for lateral torque and movement while driving power to the toe. “Basically, the force from your whole foot is funneled directly into your toe, so you can grab pockets and nubs as if they were jugs,” said another tester. They’re slightly difficult to pull on, but still easier than most high-performance slippers. Icing on top: high-end performance for mid-pack price. $149; scarpa.com 

Fingers of steel -PROGRESSION

BOARD

By winter’s end, the banality of the climbing gym can produce plateaus that even Sharma couldn’t break through. Enter the Progression Board, a hangboard to be used in conjunction with a training regimen designed by climbing coach Eva Lopez. With a master’s degree in sports science, her research has shown that substantial finger-strength gains can be made when training below a maximum effort—or, in other words, rarely training to the point of failure in any given session. This sub-maximum training style also greatly reduces the chance of injury. That’s right: big gains in finger strength with a reduced risk of injury. The Progression Board is designed for intermediate climbers seeking to move to the next level (advanced climbers should check out her Transgression Board) with eight rungs that vary from 10 millimeters to 24 millimeters. This allows for ultra-fine-tuning and

constant control of the training load. A finger-friendly shape supports comfortable, strengthbuilding hangs on half-crimps, and an oversized top rung is perfect for pull-ups. A training outline is included with each board, and more info on Lopez’s protocol can be found on her blog: en-evalopez.blogspot.com.es. Says one tester after a month of training, “I feel more confident on holds I once thought ungrippable.” $330; holdz-on.com  —Dave Sheldon

Eternal flame -SOTO

OUT WITH THE OLD. IN WITH THE NEW. Restoring America’s crags one bolt at a time. In 2003, Climbing with the support of The North Face and Petzl launched the Anchor Replacement Initiative (ARI)—a movement to replace worn-out fixed hardware at popular crags across the country. Leading into 2011, we are proud to announce that nearly 500 routes have received ARI support and more than 1,000 bolts have been replaced—thanks to dedicated climbers who spend countless hours volunteering their time replacing hardware.

MEET CLIMBER BEN BRUESTLE, ONE OF ARI’S MOST DEDICATED EQUIPPERS

WINDMASTER OD-1RX

Integrated cook systems like the  JetBoil or MSR Reactor do a great  job of deflecting wind and maintaining quick boil times, but you can’t use multiple pots or frying pans. Meanwhile, many pocket stoves suffer in the face of a stiff breeze. Solution? Soto’s ingenious (and aptly named) heater. A wide, concave burner head acts as a windshield and places the flame closer to the pot . Testers waiting out rain and 30mph winds in Colorado’s Never Summer Wilderness were able make hot drinks when another stove failed. The WindMaster (2.6 oz.) comes with a tiny integrated pot support, just big enough for a personal cook pot. For larger groups, get the 5.7-inch-wide 4Flex ($15) support. $75; sotooutdoors.com 

Hometown: Pueblo, CO Favorite local crag: Tanner Dome Number of years you’ve been climbing: 18 Number of routes you’ve replaced as part of ARI: 11 Here are a handful: Bam Bam, 5.10a, Wild Side; Newlin Creek KC, 5.10c, Wild Side; Newlin Creek Tuff Turf, 5.10d, Titanic, Hardscrabble I Did It My Way, 5.9, Titanic, Hardscrabble

Learn more about the Anchor Replacement Initiative, future projects and how to get involved at climbing.com/community/ari/

IN PARTNERSHIP WITH SUPPORTED BY

SEMI-RAD  The Relentless Pursuit of 5.Fun

Let’s Talk  About Your Not-Training

Potential  of this magazine on page 6, you’ll notice that there’s a question asked of all the staff and contributors each issue, and that those answers are printed next to each contributor’s name. One such question e-mailed to everyone by editor Shannon Davis was, “What climbing training or cross-training tactic has  been most beneficial to your climbing, and why?” IF YOU LOOK IN THE MASTHEAD

I thought long and hard about my answer, and finally sent Shannon a response: “Training is something I have looked into.”

40 |   FEBRUARY 2014

 Brendan Leonard 

My answer was not one of the ones chosen to be printed in that issue, sadly. I did read seve ral responses to Shannon’s question, which included Crossfit, Bikram yoga, the campus board, and—my favorite—12-ounce curls. It made me wonder if I should start doing this “training” thing that all the kids are apparently doing nowadays. Technical climbing has been around for a long time, but training for it is a relatively new concept—19th century Chamonix guides weren’t doing hangboard workouts, were they? But John Gill, a former gymnast, trained for climbing and put up V9s before they were even called V9s, and John Bachar trained his ass off in the 1960s and ’70s and developed into one of the strongest,  boldest climbers of all time. That was before climbing gyms existed, and long before climbing gyms started offering classes and installing specialized training devices. Not so long ago, bouldering was the only real training for

climbing longer routes, which in essence was training for climbing in the mountains. Now, there are all sorts of ways to train for  bouldering, which is no longer just training for climbing routes,  but a hobby pursued by determined people who become strong enough to move chest freezers by themselves and open nontwist-off beer bottles with their bare hands. I am not one of those people. Anything above about V5 is incomprehensible to my  brain, and when I watch someone climb something harder than that, I don’t think, “Hey, they’re a climber, just like me.” I think, “That person should be in Cirque du Soleil.” Which perhaps puts me more at home with people who climbed recreationally in the 1960s and ‘70s than contemporary climbers. Do you train? How serious are you? Do you bust out core  workouts and do hangboard exercises in addition to climbing several times a week? Do you do cardio to stay lean enough to send hard routes? Do you ever think about how hard you would climb if you stopped training? I’ve realized that in my admittedly not-too-lengthy, not-veryserious climbing career, the years I’ve climbed hardest are the  years I’ve simply climbed the most. (And also during breakups,  but that has little to do with training or not training.) I wondered this summer, what’s the hardest I could climb if all I did was climb—no pull-ups, no hangboards, nothing that isn’t climbing.  Actually, nothing that isn’t fun—“fun” being defined as things I enjoy: climbing (including indoor climbing), trail running, backpacking, and mountain biking. If you put up a profile on mountainproject.com, you can type in how hard you climb on trad and sport routes, bouldering, and ice, presumably to match you with people looking for climbing partners. I’m sure some people inflate the grades, and some others sandbag a little, but most people probably consider their hardest onsight and enter that in the boxes. I would love to add a fifth category: How hard you can send  without training? Not like, “Oh, I haven’t been doing regular  workouts because I’ve been cl imbing outside so much this summer,” but “I quit doing workouts and went back to 1950s-style training, which is not training.” But what to call it? It’s not quite the same as “off the couch,” as they say—you’re still climbing, not eating Cheetos for months and going climbing only when a friend needs a partner. It’s an all-fun, no-work classification. You are not pushing yourself to do exercises, just pushing  yourself when you c limb, indoors and out. I told my friend Dan about this idea, and he suggested something along the lines of “from nothing.” It’s kinda catchy if you say it in Latin: ex nihilo. My current onsight limit, by the newly established ex nihilo standard, is about 5.9 trad and 5.10a/b sport—unless there are long sections of overhanging terrain, for which I don’t have the forearm strength. Which would be pretty decent for a rock climber in the pre-training era, right? Granted, I do benefit from sticky rubber and lighter, stronger gear.  Are you like me? Can you count the number of pull-ups you’ve done this month on one hand, or none? Are you mystified by some of the workout equipment in your climbing gym? It’s OK, dude. We’re not lazy, just diehard practitioners of a new discipline of climbing: ex nihilo. We’re not unambitious, just distracted by other things besides training. And we should probably climb together. That’d be fun.

 Brendan Leonard is a contributing editor for Climbing. He lives in his van and writes at semi-rad.com.

THE

 YEAR IN 

 From the first 5.14d onsight to runout 5.13 traditional routes to a multitude of V-hard bouldering  flashes, Climbing pays tribute to the most inspirational climbers, ascents, and routes of 2013 with the 12th annual Golden Piton Awards.  By Dougald MacDonald 

CLIMBING 

Nico Favresse working The Recovery Drink  in Jossingord, Norway. This 5.14 crack line is “the hardest crack I have ever redpointed,” he says. See page 48 for more details.

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THE YEAR IN CLIMBING 

need for speed Scott Bennett set two Colorado speed records: 44 minutes car to car on The Na-  ked Edge  (5.11-) in Eldorado Canyon, with Brad Gobright, and 12 hours, 31 minutes car to car for a midwinter ascent of the Diamond on Longs Peak, with Joe Mills.

01  JANUARY 

the gift

sending temps!

the new normal

During one week in January, three of America’s hardest boulder problems got repeated. Daniel Woods found a new way to do Witness the Fitness (V15+?) with broken holds at both cruxes, eight years aer Chris Sharma put it up in Arkansas. Outside Las Vegas, aer six days of work, Dave Graham scored the second ascent of Meadowlark Lemon  (V15), put up by Paul Robinson a year earlier. And in Boulder Canyon, Colorado, Jon Cardwell completed the third send of The Game  (V15), first climbed by Woods.

A year aer more than 100 bolts were removed from the Compres-  sor Route  on the south side of Cerro Torre in Patagonia, dozens of climbers ventured to the wild west face of the granite spire, which houses an all-natural ice line first climbed in 1974, called the Ragni Route . Aided by unusually good weather and a path forged through the crux rime ice by repeated ascents, about 140 people repeated the route. Most impressive ascent: Austrian Markus Pucher free soloed the route in 3 hours, 15 minutes.

Alex Honnold teamed up with pal Josh McCoy to restore and redpoint an old Kurt Smith project in El Potrero Chico, Mexico: Mi Regalo Favorito . The 19-pitch route went free at 5.13c/d.

lucky seven Daniel Woods and Alex Puccio bouldered out fresh wins at ABS Nationals in Colorado Springs—an amazing seventh national championship for each of them.

mega-cold Brits Leo Houlding, Alastair Lee, Jason Pickles, and Chris Rabone, along with American Sean Leary, climbed the northeast ridge of Ulvetanna, a 3,600-foot granite tower that looks like a fighter jet blasting out of the ice cap in Antarctica.

Sean Leary jams a cold crack above the ice cap on Ulvetanna. The ascent was featured in a prize-winning film, The Last Great Climb .

Alex Puccio en route to her seventh national bouldering championship.

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THE YEAR IN CLIMBING 

02 FEBRUARY 

44 |  F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 4

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GOLDEN  PITON AWARD

Climb of the Year 

LA DURA DURA

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Thanks to Big Up Productions and the  Reel Rock Tour our,, La Dura Dura  was  was one of the world’s most famous sport climbs long before it was redpointed. The 2012 film, also called La Dura Dura  , highlighted the friendly competition between Chris Sharma and Adam Ondra to set a new level of difficulty. “The two strongest climbers in the world go head to head in Catalunya, Spain, vying to establish the planet’s first 5.15c,” promised the promo copy.  Never mind mind that Ondra, Ondra, the 19-year19-yearold Czech phenom, was already hard at work on a route that actually  would become the first 5.15c: Change in Flatanger, Norway, which Ondra redpointed in October 2012. By then, the rivalry had hit more than 400 theaters worldwide, and when Ondra and Sharma returned to La Dura Dura  in early 2013, their every move lit up the Internet.  Sharma,  Shar ma, 32, 32, had had discove discovered, red, clean cleaned, ed, and bolted the 40-meter line in Oliana,  Spain,, years  Spain years earlier earlier:: a deliber deliberate ate effort effort to take the next step in sport climbing’s evolution. But Sharma soon came to feel the climb might be too difficult. When Ondra showed up in Oliana, Sharma encouraged him to go for it, and then t hen got re-inspired to work the climb himself. Ondra was first to do La Dura Dura  , sending on February 7 (he had just turned 20) after five trips to Oliana in 18 months. He said it was definitely harder than Change , but still 9b+. 9b+. Would Sharma now lose interest? No way. As he told Planet Mountain, “I’d  practically written the route route off, and when [Adam and I] decided to work it together, he brought it back to life. We  fed off each other’s motivation. motivation.”” With  Sharma’s  Sharma ’s send on March March 23, the climbing world had its Hollywood ending.

Although Chris Sharma found and bolted the legendary La Dura Dura  route,  route, it was Adam Ondra (pictured here) who nabbed the first ascent in February 2013.

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| 45

GOLDEN  PITON AWARD

zion x 4 Tommy Caldwell and Alex Honnold linked four big walls in Zion National Park in 16 hours. This was just a warm-up for Honnold, who three days later free soloed Moonlight Buttress , Monkeyfin-  ger , and Shune’s Buttress  in  in about 12 hours.

Alex Megos reaches high on Retired Extremely Dangerous  (aka  (aka The Red Project), Australia’s first 5.14d.

free patagonia! In the Paine region of Chile, Belgian climbers Merlin Didier, Stéphane Hanssens, and Sean Villanueva O’Driscoll free climbed the El Cap–sized east faces of Cerro Catedral and Cerro Cota 2000, both at 5.13a. Hanssens and Villanueva then snuck in a new free route on Cerro Fitz Roy in Argentina, with only hours to spare before heading home.

triumph and tragedy  A Polish team made the first winter ascent of 8,047-meter Broad Peak in Pakistan—25 years aer one of the climbers had nearly succeeded in winter. Sadly, two of the four summiters disappeared during the descent. THE YEAR IN CLIMBING 

03 MARCH

THE YEAR IN CLIMBING 

 Breakthrough  Breakthr ough Performa Performance nce

ALEX MEGOS  Until about 18 months ago, only climbing-news  junkies  junk ies knew Alex Meg Megos, os, a 20-yea 20-year-ol r-old d from from  Erlangen  Erla ngen,, German Germany. y. Like Like man many y supers superstars tars,, Megos Megos started young (age 5) and quickly moved through the competition scene. By 2012, he’d redpointed up to 9a (5.14d) and pulled off a string of impressive  flashes,  flash es, incl includin udingg Pure Imagination (8c+/5.14c) in  Kentuck  Ken tucky’s y’s Red Rive Riverr Gorge. Gorge. “After finishing high school, I could fully focus on climbing and traveling,” Megos says. The result has been an unprecedented leap in standards. In  March, Megos Megos onsighted onsighted Estado Critico in Siurana, Spain, the first 9a onsight in history. (Adam Ondra had onsighted two routes graded 9a, but he downgraded both of them; he then onsighted a 9a  four months months after Megos.) Megos.) The young German German said he never expected an onsight when he started up the climb. “I just told myself I would climb as far as possible,” he says. “It was the biggest surprise of my climbing life.”  Other proud achievements include a repeat of Corona  (9a+/5.15a)  (9a+/5.15a) and the new route Classified (9a/9a+), both on his home turf in the Frankenjura. In Australia, he established the country’s hardest sport climb (9a), as well as a 5.15a bouldering link-up in the Hollow Mountain Cave.  Expect more: more: “At “At the moment, moment, I am a full-time climber,” Megos says. “I decided to take another  year off from from school, because I am doing quite well right now, and I want to continue a bit before starting my studies.”  OF ALL THE PLACES IN THE WORLD, WHERE WOULD YOU MOST LIKE TO CLIMB?  “For bouldering, Brione, Switzerland. For multi pitch climbing, climbing, Madagascar Madagascar.. And for sport climbing, Céüse, France.” 

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WHAT CLIMBER MOST IMPRESSES YOU? “Probably Adam Ondra. Some weeks ago he came to the Frankenjura, and I gave him beta for a 9a he wanted to flash. It impressed me how well he could memorize everything I showed him. During his attempt, it looked like he was trying it for the third time. Everything I told him he was able to  put together perfectly. perfectly. That That was the most impresimpressive thing I have seen—and really motivating!” 

04  APRIL 

 youth brigade Twelve-year-old Harry Edwards from Arizona redpointed Southern Smoke  (5.14c)  (5.14c) at the Red River Gorge in Kentucky.

moose attack The 10,335-foot Moose’s Tooth is one of Alaska’s most popular high peaks, and each year d ozens of climbers attempt the classic west ridge or the Ham and Eggs  couloir  couloir on the south face. But the 5,000-foot, super-steep east face is rarely cli mbed. So it was amazing to see three new routes on the face in a single week. Climbing with Pete Tapley, Scott Adamson completed a line he had tried three times, making the first all-free ascent of the east face. Aer a brief rest, he joined Chris Wright to complete a second new route on the wall’s le side. Meanwhile, the Swiss-Austrian duo of Dani Arnold (see p. 12 for more on Arnold) and David Lama blasted up their own new route—a direct line in the center of the east face—during the pair’s first trip to Alaska.

rusty piton

passages The great Colorado climber Layton Kor, responsible for a multitude of classic routes (moderate and bold alike!) from Eldorado Canyon to Yos Yosemite emite Valley, died at age 74 aer a long illness.

Climbers Simone Moro, Ueli Steck, and Jon Griffith got embroiled in a violent dispute with Sherpa climbers at Camp 2 on Mt. Everest, following a confrontation on the Lhotse Face. The three abandoned their climb and fled the mountain.

national champs Daniel Woods won SCS Nationals in Boulder, Colorado, becoming the first person to be U.S. national champion in both bouldering and lead climbing in the same year. Frenchwoman Charlotte Durif won the women’s competition, which made runner-up Delaney Miller the national champ.

trad is rad Keeping the trad flame burning bright in the New River Gorge of West Virginia, Matt Wilder climbed a 5.13d line, Eye of the Beholder , at Beauty Mountain. He managed this between burns on the still-unclimbed Rapunzel project: a traditional 5.14.

CLIMBING.COM

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THE YEAR IN

rusty piton

CLIMBING 

full recovery 

05 MAY 

Aer five weeks of effort over two visits to Norway, Belgian Nico Favresse freed The Recovery Drink , a 115foot overhanging crack that the 5.14+ climber called his hardest trad route ever.

Aer a sustained effort by the International Sport Climbing Federation to win a berth in the Olympics, the IOC announced that climbing would not be part of the 2020 Olympic Games.

 world’s highest birthday  May marked the 60th anniversary of Mt. Everest’s first ascent and the 50th anniversary of the West Ridge climb by Americans Tom Hornbein and Willi Unsoeld.

GOLDEN  PITON AW AWARD ARD

 Bouldering 

JIMMY WEBB   From the Deep Deep South last winter winter to  Europe in the spring, and then then on to South Africa in the summer and Colorado in the fall, Jimmy Webb seemed to be everywhere and climbing everything, usually in blazing speed. Webb flashed at least half a dozen V13 problems—we say “at least” because he downgraded problems that felt easier for him, including Sky   , often called V14, which which he  flashed in Rocklands Rocklands,, South Africa.  In Rocky Rocky Mountain Mountain Nation National al Park, Park, Webb did the third ascent of Dave Graham’s Bridge of Ashes (V15) in just 30 minutes. He also put up two new V15 problems at Lincoln  Lake in Colorad Colorado. o. Oh, and he bested a stacked field at last summer’s  Psicobloc  Psic obloc deep deep water water soloing soloing comp comp in Utah, leaving viewers wondering, “Who’s that dude with the beard?!”  Webb, 26, hails from Tennessee and has been bouldering hard  for more than half half a decade. (He did his first V14, Jade in Rocky  Mountain National Park, in 2010.)  But 2013 was extraordinary by anyone’s standards. “I honestly don’t know if I’ve gotten gott en stronger, or if I’ve just had more opportunity,” Webb says. “I’ve been fortunate to travel a lot, so it’s only natural that  I’m able to complete more boulders. boulders. 48 |  F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 4

Jimmy Webb gets the first ascent of Future Trippin  (V13),  (V13), Leavenworth, Washington, on a trip where he flashed 10 problems V11 or harder.

 And the overall experience is so good  for my climbing that it makes me me stronger mentally.” Working part-time as a route-setter at the ABC Kid’s Climbing Gym in Boulder, Webb says he likes repeating hard boulders and putting up new problems just as much. “I usually like to go to an area, spend some days paying respect to the classics, and then branch out and try to discover something new,” he says. With a  full year of trave travell comin comingg up, up, he shou should ld have plenty of opportunities.

OF ALL THE PLACES IN THE WORLD, WHERE WOULD YOU  MOST LIKE TO CLIMB?  “There are so many places I haven’t been. Australia would be rad.”  WHAT CLIMBER ARE YOU MOST  IMPRESSED BY?  “The beauty of climbing is that everyone is different. Right now I really like climbing with Dave Graham, G raham, because he’s so technically sound. He really knows how to move on the rock.” 

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THE YEAR IN

Hazel Findlay stretches for the next hold

CLIMBING 

on Adder Crack , her 5.13c R first ascent in Squamish, British Columbia.

GOLDEN  PITON AWARD

06  JUNE

Traditional 

HAZEL FINDLAY  give me liberty! Lucho Rivera and Cedar Wright completed the first all-free ascent of a major Yosemite Valley wall: the southwest face of Liberty Cap.

rusty piton Pakistani terrorists murdered 10 foreign climbers and one local staffer at Nanga Parbat base camp.

 bouldering gold Austrian Anna Stöhr won the boulder World Cups in Toronto, Canada, and Vail, Colorado, and claimed her fourth season title.

 It was one hell of a year for Brit Hazel Findlay. The petite 24-year-old’s climbs included the second ascent of Chicama  , a bold 5.13 in North Wales; Freerider (5.13a, 35 pitches) on El Capitan in just three days; and a 5.13 R trad route in South  Africa. Findlay’s near-one-day ascent of Babel , a runout 20-pitch 5.13 in Morocco, was featured in the Reel Rock film Spice Girl. She also did her first 5.14a sport route.  Findlay started climbing at 7 and was a multi-time British youth champion. In 2011, she became the first woman to redpoint E9 (runout hard 5.13 by American standards). She also freed her first El Cap route, Golden Gate (5.13a), and in 2012 made the first female free ascent of PreMuir (5.13c/d, 33 pitches), El Cap. WHAT CLIMBER ARE YOU MOST IMPRESSED BY? 

“For all-out natural talent and strength, my friend Neil Dyer, who has too much of both. For hard work, tenacity, and talent, Tommy Caldwell, who is ready to try hard at all aspects of climbing, whether it’s ferrying loads to the top of El Cap or holding on to a razor-sharp granite crystal until his fingers bleed. As for who  I’m most inspired by, I’d have to say the Belgian boys, Sean Villanueva and Nico  Favresse, who are the best because they’re the climbers having the most fun.”

THE YEAR IN CLIMBING 

GOLDEN  PITON AWARD

07 

Kilian Jornet slides down a fixed rope during his run up and down the Matterhorn.

 JULY 

 Speed 

KILIAN JORNET Climbers have long wondered what might happen if Olympiccaliber athletes from other sports brought their strength and stamina to the vertical world.  Now, we have a pretty good idea: Catalan runner Kilian Jornet  Burgada is systematically blowing away speed records on the world’s most famous peaks.  Jornet, 26, is a three-time winner of the Skyrunner mountainrunning series, and in 2011 he won the 100-mile Western States  Endurance Run in California.  He’s also a world champion ski mountaineer. Jornet has been climbing since he was a child, and in the past two years, he has  focused his near-superhuman aerobic ability on more technical challenges.  Last summer, Jornet smashed the record for climbing and descending Mont Blanc, from downtown Chamonix to the 15,781-foot summit and back, and then did the same on the  Matterhorn, making the round trip on the Italian side in 2 hours, 52 minutes—more than 20 minutes faster than an 18-year-old record set by Italian  Bruno Brunod. “I had a Matter50 |  F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 4

horn picture in my bedroom when I was a child, and Bruno’s record was the most expressive of the sport—the ultimate thing to motivate me to do skyrunning,” Jornet says.  Late in the summer, Jornet and mountain runner Emelie Forsberg were widely criticized for seeking a rescue when their ultralight ascent above Chamonix had to be aborted.  But Jornet shrugged off the flak as the “price of being known.” He adds, “We go every day [in the] mountains, so it is logical to have good days and bad days.”  Whether Jornet is dangerously  pushing the limits of light and fast or not will likely become clearer as he ventures onto higher peaks in his multi-year Summits of My Life campaign. On tap for 2014: Denali and Aconcagua.  DO YOU ALSO CLIMB FOR  PLEASURE, OTHER THAN SPEED  RECORDS OR TRAINING? “I always run and climb for pleasure. Records are just the excuse to  go to the mountains, to spend time with friends there.” 

rusty piton Tito Traversa, a 12-year-old 5.14 climber from Italy who seemed destined to become one of the sport’s greats, died following a tragic accident in which some quickdraws he borrowed had been assembled incorrectly and failed when he weighted them.

saddle sores Alex Honnold and Cedar Wright enchained all of California’s 14ers in a t hree-week, human-powered adventure by bike, foot, and free soloing. See p. 58 for the full story.

karakoram firsts Two much-coveted peaks in Pakistan got their first ascents: 23,294-foot K6 West, by the Canadian duo Raphael Slawinski and Ian Welsted, and 24,278-foot Khunyang Chhish East, by the Swiss-Austrian trio of Simon Anthamatten and Hansjörg and Matthias Auer.

taking the lead Paraplegic climber Sean O’Neill pioneered a system to lead crack climbs in Yosemite without the use of his legs.

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hyperlight. FULL SIZE

7/6;65

An evolutionary advance in carabiner design. The Photon’s sophisticated shape produces a large gate opening and the wide range of biner styles and draws (keylocks, wires, straight, bent, nylon, and Dyneema) means climbers can find the perfect combination of functionality and lightweight for any style of climbing in the Photon line.

JHTW\ZHJVT

Competition

PSICOBLOC MASTERS  Competition climbing in the U.S. survives mostly on a thriving youth circuit and a few national and international events that draw decent crowds—for bouldering, that is, but not for lead climbing. Many of America’s strongest men rarely ever compete, even on U.S. soil, and with climbing out of the running for the Olympics, that scenario seemed likely to continue.  In this dim light, the Psicobloc competition in Park City, Utah, was like a life-giving blast of sunshine.  Modeled after an event in Bilbao, Spain, that Chris  Sharma won in 2011, Psicobloc offered a head-tohead, deep water soloing format that promised big thrills for climbers and spectators alike. The event team, led by Sharma, Mike Beck, and Kevin  Bradburn, erected a temporary wall that loomed 55  feet above a 10-foot-deep practice pool at the Utah

GOLDEN  PITON AWARD

Olympic Park. (Competitors had to risk the nearly  five-story plunge over and over if they made it high in the standings.) The comp was timed to coincide with Outdoor Retailer, a semiannual gathering of the tribe in nearby Salt Lake City, and the sheer novelty of the thing—plus a $20,000 prize purse—lured a who’s who of top talent that doesn’t usually compete these days, from Sharma to Dave Graham and Lynn Hill to Tommy Caldwell.  More than 2,500 spectators flocked to the finals in Park City to see 5.14 flashes and painful-looking splashes, and nearly 20,000 people from more than 100 countries tuned in for the live stream. Sasha  DiGiulian and Jimmy Webb won the comp, but the real winner was competition climbing itself. Look for a repeat performance in Park City this summer.

THE YEAR IN CLIMBING 

08  AUGUST

Utah local Jacinda Hunter takes a big fall during the women’s competition.

52 |  F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 4

is 5.15 still hard? Adam Ondra spent a few weeks in Norway and came away with two new 5.15b routes, Move  and Iron Curtain , in the giant granite cave outside Flatanger. During the full year, Ondra established seven 5.15 routes and repeated a couple of others, begging the question: Is 5.15 even newsworthy anymore? Well, consider this: There are still only three consensus 5.15a routes in North America: Jumbo Love  in California, Flex Luthor  in Colorado, and Jaws II  in New Hampshire. Only the last has been repeated, including two ascents this past fall, by Andrew Palmer and Paul Robinson. So, yeah, 5.15 is still hard. Adam Ondra is just at a whole new level.

 bella! Sasha DiGiulian, best known for her cragging and competition prowess, did the first female ascent of Bellavista  (5.14b), a sporty big wall free climb on the north face of Cima Grande in the Italian Dolomites, complete with an unplanned bivouac on the summit.

THE YEAR IN CLIMBING 

09 SEPTEMBER 

lead now A year-long, round-the-world climbing trip? Yes, please! But Paige Claassen and filmmaker Jon Glassberg have loier goals than simply sending and sightseeing. Claassen’s Lead Now tour aims to raise awareness—and cash—for issues facing women and children worldwide, all while attempting to raise the bar for women’s climbing. As of December, the two had visited five countries, raised more than $10,000, and Claassen had climbed big: a new 5.14a and the first female ascent of another 5.14a in South Africa; the second ascent of a 5.14b “slab” in Italy; and a 5.14b first female ascent in China, among others. Up next: India, Turkey, and Ecuador. See p. 10 for more info. rusty piton

european vacation

Jose Luis Mosquera, 33, a climber from Ecuador, was shot outside his tent in Ten Sleep, Wyoming, shocking climbers worldwide. Mosquera recovered, but no perpetrator or motive has been found.

During a school holiday in Europe, 12-year-old Mirko Caballero from California climbed his first 5.14b and his first V13, both in Switzerland.

 wild 5.14 David Allfrey, Nik Berry, and Mason Earle added a 5.14a free route to the 1,800-foot north face of Mt. Hooker, deep in Wyoming’s Wind River Range. Bonus: They’re headed back next summer to straighten out t he line and add more hard pitches.

5.14 on the diamond Twelve years aer he did the first 5.13 on the Diamond, a 900-foot wall in Colorado topping out at over 14,000 feet, Tommy Caldwell led the first free ascent of the full Dunn-Westbay Route , including an 80-meter crux 5.14a pitch. Joe Mills followed the whole route free. ashima!     N     O     S     D     R     A     H     C     I     R     N     O     T     L     A

Twelve-year-old Ashima Shiraishi traveled to Europe during her school vacation and climbed two 5.14b routes at Céüse, France, including a second-try send. Switching gears, she then headed to Switzerland to go bouldering and soon sent her second V13, One Summer in Paradise , at Magic Wood. Back home in the States, she squeezed in trips to Rocky Mountain National Park ( Automator , V13) and the Red River Gorge (24 Karats  and 50 Words For Pump , both 5.14c).

canadian speed

alpine trilogy 

Young Squamish climber Marc-Andre Leclerc raced up his home crag—the Chief—in record time, and also soloed two huge routes on the north face of remote Slesse Mountain in a single day.

Barbara Zangerl of Austria was the first woman to complete the so-called Alpine Trilogy, three long 5.14 routes in the Alps, each put up in 1994. Zangerl did the first female ascents of two of these climbs.

nose blitz Libby Sauter and Mayan Smith-Gobat shattered the female speed record for the Nose  of El Capitan. The two climbed the route in 5 hours, 39 minutes, more than 1.5 hours faster than the old mark.

rockies legend Twenty-eight years aer it was first climbed, the legendary Blanchard-Cheesmond Route  on the north pillar of Twins Tower in the Canadian Rockies was repeated by Jon Walsh and Josh Wharton. Says Wharton: “I have done lots of routes that have a bigger bark than bite, but this route lived up to its reputation.”

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THE YEAR IN CLIMBING 

10 OCTOBER 

GOLDEN  PITON AWARD

 Alpine

UELI STECK   After the ugly confrontation at Camp 2 on Mt. Everest last spring and the media onslaught that followed, Ueli Steck thought he might never go back to Nepal to climb. But the Swiss alpinist and speed soloist had already attempted Annapurna’s 8,000-foot south  face twice before, and had nearly died on it in 2007.  He had unfinished business.  Steck returned to Annapurna in the fall with Canadian Don Bowie. Their goal was to complete the line attempted by Pierre Béghin and Jean-Christophe  Lafaille in 1992. Steck hadn’t planned to climb alone, but on October 8, as they launched up the wall, Bowie told his partner he didn’t have it in him to solo as much of the route as would be required. “It was a difficult moment for me,” Steck says. “I knew at that moment I just needed to leave, without too much talking and thinking.”   Steck thought he’d just probe farther up the wall for a couple of days, but he soon realized the face was in the “condition of the century.” The crux rock band above

23,000 feet was laced with runnels of perfect ice. Steck knew it was now or never. What followed was one of the greatest climbs in Himalayan history. Alone, with the bare minimum of gear (see p. 75), and climbing mostly at night, Steck soloed to the top of the wall and on to Annapurna’s 26,545 foot summit. With only a single rope and a handful of  pitons and ice screws, he could not rappel the enormous  face—instead he had to exercise his seemingly supernatural skill and self-control to downclimb nearly the entire way. Twenty-eight hours after starting, he was back down safely.  As if to underscore what Steck had accomplished, two of France’s best alpinists started up essentially the same route on Annapurna a little more than a week later, and they took 10 days to complete t he second ascent, narrowly escaping with their lives—one of them suffered severe frostbite. One later said the headwall Steck soloed had pitches as hard as M6. The ascent, he said, was “revolutionary.” 

himalayan giant Four French climbers completed the much-eyed south face of 23,406foot Gaurishankar in Nepal, but without reaching the summit.

rusty piton For 16 days in early October, a partial government shutdown locked climbers out of national parks and other federal lands. Americans and visiting climbers alike wondered, “WTF?”

lemons to lemonade

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The massive 8,000-foot south face of Annapurna. The blue circle pinpoints the hard-charging Steck.

Massive flooding in Colorado in mid-September killed eight people and uprooted thousands. With many crags closed, a few Boulder climbers launched a community-based relief effort that earned national attention. As the roads and trails reopened, climbers discovered the high water had le a bonanza of early-season ice in the nearby mountains.

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THE YEAR IN CLIMBING 

GOLDEN  PITON AWARD

11 NOVEMBER 

the sharpest knife Aer 13 days of work, Daniel Woods climbed a sit start to the two-year-old Dave Graham problem called The Ice Knife  in Colorado, adding four moves of V12 to the V14/15 problem. A possible V16? Woods wouldn’t say so, but he did say this was harder than any of the nearly 20 V15s he’s done.

Community 

CLIMBERS AGAINST CANCER

a very full day  Adam Ondra completed the only three 9a (5.14d) routes in Germany’s Frankenjura that he hadn’t already climbed—and he did them in a single day.

m-trad Ryan Vachon dry-tooled Red Beard , an M12 route at Vail, Colorado, on removable trad gear, skipping the climb’s usual bolt protection.

56 |   FEBRUARY 2014

“  You can’t do anything about the length of your life, but you can do something about its width and depth.” —John Ellison, founder of Climbers Against Cancer (pictured above and center)  Englishman John Ellison was diagnosed with cancer in late 2011 and given only a few  years to live. Ellison had been judging climbing comps for about a decade, and at the world championships in Paris, nearly a year after his diagnosis, he had an epiphany: The climbing community was like a vast and yet very close family. He saw climbers and coaches from all over the world loudly cheering each other on. Surely, he thought, there must be a way to harness all that positive energy for a greater good.  Ellison, a gregarious, 50-year-old father of one, had already raised a bit of money  for cancer research at climbing events, and now he broached a much bigger idea with  friends Graeme Alderson, the longtime British coach and competition official, and  Shauna Coxsey, a leading British boulderer. Their enthusiasm spurred Ellison on. He and another friend designed the distinctive Climbers Against Cancer logos and color ful T-shirts, and they launched the CAC fund-raising website in January 2013.  Almost overnight, those CAC shirts seemed to be everywhere, from the crags of Catalunya to the competition walls of Slovenia. The shirt sales (£15 each, or about $24) and other donations brought in more than $240,000 in just 10 months. In November, CAC ( climbersagainstcancer.org ) began selling a 2014 wall calendar featuring Alex  Puccio, Anna Stöhr, Alex Johnson, and other top female climbers in 1950s-style pinup poses. In keeping with CAC’s international focus, the money is being doled out to cancer-research organizations worldwide—Australia, France, and Canada so far.  Ellison doesn’t know how much time he has left. But he has vowed to continue CAC’s mission of raising money and demystifying cancer as long as he can—and to foster a  powerful international movement that will long outlive him.

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 Lifetime Achievement

JEFF LOWE 

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GOLDEN  PITON AWARD

 If any American climber can be called a visionary, it is Jeff Lowe. A Utah native who lived in Colorado  for much of his climbing career, Lowe envisioned countless new routes in the Rocky Mountains, Zion  National Park, the Canadian Rockies, and the Greater Ranges. He invented or co-invented many types of gear and clothing, and his 1979 book, The Ice Experience , and later books, articles, and videos gave ice climbers whole new ways to think about the sport.  Lowe did the first ascent of Colorado’s Bridal Veil Falls (WI5+), with Mike Weiss, back in 1974—in the infancy of vertical water-ice climbing—and then soloed the 375-foot route just a few years later. His new routes in Nepal and Peru helped bring modern ice techniques to the highest mountains. When new equipment began to make pure ice seem routine, Lowe combined traditional mixed-climbing techniques with pre-placed  protection to open radical terrain for winter climbers.  His first ascent of Octopussy  (WI6 M7 R, 1994) in Vail, Colorado, opened eyes throughout the world. Though he often climbed alone, Lowe was also a keen and imaginative promoter of big events—he brought the first World Cup competitions to the U.S. and created the hugely popular Ouray Ice Festival. “Ice climbing is just one small part of Jeff ’s contribution to how we look at climbing today,” says Will Gadd. “I don’t think there’s another climber to ever play so many different games at such a high level. He’s a climbing generalist who managed to redefine climbing.”   Since 2000, Lowe, 63, has been suffering from a degenerative neurological condition with similarities to multiple sclerosis or ALS. The disease has confined him to a wheelchair and limited his ability to speak. As Lowe’s condition deteriorates, friends and family are working to complete a film about his life, Metanoia  , centered on his unrepeated solo route on the north face of the Eiger—a lasting tribute to an extraordinary climber.

THE YEAR IN CLIMBING 

12 DECEMBER 

Jeff Lowe leads the first ascent of Stewart Falls  (WI5) in Utah’s Wasatch Mountains in 1976.

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 Alex Honnold

Cedar Wright 

 Typical. I’ve got gobies on my butt cheeks. And every time I push the pedals on my bike Forget the (aka slow-moving torture device), it feels like someone is pounding me in the  physical challenge. Al- kneecap with a hammer. When I stand up to relieve the screaming ass pain, my ex’s biggest  body catches the 30 mph headwind like a sail. I’m actually moving backward on concern evmy bike. I blame Alex Honnold. ery day was how hard it Not for the last time on this hellish trip, I questioned  which stands alone, 600 miles away from the rest of was to pack! Cedar’s decision-making. He’d arranged all the cycling the 14,000-foot peaks in California that are clustered  Maybe he gear while I was overseas—everything from the bikes to in or near the Sierra Nevada. We were driven up by a could have the spandex. He ordered the cheapest (and I think prob70-year-old guy that Honnold called “Old Man John.” helped with ably the tiniest) panniers he could find on the Internet. was tough as nails; apparently he once ripped his the pannier  As we folded, crushed, and cajoled our pared-down be- John thumb off halfway up El Cap, but then found it at the selection if longings into these two miniscule saddlebags, I realized  base and had it sewn back on. From Shasta, we would he weren’t that minimalism would be key. But maybe this wouldn’t set foot in a car until we had finished on Langley, so busy scop-  be that big of a problem if we thought of it as alpine-style not southernmost of the 15 14ers. How audacious our ing skyscrap-  bike touring. Fast and light? Light is right? Let’s make the plan was revealed itself more and more with every ers for an Mark Twight proud. But then after we got moving, we passing mile. epic stunt. realized it was a true struggle to pack enough food and -CW  water for long days on the road, even with the zippers Our bike tour began at Mt. Shasta, in northern Calistraining to near failure. I sure wouldn’t argue with the ability to pack more comfortably.

 He wa s only two pitches up, and s omeone else found his thumb in the talus. But  still tough as nai ls! True  story. -AH 

60 |   FEBRUARY 2014

 When we came up with the idea of climbing all 15 of California’s 14,000-foot peaks using only bikes for transport, we cavalierly declared it would be “pretty mellow.” I decided I’d make a short film about the trip and began jokingly referring to our proposed mission as the Sufferfest. We figured a leisurely bike ride through California’s premier mountain range with light loads to solo moderate classics on iconic 14,000foot peaks would be a fun change of pace. It turns out the joke was on us, and the name was quite prescient, perhaps even modest. But at least Honnold was there to remind me how bad I sucked. Honnold fits into a unique place in my life. I consider him a good friend, but sometimes I just want to strangle the guy. He’s a bro, an inspiration, and a climbing hero. At times I find him socially inept, and at other times he seems wise beyond his years and can cut straight to the heart of a matter. He’s a motivating factor in my life, but sometimes he makes me feel like I should just give up. “Dude, I don’t know what your problem is,” Honnold once said to me after I whipped off a crack climbing project in Indian Creek for the umpteenth time. I wanted to punch the condescending look of bewilderment off his face. He was kind of  joking, but there was an element of sincere wonder at how I could flail so much. I’ve known Honnold since before he became arguably the most famous rock climber in the United States, if not the whole damn world, and I can say that the fame really hasn’t changed him much. He’s still the genuinely nice but sometimes brutally honest dude I met in El Cap Meadow 10 years ago, a guy I will always be psyched to share an adventure with.  We decided to start our Sufferfest at Mt. Shasta,

fornia. The hike and descent were straightforward enough, a little cold and windy, but otherwise uneventful. By mid-afternoon we were back in the trailhead parking lot, trying to figure out how to pack our bikes again for the upcoming few weeks of adventure. Piles of random camping and hiking gear were strewn around our friend’s truck, our bikes in the middle. Seriously, how could so much stuff possibly fit onto two bicycles?  At the summit of Shasta, we were suffering from nausea and headaches, and greeted by hurricaneforce winds and sub-freezing temperatures—not the All the technical climbing was easy to moderate, so the guys trained on doorways to keep their fingers strong.

 Unfa ir. I only  fe ll a couple more tim es than you.  Snow is quite  slippery. -AH 

Not the usual junk show: Cams, ropes, and climbing shoes are replaced with bikes, spare tires, and spandex.

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fun-in-the-sun summertime romp we had hoped for. “This is probably the worst of it,” I thought to myself. One quality that has allowed me to pull off some pretty cool climbs and adventures is my ability to grossly underestimate the difficulty of a challenge, and then my stubbornness to forge on regardless. On the descent from Shasta, I realized that while Honnold may be a master of rock, he is not a master of snow. In fact, he might be the world’s worst glissader. To my amusement, I watched this super-athlete-worldfamous-rock-god fall repeatedly on his ass in the snow like a great big gumby. It was nice to know that he was less than awesome at something. Now we had more than 600 miles from Shasta to the Sierra Nevada and the rest of California’s 14ers. PSSSSSSSSSTTT. This was what would become the familiar sound of my bike tire going flat. I would go to unclip my pedals, but they wouldn’t come out and I  would crater into the dirt. By day three, my quads felt like balloons full of lactic acid and misery. But still I constantly had to wait for Honnold to catch up, so I had a lot of time to think as I dodged big rigs on the freeway. Mostly I wondered what we were thinking. Honnold said it felt like someone is stab bing him in the kneecap over and over again; my knee pain was more of a dull, throbbing ache. We both  were having trouble sitting on our bikes. But at least  we were traveling super light. Unfortunately, that meant we had no cooking gear and subsisted on gas station and diner food. One day I strapped a large pizza to my bike rack. We hit the  wall that evening; with no good camping spot in site,  we dragged our bikes off the freeway a couple hundred feet and bivied in a cow pasture. Before bed, I shoveled cold pizza into my dry, chapped mouth and passed out with a cow pie for a pillow. In the morning, I woke up to second-degree burns

on the tops of my legs. We had two more days to get to the Sierra, but I was thinking about giving up. This just  wasn’t fun. Why hadn’t I trained harder on a bike? Would these quarter-size sores on each of my butt cheeks ever heal? Why had I told so many people about our plans?  We were trapped in an honest-to-God Sufferfest. It’s always been a pet peeve of mine to try to stuff a sleeping bag into too small a stuff sack. Each morning  we would play that struggle out on a grander scale, first trying to get the sleeping bag and pad put away, nestling them just right into our bags, and then slipping our shoes, jackets, climbing shoes, and other random items into the remaining cracks like puzzle pieces. Any remaining space was for Clif Bars and trinkets, like the solar panels for our phones. Which brings me to how  we navigated on this godforsaken trip.  We plotted our whole bike tour by smartphone, and  because service is limited in the mountains, it meant  we were often somewhat lost. Neither of us had done a ton of planning beforehand; we are both naturally more inclined to just go for it and have an adventure. That meant that we rarely had a firm grasp of where  we were going exactly. Even when we were on the right road or trail, there was often a fair amount of secondguessing, since we were never quite sure. For the most part, quite fortuitously, our easygoing strategy worked out. The glaring exception, however, was our climb of Middle Palisade.  We had climbed the normal Palisade Traverse the day before just to add some classic rock climbing, starting with Temple Crag, traversing the ridge across Mt. Gayley over to the Swiss Arête on Mt. Sill, and then finally tiptoeing the ridge all the way to Thunderbolt Peak. It was a big day in the mountains, and we didn’t get to our sleeping bags at the trailhead until around midnight. Waking up at 6 the next morning to hike a

 Ha! In reality, I arrived in towns at least an hour  before Cedar  every day, mostly because my butt hurt  so badly that  I ra ced to get off the  seat as soon  as possibl e. -AH   Stop it. -AH 

Trying to eat vegetarian on this trip  basically meant that I had a veggie scramble  every morn ing  and a veggi e  bu rger every night. The  food scene  wa s super grim. -AH 

While Alex was never really sure where we were going either, he was usually “100 percent sure”  that I was wrong. -CW 

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This was actually the most soulcrushing day for me. It was pretty funny to have Sean say, “I  told you we were going  the wrong way,” at  the summit of Norman Clyde—when he obviously had said no such thing— and then to hear Alex blame us for not having a map, when he had said to me, “How bad can it be? We  just hike up  the drainage and climb the biggest-looking peak.” I wanted to just push those  guys off the summit for a second. -CW 

The rare day I felt stron ger than Alex. On the hike back down from the summit, Alex said, “I hope our bikes  got stolen so that we can just end  this stupid  trip.” I had  to give him a  this-will-all-beworth-it-ifwe-can-finish pep talk. -CW 

62 |   FEBRUARY 2014

Honnold stands atop the 14,025-foot Mt. Tyndall, which is about six miles northeast of Mt. Whitney.

different drainage up to Middle Palisade felt daunting.  We were joined for the Middle Palisade excursion by our friend Sean Leary, who’d climbed the traverse 15  years ago. But he has a notoriously poor memory, and Cedar and I had never been up the different drainage that leads to Middle. Solution? The cute little graphic map at the trailhead, which didn’t show detail but at least gave us a sense of which direction to go once the trail ran out at the highest alpine lake. Right? Once we were past that final tiny blue lake and off the official trail, we just followed cairns and a faint climber’s trail up the face of the most prominent-looking mountain. The route description didn’t quite match up with  what we were climbing, but on easy alpine terrain it’s often easy to get off route, so we didn’t really stress it.  What we did stress was finally topping out and realizing that the summit of the next mountain along the ridge  was actually a hair higher than us. The summit register confirmed our worst fears: We’d climbed Norman Clyde Peak by accident. What we’d hoped would be a pretty mellow day was about to get a lot more involved. The traverse to Middle was decomposing choss. The several hundred yards of technical traversing took us more time than the entire ascent of Norman Clyde, because soloing loose 5.9 in your approach shoes is a fairly serious affair. It took hours of weaving around gendarmes and down-climbing towers of choss before making the summit of Middle. The standard route up Middle—  what we’d hoped to ascend—turned out to be a delightful third-class descent, and the glissade down the glacier was a fast and pleasant way to lose elevation.  We were back at the trailhead by late afternoon, exhausted, but just in time to avoid the thunderstorms,  which seemed to build most afternoons. Our day on

Middle sort of summed up our whole trip: not as easy as we’d hoped, but at least we managed.  After our epic double mission, with the off-route catastrophe in the Palisades where Honnold and Leary led us to the completely wrong summit, we were left with no choice but to take our first rest day in over a week. The Palisades had beaten us to a pulp. It was sinking in that each mission was an epic achievement in and of itself and, that enchaining them would most likely end in permanent damage to our bodies. Each day involved around 6,000 feet of elevation gain on a bike to the trailhead, and then an epic ankle- and knee-grinding hike, followed by a dicey free solo of a technical route. It really is amazing what your body can take once  you set your mind to do something. Despite waking every morning with legs so sore I could hardly get up, a week went by in a blur, and we were eight peaks down. We survived day by day. The weather forecast for the east side of the Sierra  was for inferno-like high temperatures of about 110°F indefinitely. While we’d roughed it in the dirt thus far, I wasn’t about to try to have a rest day in this kind of heat. That would just add insult to injury. From here on out we stayed in hotel rooms, unless we were up on the mountain, and tried to do as much low-elevation biking as we possibly could in the cool of night. Hotels and motels are amazing yet depressing places,  where we would partially recover for our next round of abuse. The ride down was less heinous, because dropping 10,000 feet on a bicycle is pretty fun no matter how tired  you feel. Though doing 40 mph into a 108°F headwind

 Alex Honnold

Cedar Wright 

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TERRAIN OF PAI N  The where and what behind the Sufferfest   AGONY: BY THE NUMBERS

0  Amount of Chamois Butt’r or Bag Balm packed

4 Number of butt gobies (team total)

9 Pay-Per-View hotel movies  watched

15 Fourteeners summited

20 Cheeseburgers consumed (Cedar only)

30 Lowest temperature (summit of Mt. Shasta)

58 Fastest speed (mph), reached on downhill from Palisades

100+ Total miles hiked

105 Longest single day in the saddle in miles

108 Highest temperature

750+ Total miles biked

100,000+ Total vertical feet climbed

Honnold’s sister Stasia joined them near the end to summit Mt. Whitney and Mt. Langley, which gave the pair a huge and much-needed morale boost to finish the trip strong.

as we dropped into the Owens Valley felt like sitting under a bathroom hand dryer. Just another normal day in the mountains.  After White Mountain, our hotel beds felt like heavenly clouds of love, but it was hard to deny that the hiking,  biking, and climbing combination was wreaking havoc on my Achilles. What had been a mild ache earlier in the week was now causing me to limp. I spent most of our rest day with my foot in a trash can filled with ice. It felt nothing short of bleak, and I knew if my foot didn’t get better, I’d be done. The thought of coming this far only to fail sparked an agonizing fear. My sister Stasia lives in Portland, Oregon, practically the cycling capital of America, and has never owned a car. She not only bikes more than 100 miles a week as a commuter, but she does big bike tours on weekends and vacations just for fun. She is, in a word, a biker.  And by happy coincidence, she planned on vacationing in California the same time we were wrapping up our bike tour, so she joined us for the last few peaks. It was perfect timing, too, because our morale was on a steady decline. The combined aches and pains in all our joints and the general fatigue conspired to make the scenery a little less beautiful and the climbing a lot less fun. Stasia biked in circles around us, snapping pictures and marveling at the amazing mountains of the eastern Sierra. She biked up to Mt. Whitney with us, and then hiked the third-class Mountaineers Route while we soloed more technical terrain [for me, the Harding Route on Keeler Needle and the  Mithril Dihedral   on Mt. Russell]. We met  back up with her at the trailhead at the end of the day and all biked back down into town together. Enthusiastic by nature, she was stoked to have gone up into the mountains. What for Cedar and me was another grueling day at the office was a beautiful adventure for her. Her outside perspective, overall energy, and good nature made the whole undertaking a lot more enjoyable.  After two and a half weeks of constant biking and hiking, Cedar and I were beginning to lose some of the motivation that had prompted the whole adventure to begin with. But when Stasia joined us, we were able to physically draft off her bicycle to save energy,  but, more importantly, to draft off her motivation for  being in a beautiful new place. While we were ready to just put our heads down and grind out the last few peaks just for the sake of finishing our mission, she forced us to look up and enjoy the view.     )     3     (

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Part of what got us psyched for t his Sufferfest was the concept that we would avoid standard routes up the majority of the peaks. Instead, we would solo technical routes. While Alex is famous for his solo climbing, I also have a background in the ropeless art that goes  back to my days as a dirtbag in Joshua Tree, where I onsight-soloed hundreds of routes. We both liked

 Alex Honnold

Cedar Wright 

the idea that our ability to climb ropeless would allow us to travel by bike with nothing more than climbing shoes and chalkbags. Each time we approached a mountain with a committing section of soloing, I got all serious and even a little nervous. Moments on the old-school 5.9+ route  Mithril Dihedral   and the 2,000-foot 5.10a Sun Ribbon  Arête  on Temple Crag were, for me, fully adventurous life experiences, including moments of exhilaration, joy, and freedom. The anticipation is actually the hardest part of soloing, and at no point was there more anticipation and nerves than on the last day as we walked up to the north face of Langley to climb  Rest and Be Thankful  (5.10). All we had was a nebulous description of the route that we found online, along with the alarming reality that we would be making the third or fourth ascent of the route. Part of me wanted to just do the normal route on Langley, but that felt like a big copout right at the grand finale of our mission. Climbing a route onsight free solo is, in my opinion, the ultimate form of commitment to climbing, and as we headed up the vertical face of Langley, we  weren’t even sure if we were on route or not. At times, I improvised beta to reach past loose flakes and blocks or avoid suspect footholds. Halfway up the route, we  were still not positive that we were on the right track. Unnerving. At one point I was bear-hugging around a teetering, loose block. I’ve always had a morbid streak, and for a second I pictured what it would be like to fall hundreds of feet to the base far below.  As we neared the summit and the difficulties slightly subsided, a pure joy washed over me, and I felt  buoyant and moved toward the top like a diver swimming for the surface. On the summit tears welled up in my eyes.  We did the math and estimated that if  you were to combine all of the vertical mileage we had covered, we could have climbed into outer space. We  were—as far as I know—the first people ever to climb all of California’s 14ers by bike, and I was genuinely proud. “Dude, how rad would it be to do this again next year?” I said. All of the pain and suffering disappeared, and left in its place was this moment of pure elation. And I still blame Alex Honnold. I didn’t touch my bike for weeks after the Sufferfest. But despite all the suffering and Cedar’s questionable  judgment (or perhaps because of it), we are indeed planning another bike tour this spring. It should be a  bit lighter on the biking and heavier on the climbing,  but another big adventure either way. Looking back at it now, it all seems so very worthwhile. Our memories are always a bit unreliable about these kinds of things. Cedar’s 18-minute film titled Sufferfest was selected to tour the world with the Banff Mountain Film Festival. Check banffcentre.ca  for showing locations and dates. Or head to climbing.com/videos  to view the film in  five smaller episodes.

It was funny  to meet the unfamous but equally badass female hippy Honnold who doesn’t own a car and is a vegetarian philanthropist. We were also joined by filmmaking student Samuel Crossley, who helped me document  the tour. The  two of them  together were a shining light. -CW 

 Seeing it described so  beautifully  almost makes me feel ba d  for calling yo u  a pansy the  wh ole time. -AH 

 Some pretty generous rounding, there, Cedar. -AH 

Yeah, it wasn’t that bad at all! -CW

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VIPERS LOOK A LOT LIKE STICKS. That’s a thought you never want to cross your mind

when climbing. But 20 feet off the ground, with a broken puzzle of loose rock below me and a deadly Armenian viper slithering out of a perfect finger jam above me, it was the first thing that popped into my head. A moving stick , I thought. Cool. And then reality hit in the form of beady snake eyes and a flicking tongue: Don’t get bit, and don’t fall on the sketchy gear in the poor rock . Then came the mental clincher: Don’t get any more injured than you already are, idiot . Six months before landing in Armenia, I’d reefed a ligament in my index finger. My doctor eventually mandated 21 days in a brace. On day 22, I stepped onto the tarmac in Yerevan. I hadn’t climbed at all in six weeks, or very hard or even that well in five months. Putting up a first ascent seemed like a perfectly logical plan, until I was actually climbing. Our first day out, my good friend and climbing partner Kate Rutherford elegantly danced the rope up a 5.10 corner. She made it look good and easy—her specialty. I got a third of the way up and made it look hard and awkward, or like I was trying to climb without using my le hand—because I was. I began to wonder if climbing in Armenia was really a good idea. Or climbing at all. Armenian vipers kill several local farmers every year. But I was less scared of the viper than I was of my own injured body and my inability to trust it completely in situations where I needed to. I’ve been climbing full-time for 17 years—if you don’t subtract the time I’ve lost to my dozen injuries and recoveries. I’ve recently coined a term for that time during recovery when you’re still vulnerable: Twinkie climbing. In your peak physical condition, think of your body as a watertight vessel—you can contract every muscle and move as a unit up rock or ice. When you’re injured, the vessel’s integrity is compromised, and you are missing some fundamental contraction and cohesiveness in your body from either the actual injury or the mental fear and anxiety around that injury. Put another way, when you’re injured, you’re a Twinkie, and all you have to protect your core is so, yellow cake. Life would be great if we bounced back quickly to 100 percent aer recovery. But the reality is that once you get back on the vertical horse, you are still in recovery. Comeback climbing takes patience and acceptance of your vulnerability. It takes stepping back to the grades you began at and working your way back up. Early on in my climbing career, I used to fight it. I’d be determined to get back to whatever was my hardest grade, and I’d end up a scared and leaking Twinkie. These days, I try to embrace the comeback and revisit moderate climbs. Turns out it’s wicked fun to not be scared when you’re climbing. It also lets you climb harder sooner. I’m not saying I always get it right. Sometimes it takes a poisonous snake to remind me I’m trying to come back the wrong way. Here’s a cheat sheet I’ve assembled from my eternal comeback career to help you on your next round.* *Some guiding thoughts:  (1) This advice is meant to supplement that of your medical professional. But you already knew that. (2) Comeback climbing is best done on toprope. (3) For best results, do some cross-training with your comeback climb-  ing: swimming, running, biking, walking, etc. (4) And remember this as an unbreakable rule: You are “comeback” climbing, not “re-injuring yourself” climbing. Climb. Rest. Recover. Got it? 68 |   FEBRUARY 2014

WHIPLASH

SHOULDER INJURY OR SURGERY

CULPRIT: Cars, other drivers, and elk.

Awkward bouldering falls when your body rockets down can also cause it. HIGH-MAINTENANCE ADJUSTMENT: Traveling on long plane rides

with my own pillow to three dozen countries ever since . COMEBACK STRATEGY: Think back to when

you started climbing—whether that was 25 years or 2.5 months ago. Think of the first climb you ever did when you realized you could actually do it—that you were a climber. Go do that route (or as similar a route as you can find). And then do it again. Find another climb at the same grade. And another. Look for routes that create a smile on your face because they are about the pure joy of movement. These will be your “anchor climbs.” Think two to three grades below your fighting grade (5.10a climber? Hop on 5.7 and 5.8). Subtract more the harder you climb. You’re looking for cruiser terrain where you don’t have to look up because you know your next hold will always magically appear when you need it. This will be easier on your neck and keep you moving and flowing and having fun. Start out climbing once every three to four days and only increase if nothing hurts more. Once you can do your anchor climbs five days a week, you can step it up to harder routes. WHAT TO AVOID: Steep climbing is not your

friend when recovering from a neck injury because you want to avoid incessantly looking up. Pick slabs instead. Skip the runout leads and anything with potential for jostling falls. EXCUSE TO MILK: Climb in groups of three

and trade out the high-intensity leader belays for double toprope belays for your friends’ extra burns. You’ll keep yourself from looking up too much and earn high marks for your generosity.

BROKEN FOOT

CULPRIT:  Overuse.

Asking out the surgeon—twice—who operated on me when coming out of anesthesia. BEST & WORST MOMENTS:

COMEBACK STRATEGY: Rediscover the truism

CULPRIT: A

microwave-size rock hit and rolled over my le foot in Red Rock, Nevada. UNFORESEEN LINGERING ISSUE:

I had to drop out of hip-hop dance classes. I still cannot hip-hop dance.

“climbing is all about your feet.” Enjoy moderate slabs and stemming corners, and look for climbs that have twice as many holds as you need (i.e., think of the climb you’d take your 60-year-old uncle who’s never climbed on—pick that one). Spend more time looking at your feet than your arms, scanning for holds and concentrating on strong foot placements. You’ll come out seeing more micro foot edges and smears that will help you become a better climber down the road.

COMEBACK STRATEGY: Dave Knop, a PT,

OMT, CSCS who owns Livevital Physical Therapy and Performance in Portland, Maine, offers th is advice: “Use this valuable time to shore up the leaks and strengthen any areas of weakness. Working on your core and back will pay dividends and can be done with little to no impact on your lower body.”* Many classic gym exercises such as lat pull-downs, bicep curls, pushu ps, shoulder presses, and more can be done kneeling, emphasizing your core more than if you just sit, and helping you refrain from accidentally pushing on your foot. Added bonus: You’ll end up a better climber in the long run with a stronger center (and have callused knees to talk about at parties). Other strategies include investing in comfortable and stiff climbing shoes to help your foot lever on edges. Baby your injured foot, enjoy juggy sport climbing, and u se big foot holds to get your foot strong before relying on its edging power. Try out ice climbing if you haven’t already—the stiff boots and minimal foot articulation may allow you to get outside and climb sooner.

WHAT TO AVOID: Aer one painful and failed at-

tempt to grab a hold at maximum reach, I started picturing myself as having T-rex arms that could not fully extend. Have a T-rex circle of power (about half your normal reach) where every hold has to exist in order to use it. As your shoulder heals, your circle of power and h olds will expand until you’re working at full reach. EXCUSE TO MILK: Awkward side-reachy things

will be hard for a while—for seven years and counting if you’re like me. If you have a previous shoulder injury, you have an escape hatch for life about not being able to do a one-arm sideways dyno.

WHAT TO AVOID: One-legged climbing. Some

climbers get away with continuing to climb, boot/cast/brace and all, but I suffered a shoulder injury a year later that I blame on overusing on my arms to save my leg. Also, avoid bouldering and runout routes. This is not the time to fall. EXCUSE TO MILK: Give your partners the foot-

crushing flared crack leads and follow in your approach shoes—you’ll whine less, and they’ll feel like a hero. *This plan works for any lower-extremity injury.

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PESKY KNEE

FINGER LIGAMENT

CULPRIT: No idea. ADDED BENEFIT: Got to see the

shoulder doctor again. Almost went for the asking-out hat trick, but finally found self restraint. COMEBACK STRATEGY: If you’re cleared for

cycling but not big hikes, expand your list of potential climbs by adding a ride to and from the roadside crag. You’ll get a better all-around workout and burn off your post-injury angst in a safe way on the ride instead of trying to bear down on the wrong foothold on-route. Knop adds, “Cycling or taking a spin class can be an effective method of circulating the synovial fluid for continued joint nutrition. During times of weight-bearing restriction, cycling serves as a relative deload with an added conditioning benefit.” WHAT TO AVOID: Offwidths,

kneebars, massive stems, and anything that creates serious strain and twist on your knee will be out for a while. Pick similar climbs as suggested for the broken foot on the previous page—i.e., big foot holds, easier grades, and climbs where you can move fluidly.

CULPRIT: “Underuse” post-ice

BACK SURGERY

ODD BENEFIT: Belaying also made

it hurt, so ability to claim princess status in teams of three. CULPRIT: One fall off a ladder, one de-

cade of carrying heavy packs, and two parents’ worth of bad back genetics. EXTRA PUNCH: Ten percent of

microdiscectomy surgeries fail. Always a striver, I made that 10 percent and got a second one (not) free. COMEBACK STRATEGY: Back surgery is big. I

EXCUSE TO MILK: I’m a trad climber tried and

true, and I used my knee injury in an attempt to be a better sport climber and work on my climbing weaknesses. I made two things clear to everyone I climbed with: I was hurt, and sport climbing had never been my thing. With expectations (mainly mine) lowered, I could keep climbing and enjoy new terrain and a different climbing style.

climbing season followed by “pulling too hard” during spring rock climbing on a two-finger pocket at Cathedral Ledge, New Hampshire.

had to go back to the very beginning to return to climbing. Think moderates with zero approach, zero danger, and zero strain. This is a great time to go back to those anchor climbs or find new ones if you’ve moved. Dial back your gymnastic climbing and climb more one-dimensionally—as in, climb more ladder-style routes with minimal pivots and twists. My back rehab with my PT was all about my core, and this was key to climbing. Employ the T-rex idea from shoulder comebacks, and extend the thought to your legs as well as arms. You want to be a safe, predictable, and tight unit, slowly expanding into the 360-degree realm, 20 degrees at a time. WHAT TO AVOID: The sharp end can feel excep-

tionally sharp post-back surgery. It did for me. The biggest thing I had to avoid, accordingly, was my ego when I handed over the rack to my partners. That happens—or should—with any comeback, but with back surgeries, it had to happen for longer. Make sure your partners are extra careful about keeping you tight above ledges and off the ground so you don’t bounce on toprope. EXCUSE TO MILK: Develop your bartering skills

and offer to buy the beer, bake the cake, or man the grill in exchange for carrying a lighter pack to the crag. If your climbing partner is still unwilling to shoulder more of the load, launch into a diatribe about the meds you were on and how they affected your digestion. Chances are he’ll grab the extra gear and take off for the crag at a trot.

COMEBACK STRATEGY: Avoid vipers. Redis-

cover and find big, moderate routes with long approaches so that each climb takes longer to do and you rest your hands by spending 80 percent of the “climb” hiking. Enjoy the additional cardio fitness this gives you and start exploring some of the gems in the mountains you’ve never done. I was able to ice climb all winter on a hurt finger because the grip on ice tools didn’t pull at my ligament. I kept current in the (frozen) vertical and was able to focus on hard ice and mixed climbing objectives instead of being tempted to pull on my finger just to “check and see” how it was doing. WHAT TO AVOID: Finger cracks (shocker) and

tweaker holds. EXCUSE TO MILK: Climbing never felt finger-

dependent until I hurt my finger. Express wonder at how such a little thing can hurt so much, and climbers around you will fear for their own fingers and give you a break—aka, look the other way when you reverse your hand position and barn door each time you try to ascend.

AT MY MOST OPTIMISTIC, I’D TELL YOU MY FINGER INJURY IS MY LAST.  But I

know that might not be true. And if there’s one thing I’ve learned through all of this, it’s that I can get through, over, and beyond any injury—and that that process will make me a better human by making me see the world beyond my injury, and beyond climbing. The added bonus is that better humans make better climbers, no matter what. Have you had an injury that I haven’t sustained in my illustrious career? Most likely one of the above strategies in that given zone will work for yours, too. Above all, remember this: Injury is never easy. I remind myself of that each time I get one. But I’ve also come to cherish the process of the comeback. There is something about returning to climbing at its simplest and easiest to remind you of who you are and why you climb in the first place. Majka Burhardt estimates that it would take 3.75 hours per day and every color of Thera-  Band to do all of the PT exercises she should be doing to keep her old injuries at bay. She’d rather go climbing. Read more of her work at majkaburhardt.com. The author enjoying time between comebacks on Angel Cakes (WI5), Frankenstein Cliff, New Hampshire

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C L I N I C S 

75

RIPPED FROM THE HEADLINES 

TRAINING 

GUIDE’S TIP 

BEGIN HERE 

RIPPED FROM THE HEADLINES 

UELI STECK’S ANNAPURNA KIT By Dougald MacDonald

 worse—if someth ing goes  wrong. In addition to his basic clothing and warm boots with integrated gaiters, here’s what Steck opted to carry for his historic climb.

40-LITER PACK

PACK LIKE A SPEEDRECORD HOLDER TO MOVE FASTER  How much gear do you need for a new route on an 8,000-foot Himalayan face? Traditional, expedition-style ascents required so much in the past that an army of porters and yaks had to haul it all to base camp. But times have changed.

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In early October 2013, the bold and talented Swiss alpinist Ueli Steck carried less than 18 pounds on his back for a new route up the super-steep south face of 26,545-foot Annapurna in Nepal. (Steck had previously established Camp 1 on  Annapurna, but this gear was all he used above 20,000 feet.)  With no part ner and minimal equipment, Steck relied on great skill and fitness to get up and down Annapurna in just 28 hours. (See p. 54 for more on this ascent.) “There is not a lot of reserve when you climb like this,” Steck says. “I was up there  with nothing. This allows y ou to move fast, but if you can’t move anymore, then it gets very serious very quickly.” Though few will ever plan such bold climbs, all alpinists engage in similar decision making while packing for a route, and some of Steck’s thinking applies to every ascent. Too much weight, and you move too slowly. Too little, and you could be stranded—or

850-FILL DOWN JACKET WITH HOOD; SYNTHETICFILL JACKET WITH HOOD  Steck cho se this co mbinatio n to layer for the extreme variation in temperature between day and night, and for 8,000 feet of elevation change. “During the day, usually a thin layer is enough, so I just wear the synthetic insulated jacket. Later, at night, the down jacket would not be enough, but together with the synthetic one, it was perfect.”  DOWN MITTENS AND GLOVES While examining a photo of the face on his camera, Steck dropped the camera and one of his mittens. He had to continue through the night wearing his liner gloves, alternating the warmer mitten on each hand.

climber Vitaly Abalakov, who invented the technique of drilling two intersecting holes in solid ice and threading a sling through them for a rappel anchor. Vthreads allow climbers to make many rappels with minimal anchor equipment. See how to do it at climbing.com/skill/lowcost-rappels-on-ice .

KNIFE CARABINERS AND SLINGS CRAMPONS ICE TOOLS

medical kit: ibuprofen for pain and inflammation; dexamethasone for altitude sickness;  Adalat (ni fedipine ) for altit ude sickness; Tramal (tramadol)  for pain rel ief; Imod ium for diarrhea.

SUNSCREEN ENERGY FOOD The Swiss climber brought about 3.5 ounces of cheese but left it at Camp 1. Instead, he relied on six  PowerBars and tw o packets each of PowerGel, Performance Energy Blend, and Peronin Cacao energy-drink mix, for a total of about 3,200 calories.

TENT  Steck ca rried a sup er-light (2 lbs., 8 oz.) single-wall tent up the route but left his sleeping bag at Camp 1. Why? He didn’t plan to stop long enough to need the sleeping bag, but “the tent is very important. It protects you from the wind [while you melt snow] to brew some drinks,” he says.

Pre-climb ritual:  According to photographer Dan Patitucci, Steck likes to eat a Hostess cupcake before starting up an 8,000-meter peak.

STOVE AND INTEGRATED POT 1 GAS CARTRIDGE

HELMET WATER BOTTLE ULTRALIGHT HARNESS 60-METER ROPE (6 MM) This super-thin rope—essentially a tag line or accessory cord—was only carried for the descent. “My decision was to climb the  face witho ut a rope. If it go t so technical that I could not climb without a rope, I would have to turn back,” he says. Even on the way down, the rope was used sparingly. “With [only] 60 meters of 6mm rope and five  pitons, you don’t rappel a 2,500-meter face!”

SUNGLASSES AND GOGGLES Why both sunglasses and  goggles? Because, S teck says , “If  you don’t have a ny protect ion  for your eyes , you get snow blin d very fast, which means you are dead. So you have extra glasses.  Plus, gog gles prot ect your fa ce  from the wi nd, but a re not comfortable during the day when it’s hot.”  HEADLAMP SPARE BATTERIES

2 ICE SCREWS SATELLITE PHONE 5 PITONS CAMERA ABALAKOV HOOK The Abalakov hook, or Vthreader, was named for Russian

FIRST AID KIT  Steck ca rried a sma ll but vari ed

UELI STECK  With multiple big-mountain speed records, Steck, 37, is recognized as one of the world’s best fast-and-light alpinists  for so lo an d tea m asc ents , fro m the Alps to the Himalaya. Steck keeps his gear and his partners minimal, as not many people can keep up with his high level of fitness and stamina. Read more about his accomplishments at climbing.com.

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TRAINING 

CLINICS 

OLYMPIC ICE By Leia Larsen

TRAIN INDOORS FOR ICE AND MIXED CLIMBING

 When it comes to training, rock climbers have it easy. Look online for countless articles on different ways to get stronger, and then work hard in the gym (and there seems to be a new one popping up on every corner) to get  better on the rock. (See our favorite workouts at climbing.com/skill/training .) But ice and mixed climbers don’t get the same benefit from pulling on plastic, and training resources are harder to find. With an upcoming mixed-climbing showcase in the 2014 Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia, we reached out to participant Aaron Montgomery and his trainers at the Alpine Training Center in Boulder, Colorado, to figure out their plan of attack. The following program will get you plenty of mileage on your gear, build unique fitness, and increase trust in your tools. Most of these exercises can be done at the rock gym (ask if there is an area approved for ice tools), on homemade woodies, or even using a secured ladder.

THE SCHEDULE  You’ll wo rk in two blocks of four to six weeks each. Both sections include two to three tool-specific sessions (plus a few days of cardio) a week, and the second includes less focused, endurance-building climbing  with too ls. Bloc k 1 shoul d be considered pre-season training that focuses on building a core foundation and grip endurance. Montgomery says the first block is especially important for de-

 veloping body cont rol and b eing able to hold on for bigger and  better mov ements. T he second  block sha rpens y our skill set  with cli mbing-spec ific train ing,  which is a big piec e of the ice puzzle for those who are already rock climbers. Montgomery says it’s all about technique—  with your feet and w ith tool management. Improve these, and you’ll improve as an ice and mixed climber.

 AARON MONTGO MERY 

 As on e of t hree U. S. at hlete s cho sen t o dem onstr ate m ixed clim bing at the 2014 Sochi Olympic Games, Montgomery stood out because of his accomplishments (e.g., participation in two World Cups and sending the massive Usine Cave in France) and his proven dedication as an ambassador for the sport.

BLOCK 1 Do the following exercises two to three times per week, along with three or four days of aerobic activity (hiking, running, rowing, etc.). One cardio session should be high intensity (challenging enough to where you can’t maintain it for prolonged periods) or intervals; one moderate (working hard but can maintain for 40 to 45 minutes); and one long and slow (lasting 60 to 90 minutes or more)—preferably  with a pack. The optional fourth day of ca rdio should be moderate to high intensity. A sample week might look like this:

 Sunday  Block 1 exercises; two-hour hike with pack (long and slow cardio)

Monday

Tuesday

35 minutes of  hill sprints (intervals/highintensity cardio)

 Rest day

Wednesday Block 1 exercises

Dead Hangs

Weighted Sit-Ups

Hook tools high on a secure surface, like a hangboard or pullup bar. Hold each tool and hang  with shoulders engaged (think of squeezing shoulder blades together) and arms slightly bent at the elbow. Hang for 10 seconds and then rest 10 seconds; do 10 rounds for one set. Do three sets total with a few minutes of rest  between each. Add five to 10 seconds to each hang every week.

Start by lying on your back with knees bent and feet flat on the floor in a standard sit-up position. Hold a weighted plate above your head with both arms straight. Pick a weight that feels challenging  but doable. Engage abs and sit up, keeping the weight directly above, moving your head to between  your arms. Roll back down slowly until your spine is flat on the floor. Complete 30 reps.

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Thursday

Friday

One-hour bike  Block 1 exerride, keeping heart cises; one-hour jog rate at 65% max (moderate cardio) (moderate cardio)

Overhead Weighted Lunges Stand with feet shoulder-width apart and slightly bent, holding a weighted plate above your head—again picking a weight that is challenging but doable. Step forward into a low lunge. Make sure your lunging knee doesn’t extend beyond your toes,  your arms don’t bend, and your chest is open and level. Complete 15 reps on each leg for

Saturday   Rest day

four to five sets, resting a few minutes between each set.

Tool Pull-Ups Start with a max pull-up test: Do as many pull-ups as you can on tools without stopping—this is your max. For week one, do 80 percent of your max for four rounds, resting one to two minutes between each round. Each  week, add one more pull-up to the set.

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 MIXED IN THE OLYMPICS  Mixed climbing will debut in the 2014 Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia, but athletes like Montgomery won’t be competing for medals. Organizers are calling it a “cultural event,” an opportunity for athletes to wow crowds with their skills. The main goal is to present the  possibility for people to discover and practice ice and mixed climbing with the support of top climbers. There will be 80 athletes, with six from North America. For more information, check out theuiaa.org.

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BLOCK 2 Once you’ve built your core strength, grip, and endurance, it’s time to incorporate more tool-specific exercises to improve power and performance on the ice. Add the following movements to the previous block’s exercises, so you’re doing all of them two to three days per week. Decrease aerobic days to one high-intensity session and one long and slow session with a pack. Lastly, add one to two days of climbing with tools, a few hours at a time, to build endurance, either outside or at a gym that allows dry-tooling. A sample week:

 Sunday Three-hour hike with heavy pack (long and slow cardio)

Monday

Tuesday

 Block 1 and Block 2 exercises

Tool Lunges Start low on a vertical wall in a neutral position, hooking your left tool on a hold. Hang from it in a rest position with left arm straight, legs bent, and right arm free. Pushing with your right leg and using the left arm to pull your body into the wall, lunge your right arm high and hook a hold for one second, and then return to rest. Complete five to 10 reps, and then switch arms and repeat. “This creates the explosiveness to move high,  but it also helps if you miss a hold. You can come back down and recover,” Montgomery says. £ Make it more challenging:  As the movement becomes easier, try lunging on overhangs.

 Rest day

Wednesday Two hours of climbing with tools in the gym

Or add a weighted kettlebell to the lunging arm by clipping it to the tool handle.

Leg Lifts Building on the grip strength and endurance from dead hangs, hang from tools (or suspended handles; see “Build Your Own Training Tools” below)  with arms slightly bent. While hanging, bend knees in a resting position. With knees still bent, raise legs, bringing knees to  your left elbow. Keep body static and core engaged—no swinging. Return to resting position, and then raise knees to the right el bow. Return to resting, and then raise to center, near your chest. Complete up to 10 rounds for

Thursday

Friday

 Block 1 and Block 2 exercises

45 minutes of hill sprints (intervals/highintensity cardio)

three sets, with a few minutes of rest between each set. £ Make it more challenging: Instead of knees to elbows, complete the same exercise but keep your legs straight and raise  your ankles above your head to the left, right, and center.

Tool Rows Hang from tools (or handles), keeping elbows and body straight, with feet up on a milk crate. Your body should be parallel to the floor and arms perpendicular to your body. Pull down and in with one arm while reaching up and across your  body with the other arm, using  your core to keep you balanced.  Alternate sides. Figure out your

Saturday   Four hours of climbing outside on mixed terrain

max (like with tool pull-ups), and do 80 percent of your max for four rounds. Add reps over the block of training.

Hanging Moves Suspend four tool handles from quickdraws so they can be clipped to bolts. Engage your core and raise your legs (knees  bent for easier, straight for more difficult), and then swing your  body to move from handle to handle. Start by moving for 15 seconds at a time, several times a session. Add five seconds of hang time per round as you  build endurance. £ Make it more challenging: Do a pull-up between each move from handle to handle.

BUILD YOUR OWN TRAINING TOOLS

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To prevent tearing up holds at the gym or dulling his picks, Montgomery makes suspended tool handles that can hang from d raws. He uses the Cassin XDream tools ($280 each, camp-usa.com), which have removable handles (easily detach by unscrewing one  bolt). Run a 3/16-inch stainless steel anchor (about $16 for six, available at most hardware stores), and use it to connect a carabiner and sling. A cheaper alternative to pricey ice-tool handles is to use a sanded  wooden handle (pictured at left) or a metal pipe. Drill a hole through the top for the same biner-sling setup, but make sure to wrap them with tape to keep  your digits splinter- and flapper-free.

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CLINICS 

GUIDE’S TIP 

SINGLE-HITCH BELAY ESCAPE By Eli Helmuth

LEARN THIS SIMPLE AND EFFICIENT WAY TO ESCAPE THE BELAY 

Keeping it straightforward is a good credo for rescue and almost anything climbing-related, and this particular skill is a good example of how to streamline the act of escaping a belay. It uses minimal steps, equipment, and hitches or knots, especially when compared to more complicated methods that require lesser-used hitches and additional know-how. This technique is designed for belaying a following climber from the top of a pitch, and although belaying directly off the anchor with an auto-blocking belay device is convenient, there are times when it is preferable to belay directly off the harness. Two times I recommend belaying off your harness: when the master point is so low that the device would be in contact with the ground or a ledge, and when the anchor is less than full strength (common in blocky alpine environments). However, a lead belayer on the ground or on a multi-pitch with an anchor suited for an upward pull can also use this technique.

 fig. 1 Make sure you’re attached to the anchor with the rope and a clove hitch.

Have cord or a sling easily accessible.

This rope will be weighted with the fallen climber.

Tie off the rope with three to four leg wraps, pulling a loop of slack up and through.

 fig. 2

Use the backside of your rope to attach to the biner on the prusik or Klemheist.

Keep leg wraps as a backup.

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Adjust clove hitch so rope is tight.

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Attach the Klemheist (pictured) or prusik to the rope, with a biner on the other end.

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 For more informa tion on re scue tec hniques an d scenari os, check out our gui de to sel f rescue at climbing.com/self-rescue . It includes three important methods that might be necessary in the field: ascending a rope, passing a knot, and escaping a belay.

FIGURE 1 Once you’ve successfully stopped the fall with the rope in the brake position and you’ve determined that a belay escape is necessary, wrap the rope around the upper leg near the crotch with three to four wraps. Now bring a loop of tail up and through the wraps to secure it. These quick and easy leg wraps  will allow you to operate handsfree in order to do the following steps. There are infinite scenarios where a belay escape is required: A seconding climber can be injured on toprope due to a pendulum, slack in the system, rope stretch, and falling rock, just to name a few.

FIGURE 2 If you (the belayer) are not already attached to the anchor  with the climbing rope, use a locking biner and a clove hitch to attach yourself directly to the anchor from your harness. Then you’ll want to connect the loaded rope directly to the anchor with a sling or closed loop of cord and a non-locking  biner. Use a prusik hitch if you have cord or make a Klemheist  with a shoulde r-length sling,  which is easy an d most effec tive at gripping an already-loaded climbing rope. Attach this hitch to the follower’s rope and clip the non-locker to the sling/ cord, and then use the rope on

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 fig. 3

the “backside” of your attachment knot to connect to the non-locker with a clove hitch.  Adjust the cl ove hitch so this connecting section is tight.

Lower the weight onto the sling slowly using the belay device.

FIGURE 3 Unwrap the rope from your leg and slowly load the sling/cord (feeding the rope through the  belay device) to check that the hitch is holding securely. While the sling/cord setup holds the  weight of the climber, attach the  brake side of the rope directly to the anchor with a locking carabiner (or two non-lockers opposed and reversed) and a clove hitch, and then remove the belay device from the rope.  Adjust the clove hitch so that this section of rope is tight, too.  You’ve successfully escaped the belay and secured the climber directly to the anchor. Now it’s time to make a plan for what to do next. Although each rescue scenario demands its own procedure, the best way to learn is to train directly with an AMGA guide. While there are some decent rescue books out there, most of them are not helpful for recreational climbers or modern enough in the techniques they teach. My website (climbinglife.com) provides some instructional videos, and I offer monthly self-rescue clinics all summer. Reach out to your local guiding services to find clinics near you.

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 fig. 3.1

Attach the rope to the anchor, and then remove the device and take out slack.

ASK A GUIDE  For bolted toprope anchors, can I just  girth-hitch my slings through the anchor chains or rings instead of us ing carabiners?  —Kevin

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It’s generally not a problem to girth-hitch slings through rounded chains or rings— as long as they do not have sharp edges due to constant lowering and rappelling. This will not make the system stronger or easier to clean after use, but it will eliminate a few carabiners, and it’s a reasonable solution when you have minimal gear to  build an anchor.

ELI HELMUTH  An internationally certified mountain guide since 1991 and an AMGA instructor/examiner since 1999, Eli Helmuth is based in Estes Park, Colorado, and leads expeditions to South  America, Alaska, and Asia with his company Climbing  Life Guides ( climbinglife.com ).  Helmuth also offers skiing seminars and backcountry adventures in his backyard: Rocky  Mountain National Park.

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C L I N I C S 

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RIPPED FROM THE HEADLINES 

TRAINING 

GUIDE’S TIP 

BEGIN HERE 

BEGIN HERE 

TRAVELING ON A ROPE TEAM By Shannon Davis

LEARN TO MOVE OVER SNOW AS A SINGLE UNIT FOR ADDED SAFETY 

Got a peak like Mt. Rainier on  your tick list? If you have Alaskan or Himalayan aspirations, you should. Rainier’s classic Disap pointment Cleaver  route is the perfect introduction to mountaineering: You’ll get a taste of glacier travel, extreme weather, and altitude, on a route that’s never steeper than 45 degrees and that most can easily pull off in a long weekend. To mitigate the risk of falling on steep, hard snow or ending up in a crevasse, it’s essential to travel on a rope team, so here are the basics. Practice in an area with no consequences— or take a day-long snow-travel course to get your team dialed  before you attempt a climb.

them at climbing.com/skill/  the-butterfly-knot ) tied in the rope between climbers to create greater friction to stop a crevasse fall—handy for small rope teams (two people). A caveat is that these also increase resistance to hauling and are impossible to pass through a hauling system. However, the rescuer can simply drop a new strand or loop from the leftover rope to start a separate haul system that doesn’t include the stopper knots.

SPACING Keep about 30 feet of rope (or roughly five to six wingspans)  between each climber (A). Increase spacing by five feet on small rope teams (to allow more time to arrest), or if pulling sleds or traveling across Alaska-size snow bridges. Decrease distance to around 25 feet if traveling on a team of four (which will have

more arresting power due to added weight). Start from the middle of the rope and measure out, tying figure eights on a  bight for team members to clip into using reversed and opposed carabiners (one locking, one non-locking). For a three-person team, tie a figure eight on a bight in the middle of the rope, and then measure 30 feet in either direction for the next two figure eights. Coil up the slack on either end for the first and last team member to store in his pack to deploy in case of crevasse rescue.

PRUSIKS Many rope teams pre-rig prusiks (or other friction knots) on the rope, so the victim of a crevasse fall can quickly attempt to selfrescue by ascending the rope. However, this setup has the disadvantage of limiting a team’s ability to transition to belayed

NUMBERS How many people should be on a rope team? If you’re a party of two or three, your answer is easy. But what about parties of four or six? Consider the practical challenges of the route. Smaller teams travel more efficiently through technical terrain and can quickly change into belay or short-rope mode on firm, steep snow. But a team of more than two has greater stopping power (weight) during a crevasse fall—a major concern on early-season climbs and when the snow is soft. On Rainier, for example, break  your party into groups of three or four for the best balance of speed and arresting power. Rainier has enough crevasse risk that it ’s nice to have the extra braking heft, but teams of this size can still quickly navigate obstacles like Cathedral Gap and the Cleaver.

STOPPER KNOTS These are knots (generally butterfly knots; learn to tie

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C

climbing, short-rope scenarios, and changing the distance  between climbers. Most guides recommend racking prusiks on the harness until needed because crevasse falls, while potentially catastrophic (and scary!), are actually quite rare.

TENSION  Ascending, traversing, and descending a snow-draped peak while tied to two or three other people can be a thing of beauty—or one of the most annoying means of foot travel  you’ve ever experienced. Here are some pointers to help ensure it’s the former. There are two main rules: 1. Don’t let slack build up in the rope ahead of you. 2.  When the rope behind you allows you to walk forward without tugging, go for it—unless doing so breaks tenet number one. The length of rope between climbers should drag along the snow but arc up to your harness so that  you are not tripping over it (B). (Think about a smiley face where a few feet in the middle of the rope lightly contacts the ground, and it goes up on both ends to connect to the climbers.) Excess slack in the system allows any fall, be it into a crevasse or down a snowy face, to generate speed, making it harder to arrest.

PICKETS

A

B

For running belays and crevasserescue anchors, pack a couple of 60cm pickets (C). On steep, hard snow where arresting a fall might be tricky (or impossible), drive a picket just uphill from the rope team about 10 degrees away from the potential direction of pull. Hammer it until it’s at least two-thirds buried, and then clip the rope behind you into the carabiner. When the next team member arrives, he’ll get stable, unclip the rope in front of him, and then reach back to clip in the rope behind him. The last member on the team will remove the picket and rack it, delivering it to the first team member at the next rest break.

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