Jul31
Ueli Steck is Crazy
I present my evidence. Speed Solo on the Grande Jorasses, by quite a difficult route.
Jeff Gardner
photography, technology & wordology
Archive for the ‘Climbing’ Category
Jun29
Aquarian Wall: Solo
One of the two brothers that I have done many many walls with is soloing the Aquarian Wall on El Cap right now. For those uninitiated, soloing does not mean that he is climbing without a rope (that would be free soloing), Peyton is climbing with a rope (and a whole load of stuff that he has to drag behind him the whole time).
Hopefully he has lots of water because Tom is reporting that it’s above 100ºF in The Valley right now. Good luck and be safe Peyton, we’ll be watching you. (Thanks to Tom Evans)
Jun25
That familiar twinge of sadness
I just found this video from Patagonia. The two main guys in the film are Johnny Copp and Micah Dash, the two climbers (along with photographer Wade Johnson) who died in an avalanche while on expedition in China. Rest in peace Johnny, Micah and Wade.
Jun7
Jonny Copp’s body recovered in China
Really sad news. One of the climbing community’s best.
Hopefully they’ll find Micah and Wade…
Oct20
Alpinist is gone.
Alpinist, the best climbing magazine ever produced, has gone under. A brief statement on the website points to the current economic crisis as a factor. I’ve read elsewhere that the relcutance to publish shit is what really drove them down. Let’s be honest, Rock and Ice and Climbing are still in business because they publish the same reports of some 14 year old flashing some choss pile somewhere that no one cares about. Ok, I’ll give, that may be a bit harsh, someone, somewhere, must like that crap.
Unfortunately, the main problem for Alpinist is that the advertisers that pay the bills at magazines love pointless reports and big-breasted girls climbing in jeans, sports bras and beanies. And who has ever seen someone climbing a legitimate route in the mountains wearing a sports bra and nothing else, that’s right, you haven’t. This was the real death sentence for Alpinist, no advertisers = no money.
What about subscribers you say? Let’s take a look at the explosion of climbing in recent years. Sport, Bouldering, and to a increasing degree trad. How many people jump right into suffering in the mountains. Not many. Not too many “climbers” these days would willingly go and subject themselves to the freezing temperatures, rockfall, avalanches or having your buddy spooning you on a ledge that is smaller than the back seat of my volvo. “Why in God’s name would I go do all of those at once?”, most would ask. No, there never really was a large base to pull subscribers from for Alpinist. Especially at $12 an issue.
As a subscriber of four years, I bid you farewell Alpinist. All of us subscribers and readers will miss you dearly.
Apr3
A shameless plug for a friend
This is partly out of the graciousness of my heart. (Cause I know loads of people read this…ha!) And partly as a way of trying to get Stan to write some more war stories. But everyone (of the one or two people that read this) should head over to Rhumblines and Runouts. It’s my wall climbing buddy Stanley’s blog. He has some great trip reports on some of the El Cap routes we’ve done together and even a few reports on the times that he’s done a wall with someone other than me. No seriously though, it is pretty cool stuff and there are loads of photos. Some even by yours truly.
So, head on over, post a few comments and let’s all try and shame him into write a few more stories.
Jan31
Steep and Cheap
If you haven’t heard about Steep and Cheap, get on it here. They sell outdoors and other sports equipment and clothes, but the kicker is that they sell one and only one item at a time. They sell this one item at a deep discount until it’s gone, then the website automatically updates with a new item.
They have plugin’s for firefox to keep you informed as to what’s on sale at that moment.
