Month: April 2011

The 2011 Piolets d’Or and Where We Go Next

/ Andrew Szalay / Leave a comment

You’ve probably heard about the winners of the 2011 Piolet d’Or by now. Two expeditions received the Golden Ice Axe: One team of climbers from various nations sailed around Greenland’s coast and climbed almost a dozen of its big walls and another team, a Japanese duo, ascended an unclimbed wall on Mount Logan (19,551 ft./5,959 m.) The award has been given annually since the early 1990s “to publicise the greatest ascents achieved in the mountains the world over, and given recognition to climbers of all nationalities for their individual or team ventures.”

The award is presented by the mountaineering organization Groupe de Haute Montagne (GHM), the publishing house of Montagnes Magazine and Vertical and the Regional Authority of the Aosta Valley. In analyzing their selection, they have emphasized style and approach above much else. Specifically, they highly valued the ability to climb cleanly, without bolts or pitons, and to traverse the massifs once atop.

Greenland Big Walls Sailing Expedition

The Greenland Sailing expedition is inspiring for the carefree nature these climbers took even along the way to excelling at climbing alpine style. Much has been published on this expedition, thanks largely to Patagonia’s production crews. Patagonia projects the carefree vagabond adventure that in the videos that it is well known for in its catalog. The journey borders on the whimsical, and combined with the credible climbing accomplished, is why this team won a Piolet d’Or this year.

First Ascent of Southeast Face of Mount Logan

The other group that also won the 2011 award has been less heralded. In May 2010, members of the so-called Giri-Giri boys, Yasushi Okada and Katsutaka “Jumbo” Yokoyama, from Japan sended a new line to the top of Mount Logan. Because this line was previously unclimbed on a major peak — the highest mountain in Canada and the second highest in North America — the route was referred to as one of the last (and possibly final) great problem.

These climbers did not get up this wall in one massive 48 hour push like Mark Twight or Barry Blanchard are known for on other ascents, mainly because the conditions and the challenge were so severe. The southeast face is a massive, steep slope of snow, ice and rock, 8,200 ft./2,500 m. high. They climbed alpine-style en route to the summit crest, reached the East Summit (19,357 ft./5,900 m.) and descended by the East Ridge.

This ascent was deserving a 2011 Piolet d’Or. The route had been attempted in the past couple of decades, including two attempts by Alaskan mountaineering specialist Jack Tackle, who is the 2009-11 Treasurer of the American Alpine Club and according to the American Alpine Journal has 28 Alaskan expeditions on his resume. This climb was significant for reasons of the size of the challenge, the clean climbing they employed and, probably, a little bit of sentimentality for new routes on the bigger mountains (which doesn’t diminish the accomplishment or its status.)

There are some decent photos from the ascent on this webpage.

What’s Next in Climbing?

From here, the feats of mountaineering only get more interesting, not less. The next round of great climbs will be all about refining the ascents and first in categories, such as the first ascent by a woman or by other nationalities of alpinists. It will also be about style and approach.

Well, thanks again for visiting. I’ll get back to posting at least twice per week just as soon as I get settled into my new position at my day job. In the mean time, I will try to complete the two posts suggested by some of you, my readers, soon as well.

Lastly, if you enjoyed this post, please consider following the Suburban Mountaineer on Facebook or Twitter.

Ueli Steck’s New Record in the Himalayas

/ Andrew Szalay / Leave a comment

You know Ueli Steck is a phenomenon when you get emails or Facebook posts about Ueli Steck from friends that know nothing about mountaineering. Youtube and vimeo are largely to blame because they have impressive films of Steck climbing in the Alps to some popular soundtracks. Frivolous popularity and hype aside, Steck deserves the homage.

Steck, the Swiss alpinist that turns 35 years old in October, climbed Shishapangma (26,289 ft./8,013 m.) on Palm Sunday, April 17, 2011 in an astounding ten-and-a-half hours. That is ten-and-a-half hours from advanced base camp to summit and back again on the world’s fourteenth highest mountain. According to PlanetMountain.com, Steck combined three routes to achieve this record, including the original southwest face route, Krzysztof Wielicki’s 1993 solo route and the 1995 Spanish route.

While the appreciation by non-climbers is a tribute to his inspiring courage and accomplishments, mountaineers and even non-technical hikers can appreciate his lifelong commitment to the mountains and his chosen approach to his craft. After all, climbing as Steck does is thanks to his experience and skill that he started accumulating when he was a teenager. He learned the fundamentals and elevated what he was comfortable with in the mountains — essentially raising the bar for what was considered comfortable and what required courage.

Steck also embraced alpine style climbing wholeheartedly, used the “fast and light” approach that I associate with Steve House, Barry Blanchard and Mark Twight, and transformed “fast” into “acceleration.” In this way, he takes just what he needs in his pack, doesn’t use fixed ropes or camps (often not using ropes or camps at all), has a minimalist mentality in terms of gear in order to travel quickly, and then he runs… kicks steps, swings the axe and repeats, probably forgetting the last move as soon as he starts the next one.

Steck’s style is admirable and has some pros and cons. For slow pokes like me, I would argue that Steck climbs his routes so quickly he barely notices that he is in a beautiful location; the experience is hardly a memorable one since he probably doesn’t forgets placing his crampons or axe as soon as he kicks or swings for the next hold. He doesn’t ever pause to enjoy the roses, if any grew up there.

However, Steck’s approach appears to be a balancing act of safety and risk, not unlike other more traditional climbing styles, but has it’s own rewards and dangers. He often climbs unroped, with minimal gear, and moves at a rapid pace through dangerous places. As Peter Bernstein says in Against the Gods: The Remarkable Story of Risk, the chances something will go wrong are related to how many opportunities for failure can occur during the given time. In other words, the less time Steck takes to climb, the less can go wrong.

Well, thanks again for visiting. If you enjoyed this post, please consider following the Suburban Mountaineer on Facebook or Twitter.

How to Hike and Climb More

/ Andrew Szalay / Leave a comment

With the weather starting to warm up, hockey playoffs and the regular baseball season underway, it means it’s almost time to get out more and hike and climb. For some people getting out more is easy, they just drop everything and go on a whim. But for you and me, with strong work and family commitments, it takes a little bit more contemplation and a plan. Here’s one that works:

  1. Mark it on your calendar. If you’re leaving early for work or coming in late mark it, make it well known and be unapologetic. Work is important, but hiking or climbing is probably also important for you to be happy and continue doing a good job.
  2. Enlist your buddy or significant other in your plans.
  3. Set money aside regularly from each pay check to cover trip expenses (gas, airfare, lodging if necessary, etc.) so this way when the time is right, you’re don’t have any financial excuses.
  4. Don’t discourage day hikes. Even a short trail is better than no trails at all.
  5. Join an outdoors group and commit to one of their trips, even if it’s just to the local state forest.
  6. If you travel for work, find hikes or crags at those destinations and go!
  7. Hike with family and friends and call it “quality time.”
  8. Invite a business contact for a hike and call it “networking” or “bonding.” It probably will be better than the round of golf you normally play with him or her.
  9. Be an trail opportunist! When there is free time, work, chores and family are tended to, just go!
  10. Follow the Suburban Mountaineer for inspiration… duh.

Well, thanks again for coming to the Suburban Mountaineer. If you enjoyed this post, please consider following it on Facebook or Twitter.

New Oversight on Climbers’ Fee Increases

/ Andrew Szalay / Leave a comment

As you know, the usage fee for climbing Rainier increased from US$30 to US$43 and the fee for attempting Mount McKinley / Denali is proposed to be raised from US$200 to US$500 for the purpose of funding the parks’ climbing safety and sanitation operations. The climbing community has been actively and professionally advocating that the US National Parks Service should consider alternative means of funding those costs without burdening climbers with excessive fees.

As a lobbyist and former Congressional aide, I have to hand it to the American Alpine Club (AAC), the American Mountain Guides Association (AMGA) the Access Fund for getting Senator Mark Udall (D-CO), the Chairman of the National Parks Subcommittee, to ask National Parks Director Jonathan Jarvis about his agency’s increase and proposed increase at a hearing on the administration’s budget held on March 30, 2011 (see the video by clicking here and going to 37:35). Chairman Udall even asked about charging international climbers a higher fee than American climbers, as is done frequently overseas.

Having such questions asked during a Congressional hearing demonstrates and provides several things: 1) The AAC, AMGA and Access Fund have raised sufficient interest and concern about the issue from a key Congressional leader; 2) Congress will be monitoring the National Parks Service’s actions on this issue and expects the final decision to be well reasoned; and 3) Keeps the door open to further and possibly renewed discussion with the National Park Service.

If you are a member of the AAC, as I am, or the AMGA and contribute to the Access Fund, you can be proud of their efforts. They’ve taken a strong step up to providing for an appropriate resolution to the usage fee increases.

Thanks for visiting again. If you enjoyed this post I would encourage you to follow the Suburban Mountaineer on Facebook or Twitter.

Dolly Sods: The Mid-Atlantic’s Tundra

/ Andrew Szalay / Leave a comment

Yesterday almost felt like summer around here. If my wife didn’t expect me to go to work every day, I might have called in and took a “golf” day. Only it wouldn’t be golf. But the experience made me think of possibilities and one geographically curious region.

While most of West Virginia’s Monongehela National Forest is tree covered, there is a region known as the Dolly Sods that are a left over from the ice age. It’s a region elevated away from most the region’s typical heat and humidity and has a landscape with more in common with northern Canada than Washington, DC, which is just 170 miles east.

The terrain is technically not exotic in the scope of earth, but its terrain combined with its unique qualities for the region make it interesting. It includes northern hardwoods and laurel thickets at the lower areas of the Dolly Sods Wilderness, while smaller red spruce and heath barrens are higher up, and stereotypical rocky-barren areas are throughout the preserve.

I visited several times around 2003 and 2004 and sometimes camped around the 80-foot cliffs that are typical in some portions. I can’t recall whether that was officially condoned or not, but it gave me a great position to watch the birds and contemplate a rock climb.

If you visit, keep in mind winter lasts a little longer there than the surrounding region and roads may remain closed, so access will be left to hoofing it. In addition, I should point out, that Dolly Sods is the more popular region, but the other tundra-like wilderness of the Monongahela is Flatrock and Roaring Plains just to the south of Dolly Sods Wilderness. In fact, the National Forest Service has said that its designation of Dolly Sods as Wilderness may actually detracted from it by attracting more visitors. That cannot be said about Flatrock and Roaring Plains, which is designated as Backcountry.

Both are great destinations for hikers — and some climbers — in the Mid-Atlantic region. Bring the Ten Essentials and some gaiters, and enjoy the great north closer to home.

Thanks again for visiting. If you enjoyed this post, please consider following the Suburban Mountaineer on Facebook or Twitter.

The Messner Saga on Nanga Parbat

/ Andrew Szalay / Leave a comment
26442482481_30b258ba64

Nanga Parbat. (All rights reserved)

Reading anything by Reinhold Messner translated from the original German can be arduous, at least for me. His poetic language, I’ve been told, works best in German so it sounds awkward in English. Of course, we read his books because of who he is not because of his mastery in prose. While his book like the Crystal Horizon are benchmarks in literature about the sport, his 2003 book The Naked Mountain, is part of the controversy that surrounds the legend of Reinhold Messner.

I read The Naked Mountain several years ago when it was released in the United States. It’s about his climb up Nanga Parbat (26,660 ft./8126 m.) in 1970 with his brother Gunther. In short — as I have had it explained to me by a couple of sources — they climbed the Rupal Face (shown above) despite expedition leader Karl Herrligkoffer intent for Reinhold to summit alone. Reinhold and Gunther topped out without a rope and bivied near the summit in bad weather. Exhausted and unable to get help, they decide to descend via the Diamir Face on the other side from which they came. They become separated and Reinhold lost track of his brother, and later he suspected Gunther was lost in an avalanche. Reinhold wanders back to base camp weak from the climb and an emotional wreck.

Reinhold was accused by the other members of the climbing team, including Herrligkoffer, of abandoning his brother just to traverse Nanga Parbat for the bragging rights. Messner responded with defamation lawsuits. Since then the controversy hasn’t gone away. Messner reopened the wound with publication of this book.

From afar, it’s odd that Messner was entangled in such controversy, though it probably had more to do with strong personalities and ego than the facts. He broke several myths about mountaineering, especially about high altitude climbing in the Himalaya. He climbed light and fast and without supplemental oxygen when many speculated that there might not be enough air up high to sustain a climber. His overall respect by the public and climbers not on the 1970 expedition cannot be denied; he was even elected to European parliament for the Italian Green Party a period.

According to the 2004 American Alpine Journal (see page 448), two other books also published in German were released to counter what was said in The Naked Mountain. However, the printing of English translations of Between Light and Shadows by Hans Saler and The Traverse by Max Von Kienlin were prevented by court order. Both argued that Reinhold was only seeking self-glory and sacrificed his own brother to have it. It probably did not help Von Kienlin that his wife Ursula left him and briefly married Reinhold Messner in the 1970s.

In 2005, Gunther’s body was discovered on the Diamir Face, disproving Von Kienlin’s and Saler’s argument that Reinhold abandoned his brother short of the summit to die just so he could go up one side and come down the other. The egos in Von Kienlin and Saler appear to still be there, saying that it could not be Messner’s brother. I for one believe Reinhold Messner and hope he and his brother find peace.

Well, thanks again for visiting. If you enjoyed this post, you can following the Suburban Mountaineer on Facebook or on Twitter.