Climbing

The Olympics and How Sport Climbing Won’t Change the World

/ Andrew Szalay / 6 Comments

Summer Olympics: noun, an international competition and public spectacle of nations in various sports that usually have little or no interest to serious alpinists.

Sport Climbing: noun, a sub par version of rock climbing that disregards the unwritten idea that climbing is not a spectator sport and is often the subject of scoffing and jokes from serious alpinists; See via ferrata.

The idea of adding climbing events to the Olympics comes up periodically, particularly during the games. I have one question — that lead way to several more: Would it benefit climbing?

To add climbing, it would have to be sport climbing, because that’s the only way to make it competitive; same “course,” same bolted wall or boulder problems. Plus, sport climbers are already accustomed to having impartial (and partial) judges. It’s also already suited to the international style of Olympic events.

This however, limits the interest and, by extension, the support from other climbers that don’t embrace sport climbing. It’s ultimately up to the International Olympic Committee and they run the big show like a business; I would guess that they’re wondering (perhaps doubting) whether the market audience is sufficient enough to make it worthwhile.

Getting the rest of us to be interested in sport climbing is a bit of a stretch. While we embrace similar skills and heritage, the two fundamental differences between sport climbing with other types of climbing — mainly trad and various styles of mountaineering — is our emphasis on the place of spectators and the form of competition.

Climbing for me, at least, has been historically a private affair. I’d go to the Adirondacks or Chugach and talk about it with other climbers or with people I considered intimate friends — people that would understand. Climbing isn’t typically something we evangelize.

And despite that sport climbing injects rules where freedom of stylistic expression is highly valued in other forms of climbing, it’s appeal is sometimes broader than we might give it credit for. Take this example: A couple of weeks ago, a friend and reader I correspond with said despite not being a sport climber, it sure was nice to go out and clip some bolts. I scoffed initially, but I knew what she meant. Despite my commitment to alpine and trad climbing, I do… er… recognize that sport climbing has it’s place.

I generally haven’t liked the idea of sport climbing. Climbing by placing and removing pro whenever possible is not only good ethics for the environment, I think it’s essential to climbing in the wilderness. And sport climbing isn’t wilderness. It’s the equivalent of following a paved path for some compared to open tundra. That’s an exaggeration, but one some feel is a good analogy.

Adding sport climbing in the Olympics would clearly benefit sport climbing, but I don’t think it needs the Olympics to be successful. Climbing also prides itself in being sub-cultural, or at least appearing to be separate from whatever is popular in the mainstream. An Olympic event might counter that.

But it’s possible that having sport climbing as an Olympic event would benefit other forms of climbing. The stage of the Olympics is enormous with a broader audience than the normal international sport climbing stage — particularly in North America and likely elsewhere too. Take David Lama of Switzerland for example. He is now an alpinist for his work in Patagonia but most of his career has been spent in sport climbing competitions — indoors.

Since we appreciate mountaineering and mountain climbing (to the highest point) in particular, attracting talent through sport climbing’s various stages — recruitment conduits, perhaps — we might see what the future of climbing is from stadium seating. While the future can’t be determined precisely, the evolution of greater and greater challenges lies in bigger, harder and colder routes. Maybe this is a way to get there.

And thank you for dropping by yet again. If you got something out of this post, you might want to consider following me on Facebook or Twitter because I believe climbing matters, even though we work nine to five.

One last note… My use of the word “serious” in the definitions earlier was probably superfluous; true alpinists are driven and serious by the nature of the pursuit.

No Rush for News from the Revelations

/ Andrew Szalay / Leave a comment

I like to keep this anecdote in mind whenever I think about how most news about alpine climbing accomplishments and attempts arrive weeks or even months afterwards: When the Erie Canal was built in New York State the rate news moved across the state accelerated the pace of life. Reports of a crop failure or family events like death or childbirth often proceeded the usual message delivers, like the newspaper or family members.

Supposedly, this was the first Information Superhighway. It was even said to have created anxiety about how to process the new information at its new pace. I heard this story a couple of times from representatives of the Erie Canal National Heritage Area when I was working as a Congressional aide helping to support the region. It made me think about several things, including how news from areas without a lot of information and media infrastructure travels, especially from the remote mountain ranges.

Of course, things aren’t what they were a couple of decades ago. Hayden Kennedy wrote in Alpinist 39 what his legendary father, Michael, said to him once after a climb during the hike out: “Dad told me stories of the old days, when going on expeditions was like launching into space — no SAT phones, no video dispatches, no blogs — just the mountains and your partners.”

Today, this is rare. Even if your team left the electronics at home, another team on the same glacier or mountain may still be tweeting about your activities, let alone their own.

So I get a kick out of getting news — “freshly” reported — of climbing accomplishments from a few weeks or months ago. It means the activity evaded the information stream or the network had gaps. The thought of that is somewhat liberating! News is news to the recipient, not because it was delivered through the immediacy of 24-hour news.

A language barrier was one factor delaying reporting in this case; in April, Anze Cokl led a Slovenian expedition to the Revelation Mountains in Alaska and climbed 11 new routes, which including first ascents.

The less traveled ranges, as in the Revs or perhaps Sikkim, can still be good for this. The Revelation Mountains are part of the Alaska Range — which, contrary to common belief, are much greater and longer than what resides in Denali National Park and Preserve. It’s southwest of Denali and Northwest or Anchorage for reference. Still, many expeditions or alpine teams launch from Talkeetna, and the additional cost to get there dissuades many climbers, except the truly resourceful and committed, from exploring there.

The Revs were pioneered by David Roberts in the 1960s and more recently by Clint Helander. The little information that is available is limited to a mere few pages in David Roberts’ narrative On the Ridge Between Life and Death and a few more pages in the American Alpine Journal, most of which are by Roberts and Helander. Anze Cokl paid a visit to consult Helander before his team’s expedition in April.

The news and rumors of the Slovenian ascents may have also been delayed because of their dominant language and that they were filming a documentary of their exploration, which was not immediately produced. Even those they met in Alaska apparantly treated what they heard about their ascents with little fanfare; they went to the mountains and climbed. That may have been news enough.

Thanks for dropping by again, as always. If you enjoyed this post, please consider following the Suburban Mountaineer on Facebook or Twitter. Climbing matters, even though we work nine to five.

Sources: 1) PlanetMountain.com; 2) Anze Cokl’s website; and 3) Clint Helander.

Mountain Explorers Lost

/ Andrew Szalay / Leave a comment

It seems most of the world has been mapped — including most of the world’s mountain ranges — tread upon by man and shared through issues of National Geographic, Patagonia catalogs and Youtube videos. While only pockets of un-tread mountains exist, and that’s a fairly recent development. One of the explorers of these final pockets recently died in an untimely death.

I never met him, but I was introduced to him a little over a year ago subsequent to attending a Section Meeting of the American Alpine Club in Washington, DC. Among several other presentations, Paul Swienton of Maryland, and a Blue Ridge Section Member, spoke about the climbing he and some Scottish mountaineering friends did in one of those rare places with virgin rock and ice: the Sikkim region of India. The international team intended to make only the second ascent on Jopuno (5,936 m.) by a new route. It didn’t work out as planned but they managed a consolation first ascent of a neighboring peak.

When I worked with Paul on a post about their climbing in Sikkim I soon learned that the trailblazer in that region was Roger Payne with his wife and fellow professional mountain guide, Julie Ann Clyma. In fact, Roger wrote the article in the American Alpine Journal that inspired the international expedition to Sikkim and Jopuno in 2010. It’s also worth taking the time to read, especially to learn about one of those areas rarely visited by Westerners.

Roger died in an avalanche in the French Alps just a few days ago alongside two fellow British climbers and six others.

Getting to know Roger’s work in Sikkim and later through references to him in other climbing projects and ascents has been one of the pleasures of making armchair mountaineering a serious hobby. Roger became a character, even if rarely seen, that became reliable. I’m sorry that his story is over.

Separately, if you’ve read “Little Sister Dream: Qionglai Range, China” under On Belay in Alpinist 39 about the attempts on Little Sister Peak (20,505 ft./6,250 m.), there is more sad news. The author, Yan Dongdong of Beijing, died in a crevasse fall while attempting Quelebosi Peak, in China’s Tianshan Mountains.

I don’t like reporting any of this, but I no longer feel like I can conveniently ignore the deaths of climbers, as I once did. I feel closer to these climbers now more than a few years ago. I don’t know if this diminishes the value of mountaineering and climbing to me, but it certainly complicates it.

Through social media, including this blog, I feel as though I have been introduced to many great people like Roger, Dongdong at a party. We weren’t friends but we’d connect through Facebook and share our lives. They were heroes and I was a fan. I didn’t want them to go. I wish I could have gotten to know them better and been a distant witness to more of their accomplishments.

Thanks for dropping by again, as always. If you enjoyed this post, please consider following the Suburban Mountaineer on Facebook or Twitter. Climbing matters, even though we work nine to five.

Mountain Drool: The Underated Mount Foraker

/ Andrew Szalay / Leave a comment
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Sultana with Little Switzerland in foreground. (All rights reserved)

Mount McKinley, aka Denali, saw nearly 1,200 mountaineers climb its flanks for the 2012 “spring” season, and as of Friday 126 were still there. Forty-four percent, or 484 climbers, made it to the summit, which is accurate presuming that everyone’s objective was the top; sometimes it isn’t nor does it have to be. Even for a mountain as large as Denali, it can start to feel like a ski resort with all of your friends from your neighborhood showing up on your route.

I’m certainly not a Denali naysayer, but there has to be a better way. Fortunately, you don’t have to go far.

Denali’s largest neighbor, Mount Foraker (17,400 ft./5,304 m.), aka Sultana, sees far, far, far fewer climbers. According to the National Park Service, only  six climbers registered for Foraker’s 2012 spring season and they all left the mountain without reaching the summit. The annual disparity between the attraction to Denali and Foraker are usually this vast: The number of climbers flocking to Denali has increased in the last 20 or so years and the number of attempts on Foraker have remained relatively steady — about 10 or so.

I think those few Foraker climbers knew or appreciated something about climbing the 1,200 people on Denali may not have. Perhaps they already climbed Denali. Perhaps they wanted a wilderness experience. Perhaps the idea of climbing the biggest peak in the range wasn’t exclusive enough.

It makes me wonder whether the majority of big mountaineering routes are done on only a handful of the most notable mountains.

While Denali towers an additional 1,100 ft./800 m. or so over Sultana, Foraker is still the sixth highest mountain in North America and the fourth highest in the United States. In terms of foot traffic, it seems it suffers worse than Lohtse, which is the 8,000-plus meter peak immediately neighboring Mount Everest.

Foraker has been climbed moderately — rather than extensively — since it was first climbed in 1934 by the great early American alpinist Charles Houston — best remembered for his two attempts on K2 — the adventurous English climber T. Graham Brown and their partner Chychele Waterston. Waterston is supposedly related to actor Sam Waterston (but that could just be rumor.) Because of its under-appreciated, Foraker’s routes, other than widely traveled ways like the Sultana Ridge (which has been quite popular lately,) might only have had a handful of successfully completed ascents. Other routes, have only been repeated a very few times.

Lines like the remote Infinite Spur on the south face first climbed by Michael Kennedy and George Lowe in 1977 is occasionally attempted and rarely repeated. For instance, the second ascent by the Infinite Spur didn’t come until over a decade later in 1989 by Americans Mark Bebie and Jim Nelson. They cut down on the Kennedy-Lowe time to reach the summit of 18 days to 13.

In a day-and-age when the general public is talking about how dangerous climbing Everest is and alpinists are repeating routes up in conga lines, there are places that are off the “radar” of the critics. Good news and sad news happens here. Loss still happens in these places: Sue Nott and Karen McNeill made an all-female attempt on the Infinite Spur and were never heard from again.

More recently, in 2010, Colin Haley and Bjorn-Eivind Artun made a new route on Foraker, which got a lot of attention. Haley and Artun climbed their new route, which they named Dracula, after climbing what they believed, by comparison, was a more moderate route on Denali: The Cassin Ridge.

On a personal note, my back is doing better. Not perfect, but I’m sleeping later into the night, which is somewhat of an improvement. I’ll also be roping up again with Chris in the next couple days as part of my “treatment.” I’m looking forward to it!

Thanks for dropping by again, as always. If you enjoyed this post, please consider following the Suburban Mountaineer on Facebook or Twitter. Climbing matters, even though we work nine to five.

Climbing out of Pain

/ Andrew Szalay / Leave a comment

I had my back X-rayed to help identify why my intermittent back pain hasn’t gone away despite visits to a chiropractor, some physical therapy and working out once again. The pain comes like a phantom late at night. It wakes me up and the pain persists until I sit up for a little while or maybe practice some yoga moves — something that, until recently, considered unmanly. Then the tension relaxes enough and I can continue sleeping.

I visited my primary physician for a check-up and to go over the X-ray results. I’m in my thirties, so back pain is already somewhat embarrassing. While I’m not a hardcore mountain man in the alpinist sense, I do want to maintain a level of health and fitness that I can at least jump into some moderate climbing, hiking and skiing for recreation. So what the X-ray report said worried me —  something about degenerative disc changes. I didn’t understand much else on the report, but I knew that meant arthritis.

The doctor assured me that it was mild. I said okay, but as I left I didn’t feel better. I didn’t know what mild meant. For some people mild hot sauce was hot. So wouldn’t this be relative too? Plus, I’ve always understood arthritis to be a slow path to increasingly worse pain and restrictive movement. It was a weird moment: I could see the future — five or ten years from now — and it was me sitting hunched over at a chair at my daughter’s ice skating competition, unable to comfortably sit back, and not being fit or flexible enough to climb since last weekend and unable to walk — or hike — long distances.

I was given marginally qualified comfort from my doctor and a referral to see a spine specialist to be safe and determine what else needs to be done. I made an appointment for as soon as I could based on my existing family and work commitments, which was yesterday morning.

The arthritis — or the trace amount that the X-ray actually showed — wasn’t causing my pain. I felt my shoulders fall back and I probably exhaled in relief. It was something else, but it wasn’t a flaw noticeable in the report. It wasn’t arthritis or anything more severe, as far as it showed. The spine specialist thinks he can treat the issue, which seems more muscular from an old injury flaring up — which we think was related to when I was unfit just a year ago.

But the arthritis in my back could be an issue one day. The prescription was welcomed with glee: Keep moving. Ski, hike, walk, run, and climb! Movement itself lubricates the joints and actually helps fight off becoming inflexible. I was given an excuse — or maybe even a mandate — to workout, stay active, and have fun!

I was reminded of the Forbes piece (yes, the financial magazine of all publications) on the 10 healthiest sports: Two of my favorites scored highly: Cross country skiing and rock climbing. These two inspire me to workout. Hopefully between training right, well and good treatment, I will finally loosen the reoccurring knot in my back and I’ll be sitting upright — with good natural posture at my daughter’s skating competition and looking forward to our weekend in the hills.

Thanks for stopping by, as always. If you enjoyed this post, please consider following the Suburban Mountaineer on Facebook or Twitter, if you haven’t already. Happy reading and carpe climb ‘em!

The Rumor of Haley and the Moonflower Buttress

/ Andrew Szalay / Leave a comment

On Sunday, I saw a Tweet saying that Colin Haley had soloed the vast majority of the Moonflower Buttress on Mount Hunter in the central Alaska Range. I got excited immediately. The word came from the John Frieh. That’s credible. John wouldn’t post news he didn’t think was untrue.

A short while later Frieh posted a correction; it wasn’t Moonflower — the route made by legendary alpinist Mugs Stump on the toughest wall in the Alaska Range — but it was indeed a solo on Mount Hunter’s North Buttress. According to the updated Tweet, Haley came to within about 300 meters of the summit. Stump didn’t go to the true summit either, for the record.

This is exciting because it hasn’t been verified yet. And it’s Wednesday night now when I am writing this! We live in a time when a plane crashes, everyone knows about it. Twenty-four hour news alerts us and our friends. Twitter travels faster than sound too, it seems. News is inescapable.

But news from remote ranges (at least other than Everest and El Chalten) news still travels slowly. Like before Twitter, on-demand TV, and speed internet. Well, maybe not quite, but you get the idea.

Compare the Central Alaska Range (other than Denali basecamp and it’s West Buttress route, of course) to news from Mooses Tooth, the “Moonflower” wall, or Mount Huntington: Recently on Mount Everest we saw how the news trickled out from Mount Everest a few weeks ago where 10 climbers died. However, the town of Mount Everest Basecamp (unincorporated) is wired. While I don’t know the quality, phones and Internet are available in some format. Getting news is simply (as if anything is simple) a matter of passing radio messages from up high to Basecamp, Khumbu, Nepal. From there someone will be happy to email, Tweet or update their blog with your information.

So why hasn’t more news come forward about Colin Haley’s attempt? My guess is that Haley is probably exhausted in camp, or climbing something else, or trying again. He doesn’t tend to sit still for long.

But there is also the matter of how inconvenient it is to get word from his location to the rest of the world. Some other unconfirmed news has it that Haley descended with a group of Japanese climbers. If so, we may have received word of his work from them.

All of this speculation and skepticism reminds me of golf. I played a round of golf on Friday with some work colleagues as part of a charity tournament. It was up to us to record our strokes accurately. What was to stop one of us from claiming we had a lower score on a hole? It’s about honesty and honor, really. But there is credibility too. It’s unlikely that I would be putting down a string of birdies. People know my handicap.

In Haley’s case, most of us know his track record. It’s Stump-esque. And if he turned around about 300 meters from the top, I’m sure it was tougher than what 99 percent of climbers today could do.

Thanks for dropping by again. If you enjoyed this post, please consider following the Suburban Mountaineer on Facebook or Twitter. Happy reading and carpe climb ’em!