Climbing

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.

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.

Beards and High Altitude Climbing

/ Andrew Szalay / 3 Comments

As I reported on Twitter on April 1, 2011, there appear to be more benefits to beards in high altitude climbing than just the extra layer of fur between us and the snow and ice. According to the Wisconsin Institute of Physiological Performance Science, beard growth increases oxygen flow to some degree in the body at altitude where oxygen is scarce.

The Institute studied several Everest climbers on the same expedition; about half were encouraged to grow a beard while the others were encouraged to shave. At various levels on the mountain, the Institute’s scientists recorded the climbers respiratory index (RI) levels — an indication of oxygen in the body. Guess who had more O2? The climbers with the beards were able to process up to 15 percent more oxygen, according to the study.

The results in this study were probably accurate, but I wonder about several things: 1) was the sample size of the group sufficient to make this determination — all the reports thus far have not stated the size of the pool; 2) the experiment has yet to be replicated; and 3) more importantly, is the 15 percent higher RI noticeably a superior experience (reflexes, alertness) in high altitude climbing.

The theories being tried for why climbers with beards have a higher RI range from the idea that oxygen clings to the beard in higher concentrations than in open air, to the beard hairs increase air flow around the nose and mouth.

In regards to replication, the scientists at the Institute appear to be trying to do so in a pressure chamber. We’ll see what results come. For now, I am a little skeptical, but that’s the scientific process, I think.

Thanks again for visiting. Remember, you can follow the Suburban Mountaineer on Facebook and Twitter.

Mount Huntington’s Second Winter Ascent

/ Andrew Szalay / Leave a comment

If you’re following on Facebook or Twitter (@SuburbanMtnr) you probably already heard that Alpinist, as well as others, have announced that Jason Stuckey and John Frieh made the second ascent of Mount Huntington (12,240 ft./3,731 m.) in winter. According to Frieh’s blog, The House of Frieh, both Americans sended the West Face Couloir by the Nettle Quirk Route in an impressive and returned to the base in just 23 hours on March 19-20, 2011.

These two alpinists met by chance at the Anchorage Airport a month earlier. They soon hatched the plan and acquired good information on climbing the mountain in winter from Colin Haley, who made the first winter ascent in 2007 with Jed Brown, and also current weather information from pilot Paul Roderick and alpinist Mark Westman.

The history and the lines of the mountain are captivating. Located in the Alaska Range, several miles south of Mount McKinley/Denali and rises up from the Ruth Glacier, it was first summited in 1964 by the great French alpinist Lionel Terray. Terray was part of the first successful ascent of an 8,000 meter peak with Maurice Herzog on Annapurna.

The second ascent set up the events that may have made one of the greatest contributions to mountaineering literature: In 1965, four members of the Harvard Mountaineering Club, including now-author David Roberts topped out and then, on the descent in the dark, a spark flew and Robert’s partner vanished. He chronicles the events in The Mountain of My Fear, which he wrote in one sitting without re-reading or editing. It was and remains a unique piece of climbing literature.

With this rapid, fast and light ascent on Huntington by Stuckey and Frieh, the impressive stories of the mountain continue. Well done, guys!

Happy Friday! If you enjoyed this post, please consider following the Suburban Mountaineer on Facebook or Twitter (@SuburbanMtnr).

MHW Enterprise Daypack: Seamless from Desk to Summit

/ Andrew Szalay / Leave a comment

After searching seriously and casually for over a year, I think I found the next-to-perfect daypack for the office and a day in the backcountry. There are a number of daypacks that are capable of doing the double duty of the lifestyle of suburban mountaineers; remember, I made this site for people that work 50 weeks a year just to hike and climb the other two. The Mountian Hardwear Enterprise daypack does the job.

These days, work does not tend to require a briefcase like we did before the age of computers and smartphones. We tend to carry pad holders and folders in compact folios, but we still commute and get around with either a messenger bag (which is great for cycling but can be brutal on your spine from long walks) or a backpack. In the past, my trail daypack and bag for work have been two separate things, until now.

The North Face, Patagonia, L.L. Bean, Jansport and a lot of other companies manufacture daypacks with both pencil dividers and laptop sleeves (essential for the office, class and the coffee house) that can be taken on the trail. However, not all of them were built for extreme durability and include a convenient hole for a hydration-system and an ice axe loop. I got it all with the MHW Enterprise. It’s 1,850 cubic inches large and is stylishly designed to boot! In fact, it fits my large monitor laptop with ease, which I write these posts.

On the downside, people reviewing the daypack have observed that while it’s size could be considered by some to be big enough for a overnight, it’s straps (particular the waist strap) is not strong enough for a 40-plus pound load. However, I carried quite a load over the weekend and felt the waist strap (simple webbing) could be unformfortable with a greater weight. Generally, I try to keep my loads around 17 pounds and limit it to about 25 if possible, and it works wonderfully well. The only improvement I would make is to add and elastic draw string closure for the water bottle sleeves on either side. I’ve carelessly bent over twice already sending shooting my Klean Kanteen like a torpedo for the floor. (Good thing that bottle is so durable!)

Well, I’m almost ready for my commute to the office now. I’ll replace the map, first aid kit, and compass from the weekend’s excursion with my padfolio and binder for work. Happy Monday, everyone!

Thanks again for visiting.  If you enjoyed this post, you can following the Suburban Mountaineer on Facebook or on Twitter (@SuburbanMtnr). There you’ll get more hiking and alpine information and news as I come across it.

Snowblindness: Old, Tasty Cure

/ Andrew Szalay / Leave a comment

Snowblindness, particularly at altitude, as most of us already know, is not really temporary blindness brought on by the environment but rather the eye getting too much sun like  your back at the beach. It’s sunburn. And it can be extremely painful.

Preventing the condition from ocurring from wearing proper UV protected shades is critical. These can also help if damage is already done. Glacier style goggles or shades that cover all sides of the eyes are best to prevent the UV rays from getting to your sunburn eyes further. The Mountaineers’ Mountaineering First Aid, 4th Edition, also recommends using tape to cover the lenses and leaving only slits to also reduce uncessary exposure to light.

Treating snowblindness has come a long way since the first ascent of Mont Blanc in the 1780s when mountaineering was born. Placing cotton or foam pads over the eyes, after removing contact lenses, for about 12 hours is required and using anti-inflamatory pain relievers like aspirin or Ibuprofin may also be used, according to the same guidebook.

But Dr. Michel-Gabriel Paccard, who made the first ascent of Mont Blanc in 1786 with a single porter, Jacque Balmat, had a different solution for the newly discovered condition. According to the great T. Graham Brown and Sir Gavin de Beer, FRS, in The First Ascent of Mont Blanc published in 1957, Balmat, serving as a guide on a subsequent attempt in the following years, recommended to a gentleman climber who complained of sudden blindness that it was really “due to the reflection of light from the snow,” and that it would go away, but to treat it with the froth of beer once he gets home. This was Dr. Paccard’s own recommended treatment.

While I don’t recommend trying it as a salve or remedy, the notion that beer cures all astounds me once again. Brown and de Beers don’t record this but I believe Balmat went on to direct this snowblind patient that after using the froth on his eyes to then down the beer as he sees fit. But this is only logical speculation on my part.

Well, thanks again for visiting. If you enjoyed this post, please consider following the Suburban Mountaineer on Facebook or Twitter (@SuburbanMtnr) where I provide even more notes, news and information.