Notes from Peaklessburg

Commentary on being a Suburban Mountaineer.

Banff: Mountain Celebration and Books

/ Andrew Szalay / Leave a comment

The mountain festival scene could be a little suspect. Like ski resorts, they are hardly wilderness experiences — the very thing that most of us are seeking in the mountains. But one festival in particular has always taken a serious, respectful look at the mountain life and culture and celebrates it through much more than just film, making it worth our attention in terms of how we look at mountain wilderness.

At the Banff Mountain Film and Book Festival held in Banff, Alberta, everyone knows of the film competition. After the awards are distributed, the festival tours throughout North America. However, the festival is much more than just the movies. It also includes mountain arts and crafts, gear trade show, photography exhibits and competition, presentations by the climbers and artists, and — my favorite part — the Banff Mountain Book Competition.

For the English speaking and reading world in mountaineering, there is nothing equivalent to the exclusive honor brought by The Banff Mountain Book Competition, which has been building a solid reputation over the last 18 years.

Nominations for the competition are collected early in the year in several categories: 1) Adventur Travel; 2) Guidebooks; 3) Mountain and Wilderness Literature; 4) Mountain Image; and 5) Mountaineering History. The awards are not enormous sums. They are rather modest in value: $2,000 CA for the Grand Prize and $1,000 CA for most other categories. Receiving the award is more about the title, dignity and respect, especially coming from these judges.

Three judges will decide on who wins best book in each category as well as the Grand Prize, sponsored by the Alpine Club of Canada. This year, the judges will be Katie Ives, the accomplished American mountain writer and editor of Alpinist magazine, Baiba Marrow, Canadian world mountain traveler and story teller, and David Pickford, who is from the United Kingdom and is a climber and editor-in-chief of Climb magazine.

The festival is hosted annually by the Banff Centre and begins this year on Saturday, October 29th and runs through Sunday, November 6th. The book competition winners will be awarded at an event on Thursday, November 3rd. Click here to see the finalists.

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

Troubles Finding the Right Rock Shoe

/ Andrew Szalay / 1 Comment

If you’ve been keeping up with my recent posts, you know I’m on a quest to find a new pair of rock climbing shoes. I’ve received some helpful advice from a variety of sources. Thanks in particular to some of my subscribers and Twitter followers!

My quest was recently likened to a mid-life crisis. I got a chuckle out of that. I’m hardly mid-life. But given a choice between a shiny new sports car and a shiny new rack, I’ll take the rack.

The reason it was likened to a mid-life crisis was that part of the reason I want rock climbing shoes is so when Wunderkind is older and we go to the local climbing gym or crag for some instruction, I’ll have my own broken-in, smelly, old model pair of shoes that someone that used to climb more often would have; the kind dad ought to have.

So, I need to gear-up. I’ve read confusing advice for fittings though and I’m not sure what applies to me. Some recommend that beginners find a flat shoe (meaning no downward curve to the shoe’s last) that is comfortable for your toes in the “toe box.” Others recommend that experienced climbers should get it a size or two too small where your toes form a fist, especially if they are made of leather so when they stretch they still are adequately snug. Being tight helps climbers keep contact, especially with tight holds. So which category I fit into I’m not sure. I’ve never been particularly skilled or advanced when I used to climb (I think 5.7, though I really don’t know.) When I used to wear my rentals, I always took a size that firmly held my foot and put the front of my toes touching the front of the shoe without having to curl them… Is that a bad idea? It’s always worked for me before.

Perhaps the biggest challenge is that while I want to have a shoe that Climbing magazine declared was an Editor’s Choice product, or something similarly recommended, I need a shoe that has good, sticky rubber and fits me. My toes always fit into Scarpas, but what about Five Tens, La Sportivas, Mammuts, Boreals and Mad Rocks? The challenge is compounded by the three local outfitters in my area (I know, I’m spoiled that way), because they only carry about six men’s shoes. And if I prefer the Velcro straps they might only carry the lace up model, for instance.

I’m going to continue my research and let you know what I find. I’m hearing good things about the Five Ten Coyote, Evolv Defy and La Sportiva Mythos… We’ll see.

Leave me a comment or shoot me an email if you have any feedback or suggestions. If you enjoyed this post, please consider following the Suburban Mountaineer onFacebook or Twitter. Happy reading and carpe climb ’em!

Also, you can catch up on my quest for new rock climbing shoes here by reading my last post on this topic: Rock Climbing in Peaklessburg.

American Alpine Club Reverses Decision on Journal Availability

/ Andrew Szalay / Leave a comment

I’m absolutely thrilled that the American Alpine Club (AAC) has reversed its decision and is making the American Alpine Journal (AAJ) publicly available as it has been in the past.

Every summer, members of the AAC receive their copy of the AAJ and a copy of the Accidents in North American Mountaineering. This year, the accompanying letter said that AAJs would not be available for purchase by non-members.

In the past — before I was a member — I always enjoyed finding a copy of the yearbook of climbing in Barnes and Noble stores. It had a scholarly tone and took the accomplishments and attempts in its pages very seriously. It gave the sport of mountaineering an extra hand in being dignified. It also helps promote the pursuit of summits, new routes and mountain exploration as something mankind needed to maintain a record of. It says what we do is important.

When I received the 2011 AAJ and the letter, I was surprised and taken aback by the decision. I was also in the midst of a busy time at work and a number of exciting changes at home, otherwise I would have voiced my disagreement. Of course, I received my copy, so I could also say I was less concerned content at the same time. In fact, this reversal has made me think once again just how important the AAJ really is.

Today, the AAC announced that they are reversing their decision. Nearly 100 members weighed in; some agreed and some did not. Ultimately, the AAC decided the new approach was not the right one and the adventurous among our society are all the better for it!

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

Rock Climbing in Peaklessburg

/ Andrew Szalay / 5 Comments

I don’t own a pair of rock climbing shoes. I’ve rented them all my climbing life. I know; it’s probably a little embarrassing for me to admit this here. The reason is while I’ve climbed rock, I’ve always glamorized snow and ice routes above rock. That’s why I invested in plastic mountaineering boots years ago rather than “summer” gear. I now think I’ve arrived at a place where I need to put a pair of shoes with sticky rubber in my rucksack.

Part of my reasoning is that rock climbing is much more popular and accessible than general mountaineering, ice climbing and alpine climbing. Climbing magazine always covers way more rock routes and profile rock climbers than snow and ice routes and true alpinists. That’s always been an issue for me when I crave the high, cold stuff.

Yet, recently I started looking at the rock stories with new interest. I began broadening my view of climbing, even while I write mainly about alpine climbs because that is what I dream about. Getting to the top of high, icy and snowy peaks is what climbing has always been about to me — ultimately I still believe that. But that’s hardly what is accessible around here in Peaklessburg. Our nation’s capital is mainly flat except for the shallow gorge and waterfalls formed by the Potomac River west of Washington, DC. Great Falls, VA and Carderock, MD offer about a hundred top roping climbs. A little further out are some modest crags in Shenandoah National Park. Further still are climbs in West Virginia, like Seneca Rocks.

There are also climbing gyms in the area for training that have good reputations. I think I might have to hit ’em up and take advantage of some instruction. Hopefully their reputation is partly due to their instructors. I’ll let you know.

While my ideal climbs are cold climate routes, I think I am starting to figure out how to make the most of living in a flat, hot and humid, urban area. Part of it might be embracing — even if not fully adopting — the regional tradition for rock climbing.

I’m not a diehard rock climber and don’t see that changing. I still won’t be aspiring to send big walls in Squamish, though I think those that do deserve a lot of respect. Some gym training and some outdoor top rope routes would be nice. Maybe I’ll get the nerve up to lead climb again one day.

So I’ll be pulling out my old Gear Guides from Climbing as a starting point. If you’ve got any advice, let me know…

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

Now is the Best Time to Be a Climber

/ Andrew Szalay / Leave a comment

If you’re not Sir Edmund Hillary or a member of Maurice Herzog’s Annapurna expedition team, you might have a longing for the time when giant mountains were mostly unclimbed and adventures of historic proportions were still ripe for the making. This is a sentimental perspective; one that doesn’t have to be so disappointing.

I used to be wistful about this notion but not any more. I used to wish I was born sixty years ago when world travel was a novelty and mountains were waiting to be summitted. When mountaineering was even more obscure than it is today and outfitting for an expedition meant contacting someone in Europe who would hand make your crampons and supply your rope. Travelling to the objective required trains with sleeper cars, flights with many landings for refuelings and long backpacking hikes into the wilderness. It’s romantic in many ways, but even more so in hindsight.

Actually, now is the best time to be a mountaineer. Now is also the best time to be an armchair mountaineer.

Remote destinations are more reachable than ever before thanks to modern airlines and travel networks worldwide. Photographs of mountains, beta and accounts from previous attempts (or at least observations about the possibilities for a fresh attempt) have never been more accessible thanks to the Internet. Lastly, it’s not so lonely any more being the only mountain climbing obsessed person within your circle of friends and family thanks to the spread of climbing gyms, outfitter chains spreading across the country, social networks like Facebook and Twitter, and the expansion in membership of the American Alpine Club.

The big routes have been done, but if you long for old romance, the stories are within reach on a book shelf. If you long for the challenging climb, they are waiting to be climbed by you. If you’re looking for a partner, he or she is probably looking for you too.

Now is the time to live as a climber, whether you’re actively climbing or just dreaming about it.

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!

Climbing Washington, DC’s High Point

/ Andrew Szalay / Leave a comment

I’ve lived and worked in America’s capital city region for almost a decade. As a repressed mountaineer – alpinist in particular – that would prefer to live in a mountain setting, I deride it as Peaklessburg, though there are many peakless towns we live and work. But not in my whole time here did I consider climbing the city’s highest point.

I am not referring to Reno Hill (409ft./125m.,) Washington, DC’s natural high point. If I was I would be significantly lowering my standards of what classifies as a climb and I might start to hate myself. I’ve casually driven passed Reno Hill before but hardly gave the thought of “hiking” to the “summit” consideration.

No, I’m talking about the mountaineers smearing on the city’s highest point of all, the Washington Monument (555ft./169m.). You have probably heard that the August 23, 2011 east coast earthquake damaged several Washington landmarks, including the monument. Last week the National Park Service, which manages the facility, hired climbers from Colorado, Massachusetts and other locations to scale the exterior of the obelisk in order to inspect and document all of the damage.

This has made me wonder whether it’s possible that I’ve been missing out of the climbing potential of my hometown. Perhaps we should send the Capitol Building rotunda (from the exterior rather than the interior staircase via the “architect’s tour.”) Maybe the Jefferson Monument by the Tidal Basin offers decent “bouldering” problems that I haven’t considered. Maybe the Access Fund ought to get involved here. Of course, none of these features ice over with waterfall ice except every few centuries… and I’m hoping this winter is the time!

Artificial mountains and routes though are just substitutes for the purpose of practice in lieu of the natural ones, in my opinion. But I cannot discount their value too much. So if we started climbing more buildings (be it the Washington Monument or the CN Tower), would they be in the same class as climbing walls at gyms or would they be in a separate category? What about the proposed artificial mountain being talked about in the Kingdom of the Netherlands for skiers and climbers? Will we start crafting mountaineering routes the way golfers design fairways?

I do want to point out before I sign off today that the climbing going on at the Washington Monument is primarily involving rappelling and not ascending. So it’s not quite being climbed. Of course, if one of these monument inspectors were to climb to the summit, I wonder what he or she would name the first ascent route? If you’ve got a suggestion, leave me comment below.

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