This rock climbing shoe fit in the palm of my hand (Szalay 2014)

I promised Natalie that I wouldn’t push the kids to get into climbing, though she understands that I won’t discourage it if they show interest. But get this: Wunderkind and Schnickelfritz both like to get into our piles of books. And lately, Schnickelfritz, who is a year-and-a-half old, has chosen the small picture book about Mount Everest off my bookcase. There are a lot of books within his reach and that one keeps surfacing and left somewhere on the floor. So when I stumbled upon this tiny rock climbing shoe, it was hard for me not to get somewhat excited. Still, I didn’t buy it; I know what I promised.

I’m very excited to have finished my first piece for Alpinist magazine. Alpinist is the leading English-language literary climbing magazine that delivera in-depth and beautiful feature articles quarterly. My submission is notably smaller than the well-known features, but that’s not the point; I got to share a little-known piece of climbing history that I think you’d like to know. Be sure to check it out in issue 49, which comes out around January.

And here are some quick notes on what is in my physical and virtual reading stack:

I am extremely late in publishing my review of John Quillen’s book, Tempting the Throne Room: Surviving Pakistan’s Deadliest Climbing Season 2013 (2014), which was available in paperback earlier this year. I accepted an ebook version, but, as I have discovered, I read ebooks at a much slower pace. I might go with the hard copy book next time.

Barry Blanchard’s book, The Calling: A Life Rocked by Mountains (2014) came out at long last. I think I looked more forward to Blanchard to publishing his first book than I did Steve House’s. I only just began reading it, as I need to finish Quillen’s work first. It’s also an ebook, so I have to stay disciplined and keep my phone fully charged before my commute and time on planes traveling. (Please wish me luck with that.) Here is an excerpt in case you’d like a preview.

I continue to read and re-read parts of Alpinist 48. Katie Ives column, The Sharp End, is about the art of the approach and is available to read online for free. My friend Suzanne Ybarra writes about her late brother and his friend’s unyielding pursuit of El Capitan-south. It also has a short piece involving Don Jensen, which if you are as interested in Alaskan exploration anywhere near the way I am, well, it’s a must read.

Lastly, while I don’t possess a copy yet, I am excited about reading John Porter’s One Day as a Tiger (2014) about Alex MacIntyre. A biography of MacIntyre is enough to interest me but it also took the grand prize at the 2014 Banff Mountain Book Competition.

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Every morning I wake up and I read the newspapers to stay informed for work — mostly stories on political issues and government policies. After that I turn to the climbing news and blogs. The morning after election day in the U.S. (which was Tuesday), was a little different. I follow America’s 50 state governments too, not just the federal elections, so there was a lot more political and government news to take in.

Voters across America considered 147 referendums. Some were on raising the minimum wage, some were on veteran’s benefits, and one hotly covered topic in a few states — including Alaska, Oregon, Washington, and the District of Columbia — was the “legalization” of marijuana.

State climbing mecca Colorado previously allowed marijuana to be sold relatively freely. I haven’t heard of any outright depravity in climbing and marijuana use since it became legal. I’ve actually heard really pathetic stories about one climbing partner eating some questionable mushrooms and then getting stranded, naked, high up on one of the Flatirons. But that wasn’t marijuana.

When it comes to alpine Alaska, marijuana has made it’s way to basecamps and higher on Denali (think 17 camp) even before legalization. I recall reading that even Jon Krakauer “lit up” after climbing Devil’s Thumb and returning to his basecamp on the Stikine Ice Camp. (Some of you probably we’re surprised by this, and that makes me chuckle.) Well, Jon admitted that it wasn’t a good victory lap.

I’ve read posts in chat groups where climbers have speculated whether marijuana might help them climb with more focus. Has anyone asked the same question of beer or whiskey?

Marijuana might be legal in some of the best alpine climbing playgrounds in the U.S. now, but a good meal and a good nights rest might do more for your ascent than anything else. Be safe out there!

One last thing that I wanted to mention… The picture I posted above I discovered on Flickr. It reminds me of the feeling, if not the precise view, I shared with some friends camping at the Snake River camp site in Denali NPP. I’ve been saving it to share it at the right time. I hope you enjoy it and have a good rest of your week.

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Our pioneers’ ways are indeed dead.

Cedar Wright recently made a documentary on the the end of the dirtbag climber. Dirtbags are either the most obsessed or dedicated climbers; I believe they are in the latter category where they’re dedicated to climbing and depriving themselves of all societal comforts to devote themselves to climbing. They’re often misunderstood by most people as unkempt and dangerously obsessed.

Our pioneering climbers were dirtbags and they sacrificed a great deal. Several legendary climbers from the 1960s through 1980s like Chuck Pratt, Tom Frost, and John Long left everything to perfect their climbing skills and accomplish amazing human feats. They climbed walls that people said would never be climbed and often did it faster that ever imagined. Their sacrifice was more akin to depravity than the risk of death; they left all comforts of society, from steady income to personal relationships.

However, as Wright explained, the cheap living at campsites near popular climbing destinations that supported dirtbag ways in the US have raised rates and shortened stay lengths; the result is that dirtbags have a tougher time living “homeless” on prime real estate. There are numerous other factors, but that’s just one example.

I think Wright is correct when he said that it’s harder to be a dirtbag today. After all, it’s harder now to be a pioneer in climbing. Climbing’s most significant climbs today are not usually about first ascents but how he route was climbed (though there are still virgin summits and unclimbed walls). Climbing has always been about pushing the envelope with what the conventional thinking said was possible whether it was about speed or making the most direct line passed overhanging ice.

Dirtbags made a path for other climbers to follow. And climbers today are less likely to go on a dirtbag pilgrimage. That’s not all bad news for climbing culture: First, the modern climber, it seems to me, is more likely to travel to multiple climbing destinations during their own personal pioneering days. Second, climbing gyms have taken our sport in a new age, which has produced stronger climbers than ever before.

However, we need a way to tell more people about pioneering climbers from the 1960s, 70s and 80s and their dirtbag devotion. We need a national day in their honor where we tell stories and inspire a few new dirtbags. The American Alpine Club, Access Fund, Sierra Club, local organizations like the Mountaineering Section of the
Potomac Appalachian Trail Club, and retailers like REI, Erehon, and Hudson Trail could promote to members and customers.

Here is how you can help: If you like this idea, please share this post with your friends on Facebook, Twitter and anywhere else you visit. With your help, maybe soon, dirtbags won’t be so misunderstood and they’re passion will be better appreciated.

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I had to pick something up at the rock climbing gym, so I asked Wunderkind, who is almost in preschool, if she wanted to go see it with me and she gave me an enthusiastic yes. Then I asked her what she thought people at the climbing gym do? She indicated that you play… and then go down the slide.

A slide made me chuckle. The pleasure of a slide struck me; that’s what Everest really needs. Well, maybe not a slide, but the placement of a ladder at the Hillary bottleneck suddenly felt like the wrong path to draw money from high altitude climbers through the new fees structure (aside from improving the flow of traffic). What the mountain really needs is something more exciting: Via ferrata or zip lining — the world’s highest, of course.

The via ferrata would take inexperienced climbers to the top of thr mountain, or least to the south summit (the rest of the way would only be done through more technical work,) and then you could fly down to the Khumbu Glacier in time for tea with your porters. Throw in some fixed-place cameras and you can sell the photos of you climbing the iron way and riding the cable.

Why hasn’t Nepal thought of this before?

On a wholly other topic, I’m continuing to find my place in this urban-suburban Peaklessburg.

My family — all four of us — are moving back to our old neighborhood inside the Washington, DC Beltway and into our old condo. We previously thought that it was too small for our growing family. Now we think it’s perfect for us (at least for a little while.)

To make it work, we’ve embraced minimalism (or at least much more than we ever have in the past,) and adopted the belief than home is merely home base from which to go out and live rather than your monument of your life. We just need a place that facilitates our life.

This move is part of a landmark decision for us. I have been saying for years that Washington was Peaklessburg (and it still is), and it never gets enough snow for long enough to be able to cross-country ski or snowshoe right outside my front door (something I grew up with and always considered a baseline for judging what’s normal.) But since having Wunderkind and Schnickelfritz, we look at the city in a different light and feel it’s the best place to raise them. So we’ll be here a while.

One minor factor that made the choice palatable was finding fun and some satisfaction in climbing at the local rock climbing gym. I have always climbed indoors but usually thought of it as a poor alternative to the real thing.

The rock climbing gym is actually conveniently located, has like-minded people, and it motivates me to stay active. I might even meet up to climb with a one of the climbers I use as a source occasionally. It’s also kind of amusing to be ” the old guy” at the gym; most of the climbers are 10-15 years younger and usually have no worries in the world and no idea about climbing history.

Still, pulling plastic beats hooking iron on a big mountain.

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