Everything climbing and the outdoors.
I never thoughts about this before, but do Sherpas get any formal mountaineering training? Apparently, most of them do not. California State University, Sacramento professor Kevin Tatsugawa is trying to change that situation. He’s currently working to transform Nepali guides and porters into certified professionals through the Khumbu Climbing School in the Nepali village of […]
Today’s climbing news links: Rock climbing works out body, mind Rock climbing’s physical benefits on display at Arizona’s largest indoor climbing gym. Exum guides honored for Alaska ascent Two Exum Mountain Guides were nominated for mountaineering’s most prestigious award, the Piolet d’Or. First Complete Ascent of Mt. Stuart’s North Ridge After six attempts over 17 […]
The Alaskan Alpine Club has a unique web page that illustrates the actual construction of an artificial ice wall over the course of four months. They also have photos of some prior years ice walls. And finally, this page lists other ice climbing walls from around the world. Try building one of these in your […]
Here are today’s climbing news links: Antarctica: the cold, hard facts Mountaineering companies can fly you to the peak for a mere $50,000. Steely resolve needed to scale Adirondack Mountains Ice climbing in the Adirondacks. Gym owner bets it all on climbing wall Former software engineer opens new climbing gym in Boise, Idaho. Don Whillans, […]
Backpacking Light has a review of the Princeton Tec Aurora headlamp. As I learned the hard way at Seneca Rocks, West Virginia many years ago, always keep a headlamp in your pack…
Numerous climbing news links come across my desk on a regular basis, but I find that not all of them are actually “blog-worthy” or warrant a more detailed discussion. For these news items, I’ll be aggregating them in a post several times a week. My reasoning is that these may be of interest to some […]
Music and climbing come together for a good cause. Check out the BoulderGrass Climbing Competition and Bluegrass Festival to be held March 11-13 at Horsepens 40 in Steele, Alabama. Proceeds from the competition and festival will benefit the National Multiple Sclerosis Society and Southeastern Climbers Coalition.
Years ago I had the opportunity to do some bouldering on English gritstone while in the Peak District. Despite it being an ugly, rainy, gray day, I had an incredible time bouldering there. Shady Goings On has a good review of Peak Gritstone: East by RockFax. The RockFax site also has some comprehensive resources for […]
The Tuscaloosa News reports that the Southeastern Climbing Coalition held the Moss Rock “Chalky Dreams” Bouldering Competition on February 19 at the Moss Rock Preserve in Birmingham, Alabama. The group held the event to raise funds to purchase a climbing area near Little River Canyon in northeast Alabama known as Jamestown.
Tom Moyer has a great web site called Tom Moyer’s Testing Page (what else?) that covers a full range of testing performed on climbing and rescue gear. Included are rescue rigger force calculations, highline drop-testing, comparative testing of high strength cord, and euro death-knot (aka flat overhand) testing. He has a variety of videos, papers, […]