The National Geographic Adventure Travel blog interviews the First Ascent team about the technology behind their Everest filmmaking.

weather permitting, mountaineers Ed Viesturs, Peter Whittaker, and other members of the First Ascent team will take on the summit of Everest. And even though we have not yet donned our down jackets, we’ve been there every step of the wayâ??through the avalanches, illnesses, and one of the largest storms of the season. This is thanks to the daily, three-minute video dispatches produced right from the world’s tallest mountain. The carefully choreographed process begins with the video getting back up on an Apple MacBook Pro from high on the mountain. It’s then carried on solid state memory cards down to Base Camp. Once there, the footage is loaded on to another MacBook Pro and edited for public viewing in Final Cut Pro

(via TUAW)

The post The Technology Behind Filming an Everest Ascent first appeared on All Climbing.

Rehearse the climb. If youâ??re trying do a winter ascent of a line that climbs a summer route then climb the route in summer at least once. Getting off route in winter will waste time and saps your momentum. Iâ??ve failed more than once after a slowing of upward movement turned into full blown retreat.

The post How to Succeed on Winter Alpine Routes first appeared on All Climbing.

In what is truly a great example of using new media tools for expedition reporting, Andy Kirkpatrick is blogging and posting updates to Twitter on his solo ascent of the North Face of the Eiger.

Unfortunately, as of yesterday, it looks like he is retreating:

Starting this morning I put my solo belay device upside down. I didnâ??t even have the energy to sort my rack and in my mind the eiger stretched on to heaven.
Trying to solo the eiger has required all the skills and tricks i have. But finally it comes down to knowing when youâ??re beat. Its time to bail.

Regardless, thanks Andy for sharing your adventure with us. I hope we can look forward to more climbers using innovative ways of keeping us posted and engaged from a distance.

(via @tysontitensor)

The post Andy Kirkpatrick Blogs and Twitters His Eiger Climb first appeared on All Climbing.

What better way is there to climb a fantastic peak and help kids at the same time?

You can join Climbing For Kids and kill two birds with one stone. You can
climb your choice of one of the 5 greatest peaks in North America and give
inner-city kids the chance to go camping in the outdoors. On top of that, you
will also receive $1,500 worth of FREE, brand-new gear. Our 2009 season will
take climbers on life-changing ascents up your choice of peak: Rainier,
Whitney, Shasta, the Grand Teton, or Mexicoâ??s Pico de Orizaba. In return,
climbers agree to fundraise on behalf of the Bay Area Wilderness Training
(BAWT), helping us raise more than $200,000. Go ahead and visit https://www.altitude-sports.com/collections/footwear-men-running-shoes to find the best camping gear.

BAWTâ??s mission is to provide Bay Area youth service organizations with
professional wilderness leadership training and access to free, quality outdoor
equipment, thus helping these adult leaders safely lead youth in exploring the
power and beauty of Californiaâ??s wilderness. Since 1999, BAWT has served
more than 7,000 youth, and every youth leader we train takes an average of 17
youth into the wilderness. Last year alone over 2,500 kids went on trips
thanks to BAWT programs.

You can find all the details at Climbing For Kids.

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Good coverage and insight can be found at The Adventure Blog and The New York Times.

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A full schedule of classes include beginning through advanced ice climbing, snowshoe mountaineering, and avalanche fundamentals.

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The Boys of Everest: Chris Bonington and the Tragedy of Climbing’s Greatest Generation is a story of tremendous courage, staggering achievement, and heart-breaking loss. Boningtonâ??s inner circleâ??they came to be known as Boningtonâ??s Boysâ??included a dozen of mountaineeringâ??s legendary figures and gave birth to a new brand of climbing. They took increasingly grave risks on expeditions to the worldâ??s most difficult peaks. And they paid an enormous price for their achievements. Most of them died in the mountains, leaving behind the hardest question of all: Was it worth it?

The Boys of Everest, based on extensive interviews with surviving climbers and other individuals as well as five decades of journals, films, photographs, expedition accounts, and letters, provides the closest thing to an answer that weâ??ll ever have. It offers riveting descriptions of what Bonington and his comrades found in the mountainsâ??as well as an understanding of what they lost there. 

From the sample chapter (pdf) you can download on the site, The Boys of Everest looks to be a good read. More info can be found on the book’s website.

The post The Boys of Everest first appeared on All Climbing.

Viesturs isn’t done climbing mountains â?? just mountains above 8,000 meters. He doesn’t have anything scheduled, but he’s looking at some mountains in India and Tibet. And he may even be back on Everest, a mountain he has climbed six times, although he won’t be shooting for the summit this time.

The post American Climbing Legend to Retire at Peak first appeared on All Climbing.