To the Ruth Gorge and back

[Apologies for the re-post - blogger is decisively the worst online software I have ever worked with - it deleted the post and messes with your formatting all the time)

Lessons in defining success

After 2 years of negotiations and raising nearly $1 million in funds to conserve a thousand acre property, we awaited a signed purchase agreement, only to discover that, instead, the landowners went under contract with a developer to parcel out their land amidst some of the best salmon habitat in the Pacific Northwest. Who ever thought salmon could bring someone to tears? Well, it did, and it was an important lesson in land conservation. Just the same as the countless scores of alpine attempts, “takes,” and minor injuries which fill our climbing lives with erratic waves of success and failure.

But what really defines success in the mountains? How can we justify decisions to bail or head back and yet carry a lingering feeling of regret? How do we slay the ego-centric dragon and focus on real “success” – personal growth and learning, coming home in one piece, two weeks with one of your best mates?

Late in the afternoon, nearing the summit ridge on the Northeast Face of Dickey, Graham reaches an impasse out of my view from the belay. After a short discussion, we proceed to bail and make 7 raps on a series of pitons, nuts, flakes and snow bollards. GZ never felt so good about the decision he made – no other thoughts got in his way.

On our attempt of Barrill, another snow storm, avalanche, and above-freezing temps send us back to the safety of basecamp. With an inversion over our heads and a forecast of unsettled weather, we retrieve our fixed line the next day and take the next weather window to fly out 3 days early. Graham was comfortable about the decision; I was sad to leave. Yet, on my shuttle back to Anchorage, Graham called to tell me about the serac that slid into the Root Canal basecamp from Mooses Tooth and killed an unfortunate climber from Texas. “Those mountains were the most dangerous I’ve ever seen them,” said Graham.

I was beginning to understand. Chris’ copy of The Rock Warrior’s Way frayed at the edges as I flipped through its pages at camp and Ilgner’s words of wisdom filtered through to my subconscious. The lessons learned here will carry forward to my projects back home. “Joy Ride” will be just that, not a nemesis. After ten years of climbing, the lessons and learning are just as vivid and real as my first scramble or first trad lead. It’s the journey, not the summit or the redpoint, that we need to embrace.

Alaska was an incredible experience. Our trip was a success. Graham and I climbed some amazing, high quality pitches of ice, mixed, and snow. We took calculated risks and acted out our decisions confidently and efficiently. We climbed strong and threaded together some mentally and physically challenging pitches. We chowed down on “deancakes” and burritos while listening to solar-powered ipods. We shared quality bro time together. And I learned just how small we are compared to the expansive Ruth Glacier and its 3,000 to 5,000 foot faces. Graham and I started our adventures together over ten years ago and we have both grown and come back together as stronger people and climbers.

Here are some of my favorite shots from the trip. For the complete photo journal, visit:

http://isc.astro.cornell.edu/~don/pictures/v/friends/joe/joe_climbing/joe_ruthgorge/
(copy and paste link if it does not work)

At Talkeetna Air Taxi, GZ carting over half our 461 lb load of gear and food

Landing in Rick's Beaver ski plane

On a scouting trip to see whats in - so close yet so far

Denali

Cheers from basecamp! Barrill on the left

The Mooses Tooth

Our attempt of a potential new line on the NE Face of Dickey

Starting up a beautiful runnel of ice

More fun terrain

GZ topping out a short step

GZ backstepping up a narrow v-slot

Me topping out the v-slot below

A couple pitches later, GZ negotiated up some runout M5+ only to find a 30ft blank section with no pro and a loosely consolidated snow mushroom above. We bailed and a snow storm came in for the next 4 days.

Happy Easter from the Ruth Gorge! Bradley plastered in fresh snow

Our attempt on the NE Face of Barrill

GZ belaying the first pitch

Inching up the narrow M6 squeeze chimney

The chimney ate up so much time that we opted to fix a line and come back the next morning ready to send!

Graham starting up a beautiful pitch of tiered ice

Another thin vertical step

The crux of the climb - a vertical arete of rock plastered with dollops of ice. Just at the top, with his head above the lip, an avalanche hit, pounding Graham with snow, ice, and rock for a good 20 seconds as he held on 15 feet above his last stubby screw.

Me on the next pitch of snow and ice

With warming temps and greater snowfall, we called it a day and wrapped down

Graham prepping another meal of salami burritos

Our fellow basecamp buddies, Andrew and Claudine

With unsettled weather and an inversion, we opted to fly out early

Parting shot - we'll be back to the Ruth for sure!

Off to AK in T-1 Days!

I feel like the only way to prep for Alaska is to just go to Alaska. Nonetheless, Colorado has been the backdrop for all my training and prep along with a quick visit to Southern California, Hueco, and the Red River Gorge. Bouldering and steep sandstone equates to long mixed climbs in the Ruth Gorge yeah? I'll let you know.

Jason was kind enough to donate his raffle prize of a free month to Alpine Training Center, where Connie whipped me into shape and I finally got an idea of what Chris has been up to the last 14 months:

Lots of sandbag carries, push presses, ball slams, and slashers. I got schooled on work-outs like the airdyne, turkish getups, and farmer carries. Towards the end of my month, Connie tailored it for AK. Good times! Not only did it get my legs stronger and my forearms pumped, it worked a lot of my opposing muscle groups we climbers tend to neglect. I may pick it up later in the summer to help prevent overuse injuries from climbing, especially my shoulders.

A couple trips to Hessie Chimney with Jason and Blake helped keep my dry tooling in tune. Luckily it was fat this season and, all in all, it is as quality and classic as any winter climb in the Park:
Doug "Show me how to Dougie" Shepherd helped prep me for the trip with a winter attempt of the Diamond. The forecast called for sunny skies but 60-mph SW winds. We took our chances, headed up at 4am, and after hiking through some heavy gusts, the wind died down below the sheltering walls of Long Peak's giant east face. The approach to North Chimney from Mills Lake was a snow slog and Doug led the first block of getting up and over to the base of D7. The fresh snow slowed us down but, hey, what better training can you get for AK! The last slabbey stretch of the Chimney required Doug to shed his gloves and make some committing moves. Broadway was in rare form - steep walls of snow made the usual cake walk more interesting:




My block was to aid D7 and our late afternoon start meant only a few hours of light before I would be aiding upwards in the dark. Under the narrow view of my headlamp, I made slow but steady progress from piece to piece on straightforward A1 with the occasional balancing act traversing ledges in my double boots. But, it didn't feel right the entire time and I kept looking for the D7 crux I remembered from the summer of 2009. I figured any vertical gain brought us closer to the summit and the "super moon" encouraged me on. 4-5 pitches up by 2:00 am in the morning, I called down to Doug. The uncertainty of being on or off route, plus our tired bodies, brought me to rap down to Doug and take a break for food, water, and rest at a hanging belay. My down pants, Phantom 6000 double boots, and puffy jacket kept me just warm enough with the occasional leg pumps to get blood past my constricting harness. After a round of water and soupy Ramen, the MSR Reactor pot handle broke off, sailing into the darkness and ending our supply of new water. It's 4:00 am and Doug gives his first aid pitch a go. Swallows swooped by the belay and I dozed off in between feeding out rope and looking behind my back at the horizon, waiting anxiously for the sun to rise to warm my body. The Diamond's granite face eventually began to glow in the morning sun and we savored the moment. After jugging up to Doug, we realized we were at the base of the last pitch of Black Dagger, with a rotten, broken seam and chimney higher above. With no water and no cam hooks, we opted to rap down, where the stove pot waited on the deep snow of Broadway. The rap off Broadway provided more entertainment as nearly all of the rap stations were buried in snow.

Let me sum this up: incredible experience, great partner, brutal, and awesome at the same time. 35.5 hours car-to-car without a proper bivy and sleep - my longest single push in the mountains.

After a trip to the Red River Gorge heal-hooking up huecos, Doug convinced me to take one last alpine trip. This time it wouldn't be a day and a half outing - just a pre-work jaunt up Brain Freeze on Mt. Otis in the Park. Both Doug and I had climbed the route in 2010 so we planned to simul climb as much as possible. Doug took the first block, simuling through the unusually fat Changing Corners and all the way to the chockstone. From there, I linked two pitches out of the chimney system. 9:15 am. We skipped the short final step and rapped down so I could get back for half a day of work. I'm not sure it counts as morning alpinism if I got in at 1pm, but hey, it was another awesome morning in the mountains:

So Alaska here we come. Graham and I are super excited. I'm glad he is finally back from Eritrea, Africa - it was hard to plan for Alaska when your partner can only reach you via satellite phone. We are fully geared up and I just need to pack up tonight. And I couldn't ask for a better partner - Graham and I began our adventures together 10 years ago when he was 14 and I was 18. Since then, we have gone off on our own paths and repeatedly come back together from time to time to "stir the rad pot."

Sunday, we fly into the Ruth on Talkeetna Air to do a little window shopping. We will set up camp on the main Ruth Glacier and, weather pending, explore some new lines!

Thanks for all the support everyone! - especially Arun as I run off on missions into the mountains and chase my obsessions.

Rock Romance in Hueco Tanks, Texas

Brought to you by guest blogger Leici Hendrix!

It all started with Meatless Monday, our weekly get-together with Joe and Arun. Over delicious vegetarian food, we planned our Valentine’s Day adventure to Hueco Tanks in El Paso, Texas. Hueco Tanks is a world-famous bouldering area known for its unique hollowed out features that hold water during the dry season.

We decided to take Joe’s Honda Passport on its sunset voyage and piled into the car for an all-nighter. We arrived at the Hueco Rock Ranch early Friday morning, ready for a day on North Mountain. Hueco Tanks is an access sensitive area—there are restrictions on how many people can be in an area at any given time. Reservations or guided tours are required, so it can be difficult to navigate on your first visit. After watching an informative video about the history of the park, we were off to Warm Up Boulder.

A few warm-up problems later, we decided to head over to the Potatoes at the top of the chains and ended up at the Grenade boulder to work the classic V2 “Nobody here gets out alive.” This was one of my favorite problems of the trip. The opening moves require intense heel-hooking action on perfect rock.

Leici spots Arun on a big move

We ended our day with a trip to the sunny New Meadow. There were plenty of quality moderates to be found. Joe and Ben even found a project, Lobster Claw (V5), that they’ll return to one day.

Joe traverses a quality V1

We left in search of good Mexican food and margaritas. Unfortunately, we found bad Mexican food and margaritas that were actually just shots of tequila. Lack of sleep caught up with us and we eagerly crawled into our beds at the Rock Ranch.

The next morning, we woke up to warmer weather and headed out to The Morgue on North Mountain. T-Bone Shuffle (V4) caught Joe’s eye. After his attempt at an onsight, Ben and Joe took turns working the classic line.

Ben working the crux

I’d heard good things about the Gymnasium, so we hiked to the top of the chains and squeezed Joe’s new Mondo through a small slot in the rock. The Gym is chock full of highball, hueco-covered warm-ups. We climbed leisurely and soaked up the sun for a few hours.

View of the Gymnasium

Lunch in the sun fueled our search for what most consider one of the best boulder problems in Hueco Tanks—Ghetto Simulator (V2). As Joe said, it was a hike “for a boulderer.”

It’s more like a route

We decided to call it a day and hiked back to the car. Arun volunteered to make yummy Indian food for dinner, so Joe cracked a bottle of wine and we relaxed at the ranch. As Arun was finishing up dinner, Joe decided to force the pressure cooker open because he was too hungry to wait. At least, that’s my version of the story. Lentils and veggies exploded all over the kitchen, covering everyone and everything in sight. Fortunately, Arun forgave Joe (thanks to the chocolate, heart-shaped cake that Joe presented to her earlier in the evening) and there was enough food left in the pot to have an awesome dinner.

Arun and Joe in happier times

A guided tour in East Mountain was on the agenda for Sunday. Our guide, Cory, led us to Kid’s Stuff, where we played around on easy warm-ups with fun heel hooks and big huecos.

Me, being awesome

Cory led us over to Dragon’s Den, where we got on all of the classics—Ostracizer (V3), Hobbit in a Blender (V5), Satan, Satan, Satan (V1), and Dragonfly (V5).

Leici on Ostracizer

Joe’s proud send of Hobbit in a Blender

Ben’s last minute send on Dragonfly

East Mountain is also full of pictographs from Native American tribes that inhabited the area around Hueco Tanks. Cory took us to see a few of the drawings, along with Hueco Tank’s only year-round water source.

A well-preserved pictograph in East Mountain

Before leaving Hueco Tanks, we headed over to Warm-Up Roof and climbed a few more problems. Exhausted, we drove back to the ranch and packed up to head to Albuquerque. On our way out, we finally found amazing (and cheap!!) Mexican food at a tiny little place inside a meat market.

Hilarious group photo

Thanks to Arun and Joe for fun times and an awesome weekend of bouldering in Texas!