Climbing 101

Climbing is often misunderstood or thought of those not in the loop. E ', considered the domain of dependence on adrenaline and macho tough guys. While the escalation of the use of force certainly echoed by almost everyone who wants to learn and spend their time on sports. Even if you live in an area with no big climbs, you can always learn to climb, just a little 'creative.
Start-up
More information about this sport is the first step to control the escalation, you can read sports magazines. This will be the type of equipment required and conditions that may occur to learn to climb.
Visit the forum dedicated to the sport will also help you learn from others, in collaboration with the sport. Do not be afraid to ask questions is a great way to find out how others got their start in this sport. You can also find climbers in your area who can get the resources that are valuable for a beginner to learn.
Climbing wall
A big problem for many people is a logistical effort to learn to climb. Your home may be far from a decent rock climbing. While many diehard fans of the sport will tell you that the best way to learn is natural rock, there's nothing wrong with starting in a gymnasium.
indoor sports facilities are rapidly gaining popularity and chances are you can find a location near you. If you win a knowledge and experience in a gym, you can climb through the natural rock climbing routes. You can be sure that once you have bitten by the bug of rock climbing, you are ready to travel for a good climb.
Dress for Success
It 'also important climbing clothing and gear necessary for safety and comfort when climbing. Wear the right clothes and rock climbing safety equipment is much better and climb on top of that, safety equipment save your life.
Not
There are many difficulty levels as you choose what you want to drive, the more you are involved in the sport you probably want to branch and trying different types of climbing. To begin, however, climbing and bouldering are an excellent introduction to the sport.
Free climbing, a kind of escalation that does not use equipment, is probably the best attempt right after you have more experience. However, if you've been climbing for some time, try climbing trad. This type of climbing using climbing equipment to help your progress.

Climbing Donner Pass history

Thunder and incredibly historic rock Pass is located about 90 miles north of Sacramento, Calif., just west of Thunder Lake and Truckee, California. Yes, the famous Donner Pass, the party were killed in the early days of the Old West.
Apart from the modern history of the famous in this area with spectacular granite dome as walls, cliffs, overhangs with thin and launch ramps multi-recording has it all! What is most impressive about this area is a popular sport and traditional climbing in harmony with one another. Not succumb to the destruction of over bumps, scratches, or garbage along the trails. The beginner can top rope climber, a leader can clip bolts or change the position of soloist and has ample places in Boulder.
Once you reach the top, you start to see some of the reefs to see. The first wall you come to the "Stealth and Black Wall" on your right. Later the road was the "off road" and "Peanut Gallery" Space Agency "Wall" on the hill above. Finally get to the meat of the summit and see the Snow Shed Wall "on the left. Below the bridge is clear that the" Green Phantom walls and Sun. Beyond the Bridge School "Rock", "Baboon Rock ", then" Or Curls "
Believe it or not, that's not all! If you park at school, "Rock" and walk on the path, is the "Star Walls (who love the hardest of all the ribs), after the walls to reach the star 19 and 20" Grouse Flat "and the amazing rock, overlooking the lake.
Descent: The walls are not the article. It's just a matter of finding the path of least resistance and beyond.
When all is said and done for the day climbing activities, you can go on the north shore of Donner Lake, and enjoy one of several pillars for public use. Enjoy the clear blue waters of the lake.

Tehipite trip (contd)

The Kings Canyon drains to the west and the valley has about 3000-4000ft of elevation change. The native americans used to winter at the bottom due to the warmer temperatures and good fishing.

From camp we had to hike to the wall and this is just a piece of the 1300ft top half of the wall. As far as I know, no one has climbed the dihedral in this photo.

Mike and Ari setting up our line to hang the food. We had two haul bags of food for our ten days of camping. One was filled with meals and the other with breakfast and snacks. We saw bear tracks and scat while on the trip but no bears and pretty much nothing but birds. The area was burned by fire two years ago and there is very little food for anything to eat. Plus the fire must have killed many of the animals. At the beginning of the trip it took all three of us to hang the food (because it was so heavy) and by the last day or two it could be done by just one.

Our first recon on the first day to get to the wall. You can see the upper part of the dome (Tehipite Dome) that is over 1000ft of rock you are looking at. Plus notice the burn damage and the grasses coming back into the environment very slowly. We needed to use surveying tape (bright orange) to mark our path from camp to the wall because it took over an hour to get there hiking in the mornings and at night. It was too easy to get lost (as we did once) with out marking the trail. In the end, we removed all the tape and found the path of least resistance. The hike wasn't too bad, it was the mosquitoes that were no fun and the 1000ft gulley that we had to descend and hike out everyday.

Me at the last major river crossing. I chose to wear that long sleeved hoody on the horse because the bugs were so bad on the ride in and out of the base camp.
Have a great day!

piz : )

More Ten Sleep Climbing pics

This is turning into a photo blog. Oh well. You love it.

More pics from Ten Sleep for you. It's great having three people finally as we can spend time taking a few shots.

Gareth onsighting Number One Enemy 5.11a, a fingerlocky thing at Slavery Wall. Definitely one of the best sectors here. © L Cujes 2010

Me gathering beta. Sneaky! © S Cujes 2010

Another pic for the Molly Beard Appreciation Society © L Cujes 2010

Me onsighting a nice 5.11b, I Just Do Eyes. Techy long face. © G Llewellin 2010

Gareth on one of the best routes at Ten Sleep: Happiness Is Slavery 5.12b (or 7b or 25 :) © S Cujes 2010

Big G taking flight as the pump goes terminal 5m from the top © S Cujes 2010

Applying anti-pump techniques. Do you know this trick? © S Cujes 2010

Me on the start of the classic E.K.V 5.12c (7b+/26) which I flashed thanks to Molly & Carl's beta © S Cujes 2010

Me sending the classic long route Burden of Immortality 5.13a (7c+/28) © G Llewellin 2010

Well that's it for Ten Sleep. A nice couple of weeks was had by all.

Tehipite Dome Part 1

Mike B on his horse at the biggest creek crossing of the trip. Little did we know that our camp was just a few miles away. At this point of the ride, all of our butts were getting a bit sore and we were definitely ready to finish the ride. It was nice though to have a few minutes of walking around and stretching the legs by the crystal clear river.

Ari, taking it easy in the woods of tall trees and ferns on the forest floor. The outfitter (Clyde Pack Outfitter), put the littlest guy on our trip on the biggest horse. It was funny watching Ari trying to get on and off the horse during the ride in and ride out of Tehipite Dome. He wore is only blue jeans and a hand me down western shirt and a fisherman's hat the whole time!

This here is Allen Clyde and he knows these trails and his horses really well. He has been a horse packer in these mountains for over 30 years, he is a doctor of the feet, has a ranch near Fresno and is the man that you want to take you into the wilderness for any of your needs!

When we got to camp the evening before the ride into Tehipite Dome we had to explode the truck to repack all the gear in the horse pack bags. So we had to make sure that we had everything, ropes, harnesses, shoes, cams, nuts, toilet paper, stoves and cook sets, food, tents, backpacks, the whole works. It took over three hours to figure everything out and get the 6 pack bags equally loaded and all strapped down. As we did this the Pack station dogs joined us and sniffed our gear and we had a nice campfire going to keep away the bugs. It is always tough to pack the final amount of gear for a trip like this because you never really know what you need and it is always too late when you find out! We quickly realized that we forgot the bug spray!

Mike B and Ari just outside the Fresno airport where they picked me up. I was flying in from Canada and the Squamish Mountain Festival and they drove in from Colorado and Utah in my truck. Ari was wearing my warm weather gear to keep the 100 degree heat at bay while we walked to the truck. Notice the wind block hat and the woolen Arcteryx neck gaiter. I don't think that there is an outfit that Ari doesn't look good in.

piz : )

New Route in Kings Canyon National Park

piz : )

Back in Town

The view from downtown Squamish, the Canadian Rockies are way cool when compared to the Colorado Rockies. They stay snow covered most/all of the year are rugged and difficult to get to. They are real adventures for those who enjoy it. I think the closest range is called the Tantalus (but don't quote me on that). I didn't have the time to do much when I was in town because I was squeezing my presentation in before a bigwall expedition in California three days later. I wanted to get into the backcountry but knew that a silly injury at this time would be a real bad thing.

So I enjoyed the climbing closer to home and watched the tug a way and other events that Arcteryx planned for the festival goers.

I also participated (as a model) in the climbing photography clinic. We had about 9 folks who learned some things about shooting outdoor sports and climbing. They all had a chance to jumar (ascend a rope) to practice top down photo taking. I had to climb and reclimb a wonderful 5.7 that the name escapes me in the Smoke Bluffs just in town. It was great fun seeing the participants learn how to jug and take some fabulous photos while hanging on a rope. Thanks for not beating me up too badly during the all day pose down!

A view that never gets old. All the great climbing at Squamish and its all just a few minutes hike from the side of the highway. I took this one from the middle school parking lot where I gave a slide show on climbing and new routing in Norway. We had a sold out show, saw two presenters and a couple of climbing videos that rocked!

Well, I am sure that the two people that actually read my blog gave up hope for new material this year. I am here to say that I am back online from my Canada trip and from my California trip and from my relocation to Grand Junction, Colorado.

I have some stories, photos and of course more plans for the next few months so stay tuned as I play catch up with material for you all to take in.

First off will be a summary of the Squamish Mountain Festival in Squamish, British Columbia just outside Vancouver.

piz : )