Joshua Tree National Park and the Friends of Joshua Tree release ‘Save the Date’ info for Climb Smart Festival, October 21-23

Joshua Tree National Park and nonprofit group Friends of Joshua Tree (FOJT) invite climbers of all skill levels and fans of Joshua Tree National Park to ‘Save the Date’ for the 2011 Climb Smart Festival, to be held October 21-23, 2011 in Joshua Tree, Calif. This year’s event celebrates the 75th anniversary of Joshua Tree National Park and kicks off the climbing season with fun, education, service and support for key services around the Park. Event registration available at www.acteva.com/booking.cfm?bevaid=220907.

The 2011 Climb Smart festival, including climbing clinics, camping, park projects, multimedia and athlete presentations, vendor fair and more, is the perfect event for kicking off the climbing season, connecting with kindred spirits and giving back to the park. Presenting sponsors are Black Diamond, prAna, adidas Outdoor, Evolve Sports, Sterling Ropes, Joshua Tree National Park and Adventure 16.

Clinics for all abilities will be led by American Mountain Guide Association (AMGA) accredited guides from Wilderness Outings, Uprising and Vertical Adventures as well as top sponsored and legendary climbers of yore.

During the Climb Smart festival, climbers and park supporters will also have the opportunity to learn about and shape Park policy as the Park’s long term General Management Plan goes under review this year. Park policy toward climbing nationwide is heavily influenced by Joshua Tree, one of the world-renowned climbing destinations in the United States.

A one-time fee, $105 ($85 early bird), will give attendees an all-access pass to the weekend event’s festival, clinics, camping and fun at the new festival location, Joshua Tree Lake Campground. To register for Climb Smart 2011, register at www.acteva.com/booking.cfm?bevaid=220907.
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Ueli Steck, renowned Swiss alpinist and Mountain Hardwear-sponsored athlete known for speed records in the Alps, takes his era-defining speed style to the Himalaya. Ueli has summited the Tibetan giant of Shishapangma (8027-meters and 14th highest in the world) in a mere 10.5 hours, but it’s only the beginning.

Holding impressive speed records on the Eiger, the Matterhorn and les Grandes Jorasses, Ueli is now focused on the Himalaya bringing his light and fast, solo approach to the tallest peaks on the planet, and Shishapangma is only the first in what Ueli dubs Project Himalaya.

Ueli left basecamp at 5306m on Saturday April 16th at 10:30pm to solo-climb the southwest face and summit in just 10.5 hours. It is reported that just 20 hours after departure Ueli was back at basecamp recovering comfortably from the high alpine assault already thinking about what’s next up in the high mountains of Tibet.

Ueli’s success on Shisha Pangma can be attributed to his Olympic-level training regime he has followed the past three years, and the two months he spent this spring training and acclimatizing in the Khumbu region of Nepal. Using sprints up Lobuche and Cholatse as warm-ups for the real deal, Ueli is redefining what is possible in alpine climbing.

For the full back story, on-site video and insights into the unfolding chapters of Project Himalaya, visit: www.HimalayaSpeed.com

Thanks to the PR team at Mountain Hardwear for sending this our way. Continue Reading

**2011 SUMMER REGISTRATION OPENS FEBRUARY 2011**

The Teva Mountain Games are the country’s largest celebration of adventure sports, art and music and they return to Vail, June 2-5, 2011.

Professional and amateur athletes from around the world converge upon the mountains and rivers of Vail to compete in eight sports and 24 disciplines for more than $100,000 in prize money. This year’s sporting events include kayaking, rafting, mountain biking, road cycling,World Cup Bouldering, amateur climbing, fly fishing, stand up paddling, trail running and ahalf  marathon.

Lifestyle components include the Mountain Click Photo Competition, the Outside Adventure Film School, Outdoor Reels Film Festival, Mountains of Music free concerts and the Teva Mountain Ball. The weekend is rounded out by the Gear Town and Green Light District expo areas and the interactive family zone, Adventure Village.

The Teva Mountain Games are a project of the Vail Valley Foundation.

We caught this video the other day on the Evolv Climbing Facebook page and thought it a good addition to our array of videos on AW.

In the video, Chris Lindner and Kurt Smith travel to Joshua Tree to revisit The Dunce Cap in which Kurt climbed in 1988. The route had not been repeated in over 20 years. Watch and find out if Chris will be able to make only the 2nd successful ascent.

By Sara Lingafelter

This August, I did something a little crazy.

I summited Mount Rainier with an all women climbing team, to benefit Big City Mountaineers.

At 14,411 feet, Mount Rainier is the most prominent mountain in the lower 48 states. Over 10,000 people a year attempt the peak, with only 60% seeing the top.

The climbing is a long, mental, task.

And for new mountaineers who’ve chosen Rainier as one of their first peaks, even the gear selection phase can be overwhelming – especially for female mountaineers. Most shops stock a number of Rainier-worthy mountaineering boots for men; if women are lucky, they may have one female-specific option.

Many climbers climb Rainier in a plastic mountaineering boot, like the Scarpa Inverno. Benefits of plastics are that they keep your feet warmer, and potentially drier in wet conditions. Also, the removable inner boot can be taken out of the plastic shell overnight, and tucked in a sleeping bag to keep warm. Downsides of plastics, for me, were fit: I’m in between sizes in the ones I was able to try on, and I’m very blister prone. So, even when our weather forecast called for temperatures between ten and 30 degrees Fahrenheit, I opted for well-insulated leather boots rather than risk turning my feet into hamburger in plastics that didn’t quite fit.

I trained in two models of womens’ specific insulated leather mountaineering boots: Scarpa Mont Blanc GTX; and La Sportiva Women’s Nepal. I did training hikes from Paradise to Camp Muir in the weeks prior to my climb, so that I could compare both and choose what would work best for my feet and my climb.
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Sara Lingafelter and a group of ‘kick ass girls’ (her words) reached the summit of Mount Rainier earlier this month to raise funds for Big City Mountaineers through the Summit For Someone program. Sara created this video from the climb and we couldn’t pass up sharing it with you. Stay tuned for some mountaineering gear reviews from Sara!

A Woman’s Place is on Top of Mount Rainier from Sara Lingafelter on Vimeo.

Daryl Stisser started rock climbing in college and has climbed throughout the Unites States. But there was something about climbing in the Black Hills of South Dakota that kept drawing him back. He now owns Sylvan Rocks Climbing School and Guide Service in Custer, SD.

Watch the video to hear Daryl explain what it’s like climbing in the Hills and why he loves it.

The great folks over at prAna sent me this new video of extreme sports athlete Dean Potter.

13-year-old Jordan Romero has become the youngest climber to reach the top of Mount Everest. A spokesperson says the team called via satellite phone from the summit on Saturday. The previous record was held by then 16-year-old Temba Tsheri (Nepal). Jordan was accompanied by his father Paul, Karen Lundgren and three Sherpa guides. Jordan and the team were climbing from the Tibetan (Chinese) side of the mountain as Nepal has an age requirement of 16.

Jordan has now completed 7 of the 8 summits in his quest to complete the ‘Seven Summits’ Vinson in Antarctica is all that remains and the team has tentative plans to go after that late this year.

Congrats to Jordan and the team and safe travels on the descent and back home.

For those that are not aware of yet, Jordan Romero, along with his father Paul and Karen Lundgren departed last week to begin their journey to summit the Earth’s highest point, Mt. Everest. Of course, as many of you do know…it is by no means a ‘week long’ excursion. There journey began when they left the US en route to their final destination. This took them through Hong Kong and onto Kathmandu. From there, they had to load all of their gear onto vehicles and begin a 5-day drive to the Chinese border where according to Facebook posts from Jordan, they will have to unload all of their gear and reload onto other vehicles to continue the drive to Tibet. The most popular route for climbers is from the Nepalese side. However, the Nepalese government maintains an age restriction on climbing the mountain. The Chinese government does not.

Over the last year with the Everest expedition looming closer, there has been a lot of controversy about his age and his quest to climb Everest. There have been numerous other young people attempting feats that will set them apart from their peers. I think one has to look at each individual and consider each separately. Yes, there are risks with climbing Everest as there are risks in getting into one’s car daily. We have been posting updates and doing interviews with Jordan Romero since our inception in 2008. I have met him on numerous occasions and I have been witness to a young man as opposed to what I consider a typical teenager. I have twin nephews that are his age and they are by no means as mature as Jordan.

We wanted to give Jordan and Paul an opportunity to discuss with us their impending expedition and caught up with them while they were in Hong Kong prior to continuing on to Nepal. Take the time to read their answers below.

What have you been doing to prepare for this expedition? Long-term? Short term?

The lifestyle facilitates pretty solid preparation, and continues to inspire these adventures. At our place it’s eat/breathe/sleep adventures. Big Bear continues to be our base of operations, and coming off the winter of all winters, where this year we lived amongst enormous amounts of snow and winter/arctic blasts… well, it was good preparation for a Himalayan Expedition, to be living a pretty knarly winter is to stay in the good mindset of being in the elements and being on snow and ice.. We just had a solid good rotation of all the usual winter recreation, xC skiing, snowshoe, alpine skiing and heaps of backcountry trekking. Jordan has been on independent study which has allowed him to do marathon weeks of skiing, most often 10-14 hour days non stop, he and his buddies are nuts. So that is pretty good conditioning.

In the short term, we also took a pretty calculated approach to Everest expedition. We shifted from our usual ultra endurance style training, to a strong emphasis on core and power. New regimen in the gym, with plyometric and circuit training. We watched Jordan go from being a strong kid, to ‘adult strong’ in just weeks. He thoroughly enjoys it, additionally, we’ve got a new focus on the importance of the sports lab, and in depth analysis of lactic and mvo2 values. My only regret is not discovering the importance of this earlier, and now we have an amazing facility in Big Bear just meters from our base camp in Big Bear.

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I was in contact with Paul Romero late yesterday as the family is on the eve of their departure towards the Tibetan side of Everest. Jordan and Paul Romero, along with Karen Lundgren, are departing tonight to begin their journey towards an attempt on Everest next month.

I am sure that all have heard of the 13-year-old’s quest to climb the world’s 7 Summits (8 counting Carstensz Pyramid). Jordan has already reached the summit of Denali (North America), Aconcagua (South America), Mt Elbrus (Europe), Kilimanjaro (Africa), Mt. Kosciuszko (Australia) and Carstensz Pyramid (Oceania).

There has been a bit of controversy over the recent onslaught on young adventurers setting out to accomplish dramatic feats.

We will have another piece on the young adventurer’s quest in the coming week bringing some relevance to this issue with answers from both Jordan and his father.

Stay tuned.

Adventurer Lei Wang departs in less than 2 weeks to make an attempt on Everest. Born in Beijing, she says that she grew up as a typical city girl. She graduated with a B.S degree in Computer Science from Tsinghua University in Beijing followed by an M.S. degree in Computer Science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. After working in the IT field for several years, she decided to pursue her M.B.A. degree at Wharton. It was there that she was first introduced to ice climbing and mountaineering and climbed her first glacier mountain in Ecuador (Cotopaxi). Upon graduation, she traveled to Africa where she reached the summit of Kilimanjaro.

She begin pursuing her dream of the Seven Summits and Two Poles in 2004. She has successfully climbed six of the seven summits and has skied to both the North and South Poles. We caught up with Lei with just days before her departure and got the chance to interview her about her current and past expeditions along with her motivation and inspiration.

What made you decide to do this series of expeditions?

It’s funny how life drops a few curveballs into your lap. These coincidences are what make life interesting! If it wasn’t for me seeing the movies “Touching the Void”, or “Women of K2”, I would probably have never discovered my passion for adventures!!

Likewise, as part of a MBA school program at Wharton I was first introduced to ice climbing and mountaineering, and climbed my first glacier mountain, Cotopaxi in Ecuador. When I graduated, I decided to head out to Africa and climb Kilimanjaro.. It was during that climb, I realized how challenging it was for me and how my lack of fitness almost made me fail. I love challenges and overcoming them. Remembering what happened in the two movies, I realized that I wanted to be one of them. A spark was ignited, a passion to accomplish what had previously seemed invisible or impossible. Without knowing “how”, I decided I “would” and show the world that others can do it to.

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Mountain Hardwear announces the recipients of the 2010 Expedition Sponsorship Program. Mountain Hardwear will give total of $10,000 to help fund five 2010 expeditions.

2010 Expedition Sponsorship Recipients

Latok I, North Ridge – David Falt, Krister Jonsson and Marco Koupiainen
The group will travel to Pakistan from July to August 2010 to attempt an alpine style first ascent of the North Ridge of Latok I (7145m), a 2500m climb comprising of complex, steep terrain through rock, ice and mixed climbing. The North Ridge of Latok I is one of the most notorious unfinished projects in the Himalayas. The team plans to carry enough supplies to last up to 15 days on the route, allowing them staying power to sit out potential bad weather. The team members each have roughly 20 years of climbing experience in Scandinavia, the Alps, Yosemite, Himalaya and Alaska.

Jankuth, West Face – Malcolm Bass and Pat Deavoll
From September to October 2010, the team of two will attempt a first ascent of Jankuth (6805m), in Northern India on the Gangotri Glacier. In September 2004, Pat, Malcolm and three others attempted the ascent, but were shut down on two different routes due to inclement weather. Inspired by Jankuth, the highest mountain left unclimbed in the Gangotri region, Pat and Malcolm will call upon the time honored Garwhal ethic of self sufficient exploration choosing a “fast and light” climbing approach.

Ski Kyrgyzstan 2010 – Nathan Rowland and Ollie Nieuwland-Zlotnicki
Ski mountaineers Nathan Rowland and Ollie Nieuwland-Zlotnicki, both current residents of Aspen, CO, will travel to Kyrgyzstan in May 2010 for a circumnavigation of the Al-Dyrtr and Kary Sars glaciers in the Tien-Shan Mountains with multiple first ascent and descent attempts. The project ventures into a remote area of Kyrgyzstan that has rarely been visited or explored.

Trek for a New Nepal – Allegra Fisher, Caroline Pihl and Sarah Mortati
Wilderness explorers Allegra, Caroline and Sarah plan to be the youngest women, and the first Americans, to complete a traverse of the Great Himalayan Trail in Nepal. >From November 2010 to April 2011, their goal will be to traverse Nepal from east to west while documenting the educational and environmental development potential along the newly created 1,600km Nepali portion of the Great Himalayan Trail.

2 Wheels 4 Education – Eleanor Moseman
Beginning in April 2010, Eleanor, a photographer who has been living and working in China, will attempt to complete a year-long, solo bicycle journey around Asia while raising money and awareness for two charities, Girls Education International and Stepping Stones China. She plans to document the journey through China, Mongolia and Russia through her photography, a book, and eventually, a cycling guidebook. Eleanor was inspired to raise awareness for female equality after noticing the obvious differences in rights between the male and female genders, and the disadvantages most females face living in China. www.2wheels4girls.com

We have posted numerous times about Jordan Romero, the teenager (just barely) who is out to climb the highest peak on each continent. Last fall, Jordan reached the summit of No. 6 by bagging Carstensz Pyramid (16,023 feet), Papua-Irian Jaya-Indonesia.

Jordan has already reached the summit of Denali (North America), Aconcagua (South America), Mt Elbrus (Europe), Kilimanjaro (Africa) and Mt. Kosciuszko (Australia). He has set records on several of these as well as the youngest to set foot on the summit.

So, what does that leave for the young mountaineer?

The short list includes Vinson Massif (Antarctica) and Everest (Asia).

After speaking with Jordan’s father, Paul Romero, the team plans to depart on March 28 for an attempt on Everest (North Side). This would make Jordan the youngest person to summit the world’s tallest mountain at over 29,000 feet. If they are successful with Everest, they will then turn their attention towards Antarctica in December.

In preparation for this feat, Jordan will be spending a lot of time training which includes some climbing on Mt. Hood and others. He has also set his sights on climbing the highest point in each of the 50 states. Of course, he has already climbed the highest point in North America (Mt. McKinley).

We will keep you updated on his progress as it develops.

Enjoy the short clip above of Jordan reaching the summit of number 4 of the United States 50 (Mt. Humphreys in Arizona).

Doug Crytzer sent me this video of Team SOG’s Maggie Hamill on her Redpoint of the asthetic overhanging arete, Mutiny (5.11c/d), in the Pirate’s Cove of Summersville Lake, WV.

Maggie on Mutiny in Summersville from Pete Baertsch on Vimeo.