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--A 27 year old man fell to his death from Mount Si on Thursday afternoon. While not a technical route, the super popular hiking trail on the mountain has a difficult finish. The last two hundred feet to the summit requires third class scrambling and the summit itself. This incident came on the heels of two other rescues last week.
--A 27 year old man fell to his death from Mount Si on Thursday afternoon. While not a technical route, the super popular hiking trail on the mountain has a difficult finish. The last two hundred feet to the summit requires third class scrambling and the summit itself. This incident came on the heels of two other rescues last week.
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--And not too far from Mount Si, a 47 year-old man fell to his death on Guye Peak on Tuesday. The details of this accident have not yet been released, but it appears the man was a hiker and not a climber. The South Face of Guye Peak is a steep climbing objective, but other aspects are accessible to hikers.
--The question is as old as the sport, why do you climb? Seattle climber Kij Johnson wrote and read a fantastic essay on the subject for NPR's series, "This I believe." In the essay, Johnson explains how climbing saved her from black thoughts and dangerous actions.
Himalaya:
--A Slovenian climber, Dejan Miskovic was rescued last Thursday on the Muztagh Tower in the Karakoram area of Pakistan. The climber was attempting to descent the mountain after his partner broke through a cornice and fell several hundred meters. The team was attempting an alpine style first ascent of the northeast face of the tower.
Alps:
Himalaya:
--A Slovenian climber, Dejan Miskovic was rescued last Thursday on the Muztagh Tower in the Karakoram area of Pakistan. The climber was attempting to descent the mountain after his partner broke through a cornice and fell several hundred meters. The team was attempting an alpine style first ascent of the northeast face of the tower.
Alps:
Mont Blanc
--The London Times Online published an article last week that was extremely critical of climbers on Mont Blanc. The article's author complains about the amount of people on the mountain while engaging in a climb of his own. The article is interesting, but should be read with a critical eye. As a side note, American guides do not ascribe to the guiding techniques described in the article.
--Italian climbers Franco Nicolini and Diego Giovanni recently broke the "82x4000" record in the Alps. There are 82 four-thousand meter peaks. Nicolini and Giovanni smashed the previous record by completing this feat in 60 days. The pair traveled to each peak under their own power on bikes or on foot.
--Two Swiss climbers were busy over Labor Day weekend and completed a team free redpoint of the Eiger's hardest route, a 23-pitch 5.13b. The route was completed in two days and the team had to hurry on the second day because one of the climbers had a slideshow that evening.
Notes from All Over:
--Four climbers were rescued from Bugaboo Spire in the Bugaboo Glacier Provincial Park. It appears that a rescue helicopter made contact with the climbers and thought that they were able to descend on their own. Unfortunately that was not the case. The helicopter left the scene and the climbers remained stranded for two more days.
--On Friday, the New York Times ran an article about thru-hikers on the Appalachian Trail and their relationship to Kent, a small upper-crust town. Apparently many hikers resupply in the ritzy little hamlet, much to the shock of some out-of-town visitors. The best line of the article describes an out-of-town woman's statement after seeing one too many hikers, "how could a town like Kent have such a homeless problem?"
--Are the public's skills at map reading going the way of the dinosaur? According to Mary Spence, the President of the British Cartographic Society, people's skills are diminishing due to the increased use of the internet and satnav technologies.
--Italian climbers Franco Nicolini and Diego Giovanni recently broke the "82x4000" record in the Alps. There are 82 four-thousand meter peaks. Nicolini and Giovanni smashed the previous record by completing this feat in 60 days. The pair traveled to each peak under their own power on bikes or on foot.
--Two Swiss climbers were busy over Labor Day weekend and completed a team free redpoint of the Eiger's hardest route, a 23-pitch 5.13b. The route was completed in two days and the team had to hurry on the second day because one of the climbers had a slideshow that evening.
Notes from All Over:
--Four climbers were rescued from Bugaboo Spire in the Bugaboo Glacier Provincial Park. It appears that a rescue helicopter made contact with the climbers and thought that they were able to descend on their own. Unfortunately that was not the case. The helicopter left the scene and the climbers remained stranded for two more days.
--On Friday, the New York Times ran an article about thru-hikers on the Appalachian Trail and their relationship to Kent, a small upper-crust town. Apparently many hikers resupply in the ritzy little hamlet, much to the shock of some out-of-town visitors. The best line of the article describes an out-of-town woman's statement after seeing one too many hikers, "how could a town like Kent have such a homeless problem?"
--Are the public's skills at map reading going the way of the dinosaur? According to Mary Spence, the President of the British Cartographic Society, people's skills are diminishing due to the increased use of the internet and satnav technologies.
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--When you worry about how busy our mountains are getting, just think of Mount Fuji in Japan. Officials estimate that over 247,000 people scaled the mountain in July and August.
