--Anders Ourom, a member of supertopo.com, posted a great article about climbing in Squamish and in the Coast Range in the early 1970's. The article includes a number of photos and remembrances from the time. My personal favorites are the following two photos. This is how they learned to belay back in the day in Cheakamus Canyon . To read more, click here.
Learning to belay -- Seriously old school (copyright © Anders Ourom, 2008)
Cheakamus Canyon (copyright © Anders Ourom, 2008)--After two climbers were reported missing on Mount Baker (10,781'), a rescue was initiated. Though the details are sketchy, it appears that one of the climbers took a leader-fall on the ice section of the North Ridge. They descended approximately a thousand feet before they were rescued by a helicopter. To read more, click here.
--Respected Seattle area climber Ryan Alan Murray Triplett died in a climbing accident this weekend. The 31-year old man's wife called authorities when he didn't come home on time. Triplett's body was found on a ledge on Prime Rib (III 5.8) in Mazama. It appears that he was soloing the route and fell. To read more, click here and here.
--It drives most guides nuts when they see people high in the mountains wearing nothing more than shorts and a t-shirt. It's common to see people up on a glacier wearing gators and shorts. You will never see a guide in shorts much above treeline. Two men were rescued from Idaho's Mount Borah (12, 668') on Monday after spending a sub-freezing night in nothing more than shorts and t-shirts. To read more, click here.
AAI guide Jamie Avila and Janet Coudurier just below the summit of Huayna Potosi.
--AAI Guides Jamie Avilla and Juan Chura reported that they successfully climbed Bolivia's Huayna Potosi (19,996') with Janet Courdurier (Truckee, CA), Shawn Collins (Boulder, CO), and Jennifer Klich (Boulder, CO). Jamie and Janet both summitted the mountain via the steep and imposing French Face while the others successfully summitted via the Normal Route. To read more about their ascent, please visit our trip dispatch page.
The view from the summit of Bolivia's Huyana Potosi.--A massive new route was attempted on the east face of Huascaran Norte (21,834') in early August. Spanish climber Silvia Vidal and Swiss climber Youri Cappis spent eighteen days on the wall in the Cordillera Blanca of Peru. They encountered everything from big wall climbing to steep alpine ice. But after spending so much time and putting in so much effort, they were forced to descend without reaching the summit. To read more, click here.
Himalaya:
--Korean climbers Kim Sae-joon, Wang Jun-ho, and Kim Tae-man climbed a new line on Meru South (21,850') in India’s Garhwal Himalaya. The expedition encountered a massive rock wall which required big wall techniques all above 20'000 feet. To read more, click here.
Notes from All Over:
--On August 18th, Hans Johnson and Greg Collins established a hard new route on the overhanging north face of the Middle Teton. The new 5.11, A2 route is eight pitches in length. To read more, click here.
--Eric Weihenmayer, the first blind climber to summit Mount Everest, has successfully scaled Indonesia's Carstensz Pyramid (16,023'). Climbing to the summit of the remote Papua peak made for Weihenmayer's eighth mountain of the popular Seven Summits tour. Many feel that Mt. Kosciusko (7,310') in Australia counts. It appears that Weihenmayer just wanted to make sure... To read more, click here.
--Two climbers were seriously injured at California's Suicide Rock when the leader took a significant fall. Trevor Mathews, 21, and his partner Claire McKay, 22, were on Captain Hook -- a two pitch 5.7 -- when Mathews slipped and his gear pulled. As the leader fell to the ground, McKay was smashed into the wall and knocked unconscious. Both climbers survived the ordeal but their rescue was seriously hampered by a hailstorm which brought grape-sized hail down onto the incapacitated pair. To read more, click here.
--A SPOT Satellite GPS tracker provided the authorities with the location of missing hiker David Boyd, 47, but it was too late. Boyd fell 150-200 feet from Colorado's Little Bear Mountain before turning on the SPOT device and then succumbing to his injuries. It is not clear whether the device provided Boyd's family with his location or whether it was transmitted to a third source. To read more, click here.
--The headline in the Onion reads, "Brave Mountain Lion Fends Off Group of Hikers." If you weren't aware of the comic satirical newspaper, then this article is a good introduction.
