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blog : Rhodes, Ullrich and Earle reap the wind!

Rhodes, Ullrich and Earle reap the wind!

Great little film by a group of young Brits experiencing what makes Patagonia the ‘eater of men’.

Los Fabulosos Dos - Cerro Catedral ‘10 from Pete Rhodes on Vimeo.

— February 28, 2010 01:58 PM

Winter advice

Hi andrew sorry to trouble I am going to ben Nevis this weekend and want to do no 3 or no 4 gully or gardyloo only done grade 2 up to now on Dow crag easy gully in winter can you offer any safety advice due to the weather or just general advice going with my mate who has done mont blanc in the summer

regards James

Hi James

It always seems odd to be giving safety advice, when most people probably assume I’m a very unsafe climber (someone once said that they would never climb with me after seeing me climbing in the film Suffering Andy, although maybe that was more today with me driving and eating pizza at the same time?).

Anyway I guess in such situations you have to imagine a negative outcome for a climb that begins with failure, steps up to benightment, rescue, injury and finally death; all of which are possible, in fact if you’re very unlucky you may end up getting the whole lot in a day!

Starting off with this on your mind may not be conducive to a positive approach, after all f you think you may die at the beginning of a project then it makes sense to stop right there and then.  But being an optimistic pessimistic (rather than a pessimistic optimist) is a good way to go i.e. This is what may happen, but if we do x and y we should be ok. 

The number one way to get into trouble in the mountains is to be a full on optimist, throwing all due care to the wind… and the avalanche…and rock fall.

Basically just expect the worst and you’ll be ok.

Advice wise?  For all gullys you need to ask two things:

What might fall down on top of me (cornices, crap dropped by people, the people themselves).
Will the gullly fall down with me in it (will it avalanche).

For A you should always avoid climbing under other winter climbers.  This means getting up about an hour earlier than everyone else (4.30am is a good time to set your alarm for most popular winter routes).  Cornices have a mind of their own, but this can often be swayed by aforementioned parties above bashing away at it, or standing on it in order to have their picture taken.  Temperature also plays a role, and so again an early start is vital, along with speed.  If you’re pushing your limit you will be slow, and so often doing longer routes at your grade fast, is better is many ways than doing a harder route slowly.  Climbing fast at your grade is a great way to consolidate, plus is can allow you more milage (knock off several routes in a day).

For B pay close attention to the avalanche forecast and weather leading up to the trip, and make back up plans (and take back up kit) for walking, biking, birdwatching, so you don’t end up pushing it.  And as usual, if in doubt, stick to the buttress’ and stay well away from gulleys!

Beyond that stay light, take enough kit to survive if you get cought out, be sensible, go slow and steady - but don’t stop or waste time, and always get good belays.

— February 26, 2010 09:05 AM

Cutting edge exped film making by renan ozturk

Came accross this remarkable series of films by film maker and climber renan ozturk and I thought I’d post them in order for anyone who’s missed them. I’ve also fired off an email to Renan for an interview.

Hope you enjoy them….

TAWOCHE 2K10 dispatches #1 from renan ozturk on Vimeo.

TAWOCHE 2k10 dispatches #2 from renan ozturk on Vimeo.

TAWOCHE 2K10 dispatches_#3 from renan ozturk on Vimeo.

TAWOCHE 2k10 dispatches #4 from renan ozturk on Vimeo.

TAWOCHE 2k10 dispatches #5 from renan ozturk on Vimeo.

— February 25, 2010 10:47 AM

Petzl AZTAREX

I must admit that I’ve never been a real fan of the Petzl AZTAR, finding them a bit old fashioned, which means you can’t use them leashless, a major drawback for any tool.  Instead I was a big time Quark user, finding that although they look top end, they worked well on all types of climbing (plus they were leashless).  But then, over the last few years I’ve started using my Nomics more and more, even though they have the major drawback of having no adze (missed for jamming in cracks, and digging ledges) or hammer.  Its like having that old pair of Boreal aces that you know are perfect for most climbs, but even so, you just can’t step down once you’ve had on that pair of super rad rock shoes designed for 9a climbers (even though you only climb E1).

And so the Nomics have become my tool of choice, and each time I go climbing (the Northern Corries are only 40 min away), I look at my quarks hanging in the rafters of my shed, and know I should use them instead, I don’t.  Basically Nomics are just plain cheating.

But then I needed a lightweight axe for a trip, and having heard great things about the AZTAREX from some Canadian friends, I blagged a pair.

First impressions were that they were truly lightweight, as in Steve House weight, the type of tool you’d happily swing at 8000 metres on that onsite winter alpine ascent of Everests SW face.  But then when you looked at them, there really wasn’t anything there; just an alloy shaft with a pick bolted to a steel head (the AZTAREX is a stripped down AZTAR BTW).  But the one thing those designers at petzl added rather than took away was a tiny plastic pinky rest, making this a tool that I could work with.

But th climb never came off, and so the tools ended up sat in my shed next to my Quarks.  Unused.

Then last week I came over all lightweight, having a project that required the upmost speed to complete.  I won’t go into what it is, but on the first attempt I was slowed down by having cracks full of ice, and nothing to hammer in any gear (or pegs with which to hammer on), plus I seemed to have far too much stuff.  I needed a gear detox.  Out went my single rope, swapped for a single halg rope.  Out went my cams, after all they didn’t work anyway when the cracks were so icy.  and out went my Nomics, replaced by the AZTAREX saving me 270 grams straight off.

The question was would they actually work? 

I’d used lightweight axes in the past, and very often you knew why they weighed less than a normal axe, as they failed to climb like one, a bit like lightweight alloy crampons.

Well the AZTAREX is a joy to use, with that extra 125 grams of umph in each arm rally being noticeable, not to mention on your pack.  The finger rest is small, but works perfectly without leashes.  I’d drilled holes in the spikes of the axes, through which I’d tied cord so I could clip them in via my lanyards, plus I’d rapped grip tape (mastic) around the shafts, which greatly aids control and grip.  Best of all was having an axe with a hammer again, and an adze.

The tools come with Blueice picks (B), which although skinny, seem to be solid enough, and the tools themselves have a surprising punch for something so lightweight, and work well in both ice, neve and on rock.

I would’t go as far as saying that these tools will do everything, and for cascade climbing and hard mixed then a Quark or Nomic style tool is far better, but for easy to moderate alpine/winter mountaineering (grade I to IV) I think they’re probably one of the best tools I’ve used.

What Petzl say

AZTAREX

Lightweight multi-purpose ice tool

A pared-down version of the AZTAR, the AZTAREX excels in situations where every gram counts but there’s no room for sacrifices. Perfect for technical, fast-and-light mountaineering. The hand rest provides extra support and allows the tool to be used leashless. When not needed, it can be removed and stored in the shaft so as not to interfere when plunging the tool in snow.The included BLUEICE pick is designed for hard ice and hooking. Available in adze and hammer versions.

Specifications

Website

— February 23, 2010 04:25 PM

Reason to test

— February 17, 2010 10:03 PM

The Great Chimney

— February 10, 2010 07:20 PM

Cold War: The structure

As I’m setting off along the long road to book number 2 (Cold Wars) I thought I’d share some background to the book as it develops, starting with one of the most imporant factors in writing an exstended story; structure.

When I look back at writing Psychovertical I think it’s amazing that it ever came off.  I had about nine months to write the book, and for the first half I just wasted time pretending to be a writer, but without doing any meaningful writing.  My time was also shortened further by trips to Yosemite and Patagonia, along with side projects that came up and I couldn’t turn down, plus I split up with my wife.  Basically I underestimated what a big job writing a book was.  Sure it was easy to write 100,000 words, but crafting those words into an engaging a coherent story was not.

The biggest factor in my favor was I had a structure to build my story on; every other chapter would be one day on the Reticent, with intervening chapters cataloging all my climbs and experiences leading up to that day.  And so all I had to do was write the Reticent chapters first, then add the chapters in-between.  Without this structure the whole book would have probably have been a disaster.

A few people have told me they’ve read Psychovertical more than once, reading it normally first, then going back and reading it in standard timeline, reading the non Reticent chapters first, then the Reticent ones in order.  It only occurred to me afterwards that in the final trauma of finishing the book I never sat down and actually read it from start to finish, depending instead on knowing that each brick in my wall was solid, and that together they’d make a wall that would stand up.

It irked me then that some people (Ken Wilson and the BT judges) put down the structure to my editor, thinking that such a complex idea was obviously beyond me.  But if you look at it on paper it’s really pretty simple, and is probably based partly on how I structure my talks, with multiple stories being tied around one single story, with all leading to the same conclusion.

And so I find myself embarking on book number 2, entitled ‘Cold Wars’, and my main focus is on the structure.

Second books - like second albums - are notoriously difficult.  The writer gives us everything in the first book, and finds there are only scraps left for the second, and after that - unless they have a very exciting life - then it’s a case of diminishing returns.  This was in the forefront of my mind when I started writing Psychovertical (it’s good to play a long game in these things), and so I envisioned my story stretching over 3 books rather than one, with each focusing on a different component of being a climber, namely what motivates someone (psychovertical), the effect this has on those around them (Cold Wars), and the fallout (A map of scars).

And so now my conundrum is what structure should I use for Cold Wars?  I don’t want to use the same construct as Psychovertical, but I also don’t want to just write to a standard linear timeline. 

My original idea was to insert emails or letters from my brother through the book, as he goes to war in Iraq and Afghanistan, counterpointing my experiences with his.  Both of us are in harms way.  Both of us were married and had two kids.  Both of us had to deal with people dying doing what they did.

A few problems came up early on, the major one being some of the stories he had couldn’t be published, which pulled the rug from under the idea.

My second tack came about watching super hero films with my kids, and someone telling me (maybe it was Will Gadd) that he felt like batman when he went down to his basement and pulled out all his climbing gear.  What if the story switched backwards and forwards between the mundane ordering life of someone, and the extraordinary?  There is a big dose of voyeurism in climbing books, as we want to know what makes someone tick and what they do, or did day to day, plus many people said they’d liked the non climbing chapters just as much as the climbing ones.  It’s an idea that really excites me.

BTW I’ll be talking about cold climbs, and how you put them to words at the Pitlochry writing festival on the 7th of Febuary.

 

 

 

 

— January 28, 2010 09:27 AM

Promo for Stephen Venables tour

Been beavering away with Final Cut pro this week doing a short promo for Stephen Venables’ upcoming UK tour ‘In The footsteps of Shacklton’.  Stephen’s a great writer and story teller so check the Speakers from the Edge site to see if he’s coming to a town near you.

In the Foosteps of Shackleton from Speakers from the Edge on Vimeo.

— January 22, 2010 04:49 PM

Trackstars with attitude

It took a long time for the rest of the world to cotton on - or maybe that should be ‘not cotton on’ - to stretch woven trousers, and for many years Mammut cornered the market in super tough mountain pants made from shoeller fabrics; a market that at the time no one outside of the continent was really that interested in.  What was not in their favor was a euro colour pallet and a high price tag, which seemed astronomical when in the UK most climbers were wearing the bargain basement Ron Hill Trackstars (for those who don’t know what Trackstars are, they are medium weight running tight that are tough, cheap and dry fast, and were for many years the uniform of British climbing). 

The Swiss built mammut mountain pants high price tag was warranted because these pants were like indestructible jeans, and were far more weather resistant than Ron Hills and also smarter - well that is unless you had a pink pair with purple knee and bum patches (as I said they had a euro colour pallet).  But if you shelled out for a pair they would literally last forever and so the high cost was rewarded.

For those who didn’t want to wear Ron Hills there were lots of baggy and more casual polyester or pollycotton and nylon pants to wear (j rat, Troll,  Rohan) which were cooler, lighter and more casual, well unless they were made by Troll (yellow fabric with purple knee patches).  This was the staple of US climbers, and I guess slowly that influenced UK climbing as slowly fashion crept in   - a place were in the past there had only been anti-fashion - and almost overnight the mighty Ron Hill Trackaster became a symbol of bumbly naffness, which is a shame as it still rates as one of the best climbing pants for your money, and people switched to baggier pants instead, or power-stretch for winter.

And so it was now the right time for the stretch woven pant to strike, as there was a need for a super tough, lightweight, weather proof pant that was also cool and fashionable - something that could have a foot in both camps (all weather Ron Hill tights - cool and casual trouser).  This appeared in the form of the Patagonia Guide pant, which was really nothing more than a mammut mountain pant that had been rendered accessible to wear (they were black), and so slowly people in the know began to upgrade from polyester and polycotton to stretch woven.

The term guide pant is a good one as this style of pants is perfect for the heavy user, who needs something they can wear in a broad range of temperatures and activities, from summer rock, winter ice, to alpine climbing and ski touring.  They also know that they will stand up to serous punishment and still look smart in the bar when getting your drinks bough for you by your clients (a yellow pair of Troll Omni pants would just make people think you were there to work at a children’s party).  In a way they are the ultimate mountain jeans, a no brainer you stick on in the morning no matter what you’re doing.

These days many companies produce very good mountain pants - using a broad range of fabrics - and the guide pant no longer corners the market (Mammut make some great pants still - and with a less ‘Kagagoogoo’ colour palet).  I’ve had my pair for many moons, and although they look a bit scruffy around the ankles, where I’ve nailed them with my crampons, and feature some furring from ice screws rubbing, they really look as good as new.  But one thing I’ve not liked about these pants is that they’re pretty heavy weight, which means they take longer to dry than some pants, and that their casual styling is not always appropriate for climbing, having a bit too much bagginess for my liking.


And so I was pretty excited to get hold of a pair of new Simple guide pants, which in many ways are a sort of Ron Hill trackstar meets Guide pants, and are very close to being the ultimate climbing pant.

The difference is that these use a very light stretch woven fabric that dries much faster (think paper instead of cardboard), but that is still very tough indeed.  The style has a very tappered leg (with holes at the bottom for fitting bungee and so d without gaitors - or maybe to go for that Ron Hill stirup look?), which keeps fabric ot of the way of your feet - but does make you feel as if you’ve got skinny jeans on.  Like the Ron Hill they are more like tights than trousers and are pull on - having just an elastic waist with a drawcord (they have a fly, but it stops below the hem).  Having no bulk at the front where a zipper and press stud would sit means they sit more comfortanly under a harness, and are perfect for long climbs.

Downsides are that the fabric has very little stretch, and is intact just a woven fabric, which probably explains the fast drying time (more stretch = longer drying time).  It reminds me bit of my old school trousers in-fact, but this is no biggy and simply means you need to get the right size first time, and means more work for Patagonia pattern cutters (more stretch allows a poorer cut).  The biggest problem is that the trousers waist band isn’t elastic enough, and the drawcord back up is just flat static cord that has to be tied in a knot, which is a fiddly pain, and the end result is the trousers don’t stay up.  A belt would do the job but the pants don’t feature belt loops, but fitting a belt would negate what makes these pants great anyway.  With mine I replaced the cord with some 2 loops of skinny bungee cord and fed both ends through a low profile cordlock - which although not perfect, works very well.  I’d hope that Patagonia could come up with some clever way of doing this (how about checking out how they do kids pull on trousers).

I’ve been wearing the pants non stop since I got them, and have used them for rock climbing, skiing, winter climbing and shoveling snow and think they’re the best pants I’ve ever had and simply work (for winter climbing I’ve layered them up with R1 bottoms - which work great).

As I write this this I see that Patagonia have brought out a revised model that unfortunately has lost some of what made these pants so good, having a conventional fly/press stud front, belt loops and less taper, in fact they are more like guide lite pants, which isn’t so bad, but they’ve kind of lost what made them stand out.

But that means that there should still be winter 09 pants out there - perhaps on sale - so get youself a pair of simple guide pants - rather than the ‘not so simple’ while you can.

Simple Guide Patagonia Men’s Pants

 

— January 22, 2010 01:09 PM

Aiding across roofs

Hi Andy just wondering whether you would consider writing a short piece for your website about the technique for aid climbing on a roof or big overhang. We managed to completely fail up at Thor’s Cave yesterday (although admittedly the hangovers, ice, mud and fog may have had something to do with it). It doesn’t seem to be a technique mentioned much on the web. Our main difficulty was extending far enough to reach the next piece and then transferring from one piece to the other. Any advice on this would be great


Chris

Aiding on a roof can be very strenuous and very scary, primarily because you have nothing to brace your feet against, meaning you swing around a lot more, and this gives the impression you’re applying more force to the protection.

The number one aid on roofs are a set of adjustable daisy chains (Yates or Fish make the best), as these give you a mechanical advantage, allowing you to cinch yourself up tight to each piece, rather than locking off on one arm and trying to fiddle in your fifi hook.  They also allow you to lower yourself out onto pieces; giving a bit of slack on the piece you’re on, while taking in on the piece you’re going to.

If you don’t have adjustable daisy chains then you’re going to have to do it old school and use tension from your belayer.  To do this you ideally need 2 ropes (aiding is best done on one), and it’s best if ones a single rope (so your second has a fat rope to jug), while the other I skinny (you can use your haul/zip line as long as you don’t leave it clipped).  To do this you just get tension on the rope that’s clipped to the piece you’re on, clip your other rope through, then using the new gear’s krab as a pulley, pull yourself onto it as your belayer gives you slack.  Once close enough they can lock you off on the new piece.

The fifi hook is very useful on this type of climbing, allowing you’re belayer to rest in between tension moves, but make sure its cord is long enough (25cm) and it has a some cord attached to the top hole so you can pull it off quickly.

When leading this kind of pitch make sure you extend all pieces well, so your second can jug and clean easily, and on some pitches you may have to leave some tie offs behind, and so carrying some thick cord to leave behind is recommended.  On old UK aid roots there can be a lot of very old tat, and much of it needs cutting off and replacing (don’t look at the bolts of pegs too closely!), and for this you will need a knife.  Just be careful when using a knife while climbing with ropes under tension, as they will cut like butter!

Lastly UK limestone aid roofs sometimes have bolts missing (don’t think about it) and so you may find some big gaps.  For these take along a ski pole to act as a cheater stick, and for hanging belays don’t forget a belay seat - your bum will thank you for it!


By and large UK limestone aid routes are just clip ups and are dank and dirt and pretty scary, using primarily old fixed gear.  If you want to learn how to aid for big wall trips then you’d be better of aiding (without pegs or hooks!) up lines in quarry’s on wet weather days (Milstone is a great venue).  This teaches you a lot more skills for big wall climbing and tends to be more fun.

 

 

 

 

 

— January 20, 2010 10:46 AM

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