To paraphrase the late Alex Lowe, everything that you do in the mountains could be considered "training". In the fall, Will Gadd usually posts interesting and invaluable insights into getting ready for the winter ice climbing season.
He's written a series of posts titled "Random Training Thoughts #1 - #6" on his blog that are well worth reading. Click here to get to Gadd's blog
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Monday, October 12, 2009
Grossvenediger
I was in East Tyrol for the first weekend of October with Christos to climb the Grossvenediger. It was the last weekend that the Johannis Hut would be open before their five-month winter break. The weather and conditions on the normal route from the south were excellent. Additionally, there were very few people underway.From the hut, it is about 1600 meters of elevation gain to the top. The route is a glacier hike with no real technical difficulties. There is however the risk of crevasse falls, a long distance and moving at a height of 3100m to 3600m for more than half of the route. Standard glacier equipment and traveling on a rope are essential.
The high pressure Autumn weather pattern assured for cold temperatures at night and cool, pleasant temperatures during the day. The surface of the glacier was frozen which made for quick travel. There were some deposits of wind-blown snow, and about 5 to 10cm amount of new snow on the upper plateau.
The photo on the left is of Christos walking across the snow ridge that leads to the summit. I remember the first time I walked across it a long time ago and how I had wobbly knees as left and right there are about 200 meters of very steep couloirs falling away to the glacier below.Above 3500 meters the wind was a bit stronger and the temperature was noticeably cooler. It proved to be a taste of what was to come later in the week in the north-eastern alps.
Today we are in the second day of our first winter storm cycle. There is snow at an elevation of 850 meters. In the next couple of days the temperatures will continue to drop, bring snow showers into the valleys. The forecast is for about a half meter of snow in the mountains.
As it turned out the first weekend in October seems to be the end of fall in the region. Good thing we were able to take advantage of the good settled weather. Hopefully, winter will bring abundant snow and good ice conditions long into the spring.I plan to be back on the south side of the Grossvenediger for some ski mountaineering activities in March. There are a couple of routes and descents that have caught my eye in the past years, and I am planning on doing a Alpenverein glacier ski course there as well.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Chamonix, September 2009
I got to spend a short week in the Mont Blanc range during the last week in September. My partner Erwin and I stayed up at the Cosmiques hut not far from the upper station of the Midi gondola. We did some ice and mixed routes on Mont Blanc du Tacul/Triangle du Tacul to spend as much time climbing s possible. Our finishing tour was the popular Cosmiques ridge route back to the Midi gondola station.
We stayed up high because that's where the conditions were at their best. It was clear that the region had gone through a particularly hot and dry July and August. A lot of lower mixed lines and north faces were ice and snow free, or in very bad shape, and therefore prone to rock fall.
Our timing was good: we arrived at the end of a brief storm and the start of a stable high pressure system that lasted for the week. Temps were cool ( the 0 degree line was between 3000 and 3200 meters) with no real wind.
We stayed up high because that's where the conditions were at their best. It was clear that the region had gone through a particularly hot and dry July and August. A lot of lower mixed lines and north faces were ice and snow free, or in very bad shape, and therefore prone to rock fall.
Our timing was good: we arrived at the end of a brief storm and the start of a stable high pressure system that lasted for the week. Temps were cool ( the 0 degree line was between 3000 and 3200 meters) with no real wind.
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Gaisberg Crag & Rif Climbing Tower
The easier routes to the right of the main compact wall on the Gaisberg crag are not found in any guide book. The area has been used for more than fifty years as a training area by alpinists, long before the first hard sport routes were bolted on the main compact wall.
Stefan, Sabine and I cleaned, re-bolted or put up six routes a couple of weeks ago. All the new or refurbished routes are equiped with standard expansion bolts and new anchors. The bolting is friendly and will protect the climber from a ground fall
This is the first step of a process that we hope to complete this fall. We are planning on establishing some two-pitch lines of about 40-45 meters, bolting some extensions, creating a rope technique practice area, and putting up some easy multi-pitch routes.
This project is a private undertaking from the Kletterhalle Salzburg / denkundstein. I will post more details about the crag as we continue working on the routes. Information will also be available at the website of the Salzburg climbing gym / denkundstein.
The climbing tower at the University Sport Center in Rif has also been equiped with new sport-climbing anchors. The anchors are standard two-point anchors with chains connecting one normal and one screw gate karabiner. This much needed improvement will all but eliminate the number one cause of climbing fatalities in the last years at the tower due to errors made while re-threading the anchors. The new anchors make the tower much more user friendly for private climbers and courses.
Stefan, Sabine and I cleaned, re-bolted or put up six routes a couple of weeks ago. All the new or refurbished routes are equiped with standard expansion bolts and new anchors. The bolting is friendly and will protect the climber from a ground fall
This is the first step of a process that we hope to complete this fall. We are planning on establishing some two-pitch lines of about 40-45 meters, bolting some extensions, creating a rope technique practice area, and putting up some easy multi-pitch routes.
This project is a private undertaking from the Kletterhalle Salzburg / denkundstein. I will post more details about the crag as we continue working on the routes. Information will also be available at the website of the Salzburg climbing gym / denkundstein.
The climbing tower at the University Sport Center in Rif has also been equiped with new sport-climbing anchors. The anchors are standard two-point anchors with chains connecting one normal and one screw gate karabiner. This much needed improvement will all but eliminate the number one cause of climbing fatalities in the last years at the tower due to errors made while re-threading the anchors. The new anchors make the tower much more user friendly for private climbers and courses.
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Kletterhalle Salzburg Terminplan
Neue Terminplan für Herbst 2009
Kinder
Kinder Einsteiger
Mi., 15-16:00, 7, Okt.-9. Dez., 2009
Do., 15:30-16:30, 22. Okt.-04. Feb (Semesterkurs)
Kinder Fortgeschrittene
Mo., 15-16:30, 28. Sept.-07. Dez., 2009
Di., 06. Okt.-8. Dez., 2009
Jungend
Jungendlich Einsteiger
Mi., 16:30-18:00, 7. Okt.-9. Dez., 2009
Do., 16:30-18:00, 15. Okt.-17. Dez., 2009
Erwachsener
Erwachsene Einsteiger
Mo., 17-19:00, 14. Sept.-23. Nov., 2009
Erwachsene Fortgeschrittene
Do., 17-19:00, 15. Okt.-5. Nov., 2009
Private Kletterkurs (ab 3 Personen)
Kinder-, Jungend-, oder Erwachsene Gruppen, Familien, Eltern mit Kinder, usw., auf Wunsch organisiert
Outdoor
Outdoor MultiPitch
Fr.-So., 18.-20. Sept. 2009 (Kletterturm Rif & Blaueis Hütte, Berchtesgaden)
Personal Training
Indoor oder Outdoor, Multi-Pitch (Mehrseillänge), usw., auf Wunsch organisiert
PT für Jugendlicher: Mo., 19:00-20:00
Probe Klettern, Schulklassen, usw.
auf Wunsch organisiert
Friday, September 11, 2009
"The Life of Joe"
The title description comes from one of my wife’s favorite tongue-in-cheek phrases to describe how lucky I am to be able to do what I do. I haven’t written anything here now for two months. What have I been up to? The following is some of what I have been fortunate to do in the last few weeks:
Sport climbing in Kalymnos for four weeks
Kids Climbing Week,
Multi-pitch routes: “Gosausee-Triathlon”, 560m/V+
“Mezzo Rosso” / “Deierweg”, 240m/V
“Strada del Sole”, 400m/VII
“Hochalm Express” / “Im Reich der Zwerge”, 230m/VII+
Bolting new routes on Gaisberg
Sport climbing around
Climbing courses, personal training, etc.
September is always a transition month for me. New courses start up, training shifts to getting prepared for the winter season, and I re-evaluate and adjust my training plans for climbing.
Hopefully, the fall season will be dry and settled so that autumn climbing will dovetail nicely into the first ski tour and ice climb.
Saturday, July 4, 2009
Proselytizing
Dogmatic views and opinions on any thing in life signify mental laziness and insecurity. This is true about how you're "suppose" to do things in, or related to, the mountains, whether climbing, skiing, training, equipment, etc. When I come across a person who is insists that he or she knows the "right way" how to ski, climb, train, or is set in their ways with rope technique, mountain safety, etc., I just escape the situation as quickly as possible.
I am not trying to convert people into doing things the way I do them. I just explain that this is what I do, or would do, in this specific situation at this time.
I like this comment on Brad Warner's Blog relating to Zen and religion:
"There's no proselytizing in Zen because there's no sense in trying to get anyone to convert to it. There's also no sense in trying to change the minds of the ignorant. You can put the correct information out there and hope for the best. But there's no sense in getting up in anyone's face. It just makes them harden their own position against yours. Ignorant here is the significant word because folks like that minister deliberately ignore what doesn't fit their worldview.
There's a mountain of wrong information out there about Zen, a lot of it from supposedly "respected authorities." You can't really change that. Just enjoy."
The "respected authorities" in the realms of climbing take many forms: mountain guides, old timers, young hot-shot boulders and sport climbers, industry types, mountain club directors, etc., etc. I find that more and more I have absolutely no tolerance for someone who sees themselves as one of these "authorities" and starts spouting off about the "only", or "right", way to do something.
Proselytizing just shows insecurity, egotism and questionable motives. It is mental laziness. Openness, a questioning (including self questioning) mind, flexibility, and realizing that only change is constant is the proper mind set for the mountains as well as for life.
I am not trying to convert people into doing things the way I do them. I just explain that this is what I do, or would do, in this specific situation at this time.
I like this comment on Brad Warner's Blog relating to Zen and religion:
"There's no proselytizing in Zen because there's no sense in trying to get anyone to convert to it. There's also no sense in trying to change the minds of the ignorant. You can put the correct information out there and hope for the best. But there's no sense in getting up in anyone's face. It just makes them harden their own position against yours. Ignorant here is the significant word because folks like that minister deliberately ignore what doesn't fit their worldview.
There's a mountain of wrong information out there about Zen, a lot of it from supposedly "respected authorities." You can't really change that. Just enjoy."
The "respected authorities" in the realms of climbing take many forms: mountain guides, old timers, young hot-shot boulders and sport climbers, industry types, mountain club directors, etc., etc. I find that more and more I have absolutely no tolerance for someone who sees themselves as one of these "authorities" and starts spouting off about the "only", or "right", way to do something.
Proselytizing just shows insecurity, egotism and questionable motives. It is mental laziness. Openness, a questioning (including self questioning) mind, flexibility, and realizing that only change is constant is the proper mind set for the mountains as well as for life.
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