"Because it's there."

[thør]

I was to a wedding at the museum downtown last evening and was happy to see that there was an exhibition of Bradford Washburn's photos. In addition to being tough as nails, the man had a great eye and used the best of equipment for his art. The photos of the walls on Mt Huntington left me in awe. There was also an aerial of Denali's south face showing the Cassin Ridge where the two Japanese climbers were recently lost. Beautiful, but inhospitable.

 

[Peregrinator]

I was to a wedding at the museum downtown last evening and was happy to see that there was an exhibition of Bradford Washburn's photos. In addition to being tough as nails, the man had a great eye and used the best of equipment for his art. The photos of the walls on Mt Huntington left me in awe. There was also an aerial of Denali's south face showing the Cassin Ridge where the two Japanese climbers were recently lost. Beautiful, but inhospitable.

He had an incredible eye, and an amazing intimacy with Denali and the range around it. As late as a few years ago, he was still announcing new potential routes on the damn thing. High end alpine climbers would start slavering every time he leaked one of his ideas out to the climbing press.

This may be the shot you're talking about:

http://www.aai.cc/images/programs/S_Face_McKinley.jpg

For those without a climber's eye, the Cassin is the prominent ridge dead center that falls like a plumb line from just left of the summit to the glacier. It was named for the leader of the team who first climbed it, the great Italian alpinist Ricardo Cassin.

As an aside, I was walking around the office of the Harvard Mountaineering Club a few years ago, and I saw an old-school ice axe sitting in a corner gathering dust. Picking it up, I looked on the pick and saw that it was engraved from Cassin to Washburn. It now hangs on the wall over the infamous lion fountain in the office.

 

[thør]

This may be the shot you're talking about:

http://www.aai.cc/images/programs/S_Face_McKinley.jpg

Yup!

That's the one!

 

[thør]

Wild Ride

In today's paper:

"A Canadian climber who fell 2,000 feet from Mount McKinley's West Buttress was rescued Tuesday by National Park Service rangers, who were then unable to get the seriously injured man off the mountain because of bad weather, a spokeswoman said.

The solo climber, Claude Ratte, 44, of Montreal, Quebec, is in serious but stable medical condition at the 14,200-foot camp on McKinley, said Maureen McLaughlin, a spokeswoman at the Denali National Park Talkeetna ranger station.

Ratte lost his footing on the West Buttress ridge, falling and tumbling 2,000 feet down a snow and ice slope onto the Upper Peters Glacier. He suffered facial trauma and leg and ankle injuries, yet was able to remove his crampons, crawl into a sleeping bag and call state troopers on his satellite phone around noon Tuesday, according to Park Service officials.

It took the rangers three to four hours traveling on foot to reach Ratte. After a medical assessment, they secured him in a rescue litter and raised him 2,000 feet to the West Buttress Ridge before lowering him 2,000 feet down the other side of the ridge to the camp, where he is receiving medical attention.

Ratte will be flown off the mountain as soon as the weather permits, McLaughlin said.

The ground-based rescue party launched around noon Tuesday and got him to the camp by 10:30 p.m., she said.

The rope-raising of Ratte to the West Buttress ridge was the longest raising operation in Denali mountaineering history, she said.

At least 10 climbers have had a serious fall on the Peters Glacier, including three who died in separate accidents in 1998, she said.

So how did Ratte survive such a big fall?

For one thing, he didn't free fall down the mountain, McLaughlin said.

He misstepped, tried to self-arrest with an ice ax several times and ended up tumbling down a 35- to 40-degree slope, she said.

It's not the first time that a climber has survived such a fall.

In 2006, a skier tumbled 2,600 feet through a chute notorious for fatal accidents -- along Denali's Orient Express route -- and emerged with scratches and bruises but no broken bones.

The skier, Ed Maginn, started walking down to the 14,200-foot camp before rescuers reached him."

 

[Peregrinator]

In today's paper:

"A Canadian climber who fell 2,000 feet from Mount McKinley's West Buttress was rescued Tuesday by National Park Service rangers, who were then unable to get the seriously injured man off the mountain because of bad weather, a spokeswoman said.

The solo climber, Claude Ratte, 44, of Montreal, Quebec, is in serious but stable medical condition at the 14,200-foot camp on McKinley, said Maureen McLaughlin, a spokeswoman at the Denali National Park Talkeetna ranger station.

Ratte lost his footing on the West Buttress ridge, falling and tumbling 2,000 feet down a snow and ice slope onto the Upper Peters Glacier. He suffered facial trauma and leg and ankle injuries, yet was able to remove his crampons, crawl into a sleeping bag and call state troopers on his satellite phone around noon Tuesday, according to Park Service officials.

It took the rangers three to four hours traveling on foot to reach Ratte. After a medical assessment, they secured him in a rescue litter and raised him 2,000 feet to the West Buttress Ridge before lowering him 2,000 feet down the other side of the ridge to the camp, where he is receiving medical attention.

Ratte will be flown off the mountain as soon as the weather permits, McLaughlin said.

The ground-based rescue party launched around noon Tuesday and got him to the camp by 10:30 p.m., she said.

The rope-raising of Ratte to the West Buttress ridge was the longest raising operation in Denali mountaineering history, she said.

At least 10 climbers have had a serious fall on the Peters Glacier, including three who died in separate accidents in 1998, she said.

So how did Ratte survive such a big fall?

For one thing, he didn't free fall down the mountain, McLaughlin said.

He misstepped, tried to self-arrest with an ice ax several times and ended up tumbling down a 35- to 40-degree slope, she said.

It's not the first time that a climber has survived such a fall.

In 2006, a skier tumbled 2,600 feet through a chute notorious for fatal accidents -- along Denali's Orient Express route -- and emerged with scratches and bruises but no broken bones.

The skier, Ed Maginn, started walking down to the 14,200-foot camp before rescuers reached him."

I'm glad he made it.

The first and only person I ever knew personally who died climbing fell on the Butt, from a little below Washburn's Thumb. He was guiding and a client fell, and when he went to help he went for the big ride. I'm not sure if they ever found him. That's a big, dangerous mountain with truly ferocious weather.

 

[littleninja]

Are you familiar with slacklining/highlining? I've recently taken it up, but no one in my flat prairie town knows what to make of it.

I think "Because it's there" is a satisfying answer. It's right up there with "Because I can" and "why not?" I frequently resort to these answers when people ask me why I train parkour. For those of us who love what we're doing, it's all the answer you need. I'm compelled to do this, so I must.

 

[Peregrinator]

Are you familiar with slacklining/highlining? I've recently taken it up, but no one in my flat prairie town knows what to make of it.

I think "Because it's there" is a satisfying answer. It's right up there with "Because I can" and "why not?" I frequently resort to these answers when people ask me why I train parkour. For those of us who love what we're doing, it's all the answer you need. I'm compelled to do this, so I must.

I tried slacklining once and was completely spanked by it. I was seriously impressed with people who are good at it. My understanding is that it started as a Camp 4 diversion, all those badass Yosemite types clowning around between climbs or something. Of course, like they do with everything, elite climbing types have made an "extreme sport" of it and highlining. You see pictures of them crossing from the top of El Cap spire and such things:

http://www.heason.net/Images/Portfolio/Alex%20Huber/highline_hochformat.jpg

 

[questiongrl]

I tried slacklining once and was completely spanked by it. I was seriously impressed with people who are good at it.
http://www.heason.net/Images/Portfolio/Alex%20Huber/highline_hochformat.jpg

a good friend walked his bride across a slack rope ... in full wedding attire and with a flaming top hat.

of course they weren't in the mountains, but hey! it was cool.

 

[Peregrinator]

a good friend walked his bride across a slack rope ... in full wedding attire and with a flaming top hat.

of course they weren't in the mountains, but hey! it was cool.

That's way fucking cool. Did he carry her, or did they walk one behind the other? Separate lines?

 

[questiongrl]

That's way fucking cool. Did he carry her, or did they walk one behind the other? Separate lines?

they are street performers in the UK ... so, yeah, they walked across separately, but the same line.

he does it all the time in his act. he's amazing.

perg, i'll send you a link.

 

[Peregrinator]

they are street performers in the UK ... so, yeah, they walked across separately, but the same line.

he does it all the time in his act. he's amazing.

perg, i'll send you a link.

That's really cool. Can't wait to see it.

 

[thør]

I'm glad he made it.

The first and only person I ever knew personally who died climbing fell on the Butt, from a little below Washburn's Thumb. He was guiding and a client fell, and when he went to help he went for the big ride. I'm not sure if they ever found him. That's a big, dangerous mountain with truly ferocious weather.

Speaking of Denali.....literally....There are some interviews available to listen to at the UAF website. One could prolly download them to an iPod. Linkage

 

[Peregrinator]

Speaking of Denali.....literally....There are some interviews available to listen to at the UAF website. One could prolly download them to an iPod. Linkage

Whoah. That's a lot of interviews. I may put 'em on a cd for the next long car ride. Some big names there...Geeting, Hackett, Daryl Miller, the Washburns. Wow.

 

[unregistered]

 

[Peregrinator]

http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g79/jbravo688/Yosemite/_DSC0005.jpg

This is there too Pereg, so get on it.

Maybe this summer, actually. I have a friend whose working his last season for YOSAR this year...I may get down there and try to talk him into doing a wall. I'm not sure he's done it before, but I think the two of us could handle it.

 

[thør]

Whoah. That's a lot of interviews. I may put 'em on a cd for the next long car ride. Some big names there...Geeting, Hackett, Daryl Miller, the Washburns. Wow.

Don't forget Davidson. He let's us boaters trespass on his land when the local creek is up and boatable. A good guy.

 

[unregistered]

 

[thør]

Do El Cap, it'll be good for ya.

Isn't there a turnstile at the base?

 

[Peregrinator]

Don't forget Davidson. He let's us boaters trespass on his land when the local creek is up and boatable. A good guy.

I'd listen to all of them. I haven't heard of Davidson.

Do El Cap, it'll be good for ya.

I'd love to. One day. If not this summer, certainly before I die.

 

[Peregrinator]

Isn't there a turnstile at the base?

Ray Jardine advocated gluing holds on The Nose so it could be something anyone could do, to sort of legitimize climbing as a sport.

 

[thør]

Ray Jardine advocated gluing holds on The Nose so it could be something anyone could do, to sort of legitimize climbing as a sport.

The last time I spent any time at all in Yosemite was in 1978. The base of El Cap was a huge tent city.

 

[Peregrinator]

The last time I spent any time at all in Yosemite was in 1978. The base of El Cap was a huge tent city.

I've never been. I always thought I should sort of save it until I was an excellent climber. Now I realize that I'll never be a truly excellent climber, and I should just go find something I can handle. And it gets more crowded all the time, so there's no point in thinking I can go there and have some sort of pristine mountain experience, either. Kinda like the Butt on Denali...just a mountain party all the time.

 

[unregistered]

 

[thør]

There's a lot of wannabes wearing all their brand new unused climbing gear standing in the parking lot staring up in reverence and fear.

So, I'd have to buy a TNF jacket to fit into the crowd?

 

[Peregrinator]

So, I'd have to buy a TNF jacket to fit into the crowd?

Yup. The Denali, or you're not cool at all.