Hauling 30-plus pounds of equipment up the 1000m face of Mt. Asgard, Filmmaker Alastair Lee foregoes light-and-fast style in order to produce a film that is visually outstanding and leaves the audience with sweat-drenched palms and a hankering to seek out epic of their own.
Craig Pope and Mark Pujic on the first ascent of their new mixed line in Hyalite Canyon, Bourbon Tan, M8+. According to videographer Pete Tapley “[The]verall length is right at 60m and the grade is M8+ with some bolt protection to start off, then classic Hyalite M6 choss on natural gear to reach the ice.” The video shows Pope’s first attempt on the route. (Pope did some of the drilling so it was a complete surprise but, well, see the video.)
In the last weeks of winter, Grant Meekins and Raphael Slawinski put up a bolt-free ice and mixed line, The Peach (WI5 M8, 110m), at Storm Creek in the Canadian Rockies. Slawinski later returned with Jerome Yearly to make the second ascent, with Wiktor Skupinski along to film the climb.
Mark Allen and Graham Zimmerman opened a new route up the SE buttress of Mount Bradley on April 5, 2010. The 4600 feet of sustained climbing over varied terrain was named Vitalogy (Alaska Grade 5, 5.9R A1 WI5 M6+) and consists of 29 pitches, 19 of which were M5 or WI4 or harder. The ascent took 66 hours, much longer than anticipated, leaving them without food for the 33 hour tricky descent to base camp.
Alpinist reported on Jon Griffith and Will Sim’s great experience in Patagonia soon after the two returned to the UK in “East Face of Piergiorgio”. But the Newswire couldn’t capture the “full value” of the experience. Though it might take a little while to load, we at Alpinist think you will enjoy the following video. -Ed
A trad route with decent natural gear that includes small cams, wires, pins and some clutch Spectre placements in frozen moss and choss.
Video from Ralf Gantzhorn’s Monte Sarmiento climb. (For more info see Alpinist 32.)
Watch weight-training turn into peak bagging.
A journey alongside some of the world’s best tele skiers.
Boulder and Salt Lake City, here we come.
