Getting the redpoint to The Coffin in LCC has been mental block for years and I’m happy to be able to move on. Finally got it this weekend.
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“Q: What makes a great designer?
A: It is so important to be light on your feet, inquisitive and interested in being wrong. You have that wonderful fascination with the what if questions, but you also need absolute focus and a keen insight into the context and what is important - that is really terribly important. Its about contradictions you have to navigate.
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“…it is very much about designing and prototyping and making. When you separate those, I think the final result suffers. If something is going to be better, it is new, and if it’s new you are confronting problems and challenges you don’t have references for. To solve and address those requires a remarkable focus. There’s a sense of being inquisitive and optimistic, and you don’t see those in combination very often.”
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Keep Calm & Carry On (the story of)
Low angle tour /
With the avy conditions as they are we had to find a protected ridgeline for the up, and low angle, non-south facing snow for the down.
Trying to get good shots with the fisheye made the day more interesting.
Provo Ice & mixed /
Somebody’s V-Thread melted out. Free rappel ring and sling for us!
We assumed a 70m rope could reach back to the ground. We were wrong, but we got to rap through this hole in the curtain.
Chad leading through an awkward start.
Argentina Part 2: Climbing in Frey /
First route of the trip: Canal Estalactita, 40m, 5+.
Polly gearing up for her lead of a tower next to El Abuelo.
So many options. The Torre Principal dominates the sky line just left of center.
Polly leading a cool pitch on Aguja Frey on the Sifuentes-Weber 5+.
Pausing for a photo
And continuing up the last pitch to the top of the Aguja Frey.
Polly leading the first pitch of one of the best routes I’ve ever climbed: Diedro y fisura de Jim, 50m, 5+
Didn’t clip this one…
Perfect 5.8 fists to hands crack to top out Diedro y fisura de Jim.
La Vieja, we climbed the face in the shade, Del Frente, 5+. Fantastic route and a pointy summit!
Polly following Del Diedro on M2.
Pitch two of the Routa Normal on the Torre Principal.
One of the best photos anyone’s taken of me climbing, thanks Polly!
Polly about to lead the crux pitch, 6a (5.10a) slab up to the summit.
Too small to jump.
Thanks to Pataclimb.com for all work to collect the beta in one easy to find place.
Skiing around Jackson, WY /
Wasn’t expecting a 3-day weekend after our trip, but I had Monday off and drove up to Jackson to ski with some friends. Fantastic snow and good times had by all.
Got to ski 25-Short with Wes in the Park, its a nice mellow climb up to a peak that’s twenty-five feet short of being 10,000’ and then nice long ski back to the car. Snow was super fun and wind-sheltered.
The next day was skiing what was left of the powder at Grand Targhee. The rime covered trees were really interesting to ski through.
The last day we skied Edelweiss and over the backside and back. Dropping off the backside of the bowl was one of the best backcountry runs I’ve ever had.
Argentina Part 1: Refugio Frey /
After flying from Salt Lake City to Atlanta to Buenos Aries (1 day layover) to Bariloche and staying in town a few days to get information and food we hiked up to the Frey. At the end of the trail from Cathedral is the Refugio (Emilio) Frey.
We spent plenty of time in here avoiding the wind and a few rain storms.
Because of the wind and weather it was easy to meet people either behind the Refugio looking for somewhere wind-sheltered to setup their cook stoves or inside when the weather was particularly bad.
The hosts graciously distributed candles to the tables after dark.
Obvious pastime at the Refugio: watching parties climbing the Aguja Frey
Part 2 will be the climbing here!
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“What’s the best thing you could be working on, and why aren’t you?
Most people will shy away from this question. I shy away from it myself; I see it there on the page and quickly move on to the next sentence. Hamming used to go around actually asking people this, and it didn’t make him popular. But it’s a question anyone ambitious should face.
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“Whichever route you take, expect a struggle. Finding work you love is very difficult. Most people fail. Even if you succeed, it’s rare to be free to work on what you want till your thirties or forties. But if you have the destination in sight you’ll be more likely to arrive at it. If you know you can love work, you’re in the home stretch, and if you know what work you love, you’re practically there.”
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“Remember that. If you start a startup, you’ll probably fail. Most startups fail. It’s the nature of the business. But it’s not necessarily a mistake to try something that has a 90% chance of failing, if you can afford the risk.”
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Patagonian Landscapes /
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After the first week of climbing in Frey, we knew a storm was going to blow through over the weekend. So we collapsed the tent before we hiked back to Bariloche so that the wind wouldn’t tear it up since we wouldn’t be there to check on it. Well, turns out zippers aren’t waterproof. Thankfully we put the sleeping bags in trash bags ‘just in case’. Everything else was soaked.
A preview /
Pitch 3 of the Routa Normal on the Torre Principal in Frey. Monte Tronador in the background.
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The flutes at 2:20 look beyond steep.
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Buenos Aires. (no photo in Atlanta, too bleary-eyed).
Wonderful trip.
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Ushuaia