John Frieh

British Petroleum stock is the real deal right now

Ooh, ooh. A BD ATHELETE. Jizzy: dont change! Dont you EVER change! You are awesome just the way you are! And dont let any of them tell you any different!

notice....cave behind me. That ice wasnt coming off, and if it did it wouldnt have hit me. Those are bolts not screws, so the quality of the ice matter little really. Dane's photos is in relation to how well john knows how to fall on ice without getting hurt! Something that not many people can say can do Whatever! You're not in the cave and yes it could have hit you. Lots of nice sized icicles too. Pretty hard to run and 1. catch a fall or. 2. not pull of the leader or lose the belay. Probably should have added leaving your leashless tool in the ice, but I don't go there. And yes knowing how to fall is key, in my case don't! Nice try. You're going to judge Bryan's ability from one washed out, resized photo? Classic cc.com... Maybe you should tell the BD athlete that led the route right before me he is stupid also. And perhaps the author of winter dance who took the photo he is a poor judge of ice. You guys sound like a bunch of den mothers. Read a "how to" book or two (Gadd's is great) and then get outside! Sitting around bullshitting about this and that isnt going to do shit for your skills. I fall of shit because I go for it. The only way you're going to get better is sticking it out from time to time.

:ass:

You're wrong

I thought Mr Tapley said it well "Respect for those we've lost and sympathy for those left behind" RIP guys

Speaking of XKCD my personal favorite:

+1

Though I havent been on cc.com since the very start I will say this could be quite possibly thee most asinine climbing thread on here yet. If you no longer wish to financially support Black Diamond based on who purchased them fine: your choice. But to propose that quality and reliability at BD is going to suddenly cease to exist especially considering they are employing the same exact people is delusional. Kolin P is still the manager of quality at BD and he has no intention of going anywhere. How many other companies encourage their QnR guy to write a blog on safety, answer questions from the public, and recreate accidents in a lab setting? How many? Perhaps you are forgetting who pushed the 6 sigma standard in the climbing industry. Perhaps you are forgetting who threatened to move the OR show out of Utah when the governor was going to sell off land rights. FKNA people. You know why we still havent raised enough money to purchase Index? Climbers are some of the most cheap ass, something for nothing user groups out there. They bitch and moan about anything.

Thanks everyone for the props... glad you liked the TR. And yes that is Marko and yes we knew that. Bradley gains 1400 meters from glacier to summit... I recall 6 or so actual belayed pitches amongst a whole lot of simulclimbing. Specifically: - 1 belayed pitch on Season of the Sun - 2 belayed pitches on the new terrain - 3 belayed pitches on the East Buttress The FA of Season of the Sun took the giri giri boys 15 hours base to summit + a bivy on the descent. On the second ascent the Slovenians took 16 hours base to summit though they complained of "lean conditions". The Slovenians also bivied on the descent. It isnt exactly fair to compare our time of 12 hour to either team as we only climbed the approximately first third of Season of the Sun (where as they climbed it all) but that said we did climb what both teams agree is the crux pitch of Season. Though it may be the crux of Season we climbed a number of pitches on the new terrain as well as on the buttress that felt harder than the Season crux so it could be that our link up has more difficult pitches. Until I climb all of Season I cant really say and honestly it doesnt really matter. What does matter is we both had a blast on a very cool mountain and we didnt have to bivy. So are we really fast? Personally I dont think so... I like to think we were both really efficient (belay change overs/racking/etc) but I could just be an arrogant ass . Also we did simulclimb a lot of low/mid 5th class as well as some easy ice/mixed steps that I could see some people belaying which I think helped speed us up. Additionally we didnt stop for a brew stop which may or may not have resulted in a faster time... hard to say. The time one saves not stopping to brew is often lost to fatigue as one dehydrates. For the Bradley day I had 2.5 packages of oatmeal for breakfast + 16 ounces of coffee and 16 ounces of water before leaving camp. For the entire day (tent to tent) I consumed 4 hammer gels and 4 probars and a little over 1 liter of water that had hammer perpeteum mixed in it. All told about 2000 calories for the entire event. Dylan had nearly the same breakfast and water consumption as me (he had more water) but he only ate a few shots and a few bars for the effort which was really impressive to me considering he outweighs me by ~15 pounds. I think his experiences on Siguniang taught him how to run on fumes for long periods of time Skander is right: we did have some hammer recoverite with us in camp which we did consume immediately after getting back to camp. Additionally we would have at least a liter a day of recoverite to fill any gaps in our nutrition that the glacier diet was creating (i.e. not as much fresh fruit and veggies) It is also worth noting neither of us consumed booze on the trip until we were back out in Talkeetna... I know climbers often like to celebrate post climb but honestly that is one of the worst things you can do to your body after a long climb especially if you hope to climb later in the trip. ***Soapbox Rant Warning: dont read past this point if you think doing anything but just climbing to train for climbing is stupid*** Though what you eat in AK will directly effect your performance as well as recovery time (like for us and ham and eggs) you can make much much more significant gains during the off season... things like making sure you get your recovery drink within the first 15 minutes of a hard workout... during this window all your capillaries are already dilated so that you get maximum delivery to the muscles. Additionally your diet in general during your training period will determine how well you slowly build glycogen stores. Taking the time and effort to do so will only reward you when your alpine event finally arrives. As a wise man often tells me "you will never outwork a shitty diet" And yes of course how you train (not what you do on a particular day) i.e. the bigger picture (rest days vs gym days vs climbing days) can have a great impact, positive or negative, to how you perform on your trip/event.

Nicely done dad. Very impressive.

Trip: Alaska - Great Gorge of the Ruth Glacier Date: 5/2/2010 Summary: April 29: PDX -> SEA -> ANC -> Talkeetna. April 30: Paul/TAT flew us to the Dickey camp early (~10 am); spent the day setting up camp and checking conditions on surrounding peaks. May 1: Skied up and down the great gorge of the Ruth Glacier; spent the day scoping potential lines. May 2: Combined a portion of Season of the Sun with the East Buttress of Mt Bradley via new/unclimbed terrain. May 3: Rest day: retrieved our skis from Bradley, more scouting. May 4: Ham and Eggs on Mooses Tooth from Dickey camp May 5: Picked up by TAT/returned to Talkeetna. Talkeetna -> ANC -> SEA -> PDX Southeast aspect of Mt Bradley Details/Pics: Due to unfortunate circumstances I was suddenly partnerless for AK only days before I was suppose to fly north. Fortunately a friend connected me with Dylan Johnson who, though couldn’t swing the full two weeks I had originally planned, could break away for a long week. Sometimes little is better than none. So for the second year running I met my AK partner for the very first time in the airport. We spent the 29th running the usual errands in ANC; Rob Smith was kind enough to provide shuttle service around town (thanks dude!) On the 30th Paul was able to zip us in before the predicted w/x arrived that afternoon. Fly TAT or budget more $$$ for booze at the Rib while you wait to fly Always always always call shotgun. Especially if it's your first time flying in. Home on in the range We bumped into Mr Jack Tackle at the Dickey camp; he was gracious enough to update us on snow conditions which unfortunately weren’t ideal. A dry, cold winter had yielded a lean selection of spring ice and recent spring snow had left many of the north facing aspects covered in unconsolidated sugar. With that in mind we spent the remainder of the 30th and the 1st studying the few lines that would have both minimal sugar snow but some amount of snow and ice. After some careful consideration we settled on the SE aspect of Bradley. Specifically we both liked the look of the Giri Giri boy’s April 2007 route Season of the Sun as well as the Orgler/Jochler July 1987 East Buttress. Frankly we were both more drawn to the aesthetics of the buttress but given that the lower portion of the buttress contained several sections of rock slab that were currently covered in sugar snow (it was originally climbed as a rock climb) we decided to see if we could somehow connect the lower portion of Season of the Sun with the upper portion of the buttress. Doing so would require covering some new terrain but we were both excited to see if we could get the combination to work. The East Buttress (left hand skyline) of Mt Bradley On May 2nd we got a slightly later start than originally planned due to an alarm clock failure but started Season of the Sun around 6 am. A sampler of neve sprinkled with rock and water ice steps passed quickly until we reached the Season of the Sun crux: an M6 offwidth. Early in the day Season of the Sun crux pitch Though we found noticeable less ice on the pitch than the FA party the pitch protected well and passed quickly. We continued up Season until reaching the second major ice pitch of the route that marks the start of the “central gully" It was here we left Season and pointed for what appeared to be a viable point to join the buttress. Snow slopes quickly turned into a series of mixed pitches before we found ourselves on the East Buttress. Mixed steps enroute to the East Buttress We continued up the East Buttress simulclimbing as often as possible but ended up pitching out much of the terrain. Near the top in order to avoid some cornices we had to deal with some deep unconsolidated sugar that slowed our pace but we finally topped out at 6 pm almost exactly 12 hours after leaving our skis. East Buttress Deep sugar enroute to the summit BOLTS ACTION Headed home We opted for the Wake/Bradley col for the descent as I was familiar with it from last year which unfortunately meant we basically had to traverse up over Bradley. Additionally reaching the col required avoiding several slopes that had been baking in the sun most of the day. This meant staying on top of the ridge line which created additional climbing and added to our descent time. 5 hours after leaving the summit we crossed the schrund and hightailed it back to camp. All told it was ~17 hours on route and ~19 camp to camp. As we never really had the leisure to stop and brew both Dylan and I completed the effort on a liter of water each. Good times. The 3rd was spent mostly rehydrating, refueling and looking at other options for a second route. Unfortunately nothing in the lower gorge appeared to be in desirable shape so we decided to take a run on Ham and Eggs on Mooses Tooth camp to camp. On the 4th we left camp on the 4th at 4 am and battled a stiff headwind up the glacier. We lucked out and found a boot pack up to the Root Canal. 2 hours and 45 minutes later we stopped just under the Mooses Tooth for a quick brew stop. After racking up Dylan led out and we started simulclimbing clipping rap anchors as we went. We quickly caught the other teams ahead of us (they had started from the Root Canal camp) and were forced to pitch things out as passing wasn’t really an option. Dylan scored a nap at one “pit stop”. Regardless of our slowed pace the route was in great shape so we enjoyed ourselves. Near the top of the couloir we punched it and passed all the other teams and took it to the summit: we wanted to make sure and be first on the way down. Dude... lets just do it tent to tent. I hate carrying bivy gear anyways... Pitch 1 Oh yes, is very nice! Traffic jam Dylan doing his best "A young Mark Westman" impersonation The descent went smooth and we were on our way and back in camp right at the 16 hour mark. We could have shaved a few hours off that if we had been first on the route but we were just stoked we didn’t have to hump bivy gear up to the root canal and back. Good times with great people back in camp On the 5th we called TAT at 8 am and they snapped us up at 9:30 right before the next storm rolled in. Did I mention how great these guys are? Back in Talkeetna we ran into these two guys that tried to get us drunk and steal all our secret projects but we were wise to their tactics. We were in ANC that afternoon and I had breakfast back in PDX on the 6th. Love it. Until next year Shameless Plugs: Many thanks to - Dylan for a great trip and taking a chance on a complete stranger. VERY NICE! - Mark Westman for all the condition updates and being a bad ass - Roj for hooking me up with Dylan: I don’t know what lies you told him about me but it worked and I owe you! - Rob for the ANC shuttle service. Most importantly: many thanks and much respect to Mark, Rob and Lisa of Gym Jones. I visited Gym Jones last July where they evaluated my strengths and weaknesses and based on those provided me both programming and guidance which resulted in reaching personal bests both in the gym as well as outside. For sports where power-to-weight ratio truly matters (like climbing) they have no peer. In addition to being experts in their field they are some of the most nurturing, gracious individuals I have ever met. All paths to the Way start in the mind. As words fail me I can only hope my actions fill in the blanks. Much Respect. Approach Notes: TAT

Beer is for climbers that cant nail the weather window :laf: GREAT video dude: looks like we just missed each other again this year.

Headed to Idaho but would love to connect next week... Tuesday? Wednesday?

Hey, John, is C2C car-to-car here? Thanks! Yeah. I've climbed SGC 4 times now and my average has been around 17 hours C2C... my best time is 14 for that route but that was with a boot pack on the entire approach, steps up the couloir and no rime/excessive snow on the ridge.

I've had one for a few years now. Great bag for trips you know you are going to get wet and/or routes you wont be able to set a tent up on.

Back when Mugs was living in SLC he would often find out where they would be bombing and then attempt to ski that area the day before or day of the bombing as it would always have "the deepest power" :laf:

Nice work you two... Tim (Crackman), Skander (Ropegoat) and myself climbed this on April 25th in similar conditions. I thought it would be a nice mellow warm up for AK but the amount of rime/snow we had to clear on each pitch resulted in it turning into a 23 hour C2C session... a little more than I was hoping for Still... a great time out Last pitch

Back in PDX this morning. Daniel + partner came out 2 days prior to Dylan and I going in (late March); I expect Daniel will have an excellent TR soon. Doug and Rob went in last Friday and will be there for at least a few weeks. A few other cc.comers are in or headed in soon.

Freezy nuts was climbed on May 1st; team of 3 reported mostly snow with little ice Ham and Eggs was climbed as recently as May 4th. Currently in great shape. Sub average snow pack this year. Enjoy

For what it is or isnt worth the SGC is currently not sporting an ice step so one could ski the entire thing without having to jump anything. Just thought I'd throw that out there

Sorry if we woke you up... we tried to be quiet going by. Nice work on the Sherpa

Anybody know anyone or perhaps them self traveling to Talkeetna from ANC on April 29th (this Thursday) or ANC from Talkeetna on May 6th or 7th? Would love to connect for possible ride. PM or email thanks

Anybody know if Mountaineer Creek Road is open yet?

On both trips up the pillar I took double ropes... next time Ill likely take a single + a tag line assuming my partner doesnt want to follow with the pack. I'm not sure what you mean by one night though...