JensHolsten

Super cool!!

First off. No offense taken Bill!! All good man, all good. Thx for pulling me in here I know my answer is kinda simplistic, but for me, this viewpoint helps me understand my decisions about pursuing climbing. I don’t want any illusions. For me, they are a disservice. I really think it’s important to recognize my fragile mortality everyday. I think it’s important to be grateful everyday for health, love, and happiness. Step three is to get out there and do what you love while trying to stay as safe as possible. But like I said above, there are things I don’t understand. I don’t think any of us would ever want our climbing friends to not follow their dreams (maybe I’m wrong?), but the pain is nearly unbearable when a friend is lost. Sometimes our actions in the wake of an accident may seem desperate and that’s ok. We are only human. When a close friend dies your heart may shatter into a million pieces. I’ve come to believe it’s about gathering the pieces that were scattered and putting yourself together again. The pieces won’t fit together quite the same way and that’s ok. Give yourself time (lots of time!) and keep inching forward. Reach out to the people who love you and let them support you. This is all I got after losing friends to both sickness and mountain accidents. I watched my mother die of cancer and Chad died by my side in a horrific accident on Fitz Roy. Both deaths were very traumatic for me and understanding how I can continue living and loving has been the theme of my life the past 10 years. It’s been beyond hard, but I’m as happy as I’ve ever been. I love myself and I’m learning to own my story. It is a wild journey. Sorry to take this thread a different direction. For me, I’ve been concerned about the boys in AK and I’ve applauded their climbing over the years too. As a lifelong climber still dedicated to the game, this seems totally natural to me. Just my take on it!

My name was mentioned above (I think). It seemed in reference to my ability to stay alive and climb in the mountains. Just to be clear: I’m alive because I’ve been lucky. No more, no less. Sure, I try to mitigate risk as much as possible, but when you are going for it in the mountains on a regular basis, the odds of an accident increase. Climbing is a dangerous sport. It always has been. Life is dangerous too. I know that for me, climbing and skiing in the mountains is absolutely worth it. That said, the pain is crushing when someone is lost. Absolutely crushing. I still don’t know how to make sense of it, but I’ve accepted that there are many things I’ll never wrap my head around in this lifetime.

Bellows-I have no idea how to get the pics from my phone to this forum, sorry. Maybe I misspoke. There is ice around. A lot of it is pretty crudy in my opinion, but it is ice. The big, classic, more difficult routes are not in. I do think it could snap into better shape if it got cold. I live near wenatchee...it's been really warm here. That said, it's different at Banks. I don't know...wa ice!

Spent 1/9 and 1/10 at Banks Lake...which was not in good shape. There was climbing to do, but Zenith, The Cable, and H202 were def not in...Some pitches that were forming fell down Saturday night too. Shitting Razorblades looked by far to be the most inspiring objective. We climbed the first pitch, but bailed on the second. The shower effect was too much. I couldn't look up to climb and became 100% soaked. Water was running into my jacket and pants and coming out down at my boots, filling them with water in minutes. It was "fun". I threaded off when hypothermia became a possibility. A classic weekend of WA ice! Temps were about 34 day and night. 6 inches of snow on the ground. The fog was unrelenting. If it actually gets cold, Banks won't take long to shape up...

Nicely done Kyle and Bryce!!

Right on guys! That's a really fun route...I've always wanted to climb the variation that blasts up the right side of the Fin, but never found it there. I've climbed another gully (crux of the route for sure!) just right of the "right side of the Fin" and twice finished on the upper Serpentine, which is also really fun mixed climbing. The north face of Dtail is loaded with options!

Really cool guys. Hats off!

You're right Kevino, this is a great window for many objectives in the Cascades. I hope to see some folks getting after it!!

Thank you Lowell!

I got into the Stuart Range this past weekend. Conditions were trying on the approach with nearly every slippery step on glass like ice...Once I got above 6,000 feet I found variable snow, from squeaky neve to shin deep wind packed pow. The Northwest Buttress isn't the hardest route around but it's varied and beautiful, making for a good winter climb. Check out the report: http://www.jensholsten.blogspot.com/2013/12/patagonia-tune-up-first-winter-ascent.html

I did a little writing about some of the ice I've been climbing recently. Nothing spectacular, but super fun none the less. Hope everyone is having fun swinging the tools out there! http://www.jensholsten.blogspot.com/2013/12/here-today-gone-tomorrow-week-of.html

unbelievably inspiring. Thx Mark!

You been on the rig slab_master? That would be cool! Yep that equation is about right, except the second boulder problem may be as hard as V7 or V8, which is why I'm not totally sure of the grade. I know for sure the second bp is harder than V5 though It's tough in L-town because everything is so short, so the grade really depends on a translation from the V system.

Hey Pete- In the film I give it 12+. I really don't know though...somewhere between 12c and 13b?? The film shows every move...give it a go and tell me what ya think! It really is a fine route. For sure, the best cragging pitch I've ever established.

Thought I would post a link to a film my friend Max Hasson made of a route I established this fall in the Icicle. It's not often that we get a modern look into rock climbing around Leavenworth. It's not all slabs and low angle bumps of rock! It's wasn't a cutting edge route or anything even remotely close, but it was beautiful and fun. Try it! The link:

Hi guys- A friend and I climbed the NBC on Colchuck on Sunday. We found it to be in awesome shape. The first half of the route was characterized by super fun steps of ice and mixed climbing. We punched steps up beautiful crisp snow on the upper half. If temps stay low and no storms roll in, this route should remain in shape (maybe even get better) through the weekend. I thought it was the most fun fall ice route I've done in the range. There is lots of ice around the range, although it seemed to thin/young (to me) for hard and steep climbing. It seems to be the easier routes shape up best in the fall. The ice is thin, but the climbing low angle enough to deal with it. I would suspect the NE Coulior on Argonaut, the NE Coulior on Sherpa, and the NE Coulior of D-tail could all be good to go right now. Get some!!

Just my two cents...and no, I am no more a local to Castle than any other person who ties in there. The whole "local" mentality is bs in my opinion. I do not appreciate seeing new bolts at Castle Rock (unless they were placed by the first ascentionist or with their direct blessing). There are so many places where it is appropriate to place bolts, but Castle is the last place in the state where things like this should be happening. I've climbed all the mentioned routes many times without the convenience of the new anchors. I never, ever, ever even thought about bolts being needed in these spots. It all seemed pretty "convenient" to me in the first place. John and Shaun: you guys are my friends and I really don't care about the new bolts you guys placed, but I wouldn't have played my cards the way you did. See you out there!

Hope to see you there!!

Great job guys!!

Oh man! No good. If anyone is heading up that way, get a hold of me (jensholsten@gmail.com) and I'll provide the hardware for replacement. I won't be able to make it up to CBR until October (if at all), but I will fix it if I'm able. You like the route Max?

Nice guys!!

really stoked to hear about this one...looks like a fantastic route! Nice work guys!

Thanks for the cool shot Darrin...really neat. A bit torturous too, as out of all those peaks, my eyes are immediately drawn to the Ottohorn and Frenzilspits. They taunt me every day A few people have asked about gear and food so here is the breakdown with a few thoughts. Food: We left the trailhead with 14 lbs of food each. We each ate around 3,000 calories a day. Of course that's not enough, but it seemed to be adequate in relation to weight we were willing to carry. I don't think I could have eaten more during the day...we were always on the move. We rarely rested more than five minutes, so any food we did put down was gu/energy gels or bars out of the pocket as we were on the move. At night, I ate a freeze dried meal and snacked on a bag of trail mix. Fuel and Stove: We had a 1 liter MSR Reactor and three fuel canisters. We kinda fucked up on this one...We were too conservative with our fuel early on (it lead us to skip the Ottohorn and Frenzilspitz), fearing that we would run out later in the trip as we expected the Northern section of the traverse to take much longer than it did. In retrospect, we had plenty of fuel. That said, with the bad weather in the latter days of the trip, we were glad to have a little extra as we thought it was possible we would be pinned down in a storm somewhere or have to drop into some god forsaken valley for a day or two if we became hypothermic in a rain storm on the ridge. We didn't quite get the fuel thing right...how often do you pack for a 7-10 day climb? We just weren't sure how much to bring... We each had 35 pound, 30 liter packs to start the trip with. In our packs we had food, a bit of clothing, a small butt pad (pad that slides into the back of the inside of the pack), a super light sleeping bag, and of course climbing gear. We had a small sill nylon tarp for protection from the weather. For clothing, I had a wind jacket, a very light (not a puffy or anything) synthetic piece, a synthetic vest, sholar pants, and very light rain pants. Chad had less, but he is tougher than I am In retrospect, we should have each brought a sleeping pad and some long underwear. Both items would have been very helpful. We left the car with a double set to a red Camelot and one yellow Camelot. We had a solid set of nuts, one knifeblade, 10 shoulder lengths, two double lengths, and 60 feet of 5 mil rap cord. We used an 8.9 80 meter rope. On several rappels it was crucial to have all 80 meters of rope. We each wore La Sportiva Boulder X hightops, a shoe/boot that is adequate for climbing rock and steep snow. We had light strap on crampons and one light axe each. Sorry this breakdown isn't too technical or anything, but it should give you an idea...

Stoker! I'm all chips in!