Jason_Martin

I've already posted this in the events forum, but the UN General Assembly has identified December 11th as International Mountain Day. The American Alpine Institute is doing a series of events (rock rescue clinics and a party) in Bellingham to celebrate the day and to raise money for Index. If you're interested in the event, click here. But if you're not interested in the AAI event, it's still worth knowing about the International Mountain Day and trying to take some time out of your day to think about the value of mountains not just as recreation resources, but also as engines of water production and the home to many distinct mountain cultures. Obviously as climbers we already value mountains and see what they provide. But International Mountain Day is a good time to promote the mountains and their value to your non-climber friends. It's also a good time to donate to the mountain causes that you care about, but have kept putting off...whether it's the WCC, the Access Fund, or a cultural charity for mountain people, it's just a good time to think about that stuff... Anyway, I probably sound like an NPR fundraising drive, but I do think it's cool that there has been a day dedicated to the mountains and mountain people. I think that it's something that we all should try to embrace and promote... What do you guys think? Jason

We're looking for more people for our rescue clinics! This is a great opportunity to learn what to do if something goes wrong in the mountains. And you simply can't beat the pay-what-you can price. To register, go to: International Mountain Day Rock Rescue If you don't know if you can make it, it's okay to just show up without registering. The clinics will be 8-10, 10-12 and 1-3 at the YMCA in Bellingham. And of course, we have an awesome evening event planned with phenomenal raffle prizes set-up to start at 8 at New York Pizza...! If you have any questions at all, please email info@aai.cc or call 360-671-1505. Jason

Here are a few samples from our slideshows. This first photo is from Alasdair Turner. This is one of his black and white photos of climbers on Denali. This second photo from Alan Kearney shows a couple of climbers on the summit of Mount Triumph with the Southern Pickets in the background. This should be an awesome event! Jason

The International Mountain Day Index Benefit is almost on us. Our festival will run next week in Bellingham at the YMCA and at New York Pizza. Rock Rescue Clinics Our two-hour rescue clinics have a value of $80 each. We will be asking for a pay-what-you-can donation to attend the clinics, with a recommended donation of $25. Space is limited in the clinics and so we would like attendees to pre-register. This can be done at our International Mountain Day website at: http://www.aai.cc/imd You will see a red button on the left-hand side, which says “Register Online.” Click on that to Register. New York Pizza Party At 8pm on December 11th, Alasdair Turner and Alan Kearny will do slideshows. Both of these individuals are absolutely fantastic mountain photographers and the slideshows will be nothing less than awesome. Alasdair’s slideshow will be on “Ascents in the Alaska Range" and Alan’s show will be “The First Ascent of McMillian Spire’s Northeast Buttress and Climbs in the Pickets.” Our auction will be very limited. We are going to auction off three guides who can work with you on whatever skills you’d like to work on. Each of them are donating a day to the cause. Two of the three are ski guides as well as mountain guides. All are proficient in teaching skills as varied as rock rescue to multi-pitch transitions to basic rock or ice. And all three are awesome people to hang out with. The value of a guide day with one of these individuals is $350. The guides that we will be auctioning off are Forest McBrian, Kevin Hogan and Justin Wood. Everybody who purchases one or more raffle tickets on site will get an evening ski pass for Stevens Pass as long as supplies last. However, if you would like to participate in the auction from afar, this is possible. Just give us a call at 360-671-1505. Raffle tickets will be $5 each. --Subscriptions to Rock and Ice --Registration to Red Rock Rendezvous --Matted Picture of Denali by Photographer Alasdair Turner --AIARE Avalanche I Course --Three Day Mount Baker Skills and Ascent --Signed Copy of Classic Climbs of the Northwest --Signed Copy of Washington Ice: A Climbing Guide --Signed Copy of Fun Climbs Red Rocks: Topropes and Moderates --Kayland Apex Rock Mountaineering Boots --Petzl Rope and Harness --Night at the Icicle Inn with 4 lift tickets package, Stevens Pass --Day Pass Lift Tickets to Stevens Pass --Ski gloves --Giro Helmet --TBD Nate Doggg Snowboard --Headlamps --More stuff from Black Diamond, Egear, and Alpine Aire. We are getting more and more cool stuff donated to this event every day. Current Event Sponsors Include: Rock and Ice, Red Rock Rendezvous, New York Pizza, the YMCA, the Access Fund, Alpine Aire, Stevens Pass, Black Diamond, Egear and Petzl. You can just show-up to either of the events, but be aware that space is limited. If you have any questions, email info@aai.cc or call 360-671-1505 or log onto: International Mountain Day Index Benefit Jason

Learn to Ice Climb

More Information about our International Mountain Day Index Benefit Event can be found here! Should be a tremendous amount of fun!!!! Please feel free to email info@aai.cc or call 360-671-1505 for more information. Jason

I just came across this on Supertopo this morning: While I didn't really know Sean, I met him a couple times and he was a really nice guy. What a terrible thing for his family. Jason

Most people have no idea what the International Mountain Day is. We didn't know either. That is, until we got an email from the UIAA at the American Alpine Institute, reminding us about this important day. How could we not know about this? How could we not know that there is an entire holiday dedicated to the world's mountains, and by extension, to the world's mountaineers and climbers? So we thought, how better to celebrate International Mountain Day than by putting on a climbing oriented event and party? And what better thing to support with the money generated by the event than the Washington Climber's Coalition and the fund to buy Index in order to make it a permanent climber's park? The details are still scarce, but the American Alpine Institute will be sponsoring an array of events in Bellingham on December 11th. We will be running rock rescue clinics at the rock wall at the YMCA in Bellingham all day on December 11th. The two-hour clinics -- with a market value of of over 70 dollars each -- will be run on a donation basis with all proceeds going to the Index fund. We are going to ask for a "what-you-can-afford" donation, with a recommendation of $25 per person. We will be putting together a webpage to preregister for the clinics over the next week or so. In the evening, we will have a slideshow/auction/raffle/party at New York Pizza and Bar in Bellingham. All proceeds from the raffle and the auction will go to the Index fund. In addition to that, 10% of all the food and alcohol receipts from the night will also be donated! The details of this event are still coming together. We're hoping to bring you a lot more information on our International Mountain Day Festival and fundraiser in the very near future. If you have any questions about the event, please feel free to call us at 360-671-1505 or email info@aai.cc. Jason

While AAI is not a local company, our lead guide in Ouray is a local. And of course, once again, Dawn did win the ice festival competition. She is very very good... Jason

The American Alpine Institute runs courses in Ouray with Dawn Glanc, the winner of last year's ice festival in the women's division. To read about all of our ice options, check out: Ice Courses Going to an ice festival is a good way to get a little experience for a little money. But climbing festivals tend to be high guide to climber ratio events. You'll get a lot more bang for your buck if you hire a guide for a few days. Jason

The best way to start is to take some lessons: http://www.aai.cc/Programs/Group/ice/ Jason

To get authorized permitting from any land agency in the United States or Canada, you will need liability insurance. Most places require a policy of either 500k or 1 million dollars per occurrence. If you work for a school, and you take any money at all for taking people out, land managers consider you to be a guide and you have to have a permit. If you get caught guiding without a permit or if you have an accident on public land without a permit, things are going to get very very nasty. Jason

How to Build a V-Thread Ice Anchor The Ice Bollard Jason

Lots of backcountry skis in the shop. A few pairs of ice tools. Lots of crampons. Lots of tents. A bunch of trekking poles. Some rock shoes. Deals abound! Check it out this weekend! Jason

Rocky_Joe, They're still going through the inventory, but they just confirmed that we have Quarks, Vipers and Reactors for sale. Blake, Forest is down in Red Rocks, but I know we could definitely sell a lot more stuff if he were at the sale and looking at everybody over his glasses like that! Jason

Dawn is awesome. Wish I could make it! Dawn Receives AMGA President's Award Dawn Appears on the Weather Channel Dawn wins the Ouray Ice Festival Dawn on the Cover of Alpinist Jason

The American Alpine Institute will run its annual gear sale on October 10th and 11th from 9am to 6pm. Save up to 75% on rental gear! Save 15% on all new store merchandise! Get a free AAI t-shirt with any purchase of $100 or more! Photo by Steve Smith. The Equipment Shop at the American Alpine Institute may be found at 1513 12th street, Bellingham, Washington, 98225. For more information, please call 360-671-1570. Jason

Neither of them had very good knowledge of mountain rescue techniques at the time that this happened. The whole thing could have been managed better...and if it were, Simon wouldn't have ended up in the situation that he ended up in... I've said this in the past and got jumped on because the route was so difficult. But the reality is that they pulled off an ascent that was way out of their league at the time and then got messed up on the descent. It's amazing that both of them survived... Jason

FYI... For those who have friends who will be at this event and that you would like to have trained...or if you yourself are a beginner and would like some free training this weekend... The American Alpine Institute is running an American Mountain Guides Association Single Pitch Instructor Exam this weekend at Leavenworth. We are currently seeking individuals who would like to play the role of student for the exam candidates on Sunday, September 27th. Primarily we are interested in climbers who haven't spent a great deal of time outdoors. The exam candidates will provide a day's worth of climbing instruction to those who are interested under the supervision of an AMGA Certified Rock Guide for free. The American Mountain Guides Association (AMGA) Single Pitch Instructor Course and exam is the first in the AMGA sequence of climbing instructor and guide training programs. The SPI course was designed to help capable recreational climbers transition into capable and effective climbing instructors. The course focuses on the technical skills required by an instructor as they are applied in all forms of single pitch climbing instruction. In addition to this, the course addresses the essential educational and environmental tenets required to teach climbing. Those seeking certification may go on to take a two day field examination following the course. Certified Single Pitch Instructors are expected to demonstrate the technical and educational proficiencies necessary to instruct a variety of single pitch rock climbing skills in a safe and effective manner to both groups and individuals To read more about the AMGA Single Pitch Instructor course and exam, please click on the following link: http://www.aai.cc/ProgramDetail/spi/ If you would like to participate in this guide assessment as a mock student and to obtain some free training, please call me at: 360-671-1505 Thanks, Jason Martin

The American Alpine Institute is running an American Mountain Guides Association Single Pitch Instructor Exam this weekend at Leavenworth. We are currently seeking individuals who would like to play the role of student for the exam candidates on Sunday, September 27th. Primarily we are interested in climbers who haven't spent a great deal of time outdoors. The exam candidates will provide a day's worth of climbing instruction to those who are interested under the supervision of an AMGA Certified Rock Guide for free. The American Mountain Guides Association (AMGA) Single Pitch Instructor Course and exam is the first in the AMGA sequence of climbing instructor and guide training programs. The SPI course was designed to help capable recreational climbers transition into capable and effective climbing instructors. The course focuses on the technical skills required by an instructor as they are applied in all forms of single pitch climbing instruction. In addition to this, the course addresses the essential educational and environmental tenets required to teach climbing. Those seeking certification may go on to take a two day field examination following the course. Certified Single Pitch Instructors are expected to demonstrate the technical and educational proficiencies necessary to instruct a variety of single pitch rock climbing skills in a safe and effective manner to both groups and individuals To read more about the AMGA Single Pitch Instructor course and exam, please click on the following link: http://www.aai.cc/ProgramDetail/spi/ If you would like to participate in this guide assessment as a mock student and to obtain some free training, please call me at: 360-671-1505 Thanks, Jason Martin

That's what I'm talking about. Thanks Buckaroo! Jason

I guess I wouldn't say don't try it. Instead, I would say to just be aware that some parties have had trouble with it. The topo definitely refers to multiple rappels as does the SW BC book. The most helpful thing for everyone here would be to stop calling names and for someone who nailed the descent to amend the topo for future climbers. Jason

We did it about three weeks ago and there was water on the approach and slightly above the forest on the descent. There was no water on route. The gullies I rapped were in the crux routefinding section part II. Crux routefinding part I was straight forward and simple. Part II was a lot more complex. The beta isn't quite right in either the Southwest book or in the topo. You might find our rap stations, but be prepared to surrender a bit of gear. We did go down through the woods low on the descent, but never found the flagging. This wasn't really a big deal though. The big deal on the descent was crux routefinding number II on the topo I posted. However, it does sound like people have somehow completely avoided that section. Jason

Marc, Did you look at the topo I posted? It clearly says to go down those gullies. Obviously, it's not a great topo if there is a better way to go. Jason

Marc, You must be really really really good. Thanks for putting me in my place. I must be really really bad. It was really nice of you to point out my deficiencies. I'll be sure to keep them in mind. I don't get the flaming on the internet. Is this what you want to hear from someone you don't know? This is a legitimate thread that should be kept clear of this kind of junk. I actually feel pretty comfortable with new routing. I've got about thirty FAs...mostly in spots where the descent was the crux. I guess I could keep spraying about myself, but then this would turn into another useless dick measuring thread... The Crossover Descent isn't new routing. Indeed, based on all the feedback I saw on the net prior to our experience this is a well-traveled descent. But as I stated, it's likely that people are going all over that ridge and as a result a trail has not begun to form. Had I been aware of this, I wouldn't have been looking for a trail or for carins. I guess the take-home point of this entire thread for the person who is thinking of this descent, is that it could be cruxy...but if you nail it spot on, could be okay... Jason