Jed Williamson enroute to Tuckerman Ravine in Spring 2008

We are excited to announce that Jed Williamson, past president of the AAC and celebrated member of our community, has recently been awarded the first annual Charles (Reb) Gregg Award for Wilderness Risk Management. View the press release here.

Congratulations, Jed.

The Green River Towers.

The irrepressible Rob Pizem sent us this trip report from a desert crack-climbing adventure in September along the Green River in Utah.

Most of the time when you prepare for a climbing trip, you pore over guidebooks, look at photos, and talk to everyone you know about what climbs you should try. Our recent Green River trip was just the opposite. There were no recorded ascents (just rumors), no developed areas (just miles of cliff line), and you needed a boat or 4WD to access everything.

As usual, Andrew Burr had concocted this adventure. He, Pete Vintoniv, Orin Salah, and I were going to canoe down the Green River, just north of Canyonlands National Park, and try to climb the Green River Towers and anything else that looked good.

During the first three days of our trip, we used the canoes to access a cliff line across the river where we found two old uranium-mining adits, a bunch of relic equipment, some petrified wood, ripple marks, and of course a few gem crack climbs. Andy took photos while we had the pleasure of climbing, cleaning, and bolting these new lines. It was great fun using the spotting scope to identify a possible crack climb and then paddle over, scramble up the talus to check it out, and hopefully get lucky. Read the rest of this entry »

Conrad recently came through town as part of TNF Speaker Series. Thanks to Renan Ozturk for this film of him on Eldorado Canyon’s Naked Edge. Enjoy.

A Day in the Life from renan ozturk on Vimeo.

On October 9, PBS host Bill Moyers aired a tribute to his friend Dr. Charles Houston, who died September 27 at age 96. Moyers replayed an interview with Houston from 2004, filled with historical images and footage, and you can play the clip, read a good biography of Houston, and find other tidbits at the Bill Moyers Journal website.  We liked this passage, when Moyers asked Houston what drew him to climbing: “It’s a beautiful thing to do. You’re surrounded by beauty. No matter whether it’s a storm, or a sunny day, or clouds, or not, the mountains are simply beautiful. I’ve never been a great climber. I’m just a competent climber, and I know my limits. But I love getting out and doing it.”

In the late summer of 2006, Lizzy Scully and I were in Pakistan on a climbing trip off of the Biofo Glacier. After Lizzy sustained a debilitating injury up on the glacier we accepted our cooks offer and headed to his village/Khane, where we were greeted by some of the most amazing people that we had ever met. We constantly had a stream of little kids and women following us and touring us about the village as we quickly bonded and became what felt like new best friends.

We soon saw the deplorable conditions of the girls’ school in striking contrast to the white washed walls of the boys’ government run school, and wondered what we could do to help this situation. Upon our return to the U.S. we sought out partners with whom to collaborate, but found only roadblocks. We felt our compassion swelling for this community and others that we had wandered through over the years, and thus the idea was born. We would give back by starting a non-profit that worked closely with local communities to help build educational opportunities for girls and women in these underserved areas. This was the start of Girls Education International, which now has three running partnerships in areas of Liberia, Pakistan and Nepal. We work with local established NGO’s that have a similar mission to our own and are primarily female run, which helps us to ensure that our projects have longevity. It also assists us to empower these local organizations to achieve their goals and to bring girls and women the opportunity to receive education which would not otherwise be afforded to them.

Lizzy Scully and Heidi Wirtz with girls in Pakistan. Heidi Wirtz.

We are now holding our second annual fundraiser, Beats for Books, on next Tuesday, October 27th at The Spot Bouldering Gym. Please come join us for an amazing evening including a presentation by Lynn Hill, refreshments by Sherpas, Whole Foods, Oskar Blues and Market Street Liquor, a huge silent auction (over 60 items: art, mountain photography, outdoor gear, services, body work and more), family climbing clinics, music by Dirt Monkey, a live auction of famous climbers, bikers and photographers, and films by Boulder Adventure Films. This is a night not to miss! Your support will help give a girl an education that she would otherwise never receive.

I hope to see you there!

Thank you,

Heidi Wirtz

Please visit our website for more information: www.girlsed.org

Salt Lake City photographer Nathan Smith shot portraits of dozens of climbers at the 2009 Craggin’ Classic in Big Cottonwood Canyon. Know everyone here? The person who emails Smith with the most complete list of names of these climbers, in order, will win an 8 x 10 print of his or her choice. Deadline is October 25; click here to send your list.

A while back, we reported on the Afghan team attempting to climb their country’s highest peak, Noshaq. Check out the video below for the story of their expedition and summit celebration. Congratulations to this team on a very important climb for the country of Afghanistan.

http://www.france24.com/en/20091006-summit-hope-afghanistan-rock-climbing-whakan-mountain-expedition

AAC member Douglas Fields, a neuroscientist from Maryland, has published a very interesting report in the October issue of Outside magazine about studies of mountaineers’ brain scans. It’s long been known that mountaineers may experience some permanent changes in their brains—and resulting loss of function—after climbing to extremely high altitudes without supplementary oxygen. But a Spanish neuroradiologist and his colleagues are documenting abnormalities in the brains of climbers on peaks as low as Mont Blanc (15,771 feet). You can read the article here.

In search of specific advice for climbers, we contacted Fields, who said,”The take-home message for climbers is to take altitude illness (even relatively mild illness) seriously, and acclimatize properly. No more running from sea level to 10,000 feet in a day with a splitting case of AMS for me! Of course there will be situations (changing weather, etc.) that will require you to take the additional risk of a rapid ascent, but climbers should know this is the exception and that they are assuming this risk to avoid a greater one.

Fields elaborated in an email: “Here are some more thoughts that might be of special relevance to the AAC community. Maybe we can build on this and make some changes for the better. These are only my opinions, and many climbers will have other views.” Read the rest of this entry »

At last weekend’s Craggin’ Classic, Alex Honnold accepted the Bates Award by video courtesy of Cedar Wright. Check it out below.

***Please be warned, there are a fair amount of f-bombs dropped throughout- the video is unedited.

Alex Honnold Accepts the AAC’s Bates Award from Cedar Wright on Vimeo.

The 2009 International Climbers' Meet participants, who ended their week at the Craggin' Classic. They represent twelve countries, and came together for a week of climbing the cracks of Utah's Indian Creek.

More than 200 climbers from over 13 different countries flocked to Salt Lake City this past weekend to celebrate climbing at the AAC’s 2nd Annual Craggin’ Classic. With extraordinary help from the Salt Lake Climber’s Alliance and AAC industry partners, the rotating annual event dove into the deep community of Wasatch climbing. Locals climbed next to pros, Italian climbers swapped beta with climbers from Japan, and young guns gave tips to climbers from the 60′s (on routes those climbers put up themselves in the 60′s!).

Zac Robinson, an SLCA volunteer, organized the locals-only tours and Sessions with the Pros.

Salt Lake City's Tolchok Trio kept the crowd dancing Saturday night.

Friday night, climbers flocked into Big Cottonwood Canyon for the festival’s kickoff at Brighton Ski Resort’s Milly Chalet. Twenty-four international climbers, fresh from a week of crack-climbing in Indian Creek, arrived on the scene ready to see how American climbers celebrate. Petzl athletes and SLCA volunteers served a dinner sponsored by Petzl and Mountain Khakis, and attendees enjoyed wine provided by Redwood Creek and local microbrews from wind-powered Uinta Brewery.

After dinner, Jonathan Thesenga presented Alex Honnold with the Club’s Bates Award for outstanding achievement by a young climber. Alex accepted via video, cracking up the crowd. Brian Smoot then took the stage with slides chronicling golden years of climbing around Salt Lake City. Up next was Steve House, sharing photos and stories from his book, Beyond the Mountain. Andrew Burr finished the night with a fast-paced show that embraced the wild diversity of climbing.

The next morning, down-clad climbers huddled around coffee and breakfast sponsored by the North Face, getting ready to head out to the area crags. An all-star cast of SLC locals came out to lead five-star locals-only tours in Big and Little Cottonwood Canyons, and many attendees took advantage of Utah Mountain Guides-sponsored Sessions with the Pros — clinics with Kitty Calhoun, Kate Rutherford, Jasmin Caton, Caroline George, Mikey Schaefer, Steve House, Nancy Feagin and Cedar Wright. The day turned bright and crisp: perfect for sending. Saturday evening saw everyone back up at Brighton for dinner, music and libations of choice. Black Diamond’s own Use As Is and the Tolchok Trio kept everyone dancing until the place shut down.

The SLCA rallied climbers for a number of service projects on Sunday. The Craggin’ Classic wrapped up in style Sunday evening with a film fest and billiard championships at Brewvies in SLC. Stay tuned for the location of next year’s Classic, and check out Chris Dickey’s video of this year’s event.

Read more reviews at Alpinist Magazine and Rock and Ice as well.

Craggin Classic 2009 from Chris Dickey on Vimeo.