- Photo from the Angela Hawse Collection at Marmot
This is the second feature Angela Hawse has written for Chicks this week, with her earlier report on the “Spirit of Service” available here. In this blog Angela talks about the basic fundamentals required to be effective at anything in life – be it a high-altitude alpine ascent or leading a team of co-workers. Thanks for the insight Angela! Great stuff
A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to fly from the Tetons down to Colorado Springs to deliver a Keynote Speech and run a team initiative challenge for a small group of 20 regional leaders for Taco Bell. They put me up at the famous and luxurious Broadmoor Hotel and we spend a great day exploring Manitou Springs and doing a Mission Impossible Team Challenge together.
Over the past 4 years I’ve worked a few gigs like this with Corporate Teams as a Keynote Speaker for a range of Leadership Development Conferences with large corporations, such as the Chicago Federal Reserve Bank, Taco Bell and Yum! Brands. These gigs are always interesting and never the same.
The woman who runs Corporate Teams, Liz Hafer was a client of mine that Kim Reynolds hooked me up with, years ago to ice climb in Ouray. After spending the day together and hearing of my adventures and expeditions, Liz was super enthusiastic about bringing me on board to work with her in developing high functioning teams with her program at Corporate Teams.
Initially I wondered what I had to offer top executives and high powered managers about leadership and teamwork. After my first keynote, with them on the edge of their seats with enthusiasm and questions about my expedition and life experiences I knew I was a good fit.
Fundamentally it all comes down to the simple things that matter to be effective with anything in life, especially teamwork; communication, listening skills, problem-solving, decision-making, taking risks and managing stress under adversity. Alpine mountaineering and particularly Himalayan Expeditions bring out the best or the worst in leadership and teamwork. I’ve experienced both sides over the past two decades of leading expeditions, with over 20 high altitude expeditions under my belt. Each one different, each one challenging in its own right.
Looking back and having the chance to reflect on some of my experiences in preparing for my talks I know I certainly have grown and learned from my many endeavors. Rarely do I take the time to stop and think about what I’ve done, and where I’ve been. It’s been a real gift to go back to the past and reap rewards again in sharing stories and experiences with others.
Chicks Climbing, and especially Chicks with Picks has certainly been a foundation for me over the years and I treasure the relationships and experiences I’ve had with so many women, during the clinics and on adventures further afield. After my busy guiding season in the Tetons, which I am grateful for, I’m really looking forward to the upcoming Chicks Rock! clinics in WI and WV! Hope to see you there!
The following is a guest post from Chicks alumna Carolyn Riccardi, who has generously shared the trip report from her experience a couple weeks ago alpine climbing in the Northern Cascades.
But it’s much more than just a trip report, it’s an open and honest piece about climbing and its challenges, especially training the mind and the body. Her beautiful slide show immediately follows, but please don’t skip a word of this compelling piece.
“I know the pieces fit. I know the pieces fit. I know the pieces fit. I know the pieces fit.”
I can remember being the happiest kid in all of Flatlands, Brooklyn after a heavy snow would fall in the winter. I would walk for hours and hours to find the biggest snow piles in the freshly plowed parking lots of the Kings Plaza shopping mall a few miles from my home. With the wind picking up off the water and light fading fast, I would throw myself, again and again, down the grey and black snow hills. And proclaim to all those within earshot that I was king of this snow pile. My gloves would been soaked with ice water, my cloth jacket weighted heavy from the wet snow and the leather on my pumas cracked from nights of thawing them out too close to the radiator. The Kings Plaza parking lot or the empty land fills in Georgetown were about as far as I could get from home when I was 11 years old. They were as close to nature and the mountains as you might get in the southern tip of Brooklyn. I was trying to touch something out there. Something in the cold was comforting. Something in the cold made me alive.
I am not Rested. Relaxed. Or satisfied. I look in the mirror and I see compromise. I look back on my trip and I am gripped by every little mistake I made. Everytime I was too tired to contribute fully. The leads I passed up. The many times my head felt heavy with exhaustion. Too drained. Too tired. Too sore to think straight. Is this alpine climbing? Am I totally over my head? I note half measures in my training. Crossfit. Long hikes. Runs. Bikes. Where did I go wrong? How can I be so fit and not fit enough to keep it together? What I did and what I could have done but didn’t. What sounds good on paper, in books and in training journals. I look at my photographs and I see all the mistakes I made. A week later my body is still wreck. My hair and skin feel dry. My shins are brushed, scratched with one nice size puncture wound that continues to pain me. Always a slow healer, the past week I am healing at a glacier’s pace. I want look at my photos and feel pleasure. I want to look at myself and just be pleased with myself. I want to be 100% proud at being an alpine badass. But I don’t.
Last week my friend Ryan Stefiuk (bigfootmountainguides.com) and I headed to the Northern Cascades to climb some classic alpine routes in Washington State. For me the Cascades seem to be a natural stepping stone into larger climbing objectives in the lower 48. While some friends practice aid for Yosemite and others head to sport climbing areas that are close to beaches and bikinis, I look for a great white and chilly reprieve from the sweltering humidity of New York State.
Mt. Shuksan
Ryan and I planned on two routes for our trip. The North face of Mt. Shuksan and the Mt. Torment to Forbidden Peak Traverse from the Boston Basin. On Shuksan we concluded the No. Face was getting too much sun and the snow far too soft so we opted instead to ascend the White Salmon Glacier to the top of Willey’s Slide. From here we would be in a good position to get an early start and make a summit push if we desired on our third day. The crux of the route ended up being the gnarly approach where a bulldozer and a machete was needed to battle the dreaded Cascades Slide Alder. the approach to the white salmon glacier is called a Bushwhack grade 4 or BW 4 by our friends in the Alpine Club of Canada.. A BW 4 is defined as “Pace less than one mile per hour. Leather gloves and heavy clothing required to avoid loss of blood. Much profanity and mental anguish. Thick stands of brush requiring circumnavigation are encountered.” Friends I lost some blood on this one. It was 4 grueling hours of punishment though we might have made it in 3 if we hadn’t gotten slightly lost).
While the first two days the temps were perfect on the evening of the second night at our small exposed bivy on Willey’s there was a shift. I woke up freezing around two am shaking from the wind and the cold. The formerly clear night was gone and it seemed like we were in a dense cloud with winds whipping down Hells Highway onto our camp. I was freezing. I technically had great gear. I had an excellent clothing system (MHW chockstone jacket, Patagonia capilene top and Nano puff pullover. Patagonia wool and Marmot Scree Pants) and sleeping gear (EMS 25 degree down bag, MHW bivy shell) for the 30 degree temps but i think after two full days on the move I was unable to generate enough heat to be warm during the rest of the night. I had to shake out repeatly to stave off the chills a few times before day light but was able to feel okay-ish in the morning. By the time we broke camp without breakfast or coffee we were in a full hail storm. The descent down Fisher Chimneys proved an ample white out navigation challenge as we tried to move as fast as possible in wet cold. Having never been in a white out before and wondering if my body wasn’t getting a little hypothermic I was starting to get a little nervous. Experience and a solid skill set is everything Cascades as Ryan taught me a thing or two about navigating us down the rest of the Fisher Chimneys as we made it back onto the Lake Anne trail. We soon made it to the town of Sedro-Woolley and filled our belly’s with pizza and beer.
Schism: The Mt. Torment to Forbidden Peak Traverse “The poetry, That comes from the squaring off between, And the circling is worth it, Finding beauty in the dissonance”
As I describe the very exposed 50 degree snow/ice traverse, the crux of the route, to my friends Jason and Courtney over a lazy brunch in New Paltz, Court meets my eyes and she asks me if I cried during the climb. It’s the first time anyone has asked and I feel a sense of comfort in her question. “Oh yeah,” I say “a bunch of times.” She says she would have done the same. Kathy Cosley and Mark Houston describe steep snow climbing as “a common Achilles heel” among alpinists and I would agree. Though I have a passion for ice and snow most I spend most of my time playing in both in the winters of the north east. Climbing on the exposed crux of the TFT was a humbling education.
The TFT almost didn’t happen as we arrived at the Marblemount Ranger Station only to find out there were no permits for the Boston Basin. Both Ryan and I had been to the BB on previous trips and there was something comforting in heading back into familiar terrain in the second leg of our trip. Now with no permit available we opted for the Torment Basin a considerable steeper and more challenging approach with little water available for the first 3,000 feet. My stomach did a little backflip as I filled out the paperwork and half read the approach description in the guide book.
The approach was all uphill, steep, soft dirt in a densely wooded forrest with no water until you make it to the Basin. We made good time but it was hard work. Every step was earned. We made our camp in the late afternoon and I felt good as we made dinner and absorbed the stunning views of Mt. Johannesburg and Eldorado Peak. We got to bed as early as you can when its bright day light until 10pm, knowing we would be getting a 3am alpine start the next day. Day two proved to be the crux as we made fast time to the summit of Mt. Torment only to have a hard time finding the notch to the small glacier on the north side of the ridge. The route finding challenges are definitely on the first half of the Traverse with easier exposed 4th class climbing over loose rock done after the snow/ice section of the route. After completing the aforementioned snow and ice crux on the traverse we made a welcome bivy and celebrated my 42nd birthday with a snickers bar. 14 hours of being on the go I was crushed. The next morning we finished up the ridge and opted to descend one of the snow gullies and out the Boston Basin.
Our days had been long 9-14 hours and while we did make stops to rest, refuel and eat for my body it was never enough. I think our caloric intact was pretty good though breakfast was the hardest meal as you’re struggling to consume calories while getting ready to break camp. Hydration was a different story. I imagine I was only averaging 3 to 3.5 liters of water per day. This during a 9 plus hour climbing day. Woefully short of what Mark Twight recommends in Extreme Alpinism. Hydration and nutrition were a real challenge for me in the mountains. At the end of the day you need to refuel but your body is so exhausted and your past hunger. The climbs also spoke to my inexperience of travel fast in 4th class terrain climbing with a pack and mountain boots. The instability of the terrain caused me to be extra cautious while climbing. My toes felt destroyed and my knees pained me. It was like doing 10,000 squats in a day. Snow climbing is a whole world unto itself with marginal at best protection and self arrest being far more difficult on steep slushy ice with serious consequences. The newness of all these experiences were wicked heady during most of my trip. It turns out I was more of an alpine noob than I had imagined and I felt a heavy weight of this self awareness as we headed out to our rental car.
Digging Through Old Muscle
I am in the best shape of my life. I crush crossfit WOD’s and my June deadlift PR was 313. Despite a minor tendon injury with my right ring finger that happened in early spring I am climbing well. I am confident and strong. My lead head is improving and I’ve got the heart and passion on an army of spartan women warriors. I thought I had this. I thought it was going to be a comfortable win. I was over confident. I got destroyed. Now mind you it’s important to love yourself, take care of yourself and not wallow would of’s and could of’s. I am a young alpinista. It’s going to take time to learn and train my body and mind. that’s the point. But to become better I have to really look in the mirror, assess my performance and work hard to become a better climber. Become a better me. And that what this is about. My cardio endurance on this trip was off. Way off. I gassed and gassed again on this trip in exactly the ways Mark Twight and Gym Jones have pointed out can happen if you rely on the high intensity workouts of crossfit. I didn’t train sports specific nearly enough to met the tasks at hand. I hiked and climbed but didn’t put in the long days off training to mirror the long days I would do in the Cascades.
Reaching out for whatever may come “I wanna feel the change consume me, Feel the outside turning in. I wanna feel the metamorphosis and Cleansing I’ve endured within”
I am drawn to the ice and snow, a place that others move away. When I climb ice and snow I am trying to touch something. A perfect state of trust in myself and my abilities. I am trying to transform. To connect with the snow and ice and unforgiving terrain. And in the process re-embrace myself and what makes me strong. I guess it’s not alpine climbing until you shed a few tears behind your glacier glasses. It’s perfect cause no one can see. During the climb tears felt like submission. My struggles were crystal clear indications that I didn’t belong on these routes. I couldn’t keep up. I was lagging. I was afraid. Now I realize that all those moments were the heart of the climb not top outs and summits. I was wrong. The tears are self knowledge. They apart of who I am. It’s not simply that I pushed through the tears and become this alpine amazon its that I own my tears. I own my fears. I own my short coming and failings as I own my hard work and my climbing skills. My heart and my passion. It’s all me.
This week we are going to have a couple of features on infamous Chicks Girly Guide Angela Hawse. The following is an article she wrote about the “Spirit of Service” for Marmot, but shared with us as well because she felt it had a lot of relevance to the women involved in Chicks Climbing.
In a world driven by numbers, measurements and achievements, we are too often discouraged by super-human feats that continually push the envelope of human potential. When we measure ourselves against our heroes we are apt to belittle our own efforts and loose sight of our passion and personal motivations.
Most of us have an “Everest” that we aspire to, no matter how high, how far away, how difficult the journey – inward or outward. When we find the inspiration to pursue our own dreams, climb our own mountains – no matter how big, how small, what shape or what form – we realize that it is our journey that matters most and what we take away from it is often the key to unlocking our dreams.
I am most inspired by those who have gone quietly beyond personal ambition and made a concerted effort to give something back with their passage. To me, these are the real heroes of the day and I aspire to follow their example. Offering my resources and something of myself opens me more fully to the beautiful diversity of mountain life and the intricate connection I share with all life on earth. We too often pass in our own bubble, unaware of the impacts we bring, unaware of the changes we influence. These are the important challenges before us and the integrity of the places we love to death is at stake.
In the fall of 2003, I had the great privilege of traveling to Nepal to lead an all women’s expedition on Ama Dablam, 22,487’. Our team (The Mamas Dablam) went where many have gone before, ascending the aesthetic southwest ridge up technical mixed terrain to the steep ice face leading to the summit. We went light and unsupported, carrying our own loads and fixing our own camps.
Our ascent was not notable as a first ascent, as a speed ascent or any record-breaking achievement. Our goal was to climb the mountain together in good style. Our mission was to raise money and support the dZi Foundation’s work improving the basic quality of life for the women, men and children in the Himalayas. Through our endeavor we helped further the cause of women in developing countries, and brought more light to the issue of young girls at risk.
Our fundraising efforts, which exceeded $23,000, assisted the dZi Foundation in starting up the “Sikkim Happiness Home” in 2003. Many girls are at risk in this remote region of the Eastern Indian Himalaya. The funds we raised for this project will ensure young women with a safe haven, health care, education and a chance for a brighter future.
Most of us have the ability and resources to go one step further and add a little altruism to anything we do. With a little awareness and effort we can provide priceless opportunities for many in need of hope. Adopt a “spirit of service” and wed it with your next adventure.
Here on the weekly Chicks Climbing gossip report you can catch up on all of the great gossip (articles, videos, and other assorted cool stuff) we talked about last week at Chicks Climbing! To start off with, have you seen the awesome new picture up on our home page? If not, check it out! It’s quite impressive not just as a climbing shot, but as a beautifully composed photograph! Thanks to Slamploud for submitting it to our group Flickr pool. If you want to be a featured Chick all you need to do is submit your photos to the pool – that’s all it takes – just ask Laurel Fan, whose photo (at right) was our featured pick last week!
This week we pointed out another great opportunity for getting your climbing photo featured through an AAC contest that is going on now through Aug. 15. There will be in total 10 photos from this contest that will be picked for a feature in Climbing magazine! We want to see some Chicks represented in this contest, so please take part (it’s soooo easy!) and let us know what you’ve submitted so we can make sure to vote for you. Check out all the details here.
We provide this wrap-up because we come across a TON of great resources each week, but understand that not everyone is online all the time, or even on both (or either) of these social media platforms. So you can check here each and every week for the latest and greatest in Clicks Climbing resources here on the blog.
However, we know WE may have also missed some cool stuff this week, so if there is something of interest we missed that you came across this week please, let us know so we can share with everyone else!
Climbing
- Very inspiring article on one of our alumna @AnneFHughes who climbs to new heights and pushes it harder than ever at 56: http://ow.ly/2f6ex Our own Q&A with Anne will be coming later this week!
- Blog from @kcordes goes more in depth (aka “geek gear post”) about snapping slings at anchor point http://ow.ly/2gH1d
- Part one in a series of three informative articles on rope thickness and belay devices – very good stuff! http://ow.ly/2f6E6
- Part two of series on rope thickness and belay devices: How much harder is it to catch a fall on a thin rope with your belay device? http://ow.ly/2f6Kc
- Part three in series on rope thickness and belay devices: Pointers on how to make it easier on belayer to catch falls doing multi-pitch: http://ow.ly/2f6Od
- A question for the ladies on Mountain Project: http://ow.ly/2esRb How to improve when always climbing with guys, please share your advice! (Aside from the obvious – go to a Chicks clinic!)
- Dream of granite at night? Or all day long at your desk? Here’s some inspiration on Dream In Vertical: Some bouldering photos from Squamish http://ow.ly/2fIDk
- Motivation for anyone with a case of the Mondays: Angie Payne and Alex Puccio cranking it out! http://ow.ly/2gNrG
Are you a passionate climber that loves to take pictures? The American Alpine Club has a very unique opportunity to get one of your photos published in an issue of Climbing magazine!
Now through Aug. 15, the AAC is giving you the opportunity to submit a photo that will be up for consideration to be published in the magazine; a whopping total of 10 submitted photos will reach print! The AAC will pick five of the photos to be published, and fans of the AAC and members of the club will pick the other five.
So, what should the photo be of? It should show WHY you climb – in other words: “What keeps you climbing and drives you to push through pain, fear, skepticism or even simply long days in the office just to get out there again.”
All you have to do to enter is post the photo along with a caption to the AAC Facebook page wall. While you’re there, make sure you vote on the others already submitted!
For the complete list of details (including the fine print) click here.
Let’s make sure we get some Chicks representation in this contest! If you submit a photo, let us know so we can vote on it. And, if youhave already submitted a photo let us know in the comments below (with a link) so we can help you get some votes and get published in Climbing magazine!
Anne Hughes leading Salsa Lisa at Chicks Complete 2010.
Here on the weekly Chicks Climbing gossip report you can catch up on all of the great gossip (articles, videos, and other assorted cool stuff) we talked about last week at Chicks Climbing! Just yesterday we announced that Genevieve Hathaway is the winner of our Girly Gathering giveaway! Congratulations to her, and our heartfelt thanks to all the inspiring ladies that entered. All of the entries can be seen (and should be because there are some WONDERFUL stories there) on our Facebook page. As the winner, Genevieve will be coming out to one of our upcoming Girly Gathering clinics in either the Keene Valley in the beautiful Adirondacks of upstate New York, or the epic New River Gorge in West Virginia. The Dacks gathering is happening in less than two weeks, and we’ve got a cutoff date for signups of July 23! So, please make sure you let us know if you are interested in joining us later this month by the end of the week!
Overall, it’s been a busy week at Chicks, getting ready for our Girly Gatherings and the upcoming Outdoor Retailer show where we hope to find some great sponsors for both our rock and ice climbing clinics for the 2010-2011 season. We do have some good content in the works for the blog, including an interview with one of the most infamous Chicks alumna Anne Hughes conducted by the super-motivated friend of Chicks (and fellow alumna) Sarah Goldman, as well as an update from Girly Guide Angela Hawse, so stay tuned! Finally, one other tidbit of exciting Chicks news is that now anyone can sign up for our monthly newsletter, so if you haven’t been to a Chicks clinic but want to get in on all the goods (like our advance announcements on exciting clinic deals and details), make sure you get all the beta by signing up directly on our Web site (newsletter is monthly).
We provide this wrap-up because we come across a TON of great resources each week, but understand that not everyone is online all the time, or even on both (or either) of these social media platforms. So you can check here each and every week for the latest and greatest in Clicks Climbing resources here on the blog.
However, we know WE may have also missed some cool stuff this week, so if there is something of interest we missed that you came across this week please, let us know so we can share with everyone else!
Climbing
- The one and only @rockgrrl put together a detailed twitter conversation that took place last week between several of our friends about personal anchors with some really good info.! http://ow.ly/2bsMD
- Survey says lighter draws are not always better – what kind do you prefer? http://ow.ly/2cw5s
- Read about @dubid0 (one of our favorite Twitter friends) weekend climbing adventure and see why it was “the most fun I’ve had on a trad climb, ever.” http://ow.ly/2dARu
- Update on a big controversy in the climbing world: Will Gadd’s thoroughly researched account of what happened on the Lama/RB trip to Cerro Torre & what now: http://ow.ly/2cH3d
- How to train when short on time! From Sara Lingafelter aka RockClimberGirl.com: Five weeks to Mount Rainier http://ow.ly/2aLX2
Gear
- Beware, gear junkies, there’s a brand new shiny GRIGRI: Petzl is proud to introduce GRIGRI 2. Available 2011 http://ow.ly/2bW31
- Dyneema vs Nylon slings? Testing shows fall factors from belay position – what’s going to hold you? http://ow.ly/2aQIE
- Can you help? Looking for feedback on how to choose rock climbing shoes: http://ow.ly/2attX
News
- Did you know we were featured this week on the American Alpine Club blog? We don’t mean to brag, but we’re kinda excited and proud of that! http://ht.ly/2bpIl
Fun Stuff
- We have a new photo on the front of Chicks Climbing, thanks to Laurel for submitting it to our group Flickr pool – you can too if you want to be a featured Chick! http://ow.ly/2dmCr
- How to cover up a lame weekend: 5 tips for hiding a lack of outdoor badassery http://ow.ly/2aQBW (thanks to @jennfields)
- Funny, because it’s true: The Urban Dictionary has defined MountainSexual http://ow.ly/2aLKS
Inspiration
- Majka Burhardt reflects on sitting on the sidelines recovering from an injury while friends climb: http://ow.ly/2bDN5
- If you need some inspiration, check out one of the 5 best climbing movies of all time… http://ow.ly/2cGmW
Update: Since the original winner of the Girly Gathering giveaway, Genevieve Hathaway has scheduling conflicts with both dates, we drew a new winner! That lucky gal is Hillary Nitschke who will be joining us Sept. 24-26 at the New in West Virginia. Congratulations Hillary, and Genevieve, we hope to see you soon at another Chicks Clinic
A huge thank you to all the other amazing women who entered and shared your individual stories of the event or individual (or combination thereof) that first got you started climbing. The honesty and raw emotion many of you shared is almost overwhelming!
All of you who entered and have already signed up for one of the two Girly Gatherings will receive a Sterling Rope chain reactor courtesy of our amazing sponsor Sterling Rope!
We are getting really close to our first Girly Gathering, which is less than two weeks away in the beautiful Keene Valley of upstate New York. If you want to join us at this clinic in the Dacks we need you to sign up by Friday, July 23! (Sign up here!) We hope some of you east coast ladies will take advantage of a clinic that is relatively close to home for many of you.
To see all of the entries in our Girly Gathering giveaway, check out our Facebook page.
Some of the other rock climbing events we’ve got coming up include:
Here on the weekly Chicks Climbing gossip report you can catch up on all of the great gossip (articles, videos, and other assorted cool stuff) we talked about last week at Chicks Climbing! Two weeks ago we asked both Chicks alumnae and friends of Chicks to get involved in the site by submitting photos to our Flickr pool! Well, after making it possible for all of our friends to actually submit photos, we are happy to have a steadily growing pool of photos showing all kinds of inspiring women getting after it! And, as promised, we have our first featured photo up for the week on the main page of the Chicks Climbing Web site! You know, that could be you, if you contribute a photo to our Flickr group pool! So, make sure you contribute a photo if you want those bragging rights. Also this week on the Chicks blog we posted the wonderful story of Kitty Calhoun’s triumphant return to El Cap last month, as written by the infamous Girly Guide herself. Finally, and the MOST EXCITING ANNOUNCEMENT of all is that we are giving away a spot to one of our two BRAND NEW Girly Gatherings! The contest ends July 17 (Saturday!) so make your submission soon so you can qualify!
We provide this wrap-up because we come across a TON of great resources each week, but understand that not everyone is online all the time, or even on both (or either) of these social media platforms. So you can check here each and every week for the latest and greatest in Clicks Climbing resources here on the blog.
However, we know WE may have also missed some cool stuff this week, so if there is something of interest we missed that you came across this week please, let us know so we can share with everyone else!
Climbing
- Kate Rutherford and Madaleine Sorkin send Freerider (El Capitan): http://ow.ly/28gH3
- Blog of Sterling Team member Kate Rutherford “We Freed el Cap!”: http://ow.ly/28sh8
- Photos of Kate and Madaleine on the 5 day ascent up Freerider: http://ht.ly/28UQ0
- Squamish trip report on Dream In Vertical including the Grand Wall and other adventures: http://ow.ly/28gjQ
- There are a couple different ways to add friction when you’re rappelling on skinny ropes, here’s two from AAI: http://ow.ly/28gB2
- Tamara Hastie talks about why she loves to rock climb. Is climbing your ultimate escape? http://ow.ly/28gpQ
- An awesome nine-year-old boy climbs Mount Whitney in a single day! http://ow.ly/28OJU
- Climber seeks feedback on managing headspace for pitch No. 3: http://ow.ly/2ahnf
Gear
- Do you carry everything on this list of 10 essential items no climber should be without? http://ow.ly/27MQY
- Tips on what to wear on a summer mountaineering trip: http://ow.ly/28On4
News
- American Alpine Institute is starting a collection of climbing projects and climbing blogs to follow and wants your help with tips! http://ow.ly/28gtb
Fun Stuff
- Article on the levity of gravity: http://ow.ly/28aJz (Funny climbing falls )
– The full Zen of sport, in the thrutching & the bliss: http://ow.ly/27ApG
Inspiration
- Great selection of women climbing videos. “Motivation for Women” http://bit.ly/akH5lC
Chicks Girly Guide Kitty Calhoun has generously shared with us her newest story on her return to El Cap to climb Aurora, a perfect “rehab” route Kitty said, for her return to big wall climbing two years after having both of her hips resurfaced with metal. What follows is the delightfully honest recount of her experience on Aurora with climbing partner Kate Robertson.
Comeback – n Informal or vb come back (intr. adverb)
1. a return to a former position, status,etc.
2. a return or response, esp. recriminatory
3. To become fashionable again
I am just leaving the belay on Pitch 5 of Aurora (5.8, A4), a steep, difficult aid line on El Cap. It has been five years since I was last on El Cap, and the experience had left me crippled. The arduous hauling and long descent with the haulbag “pig” was the last straw for my hips, eroded by a career as an alpinist and mountain guide with a passion for running. Two years later, both hips were resurfaced with metal and now, hopefully, I am “good to go.” I am about to clean the pitch distinctly noted as “no fun” on the Supertopo. It takes me way too long to clean the pitch but both my partner and I are patient and we carry on.
Kate Robertson loves equipment, so naturally she was drawn to ice climbing and it was in Ouray last winter that I met her. I expressed a secret desire to see if I could return to unfinished goals and a life of adventure. I am afraid of losing my mental and physical “edge” if I have to live with “restricted activities” – I am just not ready to lower the bar. So plans were hatched.
She had already climbed most of the easy routes on El Cap and wanted to climb Aurora, a perfect “rehab” route. It is hard, but she would take those leads. It is short – only 16 pitches – and steep, so the hauling would be easy. Plus, we could hire some burly young guys to carry the pigs down. We decided to start on my birthday, June 4.
My second day of cleaning Kate’s lead, I cut my time in half. We are making good time – two pitches a day. We are working together, in a routine, and the rhythm feels good. Calm nights, sitting alone in my porta-ledge, hundreds of feet off the ground, and surveying the stars is the highlight of my days. I open the music birthday card mom sent me and it plays the tune, “I just want to celebrate ANOTHER DAY OF LIVING…”.
The fourth night on the wall, I start rationing my food. Our progress is too good to be true. I am starting to feel a bit worked. My hands are too swollen to grip the pull-tab on my zippers. At best, we have four more days, but it could be more if we make some mistakes or the weather changes.
Day 7 – We are hoping to spend the night on the summit tonight. Kate had the first lead and I have the last two. My mind is muddled, dehydrated. I am trying to hook over to a bolt when I should have gone straight up to a fixed piece before traversing. When I finally finish the lead and look at my watch, which says that I am slow, and I break down into tears. I must have been dreaming to think I was up for this. Despite my ranting and raving to myself, I have set up the haul for both loads in record time and Kate arrives with a smile on her face. She says my lead was a full 70m and we can finish in the morning.
The next morning, as Kate and I easily finish the last pitch to the top of El Cap, we are met by the two burly young guys who shortly disappear with the pigs. I have forgotten my temper tantrum from the previous day. The Aleve is doing its job and life is good again. Seems like this wall went smoothly. What if it wasn’t a good test? Maybe I need to do another wall on El Cap to see if I have really made a comeback. It is too good to be true – that the door I thought was closed might actually be cracked open.
Photo credits: Top photo – Kitty at belay station, before cleaning the “no fun” pitch, photo by Kate Robertson.
Middle photo – Kate takes off on one of the crux pitches, photo by Kitty Calhoun.
Bottom photo: Kate and Kitty celebrating the comeback, photo by Kitty Calhoun.
Thursday, September 9, at 6:00 p.m. Kitty Calhoun will be giving a slideshow at Boulders Climbing Gym, Madison WI on big wall climbing, and something tells me all the lucky attendees will get to hear a lot more about this trip!
We are excited to announce a quick, 10-day contest to give away a single spot* to one lucky winner to use at either one of our two BRAND NEW weekend Girly Gatherings!
The first Girly Gathering will be held in the beautiful Keene Valley, in the Adirondacks of upstate New York, at the end of this month, July 30 – Aug. 1. We are then headed a bit further south, so we are waiting for the weather to cool down for our second Girly Gathering, which will be in West Virginia’s New River Gorge the weekend of Sept. 24-26.
If you plan to attend either clinic please SIGN UP NOW – the winner will be chosen without bias for or against any individual who has already signed up. How? Well, each individual (women only!) that enters will get their name placed in a random drawing for the prize! If the winner has in fact already registered for a Girly Gathering, we will return the full cost of the clinic to you!
As an added bonus, our Girly Gatherings sponsor, Sterling Rope, has also generously offered some extra prizes for all the ladies that sign up for a Girly Gathering clinic AND enter the contest! Each of you will win a Sterling Rope Chain Reactor! So don’t delay if you’ve been thinking about signing up for either event – you can guarantee yourself a prize just by signing up and entering our contest!
So, what do you have to do to enter the contest to win a free spot at a Girly Gathering? It’s easy! Just go to our Facebook page and tell us who or what inspired you to start climbing. It could be a person, a life-changing event, or even something totally mundane, but we want to know what it is that gave you the motivation to get out there to scale vertical walls of rock!
And, if you have never climbed before and are considering coming out to a clinic to learn, we still want to know WHY you have decided to start! What lit the fire in your belly?
After years of hearing stories from the inspiring women that come to the Chicks Climbing clinics, we want to use this opportunity to share some of your amazing stories – some may even motivate others that haven’t climbed in a while to get after it again!
We are looking for short and sweet entries – and we totally welcome any photo uploads you want to make in conjunction with your statement – or as your statement!
We will stop taking entries for this contest at midnight EDT Saturday, July 17 and announce the grand prize winner Sunday, July 18!
Any questions? Hit us up here on the blog, on Facebook, or Twitter!
*This includes demo gear, Saturday & Sunday clinics, 4-to-1 ratio, two dinners, an evening workshop and discussions. Transportation, lodging and other meals not included.
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