Climbing Technique – Proper Placement of Your Hips

You know, how you’re always told as a beginner climber that you should place your weight over your feet and use as much of your leg strength as possible? Well, yea, you say, logical thing… BUT if you’ve gotten along in improving your climbing skills, then you’ll know that it’s easy to THINK you’re doing it right. Unless there is someone who really looks after you and cares about your climbing, you only realize that you’ve been doing it wrong when you start to do it right – accidentally. More »

Ueli Steck going for speed record again

Via Mountain Hardware: This time, our hero, Ueli is going for a speed climbing record on El Cap. Watch some preparatory footage here:

Alex and Uli speed climbing The Nose on 5.20.10 from Chris Falkenstein on Vimeo.

In case you haven’t seen it yet, here is how Ueli made himself a brand name in speed solo climbing:

Funky Drytooling in Downtown Zurich

Miss the ice and your tools after a fun season? No need to worry, just be creative. Head on downtown like these guys and gals did and take your ice axe along. If you want to add more excitement, you can try drytooling on public buildings and get chased by security. (Just kidding.)

Enjoy and be inspired:

Grossglockner Stüdlgrat Video

Awesome video shot on and above the Stüdl ridge of Grossglockner (3797 m) Austria’s highest peak. More and more people visit this magnificent peak from the UK and Italy as well. Even though its height doesn’t match up with the Western Alps’ 4000ers, a Grossglockner climb is a spanking cool experience.

Deadly Everest Icefall

Just lost a fellow countryman of mine on the icefall on Everest Norh Col. Chunks of ice breaking off at 7000 meters – this kind of stuff is unpredictable on routes like Everest’s North Col. Nothing you can do about them, other than avoiding routes with high objective danger. It’s a sad, sad day, a huge loss for the climbing community. Konyi leaves behind a wife, 2 daughters and a beautiful life of 54 years.

Under an avalanche for 17 hours. How the heck is it possible?

It was all over the news. But, after reading several sources, the pieces just didn’t fit together. With good air supply and proper clothing, it is possible to survive something like this, but it’s the details around the rescue that just made things fuzzy and no one has been able to give me proper explanation on what probably happened, until I saw the video interview with the victim at the hospital.

I think it may have been a bit of the usual media overhype, or rather, confusion – without their malevolence – in the articles. I had been personally affected by such “typing errors” on several occasions before. Here is what I didn’t get: More »

Avalanche shovels – which ones are useless?

I don’t get it. Who was it that came up with the idea of making avalanche shovels out of plastic? Have they ever seen an avalanche from up close? I don’t dare asking whether they have tested these shovels at all…

How fast will this thing break?

More »

Video with mountaineering sensation Denis Urubko

Hey, I got a chance to catch up with arguably one of the most successful high mountain climbers on the planet. I picked his brain on climbing training, sponosorhip and many other things… Check out the conversation:

Denis Urubko interview from ClimbBigMountains on Vimeo.

So who is this guy?
Denis Urubko of Kazahstan has climbed 16 8000 meter peaks. He became a hero when summiting the last Himalayan peak to be unclimbed in winter: this February, Simone Moro and Denis summited Makalu. Later, in May, Denis climbed a new route on Cho Oyu to complete his last 8000 meter peak, becoming only the 15th in the world to do so and the 9th to absolve all 14 without the use of supplementary oxygen. Denis is only 36 years old.

After having sat through an exciting 2 hour presentation of his, I got the impression that not only is Denis an exceptional mountaineer, but also a great person. Thanks again for the interview, Denis!

What 7000 meter peak?

Looking at what tour and expedition outfitters offer in the Anglo-Saxon wolrd, I am surprised to see so many possibilities to the Karokaram and the Himalayas, but practically NONE, zippo, nill expeditions to Central Asia: Kazahstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan. Why, I ask…?!?!

This isn’t a hypothetical question. I really don’t know the answer, maybe someone can shed light for me… An expedition to the foot of a 7000 meter or even a popular 6000 meter mountain in these ranges requires at least a 2-3 day trek. There are summit fees and possibly national park permits.

I look at what Jagged Globe, the biggest expedition outfitter (I think) has to offer and they charge 3-6-7 thousand pounds for an expedition to these places.

“Why, what else we got, chief?” …you may timidly ask. Well, the Pamir and Tien-Shan mountains have 5 peaks above 7000 meters and countless 6000 meter mountains. All of them are within a day’s drive or helicopter flight from an international airport. No expensive summit fees, just some 30 dollar registration fees. You can climb Peak Lenin for 800 euros (full expedition package) and tackle Communism Peak, Khan-Tengri for 1000-1200 euros apiece excluding flights. The basecamps have nomad-style yurtas, saunas and stuff. It’s sweet.

Oh, and the gastonomy rocks.

Why are expedition outfitters making you people go to less accessible peaks further from your homes with price tags five times higher? What is it that you can’t find in Central Asian mountains that you get for five times the money in India, Nepal or Pakistan?

I’m not angry or anything, but I sure hope that someone has an answer…

When Everything Screws Up On Your Expedition

This was gonna be a funky trip. Everything was planned out for the well-documented summit of Peak Lenin in Kyrgyzistan. At 7134 meters, this was to be my first 7000er. But, life taught me again that while mountaineering is fun, it is also “unstabil”.

After the climb, I would have made an awesome trip to the ancient cities of Uzbekistan. However, things took a totally different direction. Here’s the scoop. Don’t worry, no animals were harmed… More »