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Report from The Continent: The Chips and The Mixed in Scotland
By Freddie Wilkinson One sure sign of the high level of sophistication achieved by British society is the fact that one can find a chippie in every city, town, and village across the island. Image that: a restaraunt dedicated to nothing but selling chips, or french fries as we yanks like to call them. Fascinating concept. Sure, you can get fish and chips, Sausage and chips, Burger and chips, and so on, but British cuisine is 90 percent about the chips, any other ingredient being a half hearted afterthought. I'm talking the Greasiest, saltiest, fatty-est, calorie rich, guaranteed-to-make-you-fatter-than-fat-bastard chips you can imagine. And after this past week I just spent in Scotland, I sincerely doubt whether there exists a food more perfectly suited to the rigors of hard winter climbing and alpinism then the chip.....
Damian Cooksey Walks the World's Longest Slackline
By Robin Avery
Slackline is a sport of balance and concentration. See Wikipedia.org for a full explanation of slackline.
Click on the video below to see Damian walk the slackline wearing a Mountain Hardwear Compressor PL Jacket
On March 4, 2007, Damian Cooksey walked the longest slackline on record in Pole Mokotowskie, Warsaw, Poland. The length of this slackline was 405 ft 5 in (123.5 meters).
Mountain Hardwear recently interviewed Damian on March 22, 2007.
What inspired you to walk the world's longest slackline?
Just too to see what my own personal limits were, it's not about breaking other people's records it's about finding your own personal limits and going beyond them. Walking a slackline is an individual experience.
It was time for an off-season Southern Hemisphere jaunt and no one has lived until they've strapped on a Mountain Kilt and waded in an ice cold Chilean coastal river in search of wild trout. To make things more exciting, try racing a rapidly approaching high tide that is threatening to drown you and the pool you are working and then you are talking about some fun!
We started the day just trying to find the river itself. It was running out of a wide fjord that was loaded with channels, so trying to pick the right one was shall we say...a challenge. Of course we could have hiked the banks, but bushwhacking through deadfall and boulders in a thick Chilean bamboo forest...with a Mountain Kilt on no less...was a challenge in its own right. At least we were heading in the right direction...upstream and away from the boat that got us there in the first place. That is because my buddy found out the hard way that there is no holding tank to keep things contained when one flushes the onboard toilet! Needless to say, we did not gather any mussels for dinner from the downstream rocks after that little adventure!
In January, our team of ten women from around the world summited three of the highest mountains in Africa in fewer than three weeks to complete the 3 Peaks 3 Weeks Challenge. We climbed to raise money and awareness for 3 Peak causes in Africa; the environment, education, and HIV/AIDS.
Remarkably, all ten members of our team summited all three peaks. We first climbed Mt. Kenya (17,058 feet), then Mt. Meru (14,980 feet), and finally, Mt. Kilimanjaro (19,336 feet). Considering that on average, only 50% of people who attempt to summit Mt. Kilimanjaro actually succeed, our three consecutive summits are quite impressive. Further considering that all members of our team are mountaineering novices, our success on Africa's tallest peaks seems a near miracle!
Presented by Moab Desert Adventures Sponsored by Mountain Hardwear, Montrail and Trango.
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Have you ever wished that you had better crack technique? Would knowing how to crack climb open up a whole new realm of climbs for you to do. Do you just want to learn how to crack climb? Whether one or all or none of these apply to you, participating in a Splitter Camp is a climbing experience you will always remember.
The Ueli Sanction: World Record Solo Speed Ascent of the Famous Eiger
By Ueli Steck
As an old birthday gift to my girlfriend Nicole, I told her, "Together we'll climb the Eiger." For her it was an amazing experience. What a really good time we had up there together. We slept in two very warm Phantom sleeping bags on the Bivouac of Death. Ok, so maybe that's not such a nice name for a bivy with your girlfriend, but it's the best spot in the whole Eiger Face and is pretty much in the middle.
We reached the summit on the second day around 3:30 p.m. February 18th, 2007.
The conditions were very good during the whole ascent. I knew that these were the conditions I had been waiting for for years. Climbing the Eiger in a new record time has been an old project of mine. The bar was already set high; Christoph Hainz summited in 4 hours 30 minutes. Now my cards were pretty good. I had been training really hard in the last six months from the Annapurna Project. I knew that each attempt I made was faster than the last. The Eiger was ready for me! I rested for two days. It was beautiful weather but I stayed home and didn't go climbing or running… just getting ready to go up again. On Wednesday I went up on the first train to Eiger glacier. It's pretty nice to take the train.
At 7:25 a.m. I stepped forward to climb the Eiger and said to myself, "You will be back for dinner."
Here is a quick video we put together showing our time at Ouray. As sponsors, we don't get to see much climbing, but we meet a lot of great people. If the camera work is shaky that's because it's freezing.
The concept of the Kootenay Cold Smoke Festival was easy to understand—get a bunch of backcountry skiers together, throw in some demo gear, hold some clinics, have some movies and slideshows, add 18" of new light density powder and light the fuse for a great backcountry party. About the only thing that confused me was why it was held at the Whitewater ski resort in Nelson BC, which is not the easiest place to get to. The reason for this became clear when I heard that one out of every three residents of Nelson holds a season's pass at the resort. It's a skier's town in the truest sense. If Nelson was a ski cabin, it would have a huge "Skiing Spoken Here" sign above the door.
