Hardwear Sessions

By Neil Gresham

Lundy island lies off the north coast of Devon and is regarded as one of the last truly unspoilt areas of the English countryside. In September 2006 I joined a group of top British climbers on a week's expedition to explore the island. Most of the team favoured traditional methods, using ropes and safety equipment to pioneer new routes, but I was keen to experiment with a new climbing style known as 'Deep Water Soloing' where ropes are discarded and the climber simply goes solo above the ocean.

The climb I wanted to attempt goes up the side of a spectacular arch and is called 'the Flying Dutchman' 5.12d. My pal, Tim Emmett who had tried to climb it with ropes last year had commented that at high tide, it would be possible as a Deep Water Solo. As soon as I heard this idea I was hooked. I had waited patiently for calm weather and high tides, and the perfect day came, three days before the end of the trip. The sea was a little choppy but I knew this was my chance. With my heart racing, I threw out my abseil rope. The cliff was so steep that I had to swing in and out to prevent me from becoming stranded in space above the sea. When I was low enough, I swung in, latched the rock, took a deep breath and disconnected myself from the abseil rope. This was it now, the only option was to climb out or receive a ducking.

Mountain Hardwear employees Micah Hinton, Brad Bates, and Derek Mitchell recently went Heliskiing in Chugach National Forest, Alaska.

"I hope you all enjoy this video of the Mountain Hardwear boys getting after it in Alaska. Truly a great experience and I urge all of you to get out there and get some!"
—Micah Hinton

"Well, you know, it's one of those three or four things in life you just have to do at least once."
—Derek Mitchell

See these photos on Flickr.com

By Fredrick Wilkinson

Spindrift is a funny thing — it can be soft and cuddly, but at the same time extremely persistent.

Imagine getting slowly strangled to death by a very big and very wet stuffed teddy bear. That's what it's like being caught in spindrift at an alpine bivy.

It was 2 PM on the afternoon of May 3rd. I was sharing my EV2 with two six foot giants: Ben Gilmore and Peter Doucette. We were bivied at the base of the Fin Wall, above the Yentna Glacier south of Mount Foraker. The wall had never before been attempted, a fact that probably had something to do with the six miles of convoluted crevasse fields, seracs and icefall that lay below. We had just spent seven hours running the gauntlet through this maze to reach this spot, a narrow ledge dug out of a 50 degree snow slope.

By Alex Baires with help from Adrian Mateo, Suzanne Mentz, Mark O'Keefe and other "Nutz"

After months of anticipation, the team stood strong at the start in Calistoga. The camaraderie was so great that all 12 of us decided to run the first of 36 legs together. It started off great but only three miles in, everyone started complaining and with less than a mile to go, everyone gave up so I had to finish the next two miles of leg one by myself and go on to run the second leg. Somehow, I managed to convince enough people to run the next four legs but at the first van exchange, everyone declared that they were finished and would not run any further. Then I woke up. It was the Thursday before race day for The Relay. Our start time was just over two days away — Saturday at 11 a.m.

UltraLamina 32 Wins the Coveted Outside Magazine 2007 Gear of the Year Award!

Mountain Hardwear produces a complete line of SuperLight Products, what is your favorite?

UltraLamina 32° Sleeping Bag	Phantom 15° Sleeping Bag
Welded, with new ThermicMicro™ for outstanding compressibility and durability, the UltraLamina is an excellent choice for damp, cool conditions.	Designed to be warm and as light as possible, the Phantom™ 15 is a great all-around choice for colder conditions. This light, warm mummy cut bag has a snug fit and is an ideal choice if you only want one bag.
SkyLedge 2 SuperLight Tent	Skypoint 2 Tent
Our new Skyledge is a compact, three season tent designed for the serious backcountry user. An all-mesh canopy reduces weight and allows superb visibility and ventilation.	Our lightest two person shelter for back-country minimalists, the Skypoint™ 2 has an ultra-light, single wall canopy supported by strong Atlas Scandium SL poles.

Is your choice not listed here? Leave us a comment telling us what is.

At its annual meeting, The American Alpine Club announced the inaugural winners of the McNeill Nott Award. The award is given in remembrance of alpinists Karen McNeill and Sue Nott, who were lost on the slopes of Mount Foraker in May 2006. The new grant is funded by private donors and by AAC Industry Partner Mountain Hardwear, which sponsored both climbers. The grant program backs climbers who do not receive any corporate cash sponsorship. This year's recipients are:

McNeill-Nott Committee Chair Rolando Garibotti commented that, "The expeditions awarded this year will set the tone for the future of this grant. The grantees represent ideas and endeavors that Karen and Sue would have wanted to support."

For more information on the McNeill Nott Award please go to http://www.americanalpineclub.org/pages/page/123