Hardwear Sessions

Sudden Oak Death has plagued California's oaks since the mid-1990s. Since then, scientists have learned more about the disease and its causes. Listen to a KQED Quest report on Sudden Oak Death, its probable causes, and ways for California homeowners to combat the disease and save their beloved "backyard oaks."

QUEST on KQED Public Media.

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A weekend of fun and climbing! The New River Rendezvous is an annual climber festival benefiting the New River Alliance of Climbers. Mountain Hardwear is donating the Signature Event T and brings the 1st annual Tug 'O War: Pros vs. Joes

For complete event info go to the official New River Rendezvous website.

Everest taken from Pumori camp 1. | Photo Courtesy of Kenton Cool

The team are resting at basecamp at the moment while we all wait for better weather. I woke this morning to a thick layer of snow all over Basecamp and the winds up high are howling.

The team are all keeping busy with daily walks down the valley a little bit and also up to Pumori Camp 1 as you can see from the picture above. We are also busy playing games and reading books, although my choice of book 'Dreadnaught' which so far is all about 1800 German politics is proving a bigger challenge than the mountain.

Looking into the future it looks like there may be a window of good weather from the 19th through to the 24th May so we are all keeping our fingers and toes crossed for this.

If it comes off it will be my 7th straight summit on the mountain and we are hoping to get a special fellow up the hill this year!!!

View from my tent this morning! | Photo Courtesy of Kenton Cool

Follow the action at www.dream-guides.com and click latest news.

A huge thanks for all the support from various people esp Mountain Hardwear, Lyon Equipment, Sceince In sport, Amersports, Land Rover.

Regards,
Kenton Cool

News from Jon Bowermaster

This promises to be a fantastic journey taking me back to a part of the world that kick-started my deep interest in all things oceanic. From the intense culture of the world's biggest fish market in Tokyo, to the remote northern islands of Japan and Kamchatka, before winding through the Aleutian Islands we'll be in some of the most beautiful and roughest waters on the planet.

I know the latter first hand: It was exactly ten years ago that I ventured to the Islands of Four Mountains, a small chain in the heart of the Aleutians known by the Aleuts as "The Birthplace of the Winds," with three friends in two big sea kayaks. That was the first of our OCEANS 8 adventures and none of us could have predicted then - as we endured five-plus weeks of constant rain, cyclonic winds and the rare blue sky, navigating among the foggy and wind-swept islands and climbing the snow-capped volcanic peaks - what the next decade would deliver. For me, it was the start of an odyssey that continues today, exploring the world's ocean from sea level with a focus on the people - like the Aleuts - who first explored it.

Keep up with Jon at his blog, Notes from sea level and at JonBowermaster.com.

By Dougald MacDonald, Mountain World

Swiss climber Ueli Steck free-climbed Golden Gate (5.13b, 41 pitches) and fell on only a single pitch, onsighting the rest of the climb. And the one pitch that spoiled his onsight? It was the 5.11c crack off the top of El Cap Spire, just before Golden Gate heads right from the Salathé Wall. Steck slipped on wet rock on this relatively easy pitch, but onsighted the route's five 5.12 and three 5.13 pitches. Read more on Climbing.com.

Also check out SuperTopo Climber's Forum.

By Jon Bowermaster, Sea Kayaker/Adventurer

Six to seven hundred years ago the very first to explore what we know as the Indian Ocean were Arabs, from Persia and the northern deserts. Searching what every sea-faring explorer of the time was seeking - trading routes and new lands to colonize - they explored what came to be known at the time as the Sea of Zanj, the Sea of Blacks. From the Maldives to the east coast of Africa (Somalia, Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique, Madagascar, the Seychelles islands, Mauritius, Reunion and more the Arabs put down roots, built sea ports. During the 1600s pirates, who used the islands off the coast of Africa as both temporary hideouts and permanent homes, followed the black Arabs. It wasn't until the late 1700s that Europeans - sailing from Spain, France, England, the Netherlands and more - first explored the region. It's a rich history, going back nearly eight hundred years; this past spring I spent two months exploring the seas between the Maldives and the coast of east Africa, in search of all those roots (and routes) and coming up on a sizable number of a species that it turns out is not so new to the region: Pirates.

Photo Courtesy of Jon Bowermaster

Five a.m. on the Indian Ocean, a quarter mile off the small granite island of La Digue. Daylight is still an hour away, the sea flat and quiet, still too early for the call of morning birds and too dark for pirates.

And pirates are on everyone's minds and lips here. Just the day before Somali pirates grabbed a tuna boat with a crew of 29 just to the north of where we motor, near Denis Island. A few days before they had taken a commercial dive boat and before that a private sailboat. Apparently being thwarted in waters closer to home - the Seychelles are easily six hundred miles from the coast of Somalia - due to an increase in navy ships patrolling, the brash pirates have headed here for new booty.

Who Inspires You? Tell us about your Go-to-Girl and WIN big!

Mountain Hardwear and Montrail join forces to celebrate the inspiration and motivation women provide each other to climb, bike, hike, swim, surf, trail run, and paddle. We want to know who that Go-to-Girl is that motivates you! Give us 300 characters on who motivates you and include a photo. Let's go! Gotogirl.mountainhardwear.com