Hardwear Sessions

For the first time in its history, the Western States 100 has been cancelled. (Montrail, Mountain Hardwear's sister company, sponsors the Western State 100.) The organizers cancelled the race for 3 reasons: "1. Proximity of the fire to the race course...2. Air quality deterioration...3. Safety of our runners."

This photograph, by Kari Niles, a Western States 100 volunteer, gives us some idea of the air quality in Auburn, California. You can't see the smoke here, just haze, but you can see that the particulates have shifted the light, transforming the sun into a reddish disk.

By Cynthia Houng

This spring, 3 Mountain Hardwear-sponsored teams headed to the Himalayas. Two teams chose to tackle Annapurna (Ueli Steck and Simon Anthmatten went for Annapurna's notoriously treacherous South Face, while Ben Clark and his crew were aiming for the first ski descent of Annapurna IV), while the 3rd team, composed of Kenton Cool, Sir Ranulph Fiennes, and Rob Casserley, were Everest-bound.

The 2008 season ended with a mixture of triumph and heartbreak.

This summer, David Horton, a Mountain Hardwear and Montrail athlete, will run the Continental Divide Trail. He aims to cover 2959 miles in 69 days. Follow David's journey on Clark Zealand's Eco-X blog.

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Original German text by Edi Estermann, first published in the "Schweizer Illustrierte", Issue No. 23, June 2, 2008.

Translated by Patricia Bamert, with assistance from Cynthia Houng

Big stories begin with small coincidences. A coincidence that Ueli Steck switches on his phone once again on that evening, just before he gets into his sleeping bag.

Base camp, Annapurna South, Nepal, 4200m above sea level: It's Monday, May 19, 7pm. It is snowing slightly at the foot of this 3000 meter tall wall of granite. Ueli Steck, 31, from Ringgenberg (Canton of Bern) and Simon Anthamatten, 24, from Zermatt, (Canton of Valais), came to climb this wall. In the following days the climbing will start. Both are very fit and highly motivated. Dry meat and cheese for dinner - perfect. The chocolate cake is ready. But today there will be no dessert.

"One missed call," reads Ueli's Handy display. Horia Colibasanu, a 31 year old dentist from Rumania, tried to call him. At that moment Horia is up at Camp 4 on the ridge of the Annapurna at 7400 m. On Friday Horia, Inaki Ochoa de Olza, 40 (Spain), and Alexey Bolotov, 45 (Russia), climb over the east ridge towards the Annapurna Summit (8091m).

We make tents. So, in the wake of the terrible earthquake in Sichuan, China, it's only natural that we should send tents to help house those left homeless by the quake. On June 2nd, 2008, 628 two- and three-person tents arrived in China. The UPS Foundation paid for the shipment. In total, the UPS Foundation moved 125,216 pounds of donated supplies.

Tents and other relief supplies, exiting the hold

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Andrew Lock, the Australian mountaineer and Mountain Hardwear athlete, summited Mt. Makalu ("8479 meters, world's 5th highest mountain, and the 13th summit in [Andrew's] quest to climb all 14 of the world's '8000ers') on May 21, 2008.

A steep, massive peak on the border between Tibet and Nepal, Makalu is considered a challenging climb. Only 5 of the first 16 attempts to summit Makalu were successful. In 1955, Jean Couzy and Lionel Terray claimed Makalu's first ascent.

Read about Andrew's 2008 expedition to Makalu Shisha Pangma on his blog.

On Friday, May 30, 2008, Ueli received the 2008 Eiger Award. The award is part of Grindelwald's annual Eiger Live festival. The Award honors Ueli for his achievements as an alpinist and mountaineer.

Read Jo Adams's report on Ueli's Eiger Award.

By Ueli Steck

Ringgenberg, Monday, June 2, 2008

Simon and I are back in Switzerland and we will try in the next days and weeks to get some rest and we hope that we will work up the happenings of the past weeks.

When we received the distress call form the Romanian [climber] Horia Colibasanu, it was clear for us that we would go up and help them. For us it was just obvious. We didn't hesitate one second. At the same time we knew that afterwards the expedition would be over.

Annapurna will be watching over the valley of the Modi Khola forever. We as human beings, we will have only one life to live for. I have been at the Annapurna twice. But I can go there another 20 times, if I wish to do so. But both of us, Simon and I, we would have never been able to live with the fact, that we didn't go up and help our friends in need.

We did our best. Unfortunately our help came too late.

But Inaki was never alone. Horia was near him all the time, helping him until he had to go down himself. When I reached Camp 4 I hoped Inaki would make it. But all the Dexamethason I gave him, all my efforts to keep him alive, failed. Inaki didn't have to die alone. This gives me consolation.

By Cynthia Houng

View Photos from the San Francisco Chronicle

Early Thursday morning, a wildfire broke out in the Santa Cruz mountains, in an area about sixty miles south of San Francisco. By Thursday night, the fire consumed had consumed over 3,200 acres. (See a map of the fire.) The fire spread quickly, fed by gusty winds (over 45 mph). Due to the hot and dry conditions, high winds, and high fuel loads, firefighters believe that it will be a few more days before they can contain the fire, but today's milder winds gave them fresh hope that the ordeal may end earlier.

Here in Richmond, about 100 miles from the fire, we can see faint traces of smoke. This morning a soft brown haze hung in the air, and I thought I could smell something like burning wood.

The weather has everyone on edge, as the Summit fire could very well happen anywhere--even in our backyard. (We are only a few miles north of the area that burned in 1991, in the Berkeley-Oakland firestorm.)

The employees of Mountain Hardwear would like to extend their deepest sympathies to the friends and family of Iñaki Ochoa de Olza; Spanish mountaineer who died on Annapurna - Thursday May 22, 2008. We've all been glued to news sources watching this story unfold - keeping our fingers crossed and our thoughts with Iñaki and the rescue teams.

Iñaki passed away after four days being sick and stranded at camp 4 (7,400 meters). He will be missed. The commitment and courage exemplified by everyone involved in this story has been amazing and inspiring. We wish the best to everyone still in the region. Come home safely.

Read more details at MountEverest.net.

This year, access to Everest is severely restricted. The Chinese hope to run the Olympic torch up to the summit today, but in the meantime, the Nepalese side is heavily monitored, and the Tibetan side is "closed."

Listen to Dave Breashears talk about the Everest situation and its implications for the 2008 climbing season.

Read the Alpinist's coverage.

Meanwhile, Kenton, Sir Ran, and the rest of the crew hang out at Everest and play "the waiting game." Here's Kenton's latest dispatch:

"Just keeping you in the loop by saying that not much is happening. As you know China is trying to get the Olympic torch to the summit of Everest, and as such they have imposed a few restrictions on the south side. We are currently all sitting at BC waiting for the green light to climb higher."

Yesterday, AAC announced the 2008 winners of the Lyman Spitzer and McNeill-Nott Awards. Micah Dash and Jonny Copp received a Spitzer Award for their upcoming expedition to Southeastern Tibet, to attempt unclimbed Dojitsenga (ca. 5,700m).

The McNeill-Nott award holds a special significance for Mountain Hardwear, as Karen McNeill and Sue Nott were a part of the MHW family. This year, the award goes to two recipients: Alex Alexiades and Althea Rogers. Alex will explore the Suches Valley, on the border of Bolivia and Peru, and search for new routes. Althea will attempt new free climbs in southeast Alaska's Wood River Range.

Congratulations to all!

And now it's time for a quick audience poll.

If you applied for an AAC grant, what would be your dream project?

View more photos from our new store in Portland, Oregon.

Learn more about the store.

On Monday, April 7th, 2008, pro-Tibet protesters climbed the Golden Gate Bridge's South Tower and unfurled Tibetan flags and banners reading "Free Tibet" and "One World, One Dream, Free Tibet 08."

News coverage of the protest from the San Francisco-based station KTVU:

Officials arrested the protesters--but the group garnered considerable local and national publicity, especially in the wake of violent pro-Tibet and anti-China protests in Paris, France. In Paris, protesters attacked the Olympic torch bearers and managed to briefly extinguish the flame.

Read about the protesters and their message on the San Francisco Chronicle.

Click here to view more photographs from the Portland store

We're hanging out our own shingle--and opening our first store in Portland, Oregon. Join us for a series of special events!

Mike Wallenfels, our company president, will lead the ribbon cutting on April 11th, 2008. Portland's own KNRK will broadcast from the Portland store from noon until 2 pm. On April 12th, catch a slideshow by Mike Libecki. On April 13th, listen to Montrail athlete Matt Hart talk about his experiences. From April 11th through 13th, the first 25 customers through the door will receive a Defender day pack. From April 14th through 17th, the first 25 customers through the door will receive a Rugger day pack. Plus, we will donate 10% of our sales for the entire month of April to Multnomah County's Friends of Outdoor School, a local organization that sends 6th graders to science camp.*

Find our new store at 722 SW Taylor in downtown Portland.

Here are some conceptual sketches, to whet your appetite. Check back for photographs.

Welcome to our new store

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An elevation view of our store

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After recently moving up the waterfront to a new office building, we realized that we now had plenty of space - the kind of space that you want to use for good times and recreating. We'd been mulling over the idea of installing a climbing wall for quite some time, and our new building has allowed that plan to finally take shape.

We were insanely fortunate to acquire the services of Vertical Solutions. To say these guys know how to build a wall is an understatement. They can work wood like it's nobody's business but their own. The custom designs they create are based on simple, elegant curves. Lots of heart, sweat, thought and focus go into each wall they design and build. Ours is certainly no exception. Many of us here are almost reluctant to climb on it - being something akin to scrambling over a public statue. This reluctance will last a good two seconds once the holds go up though.

We want to extend a HUGE thanks to John and his crew at Vertical Solutions. They drove all the way out from Salt Lake City, braving sub-par hotels, long hours, and overpriced lumber yards to create for us a lasting statement to our brand and a sport we love. We want to thank Dustin at 3DVO for putting up with us and getting this project moving. A dedication to good service and a good, unique product is a hallmark trait for these guys.

Now enjoy a few pictures of a wall being born! We'll show you the finished wall once some routes are set!

KING-5 (a local Seattle TV station) gives an overview of Dawn Glanc and Kevin Mahoney's upcoming Fred Hutchinson Climb for Cancer. The climbers will tackle an unclimbed peak in Alaska. Watch the video to learn about the peak's history and see video footage of the peak.

We've been running the Ad Deadline contest since the end of February. I decided to check on our entries today. Here are four that caught my eye. (Click on the image to enlarge the photo.)

From Jody:

Valery Rozov, a Russian BASE jumper and climber sponsored by Mountain Hardwear Russia, completed the first BASE jump from the upper tower of Cerro Torre.

Read more about Valery's feat on Climbing.com, and see more photographs on mounteverest.net.

Fuel your creativity -- come and play with our new online tool:

Ad Deadline

Ad Deadline is an interactive tool that allows you to create your own MHW ad. Upload your photograph, write a few lines -- and you, too, could be a advertising big shot.

Oh yes, and there are prizes, too. If your ad wins the contest, you'll get a 1000 dollar MHW shopping spree, and your ad will be featured in Rock and Ice magazine. Four runners-up will receive a 500 dollar shopping spree. Not too shabby.

Dylan Taylor sent us some photographs from Dawn Glanc's accident, and we thought we'd share them with you. Click here to see Dylan's photographs of Dawn.

Jon's back from the Antarctic, and blitzing the media!

Read the Washington Post's in-depth interview with Jon.

Watch Jon on ABC News.

View more photographs from Jon's trip, or visit Jon's website for maps and video.

Erik Weihenmayer, the first blind man to summit Everest, returned to the Himalayas with a team of six blind Tibetan teenagers. A team of filmmakers followed Erik and the teenagers, documenting the expedition. The filmmakers created Blindsight, an extraordinary documentary of the their journey up Lhaka Ri, a 23,000 ft. peak on the north side of Mt. Everest.

This month, Blindsight was released in Australian theaters. Sharon O'Neill, of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation interviewed Erik on February 7th, 2008.

Listen to the interview, or read the transcript.

View More Pictures of MHW's new Headquarters

By B. James Bottoms, Mountain Hardwear Director of Operations

On March 17, 2008 Mountain Hardwear is moving our headquarters to the Ford Assembly Plant in Richmond, California.

The Ford Plant is located directly on the San Francisco Bay and is connected to the San Francisco Bay Trail. The building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and will host the visitor/education center and bookstore for the Rosie the Riveter/World War II Home Front National Historical Park.

The Ford Assembly Plant was designed by the renowned architect Albert Kahn in 1930. It is a quarter of a mile long and contains 560,000 square feet. Kahn included features that would be considered sustainable today such as the saw tooth roof design with large northern skylights which provide incredible natural light and hinged windows along the western and northern walls which draw in the cool bay breeze. The Ford Motor Company built automobiles in the plant from 1931 to 1955 except for the three years from 1942 to 1945 when the plant was converted to war-time production. The building is an icon of design and fortitude. To learn more about the building and its history, please visit Rosietheriveter.org's Ford Assembly Plant History page.

By re-appropriating some of open factory space, the original suite of managers' offices and the former product showroom, all of which had been practically abandoned for more than 25 years, we were able to design and build our space with a focus on sustainability.

Micah Dash will speak about his wild adventure in Indian Kashmir and the epic first ascent of the Shafat Fortress with Jonny Copp. The multimedia presentation also includes hard free-climbing in Indian Creek. Utah, and big wall free-climbing in Yosemite Valley.

Go see Micah -- use our online schedule to find a date near you.

More Photos.

This morning, we received an announcement from Ueli's webmaster:

New speed record through the Heckmair Route in the Eiger North face in: 2 hours, 47 minutes, 33 seconds.

Again Ueli Steck sets up a new speed record in the Eiger North face.

Yesterday, on Wednesday February 13, 2008, the 31 years old Swiss alpinist Ueli Steck climbed once more the Eiger North face. After his record set up only last year climbing the classic Heckmair Route, he wanted to go for the record once more.

Ueli Steck: "I was sure that I could be a bit faster than last year. At the moment I am preparing my next expedition, which will start soon. My training is moving on perfectly. I worked a lot on my endurance, which I could improve severely.

"Also I changed my strategy. When I set up the new record last year, I belayed myself 3 times with 15 meters of rope. Yesterday I made it without belaying at all. I just used a rope loop, which allowed me to hook on occasionally. All the equipment was about 3 kg lighter than during my speed record of 2007. Further, I reduced my body weight up to 5 kg. All in all I was about 8 kg lighter yesterday than I was last year.

"There was plenty of snow in the lower part of the Eiger north face, which cost me a lot of energy. On the other hand I found great conditions from the "Schwieriger Riss" on. The technical very demanding passages were very dry and I was able to climb without gloves.

In the end I set up a new personal best in 2 hours, 47 minutes and 33 seconds. Luckily I had two friends, which can confirm this performance. They observed me from the foot of the Eiger north face and they confirmed my fast time, once I reached the summit.

"The legendary Car Lewis said once, that we should seek the competition with oneself. This time I won this competition with myself."

Ueli Steck is still to see on his tour with his slide show. Those lucky readers who just happen to be in Europe can catch Ueli on his tour. More information on: www.explora.ch or www.uelisteck.ch

Welcome to the Year of the Rat! According to the Chinese Zodiac, the Rat heralds the beginning of a brand-new zodiac cycle.

During the next few weeks, Mike Libecki will share his vision for the Rat year. Come out and see Mike's slideshow!

Here's a list of confirmed locations. More locations TBA! If you don't see your town on Mike's list, don't despair... Just email Mike (MikeLibecki (at) aol dot com) for more info, or to offer him your couch.

Comedy Central seems to like our athletes. Last night, Andrew McLean appeared on "The Colbert Report." We always enjoy watching Andrew do his thing, and we like Stephen, too, so we thought we'd share a short segment from last night's show.

View More Photographs from Robert and Bernd's climb.

By Cynthia Houng

This January, ice conditions in the Bernese Oberland, Switzerland, were ideal. Robert Jasper, the German climber, quickly headed to the area.

Bernd Rathmayr, a Swiss climber, joined Robert. Since the ice conditions were good, Bernd proposed that the two climb B.A.S.E., a new route on the Buechenbachfall. Two Bernese locals, Ralph Joerg and Peter von Kaenel, opened this route over the course of two days, December 29-30, 2007, and Rathmayr was eager to give the impressive new route a try.

For the past few years, Jasper has dreamed of creating a trilogy of ice falls. Jasper says, "I wanted to climb very special routes after each other. For the choice of the routes I laid more importance on the aesthetic of the lines than on pure difficulties. The lines should be ice- and mixed routes of different times of the evolution in the history of this sport. I wanted to span a personal bow over the fast-developing ice and mixed climbing of the last 15 years."

According to Daniela Jasper, Robert's wife, "a trilogy [is] an enchainment of different routes or faces," and for alpinists, it represents a special kind of extreme play. For Robert, the trilogy should link together a set of exceptionally aesthetic routes.

Warm Foehn winds from the South presented the duo with a significant obstacle. These warm, dry winds quickly raise air temperatures, softening and melting the snow and ice, creating difficult climbing conditions. But Robert and Bernd were lucky, and the conditions held.

Over three days (January 3 to 5th, 2008), Robert and Bernd climbed 3 major icefalls in the Bernese Oberland--the Almendudler (a 350 m icefall in the Almenalp valley, M9+/10-), B.A.S.E. (450 m, WI6+), and Crack Baby (a classic route in the Oberland, WI6).

Read the Alpinist's coverage of Jasper and Rathmayr's climbs.

Click on the link below to read Daniela Jasper's account of Jasper and Rathmayr's Ice Trilogy.

Malcolm and his crew sent us a selection of photos from Ouray. Climbing had photographs of girls partying. We bring you photos of deer chowing, and Malcolm shopping at the grocery store. We think we're pretty darn classy, don't you?

Congratulations to Paige Boucher, MHW's Public Relations Director. The Outdoor Industry Women's Coalition (OIWC) honored Paige this January with the Pioneering Woman Award. The OIWC celebrates Paige for "her tireless commitment to mentoring women in the outdoor industry, both collectively and individually with practical and heartfelt advice."

Reflecting on her experience as a mentor, Paige says, "I love to hear the many interesting and diverse stories of how people got involved in the outdoor industry. But there is no set career path and I have so appreciated the people who've given me guidance and opportunity throughout the years. It's rewarding for me to pass on my experience and knowledge to women who want to find their way in the industry and then I enjoy following their progress."

"When I started out in this industry," Paige notes, "My motivations were simple and pretty selfish. I wanted to work in the industry that was closest to my outdoor passions, but now my perspective has changed. The crisis of global warming and the health crisis that our children face due to inactivity both weigh heavily on me. But, I realize that as part of the outdoor industry, I am in an ideal spot to effect change that can make a difference in both of those areas."

Visit the OIWC's website to learn more about the organization, explore the OIWC's career resources for women, and learn more about upcoming events.

View more photos on our Flickr site.

By Malcolm Kent

103.2fm, Ouray subliminal cuts 24-7. Crazy that you can drive 6 hours through blizzards to a tiny little town in the San Juan mountains of southern Colorado and then find the radio 'seek' engaging the best radio station you've ever heard in your life. Another day goes by, with another drive out to the evening's entertainment and yet again another seemlingly unflappable mix of high quality tunes eminate from this station. There's no way this can be anything other than one guy in his bedroom knocking out tracks in a pirate fashion. But the smoothness just goes on. No doubt - this fella must have one hell of an mp3 collection.

Every trip I've ever done to Ouray has always had a number of common threads. Things like beautiful photographs, clear blue sky days, hot tubbing and of course eating and drinking at the 'Bien'. But during the legendary ice festival, you sit in the 'Bien' necking margaritas alongside Ines Papert and Steve House. In fact if you're like us, you get to sleep in the room next to Guy Lacelle (who apparently hates people making too much noise). This is the first year that I've been in town for the week of the 'Fest' and now I look back on it, I'm made up that we made it out and decided to get involved. Quite often with ice trips, the motivation to get out of bed early in the morning and subject yourself to freezing temperatures, spin-drift and falling ice can run low pretty quickly. When you're staying in Ouray though, it's so much easier. The walk-in is barely measurable, the ice is encapsulating with 'bomber' anchors everywhere and the locals are totally welcoming. If you're British and a tight-arse though, it'll be the value for money and the exchange rate that will really float your boat.

Saturday was amazing here in Ouray, Colorado. After the time-tested energy breakfast of high fat, high carb, protein-loading death grease, we arrived on scene at the crag and were ready to climb. Luckily, the weather could not have been better. Fleece shirts quickly replaced our down puffies, and before too long the men's and women's Ice Climbing finals began. Ultimately, our international friends performed flawlessly. Jeff Mercier from France took the top position with a burly four-foot dyno making him the only climber in the pack to actually top out. Ines Papert placed first in the women's category and second overall. For a comprehensive list of today's standings visit here.

And now for your enjoyment, here's our video rag from today!

Check out more footage from Ouray at PodClimber. Plus Alpinst has a nice summary of today's events, complete with interviews of the finalists.

The 2008 Ouray Ice Fest officially kicked off this Thursday. The handfull of us here representin' Mountain Hardwear are excited we made the trip to Colorado once again for climbs, clinics, beer and fraternizing. MHW athletes Freddie Wilkinson, John Varco and Dawn Glanc are here with us - sharing beta, stories and Season 2 of the Sopranos on DVD. Nice. Here's a quick video we put together cataloging the scene at Ouray today. This footage might be quick and dirty, but it does offer a killer soundtrack of royalty-free music, so you know it's gonna rock! (Hey, we searched long and hard for this.) Talk to you all tomorrow...

Also, BIG congratulations go out to Dawn who placed fourth out of 23 in the women's comp. Dawn will be swinging her picks in the final round tomorrow at high noon. Best of luck, Dawn!