adventure

Ice Climbs to Side of Martha, RMNP

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Lacee Ankeney and I went up to Chasm Lake in the Spring of 2024, planning to make a spring climb of Alexander’s Chimney. When we reached the lake, we spied two ice flows on the cliffs of Mount Lady Washington which we had never seen before. It was a cloudy day, the perfect chance to climb these south-facing lines. We changed our plans and popped over to take a look. This was fortuitous for us, as RMNP SAR was searching for a lost hiker, and they ended up locating his body at the foot of Lamb’s Slide that day. We would have been the party to discover the body if we had continued with our original plan.

The ambiance in the cirque was moody that day, both due to the unusual grey weather and the repeated sweeping turns from the search helicopter.

There were two distinct lines formed. We climbed the right-side line for one 30-meter pitch, finding it around M5+. The second pitch looked yummy, but we passed due to extremely poorly-bonded ice, warming temps, and disappearing protection. We wrapped a cordalette around a boulder and rappelled from there. We saw no other fixed gear. I was not able to track down firsthand accounts from anyone who had climbed this before, but probably some old-timers have. It’s not mentioned in any printed guidebooks or online sources.

Some pics:

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Two Flowers on Wham (RMNP)

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Rappel off of Wham, RMNP

Boy, the news is bad lately, huh?

I have never been so ashamed to be an American.

I thought now would be a good time to go back and write about a few climbs or adventures I kept to myself over the years.

This particular climb we did in 2021, just as the Covid-19 vaccines were becoming available, and we were beginning to feel a little hope about a bad time coming to an end. After a year of paranoia and discouragement, I was dating again. The most important factor, of course, was that she had to like climbing.

I met Madi on a dating app; her outdoorsy photos and genuine joy in nature made it an easy match. She was a relative novice in climbing, but no biggie. I had the skills to drive, and knew enough to impress—at least in this arena. Things went quick and smooth. One lunch date to feel each other out, some climbing afterwards. A second day out on the Bastille Crack, an easy multipitch near Boulder which I had wired to the point of disregard. She loved it, and surprisingly, so did I. We kissed goodbye in the parking lot, full of hope for the future.

I had the perfect next step: Rocky Mountain National Park. I’d been climbing there a lot the past two summers, and would impress her with a moderate route up an impressive and seldom-climbed feature. “Wham” it was called. A bulbous tower of granite, it sat right next to a popular climb, Zowie, which I’d done a couple of times already. Plenty of people climb Zowie; no one climbs Wham. Nonetheless, the route was in the book, and on Mountain Project. At an elementary grade of 5.7, it would be the perfect date climb. I imagined summit beers, making out on the belay ledges, and a fairy-tale haze of summer sun and optimism.

Years later, Madi tells me she remembers the sun and the optimism. I remember fear, engagement, and my heartbeat in my throat, not as I pulled in to kiss a beautiful woman, but instead as I unexpectedly ripped a microwave-sized block off the wall, 30-foot runout, with a belayer I barely knew.

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Vallunaraju North Ridge 2024

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Calum Kenny (UK/Hong Kong) and I climbed the North Ridge of Vallunaraju in Peru’s Cordillera Blanca on July 10, 2024. We successfully completed the route, although we found it in much harder condition than reported in many sources. We carried our camp up and over and descended the standard route to moraine camp, and then the Llaca refuge.

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Zen and the Art of Mountain Climbing

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Although once a hip and trendy book, few people today seem to read and connect with “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance” by Robert M. Pirsig. First published in 1974, this philosophical novel celebrates its 50th birthday this year. My attempts at forming an anniversary book club within my family have been unsuccessful; only I have done the readings.

I read this book at the crag in Indian Creek, suffering through a sandstorm. Every time I come to the Creek I promise I’ll read at the crag – this past trip was the first time I’ve ever done so. Conversation in Indian Creek, when not being made impossible by howling wind blowing sand between your molars and into your cavities, consists of general ego stroking: “Oh you did that crack? Have you tried this crack? Someday I want to try this other crack!” And so on.

It’s tedious, and unavoidable.

In that context, this excerpt felt appropriate. What do you think?

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Rock Art

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I’ve just emerged from a seasonal sabbatical in the desert. As usual, we did a lot of rock climbing. The climbing out there is always good – but we won’t linger on that here.

One of the more fascinating aspects of the deserts of the American southwest is the cultural heritage. Artifacts and rock art from a number of Native American cultures are visible here. These things aren’t in a museum or on a heavily-trafficked tourist trail: for the most part, they’re just sitting in the desert, scratched on the side of soft sandstone walls or sitting deep within remote canyons.

There is a special feeling I get when I walk up to these sites. I am not a religious person, but from the first time I saw ancient petroglyphs scrawled on a wall, I felt a spiritual presence. There is no other word for it, and it’s a feeling I still get at many of these sites.

Primitive pictures carved into dark sandstone. Recoghnizeable figures include a person, a Kokopelli, handprints, and depictions of antelope or similar animals. There are also abstract shapes, including a triangle and a snake-like squiggle.

Andrew Gulliford, in his book “Bears Ears: Landscape of Refuge and Resistance”, writes:

“In Navajo belief, a dead person’s spirit may continue to reside where that person had lived and died. Their chindi or spirit may be lonely and seek to haunt or terrorize visitors.”

“Bears Ears: Landscape of Refuge and Resistance”, 2022, Andrew Gulliford, page 103

I don’t feel a malevolence, but I do feel a presence. I encourage you to visit yourself — maybe you will feel it too.

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