There is a lot of training value in climbing the 14ers of Colorado. Especially in the Winter season, when conditions are much like they would be in Alaska or other cold windy places. My friend Todd came up from the Front Range to spend the night. Saturday December 29 we woke up to below zero …
On Thursday December 27 I took my friend Todd up to Hoosier Pass for Lincoln Falls Ice Climbing. He’d never been ice climbing before and had been curious to try for a while. In his real life, Todd is a figure skater and coach. He’s my wife’s choreographer for her upcoming competitive ice skating program. …
I have come home from my attempt at climbing Aconcagua, one of the Seven Summits, and highest peak outside the Himalaya. I’m working on transcribing my notes now from my phone and little notebook into a document to prepare as another book. In the meantime, here are a few interesting key points. Climbing Aconcagua: Failure? …
My wife has been a wonderful asset in my training. Encouraging me in my efforts at climbing Aconcagua and other peaks around the world. She puts up with all my training and my closet packed with gear. Even the overflow into the garage and my home office. I couldn’t do it without her help. I’d …
The key to Aconcagua logistics is planning before you go. Flying to Mendoza Argentina is relatively painless. I went before in March of 2010 during the earthquake in Chile that closed the Santiago airport. LAN (the airline) was really accommodating to get me back to the states. If you book with American, you’ll most likely …
A Fall Hike on Rainier to Camp Muir should be on everyone’s list of climbing objectives as a shakedown cruise for your other adventures. Mount Rainier is a 4,000 meter volcano in the Pacific Northwest of the USA near Seattle Washington. The snow and ice can vary quite a bit from the Pebble Creek area …
It was a cold night without heat in the Barrel Hut #4 where I slept at the 12,300′ level on Elbrus in Russia, and I slept fitfully. At 5:30 I stepped out to check conditions and though it was very cold and windy, the sky was clear, so I prepared to go. It was slowly …
I hiked to Pastukhova Rocks on Elbrus, a volcano in the Caucasus of Russia, and one of the Seven Summits. On Thursday September 6 I took a taxi to Azau, where the tram and gondola bottom stations are. I took my billet or pass as we Americans prefer, and waved it at the scanner and …
On Friday, Sept 7, I moved up to the Barrels Huts at the 12,300′ level on Elbrus, a volcano in Russia, the highest point of Europe and one of the Seven Summits. On this trip I first encountered the Barrels on my acclimatization hike of Tuesday September 4 from Cheget to the Barrels. The Barrels …
I spent much of my time in the Elbrus region at the hotel in Cheget, a small village about 3 miles from the Azau, the village at the base of Elbrus from which the Tram and Gondola run up the flanks of the highest point of the European Continent. When I first arrived on Monday, …