Jungle Expedition 2012

  After a fun season in the desert, I've spent the past month and a half In Salt Lake, training in the gym and skiing a bit. Down time is fun, and quite necessary sometimes, but I can already start to feel the itch; The itch to venture into truly wild places, and explore the untouched vertical world.

  In just a couple weeks, Sam Farnsworth, Siebe Vanhee, George Ullrich, and I will be traveling deep into the Venezuelan jungle in search of the fabled Amuri Tepui- "steepest wall on earth." Only two teams have climbed routes on this remote tepui, but neither tackle the main amphitheater- which boasts the steepest rock. 

This is what happened the last time George and I went on an expedition... Portaledge carnage...

Los Fabulosos Dos - Cerro Catedral '10 from Pete Rhodes on Vimeo.

While packing for this trip I'm already starting to see some of the benefits of climbing a big wall near the equator- no crampons, ice axes, winter gloves, wind goggles, or giant down parkas. Instead, I'll be bringing a couple pairs of shorts, a few t-shirts, sticky rubber knee pads, and a pair of Ray-Bans. I'm sure the poisonous snakes, malaria, and endless miles of thick, wet jungle will eventually out weigh the wind and snow of Patagonia, but for now, it feels like I'm packing for a Yosemite trip!

Stay Tuned for updates...

Meanwhile, check out Runout Customs for what I think are the best haul bags available, and lots of other custom wall gear.

More Moab

The temps are getting cooler here in Moab, and the sends are heating up. In-between short periods of rain and snow I have been getting out climbing with various friends.

Crack climbing does not promote bone health. Photo- Florian Herla

Last week I lured le crack maitre Peewee to go check out a beautiful 5.13 finger crack near town. The Hidden Gem was first sent by my good friend Adam Ferro this past spring. Its a 70' pitch, overhanging from the ground to the anchor, going from tight fingers to thumbstacks. Without thinking, we decided to head up to this north facing wall on an arctic day. The rock was very cold, and after 25' of climbing, my fingers were completely numb. I continued climbing, blindly trusting each lock- I have never done so many moves in row with numb fingers. The most painful fit of screaming barfies ensued as my lifeless digits warmed back up- definitely one of my proudest onsights. Much respect to Adam for sending the FA.

 The Hidden Gem. Photo Jean-Pierre Ouellete

Several days ago I was lucky enough to rope up with "wide boyz" Tom Randall and Pete Whittaker- the two brits who have been murdering the US's hardest offwidths, and establishing even harder ones. We went down to the White Rim in Canyonlands to a 50' roof crack they had found a week prior. It ended up being quite burly, as a 50' roof should, requiring some advanced chicken winging and arm bars to get thru the flaring wideness. One of the #6 camalots was so tipped that it rattled out of the crack as I nudged it with my foot. Spooky! After Pete flashed the first ascent (very impressive effort!), Tom and I both sent after a couple tries. Witness the Wideness checks in at around 12d/13a, and cost us a $75 parking ticket. 

Tom Randall on Witness the Wideness

Bursting blood vessels in my head. Photo Pete Whittaker

Its raining now. Back to the White Rim soon...

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The Desert

I've been In Moab for 3 days now. The weather is beyond perfect, and new routes are already getting put down. I came out here with my Belgian friend Nico, and his girlfriend Argyro. After a quick stop in Vegas for sushi, and a few pitches at the VRG, we landed in Moab.

Yesterday, after changing my oil, we put up a beautiful new route at the Town Wall- Going to Hollywood 5.13-. The 35m pitch begins with a 5.11 corner, and after pulling a small roof, a flawless splitter continues for 40 feet. When the crack gets too small to fit fingers into, you bust right onto some bouldery face climbing for the final 15 feet.

All photos by Florian Herla

This is man work!

On the hunt

The splitter

Nico is a euro sport climber

But he can also crack climb

More FAs today...

Victory

A big thanks to everyone who voted for our Venezuela expedition in the Berghaus Adventure Challenge- this recent victory will greatly help us fund the trip!

I'm in Yosemite Valley now, and have been getting out climbing in between short thunderstorms.  Several days ago a few friends and I went up to climb Heaven; a stunning 12d roof crack way up on glacier point. Heaven sits perched atop 3000 feet of slab, overlooking Vernal and Nevada falls, as well as Liberty Cap, Half Dome, Mt. Watkins, Washington Column, and the Royal Arches. Its a nice view

               Chugging my way to the top second go. photo- Pete Rhodes

   This is my friend Alex. He flashed it... without a rope.  photo- Mason Earle


In the next few weeks, Brad Gobright and I will head back up onto the Heart Route- making what will hopefully be our final bid to free climb the entire wall. We have been working on free-climbing the Heart Route for two years now, and have done all but one move- a massive 8 foot downward dyno. Most El Cap free routes seem to involve some monster dyno, but it may be possible to bypass the leap by tiptoeing thru some truly improbable micro edging. Time will tell.

            Free climbing on El Cap often requires Xtreme shenanigans

VOTE TODAY!!

So I'm back in Yosemite, doing some training. Since I left Squamish, I soloed the RNWF of Half Dome in 4+ hours, climbed the Nose in 4+, and flailed up freerider in 10+. Its been good training for the bigger projects to come this fall. More importantly tho, I'm planning an expedition to venezuela this fall with some friends, and if you go to this website:

 http://www.berghaus.com/en/adventure-challenge/shortlists

you can vote for our expedition to receive some funding. Voting ends tomorrow, and although we are kicking ass in the lead at the moment, it is by no means a sure victory.

We want to go climb this....

Squamish

The past month I have been in Squamish. I believe Jim Bridwell or someone once said that Yosemite was the "training grounds" for the greater ranges. Well, Squamish is sort of like the training grounds for Yosemite. In the same day one can climb big long free routes, go climb steep sport routes, and then have an evening of bouldering. There is an amazing amount of high quality, and accessible rock climbing to do here- great for getting fit. Lately I've been doing a lot of sport climbing, in an attempt to actually become a stronger climber, and managed to tick "Patience," a route the guidebook called 5.14a.

                                                The Chief

Earlier today Alex Honnold and I set a new speed record for the Grand Wall, climbing from the base to the top of the Roman Chimneys in 59 minutes and 30 seconds- beating our good friends Will Stanhope and Jason Kruk's impressive record of 1 hour and 13 minutes.

I have also been working hard on trying to finish up the Cobra Crack. Yesterday I came stupidly close to sending, falling off the final move of the crux.


Falling off the Cobra from Mason Earle on Vimeo.

Thats about it.

Nose solo

After a few weeks of rain and snow in Yosemite this spring, It was time to destroy some rock and do something sick. El Cap is by far the most bitch'n thing in the valley, but after all the precip, free climbing was temporarily out of the question. With various partners over the years I've climbed  the Nose several times, and always thought it would be fun to try to solo it in a day. In high school, I watched the MoS segment of Dean Potter blazing up the nose in 12 hours a hundred or so times, and have since had it in my head that that was the pinnacle of sickness.

                                     Late May in Yosemite

I first did a run up to dolt tower, and quickly realized how much work soloing entailed. What usually took under two hours, became a five hour pain in the ass. I gave up on the idea until resident wall ninja Aaron Jones lent me his rope soloing cord and a few pitches with the new rope had me re-psyched on the mission.

The day started with me trying to go to sleep at around 9. For whatever reason I couldn't fall alseep, and the time on my cell phone went from 10 to 11 to 2:30 until 3:30 when my alarm went off. Not stoked about not sleeping, I got up anyways and headed for the base of El Cap. I started climbing at 4:30, and a mixture of rope soloing, free soloing and "mega death looping" got me to dolt in 3:50. Psyched on a sub 16 hour pace, I kept raging, passing 6 parties. By Camp 5 I was starting to get pretty tired, but kept moving, and a few pitches from the top I realized I might top out before dark. I flipped the anger switch and started motoring, racing the sun. At the final bolt ladder, I threw the rope on my back and charged up the bolts to the rim as the sun set. I checked the watch at the tree that marks the top of the route: I had been climbing for 15:55. I believe i'm the 7th or 8th person to solo the Nose in a day.  After a moment's contemplation on the summit, I made my way down the east ledges descent and went straight to bed.

                    Approaching the Boot flake party. Tom Evans Photo

                      Partying alone on Camp 5. Tom Evans Photo

More pics to come...