Black Diamond Journal

When is a rock climb too hard, the holds too small, the cracks too thin? Black Diamond athletes Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson pushed those physical and mental boundaries to the limit this past fall when they spent nearly two months attempting to free a line on El Capitan’s southeast face, a 900-meter route (linking up sections of the Dawn Wall and Mescalito) that is likely the hardest big wall free climb in the world, mind-bogglingly stacked with numerous 5.14 pitches. Below is the essay Caldwell wrote for our 2010 Free Climbing brochure, which highlights the gear they used during their attempts, as well as exclusive photos of the climb from photographer Tim Kemple. To get a copy of the 2010 Free Climbing brochure, email our customer service crew at bdmo@bdel.com and they’ll ship you out a fresh one.

Path Of Resistance
By Tommy Caldwell

There is an ominous feeling surrounding my tiny, lonely home two thousand feet in the sky. This is my third winter day in the middle of El Cap—alone. The past two mornings I have awoken early as the warming sun hits my hanging camp. A few moments of coziness are followed by quaky nervousness as I watch the ice that formed during the night melt from the wall above and begin bombing me. I zip up my portaledge fly and tuck my head inside my sleeping bag in an attempt to escape the frightening exposure, frigid wind and thoughts of the falling ice chunks. My chosen career is not the easy path, but I have little interest in a life of leisure. So I think up these super projects to push me hard and make me thrive.

I fully realize that free climbing the Dawn Wall of El Capitan is improbable. Miles of blank steep granite—no true weaknesses to follow. To free climb the Dawn Wall will mean catapulting forward what is thought possible in the world of big wall free climbing. I’ve spent parts of two years either rope soloing up or rapping down from the top, swinging around, searching and trying the moves. I’m trying to force a paradigm shift with this route, and the prospect of linking together at least seven pitches of 5.14 to 5.14+ and another ten in the 5.13 range is daunting. Several times I have given up and moved on, worried I might waste too much of my life searching for something that does not exist or that is too hard for me. But I have invested so much, and am unable to resist El Cap’s magnetic pull. Now, after two and a half years, I think I have finally found the path, done all the moves. But the journey is far from over.

In the off-season I sit at home, remembering the thrill of sticking that eight-foot sideways dyno for the first time or finding that improbable line of edges that linked a section I was sure was going to be completely blank. The psych hits me, and I run into the dusty storage room of my 600-square-foot cabin and crank out a few sets of fingertip pull-ups on my hangboard, then do sit-ups and pull-ups until my muscles quiver with fatigue. I know that to free this Holy Grail on El Cap will require me to train harder, endure more. I slide on my running shoes and look at the outdoor thermometer. It reads 10 degrees Fahrenheit. As I walk out the front door I’m hit in the face with a 50-mile-an-hour wind gust. I put my head down and start running.

Create an account and sign up for our HotWire Newsletter (or simply enter your email address in the box at the bottom right of this screen) between March 1 and March 31, 2010 and you'll be entered for a chance to win a ski mountaineering package which includes the brand-new Couloir harness, Raven Ultra ice axe and the ATC-XP belay device. If you aren't lucky enough to win the grand prize, don't worry—we'll be giving away a slew of Black Diamond t-shirts as well, so your chances of walking away with some sort of swag is pretty damn good!

Click here to create your account and sign up for our HotWire Newsletter and if you are a United States or Canada resident you'll be automatically entered to win! Yes, it's that's simple. No hassles, no purchase necessary, no scams—just sweet free gear for you.

 

 

Black Diamond HotWire Newsletter Giveaway rules, regulations and legal mumbo jumbo:

Here's how it works: A random drawing of NEW HotWire Newsletter subscribers (who are United States or Canada residents) will be conducted by Black Diamond Equipment, Ltd. on April 2, 2009 from all eligible online entries received between 12:01 AM Mountain Standard Time on March 1, 2010 and 11:59 PM Mountain Daylight Time on March 31, 2010. All entries are pooled together and winners’ email addresses are selected at random. The prizes will be either ONE (1) Ski Mountaineering Package, which includes ONE (1) Couloir harness, ONE (1) Raven Ultra ice axe and ONE (1) ATC-XP belay device - or - ONE (1) Black Diamond Journal t-shirt, chosen at random. Winners cannot request which prize they wish to receive. The prize will be sent to the winners via UPS or USPS. Black Diamond’s server is the official clock for this promotion. We do not currently have an estimate of the number of eligible entries that may be accepted or prizes that will be available.

Eligibility: No purchase is necessary. No automated entries. This Sweepstakes is open only to legal U.S. residents who are 16 years of age or older, possess a valid ID proving age, and personal Internet email address. To receive the prize, the potential winner must reside in one of the fifty (50) United States or Canada: ALABAMA, ALASKA, ARIZONA, ARKANSAS, CALIFORNIA, COLORADO, CONNECTICUT, DELAWARE, FLORIDA, GEORGIA, HAWAII, IDAHO, ILLINOIS, INDIANA, IOWA, KANSAS, KENTUCKY, LOUISIANA, MAINE, MARYLAND, MASSACHUSETTS, MICHIGAN, MINNESOTA, MISSISSIPPI, MISSOURI, MONTANA, NEBRASKA, NEVADA, NEW HAMPSHIRE, NEW JERSEY, NEW MEXICO, NEW YORK, NORTH CAROLINA, NORTH DAKOTA, OHIO, OKLAHOMA, OREGON, PENNSYLVANIA, RHODE ISLAND, SOUTH CAROLINA, SOUTH DAKOTA, TENNESSEE, TEXAS, UTAH, VERMONT, VIRGINIA, WASHINGTON, WEST VIRGINIA, WISCONSIN or WYOMING.

The winner may make no substitution or transfer of the prize. The prize may not be redeemed for cash or anything else of value. Noncompliance with any of the Official Rules and Regulations will result in disqualification. Return of any email prize notification as undeliverable will result in disqualification.

Black Diamond Equipment, Ltd. is not responsible for any typographical error in the printing of the offer, administration of the Sweepstakes or in the announcement of the prizes. Black Diamond Equipment, Ltd. reserves the right to modify these Official Rules and Regulations at any time and without notice. Any modification to these Official Rules and Regulations will take effect immediately upon posting in the Sweepstakes area of our website: BlackDiamondEquipment.com

The Knuckle Basher returned to Canmore, Alberta for its second year in February 2010. The Knuckle Basher is a grass roots style winter climbing festival originally organized as a last minute fill in event for the Canmore ice climbing festival which was canceled in 2008. Eddie Whittemore, Black Diamond's western Canadian rep, was lucky enough to attend and sent us his report.

 

The Knuckle Basher Ice Fest kicked off in good fashion with a great slide show by Kevin Doyle on Thursday evening at Mount Royal University. Kevin's slide show highlighted his amazing alpine climbing career with shots and stories from the Canadian Rockies, Nanga Parbat, Rakaposhi and much more.

Friday evening saw things move to the Vsion climbing center in Canmore. Here, Dung Nguyen and his crew of route setters put two groups of climbers through the paces of some super cool (and hard) routes. Elite Men's winner Will Mayo flashed the route and had the crowd fired up!

Will Mayo, 2 holds from the finish.

BD athlete Zoe Hart was in town for a slide show on Saturday evening and got in some good climbing on Thursday with an ascent of Cryophobia in the Ghost. She competed in the Women's Elite division in Friday's event at the Vsion.


Zoe getting it done on the plastic.

Saturday morning brought excellent weather to the Bow Valley and the climbers went out to do routes on their own or participate in one of the many clinics that Yamnuska Mountain Adventures guides put on at both Haffner Creek and the Junkyards, just outside of Canmore.

Saturday evening was the headline event with Zoe Hart doing a slideshow on her travels and climbing to areas all over the Alaska Range, the Alps and Asia. Her show was entertaining and kept the crowd both laughing and gripped at the same time.

So sometimes I like looking into and investigating different climbing gear or situations because I’m curious, sometimes people ask me or email me a question, sometimes I see some sketchy stuff out at the cliffs and sometimes something happens out in the field that I end up hearing about and decide to spend some time looking into it to maybe answer some questions, or maybe even end up posing more.

Investigating joining two slings together and how strong they are is a combination of all of the above. I had kind of been wondering about all these skinny slings on the market; I had a student send in a comparison on different methods of joining slings together asking which way was the best; and there was an incident with John Sherman where he had a sling on his anchor break when he used two slings girth-hitched together—luckily no one was hurt. For details on John’s incident you’ll have to sift through info HERE.

Therefore, all of these things prompted me and my crack crew of QA Engineering guys to throw a quick list of experiments together and do some testing. Please note: This is NOT intended as a in-depth investigation into John's recent incident, rather just as information related to the joining of two slings together in general. So grab yourself a beverage of choice, because this one could get a bit long-winded.

Initial Thoughts

Personally if I have to join two slings together, I generally use the Strop Bend (close to a girth hitch, more later)—because it’s clean and symmetrical. When it comes to forces, loads, etc., we engineering-types like symmetry. Also, I just make sure the two strands are the same width—no one ever told me that, I just thought it made sense. Think about wrapping a piece of fishing line around your finger and pulling—ouch—the different diameters really cut into you. But one finger wrapped around another and pulling—no bigs.

But I just did things that way because I did, and luckily I never really needed to test it out by accidentally taking monster whippers onto girthed together slings. I was hoping we’d learn some good info both for ourselves and to share with other climbers out there.

It’s worth noting that surfing around the web for a while will bring up all kinds of info on this topic— some accurate, some not-so-accurate. One interesting tidbit of good information we found was a blurb by my predecessor here at BD, Chris Harmston.

It appears that he had already done some testing several years ago—but things have changed slightly since then—thinner and thinner webbing is now on the market. We would repeat some of his tests, and add some new ones to the mix.

So what did we do?

Well I have a spreadsheet about 20 tabs deep with all of the raw data, summary, statistical analysis, comparison, rankings, percentage differences, etc., etc.—as well as just as many more of photos pre testing, test set-ups, post testing, etc. But I’m not sure if we have enough bandwidth to post all of this data, plus I doubt anyone would look at it; so let me do my best to summarize.

The Tests

Tests we performed included:

Tensile Strength (static)

Pulling slings connected to failure in a tensile test machine—measuring ultimate load.

Tensile Strength (dynamic)

Using Black Diamond’s drop tower, drop a mass onto two connected slings.

Slings were girth hitched together for all tests Mass was 80 kg Fall factor was ~2 Drops were repeated using the same rope per sling specimen, with loads increasing with each drop (because the elastic properties were being taken out of the rope) Loads on each drop, and number of drops recorded until sling failed New dynamic climbing rope (11 mm) per specimen

Cyclic

Using a pneumatic cylinder, we cycled connected slings to a load of ~3.5 kN (~800 lbf). Note: This is approximately the load we could generate when performing a gnarly bounce test as if aid climbing, or a bit more than a typical toprope anchor sees during ‘normal’ toprope belay situations.

Note: It’s worth noting that loads on toprope anchors can easily exceed this. For more, read Tyler Stableford’s excellent article in Rock & Ice Issue #133, June 2004, "Climb Safe: Taking it from the Top."

 

THE SAMPLES

Materials

Of course there are many many types of slings out there—we used the following materials:

11/16” nylon (think cam sling material) 12 mm Black Diamond Dynex New 10 mm Black Diamond Dynex

Note: Black Diamond currently sells 12 mm Dynex, but is coming out with 10 mm Dynex

Note: Several other manufacturers are currently selling 10 mm Spectra, 8 mm Spectra and even 6 mm Spectra slings. Some of these were tested as well.

Note: For our purposes, Dynex, Spectra, & Dyneema can be considered the same material

Methods of Connecting

We used three main knots to join the two slings:

girth hitch strop bend climber’s hitch

Girth Hitch

Strop Bend

Climber’s Hitch

Note: The girth hitch and strop bend are VERY close. I believe that most people use the term "girth hitch" loosely and it in effect covers both the true Girth Hitch as well as the Strop Bend. In these experiments we will treat them differently.

Material Combinations

We tested many different connecting methods in combination with material combinations in order to try to shed some light on the subject:

Note: Photo only shows some of the combinations and materials tested.

RESULTS

To try to give all our results would take pages and pages, here is the as-short-as-I-could-make-it version:

Note: For ease of comparison, strength values and reductions are compared to 22 kN—which is the CE minimum requirement for a NEW sling—so these numbers aren’t actual reduction in strength of the slings, because it’s possible that they are stronger than 22 kN when new—follow?

Tensile Tests

Chart shows percentage of when new, sling strength (i.e. 22 kN):

Girth Hitch

Strop Bend

Climber’s Hitch

Comments

11/16 Nylon & 11/16 Nylon

70%

80%

88%

Nylon failed

12mm Dynex & 12mm Dynex

70%

85%

Not tested

12mm Dynex & 11/16” Nylon

55%

55%

Not tested

Nylon failed

10mm Dynex & 10mm Dynex

53%

58%

57%

Dynex failed

10mm Dynex to 11/16” Nylon

54%

54%

54%

Nylon failed

11/16” Nylon to 10mm Dynex

46%

54% (symmetry)

54% (symmetry)

Nylon failed

8mm Dynex & 8mm Dynex

57%

53%

56%

Spectra failed

8mm Dynex to 11/16” Nylon

56%

57% (symmetry)

53%

Nylon failed

11/16” Nylon to 8mm Dynex

43%

57%

53% (symmetry)

Nylon Failed

Note: the Strop Bend and Climber’s Hitch are symmetrical, and therefore the results for using 10 mm Strop Bend to 11/16” Nylon is the same as using 11/16” Nylon Strop Bend to 10 mm, etc.

10 mm Dynex Girth Hitched to 11/16" Nylon—Static Tensile Test

10 mm Dynex Strop Bend to 10 mm Dynex—Static Tensile Test

8 mm Dynex Climber’s Hitch to 11/16" Nylon—Static Tensile Test

Observations Joining two slings reduces the ultimate strength—and in some cases by up to and over 50% When nylon and a Dynex or Spectra material were combined, the nylon failed in all configurations In general terms, the narrower the material used, the greater the reduction in strength Also in general terms, mixing widths of materials when joining slings results in a greater reduction of strength Drop Tests (all samples joined using a Girth Hitch)

 

Number of Drops

Ultimate Failure Load

Comments

11/16 Nylon & 11/16 Nylon

14

~14 kN

Nylon broke

12mm Dynex & 12mm Dynex

>10

~14 kN

Broke 2 ropes

12mm Dynex & 11/16 Nylon

>10

>7

~13 kN

~12 kN

Broke 2 ropes

Broke 2 ropes

10mm Dynex & 10mm Dynex

5

4

~11 kN

~11 kN

10 mm Dynex broke

10 mm Dynex broke

10mm Dynex & 11/16 Nylon

4

3

~12 kN

~11 kN

10 mm Dynex broke

10 mm Dynex broke

8mm Dynex & 8mm Dynex

2

3

~10 kN

~11 kN

8 mm Dynex broke

8 mm Dynex broke

8mm Dynex & 11/16 Nylon

2

5

3

~9.5 kN

~11 kN

~11 kN

Nylon broke

8 mm broke

8 mm broke

6mm Dyneema & 6mm Dyneema

2

2

~9 kN

~9 kN

6 mm broke

6 mm broke

6mm Dyneema & 11/16 Nylon

3

2

~11 kN

~9 kN

6 mm broke

6 mm broke

 

8 mm Dynex STROP bend to 11/16" nylon—drop test— before failure

10 mm Dynex Girth Hitched to 11/16” nylon—drop test

8 mm Dynex Girth Hitched to 8 mm Dynex—drop test

Observations When webbing sizes are mixed, and under dynamic loading situations, the narrower strand typically fails (in all but one of our tests) During one test a girth hitch slipped to a strop bend—this sample ultimately went many drops more than as if it had been girth hitched More testing required to verify if a strop bend performs significantly better than a girth hitch in dynamic loading situations—we tested two more samples with intentional strop bends Number of Drops Ultimate Failure Load Comments 10 mm Dynex (STROP BEND) 6 ~13 kN Nylon broke 11/16 Dynex (STROP BEND)

6

~12 kN

Nylon broke

It appears that the slings joined with the strop bend performed significantly better in dynamic loading scenarios than slings joined with a girth hitch (compare to data above) held approx 50-75% more drops, as well changed the failure mode to the nylon sling In all tests performed, it took more than one relatively severe drop to induce failure into the system Cyclic Tests

All configurations and samples tested (11/16” nylon to 11/16” nylon, 10 mm Dynex to 11/16” nylon, 8 mm Spectra to 11/16” nylon) using Girth Hitch, Strop Bend and Climber’s Hitch all surpassed 5000 cycles at a repeated cyclic load of 800 lbf.

Comments Repeating these tests with a combination of an increased load and/or varying the rate of load may differentiate between stronger vs. weaker joining methods and materials combinations for repeated cyclic scenarios CONCLUSIONS & FINAL THOUGHTS

As always, I must state a disclaimer that these findings are somewhat unofficial—just some information to think about. I’m not a climbing guide and don’t even play one on TV. These experiments are NOT all inclusive or totally encompassing by any means—much more testing would be required in order to come to any firm conclusions. It is important that all climbers use their best judgment out in the hills.

First off, our results were very comparable to Chris Harmston’s findings, and I agree with his recommendations—before you join two slings together think about the following:

Is it possible to use a longer sling altogether? If you need to join to slings, using a carabiner is stronger

And in addition:

If you must join two slings, use the same materials and width Symmetrical knots (like the Strop Bend and Climber’s Hitch) appear to perform better than a standard Girth Hitch when joining two slings together General It’s interesting to note that when webbing sizes are mixed and tested in slow static pulls, the nylon failed, however under drop tower dynamic situations, the thin webbing failed. That just verifies that the rate at which loads are imposed on a system can make a difference in ultimate failure load and mode. So why did John Sherman’s thin sling cut when loaded in the way it was? Looking at the photo of the anchor set-up, I question how ‘equalized’ this anchor was. It appears to me that the anchor point in question took the majority of the load in this situation, however, the loads seen in his toprope, rappelling scenario should still have been well within the limits of the material used.

John Sherman comments: "The anchor photo was shot the next day after I had re-rigged the anchor to finish my work the day before (the only re-rigging was to use the static line instead of the broken sling), then re-rigged it back to the previous (or close to) for the photo. I don't disagree that the failure side might have taken more weight (though I tried to avoid this), but the photo could be misleading as the clove hitch could be an inch or two off. Also when weighted the rope took a slightly different angle (the slings lift a few inches when the system straightens)."

It’s interesting that his narrow web cut. As stated above, in all of our experiments, the only time that the narrow web cut was during the drop tests. This leads me to believe that perhaps his loading scenario was much more dynamic than originally suspected; or perhaps his girth hitch was not "dressed" (i.e. web folding over itself causing increased stresses).

"The girth hitch had a half twist in it—did this increase tension? Also the knot shows a distinct V-groove in the middle of the dyneema—it looks like there was extra tension along the center of the webbing making it act as if it were a smaller width. The knot pinched one length of dyneema against the other as the two strands exited the knot. One stand failed, the other was damaged as well at the same spot in the knot."

It’s also worth noting that the cut of his narrow sling appears to be very clean—on all of the tests we performed, there was much fraying, etc of the ends after the breakage. Also, all of our narrow web failures went diagonally across the web, whereas John’s appears to be very perpendicular to the web. Could it be possible that there was already a slight ‘nick’ in his thin web which allowed the break propagation during loading?

John Sherman’s clean cut thin web

Typical frayed ends of webbing after breakage

So what is the exact reason, according to the laws of physics why John’s sling cut the way it did? I don’t know—but maybe someone has it out for him?? (Watch your back John.)

"BTW There's more than a few people who have it out for me—however only two climbers have ever been to the cliff where this happened and we were both on rappel at the time the sling broke. And any saboteur would have to be helluv clever to cut the dyneema then also nick the spectra on the backside of the knot. And why not just slice my rope? Furthermore my dog was chillin' atop the cliff and would have probably barked if a poacher or other person approached. (My dog is 12 and her teeth are worn down so she's not a suspect.)"

Hopefully his incident as well as the experiments and results described above will at least get you thinking a little bit the next time you need to join two slings together.

Climb safe out there,

KP

Black Diamond athlete Mike Libecki lives for adventure climbing in distant, untrammeled lands. This past year he managed two such climbing expeditions and sent us the following recap and photos of his travels and climbs.

Year of the Ox Expeditions, a recap

What an amazing gift of reality on the expeditions for Year of the Ox in 2009! Here are some of the moments and visions from my two most recent expeditions to fantastic places that create the sweetness of life and ultimate moments of living in the “now.” These are like places right out of my daughter’s fairytale books… places that inspire ancient tales of old. In 2009 I went to two remote corners of the planet: Northwest China solo and the absolute fantasy-land of Socotra Island Yemen with my dear friend and best adventure partner, Josh Helling.

I am just back from one of the most amazing expeditions of my life: to Yemen’s Socotra Island. The island is home to ancient granite towers and over 300 endemic species of plant, animal and insect life, with a culture that has not changed its ways for thousands of years. It’s a fantasy land that, for today’s day of explorers, is still (at least it was!) virgin, unseen and holds the variable that adventure cannot exist without: Mystery. Even Sinbad the Sailor is rumored to have been there and battled huge dragon-like birds as they destroyed his ship and buried ancient and magic treasures high in the jungles. My partner Josh Helling and I were the first climbers to step foot upon this amazing island. We made it to the top of its two highest rock towers and embraced its lost-world ambiance.

When I was there, I kept thinking back to when I was a kid, hearing Tattoo on the television yelling in a strange foreign accent, “The plane, the plane," then hearing the famous host of the island, Ricardo Montebaum, announce ever so seductively, "Welcome to Fantasy Island." That is exactly what happened. Stay tuned for the full story, amazing photos that are like nothing you have seen before, and the full-length movie now in the edit room under creative manipulation. Trust me, you don't want miss the story and movie coming soon to Black Diamond's Journal. Socotra Island is the most unique place I have ever been to and I feel obligated to share this fantastic area of our planet for all to enjoy and embrace. Oh yeah, and we just got out of Yemen before the political war mayhem broke out, we narrowly escaped being taken by the locals…

Just a couple months before the intensity of Socotra Island and Yemen I headed to Northwest China, solo, to place of grand virgin summits, untouched mountain valleys and beautiful, colorful Kyrgyzstan nomads living in paradise. On my way to get there, I went through the city of Urumqi in the Xinjiang Province, and happen to land the day after the huge terror mayhem broke out between the local Chinese and Uygur people (you might have seen the news on this). An estimated 600 people were killed, many in so terribly brutal ways I would rather not mention at the moment. I witnessed intense violence, and twice on the way to my destination I was put in jail. My military permissions were canceled at the last of many military checkpoints—with the giant summits in view, laughing at me. It seemed all hope was lost, but as an optimist-addict, I knew things would work out. Soon, I found myself among some of the strangest looking mountains I have seen not only with my own eyes, but in any photo.  Before long I stood on three different summits above the Shipton’s Arch near Kashgar, China.

Stay tuned for the full story, photos, and movie for both of the Year of the Ox Expeditions that are currently in the edit room. The capture of imagery and video from missions to experience mystery and mayhem is an emotional ride of joy and pain you won’t want to miss.

Death and/or old age is coming.....we must live sweet.

The time is now.

Why ration passion?

Dream big.....and climb those dreams.

After all, it is not only life, but the quality of this life.

Happy New Year!  And may the Year of the Tiger Expeditions be amazing for everyone!

— Mike Libecki

Black Diamond athlete Cedar Wright teamed up with fellow Boulderite Nick Martino last November to make the first ascent of a wild-looking 5.13 multi-pitch route at Indian Creek, Utah. Below is Cedar's comments about the route as well as a great video he made that documents the entire adventure from roadtriping out there to scoping the line to redpointing the route, which the duo named Micah Dash Memorial Choss Pile, as a humorous homage to their good friend Micah Dash who, along with Jonny Copp and Wade Johnson, was killed in an avalanche last summer in the mountains of southwestern China

 

Man was it great to get back down to Indian Creek over Thanksgiving!! Indian Creek has always been one of my favorite climbing areas, and it felt like coming home as I rolled into Beef Basin with my good friend Nick Martino. Over the years I've been lucky to put up some classic first ascents in the Creek that buck the trend of the straight-in splitter and offer up more complex esoteric climbing. My most recent foray into the unknown continued with this trend. Nick and I were lucky to establish our new route over a few days and headed back to Boulder psyched on our little dose of adventure. We both lead the crux pitch, and I managed to onsight the wild 25-foot roof on the third pitch by the skin of my teeth. We named the route the Micah Dash Memorial Choss Pile in honor of our good friend Micah Dash who was lost in the mountains of China this year. I think he would have appreciated the tongue-in-cheek name, which as it turns out is not a choss pile at all!! Micah loved the creek and was always good for a laugh and a quality shit-talking session around the fire. Well... enjoy everyone.

— Cedar Wright

Black Diamond athlete Katsutaka “Jumbo” Yokoyama is part of the renowned Japanese alpinist crew dubbed the Giri-Giri Boys. Currently on a long-term roadtrip through North America, Jumbo sent us this report about his ascent of Mount Hunter’s Wall Of Shadows this past spring with Genki Narumi. Jumbo’s commitment to the light-and-fast super-alpinism approach has seen him blitz up many of the Alaska Range’s testpieces—including this one—in impressive style.

How fast the time passed! It has been one month since I and Genki Narumi arrived on the Kahiltna Glacier. We’ve done nothing for climbing; the only progress the past one month is getting fat on our body. We only have 10 more days.

On Kahiltna Glacier, climbers are able to focus on climbing itself thanks to the short approaches. It’s easy to retreat when in case of bad weather, bad condition—even if it’s not my style, but fun definitely! This is the North Buttress of Mt.Hunter. The great Michael Kennedy made its first ascent with Greg Child in 1994, and described their climbing as “The hardest route we’d done in our combined half-century of climbing”. If so, it will be great experience for us to follow that “hardness” on a comparatively safe wall.

At 2:45 on May 17, we left Kahiltna BC. How many times have we walked this way? Not very much during the past 3 weeks; one of those, we tried the route actually—a week ago, we retreated from 2/3 up the route because of crazy strong wind. On that try, we reached the Crystal Highway after a full-day of fun climbing, then bivied on dangerous mushrooms. Next morning, the strong wind: a rare experience also for Lisa who has been Kahiltna base manager for 10 years, and it turned our bivy shelter upside down. Keep climbing? Out of the question! After one more night bivy on the face, we run away in a fluster. When we reached the glacier, we got our haulbag that was cached, thankful it didn’t blown off to somewhere in the gale…

Before leaving this time, the weather forecast said that there is only one and half day for good weather. We never wanted to get bad weather anymore. We had to minimize our stuff, and decided to only take with small lumbar packs per person because we know the route and feel that we can move fast. The only thing we want to do is climb Wall of Shadows, that’s all.

Even if it was pretty steep, we simulclimbed lower section smoothly, swinging leads. We had lots of beta on this part, and could use some V-threads we left a week ago. On The Enigma Pitch, the first crux and originally rated as A4, we saw old rivet on a wide slab. For modern climbers, however, it isn’t needed. We traversed to the left, and then turned back to the right. Not too hard, just fun!

By noon, we reached the Crystal Highway, which was our high point a week ago; could get it just 8 hours today. I was so surprised at the big difference between the last try and now. It’s totally different thing between climbing with beta or nothing, it’s completely different, I think.

Finally, we plunged into the heart of this route; the Somewhere Else Wall Pitch, it must be the other crux (originally A4). Looks so loose, and slightly overhanging… Well, it’s time to enjoy physical labor! Punch snow, tear loose rock, scrape ice from crack, and set protection forcibly. Lots of gear and axes dangled from my body, and I got really hot because of too much clothes. I struggled against everything. It was only 5.10, but it’s totally impossible to describe this situation with only simple number.

When I got over the crux and looked up at the next section, a vintage “Alaskan” ice ribbon continued up a clean corner. We didn’t known of anyone that had climbed it; the past three teams avoided it from the left-hand mixed terrain. It was 15 hours since we started climbing, and we were tired already. Avoid this? No way! Why not go for it? With ease (as far as I could see from belay), Genki led this steep, thin, and sustained ice ribbon using rock gear.

It was the bottom of the 3rd Ice Band where Genki belayed me. We started simulclimbing toward Moonflower, hoping to get to the top before dark, but our calves were almost blowing, so we decided to take a short break on the bottom of Bibler Come Again Exit.

Suddenly, we had spent over six hours sitting here already! Hurriedly, we started climbing again. I heard Genki shouting something with suffering and anger. Who cares? Keep simulclimbing, then we finally reach the Cornice Bivy, 29 hours after we left the glacier.　

We started rappelling soon because we worried that the weather will get worse like a week ago. After 10 hours of struggling (we got into some trouble during the descent because we entered a wrong gully), we could safely stand on the glacier. As I looked up into space, there were no clouds, just blue sky, and I realized that weather forecast was totally useless.

The true summit was far beyond our highest point. “Bad weather forecast” doesn’t have to lead “Don’t go further”; it should be decided by ourselves whether going or not, and remember that negative reasons will be just excuse.

Anyway, let us congratulate ourselves on our climbing and being safe now! One hour later, we could get back to our sweet home successfully. Cheers!

— Katsutaka “JUMBO” Yokoyama

Climbing Notes:
4th ascent of Wall of Shadows (from new variation) to the top of North Buttress (Alaska Grade 6, 5.10- WI5+ M6R)
May 17 (to Moonflower)-18 (to Cornice Bivy and descent on Moonflower), 2009
Genki Narumi, Katsutaka “Jumbo” Yokoyama

Johnny Collinson became the youngest person to climb all Seven Summits in January 2010 at the age of 17, completing his global tour in a mind-blowing 367 days—barely over one year. A strong competitor on the Junior Freeskiing Tour, Collinson skied every summit possible, and toted his Sickbird belt-buckle tropy he won in March 2009 at Snowbird, Utah on many of his trips. Check out what Johnny had to say about his record-breaking accomplishment.

Johnny on the summit of Carstensz Pyramid, Papua.

Finished. Wow. It took all year, but I have successfully finished the Seven Summits in 367 days at the age of 17. The last peak I climbed on my quest was the Vinson Massif in Antarctica. I'm not going to lie, this was one of the more interesting places we traveled, and it had no culture. The sun was up 24/7, the temperatures were +.01 degrees at the warmest, and the skiing was no joke. We spent nearly a week in Punta Arenas, Chile, waiting for the weather to clear in Antarctica so that we could land the giant Russian cargo plane on the ice.

After arrival, the next day we flew on a Twin Otter to base camp and started the climb. The going was easy, basic glacier travel, except you could sunburn one side of your face and frostbite the other at the same time. I skied the fixed lines, the steepest part of the climb on our "rest" day. A little scary, skiing windblown sugar-crust on blue ice. First turn, and my Dynafit binding blew off, sending me sliding at 30 mph down a 45-degree slope in pretty much the last place you would want to get hurt. Luckily I was able to self arrest, and so was my ski, upside down 30 feet above me. I checked out the binding, deemed it ok and finished the ski much slower and more cautiously. After that, we summited on Jan. 18 in -38-degree F weather and 50-knot winds.

Being done with my quest is almost sad, because now I don't know when I will be traveling out of the country again. Bu then again, I feel so lucky to have finished my goal on the first try. No major mishaps, no major injuries, it's awesome. I was pretty spoiled this year, being able to see all the corners of the earth at such a young age. I traveled to Argentina, Nepal, Alaska, Russia, Tanzania, Papua New Guinea, and Antarctica. I learned so much about the world, and how cultures view their homes/environments. Staying in places where the people grew all their food, and made all their shelter was eye-opening. They value every aspect of the places they live in. After being in such a down-to earth sort of place, I came home and saw our own culture in a whole new light. I want to start sharing all these experiences with youth/ people here in America, and hopefully get them excited to start finding new passions in the outdoors.

It's almost surreal, to pick up a book or look at a picture somewhere, and know that I have been there. To read about Everest, and be able to picture the words is crazy. The feeling of standing up on top is so indescribable. Just imagining two months of work to get to one point is crazy. I think about every step, every night I was there, and how bad I wanted to get to the top. Then in one 15-hour summit push it's all over. The 20 minutes up top is the fastest of your life. All of a sudden you are headed down from the goal you aspired so long to reach. A little bit sad.

Now, I have a full competition schedule for skiing this winter, and no plans ahead of that!

This winger comes to us, out of the archives, from BD's Technical Illustrator Mike Tea. These guys have clearly discovered the climber's version of "earning your turns." Check out the spine walk at 0:35...

 

Black Diamond athlete Fred Nicole is arguably the most influential boulderer of all time, ushering the sport into a new era of difficulty and leaving his mark with mega-classic problems on the boulders of the world from Rocklands to Cresciano to Hueco Tanks for more than 25 years. This short video profile, produced by fellow BD athlete Chuck Fryberger, provides an illuminating glimpse into Nicole's unique philosphy and approach to climbing.