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Above & Beyond
Feature articles found only on Climbing.com
A collection of climbing stories from climbers around the world. To submit your story to the Above and Beyond section, please send your story and photos to luke.laeser@gmail.com |
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 The Kilimanjaro glaciers are turning straight to vapor
An Interview by Navaya ole Ndaskoi with Alex Lemunge / East African Voyage Ltd - The Arrow Glacier is no longer on Kilimanjaro. The Heim Glacier was a very famous for glacier climbing before 1996 but now almost all of it has evaporated. The Northern ice fields are mostly gone as well and half of the Fortangular glacier has receded.  Climbing Mont Blanc - Chamonix, France
Story and photos by John Wutzer - In August, 2008, as I checked into my hostel for a week long climbing class in Chamonix, the hostel manager asked me if I had heard. Heard about what I replied? He indicated that a freak ice and snow avalanche buried 8 climbers at 3 am on their way to the Mont Blanc summit via the du Tacul route.  A Trip to the Miyar Valley, Himachal Pradesh, India
Trip report and photos by Camilo Lopez and Anna Pfaff - On the 13th of August we started our trip to India. About 18 hours of the "most comfortable airplane seats" and a few hours of waiting in between we made it to our first destination...Delhi, India. We loaded up and got into the mini bus taxi, which smelled like incense and cigarettes, the perfect combo after a long flight.  Not Busted: Free Climbing Half Dome's Regular NW Face
Story and photos by Chris Van Leuven - It didn’t matter how hard I bared down on the chickenhead, the hold was not positive enough to support body weight. There was just enough friction on Half Dome’s featureless, grainy granite to smear my feet against and stand in place, but not enough to not advance on.  Do you consider yourself an elite mountain athlete?
If you're the kind of person who does hard alpine routes — in the middle of nowhere — we'd like you to complete a brief survey for a Wilderness Medicine Research Project being conducted by West Virginia University.  Bouldering Therapy 101
By Robyn Puro - I’d finally cut ties with my corrupt, evil, horrible, poisonous boss and was eager to rid my home-office of negative juju. I wasn’t entirely sure how I had gotten myself into that situation, but “the mindful life” it was not. My days had been full of angry phone calls.  Yuji and Hans Speed Up The Nose - An El Capitan Dispatch from Yosemite, CA
By Larry Arthur / MountainTools.com - We saw our friends Hans Florine & Yuji Hirayama on Sunday, October 12th, 2008, before, during and after their world record ascent of The Nose in 2:37:05! This was 9 minutes and change faster than their previous record last year (6 minutes faster that their ascent in July, 2008).  The Southwest Ridge of Siguniang (6250 meters), Changping Valley, Sichuan, China
Trip report by Dylan Johnson - Chad Kellogg and I, funded in part by a Lyman Spitzer Award from the American Alpine Club, completed the first ascent of the Southwest Ridge of Siguniang (VI 5.11 A2 M5 AI3+), 72 pitches. 9,200’ from base camp, in southwestern China over ten days, September 21-30, 2008.  A Mountaineering Duathlon in Tanzania
Interview by Navaya ole Ndaskoi - Andres Perez, a lawyer at the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in Arusha, Tanzania, set out on what he calls a "Mountaineering Duathlon". Supported by East African Voyage Company Ltd., Perez biked from the town of Arusha to Mount Meru (Tanzania's second highest), climbed it, then biked to Kilimanjaro, climbed it, and finally biked back to his home in Arusha.  The Dirtbag Diaries - Episode 21: No Car No Problem
By Fitz Cahall - A 1,200-foot rock wall in a wilderness area – that's standard summer fare. In a day and back before dinner? Sounds easy. Without a car? That’s when my climbing partners stopped returning my phone calls. Recreating without a car might seem impossible, but this summer I set out to test the preconceived notion.  The Limestone of Yangshuo, China
Text and photos by Gerhard Schaar / www.gerhardschaar.com - With about 20 different crags, and about 400 routes, all no further away than a 30 minute mini-bus drive, Yangshuo is the biggest climbing area in China. The rock is limestone, and there are as many as 70,000 Karst towers scattered throughout a region with a size of only 70 square miles. See a photo gallery by Gerhard Schaar  It's "Dojo" time in Boulder, Colorado
By Mike Adamson / thespotgym.com - There comes a time in every gym rat’s life where you begin to crave more beyond the good ol’ walls you’ve come to know and love. Enter The Spot Bouldering Gym’s newest wall, the Dojo, unveiled September 5.  It Only Took Me Four Years to Summit the Grand
By John H. Ridge - My attempt to climb Grand Teton in August 2004 was my first time on a “real” mountain. Prior to that, my only experience in the mountains consisted of training climbs on Mount Si, a 4,167-foot peak in the Washington Cascades favored by beginners like myself.  Yosemite and Rainier Weather Forecasts
Updated 10/23/08 - By Michael Fagin, lead forecaster for West Coast Weather - EverestWeather.com - West Coast weekend forecast and live weather cams for Denali, the Squamish Chief, Mt Rainier, Yosemite and Joshua Tree.  The International of Glenwood Canyon
Story and photos by Mike Schneiter and Chris Van Leuven - "I’ve long harbored a fascination for the towering walls of imposing rock in Glenwood Canyon. The moment I moved to the Roaring Fork Valley I heard rumors of a near-fanciful route that climbed to the canyon rim," reflects Mike Schneiter on the International Route, Glenwood Canyon's longest line.  The Dirtbag Diaries - The Shorts: The Simple Joy of Moving Upward
By Fitz Cahall - If you plan on calling Craig DeMartino inspirational, he would prefer you wait to see if he can even drag his butt off the ground. After loosing his leg in a climbing accident, DeMartino had to retrain his body and learn his craft all over again. He hoped one day he would compete against the able-bodied, but taking on Chris Sharma in a World Cup? That was beyond dreams.  An Adventure in the Dolomites
By Enrico Maioni / guidedolomiti.com - During my many years in the mountains and my numerous trips abroad, I’ve had the good fortune of living quite a few adventures. Today I’ll tell you my most recent adventure, so you think about how an alpine guide earns a living, especially if you think he does so in the most casual manner ... CLICK HERE to see all the photos from this adventure  Cowboys on K2
By Guy McCarthy / watershednews.blogspot.com - The weekend of September 6-7, 2008 marked the 30th anniversary of the first American ascent of K2, the world's second-highest mountain and widely considered the most dangerous. In early August, 11 climbers were killed high on K2 in one of the deadliest episodes in mountaineering history.  THE NOSE GOES QUICKER
Story and Photos by Eric Perlman / MastersofStone.com - July 2, 2008: “Go Hans! Go Yuji! Go Hans! Go Yuji!” a crowd of onlookers howls from below the 3,000-foot prow of El Capitan, in Yosemite National Park, California. The cheering spurs on Yuji Hirayama and Hans Florine, mere specks on the Nose (VI 5.9 C2; 2,900 feet; 31 pitches), as they charge to reclaim the speed record held since October 2007 by the German brothers Alex and Thomas Huber.  The Bugaboo Experience
By Jeff Zimmerman / JeffZimmermanPhotography.com - Deep in the Purcell mountain range of British Columbia lies the Buagboo Provincial Park, a remote and rugged alpine wonderland about 4-5 hours from the US border (or Calgary), and about 50 kilometers off Highway 93. Any seasoned BC climber knows, alpine starts are important due powerful afternoon thunderstorms. And, as expected, the Bugaboos didn’t provide us any favors this trip. |
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