|
20
Questions
Describe your climbing background:
I got into climbing
through mountaineering in my home range, the Canadian
Rockies. Basically my dad needed a partner and so
he dragged me out. But I did not really fall in love
with climbing until a few years later, when I went
to graduate school to Chicago. Living in the Midwest
I missed the mountains, and so I took up rock and
ice climbing at the local crags. When I moved back
to Calgary, I saw the mountains through new eyes.
I have not looked back since.
Why climb ice?
I love ice climbing, even when it is not that hard.
There is just something incredibly compelling about
an ice climb. And of course hard ice offers one of
the most powerful climbing experiences there is,
that of delicately moving through a beautifully alien,
and harshly unforgiving landscape.
Describe a climbing experience when things got out
of hand:
Fortunately there have not been too many of these
lately (I like to think my judgment has improved).
But during my early climbing career I seemed to have
close calls with alarming regularity, like the one
when Polish Bob and I climbed Shooting Gallery on
Mt. Andromeda. Things first started going downhill
(literally), when I took a factor-two fall off of
the mush that passed for ice on the crux. I should
have known better before I even started up the pitch
(and certainly once I had started up it), but in
those days turning around was not an option I was
even aware of. In spite of losing two front teeth
I immediately got back on and up via a different
line. Meanwhile the day was warming up and a bad
storm was brewing. We finished the couloir with lightning
striking the ridgeline above, and rocks screaming
down around us. This experience, more than any other
one, has taught me to THINK in the mountains.
What has ice/alpine climbing taught you?
As George Lowe once said, you should clearly distinguish
your state of mind, your fears or desires, from an
objective assessment of the situation. This applies
to experiences such as the one on Shooting Gallery,
but conversely, also to times when it is would have
been easy to go down simply because I was overwhelmed
by the size or difficulty of the objective. On the
third ascent of the NE ridge of Mt. Alberta, on the
lower half of the route I simply could not get into
being on the mountain and, in spite of perfect weather
and conditions, kept thinking “down” instead
of “up.” Fortunately I did not listen
to my inner doubts. Once the climbing got hard,
I lost myself in it, and ended up having one my
best ever days in the mountains.
What are you up to when you’re
not climbing?
For better of for worse, working! I teach undergraduate
astronomy and physics in Calgary.
How do you see climbing evolving in the next five
years?
I guess I should say something about the skills from
the crags being applied to bigger objectives, be
it rock or mixed climbing, and that will likely be
that case. In my own way I have tried to contribute
to this trend by taking the skills I learned at the
mixed crags and applying them on big north faces
in winter. But I also do not like to think of climbing
in terms of progress towards a goal. That just makes
the whole activity seem too rigid and too programmatic.
I just hope to hear about the wild climbs and wild
times (and hope to have some new stories of my own
to tell).
What do you think about the M13+ or WI8 grade?
I do not think about them much. The more I climb,
the less grades matter to me. I seem to have developed
a reputation as somewhat of a sandbagger. But part
of the reason why I give routes grades like M8++
(or “solid
M4+” for overhanging drytooling to a dagger)
is to make light of the whole grading game.
How does fear affect your climbing?
Fear is never far for me, though it is controlled,
rational fear, rather than the out-of-hand variety.
Being always afraid can destroy a climbing experience,
but fear is also healthy. I like to think that I
will still try anything I would have tried 10 years
ago, but that being more fearful will mean that I
will be smarter about it.
Care to comment on: heel spurs, leashes vs. leashless,
falling on ice, impact of drytooling?
Heel spurs: People can use whatever they want to
use, but I do not use them anymore. It means that
I am now projecting Musashi, when two years ago I
used to run laps on it. But I could not fool myself
that climbing with spurs was hard, and ultimately
spurs were the reason why I lost interest in drytooling
for a time. Taking them off makes things exciting
(and hard!) again.
Leashes: I have not been using leashes for some three
or four years now. This has little to do with whether
climbing leashless is more or less free, and just
about everything to do with making the experience
simpler. I love simplicity, and I love just picking
up the tools and getting after it without having
to fuss with leashes.
Falling on ice: Spurs or no spurs, leashes or no
leashes, falling on ice is still a no-no, and I do
everything to avoid it.
Impact of drytooling: Drytooling on established cragging
routes is definitely a no-no, though I relax that
rule when it comes to climbing big alpine rock routes
in winter conditions. Worrying about a few scratches
in a 1000 m of choss seems a bit silly.
Any near death experiences?
In December of 1997,
I fell 25 m when a dagger snapped, and stopped less
that 2 m from the ground. I still do not like to
think about that one.
Are you a fan of climbing history? Explain?
Yes,
very much so. The mountains are so much more than
inanimate rock and ice. They are the stuff of legends,
of stories of brilliant ascents and epic descents.
Connecting with all that history makes the experience
so much deeper and more meaningful.
What are your future plans or goals in climbing?
Last summer I traveled to Pakistan and played on “trekking” peaks
(currently anything under 6500 m) in the Charakusa
area of the Karakorum. I fell in love with the mountains
over there, and so I’m in the process of
planning a return trip for this summer. My best
climbing friends and I are hoping to spend 2 months
attempting unclimbed 6000 and 7000 m peaks, with
lots of hard mixed ground between the glacier and
the summits. I cannot wait!
|
| 38 |
15 or so |
Unknown |
June 2005: Infinity Direct, new
route on the W face of the W Rib of Denali, climbed
in a single push.
February 2005: Mt. Alberta, FWA via Japanese Route.
December 2004: Aurora, new route on the N face of Mt. Amery.
August 2004: Mt. Alberta, first one-day car-to-car ascent via Japanese Route.
February 2004: Greenwood-Locke, N face of Mt. Temple, FWA.
Winter 2003: 1st place at Ouray.
Winter 2002: 1st place at Ouray.
August 2001: Lowe-Hannibal, N face of Mt. Geikie, third ascent of route.
Winter 2000: 1st places at Ouray and Festiglace, FA of Animal Farm Direct.
August 2000: Leftover Rib, new route on E face of Mt. Chephren.
Winter 1999: 2nd places at the Winter X Games and Ouray, FA of Rocketman
Winter 1997: FFA (and second ascent overall) of The Day After Les Vacances de
Mr. Hulot.
|
Canadian Rockies
|
