Returning from an ascent of Bear Creek Spire this weekend, Konstantin and I got into the topic of Winter climbing. We’ve been climbing partners for almost two years now, but this conversation, transcribed essentially verbatim, contains pretty diverse perspectives on why we go to the Sierra in Winter: More »
The Sierra season is short, we are told. July through September, then the snows come. True, but in the Range of Light, the sun comes out again after the storm and warms the rock faces. So Asa and I headed up this December for a chilly late season (or early Winter season?) ascent of the Strassman Route on Lone Pine Peak. More »
Past the point of exhaustion and chilled to the bone, I was only half relieved that we were making our last of roughly 15, 60 meter rappels to get off the face. For hours Fred had descended into the darkness below, tediously setting v-threads in the icy face. Now, after 20 hours on the go, we were finally back on the snow, almost to the glacier. “rope free,” called Fred. I put the ropes through my ATC, started to rappel, and then the unthinkable happened…the snow picket ripped, I fell backwards, and started sliding at full speed down the 55 degree snow slope. I knew the bottomless bergshrund was somewhere below, and I envisioned my broken body lying frozen in its depths. Unable to self arrest, I knew my time had come. I would die in the great Peruvian Andes, well before my time, under the glow of a full moon. More »
“Mountains are not stadiums where I satisfy my ambition to achieve, they are the cathedrals where I practice my religion.”- Anatoli Boukreev More »
It is well established: Punishment=Glory. But the glory usually comes at the summit; we seldom experience glory on the route’s descent. Backcountry snowboarding is an exception. Hours of work on the climb up = minutes of joy on the ride down. More »
Many cruxes were identified as we made our way up the drainage heading towards the Palisade Glacier. The perfect combination of conditions, psych, and weather had to come together before the mountains would permit our passage. More »
After a crazy and hectic 1st semester of business school in LA, I felt an overwhelming desire to get myself involved in something non-urban and anti-corporate. Over eight days spanning New Years 2011, I met up in Yosemite with two up-and-coming young climbers from Boulder, Cheyne Lempe and Colin Simon. More »
While Scotty and I were climbing Deborah on Arrowhead peak, I could not help but notice a fat drip of ice half way up the right gully on McHenrys peak. 5 days later I called Buster and convinced him we needed to go climb it. Our adventure on the Big Mac Couloir had been memorable, but now it was time to step it up. We would go for the obvious linkup…West Gully to Right Gully, car to car, and squeeze it in during the calendar winter. We approached, we saw, we sent. More »
Mont Blanc du Tacul, Gabarrou-Albinoni. III 4+. 500 m. “La grande classique de la face E du Mont Blanc du Tacul.” More »
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times”
Buster and I left the Glacier Gorge trailhead at 330am. Our skinned skis sounded like laser guns, gliding along the snow which was well packed thanks to the hoards of people who come to the gorge to cross country ski and snowshoe into that majestic section of Rocky Mountain National Park. More »
I tried to find a partner – I really did, but problem one was that I don’t know very many strong skiers in SoCal. Problem two was that the few people I knew strong enough to ski it, weren’t too keen on earning their turns from the bottom up. Problem three? The two I did know who were strong enough and “willing” were busy, and this was the last weekend of winter and the only weekend I had time for it. 3 strikes, I guess it’s solo time…
Winter Ascent of the Complete North Ridge of Lone Pine Peak from the Owens Valley.
Climbed by Scott Nelson, Nathan Ricklin and Charles Ince, January 30th 2009.
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Its funny (in a sick and twisted way) how often the word “death” gets used as an adjective while climbing…”hey Buster, are you on the death flake?” “Oh man, I can’t wait to do the death march back to the car tonight.” “That Death traverse was sooooo fun!” But Death in the mountains, along with poverty, injustice, and war, are all things of the past now that Obama is president. That’s why we never took the rope or any gear out of our packs during our mile long, 5.5 hour ascent of Mt. Ypsilon’s Blitzen ridge, although the extra weight did make it more “fun.” But really people, who needs a rope when you’ve got hope?
On January 18th, 2009 Charles Ince and Albert Yu-Min Lin woke at 3:30 am to embark upon what may have been the first winter “ukulele” ascent of Mount Whitney’s East Face. The Video below is the story of that climb… More »
Mission: 
The Northeast Ridge of Lone Pine Peak in Winter. This route rises 6,900 feet from the valley floor. Over three miles of knife-edge ridgeline lead to the pyramidal summit of Lone Pine Peak. From the moment Scotty suggested we try it, this route appealed to me. It’s so simple. Start on the desert floor. Get on the ridge. Climb all the way to the top. More »
“Don’t worry about the anchor, I have a good stance” Kostas said reassuringly as Shay followed the crumbly crux face move at the top of the 2nd roped pitch, risking a 40 ft pendulum. More »
If I remember correctly, the idea was to basically climb the biggest route possible – in winter.
On January 18th we took our first attempt without oxygen, only one stick of lip balm and a marginal weather window – the results were disastrous. More »
“Hillary! Why must you leave me???”….Ok, so perhaps Hillary Clinton didn’t visit us on our winter ascent of Mt. Whitney last weekend. After all, she is probably busy campaigning in South Carolina or something, maybe it was just the effects of altitude and exhaustion wearing away at my consciousness. More »
Most people think of winter as a time to stay in thier homes with their families, drinking hot chocolate and wallowing in holiday spirit. These people, of course, know not the meaning of glory. Such people consider walking barefoot on a slightly chilly hardwood floor, “punishment.” You can often find these people cozying together in Starbucks with snowflake pattern sweaters on their laptops, paroozing sissy websites such as Pullharder.COM. They will never know the meaning of true winter glory (WG) More »
Some knar routes:
The Northeast Ridge of Williamson. Would undoubtedly be an epic ordeal. I have heard it could be Grade VI in winter. Checks in with Himalayan proportions:
Trail Head to Summit: 8000 feet
Total climbing vertical: 11,000 feet
Round Trip: 25 miles More »
What it is:
The Winter Club is a Division of Pullharder.org, an elite group of individuals who excel in the art of suffering. More »
