Just went through my climbing gear to start prepping for some upcoming spring/summer trips. The peak of the season will be here before we know it!!
Though it’s good to always check your gear before each use, a careful inspection prior to the season will help you get ready & stoked for the days to come.
Here some things I look for, but definitely check your manufacturer recommendations & use your own judgement. Remember, these are life-safety items, so when in doubt replace it! You are worth it!
Summer is winding down and I’m back spending hours behind the desk catching up on all the back log. Man, what a great summer! I’ve been on a project tour of Virginia, Washington DC, Aspen,Co, Boulder, CO, Peru, and of course some climbing in between. I’ve met some incredible people, been inspired by their talents, and stories.
One lucky opportunity this summer was working with pro climbers Courtney Sanders and Daniel Woods at Dominion River Rock earlier this year. I was doing my first film project and did a short on Courtney. After only climbing for about 6 months, Courtney met Daniel Woods and was immediately thrust into the professional climbing world. Can you imagine? Six months in, I don’t think I even knew what half the climbing terms were! The simplest problem seemed so impossible, even when someone showed me the moves.
This story intrigued me.
I recently published the short on Vimeo and shared it with Courtney. I was completely nervous that she might not like it.… But fortunately she not only loved it, she shared it on her blog. I was so very honored by that!
This being my first short documentary piece, I was a bit shy to post it. There is so much of the story yet to be told, so it feels a bit unfinished & rough. But, I’m trying to let that go and embrace the learning/adventure that is film making.
Either way, Courtney & Daniel are amazingly talented climbers and genuinely sweet people. Courtney has been able to accomplish in a few short years what many top climbers have spent a good portion of their life on. So, please check it out and let me know what you think!
As soon as we got to the base of our climb, we felt drops. A moment of sun. Now a moment of rain. Undeterred, or maybe not even noticing, he racked his quick draws, did a quick safety check and started the climb.
Moments. Most are mundane, passing by unnoticed and unnoteworthy. We’d been planning this trip for months. It’s been almost a year since this group of friends has been together. A three day weekend was the perfect opportunity for a little rock climbing, camping, and outdoor fun. A moment in time we wanted to remember. Unfortunately, the weather was a crap shoot once again. The spring weather can’t decide if it should bless us with sun or rain. The clouds murmured a few drops, only to be dried quickly by the warmth of the sun. We sneak by, trying to get in a climb before it figures out what we’ve done. Yet this moment would not go by so unnoticed.
Just back from some ice climbing near Lake Placid in the ADK. The ice there is thick with short approaches from the road. It was magic on ice!
I haven’t had a chance to edit all the footage from the trip, but quickly put together this little iMovie trailer for Brian and Josh. If you like it, please subscribe, rate & comment! More to come!
Have you ever read route descriptions and wished there was better beta? Or maybe you have a project you’re working on and want to share the route information? … Check out this free tool from “Betaflash” which allows you to diagram your own topo maps for climbing routes. So cool!
Hi Everyone, this recently came across my inbox. If you’re interested in providing feedback on fee increases for Mount Rainier, there is a final meeting happening on February 2nd, 2011 at Marmot Mountain Works. More details below:
Just posted up some videos from the Ouray Ice Festival! Both were cut with iMove ’11 as an excuse to play with it. Pretty cool app. Though Windows Live Move Maker has many competitive features, the trailer templates are so cool. Here’s a quick trailer I made from our footage:
Wow, happy Spring everyone! April already? I can’t believe it.
