You’re planning a big mountaineering trip, maybe up Orizaba or Kilimanjaro or even one of the 8,000-meter peaks. You’re going down the equipment list: Stove, check. Ice axe, check. Sleeping bag, check. You reach Music, but your buddy scratched a line through it. “Hey man, I gotta take my music!” “Can’t,” she says. “Can’t take your IPod above 10,000 feet. It’ll get altitude sickness.”

Yep, that’s what Apple and the experts say. If you do, there is the possibility your IPod will not only stop working but can be irrevocably damaged. Don’t believe me? Then check your IPod specs: “Maximum operating altitude: 10,000 feet (3000 m).”

We never think we can’t take our IPod everywhere we go since they're part of us. Here in Colorado, lots of climbers I know regularly tote their IPods up Fourteeners or on alpine faces like The Diamond on Long’s Peak. The technies, however, say it’s just not a good idea and it’s probably a matter of time before it has a high-altitude hiccup. An IPod’s hard drive heads use air pressure to float on a cushion of air about 5 millionths of an inch thick with the platters spinning at 53.55 miles per hour. Since air pressure decreases the higher you go, the greater is the possibility that the air pressure is too low to produce the air cushion, resulting in the hard drive head smacking against the spinning platter, leaving gouges and you without tunes. This also applies to laptop computers.

If you need the sound of music in the mountains, then you’re better off taking a Nano or a Shuffle since they’re solid-state like a flash drive and are unaffected by altitude. Oh, extreme temperatures also affect IPods. A stored unit can sustain temps from -4F to 115F but if you operate it, then its optimal temps are between 32F and 95F.

I never listen to music when I’m climbing, but I do carry a little 1G Sandisk player in my pack so I can listen at a bivouac or laying in the tent on a long winter night. I use it because it holds plenty of music and it’s cheap so I don’t worry about losing it or breaking it. What do you think? Does your IPod work at high altitudes? Or does it get what I call IPAS (IPod Altitude Sickness)? Let me know what your IPod’s high point is.

Photo above: You would be waving your arms too if your IPod stopped working on top of Mount Everest.
Photograph courtesy Miura Qomolangma 2008

It’s mid-November now. The days shorten. The air chills. Snow flies in the mountains and across the northern United States. The weather report is bleak, calling for yet another Arctic front to dive south from Canada. If you’re like me, snow and cold isn’t everything it’s cracked up to be by avid skiers and ice climbers. For me and other snowbirds, it’s time to flap our wings and head south to sunnier climes.

Since I like fun-in-the-sun rock climbing in mid-winter, I've always gone to Hueco Tanks near the city of El Paso on the Texas-Mexico border. It's an easy day's drive from Colorado and the weather in December and January is about perfect. Oh, and the climbing is great too. Really great. If you want to head south to Hueco Tanks this winter then check out these articles and find out all the beta on visiting Hueco, as well as topos and route descriptions, and a great gallery of climbing photographs. See ya down there.

Photo above: Brett Green bouldering at Hueco Tanks.
Photograph © Stewart M. Green

Several tragic climbing accidents occurred in the past month.

On Saturday, October 11, 49-year-old doctor Amy Ruth Stine from Pittsburgh was killed in a leader fall at Seneca Rocks, a popular and historic climbing area in West Virginia, when some gear pulled. She flipped upside down, landing on her head and dying instantly.

Also in early October, William Eldridge, 57, from Staten Island, New York, was killed at the Shawangunks Mohonk Preserve in a similar accident. He was 40 feet up a route, slipped and slid down the cliff. Unfortunately he bounced off a ledge, and like Ms. Stine, flipped upside down, striking his head on a rock at the base. Climber Jannette Pazer reported, “The leader put in a piece 10 feet up, and then, because it was easy ground, continued 20 feet up beyond it. He was a very experienced climber who probably didn't think he needed to put in lots of gear on easy ground, and because he was out of sight, his partner doesn't know why he fell. But because of the runout, it was a groundfall.”

Now this last Monday, November 3, a pair of teenage rock climbers died in a tragic fall at the Red River Gorge, one of the nation’s premier sport climbing areas, in eastern Kentucky. Benjamin E. Strohmeier, 18, and his climbing partner Laura Fletcher, 18, fell off a route near Torrent Falls after a weathered rappel sling broke. While details are still sketchy, it appears that Strohmeier was lowering Fletcher. Both of their weights were loaded onto the sling since he was clipped into it rather than the anchor itself. The sling broke, dropping them 60 feet. She landed at the base while he fell over another ledge below. The bodies were found the next afternoon by concerned friends.

John May with the Wolfe County Search and Rescue told reporters that the webbing on an anchor bolt “essentially tore in half, and as a result the climbers fell.” Webbing and a rappel ring were found at the cliff base as well as on the cliff. Shannon Stuart-Smith, founder of the Red River Gorge Climber's Coalition, told the Lexington Herald-Reader that the webbing could be 10 to 15 years old. She also noted that these are the first climber fatalities at the Red according to Forest Service records. Other climbing-related deaths were by people scrambling without gear or sport rappelling.

It’s all freaking tragic. Every time we go climbing we need to remember that it’s dangerous and we’re putting ourselves in harm’s way. That is the reason why I emphasize climbing safety on this website. Safe climbing is all about personal responsibility and taking care of ourselves on the rock. The lessons from these accidents are simple: always wear a helmet; place lots of gear on routes; and never ever trust your life to a single anchor or sling.

Photo above: Ben Strohmeier was killed in a climbing accident at Red River Gorge.
Photo courtesy Ben Strohmeier/Photobucket.

I was at the Garden of the Gods yesterday afternoon. Brian and I had to traverse over to the Kissing Camels, a delicate arch perched atop 300-foot-high North Gateway Rock, to evaluate the condition of the sandstone formation and to take photographs of various cracks that need to be stabilized for the Colorado Springs Park & Rec department. To get across the face to the arch we fixed a rope across a long traverse. Since I wasn’t being belayed, I attached myself to the fixed rope with a Prusik knot and a Klemheist knot and slid them along the rope as I traversed across the steep face to the arch.

Every climber needs to know these two friction knots, along with the Bachmann knot, to ascend a fixed rope, to extricate themselves from an emergency situation, and for self-rescue. Another important friction knot to know and use is the Autoblock knot, which is used as an emergency stop while rappelling. Learn all about these important knots in this new article 4 Friction Knots for Climbers that was posted yesterday.

Photo above: The Kissing Camels arch at Garden of the Gods.
Photograph © Stewart M. Green

Edward Whymper, an English mountaineer and artist born in 1840, received a commission in 1860 to travel to the Alps and make a series of alpine sketches and wood engravings. While there, Whymper began climbing, learning current mountaineering techniques and making some notable ascents. In 1861 he climbed Mont Pelvoux and in 1864 Barre des Écrins, at that time the highest point in France and a difficult ascent. His travels, however, took him to Switzerland where he became obsessed with its most beautiful mountain, the unclimbed 14,692-foot (4,478 meters) Matterhorn, a stunning pyramidal-shaped peak on the Swiss-Italian border.

Whymper made eight attempts on the Matterhorn before succeeding on July 14, 1865 with Lord Francis Douglas, Charles Hudson, Douglas Hadow, and three guides—Michel Croz, and the father-son team of Peter and Peter Taugwalder. The seven climbers successfully ascended the great peak and spent a happy hour on top before beginning the descent. Tragedy, however, struck just below the top when the inexperienced Hadow lost his footing and knocked Croz off backwards. The two tumbled down and when the rope came taut pulled Hudson and Douglas with them down a 4,000-foot-high face. The rope connecting the bottom four climbers to the upper three broke on a rock edge as it was held by the elder Taugwalder. This tragedy haunted Whymper until his death in 1911.

This quote comes from the conclusion of Edward Whymper’s classic mountaineering book Scrambles Amongst the Alps in the Years 1860-69, published in 1870. The book, essential reading for any serious climber, is perhaps the best of all the Victorian-age climbing books. It tells the exciting tale of Whymper’s adventures and climbs and, of course, the great tragedy on the Matterhorn; delves into what was then the new science of geology with its observations about glaciers and their effects on the landscape; and is illustrated with Whymper’s excellent drawings and engravings.

“We who go mountain-scrambling have constantly set before us the superiority of fixed purpose or perseverance to brute force. We know that each height, each step, must be gained by patient, laborious toil, and that wishing cannot take the place of working; we know the benefits of mutual aid; that many a difficulty must be encountered, and many an obstacle must be grappled with or turned, but we know that where there’s a will there’s a way: and we come back to our daily occupations better fitted to fight the battle of life, and to overcome the impediments which obstruct our paths, strengthened and cheered by the recollection of past labours, and by the memories of victories gained in other fields.”

Check out the Matterhorn Webcam at Zermatt, Switzerland.

Photo left: Edward Whymper in 1910, the year of his death at age 70.
Photo courtesy Royal Alpine Club

Buy Edward Wympher’s books:
Scrambles Amongst the Alps in the Years 1860-69 The classic climbing book from the Victorian age. It recounts Whymper's adventures in the Alps during the 1860s.
Travels Amongst the Great Andes of the Equator Tales from Edward Wympher’s adventures and mountain ascents in Ecuador and South America.

Last week a team of Japanese climbers claim they found footprints of the fabled Yeti at 14,500 feet on 25,135-foot Dhaulagiri IV, a, a peak near Dhaulagiri, the world’s seventh highest mountain. Over 42 days the seven-member expedition, called Yeti Project Japan, searched for signs and, using nine remote cameras, tried to film the legendary ape-like creature that reputedly lives in the Himalayas in Tibet and Nepal.

Yoshiteru Takahashi, the expedition leader, told the Japanese newspaper Kyodo News in Katmandu, “They looked like footprints of humans, but the prints were of naked feet and it is impossible that a human being walked barefoot on the freezing snow there.” The 8-inch-long prints were deeply impressed in snow and appear to have been made by a bipedal animal. Takahashi ruled out that the prints were from a bear, deer, or goat, saying, “We can recognize footprints of snow animals. The footprints we found were definitely of the Yeti.” He claims to have seen the silhouette of a five-foot-tall Yeti in the same region in 2003 from 800 yards.

The legend of the Yeti, long known by the local Sherpas, was first reported in 1832 by British explorer B.H. Hodgeson, who said his guides had previously spotted the hairy bipedal ape in the high mountains. Since then either Yetis or signs of them have been seen by many explorers and mountaineers including Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay, the first men to summit Mount Everest; British climber Don Whillans on Annapurna; and the great alpinist Reinhold Messner, who said it was a species of bear.

Whatever the Yeti is, no definitive proof exists to either prove or disprove its existence. Looking at the new photos, however, the footprint appears to be the melted-out print of any medium-sized human male and no photos showing a continuous trackway were released. Hmmmmm, it makes me pretty skeptical. Still it's a good thought to consider that the world is still full of mystery, that undiscovered animals, plants, and life exist out there in the wide world that are still beyond the realm of science and rationalism. That, of course, is still magical thinking, the same kind of thinking that allows us to consider the reality of Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster, and extraterrestrial aliens visiting Planet Earth in UFOs.

What do you think about this latest claim that the Yeti exists? Go to the Climbing forum and write down your thoughts.

Photo above: A supposed Yeti footprint photographed in 1951 looks suspiciously fake.
Photo © Topical Press Agency/Getty Images

Dylan Johnson reports on The Alpinist newswire that Chad Kellogg and he completed the first ascent of the Southwest Ridge of 6,250-meter Siguniang in southwestern China. The pair climbed 72 pitches and 9,200 feet from September 21 to September 30. The first 17 pitches went up 2,500 feet of cliffs in a rainforest to a 2,000-foot granite wall, and then up a long alpine ridge festooned with gendarmes and snow-covered rock to the summit.

Johnson reports that they reached the summit at 4:35 p.m. on the eighth day, and then “encouraged by the darkening wall of hate boiling and flashing to the west, we began our descent.” They rappelled and down-climbed through a lightning storm and then continued descending all night to keep warm. The next day they made 30 rappels down to the glacier but got lost in dense brush in the evening and spent a wet night out. By the time they reached their base camp the next afternoon, Johnson reports losing 30 pounds and Kellogg 20 pounds. Well done, lads.

Read Dylan Johnson’s account of the ascent at The Alpinist.

Photo left: Johnson and Kellogg climbed the long Southwest Ridge of Siguniang.
Photo courtesy Dylan Johnson

On Sunday, October 12, Hans Florine and Yuji Hiriyama smoked their July speed record on El Capitan’s Nose route by racing up it’s 2,900 feet six minutes faster, in an astonishing 2 hours 37 minutes and 5 seconds. As in July, Yuji lead every pitch while Hans belayed, cleaned gear, and simul-climbed, that is climbed at the same time that Yuji did. Simul-climbing is, of course, very dangerous since neither the leader nor the follower can fall without disastrous consequences.

The pair left early in the morning but were behind their previous record pace much of the way. They passed four parties climbing the route. To save time on the last 300 feet in the upper dihedrals, Hiriyama climbed “French free,” that is he placed little gear but instead clipped and grabbed fixed pitons and bolts along the route. It’s dangerous, Hirayama told the San Francisco Chronicle, "but I have confidence. I just go step by step, every pitch, every move. I knew it was our last try, so I wanted to go 100 percent." When he reached the tree at the top that marks the final stopping point, he belayed Florine, who flew up the pitch with frozen hands. At the top the pair raised their arms in a victory salute to over 100 onlookers in El Cap Meadow far below.

After descending back to the Meadow, friends, family, and a Japanese film crew greeted and drenched the climbers with champagne. Yuji told the film crew, “Sugoi,” Japanese for “Way cool.”

Photo above: Hans and Yuji atop El Cap after breaking their speed record.
Photo courtesy Hans Florine

Read more about speed climbing:
San Francisco Chronicle article
San Francisco Chronicle multi-media: The Route Up El Capitan: How They Do It
Climb Fast Climb More
Speed Climbing on The Nose
Speed Climbing Tip #1

On September 29 the U.S. House of Representatives took time out from their deliberations on the bail-out financial rescue bill and voted by voice vote to recognize the 50th anniversary of the first ascent of El Capitan in Yosemite National Park. The House resolution, also honoring the three climbers who did the first ascent—Warren Harding, Wayne Merry, and George Whitmore—was sponsored by Representative George Radanovich, a California Republican. The resolution coincides with an anniversary ceremony to be held by the National Park Service next month in Yosemite Valley.

Radanovich says, "It's a landmark. It was a really big deal." Indeed it was. The trio took 47 days to climb The Nose (now climbed in just over 2 hours!) in 1958, reaching the summit on November 8. Harding, a climbing iconoclast who died in 2002 at age 77, was the driving force behind the route’s ascent and, along with a handful of other Yosemite pioneers including Royal Robbins and Chuck Pratt, invented the art of big wall climbing and established Yosemite as its Mecca.

Harding began the assault with Mark Powell and Bill "Dolt" Feuerer on July 4, 1957 and climbed for a week until the Park Service halted the attempt because of traffic jams caused by rubber-necking tourists. In the autumn a new party assembled (Powell had broken his ankle) and continued the ascent. The highlight was a Thanksgiving dinner, with wine and turkey, on Sickle Ledge. The autumn of 1958 saw the party yo-yoing up the wall, pushing the high point and then retreating down fixed ropes. Finally on November 11 the final three climbers reached a final ledge in fading daylight. Harding, not waiting to sleep so close to the top, hand drilled holes and hammered bolts all night. Just before 6 AM he drilled the final bolt and scrambled to the summit of El Capitan. 47 days over 18 months. 2,900 feet. 675 pitons placed. 125 bolts drilled. Yeah, those guys deserve the recognition!

Photo above: Warren Harding rappels off Dolt Tower on the first ascent of El Cap.
Photo © Allen Steck

As I reported in a July blog post, Californian Hans Florine and Japanese climber Yuji Hiriyama kicked butt on The Nose of El Cap, setting a new speed record of 2 hours and 43 minutes. At the OR trade show in Salt Lake in August, Hans told me that in October the duo planned to smash that record. Yuji, Hans said, wanted to set such a fast record that it would discourage anyone else wanting to break it.

Well, it’s October and Hans and Yuji have been in Yosemite Valley the last couple weeks training for the big speed ascent. Hans writes on his Facebook page: “THE BIG DAY will be October 12th 2008. Tell some friends. We're psyched to have a big crowd in El Capitan meadow.” Hans told me at the OR show that he thought they could shave 15 minutes off the record. Ten minutes by climbing it fresh since the record was set after several other attempts. Another five minutes would come from “avoiding some technical problems.”

After they climbed The Nose in 4:07 on September 29, Yuji took a 60-foot fall on FreeStone and bruised his heel. Hans reports that on October 2 he was walking normally with no limp. Last Sunday, October 5, they sped up the route in 3:38, passing five parties. On Wednesday, October 8, they climbed to Dolt Tower in 48 minutes, six faster than their July record run but errors on the upper half of the route cost 11 minutes. Now, as Hans says, “Looks like all the marbles are in Sunday’s basket.” Stay tuned for an update tomorrow.

Read more about speed climbing:
Hans Florine's Speed Climb website
Speed Climbing on The Nose
Climb Fast and Climb Better

Photo above: The Nose is a stunning line up El Capitan.
Photo © Jeremy Woodhouse/Getty Images