I won’t even pretend to feel like the great polar and mountain explorers of yesteryear, or like soldiers who’ve just returned home from a long tour. I can say, however, that there are times (like now) when I can empathize with them. As I return from an amazing trip in the woods I can’t help but feel a bit directionless. In the mountains, despite the weather, one’s direction presents itself with startling clarity. Whether you can get there is another story.

Needless to say, my four climbs in the North Cascades over the past two weeks were amazing experiences. The trip was marked by generally clear weather. Wet days (there were two during the trips) are tough and cold, but when the shroud of clouds lifts the world seems that much brighter and even more glorious.

I’ve had a hard time being out of the woods though. It’s irking me, I usually look forward to burgers, beer, a hot shower and all the other accoutrements that society has to offer. This time it’s different. I want to crawl back under the wilderness shell right now. The contrast seems irreconcilable.

A stop at Target in Burlington, WA on a Sunday, our first stop out of the woods, found me among people happily giving their money away to large corporations on their day off. My absence, during a move, has stressed the relationship with my partner of four and a half years. And my grandmother, who played an integral role during my early childhood, has been in the hospital with a large brain tumor.

This chain of events left me feeling pretty overwhelmed. Home now for four days I’m feeling a bit more adjusted, but the feeling is bittersweet – I’m headed back to the Cascades for a Shuksan and Rainier trip, 10 more days away from my home-life and easy access to updates on my grandmother’s condition.

I’m more fortunate than most though – without the highs and lows life would be uninteresting. There would be no perspective by which to judge things. For now enjoy these very beautiful photos from the past week.

A few weeks ago my family took a vacation to coastal South Carolina. On the way home I stopped by my grandparents place in Emerald Isle N.C. They live along the intercoastal waterway, on the water. Their place is a bird lover’s paradise. It also happens to be an amazingly beautiful spot. As a youth I’m not sure I appreciated the place as much. My most recent visit made me realize that this place is priceless and that it feels very much like a sanctuary in a land of more or less rampant development.

There are days when I’m reminded that one can get a bit soft from hiking and climbing in the Gunks. My first day in the Cascades was one of those days. Although short, the bushwhack in to the base of the White Salmon Glacier on Mt. Shuksan is reportedly one of the worst (it’s the worst I’ve done out here – lots of slide alder, salmonberry and a bit of Devil’s Club thrown in for extra prickly fun). I stumbled across an old Alpine Club of Canada newsletter in which the author devised a scale that helps climbers more fully understand what their climb is going to entail. The White Salmon approach is classified as BW4 in the newsletter – “Severe brush, pace less than one mile per hour, leather gloves and thick clothing necessary to avoid loss of blood. Much profanity and mental anguish. Thick stands of brush requiring circumnavigation are encountered”. Thankfully the brushy section only lasts a few hours. It seems that 3600′ is the magic elevation there for getting across several steep gorges with waterfalls in them.

My friend Carolyn Riccardi and I just wrapped up a week climbing on Mt. Shuksan and near Cascade Pass in the North Cascades. The North Cascades don’t have the biggest mountains in the lower 48, but they definitely take the prize for the most complex range in the contiguous U.S.  Despite modest summit elevations there are some serious big-mountain style objective hazards – loose rock, heavily crevassed glaciers, long approaches and serious routefinding challenges. For this reason the North Cascades have the become the training and testing ground for the AMGA Alpine Guide Program. Most guides in the alpine course progression inevitably spend a fair bit of time acquainting themselves with the subtleties of the North Cascades.

Our week was successful and rewarding. While we didn’t tag any of the major summits we did climb new, unfamiliar routes in two areas. The first trip, as mentioned above, was to Mt. Shuksan where we climbed the White Salmon Glacier and descended the Fischer Chimneys. Both of these routes are scenic, outstanding(and not super complex but not a giveaway either). We decided to descend from our 7000′ bivy due to a weak low pressure system that was dropping rain and sleet on us the morning of summit day. Without a tent or hard shell outerwear the only real option was to go down. After a bit of wandering in whiteout conditions by Lake Ann we managed to make it out and back to our car at the base of the White Salmon Lodge.

Our second objective was the Torment-Forbidden Traverse near Cascade Pass. We climbed this over three days (including the approach and descent) and didn’t get to climb the West Ridge on Forbidden. Carolyn was due to fly home early the morning after we finished and we didn’t really want to push it too much. The ridge climbing on this route is stellar, and the routefinding challenges and steep snow/ice on the first half of the route make this route seem big and committing. I didn’t get too many photos – it always seems that when the climbing is more demanding you take less pictures.

Marty from Alpine Endeavors, and three clients are flying in today, so by the end of next week I should have some more really nice pictures of the Cascades. Unfortunately, my camera has developed a scratch on the lense that affects how images look when the sun is shining at the lens. If you look carefully you may be able to see a slight blurry spot just right of center in all of the images.

The most recent Rock and Ice magazine addressed an accident that occurred last year in the Gunks in their “Accidents” column. The column’s title was “Chopping Block” and it presumably refers to the all or nothing action that occurs when you try to release a plaquette style belay device that has been loaded. The column doesn’t really address lowering with a plaquette correctly. My aim is to correctly address lowering safely with a plaquette in this post.

Belay devices like the Black Diamond ATC Guide, Petzl Reverso and a few others are multi-functional. They allow climbers to belay in two different configurations: off of your waist like a typical plate/tube style belay device and like a plaquette (Kong’s Gigi is the classic example of a plaquette). These devices are really a compromise; they don’t do either task that well. However, climbers on a quest to have one belay device that does it all, seem to settle for these devices all the time. The general climbing public has really been led to believe that these devices are something everyone should have.

Considerations When Using a Plaquette Style Belay Device

So when is it really appropriate to use a plaquette to belay off the anchor? Probably less of the time than you think.  I have listed some compelling reasons to use a plaquette style belay device:

• Belaying two climbers at once
• The likelihood of repeated, hard falls is low
• Smaller diameter ropes are being used
• Other things need to be accomplished while belaying

And now a list of things that might make you consider using another belay method:

• Hard to release or lower with a plaquette
• Hard to pull thick ropes, especially two – can lead to elbow tendinosis
• Only need to belay one climber
• Repeated falls are likely
• Occasionally the ropes will get stuck next to each other or actually flip around, negating the autolock mode, which means this device really can’t be treated as a truly ‘hands free’ device.
• Frequent lowering is likely, even short lowers

Both a Munter hitch and a Petzl Grigri (or Trango Cinch) work better than the ATC Guide or Reverso when hung from the masterpoint for top belays. They are both strong, smooth, and easy to belay and lower with.

How to use an ATC Guide or Reverso correctly

Most people understand how to belay and rappel using a plate style device so I won’t go into too much detail or instruction about how to use this device when it’s attached to your waist. Suffice to say that if you want to slow/stop yourself in this configuration you bend the brake (tail) end over the edge of the device and apply downward tension. You would never think about trying to stop yourself or your climber by holding the tail end along side the load end. You would have no braking power and nothing more than a simple redirect around a locking carabiner attached to your waist.

When using one of these devices while belaying from above you have two options:

• belay off of your waist (with or without a redirect off the anchor)and maintain the tail end all the time or
• use it as a plaquette off of the masterpoint on the anchor. I won’t explain how to set up the device correctly in this configuration either.

If you don’t know how to do this you shouldn’t be using one of these devices. The latter configuration allows the belayer to bring up two climbers at the same time and the device theoretically should lock whenever the climber’s rope places a load on the device. The device locks because the climber’s load pinches the tail end underneath the load.

The plaquette configuration is incredibly useful for climbers and guides on multipitch routes where time is a factor and other things need to be done at the belay (take pictures, re-rack gear, stack/lap coil ropes, etc.). It also allows a belayer to safely belay two climbers at once. The problem comes when one or both of the climbers falls or decides they no longer want to continue going up. Lowering in plaquette configuration is not practical and, as many have learned the hard way, can be downright dangerous if performed incorrectly.

So how does one go about lowering with a plaquette? The belayer must change the orientation of the device from “plaquette” configuration to “plate/tube” configuration in order to lower. This is where most people make their mistakes (and where magazines and even gear companies incorrectly inform unassuming readers/consumers). One useful trick if all you need to do is lower a person one or two feet back to a ledge or stance is “ratchet” rope down through the device using the carabiner that the ropes are wrapped around. Toggle this carabiner up and down and rope will slowly move down through the device. For longer more substantial lower the belayer needs to “flip” the device (go from plaquette to plate). Anyone who’s done this knows it can be really challenging.

How to “flip” from Plaquette to Plate

The ATC Guide, Reverso and Gigi all flip in very similar manners. When in plaquette mode you need to pull the carabiner (that the rope is wrapped around) away from the device or use the loop on the bottom to change the orientation of the device. Either method works well. However, when you flip the device you are turning it into a plate, and plate devices require braking behind the device. Therefore you must redirect the tail/brake strand before even beginning to consider lowering.

Flipping the device is the next step. Sometimes this can be accomplished using a carabiner or nut tool through bottom loop made specifically for this. Demonstrations and videos, like the one on the Black Diamond website (mentioned in “Chopping Block”) make this process look really easy. My own (and many others) experiences have shown that flipping the device is rarely this easy. Lowering is usually necessary after repeated falls, when the ropes are heavily pinched together. Flipping a device that has been heavily loaded usually requires using a 48 inch sling attached to the bottom loop (or carabiner) redirected through the anchor and attached to the foot or waist for extra force. This extra force fully opens the device, necessitating the redirected brake strand.

Black Diamond, in their user manual, suggests stacking a munter hitch off of the belayer’s waist when flipping the ATC Guide. This is one way you can add friction to the system. However, if the device flips rapidly (this is common with a heavily loaded device) and the brake strand is not redirected the belayer (who is attached to the brake strand) could get pulled straight into the device. For this reason I can’t really suggest using this method.

How to Lower Using an ATC Guide or Reverso off of the Anchor

Guides routinely use lowering as a descent technique, especially with beginners or anytime it’s not convenient or safe to leave a client at the anchor. Lowering is an underused technique and one that’s useful even for recreational climbers. Plate/tube style devices work brilliantly for lowering directly off of the anchor. Lowering this way is smooth and efficient, and has the advantage of being easy to escape should something go wrong.

Lowering should be done with the device directly on the masterpoint of the anchor, in plate configuration. The brake/tail strand needs to be redirected! A friction hitch backup on the belayer’s waist is a worthwhile thing to consider when lowering as well.

I’ve probably climbed more in the Kitchen (Hellhole) than in any other spot due to both convenience and the abundance of sustained challenging climbs that build great late-season fitness. I’ve begun working on e-guides to many of the Catskill climbing areas and the Devil’s Kitchen area is the first that’s nearing a more complete phase. I found an open source program (Hugin, which runs on Panorama Tools) that stitches images together well. Next year I’ll take better photos but for the time being I have a good image of all the climbing in the Lower Kitchen. Here’s the link to the page on my site. Check it out and get psyched. Only four more months before you get to dull your razor sharp tools again

This year I’ve taught quite a few SPI Courses, as well as crevasse rescue (sans crevasse) and rock rescue clinics. All of these programs have allowed me to think a great deal about skills that climbers of all disciplines should know before they decide they are self-sufficient.

Basic self-rescue skills involve the following components – belay escapes, load transfers, rappelling/lowering, raising and simple rope ascension. If you understand these skills you can extricate yourself from most (even complex) climbing rescue situations. Assuming that the participants have a basic understanding of knots, anchoring, and belaying I begin most clinics with how to tie off the standard plate belay device (like an ATC) and how to tie a few basic friction hitches. From there we rappel safely and then practice rope ascension. Once those basic skills are mastered you can add load transfers, raises/hauls, and work towards seamless transitions between any skills you might need to employ in a situation. A one-day clinic typically finishes with top belays and raising a stuck climber. A two-day clinic would spend day two solidifying skills and employing them in several possible scenarios.

The participants from last Sunday’s clinic asked me to post pictures from the day. I’ve resized all of the images. While they’re not the best images they’ll help you get an idea about some of the skills, and some safety considerations when initiating any sort of climber assistance.

If you like what you see here consider hiring a professionally trained AMGA certified guide (like me;). They’ll help you iron out any skills that need polishing and can help you build confidence in your climbing systems and knowledge. See you all out there and be safe!

Every once in a while I get pretty excited about things unrelated to climbing. Recently I’ve been pretty jazzed up about a few things.

About two months ago my partner and I decided that we were going to have a container garden this year. We bought several tomato plants and basil plants, scavenged a ton of squash seedlings out of the compost and planted some lettuce. It’s a work in progress and a serious learning experience. We chose buckets and other random containers because the soil in Cambridge where my partner lives is a bit suspect. Additionally, we can move the plants around and even move them over to New Paltz for the summer (we won’t be in Cambridge for the summer).  We’ve spent a total of about $150 on plants and supplies thus far and we’re hoping to get a lot of that back in fresh food this summer and canned/dried goodies for the upcoming fall and winter. I know, already, that next year’s garden is going to have a lot of other things in it, and with some careful planning hopefully we’ll be able to harvest at least a few things all spring, summer and fall. I took a few pictures about two weeks ago now. The tomatoes are healthy. Can’t wait for the first ripe tomates, which seem to be a few weeks off right now.

These days I’ve been riding a cyclocross bike I began acquiring parts for last year. A few months ago I finished putting it together and gave it the acid test. I rode tentatively for the first few road rides, foolishly fearing that something awful, like the front wheel coming off in the middle of a big downhill, would happen. I’ve now ridden the bike for commuting to work (with my full climbing kit in the panniers and on the rack), shopping for groceries, and for fun on a few of the access roads on the Mohonk Preserve. A mountain bike would probably better for some of the rockier terrain but the bike absolutely rips on smooth packed access roads. I’ve ridden a bike quite a bit over the years, and have always thought that a cyclocross bike was appealing because you can go most places on it comfortably and quickly. Slap a set of road wheels on it and you’ve basically got a slightly heavier road bike.

I went with mostly Shimano Ultegra parts (including a triple up front instead of the normal compact crankset) and swapped the wheels (Chris King hubs, Mavic Open Pro rims) out from my old road bike. I kept the 8-speed cog stack in the back so that I could have wheel compatibility with with my old road bike, and for long term durability. I’m pretty psyched, and every day I don’t drive to work or to the cliff I save some money on gas, which is nice.

These days I’m working off of a new laptop too. I picked up a Toshiba (big fan) A505 laptop. I’ve used Mac’s a bit here and there and still feel like I know my way around a Windows OS better. So much most people do on computers is server-side and has very little to do with one’s processor speed. A lot of web-design can be done using open-source software and I like using Photoshop for image editing. This has really left me feeling like the extra $900 I would have spent for a Macbook Pro wasn’t worth it. The A505 has a new Intel I3 processor, 500gb storage, 4gb RAM, a long-life (about 6-6.5 hrs.) battery, full keypad including a numberpad on the right, and good sound. Not too shabby for about $650. It’s quite a step up from my indestructible old machine, a low-end, $300 Black Friday Toshiba notebook I bought in 2007. I have to admit I’m sentimentally attached to the old laptop and will be keeping it around for a while yet.

Well, this may be an odd and off-topic post, but I feel compelled to write about it anyway. We’re having some typical Gunks weather right now – on-and-off rain that makes clients skeptical that they should come climbing. I’m clearly not at the cliff right now. Two days of work this past week have been canceled only to have dry daytime weather. As a climbing guide on the East Coast this type of weather makes you realize that your career, while being fun and rewarding, is a paltry way of making a living.

Enough of that though. Do you ever rediscover music you used to love? On occasion this happens to me and it’s almost always (always is a strong word) pleasantly surprising. For me, Pandora has made this a much more frequent occurrence.

Temple of the Dog is a band that I have rediscovered recently. I was an impressionable young teenager when this album was popularized by the release and subsequent success of Pearl Jam’s Ten album. Temple’s a one record collaboration between members of Soundgardern and the band now known as Pearl Jam. It was written as a tribute to Andy Wood (Chris Cornell’s housemate in Seattle) of Mother Love Bone, who died in 1990 of a heroin overdose. The remaining members of Mother Love Bone teamed up with Eddie Vedder to become Pearl Jam. The album I thought, as a teenager, was awesome.

I owned the album as a cassette and haven’t had a cassette player in a decade. Hearing a few Temple of the Dog tracks on Pandora has convinced me to get an digital copy of the record. Giving it a listen, it’s nothing short of exceptional, and much better than I ever realized as a teenager. If, like me, you were a teenager when the Seattle grunge rock scene put mainstream heavy metal to bed for a while you’ll definitely enjoy revisiting this album too.

So, if you’re sitting inside on a rainy day instead of climbing, like me, cruise through some of your old music. You’ll probably be pleasantly surprised too.

Over the past few weeks I’ve had the pleasure of climbing with great friends at some of the best granite climbing areas in the northeast (and the U.S.). It’s not everyday that Gunks climbers get to climb granite. The closest “granite” to New Paltz is in the Adirondacks, and it isn’t really granite. Beyond that one needs to travel to NH to get good granite. Damn, New Hampshire granite is fine though.

I did a big day at Cannon which I wrote about previously, and which made me so tired for 4 days afterward that I was concerned while guiding moderate routes in the Gunks. Fortunately, my legs have recovered from that effort. Last week I met my old friend and long time climbing partner Erik Eisele at Cathedral Ledge. Erik’s been a climber as long as I’ve known him, but this past year he’s really figured things out and is climbing exceptionally well. Now it’s time to figure out where to go on a trip with him so I can have a ropegun.  We met for a morning of climbing and did a link up that a few North Conway locals have been calling “All the Crazy Bitches”. The four-pitch link up starts with Wild, climbs the middle of Women In Love, and finishes up Webster’s Abridged.

I’m embarrassed to say that these were the first 5.11 pitches I’ve ever climbed at Cathedral Ledge. All of these pitches were well-protected, sustained but never desperate, and eminently climbable. The experience was quite different than climbing several 5.11 pitches in the Gunks. I have always felt, and I think there are many local Gunks climbers who would agree, that climbing 5.11 in the Gunks requires a serious gameface and frequent small protection. You need to pull hard moves on tiny crimps above small gear.  Not an everyday thing for most of us in the Gunks. So, to go to Cathedral and climb several 5.11 pitches in a row, in a straight line up the cliff, and have all the pitches be safe, well-protected and fun was enlightening. It definitely left me with a big fat ear-to-ear grin.

Just yesterday I visited Cannon again. This time with fewer talus-jogging aspirations. Erik and I wanted to do a bunch of pitches including the very famous and stunning VMC Direct Direct. After warming up on Union Jack we headed over to the Big Wall and found everything to be a bit wet. We climbed through the wetness on the first two pitches before deciding to go down. Several more pitches of cragging, which is quite enjoyable – some of Cannon’s finest rock is at the base, and we were all set for the day. Not quite a grade IX day but good climbing and good company.

I’ve realized that It would be good to climb some more granite, and to do it a little more frequently. Climbing granite requires precise footwork and a lot of body tension – two things that help with all types of climbing and make reaching further and pulling harder feel less difficult. If you get a chance, by all means check out the pitches I have mentioned in this post; they’re all exquisite, top-notch pitches on beautiful stone.

My quadriceps keep getting more and more sore and it’s making me feel old. Marathon days are fun in a masochistic way, and when Kevin Johnson pitched his Cannon idea to me I was immediately interested. I don’t get to climb there that often, and despite Cannon’s reputation for loose rock (it’s all true) there are some amazing granite pitches.

We met at about 9:30 Wednesday evening at a park and ride near Northampton, Ma. After a long 3.5 hour ride through the most horrendous (amazing) lightning I’ve ever seen we arrived at the pullout near the north end of Cannon Cliff.  Instant bivy and 3.5 hours later we were on the move again.

Kevin’s plan was to climb three full-length grade III Cannon routes in a day. A few years ago he pretty casually climbed Moby Grape, III 5.8+ and Vertigo, III 5.9+ in a day and he wanted to see what it was like to add one more to the list. As he was unfamiliar with other routes on the cliff and we wanted to keep the grade fairly moderate for the third route we decided we would choose either Union Jack (bad decision) or Moonshadow (maybe also a bad decision), which are both 5.9.

We planned to do the climbs we were familiar with first and finish with the route we hadn’t done yet.  After the fact I see that we may have wanted to sandwich the new one between the two familiar routes. Moby Grape, the most popular of the three routes was definitely going to be our first climb. That way we could beat the crowds (definitely a good decision).

At 4:50 a.m. I heard Kevin moving around and semi-unwillingly arose from my sleeping bag. This was my second pre-5 a.m. start in two days and with only 3.5 hours sleep I was like the walking dead. We racked up, packed our little packs and headed up the talus for the first time. As you would expect, there were no crowds on Moby Grape at 5:30 a.m. I lead the whole route and we were on top at about 9:10 a.m. I am ashamed to say that I’ve never climbed this route to the top, and it’s something that I plan on doing over and over again in the future. This is one of the best 5.8’s in the northeast, and one of the best long 5.8’s in the United States. The rock is a bit shattered in places, but for the most part it’s solid and really fun climbing on God’s own stone – tacky fine-grained white granite.

35 minutes later we were back in the parking lot for a short break, a snack and a water refill. We were warmed up and wide awake now. By 10:30 we were on the first pitch of Vertigo and enjoying the sunny weather (but not the black flys). Kevin lead for the whole route and we were on top at 2:10. Vertigo has some really killer climbing on the lower portion of the route (granite that’s good even for Yosemite). There is however, as I found out at this point, a good reason for the rappel bolts after the Half Moon pitch. The upper 450′ of the route is loose, really loose. A single person with prybar and a twelve pack could have the time of their life trundling large blocks on this route. Not super desirable, but it’s good to do things once just to make sure, right?

After experiencing the upper pitches of Vertigo we decided we weren’t too keen on playing the numbers game on the same upper sections of the cliff again with another route in that vicinity. Union Jack climbs the same upper section as Vertigo and Moonshadow climbs allegedly solid (everything is relative there) rock to the top. We settled for a grade II, the very classic Whitney-Gilman Ridge.

At 3:30, after a loose and longer approach (there seems to have been substantial rockfall recently on the face right of the Black Dike) We climbed the Whitney-G without a whole lot of conversation. Fatigue seemed to settling in a bit for both of us. I felt my strength waning and was definitely getting goofy. The third and final descent, which is longer and steeper on that side of the cliff, was utter punishment. Both Kevin and I felt pretty good after two routes, but the third absolutely wiped us out.

At 6:30 p.m. we hopped in the car and headed down I-93 and back to Northampton, psyched about our day but a wee bit stiff from a lot of movement. Several days later I’m still hobbling around a bit, and walking downhill is pretty uncomfortable.  And my neck is a pock-marked, bloody mess from the black flies. So, do three grade III’s (actually two III’s and a II) add up to Grade IX? Well, not really. Maybe grade V+ or VI, with a whole lot of pretty fun moderate granite climbing.