My old camera, a Panasonic Lumix TZ-4, travelled with me everywhere I went. Over the past year I took thousands of images with that camera. It was a relatively basic point-and-shoot camera with a 28mm lens. Panasonic has been using Leica lenses in their cameras and the image quality is pretty darn good.

I let the camera hang off of a shoulder sling with the lens open (camera in the “ON” position) a bit too often and after about a year now the lens has a lot of scratches. The image quality was affected by these scratches, especially when shooting in bright daylight conditions.

My new camera, a Lumix ZS-5, arrived from B&H last week and I could barely contain my excitement. I could care less about the even bigger zoom than my old model. What I’m psyched about is the 25mm super wide lens (good for getting more into the image), the added megapixels for larger blow ups should I decide to print, and the “M” option. This “manual” option allows the user to adjust the aperture and speed for better images.

We’ll see over the coming weeks, as the leaves turn. I shot these few images at Sandy Hook, down near my folks place.

I unloaded images off of my Blackberry a few days ago and was treated to a few surprises. This may have been the best (along with the Minnewaska sunset from the last post) image there. It’s a shot of my friend Suzy’s house outside Three Forks, MT. They have a sweet spot with a little lake on the property. Standing water is hard to come by in the Rockies and this place seems like a real oasis. Lucky them, I guess. Not a bad shot for a 3 megapixel phone either.

Well, I’ve been back in the northeast now for about 9 days and I’m relieved to say the least. My last trip to the Cascades was a tough one. The trip and the clients were, as usual, amazing and upbeat. The challenge laid more in the number of transitions I was quickly forced to make in the days prior to the trip. A serious airline fiasco (see my last post) made things much worse by ripping the band-aid off what was basically a nasty open wound.

I started doing some simple math, and it turns out that I’d been in New Paltz less than 10 of the past 50 days. No wonder I was feeling out of sync and tired. I am a homebody and an individual who identifies strongly with the northeast.

The last few days of work have helped the readjustment process. A SUNY Backpacking trip in the roadless wooded quiet of the Catskills, a film shoot at majestic Lake Minnewaska (perhaps the most beautiful place on the east coast) at sunset, and yesterday…

Yesterday I was given a giant treat – a Mohonk Mountain House client who wanted to climb Foops. Our half day included Foops, No Exit and Krapp’s Last Tape. Not a bad half day and a pretty tough transition to make. Mt. Rainier one week, 5.11 in the Gunks the next. Umm, ok. I was reminded why rock climbing always seems like my favorite thing to do. The movement is pure joy, and pushing it above gear when you’re pumped is so exciting.

My pace back and forth down the short narrow hallway quickened. My face was hot. Tears welled in my eyes. My voice faltered. Anger and frustration trickled to the surface. The customer service representative on the phone had just redirected me back to the Delta.com website and instructed me to cancel all my flights and start over. She misled me and promptly got off the phone.

It’s been a day and a half now. My frustration is a mile wide, its current swift. The levies can not and should not hold this back. I’m screaming inside. I’m going to shout out loud.

A week ago I was physically exhausted, after schlepping a backpack all over the North Cascades. Now I feel like a caged animal. I’m in need of a lung-searing, gut busting long run.

Three days ago my grandmother passed away. Today there’s a small, private memorial service for her at my grandparents home in coastal North Carolina. The following day I have to head back to Washington state for another Alpine Endeavors Cascades trip.

The fiery chafe lies with the airlines and my need to change my travel plans. I was scheduled to fly on Delta Airlines from Newark to Atlanta, and then from Atlanta to Seattle.. I’m headed to North Carolina for the memorial service and it’s not practical to fly out of Newark at 7:20 the next morning. What I wanted to do was skip the flight from Newark to Atlanta and check in for my flight in Atlanta.

I initially tried to change my flights online. I carefully selected the proper flight (if nothing else, as a climbing guide and risk manager by trade, I am meticulous). After entering and submitting all of my information there was an error and the Delta website instructed me to go back in my browser. Upon re-entering my confirmation number the website indicated that BOTH flights had been canceled.

I received no confirmation email and as far as I could tell the transaction had not been completed. However, according to the system I had been charged $150 so that Delta could sell my space on those flights.

I called Expedia to see if they could help. The customer service representative there said that flights had been changed within the Delta system and there was nothing he could do. He told me he would transfer me to Delta and put me on hold indefinitely. Shit mofo.

I called Delta to explain my situation and the woman on the other end was both unempathetic and unfriendly. I had clearly cancelled my flights and that was all there was to it. The system doesn’t make mistakes; it was my fault. She grilled me about the name of the funeral parlor as proof that there had been a death in the family. After putting me on hold at least 4 times for 3 minutes at a time she came back on the phone and told me to go online cancel all of my flights and start over. What? And get charged $150 more to cancel my return flights too, only to be left with a few dollars credit from the original purchase price? I asked her to stay on the phone while I did what she was telling me. “Just enter your confirmation code on the homepage and you can take it from there” she told me. There was nowhere on the homepage to do that. This woman was lying to me, and trying to shift my heat off of her. Where was her empathy? Her understanding? She was a soulless automaton. Near as I can tell, and right about now, she’d make a pretty good punching bag. Gloves off.

I was visibly and audibly upset, and thankfully my partner stepped in and got back on the phone with Delta. She explained the situation to a different, and more understanding yet equally as powerless, customer service representative. They were able to reinstate my original flights.

After four hours, at the end of an already long and psychologically punishing day I was back to square one. I would try again in the morning.

Yesterday morning I got back on the phone with Delta. How hard could it be to change my reservation so that I could check in in Atlanta? Delta could fill an extra seat on the Newark-Atlanta flight and I could attend my grandmother’s memorial service and then fly from North Carolina to Atlanta where I could check in for my flight to Seattle. This doesn’t seem like an unreasonable thing to ask for, does it?

Well, it turns out it is. The customer service representative was kind enough to waive the change fee for me. It was going to cost me $580 without the flight change fee not to fly from Newark to Atlanta. So I was being penalized for not flying? It sure seems that way to me.

I wasn’t going to pay $600 not to fly from Newark to Atlanta. I had already purchased a one way ticket from NC to Atlanta and this would put my expenses for the two day detour at nearly $850. Instead I purchased another one-way ticket from Atlanta to Seattle and decided to be done with the whole thing. I needed to stop stressing about this.

It’s all done with now. I have the plane tickets and I will make it to both the memorial service and to Mts. Shuksan and Rainier afterward. The whole situation, however, has left me with grave doubts about the system that we live, work and play in. I’m not a fatalist or a huge cynic. I don’t believe that we’re going to destroy ourselves before our generation is dead and gone. I am really feeling like things need to change though.

How can someone (a customer service representative) willingly agree to a job with the airlines where they are so powerless to do the right thing? How does one do it? You’d have to put a gun to my head before I’d do that, especially right now. And the people who design the programs that calculate costs based on demand rather than people’s real needs – they’ve sold out, sold their souls to the devil. And the supervisors who can’t override the computer when a customer service representative comes to them with a unique situation like a death in the family? You must hate yourself.

The only conclusion I have come to is that these people have either given up all hope that things can be different (which is sad) or don’t care that things are the way they are (which is fucking lame). If the guide service that I work for provided the style of service that many of these large corporations that are “too big to fail” provide we would promptly put ourselves out of business. We would disappear. But that hasn’t happened to the airlines. I haven’t had a good flight experience in 4 years. Out of half a dozen flights per year, none of them are pleasant? What does that tell you about the quality of service they’re providing?

After this incident I’m left with more questions than answers. And I’m not going to let this frustration subside so quickly. There are so many things that we should try to be “zen” about. Just let them go and get on with your life. I just don’t feel this is one of them. We need to start making changes. Voting is lame. It just doesn’t work. What we need to do is vote with our money.

So that’s where I’m at. Each day I get more focused about it too. Spend your dollars as locally as possible. Give your money to the people you want to have it. Buy local food and clothing from local stores. Ride your bike. Drive a smaller car and less often. And don’t fly unless you need to. Definitely make sure it isn’t Delta.

Instant Hollywood! Slip these shades on and you’ll be a star. Really? Not really.

Nick Yardley up at Julbo shipped a box of these shades to Alpine Endeavors earlier this season. As far as I can tell I’m the only guide wearing them, which is too bad for everyone else. All loudness aside these are the best sunglasses I’ve ever owned. They go everywhere I go and stay on my head night and day. I’ve been wearing them exclusively for four months now and they help relieve some of the eye redness that I tend to experience on an almost daily basis.

Julbo doesn’t seem to have huge market share in the United States, and most people know them exclusively for their glacier glasses. I think we’re going to see that change over the next few years as glasses like the Dirt begin to win people over.

The Dirts are meant for mountain biking and are full-coverage sunglasses. The size of the glasses seem large at first but you get used to them, and during bright light conditions I’ve come to appreciate the extra coverage. The Zebra lenses, which are an upgrade, are well worth the money. This is my second pair of Julbo’s with the Zebra lenses and you can wear them from sun-up to sunset. They’ll change according to light conditions meaning you won’t have to switch lenses or take you sunglasses off when the sun goes away.

So far I’ve used them for rock and alpine climbing, running, and cycling. They’re comfortable and remain on my head regardless of the activity. They feel tight at first but the frame seems to stretch, quickly allowing for a more comfortable fit.

From my perspective however, the best feature is how scratch resistant the lenses seem. I’ve stored the glasses in chest pockets, thigh pockets, pack lids without the case, I’ve even dropped them on pavement, and 4 months later I don’t have any appreciable scratches. My last pair of Smith sunglasses had scratches from day one. I’m sold.

The only downsides I can see so far are that the white paint seems to be scratching off (very hard to notice) and that one rubber earpiece is loosening slowly. Nothing a bit of crazy glue won’t fix though.

So, if you don’t mind (or you like) the Hollywood white and can stomach the price tag ($120-$190) I highly recommend these sunglasses for any outdoor activity you can dish up. I know the white seems loud but strangely enough they look pretty good. They come in other colors too, and with other lens options (polarized or camel – photochromic and polarized) for those of you who don’t appreciate the rockstar look.

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