climberism magazine issue #8

GEAR!What’s new from some of your favorite manufacturers.

KATAHDINThe slippery and dangerous slopes of the Northeast’s most iconic mountain are reflected upon. +

SEPTEMBER | OCTOBER 2011climberism

THE NORTHEAST CLIMBINGTHE NORTHEAST CLIMBING M A G A Z I N E

INTERVIEWWe chatted with Mike Foley about climbing the hardest route in the Northeast, with ease.

Do you know the definition for Jimmy Deans? Find out, inside the library on page 30, why Scott Carson says “I was just a victim of bad genetics!”

2 MAGAZINEclimberism | SEPTEMBER OCTOBER 2011|

6 INTERVIEW//MIKEFOLEY ByDavidCrothers

8 TALKOFTHETOWN//Yourlocalnewswire TakingOverBurlington,Vermont

10 THEOUTDOORRETAILER//SummerMarket Space-agegearwillhaveyouscratchingyouhead

14 THEGREATESTMOUNTAIN//KATAHDIN ByPeteTapley

25FEATUREDROUTE//GAMESMANSHIP

27 FOODFORCLIMBERS//Fluff ByJarredCobb

ON THE COVER: Mike Foley ballsdeepintheV12cruxofJawsII.Fromtheundercling-sidepullFoleystabsforthedouble-tickedcrimparoundthecorner,cutshisfeet,andblastsuptherestoftheroute,whichincludesahugemoveoffofbadholdsandthered-pointcruxofChinaBeach.

Photo by: Patrick Bagley

http://bagleyheavybags.blogspot.com

SEPTEMBER | OCTOBERINSIDE THE MAG

William Graham seconded the CCK back when he first started climbing, and can still remember the combination of excitement and sheer panic when on the P3 traverse. Now, a couple years later

on lead, not too much has changed. PHOTO BY: Robert RuefContents

3SEPTEMBER OCTOBER 2011| MAGAZINEclimberism ||SEPTEMBER OCTOBER 2011

Outside of dodging avalanches and massive falling debris, the most poignant would have to be when I was diagnosed with Overtrain-ing Syndrome some years back and I was afraid that my climbing career was over.

PeteTapley

I’ve had a few: falling ten feet on my head while descending Little Bear in Colorado, which shattered my knee cap; falling on my head on the approach to the Whitney Gilman Ridge; and most recently being plucked from Katahdin after a boulder crushed my foot.

DavidCrothers

SEPTEMBER | OCTOBER ISSUE

EDITORIAL DIRECTOR David Crothers

ASSISTANT EDITOR Jarred Cobb

TECHNICAL DIRECTOR James Thompson

GRAPHIC DESIGN Ray Kania & Dick Ritchie

ADVERTISE [email protected]

CONTRIBUTE [email protected]

SUBSCRIBE climberism.com/new-subscribers/

HEADQUARTERS Climberism Magazine P. O. Box 4563 Burlington, VT 05406

CONTACT US [email protected]

Mostoftheactivitiesdepictedinthismagazinecarrysignificantamountsofriskwiththepotentialforseriousinjuryordeath.Wedonotrecommendyoutryorparticipateinanyoftheactivitiesdepictedwithinthispublication.Seekprofessionalguidanceorhelpfromsome-oneofexpertise.Youassumeallrisksassociatedwithyourdecision.

CopyrightClimberism.AllRightsReserved.Nomaterialinthispublica-tionmaybereproducedwithoutpriorwrittenconsent.

THE NORTHEAST CLIMBINGclimberism

M A G A Z I N E

CONTRIBUTORS

Watching my partner get chased down a mountain by a refrigerator-sized rock. The rock won.

JarredCobb

Whatwasyourscariestmoment?


LETTERS TO THE EDITOREDITOR’S NOTE

The view from Chimney Pond looking toward Baxter Peak // Photo by: Alicia Petgrave

It was once believed to be the home of the “Storm God” by the Abenaki Native American Tribe, and thus, it was a place to be avoided. It has claimed nineteen lives since counting began in 1963 and even the great composer Alan Hovhaness wrote a piano sonata after being inspired by it.

Mount Katahdin, which if translated right, means Mount Greatest Mountain and it is likely about as alpine as you can get in the Northeast. Traveling over slopes of loose rock and gigantic boulders is unavoidable when approach-ing climbs. Carved over time, Baxter Peak stands tall and unrelenting.

The weather can be harsh and in the winter time, your gear and packs are fully inspected by the rangers who oc-cupy the station at Chimney Pond.

Mount Katahdin stands 5,268 feet from sea level and can be seen from far away, as it is the only things that hovers in the sky for miles.

My first and only visit to the peak was thwarted by injury. Approaching the Armadillo, I grabbed a boulder thinking it was too big to move. To my surprise, it not only moved but came crashing down on me with a ton of force, crush-ing my foot and sending me to the hospital via a Black Hawk.

In this Issue #8 of Climberism, Pete Tapley takes you for a ride through one of his Mount Katahdin winter experi-ences at a young age. Shut down, not by injury, but some of the natural elements we take for granted.


LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

The Northeast is full of hard climbs but it has only one 5.15. This summer, Mike Foley made it his mission to climb the hardest route in the region. With his sights

set on Jaws II, the infamous Rumney, New Hampshire 5.15, Foley got to work. Conditions were less than ideal this year. With all the rain we saw during the early part of the summer, the black flies and mosquitoes were like relentless kamikazes -- they would come in swarms and execute their mission with inexhaustible rage. However, even in horrid conditions, neither the heat nor the suicidal bugs could stop Foley. Two weeks after tak-ing on the task and in scorching ninety degree weather, Jaws II saw its third ascent. The route has seen the likes of many stronger, Chris Sharma even stepped up only to get shut down. After crucial holds broke from the Dave Graham test piece -- at the time it was considered to be 5.14d -- it was only a matter of time before someone, once again, began reprojecting the route. Vasya Vorotnikov, would be that person in line and after thirty-five days spread over a year and a half, Vasya crushed. Ten days short of three years and after a few more broken holds, the route again saw another ascent, this time by Daniel Woods -- one of the worlds

strongest climbers. Naturally the route gained a reputation for being the hardest in the Northeast, so without anything to lose and running low on Rumney projects Foley be-

gan working the moves out it the worst conditions possible. Mike Foley is twenty-one years old, a native of Lincoln, Massachusetts and is currently seeking out hard

climbs in the Northwest while he attends Quest University in Squamish.

MIKEFOLEY

INTERVIEW BY: DAVID CROTHERS

PHOTO BY PATRICK BAGLEY

JAWS II

7MAGAZINEclimberism ||SEPTEMBER OCTOBER 2011

Dave: You recently climbed Jaws II, how did it go?

Mike: Well, I left my house early, around 6:30 in the morning, and got up to the cliff pretty early. I actually ran into Vasya Vorotnikov that morn-ing too, which was kind of random because he’s never really at Rumney, he belayed me a little in the morn-ing. The conditions continued to get worse as the day progressed, so I tried it about three times in the morning and then sort of messed around with some new foot beta that I was kind of thinking about. That seemed to work really well so I took a break in the afternoon and waited until conditions were a little better. I rested for about five hours, and returned around 5:30 and sent it first go. I’m not usually very good at resting so I was pretty psyched to take a four hour break and go right back to it.

Dave: Had you worked on the route before?

Mike:After I did China Glide last summer I tried it a couple times and didn’t think too much of it because all the moves were pretty hard and I didn’t think it was possible. But I came home for the summer and decided I had nothing else to do so I tried it a little more and then I had a breakthrough with a move I’d never done before. I got really psyched on that and spent four more days at Rumney. I worked for about two weeks total.

Dave: Not to get stuck on grades but from the way it sounds, you aren’t so sure about the 5.15 grade.

Mike: I’ve been thinking about that a lot actually, I have no idea really. It certainly feels like the hardest thing I have ever done but Rumney is my local spot so I kind of feel like it’s my place and I have it figured out pretty well. The route is pretty much exactly my style. The crux is a hard boulder problem and I can’t think of anything that fits my style more, but it still feels like the hardest boulder problem I have ever done. I can totally see it getting downgraded, but I am pretty confident the way Vasya did it was really serious and I couldn’t touch it his way. When I was climbing with Daniel Woods in 2008, I could kind of see what he was do-ing but I tried it his way and it didn’t seem like I could do it. He has the best lock-off strength of anyone in the world, I can’t image doing it the way he did it. So I messed around with the footing and ended up using slightly higher feet and not relying on pure lock-off strength.

Dave:How was the evening heat up there? Sunday was pretty brutal.

Mike:Yeah it was, but it was better in the evening and I think part of me felt like it was cooler only because it had been in the 90’s all week. Work-ing in Massachusetts, some days it felt like it was over 100 degrees, so even being 80 degrees outside felt cool. There was a breeze that eve-ning too so I was pretty psyched on conditions.

Dave: What are you up to now? Are you still living in the Northeast?

Mike: Right now I am going to school in British Columbia and studying at Quest University ‚ which

is in Squamish. I am home for the summer but I am from Lincoln, Mas-sachusetts.

Dave:How’s it going out there, are you getting any good climbing in?

Mike:Yeah, I try to get in as much climbing as I can but it is pretty much wet the whole time I am there. I leave right as the season starts and return when it’s ending. There wasn’t really a gym in Squamish either so staying in shape was tough. There is a garage/coop gym but it’s sort of hard to get motivated in a garage. Just recently we raised a bunch of money to build a gym on our cam-pus. It’s really cool, it’s brand new so there is still a lot of room to improve the facility. My roommates and I raised almost $20,000 to build the climbing gym. We now have a place to climb year-round — I am pretty psyched about that.

Dave:Do you have any more proj-ects left at Rumney?

Mike: Rumney is pretty much tapped out for me, or at least for the season that I am there. The Fly (5.14d) is definitely on the list but I’m just not here in the winter or the fall. The Fly is definitely a winter climb. On the West Coast I definitely have some projects. I was trying Dreamcatcher (5.14d) quite a bit before I left to come home. It’s going good, but you just have to deal with wet climbing. It would be dry for a day and whenever I would be getting close, it would rain for two days and the holds would start getting wet again. It’s another battle with conditions, not really any different from the Northeast, so I’m staying psyched.


TAKING OVER BURLINGTON VERMONT

ON SEPTEMBER 23, The North Face Open Unified Bouldering Championship Final took over Burlington, Vermont’s Waterfront Park. The best athletes from the nation showed up to compete with some of the most rugged North-east competitors in the area. Ultimately, Angie Payne dominated the competition by flashing every problem, pinning down Lizzy Asher for second and Alex Johnson to third. On the men’s side of things Ian Dory came out strong with a flash of problem #1 and problem #2 taking the win and keeping at second place Rob D’Anastasio and Ty Landman in third. The season is over for the rest of this year but with Lizzy Asher and Rob D’Anastasio each placing second and representing the Northeast, it is only a matter of time before one of the regional ath-letes makes it to the top of the podium.

Top Left : Dana Bleiberg working women’s problem #3. Top Right: The crowd in Burlington, Vermont getting ready for the UBC final. Bottom Left: Sam Hathaway (Middlebury, VT) going after men’s problem number two. Bottom Right: Angie Payne, showing off her winning face as she takes 1st place.

TheNortheastmakingbigmovestowardthetopofthepodium

SEPTEMBER OCTOBER 2011| MAGAZINEclimberism ||SEPTEMBER OCTOBER 2011

GEAR TALKTHE ACCESS PAGE

Ragged Mountain Foundation

C3PAClimbing Conservency of Central Pennsylvania


OUTDOOR RETAILER 2011


OUTDOOR RETAILER 2011SUMMER

THUNDER 35ORTOVOX

One of the coolest packs we checked out at the show. Though we haven’t had a chance to strap it on and take it out for a test drive, we thought it would be worth bringing it to your attention. The main compartment of the pack can be accessed via a removable lid or the all-round zipper. The zipper opens the pack completely and gives you full view of all your climbing gear. Inside you’ll find a waterproof pocket for all your valuables. Dig further and you’ll notice a removable nylon rope mat. The top lid and waste belt can be removed for weight efficiency.

Price: $179

PROPHECY 35SIERRA DESIGNS

New for Fall 2011, Sierra Designs’ Prophecy 35 crag pack was designed spe-cifically for climbers. To name a few features: A three-way, ‘T’ shaped zipper allows easy access from the top and bottom of the pack. Stores ropes, har-nesses, and shoes while internal daisy chains help keep your gear organized. Thinking about the big walls on Cannon Cliff? The Prophecy comes with a three-point haul system and it’s rugged nylon material is tough and won’t breakdown when pulled and dragged.

Price: $150

THERMAL ZONE BASE LAYERCABELLA’S

Cabella’s used Polartec’s Power Dry® high efficiency fabrics to create the ultimate baselayer. It is lightweight and wicks moisture well, probably better than any other baselayer I have used. As you can tell from the photo to the right, different fabric weight was used in critical areas, giving you the breath-ability regulation you need in demanding conditions. The heaviest polar weight is used in the core area, the mid weight fabric is used in less critical areas and the lightest tech weight is located in high-heat-output areas.

Price: $80 – 95



MAGNATRONBLACK DIAMOND

In an industry where all the gear and technology is nearly the same, it forces innovating ideas. Black Diamond recently unveiled two new carabiners, the Magnetron GridLock and the Magnetron RockLock. They’re calling the new biners “a game-changing advancement.” Utilizing their new Magnetron Tech-nology, Black Diamond has once again pushed the boundaries of the industry. The new carabiners do not use a twist locking system nor a screw gate sys-tem, but instead, they utilize magnets to secure the gate from opening.

Price: TBA

BOOSTICSCARPA

Up for grabs in 2012 is this impressive new climbing shoe called the Boostic. The slick colorful design is appealing and the downturned toe should make for an aggressive climber. The Boostic was built with steep and vertical walls in mind and will climb nicely with the XS Edge Rubber. On top of everything, the shoe was designed with help from Heinz Mariacher, the world-renowned performance shoe designer — if you don’t know about him, Google him. He is the designer and mastermind behind the many La Sportiva classics.

Price: TBA

FUTURALA SPORTIVA

The “Futura” is a new concept La Sportiva is experimenting with — it’s a hybrid shoe crossed between the Speedster and the Solution. The Futura, coming out in 2012, features no edges (similar to the Speedster) on the entire shoe, so it is completely rounded, which La Sportiva says, “gives you maximum edging advantage right out of the box.” The Futura also features the famous La Sportiva P3 Technology, XS Grip 2 and borrows the Solution’s lacing system, which boasts a more precise and snug fit.

Price: $TBA

MAXIMUS JACKETOUTDOOR RESEARCH

Scoping out a few projects in Smugglers Notch during the recent cold and rainy weather and tooling around the frigid alpine slopes of Katahind has been like a walk in the park for the Maximus Jacket. The steep terrain of Ka-tahdin is demanding and the bushwhacking in Smuggs is notorious for leav-ing your layers shredded. The Maximus held up without any battle wounds and the ventilation kept us dry. The three-layer Gore-Tex Pro Shell fabric will protect you from those harsh days fighting ice but when on approaches the double-sliding hem-to-pit TorsoFlo zippers will provide ultimate ventilation.

Price: $450


JAMMU JACKETTHE NORTH FACE

The latest and greatest from The North Face is the Jammu Jacket, which uses the new NeoShell fabric from Polartec. NeoShell is a newly developed fabric that is waterproof and yet breathable. It combines both the benefits of a hard shell and a soft shell. Think mildly cold weather and slightly insulated with a thin lining of fleece. You can expect to hike, approach , and sweat com-fortably in the Jammu.

Price: $399


AVATAR COMPGRIVEL

One of the craziest looking tools we’ve ever seen. The Grivel Avatar Comp, takes the fashion runway straight to outer space. Taking the words straight from the source, Grivel is calling their new tool “The most advanced ice tool in the galaxy” Aside from looking like a Star Trek weapon, the tool is about as advanced as it gets. It boasts a hot forged blade in chromoly steel, a mag-nesium head, the shaft is hot forged in 7075 Alloy and has multiple grips for traction, hand swap-overs, reverse traction and it “lets the climber’s imagina-tion run wild.” This tool is ideal for steep and aggressive terrain.

Price: TBA

X-DREAMCASSIN

New this year, Cassin thought a little outside the box and has designed a tool that can quickly change from an aggressive dry tool to an aggressive ice climbing tool. You can adjust the different modes easily with an allen wrench. The idea behind the design is to get you climbers on and up more variable terrain.

Price: $280

LYNXPETZL

The take you anywhere crampon from Petzl. I am at a loss at trying to figure out what this crampon can’t do. From snow couloirs to dry tooling, the modu-lar front points give you a number of different options. From dual or mono-point, long or short, and/or asymmetrical and perhaps the greatest part about the crampon is that they come with interchangeable front bindings so you can strap just about any kind of boots with or without toe welts.

Price: $245

THE GREATEST MOUNTAIN

Every local refers to it as “The Mountain.” The Native American tribe, Penobscot, called it Ka-tahdin (The Greatest Mountain). Either expres-sion emphasizes the prominence of this singular alpine peak – unique in an otherwise low land. The Mountain is iconic and dominates the horizon of Millinocket: unmistakable, undeniable; its lines and shadows are forever etched in my mind.

-Words by Pete Tapley

SEPTEMBER OCTOBER 2011


Deep in the woods, far removed from outside influence, it seems unlikely that I would find my

way into the climbing world. With a population long-sustained by the paper industry, it is far more likely to encounter the wool-clad hook and bullet crowd rather than the typified tree-hugging, organic-cottoned, yoga mat-toting, contemporary rock-crusher or the nouveau nylon hippy: soft-shelled and macchiato-sipping at the corner café, pontificating on high-country conditions. What I knew best, growing up on the fringe of Baxter State Park, in the shadow of billowing smokestacks, was the desire to escape, to leave the dead-end depression of a remote and dying factory behind. I grew bored with the day-to-day sameness, loathed the fatalism projected by a community with “nothing to do” and yearned for adventure and the uncertainty of risk in the unknown. I made my first venture onto Katahdin by way of its gentle western slope, at age 12, following the famed final stretch of the Ap-palachian Trail. I wound through forest, along stream, past steepen-ing waterfalls, to emerge from tight sub-alpine spruce amid boulders and wind. Scrambling exposed ridgeline finally eased to rolling tundra. The stretching plateau, now in view, seemed to float well above the world of dense forest and innu-merable lakes below to yield a high summit. From here, the landscape expanded well-beyond the crowded treetops, the air was clean, not heavy with yellow-sulfur industrial waste or smothering humidity. At once I felt energized, limitless and free of my oppressive small-town captivity.Despite the proximity, my visits to the park were infrequent, but spending summers on nearby South Twin Lake, I would wake every morning to a view un-inter-rupted as The Greatest Mountain appeared to rise directly from water with nearly 4,000 feet of relief and jutting from an otherwise flat landscape. I would gaze upon those

high slopes with a vivid imagination, longing to re-visit tundra and cool breeze.Today I live in the heart of the Rocky Mountain West, in a hip spot called Bozeman. I make ends meet by ty-ing one season to the next, guiding climbers and skiers from around the globe in the local hills and the increas-ingly-popular Hyalite Canyon. By carving a niche out of the local culture and ranges, I’m now able to find an ad-venture fix on a near-daily basis, and every time I do, my mind drifts back to the beginning, back to Katahdin…It’s difficult to determine an exact time and place where climbing began for me. I managed a few hikes to the top of The Mountain with friends as a teen, always trying to outdo each other – scrambling more exposed lines, finding steeper ways. It wasn’t until I went to college in Vermont that I finally tied into a rope and unwittingly risked everything, leading run-out slabs in heavy leather


boots, clipping rusty ¼” buttonheads and stubby trees to my buddy’s static line…surviving the learning curve. Shortly thereafter, I was living and breathing the sport, dropping everything in favor of dirtbagging my way from crag to crag and somehow shamming my folks into covering a NOLS semester as a part of my “education.”Returning to Maine as an Outdoor Ed. student at Unity College allowed a number of forays onto The Mountain’s slopes, ridges and jag-ged pinnacles. Some of these endeavors were glorious; others less-so and some perhaps even a touch embarrassing. One such lesson in humility stands above the rest; as if it were my final exam before graduating the New England School of Hard Knocks. Circa 1992: Three years into my climbing career and still on the steep side of the learning curve, full of bravado, I was dead-set committed to do-ing things the hard way, or perhaps the hardest way. Little has changed since the young days of anarchy: just last night, in hip-Bozeman, I heard the trendy sounds of recycled 80’s pop burst with the sudden and unexpected glory of Johnny Rotten – fisting through it all. I sensed a tingling at the back of my mind, and relived the sensa-tion of wanting something so badly that there was no holding back, regardless of what better judgment might say; no resisting the undeni-able urge to break something – and fuck it all if something is my head. I sensed impending catalyst every time I tied into the sharp end. I was hedonistic, raised on No Future, wholly en-grossed in the now, and there was nothing that failure in the mountains could take from me.The obvious next step was to bite off more than I could chew. I rallied a team of fellow students and followed the long paper trail along Baxter’s application process. We were at once overconfi-dent and intimidated. We spent endless hours during finals, fully rapt in trip preparation. We loaded massive 80+ liter packs to their breaking

Left: Photo by Daniel Gambino of Pete Tapley holding their unusable ice screw.

Right: Photo by David Crothers of the Pamola engulfed in low hanging clouds.


point, and then shoveled the rest into duffels for sleds. The park is notoriously rigid with their policies and despite the absence of snow, 8 miles of dirt road remain gated to the public. We dragged our sleds alongside fresh park service tire tracks and our ears rang from the steady, deafening grind of colorful plastic being slowly chewed away by the more dirt than snow-covered road.Irony exists in the way that we took the trip so seriously, over-did the prep and packing due to our dogmatic view and lack of experience, yet, grossly over-estimated our abili-ties to cope with the cold, hard conditions of this near-arctic environment. I recall hearing tales of how climbing Katahdin can be a colder experience than Alaska; I also recall tales of Alaska being so cold that the ice was too dense to place screws. Absurd, I thought and questioned this wisdom, 'surely, I could place screws in such condi-tions.' These tales crossed our paths to teach a cold lesson that remains indelible and always leaves me appreciating the relatively mild winter conditions enjoyed here in the Rocky Mountains.Finally engaged in climbing: battling over iron-hard, low-

angle ice that ran on pitch after pitch, stretching to the skyline overhead, obviously a long way to go at our given pace, making slow time, not confident enough to discard the rope and solo over this easy ground, also not able to adequately protect nor able to establish solid belays, as our meager selection of antique ice screws failed one by one. The “good” screws, our two Lowe Rats (the archaic ratch-eting ice screw), were supposed to be the secret weapon – their beefy body and robust diameter meant to inspire confidence and a sense of security. Their dull, shallow-angle teeth however, refused to bite and no matter how hard I tried, there was simply no way to turn them into the bullet-proof ice. Unlike the precision-crafted, turbo-charged screws of today, the Rats required a little more effort to place, but with their ratcheting hanger, once started, were arguably the most efficient of their time. Typically, all that was required to initiate was a few half-twists. In tougher conditions, starter holes made with picks would break sur-face tension and reveal a tender underbelly, where the ice was slightly warmer and more forgiving – allowing the Rat to sink its teeth and begin tunneling into the ice, but not

PHOTO BY PETE BANNING


this time… Over and over again I struggled to protect the climbing or construct a worthy anchor. All I had to show for the effort were shallow, wobbly holes and even less day-light to work with as twilight neared.Protection option two fared no better as the remaining rack of screws consisted of four knock-off Snargs. The faux-Snargs (call ‘em F’args as far as I’m concerned) at least penetrated the ice, usually to about ½ depth, before seizing. Perplexed, I struck harder, only to face the violent pain-turned-numbness of swinging a metal bat into a telephone pole as the pound-in baulked. Rebellious to the core, I disregarded Mother Nature’s reprimand, tied off the metal tube, and continued upward. Again and again I encoun-tered the same instance. Two tools, load-sharing with a pinch between blocks of-fered our best belay yet. My partner followed with frigid haste, yet periodically halted for eternities. He arrived with a mixture of wonder and exasperation. Dangling from slings I saw the twisted metal that seemed more apt to be found alongside the scene of a car crash than this wild and dark landscape of cold stone, snow and ice.The F’args’ metal, being softer than the coldest ice I have ever seen, had pinched shut on the cutting edge and

formed odd, almost-smiley shapes. Not only did they refuse to penetrate any deeper, but also refused to clean without chopping to excavate. Hence, my partner only cleaned the first two (clearly a faster learner than I), but only after failed attempts to twist them out. The tube itself twisted along the cleaning slot, rendering the malformed metal use-less and reducing our rack to nothing functional. Failure struck and I discovered that the mountains could in fact take something from me – pride. And by that virtue, The Mountain gave me something much greater, more useful and of a far richer value. With quiet, elegant refusal, Ka-tahdin secretly whispered: take your time, learn... While it did take time to sink in, I slowly realized – no matter the intensity of fire inside, the dark cold of north-ern winter will always have the final say. It’s a broad and complicated lesson to pass on, yet The Mountain did so with no words at all, only cold implication. What I can remember best, and most easily pass on, is a simple cliché: respect. In my youth, on the wild flanks of greatness, I learned that despite ego and its constructs, there is nothing in the will of man that holds any interest to great moun-tains.

PHOTO BY PETE BANNING

SEPTEMBER OCTOBER 2011| SEPTEMBER OCTOBER 2011

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22

Peter Kamitses works to-ward the crux on Opposi-tional Defiance Disorder in the Adirondacks (5.14a) Photo By: David Crothers

MAGAZINEclimberism ||SEPTEMBER OCTOBER 2011 23 2011 MARCH APRIL| MAGAZINEclimberism |

Jamie Hamilton climbing Happiness is a 110 Degree Wall 5.12 in the Gunks (Mill-brook)Photo By: Christian Fracchia


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Books with the word “history” in the title always get put on the bottom of my reading list. Unfortunately, Yankee Rock & Ice: A history of climbing in the Northeastern United States stayed there way too long. Laura and Guy Waterman do a fantastic job putting together, in 300 pages, a story of how Northeast climbing went from a Penacook Indian sticking a peace pipe in the Old Man of the Mountain’s mouth, to the pioneering days of Fritz Weissner and to Lynn Hill’s domi-nance of the Northeast climbing scene in the 80’s.

Through personal interviews and extensive research, Yankee Rock & Ice weaves its way from the Gunks to Cannon to Willoughby and back. The photos of the old-timers make you question their sanity (think: hemp rope). The evolution in style of Northeast climbers (Vulgarians vs. the old bootleg-gers) is well documented, including an entire chapter called “Clean Climbing.” Henry Barber, Kevin Bein, John Turner, Bonnie Pruden – all the colorful characters and top climb-ers in the annals of Northeast climbing are here. This book is a must read for anyone whose fingertips touch rock in the Northeast.

The Watermans’ stop their story in the late 1980’s, “leaving to later historians” the more current history. Which, begs the question: who’s gonna step up and document the last 20 years of tumultuous but groundbreaking Northeast climbing?

Yankee Rock & Ice

There are times when you hear someone shout something while climbing that could only be two things: a mumbled, unintelligible profanity

as they slip off the crux or an obscure word that you figure one day you’ll know what it means. Lucky for you, Matt Samet’s Climbing Dictionary: Mountain-eering slang, terms, neologisms & lingo has got you covered.

Whether you’ve always wanted to experience the screaming barfies or are baffled by the size of that one dude’s fingers (next time you can call ‘em Jimmy Deans), Samet pulls together the entire climbing lexicon into a slick and readable book—complete with variants, synonyms, origins, sample sentences and entertaining illustrations. You’ll find out that Joe Kinder was the first to describe “turd” routes and that “choking the cobra” isn’t nearly as gross as you thought it was.

Books like Samet’s are usually resigned to my por-celain throne, but this one will get you hooked and stoked to tackle your next s00kr33m route.

Climbing Dictionary

THE LIBRARY


If you’ve ever caught someone singing this diddy at the crag then you know you’re in the Northeast. The perfect climbing food is some-thing light, calorically dense, full of sugar and comes in a nonbreakable container. Fluff is light, calorically dense, full of sugar and comes in a nonbreakable container. Clip it to your harness, dear friend, and you’ll be sending 5.14’s in no time. Have a little stuck on your fingers? No worries. This shit is better than chalk.

The great Archibald Query first crafted up Fluff in the early 1900s. Four simple ingredients were com-bined to make absolute greatness: corn syrup, sugar, eggs and vanilla. You’ll have a hard time finding Fluff outside the Northeast, so

tough shit if this makes your mouth water. It may be best know for its combination with peanut butter, called Fluffernutter. While tasty, we think peanuts are for posers. So we choose to eat it straight.

There are too many great things to list in this article about Fluff. But here are a few: It costs $1.79 for a pound of this amazing substance. You can eat it with a spoon, fork, knife or chopsticks (seriously). It’s still made in the great state of Mas-sachusetts.

Fluff is the ultimate food for climb-ers. Beg to differ? Email me at: [email protected].

“Fluff! Fluff! Fluffer-nutter! Oh you need

Fluff Fluff Fluff to make the Fluffer-nutter. Marshmal-

low Fluff and lots of peanut butter. First

you spread spread spread your bread

with peanut but-ter and marshmal-low Fluff and have a Fluffernutter.” –marshmallowfluff.

com AKA Climb-erism’s homepage.

FOOD FOR CLIMBERS

FLUFF // IT IS MADE IN MASSACHUSETTS


CLIMBERISM MAGAZINEAN UNKNOWN CLIMBER TAKING A QUICK BREAK BEFORE PUSHING THROUGH TO THE TOP OF COTE D’AZURE (5.13C)RUMNEY, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

climberism magazine issue #8

Documents

climbing career

massive falling debris

n einterviewwe

n econtributorswatching

iconic mountain

rock won

couple years

baxter peak photo