Warstein, Germany

A nude climber stuck halfway up a cliff face in the pitch dark had to phone German police officers, who shone a spotlight on him so he could find handholds to lower himself back down, they said Friday.

The 47-year-old man was unable to explain why he had drunkenly stripped off at dusk on Thursday, packed all his clothes in his rucksack and headed up the 40-metre quarry wall in Warstein, 100 kilometres east of Düsseldorf.

Clinging to a ledge, he became too weak to proceed and could not get dressed for fear of falling. Hours later, becoming both very cold and sober, he managed to get out his mobile phone and contact police.

Police took him to hospital as a precaution, in case he had suffered from “exposure.”

Could happen to anyone… though methinks there’s a cautionary tale in there somewhere. Source: the Alpine Club of Canada newletter (thankfully without accompanying imagery).

On mountains, everywhere

This past weekend, Ev and I enjoyed a short sortie with the Westie out to Riding Mountain National Park to take in the latest of her Manitoba Crafts Council show openings in Wasagaming. We spent a delightful dinner and overnight with old friends Celes and Sue Davar (Celes and I were both partners in Praxis Photographic Workshops some 20 years ago; he now runs Earth Rhythms—Sue is a remarkably talented potter and book-maker, and a longstanding friend of Ev’s). During the course of our conversation, Celes asked me whether I had noticed melt-back on glaciers in the Canadian Rockies in recent years (which of course I have, quite visibly in places like the Columbia Icefield). So it seemed more than a little coincidental that David Breashears’ latest documentary initiative would cross my desk today…

Rivers of Ice: Vanishing Glaciers of the Greater Himalaya showcases the work of photographer and mountaineer David Breashears, who with Glacier Research Imaging Project (GRIP), has retraced the steps of renowned mountain photographers of the past century to recapture images of these mountains and their glaciers from exactly the same vantage points. Rivers of Ice displays his recent photographs alongside the corresponding historic images, revealing the alarming loss in ice mass that has taken place over the intervening years. Visit the website (reports, videos, comparative photographs) here.

Above images: Graphic evidence of the loss of glacier mass between 1921 and 2007; the dotted line shows the Main Rongbuk Glacier’s height in 1921, while this 2007 photo freveals a loss of 320 vertical feet (nearly 100m) in ice mass since George Mallory took the same photograph in 1921; the tiny climber (upper right corner) gives scale to the remaining ice pinnacles.

London, U.K.

Greenpeace climbers recently scaled the front of BP’s corporate headquarters in London to “brand them with a logo that better suits their dirty business.” Greenpeace “thinks their logo needs a makeover to better suit a company that invests in tar sands and other unconventional oil sources like deep water oil,” and that a company that invests in tar sands—the dirtiest oil there is—needs something other than a nice green flower as their brand identity. “While our effort at a new logo is OK, we think you can do better, so we’re asking you to help us redesign BP’s logo…” More information here.

Several designer colleagues alerted me to this movement to find a more suitable “brand” for BP today (thanks Toze in Porto, thanks JS in Montreal). For years I’ve been showcasing BP’s effervescent floral symbol as the classic example of “corporate greenwashing” at design lectures I give, so I’m neither surprised nor disappointed at what seems to be a growing movement to help this industry-leading company project a more honest image. Just deserts, methinks…

Images: a selection from among of the hundreds of alternate BP logo entries flooding in; more here.

Thanks for sharing that “old Spanish piece of wisdom” with me, Gonzalo.

Annapurna, Nepal

I’m a moderately-skilled, low-altitude mountaineer (mostly rock-climbing and summit scrambling)—which puts me in a position of more than a little awe of those who push the boundaries of alpinism. So, naturally, I was quite enthused when I heard from a designer friend in Porto today (Toze, aka Antonio Coelho, himself one of Portugal’s premier mountaineers) that his long-time climbing partner, João Garcia, has just become the 10th climber to summit all 14 of the world’s mountains over 8000 meters (26,246′) without supplementary oxygen. For João, this culminates a quest he began 17 years ago with the ascent of Cho Oyu (João was also the first Portuguese to summit Everest, in 1999).

The summit of Annapurna marked another first on 17 April 2010, the day of João Garcia’s ascent: the 36-year-old Spanish climber Edurne Pasaban became the first woman to summit 13 of the 8000ers, putting her at the front of the race among women climbers to match Reinhold Messner’s momentous 1993 achievement.

Parabéns!

all your draws are 12″ long

your kid climbs harder than you do

you’ve worn out a set of cams

there is scar tissue on the back of your hands

you quit sport climbing because you can’t do any of the routes

you’ve set up a belay with the only piece of gear left on your rack

you do a first ascent and report the names of both members in your party

you say, “what?” when your leader says, “take!”

you can wear your climbing shoes all day

you don’t know what your body-fat % is

you drop your belay device and you still know how to belay

you remember when climbing gear didn’t have springs

you wake up at 2:00am to go climbing

you spend three hours removing a fixed cam

you think a bong is a type of piton

you enjoy guilt-free eating

you take a forty footer

you still use a gear sling

there is a holster on your harness

you rappel six pitches in the dark

you rappel six pitches in the snow

you drop your water bottle and it takes five seconds to hit

your best memories are from the epics you’ve had

you miss work on monday because you epic’d on sunday

a whole block of chalk fits in your chalk bag

you drive all night so you can climb all day

you’re up so high the trees look like broccoli

you wear socks in your climbing shoes

you think “beta” is a video format

you don’t want beta

you coil your rope.

Good judgement comes from experience, but experience comes from bad judgement. — John Fullbright

(sound familiar? thanks to Trango for the quips)

Winnipeg Beach, Manitoba

Here’s one for all my climbing buddies (some of whom have made themselves damn scarce of late, if I may say so). Ev’s daughter Jennifer just forwarded the following ditty to me, from one of her 5-year-old son Sam’s favorite* books… eloquently expressing a truism we know all too well.

The daring ibex risk their necks
On scary airy mountain treks.
Each one must climb with skill complex
Or else become an ex-ibex.

*Mammalabilia: poems and paintings by Douglas Florian.

Winnipeg Beach, Manitoba

Several people have asked whether I would be putting Bettie up for sale this spring—this after I purchased a newer (waterboxer) VW Westfalia last autumn. I hate to see this air-cooled butter-colored beauty go (after only three years), but I really don’t need two… so please consider this an official offer to sell. There, I said it.

Some stats: 1981 VW Vanagon L Westfalia Camper, 2.0 L four-cylinder engine, rear-wheel drive, manual four-speed, seating for five occupants including driver, sleeps 4 (two double beds)—German-engineered efficiency at its best. Fully camperized means a super-convenient pop-up top (takes less than 10 seconds), sink with onboard water tank and city water hookup, two-burner propane stove, three-way refrigerator (propane/110v AC/12v DC), loads of built-in storage, swing-out tables, swivel front seats, sliding windows with insect screens, full curtains, and a rooftop luggage rack. Extra niceties included: a trailer hitch, fire extinguisher, lockable strong-box (great for storing laptop and valuables while on a multi-day climb), an AC power inverter (for charging a computer, etc.), a decent sound system (radio, cassette and plug-in CD player), and comprehensive owner and service manuals.

Admittedly not a speed demon, Bettie cruises comfortably at 110 km/h on the open road (though she slows down on sustained uphill inclines). I’ve driven her out to the Rockies in each of the last three years (have I mentioned that a Westy makes for the world’s best climbing base-camp?), and with all gear and food staples neatly stored (literally, she’s a home on wheels), it’s simply a matter of adding some fresh food, a cooler of recreational beverages, and some casual clothes on a Friday after work—within half an hour you’re off for a weekend sortie. Though Bettie is pushing 30, she’s in great running condition, has low mileage (about 150,000 original kms), consumes in the area of 12 L/100 km of fuel, and is pure joy to own and drive.

If you’re interested, call me days at 1 204 943 3693 or evenings at 1 204 781 8132, or send me an e-mail through this site’s Contact form. Asking price: $7500 Canadian… I’m going to miss you, girl.

Status update as of 29 March 2010:

Bettie has been sold (to an old climbing friend, I’m happy to say)…

(previous posts about Bettie here and here)

Bozen, Italy

Watch a great 45-minute documentary with Reinhold Messner, “the world’s greatest mountaineer,” here.  (Broken link, sorry). Reinhold looks back over his career with surprising candor and self-revelation, along with rare film footage of his astonishing climbs of the world’s highest mountains.

(unknown individual, location, and source)*

* Thanks to an e-mail from Rod at www.creativeroots.org I have just learned that the above image is actually of Trolltunga, “troll’s tongue”—given the hundreds of photos that show up in a Google image search for Trolltunga, obviously this horizontal slab of rock that sticks out above Skjeggedal is a very popular trekking destination in Norway. Thanks Rod!

See lots more images such as the one below, here…