I’m heading to Tucson today to visit Mom and Dad for Christmas with my girlfriend for a Meet the Parents holiday.  After several days of eating, drinking and being lazy, I’m going to the mountains one way or another.  I’ve been trying to find a guide to lead some multi-pitch up around Mount Lemmon, however it is looking like that is going to be tough since, after all it is Christmas, so all the guides I’ve talked to are unavailable.

If I can’t get someone to lead multi-pitch, I think I am going to hit up a hike/climb of Mount Wrightston (9,456 feet) south of the city.  There has been a bit of an early winter there, so I’m bringing crampons and an ice ax in case it gets a little icy at the top. 

Either way, there will be some great outdoors goodness to be had!  I will keep you posted!

Oringally posted at Ten Fingers 6 Strings. Slight edits included.

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It was about two or three A.M. and I was violently shivering at Interim Camp in what was supposed to be a 20-below North Face sleeping bag, but instead was a synthetic cover stuffed with feathers.  It seems that the gear shop in Kathmandu rented us the equivalent of the “Rolax” watches you can pick up in Hong Kong on the street.  The “Rolax” might make you late for a meeting, but the feather sleeping bag at 19,000 feet will literally turn you into a popsicle.  I mumbled audible obscenities while trying to find ways to stay warm wearing top and bottom thermals, a down jacket, down pants and two pairs of wool socks.  I looked ridiculous and it was the first time in my life I really felt claustrophobic.

No matter what I tried, I could not keep my feet warm and eventually had to take off the second pair of socks because they were cutting off my circulation.  So, every 1/2 hour or so, I’d have to rub my feet for ten-minutes, stomp up and down and then practice my tap-dancing skills to keep the blood flowing.  My bones were cold and as I was doing my tap dancing, I wrote a song called Eff You Sleeping Bag Man:

Eff you sleeping bag man
Eff you sleeping bag man
Eff you sleeping bag man
Eff you sleeping bag man (repeat)

The sincerity in my heart and the sweet harmonies produced by this song kept my heart, but not my body warm during this tribulation.  But it wasn’t until the sun broke through the night sky that I knew I would be able to keep all my toes (although the milky, white-color they reflected didn’t make me feel all that comfortable either).  A very inauspicious start to the most important day of the entire trip to Mount Everest: the push to Advanced Base Camp (6,400 meters).

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Originally Posted at Ten Fingers 6 Strings

A climbing party must embrace three critical elements to ensure a successful and enjoyable peak-bagging trip in the Sierras: 1) copious amounts of hilarious banter often supported by a barrage of movie quotes, 2) good music–gansta rap (preferrably of the filthiest nature, ala Too Short) and hard rock/metal that just plain rocks and 3) pre- and post-trip food. These three elements were in plentiful supply as we drove from San Francisco out to Bishop and up to trailhead of Piute Pass. You will later see that conventional logic that would require items like ropes, maps and even shelter aren’t always indicative of success or “fun” in what I like to call “New Climbing.”

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One of my climbing buddies, Rich, forwarded me a story about a climber who recently died in Yosemite while trying to climb Cathedral Peak:

A rock climber who died in Yosemite National Park over the weekend has been identified as Peter Charles Noble, 44, of Oakland, the Tuolumne County Sheriff’s Department reported Monday. An autopsy is scheduled to take place within the next 48 hours.

Two male rock climbers went up Cathedral Peak on Saturday and told a ranger they planned to return after dark, said Yosemite park ranger Adrienne Freeman. The other climber was not named.

The climbers chose a difficult route, which took them longer than expected. As the men were descending, the weather changed, Freeman said. It was cold and windy and it started to sleet and snow during the early morning hours.

Rich and I had been scoping out a potential climb of Cathedral for a while, and if the weather held out, we were thinking about playing hooky (again) to do it before winter hit. The week prior to the weekend of this accident, we had been watching the weather rather closely and it was absolutely clear that there was going to be some nasty weather there. When I read the initial report, I had a feeling that these guys must have ignored the weather report, since it abundantly clear that there was going to be some nasty stuff up there.

A few days later, the YOSAR (Yosemite Search and Rescue) team published a senopsis of what happened:

On November 10th at approximately 9 AM, Peter Noble, 43, and his climbing partner started the approach hike to Cathedral Peak’s Southeast Buttress. They had not looked at a current weather forecast though they did speak with a Ranger at the trailhead about the potential of a road closure due to the weather moving in overnight. The two said they might be coming back after dark but planned to be out of the backcountry that night.

They had jackets and a sleeping bag in their vehicle and left their backpacks with some gear in them near the base of the climb. Just before dark, the men made it to a point near the summit of Cathedral Peak and decided to rappel their route. On the way down, it got dark and windy. As temperatures dropped, sleet began to fall which later turned to heavy snow. On the rappel, they had gotten a rope stuck and had to cut it to continue the rappel in the dark. On the final rappel both fell approximately 15 feet near the base of the climb but neither was injured. They were wearing light jackets, cotton shirts and pants.

When they reached the ground and started walking out along Budd Creek, they both were falling continuously and were moving very slowly. They realized they were both in danger of freezing but were stumbling and crawling down the Budd Creek drainage. At one point, the climbing partner tried to carry Noble but was not strong enough. Noble repeatedly fell down and finally collapsed. The climbing partner attempted to resuscitate him for an unknown amount of time with no success. The partner realized that he might die if he didn’t continue toward the car, so he left Noble just before dawn on the 11th and made it to the trailhead at 0730 hrs. He was shaking uncontrollably and somewhat incoherent but described the situation to a Ranger.

Yosemite initiated a rescue effort and found Noble’s body just after 10AM 1.65 miles from the Tioga Road in the Budd Creek drainage near the climbers approach trail.

Contributions by Ranger Sally Sprouse

A full investigation and accident report will follow.

Ultimately, I have a primary and secondary goal in climbing. My primary goal: to enjoy my brief time in the mountains, while knowing my limits in order to come back again another day with everyone in the team. My secondary goal is obtaining the summit.

Every year, I read “Accidents in North American Mountaineering.” Although it sounds rather macabre, it is one of the most valuable tools I have for keeping my head straight and myself alive when in the mountains. The mountains are a place of extreme peril and one can only be serve as a passive “guest” for a short period of time there. Human tendency towards hubris, whether ill- or unintended, is amplified and punished indiscriminately. The mountains are completely unforgiving, but that is what also makes being in them so rewarding and beautiful.

In this case, my best wishes and condolences go out to the family of the victim and his climbing partner.  For me, this story serves as another stern reminder that making those last weather checks on the computer, before walking out the door, are necessary.