Himalaya climbers and armchair enthusiasts alike have no doubt heard of Miss Elizabeth Hawley, the 84 year old woman who has become THE athuority on Himalayan climbing and climbers. She's a legend in Nepal and the climbing community in general, and you haven't officially summitted if Miss Hawley doesn't say so.

Alan has a great post about her today on his Everest 2007 page and his description of his first encounter with her had me chuckling out loud.

Miss Hawley has been the chronicler of Himalayan climbing for more than 45 years and has released her detailed and accurate, though unofficial records, in a book and CD-ROM that follow climbing in the region from 1905 to 2003. Her Himalayan Database is considered to be the authorative source of information on Himalayan climbs.

Spanish climbers Manu Cordova and Javi Bueno are well known for putting up new routes in their home country and the Alps. When the weather turns bad in they favorite climbing spots, they head to the Sierra de Guara to find new challenges. The video below is a fantastic short film about their exploits and one of the better climbing movies that I've seen in awhile. The region that they are climbing in looks simply amazing, with plenty of excellent routes to explore. If you have 20 minutes to kill, I definitely recommend checking this video out.

Historias de cordada from Boreal Video on Vimeo.

National Geographic Adventure has posted an excellent interview with rock climber Mike Libecki about a recent climb he made in South America where he not only had to face the challenges of the rock, but also nasty ticks, deadly scorpions, and leaping tarantulas.

Libecki is a well known and experienced rock climber who has put up routes all over the World, but this one sounds like it was pretty amazing for what went on off the rock as well. In total it took about two weeks to make the climb, as he and his partner Kyle Dempster, had to shuttle their gear in through dense jungle. But once they were assembled in camp, it took about five days to scale the 2000+ feet to the summit.

Libecki also discusses his love of climbing solo, his own "logistical checklist", his thoughts on the one piece of gear he can't do without, and the proverbial "what's next" on his list of places to climb. In this case, the answer Papua New Guinea. Interesting stuff.

Outdoor gear company Quechua had partnered with budget tech firm Archos to produce a ruggedized Android cell phone that is designed for adventurers who can be a little rough on their gear. The phone, which begins shipping this week in some markets, if resistant to water, snow, cold, dust and other elements, while also being designed to survive a significant drop.

The new phone will retail for €230 (roughly $310) and comes equipped with Android 4.1 (Jellybean). It is powered by a Qualcomm 1.2 GHz, quad-core processor, has 1GB of RAM and 4GB of internal storage, which can be expanded through the use of SD cards. It also has a large 5" display and 3500 mAh battery that is said to be capable of 22 hours of talk time between charges.

But what sets the phone apart from most others is that it meets IP 54 certification. That means it has been built to survive the demands of the outdoors, including submersion in water, being used in sandy or dusty environments and withstanding the shock from being dropped. It is also resistant to both hot and cold temperatures, which could make it a great travel phone for those who visit extreme environments.

The phone does have a few knocks against it before it ever hits the streets. For starters, it doesn't have 4G data capabilities. The built-in 4GB of storage is a bit anemic as well, even though you do have the ability to add to that with memory cards. Android 4.1 is no longer the latest version of that operating system either, although it is a solid, modern OS in terms of features and stability. Still, for the price, I would expect a bit more out of the phone. You might be better served with buying a more capable device at a lower price and investing in a good cast to protect it. Just my two cents.

Rock climbing is a popular outdoor sport in certain parts of the world, but India doesn't happen to be one of them. Recently, the state of Maharashtra announced plans to begin promoting the sport to attract tourism to the area. This has inspired Indian born climber Sujay Kawale, who now lives in the U.S., to travel home and help introduce the sport to his native country. Sujay and his friend Mike Wilkinson are hoping to document those efforts while simultaneously showing off the climbing opportunities there in a new film called Ascending India. To do that, they've launched a Kickstarter campaign to help fund their efforts. They're hoping to raise $10,000 for the project and with 14 days to go, they could certainly use some help getting to their goal.

To get an idea of what they have in mind, take a look at the trailer video for the film below. Good luck guys!

Ascending India Teaser Trailer from Mike Wilkinson on Vimeo.

The Adventurist and Blogging Mt. Hood are both reporting this morning that five climbers are stranded on Mt. Hood at about 9800 feet. Jason, over at the Adventurist, says that they are in contact with the authorities via cell phone.

The climbers also have tracking devices and GPS devices, which allows rescue teams to know where to find them, as a resuce attempt will be mounted today. The team was believed to have dug a snow cave to wait out the night on te mountain.

I'm sure we'll be hearing more on this story as the day goes along. For now, we'll just have to watch, wait, and hope for the best. More as it becomes available.

Update: The climbers on Mt. Hood have all been rescued and brought down safely. No injuries and everyone is in good health. The Adventurist has the full story.

The GoBlog has posted three very cool videos of famed rock climber Tommy Caldwell in Yosemite.

The videos are from back in 2005 when Caldwell put up an amazing double climb of both Freerider and El Capitan's The Nose in the same day. The videos are interesting and fun to watch not only because you can watch a master climber at work, but you can see him as he prepares for the climb, going through his gear, and mentally getting ready as well. He's also cheered on and encouraged by wife Beth Rodden, who is quite an accomplished climber in her own right.

Very cool videos for anyone into the rock climbing and some of the big, classic walls. Also very impressive to think that Tommy was able to put up both routes in one day, even a few years after the fact. Some days I have problems climbing two flights of stairs! ;)

The pace of the video below would best be described as "breakneck." Once it takes off, there is barely time to catch your breath as it speeds through a series of beautiful and adventurous timelapse segments. The title of the video is "Pause #24" but really its adventure in fast forward.

PAUSE #24 from PAUSE on Vimeo.

Another climbing update from MountEverest.net today brings us news on the Spring Climbing Season in the Himalaya. Things are really picking up with all kinds of news starting to roll in.

Swiss Climber Ueli Steck has big plans for Annapurna, where he intends to climb the mountain by a new route, solo and in alpine style no less. Ueli, who recently set a speed record on the Eiger is warming up for Annapuran with summits on Cholatse and Pumori while he treks up the Khumbu Valley.

Over on Shisha Pangma, the Slovak Team are at 7000m and about to make their summit push, with weather conditions being less than ideal. On Dhaulagiri, Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner is celebrating a unique honeymoon. While she waits for her chance to go up the mountain, her husband is guiding another team on Manaslu. (Dude! You've got a keeper!)

On Cho Oyu the news isn't so good when it comes to summit attempts. Gavin Bate is reporting that his team is turning back, giving up on their attempts to top out. At 6800m, not far below Camp 2, they were turned back by an ice cliff that is making it all but impassable. Their climb, it appears, is over.

Alan Arnette brings us some news from Everest as well, where the word is that the HiMex sherpas will once again be the first on the summit, and by the end of April no less. Of course, these amazing climbers are laying down the fixed ropes that will allow the other teams to follow them up the mountain. Rumor has it that the Chinese team carrying the Olympic Torch may not be far behind though. Word from the South Side is that fixed ropes now reach up to Camp 3 and a number of teams are rerturning to Base Camp as part of their acclimatization process.

Looking for a dose of inspiration on a Monday? Look no further than the video below, which features rock climber Urko Carmona, who just happened to have lost a leg in a car accident when he was 16. Now in his 30's, Urko hasn't let that accident keep him from living the life he wants, including one filled with plenty of adventure. Watching him scale a difficult rock face is definitely impressive.

Live your Dreams from klaas willems on Vimeo.

Famed climber Lara Kellogg fell to her death in a climbing accident last week on Mt. Wake, in Denali National Park, Alaska. According to this article posted on MountainZone.com, Kellogg was climbing with mountaineer Jed Brown at the time of the accident.

Lara was married to Chad Kellogg, who was climbing in the Sichuan province of China at the time of the accident. Out of respect to her husband and family, her name was not released until Chad could be contacted and told the news. Lara and Chad are well known in climbing circles having worked as guides and having climbed all over the World.

Jed Brown posted his thoughts on Lara and their climb with a bit of an explanation about what events lead up to them being on the mountain and wht happened while they were there. And a Remembering Lara Kellog Blog has been created to allow friends and family to post their memories and thoughts on Lara.

My thoughts and condolences are with Chad and her family at this time.

It appears that the general strike that hit Kathmandu a few days back has been lifted. According to this article (via The Advenurist) the businesses in Nepal decided to lift the strike after the eight ruling parties in the Nepalese government vowed to work towards meeting some of the demands of businesses in the city. This comes as a major relief for all the climbers currently in the city who feared being able to actually fly out to the various regions they'll be climbing in this Spring.

Meanwhile, MountEverest.net has published a new update from the region as well, and indicate that teams acclimatizing in the Khumbu Valley are begging to get their first look at Everest as they trek closer to the mountain. Other teams are arriving for Spring climbs on Cho Oyu and Dhaulagiri as well.

Activity in the Himalaya is picking up with more teams arriving this weekend as well. It wont be long until "Tent City" is alive with activity and the Sherpa guides will go to work on fixing ropes and setting up camps. That's whent he fun begins. Stay tuned!

Ancient Art is the name of one of the Fishers Towers, a rock column located not far from Moab, Utah. The face is about 400 feet in height, and as you'll see in the video below, a challenging climb. Recently Hayley Ashburn and Marshall Miller made the ascent and then BASE jumped from the top. The entire adventure is chronicled in this video and shot on GoPro of course.

Climbing.com the website for Climbing magazine has posted an excellent preview of the upcoming climbing season on K2. As things start to wind down on Everest, the Karakorum season will be starting to warm up.

There will be four teams gunning for the summit on K2 this year, three of which will be climbing alpine style, with small teams. None of the four intend to use supplemental oxygen. Two teams will challenge the West Face, which remains mostly unclimbed. One of those teams is a large Russian expedition which will lay siege to the mountain, while Peter Hámor, Dodo Kopold, and Piotr Morawski will go light and fast having recently topped out on Nanga Parbat and still being acclimatized for high elevation.

Kazakhs Denis Urubko and Serguey Samoilov will be looking to climb the North Face, on a route that has never been attempted. They'll be going up an 11,000 foot vertical face that that is amongst the most challenging big wall climbs anywhere in the World. The North Face remains largely unexplored and few climbers have even scouted the area.

Finally, on the South side, Americans Bill Pierson and Fabrizio Zangrilli will be attempting a new route themselves, going up the 9500 foot wall before merging with The Magic Line route that is amongst the more direct climbs on the mountain.

K2 remains one of the more dangerous climbs amongst the 8000m peaks. Not many climbers actually find themselves on the summit, and of those that do, nearly half perish on the descent. The mountain is a mere 240 meters shorter than Everest, and yet it is orders of magnitude more difficult to climb. Fortunately, the teams that are attempting K2 are all seasoned pros, with plenty of high altitude experience. I'm sure we'll be hearing a lot more about these climbers as we get closer to the Karakorum season, but I'll take this opportunity to wish them all luck now.

Thanks to Jason over at The Adventurist for passing this one on. He has his hands full with all the Everest news at the moment, so if you're looking for the latest, be sure to head over to his site and catch-up.

National Geographic Adventure has posted a cool audio interview with climber Mike Libecki who recently returnd from a trip to Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan where he, and his brother Andy, climbed Mount Asan.

The two brothers spent five weeks exploring the climbing possiblities in the area, and finished off with a 3000 foot ascent on Mount Asan's headwall. The trip was quite a bonding experience for the brothers, who have also climbed together in China and Greenland, but this was the first real technical climbing for Andy.

It sounds like the two had a great time, despite the fact they got food poisoning, from eating goat head and intestine, a local delicacy. If you ask me, if you go to a foreign country and eat goat head and intestine, you're just asking for food poisoning. ;)

December doesn't just mean that the holidays are right around the corner. It also is a time to reflect on the year that has just passed and take stock of events that have transpired. Over the course of the next few weeks, I'm sure we'll see plenty of articles detailing the "best of 2013" or the "top ten" something or other from the past 12 months. Take for example this article from Outside magazine which shares their picks for the ten best adventure films that were released this year, each of which look like they'll be of interest to outdoor enthusiasts.

A number of the films on the list were ones that I've written about here on the Adventure Blog while others are completely new to me. For instance, I covered The Sufferfest, a film about Alex Honnold and Cedar Wright's "worst trip ever" few weeks back, and I've covered The Last Great Climb as it happened and when the trailer hit back in the summer. Most have us have probably at least seen the trailer for Blackfish as well. It was the film that was released this past summer that take a hard look at how captivity impacts the lives of killer whales.

A few of the films are ones that I haven't seen yet. Those include The Crash Reel, which follows snowboarders Shaun White and Kevin Pearce as they prepare for the 2010 Olympics. Just days before the games Pearce suffered an accident in the half pipe, suffering brain damage in the process. I'm also excited to see Maidentrip, which follows Laura Dekker on her attempt to sail solo around the globe a few years back. But perhaps the most intriguing film to me is Keeper of the Mountains, which is a movie about Miss Elizabeth Hawley, the Grand Dame of the Himalaya, and the keeper of all the records pertaining to climbs that take place in the big mountains. Catch the trailer for that film below.

If you're looking for some great adventure films to watch in the days ahead, Outside's list is a perfect place to get some ideas on where to start.

So you live in Colorado, and the weather is starting to turn for the better, and you've decided that this year, you're going to climb at least one of the 54 fourteeners in your state. (That's mountains of 14,000 feet or better for those just joining us) Well, The Denver Post is here to help with some great tips on preparing for a high altitude hike.

They recommend making a number of smaller hikes first if you are not an experienced hiker or use to spending time on the trail. Going from 5000 feet to 14,000 feet in one day can be dangerous the article warns, and you never know for sure what how your body will react to altitude. They also suggest stretching, doing yoga, lifting weights, and a good cardiovascular workout in preparation for your climb.

Other tips include waiting until mid-June to avoid snow and sudden bad weather, which can be common in the mountains. Bring the right gear for the day and know how much water, food, and other items you'll need to take with you. And finally, don't be afraid to turn back. Altitude can do odd things to you, and the weather can change very quickly, so play it safe and don't risk injury or worse. Finally, they also list their "Ten Essentials" of gear that should always be in your pack. Good advice all around.

Thanks Tom!

While most of the attention in the climbing community has been centered on the Himalaya once again this fall, there have been other bold climbing adventures taking place in other parts of the world as well. For example, a team of four big wall climbers traveled to a remote region along the border of China and Kyrgyzstan in search of new challenges to test their skills. They found that challenge in the form of a mountain called Kyzyl Asker, a 5842 meter (19,166 ft) tower with a 1220 meter (4000 ft) face that required two weeks to complete.

In late August,  Sean Villanueva O'Driscoll, Nicolas Favresse, Stéphane Hanssens and Evrard Wendenbaum gathered in China with no specific climbing objective in mind. They had read about a region in the Tien Shan Mountain Range that offered excellent opportunities to tackle unclimbed routes across a wild, rugged region that is seldom visited by outsiders.

After clearing some logistical hurdles and gathering what they though were the right permits, they set out for their destination using camels to shuttle their gear. After setting up Base Camp, they surveyed he area and settled on Kyzl Asker as their target. But they soon discovered that the permit they had been issued was meant for trekking only and not climbing. It also had a number of other restrictions that were problematic to the expedition as well. Luckily they had a Chinese liaison officer with them who helped get the issues resolved so they could proceed.

Once the team had its objective picked out, they began moving their gear to Advanced Base Camp so they could being the ascent. Of course, these types of climbs are never easy and there are always unexpected challenges along the way. The four men had to deal with altitude, cold temperatures, constantly changing weather, illness and a host of other issues. Eventually they did climb the wall, but it took them 14 days to do so, topping out on September 22.


You can read a full account of the China Jam Expedition, as it has come to be known, on the Petzl blog. Evrad also wrote extensively about the climb as well, posting updates to his blog too. Those are in French however, so if that isn't a language you're proficient in, you'll need to run the reports through Google Translate first. I think it'll be worth your effort however, as this sounds like it was quite an experience.

Finally, check out the video below to see how the expedition not only got its name but also what the boys did to pass the time while suspended on Kyzyl Asker's big wall. These guys have quite a career ahead of them when they're done climbing.


China Jam - Portaledge Song from Evrard Wendenbaum on Vimeo.

International Herald Tribune has posted an AP story on the new IMAX film The Alps which I've mentioned briefly a few times already. This is the film that follows John Harlin III up The Eiger on the same route that killed his father nearly 40 years ago. The climb was the inspiration for Harlin's book The Eiger Obsession.

The article talks about Harlin climbing in his father's footsteps, even as his own nine year old daughter watches through a telescope from the chalet below. Harlin III was nine years old himself when his father fell off the face of the Eiger while pursuing his dream to climb the "Eiger Direct" route.

This is the first "review" of the film that I've seen however, and it comes across as nothing short of glowing. The film looks great, as you would expect from an IMAX film, and goes to great lengths to capture an accurate portrayal of what it's like to climb a big mountain face in the Alps. The BIGGEST face in the Alps as a matter of fact.

The film sounds amazing, and I can't wait to see it. Unfortunately, it isn't playing in my area yet, nor is listed on the IMAX website, so I'm not sure when it's coming. But I'll keep my eyes peeled, and when I do get a chance to see it, I'll be sure to post my thoughts here. I'm also plugging away on the book, but with a busy week ahead, I'm not sure I'll be able to post a review before I leave for Kili on Saturday. With a little luck, I'll get it finished, otherwise I'll have to post it upon my return.

Awhile back, climbers Alex Honnold and Cedar Wright came up with the idea of summiting all 15 of California's 14,000-foot (4267 meter) peaks in a single go using just their bikes and feet as modes of transportation. The result was not what they expected, as what seemed like a rather simple expedition turned into a complete "Sufferfest." The boys are sharing their story in a series of videos for EpicTV, with part one available below.