KristofferSzilas

Jim Broomhead and I spent three weeks in the Alaska range this spring and climbed the classic route ”Ham & Eggs” (TD: 5.9, AI4, 900m) to the summit of Mooses Tooth. There had been a lot of snow this winter, so conditions were not the best and there were many awkward snow mushrooms on the route and much steep, unprotectable snow.

On our first day in the range, we helped in the rescue of a Japanese climber who had taken a bad fall when a rappel anchor had pulled on him. Luckily there was a team of two Americans with a satphone to help as well, because our phone didn't work. It took us a whole night in the middle of a snow storm to get him out on a plateau, where he could get picked up by a helicopter. It is nice to know that a rescue can be done even in the worst possible conditions and we were very impressed with the military rescue team for flying that day.

Jim and I had another few unsuccessful attempts at Moonflower Buttress on Mount Hunter, but a combination of bad weather, poor conditions and various other issues made it impossible for us to climb this route, which we had attempted two years earlier.

Nevertheless, it was a good trip and we had lots of fun in Kahiltna base camp and met a lot of really cool people, including Slovenians, Koreans, and a bunch of Americans who all helped us waste time, when the weather was too poor for climbing.

Photos from the trip can be found here:

https://plus.google.com/photos/102048338482894223782/albums/5741527199732393745

Jim in the Twin Runnels on Moonflower Buttress

Last week I climbed in Italy with Ramon Marin. Our initial plan was to repeat the legendary mixed route: ”Mission Impossible” (M11). Unfortunately the ice curtain hadn’t formed so the route did indeed turn out to be impossible. For 6 months I have been training hard with this single route in mind, so it was quite disappointing to say the least.

We then headed over to Cogne to have a look at “X-Files” and “Empire Strikes Back”, but after closer inspection they proved to be very loose and had poor options for protection, so instead we climbed the pure ice route Repentance Super (WI6), which gave 5 pitches of nice ice climbing.

However, we were hungry for some physically hard mixed climbing, so we drove across Italy to the Dolomites to have a look at Grotto di Landro, which was supposed to have some of the hardest mixed lines in all of Italy.

Grotto di Landro:

Ramon quickly dispatched “Silent Memories” (M9) and I managed to flash it after watching him on it, so the training hadn’t been for nothing.

Me climbing to the first icicle:

Topping out after a series of figure-fours through the short roof section:

The day after we both repeated “Fly in the Wind” (M10+) in a few tries. A crucial hold had broken off at the very last move years ago, so this route was now hard M10+ and thus my hardest route to date.

However, while working the route I realised how contrived big number mixed routes are. In order to get a high grade these climbs needs to cross massive roof where the climbing essentially comes down to how many figure-fours you can do in a row. The less ice the better, because ice makes for solid placements and good rests, so in the end it becomes pure drytooling, which is not too appealing. Thus, although I could probably climb harder than M10+ “Fly in the Wind” is likely my last sport mixed route. I will much rather prefer technical climbing on both rock and ice that relates directly to what one finds in the mountains, so from now on my focus will be exclusively on alpinism.
It is now time to take the skills I got from all the different types of climbing I've been doing for the last 10+ years and apply them to the mountains. I really look forward to pushing myself in the mountains this year, because this is what I have been aiming for since I started climbing.
My two main projects this year includes "Moonflower Buttress" on Mount Hunter and the north face of Cholatse!

Me topping out on “Fly in the Wind” (M10+), likely my last route of this kind:

I’m getting ready for a project that I have been training for during the last 6 months. I have known about this route since it was first climbed over ten years ago and back then it was considered to be the hardest mixed climb in the world. However, I have never even dared to dream that I would one day be strong enough to give that route a real attempt, so I’m super psyched about my next trip. Here is a preview of the Ines Papert on the super sustain and technical route I will attempt next week:

I would like to thank my sponsors for their support and in particular Klinik for their physical maintenance of me..

During the last 6 months I have pushed my body to the absolute limit and some times beyond and I have been very happy to have the guys at Klinik as backup when I pushed too far. I’ve had several old injuries reappear because of the intense training program, such as a problem with my Achilles  tendon from taken a fall with crampons on several years ago and a hip injury that I got during one of my first expeditions.

However, Eivind at Klinik has time and again proven to be a wizard when it comes to curing weird injuries that somehow are connected to other areas of the body. Simon has built custom insoles for my running shoes, so I can now run without Achilles pain and Trine has been able to loosen up my ever sore back and shoulder muscles from all the drytooling I have been doing lately. Btw. Klinik has 50% discount on massages at the moment, so if someone in the Copenhagen area needs a repair I can highly recommend them as the place to go.

I’m sponsored by the Danish glove manufacturer GripGrab and have tested every single glove they have in their collection. I have now narrowed it down to three gloves that I can honestly recommend for climbing:

For mixed climbing the main thing is that the glove is tight fitting and gives a strong grip. For this my favourite glove is GripGrab XC Touring glove. If you fall off a route while wearing this glove there are no one to blame but yourself, because the tight fit and the wrist strap makes it virtually impossible to slip out of it. This is the glove I wear when I want to climb at my physical limit as on sport mixed routes.

For ice climbing the glove should be waterproof and warm, but also have a good grip that does not slip in the palm of the hand when you swing the ice tools. For this purpose I prefer GripGrab Polaris. It is a reasonably cheap glove, but it performs really well on frozen waterfalls and the palm is super sticky making for precise sticks with the ice tools.

For alpine climbing you primarily want warmth. Although GripGrab does not yet make a glove designed specifically for this use, they have a few gloves for skiing. Gripgrab’s Alpine 3-in-1 actually fits the bill for alpine climbing pretty well. It features removable fleece liners, which makes drying out the gloves much easier and they actually also have a very good grip. The only downside of this glove is that it is not waterproof, but it still works great on frozen water falls if you bring a spare set of liners with you on the route so you can change to dry ones (two pairs of liners are included when you buy this glove). It is not warm enough for alpine winter climbing, but for alpine routes in summer they sure work fine and the entire team I was in Kyrgyzstan with this summer used them on their first ascents.

I am sponsored by a physiotherapy clinic that is simply named Klinik. It is located on Valby Langgade close to where I live and I can highly recommend them for anybody based in Copenhagen.

Klinik has a team of athletes including mainly Ironman distance triathletes, runners and then me, as an alpine climber, that they support by providing free treatment and injury prevention. Their staff includes highly skilled physiotherapists, osteopaths and masseuses. During the last few months I have been tested in every possible way from my style of running to shoulder mobility. I got customised soles for my training shoes, massages and exercise for injury prevention. In particular I’m very impressed with the osteopaths, whom I to be honest always considered to be part of some form of voodoo. However, that view has been brought to shame after meeting these guys! Their training takes five years of intensive theoretical and practical studies during which they strictly focus on anatomy and interrelation of bones, ligaments, muscles and organs in the human body. They can immediately locate imbalances in the motor function of a person that may affect other parts of the body and thus their performance.

One of the best examples of their work is from a friend of mine who was told by medical doctors that he would need massive knee operations to be able to walk properly again. However, after a few sessions with an osteopath his knee was fixed without the need for a costly operation and extensive recovery time. So if you ever have injuries that may need surgery you should definitely have an osteopath have a look at you before you go under the knife!

Anyway, I’m really happy about the services Klinik provides and I’m sure that they have helped my performance this winter. Stay tuned to see what I’m talking about..