Hiking, Camping & Climbing

Of the American Mountain Guides Association’s 294 certified rock, alpine, and ski mountaineering guides, only 26 are women. Working as the only full-time female climbing guides in New York’s six-million-acre Adirondack Park, climbers Karen Stolz and Emilie Drinkwater would hardly notice this fact.

The New York Times sat down with them both to talk about climbing origins, choosing challenging (but safe) routes, and the mental and physical demands of full-time work in the backcountry:

“‘You have to have a physical aptitude and the right kind of mind frame,’ Drinkwater said. ‘It’s fun, but it’s also hard and scary. I like big mountains. I like long routes. They don’t necessarily have to be the hardest things.’”

photo credit: mariachily

“The land of little rain”: Eastern California’s Owens Valley is known for rugged country and history, longstanding water wars, and diverse rock climbing opportunities. Vanessa Gregory of The New York Times and her husband spend a few days camping, hiking, and climbing the Alabama Hills near Bishop.

“With a final, clumsy motion, I clipped the rope that was tied to my harness into two carabiners at the route’s end. Now totally safe, I was able to relax, lean back from the anchor and appreciate the surrounding Owens River Gorge. I looked south to the river, shaded by cottonwood trees, coursing down between 300-foot-high walls of volcanic tuff.”

photo credit: Alan Vernon

• Oh Eun-sun’s disputed climbing records: BBC News
• 13-year-old Jordan Romero begins ascent of Everest: CNN
• Video: Jeremy Collins’ Border Country: Patagonia Tin Shed
• Brooklyn Boulders repurposed gym: Wall Street Journal
• Nepali climbers cleaning Everest: Reuters
• Explorer Eric Larson first person to Tweet from North Pole: TechCrunch

With a “shy smile and almond eyes that peek out from behind a parted curtain of wavy brown hair” Jordan Romero–a teenage climber from Big Bear Lake, California–wants to become the youngest person to ever climb Mount Everest.

“With more and more of his peers playing video games, fighting obesity, and contracting diabetes, he would serve as a powerful counterexample. He wants to inspire American kids to climb their own mountains. Or at least to go outside,” writes Bruce Barcott of Outside Magazine.

“Does the kid really want to do it, or is his hard-driving father taking his own love of adventure (and perhaps his ego) to a dangerous extreme? ‘Jordan’s dad is a little wacky, a little…intense,’ says one climber who’s worked with the family.”

photo credit: huwowenthomas

Over the top: Boulder, CO climber/boulderer Daniel Woods explains how to manage “one digit monos” during his climbing trek through Turkey with Renan Ozturk.

Produced by Camp4 Collective

South Korean mountaineer Oh Eun-sun is the first woman to climb the world’s 14 highest peaks, after she scrambled on all fours to the top of Mount Annapurna in Nepal last week.

“Annapurna was the last of the 14 peaks taller than 26,247 feet (8,000 meters) that Oh needed to climb to make history. She reached the summit — 26,545 feet above sea level — 13 years after she scaled her first Himalayan mountain, Gasherbrum II, in 1997,” reports Choe Sang-Hun of The New York Times.

“On her historic climb, she was carrying a photograph of Ko Mi-young, her rival and fellow South Korean, who plummeted to her death last year while descending from Nanga Parbat, the world’s ninth-highest peak. Ko had climbed 11 of the 14 peaks.”

In his Green blog, John Collins Rudolf of The New York Times writes about the long history of expedition waste scattered about Mount Everest base camps, and recent efforts by the Nepalese to begin addressing the “the highest junkyard on the face of the earth.”

“Under new rules, solid waste at base camp must be collected by expedition teams and hauled out by porters or pack animals. Glass bottles have been banned in Sagarmatha National Park, and a ban on plastic shopping bags is being sought. Trash collection along the route to Everest has also increased dramatically.”

Free climbing above the ocean: Boulder, Colorado climber Renan Ozturk and his crew (James Pearson, Sam Elias, and Eneko Pou) “deep-water soloing” the sea cliffs near Olympos, Turkey.

Produced by Camp4 Collective

The Adirondack Forty-Sixers is a group of hikers dedicated to climbing to the summits of the Adirondack Mountains’ 46 major peaks; an even more elite group is the Adirondack Winter Forty-Sixers who climb those same peaks between Dec. 21 and March 21.

“Since 1962, only 449 people have accomplished the feat. Some climbers needed just a few years; others needed decades. Children as young as 10 have become Winter Forty-Sixers.” Liz Leyden of The New York Times reports.

“The hikes are not for the faint of heart: bitter cold, waist-deep snow and a minimum of eight hours along a trail. Of the 46 mountains, one-third have no trails, meaning that the first hiker after a big snow needs an ice ax and a strong spirit to break a trail to the summit. And aside from the mountain itself, hikers need to master the required gear: snowshoes, skis, an ice ax, crampons and ropes for hauling one another up the mountain.”

photo credit: t3rmin4t0r

Stephen Regenold of Gear Junkie explains how to identify and treat altitude sickness: HAPE (high-altitude pulmonary edema) and HACE (high-altitude cerebral edema).

“What to look for? A slight headache from altitude can be normal. But watch for a headache that won’t go away. Shortness of breath and coughing fits are warning signs. Trouble breathing? It’s time to ask for help. If possible, have your blood-oxygen level checked with a medical device commonly called a pulse-ox meter. Many climbing teams carry these devices to assess expedition members.”