Happy New Year! Tammy and Julie thought up a radical idea for New Years this year. We all went to the Callahan for a 13km ski into this awesome backcountry lodge for lunch. While we were there, we met one of the owners, Brad Sills, a super nice guy who’s living his dream. We took a tour, checking out all of the rooms that begin with fancy double rooms and end with sweet little cubbyholes. While eating our fantastic sandwiches, the snow started falling. By the time we got suited up and back outside the dump was extreme. The ski back was wet as we powered through huge, heavy snow flakes. We got back home in plenty of time for a quick power nap before hitting the Squamish party scene to bring in the New Year. 2010 should be a good one if its anything like its beginning.

James Q Martin photo

Kalymnos is pretty cool I guess. If you like the warm mediterranean ocean and climbing on huge jugs in overhanging terrain. The living is easy when you are not busy hanging off of stalactites. This simple town of Massouri could not be a more pleasant basecamp.

That said, there are some inconveniences. There are killer mosquitoes that barely make a noise and bite! It causes skin to well up into poison ivy like blisters that last up to a week. (Apparently they do not have the same effect on everyone.)

And the goats. Tim almost got rammed early in the trip. He slapped it on the ass as he was fed up with the raunchy smell and threat to human food. This, we learned, is not the proper tactic. The goat turned, bowed his head, and charged Tim’s gonads. Luckily, Tim’s cat-like reflexes allowed him to grab the projected horns and show the cud chewing beast who’s boss. But, it was a good lesson. From then on, we simply humored the goats with the odd banana peel and stayed away.

And then there’s the weather. Apparently this November has been the coldest in eight years. Poor Sean takes his first vacation in a year only to visit an island across the seas with only a little less rain than our home in Squamish.

Now this may sound like complaining. But as Dawn declared early on in our adventure, “anyone who complains here is a jerk.” So from then on nobody complained. We simply “stated facts.”

I would say that the crescendo of our trip came three days ago. When I on-sighted Ivi (7b), and thus inflated, hopped on the epic Priapus (7c). Sadly, this was an epic journey on a fabulous route, with only one problem- me. Somehow, Gravity chose this moment to flex its (very large) muscle, and I morphed from monkey into bird- flight can be just as fun as climbing sometimes. But my timing sucked. After Sean rescued me and put the rope up there, I got to top-rope it. Which felt easy! Not only because of his merciful belaying technique: it’s called “keep tension at all times because its getting dark and my girlfriend’s crazy.”

We awoke the next morning with all sorts of battle scars. As I’ve been saying, this island is brutal!
The climbing since then has been a bit rough. I tried a route I onsighted easily at the beginning of the trip and barely got up it. Somehow that Priapus gravity stuck. Or maybe it is all the cheese. The Greek eat a lot of cheese. A couple of our climber friends don’t eat cheese. This is not acceptable to the locals. You have to specify “please no cheese, and no feta” because they don’t consider feta to be cheese. This statement is about fifty percent effective.
But, I must say that it is hard to ignore the glaring fact that this place will make a sport climber out of anybody. Even Dawn, Sean, and I, three cold-weather, alpine loving fools, are beginning to rethink our specialty. Maybe it wouldn’t be so hard to just sport climb. Our destinations would shift from The Waddington, Patagonia, Pakistan, and Alaska to Sardinia, Mallorca, and at the extreme, Turkey. It might be a good prescription for health. The steep climbing feels like the best cross training ever. Instead of making the crimps smaller as you increase the grade, here the routes simply get steeper. My whole body gets pumped.

James Q Martin photo

I need to put a huge heartfelt thanks out there to all of you who donated this year! I had a goal that was easily reached and far surpassed because of all of you! The event was a huge success. Raised over $100,000- and was just a little bit more than fun. The dance party was outrageous. We boogied until the lights came on and they kicked us out. The climbing was awesome- perfect weather- lots of psych. I got to work with two amazing school groups- kids who make me proud of our youth- and give me hope for the future. And they can climb too! Sean’s tribute was deeply moving and stole more than a couple tears.

There is something really special about participating in something that is bigger than ourselves- where most of the participants are not there to make money- but to contribute and make the world a better place. Sean’s vision was to empower women to do something about their health- to realize that they can make a difference. In this event, I saw how Sean, just one person, could create such a powerful foundation and inspire so many people. And now we all go into the world knowing that we can make a difference.

This is why their trips turn out so special- because we want to be there. Jorge and I climbed the Grand Teton amidst a discussion about why we climb: is it for the summit, the exercise, or the journey? After mulling over previous ascents and our personality types we let the trip speak for itself. So clearly- it is about the journey- about overcoming doubt, and bravely going into the unknown- its about accepting your weaknesses and injuries- without letting them overcome your goals- its about enjoying every moment- or at least being present- because without that- you do not even allow the opportunity for happiness. We so easily get lost in the anxiety of “how much further?” or “will I be able to make it?” And in the end, Jorge became a mountaineer- addicted to the journey.

And then Elizabeth showed up. The discussion was about fear. About knowing the difference between real fear and fear reactions- how to remain calm when you know the fear will not help- and how to move beyond it by accepting it. And in the end- we climbed four big routes in four days. I have never had such a prolific trip. We arrived at high camp, climbed the Corkscrew (III 5.8+), then climbed Irene’s Arete (IV 5.9), then the Petzoldt Ridge (IV 5.7) on the Grand Teton (13,770′), then finished on the fourth day on the Red Sentinel (II 5.8), an incredibly exposed climb with a two hundred foot overhanging rappel. Somehow fear remained only a philosophical discussion and it did not come close to conquering our joy of the moment.

And maybe this is why I love Jackson Hole Mountain Guides- because they allow a forum for such grand adventures. Or maybe I just love returning back at the end of the day to so many familiar faces. It must have something to do with the mountains- with the shared passions- and the undeniable way climbing forces us all to know the moment.

I think you should join, too. http://www.younginvincibles.org/takeaction.html

The health care crisis in America is our crisis. We represent the largest group of uninsured in the country. And we are the ones most at risk of losing our coverage on account of layoffs, moving across state lines or just deciding to do that thing we always wanted to do.

I believe that mountain guides and outdoor workers in our society are some of those who most easily fall through the cracks. When I was first getting sick with a lung tumor- I knew that I needed a CAT scan- and did not go because I could not afford it without better insurance. I have also had Blue Shield of Idaho do everything in their power to drop me from their plan. We can stand up and make a difference in our country.

The debate in Washington is happening without us. It’s time we make ourselves heard.

Join me.

Shelli Johnson and her family came to join us on the Grand Teton this summer. Really, her blog does way more justice to the trip than mine could ever do. But let me just say this- its trips like these that make me realize that I really love my job. They were an awesome group of wonderful people.
Check it out at http://havemediawilltravel.com/day-2-of-grand-teton-expedition/

Cheers!

Every foot I climb, every dollar I raise at the 8th HERA Ovarian Cancer Climb for Life Salt Lake City, UT will go to find a cure for ovarian cancer. This event takes place September 17-20, 2009. I am doing it for my mom, my girlfriends and all the women I know. Won’t you donate to honor your the women and girls in your life?

Ovarian cancer is the 4th leading cause of cancer death among women and kills more women than all the other gyn cancer combined. Money raised from this event will go to fund cutting edge Ovarian Cancer Research Grants at major institutions like Johns Hopkins and M D Anderson Cancer Center.

Can you help me fight this deadly disease by making a donation to my efforts? No amount is too small. Together we can make a difference and not only potentially save our mothers - but all women.

The HERA Women’s Cancer Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit with tax ID # 71-0879772. All contributions are tax deductible to the full extent allowed by law.

Thank you for your support!

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Yes! We made it. All the way up and all the way down- no small task. This route is burly almost from the start. I say almost- because the canoe to the base of the mountain is pretty cush. Although- you must beware of rogue winds and the rogue waves that follow. Our weather forecast was not ideal- I was squirming looking for a way out of the rain- but Steve and Mark brought with them the benevolent weather gods. They shined their light down on us- and urged us towards the cumbre of Mt. Moran, the lone Teton.

I must say, my favorite part of the trip was how the weather did not hold back its magnificent glory- it simply had good timing. Which, I must say, is everything- in this business of mountain climbing. My favorite part was cooking pizza for us in the hail storm- watching swirling dark clouds and the patterns on the lakes below- just after summitting. Then, to our amazement- over tea, watching two full rainbows imitate themselves over Jackson lake in all their colorful glory.

It was a perfect welcome back to the Tetons. Jackson Hole Mountain Guides rules!

Mikey Schaefer Photo

Well, I have a lot of catching up to do.
I’ve been very busy climbing and guiding and moving and enjoying summertime- and alas- have failed to keep my blog updated. So, over the course of the next few days, I hope to fill in some of the blanks . . .

To start, I must mention The Call of the Granite (IV 5.12 A0), a fabulous climb up a forest service road near Powell River. topo I met up with Kate Rutherford, Mikey Schaefer and Chris Geisler and headed out for a great adventure on the Sunshine Coast. We found our way across multiple ferries, up a long logging road that is closed between 6am and 6pm- and then up to our destination at the base of the West Main Wall.

The Call of the Granite was put up by Aaron Black and Sean Easton- and consisted of four seasons of extended effort. The route ascends up the beautiful and clean granite face for 2,200 feet and requires only a little bushwacking and a tyrolean traverse across the river. The route has many classic steep pitches and a few incredible cracks connected by some slabby pitches requiring jedi knight footwork.

We decided to take a low stress approach and use our first day to scout the approach and climb as high on the wall as sensible to suss out the style of climbing we would be faced with. Afterall, five years had passed since the first ascent and there was no way of knowing weather or not all of the cracks would be filled with foliage and if the climbing would require excessive scrubbing before being climbable. Miraculously, we made our way up the approach without delay (less than 2 hours) and up the first twelve pitches before our time was up. Mikey did an incredible job of sending two of the difficult first pitches- and the cracks were impeccably clean! We got psyched.

The next day, we slept in, went swimming in the river, and strategized. We slept at the base the night before our next attempt hoping to climb the route in two days- allowing enough time to work out as many of the pitches as possible. We hoped to find a ledge to sleep on that appeared to be less than one rope length down and right from pitch 15. We began our journey- cruising through the first pitches where we had been before. This time, we began marvelling at how fun the climbing was- and enjoyed our time immensely. We could not help but shout insults at, Aaron, however for the excessively sandbagged “overlap” pitch and a few slab moves that required more mind control than we knew how to muster.

Miraculously, the ledge we were hoping for materialized into the perfect four person bivy with a lovely cedar providing a boundary between us and the air below.

The next day we mustered the last of our energy and worked our way up the steep headwall of the upper pitches. The climbing was varied and sometimes looser than the first half and sometimes much dirtier- but definitely consisted of some of the most classic pitches on the route. I would highly recommend this route to my friends- and hope to be back sometime when I have my jedi head on!