5Point Film On the Road with the AAC in Bellingham!

Loading the car up right now, to drive up to Bellingham for an evening of incredible outdoor films.  I'm MC'ing the 5 Point Film Fest in Bellingham tonight!!  Come cheer me on - or heckle, whatever your preference!  Come join us!

Smash & Grab #11

I'll be honest - it's a bit of a dice game out there right now.  Last night I canceled a personal two-day trip into Boston Basin (we were supposed to hike in today).  Here's what the weather looks like at the likely suspects this week:

Washington Pass:

Leavenworth:

Snoqualmie Pass:

The pattern is similar all over the Cascades.  Thunderstorms on the east side, moderate chances of rain on the west side.

So what can you do?  Keep expectations and commitment factor low - like Meredith is doing with me tomorrow (Tuesday).  We're heading up to Chair Peak in the morning, playing the weather "by ear".  If its as good in the morning as it was this morning, we'll go for the West Ridge of Chair Peak.  If it looks like we need to move faster, we'll try Chair's NE Buttress, and since we're local, if it completely craps out we'll try to reschedule some time in the next month.

Or keep it limited to cragging - I just spent Saturday (another 30%-chance-of-rain-day) climbing with Carlton at Exit 38.  While it threatened a few times, we got in 10 pitches without being hit by a drop!

And shoot, if we make plans and we do get rained out, we still got all of September to get 'er done!

That's the reality here - we love the deep green in the summer and the deep white in the winter, but sometimes we have to pay the piper and this week may be it.  It does look like this system is moving out at the end of the week, so I'm expecting the weekend to be much more favorable.  Still, if anyone want's my opinion I'd want to go climb day trip objectives like Guye Peak's Improbable Traverse, the East Face of the Tooth, and the West Ridge of Chair Peak.

Other stuff happening this week - the 5 Point Film Festival is coming to Bellingham on Thursday, 29 August!  From Carbondale, Colorado, the 5 Point Film Fest is a celebration of being outside - that awesome intersection of mountain and surf culture that shares so much in common.  A love for the human powered experience of the untouched world.

What makes it really special is that I'll be there - as the MC!!  That's right!  I'm so freaking psyched!  Come cheer me on - or heckle, whatever your fancy!  All sorts of things start around 5pm at the Bellingham Depot (where the weekly farmers' market is held, right across the street from the Boundary Bay Pub! Movies start up around dark-o'clock (8-ish).  One of the cooler things you could win - food and accomodations in Carbondale, CO in April for the 2014 5 Point Film Festival.  I've never been to Carbondale, but have always heard about what a great mountain town it is - now I've got an excuse to load up the Missus and the dogs and see for myself!

So, re-cap:  Stay flexible, keep the objectives low on the commitment grade but high on the adventure grade, and take an evening to visit Bellingham for good food, drinks, and the 5 Point Film Fest on Thursday night.

Hope to see you soon in the mountains!
Chris

P.S.  Check out the top-right corner!  Over there, in the side bar.  My Instagram account seems pretty cool.  At least to me, right now.  Want to keep up? Click on the button, bump over to my new account, and Follow!

Help! I've been Instagrammed!!

Can you use Instagram as a verb?

In an effort to more efficiently get my photos from my phone (which is what I take my photos with these days) to my Facebook Page (where most of you look at my photos), I opened an Instagram account.  Doing this took about 30 seconds of signing up and about 3 months of whinging, hemming and hawing about if I wanted to sign up.

I tried Twitter, but I never really got into twitting.  Twittering? Tweeting. Twhatever.  When was something worth twitting about?  But not f-b'ing?  Besides, I don't want to tell about the fun I'm having - I want to show.  And tell.  Just like first grade.

My hope is, I'll be able to have a live Instagram feed on the website, as well as have my Instagrammed photos loaded immediately onto my Facebook page.  Or soon thereafter, since I don't have a cell signal in most places I take photos.

Oh!  And if you like - I know I'm assuming a lot, but you have read this far - please follow me on Instagram:  chrissimmonsguiding.

Cheers
Chris

June's Smash & Grab

Below is an excerpt from my latest newsletter - Smash & Grab, which comes out monthly (more or less).  If you're interested in joining the cool kids' club, follow this LINK.  Come on, everyone else is doing it! I do know that there are some glaring contradictions between the newsletter and the website, but nothing that keeps us getting outside, so let's ignore those inconsistencies and get going, hmmm?

| sma-sh; and; grab | phrase. 1. A distinct form of burglary. It involves smashing a barrier, grabbing valuables, and making a quick getaway.

Issue 8 - We're back!!
On the first week of May, my plane landed in Sea-Tac on a late, late, drizzly night. I had an incredible trip to Europe - my first time on that side of the Pond. I skied the Haute Route and Mont Blanc, and road tripped to central Italy and back to Switzerland. I hope to go back next spring - want to join me? Since then, I've skied Mt Daniel (near Cle Elum off of I-90) and Mt Shuksan. My Shuksan descent of the White Salmon was likely the last one of the year - it featured steep bushwacking for 1000' from Chair 8 to the valley floor - oy! I've also started rock climbing again and during the rainy days trail running.

 One access note - Glacier Creek Road, which is used to access the northwest side of Mt Baker, is washed out at mile post 3. This adds a 7-mile hike or mountain bike ride up the road. If you want to climb the north ridge in solitude, this is the year to do it but be prepared to earn it!

What's happening next.
So much is starting to happen this month. Smash and Grab is going to turn into a monthly occurrence - I hope to send one out by the 10th of each month (I realize that this conflicts with the notice at the top of website - expect the S&G to come out again on the 20th to a much, much bigger audience! -Chris) It will also be posted on my website. The website is also going through a serious redesign. I'm working with the folks at Squarespace to launch something a little glossier, little less blog-y. I'll still be posting stuff up, but it will be more thoughtful, informational, and less trip reports but still lots of photos.

 I'm working on the logistics for trips to China, Chile, and Antarctica. I hope to have material on the website next month.

What's good?
Its June - the snow is still up high, but the rock has dried out down low. So this month is the best time for some of the big tours and high mountain descents for ski mountaineering, and taking advantage of the sunny days to warm up your rock climbing skills. Here's what I recommend.

For Ski Mountaineering

• Mt Adams, Southwest Chutes - 2 days or "The Express", an extremely long day. 
• Mt Baker, Easton Glacier - 2 days or "The Express", an extremely long day. 
• Mt Baker Circumnavigation - 5 days. Features an ascent of the mountain from the east side via the Boulder-Park Glacier, and a ski descent of the Park Glacier from the summit. Not for the weak of heart! 
• Ptarmigan Traverse - 5-7 days. A tour through the heart of the Cascades, from Cascade Pass to the Suiattle River. Several side day tours possible if we bring a little bit of extra food and fuel. 

For Rock Climbing

• North Bend / Exits 32 & 38 - 1 day. The best thing about the Exits are their convenience to Seattle, and ease of access. Its a great way to spend a day or an afternoon warming up for the season. 
• Index - 1 day. A little bit of a farther drive, but trad climbing and a great intro to multi-pitch climbing. 
• Leavenworth / Icicle Creek - 2 days. The climbing at Icicle Creek is some of the best in the Pacific Northwest. Everything from single pitch to multi-pitch outings are possible. Really, to make the most of the time you should book two days, and either stay in Leavenworth or camp out on the Icicle. 
• What to work on? What do you want to learn? We can have instructional days based on anchor building and top-rope site management, full "what-if" rock rescue clinics, and pushing into lead climbing. 

For Alpine Climbing

• Snoqualmie Pass - 1 day. The Tooth and Chair Peak are dry, and snow coverage allows for quick approaches. 
• Colchuck Peak - 1-2 days. 
• Washington Pass - Early Winter Spires, Le Petite Cheval, Cutthroat Peak. These are awesome day climbs, right now with a thick blanket of snow that makes the approaches really easy. Stay down in Mazama or Winthrop in the evenings!
• Boston Basin and Eldorado Peak - there is still a lot of snow, adding two miles to the approach into Boston Basin. Doesn't mean it can't be done - but you're going to earn every bit of it!

Interested?  Questions?  Email me at chris@chrissimmonsguiding.com.  Hope to see you again in the mountains!

What's Going On?

I've been working hard this winter to simplify my life.  Clean up the closet.  Make it easier to get out.

I've also fallen into the deep, dark hole that can come from not getting out enough for myself.  Bodies in motion tend to stay in motion.  Bodies at rest tent to stay at rest.  I've been resting too much, and getting moving again, I'm finding, is hard.

Because I don't want to be this guy.

Its easy to keep doing what I've been doing by finding things that need to be done, but that don't further my movement.  The house needs cleaning.  The gear room needs to be organized.  The dogs need to be exercised more than me.  Email needs to be written.  The website needs to be maintained.  The blog needs updating.  Facebook needs a status.  Twitter needs twitting.

Sorry.  No more.

I'm not leaving, but I'm not going to be around like I have been.  After this morning, I'm banning myself from internet from 7:30am to 5pm.  I'm only going to be updating my blog once every week or two, when I actually can pick out the highlight of the week and talk about something exciting instead of just talking.  Call it a New Year's Resolution if you want, but truth is that I'm not completely satisfied with how I've been prioritizing my time, and some changes need to take place.

Speaking of the blog, get ready for some big changes.  I'm leaving the blog format behind, and switching to a more website-looking-site, utilizing Four Square.  You'll see the Adventure's I Follow on the sidebar has been removed.  Honestly, I think I was the single biggest user of that feature, using it as a morning reading list.  My address will stay the same, but this site was originally just a journal and trip report log.  Then it became a quasi-business engine, furthering my guide work through self-promotion.  And finally, this almost-business-website.  I think I've grown past the need for an online journal, trip report log, or blog-trying-to-dress-up-as-a-professional-guide.

I'm supposed to be a guide.  I'm supposed to be outside.  I'm supposed to be in motion.  And I've found myself, more and more, at rest.  And I have to admit - I don't like the way I've become at rest.

That's all I've got to say about that.  I just fed the dogs, I need to clean up, load the car, and get a haircut on my way to the Pass.  I'm going skiing.

Teaching the Teachers

Just a week after teaching an AIARE 1 Course, I attended an AIARE Instructor Refresher Course - a mandatory component for AIARE-certified instructors every other year.  Saturday covered curriculum updates and presentation workshops for AIARE 1 courses from Margaret Wheeler, Larry Goldie, and Scott Schell; Margaret and Larry also lead the AIARE 2 portion on Sunday.

After 5 years of teaching only one or two courses a year (if at all) - I'm making a concerted effort to really own the material and increase my expertise at teaching the recreational and professional AIARE curriculums.  This was a great big step towards that goal.

More about the AIARE curriculum here; Pro Guiding Services avalanche education offerings here; and a few more private offers from myself here.

Giving Thanks

After 6 weeks of running into and out of ski shops for Backcountry Access, this week marks the slow-down of my work as a Tech Rep and the ramping up of my work as a ski guide.  The ski resorts are opening up all along the Cascades - only White Pass, Snoqualmie, and Alpental remain closed.  Regarding the latter two, Snoqualmie is reporting that its waiting for one more big storm before opening.  And Alpental, being a lot bonier than its neighbor, needs about three feet of snow at the base before opening, and right now its at 26" according to the 3100' telemetry station.  So I'm sure that both will be open soon.

Personally, my fitness fell off the wagon and rolled way down hill in the last six weeks.  My pants are tight and my legs sore from the two 5k runs I've done in the past few days.  So I've got some serious catching up to do.

I'm going to spend this weekend sorting out the ski drawers in the guest bedroom, getting a couple of ready packs pulled together, clearing off the bench from summer's trash and clutter, and tuning up my boards.  Oh, and doing a little bit of work on my boots to make them tour better, with inspiration from the late Steve Romeo over at Teton AT.  It looks like my first day on the snow will be Tuesday.

I've got a lot to be thankful for this year.  A year of marriage to the greatest woman I've ever known.  Two awesome dogs.  Pro Guiding Service and Backcountry Access for helping me chase my passions.  My family and friends.  All of you.

As much as I'm thankful for the past year, I'm possibly even more thankful for the year ahead.  To a fantastic ski season that stretches into July again.  Setting a new PR in climbing.  Running some truly classic multi-day routes in the Cascades.  Another wonderful year with PG.  More climbing.  More skiing.  More adventures.  More friendship.  More love.  And I'm thankful that I get to look forward to it.  With all of you.

Chris

BCA: Avalanche Beacons versus Electronic Interference from ISSW 2012

The International Snow Science Workshop, held every other year, can have some incredibly academic presentations of snow morphology and layer stratigraphy (which exhausts my big words for this post, and required spell check).  There are also some great presentations that have very immediate real world applications, like this paper.  BCA's Bruce Edgerly did an awesome job summarizing the work, so I'm shamelessly quoting the original post here, with some added emphasis from me:

"Here’s a summary of the presentation by John Barkhausen on how electrical interference can affect avalanche beacons.

"You might have seen some of the posts on TGR (Teton Gravity Research) and other forums recently (including Cascade Climbers - ed.) in which a chap with a British accent (Stuart Pitches, fun co-owner of English retailer Facewest ), encounters problems when avalanche beacon searching with a GoPro camera attached to his chest. The video reinforces the point that electrical devices can definitely affect avalanche transceiver performance. 

"But how much?

"Barkhausen, a student at Alaska Pacific University, attempted to answer this question at the ISSW (International Snow Science Workshop) by placing various electronic devices near a transmitting avalanche beacon and near a searching avalanche beacon. Then he determined how it affected both the receive range and the search pattern of the receiving unit. He tried this with a cell phone, iPod, digital camera, RFID tag (Alyeska lift ticket), Spot emergency locator, a GPS unit, and a small radio. For searching beacons, he used a Tracker DTS, Barryvox Pulse, and Pieps DSP.

"His first finding was that these electronic devices have no affect on a transmitting beacon, which is consistent with our experience. His second finding was that these electronic devices can definitely throw off the transceiver search if they’re held within 40 cm (about 17 in.) of the receiving unit. This is also consistent with our experience, which is why we recommend in our owner’s manuals to keep all electronic devices at least 30 cm (about 12 in.) away from the searching unit–or turn those electronic devices off entirely. In other words, keep your searching avalanche transceiver at arm’s length if you have a GoPro on your chest and you can’t figure out how to turn it off.

"What are the symptoms when your avalanche beacon receives electrical interference? It will either lose receive range or it will show you “false triggers” on the distance display. This is usually in the form of erratic distance readings and directions; the distance readings are usually quite high, but not always. Can you avoid this if you use an analog beacon (like an Ortovox F1 Focus) ? Not really. You’re going to get so much static that you won’t even be able to pick out the “beep” in the background.

Barkhausen tried to capture this by tracking his search path on a GPS  with each receiving unit (the person holding the GPS was well behind the searcher, for the reasons above). Unfortunately, this part of the study was not conclusive.

"In a previous blog, we gave a good example of how electrical noise from a snowmobile engine can affect searching with an avalanche transceiver. Moral of that story: get off your sled if you plan to do a beacon search.

"OK, so which beacons are less susceptible to false triggers and range loss than others? It’s clear in the snowmobile blog above. At ISSW, Barkhausen didn’t go there, but of course I had to follow up with him. He provided the following graph:

"The x-axis represents the various beacons at distances of 0, 10, 20, 30, and 40 cm from the electrical device. The y-axis is the “Theta” value, which is the difference between that beacon’s normal effective receive range and the effective range it got with the electrical device 0, 10, 20, 30, and 40 cm away. If the colored lines are low on the y-axis, that means that transceiver is less susceptible to noise than the beacons on either side of it on the x-axis. So the Tracker DTS is the least susceptible to noise and the Pieps DSP is the most susceptible.

"You’ll also notice that the iPod (orange line) and the GPS (red line) are the biggest culprits in creating interference, which is consistent with our experience.

"So we give John an A- on his paper. His findings make good sense, although they could have been presented more clearly. He definitely reinforces what we’ve been saying for years: keep your searching beacon at arm’s length!

"We’re looking forward to the next installment of John’s research at the ISSW 2014 conference in Banff."

Special thanks to Backcountry Access and Bruce Edgerly for permission to repost this.  For the original, follow this LINK.

Snowbash Works!!

Last night was Snowbash - the annual bachanal Seattle party that raises a bit of coin for the Northwest Avalanche Center while also firing up the local community for the upcoming season (which really started in the past week, but you get the idea).

Obviously, no one was having a good time.

And it worked!  The weather forecast for this morning was:

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SEATTLE WA
352 AM PST FRI NOV 16 2012

WAZ001-503>519-170030-
SAN JUAN COUNTY-WESTERN WHATCOM COUNTY-SOUTHWEST INTERIOR-
EAST PUGET SOUND LOWLANDS-WESTERN SKAGIT COUNTY-
EVERETT AND VICINITY-SEATTLE/BREMERTON AREA-TACOMA AREA-
ADMIRALTY INLET AREA-HOOD CANAL AREA-LOWER CHEHALIS VALLEY AREA-
OLYMPICS-EASTERN STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA-
WESTERN STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA-NORTH COAST-CENTRAL COAST-
WEST SLOPES NORTHERN CASCADES AND PASSES-
WEST SLOPES CENTRAL CASCADES AND PASSES-
352 AM PST FRI NOV 16 2012

...AN ACTIVE WEATHER PATTERN WILL DEVELOP ON SATURDAY AND WILL
LIKELY CONTINUE THROUGH THANKSGIVING DAY...

A SERIES OF STRONG WEATHER SYSTEMS WILL MOVE THROUGH WESTERN
WASHINGTON...BEGINNING ON SATURDAY. EACH SYSTEM WILL BRING
RAIN...HEAVY AT TIMES...WIND TO MAINLY THE COAST AND NORTH
INTERIOR...AND SNOW TO THE MOUNTAINS.

RAIN...
A STRONG FRONTAL SYSTEM WILL BRING RAIN TO THE AREA ON SATURDAY.
ADDITIONAL STRONG FRONTS WILL ARRIVE LATE SUNDAY AFTERNOON AND ON
MONDAY. THESE FRONTS WILL BRING PERIODS OF LOCALLY HEAVY RAIN TO
THE AREA...ESPECIALLY TO THE COAST AND THE OLYMPIC PENINSULA.
WHILE RAIN WILL BE LIGHTER BETWEEN FRONTAL SYSTEMS...THE PATTERN
WILL BE QUITE WET THROUGH THANKSGIVING DAY. AT THIS POINT IT
APPEARS THAT SOME FLOODING WILL BE POSSIBLE ON THE MORE FLOOD
PRONE RIVERS DURING THE UPCOMING WEEK.

WIND...
BREEZY OR WINDY CONDITIONS ARE LIKELY WITH EACH OF THE MAJOR
FRONTAL SYSTEMS...SATURDAY...LATE SUNDAY...AND MONDAY. AT THIS
TIME HIGH WIND IS NOT FORECAST...BUT PARTS OF THE COAST AND THE
NORTH INTERIOR WILL LIKELY GET WIND THAT IS JUST BELOW HIGH WIND
CRITERIA...SUSTAINED WINDS OF 20 TO 35 MPH WITH GUSTS 45 TO 55
MPH.

SNOW...
THE SNOW LEVEL WILL FLUCTUATE BETWEEN 3000 AND 5000 FEET OVER THE
NEXT WEEK WHILE COPIOUS PRECIPITATION FALLS. AT THIS POINT IT
SEEMS LIKE A SURE BET THAT THE REMAINING OPEN HIGH PASS...
WASHINGTON PASS ON THE NORTH CASCADES HIGHWAY...WILL RECEIVE HEAVY
SNOW. PLACES LIKE PARADISE ON MOUNT RAINIER AND MT BAKER WILL ALSO
GET HEAVY SNOW. THE LOWER PASSES...SNOQUALMIE...STEVENS...AND
WHITE...WILL PROBABLY GET A MIXTURE OF PRECIPITATION TYPES
INCLUDING SNOW...RAIN...AND FREEZING RAIN. HEAVY SNOW IN ONE OR
MORE OF THESE PASSES AT TIMES IS POSSIBLE. TRAVEL IS LIKELY TO BE
ADVERSELY AFFECTED.

WEATHER MODELS ARE CONTINUING TO HAVE DIFFICULTY WITH TIMING AND
OTHER DETAILS. BUT WITH AN IMPRESSIVE SERIES OF STORMS HEADED OUR
WAY...THERE SEEMS LITTLE DOUBT THAT WESTERN WASHINGTON WILL GET
THE SORT OF WET AND WINDY WEATHER THAT IS COMMON TO LATE NOVEMBER.


$$

WEATHER.GOV/SEATTLE

WFRing

I finally finished off a killer 9-day work week pedaling back and forth to Bremerton to recertify my Wilderness First Responder with the Wilderness Medicine Institute of NOLS.  WMI is the largest provider of wilderness medicine education west of the Mississippi, and this was my 9th recertification (my 8th with WMI).

WFR is the standard first aid requirement in the US outdoor industry, and has to be recert'ed every two years.  18 years ago I started my career as a US Navy Hospital Corpsman, and left with an EMT-Intermediate qualification and paramedic training.  Over the years, I had to let those qualifications go - its really challenging to keep an EMT or higher certification if you're not working in a medical position.

I also learned that WFR is a verb.

Thanks to Mike Schiller and WMI for another awesome course.  I can recommend WMI without any hesitation - I'd work for them if I could find the time!

Portlandia - the week that was

After driving to the Mazamas at Mt Hood, and driving to NSAS in Seattle, I had to turn right back around and drive to Portland for a week visiting BCA retailers.  I had to cut this trip short, though - so I missed out on climbing at the local gym like I had hoped.  Thanks to everyone, especially The Mountain Shop and Oregon Mountain Community for their warm welcome.  Next Adventure and Hillcrest Ski and Snowboard should also get a shout out for stopping their work day to listen to an un-planned drop-in-turned clinic.  I'm looking forward to coming down again later this winter and going skiing with you guys!

NSAS 2012

I woke up early in the morning in the Mazamas Lodge in Goverment Camp, OR - not hard to do since day light savings had ended that night - said my good byes to the other early risers, and piled into the car for the four-hour return drive to Seattle.

The Northwest Snow and Avalanche Symposium kicked off its fourth year, this time expanding into University of Washington's Kane Hall.  We must have had doubled the amount of seats, and it still filled!  For me, the two highlights were getting to hear from North Cascades Heli Ski about their operations and from WADOT about avalanche control at Snoqualmie Pass.

The Mazamas

Last Saturday I was invited to spend an afternoon and evening with the Mazamas, one of the oldest climbing clubs on the west coast, at their lodge near Mt Hood.  It was a cool experience to sit with 60 recreational instructors, talking about climbing techniques and group management skills.  I certainly hope to come back.

Data or Art?

It's not surprising that I have over a dozen bookmarks on my browser for weather forecasting tools, and another dozen for avalanche forecasts.  After all - knowing what to expect for today, this weekend, or next week can be pivotal.  But recently I bookmarked a page that is for a weather forecast that I don't really use, but have become entranced to stare at:  an project by Hint.fm.

The site includes a collection of moments, including "Super-Storm" Sandy's landfall on top of New Jersey.
Photo | hint.fm

Hint.fm is a collaborative project by two "technologists," Fernanda Viegas and Martin Wattenberg, who have a number of examples of visual representations of tabular data on their site.  This is just the most compelling example for me.  The online page is much more entrancing, since Hint.fm is using currently wind telemetry from the US National Weather Service to create an active, moving image of wind speed and directions.  Take a look for yourself.  LINK

Fixed Anchors Coming Out of the Closet in Red Rocks

Red Rock Natural Conservancy Area - aka Red Rocks - is finally - FINALLY - considering what policy to replace its current prohibition against bolts with.  This prohibition has led to new routes being established by such methods as moon-light-first ascents; mid-winter first ascents; and reportedly even employed the use of spotters and radios to warn a team of an approaching BLM warden.  Since getting the job done quickly without being caught is the name of the game, power drills are used extensively, despite the areas wilderness designation, which makes me really cringe the hardest.  Local guidebook authors are forced to either a) pretend the route doesn't exist, b) lie and say the route was established the week before the bolting ban took effect, or c) state "Unknown" for the first ascent information, despite the local climbing community definitely knowing.

So now we have an opportunity to change all of that.  The BLM is finally reviewing this policy, and you have until 18 November to make your voice heard.  I really encourage you to send your thoughts to rrc_fixedanchors@blm.gov.  Here's what I submitted, with some help from the Access Fund to get my stuff straight:

Regarding the use of fixed anchors in the Red Rocks Wilderness:
Technical rock climbing has a long history in the Red Rock Canyon National Conservancy Area, aka Red Rocks.  While ideally no sign of a climber's passage is preferred, climbing and descending safely requires some use of fixed anchors and what the appropriate level of use should be determined by local land managers and the user community.  Climbers themselves - with some direction through formal policy, local history, and local ethics - are the best resource to determine when, where, and how to use fixed anchors.  Fixed anchors are permitted under the Wilderness Act and if properly applied and managed can actually protect and enhance wilderness resources and characteristics.  Fixed anchors can be used as a tool to minimize climbing impacts on fragile soil, vegetation, and wildlife.  They can also minimize the visual impact to other users, by eliminating the cord and sling material necessarily abandoned in situ for "removable" anchors, only to be added to annually as the original material ages into untrustworthy disuse.  Power drills violate the Wilderness Act and "sport routes" - climbing routes employing a bolt approximately every 2 meters for protection - are unsightly:  simply requiring that all fixed anchors be placed utilizing a labor-intensive hand drill will naturally limit the use of fixed anchors.
Red Rocks famously offers a full spectrum of climbing experiences, from bouldering and short (30m) routes near the road to incredibly long mult-pitch wilderness adventures and epics.  This reputation has made Red Rocks and international climbing destination, attracting climbers from around the world.  The current prohibition against fixed-anchors, which includes replacing aging fixed anchors with new hardware that will last for 20+ years, detracts from that experience and increases the objective hazards for visiting climbers.  Zion and Rocky Mountain National Parks are great examples of appropriately managed fixed anchors, and could be used as a model for the Red Rocks wilderness areas.  Zion and RMNP's policies are simple to follow, require a low level of administrative oversight, and are consistent with the policies agreed upon by the Fixed Anchor in Wilderness Negotiated Rulemaking Advisory Committee.
As I said above, the current prohibition is creating a negative impact.  Red Rocks needs a wilderness fixed anchor policy that does the following: 

1. Requires hand drilling for fixed anchor placements; 

2. Allows for the replacement of previous fixed anchors on a 1:1 standard without prior approval;

3. Allows placement of new fixed anchors without prior approval on sections within a route that is otherwise un-protectable with removable protection or anchors; for safety in descending; and emergencies; and

4. Allows for a permit or approval system to be developed if the BLM determines through research and monitoring that it is necessary to protect wilderness values.

Thank you for your time and consideration in this matter.
Sincerely,
Chris Simmons

Smash & Grab

A friend introduced me to the concept of Smash & Grab - pick an objective that's notoriously hard to plan for, wait for the weather window to appear, then dash in, climb or ski the line, and get out.

We deal with weather a lot here in the Pacific Northwest.  If you get tired of dealing with it, you either move or pick up sailing instead.  And I thought this style could be modified to local standards too.

So I started a semi-regular feature called Smash & Grab - a Monday newsletter that would look at the forecast for the Cascades from the Canadian border to Mt Rainier, to pick the destination with the best forecast, and the best line at that destination.  Its limited to day trips - overnight objectives take more planning and time off than what Smash & Grab is meant to convey.

I also limited the email list to PNW locals, from Bellingham to Portland.  If I missed you, please forgive me, click on the link below, and subscribe to the Smash & Grab.  If you live outside of the PNW and want to be added to the list anyways, feel free!

LINK - Smash & Grab for Monday, 23 July

What's in a Name?

I'm stepping up and getting a domain name in the next week, and I need some help.  What do I call it?  Do I keep the Climb | Ski | Sleep | Repeat theme, or do I use my name and profession (Chris Simmons Guiding), or some combination of the two?  If you have another idea altogether, leave it as a comment below!

Motivation

Its hard to stay motivated.  Especially when you're hurt.  I shattered my lower left leg in 2002, and picked up my first climbing gym membership at Vertical World when I got out of the hospital.  Not because I could climb - I could barely stand up - but because watching everyone else climb while I was lifting weights reminded me of what I could be doing instead, and would be doing as soon as I could get this cast off.  But you don't need a gym - a pull-up bar may be enough.  Or a stairwell.

Smash and Grab

On Sunday, 13 May, I left home for Mt Logan to guide a trip up the King's Trench.  So there won't be a lot of new content while I'm gone.  But I saw this just a few days before I left.

Its funny how age changes our attitudes about climbing.  When I was in my 20's I was so poor that a trip like this couldn't have happened.  When I turned 30 I thought something like this was "cheating".  Now I'm turning 40 in September and I'm taking notes of what my friend Dave and his two partners accomplished.  My "life window", as he calls it, is getting shorter and my wish-list of places to go and ski and climb and run has only grown.  It's going to take efforts like his to get some things done.

Icicle TV

I think one of the more powerful tools of the internet is local advertising.  Social media and video sites like You Tube and Vimeo allows local businesses to easily post content, and potential visitors will hopefully come across their material while planning a trip.

Case in point - Icicle TV.  Billed as an online news source of "Local people doing cool things," what it also does very effectively describe and show Leavenworth, Washington, as the the epicenter of an outdoor adventure sports vortex.  And they have a good reason to do so - you can kayak, raft, creek boat, boulder, rock climb, alpine climb, ice climb, ski, snowboard, crosscountry, walk, hike, backpack, run, trail run, bike, road bike, mountain bike, even paraglide...

Here's a great example - two local climbers doing some cool climbing.