Outdoor Research Verticulture » Jason Nelson http://www.outdoorresearchverticulture.com Get Stoked! Outdoor Research Verticulture Sat, 04 Feb 2012 05:31:57 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 7 Things to be Afraid of While Ice Climbing…. http://www.outdoorresearchverticulture.com/2011/05/7-things-to-be-afraid-of-while-ice-climbing/ http://www.outdoorresearchverticulture.com/2011/05/7-things-to-be-afraid-of-while-ice-climbing/#comments Wed, 04 May 2011 18:16:32 +0000 Teresa Bruffey http://www.outdoorresearchverticulture.com/?p=6425 These are the lessons learned from the first ascent of Milago de Plata (WI6, 300M), a big ice climb in the wilds of Alaska.

Jason at Bart Lake, Alaska

#1 Big Hanging Daggers
I looked down at my harness to count how many ice screws I had left. There was only three remaining. Above me a wall of vertical ice continued endlessly with the only change in relief being a shallow indentation about 40 ft. above me. It wasn’t even close to being a ledge, but it was where I needed to belay.  I took a deep breath and kept climbing. Each swing was arduous despite the ice being soft. A long day of hard climbing can do that to you. I was absolutely soaked from the first half of the pitch, most of which was directly beneath a giant hanging dagger of ice that sprayed water from its tendrils. I tried to convince myself that it was highly unlikely to fracture, however it was plainly obvious that it had broken off recently and then reformed. If that dagger chose to succumb to gravity while Ryan and I were climbing under it, it could wipe us off the wall like a pubescent teenager might flick his buggers into the warm air of a sunny afternoon.
What To Do: Hope for the Best

 

#2 Running Out of Protection
Behind me the sun was low on the horizon.  The sky was taking on a pleasant orange hue and alpenglow lit up the ice. We were high enough now that the mouth of the Taku River could be seen emptying out into the larger channel of South East Alaska’s Inside Passage. One lonely boat was adrift out there in the distance. It was a dramatic and beautiful sight and as much as I wanted to gaze over and enjoy it, I was wrapped up with my own demons. High above my last ice screw, trying to muster up both calmness and courage to reach the slight indentation where I would set the belay, I was struggling to keep it together. Too far from help to make a mistake, your mind does the math for you, like the voice of a nagging brother reminding you of the trouble you’ve gotten yourself in to.. You’re tired, you’re way run out, darkness is fast approaching and you’re high on some giant wall of ice in the middle of nowhere. Gulp! Swallow hard. Now breathe. You’re there now. Once that ice screw is in, you’re safe. Focus. Hold on just a little longer. Clip. Done.
“Off Belay Ryan!” I shout into the void.
What To Do: Silence the demons and stay calm!!!!

 

#3 It Gets Cold at Night
I’m trying hard to be psyched about completing the pitch and I am. It was a fantastic lead on my part and one I will remember for a long time. This beautiful orange light that surrounds me is rapidly disappearing. I can see it changing to a cold dark blue below. I’m soaked through, hanging from two ice screws somewhere near the top of a one thousand foot wall of vertical ice. Somewhere, not quite near enough to the top. This wall seemed to have gotten bigger as we started climbing on it, and now I fear the oncoming dark might freeze me solid. I know that once that sun drops as will the temperature.
What To Do: Deciding you should start early in retrospect is too late to do any good.




 

#4 Unhappy Climbing Partners
Ryan climbed into sight below, soaking wet. I lied and told him we had about sixty feet of climbing left to the top.  That seemed to lift his spirits for the moment.
What To Do: Say what you need to say

 

#5 Falling ice from the Leader
Ryan set off climbing the next pitch and I assumed the protective pose, hunched over just slightly while trying to hide under my helmet.  At the same time I tried to imagine pulling all of the remaining heat in my body in towards my core.  Every belay on this climb was hanging and none were sheltered from falling ice or debris.

So much for the old ice climbing adage of the belayer must stand clear of falling ice.
Ryan climbed the sixty feet I had prescribed and then yelled down that we still had a long way to go.  I wasn’t sure what that meant.  Actually I did.  I just wasn’t sure how long it meant that I would be hanging in the cold while ice bounced down the wall.   I prayed only the small pieces would hit me.  Had I been more of a believer in religion, I might have prayed for something more extravagant, like a warming hut at the summit stocked with firewood, liquor and virgins.   Instead I kept it simple.
What To Do: take up a religion, or better yet, stand out of the way if you can

 

#6 Dodgy rap anchors
The summit celebration was short lived.  There wasn’t much to be seen beyond the light of the headlamp and a short orange gradient on the western horizon. The alder we were tied to bent under our weight.  This last detail disconcerned me, actually all of the details were kind of disconcerning.  Fear is kind fun until you become afraid. I had asked Ryan to rappel first as I needed to have a moment to get my head together, but being left alone in the night watching the alder bounce up and down under his weight wasn’t helping.
Rappelling into the blackness was unnerving, but otherwise uneventful.  On such a steep wall, the ropes pulled smoothly and had little opportunity to tangle.
What To Do: Send your partner down first

 

#7 Not having a name for your first ascent
We were soon in camp sipping on Leyenda de Milagro Tequila and debating what to name the climb.  Ryan had mentioned that inspiration for route names could often be found on a bottle of liquor.  The apple does not fall far from the tree, I thought, this coming from someone who lives in Juneau. Regardless, the name was right there before us, Milagro de Plata.  The silver version of the tequila or translated to “the silver miracle”.  It was a bit grand of a title, but then so was the climb.
What To Do: Liquor makes everything sound better

 

Read more of Jason’s writing here on VertiCulture or on his blog, Visual Adventures.

]]> http://www.outdoorresearchverticulture.com/2011/05/7-things-to-be-afraid-of-while-ice-climbing/feed/ 0 Zero to Hero http://www.outdoorresearchverticulture.com/2011/03/zero-to-hero/ http://www.outdoorresearchverticulture.com/2011/03/zero-to-hero/#comments Mon, 21 Mar 2011 20:14:26 +0000 Jason Nelson http://www.outdoorresearchverticulture.com/?p=6191 Zero to Hero -a new mixed climb- came together in a series of pieces. The first began about three years ago… Living in Ouray, with a population of 900, meant that climbing partners could be limited at times. I often filled that gap by establishing new routes. Bolting is something like climbing, but dirtier and different. I liken it to a sculptor removing the debris and unearthing a statue. With rock as loose as it is in Ouray, that means a lot of removing debris.

Zero to... HERO!

Inspired by stories of what was happening over in Europe and having climbed-out Ouray’s current “hard man’s mixed climbing” area, the Poser’s Lounge, I set my sights on finding something different. Why did I need to be limited to finding steep rock with ice on it for a mixed climb? While we all like to have ice on our mixed routes for aesthetic purposes, it really limits the options.

And so, I came across the Hall of Justice cave, but it was big and riddled with loose rock. The wall was four hundred feet tall so rap bolting wasn’t an option. The first route took me about three and a half days to bolt over the course of a couple weeks.  Solo-aiding and bolting up such a steep piece of rock was a slow going and brutal affair. The wall is so steep that my feet couldn’t touch the wall and I had to stem in the air with my aiders. Meanwhile, I’d lock off with one arm on the quickdraw I was hanging from, lean back and press the 10-15 lbs of battery powered hammer drill into the ceiling. The drill bit would start to rotate and shake as I tried to keep my shoulder engaged. Dirt poured out of the hole and onto my face, clothes and into my eyes. Each bolting session would send me home covered in dirt, my hips rashed and bruised, and my core muscles completely spent.

Once the route was bolted, I spent about 7 more days over the next several weeks cleaning the loose rock from the wall. The cleaning was accomplished by swinging a big hammer into the rock, much like what you see the chain gangs doing in the movies, except this is done while hanging in a harness.

I sent the route that same year and named it “Holy Girlpile Batman” (M12). It was quite a breakthrough for me as it was the most difficult route I could imagine yet I found myself clipping the chains after only about six tries. I bolted a shorter route in the back of the cave as well as a warm up. After those two, I was spent. The effort was expensive and exhausting. Plus I couldn’t find anyone to climb with me in the cave so I left it alone for a period.

A lot of inspiration comes from those you surround yourself with one way or another. I’ve known Marc Beverly for a number of years now, but we’ve only just started hanging out this year. Seems we have a lot in common; a taste for new routes and we are both “extra-large-size” climbers weighing in at over 200 lbs and both about 6’ 4”.

This winter, Marc came out to visit me and to climb “Holy Girlpile Batman!”. One thing led to another and out came the drill. Over the next couple days, the warm up in the back of the cave was extended out past the lip. It wasn’t completely without adventure. We established it during a multi-day blizzard and post-holing a hour or so each day up to the cave required a fair bit of motivation. One evening of bolting went into the dark and I took a fall when a bolt pulled out of the roof in some loose rock. Drill, aiders, a hammer were floating with me through the air until coming to a rest on the rope.

The route was brutally steep and there wasn’t a single rest on the 80-feet or so of climbing. I had to learn how to climb such a route. Using your feet when they don’t really touch the wall becomes a challenge. It didn’t take long though and my second day of trying to climb the route found me clipping the anchors.

Sending the route was a success, but as much so, I’ve set the spark for others and it looks as though I’ll have some help in establishing some future lines in this cave. I’m excited to see what the future will hold.

Marc and I decided to call the route “Zero to Hero” in a mocking fashion as the route’s difficulty goes from 0 to 60 almost instantly and once you’re at the top, you’re a hero, or at least feel like one for a moment. That is until you lower off and find yourself too pumped to untie the rope from your harness.

]]> http://www.outdoorresearchverticulture.com/2011/03/zero-to-hero/feed/ 0 Ouray Ice Festival 2011 http://www.outdoorresearchverticulture.com/2010/09/ouray-ice-festival-2011/ http://www.outdoorresearchverticulture.com/2010/09/ouray-ice-festival-2011/#comments Wed, 29 Sep 2010 19:27:29 +0000 Christian Folk http://www.outdoorresearchverticulture.com/?p=4816
Jan ’11
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The 2011 Ouray Ice Festival  is being held Thursday January 6th through Sunday January 9th. Come join Outdoor Research Climbing Ambassador Jason Nelson and other OR athletes for clinics, comps, slide shows, awesome gear demos and much, much more!

This year’s Festival will be highlighted by presentations by Jason Nelson and Chad Peele, Conrad Anker and the legendary Barry Blanchard.

Clinics spots fill up fast, so hurry and visit the Ouray Ice Festival site for more information and how to book your clinic space and accommodations.  Then sharpen your tools and haul out your puffy for an amazing 4 days of ice climbing!

See you there!

]]> http://www.outdoorresearchverticulture.com/2010/09/ouray-ice-festival-2011/feed/ 0 Mendenhall Towers Expedition, Juneau, AK http://www.outdoorresearchverticulture.com/2009/12/mendenhall-towers/ http://www.outdoorresearchverticulture.com/2009/12/mendenhall-towers/#comments Tue, 01 Dec 2009 02:43:01 +0000 Blake Herrington http://outdoorresearchverticulture.com/?p=347

What sticks with us after a climbing trip? For me, it’s seldom the climbing. Sure there are pitches I try to remember, and scary moments I want to forget, but that’s not what I remember most. Instead, I can remember laughing with Jason about the too-close-for-comfort crevasses, certain that these gaping chasms were slowly easing their way nearer to our tents. I remember being encouraged on the hike out, as bushwhacking and mosquitoes took a backseat to talking about how much pizza we’d consume back in Juneau. And apart from the amazing views and careful cross-word rationing, I remember some culinary adventures around camp. Anything (coffee, Oreos, PB&J) is better with the inclusion of butter. Larabars make great coasters and a convertible chair/sleeping pad is worth every ounce on the hike out.

One evening, after surveying our depressing pile of half-buried food (“the fridge” section of camp) I decided to make falafel. I skeptically eyed the powdered contents of a Zip-Loc bag that Jason had brought from his “camping food” box in Colorado, before heating our oil and mixing the dough. The consistency felt a little “off” but I chalked it up to age, and dropped a couple of the doughly lumps into the hot oil. Falling seracs and cornices provided entertainment as my culinary experiment set to cooking. Oddly, the lumps absorbed most of the oil and took on a consistency of Play-Doh. Woops… falafel, this was not. Jason and I tried the lumpy batter balls, and couldn’t really decide if it was some sort of spackle, drywall, or breading. As a native Washingtonian, I wanted to show off the taste of a few Walla Walla sweet onions we had, and decided it must be breading for onion rings.

Sliced onions were mixed with the powder and then dropped in yet another batch of hot oil. This time, the batter fell off the onions, turned brown, and the oil developed a slick, scummy coating. The onions bobbed around in the hot murk, and Jason just kept laughing. I strained the onions, pouring all the hot oil and mystery dough into our nearby expanding crevasse, and settled on making burritos, extremely onion-intensive and free from all traces of the mystery powder.




**This video was produced by Jason Nelson. Check out more stories of adventure from Jason and his family on their blog, Visual Adventures. Blake Herrington, author of this article, shares his adventures on his blog Blake Climbs. Both Jason and Blake provided the photos for this story.

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