I was emailing with Paul Piana yesterday, and he wished me a Happy Salathé Day!  25 years ago, he and Todd Skinner made history.  Here is how he described it in an interview with NPR  

"Mr. PIANA: Well, it made a big splash in the climbing world, actually. It was something that the climbing world hadn't considered as possible. And in some ways, parts of our minds didn't consider it possible either, but we believed it just enough to continue trying. And we tried and we tried and we tried. And most of those tries we failed. We only succeeded on one of the tries. And I can remember being a rope length from the summit with Todd, when we knew we really had it done, we'd succeeded, and how much fun that was. I can't imagine giving so much physical and mental effort to succeed on something as ridiculous as climbing a big rock wall with anybody but Todd."

Free climbing thousands of vertical feet like that.....I cannot imagine the giddy feeling these to men must have felt as they finished something so bold. 

The climbers of today continue to break records, climb new lines, and create rad new challenges for themselves, but without a doubt, Paul and Todd were an unforgeable team that opened the minds of many to what might be possible.   Thanks to both of them for dreaming big and going on to live out those dream!

If you are interested in seeing some great photos of that trip.  There is a collection of Bill Hatchers work on Todds website.  Click Here for the Link

During staff training, we talk about all kinds of things that concern how to best take care of ourselves and our guest while rock climbing.  How we take care of our rock climbing gear is on that list of topics.  While discussing this, Cheyenne brought up this Blog post from Black Diamond.

 Acid was the reason found for this harness failure.  Bottom line.  Watch what you do with your harness.  Word to the wise.  Do not lay your climbing gear down in a parking lot.  There can be bad things on the ground that you can accidentally pick up.  Your climbing gear is your life.  Take care of it.  Don't be afraid to replace it early and often.

May 1st 1963, Jim Whittaker, now 84, was the first American to reach the top of the world and summit Mount Everest.

The BBC put together a great short video remembering this moment in time. 

I love the line that "if you are not living on the edge, you are taking up to much space."

Adventures continue to happen, but this was a magnificent climb.  All the trekking and preparation is far beyond my ability.  Good job Jim and Sherpa Gambu!

Click on the photo to visit the BBC page with the video.

The annual Palisades Adopt a Crag event is coming up, so plan to be there, do your part, and have some fun!  

Be there Sat April 20th from 9am to 2pm.  Plenty of schwag and good stuff.  Contact Eric at eric.weidenman@doyotes.usd.edu for more info if you have questions.

Sorry I did not get this on the calendar sooner, but if you are not doing anything tomorrow Sunday April 14th, come down to the Outdoor Campus in Rapid City from 1 to 4pm, and hear Jan Conn speak about rock climbing and caving.  Should be a good show.

I saw this video on the Outdoor Research clothing site.  Thought it did a great job of explaining how things happen with the people who manage the land that we depend upon for access to rock climb.

So it may be that because I am sitting here in an office after mind numbing meetings, and over 5 months dealing with a personal access issue across public and private land to a piece of dirt with a special history that has been deeded to me......instead of being out on the road rock climbing and mountain biking in the warm south west sun, but from where I am sitting, it has been proven to me.....with 100% certainty that if you don't have legal access, you don't have dirt...or in the case of climbers.... rock.  Loosing your access might not be fair or logical, but it can be real.

So with this in mind, I encourage ever climber out there to become a member and donate to the Access Fund.   If you don't believe me...check out what the Access Fund has done for you lately.  Then double up the pleasure and join the Access Fund and the Black Hills Climbers Coalition both at the same time!

So, the question is... Do you N-E-E-D that extra double Mocha?

Yes, perhaps rock climbing is becoming to mainstream...if enough people are looking to understand the lingo that there is now a book about it.  The video below is cute...even if it is in the end an advertisement.

With a little looking around, I learned that Wikipedia of course has a climbers slang glossary/dictionary.   But if you need a hard copy for the coffee table or to give to your parents so they don't think you are taking drugs when you come home covered in sweat and chalk...you can get the Climbing Dictionary: Mountaineering Slang, Terms, Neologisms and Lingo

so that when your rock climbing partner says " I can dirt you or we can abseil"... you know what your choices are.

Have fun...climb on!

So, ya, today is my birthday.  I suppose I should be doing some rad ascent of Devils Tower in the 11 degree air that is blowing a few snow flakes around here, but I'm sitting around, reading about the Kyrgz people and the far out life they live and how they question their existence in the same manner many of us do.  Thanks to National Geographic for their awesome magazine.  Along with that, some work on the website, and icing a stupid injured elbow...I'm reminded that its a slippery slope this getting older....

 Anyhow... I came across a well done video.  Fritz Cahall is a very very talented story teller that continues to impress me with his work and its ability to make me think about things.  Enjoy!

I'm pretty sure I'm not tough enough to be part of this climbing family, but 11-year-old Brooke Raboutou sure does climb hard.  If you are looking for some climbing motivation, perhaps this little video will get you off the couch.  As for me....its snowing...there is a fresh pan of brownies just out of the oven... So hard resist.