November 2012
1 post
The age of excellence
Jason continues to come up with insightful views on technology development, most recently his article on the age of excellence http://blog.launch.co/blog/the-age-of-excellence.html/ and his follow-up, the Time to Excellence http://blog.launch.co/blog/t2e-time-to-excellence.html.
I think Jason is on the right track, but I am not convinced about his views on “T2E” Time to Excellence....
October 2012
1 post
June 2012
1 post
Test drive - Tesla model S - Outstanding
This Sunday I had a chance to visit the new Tesla factory in Fremont and test drive the Tesla Model S.
In a nutshell, after the short test drive, I was impressed. Really impressed. There’s a lot to like about the model S, and a few things I didn’t care for. Here they are:
The good (great):
1) Handling and Performance. This car drives like a dream. I tested the performance...
August 2011
4 posts
Climbing in the alps - update
We arrived in Courmayeur on Sunday Aug 14th. On Monday, due to bad weather on Mont Blanc up high, we climbed an easy 8 pitch rock climb in Aosta. Tuesday weather had improved so we climbed the “Arête Des Cosmiques” an exposed rock and ice climb that runs up to the Auguille du midi. There are only a few hard parts, but they are made much more spicy due to the exposure with thousands...
Climbing in the Alps
Next week Perry and I are climbing in the Italian alps. We are staying in Courmayer on the Italian side of Mont Blanc
July 2011
1 post
June 2011
2 posts
May 2011
7 posts
August Vacation
This is the Grand Jorasses it the Italian Alps. I plan to climb it this August with Steve House during my vacation. So much for relaxing.
1 tag
Climbing Ingraham Direct on Mt. Rainier
A few months ago Beamer and I climbed the Ingraham icefall direct route on Rainier. It was “spicy”…….
Massive Crevasse
At the summit
1 tag
Crevasse Crossing
While climbing the Ingraham Direct route on Mt. Rainier, this was a ladder which had been placed over one of the (many) crevasses we had to cross over. It’s not as scary as it looks, and, as you can see in the picture, we are roped together in case of a fall.
1 tag
Colorado Ice Climbing
This January in Ouray
1 tag
Mt. Shasta - Solo Climb
“Not until we are lost
do we begin to understand ourselves.” Henry David Thoreau
In August 2007 I went to Shasta to solo climb the Hotlum Wintun glacier route.
Sunday. 7am. At 7,000ft elevation, I am parked in a lot 50 miles from the main road. Pine trees tower above and pine needles lay a soft blanket over the brownish green dirt.
A couple are crouched next to their...
1 tag
Climbing Half-Dome in Yosemite
After getting stormed out of the U-Notch in the eastern Sierra’s, Beamer and I went to Yosemite and decided to climb the route named “Snake Dike” on Half Dome. 14 hours car to car. It was a long day.
This was our route.
1 tag
Climbing Polar Circus - Canadian Rockies
A demanding day with 9 hours of continuous climbing. 10 pitches of hard ice, up to WI5. Lots of fun. Made possible by my friend and guide Steve House. Followed by dinner in town with Barry Blanchard, his friend Pat and plenty of great stories from Alaska. Thanks Steve!
March 2010
2 posts
1 tag
Mt. Shasta - Casaval Ridge
Last weekend, Lauren and I climbed Shasta to do some winter climbing.
They’ve only gotten 5-7 feet so far this year, so it was still in-shape and the weather was stellar. We started up Avalanche gulch on the south side, and climbed to Green Butte ridge, where we camped at 9,000ft. Out of camp by 8am the next day, we leisurely climbed back to the gulch and ascended to 10,000ft, where we found an...
1 tag
Whiteout
This weekend Collin and I climbed Mt. Baldy as part of our regular training for big mountains. I get up there at least once a month, since its an hour from my house in LA and I can there and back easily in a day. But this time, the Baldy gods reminded us that the mountains are in charge.
Being familiar with the route, we packed light – ice axes, crampons, winter jackets, a litre of water, a...
January 2010
2 posts
1 tag
Polar Circus planning
For the last year, I’ve been planning and training to climb Denali (North America’s highest peak) in 2010. Due to weather and other conditions, May and June are the only feasible months to climb Denali, and due to my work calendar, June has been the plan. As some of you know, several months ago, we got the great news that my wife, Stephanie, is pregnant with our second child and due in...
Climbing in Colorado
Just after the new year, we spent a week in Colorado in Ouray climbing Ice and attended the Ice festival climbing competition.Tuesday we went out to the Skylight area to climb with Steve House, who led us up some sketchy thin mixed (ice & rock) route called Slip and slide – I would never have thought about climbing that scary ass shit on my own, so thanks to Steve for showing us how a...
August 2009
1 post
Climbing The U-Notch - Eastern Sierras
Check out the video of our climb: Rowan Trollope, Collin Davis and Beamer Hodge climb the U-notch
We made it to ~13,400 feet, about halfway up the U-notch couloir. After our fourth pitch of climbing, we had gotten past the crux of the climb and all of the somewhat difficult ice climbing, but heard the sounds of water rushing underneath the ice and a deep ominous crack from the ice. We decided to...
July 2009
1 post
1 tag
U-Notch Plans
Colin, Beamer and I are heading to the U-Notch on the Palisade glacier. We plan to climb the 1,000 ft ice wall and summit on Sunday. We’ve got 10 ice screws, 2 ropes, 1 tent and a six pack. Good luck team!
April 2009
1 post
More training
Well, we’ve been up to a few things lately. Steve House and Jeanne dropped by on the way to Kathmandu, where Steve is heading to the west face of Makalu…
Beamer and I have climbed Tahquitz in semi-winter conditions on Sahara Terror — it was freezing rock, which was hard to climb. We turned around half-way up.
Last weekend we hit San Gorgonio (11.5k ft)… We were having a lazy day, and turned...
March 2009
1 post
1 tag
Adirondacks
Laura Hall, Sam Cervantes and I went Ice Climbing in the Adirondacks in the last weekend of February. Check out our trip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4AibY5D5EE
January 2009
1 post
1 tag
Ice climbing @ Lee Vining
Last weekend, Danny and I went Ice Climbing at Chouinard falls in Lee Vining Canyon. It was rad. Check out the short video I made of the climbing…
December 2008
3 posts
1 tag
Mt. Whitney Winter Ascent - Mountaineers Route
Hello friends,
This weekend I will be traveling with a team of 6 climbers to attempt a winter ascent of Mt. Whitney by the Mountaineers Route.
Our planned goal is a winter ascent of the mountaineers route on Mt. Whitney, which at 14,495 feet is the tallest mountain in the US outside of Alaska.
Our team of 6 will be split in to 3 teams of 2 climbers each. Team 1 aka “The Gentlemen’s...
1 tag
Baldy Bowl
Yesterday we climbed the bowl at Mt. Baldy. 5 feet of hard packed snow made for a quick ascent (5 hours base to summit).
The summit was very windy, so we dug a small hole in the snow to sit inside so we could eat our lunch with some protection. We glissaded (slid down on our butts), almost the entire way from the summit back to the Sierra Hut. At 8 miles roundtrip with nearly 4,000 feet...
1 tag
Shasta Casaval ridge
Hemingway (or perhaps Barnaby Conrad) once said “There are only three sports: bullfighting, motor racing, and mountaineering; all the rest are merely games.”
Pictures from our trip here Two weeks ago, while planning a trip to Mt. Shasta, I read a news report about a woman who had just that same day fallen to her death on the icy slopes Avalanche gulch. She wasn’t wearing a helmet. And so it...
September 2008
1 post
1 tag
Mt. Whitney Mountaineers Route
Over three days in September of 2008, Lauren Reichenberg and I climbed Mt. Whitney’s famous mountaineer’s route. The forecast called for high winds on Saturday, lessening on Sunday.
The climb begins at the Whitney portal, which sits at 8,000 ft. We got started at 8:30am to warm weather and mild winds. Our packs were light (26 pounds) compared to other climbers on the route who...
August 2008
3 posts
Business week
Business week wrote an article about some of the work we’ve been doing for Norton 2009. Check it out here: Rowan Trollope
1 tag
Angel's fright
August 8th 2008, Danny and I climbed the route known as Angel’s Fright on Tahquitz. Pictures are here.
We camped out at the base Wednesday night to get an early start. The mosquitos were fierce. I closed up my sleeping bag so only my forehead and nose were exposed. I still got bitten — on my forehead!
Getting an early start, our goal was to climb as quickly as we possibly could – ideally...
1 tag
Mt. Laurel, North east face
Early April on a Saturday in 2008, I went out to climb Mt. Laurel with Taylor and Danny, and couple of other Alpine climbers. Laurel Mountain is an 11,800′ peak just south of Mammoth Lakes. Mt. Laurel is a huge climb, involving 2 miles of technical climbing up the North East face. The route meanders through a confusing maze of vertical gullies, cliffs and false summits.
All the intel we...
July 2008
1 post
1 tag
North ridge, Lone Pine Peak
July 4th weekend 2008. We launched our first summit attempt on the long and wandering North Ridge of Lone Pine Peak. This route is well over a mile of technical rock climbing at altitude (12,000+ feet). The altitude, route finding, lack of accessible water, heavy packs and remoteness all add-up to making this route a real adventure.
One wrong turn ended our climbing and summit bid. We...
February 2008
1 post
December 2007
1 post
U-Notch Plans
Colin, Beamer and I are heading to the U-Notch on the Palisade glacier next weekend. We plan to climb the 1,000 ft ice wall and summit on Sunday. We’ve got 10 ice screws, 2 ropes, 1 tent and a six pack. Good luck team!
