Climbing Technique: Outside Edge, Flag and Drop Knee

The following is an excellent video for those who enjoy climbing steep terrain. On steep routes, we commonly talk about keeping the arms straight in order to conserve energy. There are three core movements shown in the video that allow for this on this type of terrain.

The first movement is the use of the Outside Edge. It's common for people to climb "frog-style," with their hips paralleling the wall. This type of movement is intensive and difficult. Instead, to increase stability and to decrease the amount of strength used, one should try to use the outside edge of the climbing shoe. This essentially forces you to cross your legs and allows you to achieve more height on each move. The narrator of the video below says, "the outside edge move should be considered the utility move for climbing steep walls."

The second movement is the Flag. If the holds are not lining up appropriately for you to effectively use the outside edge of your rock shoe, you might have to regularly swap feet. This of course is energy intensive. The answer is to flag. In this situation, instead of swapping feet to use the outside edge, you can use the inside edge and either cross the opposite foot in front or behind and brace it against the rock to stabilize the stance.

The third and final movement is the Drop Knee. The outside edge and the flag moves are used on a wall where you only have one foothold and the spare leg is used to achieve balance. If you have two footholds then dropping the knee to create counter pressure and to lengthen the reach also works well.

The following video describes each of these techniques in depth and is well-worth your time:



--Jason D. Martin

Climbing and Outdoor News from Here and Abroad - 11/19/15

Northwest:

--Andrew Bower was killed in a climbing accident while he was replacing bolts in the Dishman Hills Natural Area near Spokane, WA. As Andrew's gear was still in his pack, it appears that he may have slipped at the top of the cliff. To read a report of the incident, click here.

--The U.S. Board on Geographic Names has reversed itself and agreed to change the controversial names of two geographic features in the Cascades—Coon Lake and Coon Creek—to Howard Lake and Howard Creek, after a pioneering prospector who lived there in the 1890s. The reversal was confirmed by the board’s executive secretary, Lou Yost. To read more, click here.

--A moratorium on bolting has been placed on Idaho's Castle Rock State Park. To read more, click here.

--The owner of a Winlock lumber business and three other Lewis County men have been indicted by a federal grand jury in Seattle for illegally logging and selling massive bigleaf maple trees from the Gifford Pinchot National Forest. In an indictment, prosecutors say Ryan Anthony Justice, James Michael Miller and Kevin James Mullins stole wood from the national forest, located east of Cowlitz County. Prosecutors are also targeting Harold Clause Kupers and his Winlock-based business, J&L Tonewoods, claiming it was a front for poached maple, according to the indictment. To read more, click here.

--A Seattle art gallery has a installation right now about fire lookouts. To read about it, click here.

Sierra:

--Michael Meyers, a UCLA graduate student in physics, was reported missing Sunday night. He was last known to be hiking in the Sierra Nevada mountain range. Catherine Meyers, Meyers’ mother, said her son planned to climb Mount Russell or Mount Whitney on Nov. 6. She added she reported his disappearance to the Inyo County Sheriff’s Department Sunday night, and contacted university police Monday. To read more, click here.

--A backcountry skier was carried 150-vertical-feet by an avalanche and partially buried on Elephants Back off Caron Pass (hwy 88) near Lake Tahoe last week. He was able to dig himself out and was uninjured. To read more, click here.

Desert Southwest:

--This week marks the 25th anniversary of the creation of the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area!

Colorado:

--A former instructor with the Aspen Skiing Co. has reached a settlement with the family of the boy she sued after the child, who was enrolled in her class, allegedly collided with her during a ski lesson in 2013. To read more, click here.

--The U.S. Forest Service is giving Vail Resorts a green light for more development on the slopes of the Tenmile Range, at Breckenridge Ski Area in Colorado. In a final decision released this week, White River National Forest Supervisor Scott Fitzwilliams approved a significant expansion of recreation infrastructure, including zip lines and canopy tours, as well as more off-highway vehicle tours and an expansion of the Peak 7 hut. All of the projects approved are on National Forest System lands and occur within Breckenridge Ski Resort’s Special Use Permit boundary. To read more, click here.

Notes from All Over:

--A key suspect in the 2013 massacre of foreign climbers in Pakistan is on the run after he hurled grenades at officers who were pursuing him, injuring 10 of them, officials said on Tuesday (Nov 17). The suspect, named by police as Rahimullah, has a bounty on his head of one million rupees (US$10,000) over his alleged involvement in the attack on the base camp at Nanga Parbat, Pakistan's second highest mountain. To read more, click here.

--A skier backcountry skiing alone, impaled his groin on a low branch this week in Montana. The individual was left alone and bleed for a long period of time before being rescued. To read more, click here.

--A snowmobiler in the eastern Alaska mountain range of Alaska triggered an avalanche and was buried in the avalanche debris for about 25 minutes on Sunday. This is the first full burial that has been reported in North America this season. To read more, click here.

--The National Outdoor Book Awards winners have been announced.

--Yellowstone National Park officials have received much criticism — some based on inaccurate information posted on social media — for their decision to euthanize a grizzly bear that killed a Montana man this past summer, a park wildlife manager said. To read more, click here.

--So it appears that there may be a cultural misunderstanding concerning how to use toilets in Grand Teton National Park. A group of foreign visitors appear to be placing their feet on toilet seats in vault toilets and squatting while using the bathroom. Apparently the Park had 42 broken seats this season as a result of this use. To read more, click here.

--The United Nations has recognized the Outdoor Industry Association among a handful of companies and associations moving the needle on global sustainability. To read more, click here.

--Here are 12 things that Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell believes every outdoor business should know.

--The North Face and biotech company Spiber have collaborated to create the “Moon Parka” – a coat woven out of synthetic spider silk. Spider silk is one of nature’s stretchiest and strongest materials – making it ideal for active sportswear. However, harvesting spider silk on an industrial scale is not very efficient, mainly due to spiders' competitive disposition to eat their rivals. To read more, click here.

--Death Valley sure got hammered by floods last week...

Climbing and Outdoor News from Here and Abroad - 11/12/15

Northwest:

--The trail leading to the Big Four Ice Caves will likely reopen next year, according to the U.S. Forest Service. But the agency is planning to bring together trail builders, landscape architects and social scientists to look for ways to keep hikers out of the deadly caves. The trail has been closed since July 6, when rock and ice fell and killed 34-year-old Annalisa Santana, of California. Five other people were injured, including her brother, a Lynnwood resident who died of his injuries in October. To read more, click here.

Sierra:

--It appears that there was a fatality on Yosemite's Snake Dike Dihedral, a popular 5.7 route. There is limited information at this time, but it has been noted that the accident may have happened on the descent. To read more, click here.

--There was another fatal accident on the Royal Column in Yosemite. To read more, click here.

--The Sierra is getting some real snow this year!

Desert Southwest:

--A drunken British woman saved from a Grand Canyon cliff edge late Sunday night greeted her rescuers with scorn and spit, rangers say. Charmaine Isaacs, 36, whose hometown was listed as the small village of Ilton, England, was arrested by National Park Service rangers on suspicion of disorderly conduct (creating a hazardous condition), public drunkenness, and "interfering with agency function" after an hourlong night rescue at the South Rim. To read more, click here.

--A rented Lamborghini worth $180,000 suffered a rollover crash just outside the Red Rock Scenic Drive. There were no injuries...except the car...which is totaled. To read more, click here.

Colorado:

--The town of Breckenridge recently passed a 4.5% tax on ski lift tickets. To read more, click here.

Notes from All Over:

--Canadian professional skier Ian McIntosh somehow survived a 1,600-foot head-over-heels-over-head-over-heels tumble lasting nearly a minute in Alaska’s Neacola Range about 120 miles southwest of Anchorage, an area pockmarked with numerous 3,000-foot couloirs. The video, with audio of his gasps, is frightening. To see the video, click below. To read more, click here.

--Peter Metcalf, the CEO and founder of Black Diamond, wrote an editorial about the economic power of the outdoor industry in Outside. Metcalf argues that a new bill that tracks the industry will be good for outdoor users because policymakers will have to respect the economic power of the industry. To read the editorial, click here.

--The Banff Mountain Book Competition has announced its winners. To read about them, click here.

--An editorialist in Alaska agrees with the Denali name change, but argues that geographical name changes should not be the new norm. To read the article, click here.

--A skier was buried to his chest in an avalanche in Alaska last week. To read more, click here.

--Two hunters were caught in an avalanche near Bozeman, MT last week as well. There were no fatalities. To read more, click here.

Climbing and Outdoor News from Here and Abroad - 11/5/15

Northwest:

--It's an El Nino year, which usually means less snowfall than normal. But after last year's 20% of normal snowpack, an 80% year sounds pretty good. The Pacific Northwest just received its first significant mountain snowfall of the season. To read more, click here.

--Reel Rock Film Festival will take place at Western Washington University in Bellingham on November 12th, in Seattle on November 14th and in Portland on November 17th. To learn more, click here.

Early morning on Mt. Rainier.

--Public scoping meetings will be taking place throughout November for the Mount Rainier Wilderness Stewardship Plan. To read more, click here.

Sierra:

--A climber paralyzed from the waist down recently made an ascent of Yosemite's El Capitan. To read more, click here.

--Two women made the first all-female, one-day ascent of Salathé Wall, the historic route on El Capitan in Yosemite Valley, this past weekend. Libby Sauter, 31, of Las Vegas, and Alix Morris, 25, of Yosemite Village, started at the base of the 2,900-foot climb in darkness and topped out before 1 a.m., completing their push in less than 19 hours. To read more, click here.

--Mammoth Mountain ski resort is opening today! To read more, click here.

Desert Southwest:

--It's time to start thinking about Red Rock Rendezvous! The event will be April 1-3 this year. To register, click here.

--Zion National Park is extending their shuttle service for the next two weeks, and the move comes after a surge of visitors to the park shut the canyon down earlier this week. To read more, click here.

Colorado:

--The Reel Rock Film Festival will be in Golden on November 6th and Gunnison on November 13th. To learn more, click here.

--Aspen Skiing Company has been one of the ski industry’s leaders on climate action since 1997, and Schendler is the resort’s outspoken climate czar. Nobody in the business has done more to sound the alarm and cajole resorts to confront climate change. He chairs Protect Our Winters, a global nonprofit devoted to climate activism, and he authored the book Getting Green Done, which is about the struggles of greening a big company. Schendler has testified before Congress, lectured at the Harvard Business School, and delivered countless climate talks. He has met with governors, senators, and congressmen and advised White House staff and the director of the Environmental Protection Agency about engaging skiers in the climate fight. Time magazine called him a “climate crusader” in 2006. To read more, click here.

Notes from All Over:

--Jesus Deniz, an 18-year old male, was recently charged with the shooting of a climber who was camping in Wyoming's Ten Sleep Canyon in September of 2013. It appears that the teen confessed to the shooting while he was being interviewed about the shooting of three other individuals. To read more, click here.

--A new ice line was recently climbed in the Bugaboos. Check it out.

--The following was a video taken in the Alps a few weeks ago. Terrifying.



--The misleadingly named Resilient Federal Forests Act, a version of which passed the House in July 2015, would weaken environmental laws and allow the timber industry to log thousands of square miles of national forest land without adequately considering the environmental effects or discussing the impact on local communities. To read more, click here.

White Gas vs. Canister Stoves

For backcountry cooking, you have to main options on the market for how to heat up your food: white gas stoves and canister stoves. For white gas, the stoves connect to pumps and external fuel cans that you can refill with white gas. For canister stoves, they connect to pre-pressurized canisters of isobutane that you dispose of after use. Each type of stove has its own benefits and drawbacks.

In general, for long (week-plus) high-altitude trips, you will want a liquid fuel stove. They perform better at altitude and in the cold and are easier to fix in the field if something goes wrong. Because you can refill the fuel can, you end up with a less cluttered system because you don't have a bunch of spent canisters lying around. Liquid fuel stoves are also the best option for cooking for groups of 3 or more because you can boil water and get food going for longer and using less fuel. Some options, like the MSR Simmerlite and to some extent the Whisperlite, can be used to simmer food for cooking. Others, like the MSR XGK, are primarily very strong water boilers and not as good for cooking. The downsides of liquid fuel stoves are that they require priming before lighting the stove, which can be complicated and take some practice, and there is a greater risk of fuel leakage than with canisters.

Canister stoves have the benefit of being simple to use for just one or two people for shorter trips. These stoves tend to be more compact and lightweight than liquid fuel stoves. Popular options include the Jetboil, the MSR Reactor, and the MSR Pocketrocket, among others. Canister stoves light quickly without priming and get water boiling quickly. The main downsides of these stoves ares that they are good water boilers but aren't very good for cooking food (they don't really have a "simmer" function and therefore tend to burn it) and they rely on canisters, which are less fuel-efficient than white gas and it's harder to measure how much fuel is left in them once you've started using them. The canisters can also depressurize in the cold which leads to your stove not producing a flame. If this happens, you need to rewarm the canister and it should readjust. You can keep canisters inside your sleeping bag at night and cook on a foam pad to help prevent this problem.

In short, for longer trips at altitude, bigger groups or more elaborate cooking, white gas stoves are the way to go. If you're a small group that just needs to boil water and wants to go light a fast, consider a canister stove. For AAI Operations Manager Jason Martin's review of two different types of canister stoves, the MSR Reactor and the Jetboil, click here.

--Shelby Carpenter, AAI Instructor and Guide