Dec/110
Family Shred Day
A terrain park experience for the whole family
Story by Matt Niswonger • Photos by Cathy Claesson
Burton Academy instructor Matt Majersky details the finer points of our next maneuver—the 180 to a switch landing.
The idea sounded simple enough: hire some instructors from the Burton Snowboard Academy at Northstar to teach our family how to ride the terrain parks. I even had a “code name” for this particular idea — “Family Shred Day” (FSD).
In the past, I have used code names effectively to manipulate my kids into certain behaviors. For example, “Operation Super Athlete” was somewhat successful in increasing the kids’ broccoli intake.
With age, however, the boys have become increasingly wary of code names. Terrain parks look intimidating, and both boys expressed suspicion. Luckily, I was able to negotiate an agreement-in-principle and before anyone could change their mind, we started making phone calls and working out the details.
The logistics were no problem, really. Cathy and I would take our two boys (ages seven and nine) to Northstar, so the four of us could get better at boxes, rails, jibs, jumps, etc. — all the stuff that makes terrain park snowboarding such a graceful and inspiring activity to watch. Our youngest, four-year-old Mia, was still on skis, so she would be taking a separate class on a different part of the mountain.
We checked into our Northstar cabin the day before our big lesson. The plans for an awesome day of snowboarding were coming to fruition. All we had to do was show up at the Ride Academy in the morning, and everything else would be handled.
“We have to bust out the A-game and be ready to dominate,” I told the boys. My sons love that kind of talk, and soon they were doing chest bumps and high-fives, so I decided to take my speech to the next level.
“That’s right! Yeah! I am talking about carving, shredding, jibbing, blasting, ollie-ing, firing, tail-whipping and all the rest! TOTALLY, DUDE!” I yelled.
Binding are checked and adjusted, while our instructor explains the pros and cons of different stances.
Then, both boys got quiet and started looking unsure. Maybe I was overselling it. “The word is RAD, short for RADICAL,” I continued. At this point I was waving my arms to really drive home the point. “My generation invented it. It’s a state of mind, like Yoda using The Force.”
This pearl of wisdom was greeted with silence. “You are the opposite of rad, dad,” Nils finally said. Yep, I definitely oversold it.
Ouch.
We went to bed early, but I couldn’t sleep a wink. Truthfully, I had my doubts about Family Shred Day. My biggest doubts were about pushing our kids too hard on the park features. Sure, all four of us are intermediate or strong-intermediate riders, but that means little in the park. I wasn’t too worried about Cathy; she wasn’t planning on pushing herself very much. The boys, however, had never taken a hard fall in a terrain park. Or, to use plain English, Nils and Lukas had never eaten-it in the park before. That was a potential problem. I knew from personal experience that eating-it in a terrain park can make you never want to ride a snowboard again. For example, backslapping while landing a jump, or riding a rail on your face — more than just humiliating, such events are downright hazardous to your health.
By pushing my kids into FSD, I feared that they might never want to try park riding again. Furthermore, FSD could totally backfire and make me look like Colonel “Bull” Meecham from The Great Santini, like the time we took the kids rock climbing at Castle Rock State Park. I am talking about the kind of dad that makes everyone cringe.
Terrain-Based Education
“Here at Burton Academy, the emphasis is on terrain-based education. Sculpted terrain in the teaching area lets students control their speed naturally. That way your coaches can focus on correcting your body positions and movements.”
The four of us were intently listening to Matt Majersky, our instructor. One hour into the big day, some of my fears had melted away. Our instructors, Matt and Kenji, exuded confidence, and the boys hung on their every word. I looked over at mom, and she was having a good time as well.
Already we had learned that all of our aging snowboards were set up incorrectly for the day’s activities. The first part of the class was spent dialing in our equipment. Our instructors wanted us to have a “neutral stance” that day, meaning legs spread a little wider, with both feet equally “duck-footed.”
Right off the bat I could tell I was going to learn quite a bit.
After this, Matt gave us the run down on basic snowboard shapes i.e., camber vs. rocker. “Until about ten years ago, snowboards were all about camber, meaning the center of the board was raised. This allowed for a nice, solid feel, with an emphasis on edging. More recently, snowboard manufacturers started experimenting with rocker—which is the opposite shape. This means that the waist of the board sits lowest, giving the board a more playful feel.”
Then, Matt wrinkled his nose at my board, which was an old school, highly cambered model. “Great for holding an edge on an icy tree run, but not good for the terrain park,” he explained. He suggested a demo board that was much shorter and more playful feeling.
Good call. Right away, I noticed that the rocker shape, combined with a neutral stance, was less prone to randomly catching an edge while practicing maneuvers, resulting in fewer falls.
Form is everything! Nils on a box.
Body Position is Everything
After warming up in the instruction area, we were ready for some actual park riding. As we rode the lift, I watched riders hitting the features in the area right below us. These were advanced features, and I could tell that both boys were feeling intimidated. “Are we doing that?” Lukas finally asked Kenji. “Only if you want to, Lukas!,” came the reply.
A massive jump was launching riders 30 feet into the air. “Where is the beginner’s area?” I said to no one in particular.
When we arrived at the Burton Progression Park, I was totally relieved. This seemed a great place to learn terrain riding! The box slides were very wide and not very high. There was one intimidating “rainbow” slide, but that was it. Down below, I could see riders hitting some launches, but these appeared to be tame.
Before we committed to the first box, Matt had some advice: “Keep your lower body loose and springy, with bent knees acting like shock absorbers. Your upper body should be standing up tall. Keep your back straight, and look ahead, not down. Confidence and body position are everything.” Nils was first, and I could tell the whole day was going to boil down to this one moment. If everyone could just hit this first feature without eating it, then FSD would be a success. On the other hand, a hard fall right now would erode the crucial confidence we were building.
Parks are for Families
It wasn’t always pretty, but we all cruised the first few slides, and mom and dad even hit the skinny rail. Kenji and Matt were able to instill in us that negotiating slide features is all about squaring up and staying off the board’s edges. I tested this theory twice, and learned the hard way that putting any weight on my heel-side edge invariably resulted in pain.
Since we were looking pretty solid on the boxes, Matt suggested that we try some jumps. “The trick to getting air on a snowboard is to first transfer all of your weight to your tail until the board begins to flex. As you approach the lip of the jump, lean forward and then retract your knees into your chest at the right instant. No matter what, keep a straight back.” Then, Matt put his words into action. Everyone was impressed and inspired. Matt flew through the air and stuck the switch landing while maintaining perfect body position.
For our part, we all got some air, but needless to say we lacked the grace of our instructors. Our learning curve was fairly steep, however, and the timing rapidly became intuitive. Cathy, in particular, busted a graceful looking air that was captured on video.
The shadows were getting long across the snow as we finished our last run. I could tell my family was exhausted and a little cold, but very happy with their newfound park skills. Family Shred Day was a hit, but I couldn’t take any credit. Burton Snowboard Academy instructors Matt Majersky and Kenji Lim made a wonderful day possible.
Burton Snowboard Academy
The Burton Snowboard Academy located at Northstar is dedicated to the idea that “Progression Never Ends.” This unpretentious approach helps students realize that skill development is the road map to fun and inspiration.
Miles away from the “no guts, no glory” attitude of some within the boarding community, the idea is to take a step-by-step approach to becoming a snowboarder for life. Park features are introduced into the curriculum at an early stage in the learning curve.
In addition, instructors emphasize five basic movements:
- Stance. Students find their “neutral stance.” This means both feet slightly “duck-footed,” and slightly wider than the shoulders. This symmetrical stance is the starting point; adjustments are made with experience as they become intuitive. This differs from other schools of thought that encourage beginners to adopt unnatural stances.
- Rotation. Using the spine and legs to rotate the head, shoulders, hips, and board clockwise and counter-clockwise.
- Retraction/Extension. Getting low and getting tall using your legs.
- Foot to Foot. Shifting the core to weight the tail or nose.
- Toe to Heel. Tipping the board from the toe edge to the heel edge.
Too many people learn the hard way that a boarding apprenticeship can be long and unforgiving. Expert instruction may be just the ticket to propel you beyond a frustrating plateau.
The idea that “only beginners need lessons” has been replaced by the notion that an occasional investment in lessons will pay huge dividends in continued development. Intermediate riders looking to take it to the next level should strongly consider checking out the Academy.
For Northstar, the Academy has helped keep beginners coming back.
“Those who have experienced the Burton Snowboard Academy have had tremendous success,” says resort spokesperson Jessica VanPerniss. “While there isn’t typically a high return rate among those who are first learning to ride at other resorts, the Burton Academy has experienced a 98% return rate. “
Another good tip for learning: Go with a friend or spouse and take turns with a video camera. The video can help you pick up on subtle mistakes in form and posture, and you might even get some hero footage — or at least a good laugh.
Dec/110
Family Matters
Nils, Lukas, and Mia. Three tired kids!
To your dismay, this will make you look like an awful parent. And trust me, people who don’t have kids can be pretty judgmental of us parents when the little ones are freaking out in public. Ignore people like that — they are clueless about how much work it is to teach children how to ski or ride! Instead, try to watch grandma and grandpa. They are the true veterans and kid whisperers.
For actual skills in teaching children the physical components of learning to slide on snow, watch an instructor at your favorite
resort work with kids. Typically, these folks are pretty amazing with children. You can learn some invaluable tricks of the trade by shadowing a class and taking notes. What becomes clear is that teaching children to ski is more than just “pizza and French fries.” Step one is to make sure all the basic needs are met—thirst, hunger, restroom, warmth, etc.
Step two is to find an area where the little ones can slide, but not fall too often. Falling is the enemy. Your average six-year-old can only fall a few times before they are completely over it. In this regard, I highly recommend Diamond Peak Ski Resort. Diamond Peak boasts a huge learning area right next to the parking lot with just the right amount of slope.
Also, every resort has a “magic carpet” conveyer belt —plan on spending hours there.
As a rule, the longer the learning hill, the better, as long as it never gets too steep. Try to limit verbal instructions; repetition is the key concept here.
On the other hand, many parents, myself included, find that our kids are better behaved with OTHER adults. If this is the
case, consider not teaching them yourself. Classes and lessons are usually worth every penny. You are guaranteed to get a surge of pride (and a lump in your throat) when you see how much progress your children make after a full-day lesson.
By the way, don’t ever feel guilty about putting the little ones in a class. There is so much work involved in just getting your kids to the resort with all their equipment — and a full stomach — that you have already earned your beer just by getting to the lift lines. (Not that you should head straight to the bar after dropping off the little ones!)
Truthfully speaking, the best thing you can do after putting them in a class is to hit the slopes and have a great time yourself! Your kids will pick up on the fact that you love to ski or ride, and that will be your biggest gift to them. Plus, if you are in a good mood, you will keep your sense of humor all day, which is the hallmark of true parental mastery.
On the other hand, if things do go bad, try not to yell at your kids in public. Not looking good! We are supposed to be the grownups.
If you are losing it, consider calling it a day. Sometimes the best snow activity of all is to just make a snowman together. Or you can get a cup of hot chocolate, and watch all the other stressed-out parents try to teach their children how to ski or ride. Good times!
Tips for Parents
• Keep your sense of humor.
• Organize everything the night before.
• Mittens are better than gloves for kids.
• Mittens, goggles, helmets, special socks, season pass, neck warmer, etc. should all stay with his or her jacket. Zipped in the pockets, clipped on, in a special bag, whatever it takes —everything stays together!
• If staying multiple days at a resort, bring everything inside at night except the boards and skis. Frozen boots are miserable, and frozen goggles will fog up later.
• Have the kids sleep in their base layer if getting a pre-dawn start. That way you can put them in the car while they are still asleep, and get them dressed easier upon arrival.
• Kids need to eat and drink constantly while on the mountain. Put cheese sticks and a bag of apple slices in your pocket and be a snack pusher.
• Boarding is way harder for kids than skiing. This is mainly because of the logistics of getting in and out of bindings all day. If you are boarding with kids, remember this mantra: “Flat terrain should be avoided at all costs.”
• Buy used equipment on the Internet for kids. Start getting the kids’ stuff together in October.
• Keep telling yourself that your offspring will appreciate you someday.
Quite often, the smaller resorts are the best bet for children. For example, Badger Pass near Yosemite is a very mellow place to take the family. I highly recommend renting cross-country skis and cruising out towards Glacier Point. Any kind of sliding on snow helps steepen the learning curve. Another option is to book a room at the Bear Valley Lodge, which is right next to an epic cross-country area.
Last but not least, check out the Sierra Club’s Clair Tappaan Lodge on Donner Summit for an off-the-beaten path family skiing adventure. Your kids will love the Euro-hostel environment, and you will love the miles of wilderness snow right outside the door.
-Matt Niswonger
Apr/110
10 years of Adventure Sports Journal
Ten years ago Adventure Sports Journal was inspired by a Sierra climbing trip gone bad. Matt Niswonger and Cathy Claesson were a husband and wife team off route, lost, cold and hungry. But they pulled together, solved one problem at a time, and made it back to Highway 120, albeit miles from where they parked.
By the time they got back to the car the frustration turned to sheer joy. As they drove home the climbing experience crystallized into an epiphany about the magic of such “deep play” in the Sierra. One could do worse than to devote one’s life to such matters. Why not this quirky husband and wife team? Teachers by trade, how could they live closer to the richness of such adventures?
On the car ride home, Matt convinced Cathy that they should start a magazine that would offer a unique forum for other adventure enthusiasts in California to share their own stories of adventure, hellish or not. Traditional media at the time rarely covered nature-based outdoor sports with the possible exception of skiing. This new magazine intended to fill that void.
They settled on a name, put a mock issue together, and thought they were in business. Little did they know there is a lot more to publishing then a masthead and boundless enthusiasm. Media kits, demographic studies, CPM’s, printer contracts, distribution routes — the mysteries were many and they needed help. They took on an editor, Christa Fraser, as a partner and got some tentative advertising contracts with local businesses.
Nearly eight months later, 7,000 copies of the inaugural issue of Adventure Sports Journal were spread around Northern California from the back of a couple of barely running station wagons. It was truly a grassroots effort.
Since then, ASJ has become a favorite resource for a diverse and dispersed yet thriving outdoor sports and adventure community in California and Nevada. With a mission to provide the inspiration and beta for our readers to get out and enjoy all that our regional landscape has to offer, ASJ has strived to highlight the year-round adventure opportunities that make California and the West one of the richest regions in the world to live and play. After all, where else can you be skiing in the morning and surfing at sunset?
To commemorate our 10-year anniversary, we’ve compiled some of the highlights from our past issues stretching back to 2001. We hope that those of you who have been reading ASJ for years will remember some of the articles we’ve selected. And for those of you who are turning the pages for the first time, we hope that the excerpts that follow inspire you to get out on you own adventures — and to pick up future issues of what has grown into the top adventure sports magazine in California.
—The Editors
| 2001 |
Photo: Brian Kohl
March/April, #1
“I frantically jumped up and down, knowing that because of where I was stuck, no one could easily help me. The rocks below, with water rooster tailing and surging off of them, made for a painful swim. I looked at the rest of the rapid; it was just as challenging and dangerous as the falls. I couldn’t possibly make it through that even if I was able to get the boat unstuck.”
—Christa Fraser on rowing a fully loaded oar boat through Clavey Falls on the lower Tuolumne River
“Growing up I was really into superheroes. When I discovered climbing I was like, ‘Cool, this is a superhero sport.’”
—from the article “Risk and Retirement: A Conversation with Tom Davis.” Davis is an avid Yosemite rock hound and owner of the Pacific Edge Climbing Gym in Santa Cruz
May/June, #2
“My eyes shifted suddenly to the right and I saw a huge fin breaking the water through the second swell and the outline of a massive, grey animal coming straight toward me. Somehow, for reasons I can’t really explain, my mind refused to acknowledge what I had just seen. It just didn’t register that it was a shark.”
—Casey Stewman on his encounter with a great white
“Don’t get me wrong. I love powder. I have been skiing for a lot of years. But when the powder is a three-inch thick layer of ultra fine dirt that offers no purchase for a cross-country mountain bike, anyone might feel challenged.”
—Sarah Stout on her first lift-served biking experience at Northstar in Tahoe
July/August, #3
“The steep rocky slope of the drop off disappeared into the depths. Untold mysteries lurked below. A nearby lake was known to be 600 feet deep. Thus, relative to its size, Tulainyo could have been twice that depth. We were overwhelmed by the sense of endless space.”
—Peter Hemming on diving Lake Tulainyo in the Eastern Sierra. At 12,818 feet, it’s the highest lake in the continental U.S.
September/October, #4
Photo: David Miln Smith's Collection
“I remember climbers coming up to me in Yosemite and saying something like, ‘We’re not into commercialized competition, man.’ Once people got wind of the $15,000 purse for first prize, though, all the philosophical reservations just kind of evaporated.”
—David Miln Smith on getting athletes for NBC’s “Survival of The Fittest” TV series
November/December, #5
“The discovery of Mavericks in the backyard of hard-core Northern California surf territory was somewhat like finding the Loch Ness monster in San Francisco Bay – somehow undiscovered all these years, yet always right beneath our nose.”
—Krista Hammond on the once unheard of Mavericks surf break
“Tragically, Dano was killed in November 1998 while breaking his own record for roped free-falling. The news was shocking. Of course, nobody questioned that the stuff he did was dangerous, he just seemed to be surrounded by a special light that kept him safe from harm.”
—Matt Niswonger on rock climber Dan Osman who died at age 35 while performing a “controlled free fall” from Yosemite’s Bridalveil Falls
| 2002 |
January/February, #6
“I sold my belongings and moved to Alaska to learn the wilderness skills I would need to take a dog mushing journey to Antarctica. Call it escapism, call it denial, call it crazy—but I was determined to try.”
—Pam Flowers on her decision to quit her “normal” life and solo the Arctic by dogsled
March/April, #7
“Yet risk will always be at the frontier in climbing. As people like Chris define what’s possible from a strictly physical standpoint, in the future climbers will take Sharma-like sequences to the big faces of the world.”
—Matt Niswonger on Chirs Sharma and his influence on the sport of climbing.
May/June, #8
“Advocating strength and redemption from the humiliation of World War I, the newly elected Nazi party threw unprecedented sums of money at Willy Merkl’s proposed 1934 assault on the world’s tenth highest peak. For Merkl, a mediocre climber and a railway engineer, the funding was a dream come true, but at a price: the pressure to succeed was intense and came from high up, probably from Hitler himself.”
—Matt Niswonger on the 1934 Nazi attempt on Nanga Parbat
July/August, #9
“For his second expedition down the Grand Canyon, one-armed John Wesley Powell strapped an armchair atop a wooden dory, which he named the Emma Dean, and read Sir Walter Scott’s Lady of the Lake out loud to his men.”
—Christa Fraser on John Wesley Powell’s first descents down the Grand Canyon in 1869 and 1871
September/October, #10
“To give you an idea of just how civilized McMurdo is, I had just arrived in town, an F.N.G (f-ing new guy). I was walking down the main hallway and then I stopped. Jaw dropping, I turned and recognized a Wells Fargo ATM. Yes, an ATM.”
—Matt Rutishauer on living at McMurdo Station while ice diving in the Antarctic for marine research
“As the wind howls, the Taugwalders and Whymper stare at the severed rope in despair. Whympher gathers himself first. He tells the Taugwalders that they will die, too, if they don’t pull themselves together.”
—Looking back at Edward Whympher and his tragic quest to summit
Photo: Schneider & Vandergrift Inc./Terri Schneider
the Matterhorn in 1864
November/December, #11
“Many people in our society want to be somewhere else rather than where they are in their lives. They remain in the “can nots” and the “should nots” and the “what ifs” of everyday life until one day they wake up and realize that they’ve lived in that “did not” world for over 40 years.”
—Terri Schneider on adventure racing
“Immediately, we’re in trouble. First up are 12 miles of roller blading—our weakest event. Karen already has a wound the size of a small pizza on her leg from a spill she took during a last-minute training session and Chris just isn’t comfortable with wheels strapped to his feet. Our goal at this point is modest: stay out of last place.”
—Jordan Reiss’ experience in an urban adventure race
| 2003 |
January/February, #12
“I expected the trip to be long and hard, and I wasn’t disappointed. There were some moments when I felt certain that the ride was by far the most stupid-ass idea that I had ever attempted in my life, and I had no idea how I was going to make it out the other side.”
—Sarah Beaver on her 2,987-mile southern transcontinental bike ride from California to South Carolina
“We start to rope up. Nima goes off belay to clip Evan in and – vanishes. Magid, who saw it, says he fell on his back and was flying head first down the lip toward the face. What I saw was the fastest self-arrest in history and one of the biggest smiles – he stopped about ten feet from me.”
—YOSAR team member Michael Freeman off-duty on Khumbu in Nepal
March/April, #13
“As we scraped across every rock on that ‘non-paved’ road at 15 miles an hour, my anger growing with each dent in the oil pan, I made a solemn promise to myself: The next time I drove into Baja it would be in a big, bad-ass, 4-wheel drive truck.”
—Krista Hammond deep in the Baja desert searching for surf
“Time took on a more circular meaning on the river. At put-in I hid my watch for the duration of the trip.”
—Daniel Spero on rafting the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon
May/June, #14
“Twenty days is a long time to be alone aboard a boat whose cabin is smaller than a VW bus, and standing headroom is not an option.”
—Skip Allan describes his living quarters while sailing 2000 miles from San Francisco to Oahu in the 2002 West Marine Pacific Cup Race
Photo: Dave Stewart
“Dealing with fear has been a big part of my return to climbing. My biggest struggle has been conditioning my mind to believe that I can climb hard again.”
—Peter Carrick on getting back into climbing after being struck by lightning on a climb in Utah
July/August, #15
“It was fun – a bunch of chicks in the woods riding all day, trying out our new chops, then cooking and eating massive amounts of pasta, talking non-stop story and a little smack.”
— Jacquie Phelan talks about the early days of professional mountain biking with writer Ramona d’Viola
“I couldn’t deploy my parachute, since deployment kills all forward speed and immediately uses up about 100 vertical feet.”
—Wingsuit daredevil Rob Kelly has a close call while flying past a granite stone cap
September/October, #16
“The birthplace of surfing is Hawaii, but it took a Californian to bring the sport into the modern age.”
—Krista Hammond on the evolution of surfing
“OK, let’s really make it interesting. Let’s run as tight a schedule as possible and plan the road trip down to the minute with absolutely NO room for errors.”
—Paul Romero of Team Epi-SOLE planning his trip to the starting line of Cal Eco’s 24-hour adventure race in Yosemite
November/December, #17
Photo: Chris Falkenstein
“Eric also stumbled off of our bivy ledge while attempting to turn over the tape in the player while I was making dinner. I wasn’t tied in due to the comfortable size of the ledge, so I assumed he wasn’t either. All I saw when I leaned over the ledge was a headlamp falling to the ground. I thought Eric was attached to it. A dreadful feeling came over me for a moment. I thought to myself, ‘I finally get a great partner and he falls off the route while drunk. Great.’”
—Eric Rasmussen reflects on some of his wild adventures in Yosemite Valley
“At one point I was slightly maddened by having my clothes on, so I ripped them off in a village and tossed them in the garbage.”
—Overdressed in Borneo, Terri Schneider takes it off while racing in the Eco Challenge
| 2004 |
January/February, #18
“Brad and Bob were nearly mad with hunger. Somewhere along this stretch of the journey they were able to catch and kill a small squirrel.”
—Brad Washburn’s near fatal experience while climbing Mt. Lucania in the Yukon
“There is a reason that early Homo Erectus didn’t dive – he wanted to survive. Fortunately, the first part of learning to dive appeals to our modern brain. Otherwise, my inner Neanderthal would have hightailed it out of there pretty quickly.”
Photo: Nikki Brooks
—Editor Christa Fraser learns how to dive
March/April, #19
“These are all things we train for: big surf, winter conditions, low light, victims near rocks. But in 12 years of lifeguarding never have I worked under all of these conditions at once.”
—Lifeguard Haven Livingston, pushed to the limit when unprecedented surf required rescuers to save multiple victims up and down the Santa Cruz coast
May/June, #20
“After his accelerated climb up Half Dome, Florine ran down the cables on the backside to the valley floor and bought an ice cream bar. On his hike to the base of El Cap, Florine ran into his friend Steve Schneider, who told him that just 24 hours earlier well-known speed climber Dean Potter had come to Yosemite to do the “Big Linkup” before him.”
—Speed climbers Hans Florine and Dean Potter race to be the first to complete the “Big Linkup,” a solo ascent of both the face of Half Dome and El Capitan’s Nose in one day
“Back at camp, we beam with satisfaction and physical relief, and celebrate with a backcountry potluck dinner (cook whatever you have, pass the pot around with a couple of spoons in it, return, cook, pass…), ibuprofen, great stories, and laughter about hairy situations and shared discomforts.”
—Editor Pete Gauvin after a treacherous day of climbing and skiing Shasta’s Hotlum-Wintun route
July/August, #21
“Like many epic ideas that take hold of our imagination, the Death Ride was born out of the same illogical desire that possess people to climb big mountains – because they can, maybe.”
—Pete Gauvin on the birth of one of California’s most difficult single-day events, The Death Ride: Tour of the California Alps, 129 miles, five passes and 16,000 feet of climbing
September/October, #22
“But the ‘Ray Way’ is much more than cutting the handle off your tooth brush. And it is certainly not about rushing out to buy the latest in ultralight gear. On a deeper lever, it is more about overcoming the commercially promulgated view of nature as an adversary that one must continually prepare to do battle against and adopting a more rhythmic, harmonious approach to backcountry travel.”
—Pete Gauvin on Ray Jardine and the revolution of lightweight wilderness travel
“We did absolutely nothing. A fascinated curiosity dampened our protective impulses. It was as if we were watching Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom live: ‘Now let’s return to the field, where Bill is about to get nuzzled by a 400-pound bear’.”
—Bob Walton’s friend has a close encounter with a Yosemite bear
November/December, #23
“What Lynn proposed to do was a gymnastic challenge that was almost shockingly ambitious: to use her fingers and toes to physically climb every inch of the route, using her ropes and gear as a safety net only.”
—Matt Niswonger on Lynn Hill’s 1993 free climb of the Nose Route on El Capitan in a day
“Completing what amounted to six weeks of the most intense physical activity of their lives, the team found the excesses of civilized society to be just as harrowing as the journey itself. Rowell noted that somewhere along the way they had lost not only their capacity to enjoy civilization, but even the simple emotions of love and beauty that come with all the experiences.”
—Seth Lightcap looks back on Galen Rowell and the 1980 American Karakoram traverse expedition
| 2005 |
January/February, #24
“There is a fine line between passion and addiction. Passion connotes a ravenous love, often at the edge of control. Addiction suggests a habitual fixation, usually beyond control.”
—Seth Lightcap explores his love for backcountry snowboarding
“Rather than dismissing the Sierra pioneers as eccentric loners as many in previous generations had, the extreme bohemians like Robinson cast them in a different light: they celebrated them as some of the first people to come under the spell of a truly wild and magical place.”
—Matt Niswonger explores how the “extreme bohemians” of the Sierra, including Doug Robinson, Yvon Chouinard, and Royal Robbins, sparked an outdoor movement in the early ‘70s that continues to this day
March/April, #25
“So why this late inclination to surf? Three reasons: It’ll save me from golf, which has claimed the minds and bodies of some of my best friends. It’ll give me another reason to go into the water now that my usual body boarding buddies are chained to land by work and families. Mostly I want to learn because, after 20 years of lying prone in the ocean, I want to evolve. I want to stand up on my feet and see how it feels.”
—Jerry Kay explains his urge to learn to surf at 58 years of age
May/June, #26
“The magic of a good surf film is that it can turn a landlocked youth into a surf dreamer without ever having ridden a wave.”
—Krista Hammond on the evolution of surf films
“The best way to survive an adventure race, particularly an event that takes longer than 24 hours, is to bring your mom along and let her take care of you and bring you cookies and your carefully packed gear to every checkpoint along the way.”
—Karen Lundgren and Paul Romero of Team Epi/SOLE explain the importance of support crews on expedition length adventure races
Photo: Jono Stevens
July/August, #27
“They always say, ‘Hurry the bus is leaving now!’ So you rush to get on the bus, hoping your luggage makes it to the top of the same rig, and wait for the driver to start the engine. It’s hot and you are crammed in tighter than a Tokyo subway. You wait and wait until you realize that time is metered entirely different here. Nothing is ‘on time,’ things just happen when they happen.”
—Melissa Stevens getting used to El Salvadoran time on her Central American surf odyssey with husband Jono Stevens
“The National Park Service is missing an opportunity. Because the Half Dome trail is the first wilderness experience for many hikers, it is an ideal place to teach backcountry etiquette – if we can summon the will and resources to do so.”
—John Yewell on the importance of proper trail etiquette for the growing crowds hiking Half Dome’s cable route
September/October, #28
“It’s just after midnight and I’m sandwiched between two Irish gals. It’s hot and there’s a lot of heavy breathing, squirming and giggling going on. But hedonistic our arrangement isn’t. We’re all fully dressed.”
Photo: John Mallory
—Liam Gallagher travels to the Sierra on the legendary Green Tortoise bus
“In a country that tries to avoid walking whenever logistically possible, he lives to walk.” —Pete Gauvin on through-hiker Scott Williamson, who has hiked the Pacific Crest Trail seven times and was the first to yo-yo it in one season
November/December, #29
“Where is the no-pain-no-gain, survival-of-the-fittest-fastest-richest-and-most-popular-culture of team tryouts from my high school days? The formative experiences that inflated some egos and prematurely punctured others, sometimes turning kids off athletics altogether?”
—Kimberly Bird explores the surging popularity of high school mountain biking leagues in Northern California
| 2006 |
January/February, #30
“While eating my glistening fresh fruit, bragging how good it was, the old Aztec woman took a ladle of brackish water out of a soiled 5-gallon paint bucket under the table and proceeded to pour it over the fruit cups to keep them looking glossy.”
—Ian Elman learns that you can never be too careful with the food when you are traveling in Mexico
“Trekking up the Dur Chu, I learned one of my first trekking lessons: When hiking up a river valley, as beautiful as its waterfalls may be, you will soon be ascending. And the more spectacular the falls, the steeper the ascent will be.”
—First-time trekker Drew Miller gets trail wise in Bhutan
March/April, #31
“Leaving the security of solid rock for the thin air of the chasm makes even hardened climbers cringe.”
— Matt Johanson on Lost Arrow Spire’s famous Tyrolean traverse in Yosemite
May/June, #32
“Rather than tempt your maker with carefree disrespect, better to just suck it up and join the faithful throngs observing Cathedral’s congregation hours. Even with the crowds, you’ll still find plenty of granite enlightenment. Unlike surfers, climbers frown on dirty looks when racking up at the bottom.”
—Bruce Willey on the importance of getting an alpine start before climbing Tuolumne’s Cathedral Peak. The author was almost caught in a thunderstorm after getting a late start on the climb.
July/August, #33
“I remember when I first began adventuring solo many years ago. My father asked (more than once): “Aren’t you going to
Photo: All-Outdoors, www.AORafting.com
carry a gun with you?” As any self-respecting daughter would do, I flexed my biceps and replied, “These guns!”
—Petit Pinson shares her passion for experiencing the wild solo, and encourages other women (and men) to do the same.
“You find yourself popping open a beer at the takeout and it tastes just a little better than normal. The sky seems a little bluer, the air crisper. You stand a little taller. And on Monday, back in the office, when your coworker asks about your weekend, you reply with a simple, “Good. Really good.” They wouldn’t understand anyway.”
—Geoff Jennings on California’s Class V classic, Cherry Creek
September/October, #34
“The echoed voice from the past of a cantankerous Shasta Mountain Guide telling me, ‘Step, kick, kick, plant your axe – rest!’ resonates as I come closer to the grail of 29,035 feet.”
—Robert Chang recall’s his Northern California roots on an ascent Everest
“Above all, going to surf camp as an adult is really, really fun. How many mornings are you stoked to get up early because you know you get to do something enjoyable all day? How often are your big responsibilities for the day re-applying sunscreen and rinsing out your wetsuit?”
—Maria Vitulli on the growing popularity of surf camps
| 2007 |
January/February, #35
“Some of the world’s best long-distance runners, the Tarahumara have been known to routinely run several hundred miles in five days during competitions or even just while getting around to perform everyday tasks – farther than I think I’ve ever biked in that time.”
— Karen Kefauver shares her mountain biking trip to Mexico’s rugged Copper Canyon, home to the indigenous Tarahmara people
“Witness a skier gracefully skating up a Sierra valley in half the time it would take a tele skier with climbing skins, and the discipline immediately entices.”
—Seth Lightcap reflect on how new backcountry skis restyle ancient Nordic discipline
March/April, #36
“With care and appropriate skill, there is nothing like the feeling in your gut as you approach the horizon line on a 20-foot waterfall.”
— Geoff Jennings shares the thrills of creek boating
“Turn by turn, section by section, dropping down the great white expanse, our efforts were rewarded.”
— Andrew Sawyer on spring skiing on Mt. Lassen
May/June, #37
“Pulled forward like a disobedient dog on a leash, my feet lost contact with my board and I was pitched headlong over the falls as the wave broke with a booming crash of whitewater.”
—Thomas S. Garlinghouse shares his surfing adventure in El Salvador’s “Wild East”
“On my knees, I take a final stroke and cut my hand on a rock just beneath the surface. It seems appropriate that I’ve given the ocean a piece of myself at the start and finish of my crossing. A toll, perhaps, for my successful passage?”
—Ryan Pingree’s reflections on the 32-mile QuicksilverEdition Molokai to Oahu Paddleboard Race.
July/August, #38
“The squirrely and somewhat unpredictable movement of the line is what makes slacklining the ultimate balance challenge.”
—Seth Lightcap on the history and current popularity of slacklining
September/October, #39
“If flatwater paddling is the equivalent of road biking, and whitewater paddling is more akin to mountain biking, upriver paddling might be the waterborne counterpart of cyclocross.”
—Pete Gauvin behaves like a salmon while paddling a sea kayak upstream on the Sacramento River
“His refusal to rate his climbs and emphasize “chasing numbers” has inspired others to look for deeper meaning in the act of climbing.”
—Matt Niswonger on Chris Sharma’s deepwater soloing project in Mallorca, Spain.
November/December, #40
“Perhaps the most important thing to bring on a winter mountaineering trip is the right mindset. Don’t push for a peak in winter with an “at-all-costs” approach, which can backfire … The mountains will still be there whether you tag the top this time or next.”
—SP Parker gives tips on winter mountaineering and getting out in the “off” season.
“The climbing began with moderate climbing up fractured slabs, then quickly switched to exposed jamming and smearing. Many holds, cracks, and ledges were filled with snow. Several hundred feet above the talus slopes it became apparent that my only escape from the arete was up. The climber’s game had proven dangerously intoxicating once again.”
—Andrew Sawyer makes an impromptu free solo of the classic Sierra climb, the Swiss Arete.
| 2008 |
January/February, #41
“In addition to big fir planks and whisky-fed courage, there was one other key ingredient the miners needed for speed on the hill: Good dope.”
—Pete Gauvin on the history of “longboard” ski racing in the mining camps of the Northern Sierra and the concoction of racing wax applied to their 14-16 foot skis
“Climbing was an extension of backpacking. People came as backpackers that couldn’t get to the top of the peak. Nowadays they come from the climbing gym. So they don’t really have that deep-rooted feeling of love for the mountains already in place.”
—Bela Vadasz of Alpine Skills International shares how things have changed over his 30 years as a mountain guide
March/April, #42
“By the time many California rafters and kayakers get into river mode, streams up and down the state are drying up and coming off the menu.”
—Pete Gauvin shares top spring river trips and reminds us to not let the runoff pass us by
“There were other pros in big trucks with their names painted on them and lots of logos. In contrast, I had brought my mom, my uncle, and a bike mechanic friend from home.”
—Rebecca Rusch makes the transition from professional adventure racer to 24-hour mountain biking
May/June, #43
“Part of the attraction to surfing is the fulfillment that comes from being part of a wild, untamed environment.”
—Ian Fein on the fear of sharks while surfing in the “Red Triangle”
“Indeed, stand-up has become the latest surf-inspired offshoot to grab a following, and it appears poised to last, as the reasons for its recent growth spurt go well beyond bare-chested celebrities. The practical, physical and sporting advantages of stand-up paddleboarding are numerous and compelling.”
—Ramona d’Viola explores the surging popularity of stand-up paddleboarding
July/August, #44
“There is something to be said for following your passion and donating your time to things you think will make a difference.”
— American Whitewater Stewardship Director Dave Steindorf of Chico shares his passion for protecting California’s rivers and providing public access
“If hang gliding and paragliding were a major sport you would have already heard of Kari Castle. Which is odd considering the sport’s extreme element. I mean strapping on a snowboard and launching ten feet in the air is one thing. Strapping yourself under some poles and fabric and flying off a hill only to catch some thermals and go up to an altitude that would scare the shit out of most birds is entirely another matter.”
—Bruce Willey introduces ASJ readers to record-setting, high-flying Kari Castle of Bishop
September/October, #45
“It is fine to race in California’s dust and sunshine, but I want to play in the mud, so we go for the rainy season.”
—David Gill, a cyclocross race organizer in Santa Cruz County
“Competition and cooperation. They are another of those big dualities we get to chew on. Like pride and humility. Like fear and desire. Climbing set them a stage, and alpine air encourages the rumination. How you play them out affects everything, from getting laid to the future of humanity.”
—Doug Robinson ponders the nature of alpinism in the High, and mild, Sierra
November/December, #46
“The sport wasn’t big enough to exclude anyone. The whole point was to persuade people to experience the satisfaction that comes from earning turns, not from the style of the turn.”
—Die-hard telemark skier Craig Dostie shares his decision to have his California-based publication, “Couloir,” be inclusive of all downhill disciplines, opening up the backcountry to a much wider audience
“We’re not telling anyone how to live their life. We’re just trying to show people a way to put adventure and fun back into snowboarding while respecting the environment.”
—Chris Edmunds of Leeward Cinema talks about his film “My Own Two Feet,” in which they turned their back on mechanized travel and hiked into the backcountry to get footage
| 2009 |
Photo: Mark Nadell
January/February, #47
“I was soon convinced that if I were to try the crossing, she certainly would be my choice of a companion. She changed my opinion that a woman’s place was definitely only in the home.”
—Dennis Jones first-hand account of his remarkable first ski crossing of Tioga Pass with “Miss” Milana Jank, a German alpinist and ski ambassador, in 1932
“However you ski The Great Ski Race, whether as a super-fast competitor or as a casual tourer, it is one of those community bonding events that you will enjoy year after year.”
—Mark Nadell shares the experience of the West’s largest cross-country ski race, The Great Ski Race from Tahoe City to Truckee
March/April, #48
“It wasn’t rocket science. You get an old bike and try to make it a little more useful in the dirt.”
— Mountain biking pioneer Charlie Kelly reflects on the evolution of off-road bikes
May/June, #49
“The reason people surf for 40 years or longer is because you don’t spend much time as a surfer on your feet riding waves. You almost never feel faded.”
— San Francisco surfer and author Matt Warshaw talks to ASJ about the surfing lifestyle
July/August, #50
“As I stood in the meadow watching my dog run through the tall grass, I thought to myself, I don’t know how much closer a person can get to heaven on earth than this.”
— Dave McNeill on hiking the Eastern Sierra high country above Bishop
September/October, #51
“On the one hand, there is this incredible danger. If you fall you are dead after you are 50 feet off the ground. But on the other hand you are completely safe if climbing within your limits. And there is the feeling that you are doing something you shouldn’t be doing—free soloing has that sort of intrigue.”
—John Bachar reflects on his sport just two weeks before falling to his death while free soloing the Dike Wall near Mammoth
“Originally, it began as an ambitious 2,500-mile off-road route from Montana to Mexico along the Continental Divide. But as the twirling globe slowed to a stop, our fingers ran all the way down the longest continguous mountain range in the world.”
—Jacob Thompson shares his epic pedal from Alaska to Patagonia down the backbone of the Americas
November/December, #52
“Few downhillers know what an adrenaline rush it can be flying down a narrow, winding trail on a couple lightning-fast skinny sticks.”
—Tim Hauserman from the article “Nordic Relief for Alpine Skiers,” on the misconceptions gravity-fed skiers have about cross-country skiing
| 2010 |
January/Februay, #53
“This is what we do for fun. We bundle ourselves up and head out into the elements enjoying its carefree pleasures and enduring its heaping shares of whoop-ass. And what better metaphorical experience – joy and laughter, discomfort and fear, struggles and uncertainty – could a newlywed couple embarking on a lifetime together have in one trip?”
—Wendy Lautner writes about her backcountry ski honeymoon in Patagonia
March/April, #54
“After a year of battling Stage Four cancer and enough infused chemo to light Las Vegas, I was in search of more strength. The leapin’ lizards, cherry gnarr-gnarr type that makes even the worst situations open into starbursts.”
—Robert Frohlich about his search for mojo at Glacier Point during his battle with cancer
“The challenge of steadying your shooting hand while gasping from race-pace Nordic skiing is like a doctor trying to operate after running up flights of stairs.”
—Seth Lightcap on the sport of biathlon and the new training center at Northstar
Photo: Tommy Bensko
May/June, #55
“Being a practical middle-aged fellow I care no longer for foolish risks nor needless expense. I paddle the waters of Lake Tahoe every summer to celebrate my love affair with mountain life.”
—Robert Frohlich on kayaking Lake Tahoe, simple and care free
“Steamer Lane is like a surf auditorium built for show-offs. It breeds the worst in localism and the best in surfing acrobatics. Not surprisingly, the two often go together.”
—Jamal Yogis in an excerpt from his book, “Saltwater Buddha: A Surfer’s Quest to find Zen on the Sea”
July/August, #56
“Windsurfing is like dancing with a partner on a surfboard … Kiteboarding feels like you’re dancing solo on the board, hooked at the waist with a wind-powered umbilical cord.”
—Experienced windsurfer Craig Dostie in “It’s Not Sailing, It’s Flying,” about taking his first lessons in kiteboarding at the Delta
“The Oakland A’s gave him a tryout in 1973. Fortunately, his fastball wasn’t big-league material and he realized his fortunes were more likely to be determined by his ability to deliver a deft sentence than a strike on the outside corner.”
— Pete Gauvin on prolific San Francisco newspaper columnist and guidebook author Tom Stienstra
September/October, #57
“John was killed on a Highway 395 after hitting a deer on his motorcycle on his way to climb Excelsior Mountain … Too often it’s not the mountains that take good mountaineers but just getting to them.”
—A remembrance of John Fischer (1946-2010), noted climber and owner of the Palisade School of Mountaineering, by Bruce Willey
November/January, #58
“So if not full circle, at least I’ve come a long ways. And that’s why they call it practicing rather than doing yoga. It’s the process that counts. The results are just a by-product.”
—After years of denial and protestation, climber Bruce Willey finally comes to terms with yoga in his piece, “The Reluctant Yogi”
“The Brissendens persevered and not only rebuilt Sorensen’s, but also helped rescue Hope Valley from future development. … In 1985, along with other local activists, they helped create the Friends of Hope Valley. The nonprofit helped to preserve 25,000 acres of open space in Hope Valley and eastern Alpine County through the Trust for Public Land.”
—The late Robert Frohlich recounts the history of a favorite Sierra getaway, Sorensen’s Resort. “Fro” passed away in October from cancer.
“It doesn’t take very long for dedicated Tahoe ski bums to hear the stories from the many skiers and riders who use Squaw as training ground for the bigger, wilder terrain in Alaska. I knew I had to go, but how was I going to afford the trip?”
—Brennan Lagasse on the seeds of his mission to leave ski tracks on each of the world’s seven continents
| 2011 |
February/March, #59
“Dozens of wild haired, loose souls began settling in South Lake Tahoe. Once they got there, they did whatever the hell they wanted. They twirled on skis and practiced precision mogul turns. They built jumps, did back flips, puffed on joints and did more back flips.”
—Jeremy Evans on the golden age of ski bumming at Heavenly
“Give me the long steady hills and even the flats, but my chicken feathers flutter on the downhills. When I see a sign that says 12% grade, I put on the brakes and feel the breeze of dozens of riders roaring past.”
—Tim Hauserman enjoys the Chico Wildflower Century as a rookie over the age of 50
Oct/090
24 HOURS OF TAHOE DISC GOLF ADRENALINE
By Matt Niswonger
by Cathy Claesson
The Lake Tahoe/Truckee area is said to be a disc golf paradise. We had to find out for ourselves. Not to play a course or two in between mountain biking and climbing, but to get serious about playing as many courses as possible. This will not be a tour or a spree, we decided, this will be an endurance challenge. We are not here to sample
some disc golf, we said, but to immerse ourselves in it. Four courses back to back in 24 hours. Discwood, Bijou, Zephyr, and Truckee÷what better way to experience these well-known disc
golf courses than back to back? What better way to spend a fall weekend?
COURSE ONE, DAY ONE, 11:00 AM
NAME: DISCWOOD
DISC GOLF COURSE This is the disc golf
course at Kirkwood Ski Resort.
LOCATION: Hwy
50 to Hwy 89 to Hwy 88 to Kirkwood. The
course roughly follows chair-lift seven, going
up the hill.
BETA: Discwood is simply epic. The course roughly follows a ski slope up and down a mountain. Amazing. The average elevation is right around 9000â, so be advised÷18 holes at Discwood will
wipe you out. Folks from sea level can expect to feel pretty winded. The course is not particularly difficult, although I got
my butt kicked. Why? I am weaker on holes that fade to the right and my putting game fell off the table. Some holes are extremely tight. A couple holes feel almost impossible. The elevation WILL
kick your butt.
COURSE BEAUTY: **** (out of four)
SIGNATURE HOLE:Hole 16 will blow your mind. 1200 feet down a ski run. Looks easy for a par 5, but donât be deceived. This hole has never been completed in three, according to local Steve Newell. The fairway looks huge, but one must fade right for a mile and then turn over and helix back for two miles. Days and days of air to magnify your every driving mistake. Got
a huge backhand drive? Donât get cocky. Most will go bye-bye into the woods.
COURSE TWO, DAY ONE, 1:25 PM
NAME: BIJOU DISC GOLF COURSE This is one of two South Lake Tahoe disc courses that we played.
LOCATION: Bijou community park is right off Hwy 50 in South Lake Tahoe. Look for yellow baskets in the woods next to the parking area.
BETA: Bijou is a tight course. Most holes have a workable window, but the trees are always lurking. Being able to drive forehand will help your score, as many holes fade to the right. For
the rest of us who tee-off pretty much exclusively back-hand, its critical to have a slightly understable disc that will fade right. I
was playing with a VERY beat-up (and VERY understable) Gazelle that often died to the right way too early. For other unfortunates like myself
with no forehand drive, bring a slightly used Roc or Stingray that is not so easy to overpower. Or just quit your whining and learn to drive forehand.
COURSE BEAUTY: **
COURSE THREE, DAY ONE, 4:20 PM
NAME: ZEPHYR
COVE DISC GOLF COURSE The second South Lake Tahoe course.
LOCATION: Take
Hwy 50 to Al Tahoe blvd. Look for the
Zephyr Cove sign.
BETA: Zephyr is a magnificent course. Play this course. The views of Lake Tahoe are not to be missed. Many
tee-boxes sport epic views. Think of Zephyr as a wild and wooly hike through the Manzanita. Playing with someone who knows the course is just about mandatory. Some holes are hard to decipher. Not that
Zephyr isnât 100% legitimate÷every hole has a basket and every tee a tee-pad.
Wading
through Manzanita can scratch your legs, so wear pants if itâs not too hot. The course is not quite as civilized as say, Delaveaga,
but the scenery is stunning. EVERY HOLE REQUIRES A SPOTTER. Have the spotter stand about half the distance to the basket and watch every drive like a hawk. Manzanita eats discs.
COURSE
BEAUTY: ****
COURSE
FOUR, DAY TWO, 9:55 AM
NAME: TRUCKEE
RIVER DISC GOLF COURSE The final course
of the disc marathon, in Truckee.
LOCATION: The
course is right on the Truckee river, in Truckee,
off Hwy 80.
BETA: Truckee
is a civilized, beginner friendly course. 
By no means is it easy, just fairly straightforward. The
course is absolutely top-notch. The tee-box signs are beautiful, the course layout is logical, and the tee-pads are roomy. I really
enjoyed the views of the river and the railway boxcars along old-town Truckee. The course favors longer drivers.
COURSE BEAUTY: ***
Oct/090
KING of the LINE
Chris Sharma’s Search for the Planet’s Greatest Climbs
By Matt Niswonger
Chris in Mallorca, Spain. Photo by Corey Rich.
In the early 1990s an indoor climbing gym, Pacific Edge, opened up in Santa Cruz. A climbing gym in the surf capital of Northern California raised a few eyebrows, but from day one there was quite a bit of interest. Early on a few of the local kids started going to the gym on a regular basis, discovering indoor climbing as a good after-school alternative to skateboarding, biking, and playing in the ocean. But after a while, the initial excitement sort of ran its course, and most of that early group moved.
A core group of kids, however, became totally consumed by the climbing thing. After about a year, these kids got really strong—ridiculously strong. Pacific Edge, with its 50-foot lead cave, was the perfect incubator for raw power. Kids and preteens, those with elastic tendons, progressed rapidly. Some of the older Sierra climbers who were hanging around the gym back in those days began to take notice. Some of the kids were crimping their way to the top of boulder problems that these climbing veterans could only hope to solve.
Chris Sharma was one of the kids. He did stuff that made the vets just shake their heads in disbelief. It was like the standard rules of physics just didn’t apply. He could take on a tough boulder problem, do everything wrong and still succeed on his first attempt. His big bony fingers could hold on to miserable holds like they were ladder rungs. He could do multiple one-arm pull-ups. He was climbing 5.13 when he was 13.
Of course, these were climbing-gym 5.13s, achieved while toproping on routes with bolt-on artificial holds. Skeptics, although impressed and perhaps a bit jealous of his indoor skills, said Sharma’s climbing prowess would never translate to natural rock in the great outdoors. It wasn’t anything personal, it was just that many of these experienced climbers had learned to climb in the Yosemite tradition, when climbing was less controlled and more exposed and people spent 10 years learning to lead 5.11, if ever.
At the time, sport climbing was taking off all over the country. The climbing paradigm was shifting away from Yosemite and other areas that emphasized traditional climbing, as a more athletic, acrobatic form of climbing gained in popularity. Clipping permanently installed anchors in the rock while on lead made outdoor climbing a whole lot more similar to gym climbing.
Sport climbing and gym climbing fueled each other in a way that raised climbing standards nationwide. It wasn’t a stretch to think that Sharma and his generation of indoor climbers would be able to make the transition to sport climbing outdoors.
In 1995, at age of 14, Sharma erased any doubts by winning both the Junior Nationals and the adult National Championships. The fact that a young teenager who honed his skills largely in a gym was the best climber in America heralded a new era in the sport. Only a few months later, Sharma became the youngest person ever to ascend 5.14 on an outdoor climb, and the transition was complete.
Suddenly, Sharma, a shy and reserved personality, was the most exciting climber in America. Traveling to Europe, he excelled on some of the toughest climbs in the world. Indeed, he was only getting stronger. In France, Sharma had a chance to try an unsolved extension to an existing route, Biographie. At 5.14c, Biographie was notoriously desperate, but the extension made it a candidate for the mythic grade of 5.15.
After many attempts spread out over three years, Chris linked Biographie with this devious upper sequence, becoming the first person in the world to ascend a (later) confirmed 5.15 route. He named the route Realization. In the book Vertical World by Katie Brown, Sharma explained, “In French, to realize a route means to send it … It was very difficult for me mentally, physically, and emotionally. In order to be ultimately successful, I had to ‘realize’ a lot of things about myself.”
Since completing Realization in 2001, Sharma has been involved with numerous film projects. Concentrating on bouldering, he teamed up with Josh Lowell of Big Up Productions on such films as Dosage, Rampage, and Pilgrimage.
Refusing to grade his projects, Sharma became a force for de-emphasizing numerical grades in order to focus on the intrinsic and personal challenges that climbing presents. Although this more closely allied with his Zen beliefs, it made things difficult for the climbing magazines looking to quantify his projects for an international audience. Readers naturally wanted to compare the latest Sharma project with the routes of other world-class climbers, but Sharma found the grading system superficial. Instead of breaking everything down to its lowest common denominator, he emphasized that each climb was its own challenge, played out in a unique setting.
The climbing press soon realized that the man who brought us 5.15 would not be chasing 5.16. Yet, far from hurting his career, his refusal to chase numbers inspired others to look for a deeper meaning in the act of climbing.
If grades don’t tell the story of the latest Sharma epic, then his videos certainly do. He has been able to express the stunning nature of each of his successive projects on film. For the past two years, quite a buzz has been building around the climbs appearing in King Lines: Chris Sharma’s Search for the Planet’s Greatest Climbs, his latest film collaboration with filmmakers Josh Lowell and Peter Mortimer.
In early 2006, dramatic photos of Sharma deepwater soloing (climbing without a rope over water) in Spain appeared in Climbing magazine. Sharma’s new project, a 65-foot rock arch on an islet called Es Pontas, off the coast of Mallorca, will be a highlight of the film. The committing nature of deepwater soloing – Sharma reportedly took 50-plus falls into the churning Mediterranean while attempting to solve a dynamic crux move 35 feet off the water – has made King Lines his most anticipated film yet. In addition to Es Pontas, the film features Sharma on Moonlight Buttress in Utah, bouldering in Venezuela, and on an unfinished mega route on Clark Mountain in southeast California.
Recently, ASJ had a chance to ask Sharma about Clark Mountain, his latest obsession. “It’s my hardest ever, the most amazing sport route of my life,” he says of the ultra-long, 230-foot single-pitch route on this mile-high limestone peak rising out of the Mojave desert near the Nevada border.
In attempting such a long single-pitch climb, Sharma is pushing the envelope of human strength and endurance. The sustained nature of this marathon climb is like stacking brutally difficult boulder problems one on top of another for 230 feet. Whether he can actually link these sequences into one seamless climb remains to be seen, but few would bet against his mix of talent, strength and determination – and past successes!
Lucky for the rest of us, there’s usually a film crew to capture the drama.
King Lines: Chris Sharma’s Search for the Planet’s Greatest Climbs will be showing at the following Northern California locations in September and October. To see a trailer of the film go to www.kinglinesmovie.com.
For more information, check out www.reelrocktour.com:
- Santa Cruz, Sept. 7
- The Rio Theatre, 7:30 pm
- San Francisco, Sept. 8
- The Victoria Theatre, 8 pm
- South Lake Tahoe, Sept. 14
- Lake Tahoe Community College Theatre, 7 pm
- Berkeley, Sept. 26 and 27
- Pyramid Brewery, 8 pm
- Yosemite, Sept. 27
- Yosemite Lodge Amphitheater, 7 pm
- Walnut Creek, Oct. 4
- Pyramid Brewery, 8pm
- San Luis Obispo, Oct. 12
- The Palm Theater, TBA
