Yosemite

I spent the first two weeks of my trip to Yosemite this fall working on a project I would ultimately fail on, a new free route on the right side of El Cap. After receiving a hot tip from our buddy Alik, Will Stanhope and I worked on freeing the Waterfall Route (an old A4), eventually committing to a wall-style attempt from the ground. We would turn around on our second day, unable to surmount unstable death blocks and friable rock. Here's some photos from our try:




Here's a photo that Tom Evans took from El Cap Meadow:


After our defeat it was time to relax and have fun... as best as you can in Yosemite. This means laid back bouldering and a lap up Astroman with Will and Jen.

Bugaboos

This August I spent several weeks in the Canadian Rockies and the Bugaboos. The summer has been full of work and some weeks it was hard to stay motivated and get out and climb for myself. Evening sessions were common. Will Stanhope and I became interested in a project that would be both a lot of fun, and easy to try after a day of guiding. We wanted to break the speed record on the Grand Wall, set over a decade ago by Guy Edwards and Sig Isaac. On our second try - and my second time up the route this year - we broke the 1:44 record with a time of 1:13.33.

Drinking celebratory pilsners we had stashed after the climb.

Surprised by my fitness, I was off to see what I could do in the Bugaboos.

Most of my efforts of the trip was directed at this beautiful piece of stone, the mighty East Face of Snowpatch.

It's amazing how close to camp this awesome face is - no alpine start is needed! Day one saw my talented soon-to-be mountain guide partner Jen Olson and I on The Power of Lard, a German route on the Tom Egan Wall, the right side of the East Face. The last pitch is one of the most amazing splitters I have ever seen. The Germans originally rated this pitch 5.13c and named it the Endless Struggle. With no expectations, just a willingness to try really hard, I onsighted the pitch. I can't claim the 5.13 grade though. Despite being 9a crushers, the Germans must have been very inexperienced crack climbers.

Jen following one of the many quality pitches.

Jen then went back to Canmore to pick up Ines Papert, while I hung out in basecamp.

Talking shop with Jon Walsh and Cory Richards in Applebee.

There was a huge crew in Applebee so finding awesome partners was never a problem.

Will Stanhope even showed up for a quick hit with Chris Brazeau. Always prepared for the bad weather tent sessions with a copy of Chatelaine.

The Bugs is designed for hot-lapping it seems, so I couldn't help but huck a lap on the Snowpatch Route and the NE Face of Pigeon. The latter resulting in a traverse of Pigeon and a super fun day out in the mountains.

Jen and Ines showed up that afternoon and we made plans to try Divine Intervention, a new route on Bugaboo Spire's east face.

Ines leading the first block.

I ran into Crosby Johnson and together we hatched a plan to free a route on the left edge of Snowpatch's east face. The route started on the original Beckey route but then aimed left to beautiful virgin pillars. Crosby was a good friend, but we had never actually tied in together. It was an honor to rope up with him for such an adventure.

Crosby following a quality 5.11 corner on the route.

It was a pretty amazing trip, the Bugs are a very special place. It is good to be back in Squamish now though. The temps are good and I am very psyched on my latest project: freeing the old aid line Cannabis Wall with Will Stanhope.

Patagonia 2008

I am settled now back in Vancouver, lining up work for the summer season and rigging the occasional show at GM Place.

This season in Patagonia was amazing, they are already calling it the 'Season of Dreams'. I am very proud of all my friends who managed to climb inspiring lines. Colin and Rolo on the Torre Traverse, Freddy and Dana on their Fitz traverse, the Hubers on La Silla, and Tobey and Jesse on their beautiful St. Exupery FA. Will and I had so much fun hanging with all our new and old friends in El Chalten. Without these people, the trip would have been only full of all that nasty alpine climbing stuff!

After a frustrating battle with the Aerolineas Argentina airline strike, we managed to negotiate a 2-day bus ride that would take us into El Chalten, the town that is the access point for climbing in the Cerro Torre/ Fit Roy groups.

Will booking a flight in Spanglish.

We landed in Chalten at 3am to clear skies and immediately started hiking into the Torre Valley. Sun-up offered breath-taking views of the range.

Crossing the Torre Glacier enroute to basecamp in the Torre Valley.

The weather closed in on us before we were able to attempt anything, but we were back up a few days later psyched on trying a new route on Poincenot.

Our new route on Poincenot 'the DNV Direct'. Completed over 3 days in mid-January, it went at VI 5.11 X A1 1700m.

A pitch of perfect fingers high on Poincenot.

Will following the ridgeline on day one.

The route was huge, over 50 pitches long; hard, with many pitches of steep 5.11; and dangerous, with some of the worst loose rock either of us had encountered on granite. The 2 brutal open bivies we suffered were enough to make us want to play safer. The views of Aguja Desmochada from our vantage on Poincenot were too stunning to forget. Despite its proximity to the Niponinos basecamp, this, the steepest tower in the range had seen very few ascents and had never been free climbed.

Our original plan was to attempt a free ascent of the Huber-Seigreist line 'Golden Eagle'. It started on the west face, but avoided the steepest part of the headwall to the left, and climbed on the chossier south face. So we settled on trying to free climb on the west face, in the vincinity of the Wilkinson-Sharratt line 'the Sound and the Fury'.

Our free route on the west aspect of Desmochada, (V 5.12b 800m). A variation to 'the Sound and the Fury'.

Will leading the start of the headwall - STEEP! SPLITTER!.

The crux pitch went at mid-5.12. Tips fingerlocks ended upbruptly in the corner, and forced overhanging liebacking up the outside edge. The pitch was capped by a finger splitter remeniscent of the Optimator at Indian Creek. When Will reached the belay our tag line hung in space 5 feet out from my belay.

The higher we got, the better the rock was! Perfect hands forever.

Will and I exhausted on the summit at dusk.

The descent was hairy, and we finally got a blast of full-force Patagonian wind. We touched down after the last rappel with about 35 meters of our lead line, and 15 of tag - the rest was chopped dealing with the multiple stuck ropes. We literally stumbled back to basecamp and collapsed for 24 hours before we had the strength to hike down to town for some much needed rest.

The weather opened up again and we were forced to climb some more. Our objective this time was the beautiful north aspect of Aguja Innominata, a face I had snapped a photograph of during our Poincenot ascent.

The beautiful north face of Innominata with 'Blood on the Tracks' marked. Will and I made the first integral free ascent of this route first done in 2006 by Wilkinson-Sharratt-Tureki-Taki.

Finally, the weather closed in for a few weeks of much needed rest and we carried our gear out of base camp. Our plan was to establish a camp on the east side of Fitz Roy for an attempt on the North Pillar of Fitz. That's all it was though, an attempt. We were pretty fried at this point of our trip and rappelled after a very uncomfortable bivy on the route.

The approach gully of the North Pillar route.

And with that, our 2 month trip came to an end. This was truly an amazing expedition on world class routes. Thanks to the community in El Chalten, my partner Will Stanhope, and trip sponsors Mountain Equipment Co-op, Metolius, Five Ten, and Power Bar.

Happy Holidays

It was good to spend this Christmas at home on the west coast. In the few days preceeding the holiday I wasn't convinced I was completely in the spirit of things. But the snow, the treats, and the fact that my mother is a wonderful cook made me come around. Besides, I find it really easy and fun to shop for people I care about.

This Christmas Eve was a wacky one, for sure. After meeting friends and doing some last minute shopping downtown, I met up with my friends Will and Elsa the dog in West Vancouver in the late afternoon. The sun was shining and it was so beautiful that we both had one thing on our mind - deep water soloing.

We arrived at the edge of the seaside traverse about 40 minutes till sunset. The sun-kissed rock was still retaining a lot of heat (for Canada), and the high tide was sending larges waves crashing down upon the cliff. What better training for the alpine than this, I thought, as I removed all valuables from my pockets. I was pretty sure I wasn't going to make it across, one way or another, and I was trying to push the reality of how cold the ocean is and my lack of swimming ability to the furthest reaches of my mind.

I got wet, really wet. A rouge wave of icey saltwater came and soaked me, instantly sending my teeth a chattering any reducing the contents of my chalkbag to soddon, milky mush. I managed to reverse the sketchy moves I was already commited to. Will soloed out.

When I knocked on my parents door half an hour later, I didn't tell them why I was wet, instead hid my cothing with a jacket untill I could change.

That night my car was broken into. The thieves smashed a window, bypassed a few grand worth of climbing and rigging equipment, several pieces of high-end outerwear, and instead made off with my Ipod, my sweet sunglasses [ouch!], and my Chevy racing hat [green flames (!)]. All I hope is that someone listens to the music on my mp3 player before they wipe the memory, that stuff changes lives.

Merry Christmas, everyone!


JK

The Anderson on Alpinist.com

My good friend Craig McGee is responsible for adding 3 very high quality new alpine rock routes in the Anderson River Valley Range of BC. McGee is motivated to the point of suspect ADD, and is also newly engaged (congrats to him and Ruby). I was involved with one of these along with Brad White, and it still ranks as some of the nicest climbing I have done!



A new trail has been cut to get into the area, so now there is no reason not to check out the awesome established lines and explore the amazing potential this area has to offer.

Read the Alpinist report.

Happy holidays,


JK

Mia Patagonia!

As January draws nearer, I am having a very hard time controlling my excitement and nervousness. Will Stanhope and myself are travelling to the Patagonian region of Argentina to [hopefully] bag some towers.

Free climbing FA's on turbo granite is the mission, and the granite there is some of the best on Earth. The only problem is, weather-wise, we are trying to send in one of the most hostile environments as yet discovered by man..

Will's my best friend, we make a great team. I appreciate the fact that we can talk each other into the stupidest objectives while trimming down the gear to an uncompromizing minimum. Yea, this approach has lead to some memorable epics, but the sting is not long after forgotten, it seems. We are looking forward to applying our kamakazi-style tactics and free climbing rally ability to 6000 feet of mixed rock and ice in one of the most beautiful arenas for sport on this planet. Who knows, a weather window may never appear and we may spend six weeks drinking scotch in basecamp. We make great drinking partners though, too... Infact, it's Friday night and I think we'll go and do a little 'training'..

Very large thank-yous go out to both the Mountain Equipment Co-op and Metolius for kicking some serious support our way!

Hasta luego,


J

Team Canada in Yosemite

Holla,

Well, it's my birthday and I am sitting in the Lodge, unable to lift my arms from burns on a finger crack yesterday, listening to an awesome retro hip-hop mix by one of the talented dudes in Certified Bananas. Bubba's climbing with Samuel, the Swiss powerhouse, the boys Will and Jer are currently sleeping after stumbling back to camp at 7am this morning, back from a terrific rally of the NW Face of Half Dome - free!

Apparently, Will on-sighted the Zig-zags by headlamp and stuck the final crux 12b in freezing temps! The pair endured an unplanned bivy in a trailside outhouse with one down jacket between them. The unlucky alternate was forced to rap their ropes around them in a futile attempt at staving off the freezing temperatures.

It definitely feels good to be in Yosemite and representing for a change. All too often this place schools even the most studied of granite climber. I consider myself and Will's team free of the West Face of Leaning Tower to be my personal highlight so far. I was very pleased to come away with a no-falls ascent of such hard, low-percentage climbing. Of course, coming back for a bit of Monster O-dub retrobution on me and Bubba's El Cap mission was also rewarding, the fact that I failed on the boulder problem pitch was both frustrating, and motivating. I have climbed the least amount this past year after my strength-sapping trip to Waddington then any other year I can remember. The fact that I have been able to confidently cruise hard and often scary terrain closing in on my strength limit is comforting reassurance that I am becoming a far better climber. Any way you dice it though, I was bummed to fail on a pitch I did second try a year ago..

In other news, Will did the Excellent Adventure while Bubba and I were across the Valley on the Phoenix. An ascent is not valid without a celebratory Croft fist pump at the top, a la Masters of Stone.

Well, that is pretty much it so far, except for our successfull infiltration of the Staff Halloween party. No arrests this year.. I went as a 'junior park ranger'.

Ciao,

J

Yo. I am hanging out in Yosemite with a good crew from all over. Yesterday Will and I checked out the Westie Face on Leaning Tower - so steep, so slick, so amazing! I am hoping that with another attempt it will fall free... not a single pitch is easier than 5.12, bananas! In other news, Brad White came off Astroman with a send, nice work! Samuel went up Freerider to 'check it out' and hopes to go for the send with Will, meanwhile Ross and Crosby are currently also on route, and hope to top out tonight!

Ciao for now,

JK

Fall in Yosemite

I am off tomorrow morning with my bro Brad 'Bubba' White en route to Yosemite California, the land of big granite, big tourists, and overfed wildlife. First stop is Bend, Oregon to drop by the Metolius factory and pick up a portaledge and other big wall goodies. Maybe we'll even get a few pitches in at Smith in the afternoon, too.

The Captain.. the ground zero of North American freeclimbing right now.

The big objective of the trip is the Golden Gate freeroute on the SE Face of El Cap. I've been dreaming about this line ever since it was first established by the Huber brothers in '01. It's a big freaking route and I am pretty sure I am going to get my ass handed to me, but it is just fun to play around up there without all the gack and gear required for a standard aid ascent.

There is going to be a terrific crew sending in the Valley this year.. I can hardly wait to get down there!

A Pogo Named Ogo

I just rolled into town and was greeted with a very wet Vancouver evening. I was travelling home from Penticton and work for Russ Turner in the Skaha Bluffs, instructing 45 teenagers from West Point Grey Secondary in Vancouver. Will Stanhope was working his very first contract as a rock guide too, and in between polling the kids on the 50 vs. Kanye battle, Will made sure he educated all on Ogopogo safety. According to Will, pogo identifies the species of reptile, and Ogo is the name of the Okanagan Lake inhabitant (The Lock Ness Monster being another identified Pogo). The most important safety precaution when dealing with the Ogopogo, says Will, is to never approach the Ogopogo. A very concerned student named Franklin was adamant that there should be more scientists studying the creature, we all agreed thoroughly.

I threw the rock rack into the trunk before heading east as I heard about an unclimbed roof crack on one of the Bluffs' northern-most crags, the Jug Haul Wall. In Skaha Rock Climbs Howie Richardson describes the the line as 'the biggest unclimbed roof in Skaha, split by a crack'. Well, Skaha isn't exactly a Mecca of roof cracks nor a bastion of traditional climbing, but I was very intrigued and willing to hike (and hike some more) to get to what very well may be a disappointment.

Will was easily convinced to come along as he was keen to continue in his tradition of establishing short, hard, poorly protected gear routes in Skaha. Several years ago Will and I scrubbed a short seam on a crag east of the Euphorium. The only gear we could find was a 00 Metolius Power Cam about mid-way up. Undeterred, Will went for the lead and the result was Groundfall Alice's, a stout 5.11 named for the local strip joint Slack Alice's, an establishment neither of us were old enough to patronize at the time. I remember a young Will being quite disappointed that Sean Dougherty, the man behind Skaha.org wouldn't add the line to the online list of new routes in the bluffs.

The thin seam of Groundfall Alice's

Will, inspired by a 'borrowed' Blurr hoodie (it's finders keepers in the Isuzu) gives his best B-Unit stance at the base of Alice's

As we stood under the roof looking up at the unclimbed seam I couldn't help but think of some similarities between the two routes.. As we pondered how hilarious it would be to be known for putting up scary, sort of stupid trad routes at a destination sport cliff, Will booted up for an attempt.

A local climber had apparently tried the line before and a few small slider nuts were in place in the roof. Will dogged out to the lip and managed to back up the crux piece, a #1 Slider Nut, with a 00 Metolius TCU. Thin. After a few tries at the sequence, he handed the sharp end over saying 'just don't die', and I went up to take a look.



I struggled and chalked up a couple more holds, then lowered off to try and lead it from the ground. I was unsuccessful, but found a very thin crimp that set the body up for the reach to a miserable sloper at the lip. From here, it was just a matter of sticking a ridiculously fun flying-squirrel move around the lip to an arete jug. Yeah, definitely a silly route, but fun nonetheless. The boulder grade might be something like V6 or V7, so 5.12+?

We both did it in the next try or two, pinkpoint. The stunning line has yet to see a redpoint, integral. You don't need much, but bring the 00 and 0 tcu. Before we sent we even had a name for Skaha's biggest, boldest, proudest roof crack. In a land of hard roof cracks, The Pogo Named Ogo Crack is a King Line...

Gangsta Will and the new route..