Archive for July, 2010 « The Blog on alanarnette.com

Gear Review: Tents, Poles and Packs oh my!

Jul 312010

One of the benefits of climbing is it requries gear. As they say, the difference between men and boys is the price of their toys. This goes for the ladies but it doesn’t rhyme as well. Anyway, I really don’t buy a lot of gear anymore since I have my favorites but when I do I research my options and try to get what I think best fits my needs. Sometimes it works, other times, it is a learning experince. I just posted three new reviews for items I am using quite a bit this summer in my Colorado mountains. continue reading

A Summer of Colorado Traverses

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Jul 302010

Colorado has 4 so-called Great Traverses: the Maroon Bells, Little Bear to Blanca, Crestone Needle to Peak and the ridge connecting El Diente to Mt. Wilson. With the Bells completed a few years ago, this summer, I added two more to my list. Traverses are special climbs in that you usually climb to the summit of one peak and take a more or less direct route across a connecting ridge to another high peak. In these cases all the peaks are above 14,000′ or a 14er in Colorado parlance. They usually involved more difficult climbing moving into the high class continue reading

The Climbing Youth Movement Continues: Matt Moniz

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Jul 132010

The Climbing Youth Movement Continues: Matt Moniz

What did you do on your summer vacation? Well 12 year old Matt Moniz is trying the extraordinary. He and his father, Mike are tagging the highest points in all U.S. 50 States in 50 days. They just completed number 49, Granite Peak in Montana. Next up they leaving for Hawaii to tackle Mauna Kea. If you are curious about your state’s highpoint, take a look at this link. As might be expected, the lowest is Florida’s Britton Hill at 345′ and the highest is Denali in Alaska at 20,320′. The organization, highpointers.org tracks those going for the high points and helps with information.

A Windy Meeker

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Jul 132010

Mt. Meeker is the poor cousin of mighty Longs Peak. Just missing out being a 14ers by a mere 9 feet, Meeker is the mountain you see from Denver, not Longs At 13,911′ is is one of the highest 13ers but is often passed by with climbers going for Longs, the highest in Rocky Mountain National Park, at 14,256′. I know this since I have passed it by while on my way to Longs on multiple occasions. So on this mid July day in 2010, I set out to pay homage to this peak, little did I know she would not make this a trivial “tag”.

Everest Facts for KiDs

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Jul 112010

Do you know what kind of rock makes up Mt. Everest, when was the first north side summit or how much rope is used to set the fixed rope on the south side each season? Well, Everest is full of interesting history, details and trivia. As part of my Everest for KiDs slide show, have added a page with a few facts that kids, and adults, may find interesting. If you know others I should add send me an email.

Finding Clark's Arrow on Longs Peak

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Jul 032010

Sometimes it is the little thing. I have climbed on Longs Peak perhaps 70 times in all kinds of weather by multiple routes. But one small goal has eluded me for years. You see, way back in the early days of Rocky Mountain National Park, an enterprising ranger named John Clark decided to help out his fellow climbers by painting an arrow directing climbers to the saddle between Longs Peak and Mt Meeker. The area is a rock filled gully and can be very confusing so some type of semi-permanent sign would have been useful. Of course today that would be illegal and considered graffiti!