The North Face

Feb 01 | Max Lowe shares his experience on being the son of two extreme TNF mountaineers

By Athlete Parents

Growing up as the son of two of the world’s most renowned alpine and high altitude mountaineers has been no ordinary childhood. Since I was a small boy, my father Alex Lowe was off in the mountains for more of my life than he was around me. On October 4^th 1990, 7 days before my second birthday Alex became the 40^th American to successfully reach the summit of the famed Mount Everest. I flew as a toddler to Thailand with my mother to meet my returning father, making my first intercontinental travel as a two year old. Since that first trip to meet up with Alex,  I have ventured with my family to many other wild places in this world along with Alex and later Conrad. 

 

I have gotten used to meeting people and having them ask “Lowe like Alex Lowe the climber?” As I move through life, I am continually amazed by the people I cross paths with who truly knew my father and looked up to him as a hero, not only for his prowess as a climber but for his integrity, compassion and life loving nature as a person. I was first exposed to the magnetic effect that Alex had on people after he died in 1999. An avalanche on Shishapangma, a peak high in the Tibetan Himalaya took his life. Over the next few months, my family received hundreds of consoling letters from friends, coworkers and even people who had never met Alex, sharing how he had influenced or impacted their life. To me he had always just been my dad. Of course he was my hero, but I didn’t know him through his accomplishments as a professional athlete, but through every day life. Early mornings, ski days, practicing violin together and post cards and trinkets I received from far reaches of the globe. I am continually building on who my father was as I meet people he befriended from all over the world. In this sense, as well as just being my dad, he will remain an inspiration for me throughout my life. 

           

In April 2001 my mother Jennifer Lowe married one of Alex’s best friends and climbing partners Conrad Anker. Interestingly enough, Conrad holds a very similar position in the climbing community. He is an esteemed and highly respected alpinist in the climbing community, owning a large number of first accents and difficult successful summit bids. It had actually been Conrad who secured Alex a position with The North Face all those years back. Having Conrad fill the father position in my life over the last 11 years of my life has been spectacular. We have continued traveling the globe as a family, following Conrad to places his adventures led him. Conrad has played an integral part in my development into the young man I have become. From encouraging me through school to college graduation, to helping me develop myself as a photographer he has become my hero and mentor in many senses. 

I also have to give credit to my wonderful mother who through all the expeditions and months of travel my fathers and stepfathers jobs demanded was able to raise my two brothers and myself into the young men we have become. Jennifer has remained home as the backbone of the family structure that has remained even through all of the chaos of living in a family of professional mountaineers. 

Growing up in the shadow of these two amazing individuals, Conrad Anker and Alex Lowe, has been a trip and a blessing. Definitely different from your average upbringing in the US, but I would have it no other way. My fathers and mother have showed me the door into my passion for the outdoors, and the insight to explore the world for more than what meets the eye, and for that I thank them. 

 

Jan 27 | Climbing and Filmmaking, a Life of Passion.

By Cedar Wright

When I went on a climbing trip to Brazil in 2009, with Renan Ozturk, I had just bought a video camera and loaded Final Cut Pro onto my rickety laptop.  A month later, I was loving Brazil so much, I ended up staying an extra two months, and shot and climbed the entire time.  When I came home I had SO much footage, and decided I should try to put together a short film to enter into film festivals.  This was the beginning of what has become a career within a career.  I've been lucky to shoot short films in Australia, Malaysia, all around the western united states since then!  Here is Pra Caramba!

 

Now three years later, I am still passionate about climbing and filmmaking.  I sometimes struggle with finding the balance between these two passions but in the end they are complimentary, and whether I am hanging off the side of a cliff filming or climbing, I feel like I'm living my own personal version of the DREAM!!!  Here is my most recent work, that features fellow TNF athlete Sam Elias defying gravity.

 

Jan 24 | Mirror Reality: Rocky Mountain Boulder Send by Daniel Woods

By The North Face

On behalf of Daniel Woods

I first got word from Dave Graham in May of 2011 of a potential new project in Rocky Mountain National Park. The climb is located a few hundred feet past the moraine park turnoff, on the right hand side of the road. An obvious landmark to look for is the raging river filled with house sized boulders, running underneath the road bridge. You park in a pull out just past the bridge on the right and run a few hundred feet up the hillside into the woods.

Eager for new boulders, I decided to take a solo mission and check it out. The nature of the rock is glassy with large chunks of crystal seamed together, creating just enough friction to hold on. The beginning is steep (45 degree angle), but as soon as you reach the lip, the angle changes to a bulged out slab. You begin with a 4 move 8A+ which crux revolves around a low percentage first move. The theme of the problem begins (most of the time concludes) at the half way point of the boulder. Here you take a flat full pad edge with your right hand and a flat half pad edge with your left, place your right toe on a needle tip piece of crystal, and jump blindly over the bulge to a glassy sloper with your left hand. This one move in itself is around 8A and is tough to stick from this point, let alone from the beginning. The exit is a 4 move 7C/+ with a hard right foot rock over to the finishing edge. At this point you are relieved and can walk off to the right.

I tried this project on and off for a couple of weeks in May into June, but the conditions became too warm to succeed. At this point I was disappointed knowing that I was not able to return back until next spring of 2012. My plan was to travel to Europe and boulder for the fall/winter season. The whole time I was in Europe, I thought about this project and if anyone was going to go try it. I heard that a couple of climbers in Boulder were working it on and off, but there was still no success. My departure time in Europe arrived and I flew back to CO in Jan. of 2012. I had speculation if the project would be doable in winter because of snow levels. With a low snow season, the park was in the prime and I repaid the “Bridge Project” another visit.

It took a few days to remember the moves, but on my 5^th day I executed each move perfectly and grunted my way to the top. Dave Graham and Cameron Maire were there to support me and it felt nice to have friends to share this experience with. There are still more projects to be climbed. I am impressed with how much rock the park has to offer. It seems that gems keep popping up each year, get cleaned, and then become a reality.  

Dec 14 | Cedar Wright :: Rumble in the Jungle

By Athlete Parents

Wow, looking back on my trip to Malaysia with Lucho Rivera it seems like a fuzzy surreal dream!  Was it real at all?  One clue that it was not in fact a dream is that a month later stings from the humming bird sized wasps that inhabit Tioman Island Malaysia are still not completely healed!  With a treacherous, hot, humid, and spiky jungle full of poisonous creepy crawlies standing between us, and our goal of climbing The Dragon’s Horns, this trip would have been many peoples worse nightmare, but I feel so fortunate.  Another amazing trip to a remote nook of the world with an incredible first ascent achieved, but for me that's not the greatest success of this expedition.  

Our greatest achievement was that by partnering with Big City Mountaineers, and with the generous support of The North Face, Lucho and I were able to raise over six thousand dollars in the name of our climb that will go directly to getting under resourced urban teens out onto week-long expeditions in the wilderness.  I hope that not only have Lucho and I brought awareness and financial support to B.C.M., but that we have highlighted the importance of getting kids “unplugged”, away from their electronic filled worlds, and out into nature.  B.C.M. isn't the only organization dedicated to this wonderful and transformational work, and I encourage people to get involved with local organizations in their area that promote and enable our youth to explore the natural world. Check out The North Face’s outdoor focused online community www.planetexplore.com which partners with a ton of great organizations focused on getting more people outside more often!

If you like the film, or think what Lucho and I did was kind of cool, it’s not too late to donate in the name of our climb here: http://www.summitforsomeone.org/main.php?page=4&climber=8058

I've seen first hand the power of getting a city kid into the wilderness, and the reality is that right now, less and less kids are connecting with the outdoors which I find not just sad but scary.  My expedition partner Lucho Rivera is a perfect example of why organizations like B.C.M. are so awesome.  He grew up in a rough and tumble neighborhood in San Francisco’s Mission district and was by his own account, headed for death or jail before he was exposed to the wonder of Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada.  His tiny bubble of reality was burst, and that first backpacking trip changed the course of his life.  Instead of being caught up in a neighborhood gang, or worse, he has evolved into an environmentalist, is a successful climber, and most importantly a quality and caring person.  Now, Lucho brings the positive energy of his experiences back to his neighborhood in the Mission, and his love for adventure and exploration is contagious. 

I hope that my two part film "Rumble in the Jungle" captures some of the adventure and beauty that is why I love being outdoors and exploring the natural world.  Maybe there is a kid about to push play that will be inspired to log off the internet when they are done and go out and PLAY!  Stay tuned for Part Two of Rumble in the Jungle in time for the winter Holidays. 

In part one, after a whirlwind three day travel sequence Lucho and I find ourselves on Tioman Island staring up at the mythical "Dragon's Horns." It was hard to believe that only one of the huge jungle spires had been climbed...until we started the approach...then it made more sense. But after some epic jungle bushwhacking which culminated with me being attacked by giant hummingbird sized wasps, we someway, somehow, managed to summit the unclimbed Dragon's Horn on our first full day on the island. We topped out at night and endured a wet open bivy.  Man what a great trip!!!

Cheers!!

Cedar Wright

 

Visit http://www.summitforsomeone.org/main.php to learn more about Big City Mountaineers

Learn about other initiatives The North Face is taking to get more to Never Stop Exploring: 

http://www.thenorthface.com/en_US/get-outdoors/

Nov 10 | The Dragon Horns, The Climb of a Lifetime!

By Cedar Wright

My life has been marked by the good fortune of adventure, travel and an intimate connection with the natural world.  Growing up on eleven acres on the side of Black Mountain in the Sierra Nevada, I spent most of my time outside exploring and playing in the dirt.  My dad took me on my first backpacking trip soon after my first steps, and I spent most summers sleeping on the back porch under the stars.  Looking back I realize how formative and therapeutic this early connection with nature was, and it's a large part of why I am a professional climber today.  Unfortunately many teens in our growing urban centers, never get outdoors.  In fact, with stars drowned out by the lights of the city, maybe they never get to marvel at the milky way!  Surrounded by the influence of gangs, crime, drugs, and the often isolated reality of city existence, it's easy to see how life can begin to feel hopeless for a young kid. So I'd like to encourage you to donate to Big City Mountaineers in the name of our climb. It's tax deductible, and you'll be donating hope to our younger generations.

After graduating from college I spent a few years working intermittently as an outdoor educator, and witnessed first hand the simple power of nature to heal and steer a young soul in a more positive direction.  I am a huge fan and believer in nonprofit organizations like Big City Mountaineers which each year gets thousands of urban teens from San Francisco, Denver, Portland, Minneapolis, and Chicago outside on sponsored week long wilderness expeditions.  They have a great fund raising program called SUMMIT FOR SOMEONE, and I put together this trip to Malaysia's Tioman Island to climb the Dragon's Horns specifically with the program in mind.  My main sponsor The North Face generously helped finance the trip, and offered to match the first four thousand dollars we could raise in the name of our climb!!! We hoped to climb first ascents on the legendary dragons horns said to be an ancient petrified Chinese Princess.  The fact that only one of the two horns had been climbed was quite alluring, and being able to raise money for a good cause while doing what I love was a definite win win.

Above is Lucho Rivera.  At first I planned to go to Malaysia with an old friend from Humboldt, but when he wasn't able to make it, I realized that my homie Lucho would be perfect and pulled him in!  Since it is the modern age, I invited him while chatting on facebook!  Lucho and I shared a lot of adventures together in years past with numerous first ascents in Yosemite and the Sierras including the F.F.A. of The Camp Four Wall 5.12 and The Gravity Ceiling 5.13 a huge roof on Higher Cathedral Rock.  Lucho is one of the few people these days still putting up new routes in Yosemite Valley.  He's got an adventurous spirt and an infectious if not overly zealous sense of confidence.

There was no doubt Lucho'd be a great climbing partner, but what tipped the scales and made it kind of karmic even, was that Lucho grew up in the Mission district of San Francisco amidst the negativity of gangs and violence, and was headed down a dead end road until he was exposed to the mountains by an organization similar to Big City Mountaineers called The Urban Pioneers.  Soon instead of hanging with his thug friends in the Mission, Lucho was spending his free time in Yosemite climbing.  I bought Lucho's ticket on half airline miles and half personal cash , and a few weeks later we were on a plane.  I've been living the playboy dream for nearly ten years now, traveling and climbing on the regular, so it felt great hook a brother up, wasn't so lucky to have those opportunities.  This would be Lucho's first trip overseas, and I knew he would be hungry and psyched to get shit done, which for me is invaluable.  On big trips I  like to drop the motivation clutch.  I know I won't go home happy unless I give it everything.

After putting up the first route to the summit of the North Dragon's Horn on our first full day in Malaysia, (see previous blog) which involved wasp attacks climbing in the rain, a dicey descent and a horrifying lightning storm, we turned our sights to the more impressive South Tower and one of the proudest looking lines on the entire formation, a wild unclimbed "nose like" white buttress.  Scotty Nelson who with Nick Tomlin did the first ascent of the tower in 2000 when he was only eighteen mentioned to me that this was the line to do, after seeing it in person it was love at first sight.  A dream line, which is rare in this modern age of climbing exploration.  On our recon day we traveled heavy with 60+ pound bags filled with first ascent supplies.  The Jungle in Tioman Island is pretty treacherous, with heinous spiky ferns dripping spiny tendrals that manage to consistently grab your clothing and skin as you attempt to weave through unscathed!  "OUCH!"

Above is my make shift rain vest, constructed out of a heavy duty trash bag. The fact that I own probably twenty North Face rain jackets and managed to not bring a single one up our climb was certainly equal parts exasperating and comical.  But actually it worked alright... waterproof, but not breathable...just don't be looking for TNF to be coming out with one soon!  But I digress...As we attempted to approach our second objective, I realized just how hot it is in the jungle.  If you want to train for Tioman island, just get in a Sauna with a heavy backpack and do jumping-jacks and pull-ups! 

We passed all kind of heinous creepy crawlies; ants the size of my thumbnail, angry monkeys, a black snake that we later learned was a poisonous pit-viper, bizarre frogs, and this oddness all highlighted by the constant screech of mysterious bugs (or were they birds?) that sounded like really, really loud car alarms!  "RUHEEEE RUHEEEEE RUHEEEE!!!""  Lucho did not mention it to me until we were on the island, "Dude I'm afraid of Spiders and Bugs."  Around each corner, Lucho would scream and jump back like a scared little kid, at some real or imagined threat to his existence.  I had one main concern, the hummingbird sized wasps or hornets or whatever they were that had attacked me on the previous climb. 

Above is a carnivorous plant, that waits for ants or other bugs to get a drink, and then it DIGESTS THEM.  There is a lot of wild flora on the island.  You half expect a dinosaur to pop up!

We had some loose beta on how a british team had approached the general vicinity of our proposed line, but it was going poorly, with lots of machete work, backtracking and thorny bushwhacking.  At one point Lucho looked at me and said "Do you ever wonder what the point is?" "Man Down" I thought to myself...time for a pep talk.  "Lucho" I said,  "their are different types of fun...and sometimes the most fun you can have isn't fun while it's happening, but it's SO FUN when it's over."  Err was that motivational?  "Well right now this sucks," said Lucho as he tried to extricate his hair from one of those damned ferns.  Every ten feet or so, along the approach we'd encounter another "fern from hell."  These ferns look friendly, but THEY ARE NOT, they are evil and their thorns are hidden on the bottom side of the leaves so they can trick you into a false sense of complacency.  They grab on and don't like to let go.

This is a poisonous Frog...don't lick him!!! Actually I don't know if he's poisonous for sure!

So, anyways, about four hours into our hike even I was losing a little bit of psyche and I live for this kind of stuff.  Of course I wasn't going to tell Lucho, and I continued to stumble aimlessly under the increasingly heavy feeling burden of my pack.  I mumbled "we've got to be close!" "ARGHHH" I yelled, "Damn you thorny fern." Sweat dripped down my face fogging up my glasses.  Lucho helped me pull the fern out of my hair and pack, and then a glorious moment!!  I noticed the remnants of the British teams camp.  We were probably the second party ever to stand here at the base of the west face, and it was AMAZING.  A bit of scrambling, and tree climbing and a wild traverse later, and we were at the base of the beautiful white buttress that we had been singing it's sirens song.

Above, this Monkey found out we were roguing his line on the dragons horn and was very upset!!!

And so after four and a half hours of circuitous spiral/slogging , fern whacking, and a lot of whining from Lucho, we collapsed in disbelief at the base of our proposed line.  It looked steep, gnarly, and....maybe not even possible! "Dude this is SICK," said Lucho, having already forgotten how heinous the hike had been.  After a little food and water I racked up as I eyeballed a wild corner that lead to a series of impressive roofs.  Soon I was run out and at the top of the corner, but unsure if I was going the right way.  I pounded in a pin, lowered down, and pengied around a corner to see if it looked easier.  It did look easier, but their was a giant Hornets Nest right in the middle of the path with several of my friends buzzing around it.  "Definitely not the way," I yelled down to Lucho.  

I brought Lucho up and then began making my way out the roof.  It looked to be hard 5.12 at the easiest, but every edge and ripple seemed to be placed in a divinely perfect alignment, and after installing one quarter inch bolt with our hand drill I managed to free the pitch at hard 5.11!  The line went out a roof, onto an arete, and then out another roof, on perfect golden stone.  Some of the best climbing on the planet really!  At the lip of the second roof there was a hero jug and you could hang like Sylvester Stallone in Cliff Hanger and enjoy a nice view of the South China Sea!

Right as I got out the roofs, something happened that would become a theme of the trip.... it started to rain.  For a while I just huddled there getting soaked and hoping it would eventually stop.  Finally I realized the rock was soaked and it was time to go down.  I fixed the line and rappelled back to Lucho who was completely dry under the roof!  "Were, back on it tomorrow if the suns out" I said hopefully.   

 After the four and half hour epic stumble thrash to the base the first day, we got the approach dialed and could make it to the base of our route in around an hour and a half.  Each day I could literally squeeze the sweat out of my t-shirt from the "SAUNA APPROACH." Over the next five days we established one of the best climbs I have ever done, first ascent or not.  The rock on the white buttress was nothing short of impeccable and offered up diverse, unique and specific movment, characterized by tricky boulder problems out mini roofs and big run-outs on wild flakes, pockets and nob features.  At some point every day the rain and lightning would come, and we would nervously head back down our fixed lines hoping that the next day would be clear.   

This is me drilling on lead, eventually we got the power drill up there.  Putting up the route involved lots of running it out while searching for a flake you could hook off of, and then gingerly weighting it.  At one point I had two marginal mini-hooks and a dubious looking slung nob that somehow together held my body weight.  I began gingerly towing up the drill, praying that I didn't whip and break my legs, or worse, and drilled a bolt with a genuine sense of risk and urgency!

Each day we'd either push the route a couple pitches higher, or realize that the sky had opened up, and we'd huddle into our little cabin that we'd rented.  I'd read "The Smartest Guy in the Room" about the Enron scandal, or manage and back up all of the video I had been shooting.  The reality was that even though we were nearing the top of our route, we were there late season, and any day the Monsoon would come shutting the  Dragon Horns down completely for climbing.  My worse nightmare was getting rained out before we could climb the route bottom to top in a day.  For Lucho and I getting to the top would be a small victory, it was only when we climbed it all free in a day that the project was done.

On our fifth day we headed up the fixed lines, and finished the final two pitches to the end of the white buttress.  The final pitch involved climbing out overhanging tufa runnels, then manteling onto the top of the buttress.  From there we scrambled up about three hundred feet of easy fifth class and then bush whacked to the summit up vertical steps of grass.  The view from the top was a kings view of the town of Mukut where we were staying.  Fishing boats looked like little toys far below.  

Every pitch on the route turned out to be a five-star classic!  It was hard to believe just how good the climb we had just put up was.  I equate it to going to Yosemite and doing the first ascent of Astroman, or going to Squamish and doing the University Wall.  It was a MEGA-CLASSIC!!!  Now all we had to do was free it in a day!  An awesome challenge no doubt.

On the way down, the weather came in hard, but we figured that was fine... we were both exhausted from a week of toiling, and enjoyed some fresh local seafood and napping in our cabin.  But when the next day, it was still raining, we started to get worried.  Was this the Monsoon?  Were we going to sit there in the rain for a week and lose the plot.  After three days, I came up with a plan.  "If it's not raining at 3 a.m. tomorrow morning Lucho, we start hiking up and hope for the best."  At midnight it was dumping, but by 3, there was no rain, we also couldn't see any stars as they were covered by a blanket of clouds.  It didn't look good.  It was a hail Mary, but we reached the base of our route at the first inklings of light and began to climb earnestly.  The weather looked less then optimum, and the thunder and lightning was dancing and singing out on the sea.  I prayed that the sky didn't unleash half way up the climb.

Re-climbing my pitches I realized just how much I had run it out.  "Damn it Cedar" I said to myself, "what were you thinking," and then I'd commit to another dicey move with incomprehensibly huge whipper potential. Four and a half hours later we were on top of the buttress having completed the first ascent of the route.  The weather had miraculously held, but looked ominous and we toyed with the idea of descending from the top of the buttress and not summiting, but I knew we'd regret it.  An hour later we were on the summit of the South Dragons Horns for the second time, having summited in just under five and a half hours!  We were the first people to climb both horns of the Dragon which felt pretty special, and both of the routes especially this one were world-class!  I gave Lucho a big hug on the summit and new that this would be one of the best climbs of my life!

Repeating parties should be ready for big run outs on 5.10 and easier ground, and not be afraid to be creative with their gear, including, shallow cams, weird R.P. placements, and slung knobs and flakes.  The 5.11 and harder ground however is relatively well protected, and this really is one of the best routes in the universe.  Perfect stone on a beautiful buttress in a wild location!  ENJOY!!!

We called our route Batu Naga, which is Malay for "Stone Dragon," and rated it 5.12a R.  We think from the base to the summit is about fifteen hundred feet of elevation gain, but only the first 900 feet or so is technically challenging....but there is some proud bush-whacking to reach the summit!

I highly recommend a trip to Tioman Island to climb the dragons horns.  Where else in the world can you sit on a beach eating fresh seafood, snorkel through the wild coral reefs that surround the island, bivy in a sweet little cabin, and then an hour later be climbing on a world class granite big wall.  Just watch out for the Wasps, poisonous snakes and Spiky Ferns!

Lots of Love for the Journey!  Cedar Wright.

 

Oct 19 | Fresh Off The Boat

By Cedar Wright

While Lucho and I are in Malaysia we are raising money for Big City Mountaineers an organization committed to getting teens from urban areas into the wilderness. Lucho and I are both huge believers in the transformational power of nature. Please CLICK HERE to donate! It's tax deductible!

Wow, what a whirlwind! Only four days after leaving the states Lucho and I have managed to summit the unclimbed higher but smaller Dragons horn on Tioman Island here in Malaysia. By sheers luck we have managed a summit on our first full day in Malaysia! One of the cruxes of the route was the approach. Basically everything in the jungle has thorns on it, but somehow I had not heard about the humming bird sized wasps. I can now attest that their bites are EXTREMELY PAINFUL! I was attacked by several of them right as we neared the base of the climb. I still have huge red itchy painful welts to prove it.

The climbing itself was great…. The rock here on Tioman is impeccable granite with wild water pockets and runnels. And the location on an island overlooking the South China Sea is nothing short of surreal. I’d been craving some adventure the last couple months, and now I was getting a full serving! Pretty much all seven pitches of the route were dangerous, and beautiful, with big runouts on high quality granite, in a plum line for the summit! It rained twice on the route, but right when we would consider bailing the rain would subside. It was a bit like the mountain was toying with us, but in the end welcoming our presence.

We topped out at sunset and bushwacked to the true summit. It felt magical to know we were the first humans to be at this perch on one of the highest points in Malaysia! Thankfully the vegetation on top of the Dragons Horn represented a whole different ecosystem, and lacked the thorns of the jungle below. I kept a weary eye out for wasps as I climbed a tree to the highpoint and got a never to forgotten view! We Bivied in the bushes at the summit for a couple of hours, in a bed of photo-luminescent leaves! GLOW IN THE DARK LEAVES!!!

We initially planned to wait until morning to descend, to avoid rappelling and thrashing through the jungle at night, but when the thunder and the lightning woke us up, we decided it was better to begin our descent before things turned wet and epic. Lucho was gripped about the rappels (always the most dangerous part of a climb) but all I could think about was the wasps waiting below.

Eight hundred feet of rappelling later we reached the base at first light. It turned out that we were wise to descend when we did, because we spent much of the walk out in a surprisingly violent rainstorm. Now we are worked and satisfied hanging out in the small charming fishing village Mukut, which lies below the horns. Were enjoying the amazing Malaysian food and good mellow island vibes of the locals.

With three more weeks here in Malaysia, Lucho and I are now going to turn our efforts to a new route on the larger Dragons horn... I’m guessing it will be adventurous! We rated our new route on the Unclimbed Dragon’s Horn 5.10X. It’s about a thousand feet of Jungle to the base, eight hundred feet of climbing and three hundred feet of bushwacking to the summit. You should come and do it! Just watch out for the wasps.

Aug 16 | On Assignment

By Renan Ozturk

As TNF athletes sometimes our biggest job is the tell stories and try to do justice to our fellow athletes. For this piece I worked with our crew at Camp 4 Collective to tell TNF athlete Jimmy's Chin story as he in turn highlights modern day climbing Yosemite for a National Geographic feature story. Thanks for checking it out!  ~renan

Jul 31 | The Tooth Traverse

By Renan Ozturk

This little piece is comprised of some of the attempts Zack Smith , Freddie Wilkinson and myself have put into the 'Tooth Traverse' of the Ruth Gorge, AK. There has been a log going on surrounding our adventures: The 1st attempt was heavily embarked upon only days after the memorial for the deaths of our close friends vimeo.com/​5065432, the 2nd attempt ended with helping with body recoveries of other climbers in the gorge and the just before our proposed launch day this past spring I almost died in a skiing accident. Beyond the allure of enchaining one of the most iconic & untrodden skylines in NA the Tooth Traverse represents so much more than that to the 3 of us. With the healing going well and the inspiration (and angst) greater than ever we are planning another attempt in the NEAR future. I see the eventual story breaching some pretty heavy topics involved in alpine climbing: sponsored vs. non-sponsored expeditions, dealing with death and the effects tackling dangerous objectives has on friends/family. At any rate here is a little window into our work in progress. ~reo

Jul 25 | creative video short: "Living The Dream 2"

By Renan Ozturk

A standard day in the life of the recovery from a few broken vertebrae and a skull fracture. Even though I'm not technically cleared for psychical therapy yet, the time has finally come for some soul therapy. Best, ~renan and in case you missed it the original Living The Dream:

Jul 24 | TNF Newfoundland Expedition Dispatch #3

By Mark Synnott

Rain, rain, go away come back another day

After the beautiful day Mark and I had to climb Leviathan and James and Alex finished an incomplete route just to the left, we naively thought that the rest of the blue skies of the day might be the mark of the trip.  How wrong we were. Rain followed for several days and then several more days... Our saving grace was a big dome tent, a substanstial food supply and lots of hiking, all of which served to keep insanity at bay.

Every morning I would peel back the door of my tent, hoping for a least some semblance of clear skies and dry rock, but after the one morning, Devil's bay only greeted me with either full rain or fog so thick that I couldn't see anyone else's tent.  We managed to climb two more days in between rain but since the majority of the wall was either wet or seeping, we were quite limited with what we could do.

Impressivly James and Alex managed to climb Lucifer's Lighthouse (a 12c that Chris Weidner and Justin Sjong  put up) which they dubbed the best route on the wall.  Since Mark and I though Leviathan was amazing, we were curious to see how they compared.

After more days sitting in the rain, we realized we would be robbed of our chance to try Lucifer's Lighthouse and fulful our initial ambition of adding some new routes to the wall.  One memorable evening we were almost robbed of our tents as well.  A vicious storm boasting 70mph wings ripped through our camp.  Having been rather blasé about securing my tent to the ground I woke up in the middle of the night alarmed to find that it had detached itself from its anchoring and was by the most part held down by me alone.  With nothing else to do but venture out to try to repair it, I struggled with one hand to prevent the tent from taking flight and with the other I managed to attach the guide-lines to some bigger boulders.  I woke up to find the rest of the team bleary eyed, telling stories of similair experiences.  Well, apart from Honnold who managed to sleep like a baby throughout the whole storm.

The final few days of our stay at Devil's Bay were particulary wet and when George's boat finally appeared through the fog, we were certainly ready to leave.  All in all our mission to Devil's Bay has been a fun adventure- Blow Me Down is a cool wall with some really good routes and loads of potential for more, the people are really interesting and friendly and the area has stunning natural beauty...it's just a shame about the rain!

--Hazel Findlay