Comment on video: "That double is so sick, great line."

"Our first stop on land was to visit these little buggers." - Noah Howell

"The real deal came the next day when I got out to my project again. I had waited so long and the true nature of the climb had blurred in my memory into what my fantasies about it had been. I was psyched to get back to reality and see what this climb was all about..." - Matt Wilder

When asked what routes he climbed to prepare for the route, Pringle responded, “ Uhhh, the 13+ link up at Mission Cliffs? We really did nothing to prepare ourselves for the route, which was a bit of in issue.”

Mike Libecki will be showing his support by presenting Around the World: In Search of Virgin Vertical Earth on Friday night, September 23rd.

"Saser Kangri II is a real hidden jewel of the Himalaya," says Wilkinson. "There aren't many unclimbed 7,500 meter peaks left anymore, and to make SKII's first ascent, climbing unsupported in alpine-style, is a once-in-a-career opportunity."
– Alpinist, Climber Freddie Wilkinson

Heads up, here's an opportunity to meet and interact with Erik Weihenmayer and Matt Moniz and learn what ignited their lifetime passion for outdoor adventure.

The top product awards were presented July 14, the iF Design show’s first day, and were chosen from 301 product entries from 23 countries.

Throwing a sailboat into the backcountry skiing mix adds a fascinating layer of complexity to the game...

Freddie Wilkison writes about his final training mission the Great Circle, a classic loop in the heart of the White Mountains that circumnavigates the headwaters of the Pemigewasset River. It clocks in at 33-odd miles (depending several on how many summits you hit that are on spur trails just off the main route), with over 8,000 feet of vertical gain and a dozen peaks over 4,000 feet. Over the years I’ve realized that expedition training goals are devilishly easy to let slip by uncompleted, as the pre-departure time crunch from work, packing, and spending time with friends and family all compete for attention.

What are our athletes up to this summer? Where will they test their limits? Read about their 2011 Summer Expeditions.

Janet Bergman reporting from France. "The idea of a circuit was devised by Fred Bernick as a sort of horizontal alpinism, a substitute for a mountaineering route..."

Andrew McLean's account of his ski mountaineering trip with Noah Howell in remote Svalbard.

The local skiing was anything but creepy, especially the 2,500’ of carvable foam on Pyramiden’s namesake peak and the lines off of the vast Jotunfonna plateau...

Written by Jamie Bond
It’s funny how terrain is viewed differently by different people. Big wall climbers sometimes walk right past world-class boulder problems, skiers pray the snow will never melt, and mountain bikers dig up the snow to clear trails in bike parks.

Drizzle splashed on my cheeks and eyelashes as I jogged along the far side of an eight-mile loop behind our cabin in Madison, New Hampshire. A quickly thickening canopy of deciduous forest grew over the Class VI dirt road. I smiled, realizing that I felt no pain. That, and because I’d caught a glimpse of a shiny wet leather couch off to the side. It belonged there, an erratic, as if a glacier had played a practical joke. Recovering from injuries, Janet Bergman is now feeling good and ready for her trip to India.

"I’VE NEVER SEEN OR HEARD OF ANYTHING ELSE LIKE IT! Miles of frozen sea water separating hulking rock faces that hide steep cut couloirs."

The Copp-Dash Inspire Award is a grant program created to honor the lives and storytelling abilities of Jonny Copp and Micah Dash, who died in an avalanche in China along with young filmmaker Wade Johnson. This award, sponsored by Black Diamond, La Sportiva, Mountain Hardwear, and Patagonia, and administered by the American Alpine Club, will back climbers who propose bold adventures in remote ranges—and who have the desire and skill to bring back creative stories in print, video, photos, and other media.

So, it's been a few days since we arrived at basecamp and we're still settling in to our new home. This hasn't stopped us from being productive though. Yesterday Seb and I had a quick stretch of the legs and did a run up to Camp 1 at 6000m.

BASECAMP!!!! Yes!!!.....after less than one week from leaving London we have made it to Everest Base Camp – 5350 m above sea level.

Seb and I are currently sitting in the sun in a small village called Dingboche with nestles under the majestic peak of Ama Dablam. We are sat at 4400m above sea level so today is a rest day, not so much for our tired limbs but more to allow our bodies to adjust to the high altitude.

Well what a day, its certainly been packed in with little time to spare. The main objective was to leave Kathmandu and to start the trek to basecamp and that’s exactly what we have done Everyday brings new experiences and highlights...

Kenton Cool and Seb Rougegre, Team Samsung Galaxy Everest will be attempting to summit Everest and then do something quite spectacular. If it works it will change the way we think about world communications, if it doesn't then we will experience an amazing adventure and bring some memories that will last forever.

Continued Patagonia Trip report from Scott Bennett and Blake Herrington, Mountain Hardwear Expedition Sponsorship Recipients.

Expedition plan in Cerro Pollone
Scott Bennett and Blake Herrington will travel to Patagonia in January 2011 to attempt the first free ascent of the West Pillar of Cerro Pollone. They hope to continue along the ridge crest to also make the first ascent of the East Summit of Cerro Pollone adopting a light, fast, free-climbing style on both attempts. The journey will begin in the Rio Electrico valley on the approach, traverses a shoulder of the main icecap and negotiates unknown terrain en route to the base of the climb. Read their first trip report here.

" We climbed a peak and survived an avalanche, those were just two instances along the way..."

Truth be told -- I felt a long way removed from the majestic world above 8,000 meters and histrionic sound-bites about the future of alpinism as we navigated the teeming streets of Kathmandu. It’s easy to idealize the city, and the place is, in a very deep sense, romantic...

Need to catch up? Start with Part 1 Khumbu Spring Training.

- Freddie Wilkinson

Check out some video footage from the Alpine Meadows competition...

See you in Crested Butte!

“ I wanted to ask if I would possibly be able to mail my jacket in and get the arm fixed. I was pulled down the mountain on a stretcher to paramedics who cut the sleeve of my jacket open in order to take my vitals.“ - Alyson Kreutzer

Read this amazing rescue story.

Samuel Anthamatten is leading the overall ranking after four events, two more following.

Continue on to read some noteworthy quotes from our Mountain Hardwear Facebook Page.

You inspire us!

An ode to a role model and to the efficiency and fun of skiing in mountaineering boots. Freddie and Mark spent the night in Huntington Ravine on Mount Washington in January to test some gear, and Freddie suggested they use alpine touring skis for the approach and descent instead of hiking (an alpine touring set up has special bindings that allow one to wear mountaineering boots or ski boots, and can be set to hinge on the toe like a cross country ski for climbing). “You really think it will be faster to ski?” Mark asked Freddie.

"It's all training". This was our constant refrain throughout the last summer and fall, as Blake Herrington and I ventured across the mountains and crags of Colorado and Utah. Daily routines of running or bouldering, even full days of summiting desert sandstone towers, adventurous linkups of granite spires, IT'S ALL TRAINING. No matter how difficult we felt our objectives might have been, in the backs of our minds we knew it was all preparation for the BIG mountains, the REAL mountains, the mountains of Patagonia!

Copp Dash Award was established in memory of American climbers Jonny Copp and Micah Dash, who were killed in an avalanche in China in May 2009 along with filmmaker Wade Johnson. In honoring the late Jonny Copp and Micah Dash, the award supports climbers who choose to follow a similar path, both in life and in the mountains. The fund’s goal is to assist climbers before, during and after expeditions with financial grants and multimedia instruction to help empower them to share their current and future adventures with a wider audience.

The 2010 Copp-Dash Inspire Award winners and their objectives were..

It must be dark, cold January in New Hampshire, as I've found myself nostalgically recalling stories from a rock climbing trip to Newfoundland with Sarah Garlick and Kirsten Kremer in 2009.

Trying to climb one of the high 7,000 meter peaks alpine-style is one of the most serious games in climbing – a mission I could loosely compare to some kind of bizarre, wilderness-experiential, high-stakes poker game. You spend the first two-thirds of the expedition trying to learn as much as possible about the cards you have been dealt: the conditions on the mountain, the weather, your own fitness and psyche, and that of your teammates as well. The last third of the trip, you lay your money down and make your wager. I’ve been home from Nuptse for just over a month. Life is beginning to settle down, and, with the distance of a few weeks time to reflect, I’m not really surprised that we failed. What’s always surprising is how much you learn from the experience of failure...

From the very beginning, things didn’t go right.

Side note - Janet's sister went into labor at noon on Friday, the day before her flight home to NH. She was able to witness the labor and delivery of little Esther at 8:15 am on Saturday.

Need some new background pictures for your laptop or iPad? We've pulled a few great images together for you to enjoy on your personal computer. Download at will!

- Blind Adventurer Erik Weihenmayer

"I only hope this expedition provided a medium for healing and helping these heroes reintegrate back into their communities. And we hope it will show the thousands of other returning soldiers with bodies and minds in need of repair that their best days are ahead, not behind. Here is the trailer for the upcoming film. Get psyched!" - Blind Adventurer Erik Weihenmayer

Folks, nothing is worse than overstating facts and long prose. Please review the photo within this blog entry and know that we have chased the good snow away from Mustang and over onto a one peak powder skiing objective. 20,200’ Thorung Peak is covered in stable and amazing conditions, we will climb and ski it tomorrow.

As you may know, I just returned from a month long expedition to the Himalayas helping to lead a team of injured soldiers to a 20,000+ foot summit near Everest. One team member, Steve Baskis, is not only blind but has pretty serious nerve damage on his left hand. We had three amputees, three folks who struggle with post-traumatic stress, and others who struggle with brain injuries. To use a positive pessimism, “All our soldiers have serious disabilities, but at least we’re attempting a dangerous high-altitude Himalayan giant.”

While it may sound like an oxymoron, positive pessimism is a valuable tool when confronting adversity. Here is how Erik explains it in his new book...

About the Expedition Sponsorship Program:
Mountain Hardwear was founded by a small group of people who are passionate about mountaineering, alpine adventures and outdoor activities. Mountain Hardwear's sponsorship program was founded to encourage people to explore the outdoors and to push our products to perform in physically demanding environments. The program gives equal consideration to all who apply, with a goal of motivating adventurers to follow their passions and chase their dreams.View 2010 Expedition Sponsorship Recipients here.

Amazing weather, perfect climbing, incredible Italian hospitality and so many fun memories. I had never heard so many ways to say 'on' and 'off' belay before! Read more to find out which two cliffs are named after Yosemite's El Captain.

Over the past ten years I’ve organized Mountain Hardwear employee trips with our guide partners and friends from outfits such as Shasta Mountain Guides, Rainier Mountaineering and for our last adventure, Yosemite Mountaineering School. But when I looked over the list of Mountain Hardwear participants for the Cathedral Peak Climb, I knew this would be different-in a good way! The two names that stood out were Rowan Jimenez and Cindy Johnson from our Warranty Department. Why?

I believe these trips are an integral, vital part of the MHW authentic company culture-I hope readers will agree! 

To book a climbing or backpacking trip with our guide partner, Yosemite Mountaineering School.

A rainy weather pattern in Montenegro hinders most of Dawn's climbing efforts but there happend to be one sunny day...

Folks, this is my ninth Himalayan Expedition. I have seen crazy stuff happen before, but never anything like this. We are on our way to the mountains but nowhere near where I thought when we landed in the heart of the Annapurna range just days ago.

On Oct 9th, our Montenegro adventure began when Patrick Ormond, Jeremiah Watt and I were greeted at the Podgorica airport by our gracious host Vanja Pejovic. Vanja helped arrange our housing and car rental which we greatly appreciated due to the lack of English speaking locals. Podgorica is the capital city of Montenegro, and having someone like Vanja has helped reduce our headaches and stresses as we adjust to this foreign city that has escaped tourism. Foreigners are very uncommon therefore, to be the first American climbers to visit this country we caught many strange and inquisitive looks.

Funny how it feels to be easing my way back into snowsports now that fall has approached and my ankle is healed. I returned from Baruntse last May just in time for great high country conditions only to find that I wouldn't get on snow again until a few weeks from now, my ankle was broken, but not my spirit. Now that I am here, there are more than a few new things I've adopted to aide my recovery toward the alpine environ that I've let draw me back over for my second Himalayan expedition in 2010. Continue reading to learn what new tools Ben Clark will be using on his trip.

Are you behind on the Ben Clark's expeditions? If so, read his last two blog posts, Hong Kong and the Trip Ahead! & Ben Clark's last two Ski the Himalayas episodes, Ski The Himalayas Season 2, Episode 09 and 10 .

When I broke my ankle on May 1st last spring, I was at 17,600’ on 23,390 Baruntse, also known as my own personal Moby Dick for reasons you can research at SkitheHimalayas.com. Unlike Ahab, I was rescued by a vessel rather than doomed to one. Lifted into the skies, wrapped in bandages, worked over through weeks of PT and now here I am again today, returning to wrestle with ambition and not the ankle. Hopefully stronger, admittedly risk averse and yet still with an appetite for the unknown. The whale is gone though, off my range for a spell.

Ship Rock, (Tsa-Beh-Tai, meaning The Winged Rock in Navajo), is a unique giant basaltic collapsed volcanic neck rising 2,000' out of the desert in NW New Mexico’s Navajo Indian Reservation.

Strange reports have been filtering through from Boulder, Colorado and Wilson, Wyoming as well. “Hey, what IS the baggage scene in Qatar, anyways?” Something stirs.

* This episode seems to be everyone's favorite. Check it out!

A documentary about our passion for highlining, made by highliners. We have been filming and sharing uniques moments together for 18 months. It has been a great experience for me and I wanted to share some of these moments with you through a documentary. I hope you will be inspired and send a line one day!

" The mix of Mountaineering and Highlining is a beautiful combination."

Chris and Jonny faced up to a wall of ice in their latest Sporting Challenge. Could either of them make it to the top? Or would they find the whole thing far too slippery a prospect?

At 4.35 am last Saturday, the city I’ve called home for the past thirty years was hurtled into wakefulness by a 7.4 earthquake. On the Richter scale, this is the same strength as the earthquake that flattened Haiti, just weeks ago. New Zealand is used to earthquakes, as it sits on a mesh of fault lines, but this was different.

From September to October 2010, Pat Deavoll and Malcolm Bass, Mountain Hardwear 2010 Expedition Sponsorship Recipients will be attempting the West Face of Vasuki Parbat. Learn more about the Expedition Sponsorship Program. View this year's recipients here.

Written by June Barnard, Margo's support team

This coastal paddling journey is Margo's way to call attention to the need for healthy oceans. An effective public education campaign is critical for advancing strong ocean policy. There is a need to ensure that healthy oceans policy is buoyed from what legislators hear from their constituents. As a project of the Blue Frontier Campaign, Margo is planning to accomplish is speaking out for the oceans.

Margo packed lightweight gear to fit in her kayak, the Spectre sleeping bag and Skyledge 3 tent.

A successful ski descent will firmly put Kenton back into the record books once again as the only Briton ever to ski two 8,000m peaks. The Expedition hope to summit the mountain in late September with a return date to the UK in early October.

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