kate rutherford . climbing is art

At the end of a wild Patagonia season Mikey Schafer and I packed our packs for one more climb. There had been so much warm weather that it had created crazy rock fall and we were scared for our lives on our previous new route up St Exupery. The temps had cooled, and solidified the rock a bit. Our time there was wrapping up so headed out hoping to do a new route on the steep clean North Face of Aguja Innominata (also known as Aguja Rafael Juarez).

moon setting between near the base of Aguja Innominata

We left Niponino basecamp in the Torre Valley before the light, and as the moon set and sun rose we ascended the gully in fresh snow.

finally to the base of Innominata

This is one of Patagonia’s small mountains, it sits low in the Fitz Roy skyline, but is also hosts some of the steepest walls in the region. I was especially excited when Mikey spotted a line on this peak, since it is one I had never climbed before.

Mikey follows low on the route

Mikey generously gave me the first block. Otherwise I (and probably everyone else) end up freezing cold after all that hiking, and then just standing there to belay. Burr. I scampered up, scraping a bit of snow and ice off the first pitch, but as the wall steepened the climbing improved and it was clean and dry.

I'm headed for that ledge at the base of the splitter.

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blowing trees painting

The last three weeks have been proper ‘patagonian’ weather.  Could have been worse, mostly windy, and just a little rain, Noah didn’t have to come and build an Ark or anything … Here are some photos of how I have kept from going crazy…

we have been helping out at the Chocolataria

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Astro Choss, the East face of St Exupery

After retreating from our first rainy attempt we went back to St. Exupery on a beautiful sunny day with high spirits. Our chosen line looked so obvious, a big corner splitting the East face all the way to the ridge. The sun rose golden, and we quickly crossed new debris from a huge rock fall that came from the south side of the east face. The morning was hot, and rocks bombed down from the fresh scar to our left, we were glad to be up on clean splitters that started our route.

sun rise

first pitch

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smith rock

I feel totally lame that I have neglected my blog all fall….. what can I say, I was having too much fun! There were all sorts of adventures, Lurking Fear in a push with Rachel Greenberg for her birthday. Then Snake Dike in patagonian winds with my Dad, yes dad. Burly!

Top of Half Dome's Snake Dike with dad

Then all of a sudden I was at Smith Rocks, acting like it was my home. Two days on one day off, repeat. Two days on lead to more strength more skin and some serious fatigue. Half the fatigue came from the serious chill that fell every time the cliff went in to the shade. I battled through with thermos’ of hot earl grey, a huge Fitz Roy jacket compliments of Patagonia. I was often climbing in a Nano! ack!

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check out ESPN women’s web site to hear about my not so particular eating habits!

eating well on El Capitan cuscus, goat cheese, avocado apple and honey! breakfast of champions!

http://espn.go.com/espnw/training/nutrition/6781768/what-athletes-really-eat#comments

Today was making earrings, I have a huge pile of stones from the beach, and it was like finding a needle in a hay stack looking for stones that matched to make earrings. It took 2 hours to pick through the stones, and in my frustration I thought “I will never find 2 the same….” call me particular, but it was hard!

Finally I had a pile of good ones, and put together 4 pair out of 50 plus stones….

earrings

It really made me think, who will ever know how hard I worked to create these perfect pairs out of unique found in the wild stones? And then it made me think even more, who will ever know how hard it is to make a salad grow from a farm, a chicken lay eggs, or a jacket that will keep me warm….

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It is very exciting to announce that National Geographic has published an article about climbing in Yosemite. Jimmy Chin and Mikey Schaefer worked long and hard last year to capture images of our culture in Yosemite. I’m devistated that there are no women climbing photos included in the May 2011 print magazine, but I am proud there is a photo of me climbing on Freestone on the website.

Go pick up a copy of the May issue and check out Mark Jenkins’ story or read it online. He is a super fun caracter and it was great to get a chance to hang out with him! It gets  me excited to head back to Yosemite next month.

we are in Slovenia!

The costal city of Piran

The climbing is really steep and we have bad jet lag. This is a spectacular place though!

A door on the way to climbing in Osp

Mikey and I are staying and climbing in Osp. The mega crag Misa Pec is just around the corner. Continue reading →

Check out the new way to support our environment!

Patagonia is now in the music business. They have collaborated with musicians and iTunes to make some money that will go towards the environment. All profits from these tracks sold by Patagonia are going to Environmental groups who are helping to protect and improve our natural world. Go check it out at Patagonia.com

On the same note, and why I got inspired is cause one of my best friends Jacob Bain and Publish the Quest have some music on the new music player. They are totally awesome!

Hear more about it at the Dirt Bag Diaries Jacob and Fitz Cahall tell a great story about playing music in Cape Verde Africa. This Soldade song is just gorgeous! Jacob’s next adventure takes him to Zimbabwe to play in a music festival. Mikey and I are hoping to go to Mali with Jacob this winter for a combination climbing and music project, so stay tuned for that. If you would like to contribute to Jacob, and Publish the Quest’s Zimbabwe project click here.