I went to Venezuela expecting to suffer in clouds of mosquitos, I thought moss would be growing on my shoes as I walked, and spiders would cover every climbing hold. The reality was a pleasant surprise. Each day we hiked from quaint creek side base camp through the dry jungle for a few hours just to arrive at a luxurious waterfall, 10 minutes below the base of our route. The following is a photo essay of my time time in Venezuela with an extraordinary cast, Brittany Griffith, Jonathan Thesenga, and Mikey Schaefer. Please check Patagonia’s The Cleanest Line blog for a great story by Jonathan Tesenga, and more (higher quality) photos at Mikey Schaefers blog.
Welcome to Caracas, huge barking dogs, like this Brazilian Fila are normal body guards here.
We had a great climb on De La ‘S’ this week! here is a painted topo of our climb.
our route up and down the East face of de la 'S'
We had a great time, the approach was horrible, it was sleeting, but the climbing was fun and it felt great to be up high in the Mountains. For the full story check out The Cleanest Line blog on Patagonia’s site, and for lots of photos check out Mikey Schaefer’s blog.
Here is more art from the week, which is all I will be doing from now on, I unfortunately dropped my camera off the mountain…. very sad, though good for the art….
Jonny Copp & Micah Dash were two of America’s leading alpine climbers, adventuring to the farthest corners of the world in search of first ascents in the purest of style. Jonny & Micah believed the summit meant something, but style was everything. Sponsored by Black Diamond Equipment, La Sportiva, Mountain Hardware & Patagonia, the Copp-Dash Inspire Award has been formed, to support 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 & after expeditions with financial grants & multimedia instruction to help empower them to share their current & future adventures with a wider audience.
We have been here in El Chalten for 3 weeks, wanting to climb Fitz Roy or anything, we only have 10 days left… and much to my dismay the weather has been BAD. I am not surprised. It is a manic way to live though, I get so high when the mountains come out, and then so, so sad when they retreat back in to their blanket of thick dark clouds. So Mikey, all the boys, and I wait, check the weather 3 times a day and sport climb a little. I have tried to draw or paint more this year, to distract myself and practice. I have been really in to trees. For lack of climbing photos here is some of that….
wind sculped southern beach tree
wind carved beach tree
rainy day at Calamar the limestone sport climbing cave
In May 2009, a small team of rock climbers departed for Namibia with two goals: to find a way up an unexplored face, and to find a way into a deeper understanding of southern Africa. At the heart of their trip lies the question, can adventure and culture combine to create understanding? “WayPoint Namibia” is the story of their journey.
$14.99
A 30-minute documentary Directed and Produced by Chris Alstrin and Alstrin Films, with Executive Producer MajkaBurhardt.
it is really rainy here, I can hear it on the roof like a million little mice running all around.
But that is ok, because we have had a great few weeks climbing around Moab. AND my dad, Mark Rutherford came to visit, he never had a rest day! busy busy!
dad and the six shooters
Day one we climbed the South Six Shooter, an extra classic 5.8 desert tower with a beautiful 2.5 mile approach. The walk takes you out of the cottonwoods and up in to the sandy wash of Davis canyon before you head up the talas cone. Half way up the cone is a beautiful plateau with a wild moonscape and great shade boulders.
Dirk nudges the throttle forward, on his 1957 Dehavilland Beaver. The RPM’s race to 8000 creating a cloud of dust covering the gravel bar. Quickly the historic plane leaps into the air as if it were a simple grasshopper jumping off to it’s next destination. The dust settles leaving us and our 400lbs of gear on small gravel bar north of the arctic circle on the banks of the Alatna River, deep in the Brooks Range of Alaska
The noise of the plane is replaced by the ever present dull sound of the arctic river making its way to the ocean, hundreds of miles away. This is then replaced by the sounds of the wilderness, or the lack there of. No combustible engines, no sounds of music, no people chatting on mobile phones, no far off motorcycles, or semi-trucks crawling up huge passes.
