tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17479048579752018992024-03-16T00:18:46.445-07:00Ian McEleneyClimbing & Guiding
ianmceleneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12285810559900791225noreply@blogger.comBlogger55125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1747904857975201899.post-55019438790251315882018-12-11T20:05:00.001-08:002018-12-11T20:05:08.613-08:00Cold Weather Rock Climbing TricksIt doesn't matter what kind of rock climbing you're into, at some point you're probably going to find yourself climbing in chilly weather. From boulderers waiting for perfect "sending temps" for their project, to alpine climbers on a rock route in the mountains and everyone in between, being out in the cold is a fact of life.
It's fairly straightforward to keep most of our body parts warm, ianmceleneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12285810559900791225noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1747904857975201899.post-38194300943386367972018-04-09T08:54:00.002-07:002018-09-24T15:09:53.316-07:00How To Write A Public CommentOver the last year and a half I've been receiving a lot of emails from non-profits about public lands. Many of these emails have been about what's going on with public land in southern Utah, a place I love to climb.
Some of the time I delete the emails after briefly scanning them. Sometimes I read the email and take the most minimal action I can on the issue. I am not proud of either of those ianmceleneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12285810559900791225noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1747904857975201899.post-71471885789170694312017-11-17T21:33:00.002-08:002017-11-19T12:21:20.481-08:00Social Media, Me, And ClimbingRecently I've had the chance to spend a few fun days in the mountains with one of my colleagues, Tad McCrea. Tad is a big guy with a big personality, and I like hanging out and climbing with him because of his enthusiasm and the fact that he's great to talk to. Tad holds strong opinions, but he's a good listener and he gives new ideas their due consideration.
One of the things we talked (and ianmceleneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12285810559900791225noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1747904857975201899.post-22710831598651670942017-09-11T16:44:00.000-07:002017-09-12T10:36:44.899-07:00Lightweight ManifestoI stumbled across Camp's Lightweight Manifesto the other day. It's copied below. There's some good food for thought here. Any carpenter, mechanic, or surgeon knows that there's a distinct advantage to using the right tools for the job. Those of us traveling in the mountains can benefit from adopting a similar mindset.
If there is one thing we can do with any piece of equipment to improve ianmceleneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12285810559900791225noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1747904857975201899.post-76552549586213105782017-08-15T13:57:00.000-07:002017-09-13T17:07:17.423-07:00The Kaweah Traverse
Recently
Kevin Burkhart and I climbed the Kaweah Traverse in Sequoia National
Park. Ours was the third or maybe fourth ascent of the traverse and
the first time (that I know of) that it's been guided.
Yours truly on the approach with most of the traverse in the background. Photo by Kevin Burkhart.
In
a big mountain range full of fantastic alpine ridges, the Kaweahs are
a bit of an ianmceleneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12285810559900791225noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1747904857975201899.post-90855540343788612532017-07-09T11:51:00.001-07:002017-07-09T11:51:15.758-07:00Backcountry Water StrategiesRunning out of water is no big deal if it's the end of the day and there is only a short walk between you and the car. It is a big deal if you're partway through a route that's taking longer than you expected, or if you hope to recover quickly and send again tomorrow.
While creeks and lakes aren't usually readily available on alpine routes, snow is often not far away in most major mountain ianmceleneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12285810559900791225noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1747904857975201899.post-46916409546525546892017-05-30T16:27:00.000-07:002017-05-30T16:27:07.769-07:00Thoughts On Alpine ClimbingI just read a really good blog post on the Outdoor Research website. "Want To Climb In Patagonia? Read This First" had some great ideas that I imagine were applicable to the first-timer down there (I've never been) but I think are relevant to anybody early in their alpine career.ianmceleneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12285810559900791225noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1747904857975201899.post-75018163633153232622017-05-01T08:46:00.000-07:002017-05-01T08:46:25.029-07:00Lone Pine Peak - Winter ChimneyIn early March my colleague Andy Stephen and I climbed the Winter Chimney on Lone Pine Peak. This route has been on my radar ever since reading this trip report. This fun route is worth doing for anybody who is interested in alpine climbing and the Sierra Nevada. All of the photos below are Andy's, as I lost my phone that morning (more on that below).
Andy and I were guiding a trip up the ianmceleneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12285810559900791225noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1747904857975201899.post-40689257330328542052017-04-06T10:22:00.000-07:002017-04-06T10:22:46.264-07:00MSR HydromedaryI just noticed that MSR no longer makes their hydration bladder, the Hydromedary. This is too bad, because this was probably the best hydration bladder ever made. Not a perfect one, but the best one.
What made it great? It wasn't the lid. The lid was a pretty basic screw top without the added keeper, or positive locking sensation of Camelbak brand lid. The bite valve and on/off valve were also ianmceleneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12285810559900791225noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1747904857975201899.post-44316130254293973892017-03-26T12:28:00.000-07:002017-04-02T17:15:34.186-07:00Ice Climbing and ExperienceIce climbing is one of my favorite types of climbing to guide. This winter I was lucky to facilitate movement on frozen water for a number of my regular clients (or "repeat offenders" as I sometimes refer to them). Two of them that I climbed with almost back - to - back are in very different places in their ice climbing careers. These two climbers have vastly different levels of experience, but ianmceleneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12285810559900791225noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1747904857975201899.post-16317658707649757852017-02-09T12:51:00.000-08:002017-02-09T12:51:22.155-08:00A Memorable Season of Lee Vining Ice ClimbingWe are in the middle of what is probably the best season of Lee Vining Ice in recent memory. There's been a flurry of new and potentially new route activity. I've only been swinging tools in this great little venue since 2009, and there are local folks who've been climbing ice here much, much longer than that, but everyone seems to agree that we are having a great winter for water ice.
Forianmceleneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12285810559900791225noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1747904857975201899.post-16004769313326889062017-01-13T14:59:00.000-08:002017-01-13T14:59:31.900-08:00AT Boots and BindingsI recently came across this video of a talk from last year's Northwest Snow And Avalanche Workshop. I don't often have the patience to watch something this long (about 25 minutes) all the way through, but I'm glad I did. The speaker, Jeff Campbell, is a lifelong skier doing PHD research on ski injuries and had some very interesting stuff to say on the topic of boot and binding compatibility. I ianmceleneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12285810559900791225noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1747904857975201899.post-2820862753906820212016-11-30T18:51:00.000-08:002016-11-30T18:51:10.598-08:00Luci Light ReviewI've been using the Luci Original by MPOWERD for the last two years. I have no idea how many days it's been used for, but it's been all over the place with me. It's a small, solar powered, inflatable lantern. I've never owned any kind of lantern before, as the time (and dollar) cost of dealing with batteries or fuel never seemed worth it. Now that I've got this one I use it a lot and would ianmceleneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12285810559900791225noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1747904857975201899.post-90028257639700722682016-09-11T10:43:00.000-07:002016-09-11T10:43:03.302-07:00How Do Your Slings Look?Getting the most life out of your climbing gear is not only a smart financial decision, but it's also good for the environment. The materials our stuff is made of (various metals and petroleum products) have a high environmental cost. That being said, pushing our equipment beyond what it was designed for is kinda dumb.
It's not the end of the world for clothing or camping gear, but taking the ianmceleneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12285810559900791225noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1747904857975201899.post-20635932814213707772016-07-30T13:59:00.001-07:002016-07-30T13:59:58.597-07:00Third Pillar Of Dana - Leave No Trace on the approach
The Third Pillar of Dana has one of the better approaches in the Sierra. It's easy to follow, fairly direct, and really pretty.
This climbers path travels around Tioga Lake and winds through the woods before following a creek up into Glacier Canyon. Eventually it wanders through a lovely alpine meadow dotted with granite boulders and disappears a few minutes before climbers reach the ianmceleneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12285810559900791225noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1747904857975201899.post-19276761672491782882016-06-11T19:33:00.002-07:002018-01-18T09:40:20.010-08:00La Sportiva G2SM ReviewI just finished up my season in the Alaska Range. This year that involved a personal climbing trip to the Ruth Gorge and a trip guiding folks up The West Buttress of Denali. All in all the G2SM's were on my feet for over 30 days.
The last few years I've been training more, and in a more structured way, than ever before. Mainly this is because I've been pursuing what are for me alpine climbs of ianmceleneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12285810559900791225noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1747904857975201899.post-12537549706705821092016-05-15T23:06:00.000-07:002016-05-15T23:06:05.131-07:00Social Media and Sponsored Athletes
Though
I started climbing and guiding in the Sierra in 2009, it took another
year for me to begin sampling our famous couloirs. In the fall of 2010 I
saw the Reel Rock Film Tour and was really delighted with the movie The
Swiss Machine. One of the final scenes features aerial footage of Ueli
Steck motoring up one of the last sections of the North Face of The
Eiger while the song "Welcome ianmceleneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12285810559900791225noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1747904857975201899.post-38614294795616599142016-04-10T18:52:00.002-07:002016-04-10T18:52:40.186-07:00Blue Diamond RidgeLess than a week ago I got home from Red Rocks. I always make a trip there at this time of year for the Red Rock Rendezvous, and I try to incorporate some other guiding work and some personal climbing too.
This year Jess and I went down for a few days of climbing to kick off my trip. Amongst other routes, we climbed Burlesque in Icebox Canyon. I have rapped down this four pitch route on every ianmceleneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12285810559900791225noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1747904857975201899.post-26598968196863912512016-03-03T10:33:00.001-08:002016-03-03T10:33:21.509-08:00Tom Harrison Maps in The AtlanticAlmost every backcountry trip I've ever been on started with a map. When I was first figuring out how to travel in the backcountry in New Hampshire's White Mountains, those maps came from the Appalachian Mountain Club. These days if I'm looking at a map there's a 50% chance it's on a screen: Hillmap or Google Maps on my laptop, or a GPS app displaying a USGS quadrangle on my phone.
If I'm ianmceleneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12285810559900791225noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1747904857975201899.post-8778292475526406462016-01-09T11:43:00.000-08:002016-01-09T11:43:13.159-08:00Lee Vining Ice Climbing Route ResourceEverybody knows that Lee Vining Canyon is the number one spot in the state of California for ice climbing. It's also a growing center for mixed cragging. Over the past few years more drytooling routes, from low angled scrappy alpine simulators to steep magazine-cover-style climbing have been established in The Narrows area on the way to the ice. Two more have already gone up this season, with ianmceleneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12285810559900791225noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1747904857975201899.post-86597443504080324102015-12-07T11:25:00.000-08:002015-12-07T11:25:22.168-08:00Alpine Pack ReviewMy first review for OutdoorGearLab just went live. It's a review of alpine climbing packs and you can read it by clicking on this link.
When my editor, McKenzie, asked me to do the review I was psyched. No matter what sort of climbing is your favorite, if you're a climber you nerd out on gear a bit. Even folks who only boulder (arguably the least gear intensive type of climbing) still obsess ianmceleneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12285810559900791225noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1747904857975201899.post-28472012795419753862015-09-27T11:01:00.001-07:002017-07-29T10:41:30.519-07:00The Minaret Traverse
Scott Sinner and I did The Minaret Traverse a couple of weeks ago.
We climbed all of the named Minarets in a day, which added up to 20
peaks. I don't think anyone had done exactly this before and though it's a rather arbitrary guideline, all of the rules in climbing are arbitrary. Why climb the Dawn Wall when you can walk up the back side of El Capitan on a trail? It was really fun, ianmceleneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12285810559900791225noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1747904857975201899.post-52956616746324922372015-07-08T17:28:00.000-07:002015-12-07T11:37:46.631-08:00On Being Well RoundedRecently, I got home from my second expedition up the West Buttress of Denali. Between the two trips I've guided a total of 15 climbers on the mountain. It's a very diverse group, all of these folks had worked hard before and during the expedition and had a strong desire to go to the summit, but that's where their similarities end. Climbers on these expeditions came from different countries, ianmceleneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12285810559900791225noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1747904857975201899.post-2347881398379085932015-05-04T19:37:00.001-07:002015-05-05T14:12:19.138-07:00Blind Date With New Ice Climbing GearLate this winter I had the privilege of spending just over three weeks in the Canadian Rockies. Two of the three weeks were spent ice climbing and one skiing. I don't usually like to bring untried gear on longer trips. In this case we were returning to town most nights so the commitment factor was low, and I ended up using 5 new pieces of equipment that worked pretty well. All of this stuff saw ianmceleneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12285810559900791225noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1747904857975201899.post-5747996696346046002015-04-06T07:44:00.000-07:002015-04-06T07:44:32.171-07:00Liberty Crack and Backbone Ridge
Here's one from the vault, about a couple of routes I climbed while living and working in the Cascades in the summer of 2008.
With my regular climbing partner back East for a family visit, I had
to recruit another. A co-worker had some time off, so we made plans to
tick two routes. We piled our gear into Mike’s car Friday evening and
set off for Leavenworth. Our first objective: The ianmceleneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12285810559900791225noreply@blogger.com0