Writer, climber and guide Majka Burhardt has a penchant for combining adventure climbing and travel to exotic destinations. She does this with a heart-felt emphasis on gaining an greater understanding of the places she visits and the people inhabiting them. A few years ago, she and several other climbers travelled to Ethiopia, known to most Westerners has a place of desert and famine. Majka returned with stories of first ascents and a rich, new perspective of this often misunderstood country. Her book, Vertical Ethopia: Climbing Towards Possibility in the Horn of Africa, vividly documents her Ethiopian climbing adventure. Following an extensive book tour, Majka once again set her sights on Africa - Namibia, this time. In May 2009, she and a small team of climbers departed for that southern African country with two goals in mind: to find a way up an unexplored face, and to find a way into a deeper understanding of that region. She and her team returned having accomplished both. Majka recently released a DVD, Waypoint Namibia (see trailer below), which captures the sights and sounds of her journey. It is available for purchase from her site.
Check out the recently launched REEL ROCK Film Tour Trailer.
Featuring Sender Films' new series for Nat Geo Adventure Channel, First Ascent. And Big UP's newest release, PROGRESSION.
In Mid-December, I flew to Nepal with Ines Papert (Germany), Jen Olson (Canada), Cory Richards (USA) and Chris Alstrin (USA). Our goal was to try to open a new route on the North Face of Kwangde Lho (6187m).
Detroit auto executives, after making crappy gas-guzzlers that break
down on the way to the crags, flew to Washington in private jets to beg
for bailout money. A stampeding herd of mouthbreathers kicked off the holiday season of giving by trampling to death a Wal-Mart employee.
From 25th to 29th of June.2008, the Natural Games in Millau (Aveyron - France) put together the most impressive outdoor' crazy athletes ! This
fusion of four universes gathered for the first time all the people of the outdoor community - climb, ride and fun...
Aymeric Clouet, Mathieu Maynadier, Julien Dusserre and Frederic Degoulet went to Nepal and did the first ascent of "the Gorillaz Peak" (6741m), in the Ganesh.5 mountain.
Aymeric explains us the story of the film : "Once again, a gang of young french mountaineers, headed to Nepal to satisfy their desire of adventures and friendship. But during the first night in Kathmandu, Juju lost its hair, victim of a sort from GANESH (the God with an elephant's head...). Searching for an explanation, the team crossed a part of Nepal by foot, and then used their skills of mountaineers to reach the summit of Ganesh 5, looking for the Nepal Medecine..."
We know that we
want to leave for an expedition next year, we're sure to go somewhere but the 'where' is yet to be decided. We have a lot of
ideas: Alaska, Pakistan, India, but nothing more specific yet.
In fact, the
most complicated part of an expedition is to find the right project; a mountain that all of us feel passionate enough about to drive us through a year's
planning and organising. So, during the ice-climbing gathering in La Grave, we bump into "Clouclou" (Aymeric Clouet) who had just arrived back from Nepal. We catch up, drink a little wine and he tells us that he saw a stunning mountain that looked particularly interesting, in the Ganesh region of the Himalayas.
That Monday, we head to L'ENSA to check it out.
The mountain is the Ganesh 5 and it had been climbed only twice before; once by the Japanese and once by the Slovenians (Thomas Humar amongst others) over ten year ago. We decide to go !
Next come the preparations and all the painful procedures of organising a project over the course of a year. In the end, it all goes pretty well; we find sponsors, get some funding, enough support so as not to have to sell the car in order to go! Out there, the Trinetra agency would organise
the rest.
End of August 2007:
Clouclou gives us a call; his expedition with clients has been cancelled and he's looking for a project. We think it
over and it's decided; we'll leave as a team of four.
October 2008 :
Arrival at Katmandu. There's the paperwork for the permit, payment for the agency and bags for 15 days trekking and 30 days at base camp to be organised. Most importantly: there are the ‘Kathmandu' film scenes to set up and it's a pretty big job. All that in 24 hours ! Finally, we leave Kathmandu and all its activity to set out for 15 days of trekking to acclimatise.
We follow the road of lake Gusaikund, a popular pilgrimage route that for the next few days leads us towards les Ganesh, though the peaks remain out of sight. At long last we arrive at the lake with a view of the mountains.
We feel welcome at the lodge. We're alone with a family and their three children who hanker with our IPOD and other gadgets. We feel so at home that we end up spending four days here, walking around the lake to acclimatise and playing cards with the children as we wait for our Dal Bat dinner each evening. The time we spent with the family brought us a little closer to the Nepalese people, even if the language barrier made it tricky as only the eldest son spoke a little English.
They tell us about their family history. As Tibetan immigrants they arrived with nothing and survived by sharing the running of a Lodge (of a similar sort to that which the CAF leave in the charge of guardians). They talk about the frustrations of comparing their own situation with the young generations of the western world. As of recently, television and the Internet have allowed them to see quite how different their own existence is from that of the West. We tell them that it's no doubt they who have the better rhythm. I think they appreciated the sentiment but find it hard to believe with the IPOD, cameras, satellite telephone and all the electrical goods that we wouldn't be without even for a trek in the mountains.
After the few days we have to tear ourselves away from the lodge to go on to Tatopani, where the porters will meet us to head up to the base camp. Once we find the porters, we begin a two-day hike towards the base camp, where hard work awaits us.
For financial reasons, we haven't taken on a Sirdar (the person who would usually organise the team of Nepalese porters). As a result, we're left to manage the group of 18 porters ourselves and it's not so easy. We were, all the same, impressed by the porters resilience and above all by the quality of the work done by Rai and Kamals, our two cooks with whom we spent the month at base camp and who took such good care of us.
Eventually we make it to the base camp, though the final stretch was tough and painful for some of the porters.
We settle the payment and share a meal of Dal Bat and traditional cakes together before those that are not to stay on, leave to head back in the dark, unable to stand the temperatures at base camp.
Life begins at base camp as we sort out our equipment, and stake out the Eastern ridge of the Ganesh.
After two days of preparations, we set out to transfer our equipment to the ridge and set up a second base camp 550 meters up; the start of the trickier climb.
The climb allows us to complete our acclimatisation and scope out the next stages of the route. Back to base camp tired but pleased, we know the route we'll take and the conditions look good; fine weather ahead.
After a day's rest to sleep and re-organise our packs, we head off, intending to continue along the ridge, pass the first rocky section and leave the tents and equipment at the top.
This time around, we begin to realise the true difficulties of the climb and the scale of the mountain that towers above us. The ridge is awesome, precipitous and it's difficult to secure ourselves along the steep slope where the snow ledges give way to a drop of over 2000 meters. Despite everything, we reach the rocky terrain on the second day where we spend two nights.
We're pleased with the progress we've made but don't necessarily feel all that reassured for what's to come; it seems long and the route, complex. Furthermore, from this point on, there'll be no question of any more back-and-forths along the ridge; we'll leave from here to climb continuously until we reach the summit.
We head down to base camp one last time, exhausted but confident all the same. It's a beautiful day. This time we rest for two days and having recharged our batteries we awake to an unpleasant surprise; it's snowing and even if only lightly at base camp, we're not to know what things are like 2000 meters higher up.
The tension rises amongst the team. We speak very little (after thirty-five days together, there isn't much left to say) and everybody thinks about the days ahead, those that we've been building up to for the past year…
The third day; the weather forecast isn't too good but we only have eight days before the porters have to head back. It's now or never. With our sacs packed with 7 days of food supplies, we're all feeling pretty on edge… Within two days we reach the tents that we left at 6000 meters. The weather forecast still looks only average and it's starting to get very cold at night.
At this point, we're hoping to reach the summit in 5 days time and then head back down to the second base camp where we've left the food supplies. The first day is chaotic. The weather's bad and the pitches of rock face that should have been easy to climb transform into an uncertain mixed climb.
Night falls and we still don't know where to sleep. Finally, at eight in the evening we find an incline of snow and we dig out a couple of holes to sleep. The next day, the weather is beautiful and to wake up in the snow at 50 degrees is unforgettable: beneath our feet, 2500 meters of mountain face!!!
We set off again but the altitude soon takes effect and we advance slowly. In addition, each time the fog descends, we're forced to stop so as not to lose ourselves in the snow.
Finally, around six in the evening, we arrive at the foot of the last rock face and the summit is within reach. We abandon the idea of reaching the summit of Ganesh 5 to fight our way up a different virgin rock face of 350 meters that we baptise Gorillaz peak.
Michel announces beautiful weather for the following day, followed by violent winds in the evening time. We need to reach the summit and get a move on. We sleep, exhausted, and a bit tense having eaten very little over the past two days.
The next day is like a dream. It's a beautiful day and there's no wind; the ideal conditions to reach the summit.
The first pitches of mixed climbing are quickly completed and we arrive at the rock face of 6500 meters.
Above us stretch 200 meters of granite. To savour the unforgettable pitches of rock climbing, we climb without gloves as far as 6700 meters, to reach, at long last, the summit at four in the afternoon.
After a few victory photos we start to head down, for the first time in 6 days. We arrive at the tents around eight in the evening, utterly exhausted but so delighted with the achievement that even our frozen sleeping bags seem soft and inviting. Around midnight the wind, as predicted, starts to pick up and the rest of the night is long as we wait inside the tent as the wind roars outside. In the morning we get up quickly. It's cold and the wind is hard to bear: we're out of here!
After an interminable descent, we arrive at the base camp where Rai and Kamal wake to prepare a meal.
Those were the most precious moments we shared with them, even if they didn't necessarily grasp the joy of our conquest, they were delighted for us and we shared beers, wine, foie gras and other various things…
We were on top of the world.
We wake the next day, euphoric. We stitch up our nicks and cuts, get the equipment in order and make the most of our last time at base camp; our home for the past month.
The next day, the porters arrive and we return to Kathmandu.
Our departure from base camp wasn't without emotion. Along the road back, we pass the local Nepalese at work and it's at that moment that we decide to celebrate our victory in Tonsai, Thailand. That, however, is another adventure…
Beth Rodden completed the first ascent of Meltdown (5.14c) in Yosemite, CA.
She worked on the route for 4 months through the stormy Sierra winter contending with feet of snow. The route is protects completely natural and she placed all of the gear on lead.
I worked harder on this route than any other single pitch climb I have done. Rodden is hesitant to give the route a letter grade, but considering she has redpointed several 5.14a's and did the first ascent of the Optimist (5.14b) in roughly half the time, Meltdown is most likely the hardest climb redpointed by an American woman, and the hardest traditional climb completed in the world by a woman. If it is 5.14c it puts her in an elite category of two or three women ever to have climbed the grade of 5.14c.
Follow the french guys at the Red River Gorge, Kentucky - USA.
Daniel Dulac linking his new route "El Encuentro" (8a - 5.13b).
Mickaël Fuselier sending the first ascent of "50 words for pump" (8c+ - 5.14c), and Gérome Pouvreau finally linking "Thanatopsis" (8b+ - 5.14a)...
Climbing, climbing and more climbing !
TIP : If you have low connection, press one time on the "PLAY" button, and press a second time on the "PAUSE" button, in order to launch the buffer. Then, wait until at least 50% of the movie is loaded after watching it. You can also click on the "ZOOM" button to watch fullscreen.
A video by Erwan Lelann & Guillaume Broust.
Music by eKoman featuring Paty Thioune. Vocals by Laurence Gullon.
After several tries during two days, Mickael Fuselier made the first ascent of "Fifty words for pumped" in Red River Gorge, for the Petzl RocTrip.
TIP : Press two times on the "PLAY" button to launch the buffer. Then, wait until more than 50% of the movie is loaded. You can also click on the "ZOOM" button to watch fullscreen.
On friday, Mickael Fuselier did the first ascent of Fifty words for pumped in Bob Marley. He proposes 8c+ :
The
friction was missing for the previous run, but yesterday I had screaming
barfies, and I think it was the good day to do the route.
I've met a
small problem again, because I can't clip the fourth quickdraw in the crux. It
was: I do the movement or I clip… I chose a really good belayer (Tony Lamiche)
and I didn't clip...
The second
part of the route was really endurance, but I knew it’s really good. I think
the grade is 8c+, but after my ascention Tony find an other beta on the right, so
I think it's easier like this, maybe 8c.
It's so
good, because a lot of climbers will now be able to do the route, and raise a
lot of money for the coalition.
I 'm so
happy to do the first ascent of such a nice route ! Thanks a lot everybody for
supporting me during the ascent.
Mickael Fuselier
Mickael Fuselier focusing before a run in Fifty words... on thirsday - Photo Boris Stephan
Writer, climber and guide Majka Burhardt has a penchant for combining adventure climbing and travel to exotic destinations. She does this with a heart-felt emphasis on gaining an greater understanding of the places she visits and the people inhabiting them. A few years ago, she and several other climbers travelled to Ethiopia, known to most Westerners has a place of desert and famine. Majka returned with stories of first ascents and a rich, new perspective of this often misunderstood country. Her book, Vertical Ethopia: Climbing Towards Possibility in the Horn of Africa, vividly documents her Ethiopian climbing adventure. Following an extensive book tour, Majka once again set her sights on Africa - Namibia, this time. In May 2009, she and a small team of climbers departed for that southern African country with two goals in mind: to find a way up an unexplored face, and to find a way into a deeper understanding of that region. She and her team returned having accomplished both. Majka recently released a DVD, Waypoint Namibia (see trailer below), which captures the sights and sounds of her journey. It is available for purchase from her site.
Download the poster of the film
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