Lessons Learned on Mt. Russell

I got a call from my long-time alpine partner with the news that he was going to be in California for spring break and – in between engagement plans – he had some free time.  He then asked me if I would be down to drive 10 hours to Lone Pine for a shot at a cool summit. This was a no-brainer question for me; of course I was!

Nathan and I have climbed all over together. We have climbed scrappy multi-pitch routes in the City of Rocks, ID, sat in our tent for days at the Cirque of the Towers hoping for good weather, and practiced our drytooling game on the loosest choss pile I’ve ever seen down in Provo Canyon.  Now that Nathan was getting engaged, we wanted to do a last hurrah with the newly discovered free time.  As soon as I left work, I drove 700 miles down to Lone Pine, CA where we planned to meet.

However – like all good adventures – there was trouble.  Due to significant rockfall during the winter, the roads were closed and under construction, which delayed our plans for a day and added an extra 3 miles to our approach.  Neither of us being great backcountry skiers, we fumbled and guessed for a while before getting into a rhythm. And to top it all off, the sleeping pads we relied on to keep us warm and off the snow decided to rupture.  Carefully-arranged backpacks and coiled ropes are a poor substitute for Thermarest pads, sleep was rare that night as we shivered on top of the snow. 

Originally, we had planned to summit both Mt Whitney and Mt Russel during our 4 day window.
With the reduced timeframe, we opted for Mt Russell’s East Ridge only.  While normally a 3^rd class scramble in the summer, a winter ascent consists of 1,500’of snow and climbing on loose unconsolidated powder, all while facing exposure on the ridge in stiff AT boots, creating a serious outing.  Around 1:00 pm, after a cruxy 5.6 slab, we decided that continuing on the ridge would put us outside of our return window and above our safe climbing threshold, so we made the painful decision to bail.  While frontpointing down bullet-hard snow with loaded packs and ultralight axes, our decision to retreat was reaffirmed. 

After another cold night without pads, Nathan and I were eager to wake up and get an early start on the day.  We jumped the gun a bit in our haste and started skiing down on icy snow.  Although a rough way to start the morning, the snow eventually turned into perfect corn and the views coming down were beautiful.

We ended the trip with a ritual Chile Colorado burrito at Amigos in Bishop, then started the long drive home to Utah.

Gear Used

Vaude Zerum 58: Ultralight, but with a comfy suspension system, the Zerum carried all of my skiing, climbing, and camping gear, even with the lid removed. 

MSR Windburner 1L: We had to melt all of our water from snow, which takes a lot of fuel.  The MSR Windburner is very efficient and works well even in the wind, when you really want hot water quickly.

Grivel Stealth: Superlight helmet with full head coverage; perfect to protect from rock and ice fall while helping to keep pack weight down.

Grivel Haute Route Axe:  The lightest axe that Liberty Mountain carries.  The Ghost or Flame axes from Grivel would have been much better, but they have not arrived yet.

Grivel G12: These are the standard for mountaineering crampons.  I was tempted to use an aluminum crampon like the Air Tech Lights, but the chromolly steel provided better security on the rock scrambles.

Grivel Ares:  Most of the times that we had harnesses on were while walking or scrambling over easy rock.  The open design of the Ares harness allows for a much more comfortable stride.

Edelweiss Discover 8mm: We went with the Discover over the Beal Opera – one of my favorite ropes - as it was slightly thinner and came in a 30m section.  For scrambly ridges like this, 30m was more than sufficient. 

Thule Stir 15L: Comparably light in relation to other summit sacks on the market, but at a much lower price.  I could stuff this in the bottom of my pack and grab it on summit day.

Cypher Logic Approach Shoes: I used these on the hike up to the snow, then stashed them when we switched to skis.  I wish I had brought them up the climb as well, because they would have been perfect on the ridge.

Outdoor Designs Diablo GTT: Perfect gloves for the approach and manipulating tricky ski bindings.

Justin Fisher is a climber, adventurer, and internet sales rep at Liberty Mountain

All photos courtesy of Justin Fisher and Nathan Robinson

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Editor’s Choice Award - Grivel Tech Machine

The new Grivel Tech Machine ice tool received the Editor’s Choice Award from Climbing Magazine. The Tech Machine handles any type of terrain with great all-around performance, from all day ice to alpine mixed lines to single-pitch pillars.

The Tech Machine's geometry delivers a great swing, clears bulges and cauliflowers, and provides stable hooking on both ice and rock. Solid placements come easily, even when the ice gets unruly.

Steve House, a world-renowned alpinist, mountain guide, and book author, has been using the Tech Machines for a while now and had this to say about the new tools: “The ergonomics, weight distribution, and the excellent Ice Picks that come with the Tech Machine make it my go-to tool for everyday ice and mixed climbing; truly a great all-around tool that works really well on everything from WI3 to M9.”

The Tech Machine comes standard with the interchangeable Machine-Ice blade that is tapered at the tip (3mm) for easy penetration in any type of ice.  The optional Machine-Mix blade, tapered down to 4.2mm, accepts all sorts of “normal abuse” while hooking and steining on the rock and ice. The Machine-Mix blade has the option of attaching a hammer or adze in the back. Both the Ice and the Mix blades are made using hot forged steel that offers amazing durability, even when torqueing in the cracks on mixed terrain.

The Tech Machine features a dual density handle with multiple grip options, allowing you to shake out when pumped or choke up to get an extended reach. The “Cyclops eye” on the head of the axe allows for easy racking on ice clippers, carabiners, or with most other racking methods.

The Tech Machine is T-rated, weighs 23.2oz (660 grams), is 19.29 inches (49cm) long, and retails for $249.95. Outfit yourself with an award winning tool by visiting your nearest Grivel dealer today and grab a pair of the Grivel Tech Machine.

The Tech Machine is part of Grivel’s new line of Machine ice tools that also include the Machine 3.0 and Light Machine.




The new Grivel Machine ice tools hit the U.S. market at the beginning of the 2014/2015 ice season and made their debuts at many of the ice climbing festivals around the U.S. Keep an eye out for them and give them a try.

Grivel is one of the many brands exclusively distributed in the U.S. by Liberty Mountain. Visit LibertyMountain.com or contact the Liberty Mountain Sales Team to become a Grivel dealer today.



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Gear Review: Grivel Force Carbon

Alpinist Magazine published a gear review for the Grivel Force Carbon, one of Grivel's new ice tools made specifically for competitive mixed climbing and drytooling.


Read the full review here:
http://www.alpinist.com/doc/web13w/ms-grivel-force-carbon-ice-tool-review

Review Summary:

• "Based solely on mixed climbing performance, I would give this axe five stars without hesitation."
• "This shape greatly reduces any pick shifting, especially when switching hands, creating an incredibly stable axe."
• "The design also increases the overall reach of the axe (two centimeters more than the Nomic), which is surprisingly noticeable when climbing harder routes that involve big moves."
• "At 19.8oz, it's one of the lightest axes out there."
• "Pulling and torquing on the tools in every possible direction for 150 pitches, I have yet to chip the finish. They were even dropped from about 10m without consequence. The carbon material also gives the Force incredible stiffness. I never once felt any flex like I have using some aluminum tools, and at 180lbs, I'm not the lightest climber out there."

Product Specs and Features:

Created for the modern drytooler and competition climber where the route is more rock than ice, the Force is the ultimate in hooking and drytooling performance. The Force’s shaft angle allows matching or changing grip anywhere on the shaft without the pick shifting. Reparto Course axes are hand-made in Italy and therefore sold only in precision matched pairs.

• Weight: 560 grams (19.8 oz)
• Pick: 4.1mm of micro-forged steel
• Material: Carbon Force one piece carbon fiber

Reparto Corse

For nearly 200 years Grivel has led the development of ice climbing equipment but that is not enough for Grivel. With all the recent changes in mixed climbing, competition and rising performance standards, Grivel has created a new department. A real Laboratory for Development where they can explore the possible and beyond. Rapid changes in materials, styles and design lead to creation of the Grivel Reparto Corse (Grivel’s Racing Development) to add further innovation to Grivel’s rich legacy of standard setting equipment.