Sunday, August 30, 2009

CELEBRATE

The precursor to the road-trip, not a pure climbing video but a good tribute to an amazing climbing couple living an international life of adventure....CELEBRATE Norwegian style!

I first met Seth in the North Cascades in the early sketchy days of alpine climbing. We also shared our first big effort on a Himalayan Peak, a very sketchy mission. His psyche for climbing, culture experience and generosity rubs off on everyone he interacts with.
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Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Norway Wall Classics part 2--STETIND

Part 2 of the Norway Road-Trip. Packed 4 deep in the Northern Alpine Guides Mitsubishi L300 minibus we took multiple mini ferry rides to most iconic peak of the country, Stetind. Not only is this peak a wild volcano-looking spire of granite (1,700 ft of rock!!), but the approach is also magical: endless blueberry patches, waterfalls, enchanted mushroom/mossy undergrowth and finally pristine alpine lakes.

Unfortunately we got hammered by a torrential rain storm close to the summit so there is not much climbing footage... Amee and I were able to top out the last few steep 5.10 pitches and were lost on the summit for a while before finding the descent while the rest of the team found an escape ramp.

Shot with seth's D90 and edited with much car-sickness on the windy single lane roads.

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endless support

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best from up north,

~renan
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Monday, August 24, 2009

Lofoten Islands Norway

Northern road-trip in Norway! This is a work in progress for Northern Alpine Guides, and features the owners/newly weds Seth and Maren on the 13 pitch 5.10 classic West Pillar of the Priest or "Presten" formation.


Its really unique to have a sustained route of this nature (nearly every pitch is 5.10) on a spire rising right out of the sea. These magical islands above the arctic circle (24 hr daylight in the summer!) are home to a rich history of trad climbing, mountaineering, and hard-core cod fishing.

You know it's a good trip when: you lose your new camera on the plane, your debit card gets "captured" by the ATM, you leave your credit card @the gas station, it rains every night and you have a single wall tent, you spill a big bottle of Dr. Bronners in your duffel, the iPhone drowns in a wet pocket & finally someone steals your frying pan...more to come....

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Thanks for checking in! ~renan Read more...

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

"I'm a Boltin' Man..." 5.14 Gnarnia in Ten Sleep Canyon!!!

I first met Kevin and Alli through a few years ago in Red Rocks and was impressed not only by their climbing prowess but by their good natured down home vibe. They are now two of the only local climbers in the extremely Po-Dunk town of Ten Sleep. I really fell in love with Ten Sleep while I was there and was delighted by the "Country" charm of this strange little town. Combine that with the fact that this is probably the largest single resource of Limestone I have ever seen and I can see why All and Kevin call this place home. YEEEHAW

Cedar.

Kevin Wilkinson is a walking canadian send fest...and a really nice guy!!! He's been quietly putting up test piece after test piece in Ten Sleep Canyon on the wild pocketed limestone. I had the pleasure of capturing his proud send of a brand spankin new pocket pulling 5.14-gnar crank fest!!! Probably more fun to watch then to pull on all those monos!!! Read more...

"If That Ain't Country..." Wyoming's Limestone Frontier

So I made this trip with my friend Nelly and every evening we'd head to the local bar in Ten Sleep and have a few beers. One evening this classic cow boy singer rambled in and I recorded the sound track for these short films! Even though Kevin and Alli are the star climbers...the real star is this guy!! At some point about eighteen hours into editing these two "Ten Sleep" Videos I asked myself...why do I do this??? I'm not getting paid a dime and it's a shit load of brain frying work...the answer I realized is this....It's a labor of love...and the fact that everyone keeps watching gets me psyched to keep the films rolling so stay tuned for more short films from me and Renan

For those interested in the technical details all of my dispatches have been filmed using a pretty nice prosumer camera called the HMC150...I edit on Final Cut, and now I'm using a really cool color correcting plug-in called magic bullet which gives the Ten Sleep Dispatches their funky filmic look....cheers. Cedar.

I took a little road trip to Wyoming and what did I find?? A little known, limestone Frontier called "Ten Sleep Canyon." The town of Ten Sleep has to be one of the most "Country" places I have ever been with cowy boys literally pulling up to the local saloon on horses! This Dispatch Features hard cranking local Alli Rainey and a few other "characters!" Read more...

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Alaska Alpine Style

The full story of the AK adventure, a written piece, all the technical details and more photos on the Black Diamond Website


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