The Armchair Mountaineer » climbing

Goodbye, Grivel NA

Seth — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 17:09:52 +0000

Grivel’s North American arm is done. One of my first axes was a Grivel, and with me being the sad little sentimental gearhead that I am, this news is unfortunate to hear. My current crampons are Grivel’s – I’ll be curious to see how difficult or possible it will be to get any kind of warranty/customer service work out of them from overseas…

The Tin Shed

Seth — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 15:50:02 +0000

As an unapologetic Patagonia fan, I was pleasantly surprised to see their newest web project pop up in my newsreader yesterday. The Tin Shed is a collection of stories, videos, photos, and whatever else they can fit in there from their friends and ambassadors out and about in the wide wild world. As far as armchair mountaineering goes, it’s a perfect fit for a Friday morning websurf session. Make sure to read Kelly Cordes’ treatise on high-altitude spooning, and get a peek into Steve House’s garage and gear stash.

Of Things I’ll Never Climb

Mark — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 05:11:04 +0000

Mike is a self-described avid climber (alpine, sport and ice). I’ve never met him but wandered across his stream on flickr. He lives somewhere up in that great white land to the north that most of America ignores. He lives where in the winter it’s cold and the waterfalls freeze. When that happens he goes out and climbs them. Having never really been a real climber and only a enthusiastic junior mountaineer, I dunno if I’ll ever give it a try – but man, it’s impressive as all get out to look at. Here are some photos from a place called Valley of the Birds:

Mike’s set has more…