"If I manage to do this I will be incredibly proud, not just for
myself but for my country and for Asia," the 43-year-old South Korean
told AFP after arriving in the Nepalese capital Kathmandu for the
expedition.
"I don't know why no female climber has managed it. I
suppose it is down to women's position in the world, which is still not
the same as men's."
This jingoistic quote from South Korean climber Oh Eun-Sun finally brought me off the fence on this thing. I'm officially hoping Edurne is the first woman to complete all 8,000 meter peaks. In two sentences, Eun-Sun has shown herself to be either extremely naive or just completely egocentric when it comes to the history of women in climbing. Not that I'm an expert by any means, but com'on, show some knowledge and respect for the women who have come before you. Not only that, lets be honest, Eun-Sun is basically the Korean version of Sandy Pittman; anybody with enough money, enough people carrying your gear and oxygen bottles (Eun-Sun used O2 on K2 and Everest) , breaking trail, fixing rope, managing your expedition, can climb any of the 8,000 meter peaks. Eun-Sun represents the retrograde, antiquated siege climbing mentality that continues to endure because money can still buy pretty much anything. Pasaban, Kaltenbrunner, and Meroi (especially Meroi), who have been slogging away for years at this, represent the elite, alpine-style part of climbing where skill, stamina, and knowledge, not money, are the measure of success. Again, I'm not an expert. There are plenty of people that can speak to this more eloquently then I. And perhaps Eun-Sun has been conquering all her peaks alpine style. Hard to tell, but she surely doesn't speak about it in her interviews. And using supplementary O2 on at least two mountains qualifies her for a "*climbed with oxygen" in the record books.
The most annoying part of this quote is the asinine rhetorical question and answer, "I
suppose it is down to women's position in the world, which is still not
the same as men's." Last I checked, mountains were pretty gender agnostic when it comes to meting out death. Plenty of exceptionally talented women, hands and shoulders more talented than Eun-Sun, have died climbing the 8,000 meter peaks, not because they were women in a man's world, but because of the exact opposite. They were operating in the same world as men, where death is distributed evenly, regardless of gender. Wanda Rutkiewicz, Liliane Barrard, Julie Tullis, Chantal Mauduit, Alison Hargreaves, and Christine Boskoff are just a few of the many world class climbers that have died laying the ground work for others. Any of them could have easily been the first to finish the 14 8,000 meter peaks. Do you recognize any of these names Eun-Sun? Perhaps a measure of respect is in order for the many, many female mountaineers that died pioneering the way.
As far as Pasaban, Kaltenbrunner, and Meroi, all three have chosen the more difficult path of alpine-style climbing, where it's not about money and resources. That's why no "no female climber has managed it". They're also not sucking on O2 like Eun-Sun. In their world of alpine-style, it's about skill, stamina, knowledge, and of course luck. Not money, because lets be clear, any of them could have finished all 14 8,000 meter peaks long ago with the resources available to Eun-Sun. Easily.
That being said, there's no doubt many people still believe it doesn't matter how a climber gets up, just as long as you get up...and down so you can check some box in some record book. Those same people will be waving their little nationalistic flags when/if Eun-Sun succeeds on Annapurna this month. If she does becomes the first to top out on all 14 8,000 meter peaks, so be it. Congratulations will be in order from most people. But I'm going to asterisks her name. As are others. At a minimum because Eun-Sun used O2, but really because I think the future of climbing should be the one represented by Pasaban, Kaltenbrunner, and Meroi (lets throw House in here, though he's not as pretty), not Eun-Sun.
Yawn. Another designer jumping on the outdoor sports bandwagon. Jacobs have read about the study that reported surfers get a lot of booty, because his first foray into the segment is a surfboard.
How this makes financial sense, we're not sure, especially for overseas shipments, but hey great PR idea. If you send in your old shoes to Chrome by end of day today, postmarked the 18th, they'll send you a pair of brand new Chromes Shoes back. Gratis. So they say. From their Facebook page:
The French, not the brightest when it comes to naming products that are supposed to be taken seriously outside of France. LeWhif? LeCar? LeStupid, if you ask us. Regardless, you don't hear much from the ultralight crowd anymore. Not sure why, perhaps in these dour economic times people have better things to do than count ounces on their scales. But here's a product that's sure to get the ultralight fan boys all up in a tizzy. No need for anything other than an inhaler to vaporize a caffeine powder into your lungs. Works like an asthma inhaler, with one spray equal to a small shot of espresso. Beats chewing on chocolate covered espresso beans. We can't wait till we're inhaling all our expedition meals through this.
You now what I hate? Reading about Portland being the "new" center for
bike culture. Please, Portland is the center of white people and meth
addicts, the former love to claim talk about they ride bikes every day, the
latter love to steal them. It's a symbiotic relationship that works
well for them. But once you get through the hype, most people quickly
realize that the true epi-center of bike culture in the United States has always been, and will always be, the San Francisco Bay Area. Not only did we
invent mountain biking, but we pretty much invented messenger bags,
skinny jeans, and the most ubiquitous hipster cycling symbol in the world, the
white ipod headphone cords. I'm not going to name them all, but off the
top of my head here's the list of cycling related companies in and
around SF; Chrome Bags, Timbuk2, Rickshaw, Swobo, Xtracycle, Mission Workshop, Rivendell Bicycle Works, Soulcraft, Hunter Cycles, Santa Cruz Bicycles, Marin Bikes, Gary Fisher Bikes, Mission Bicycle Company, Mikkelsen Frames. Woo, that was off the top of my head. And the newest entry into this vaunted cadre, and the whole point of this post that I almost forgot when I started thinking of Portland? PUBLIC Bikes.
But wait, before you hate onPUBLIC because they're jumping on the bandwagon with their Dutch inspired designs. Before you rip on them for bringing nothing original, even their design principle to the party, give them a chance. Before you throw up a little in your mouth because PUBLIC was started by Rob Forbes, the Stanford MBA who introduced the world to over-priced designer furniture coveted by rich white people when he started Design Within Reach. Before you subject PUBLIC to the same beating Mission Bicycle Company took at the hands of the cyclerati at NY Bike Snob, lets at least go ride one? No? Rob says we can call him up and go for a test ride, right on his website. I'm withholding judgment. If he can truly bring in a nice looking, functional bike at the $650 price-point mentioned on the PUBLIC site, I'll be pleasantly surprised and will have nothing but nice things to write. Here's what Rob, esteemed graduate of the GSB, has to say about PUBLIC:
We’re joining the movement this spring with a small
collection of modern bikes and gear. We will be launching this
collection in April. Our bikes have been designed around the style and
principles of the classic city bikes of Europe, updated with new
technology and modern materials, and adapted to the U.S. market. We
have two classic European frame styles, both unisex, both made from
strong lightweight steel. We designed them for all sizes and ages and
made them especially female-friendly. We will have four colors and
three gear configurations all using internal hubs. We think our bikes
are pretty, but you can be the judge. Prices will range from about $650
to $1200.
We will happily give you more specifics upon request, just send us a note.
If you happen to live in the Bay Area, you are welcome to drop by and
take a test ride. Just give us a call to make an appointment,
415-896-0123. In mid-April our online store will be live and we will
have detailed specifications. We are also recruiting people, sending
out a catalog and a newsletter. The best way to keep abreast of our
activity is to sign up for our newsletter.
What were you doing when you were 22, besides getting drunk every weekend in celebration of your entry into the working world after college? Certainly not rowing 2817 miles across the Atlantic Ocean from Dakar to Georgetown, Guiana in 70 days, 5 hours, and 22 minutes. Certainly not that. Perhaps you've been following Katie, because we haven't, since it seems like everybody is rowing or swimming somewhere nowadays. Who has the time to even fact check that they're legit, ahem Jennifer Figge. But young Katie Spotz seems legit enough to us. We assume Kraig vetted her. Nice work, Katie. Via The Adventure Blog.
Deja vu all over again? Anybody else remember Mountain Hardwear's Exodus recall? To be fair, this time it's not technically Mountain Hardwear's fault, it's Ardica's, the company that makes the heating technology for their Refugium and Radiance heated jackets. But, well, live by another company's technology, get egg on your face by their technology:
Ardica engineers have detected a very limited number of problems within
the three heater panels (Front Right, Front Left, and Back Center) that
are sewn into the lining of the jackets. The issues identified in the
heater panels could cause overheating and/or hot spots on the heaters.
The Moshi Battery Pack which powers these heaters and fits into the
zippered sleeve within the jacket poses no hazard and we have seen no
evidence of issues with its performance. We are, however, recalling the
Moshi Battery Packs as well as garments with heaters. This will ensure
that all Moshis in the field will be updated with software that is
compatible with the enhanced safety and performance features found in
the redesigned heater configuration and in all future generations of
Ardica Enabled Products.
Doh! Anybody have a spare MET5 we can borrow? Which reminds us, what ever happened to Ultraformat? You still out there? We miss you. A lot. Via Ted at Backpacker blog.
How does that make sense? What happened to China? Cutting costs in Austria? Are the Chinese losing their competitive low cost labor advantage to the land that gave us Bruno? Really Jake? Really?
MONTPELIER, Vt. — Burton Snowboards says it's moving its manufacturing facility and 43 jobs from Vermont to Austria.
The
Vermont snowboard maker will move its Burton Manufacturing Center from
South Burlington in June, but will keep its global headquarters and
product design operations in Vermont.
The company's founder, Jake
Burton Carpenter, says it costs too much to continue making the boards
in Vermont, so that function will move to a Burton factory in Austria
that has the capacity to increase production.
Dougald's post reminded us we never wrote about Core. Or did we? Can't be bothered to look. We're assuming he's seen a preview, since it doesn't premier until April 7th at the Boulder Theater. He calls it the best climbing film ever made, perhaps in jest but perhaps not. We think the latter, because lets be honest, the best climbing film ever made featured Sylvester Stallone. Trailer looks interesting. A film by Chuck Fryberger.
Brilliant promotional campaign. Who knows if it's real, we're going to say no, but we emailed press.office @ nationaltrust.org.uk to find out. We'll let you know. Anyway, to promote a free weekend at their parks, the U.K.'s equivalent to the National Park Service is giving away jars of free air from various places around the U.K.:
The National Trust fresh air has been collected in recycled glass jars and will give office workers a fragrance for the natural outdoors – thought to relieve stress for up to ten minutes with each 454 gram jar containing 0.42 grams of fresh air.
The fresh air giveaway is promoting our free weekend where we're giving everyone in the country a bonus by opening our doors for free on the weekend of 20 – 21 March 2010. Hundreds of special places from castles, windmills and gardens will be opening for free and countryside and coastal car parks cared for by the Trust will also be free of charge over the weekend.
Great idea. Probably just a press stunt, but a good one. NPS should do something similar, maybe give away free samples of medicinal marijuana to the first 100 visitors in each park. Might as well do something with all that weed being grown in the parks. Read about the National Trust's free air giveaway.
The French, not the brightest when it comes to naming products that are supposed to be taken seriously outside of France. 
Deja vu all over again? Anybody else remember Mountain Hardwear's 
How does that make sense? What happened to China? Cutting costs in Austria? Are the Chinese losing their competitive low cost labor advantage to the land that gave us Bruno? Really Jake? Really? 
Brilliant promotional campaign. Who knows if it's real, we're going to say no, but we emailed press.office @ nationaltrust.org.uk to find out. We'll let you know. Anyway, to promote a free weekend at their parks, the U.K.'s equivalent to the National Park Service is giving away jars of free air from various places around the U.K.:
