OURAY ICE FESTIVAL PHOTOS

Here are some shoots of the Ice Fest.

This is one of my favorite shoot here myself, Annie and our friend Simon on the last day of the Ice Fest.

Lots of people are getting ready for the Petzl party !!! Lots of cool energy on Saturday.

I start my day warming up with y good friends Brian Gilmore and Simon.

After some laps it was time for me to give a go to the comp route. The bottom little insecure but pretty easy climbing.

After some easy section the ice bridge was next. Get psyched breath deep and start getting serious with the figure 4 and 9 business.

Long move to get stablish on the bridge and sending time!!!!

The sequence to cross the ice bridge was incredible. This was the first time that the competition route goes from side of the canyon to the other. Incredible movement!!

Right after making the cross over in the West side of the canyon the sequence start with a sporty head points to good holds.

Here I'm reaching big for the second long move at the upper wall,

The middle of the upper wall was pretty fun with lots of long moves and hard climbing the last crux move was coming before start swing at the ice.

Just a few moves on the ice before make it to the top, In terms of energy I was felling pretty good with lots more fuel in the thank.

Be able to top out in competitions it is a great felling. Especially when only 2 of us where the only ones!!!

Spending sometime with the press feel's always funny.

Ceremony night !!!! Good times with some friends and some good $$$ for placing 2.
Many thanks for all the friends and family for been there for me totally awesome times.

2012 OURAY ICE FESTIVAL RECAP

The 2012 Ouray Ice Festival it was a total blast.

This festival it is my favorite, I can see friends that I haven't seen in a while, teach clinics for some of my sponsors and do the mixed climbing competition.

The festival opening was on Thursday starting with two slide shows, one given by my room mate Dawn Glanc and the other was given by myself about the last expedition that I did in Kyrgyzstan. The theater was full and we all had great time.

Friday, I woke up early to teach some clinics. A half day on beginner ice for Petzl, and the rest of the day I had the chance to hang out to talk with some friends and rest for the competition.

At 4 pm all the competitors had to go to a meeting to talk about starting time and route details. We all were informed that one of the competitors was caught scoping the route with a high power lens and he got disqualified. The rules were super clear in terms of not looking at the route with any extra eyes. In fact, it has been like that for the past 10 years.

After the meeting we all had our jerseis and starting numbers. Mine was 7 and I was pretty happy with the number not too early not too late. It was time to head back home and get some rest.

Morning came fast, and it was time for the competition. The morning was beautiful and pretty warm too. I teamed up with my good friend Brian Gilmore to warm up, also our recent friend Simone, from France, joined us. Simone, an extremly strong young climber, who I had the chance to climb with for two weeks prior to the event, was a huge inspiration for us. His fitness level is incredible.

After couple of pitches for warm up, it was time to get ready. While I was putting my boots on, I saw that one of the competitors got to the top!!!!!! At that point, the bar was raised. Anybody with the aspiration of making it to the podium pretty much needed to make it all the way to the top.

Finally, it was my turn!!!!

Close my eyes took a deep breath visualize myself climbing all the way. The judges gave me the one minute left to check out the route, then, three, two, one! Climbing!

The first part of the climb was pretty intense since the rock is smooth at the bottom of the canyon, and the feeling of falling down early is always there. After that section, it was time for the first crux the Ice bridge!!!!! The route traversed across an ice loaf,from one side of the gorge to the other side. It looked hard, my commitment level was super high. The sequence started with figure 4 and 9 and 4 and 9, after some more crazy moves, there I was on the other side of the canyon.

At that point it was time for the final and last crux section of the route, the head wall. I was totally focused on my breathing and each movement that I was doing, with pure intention. Rest breath, BIG move, clip. Do that same sequence again. It is kind of a surreal experience, and I start realizing that I'm getting higher and higher on the route to the point that I'm swinging into the ice near the top. A couple minutes later I'm standing on the top of the canyon and a couple hundred people cheering with me on. What a cool felling!!!!!

Now, it was time to wait for everyone else to go and see the results. The rest of the competitors went and nobody else topped out the route. Looking at the results, I ended in second place after the canadian guy climbed the route 6 seconds faster than me!!!!!! Great job Nathan Kusher, an unknown climber who showed how it is done.

People ask me if I'm bummed to lose just for 6 seconds? To be honest my answer is NO NOT at ALL. Getting to the top for me was a personal goal regardless in which place I end up. Plus, I had a knee injury about month and half ago where I wasn't sure if I'm gone be able to climb for the rest of the winter, so I'm more than happy with how I climbed

I want to thank to Brian Gilmore, French Simone, Will Mayo, Sam Elias for all the inspiration. Competitions are 70% luck 30% fitness. It is extremely difficult to predict what is going to happen and this year Nathan and I got that 70%.

After the comp it was time to celebrate like a rock start with some great friends!!!!!!!

Next and last day of the Fest was very the snow finally show up I did one more clinic and the most especial moment of the weekend happen when a bunch of friends got together to celebrate Alison and Bean lives with some histories and good moments.

I want to thank to everybody who make this great event happen and I'm looking forward to be able to part of it for awhile.

BIRD BRAIN BOULEVARD

This season it has been a great so far. tons of ice, the mixed and alpine routes are in great shape!!!

Some days ago I had the opportunity to climb my favorite route in the San Juan's with my sweety.

It was her first time on the route and first one of the season for me.

The route it was as always super fun!!!

This season the lower part of the route have tons of ice and the upper part it is pretty dry making it little different than previous years.

Annie had tons of fun following every pitch in great style!!!!

We make great time on route.

The gear for this route this season is:

Cams 2 sets from .3 to 3 and one #4, pins, half set of stoppers, 4 medium screws, runners and a 70 M rope with a 5 mm tag line.

A nice view of the first pitch.

Anita following the second pitch.

The upper route does not have much ice, but fun climbing anyway.

Anita topping out with a huge smile on her face. Summit shoot what a great times!!!!!!!!!!!

This season it has been a great so far. tons of ice, the mixed and alpine routes are in great shape!!!

Some days ago I had the opportunity to climb my favorite route in the San Juan's with my sweety.

It was her first time on the route and first one of the season for me.

The route it was as always super fun!!!

This season the lower part of the route have tons of ice and the upper part it is pretty dry making it little different than previous years.

Annie had tons of fun following every pitch in great style!!!!

We make great time on route.

The gear for this route this season is:

Cams 2 sets from .3 to 3 and one #4, pins, half set of stoppers, 4 medium screws, runners and a 70 M rope with a 5 mm tag line.

WINTER IS HERE !!!

It is nice to be back in the San Juan's.

I take a deep breath fell the cool San juan air in to my lungs. Open my eyes I find myself surrounded by an awesome view. My back yard!!! I think to myself, happily, this is the place where I will be hanging out for the next 5 months.

4 ANNUAL ICE NIGHT

The 4 Annual Ice night at the city rock climbing gym in Colorado Springs it was a great event.

This was my 3rd year going to the event, and every year it getting better and better Lots of climbing gear demos from Petzl, BD, Cassim and Evolve make this event pretty fun.

This year I had the opportunity to give a slide show about my last and most recent expedition to Kyrgyzstan. After the Slide show it was time for the competition The route was super fun, about 20 competitors from all over the country. In the end the podium was 3rd place Andres Marin, 2 place Marc Beverly and the winner of this year was Gordon MacArthur. unfortunately it was a DQ on the comp Sam Elias how did the best of all got a DQ because a touch a wrong hole :) Other than that we all had a great times and I'm totally looking forward for next year.

Thanks to all who did the event happen and for all the spectators!!!!!!

AWESOME EXPEDITION

Finally, we are back in the USA after an incredible expedition to Kyrgyzstan. We got to climb two unclimbed peaks as the first American team to reach the Torugart - Too Range. Everything was awesome, the climbing, the people, and the entire experience. I want to thank my partner Phillipe for his great energy. Also, thanks to Mugs Stump and the Mugs Stump Grant for helping us make this expedition possible. Huge thanks to Bluewater, Millet, Petzl, 5.10, Gu, and all our friends and family, you all rock.

Heading to the Denver International Airport, we are super psyched.

In DIA with loads of luggage; camping, climbing (ice & rock) gear, lots of warm clothes and tons of freeze-dried and gu food. All this makes for hefty bags.

It took us two and a half days to arrive in Kyrgyzstan. Once we got there, the real adventure began.

At the market in Bishkek preparing for our expedition, we needed thirty days of food and fuel. Market missions are really cool, colorful, and culturally interactive. They set us up for the mountain experiences to come. It is important to remember everything necessary because there will be no chances to restock.

Road break on the journey from Bishkek to Naryn, five hours of crazy driving.

Dude, which way? With this nuts-o driver!

With our new plans (due to the change of price from our logistical agency) we decided to go to a different mountain range. En-route to the Torugart -Too range we had to stop in Tash Arbat. This is a small yurt village in the mountains. We needed to get beta about the range from a gentleman named Rumenburg and devise a good plan.

Discussing our plans and logistics with the local people. It would take us traveling with four horses in three days to reach base camp.

Free time to hang out and make new friends before leaving the next day.

Time to load up the horses and begin the next part of our adventure.

Horse riding was a unique part of the journey, the landscape was amazing. It was challenging riding in steep and loose terrain.
After our third day of horses, we saw our first views of the range and wild horses, really beautiful country.

Base camp at 3,000 meters. Good spot on dry ground next to a a clear creek.

After a couple days at base camp and a reconisence mission three hours up the valley, we chose this local for our advance base camp, just under 4,000 meters.

Our first objective. The unclimbed (4,800 meter) peak behind me. This mountain is the divide between China and Kyrgyzstan

The climbing started with 500 meters of steep snow, low-angle ice, and mixed climbing that will be taking us to the summit ridge.

The ridge was interesting and a bit sketchy with loose rock and fairly unprotected. This is a photo from the summit which we named in honor of our dear friend Bean Bowers. The celebration of his life was taking place on this day. We miss you brother.

We came down from our first successful mission and got hung up in nine days of poor weather.

When it cleared, and with a good weather window report from Bryan Gilmore (our forecaster from the US) we had a go at our main objective, shown in this photo, the central face of Mustyr Massif.
Our goal was to connect the three faces which are stacked on top of each other. One of the cruxes on the route came quickly in this steep and loose rock section. The protection was marginal. We had to stay focused.

Another crux pitch, an unprotected traverse which Phillipe put a great lead on. The follow was also quite sketch.

Then we hit the ice higher up on the mountain. This allowed us to move a bit quicker.

More ice sections. We are getting higher and higher.
Staying psyched up high!

After 1,300 meters of pure technical climbing we are at the summit. This is only half way, our descent was very complex. We had to cross avalanche terrain and got caught in two slides, which definitely shed light on how much we appreciate our fragile lives.

Advance base camp was hectic and stormy, we found lower ground at base camp. In this image we are unburying base camp.

We waited out the storm. Bryan informed us we had a decent window, followed by a weather system. The next storm cycle came sooner than we had wished, it began to get nasty and we had to descend deciding not to take any more risky chances, since we already got so lucky.

Twenty-three days in these radical mountains, successful and full of lessons, our friends and their horses met us for the return journey.

Reversed the horse ride, reflecting on our experiences and stoked to be alive.

Thanks for all the support! I highly recommend exploring Kyrgyzstan to anyone willing to try something outrageously different. Overall, we had excellent experiences with the people and the mountains.

WE ARE BACK IN NARYN !!!!!!

We are back in Naryn after espending 20 days in the Toragart-too range.

We had the oportunity to climb 2 unclimbed peaks via awesome routes in the range.

The hole 20 days where full of adventure fill up with scary, peaceful and enjoible moments.

We also had the opportunity to make new friends and see very cool places.

The story and  photos will be post once we make it to the USA. 

The adventures are not over yet.

Thanks to everybody who helps us on our crazy moments. RAKHMAT (thanks)big time!!!!!  

Even writing this posts are totally an expedition. Internet and computers here are pretty wild to find and hard to understand.

We will trying to head back to Bishkek in a day or two.