iPhone as a GPS or "Standalone" GPS
After a few seasons in the mountains with my iPhone as my GPS, it was finally drawn to the real test. Full storm conditions on Mt. Rainier on a route I have never been on. There was never visibility farther than 20 meters and most of the time it was hard to see your hand in front of your face. The storm was wet so everything was riming and as we moved uphill we would start to sweat and the phone would condense with dripping water coming off it before it would start to freeze. I didn’t take too many pictures as the situation was waning of its fun and started to be more serious.
I will stay out of the technical hardware that the iPhone has and let Apple tell you what’s inside. However I will cover the practical tools and techniques that I used to navigate with the phone offline from cell reception.
First thing you will want to get for the iPhone is the LifeProof case. This case has proven itself through many drops as well as rain and snow storms in the mountains for me. I have never completely submerged the phone but have friends who have. I leave this in my sweaty pockets all day and even with a vapor pressure the phone stays bone dry.
Second, will be a back-up battery. The Morphie Juice Pack Pro is the one I carry. I didn’t use this on my 2 day trip up Rainier but have used it on 4 day trips in the past. I will charge the iPhone around 4 times. With this being said, I still go to airplane mode as much as possible. The GPS fix only takes a few seconds to find itself and this will sustain the battery for a long time. I will also sleep with the phone in my sleeping bag to prevent it from getting too cold at night. I have only had problems with battery drain at temps less than zero degrees Fahrenheit.
Third, will be what program to use. I have been using Topo Maps for awhile now. This app is $7.99 and is a one time fee. You can download all the maps for the U.S. and Canada with WIFI or cell signal. I tend to only download high res maps. You can import waypoints as well as export them. DropBox seems to be the way to do this most efficiently. You can read more about Topo Maps here: http://topomapsapp.com/index.html
*update December 2018* (While Topo Maps still work I would highly recommend Gaia GPS)
The iPhone has become an indispensable tool in the mountains. From a way to communicate to a camera, to a notepad to journal, your ipod that drowns out the noise in a busy hut and now a very accurate GPS unit, I would say don’t leave home without it!
For more on the iPhone camera check out this post: Best Camera to Carry
If you have more questions feel free to email me: karsten@foxmountainguides.com
Spain...In Pictures
For more info and the story click here:
http://www.foxmountainguides.com/about/the-guides-blog/entry/the-white-coast
The Feeling of Sending, Falling, and that Moment in Between
I worked with a client the other day who has come a long way in her climbing. She is now leading 5.10 sport but still having trouble falling. She has taken Arno’s Warriors Way clinics and said they helped but like anything that isn’t practiced, it fades into the peripheries of our mind. We have all experienced fear before a fall as well as the defeat after, or as Arno puts it “the learning!”
Paige also sent one of her hardest climbs in the last two days. It makes you proud as an instructor to see students send their projects and you get many of the same feelings you have yourself when completing a climb that was at one time improbable. Those feelings of success are overwhelming and put you at a momentary high that will last relative to the time put into the project.
Both sending and falling are very distinct moments in a climb that we go back in our memories and bring back to share around the campfire. What about the moments in between?
I have been finding great solitude in those moments lately. It is that moment of total focus, on the present as well as the very near future. The moment where I am really, really pumped; but I know that the very near future could hold the send or the fall, and I am in the adventure to find out which one. It is a great place to be, in this in between state. You can only get there by yourself and only be there by yourself. It is the place of no expectations and one of the very reasons we find our self engaged in this silly activity.
La Sportiva Batura 2.0 GTX
My time in New Hampshire is fading fast as Fox Mountain Guides NH Ice trip comes to an end. This year we have seen quite the swing in temperatures from 51°F to -10°F. I have been in my La Sportiva Batura 2.0 GTX every day for work or play! This year I have had two different clients on this trip alone buy the Batura 2.0 and be way psyched on them.
I have had all three generations of the boot, and the Batura 2.0 GTX is the ringer! It weighs in significantly lighter than its predecessor at 1.8 pounds total. As we all know pounds off our feet in the mountains make the summits that much sweeter!
Even with the older models, my feet have rarely been chilled in this boot. The 2.0 is no exception even though the boot does weigh a good amount less. Sportiva puts both a layer of aluminum in the boot, which helps reflect the heat, and a 3mm honeycomb tech insulating carbon insole. The other big improvement has been the GORE® layers on the outer and inner boot. This was particularly noticeable when climbing on a 52°F day! Yes, we did stop by noon as it was becoming a little unsafe!
One of the biggest issues with the boot in the past has been the zipper system. This was greatly improved on the EVO model (last year’s) and has now been mastered on the 2.0 GTX. The zipper itself is smooth, waterproof, and covered by velcro tabs to prevent any moisture from getting inside.
Whether you are climbing in the Ouray Ice Park, or checking out the Mount Washington Valley Ice Fest, look to see what all the pros are wearing; I bet you it is the Batura!
Blue Water 9.1 Icon
Check out the Icon 9.1 here: www.bluewaterropes.com
Added Friction for the Grigri
Here is a belaying tech tip that I shot while in Thailand last month. I use this technique with smaller ropes to give more control without feathering the lever on the GriGri.
The Art of Guiding
snow is fairly hard, and it is taking some effort to make the steps flat enough for my clients following behind. I am working to keep them at a 45 degree angle to allow either foot to be placed in either step. My clients aren’t working at all however due to one of them being an IFMGA guide and the other a guide in training. Just as I think they are probably asleep, I hear Jeff Ward from the back say, “Make your steps look good.” I thought to myself for a second, “Who the hell cares?” I replied, “What do you mean?” Jeff goes on, “You want the next climber to come up here and see all these steps up the mountain, but choose yours because they look the best–because they are! You’re the guide, make it look good!” Shhic, Shhick…
I was in the middle of my American Mountain Guides Advanced Alpine Guides Course and Jeff has been one of my mentors through this tough process. I had plenty of hours over the remaining nine days of the course to ponder this and have thought about it quite a bit in the last couple of years. There is a book I refer my clients to a lot called The Art of Learning by Josh Waitzkin. Brad was the world’s greatest chess player and decided to quit and take on a new challenge of becoming a Tai Chi artist. He did it in what would be a very short time and in fact became number one in the world at that too. The main idea that I took away from this book was the idea of learning in circles. I try to always relate these learning circles to driving. When we first started driving, it was all we could do to keep our hands at ten and two, check the speedometer, then the rearview mirror, back to the speedometer and so on. Now most of us fly down the road and talk on the cell phone while eating our last few bites of breakfast and plan out our day at work while steering with our knee. How is this possible? Our minds have adapted to the feel of the gas pedal and all the traffic signs and signals and we drive on mostly “auto-pilot.”Our learning circles have become smaller. As our learning circles get smaller we are able to see the specific details of the task at hand and concentrate on these thoughts versus the bigger picture functions. We are able to take on more as our mind relaxes to the input that it becomes used to. It is only at this point that we can start to take the task and make it an art form.
In guiding it is the same way. Once the technical systems have been mastered, one can start using their brain function towards other tasks such as client care. In SPI assessments, I tell the candidates they will know that they are ready when they can do the rescue scenario while talking to the examiner about the previous night’s football game. This allows them to focus on the many other tasks at hand and start to add their own personality to the guiding, and it becomes their art. Guiding is the palate for an artist to try to produce the perfect piece of mountain art. With so many changing variables and different client goals the brush strokes start with the first phone call and may never see an end. As guides we will strive for perfection but probably never achieve it. The work that goes into our art may never be seen but by a very few. Nevertheless we will keep painting….and kicking those steps.
Keeping your Feet Healthy
I remember coming off an alpine day about four years ago andwondering if I would be able to keep climbing due to the pain in my feet. I went to a foot doctor and told him I was having problems but refrained from telling him my profession until he briefed me with the diagnosis. The treatment: wear loose shoes, nothing to tight and make sure to have flexible bottoms. I then told them the problem… “My job requires me to shove my size 43 feet into 40.5 shoes and then stand on small little edges or walk miles to some remote place in shoes that have a very stiff sole as to support the spikes that are on the bottom.” He didn’t know what to tell me other than what doctors typically say which is, “well you will probably have to change professions.”
Needless to say, when I was in Boulder a few weeks later and a friend of mine recommended that I go to Neptune Mountaineering and talk to Bob about my foot problem, I was skeptical but intrigued, so I went. Bob is a super busy guy who has been in the world of making feet comfortable for a long time. He is a pedorthist, which really means he knows about feet and can fix them! Bob will take prints of your feet and then make molds the help with the problems that he can see with your gate. I remember thinking that he is going to a awful lot of trouble, and I am going to feel bad when this doesn’t work. It took him about an hour of tweaking the insoles until he was happy, and I was on my way back to the mountains.
Low and behold, I am calling him six months later to get another pair so that I don’t have to keep switching them between shoes. I just visited Bob a few weeks ago; it has been two years since the first appointment and no toe pain. Yes, I got two more pairs because I totally wore out the old ones. My feet are my job; Bob keeps my feet happy; I keep doing my job!
Check out Boulder Orthotics for happy feet.
The Locking Quickdraw
The draw is made of a nylon dog-bone with a HMS carabiner on one end and and lighter locking carabiner on the other end.
After seeing several guides in the Tetons this summer using a locking quickdraw in various applications, I started testing it out for myself and have made a video showing its utility. I have found it to be not only extremely useful, but also a huge time-saver in several situations. For example, there are times when I prefer to extend the master point of my anchor to achieve some separation between the munter hitch I am belaying from and the clove hitch I am tied in with. Similarly, when I am doing a belayed rappel, I find it useful to have the rappel carabiner on a different master point than the belay biner to prevent the two from binding up against each other. While there are several methods of achieving this, I have found the locking carabiner to be the best in terms of versatility, ease of use, and efficiency.
One important note is that I am using the locking quickdraw in situations where I can either easily monitor it for abrasion or wear since it isn’t truly redundant by itself or where it IS in fact redundant, as it is in the case of using it in a toprope anchor.