[Steve House]

Steve House on March 28, 2019 at 10:42 am · in reply to: Simultaneous Climbing and Running Training #19233

Gabe,
A good rule of thumb is that for athletes like yourself you can improve one capacity at a time. You can improve your running and maintain your climbing…or vice-versa…but it is unrealistic to try to improve two such polarized physical capacities at the same time.

The exception would be if you’re just starting out and the improvement curve is super steep, say you just started climbing and you can go from 5.6 to 5.10 in a year.

That said, I highly encourage everyone to spend time fingerboarding. It won’t impact your running but it will have huge long term benefits to your climbing. If approached gradually and consistently you’ll have strong and (knock on wood) pretty injury-proof fingers. A great foundation for improvement!

[Steve House]

Steve House on March 28, 2019 at 10:06 am · in reply to: Soft Flask/bottle #19228

I’ve tried a few different ones. My two favorites are a Saloman branded one (not sure if they manufacture them or not) and a hydroflask.

I keep mine zipped into a chest pocket iwth the bite-valve poking out. If i’m wearing any kind of a shell over that I don’t see any freezing. If that’s my outer layer you have to blow back into the bottle to clear the water from the valve.

For wearing a pack when that isn’t workable I do one of two things. One I use a little flask-holder pouch that I attach to my left shoulder strap. I have this set up on my ski-mo racing pack and it works well for that. it’s neoprene and I start the race with the liquid pretty hot.

For technical climbing I tie a small but strong cord around the base of where the bite-valve screws on and I use a carabiner to clip it to the base of my shoulder strap or the back of my harness. Obviously these flasks are fragile so you have to manage that, move them around. This isn’t much of a problem for some types of routes. For routes that have more ‘full-contact’ style climbing I use a recycled half liter soda-pop bottle with a small piece of string taped to the neck of the bottle. These are amazingingly tough. I have one I’ve been using in the black canyon for at least 5-6 seasons and it hasn’t sprung a leak yet.

[Steve House]

Steve House on March 25, 2019 at 9:32 am · in reply to: HAPE #19054

Hi Alpine-quester,

My understanding and experience is that one can recover from HAPE and return to altitude in a very short time-frame. Whereas with HACE and AMS, if you get that your expedition/climb is done. The key is you have to be able to descend low and get the lungs clear.

Here is my personal experience: In 2009 I came down with HAPE during a solo attempt on the west face of Makalu at 6800m when stuck in a tent in a storm for a couple days. It took me 1 very long day to get to BC (very tough day, one of my hardest experiences in the mountains). But BC was still 4800 m. I spent the night in the Gamov bag, then walked down as low as I could get, to 11,000’/3300m (approx). I spent 4 nights there, my lungs cleared completely. I did a couple phone consults with Dr. Peter Hackett and he said as long as I felt fine I could try again. I went up one more time on that trip but got turned around at 7,000 meters but never felt HAPE symptoms again on that trip (or ever since). I did take Niphedipine and Cialis during the incident but discontinued when I returned to BC after the rest low in the Barun valley.

I wrote an essay about that experience in Training for the New Alpinism which you can find on page 363.

One of the things we don’t understand well about HAPE is what the trigger is. I’ve been above 7,000m many many times (50+?) and used basically the same acclimatization time-frame every time, and I got HAPE once, doing nothing different. If you talk to other experienced high-altitude climbers you’ll hear similar stories.

[Steve House]

Steve House on March 19, 2019 at 10:03 am · in reply to: When to ski… #18626

@geltzeiler
Yes, this is often a problem with “big mountain skiing”

I myself am an avid skier, I love it nearly as much as climbing. But I really never have (and probably never will) focus on ski descents because as you found out it is very often much faster to simply climb down. And faster on the way up to move in mountaineering boots and without the extra weight of skis.

For example, when @scottjohnston and I climbed Cho Oyu in 2001 there were people there trying to ski it. But we were not only faster than they were on the ascent but also on the descent where conditions for skiing were terrible (breakable wind crust). They were really stoked in BC to claim a “ski descent” but we had to chuckle since their descent was slower and more difficult than ours.

The exception to the questionable utility of skiing from summits or on big mountains is when there is a lot of horizontal travel. A prime example iss going up Denali where you can often use skis all the way to the base of the fixed lines at 15,000′ if you’re a good skier. Again, I’ve never taken my skis higher than that because it doesn’t make sense to my alpinist-brain, I”m way faster on foot. But from there down–yee-haw!

Ultimately this is one of the many decisions you have to make as an alpinist, skis are a great tool, but as with every tool they only help for certain jobs. Don’t hammer a nail with a crescent wrench.

[Steve House]

Steve House on March 19, 2019 at 9:55 am · in reply to: Wanted: Long Tern Synthetic Relationship #18625

I’m all for tinkering and sewing!
I procured my sleeping bag insulation from the source, the R and D room at Patagonia HQ, so I did not have to deconstruct an old DAS parka. I’ve used the “rainshed” in Eugene Oregon to order fabric from many times. There used to be a similar shop in Seattle but I can’t remember their name. I started sewing gear when I was a teenager, and even drove to Eugene on my old motorcycle when I was 18 to buy some patterns and fabrics. Here is their website:
https://www.therainshed.com/

Good luck and post photos of the finished product.

and +1 on the quilts, I’ve played with these as well but find them too hard to use in a real bivy situation, a closed ‘bag’ is much better then.

[Steve House]

Steve House on March 19, 2019 at 9:42 am · in reply to: Weekly TSS load question #18624

@afwang1
You should aim for an increase in CTL of 3-5 points per week. I’ve consistently seen that people I’m coaching who exceed 5 points per week end up getting sick. Age is a major determinate of where you are (more towards 3 or more towards 5) as the maximum sustainable increase in CTL gain. Training history will also be a major factor.

Scott recently wrote an article about this which I will post in the next 2-3 weeks. Keep an eye on the newsletter for that.

And keep up the great work everyone! I love to see the shared excitement for these proven training methods.
Steve

[Steve House]

Steve House on March 19, 2019 at 9:37 am · in reply to: Workshops? #18623

Great. Thank you Sean.

[Steve House]

Steve House on March 19, 2019 at 9:36 am · in reply to: Power and Endurance training #18622

@rswong14
I don’t see any red flags with this plan. In fact I think it sounds like a good plan to add in one day of bouldering per week at the end of this month. Keep those max hang sessions to 2x/week right now if at all possible add in one–or if you can recover enough–two ‘arc training’ sessions per week. Your weekend climbing will suffer, temporarily. But in the long run more arc training sessions per week (3-4) right now will pay off later. At the end of that period start with 1x/week of bouldering. Start with something like the 4×4. 4x up the same problem that is close to the limit of what you can flash (after the warm up of course). and one 1x/week of ‘limit bouldering’ or trying hard. After a min of 4 weeks of that switch to 2x/week of limit bouldering. One of the keys is to quit once your performance peaks. Don’t keep flogging the problems after you’re tired. These sessions might not be that long, but they will be effective. Hope that helps.
Steve

[Steve House]

Steve House on March 19, 2019 at 9:24 am · in reply to: Crampons inside pack #18621

Honestly, I most often use a piece of clothing.

I don’t like to carry anything that has only one purpose.

The clothing doesn’t really get wet because if it’s cold enough to use crampons, the snow/ice can be brushed off. I’ve also used gloves (one on each side) in a sandwich.

I do usually use a regular crampon bag for actual travel. But when it comes time to go in the pack, i keep it as simple as possible.

Check out this video for more:

Steve House Packing for an Overnight Alpine Climb

[Steve House]

Steve House on March 19, 2019 at 9:19 am · in reply to: Thanks #18620

Great work @climbgoon !

[Steve House]

Steve House on March 16, 2019 at 10:46 am · in reply to: Crampons inside pack #18485

The biggest advantage to me is the location of the weight. Crampons are pretty heavy and placing them on top of my pack, near my back makes for a much nicer carry. You can experiment; pack them close-inside and then pack than far away from my center of gravity. You can feel the difference.

A couple more advantages in no particular order:
I like to have a ‘clean pack’ nothing on the outside whenever possible. This has numerous advantages. I will even carry my ice tools in my hand or, if I have the space, I’ll put my ice tools inside my pack as well. The only time I use the ice axe carry straps on the outside is when I will need the ice tools really soon or the pack is just really full.

It protects other people and objects from the sharp points. Especially important in a cable car or your friend’s new car.

Cheers,
Steve

[Steve House]

Steve House on March 11, 2019 at 11:17 am · in reply to: Wanted: Long Tern Synthetic Relationship #17977

Hi Jonesy,
I’m afraid I don’t know what the good current models of synthetic bags are. I have a couple, one by the north face, one by mountain hardware, and 2 that I sewed up myself (using the insulation in the Patagonia DAS Parkas) that are sweet because they have no insulation underneath, just a sleeve to hold a thermarest in place. Those are my favorite, but hard to make and impossible to buy.(Believe me I’ve tried to convince a few companies, including Patagonia, to make this as a product.)

[Steve House]

Steve House on March 4, 2019 at 2:21 pm · in reply to: Recovery vs Zone 1 replacement #17434

Jon, Jakob-
Please don’t run with a pack on. The weights are indeed for hiking. Running with a significant amount of weight will likely lead to injury!

[Steve House]

Steve House on March 4, 2019 at 2:18 pm · in reply to: AeT and elevation #17433

David Goettler and Ueli Steck Put Low-Intensity Training to the Test in the Khumbu

That should answer your question Greg as it goes into the physiology a bit more.

[Steve House]

Steve House on March 4, 2019 at 2:03 pm · in reply to: How to convince partners that weight matters? #17432

I have never heard anyone dig in their heels on that one. Interesting.

Could there be some other factor at work? Does s/he very frugal? I don’t know what else, but this is such an obvious way to improve performance (to carry less weight) that its really hard for me to believe someone seriously engages this position.

On my solo of K7, 8,000′ of climbing in 44 hours round trip, I carried 7lbs.

When Vince Anderson and I climbed the Rupal Face on Nanga Parbat we obsessed about every gram. We cut the labels out of our clothes. Final verdict: We left BC carrying two 25lb packs with everything we needed to climb and descend the biggest (and very technical) mountain wall in the world, 15,000 vertical feet of climbing.

Hope that helps.