Geography is a big determinant of destiny. So it’s only logical that Italy, a mountainous and boot-shaped country, would be home to many of the companies producing high-end footwear for our alpine endeavors. The nation with a centuries-old heritage of crafting fashionable and functional shoes is home to brands including La Sportiva, Scarpa, Kayland and the makers of my recently worn ice boots, Asolo.
Does the sound of crunching leaves underfoot and a biting frost on your morning run have you itchin’ to break out the pointy hardware and sniff out some vertical ice? Nostalgic for your first time swinging a tool? Eager to enjoy some meditation time on your front points? Tell us about it.
As a beginning climber, I would read Internet forums and climbing blogs for hours. I justified these pupil-glazing sessions as “research” into a world I knew nothing about….In the interest of helping others avoid such hours fraught with peril, I’m going to attempt to answer nearly every Internet climbing conundrum in the span of a single Q and A session.
It’s COMING!
In July 2012, Tom Livingstone and Tom Ripley made a two day ascent of the Cassin Ridge on the South Face of Denali.
What the ice climbers of the future will be able to climb, I know not. But I find it hard to believe that we have already reached the limits of what is possible. — Oscar Eckenstein, 1908
Marion Poitevin and Philippe Batoux climb the Cornuau-Davaille route on the north face of Les Droites.
