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Border Country Film by Jeremy Collins Honors Jonny Copp

<img src="http://z.about.com/d/climbing/1/0/l/7/-/-/JonnyMicah_ChamonixBivy2008_PhMDash.jpg" alt="" hspace="5" align="center" /> Last June 2009, climbers <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://climbing.about.com/b/2009/06/08/letter-to-climber-jonny-copp-killed-in-chinese-avalanche.htm">Jonny Copp</a> and Micah Dash along with cameraman Wade Johnson died in an avalanche while attempting the first ascent of the huge South Face of 22,368-foot Mount Edgar in the Gongga Shan massif in the Chinese province of Sichuan. A few days before he died, 35-year-old Jonny wrote a last poignant entry in his journal--a poem he entitled <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=https://www.cdbaby.com/cd/paperstars2">Border Country</a>. Climbing artist <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://climbing.about.com/b/2009/06/08/letter-to-climber-jonny-copp-killed-in-chinese-avalanche.htm">Jeremy Collins</a>, a good friend of Jonny Copp, got together last year with photographer and Patagonia Ambassador Mikey Schaefer and made the first ascent of a new route on Middle Cathedral Rock in Yosemite Valley, naming it Border Country as a memorial to Jonny, Micah, and Wade. They had previously bolted much of the route before the Chinese tragedy. After free climbing the route from bottom to top, Jeremy and Mikey tossed some of Jonny's ashes into the sky. "Jonny took flight over the Valley, like the birdman he was," says Jeremy. Jeremy also made <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://www.patagonia.com/web/us/tinshed/index.jsp?#/4/bordercountry/&#38;src=vuca00838">Border Country</a>, a short creative film about Jonny and the Yosemite first ascent that merges video, photography, painting, and animation. View the film, sponsored by Patagonia, at the <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://www.patagonia.com/web/us/tinshed/index.jsp?#/4/bordercountry/&#38;src=vuca00838">Tin Shed</a>. It's a great tribute to Jonny, Micah, and Wade, and a creative view of the climbing experience. Jeremy, great job! View <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://www.patagonia.com/web/us/tinshed/index.jsp?#/4/bordercountry/&#38;src=vuca00838">Border Country</a> at Patagonia's <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://www.patagonia.com/web/us/tinshed/index.jsp?#/4/bordercountry/&#38;src=vuca00838">Tin Shed</a>. Read <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://climbing.about.com/b/2009/06/08/letter-to-climber-jonny-copp-killed-in-chinese-avalanche.htm">Border Country</a> poem by Jonny Copp. Photograph above: Jonny Copp and Micah Dash at a snowy bivouac in the French Alps in 2008. Photograph courtesy Micah Dash<a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://climbing.about.com/b/2010/07/20/border-country-film-by-jeremy-collins-honors-jonny-copp.htm">Border Country Film by Jeremy Collins Honors Jonny Copp</a> originally appeared on <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://climbing.about.com/">About.com Climbing</a> on Tuesday, July 20th, 2010 at 18:06:48.<a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://climbing.about.com/b/2010/07/20/border-country-film-by-jeremy-collins-honors-jonny-copp.htm">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://climbing.about.com/b/2010/07/20/border-country-film-by-jeremy-collins-honors-jonny-copp.htm#gB3">Comment</a> | <a href="http://climbing.about.com/gi/pages/shareurl.htm?PG=http://climbing.about.com/b/2010/07/20/border-country-film-by-jeremy-collins-honors-jonny-copp.htm&#038;zItl=Border Country Film by Jeremy Collins Honors Jonny Copp">Email this</a>

First Female-Team Free Ascent of El Cap's Free Rider

<img class="alignnone" src="http://0.tqn.com/d/climbing/1/H/D/4/-/-/ElCap2.jpg" alt="null" /> Over five days in late June, Kate Rutherford and Madaleine Sorkin made the first free ascent of Free Rider on El Capitan in Yosemite Valley by a team of women. Free Rider (VI 5.12d) is a 2,900-foot, 37-pitch route up the Salathe Wall, with a four-pitch variation that avoids the Salathe's two 5.13 pitches on The Headwall. Rutherford and Sorkin traded leads on Free Rider, with the second also climbing every pitch. Previously, <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://climbing.about.com/od/climbingbooksandquotes/a/LynnHillQuote.htm">Lynn Hill</a> made the first free ascent of <a href="http://climbing.about.com/od/speedclimbing/a/SpeedNose.htm">El Cap's Nose</a> in 1993 and then returned to climb it in a day. In 2004 Steph Davis became the second woman to free climb El Cap with her first female free ascent of Free Rider, leading every pitch, and later climbing it in a day. The pair started up the first ten pitches, called Freeblast (5.11b), on Monday, June 21, and made great time, ending their climbing day 14 <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://climbing.about.com/od/dictionaryofclimbing/a/PitchDef.htm">pitches</a> up on Hollow Flake Ledge. The next morning, still stiff from the previous day's climbing, they tackled the infamous seven-inch-wide Monster Off-Width Crack. Higher they met up with photographer <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://archive.mikeyschaeferphotography.com/">Mikey Schaefer</a>, who shot pictures and hauled their packs to the flat ledge of El Cap Spire "for a beautiful bivi." "Day three was exciting," writes Rutherford on her <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://katerutherford.com/?p=411#more-411">blog</a>, "I fell off the Boulder Problem twice before a last minute change in my sequence to send it the third try in the hot sun. Madaleine followed and then I struggled my way up the muddy jungle of the sewer. All my clothes were wet and I shivered belaying Mad up the sloppy chimney." That night was spent on a sloping ledge called The Block atop pitch 27 in a comfy double-<a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://climbing.about.com/od/climbingequipmentwords/a/PortaledgeDef.htm">portaledge</a> left by friends. Mikey broke out a bottle of whiskey and "a few sips put us straight to sleep." Day four was cool with high clouds, perfect for sending three 5.12 pitches. The Enduro Corner, the route's 5.12d crux pitch, was seeping water when they reached it. Rutherford writes, "Madaleine tagged up my cotton shirt (the only one I had on) and shoved it in the key finger locks, eventually soaking up all the water. Now that my shirt was wet, and the holds were dry, she cruised up the knee-barring, laybacking Enduro Corner. Thrilled, I followed." That pitch ends under the Salathe Wall's intimidating Headwall. Here Free Rider veers left, making a wildly exposed <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://climbing.about.com/od/dictionaryofclimbing/a/FaceClimbingDef.htm">face climbing</a> traverse (5.12a) with big handholds but no feet. At the end of this pitch, the pair fixed ropes and rappelled back to The Block bivouac where they "drank a touch more whiskey, smiled a lot, and watched the clouds light up pink." They went for it the next day, their fifth on the route, and cranked six more pitches to the top of El Capitan. Kate Rutherford noted on her <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://katerutherford.com/?p=411#more-411">blog</a> seven things that she learned climbing Free Rider, including leaving unfinished whiskey, bringing a photographer that will haul your packs, that you got to take it one pitch at a time, and the best ones--"try really hard...duh" and "have fun." Great job and congratulations on a well-earned El Cap summit. Photograph above: The Salathe Wall and Free Rider climb directly up the west face of El Capitan in Yosemite Valley. Photograph by Stewart M. Green.<a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://climbing.about.com/b/2010/07/13/first-female-team-free-ascent-of-el-caps-free-rider.htm">First Female-Team Free Ascent of El Cap's Free Rider</a> originally appeared on <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://climbing.about.com/">About.com Climbing</a> on Tuesday, July 13th, 2010 at 02:06:17.<a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://climbing.about.com/b/2010/07/13/first-female-team-free-ascent-of-el-caps-free-rider.htm">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://climbing.about.com/b/2010/07/13/first-female-team-free-ascent-of-el-caps-free-rider.htm#gB3">Comment</a> | <a href="http://climbing.about.com/gi/pages/shareurl.htm?PG=http://climbing.about.com/b/2010/07/13/first-female-team-free-ascent-of-el-caps-free-rider.htm&#038;zItl=First Female-Team Free Ascent of El Cap's Free Rider">Email this</a>

Wild Photography Holidays in Spain

Easier Jun 3 2010 9:06PM GMT

Robert is on top of the world after winning our fab photography competition

Paisley Daily Express May 24 2010 3:28PM GMT

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