RUMBLE IN THE JUNGLE; Part Two, The Dream Climb

After managing to climb the unclimbed north Dragons's Horn, we rested for a few days and then headed up for a new route on the steeper and more impressive South Dragon's Horn. Follow Lucho and I as we establish one of the Best Climbs of Our Lives!



Big Thanks to Tanoshi Lodge for feeding us and housing us during the adventure.

If you find our adventure compelling or entertaining, please donate even just a dollar in the name of our climb to Big City Mountaineers, so that urban teens can get the chance the get out on their first wilderness adventures! GO TO SUMMIT FOR SOMEONE TO DONATE!!!!

Special thanks to The North Face who is matching dollar for dollar the first 4000 we can raise for Big City Mountaineers, and Five Ten, Blue Water Ropes, Clif Bar, Backcountry.com, and Black Diamond for their additional support.

Here are what some of the generous folks who donated to B.C.M. in the name of our climb had to say over at Summit for someone!

Hey Cedar! I'm a climber from Gallatin, Tn. I love what you guys are doing. My heart is for underpriveledged children and teens as well. I hope to be able to open a gym that focuses around that calling of reaching out to people in need. Thanks for all you do! -Chad
-Chad Willmore

Keep up the good work - Dave
-david keeler

Rock it Cedar and team!
-Natalie Wessel

this is a rad way to get involved cedar, I hope you are able to impacts some kids lives on a very personal level. Grant
-grant thompson

Sayulita TNF Athlete Summit 2011

The North Face's Global Athlete Team is one of the most unique and cutting edge Professional Athlete Teams in the world, with some of the best climbers, skiers, and ultra-runners in the universe all working together. The team spans the globe representing Europe, Asia, South America, us here in North America. The North Face supports a classic cast of characters in their dreams to push and live within the sport. Each year TNF hosts an "Athlete Summit," which is essentially a team meeting, that brings all of these talented global athletes to one place, to talk about expeditions, product, and most importantly to bond as a team. I have attended all of the Athlete Summits since their inception six years ago, and have become good friends with skiers and runners who I would never have otherwise met. This year the Summit was in Sayulita Mexico, a beautiful little surf town near Puerto Vallarta. Call it a work meeting or a paid vacation... I can say that at times like the Summit I feel very fortunate to have climbed for The North Face for the last eight years. Sometimes I have to pinch myself and ask, "is this really my job?"

It feels more like a family then a team really! On our third day, in Mexico with all our meetings done, we had an activity day, and I opted to go snorkeling instead of surfing, which turned out to be a great decision, as our crew of runners, skiers, and climbers saw Dolphins, Whales, and a host of beautiful sea birds. It was one of those magical playful moments when you really appreciate and feel a part of the natural world. Inspired by Sage Cattabriga Alosa one of TNF's top skiers who had showed me his workflow for shooting and editing short films on his IPhone, I was psyched to give it a whirl, so here it is a short film about our adventure, shot, edited and uploaded, using only my iphone! Technology has come a long way!!!

RUMBLE IN THE JUNGLE, Part One: The Unclimbed Horn

After a whirlwind three day travel sequence Lucho and I found ourselves on Tioman Island staring up at the mythical "Dragon's Horns." It was hard to believe that only one of the huge jungle spires had been climbed...until we started the approach...then it made more sense. But after some epic jungle bushwhacking which culminated with me being attacked by giant hummingbird sized wasps, we somehow managed to find our way to the base, and miraculously summited the unclimbed Dragon's Horn on our first full day on the island. The route "Tanoshi Buttress" was a classic 5.10x adventurefest!!! We topped out at night and endured a shiver bivy until about two a.m. when an an impending lightning storm encouraged us to rappel at night. I hope this short video captures some of the magic of our Experience.

We are raising money in the name of our climb for Big City Mountaineers, an awesome program that gets under resourced teens into the wilderness. Programs like these are close to mine and Lucho's hearts and we'd really appreciate even a couple dollars donated in our names.... find out more at SUMMIT FOR SOMEONE

Special Thanks to the folks at Tanoshi Lodge for making our stay a stylish one.

We brought two cameras up the climb with us, a tm900 and a gh2, and I shot some of the timelapses with my 5dii. Hopefully you like my edit and original music.
Special thanks to The North Face who is matching dollar for dollar the first 4000 we can raise for Big City Mountaineers, and Five Ten, Blue Water Ropes, Clif Bar, Backcountry.com, and Black Diamond for their additional support.

Rambo on a Frickin Unicorn

Behold the Hardest Climb in the Universe!!! Filmed by a rock with an i phone. Edited by Gus the Pug.

The Mythical Dragons Horns, The Climb of a Lifetime.

PLEASE DONATE to Big City Mountaineers in the name of our climb, it's tax deductible! My life has been marked by the good fortune of adventure, travel and an intimate connection with the natural world.  Growing up on eleven acres on the side of Black Mountain in the Sierra Nevada, I spent most of my time outside exploring and playing in the dirt.  My dad took me on my first backpacking trip soon after my first steps, and I spent most summers sleeping on the back porch under the stars.  Looking back I realize how formative, and therapeutic this early connection with nature was, and is a large part of why I am a professional climber today.  Unfortunately many teens in our growing urban centers, never get outdoors.  In fact, with stars drowned out by the lights of the city, maybe they never get to marvel at the milky way!  Surrounded by the influence of gangs, crime, drugs, and the often isolated reality of city existence, it's easy to see how life can begin to feel hopeless for a young kid. DONATE a little hope!

After graduating from college I spent a few years working intermittently as an outdoor educator, and witnessed first hand the simple power of nature to heal and steer a young soul in a more positive direction.  I am a huge fan and believer in nonprofit organizations like Big City Mountaineers which each year gets thousands of urban teens from San Francisco, Denver, Portland, Minneapolis, and Chicago outside on sponsored week long wilderness expeditions.  They have a great fund raising program called SUMMIT FOR SOMEONE, and I put together this trip to Malaysia's Tioman Island to climb the Dragon's Horns specifically with the program in mind.  My main sponsor The North Face generously helped finance the trip, and offered to match the first four thousand dollars we could raise in the name of our climb!!! We hoped to climb first ascents on the legendary dragons horns said to be an ancient petrified Chinese Princess.  The fact that only one of the two horns had been climbed was quite alluring, and being able to raise money for a good cause while doing what I love was a definite win win.

Above is Lucho Rivera.  At first I planned to go to Malaysia with an old friend from Humboldt, but when he wasn't able to make it, I realized that my homie Lucho would be perfect and pulled him in!  Since it is the modern age, I invited him while chatting on facebook!  Lucho and I shared a lot of adventures together in years past with numerous first ascents in Yosemite and the Sierras including the F.F.A. of The Camp Four Wall 5.12 and The Gravity Ceiling 5.13 a huge roof on Higher Cathedral Rock.  Lucho is one of the few people these days still putting up new routes in Yosemite Valley.  He's got an adventurous spirt and an infectious if not overly zealous sense of confidence.

There was no doubt Lucho'd be a great climbing partner, but what tipped the scales and made it kind of karmic even, was that Lucho grew up in the Mission district of San Francisco amidst the negativity of gangs and violence, and was headed down a dead end road until he was exposed to the mountains by an organization similar to Big City Mountaineers called The Urban Pioneers.  Soon instead of hanging with his thug friends in the Mission, Lucho was spending his free time in Yosemite climbing.  I bought Lucho's ticket on half airline miles and half personal cash , and a few weeks later we were on a plane.  I've been living the playboy dream for nearly ten years now, traveling and climbing on the regular, so it felt great hook a brother up, wasn't so lucky to have those opportunities.  This would be Lucho's first trip overseas, and I knew he would be hungry and psyched to get shit done, which for me is invaluable.  On big trips I  like to drop the motivation clutch.  I know I won't go home happy unless I give it everything.

After putting up the first route to the summit of the North Dragon's Horn on our first full day in Malaysia, (see previous blog) which involved wasp attacks climbing in the rain, a dicey descent and a horrifying lightning storm, we turned our sights to the more impressive South Tower and one of the proudest looking lines on the entire formation, a wild unclimbed "nose like" white buttress.  Scotty Nelson who with Nick Tomlin did the first ascent of the tower in 2000 when he was only eighteen mentioned to me that this was the line to do, after seeing it in person it was love at first sight.  A dream line, which is rare in this modern age of climbing exploration.  On our recon day we traveled heavy with 60+ pound bags filled with first ascent supplies.  The Jungle in Tioman Island is pretty treacherous, with heinous spiky ferns dripping spiny tendrals that manage to consistently grab your clothing and skin as you attempt to weave through unscathed!  "OUCH!"

Above is my make shift rain vest, constructed out of a heavy duty trash bag. The fact that I own probably twenty North Face rain jackets and managed to not bring a single one up our climb was certainly equal parts exasperating and comical.  But actually it worked alright... waterproof, but not breathable...just don't be looking for TNF to be coming out with one soon!  But I digress...As we attempted to approach our second objective, I realized just how hot it is in the jungle.  If you want to train for Tioman island, just get in a Sauna with a heavy backpack and do jumping-jacks and pull-ups!

We passed all kind of heinous creepy crawlies; ants the size of my thumbnail, angry monkeys, a black snake that we later learned was a poisonous pit-viper, bizarre frogs, and this oddness all highlighted by the constant screech of mysterious bugs (or were they birds?) that sounded like really, really loud car alarms!  "RUHEEEE RUHEEEEE RUHEEEE!!!""  Lucho did not mention it to me until we were on the island, "Dude I'm afraid of Spiders and Bugs."  Around each corner, Lucho would scream and jump back like a scared little kid, at some real or imagined threat to his existence.  I had one main concern, the hummingbird sized wasps or hornets or whatever they were that had attacked me on the previous climb. 

Above is a carnivorous plant, that waits for ants or other bugs to get a drink, and then it DIGESTS THEM.  There is a lot of wild flora on the island.  You half expect a dinosaur to pop up!

We had some loose beta on how a british team had approached the general vicinity of our proposed line, but it was going poorly, with lots of machete work, backtracking and thorny bushwhacking.  At one point Lucho looked at me and said "Do you ever wonder what the point is?" "Man Down" I thought to myself...time for a pep talk.  "Lucho" I said,  "their are different types of fun...and sometimes the most fun you can have isn't fun while it's happening, but it's SO FUN when it's over."  Err was that motivational?  "Well right now this sucks," said Lucho as he tried to extricate his hair from one of those damned ferns.  Every ten feet or so, along the approach we'd encounter another "fern from hell."  These ferns look friendly, but THEY ARE NOT, they are evil and their thorns are hidden on the bottom side of the leaves so they can trick you into a false sense of complacency.  They grab on and don't like to let go.

This is a poisonous Frog...don't lick him!!! Actually I don't know if he's poisonous for sure!

So, anyways, about four hours into our hike even I was losing a little bit of psyche and I live for this kind of stuff.  Of course I wasn't going to tell Lucho, and I continued to stumble aimlessly under the increasingly heavy feeling burden of my pack.  I mumbled "we've got to be close!" "ARGHHH" I yelled, "Damn you thorny fern." Sweat dripped down my face fogging up my glasses.  Lucho helped me pull the fern out of my hair and pack, and then a glorious moment!!  I noticed the remnants of the British teams camp.  We were probably the second party ever to stand here at the base of the west face, and it was AMAZING.  A bit of scrambling, and tree climbing and a wild traverse later, and we were at the base of the beautiful white buttress that we had been singing it's sirens song.

Above, this Monkey found out we were roguing his line on the dragons horn and was very upset!!!

And so after four and a half hours of circuitous spiral/slogging , fern whacking, and a lot of whining from Lucho, we collapsed in disbelief at the base of our proposed line.  It looked steep, gnarly, and....maybe not even possible! "Dude this is SICK," said Lucho, having already forgotten how heinous the hike had been.  After a little food and water I racked up as I eyeballed a wild corner that lead to a series of impressive roofs.  Soon I was run out and at the top of the corner, but unsure if I was going the right way.  I pounded in a pin, lowered down, and pengied around a corner to see if it looked easier.  It did look easier, but their was a giant Hornets Nest right in the middle of the path with several of my friends buzzing around it.  "Definitely not the way," I yelled down to Lucho.  

I brought Lucho up and then began making my way out the roof.  It looked to be hard 5.12 at the easiest, but every edge and ripple seemed to be placed in a divinely perfect alignment, and after installing one quarter inch bolt with our hand drill I managed to free the pitch at hard 5.11!  The line went out a roof, onto an arete, and then out another roof, on perfect golden stone.  Some of the best climbing on the planet really!  At the lip of the second roof there was a hero jug and you could hang like Sylvester Stallone in Cliff Hanger and enjoy a nice view of the South China Sea!

Right as I got out the roofs, something happened that would become a theme of the trip.... it started to rain.  For a while I just huddled there getting soaked and hoping it would eventually stop.  Finally I realized the rock was soaked and it was time to go down.  I fixed the line and rappelled back to Lucho who was completely dry under the roof!  "Were, back on it tomorrow if the suns out" I said hopefully.   

 After the four and half hour epic stumble thrash to the base the first day, we got the approach dialed and could make it to the base of our route in around an hour and a half.  Each day I could literally squeeze the sweat out of my t-shirt from the "SAUNA APPROACH." Over the next five days we established one of the best climbs I have ever done, first ascent or not.  The rock on the white buttress was nothing short of impeccable and offered up diverse, unique and specific movment, characterized by tricky boulder problems out mini roofs and big run-outs on wild flakes, pockets and nob features.  At some point every day the rain and lightning would come, and we would nervously head back down our fixed lines hoping that the next day would be clear.  

This is me drilling on lead, eventually we got the power drill up there.  Putting up the route involved lots of running it out while searching for a flake you could hook off of, and then gingerly weighting it.  At one point I had two marginal mini-hooks and a dubious looking slung nob that somehow together held my body weight.  I began gingerly towing up the drill, praying that I didn't whip and break my legs, or worse, and drilled a bolt with a genuine sense of risk and urgency!

Each day we'd either push the route a couple pitches higher, or realize that the sky had opened up, and we'd huddle into our little cabin that we'd rented.  I'd read "The Smartest Guy in the Room" about the Enron scandal, or manage and back up all of the video I had been shooting.  The reality was that even though we were nearing the top of our route, we were there late season, and any day the Monsoon would come shutting the  Dragon Horns down completely for climbing.  My worse nightmare was getting rained out before we could climb the route bottom to top in a day.  For Lucho and I getting to the top would be a small victory, it was only when we climbed it all free in a day that the project was done.

On our fifth day we headed up the fixed lines, and finished the final two pitches to the end of the white buttress.  The final pitch involved climbing out overhanging tufa runnels, then manteling onto the top of the buttress.  From there we scrambled up about three hundred feet of easy fifth class and then bush whacked to the summit up vertical steps of grass.  The view from the top was a kings view of the town of Mukut where we were staying.  Fishing boats looked like little toys far below.  

Every pitch on the route turned out to be a five-star classic!  It was hard to believe just how good the climb we had just put up was.  I equate it to going to Yosemite and doing the first ascent of Astroman, or going to Squamish and doing the University Wall.  It was a MEGA-CLASSIC!!!  Now all we had to do was free it in a day!  An awesome challenge no doubt.

On the way down, the weather came in hard, but we figured that was fine... we were both exhausted from a week of toiling, and enjoyed some fresh local seafood and napping in our cabin.  But when the next day, it was still raining, we started to get worried.  Was this the Monsoon?  Were we going to sit there in the rain for a week and lose the plot.  After three days, I came up with a plan.  "If it's not raining at 3 a.m. tomorrow morning Lucho, we start hiking up and hope for the best."  At midnight it was dumping, but by 3, there was no rain, we also couldn't see any stars as they were covered by a blanket of clouds.  It didn't look good.  It was a hail Mary, but we reached the base of our route at the first inklings of light and began to climb earnestly.  The weather looked less then optimum, and the thunder and lightning was dancing and singing out on the sea.  I prayed that the sky didn't unleash half way up the climb.

Re-climbing my pitches I realized just how much I had run it out.  "Damn it Cedar" I said to myself, "what were you thinking," and then I'd commit to another dicey move with incomprehensibly huge whipper potential. Four and a half hours later we were on top of the buttress having completed the first ascent of the route.  The weather had miraculously held, but looked ominous and we toyed with the idea of descending from the top of the buttress and not summiting, but I knew we'd regret it.  An hour later we were on the summit of the South Dragons Horns for the second time, having summited in just under five and a half hours!  We were the first people to climb both horns of the Dragon which felt pretty special, and both of the routes especially this one were world-class!  I gave Lucho a big hug on the summit and new that this would be one of the best climbs of my life!

Repeating parties should be ready for big run outs on 5.10 and easier ground, and not be afraid to be creative with their gear, including, shallow cams, weird R.P. placements, and slung knobs and flakes.  The 5.11 and harder ground however is relatively well protected, and this really is one of the best routes in the universe.  Perfect stone on a beautiful buttress in a wild location!  ENJOY!!!

We called our route Batu Naga, which is Malay for "Stone Dragon," and rated it 5.12a R.  We think from the base to the summit is about fifteen hundred feet of elevation gain, but only the first 900 feet or so is technically challenging....but there is some proud bush-whacking to reach the summit!

I highly recommend a trip to Tioman Island to climb the dragons horns.  Where else in the world can you sit on a beach eating fresh seafood, snorkel through the wild coral reefs that surround the island, bivy in a sweet little cabin, and then an hour later be climbing on a world class granite big wall.  Just watch out for the Wasps, poisonous snakes and Spiky Ferns!

Lots of Love for the Journey!  Cedar Wright.

Fresh Off The Boat

While Lucho and I are in Malaysia we are raising money for Big City Mountaineers an organization committed to getting teens from urban areas into the wilderness. Lucho and I are both huge believers in the transformational power of nature. Please CLICK HERE to donate! It's tax deductible!

Wow, what a whirlwind! Only four days after leaving the states Lucho and I have managed to summit the unclimbed higher but smaller Dragons horn on Tioman Island here in Malaysia. By sheers luck we have managed a summit on our first full day in Malaysia! One of the cruxes of the route was the approach. Basically everything in the jungle has thorns on it, but somehow I had not heard about the humming bird sized wasps. I can now attest that their bites are EXTREMELY PAINFUL! I was attacked by several of them right as we neared the base of the climb. I still have huge red itchy painful welts to prove it.

The climbing itself was great…. The rock here on Tioman is impeccable granite with wild water pockets and runnels. And the location on an island overlooking the South China Sea is nothing short of surreal. I’d been craving some adventure the last couple months, and now I was getting a full serving! Pretty much all seven pitches of the route were dangerous, and beautiful, with big runouts on high quality granite, in a plum line for the summit! It rained twice on the route, but right when we would consider bailing the rain would subside. It was a bit like the mountain was toying with us, but in the end welcoming our presence.

We topped out at sunset and bushwacked to the true summit. It felt magical to know we were the first humans to be at this perch on one of the highest points in Malaysia! Thankfully the vegetation on top of the Dragons Horn represented a whole different ecosystem, and lacked the thorns of the jungle below. I kept a weary eye out for wasps as I climbed a tree to the highpoint and got a never to forgotten view! We Bivied in the bushes at the summit for a couple of hours, in a bed of photo-luminescent leaves! GLOW IN THE DARK LEAVES!!!

We initially planned to wait until morning to descend, to avoid rappelling and thrashing through the jungle at night, but when the thunder and the lightning woke us up, we decided it was better to begin our descent before things turned wet and epic. Lucho was gripped about the rappels (always the most dangerous part of a climb) but all I could think about was the wasps waiting below.

Eight hundred feet of rappelling later we reached the base at first light. It turned out that we were wise to descend when we did, because we spent much of the walk out in a surprisingly violent rainstorm. Now we are worked and satisfied hanging out in the small charming fishing village Mukut, which lies below the horns. Were enjoying the amazing Malaysian food and good mellow island vibes of the locals.

With three more weeks here in Malaysia, Lucho and I are now going to turn our efforts to a new route on the larger Dragons horn... I’m guessing it will be adventurous! We rated our new route on the Unclimbed Dragon’s Horn 5.10X. It’s about a thousand feet of Jungle to the base, eight hundred feet of climbing and three hundred feet of bushwacking to the summit. You should come and do it! Just watch out for the wasps.

A DAY OF ACTION

I had the pleasure of taking part in Clif Bar's Meet the Moment "Day of Action" which partnered with the Access Fund and their 2011 National Access and Stewardship Summit, to do some trail work at North Table Mountain, the local climbing area of Golden Colorado. Clif bar and The Access Fund are both committed to preserving and respecting the outdoor places where we play, so I feel very lucky to be able to help out in my small way.

StoneNudes with Dean Fidelman

Dean, "Bullwinkle" Fidelman has been a fixture in the Yosemite climbing scene for nearly forty years.  Through his black and white photographs he has documented several generations of Yosemite Climbers.  From the StoneMasters to the RockMonkeys Dean has been there to photograph Yosemite history being made.  In 1999 Dean began work on his "StoneNudes" project, one of the most unique Art projects the Climbing Community has ever scene.  Since then Dean has traveled around the country and the world photographing real rock climbers (both male and female) bouldering naked.  Dean believes that both the rock and the human body are sculptures, and that we look both beautiful and natural climbing.
Pleas visit The Stone Nudes Website to learn more. 

PASSION TO PURPOSE

This year I had the privilege and pleasure of attending several Outdoor Nation events to represent the North Face as a proud advocate of the movement to get more youth outside. I told my story of finding passion and direction through climbing in Yosemite, to hundreds of young people who are committed to turning the tide on the sad reality that at no time in human history have kids spent less time outdoors.

I spoke alongside Juan Martinez who is an Outdoor Participation ambassador for The North Face’s initiative to inspire more people everywhere to explore and push their personal limits in the outdoors.  His story of growing up surrounded by the negativity, gangs, and crime in South Central LA and then having his life changed by getting the opportunity to camp out and see stars for the first time was truly inspirational.  Juan’s journey reinforced what I have always believed; that these programs are invaluable for creating a bridge from the hustle and bustle of urban life to the quiet magic of Mother Nature. 

The North Face works with thousands of bikers, climbers, runners, backpackers, explorers and adventurers who are passionate about the outdoors. From the mail room, to the athlete team, we are PSYCHED on getting out there!  I can attest first hand that The North Face commitment to outdoor participation is sizeable and heart felt.  I am proud to say that each year The North Face Explore Fund gives hundreds of thousands of dollars to organizations like the one that transformed Juan’s life path.

Last year one of the recipients of the Explore Fund was Big City Mountaineers an organization that is committed to enhancing the lives of under-resourced teens through transformative outdoor experiences.  Their vision is to achieve a lasting presence in America’s major metro areas.  They help 10,000 kids a year, who would otherwise never receive such a fun and inspiring experience, participate in wilderness expeditions.

I love organizations like B.C.M. and am excited to have put together a fundraiser through their awesome“Summit for Someone” program.  Along with an old college friend Bennet Barthelemy, I’ll be attempting a first ascent on the little climbed Dragon’s Horn, one of the largest granite walls in South East Asia.  We’re putting the “fun” in fundraiser!!

This October begins our Journey to Tioman Island, the biggest of 64 islands in a volcanic chain just off of the coast of Malaysia.  The island is filled with armies of voracious biting ants, red giant flying squirrels, binturongs, massive monitor lizards, macaques, slow loris, and the Tioman walking catfish… oh, and 25 species of snakes including king cobras. Tioman is also notorious for insanely fierce thunderstorms and man-eating clouds of super mosquitoes.  It should be a good time!!!   

Our hope is that the climb will not only raise funds and awareness for Big City Mountaineers, but for the greater cause of connecting people to the outdoors.  Climbing and a life spent outdoors, has transformed and improved my life immeasurably and I hope that our wild adventure in Malaysia can help raise awareness and create transformational opportunities for kids that desperately need them.

Every $250 to the B.C.M. sponsors a day of outdoor activities for five teens… Bennett and I will be documenting the adventure through photo/video/words so you can safely and vicariously enjoy the quest summit the Dragons Horn and to help keep kids from suffering wilderness deficit disorder!

Please follow our progress here at neverstopexploring.com, and if you feel the love, Please donate to B.C.M. in the name of our climb at http://www.summitforsomeone.org/main.php?page=4&climber=8058. The North Face is generously donating $4,000 in matching grants.

Thanks and stay tuned for video dispatches of what promises to be a Wild, Beautiful and Arduous Adventure.

Much Love,

Cedar Wright.

 

MINI DAWGZ_THE MOVIE_TENSLEEP_2011

I had the pleasure of spending a week in Ten Sleep Wyoming with young up and coming climber Stefan Lavender.  He brought his two mini-dogs Wentworth, and Nemo, and I brought along my pug Gus.  I also brought along the new GH2 camera and the Noktor ƒ0.95 Lens to test them out.  Still love the 5d, but I like the GH2 a lot too.  As usual, the music is mine... if you like this song, available here!

TEN SLEEP SUMMER

Here is a great video shot and edited by John Dickey for Black Diamond, that captures my two week trip to Ten Sleep Canyon, one of the best summer sport climbing destinations in the country!!! 

"Shed Some Light" My New Album

 So, after a year of tweaking in my humble home studio I have put together a new album.  The last three years and three albums has been a huge learning process with lots of setbacks, breakthroughs and moments of pure joy.  I'm proud of this album... it's far and away my best work.  All the songs are completely original from the Vocals to the Guitar to the beats to random Mbira licks and Synth embellishments.  This is truly a labor of lover and has been my most cherished creative outlet of late...so I  really hope you guys like it!  The Album features 20 songs and is optimized for  itunes.  To everyone who bought one of my last two albums... thanks a lot... if you liked that you'll love this...Cheers!!!  You can Buy it right HERE>

NEPAL IS A MAGICAL PLACE

I had the good fortune to visit Nepal twice in the last few months. On my first trip I headed to Nepal in the winter to help instruct at the Khumbu Climbing School While I was there I lined up several filming projects. I shot a short piece which I am currently editing follows Emily Harrington, and Matt Segal on their first trip to the climbing school where they are exposed to the life altering magic of the Himalayas. During this time I also shot and have now produced a short film about Pete Athans for The North Face. This will be premiering soon on The North Face Website. Finally I was Director of Photography on a shoot for Camp Four Collective where I followed the legendary Conrad Anker on an adventure to the basecamps of Pumori, Ama Dablam and Everest to retrieve memory cards from Timelapse Cameras for the Extreme Ice Survey. Last year Conrad set up several timelapse cameras to observe the glaciers and hopefully bring awareness to Global Climate Change. Camp Four will be producing a film next year about Conrad and his relationship with the Extreme Ice Survey. Hiking through the Himalays to three iconic high altitude basecamps, was an exhausting but extremely inspiring experience in Run and Gun Filmmaking.

After a month and half in Nepal I was excited to head home for a bit and spend some time with my beloved Fiance Nellie, and our Pug Gus. After a week home, Pete Athans called me up with a hard to turn down opportunity. He asked me if I'd be interested in shooting second camera on a National Geographic special about his work exploring the wild caves of the Mustang Region of Nepal. Pete has been working with Archeologists from both Nepal and the States to explore and document the wild caves in this region which house ancient pre-buddhist art and sometimes mysterious human remains. These caves are highly unique because they are often over eighty feet of the ground and only reached by technical climbing. Filming with D.P. Lincoln Else was a great learning experience gateway into my budding career as a professional camera man and filmmaker. Tragically at the end of the trip Lincoln was hit in the head by a falling rock while not wearing a helmet, and I had one of the most stark experience of recent memory, holding Lincoln in C-Spine with blood everywhere waiting for a helicopter rescue. Thankfully, though Lincoln seemed like he was a goner for sure, he has made a full recovery!!!  So to finish off this quick blog and test of my new blogging set up... let me leave you with this valuable lesson.  Wear your HELMET!!!

Cheers.  Cedar.

Recent Nepal Pics...Mostly Iphone Photos.