Late yesterday afternoon we have finally arrived in our real Nuptse base camp! That is always a good moment, when I don't have to be packing and unpacking all the time. When I don't constantly have to pitch and take down tents and so on and so on. Now we have the next few days to really settle in here, at 5300 meters. I allowed myself the luxury to pitch the old The North Face Dome 5 for a sleeping tent and living room. That 'space maker' is worth its weight in gold on those long rest or bad weather days!

Just a few words on the acclimatization days on Lobuche East. First of all: The day, the evening light and the morning at about 6000m up on the so-called 'peak' (which really is just a shoulder) was indescribable! Never have I seen a panorama like that, such a powerful scene. We had a hard time to get out of our filming and photography frenzy! Just look at the pictures below, what more can I say!

Everything worked out well and we are now ready to acclimatize further here on Nuptse or in the Lhotse face. But first, on the 22nd, we'll have that important puja. We won't dare go into the Khumbu Icefall before that. I and the others have been here too often to be disrespectful about that ritual.

We are not alone now here in our base camp. We share the kitchen and the kitchen tent with Rolf Eberhard (Lhotse) and with Richi and another three who want to climb Everest. Something I like so much this time—different than in 2009 when we were here to climb Lhotse—is that we see Nuptse, our peak, really big and powerful from here! You don't see Everest at all from here and of Lhotse only the top part, way in the back above the Khumbu Icefall. So we always have our objective in our view, which is very motivating for me!

I'll check in again when we are back from our second round of acclimatization. Until then I hope that the weather is nice at home and everyone is doing well.

Best regards from Nuptse Base Camp.
David

Utah Governor Gary Herbert is pushing a lawsuit against the federal government that seeks to give Utah counties control over 25,000 miles of so-called roads that traverse most of Utah's Wilderness-quality federal land. According to Conservation Alliance grantee Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance:

"The vast majority of these routes have never been established or maintained, and they don't really exist on the ground. They are but cow paths, old seismic lines, dry stream beds and one-man joyride trails. This is not really about transportation at all. Utah is simply using an old mining law, Revised Stature 2477, as an excuse to undermine future wild lands conservation and to open these special places to development, extractive industry and off-road vehicle assault. If they succeed, such lawsuits will spring up throughout the West, and our last wild public lands will be lost forever."

Following is a map showing the extent to which these "roads" (in red) would intrude on Utah's wild public lands. 


Take Action!
Ask Interior Secretary Salazar to defend Utah's public lands today! Click here to send a message to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, asking that he vigorously fight the State of Utah's lawsuit.

This lawsuit is one of a growing list of efforts and proposals that elected officials are making to undermine protections for public lands in Utah. In March, Governor Herbert signed into law a bill that authorizes the state to do everything within its power to transfer title of federal lands in Utah to the state.

Also in March, the BLM authorized nearly 1,300 new natural gas wells in Utah’s Desolation Canyon wilderness and other remote areas. In approving the so-called Gasco development project, the Department of the Interior rejected calls by the Environmental Protection Agency and tens of thousands of citizens from across the country to approve an alternative to Gasco’s proposal. This alternative would have allowed for significant development while protecting the department’s plan to designate Desolation Canyon as wilderness and reducing the overall footprint and impact of the project.

It is disappointing to watch Utah—which benefits economically from outdoor tourism and from the outdoor industry's twice-yearly trade show in Salt Lake City—work so hard to diminish the wild and natural places in the state.

From:     Sam Elias
Subject:     RE: Everest
Date:     April 25, 2012 7:22:46 AM MDT

I have been at Everest basecamp for just over 3 weeks. I am here as part of a large, multi faceted expedition that includes history, science, art, and sport. Conrad Anker originally conceived of this expedition in association with The North Face and National Geographic to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the 1st American ascent of Mt Everest. It was built out from there to include Montana State University to conduct cutting edge geologic research on the mountain, as well as to develop an 8-lesson curriculum for grade school classrooms to learn about the Everest region and it’s relation to the Northern Rocky Mountains by following the expedition in real time. The Mayo Clinic is also involved to try to learn more about the physiology of humans at high altitude by monitoring our team with various tests and devices in order to help patients with heart conditions and other ailments.

Once everything was arranged and I was committed, I was approached by conceptual artist, Fabian Knecht who had an idea to connect the lowest and highest points on earth. His inquiry was if I would be willing to try to carry a small bottle of Dead Sea water to the summit, pour it out there, and refill it with snow, which he would return to the Dead Sea. I agreed.

Well, all the wheels are in motion now, and we have been up as high as Camp 2 on the mountain at about 6400 meters. Tomorrow morning at 4am, we are heading out for our 2nd rotation up high to acclimatize, which will include sleeping a night at Camp 3 at about 7000m, and hopefully touching Camp 4 at the South Col (~7900m) before returning to base camp to rest and wait for a summit window.

On behalf of our group and of this entire expedition, I’d like to offer the greatest appreciation to BD for donating such a SUBSTANTIAL amount of gear. With it, we are safe and will hopefully be successful.

Wish us luck,
Sam

Here at Black Diamond we have been really enjoying Instagram as a way to take and share photos with our friends, and we can now be found on it at @blackdiamondequipment. If you know about Instagram, we don't have to tell you how rad it is; and if you don't know, well, it's basiclally an awesome way to share photos from your mobile phone with friends and build a sense of community. You guys, our fans, are our community, and we want to see the images from your spring inspirations and adventures: shredding corn, bagging peaks, climbing at your favorite crags, or whatever springtime means to you.

Here's the deal: Take a great spring action or lifestyle shot between Monday, April 23 and Monday, May 14, 2012, share it with us on Instagram (tag it with #blackdiamondspring AND @blackdiamondequipment) and you could win a $300 or $100 Black Diamond gift certificate or one of many daily poster prizes.

How it works: Upload sweet spring photos to your Instagram feed, make sure they are public, and mark them with #blackdiamondspring AND @blackdiamondequipment. Each day we will select a daily winner who will recieve a fresh BD poster. At the end of the contest, an internal panel at Black Diamond will gather and filter through all of the photos hash tagged with #blackdiamondspring AND @blackdiamondequipment and decide the winners based on both technical and thematic execution (as well as general awesomeness). You can enter as many photos as you want, but they MUST be taken with an iPhone or Android device (i.e., no DSLR or regular camera shots), MUST be taken within the time frame of the contest, and MUST be public and marked with #blackdiamondspring and @blackdiamondequipment on Instagram.

Prizes:

-First Prize: $300 Gift Certificate for Black Diamond Equipment.**

-Runners Up (2): $100 Gift Certificate for Black Diamond Equipment.**

-Daily winners: Black Diamond poster (climbing or skiing, winner's choice)

**Gift certificate value must be spent in one order. Any balance will not carry over.

The Fine Print: No purchase necessary. No automated entries. Enter as many photos as you like. This contest is open only to legal U.S. or Canada residents who are 16 years of age or older, possess a valid ID proving age, and personal Internet email address. To receive the prize(s), the potential winner must reside in one of the fifty (50) United States or Canada. The winner may make no substitution or transfer of the prize(s). The prize(s) may not be redeemed for cash or anything else of value. Noncompliance with any of the Official Rules and Regulations will result in disqualification. Black Diamond Equipment, Ltd. is not responsible for any typographical error in the printing of the offer, administration of the contest or in the announcement of the prizes. Black Diamond Equipment, Ltd. reserves the right to modify these Official Rules and Regulations at any time and without notice. Any modification to these Offical Rules and Regulations will take effect immediately upon posting in the Sweepstakes area of our website: BlackDiamondEquipment.com.

I know! We were really going to go to the West Buttress of Makalu. How come I'm writing something about Nuptse now?

Here is how that change happened:

Michi, who was tasked with leading the hard bouldering moves at 8000 m on the West Buttress, took his training as serious as could be. Unfortunately he had been training so hard that he tore his biceps tendon three weeks before departure. And because that left us minus a veritable rope gun, we canceled the West Buttress for now. But I was so motivated and had made firm plans to go to Nepal again in the Spring that I started looking around who else might be going there ...

And it did not take long to find an alternative that was no worse than the original plan. Gerlinde and Ralf generously accepted me into their Nuptse team! And voila, here I am, back in Kathmandu, back with those two with whom I had been on a number of other expeditions. That makes me all the happier to be on a mountain with them again, after two years.

I know that our team is great. It works and we can trust each other blindly after all this time. That makes me look forward to the coming adventure even more!

And of course because Nuptse is a mountain that leaves nothing to be desired! It's rarely climbed and most impressive. On top of that we want to try a first ascent from the North via the East ridge. Our plan for the first upcoming weeks looks like this: since I still had the 'old' Makalu flight booked, I arrived a few days before the two in Kathmandu, and could sort my gear and make the last acquisitions here. Now I'm enjoying Kathmandu, met my Japanese friend Hiro and visited with Sabin's and Purna's families (pilot and copilot of the stricken Ama Dablam helicopter).

Ralf and Gerlinde arrived yesterday and tomorrow we'll be heading on toward Lukla and Namche Bazaar, as so may times before. Sure I'm getting to know this place really well, but that has the advantage too that I get to meet a lot of people again, visit with old acquaintances and just like this corner of the planet a whole lot.

Talk to you soon.
Namaste!
David

We set out to combine the unparalleled comfort or our Active Suspension systems with a host of ideal details for full-featured backpacking. We knew that comfort is one of the biggest concerns for backpackers and that we could use our ergoACTIV XP suspension to dramatically outperform anything else on the market. To that platform, we designed a packbody that truly defined modern features: taped seams in water sensitive areas, huge waterproof zippered access, and ideal internal organization.

We designed these initially for multi-day backpacking (ideally 3-5 days) and they are excellent for this, but additionally these make excellent travel backpacks as well.

These packs are definitely our most full-featured. Most of our packs take a distinctively minimalist approach, but the Mercury and Onyx celebrate the idea that comfort and ease of use is critical when you spend multiple days carrying and living out of them.

1. Constantly balanced loads: By allowing the pack to match your body, the loads being applied directly to your hips and shoulders stay equalized from side to side. This is in direct contrast to typical "static" packs that force your body to lift the entire pack weight asymmetrically with each step. Whereas the pack's weight can be exactly the same, packs with static suspensions feel heavier because of the peak loads applied every time you move. This means no more bruised hips, happier shoulders, and no more need to constantly adjustments straps to change the feel.

2. Reduced friction/hotspots: By moving with your body instead of fighting it, active suspensions dramatically reduce the amount of friction between your body and the pack. No more chaffing on your neck line and no more raw spots on your hips.

3. Natural body mechanics (the biggest synergistic benefit): By allowing your body to move and carry weight naturally, you engage all of the big muscle groups that static suspensions eliminate. Specifically, by engaging your core (including your hips), you distribute the amount of work your body is doing, reducing the amount that is forced onto just your legs. At the end of the day you just feel better (less fatigued), especially your knees, shoulders- which are way overloaded by static suspensions.

The biggest challenge (and accomplishment) was designing the hipbelt and its attachment system that could not only provide the motion we wanted, distribute the weight evenly around the entire belt, and also have the ability to tune the amount of motion to the user's preference. Through lots of rounds of prototyping and testing, we developed a hipbelt with active 3D motion and elastomer "tendons" that dynamically distributes the weight so evenly and so comfortably that it's actually hard to tell how much of the pack's weight you are carrying on the belt. It's possible to carry 90%+ of the weight on your hips and not necessarily notice it.

What's your ultimate dream adventure? Surfing the sky-blue waves in Malibu? Kayaking the class five rapids of the Appalachian foothills? Star-gazing in Bryson Canyon?

There's no better way to adventure than with your favorite gear in tow. A Swiss Army Knife of campers, the SylvanSport GO is the ultimate adventure aid. A GO can hold up to 10 kayaks or 5 bikes, or all your camping and a few surf boards, or an ATV and rock climbing gear, or...well, you get the idea!

Detail your GO adventure in this online essay contest for bold and creative outdoor adventure junkies-that means YOU-and you just might win a chance to GO on the adventure of a lifetime.

ENTER at our contest homepage, and in 400 words or less tell us what your epic plans are for a gear-heavy GO expedition AND how you would promote your adventure. Blogging? Stop-motion photo stream? Sky writing? Would you brag to your friends? How about your office, your ex or your grandma? Tell us!

The three best essays win a hooked up gear package from our premier outdoors sports sponsors including Yakima , Kelty, Keen, Black Diamond,  Wenger, Jackson Kayak, SPOT, Grand Trunk Goods, and Orbea AND... the GO itself for up to three months to live and document your adventure story.

The most epic and well documented resulting adventure of the three finalists keeps the GO itself and bonus gear from our sponsors-That's the GO, thousands of dollars worth of gear, major online publicity, and bragging rights.

Contest ends May 31st 2012, but don't wait! Each week contestants are automatically entered into weekly giveaways for more great gear from our sponsors! The earlier you sign up, the more chances you have to win prizes.

Department of the Interior

1849 C Street, N.W.

Washington DC 20240

Phone: (202) 208-3100

E-Mail: feedback@ios.doi.gov

BLM POISED TO APPROVE DISASTEROUS DEVELOPMENT PROJECT IN DESOLATION CANYON   PROPOSED WILDERNESS—Rejects Nationwide Call to Protect Jobs and the Environment

WASHINGTON (March 16, 2012) --- The Obama Administration’s decision today authorizing nearly 1,300 new natural gas wells in Utah’s Desolation Canyon wilderness and other remote areas will degrade the pristine region’s air quality and hurt the state’s tourism industry, according to a coalition of environmental groups.

In approving the so-called Gasco development project, the Department of the Interior also rejected calls by the Environmental Protection Agency and tens of thousands of citizens from across the country to approve an alternative to Gasco’s proposal that would have allowed for significant development while also protecting the Desolation Canyon proposed wilderness and reduced the overall footprint and impact of the project. The Desolation Canyon region is important to Utah’s desert recreation and tourism, a $4 billion industry that generates approximately $300 million annually in state tax revenue and supports 65,000 jobs.

“Secretary Salazar is making the wrong decision to approve the Gasco project in a way that creates irreversible risks to Desolation Canyon,” said Peter Metcalf CEO/President of Black Diamond, Inc. “This decision is particularly disappointing in light of the fact that conservationists, and the EPA (with support of the leading companies in the American outdoor industry) endorsed an alternative drilling plan that protected the sanctity of the Desolation Canyon proposed wilderness, while allowing for robust drilling to occur on a huge parcel abutted to the proposed wilderness area. It is truly tragic that the BLM can't show some small degree of balance.”

The Desolation Canyon proposed wilderness is the largest unprotected roadless complex in the lower 48 states. Centered around the Desolation Canyon stretch of the Green River, the area’s spectacular solitude and endless vistas are awe-inspiring. But now this remarkable place is once again in the crosshairs for destruction.

“It’s bewildering that Secretary Salazar—who has been such a strong advocate of conserving America’s great outdoors—would allow turning Desolation Canyon into an industrial wasteland,’’ said Sharon Buccino, director of NRDC’s Land and Wildlife program. “Desolation Canyon has some of the most stunning wilderness vistas found anywhere. It is no wonder that EPA gave this proposal its worst environmental rating possible.”

Gasco—a Colorado-based natural gas company—wants to drill nearly 1,300 new gas wells in the area, including more than 200 new wells in the Desolation Canyon proposed wilderness and gateway areas.

The administration analyzed two alternatives to the company’s proposed action, both of which would have barred drilling in the Desolation Canyon proposed wilderness and while affording greater protections for the Green River and Nine Mile Canyon badlands. But the administration ended up supporting the company’s plans to drill in all these sensitive places.

This approval comes at a time when natural gas prices are at near-record lows due to an abundance of gas supplies, and companies are idling drilling rigs in developed fields in the Uinta Basin.

“Desolation Canyon and Nine Mile Canyon along the Green River are some of the wildest places left in Utah, and they should be protected from drilling,” said Nada Culver, Director and Senior Counsel of The Wilderness Society’s BLM Action Center. “There are more than 1,000 approved BLM drilling permits going unused by oil and gas companies in Utah alone. We should take the most responsible approach to developing this area in order to preserve the spectacular wilderness-quality lands, the rare and extraordinary rock art, and the threatened plant and wildlife species in Desolation Canyon.”

The BLM itself has described Desolation Canyon as “…one of the largest blocks of roadless BLM public lands within the continental United States. This is a place where a visitor can experience true solitude – where the forces of nature continue to shape the colorful, rugged landscape.”

Eastern Utah has experienced several years of record high wintertime ozone levels that are largely linked to oil and gas development. According to Gasco’s own data, this project will add to those unsafe pollution levels.

“Secretary Salazar’s approval of the controversial Gasco project stands in stark contrast to the agreements worked out over the past few years between industry, the Interior Department, and conservation groups over several natural gas projects in eastern Utah,” said Stephen Bloch, an attorney for the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance. “There is a proven, better way to bring parties together and produce a win-win solution. It is inexplicable why the Secretary is turning his back on this approach.”
"The Desolation Canyon region is one of the most iconic landscapes of wildness that Utah is known for," said Tim Wagner of the Sierra Club. "People from all over the world come to Desolation every year for the many outdoor experiences. To permanently mar this area over 200 new natural gas wells is a serious error in land management decision-making.”

The new Sprinter Headlamp has undergone a pretty healthy upgrade.  We changed the LED to produce more lumens and slightly more distance. The shape of the beam is just a bit wider, too. We changed the wire to go back to our original "coil" rather than the flexible wave which allows the user to fit the lamp onto helmets better.   The new charge system works with a wall plug or computer for charging in more locations and it eliminates the need to carry a travel kit. The red-LED in the rear also now can be tuned to be fast strobe, slow strobe or solid. If you wear the lamp backwards, the red solid light is quite useful for preserving night vision; we also made the red LED capable of being on without the white light. We also reduced the retail price by 10 bucks.

We originally designed the Sprinter to be used by runners. The beam is shaped to light up a trail or sidewalk with the peak intensity about 7 meters out. This seemed to be the appropriate spot that runners need to see the best so they can react to a change in trail condition or maybe something on the road. After we used the lamp a lot more, we found that it seems to be the go-to light for a much wider array of activities. The dawn-patrol crew here at BD uses it for ski approaches and it's a hit with the late-night bouldering crowd. Although not intended to be a bike light, I sure see a lot of them on bike helmets. The red flashing light in the back is ideal for getting the attention of groggy drivers.

With the rechargeable batteries, it's always ready to go at full power. We tuned the battery life to get 5 to 6 hours of consistent light output and for most runners this is more than enough. If you think you need more time, you can always dim it down a bit and extend that battery life by a factor of 3. Some would argue that the battery life is really "indefinite" since it's so easy to recharge and it is never really 'dark' for 24 straight hours unless you're in a cave. Ease of charging was a main design goal:  No need for any disassembly—simply snap on the charger and plug it in. Our lithium-polymer battery will last a minimum of 900 charge cycles, and even after that there is only a minor loss in battery capacity.

The intention was to have a lamp that is rechargeable only. This allowed us to create a very lightweight battery box which is small and offers the ideal balance of weight in the front and back. You need to charge this with a micro USB compatible charger. Solar charging is one way to deal with it, but there are also some AA powered chargers available for phones which would work. But honestly, this is not really a lamp designed for extended periods of backcountry use.

Well, that's a good one. I'm not sure there was anything necessarily "unique" to get this designed—we generally face the same fundamental challenges with all of our lamp products, which is to offer the user the most lumens per dollar, most lumen-hours per gram, and a light beam that is tailored to the activity for which the lamp is intended. We have plenty of runners here at BD for field testing and they of course really helped a lot in getting this thing right. Also, in the case of the Sprinter, as anyone that has replaced a cell-phone battery knows, those lithium-polymer rigs are not inexpensive. With the 2012 Sprinter, we were able to balance the cost of our battery along with our feature set to meet a much more attractive price—that was probably the biggest challenge in developing this product.

[Photo: Grant Gunderson]

When Black Diamond Equipment moved to Utah's Wasatch Front from California in 1991, it wasn't a knee-jerk decision. The collection of jagged peaks in Big and Little Cottonwood Canyons that abut the Salt Lake City valley hold the deepest, fluffiest snow around, miles upon miles of scenic trails, and endless rock routes of all types—in a nutshell, the perfect backyard for a company that lives and breathes climb, ski and mountain.

But the same ease of access to Big and Little Cottonwood Canyons that allow us to ski powder before work and go cragging after comes with its own set of issues. Save Our Canyons has strived from day one to preserve this delicate contrast between city and nature, and to help preserve the public land and water resources that we all rely on.

Save Our Canyons began in 1971 as The Citizens' Committee to Save Our Canyons in response to the threat of urbanization in and around the Wasatch Mountains. The founding of Snowbird Ski Resort and its plans for Euro-style trams connecting villages throughout the Wasatch catalyzed a movement to protect the range's natural state, and Save Our Canyons acted as a voice for concerned citizens looking to preserve the Wasatch for future generations.

Today, Save Our Canyons boasts around 1200 members and works to raise awareness and educate on issues related to protecting the Wasatch, and the group strives for active involvement in planning processes at the city, state, county and federal levels.

Past accomplishments in Save Our Canyons' 40-year history include the designation of multiple wilderness areas throughout the Wasatch (including Utah's first in 1978), the adoption of a Canyons Master Plan to guide the granting of building permits on both public and private lands in the canyons, as well as working with the Olympic committee to keep Olympic venues out of sensitive areas like Big and Little Cottonwood canyons.

To make a donation or to volunteer your time with Save Our Canyons, visit saveourcanyons.org or call (801)363-SAVE.

Swap – October 22, 8AM – Noon

•    Buy/Sell/Trade your personal gear at our flea-market style swap
•    Come inside for great deals on new gear
•    No Outside Vendors or Dealers

Black Diamond Store
2092 E 3900 S
Salt Lake City, Utah 84124
801.278.0233 – bdstore@bdel.com

The Black Diamond Store’s 2011 Fall Gear Swap is a unique opportunity for our customers, climbers and skiers to buy, sell or trade their equipment. The flea-market style swap is uncommon in that no portion of swap sales/proceeds are collected to support the costs of promoting and producing this event. As there is no price to attend or sale, we ask that you follow these rules and guidelines

Swap Date/Hours: Saturday, October 22, 8:00AM - noon
Location: East parking lot, Black Diamond Equipment complex

Guidelines for Sellers
• Display and sell only inside the designated, fenced area (South part of the East parking lot)
• Once the parking area fills, you will need to shuttle/haul your equipment to the Swap
• Swap area/parking opens at 6:05AM
• No selling or displaying north of the designated Swap area including 3900 S, the sidewalk, or parking strip
• Tables will be set up for individuals to display their gear in the common area south of the retail store by 7:00AM
• Individuals who work for outdoor companies are welcome to sell their personal gear and equipment, however there are certain restrictions
• No manufacturer’s, distributor’s, retailer’s or reseller’s merchandise/inventory, including discontinued merchandise allowed
• If you work or have worked in the outdoor/skiing industry and plan to sell samples or unused equipment click here for rules and regs.

Guidelines for Buyers
• Please be respectful of our neighbors and their property. Travel and park safely
• Purchases/trades made in the swap are between those individuals and not Black Diamond Equipment
• The Swap ends at noon. If you miss it, check out our in-store sale, which runs Fri-Sun, Oct 21-23