Saturday, April 2, 2011
Scenes from the Making of Metanoia
We're finishing up the filming here. It's been a great couple weeks of one days being the Eiger and the next sport climbing down in Interlacken. The final days have been perfect weather. Tomorrow Josh is going to solo the Heckmair route while the Cineflex camera documents it.
Monday, March 28, 2011
The filming continues on The Eiger Nordwand
But No...The scene we had to capture was Josh lifting the 80 pound pack into the helicopter. Jeff left his pack below on route because a storm was rolling in and he had to get off the mountain by helicopter before the storm fully arrived. I'm not sure if we captured the exact scene of Jeff stepping onto the heli because as you can see in the video below it was pretty sketchy. After filming this adventure I thought to myself, "Shit....I have to get on the heli the same way" We all made it safely and had the weekend off for sport climbing in Lehn. Gotta love Switzerland!
Stay tuned for more adventures from the Swiss Alps
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Filming on The Eiger
We were filming Josh Wharton dry tooling some of the pitches and the roof pitch Josh says is around M9. It's not the easiest line up the wall that's for sure. Here's a few more production stills and a short video for you to enjoy.


Monday, March 21, 2011
Filming in Switzerland
There's a group of us including Jeff Lowe, Greg Lowe, Josh Wharton, Dave Black and myself currently in Switzerland filming on the North Face of the Eiger. Jeff is producing a movie titled "Jeff Lowe's Metanoia." Metanoia is a greek word meaning a fundamental change of thinking: a transformative change of heart.
In the winter of 1991 Jeff spent 9 days by himself climbing a new route on the North Face of the Eiger.
As Jeff climbed, every choice was tested by his purist ethic. No partner, no help from ropes left by others, no bolts - in mid-winter. Alone and increasingly at risk, climbing among ghosts and relics, and hammered by storms, he slowly transcended the recent chaos that had commandeered his life.
Near the top, out of food, pinned in a shallow limestone cave, and faced with yet another storm, Jeff heard a strange song. It lasted much of the day, and seemed to come from within the mountain. Next morning he emerged from his grotto and continued up. Barely surviving a fall that he actually jumped into, he finished the climb but disregarded the summit just 300 feet distant and 100 feet higher. Instead he accepted a helicopter descent rather than chance an avalanche and incoming storm, while climbing down the west side.
We are here now to re-enact some key scenes of this story. View his webpage here. www.jefflowemovie.com Check out the pictures below as we set up fixed ropes on the North Face to film some of the scenes.



Sunday, March 7, 2010
Getting Ready for the tour
Friday, February 12, 2010
The Continuum Project going on Tour
Spring Tour Schedule
Salt Lake City, UT March 10, 2010
Ashland, OR March 11, 2010
Eugene, OR March 12, 2010
Portland, OR March 14, 2010
Bend, OR March 15, 2010
Leavenworth, WA March 16, 2010
Bellingham, WA March 18, 2010
Seattle, WA March 19, 2010
North Bend, WA March 21, 2010
Tacoma, WA March 23, 2010
Check out the details for our tour
Monday, November 23, 2009
The Continuum Project
The Continuum Project follows some of the world’s best climbing talent around the globe to document bold new routes and daring repeats on ice, rock, and in the alpine.
Shot entirely in High Definition, watch as Guy Lacelle, Audrey Gariepy and Mathieu Audibert establish terrifying new ice routes in Norway and Rob Pizem and Mike Anderson crush brawny off-widths and delicate face climbing in Zion. Get on route with Ines Papert and Cory Richards as they blitz Kwangde Shar in Nepal and witness Majka Burhardt and Sarah Watson free the Beckey Route on Elephant’s Perch in the Sawtooths. Discover the rewards and risks of exploration with Jon Walsh and Ian Welsted as they establish a beautiful new mixed line in the remote Icefall Brook range of British Columbia and cool down on the difficult sport routes of Lions Head in Ontario with Sam Elias, Emily Harrington, Leslie Timms and Lauren Lee.
Extending the focus of Higher Ground, gain new perspective on the motivations and courage of some of the world’s top climbers through the superb cinematography and innovative approach of The Continuum Project.
Monday, August 17, 2009
Fundraising event in Crested Butte

Sunday, July 26, 2009
Climbing in the Bugaboos




m one other time throughout the day. The first ten pitches went very good. We were keeping a good pace and looking at our watch we knew we were going to be back at camp just afte
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Sport Climbing in Lions Head, Ontario
Friday, June 19, 2009
It's been so long
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Blown Away in Norway

Eidfjord (photo: Audrey Gariepy)
We ran into the first crux of the trip right at the airport. How are we going to fit the five of us and all our gear in that tiny Ford Focus “Station Wagon”? Strapping most of our gear to the roof, I still can’t believe that we managed a way to fit it all! So, we hit the road along the mountain passes singing songs from the “Dixie Chicks” and being as comfortable as you would on a hanging belay in the spindrifts!
When we arrived there, we just couldn’t believe what we were seeing. None of us have ever seen so much ice in such a small area. We could barely talk, just looking at each other with a big smile on our face. Where are we going to start? The potential was endless but a particular wall got our attention over the other stuff. All these long and steep ice lines right next to each other, we got to climb them all.

Voringfossen Wall, Eidfjord (photo: Audrey Gariepy)

Three days later, we had climbed 5 of them. They were all great. The routes ranged from 250 to 325 metres in length. The most impressive one was the furthest right with a first pitch of WI6+R, which Guy led like it was grade 4. After we were done with what we wanted to climb on this wall, the weather warmed up and the first pitch of the route fell down. It made us realize about how lucky we were to get the chance to climb those beautiful routes in good conditions. Guy was saying that the numerous years of ice climbing taught him that when you want to climb an ice route, you’re better to do it right now and never wait the next day…..it happened to be true for us in that case.
Audrey on Voringsfossen Wall, Eidfjord. (photo: Chris Alstrin)
Since the conditions deteriorated on this wall we decided to take a day off to drive around to find something else. In that day only, I’ve seen more waterfall than I have ever seen in all my life. The only problem was that most of them were melting down or weren’t touching the ground anymore……or maybe they never did. Anyway, we had to wait to the end of the day to find this perfect frozen yellow line in this narrow valley in Hjolmo. The line was so nice, that even the river to wade through, the little unfrozen waterfall to hike through, the boulder field covered with snow that we would have to cross didn’t discourage us.
The next day, we started the approach very early. Crossing the river with freezing water up to our knees and then we managed to go through all the cruxes of the approach. After three hours, we finally made it to the base of 300 metres with a sustained 170 metres of steeeeeppppp ice up to WI6. The day was a little too warm and we climbed the route in a total whiteout. We couldn’t see much around us, but we could hear a lot of big chunks of ice falling in the little cirque surrounding us. It was like climbing in a shotgun field. I remember thinking that it was safer on the route than I will be on the descent back to the car. Even though all that made me feel a little nervous, I couldn’t help to enjoy the climb so much. The line was just so straight and constantly steep. One of the best I’ve climbed for sure.
Road between Eidfjord and Gol (photo: Audrey Gariepy)Saturday, February 9, 2008
Higher Ground US Tour
Monday, February 4, 2008
Norway
Monday, January 21, 2008
Monday, January 14, 2008
Ouray Ice Festival
The 2008 Ouray Ice Festival. Another fun time out ice climbing and hanging with friends. I arrived to Ouray with my friends Scott Flower, Tara Garson from OZ, a few other friends from Colorado Springs and my brother Grant. Grant's never been ice climbing but he's the one who got me into rock climbing when I was 14 yrs old so it was good to get out with him again and let him have a go at this ice stuff. We woke up in the Springs to 6 inches of fresh snow and it was still coming down hard. We were still keen on driving down, the roads were absolute shit. We stopped in Gunnison and for the first tim
e in 2 years I ate McDonalds. Don't ask why we ate there I still don't know the chicken was not good. It took us a good 2 hours longer than normal but we all made it down to Ouray safely. Woke up in Ouray to it dumping more snow. I've never seen this much snow in Ouray, it must have been some sort of record. Great for skiing, not so good for ice climbing especially when a lot of the climbing we wanted to do was up the pass which was closed for 5 days. 






