Headwall Research

The Inca Trail

2008-04-07T18:57:00.000-07:00

The Inca Trail is a four day journey through some of the most beautiful and historic mountains and valleys of Peru. The trail begins at an altitude of 2,500 meters or (approximately 8,500 feet) and climbs to an amazing 4,200 meters (13,800 feet). The trails starts by following a rushing Peruvian river. Day by day as the trail meanders through the steep andian range, it increases in beauty, wonder, and majesty in anticipation of the culminating finish. The wonder of Machu Picchu.

DAY 1 - The Warm Up

Starting at a little under 3,000 meters (10,000 feet) this trail slowly rolls through a narrow valley passing a few of the ancient Inca store houses and the ruins of Llactapata. The day concludes after nearly 11 Kilometers (7 miles) at an altitude of about 2,800 meters (9,400 feet).

Picture on left: The Trail head, located near the city Ollantaytambo.

Campsite #1

Day 2 - The Climb

The trail begins. The first steps of day 2 are up hill and it continues until you reach the top of the pass. After around 8 kilometers of hiking through the cloud forest, you are deep into the Andian Paramo reaching the infamous "Dead Womans Pass." This is the highest point of the trail at 4,200 meters (13,799 feet). Once at this point it is a 4 kilometer down hill knee cruncher to camp. Camp 2 is situated on a fairly steep hill, which drops down into another deep narrow canyon, towered over by skyscraping snow covered peaks.

Top of Dead Womans Pass Looking down at the trail

The Amazing porters

Day 3 - The Breathtaking.

Our group strategically started late in order to be behind the rest of the other groups on the trail (an effort to be able to enjoy the trail without the hoards of people). The first .5 of a mile leads to an incredible little fortress. After passing the fortress, it is a shorter up hill battle to the top of the second pass. Once you are over this pass you drop back down on to another Inca city named Sayacmarca. This small set of ruins was comparable in quality to the ones in Machu Picchu. As we arrived the clouds from the valley floor began to slowly raise up, passing us as we walked among ancient ruins. The last 2 to 3 kilometers were some of the best of the trail. The path which you walked on was an Inca built highway along a ridge that connected several steep cloud forest covered peaks. In order to pave a level trail, in many spots the Incas had to build up retaining wall like structures along the sides of these steep peaks. At some points these walls were close to 50 feet tall and more then 6 feet thick. Many parts of the trail are also carved out sections of rock in the middle of 100 foot cliffs some actually entering the rock and creating a tunnel to the other side. The third campsite rests atop this ridge just behind Machu Picchu.

The first fortress with our second campground in the back ground (if you look really hard you can see the campground. Just follow the waterfalls down to it).

Sayacmarca

Camp 3 The city in the clouds

Day 4 - Knee Crunch to The Sun Gate

On the fourth and last day the excitment was unbearable. The trek began at 4 am and was a down hill staircase for the next 3 hours!!! It was one of the most amazing things I have ever seen built. The staircase was literally never ending. Many times while standing in the darkness of the morning hours, you would point your headlamp trying to catch a glimpse at the bottom of the staircase and all you would see was the light being swallowed by the darkness before what seemed to appear an endless abyss of Inca stone steps. As we started our decent the stars were the brightest I have ever seen them. With all the clouds in the valleys, like a sea below our camp, the Milky Way streaked brightly across the sky and the Southern Cross oriented our steps. As the dawn began to break the trail again began to level out and that is when we knew that the infamous Sun Gate was near. Our final arrival at the sungate was a depressing moment. The clouds in the valleys had still not lifted and so the beautiful and long awaited view of Machu Pichu from the Sun Gate was covered. As our group sat at the Sun Gate resting and talking about the amazing trail that we had been on for the last three days the clouds started to break and Machu Pichu came into view!!!!! This picture is the picture we took just as the clouds alowed us our first peak at Machu Pichu.

From the Sun Gate to Machu Pichu is a short 30 min stroll and from there it is nothing but wonder and relaxing in Aguas Calientes.

The New Challenge

2008-03-30T18:21:00.000-07:00

I present the New Challenge:

1. Mount Nebo 11,928
2. Mount Timpanogos 11,750
3. "South Timpanogos" 11,722
4. American Fork Twin Peak - West 11,489
5. North Timpanogos 11,441'
6. "Bomber Peak" 11,347'
7. Broads Fork Twin Peak - East 11,330
8. Pfeifferhorn 11,326'
9. White Baldy 11,321'
10. Sunrise (O'Sullivan)Peak 11,275
11. Lone Peak 11,253'
12. North Peak 11,174'
13. Red Baldy 11,171
14. South Thunder Mountain 11,154'
15. North Thunder Mountain 11,150'
16. Mount Monte Cristo 11,132'
17. Dromedary Peak 11,132'
18. Box Elder Peak 11,101'
19. Provo Peak 11,068'
20. Mount Baldy 11,068'
21. Sugarloaf Peak 11,051'
22. "East Peak" 11,044'

This is a list of 21 of the Wasatch 11,000 foot peaks. Starting the day I return from Ecuador, that is May 12th, I will be looking forward to summiting these peaks. Being from Utah I am surprised that I have not already been to the top of many of them, but unfortunately I can only say that about a few of these peaks. As I summit the different peaks Ill be posting the routes on the mountain and anything else I find interesting during the journey.

In order to do this in I am going need the help of some motivated partners, so if your interested let me know.

Pictures and Peak information is thanks to SummitPost.org

Joe's Valley

2007-10-17T20:31:00.000-07:00

In the middle of the a desert canyon, lies this jewel of a place. Joe's Valley sports an array of technical bouldering routes that will twist your arms and keep you coming back for more. This problem is called Self Service, the climber is Ian Mason and the clip was filmed by his wife Hollie.

Speaking French

2007-09-10T22:03:00.000-07:00

Planning a climbing trip to France? You may want to know a few of these words.

Rope - Une Corde
Bolt - un spit (sp-eet)
Quickdraw une degaine (day-gen)
Belay - un relai (reh-loh)
Belay Device - un decendeur (des-en-deur)
Rappel - un rappel or abseil
Rock - une pierre
Helmet - caske
Pitch - une longueur
More - plus (pl-oohs)
How many bolts? - Combien de spits?

King Lines

2007-08-25T09:06:00.000-07:00

King Lines, a movie about Chris Sharma, premiers at the Tower Theater in SLC on Sept. 4th. We are very excited to go and see this movie, once you see it let us know if you liked it.

Dan Osman

2007-08-02T21:04:00.000-07:00

The most outrageous video I have ever seen. The video you are about to watch, portrays climbing when it has reached insanity. There is a certain danger in this sport that should never be taken for granted, a respect for your surroundings that should never be over looked. Dan Osman unfortunately died durring a controled rope jump November of 1998.

The City

2007-07-27T07:55:00.001-07:00

The City of Rocks in Almo, Idaho is one of the most amazing climbing destinations in the world, the amount of international climbers you meet in The City of Rocks proves this. These huge granite spires rise from the ground everywhere in the valley to give you the feeling that you are in an abandoned city. The building like spires that tower above you make great for long routes, and some single pitch rope stretchers that keep your heart racing as long as your arms can hold on. The routes themselves sport some of the most enjoyable climbing because of their amazing features. One of these features is the hard patinas that form everywhere and make for killer crimpers and jugs, that seem to show up at just the right time when your killing for a good hold. The sport routes are known for their huge runouts, and if you have ever have been on Scream Cheese, you will know what I am talking about.

You can't afford to miss the Classics of this area, one such is Bloody Fingers. This 5.10a is a splitter crack that starts hard and leads into an amazing right tilted crack that stays challenging for around 80 feet. The top becomes a little run out, but nothing to keep you off this Classic. A few others are the Classics on elephant rock like: Rye Crisp, Wheat Thin, and Colombian Crack. These 3 moderate routes go at 5.7 and 5.8 and will have you smiling the whole way up. Just to name a few more Classics for your tick list: Thin Slice - 10a, Sky Line - 5.8, Intruding Dike - 5.7, and the notorious Crack of Doom - 5.11c. The picture up above is from the top of Too Much Fun and the climb that you are looking at is on Flaming Rock. If you get a chance to go to this amazing place GO and dont miss the Classics.

How to Climb 5.12

2007-07-24T20:17:00.000-07:00

While reading the popular book How to Climb 5.12 I stumbled on an amazing quote:

"Motivation is the foundation for all accomplishments. Natural talent, great genetics and all the time and money in the world will get you nowhere without motivation. Many great human feats are achieved by modestly talented, even disabled, people who posses heroic levels of motivation."

The Cypher Firefly

2007-07-09T22:42:00.000-07:00

If you are looking for a light wire gate draw, this is it. These are the Cypher Firefly draws. The biners that make up this draw are one of the markets lightest, weighing in at 28 grams. This lack of weight does not mean a lack in strength because they are still rated at 24kn. The action of the wire gates are firm and clip quite nicely for when your trying to make a hard clip.

One of the less than minor problems that I have had as I have been testing and climbing with them is that every once in a while the wire gate will get hooked up on the groove of the biner. I noticed that it happened when I first started using them; however, once I had logged in some climbing time with them this problem faded away. This quality of quickdraw also comes with pretty heavy price tag at $17.95 a draw. Taking all of this into consideration, these are some of the best draws I have climbed with and I am eager to get my hands on a few more.
If you are interested in this product or would like to review this or another product please contact at haulline@gmail.com

So It Begins

2007-07-05T21:17:00.000-07:00

HEADWALL RESEARCH

Why Climb?... A question frequently asked, but rarely answered. What drives a person to risk their body or life to walk the edge of uncertainty only to reach a brief victorious moment? Why does reaching the summit, making that last clip, or finishing the unsolved project push people to tear their skin, suffer frost bite, or be racked with exhaustion? This question is best answered when the individual experiences the aura of the journey, that takes man out of the world of comfort and security, to a world of soaring aspirations, accomplishments, and the sweet silence of the unknown.

Headwall Research is dedicated to that intense feeling, and helping climbers conquer the unknown. We will be your one stop shop for the latest gear reviews, and reviews/stories of routes, all from local intermediate and advanced climbers. Our aim is to get the fire of adventure going.

We encourage participation, if you have any cool stories that you would like to share or would be interested in reviewing gear for us please email us at haulline@gmail.com.