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Our good friends at Mountain Trip have begun the Everest season in style. But they always do that!

With these folks, it’s hard to tell if the photos are taken at Advanced Base Camp or a five star hotel.

In a sense it is a five star hotel; sushi at 17598 ft, fine handwoven rugs and the most advanced base camp dome ever built. It all adds up to be a very nice package.

Serki & Ania. Sushi at 17598 ft! -Credit Mountain Trip.

The team seams to be in very good shape.. and with the M.T team behind them they are set up to succed.

Best of luck to all the climbers! The SlingFin team is rooting for you!

Lookin good in the BFD! -Credit Mountain Trip.

Wheres the party? It's in the big dome of course! The BFD is a beacon of safety. -Credit Mountain Trip

Go Robo GO!

If you know Robo you will understand why there is such a  swell of support to help get him back on the mountain. 

Take a look at his resume: 

Slingfund.org  is the non-profit side of SlingFin. We are committed to supporting the cultures and environments that ground our business through both our business practices and direct contributions. We are in the process of forming a non-profit corporation.

SlingFin crew members Brooke Barnes and Robert Link have been hard at work with the production of a short video to introduce the world to our new HardShell tent.

Squeezing all the things this tent can do into a sub six minute masterpice is not easy, but we feel that  the most importatnt things have been captured in this grassroots short.

Please, click here, sit back, relax, and enjoy the tribal music.

The HardShell in full battle ready form. In this photo you can clearly see the HiWind Kit in place. Mount Rainier.

The HardShell™ is unlike any big mountain tent you have used before.  The HardShell™ tent system consists of a WebTruss™, pole set, tent body, fly, and HiWind™ Kit. The WebTruss™ provides the framework and helps make this tent much stronger that other tents in this size and weight range. The four main poles are the same length allowing the WebTruss™ to be set-up very quickly in high winds. The WebTruss™ effectively locks the poles in place, independently of the tent and fly, so the structure is at maximum strength with or without the tent body. You can chose to leave the tent body at home and use the HardShell with just the fly, saving 3 lb 12 oz in weight.

This tent has another trick up its sleeve with the HiWind™ Kit. The HiWind™ Kit consists of two equal length poles which can be added to the WebTruss™ to significantly increase the tent’s strength. If you are not expecting extreme weather, the HiWind™ Kit may be left at home to save weight. Without the tent body or HiWind ™ Kit the weight of the structure is only 8 lbs 4 ounces (7 lbs 13 oz for the HardShell Carbon).

The fly has oversized snow flaps which overlap, nearly eliminating spindrift.  When property guyed out, this shelter is rock solid in all weather conditions. The HardShell™ is a versatile mountaineering tent that will set the standard for extreme weather shelters.

A big heartfelt congratulations and thanks to our friend and guide J.J Justman, who just returned from Aconcagua where he safely guided a team of 9 climbers to summit and back using the HardShell tent.

The HardShell at our base camp in Berkeley.

Here are Robert Links Comments!

The team arrives in Mendoza Argentina after a long flight from North America or Europe. Everyone’s body clock is just starting to engage to the difference in time zone. Some of the team seek a beer and some pool time at the hotel while others prefer to explore the beauty and tranquility of Mendoza. One of the most substantial differences about this South American oasis is dinner time. Locals in Mendoza typically enjoy a “Lomo” dinner accompanied by a Malbec wine at anywhere from 10:00pm to 1:00am. JJ calls a meeting in the evening to form the group into a team by discussing the tentative itinerary and doing a final equipmemt check.

The team picks up the climbing permits in town before taking the three and a half hour journey to Las Pentitentes. Las Pentitentes is located deep in the Andes. The group crosses the Cordelliera del Plata to the ski resort Las Pentitentes(8,800ft) located near the border of Chile and Argentina.

Mule loads of 60 kilos each are packed which consist of a combination of food fuel and personal equipment for the team members. The climbing team carrys only the bare essentials for the next three days on the 36 kilometer trek to basecamp Plaza Argentina (13,850ft).

(Trek Day One Jan 6)The team departs Las Pentitentes to Punta de Vacas a 20 min car ride and a 2000 ft. descent to the trail head. The team is headed for a four to five hour hike along the glacial Vacas River which is too silty to refill water bottles even with the best filter.

It is a a windy hike where green lizards and spiney flora abound.

Beware that soft spongy looking plant which would appear to make a great place to sit, it has two inch spines just below the surface.The first camp Pampa de Lenas (Camp of Firewood 8,500ft) is located near a fresh water inlet to the Vacas. Even though no fires are allowed anymore, It is a one of the best places in the world for star gazing and to see the Southern Cross maybe for the first time.

(Trek Day Two Jan7). The team arises well before sunrise to beat the high desert heat  The route continues along the Vacas River to the next camp Casa Piedras (House of Stone 9,800 ft.). Just before the camp the team gets their first view of Aconcagua which is both enticing and intimidating.

Setting up camp on a bluebird day. Mt McKinley.

Hunkered down HardShell ready for the night.

Our good friend and Guide Brook Barnes, came off Mt McKinley with some great reviews for the HardShell.

She said that during some severe winds the tent didn’t budge all night long.

The OneUp is a revolution in shelter systems.

Without using one for yourself it is difficult to understand what I mean, I hope this short video will help you.

click here.

Family camping SlingFin style. L.F.D and his little brother, the OneUp at the highest lake in the world.

Our Friend Guido Shilling has returned from a trip he guided to Ojos del salado on the Chile-Argentine border. He came back with some absolutely stunning photos and even better reviews!”

Ojos de salado is the tallest volcano on earth and the second highest mountain in the western hemisphere @ 22,608 ft, shadowed only by Aconcagua @ 22,841 ft  where a team of guides are headed next with a hardshell to put through the paces.

The OneUp and the L.F.D perched at the lip of the highest alpine lake in the world (20,960 ft)

More to come soon! Stay tuned.

=D

Last week at 6:06 am a total lunar eclipse was to set occur, completely unknown to the group 9 backpackers headed to shelter cove for a weekend trip that was set to leave at 3pm on friday.

Now, with all camping trips some delay in departure is to be expected, last minute things need to be obtained. Batteries and fuel are normally on this list, as well as any item that falls under the “Oh I thought you were brining that” category.  Add to this 9 people and 4 dogs in 3 cars the delay seemed to be exponentially increased. Almost everyone had forgotten something, from fuel to sunglasses to bear cans and food to put in those bear cans. One person had even forgotten a sleeping bag.

A quick stop by SlingFin base camp solved the major issues like the sleeping bag, battires and fuel. This however came with the time munching, yet inevitable tour of the amazing tents set up all over the shop.  Next, off to REI to rent the bear cans, then to a market with foodstuffs for the un-provisioned. Long story short, the caravan didn’t hit the road till 12:30 am, and by that point most nerves were frazzled and we just wanted to get on the road, and for good reason too, the drive from Berkeley to the lost coast is about 3.5 hours… If you know where you are going.

At the last pit stop the clerk asked where we were headed and if we planned on seeing the eclipse. We had noticed how bright and full the moon was that night. I told him we were headed to shelter cove and he said, “Oh man, that maybe the best spot to see this eclipse in all of California”.

And he was right.

This is my old trusty windscreen.

After about an hour of beach hiking we came to a bluff that over looked a large rock among the surf getting pounded by waves in the moonlight. The sky was clear and filled with shooting stars as we all settled into sizzling bacon on the camp stove and the twelve year old single malt. Just then the shadow of the earth began to over take the moon and the group went silent, a few minutes later a voice said,”Perfect timing”.  We realized that all the delays and last minute stops had allowed us to arrive at what was in fact the perfect time. Had all gone according to plan, and we arrived at dusk as proposed, that big beautiful full moon would not have lit our way due to the high cliff and treeline to the East, as only further on in its cycle would it reach the beach.   And if we had gotten to camp earlier the chances of the entire group braving the cold long night, even with fresh bacon and fine scotch were low.

Trips tend to be more satisfying if you “go with the flow”.

The OneUp has a feature you cannot find on any other tent. The sno-flaps on the OneUp fold and attach underneath the webtruss effectively sealing off the spindrift trying to enter your shelter.

Conversely, if the sun is out and you need to cool down while receiving some extra air flow during your nap, just roll the fly back and attach it to the webtruss.