Brad Albro This is Me

 Web References

1. 1. The SunLink.com

   www.thesunlink.com/news/2002/j - [Cached]

   Published on: 8/27/2002   Last Visited: 8/27/2002

   Brad Albro of Lake Tahuyeh says that easy access to Rainier and Hood is another reason many accidents occur there. Albro teaches basic mountaineering at Olympic College and is the former chairman of Olympic Mountain Rescue and a former Eddie Bauer-sponsored expedition climber.
   
   More than 5,000 people attempt Rainier every year. About half that number successfully reach the summit.
   
   "Rainier and Hood are always easy to get to. When the weather starts out good, piles of people set out to climb both mountains," he says. "The problem is, the weather can change fast."
   
   ...
   Says Albro: "On Liberty Ridge, you are committed to a difficult route, and it is safer to climb than descend. If the weather turns, you are under the control of Mother Nature."
   
   On Hood - Oregon's highest peak - you could watch the entire May 30 accident and later helicopter crash unfold from the luxury of the second-floor bar at the 6,000-foot-high Timberline Lodge, on the south side of the mountain. You look up the mountain toward the "Hogsback" to the single crevasse that blocks the easiest route to the summit.
   
   More than 40,000 people register to climb Hood every year and the vast majority climb the easy route from Timberline Lodge.
   ...
   Albro says the climb always attracts beginning mountaineers and guesses that lack of experience may have played a part in the May 30 fatalities.
   
   "Hood reminds you of Mount St. Helens before she blew up," Albro says. "You get all sorts of people trying to climb it.
   
   "Hood is one of the main customers for Mountain Rescue. You see people climbing the thing in cowboy boots."
   
   The Hogsback is a snowy saddle on Mount Hood.

2. 2. MrOutdoors.com - Columns

   www.mroutdoors.com/columns/200 - [Cached]

   Published on: 10/14/2001   Last Visited: 1/27/2006

   Brad Albro, Olympic College's Basic Mountaineering instructor and former international expedition climber, will manage the new gym. The building is located at 5934 Highway 303 NE, just off the Brownsville Highway and a block south of Skateland.
   
   Albro, a longtime member and officer of Olympic Mountain Rescue, has been dreaming of bringing a climbing gym to West Sound ever since Rich Johnston put together the first Vertical Club indoor climbing wall in Seattle.
   ...
   Albro says the new gym holds state-of-the-art equipment, from the aerobic and weight area to the colored, textured climbing walls. The walls are knobbed and knotted with the standard bolt-on "holds," as well as textured with "features" that are used in certain climbing exercises as substitute holds.
   
   Indoor climbing has gained great popularity in the past decade, providing both a sheltered practice area for mountaineers and a new venue for those seeking a challenging form of exercise. The gyms have even created a new form of competitive sport and spawned a generation of climbers who may never step outside.
   
   Until now, Albro says that local climbers who wanted a meaningful workout on an indoor wall had to travel to Seattle, Redmond or Port Angeles. Hundreds of West Sound climbers have visited the REI flagship store in Seattle, for example, to test out the indoor pinnacle there.
   
   West Sound is an excellent location for an indoor climbing gym, Albro says, because of the long tradition of mountaineering in the area. The class he teaches at Olympic College has provided instruction in safe climbing techniques for more than 50 years , longer than any other community college in the U.S.
   
   Albro, who was a member of several pioneering expeditions to Baffin Island sponsored by Eddie Bauer, assumed the teaching duties from Kent Heathershaw two years ago.
   ...
   Indoor climbing involves every form of exercise, Albro says. You rely on aerobic conditioning to get to the top (in competitive indoor climbing, you often race the clock or against another climber); strength conditioning is vitally important. And flexibility , as anyone who has stretched for a foothold well above their lower thigh will tell you , is essential.
   
   Yet another form of exercise is mental, according to Albro. Routes on the artificial rock can be set or color-coded so that you must only use certain holds; one great mental test in any type of climbing is holding fear in check.
   
   In that respect, Albro says the distance to the floor seems a good deal farther indoors than the distance to safe, flat ground outdoors. That's all psychological, of course , the old saying is that it is only the final 20 or 30 feet of a fall from any height that can hurt you.
   
   Visitors to the new Vertical World can pay for daily workouts or become monthly, half-yearly or annual members. Fees range from $11 weekdays to $450 for a single annual membership. Albro says that annual charter memberships before the scheduled Nov. 1 opening will offer $60 off the regular fee.

3. 3. The SunLink.com

   www.thesunlink.com/news/2002/j - [Cached]

   Published on: 6/11/2002   Last Visited: 6/11/2002

   Brad Albro of Lake Tahuyeh says that easy access to Rainier and Hood is another reason many accidents occur there. Albro teaches basic mountaineering at Olympic College and is the former chairman of Olympic Mountain Rescue and a former Eddie Bauer-sponsored expedition climber.
   
   More than 5,000 people attempt Rainier every year. About half that number successfully reach the summit.
   
   "Rainier and Hood are always easy to get to. When the weather starts out good, piles of people set out to climb both mountains," he says. "The problem is, the weather can change fast."
   
   ...
   Says Albro: "On Liberty Ridge, you are committed to a difficult route, and it is safer to climb than descend. If the weather turns, you are under the control of Mother Nature."
   
   On Hood - Oregon's highest peak - you could watch the entire May 30 accident and later helicopter crash unfold from the luxury of the second-floor bar at the 6,000-foot-high Timberline Lodge, on the south side of the mountain. You look up the mountain toward the "Hogsback" to the single crevasse that blocks the easiest route to the summit.
   
   More than 40,000 people register to climb Hood every year and the vast majority climb the easy route from Timberline Lodge.
   ...
   Albro says the climb always attracts beginning mountaineers and guesses that lack of experience may have played a part in the May 30 fatalities.
   
   "Hood reminds you of Mount St. Helens before she blew up," Albro says. "You get all sorts of people trying to climb it.
   
   "Hood is one of the main customers for Mountain Rescue. You see people climbing the thing in cowboy boots."
   
   The Hogsback is a snowy saddle on Mount Hood.