Freddie Wilkinson

Climbing from the Jangpar glacier in the Miyar Valley, India. Dave Sharratt, Freddie Wilkinson and Pat Goodman climbing.

What’s your day job?
Writing and guiding, though in the last year I’ve done far more of the former then the latter.

What do you eat to sustain your energy while out?
Janet’s homemade peanut butter chocolate dipped “Buck-eyes”!

What is your favorite part about your adventures? What keeps you coming back again and again?
I like returning to the same areas and mountain ranges, year after year. Each expedition you learn so much about conditions and what is possible. My approach to alpinism is that you must be patient. The greatest climbers, in my opinion -- guys like Jack Tackle in Alaska, Ermanno Salvaterra in Patagonia – devote their enter careers to exploring the climbing potential and expressing an aesthetic in the mountains they love. When I go on expeditions, I’m more interested in cumulative success than any specific climb.

Favorite spot to climb, ski etc?
The Alaska Range, Fitzroy Range, Khumbu Nepal, and everywhere in New England.

What layering system works best for you?
The Super Power Hoodie, Typhoon Jacket, and Hooded Compressor is an unstoppable combination for wet and nasty mixed climbing!

What is one piece of Mountain Hardwear gear that has really impacted your activity?
The two man sleeping bag!

Current Mountain Hardwear gear favorites?
All Phantom down products, and of course the items mentioned above.

My recent activities:
2008: Climbed the North Faces of Fitzroy, Mount Hunter, and Kangtega.
2009: Redpointed 5.13, Wrote a book (to be published in 2010), and successfully avoided going on any alpine trips!

Personal Highlights:

Messing around the White Mountains of New Hampshire with my friends – cool summer evenings on Cathedral Ledge, warm  autumn days clipping bolts in Evan’s Notch, and especially the annual Swamp Donkey Disco on Cannon Cliff...

Career Highlights:

• First ascents on Peak 5960 and Mount Mahindra, both in the Miyar Valley, India.
  
• New routes on Cerro Poincinot, Torre Innominata and Desmochada in Patagonia.
  
• Ascents of the Diamond Arete on Mount Hunter, Snow Patrol on Mount Dickey, and The Cassin Ridge on Denali.
  
• A dozen El Cap routes.
  
• Onsights up to 5.12b and M8+.
  
  

2008 Recent Activities:

• Climbed the North faces of Fitzroy, Mount Hunter, and Kangtega.
• First ascents on Peak 5960 and Mount Mahindra, both in the Miyar Valley, India.

Bio:

Freddie Wilkinson believes that a climbing adventure is only as good as the stories you bring home.  Wilkinson grew up in the flatlands of suburban Connecticut and climbed his first mountain –New Hampshire’s Mount Washington – at age thirteen.  By age 20, Wilkinson had climbed Denali via the Cassin Ridge and  Nepal’s Cholatse via the West Rib.  Since then, he has spent three to four months of every year on expeditions around the globe.  In between traveling, Wilkinson earned a degree in history from Dartmouth College and worked as a climbing guide in New England and Alaska.   In 2007, Wilkinson established new routes on three different mountains on three different continents: Patagonia’s Cerro Poincinot, The Fin in Alaska, and Mount Mahindra in the Indian Himalaya.  That’s pretty good – but Wilkinson still considers himself to be better at telling stories than he is a climbing mountains.  He lives in Madison New Hampshire with his girlfriend Janet Bergman in a 12 x 12 cabin with a view of the White Mountains.

Visit Freddie Wilkinson's Blog at theNamelessCreature.com