Even Steck admits to an on sight climb as being the betteraccomplishment. Jordan didn't require pre inspection or multiple laps in the alpine.
And a bit of tongue in cheek when I say "better" as both are obviously incredible athletes. Just wanted a little shock value as most haven't heard of, or understand Jordan's accomplishments in North America. Some perspective? Manyof these climbs take a full day's walk just to get to the base. Most if not all, have rock much worse than on the Eiger. There are no trams,no cell service, no fixed gear with few climbers out compared to the Alps. And finally only the easier routes have seen much traffic. Almost everything Jordan did was an early solo ascent if not the 1st solo ascent.I've never heard of anything remotely comparable having been done by one climber in such a short amount of time in North America. You would have to look long andhard in the Alps to find anyoneso eager, capable and most importantly committed today, let alone in 1994.Read on if you want to know more.
Pictures are literally only of Jordan's "easy" routes from these trips!
Frank Jourdan? David Dornian wrote the following about Frank Jourdan's summer for the Calgary Mountain Club World News' alpine report in 1994.
"A stiff little reminder of what can be accomplished when you put a few caffeine pills into your butt bag, hang a couple of ropes and your shoes off your harness, and get out whilst everyone else is still "waiting for things to come into condition"
What did YOU do on your summer vacation? In July, visiting German alpinist Frank Jourdan managed a quick two-week trip to the Canmore/Banff/Jasper corridor to finish off a North American tour.
Discovered sleeping in his car at the ACC clubhouse parking lot in Canmore, he was taken into town by staff, coffeed up, and the following amazing tale was extracted in halting English.
It seems that a few days previously, Frank had driven north to the Columbia Icefields where he soloed a route he referred to as "Skyladder Direct" on Mt. Andromeda. He then descended the line, crossed the glacier to the northeast, and ascended "The Shooting Gallery". From there, he traversed the summit of Andromeda, climbed down one of the "Practice Gullies" and moved across too the base of "The Andromeda Strain".
The gully of A-Strain
In the dark now, he ascended the "Strain" by headlamp, carried on past the Andromeda/Athabasca col, over the summit of Athabasca in blowing conditions and what he called "...very strong snow" and arrived back at the parking lot 45 hours after he had left.
There's more.
Moving north a bit, Frank then soloed the Robinson/Arbic on the North Face of Cromwell.
And more...
Next, he attempted the North Face of Alberta. Going up without a rope, Frank decided he didn't like the inconsistent nature of the rock band above the icefield, and so he traversed off the face and descended the NE ridge. As a consolation, he bagged the peak by the Japanese Route before returning to the highway.
And still more...
He drove to Jasper and had a look at the North Face of Edith Cavell, coming down because of wet rock and unconsolidated snow.
And finally.
Returning south past Mt. Kitchener, where he soloed the Grand Central Couloir - "Only to be climbed ven zer's eis..." - apparently spending over an hour tunneling through the summit cornice.
N. Face of Kitchner
Wait...
After resting and cragging around Canmore for a few days, Frank decided that he wanted "...perhaps one more peak" before he headed home to Germany. When he showed up at Acephale around noon on Sunday, looking for Todd, we mercilessly insisted that he have a go on Mirror Stage 12b. Heh, heh. After all, we pointed out to this quiet little guy in the pilled fleece, there was already a rope on it; he might as well give it a shot. Protesting that he was "probably quite tired...", he dutifully pulled on a pair of shoes and sent the rig first try. A little while later, he did the same to Bleu du Ciel 12b, loosing his feet during the hideous sloper match at the crux and simply pulling up and locking off while he reached across for the next crimp edge in the sequence.
Now willing to let him be our friend, we engaged Frank in conversation. Turns out he had spent the day before climbing the Blanchard/Robinson on the North Face of Howse Peak, avoiding the A3 chimney and block via the ice in the gash out right (which he admitted was slow going and "very technical" [and which Peter Arbic, the only other person to go that way, reportedly characterizes as "Death" - ed.] and had been forced to sleep on the mountain that night, prior to descending and running up to meet us at the crag."
Dave Dornian
There is more...From:
http://www.alpinist.com/
Frank Jourdan
Posted on: December 1, 2004
http://www.alpinist.com/doc/ALP09/climbing-note-jourdan
The east face of Mt. Assiniboine, showing Cheesmond-Dick (V 5.9 A2, ca. 1200m, 1982). Frank Jourdan soloed the route in July for its second ascent. It was his third trip to Canada; in July 1994 he soloed a direct variant to Skyladder Direct, then climbed The Shooting Gallery, and then climbed The Andromeda Strain, all on Mt. Andromeda, car-to-car in forty-five hours. He then soloed the Robinson-Arbic on the north face of Cromwell. Next, after attempting the north face of Alberta, he climbed the Japanese Route; then attempted the North Face of Mt. Edith Cavell; then soloed the Grand Central Couloir on Mt. Kitchener; then soloed the Blanchard-Robinson on the north face of Howse Peak. His 2004 tour showed his enthusiasm to be undiminished. Photo courtesy of Raphael Slawinski
in his own words"In July I traveled for the third time to Canada. In spite of bad conditions on the alpine faces I picked off a couple of good routes. After installing a bivy cache at Eiffel Lake I succeeded in climbing the Greenwood-Jones (V 5.8 A1, ca. 1400m, 1969) on the north face of Mt. Temple,
2000m N. Face of Temple
then, after a bivouac at the cache, the Supercouloir (IV 5.8, Lowe-Jones, ca. 1200m, 1973) on Mt. Deltaform (the final pitches of which are especially brittle).
Dave Cheesmond photo of
Tim Friesenon Deltaform's crux
Deltaform's 2000m N. face. Cheesmond's picture above is the lastbit of rotten rock on top of that narrow ice gully.
Two and a half days later, when I was feeling more confident with this type of rock again, I headed to the glacier at the base of the east face of Assiniboine (the longest "twenty-kilometer" hike I ever did). This impressive mixed face was not in good shape either. After resting at the base I started climbing the Cheesmond-Dick (V 5.9 A2, ca. 1200m, 1982) at 2 a.m. I gained height pretty fast, but around 8:30 a.m. I got stuck just below the start of the upper, steeper sections because of intense rockfall. I searched for shelter and waited for dropping temperatures. At 4 p.m. (!) the rockfall abated and I kept going as fast as I could. In some sections, especially the steeper waterfall pitches, the snow and ice were almost gone. Therefore I was forced to climb very tricky, scary, loose and wet mixed terrain with sketchy pro. A ramp system and a traverse to the left leads to a steep rockface which is usually the crux, but, compared to the lower sections, the rock was not too bad. Using free, aid and drytool techniques I reached the easier exit slopes. A final, vertical, ice-and-soft-snow pitch through the cornice at the top made me shit my pants. The face took me thirteen hours to climb (with the stop, twenty-one hours). Another longtime dream was fulfilled.
After some rest days and a twelve-day visit to the remote Waddington Range, where I managed to solo three routes (the Flavelle-Lane route [TD+: 55 degrees 5.8, 980m] on Waddington; a possible new route [5.9+, ca. 650m], left of Perseverence, on the south face of Combatant; and the Southwest Face [TD+: 5.8, 1450m] on Tiedeman), I headed farther north to the main goal of the trip: the 2000-meter unclimbed northwest face of Devils Thumb, the ultimate challenge for a fast solo push. From Petersburg I flew in, highly excited to look at the face, but what a mess: there was no snow and ice at all, only very broken and chossy-looking rock (especially in the lower part). I realized that there is no way to climb this vertical quarry. I left for Canada, where I sat in my car near the river ready to start another attempt on the north face of Mt. Alberta (which I had attempted in 1994, failing below the upper rockband, which scared me too much at the time)—but I hesitated. The last weeks had hurt my knees and back painfully. The stress of being alone in a lot of scary situations had blown my mind, and I decided to not go: I was not motivated or calm enough any more. I started the car, anxious to get back to life, to my friends, to share my beloved red wine... and realizing that once again, I had been lucky to survive."
— Frank Jourdan, Pforzheim, Germany
Some holiday :)
Longmire may still be a snowy icebox (3-4 feet of snow in some places and cool down-valley...katabatic... winds) but the upper mountain hasn't been. On Thursday and Friday nights, the low at Camp Muir "dipped" (!) to a balmy 50 degrees. Former climbing ranger and famed speed climber Chad Kellogg found a sea of slush on his way to Camp Muir. Chad left Paradise around midnight (60 degrees) using (needing) snowshoes to plow through snow on the Muir Snowfield. I've posted a photo and an upated description of the Disappointment Cleaver on the Updated Route Conditions page. 
I first saw the Hi5 at OR last winter and was more than a little skeptical ofthe newLa Sportiva Hi5 or La Sportiva in particular for skis. But I did want a pair of thoseall carbon race boots the STRATOS!Any way, hard to miss a bright green, giant ski that resembles a retro water ski more than snow ski.Or so I first thought. It was a ski that stood outin the ski racks at two "ski bars" and ridingthe trams in Chamonix over the winter. And of the La Sportiva Hi5sI did recognise, all seemed amazingly LOOONG in comparison to the other skisbeing toted around the valley.(from a distinct mental note taken back in March...and obvious ski/mtn gawds riding them) 
The golden glow of the sunset over the marsh. My last night at Assateague.
Not as colorful as the morning's sunrise had been, but quite lovely. Indeed.
When getting a bicycle, whether new or vintage, it can be nice to personalise it - to make alterations here and there, so that the bike feels distinctly "ours". I am often asked for advice regarding various aspects of this process, from budget, to component choices, to colour coordination. And while these things are highly personal, there are several general points that I propose keeping in mind.
1. Address functionality and comfort before looks. Prior to buying colourful panniers and covering the bike with flower garlands, make sure the saddle position and handlebar height are properly adjusted for your proportions and postural preference. You may be surprised how much just that factor alone can change the "personality" of the bicycle. And this, in turn, will better inform subsequent aesthetic choices.
2. Personalising the looks of your bicycle need not involve buying lots of costly accessories. Some of the most delightful decorations are also the least expensive. Consider that things like ribbon,faux florals,twine, and stickers can cost mere pocket change. A simple bow in your favourite colour on the handlebars, or some flowers along the edge of your basket, will create an instant, lively transformation. And if you have an old bicycle with scratched up paint? You could turn it into a "zebra bike", "tiger bike", or "bumble bee bike" by wrapping appropriately coloured electrical tape around the frame to create stripes.
Of course, with an older bicycle there is also the option of using paint. You could trylug outlining, hand-painting small panels, or even paintingyour own designs along the entire frame. In Europe I see bicycles hand-painted with flowers, polka-dots, zebra stripes, peace symbols, lady bugs, and all sorts of other simple motifs.A paint pen for lug outlining will set you back around $2. Enamel paint will cost around $6 for a small can.
3. Avoid formulaic accessorising. If you saw it in a magazine or on a popular blog, chances are that so did hundreds of others. Do you really want to spend all that money on limited edition saddles, deluxe grips and exotic tires, just to end up with a bicycle that looks identical to lots of other bikes? Take the time to consider what combination of things would suit you individually, rather than trying to recreate a popular look.
In the end, the bicycles that are the most striking and feel the most "yours" are those that reflect your personality - regardless of the budget that went into achieving that.