TeleRoss

October 22, 2013

Trip: RR, Zion, Moab - A Sandstone Extravaganza

Date: 10/12/2013

Trip Report:

Trish and I had a week free to go play so we made plans to find some adventure among the various types of sandstone found in the desert southwest. We figured stops in Red Rocks, Zion and Moab would provide us with just what we were looking for. The government shutdown had us looking forward to even more adventure as we made plans to go rogue in Zion on some climbs that could be accessed from outside the park boundaries, but alas, the State of Utah preempted our civilly disobedient plans by paying to open the National Parks within it's borders. Nevertheless, much adventure was found...

Our first stop was Red Rocks and a quick trip into Black Velvet Canyon to a climb called Texas Hold 'Em.

Trish getting stoked!

Looking north along the sandstone escarpment of Red Rocks

Looking up at the big roofs capping Texas Hold 'Em

The route climbs a little over 1,000' via four easy 5.8ish pitches followed by two 5.10 pitches and then two 11c and one more 10d up into the roofs, all on a wall that's pretty steep by Red Rocks standards.

Psyched!

Up into the 10d roof on the Panhandle Crack pitch...good fun!

Looking up at the big roofs capping the route

Trish got pretty worked on the 11c pitches but still managed alright after sorting out the powerful and steep moves. What a really cool route on an expansive wall...good fun!

After grabbing dinner in Vegas we were off to Zion!

Our favorite place to climb? I think so

First up...Lapdance, a three pitch jaunt up a splitter corner...like the Creek came to Zion!

Trish following the first pitch

The second pitch climbs more splitters after you get past the tree!

Trish just about to the top

Looking back down at the road towards Zion Canyon

The weather had been threatening all day and we had a few sprinkles along the way

After rapping back down the route, we hemmed and hawed a bit about what to do next. The weather was iffy at best, and the wind had picked up. I walked around and checked out a couple of routes, but wasn't convinced the weather would hold, so we decided to just pack up and head back to the car and down to the campground to set up camp...

Turned out to be a good choice because as soon as we started walking towards the car it started pouring rain!

We got some nice scenery on the way to the campground after the storm passed through

That evening the weather was still unruly and it was pretty windy so lounging at camp wasn't all that appealing, so we went to the brew pub right by the visitors center and had wings and beers, and met up with Mark Westman who had been climbing Smashmouth with Dylan when the weather hit...sounded like they had some good fun up there!

Anyhow, the next morning the weather was good again so we hiked up to the Gatekeeper Wall to climb the Locksmith Dihedral, a really cool looking corner system on a nice wall.

Some big carnivores back in here

Gatekeeper Wall on the left, and the Watchman on the right

Locksmith climbs the corner in the center of the photo...a really aesthetic line

First pitch starts with a little chimney funk up to a roof, and then steep fingers

Trish following p1

Looking up the sweet fingers corner on p2

up p2

Right near the top of the pitch, just as I was committing to a layback, I pulled off a football sized block of rock, I'm not sure how I didn't go for a big whip, but I stayed on, and yelled 'rock' and 'heads up' to to Trish who was standing on a small belay ledge about 120' below. I couldn't see her but I could see a bit of the ledge and what looked like a loop of rope sitting on the ledge...then, smash! The rock blew up right on the ledge! I asked if she was ok and she said yeah it had landed about a foot from her as she leaned to the left to avoid getting smoked. Super scary! Then I asked if the rope got smashed and she said that somehow the rock had missed it and gone between the loop which was actually up off the ledge a couple of feet. She examined the rope carefully and said it was ok. But she was way spooked. She got it together enough to follow the pitch but when she got to the belay we decided that that was enough excitement for one day and headed down.

Great route though, we'll definitely come back and finish it!

Cool scenery too

Trish following p2 after her close call

Psyched to be alive, but ready to go down

The next day we went back up by the tunnel to climb yet another sick corner route called Warzone.

The route climbs the corner in the center of the pic in 4 pitches, and varies from loose funk, to ridiculous splitter to complete jungle and back again

Better weather again today

While carefully climbing the funky and loose first pitch I must have pulled off a dozen decent sized blocks and sent them whistling down, prompting Trish to comment on the naming of the route...quite appropriate from the belayer's perspective! The climbing on the first pitch was quite good despite the looseness

Trish following

p2 climbs this insane splitter, up through a crux tips layback through a steep bulge...so sick!

p3 is absolute jungle, albeit with some really cool climbing!

Trish exiting the jungle near the top of the pitch

p4...more sick splitter to a funky wide slot to easy but loose chimney to a really sweet top out!

Trish on the summit

After that it was time to leave Zion...we had dinner at our favorite place in town and then hit the road in search of...Towers!

We got to Moab super late and got a hotel room in town, the next morning we got a great breakfast at the Love Muffin Cafe...great place to go for breakfast if you're ever in Moab! And then went and set up camp at the Castleton Campground right below the tower. Then we headed off to pop our tower climbing cherries on Jah Man

Trish starting the long approach

and then up the scree cone

and finally, Sister Superior and Jah Man

p1 chimney funk

Trish about to exit the top of the chimney

And happy to be out of there

The second pitch is all time classic...step left into sick splitter up the steep wall

Trish following p2

and, topping out!

First tower summit after a great little climb!

Trish rapping, and then it was quickly back to the car for cold beer!

La Sal Mountains, Priest, Rectory and Castleton...pretty area

The next day we were looking for something a bit bigger, so we made the wild drive down to Moses, what a crazy road down that cliff!

Trish starting the approach to the towers

We had planned on climbing Primrose Dihedrals but when we got there there was a party of three at the top of the first pitch hauling a bag, and then two french guys on p1 with the leader flailing and attempting to aid the crux, with to of their friends waiting behind them. This put us way back in line, and given our already mid-day start things weren't looking good for Primrose.

We mulled our options and decided to walk around to the north side of Moses and have a go on Pale Fire.

Aphrodite and Zeus

and around to the dark side

Looking up at the crux of Pale Fire, a sick splitter that overhangs and ranges from fingers to rattly fingers to .75s to tight hands, all with zero feet...it's dastardly! And on this day too hard for me to free, so I pulled on a couple pieces through the worst of it, and sent the rest.

Would definitely come back and work on this pitch...it's sick! After the crux you continue past an intermediate hanging belay and up into a hero hand crack...so good!

We took our time gearing up and getting psyched for the challenge, and before long the two french guys who were also waiting for Primrose joined us.

Trish following

Looking up p2, sweet hands with a little bit of funk

At some point along the route, I heard a huge 'whoomph' and thought it was rock fall from one of the surrounding walls or towers, I looked all around from my vantage point, but all I could see was this big shadow circling slowly around...turns out someone had BASE jumped from the top. That had been what the party of three was hauling in their bag...pretty sick! And, as we would later discover, it had been Trish's major girl crush Steph Davis...maybe I shouldn't have been so quick to make comments of junk show going on hahaha...

P3 starts with an awkward leany slot thingy

and still plenty steep

Trish getting to the crux bit on p3

p4 climbs steep funky face protected by all manner of ancient hardware, star drives with home made hangers, ancient 1/4 inchers, loose drilled pitons and other museum relics are found on this wild pitch, finishing up a cool slabby arete, and one last little chimney and short face section

To a very cool summit!

Nap time on top

Nice scenery and light on the raps down

and a full moon rising over the towers of Taylor Canyon...man what a day!!!

That night we were expecting Sky and Micah to join us at camp at some time during the night but when we woke in the morning they were nowhere to be found. Neither of us had cell service at camp so we went over our options of what to do. Moab was crazy busy and the campground was nice, but crowded, as were the routes, we had half a mind to head back to the tranquility and solitude found in Zion, but we wanted to find out what Sky and Micah were up to before we left. We decided to stop in Moab for breakfast again, try to get ahold of the guys, and then go climb in Arches for the day.

In a fortuitous , and lucky bit of timing, just as we were turning onto River Road back towards Moab, who should be turning onto Castle Valley road towards camp...Sky and Micah! Impeccible timing no doubt! ahahaha....we chatted briefly and all decided to hit the Love Muffin for breakfast and then carpool up to Arches for the day.

Sky and Micah chose to climb on Argon Tower while Trish and I decided that the west face of Three Gossips looked good to us, and at some point we would all meet up again either to climb another route, or to drink more beer.

Sky and Micah hiked off toward their adventure and Trish and I towards ours...

Looks good anyway...but looks can be deceiving

True to form per our stay in Moab, there was a party of 6 when we got to the base. Three were about to start up the West Face, which was the route Trish and I had wanted to climb, and the other three didn't know what they were going to climb. We went through the book and saw that there was a climb just to the right called the Lyons-Trautner...we asked them if they had any interest in that, and when they said no, Trish and I started gearing up.

A climber on the west face route, the Lyons-Trautner climbs the steep flake system just right of center in the photo

The route was sandy, very loose, and fairly scary, although the first pitch had some really good climbing on it, it was hard to enjoy it because of all the sand and the very real possibility of pulling large portions of the route completely off the wall.

The second and third pitches climb an assortment of sandbox offwidth and chimney all full of loose rock...good times! We were both very relieved to get up and down that route without incident.

Trish following the p2 OW/Squeeze

Rapping down the west face route in afternoon light...man it sure looks pretty...but buyer beware on this one!

That evening we rehashed tales of the day's adventure climbing in Arches while drinking beers and partaking heavily in the all you can eat pizza and salad buffet at ZAX in Moab. Full value adventure was had all around in Arches today!

At some point we began discussing options for the next day, but first we had to stop off and restock the supply of beer and whiskey for camp.

The party moved to camp where we met with the Diamond, and commenced to downing just about the last drops of said supply of whiskey and beer.

Plans for the next day were indeed laid, with Micah and Dave casting off for Jah Man, and Sky and I heading up to Coyote Calling, with Trish taking a much welcomed rest day after 7 days in a row of hard climbing!

Heading up to The Rectory

Castleton from the approach

North Face

Climbers on Fine Jade, turns out it was a party from Ecuador shooting a documentary

Looking up the insane goodness of Coyote Calling, techy moves followed by a burning layback up into a very perplexing crux coming out of a slot and over a bulge...so good! And hard!

Sky following p1

yeah!

Sky making thin balancy moves left(a theme for his leads) into the ridiculous splitter on p2

The splitter goes and goes, from fingers to off fingers to ones, to hero hand crack to funk slot and all the way back again to finger layback...so good!

WHAT!?! Looking down p3, as Sky starts up, another ridonkulous splitter in an outrageous position on this blunt arete

sweet climbing!

so good

Sky calmly dispatching the delicate moves left into, yep, another sick splitter on p4

The splitter ends at a notch and a big ledge where you transfer from climbing on the east face of the formation to the south face, and into the sun, and after climbing in the shade all day it felt great to shed some layers

Sky making moves on the last 20' to the summit

fucking sick ass climb!

Looking north onto the Priest, Sister Superior, and the Colorado River

Summit plateau of The Rectory with the La Sal Mountains and Castleton Tower just peaking above

Castleton, standing proud

What an insanely great route, and the perfect way to end a very memorable week of climbing! Thanks Sky...glad you guys made it!

Parting shot...until next time

:wave:

word.

September 4, 2013

:rawk: :rocken:

Sweet work guys! Big wall, moderate grade, fine style!

That rock looks, uh, rather interesting...seems that the route should have some extra rating just for the choss factor!

:tup: kudos

August 7, 2013

Trip: Incredible Hulk - Sunspot Dihedral, IV 11b

Date: 8/3/2013

Trip Report:

I love the Sierra! And why not, with splitter weather, beautiful bomber granite, mostly moderate approaches and especially because of walls like this!

Incredible Hulk

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But I must backtrack a bit...

Trish and I had a few days off so we made plans to head up to the Hulk for a climb or two. But the drive is long so we decided to break it up by stopping to climb a route in Pine Creek along the way. So after leaving San Diego Thursday evening and bivying outside of Lone Pine that night, we drove up into Pine Creek just outside of Bishop Friday morning.

Looking up a somewhat smokey Pine Creek

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There's a fairly large fire burning in the Sierra right now and from Bishop to June Lakes it's pretty darn smokey...fortunately it wasn't too bad and by the time we were climbing a breeze had cleared it out here in Pine Creek.

A very short hike brings you up to the Pratt's Crack Wall

Looking up the canyon

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Some nice stone...looking up Rites of Spring

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Trish stoked!

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p1

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FUN roof on p2

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Trish leading the 5.9 corner

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She hasn't lead much trad so it was awesome that she cruised it!

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Stoked to get through the wide funk at the top of the pitch!

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The crux is thin fingers past a manky pin

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Trish cruising the crux

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Really fun climb and highly recommended...cannot wait to go back to Pine Creek! There's tons of great climbing up there all in a really beautiful setting!

So, after finishing the climb we quickly drove up to Bridgeport to get our permits and do the approach to the Hulk that evening. Unfortunately at the ranger station the permits for that day were gone! Bummer! Oh well, we got one for the next day and set about grabbing some food and beer in Bridgeport.

We camped at Mono Village at the end of Twin Lakes Road that night...I highly recommend you avoid the junkshow there and camp elsewhere!

After being sent off on a wild goose chase looking for a camp spot in the maze of dirt roads and paths in the rv park we finally found a shitty spot and got to work on a six pack and a bottle of whiskey by the fire....

...and then at 4am the alarm is blazing in my ear...time to get going.

Because we didn't get to approach the day before, today we were going to approach and climb, then camp out and hopefully do another climb the next day before heading home.

Finally around 5 or so we were on the trail up Robinson Creek, and after a leisurely 2 miles or so you cross the creek and head up Little Slide Canyon and climb steeply up towards the Hulk.

Early morning light on the approach

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First views of the Hulk sitting high up in Little Slide Canyon

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Trish passed out after reaching our bivy

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Sunspot Dihedral shares the first pitch and a half or so of Positive Vibrations, and there were three parties on PV already so we lounged at camp for a while before heading up to the base of the wall

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Looking up the route, with a climber at the p1 belay on PV...those guys ended up epicing BIG TIME! Later that night we watched their headlamps high on the route and then descending the gully sometime after midnight

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We finally got started around 11:30...Leading p1

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Trish following

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Looking up the route, Sunspot takes the corner on the left, and Airstream takes the corner to the right

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Trish following the money 11a corner

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The route is characterized by long pitches...we did the 900' route in 5 pitches, mostly steep technical stemming and laybacking with a fun roof undercling and a hero hand crack or two thrown into the mix! HIGHLY recommended!

Looking up a the crux pitch, techy climbing past a couple of bolts along this rail to a few powerful moves and up into a beautiful corner

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Trish past the crux about to enter the sunspot

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10d corner high on the route, I think this might be the last pitch

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Trish on the last pitch, in a beautiful position out on this arete

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Trish really tired! I don't blame her, it was a long day!

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The route tops out on the ridge and you have the option of a long easy climb to the summit and then walk off or a nice easy rap right back down...we chose rap

Trish rapping in pretty evening light

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With our late start, and Trish struggling on a couple of pitches, we got back to camp just before we needed headlamps feeling good but tired. Trish was pretty worked tho...haha...

We made dinner, drank whiskey and watched two parties finish their climbs via headlamp late at night. We also discussed our options for the next day. We were wanting to climb a bigger harder climb, but the idea of taking on a long hard climb, then hiking out and then driving home sort of put us off, so we decided just to sleep in and then hike out, saving the harder climbs for another trip...

One last look on the way out...we'll be back!

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July 25, 2013

Great TR! The north wall of Bear Mountain is pretty rad!

man, brings back some great memories of when Sky and I went back in there and did the DNB...good times getting lost in swamps on the way in, and then losing the trail somewhere by the river and bushwahacking endlessly in the dark on the way out!

Outstanding!

July 23, 2013

Trip: Red Rocks, NV - Rainbow Wall, Original Route, IV 5.12

Date: 7/21/2013

Trip Report:

After two weeks in a row of failing on big routes I was feeling the need to send. But not just to send for the sake of sending, but to send something sick. I only had one day off, so originally we had planned a big link up at Tahquitz, but a giant wildfire had the San Jacinto Mountains pretty much on evac, so I mulled over our options...a big, difficult route, doable in a day from San Diego. Too hot for the Valley, too much approach for the High Sierra...ahhh...the Rainbow Wall in Red Rocks became the perfect choice.

Nevermind a forecast for 100 degree temps and thunderstorms, when I was finally off work Saturday evening we were headed towards Vegas.

En route we drove through a gnarly thunderstorm with lightning flashing through the rain squalls...pretty much something right out of a hollywood movie. When we finally rolled into our secret Red Rocks roadside bivy shortly after midnight, I was sort of doubtful of our chances for climbing in the morning because of the weather, nonetheless, after setting up our air mattress in the back of Trish's car, I set the alarm for 4:30am just in case...

After a couple measley hours of sleep the alarm was buzzing in our ears, and we quickly packed up and drove to where the Red Rocks loop road exits. We brewed hot coffee and made oatmeal and then set off on bicycles to the Oak Creek trailhead, and were hiking towards Juniper Canyon shortly before dawn.

Trish, wondering just what she's signed herself up for this time

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The approach is pretty mellow, up a nice desert canyon and up into some endless slabs to the base of the wall...about 2 hours from the car

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Trish up the fixed line on the steep slabs

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endless sandstone slabs

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finally, geared up and ready to go

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we took the 11c variation to the first two pitches

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trish following some super fun moves

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then I linked the next two pitches into one long ass 11d featuring some laybacking, techy face and balancy but powerful movement

Trish busting some moves

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The next pitch went up the corner and then around the roof...way fun 11b

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Trish about to get her roof game on

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Then I linked the two 5.10 corner pitches together...the pitches on the Rainbow wall are all short so linking is the way to go...why climb a short 80' corner, when you can climb a 160' corner?

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then you wander around on some ledges, chimneys and slabs for a while

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then traverse over this way

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and eventually you are deposited below this...a steep, devious 11d corner

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at the jug, and about to get funky

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Trish following

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after which, you get this...an even steeper, thinner 12a corner....so good!

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Trish sorting out the powerful sequences

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and then, just in case you thought it was over, you get a sweet 11b roof to top it off

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Trish topping out

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Vegas from the top

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obligatory summit shot...damn it feels good to send!

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glad to be done rapping

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before long we were hustling down the canyon to beat the oncoming darkness, and to refuell with serious amounts of caffeine for the long drive home

Oh and two big thumbs up to our new Sterling Nano 9.2 70m rope...prob the best rope I've had

word

teleross

TeleRoss

from on the beach

June 17, 2013

Trip: A few days in the valley -

Date: 6/14/2013

Trip Report:

Trish and I spent four fun, but HOT days in the Valley last week. We had big plans for long hard climbs, but conditions conspired to force us to seek shade, and eventually higher elevation up in Tuolomne. Here's what transpired:

We left San Diego Wednesday evening. It's quite a drive to the Valley from down here, about 6.5-7.5 hours. So we drove a while before spending the night in some highway town north of Bakersfield a ways.

Thursday morning we hit the road early and got to Yosemite mid-morning. We had a camp spot reserved outside the park in El Portal, but couldn't set up till after 1, so we played tourist a bit, as Trish hadn't been to the valley since she was a kid, so I showed her around and we took some photos of some big rocks

First view of the valley when coming in from Wawona.

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Big stone

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Cathedrals

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Yos falls

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After making a lap around the valley we decided to hit the Cookie before heading down to set up camp

Trish's first climb in the valley...Catchy, a sweet thin hands 10d

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From the top of Catchy we continued up into Catchy Corner, which consists of some of the most fun 5.11 hero laybacking you could imagine!

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It was starting to heat up so we came down and set up camp, lounged a bit in the shade, and then hit up Arch Rock in the evening for a romp up the classic English Breakfast Crack. Two sweet pitches of some wide funk, followed by a sweet 10c finger crack.

Heading up into the WIDE

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This continues for a nice 30' runout in some slick Yosemite squeeze chimney...good fun

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Friday we had big plans. We got up early and hiked up to Astroman.

SE face of Washington Column

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Looking up Astroman, Enduro Corner and Harding Slot visible above

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Start of Enduro Corner pitch

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We climbed a few pitches up into a blazing blast furnace, before deciding that climbing in that heat was no fun and decided to bail

Trish rapping

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I was sorta bummed to come down, but not really because it really was pretty miserable in the heat. We consoled ourselves with cold beers by the river and views of El Cap. That stone is so rad it deserves two drinks

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Later in the afternoon we went up to climb The Moratorium, a cool looking climb that climbs a large corner system for three pitches, with the crux being a tricky sequence of moves in a steep corner and some big moves off fingertip laybacks which felt pretty stout for 11b. A really fun climb...basically laybacking for nearly 400ft.

Pitch 1

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Trish on p2 I think

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Nearing the crux

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Trish taking my advice and stemming her way to freedom

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Half Dome and Sentinel

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For Saturday we thought we had picked out a climb that would be in the shade all day and would provide some fun and challenging climbing. We slept in a bit before getting geared up and heading up the approach to Beggar's Buttress.

Trish on the approach, wondering why we were suddenly in the sun, and it's inescapable rain of heat

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We opted to start via the 10c pitch of Giblet a super fun pitch...but meltingly hot in the full sun

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Trish was getting worked in the heat, and looking up at the next several pitches cooking away, we decided again to bail, with little protest on my part.

Again we retreated to the cool of the Merced, and a 6 pack of frosty brew.

And again once the afternoon shadows began creeping across the face of the Cookie Cliff we became motivated again.

So we hiked up to see what Crack a Go-Go was all about....supposedly one of Yosemite's best finger cracks at solid 11c

Looks fun!

[img:center]https://fbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-frc1/1005061_10151411759157757_909162438_n.jpg[/img]

Is FUN!

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Steep fingers and committing moves over tiny fiddly gear make for a great opening, and then it just keeps going and going and going...so good!

Sunday was our last day to climb, but also the day we had to make the long drive home. We decided to head up to Tuolomne to climb in the morning, hoping for more pleasant conditions.

We opted for By Hook or by Crook on Harlequin Dome, a fun looking route that climbs some corners and up through some cool looking roofs. Three pitches and 11b, and an absolutely great climb!

On the way to Tuolomne, at Olmstead Point

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Harlequin Dome

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Trish on the short approach above Tenaya Lake

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Some very old Juniper

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P1...a funky, slick barn doorey corner

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finishing p1 with the roofs of p2 above

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Trish on p1

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P2 takes a wild line through the first set of roofs and then you traverse on a foot rail above before climbing a tricky little arete and some powerful tips laybacking through a second set of roofs...awesome pitch!

The third pitch is some good funky Tuolomne crack climbing

p3

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Man, it felt GREAT to be climbing in 60 degree temps instead of 85!

On top of Harlequin Dome

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We hustled down the descent gully, and hopped in the car for the long drive home down the 395.

Cheers from Cali!

:brew:

May 12, 2013

Wayne, I can get some time. Prob the week of the 20-24, or 27-31. Prob gonna be hot in the desert, but would like to do Rainbow Wall. Moonlight Buttress...as much free as possible, which should be most. The Silverback, and yeah whatever towers aren't super hot...anyhow give a shout if you still need a partner. Also there's a ridiculous looking route in the High Sierra that looks so sick check this out:

http://aaj.americanalpineclub.org/climbs-and-expeditions/north-america/contiguous-united-states-lower-48/california/2012-sequoia-national-park-angel-wings-valkyrie-by-brandon-thau/

http://www.panoramio.com/photo_explorer#view=photo&position=1698&with_photo_id=58307839&order=date_desc&user=814238

http://www.supertopo.com/inc/photo_zoom.php?dpid=Mjs5OzY_JSUi

Should be good to go by first week of June...been a really low snow year around here.

So yeah, with hot weather and whatnot...maybe a trip to the Sierra instead? Could do a few big rad routes

cheers

Ross

April 23, 2013

Yeah there's a few good looking routes up there. The Vigil, Silmaril, and Central Pillar Direct are tops on the list

April 22, 2013

Trip: A Week in Zion -

Date: 4/14/2013

Trip Report:

Spent another great week in Zion with Trish and her family. Trish's folks have a motorhome, and I gotta say, while I would never own one...knowing people who do certainly has it's perks.

We loaded up the Lara family truckster late Saturday for a very early Sunday am departure from San Diego, and arrived in Zion in the afternoon.

Setting up our accommodations for the week, under The Watchman

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The weather forecast was pretty sketchy for the first couple days, with wind, rain and snow all variably in the mix. But we figured that we should be able to climb something on Monday before the precip moved in.

And when we got up in the morning, we set off for Voice from the Dust (8p. 5.11), with a raging hangover and threatening weather.

objective

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weather

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fortunately the precip held off, and all we got was a serious dose of gusty winds. The climbing was great following thin hands splitters, cool face, and interesting offwidths and chimneys to the top of Mt. Moroni.

Trish following the pumpy thin hands on p2.

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Trish somewhere higher on the route

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Looking up the upper half of the route

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The weather cleared, as the winds picked up

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Voice from the Dust is a cool climb...would recommend it.

The next day the weather went to shit. Rain and snow ruled out climbing for the day, so we took a leisurely stroll up around the Temple of Sinawava.

The Silverback....

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Wednesday we woke to clear skies and snow on the upper slopes around the canyon. We had a lazy morning and a huge breakfast before finally deciding to head up and do some cragging at Cerberus Gendarme. Lots of fun splitters to climb there and a good way to spend an afternoon waiting for the rest of the canyon to dry out.

Thursday we wanted to climb something bigger again, so we took the shuttle back up the canyon to hop on Monkeyfinger. When we got off the shuttle and walked over to the climb, we saw a party of two already about to start up the slabs, and a party of three just behind them. Not wanting to climb with a crowd we mulled other options. It was pretty cold in the shade still so we looked around for something getting morning sun. Took the shuttle down to Big Bend and looked around, nothing really caught our eye. So we went back to the Temple of Sinawava and gave The Silverback a good long look. It looks so sweet, but I really wasn't in the mood for 5.12 offwidthing, so back on the shuttle we went after we finally made our decision. Bits and Pieces (8p. 5.11) climbs the southwest face on Red Arch Mountain just up from the Zion Lodge, and turned out to be good fun...and sunny!

Trish finishing a pitch on Bits and Pieces

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Looking down canyon

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Looking at the start of a very funky Zion pitch!

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The pitch involved a wild lunging chicken wing into a flaring chimney/offwidth thingy about half way up the pitch. Good fun!

Trish exiting the chimney at the top of the pitch...looking pretty worked....and I don't blame her that pitch was WHACK!

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After finishing off the climb, we hustled to get down as the sun was setting...

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...and barely made the last shuttle back down the canyon from the lodge.

Friday we had a nice chill morning at Casa Lara, before heading into town for a killer breakfast at Oscars. Afterwards we mulled around town being tourists, buying trinkets, I picked up a #5 Camalot for shits and giggles, and because I was tiring of running out so many offwidths.

And finally after lunch we decided to go for a quick jaunt up Coke Explosion...which turned out to be a super fun little climb!

Trish following p1

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p2 is the hero pitch...so fun!

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Trish yodeling her way to the top

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Yeah, Zion is pretty

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Back at camp...er...our hotel on wheels that evening with The Watchman ever looming above

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Saturday was our last day to climb so we figured we ought to go climb something up there. There's lots of routes to choose from, and we finally settled on Negative Ghostrider (IV 5.11).

Trish on the approach, which actually turns out to be quite mellow.

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Looking up the lower half of the route or so. There's a giant detached white flake just above center in the photo called 'the ghost'...it's quite scary, and you climb around the right side of it, and then belay on top of it :shock:

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Trish following p2...chimney to sweet face and cracks...even a little moss thrown in.

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Looking down at Trish on p3. I'm standing on 'the ghost', a giant completely detached flake. Fortunately the anchor is in solid rock on the wall above.

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p3 has some sweet laybacking around a bulge to a steep short finger crack.

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Looking up the sick splitter on pitch 7 or so

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Trish nearing the top of p7

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Trish following a pitch high on the route

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as usual in Zion the last couple pitches to the top are FUNK!

[img:center]https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/31630_10151330302922757_827693277_n.jpg[/img]

This route finished with a shrubby ramp followed by a wild unprotected face traverse, into the wideness above, back out onto unprotected chossy face, and finally back into an easy but way runout stem box chimney thing. I was so glad when I finally pulled up and out onto the top.

Trish coming up the last bit

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relieved to be done!

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On top...with the scene of a previous EPIC behind me in the picture :crazy:

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One last look up the canyon

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Trish starting the raps down

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several surprisingly quite easy raps lead down the route to the base.

Stoked!

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Heading down for well deserved burgers and beers!

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Until next time...

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January 22, 2013

Trip: Zion sure is purdy in the winter -

Date: 1/19/2013

Trip Report:

Lots of pics from a beautiful sunny winter weekend in Zion

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January 17, 2013

I think this Dragontail descent has you beat for style points.

This video is pretty cool!

January 12, 2013

The rock in the runnels there is difficult to find a good anchor. I remember one of my rap anchors being extremely frightening, but somehow held up. Sounds like you guys had quite the adventure! Glad everyone is ok.

Sick ski!

:rocken:

January 7, 2013

Had an amazing year climbing for pretty much the first time in 4 years!

Needles: Atlantis and Romantic Warrior w/Sky

Needles: The Entity and Don Juan Wall w/Trish

Zion: Shune's Buttress w/Jason

Zion: Crazy epic on Mojo Risin' w/Trish and Jason

J-Tree: Taking my girlfriends 3 year old daughter out to the Tree and seeing her getting stoked on the rock!

December 27, 2012

El Cajon Mountain is a sweet multi pitch sport crag very close to San Diego. TONS of routes up to 5 pitches.

Eagle Peak is another multil pitch sport crag about an hour and a half away. Very good climbing.

Have fun!

November 9, 2012

High on Shune's Buttress

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November 8, 2012

always have #2-#6 brass

and once I was turned on to the larger aluminum sizes, I now also always carry #7=#10

I also bring along some smaller peenuts and superlight rocks as doubles if I'm climbing long thin pitches

October 25, 2012

I'm definitely not a sandbagger....I think everything is hard.

October 25, 2012

looks like a sweet book! Nice to have a guide to the area...

just wondering:

when I climbed the Passenger Route in '07 it was decidedly 11c, when did it jump grades to 12a?

October 23, 2012

Trip: Zion - a few

Date: 10/15/2012

Trip Report:

Had an awesome week in Zion with Trish and Jason. We climbed a ton, did some hiking with my folks, drank some tasty beers, and even epic'd horribly once!

A great week in the desert!

Having never climbed in Zion before we decided to get on something short and moderate to familiarize ourselves with the rock and such.

Smashmouth (4p. 5.11), is a sweet fingercrack splitting a steep headwall, and was perfect as our Zion intro.

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Jason leading p3.

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Jason following p4

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crux

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then we walked over and did Inner Chi (5.11)

it's beautiful

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cruiser stemming with some decent rests, to a funky mantel up and out of the corner at the top...to a sweet one bolt anchor, because the second bolt had pulled...welcome to Zion

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The next day, Trish wasn't feeling well, so she decided to do a short hike and then relax in her hammock, while Jason and I climbed Shune's Buttress (8p. 11c)

The first pitch in a super enduro 5.11 corner stretching 165' to the top of a prominent pillar.

so good!

leading p1

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Jason following

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The highlights of the climb are exiting this chimney

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and climbing this splitter high on the headwall

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Looking down the sick splitter

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The next day, Trish was feeling better so we hopped on Monkeyfinger(8p. 5.12b).

It's beautiful

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Trish following the pillar on p1

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More corner splitters

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Jason following the endless finger crack above the roof on p2

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Tired from our first three days of climbing we decided to just climb one pitch, Fails of Power (11c) a sick splitter that is like something from the creek came to Zion, and then do some hiking with my folks the next day.

Fails of Power

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Sweet climbing

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difficult roof and layback race up to the upper chains

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Then we went hiking. We saw some sheep

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some petroglyphs

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and a nice sunset

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Next up was taking my folks up the trail to Angels Landing

Doin pretty good for a couple in their mid-60's!

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summit shot!

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After Angels Landing, we had beers at the Zion Lodge, but Trish was stoked to lead something. She decided to hop on Cherry Crack, her first 5.10 trad lead!

gettin stoked

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sending!

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We had a couple of days left, and had a couple of climbs picked out...but we epic'd horribly on the decent from Mojo Risin', spending a cold night high on the peak before an epic hike out the next morning/day. DO NOT WALK OFF MT. JOHNSON!

The climb, Mojo Risin'(8p. 5.11) was sweet tho!

early morning light on the approach

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Mt. Johnson west face, the climb follows splitters up the steep headwall in the left-center of the photo.

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the climbing is adventurous, wild chimneys and caves, sick splitters, and some Zion sandboxes and stacked sand plates up a sweet face, oh and one gnarly looking bat inhabiting a sweet handcrack

Jason leading into a funky chimney

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Trish following the splitter enduro corner

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Jason high on the route

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Trish topping out in the evening light

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sun going down fast!

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summit shot, before an epic decent, involving a forced bivy, running out of water, never ending wandering up and down endless gullies and washes, many rappels, a freshly eaten deer carcass, and a long, long hike back to our packs, comfy shoes, and finally pizza and much beer!

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What a sick week in Zion! Can't wait to get back for more!

:brew:

October 14, 2012

I know this climber who's onsight limits are 5.12 finger cracks, 5.9 off width, and 5.10 J-Tree slab.

:lmao:

October 11, 2012

ghastly weather? HA! It's always sunny here in SoCal

:ass:

October 11, 2012

who gives a fuck? and why does it bother you so much?

Actually it does matter. like Donini said some time ago: "style matters". Climbing is a type of sport, where we don't have a bunch of referees watching what we really do. So honest reporting is a key. It used to be a golden standard, where after a writeup in Mountain Magazine, there used to be a 3 sentence summary. Now it's blogs and reporting garbage, where the reporting party will always claim "we were misunderstood". This leads to bullshit ascents, like "Golden Lunacy" in Greenland by Kaszlikowski and Kubarska in 2007. The description in magazines (Alpinist, AAJ) made it sound like a fucking unreal epic. The team travelled 80 km by sea kayaks with all the gear and then climbed 2000m route (1500 vertical terrain) on one of the largest cliffs on the planet. The route was graded 5.11d, with a lot of climbing in 5.10 range.This was the report they submitted. But there were enough inconsistencies to trigger Polish Climbing Federation investigation. They actually send a team to repeat the route.

First of all, there was no 80 km kayak odyssey. They chartered a boat and used sea kayaks to cross a 2 km bay to the base of the climb. The climb was indeed almost 2 km, but the crux was not 11d, but more like 10b/c, and the whole route had only 5 real pitches of climbing- the rest was low 5th class, which was either soloed or simul-climbed by the repeating party. No so big epic after all.

In the era of instant media, satellite phones, internet and blogs, we have more Maestries and fewer Doninis. I think pointing out liars is all we have left.

In the words of Chuck D...Don't believe the hype.

The posers, pretenders and hot air spewers will be found out in the end.

I suppose it comes down to why we climb...to what end? Money, quick fame, as a profession, or simply just for ourselves...

October 10, 2012

who gives a fuck? and why does it bother you so much?

October 8, 2012

Yeah my girlfriend's daughter is 3 1/2 and loves J-Tree! She always wants to get on all the climbs...she's stoked!

October 7, 2012

Trip: J-Tree - photo assault

Date: 10/5/2012

Trip Report:

Had a great first trip of the fall to the Tree! Highlights were Run for Your Life, Days of Thunder, 29 Palms, Rubicon and Coarse and Buggy...and of course just lounging at a desert camp by the fire on a beautiful fall evening! :brew:

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