stamati

Dreamin' in Smith. The moves really aren't that hard but I'll be darned if I didn't clam up at the top of that first runout. Also the final crux roof pull is inobvious and involves a blind reach. Pretty fun route when your mind is at ease but at least for me that is a challenge.

i wonder if this is a LIDAR map.

Trip: Squamish - Milk Road and Bulletheads East Date: 6/11/2015 Trip Report: Not much to report other than that these are spectacular routes of a moderate grade. Milk Road's penultimate pitch is the best pitch I have ever done. My buddy and I came very close to onsighting the crux .10d/.11a corner on the 4th pitch which was quite exciting as this was the season's granite crack climbing warm up. We did a team onsight of Bulletheads East, which proved to be an engaging but mellow outing on our last day in Squamton. I led the final two pitches, a .10c stem box (totally new type of climbing for me!) and the .10c finger crack, which had pretty short lived cruxes and good rests. I especially had fun running out the easier sections and ended the third pitch with what was essentially a solo on 5.8/.9 terrain. I can see why people love soloing- just going without placing gear is a meditative experience. We cragged at the Bluffs, getting on Power Windows (this climb has me very stoked on slab!), onsighting Climb and Punishment, which we found to be fairly easy, and getting spanked on Partners in Crime. Actually, I sent the climb somewhat yo-yo style after I fell with the first two pieces placed. I hopped back on and got up it, but it was hard for me. I tried for the true redpoint after that but was totally worked. What most excites me about this first trip of the season is to refine my technique and cruise .10s and sent most 5.11s. I have the physical strength but there is a special way to climb granite which I am so stoked to learn!

looks so amazing up there. we really live in an incredible place.

nice pics. looks good up there!

Yeah, the 5.15 trad thing is interesting. What about Gondo Crack? damn sorry to derail again

good job on getting on epic tv, luke!

jesus tittyfuckers. good work.

This nomination baffled me a bit, but then maybe it doesn't matter a whole lot what her views on marijuana are. States are falling left and right at this point when it comes to the relaxation of marijuana laws- it's probably inevitable that widespread legalization will happen. So maybe there are other reasons Obama gave her the nod that outweigh her backwards views on the ol' devil's lettuce.

jesus. i'm glad things went as well as they could have with that fall. we definitely had to navigate around crevasses but nothing stood out to me as particularly worrisome last week. maybe things can just change that fast.

Damn I need to learn how to do this.

Twight makes right. I'll look into it.

thanks for sharing this with us. i will take it as another reminder to be grateful every day.

Trip: Mt Rainier - Ingraham Direct Date: 1/26/2015 Trip Report: Trip: Mt. Rainier - Ingraham Direct Date: 1/26/2015 Trip Report: A Problem of Pain and Willpower on Mt. Rainier Everything hurt. A broken leg loop restricted my movement and pinched my balls in an odd way. I was breathing too hard. I was exhausted and grumbled to myself. Gusts of wind knocked me off balance. My mind became preoccupied with frustration at the discomfort and I did not want to be on this mountain. A few days ago my housemate and steady climbing partner Stephen mentioned that the weather was looking good and asked, "Rainier?" I immediately said yes as I'd been wanting to climb it and the thought of my first ascent being a winter one attracted me. Winds were forecasted at 45mph on the summit. The day we left the forecast said 60mph but we figured it was worth a try. We learned from a skier on our descent today that the updated forecast from the morning said 90mph summit winds. I believe it. The winds picked up noticeably around 12000 ft as we gained the large plateau above the Ingraham Glacier headwall and only continued to increase in brutality the higher we climbed. By the time we reached our high point at 13400 ft, the wind was consistent and intense- it knocked me clean off my feet during one gust. From an observer's view the sky was sunny and blue excepting a thin layer of wind scoured ice and snow streaming off the peak in contrails and cyclones. But to us it was a frigid, stinging whiteout, obscuring our view to such a degree that continuing on seemed out of the question. It felt like being in the Himalaya, or so I assume- it's just the kind of image of mountains you see on TV and in movies. Nevertheless, such conditions were new to me and I felt truly in a wild place. While interesting in its own right, the nature of Rainier this day brought something out in me. It revealed the crossroads of my will and my ability and the meeting of resolve and pain. I grumbled tremendously much of the way, even complaining to Stephen about it in the hopes that he would comfort me, swaddle me, and tell me we could go down now. Right. I was unable to articulate my rationale only because I knew my reasons would sound insignificant. I'm exhausted, I'm slow, I kind of don't like pain. Stephen told me, "If you want to relax at the beach you're in the wrong place. What did you expect?" The truth is, I wasn't sure. In fact, I was unsure about my desire to be on the mountain and to attain the goal of the summit. Is this amount of discomfort worth it? It would be nice to be at home and not acutely aware of my mental and physical shortcomings. I judged myself. My will faltered and my resolved withered. Yet I kept moving and mostly because I knew Stephen wouldn't stop, but also because I was unsure of how I'd feel about myself if I demanded we turn back. But I knew I couldn't force that. I was so unsure I could not have demanded anything, and so I kept moving. When we reached 13400ft and found ourselves in an interminable veil of piercing wind and snow we knew there was no going forward for us. "This is when we call it!" Stephen yelled above the howl. I said "Yes!" and then I hollered in some kind of victory. To be sure I was happy to begin the descent, but I wasn't relieved. I could not be relieved because I had not formulated my own defeat. Instead the mountain had the gift prepared for me and I traveled there to receive it. An unimpeachable sense of rightness overcame me as I sat in the squall, having found and acted upon a resolute will, reluctant and weak though it was, until I could go no farther. Mountains are rather like good therapists whose open listening compels us to talk, to ask, to discover. Today I have questions: Where are my fears born and where do they die? What is the nature of willpower and how does a person harness it? How do I reframe the meaning of pain? All answers require action- what will my next step be? Gear Notes: Harness, pickets, 2 ice screws, avy gear, two sleeping pads, one sleeping bag, lots of layers, goggles, one trekking pole each, and one ice axe each. Approach Notes: Snow varied in quality- floatation used to Camp Muir. A beautiful day.

We talked to that group of 4 from Spokane about y'all. None of us got very far- my buddy and I got to 13400 and they got a bit higher. The winds just kept picking up over the course of the weekend!