twinkletobes

We stood on top of 32 mountain summits, visited 19 National Parks and hiked well over 1000 miles. Then we got engaged on top of Mount Ritter. Prediction fail.

FOR TRADE: Patagonia Ascensionist 45 climbing bag. Orange Used only once, I am too short to comfortably use the removable frame. Bag is a size L. I just need a bag I can use in return. Something 30 - 45 Liters, Must have storage for two ice tools. Send a photo of the bag you have for trade to 253-948-8894 Links: Steve House Demonstrating the Bag: https://youtu.be/n1tJ3OmzvaM WEIGHS TWO POUNDS!

Also headed to Teton, Yellowstone, the Winds, Beartooths, Glacier, possibly Idaho and then N Cascades.

Hey everyone, Im in Southern Colorado right now on a 7 month road trip in my Westfalia. We are headed North and will be in the state for a few more weeks and I am looking for someone to climb with at the Flatirons (or other areas) near Boulder. If you have friends who climb in CO who might be interested in a blind-rope-date get in touch. One of my heroes, climber/writer David Roberts started climbing there and I really want to get on that rock! I am 29 from Tacoma, WA. Lead 10 sport, a little experience with trad. Open to learning new things and climbing beyond my limit, or having some fun on 7s all day, whatever. Girlfriends phone, cause I don't have service ever (253)948-8894 My E-mail tobinakehurst@yahoo.com

Hey I'm on vacation at Zion Canyon for the next 8 days and looking to climb. I am on a 7 month tour of the states in my westy van. I am a nice normal guy looking to climb. I have my own gear with me. I can lead .10 sport, I have led trad at Smith but not much. I THINK I can follow 11 with little difficulty, maybe, if its not super sustained. I know very little about the climbing in Zion, but I'm open to anything. Please txt 253-709-5587. That's my girlfriend's phone, she will be out hiking while we climb. My name is Toby.

Hey I'm on vacation at Zion Canyon for the next 8 days and looking to climb. I am on a 7 month tour of the states in my westy van. I am a nice normal guy looking to climb. I have my own gear with me. I can lead .10 sport, I have led trad at Smith but not much. I THINK I can follow 11 with little difficulty, maybe, if its not super sustained. I know very little about the climbing in Zion, but I'm open to anything. Please txt 253-709-5587. That's my girlfriend's phone, she will be out hiking while we climb. My name is Toby.

The photo URLs moved, is there a way i can edit the post with the new img location?

I started an Adventure/Westfalia blog! Im going on a 6month tour of the National Parks of the American West with my girlfriend and cultivating a mentality of wilderness restoration along the way. Blog topics will include, climbing, photography, van life, DIY, conservation, and whatever we might want to write about. Check it out. >>> Driven By Nature

My friends took them! I love the development there, it looks like an ancient village like Mesa Verde' Yeah, I agree that it can an interesting route to follow. But it felt good to make gear placements that I knew I could trust the lives of my friends to. Honestly the climbing through the hand crack felt so natural that I didn't even want to stop to make a placement. The first bolted pitch was much more scary to lead.

Yeahhhhhhhh, feel kinda guilty doing all this recreating while THE WORLD IS COMING TO AN END!

Trip: Del Campo Peak (pics) - Standard Date: 3/13/2015 Trip Report: (wide pics, scroll right to read/see) After a nice hike into Gothic Basin we ascended the obvious, standard route on DC. Following snow ramps up to the notch splitting the main and sub summit. I was surprised by the steepness of the headwall at the top of the notch. I tied in, led the wall in crampons to the top without placing any gear and gave a hip belay to my cousin Jonathan. I led the steep snow field below the summit, then turned over the lead so Jonathan could pass me by and gain his FIRST ALPINE SUMMIT! Views from the summit were killer. There was a revolving door of climbers on Gothic Peak and every time someone would gain a summit there would be a long distance dialogue of hoots and hollers from one peak, into the basin and on to the next. Great energy in the cascades that day. Jonathan killed it, the climb felt classic. Morning Star, Vesper, Sperry, Big Four, Pilchuck, two distant peaks I don't know and Baker. Looking down toward Gothic Peak (which looks SO different from here) Foggy Lake and Sheep Gap Mtn. Pretty decent exposure from here. Gear Notes: 25m rope (not really necessary) Crampons Axe

Trip: Smith Rock State Park (pics) - 5 routes Date: 3/6/2015 Trip Report: Took a few days to get some climb time in with my friends at Smith Rock over the weekend. We were very fortunate to have been invited to stay at a nice time-share nearby by some friends, Jim and Gerry. It was the best weekend I've ever spent at Smith and I was able to have the biggest climber-skills-development day of my life. Eternally grateful to our friends and hosts. Now for the details. Day 1 We started of with Voyage of the Cowdog, 3 Pitches (5.9). This route starts around back of Ship Rock, climbs a fun 5.9 slab ending in a tricky notch and then gaining a belay station. "Pitch 2" was a simple walk through a notch, gaining the left skyline of Picnic Lunch Wall. Apparently we were off route and actually supposed to work rightward, whatever. Final pitch is an incredibly exposed climb up the left skyline, eventually gaining the top of the massive wall. We walked off, this route has the funnest walk off I've ever done, a little adventure in itself. Summit party of 5. Heraldo's first multi-pitch! Oren soaking in some winter sun. Brenden clipping the last bolt. Summit Party! Next up was First Kiss, 5 Pitches (5.8). This route is a blast, I highly recommend it next time you are in the park. Its a 500 foot, adventure route that had a free-solo FA. Highlights include fun slab climbing, bolted sidewalk, mosy amphitheater and the steep, heavily pocketed final pitch. The final pitch is one of my favorites in the park. (BEWARE! there is a huge, precarious flake at the final belay just begging you to pull on it, or sit on it. DONT! It will smash you friends) Oren Wrapping up after First Kiss The next morning Oren and Brendo sent something hard, 10c? Meghan and I took turns leading 5 Gallon Buckets. A fun fun fun Smith Classic. And then I moved a bail biner up two bolts before giving up on another hard route. Next was Sky Ridge 3 Pitches (5.8) This climb was a huge developmental step for me. The first pitch is an exposed class 4 ridge to a belay. Pitch two is a 5.8 slab on nubs and pinchers, I've led 10c but this felt WAY more bold. A little run out (but not enough to hold the R rating it used to have). After the slab is a beautiful low angle arete' that sharply splits your vision between the east and west faces of the Smith Rock Group. Pitch 3 is the money pitch. This pitch was trad, my first experience ever with trad climbing, or placing gear. I led the vertical hand crack, into the hand traverse. Sinker hand holds, minimal feet, but very secure. The awesome hand crack gave me good stances for fiddling with pro, learning on lead, until I thought it was secure. I brought up my rope-mates simultaneously (another first for me) Until we all reached the top. A short scramble and another hand crack later I was standing on the highest point of the rock group. YEEHAW! Soloing the easy stuff Brenden on the arete' Leading the hand crack, (Black dot on far right tower) Placing gear for the first time Standing on top (black dot atop summit block) Incredible trip, learned so much. Thank you so much to our hosts, and to Brenden and Oren for turning over the lead on ALL the money pitches! Also thanks to Meghan and Geraldo for the great photo-documentation of my first trad climb! New friends! New experiences! New skills! Sneaking into hot tubs! HELL YES!

Wondering if anyone knows about North Fork Teanaway Road, FS 9737 conditions. Usually in Feb I would assume its closed, but you know... this winter. USFS website is down right now. Any info is appreciated. Attempting to reach Esmerelda Basin at roads end. Thanks.

I used a Fuji XM-1 with a 16-50mm lens, handheld, stitched with Hugin. Get Hugin if you take panos. Its free, automated and powerful.

Rock Mountain 360 Panorama, January 31 2015 Click here to view VERY BIG SIZE.

I was just in the area for 3 days hiking around. Unfortunatly Icicle Creek is closed just before FR7601. The snow level is so low that Aasgard Pass is likely very different than you would assume this time of year. It looks like its June out there. I would not anticipate the pass being an open slope. Using snowshoes or skis for the ascent is doubtful as the snow pack was thin and hard. You would probably wind up needing crampons to navigate the snow covered boulder field which is going to be littered with snow bridges, holes and so forth. The real trail may not actually be hard to follow though. Honestly I would just ski Icicle Creek road to the actual enchantments trail and go that route. Much prettier anyway.

I usually just carry my traditional axe for the following reasons 1) Fast and light. I carry as little as possible, always. 2) Its a much better walking stick than an ice tool. 2b) So I can often leave trekking poles at home, making my pack even lighter. 3) Arrest is easier 4) Belays are better 5) Better dead-man 6) Better at digging out a place to sit, sleep, etc 4) I dont want to look like a knob carrying around a bunch of shit I don't need to use. 5) My ice tools are much more sharp and its just another annoying pokey thing to get snagged on while digging through your pack. If I'm climbing something steep, I will sometimes bring my traditional axe and one ice tool because I still want all the advantages of a traditional axe on approach and low angle sections. AND with one of each I have been able to overcome vertical sections, and overhung bulges of ice using one of each. Only if I am anticipating prolonged sections of very steep, hard terrain would I bring two ice tools. 90% of the time, I use a normal axe. If its good enough for David Roberts, its good enough for me.

Ive always wanted t draw a little red line on a mountain

WOW!!! this route looks beautiful. Nice work.

Trip: Olympic Range - Mt Washington - Mt Ellinor skyline traverse. Date: 1/27/2015 Trip Report: The route: Mt Washington to Mt Ellinor Complete Skyline. I had heard of the Washington - Ellinor traverse being done before, staying on the east side, avoiding the Wedge, serrations and many of the other primary skyline obstacles. So I set out to see if I could do it myself, on-sight and free solo, staying entirely on the skyline. OH! and in winter...... I guess The Trip: I arrive at the trail-head at 8:00am. Carrying 4 of the 10 essentials, I know I have to be fast and light to overcome the rocky spine, alone. At my back Mt Rainier, Mt Adams and Mt St Helens send me off as the sun crests Rainier’s shoulder and illuminates the blanket of fog covering the South Sound. It’s going to be a good day. Sunrise I start up the steep, vague trail. This trail is one of my favorites in the state. Its vague, it beckons you to wander. The blow-downs are confusing, the flags few and the maintenance is minimal. I arrive at the lower meadow bathed in orange morning light. It’s January and the meadow is entirely clear of snow, less snow than there was in summer last year. I wonder about receding glaciers, pausing to feel my heart grow heavy as I think about how Earth is rapidly falling into disrepair. I cross the meadow into the forest on the other side. I pass the blow-down on its left and scramble up the dry, rocky creek bed. Cross through the forest again, I always loose the trail here, but I will regain it at the scree slope. Once atop the scree I begin climbing into the rocky gulley with the tall slab on its left and a tower high above on its right. About a third of the way up the gulley I face the slab and begin climbing a direct line to the ridge crest. All of my senses come alive. The slab is high, but reveals many weaknesses allowing passage to the top. Its going to be a good day. I gain the ridge crest and begin a pleasant walk up into the Eastern Cirque. I aim for a series of ridges and of laid back class 4 cliff bands. The Cirque I examine the Surprise Couloir. All I know about the couloir is that its there. Not wanting to tread familiar ground I aim for it. The snow cover in the couloir is minimal, and completely disappears in a few spots revealing a boulder-sized chock stone. I ascend the couloir mainly on its left wall. The chockstone appears to be a major roadblock, wedged in-between fairly featureless walls. The only way I find to overcome the belly of the boulder is to place my ice axe in a crack and hoist, myself up. I feel committed. Surprise Couloir I continue up to the top of the couloir to a narrow pass choked with hearty alpine brush. It claustrophobic, and the exposure on both sides of the pass is dizzying. Inches to my right is the west face, I cant see the bottom. I have to get out of here. I don’t see the summit anywhere. The moat under the north-facing wall robs me of my confidence as I attempt to mount it. The features are thin, and I cant back down. I begin ascending the wall with a few class 5 moves aiming for a rightward trending weakness in the mountain. As I work rightward I look past my heels into the massively exposed west face. For a moment I think of my Girlfriend, and why I climb, and think to myself that this isn’t worth it. But with every move the climbing gets easier until I am flying up easy in-cut holds and I immediately remember why I climb. I head south on the ridgeline as the summit comes into view farther away than I had expected, but a short scramble leads me to the top of Mt Washington at 10:30. Good time. It’s going to be a good day. The summit of Mt. Washinton I descend a dirty gulley toward Ellinor and across the only walking portion of the skyline. It feels good to walk a moment. I cross broken cliff bands to what I call the Wedge. I had seen the Wedge before and I knew it would be a major challenge for my nerve. I find a cross and memorial plaque at the base of the Wedge. That will make you think. I begin climbing the arête. Its brilliant, the rock feels positive. I feel so confident and free as I solo the arête, splitting my vision between its two massive walls. I gain the summit of the wedge without disturbing my confidence. The Wedge On the Wedge On top of The Wedge At the top of the Wedge the serpentine nature of the ridge and the next series of obstacles is revealed. A series of chossy, serrated blocks makes up the skyline. The skyline is defined further as the west side is bathed in light and the east; dark, cold. I hand traverse much of the skyline, making a point to top out on every prominent gendarme along the way. The whole route seems to be dangerously exposed. The climbing is hard class 4 for the most part with the occasional 5th class move that could be avoided if you allowed yourself to detour portions of the skyline. But I came here to climb. The serrations and massive overhanging bulge. After the serrations the ridge lowers its defenses and the fun really starts. Continually exposed 4th class climbing along the ridge-line is fabulous aside from the occasional dirty gulley. In places you can even walk the ridge as it drops away into a profound void on both sides. This portion of the ridge ends in two prominent gendarmes, which I climb and then make the tricky descent on down-sloping ledges to the lowest portion of the skyline. The serpentine ridge-line, This is the longest and highest quality section IMO. A strange alcove Here is where I see what I call the Tower. The Tower rises from the pass nearly vertically and is full of dirt and choss, I know I cant climb it safely, so I set my eyes on a couloir to its immediate left diverting briefly, and not far, from the skyline. The couloir is fun to climb, even better and much steeper than the Surprise Couloir with harder snow pack. When I get to the narrow pass at the top I worry that I might be shut down. The difficult pinnacle south of the pass must be overcome to continue but I can find no way around it or over it. The only way is a overhanging bulge with an off-width crack through it. It takes a while to decipher but after shoving my pack high into the crack I make some exposed 5th class moves over the bulge and reach down to retrieve my pack. After crossing over the steep difficult pinnacle and a short descent I arrive at Horse’s Mouth. The Tower, and the line I climbed immediately left of the Tower, you can see the difficult pinnacle just left of the pass atop the coulior. I consider an attempt to climb the Horses Mouth from the west side but quickly decide that would be stupid. I go astray from the climbers path and ascend the slab due south to its top. This I call the triangle. I descent the Triangle’s quality east ridge and begin scrambling the final portions of the ridge to just below and right of Mt Ellinor’s summit snowfield. I ascend the snow-field and gain the summit. Its 1:00. Almost 2.5 hours of rock climbing and scrambling over 1.3 miles. I’m back at my car by 2:00 The ridge-line as viewed from Mt Ellinor Summit The skyline. This route is FUN!! I was starry eyed for hours. Every time the route seemed to be come impassable I would just examine it long enough and the mountain would always reveal weakness just where you need it. I spent maybe a totally of 10mins deciphering route finding issues, for the most part it was non-stop progress. But to do this free-solo is so dangerous. It would be easy to get yourself into something that you cant get yourself out of along the serration or any of the gendarme peaks. Along a fair 90% of the skyline any mistake could result in a fall, and your chances of not falling to the bottom are minimal. I’m not sure how to grade it. Everything feels so different when your free-solo, it feels harder. But, I would say its mostly very exposed Becky 4th class with class 5 moves to 5.5, also exposed. My trip report was written the day after, while looking at the very few photos I took so there may be some omissions or errors. I wasn’t really worried about remembering the route when I was on it; I just wanted to finish it. Also, I don’t mean to sound arrogant, but I think 6hrs car to car is a best-case scenario. I gave myself 10. And if you use protection, and travel in a group it could really slow you down. Sawtooth range topped by Mt Cruiser and backed by Mt Olympus A crazy looking buttress on the west side of Mt Lincoln that I believe is unclimbed.

Lost my white LG Volt phone in a black case. Its probably on the road somewhere between the top of the hill and the turn out area right at the bottom of the hill. Please call (253) 709-5583 and ask for my girlfriend Jalisa if you find it. Thanks