JasonG

I agree!

Damn. That first photo!

I may not have a plane, but I can still copy Austin Post by climbing to the top of Primus and taking a picture of Eldorado:

When you wake up on the Inspiration glacier and there is a high deck of smoke that is about to ruin your day. But at least you had a good sunrise:

The last time I climbed Chaval, I packed my tripod up to high camp. I am glad I did!

This isn't editing tricks....a crazy beam lit up this tree as @cfire and myself were descending Wallaby this fall:

whew, @diepj that was close! Here's another B&W right back at ya!

And because November always makes me think I shouldn't be here....here's some Big Island for you:

An interesting angle on Triumph and Slesse:

Right place, right time....looking at the Southern Pickets from Teebone Ridge:

Our camp a few weeks ago in UT at the Cathedral Valley Campground:

Maybe give Vital a call? https://www.vitalclimbinggym.com/bellingham

Just to mix it up....South Face of Annapurna I:

Good question @Otto! I didn't mean to hog the fun. EVERYONE SHOULD POST A PHOTO OF THE DAY! Take that Instagram!

Thanks for the validation @psathyrella. Just for that, you get another today! Jailhouse Rock in Capitol Reef NP (discerning viewers may notice that I am not afraid of posting exact locations on cc.com):

You thought I was joking? EVERY DAY! Here is White Chuck, Sloan, and the Monte Cristo Group from Sauk:

Have you talked with Dane Burns? http://coldthistle.blogspot.com/ I think Alpinist did a piece on screws a bit ago....

I hope Instagram dies a swift and fiery death..... Until then, you all will be subject to my obsession with publicly posting images. Sorry! Kulshan last Saturday afternoon:

I guess I should say new position. Same organization. I sure hope to continue to make you jealous, once I get things figured out!

That is moving!!! Well done, surviving and zipping through the traverse so quickly. Rockfall is pretty terrifying. For me, second only to lightning. At least with rockfall you feel like you can do something to mitigate. Caught up high in an electrical storm just feels like hopelessness wrapped in doom.

The mountains are working pretty well and the rent is very reasonable!

Oh? What was that story @Bronco?

Please do!

Trip: Mount Torment - North Ridge Trip Date: 08/09/2020 Trip Report: If anyone's noticed, I am not so regular at posting TRs any longer. New job, older kids, a lack of anything new to say.....the list of excuses is long. But, to be honest, this is still my favorite place in cyber-land to post vignettes of my life in the hills. So here I am, slowly plugging away at catching you all up on the riveting adventures of an aging alpine "lifer". In this installment, we pick back up in August of 2020 and on an adventure close to home for both @dberdinka and myself. Jokingly, we said that we would go on a trip wherever arcs drawn in a 60 mile radius from our homes converged. This was not absolutely true for Torment, but pretty darn close. We have an embarrassment of riches right in our own backyards! We typically only ski a few times a year together and had been talking of an alpine climb for far too long. This may have been our first time summer climbing together? But first we had to get a permit! We weren't worried about the Torment Basin zone being full, but we WERE worried about the line at the ranger station. As you all surely must know by now, a August Saturday morning at the ranger station is only slightly less crowded than Mecca during the Hajj. Since it was misting, and we only had to hike to camp, we didn't get there early, probably about 0830. We pulled number 114(??!!) and settled in for the wait. There really must be a better system than what is currently being used. I'll let you tell me exactly what in the comments below. Permit in hand we struck out in the increasingly heavy "mist" for the TH. This is the first hurdle. It isn't marked, and there isn't a lot of traffic up it to make where the trail leaves from the Cascade River Road obvious. Look for it on the left, just after the 2nd bridge over the Cascade River, past the Eldo TH. Space for one car on the right and the trail takes off steeply just across the road. It starts out vague and gets better as you get higher. Decades ago this sounds like it was a major thoroughfare, but it has fallen into obscurity. Yes, you heard me. This is a route in the Cascade River corridor where solitude on an August weekend is possible! I'll let you figure out where the trail is and where it goes, however. Good things come to those who investigate. So I'll skip ahead to arriving a few hours later in the basin. It had stopped raining but was still damp, cool, and cloudy. We wandered for a decent amount of time, looking for established camps. Finding none (obscurity!), we found a flatish slab of rock and cleared the loose stones for an OK night. It didn't help I forgot my pad at the car. D'oh! Nevermind that, I certainly couldn't complain. I was with the one and only @dberdinka on an honest to goodness climb! I was also nervous. You all know how fast, competent, and technically savvy Mr. Berdinka is- I had to buck up and look tough. The alarm went off quite early (did I expect anything else?) and @dberdinka was immediately ready, or so it seemed. I fumbled around the tent for a bit but eventually got it together and we set off in the dim mists for the col that would take us around to the North side of Torment. Be warned that you will need to do one 30m rap to get past an imposing gully of doom along the way. There is a horn for an anchor, but I'll let you find it. Obscurity! And then, you'll need to expeditiously move under and away from a non-daddy friendly ice cliff. Channel your inner Ueli: But don't worry, alpine glory aspirants, at this point you've reached the promised land! Firm rock (4th and easy 5th), outrageous position, and no other parties to ruin your wilderness experience. It really is worth the price of admission. It is an Ed Cooper climb, after all. The only downside to climbs like this, of course, is that they are over too soon. But, we have wives and kids that want us to come home at a reasonable hour, so all good things in moderation. @dberdinka looking fashionable on the summit: As with most North Cascadian summits, there was then the question of which way down? We hemmed and hawed, ultimately eschewing the standard SE face descent (how would the moat be? Would we end up like Craig Luebben?) for the wandering South Ridge (standard approach to TFT). While this isn't a terrible way up, it isn't a great way down. Lots of insecure scrambling between raps where a fall would most likely be fatal. Again, not exactly daddy friendly. But, we survived to reach our camp and the delightful meadows of Torment Basin a couple hours later. And you probably will too. So, next August, don't complain that there are crowds on "all" the classic climbs in NCNP. Go do some exploring! Gear Notes: 60m half rope, light rack, helmet, axe, crampons, etc. We used rock shoes, but you probably don't need them (we didn't know what to expect). The full alpine kit! Approach Notes: The "excellent" Torment Basin route. Green Fred details it nicely. It needs some traffic, however!

When the days get shorter and the snow starts to appear on the hills, I think of Dan. I hope is is doing well, wherever he is, and whatever he is doing. I really appreciate all the inspiration he gave us over the years, and hope to see more TRs from him in the future. This was the last one I could find: https://turns-all-year.com/trip-reports/june-7-2017-north-face-northwest-couloir-mt-shuksan