Part 1: Shelter and Water What possesses an individual to take on the challenges of a mountain environment in the winter? The coldest season with the least daylight. Add in the additional hazards of avalanches, ice and rock fall, and cold injuries; it seems logical for...
Scroll through any social media feed, and you’ll notice that everyone’s posts seem preoccupied with “ests”. The biggest, the longest, the hardest, the fastest. In a crowded field, to stand out there has to be something somehow special about everything we do. Even as guides,...
Are you looking to skip the lines and get into the backcountry this winter? You’ll want to take your AIARE Level 1 Avalanche Course Here’s what to expect on your course. The focus of the AIARE curriculum is getting out into the backcountry safely, but your course has...
We are not parents, we're mountain guides. Well, some of us are parents, but that's not the point. Point is, we're not your parents. Because we're not parents, we can choose favorites. It's true; we have our favorite guests. Our favorite guests don't have any...
It was exactly a year ago that I stood ski guiding on a 45 degree virgin slope on the Antarctic Peninsula in a decision making quandary. Doug Stoup of Ice Axe Expeditions had put together another one of his outrageous cruise ship assisted Antarctic ski...
The Southeast Ridge of Mount Russell (III, 5.9) is a classic alpine gem of a route that gets relatively little traffic or mention by guidebook authors. There are 7 different guidebooks for climbing on Mount Russell in my library and the route is listed in...
August 9th, 2014 Dustin Boylin Lake Gregory Regional Park, Member Dear Dustin, On a beautiful trip to the Williamson Bowl in the High Sierra this week, we set up camp near one of the pristine alpine lakes at around 12,200 feet. Soon after setting up our tent, we discovered,...
Over the last two summers Sierra Mountain Guides has visited Lone Pine Canyon in Sequoia National Park on 2 separate guided explorations. The soon-to-be-Sierra-classic climb and ridge traverse that has come to be known as Sabre Ridge and the adjacent formation known as the Prism...
Tom and Andy are a couple of very intelligent and engineers from the Eastern US. They work for the Department of Defense to help keep all of us Americans safe. They are also experienced mountaineers. Why then have they had so much trouble summiting mountains...
Ball Nuts? For those that have heard of them but have never tried them, they are thought of as a piece of aid climbing pro or a relic from a bygone climbing era. But for those that have used them for free climbing, especially on...
Which route is better, the East Face or the East Buttress? The classic question we get regarding technical routes on Mount Whitney. Well, do you like chocolate or vanilla? Very different flavors, both immensely pleasurable. Let's break it down. The Line One of the major considerations when evaluating...
reposted from January 2014 By IFMGA Mountain Guide, Jed Porter So, something about a multi-day ridge traverse has captured your attention. Maybe it's a 2-day itinerary on Lone Pine Peak, the 4 day version of the Palisade Traverse, or something bigger and further out there. In any...
