Philip and I met for coffee the morning following our three day adventure into the Royce Lakes basin of Pine Creek. We have climbed together in various mountainous areas across the U.S for over a decade and share the commonality of two loves: the love of...
Teaching anyone how to climb is incredibly rewarding, but there is something special about introducing people to climbing in the mountains; opening the door to a whole new world of adventures in the vertical realm. At the age of 16 I was just starting to...
I just had the pleasure of guiding Rob on the final peaks of his 6 year quest to climb all of the Fourteeners in the Contiguous United States, via the classic Palisade Traverse from Thunderbolt Peak to Mount Sill. Rob has been a life-long climber,...
The great Ella Fitzgerald is spot on as she sang “Summertime and the livin’ is easy.” As the snow melts out from the high country and we transition from boots to approach shoes, it’s hard to find a more enjoyable mountain range in the United...
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,...
While sitting on the Kahiltna Glacier towards the end of May, I received a message on my InReach that read “Its full-on Summer in the Sierra.” After weeks of hauling sleds and digging cache holes, I was ready for a change of pace. Daydreams of...
Ah, the winter of feast or famine. What started off so promising, with a record breaking December snowpack, quickly turned to a mid winter where the headlines were major wind events and little snow. During January and February, we were able to ferret out snow that...
“Still Solid in LVC” I spent the last few days up in Lee Vining Canyon and enjoyed some surprisingly great conditions for ice climbing. With the warm temperatures down in the valleys it was hard to imagine the ice not falling down the mountain, but LVC...
“Getting into the Swing of Things” While we have been having some unseasonably warm weather lately here in the Eastern Sierra, without a single drop of precipitation in the month of January, the ice seems to be coming into its own. While the overall conditions are...
Lee Vining: Just had another really good weekend of ice climbing in Lee Vining Canyon with four stoked new ice climbers. This might have been the busiest weekend that I’ve ever seen out in LVC in the past several years”. The parking lot was completely full...
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...
As the days get shorter, the nights get colder, and the fall colors begin to show in the Eastern Sierra, we would like to look back over the past summer’s busy guiding season to highlight some of the memorable experiences we have had in the...
