If it's not snowing, go climbing...The Eastern Sierra in December

Well, here we are again in the middle of December with a snow pack you can count in centimeters...but why complain?  When the weather's not cooperating a simple shift of focus makes lemons into lemonade.  So while it hasn't been snowing, I took advantage of the little bit of snow that has fallen this year and the cold temps to do what might can't be done often with big snow loads: climb some ice!

A few friends from the Eastern Sierra called and said that the ice in Parker Canyon was in!  This is usually a flow that gets buried within the first heavy snow of the season, but due to the high and dry conditions the blue mass of ice was visible from miles away.

Parker Lake - frozen solid..mostly.

Thomas Greene charging towards the blue stuff.

Viren Perumal reaching for a screw while leading Parker Falls Left.

Lyra Pierotti, of California Alpine Guides, swims in a sea of ice.

Getting ready to climb and trying not to freeze!  Cold for California!

I talk, Thomas belays, and Viren leads.

Viren sending the first bulge.

Me following the falls.

Me soling a serac that had snapped off the pocket glacier above.

Smith Rock ~ dreams of welded tuff

After being told about the horrors of rock quality at Smith Rock, I first thought it might be a gross exaggeration to even call it rock.  The rock in the main part of the park is commonly referred to as "welded tuff" which doesn't exactly conjure thoughts of beautiful rock suited for climbing.  From wikipedia, Tuff (from the Italian tufo) is a type of rock consisting of consolidated volcanic ash ejected from vents during a volcanic eruption... sounds like great climbing to me...

When I arrived on Halloween day this year not only was I completely blown away by the beauty of the park, but the climbing was fantastic.  Don't get me wrong, it took a little getting used to the sometimes crumbly, sometimes knobby, sometimes dirty cliffs of Smith Rock, but the climbing is as advertised: world class.  Thin, balancy, technical, thuggy, and crimpy are all adjectives that describe the classic climbs at Smith.   And that's exactly why it's so much fun!  Here are a few pics from my trip:

The Crooked River curves by the Monkey's Face and the Smith Rocks Group.

Cattle and horses graze in the pastures on Smith's outskirts. 

Topping out on Wherever I May Roam, 5 pitches of 5.9 sport climbing.

The glassy Crooked River reflects Shiprock on the east side of the park.

Smith's dramatic skyline at Sunset.  The Smith Rock Group, Asterisk Pass and Shiprock loom above the glitter of the Crooked River.

The Asterisk presides over a beautiful Oregon sunset.

An old farm in Terrebonne with an amazing view of the Sisters.

Dustin Hardgrove leading a crack in the Dihedrals area.

Looking down from the first pitch of Wherever I May Roam.

Molly Moonbeam leading an interesting crack.

Climbing the Desert: Red Rocks 2011

If you've never climbed at Red Rocks turn off your computer.  Pack your climbing gear.  Get in your car and start driving to the amazing sandstone cliffs just outside of Las Vegas, Nevada.  The place has everything from hard single pitch sport to 2,000' multi-pitch trad marathons.  And that is where this venue really shines, it is a trad climbers mecca.  Here are a few pics from my last trip with RMI guide Thomas Greene.

The deceptive scale downplays the size of the features at Red Rocks.  This frame is probably about 2,000'. 

Red sandstone meets white.

Thomas Greene scrambles to the top of a rock feature in Calico I.

The start of Frogland, one of my favorite climbs at Red Rocks. 

Topping out on Frogland.

Gear hanging from my harness as I belay Thomas up the 9 pitch route, Crimson Chrysalis. 

Another small belay ledge a few hundred feet up on Crimson Chrysalis. 

Thomas cranking varnish on the 8th pitch of Chrysalis.

Denali...Mount McKinley...The Great One

Well a busy, stormy season on Mount Rainier was cause for delay in posting some pictures from my Denali trip this summer.  Here are a few to catch up a bit:

RMI guides Jeff Schellens and Lindsay Mann take off on their vintage Murray Talkeetna cruiser.

 Landing on the Kahiltna Glacier at 7600'.  Mount Crossen in the background.

Mount Hunter oversees the happenings of Kahiltna Base Camp.

 Below an avalanche sweeps down Mount Hunter:

 Lenticulars build on the peak of Mt McKinley as our team crosses the Kahiltna Glacier.

Our team spreads out as we round Windy Corner on the way to 14 Camp.

Lindsay prepares to lead her team over a monster crevasse at about 14,000'.

Mount Foraker looms high above the Kahiltna Glacier.

Ascending the fixed lines above 14 camp.

 The Great One from the North East Fork of the Kahiltna.

Spencer Guinn, Dave Hahn and Zeb Blais prepare to head back to terra firma with K2 Aviation.

Ellery Bowl - north aspects still skiing well...

The latest Eastern Sierra mission, Tuesday 4/12/2011, yielded a super fun day of skiing variable snow, with northern aspects still clinging to their winter conditions.  We skinned up Lee Vining Creek and got up to Ellery Bowl to find some interesting winter snow.  It was a bit wind affected and slabby near the top of the bowl (11,400'), but softer, less punchy snow was available in patches in the trough of the bowl.  Due to our somewhat late timing, Western aspects that had gone through a few melt-freeze cycles were melted and skiing well.  Descending into the canyon  revealed that the heat of the day had turned what had been almost blue ice in the morning to a fast, fun gliding surface. 

Some bushwacking...

A bit of scrambling...

 Some bootpacking...

 And Mount Dana greets us at the top!

Roscoe rips some pow turns.

Molly and Roscoe stop on one of the softer patches.

Skin tracks and turns down the low angle trough of the bowl.

East Peak - The End of the Dana Plateau.

 With another storm looming, Doug and I were hoping to sneak in an ascent of the Dana Plateau and get a view before making the series of icy survival turns back to Lee Vining Canyon.  We made it in time to get a taste of some serious wind, and got out before things got ugly.  The pics and the video were taken April 6th.

Here's Doug climbing the last pitch of East Peak before getting onto the Dana Plateau.

 A west wind rips snow off the Dana Plateau onto the eastern flanks of East Peak.

This video to gives a good idea of what the conditions were like on top of the plateau:

Zeb Blais at the top of East Peak.  The North Face of Mount Gibbs is illuminated in the background.