Trip Reports

Jackie and I had planned a week of climbs in the Canadian Rockies. Among the various objectives we discussed, the Northwest Ridge of Mount Sir Donald in Glacier National Park stood out as the one we both wanted to climb the most. Originally, we intended to climb it over two days by bivying at the base. However, the plan became complicated due to summer rains. It was raining the evening before our scheduled climb, making it uncertain whether we could stick to our initial bivy plan. The idea of bringing a tent and additional rain gear as part of the bivy made the situation less appealing. Opting for a one-day climb seemed preferable, especially considering the 4000ft approach and the burden of carrying lots of gear. Consequently, we decided to find a spot in the campground at the trailhead near the top of Roger’s Pass. This site offered a welcome change from the typical camping I was accustomed to since leaving the Bugaboos the week before. The campground had amenities such as bathrooms, running water, and a picnic tables— far superior to a nondescript pullout. ...

July 22 — Hiked over to east camp to prepare for climbing the BC. We saw Alex Honnold and Tommy Caldwell hanging out at camp. Alex popped his head out of the tent to see who was walking into camp. When arriving someone on the film crew told us that a helicopter would be landing soon “in 20 minutes or 2 hours” they said. When the helicopter did land, they picked up some gear and dropped off others. That evening we climbed up to the base of the BC to stash the rope and other climbing gear so that the approach would go quicker in the morning. It was very nice to be able to suss out the approach because we would be doing it in the dark. We got quite lost on the way up and it ended up taking a whole hour to get up there. We took a scrambly route instead of a slabby route, which we found on the way down. Amazing lighting on a view of the whole route. We were super surprised at how long the approach from East Creek was and were super happy to have done it the day before. While at camp we had seen another party up on what we thought were the lower pitches of the route, but was just the approach. We ended up not getting back to camp until just after 9 pm or so. I tried to get to sleep right away but, I tossed and turned all night. Not getting much sleep before the 4:30 alarm that awaited. ...

Day 1: Biking: 15miles, +5000ft elevation, Skis: 11miles, +4300ft Sarah and I had finally set out on the high sierra route, a trip that had been years in the making. We’d hoped to do it the prior couple years, but between covid and low snow, the stars never aligned. With a monstrous snow year and lack of employment 2023 seemed like the year. Logistics seemed like the crux of the route, despite only being 50 miles apart driving trailhead to trailhead would take 6 hours, meaning a car shuttle would take 12 hours extra hours of driving. Shuttles were not really an option, and chartering a flight seemed extravagant. Lucky for us though our friends Kyle and Jazmine were planning a trip east to west along the same route. A key-swap was in store, they live just few minutes down the road from us, so exchanging cars back in town wouldn’t be an issue. ...

Sarah and I have been talking about doing the east buttress of Mount Whitney for a long time. In 2018 when we did the mountaineer’s route we saw all climbers topping out at the summit and scoffed at the idea of climbing so much technical terrain at 14000ft. None the less we had in the back of our minds and this past January when we were planning out some trips for the summer we decided it would a nice goal to try and climb the east buttress of mount Whitney two years later. We weren’t sure if we’d be ready yet, but it was going to be a good goal for the summer climbing season. ...

The Sugar bowl to Squaw valley tour is a classic tour in north lake tahoe. It takes you along a beatiful part of the sierra crest with sweeping views and solitude, despite staring and ending at two of the most popular ski resorts in the area. Sarah and I have had this tour on our bucket list for a couple years now. We had always thought that it would be a awesome hut trip in the winter or a good chance to practice some snow camping skills in the spring given that its over 10 miles of rolling terrain. Given the lack of fresh snow in Feburary 2020, we were looking for an adventure that would be fun even with less than stellar conditions, so we set our sights on making the long traverse in one day. ...

Middle Cathedral Rock I met up with my partner at 6:30 at the pullout where the approach starts. We had only climbed together one time before but had a smooth time going up nutcracker the previous October. I had packed all the gear the night before but we grabbed his rope and headed up the approach trail. We got there as one party was just starting and another party at the base, not too bad for a weekend of perfect weather on the mega-classic that the EB of middle cathedral is. ...

Sarah and I met up with Andrea in the parking lot of the Home Depot in Pleasanton as usual. We chose to get some garlic noodles but he made the wiser choice with Chick-fil-A. Well fed we headed off to Tioga pass. We didn’t end up pulling up to Saddlebag lake road until around midnight. So we pulled out the sleeping pads and slept in the back of the Volvo. The next morning we woke up while it was still dark, ate a couple bars, chugged some cold coffee, and started the hike through the campground. Almost immediately we could see the sun hitting ridge we’d have to reach to get over to the west side of Mount Conness. ...