Life in the Vertical

[...] hard all day long, making an excellent window of opportunity to get out and tour in the High Sierra.  My good friend and partner in crime Geoff Schellens is in town to do some ice climbing [...]

 It is now the middle of July, and the summer guiding season is in full swing.  Really, it has felt pretty full on since May, and doesn't seem like [...]

[...] Needles are an incredible place to climb- with a rich history and a very unique energy.  The classic climbs such as Igor Unchained, Airy Interlude and White Punks on Dope are known the world over for [...]

[...] is not just an exaggeration either; Traveler's Buttress is listed in Steck and Roper's 50 Classic Climbs of North America. With Ivo I got to enjoy such classics as the Line, Haystack, Traveler's [...]

[...] program for the Navy SEALS, and by the last day they were swapping leads up some of the classic climbs in the area looking like they had been doing it for years! Neil takes the lead up Crystal [...]

[...] weeks ago I got to guide a really cool trip for SMC- the West Couloir to the South Ridge of Crystal Crag.  I climbed with Alex Caillat, who I have done a bunch of stuff with over the past year ( [...]

[...] Sarah came up for an advanced rock and mountain skills camp. Here Alex takes the sharp end on Crystal Crag's North Arete After Alex and Sarah took off it was time to shift gears to begin a 5 day Lead [...]

[...] together again through the steep snow weaving through the final gully towards the ridge, the snow pack became thinner and the rock walls offered less opportunity for protection.  We continued our [...]

[...] to be unsettled and wet.  Just how wet is yet to be seen, but this could be just the thing our snow pack needs to get us skiing all the way through May, although rock climbing is shorts was kind of [...]

[...] good enough to hang around, and so without a partner I returned to Bariloche to climb some warm weather rock routes with my friend Matteo. It is a little frustrating to have come so far with the hope [...]

[...] Ski tour from Mammoth over to Yosemite Valley, but we are making contingency plans of warm weather rock climbing if the weather looks to questionable to ski into the backcountry for 7 or 8 [...]

[...] projects since coming home from Patagonia.  The main has been the remodel of the Four Wheel Camper which I bought the week before leaving, and which I gutted and rebuilt from scratch.   [...]

[...] the summer season in the alpine to the red rock of the Desert Southwest.  With the Four Wheel Camper installed and packed with all sorts of gear, we drove off into the desert.  Our first [...]

[...] to do some ice climbing and ski touring, and we decided that a trip up and over Paiute Pass, Alpine Col and Lamarck Col would make a great trip with some amazing scenery, especially for Geoff who has [...]

[...] the time! Jackson signed up for one of our Palisades Extended Mountain Camps, in which we cover rock skills, anchor building, ascend a rock route and then head up to the glacier to do snow skills and [...]

[...] Mountaineering!" Victoria and Al signed up for a 4 day trip that would encompass snow and rock skills, and an overnight, culminating climb in the high mountains.  Both experienced hikers, they [...]

[...] once I got the rope up there. After we hit the ridge the climbing became much more like the classic Sierra 4th class ridges we all love, and we hung out on the summit for a bit before picking our way [...]