Merriam Peak - Direct North Buttress

The North Buttress of Merriam Peak, John Muir Wilderness

Merriam Peak

13,103'

Direct North Buttress

IV, 5.10

June 23, 2012

Suffering from a severe case of early season restlessness, Jaime and I arranged for a three-day weekend of alpine rock and started to consider our options.  We could drive 7 hours to the North Cascades, which was threatened with mediocre weather, or we could stretch out the motorized approach and put in a solid 15 hours to the east side of the Sierras.  Folks around these parts are still skiing on a deep maritime snowpack, but with a lean snow year down south the alpine conditions in California were rumored to be excellent.  Crappy Cascades weather or California sun and golden granite?   

Lover's Leap

Lover's Leap

After a few days in the backcountry, we decided to spend the rest of the our week in the friendly confines of Lover's Leap near South Lake Tahoe.  With beautiful camping, impeccable rock and 4-600' routes, we could take the foot off the gas pedal a bit and still enjoy some fun, airy climbing.

The days were hot, but we still managed to climb - mostly in the morning and the evening with a brief siesta in between - the luxury of camping a mere minutes from the base of the wall.  I'll let the pictures do the rest of the talking.

Anniversary on the Moongoddess Arete

Moments of uncertainty - miles from the trailhead.  High up on a route with the mountain all to ourselves.  Casting about in loose, vertical terrain looking for the supposed 3rd-4th class ledges.  A striking alpine arete, towers of granite, wildness - the John Muir Wilderness.  What better way to celebrate our 7th Anniversary?  The Moongoddess Arete.  

Each year, by the end of the Spring, I start to daydream about long, alpine routes on granite peaks - remote objectives offering solitude, altitude, and vertical terrain.  I'll lie in bed, rifling through guidebooks looking for promising route descriptions.  Ideas get passed back and forth with friends.  Prior failures push back into my consciousness, tempting me with redemption.  Motivation.  Anticipation. 

Eastern Sierra Ski Junket

Torrential winter rains in the lowlands pay off with a deep spring snowpack in the mountains. I've been holed up with my head down for a few months, but I recently lucked out with a fantastic weekend of spring skiing in the Sierras.

I've been messing around with video recently, so instead of the usual photos I'll offer up this amateur hack job. You gotta start somewhere.


Easter Sierra Corn Fest from Chris Winter on Vimeo.
Amateur nostalgia from a memorable spring ski trip to the Eastern Sierras.

The Desert Diaries - Epinepherine to Big Sur

Epinepherine

After a great day skiing the Mt. Hood backcountry, I finally have the time and motivation to finish up the report on our month-long road trip through the desert southwest.  I’ve been home almost three weeks, and new memories of Cascade powder turns have started to push aside slightly older memories of sandstone walls.  Before the trip began, I knew in the back of my mind that we would be returning to Portland just as the ski season was ramping up, thinking that the anticipation of fresh snow might help my re-entry into the day-to-day.  Well, sure enough, it’s snow time!  So I better finish up the report on our trip so I can move on to colder and fluffier pursuits.

After six days at Indian Creek, we drove back to Moab to reload.  Our original plan was to head back to the Creek for two more days of climbing, but over breakfast at the Wake’N’Bake we pulled up a forecast, which called for cold, wet weather.  Vegas, on the other hand, looked sunny and warm.  Sin City here we come!

Blowin in the Wind in Joshua Tree

Mother Nature plays some cruel tricks in the desert. The fall rains held off a couple of extra weeks in the Pacific Northwest, but by the end of October they had finally rolled in, and Kristin and I were looking forward to some warm crack climbing during our upcoming trip to Joshua Tree. Each day we would pull up the weather report and each day we would see endless days of sunshine and highs in the 70s.

We flew into San Diego on Sunday evening and spent the night with our friends Keith and Beth, who provided us with camping gear for the rental car and a morning tour of Ocean Beach. Monday morning, we drove out to Jtree in the Ford Focus, pulling in to find the glorious weather we had dreamed of. We grabbed a site at Hidden Valley and pulled out the gear for a quick romp up the Eye.

From Joshua Tree

From Joshua Tree

From Joshua Tree

From Joshua Tree

From Joshua Tree

From Joshua Tree

The next morning, we woke up to wind - lots of wind. Not to be deterred, we headed out to Lost Horse and Bird on a Wire. Great climb! Cold as hell. We forced our way up the 300 ft of climbing in sustained 20-30 mph winds saved only by the fleeting warmth of the desert sun.

From Joshua Tree

From Joshua Tree

From Joshua Tree

That afternoon, the clouds moved in, and it blew like hell for the next three days. Gusts to 40, periodic clouds, highs in the mid-50s - brrrrr. We managed to climb a few pitches each day.

Wonderland of Rocks (Mental Physics and Room to Shroom)

From Joshua Tree

From Joshua Tree

Real Hidden Valley (Loose Lady and Illusion Dweller)

From Joshua Tree

From Joshua Tree

And despite the wind, we still enjoyed the scenery of JTree.

From Joshua Tree

From Joshua Tree

From Joshua Tree

From Joshua Tree

And when we left? Well, the hands tell the story. We still managed to get in some pitches.

From Joshua Tree

From Joshua Tree

Yeah, we wish the weather had cooperated a bit more, but you take what you get in the desert. JTree's a great place for a Fall escape, and it was kind of like alpine climbing without the mountains, commitment, approaches, descents and exposure.