Prusik Peak - Solid Gold

Weeks and weeks of crappy weather delayed the start of the alpine climbing season this year. I waited patiently for much of that time, hanging out at the crags, in the gym, at the bar, on my bike, hoping for a stable weather window and some dry rock in the high country. Earlier this month, a weekend of lowland rock climbing in Squamish was again thwarted by mother nature. We retreated to Tieton on the east side of the Cascade crest and promptly got dowsed by yet another rain storm. I climbed in a downpour in Hells Canyon. I greased my way up wet basalt at the Ozone. My patience was wearing thin.

A high pressure system finally started to move on shore over the past week, and the stars looked like they might align. Nate scored a hard-to-come by permit for the Enchantments and was looking for a couple of tag alongs. The moon was going to be full. All I needed was an objective and a partner.

The permit was for the Snow Lakes region, home to the fabled Prusik Peak. Here's a shot from a 2006 trip to the area.

Hells Canyon Trip Report ... sssshhh ... don't tell anyone.

In 2000, just as I was learning how to climb, I took a backpacking trip to Hells Canyon with Kristin and my friends Eli and Jason. Jason had just moved to Portland from New York state, and Eli flew in from New York City for a visit. I had lived in Portland for only a little more than a year. We drove in from the Oregon side, up and over endless steep hills of sagebrush and eventually down into the canyon and the banks of the Snake River. That trip left a strong impression on us west coast newbies, surrounded by what felt at the time like a frontier wilderness. I recently dug out some old photos, and we look like tiny little creatures in a vast foreign landscape. At the time we felt the same way and couldn't believe we had stumbled upon such a little talked about natural wonder.

From Hells Canyon 2010

Mushrooms, Cracks and Bolts

Skipping out early on Friday afternoon, Kristin and I picked up Moira and headed east on I84 towards Leavenworth looking forward to a couple of days of climbing. This was our first trip of the year to Der Bavarian Crackville, and we were definitely feeling the anticipation of climbing on granite for the first time in several months.

We woke up on Saturday morning at about 5 am and left for Snow Creek Wall. Kristin had never climbed Outer Space, so that was the main objective for the weekend. The last time we hung out with Doug and Moira, we tried the same route and got a late start, getting stuck behind several slow parties at Two Tree Ledge. After rapping off, we started up Champagne, only to get lost high up on the wall wondering where the hell the route went. That led to a late night of rappelling in the dark, which we were hoping to avoid this time around.

The early start helped, and we were racking up around 8-ish.
Snow Creek Wall was looking good on the hike in.

From Leavenworth May 2010

Tieton Temptations

I was lucky enough to spend my weekend in the lovely Tieton River valley with Nate, Stephanie and Melanie. The flowers are just starting to bloom as spring creeps up from the shrub steppe into the forest. We spent Saturday at The Bend, shivering through a cool morning and then basking in the afternoon light. We climbed several of the cracks on the West Side, including Salmon Song, Treatment Bound, Sugar Kicks and Ambient Domain.

The highlight was definitely shooting Stephanie on lead on Hallowed Ground, 5.9.

From Tieton - April 2010

El Potero Chico TR

Its been a few weeks since Kristin and I returned from El Potrero Chico, and hardly an hour has gone by that I haven't thought back on this amazing trip. Two-thousand foot walls of limestone, 700 routes, 15-minute approaches, $8 bottles of tequila, $5 camping, and $1 36-ounce beers. The numbers all add up!

From El Potrero Chico

Trout Creek

I spent a day out at Trout Creek last weekend. The light never really cooperated because of some haze. I got a couple of decent shots, but the colors of the stone set against the sky don't really pop like they usually do up there during the late afternoon. I love this place but the next day I always feel like I got spit out of a meatgrinder.

We're off the Potrero Chico tonight! Sun, bolts and limestone.

From Trout Creek

Testing MapMyRide.com

I just discovered mapmyride.com, which is an on-line mapping tool that tracks your bike rides. Let's see how it works. Here's the ride I took this afternoon: