Squamish!

I've been in Squamish for a week now. Here's the breakdown.

Day 1
Get on two of my projects; Crime of the Century 5.11c and Baba Hari Daas V7. Turns out it wasn't my day and I didn't send either of them.

Baba Hari Daas

Day 2
Boulder in the morning and then climb Peasants Route 5.10c 6 pitches. The book gave it 5 stars and it deserves every one. Excellent climb. Unfortunately, we forgot the camera so we don't have any pictures.

Day 3
Rest and swim at a lake in the Squamish area

Day 4
Climb Birds of Prey on the Squaw 5.10b 6 pitches. We were on route for the first four pitches and then took a 5.10 variation in a cool dihedral for the last couple pitches.

The second pitch of Birds of Prey
The dihedral up top

Day 5
Sport climb at Chek Canyon with Josh's fiance Krista . We got on a bunch of climbs for Krista as well as a handful of 5.10's and 11's. I didn't really like the place that much the first time I went there, but now I'm a new man. I really enjoyed the climbing. I'll definitely be back.

Krista on a 10c

Day 6
Back to the lake for more swimming and rope swing action.

Josh getting some hang time
Krista celebrating b/c we found a small rope swing

Day 7
Climb the Grand Wall 5.11a 10 pitches into Black Dyke 5.10b 4 pitches. This was one of the coolest climbs I've ever done. It follows incredible features right up the middle of the face. Several classic pitches are on this climb including the split pillar, the sword and perrys lieback. After seeing posters of these it was really rewarding to finally be able to climb them. I was able to onsight all the pitches except for the two 11a's. This isn't too bad considering that 11 of 14 pitches are 5.10 or harder and I still went for it and took some decent whippers on those two pitches.

The Grand Wall is on the left and goes to the top and Peasants route is on the right

The first pitch on the grand wall
The 2nd pitch
The split pillar
Josh pulling through the crux on the Sword
Perry's Lieback
The ledge we had to crawl accross when we were done
Josh enjoying the view from the top

We've had a great time in Squamish, but we are ready for the Bugaboos. The forcast is for sunny skies so we are heading there for the next week or so to get on some classic climbs in the alpine. Check back in about a week for an update.

Back on the road!

It's official. I am back on the road. I'm going to be traveling for an an undetermined amount of time with Josh. While I was back in Washington a lot happened. I climbed a bunch in the Seattle area, went on a week long surf trip and met an amazing girl that I am now dating. It's weird how things work out.

Right now we are traveling in my 1993 Subaru Loyale that has 280,000 miles. I loved the RV, but there was no point in keeping it if there was only going to be two of us. It worked out alright though, we did sell the thing for $500 dollars more than we bought it for.

Currently we are in Squamish climbing routes and bouldering. Check back in a few days for a full report with pics.

The Pickets

Miles and I just spent four days in the Southern Pickets. Here's the breakdown by day.

Day 1
Do the 500o something foot approach via Goodell creek in nine hours and pass out.

Miles on the approach
We went up W. McMillan on the first day and then up the left side of Inspiration and down the right on our second day.

Day 2

Climb the West Ridge of West McMillan Spire. The climbing wasn't technical, but it was still fun to spend some time in crampons and climb up some steep snow. After a short nap on the summit we made it back to camp by mid-day and spent the rest of the day lounging around camp on the rocks.

Miles enjoying the snow on W. McMillan
Getting to the top of the snow section
Scrambling to the summit

Lounging around camp

Day 3

Climb the West Ridge of Inspiration Peak and descend down the East Ridge. The climb up the W. Ridge went off without a hitch, but the descent down the E. Ridge was much more of an ordeal than we anticipated. Our climbing Bible said that we should descend down the E. Ridge and I assumed that there would be rap anchors all over the place, but that wasn't the case. We ended up having to leave stuff for four anchors and doing a bunch of sketchy down climbing to get to the glacier. All in all it took us 14.5 hours to do the climb, despite the fact that we reached the summit in only 5 hours.

The Terror glacier
Gaining the gully on Inspiration
Part way up inspiration with Terror glacier in the background
Traversing across the summit ridge
Down climbing the East Ridge
Making the final rappel onto the glacier
Looking back up what we rappelled and downclimbed

Day 4

Hike out in significantly less time than it took to go in.

As always check out Miles website for some of his pics.

Back to Washington

A lot has happened since my last post. I'll try to keep it short and let the pictures do the talking. First we left Joe's Valley to go climb in the La Sal mountains of Utah. We climbed there for a day before moving on to Moab. Once in Moab we climbed the North Face of Castleton Tower 5.11a. After Castleton we went to a local swimming hole and did some cliff jumping and slacklining over the water. From here we decided to head back to Washington to see friends and family and do some climbing around home. This involved a stop by Arches National Park and then 28hrs. straight of driving with a stop in Yellowstone to see the Geyser go off. Now that I'm back in Washington I spent a day aid soloing City Park in Index and just got back from four days in the Picket Range with Miles, that will be in the next post.

The first pitch on the North Face of Castleton

The route goes up the crack in the middle of the face

Josh slacklining over the water. He and Miles made it half way, I took two steps and jumped off (super scary)
Delicate Arch
Sunset in Arches National Park
The Tetons
Old Faithful in Yellowstone
City Park
Looking down City Park

It's sending time!

The last three days have been amazing. We have done a ton of climbing with a bunch of incredible people. I have sent the three hardest boulders of my life; Pocket Rocket V6, Chips V7 and Team Effort V8. It feels great to brake into new levels of difficulty that have seemed so distant for so long. The best part is that not only did I send all of these problems, Miles did as well. I think all the climbing we've been doing for the last three months is finally paying off. Here are some pictures courtesy of Miles.

Sticking the dyno on Pocket Rocket V6
Topping out
Sam sticking the dyno on Chips V7
Chips
Chips
Contact v5
Big Joe V7
Team Effort V8
The view

Back to Utah

The original plan was to stay in the valley for another week or so and then climb Mt. Whitney. The only problem was that the weather sucked and I had no intention of getting struck by lightning again. After discussing it for a little bit Miles and I decided to head to Utah where we would be meeting Josh on the 16th.

We spent the next day driving from Yosemite to Joe's Valley in Utah and pulled in at 11 at night after 14hours of driving. The next morning we met up with Josh and Jana, it was their off week, and we did some climbing in the morning. Shortly afterward we packed up Jana's truck and took off for Escalante in southern Utah to go play around in some canyons.

Once in Escalante we decided to do Neon Canyon. The book said there would be swimming, rappelling and tight spots. It sounded great. We ended up having an amazing day and weren't disappointed. There were several long swims, made interesting by having a heavy rope strapped to my back. As well as an amazing final rappel into Golden Cathedral. After spending some time warming up finished the hike and made it back to camp. All in all a great day. Unfortunately, I don't have any of my pictures because I left my camera in Jana's truck. Oops.

A picture I found on the internet of someone rappelling into Golden Cathedral.

The next two days we spent exploring Escalante. The first day we drove to hole in the rock, which is 60 miles down a gravel road. By the time we finally made it we were all irritated and in a bad mood after bouncing around for three hours on the road from hell. It was only made better by the fact that we were able to swim in lake Powell. Warm water for once. It made up for the drive, but not entirely. The next day we checked out a petrified wood forest and made the drive back to Joe's Valley.

Miles and I have spent the last two days climbing in Joe's Valley. I wish that I could report a sweet send, but I can't. We've just been working harder lines, atleast for us, and climbing with an awesome couple that we met; Ryan and Kelsey. I think that we are going to hang out here for the next six days until Josh gets off work and then we'll be off to Wyoming. I can't wait to spend some time there. Everyone that I've met from Wyoming loves it. It should be good. Stay tuned.

My first El Cap route

I just finished my first route up El Cap. I climbed the Shield (VI 5.9 C4F or A3) with a guy named Charlie that I met in Camp 4. We did the climb over six days and got stormed on, took whippers, ran out of food and got struck by lightning. Here's the breakdown.

Day 1: Haul our bags up to Mammoth Terraces (pitch 10), our high point when we climbed the freeblast a few days earlier. From here we fixed a pitch and called it a day.

Our route up El Cap
Jugging up the first pitch with all of El Cap above

Charlie high up on the first day

Day 2: Jug the fixed line and lead three more pitches (11-14). From here we were originally planning on climbing Sunkist A4, but decided that we were way too slow and that we'd be better off going for something a little easier. The Shield seemed like the perfect alternative and we decided that we would start up that the next morning.

Our bivy

Day 3: Climbed three pitches (15-17) and camped below the Shield roof. I placed my first pitons and slept in a portaledge in the middle of a vertical face for the first time.

Looking down pitch 15

Pitch 16 with the next pitch going out left

Pitch 17. My first nailing lead
The view from our portaledge

Day 4: Charlie led the pitch over the roof and gained the headwall (P18). From here I led an awesome pitch at the begining of the headwall and then Charlie led the technical crux of the climb, the groove (P19-20). We camped at the base of the triple cracks. The most exposed and amazing place I've ever been. There was almost 2000ft. of air below our portaledge. Incredible.

Charlie leading out the roof
Charlie above the roof. Photo by Tom Evans
Charlie giving me a belay after the roof. I gained the headwall on this pitch
This pic is at the same spot as the one above just from the Valley. Photo by Tom
A little higher up on the same pitch. Photo by Tom
Charlie leading the groove
Another view of the groove

Day 5: I led the triple cracks and pretty much nailed my way up the entire thing (P21). We led three more pitches and finally broke away from the headwall after a couple days (P22-24). After all the climbing we ended up on chickenhead ledge. It was great to finally have a ledge after several days without. Everything is easier when you can walk around.

Charlie giving me a belay on the triple cracks

You can barely see the triple cracks above

Me on the triple cracks. Photo by Tom
A little higher. Photo by Tom
The view from the top of the triple cracks pitch
Charlie on pitch 12
Higher u p on pitch 12
Looking down pitch 13, this was the last that we saw of the headwall
Our bivy on chickenhead ledge

Day 6: Our plan for this day was to climb the last six pitches (P25-30) and top out no matter how long it took. We started the day by finishing all of our breakfast food and dividing up the rest of our bars, 2 a piece at 120 calories a piece, not enough. From here we took off for the top. Charlie led the first pitch without incident. I led the next pitch and took my first aid fall, a solid 20 footer. When I started climbing again I noticed that bad weather was on the way, just like it had been every day between 11 and 4. The only difference is that every other day it only got windy and a little rainy. This time mother nature was not going to be so kind. Within a few minutes I was completely engulfed in a watercourse high up on El Cap. It actually felt like I was in a waterfall. I was just standing there with no where to go when all of a sudden I saw a bright light and got instantaneously shocked to hell. At first I couldn't believe it. I got shocked by lightning. It wasn't a direct hit. The lightning hit the top of El Cap and traveled down the water to me. I stood there in the waterfall tingling all over for around ten minutes waiting for it to finally calm down. When it did I called down to Charlie and asked if he was OK. He said that he was, but that he had been shocked by lightning. I quickly fixed the line now that I could move and rappeled down to Charlie where he told me that the blast threw him on his back and he blacked out. We just stood there tingling for around an hour in disbelief as to what had just happened. At this point we had to make a decision. Do we stay here and climb another day without food or do we go for the top and hope that the weather doesn't come back. Within an hour most of the big clouds over El Cap had dissipated and we decided to go for it and make it to the top. We quickly ascended the fixed line and started up the rest of the climb. Charlie led the first pitch after the storm and took a 30 foot fall, as if being struck by lighting wasn't enough. Once he finished up the pitch. We climbed one more aid pitch and then two 5.7 pitches and finally topped at 12PM after 6 full days on the wall. We celebrated by eating the last of our food, a bagel a piece, and making a fire to dry all our wet clothes.

Pitch 15

Charlie looking spooked after getting struck by lightning
Charlie about to take a 30 footer
Charlie on pitch 18 at sunset

Day 7: We slept in till around 9 and hiked back to the Valley arriving around two in the afternoon. The first thing that we did when we got to the Valley was go to the store and buy everything that we needed for a massive salad and a six pack. We spent the next several hours eating our first meal of the day. enjoying our beers and telling stories with a couple other climbing bums that we met. The perfect way to end my first big wall.

Charlie looking a little skinnier than when we started

Rappelling the E. ledges on the descent

Back in the Valley after the send. Photo by Tom

From here I think that Miles and I are going to spend another week or so in the Valley before heading down south to climb Mt. Whitney. Stay tuned.