Desert Pictures

My pal Forest Woodward just got around to finishing up some photos of the time we all spent at Indian Creek and Zion back in October. Here are a few of his best shots.

First Winter Ascent in the Stuart Range

Colchuck Balanced Rock (8,200') - The West Face route follows the sun/shade line.

Walking across the frozen lake

The West Face of Colchuck Balanced Rock was first climbed in 1980, and saw an FSFA (that's a first "second first" ascent) when Mark Twight and Mark Johnston reported their "New" route in the 1984 American Alpine Journal. They reported 12 pitches up to 5.10 and A2. This route is now considered among the region's premier climbs, free at 5.11+. It lies amid other fabled granite mountains such as Dragontail, Mt. Stuart, and Prusik Peak in the Central Cascades.

Trout Creek

Central Oregon's Trout Creek may soon be temporarily closed due to raptor nesting, so when I saw a forecast calling for sun and 40 degree highs last weekend, I headed down. I was joined by my lovely wife Allison on our three-day sports extravaganza.  On Friday we skied a tour of Skyline Ridge and Nason Creek, on Saturday we clipped bolts at Smith Rock State Park, and on Sunday we jammed and stemmed amazing splitters.

Getting Horizontal

How do you learn to hand-jam out a 20' roof?

Build one.

AAJ Routes

The folks who run the American Alpine Journal put this story of one of our new routes up on their site today:

I think this makes 6 consecutive American Alpine Journals that I've contributed stories and pictures to.

Training Tip - Save $$$, Climb More!

"You always bring the best snacks" garbled my partner, as his cold, chalk-covered fingers stuffed teriyaki jerky down his parched gullet. We'd just climbed Ariana on Colorado's Long's Peak, our puffy jackets stuffed with treats for the top of the Diamond. "But why do you bring so many little tidbits of different stuff?

Kelly licks his lips in preparation for free snacks.

I had a secret...

Published - Climbing Magazine

• My wife Allison lead the final pitch of the route 'Captain Beyond' and our friend Rob Kepley took some early-evening shots. One of them ended up here! I just got to go along for the ride and enjoy the stellar climbing, then write about the experience. Congrats to Rob on the great photos in the current (December 2011) issue of Climbing Magazine.

Goals

Leavenworth isn't the front range, and winter days aren't all 60 and sunny here. I'm glad to be here, but I'm going to have to change how I train and stay in shape. Writing down goals and having some metrics have been proven to help with this sort of endeavor.

Alpine Blissing

Early this summer, Allison, myself, and friend Scott Bennett organized a week-long "Alpine-Stravaganza" up in Rocky Mountain National Park. After 6 miles of beautiful hiking, we found ourselves in the Glacier Gorge cirque, surrounded by alpine rock climbs, elk, a huge array of food, perma-dry bivy caves, scrabble games, and a tug-of-war contest known as "hunker down". We did a little climbing as well, and Graham Zimmerman made a movie!

Fall Road Trip: Glacier Gorge

Fall Ticks and "Blake-ing"

The blue cord worked better than the pine needles and leaves I tried first.

Not washing my jacket has paid off once again!