California Climbing...

So my summer of climbing in California was a great one. This last season was my first real summer spent living in Tahoe, and it certainly did not disappoint. The weather was good, the climbing was amazing and work stayed busy. Pretty much everything you need to get by. Some of the highlights of the season included some great days guiding down at Lover's Leap, climbing down on the Eastside, and getting into a new hobby, mountain biking!

Tim Dobbins sending the crux pitch on The Red Dihedral on The Incredible Hulk

Tim and I headed in to climb the super classic Sierra route, The Red Dihedral on the Incredible Hulk in the second half of August. We had been down at Sanoma Pass where we were working with the Marines at the Mountain Warfare Training Center. We realized how close we were to the climb and decided it would really be ridiculous to drive all the way home without climbing something! So we camped out on the road the night before and cruised up to the Hulk in the morning. The climb did not dissappoint. It was beautiful climbing on unreal granite the whole way. It was sustained and amazing climbing. I can't wait to get back to do another route. When we got to the top I poked my head through the final tunnel pitch and heard my name. When I looked up I saw my buddy Jim already on the summit. It turns out there were three other parties up there from Tahoe! It is super fun to run into your friends in the mountains. It really reminded me how lucky I am to have motivated friends!

The boys on the W SW Ridge of Langley

For my last work trip of the summer I went down to Mt. Langley. Mt. Langley is the most southern 14er in the Sierras. We hiked up to the Cottonwood Lakes and made camp. This was a really amazing spot to camp, gorgeaous alpine lakes and mountains all around. We woke up and got an alpine start the next morning. The climb isn't particularly technical. It is more of a routefinding and scrambling type of climb, but the views are stunning the whole time. After climbing to the ridge we stayed on that all the way to the summit. We passed all the hikers coming up the other way on our way back down feeling hungry and satisfied! A great last trip in the Sierras for me!