6/12: Mt Whitney via Hairline

This trip would be my first alpine excursion with Riley. We’d been climbing a lot together at home, both in the form of simulclimbing linkups around Smith and Cougar along with some harder cragging. Together we’d been eyeing the North Ridge of Stuart for this trip, but decided against the snow and glacier travel that

3/20-22: Spaceshot & Lunar X Solo!

Not really wanting to give up potential sends in the alpine, but also wanting a break from being cold and from long approaches, Sarah convinced me to make the (now-yearly) Spring Break trip to Zion. Last year we’d found the park empty, right before they closed for Covid… this year the throng of tourists provided

4/12: Middle Sister, NE Face Direct

The Northeast Face Direct, as shown in the invaluable guidebook, Oregon High, is a line that has long eluded me. Skinning up the Hayden Glacier, as so many have done, it’s impossible to not notice this 200ft ice (and often mixed) step leading to a huge couloir above. I’d headed up there twice with the

Yearly Shasta Pilgrimage

Mt Shasta via Hotlum-Bolam Ridge, IV 4th Mod. Snow, 28 February 2021 February has been by and large a snowy and windy month in our local mountains. I considered taking various trips, but ended up sticking around at home to minimize my carbon footprint (the PC reason) and to take care of adult life’s BS

Riding the Dragon’s Tail

Dragontail Peak via Backbone Ridge, 2000ft, 5.9, 31 July 2020 I am not gonna lie. It has been a bit tough of a summer.  Between finishing college and trying to figure out what initial brushstrokes to paint on this new blank canvas, the uncertainty of the Covid world, the rampant political unrest, amongst various other

Conness Pilgrimage

Mt Conness via West Ridge, 1500ft, 5.6, 23 June 2020 Two summers ago, I had a life-altering accident on Mt Conness, stepping on a refrigerator sized block of granite that shifted, fell, pinned my right leg above the knee and eventually ended in its amputation. I was alone, threw my backpack off, out of reach,