The Wind River Range

 The past year I've been living in the climber's paradise known as Baltimore, MD. We have an endless supply of plastic on which to pull, including a steep indoor lead cave which ( I find hilariously ironic) is often overrun w/ stronger than me young folks all rocking Miguel's t-shirts in the gym. My move from Joshua Tree back to the east coast has proven difficult from a climbing perspective, but I've able to keep my mind on other things partially because I've recovering from a torn MCL/ACL (and subsequent knee surgery) earned after David W. took the whip on an R/X climb and decked onto his human crashpad (me).

After 4 months of physical therapy I was cleared to start climbing in the gym, and I soon began dreaming of getting out to do a big trip somewhere out west. I hadn't been in the alpine since an ascent of the Sun Ribbon Arete (High Sierra) last summer and as my body healed I started missing the feeling of altitude stressing the lungs, alpenglow, the committment of starting up a big route despite the possibility of bad weather....basically all the things that lead me to consider time spent w/ good friends on alpine rock climbs as, if not the quentessential climbing experience,  certainly the one that I value most.

I have always wanted to climb in the Wind River Range, and a quick call to Brad Stapperfenne sealed the deal as we'd been tentatively planning a trip there since we were in the Tetons back in 2009. I flew in to Rapid City just in time to catch a few beers w/ Trew and to hear his first-hand account of climbing in the needles and the tower. The morning after my flight, Brad and I made the 8 hour drive to Lander and got set to get up early and mission out to the Big Sandy Opening trailhead, a mere 40 miles down a dirt road in some of the prettiest country I've seen anywhere.

The drive out to Big Sandy was amazing and really contributed to a feeling that we were going to be climbing pretty far out in no man's land...at least until we hit the parking area and saw the 40 other cars proving that we weren't the only folks to think that the Winds on the fourth of July weekend were a great idea.

Our initial plan was to hike in to the cirque of the tower and climb the NE Face of Pingora (5.8, 1500ish feet, one of the 50 classics) as a warm up for some harder routes in the Deep Lake area of the Winds. About 7 miles (10,000ish feet of elevation in) I was quickly realizing that the combination of sea-level living and  a year off after knee surgery wasn't doing me any favors. The hike was kicking my ass way more than it should've given how mild it is for most of the trek again. Needless to say we eventually made our way over Jackass pass and in to the Cirque where we were treated to amazing views

If you haven't laid eyes on the Cirque then I suggest you make plans to go there soon , as it's a beautiful place to climb, hike, fish, or just laze around. As I mentioned, our initial plan was to climb Pingora and then head to deep lake as we didn't think there was much more in the cirque that would pique our interest. As soon as I laid eyes on Warbonnet, Warriors I and II, etc. I realized the folly of trying to make snap judgements on such an amazing landscape.. There are enough peaks to keep everyone from the casual peakbagger to the alpine hardman busy in that place for decades. ( On that note, I want to get back out there to climb Black Elk, a sweet 5.11 but I'm too weak handle a 5.11 wide crack crux pitch at altitude...any rope guns who are interested should let me know and I'll gladly head back next season.)

The days that followed our hike in were nothing short of spectacular...Our second day in the winds was spent fly fishing and waiting out horrible looking weather, since we had no desire to climb in the rain and hail (little did we know...) A special thanks to Grimbo for teaching Brad some basic casts that resulted in us catching 5 fish on our first day of attempting to do so. The alpine Gods ended up playing a little trick on us when the day, which started out ominous and terrible, ended up being the nicest of the week. Nonetheless we were able to get some much needed rest before heading out to climb the NE Face the following morning.

An alpine start always sounds a lot more enjoyable than it actually is, but I much prefer getting up and at it early to being on a long route in the afternoon when thunderstorms and bad weather are more likely to move in. The weather in the cirque is notoriously rainy and unpredictable, and the sense of commitment is intensified by the fact that most storms in the area come from the SW and are impossible to see from the route we were climbing until they are upon you. 

       We found the start to the route rather easily, and set off on pitch after pitch of super enjoyable slabby 5.8ish cracks that we tended to stretch out to the maximum extent that our 70m ropes would allow. The rock was somewhat reminiscent of the better stone in J-Tree as it was very course (primo friction) and, as I mentioned, the cracks tended to be more slabby than steep. The first pitch offered a nice wake-up to the follower who was forced (not by any fault of the leader) to down climb 20 feet of easy, but featureless, slab (think 5.8 stone mountain) just before arriving at the first belay. A fall here would be shitty, sending you feet first into a nasty ledge system, but it was an appropriate entrance exam of sorts as it prepped us for the footwork-intensive climbing that was to follow. We led the route in blocks, and were climbing super fast and enjoying perfect weather...until the end of the 6th pitch when I noticed the first of a series of super ominous clouds coming (surprise) from behind the route we were on.

(Now,  I'm sure a lot of climbers would've thought, "Eh, no big deal just a few clouds on a bluebird day" but Brad and I have a terribly history of shit weather on most of the alpine climbs we've done in the past. That first dark cloud brought me back to the third pillar of Dana back in 2009, where I brought brad up the final 5.10 pitch fearing for my life as every piece of metal on my body buzzed with static electricity and the lanyards on our packs floated in midair as if possessed,  owing to the highly-charged air on the front of the thunderstorm that was on its way to kicking our asses. )

The feeling of dread intensified as the first of the thunder began rolling in and light rain began to pelt us. We made the decision to continue climbing as long as possible as we knew we only had about 400' of technical climbing left and bailing would've been a pain in the ass. I set off on my last block with a rain jacket on and proceeded to climb the next two pitches in rain, hail, and thunder, with none of the carefree feelings I had experiencing earlier on the route. The climbing would've been super fun on these pitches as the rock got quite a bit steeper, but a slip on wet rock (caught myself of a hand jam, mangled the hand a bit) and the threat of lightning made it more difficult. We ultimately made it to the last of the technical pitches when, thanks be to God, the weather started to clear. Brad led the final pitch to the summit as the sun came back out, and we hit the top of the route with smiles on our faces...until we realized that we had climbed some stupid variation to the usual finish and had to rap back down to a ledge ( Cost= 1 stopper and a 48" dyneema sling) and scramble to get to the true summit.

That's the meat of the story. The side trip to deep lake never happened, and we decided to leave the alpine early and climb in the needles/spearfish canyon.  All told it was a fantastic trip that got me all kinds of psyched for similar trips in the future.

Sun Ribbon Arete

Well, I just had one of the best adventures of my life. I'll let this video tell most of the story but here's a VERY brief synopsis:

• Drove up to the eastern Sierra to climb a route on temple crag
• Spent Thursday eve camping at 10,000' near Mt. Whitney to get used to the elevation
• Grabbed a bear box and permit Friday morning and hiked into the north fork of Big Pine. I belive it was roughly 5 miles to the second lake where we camped
• Spent Saturday hiking up talus/steep snow to contact pass. BEAUTIFUL
• Woke up at 4 a.m. on Sunday to climb Sun Ribbon Arete
• Approach took almost two hours of hiking talus, then snow, then chopping steps up VERY steep slippery snow for a few hundred feet to access the ledge at the base of the route
• Climbed some 5.7 pitches and about 300' of 4th class garbage
• Tyrolean traverse across a 20' gap, tons more easy ridge cilmbing with some spicy sections of very loose rock, then the 5.9+/5.10a crux pitch: Wide hand jams to a thin (hard 5.9) traverse
• A ton more climbing up, down, and around various gendarmes. A few rappels, tons of loose rock, and before we knew it it was getting dark
• Forced bivy on a small ledge a few pitches from the top because we took our sweet time not expecting the last half of the route to be so long,tricky, and sketchy owing to all the loose rock
• Woke up at first light and got moving after a breakfast of champions (a packet of tuna...hadn't had any water for a LONG time, and wasn't going to either so the fish juice was a surprisingly welcome treat)
• A few more pitches of easy 5th class and some downclimbing followed by 4th class crap to the top of the route
• Skipped going to Temple Crag's real summit, as we had no desire to climb anymore loose sketchiness and wanted to get down and eat/drink
• Downclimbed, rappeled, and glissaded a ton of steep snow back to the base, then slogged downhill to camp
• Packed up, hiked out, and put the hurt on hamburgers and beers in bishop before driving back to J-tree

CLASSIC time, though I've learned my lesson about underestimating the "easy 4th class" sections in the sierra. There was some seriously sketchy rock on parts of this and I may have been off route, but it was certainly a great deal more tricky than 4th class at parts. All told, the route took us about 20 pitches and quite a lot of that on some funky terrain. That said, it was a blast and a memory I'll cherish.

Hope ya'll enjoy, call my phone if you want the real play by play!


Here's the video:

Cheers,
Mike

4th of July In Bishop

Some photos from a weekend in paradise  (the eastern sierra near Bishop, CA)

More photos here:

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150695877375524.704461.572250523&l=7da009836a

 

 

Hope everyone is well!

New stuff to come

Starbucks. Sitting in the place is a new bi-weekly tradition necessitated by my roommate’s insistence that having Internet at home only leads one to waste time online. I suppose I agree, though doing the same thing at Starbucks leads to the wasting of both time AND money, so I’m not sure if I am a fan yet.

Those of you who have been following this blog, my facebook, posts, or my long rambling voice mails are likely aware that I am now living in Joshua Tree, CA working for the United States Marine Corps’ Intelligence Enhancement Program. I’ve been in town for a grand total of 11 days now and am finally starting to feel some normalcy return.

So here is a quick run-down of the things that I’ve failed to blog about recently:

-       3.5 days of solo driving from GA to CA towing a huge bass boat and a truck full of everything I own (this after numerous giveaways and goodwill runs)

-       40 minutes of self-recorded video from the smart phone(taken whilst driving)..These clips run the gamut from rambling life lessons to cover versions of Prince’s “When Doves Cry.” This material would be invaluable to anyone looking to embarrass me in the future, and I’ll do my best to find a way to make it available in the coming weeks.

-       5 days of route climbing and bouldering in Joshua Tree, 2 of epic trail runs, and a lot of blood, sweat, and humility in the weight room.( Everyone is Southern California is better looking, fitter, and tanner than any of us could ever hope to be)

I intend to do a better job of keeping up in the near future, as the desert’s beauty is giving me plenty of material. So far I am in love with the sunrise, the sunset, the climbing, the open blue sky, and the pleasure of working a job that has meaning and allows a life in Southern California. Please come visit, and keep reading, as there are good things to come soon.

Cheers,

J-Tree Sport Climbing

The sunrise from my house the other morning

Mike

Cochise Stronghold Mayhem

check out these photos!Adventures in Southern AZ

Today I found Jesus

in Nogales, Mexico. By the way, that is pronounced "hey-sus" for those of you who don't speak Spanish. Jesus was the man who so graciously offered to show us around Mexico and lead us from place to place for the price of a small tip(sarcasm). I'll get to that a bit later. Suffice it to say, today proved to be one of the more interesting of my trip, both for the people encountered and for the adventures that were had as we left Bisbee intent on spending a day in Nogales Mexico.

Bed and Breakfast Balcony in Bisbee

I awoke this morning to a fresh cup of OJ and a hall's throat drop thanks to the kindness of Gary and the woman who owns the awesome bed and breakfast where we're staying. Gary chose the place after reading about it online and before learning (and this is true) that it was the site of a mass murder in the 20s, another murder in the fifties, and a place where over 27 people have died! That said, it is actually remarkably quaint and really captures the spirit of Bisbee's copper mining past. I'm still alive (one night down) as are my compadres, so wish us luck! The town itself is set amongst beautiful red hills and was designed before development and zoning laws required a more organized approach. As such it is flush with narrow streets, tiny alleys, and homes perched precariously on the hills around the town. The feel of the place is that of the many Mediterranean towns I visited in the Marines, though there are quite a few more retired grateful dead fans hanging around here!

Some of the landscape of southern Arizona

Breakfast consisted of some locally roasted organic brew, assorted fruits/muffins, and a great conversation about financial responsibility/freedom and America's foreign policy problems. If only our nation's leaders would listen to the conversations that we have over coffee and beer, eh? After breakfast we made our way towards the town of Nogales. The scenery enroute was absolutely stunning and we were greeted with towering cliffs, rolling hills, and fantastic ranches reminiscent of Spain's countryside. Upon arriving in Nogales, AZ we parked the car at the local Bank of America (thanks to Gary, our local B o A associate for working this out w/ the branch manager) and walked over the border into Mexico.

The walk into Mexico is quite easy and we encountered no opposition from the heavily armed and heavily fed agents manning the gates. Perhaps this was due to the Mexican western shirts Gary had purchased each of us prior to the trip?? Now to find a bolo tie..

Bolo Nation

Upon walking into the town we were immediately BOMBARDED by folks offering us women, drugs, you name it. I was expecting some pestering from local vendors, as this is fairly common overseas but this was absolutely over the top. I don't want to get too much into it but I will say that the overarching feeling was that these people were desperate and were willing to pester us relentlessly if it meant the possibility of a few dollars. The markets we encountered were very run down and it seemed that most of the wares were the old remains of some past time when goods were flowing in and out with more regularity. Gary had been to the town twice in years past and made a comment that the feeling of the place was off..the stores were almost exclusively manned by men and we saw very few women/children around. There was no sense of happiness, no music, nothing that we expected. It was quite the eye-opener and it really drove home how blessed we are to live in the U.S. In fact, I'd say it was my most sobering "overseas" experience yet..bear in mind I've been to Africa,Iraq, etc. and this place just felt bad.
This was clearly the result of zero opportunity for jobs in-country. Don't even get me started on the futility of trying to monitor the rugged border region that we drove through..

The first and last "market" we visited

Church in town

Anyway, we eventually found Jesus and he led us to a restaurant called La Roca where we enjoyed a fabulous meal of sea-bass tacos and ceviche, wonderful guacamole, and a free margarita thanks to Jesus' friend in the market (he gave us a "coupon" for free drinks that consisted of some words scribbled on a tourist map of the city). In return we gave him a $3 "tip" and he decided to wait outside the restaurant for us, intent on showing us all of the best places in town and "making sure nobody messed with us". This routine grew tiresome particularly when we realized that shrugging off Jesus mean bombardment from a thousand other "tour guides", drug peddlers, etc. Our stay in Nogales ended up being rather brief owing to these factors and the depressed feeling that was all pervasive. We walked back into the U.S. with sighs of relief and thankful hearts for our status as Americans.

My date looked a little green...I know, that was bad

A site for sore eyes

Upon leaving I had to confront that fact that some sort of infection/fever is still keeping me down. Two  hours, stops at a walk-in clinic and a Wal-Greens, and 50 bucks later I popped the first round of my z-pack and we headed back to Bisbee. I am now sitting in our room eagerly anticipating tomorrow's adventures as we head to the Cochise Stonghold to climb the fabled domes that grace that grougeous landscape. More on that soon.

Ciao,
Mike

Dear North Carolina,

View from a cliff in Mt. Lemmon

I am writing to tell you that I think I’ve found someone else. Despite our 10+ year relationship and the numerous good times we’ve shared, I’ve decided that it’s time for me to move on. I didn’t come to this decision lightly; in fact, the decision came as  a surprise even to me. I guess you could say it started with the offer of a good salary in CA, and was cemented after sunny t-shirt climbing in Red Rock with Kate and Stuart in January. You’re just too cold in January, and I think the sunny climate here will help me feel more loved.

Love,

Mike

That is said in jest. In fact, I don’t know that I could ever stop loving North Carolina. I am even missing it this moment despite the wonderful winter weather I’ve been having here in the Southwest. That said, I am eagerly anticipating my move to this part of the world.

The real deal-sealer was picking Ben up in Vegas and making the trek down into Phoenix where we enjoyed a fantastic meal with his grandparents. It’s always a treat to spend time with the family and loved ones of people you love and this visit was no exception. Ben’s grandparents proved to be wonderful conversationalists and we had a nice time eating grapefruit from the tree in their yard, and listening to their tales of life in the southwest from the 50s-the 70s. Early this morning we left Phoenix on our way to pick Gary up in Tucson...

The ride to Tucson from Phoenix

    We pulled into Tucson on a beautiful 60 degree sunny day, grabbed Gary, and some green tamales te and made our way to Mt. Lemmon, a place that quickly made its way to the top of my favorite places I’ve ever been. Driving up the mountain you are immediately greeted by HUGE Saguaro cacti, a fantastic species that is more impressive in real life. Gary informed us that the cacti don’t even grow “arms” until they are eighty years old, thus the feeling was one of driving through a weird, unique ancient forest of sorts. 

We had plans to hit up a sunny crag known as “ridgeline” as we were told that its south facing walls are comfortable even on the coldest of winter days. As we climbed up the mountain we were greeted with a ton of snow that had us doubting how comfortable we were going to be. Turns out our fears were unfounded as we found the crag to be so warm (despite being at 7,000’) that we were able to climb in long sleeved t-shirts. 

Hiking back to the car

Atop "Ridgeline"

Gary atop Ridgeline

Another view from the crag

          We quickly dispatched a few classic sport routes before heading back into Tucson for Mexican food at a dive bar (The Iguana)and are now enroute to a  BandB in Bisbee, Arizona. The next few days promise to be a load of fun as we explore the Cochise Stronghold, Nogales Mexico, and a number of interesting towns and places in between. Stay tuned!

Getting ready to rap off

Ben leading the way