Mt. Oso

A couple photos from Mt. Oso a few weeks ago.  The East side of Vallecito Creek is an amazing area that doesn't seem to see as much traffic as the West side.

Moon Lake with an unnamed peak behind.

Columbines on the way up Mt. Oso.

Powell Plateau, Steamboat Mtn., and Boot Mesa

After a quick run down to see Amanda in Phoenix I met John on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.   I hopped in John's FJ and navigated as he drove the twisty dirt roads through patches of rain to Swamp Point.  With the moonlight we could make out Steamboat Mountain.  As I fell asleep under the FJ I hoped that the darkness was making Steamboat look farther away than it actually was.

NW corner of the Powell Plateau 

We woke a few hours before dawn and started down the N. Bass trail to a saddle where we veered off the N. Bass and continued to the Powell Plateau.  Once on top of the plateau we headed for the NW corner to find a way down through the cliffs to access the Steamboat-Powell saddle.  Unfortunately, we didn't choose correctly the first time and got cliffed out.  After hiking back up and traversing a bunch we were able to find a break in the cliff that we could descend.

Descending to the Steamboat-Powell Saddle

Luckily with the great view from the saddle Steamboat went smoothly.  Now we just had to put our heads down and reverse our steps all the way back to the TH as the the heat of the day intensified.    

Steamboat Mountain

Day 2 was supposed to be an attempt on Mt. Hayden but the road out to Imperial Point was closed so we headed to the Navajo Reservation to check out Boot Mesa.

Moki Steps

 John had his eye on Boot Mesa, last year I had looked at it for him to see if I thought we could get up it.  A bowl on west side looked promising.  Zig zagging back and forth we were able to climb up through 5-6  cliff bands.  Although the rock was soft, loose and often wasn't easily protectable the climbing was moderate probably topping out around 5.8.

John near the summit with Agathla Peak in the distance.

The top offered amazing views of Monument Valley, Agathla and the rest of the Navajo Reservation. Since we didn't have any bolts or pins the descent required a little trickery but with a little patience we figured it out.

Summit! 

Great climbing with you John!

Grand Canyon Temples

1hr of hiking to get this view of Holy Grail. 

I'd been asleep for an hour when I woke at 22:30 to John's vehicle ending it's drive with an hour of four wheeling to meet me at Swamp Lake.  I couldn't see the lake when I drove up but my GPS had said I was close and that was good enough for me.  John deffinetly couldn't see a lake, but was working on the assumption that my truck would be where I said it would be 3 days ago when we'd texted last.  We left the vehicles at 04:00 to try and avoid as much of the 90-100 degree temps as possible.  Unfortunetly starting in the dark made navigating past the New Mexico Locust difficult.  If you are unfamiliar with New Mexico Locust as I was, I'd suggest Carharts, chaps, and a machete before getting anywhere close to them.  Imagine overhead thickets of bushes with inch long thorns.  As we had hoped the sun rose as we got to our descent route off the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.  We could see our objective Holy Grail Temple in the distance.  This obscure peak is guarded by miles of bushwhacking, scrambling, route finding, an approach rappel and 3 pitches of rock climbing up to 5.8 in difficulty.  The first pitch was one of the loosest I'd climbed and demands that the climber not pull out on holds but instead only push down and in if possible.  With a lot of care we got up safely arriving on the summit of Holy Grail Temple at 10:15.  

Foot prints in the rock on pitch 3.

The heat was mildly heinous but we knew the return route.  We'd left a rope fixed where we rappelled on the approach and ascending it went smoothly.  I drank the last of my 5 liters of water as the vehicles came into view. Perfect timing!  We arrived back at the vehicles at 16:15 having hiked 13.8 miles.  After getting some food, water and rest it was time to move camp for tomorrows objective.  An hour an a half of rough roads got us to camp in a beautiful meadow.  That night with the temps as high as they were I didn't bother to heat up my canned soup.  Instead I just popped the top and ate it at the cool and refreshing temp of 90 degrees. 

Sunset on the North Rim.

Again at 04:00 we left on what would be a 18.5 mile day to do Shiva Temple.  Although more miles, Shiva was easier because it lacked the bushwhacking and technical difficulties of Holy Grail.  We arrived at the summit at 09:00 and found the classic milk containers.  On our return trip I somehow got off the cairned trail and missed the drainage we were supposed to take back up to the North Rim.  So instead of backtracking we bushwhacked and scrambled up a different drainage.  Luckily that was the end of the days difficulties and we arrived back at the vehicles at 14:40.  Just enough time to go grab some ice cream from the Grand Canyon Lodge!

These are leftovers from the 1937 Shiva Temple Expedition
hosted by the American Museum of Natural History.

Zoroaster and Brahma just barely visible in the distance. 

The last day entailed tagging two summits, Juno and Jupiter.  Although our distance hiked was less than the previous two days at only 13 miles, it ended up being the most draining of the 3 days.  Surely because it was our third day on but also because of the increased heat.  We left the TH at 04:30 hoping to have light for the route finding off the rim.  Unfortunetly the confusing directions caused us to get off route only a half hour into the day. After some thrashing around we found the correct gulley and made our descent.  To get down off the rim and past the Coconino band we had to rappel and leave a rope fixed for our return.  While descending the slope to reach the saddle we heard the rattle of a snake a few feet away and made the hasty decision to change course.  We reached the Juno summit at 08:30 and Jupiter at 09:30. Nothing about the terrain was that difficult but the heat drains energy quickly and we were exhausted by the time we reached the TH at 14:45.  John and I parted ways and started our long drives home, ending another great trip to the Grand Canyon!

John making quick work of the fixed line
 on the way out.

Brahma Temple

I got off at 7am from a 72 hr shift in Farmington.  I grabbed some food at Walmart on the way out of town and drove to the Grand Canyon.  I hiked down to Phantom Ranch on the S. Kaibab Trail and met up with John around 2pm.  We were going to have a dry camp so we loaded up on water before we left the ranch.  We hiked up toward Zoroaster and Brahma until the sun went down and set up camp just below the Hermit Shale layer.  

Zoraster from high on Brahma.
Note John in the bottom of the photo.

We got up well before sunrise and took off at 5:20am.  While traversing the Western edge of Brahma we decided to try a route that looked doable at easy 5th.  Things went well and we were on top at 8am!  We saw slings at 15' and 50' off the ground but besides that nothing.  Surely this wasn't a FA, but it was a fun alternative to the 4th class.     

Summit!

We headed down the standard 4th class route and headed back to Phantom Ranch.

The weather started to roll in while we were starting up the S. Kaibab.  When we got up to O'Neill Butte we tried to find the 4th class route up but decided not to gild the lily with the loose, wet rock and the route not being obvious. 

After bailing on O'Neill we headed up to the South Rim with the snow starting to fall softly.  We got to the TH as it was getting dark.  Great climbing with you John!  

Noname Basin

I was able to get out and guide a little bit at the end of June.  Tim has been coming out for years and we always have a great time.  As he had done last year, he was bringing along 3 friend so I brought along Bill.  The plan always starts out big.  Like we are going to climb everything in the area in 2 days big.  Usually it might get pared down a little bit, but this year it go pared down a bunch.  Luckily it was still and great trip.  We hiked up Noname Basin and set up camp at around 10,900'.  Just before dark Rodger yells, "a marmot stole my boot!" Sure enough.  We spent the next thirty minutes searching the area with headlamps until Bill finally spotted it halfway down Marmot hole.  Luckily it was still functional.

Looking up Noname toward Knife Point and Jagged

The next morning we hiked up to Jagged Pass and decided to change plans and climb Leviathan instead of Jagged.  Then ontop of Leviathan, we decided we might as well climb Vallecito Peak too.

Jagged

Although we bailed on our primary objective of Jagged, we still got two great peaks and had a great time.  Jared had been struggling with blisters since day one, so on day three I took him out while everyone else climbed Knife Point.

Short break before the last mile to camp.

As usual, it's hard to have a bad trip in the mountains when you are with great people!

Mt. Wilson

On August 30th I woke at 3am in the back of my car.  I was parked at the Kilpacker trail head near Telluride, CO.  One of the bonuses of sleeping in your clothes is the ease of getting up in the morning.  All you need to do is throw on your shoes and coat.  A quick snack and I was on the trail around 3:20, hiking fast to stay warm.  I love hiking through the woods by myself in the dark of night.  There is nothing outside of the glow of your singular headlamp, none of the chirping birds that normally fill a daytime hike.  Just silence and darkness.
I met up with Ken at his tent near the bottom of Kilpacker Basin.  He had a cold night and was about to build a fire when I walked up.  Ken and I had climbed Wilson Peak the year before and this year he had his eyes on Mt. Wilson.  We started hiking up the dark basin instead of starting a fire.  With the large ridge to our east, we would be nearly on top before we were in the sunlight.
As we walked up the trail Ken and I chatted about news from the last year.  He caught me up on his family and work and I did the same.  As we went higher we started to notice pieces of neon green duct tape stuck to the occasional rock along the trail.  The higher we went the more there were.  What a genius way to mark the trail! Leave trash along it!  All total we removed 74 pieces of duct tape, and surely missed a few.

Some of our haul.

 Ken hiked fast.  We were on top early and enjoyed the crisp, quiet summit to ourselves.  On the way down we talked about mountains that Ken wanted to climb in the future, and came up with a game plan and time line to climb them.  Hiking down through the scree and talus that makes up Kilpacker Basin always seems to take longer than hiking up.  The loose rock seems to go on forever.  Soon enough though, we were back at Ken's tent packing it up.

Vestal

Tim and I just got done with a great trip into Vestal Basin.  We parked on Molas Pass and hiked in from there.  All total we hiked 20 miles, gained 8,000' and climbed Vestal Peak, all in 36 hours!  Great climbing with you Tim!  -BK

Skylight Area Ice Climbing

Here is a short video from guiding ice last weekend at the Skylight area just outside of Ouray, CO.   Winter is here and so is the ice!

Winter Mountaineering on Mount Sneffels

Ivan and I were able to make it up into Yankee Boy Basin this week to do some winter mountaineering.  We enjoyed great Colorado weather the whole trip and were able to summit Mount Sneffels (14,150')!

Winter in the San Juans

Saturday Tim and I were able to get out and climb Snowdon.  Although it's still fall in Durango, it most definitely is winter above 10,000'.  I'm pretty sure I can speak for both of us when I say, that we were thankful for every layer we brought.

Enjoying the crisp morning!

Snowdon still a ways off.

Last few steps to the top!

Heading back down.

Finally really starting to warm up.

It's hard to beat a cloudless Colorado day.

Climbing with Tim is always a blast.  He is super positive and always raving about the amazing views.  As much as I try not to take the San Juan Mountains for granted, Tim always helps me to appreciate my surroundings.  It was great climbing with you Tim!  See you soon.
-BK

Rocktober!

Just got done with a 6 day trip to Moab/Indian Creek. Jonas came over from Sweden for some time in the sun before the winter darkness comes to Stockholm.

Day 1:

We started out at Wallstreet climbing a combination of cracks and slab. On our way down to Indian Creek to set up camp we stopped off and climbed 'King Arthur's Seat'.

The Bridger Jacks 

Day 2:

Climbed at Donnelly Canyon.

Jonas on 'Generic Crack' at Donnelly Canyon, Indian Creek.

Day 3:

Climbed at Battle of the Bulge, and then checked out some Native American ruins in the evening.

Day 4:

Climbed at Supercrack Buttress in the morning then headed back up to Moab in the afternoon.

Day 5:

We climbed the 'North Chimney' on Castleton in the morning and then headed over to the Fishers to climb 'Ancient Art' in the afternoon.

Jonas following pitch 2 on Castleton.

Jonas on top of Ancient Art.

'The Cobra'

Day 6:

We finished off the trip at Wallstreet. Then parted ways.

Great trip Jonas!  I hope to see you this winter on the ice.

Via Ferrata

Bill and I recently took a crew out on the Via Ferrata near Telluride. Fun group and the weather held out for us. Not a bad way to spend a Sunday.

Vestal and Noname Basins

I just got out of the Weminuche on one of the last backcountry guiding trips of the summer season.  I was leading a 5 day Intro to Alpine Climbing course. We climbed three big peaks and traversed three basins making for a great trip.

Chicago Basin, Wilson Peak, and Noname Basin

The last couple weeks have flown by!  Here are some of the highlights...

Shawn, Nick and I climbed Sunlight(14,059') and Windom(14,082') in Chicago Basin.

I met Ken, Daniel and Aaron in Telluride to climb Wilson Peak(14,017').  While waiting in the gas staion parking lot at 4:30am I got to see who was making a mess by knocking over all the trash cans, and going through the contents.  We were surprised to find a 1/2" of fresh snow on Wilson Peak.  It quickly melted as the sun came up and started heating up the rock.

Lastly Bob and I hiked up Noname Basin to climb Jagged Peak.  We ended up climbing the rarely attempted Peak 6(13,705') instead.

It was great climbing with all of you!  Its hard not to have fun in the San Juans this time of year.  Hell any time of year is great!