Mountaineering 2001

James & Keith at Joshua Tree: January | Keith & James at Joshua Tree: February | James snowshoeing San Jacinto
James in the White Mountains | Don, Chris, James, & Alan in the Palisades | James & Duane in Utah

Chris and James were able to hang out at the beach in San Diego on New Years Eve and New Years. Here's a pic. James has been doing some rock climbing with friends in California. He has been climbing at The Falls in the Santa Ana Mountains, The Beach in Huntington Beach, and Dixon Lake in Escondido. The Falls is an excellent climbing area, with routes from 5.2 to 5.10 and higher. James toproped a bunch of climbs at the Falls, running from 5.8 to 5.10+, which are all rated but unnamed in the guidebook.

Chris and James chillin' at the beach in San Diego on New Year's Eve | James doing a 5.10 layback at the Falls
One of the 2 main rocks at the Falls | James at the base of one of the crags at the Falls

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Keith and James did some rock climbing at Joshua Tree the last weekend of January. They arrived around sunrise to find the Hidden Valley area covered in snow. All the rocks that didn't have snow were wet from melting snow. They searched around Trashcan rock, Intersection Rock, Old Woman, and The Blob, but found no dyr routes, except for 1 5.7 on the west face of Old Woman. Unfortunately, it couldn't be toproped, and required many medium to large cams to lead, which they did not have. Too bad, it looked like a good route. They then decided to try the Indian Cove area. There they found out what J-Tree climbing is all about. They found a lot of awesome routes free of water and snow in warm enough weather to go without shirts. Keith lead Double Crack to set a toprope for 2 other routes. They then climbed Linda's Face (5.6 R) and Linda's Crack on toprope. They bouldered around the bottom of other routes before James lead a cool route they forgot the name of, which was a nice crack, followed by an interesting downclimb off of the back side. After a quick stop at Nomad Ventures in the town of Joshua Tree, they headed back to the urban sprawl they call home (LA/OC).

Keith at Trashcan Rock at Joshua Tree | James at Hidden Valley Campground at Joshua Tree
Keith climbing 'Double Crack' on Short Wall at J-Tree | Keith climbing 'Double Crack' on Short Wall at J-Tree (2)
James at the top of Short Wall at J-Tree | Keith climbing 'Linda's Face' (5.6 R) on Short Wall
James climbing 'Linda's Face' (5.6 R) on Short Wall | James climbing 'Linda's Crack' on Short Wall
James climbing 'Linda's Crack' on Short Wall (2) | James climbing a crack near Short Wall at J-Tree
Keith doing a layback at Short Wall at J-Tree | James and Keith at Indian Cove | James and Keith at Indian Cove (2)

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James and Keith went rock climbing the next weekend back at the Indian Cove area of Joshua Tree. They drove out ther really early in the morning again, to get there as the sun was rising. They started with a 2 pitch climb. The first pitch was called Squat Rockets, and Keith lead it. From there, they found a cool, but short second pitch to top out. It was a vertical crack in a corner, and pretty fun. They then rapped off the bolts on top. After that, James lead an unknown route. They couldn't find it in the guidebook, so they would give it about a 5.6 rating. It was a very wide stem at the top, which made for sore muscles upon topping out. They then were going to climb another route, but ended up bouldering on a cool overhanging boulder. They then headed to a solitary rock formation 1/4 of a mile north of the campground, and did more bouldering. They then went back into the campground, and James lead a crack on Short Wall. They had to brush away broken glass, from a less considerate party, from the bottom of the climb, so James wouldn't hurt himself if he fell on the first few moves. It was a good day, and after a stop at Nomad Ventures in the town of Joshua Tree, a boring ride home.

Keith doing Squat Rockets at Indian Cove | James doing a big stem at Indian Cove | James bouldering at Indian Cove
Keith bouldering at Indian Cove | James looking at the camera and bouldering | Keith and James at Indian Cove

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James did a solo climb of Mt. San Jacinto in March. He cheated and took the tram from Palm Springs. From there, he snowshoed to a campground at the edge of a big meadow, set up camp, and had lunch. After lunch, he headed for the summit. The altitude was not making him feel well around the summit shelter, but a quick snack helped out. The summit view was awesome. You can see the Salton Sea, Coachella Valley, San Bernardino Mountains, and if it wasn't for the pollution, you could see the Riverside area. The snowshoe down off the summit to camp didn't take long. The next morning, James hiked out to the tram.

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James took a trip to the Sierra Nevada in May to climb Middle Palisade. He hiked up to Willow Lake, but above there was too much snow for him to get to the base of the route he realized. James ended up turning back and driving over to the White Mountains and just checking out the Bristlecone Pine trees, and just having a relaxing weekend in the mountains. He saw a lot of Bristlecones, and did a lot of 4 wheel driving.

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Duane has been doing some rock climbing in the Seattle area with some Army buddies. Here's some pics.

Duane rock climbing (1) | Duane rock climbing (2) | Duane rock climbing (3) | Duane rock climbing (4)

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Palisade Glacier Trip

Day 1

Before the first day, James hiked up to Lake 1 with all his gear, to make a stash. He ferried it to the stream before the switchbacks below the stream meadow on the second day, then hiked out to meet Don, Chris, & Alan. The first day for all of them was hot and long. They had lunch at where James stashed his gear. After that, they ferried loads up and down, expedition style to a small campsite near the trail below the glacier. It was a nice campsite, and they got to bed early.
John Muir Wilderness sign | James & Don at breakfast | Chris, Don, and Alan at breakfast | Big Pine Creek
Flowers along the trail | Chris & James at the Big Pine cabin | Big Pine cabin | Big Pine trail | Temple Crag from lower trail
Temple Crag from lake 2 | Big Pine Lakes 1,2, & 3

Day 2

Day 2 brought Don & Chris their first Sierra Nevada summit. Everybody hiked from their first camp to the glacier. Chris set out early to carry an extra load. James, Don, & Alan met him on his way down to get another load. He directed everybody to a good campsite where they set up camp. After setting up camp, they all discussed what do do with the rest of the day. Alan suggested doing the 'Yellowbrick Road' up Mt Gayley (13,510). It was only Class 2-3, so it would be a good route to get ready for the altitude, and get a bird's eye view of the Palisade Glacier peaks. They made it to Glacier Notch, where Alan wasn't feeling well, so he turned back. Chris, James, & Don headed for the summit. They all had a blast routefinding up the mountain. On a part where James and Don took a separate way than Chris, Chris ended up on a ridge that looked so photogenic it could have been straight out of Rock & Ice or Climbing. Unfortunately, the view in reality turned out a lot better than the picture. The pic turned out okay, buy didn't capture the essance of what it looked like to Don & James. The three of them topped out and signed the summit register. The view at the top was awesome. A panorama of the Palisades, Temple Crag, and the North & South Forks of Big Pine Creek. They then made their way down to Alan in camp who had been exploring the area, and had dinner.
Don at camp in the morning | Don, Alan, & Chris on the hike up | Looking down Big Pine canyon | Palisade Glacier
Lake at base of glacier | Chris on Glacier Notch | Don & Chris at Glacier Notch | James at Glacier Notch
Chris on the Yellow Brick Road | Don on the summit of Mt Gayley | Mt Sill from Mt Gayley
Chris & James on the summit of Mt Gayley | James on the summit of Mt Gayley | Back at camp after Gayley

Day 3

Day 3 set the tone for the rest of the trip. Chris, James, & Don woke up early to head for the U-Notch, and North Palisade and Starlight Peaks. Alan still felt under the weather, so he decided not to come along. To save time, they didn't rope up for the glacier traverse to the base of the U-Notch. On the way over, James and Don didn't notice 2 crevasses until they were right on top of them. Luckily they didn't fall in. Chris lead through the bergschrund ice and rock, but was turned back by the steepness and iciness of the snow above. Meanwhile, James was attempting to prussick up overhanging ice below, when the rope became too wet to move up or down. When he tried to unclip from the prusicks, he found his biner was frozen shut. Don ended up having to get a knife out so James could cut the cheap cord prusicks. It was a disappointment, so they rapped back down the bergschrund, and walked back to camp.
Chris heading towards the U-Notch | Bergschrund at the base of U-Notch | James and Chris on the bergschrund ice
Don at the bergschrund | Alan, James, & Chris at camp | Temple Crag from camp

Day 4

Alan was feeling better, but Chris didn't feel well, so James, Don, & Alan woke up early and set out for Mt Sill. After breakfast at Glacier Notch, they headed up icy snow to a Class 3 route leading to the summit. When they got to the base of the supposed class 3 route, they found it to be Class 4-5. James opted to stay back, since a team of 3 would not make the summit. Don & Alan headed on, with James' help guiding them from his vantage point on a sub-peak of Mt Sill. It took most of the day for Don & Alan to climb the route. They ended up off route to the left, with a crux move in the 5.7 range. They made the last few feet to the summit, and got some great pictures. Another team took the same route, but stayed on route, and met up with Don & Alan at the descent point. They offered to share their ropes for rappel, which made it easier for Alan & Don to get down. They all made their way down the icy couloir back to camp not long before dark.
Glacier Notch | Alan & James on Glacier Notch | James & Alan traversing to the couloir | North Palisade & Starlight Peaks
Alan on the way up Mt Sill | Sub-peak of Mt Sill | Alan below the crux | Don below the crux | James below the crux
Looking down Mt Sill at Palisade Glacier | Looking at Middle Palisade from Mt Sill | Alan on the summit of Mt Sill
North Palisade & Starlight from Mt Sill | Don on the summit of Mt Sill | Looking down the north face of Mt Sill
James, Alan, Don, & Chris in camp | Don, Alan, & Chris in camp | Alan, Chris, & James in camp | Alan & James in camp

Day 5

The last day, Don woke up with knee pain. James had to be back in Big Pine by a certain time to get picked up, so he and Chris left earlier while Alan helped Don down. The trip down was uneventful, and James & Chris made good time to the car. James' ride ended up being 5 hours late, so they got dinner in Big Pine together before he left.
James leaving camp | Alan leaving camp | Don taking a break
Nevada on the way home | Nevada on the way home (2)
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James and Duane both visted Utah at the same time in August. They didn't get to do as much as they wanted to do, but oh well. They went rock climbing at Pentapitch, and hiked up Silver Peak with James' dad, Bill. Silver Peak was interesting. Bill saw 4 deer, 3 of which had big racks. They also saw about a dozen grouse. Pictures to come soon.
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