The Moon Goddess Arete on Temple Crag (13,000 ft). Its 18 pitches took Claire and I a day and a half to climb. Highlights: pulling an off-route 5.9 roof; climbing past countless *huge* loose balanced granite blocks; a bivy under the stars in perfect weather on top of one of the route's massive towers.
Another, more steep and ominous view of our route on Temple.
Mountaineering at Crow Pass, Alaska.
The ice at Matnuska Glacier is bullet-hard and steep. Claire strikes a pose under a crevasse.
What could beat great climbing on beautiful red sandstone at Red Rocks, NV? A soak in the hot tub and all-you-can-eat buffet at the Rio Casino in Las Vegas after a hard day of climbing, of course!
Gotta love those ice tools!
What better a place to spend the winter climbing than the surreal, boulder-strewn landscape of Joshua Tree NP?
A 40 minute drive from Josh into the mountains provides great summer climbing at Tahquitz. Historically, this is one of the spots where, beginning in the '40s, modern difficult climbing techniques in this country were figured out by the pioneers among the Rock Climbing Section of the Sierra Club. Later, Tahquitz served as the training ground for Yvon Chouinard, Royal Robbins, Tom Frost and others who would later go on to forge a climbing revolution at Yosemite. Climbing went from being "hiking in the mountains" to "falling up" otherwise superhuman-looking climbs. Some of the country's first 5.8s, .9s, and .10s (moderate- and difficult-rated climbs) were established here.
Here's the view that confronts us at the beginning of one of the 200+ routes at Tahquitz. It features 800 vertical feet of buttery-soft, salt-and-pepper granite face and crack climbing, with climbs ranging from 3 to 7 pitches. It also offers a marvelous, sweeping view of the pine-forested valley and the mountain village of Idyllwild, far below.