Styke is high!

Joel on the lamb

Finishing the Oz.

Whorl Mtn. background

Atop the Oz.

Dave's magnificent mushroom

Authentic Argentine cordero!

Logan kicks off the Burning Lamb festivities

Meat for all!!

Burning Lamb

Uniting with Team CO, everyone into the man van!

To the HULK!

The mini-dyno on Sunspot Dihedral

Looking down on thin RP's, starting the big dihedral

Finger locks forever!

The "Sunspot" pitch

Joining Positive Vibrations

Splittertonville, CA

Pat Pharo on Positive Vibes

Pat on the Hulk summit ridge

The 5.10 roof pitch on Tradewinds

Red pants+smile=send

Joel following the 5.11 thin bit on Tradewinds

In awe of J-Fink leading high on Tradewinds

Hackin the sack on a restful day

Josh clippin bolts at Tioga Cliff

Pat leading at Tioga

Lots to report on here, Planet Kauffman has reunited for Autumn, currently residing in Cali. The bad news first: I dislocated my left shoulder doing the infamous sideways falling dyno on Pitch 4 of Tradewinds, a sustained 5.11 route at The Incredible Hulk. Until that point, Joel, Josh Finkelstein and I had been crushing and having a blast. "Its not IF you get injured, but how you recover" Willy Stanhope. I have nearly full range of motion but can still feel the stretch on my bicep tendon; on the DL until further notice.

Back to the start, Joel and I met up for the season and proceeded to Tuolumne to get our granite crack on! We made a fun link of On The Lamb, Oz, and Hobbit Book, combining three domes and topping out on the highest in Tuolumne with killer thunderstorm views! A few days of cragging and we had a splitter weather report for The Incredible Hulk, an astonishing hunk of white Sierra granite tucked away at 11,000 feet on the border of Yosemite. Somewhere along the way we ended up at Burning Lamb, a Tahoe-based party celebrating the coming winter and good friends. The event was located in the sagebrush flats near Bridgeport and featured fully authentic Argentine cordero (lamb) raised in the foothills. A family of Argentine sheep herders slow-cooked the meat over open coals and we swore we in the southern hemisphere again. Festivities lasted long into the night around a raging bonfire.

Perfectly on que, our friends Josh Finkelstein and Pat Pharo rolled onto the scene and provided merriment and extra psych; we all piled into the Sprinter and headed off to the HULK!

Joel and I needed redemption after bailing off The Sunspot Dihedral last fall, and we got it! This route climbs an immaculate corner with never-ending finger locks and steep exposure, what more can you want? We met Pat and Josh on the ridge and rappelled in the fading sunlight, fully stoked on some of the best climbing ever...

After a rest day, our three-man team headed up the Tradewinds route, one that I've been scoping for a few years now. Less traveled than the classic Hulk routes, this one is slightly less sustained but has some great climbing. After the shoulder-ripping dyno, we discussed finishing the last 2 pitches but decided bailing was the thing to do. On cue, the weather deteriorated and we left the alpine zone to do some much needed soaking, in the hot springs of the Sierra Eastside.

The crew climbed the Rostrum yesterday, and a biblical storm seems to be descending upon the Sierra, so back to the Eastside for now. Stay tuned and stay styked!