Dragontail Peak, Backbone Ridge. Northwest Mountain School's Joel Kauffman with Kevin Quigley. This pitch is 5.9 OW. I recommend bringing a C4 #6 unless this size instills confidence. Kevin was able to aid it with a tipped out # 5...

Colchuck Peakin the Background.

Backbone Ridge with Fin Direct finish. There are many options on the Fin. The first time I climbed it we went left. This time we went right and found a new C4 #1 Camalot and the 10a crack finish.

Descending into Alpine Lakes basin and back to Asgard pass.

Backbone ridge starts below the shortest of the three pine trees in the foreground. The Fin is the lighter colored clean granite in the center of the picture. Grade IV in 16hours car-to-car is good for a couple of guys who have never climbed together before.

Moonrise and alpine glow on Foraker from the top of Squirrell hill. How could you not have a chill down your spine... The ski back up to 14 to meet the crew was delightfully univentful. Ben Mitchell and crew chaperoned me through the lower Kahiltna in the afternoon heat. After that things froze up nicelyTyler and I left 11k and climbed to the base of the Direct West Buttress in order to avoid fog on the Lower Peters Glacier. We climbed the right tending mixed weakness to 16K

Sunrise from the NW Ridge above the Forgotten Wall.

TJ at the first Crux of DWB.

TJ leaving our First Light Bivy headed toword the top of the Fixed Lines 16, 200ft.

After traversing the upper Peters Glacier we were able to climb up to the NW Ridge. This photo is taken with Foraker in the background and the DWB in the middle ground.

Sunrise from the upper NW Ridge of Denali with Wonder Lake 18,000ft. below.

RIP Karen and Sue.

Nice Beaver! TAT places us below our objectives. Mount Huntinton, AK.Alex follows in the Dark. Hood down, increasing spindrift.

We approach the first crux. Ice from the Triassic period.

Early morning view of Denali and the South ridge.

From right to left: Wall of Shadows, Harvard Route, West Face Coulour, Colton-Leech, French Ridge is the left-hand skyline.

Name that Cumbre. Los Hermanos Kauffman. If you're lucky enough to be in the mountains, you're lucky enough. A sneak peek onto the South Continental Ice Cap. Parque los Glaciares.

Neil contemplating the afternoon building in Arenales. Muchos gracias para todo Amigos.

Gear to 5". Neil emerges from sustained 90m corner.

Tuolumne Meadows

Darth Vader's Revenge

Darth Vader's Revenge

Pat on Death Crack!

Me climbing a great slab route on Daff Dome

Had a few days off from froggin, so I went climbing in Tuolumne Meadows...this place is awesome! Great cracks, excellent knob climbing on slow-cooled granite crystals, and many fewer people than the Valley.

The Needles, South Dakota

Kyle atop E. Gruesome

Wild Iris soaking up the rain

Wandering around The Picket Fence

oooo Spooky!

Kyle cruisin' the Conn crack on East Gruesome

Josh enjoying Tent Peg

Organized Crime-King Pin

Weeeeeee!

back back to Cali'

After spending so much time climbing at Devils Tower, I finally made it to the Needles of South Dakota! The Natives believed The Black Hills were 'the center of all that is'; this mystical forest realm is the geographic center of North America. As an isolated island of rock, hills, and lodgepole pines on the western edge of The Great Plains, The Black Hills host an interesting variety of plants, animals, and people.
The Needles have captivated colorful characters throughout climbing history; this is an area renowned for its hardcore ethics and ground-up style of opening routes. As a result, there is some super-stimulating climbing, which can sometimes involve sparse natural protection (RP's adorned with Screamers), the occasional hand-drilled bolt (buttonheads with Screamers), and the frequent gripping run-outs on sharp granite crystals (wishin' you had some shit attached to Screamers). All in all its great fun!!

After a solo road-trip odyssey through Wyoming, Utah, and Nevada, I'm back in Cali' for another summer of froggin' in the Sierra!
Check out mylfrog.org for some frog info...

The land of the Midnight Sun as seen from 20,000ft. on Denali. This picture captures a rare refraction of light through the ice crystals in the thin air and the reflection off a few of the seemingly infinite tundra lakes.

Guiding as a means to make a living as well as getting acclimated for the upcoming Forgotten Wall mission.

The real Midnight sun as seen from 17k camp. The flagged walls in the foreground surround the highest restroom facility in North America.

Looking at Huntington (left) and Hunter (right) aka Beguya from the summit ridge of Denali. It's wild to look down on the Colton-Leech on Huntington after having climbed some of the 4,000ft route. Perspective is an amazing thing.

You jump off the other side if someone falls...

More Creek Shots

Alf jammin 'Killah Bees'

Me on 'Killah Bees'

Here's a few shots I just got around to posting!

Joel's team got to 17k last night and are poised for the summit bid when the winds cooperate!!

Da Gnarley & D Tow

Cody on Carl's Face

Spenc and T Bow under the SW face

Lockin and rockin on POTC!

Its been a while since the last desert post, so here's an update...
Joel has been in Alaska since mid-May climbing in the Ruth Gorge with our friend Alex Stroud for a few weeks before starting a Denali guided climb of the West Buttress.
Check out http://www.rmiguides.com/mckinley/dispatches.php#050509 for the updates!
Their team is at 14,000ft waiting for good weather to make a summit bid.

After spending some time in Bozeman visiting friends, frequenting the hot springs and getting a pro massage, I was ready for some more climbing. A month of intense crack climbing definately catches up with you! Well I'm good to go now, hanging out at Devils Tower and climbing more crack...The splitters of Indian Creek got me in good endurance shape, however I'm still getting used to the sharper, physical style of the Tower cracks, really leg intensive!!! This is no doubt some of the best climbing in the world, the setting is super powerful, and the cracks unrelenting!
Stay tuned for some photos!

Neil

Taylor Canyon-Moses

Aphrodite, Zeus, The Ark, Moses, and The Thracian Mare

T Bow on steep cupped hands,

Primrose Dihedrals

The Ear looms above!

Moses summit

Rappelling Moses with Zeus behind

An early attempt on "Chosstaman Rant" (VO R)

above the Green River

Another view of Chosstaman Rant

After not enough rest, TBow and I headed back into Canyonlands psyched to climb the Primrose Dihedrals on Moses, a classic route we have both been eyeing for a few years now. Now that the weekend was over, (some people have real jobs) we again had the towers to ourselves! Taylor Canyon is a narrow drainage with Wingate cliffs reminiscent of Indian Creek; unfortunately the NPS has decided that Canyonlands has enough climbing routes and has enforced a fixed anchor ban effectively eliminating all new routes in the park. After a casual hike up to this magnificent group of towers we threw ourselves at the direct start and promptly recieved the slapdown on weird stemmy face climbing off the ground. The whole route is no doubt classic, constantly throwing off-size jamming and interesting situations at ya. Our hopes to free "The Ear", a stout bolted OW, turned into just getting our asses up to the top! Maybe one rest day wasn't enough after all...we spent at least an hour on the perfectly flat summit napping and sunbathing before beginning the windy raps back to the base. Definately one of the best desert towers yet...we'll be back!

We also found some interesting bouldering above the Green River...