THE HULK

Little Slide Canyon

Outguard Spire is the first tower on the right

Tapin' for the Polish Route

Nuff' said!

Tim leads high on The Hulk

Tim dutifully retrieves our stuck rope

Outguard Spire, Pitch 2

Contemplating The Hulk

Tip of Outguard Spire

Amped for his first mission to the Incredible Hulk, Tim Dittman met me in Bridgeport, CA, one of the Eastside's many Republican strongholds. After wandering through the Twin Lakes RV city, the beaten path passed quickly beneath our feet. Returning to Little Slide always gets me fired up; this magical narrow canyon has some of the best granito anywhere!

Our mission for the day is the Polish Route, rumored to have excellent wide climbing on the left side of the Incredible Hulk. As usual, the Hulk did not disappoint, this route is amazing! The twin splitter cracks visible from afar were the highlight, two cracks to jam! After "finishing" the route on the large ledge below the ridgeline, we contemplated our options.

Continue up the ridge? Daylight fading...no.

Rappel into the gully to the North? Looks chossy and not so fun.

Rappel the unknown route to the left, hoping Peter Croft had a 70m rope as well. Yes!

The rappels down Blowhard went great, Croft did have a 70...

Except for one stuck rope, which Tim retrieved quickly.

The next day dawned cool and windy as a cold front moved into the area. As we lay in our bags it was pretty obvious Positive Vibes would be a full on Patagonian style sacrifice to the wind god, which we weren't into at the time. So, we headed down valley to Outguard Spire a really neat looking tower with a reported great route on the E. Face. The climbing was grand, really fun, and stimulating! The clouds swirled around us, occasionally gathering enough force to snow and quicken our pace. We summited in a calm moment and enjoyed the views of northern Yosemite's granite landscape.

After another great Little Slide trip, Tim and I are both really stoked to get back, for there is always more to do in this special spot of the world!

West Face Enclosure, Grand Teton, WY

Alex Stroud and I recently climbed the West Face of the Enclosure, a sub-peak of the Grand Teton, WY. We left the Valhalla traverse soon after the Black Rock and began traversing the West Face.

(Vallhalla Traverse is visible 1000 ft. below Alex)

Soon after a low pressure system moved through the Tetons, we headed to the Lower Saddle which is located at the top of Garnet Canyon. The melt-freeze cycle was in full effect and we enjoyed lots of sun on the hike in. The South-facing rock was completely dry, however, the North and West aspects had become vertical winter playgrounds!

Our rack included a set of Camalots to #2, 1 set of stoppers, 4 express ice screws, two tools, and horizontal front-point crampons. I placed 14 ice screws on the West face.
Amazing mixed climbing on the entire spectrum of frozen water (powder snow, snice, water ice, alpine ice, resident glacier ice) and increasingly higher quality gneiss.

Alex exits an awkward squeeze onto the Enclosure summit ridge.

Cumbre a muerte!

Tetons

The Teton Range at Sunset

Nice Beaver!

Some invasive plants are best viewed from afar, like this thistle in Lupine Meadows.

Bachar Boulders

Maximus

After a few days froggin' in the High Sierra, bouldering is the ideal evening activity on the Eastside. Bubble-pocket volcanic tuff is scattered among the dry pine forests around Mammoth. Climbing on the cooled ashen remains from the eruption of the Long Valley Caldera volcano 760,000 years ago is a powerful experience. The explosive energy tap is open, if you feel it...

Hard'n Root, Mt. Conness

Behold!

Go up

Breakfast of chimps

High above Tuolumne

Warren Harding's 1959 FA bolts, straight balla'

Clip it or whip it

Unleash the OW monkey!!!

Baagaawwk! Tasty Chicken Wing!

Stellar granite on the upper pitches

Cumbre!

Feelin' great

Squamish Season

Three days is not enough time in Squamish. With the correct tour guides, it's barely enough time to get a good look around.

Rachel and I had a civilized start to the Angel's Crest on the Chief. The tree climb start quickly returned me to childhood memories of monkey business.

The totem pole kept us on track... all smiles. The smiles faded quickly as we navigated treed ledges and steep fixed lines to the base of High Planes Drifter. Squamish served it up all right.

Do all the young men solo for the correct reasons in Canada as they do in the U.S.?

Non-climbing highlights of the trip include: explaining to Phillipe what Putin is (frenchfries and gravy); the Cowboy/girl and Indian party at the Sqauamish Mountain Festival; and getting back into the United States of American without being searched!

Salud to all the Monkeys in Squamish SENDING!

High and Dry

Don't look directly at IT...
Keebler Needle's always watching

SALUD!
Steven Timothy Dittman

Nimbus Pitch 1
Wheeee!

Launching Nimbus Pitch 2

Splitteron, CA

'Bama Hills
"The Poormans J-Tree"

Definitely watch out for this guy...

The Eastern Sierra may be the greatest rock destination on Planet Earth; pick the season, pick the location, then get yer crush on!
Season: Summer (When its hot, go higher)
Destination: Whitney Portal

Its hot, hi in the hundos, as I cruise the Neil Mobile southward through the searing desert sagebursh on HWY 395 with AC at 9am. Soundtrack is Pink Floyd's "Animals", face melting guitar solos and sharp commentary on humanities social downfall; its LOUD! Im psyched to meet Tim Dittman and explore The Portal's white hot granite.

Day one finds us on Nimbus, an excellent three pitch climb emphasizing slab footwork and stellar crackage. As we begin to notice, slab is quite common here, after climbing 'Tanager' another awkward leaning tight hands crack with exfoliant granito smearing my calves were screaming lactic acid barfies. Call it a day...to The Portal Store for nourishment!

Next, we couldn't pass up Bony Fingers, possibly the most classic route around. Seriously, finger cracks don't get any splitterton. Check out those Diorite knobs!!! A whale of a tale....

Thanks for the photos Timmy; I'm getting a smaller camera for climbing, stay tuned.

Friendlies From Leavenworth to the Tetons

Jens and Max on the perfect ledge below ROTC crack on the recently opened Midnight Rock.

Ty and Matt sicking me on the Gallatin Canyon's best cracks.

Family Life in the Tetons

Mountain Corn putting the high hemoglobin count to good use in Teton Canyon.

Grand times!

Neil recently started work on the East Side of the Sierra. However, he was able to lead all but two pitches of the Nose before committing to the grind.

The drive down from Washington was augmented with good company and climbing in Montana. The Yellowstone Ecosystem serves it up. The top of the food chain is not humans down here...