Dreams of Patagonia

Alpine ice high on the Whillians route, Aguja Poincenot.

Looking at the East side of Aguja Rafiel (right) and St. Exupery (left). Neil and I rappeled off the face on Exupery with the horizontal ledges and wrapped around to lookers left and into the darkness after climbing Last Gringos Standing.

Gary dislplays his girlfriends panties. This only begins to explain the nickname...

On the approach to the Whillians via passo superior.

The striking Aguja Pallone.

Mark Givens recently shared some rarely seen images of the East Side of the Fitz Roy Group. Mark and his climbing partner Gary provided some much needed comical relief as our three months in Chalten wound down. Everyone gets nicknames in Chalten. Neil and I are known as Los Hermanos Kauffman. Mark and Gary were known as Ace and Gary after the Mad TV skit...

New Route in Death Canyon

Looking at the Snaz from the Alien wall.

The 5.6 ramp that is shared with the Predator.



Sappy! Check out what my tether is girth hitched onto. The tree was bigger than forearm at the point at which the achor is attached.

Mark Givens and I recently joined forces in the Tetons. Our intention was the Predator in Death Canyon, an unrepeated Tackle-Donini route put up in 1987. However, upon closer ispection the said "left facing corner" was actually a seriously dirty and overhanging right facing corner in which the first ascentionists resorted to aid.

Mark and I decided to head left into free-climbing terrain and were rewarded by a highly featured gneiss face with good protection. For more info check out www.straighdopestraightrope.blogspot.com

I LOVE Indian Creek!!

Indian Creek is a very special place to many people who have spent time there and awaits discovery for many more. As the fall season rolls around, I'm psyched to return to "The Creek" to see my friends and meet many new ones, not to mention climb the SICKEST CRACKS IN THE WORLD!!

I'm thinking about the future of "the Creek", we all love it for the free spirit of this amazing desert landscape, one of the last free climbing areas in the States. Let's keep it that way! If you haven't read the Access Fund's comments on the BLM Management Plan, please do it. It's our responsibility as "locals" to know the rules and inform others. If we don't treat this place right, we'll be paying fees for toilets and packed into designated BLM campgrounds!

Consider joing the Access Fund and Friends of Indian Creek, they are both committed to keeping the Creek free.

Basically the BLM is running a trial period to test whether we can handle the freedom from fees and more regulations. We need to strictly adhere to "Leave No Trace" ethics: Pack out ALL your shit, including all your shit! Wag bags are available, or you can use plastic bags pretty easily (ewwww!....get over it). Cat holes and the "shit-put" are no longer acceptable! Tread lightly on sensitive areas by using established trails and avoiding crytobiotic soil at all costs ("Dont Bust the Crust"...I'm a soil ambassador). Leave your dogs if possible, they don't understand how to protect the fragile desert. If you must bring your pet, keep it under control at all times and clean up its shit; keep it on trails and off the crypto. (Don't make Alf shoot your dog!) We need to re-evaluate the campfire scene: it's pretty great to have the warmth and spirit of a fire on those cold desert nights. However, gathering firewood at the Creek has a huge impact and is definately against the rules. Bringing wood from outside the area and limiting wood consumption are the best solutions. We need to preserve and protect Indian Creek so we can happily climb there forever!!

See y'all there in November!!

http://www.accessfund.org/site/c.tmL5KhNWLrH/b.4861253/k.BDBB/Home.htm

http://www.friendsofindiancreek.org/index.php

Comments on the BLM Plan:(http://www.accessfund.org/atf/cf/%7B1F5726D5-6646-4050-AA6E-C275DF6CA8E3%7D/UT__Indian%20Creek%20Corr_8.27.2003.pdf)

Kings Canyon Park

This is the lightest-colored Sierra Yellow-Legged Frog I've seen

Great frog lakes;

storm's a brewin'

Heinous 'schwackin

This is one of the biggest...78 grams!

The Sierra Crest

Mt Darwin and Mt Mendel

Upper Evolution Canyon

Max and I have just emerged from the backcountry of Kings Canyon National Park after a six day froggin' trip through some of the High Sierra's trademark terrain along the John Muir/Pacific Crest Trail. Our mission was to visit sites that have not yet shown positive infections of the deadly amphibian chytrid fungus. The trip was eye-opening; there were thousands of adult frogs all over these lakes, too many to count! This was but a snapshot of the days before trout and chytrid invaded the frog havens of the Sierra, damn shame...

Little Egypt

Lockin' n Rockin' on Espresso Crack

Max is not afraid of Cannibals

Deep in Classic Crack

Just West of Bishop you will find Little Egypt; a similar environment to J-Tree, with the high desert feel and sweeping views of the huge Sierra peaks, Mt. Tom, Basin, and Humphreys. We came to climb the cracks: rough, gritty and spectacular!

Pine Creek

Max below Rites of Spring, Pratt's Crack is the big corner to the right...

Max jammin'

Contemplating the chimney...

My gobie

Pine Creek Canyon just North of Bishop hides a vast expanse of granite towers and gullies, the premier venue being the Pratt's Crack Gully. Here is the best rock and an awesome setting, 400 ft granite walls above a narrow vegetated slot in the canyon cut by the stream. Max and I climbed 'Rites of Spring', an excellant crack line with four pitches of great jamming! I also re-opened my knee gobie from the 'Cardinal Sin' OW!!

Cardinal Pinnacle!

The Cardinal Pinnacle!

~500 ft of granite goodness

Notice the bulging calf muscle...

Max crushing 5.10 OW

Trying the Bard-Harrington Finish high atop Cardinal Pinnacle

Mt. Conness

Max at work

Gotcha!

Just West of Bishop is this immaculate chunk of white Sierra granite, the good stuff! Max found us a great OW to play on, really good knee-locks (I've got a gobie) and hand-fist stacking! There are many excellant cracks here, the B-H Finish is a stellar thin hands crack with awesome exposure...we'll be back!

We've also recently been to one of our froggiest sites; there are thousands of freshly metamorphosed subadults, swarms of tadpoles, and hundreds of adults! Its nice to visit a place like this after seeing so many dwindling populations around the Sierra. Not really sure why they're doing so well at this spot...

The Incredible Hulk!

Me on Pitch 1

Great fun on Pitch 3

Thoroughly worked...

Nick and I have returned from our car to car effort on The Hulk, trying to climb new terrain for both of us on the Astro-Hulk route. The weather was as good as the Sierra gets, not a cloud and a slight breeze to keep the sun pleasant. After climbing the first four pitches of Positive Vibrations to the bivy ledge, we began looking for the route with only a vague description. Not really sure where the line goes, but we climbed some good corner systems for a few pitches before bailing back to the ledge...all in all a grand adventure filling in the gaps on this amazing hunk of granite! By the time we got back to the ground I was totally worked and even managed to puke up some food and water! (Don't forget your electrolytes) Stumbling back to the car at 8pm rounded out the mission, I think I'll camp next time!

Hello All!

It's been too long since the last posting, so here's what I've been up to...

Owens Valley Sunset

A Colorful Tree Frog

Me swabbing a Sierra Yellow-Legged Frog for the amphibian chytrid fungus

Meagan at Knapsack Pass with North Palisade towering over Palisade Basin

Nick climbing at the Tioga Cliff

Max gettin freaky on the Gong Show at Rock Creek

Weird slot at the Druid Stones, still waiting the send!

Need pants, long sleeves, high tops!

My quads and calves are bulging after two months of hiking all over the Sierra for work and play! The weather in Cali has been unusually cooler and wet making for some interesting froggin trips. I'm working on a National Science Foundation funded grant through UC Santa Barbara studying the amphibian chytrid fungus' effects on the Sierra Yellow-Legged Frog. Check out mylfrog.org for more info.

On days off, we rest our legs and pump out our upper bodies on offwidths! I'm real excited to head back to the Incredible Hulk with Nick for a few days off!

Leugo!

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.