Back in July, on a hike up to Chasm Lake as part of our 14er training regime, we took a long, waterside break to take in the stunning views. Among the more exciting scenes was a pair of climbers making their way up a multi-pitch route on a huge wall next to the lake. Turns out it was an Arc’teryx photo shoot!
I couldn’t stop taking photos. My Canon G16 is a really sweet camera, but I’m tempted to carry my older Canon SX230 as well, for moments such as these. The G16 has a fast processor and (at least to my layman’s eyes) a really good sensor, making it good for close action shots, landscapes, difficult lighting and so on, but the SX230 has a super powerful optical zoom especially for a tiny camera. I’m just gonna have to get strong enough to lug around all the toys…
Three days in California is not enough. It was time enough, however, for a great adventure planned out for us by our friend David, who Catherine and I met in person for the first time as he and Paul picked us up from SFO late Friday night, grabbing In and Out on the way to Sacramento. Catherine and I have both been to California before, since she’s hiked the Lost Coast and I lived there when I was much younger, but this was our first trip together to CA.
We left for Lake Tahoe the next morning, trading the 110 degree heat in the city for bluebird skies and 80 degrees in the mountains. Our goal was to go bouldering at Bliss. Catherine provided photo documentary for most of the trip.
Awesome bald peaks surrounding us on the drive up.
We arrived without a guidebook and only a general idea of where to go. We pulled over, grabbed the bouldering pad, and walked right up to some incredible boulders strewn about the high Sierra terrain. We spent the afternoon clambering all over them, scouting new boulders as we went.
I captured some of our bouldering on my goPro, and sped it up. I’ve tried in the past to leave goPro on while camping, etc, but always screw it up, so it’s great to have something to look back on.
If you don’t care for video, I also snapped a few photos of the fun!
Catherine heading up a fun problem.
Paul’s turn.
David showing us how it’s done in Vans.
Ian with the hand-jam.
We climbed both sides of the big boulder, and though the crash pad wasn’t much use it was Type I, truly fun climbing, not grit your teeth, always about to fall climbing.
Paul gets rad boulder jumping.
David on some prime rock.
Me, trying my hand at the route.
As our fingers tired and we were done baking in the sun, we headed down to the lake and jumped in. The water was crystal clear, almost Caribbean. We weren’t quite done climbing and jumping off rocks, so we wandering down the shore a ways and found a secluded spot to test the waters.
As the evening crept in, we drove down out of the mountains, though we all wanted to stay. David had other plans for us the rest of the weekend. The next day we headed for the coast north of San Fran, and stopped to boulder at a creek along the way. This time the rock was volcanic and blocky, and the water was even colder and more refreshing.
Catherine at our second hang out, under the bough of a shade giving tree.
Time to cool off! It was over 100 again.
Paul won for best leap.
We swam out to a rock filled with swallows nests.
Later that afternoon we were at Mt. Tamalpais, and drove down for dinner on Stinson beach.
, Mt. Tam environs.
Our awesome tour guides and bouldering buddies for the trip, David and Paul.
We camped out on top of Mt. Tam, and hung around for a bit in the morning. We considered trying to rent some surfboards since a number of people were tout on the water, but decided better of it. Instead, we headed back to San Francisco for a bit of city tourism before our flight out. Thanks David, Paul and Ian, for a great trip!
After earning some turns, we set off the next morning for Vantage, WA to climb at Frenchman Coulee. I’ll be writing this entry since Sweeney has a backlog of his own adventures to catch up on, so stay tuned for that. Vantage was quite a change of environment, by leaving spring in Seattle, driving up over Snoqualmie Pass, through winter and into arid flat lands. Catherine has a great photo post of the trip, but I’ll try to add some details about the climbing itself.
Frenchman Coulee was pretty impressive upon arrival. There was tons of routes and plenty of climbers out already.
First we ascended a ridge to get to the other side of the canyon. Descending through a chimney,
Which lead us down to the routes.
After staring at the guidebook on the Sunshine Wall for awhile, we picked a rote that wasn’t listed but looked fun and doable, considering I hadn’t lead climbed for about a year. Nearly all the climbing in Vantage is sport, or trad.
We suited up, and I started leading.
A little rusty at first, it was a good first route to lead on, maybe 5.6 or 5.7?
Roughly everyone who passed us with a real guidebook asked us which route this was (just right of the chimney). I think it was in the Stems & Seeds section, but we couldn’t answer their questions.
Catherine on route.
With Sweeney on belay.
Catherine un-clipped the ‘biners, with finesse, and next up Sweeney climbed and cleaned the route.
And once cleaned, got the fun of rappelling off.
Afterwards we prospected some more routes.
But ultimately decided for a lunch break and choosing a campsite. Back up through the chimney we saw a lot of climbing going on at a tower and on the Feathers, our afternoon objective.
A prime camping location was chosen, and the lunching commenced.
The Feathers were up next. Again the guidebook was falling a bit short in describing the numerous routes. We picked a good looking one, but the crux was a little tougher than anticipated at 5.9, we later found out.
We hung around the Feathers and then retired to our campsite for frisbee and dinner.
Afterwards we stayed up to watch the stars, although some clouds rolled in.
The photos are a compilation of Catherine’s, Sweeney’s and mine. The square ones were borrowed from Catherine’s instagram. She was the main photographer for the day.
I wasn’t sure it would happen, but this past August I managed to continue the tradition of making it up to Acadia at least once. I had to drive by myself both ways, but it was totally worth it for an amazing weekend on the island.
I drove up Friday and made it onto the island in time to settle in before it got too late. Saturday morning we put in my sister’s Kayak and rented another to head out into Somes Sound. The weather was perfect, blue skies, and glassy ocean without much wind.
Out in Somes Sound. Calm morning, and still water.
The sea life must’ve agreed with us, since we saw a few seals and several porpoises. Not pictured, unfortunately.
My sister in her personal boat. That I have no chance of getting into.
After being on the water for a few hours, we went to pick up a park pass and then drove in search of the glorious Jordan Pond house popovers, something I’ve missed out on the past few years.
Glorious.
The day wasn’t over yet though. A quick jaunt along Jordan Pond brought us to the southern ascent of the South Bubble, a great steep, short hike. I went for a brief jog to scope out the climbing in the area, and after a bit of scrambling determined where it was, but further investigation was for another day. We made it up to Bubble rock just as the sun began to sink low.
Hangin' out on top.
The view from South Bubble.
Afterwards we executed a mission to quickly pick up some beer and burritos, then went on a night hike to our preferred hang out to enjoy our plunder.
Sunday morning we got up early for some delicious breakfast, after which I headed to Otter Cliffs to meet up with Sukes for some climbing. The cliffs were bustling with guides, their groups, and a few other pairs of climbers. It was definitely busier than I’d ever seen. Luckily now that I have some pro, Sukes and I were able to quickly pick out a route we figured we’d have no problem getting up, and start setting up.
Sukes and his Dad, enjoying the great view.
Cordelette in action for a 3 piece anchor. The puddle is all part of it.
Close-up of our top-belay system. Use a second rope for rappelling down if you have it. We were shown this setup by some climbers on our first Otter Cliff outing. Black 'biner is for lowering, silver is for belaying.
We set on a fun 5.7 with big blocks, ledges and a fun crux. It was slightly overhanging with a few hidden pockets. Unfortunately we were both short on time, so after we lowered each other and ascended twice, we called it a day.
Sukes getting fully extended on the block-y ledges.
Me, right at the crux.
Second time around. Resting briefly before the crux.
After climbing I laid low at camp and enjoyed some quality family time. The drive home had the usual traffic, but it was totally worth it, as always.
