The North Sister
Kjersti and I had traveled out to the Pacific Northwest in the spring of 2024 to visit some of her family and friends, welcome Baby Eli to the world and for a bit of outdoor adventuring. One of the weekends, we ventured over to Bend, Oregon. After a night of drinking wine and enjoying great conversation with Shannon and Graham (Shannon drank no wine because she was pregnant), we packed our stuff for a ski adventure the next day. I had run ~50 miles in the Grand Canyon the weekend before, so I was feeling a bit exhausted, but in trademark Clemmie and Kjersti style, our optimism was sky high. Kjersti was totally crushing it on the ascent and I was certainly dragging behind her, wondering when she got so fast. At some point things got very technical on the ridgeline and stayed very technical for a while. I did get quite sun-burned during this episode, but it was impossible to predict how long we would be traversing a no-fall zone. We had brought only one ice axe each, which was perhaps an error. The ski down was glorious and the exhaustion levels were high.
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The Long's Peak Triathlon
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Not bad for an adventure that started and ended in my kitchen. Krz and I set out late in the night on our bicycles and headed up the 40 miles to the Long's Peak trailhead. We then boogied up to the base of the Diamond and simul-climbed The Casual Route in 3 cool pitches. Spoiler: it didn't feel so casual after ~6 hours of night movement but was all kinds of fun. The bike ride back from Long's Peak trailhead back home is an absolute joy - nothing but free-wheeling all the way to Lyons. Krz tried to teach me the art of drafting. I don't think I mastered it - learning is hard after 90 miles of multi-sport motion - you can't win 'em all!
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A Collection of Alpine Climbing Adventures
The Saber, Southwest Corner
Early season 2024, Keiko and I had a quick trip up the Southwest Corner of the Saber. She had climbed this route about a million times as part of a challenge a previous season, but I had never been on this feature, so was feeling pretty jazzed. As we approached the base, we saw another party racking up. Sometimes this can be a bit of a bummer because it is cold and working out who is moving more quickly can be tricky. In this case, it was another party of women and we all had so much fun! Everything went very smoothly other than the expensive speeding ticket we got on the way out of the park. We also had to carry 2 extra ropes out, which someone had gotten stuck. We were able to return to them a few weeks later. We were joking that every time the two of us venture into the alpine together, we end up finding a whole bunch of expensive equipment.
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Pervertical Sanctuary
Keiko and I wandered in to The Diamond on Long's Peak in the super early morning to climb Pervertical Sanctuary. We did make a wrong turn right out of the parking lot trying to get onto the climbers' trail - oops! After a pretty heinously snowy final approach, the climbing was amazing - super solid rock on a steep and obvious line. It was a bit strenuous as the climbing was sustained and you are at ~14,000 feet of elevation. For the way down, we had heard that the rappel route was newly equipped, so we planned to rappel. We also figured that since it was a weekend day with great weather, there would be a ton of people up there, so we only brought one rope and a Beal escaper, assuming that we would be able to share ropes with someone else and would only have to use the escaper in emergencies. This was an incorrect assumption. The Diamond was empty. And, while all the bolts were new, they were not yet connected with rings, so we were using the escaper on a single bolt for all five rappels. So that was a bit scary. We also found an entire rack that someone had accidentally left on Broadway. Luckily we were able to carry it out and return it to them the next week. We made it home for an early dinner, which was some fish that Joe had caught fishing that day!
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Kasparov Traverse (Shoshoni to Apache to Navajo)
Will and I headed into the Indian Peaks to traverse the ridgeline from Shoshoni over to Apache, climbing the chessmen as we went and then finished on Navajo and descended Airplane Gulley, where we found old engine parts and the wing box of the C-47 that crashed there in the 1940s. We biked in from the lower parking lot and then hiked up, scrambled across and ran down. Things were hurting after the 40+ mile run I had done with Johnny and Ethan in the Chicago Basin less than a week before.
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Zowie
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My first time climbing with Alejandra, we went up to RMNP and climbed Zowie. We were doing some weather watching as thunder was for sure closing in as we were approaching the top of the tower but we were done with the rappels before the rain started briefly. Fun day with mellow climbing, alpine lake swimming and good snacks.
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Challenger Point
Andrew and I simul-climbed about 1,500' of the route called Septem Virtutum Anima Mea and then did the epic ridge traverse up to Challenger Point and across to Kit Carson. We were celebrating Andrew's 28th birthday! The big-horned sheep greeted us at many points on our journey. The day was not over after the second summit as we needed to descend a steep snowy couloir using rocks as ice axes. Andrew battled a case of the "screaming barfies" like a champ when the blood rushed back into his gloveless hands part way down the couloir.
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Spearhead
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Momo and I made our way up the Barb on the Spearhead. Momo ate a a barbacoa burrito prior to the ascent for preparation. It was not a good idea.
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Petit Grepon
There's no bad day for a party climb. Five of us (me, Brynn, Kjersti, Jimmy and Abe) piled into one car for an alpine start and climbed the South Face of the Petit Grepon. Jimmy, Brynn and Kjersti climbed as a party of three and I led Abe (in town from San Francisco) up for his first alpine route. One other pair came up behind us without the correct length of rope for getting off the summit, so with a storm rolling in, all seven of us rode our ropes to the ground. If it was a party climb, it was definitely a party descent.
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Kit Carson
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Pete and I got a late start from the monastery parking lot in the Crestones, but nonetheless made quick work of the Prow on Kit Carson. We made it down after the sun had set, so didn't have time to go to the sand dunes, but did have time to enjoy some gummy bears back at the van.
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Hallett Peak
Krz and I figured we could get in one last late season alpine route if we moved efficiently to beat the rain that was forecast. We decided on the classic Culp-Bossier route on Hallett Peak. While it did start showering just as I was starting up the last pitch, we are calling it a win in terms of staying dry enough!
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Lone Eagle Peak
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I went out to the Indian Peaks with Pete to climb the North Face of Lone Eagle Peak. Such a dramatic looking feature with a stunning approach and straightforward climbing. Only a bit of post-holing required for the descent!
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The Colorado 14ers... Not a Short Term Project
When I moved to Colorado, I started to think that a cool way to get familiar with my local mountains would be to summit all of the peaks above 14,000 feet in the state. I think there are officially 53, so when there are 53 photos in this section, I will have done them all. Seems kinda far off!
