Adventures by Alan and Melanie
The Eastern Sierra Nevada is perhaps the most beautiful and inspiring mountain range in the whole world. The views from US-395 anywhere between Lone Pine and Mammoth Lakes are second to none. When deciding where to go for a week-long adventure in September, this was an easy choice.
Continue reading “Sierra week part 1: Eastern Sierras”
In the light of the moon, we strapped on our crampons and stepped onto the snow. Despite the fact that it was 2:30 AM, we were wide awake. Our path up the mountain was glowing in the night – a steep gully cutting steeply up the black, rocky slopes of the volcano.
Continue reading “Trip Report: Mt. Shasta West Face Gully”
Our day started before the sun lit the valley, and we excitedly finished off oatmeal and coffee before lacing up boots and beginning the walk to the Aiguille du Midi chairlift. Our goal was Rebuffat-Baquet (6a/5.10-), a beautiful and sustained eleven pitch alpine granite route that finishes with a rappel onto the tourist viewing platforms.
Our drive into the Dolomites took us through picturesque mountain towns where “danke schoen” worked just as well as “gratzie” and restaurants served pizza and pasta alongside pretzels and schnitzel. The views opened up suddenly and the towering dolomites took our breath away. While in this Italian mountain range, we hiked, climbed, and “via ferrata’d”, all offering incredible adventure and scenery.
This long alpine route was at least as mentally demanding as it was physically demanding. In the mostly stable weather of August 1st, 2018, Melanie and I set off from the Muttekopfhutte hut (1,934 m) at 6:15 AM. The route summits the Hintere Platteinspitze (2728 m) after about 690 m of 5th class climbing.
Frey was one of the first destinations we had decided on for our trip to Argentina. The mountain destination came highly recommended from a climbing friend, and is easily accessible from the town of Bariloche. After a 3 hour hike from the Cerro Catedral ski resort, we arrived to Refugio Frey. Within the hour, before even setting up our tent, we were off to climb “El Diedro de Jim” (Jim’s dihedral). Our introductory climb in the area was a perfect dihedral followed by a perfect crack in the granite face of “Aguja Frey,” the nearest spire to the hut. A perfect start to the week…
July 30th, 2017
From the moment I first saw a photo of the massive granite formation overlooking gorgeous glacial lakes, I have wanted to climb Temple Crag. Alan and I had already requested Monday off to take our engagement photos in the evening, so it was the perfect time to head into the eastern Sierras to conquer the climb over the weekend. We drove to Lone Pine on Friday night to camp under the Milky Way and wake up early to snag overnight permits.
After an incredible night’s sleep, we awoke in Lyell Canyon ready for a more mellow day of hiking. We began by walking through the lush river valley, stopping often to admire the wildlife and scenery. Eager to see what the trail had in store for us, I took the lead and nearly walked into a deer casually grazing feet from the trail. One of us was startled, and it wasn’t the deer!
Day 2 took us over Donohue pass and into the beautiful Lyell canyon
We woke up to gorgeous skies on the second day, and started off to tackle Donohue Pass, our most elevation gain in a single day of the entire hike. The trail (which was more of a series of 50 foot muddy segments split by large patches of snow) began by descending toward a rushing river. After admiring many waterfalls, we reached a water crossing where we encountered a group (pack? school?) of PCT hikers, who splashed right through the cold water rather than finding the dry log bridge.
A perfectly still and clear Thousand Island lake reflects Banner peak, and a thin sheet of ice remains on most of the lake. It’s an odd experience to see so much ice and snow in summer weather – it was at least 70° while we were at the shore.
