mountains

LT0625

lakes, mountains
Last weekend we made the drive from San Jose to South Lake Tahoe for the weekend. We met up with the friends and climbed at Beavers area and Christmas Valley. My finger was still in pretty bad shape so I didn’t climb that much, but managed to send Arsenic Sauce and Tall Boy in the valley. I got close to Beaver Cleaver but my hip kept locking up on the mantle. Despite the incoming Summer heat and the mosquitos it was a good time. Def want to come back a few more times; Tahoe has so much to offer.

YSMT1006

forest, mountains
Just two weeks after our last visit, Natalie and I made the trip back to Yosemite for our actual elopement. We got a really nice AirBNB in Yosemite West for two nights, and camped for the rest of the weekend. Marissa, our photographer, took photos of us on Thursday in a couple of places. Friday I was able to send Housekeep Face – Natalie resent it too. We had some fun on an easy traverse and checked out Pathway Arete (traverse?) V3 – definitely want to finish it, but would feel much more comfortable with another 2 pads and 2 spotters. Saturday we hiked to the top of Vernal Falls via Mist Trail, which was a bit much for Nat. We then reluctantly hopped on Angler in Curry Village – couldn’t make much progress on it given our tired state. Looking forward to seeing the photos from our elopement. Also couldn’t be more excited to be married to Natalie. Life’s good.

YSMT0916

mountains
Natalie and I recently went to Yosemite to look for photo locations. We hiked up to Inspiration Point and then started Four Mile Trail, but turned around after about 1.5 miles because Natalie got tired. I think she had mild altitude sickness. Will probably do the 3 mile hike to Union Point next time. We bouldered a little bit in the valley too. Oh, and a bear snuck into our campsite and stole/destroyed one of my plano totes. My Snowpeak titanium mug survived, along with my other coffee stuff. And then on the last morning I accidentally drove halfway to the valley with my backpack on the roof of the truck. Later that afternoon I couldn’t find the fuji camera and thought it may have fallen out of the pack, but I found it eventually and was relived. It rained that night and the next morning.

YSMT0311

mountains
Late thursday evening, natalie and I made the drive from san jose to dry gulch campground, just outside of yosemite. This would be nat’s first time to yosemite and I was excited to share my favorite place with her. we checked out a few bouldering areas around the park; curry west, camp 4 (center and east), housekeeping boulders. The way the sun hits the valley this time of year sort of splits the two sides into separate seasons; the south side stays winter, while the north is warm and feels like spring. I managed to send nothing, and my elbow started hurting again like it did pre-surgery which was a little unnerving. Natalie sent housekeeping face (v2), and we had fun on kevin’s traverse. we also got on circuit breaker (which is an insanely photogenic rock, sitting all alone underneath staircase falls), zorro, and chapman overhang. Got pretty close on zorro (v4), maybe next time – need to throw right to the rail, not left. Just wasn’t climbing strong that weekend. We also made the small hike to mirror lake, and lower yosemite falls.

Oh, I also proposed to natalie -she said yes. I love her more than anything.

太陽と火

forest, landscape, mountains
‘Surely from time to time, for its vestiges never depart, it floats through our atmosphere.’
We ventured up the 395 to Lone Pine this past holiday weekend to explore some bouldering routes West of Rovana near Pine Creek.  We initially wanted to go a little further North around Mammoth area but due to the Creek Fire we were limited in how far we could safely go.  We camped across the road at Pleasant by the reservoir on Sunday night and then headed to Alabama Hills for some sport climbing.  The fire season this year has been among the worst California has seen, and it was somewhat surreal to be able to climb in a landscape that was painted in such a brightly de-saturated orange hue. All photos taken with my Fuji X100T