Another year, another mountain summary post. Here’s what stood out to me in my mountain pursuits this year.
Denali
Denali was definitely the “main” thing I focused on for 2021. It was my first expedition, and the hardest thing I have done physically. I feel really lucky that I climbed Denali in 2021, because it honestly lined up perfectly with the state of the world. Given the pandemic, I wasn’t really seeing friends in the first half of 2021, which left me the time I needed to focus on Denali. For the first half of the year, I pretty much just worked, trained for Denali, and planned for Denali. And then I got my vaccine in time to go on the expedition with much less fear of covid!
At 11k camp.
Denali was honestly a blast. I came away feeling excited about expeditions, very excited to hopefully do more of them in the future. We had a really smooth time on the mountain. Our team worked well together, we had good weather, and we made it up and down in 13 days. Since we didn’t have to endure any crazy storms, I do wonder if we “missed out” on some of the experience, but what can ya do. I’m not going to complain about good weather! I also feel so fortunate that I was able to swing this with work, and that we had a great team (that included my favorite partner - hi Leo).
Ticking off this goal I’ve had for a number of years, I definitely had a bit of that post-accomplishment lull. I did the thing; now, what’s next? While Denali gave me more confidence in my ability to carry heavy loads, operate at altitude, and pull off an expedition, it was also pretty much a walk up. It feels silly to attempt another “walk-up” expedition, but I also am not great at more technical climbing and don’t know if I want to put in tons of hours to get better at it. We’ll see.
Skiing
After finally spending a full winter living in the mountains, I truly fell in love with skiing. It’s perhaps becoming the sport I am most excited about??? I am so thankful to live in a place where I can ski every day of the week in the winter. I foresee skiing becoming a bigger and bigger piece of my life.
It has been such a joy learning about so many different spots in the eastern sierra to earn some turns, and making new friends to share the stoke with. Also, skiing with Mica is one of my favorite things to do on the planet.
I still have a lot to improve in the sport, but it’s nice to be at a point where at least I’m rarely scared now.
In the June Lake backcountry.
Training
I kept with my Uphill Athlete coaching for the whole year, wow. Training for Denali was a huge focus of the first half of the year for me. I’m proud that I really stuck with it, especially with the workouts getting harder each week as we approached the trip. It definitely felt draining by the end, but it paid off on the mountain. At times it was frustrating that I had to prioritize training over smaller objectives. For example, friends would go out on big days that didn’t align with my training, because my body was too fatigued from the training to join, or because the day was big enough that my body would need several days to recover, making me less fit in the end. But I got some tough love from my coach, and it was helpful to learn about these concepts and what would prepare me most for Denali.
I also learned I truly am goal-motivated. There’s no way I could motivate myself to train so heavily otherwise. This makes the “what’s next” question that much more important.
Dreaded Denali sled training.
Notable peaks/outings
And now the meat of this post - the peaks that stand out the most to me of the year.
Cardinal Mountain: Welp, the winter got off to a real slow start, so I took advantage of the very low snow and ventured up Taboose Pass for my first time with Kavya. We did a one night trip to tag Cardinal Mountain, sleeping at the pass. It was definitely a novelty to tag such a high Sierra peak (13.4k ft) in January, and it’s always nice going to a new area. The hike to Taboose Pass is worth it alone for the views of Arrow Peak. Strava 1, Strava 2
Arrow Peak from Taboose Pass in a dry January.
Basin Mountain & Mount Tom: These were two separate outings, but I was elated to tag them both and complete the main peaks of the Bishop skyline! And, notably, the peaks on my frequently worn hat :) Leo and our friend brought skis for the Basin outing, to ski the classic east couloir. I knew my legs were jelly from all the training, so skipped out on the skis, but will have to go back to ski it someday. Strava 1, Strava 2
Did I mention that I climbed the mountain on my hat?
Mount McLoughlin: My only volcano ski of the year! Skied this to break the drive on a family trip to Bend, and it was a blast. Excellent corn. One to return to. Strava
Mount Julius Caesar: Notable because this was my first Sierra peak post Denali, and I got to spend the day with Mica :) Strava
Mica doing Mica things on Julius Caesar.
Lone Pine Peak: A fun day finally ticking off the classic North Ridge with Leo, Ben, and Jason. A route that is really up my alley - mostly scrambling with maybe pulling out the rope here and there. Great company, great weather, great route. 100% would do again. Strava
Jason sampling some fine high sierra granite on Lone Pine Peak.
July 4th peaks extravaganza (Arrow Peak/Pyramid Peak/Mount Wynne/Mount Pinchot/Striped Mountain/Goodale Mountain): My work gave us the entire week of 4th of July off. While I was oncall the first half of the week, I spent the second half doing a solo trip over Taboose Pass. Given it was just after the holiday, I couldn’t find any friends to join me, but that didn’t dissuade me. I ventured over Taboose Pass, making it to Bench Lake. The next day I did an enjoyable scramble up Arrow Peak, and then continued on to Pyramid Peak. I rolled my ankle very badly while between the peaks, resulting in a minor sprain. I was worried I might need assistance, but after some rest I was able to continue if I weighted my ankle straight on. I was able to make it to Pyramid Peak and then back to camp. (Side note: Pyramid Peak was my halfway point on the SPS list and the register was missing! So sad). I altered my plans for the next few days to attempt some peaks that would require minimal off trail hiking, which allowed me to still climb four more peaks before heading home. Six SPS in four days - a new record for me! Strava 1, Strava 2, Strava 3, Strava 4
Bench Lake was a mosquito nightmare, but at least it was pretty!
Rodgers Peak: Smoke season came early this season, but I was able to sneak in Rodgers Peak with a new friend Ethan on a random, clear Tuesday. Once smoke season begins, each clear day feels so special. Rodgers was my second longest dayhike to date clocking in at just under 29 miles, but I still had energy to jog in the last few miles, which felt like a huge win. Maybe pushing mileage more is in my future? Strava
At a lake below Rodgers Peak. Photo by Ethan Fichtner.
Palisade Crest: A big crew for a slightly technical peak! This day I was joined by AJ, Rafee, Lucas, and Brian for a climb up this very cool peak. While I have climbed other peaks in the area, I was unaware of all the cool pinnacles further along the crest, surrounding Palisade Crest. It was a great crew, and I got the chance to get to know Lucas and Brian a lot better. I don’t say this often, but a peak worth repeating. Strava
Just a bunch of dudes monkeying around on an exposed ridge.
Mount Hale & Mount Young: Two peaks on the other side of the Whitney Zone. Timed this well on a non-smoky day in smoke season. Notable, because it’s the first time I’ve broken 8k of both up and down vert in one day. I always worry about my knees on big vert days (since they’ve caused IT band problems in the past, causing me to take time off), but my body held up. I’ve learned in the past year that taking breaks (even just a few minutes every couple miles to break up the repetitive motion) is really saving my knees. Strava
Leo is a great partner to sandbag into doing 8k in a day.
Split Mountain: My final California 14er! I had been hoping to tag this peak all summer, but didn’t get around to it before smoke became an issue. While it snowed a lot in October, a dry November opened the door to tagging split in early December. Hannah and Brian brought the stoke for a very late season trip. The bit of snow that remained from October made the climb more interesting and memorable. The snow around a frozen Red Lake, with a bit of ice skating during sunset was also spectacular. A great last big peak of the year. :) Strava 1, Strava 2
Hannah headed up Split.
Goals
I had a lot of reflection on goals this year. Aside from Denali, my main goal of the year was to tag 30 new SPS, in honor of my 30th birthday. I ended the year with only 27 peaks, 3 short of my goal. This was an interesting goal, because, well, I *know* I can climb all peaks on the SPS list. This meant the goal was just a matter of time and dedication. I realized at times I was forced with the decision of going out and climbing a peak just because I felt I needed to achieve this goal, while missing out on time with friends or family or other responsibilities. For example, I went to Seattle for 2 weeks in September and 2 weeks in November to see my family. What if I had stayed here and climbed SPS peaks instead? Sure, I would have achieved my goal, but missed out on time with my family. I reflected a lot on how great goals can be for motivation, but how they can also throw your other priorities out of whack.
Given all that caveats… let’s see what I checked off from last year’s goals
What did I check off my list from last year?
Training, sticking with it - Yes, I did this :)
Improving skiing - Yes, I did this, but not really in a focused manner.
Denali - Yes!
Clyde Minaret - Foiled by smoke, sigh
Lone Pine Peak - Yes!
Red Dihedral on the Hulk - A big no. Again, I was so focused on SPS that I was really single-minded, and gave no thought to climbing.
Lurking Fear - The fall really flew by between the smoke, the snow, and my SPS goal. I also learned more about what it would mean to climb El Cap, and I’m not sure this is the right thing for me or if it would bring me much joy
Tower Peak - Smoke, again. Hopefully this year!
30 SPS - 27 instead, not bad!
Things I’m excited about in 2022
Skiing 100 days this season - This feels kind of silly, like my SPS goal, but it’s a good forcing factor for me to get out and get better at skiing. I do think I would benefit from more structure, rather than just doing 100 days, like lessons or a season-long clinic. I kind of mised the ball on that, but we’ll see how it goes
More climbing - Now that I’ve climbed Denali, I feel more of a desire to push some of my technical abilities. I’m considering doing a true climbing training cycle this year to see what gains I can make
Clyde Minaret, Merriam Peak - Clyde is a climbing carryover for years now. Merriam is new. I’d love to do the 10b route with Leo. That will be a big challenge for me, something for me to work towards
Trail running/rehabbing my ankle - I would love to spend more time in the mountains running rather than hiking, but my weak ankles have been problematic. I roll my ankles frequently, and it’s much more likely to happen when I’m running rather than hiking. I want to work to strengthen my ankles to make running more doable, and for the health of my ankles for years to come
These goals are more about what I want to improve rather than individual objectives, and I feel great about that. Excited to check in next year :)
We climbed Denali! Denali first came on my radar in 2013 when I was a senior in college and my older sister, Ephrat, climbed it with her now-husband, Luca, unguided. It sounded pretty absurd to me at the time. I was not yet outdoorsy, and this was just another amazing thing my older sister did that stunned me. Cut to 8 years later and I was planning an expedition of my own.
Originally I had been planning on a 2022 trip, but when a friend invited me on their trip, and I had been training with an Uphill Athlete coach already for 6 months, I said, screw it, why not. It ended up being amazing timing – I had little social life due to covid, which made spending most of my free time training or planning far less miserable, and, as a very privileged US citizen, vaccines were made available to me in time to go on the trip with far fewer worries from the pandemic.
Here’s my addition to the myriad of Denali trip reports already out there. This first post is just about gear. What I’d keep in mind reading this is everyone’s opinions on gear are totally colored by the kind of time they had on the mountain. If you had sun for 2 weeks, summitted quickly, and were off the mountain fast, you might not think you need some of the things people who suffered for 3 weeks in miserable weather did. Take everything with a grain of salt, and try to seek out experts like guides who have done 20 expeditions up there. For context on our trip, we had small storms, but were never moving on storm days (we had good weather forecasting, so planned to take rest days those days). Otherwise, we had good weather.
The Big™ things
Tent - Warmlite custom 3 person tent: I was incredibly concerned about weight on this trip, being a 120 lb 5’2” human. Most of the 4 season tents out there are incredibly heavy (the most popular tent we saw on the mountain was the Mountain Hardwear Trango 3, which comes in at a whopping 11 lbs). My sister had taken a small 2-person tent closer to a bivy tent, and I was inclined to do the same. Leo immediately vetoed that. He is 6’ tall and said he would just not be comfortable, and refused to bring a 2-person tent. My refusal to bring an 11 lb tent meant we were left with either Hilleberg (around ~7 lbs for a 3 person tent) or Warmlite (around ~4.5 lbs for a 3 person tent). Both were incredibly expensive, with Warmlite being the even more expensive option. In the end, we decided on the Warmlite tent though, since we will likely have this tent for the next 10+ years. I didn’t want to carry around those extra pounds for all that time. We also brought a foam floor from 40 Below with us to line the bottom of the tent floor, which was clutch. It made the tent incredibly comfortable (Leo’s inflatable sleeping pad even sprung a leak for half the trip, and he was still comfortable with the foam floor and his foam pad). The main issue with the Warmlite is it does not have a standard outdoor vestibule, which meant cooking at 17k camp, where we did not have a cook tent, was really miserable. We were thankfully only up there for 2 nights, but for teams that spend several days there, the vestibule is key.
Skis/ski boots - Scarpa Gea RS boots, Atomic Backland 85 skis, Dynafit Rotation bindings, Dynafit ski leashes: It seems everyone has an opinion here and none of them agreed with each other. People who had a lot of snow on their trip said to bring powder skis, others said to bring skinnier skis that can break through crud. In the end, I weighed my two pairs of backcountry skis and brought the lighter pair. It would have been nice to have an ultralight ski with an ultralight binding, but I wasn’t going to buy a new set of skis/bindings just for Denali.
Boots - La Sportiva G2SM, with 40 Below overboots for summit day: I struggled with what size to get these in. The 39 was a bit big on me, but with the thick socks I wore on the mountain, they ended up being perfect. Although we were on skis, we opted to bring double boots for the added margin of safety for our first trip. If I were to go back, I’d work to get my ski boots right to save the weight of bringing an extra pair of boots.
Sleeping Bag - Big Agnes Cinnabar -40: I was the only one in my group that had a -40F sleeping bag, but I get cold easily and wanted the security of knowing that no matter what I would be comfortable in my sleeping bag. That said, my partners were generally warm at night in their sleeping bags. It seemed to me that this sleeping bag hasn’t been out for that long, since I couldn’t find many reviews of it, but I decided to just go for it and was very happy with it in the end. Big shout out to Big Agnes for making a “short” length (5’6”), so for once in my life I didn’t have to carry an extra 6” of sleeping bag for no reason (why don’t more companies do this?!).
Parka - Patagonia Grade VII: There weren’t too many options out there as a petite woman who gets cold easily. I wanted a really beefy parka and most of them are “unisex” i.e. designed for men. This jacket is also “unisex”, but it does come in an XXS, which fit me pretty well. The only thing I’d improve about the fit is it was tight around my butt (ya girl’s got a butt), but it wasn’t too bad. Other than that, it kept me warm and I was happy with it.
Pack - Mountain Hardwear AMG 105: This was definitely the most popular pack on the mountain. I was pretty happy with it. Initially I bought the 75L one since I am a small human, but then in the weeks before the trip I got the 105 instead and was glad I did. I hate having to play tetris to fit everything just perfectly, and I had no issues fitting things with the 105L. It would have been nice to have an additional smaller summit day pack, but it wasn’t worth the weight to me.
Clothing - Bottom
Patagonia thermal weight long underwear
Patagonia active hipster underwear (3 pairs)
Outdoor Research Cirque pants - I love these.
Mountain Hardwear Stretch Ozonic Pants - I barely wore these, so can’t fully attest to them. But they were light and had full zips, which was what was important to me.
Feathered Friends Helios down pants - They were perfect.
Clothing - Top
Lululemon Free to Be sports bra - I made sure to bring my most comfy sports bra, since I’d be wearing it so often. On nights where I knew I’d need to get up early the next morning and it would still be cold, I wouldn’t take it off at night.
Lululemon tank top - I wore this as a base layer to keep my core warm.
Black Diamond sun shirt - I wore this every day.
Patagonia midweight baselayer - From 14k camp and up, I layered this over my tank top and under my sun shirt. I’m not sure the exact model since it’s a few years old.
Patagonia silkweight baselayer - This was my camp shirt that I kept dry in case I arrived at camp very sweaty and needed to change into something dry so that I wouldn’t be cold. I only really wore it on rest days.
Patagonia R1 - The greatest layer. This expedition was done in R1.
Patagonia Nano Air Hoody - My next layer I’d wear on top of my R1.
Patagonia Houdini - I wore this a good amount on the lower mountain, and then not on the upper mountain. It was nice to have for me, but probably not required.
Arctery’x Beta SL Hybrid shell jacket - My wind/rain shell. Worn more frequently on upper mountain/when it was very windy.
Patagonia Grade VII - Discussed more in depth above. Able to fit over all my baselayers/R1/insulating layer. I had also went back and forth on whether I should bring a layer in between my Nano Air and the parka (likely a Patagonia Down Sweater or a Mountain Hardwear Ghost Whisperer), but in the end I went without and it was fine. If I was moving, the Nano Air/R1 combo was enough. If I wasn’t, I put on my parka.
Clothing - Feet
Darn Tough Women’s Mountaineering Over-the-Calf Heavyweight Hiking Sock (2 pairs) - One pair was brand new/reserved exclusively for summit day. I wore the other pair getting to 14k and 17k camps. These were great.
Smartwool expedition weight socks - My tent socks, only worn in my sleeping bag/down booties.
Smartwool thin ski socks (2 pairs) - What I wore lower on the mountain when I was still in skis.
Liner socks (1 pair) - Would not bring them again.
Feathered Friends down booties - Loved them. Also wore them in my sleeping bag most nights.
La Sportiva G2SM double boots
Scarpa Gea RS ski boots
40 Below overboots - I also wore these over my down booties at camp frequently, which was very nice.
Clothing - Hands
Arctery’x liner gloves - The thinnest ones they make, which I wore only on the lower mountain.
Black Diamond fleece gloves - A slightly thicker pair that I wore higher on the mountain, but still fit in all of my burlier gloves.
Temres Showa Best insulated glove (aka fish gloves ) - IYKYK. If you don’t know, they’re a very cheap, waterproof glove. They’re a great work horse for all the digging you need to do in the snow.
Random pair of insulated/goretex gloves - I don’t know when or how I got these (before I was super outdoorsy/knew much about gear), but they served me well and I wore them plenty.
Outdoor Research Alti Mitts - Worn only when extremely cold (on summit day, and a few other times).
Clothing - Head
Trucker hat - To keep the sun off.
Julbo Monterosa glacier goggles with Beko nose protector
Back up full coverage dark sunglasses - Some cheap ones I keep around as a backup. You break your glacier goggles with no backup and you’re pretty screwed.
Buff (2) - A lot of people said to bring 2, but with how I used it I could have gotten away with just 1.
Face mask - I opted to bring a neoprene face mask instead of a balaclava. I only wore it on summit day as we descended, and even then didn’t feel I need it (but was glad to know I had it just in case).
Patagonia powder town headband - I have started wearing this instead of a beanie the past few years and I *love* it. I’m able to pull it fully over my ears and let my pony tail hang out the back. If it’s so cold that the top of my head is getting cold, I’ll put on a hood from whatever I’m wearing anyways. The added benefit for me on Denali was it also acted as an eye mask at night (since it does not get dark).
Ski goggles - Good to have on windy days. I only wore them one day in camp since we didn’t move on bad weather days.
Mini tube of sunscreen, mini sunscreen stick, 2 sticks of SPF chapstick - Only used one tube of sunscreen and on stick of chapstick, but good to have extra in case you lose it.
Toothbrush cut in half (easier to store), 1 travel tube of toothpaste
Mini deodorant
Menstrual cup - I thankfully didn’t have my period on Denali, but I think it would have been a nightmare if I did. Even though at home I only use a menstrual cup, I think I’d bring at least a handful of other products if I were to go again that might be easier to use at times. Side note: at the orientation, in all the time they talked about human waste/CMCs, they never talked about menstrual blood! Super frustrating – they definitely need to change that.
Allez outdoors individually wrapped wipes (5) - For “washing up” every few days.
Toilet paper (1 roll) - If we went again, I’d bring 3 rolls between Leo and myself.
Pee funnel/collapsible nalgene for pee bottle - I wish I had practiced more with the pee funnel. My body is just not used to peeing standing up, and so it was hard to get myself to “go” when trying to use the funnel while standing.
Climbing
Blue Ice Choucas Pro harness - Super light!
Locking carabiners (~7) - A mix of screwgate and auto-locking.
Non-locking carabiners (~7) - Tried to bring our smallest ones. When counting biners, don’t forget the ones you need to attach your sled to your pack/rope.
Slings (2)
Webelette (1)
Petzl ascender - For the fixed lines. Leo just used a microtraxion with a large biner and was comfortable with that, but I was very nervous about being the bottleneck on the fixed lines.
Edelrid spoc - For crevasse rescue.
Ultralight ice screw
24” SMC snow picket
Mammut 60m 6mm glacier cord - So thin and light! Also expensive, but our partner Susan was able to get one for free!
Black Diamond Raven Pro ice axe - Taped some foam on to protect from the cold.
Black Diamond helmet - Leo didn’t bring one, while the rest of us did. I think if I were to go again, I’d leave the helmet. People mostly seemed to have their act together on the fixed lines, so I’m not as nervous about people dropping stuff on me now (though we were typically at the head of the pack on the fixed lines).
Grivel G12 strap on crampons - The first crampons I ever bought! Still serving me well now, even on Denali.
Ski
Atomic Backland 85s, 157 cm long, with their stock skins - Atomic sold these with skins for a while, so I got the skins for free. They’ve held up fine.
Dynafit ski crampons - Didn’t end up using them, but still would probably bring them again. Anything to keep your skis on your feet!
Beacon - I did not want to bring this, but someone in our group felt more comfortable with us all bringing them. Regardless, we did not ever wear them, so I would not bring it if I repeated the trip.
Adjustable ski poles
Camp
Warmlite 3 person tent with foam floor - Discussed above.
Big Agnes -40 Cinnabar sleeping bag (short size) - Discussed above.
Foam sleeping pad
Thermarest Neoair inflatable sleeping pad
NEMO Fillo Elite Pillow - My luxury item for the trip! This was excellent.
Black Diamond Mega Snow tent - Used as our cook tent, it was great. I see now on their website they also make a lighter one, so I’d look into that if we were to go again. We loved having the cook tent.
Probe - Brought one per person, but would cut down on that next time.
Avalanche shovel - Brought one per person.
Steel spade - Brought as a fifth shovel. We went back and forth on this, like most parties do. At 14k camp, we had a very thick ice layer, and the steel spade was helpful in cutting out camp in that spot. I would try to get a lighter one though in the future.
Snow saws (2 for the group) - They were kind of meh/flimsy when dealing with the really firm snow/ice. We at one point borrowed what was a hardware store saw from another group, and that thing was amazing. On a future trip, I would just bring one of those.
GSI 4.7L Halulite pot - This was our water melting pot, and it was a good size for 4 people. One miss was that this pot doesn’t have a lip to facilitate pouring, which would have been nice. We wished we had brought a measuring cup to pour water into containers.
Smaller pot/frying pan - We used this for the few meals we actually cooked. We made a mistake in not thinking about how exactly would we eat those meals (i.e. we only had bowls when we really needed a plate), but we made it work.
Stoves: 2 Whisperlite, 1 Dragonfly - Wow, did we see the difference in sound between the Whisperlite and Dragonfly. It was nice to have the Dragonfly to simmer for the real meals we cooked, but it was hard to have a conversation over it. Another bummer was that although they are all made by MSR, the Dragonfly is a different height than the Whisperlite, so our pot could not rest well on a combo of Whisperlite/Dragonfly. I definitely recommend making sure you have margin for error in your stove system. We had some issues with our pump not providing pressure. We never actually got water to boil at 17k camp with our Whisperlites, which could have been a disaster if we had been there longer or during a storm.
Long-handled spork
GSI fair share mug - People rave about these, but I didn’t think they were special really. Susan made insulated cozies for all of them though, which was nice for extra insulation.
One regular mug - We brought one regular, insulated mug between Leo and myself, and we wished we had brought a second one. We often skimped on hot drinks because the fair share mug was in use with food.
1L Nalgene with 40 Below cozy - I drank very little during the day (I’m not very thirsty when it’s cold, so I mostly drank at camp), so I easily got away with 2L water storage capacity, but our partners drank more and needed more. I never carried more than 1L of water at a time.
1L Zojirushi Thermos - These are the best, they keep temperature for so long!
Other
Hand warmers (3 pairs), toe warmers (1 pair) - Brought these for summit day. I brought 3, thinking I’d need 2 for summit day, so bringing 3 gave me the option for a second summit day attempt if we turned around halfway through the first attempt. I didn’t expect to use the toe warmers, but Leo’s toes were real cold on summit day, so I gave them to him.
Earplugs - Didn’t end up using them much, but useful if it’s very windy or if you’re near some noisy camps.
Portable battery + solar panel - So much sun! Charge all the things.
InReach Mini
Etrex 30 - We brought this as a secondary GPS device, in case it was too cold to use our phones. I only tracked with it on summit day.
Things I didn’t bring
A headlamp! - There is light on Denali all day this time of year :)
A kindle or a book - Since I was nervous about weight, I said screw it. I just read articles I had saved to my phone and watched a few TV shows on my phone on rest days. This worked well for me.
Aaand that’s it! Report on the actual trip coming soon. :)
I’m not saying anything new when I say 2020 sucked in many ways. Now that I’ve gotten the required acknowledgement of 2020 as a total disaster out of the way, I can get to documenting and appreciating what I was able to experience this year. This post is long because I was able to take three months off in between jobs, which featured many adventures, and it also goes over the many life changes I made as a result of COVID which have very much affected my mountain activities.
Winter
I started off the year leaving my job on January 2nd and jumping into enjoying three months off before starting my new job. How I got so incredibly lucky with the timing (getting to freely travel the last 3 months before the pandemic took over the world??), I’ll never know. I am so thankful for it, so glad I took advantage, and really just take it as an affirmation that you need to enjoy life instead of working 24/7. You never know when a global pandemic will happen and throw all your plans in the trash.
I spent the first part of winter driving around California, Utah, and a little bit of Colorado, skiing and ice climbing while training for a bigger trip to Ecuador. I love these open-ended mountain days where you just do whatever sport is best for the conditions. I went to Ouray for the first time, and I really enjoyed the ice park. I look forward to going back someday and hopefully hopping on a route or two in the backcountry as well.
My natural belay habitat.
Ecuador
The biggest part of my 3 months off was a trip to Ecuador. I had been itching to get some high altitude experience to prepare for objectives like Denali. I ended up going to Ecuador simply because it was the right season to go there, but it did not disappoint at all. For once I did a guided trip because, a) I had no partner readily available (having only signed up for the trip maybe 8 weeks before?), and b) I wanted to treat myself to not having to figure out logistics in a foreign country for once. I went with the company Alpine Ascents, and they definitely have the trip well-dialed. Every accommodation we stayed at was plush (we stayed at a high altitude hot spring resort as part of acclimatization, best acclimatization ever), the food was delicious, and the guides were kind, knowledgeable, and all around great. In particular, Jose Luis Peralvo, the head guide, was such a pleasure to be around. He is an incredibly experienced guide (300+ Cotopaxi ascents, 3 Everest ascents), super encouraging (I promised him I’d lead some pitches on El Cap when someday Leo and I climb Lurking Fear), very patient, and so good-natured. I would love to climb with him again (Antisana someday??).
On this trip, we attempted to climb three high altitude peaks: Cayambe (18,996′), Cotopaxi (19,347′), and Chimborazo (20,564′), in that order. With my previous altitude record being Mont Blanc (15,777′), these would each be new records for me. The conditions on the first climb, Cayambe, were challenging. We found ourselves in a damp cloud layer that covered us all in a thin layer of ice. I was shocked how slow I was moving, which was hugely demotivating. I made the mistake of letting my mittens get frozen from the moisture of the cloud. When one of the guides suggested we turn around at about 17,500’, I reluctantly agreed and felt very down on myself the whole way down. But with no vis (and thus no views), miserable conditions, and challenges with the altitude, I think it was the right choice. At the time I felt very down on high altitude mountaineering and wasn’t sure it was for me. It really is hard knowing you’re moving so slowly compared to your normal experience in the mountains. Thankfully, the next summit attempt, two days later, went much better. On Cotopaxi we had perfect weather, and my acclimatization was starting to kick in. I was still moving very slowly, but found myself able to keep going (though I also did collapse on the summit). This summit hugely lifted my spirits and made me feel like I just needed to give my body more time to acclimate. This felt especially true when on the last summit, Chimborazo (over 1000’ taller than Cotopaxi), I was the fastest client in the group. Cotopaxi track. Chimborazo track.
Now I feel prepared mentally for my next high altitude trip, whenever it may be. I know that my body can acclimate, it just needs the time to do so and I need to be patient.
I would go back to Ecuador in a heartbeat. The mountains are beautiful, the food is delicious, the people are kind. While I would not typically travel somewhere to climb a peak a second time by the same route, I’d climb Cotopaxi again without a doubt. It’s one of the most beautiful mountains I’ve ever been on. I keep telling Leo someday we’ll do an Ecuador trip to climb Cotopaxi (and stay at Tambopaxi again, of course), and an ice route on Antisana (hopefully with Jose Luis!).
At the end of my Alpine Ascents trip, I took advantage of the fact that I was unemployed and in Ecuador and spent a week in the Galapagos on a cruise that visits many different islands. This was far from the normal type of trip I take (I didn’t climb a single mountain!), but I loved it. The hype is real: the Galapagos is a very special place.
After returning from Ecuador, I stepped back into winter in the Western US. Since February had been incredibly dry in the Sierra, I took the change to climb some peaks on my list in the Eastern Sierra: Thor Peak in the Whitney Zone (track), and Cartago Peak (track), my first peak from 395. Winter decided to return immediately after, which made for some fun skiing.
Fairy Meadows
The last thing I did before starting my new job was a hut ski trip in Canada. I had managed to convince Leo, Becca, Lita, and Nikhil to all sign up for a trip to the Bill Putnam Hut in Fairy Meadows in BC. Being a good enough skier to make the money spent on a hut trip worth it had been a dream of mine since I learned to ski, watching my sister Dafna go on these types of trips every year. I’m probably right on the edge of being a good enough skier… But I made it work. We had 7 days of blue skies and sun, letting us ski all over the area. It was my first time really skiing glaciated terrain, which was a great experience, and I summited a few peaks as well! Most notably Adamant Mountain, which is very challenging to do in the winter due to avy conditions. Sadly, for this one, I retraced my steps down the bootpack with my skis on my back since I was too nervous about skiing this no-fall terrain above open crevasses, but it was still a great experience. All in all it was a great trip with good friends in an extraordinary place.
This trip was March 14th to 21st, so it happened very much while the whole world was shutting down. I had hemmed and hawed constantly in the lead up to it, feeling very anxious about whether we should just cancel and whether we’d be able to get back into the US. In the end, I decided to drive instead of fly, to reduce contact with others and still be able to get back to the US should all the flights be canceled. In retrospect, I think it was a pretty risky choice, but I’m also glad I went since “nothing bad happened”. We ended up being the last trip to the hut before they canceled the rest of the season, so there were of course many jokes about how they should just fly us in some food on the helicopter and we’d just stay there to wait out the pandemic, what a dream! (How foolish we were to think this might be over relatively quickly). It was definitely surreal coming back to the hut everyday and sending out InReach messages to learn what had changed in the world while we had been out skiing. I drove from Rodgers Pass to Seattle on March 21st, spending the night at Lita’s (since we had been on the trip together anyways), before making the rest of the drive back to San Francisco the next day and sitting on my couch for a week waiting for my new job to start. That week I stayed home, Tahoe got incredible powder and it was so hard to sit it out, but it was the right thing to do given the circumstances.
The next few months, like most people, I basically stayed home, trying to run for fitness while we cooked a lot, took on new hobbies (gardening for me, sourdough for Leo), and grew our home gym equipment.
Summer into Fall
As summer approached and we learned that the danger of contracting COVID was much less severe outdoors, I finally started to venture outside. My first forays were tagging some OGUL peaks in Tahoe, and I definitely learned I had lost some hiking fitness. But it was great to finally be back in the mountains, tagging random summits with no people around. This also helped get my legs back into hiking shape for what became a great summer.
Our close friends Marco and Daiyi had been in Mammoth since the pandemic began, seeking out more open spaces to be outside during the pandemic. They decided they wanted to make it permanent and asked us early on in the pandemic if we’d want to move in with them in Mammoth. Leo and I initially said no, because so many small towns were begging people to stay away and not bring the virus. But as things changed over the next 3 months, we came around to the idea. It took some persuasion, but I finally convinced Leo we should just go for it. Housing is incredibly difficult to come by in Mammoth, but Daiyi was diligent and able to find a house for us all to rent together, starting July 1st.
Leo and I did not move in until mid-July because of the big thing in Leo’s life: meniscus surgery. It had taken his doctors months to diagnose he had torn his meniscus the previous November, preventing him from running at all or skiing confidently. He had surgery in early June and wanted to stay local in the bay area for his follow up appointments six weeks post-op. Leo was understandably less excited about moving to Mammoth since he would be recovering from surgery and wouldn’t get to recreate as much. I was much more pessimistic (or, what ended up being correct) about the pandemic, and thought we’d still be in Mammoth by the time he was more mobile, and so we moved! We gave up our apartment in San Francisco and went all in on our Mammoth lease.
I had wanted to try living in the mountains ever since we finished our six month van trip in 2017, and we finally found the time to make it happen without any repercussions to our careers. Now that we’ve been here for seven months, we both love it and have no interest in returning to the city anytime soon.
So, living in Mammoth, I removed 13+ hours of driving from every weekend of my life and found myself so much closer to many of the peaks I’d been wanting to climb. Our first weekend in Mammoth, we tackled Dragon Peak out of Onion Valley which ended up being a very fun scramble. This was the first of many “Mammoth to Mammoth” adventures!
When Ariel is dressed in all of your clothes so you think she is you in every picture. :D
Some of the other highlights from my summer season included:
Red Slate Mountain: I’d been saving this to climb via the couloir, but decided to finally just go for it in summer in light of the fatal accident that happened the previous year. This was my first outing with Mica, Daiyi and Marco’s dog, and she killed it! I have to say, getting to watch whatever funny things a dog does on a hike makes it so much more entertaining and joyful. This was another Mammoth to Mammoth one, which is just such a treat to sleep in your own bed and still have a full day in the mountains. It was also the second of many peaks I climbed with Daiyi, and it became such a joy to do these slogs with my roommate that brings her own stoke! Rafee was there too. :) Hi Rafee! And Brice and Sadie joined for the first third, with two dogs as well! The red colors of this area are so pretty – an excellent way to start our new life in Mammoth. Track
Sleepy dingo on the summit.
Tunnabora Peak and Mount Carillon: These are two fun peaks in the Whitney Zone and just, wow, I was able to do a casual weekend trip to the Whitney Zone! In my previous life, driving all the way to Lone Pine was a big ordeal – something I could only do maybe once or twice a season. And here I was solo on a random Saturday to just climb some peaks. It ended up being a gorgeous day on two fun summits with a swim in the highest named lake in California! Track
Mount Goethe: This was a fun scramble (albeit with a long approach). The scramble from Alpine Col was really enjoyable with some fun exposure. And I got to do this on a Sunday and not get home at an absurd hour! A good day out with Rafee. Track
Mount Thompson: Another fun scramble with Rafee. The ridge from Ski Mountaineers Peak to the summit looked pretty nuts and like it would not go, but sure enough there was a way. Also, this was less than 15 mi and 4000 ft. Always a treat to find an SPS I have left that is relatively short! Track
When Rafee doesn’t know what to do with his hands on the summit.
Mount Warren: Honestly, this peak is not very enticing and is really just a talus slog in the summer. But what made it special was it was my first peak just Mica and me! It took a peak that would typically be one you’re just trying to cross off to being pretty entertaining watching the dingo run up and down the talus endlessly. And we found a few snow patches which she loved, which are hilarious to watch her roll around in. It was so exciting to see that she stuck with me and came when I called her. Thanks for the company, Mica! Track
The only thing Mica loves more than playing in a snowpatch is eating a squirrel.
Bloody Mountain: Another peak that isn’t notable in the summer, but it was Leo’s first off trail hike post-knee surgery, and he did it in honor of my 100th SPS! It was nice to finally get back into the mountains with him :) especially for this exciting occasion. Track
The only time I’ve carried more gear than Leo! Thankfully, he did not get used to it.
Disappointment Peak: Perhaps my biggest individual day of the summer in terms of hours? A year prior, I had finally promised myself 2020 would be the year I join some days of the Sierra Challenge. But then the pandemic happened and I felt less stoked on trying to spend time with new folks. This was the one day I decided to join (largely because I was most excited about the opportunity for this peak). However, due to chance of thunderstorms and my not being Bob Burd speed, we started before the rest of the group and didn’t connect much with them, sadly. Regardless, this was a challenging yet excellent peak. Heading up the snowfield to the ridge was a bit thought provoking since I hadn’t spent time in crampons in months, and the scramble below the ridge had challenging route-finding. It felt really good to be able to cross this one off, one of the harder peaks on the SPS list. Track
Mount Davis: My biggest self-sandbag of the summer. When you expect a peak to be about 20 mi round trip but it’s actually 27… woops! Daiyi joined me for this peak along with her friend Phil that was visiting. They had planned on a backpacking trip, but canceled due to smoke. I convinced them to join me on this peak in Ansel Adams Wilderness, and they were great sports when it ended up being more than 30% longer than expected with endless talus… Always fun to get to visit Thousand Island Lake though! We had planned to meet Leo (who was building up his on-trail hiking mileage) at Thousand Island and hike back out together, but we were about 5 hours behind him due to my poor planning… Always learning! Track
Such good sports even though I totally sandbagged them!
Labor Day Peaks Extravaganza! Center Peak, Caltech Peak, Mount Ericsson, Mount Stanford: After doing a smattering of peaks over Labor Day weekend the year before, I was excited to do something similar this year – taking the opportunity to get pretty far into the backcountry. Luckily, Daiyi was also interested in a trip like this! The only requirement was that we include Caltech Peak on the list, since Daiyi had attempted it as her first ever backpacking trip with Caltech classmates (though they didn’t end up summiting). We entered over University Pass (my first time up it), taking the wrong chute down the other side and losing a lot of time due to our mistake. From there, we did a carry over of Center Peak, camping at the last lake before Forester Pass. We had also hoped to climb Junction Peak that day and camp on the other side of Forester Pass, but knew that was aggressive. We woke early the next morning, headed over the pass, and did a carryover of Caltech Peak. This was actually a lovely scramble, with interesting route finding down the other side. From there, we headed over to Harrison Pass where we got to drop our packs for the first time. We did the scramble up Mount Ericsson, which was also quite fun and interesting. We headed back to Harrison Pass, where Daiyi opted to sit out the last peak of the day, Mount Stanford. I found this scramble to be spookier and looser than I was expecting and almost bailed, but managed to add this last summit. This brought me to three remote SPS in one day! All the while, smoke had been creeping in from the Castle Fire down in southern SEKI. I got back to the packs maybe an hour before dark, and Daiyi and I descended Harrison Pass to the basin to the north, finding a nice campsite near a lake. Pro tip: there is no longer a trail at Harrison Pass, despite what maps may show, which we learned the hard way. :( We were worried about the smoke, thinking there was a good chance we’d hike out in the morning and cut our trip short. When we woke, the smoke did indeed seem worse, so we called the trip and headed cross country to the north past Deerhorn for many miles until we finally hit the JMT. We learned via InReach on the hike out a new fire (what was actually the enormous Creek Fire) had started the previous day and the smoke at home in Mammoth was insane. When we crested Kearsarge Pass on our hike out, we were hit with an even thicker wall of smoke. It was absurd to see folks having campfires back at the Onion Valley Campground. While the horrible fires cut our trip short, what we did accomplish was beyond fun, and I was so glad we got out on a challenging trip before the forests closed for the next two months. Track 1, Track 2, Track 3
Mount Hitchcock: Once the Creek Fire finally got some snow on it and the forests opened up, there were several good weekends for getting into the high country (albeit very cold!). I again went to the Whitney Zone, this time with Rafee, Sarah, and Peter (who I hadn’t seen all summer!). It felt so good to be back in the Sierra. This peak itself wasn’t a particularly interesting climb, but this area is just so gorgeous that it was still worthwhile. There were a good amount of people taking the trail up Whitney, of course, so it’s always funny when they ask you about your plans to summit when you’re talking about totally different mountains. Track
Summit social distancing, lolz.
Mount McAdie: My last real peak of the year, before more substantial snows came (though it was hike-in-your-puffy cold). I was happy to take advantage of Kavya’s tendonitis from climbing, so she was looking to hike! Despite having been in the Whitney Zone not too long before, it was still nice to be back. I though the scramble up McAdie was nice, in a lovely position. I can’t wait to go back for Irvine! Track
Climbing
I didn’t do as much alpine climbing this year because Leo is my main alpine climbing partner and he was healing up from surgery. With the gyms closed, I was still determined though to not let my arms totally atrophy, which meant I climbed outside a lot (well, a lot for me). I led a lot more than I have in past years (again, not saying much, but I’ll take it!), and I’m excited to keep working on it, even though it’s not my primary sport. Going to the local spots in Mammoth in the summer was really nice on weekdays, and then as we moved into fall and winter, Owen’s River Gorge has been a great place to get some mileage in. I don’t hate cragging as much when I just think of it as an alternative to the gym. :D And it’s important to keep climbing so I’m prepared for the climbing goals I’d like to accomplish this year now that Leo is back in action!
Training
With finding myself having far less expenses moving to Mammoth and no longer having a gym membership, I decided to take the plunge and hire a mountain coach via Uphill Athlete in July. It’s hard for me to measure the gains since I haven’t had a full summer season with a lot of training under my belt, but it has been a huge help in keeping me motivated and actually exercising nearly every day. Not to mention that before I could hardly get myself to do strength workouts or stretching, but now, since they’re on the schedule that I’m paying for, I do them. I’m feeling good and motivated, and I’m excited to see the dividends the training will hopefully have this coming summer.
Everything else
Moving to Mammoth has been such a joy, and I am so thankful to be here. I am so thankful that I am employed at all, and that I can work easily from an amazing place like this. I had been wanting to try moving to the mountains for a number of years, and I’m so grateful for this opportunity (even though it did come in such an awful way). 2020 definitely affirmed that life is short and I need to seek out the things I love; it had been so silly to delay all this time. People always ask if we’re here permanently, and I have no clue. I just know that we’re here for now, and it’s the place I want to be most right now. So we’re signing another year-long lease, and we’ll go from there.
What did I check off my list from last year?
Here I’m pulling my list of goals from last year seeing how I fared:
Making more mountain friends – well, there was a pandemic. I get a pass on this one 🙅♀️
Ecuador peaks – I climbed 2/3! I’ll take it ✅
Training for Ecuador, and continue training for the future – hell yeah I did this! ✅
Getting better at skiing – I did this a bit, but the end of the season was cut short due to the pandemic 🤷♀️
Spending some days at the Sierra Challenge – I did one day! Again, pass due to the pandemic. Will need to do at least two days this coming year :) 🤷♀️
Clyde Minaret via the 5.8 50 Classic – Did not do, saving this to do with Leo who was broken 🤷♀️
Lone Pine Peak via the North Ridge – Same as the previous 🤷♀️
Split Mountain (my last CA 14er) – The trailhead was closed due to a fire the previous year, so I let it go 🤷♀️
Boundary Peak – I didn’t do this and have no excuse. Now I live one hour from the trailhead! 🙅♀️
Reaching 100 peaks on the SPS list – I did this and then some. Ended the year at 113 ✅
A potential Orizaba trip over the winter holidays! – Haha, another COVID loss 🤷♀️
….maybe a big wall with Leo – Had been thinking about this in the fall, and then we had the Creek Fire, sigh 🤷♀️
Not a great showing on my goals for the year, but 2020 was about rolling with the punches. Pretty happy with what I got to do instead, all things considered.
Things I’m excited about in 2021
Keep training. Gotta stick with it
Keep getting better at skiing. I live in Mammoth. There are no excuses
An Alaska trip in the summer for some big peaks :)
Clyde Minaret & Lone Pine Peak with Leo. Now his knee is fixed so no excuses
Red Dihedral on the Hulk. This the easiest classic route on the Hulk, and I’d like to give it a go as my big rock climbing goal for the summer. Leo loves this place so much, so I’d like to experience it
Lurking Fear, or a different big wall with Leo. Probably in the fall. Another carry over from 2020
Tower Peak with Leo and his Dad, running a good amount of it! This would be a 35 mi day
30 SPS this year! I turn 30 this year, so 30 SPS is the goal :)
I’m hopping on the bandwagon and reflecting on a year in review. I don’t make time to write trip reports much these days (I fell off the bandwagon on our van trip, when we were constantly doing cool trips and I just couldn’t keep up [poor me]), so seeing my friend Nikhil write a post summing up his outdoor exploits for the year seemed like a great idea.
Skiing
Since learning to ski in the 2016-17 season, each year has gotten more fun. Typically in winter I focus on the Ogul peak list (a list of peaks in Tahoe, so pretty accessible since most of the roads are plowed; I’m at 35/63 currently), but I’ve learned that seeking summits often doesn’t make for the best skiing. One thing I love about lists though is that it takes me to new places I’d never go otherwise. Some highlights:
Mount Elwell: I wrote a full trip report on this here. This was one of my favorite new areas I got to see. It’s about an hour north of Tahoe, so sees far less visitors, which is always a treat. We saw no one else our whole day in the backcountry, and the views from the summit were spectacular. Plus, we learned about the Plumas Ski Club’s longboard races and checked em out! So much fun. Track
Mount Mildred: Also wrote a trip report on this one here. This peak is behind Alpine Meadows ski resort (where I had a pass this year). It was a pretty long day in terms of mileage for me on skis, so I love seeing the progress I’m making in that regard. Track.
Pyramid/Jacks Desolation Traverse: In late April, given that the big snow year still left good coverage, I did a traverse from Pyramid Peak to Jacks Peak in Desolation Wilderness with friends AJ, Jamie, and Chris. AJ wrote about it here. This was also a long and challenging day for me, being the weakest downhill skier in the group. I didn’t ski the tippy-top of Pyramid (too spooky), but I did manage to ski a bit further down. This day really showed me how great spring skiing can be (and it lends better to summits). Track.
Mount St Helens: Since my older sister Dafna had skied Mount St Helens in the past, I’d had it on my radar and been excited to ski it once I was ready, and this was the year. The skiing is really moderate, the crater is beyond cool, and we made it a family affair! My sisters Ephrat (at 3 months pregnant!) and Dafna joined, along with their partners, Luca and Gil (a first real summit for him! Hiking up on snowshoes, snowboarding down). Mount St Helens is an awesome summit for the hiker/mountaineer learning to ski. I’d happily repeat it someday. Track.
Resort skiing: In 2019 I had the Ikon Pass, which meant mainly skiing Squaw/Alpine. It was my first time skiing at either, and it was a lot of fun, but the traffic was a total nightmare. I had many days where I struggled, sitting in bumper-to-bumper traffic not moving at all, feeling so trapped and frustrated that we live so far from the mountains. This year I’m back on Epic, and I’m hoping it will be less miserable. Leo and I also took advantage of some of the other resorts on the pass, making trips to Revelstoke, Lake Louise, Banff Sunshine (all in Canada), Alta, and Snowbird.
Rogers Pass: My first (and only) day backcountry skiing in Canada, at such an amazing location. I survived the cold! Track.
I was sick for a good month in winter, which really put my year off to a rocky start and felt like it brought down my fitness a lot. I thought I was getting better and pushed myself really hard for a few days in the backcountry (climbing Anderson Peak with my friend Brice, track), but then I found myself sick again for another two weeks (making me nervous I might not be healthy enough for our Canada trip). I relearned the importance of rest and taking care of yourself.
Ice Climbing
New skill for 2019! Well, technically it started in December 2018 with a trip to the Bozeman Ice Fest, which was an amazing way to learn the basics of the sport. Leo and I both liked it so much that we did three more days of it in Canmore, even hiring a guide to take us up Louise Falls (a 3 pitch climb). Originally I thought I should just know the utmost basics of the sport, but now I find I actually enjoy it and would love to do more of it. I think I could potentially even… lead someday? Which is something I feel pretty defeated about doing in rock climbing. It’s interesting to think about why this doesn’t scare me when rock climbing does. I think it is because in rock climbing I get nervous moving for holds I can barely reach, as opposed to in ice climbing, you can make a hold almost anywhere you like. Leading is still a long ways off for me, of course, but it’s cool to think this might be possible in the future.
Mountaineering/Alpine Climbing
Mount Rainier: After learning the aforementioned basics of ice climbing, we put them to the test on Rainier. Leo and I had attempted Rainier in 2017 with our friend Ryan, but turned back at 13k ft due to bad conditions. This time, Leo, Nikhil, and I climbed the Kautz Glacier route in mid-June. We did a one night trip, camping at 12k feet, right below the Kautz ice section, carrying our gear over the following day and descending the DC. A lot of thoughts on this trip: The most challenging thing for me probably were the stats combined with carrying a very heavy pack. Heavy packs are definitely my biggest weakness and something I’d like to train this year. Our group members and I still all have a lot to learn in terms of glacier navigation and travel. Rainier is a big mountain, and definitely a step above most California summits. I definitely wouldn’t be comfortable climbing it in adverse conditions (California fair-weather climber here!), and it shows the edges of where I can develop more skills to increase my safety margin. The mountain also really showed me why it is such a great training ground for future expeditions. It was a tough trip, but I’d like to back again for more routes. (Plus, we didn’t make it to the high point of the crater! Gotta go back). I felt pretty wrecked for over a week after this trip, really surprised at the recovery time I needed. Track 1, 2.
Arete des Cosmiques: Leo and I made our first trip to Chamonix this year, and it truly is a dream playground. We were lucky to overlap with our friend Chelsea and Michael by coincidence, so we all warmed up by climbing the world-famous Arete des Cosmiques together. We had great weather and it was just all around fun. Track.
Pyramide du Tacul: Also in Chamonix. This was just a good, fun climb in a spectacular setting. Alpine starts in Chamonix are beyond gorgeous. Track 1, 2.
Aiguille de la Republique: This is called the pointiest, most exposed summit in Chamonix! With a description like that, how could we not check it out? To tackle this, Leo and I spent two nights in the Refuge des Envers, which is a decent hike. We got to walk on our first dry glacier, which was beyond cool. The peak itself was pretty challenging, and we technically bailed about 50 feet below the summit, but I was proud of the effort. There was a little bit of everything: glacier approach, spicy scrambling, glorious hand jams, great exposure. It was a long and challenging day, but a good way to push myself. Track 1, 2.
Me touching the point of the Aiguille de la Republique in the first picture, the day before we hiked in.
Mont Blanc: Our last outing in Chamonix was Mont Blanc. After trying and failing many times to get spaces at the Gouter Hut, we had given up on climbing it. A record heat wave for our whole visit had made climbing Mont Blanc via the other main route, Trois Monts (three mountain route), too dangerous, due to a lot of steep snow and passing below seracs. However, at the end of our trip the heat wave passed and we had a great day for a summit. We climbed the Trois Monts route from the Cosmiques Hut (an amazing place to stay! At 11k ft on a glacier with warm food and excellent wifi). It was quite crowded (in my opinion), but the sunrise and views were spectacular. And a new elevation PR for both Leo and me! It was a really special way to close out the trip. Track.
Sierra
So many great adventures in the “backyard” this summer, despite my fitness limiting me. After losing a bunch of fitness at the start of the year, I had another setback by developing some pain in my left knee (patellofemoral pain syndrome). This meant I took nearly 6 months off from running, one of my main ways to keep in shape. I also limited my mountain excursions, usually only doing one day of long hiking/scrambling per weekend, to not push my knee too much. Some Sierra highlights:
Morgan N & Stanford linkup: This really is a lovely day in the Sierra. The mileage is a bit long, but it really doesn’t feel very sloggy at all. The terrain is quite solid 90% of the time, and you get to descend the “greatest sand slope in the Sierra”, coming down from Stanford. Did this peak with new friends Sarah, Peter (who are both also SPS-ers :D), Rob, and Alexandra, and it was a blast. Track.
Banner Peak: A fun one! Took advantage again of the good snow year to climb the snow route up the Ritter-Banner saddle. Got to do this with Leo, which was his first time in Ansel Adams Wilderness. Excited to finish off the pair, since I’d climbed Ritter a number of years ago. Now it won’t feel as incomplete when I look at the Mammoth skyline. Hoping to go back for Clyde Minaret this year with Leo via the climbing route. Track.
Williamson & Tyndall: An overnight with Emily and a new friend, Alex. We hiked in day 1, climbed both peaks day 2, and hiked out day 3 before having some BBQ at the US’s best restaurant in Big Pine. I found both peaks to be really fun (and incredibly popular! Was shocked by the number of people we saw). Aside from sleeping a bit cold at night in my bivy sack, this was mostly a Type 1 fun trip with fun humans, bring my CA 14er count to 13. Shepherds Pass was not as bad as I expected, I’m very happy to say (since, well, I’m going to have to hike it many more times). Track 1, 2, 3.
Labor Day peak extravaganza: Inspired by this Bob Burd trip report, Leo and I planned an excellent “compromise” trip, which was maybe my favorite trip of the summer. We planned to tackle some peaks in the high country of Sequoia/Kings Canyon (SEKI), but chose to enter from the East side, unlike Bob, due to fear of our inability to get permits for Labor Day Weekend (our East side TH had 20 or 30 walk up permits available — the West side had 6 [shared with the very popular Rae Lakes trailhead]). Leo and I hiked in Friday evening, hiking 9 miles to camp near Charlotte Lake. The next morning, we rose early to head over to Charlotte Dome. We climbed the 50 Classic Route on the dome, seeing only one other party (in perfect weather on a 3 day weekend??), climbing it quickly enough to unlock the rest of the trip. We had set a time for ourselves, that if we didn’t summit by a certain time, the rest of the trip wasn’t in the cards. Leo did a great job leading on probably too skinny of a rope and with too little gear… but you make gear tradeoffs when you’re carrying it 40+ miles in a weekend. From Charlotte Dome we hiked up a pretty awful slope to the Gardiner summit ridge. We dropped our packs and did the fun 4th class ridge to the true summit. We then reversed our steps back to our packs, and hurried down the other side of the peak, making camp in the dark. The next day was another hard one. We left camp as is, and hiked over to Clarence King, a peak with one of the more challenging summit blocks in the Sierra. We climbed another miserable loose slope, and found ourselves at the summit block. Leo, again, led it in good style. My height made it really hard for me to pull the very exposed move on to the summit block, and I nearly gave up. But, Leo found a way to safely belay me with the rope running over the summit block itself as an “anchor”, and I managed to summit! From there we hiked back over near camp, and I managed to pull together the energy to summit our fourth and final summit of the trip, Mount Cotter. This was a really fun class 2 scramble, that I was really thankful I found the energy for, since it’s ~30 mi round trip from the trailhead. We made it back to camp right before dark, and slept like rocks. The next day was a looong hike out ending in a downpour/thunder storm, before driving the long way back home. This trip felt like such an amazing way to really get out there in the Sierra and explore some epic spots, covering a lot of ground and carrying as little gear as possible. I’d love to do more overnights entering Friday evening after work this year. Track 1, 2, 3, 4.
Middle Palisade: A really fun day with Emily. This type of day is pretty much my favorite way to spend a day in the mountains – moving quickly over interesting terrain in a gorgeous setting. I’d been nervous that this would just be a total slog, but it was far from it. Very little of the terrain sucked, the scrambling was fun, and of course the views were great. I’m really excited to come back for the other peaks in the area now. Brought my CA 14er count to 14/15! Track.
Mount Hooper: Holy smokes the western Sierra is also awesome. I had only ever been to this area when I hiked through it on the JMT. I’d never driven the crazy Kaiser Pass road out into the west side. Leo and I had an excellent “compromise” weekend hiking Mount Hooper, visiting Mono Hot Springs, and doing some climbing on Tollhouse Rock. Again, new places that my list took me that ended up being really special. Really excited to go back. Track.
East Buttress of Middle Cathedral: My fifty classic for the year! But really, at least once a year I need to go to Yosemite Valley and climb something fun with Leo. It’s a good way to make me appreciate rock climbing and spend time doing something Leo loves. Plus, well, Yosemite has some pretty good climbs I guess. 😜 This was a really fun one with excellent climbing on it, and with only 3 parties on it on a gorgeous weekend day! One of them including Hans Florine, who was very nice. 😄 Rock climbing isn’t so bad sometimes.
Desert
Not too much time in the desert this year, unfortunately, aside from a JTree trip over Memorial Day Weekend, and a week in Sedona over Thanksgiving (though it rained/snowed half the time). Sedona is another awesome playground that I’m surprised doesn’t see more climbers. The towers are endless and stunning. I love the crazy features that form there. Given the poor weather, we didn’t get to do too much, but our climbs of The Fin as a group of 5 (track), and of Queen Victoria with Daiyi (track) both stand out as really fun outings.
Personal mountain philosophy
To the outside, it probably seems like I go on endless trips effortlessly, but that’s definitely not the case. I have an amazing partner, but our outdoor interests don’t fully line up, and that caused me a lot of frustrations in 2018. I hadn’t done a great job of fostering outdoor friendships, so it put a lot of pressure on my relationship with Leo, feeling like he was my only partner and we had to spend every weekend together. In winter, it’s great, since we both love to ski (though Leo is a much stronger skier than me, so I sometimes hold him back), but in summer it was a problem. Leo’s favorite activity is climbing, and climbing hard. When we climb together, it really limits the grades and objectives he can go after. On top of that, I don’t have nearly as much of an interest in hard climbs, and am all about long scrambles. We also both have a lot of our own mountain goals, and we weren’t able to accomplish them by spending most weekends together.
This summer, I made a concerted effort instead to spend less time with Leo and develop friendships with others. It was scary to put myself out there, reaching out to folks on social media or asking other friends to introduce me, but it definitely paid off in the end. I added some people I really clicked with to my network, and got to have some really great days with them in the mountains. I still enjoy solo days in the mountains as well, but I see a lot of value in seeking out others to share those experiences with whenever possible. I think it’s still good for me to do at least one solo trip a summer, but, generally, spending all those hours driving and hiking alone is something I want to avoid when possible. On top of having more friends I’ve connected with, I also enjoy the weekends I do spend with Leo more now, not feeling the stress that “oh no, this weekend I’m not accomplishing my goal again”. It also made me appreciate when we reconnect at the end of the weekend, swapping stories of how our trips went and cheering each other on. I feel more balanced and fulfilled, and I want to keep chasing that.
Also one weekend we took an offer from a photographer to do a free “elopement” photo shoot, to help build her portfolio. Cue me having to explain to everyone that we are not engaged or married, we just did a fun, different thing in the mountains for once.
Things I am excited about in 2020:
Making more mountain friends, spending more time with my current ones.
I just left my job, and won’t be starting my new one till the end of March! I’m spending a few weeks in Ecuador starting in late January, aiming to climb some of the high volcanoes there. I see this as great training for future expeditions like Denali. Hoping for good weather!
For the aforementioned trip, I’ve been training quite hard for the first time in my life. I am nervous, since my knee really prevented me from keeping up my fitness in 2019, and I’m not fully back from that yet. I am doing one of the pre-made training plans from Uphill Athlete, and it’s been the first time I’ve had a focused training plan. I am impressed with just how much cardio I can squeeze into one week :-P I’m excited to keep it up this year, and hopefully have a very strong summer season.
Getting better at skiing. And a hut trip to ski in the Selkirk mountains in Canada in March at the Bill Putnam hut, before starting my new job.
Spending some days at the Sierra Challenge. I’ve never participated before, but it’s about time I make the time to check it out!
Clyde Minaret via the 5.8 50 Classic.
Lone Pine Peak via the North Ridge.
Split Mountain! Ideally via the St Jean Couloir, but if not, then via the summer route. This would be my last California 14er :)
Boundary Peak (the highest peak in Nevada, on the border between California and Nevada (you see what they did there?). I drove past it last week and am now enamored with it.
Reaching 100 peaks on the SPS list (currently at 85/100).
A potential Orizaba trip over the winter holidays!
Continuing my quest of skiing OGULs this winter, Leo and I picked Mount Mildred as the main objective for the weekend. When I had first suggested it a while back, Leo thought we wouldn’t be fast enough to do it in a day, but after reading some more (and having a desire for lots of cardio), he changed his mind! If we could pull it off, it’d be my 30th OGUL. Given that we had the Ikon Pass this season (which has Alpine Meadows/Squaw access), we’d also be able to cut a few miles off the morning.
Home for many nights this season, at Blackwood Canyon Sno-Park.
We first tried to give Mildred a shot on Saturday, but when we got to the top of the lift just after the resort opened, we found ourselves in a full on white-out. A ski patrol came over to chat with us, worried that we’d try to leave the resort in the current conditions — but he had nothing to worry about. We were definitely ready to bail. While chatting with him, we were able to get some good info about how the backcountry access from Alpine works, which we weren’t able to find online. We ended up skiing the resort for the rest of the day, happily so.
The view of Mildred in the back from the top of Alpine. Photo by Leo.
The next day was scheduled to be warm and clear, so we decided to give Mildred another shot. We got in line for the lift around 8:50am, same as the day before, except this time with totally clear skies. As we reached the top of the summit lift, we saw no “closed area” signs as we had the day before. We took a few minutes to scope out the route to Mildred while we had it in view. The cliffs on the eastern ridge from Peak 8109 were very obvious, but the shoulder to the left looked very manageable, so we planned to head in that direction as we headed off. Neither Leo nor I had ever skied or even seen this aspect of Alpine before, so we skied down a bit, looking over the edge. Right off the ridge is a bit rocky, but we skirted to the left and then found an amazing, clear slope. And so, we committed! Heading down the slope in perfect powder from the past day’s storms, touched by no one before us. As we reached the end of shouting distance from the resort, someone yelled to us “do you know what you’re doing?!” I wasn’t sure that we did — Mildred is waaaaay out there, and it was going to be a long day. But we knew enough to make sure we’d get back to the car somehow, so we assured them and continued on.
Avoiding cliffs.
It was an amazing 2000ft descent off of the back of Alpine in amazing snow that would be by far our best turns of the day (and the best backcountry skiing I’ve had to date in Tahoe). The storm had been big enough to give enough powder for tons of fun, but not so big to create dangerous slabs. What more could you ask for? As we reached the bottom and headed into the trees, I suggested to Leo that we could just lap this slope instead, but Leo was keen on his cardio goals, so off to Mildred we continued.
We transitioned to skins and had a great, easy time skinning through the powder. From reading Bob Burd’s trip report, we were a bit nervous about crossing Five Lakes Creek, but with the huge snow year we’ve had, there were plenty of solid snow bridges. We stayed to the left side of the valley, far from the ridge we needed to gain, since we planned to head up and around the left side. The ridge lining the right side of the valley had some really impressive, steep slopes. I’d love to see some amazing skiers ski that.
Mildred coming into view for the first time since Alpine.
We headed up the shoulder we had aimed for through some trees. The main avy concern for the day was loose wet slides, made dangerous by terrain traps or cliffs. As we neared the ridge, there were indeed some cliffs on the most direct route to the ridgeline, on a southern-facing slope that had been baking in the sun. Instead of contouring around the slope (putting us above the cliffs), we headed directly up on to the ridge, avoiding any cliff exposure. From there, we continued towards the summit of Peak 8109, getting our first views of Mildred since having left Alpine.
I spy a cornice. Photo by Leo.
The northern aspect of the ridge was heavily corniced, so we were afraid we’d have to climb up and over the peak, but we managed to find safe entry and exit points, saving us some vert. Once on the other side of the ridge, it was down a couple hundred feet to the saddle between 8109 and Mildred. I got to show off (i.e. embarrass myself) my skiing in walk mode skills, only totally eating it once! In retrospect I wish I had at least locked my heels in, but the summit just felt so close. Once done with the downhill, it was a fairly easy skin to the summit. Woohoo!
Descending to the saddle between 8109 and Mildred. Photo by Leo.
Mildred from the ridge connecting Peak 8109. Photo by Leo.
We took a few minutes to eat and discuss our exit route. It had taken us 4 hours to reach the summit, so we sadly wouldn’t be able to make it back to Alpine to ski down the resort (which would have been the most direct route). This means we’d have to exit around the north side of the ridge that makes up Alpine, substantially longer mileage (but less overall vert). We planned to drop off the ridge between our peak and 8109 at the low point, which also looked like a break in the cornice. We’d then traverse along the northern slope as long as we could, before planning to go back into walk mode and up over the shoulder on the other side of 8109.
Skinning up the final slope to Mildred. Photo by Leo.
The plan went as well as we’d hoped. Right before going back into walk mode, we got some excellent turns coming down the northern aspect. Even though the vast majority of the snow around us had turned to mush, this snow had held amazingly well. We transitioned back into walk mode and slogged up the extremely deep powder — the most strenuous part of the whole day. Once at the saddle, we stayed in walk mode, traversing the south side of the ridge in mushy, sun-exposed snow that was much easier to break trail in.
Our turns off the northern aspect of the ridge and the strong, late-March sun.
As we reached the point we dropped back off the ridge, we transitioned back into ski mode gloriously, enjoying the much improved pace as we dropped into the last valley between us and the back of Alpine. In shady spots the snow had grown crusty and more challenging to ski, but it still felt great to be using my feet a different way. At the bottom of the valley, we transitioned back into walk mode for what we hoped would be the last time. Again, we found good snow bridges to cross the creek and headed up, edging north of Alpine towards Five Lakes. The terrain was actually quite easy skinning, which we were both thankful for — but it just felt long. I was so happy when we finally reached the saddle separating us and the road. Back into ski mode for the last time, and we skied down very hard crust in very low light, finding a snowmobile track to lead us back to the road.
So happy to be reaching the car!
After only a tiny bit of shenanigans to get down the tall snow bank, our feet were back on pavement, and we walked the remaining half mile up the road to our car. We made it back around 6:40pm — about 9 hours and 20 mins after having left the top of the resort. We were very thankful to make it back before dark, because an unnamed individual forgot their headlamp (but he more than made up for it with all the trail he broke). We were rewarded for our efforts with literally no traffic on the drive home, which let us somehow amazingly be in bed at 11pm sharp. I’d call it an incredibly successful day!
