Path to Big Wall /
Moja Gear has recently asked me to write a series on the path to big wall climbing for the average climber. If you’re interested, take a read at article #1 in the series!
California Fall Feelings /
Summer Alpine Highlights /
Having the summer off for the first time in five years was a blessing in disguise. No longer restricted by two-day weekends and post-work fatigue, I definitely had my best alpine summer to date. Ticking off routes that have been on the dream list, hiking deeper and staying out longer, and exploring new zones in the High Sierra only further confirmed the fact that this is truly the best place on earth to be a granite trad climber.
Luke with the incredible Merriam Peak in the background
A couple of weeks after our trip out to Mt. Goode, we hiked the 10 miles to Royce Lakes and the coveted Merriam Peak. I had been dreaming of this formation for years, and the routes were just as good as I’d imagine they’d be. The Croft and Rands’ route “The Gargoyle” (5.11b) featured crux pitches of perfect thin finger cracks in corners with just enough spice, and “The Direct North Buttress” (5.10b) was a joyous route of hand crack after sweet hand crack.
Luke traversing the long, exposed summit ridge on Merriam Peak
The beautiful, long approach towards Royce Pass
Our dreamy campsite, nestled among granite boulders
A couple of weeks later, refreshed and recharged, we packed up to head out for the Hulk - the most incredible chunk of pristine alpine granite you may ever lay eyes on - and set out for our mission of “Sunspot Dihedral” (5.11b) car-to-car in a day. This route was utterly FANTASTIC and had us both grinning from ear-to-ear. After a team onsight, we rapped down with plenty of daylight and meandered back to the car in the highest of spirits.
Can you tell that I’m PSYCHED?!
Chilly in the shade, even in July
The 180’ long splitter 5.11 corner mid-route
Luke follows the last part of the crux pitch
Next up was Mt. Whitney and Mt. Russell. After four days of rest from the Hulk, we packed our bags again (it gets easier and easier every time, especially when you bring the same food. Somehow I never get sick of ramen and honey mustard pretzels?)
Dawn lights up Whitney, Keeler and Day Needle while climbers begin their approach out of camp
Our biggest objective was to do two routes on Russell in a day - “Fishhook Arete” (5.9) and “Mithril Dihedral” (5.10a).
Luke approaching Mt. Russell
Luke looking through the summit register and being very happy at the end of our double-header day
We also tagged the East Buttress of Mt. Whitney the day before, and were up on top before noon
Taking a dip on our steep way out of the Whitney zone
Lastly, as the summer waned and the smoke from the creek fire rolled in, ending alpine season altogether, Annie and I were lucky enough to squeeze in another route at the Hulk “The Polish Route” (5.10+). By some miracle, we were the only ones on the formation all day, which was probably for the best as no one could hear us scream and moan from offwidth-related agony. Just kidding, the route is so good, so clean, so splitter, get on it!!
Annie following P3
Yum.
It just keeps going!
The classic Hulk cave bivy
The Sierra is just the gift that keeps on giving. And I’ve only scratched the surface. I’m lucky and grateful for all the experiences I’ve had, and can’t wait for what comes next.
The First Step in Moving from Auto to Manual in Climbing Photography /
Have you been taking photos in auto mode, and are too nervous or overwhelmed to move the dial to manual?
You’re definitely not alone, because manual mode is intimidating. I’ve been taking photos casually for years, and have had some good luck with ol’ auto mode for sure. But as you develop yourself more as a photographer, you’ll have to move on from the “auto” dial.
Here’s the easiest way to get off auto: move to aperture priority.
Aperture priority, or the “A” dial on most cameras, is not quite fully manual but is definitely not auto either. In this mode, you will be in control of the aperture, or, how much light is let into the camera lens via designations called f-stops. These range anywhere from 2.8 to 22. When you set the camera on aperture mode, you will choose an aperture to shoot in and then your camera will auto-select a shutter speed based on your selection and the light conditions. Aperture is a very important aspect of photography to learn about, and by isolating it in your settings you’ll be able to learn more about how your camera works and move on from your point-and-shoot tendencies.
Aperture Basics
Think about it this way: small number (2.8) means the lens is contracted less, letting in more light.
Big number (22) means the lens is contracted more, letting in less light.
When to Use a Large Aperture (small number)
Use a smaller number when you are focused on a subject in the foreground, and want to blur out the background, an effect called bokeh. In climbing photography, this can be a nice effect if you are close to your subject, and want to blur out the background and focus on your climber.
Use a smaller number in low light, so you allow as much light into the lens as possible. You might also have to adjust the ISO (light sensitivity) to allow for more light.
Not the perfect example of “bokeh,” but you can tell the background is slightly blurred which draws attention to the climber and/or subject.
PRO TIP: use a large aperture for astrophotography — I took this photo with a lens that went all the way to and f-stop of 2, bumped the ISO (light sensitivity) way up, and opened the shutter speed for at least 30 seconds and the results are clear: starry night sky and headlamps of climbers on El Cap!
When to Use a Small Aperture (big number)
Use a bigger number when there is plenty of light and you would like for everything in the shot to be in focus - i.e. landscape photography. I like shooting wide shots often in my climbing photography, because climbing places are often beautiful and have backdrops that I want to include. I’ll move my aperture dial to a number between 8-16, when I have a climber and background that I want to see.
PRO TIP: Each of your lenses will have a sweet spot for sharpness as well. Look up your lens brand and model, and the specs will let you know which aperture range to shoot in for the sharpest photos.
Behind the Photo: How to make Sun Stars in Landscape Photography /
A sun star is an effect in landscape photography where a prominent light source (usually the sun or its reflection) is made into a focal point of light with sharp points that look like a star. The sun star in the photo below is the sun’s reflection which is behind my friend Keo’s legs!
Sun stars add a focal point, or an element of interest to any landscape shot, whether in a wide open space like this one where it happens to also align right next to my subject, or can be the subject itself in a photo where the light is say, streaming through some trees. Sun spots don’t just occur, however, they are created!
Here’s how:
Small Apertures
Depending on your camera lens, your aperture will range from anywhere in the 2.8 range to around 22. The bigger the number, the smaller the aperture. Which means when your camera is set to an f-stop of 22, the lens is contracted. And when it is set to an f-stop of 2.8, it is as wide open as the lens will allow.
The key to sun stars is a small aperture. To make a crisp, elegant sun star, turn your aperture to as small as it will go, focus your shot, and presto, you’ll get a star.
This works best with a bright light source, where you can make your aperture as small as it will go and still have plenty of light filter in. Experiment with different times of day to get different colors and effects. It also works best with unobstructed light, so a nice, clean source without clouds or haze. Basically, if you want a sharp star, you need sharp light.
This is a really fun thing to play with in climbing photography out in the mountains, as the sun is typically always bright and the sky clear (unless you chose the wrong weather window to be out), so next time you bring your camera along, get creative and see what kind of stars add intrigue to your photos!
Sky Pilot >> Mt. Goode /
We had snagged a coveted Whitney permit for the weekend - 4 days out at Iceberg lake, with plans to climb Mt. Russell and Mt. Whitney. But 2020 had other plans for us, and the day we were supposed to leave, a 5.3 magnitude earthquake rocked the Lone Pine area, and boulders came crashing down the trail to Whitney Portal. Rumors flew that they even fell on routes, changing them forever… I’ll believe anything this year. There seems to be no end to one disastrous event after the other.
So we had to adapt, and chose to hike out to Mt. Goode - another incredible High Sierra granite formation with striking lines up its North Buttress.
With a group of friends in tow, we hiked out of South Lake on the Bishop Pass Trail, staying overnight at Margaret Lake. Our intention was to climb the Croft & Lella route put up in 2014, Sky Pilot (11b) the next day. Watching the sunset on Mt. Goode, I can never stop myself from being in complete awe that you can drive up from the dusty desert floor of Bishop, hike not even 5 miles, and feel like you are in another world.
It’s the end of June during a low snow year, but a glacier sits permanently below Mt. Goode so we brought an ice tool just in case we needed to kick steps. We were happy to find a boot pack already there, and the snow was soft enough that we felt secure without the axe.
Sky Pilot shares the same first pitch as the North Buttress (5.9), and we climbed up the excellent moderate corner to gain the huge ledge at the base of the headwall.
Luke enjoys a Mt. Tom sandwich from Great Basin Bakery on the spacious ledge above pitch 1
I racked up for the first of three 5.11 pitches that go up the beautiful, vertical headwall just to the right of the North Buttress. I started up the thin corner, placing small gear and pulling delicate moves around some loose blocks and up a tenuous but splitter tips crack. Pulling around the corner when it ends and onto the face, I wasn’t psyched about the rock quality + lack of gear, but climbed carefully through the run-out but more moderate terrain to a fixed nut anchor tied off with cordalette at a slight stance.
I looked up at the next pitch and gulped - it was the crux 5.11b pitch that Mountain Project rated PG-13 and I could now see why. Off the belay I could only see one placement, a small nut, and the rock seemed a lot more friable than the pitch before. This was my pitch too, and I took a deep breath and started climbing. I slid in a tiny offset nut, and made some moves to get onto a hollow flake. The next 100 ft proved to be a delicate dance between discontinuous cracks and face features, with the added mental and technical aspect of figuring out where to place gear, all of it being very, very small. In times like these, I find that I’m able to go into an almost meditative state, where I don’t let fear in, and focus on just making the next move.
A splitter finger crack leads you to the next anchor, more fixed nuts at a crappy stance. Looking up at the next pitch, we knew made the heady climbing worth it: a splitter .5’s crack that arched into the sky.
Luke won this lead, and climbed the pitch the route was named for — with little purple sky pilot flowers sprouting from the cracks, encouraging little mementos that contrast greatly with the strenuousness of climbing enduro fat fingers at almost 13,000 ft.
Luke leads up the last 5.11 pitch on Sky Pilot - the money pitch.
The last pitches to the summit, with Hurd Peak in the background.
I thought these three pitches of 5.11 climbing were pretty fantastic and contained high quality climbing movement. But I had to detract a star for the heady gear and the loose rock. Nonetheless, we romped to the top via easy ledge systems, and enjoyed the 13,085 ft summit views of Bishop Pass and the Palisades.
Views of Cloudripper and Picture Puzzle Peak on the descent.
Psyched to have ticked off a more obscure high sierra 5.11 as our first alpine route of the season, we descended back to camp in golden hour, the orange light playing off the dark peaks of the Inconsolable range next to us. We made dinner back at camp with our friends who had climbed the North Buttress, and shared stories about our days, happy to have escaped the crazy world for a couple days of fresh alpine air.
BETA
Mt. Goode
Sky Pilot (5.11b) PG-13
Gear List:
Double rack from .1 to #1
#3 x1, #2 x1
Extra: #0 (purple metolious), .2 x3, .3 x3, .4 x4, .5 x4
Set of nuts, emphasis on small offsets
Things worth noting:
There is a glacier at the bottom of the formation, even in a low snow year. We got lucky that it was warm enough overnight that the snow didn’t freeze and there were already steps kicked in towards the base. But we were warned that the snow has the potential to be bullet-hard, and brought an ice axe just in case.
The guidebook suggests you can leave things at the base, but we found that it would be a pretty significant distance back to the base from the descent, and is not obvious or easy, with elevation to be gained over talus.
The route starts in the shade but gets afternoon sun.
Resources:
“The Good, The Great, and the Awesome” by Peter Croft
Mountain Project
What's in my Pack: Climbing Guide Edition /
I work as a climbing guide in Yosemite National Park. My typical day involves either guiding private clients of varying experience up incredible multi-pitch routes, or teaching classes on the ground to beginners. What’s in my pack varies on the type of day, but here’s my favorite gear to bring on a typical day guiding clients up a classic Yosemite multi-pitch.
Petzl Gri Gri 2
The number one rule in guiding is: SAVE YOUR ELBOWS! No one wants to get elbow tendonitis, but guides especially don’t want to sacrifice their off-work climbing performance because they strained their elbows belaying 6 hours a day 5 days a week. Using an ATC in guide mode is a popular way to belay from the top, but it typically requires more force to pull the rope through the device due to the friction caused by the brake carabiner (and other factors like the brand of device you are using, the size of the carabiner, the rope diameter, etc.). The grigi feeds ropes with diameters between 8.9mm and 11mm like a dream, with smooth mechanical action that makes pulling the rope through feel buttery soft, and saves our precious shoulders and elbows for our hard redpoints on our weekends. If you want to see some science behind different belay devices and rope combinations and their ease of use, check out this article by climber Blake Herrington.
“But I like using an ATC because then I don’t have to bring an extra device to rappel!”
If you have to use an ATC, go with the Black Diamond ATC guide. It causes less friction than that of the Petzl Reverso, which makes feeding the rope slightly easier. This fascinating fact I learned from an interview with former YMS guide, Mikey Schafer on The Nugget Climbing Podcast. Super interesting interview and worth a listen!
A classic big wall anchor mess, featuring the GriGri 2 and the Patagonia Ascentionist backpack
Patagonia Tropic Comfort Hoody II
Me enjoying the breezy Men’s Patagonia sun hoody on a summer day in Tuolumne
Although this item isn’t necessarily “in my bag,” rather “always on my body,” I feel like it’s worth a mention. As guides, we work all day every day at elevations of 4,000 ft + in the relentless California sun. Sun protection is pretty imperative, and I’ve experimented with a few sun hoodies now to have found my favorite in Patagonia’s lightweight Tropic Comfort Hoody. Initially they only made this hoody in the style that I liked for men, so I bought one in a size small which I love. But they have a women’s version now thankfully in the Women’s Capilene Cool Daily Hoody for a slightly more fitted look. The material is super light and soft, and I like the slightly loose fit so I don’t feel the weight of the material on my body as much which is crucial on 90+ degree days. I used to wear the Black Diamond Alpenglow sun hoody but the material was too tight and stretchy and I found myself constantly taking it off because it clung to my skin too much. But having a sun hoody at all is a crucial part of any guide’s uniform.
HydraPak Collapsible Water Bottle
On hot days during the summer, I’ll drink at least 4 liters of water over the course of the day. The HydraPak collapsible 2L water bottle is my go-to for my main water-carrying vessel. It is made out of a soft, durable yet collapsible material, so that when it’s empty it will take up less space in my pack. I hate having bulky water bottles that fit into backpacks inefficiently, so I’m a huge fan of any collapsible water bottle system. I’ll also carry a small Nalgene or the ubiquitous gatorade-with-duct-tape-and-p-cord to clip onto my harness for easy access hydration, and will often fill these small bottles with bonus electrolytes.
Sterling Nano 9.0mm // 60m Rope
My go-to guiding rope is a Sterling 60m, with a nice skinny 9.0 diameter. Remember earlier when I talked about the elbow-saving advantages of the GriGri? Well the skinnier the rope, the less friction it causes running through the device, and the skinny 9.0mm is perfect for the job. I also like the smaller diameter for the weight savings, because although I sometimes have clients help carry gear, often times I find myself carrying one or two ropes plus a rack on the approach or descent, and I want to keep it as light as possible to try to go as easy as I can on my body. I am also 99.9% of the time guiding things I would never have to take a lead fall on (aka very much under my limit), so I’m not worried about the small diameter as much in that regard.
A collection of bright new Sterling Nano’s in front of a guide’s tent in Yosemite
La Sportiva TX2 Approach Shoes
Very often us guides are taking clients out on routes we’ve done a million times, and for anything in the 5.6 and under range I will often wear my approach shoes for the duration of the route. My go-to’s are the La Sportiva TX2’s. They are flexible enough to climb easy terrain in, have the sticky Vibram rubber of their climbing shoes, and are lightweight and breathable for hot days. Did I mention it gets hot in Yosemite??
I used to wear the Evolv Cruzers a lot because I liked the way they looked and they were even less bulky and more lightweight than La Sportiva’s shoes, but they fell apart so quickly time and time again and couldn’t stand up to long descents. While they're a good choice to carry up multi-pitches where you are really trying to shave weight off your harness and don’t have a long descent with gnarly terrain on it, in the end I have to go with the TX2's for their durability.
Miscellaneous
Annie and I eat lunch on the spacious ledge mid-way up The Rostrum - I think this deluxe bagel sandwich had arugula and olive tapenade on it. Classy!
Food
I love packing a good bagel sandwich for multi-pitch routes. They hold their shape and don’t just squished in your pack like a tortilla or regular sandwich bread tend to do, they’re full of delicious and important carbs, and you can make them with whatever you want! My go-to is usually something along the lines of, turkey, mustard, cheese and avocado.
Sunscreen, Chapstick and a First Aid Kit
These are essential! Know what’s in your first aid kit and how to use it.
Tape
Not only for crack gloves, tape is also super useful to fortify broken backpack straps or water bottle cords, and can also be useful for first aid.
Sterling 6.8mm Hollow Block
The hollow block is a pre-sewn prusik made with durable, more abrasion-resistant fibers than your average cordalette prusik. A prusik is an essential piece of gear for a guide, as it is commonly used in self-rescue situations, can be utilized for a 3:1 hauling system to help your struggling clients get past a few hard moves, and also is commonly used as a back-up while rappelling.