August 27th, 2015
[Pics] [Map]

Our monthly after work pizza and beer paddle in Newport Harbor.  Which this month just so happened to fall on an unusually strong tide.  Oops...

This trip was primarily aimed at WTC students who need two trips to complete all the requirements of the course and be eligible for graduation in October.  I usually do a few more of these but it's been a rough summer climbing schedule wise between unsettled weather in late Spring and knee issues towards the end of the summer.

As a result this ended up being the last Sierra Trip of the summer for me after having to cancel Star King, Florence N, and a long haul desert trip over Labor Day.

For this trip Kristen and I picked Cirque because the drive to Horseshoe Meadow is on the short side (it's 25 miles above Lone Pine) and the stats are pretty reasonable letting us plan for a large 15 person group.

As the weekend approached the bigger concern became smoke from the still burning Rough Fire.  After we'd seen it on the Harrington trip it had continued to grow and depending on the day was making the east side extremely unpleasant.  For the moment the worst of it seemed to be to the north so off we went...

August 7th to 9th, 2014
Mount Harrington (11,009')
[Pics] [Map]

This was originally going to be Jen Blackie's Sierra Club M-Rock Provisional but a bureaucratic hiccup didn't get resolved in time and so we ended up just doing it privately at the last minute.

We planned for three days since there's a fair amount of gain and the area was reportedly very pretty.  Day 1 we'd hike in and camp at Frypan, day 2 do Harrington, and then day 3 do Kennedy and hike out.

Even with the smoke and other minor issues this was one of the most memorable trips of the summer due to a spectacular camp, distinctive peak, and a great post trip river bath.

This was an official trip led through Sierra Club by Neal Robbins and myself.

The general idea was to look for an interesting 3rd class peak and to do it in as interesting a way as we could manage.  We decided on Tower Peak, notable for being remote and seldom climbed, then Neal came up with a plan that involved coming in via Buckeye Canyon and grabbing two bonus peaks from the Vagmarken Sierra Crest List.  Additionally the second day we'd attempt to get both Tower and Ehrnbeck by traversing the ridge between them.

July 24th to 26th, 2015

Tower Peak (11,755')

Hawksbeak Peak (11,134')

Ehrnbeck Peak (11,240')

[Pics] [Map]

July 21st, 2015
[Pics] [Map]

The after work pizza paddle fell on a Tuesday night this month.

July 11th & 12th, 2015
University Peak (13,589')
[Pics] [Map]

This was Jeff's Atijera's 3rd attempt at an M-Rock provisional after the first two (Senger & Hooper and Dragon, Kearsarge, & Gould) had both failed to gain the required Sierra Club approvals and ended up happening as very successful private trips.

This time the plan was to do University Peak out of Onion Valley backpacking in to Matlock Lake and then climbing University from Bench Lake / north face route.

Stats were on the very low end and the weather was forecast as 70 degrees and sunny.  All expecting a nice relaxing afternoon swimming and playing Cards Against Humanity.  The second day we'd start early, get back to camp at a reasonable time, and be out to the cars hours before sunset.

That was the plan anyway...

July 2nd to 6th 4th, 2015
Mount Ruskin (12,920')
[Pics] [Map]

The 4th of July is one of those work holidays perfectly positioned during Sierra climbing season.  I always try to take a few extra days off and go run amok in the high country somewhere and this year was no exception.

This time the trip was over Taboos Pass which is an eastern Sierra trailhead that's somewhat notorious due to the fact you climb about 6000 ft in roughly 5 miles.  Efficient!  But once you make it up that it's a spectacular area and there's a number of really awesome peaks.  This time we were aiming for Ruskin and Arrow along with whatever else we could manage.

But before you think it all sounds too idyllic I should say this was the second trip this year planned as a 5 day where things happened and we had to come out early.  And this time the cause was a second round of high altitude pulmonary edema aka HAPE.

Twin and Virginia are two peaks accessible from the eastern side of the Sierra near Bridgeport

The planned outing to Tehepite and Spanish two weeks before had been canceled (again) due to weather and I was itching to get back up to altitude.

This had originally started as an official Sierra Club I rated trip Jen and I were planning to lead before we realized that keeping it 2nd class meant we had to drop down 1500 ft from one peak and them climb back up the other.  Then it morphed into a Sierra Club M trip led by Laurent and I which could do the 3rd class ridge traverse only to have that fall through.  And I just wanted to bloody get out and climb so the three of us decided to do it privately.

And at long last it looked like the weather was going to cooperate. So far this spring it seemed like storms kept hitting every weekend but this time beyond a little wind it was supposed to be clear and relatively warm!

June 19th to 21st, 2015

Twin Peaks (12,323')

Virginia Peak (12,001')

[Pics] [Map]

June 10, 2015
[Pics] [Map]

About once a month a group of us get together and paddle Newport Harbor after work. We launch from the beach at the Newport Aquatic Center and paddle over to Pizza Nova in the main harbor where we dock our boats, partake in pizza and beer, and then paddling back to the cars. We do this all year round and in pretty much all conditions. You can find writeups of other pizza paddles here.

Memorial Day has become a tradition for me ever since a trip gone slightly wrong back in 2010.  It's a long weekend which happens at an annoying time of year where you can get into the Sierra but there's a good chance you'll face weather and less than ideal conditions.

Back in 2010 I planned a trip to Walker Pass to clean out a bunch of SPS/HPS peaks along the PCT.  What was intended to be a fairly approachable trip ended up being a bit harder due to heat, route finding on the infamous Spanish Needle, and a dried up water source.  Some extra miles and one dry camp later only Jen and I did the last few peaks while the rest of the group headed straight for the cars.  It was retroactively branded the Memorial Day Massacre.

When the following year came around we decided to do another butt kicker cleanout and despite some memorable weather events it's stuck around.

A brief summary of the Massacres so far
2010 Walker Pass - The trip that inspired the name.  Went at Chimney Creek to get a number of peaks and hike south to Walker Pass.  Only Jen and I completed all the peaks.
2011 Williamson Cleanout - Well, planned to be a Williamson are cleanout.  Went in on a bad forecast which proceeded to get worse.  Retreated from Shepherd Pass due to 100 mph winds to set up near Anvil only to have our tent ripped open by gusts.  Spent the night in a bush getting snowed on.  No peaks.
2012 Golden Trout - Some weather but highly successful.  Lots of miles & peaks.  Started with 3 and ended with 2.
2013 Courtright - Spectacular weather, lots of peaks, lots of miles.  And a kilt!
2014 Skip Year - Didn't happen due to the job switch and Boise move

Which brings us to 2015. Work has settled down and I was itching to get back into the Sierra after a fun desert trip season. After looking into a number options we settled on a loop out Cherry Lake on the west side just south of Sonora Pass. None of us had been in this particular area so we were all looking forward to seeing some new trails.

May 21st to 25th 23rd, 2015

Kibbie Ridge

[Pics] [Map]