We're well on our way, fueled by uncooked rice and lentils, stale bread, bland oats, and warm, salty water. We've made it to our first shelter and real food in a week! James and Susan are wonderful hosts and their home has so much character and their yard is beautiful and it's all set in between the white mountains and the sierras. The stars swallowed us up last night there were so many! The milky way seemed to just pour out over the mountains and all across the valley floor. To keep it brief - Our adventure thus far: A wonderful [View Full Entry]

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Encore quelques photos...et une nouvelle importante : la méga-perf de Flo qui s'envoie un 6c+ à vue sur une dalle à micro-réglettes (disons gros Flash puisque Niko lui souffle quelques conseils), et Niko qui va voir un mdecin du sport ricain, qui, mervilleux toubib, lui conseille de continuer à grimper et de muscler avec des élastocs les pronateurs de ces avant-bras...ça va déjà mieux... Nous sommes à Bishop et nous dirigeons vers Le Yosémite, ultime et dernière destination du trip, sniff! Ancora un paio di fotografie...e una notizia importante : la prestazione di Flo che avvista (o piutto [View Full Entry]

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Bishop Campground, 18-10-2002. It's early morning and downhill now, mile after mile is disappearing under the tyres of my bike while I look around me enjoying the vistas of Owen's Valley at one side down in the valley and the White Mountains behind me. Sh*t, I wish I could turn my head a full hundert degrees, the way owls can so I could take in even more of this natural beauty. I've to first go back to Lone Pine to bring Lee back the mobile phone he gave me yesterday, "just in case something goes wrong my friend" he told me [View Full Entry]

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Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest, 17-10-2002. I cycle back the few short miles to Lone Pine for breakfast with a gusty wind in my face, myself and all my gear covered in white/yellowish alkali sand, a leftover from my camping place last night, my ears still ringing with the coyote howls that circled my tent all night and the saddle of my bike slowly giving up on me - I've to remember to buy a new one in Lone Pine after breakfast. Not that any of this means I am not enjoying myself....I love the outdoors here in the USA, I love [View Full Entry]

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North of Lone Pine, 16-10-2002. I wake up well before sun-up, rolling up my sleeping bag, getting my things together and quickly cycling north, away from the massive Edward Airforce Base. These blokes were a bit too busy to my liking most of the night, driving jeeps around with huge lamps beaming in all directions. I actually got a bit scared they were aware of my presence and on the look-out for me, not that they ever found me, hidden in a small clearing between creosote bushes and low chaparral well away from the main road. I pass through a couple [View Full Entry]

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Apple Valley, 15-10-2002, early morning. "Strange red lights in the sky, you say, I hope you didn't make photos of them". I'm inside the tiny police station of Apple Valley, a small typical american city with broad streets and low houses that have big gardens in front of them. "No, I did not make photos of these red light", I tell the blond female police officer who is on reception duty, her big protruding belly betraying to me she is gonna be a mother soon. "Good because the people at the nearby Edward Airforce Base don't like that". Good, I thought [View Full Entry]

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With our gear selection limited, as well as our patience with the crowds, we decide to pack it in and head back down to Bishop where we had already stopped briefly before heading into Yosemite. We got back into town early enough in the day to stop at the local outfitters, East Side Sports, and unlike every other shop we visited, there was a combination of great service, great selection and reasonable prices. I highly recommend it if you ever find yourself in the area. Stef replaced the bouldering pad since Bishop is home to some of the best bouldering in [View Full Entry]

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Earlier this summer I decided with my lady friend that we would spend the week following camp on vacation. During the Staff Party she wanted to make sure that I wasn't going to be too hungover the next day to go on our excursion. On Monday, I was too hungover to travel. But I'm a seasoned traveler, so moving whilst in pain comes as second nature to me. On Monday evening we headed to the Eastern Sierras. Nevada, right? It turns out that east of California's Sierras is actually more of California. We left my house and headed for the Souplantation [View Full Entry]

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On July 13th, two co-workers and I ascended the 14, 496ft. Mt. Whitney: the tallest peak in the lower 48 states. Eric Leaf, Jesse Goddman and I spent the night in the lower Alabama Hills before beginning our trek from the trailhead at 5am; following the 7-mile-long Mountaineers Route we summited at 10 o'clock. The actual Mt. Whitney trail is a 13-mile-long series of switchbacks. We opted for the shorter steeper ascent which ended with a 50m section of 4th class climbing to the top. (4th class= both hands and feet are used to climb but no equipment) We descended in [View Full Entry]

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I am now officially a graduate of Colorado State University and it feels great! My next four months will be spent in the wilderness working for the California Department of Fish and Game in a research survey and restoration project for the Mountain Yellow Legged Frog population of the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range. Directly after my graduation I participated in an 80 hour Wilderness First Responder Course, which is the step below EMT and specifically pertains to the wilderness. It was a 10 day course with only one day off on the weekend and that one day off Matt, Brandon [View Full Entry]

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