Keith had climbed Snowdon multipule times but had never been up the West Buttress or down the Northwest Ridge. We decided to make a day of it. Keith left Farmington early in the morning and picked me up in Durango on the way North to the mountains. The route was in great condition and the…
Julie is training to climb Nun and Kun in Kashmir this summer. Julie came up to Durango and climbed with me in January during an Intro to Mountaineering course. She just returned last week for some more. We started out with two days of ice climbing. Day one in Cascade Canyon going over the…
Erin came down from Boulder to learn some skills and gain some experience in the world of winter mountaineering. Since it was only her we tweeked the itinerary to fit her needs. We started out with a half day of ice climbing in Cascade Canyon. Then drove up the pass and hiked into our Engineer…
We are getting set for a 12 day Cotopaxi and Chimborazo climb with a group of 10, and the guides are in Quito, Ecuador making final preparations for the trip as the bulk of our group is scheduled to arrive this evening. Two of our guests for this expedition are already here, having decided to…
Julie is planning to climb Nun and Kun in Kashmir this summer and came to Durango for a little training on Engineer Mountain. We hiked up to 11,500′ and made our camp for the next two nights. The next day we had a training day in which we went over, knots, self arresting, traveling in…
Tim came out to Colorado and once again crushed it! We climbed Engineer Mountain car to car in about 7 hours. It was a pretty windy at the bottom of the ridge going up and on the way down but quite beautiful while higher on the ridge and summit. Tim I look forward to climbing…
In their October newletter, the AMGA highlights some of the issues (and what we as a climbing community can do about them), revolving around the attempt by the National Park Service to ban commercial guiding in The Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. In addition to The Black, the NPS is also attempting to…
Tim has wanted to climb Pigeon and Turret since he first saw them years ago, but Pigeon and Turret are big peaks deep in the Weminuche. Just getting into Ruby Creek at the base of the peaks is a big day. The weather didn’t look great but looked like it would offer us a window…
Gary had been into Chicago Basin back in the 70’s, and had left with unfinished business. He had climbed Jupiter and Windom but bad weather denied them Eolus and Sunlight. Since the 70’s Gary has climbed peaks all over the North Cascades. When he decided to return to the Weminuche to finish the peaks in…
Day 1: We started out the trip climbing at X-Rock, where we learned Belaying, Rapelling, Climbing Technique, and Anchor Systems. In the afternoon we made a meal plan for the rest of the trip and went food shopping. Day 2: We got up early and drove North to Andrews Lake which was our launching point…
Durango locals, Alice and her son Paul S. along with Sean E. linked up with myself and fellow guide Ryan to hike into Vestal Basin for some peak climbing and relaxation. Paul and I climbed Vestal Peak, 13,864, via its North Face dubbed ‘The Wham Ridge.” The route maxes out its difficulty at 5.4 and…
Becky and Dan came out from Missouri last week to join us for our ‘Best of The Weminuche’ backpacking trip. This trip takes on almost 30 miles of trail with 7200 feet of elevation gain and 7600 feet of elevation loss over 5 days. Overall the weather treated us very well with the rain usually…
Tim is a machine. The other day Tim and I hiked 13.5 miles and climbed North Twilight (13,075′). Car to car in 8 hours with 45 minutes spent on the summit never rushing. We made it back to the car as the rain was starting to fall. Below are a couple photos from the day.…
A few days after climbing in the Black Canyon Chris was headed back out to Colorado to check out some peaks in No Name Basin. No Name Basin is a less known Basin in the Wininuche Wilderness just North of Chicago Basin and South of Vestal Basin, offering some incredible peaks and views. It turned…
This last week, Jeff, Matt, Mike, Jamie and Jason joined Matt and I for what turned out to be a great time in the San Juans. The crew had a good range of experience. Some people had never climbed a mountain before and others had already done a couple of the ‘Seven Summits’. Everyone came…
Dave and I got together this week to go climbing on some new terrain. We spent Monday morning in the ‘Grad School’ area of the Ice park. Neither of us had climbed in this area before and it was a nice change from the other areas we work in frequently. The routes here vary from…
For the second year in a row Roger, Michael and Brian got together in Ouray to fine tune their ice climbing skills with Gary and myself. Day 1 was spent in the Schoolroom of the ice park to dust off any cobwebs the guys had. We climbed a variety of routes from WI 3 to…
Family and friends came together from all over the country to participate in one of SWAG’s winter mountaineering courses over the last weekend of January. We spent the first day at Cascade Canyon ice climbing, rappelling, and building ice anchors. Day 2 was spent hiking into our base camp on Engineer Mountain at 11,500 ft…
Jack from Atlanta and Kathy from New Jersey came out to the San Juans for four days of winter mountaineering. We were in Cascade Canyon for day one where we were able to learn ice climbing technique and review belaying and rapelling. On day two we drove North of Durango to Coalbank Pass at 10,600′…
Chris came out for a three day weekend to do some ice climbing. We spent the first day just North of Durango at Cascade Canyon getting some laps in. Then the next 2 days at the Skylight area in Ouray doing some multi-pitch. The backcountry ice in Southwest Colorado has formed up great this year…