Photos after all!

Fortunately Clement took some pics this past weekend. Thanks a lot!

Super Chicken

Me leading Goldmember (with alternate start)

West Face of Eichorn's Pinnacle from the John Muir Trail

Clement on pitch 1 of the West Pillar

Summit shot!

Tuolumne

Happy!

Kicked off the Tuolumne season last weekend...
Beautiful as ever!

We drove out on Thursday evening, so that we could get an early start on Friday to head up Cathedral Peak. It was my fourth time on Cathedral, but it's always a treat! A nice, mellow alpine climb with fantastic rock and unbelievable views...
What was even nicer, was the weather: T-shirts were sufficient, even on the summit, quite rare conditions!

We ended the perfect day of climbing with dinner at the Mobil station in Lee Vining, where we also camped for the night.

Waking up to these views is incredible!
The morning got even better... Pancakes from the TM grill for breakfast :-)
After the long day on Friday we choose to take it easy on Saturday and go top roping on the Western Front. We climbed 'Green Eggs and Ham', 'March of Dimes' and 'New Tricks for Old Dogs' before heading back to the Meadows to enjoy a beer ...

Tuolumne Meadows and Cathedral Peak
Hoping for a sponsorship from Mammoth Brewing Company!

Mt. Shasta pictures

Below are some photos I took during last weeks ascent of Mount Shasta.

Mt. Shasta as seen from I-5 going north.

Looking up the 'Heart' to 'Red Banks'

View to the Bunny Flat trailhead from the top of Red Banks

The summit

Obligatory summit shot

Above the clouds

Shastina

Google Earth is such a nice toy, especially combined with a GPS unit. :-)

Carlsbad Caverns

Carlsbad Caverns National park is located 20 miles west of Carlsbad, NM. Today was my second visit to the caves, but I was impressed once again. The bottom of the accessible cave is 754ft below the surface and can be reached by a hike from the Natural Entrance or by elevator.
The Big Room at the bottom of the cave is the world's largest limestone cavern with an area of 600000 sft.

This area is packed with impressive formations! It just makes me want to explore other caves in the area... and elsewhere. I guess it's time to take a caving class. Here are some pictures of this amazing place:

Stinson Beach Photos

Here are some photos of the bouldering trip up to Stinson Beach:
Again, it was an amazing day!

Red Rock Canyon

What is the thing with me and Las Vegas?
The last time I was here, in February, it snowed in Red Rock Canyon, so that my climbing trip was cut short. This time around I wake up Friday morning after arriving the previous night, look out the window and see a downpour! On top of that it was freezing cold...not the best perspectives for the race on Sunday.

After spending most, actually all of Friday, in the hotel (earning $10 for a survey of NBC trailers, and $125 in dining coupons for listening to a timeshare sales guy for an hour) Lesley and I headed out for a hike to Red Rock Canyon on Saturday.

The weather was gorgeous, pretty windy, but sunny. We did the Calico Tank trail. A moderate out-and-back trail of approximately 2.5 miles. It was just the right distance to get our legs moving, but not tiring us out before the half marathon the next day.

The path led from the parking lot through a wash to a narrow canyon. We followed the canyon to a pool of pretty fridgid looking water. Continuing past the pool we reached a nice vista point overlooking the plains all the way back to the Strip. It's quite amazing how remote the canyon feels although Las Vegas is a mere 30 minutes away.

The goodie package for suffering through the timeshare sales pitch also included tickets to the Shark Reef Aquarium at the Mandalay Bay hotel. Seeing all those fish, turtles, corrals, etc. made me want to go diving again... I haven't been since the Advanced Open Water certification class last winter...Need to go! Anyone up for it?