12,000+ Miles in less than Five Months

Since January 9, we've taken dozens of climbing trips from Salt Lake City, including several to Moe's Valley, Utah, two to Bishop, California, one to Moab, two to Bozeman, Montana, and a "buttload" to Joe's Valley, Utah.

I'm about to leave Salt Lake City for the summer. I'll spend the first month in Ten Sleep, Wyoming trying to remind my forearms how to climb more than ten moves at a time. After that, I'll head to Sweden -where I'll hopefully get to boulder, trad climb, and sport climb.

More soon!

-Christine Balaz

JOE'S VALLEY, UTAH

David Sending Beyond Life (Gustavo Moser Photo)

Sucking in Joe's 3 from David Sjoquist on Vimeo.

BISHOP, CALIFORNIA

Bishop from David Sjoquist on Vimeo.

MOAB, UTAH: KANE SPRINGS CANYON

MOE'S VALLEY, UTAH

Rainier & Hood

It's Memorial day weekend and we are still skiing powder here in the Northwest. I spent a lot of time cruising around Mt Rainier in May. The snow was good, it was still dumping and the weather allowed me to get oriented to terrain I was unfamiliar with. This summer I am working for Alpine Ascents International guiding in the Cascades, mostly on Rainier. In between trips I have been going home to the Columbia River Gorge to hang out in Hood River, clip bolts and ski on Mt Hood.

Mt Hood summit. May 19

Crevasse rescue practice on Rainier photo: David Dietzgen

Dave and Victor McNeil photo: David Dietzgen

Ingraham glacier on Mt Rainier

Breaking trail at 12,000 ft

Sunrise over the Cascades

Inverted keg stands at 10,000 ft on Mt Rainier. Happy Memorial Day

Sucking in Joe's Season Finale

Sucking in Joe's 4 from David Sjoquist on Vimeo.

Little Cottonwood Canyon

Well, it turns out that we're not the only ones sucking in Joe's Valley. The weather also gets pretty lame in Joe's sometimes -and recently it's been either so rainy or so hot that we've been unable to climb at all or unable to climb to the top of anything.

Really the weather hasn't even been that bad. But it's definitely starting to seem like bouldering season is over in this part of the world.

Anyway- we didn't feel like driving all the way to Joe's again today -so we kept it local and ran immediately into friends Myranda "I'm Watching You" Bair, Arthur Debowski, and Jason Danforth all trying to drag their bodies up the boulders of Little Cottonwood Canyon.

The conditions in Little were certainly far from "sending temps", but we climbed that place like it never had been climbed before. And when we ran out of fingertip skin, we played fun and invasive games with soothing banana peels.

Afternoon in LCC from David Sjoquist on Vimeo.

Joe's Valley Video

Same old story here- more weekend trips to Joe's Valley!

But recently, we've updated our camera to the Nikon D5100. So even if the climbers/ location is the same, the footage is much better!

Sucking in Joe's 3 from David Sjoquist on Vimeo.

For those heading to Joe's Valley, consider bringing $25 cash; Isaac Caldiero has just self-published a new, color guidebook featuring 300 "new" problems -for a total of 600+ problems.

Carotid Artery

by Chris Thomas

This year a very rarely forming route called the Carotid Artery formed in the Broken Hearts drainage in Cody, WY. I've been watching this one for years, hoping and praying that it would come in, and it finally formed up in a big way! It's funny how that works in ice climbing. What has previously formed as a long, narrow, fearsome pillar with scrappy, poorly protected mixed climbing was a pure ice slugfest this year. A huge roof near the top was the crescendo finish, but compared to what I was expecting it was a moderate cruise and extremely fun! Perfect weather, good partners, and fantastic ice climbing made for a great day out.


The incredible pitch five amphitheatre of Broken Hearts. The Carotid Artery is on the left.

The ice has all melted here at home, but that doesn't mean ice season is over. Later this week I leave for Alaska, wish us luck!

Chris Thomas