Photo Gallery

Home » Photo Gallery

scottstevnson

It seems like a lot of folks rip on Colorado or ju

It seems like a lot of folks rip on Colorado or just complain about routes everywhere. “Oh this route was lame because there’s a ledge,” or “that route feels 2 grades easier than MP says.” “I belay with a grigri.” “I don’t use a PAS.” Honestly, who gives a shit. It’s not like the First ascentionist created the rock formation. It’s not like they gave the rock it’s attributes to make it the difficulty they want. I’ve literally had fun on 5.6 choss, immaculate 5.11 granite, and glued together 5.12 garbage. Climbing is FUN!! Quit complaining about everything. 😣😣

First time in RMNP. Psyched to tick off another on

First time in RMNP. Psyched to tick off another one of the 50 classic climbs of North America. So far none of them have disappointed. I guess it’s hard to be disappointed climbing to the top of a 1000+ ft monolith. Photo by @betterbrent

Who is this person and what do they want from me

Who is this person
and what do they
want from me?
I don’t know,
but I can’t give it to them,
and even if I could,
would it be enough?

So deep bro… I know. Been struggling with this idea for a while now. It was nice to put to words.

Anyways, It was a nice weekend climbing and hanging out with motivated, positive folks. Sharing the psych!

Made some progress on this 12c that was pretty cool even if Jonathan Siegrist only bolted it so the wall could have a warm up.

Thanks for the fun times y’all.

Photo by: @greenbreezytrees

I’ve been wanting to do the Grand as a “trail

I’ve been wanting to do the Grand as a “trail run” for a few years now, but am always a bit weary of soloing.

However, it was really nice to replace the rack and ropes with tennis shoes and be able to cruise up and down quickly. @kirk_hilton and I weren’t really sure what our speed would be like, but we weren’t really worried about a specific time, just tried to move steady and efficient. We hit the lower saddle at 3hrs and 15mins, the summit in 5 hrs and 21 mins from the car, and after cautiously downclimbing back down the OS and the choss back to the lower saddle, the tentative goal of a sub 10hr started to seem more realistic. So we picked up our pace and once we hit the dirt trail out of garnet canyon we jogged back to the car for a 9hr 48min time round trip. It’s not lightning fast, but I’m proud of kirk and I for being efficient and feeling solid mentally and physically for the entirety of the journey.

It was also a bonus to share some time with some old friends on the mountain: @ivantheintrepid @upnadam.info @quicktyson

Uintas today with Bart and Mike. Psyched to battle

Uintas today with Bart and Mike. Psyched to battle through and send “Ghost Dance (.12b)” my 2nd of the grade.

Fun few day trip up to the cirque with @kirk_hilto

Fun few day trip up to the cirque with @kirk_hilton. We spent a lot of time lounging on the grass and watching a few parties climb various walls. Managed a quick jaunt up Center Thumb while it was mostly in the shade.

Wild Iris summed up in 2 photos:

Wild Iris summed up in 2 photos:

I sent my first outdoor V7 today!! (Stephan’s Di

I sent my first outdoor V7 today!! (Stephan’s Dihedral). I think it was mostly a mental barrier for me and I glad to have broken through.

I hired a coach in February and have been training physically, but the last few weeks I have also been working on a few things in my mind. Positivity mostly, but also subtle things:

The specific, minute features of the holds, the wind, the bird sounds, visualization of success, positive self talk, presence and body connection.

For example:
Close eyes. Visualize success. Open eyes. Breathe. Left foot on good edge. Right foot far out on sloping lip. left hand on good edge. Right hand on crimp with thumb. Pull off ground. Right hand high to bad sloping crimp. Engage core. Left hand into 3 finger undercling. breathe out. Left foot in to small edge. Shift body weight / left shoulder slightly down and left. Rock right foot high to good edge. Relax body. Breathe. Simultaneously pop off left foot, stand tall on right foot, and release left foot from. Hit right hand on good crimp. Back flag left foot. Left hand to bad crimp. Back flag steps back through to sloping edge. Bump left hand to lip.

I did not get the footy of the actual send 😂. But I thought this was funny because power screaming is not something I normally do.

“Utah man pretends to climb boulder.”

“Utah man pretends to climb boulder.”

Pic 3: I tried to hike Gannett Peak via Tourist Cr

Pic 3: I tried to hike Gannett Peak via Tourist Creek on 2 separate occasions. The route is 36 miles round trip, 6k vert, dangerous river crossings, and lots of boulder hopping.

My first attempt, the weather was perfect until the summit day when there was a gnarly thunderstorm.

The 2nd attempt rained the entire time. It had recently snowed 2ft, by which we were delayed avoiding snow to prevent post-holing, and with limited avy knowledge we weren’t sure what was safe and what wasn’t. After being damp for 3 days and getting ravaged by mosquitos, and ultimately having our spirits broken, we bailed just below the summit again.

On the 2nd trip, we camped at this lake in a pass filled with snow. The previous attempt, this pass was green and had ferrets swimming across the lake. That night camped at the shore, we heard large rock falls cascading down from the cliffs up the hillside above our tent.

I remember putting my backpack uphill from me to protect me and hoping that rocks weren’t trundling towards us.

Pic 2: This might be my favorite photo I’ve ever

Pic 2: This might be my favorite photo I’ve ever taken. I was at a very interesting stage in my climbing. I wanted so badly to be an alpine climber, but I was terrified of heights and climbing in general, to be honest.

I reached goals through pure stubborn will.

Wes and I started our ascent up the Grand Teton at 11pm with the upper Exum as our goal.

We roped up for sections and soloed sections of the route and ultimately were successful in a 22 hour push.

I remember a very specific moment on this climb. Stress and fear overwhelmed me for a large portion of our way up, but when I led up the friction pitch which is the crux of the route, I stopped at the ledge above the hardest moves when I knew we were gonna get to the top.

For a few moments, I let the weight of the goal slip off my shoulders and I looked around at the middle teton, the exposure, and the glaciers below and just thought, “Wow. This is amazing.”

It’s a moment that will stick forever with me and is probably the first time I felt like an alpine climber.

Hey everyone, I thought I’d do a little photo se

Hey everyone, I thought I’d do a little photo series. I have an old hard drive with a bunch of old photos. I’m currently moving them to my Google photos account. It’s been fun to see pics that I forgot about from some of the older, “bigger” objectives I did back in the day.

Pic 1: this is from when I did Mount Shasta with my friend Brent ( @betterbrent ) and his dad. We did this in June 2014 and is was super, super cold. The rocks here are covered in ice/frost.

I kind of feel bad actually because I didn’t bring enough layers on this trip and had to keep moving super fast to stay warm. I kept trying to wait for Brent’s dad, but if I stopped for more than 2 minutes, I started shaking. So I charged forward and we passed all the parties in front of us and got to the top way before everyone else.

Brent’s dad, who was in his late 60s at the time was kind of pissed when we topped out.

😬😬😬

Sorry Robert.

Moody morning on Grandeur.

Moody morning on Grandeur.

Repeated a short .12a I did last fall today and th

Repeated a short .12a I did last fall today and thought I’d film it. Here’s the crux. But I know what we’re all thinking... if he can do it, it must be .10c.

“I hate winter!” Is probably what I’m thinki

“I hate winter!” Is probably what I’m thinking here.

The old Squantch never gets old. Still one of my faves after all these years.

Thanks for the after work jaunt and pic @jp_yip

I hiked Rainier once. We read the “glacier rescu

I hiked Rainier once. We read the “glacier rescue” chapter of Freedom of the Hills on the drive out. We were one of 2 groups to summit that day. The other was guided. We were a bunch of inexperienced morons. We took a picture of how to tie an alpine butterfly so that we’d do the knot correctly on the mountain. I think that a lot of time, drive is more important than skill. I feel like as I’ve developed more skills I’ve also become more aware of dangers that I previously ignored. I used to think, once I get good at this skill I’ll be more comfortable doing this mountain or that route. Truth is, I feel more afraid of big mountains now than when I was new to it. Strange.

Gloomy weekend... 🌥🌥 Struggling to reach mos

Gloomy weekend... 🌥🌥 Struggling to reach most of the goals I set for myself this spring. I guess that’s part of pushing yourself.

photo by @sohmbody

Tried to find a route with a name that represented

Tried to find a route with a name that represented my ability as a climber and my character as a human. - “Turd Blossom” seemed appropriate. Watch closely and you’ll see here in this video, that even after all my time as a rock climber, I still have no idea what the hell I’m doing. 💁‍♂️💁‍♂️

Getting excited for the snow to disappear, so I ca

Getting excited for the snow to disappear, so I can spend time climbing in some of my favorite places. My trad head-game is definitely weaker than in the past, but I have been enjoying bouldering and sport climbing more the last few years. Sometimes you just gotta chase what feels right. Old photo by Tanner Frost with Sam on belay.

It’s probably dumb, but I love the Grand Teton.

It’s probably dumb, but I love the Grand Teton. The first time I climbed it, I made a goal to climb it every year after and have climbed it via the Upper Exum with @wesburdett , Full Exum with @kirk_hilton , and Owen Spalding with @kirk_hilton and @kim.westover . I have continued to meet this goal until summer 2019. My friend @bshafs and I tried to climb it via the Petzoldt ridge. However, due to lack of sleep or something, I got hit with altitude sickness. We decided to bail on the original plan and just make it to the top via Owen Spalding, but I just kept feeling dizzy and nauseated. Between the lower and upper saddle there are a few sections that aren’t super difficult, but are exposed and require attention. A fall could be bad. I wanted to push through one of these spots (one I had done before on several occasions) but I didn’t have any confidence in myself in my current state. I mostly felt bad for letting my partner and friend down, but I knew going down was the right choice. Anyways. Sometimes goals aren’t realistic, but they are fun, regardless. I am happy to have been able to climb that amazing mountain as many times already and hope to many more. Here’s a pic of @kim.westover just after the first “pitch” of the OS route. People hype up the exposure on this pitch. It’s out there, but it’s not too bad. Experience is a strange thing. It changes your brain and makes you feel comfortable in places that aren’t. Grateful for the experiences I’ve had that have made me comfortable in these positions.

Load More... Follow on Instagram

© 2018 My Wagbag. Created by Scott Stevenson | Site Map