Rock Climbing

Spring is here in Utah and that has meant a few weekend trips to Moab, Indian Creek, and Castle Valley. On the first trip to Indian Creek we jumped on “Jolly Rancher,” a 5.10, 140ft hand crack. I have never led in Indian Creek before, I had never led a 5.10 before, and I had […]

This has to be one of the most intense all-around adventures I have ever done, and it happened in my own backyard of Little Cottonwood Canyon. I got the crazy idea to climb a classic winter alpine route and ski a classic winter descent. Here’s how it went down: We got to the base of […]

This is my first post about a classic sport climb in Big Cottonwood, so we’ll see how it goes. Black Monday is a near 4 star 5.11a sport route. The route starts off as a bit of a boulder problem. It becomes less than vertical and allows for a no hands rest before moving through […]

Climbing steep exposed ridges and rock faces is a counter-intuitive act. When I first began climbing over a year ago, I realized a few things about myself. I am afraid of heights. I am a cautious person. I enjoy calculated, precise risk. I am terrified of the unknown. And I have doubts about my own […]

When I finished leading all three pitches of Steort’s Ridge in Big Cottonwood I wrote a post about it. I have now led all three pitches of Outside Corner and feel like I can present my full opinion of the route. I feel that it isn’t until you have led the pitches of a route […]

In the spring of this year, I began rock climbing on gear. Mixed within the learning, the fear, and the failed attempts, I have been lucky enough to tick off quite a few classic Wasatch climbs. Steurt’s Ridge is a sharp, north facing arete in Big Cottonwood Canyon. It is quartzite and provides 3 pitches […]

We pulled into the Antelope Flats National Forest camping area at 7:30pm. Running a bit behind schedule, we’d still have about 3 hours of sleep if we set up camp and fell asleep immediately. The sky was clear despite the torrential downpour that occurred about an hour earlier as Wes and I sat eating breakfast […]

I don’t get excited about shoes very often and this might be because I don’t find an amazing pair very often. However, the Salewa Firetail GTX approach shoe is honestly the best shoe I have ever had. I am an avid runner, hiker, backpacker, mountaineer and rock climber living in Salt Lake City and for […]

The South Ridge of Superior is a fairly iconic ridge line in Little Cottonwood Canyon across from Snowbird and Alta Resorts. Since moving to Salt Lake I have been slowly ticking away at a number of peaks in the Wasatch, Mount Superior being one of them. The more peaks I have bagged and the more […]

This winter has gone by pretty quickly, thanks to my new interest in indoor climbing that luckily happens to be next door to my work, basically. The ski touring season that I was planning on taking advantage of seems to keep slipping out of my reach, but because I have had much more luck finding […]