The fall season in Yosemite Valley hadn't quite begun, but the temperatures were becoming more manageable and the summer crowds were dwindling both on the ground and up on the walls. This was part of our "grand plan". A plan that we spent months preparing for and dreaming about in an attempt to convince ourselves that everything would go perfectly as planned. There would be no need to abandon, chop apart, and resurrect the "grand plan". All that we could be certain of was t

The summer in Las Vegas can be a little tricky for adventure climbing. The temperatures at times soar in the 110 degree range and just going for a walk sometimes can be face melting. I usually take a trip in early June to beat the heat and the last two years I have gone to Yosemite Valley to explore the tall granite walls there. After this most recent trip, having successfully climbed Zodiac (see my last post) I was pretty psyched up to keep on big-walling on the regular.

There are few natural formations as massive, inspiring, and recognizable as El Capitan in Yosemite National Park in California. To some, its a symbol of the impossible and to others its a mecca of climbing and seeing what's possible. To me it was a longtime goal that took many years of climbing to even begin to understand. Since I was a child this single piece of granite and the accomplishments of the pioneering climbers before me have been a constant unwavering inspiratio

A few months Andy and I hatched a plan to climb a wall route in Zion, something I've been eagerly waiting to do all summer. The steep clean cut walls of Zion are always amazing, and there are so many great looking walls to choose from. I suggested that we get up on Desert Shield, a mixed aid and free climb that goes up onto and impressive steep headwall that looks practically blank. It had some 5.11 free climbing down low to psyche Andy up, and two moderately hard C3 aid p