Moses

The silence was complete. I sat on a large boulder looking up at my friends through a lens as they made their way up the famed Moses. They were nearly a quarter mile away, but I could still hear them as if they were next to me. There were no bugs humming, no rush of wind, the silence wasn't even interrupted by planes passing by. My eardrums didn't quite know how to react to the stillness. 

We were there on a three day weekend. Chase, Greg, and I snuck off for a day in Canyonlands. They were there to climb Moses, and I was there to shoot. Shifting to different locations every so often seemed to make the time go by. Sitting in the desert with a camera was a unique experience. This was the first time I have been out to shoot a day of climbing without climbing anything. 

It was a fulfilling day, even more so as I got home and went through the images. It was a stunning landscape. I hope to make it back to climb the route in the future. It was amazing. 

Silver Fork

After a couple weeks of warm temps the snow was completely shot. Dawn patrols were done. Waking up early to go scrape your way down some bulletproof ice usually doesn't sound appetizing at 5 in the morning. Thankfully you can always count on some amazingly deep days in March and April. 

When we saw this storm moving in we made plans to get out for a good morning tour. Josh, Chase, and I hit the trail early and made good time. We dropped in to Silver Fork and got some really good snow. Good conversation always makes a skin track seem shorter. There really is no better way to start a day. 

Touring lately

Winter? Oh yeah. This is what that feels like. After last year I kind of forgot. So far it already feels like we have more snow than all of last season combined. We have been getting out a bunch and it just keeps getting better. The snow has been fairly stable and I am looking forward to getting into some bigger lines this year.

Todd came out for a tour a couple weeks back, it wiped him out for a few days but we had a good time. Other than that there have been quite a few good days and I am looking forward to the rest of the winter.

 

The Illusive Line...

When 4:10 a.m. rolled around and I was dragging my groggy butt out of bed I was really regretting turning down an invitation to hike from the tram at Snowbird to the American Fork Twins. I could have stayed in bed for another three hours and started 3,000 vertical feet higher than I would with the Southern Wasatch Crew.

I picked up Jeremy Jolley and we drove up Provo Canyon to meet a crew of some really awesome guys. It was me, Chase McMillan (hiking machine), Jeremy (a legit hobbit), Rick Black (The guy built a plane in his garage and hangs out of helicopters for a living), Skyler Holman (a Sundance Ski Patroler), and Jim Knight (A climbing legend who pioneered climbing in Utah). We started our way up. We hit the snow and it was solid, the axes and crampons came out.

As we made our way up the drainage the surroundings seemed to grow more unique and grand the higher we climbed. I will never cease to be amazed at the sheer grandeur of Timpanogos. It is such an impressive place with so much depth.

We reached a waterfall that we could have climbed around, but no one felt good about down climbing it later without climbing gear. As we stood and debated our options it grew warm adding another complication to our predicament. With all the experience that was in the group I sat back and waited for their decision. We turned back with the knowledge that another approach would be much more ideal for that particular line.