Since September was a bust with Colorado, my focus turned to the plans I had in the East for October. This idea began taking shape back in May after COVID shut down the world and killed my EBC trip. At that time, I thought we would surely be through all this Coronavirus stuff by Fall…
Colorado just wasn’t in the cards for me this summer
When I set the goal to do a state highpoint every month this summer, Colorado was included on this list for September. I figured Mt. Elbert would still qualify for my COVID Summer Series of State Highpoints if I got it in before the first day of Fall. I’ve also been doing a Colorado 14er…
Got Granite from the Southwest Ramp
Coming in at #4 of my COVID Summer Series of State Highpoints is Montana’s tallest, Granite Peak at 12,799′. Granite is one of the tougher high points of the West but we made it up and back in less than 48 hours! I went with Oliver Hansen, a hiking friend from Grantsville, who did Dessert…
Kings Peak and a Utah Trifecta
#3 in my COVID Summer Series of State Highpoints is Utah’s own, Kings Peak. The goal was for my neighbor Chad and I to do the Utah Triple Crown; which is all three of our tallest peaks, in order, in one day. Those peaks are Kings (13,528′) , South Kings (13,518′) and Gilbert (13,499′). However,…
Third Reunion with Borah Peak
An annual family reunion on my wife’s side leads me to the second in my COVID Summer Series of State Highpoints. On the 3rd weekend in July, for as long as she can remember, families from her mother’s lineage gather together for the Armstrong Reunion in the remote community of Mackay, Idaho (pronounced Mackie; pop….
Summer Series kicks off on Humphrey’s
Accomplishing state highpoints wasn’t a serious goal for me until COVID killed all kinds of other plans I had this year. A few of these have already been on my bucket list for a while now, but not with any kind of serious effort to git’em done. So with COVID making the door clear and…
Deseret Peak via Temple Couloir
When I did Deseret Peak from the Twin Couloirs two weeks ago, I saw another route to do before the snow completely melts away. I knew if this didn’t happen before May rolled out, it would be too late and there was no way I wanted to wait until next year. So yesterday was the…
Deseret Peak from the Twin Couloirs
There is a small window of time in the Spring where the snow is just right and the weather conditions are ideal for some pretty awesome hiking. I also couldn’t wait to use the new mountaineering gear I got for Christmas for the first time. It was the perfect day to summit Deseret Peak from the…
EBC Plans Taking Shape
Decisions, decisions, decisions… there are a lot to be made when putting together a trek to the base camp of Mt. Everest. As our EBC plans begin taking shape, a few of the biggest ones we’ve just finalized are: 1) who to guide us, 2) what villages to see along the way and 3) when…
Entering the Whitney Zone
I’ve been thinking about hiking Mt. Whitney for two years now! It all started after seeing two other parties from my hiking group organize this trip on two separate occasions. Both times were planned quietly due to limited spots I presumed – or perhaps only to include those who were certain not to hold back…