Still pretty new to mountaineering, I jumped all over an opportunity to get more crampon experience from a spring ascent of White Baldy. This invite also allowed me to knock off another Wasatch 11er, so I was super stoked to do this! Our adventure started from the Silver Lake Trailhead above Tibble Fork. The first…
Success on Oklahoma’s Black Mesa
After getting denied in Kansas, I found success on Oklahoma’s Black Mesa, the official first of my 2021 Summer Series of State Highpoints. This hike is not hard, but getting to it could be. More on that later. The weather had finally cleared up after a several days of record rain. In fact, the attendant…
Denied Mt. Sunflower
The first of my Summer Series of State Highpoints for 2021 turned out to be unsuccessful attempt of Mt. Sunflower. After having done much harder highpoints with relative ease (CA, MT, UT, ID, NH), I never thought I’d be denied this one! Our 4-state Highpoints loop started in Denver on Memorial Day with Kansas to…
Cold Fusion Couloir to North Timpanogos
I look forward to the season between winter snowshoeing and summer hiking…when avalanche risk is minimal, skies are blue, temps are mild and adventure is high! This spring brought some adventurous fun up Mt. Olympus from Neff’s Canyon and now Cold Fusion to North Timpanogos. Seeing Timp from my house every day, I’ve wanted to…
Mt. Olympus from Neff’s Canyon
Mt. Olympus is a Wasatch Front favorite, on par with Granduer Peak or Squaw Peak in this collection of challenges selected for Utah’s inaugural Six-Pack. As for me with all three of these peaks, I’ve already done each several times by now and wasn’t too interested in doing any of them again the “standard” way……
Rock Canyon Combo
Squaw Peak was #2 for me as I work through Utah’s first Six-Pack of Peaks Challenge in 2021. However, this peak wasn’t enough by itself, so we bushwhacked and broke trail up to Buffalo Peak to make this a Rock Canyon Combo! Friends from the Wasatch Peak Baggers were already talking about doing Squaw in…
Grandeur Peak Yo-Yo
I accepted the new Six-Pack of Peaks Challenge for Utah yesterday with a Grandeur Peak Double! There are several routes up Grandeur that I would categorize as Standard, Strenuous and Adventurous. The Standard route is up from the Church Fork trailhead out of Mill Creek Canyon. This eastern approach climbs 2,500′ in about 3 miles. …
Notch Peak for 3 Peaks in 3 Days
If you’re continuing the read from yesterday’s trip report, “Red Sky at Night, Sailors’ Delight” is supposed to mean there will be good weather the next day, right? WRONG! This was the weather as we left Nevada heading east on Hwy 6/50 over Connors Pass. Fortunately the weather didn’t follow us into Utah so that…
Wicked Wind of the West on Wheeler
This was our second peak of choice after doing Boundary the day before. The original plan was to do a Whitney-Boundary combo but the wildfire situation in California forced them to close all their trails. That’s when our goal changed to 3 peaks in 3 days with Boundary and Wheeler in Nevada, followed by a…
A Boundary Peak Private Rental
This time last year, we summited Mt. Whitney. The plan was to do that again this year but the wildfires in California still have all their recreational areas closed under Forest Order 05-04-50-20-21. As a result, we decided to do 3 other peaks in 3 days starting with Nevada’s Boundary Peak. This would be my…