Too Much Driving...: Lots and Lots

Looks like I've got a little catching up to do... again.

First off, I had the unsuspected pleasure of playing host to Random for a weekend... He was in Oregon for work, but managed to get away for a weekend filled with real beer (ha ha), disc golf, canoeing, and canyoning. Fun to hang out with half of "Team Dudley" in Oregon, hadn't expected that one!

Our crew for Eagle Cr: Random (Capt. America), Catherine, Aaron, Dennis, Amy, Mel and I

Nice views on the walk in

Looking into the narrows... We'll be down there shortly!

We opted to Bypass the Skoonichuck entry waterfall to save time

And right here, right when the action was to begin... my camera died.

...so the rest of the pics are from Aaron's camera: here's Random in his action suit

Let the swimming begin!!!

Tossing the pack above one of the MANY jumps.

Capt. America in action! Watch out criminals!!!

Mel in her usual jumping post: firm clasp on nose

Nice pic of Amy in the creek

Dennis looking fine in his element

Okay, fast forward a bunch to the last rap: Amy w/ cool rope designs on Metlako

Now Catherine's turn (notice the rope blowing away from the water impact)

Catherine enjoying the punchbowl swim

Capt. America on rope.

Random after the rap and swim. Seems like he's somewhat happy.

Mel's turn, getting started at the edge

Enjoying the view

more...

Had to include this one cause it was the only one w/ a rainbow

Mel enjoying her swim

My turn!

more...

Floating disconnect (don't drop anything!!!)...

So that's how you get the rope down! (answer to the common question)

Okay, what a fun trip. Thanks everyone, great to see you Random.

The next weekend was a joint high angle training with the National Park Staff over at Crater Lake. I didn't get any pics of the actual training (cause it was raining and snowing the whole time) but on the way out it cleared enough to grab a couple scenery shots of the lake.

"The Wolfpack".

Playing around w/ the new polarizing filter... Works pretty awesome!

One of the MANY overlooks around the lake

Here we are, learning about "The Old Man of the Lake"

One of the park's most commonly asked questions: "how much dye do you have to put in" (seriously!)

The rig in her beautiful element.

Tim, also in his beautiful element.

Another cool trip over at Crater, looking forward to more next year!

Okay, now for the main event (well, at least for me is was...). Over Labor Day, Mel and I took a couple of days off and headed down to California, where we met up with our good friends Chris and Amy for the third annual Sierra Laboring Festival. This year we managed to secure a camping permit for the oft-sought-after Palisades region. Allegedly this is the most mountainous part of the Sierra Nevada range, with 5 of the states 14,000'+ peaks just a stones throw apart (there are 15 "14ers" in CA I think). The first day we enjoyed an early start, and set up camp next to Fourth Lake. The second day Mel and Amy enjoyed exploring around some of the other lakes and meadows while Chris and I climbed the classic U-Notch Couloir route on North Palisade. Enjoy!

Here is dawn overlooking the Palisade Glacier.

The U-Notch Couloir is the large gully in the center of the range, and North Palisade is the summit directly right of the couloir (just a hint of sun on it)

Here's a closer view of the gully, from on the glacier.

Getting ready!

Look, now there's a rope!!!!

Meanwhile, back in camp, the ladies and dogs are enjoying a relaxing morning (4th Lake from Camp)

Here's Amy and the Boys working up towards Sam Mack Meadow (you can barely see N. Palisade above the rectangle snowfield)

The beautiful Sam Mack Meadow (Chris and I had passed through here a few hours before)

Again

Awesome pine remenents around 4th lake

View of the Palisades from near our camp

Another view of the lake from our campsite

Okay, back in the couloir, Chris leads over the bergschrund and starts the icy part of the climb.

zoomed...

This was the nature of the climb for the next few hours

Here's me belaying Chris up after a turn at leading

Chris elects to take some rock instead of the ice on the left.

Me on the last ice step in the gully.

Looking back down the couloir from the top

We stashed our ice gear and began the rock climbing portion. Here was a short traverse.

Followed by a couple of pitches of rock... (neat to go from ice to warm rock!)

Here Chris makes the last couple of moves onto the summit ridge. If you look below him, you will see another party of two climbers going the other direction.

Sitting on the summit ridge with Polmonium peak (close) and Mt. Sill (farther) behind

Me standing below the summit (which required a little scrambling and route finding to get to)

Chris on the high point. Lot's of air behind/below him here. Lots and lots actually.

Looking down in the other direction over Dousy Basin. It was hazy!

Okay, fast forward a number of hours. To reverse the route, we made 15+ rappels combined with a lot of downclimbing do get back to the glacier (We knew it would take a while, and it did!). From there we had a few more hours of hiking and boulder hopping to get us back to camp. All in all, a great day though!

Here we are the next morning (w/ route behind) looking surprisingly happy!?

Chris and Amy with the lake in it this time.

Taking a bath in 5th Lake. The water was pretty cold!

On the hike out we pass more lakes and Temple Crag, which is home to the longest climb in the sierras

Lakes were this color because of the glacial influence

The teammembers for another memorable sierra's trip!

Here's the Little Lady enjoying the sun and the views.

Mel taking reflection shots of my glasses. Cheesy, I know.

Okay, last but not least, I'm obligated to add some pics from the next weekend's trip up to Three Finger Jack with Mike and Catherine. They both had been wanting to do this for a while so I was glad to be dragged along.