Enchantment Peak, Acid Baby

An overview of the route. Acid Baby starts at the bottom of the triangular face, then works it's way up and right to the knife-edge ridge summit.

Michelle following pitch 1, 5.10d.

An easy traverse atop pitch 2 takes us to the right side of the tower.

Belay somewhere up high.

Michelle coming up from another 5.10d crux.

Cruising across the knife-edge with Dragontail in the distance.

Mt.Triumph, Northeast Ridge

Looking north to where we are going.

Looking south from where we came.

The Southern Picket Range from our camp.

Sunrise over a thick marine layer.

Mt. Triumph. Our objective is the right hand ridge crest.

Crossing the glacier toward the ridge.

Michelle climbing snow to access the ridge crest.

A snowy Picket Range. Is it really the middle of summer?

Michelle cruises an exposed traverse around a gendarme.

Michelle on the narrow ridge crest with the Pickets in the distance.

On the summit!

Summit shot.

Rappelling from near the summit on the descent.

Making our way back down the ridge.

And finally back down the snow.

An afternoon view of Mt. Triumph.

A perfect camping spot.

Mt. Rainier, Emmons Glacier

After a great fall in Switzerland, Daniel and Lode, joined us in Washington this summer to enjoy the Cascades. After they got their feet wet in Leavenworth, we headed to Rainier. 

Daniel, Lode, and me on the Inter Glacier.

Plan: Day 1 - climb up to Sherman acclimatize Day 2 - Rest Day 3 Climb 

David radioing into ops as the Chinook flies below. 

Day 2: Rescue on Mountain.  Joe joins David on search for missing climber and climbs up and over the second day; only to be transported back to Sherman in the helicopter at the end of a long day. 

The Chinook doing aerial searching.

Little Tahoma on our flight back to Camp Schurman.

Day 3:  Joe gets up and rejoins the group. Back up the mountain on a beautiful morning.

Sunrise on the Emmons.

Many parties ahead of us. We passed them all.

The view of Little Tahoma never gets old.

Cruisin' up!

Daniel and Lode making good time.

Passing some people.

Almost there!

Joe's summit pose.

80th summit is something to celebrate!

Michelle: #1, Joe #80.

Condorphamine Addiction, Orbit, and Hyperspace

Summer 2010 - The perfect schedule allows for long weekends of climbing.  We started out spending some time at home. Michelle's time in the gym got her ready for the sharp end.

Condorphamine Addiction:

Michelle takes off up the first pitch.

Calculating, comfortable, and cruising!

Heading up into the 5.10 crux.

Joe trying to protect himself from the blazing sun.

Snow Creek Wall, our little backyard crag.

Michelle takes off on the crux 5.9 lead.

Michelle leading the upper run-out section.

After our warm up we finished the weekend up on Hyperspace...unfortunately no pictures were taken as it offered a worthy challenge.

Switzerland 2009

In September Joe and I had the pleasure of joining our friends Barbara and Jurg to celebrate their wedding day and spend their honeymoon entertaining us in Switzerland.



Barbara and Jurg live in Wilderswil, Switzerland. While there we enjoyed great friends, great food, amazing weather and incredible days exploring the Bernese Alps.



We learned that in Switzerland, dress shoes are not allowed on the trails.


Ibex's watch you from above.


And the views go on in all directions....





Cows can be heard from every direction.....


It is a truly serene and peaceful place





View of Wilderswil from above


Barbara and Jurg discover Blue Steel


The Eiger


A few shots of local cragging




















Martin enjoying the afternoon















The Valley of Sul




















Edelweiss







Summit of the Lauberhorn





Fresh Whole Milk,  the only way to go

Amazing, my favorite place in Switzerland

A beer in the afternoon


A bit of lunch after a hike around the neighborhood

We headed south to the Ticino; for some amazing canyoning

With the best guides in all of Switzerland
















The climbing is endless.....More local climbs to do....














Little Leesa might share her lunch with you.....