Monday, August 16, 2010

"Hard rock, thin air, a rope."

Pardon the cliché, but really, where does time go? It's as if, with every passing year, time itself seems to accelerate.

But I suppose that is better than if it were slowing, dragging on, challenging you to find ways to fill it up lest you get bored.
I have a good friend who has suggested that our own inability to ever accomplish everything we want to do, the fact that we never seem to have the time to do it all, is the root of all unhappiness.

I disagree.

I think it keeps you interested; tuned in.

Thus it has been for me this summer: Interesting.
Indeed, there is no way to recap it all in the few short hours left before I head back out into the field once again. But for the sake of preventing literary stagnation on this blog I decided to keep, I will give the highlights:

Late April, I headed up for the season on Mt. Shasta. El Nino treated us well this year, and we had some seriously stellar climbing (and skiing) conditions. With winter storms swirling through well into April, we saw periods of very challenging conditions interspersed with conditions that can only be described by the phrase "Stairway to Heaven." In short, it was a full-on season. And somewhere in there, I started learning to fly fish. I think when I retire from this mountain guiding stuff, I might like to be a fly fishing guide.

At the end of July, it was time to say goodbye to Shasta, and pick up in the Sierra Nevada. I had a couple of trips on Matterhorn Peak with some extraordinarily strong climbers. One up the regular mountaineer's route (3rd class gully with some 4th class scrambling to the top), and one on the ultra-classic North Arete (full-value 5.7 alpine rock), one of my favorite routes in the Sierra Nevada.

August had been booked for months ahead of time -- I was to be guiding the John Muir Trail. Unusual guiding opportunity -- how could I pass it up? My client was a bit set back by the terrain (having done most of his backpacking in the desert) and his heavy gear, so we had to adjust our itinerary. Luckily, he was not set on completing the JMT for any reason, and we have been able to pick several highlight trips along the JMT. We just completed the Evolution Loop, from North Lake to South Lake through the Evolution and Dusy Basins in northern Kings Canyon National Park. Hands down one of the most spectacular areas in the Sierra Nevada.

It has been a lovely respite from the challenges of guiding in the alpine realm, and I am savoring every bit. But come September, refreshed and re-energized, I will be much excited to get back to "hard rock, thin air, a rope." (High Conquest, James Ramsey Ullman)

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