Besides hanging with my kids this is my favorite thing to do in life.
Off work Sunday night at midnight and driving to The Valley - sleeping in the truck and waking up to something cool to climb.
First free solo of the trip - Tenaya Peak - car to car in a few hours with a swim of the lake.
I was feeling like Superman until I realised I wasn't - ended up in Lee Vining worried I had caught a virus from one of the sick kids in the ER.



Milktoast pic (Trade marked) ..jajaja

Next day I wake up at the crack of noon feeling strong - "let's get sum on West Ridge of Conness",I think. I'm looking for a 2 hour approach time and I am feeling good but as I crest the ridge above the last lake I get a strong gust of wind that is very cold - for some reason I decide to turn - to late, loss of energy, weather, i dunno... I think mostly it was the long approach and being a little tired from the sprint the day before....maybe I'm just a weak bitch.


I bail to some late day climbing at Olmsted canyon.
Sick cracks and some free solo and TR solo.
There are no pics of these in the new ST TM guide so here ya go.
5.10 hands - sustained



My present from Em for losing all my gear - cherished wide cam.



more crack



This started with a pleasant, scenic, self portrait in a Tuolumne swamp with 10,000 mosquitoes biting me.




And it turned into an attempt at an action shot with me in the swamp, jumping into some amphibian infested crack, and a million mosquitoes biting me.
Camera timers should be longer than 9 dumb seconds.



I wake up the next day still thinking about a Conness solo and a TR that says 3 solos 3 days. But I'm just a little too tired to try it again.
So on to Mammoth and an incredible 4th of July - I could be happy living and being buried in this city. I'm hoping prices get even better so everyone keep talking shit!!!!
I decide to solo Crystal Crag and after negotiating the parade I am at Lake George- I head up with rope and cams to rope solo but after the first pitch I ditch the gear and the rope and just free solo. At first I was a little underwhelmed - some pitches are chosey and there is a short class 5 head-wall, just before the crystal pitch, that was very exposed and loose. The crystal pitch is amazing but I was more focused on finding rocks that didn't move when I touched them. But after I topped out on the first false summit I was in bliss. You end up soloing the entire top ridge as seen in this photo. Man, really love that kind of climbing.



WAZ SUP!!
I was back down in a few hours - in time to watch a Bald Eagle getting harassed by California Gulls over Lake George. I still had time to try something I had been thinking about for 2 years - ya baby, cant wait to float some rivers on a SUP. Caught on pretty fast taking only a few cold plunges.

But a day in Mammoth never ends. On to a hot springs out in the Desert where I listened to fire works and I chatted with like minded souls while we all gazed at an amazing full moon.


Drove back to Kernville in the middle of the night. Today was a rest day back on the Kern River - swimming and sleeping on its sandy shores.
Scoping out Merlin dome, the horrible looking Needles, and the approach trails for Demon Dome and Voodoo dome. Finished off with a free solo of the Tree Route on Dome rock. My fourth ascent of that route in 2 weeks.




So amazing - first time in all my trips to The Valley that I had time to stop and enjoy Olmsted Point. Would love to do the route up this sea of granite to the top of Clouds Rest.

Back to work is gonna suck!


My daughter Jenny climbing at The Sad boulders the week before.




Megan and Jenny with the beautiful Em belaying - Horse Shoe lake slabs in Mammoth a few weeks ago.





Jenny and Megs with Tom watching Alex and Hans climb The Nose.


beauty



Not beauty -- smiling back at the base of Crystal Crag

Riley