Expand your range.

Okay, for those of you in Seattle who have been wondering where I have been the last two years and why I rarely respond to requests to teach at Basic field trips, the truth is that I moved to northern Californian in May 2001. At first, I was heartbroken to leave the PNW, all of my friends and the beautiful Cascades and Olympic Mountains. But ten months of completely sunny weather with a break of only one weekend per year from climbing outside, has quickly changed my opinion of California living and climbing.

	Summit of Chinaman's Peak

So what are my confessions? The Mountaineers is where I learned to climb. I adopted the attitudes of some of the folks I climbed with in the mountains. Pulling plastic is boring. Clipping bolts is boring. Suffering immensely on the approach for 3-4 pitches of climbing means you are a real climber. Well, take this attitude, bring it down to sunny California and show up with long johns and shorts, express a preference for the route with the approach rather than the route that starts at your car and you will get funny looks. I climb in cotton now most of the time and it is really nice. Okay, I still wear synthetic for long alpine routes.

In my search for new climbing partners, I have had to adapt and change my views quite drastically. First of all, pulling plastic has made me stronger. No, the gym is not a beautiful place, but I view it as time to hang out with friends, work on technique and balance and increase my strength. You can also do things that are disturbing for the regulars but help your alpine climbing such as climbing routes in your mountaineering or plastic boots or work on roofs wearing a pack.

	Off width practice

Secondly, I have found that cragging has helped my alpine climbing. Now, my local crags are Yosemite and the general Tahoe area. Life is rough here. I use the crags as time to work on a variety of techniques needed for longer alpine routes or just enjoy climbing single pitch style. I actively go out and seek routes that have techniques I am weak at. I recently spent almost an entire year working on my offwidth technique since I knew that an alpine route I wanted to do had 140 ft of 4-6 inch. I practiced on every crack I could from 4-12 inches in width and now have a whole slew of techniques from the chickenwing to the handstack to the knee-jam in my repertoire so that I can find a way through a wide section in a route. I also try working on these techniques on a variety of rock types. Jamming on limestone feels quite different than granite or sandstone.

This winter I spent a lot of time leading pure ice routes so that I could set up a top rope and practice my mixed climbing. The toprope was also good for practicing ice routes using only hooking, something I am now comfortable enough with to use on lead.

	Lee Vining Ice

I am now embracing all forms of climbing. I have clipped bolts in Tuolumne (the few that are present) and sport climbed in Owens River Gorge, Smith, Cougar and Grassi (Canmore, Alberta) and Tahoe. I have done nothing but pure jamming for an entire week on the spectacular splitter cracks in the Wingate sandstone of Utah. I have swung ice tools into alpine ice in the Sierras, the Tetons, and in the Canadian Rockies as well as water ice in Lee Vining, CA (yes, we have water ice down here), June Lake, CA, Provo,Utah, and Ouray,Colorado. I have been lucky enough to take these skills and apply them to big routes in the Sierras, the Canadian Rockies and the Tetons. I have climbed on sandstone, limestone, quartzite, granite, conglomerate and basalt. I have worked on crimping tiny face holds and knobs in granite, jamming sandstone cracks, squirming up every size crack from fingers to offwidth to chimney, pulled jugs on overhanging routes, and run out more slabs in Tuolumne than Camp Long can ever prepare you for, especially the walkoffs. I have even begun to work on my aid climbing since I do look at El Cap every time I go to the Valley.

Do any of these things make me a hardcore climber? No, certainly not, but expanding my range and style of climbing and ranges of mountains in which I have climbed has made me a better all around climber. When I head out to the alpine routes, I have a much larger bag of tricks to take with me to make the climb that much safer and fun. And as for the Sierras, after rope leading on Ingalls Peak on a trip led by Grace Parker, I had had so much fun I wanted to do routes like that but much, much longer. I asked her whether she knew of any in WA and she could not come up with anything besides the Tooth. Since in CA, I have climbed several peaks of 6-18 pitches all 5.7 and below and am working up to doing a 24 pitch 5.8 peak – all on solid granite. Expand your mountain ranges.

So when the opportunity to climb in Yosemite, the Wind Rivers, Tetons, Canadian Rockies, Indian Creek or Joshua Tree, think long and openly about giving a new area a try. Experiencing a different part of the country/world through climbing the local rocks/mountains is wonderful and makes you appreciate what you have at home as well. If you are down in northern California, give me a holler. I have all the guidebooks and would be happy to send you on your way in the High Sierras or the crags. I also know where all the good food is, of course. Just ask Gene Yore or Martin Knowles!