Tom's Mountaineering & Climbing Journal

Tahoe Rim Trail Hike - Day 6

2009-08-06T22:30:00.001-07:00

Photo above - cabins a Meiss Meadow. Below - Carl making his way across a stream at Meiss Meadow.

After having a really long day the previous day we were relieved to have a shorter hiking day. This was also the day where we got two opportunities to go swimming in one day, once in Round Lake and once in Showers Lake. The trail started out at the Big Meadows trailhead above the campground. It turned out that this hike was quite popular at this time of the year, as there were many parties all around us. Perhaps it was the fact that a short hike brings you to a beautiful meadow or that a slightly longer, but still pretty short hike brings you to Round Lake. Whatever it was this was a very popular hike, and rightly so. At Round Lake we all junped in the lake and went for a swim. It felt great to clean off and cool off, and our swim ended right in time. Not long after swimming storm clouds were building and before we knew it there was thunder (although I don't remember seeing any lightning). Fortunately we dodged the worst of the weather, because I guess that rain was falling north of here. We continued our hike trudging farther into mosquito country, and before we knew it we were at the junction of the Pacific Crest Trail. This junction has one of the prettiest meadows along the entire TRT and is flanked by some really nice mountains. The meadow has two little cowboy cabins in it.

From these meadows we traveled north along the PCT/TRT and started to climb gradually. Eventually we came upon a lovely little alpine lake known as Showers Lake where we set up a camp high above the lake where we could look out across the lake. We didn't go for a swim because the air was chilly, but we did wade out into the lake a little after filtering water. From our filtering spot we were able to gaze across the lake toward the alder covered avalanche slopes which still had just a little bit of snow remaining. I took the opportunity to wander around the area and check things out and discovered that there were terrific views of the Upper Truckee watershed (flows into Lake Tahoe near the town of South Lake Tahoe). Strangely there is small dam stone dam at the outlet of the lake. Carl also spotted the largest fish that we saw on the entire trip in this lake.

Photo below - Chester loved to roll around in the snow whenever he got the chance.

Tahoe Rim Trail Hike - Day 5

2009-08-06T22:02:00.001-07:00

Photo - Views from alongside the trail near Freel Peak.

Our fifth day of hiking was one of the longest days we encountered, but also one of the most beautiful. We started at Star Lake and went over the shoulder of Freel Peak. From the TRT it is only a mile or so to the summit of Freel, but requires extra hiking on a spur trail. At the crest of the trail there were some glorious views and lots of snow patches. Rolling around in the snow was Chester's favorite pasttime on the hike. He always seemed a little disappointed to leave the snow patches. At this point the trail descends pretty much all of the way to Armstrong Pass, which is at the intersection of four trails. Along the way we start picking up a few small streams, some beautiful granite outcrops and, best of all, beautiful displays of wildflowers.

From Armstrong Pass the trail really does become a "rim trail" because it literally runs along top of the watershed divide. The trail is also quite dry along this section consisting largely of decomposed granite. After going along the watershed divide it drops down to Freel Meadow, our first real meadow along the hike since leaving Tahoe Meadows on day one. We also encountered our first real run-in with lots of mosquitoes. Then we continued along where we passed the infamous "Mr. Toad's wild ride" where mountain bikers decked out in some serious protective gear hurl themselves down the mountain. From there we dropped down into thick forest with frequent streams, more meadows, and more wildflower displays. At 14.5 miles we showed up at the Big Meadows trailhead realizing the bug spray had fallen out of Holly's pack somewhere back up a few miles and that we had just entered mosquito country. Not knowing how long it would take I volunteered to hitchhike into the town of Meyers some 5 or so miles away. Fortunately for me I got a ride from a friendly Forest Service employee/UC Davis botany student down into town, and even more fortunately he offered to give me a ride back up to the campground. I ended up returning to the camp site bearing bug dope plus some treats, bananas and pudding, which made everybody happy. That night we learned from a camper that a bear had ripped through a tent the previous night. I made sure that nothing with even the slightest scent was out of the bear box, and fortunately we didn't have any incidents.

Tahoe Rim Trail Hike - Day 4

2009-08-06T21:44:00.001-07:00

After three fairly long hiking days we were treated to our first moderate day, a nine mile hike from Kingsbury Grade to Star Lake. The hike started off under the Stagecoach Lift at Heavenly and then winds it way around and traverses a mountainside overlooking Carson Valley. Along the way there are some gorgeous views looking out across the Great Basin. The route crosses Monument Pass where it enters back into the Tahoe Basin. Along the way there are some beautiful old junipers (photo below) and eventually some nice lake views. After refreshing at our pit stop at the rental house at Kingsbury Grade we were all feeling pretty good. Carl had dropped about 10 pounds of his pack weight. Holly was starting to get used to the altitude.

Star Lake turned out to be a beautiful lake. In fact, it is probably one of the nicest lakes along the entire TRT. However, it was also very popular and kind of noisy. We had the unfortunate experience of camping next to some sort of "hoods in the woods" type of group. They were quite noisy for much of the evening but eventually quieted down before going to sleep. Colleen and I took the opportunity to go for an evening hike up Freel Peak, which at 10,886 feet is the highest peak in the Tahoe Basin. Needless to say the views are quite spectacular and include expansive views of Lake Tahoe, Carson Valley, and the sierra peaks to the south. Carl had his first opportunity to set up his tent-fly shelter which we began to refer to as "the homeless shelter" because of its ad hoc appearance. Nonetheless, the homeless shelter turned out to be a great weight savings, so I think that Carl felt that it was a better option than lugging a heavy tent around the entire lake.

Climbing in the Sierra - Third Pillar of Dana, Tenaya Peak

2009-07-28T21:19:00.001-07:00

This weekend I got to join Alex Alexiades and Abby Grimmer for some Sierra rock climbing, alpine style. The original plan was for a very full weekend of climbing the East Buttress of Mt. Whitney and the Mithril Dihedral on Mt. Russell. Unfortunately, we got some very bad information about the likelihood of getting permits to climb at Whitney and we ended up needing to go with a plan B.

The plan B was that Alex and I were going to climb some of the best rock in the Sierra, the 3rd Pillar of Mt. Dana, and that Abby, Alex, and myself were going to do a quick climb of Tenaya Peak. We ended up needing to drive from Lone Pine to Tuolumne so that ate up half of last Friday. With the remainder of the day we jumped onto Tenaya Peak, which is a 5.5 climb with about 10 pitches or so, although much of the climbing is only 4th class. That allowed us to simul-cliimb the peak in just over 2 hours.

On Saturday Alex and I headed off to the 3rd pillar, which is a 5.10b with 5 pitches. With at least 3 of the pitches going at 5.10 Alex did most of the leading. I took the middle pitch with the choice between a chimney and flake (5.8) and a 5.10 finger crack. Throughout the morning the clouds seemed to be building, and by 11 am they looked ominous. However, the rain and lightning held out and we were treated to a great climb without having to bail on the route. We were treated with some truly remarkable climbing on really good rock. For me these were the hardest pitches that I've followed in the alpine, and probably are going to be beyond my leading capabillities for a while. However, this first real climb of the season has me motivated to get onto as much High Sierra rock as I can before summer is over.

Photos: (Top) Final moves on the 3rd Pillar of Dana (AA). (Middle) The three of us on top of Tenaya Peak (AA). (Bottom) The 3rd Pillar from the bottom looking up (TD).

Tahoe Rim Trail Hike - Day 3

2009-07-19T19:57:00.000-07:00

The chargers at the top of the hill: Colleen and Corrinne at the lake overlook

Day 3 consisted of a 13 mile hike between Spooner Summit and Kingsbury Grade. This turned out to be one of the hardest days of the journey along with days 1,5, and 11. At this point we were still getting used to hiking, plus we hadn't really had any rest days. Most people had blisters developing. Cara had tripped along the trail the previous day and was nursing an wound on her knee. However, it was also a rewarding day in which we were greeted with excellent views and met friendly folks.

After the initial section of trail leading from Spooner Summit Colleen and Corrinne decided to charge the hill. They took off up the mountain with the rock pile in the alpine area as the pre-designated meeting spot for lunch. At this point in the hike Holly was still struggling with acclimitization (she has a difficult time catching her breath at higher elevations). For whatever reason I really like this section of trail. It probably isn't on anybody's top list of the best hikes in terms of scenery, but it makes a great day hike. If you are a strong hiker you can probably do the entire section out and back in a day. For slightly slower hikers the 13 mile section makes a good hike with a car shuttle.

At the end of the day when we rolled up to the trailhead we were ecstatic. After three fairly hard days we got to stay at the rental house off of Tramway Drive. The best part was that there was a hot tub. Sally met us at trailhead and provided a shuttle to the condo. There is a 3.5 mile stretch along which the thru-hiker must walk along roads. I opted to do the walk so that I could have the full experience of circumnavigating the lake on foot, however the others decided that we had already done enough hiking and gladly accepted the ride. After a soak in the hot tub, we chowed on pizza and beer. We also got showers and got to do our wash. A lot of time was spent bandaging and treating blisters and wounds. Fortunately, Sally and John are both veterinarians and were able to offer some good medical advice. Our pit stop also provided us with an opportunity to drop off unneccessary gear. I think that Carl dropped nearly 10 pounds from his load by cutting out his tent body (while keeping the fly) plus some other heavy items. While it is possible to hike the trail without a support crew having an excellent support crew really helped us out in a big way. We were really lucky to have had Sally and Chris helping us. I think we were pretty much a wreck when we finished this segment, but this stop followed by an easier 9 mile day really helped us a lot. A support crew is really big help when it comes to dropping off items and picking up forgotten items. One of the nice things about the Tahoe Rim Trail is that there is good cell phone reception along much of the trail so we were able to make emergency drops and pick up forgotten items. That definately wouldn't be so easy on the John Muir Trail.

Tahoe Rim Trail Hike - Day 2

2009-07-19T18:51:00.001-07:00

The second day of our hike featured a climb through some beautiful country towards Snow Valley Peak. I was pleasantly surprised by the beauty of this rolling countryside and the opportunities for solitude that it offered. As we ascended into the alpine areas around Snow Valley Peak the views got better and better. Along the way we encountered some pretty large snow patches, which caused Chester to just go beserk. He really is a snow-loving dog! We spent lunch below the peak taking in the wonderful views of the lake and tending to our blisters (except me because I didn't have any at this point). Colleen had an amazing amount of energy and decided to go run up the peak while we had lunch.

Snow Valley Peak itself is a great destination for a day hike. It is fairly similar to Mt. Rose in length and difficulty (I think a little longer but not quite as steep). I had been up here a few years earlier with Scotty Strachan and enjoyed the hike to the top. As we approached the trailhead at Highway 50 at Spooner Summit the number of hikers increased dramatically and we encountered the first and only equestrian parties on the trail. The horses got Chester worked up a bit, but not too bad. I don't think he had ever seen a horse up that close before and didn't know what to make of it. He didn't bark or growl at them, but I did have to pull him out the way quickly.

I'd say that everybody was pretty relieved when we got to Spooner Lake. The first thing we did was hit up the ice cream at the bike rental shack. We then proceeded to fill up our water bottles, cook dinner, and go for a swim in Spooner Lake, which is not something that I'd recommend unless you are covered in a couple of layers of trail grime. Then, by all means, go ahead and jump in, it feels good. The only problem that I can see with Spooner Lake is that it is the only water supply for 10 to 15 miles in each direction along the TRT. That means that all thru-hikers need to drop down to get water, but there is no camping allowed at Spooner Lake. A hike back up to the TRT at night is not something that most exhausted TRT hikers want to do. I'd hope that the State Parks System might consider building a small hike-in campground. That would go a long way toward giving hikers a place to rest their heads and re-energize for the next morning's hike.

Photo - Carl and Holly enjoying lunch in the alpine near Snow Valley Peak
Information about Lake Tahoe State Park (Nevada) - http://parks.nv.gov/lt.htm

Topography Toolbox reaches 1,000 downloads on the ESRI website

2009-07-18T22:10:00.000-07:00

I tend to do a lot of GIS/mapping for work. As part of my job I've put together several models using ArcGIS Model Builder, and I've posted the resulting tools on the ESRI ArcScripts webpage arcscripts.esri.com. Right before leaving on the Tahoe Rim Trail one of my tools, the Topography Toolbox hit 1,000 dowloads making it the fourth most popular geoprocessing model on that website. The Topography Toolbox can be used to derive maps of topographic variables, such as topographic position index, slope position classification, landform classification, topographic wetness index, and stream gradient. I've also got a couple of other tools: composite polygons, PRISM data helper, quarter polygons, plus I'm working on a Riparian Topography Toolbox that will contain tools for calculating height above river and flood height.

Tahoe Rim Trail Hike - Day 1

2009-07-18T21:28:00.000-07:00

Our journey begins at Tahoe Meadows Trailhead off of Mount Rose Highway, the closest part of the trail to Reno. From left to right (in the photo)we have Carl, Chris, Colleen, Cara, Holly, myself, and Chester. Within a half mile we were already getting excellent views, plus we had an absolutely blue bird day. Everyone started off in good spirits. Chris decided to join us for a day hike for the first half of the day. The rest of us continued on to Marlette Peak Campground that night. The first part of the Tahoe Rim Trail is extremely well-traveled. The trail tends to be wide and easy to follow winding its way through subalpine forest and decomposing granite outcrops. For the most part the views tend to be of the lake, however there are some areas with excellent views of Washoe Lake and environs.

This section of trail has some interesting regulations. While parts of the trail are closed to mountain bikes (along the PCT, Mt. Rose Wilderness, Snow Valley Peak area) this section of trail is closed to mountain bikes on odd days and open to biking on even days. We started on June 27, making it an odd day, however we got passed by several mountain bikers. While most are friendly I found that it really changed the dynamic of the trail. Portions of trail that didn't have bikes tended to have an almost wilderness-like feel with low numbers of users, while areas with bikers had a fairly steady stream of traffic. Although I don't know of any formal study on the number of bikers that choose to ignore the regulations based on two back-to-back weekends I estimate that about 50% of bikers go right past the sign with large lettering and ignore it. Personally, I find it appalling that 50% of bikers would choose to disregard the regulations and ignore the wishes of hikers. Despite this annoyance I really did enjoy this part of the hike.

One of the highlights of the hike is Christopher's Loop, a 1.5 mile spur trail that offers outstanding views and Sand Harbor (photo to the right) and the rest of Lake Tahoe. In addition to views of Tahoe there are also some nice views of Marlette Lake to the south. While enjoying the views at Christopher's Loop we spotted a couple of mule deer. There were also a few snow patches for Chester to role around in (his favorite hiking pastime). From here the trail climbs up into the alpine near Marlette Peak before dropping back down into the forest. Right before the campground we encountered the first major stream since leaving Tahoe Meadows and took the opportunity to filter some water and get water for cooking. This water was a welcomed relief because we were completely dry by the time we arrived here. Anyone who is thinking about hiking the Tahoe Rim Trail should know that water is especially scarce along the eastern portion of the trail. I typically carry two liters of water when hiking, however, for dry parts of the hike and long days it seemed like three liters was a more appropriate amount. Of course I needed to carry extra water for Chester as well so in total I ended up going though nearly five liters on the first day!

Marlette Peak Campground is a pretty nice spot. Granted it is no wilderness setting, with pit toilets, picnic tables, fire pits, and plenty of other campers, but the amenities were pretty nice for our first night of camping on the trail. There is a giant stockpile of wood from forest thinning operations all around the camp too! We truly enjoyed our first night here after such a long and hard day. We sat around the camp fire that night, but it wasn't too long before everybody was ready to go to bed.

Photo on the left: Holly and I at Christopher's Loop with Marlette Lake in the background

Hiking the Tahoe Rim Trail - The Plan

2009-07-18T15:52:00.000-07:00

This month Holly and I completed a thru-hike of the Tahoe Rim Trail with our family members. It was a wonderful experience, and doing the hike as a thru-hike and a family excursion provided us with some great memories. I suppose that I've been interested in thru-hiking the Tahoe Rim Trail ever since I moved to Reno. I've always been envious of the people who take an entire summer off and thru-hike the Pacific Crest Trail, however, the reality is that hiking a long trail requires a significant investment of time, as well as lots of planning. The Tahoe Rim Trail, on the other hand, is right in our backyard and makes a perfect two week trip (or less for some folks).

The plan was set in motion during the spring of 2008. Holly and I decided to do this hike, and that it should be done as a family hike. Holly's dad, Carl, and my sister, Cara, were immediately interested and committed two weeks of their summer to the hike. Later my other sister, Colleen, came back from a year and half of working in China, and she too wanted to do the hike. To round out the mix we had Holly's cousine, Corrinne Hasenau, join us. Holly's uncle, John, joined us for the Desolation Wilderness portion of the hike, and Holly's mom, Chris, joined us for the Lake Aloha portion of the hike. In total we had six people who hiked the entire trail and up to eight people at Lake Aloha.

The plan was to start at Tahoe Meadows, which is located off of Mt. Rose Highway. We would hike three days to Kingsbury Summit where I arranged to rent a house from Larry Suter for one night http://tahoeskihouse.com/. This would give us the much-needed opportunity to re-stock on food, catch showers, and take care of any medical emergencies. Plus the place provided us access to a hot tub! From there we would travel four days to Echo Summit and stay at the city of Berkeley's Echo Lake Camp. From there it was five days to Tahoe City, three of which would be through Desolation Wilderness. Finally there would be four days in which we hiked back up to Tahoe Meadows along the northern part of the TRT. This strategy was designed to break the hike into manageable chunks of 3 to 5 days.

For gear we ended up bringing two stoves and two water filters for the entire group. For the most part Holly and I shared a tent, Cara and Colleen shared a tent, Corrinne slept in a bivouac sack (kind of like a small one-person tent that covers a sleeping bag). Carl started out with a full two-person tent, but eventually decided to switch to a tarp with a bug net rather than carrying the entire tent. For dinners we took mostly Mountain House and Backpacker's Pantry freeze-dried meals, which, I felt were sufficiently tasty and high in calories for us. By mixing things up we were able to provide some variety, although I have to admit, that we always looked forward to the drop days where we got to pig out on something really good. For lunchs we had trail mix, Cliff bars, peperonni sticks and jerky, although we did get tired of these foods pretty quickly (except the peperonni sticks which were a favorite). Breakfasts were coffee (made from liquid extract) or tea with a Cliff bar.

Please follow with me as I take you through our entire journey with these next couple of posts. (Image courtesy of the Tahoe Rim Trail Association - http://www.tahoerimtrail.org/)

Tahoe Rim Trail links

2009-06-10T18:34:00.001-07:00

Every good hiker should check out the Tahoe Rim Trail Association's website http://www.tahoerimtrail.org/ They have done a superb job of building and maintaining this magnificent trail and have tons of information about the trail on their site. Check it out!

2009-06-10T18:19:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the long time without posting. Its not that life has been boring, quite the contrary in fact. It has actually been quite busy and rewarding. I thought I'd comment on an upcoming event that I find exciting. Holly and I have plans to hike the entire Tahoe Rim Trail this summer, and our family members are going to join us on the adventure. My sisters, Cara and Colleen, along with Holly's parents, Chris and Carl Hemming, and Holly's cousin, Corrinne, are all going to hike the entire 165 miles. Holly's uncle, John Hasenau, is going to join us for a portion of the trail. We are planning on taking 16 days total, which should equate to a nice steady pace. Some days will be longer others will be shorter, but there will be no complete rest days. The plan is to start at Tahoe Meadows and travel south. I plan to update the blog shortly after returning. Ciao.

Tahoe hiking 2008

2008-09-16T20:14:00.000-07:00

These past two weeks I haven't done any climbing, but I've taken the opportunity to get out and go on some hikes. Last weekend Holly, Chester, and I hiked the Shirley Canyon trail outside of Squaw Valley. The trail was beautiful and ended at a small lake where I decided to go for a swim. This trail had some of the larger expanses of granite slabs that I've encountered on a Tahoe-area hiking trail. We decided that it is going to be a must-see in the spring when the creek is running.

This past week I decided to to a good training hike to try to get myself in back in shape (an ever-constant, but seemingly non-attainable goal). I decided to hike Freel Peak, which at 10,881 feet is the tallest peak in the Tahoe Basin. At the same time I wanted to hike a good portion of the Tahoe Rim Trail so I decided to make a loop trip out of it. I started at Kingsbury Grade at Heavely Ski Area and hiked 9 miles with Chester to a beautiful alpine lake called Star Lake. From that point we continued on a couple of miles to the pass where the trail to Freel splits off. Freel Peak isn't a technical climb at all it is just a 1 mile hike off of the main trail, but 1 mile that gains 1,000 feet. Upon summiting I decided to head over to a nearby peak called Job's Sister from which I could travel cross-country to hook back into the trail at Star Lake. All in all, the hike turned out to be an enjoyable one. The views from the trail and from the summits consisted of Lake Tahoe as well as Carson Valley, which is nearly a vertical mile below the summit of Freel. The total distance was 23 miles with a 3,000 foot elevation gain and two summits. It felt good being out, and I enjoyed the scenery and company.

Trip to the coast: Point Reyes

2008-09-16T20:01:00.000-07:00

This past Labor Day weekend Holly and I decided to go to Point Reyes National Seashore north of San Francisco. To those of you who live in the Bay Area this is probably nothing special, however, neither of us had been there before, and we both liked the idea of traveling to somewhere with cool weather and nice views. Fortunately for us most of the traffic on holiday weekends seems to go from the Bay Area up to Sierra, so it turns out that we don't have to deal with the horrible snarl of traffic that most people deal with. Point Reyes immediately appealed to both of us, because of its ocean location and the multitude of good culinary products that come out of the area: fine wine, good cheese, and great oysters. We stayed at a small B & B just outside of Point Reyes Station. Over the course of the weekend we were able to enjoy some fine views, go on a kayak trip, take some small hikes, and enjoy the good food. I think that this place is probably Holly's version of paradise. Needless to say we had a great time and intend to go back.

Alpine climbing in Tahoe

2008-08-20T17:54:00.000-07:00

This past weekend Newton and I decided to do an alpine climb that wasn't so far from home. We returned to the Emerald Bay area at Tahoe to climb a route called Section 20 that is purported to be the longest rock route in the Tahoe Basin. We started the approach around 6:30 or 7 am as is tradition. This time around it was especially important to get an early start as the weather was calling for late afternoon thunderstorms. The route that we chose was called Section 20 in the Falcon Guidebook and ascends the face northwest of 90 foot wall. We knew that the challenge would be routefinding on this route, which proved to be true. In fact, we never really found the Section 20 route at all and instead followed our own route the entire way. I think that it totalled about 7 or 8 pitches, however in typical alpine fashion some of the pitches had to be cut short and others we could do a running belay. There was even a section near the top that we could unrope and hike about a quarter mile. The real challenge proved to be the rock quality, which was poor, especially in the middle of the route. However, despite getting off route and despite the poor rock quality we were able to put together a good climb without any hangups. We were cut a little short by storm clouds that were brewing over the lake, so upon reaching the summit ridge we decided to head down rather than to become lightning fodder. We also didn't have good information on the descent which proved to be extremely brushy. All in all the climb proved to be a good one. Hopefully I can get a photo or two from Newton to post on this blog.

Yosemite bound

2008-08-12T21:36:00.001-07:00

The weekend following our Desolation Wilderness trip we took the opportunity to go somewhere that we've always wanted to go, Yosemite! Being a climber, naturally, I've always wanted to go to Yosemite. By any climber's standards it is an ueber-Mecca. Despite the multitude of rock this trip was to be, however, a trip to see the sites. Holly and I had three days, and with three days one can barely scratch the surface of a park as varied and beautiful as Yosemite. We stayed at Tuolumne Meadows campground, which is closest to the eastern entrance of the park near Tioga Pass. Despite staying at Tuolumne we spent most of our time down in the Valley. One thing about Yosemite is that probably every tourist who goes there has already seen countless images of the place. So you'd think that the seeing that many images would detract from the whole experience. On this note, I'd have to strongly disagree. Driving into Yosemite that first night was nothing short of amazing, and it is little wonder that people like Muir and Adams devoted their lives to documenting and saving this sacred place. The first evening we arrived just in time to see the sites of Yosemite Valley.

The second day we decided to go on a hike. We picked a trail that started at Olmsted Point just down from Tenaya Lake and descended down into the valley. We figured that this was sort of the ultimate trail where we could enjoy the best of both the high country and the valley. As it turned out the trail was absolutely spectacular with straight-on views of Half Dome. However, the moment it reached the edge of Yosemite Valley it dropped down 3,000 feet of switchbacks. We ended up underestimating the rigor of going downhill, which was especially hard on Holly's knees. Trying to hike as fast as we could we just barely missed the bus back to Tuolumne by 10 minutes. Now we were stranded and we needed to get back to our car and campsite. Our only option was to hitchhike so we caught the shuttle to Camp 4 and stuck our thumbs out. It took about half an hour before a car pulled over. Most surprisingly it turned out that that car was a taxi. In a near state of disbelief we walked over to the taxi expecting the taxi driver to charge $100 for the ride, but as it turned out two hikers on the John Muir Trail had bailed out early and had hired the taxi for the day to bring them back to their cars at Tuolumne. We enjoyed the ride back up to the car and gave the backpackers $20 to help cover our part of the trip. The final day we spent looking at the falls and swimming in the Merced River, before leaving the park in the midst if a major rainstorm.

Holly's first backpacking trip

2008-08-12T21:08:00.000-07:00

I know that a blog is supposed to be chronological, but every once in a while I get out of sync. This posting goes all the way back to 4th of July weekend when Holly, Chester, and I went into the Desolation Wilderness. Most of you hard core wilderness types know that Desolation Wilderness is not desolate. In fact, it is probably the most crowded wilderness area in the Sierra., but it is also extremely beautiful. Given the crowds at Tahoe that weekend, we were happy to be in wilderness enjoying part of nature. This was also Holly's first backpacking trip, as well as Chester's. Holly got a new backpack that she was testing out, ans we got Chester dog panniers.

Our trip started off at the Bayview trailhead near Emerald Bay and led us up to the peaceful Lower Velma Lake. Holly did very well carrying a heavy pack, but unfortunately she ended up with blisters. The following day we did the short hike to Middle Velma Lake where we found a great camp spot alongside the lake. We took the day easy, went for a swim, and by the evening the smoke had almost already completely cleared. At this point in time northern California and northern Nevada were experiencing large wildfires that led to many hazy days during the months of June and July. The final day involved an extra loop that went up past Dicks Lake. This was probably the scenic highlight of the trip although it is difficult to compare one amazing vista to the next. We hiked back down to Eagle Lake where we went for a brief swim before returning to civilization.

Matterhorn Peak: First High Sierra Rock Climb

2008-08-05T17:58:00.000-07:00

The Sierra Nevada has some of the finest alpine rock climbs around. Naturally, I've been dying to get out climb long routes, and finally I got my chance. This past weekend Newton Debardeleben and I set out to climb Matterhorn Peak, the high point of the Sawtooth Range located just outside of Bridgeport, California. The Sawtooths are steep jagged spine of mountains that extend along the Sierra crest and are considered by many to be the northernmost of the High Sierra.

We decided to make the trip in two days, which meant that we needed to set up a high camp the first day and then make the climb, hike back to camp, descend to the car, and drive back to Reno the second day. This was all quite doable, although it amounted to a good workout. On Saturday we arrived at US Forest Service Ranger Station in Bridgeport at 7:15 am just in time to snag the last permit for the Horse Creek unit. We enjoyed a leisurely breakfast and then headed up Horse Creek Trail from Twin Lakes. We arrived with plenty of time at an awesome campsite next to a small lake with beautiful views of the mountain and decided to scout the route. Hiking up 2,000 feet of scree proved to be slower than we expected, however, it gave us the opportunity to re-calibrate our expectations for the next day's demands.

At 4:30 am we woke, packed up quickly, and started the hike to the base of the peak. The route that we had our sights set on was the North Arete of Matterhorn Peak, which is the most prominent route as seen from Bridgeport or Twin Lakes area. At 7:00 am we got on the first pitch which consisted of mostly loose blocks of rock. The route totalled six pitches according to the guidebook, although the last two pitches we split into two to reduce rope drag and there was a third pitch of 3rd class scrambling along a knife-edge ridge. the weather proved to be cold, with a steady wind blowing, and most of the route being in the shade. The few sunny wind free spots felt like a godsend. The climbing proved to be enjoyable with no single move greater than 5.7. In classic alpine style there was some routefinding to be had and all but one pitch featured loose rock. At 1 pm we topped out and were greeted with gorgeous views of the northern part of Yosemite Park as well as extensive views into the Great Basin to the east.

Photos 1) View of the Sawtooth Range from east of Twin Lakes 2) Closeup view of Matterhorn Peak. The north arete is the prominent route in the foreground. 3) View of Matterhorn Peak from camp 4) Newton at the bottom of the third pitch 5) Sunrise on the Sawtooth Range

Keep on climbing

2008-07-16T18:24:00.001-07:00

Despite my lack of posting on this blog this summer I actually have been climbing, although not nearly as often as I'd like to be. This summer I've made forays to the usual climbing spots: Lovers Leap, Donner Summit, Sugarloaf, Phantom Spires, and River Rocks. However, I don't have any photos to post. The latter half of the summer I plan on focusing on long trad routes and alpine routes in the High Sierra, so hopefully I'll be back here with some good photos. the last two weekends I've been spending time with Holly. We did a great little backpacking trip in the Desolation Wilderness near Lake Tahoe and spent the last weekend at Yosemite where we did a hike that led from near Tenaya Lake down into Yosemite Valley. Expect a couple of posts on those trips in the near future. I've also been busy doing fieldwork in the Walker River Basin of Nevada and California, usually going for 3 to 4 days at a time and returning home on the weekend. That doesn't give me much of an opportunity to climb during the week, however, I do get to see some great places when I go in the field.

Photo: Wassuk Range located just east of the terminus of the Walker River, Nevada.

R & R on the Coast

2008-06-15T18:24:00.000-07:00

After spending a wonderful week with family between graduation and our wedding reception Holly and I decided to head out to the California and Oregon coasts on our honeymoon. We started our trip from Reno driving directly to Fort Bragg California. From there we worked our way north along the California coastline visiting redwoods and beaches and camping along the way. Chester got his first taste of the ocean while we got to try some of the North Coast breweries finest. Along the way we took our time to enjoy the sights the sounds and the smells of this wonderful country. At Crescent City we decided to head north toward the Oregon Caves National Monument. As we drove along we noticed a sign pointing toward local vineyards and decided to check it out. When we went in we were surprised that the owners happened to be a good friend of Holly's dad, Terry Benndock, who had retired from Fish & Game and had moved to Oregon to open a vineyard. After sampling some fine Oregon pinot noir we moved on to the Oregon Caves National Monument where I got to go inside of my first ever cave. It was very cool (not just in the literal sense). Perhaps someday I'll give spelunking a try.

From the Oregon Caves we returned to Crescent City area staying at campgrounds along the beautiful Smith River, perhaps the finest river on the northern California Coast. While in the area we did some hiking and walked through the redwoods. Turning north we went into Oregon to discover deteriorating weather. Throughout the entire trip we hadn't had a single day of rain, but once we reached Oregon the rain came down pretty hard. The positive side of this is that we ended up discovering that Oregon State P arks have yurts, probably a great option for future early summer trips in this area. While in Oregon we explored the Sea Lion Caves and the Oregon Dunes. Chester, especially, enjoyed the running down the dunes at full speed.

In Oregon we also got the opportunity to see my mom, grandma, and uncle who live near the central part of the coast. It was nice to see my grandma and uncle and to have some time to catch up. After spending a few days with family before we headed north to Washington State where my climbing partner from Alaska, Sean Bemis, was getting married. Sean and his bride, Shannon, although married two weeks earlier on the east coast but held a beautiful reception ceremony near the shores of Hood Canal. Several of my good friends from Alaska were there to visit, some bringing newborns in tow. It was a great opportunity to see good friends that I hadn't seen for quite a while.

Photographs: 1) Holly and I aboard the Dixie on Lake Tahoe the weekend of graduation. 2) Holly and Chester stand in front of the Chandelier Tree, one of three drive-through redwoods. 3) Photo from inside the Oregon Caves. 4) The beautiful Smith River was so clear that one can see every rock. 5) Heceta Head lighthouse along the Oregon Coast.

Graduation and wedding reception

2008-05-23T16:34:00.000-07:00

The last couple of months have been busy ones with me presenting at two conferences in April and Holly finishing her masters program. Last weekend our family came to visit for our graduation ceremony, which was held on the historic quad at the University of Nevada, just in front of the building where the Geography Department is housed. It has been really nice having family here visiting. This upcoming weekend Holly and I are having our wedding reception ceremony at Rancho San Rafael.

New weblink

2008-03-30T15:39:00.000-07:00

Last December I helped my mom start a blog about her artwork. Since retiring from teaching about five years ago she has re-discovered watercolor and has made it into a second career of sorts. I've added a permanent link from my blog to hers. You can view her artwork and she has instructions for contacting her if you would like to order card sets and/or watercolors.

Spring or winter, I can't tell

2008-03-26T21:15:00.000-07:00

Lately I've been a bad blogger. I haven't posted once since December. However, just because I haven't been posting doesn't mean that I haven't been doing stuff. This winter I got out ice climbing with Gwen Linde at both Lee Vining Canyon and Horsehoe Falls near June Lake. Horseshoe Falls is a great early season climbing spot, but the climbs aren't too steep. Lee Vining Canyon was lacking something this year; the entire Bard Harrington wall! As a result Chouinard Falls was very crowded, and because Lee Vining seems to be the only reliable waterfall ice in California it get packed with guided groups and clubs. I have nothing against guiding, and I think that clubs have a right to climb, however this year things got to the point of absurdity. One weekend a guided group and a mountaineering club each hung four ropes on Chouinard, which can only support nine climbs squeezed in. Guess where we were? Right in the middle. However, the most unfortunate thing is that every other small party was run off. Apart from the crowds the ice was in great shape, and I'm gradually getting better at leading. Perhaps, next winter a trip to Lamoille Canyon, the Wastach, or even Ouray will be in order.

Christmas this year saw Holly and I travelling to Jackson Hole, Wyoming where we spent the holidays with family. Holly's brother, Paul, proposed to his long-time girlfriend, Lacey on Christmas Day. Needless to say we'll be traveling back this fall to attend their wedding. Jackson Hole ski area rocks! It is probably my favorite large ski resort, because of its size and the variety of the terrain.

After returning to Reno I got a few good ski days in at Northstar-at-Tahoe. At first I was dismayed about the lack of difficult terrain and the crowds. However, later in the season I got up there on a storm day and discovered that when the weather is the stormiest that is when Northstar shines. The ski area, which is entirely below treeline, seems to be pretty resistant to all but the fiercest winds. As a result, when other places shut their lifts Northstars are still running.

This winter was also our first winter with Chester. I ended up taking Chester on a number of snowshoe hikes, which he absolutely loves. I really enjoy the opportunity to get away from the ski area and climbing area crowds.

This winter has also been a busy one for me at work. Next month I've got two academic conferences: the first is the International Assocation fo Landscape Ecologists in Madison, Wisconsin, the second is the Association of American Geographers in Boston. In between I'l be stopping off in DC to see Cara and to check out the cherry blossoms. Happy spring.

End of Autumn, Begining of Winter

2007-12-09T14:01:00.001-08:00

These past two weeks we've really seen a transition from autumn to winter here in Reno. Prior to Thanksgiving I had a couple of opportunities to get out and go hiking. Scotty Strachan and I did an afternoon hike up Snow Valley Peak, which overlooks Carson City and Marlette Lake. I'd highly recommend the peak. It can be accessed from the Spooner Summit trailhead of the Tahoe Rim Trail. Alas, with the recent snow that will probably be one of my last hikes of the season that doesn't require snowshoes.

This last week we received our first major storm of the winter in the Sierra, which included a little dusting down here in Reno. The snow seemed to be perfectly timed to make it feel a bit more holiday-like. Most of the major ski resorts are open now, but it will still take quite a bit more snow for them to open all of their terrain. Next weekend I'm planning on doing a little skiing at Northstar, which is the resort that I chose to get a season's pass for this year. The following weekend Holly and I will be headed to Jackson Hole for Christmas.

I filed all of the paperwork for graduation, so now I'm official. Although I'm graduating this semester I won't walk in the ceremony until next semester. Also, I've submitted my first manuscript for publication in an academic journal: the Annals of the Association of American Geographers.

Back in the mountains

2007-11-13T20:38:00.000-08:00

For the first time since this summer I went hiking in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, near my home in Reno. It was nice to get out in nature once again after such a long absence of outdoor activity. Holly and I took Chester to the Davis Creek Park end of Ophir Creek Trail, just south of Reno. We had a nice hike up to a small alpine lake, which we had all to ourselves.

In other news Holly and I got ski passes to Northstar-at-Tahoe this year. Being lower in elevation than the other ski areas means that it tends to get less snow, so it is sort of a gamble. However, I wanted to try something a little different this year, and the pass also includes access to the cross-country ski trails as well as the downhill ski lifts.

Successful thesis defense

2007-11-13T20:28:00.000-08:00

Last week I defended my master's thesis, which included a public presentation of my research. Fortunately, things went well, and there were no hiccups. The title of my thesis was "Morphometric characterization of artificial post-mining landforms and natural landforms using a Geographic Information System", which is quite a mouthful. However, the premise is fairly easy to understand. Gold mining in Nevada produces large landforms, hills really. The goal of the thesis was to use GIS to determine how artificially-produced terrain differs from natural terrain, in other words, to quantify the shape and form of landforms. I've got a few minor revisions to the thesis before I submit it to the graduate school and then I'm done!

Thesis defense scheduled

2007-10-14T14:01:00.000-07:00

I've scheduled my thesis defense for 4:00 pm November 6th in Mackay Science. I'm excited about finishing my master's and presenting the results of my thesis.

Got married at Lake Tahoe

2007-10-14T13:49:00.000-07:00

The biggest news in my life this fall is that Holly and I got married. We had a small ceremony at an old fire lookout that overlooks Lake Tahoe. The ceremony included exchanging vows that we had written and a champagne toast. The weather turned out to be beautiful on Sunday even though there was a 1/4 foot of snow on the ground on Friday. Reverend Stephanie of Carson City performed the ceremony. Liz Barrett was Holly's maid of honor and witness. Stephanie's daughter, Nadia, was our second witness, and Chester was present too. We have a wedding website that provides more details including a link to a photo gallery. The reception won't be held until May 24th, 2008 at Rancho San Rafael in Reno.

New professional website

2007-09-02T16:41:00.000-07:00

New job and new professional website -

This past week I started working for the Great Basin Landscape Ecology Lab at the university as a full time researcher. The lab is headed by Dr. Peter Weisberg and is comprised of postdoctoral researchers, graduate students, and undergraduate students. Peter has a variety of field studies going on at this point, most of them are scattered across California, Nevada, Utah, and Arizona. The project that I'm going to be working on is the Walker River Basin project, which investigates the ecological implications of changing land use in the Walker River Basin. The goal of the project is to identify changes in land use that might result in putting water back into Walker Lake, which at present, is rapidly disappearing. My tasks involve using GIS and spatial modeling to scale up plot-level studies in order to estimate evapotranspiration, net primary productivity, biomass, etc. for the basin under different potential land use scenarios.

You can view my new web page and CV at:

http://www.cabnr.unr.edu/weisberg/people/tom.htm

Forced vacation does some good

2007-08-17T20:58:00.001-07:00

Power outage at the university forces me away from my computer -

These last couple of months I've been pretty tied up trying to finish my master's thesis. Well, an unsuspected power outage at the university left Mackay Science without power for four days. I decided to take the opportunity to take some time off and enjoy the wonderful summer that we've been having in the eastern Sierra. On Friday Holly, Chester and I headed up to Lake Tahoe for some swimming. Then we joined Holly's aunt, uncle, and cousin for a camping trip to Bridgeport, California. By the way, if you've never been to the eastern Sierra I'd highly recommend going. It is absolutely beautiful and relatively uncrowded by California standards. We spent Saturday checking out the historic ghost town of Bodie, which is by itself way out in the desert. Then Sunday we traveled up to Twin Lakes, in the shadow of the Sawtooth Mountains.

Maps featured in Climbing Magazine

2007-07-24T21:57:00.000-07:00

Maps featured in the most current edition of Climbing Magazine -

We all have a gut feel about which places are the best to live for climbing. However, I wanted to see how things would look if livability based upon climbing was put on a map. The result are the three maps below. The first map only factors in crags within 100 kilometers, the second 200 kilometers, and the third 400 kilometers. For more information about the methods see the poster in my July posting. You can also save the images by clicking on them to enlarge them and then right clicking and selecting save.

Photo on the College of Science Website

2007-07-19T19:52:00.000-07:00

Poster contest photo featured on the College of Science Website -

Tim Weigel and I recently were featured on the University of Nevada Reno College of Science website along with the other winners of the student poster contest. Our poster took third place. The poster was entitled "A weights-of-evidence approach to mapping avalanche terrain in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, USA", and was a class project that we had done in the fall semester. That is Tim in the white shirt. I'm in the blue shirt on the far right side.

http://www.unr.edu/cos/Main-Events.html

In other news I'll be traveling to Elko, Nevada next week for a mine closure and reclamation workshop. I'm planning on giving a talk entitled "Geographic information systems, landscape ecology, and geomorphometry: what they are and what they can do for mine reclamation".

Work soon to be featured in Climbing Magazine

2007-07-02T20:50:00.000-07:00

Defining livability based upon proximity to climbing crags -

This winter I undertook a project to determine which portions of the country are the best for climbers. After contacting Climbing Magazine, editor Matt Samet agreed to write a piece about my research. Look for my maps and an interview in the Off the Wall column of the August edition. I scanned, georeferenced, and digitized maps from Rock N' Road, a climbing atlas authored by Tim Toula. Then I analyzed the data in a GIS to produce a map of livability based upon the number of crags in the vicinity. Hopefully, the maps will provide people with a graphical representation of climbing potential in certain areas of the lower-forty eight states. At this time I feel that Alaska, Canada, Mexico, and maybe Hawaii haven't been as thoroughly explored as the forty-eight contiguous states, and that it wouldn't be fair to compare them. Sort of like apples and oranges. Below is a poster that I put together and presented at the Nevada GIS Conference in South Lake Tahoe.

New Addition to the Family

2007-05-23T16:39:00.000-07:00

Chester Joins the Family -

Today Holly and I went to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals shelter in Reno, near the coner of 4th and Wells. We adopted Chester, a 10 month old yellow lab with a great temperament. We've been looking at getting a dog for quite a while now, but have been waiting for the perfect dog to catch our attention. Holly noticed Chester on a visit to the shelter to look at another dog. Chester has a great personality and lots of energy. He appears to be mild mannered, yet full of energy and curious of everything around him. We're looking forward to taking him on walks and hikes.

Photograph of Mount Moffit in Alaska

2007-05-18T17:22:00.000-07:00

Mount Moffit from Mount Hayes -

My rock climbing season got off to a good start this year until something called a thesis got in the way. As a result of my thesis I'm going to be working 24/7 this summer to get the thing done so that I can graduate. Of course that means that I won't be posting frequently this summer. Therefore, I've decided to throw up a photograph from a trip to Mount Hayes that Sean Bemis and I undertook in 2004.

The photo was taken from a spot called Levi's Bump, which is on the northeast ridge. The view looks out across the Trident Glacier to the east. That big peak is Mount Moffit, a truly impressive and challenging peak. After hiking in 30 miles and spending several days on the ridge at 10,000 feet we never made the summit. Frequent snows and rapidly changing weather conditions shut us down and sent us back early. We had to cross the Delta River at flood stage.

Ironically, that week was to be the final rain event of the summer. The summer of 2004 turned out to be a record fire season in interior Alaska. That summer we were forced to live in a thick cloud of smoke, because no matter which direction the wind was blowing from there was always a fire.

Added Links

2007-05-05T13:34:00.000-07:00

Added Links Section -

I've added links to some of my favorite websites. First up is Scotty Strachan's Dayhike.net which is a great source of information on peaks in the Great Basin and the Sierra Nevada. Scotty is a personal friend of mine and has an impressive list of summits that he has visited. Check out his website.

The second link that I've added is Vagabonding al Mundo, which is my sister's blog that chronicles her trips around the world. During her college years she managed to travel five continents and has spent time in Switzerland, Morocco, Uganda, Thailand, Kyrgyzstan, and Singapore. Check out her blog to hear about her worldwide adventures.

Ecological Footprint Quiz

2007-04-26T19:24:00.000-07:00

How big is your footprint? -

In honor of Earth Day and at the recommendation of Holly I decided to check out what my ecological footprint is. I went to http://www.myfootprint.org/ and took their online quiz. It turns out that my life style requires 14 acres, and that if everybody were to live like me it would take 4.5 Earths. Ouch!! However, I'm still doing better than the average American who uses 24 acres per person.

Tahoe Regional Planning Authority reverses decison about North Bowl Expansions

2007-04-26T19:01:00.000-07:00

North Bowl Trees Saved -

This week during a re-hearing the Tahoe Regional Planning Authority reversed its decison to allow Heavenly to cut the North Bowl old growth to allow for a high speed chairlift. As of now, they are leaving it up to Heavenly to choose between Alternative 4A- The kinked lift, and Alternative 5 - Replace existing lifts with high speed quads. This is a victory in the Tahoe Basin, and an amazing demonstration of how impactful community organizing and grass roots efforts can be. Not only was the board meeting room completley packed with concerned local citizens yesterday, but they had to set up an overflow room with video-conferencing - and the overflow room was also standing room only. Pretty amazing!

Poster takes third place in College of Science contest

2007-04-23T17:08:00.000-07:00

Avalanche Terrain Poster takes third -

Last semester Tim Weigel and I took a class from Gary Raines of the USGS about modeling using GIS. We learned about weights of evidence, fuzzy logic, and artificial neural networks. Tim and I did a project in collaboration with Randall Osterhuber at the Central Sierra Snow Laboratory in which we used weights of evidence to model avalanche terrain in watersheds adjacent to two watersheds that had been heavily studied.

We entered the poster that we made for class in the 2007 College of Science poster competion and took third place. I'm planning on giving a talk at the Nevada GIS conference at South Lake Tahoe next month about this project. Below is a snapshot of the poster. Click on the image for a larger view. I intend to update the image with a better one sometime in the near future.

Spring in Full Bloom

2007-04-06T14:39:00.000-07:00

Spring Arrives in Reno -

Spring is in full bloom here in Reno! Never before have I lived in a city with so many cherry trees. It certainly came as a big surprise, since cherry blossoms are not usually what people associate with Nevada. The university campus, in particular, is beautiful this time of year. The large elm trees that line the historic quad have leafed out and the grass is a brilliant green. Holly and I are beginning to prepare the garden for summer.

The photograph on the left is of daffodils that our neighbors have planted. The photograph on the right is of the tree next to our house.

Climbing at Sugarloaf and River Rock

2007-04-03T22:59:00.000-07:00

Climbing at Sugarloaf and River Rock -

The last couple of weekends I've discovered new climbing spots here in the Reno/Tahoe area. The first was Sugarloaf, which lies just west of Lover's Leap along Highway 50. Sugarloaf is an old school crag climbed by the likes of Warren Harding in the 1950s. It features an incredible variety of chimneys, cracks, and off-widths and has a surprisingly Yosemite-like feel. The area is southfacing and is great for early season climbing.

The second locale is River Rock. River Rock is located just outside of Verdi about 2 miles past the California border. Although it is a relatively small area it has great routes, quality rock, and is located in a nice spot near the Truckee River. More information about River Rock can be found at the following website:
http://harter-climbing.aci.net/riv.html

Rock Climbing at Owen's River Gorge

2007-03-22T16:19:00.000-07:00

Rock Climbing at Owen's River Gorge -

This past Friday I found myself traveling down to Owen's River Gorge outside of Bishop, California to do a little bit of sport climbing. The weather turned out to be perfect. Sunny skies with cool morning, warm daytime temps, and cool evenings. We opted to camp at the free campground up the road. This trip was the first significant outdoor climbing trip of the season for me.

We arrived after about a four hour drive from Reno in time to catch a few 5.9s on the left side of the Great Wall of China. After the sun caught up with us we switched over to the Warm Up Wall to finish the day. The following day we caught some great climbing on a climb named Paradise (5.9) followed by a nearby 10c arete and a 5.7. We moved over to the more crowded Pub Wall and did several climbs there before moving on to the Negress Wall and back to the Warm Up Wall. Our final day finished with a 10a, 10b, and three 9s all on the left hand side of the Great Wall of China. In total 21 climbs ranging from 5.6 to 5.10c, all excellent quality.

Owen's River Gorge is reputed to be the best sport climbing in California. With over 700 routes to choose from, winter climbing a possibility, and shade or sun available depending upon where you choose to climb, I can see why it is so appealing. In fact, we met several people from Colorado and Utah who had come just to climb the gorge. Newton and I were impressed that the place was not overbolted or grid bolted, and that the crowds seemed very reasonable. We'll certainly be returning!

Last Climb at Lee Vining

2007-03-10T17:31:00.000-08:00

Spring Ice at Lee Vining Canyon -

Gwen Linde and I returned to Lee Vining Canyon for one last ice climb of the season. It turns out that the ice was very wet and mushy, although still leadable, particularly in the morning. Great for hard toproping! However, if you choose lead make sure you do it in the morning before the ice gets too mushy. My guess is that there won't be a bit of ice left by the end of March.

Matanuska Glacier Trip, 2005, Republished

2007-03-05T21:03:00.000-08:00

Mount Marcus Baker Attempt, March 2005 -

During March of 2005 Sarah Masco, Andy Mahoney, Sean Bemis, and I decided to attempt to climb Mount Marcus Baker, the highest point in the Chugach Mountains. We knew that we would need a spell of good weather as the mountain had a reputation for being quite windy. Afterall, it is at the crest of the Chugach and is quite exposed to weather systems coming off of the Gulf of Alaska. Sean snapped the photograph at the top of the page from the window of an Alaska Airlines jet.

We began our trip from Mike Meekin's place just up the road from where Sarah was living in Chickaloon. High winds delayed us for two days, but once out we were greeted by beautiful scenery. Mike is a very skilled pilot, but his Super Cub is tiny. Therefore, we each had to be ferried in individually. I was the last to arrive just before sundown and was greeted by cold temperatures. Luckily, the others had the tents up and we went to work building a sturdy snow wall that turned out to be very much needed. That night the weather set in and we were grounded for three days. The storm deposited a lot of snow and we were forced to go outside about every hour or two to clear off the tents. Finally, on the final day of the storm the weather improved somewhat and we got out to dig a snowcave, which ended up being far more comfortable than two tents.

After one night in the snowcave the sun broke out and presented us with a choice. Should we move camp up the mountain to a an exposed plateau or should we head down glacier and attempt smaller peaks near the Scandinavian Glacier Hut? Given that we were wet and cold we decided to head for the hut.

The hut turned out to be a nice option. Besides giving us a chance to dry out it was stocked with books, magazines, and games, all of which turned out to be useful because nasty windy weather set in the following day. The day after proved to be beautiful, so we decided to make an attempt on Finland Peak. On a previous trip in 1998 I had stayed at this exact hut and climbed Norway Peak and Denmark Peak. I was eager to give Finland a shot. Plus Finland offered one of the nicest ski descents, as well as a summit ridge that featured some alpine ice climbing.

Photos from left to right:

View of Mt. Marcus Baker from the Matanuska Glacier, Finland Peak, and the Scandinavian Glacier Hut.

Photos from left to right:

Sarah climbing the final slopes to the summit of Finland Peak, the summit ridge of Finland Peak, group photo on the summit.

Return to Lee Vining Canyon

2007-03-05T20:31:00.000-08:00

Facing the Bard Head On -

This was my third week climbing ice at Lee Vining Canyon with Gwen Linde. After leading single pitches on the Chouinard Wall and the Bard Harrington Wall. We decided it was time to climb all 3 or 4 pitches of Bard Harrington. The ice in the canyon is still in excellent condition. It's north facing exposure ensures that minimal sun reaches the wall. Nonetheless, it is still recommended to get an early start and avoid the left hand side during the afternoon. Gwen and I witnessed several large icicles detach around 3 pm two weeks ago.

We ended up splitting the route into four pitches, although we probably could have completed it in three. Luckily for me it meant splitting the crux pitch into two manageable pitches. The two middle pitches probably went at about WI 3+ or 4-, which was perfect for me.

Top photo: Bard Harrington Wall on the left, Main Wall in the center (kind of hard to see), and Chouinard Wall on the far right, which appears to be the favorite for mountaineering clubs.

Bottom photo: I'm following the first pitch on Bard Harrington.

Interagency Weeds Inventory IMS Website

2007-02-26T15:16:00.000-08:00

Interagency Weeds Inventory IMS Website -

Last year I took Gary Johnson's GIS Design Studio class here at UNR. One of the projects that I undertook was designing a Weeds Inventory IMS site for the state of Nevada. The site is intended to serve as a tool for weed inventory specialists in Nevada and to demonstrate the utility of ArcIMS. I also gave a brief talk at the ESRI Northern Nevada Users Group Meeting held here in Reno this past December. You can view the site yourself by clicking below:

http://mapserver2.library.unr.edu/website/BLM_Weeds_Test/viewer.htm

Save the North Bowl Trees at Heavenly

2007-02-25T14:35:00.000-08:00

Save the North Bowl Trees at Heavenly -

Heavenly has some great tree skiing, including the North Bowl! However, these old growth trees are threatened by the resort, which plans on building a high speed chairlift and cutting three to four new runs. That may not sound like much, but it will totally change the character of the place and impact the lake's clarity. Furthermore, local groups have recommended and support a "kinked" chairlift, similar to those that they have in Colorado. A kinked chairlift would allow Heavenly to build the lift without sacrificing the trees, lake clarity, slope stability, wildlife habitat, and good old fashioned adventurous skiing. I urge all of you to take a look at the following websites to get more information. I think that we can have a win-win situation, but the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency and Vail Resorts need to be convinced.

http://northbowl.blogspot.com/
http://www.tahoedailytribune.com/article/20070223/Opinion/102230069

2007-02-06T22:50:00.000-08:00

Ice Climbing in Lee Vining Canyon -

I got my first taste of Sierra ice this winter. This past weekend I teemed up with Gwen Linde, who is a PhD student in geology at UNR, and went down to climb California's best ice, Lee Vining Canyon. Lee Vining is just outside the east entrance to Yosemite National Park. It is in a spectacular location down amidst a deep canyon. Most of the ice flows are on shady north-facing slopes, so they stay relatively cool throughout the winter. It turned out that the ice was perfect and the approach was superb. Gwen and I both led WI3 routes on Chouinard Wall and we did a bit of top roping too. With such a poor snow season and such great ice I guess it is a no brainer.

2007-02-06T22:33:00.000-08:00

Lean Winter Ski Conditions -

This year I got my season ski pass for Heavenly Ski Resort down in South Lake Tahoe. Tim Weigel, Shasta Ferranto and myself have teemed up to make up the tele mafia at Heavenly. There really aren't too many other tele skiers on the mountain so we're probably quite noticeable. I think this has been one of the leanest snow years for the Sierra Nevada on record. Certainly it is way below last year. As a result most of the skiing is pretty restricted to groomed runs with snowmaking, and this February! Actually, we did score a few decent tree shots but that was just after New Years.

My goal for the season is to get comfortable skiing moguls on tele skis. The rationale is that moguls will force me to be quick on my feet as well as force me to ski the fall line. Hopefully these two traits will come in handy in the woods and on the steeps. To date I've clocked 11 ski days this season, although some days were on alpine skis and not every day has been a full day.

2006-10-15T18:46:00.000-07:00

Autumn colors in Reno -

Fall has arrived in Nevada and even though we live in the desert there are abundant opportunities for viewing the colors. Whether hiking through aspen groves at Tahoe, mountain biking through canyons of cottonwoods, or basking in the afternoon sun on the UNR campus autumn colors are everywhere.

Photos from left to right: 1) Fiery red tree on the UNR campus 2) Leaves changing color 3) Fall activities

2006-08-21T15:58:00.000-07:00

Vacation in Oregon -

Last week I returned home from a family vacation in Oregon. My sister, Cara (that is her in the picture on the rim of Crater Lake), flew in from Washington D.C. to visit and we took the opportunity to do some fun stuff, like go to the beach at Lake Tahoe, and visit family. Cara, Holly, and I drove to Portland, Oregon and from there on to Seattle where we visited my brother, his wife, and my niece. It was Tyra's (my niece) fourth birthday.

From there it was back to Grand Ronde where my mom, grandparents, and uncle live. We had the opportunity to spend some of the days out on the Oregon coast, which must be one of the greatest coastlines in the world.

Then Holly flew back to Fairbanks to see her family and bring her dog Leif back to Reno. Finally, Cara and I did the drive back to Reno with a stopover at Crater Lake National Park (see the photo above). Crater Lake is truly one of the most spectacular lakes in the world. It is also the deepest lake in the United States, surpasssing even Lake Tahoe. It is also more blue than Tahoe. Cara then flew out to Vegas to visit my other sister Colleen.

Stay tuned for future posts on my new house and upcoming trips to the High Sierra.

2006-07-24T14:50:00.000-07:00

Illuminated by science -

Those of you in Reno should check out my letter to the editor in this weeks Reno News and Review in response to the column Right Hook. Right Hook's author, Mike Lafferty, wrote a piece on global warming. In that article he cited the advance of the Hubbard Glacier as an apparent contradiction to global warming. (Must all glaciers be receeding simulataneously at the same rate to support the idea of global warming?) He also compared glacial melting to ice in a soft drink glass. Apparently he doesn't realize that there is land underneath Antarctica and most other places covered by glaciers.

2006-07-17T16:35:00.000-07:00

Climbing at the Leap -

Since moving to Reno I've adopted Lover's Leap as my new home crag. After years of climbing at places such as Grapefruit Rocks and Angel Rocks in Fairbanks, Alaska I'm relieved and excited to have such high quality trad climbing around me.

For those of you not familiar with Lover's Leap it is one of the great traditional climbing areas of California. It is virtually a miniature Yosemite, apart from the fact that there are numerous granitic dikes that add features to the rock and make hard routes much more reasonable.

Newton DeBardeleben and I have been coming back here for three weekends in a row. This past weekend we were back to climb Travelers Buttress, a 4 pitch 5.9 crack climb on the Main Wall. The offwidth 5.9 pitch shut us down so we opted for the much more moderate classic next door, Corrugation Corner. Corrugation Corner is perhaps the most amazing 5.7 climb I've ever done. Newton believes it to be the steepest 5.7 he has done. We still aim to come back and finish Travelers Buttress, but perhaps with a little bit of offwidth training first.

-Tom

2006-07-11T15:13:00.000-07:00

Professional website -

I've got a graduate student website now that talks about my research.

http://www.unr.edu/cos/geography/tdilts.html

-Tom

2006-07-11T11:38:00.000-07:00

Mount Shasta -

Mount Shasta simply dominates northern California. When I was moving to Reno in August 2005 I drove Highway 97 through Central Oregon and noticed a massive white mountain off in the distance. That vantage was from north of Klammath Lake over 50 miles away. Mount Shasta is big, beautiful, and covered with real glaciers. It is truly impressive. Naturally, I wanted to climb the mountain as soon as possible.

The first opportunity came during New Years 2005/2006 when Sean Bemis, Chris "Cri" Boratenski, and myself planned a winter ski trip to the mountain. Chris's fiancee Julia joined us, as did Jarrod and Sam Decker. On this first trip we were weathered out in a big way. Several feet of snow fell on the mountain. Julia, Sam, and Jarrod had to leave early and ended up getting stuck on the drive down the mountain. Meanwhile, Sean, Cri, and myself were sitting by the heater in Sean's van drying out before returning to Horse Camp. We did end up enjoying some good skiing on that and the trip that followed in March, however, the summit continued to beckon.

With Sean off doing geology fieldwork over the summer, Cri and I planned a summit attempt of our own in June. This would be my third attempt and Cri's fourth. We met up in San Fran on a Friday and drove up to the mountain during the evening only to find the parking lot packed. At about 9:30 pm we showed up at Horse Camp, pitched our tent, cooked dinner, and prepared for the 1:00 am start. Both of us forgot cameras so we took photos with Cri's cell phone.

That morning we awoke to several other parties with loud voices and loud footsteps within a few feet of our tent. We quickly mobilized by strapping on the skis and heading up the mountain in the dark. Dawn hit as we were ascending the headwall of the Avalanche Gulch route with a hundred other people. We stashed the skis and continued up past the Red Bank and up Misery Hill. Eventually we reached the summit just in time for the clouds to clear out and the winds to die down. Fortunately for me I felt no effects of altitude on this climb as I had on Mt. Whitney. We took it easy on the summit and on the descent we even caught a brief snooze on the lee side of a rock bank.

The ski descent down the lower mountain was simply amazing. The snow was perfect powder. We were happy that we had brought the skis, but at the same time we were glad that we hadn't hauled our skis to the summit where the snow was boilerplate crust. Everything on this trip had worked out quite well.

Hopefully, some future trips to the mountain will include ascents of the West Face route and the north side routes. Shasta is the perfect halfway point for Sean, Cri, and myself, since Sean is living in Eugene, Cri in San Francisco, and I'm living in Reno.

-Tom

Link to SummitPost for route info:
http://www.summitpost.org/mountain/rock/150188/mount-shasta.html

2006-07-11T11:00:00.000-07:00

Mount Whitney -

One of the first mountains that I wanted to climb upon moving to Reno was Mount Whitney. At 14,496 feet it is the highest in the lower-forty eight states. Also, it would be the highest elevation that my body had ever ascended to. Dave Walker, who is a fellow graduate student in geography at UNR, suggested climbing the peak. Neither of us wanted to deal with the crowds or the quota system that is imposed upon hikers during the summer months so we opted to climb the peak in January, 2006. This also gave us the opportunity to do a little bit of telemark skiing on the descent from base camp.

We left Reno for Lone Pine, California and stayed the night in a BLM campground near the Whitney Portal road. That is Dave in the photo with the Whitney Portal road ascending the hill behind him. That night we were rocked by strong winds but awoke to improved conditions.

Our climb began a little before the trailhead since the road is closed in winter. That day we ascended to trail camp, at 12,039 feet and pitched our camp. At -10 F it felt just like an Alaskan climb. We pitched our tent in the lee of an outhouse for protection from the wind.

The following morning we awoke to conditions that couldn't be better and went for a summit attempt. The morning sun barely poked its head over the mountains to the southeast, but gave us a jolt of energy. We put our skis on and headed for the col where the summer hiking trail reaches trail crest at 13,777.
The ridgeline teated us to gorgeous views of the Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Park to the west and vast areas of wilderness. In January there were no other people around to disturb our solitude apart from the military fighter jets that buzzed overhead ever 5 to 10 minutes. I have to admit that low flying aircraft truly is one of the biggest impositions on one's wilderness experience. Nonetheless, there would be no wilderness experience in the summer due to the crowds, so I suppose that we were fortunate in that regard.

Trail ridge is where I began to feel the effects of altitude. My body had never been that high before and such a lengthy traverse at that altitude had me slowing to a crawl. We proceeded up the amount, albeit slowly. Not once did we have to don crampons, however I certainly was glad to have an ice ax in my hand. Although non-technical the route had several sections where a fall could have resulted in injury.

At the end of the day we reached the stone hut on the summit. We didn't have much time to linger, however, and quickly started on the descent. We hurried as quickly as we could at that altitude along the traverse but darkness caught us by the time we reached our skis and we were forced to ski down in the dark. I lost a skin on the descent, which I didn't discover until too late. We were tired and exhausted, but where was the tent? The tent and the outhouse were tucked away amongst the rocks and in the darkness everything looked alike. After over an hour of searching we found the tent and cooked ourselves dinner.

The next morning Dave and I set out looking for my lost ski skin, but to know avail. We shoved off from camp with loaded packs and skied down to the trailhead. The conditions above treeline were horrendous. Wind blown crust alternated with small pockets of powder. Once we dipped below treeline conditions improved and the skiing was remarkable. Finally, the trail narrowed into a thick forest canopy where the surface was littered with branches and needles. These conditions proved tricky. Around noon we returned to the car, took a look back at the peak, and counted ourselves lucky. What a great climb!

-Tom

Link to summitpost for route information: http://www.summitpost.org/route/156374/whitney-trail.html

2006-07-10T17:33:00.000-07:00

Alaska -

Since 1990 Alaska has been my home, and I feel fortunate to have had the opportunity to grow up and live in such a spectacular place. I moved to Juneau in 1990 from Olympia, Washington when my Dad took on a new job. As a young Juneaite I had abundant opportunities to tramp about in the woods, hike the mountains, explore the glaciers, and enjoy the sound of salt water lapping upon pebbly beach. In 1997 I left Juneau to move to Fairbanks to go to college. There I met great friends and mountaineering became an important part of my life. I began my winter pursuits climbing in the Delta Range (the easter portion of the Alaska Range). Throughout the years I had opportunities to climb mountains in the Alaska Range, Chugach Range, and the Coast Range. I also lived in Glennallen, a small town outside Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, for a year and a half while I worked my first job with the BLM. Throughout the years I've been fortunate enough to have the opportunity to travel throughout much of southeast, southcentral, and interior Alaska, as well as to the North Slope and the Bering and Chukchi Sea coasts.

In my previous entry I posted a few links to friends' webpages. In an effort to streamline things a bit I'm going to add those links to this journal entry in a more direct fashion:

Black Rapids Glacier 2002 - 130 miles southeast of Fairbanks (or 30 miles south of Delta Junction)

http://www.uoregon.edu/~sbemis/pages/blackrapids_1.html

Ruth Gorge Trip #2 - Denali National Park

http://www.uoregon.edu/~sbemis/pages/ruth2003.htm

Ice climbing in Valdez, Alaska

http://www.uoregon.edu/~sbemis/pages/valdez/valdez1.htm

Mount Hayes - 125 miles southeast of Fairbanks (or 25 miles south of Delta Junction)

http://www.uoregon.edu/~sbemis/pages/hayes_1.htm

Kesugi Ridge - Denali State Park

http://www.uoregon.edu/~sbemis/pages/kesugi.html

Mount Marcus Baker / Scandinavian Peaks - about 40 miles east of Anchorage

http://asuaf.org/~ftted/MMBclimb.htm

Enjoy!

-Tom

2006-07-10T16:26:00.000-07:00

About Myself -

I'm a graduate student here at the University of Nevada Reno in the Department of Geography studying landscape ecology and Geographic Information Systems (GIS). I've been living here in Reno for nearly a year now and thoroughly enjoying it, particularly the climbing and mountaineering opportunities that exist in the Sierra Nevada. This blog is intended as an online journal of my climbing and outdoor adventures. Also, I'm holding out some hope that it will encourage me to take more photographs of my adventures.

So, you may ask, what brought me to Reno. I had been living in Fairbanks, Alaska with my girlfriend, Holly Hemming, and working for the Bureau of Land Management as a contract employee doing GIS. I enjoyed my job, but at the same time we both had decided that it was time to further our careers and build our skills. In other words, we decided to go to graduate school. In looking for graduate programs we both decided to only consider universities that had both geography and speech pathology (Holly's career of choice) departments, and we only considered western states within the U.S. (minus California). After phoning several potential advisors and weighing my options Reno stood out above the rest. In addition to the good academic environment, and the good weather, the outdoor opportunities were a big attraction. So, here I am.

As you'll see soon my outdoor pursuits are varied, as are my interests. However, I one unifying theme stands out; the mountains are where my heart is. I enjoy all forms of climbing: big mountains, traditional rock climbing, sport climbing, ice climbing, backpacking, river rafting, trail running, etc. For starters, I'll point to a few websites of three of my closest friends: Sean Bemis, Nate Pamperin, and Andy Mahoney. Sean, in particular, has been photographing and documenting our adventures for a number of years. He has pictures of two trips to the Ruth Gorge in Denali National Park, Alaska, as well as the Black Rapids Glacier and Mt. Hayes, Alaska. He even has some good ice climbing pics from Valdez.

Sean Bemis - http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~sbemis/
Nate Pamperin - http://mercury.bio.uaf.edu/~nate_pamperin/index2.htm
Andy Mahoney - http://www.gi.alaska.edu/~mahoney/Research/Research.html

So without further ado I'm going to sign off. Expect to see journals from a trip last year to Mount Marcus Baker in the Chugach Range in Alaska as well as Mount Whitney from this past January and Mount Shasta this past May.

-Tom