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

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).

Climbing at Sugarloaf and River Rock

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

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!

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

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