8-Track Thinking

2012-01-22T17:29:00.000-07:00

The rarely formed first pitch of Slow Turning.

2012-01-22T17:27:00.003-07:00

On the first pitch of Slow Turning.

2012-01-22T17:23:00.002-07:00

Anya topping out Stringer.

Hellroaring 2012

2012-01-17T22:43:00.003-07:00

Shawn and I went up and ran laps at Hellroaring. He wore khakis that zip off into shorts. Still think he has potential, didn't fall, or drop anyone. I felt stronger than I ever have on ice in the past two years. Think we're ready for bigger things.

Falls Between

2012-01-17T22:41:00.003-07:00

January 8th Shawn and I did Falls Between in East Rosebud. He puked on the approach and got a speeding ticket on the way home. I think he has potential.

Turkey and Hellroaring

2012-01-17T22:35:00.002-07:00

We spent the day after thanksgiving at Hellroaring Falls with my brother and dad. Two amazing things in these photos 1.) this photo was taken with an iPhone 4s and 2.) my dad climbs WI3 off the couch.

Jeff getting in some kicks and sticks.

Anya refusing to pump out.

A Slow Return to the Rock

2011-10-02T18:41:00.002-07:00

Aaron working The Cave Route V10

After an 18 month setback due to health, I've recently found some success with a new drug regimen. I have a long way to get back to my peak fitness level of fall 2009 but at least I can climb again. Since July 4th I've been on multiple trips to Ten Sleep ticking of 10's and 11's. A new camera and some new blood in town has inspired me to start this blog back up.

2011-10-02T18:40:00.001-07:00

Charlie working the Cave Route V10

2011-10-02T18:39:00.000-07:00

Anna climbing Mulkey Meat V1

2011-10-02T18:38:00.000-07:00

Charlie doing the move on Assassin V9

2011-10-02T18:35:00.000-07:00

Chris on an unnamed V1

Greg Seftick Memorial Highight Reel

2011-04-25T22:09:00.004-07:00

This past week one of my greatest climbing partners and good friend Greg Seftick passed away in an avalanche in Garnet Canyon near the Grand Teton with his climbing partner Walker Kuhl. The details are here.

After I moved to Montana in 2004, Greg made routine visits to climb mountains, rocks, and ice with me. I loved photographing our adventures, and Greg got to be the climbing model a lot. Most of the time our climbing partnership would be me leading up to some crux move, I'd state the dubiousness of the situation, Greg knowing full well he wasn't going to pull the move would tell me that "a top notch alpinist and climbing coach like myself" (which was a lie) should be able to get through the difficulties, I'd then turn back at the rock, tell him he was crazy, think about it again, and pull the move and get us to the belay.

Multi day routes were great with him. He was a portable talk radio built for the mountains. His stories were crazy, humorous, and endless.

What follows below are some of the best climbing photos I have of Greg. Many are re-posts but it's worth it to see them collected again. See you on the other side of the mountain Greg.

Mount Inabnit, Beartooths

2011-04-25T21:54:00.002-07:00

Greg Seftick and I on our last summit together, July 4th 2010.

beginning the moderate snow couloir.

Greg topping out the couloir. He climbed it with strap on crampons over his running approach shoes. How local of him.

Greg coming up the couloir on Mount Inabnit.

Greg relaxing at camp, and journaling post climb with our summit in the skyline. I had been quite anemic the preceding months and hadn't been doing much climbing, and was still feeling ill when he came to town to get a climb in. I proposed this mountain because my strength was weak and this climb was less technical than what we normally would look for thus we could hike in with less weight. The climb still destroyed my body and it took me weeks to recover. WORTH IT. I always felt safer having Greg on a climbing trip. I haven't climbed much since this trip as I'm still trying to regain my health.

Taylors Falls Rock

2011-04-25T21:48:00.002-07:00

A rare day of bouldering together in Taylors Falls. This was St. Ores wedding day. Greg and I rarely were able to meet in Minnesota after college.

Greg about to crush a move.

Teton Rock

2011-04-25T21:46:00.001-07:00

Greg and I spotting my younger brother Jeff on one of the Jenny Lake boulders.

Greg topping out the finishing moves on Baxter's Pinnacle.

Beartooth Rock

2011-04-25T21:43:00.001-07:00

Greg following the seventh(?) pitch of what we would call "The Bearcrack"

Greg Seftick coming up the ridge line of Two Cent Tower.

Cody Ice part II

2011-04-25T21:40:00.002-07:00

Greg Seftick leading the first pitch of "Stringer"

Greg leading the 3rd pitch of "Broken Hearts." He was so proud of this photo on a route he was so proud to climb.

Grand Teton

2011-04-25T21:30:00.003-07:00

Greg crawling nearing the summit. He was sooooo out of gas. The rest of us had been climbing at high elevation for the past two weeks and he shows up 3 days out of school in Minnesota. Plus he was wearing ill fitting double plastic boots to add insult.

Greg, Anya, and Jeff ascending

Greg Seftick on the summit with a classy look of pain.

Greg, Jeff, and Anya. We climbed the Grand in the last week of June, lots of snow and ice. Greg and I loved to laugh at the east coasters who would show up at the climbers ranch without crampons and be shocked that they needed them.

Greg chillin' out on the descent.

Poster Boy

2011-04-25T21:28:00.001-07:00

Greg even made it on the poster for my climbing photography show

Sharksfin, East Rosebud, Beartooths

2011-04-25T21:27:00.002-07:00

Hey yeah, lets go climb that.

Greg Seftick climbing it.

Storm Spire, Beartooths

2011-04-25T21:22:00.001-07:00

Greg coming up the 1st pitch on Storm Spire

Greg, Daniel, and Danaher on the summit of Storm Spire, preparing for descent.

Mystic Lake, Beartooths

2011-04-25T21:18:00.003-07:00

Greg and I spent a good amount of time up near Mystic Lake trying to climb various features, but never seemed too successful in that drainage. We had much more success in East Rosebud.

Following along the shore of Mystic Lake in search of the Pot of Gold.

Crossing the stream to Mount Hague

Cody Ice part I

2011-04-25T21:17:00.002-07:00

Greg following the 2nd pitch of Chasing the Sun.

Greg on one of his first ice leads ever, the first pitch of Chasing the Sun.

2010-12-12T11:32:00.002-07:00

Dustin on the left line of Hellroaring Falls.

2010-12-12T11:32:00.001-07:00

beautiful day in East Rosebud.

Silver Falls

2010-12-05T16:56:00.004-07:00

Thad, Fielding, Chris, and myself on top of Silver Falls looking like some indie rock band.

Mount Inabnit

2010-07-05T21:36:00.001-07:00

Sheldon and the Doctor on the approach. We hiked up into Snow Lakes to climb Mount Inabnit over the weekend.

2010-07-05T21:34:00.000-07:00

camp life with Mount Inabnit as the left peak in the skyline

2010-07-05T21:32:00.002-07:00

starting up the coulior with our Mount Inabnit above left

2010-07-05T21:31:00.000-07:00

climbing up the coulior

2010-07-05T21:29:00.000-07:00

Seftick topping out the snowfield

2010-07-05T21:28:00.000-07:00

summit shot of Captain Apple Jack and myself.

2010-07-05T21:26:00.000-07:00

returning back to camp through the talus moraines

Cody Ice Festival 2010

2010-02-14T22:21:00.002-07:00

Saturday I guided a group of 8 plus a surprising number of assorted strangers that found their way to the base of the first pitch of Broken Hearts. Cool people, good temps and great weather made the day a success.

2010-02-14T22:20:00.000-07:00

Smoot killing it.

2010-02-14T22:18:00.001-07:00

Shawn on top.

Lost Trail

2010-02-07T22:16:00.000-07:00

Snowboarding at Lost Trail on the MT//ID border.

Grand Targhee

2010-01-31T21:58:00.002-07:00

This past weekend, 8 of us took the 6 hour drive down to Grand Targhee on the west side of the Tetons. An amazing ski area with amazing snow conditions. They had 5 feet of snow in the last 7 days. Hero conditions for someone like me who is still trying to progress what I can do on a snowboard. I logged over 51,000 feet of vert over two days of bluebird skies.

2010-01-31T21:55:00.001-07:00

Saturday found more clear sky, more soft snow, and a climb and descent of Mary's Nipple, the rightmost peak in the photo.

2010-01-31T21:54:00.000-07:00

Shawn climbing up the boot pack towards the summit

2010-01-31T21:53:00.000-07:00

summit view from Mary's Nipple

2010-01-31T21:50:00.000-07:00

descending down the deep stuff off of Mary's Nipple

Big Sky, New Year

2010-01-31T21:47:00.002-07:00

Over New Years Anya and I went up to ski Big Sky/Moonlight Basin with a group of friends for a couple days.

taking the lift back to the condo at Moonlight Basin

morning view from the condo

The Last Climb before the War

2009-12-20T22:58:00.004-07:00

Saturday Mulkey and I ran up School House Creek to have a look at The Last Climb before the War (thin ribbon running down the left wall). It was kind of "in" and I witnessed one of the finest leads on ice I have ever seen. It was a long day and needless to say we hiked out in the dark.

2009-12-20T22:57:00.000-07:00

Joel running up the first pitch of School House.

2009-12-20T22:56:00.000-07:00

the second pitch of School House Creek

2009-12-20T22:54:00.000-07:00

Joel atop the second pitch

2009-12-20T22:52:00.000-07:00

Aaron on the third pitch.

2009-12-20T22:50:00.002-07:00

Aaron climbing thru the mixed section of The Last Climb before the War. It was amateur hour thru the first section. Dropped cam, dropped tool, and hugging very thin icicles for dear life.

2009-12-20T22:49:00.000-07:00

Aaron pulling onto the ice

2009-12-20T22:46:00.001-07:00

Mulkey cruising the top section of steep ice above the pillar. The ice was completely dry.

Cody Bouldering V

2009-11-29T16:34:00.003-07:00

Ben making good progress on the Plague (v10)

Alex, Ben, Clint, and myself enjoyed warm weather on black friday while climbing on the Sphinx boulders. Problems worked and sent were, The Plague (v10) Park County Sushi (v8) Mini Cave Center (v6) Moon Shadow sit start (broke a hold, still v6) The Wanna Be V6 (v5) Nathan's Problem (v5) Nipple Crippler (v4) Moon Shadow Right (v4) Mini Cave Left (v4) Moon Shadow (v3) Toadstool Hueco (v3) Toadstool East (v3) and Smiley (v0)

2009-11-29T16:29:00.002-07:00

Joel topping out the Nipple Crippler (V4)

Alex sending the Nipple Crippler (V4)

Alex going into the crux move

2009-11-29T16:28:00.000-07:00

Clint cutting loose, but staying on Park County Sushi (V8)

2009-11-29T16:26:00.001-07:00

Joel giving Moonshadow (V3) another run for the camera. So classic.

The Space Rock Jam

2009-11-29T16:20:00.001-07:00

We did it, and it was awesome. 80 competitors over two days took on the black lights of the Space Rock Jam 2009.

Steepteam Bouldering

2009-11-01T18:24:00.004-07:00

Saturday found the team and myself bouldering outside. We had great weather for a late October day. I gave the team a tour of the 3 main boulders at Phipps Park, and then watched the sendfest begin. Great to hear kids saying how awesome it is to boulder outside. The highlight was getting on the rarely done "Dyno Problem" V5-6 and working it out until an eventual send by Ben.

The Thigh Hooker (V0)

2009-11-01T18:21:00.002-07:00

Forrest on the Cube Slab V3

Cody Bouldering IV

2009-10-25T21:37:00.005-07:00

While the snow falls, Tanner gives the Holy Horizontal Arete (V5) a go.

We committed to the drive down to Cody to find nice occasional sun and grippy temperatures. With Tanner, Jeremy, Art, Clint, Snyder and myself working our way around the Sphinx area, we got on Coffee Skills (V6) Billings Coffee Skills (V5) Holy Horizontal Arete (V5) Nathan's Problem (V5) Mini Cave Left (V4) Toadstool V3) Holy Horizontals (V3) Terrible Twos (V3) The Sphinxter (V3) Toadstool (V1) The Sphinxter (V0) and Smiley (Vo). My first time I bouldered at the Sphinx I was with team kids and parents. Thus making today sort of was my first time really climbing in the area, and it took me a while to warm up to the problems being very eliminate in nature. I flashed my first Cody V5, but also have gotten shut down by three V3's in the past week, go figure.

2009-10-25T21:35:00.000-07:00

Snyder crimping down on The Wanna Be V6 (V5).

2009-10-25T21:34:00.000-07:00

Joel about to take a big fall on Holy Horizontals (V3).

Cody Bouldering III

2009-10-18T18:36:00.004-07:00

Mike on the Hueco Traverse V2

Sunny but brisk day in Cody with Nate, Ben, Mike, Miles, Angela, Clint, and Synder. Problems climbed were Studs V8, Babies for Breakfast V7, Sugar Pie V6, Medusa V5, Tuna Town V5, The Bludgeoning V5, Spear Chucker V4, Perseus V4, Hueco Simulator V3, With or Without Sugar V3, Hueco Traverse V2, Special K V1, and a host of other moderates. Camera settings were off tilt all day so not much for quality photos.

2009-10-18T18:35:00.001-07:00

Clint on the Sugar Pie V6.

2009-10-18T18:31:00.001-07:00

Snyder giving it a good run on the V9 crack on the Spear Point Boulder.

Chicago

2009-10-18T18:29:00.000-07:00

Anya ran the Chicago Marathon last weekend in 3:55. Elvis did not finish.

Cody Bouldering II

2009-10-04T13:43:00.002-07:00

The Antelope Boulder. The single greatest boulder in the state of Wyoming.

We rolled up with a full car from Billings with Jay, Nate, Ben, Ryan, and myself to find the most wonderful conditions. We met up with beta masters McClintock and Dylan from Cody Routes that were sent were Pocahontas (V6) Meathook (V5) Shyza (V4) The Tuk (V3) Home on the Range (V3) Palm Pilot (V3) The Muncher (V3) Arnold Palmer (V2) and Where's the Beef (V0). Routes that were heavily worked were Snytonga (V9) Shyza Shyza (V7) Finger Paint (V7) and the Antelope Half Traverse (V5).

2009-10-04T13:39:00.001-07:00

Ryan working the Antelope Half Traverse (V5)

2009-10-04T13:38:00.001-07:00

Ben climbing Arnold Palmer (V2)

2009-10-04T13:36:00.000-07:00

Nate so close to sending Snytonga (V9)

2009-10-04T13:29:00.000-07:00

Jay working Shyza Shyza (V7)

2009-10-04T13:24:00.001-07:00

Joel working Shyza Shyza (V7). I will be back with fresh hands.

The Recent Quest for the Microclimb

2009-09-19T20:41:00.002-07:00

Joel sending The Sherman Problem Stand Start (V5)

My interest in climbing has recently swung to the micro climb. Bouldering. There is a certain beauty in working out the hardest moves possible without the rope on smaller garage sized boulders. I've been coaching bouldering for the past three years but really haven't put in the time to see what I can do outside, until now, and I'm having a blast. It's been like finding a new sport and I've really been inspired some of the others I've had a chance to boulder with the past few weeks.

2009-09-19T20:39:00.000-07:00

Ben sending the Assassin (V9)

2009-09-19T20:38:00.000-07:00

Nate on a still un-named V4

2009-09-19T20:36:00.000-07:00

Forrest working the Sherman Warm-Up (V2)

Lost Horse Canyon

2009-09-14T21:22:00.000-07:00

Alex on "The Duke"

2009-09-14T21:20:00.000-07:00

the Hoin on the Dope Show Traverse

2009-09-14T21:18:00.001-07:00

Jay Walking the Rail and strutting the fedora

2009-09-14T21:16:00.000-07:00

Coach has got mantle Skillz!

2009-08-30T18:44:00.001-07:00

The Sherman Boulder in all its double rainbow glory.

2009-08-30T18:42:00.000-07:00

Kerrick sending a not yet named V10 while it rains.

2009-08-30T18:40:00.001-07:00

Mulkey Boulders? sending a new V3 while Clint, Mike, and Joel look on in amazement.

Clint sending The Rod of Lordly Might V7.

2009-08-30T18:38:00.000-07:00

Joel on some sweet V4/5 goodness

2009 Summer Luau

2009-08-08T12:21:00.000-07:00

3 months, to the date, after my 30th birthday we hosted a birthday party

Bouldering in Cody 1

2009-08-02T19:39:00.002-07:00

Troy sending Lewistown Pharmacy

Trickled down to Cody with a crew and met up with beta master Clint. Spent a long day with people sending or working: With or without Sugar V3, Special K V1, The Bludgeoning V5, Lewistown Pharmacy V6, Two Karat V1, Ace of Diamonds V3, Undercover V1, The Ripper Point V5, Cheese Traverse V4, Dead Straight V2, and Billings Shopping Trip V6.

2009-08-02T19:38:00.001-07:00

Joel on the Ripper Point

2009-08-02T19:36:00.001-07:00

Joe on the Ripper Point

2009-08-02T19:35:00.000-07:00

chris on "Dead Straight"

2009-07-06T23:35:00.000-07:00

camp 1 with Jeff and Anya

2009-07-06T23:34:00.000-07:00

bail when clouds looking like this are coming at you

2009-07-06T23:32:00.000-07:00

Proudest line? Rarest line in the Beartooths

2009-07-06T23:31:00.000-07:00

Camp 2

2009-07-06T23:30:00.000-07:00

the hike out

2009-05-26T21:45:00.000-07:00

a little poor (good) rock for Memorial Day

California

2009-05-04T21:38:00.000-07:00

California Academy of Science

de Young Museum of Art

Recent ongoings

2009-04-15T00:05:00.002-07:00

Big Sky Pond Skim 2009

Anya and I enjoying a quiet afternoon in the bowl.

Unfortunately my focus right now is work, team, and tests. Until then, there is little time for grand adventures.

Hells Angel

2009-02-02T20:51:00.003-07:00

Arms wide open the ice angel welcomes all. 3 years ago Aaron and I attempted this route only to be turned around by a bad ice tool. see March 2006

2009-02-02T20:50:00.002-07:00

Deep snow over talus, yum

2009-02-02T20:48:00.001-07:00

Mulkey and Hilary waiting for me to catch up

2009-02-02T20:47:00.004-07:00

130 feet of rattley chandelier hooks. Not a solid stick to be found. Aaron was on lead for 45 minutes, all of us got beat up by the thing. Myself with a pretty banged up nose.