Why YOU should go to Bolivia!

The Bolivia trip I did last year was truly a life changing trip.  Its likely I will be going back to Bolivia this year and I wanted to post some photos to show you why Bolivia really is one of the best trips a person who enjoys the outdoors can do.

To start with Bolivia is safe.  I travel everywhere with a lot of expensive camera equipment, and Bolivia last year was no exception.  The first couple of days I left it all in my room rather than carry it around, because I was worried about having it stolen.  On day three I realized that even in Bolivia's biggest city there was a surprisingly small amount of crime.  To put it simply, if you use common sense in La Paz you are likely safer than you would be in any major American city.  The people are kind warm friendly and honest.  No one on our trip had anything stolen or heard of anyone having things stolen.  This does not mean we were careless, but I was no more careful here than I would be North America.

Bolivia is cheap.  When I say cheap what I mean is once you get there it is really inexpensive to buy things.  If you are willing to eat street food then you can get lunch for a lot less than a dollar.  A good dinner at a very nice restaurant is likely $10.  Hotels are also a  good deal and there are plenty of hotels that would meet that standards of North America for cleanliness and comfort. 

Bolivia is Beautiful.  I don't need to say anything here.  Just look at the photos.

Bolivia is fun.  The people of Bolivia are some of the happiest people I have met.  They add to the enjoyment of what would be a great vacation anyway.  La Paz is a big city and the night life is a blast!  Great bars, great restaurants and great clubs. 

Bolivia has great trekking.  Just look at the photos.

Bolivia has great climbing.

So sign up for a Bolivia trip on the AAI website and join me in the country I have fallen in love with.

http://aai.cc/Programs/Location/South-America/

See you there!

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Mt. Shuksan, Sulphide Glacer, Summit and Skills climb with AAI

This last weekend I guided a trip up Mt. Shuksan.  I have said for a while now that photography and guiding go hand in hand, and this trip really reminded me that this is true.  I don't like being out in the rain, but guides in the Pacific Northwest spend a lot of their time putting on a happy face and pretending to have fun in the rain.  Its often cold, miserable, and not really that much fun.  So what does that have to do with photography?  Often times the most dramatic skys and the best views are not found in sunny warm weather, in my experience they are found just after really crappy weather, as the clouds start to break and sun peaks through.  Photography is all about lighting, and this last weekend made for some interesting photo opportunities.  I am fairly sure if I had not been working, I would have gone home due to the weather.  Guiding often forces me to stay in a place and suffer through weather that I would not if I was on a personal trip, which makes for great photos.  Below are some photos from the weekend.

The North Cascades at dusk.

Mt. Baker at sunrise.

The thing that made this three day trip really great was the fact that we did have one day of good weather.  So on the second day we made a break for the summit of Mt. Shuksan.  Its almost winter up there, and the conditions were more like a spring climb then a early fall climb.

Mt. Baker with a perfect cloud cap on top.

Interesting clouds over the summit pyramid of Mt. Shuksan.

Approaching the summit pyramid.

Ruth climbing into the belay.

Looking down the route at the group below.

This really feels like winter climbing.  Ruth midway up the route.

Half way up the route.

Looking down the summit ridge with Mt. Baker in the background.

Ruth on the summit ridge with the summit behind her.  She is sitting down because of high winds.

Mitchel and Matt making the last few steps to the top.

Summit shot.

Heading down from the summit pyramid.

Ruth back at camp after the summit.

We all woke up some time after midnight with high winds and lots of rain.  I packed the camera deep in my pack surrounded by two garbage bags for the very wet hike out.  Summer in the Cascades is over!

Mt. Baker Skills Climb for AAI

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of summiting Mt. Baker with a fun group of Canadians, one of which lives in Surry, BC and has been looking at this peak for many years.  He decided that for his birthday he wanted to climb the mountain.  So he did.  Below are some photos from the weekend.

Dragontail Peak Backbone Ridge.

Last week I did  a great trip to the Enchantments for a bit of rock climbing with Tom.  This was by far my best work trip of the year.  We started with a morning of climbing at Index, on the lower Town Wall.  We climbed Great Northern Slab, Japanese Gardens and Godzilla.  From there we did the drive to Leavenworth and climbed Classic Crack.  The goal of the day was to teach an Englishman how to crack climb.  We tried, but as with all crack climbers first days it was a bit of a struggle.  All in all Tom did a pretty good job despite showing full on British crack climbing technique by attempting to lay back of face climb around all the cruxes.
The next day we hiked into Colchuck lake to use our newly learned crack climbing technique on Dragontail Peak.  Is there any better way to test a new crack climber than to put them on a 30 meter long 5 inch offwidth crack?  Below are some photos of the climb.  

Tom in the offwidth.

More offwidth fun.

The top of the offwidth pitch.

Looking down the route.

Midway up the route.

Colchuck lake in the background.

The summit.

Sunset on the summit usually means its going to be a long day/night.

We got back to camp sometime after dark, drank beer, ate food and went to sleep.  The hike out the next morning was quite nice and we did a little climbing in the afternoon, which was also followed by beer.

A pika posing for a perfect photo.

Dragonfly at the lake.

The trip was ended by a run up OuterSpace the Leavenworth classic.

Tom on the crux pitch with high winds creating some interesting clouds.

AAI Alpine Leadership Part 3 course.