Bolivia: La Paz

Today was our second full day in La Paz and I figured I would upload some photos of the trip so far. La Paz is a huge city that I somewhat wary of coming to prior to the trip. After walking around the first day without any valuables on me I realized that this city is safe, very safe. Other than potentially getting killed by cars this city is great. I have certainly felt less safe in several American cities. So today I walked around with the camera. Fellow AAI Guide Danny Uhlman arrived this morning, and we spent much of the day walking around the sprawling markets that most of the locals use to buy everything they need.

Danny and Susan enjoying the walk. The people here are not very tall.
Typical street scene.
Most of the women have kids somewhere very close by. Here is a typical housewares market stall.

Susan navigating the market.
Danny
Danny buying some pears.

Three full generations of local women.
There are dogs everywhere here. They do not seem to be neglected and starving as in many other countries. The people here just love dogs.

Entertaining the locals.

Hey Danny, where the hell are we?

I now have a new belief about what animal has the cutest babies. We met this guy on our way to do some climbing. There is no question this is the cutest animal I have ever seen in my life.

Some human kids are cute also, but the llama still wins.
Unfortunately not everything in La Paz is cute or enjoyable. This next photo is of the river that runs through La Paz (mostly underground) and re-surfaces just outside of town. It is quite simply the most disgusting thing I have ever seen (smelled) in my life. The color and the smell make it clear that this water is mostly raw sewage.

Danny and I managed to find the La Paz rock climbing. In this photo I am climbing on some conglomerate rock of questionable quality. The climbing area is actually pretty good, although Danny and I both got our asses kicked a little by the altitude.

Thats it for now. There is lots more to come. We have one more day here in La Paz and then off to the mountains on Sunday for five days of trekking. Stay tuned for more photos.

Jessica and Matt's Wedding at Sleeping Lady Lodge.

This weekend I shot a wedding for my good friends Jessica and Matt. Here are a few shots that I promised I would post prior to leaving for Bolivia in about 12 hours. This is just a selection of shots from the wedding and there are many more good shots. There is also no real order to these photos. I will sort through these as soon as I get a chance.

Thanks for a great weekend guys!

Mt. Baker climb. AAI Alpinism 1 Course

Just got back from teaching a 6 day course on Mt. Baker. Usually this time of year these trips are a bit harsh due to the typical Cascades spring weather. No rain the whole time we were on the mountain. Perfect.

Usually on these courses we find a nice open crevasse to practice crevasse rescue in. There is no alternative to dropping everyone in a real crevasse and having them practice with real weight. Unfortunately the glaciers were a bit buried. I found this crevasse by falling in it. Here is one of the students falling in.

On the way across the glacier to find a crevasse.

A closer shot of the fall.

Cary
Stephan

Chris

Brigitte

Andy heading to high camp.
Brigitte and Shivesh on their way to high camp.

Tents at high camp.

AAI guide Erin Smart just after sunrise with the shadow of Mt. Baker in the background.

The first rope team on the summit.

Summit shot.

The whole group on top.
Tristan.

Heading back down.

As we were heading down a group of climbers were heading up Colfax Peak.

This was my first Mt. Baker trip of the summer and it might be hard to top. Perfect weather, a great group and an overall fun time. I have a ton more photos from this trip and will post others as I go through them. It might be after I get back from Bolivia.

A Second Trip to the Eagles Nest

I just got back from a second trip out to the eagles nest that I set the trail cam up on several weeks ago. The chicks are looking a little more grown up and have quite a few more feathers on them now. Here are a couple of photos I shot while changing out the memory card on the trail cam.

When I got to the nest there was no adult bird there this time. The two chicks were sitting up, but I was not able to get the camera out fast enough to get a photo. I was hanging on a rope set up that consists of two ropes tied together. When weighted these stretch a lot, so I needed to adjust my location on the rope prior to shooting the photos. By this time the birds were "hiding" in the nest by crouching down as flat as possible. As you can see this is very effective.

A little closer look.
And one more that I shot in my back yard of a chickadee that has decided to use the nest box I built years ago.

My First Cascades Work Trip of the Year: Washington Pass Climbing.

I just got back from a trip to Washington Pass for the last two days of and AAI ice course. This was a back up plan due to terrible weather on Mt. Baker. These photos are from a climb of the the west gully on South Early Winters Spire.

Weather was great in the morning, however the snow conditions made for some difficult trail breaking.

Larches

The view of the peak from the approach. The route goes up a snow gully on the left side of the peak.

One of the rope teams at an anchor.

AAI's newest guide, Erin.

Snow seat belay.

Looking down the gully.

Blue Lake Peak as the weather worsened.

Charlie leading up the gully.

High in the gully.

Near the top.

Ski track between the larches below.

AAI guide Kurt Hicks.

Charlie


Summit joy.

Erin at the summit.


Summit shot.

Group shot on the summit.