SMC Blog

Mount Patriach – Kauhurangi National Park New Zealand

I (Sp) am back in New Zealand for a few weeks and filling it with some hiking, climbing and enjoying the country.The great thing about NZ "tramping" is that there are lots of tracks, fantastic views and a great hut system. The bad thing is that there are lots of biting sandflies, rain and nothing is easy. But sometimes rewards are directly proportional to effort.With my brother-in-law Martin I did a two day hike up to kiwi Saddle hut, up Mount Patriach and down to John Reid hut and out down Chummies track. The huts here are small 6 bunk ones, basic but shelter and no need to carry a [...]

By |2016-12-23T19:52:38-08:00January 15th, 2014|SMC Blog|

Hokitka on West Coast in New Zealand- Jan. 2013

The Wet West Coast West side of the South Island has always had a reputation. Annual rainfall here can be up to almost 60 feet of water. The forest is rainforest and often a battle to get through. Rivers come up and people are stranded for days. A bridge on the main highway washed out here three weeks ago after over two feet of rain in six hours. So getting around is a problem. With a flight to catch in a few days I could not afford to get stuck so I took a short hike up to the Mt Brown hut, a short but steep four hour hike. In [...]

By |2016-12-23T19:52:38-08:00January 16th, 2013|SMC Blog|

Tapuae-o-Uenuku You don’t have to pronounce it to climb it.

Tapi is the highest point in New Zealand outside of the main Divide and I have wanted to climb it for over 40 years. So I connected with an old friend Penny, from the old days of university back in the 1970s, and she flew down from Auckland and we made a quick trip since the forecast was fine for a few days. It is in the Kaikoura Mountains on the east side of the northern part of the South Island and in the rain shadow of the biggest peaks so although a dry environment there are sill rivers to deal with and the approach is 22km up a river [...]

By |2016-12-23T19:52:38-08:00January 8th, 2013|SMC Blog|

Boundary Peak 9.2.12

Boundary Peak is the high point of Nevada and we get a number of people who are doing all of the high points of the 50 states wanting to do it. This was the case with Jayme and Don Holcomb. This was a warm up before Whitney, but with no good  trail and the dry desert air this might actually be harder. We stayed at SP's Nevada place just on the other side of the highway the night before and got a dawn start up the trail, watching the sun come up over the ranges tot eh east. We were 4.5 hours up and 2.5 down which is a great [...]

By |2016-09-29T20:43:29-07:00September 3rd, 2012|SMC Blog|

Mt. Emerson 13, 225′ July 4, 2012

Some of the Sierra Mountain Center team went out on July 4, 2012 to check out Mt. Emerson 13,225'.  There are several different approaches.  We decided to climb the SE Face.  Short approach for this fun alpine route on solid rock.  Leaving the Piute Pass trail before Loch Leven Lakes-  Route climb the 5.4 crack ( great hand holds) then continue up class 3-4 to the traverse up high.  The traverse is amazing, every 10-20 feet you move the scenery is different, miles of mountains and lakes.  This is a great day climb.   Mt. Emerson is a good climb to challenge your skills, learn new skills and take [...]

By |2016-12-23T19:52:38-08:00July 6th, 2012|SMC Blog|

Clarence King and Gardiner Basin Ski Tour

Seems like this year spring comes and goes, with a day of spring followed by a day of winter. But it is ski tour season so Sp and Chris set off with John Miller, His son Rob, Pascal Poignard, Chrixx Finne and Dan Silverberg on May 6th from Keasarge Pass. Our route took us over the Pass the first day and down towards Charlotte Lake where we camped the first night. The next day we ascended to Glenn Pass and then dropped to the Rae Lakes drainage. From here three passes (we called them small ridge crossings before we did them and passes afterwards) and into Gardiner Basin to a [...]

By |2016-09-29T20:43:31-07:00May 16th, 2011|SMC Blog|

Snowskills with SMC

A lot of people think that winter is the time to learn ice axe and crampon skills. Not so; when the snow is deep and soft ice axe and crampons will not add a lot of safety and security and it is better to be on skis. But now that we have hard snow, cold nights and good cramponing conditions spring is the time to pick up these skills. We did our first skills course up at Rock Creek Lake on Sunday April 30th and conditions were perfect. We covered, cramponing, ice axe work, step kicking, belaying, self arrest and talked about a host of other things - such as [...]

By |2016-09-29T20:43:31-07:00May 3rd, 2011|SMC Blog|

Mini Mountain Camp June 27-29

Dave Meyers put together a custom trip with his sons Grant and Nick after climbing Whitney via the Trail Route a little earlier. The boys were tired after all of that exertion and after a day of rock climbing at Benton Crags Nick decided that his body and feet were sore so SP, SMC's 2010 intern Aaron, Dave and headed up Rock Creek Canyon to camp at Mills Lake. Summer really hit the Sierra over the last few days and temperatures were hot. We spent the afternoon of Day 2 working on snow skills above Mills Lake. Still lots of snow out there and the uppper lakes ares till frozen. [...]

By |2016-12-23T19:52:38-08:00July 6th, 2010|SMC Blog|

Middle Palisade, Norman Clyde and the Thumb with Robert Miller

The South Fork of Big Pine Creek is far less used than the North Fork, which gives access to North Palisade, Starlight and Thunderbolt peaks. But the approach up the south fork is shorter, has fewer people and great climbing. So SP and Robert Miller from Albuquerque spent six days there climbing peaks. First up was Middle Palisade at just over 14,000 feet. The route here is mainly 3rd class, but it is continuous climbing. There are none of the usual areas of talus and scree often found on this type of route and while easy it is not somewhere to make a mistake. The glacier is already showing exposed [...]

By |2016-12-23T19:52:43-08:00July 12th, 2007|SMC Blog|

New Routes with Matt Compton

Think that the Sierra Nevada is climbed out? We have spent enough time out there to know that this is no where close to the truth and there are many routes that we have had our eyes on for years. So when Matt Compton called a while ago wanting to do some new routes and we were more than happy to oblige. Matt is taking a year of work and traveling with his wife and young child climbing, biking and having fun so this was a part of a longer time off work and enjoying what we consider to be the “real world” – the Sierra backcountry. First up was [...]

By |2016-12-23T19:52:43-08:00June 24th, 2007|SMC Blog|

Match Maker for Climbing Partners

Looking for a cheap date? Post your dates and destinations here to see if there are others out there looking for the same trip to reduce your expenses for a guided climb. Just click COMMENTS below.

By |2007-06-20T17:13:29-07:00June 20th, 2007|SMC Blog|

Whitney East Face with Joe and Candy 6/14-16/07

            Over the years we have done a lot of trips with Joe Maher and Candy McNulty from Reno. each time Joe pushes Candy a little more and she comes through with style and aplomb. We did the Venusian Arete on Temple Crag a couple of weeks ago and this time it was off to Whitney for the east face. We decided to make this three day trip. it is possible to climb and hike out in the same day, but it makes for a long day with no time to relax. So we hiked in on Day One and camped at Iceberg Lake. Climbing day was a [...]

By |2016-12-23T19:52:43-08:00June 20th, 2007|SMC Blog|