The Grand Teton In A Day

I had always wanted to climb the Regular Exum route on the Grand in a day.  Luckily, I had a  very willing accomplice in Russell, my son.  He is super fit and strong...a perfect person to do it with.  And a dream come true for me!

After a 3 AM start we finally got to some of the business around 7 AM.  Here is Russ climbing through the Eye of the Needle.

At the start of the Wall Street "step around" we were bogged down by other parties and waited about an hour.  I'm not a good wait-around kind of guy.

Finally up high on the route.  The sky is hazy from nearby fires but the view is still incredible!!!!

Nearing the top. Russell in fine fettle.

Ze top at noon.  Cold wind, Subway sandwiches and Clif bars.

Coming down from the Lower Saddle.  Only 7 miles of feet-trashing, gut-busting hiking to go!

At the car.  Can you say, "Fun, fun, fun!"

All in all, it was an incredible experience to share one my favorite places with my son.  He is definitely a gamer, and I can't wait for the next "In A Day" project with him!

Half Dome In A Day

I've always been drawn to projects that call for doing the maximum amount of effort in the shortest period of time.  It seems natural to me.  And since one of the standard units of time is a day the logical thing to do is dream up projects...they can be anything...that can be done in one 24 hour period.  I've done a lot of In A Day efforts over the years, and I thought I had them out of my system, but the bug bit me again this summer...hard.  So here is a brief recount of two In A Day trips that I had been thinking about for a LONG time.  It's great to be able to tell the stories because I had a blast doing them....

I have dreamt of climbing the Regular Route on Half Dome since I was 14 years old. It is one of the iconic climbs of the world...hundreds, if not thousands, of incredible stories have been written about it.  And as the years went by it seemed my chances to do it were dwindling.  Enter luck and an incredible partner to make it happen.  Peter Croft was kind enough to take a day out of his life and share Half Dome with me.  And what a day it was.  Here are a few photos to round out the experience:

Got Caffeine?  The start at the car.  2 AM in the valley floor.  Only 9 miles and 3000' vert up the Mist trail to go!

At the shoulder below the cables we got our climbing shoes on and got ready to scamper down to the start of the route.

The first pitch.  We had the entire wall to ourselves.

Peter contemplating the Robbins Traverse.

The start of the chimneys.  Rated "Yosemite 5.8," they are are burly and fearsome.  At least to this old duffer.

The famous Thank God Ledge.  This part isn't too bad.  It's the 5.9 offwidth after it that kicks your butt.

At the top, 10 hours after starting.  What an incredible day of climbing.  Now we only have 3 more hours of hiking and 3 more hours of driving....you get the picture...to do it in a day!