Wheeler Peak

Wheeler Peak

Moab

Moab!

Towerland

Desert Kamikaze

Touchstone Wall

Touchstone

Provo Peak

Provo Peak

Everest Ridge

Everest Ridge, Mount Timpanogas

Band of Brothers

Six boys separated by just nine years. The oldest (23) is most likely found climbing a mountain, and the youngest (14) comes straight home from middle school and changes into the "footie" pajamas that have been his wardrobe's staple since last Christmas. These brothers have a relationship that is as unique collectively as they are individually.

Some brothers share close friendships characterized by shared interests. These brothers share frequent arguments. Typically these arguments are in good taste, but occasionally a black eye or two has resulted. Without question they love each other. The greatest strength of their relationship is a willingness to go to the wall for each other whenever necessary. Countless times individual differences have been put aside instantly to rush to the aid of a brother in need. Their unique passions, interests and abilities often fuel the flames of conflict, yet also provide the backbone of one of the greatest bands of brothers I have ever known.

A few months ago I read a book by Stephen Ambrose entitled "A Band of Brothers." A passage from the book best exemplifies what I am describing. Recounting the bonds forged while in the Army during World War II, Kurt Gabel of the 513th PIR recounted, "The three of us, Jake, Joe, and I, became...an entity. There were many entities in our close-knit organizations. Groups of threes and fours, usually from the same squads or sections, core elements within the families that were the small units, were readily recognized as entities.... This sharing... evolved never to be relinquished, never to be repeated. Often three such entities would make up a squad, with incredible results in combat. They would literally insist on going hungry for one another, freezing for one another, dying for one another. And the squad would try to protect them or bail them out without the slightest regard to consequences, cussing them the whole way for making it necessary" (Band of Brothers, p. 21).

To my band of brothers-- John, Bryan, Scott, Josh and Chris

Shadow and Flame

I need to update my blog with my recent escapades. Here is a short video of a climb that I did on Friday. The name of the climb was "Shadow and Flame". It was the last section of a 600' climb. Its was really fun. The last section is 200' of climbing about 1500' feet above the valley floor. The exposure is very real and very intimidating.

Enjoy the video!

Squaw Peak + Snow = Cold

This weekend I was feeling the urge to go off and be myself. Life has been pretty hectic lately and I was in need of an opportunity to refocus and gain some perspective. I have found that there are few things that do that better for me than a good hike that ends with a great view. The Squaw Peak trail isn't super long, it took about 3.5 hours to get to the top and that was mainly because for a few parts I was sinking in past my knees in the snow. Here is a view of the summit:

The sun was setting so I quickly dug out a spot for my tent and went to work getting it set up. Here is a picture of camp taken in the morning:

After I got everything set up I enjoyed the view while cooking dinner. Here is the view I had from one of my tent doors (taken the next morning):

Here is the view from the other door of my tent:

Part of my motivation for camping was to test out my cold weather gear. Next week I am hiking Mount Timpanogas, and I didn't want to find out the hard way that my gear wasn't what I needed. Everything worked out great for the most part. My sleeping definitely wasn't up to snuff though. It is advertised as a 20 degree bag, but with temperatures around 20 degrees last night I was a bit suspicious. Sure enough, buried in the details I found out that the "comfort rating" is 35 degrees with a "low rating" of 25. So yeah... that explains why I woke up every 1.5-2 hours cold. Oh well. It'll be a great Spring/Summer/Fall bag. I didn't buy it expecting it to be a great winter bag. The down sleeping bag that I bought today will fill that gap.

I decided to buy a down bag because between now and July I will have probably 10+ nights in situations that could easily drop below 20 degrees. No sleep is fine when your hike is only an 1.5 long. Not so much when you wake up super early to spend 12+ hours hiking.

All in all, it was a really great experience. It felt great to get away and be by myself. I'm really glad that I've fallen into these opportunities it really appreciate all of the awesome outdoor adventures around here. At times it makes me re-evaluate my distaste for Utah. I even caught myself thinking this week, "I could actually live here."

Ice Climbing-Maple Canyon

On Saturday I went with the club to Maple Canyon (about an hour south of Provo) to go ice climbing. It was a blast. Honestly, I was surprised by how difficult it was. You would think that with sharp ice picks and crampons that it would not be too hard, but it sure was. I ended up climbing seven different routes. I sure hope I get to go again soon!

Maple Canyon is absolutely beautiful. In the spring I will for sure be coming here to climb!

The most accomplished feeling of the day was doing "Get Whacked." It was 140 feet of steep ice. It was by far my most favorite route! Below are some pictures of me climbing.

Its kind of hard to tell in this picture, but I am already about 60 feet off the ground.

Almost there!

Economic Equality

I am taking a sociology class this semester about multi-cultural america and throughout the class I have become more aware of economic issues that likely drive much of the social inequality that we see. Here is the article.

Value of Education

An interesting piece by the New York Times on the value of higher education.

Here

Spanish Fork Peak

I decided to take advantage of an opportunity that came up and joined the Utah Climbing Club. We will be doing a lot of very exciting trips this year and I hope to learn a lot. The first trip of the year was a hike that is one of the conditioning trips for the culminating mountaineering trip (Mt. Rainier) later in the year. Yesterday we climbed Spanish Fork Peak (10,192 ft.). We started at 6:00 a.m. and I finished around 4:00 p.m. The 11 mile round trip hike definitely showed me that I am out of shape. About two-thirds of the trip was done in snow shoes. It was a long, hard day but I am glad that I did it.

The weather got a little nasty but thanks to the guys at MountainWorks I had the right gear and was plenty warm. Here are some pictures from the trip:

Picture of Utah Lake just after sunrise.

One of the many (around 7) false summits.

View of the south side of "Y" Mountain.

Looking down on Utah Valley.

Staying warm and enjoying the trip.

Other members of the club who are clearly in better shape than I am.

At least there were some people behind me though...

A husband and wife team--Dave and Katie-- that we spent most of the day hiking with. Okay okay, I spent most of the day following them.

Alex and I just after we put our hard shells on as we saw the storm clouds getting closer.

Willis (owner of the Quarry where I do a lot of climbing these days)

I really loved how with the right gear I was able to really enjoy the trip despite the weather. Acknowledging my lack of experience, I estimate that at times the wind was around 20-30 mph with temperature around 0 degrees (maybe lower?).

When I got home and was relaxing my sore muscles in the hot-tub I could not help thinking about how I could view this experience symbolically. At times we are really afraid of the world around us. Parents fear for their children, and youth question with trepidation what their future will hold. What struck me is that Heavenly Father intimately knows the conditions of the world and the desires of our hearts. He has provided us with everything that we need to be protected and still enjoy the world around us--even when the wind is blowing and the clouds have moved in!

On this trip I had many different layers of clothing so that as temperature and conditions changed I would be able to regulate my body temperature accordingly. I would like to think that life is very much the same. At times we need to hunker down and put on our element proof jacket. After the wind and snow leave we can take the jacket off and enjoy the beautiful scenery in clothing that is lighter weight. How unfortunate it is, in my opinion, if we walk around in beautiful sunny weather without any clouds in sight with all of our protective gear on! This trip has helped me realize and affirm that we do not need to be fearful. If we seek the Spirit we will have the proper protective equipment and the knowledge of when we need to use it.