Editor’s Note: Welcome to our newest Sierra Journal writer, Emilie Cortes. Here is an amazing trip report from an August Trip up Mt. Sill’s Swiss Arete, one of the Sierra’s great classic alpine rock routes. A perfect way to bid adieu to summer.
Before we travel to Sill, we must set the stage…In May 2008, [...]

I packed the gear the night before, Dara checked the weather, and I was even somewhat awake at 6 am.  It seemed like sneaking out on a Wednesday morning to drive to Lake Tahoe was shaping up to be an excellent idea. I had taken the day off from work to bring Dara (my climbing [...]

While Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger promised to keep California State Parks open, he didn’t stress how drastic some changes would be to deal with the 14.2 million dollar reduction in the Park budget.
A summary of the service reductions in store for most of California’s 278 state parks was created by the park superintendants to highlight the major [...]

From the realm of the superhuman:
Between Oct. 16-21 Doug Engelkirk managed to send Leaning Tower’s Westie Face (V 5.13a /b AO , 9 pitches, 700 feet)  and Washington Column’s Quantum Mechanic (V 5.13a , 15 pitches, 1000 feet) in Yosemite National Park. Any route designated grade V is generally accepted to take at least two days [...]

Get outside. It makes You happy! This L.A. Times piece highlights an interesting study carried out by psychologists from the University of Rochester.
Subjects were shown sets of images and were then immediately asked a set of questions.  Those that had seen images of natural environments held community and family values higher than those that had [...]

Wow man, Matthes Crest is one seriously fun climb. The standard south-to-north traverse starts out with a couple of 5.6-ish pitches followed by a long sustained knife-edge ridge, then ends with 5.7 pitch up a tower on the north end. Most people call this the end of the climb, though some parties continue past the north [...]

The Cables Route is the standard day hike up Half Dome. It's an all-day affair and is no joke – particularly in inclement weather conditions. Yet another reminder to be careful out there – even on seemingly easy terrain. Weather can turn even the tamest of routes into a nightmarish epic.
From LA [...]

Two thoughts on Tenaya Peak's Northwest Buttress:
1. GREAT climb for beginners out there who are looking to learn the ropes on multi-pitch alpine rock.
2. GREAT early-season climb for working out the winter bugs.
I met up with my climbing partner in the parking lot on the northeast side of Tenaya Lake at about [...]

I'm finally at a point where I can feel okay about the fast-approaching end of backcountry ski season. It's not here just yet – there's still a ton of snow out there. I might even try to get some in this weekend, but what I'm really excited about is a long summer of alpine [...]

I had a hard time deciding on a title for this post. Runners up were (the last being my favorite):
- I Feel Like an Idiot- Two Days of Scree Scrambling at 12,000 feet- Summitpost approach descriptions suck

My climbing partner and I met in Bishop around 1:00 (he coming from LA, me from SF) [...]