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 [...]

After months of waiting, two popular bouldering areas located in the hills above Santa Barbara have reopened to public use.  The Brickyard, a remarkable sandstone boulderfield that holds such classics as Yeti (V4) and Grotesque Old Woman (V7), and The Playground, a bouldering destination that also has 20+ sport routes, have been closed since the Gap [...]

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 [...]

The Mammoth and Mono Lake Ranger districts together with the BLM office in Bishop, CA have scheduled several fire projects during the upcoming fall and winter months to reduce hazardous fuel buildup and to improve the condition of wild habitats.
According to the press release from the U.S. Forest Service, the prescribed burns will be scattered throughout Mono County [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

Here's an awesome slideshow and voice-over narrative of El Cap's first ascent narrated by Wayne Merry, one of the three climbers who accomplished the feat. The rudimentary gear they were using astonishes me – and scares the crap out of me. These guys had some serious cajones.
Via The Atlantic: