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We were afraid that it was going to snow on the day of the climb, but fortunately it did not. It had snowed the night before, and the foothills seemed to be covered in snow. However, we waited a little while, and the snow melted and the day was simply gorgeous.

The Canyon was totally beautiful, with parts that had snow and parts that did not.

For the warm-up, we decided to start on Whale’s Tail, using a couple of different routes.

From the Whale’s Tail, we headed to the Bulge (probably 5′7 - 5′8) and did some practice rounds. I climbed the Bulge twice, back to back, and it was a lot of fun working with the gear-placements on sandstone.

We rested for about ten minutes and ate our energy bars while we prepared for our next climb - and here are some pictures of the canyon around us.

From that point on, we headed to the Bomb, which was a very challenging multi-pitch climb. It wasn’t rated particularly high, however the presence of (melting) snow, strong winds and loose rocks (not to mention boulders out there to get me killed) made it a little harder. I mean, it is called the Bomb, you know?

After all that, I was bruised, had cracked nails and was hurt. But although we had to leave, it was a great day. However, we did climb the Calipso and the Bomb from two different faces!

And here is a parting shot of Roy and I on the bridge.

After all this, Cordell (who had gone for a nice hike) and I went to an Indian/Tibetan/Nepali restaurant called The Himalaya at Boulder and had some fantastic, spicy food.

So that was how I spent my Diwali weekend! Much fun.

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At the moment, the plan is to go out there and climb with some climbing buddies that I used to climb with in New Mexico and Colorado. However, I might also sign up for one of the many good mountaineering courses offered in that area.

While I’m a half-decent rock climber, I’ve not done very much ice or snow (I’ve lead on rock, but not on ice or snow). And I do not have much experience doing technical snow and ice climbing, glacier travel or such things as crevasse rescue. So, I figured that the best way to learn this stuff is either to go out there and climb with folks that know such things, and take some mountaineering courses where you get to do these things.

Right now, I’m looking at Alpine Ascents International — they have an eight day intermediate mountaineering course, as well as a 12 day comprehensive mountaineering course, both in Alaska. As for the Cascades, they have a 13 day course and another interesting one aimed at preparation for climbing Denali.

Apart from the training, the 13 day course at the Cascades aims to summit some of these peaks — Mt. Shuksan, Twin Sisters, Forbidden, El Dorado Peak, Torment, Buckner, Logan, Sloan Peak and Glacier Peak. On the other hand, the 12 day course at Alaska aims to summit these peaks — Control Tower, Mt. Frances, Mt. Crosson, Kahiltna Dome and Point Ferene.

Although I’ve summitted peaks that are at least 2,000 feet more than the tallest in those two lists, those have been technical rock routes. I’ve not really done a lot of snow, ice or mixed climbing, so it would be interesting to see how well I do in comparison.

The other peaks that you could try for include Mt. Rainier, Mt. Baker, Mt. Daniel, Sahale Peak — and of course — Denali itself, which I would like to try before 2010. Ideally, I’d like to hit at least one each of the 15, 16, 17 and 18ers in the Alaska Range before the end of 2008.

The other problem is one of weather — the only good season to climb is from mid April through Mid June, which is a particularly small window to do any climbing. And of course, there is the small problem of equipment — a good mountaineering boot or Gore-Tex suit can be so very expensive that I’m going to have to save a grand every month to buy my equipment. Even if I rented out most of the stuff, I would still need to spend a significant chunk on some equipment (no use in renting it every time, when you are likely to be using it often).

But, either way, my tentative schedule is probably to depart around mid/end May and return after 2+ weeks in the mountains. I do know from the emails that some of my climbing friends (well, not these kind) read my blog. And of course, The Cydonian and I have been trying to talk about climbing either Mt. Fuji or Kilimanjaro.

So, if anyone is interested in joining me, do drop me a line.

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