Sunset at Dead Horse Point outside Moab, UT
Starting a Rainier ski trip in Moab is weird. But I was there to shoot with Mountain Standard for catalog, social media and partnership content. A quick 3 day trip in the desert had me looping towards the PNW via California.
It had been a few months since I had last visited my Mom and friends so a quick stop in the Bay Area was called for. After a week of dealing with hard drive issues and visiting family, I pointed Bertha north towards the PNW.
Day one on the drive had me staying outside Eugene, OR with my brother Chris and his wife. The next day I made my way towards Seattle where I was to pickup a buddy at the airport, meet another, then give an attempt at Rainier and skiing the Fuherer Finger.
Two weeks in Seattle and a second attempt on Rainier saw my good friend Cory Fleagle and myself standing on the summit with over 10K' of skiing below us. It was wild.
After leaving Seattle, I was en-route to North Idado to visit with my Father. But a sleepy little Bavaria styled town called Leavenworth is on the way and hosts hundreds of perfect granite boulders. While researching parking and beta, I came upon two moderate multi-pitch routes stacked on top of eachother. Keen for an adventure, I set off to Leavenworth with the idea to on-sight solo these routes and boulder as a back-up.
I did not boulder and I sent the routes. Climbing these two routes was an awesome personal experience and a huge step up in term of getting my head straight o the rock.
After a few days spent in North Idaho, it was time to finish the trip up and head back to Boulder, CO. Where the very next day I met friends at 4am to ski, again,
Dates - 4/21 - 6/1, 2017
Days on the road - 31 + days at "home" in California
Days spent driving - 8
National Parks Visited/Driven thru - 2, Death Valley, CA, Mt. Rainier, WA
Vertical Gain Skiing - 21,524'
Ski Descent - 22,749'
Days spent climbing or trying to climb - 3
Days spent skiing - 6
States visited - 7
Miles Driven - ~3,962
Miles Ridden - 15.3 (979' vertical gain)
Pitches Climbed - 7, onsight free solo
Boulders Climbed - 3
Hours of Video Captured - ~12hrs
Images taken - ~ 9,000
The coolest boulder in Moe's Valley, UT.
Milky Way over the Alabama Hills, CA.
Pre-long haul drive soak outside Mammoth, CA.
Jason Mauer feeling the stoke in the Fuhrer Finger, Mt. Rainier, WA.