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La Jonction, Chamonix, France
Duration 6h; Distance 7.8 mi Elevation 4,918 ft After nearly two years of keeping my feet firmly on the ground, the mountains were calling. There I was, at the foot of La Jonction in Chamonix, France, the weight of anticipation heavy on my shoulders, and the burning question “will I make it to the top?!”. The journey of becoming a mother, embracing the miraculous journey of pregnancy, and navigating postpartum recovery had kept me earthbound. Every mother will attest to the transformation that comes with it, that often means giving up some pieces of your old self. But this hike, it was about reclaiming a piece of me that I…
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Ouray Ice Festival, Colorado
This time around I felt more comfortable being on the ice. Some days things went so natural and others it was still very frustrating. The axe movement sometimes was perfectly in, other times not at all. Not to mention that my left arm was not 100% reliable and I was covered in body bruises. I think I have to move a bit from the safe zone and “trust the rope” as they say – so I can try more moves. Some pics below. Just to be clear I’m not the person in red, not yet that advanced. I’m the one in yellow and blue.
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Ice Climbing, Ouray, Co
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Montenvers Mer de Glace, Chamonix, France
Length10.3 miElevation gain4,629 ft Route
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Col Cornu, Chamonix, France
Length7.0 mi; Elevation gain 2,424 ft
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Ice Climbing, Ouray, Co
Colorado, Uray I’ve been following my boyfriend around for this first time experience. I was actually pretty excited to try to climb a frozen waterfall!! 😱😱😱 We arrived at the canyon and everything looked unreal. The entire canyon was showing traces of waterfall that was frozen. People were climbing left and right, up and down. It was frightening to look down over the cliff and see people making their way up with ice axes. We stopped at a fire pit where we put our harness and crampons on. I kind of knew the gist, putting harness, crampons, gloves, hat. At least that part I had it figured out. However what…
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Ouray Ice Festival, Colorado
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The Enchantments,Leavenworth, WA
Epic 10h push through alpine lakes and Aasgard Pass! After trying to buy a pass several years in a row, I decided to just go for the full 26 miles push in a single day. Otherwise without a pass you are not allowed to camp there. A long, strenuous day hike through one of the most beautiful alpine settings on earth, The Enchantments in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness. Starting at either end hike through forest to gain the 7,000-foot plateau. Then follow the trail over ridges, through alpine meadows, and a medley of lakes, granite peaks and subapline larches. It’s up to 26 miles and 6,500 feet of elevation gain.…
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Rock climbing in Old Camp Dihedral, Silver Lake, Ca
Stats: Type: Trad, TR, 50 ft, 5.7+Mountain Project Details First climb this year for me. We started with a 5.7. I felt I was doing better than when I first started last year. However, I am still very careful. I’m not doing any moves that are not 100% safe to make without falling. My boyfriend is telling me that I’m not trying enough. However, I was happy with my achievement. I didn’t go all the way up, as I was mentally exhausted by the 2 trials already. I pushed twice my comfort level limit and I was happy enough. Later I tried a 5.8 which brought me to the middle…
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Round Top & Winnemucca, Sierra, Ca
Stats: Roundtrip: 6.7 milesGain: 2,290‘Summit: 10,381’Temperature: 80-90FTrail & Map View Luckily I didn’t know this hike was so strenuous. We were suppose to do this right as we were heading out to SF. I thought it would be fast and easy, but, boy, I was wrong! It started as a very nice hike, mellow, with nice flowery meadow and tall mountains in the background. Little did I know that one of those mountain was the one we would summit. So I started speeding up as I thought there was no need to reserve energy for the end. Once we started to climb it became apparent that the hike was going…
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Pyramid Peak, Sierra, Ca
Stats: Roundtrip: 8 milesGain: 4083‘Summit: 9984’Temperature: 80-90FTrail & Map View We did the The Rocky Canyon route up Pyramid Peak. This is a class 2 scramble to the top. This trail climbs very steeply up past some waterpipes and then angles right (away from the creek) onto the hillside, where the trail becomes easier to follow. Starting from a base elevation of 5,900′, the route climbs up nearly 4,100′ to the summit of Pyramid Peak. It is also the shortest route to the summit from a roadway We started at 9am and summited 2h 40min later. I had hard time scrambling to the too in the big boulders. I carried…
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California Mount Hood
Stats: Roundtrip: 6.3 milesGain: 1929′Summit:2733′Temperature: 80-90FTrail & Map View We are trying hard to find hikes around SF so we won’t have to drive that much or camp. However, without that much luck. This hike is good to train but not as great compare to Sierras or Washington (what I’m used to). I was seeing today pictures from my friends in Wa from hikes with great views and better than anywhere around here. You should check it out: Mount Fremont and Baring Mountain. This hike is covered most of the way up. If you take the South part of the loop (lower on the map)! Which is nice in a…
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Ralston Peak, High Sierra, South Lake Tahoe
Stats Roundtrip: 6.6 milesGain: 2791′Summit:9239′Temperature: 70-90FTrail & Map View https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/california/ralston-peak This hike was brutal because of the heat! I do have real issues with that! While my boyfriend was carrying rocks in his backpack and almost sprinting up, I was dragging behind with a HR of 165. I was also carrying some weight (14-15lb): the dog and water. But not nearly as much as I should usually! I also didn’t sleep that well because we camped in the car and it wasn’t very comfortable. In addition our dog snores so loud that all night I thought there are bears around and freaked out! Overall the hike is nice and easy!…
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Mission Peak, Ca
Stats Roundtrip: 5.8 milesGain: 2135′Summit:2516′Temperature: 80-90FTrail & Map https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/california/mission-peak-loop-from-stanford-avenue-staging-area This hike is brutal on a hot sunny day! It’s not covered at all. So expect a to walk under the sun all the way up. It’s good hike for conditioning, and even running! It has large even trail for that! At the summit you get some scrambling on the rock! But it’s really easy! Any beginner in tennis shoes can do it!
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Intro to Sierras, Mont Tallac
Stats: Roundtrip: 9.9 milesGain: 3,266′Summit:9712′Temperature: 60-70F Trail & Map View Here. It’s been literally 1 year since I properly hiked. Living in SF is not convenient for reaching good peaks in a day. I know that when you talk to people you hear different things. They all think that there is so much to do around SF. Yes and no. If you like nature, yes, you can get in 30 mins in the nature. But if you care about a big mountain with at least 3000ft elevation gain, then you have to drive 3-4h. Which is not a day thing, unless you want to fall asleep driving back! However, if you…
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Buh-Bye Seattle Hikes
It’s been ages I wrote. My life took an interesting turn as I moved to the Bay area and didn’t find high enough mountains to train here. There are great mountains around but further away, 3-4h driving. It’s nothing like Seattle where in 45 minutes you can get a decent hike and training with marvelous views (big plus)! Unfortunately I didn’t finish the mountaineer course. I actually missed just one rock-climb & glacier traverse trip to finish it. However, I twisted my ankle few days right before the big day. Such a bummer. We were supposed to do Baker mountain! Hopefully I will go back and do it! Mailbox Peak:…
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Snoqualmie Mt Overnight Trip
This is the first overnight trip on the snow for me. It was great to learn all the tricks and tips around: Other fun activities & learnings: Highlights for me were around working as a team and forget about yourself and your ego and be there for the team! It’s a great feeling that invalidates you as a person in a way, but it individualizes the team bringing it to a different level! I love that feeling! Also, I realized that I totally suck at navigation with a compass. I need to learn how to use it without relying on my phone map. Another learning is around being more scared…
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Vantage – Rock Climb Trip
This was my first rock climbing experience with the Mountaineers. I absolutely loved it because I faced my fears of heights! What I loved the most is that: Learnings and Highlights: I guess the biggest learning was coming from a girl in the group, Mary. She is amazing! She was not afraid of trying anything new and fight for reaching to the top! This is so great to see and it helps you in life as well! She was relentlessly trying to reach to the top without being bother by the defeat of falling or not succeeding from the first try! This is amazing! She inspired me to do the…
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Climbing in Joshua Tree, CA
Still can’t believe I cried at a 5.3 crack.
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Snowshoeing at Pratt Mount, WA
LENGTH12.0 miles, roundtrip ELEVATION GAIN 3,299 feet HIGHEST POINT5,099 feet
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Climbing Class 1
January has been quite a ride. I started the Mountaineerings Basic course and first 2 classes and field trips were around rock climbing. At first I was really worried that we were starting exactly with the part that I was less confident with. However, thanks to my SIG (Small Instructional Group), I overcame the fear of heights. My SIG organized few training sessions that helped me a lot to get the basics in climbing: belaying, climbing, rappelling, knots, belaying tie-off etc. What do you need for this classes: What you will learn: Here are some pictures from my SIG training, where we had fun with rappeling off a building. It…
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Rock Climbing at Red Rock, Las Vegas, Nevada
First time climbing outdoors! I was pretty good, especially when I realized that this rock is so sticky with my rock climbing shoes!
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Mount Teneriffe
Stats: Roundtrip: 8 milesGain: 3,937′Summit:4788′Temperature: 40FWind: 10 MPH Trail & Map View Here. Gear: I brought my normal hiking gear items. I didn’t bring the snowshoes as it didn’t snow that much the previous night. Hence, I just brought the microspikes which were really helpful, especially going down. In addition, I also got the mountaineering boots again to break them in. However, this time around they broke my legs in. Food & Water I discovered the secret of drinking water before the hike. This will save me time and energy during the hike. No need to stop and drink water or to go to the “bathroom”. So I usually drink…
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Meet & Greet BACC
I wanted to write a few words about the beginning of my journey. Yesterday it was the Meet & Greet for The Basic Alpine Climbing Course. We were 120 students split in groups of 10, with one instructor each. We were a good mix of women and men. However, I wish we were also a good mix of levels of experience. I was a bit intimidated that I was the only one without any rock climbing skills. It seamed that they’ve all done tons of rock climbing and they wanted to go to the next level. In addition, some have also climbed Rainier or other serious mountains. Hence, I had…
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Mount Baldy
Stats: Roundtrip: 8.4 miles Trailhead: about 2000′ Gain: 3100′ Summit: 5107′ Temperature: 32F Wind: 10 MPH Trail & Map View Here. Gear: Lower Body: Boots: Mountaineering Boots (MONT BLANC PRO GTX WOMEN’S) Pants: 3 pairs: Waterproof: Underpants: Hiking pants: Snowshoes: Socks: 1 liner Fox River X-Static Liner Socks, 1 wool: Smartwool PhD Outdoor Light Pattern Mid Socks – Women’s Gaiters: Black Diamond GTX FrontPoint Gaiters Upper Body: 1 t-shirt 1 long sleeve layer 1 fleece jacket 1 puffy jacket 1 shell jacket Backpack: Osprey Talon 33L Poles: TRAIL TREKKING POLES – WOMEN’S Water: Platypus Hoser 2.0L Reservoir Gloves: 2 pairs (thin & thick) Hat & Scarf Other accessories: Kleenex, hand warmer, 1…
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Hiking Death Valley, CA
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Trail running on Mailbox Peak, WA
LENGTH9.4 miles, roundtrip ELEVATION GAIN4,000 feet HIGHEST POINT4,822 feet Best for training. I had my personal record on this one, 1h 28 min to run up.
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Clark Canyon Rock Climbing Area, CA
See the details here https://www.mountainproject.com/area/105802306/clark-canyon
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Mt Rainier on Wilson/Nisqually Glacier
Mount Rainier is my ultimate goal. Training up to 8000ft. Hopefully one day I make it to the top.😰😰😰😰 Highlights:
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Tolmie Peak, Rainier Nat Park, WA
LENGTH7.5 miles, roundtrip ELEVATION GAIN1,100 feet HIGHEST POINT5,900 feet For trail details.
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Bandera Mount, WA
Gain: 3400 ft. Highest Point: 5240 ft. 8 miles round trip It was very hot! Don’t miss Rainier in the background 🙂
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Mount Washington, WA
8.5 miles Gain: 3250 ft. Highest Point: 4450 ft.
