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Slideshow (206 photos)

The long drive back to Pompey in the Vansion (Copyright © Lucie Wellner)

Studying the guidebook (Copyright © Lucie Wellner)

Translantic: Funky climbing out of a cave on P1 of Translantic

Enjoying the view from Great Head

Morning Glory: Leslie enjoying sea cliff climbing at its best

Preparing to rappel down over the water at Great Head (Copyright © Lucie Wellner)

Painting on top of Great Head (Copyright © Lucie Wellner)

Preparing to rappel at Great Head (Copyright © Lucie Wellner)

Black Crack: At the start of Black Crack; after we climbed this, we learned that nobody does this route because it was altered by rock fall

Rocky coastline near Otter Cliffs

Home away from home, at the Otter Cliffs parking area

Fingers on a Seascape: Crimpy (and reachy) climbing on great rock

The Precipice, as seen from the road

View from The Precipice, looking towards the ocean

A Dare By the Sea: Following a beautiful crack above the sea, perhaps one of the best routes at Otter Cliffs

Emigrant Crack: One of the better cracks at The Precipice, although one can step left at several points to reduce the pump factor

New guidebook for the Adirondack Park

Leaping between boulders

Tons of rock, like J-Tree but without all the gorgeous desert plant life

Muffy: Easy face climbing on plates with cool orange lichen

Puzzling out the routes in the Corridor

Belaying in the Corridor

Pangborn: Starting up Pangborn, one of the longer routes at the Hills

Pangborn: Dancing up the face

Pangborn: Looking like an ant on the face, Tommy runs up the endless plates to the anchor

Call of the Canyon: Old school Tommy sport climbing…yeah boy!

Call of the Canyon: Resting at a good handhold

Call of the Canyon: Resting at a good handhold

Beautiful Alabama Hills

Hang 'Em High: Crimping at the start of Hang 'Em High

Hang 'Em High: More crimps through the crux

Hang 'Em High: Grabbing for a draw

Hang 'Em High: The route finishes in a crack

High Plains Drifter: Palming low down on the route (Copyright © Colin O'Connor)

High Plains Drifter: Thin crimps at the crux (Copyright © Colin O'Connor)

High Plains Drifter: Sweet face climbing with high steps (Copyright © Colin O'Connor)

Rapping the largest waterfall, Big Angel; there are a bunch of route possibilities here

Unknown: The easier line at Little Angel

Unknown: Going through a small, unprotected roof

Unknown: Clearing the roof

Preparing to climb Little Angel

Rapping Little Angel; we led two routes here, one directly under the rappeller, and one to the right

Lots of arches, seen from the road

Navajo Arch, got to hike to see this one

Another cool arch, also have to hike to see it

Roadside rock, all balanced and stuff

Scene of the "incident"; cool arch, too many people (had to photoshop them out)

Jumble of redish rocks called the Fiery Furnace; pretty cool

Big span, amazing this is still standing

Unknown: Pretty much the only boulder we could climb; we suck

Shredded hands from 31 straight days of climbing

West Face: Slab at the top of P3

West Face: Nearing the top of P3, Lake Sabrina in the background

West Face: Leading P4 in the rain

West Face: View of the Bishop Creek valley from the top of P1

Cardinal Pinnacle, as seen from the dirt road on the other side of the valley

West Face: In a warm puffy jacket at the P2 belay, Aspendell in the background; the vansion is parked in the pullout on the road above Colin's head

Hanging out in the van at a City of Rocks campsite

Store in Almo

Hiking around Castle Rock

Red Rib: Starting out on Red Rib, which I thought was pretty hard for the grade

South face of Castle Rock

Pretty rainbow during one of the frequent showers

Mantel Dynamics: The most over bolted route on the planet, we had to back clean draws to make it to the top

Comp Rock, the other "big" rock at Castle Rocks

Comp Rock again, named for a rock climbing competition that occurred here

Sleeping under an overhanging wall, waiting out the rain

View from our van, parked on the road that traverses the top of Cochiti Mesa

Wandering around in the rain, which happened every day of our trip (Copyright © Colin O'Connor)

Colin sketches in the van waiting out the rain (Copyright © Colin O'Connor)

Finally the sun; we ran out and climbed a few routes before dark

Open Mouth Syndrome: Perplexed by a sea of pockets at the start of the route

Open Mouth Syndrome: Typical pocket at Cochiti

Open Mouth Syndrome: Typical pocket at Cochiti

The Prow: Sending the super-overhanging Prow

View from the descent to the South Cliffband

The Prow: Pulling the crux on big jugs

View from the Vista Point Overlook

A lizard we saw on the hike out

Another lizard we saw on the hike out

Lots of towers as seen from the road near the visitor's center

Pipe Organ Spire (left) and Organ Pipe Spire

Kissing Couple, as seen from the top of Indepdence Monument

We nearly walked into some sheep on the way out…really!

Otto's Route: Starting up the third pitch easy chimney

Otto's Route: Pulling the final move onto the summit

Otto's Route: The final rappel off Independence Monument

Otto's Route: At the belay below the summit

Independence Monument as seen from the rim; the Kissing Couple is to the left, Rainbow Tower behind, and Grand View Spire to the right

Independence Monument as seen from the approach trail; looks narrow and overhanging from this angle

Otto's Route: A nice spot at the belay at the top of the second pitch (Copyright © Colin O'Connor)

Otto's Route: The fourth pitch face climb, made easy by the drilled stances (thanks Otto) (Copyright © Colin O'Connor)

Otto's Route: Bomber anchor in sandstone

Otto's Route: Nice to see our president getting out

Otto's Route: Colin's signature in the summit register

Otto's Route: Some goodies we found in the summit register box

Otto's Route: Massive runout up to the capstone

Otto's Route: Ahhhh…protection; notice the drilled stances up the face above him

Otto's Route: Hard pulling over the overhang leads to a good ledge and fixed anchor

Otto's Route: Woo hoo

Otto's Route: Starting up the first pitch of Otto's Route

View of the conglomerate as seen from the road

A scary self portrait (Copyright © Colin O'Connor)

Approaching in the rain, of course

Our campsite at El Rito; cows roamed around our van at night

Boltaneer: In a sea of knobs and cookie-chip chunks

Boltaneer: Amazing jugs where cobbles used to be

Boltaneer: A super juggy and high-quality route

Blackballed: Jug pulling on a steep, beautiful wall (Copyright © Colin O'Connor)

El Rito, Pirates Wall, as seen from the road

Aspens on the approach (Copyright © Colin O'Connor)

Walking back to the car in the rain (Copyright © Colin O'Connor)

Abandoned mine on the road to Engineer's Pass (Copyright © Colin O'Connor)

Somebody got all Hayduke on this dam (Copyright © Colin O'Connor)

Approaching the mine shaft; no, we didn't go in it, especiallty after The Descent (Copyright © Colin O'Connor)

Two-tiered waterfall with a spooky mine shaft at the base (Copyright © Colin O'Connor)

Approaching God's Crag (Copyright © Colin O'Connor)

Plaque at the base of The Renaissance Man below the waterfall

The crag, as seen from the road

Descending in the rain through a grove of aspens; we picked up a hundred ticks here (Copyright © Colin O'Connor)

Fear is Never Boring: Crux moves at the top of the pitch

Fear is Never Boring: Styling the second pitch, in the rain

Fear is Never Boring: Cool face climbing on the first pitch (Copyright © Colin O'Connor)

Fear is Never Boring: Self portrait, belaying in the rain

Fear is Never Boring: Following the beautiful face on P1

Fear is Never Boring: Nearing the top of the pitch

Falling Ross: Nearing the top of P2 (Copyright © Emilie Drinkwater)

Falling Ross: Delicate moves onto the slippery slab at the top of P2 (Copyright © Emilie Drinkwater)

Checking out the view on the way into the Gorge

Fear of a Black Planet: First route in the Gorge, slippery and good

Fear of a Black Planet: Long reach at the crux

Ambassadors of Funk: Making a clip before the crux (Copyright © Colin O'Connor)

Ambassadors of Funk: Powering through the crux (Copyright © Colin O'Connor)

Welcome to the Gorge: Near the start, and pretty slippery

Expressway: In a sea of pockets near the anchor

Bone Up: Pulling through the first overhanging section

Bone Up: Pulling though the big overhang high on the route

Bone Up: Whew…getting established after the roof

Expressway: Thin, crimpy moves at the bottom

Expressway: Crimp…ouch!

Expressway: Steep climbing that just doesn't let up

Questa Dome, as seen from highway 522

Question of Balance: Rapping off after getting spanked…too wet, too cold, too hard (Copyright © Colin O'Connor)

Question of Balance: Looking at the pitches above with water streaming down the face

Question of Balance: Hanging out at the belay

Question of Balance: Cool view looking up at the P1 belay

Question of Balance: View from P1, looking towards the Rio Grande

Mossy creek in the canyon

Red building in the canyon

Camping in the vansion at Rifle, which was a good thing since it rained every day

Pretty canyon

Lookin' smooth at the Middle Ice Caves area

Tenuous brook crossing

Cold Cuts: Starting up Cold Cuts (Copyright © Colin O'Connor)

Cold Cuts: Near the bottom of Cold Cuts

Cold Cuts: Angular holds characterize this route, and just about every other route at Rifle

Feline: Bustin' back muscles

Feline: Amazing climbing, no route finding here due to the chalk (Copyright © Colin O'Connor)

Feline: Strenuous pulling and an intricate sequence coming up (Copyright © Colin O'Connor)

Unknown: Suppose to be 5.9, but more like .11a (Copyright © Colin O'Connor)

Rehabilitator: Another "warm up" route, pretty much at our limit (Copyright © Colin O'Connor)

Handy Boy: Givin' it on Handy Boy

Rumor Has It: Colin on Rumor Has It, a super popular .11b

Rumor Has It: Fierce and strenuous laybacking

Forgotten Years: Nice thigh jam in the back of Skull Cave

Pile Driver: Steep climbing in a cave…a good choice because it was raining

Standing at the base of Gong Show Crag

Gong Show Crag, as seen from the road

He She: Thin moves at the start of the route (Copyright © Colin O'Connor)

Awesome views from the base of the wall

Gong Show Crag proved a popular destination with locals

Welcome to the Iris Slab: Preparing to lead, not super motivated

Welcome to the Iris Slab: Shoeing up

The beautiful Rock Garden, as seen when approaching from Penetente Canyon

U2RINXS: Starting up, pretty much the crux of the route

U2RINXS: Traversing to the arete

U2RINXS: The route climbs the left tower of the highest formation in the photo; Colin is there if you look closely

U2RINXS: Cranking on a jug in a sea of rock

Approaching the Rock Garden from Penetente Canyon

The Original Route: Sitting on top of The Mace, at the end of P4 (Copyright © Emilie Drinkwater)

The Original Route: Stemming up the complex assortment of towers on P4; crux is at the top of the pitch (Copyright © Emilie Drinkwater)

Sorry, no pictures available

Tres Piedras as seen from the road

Waiting out more rain (Copyright © Colin O'Connor)

Our beautiful campsite at the trailhead

Unknown: Starting up an unknown (but good) route in the Beastie Alley

Mama Jugs: One of Colin's first trad leads; real juggy with good pro

Walking off Mosaic Rock

View from the top of the rocks, looking towards Taos

Mt. Whitney, as seen from our campsite

Colin sketches on top of the bear-proof storage box

Michelle finally arrives at the campsite after an epic trip

Eating lunch at The Beach (Copyright © Colin O'Connor)

Banana Hammock: Slippery friction; our first route at Whitney Portal (Copyright © Colin O'Connor)

Lizard King: We all got a taste of 5.9 friction…yikes!

Manta Ray: More 5.9 friction

Hiking to the crags around Whitney Portal involves some portion of the Mt. Whitney trail, which is where we're standing (Copyright © Colin O'Connor)

Whitney Portal Buttress, much larger than it looks

No Country for Old Men: Colin belays Tommy on P5 while Michelle snacks

No Country for Old Men: Super happy, finally a pitch for short people; I found this pitch desperate

No Country for Old Men: The undercling pitch

No Country for Old Men: P5 of the route goes into the mountain, inside the obvious opening

No Country for Old Men: Nice rope management

No Country for Old Men: Tommy follows the undercling pitch with a full pack of gear, no less

No Country for Old Men: Colin emerges from the P5 chimney

No Country for Old Men: Taking a nap after the big whipper

No Country for Old Men: At the P5 belay, happy to be bailing

No Country for Old Men: Belaying at the top of P5 (Copyright © Colin O'Connor)