Where and when was the last mountain you climbed

mt. washington NH, last summer. not a ''classic climb'' but an amazing experience every time. Avoid the tourist trap summit

Switzerland, four years ago, the Matterhorn. In a train so it was not really a climb but it was amazing still.

The Poconos, (Pennsylvania), U.S.

August last year.White Mountain Peak in California. It was a fairly easy walk up, but it was all above 12,000 ft (summit at over 14,000). The open alpine tundra and big horn sheep were magnificent.

Before that (in July) it was the South Sister (Oregon), Mt. Adams (Wash.), and Mt. St. Helens (Wash.).

It is a rocky peak out in the California Mojave high desert, and it does not even have a name. It was a thoroughly enjoyable technical climb in perfect winter weather.

The Transylvania Alps in Romania. 1992

l do local sport climbs all the time, but the last ''mountain'' l climbed was Mt. Whitney two summers ago. l led the whole climb with a friend that had never done the route & we had a very challenging day of climbing.

We did the ''East Buttress'' route which is rated at 5.7 (or 5.8 depending where u look) It is a trad route that goes about 8 pitches w/ a 200m rope. The first pitch is at least 5.8 right when u leave the ground at the ''First Tower'' start. Then there r a couple of easier pitches. The ''Peewee'' pitch is hard again with easier pitches to the top at 14,450ft.

This was a better route than the East Face (which l led the day before) as there was more sustained climbing & less route finding.

There r some great photos here:

http://supertopo.com/rockclimbing/route.html?r=hiwhebut

Good Luck

Sunday-Monday outing up to the north ridge of Mt.Humphreys, AZ; basecamp at 9,300ft was 10-deg F & blowing gusts 30-50 knots above my head in the trees by the time pre-dawn hit; snow kinda' sugary near the top, wind slab for sure in places, looked complex but not bad; but, it was freeeeezzzing, l was not acclimatizing very well so did not feel l could handle it gracefully, bagged even trying to get to the top of the ridge which was the plan this trip & did not regret it very long, first time snowshoeing with 50-lb packs in a while.

Got pointers for next time, looking to climb the whole ridge as a winter climb, it is over 1.5 miles above 10,500ft with bristlecone pines & narrows to a class 4 knife-edge in a few places so should be a bit wild in snow, cornices & all, and, it has to reverse since there is no easier way down in winter with one car.

Need history on this route if anyone knows something about it. Before the road was closed to the public up to the Inner Basin, people used to make the climb up the ridge to where l usually hit on the ridge & to another place a couple of points south of there, but none show use in decades. Not aware of any winter climbs on the ridge itself but think someone else has to have been glued to doing it before, the local paper just published an aerial photo of it yesterday!

It is a nice, scenic ridge, and, the cornices lent a hand in making the line seem drawn instead of a perfect curve.

Anyway, worthy ridge climb that finishes on a slight buttress that seems to extend from the ridge directly to the main summit; some rock moves without snow, probably 65-70 degree snow in places like that. That is usually OK for climbing, l am more worried about the north facing sub-peaks with trees where it could be really deep powder wallowing up 35-45 degree pitches 300-400 ft high, then having to downclimb them . if that is the word for it.

Totally there . next time will bring the heavy parka, a tent for basecamp & other less notable items.

No mountains..just walls..in Italy(where l live) last September. see u

Carantouhill, but it is more of a hill. Did that just before christmas. The last thing over 3000m was Dent de tSallion and Aguille de tSallion in the Swiss alps. That was fun, bitter cold rock climbing. We beat the guide book time all the same by about two hours.

Various summits of the Wind River Range in the Rocky Mountains, Wyoming, USA. l went on a backpacking trip July 2007.


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