2021 in Review: The Year of Climbing

This past year has been a thrilling ride full of anxiety. On one hand, I’ve never lived more. On the other hand, I’ve never been so stressed living. Every time I headed out into the mountains, I felt like I was losing years of my life with all the stress and anxiety, but also gaining years of life with the experience.

Here’s a list of my accomplishments/ climbs this year – it’s more for myself but if anyone is curious too. I did have an experienced partner through it all and no climbing experience before this so if I can do it… anyone with the right mindset, training, dedication, and most importantly – partner, can do it too. Most of these peaks are technical to some degree.

This was also the year I completed all 14ers (I did 14/15 of them this year – I hiked Whitney & White Mtn previously). I haven’t set a hiking goal for myself in a long time… not since I first started hiking and did Mount Whitney for the first time actually. I had no intentions of setting any goals this year either – I honestly just wanted to get outside and hike and climb everything… until halfway through the summer, I realized I was on path to complete the CA 14ers if I could work up the courage to attempt the Sill-Thunderbolt Palisade Traverse.

Peak	Route	Summit Elevation	Mountain Region	Date
Matterhorn Peak	East Couloir	12,285 ft / 3,744 m	Sierra Nevada	Feb 28, 2021
Mount Baldy	Baldy Bowl	10,064 ft / 3,067 m	Angeles National Forest	Mar 23, 2021
Mount Shasta	Avalanche Gulch	14,179 ft / 4,321 m	Cascades	Apr 16, 2021
Mount Whitney	Mountaineers Route	14,505 ft / 4,421 m	Sierrra Nevada	Apr 24, 2021
Mount Sill	North Couloir	14,153 ft / 4,313 m	Palisades, Sierra Nevada	May 7, 2021
Mount Gould	Kearsarge Pass	13,005 ft / 3,963 m	Sierrra Nevada	May 15, 2021
Mount Hood	Pearly Gates	11,250 ft / 3,429 m	Cascades	May 22, 2021
Tenaya Peak			Yosemite	Jun 7, 2021
Crystal Crag	North Arete	10,257 ft / 3,126 m	Mammoth	Jun 10, 2021
Mount Gilbert	Engram (North) Couloir	13,106 ft / 3,994 m	Sierra Nevada	Jun 11, 2021
Mount Agassiz	West Slope	13,893 ft / 4,234 m	Palisades, Sierra Nevada	Jun 13, 2021
Bear Creek Spire	Northeast Ridge	13,726 ft / 4,183 m	Sierra Nevada	Jun 20, 2021
Cloudripper	East Ridge	13,524 ft / 4,122 m	Sierra Nevada	Jun 26, 2021
North Peak	North Ridge 5.3	12,242 ft / 3,731 m	Sierra Nevada	Jul 4, 2021
Mount Conness	North Ridge	12,561 ft / 3,828 m	Sierra Nevada	Jul 5, 2021
Volcanic Ridge		11,495 ft / 3,503 m	Sierra Nevada	Jul 11, 2021
Split Mountain	North Slope	14,058 ft / 4,285 m	Sierra Nevada	Jul 18, 2021
Middle Palisade	Red Rock Route?	14,019 ft / 4,272 m	Sierra Nevada	Jul 25, 2021
Mount Humphreys	East Arete 5.5, grade 3	13,993 ft / 4,263 m	Sierra Nevada	Jul 27, 2021
Mount Russell	East Ridge	14,086 ft / 4,294 m	Sierra Nevada	Aug 8, 2021
Mount Whitney	Whitney Trail	14,505 ft / 4,421 m	Sierra Nevada	Aug 15, 2021
Mount Muir	Whitney Trail	14,018 ft / 4,272 m	Sierra Nevada	Aug 15, 2021
Mount Langley	South Slope	14,032 ft / 4,276 m	Sierra Nevada	Aug 21, 2021
Laurel Mountain	Northeast Gully to NE Ridge	11,824 ft / 3,603 m	Sierra Nevada	Aug 22, 2021
Clouds Rest	Sunrise Lakes Trail		Yosemite	Sep 14, 2021
Cathedral Peak	Southeast Buttress 5.6	10,927 ft / 3,330 m	Yosemite	Sep 18, 2021
Matthes Crest	South Ridge		Yosemite	Sep 29, 2021
Mount Sill	Swiss Arete	14,153 ft / 4,313 m	Palisades, Sierra Nevada	Oct 2, 2021
Polemonium Peak	Palisade Traverse	14,080 ft / 4,291 m	Palisades, Sierra Nevada	Oct 3, 2021
North Palisade	Palisade Traverse	14,242 ft / 4,340 m	Palisades, Sierra Nevada	Oct 3, 2021
Starlight Peak	Palisade Traverse	14,200 ft / 4,328 m	Palisades, Sierra Nevada	Oct 3, 2021
Thunderbolt Peak	Palisade Traverse	14,003 ft / 4,268 m	Palisades, Sierra Nevada	Oct 4, 2021
Mount Tyndall	North Rib	14,026 ft / 4,275 m	Sierra Nevada	Oct 16, 2021
Mount Williamson	West Face	14,380 ft / 4,383 m	Sierra Nevada	Oct 17, 2021
Renjo La Pass		17,585 ft / 5,360 m	Himalayas, Nepal	Oct 30, 2021
Gokyo Ri		17,575 ft / 5,357 m	Himalayas, Nepal	Oct 31, 2021

A little background as to why I chose each peak / notable distinctions for that climb:
(I did have a mentor/ climbing partner who is knowledgeable and able to recommend peaks that may be of interest to me… so I wasn’t completely shooting in the dark with my objective choices)

• Mount Hood: I’ve always wanted to stand on top of a mountain on my birthday, and although the weather early morning was horrendous, climbing the Pearly Gates to the top of the highest peak in Oregon seemed cool
• Tenaya Peak: my first alpine rock climb
• Mount Gilbert: One of the most classic and steepest climbs in my favorite mountain range. I learned ice climbing earlier this year, it’s the activity that kicked off the rest of the year for me, and wanted to take a stab at it in the great outdoors. The steepest slope was 63 degrees
• Agassiz: easiest major peak in the Palisades
• Bear Creek Spire: 1400 ft alpine rock ridgeline
• Cloudripper: highest peak in the Inconsolable Range. First 13er I ever tried several years ago and failed.
• North Peak & Mount Conness: my first alpine rock link up
• Volcanic Ridge: this was the only permit I booked 6 months prior.. and it was supposed to be a chill backpacking trip through Ansel Adams Wilderness… but then I got addicted to climbing and seeked out a short peak en route… which ended up being class 2-3 with a touch of class 4 at the end to the best view of the Minarets
• Mt. Humphreys: hit a second 13er on the ridge, fun knifeedge ridge, reached 14k on the summit fully stretched out on my tippy toes!
• Mount Russell: said to be one of the finest class 3 scrambles in the Eastern Sierra… and I can 100% vouch for that rock quality!
• Laurel Mtn: My first free solo climb!!! 5.2 and one of the longest climbs in the Eastern Sierra
• Clouds Rest – probably the only regular hiking trail that I’ve done this yr to an unfamiliar peak

Thank you all for following along on my journey into mountaineering and climbing this year! I can’t wait to show you guys what I’m up to in 2022!