fast and a few carafes of coffee, we began jugging the lines at 5 am. I began first block as the sun came up, and spent the morning climbing some of the most memorable pitches of my life. We reached the Changing Corners after dark, very tired, and as soon as Sebastian left the belay, Matias and I both fell asleep. Not long after, Sebastian took a scary fall into the darkness, caught only by our trusty gri-gri. Sebastian heroically finished the pitch, and we slept at Camp 6 until sunrise. We topped out the next morning at 10 am, after about 29 hours on the wall. We had brought 22 cams, including a few offset aliens, a small handful of stoppers and free-climbed or French-freed nearly the whole route. The only pitches where we consistently used aiders were the Changing Corners, the Great Roof, and the summit bolt ladder. A few Valley locals had told us that climbing the Nose with a team of three might be challenging for novices like ourselves: but the down time gave Matias the opportunity to improve his English, me to practice my Spanish, and Sebastian to laugh at both of our mistakes. I had a great time, and I recommend the Nose to those who would like to learn ‘in-a-day’ tactics, even if you don’t quite make it. -Chris Burwell
California Winter Break Various Activity Hayden Miller (‘09), Max Krimmer (‘10) Ben Snyder (‘10) and Julia Sick (‘11) The plan had been laid out: I would return from France overnight in Denver, then fly into San Francisco to meet up with some friends and head to Bishop. I was meeting Simon Benkert, a friend I had met through competing several years ago. We would ride out to Bishop with Simon’s friend, the perpetually psyched Ethan Pringle, where I would spend two weeks before returning to Colorado Springs for school on the 20th. However, upon arriving in San Fran I found out that Ethan had injured his heal a few days earlier when his girlfriend moved the pad out from underneath him. No biggie, I assumed. But then I got hit with my second blow; it was snowing in Bishop. I began passing my days in San Francisco meeting Simons’s friends, eating at taco stands, and finding out that despite only being able to use one foot, Ethan was still considerably stronger than me. After five days of the city, I began to grow restless and the offer to go to Sacramento and work for Simon’s uncle became enticing enough to take. I had now been in California for a week without touching rock. Simon had planned to return over this weekend from Bishop so an any-means-necessary journey did not make sense to him. The following morning it was off to the Sacramento bus station to catch a Greyhound to Reno. After that, I had no plan. I arrived in Reno and figured there must be a bus to Carson City, another gambling town 30 minutes south. I walked around and eventually got lead in the right direction to the bus stop. Then the saving grace came, Simon’s friend Victor Copeland called and told me he talked to Simon that morning and heard I was headed to Bishop. With new motivation I started trying to hitch hike but it was now dark and a kid with two weird looking square backpacks of foam is a little out of the ordinary. I began talking to people on the streets, saying where I was headed and if I could get a ride, even just for five minutes down the road. Once again my luck turned for the better, and I got a ride to the next town. Once there, I met Vic and we headed to Bishop. The Buttermilks—the main attraction of amazing quartz monzonite boulders perched at the foot of the Sierras—was still very snowy so we decided to head to the Volcanic Tablelands. Vic game me the full tour, and while not climbing anything exceptionally hard for myself, I had one of the most satisfying climbing days in a very long time, climbing classic after classic. The next day we decided we were going to do Golden Shower, a highball V10 up in Buttermilk country, snow or no snow. Unfortunately, we found out our navigation skills were not up to par when approaching from the opposite direction due to snow and we spent four hours hiking around. Given the beauty of the Sierra’s and the Buttermilks the day was in no way ruined. We headed back to the Tableland’s and both ran laps on the ultra-mega classic Atari, a problem I later found out Vic put up years ago. The weekend was now over and Vic had to depart but later that night CC students Max Krimmer, Ben Snyder, and Julia Sick arrived, along with Max’s friends Ryan Nieto and Elizabeth Grant. We spent the next two days at the Tablelands, while I constantly insisted that the borrow step-mom’s mini12