M´so and Lily Jones Climbing in Eldorodo Canyon

Friday, June 4th, 2010 at 6:44pm - Adventure

Being out in Colorado has been amazing.  I´ve been shooting a lot, seeing some great friends, and getting a lot of work done for the movie.  My dear friend Sean jones and his family live out here, so I´ve been spending lots of time with them and our friend Graham.  Sean´s kids M´so and Lily have been so much fun to hang with, and its been amazing to see them having so much fun climbing and being outside.

I´ve been shooting lots of pictures with them, and so look forward to several more blogs posts with the kids.  They´re awesome.

First here´s M´so topping a super fun 5.10 on The Bastille.

We also played around on a boulder that is just perfect for the kids.  Eight year old M´so styled the boulder several times with ease, floating so gracefully it looked almost effortless.

Five year old Lily had a bit more of a challenge, but wow did she rise to it. The looks of determination and going for it in her eyes are spellbinding.  She is very expressive, and the looks on her face are priceless.

Oh Maggie ~ Shuteye Ridge Climbing Photography

Wednesday, May 5th, 2010 at 10:34pm - Adventure

The next of my slide scanning sharing is of Sean and Maggie Jones on their route "Oh Maggie".  This beautiful route lies right next to "Temple of Gravity" on Electric Eagle Dome, one of the most outageous walls anywhere.  "Oh Maggie" was the first route up the stunning main face.

"Skin on Skin" by Paul Alvaran is availabile as a royalty free music download at Shawn Reeder Music.com.

Temple of Gravity ~ Shuteye Ridge Climbing Photography

Wednesday, May 5th, 2010 at 9:03am - Adventure

As I continue on processing images from my mass scanning escapade, I´m stoked to share this route "Temple of Gravity", which was established by my good friend Brian Ketron on the proud, beautiful, Southeast Face of Electric Eagle Dome.  This is going to be the first in a series of posts from Shuteye Ridge, one of the worlds greatest climbing areas.  "One of the worlds greatest climbing areas" you say, "how come I´ve never heard of it"?

Shuteye Ridge sits just south of Yosemite, one of, if not THE most famous rock climbing area on the planet.  This has allowed Shuteye to lie in its shadow, and be grossly overlooked by the hoards of people who journey to Yosemite every year.  You won´t hear my complaining, because every single time I´ve been to Shuteye, I pretty much never see another soul.  Its so incredible to be at one of the most beautiful places anywhere, and have it all to yourself.  This kind of solitude, with world class adventure possibilities and mind blowing scenery can be found at Shuteye Ridge. So Open Your Eyes and enjoy the ride as the next few posts share with you one of my all time favorite places.

"Kundalini Canto" is written and recorded by Jim O´Meally and is available as a roylaty free music download at Shawn Reeder Music.com.

Gates of Delerium ~ Yosemite Climbing Photography

Thursday, April 29th, 2010 at 12:25pm - Adventure

As I continue along my journey of scanning old images, coming across this next route was very special.  We had 2 very wild days shooting Gates of Delerium, which lies in the majestic Ribbon Falls Amphitheater.  We shot the first 10 pitches of this 19 pitch 5.12b/c, which are by far the most dramatic.  In fact many people will probably just climb the first 10 pitches without climbing the 5.9 ridge to the summit of the Valley.  We were up there in late December, so there was an ice cone at the bottom of Ribbon Falls visible in the shots from the 10th pitch, when we got out over the mind blowing fin that makes up the left hand side of the dihedral we had been in for the first 9 pitches.

The light in December is truly special in Yosemite, especially on west facing aspects, but it goes down early, like around 4:30.  We wanted to shoot the highest pitch, the 10th, in the warm glow of setting sun, but we also really wanted to get as nice light as we could get on the 9th as well.  So we shot the 9th around 3:45, and before we knew it, the sun was going fast.  So in typical high speed fashion we raced up to the 10th pitch, which is slightly overhanging and kicks back over the entire first 9 pitches 1000 feet off the ground.  The sun was dropping fast and as I hung there at the lip of the overhang trying desperately to not drop film as I changed rolls, I remembered this is why I live.  We got our shots with only seconds left and after many hours of rappelling down in the dark, we walked back to the car smiling from ear to ear feeling like kings who had this whole majestic valley to ourselves.

"One Day" written and recorded by Shawn Reeder is available as royalty free music downloads at Shawn Reeder Music.com.

Resurrection ~ Hetch Hetchy Climbing Photography

Tuesday, April 27th, 2010 at 11:36am - Adventure

For my next installment of blog posts of old climbing images that I just recently scanned, I´m super excited to share this climb called "Resurrection",  a 20 pitch 5.12c on Hetchy Hetchy Dome in the northern part of Yosemite National Park.  The climbers are Sean Jones and Brian Ketron, and what was really special about documenting this climb, is that we shot the actual first ascent of the route.  Being a huge and very hard route, the ascent took 2 days, and we slept on a huge ledge 10 pitches and about 1200 feet up the wall.  This is for sure one of the world´s greatest rock climbs, and seeing the teamwork that went into climbing this amazing wall was incredible.

Because we shot the actual first ascent, this also means that we were shooting all day both days, and didn´t get to shoot in the best light; but there´s something so real and so cool about it being the actual first ascent that we were happy to go this route.  Normally we always try to shoot in the best light that any given situation will allow us, but times like this are definitely worth missing the golden light for the realness of capturing the first ascent.

I´ve picked out a couple of my favorite shots that are directly below, and then I´ve also put together a slideshow showing more of the story of the entire route.  Do you have any favorites?  Please share below :)

Yosemite Climbing Photography Scans

Sunday, April 25th, 2010 at 2:35pm - Adventure

I recently got a call from Dean Fidelman, an old friend who´s working on another Yosemite climbing book with John Long.  It will be in the spirit of their most recent book, The Stonemasters; which is an incredible book chronicling the life and times of some of rock climbings most influential characters.  The Stonemasters were a group of mainly Californians who helped define the American view on rock climbing in the 70´s, primarily in Yosemite.  Dean´s new book is going to focus on more modern times, in which I helped document a lot of notable Yosemite ascents.

Since most of my old climbing work is on slides, I spent a few days scanning around 200 slides to submit for the book, and I´m going to share some of my favorites here over the next few posts.  This first group is a collection of various routes from all over Yosemite.  Hope you enjoy!

Eagle Lake Area Adventure - Lake Tahoe Photography

Tuesday, November 17th, 2009 at 9:21pm - Adventure

Today my dear friend Kevin and I had a killer adventure exploring up above Emerald Bay and Lake Tahoe.  We explored these cool ridges and domes up above Eagle Lake, and had an amazing day.  Kevin and his wife Ashlee just moved to Tahoe, so I look forward to spending lots of time up here! 

Hope you´re having a wonderful day!