The Basic Rock Climbing Kit

The Kings Canyon drains to the west and the valley has about 3000-4000ft of elevation change. The native americans used to winter at the bottom due to the warmer temperatures and good fishing.

From camp we had to hike to the wall and this is just a piece of the 1300ft top half of the wall. As far as I know, no one has climbed the dihedral in this photo.

Mike and Ari setting up our line to hang the food. We had two haul bags of food for our ten days of camping. One was filled with meals and the other with breakfast and snacks. We saw bear tracks and scat while on the trip but no bears and pretty much nothing but birds. The area was burned by fire two years ago and there is very little food for anything to eat. Plus the fire must have killed many of the animals. At the beginning of the trip it took all three of us to hang the food (because it was so heavy) and by the last day or two it could be done by just one.

Our first recon on the first day to get to the wall. You can see the upper part of the dome (Tehipite Dome) that is over 1000ft of rock you are looking at. Plus notice the burn damage and the grasses coming back into the environment very slowly. We needed to use surveying tape (bright orange) to mark our path from camp to the wall because it took over an hour to get there hiking in the mornings and at night. It was too easy to get lost (as we did once) with out marking the trail. In the end, we removed all the tape and found the path of least resistance. The hike wasn't too bad, it was the mosquitoes that were no fun and the 1000ft gulley that we had to descend and hike out everyday.

Me at the last major river crossing. I chose to wear that long sleeved hoody on the horse because the bugs were so bad on the ride in and out of the base camp.
Have a great day!

piz : )

Mike B on his horse at the biggest creek crossing of the trip. Little did we know that our camp was just a few miles away. At this point of the ride, all of our butts were getting a bit sore and we were definitely ready to finish the ride. It was nice though to have a few minutes of walking around and stretching the legs by the crystal clear river.

Ari, taking it easy in the woods of tall trees and ferns on the forest floor. The outfitter (Clyde Pack Outfitter), put the littlest guy on our trip on the biggest horse. It was funny watching Ari trying to get on and off the horse during the ride in and ride out of Tehipite Dome. He wore is only blue jeans and a hand me down western shirt and a fisherman's hat the whole time!

This here is Allen Clyde and he knows these trails and his horses really well. He has been a horse packer in these mountains for over 30 years, he is a doctor of the feet, has a ranch near Fresno and is the man that you want to take you into the wilderness for any of your needs!

When we got to camp the evening before the ride into Tehipite Dome we had to explode the truck to repack all the gear in the horse pack bags. So we had to make sure that we had everything, ropes, harnesses, shoes, cams, nuts, toilet paper, stoves and cook sets, food, tents, backpacks, the whole works. It took over three hours to figure everything out and get the 6 pack bags equally loaded and all strapped down. As we did this the Pack station dogs joined us and sniffed our gear and we had a nice campfire going to keep away the bugs. It is always tough to pack the final amount of gear for a trip like this because you never really know what you need and it is always too late when you find out! We quickly realized that we forgot the bug spray!

Mike B and Ari just outside the Fresno airport where they picked me up. I was flying in from Canada and the Squamish Mountain Festival and they drove in from Colorado and Utah in my truck. Ari was wearing my warm weather gear to keep the 100 degree heat at bay while we walked to the truck. Notice the wind block hat and the woolen Arcteryx neck gaiter. I don't think that there is an outfit that Ari doesn't look good in.

piz : )

Dan Gambino took another round of photos the other day.
They really let you see the wall and where the heck we are climbing on the P-wall.
Enjoy them and if you like contact Dan and buy one up!

http://www.dangpix.com/pwall%20traverse%202/index.html

piz : )

I have not named the line yet, but it traverses on bolts from Back to the Earth out to the the finish of my mega project named Hopeless (aka High Hopes).
The wall is steep and the traverse is really pumpy. Getting to the finishing moves is a real bear that is for sure and I have taken some fun whippers at the end of the route.
It feels like its 12+ or 13- for sure and I am really excited to have this quality addition to the wall.
I am currently taking ideas for route names. Keep them appropriate please.

There are some Dan Gambino photos of Brian Young and I trying the route and some other wall photos from the P-Wall.
http://www.dangpix.com/pwall%20traverse/index.html

piz : )

Just southwest of Pueblo, CO one man has built his own castle. Jane and I went there to check it out. It is 40 years work of only one man and his wish to build something for everyone to enjoy. Here I am on the rickety cat walk up to his metal globe. Jane and I are nearly 50 feet up enjoying the scenery and swaying metal structure.

Jane at the base of the giant home made castle.

Jane and I some where up high in the castle.

Some of the stained glass windows from inside. The interior was left open with big rooms and beautiful stone work. An amazing place to wander around for a little while and in a beautiful forest in the San Isabel National Forest.

The only place where you can get an entire photo of the castle. The tower on the left has to climb to about a hundred feet up. There is a catwalk around most of the castle, spiraling staircases, huge rooms and it's always a bit windy here so being up high can be a bit nervous. I was sketching as I went to the top of the tower. The wind was picking up and its just a swaying spiral staircase making you dizzy as you head out of the safety of the rock and into space. What a place!

Thanks for visiting and have a great day!

piz : )

Mike B was trying out the new CAMP Stratos harness. I heard no complaints on the many hanging belays that we were subjected to on this day.

CAMP NANO biners and draws, the lightest and the best on the market. I didn't even know that I had them on my Arcteryx R-320 harness. So light and easy to use.

The second rap to the bottom of the Cruise Gully.

Looking down the Cruise Gully.

The arrowhead was found by Lee after climbing on Saturday. Matt (on the left and he are friends from Golden that happened to be climbing this weekend).

I am really glad that you have visited my blog.

Thanks and I hope to see and hear from you soon.

Rob Pizem

And last but not least, don't forget to check out my favorite sites:

http://www.scarpa.net/ http://www.arcteryx.com/ http://camp-usa.com/ http://sterlingrope.com/ http://coloradomountainjournal.com/ http://www.wunderground.com/ http://climbing.com/ http://rockandice.com/ http://deadpointmag.com/ http://urbanclimbermag.com/ http://andrewburr.com/ http://ladzinski.com/