Well, little Sawyer is now officially 1 month old and we celebrated by taking her on a 4WD adventure in my Tahoe and hiked up to one of our favorite campsites we have dubbed “Top of the World” at 11,710′, her personal altitude record thus far in her short lifetime. Its only about a mile and 600′ vertical gain to the campsite from the parking spot, but man what a view of all of our favorite Gore peaks to the north, Tenmile Range peaks to the east, and Northern Sawatch peaks to the south.

Sawyer on the hike to “Top of the World”

Kristine & Sawyer – I didn’t even realize that Zodiac Ridge made it into the picture in the distance between the trees

A gorgeous day to be up high

Kona!

Raindog enjoying her first snow of the season

Family Pic at the “Top of the World” campsite

Left to right: Mt. Silverthorne, East Thorne, Zodiac Ridge, & Red Peak

Outer Mongolia Bowl and the northern Gores

Left to right: The Grand Traverse, Palomino Point, Mt. Valhalla, and Snow Peak

At about 2-1/2 weeks old, I took Sawyer up Arrowhead ski mountain with the dogs for her first time up this very familiar spot – one which she will undoubtedly go up and down on foot, skis, & swiss bobs hundreds and hundreds of times. She did so very well and seems to always love to be “on the move”. Its comforting for her. And, she didn’t fuss about being hungry until we got back to the car. Its about 2 miles and 1,700′ of vertical gain straight up the ski slope to the top of Arrowhead. This little first adventure for Sawyer allowed Kristine to finish her paper for her master’s class.

Top of Arrowhead (9,100′)

Then, the day before Sawyer turned 1 month old, Mike Santoro and I headed back down to Tiara Rado in Grand Junction for some more crack climbing.

Me leading 100′ Hands again…just so good

Me leading 100′ Hands

Mike on the lower corner system of 100′ Hands

Mikey jamming

Mike

The feet are good on 100′ Hands

After a cruxy roof move, I gave this route called Large Surprises a try…it was interesting

Me in the thick of this offwidth crack…ugh. I had to aid my way up the final 20′ using two #5 cams because I could not figure out how to make upwards progress. I think I will stay clear of offwidth cracks from now on

Mike on the initial roof move of Large Surprises

Mike laying back to the small ledge

Sawyer is definitely getting bigger, able to hold her head up, and growing on Rainier & Kona.

Me & Sawyer

Kona being a good babysitter

Until next time…

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