Crystal Crag above the town of Mammoth Lakes.
Starting on July 24 Erin Carey, Christy Grimsley, and Vicki Schwantes traveled from Washington DC to join SMI guides April Mayhew and Kurt Wedberg on a 7-day alpine rock climbing seminar. The goal was to learn skills and techniques applicable to the backcountry alpine environment. Over the course of a week we spent a couple days reviewing gear placements, anchor set ups, and rock rescue skills then put them into practice on climbs of Cyrstal Crag, the North Ridge of Mt. Conness, and Charlotte Dome. We covered a lot of ground in seven days and it was a lot of fun for all. There are separate write ups for our climbs of Mt. Conness and Charlotte Dome. Here are a few pictures of our days reviewing skills. The entire photo gallery is here:
Alpine Rock Climbing Training July 24-27, 2012
SMI guide Kurt Wedberg discussing gear placements.
SMI guide April Mayhew discussing anchor set ups for multi pitch alpine climbing.
Vicki conducting a mock rescue of Christy during our rock rescue practice.
Vicki and Christy during our climb of Crystal Crag.