The Buttes

Hello!  The last few weeks have been full of fun.  I got to spend some time at my parent's house in the Bay Area, which was great!  While I was there, I participated in the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation's Cycle for Life, a 75 mile bike ride through San Francisco and Marin.  I did the ride in memory of Tim, and it felt really good to raise money for research and complete the ride.  My brother Mike also participated in the ride.

After spending some quality time with the family, Eric and I headed up to Tahoe for some sweet Donner climbing!  We got to climb a bunch of fun cracks in the last week, and clip some bolts up at Big Chief.

Me following a sweet crack at Donner on the Black Wall

In an attempt to avoid the crowds for 4th of July weekend, we headed to the Sierra Buttes.  I had never been there before and was psyched to check it out!  After some driving, a very, very steep hike (that included a coiled and rattling rattle snake in the middle of the trail) we made it!

The beautiful Buttes

The Buttes are incredible!  The setting is breathtaking- snow covered peaks, beautiful boulders, mountain streams and pools...  And to top it all off, we were the only ones there the entire time we were there!  We had an awesome time running around the mountains, climbing boulders, jumping in the ice cold streams and enjoying the solitude.  Now we are back at the Lake enjoying the company of friends, and in a few days we will head to Colorado for my cousin's wedding.

Titan is tired after backpacking his and Star's food up the mountain

Awesome campsite on top of a flat boulder

One of the places we went for a swim

Eric on a hard problem

Me on a cool traverse