Climbing in Alabama Hills
Photo by: Iván Garcia - Alabama Hills, CA
Shark Fin Climbing Photo Dump
Some adventure buddies and I hit the hot, desert-mountain roads to the Sierras for the weekend. The fourth of July to be exact; so if you know anything about the desert in the middle of summer, it was sweltering.
Kellie and I were the only climbers in the crew, so we set off early one morning with spectators in tow ready to cheer us on as we bagged a couple routes before the rock turned hot. Shark Fin is this obvious, outstanding hunk of monzogranite. She stands proud before you, welcoming you onto her warm, smooth surface.
Kellie and I drew swords and fought til blood spilled who would be able to climb first. JK. Kellie offered to climb first with me on belay, for what I will be finding out only after she tops out, is her first ever lead climb. Dumb. Yeah… we know. But no questions, no unwanted answers, ya know.
RULES FOR CLIMBING:
Ask your partner if they’ve done this before
Belay
Climb
Rock On
We both successfully had two beautiful climbs before the rock turned lava and we had to call it quits for the day and sadly the trip. Shout out and big thanks to Kellie for being my belay, my support, my confidant and my cheerleader while on the slab. Climbing partners are different type of trust and you had me the whole time.
Also a huge thank you to Ant Albrecht for all the killer photos from this day. These are really my only outdoor climbing photos and I still look back on that day and smile thanks to you! Please click on his link and check out his photography work. And hire him if you’re in the AZ area and need some photos!
Sitting in the hostal bar trying to focus on cranking out posts while multilingual karaoke is happening around me in Lake Atitlán, Guatemala,
WT
