Winslow and Todd Passey's Alpine Adventures: 2007

Khunde glowing in the Himalayan sun!

View from Island Peak at sunset!

Nepal 2007

My Everest Base Camp and Island Peak Climb this year was a great success and super fun as always. Our biggest challenge was getting into the Khumbu. We were delayed four days due to weather. Highlights of the trip were abundant. We got to land in a small especially green plateau the first time we tried to fly out as Lukla was socked in. This beautiful town of Rumjatar was a military outpost where they have in the past defended the countryside from the Maoist. We visited Dulikhel, a gorgeous flower filled mountain resort on the outskirts of Kathmandu as we were waiting. Once we finally did get to Lukla we were on track with five days of trekkers, so things were crowded, but entertainment was copious. We saw the highest concert in the world up at Kala Patar by a band called Everest Rocks which was very exciting. Summit day on Island Peak was brillant and awe inspiring. The climbers had the pleasure of seeing the Mani Rimdu festival in Tengboche which is a Buddhist tradition with costumes and dance on our way back down. So I guess I am reminded that sometimes our obstacles are our blessing as despite our delay things turned out superbly.

Cho-Oyu

The fall season lead us to Asia where Todd guide on Cho-Oyu the worlds 6th higest mountain. Size is by no means the only measurement of a mountains allure. Cho-Oyu lies on the border of Nepal and Tibet and is sorrounded by incredibley beautiful mountains and landscape, not to be out done by the beauty of the mountain itself.

Rainier and the North Cascades

This year Alpine Ascents was awarded one of three permits granted by the National Park Service for guiding on the mountain. This made our summer very busy.

We guide three main routes on Mt. Rainier; The DC, The Emmons and the Kautz. All climbs on Rainier have a 2 to 1 client to guide ratio, which improves the chances of each individual to safely reatch the 14,410 ft summit of this Cascade giant.

The Mooses Tooth

This past spring we had the great opportunity to onsight guide the classic Ham and Eggs route on the Mooses Tooth. The Mooses Tooth is 18 pitches of Moderate snow and ice climbing, with short sections of challenging ice and rock going at AI 4 5.9.

We climbed with Vance, a solid climber who we had both climbed with before in Washington and Utah.

This is a great route for someone with some ice and rock back ground and a desire to challenge their technical ability in the big mountains of Alaska.

Denali, another great team and a great year

Our 2007 Denali was a success getting 100% on the summit. This is thanks to some luck and patience with the weather and a great team, Oh and undoubtly the many days of group yoga. Please check out the cybercast by clicking http://alpineascents.com/denali-cybercast.asp. Some of the pictures can be viewed in our photo albums.

Denali is a great trip, one we look forward to every year. The Alaska range is unbeatable in it's beauty and grandure, not to mention that climbing Denali is by now a type of reunion. Every year we see many friends, many whom we see only when we climb Denali. Come Join the Partyhttp://alpineascents.com.

Spring trip to Joshua Tree, California

This spring lead us to Joshua Tree for a rock climbing adventure. The weather ranged from the 90's to below freezing and dumping snow! That's the desert in the spring time I guess. The climbing was phenomenal though a little rough on the fingers after a while. I hope you enjoy the photos!