Mount Sill (14,153 Ft = 4,314 m) with Thomas, Didier and Cedric

(*) Hey ;-)

Last WE, I went on a perfect trip with Thomas (Duquesne), Didier (Janssens) and Cedric. Thomas and Didier are two good friends of Cedric, but I also know them pretty well because Thomas was working on a European project on wake vortices at UCL until last year and I did some gliding with Didier at Saint Hubert and met him again during our studies at UCL.

On Thursday afternoon I drove to Yosemite Valley where I picked up Thomas, Didier and Cedric. They had been hiking from Tenaya Lake to the Valley over Clouds Rest and Half Dome the day before. We dropped my car at Tenaya Lake and continued in Cedric's car. After a few hours we arrived in Bishop where we stayed for the night. On Friday morning we went to get a permit at the ranger station for either the North or the South Fork of Big Pine Creek. Finally, we got a permit for the South Fork... It was our "second" choice, but in the end it turned out to be perfect and probably less crowded than the North (we were completely on our own for three days). We then drove to the trailhead of Big Pine Creek.

Mount Sill is located in the Palisades to the North-East of Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Park. It is one of the 15 Californian fourteeners (14 of them are located in the Eastern Sierra Nevada; Mount Shasta is the only one outside of the Sierras). The first part approach hike on Friday was pretty easy (except for the heavy packs and the elevation gain)... The second part was "cross-country" which made things a little more complicated. But in the end we all made it to a very nice camping spot somewhere around 11,000 Ft. From our camp we could see Mount Sill and it's "Swiss Arete", the route that we would try to climb the next day.

On Saturday morning we woke up at 4am, had breakfast and finished packing our gear for the day. We started hiking a little past 5am. During the first 2,000 Ft of the "climb" it was essentially a lot of "rock hopping" among boulder fields and walking over moderately steep snow fields. At about 9.30am we reached the base of the Swiss Arete. At that point, we left some gear behind (crampons, ice axes and some small stuff) and roped up for the "real" climb: Thomas with Cedric on one rope and Didier and I on another. We "simul-climbed" the first part and started belaying once we really were on the Arete. It was a very nice climb on solid granite; the difficulty was somewhere between 5.6 and 5.8 (the global "Alpine rating" for the Arete would probably be "Difficile", but then the Arete is not very long). Around 2pm, we were all enjoying the view from the summit and after taking a short break we started going down... We had a looooong way to go back to our base camp. During our way down it started raining... but it didn't last and by the time we were back at the tents we were almost dry again. Didier and Thomas were the ones in best shape and they prepared dinner.

On Sunday morning we took our time to take down our camp and have breakfast. It was a long but beautiful hike out. Somewhere around 2pm we were driving back: first North past Bishop towards Mono Lake, then West over the Tioga Pass, past Tuolumne Meadows (where we made a short hike to the "Soda Springs") and back to the Bay Area. On the way back we stopped at Applebee's and all had a well deserved steak :-)

Really a perfect trip. Check out the pictures. Here's a link to Cedric's blog with his account of the ascent and some details about their complete trip.

Goeric

(*) This picture (as well as some others in the album) are by Cedric.

Kim Clijsters at Stanford

Hi guys,

On Thursday evening we went supporting Kim Clijsters, with other Belgian friends, at the Bank of the West Classic tournament here at Stanford. It was the first time Goeric and I saw a match in live! Kim played very well against the Japanese Sugyiama and won :-)

With two other Belgian students, we tried to see her after the match but didn't succeed. A group of people with Belgians among them (a Belgian delegation?) went through the guards into the players' room: we tried to sneak in after them... but we have been stopped :-( Actually these guys had been wrongly accused of tickets falsification and they asked to see Kim as repair for the mistake. They were thus with the tournament director. One of the guards said we had almost put ourselves in serious troubles, hum hum ;-)

Go & Marie

Half Moon Bay and Punta de Los Reyes

Hello,

On Friday June 17, our friends Mirjam and Bruno arrived to visit us. On Saturday, we decided to go biking near Half Moon Bay. After a short walk on the beach, we biked up McNee Ranch: quite a ride but the view on Half Moon Bay and the Pacific Ocean on one side and the San Francisco Bay on the other was worthwhile.

On Sunday we went to "Point Reyes", North of San Francisco. This park is alongside the San Andreas fault. There is an old lighthouse at the very end of the point. Check the pictures to get an idea of the environment :-) On the way back, we took the road to go to the summit of Mount Tamalpais. We also stopped at Sausalito and of course just before crossing the Golden Gate Bridge!

MC & Go

(Most of the pictures are by Bruno)

Independence Day

Today was independence Day!

By the end of the afternoon we went to San Francisco with Gaetanelle. We first walked around along Embarcadero and Fisherman's Wharf. Just after sunset we crossed the Golden Gate (by car) and watched the fireworks above San Francisco from the other side of the bay. Before going home we made a stop at the classical view point above the Golden Gate... We have been there many times already but the view on the bridge and the city in the back is really beautiful, especially by night :-)

Go

Backcountry trekking in Yosemite

Hello,

We went back to Yosemite with Bruno and Mirjam for a 5-day trekking!

Wednesday June 22 - We packed everything, did the last shopping and finally headed for Yosemite at the end of the afternoon. We had dinner in Groveland at the "Iron Door Saloon" and slept in a hotel near the park entrance.

Thursday June 23 - After taking a Wilderness permit and having a big breakfast at Curry Village, we hiked from the valley up to Upper Yosemite Falls and camped near Indian Creak.

Friday June 24 - We reached the Tioga Pass Road just opened -- we had to shorten the route because of my knee... and we asked people for a ride to Tenaya Lake. There we started walking again. The creek at the exit of Tenaya lake wasn't easy to cross: the water level is very high because of the huge amount of snow the Sierras got this year ;-) We hiked up to Sunrise Lake: there is still a lot of snow and one might easily get lost... Fortunately with the GPS, the map and a compass, we found our way. On the way up Mirjam, Bruno and Go saw a big brown bear!

Saturday June 25 - After a long and quite difficult snow section, we started the way down towards little Yosemite Valley and camped near the path leading to the Half Dome. At some point, it started to rain and even to hail... but it didn't last long!

Sunday June 26 - Climbing Half Dome went well (I cannot say the same for the way down :-$, it was really challenging, but in the end it was ok). From up there the view on the Valley is beautiful! We then continued the way down to the valley and camped at Little Yosemite. There, everyone is obliged to stay in the main camp as wild camping is not allowed.

Monday June 27 - Back to civilization... via the mist trail: Nevada Falls and Vernal Falls. Lots of tourists but a must anyway. We even saw a bear with two cubs in the Valley!

Except for the aggressive mosquito's, we had a wonderful time. Take a look at the pictures!

MC & Go

Most of the pictures are by Bruno... with some editing by Go ;-)
There are also lots of little movies: that will be for later.