Young's Outdoor Pics

View of the Teton Range

2010-08-11T10:11:00.001-06:00

Here is a view as we descend the Grand Teton. It is about 9:15 a.m., we started climbing up at 5:30 a.m. with headlamps for the first 1/2 hour.

Summit of The Grand Teton

2010-08-11T10:06:00.002-06:00

Me (left), Steve Houlihan (middle), Eric Basye (right) after just arriving at the summit: 13,770 feet. Just 10-11 days earlier a powerful afternoon thunderstorm required 6 to be airlifted off the moutain due to direct/indirect lightning strikes. 1 climber fell to his death after lightning struck his rope/harness and literally blew him off the moutain. 10 others had to be assisted down from less intense lightning splash injuries/symptoms.

High on the Grand

2010-08-11T10:03:00.001-06:00

Nearing the summit of the Grand Teton, here around 13,000 feet. We prepare to walk the Camel's Back - a thin ridge with exposure on both sides. Though it's brief it can be a little intimidating. Right Eric?

Crampons on approach to Silver Falls

2010-05-12T07:50:00.001-06:00

Time to take off the snowshoes, put on the crampons. The climb is just ahead - 25 meters of blue ice beauty!

Silver Falls - rappeling after load

2010-05-12T07:48:00.001-06:00

Thanks to Bill Oxendall for this great shot of this beautiful little frozen waterfall.

Silver Falls - ice screw placement position

2010-05-12T07:46:00.001-06:00

I prepare to place the first ice screw on my ascent.

Rapping Silver Falls

2010-05-12T07:44:00.002-06:00

After leading Silver Falls (up the Lake Fork Trail near Red Lodge), I rappel and clean the route.

Ready to hike out, Tye? NO!

2010-04-18T10:33:00.005-06:00

After Doug had splinted my left ankle we had a 4.5 hour hike out ahead of us. My ankle was just starting to throb and swell so I wasn't ready to start hiking but it was already 2 p.m. so we had to get going and make sure we could get ourselves out.

California Ice

2010-04-18T10:30:00.003-06:00

This pic was taken immediately after my lead (and fall) while climbing in East Rosebud Canyon this Spring.

As the previous title eludes to....I took a lead fall while ice climbing, Sunday, April 11 and got kinda banged up. Small goose egg to my head, cut to my lip, bruise here and there and a good solid lick to my left leg bruising my knee breaking my ankle.

I tested "Break a Leg Falls" and lost...

2010-04-18T10:28:00.004-06:00

A picture climbing partner Doug Marbarger took of me just before I set out to lead Pitch 2 of California Ice. This is a BEAUTIFUL WI4 climb in the Beartooth Mountains just 1.5 hrs west of Billings.

More Ice...

2010-03-19T11:36:00.001-06:00

2 climbing partners stand at the bottom of our ice climb: Five Springs in the Bighorn Mountains near Lovell, WY. About 2 hours from Billings.

Bighorn River

2010-03-19T11:29:00.002-06:00

A look up the Bighorn River as we float down early March 2010. Ambient temp around 45 degrees.

more from Montana's backcountry

2010-03-19T11:26:00.003-06:00

Another pic from Jeremiah, Travis and my hike into the backcountry in early March 2010.

Beehive Basin

2010-03-19T11:22:00.004-06:00

Melting snow to make drinking water, during a recent winter hike/overnight near Big Sky Resort, Montana. Even the "winter blend" of stove fuels WILL freeze up, so be prepared.

Leading Five Springs

2009-12-06T15:49:00.002-07:00

This picture demonstrates what I get a lot of questions about: what does is mean to "lead"? This is opposed to "top roping" where someone has climbed ahead (or hiked around) and put the rope up at the top of a climb and then rappelled down to allow safe climbing for all, because then you have a simple pulley system and as the climber ascends, the slack is taken out of the system. If you fall while "top roped" you are subject to little more than an an elastic recoil of the rope (if the belayer keeps the slack out of the rope as he/she should). In THIS picture, I am "leading". This means I'm the first person to ascend (today) and so placing protection (ice screws) as I go. If I fall I will sustain a fall that should be caught by the closest piece of protection just placed below. Look for the runner attached to the rope via a carabiner, about 4 feet below my left boot. The end of the runner going into the ice is attached to an ice screw which is securely screwed into the ice face. It sounds like it would just break out of the ice but it is pretty secure.

Five Springs Waterfall

2009-12-06T15:43:00.003-07:00

This 35 meter, WI3 beauty is just outside Lovell, WY as you head up into the Big Horn Mountains. Justin Love, James Mylnek and John Graeve joined me to make this day a supreme pleasure. It was 14 degrees F yesterday when we climbed.

Summit pic - Crazy Peak 11, 210 feet

2009-08-12T21:34:00.003-06:00

Tye, left; Eric, center; Kevin, right.

We're pumped at making the summit after doubting our approach a few times. The transition from the false summit (about 300 feet lower) to the true summit is slippery, loose and lead many to " call it a day " at the false summit. We only saw summit register entries for 4 other teams that had summited this summer!

Crazy Peak - Big Timber, MT

2009-08-12T21:27:00.002-06:00

Standing in the notch of the sloppy couloir we ascended to reach the summit ridge of Crazy Peak. Crazy Lake is below. Elevation here about 9,200 feet. We ascended another 2,000 feet to reach the summit, about 2 hours later. Perfect weather!

Box Canyon in Ouray (2009).

2009-01-31T11:49:00.002-07:00

Beautiful day for ice climbing in Southern Colorado.

Is that Grizzly Adams? No, it's grizzly Tye!

2009-01-31T11:46:00.002-07:00

Couldn't talk Kim into letting me keep this for more than 2 weeks. This was our first day climbing in Ouray on my trip down there this year.

Me and the Pangster

2009-01-31T11:43:00.002-07:00

Mike (pictured with me here) introduced me to ice climbing and it's great to be back in Ouray, CO.

Just smile and wave boys, just smile and wave

2009-01-31T11:40:00.001-07:00

Topping out in Ouray's Ice Park 2009.

Ouray Ice Park - view from the Upper Bridge

2009-01-31T11:32:00.002-07:00

I joined Mike Pang and his friend Christina in Ouray to ice climb. I started climbing here with Mike about 5 or 6 years ago. This was my 3rd trip. It is a great place to learn and grow as a climber.

Box Canyon, Ouray, CO (The Ouray Ice Park)

2009-01-31T11:29:00.002-07:00

Mike and I scout the best route for my lead (ascent) after our rappel in.

Ouray, CO

2009-01-31T11:26:00.002-07:00

More fun climbing on my "Pic O' The Vic" lead in January 2009.

Ouray Ice Park 2009

2009-01-31T11:21:00.003-07:00

Working my way higher on "Pic O' The Vic" as Mike belays me from below.

Ouray Ice Park 2009

2009-01-31T11:15:00.003-07:00

Placing an ice screw about half way up "Pic O' The Vic".

Rim2Rim 2008

2008-10-20T13:51:00.004-06:00

Matt takes this pic of me as we work our way down to the canyon base. Sun is coming up behind me, it's about 9:00 a.m.

Rim2Rim 2008

2008-10-20T13:47:00.003-06:00

Some of our fellow hikers just about to enter Supai tunnel below us. We are only into our hike about 30-45 mins at this point, havingn left the North Rim around 7:45 a.m.

Grand Canyon Rim2Rim 2008 hike

2008-10-20T13:42:00.004-06:00

Matt and I left Phantom Ranch with 100 ounces of water each: 70 in our camelback and 1 liter (about 32 oz) in a Nalgene. I get to the top and have almost 30 oz left - yeah, I should have drank more. A clue was that I didn't pee AT ALL on the hike out (just less than 4 hrs hiking, gaining about 5,000 feet over those 7 miles). But I felt really strong on the hike out.

Grand Canyon Rim2Rim 2008

2008-10-20T13:33:00.003-06:00

Pausing for a quick break before topping out on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. At this point we're about 8 hrs into our 20 + mile hike with only 1.5 miles to go. The Ipod provided nice fuel (and distraction) for the mellon in the last few hours.

Oct 18, 2008

Glacier National Park

2008-02-25T23:44:00.000-07:00

Hiking with Kim and the kids! This is our baseline activity in the summer. This takes us back 2 summers and a trip through East Glacier. Our guys are bigger now, but we're still hauling them around!

The Beartooth Highway.

2008-02-25T23:40:00.000-07:00

September 2006: I get a picture of my buddy Matt Montgomery as he rounds a curve on our descent of the Beartooth Highway in Southcentral Montana. This ascent/descent carries you from around 6,000 feet to over 10,000 feet and back again. Incredible scenery and perfect weather combined to make this a great ride.

Routefinding - Granite Peak

2008-02-25T23:38:00.000-07:00

August 2007: we pause to try and get back on track as we climb Granite Peak, Montana's high point at 12, 799 feet.

Mt.Rainier - descent

2008-02-25T23:35:00.000-07:00

This picture goes back to August of 2006. I'm in the background, Wes Keeley in front. We're heading down after a sunny summit around 7:30 a.m. w/ RMI guides. We started our climb a little before 1 a.m. that day.

2008-02-24T13:44:00.000-07:00

Pulling back into the parking area, with gear sled in tow.

2008-02-24T13:43:00.000-07:00

A quick pic BEHIND Silver Falls in early February after the lead. Getting here involved about a 1.5 hr ski/snowshoe approach.

Silver Falls

2008-02-23T17:24:00.000-07:00

This beauty is a 30 meter, WI4 south of Red Lodge, MT. Climbing partner, David, and I completed this the first weekend of Feb 2008. For reference to all the great ice around here check out Winter Dance by Joe Josephson.

High on Boulder - Cody

2008-02-23T17:22:00.001-07:00

Climbing partner, Deric Weiss, of Billings, MT took this shot of me cleaning up after Mike's bold 2nd pitch lead of High on Bolder. Mike led the steeper face and then belayed the rest of us slackers up.

High on Boulder

2008-02-23T17:21:00.000-07:00

NO, I was not high. This multi-pitch ice climb in Cody, WY is rated a WI4. I led the first short pitch (more of a WI3) and then anchored to belay up my second, Michael Pang, who then led this bold 4+ 50 meter 2nd pitch.

2008-02-11T20:58:00.000-07:00

Standing at our high camp the day before attempting our summit on Ixta. Popo is in the background. Popo is closed to climbing as it exploded in the mid 1990's.

2008-02-11T20:57:00.000-07:00

Packed and ready to go, heading out for old Mexico.

2008-01-28T17:02:00.000-07:00

Another picture looking back, as we descend the labyrinth. The white-out is settling out a bit. This was a blast ascending in the pre-dawn hours with headlamps, rope team and metal strapped to our boots.

2008-01-28T17:01:00.000-07:00

Descending the Glacier de Jampa. David in the lead, with the rest of the team in tow. Thanks for the safe trip, Alredo.

2008-01-28T17:00:00.000-07:00

The summit team on Orizaba! Yes, 18, 404 feet and we're pumped.

2008-01-28T16:59:00.000-07:00

Ah, David...you knew this one was destined for the blog.

2008-01-28T16:58:00.000-07:00

The Ixta summit team....well, we got pretty darn close.

2008-01-28T16:57:00.000-07:00

Can you say "nasty, rat infested, hut at 16,500 feet at 5 in morning"?

2008-01-28T16:56:00.000-07:00

The Billings' boys: Tye and David. We're not really doctors, but we did stay at a nasty hacienda last night!

2008-01-28T16:55:00.000-07:00

Tye with Ixta in the background, just after recovering from a wave of nausea on the trip up.

2008-01-28T16:54:00.000-07:00

David and David at the pyramids.

2008-01-28T16:53:00.001-07:00

Tye and Jeff sip the local brew.

2008-01-28T16:53:00.000-07:00

Our group in the courtyard of Maria Cristina Hotel.

2008-01-28T16:52:00.000-07:00

Our first breakfast together...Ummm, Ummm, good.

Welcome

2008-01-28T16:49:00.000-07:00

Hello, friends from the Jan 2008 Mexico Volcanoes trip, and others. Look on for some of our pics....