Well we did it! We just wrapped up another round of our Sierra Splitboard Program, sponsored by our good friends over at Weston Backcountry, Volcom, Electric, and Ridge Merino. While the tide is still relatively low in the backcountry, that didn’t deter from our guests having an epic weekend of split education and avalanche training. Big thanks to everyone who attended our Sierra Splitboard Program this year and as always, a big thanks is owed to GSG Guides Trevor Husted and Michael Cariello for facilitating another great course for our guests. Couldn’t do it without our GSG fam. And a large shoutout to our awesome friends and partners over at Weston, Volcom, Electric, and Ridge for supplying us with the goods and the support to make this happen. Photos courtesy of the talented Finn Kirkpatrick @finnkirks
Intro to Ice Climbing Course Schedule Posted!
Golden State Guiding is pleased to announce GSG Lead Sierra Alpine Guide, Josh Reinig, will be facilitating multiple Intro to Ice Climbing courses once again in June Lake! Josh was the second Guide we ever brought into the GSG Guide Family and he’s been a key contributor to our success up on the Eastside, in the beautiful Range of Light. Josh has been climbing for over 25 years all throughout California and has been a big contributor to our community at large. Whether he’s establishing new routes, being an active administrator on Mountain Project, or simply mentoring countless numbers of up and coming climbers, Josh is always there for his community and family. Josh and his wife, Melissa Reinig (GSG’s Lead Customer Service Rep), are also owners of the Mount Whitney Climbing Ranch, a soon to be destination for all climbers and outdoor enthusiasts. We can’t thank Josh enough for his continued dedication to our service and being a main part of the GSG Family, thanks for all you do Josh.
Bama Dayz Rock Climbing Event is Back!
Golden State Guiding is excited to announce our Bama Dayz event in the Alabama Hills is back this October 13th - 16th and it’s bigger and better than ever! Come join us in the Eastern Sierra for an unforgettable weekend full of climbing, camping, camaraderie, and fun. The event will include 3 days of climbing in the historic Alabama Hills and 3 nights of camping at the Mount Whitney Climbing Ranch! Click the button below to learn more and to register for this special event!
Sunshine and Stoked at the Inaugural Ladies Weekend Out Splitboard Event in Mammoth Lakes, CA
Words AND PHOTOS by Rachel Lightner (@rachellightner)
To view the entire Ladies Weekend Out Splitboard Event in Mammoth Lakes, click here
Golden State Guides ran their first Ladies Weekend Out splitboard event in Mammoth Lakes, CA on March 12th and 13th. Six participants, along with myself and GSG guides Tailer Grey and Jessica Olsen, took to the backcountry to dial in splitboard skills and hangout with a group of awesome ladies. I had the pleasure of tagging along for the event and capturing some of the moments over the two-day course, from the high vibes to the parking lot apres beers.
Day one began at the Visitor Center in Mammoth Lakes, where the ladies were introduced to their gear provided by GSG. This included all of their avalanche safety gear: beacon, shovel, probe, as well as touring gear, including bindings, skins and Weston Backcountry splitboards. Several of the ladies were really excited about the partnership with Weston Splitboards and were looking forward to giving them a try, including participant Carman Cheung. “I was already looking into demoing a Weston board and then my friend sent me the class and was like well you could demo a board, take a class, have a guide and learn to splitboard. And there’s beer!”, said Cheung. “So it was the whole package. I signed up as soon as I saw it.”
After some binding adjustments and demonstrating how to pack all of the new gear into packs, we did a round of introductions. We learned everyone’s favorite snack and the fact that every participant had come up from somewhere in southern California for the event, so the comradery was instant. The ladies were stoked to get onto snow, so we headed to the Mammoth Rock trailhead and began our day.
We started off with our first transition, learning how to turn our complete board into touring mode, which can be one of the hardest parts of learning how to splitboard. Tailer walked everyone through her methodical steps on how to take the board apart and keep your gear organized, ensuring that all the ladies felt confident with each step along the way.
After everyone transitioned to split mode, we went over the basic functions of our beacons and how to do a beacon check. Once we were all checked and beeping, we were ready to begin walking. Tailer gave some pointers on how to best walk with skins on and we hit the trail. Some slips and falls happened, always followed by laughter and words of encouragement. It was all of the ladies' first time split boarding, so it was a comfortable and supportive space to learn in. “Being in an all women's group is awesome.” said participant Lindsey Walkemeyer. “It takes away so much of the intimidation or trying to prove anything, it was super supportive and the women in this group were down to encourage each other and ask good questions and pick up the slack where we needed it and just work together. I don't know if that would've been exactly the same if it wasn’t an all women's group.”
We walked to an open knoll and Tailer talked through kick turns and downhill travel with skins on, which we put into practice by skiing down the hill, then climbing back up and working on kick turns. After taking a few cycles through these motions, we began our ascent to Mammoth Rock.
The sun was glistening through the pines, conversations were flowing, and the ladies were beginning to piece together the details of touring. When we arrived at the top of our run, Tailer walked through transitions again then the ladies put it into practice, this time nailing it down even faster than the first time around. Everyone was getting more familiar and comfortable with their gear. We posed for pictures in front of Mammoth Rock, gave high fives, and got stoked for our first downhill riding.
We took it in sections, weaving through some low angle trees and gullies, until we arrived back at our trailhead. We then practiced more transitions by cruising up to a small knoll and riding down twice. This was a valuable decision on Tailer’s part, because dialing in your transition can be one of the hardest parts to learn, so doing this multiple times on the first day is really helpful for your progression. We finished off the day in the parking lot with some ice cold beers provided by Pure Brewing and shared some highlights and thoughts on what we were looking forward to the next day.
The following morning, we met at the trailhead for the Sherwins and we had an unexpected visitor, Miss Gale force winds. We were nearly blowing over huddled behind our vehicles, as Tailer shouted over the sound of the wind to give the ladies a few options for the day. As a group, we decided to shelter inside and wait out the wind a little bit. There was still a lot of meaningful information that could be taught indoors, so we headed to Black Velvet Coffee and got cozied up with a hot beverage in their upstairs nook.
Tailer went over her online resources she uses when planning a trip to the backcountry, including maps, avalanche information, and weather reports. The ladies got familiar with Gaia and Caltopo on their phones, learning how to plan out their routes and how to look over the avalanche center’s online resources. Tailer then exploded her backpack and showed everyone what she typically brings on a tour, along with helpful tips for packing everyone efficiently. The skies had cleared a bit and the wind died down, so we decided to go out for a short tour to put all of our new skills into practice.
Although the wind was still blustering, the ladies were excited to get out for a walk. We found some protection in the trees and walked up the base of the Sherwins, practicing skinning, kicksteps, and even boot packing on the way up. Upon reaching the top of our tour, we transitioned and celebrated with smiles, cheers, and clanking our poles together.
We rode through some trees and gullies, hooting and hollering the whole way down, until we arrived back at our cars. We wrapped up the weekend by sharing some takeaways from the course, and Lindsey commented that, “it's really important to find women who enjoy doing similar things and to partner with them. It's also important to learn how to do things the right way from the beginning and finding the right people to teach you to do that is huge. Having a fantastic attitude and having a good time no matter what circumstances come up, because it's all about being outside in the first place and having a good adventure.”
All the ladies left stoked to continue their pursuits as split boarders, complete with confidence in their abilities and a new group of awesome lady friends. We look forward to seeing how all these ladies take their skills and adventure in the future, and we hope to see you at the next Ladies Weekend Out splitboard event!
Climb With Us Video
We couldn’t be more pleased to share this special video edit, Climb With Us, produced by the talented Brooked Raines! We’ll let the video speak for itself, enjoy!
Climb to Farm Rock Climbing Event
Climb to Farm is back on the calendar! Golden State Guiding has once again partnered up with our good friends at Patagonia, Enjoy the Farm, and 1% for the Planet for a fun weekend of rock climbing, camping, farm-to-table cuisine, up-cycling, sustainable farming, and of course, community! Click the button below to learn more about this special rock climbing event happening in San Diego this September!
Ladies Weekend Out 2.0 Bishop Recap
Well we just wrapped up the inaugural Ladies Weekend Out 2.0 event in Bishop, CA and what a success it was! Big thanks to all the Ladies who came out and shared in all the fun throughout the long weekend, it was a pleasure seeing new and familiar faces! Also, HUGE thanks to our incredible Guide team, Jessica, Sarah, Emma, Lauren, Lindsay, Krystina, and Kyle for facilitating another incredible event, we couldn’t do it without our talented Guide family! Also, big thanks to our talented photographers Kylie and Emma for capturing all the special moments. And lastly, big shout out to our close friends and partners at Tera Kaia, Saint Archer Brewery, Bivouac Cider and Fixe Hardware, your support is always greatly appreciated! To see a full gallery of our LWO 2.0 photos Click the button below… Enjoy!
Intro to Backcountry Splitboarding Course Recap
Another great weekend in the high country for our Intro to Splitboarding Course in the Eastern Sierra! Nothing more satisfying than watching our guests grow throughout the season after attending multiple programs. Nearly all of our guests for this outing attend our Split 101, Intro to Splitboarding, an AIARE Level 1 and then topped it off with an overnight backcountry trip where they got to experience some big terrain! Big thanks to all those who attended our IBC course and special thanks to GSG Ski Guide @janczyzewski for facilitating another awesome weekend and to GSG Ambassador @jamesonschultz.studio for capturing all the special moments. We’re already working on our 2022 winter programming so stay tuned for some exciting courses coming your way soon! Click the button below to view the full IBC photo gallery!
Yosemite Toad Research Project
Great day in the backcountry with our guest Connor as we helped facilitate a research project that incorporated the recording of the Yosemite Toad! Not a bad place to do some research while getting in a few turns. Thanks for coming out Connor and big thanks to GSG Split Guide @sierranevadasplitboarding for the day in the field.
Weston Sierra Splitboard Program
Besides the low tide conditions in the Sierra we couldn’t have asked for a better weekend to kick off our Sierra Splitboard Program with our partner Weston Backcountry! Following up to our Split Social a few weeks back, participants of the program gathered for our Split 101 where we focused on avalanche awareness and equipment, tour planning and the tools needed to execute a good plan for a day out, and of course, our partner Weston styled out all of our participants with a Splitboard! Big thanks to everyone who attended our inaugural Split 101, it was a real treat getting to spend the day with all of you. Also, big shout out to GSG Split Guide Will Sperry for executing the curriculum for our guests, excellent job out there. Big thanks to Miles Weaver for shooting photos on day 1 and to our friends and partner Ridge Merino for styling out our guests with dual lined buffs and guide tops, you guys rock! And thanks to Karakoram and Spark R&D Bindings for the rad demo fleet! Stay tuned for some epic photos from Miles coming soon. And for all of our participants, we’ll see you in 3 weeks for your final AIARE Avalanche course, looking forward to it!
@westonbackcountry @themountainsareglowing_imustgo @milesweaverphoto @ridge_merino @karakorambc @sparkrandd
#westonbackcountry #weston #gsg #gsguides #goforthandslaypow #karakoram #karakorambc #karakorambindings #sparkrandd #sierra #easternsierra #optoutside #splitboarding #split101 #neverstopexploring #ridgemerino
Crystal Crag Guiding // Mammoth Lakes, California
Another fun day out in the Eastern Sierra in Mammoth Lakes, CA! GSG Guide Joshua Reinig leading the way up Crystal Crag with guests Catherine Dang and Dan Kaiahua. Have a watch and enjoy the show!
Sierra Single Pitchn' Success!
Another incredible event is in the bag! Such a great weekend with these awesome individuals at our 3rd annual Sierra Single Pitchn’ event! Big thanks to everyone who came out for the weekend to climb with us in a beautiful place, we had a blast showing you around some of our favorite places to climb on the Eastside! Also, as always we couldn’t do it without our talented guide and ambassador team. Big thanks to GSG Guide @gregasaurus_flex for facilitating the weekend and to GSG Ambassador @jameson.schultz for capturing all the special moments! Looking forward to the next SSP in 2021! 📷 @Jameson.schultz. Click the button below to see the Sierra Single Pitchn’ photo gallery!
GSG Alpine Guide Training
Keeping the GSG fam sharp! Alpine skills training days on the Eastside with IFMGA guide Ryan Huetter. Mentoring is a big part of the equation when it comes to staying sharp and continued education outside of the regularly schedule AMGA programs which are currently on hold. GSG Guides Josh Reinig and Greg Davis spent 2 days in the alpine where they were able to work on their alpine techniques and systems while being observed by fellow IFMGA Guide Ryan Huetter. Big thanks to Ryan for helping facilitate this mentorship program and to GSG Guides Josh and Greg for the willingness to expand their knowledge and participate in the days out.
Sierra Single Pitchn' Registration is Open!
Golden State Guiding is excited to announce the third annual Sierra Single Pitchn’ event is back this July 25th - 26th in the Mammoth Lakes area!
Come join us for an unforgettable weekend of climbing and camaraderie in the beautiful Mammoth Lakes area, conveniently located in the heart of the Sierra and just a short drive from Yosemite National Park!
Throughout the weekend you’ll have the pleasure of climbing at beautiful alpine crags on an array of high quality Sierra granite and volcanic rock and the opportunity to meet new, likeminded people looking to have a good time! Click here to check out pictures from our Sierra Single Pitchn’ event last year! We hope to see you out there, it’s going to be another fun event! Click the button below to learn more and to register for SSP!
GSG Guide Sarah Barrile // COVID-19 Frontline Hero
We wanted to take a second to send an honorable shout out to GSG Guide @sarah___bee for working the frontlines as an ICU nurse during this global COVID-19 pandemic. Not only is Sarah an incredible guide, but her everyday 9-5 is beyond admirable. It’s truly incredible to see all the healthcare workers come together to serve our community in these trying times. Our hats go off to everyone doing what they can to keep people healthy and safe. Thank you for everything you do, Sarah! Also, fun fact... Sarah was our very first client ever for GSG over 3 years ago!
3rd Annual BBQ's x BELAY's x BEER's Recap
What a great and fun filled 3rd annual BBQ’s x BELAY’s x BEER’s event last weekend in Joshua Tree, NP! Incredible climbing went down, crack climbing clinics were facilitated, a tasty dinner was served up, new friendships were forged and an overall awesome time was had by everyone! Big thanks to everyone who came out and participated in our 3rd annual BBQ’s x BELAY’s x BEER’s event, it was a pleasure having you all out in one of our favorite places to climb, Joshua Tree!
As always, huge thanks to all the GSG Guides @senseisplitter @gregasaurus_flex @siwamoto @sarah___bee @blavacados @jessielyse @tytytheclimbingguy for facilitating another amazing event. Big shout out to @arcteryx athlete and GSG ambassador @cannonjtc for conducting a great crack clinic for all of our guests, that was a real treat. Also, big thanks to our partners for making this all possible! From @saintarcherbrew and @Blake y_85 for supplying the adult beverages, to @traegergrills and @jerky_george for cooking up a great dinner and supplying us with a Traeger grill to raffle off, to our other partners @sheltahats @prana @outdoorresearch @verticalhold @officialacsd @yeti and @aacsandiego for donating a bunch of rad gear for our rope coiling contest, you all make these events that much more special for everyone, thank you!!! And lastly big thanks to everyone else who came out and helped with the weekend and shot photos, from @cody.kaemmerlen to @goldencoastgrams to @kaiahua and Ernest, your help at our event didn’t go unnoticed, thanks for helping us continue to build this awesome community of climbers!
Click here or on the image below to check out all the photos that were captured at our 3rd Annual BBQ's x BELAY's x BEER's event!
Sierra Single Pitchn' Recap!
Well that's a wrap! Our second annual Sierra Single Pitchn' event in Mammoth Lakes, CA has officially come to an end. Two days of stellar climbing in the Eastern Sierra, perfect temps, and a great group of participants made for a memorable weekend! Our first day was spent out in beautiful Clark Canyon, a volcanic outcropping of rocks a few miles Northeast of Mammoth Lakes and loaded with hundreds of great sport climbing routes. After Clark Canyon the participants took to the 395 and back to Mammoth where they indulged in some tasty beverages at Mammoth Brewery, right in the heart of town, before heading back to camp for the night. Day 2 found everyone at the popular and always fun Horseshoe Slab behind Mammoth Mountain. Snow drifts still crowded the bottom of the climbs but that didn't stop this group from having a blast on their second day out! Big thanks to everyone who came out to our second annual Sierra Single Pitchn' event, it was a real pleasure getting to show you around some of our favorite areas to climb in the Mammoth Lakes area. And a special thanks goes out to GSG Guides Josh Reinig and Greg Davis for facilitating another awesome event, couldn't do it without our GSG Guide Family! Click the button below to view the Sierra Single Pitchn' photo gallery!
Shasta Rescue
This was the 6th rescue in one week on Mount Shasta and we were right in the thick of it. A very experienced mountaineer took a 300’ foot fall down Avalanche Gulch as we were descending the route after our successful summit. After doing a head to toe examination, taking vitals, cleaning up a few surface level wounds, and checking the victims LOR (level of responsiveness) he was airlifted to a nearby hospital where he is expected to make a full recovery. If you’re following us on Instagram or any other social media outlets we have there’s a good chance you enjoy recreating in the mountains or in the backcountry in general. We can’t stress enough that being trained in Wilderness Medicine is an invaluable tool to have in your toolbox and certainly helped in this scenario. Both GSG Guide @rhartegan and GSG Ambassador @jameson.schultz had formal training and certification as a Wilderness First Responder and Wilderness First Aid, their training certainly helped facilitate a successful rescue on the mountain. Whether you sign up for our extended WFR or WFA programs this coming November with our partner @themedalliance or another organization we strongly suggest doing so. You never know when the training you have will come into play and be needed in the field. Big thanks to the real hero’s, the Shasta Sheriff’s department for executing yet another successful rescue and even more so to Sheriff Mike Berry who you see in the photos. All photos curtesy of GSG Ambassador Jameson Schultz @jameson.schultz .
GSG Welcomes New Guide - Ben Rademacher
The GSG Guide Family continues to grow! We’re excited to announce the latest addition to our team, Ben Rademacher (@ben__rad). We’ve had the pleasure of watching Ben grow and hone his skills as a professional guide for the last 2 years as he’s gone through extensive training with the @alpineinstitute and the @amga1979. Ben has specifically dedicated himself to alpine programs in the Cascades and will be a key component to our service in the future in the PNW. Ben’s love for the mountains and all around good attitude embraces our core values at Golden State Guiding, we couldn’t be happier to add Ben to the GSG Guide Family. Check out his bio by clicking here. Welcome aboard Ben!
GSG Guide Kelvin Nguyen Successful Summits // Ama Dablam x Island Peak
We couldn’t be more stoked for this guy right here! GSG Guide @kelvin_artdoors successfully lead a team up the stunning peaks of Ama Dablam (6,812 m/ 22,349’) and Island Peak (6,189 m/ 20,305’) located in the Himalaya/ Eastern Nepal this October. Both mountains reside outside of the town Pangboche, the gateway to Everest. Kelvin’s success was a culmination of years of dedication and hard work put into various mountain ranges all over the world. We can’t think of a more humble and deserving guy to congratulate. Waita get after your dreams and send it Kelvin!