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I started climbing in the east US: numerous Presidential range trips to Mt. Washington, NH; Mt. Marcy in upstate NY. during both the summer, and snowshoeing in the winter; Learned rock climbing in the Shawanagunks.

Lets see if I can remember a few of the places I've been in the Sierra Nevadas after 10 years...........{All from the eastern facade because of less access; I hated the west side, too many hikers from LA and SF} Soloed Mt. Humphreys, the last 100 ft is low grade-5; Mt. Darwin, North Face is great even in August; Mt. Terra, beautifully formed pyramid above Golden Trout Lake. For some reason I never got around to doing Mt. Whitney, too many other hikers and long lines to obtain permission, I guess.

I used to live in Montana before moving to CA so I've done a lot of the peaks around Missoula, and Bozeman MT plus trips to the Canadian Rockies (got dumped on when trying to climb Mt. Robson), soloed the Tetons (I was younger then, and stupider, LOL; the Rangers don't allow soloing anymore).

Five years ago was a dream vacation that I tacked onto an all-expenses-paid trip to New Delhi, India for a symposia; flew to Kathmandu after the meeting and took a Sikorski helicopter to Luklha in the Himalayas, solo treked to Mt. Everest and climbed Gokyo Ri (17,500 ft; personal best for altitude), 14 days up and back, memorable once in a lifetime trip.

The past 2 summers were spent in different areas of the Absarooka-Beartooth Wilderness in south-central Montana along the Wyoming border, very remote Elk, Mountain Goat and Griz habitat; the Lake Plateau is a gorgeous plateau dotted with pristene lakes with a rolling sustained altitude of around 9,500 ft and great peaks all around 12-13,000 ft, climbed The Twin Sisters, Lake Mountain, Chalice Peak. Incredible Cutthroat trout fishing in the all of the high altitude lakes on the plateau (very, very dumb...............and delicious fissssssssssshhhhhhhsssssssss, my precious).

I would not waist my time on Whitney again. I did it 10 years ago. We departed from the west side of the Sierras at Mineral King and trekked through the upper Kern River area which featured a welcome hot spring. We hiked up the back side (West) of Whitney spent the night on the summit and then came down east side. It was a nice trip but the mountain and the hordes of people were a disappointment.

I recently said go by to California and moved to the northwest. I have not had time to do any climbing but the skiing and golf is magnificent. I was recently in Oroville, WA during the salmon run and could not believe the size of the fish. They looked like baby dolphins. Next year I am going to mercilessly pursue them.

Take care and pray for snow.