Mountaineering is a pretty recent hobby of mine, as Saint Louis, MO doesn't have a lot of things to climb. However, once I moved to California I suddenly had LOTS of things to climb, so I got started.

My first little bit of "mountaineering" was Mount Whitney, which, while the tallest mountain in the continental United States, is more of a hike then a mountaineering experience. That said, I count it, because I want to. I did this with my brother Josh, who was living in Las Vegas at the time.

My second bit was Mount Rainier, which is actually a dangerous and difficult climb. I did this with my brother and my dad, and while we are all reasonably comfortable with this type of activity, were probably unprepared. It ultimately didn't matter too much though, because my brother got altitude sickness only a little bit of the way into the rather difficult section near the top, so we had to turn around. Normally, I'd judge him, but altitude sickness is rather fickle and can hit pretty much anyone at any time. Sucks.

My third mountain was Mount Shasta, which is huge, tall volcano in northern California. I went with a rather experienced guy for this one, and am happy to report that I did, in fact, summit. My friend, however, didn't, as he got altitude sickness right near the top and he chose not to.

My goal in New Zealand is to climb Mount Cook, so hopefully I'll be able to add that here soon!