Sid Wiesner

I took a snowboarding trip up to Vancouver, BC, and when flying into Seattle, I saw Mt. Rainier in the distance. I told my buddies (half in jest) that one day I was going to climb it.

When I moved to Pittsburgh in 2003, I didn't know too many people and figured that I liked hiking and caving so I should find an outdoors organization. I went to an ECP meeting, and while there, the first group of people I met were instructors in the Mountaineering School. They seemed like a fun bunch and told me about the school that was starting up in a month. The prerequisites were basic rock climbing skills (which I had little of), so I went to the local climbing gym and learned my knots and how to belay before the Climbing Checkout down at Seneca Rocks (my first real climbing experience). It was unbelievable and I was hooked!

The school that winter was fantastic and very challenging. And the graduation trip up an ice gully in Huntington Ravine, NH was awesome! The following year, I participated in the Rock Climbing School (as an assistant instructor) and polished up my anchor set-up skills, and then participated in the Mountaineering School again, this time as an instructor.

At the end of the school, I persuaded 3 of the recent graduates of the school to go to climb Mt. Rainier with me by a non-standard route. We originally planned for the Kautz Glacier route, but changed at the last minute to Gibraltar Ledges due to conditions. When we stood on the summit, it was incredible to realize that in a year and a half, I had acquired the skills and fitness necessary to organize, prepare, and go on a self-guided trip up my dream mountain. Granted, we made several mistakes and ended up having to bivy in an area with lots of rockfall (aptly titled Camp Misery) until the slope refroze so we could safely descend, but we learned so much on that trip.

Since then, I've had the opportunities to climb in many places include the Cascades, the Canadian Rockies, the Cordillera Real in Bolivia, and the Cordillera Blanca in Peru. Each trip has been incredible and I look forward to future adventures with the group of friends I've made in the Mountaineering School.

Team Bivy

After Rainier, we jokingly called our team "Team Bivy" after our forced bivuoac. We figured plenty of people learn more from their mistakes than from the successes. Check out teambivy.com for lots of adventures, great pictures, stories, epics, and trip reports from me and my friends. Please join in if you like it!

Favorite Climbs

• El Misti, Peru - my first mountain (a very very cold volcano) and first taste of frostbite
• Mt. Rainier - the first mountain I really wanted to climb, and still the most satisfying climb I've ever done
• Thunder Bay ice climbing
• Castle Mountain, Canadian Rockies - awesome exposed alpine rock climbing
• Pequeno Alpamayo, Bolivia - a gorgeous climb that requires rock, ice, and snow climbing skills
• Yanapaccha, Peru - we didn't make it out of base camp, but the experience taught me a lot (and it didn't hurt that the view was incredible)

Some stats

• Mountaineering School Director - 2006-2007, 2007-2008
• Mountaineering School Instructor - 2004 to present
• Mountaineering School Graduate - 2003/2004
• Rock School Instructor - 2004 to present
• Wilderness First Responder Certification - 2007
• Wilderness First Aid Certification - 2006
• AIARE Level I Avalanche Training – 2006