Sunday, September 20, 2009

Takin' Em' Down!

Today, team 307 (at least the Salt Lake portion) killed it at the Cannabis Crag in American Fork. With a light drizzle last night bringing the air temp down, we rolled out of bed to a fatty breakfast of blueberry pancakes and BACON! I capitalized the word bacon because we now know conclusively that it IS the secret weapon in the fight against gravity. After feeling fueled up and ready to go we made our way down south and laid siege on the smooth overhanging wall that is the Cannabis.
Our first goes were certainly our strongest. I fell right at the top of Jug Abuse, taking the good whip and screaming on the way down. Drat. Lindsay found her high point on Teardrop only to realize her beta was slightly flawed and found the pump too much to bear. Feeling like today had to be the day, we each sidled back up to the wall and promptly crushed! It felt good to dial the routes in and then dispatch. With temperatures starting to cool off and stay in the 70's, it's turning into A.F. season. We haven't been back to Hell in a few weeks but we haven't forgotten about our respective projects there. I have to finish off High Water and Lindsay needs to get White Noise done.
We'll stay on the right side of the wall for a bit and try and move on to Body Count and Cop Killer, the harder routes in that sector. Being in a place where there's so many motivated climbers, climbing hard consistently, it's becoming easier and easier to try hard each time we're out. Hopefully the hard sends will continue!

Sunday, September 13, 2009

Yeah Yeah Yeah!

This weekend was a BLAST! We started off on Friday climbing at the Cannabis Wall in American Fork. Facing due north and just a few feet off the river, the crag features slightly overhanging, clean walls that maintain a cooler temperature on the hot days. We were climbing on two routes, Teardrop .13a and Jug Abuse .13c. Both routes feature dynamic moves, similar climbing styles, and are hard on the skin and on the ego. Lindsay put in numerous attempts on Teardrop and came painfully close each time, falling right at the very top. With some key beta from a buddy, she figured out a different sequence but lacked the energy and time to give it another go. I started giving serious beta sessions on Jug Abuse and found the route living up to its name. There's a legend around SLC saying that the route is notoriously sandbagged and I would concur! When it was first put up, it was given .13a/b. Now after numerous ascents, it is consensus .13c/d. Beautiful moves on micro crimpers and jugs lead to a series of very low-percentage moves guarding the anchors. A worthwhile route to come back to and project!

Aside from trying till we bled on Friday, we tended the garden a bit and have come to the conclusion that our squash plants yield about two squash per week that are as big or bigger than the one in the following picture. We are SO SICK of squash, we've sautéed it, fried it, grilled it, baked it, etc. etc. You can really only eat so much squash before you just want to start throwing them at people who drive by too fast on the street. If only our sweet corn would grow this fast and big...?

We also just got home tonight from one of the best concerts ever! We had the privilege of seeing the Yeah Yeah Yeah's at a great intimate venue downtown. We've been listening to the YYY's for a few years now and their studio work is terrific. After reading local reviews this concert had been hyped up for a while due to the last performance in 2006. Tonight was no disappointment, to say the least it was a barn-burner! They absolutely rocked the show, Karen O, the lead singer was so captivating and the crowd played right into it! If you have the ability to see them live anywhere, anytime, DO IT! They love to play a small venue and damn do they know how to work it, great time! Enjoy the pics.




Saturday, September 5, 2009

City Livin...





This post is LONG overdue and I apologize, I've been diverting my attention to Youtube and Facebook, I'm a slacker I know. Well as you all know it's September now, wow, where did 2009 go?! Salt Lake is still treating us very well, we've figured out the cool little hangs for food, like Lonestar Taqueria, Salt Lakes #1 destination for fish tacos and all victuals from south of the border. We still like Mazza, a swanky little middle-eastern restaurant with Armenian beer and wines from Iraq, Iran and all the dishes to accompany them. Upon moving here we knew that there were a lot of destination climbing areas like Maple, A.F., Logan, LCC. What nobody told us was that there a TON of smaller areas that are just as good like Blacksmith Fork, City Creek, Santaquin, Echo, Ferguson, Chadbourne, and a host of others. Needless to say we've been up to our ears in climbing trips to different crags all the time. It's like Utopia with 3.2 beer! So far we've really just been working and climbing in our free time. It's been pretty nice to have a steady work schedule and just kind of fall into that sort of routine. We don't really foresee any major trips coming up in the near future as we're trying to buffer out our bank account post "honeymoon". Luckily we've got southern Utah as a destination this winter. Only four hours away, St. George will be an admirable base to launch climbing attacks from, it'll be an easy weekend trip with a slew of different areas to choose from.