Leif & Lindsay

Feeling the Fall

2011-09-12T07:42:00.000-06:00

The Hoop

Where to begin, where to begin. SO much has happened since the last post about Bishop! Aside from the nasty wet spring we had, we got a lot of climbing in, but the majority of our summer has been taken up with our new home. We bought a house just south of Liberty Park here in SLC and we're loving it aside from all those hundreds of chores and projects that come along with owning a home. When we're not climbing, eating, and working, we're repairing gutters, fixing fences, patching paint jobs and deciding which rope rug looks best where. It's been awesome but within the last week, the temperatures have dropped below the 90 degree mark and have swung into the low 80's.... we're feeling the first days of what we're sure will be an amazing fall. Aside from a few trips to Hoop Lake we've been suffering through the heat in American Fork. Lindsay is dangerously close to ticking off her first .13d called Body Count while I've been biding my time for some potential new routes by finishing off some of the classic, easier 13's like Burning. With the temps now cooperating, sending in the near future is imminent and we're excited to spend the fall checking out some new walls and climbing on amazing variety of rock the Wahsatch Front has to offer.

Bishop Video

2011-03-27T17:11:00.000-06:00

So I finally managed to "edit" all the video we shot from our recent trip to Bishop. It definitely isn't the most amazing footage but we all had a lot of fun climbing and playing with the camera. You can watch it HERE.

East Side

2011-03-08T14:28:00.002-07:00

Just a few photos of the trip thus far, more to come in the next installment of the Bishop recap.

Gearing Up

2011-03-01T19:46:00.000-07:00

Well as you can see I haven't updated the old bloggity blog in a while, what can I say, we've got better things to do than sit in front of the computer screen (I say this while SITTING in front of the laptop just as you're SITTING in front of yours reading this), okay scratch that, I've just been lazy and haven't felt like I've had much to say. Since the last post Lindsay and I have been on a serious training regiment involving too much time at the gym and not enough time with our feet up with drinks in our hands. We leave for Bishop California in approximately 35.75 hours... not that we're counting down the hours... ah, make that 35.73. Tonight I came home to find a plain, square, brown box on the front porch, certainly not the most exciting of events but I knew there were fun climbing goodies inside!

Optimus Primes & Talon G2's

The crew at Evolv hooked me up with some new kicks for our little jaunt out to the land of granite, hot springs, and dirtbags! The Optimus Primes and Talon G2's are some of the best shoes I've ever worn hands down. The OP's are brilliant on overhanging edging and provide a stiffer platform in a "steep" shoe, a unique characteristic of most downturned shoes. The Talon's are my "okay, it's go time and I don't even want to think about my feet on this burn, I just need them to work!" shoe. Right out of the box they fit like a glove and with the snug lacing system I know I'll always dial in that perfect fit each time I slip them on.

SO, with a new arsenal of high performance shoes, a sweet new 12-G pad from my boys at Revolution, and knowing that I get to hang out with my amazing wife for two weeks at a super rad bouldering area with some of our best friends... yeah, you could say I'm excited. We're going to try and have the camera rolling each and every minute anyone is climbing because if I've learned anything since trying to better my skills as an amateur photographer it's this: when you put the camera down, THAT'S when someone sends. We'll try and blog during the trip, more than likely though it'll be a big recap at the end... I said I was lazy. Until then, check out Evolv and Revolution in your free time and take a look at two companies who are paving the way for the future of climbing gear. See you in Bishop!

How We Spend Our Winter Days

2011-01-15T21:34:00.000-07:00

Well it's almost the end of January and neither Lindsay or I have climbed outside once in 2011. A few years ago I would have absolutely lost my mind at the mere thought of this scenario; however, at this point in our lives there are responsibilities and activities that fill the gaps between the good weather and feral psych. Both of us have been working a lot, like... a lot a lot. I can't stress enough how much we've been working. Lindsay has been short staffed and consequently has had to pick up a lot of slack until they can resolve some staffing issues. All of us at Revolution and Pusher have been busily trying to finish a massive order we're shipping to Japan, hundreds and hundreds of climbing holds and hundreds of crash pads.

We've taken some nice long weekends to visit our families in Cody WY and Colgate WI. Luckily we've also had the Front Climbing Club and a nice new little woodie like wall called the Crimp Shrine. The goal is to accrue maximum power for our upcoming March trip to Bishop California. A tedious process (building a sturdy power base) but one that in the past has proven worthwhile. We're mostly psyched to spend the majority of our Bishop trip with a solid crew comprised of friends from Wyoming, California, and the open road! Lindsay hooked us up with a super sweet Canon T2i which thus far has taken amazing photos and is promised to shoot killer HD video (as long as I don't screw up holding the camera). Hopefully we'll have some good footage to share. Until then, here's the footage from 2011..

Sun, Fun, & Wild Donkeys

2010-11-13T09:51:00.000-07:00

If there are climbing gods then they certainly have smiled upon Lindsay and I for our fall trip to Las Vegas and Red Rocks. The weather for the past week has been absolutely gorgeous, sunny every day with good crisp temps, perfect for the little sandstone crimpers of the Calico Hills! Thus far we've been able to enjoy a few meals out at "fancy" restaurants, playing dress up in the big city, and of course loads of climbing. We've spent a good chunk of time in the Front Corridor and yesterday I was able to finish off the mega-classic Monster Skank 13b. Let it be said that this route is definitely in the top three for best routes I've EVER done, I don't know if I've ever had so much fun climbing up a wall of rock! I fell punching for the chains on my second go but that's not all bad since I got to go up it one more time in what Lindsay tells me was flawless style... such an amazing feeling!

Speaking of Lindsay, she's making HUGE progress on Monster Skank as well. If you've ever seen the route or climbed on it you know that's a big deal for a 5'4" climber. Needless to say she's super psyched to see if she can't do it this trip, it'd definitely be a big milestone for her climbing. We're headed to the Secret 13 today to try our hand at onsight/flashing a new classic called Ambushed 13a. This is day four on out of five but we're too psyched to sit around and wait to feel "fresh". Who needs fresh when you have psych! Until the recap, enjoy the photos... oh yeah, I finally got a picture of a wild donkey, how exciting!

San Miguel

2010-10-23T13:38:00.003-06:00

It's been so crazy with work and seeing family lately I haven't had time to really play with the blog settings and post up the video here. The link below is my first go at editing video footage together. Shot by Lindsay's mom last weekend in American Fork, a little piece I whipped up one night. Hope you enjoy:

San Miguel 5.13c

What's this business...

2010-10-16T08:54:00.000-06:00

What's all this business about keeping a blog up to date? We've scarcely got the time these days to stay in touch with folks... lame. As most of you know I've taken on a job with Revolution and Pusher as a full time office manager and sales director. As fun as it is to talk with people about climbing gear all day long, it doesn't leave a lot of time for other things.... like climbing! Lindsay's folks are staying with us for about a week and we're climbing and camping today. I think we're going to try and shoot some video of Lindsay and I climbing in Hell and if we turn up anything good, I'll post it up on here for everyone to peep. In the meantime, check the new ink, half done with this piece, already working on the full half-sleeve design!

This cool little photo was taken by our good friend Johnny Adolphson, if you're in Heber and you hear the sound of someone crushing rock... it's him!

Summer is HERE!

2010-06-22T20:52:00.002-06:00

So obviously I haven't kept this little blog piece up as well as I could and I'm sorry.... but we've been out CLIMBING! The last few months have been sort of a battle with the weather (of course) but we have truly persevered and thusly, are climbing at a level we're both very happy with. With regular trips down to The Front to keep the power level up, and stints between American Fork and the west Utah desert, we're really diversifying our "daily workout" to accommodate power climbing, resistance climbing, and power endurance workouts. Mixing up our climbing styles has been an interesting change for both of us. When we go out, climb, and are hiking out at the end of the day, we've noticed ourselves sort of saying, "gosh, I didn't really feel terribly strong today, I just felt okay." I know right, not that exciting. It wasn't until our last trip up to A.F. that we realized that all this variation is paying off. We've come to realize that we aren't having bad days anymore, we're always progressing in some fashion. Whether it's a level of extra power on a particular move or the ability to hang on for two more bolts, it's gains in strength and endurance, everything a climber wants almost every single time we leave the ground. So as a test, we popped into Hell for a day, those of you in the climbing circle know that Hell is one of those old school areas with a high concentration of hard routes, few rests, and stiff grades. Even though it's not the season for it, we hung draws on a national test piece known as Blow of Death or simply Dead Souls.

A gold standard for "hard as shit", this route is short, sweet, and to the point. Weighing in at a hefty 5.13d, it is quite tough for that grade, in a lesser area it would most likely retain a 5.14 rating. Though short, the climb packs a serious punch in little less than 30 feet. Each move relentlessly hard, requiring long pulls off of very small holds (one of which is a mono, a pocket that only accepts one finger) the climb is truly merciless. Enter team Gasch. Upon hanging the draws, we set off to just feel out the holds, the moves, really just see if we could link any two holds together in an efficient fashion. It was hot, it was sunny, and not a good day for projecting the route but we gave it our best and feel like we really made serious progress. Lindsay figured out 80% of the climb including the first crux which for her, is a huge deadpoint to the mono. I was able to link all the way up to the highest crux which we were eager to dive into, but the blinding sun did not allow. Holy Crap Batman, where'd this 'try hard' come from?! Needless to say we're super excited... Lindsay called me from work today to explain how psyched she was on climbing and how strong she's feeling, this is a good thing!

We've also been spending a fair amount of time at a new cave in the west Utah desert on the edge of the salt flats. Now I know your thinking "did he just try and tell me there's climbing in the salt flats?" The answer is yes. At present there are some concerns with the volume of people at the crag, trash, and of course some climbing politics. As much as I'd love to bring every one of my friends to this place and have the sickest climbing day ever, now isn't the time. I'll leave it by saying it's not a bad little crag to have in the "backyard" and hopefully we can all take care of it and ensure all who want to check it out can. Until then, don't ask, I can't tell. Enjoy the pictures and then get off your ass and go CLIMB!

Ahhhh Spring!

2010-03-14T19:29:00.001-06:00

While the grill's warming and Lindsay's sinking into a deep glass of Pinot, thought I'd write to catch all four of you (that's how many people we think check this little bloggity blog) up on what's been going down on our recent trips to St. George. The last trip was a six day tour, we hauled "Gwendolyn The Ivory Palace" (that's the name of the Scamp) down with us and set up shop in Moe's Valley. For the most part the trip was a success, not a ton of sending going on but we each made some significant progress on new projects and saw some new climbing which is always exciting. We split our time between the VRG and the Hurricave. To be fair neither would be ranked in Americas top ten climbing destinations but we enjoyed the hell out of each area. We've been forcing ourselves to climb in the VRG despite the less than desirable interstate not 200 yards below. The setting is truly horrid but I challenge anyone to show me more bullet stone anywhere in the world. Once you focus your mind on the moves at hand, forget the traffic, and really dig into the moment, it's some of the best climbing you'll ever do.

Unfortunately, the El Nino pattern leaves the mountains dry and desert wet. I know the last two words are as much of an oxymoron as anything and I wish it weren't true; alas and alack, much of the St. George area is under the seemingly constant barrage of spring precipitation. As a direct result, the porous nature of the sandstone and even the limestone holds the moisture in for days after the storms have passed. The VRG is no exception to this rule. I like to think that we would have single handedly destroyed that crag, sending every route that got in our path... luckily I can "think" this because we were both spat off our routes in places we shouldn't have been due to wet holds. I fell within a couple of feet of the anchors on my route and Lindsay slipped (almost violently) out of the jug rest on her route. Shit.

Luckily, the Hurricave isn't far away and it stays dry when all else is wet. Crazy steep and chock full of hard routes, the couple of days spent there left us feeling worked and a little beat down... both good things. I was able to squeak out a last ditch, hail mary ascent of a really fun .13a called Cliff Dweller. Lindsay came heart breakingly close also, the fatigue of previous days and an abundance of bees thwarted her final attempt. Damn. Though the rock in the Hurricave is total choss garbage, the style of climbing it offers can't really be found many other places in the states. Very steep, big feature climbing seems to be the name of the game there, with some tufa's and small edges thrown in for good measure. While not a destination crag, it certainly serves it purpose and we were damn glad to have it as an option.

So we left draws on projects and with a sunnier forecast we head back down on Thursday to conquer the freeway, the bees, the rain and our routes. Until the next update enjoy the pics!

Spring Training

2010-03-03T09:38:00.000-07:00

So it's been warm here in the SLC, like really warm, like oddly warm for February/March. With the mercury rising above the 50 degree mark in the valley and the sun shining down it's been primo conditions at the lowest walls in American Fork Canyon. For the last few weeks we've been donning gaiters and snow pants, packing up the black cat propane heater (so key in the cold temps!), and making the slog through the thigh deep snow to the base of the Red Corners. Much like Sinks Canyon back in Lander, the Red Corners bakes in the sun. The low trajectory of the "burning ball of doom" cooks the little open book feature and the heat is trapped, creating truly perfect conditions for hard climbing. With the air temp not ever getting much above 40 (the Red Corners is 1500 feet higher than the rest of the valley) the rock stays crisp but comfy in the suns rays.

Like any early season endeavor though, we've had to endure some miserable days waiting, hoping the sun would burn through the alpine haze. The shitty days paid off though once it started warming up. The routes we've been trying (one in particular) have some of the smallest and sharpest holds I've ever pulled on. The RC walls tend to overhang just past vertical and are bereft of most features. What few edges exist tend to be small, rather sharp, and quite spaced in relation to one another; which makes for powerful, dynamic movement on holds that you really wish were three or four times bigger. Climbing in the freezing cold and blowing snow forced us to learn the moves with stiff muscles and numb fingers. Once we could feel our "little smokies" and move unencumbered (we've been climbing in down jackets) the moves felt easier, more fluid, confident.

Even though these routes aren't the hardest things we've ever done, or the most significant in any sort of fashion, it still feels good to be climbing at the level we are, this early in the year. Historically we'd start training for route season now by bouldering and trying to rebuild our endurance base. Having the two gyms here, coupled with a climbing community that is perpetually psyched and always ready to help you "push it" to the next level has sped up the timetable by a few months and we're climbing at a level we normally might not reach until April/May. With our semi-flexible schedule and loads of spring destination climbing areas within a few hours drive, it's shaping up to be a very strong year! On top of that, we have so many friends traveling through the area all spring long to every crag on our radar. If only there were enough time to go and crank with everyone, everywhere....(cue the dream bubble...)

With a week long trip starting tomorrow, and brilliant looking weather after that, we're ready to start pulling hard. Though we won't be able to climb with each and every one of our friends in the coming weeks, we'll definitely make the most of the time we do get to spend by climbing, bantering, grimacing, and laughing with those around us. Until then here's a few shots of some of the crew sending "X" 5.13a, one of the first routes in American Fork and a real gem. Adios~

2010-01-17T09:33:00.000-07:00

It's a dreary day here in the SLC, truly a dreary day. We've been sucking in the soupy haze for a month now from the ever-steady inversion that just won't seem to leave. With the SCS Nationals coming up next weekend and hoards of climbers rolling into town for the comp and winter Outdoor Retailer market, it's been hard not to get psyched on climbing. I've taken the last month off, resting a tweaked finger and trying to get 100% healthy for a killer 2010 climbing year. My finger injury is a bit of a mystery, it's not a pulley, it's not the tendon, it's not the joint capsule, it's not my baby soft skin. Frankly we have no idea what it is. One Move Too Many couldn't describe it accurately and no online literature helps either. It may be a cyst or it may be old age (big 3-0 coming up, yikes!) but it's not getting better and it's not getting worse so to hell with it, I'm climbing!

About a month ago I saw a picture online of an amazing looking new cave in southern Utah. I didn't copy the image from the website, I figured I could go back and daydream while looking at it. It has since been deleted and there are rumors floating around about this stellar new area that is going to be the next big thing. "...the wheels on the bus go round and round..." It's staying in the high forties and fifties in St. George these days, damn good temps for route climbing if you ask me. We each received brand spankin new harnesses for Christmas and I'm super psyched to take it for a test flight. It's tricky staying motivated when the weather is crappy and the gyms are crowded. We're pretty lucky to have two of the finest facilities in the nation to train at, bouldering at the Front, and getting pumped at Momentum. With all this talk of new limestone and the days getting longer/ temps getting warmer, it's starting to seem worth it to battle the gumbies and get into the gym regularly.

Now, if we can just get motivated to deal with the "urban haze"...

2009-12-19T08:26:00.003-07:00

Here's a few more photos of our last couple of days in Red Rocks. The shitty weather cleared out and we had two stunner days of climbing. Lindsay sent her proj. Beyond Reason .13b with style and ease (note her "casual" face below) and we climbed until our fingers bled. Enjoy...

Vegas Baby Yeah!

2009-12-12T12:51:00.003-07:00

With winter setting in and the snow piling up on our back deck, we’ve been getting a little antsy to go climbing outside. For almost the last month we’ve been hitting the gym hard, training at the Front to work the raw power, and making regular trips down to Momentum to tie in and get pumped on the lead walls. Between the two facilities it’s quite possible to stay in pretty decent shape. However, it’s still not climbing outside! We’ve been checking the forecast for every climbing destination south of us, all the way down to Hueco. The massive storm that has come through though has deposited cold temps and some precip in every single climbing area across the southwest. Negative.

After short deliberation we came to the conclusion to head south to Las Vegas and the sunny confines of Red Rocks. Lin made a couple of phone calls and was reassured that if the forecast is 45 and rainy in Vegas, it was sunny and warm at a few walls in the park. That was all it took. We called ahead to Bonnie Springs (bring yer six shooters!) and loaded the car up with, well, basically every single thing we own... including the cats. Chevy Chase and the National Lampoon crew has nothing on THIS family vacation.

We had dry roads all the way so we made great time. Naturally, when we hit the VRG I was driving and rubber necking trying to check out the Blasphemy Wall. I felt like a dip shit since it was seven o’clock and blacker than the inside of a cow and obviously couldn’t see a damn thing, but Deadbolts “You Don’t Scare Me” was cranked on the iPod and the psych was high. After a quick stop in Vegas for some staples, we cruised through the Nevadan desert with wild donkey signs and soldier-like Joshua trees splattering the shoulders of the wandering high way. Our digs here in Bonnie Springs are pretty swank by climbers standards. We’re rocking two tele’s, a little kitchenette and a California King bed, not bad. It DID however suck when we got all the food inside and started to cook dinner when we realized that this is the one establishment that comes complete with a kitchenette but no dishes or utensils... shit!

I took one for the team and drove the 30 minutes back to town and purchased a sweet new set of Martha Stewart dishes from Albertsons... at least we have a preferred card.

Thursdsay morning we woke up to clear blue skies and lots of sun! We scarfed down some powdered doughnuts and a bowl of Cheerios and headed for the park. We opted to climb at the sun baked Stratocaster wall, a bit of a hike but not too bad. The dogs did great considering over half of the 30 minute approach is on sandstone slabs. They clawed and pawed and peddled their way up behind us, only requiring a boost once. We pulled up onto the large terrace that makes up the base of the wall and a curious head popped up over a bush in front of us. “Holy shit” I said, “that’s a fricken whippet!” As we walked around the corner to our surprise our friends from SLC Trent and Dawn were climbing there with their 11 month old whippet Epic. The boys were psyched!

The dogs got down to some serious rough housing and we set to sampling the fantastic red and black patina sandstone routes. The warm ups were terrific; one, a pumpy short route with big open handed sloping jugs, and the other, a longer technical crimp fest on a vertical wall of blackened edges. Neither of us has had much experience climbing on this type of sandstone and it definitely took some getting used to. Some holds are terrible hollow sounding (one rib of rock the size of a coffee table I could see daylight behind) but surprisingly strong. As I was gingerly pulling on the seemingly fragile holds, I voiced my concern for the friable holds and Trent reassured me that if his 200 pound frame could tug on them, so could my 185 pound carcass. I was comforted for about ten seconds and then I realized he probably just primed them all and the whole wall was ready to fall over on me... I began thinking very light thoughts, feathers... helium... feathers... helium...

After we felt good and warmed up, we got our game faces on and set off to try the walls test-piece, a .13b called Beyond Reason. WOW! What a perfect climb! This one goes on the list of greats and I’d recommend it to anyone climbing near the grade. Lindsay hung the draws and did a great job of deciphering the upper headwall, a cryptic series of moves through tiny crimps and edges. The bottom half of the route is a full on slug fest. Compression climbing between sidepulls, edges, and sloping crimps. The movement was the first thing I noticed, brilliant throws, lunges, and powerful lock offs between finger buckets and bad edges (one in particular we’ve dubbed “the turd”). We worked the route into the fading sunlight (and warmth). I was able to snatch the redpoint on my third attempt by the skin of my teeth. Having not climbed outside in a while, our endurance is a bit lacking. The gym sessions have definitely helped but they’re still no substitute for the real thing.

Lindsay came dangerously close on her third go as well but fatigue had set in and the cold temps were taking hold. She figured out a couple of better sequences on her next go and we’ve vowed to return again so she can finish the rig, truly a route worth coming back for. The forecast isn’t looking great (as I’m writing this the canyons and big mountains are engulfed in clouds) but we’re optimistic and will try and get in as many days as possible before we leave on Wednesday. It’s a real treat just to be down here and climbing in such a beautiful place.

Spaceshot

2009-10-17T07:35:00.003-06:00

So Tuesday night the phone rings and it's our good friend Ty Mack. He was looking for a partner to go to Zion with and try the mega classic route Spaceshot 5.13. Having climbed with Ty in the past I knew I'd enjoy his company even if the climb turned into an epic so I jumped at the opportunity. I packed up as much gear as deemed prudent, threw a bunch of camping gear in the back of the 4-runner, and after a short stint at work Wednesday morning, pointed her south and made haste for Zion National Park! Arriving at what might be THE sandiest campground ever, I pulled in to see Ty talking on the phone with beer in hand. After some big hugs and smiles, we cracked another beer, made some dinner, and got down to the business of catching up and sorting gear for Thursday's climb. Having climbed in Zion on previous trips (and having worked out the crux pitches of Spaceshot earlier via mini-traxion) I knew Ty was going to be a solid partner. We organized gear, went over the topo, filled water, stashed food away in our day packs, and called it a night in preparation for the big day ahead.

Sleep did not come easy that night.

I tossed and turned, the anticipation of what was to come gnawing at my semi-conscious mind. Was the exposure going to scare me to death? How well would we handle the belay transitions? Was it going to be too hot? Has anyone ever screamed like a girl when they fell 800 feet off the ground? I awoke early the next morning with a stiff back and wide eyes, Ty had already made the most "diesel" coffee I've ever tasted. It was just the ticket to get me fired up. Six packets of oatmeal later we were in the car headed for the park. We caught the second shuttle at 7:00 a.m. and as mornings first light played on the tops of the pinnacles, we wandered along the river bottom, Ty pointing out classic routes and future projects on the walls above.

The bus driver was kind enough to drop us off at the trail and after a two minute hike we stood at the base of by far the most impressive wall I've ever been under. We shoed up, gave each other a solid high five and a "woot woot!" and cast off up the route. The first three pitches were all easy, 5.6 range with lots of scrambling and negotiating sand bars. We arrived at the base of pitch four, the crux pitch of the route and unfortunately our last ledge stance for a while. Ty took some deep breaths, tightened the laces, and started up one of the most stunner pitches I've ever climbed on. Though wandering, the climbing was phenomenal. Perfect edges meandered up a blank wall, streaked red and black with hints of orange. Little boulder problems separated by good rests led to an awkward sideways traverse, the meat and potatoes of the pitch. The delicate and "balancey" nature of the crux spit Ty off three times, each one was a proud fall. Ty worked it out his fourth try and continued up the pin scarred seam to the belay, contemplating another attempt at the pitch to try and reign in the "free ascent".

After I arrived at the belay, the sun was starting to creep closer and closer down the wall and we made the decision to continue on try to make some headway on the wall since we still had five more long pitches ahead. We lamented the hanging belay we were at and Ty promptly cast off into the next hard pitch, a .12d pin scarred finger crack. Let it be said that Ty Mack is THE man! He strolled up that thing like he was warming up, assuring me the whole time he was gripped and pumped.... I still don't believe him. Needless to say he was solid from that point on for the rest of the day. By the time I climbed up to the belay, the sun had engulfed the wall and we were plenty warm. With the hardest pitches behind us, we looked ahead to a funky, sandy offwidth, and then splitter hands and fingers all the way to Earth Orbit Ledge, the final belay before the summit. The next three pitches were beautiful climbing, gorgeous positioning, and stunning views.

Ty ran a couple of pitches together to make for some fun endurance climbing. Unfortunately by that time, the sun was baking the wall and the hanging belays were starting to take their toll. We were both cramping up a little and my crooked ring finger wasn't cooperating as well as I had hoped in the splitter hand cracks. When I got to the final hanging belay Ty was already shoed up and ready to take off. The last two pitches were significantly more overhung and the fatigue was starting to set in. It was hard not to charge forward though since the exposure was really starting to take hold. The eighth pitch right before the ledge had phenomenal climbing, great hand jams, good feet outside the crack, and fantastic positioning since it arches hard right over the abyss! Once we were on the ledge, we drank the rest of our water, had a bite to eat, and took in the amazing views. A little lizard was quite eager to see us and found great curiosity in Ty's hard boiled egg shells. I tossed him a chunk of Clif-Bar and I'm sure he enjoyed that.

We cast off on the last pitch and certainly the most exposed terrain on the whole route. The 50 feet of ledge traversing was crazy! A flat, sloped ledge ran for probably 30 feet, and at three feet wide the whole route drops away below it. Unprotected, a fall there would land you smack dab in the middle of the abyss with little to no way of getting back up the rope... exciting! After the traverse, a handful of .12- moves lead you to the summit and those moves start off of the apex of the overhang. Pulling onto a block below a dihedral, you can see the whole route drop away below you, all 1200 feet! As exhilarating as it was, fatigue had set in an taken it's toll. Between the cramping and heat, Ty had opted for the bolt ladder and it was strenuous to even haul ourselves up that.

One more scramble pitch led to a small tree casting a bit of shade, a very welcomed sight at that point. I belayed Ty up and when he popped over the edge he said "alright a present"! Over in the dirt where two crusty old used water bottles... filled with H20! Under normal circumstances I wouldn't touch a water bottle like that but at that moment it took three seconds before Ty had the top off and was guzzling the precious fluid. After we finished off one of those he told me the unwritten code that aid climbers will often haul up too much water and it's a friendly gesture to leave extra water for parties who are dry when they reach the top (like us)! We sat and waited for the shade, taking in the spectacular views, talking climbing, route info, and geology. Once we cooled off and felt more hydrated, we set off down the slabs (in bare feet at this point which felt SO good) to the rappels. Four nice long raps set us back down on terra firma. Flip flops and shoes greeted us at our stashed pack and when the shuttle bus came around the bend, we had thumbs stuck out and were ready for beer and food.

All told it was 12 1/2 hours car to car, a solid day climb. I can't praise Ty's ability enough, he led most every pitch and had the wall systems down pat, a very solid partner. We laughed and talked and enjoyed the hell out of a long day that was quite tiring. It's almost two days later and I'm still wrecked, hurting in places I didn't know I have. It was totally worth it though, a fantastic climb and a wonderful experience all around. Unfortunately we didn't bring a camera since it would have added yet another pound or two and that would have been a pound or two too much. You can see some route photos and beta here Spaceshot Topo

I won't need the photos though to remember the amazing climbing and breath taking views. A huge thanks to T-Mack for letting me tag along on a wonderful adventure. Hopefully more Zion trips to come!

Autumn is here!

2009-10-02T09:24:00.007-06:00

I'm writing this with the heater kickin, the coffee is HOT, and the sun is just starting to poke out and warm up our chilly 38 degree morning...Fall is here! This week we've finally been blessed with some moisture and cooler temps, no more high 80's folks. Dipping into the 30's at night and only reaching the high 60's during the day, climbing, working, just things in general have a better feel to them. We're gearing up for another weekend of climbing and video watching, hoping the precip. levels don't exceed our grip capacity.

We kicked off this week with our friends Jenny and Collin swinging through town to visit us on their way home to Portland. With Little Cottonwood Canyon finally coming into early season, we headed upstream to check out some of the most solid granite I've ever touched. It wasn't the most successful day as it was still in the 80's but we had so much fun! We did manage to tick off some classics like Twisted, Dan's Problem a.k.a The Double Dyno, and The Dean Problem. After showering and babying our tips with Climb-On and beer, we cleaned up and headed to the Salt Lake premier of the The Reel Rock Tour. One word...amazing! Some of the best climbing films I've seen in a long time. Mostly due to the fact that there isn't much footage of climbers "getting rad" and showing how bad ass they are. Sender Films two installments were super grounded and the footage of Alex Honnold soloing Moonlight Buttress and Half Dome is absolutely jaw dropping. Big Up Productions didn't disappoint either with they're new film Progression. As always they're footage is top notch and the vid covers the broad spectrum from the top Euro comp circuit to gritstone death routes. All in all, one of the best climb video nights in a long time.

Today we head back to American Fork to try our projects. Lindsay is dangerously close on White Noise (an old Mike Call route, an epic battle up micro crimps, unrelenting to the anchors), and I have moved on to the mega classic Body Count. Both routes requiring sub 70 degree temps due to the slopey and crimpy nature of they're respective holds. Good luck to everyone this weekend on all "redpoint" endeavors, both climbing related and non-climbing related...Fall is HERE!

Takin' Em' Down!

2009-09-20T19:41:00.002-06:00

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!

Yeah Yeah Yeah!

2009-09-13T22:44:00.003-06:00

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.

City Livin...

2009-09-05T07:40:00.005-06:00

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.

Home Sweet Home

2009-06-10T14:34:00.002-06:00

SO! Yeah yeah I know I haven't kept this posting up but holy schmidt have we been busy! We're all moved in down here in Salt Lake, it's been a rough move to say the least. I came down with a wicked case of the stomach flu that's still lingering. That made the drive and lifting heavy boxes less than fun. Our place is pretty darn cute, good little spaces and nice lighting make it very cozy. On the down side our toilet started bubbling and the shower filled back up with gray water, the first day we moved in....curious? After a week plus of plumbers, roto-rooters, crawling in the dank and nasty crawl space, we've come to determine that the sewer was installed at the wrong grade and the gravity flow pulls our waste water back to the house. It's a shitty deal (pun very much intended).
There's a crew of guys working on cleaning everything out right now but it's hard to say what the final outcome will be. Hopefully we can do a load of laundry and flush the toilet in the same day, that'd be super! Aside from that we've been moving stuff in, cleaning, arranging, organizing, and marveling at all the cool stuff we totally forgot we had. We've been to the climbing gym once, it's an amazing facility, state of the art as far as gyms go. Climbing outside has had to take the back seat due to rain every day since we got here. Not just little Rocky Mountain thunder showers either, I'm talking like 40 days and 40 nights kind of biblical rain. We had dinner at our friends house up at the base of Big Cottonwood Canyon last night and as we were driving on the interstate, people were pulling over the rain was coming down so hard. The wipers couldn't keep up and people were hydroplaning on the freeway, scary business.
So tonight we're going out for Lindsays birthday, just a romantic evening for the two of us, then it's more job hunting and interviews.
So feel free to swing by if you're in the neighborhood, we've got the spare bedroom up and running, and from the sounds of it the plumbing is starting to shape up as we speak. If it ever stops raining, we'll get outside and take some pics of our new home crags. Until then....

Wii, Weather, & Whining

2009-05-11T09:03:00.002-06:00

The title says it all! Since we've arrived in Lander, home of 300+ sun-days a year, we've numbed out ever time at the crag. Technically it's spring time here, but it's a Wyoming spring which means it can still snow sideways even when the sun is out. To remedy this ongoing problem, we've been playing a lot of golf and Wii. Wii Golf to be exact. Let it be known that Lindsay and I ARE the Tiger Woods of the Wii! This is all fun and good and helps us pass the time, but it does NOT make us stronger and help us send hard routes.

Lindsay is upsettingly close on her route The Successor .13b, all she needs is a warm day to not numb out and she's in there. I've been piecing together an old project of mine, Busload of Faith .14a and it's coming together nicely, again it'd be nice to have feeling while climbing it. We're heading up there again today to meet an old friend and take some pictures. If things do not go well, we will sell all our climbing and golf gear and take up cod fishing in the north Atlantic because I bet that's less frustrating. I hope.

We're here for two more weeks and then it's SLC all the way baby! We have to make a trip up to Cody and see my pops, reclaim my vehicle from the clutches of storage, and make sure the old man's hot tub is still in working order. Let's all just hope the weather improves and then you can read a blog where it's sunshine and roses and happy things!

Roundtrip Yo!

2009-04-29T11:01:00.004-06:00

This post comes hot off the press from Folklore coffee in downtown Lander WY. We signed a lease on a great little place near Liberty Park in SLC. We move in June 1st and I speak for us both when I say it was a huge sigh of relief to find a place we really like so quickly. One less thing to worry about! The weather here in Landiego isn't amazing, winter is lingering and spring is having a tough time punching through. We hung draws on our projects and they felt good, really good. With any luck we'll have a few days of great weather coming up and we can finish off those dragons!

We'll have to make at least one trip to SLC yet within the month before we move down to interview for our new jobs! I'm courting a climbing hold company called ETCH. They make great holds and it's the kind of job I'd be really psyched on, working with my hands making climbing gear, does it get any better? Lindsay has two very hot irons in the fire, one at a teaching hospital and the other at a regional hospital north of the city. One is more or less a for sure deal and the other is coming along nicely. Needless to say we're dangerously close to checking off another box on the "moving" to do list.

If you scroll down and check out the videos in the right hand column, the second one down from the top (should be labeled The Dude Ranch) is the video we shot this winter down in Hueco. Sorry about the potty language but this sport evokes some serious emotions sometimes, plus we were trying hard! So put it on your calendars, June 1 in Salt Lake. We'll have a spare room for any passers by. All are welcome.

Dizziness in the City...

2009-04-26T09:51:00.003-06:00

Driving around Salt Lake looking for houses has made Lin and myself perpetually nauseous. We drive as slow as we can without impeding traffic too much, and whip our heads from left to right looking for the little red "For Rent" signs posted in yards and windows. Two days of this nonsense has led us to sore necks and queasy tummies. Yesterday we found a KILLER place in the area known as Liberty Park. It's got a great back yard for the boys, two car garage and lots of off street parking, enough space for the two of us as well as a quaint little upstairs for guests. We filled out the application in the rain and gave it right back to the guy! If any of you know Dan the owner (he's a school teacher who's moving to Seattle with his wife and his Prius), tell him to rent to us because we're good looking and our dogs are faster than most senior drivers :).

Now being smart adults, we're still looking for a sweet little casa to call our own but with any luck, we'll be able to procure this place and that will be that. To back up just a bit, we left St. George on Friday morning after a month of great times. True, we struggled with the weather but hell, it's not like that's anything new on this trip. In fact, if we had good weather at any point I'd be pretty damned shocked. We had some good days though, especially towards the end of our time there. BJ came down a few weeks ago and we raged at the Cathedral for the most part. Each of us sending at least one route of notable "project" grade. Lindsay shown through as usual sending most likely her hardest route to date. Resurrection .13b is STIFF in the grade and through many cold days and numb fingers she persevered each day gaining a new high point until success. Pure Poetry. BJ while making very speedy progress on Joe Kinders new 5.14 Unforgivable made a quick, second go ascent of The Cross .13c. Strong. Myself, I tried to stay under the radar but managed to struggle through a mean little power endurance number called Treebeard .13c.

We golfed quite a few days towards the end due to the 90 degree temps. We all shot some of the best golf of our lives at the swanky little municipal courses in and around St. George. We can't be sure but it may seriously affect our climbing game. I highly recommend the southern Utah region to anyone wanting warm weather and beautiful scenery. It's not hard to climb and golf well when you're in an amazing setting, like Hollywood trucked in a sweet backdrop for whatever you're doing! I must mention, after nearly ten years of searching and near misses, I got to ride go carts on a rest day! Ever since watching Three Weeks and a Day (climbing film) I wanted to spend a rest day zipping around a 30 foot long track in a gas powered beast named Flashy Fun #27. It was bliss. Our good friends Vance and Jen came down to visit some family and we were able to hang out for a day go-carting and laser tagging. My hands are sweating just thinking about it.

Next stop, Lander WY. We'll see if these past seven months have made us any stronger for our long standing projects at home. Enjoy the new pics. Adios.

Can I Get Some Sunshine!

2009-04-14T08:48:00.002-06:00

It's cloudy out right now, I'm bummed. We had a great day yesterday at the Wailing Wall with BJ. He drove down on Sunday night and will be with us for the next two weeks or so. Team Wyoming crushed at the crag, Lindsay fell at the very tippy top of her project, any closer and it's in the bag! BJ with some spray from Joey K figured out all the moves on the new 5.14 Unforgivable which came as a nice surprise (since his finger is still a little sore). With some nudging from Joe and BJ I jumped on Treebeard, 13+, and one hung it my second go so that was a nifty gift. We're headed back that way today because the weather is supposed to crap out on us again and only get up to the mid 50's with rain tomorrow...WTF! Isn't it mid April? Aren't we in the desert southwest? I thought it's supposed to be hot, dry and sunny down here!

Dewey has been tutoring me on photo techniques and it's been a lot of fun trying some newer more advanced tricks and tips. I took 140 pictures yesterday, not a damn one turned out! We sat down and he explained what I was doing wrong and hopefully today will yield some better results. As a personal highlight, I finally got to ride go-carts on a road trip. Ever since I saw Three Weeks & a Day, I desperately wanted to ride some go-carts Daryl Waltrip style. Our good friends Vance and Jen came down last week to visit some family and we got to spend a rest day with them at Fiesta Fun, THE establishment in Three Weeks the crew rides THEIR go-carts at. I spent all my money on those goofy things! I am such a geek.

Let's all just pray for some good weather and stronger muscles, all that any bi-pedal hominid would wish for~

The Same Old New Feelings

2009-04-03T09:21:00.003-06:00

Sorry, no photos today. It's just been Lindsay and myself lately and as many of you know, it's more important to keep a hand on the rope vs. the camera. The past handful of days has been not too shabby. We got our new Mac and it's been a contest of brick chewing trying to move various files over from the Dell. We're making progress but for every transfer that goes the way it's supposed to, two more require that we run back to Laurie and Dewey's computer and do a quick Internet tutorial on "how to's". I can say that the ole Mac Book Pro is WAY more user friendly than our PC. I'm liking the multimedia "manipulation" programs that come standard.
Lin's finger is feeling better, she climbed on a .13b yesterday called Resurrection. Not only do I think that route is heinous (since the holds are small, tweaky, and barely there), it's certifiably HARD. The consensus around the campfire is that it's big in the grade (meaning it's difficult for the grade it's given). She went up once, had a strong burn (or try), came down and professed that she had used up all her juice and was gassed out. She then made two more attempts, each one stronger than the previous. The last go, she bobbled her feet, bobbled her hands, and still made a clip that has proven quite difficult in past tries. Encouraging.
I tried a .13b also called Indulgence. With our friend Kyle spraying me down (giving me suggestions on what to do) I flashed all the way to the top, four feet from the anchors. Flaming out, I faltered and had to hang. AAAAARRRRGGGGHHHH! It definitely would have been one of my strongest efforts climbing ever! Recomposing myself, I tried to figure out the very cryptic ending sequence. I pitched off right at the chains, taking a funky little fall. Due to the nature of the rock and the bolt placement, I swung into the wall kinda hard and jammed my big toe, bad. We knew it wasn't broken but it was really sore for the rest of our time at the crag. I tried putting on my climbing shoe but it was a no-go. Way to painful to stand in the tiny little pockets at the top of the route. Poop.
The weather is crapping out on us again, cold and windy. It has to be a minimum of 70 degrees in town before we can conceivably climb at the Cathedral crag (the area we're most excited about) and it's been in the low sixties for the past two weeks. Hopefully it'll warm up this next week and we can get some good days in. We're scheduled to golf on Sunday with Laurie and Dewey, we're pretty excited about that. Our good friends Vance and Jenn are coming down from Lander this week also to visit her parents. We're making plans to get out and climb with them which will be WAY fun.
Nothing too new on the Salt Lake front unfortunately. We're still job hunting, the question still remains, "what do we want to do, and how often"? It's hard to think about going back to forty plus hours a week when we see all the people around us working part time and playing just as much as us. Sure, we're struggling with the age old question of balance. Luckily, we have really good looking dogs and camper named "Gwendoline, The Ivory Palace" so I think we'll probably be just fine!

Upkeep

2009-03-21T14:30:00.004-06:00

This post is long overdue! We've been a lot of places and met a lot of people since March seventh. As you can surmise from the weather bulletin above, we're in St. George Utah and loving every minute of it. We left Hueco almost two weeks ago, it was time. We said goodbye to the Dude Ranch, our little refuge in the desert for almost two months and headed east to Carlsbad New Mexico. We packed the Scamp as tight as we could, filled up the water tank, and waved Adios to Dr. Foo, Short Bus, T-Bag, and the rest of the desert rats that took up the torch in the march against gravity.

Our first day out of Texas found us at the silent oasis of Sitting Bull Falls, outside of Carlsbad. If you are EVER in the area, it is a must see even if you're not climbing. The geology there has slowly created a series of blue green pools of clear mountain water cascading down a large formation known (and coveted by climbers) as Tufa. Tufa's are the slow depositing of plant material in the calcium rich water and it forms stalactites, stalagmites, and really funky worm like features that make climbing sort of like an episode of a Dr. Seuss story. Day one was perfect, we attacked the rock with reckless abandon trying every climb we saw (staying away from the killer bee nest though). Day two was different.

With a northern exposure the wall never sees sun and the ambient didn't get above 56 that day. It was cold as hell! BJ and I saddled up, lying to each other about how tough we were, and we got a couple of pitches in before we ran back to the camper for Gin and cribbage. Upon realizing the weather wasn't going to improve, BJ headed home to the wife and job, while Lin and I braved the cold and made some phone calls to our friends in Midland Texas. John and Carol pleaded with us to stay for just a few more days, and check out Last Chance Canyon. A small river bed lined with cliffs on either side, Last Chance was fuzzy in my mind. Having visited there years before, I recalled a couple of neat looking walls and some potential, but nothing more tangible than some vertical routes with sharp holds. Thank God we don't always listen to my memory! We became hopelessly lost our first attempt to locate the climbing. It's a long story but let's just say that we found some beautiful country, some cat tracks, and a bizarre tree with no bark and a reddish hue. The joys of travelling.

When we met up with John and Carol, we were ecstatic! Last Chance is a gem among gems. Don't ask me how to get there, I couldn't even begin to recall the maze of dirt roads and miles of barbwire that lead to the tiny little parking lot. We set up shop at the KOA in Carlsbad and laid siege on the canyon for two well fought days. Climbing better than we hoped we would, we sampled a little bit of everything the tiny gorge had to offer. Steep caves with 14 fixed draws like little soldiers marching upside down, dead vertical test pieces with bullet holes for grips, and sweeping waves rising above the mesquite and cactus patches. After a week in Carlsbad (which is a long time in that little hole of a town) we packed it up and headed north to St. George with some stops at the Caverns, the Grand Canyon, and the International UFO Museum.

Today finds us enjoying some well deserved Internet, coffee, and hot showers with couches and lounging laying in waiting. St. George is the final destination on this little excursion in paradise. We'll be here until we make the move to Salt Lake for jobs and "real life" We stopped by the Cathedral and Wailing wall yesterday, two amazing areas south of here. I can already see spending a good chunk of our time there. With better access to the inter-web, we'll be better about posting and updating our trip. If you're on Facebook, check out the video entitled The Dude Ranch 2009. It's rated R for language but portrays our time in Hueco rather accurately. Adios

So tired....

2009-03-07T13:53:00.002-07:00

I know it's been a while since I last posted but we've been decreasing our trips into town and Internet is scarce out in the desert. We've been climbing more and more consistent, harder problems every day we go out. Lindsay has continued to crush out hard test pieces like Shroom V9 within a handful of goes. True to form though, Hueco has punished us more than it's built us up. This place is harder to climb at than any other on the face of the planet I swear to God! Our tips are like little cement nubs on the ends of our fingers, our muscles are bulging with pain and swelling, and our egos are battered from days of failure on what seems like doable boulder problems. Our time here has been amazing to say the least. Every night we watch flawless sunsets and each day we get to climb in one of the most magical places on earth.
We've had the pleasure of climbing with some great new friends, Paul Jung and Ronnie Jenkins, both from back east. Paul's subtle and dry wit is always catching us off guard and Ronnie is so off the wall that you never know what he's going to do next just to get a good laugh out of everyone. Our tours have been those not of hard climbing, but fun climbing. Running around the park looking for the mega-classic V0 and V1's we've always skipped over. Just finding these gems proves to be an exciting day. Alas and alack, our time here has drawn to an end. We've got a day or two more, Trevor is dead set on finishing a video project and yours truly is the only one who has no video time. A day or two on north and then we're heading north, maybe to New Mexico for a few days and then to southern Utah to the limestone areas of St. George and the Arizona strip. I would love to post some pics but we don't have any since Trevor has confiscated our camera to shoot his masterpiece video. If it's finished any time soon, I'll post it, just don't let the kids watch (Trevor's music may not fall under the "family listening" category).

My Bionic Wife

2009-02-16T10:47:00.005-07:00

We have arrived. Okay, our strength has arrived. Alright alright, Lindsay's strength has arrived. We've been getting out regularly, day on day off, and Lin has been slowly destroying everything she gets on. Everything she's tried she's done in a day, ten goes or less. Yesterday she did her first confirmed V9 with a quick tick of Kim with a Bathtub in her head. She fell on the last move of the flash attempt at Ultramega V8 (doing it quickly on her second go). And as a quick warm up she flashed Hector in a blender V7. A standout day to be sure!
It feels good to finally have good skin and strong muscles. It looks like we'll be here through the first bit of March as the weather further north is just not that warm yet. We're excited at the prospect of having more time to project harder climbs. We've also decided on Salt Lake as our destination for relocation. It boils down to job opportunities, housing opportunities, and a centralized location to lots of climbing. In the meantime, I've been playing around with our movie maker program and the new video is my first attempt at a future career in Hollywood. Enjoy.

Still Hard

2009-02-09T11:29:00.002-07:00

So Hueco Tanks is still the most punishing area on the planet. I have yet to go anywhere that requires so much skin, so many muscles, and so much tenacity to complete projects. We're sitting in the sun right now nursing sore/injured fingers. It was really nasty yesterday and it made for some tired bodies and digits. Lindsay absolutely CRUSHED with an ascent of Better Eat Your Wheaties V9. It's worth mentioning that she did it in four tries. Very few people, male or female can claim such an achievement.

If our bodies can continue on our regiment of punishment, I think good things will happen within the next few weeks. The weather is looking less gorgeous and more Feb. for the next few weeks but c'est la vie. We're contemplating going to Bishop CA in early March, otherwise we'll head north to southern Utah. Pieces are falling into place as far as the move goes also, with a promising job prospect in Salt Lake for myself at a climbing gear distributor. Lindsay's studying at a hurried pace as always and continues to further her ongoing education. I don't know how she's so damned smart and so damned strong at the same time (I try like hell to do one or the other and even then I struggle)!

Oh yeah, the in-climate weather has given us some lovely sunsets.

Unfamiliar Faces...

2009-01-27T14:45:00.002-07:00

We've been enduring winds here in western Texas. The difference between the wind here and the wind in most every other place we've visited is that the zephyrs here carry the desert with them. It's much like a scene from the move Twister, you'll see Wal-mart bags flying through the air regularly, sometimes with stuff still in them. Lots of trash illegally crossing the Mexican border, tumbleweeds the size of Geo Metros, and sand. Lots and lots of sand. The Starbucks at the corner of Joe Battle and Montwood has become our "windy day" haven.

Trevor has been taking us to lots of newly developed problems all over the park. It's been a lot of fun for me since I've already seen the majority of Hueco Tanks. Two days ago he took us to a boulder I've walked pass a hundred times and there were two amazing problems, in one of the most densely climbed out areas. Who knew? In seeing all these new faces, we've felt obligated to climb everything since we may not get back to it (as long as Trevor has his way). In doing so, we've started to get strong a lot quicker than we thought. Thanks to these serendipitous colds we've been resting a lot and forcing us to be smart in our training. We climb until we feel like our souls are bleeding, we come home, eat, drink a lot of emergen-c and then go to bed. We think it's helping anyway. Let's face it, America's strongest climbers are here right now, it's a lot to measure yourself against. Though it's been said that "greatness breeds greatness" so maybe we'll leave stronger than when we arrived. That is the idea I suppose. Enjoy the last few days worth of shots. Adios.

Skin, Ping Pong, & The West Texas Desert

2009-01-24T13:57:00.002-07:00

"Ouch." We say this word in hundreds of different ways each day we go out here in Hueco. Sometimes there are adult expletives attached before and after the word. Sometimes we scream it so loud that the resident Javelinas run in all directions. Sometimes we whisper it as we clutch our finger tips and shake with frustration and pain. "Ouch." "Oooouuuuucccchhhh!" "Oooowwwweeeeyyyy!" The syanite here is unlike anything I've seen anywhere else. It can be as hard as steel or as sandy as a crumbling old brick. Mostly though the darker, deep hued red rock dubbed "bubbly iron rock" lives up to it's name. Forming features like that of some prehistoric dinosaur skin. We are noticing that our strength is returning and our skin is slowly turning hard. With any luck, within the next two weeks our finger tips will look like those of a seasoned mason.

When we're not touring the fairytale land of Hueco Tanks, discovering new problems and dispatching those just barely within our grasp, we play Ping Pong. Let me rephrase, we play a SHIT load of ping pong. I would say on a climbing day we play 24 games or so, and on rest days it's double that. We're not ready for the Chinese national team yet but we have two distinct modes. We either have "Forrest" moments where we miss the table completely with the ball, miss the ball all together, or just plain screw up royally. OR we have "Gump" moments where we dive backwards, blindly, left handed and return the serve with shocking speed and dangerous accuracy. There's no rhyme or reason to it but damn is it fun. The handful of moments we're not playing, I'm building furniture for Trevors house, Lindsay's shouting for Bodhi and Amico who LOVE chasing the jack rabbits, or we're resting, rubbing hand salve anywhere we dub and "ouch" zone.

All in all we're getting stronger, day by day, minute by minute. We know we're getting stronger because we climb a bit harder each day and in the meantime we hurt like hell! Sound logic I think. The dogs are getting a bath today at Petsmart so Lin and I are headed to the dollar theater for some sweet old movies. We may even take in an ice cream before we head back out into the desert. I'll have a large, not because I'm hungry but because I think I can probably fit both my hands into a large bowl. Mint chocolate chip too, for when we pull our tips out and like them!

Hueco Tanks

2009-01-19T15:07:00.003-07:00

So we are in Hueco Tanks near El Paso Texas. The good Lord finally decided that we were good kids and has blessed us with sunny skies, 70 degree weather, and lots of open spots in the park. We've set up shop at our good buddy Trevor's, and we are currently the caretakers of his humble abode (I stress the humble part). As in the past, it's hard to get any kind of cell service there and Internet is a no go but luckily we're going to be coming into town at least once every few days for fresh tortilla's and water. The drive from Georgia was awful. 1438 miles to be exact, that's two days no matter how you cut it. We made it without incident but we've felt very road weary since we got here. Unfortunately we're both sick now. I've had a bit of a relapse in my cold, and Lin has caught the funky heebee geebees too. On a serendipitous note, climbing here forces an equal number of rest days to climbing days and we're in day one of two off.

Our skin is on fire (this place is harder on your finger tips than anywhere else in the world) but we're excited about the prospects of future climbs here. It's changed a LOT since I was here three years ago but it's a fun vibe now. All of our old friends have properties and little adobe pit toilets, and the once chaotic system of entering into the park seems trivial and easy now. We're here until the end of Feb and then who knows, most likely starting to look for that elusive new home! I feel like a big pile of poopy right now so that's it for this installment, but I promise the next one will be full of more pictures and details. For now, know that we are in Hueco, we're happy, healthy (sort of), and having a ball! We miss you all and look forward to the stories we can share in the future. Adios!

Pura Vida

2009-01-02T07:20:00.003-07:00

Pura Vida. This is the motto of Costa Rica, it's everywhere you look. On water bottles, billboards, tee shirts, cheap surf boards. Literally it means "pure life", it's a perfect slogan for a country that seemingly has no sense of urgency about anything. We would call it..."laid back". With no standing army since 1948, the locals or Tico's are a very non-confrontational people. Our trip took us to the southern most region of the country near a duty free zone called Golfito. The journey began here in Milwaukee with a lengthy bus ride down to Chicago where we spent the night due to the early nature of our flight the next morning. We took it as a good omen when we checked into our hotel which was SUPER swanky but only $89 bucks online- go figure?

With an impending storm, we flew out the next morning (only to find out later that we were one of the last planes out and then they closed O'Hare) and arrived in Houston to a voicemail that the entire rest of the gang were delayed in Denver and couldn't make the connection to San Jose (the capital of Costa Rica). We continued on south, arriving in San Jose at dusk. Kelly the travel master had arranged a shuttle for us to a great little gated hotel complex in Escazu, a region above San Jose. We listened to gunfire and fire works as the Christmas holiday approached. The rest of the family arrived that night via a different airline and flights.

The next morning we loaded into a sweet little Toyota van that puts most American cars to shame. As a side note, ALL their cars put ours to shame. We rode in a Toyota Hilux while we were there and when we asked our driver what kind of mileage it got, his response was "I can't count that high". Matt and I did the math, roughly 50 miles to the gallon. But back to our trip down, our driver Antonio would prove to be one of the highlights of the trip. His Tico knowledge of the country was invaluable. From the coffee highlands to the coastal regions he gave us the brief history of Costa Rica and explained all of her idiosyncrasies to us. The ride down took 10 hours, five of which were on a two lane dirt road. Brutal to say the least. When we arrived in Zancudo we flipped out. It is truly at the end of the earth and there are a significant lack of amenities to prove it.

We dropped our bags, put on our suits, and RAN into the ocean like lemmings to the sea! Pura Gringos I think. When we got back to our cabinas we realized just how remote we really were. No phone, no TV, no radio, no Internet, no communication with the outside world at all. There was a small "convenience store" two minutes walk away with surfboards, beer, and pink marsh mellows. Other than that, we could bust open any of the coconuts outside our door and the restaurant at the "resort" served us most of what we needed. I say "resort" because it was comprised of four buildings, the restaurant, the owners house, two cabinas, and the surf shop. Oh yeah, none of the buildings had insulation, glass, or hot water. Screened windows, hardwood floors, and fans, lots of fans.

The next week is a blur. I can tell you we swam, surfed, walked the beach, took pictures, drank Imperial beer, and pretty much just lazed around the black sand beaches in the sun. We took a tour through a wildlife refuge, THAT was COOL! A few highlights were the dolphins swimming next to our little skiff boat, snorkeling a coral reef (waiting on the underwater camera to be developed) and the spider monkey showing Matt where it wanted to be scratched...funny as hell! We ultimately got the surfing thing down, what a blast! It took us all a day though to realize why you need a rash guard. We thought it was for the water...negative ghost rider! My abs, knees, and inner ankles all still bare the wounds of wax rash where I lay on the board to paddle out through the surf. We walked to the "center" of Zancudo which was nothing more that the police station and school, the best part of which was as we were walking back along the beach, we were adopted by a beagle named Magio. The owner of the Coloso Del Mar informed us that "we were his now and not to try and shake him." Magio was great, he was our personal body guard for four days.

Our journey home took us along the Panamanian border and through many police checkpoints where when asked about our travels the policia would look at us with confusion when we told them we had been in Zancudo. Barely making all our connecting flights back, we came back to Milwaukee two nights ago, weary from two days of travel, and fighting some nasty head colds. We'll continue to add to this post with new photos when everyone sends them out, here are a few to tide you over. In summation, the trip was amazing. We saw way more country than we thought we would, met some great people, and enjoyed the Pura Vida. We wouldn't recommend this trip to just anyone, there's a reason it's at the end of the earth. It takes a long time to get there and at times it's not the most comfortable trip but in the end, it was totally worth it. Adios

2008-12-18T06:53:00.003-07:00

This post is coming from Wayne and Darlene's comfy blue chair in snowy Milwaukee. The past couple of weeks have been nuts in our travel schedule. We ended up not going south to Little River as the camping was sketchy at best. It was cruxy finding a campsite anywhere near the canyon and once we found one, it was right next to the highway, no bathrooms, well hell let's just lay it out, it was part of the front lawn in a trailer park and they wanted $12 a night to park there, screw that! We came back up to Chattanooga and fought the weather there for a few more days before we drove back north to the Red.

The forecast said it was going to be beautiful and we were psyched on finishing some undone projects. It's become apparent to us that the good Lord doesn't want us to have good weather this winter. We drove back to a deserted Lago Linda's in a downpour, parked, and went to bed with visions of sun and dry rock. We woke up to four inches of snow and drip drip drip at the crag. After four days in the Scamp, we nearly strangled each other in our sleep. We ended up getting two days of lovely weather before we bailed to Wisconsin. Our conversations lately keep drifting back to how we can alter our lifestyles to come back to Kentucky next fall. I can say without hesitation that the Red River Gorge is the best crag I've ever been to, period!

That's all the stuff of the past though now. Wayne and I are watching TV and looking at the weather forecast which is calling for 13 inches of snow tonight, whoopee! Lin and I fly out to Costa Rica on Tuesday, we're praying for good weather and clear roads by then because we have to drive down to Chicago Monday night. We've got all our travel needs met I think, 30z bottles of bug spray, sun screen, and toothpaste. I need a pair of swimming goggles yet (and a speedo, don't tell Lindsay ;). When we get back, we'll head back to Kentucky, pick up the Scamp, and make for Rocktown GA to start bouldering. It looks like we'll be in the southeast yet for Jan. at Rocktown and Horsepens 40 and then Hueco Tanks for Feb. If I don't update before we leave the country, the next post will be accompanied by lovely pictures of exotic birds, fish, and scantily clad Wyoming-ites!

2008-12-06T06:35:00.002-07:00

We may not have any more Internet access after this morning so we're filling in the pieces for the next two weeks before we go to Costa Rica. We've been in Jasper Tennessee for the last week, climbing at Foster Falls State Park, or Chosster Falls like we call it. The sandstone here is still bullet hard but it's not compact like the Red. This rock is more blocky, which means smaller holds, bigger holds, and nothing in between. It's been fun climbing more technical routes, humbling at times too. We're afraid to fall again, mostly we figure from the fact that the walls are just off of vertical and aren't the huge sweeping overhangs like the stone up north.

Lindsay's climbing really well here, she fell one move shy of flashing a .13a two days ago. Unfortunately the cold weather is following "the Whippets" (that's what we've been dubbed by all our new friends). Judging by the national weather map, it's not just us. The entire southeast is caught in a cold snap and it's taking it's sweet time moving on. Henceforth, we've been relegated to relying solely on the weather forecast and if it says that one hour south it's 20% sunnier and four degrees warmer, we head south. So this morning we're packing up and heading to Little River Canyon in northern Alabama. Our friend Tyler is giving us the proper locals tour and if I remember correctly, the rock is slightly more solid than Chosster Falls.

We've got two more weeks of climbing before we head back north to Milwaukee/Chicago to fly down to San Jose Costa Rica with the rest of the Gasch clan. Eight days on the south western peninsula and back again before we start the bouldering leg of the trip. Hopefully the gods will smile on us and bless us with some sunny weather, both here in the states and down south. We'll try to work out an Internet connection in Fort Payne and update before we leave for Costa Rica.

Rain, Dead Jellyfish, Stromboli, a.k.a. The Usual

2008-11-30T18:04:00.003-07:00

I'm writing this from my uncle Ron's super plush leather recliner (it slides too). We've enjoyed the last few days in North Carolina doing nothing but eating and drinking, mostly eating. We left Kentucky almost a week ago, reluctantly I might add. On our last climbing day, I finished off my "easy" project BOHICA .13b and headed to Kaleidoscope .13c, only to fall on the finishing move and taking a HUGE fall. It was heart breaking but not as heart breaking as the weather. We spent the early part of the week in Raleigh with Lindsay's brother and his family. We had a blast being reintroduced television, central heating, and carpet. Thu, Vance's wife, cooked us some amazing meals while our nieces, Vivian and Natalie, reminded us how weird we are and helped us regain some sense of modern society.

Yesterday and today found us further south in Sunset Beach at my aunt and uncle's place right near the beach. We packed in a ton of firsts today including the ocean, dead sharks and jellyfish, a live alligator, a cheap beach store, and a huge Stromboli feed tonight for dinner. Tomorrow, we'll hook back up to "Gwendoline the Ivory Palace" (aka the Scamp) and point her west to Chattanooga and hopefully, dry rock. The rain has continued to follow us and it's giving us a serious case of the piss-offs. The extended forecast is looking good for the next couple of weeks before we head to Costa Rica. With any luck we'll enjoy our final weeks of rope climbing in the sun with nice crispy temps. Or we may muck it out in the rain, either way we're climbing!

Moving On...

2008-11-23T13:44:00.002-07:00

I titled this post Moving On... for a reason, a couple of reasons really. To keep with the theme of this blog I'll start with the basics. Lin and I are moving on from the Red, the weather is starting to get increasingly unreliable. The forecast for the next two weeks is rain, snow, and cold. Today was the most perfect day of the trip though. Blue skies, zero clouds, sun, and 50 degrees. Perfect. On Wednesday we're heading for North Carolina to spend Thanksgiving with Lindsay's brother and his family. We're really looking forward to seeing them and to some down time. We have mixed feelings about leaving - we finally feel strong and hard routes are feeling easier and easier. It's time we see new crags, meet new people, and experience new things though.

A couple of nights ago, our dear friend took her own life in back in Lander. We are at a loss for words. A vibrant and beautiful person, she was always smiling and laughing, the first to tell you how happy she was for you in whatever seemed to be going on in your life. It's so hard to know what happened to lead to this outcome. We can only hope that she has found peace wherever she may be. Leslie felt that it was her time to move on to something else, we can only hope it's a better place than where she felt she was. For all of us left behind, we're left with questions that will never be answered, the hardest part of all, knowing full well that we must all move on too.

Life is curious...just about the time we think we have "a good bead on things", we're reminded, sometimes violently, that we don't. Leslie left this world a better place, impacting so many people in so many wonderful ways that words cannot describe. Like my mother always used to say, "be at your station". I never took too much heed of this phrase but I'm starting to grasp it a little firmer nowadays. We must all take advantage of every moment given to us, because in the end, we all have to move on...

In Loving Memory of Leslie Paul - You Will Be Missed

Bad Weather

2008-11-19T12:58:00.002-07:00

We're cowering back in the camper right now, we tried to climb today but DAMN was it cold! We are still in Kentucky at the moment, though we fled to Tennessee for a few days at the beginning of the week. It was gorgeous down there, sunny, warm, new routes! As we were sitting around eating dinner, our friend Bentley looked at his fancy phone and told us that the weather was clearing in Kentucky and that it looked good for a few days. We pondered over a drink or two what might be the best option. We packed up and came back up north. This morning, at 7:00 the sun was shining brightly and I couldn't help but think "alright, we made a good decision." I shouldn't have spoken so soon. True to form it hasn't rained or snowed on us like it did this past weekend, but the high today was 30 degrees. Now 30 and sun is fine, sure it's a bit chilly at the belay but it's do-able. Today however, was not 30 and sun, it was 30 and sun-for-five-minutes-then-clouds-then-a-peek-of-sun-then-nothing-but-clouds....then some wind. The route I'm trying to finish up is well within my abilities, I've one hung it twice now after only five tries. The crux hold is a shallow, sloping pocket that must be taken just so in order to do the next move. If taken correctly, the move doesn't feel hard at all, just another link in the chain. But if the pocket is taken poorly or incorrectly, well then, the following move is totally hit or miss. Today if felt great, up until the sun went away and the rock got downright frigid. I took the pocket quickly due to the numbness in my hand, didn't get it quite right, and fell mid move again. Drat. If anyone reading this has any warm weather, even just a degree or two, that you aren't using, could you send it here a.s.a.p.? The whole of the Red River Gorge would thank you greatly! I have to go soak my hands in boiling water now....until next time....

Drizzle...

2008-11-13T11:59:00.002-07:00

Apologies for not writing sooner, but the communication links here at Linda's have been rather wonky the last couple weeks. Lots of peoples phones have ceased working properly and the Internet is a constant struggle. Today it seems up to snuff so hopefully I can get this typed up before it all crashes again. The last two weeks has seen the weather change dramatically for us. Previously it's been mild, dry, and sunny with temperatures ranging in the mid to upper sixties. Lately, however; it's been cold with highs in the forties and low fifties with lots of rain, mist, fog, and the dreaded condensation. We tried to go to the crags today, as you can tell, we're NOT climbing at the moment. When we first got to the Motherlode and asked how conditions were, our friend Dario said "the Undertow is dripping...the cave, SOAKED..." We promptly tucked our tails and ran for a different wall, one we thought might by dry due to it's higher position on the ridge, it was moist to the touch as well, DAMN!

The weather doesn't look like it's going to improve that much so I guess we'll just have to make due for the next two weeks. We've both got routes that we really want to do before we leave, routes that we're both VERY close on. My last try on BOHICA in the Madness Cave was a battle of epic proportions. My first try (history: Six years ago I climbed on this route twice, both times climbing with the aid of a small, green laser pointer. My friends who were well versed in the routes movement sat at the base and pointed to the easiest sequence of grips all the way up, as I was climbing i.e. I didn't have to remember ANY of the climbing.) this trip, I flew up the route. BOHICA is NOT my style of climbing at all, there are no real difficult moves, just lots and lots of sustained climbing with little opportunity for rest. My last go on the route, I was climbing like the rock was flypaper and I had wings. I was at the top, staring at the finishing clip, in a matter of a few minutes, I was on top of the world! BUT (notice the capital letters) I didn't complete my ascent. I was so pumped, I couldn't clip. Literally I was so tired that I couldn't let go for three seconds with one hand to put the rope through the anchors. I dug deeper than I ever have before and I TRIED to clip. What happened instead was that I fell roughly 60-70 feet with tons of extra rope out. The fall itself was fun, it's an odd feeling to be in the air that long, but once I came to rest on the end of the rope, the shock, dismay, and overall feeling of failure washed over me. I left the crag with my head hung low :(.

Lindsay has been trying a notoriously difficult route called Golden Touch, right near BOHICA. Her first day on the route, she very quickly deciphered the crux moves and it looked like victory was at hand. As all climbers know however, each route has what we call a "redpoint crux", though not necessarily the hardest moves, they are the moves that seem most difficult on the redpoint or "clean ascent" try. My guess is at this point that Lin has fallen from the redpoint crux of Golden Touch at least a dozen times, only falling at the hardest moves once or twice. Normally this would spur a climber on to try harder, dig a little deeper, in the case of Golden Touch, not so much. The crux hold is an edge, not much wider than a quarter is thick. If you think I'm exaggerating, you can Google the route name and look at what previous climbers have said about it. In grabbing this hold relatively low in the route, over and over and over again, my wife's lovely hands have been reduced to hamburger. We'd been prepping for this route all weekend long, climbing only routes that wouldn't hurt her already fragile skin. When we got there yesterday, she looked strong on the warm ups. I was set to belay her on the actual climb and then take some photos, it was all just perfect. Then...on the redpoint attempt...she filleted...notice I didn't say sliced...her finger tip. The session was over.

Being so close on these routes (and others also) makes all the in climate weather that much more frustrating. We were talking with our friend Brendon the other night and we all agreed that when you're on the road, time doesn't matter. Week days and weekends don't exist any more, they're just days. Climbing days aren't that important either because you have SO many of them...UNTIL you hit the two week period. That's the two week period before you know you're leaving what ever area you're at. We are IN that two week period and we're having to sacrifice valuable days, valuable tries, waiting for good weather. With any luck, we'll have three or four more "good" days before we leave for North Carolina. We should both have very good chances of doing the routes we want to in that time frame. If we fail in that task, you all my have to start sending X-mas cards to Site 14 Lago Linda Place! Be well all of you, hopefully winter's icy grip hasn't tightened yet and you are all still out enjoying some of natures greatest gifts. Adios!

Resting

2008-10-28T07:35:00.002-06:00

Resting is good, it is very, very good. Today is our second day off and we've realized it should have been our third. We've been hitting pretty hard lately, climbing every two days then taking one day off. It looks good on paper, in a five day period we're climbing four. That's the kind of thinking we had in Lander, "if only we could climb all week long and just take one day off"! It doesn't really work that way unfortunately. We are TRASHED! This place is so much more physical than other areas. Given the fact that we're coming at this endeavor with no training and very little prior exercise, it's taking it's toll on our bodies. Lindsay's finger is much better, it's still a little stiff in the a.m. but that's about it (whew!....we call that dodging a bullet). The last two days on we climbed as much as we could, over twenty pitches combined (a pitch is the length of one climb, typically here about 100 feet). Unfortunately we don't have any hard sends to show for it, Lin is TERRIBLY close on a .13a and .13b, and I do stress the word TERRIBLY. I....well....I haven't done much, I've been onsighting a bunch of really good hard .12's but fail to get psyched on projects here. To climb at a hard grade (5.13+ or better) here, you need to possess massive endurance. All the harder routes here are mega pump challenges, a type of climbing that I'm just not good at.

This week we're going to get agro though and start digging in and fighting a little harder. We've buffered our diet to accommodate a more rigorous schedule, we have a new rope (thank you Miguel for the swingin' deal), and we're ready to start ticking boxes! The weather is a concern as it has been very cold lately. As I look outside at our $1 dollar thermometer it shows a balmy 37 degrees with cloudy skies and occasional mist. The cold here sucks. I take back all the things I said about Wyoming being cold and crappy. At least in Wyoming it isn't wet and cold. When we check the weather in the morning before we head out, we pay as much attention to the humidity and the dew point as we do the temperature. If the ambient gets down to the same number as the dew point, the moisture starts to condense. The walls here suck up all that water and then the walls literally weep. It's a bizarre and radical phenomenon but alas it puts the kibosh on climbing for at least a day, maybe more depending on the forecast. Today we're right at the border line, if it gets any colder, we're hosed. Tomorrow is supposed to be better, all the way up to 51! Looks like we'll be heading for some of those sunny crags.

We've been hanging out with some fun kids from Knoxville on the weekends though. It's amazing how many people come for those two days, the other morning, I walked out the door and a snoring gentleman had set up his bivy sack right under our towels and airing laundry. Not because he liked our downy fresh linens, no, the campground was just that full. Anyway, our new friends from Knoxville come up each Friday night, we have a HUGE dinner in which everyone throws in a large dish of whatever and then we climb on the weekdays together. It's a bit like home, we eat big, drink big, climb a little, and heckle and joke each other off of climbs we have well under control. I think we'll bring some of my famous Ramen Surprise this week, oh yeah that reminds me, we have a costume party to go to this weekend. We went to the costume store in Lexington yesterday, we could have had a lot of fun with some of the outfits but we needed to keep the costumes within the "kid appropriate" range. So ultimately we'll be going as Fred and Daphne from Scooby Doo. The outfits are hideous and if we go anywhere near an open flame, we're toast. It should be a lot of fun. Pictures to follow!

Rest Day Activities...

2008-10-17T13:19:00.002-06:00

So Linda has opened up the Cafe for us today to just hang out in. It's great! It's a mild 65 degrees outside but it feels COLD due to the last week of high 80's. As I look around, people are occupying themselves with various rest day ventures. Business dealings, thank you notes, anatomy and physiology research, blogging (that would be me), campground sign printing, cooking, tea drinking, general climbing gossip, and Linda is shouting on the phone (she's loud...all the time)! Resting today was an absolute necessity due to the serious nature of our climbing yesterday.

We hit up two crags, the Shady Grove and Bronaugh Wall, both of which stay dry in a downpour (which it did yesterday). Adam Avery, my wonderful beer sponsor, finally arrived in Kentucky and climbed with us and we hit it hard! We only did five pitches but since it was our second day on they felt hard. We did a .12b called Far From God after warming up, brilliant. For me it was the pivotal route, I onsighted all the way to the top, hung out on a jug, rested, and realized "if this thing was 80 feet longer, I'd be fine). My two weeks are up and I finally feet good! Just to prove it to myself, we went to the other wall and I saddled up to a stout little .12c called Belly of the Beast (it wasn't really little, more like 90 feet) with the intention of onsighting it as well (for all the non climbers, an onsight is when you ascend a route without falling, but have absolutely no knowledge whatsoever of the climbing, essentially the hardest type of ascent). Threw it down like a pair of dirty socks!

We've got nothing but gorgeous weather ahead of us for the next five days, guess we'll have to learn to enjoy this darned perfect weather!

Holler Robbery

2008-10-11T09:22:00.002-06:00

We had a very interesting climbing experience yesterday. We could tell once we left the ground on our warm ups that it was a high gravity day (for all the non-climbers, a high gravity day is an as of yet undocumented phenomenon in which all persons climbing in any given geographical region, unexplainable become much much heavier. It probably doesn't really exist but some days you just feel really damned heavy)! I took two runs on Snooker, a super fun .13a in the Motherlode. True to Leif form, I hung, bobbled, clawed, and fell my way up the route on my first go. My second go was infinitely better, surprising even me when I battled my way to the rest just before the anchors. I was tired but knew I had just enough to get to the chains, fighting as hard as I have in a while, I gave one final burst of energy, placed my feet and launched for the finishing jug.... I didn't catch it however, my right foot broke and sent me hurtling out away from the wall screaming f*@$^r"! I was robbed. Climbers say that all the time when they're so close to victory and then fail, but most of the time it's just an excuse for lack of stamina or poor route knowledge. No, not this time, I was truly robbed. I had it in the bag and it was TAKEN from me. Now I'm not bitter, oh no, I'm just fine and dandy with the whole stinking mess. Lindsay had a less than thrilling go on one of her projects to the left of Snooker called 8 Ball. We hung our heads and ran for the car thinking another cliff might be a wise option.

We ended up at the Gallery, a normally popular area but with the big Rocktober Fest this weekend, all the climbers were at the Motherlode watching the nations hardest athletes do battle on the Undertow wall. What happened at the Gallery was unexpected too. Lindsay took three runs on a severely overhanging crack called Break the Scene. That little beauty checks in at .12b, not THAT tough but in hindsight, I did it once, lowered and said "thank God I never have to do that again". Lindsay too fell at the anchors, twice, going for the chains. She waited quietly for about an hour and said "I think I'll have another go...", who was I to argue? She hiked it, crushed, dispatched, just plain ole' flew up the thing. It was inspiring. Which caused me to try the .13b to it's left and after begging to be shot from the pain in my forearms due to said 5.13, feeling the urge to go back up Break the Scene. It took me ten minutes to untie my knot when I got down. In the end, we each did six pitches, which here is like, 600 feet of climbing (we're used to six pitches equaling 300 feet of climbing). We came home exhausted and beaten, Lindsay chalking one up for team Wyoming, the rock still winning in the greater scheme though.

To quench our sorrows (and our thirsts) we drank margaritas last night...we drank a shit load of margaritas! It's noon now and my head is finally starting to feel better; eggs, bacon, potatoes, and water with Emergen-C in it are on the menu. We may see if we can't find a nap or two this afternoon. Tomorrow, we'll head back out into the fray, given that our skin and muscles are ready to be worked over again. Tuesday marks our second week here, by a mutual Red River Gorge climbing belief held by most everyone, two weeks is the break in "magic number" period. Meaning that after two weeks of climbing here, you become much stronger. We'll see....

Ticks, Produce, & The Quest For More Power...

2008-10-08T06:25:00.001-06:00

Ticks. Do I really need to say anything else? The wildlife here in KY is so much different from anything back west. That's really a large part of why I love it here so much, all the different smells, sounds, and sights. But the plants all seem to be harmful in some way and the insects look like they're from Borneo. Which brings me back to the ticks. Lindsay found this TINY little black bug on Amico the other night. "Is that a tick, I think it's a tick" she said. Being the foremost expert on everything outdoors I casually replied, "of course it's not a tick, it's WAY too small". Yet again I was wrong. The ticks here are small, very, very small. And there are many of them, I stress the word many. I think all told we found about 25 on Amico. Turns out they don't like people much and after a few doses of doggy bug dope they'll be all but a memory. Doesn't change the fact that they're still nasty little bastards.

On the upside of life here, we found some really kick ass produce today at the Kroger in Richmond. Nice large Avocados, big Sweet Potatoes, and the best part, they have a running tally of how many products are organic. The grocery stores all try to out-do each other on the count of organic goods...Ah Bliss. I suppose the high quality victuals comes from the insanely fertile soil in the area, hence all the "hollows" one shouldn't go exploring due to the high probability of stumbling upon a ripe cannabis crop. It's common-place here I guess, in Wyoming we have oil, here they have pot, go figure.

We rested today, getting groceries, doing laundry, and resting our aching, aching bodies. We climbed at an area called the Midnight Surf, a new area in the Muir Valley. All the routes are labeled with four or five stars, the highest acclaim a guidebook can give a route. Typically I'm sceptical of those kinds of walls, the chances that ALL the routes are really that good are slim. The Surf though...exceeded all our expectations. Imagine the easiest 5.8 jug haul you've ever been on, now cock it back to 45 degrees and extend it to 110 feet. We had a blast, got pumped out of our minds though. Pumped stupid, to the point where when we lowered to the ground it was hard to form full sentences. We did manage to send a route, just one though. Getting strong here is hard, and takes time. All in all though, enjoyable, and we're making progress, slow but steady. Our new digs make it easy to recover so maybe if the monsoon misses us tomorrow, we'll have another stab at it. Until then...

Home Sweet Home...

2008-10-04T13:17:00.000-06:00

So we're here in Kentucky, with what may be the slowest e-mail connection known to man, I can send a message to the building where the router is at, run to the building, and arrive there before my message does. Okay, maybe it's not quite that bad but it IS slow. That seems to be the only down side of our new digs. We relocated from Miguels on night three. Now we love Miguel, what a great guy! He remembered us and told us to set up shop and help ourselves to whatever we needed. There were these Canadians though... Damned Canadians, always so damned friendly and helpful... They told us about this hidden oasis called Lago Linda's. We'd both heard of this place in the past but I always remembered what people had said about it, "it's a retirement home dude". We decided to check it out after our first day here. It's as close to paradise as you can get in Lee County Kentucky. It's a retired horse farm, 410 acres of beautifully groomed fields and paths, turned climber friendly campground. All the amenities too, big, clean bathrooms, free Wi-Fi, full hookups at all camp sites (water, electric), oh yeah and a nice big lake with boats and fish and frogs and everything! It's awesome.

The real downer is that we've gotten to know the grounds REALLY well. I came down with a nasty sinus/head cold a few days ago and we've been doing more chillin' than climbin'. Tomorrow looks promising though, I'm definitely on the mend and the weather is looking gorgeous. Thus far we've only checked out reletively new crags (at least to us anyway). These smaller, less travelled hollows seem to be the real deal. Drive By, The Gallery, Muir Valley, all really great walls with loads of super fun routes. There have been 300 plus routes put up since the last guide came out and even our new guide book is outdated. We've been supplimenting it each day from www.redriverclimbing.com which has been a God-send. And true to form, the routes here are still steeper than anything back home and still pack all the fun pumpy goodness they did before. Tomorrow we head for the Midnight Surf wall to check out what are being called "instant classics" by all who've done them. Jug, throw, jug, throw, etc, etc, etc. Was getting back in shape always this hard?

Chicago

2008-09-19T06:49:00.004-06:00

Well Lin and I just got back from Chicago on Wednesday night, sort of the fancy part of our honeymoon. Wayne and Darlene put us up at The Sofitel at Water Tower, Google it if you have a minute. We checked out some amazing food, crazy people, and a monstrous city (it's like the third largest in the US). We saw the Art Institute which was VERY cool for me since it houses many of the paintings I studied in college art courses. We also hit up the Field Museum, amazing to say the least. I finally got to see the lions from the movie The Ghost & The Darkness. They're featured in the African Mammals section, they killed over 140 railroad workers trying to push the iron horse through Africa. They're big and kinda scary looking, way cool.

We party down this weekend at our reception here in Wisconsin, then next week, we gear up for destination #1. We're not sure if it's going to be Southern Illinois or The Red, weather dependant, and apparently it's a booger to try and navigate a river crossing to check out the So Ill stuff. We've been trying to "train" here in the gym, what a struggle! I'm sure you can imagine what it must be like trying to climb on plastic, with 80% humidity outside, 68 degrees, and not a lot of air flow. Good training. We certainly don't feel like we're getting much stronger but it's better than not climbing for a month. In Chicago, a man in a wheel chair rolled by us and said "keep smiling, you got a Charlies Angel right there, yeah, keep smiling"... Sweet...

The Hillary Step...

2008-09-04T07:02:00.002-06:00

So for all the climbers, you guys know that famous photo of the two guys roped up climbing the Hillary step on Everest and the rope is blowing out straight sideways....that's what the first belay on Hollywood & Vine was like yesterday. To start the day off, we got really BAD beta on route finding from Rockclimbing.com. The route they said existed and was awesome was only a couple of old 1/4 inch button heads and not good at all. Finally we got to the belay, and the wind was pushing Lindsay off her stance. The 10c pitch looked glorious but we would have finished the day divorced if I had gone on to lead the 166 foot monster. We retreated around the corner to the more sheltered Soler.
For those of you who haven't done Soler or haven't climbed at Devils Tower, let me let you in on a little secret....that shit is sandbagged! By far the most exhausting and trying lead of my life. I was laughing the whole way up but I was gripped and tired to the point of puking by the time I got to the hanging belay. I am not a trad master, I fancy myself one as I sit in the chair looking at pictures of heinously thin finger cracks. When it comes down to the off fingers and off hands cracks and smeary feet for 160 feet, I kinda suck. I did it clean and it TOTALLY went on my 8a card but DAMN! We bailed after that and hit the road, we're currently kicking it at Al's Oasis in Chamberlain SD. We may hit up La Crosse this afternoon for some midwest sandstone if it's not raining, otherwise, we plan to sit in the car for 6-9 hours. I hate driving in the midwest, it's flat, there's lots of trucks, and not a damn thing to look at. But beyond the midwest lies...The Southeast....

Getting Ready

2008-09-01T09:06:00.000-06:00

Hello and welcome to Lin and I's blog spot. We're trying this out so that we can keep everyone updated on where we're at and what we're doing. Check back often for updates on current and future destinations. To get things started, we rocked BJ and Emily's wedding this weekend, had a BLAST! Today it's rainy, kinda gloomy, overcast, perfect...fall's in the air! On the agenda today is our final packing, getting the camper set up just so, double checking we have enough gear and decks of cards. Tomorrow we head east, most likely to Devils Tower to plug some gear. A day or two there at most, Dad may come over and hang out for a bit which would be awesome. We are so excited to finally be on the open road. We'll try and post as often as possible, a.k.a. wherever we get a wireless signal (can you still park in Holiday Inn lots and get service)? We'll see you soon... Adios!