Waterworks birthday hike. Richer for sure.

Older, wiser… whatever.  Looking at my life on my 28th birthday, the most important thing that I can say is that my life is richer.  I have no doubts about the quality of people that I spent Friday night with, or the remainder of my weekend.  The over-committed state of my life hit hard on Monday morning, but frankly, that’s okay with me for now.

The Super Nova at Big Dipper Ice Cream. Feeds 9 easily.

Sometimes, birthdays entail more than one dessert, and sometimes I’m okay with that.

The roommates did not miss the occasion.

I had lined up plans to chase one more long alpine line on Saturday with Ky, but the weather did not cooperate.  Intermittent drizzle and dark skies meant that Ky and I were out to rescue some gear he had left on a route in Blodgett Canyon earlier this week.  That said, it was a perfect use of the day, and we came back with all the gear he lost, plus some.

Maybe grey skies make the fall colors stand out even more?

We hiked to the top of Shoshone, found significantly colder, windier conditions on the valley floor, and rapped into get the gear.  Unlike the last time Amanda let me steal Ky for the day, I got him home in time for dinner.

Just playing with the rock toys.

I finally got to the birthday workout on Sunday morning, and then headed out to share my love of the vertical with several close friends that were new to the ropes.  Jake tied in for the very first time ever, Emily ticked her second lead ever, and Tabby was just all good energy all afternoon.  I should probably pay attention to how much I enjoy teaching climbing to other people…

We are slowly introducing Jake to all the dark backcountry arts.

Clark Fork at Alberton, October 14, 2012. Perfect.

No, I didn’t send anything hard, but the day was a beautiful reminder that it is often the climbers more than the climbing, that make this facet of my life just so rich.