Salt Lake City, UT

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The Mormon settlers believed this to be their promised land.  I’m not sure I can say that, but damn if it hasn’t been a fun five days here.  I’m headed over to tour the Black Diamond factory before heading back to Vegas in just a bit, so this has to be brief- mostly to say, good times with good people.

After skiing on Tuesday I went for a walk and settled in for an excellent and cheap latte at a place called Coffee World near 9th and 9th.  Trendier than I care for, but quality coffee is important for the soul.  I also did some “shoe modifications” to address some of the issues I’ve been having with my feet.

Sometimes you just have to make some space for your baggage.

Wednesday morning I was very privileged to attend a training session at a very unique gym. For those of you who know, you can correctly expect that I am still sore.  I look forward to returning to this place as it is allowed.

A privilege I felt very fortunate to be included in.

I spent Wednesday afternoon in a tree dialing in some aid climbing skills I will likely need in a few weeks.  It was gorgeous out, and frankly I loved the fact that no one really found it strange to see a guy suspended 20′ in the air in a tree in a public park.

Dialing the skills you read about is essential, even if you don't have a cliff to work with.

Wednesday night I met up with a good friend from my NOLS course in 2007 who lives here and works with behaviorally challenged youth.  Bryce is one of the most upstanding dudes I know.  A walking example of integrity and kindness.  We were able to spend some time on the granite crags in Little Cottonwood Canyon with Bryce’s friend John on Thursday afternoon.  I was extremely pleased with both the quality of the climbing and the companionship.

Few finer things than being outside with fine people.

Granite is just around the corner, along with the limestone, quartzite, ice climbing, and skiing in Little Cottonwood canyon.

I’m headed south this morning to meet a friend from Portland in Vegas.  It seems to be the spot where partners, weather, and pitches all line up.  More on the upcoming plans soon.  Thanks for reading!

Skiing, Round 2

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This was supposed to be a rock climbing trip.  It wasn’t supposed to flood in Moab, or be 40 and snowing in Salt Lake City, but sometimes you make the best of what you are given.  Jordan and I got a few pitches in Big Cottonwood Canyon on Sunday afternoon, but weather Sunday night and Monday left the granite of Little Cottonwood a cold, wet mess, and our host Thomas steered us back into town for a long session at RockReation, a great little gym behind the Black Diamond Equipment headquarters. Today we woke up to snow on the ground here at the house in downtown Salt Lake, and the ski report said there was a foot of fresh and more on the way.  Jordan flew out this morning and I figured if there was a good time to get some of Utah’s finest, today was it.

The departure of an awesome partner...

After my airport run, I headed up Big Cottonwood in a full snowstorm.  Suddenly, I was quite glad I brought my chains (I had seriously debated leaving them home!).  My left foot still hurts doing most things, but I had tried on my ski boots before I left the house, and it seemed like I had a chance.  I geared up, met an older guy parked next to me named “Little Jeff”, and we skinned up the Brighton resort terrain.  One foot of fresh might have been an understatement.  My foot didn’t start hurting until we neared the top of the resort, and it doesn’t really hurt to lunge in my tele setup anymore- so I have high hopes for more ski touring and mountaineering this spring!  Jeff and I changed over and took off downhill.  About halfway to the car he decided to head back up, but the terrain was safe and my foot was done, so I got a few solo turns in and called it a day.  Stoked to get in as much as I did, but I’ll be taking it easy this afternoon.  Skander: 1, Foot surgery: 1.

Not a bad day to ski for the first time since February.

Castleton Tower: Kor-Ingalls, III 5.9 Off-width

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There are those things that inspire us, but I believe that inspiration is of little value without action.  As we rolled into Moab, I realized that we had an opportunity to act on something that has inspired me for a long time.  Castleton Tower is a well known sandstone tower about 25 miles east of Moab, Utah.  You’ve probably seen pictures of it without even knowing.  I’ve often confused it with the pinnacles of Monument Valley, AZ, but the towers of Castle valley are more closely grouped, and the area is ringed by denser, and more striking sandstone walls.  The scene is difficult to describe, but the new camera helps.

My climbing of late has been fraught with more insecurity than I’d like to admit to.  I know that much of it has to do with the considerable amount of pain still present in the surgery site on my left foot, and now new and increasing pains from the bunion on my right foot that the doctor was surprised hadn’t been giving me trouble.  Perhaps I’m scared that my resolve to climb is weak, that I’m doing permanent damage to my feet, or that these plans, and this trip that I’ve been so excited about, might have to change form significantly as a result.  Jordan and I had planned to goto Indian Creek, the world famous crack climbing area, but on our way to Moab, we discussed the amount of crack climbing required, and the considerable pain associated with foot jamming (a common technique extremely useful and secure in crack climbing).  It just didn’t make sense to drive another 2 hours to a place that I may not be able to climb in, so we started looking closer to Moab.

I didn’t know that Castleton Tower was so close to Moab, but I also did surprisingly little research in what I wanted to climb before I left Portland.  Glancing through the guidebook I saw the route, and got excited.  I had never done a Layton Kor route, but the legendary Colorado climber put up hundreds of famous first ascents during the 1960‘s, and the routes are known for being “full value”- meaning a solid amount of physical and mental challenge.  When the friendly guys at Pagan Mountaineering mentioned free camping at the base, it was the obvious choice.  The forecast looked good and we boogied out to the tower.

I normally would have considered the route well within my abilities, but have a healthy respect for old school ratings and knew I’d be doing all the leading. Jordan doesn’t lead on traditional gear, doesn’t have a lot of self rescue skills, and it’s hard to bail off if you only take one rope. The risks started to weigh on me, but we met another group around the campfire on Thursday night, and realized with the popularity of the route we would be in good company even on a Friday.  The next morning we left around 6:30, 15 minutes or so after Barry and Dave, and the excitement started to rise as we hiked up to the tower.

The first pitch is a tight chimney, and even though the clouds had cleared out it was still quite cold inside.  The tower is coated in calcite, a slippery white mineral, giving the climbing a slick, risky feeling despite a mellow grade.  Jordan elected to bring his nice camera up the route, but quickly realized that hanging the pack below him was both necessary and frustrating.

When I got to the second pitch, both Barry and Dave were there, we had not expected to catch them- until I noticed that most of Dave’s right pinky finger was missing.  He had taken a 15′ whipper off the beginning of the second pitch and tore his finger open on a crystal.  It’s an odd feeling to see someone bleeding and bailing off the route while telling you to go climb it.  The thing was only supposed to be 5.8 (moderate climbing for those that don’t know), so I knew it was time to get up and on it.  The first pitch was 140′, and with Dave and Barry rapping off, our chance to bail went with them.  Needless to say, I took the second pitch very seriously.

Psyched to be on route.

After finishing the second pitch, my feet were screaming.  Painful to the touch, I had my shoes off as soon as I put Jordan on belay.  There was another team coming up behind us, and I debated asking them to trail our rope, or let us bail.  The thoughts sickened me, I didn’t want to bail, I did want to lead the climb in good style to the top of the tower, and my feet were tanked.  The crux 5.9 offwidth above me was an ugly hole laughing down at me.  Jordan and I talked through the options.  I had a vicodin in my back pocket and suspected it would take the edge off the pain well enough to keep me moving upwards.  I thought about all the training I’ve done this year, all the times I’ve heard my body ask me to stop, and that I answered ‘no’.  I refused to give up.  I took the pill, took the rack and led off the ledge.

It was a battle.  The #5 cam I had borrowed was hilariously inadequate, but I was grateful for two retro-bolts to protect moves that I could only do via lie-backing.  I got stuck.  I had to re-rack my gear.  I had to downclimb and re-climb part of the pitch- but I did not take on the rope and I did not give up.  Full value seems appropriate.

Jordan fights the off-width battle.

The last pitch was short and easy.  The summit was gorgeous, and I felt more satisfied than I have been in a long time.  This might be the coolest thing I have ever climbed.  Many thanks to Jordan for being a great partner, climbing the route quickly and clean, and for taking some great photos (and helping me edit the ones you are looking at).

Summit. Booyah.

We made fast friends on top and rapped off in short order down the chilly north face.  Mac and Cheese rarely tastes as good as it did last night.

Headed down.

“When you aren’t sure where to go next, further is usually the right answer.”

Betting Odds- Addendum

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(I wrote most of this Wednesday driving across Utah)

The past few days haven’t been good for fully explaining the range of events on this trip.    I like working on this blog, and haven’t gotten to share as many thoughts as I would like.  The previous description of my car adventure left out several important details due to a lack of time in writing the post, and lack of battery power on my computer.  Editing the blog is possible from my phone, but only while I have cell service, which is spotty here in southern Utah.  I’ve got a lot of catching up to do, so I’ll try to share a few more photos to break up the text.

Utah Hwy 24 is not the fastest way to get to Moab, but is highly recommended.

The previous entry tells the story pretty well up to Sunday afternoon, when the tow truck dropped us off at the campground and took off with my car for destination unknown (the repair shop).  It was an odd feeling, to watch this machine (the car) that is so essential to this part of my current journey get towed away.  During the extraction of the car from the bush, I had been so focused on the task at hand that I didn’t really have time to emote the frustration and sadness related to the experience.  As I mentioned, for a few hours, my morale bottomed out.  It was hot, my car and possibly my trip was seriously off plan, and I have to give a shout out to Jordan for being a staunch companion and good friend.  We played with the new camera, talked things through, and he was an essential part of getting me back on my feet.  Jordan has a great talent for simply letting things go. As I mentioned in the first post of this blog, letting go of the baggage that does not matter is what this journey is about, and it’s been fun to realize that my partner for these first two weeks has so much to offer as an example for that lesson.

Very good odds to have great companions.

As I also mentioned, we hitched a ride back out to climb later than afternoon, and while my lead head was fairly shot, it felt good to get in a few easy pitches at the sport climbing area.  The climbing was easy, moving upwards on the perfect pocketed sandstone felt calming after the events of the morning.  Monday, after talking to the garage, taking stock of things, and a kettlebell workout to get my mind convinced of my body’s capacity for work, we regrouped and I finally started to really believe that frankly- if this is the worst thing that happens on this trip, I will have done very well.

The previous post also didn’t discuss the title.  Lots of people talk about their odds in Vegas, obviously with regard to the gambling.  In my case, I have to allow it seems like bad odds to hit a rock and destroy my oil pan.  Bad odds to need a variety of expensive services not covered by AAA or my auto insurance.  Bad odds that these previous circumstances severely limited the amount of climbing we were able to do while in Red Rocks.  I let these circumstances degrade my experience of that place (thought I do have to allow that I stayed relatively optimistic throughout our time there), and that is simply unfortunate.

More importantly, I have to consider just how good our odds were.  That we didn’t puncture the oil pan further from the road.  That there were cactus in just the right places to set up an appropriate pulley system.  That we got an awesome tow truck operator with a great sense of humor and strong determination to get us out of our situation.  That we found other climbers more than happy to help us with everything from rides to charging cell phones, to watching our stuff.  That we found an unbelievable family (with a cop behind the wheel no less), who passed us on the highway and turned around to come pick us up and take us directly where we wanted to go, in time to salvage some of our climbing day and part of our experience.  I mentioned Ray and Denise in the previous post, but need to thank them again.  They picked us up because they felt it was an essential duty as born-again Christians.  You can follow Denise and her family as they walk the true Christian walk, here.  It was refreshing to connect with people through their charity, despite the differences in our beliefs.  They asked some important questions regarding my journey that I hope to address as part of this journey.

Canyon country is a most unique cathedral.

Tuesday, with the car, gear, and itinerary back in order, we decided to stay one additional day in Vegas in order to do a little bit of the climbing that had originally inspired me to include Red Rocks on my itinerary.  As we discussed our objectives, I discussed big crack systems and traditional climbing protection, inserted and removed by the climbers as they pass over the terrain (most of our climbing to this point has been on sport routes with bolted protection).  Jordan has limited experience with this type of climbing, and while it is what I hope to focus on for the rest of the trip, I realized I hadn’t led more than 5 trad route since foot surgery.  We warmed up on two easy 5.7 pitches, which despite a crowd of other climbers, went easily.  We headed for the shade and the ultra-classic Dark Shadows route and sent the first four pitches (the most classic part) easily as well.  I’m calmer on lead above my gear, but still have a lot of work to do in recognizing the right sizes to get gear in quickly.  Rappeling off the route however, I started to get distracted with some serious foot pain on both feet.  My old surgery site, and the bunion growing on my right big toe.  I’m worried about the implications this could have for my continued activities.

From the belay ledge on pitch 3 of "Dark Shadows", Pine Creek Canyon, Red Rocks. This climb was Jordan's first real multipitch trad route.

We left Vegas yesterday morning and stopped a few hours later in Zion National Park in southern Utah.  A place I’ve always wanted to go, and a place full of serious, committing climbing.  Looking at the walls, I felt both inspired and scared.  Jordan and I jogged most of the trail up to Angels Landing in the mid afternoon, and took the bus to the end of the road to catch a glimpse of the famous narrows canyon.  My new camera started to prove it’s value, and our trip felt back on track.

Enjoy a few photos from our hike to Angels Landing in Zion National Park!

Betting Odds

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In some ways I’d say my odds in Vegas this time around were fairly bad.  In others, I’d say they were really quite good.

From the previous facebook and blog posts, some readers might know that this whole life thing has made climbing a lot more interesting, or non-existent in the past few days.  My computer hard drive crashed last Thursday in Bishop, so blog posts have been short and rare as posting them from my phone can be maddening.  Friday we enjoyed a humbling day on the worlds toughest boulder problems in Bishop.  Saturday we rolled south to Las Vegas, with a few photos taken along the way.

We got to Vegas around noon and had a few errands to run.  Trader Joes for groceries, The Apple Store for a new hard drive, and a local camera shop for a new Canon s95.  Everyone has said I’ll be too many cool places on this trip not to shoot some photos on a better camera, and I finally gave in.  In light of the following events, I’m proud to say I’m still happy about the decision despite the financial implications.

I’ve been dying to get on “Dream of Wild Turkeys” since hearing my buddy Pat rave about it- 10 pitches of classic Red Rocks climbing in a remote setting.  The campground was full when we pulled in late Saturday afternoon, but we made friends fast with a British guy named Dave who was kind enough to let us share his site.  He also had the beta on the route, but decline to offer much beta on the approach.  He mentioned that an early start was recommended due to the popularity of the route.

Jordan and I prepared carefully on Saturday night and got out the campground at 5:30am on Sunday morning.  We followed the guidebook approach directions carefully and found the dirt road we expected.  Approach roads for climbing routes are often difficult and this one was no exception, but the psyche was high and the judgement was low in the early morning hour.  We had our doubts but the direction in the guidebook matched what we saw on the road and we continued through increasingly worse terrain.  We finally got the car stuck at the bottom of a rough wash a few miles out from the paved road.  We turned around but couldn’t make it back out.  We unloaded the car and made another go of it- turns out 600lbs of climbing and camping gear affects both acceleration and ground clearance.  We got out of the wash, reloaded the car and headed back towards pavement.

Even taking it slow, I managed to hit something, hard.  The oil light came on, we took a look under the car and saw the contents of my oil pan making a fast exit.  It was 6am.  We drove until the engine quit, and coasted just past the crest of a hill above a wash about 400 yards from paved road.  Shit.  There were two large washes (low spots on the gravel road) between us and about 150 yards of smooth gravel connecting to the highway.  We were so close, and yet so far.  I called AAA and described the situation, but they were only willing to send someone out if I was willing to say it was within 100 yards of the pavement.  We had to get the car to the bottom of the second wash to get help.  Otherwise, we were screwed.

The severity of the situation settled in.  You can’t run a diesel without oil, you will destroy the engine.  I know no one in Vegas to help.  Two guys can’t push a car uphill.  We had to get to the bottom of the second wash to warrant any chance of getting help from AAA.  We unloaded the car again (everything- skis, ropes, clothes, kettlebell, food, books, spare tire– everything), and pushed the car into the second wash.  We got about 5 feet up the other side of the wash and I popped the E-brake to hold our progress.  We tried pushing, but lost ground quickly.  We brainstormed other ideas for getting help, and we realized that no one we would find could help us unless we made it to the bottom of the second wash- just below the smooth gravel road out.

Lacking any better ideas and knowing we had to get the car up the hill and into the next wash, I built a pulley system to try hauling the car uphill.  We found a study Joshua tree cactus and tried a 3:1 system using an extra length of my tag/rappel line (many thanks to my parents for the Christmas gift of the 100m spool).  I could barely hold the car in place while Jordan popped the E-brake and pushed and steered.  We added the slackline webbing to make a 6:1 and started getting the car uphill.  We were in business.

Getting back in business. More photos soon.

We found a second stand of cactus and moved the car further.  As we closed in on the crest of the hill, two mountain bikers came down the trail and gave us a push.  We rolled it all the way to the second wash.  Booyah.  I called AAA, the agreed to send a flatbed with a winch.  The mountain bikers took off.  Jordan and I started ferrying gear to the smooth gravel.  Did I mention we packed too much stuff?  Ash, the tow truck driver was about as great a guy as you could ask for, and once he found us (took a while), was generous with his time in getting us out.  We loaded the gear back into the car for a trip to the campsite.  Once on the road, he informed me that his boss was requiring me to pay $250 for the “off-road” portion of the extrication not covered by my AAA.  Awesome, but whatever.  I knew we were in deep.

Ash agreed to take us out of the way (for free!) and drop us at the campsite with our gear, then take the car to “The Auto Shop”- which he felt was the most honest place in town.  At 12:30pm he dropped us at the campsite, we unloaded all the gear off the car, and he took off to leave the car at the garage.  My morale bottomed out.  We waited.  Later that afternoon four married women let us hitch a ride in to get a few pitches of sport climbing with them.  Awesome.

7am Monday morning I talked to the garage.  Ash had described the problem, they knew what was going on, and could do the work that day.  Even over the phone I realized I was dealing with a professional shop, and felt like the car was in good hands.  8am they called me, the damage was significantly more than the $500 I had budgeted for a major car repair on this trip.

9am we hitched back to shoot some running and hiking photos.

1pm the car, and my computer were fixed and we hitched a ride into town.  Ray and Denise and your boys are awesome!

2pm we were back in the car and rolling.  The Auto Shop even washed the car for me.

The rest of the story, and photos come later- sorry, but internet time is very limited these days.  Thanks for following.

Bishop- Intermezzo… a.k.a. Smackdown

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In 5 hours of bouldering I’ve never been shut down on so many v0 and v1 problems.
I rewarded my weak bouldering performance with my first in-field kettlebell workout, which was surprisingly awful after 10 days away from the kook-aid.
And then the incessant washboard roads caught up with the Jetta. At least it’s lighter now?

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Bishop, California- Prelude

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I’m not exactly sure why I wanted to come to Bishop- bouldering and sport climbing aren’t my strongest climbing styles but after a few days of being here, this place simply blows me away. The locals are friendly, the camping is cheap, and the climbing is second to none. We arrived just after sunset on Tuesday night and set camp at the pit. Wednesday morning we rambled around the happy boulders with our jaws on the ground in awe of the number, quality, and variety of problems. We also got served a huge slice of humble pie- it’s easy to see why people come here to get strong. Our hands were wrecked before noon, so we checked out town and went for a walk around the buttermilk boulders. It was surprisingly windy and cold so our motivation for more climbing was low. Later in the afternoon we stopped by the approach to the Owens river gorge on our way to some reported hot springs. There are a lot of dirt roads and cattle guards in the area around the green church hot springs, and we just might have explored them all. After lots of U-turns, a conversation with a very drunk hippie, and a long phone call to my buddy Pat, we found some hot springs. They weren’t that hot and the wind was really cold, but we needed a dip to vindicate the effort, and because neither of us had showered since leaving Portland.
Today found us at the Owens river gorge clipping bolts and basking in the sun. I was pleased at my ability to on-site through all of the 5.10 grades, and we both enjoyed projecting some harder stuff as well. The camera stayed in the bag while we just enjoyed the unbelievably high quality routes in the central gorge. After climbing, Jordan took a few photos of me cooking dinner. He sells these kinds of photos to stock agencies and the general public see them in publications like Outside magazine and REI. These companies are selling the experience that he and I are enjoying. Or to put it more bluntly- I’m living this life that other people would pay for. Sometimes you know when you are doing it right.

In other news I had a ROM failure in my computer hard drive and will be blogging from my phone exclusively until I can hopefully get a new hard drive through AppleCare at the Mac store in. Las Vegas. Please excuse the typos and lack of photos!

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Alturas, California

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On the road and heading south with Jordan! After a great one day stop in Portland, the excitement of new places and people make every horizon feel fresh. We stopped at Crater Lake National Park (still buried in snow), and found a spot to camp just across the California state line near a town called Alturas. We found squat camping at the national wildlife refuge, even better sunset views and Jordan put on a first class dirtbag meal of hotdogs, baked beans and PBR. Welcome to roadlife…
Headed down to Bishop, CA today and hopefully in time to make friends and boulder tonight. This is one of the parts of the trip I’ve been looking forward to the most. In October 2007 I took a really important roadtrip from Portland to Prescott, AZ and we travelled through the same part of the country. It’s cool to revisit this place and consider the person I was at that time, and who I am now. The progression is both humbling and fulfilling to see. Needless to say that progression doesn’t look like what I thought it might then, but that’s actually a really good thing.

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Kids these days

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Thursday was about climbing. Friday was about falling. Went out with my friend Art from Portland rock gym and a few of his friends. Art is 30, I’m 26, and his friends can’t legally get into a bar yet. That doesn’t stop them from setting the bar quite high. Mid 11s and low 12s were on the docket and after a week here at Smith some airtime was in order. The first fall was a half hearted affair, but when my foot didn’t complain, it was time to go for it. We’ll see what today brings.