Indian Creek. Well, well, where should I begin? When I first met Chelsea, she was always talking about this place. Obsessively. All she could think about was when the next time would be that she could return and try all her favorite climbs again. She would show any interested party her pictures from the Creek, be it me, my dog or a nearby coffee cup that was wondering what the Creek was all about. Surely, I would love this place too! I mean it’s Chelsea and it seems that we love all the same things (except of course, for oranges). I was so excited when we loaded up the car with a bunch of friends from Cal Poly and headed to Indian Creek for Spring break this past March. That excitement lasted until I got on our very first climb at the Creek, Generic Crack. I absolutely flailed. I had no idea what to do and I could barely make it up 20 feet before giving up. The problem was, that Indian Creek is all splitter cracks. That means that the sandstone has one uniform crack running from top to bottom and the face surface is smooth and featureless. I was used to climbing on holds- slopers, crimps, jugs. When climbing cracks, however, you are not climbing what is there, you are climbing what is not there. The object is to fill the empty space (the crack) with your fingers, hands, fists and shoes. It seemed effortless for everyone else, but I could do nothing. I resorted to lying back every climb I did.
Dropped my sports bra into the toilet. Thankfully the toilet was free from anything but water.
Drive into Indian Creek, set up camp
Follow three climbs, no falls!
November 1, Day 2
Epic on a finger crack, hike back to the car for more gear
Burritos for dinner
November 2, Day 3
Feel a familiar sensation. Hard to identify at first. Ah yes, warmth. We are climbing in sports bras, in November. Quite nice.
November 3, Day 4
Time for a rest day. Crack climbing is very demanding. Very productive day of crash pad repair, letter writing, hemp bracelet making, re-taping of cams, helmet decorating, tanning, chocolate pudding and mac and cheese consumption.
Head to Alan and Dana’s campsite for roasted marshmallows and engaging conversation.
 |
| My helmet is a unicorn |
 |
| Chelsea's is a tiger |
November 4, Day 5
Drive to the top of hill, discover cell phone signal
Find out Giants won World Series, yes!
Wish Shannon a Happy Birthday
Climb at Blue Gramma, where #dogs=#humans
Go to bed before the sun
November 5, Day 6
Drive to Canyonlands National Park and refill water jugs
Discover ice cream at little outpost store, 11 AM is not too early for an ice cream sandwich
Walk up and down to climbing areas, lots of people ☹, complete 1 climb
Hang out with Alan and Dana, inspiration strikes, although the subject of said inspiration is a secret until further notice
November 6, Day 7
Wake up early to attempt Coyne Crack
Chelsea rocks it
I follow it and enjoy relative success!
First Indian Creek lead- 30 ft 5.9+ yee yee
Talk with some cool guys from Spain
Climb a rad line called Battle of the Bulge
November 7, Day 8
Banana chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast
Try to lead Cave Route, fail, Chelsea finishes
Chelsea’s hands are all oozy, head for ice cream
Last day of summer? Try to set up rain shelter for cooking and get our tan on while we can, weather report says snow
Get woken up by our friends Dan and Max, who we met in Maple. They inform us that daylight savings time has occured and we went to bed at 8 PM not 9. Darn.
November 8, Day 9
Rest day in Moab!
chelsea rocked coin craCK!!!! yayayayyay!!!! I knew she would :)
ReplyDeleteAnd laura, i knew you would rock at indian creek this fall!! glad to hear it's getting better! I'm proud!
Missed you guys at J tree. Can't wait for chels to lead allusion dweller for me!!!