The Drive

Last Monday I left San Luis Obispo for my big drive out to Minnesota for my summer internship with Wilderness Inquiry.  I was fortunate enough to have the company of Eric for the first part of the journey, and I took advantage of my passenger by making him drive almost the whole way to Utah.  The first day of our drive was very uneventful as we suffered through the Bad B's- Bakersfield, Boron, and Barstow.  Bleh.  We woke up early the next morning psyched to gun it to Utah for some bouldering at Joe's Valley. We got sidetracked however, when we passed the sign for Kolob Canyons.  Feeling adventurous, we decided to stop.  Fortunately I had a Utah guidebook that pointed us in the direction of some climbing.  We hiked up the canyon and got on Last Rites, a 5.10d, thin, arching crack.  It was a delicate struggle, with very tiny/limited feet.

Thin, arching crack.  Hard!

We then ventured further into the canyon and saw a wall full of amazing looking climbs!  They were all covered in huge huecos that went on for over a hundred feet up the wall!  We jumped on the shortest looking one because we weren't sure that our rope was long enough for the rest of the climbs.  It turned out to be one of the most fun rock climbs I have ever done.  Eric and I both led it, and both enjoyed taking long rests by sitting inside the big huecos.  All the holds were HUGE, but the wall was slightly overhanging which made for a good pump.

Eric resting in a hueco

Coming down

Me resting

We then decided to try one of the longer climbs- a 14 bolt, very over hanging line.  Eric led it, and after a long rest in a hueco, he sent it!  At the top of the climb, someone had written 'Namaste,' which is the name of the route, listed as 5.12a in our book.  I followed the climb and experienced more pump than I have felt in a looong time.  The movement was so much fun!  Our 70 meter rope was just long enough to make it back to the ground from the top.  Another classic, Huecos Rancheros 5.12c, sat just to the left, but we decided to save that for another day.

Kolob Canyons

After our detour, we headed to Joe's.  I only got to stay for a day and a half, but the weather stayed great (it was supposed to rain, but was instead sunny!).  In the short time I was there I got on a bunch of fun things.  I managed to put down another V5, Reading Rainbow, and send a really fun, classic V4 called Pimpin' Jeans.  I also tried some harder classics including Chips V7, Wills a Fire V6, and Big Joe V7.  I enjoyed making moves on these climbs and can't wait to get back to put more time in on them.

The Angler V2. Joe's Valley

Unfortunately, I had a lot more driving to do, so I had to hit the road again.  I headed for Denver and experienced an intense rain storm that forced me to pull off short of my goal.  The next day, I headed to Boulder and met up with Wade, a friend from Cal Poly who has been living there for a few months.  We headed out to Boulder Canyon and did a couple climbs.  We weren't really prepared for the freezing wind so we called it quits after a quick session.  Then it was back on the road for a few more hours to North Platte, Nebraska.

Wade on top of one of the funny climbs we did

In the morning, I headed through Nebraska to Vermillion, South Dakota to visit my old roommate Ryan!  Nebraska was pretty boring, and flat, but it allowed me to get very good gas mileage at least.  It was great to see Ryan and the tiny town of Vermillion where he is getting his PhD.  After lunch, it was back in the car.  Pretty soon I was in Minnesota!  I got to Minneapolis yesterday and headed for Dinkytown (yea, that's really what it's called), where I will be living.

I pulled my bike out of the car, went to the bike shop and got a map, and then rode my bike to Target Field for the Twins game.  I love baseball games, but it sure wasn't the same as a Giants game!  Next I rode to the climbing gym to check it out.  It is pretty fancy, but has a reasonably priced student membership, so I will consider joining.  It might be good for me to gym climb again for a while, so I could work on my fitness and endurance.  I also asked some of the employees about climbing in the area.  They told me about several sport climbing places that I will have to check out.

River

Biking to the baseball game.  This whole thing is a dedicated bike path!

Target Field

Dinkytown is right by the University of Minnesota, so I checked that out a bit today (and got lost and rode my bike in circles for a long time).  Minneapolis is SUPER bike friendly (apparently the #1 most bike friendly city in America?).  There are lots of dedicated bike trails, which is awesome.  The people seem really friendly too, one girl let me follow her through town to the bike trail and told me how to get back from the climbing gym yesterday, which was nice.  So far two people have asked where I am interning, and both have said "how cool!" when I told them WI.  The girl from the bike trail said she works with youth and they did a canoeing trip with WI last summer.

A building on the U of M campus

Lots of old looking, pretty brick buildings

Nice Ride station where you can rent a bike!  You can then return it at any other location throughout the city

A Nice Ride Bike.  I think they should include Nice Helmets

A sculpture on campus

A museum

Ok, well that's it for now!  I hope to update my blog throughout the summer, but unfortunately it probably won't be much about climbing.  I am so psyched and in climbing mode now after the amazing climbing I've been doing for the past month!  It will be hard to transition to going to work everyday, but I think I will have an awesome time :)  

Just What the Doctor Ordered

Patient’s Symptoms: cranky, irritable, low psych, stress, confusion

Rx: Utah sandstone, take daily for 1 month, or until symptoms stop

Wow.  Now that was a climbing trip.  Not only was it a climbing trip, but it was exactly what I needed after finishing school.  For the past month, I sampled some of Utah’s finest sandstone, moving from Indian Creek splitters, to Moe’s Valley’s colorful and interesting boulders, to Joe’s Valley’s diverse, perfect blocks.  It was an amazing trip and it left me feeling better than I’ve been in a long time. 

Cool rock at Moe's Valley

 So you heard about the Creek, which was basically the warm-up for the trip.  Chelsea and I got back into climbing mode, enjoyed living the desert life, avoided getting melted by the intense sunshine and got our butts kicked on many classic climbs.  Then it was time to switch to bouldering mode.

I had never been to Moe’s Valley and I was super excited after looking at the guidebook and seeing all the 3-star moderates.  I was also excited that we could set up camp and walk to the boulders every day, which made for a very laid back week full of fun climbing.  Moe’s Valley was our transition back into bouldering mode and not too much sending actually went down while we were there.  There were way too many awesome things to try which meant starting a ton of projects and finishing very few.  My favorite project was Schezuan Chicken, an awesome V5 that included a knee bar!  I worked it a lot but didn’t end up getting the send.  Next time!  As temps started creeping into the 80’s and friction started decreasing, we decided it was time to move on to Joe’s Valley.

Eric on Gription V9

Chelsea on One Eyed Willy V3

Me on Schezuan Chicken

We arrived in Joe’s to find perfect temperatures and unparalleled psych.  I have literally never been so excited to go climbing.  We spent our first three days in Joe’s climbing all day long, from morning until dinner.  Every problem we got on was stellar.  My skin stayed awesome and I felt like I could climb forever.  It wasn’t crowded, in fact we were alone at almost area we went to.  Chelsea got into bouldering mode like I’ve never seen before!  She usually isn’t too psyched on boulders, but she was completely into it and sent her first V5!  It was a sweet little climb called Pockadoodle, and I was really excited to be able to flash it.  I also got to send my first V6!  It was called Cue Ball and it consisted of a big move out to a pocket, and then a very technical topout on really thin crimpers.  In the same area, I repeated Mono e Mono, a V5 that I did on our last trip to Joe’s.  Eric repeated Finger Hut V10, and sent some other cool lines like Coal Mind V9, Water Paintings V7, and Boux Sit V7. 

Joe's Valley Reservoir

Eric on Finger Hut V10

Eric on Water Paintings V7

Things must have been too good to be true, because after our third day of climbing we woke up to snow.  It didn’t matter much because it was supposed to be our rest day anyway, but when we drove into town and checked the weather, it forcasted precipitation for several more days.  With sandstone, you have to let the rock dry for awhile before you climb on it or you risk breaking it.  We decided to get in the car and head for Bishop!

Chelsea loves bouldering 

Chelsea on Pockadoodle V5

Bishop was super warm but well all managed to put a few things down.  Eric sent two really cool V10s- Acid Wash (Happies) and Denton’s Remorse (Druid Stones).  It was really cool to hike up to the Druid Stones because I had never been up there before.  Talk about a lot of rock!  I also repeated Serengeti V5, and Chelsea came really close to sending it, which was awesome!  It was also great to hang out with some of our friends from Reno, Heidy, Fabien and Ryann. 

Enjoying the sunshine at the Druid Stones 

The crew! (Minus Fabien who was taking the picture)

After a few days it was time to head back to the Bay to celebrate my Dad’s birthday.  Now I am in SLO, getting the car ready for my big move!  I’ll be heading out to Joe’s Valley for another day or two of climbing, and then I’m off to Minnesota for the summer for my internship.  If anyone knows about any climbing there, please let me know!

Patient's status: CURED.

P.S. I LOVE ROCK CLIMBING!!!!!

Big Bend and the Gas Fiasco

After our fun-filled day of adventure with Kathy, Chelsea and I woke up late and headed out to the Big Bend boulders just outside of Moab.  We pulled up to a nice looking boulder and jumped out of the car to check it out.  It was beautiful!  I haven't seen such a nice looking sandstone boulder in a long time.  I was psyched to try all the problems, which included a bunch of fun crimp lines.  After warming up, I jumped on a really cool V5 that started under a roof and moved out to a bunch of thin crimp matches.  I tried the line again and again, making more progress each time until I was just one move away!

An excellent problem at Big Bend

Unfortunately, that moved thwarted me, as my foot was still under the roof and stopped my momentum when I tried to lunge up for the last hold.  Nevertheless, climbing on this boulder got my extremely psyched for the next leg of our trip- Moe's and Joe's Valley!  I love sandstone bouldering and this little excursion just got me more excited.  We jumped in the car in our shorts and tanks, ready to escape the 80 degree weather.  Just a short time later, we were driving through a snowstorm.  We got out to get gas and nearly froze our buns off.  What a change one hundred miles can make...  Two snowstorms and many hours later we had crossed into Nevada.  (We were on our way to pick up Eric, who has been living in Bishop.  Quite the detour... I know!)  We passed a sign that said "100 miles to next gas."  Fortunately, we had more than half a tank left and 215 miles til empty according to our range.  100 miles later, there was no gas station.  At the junction for Highway 6, there was also no gas station.  Our tank started to dwindle, and so did our hopes of finding a gas station.  We slowly made our way up a mountain pass and then rolled down it, trying to stretch our mileage as far as possible.  We saw lights in the distance and crept ever closer to them.  They turned out to be a mirage.  (Not really, but not a gas station either).  At about 10 miles til empty, we passed a sign that said "116 miles until next gas."  Chelsea and I just looked at each other, and couldn't do anything but laugh.  "We're screwed."  We looked at our cell phones.  No service...  Since there really was literally nothing we could do, we pulled over on the side of the road and went to sleep.  I guess my internal balance must have gotten shifted after driving for the previous 9 hours, because when I stepped out of the car I wobbled and slammed the door on my thumb.  Owwww!

My obese, unusable thumb.  Fortunately, I've been able to climb without it

We crawled in the back of the car with Star and went to sleep.  Except I didn't sleep because my thumb was throbbing the entire night.  A total of two vehicles passed during the entire night, which did not bode well for the following day.  Eventually the sun rose and we saw that we really were in the middle of nowhere, and trying to walk to a town was definitely out of the question.  Chelsea made a beautiful sign out of box of pancake mix and a Sharpie that said "GAS."

Sad face.

Then we settled in for what we thought would be a very long day.  Fortunately, we didn't have to wait long until a car came.  Chelsea jumped out and danced on the side of the highway and the kind sir pulled over.  He said he would alert someone down the road about our situation and see if anyone could bring us gas.  A few others passed during the next hour and everyone had the same reaction to our situation, "wow this is the worst place ever to run out of gas!"  Yes, thank you for that helpful piece of information...  We had just put on a movie on when someone pulled up behind us with a 5 gallon gas tank!  Our hero!  Soon we were on our way and not too much later, we had arrived in Bishop!  What a happy ending to our epic night :)  We spent a day and a half in Bishop and got to climb a little bit before departed for Moe's.  I surprised myself by making a lot of progress on Pain Grain, a cool V5 in the Buttermilks.

Brother-sister teamwork climbing in the Happies

We have now been in Moe's for about 5 days and are loving it!  Expect a full update on our climbing here to come soon.  Within the next few days we will be moving on to Joe's.

Me working Underwhelmed V6 in Moe's.  More to follow!

Creek Wrap-Up

All smiles

I've never put so many photos in one blog post so I'll keep them smaller, but you can click on them to enlarge if you wish!  Indian Creek is always a humbling experience, with this trip being no exception.  When you come here, you must be prepared for a butt-kicking!  Chelsea, however, was awesome and led virtually every single climb we did, showing that breaking your neck and not climbing for a year shouldn't slow anybody down!

I tried to lead a few things and got scared.  I'm not sure why I have such mental blocks when trying to lead at the Creek, but fortunately Chelsea was there to rescue me each time.  I did have a few successful leads, including Chocolate Corner 5.9, one of our favorites, and an unnamed 5.10.  We thoroughly enjoyed the slow-paced life we led at the Creek, waking up late each morning, stretching and doing yoga in the sun, eating breakfast, and eventually making it out to the crag.  

Morning stretches

One of the excellent climbs we did

We climbed whatever looked most appealing, and at the end of the day headed back to camp for a delicious meal, card games, and early nights.  The weather got very, very, hot, which made our motivation a little lacking.  We soon realized that we could accomplish everything we wanted/had the ability to in two weeks, and so we left the Creek yesterday and are currently in Moab.  We had the very pleasant experience of meeting our friends Kathy and Drew in Moab!  Kathy is nearing the end of her time in vet school, and just finished her work at a teaching hospital in Fort Collins, Colorado.  She and Drew were headed back to California, and we were all psyched for the chance to meet up in Moab.

Kathy!

Drew, Chelsea, and Kathy on a bridge over the Colorado River

We headed to a local crag where Kathy put up a crack climb that all of us followed.  We then headed to the Moab Brewery for burgers and brews, for a jaunt out to the Colorado River, some much needed and very refreshing showers, a viewing of the Hunger Games, and gelato.  It was a great day!

Today Chelsea, Star, and I plan to check out the Big Bend boulders (here in Moab) if it isn't too hot and windy.  Then we will head westward and will be spending the remainder of our trip bouldering in Moe's Valley, and possibly Joe's Valley with Eric!  I'm psyched to meet up with Eric because I know he will push me to try harder boulders.  Here are a bunch more pictures from Indian Creek:          

Battle wounds!

Chelsea leading Coyne Crack 5.11+

Star dog!

Chelsea leading Scarface 5.11

Some sweet clouds

:)

Our home

Bridger Jack as the sun is going down

Making popcorn for our movie night with socks as oven mitts

The pupper

Trying to write my name with my headlamp

Stars and clouds

A night at camp