World Cup!

Last year, Chelsea and I attended the Teva Mountain Games in Vail, Colorado and decided that this event full of climbing, kayaking, stand up paddling, dogs, music, biking, running and more was probably the best event ever invented and that we should definitely attend every year.  However, when Chelsea broke her neck it seemed that we might not get the chance to go this year.  On Friday, I was sitting on my bed finishing up my final English project when Chelsea and I started texting back and forth and eventually decided that we had to go!

Raft Cross

Dock Dogs!  

We jumped in the car and started on the 17 hour drive towards Colorado.  PSYCHED!  We eventually got there on Saturday in time for the Bouldering World Cup.  If you have ever seen an event like this, you will know that energy is very high, the crowd is pumped, and the event is fun to watch.  The finals this year did not disappoint as we got to watch the best competitors from France, Germany, Austria, Korea, Japan, Australia, Russia and the US battle it out for first place.  In the end Austria took first in both men's and women's with Killian Fischhuber and Anna Stohr putting on impressive displays.

Alex Puccio in last year's World Cup

Daniel Woods in last year's World Cup

I also got the chance to compete in the citizen's competition on Sunday.  I was inspired by watching the pros the day before and headed out to the competition wall.  I forgot about the effects of altitude and climbing at over 8,000 feet after living at sea level for six months left me very winded!  I was also really scared of how high the walls were which made it hard to commit to a lot of the finishing moves.  Nevertheless, I had an AWESOME time competing and the routes were amazing!  I ended up taking 3rd place in the recreational category.  Even though it was in the beginner's category, I was super excited to take home a medal from the Teva Games.

That's me!

My medal :)

It was a great weekend full of fun events, free swag, great music and friends.  We got to see Eric for a bit as he was on his way out to Tennessee for a music festival, and we stopped in Moab on our way home to check out Arches National Park.  Now I just have two finals to take care of and then I am free from school until January!

Delicate Arch

A kayaker doing a flip 

Last year's mountain bike race

Last year's slopestyle competiton

Donner Weekend

Chelsea and Eric looking at a hard climb

After spending a couple of weekends in SLO, it was definitely time for another trip.  We had Monday off for Memorial Day and I don’t have class on Friday so Chelsea and I decided to head up to Tahoe for the long weekend.  We arrived on Thursday night and woke up to cloudy skies on Friday.  We met up with Eric (Now my boyfriend! Wee!)  and headed out to Star Walls.  There is still a TON of snow at Donner so we snowshoed out to the wall.  I failed miserably on last summer’s project (probably because I was so distracted by the prospect of lunch!) and then watched Eric cruise Warp Factor 5.13a and try the link up, a Steep Climb Named Desire 5.14.  Steep Climb’s crux is right after the anchors of Warp Factor and it involves a really hard move to an undercling.  Sweet!  At this point, it was getting a little chilly and we were all so excited about all you can eat sushi that we called it a day and headed to Reno for a two hour marathon of eating!

The following morning, we met Ian at an awesome boulder problem called White Lines (V8).   Ian never fails to impress me with his natural climbing abilities and by the time we had hiked down to meet him, he had done most of the problem and just needed a spot for the last few commiting moves.  I set up my sweet new camera and watched Ian take an awesome burn.  Eric put his shoes on and sent the problem in an amazingly smooth fashion on his second go of the day.  As soon as Eric was back on the ground, Ian jumped on and sent.  Watching the two of them climb such a beautiful problem got me so psyched!  It was super excitng to see the problem go down twice in a row in such excellent fashion. 

Getting creative and making a stick brush out of a ski pole

About to crush White Lines

After White Lines we headed to Star Walls again.  It started snowing pretty hard and I tried climbing my favorite climb, Short Subject, but wimped out and came down.  I couldn’t believe how hard it was snowing!  Just a few days before June, and it seemed like it was the middle of winter still.  We met my good friends from the Bay, Danny and Adriel over at Star Walls and watched them try Warp Factor before calling it a day and heading for shelter from the elements. 

Danny trying to stay warm under Warp Factor

The weather was pretty terrible the next day so we took the dogs snowshoeing and took a rest from climbing.  On Monday, the skies were blue so we trekked up to Black Wall and got on a few fun climbs.  Donner is such a beautiful place and it was amazing to be there without the summer time crowds.  In fact, we didn’t encounter a single other person the entire weekend! 

Finally got a break from the snow on Monday

Titan sunning himself

Eric leading a fun climb above a lot of snow

It was a great weekend that got me rejuvenated for the last three days of class (now two!), psyched for the upcoming Tahoe climbing season and super excited about starting a new relationship with one of my favorite climbing partners :)

Chelsea snowshoeing

Lots of snow

Escape

I’ll admit, I am horribly behind on my blog.  I have so much to say!  I started writing this post several weeks ago, but got super busy and never posted it.  So here is one of hopefully a bunch of new posts going up this week.

Climbing is thought to be dangerous by those who have never done it.  But to climbers, it is exactly the opposite.  Climbing is my safe space.  The place where I go when I want to escape reality, to get away, to pretend that everything is right in the world.  Climbing is what feels right when everything else is wrong.  In my happy little climbing bubble, all I have to think about is the present time.  The past isn’t weighing on my mind; the future isn’t looming like a dark cloud in the distance.

In climbing, I have a certain amount of control.  I can take steps to make it safe, to minimize risk.  I double-check my knot, my harness, my anchor.  I check my partner, bring way too much gear, use two locking biners on my daisy chain.  Calculated steps, precision, repetition. 

Lo Pat it's a 60 foot 5.6, are you really going to bring all that gear?

If only I could control the real world in this way. 

On Monday, May 2, I biked to school for my midterm.  I took a slightly different route and ending up running over a big rock and popping my tire.  It seemed like a bad omen for the test, but I ended up answering the 40 questions at my normal sprinting pace and finished within 20 minutes of receiving the test. 

After the test I received a text from Chelsea.  She said she had fallen off her bike and her neck kind of hurt.  Obviously, I was concerned, but it was a text, not a phone call, and it was written in Chelsea’s normal nonchalant manner.  I decided to call her though and ended up getting a ride from a friend to where she was. 

Chelsea says, "wear your helmet, ALWAYS!"

Well, where she was, was sitting on the sidewalk next to the road, holding her head up with her hands.  Still rather calm about the whole situation, she explained what happened (went over the bars and landed on her head) and that her neck was a little sore, but probably fine.  We decided to go to the ER just to be on the safe side.  Having spent my fair share of time in the ER, I was no stranger to the waiting process we would have to endure.  We sat around while I made jokes and harassed the nurses to deliver Chelsea’s catscan results.  Finally someone came in with a huge neck brace and put it on Chelsea.  He said he didn’t know the results but he had been instructed to put it on.

Still, we were not completely concerned and took funny pictures with the neckbrace.  Eventually the doctor came in and told us that Chelsea had fractured her C1 and C7.  At that point we looked at each other with more of a ‘woops this actually might be kind of a problem’ expression.  Chelsea got moved up to the main hospital where we spent the night and the following day.  I kept us entertained by practicing my wheelchair antics, popping wheelies and crashing into walls in between pestering nurses to let us out. 

Chelsea handling it like a champ!

Finally, on Wednesday, the 4^th, Chelsea was let out with a soft neck brace and went home.  She has since seen the doctor again to make sure everything is healing straight, but we still don’t really know when she will be fully recovered (aka riding her bike and climbing again!)

Throughout this whole process Chelsea was a champ.  Actually she is probably the most badass person I know.  I’m pretty sure that if I broke my neck I would have been crying and blubbering and snotting all over the place and hyperventilating and all sorts of other stuff.  Chelsea, however, was joking around, posing with her neck brace and keeping a great attitude the whole time.  She didn’t complain once and denied all the pain medication offered to her.  What a boss. 

So the moral of that story is: wear a helmet- Chelsea’s saved her life, and send good thoughts to my partner in crime! 

So that was Monday through Wednesday.  Thursday was May 5^th.  One year since Tim passed away.  I spent the first part of the week in the hospital, having weird flashbacks of being there with Tim so many times before and Purrell-ing my hands into a chapped oblivion.  Thursday I just sort of existed and went through the motions.  After the week, I was completely drained and decided I just needed to leave, so I hopped in my car on Friday morning and headed for the Valley to clear my head.  Climbing is my escape and after that week, I needed to duck away and pretend that everything was just fine. 

Eric and I simul rapping 

It was refreshing to spend the four hour drive to the Yosemite with someone I often forget to spend time with- myself.  Just me and my thoughts and my beautiful singing (ha!) all the way to the Valley.  I instantly felt better when I got there.  I went on a quick solo boulder mission and then met up with some friends from Reno and Tahoe- Eric and Chris.  Eric and I simuled up Jam Crack on Friday and took on the Direct Route on Reed’s Pinnacle on Saturday.  The Direct Route is SWEET!  Super cool offset crack for the first pitch and a funky crack that gets real wide for the second.  I’m pretty sure the climb keeps going but that’s all we did.

A silly picture of Eric and I at the top of the first pitch of the Direct Route

 I had my traditional Its Its and met up with Fabien, Tyber, Mitch, and Sam for some bouldering later in the afternoon.  The next day we climbed Moby Dick, an awesome climb at the base of El Cap.  It starts at fingers, goes to hands and then gets wide at the top.  I had fun practicing my hand stacks and heel-toe cams.  The weather turned a little nasty, we bouldered a bit, and then headed to Curry Village for some pizza.  I finally left the Valley around 8 PM on Sunday, had a lovely conversation with my mom on the way home and made it back to SLO sometime after midnight feeling much, much better about things.  

Moby Dick.  So awesome!

 It is important to deal with your emotions, but I also believe that there is no harm in running away for just awhile and getting lost amongst never ending granite walls.  Climbing is the ultimate healer for me, cleansing my soul, clearing my mind, and bringing a smile to my face.

   

Oh boy!

As you can see, my blog has a new banner!  What do you think?  Also I recently received some fantastic news: the remaining 7 courses I need to graduate will be offered winter and spring quarter so I can take fall quarter off for another climbing adventure!  That's right, 3 more days of class, 3 finals and then I am off until January 2012!

Any suggestions?  I have been throwing around the idea of another US trip including the Red River Gorge and the New River Gorge and much more, a possible trip to Turkey to check out the sport climbing, and recently someone threw out the idea of Rocklands.  Wow!  The possibilities :)

Yosemite Video

Here is a video I put together of my last weekend in Yosemite (I'll be writing a post on it soon!)  It isn't a very good video because I wasn't using a tripod and I didn't have a ton of footage, and let's be honest, trad climbing isn't always the coolest thing to watch!  But, what the heck, I'll post it anyway :)

Lazy Days in Yosemite

After much debate, Chelsea and I found ourself in the car on the way to Yosemite again.  The reason for the debate was that 1. we were both out of money and 2. I felt really bad leaving the dogs at home again.  However the perfect weather, beautiful granite and need to escape won out and with friends Kent and Cori in the car, gas was manageable.

Kent and the Captain!

We slept under the stars, and woke up Friday, the 29th, which is Tim's birthday.  (For those of you who don't know, my friend and climbing partner Tim passed away last year.)  So, basically I needed to escape from reality, pretend that everything was great, and do some climbing because that is what Tim would have wanted to do!

Pretty much sums up our weekend- laying in the meadow eating ice cream

Chelsea and I decided to climb Munginella, a popular 5.6 in the Five Open Books area.  It is a three pitch climb, but we decided to combine it into two.  The first pitch was great and super cruiser.  The second pitch was my lead and I accidentally went completely off route and climbed a blank, almost unprotectable face instead of an easy crack system.  Ooops!  As I was climbing I was thinking that it felt a bit harder than 5.6, but all ended well as we topped out the climb and hiked down.

Me going off route on Munginella

The descent happened to involve rappelling down a waterfall.  Our rope got completely soaked so we decided to grab an Its-It ice cream (best ever, you must try one!) and head to El Cap meadow for a nap.  We had an awesome afternoon in the meadow and got to see a few parties on the Nose.

Headed to the waterfall to rappell

On Saturday we redeemed the free breakfast that I had scored from a friendly climber in Camp 4.  It was a coupon for the Food Court at Yosemite Lodge and we were psyched when we found out it was worth $13 and we could get anything we wanted!  We got waffles, eggs, bacon and chocolate chip cookies.  Properly fueled up, we headed to climb Central Pillar of Frenzy (5.9) on Middle Cathedral.  The base of the climb was completely covered in snow and we pretended we were Ueli Steck climbing the Eiger as we kicked steps (well Chelsea kicked the steps and I followed) up the snowy slope, using branches as ice axes.

This is me coming up the second pitch, look at all the snow on the bottom!

At the base of the climb, we found that there was a huge abyss between the snow and the wall.  I balanced precariously on the snow and put my climbing shoes on.  I spanned the gap (not gunna lie... super sketchy!) and somehow got onto the wall without falling into the hole below.  The first pitch was thrutchtastic!  I was scootching up a weird chimney offwidth thing, throwing in gear, scoot scooting, getting my shoulders stuck, making funny noises, and whew, finally at the anchors!

Me on Central Pillar

I brought Chelsea up and then she led a sustained finger crack for the next pitch.  When it came my turn to follow the pitch I was really cold and stiff for some reason.  I made it up and met Chelsea at the anchors.  For some reason we both had the shakes and just weren't feeling super psyched.  We decided not to climb the next three pitches.  We rappelled down the snow bank, laughing all the way.  Another adventure!

Rappelling down the snow

Naturally, we found ourselves back in El Cap meadow and slept for about three hours.  Feeling slightly unproductive, we decided we needed to get in a few more pitches before the day was done.  We went over to After Six, a climb we had done on this very weekend exactly one year ago.  The climb went well, but it got extremely windy the higher we got.  By the time we were topping out five pitches later the wind was howling and we were ready to run down!

Me and Half Dome

In the morning we decided to go cragging with Kent and Cori.  We headed over to Pat and Jack pinnacle and I got on a sweet 5.10b face climb.  The first two bolts were definitely the crux, very techy and balancy.  The rest of the climb was big basketball jugs- super fun!  I then led Suds a 120 foot 5.9 that was a little dirty and sharp, but fun anyway.

The Captain looking quite nice

The sun was getting hot, and we were all getting tired so we decided to call it a day and hit the road.  It was another great weekend in the Valley and a nice escape from reality.

Pushing the Limits

Lessons Learned in Yosemite Valley

 VALLEY, VALLEY, VALLEY!  It had been so long since I had last been in Yosemite.  On Thursday, before we left I was beyond excited.  There was no use in focusing in class or trying to read or study.  All I could do was pack my gear and twitch with excitement until it was time to go.  My English class was miraculously cancelled and Chelsea and I jumped in the car and sang our way to Yosemite.

Camp 4... feels like home

We were back!  It was Thursday and we were cooking dinner in the Valley.  Ahead of us were three full days of awesome climbing on awesome granite.  Yes!  Finally, after months and months we would be placing gear and tying into ropes.  The last time I did either of those things was in Indian Creek (yes that’s right, the Creek!  Way back in November!) We were joined by Max, who we met in Utah and now lives in Tahoe, and Eric and Fabien the crushers from Reno.    

Note: the following is a very long description of a climb.  If you would like to skip it, go past all the blue text.

On Friday, Max, Chelsea and I decided to do Serenity Crack (5.10d) and Sons of Yesterday (5.10a).  Serenity is three pitches and leads up to Sons, which is another five.  I hadn’t looked into the climb too much, but I knew that it was one that Chelsea was always talking about and really wanted to do.  I also knew that the first pitch was a bunch of pin scars that are notoriously hard to protect until you are about 30 feet off the ground.  Needless to say, we gave the first pitch to Max. 

Max cruised up easily and then brought Chelsea and I up.  I loved the pitch!  The pin scars created weird vertical pinch type holds and I motored up to the belay with a smile on my face.  I led the next pitch.  It started out pretty mellow and about halfway up there is a tricky traversing face move.  You have to leave one crack and do some delicate movement on a hold-less slab to get over to another crack.  I happen to love slab climbing and found the section to be a very satisfying challenge.  The upper crack was a bit harder and I had to push myself and my trad climbing abilities to make it cleanly up to the belay. 

What's going on up there?

As I was climbing, I was feeling very happy with myself.  I was leading a 5.10a, on gear, IN THE VALLEY!  If you have ever climbed in the Valley, you know that everything is hard, hard, hard.  You don’t take Yosemite grades lightly.  In almost any other place that you climb, you would think nothing about running up a 5.8 or 5.9, but in the Valley even 5.6 can be serious business!

Anyway, I reached the second belay very happy with myself for leading my hardest trad climb to date in the Valley.  My happiness soon vanished as I struggled heartily with rope management.  Bringing two people up a climb at the same time on two different ropes is hard work, especially when you have a normal ATC and not one of the fancy ones that clips into the anchor and makes your life much easier. 

Not to worry, there was tons of fun climbing to be had!  We went up the third and final pitch of Serenity, which finishes with an awesome finger crack that pumps you out quickly.

Chelsea coming up the last pitch of Serenity

On to Sons.  We hustled up the 5.5 ramp and I decided to lead the next pitch.  One of the first moves involves reaching around a slabby bulge to get into the crack.  I found that scary, as I hadn’t placed any gear yet.  I started up the crack and threw in a .3 camalot.  I climbed up a couple moves and suddenly the crack got very greasy and before I could do anything about it, I was falling.  Ack!  I took a decent sized whipper!  Good thing my gear was bomber. 

I continued up, did a funky mantle over a tree that was growing out of the crack and about halfway up the pitch I decided that I didn’t seem to have the gear I wanted.  We had only brought singles of most sizes and I had placed my .5 and .75 and looking at the crack above it seemed that I would want more of those.  I was definitely at my limit in terms of what I can lead on gear and not having enough pieces to feel really comfortable was a roadblock in terms of me finishing the pitch.  I contemplated for a while and then decided that in the interest of time I should be lowered back to the belay and have someone faster and more confident finish the pitch. 

I wasn’t discouraged though because I had survived a whipper on gear and pushed myself in my abilities.  Chelsea took the sharp end and cruised up the pitch with her mad jamming skills.    

A dorky picture of our first time in the Valley together

When it came time to follow up the pitch, I realized that I was very tired.  It was a pretty committing move to jump on an eight-pitch climb, at the highest grade in the Valley I had ever attempted, on my first time back on a rope in four months.  I pressed onward and struggled up the pitch.  Many grunts later I arrived at the belay.  We still had three pitches to go!

The next two pitches were pretty awesome hands, but at the point my hands were feeling sore and my feet were in extreme pain from jamming them into cracks all day.  Nevertheless, I made lots of noise and thrutched up the pitches.  Despite the pain, fatigue and general struggle, it felt really good to be at both my physical and mental limit.  Every fiber in my being was completely exhausted but I kept pushing it.

We made it to the bottom of the final pitch and since we would be rappelling down, I decided to wait at that belay station instead of climbing the last bit.  It was a very short pitch with a cool zig-zagging crack that becomes a wide off-fists crack at the top.  That size is horribly hard for me so I was glad to sit it out. 

Chelsea loaded up with gear and smiling on Ejesta (previous trip)

Soon we were rappelling down the climb and into the sunset.  What a glorious day!  It was super sunny and warm, NO ONE else was on the climb the entire day (which is good because we were moving very slow and they probably would have been angry with us), and the climb was dry.  Chelsea and I simul-rapped the route, which is always entertaining.  On one pitch we both rolled around a bulge and ended up in a tree.  Eventually we made it back down to the ground and to the car.

The next day I woke up extremely sore (mostly in the calves) and sunburned.  Chelsea and I decided we deserved ice cream for breakfast and got mint Its Its.  Yum!  I was fairly lazy that whole morning and Chelsea had to leave to lead a hike with a group from school, so I mostly sat on a rock in the sun and tried to stretch. 

Eventually Max, Eric, Fabien and I made it up to Cookie Cliff where Eric and Max both flashed Cookie Monster (5.12), which is an awesome bolted line that follows a thin crack up a corner.  I did the climb on top rope and absolutely loved it!  Then it was back to Camp 4 for a bit of bouldering and then off to sleep.

Camp 4 bouldering is great!

 The following morning, Eric and I got up early to climb Nutracker, a super classic 5.8 that takes you up five pitches of excellent climbing.  The first pitch was slightly wet and I was surprised at how tired I felt on it.  However, once the sun hit me I felt much better.  We leap frogged pitches with Eric taking 1, 3 and 5, leaving me with 2 and 4.  Pitch two is super cruiser and before I knew it I was taking the sharp end at the bottom of pitch 4.  The pitch started out with a bang.  I got to go over a small 5.8 roof and then climb thin cracks the rest of the way up.  I felt really good on this pitch.

The view from the top of Nutcracker

The last pitch starts with the crux of the route, a scary and very tricky mantle move.  I was really glad that I didn’t lead this pitch!  Moments later we were on top of the climb eating peanut butter, banana and honey sandwiches.  We had finished all five pitches in less than three hours. 

Long, moderate trad routes are definitely my favorite type of climbing so I was in an excellent mood.  I finally felt like I was back in the right mindset for climbing.  Lately I have been so caught up in this competition series (blog coming on this, I promise!) and more recently with training and stressing out about Nationals that I forgot what it feels like to be truly happy while climbing. 

This weekend in the Valley could not have come at a better time.  I am so glad to have finally made it out there, to have pushed myself, and to be able to walk away with a better understanding of who I am as a climber.  I finally got a taste of trying things above my ability, of really testing my limits, and at the same time sticking true to my enjoyment of climbing for climbing, not for grades or for glory.  

Chelsea on Jam Crack

So beautiful

Note: all the pictures except for the one of Chelsea on Serenity are from previous Yosemite trips!  Didn't bring my camera for some reason...