The Value of Paying Attention

Good afternoon, friends! As you may recall, after my last post, I set out for Yosemite National Park. I decided to drive in from the west through Bishop, California and to the Toulumne Meadows side of the park. This was a full day's drive and well into the evening I passed signs stating that the Highway that I was aiming for that goes through Yosemite was closed at a certain point. Rather than slowing down to investigate, I just kept on trucking. I arrived in Yosemite to find that the highway through the park was closed due to a fire (a "controlled burn" that got out of control!). The only way to get to Yosemite Valley on the other side of the park--a point approximately 45 miles away where I was scheduled to meet up with John and Amanda-- was a 6 hour drive out and around the park. I spent the night at Toulumne Meadows and tried to decide whether to make the drive.

After hearing from several rangers that the road would indeed be closed for at least the length of John and Amanda's visit I decided to make the drive around. I hurriedly packed up camp and pulled out. Unfortunately, I wasn't very careful in doing so and managed to run my car up on a giant rock that lifted the front wheel off the ground. And so, I once again found myself in the midst of a completely avoidable delay simply because I failed to pay better attention when setting out. Does anyone else think I am supposed to be learning some kind of lesson here? I was certainly getting that feeling. Fortunately, my fellow campers mobilized to build a ramp for my little car and lift it off the rock!

The rescue squad and the big rock!

Thanks to their help I was on my way before too long and made the drive into the Valley. What a spectacular thing it was to finally arrive at this place that I have heard so much about! It certainly did not disappoint. For those of you who have not made it here yet, it is an amazing place. It seems to be surrounded by dry, desert-type landscape but when entering the valley you see green meadows, lots of pine trees, and massive, steep, beautiful granite walls. My first glimpse of the most famous of all those big chunks of granite, El Capitan, is something that I will not soon forget.

First glimpse of the Valley's steep granite Walls: El Cap on the left, one of the Cathedrals on the right

I met up with John and Amanda and the next morning we did a beautiful 5-pitch 5.8 climb called Nutcracker on the misleadingly named, Manure Pile Buttress.

View from the top of Nutcracker

This place is truly amazing and the setting is beautiful:

Oh, and the climbing's not bad either. After John and Amanda left, I moved into Camp 4 and started looking for climbing partners. I didn't realize that Camp 4 would be such an international place. The folks sharing my campsite (6 individuals are assigned to each site) are French Canadians and Germans and so far I have climbed with a Swiss, a Kiwi, a Canadian, 2 Brits and a guy from New York! Finding climbing partners has not proven to be a problem and I am finding that climbing with so many people is really helping me to build confidence in my climbing and leading as I find that I am just as capable as those around me.

Thomas (from Switzerland) leading the third pitch of Central Pillar of Frenzy (5 pitches, 5.9) on Middle Cathedral Rock. This was a great climb and also provided great views of El Cap, just across the valley:


The highlight, however, has definitely been the climb I did yesterday (with Callem from Toronto and Rob and Robin from Bristol, England), a link-up of Serenity Crack (3 pitches, 5.10d) to Sons of Yesterday (5 pitches, 5.10a). Serenity Crack follows a single crack line up pin scars for the first pitch, through thin hands for the second pitch and finally through the finger crack crux at the top. I got to lead the second pitch of this one. It was my first attempt to lead 10a on gear and also my first fall on 10a on gear! I popped off a foothold unexpectedly but was able to get right back on the rock and make the move.

Sons of Yesterday also follows a single crack line from a hard off-fingers section at the bottom, through several pitches of perfect hand jams and even has a bit of easy off-width at the end for good measure. The climbing literally got better with every pitch and was relatively sustained 5.9 to 5.10 the entire way, making for an outstanding day. The climb culminates with a short left-leaning offset crack, the bottom of which protrudes just far enough beyond the top of the crack to allow you to walk carefully along it and bend down and try to peer into the crack to place gear. Good times!

A good hand crack to start the last pitch, followed by a careful balancing act!

I am planning to stay here for about another week, and I can already tell that it is going to be difficult to leave!

Coffee, anyone?

Mmmmm, doesn't it look delicious? Not so much. But a coffee addict's got to do what she's got to do to get her fix. Which is what I did at approximately 5:30 this morning at the base of the Grand Canyon, where I spent the night. I only have my smaller climbing pack with me and there was simply no room for the French press on the trip. Earlier this spring, Thomas found this stuff called Java Juice for just such an occasion. We tried it once to see if it was bearable, with the hope that it would never actually be necessary. It is coffee extract that can be mixed with water when brewing a fresh cup isn't an option. Which is how I found myself drinking coffee extract plus cold water out of a plastic Nalgene at, as Dad would say, 0-Dark-hundred (I think that's military speak for "way too early") this morning. And that's when I realized that I have a problem. There was nothing pleasant about this "cold coffee-like substance out of a plastic water bottle" experience. I was simply choking it down to avoid the adverse consequences of skipping my daily coffee. To buy Java Juice is, I think, to acknowledge that one has a problem. But, I can live with that, and, it did the trick. A small price to pay for all those delicious, steaming cups of good coffee and Americanos. But, back to the Canyon...

I started out yesterday morning from the South Rim of the canyon on the Kaibab Trail. There were cloudy skies and light showers throughout the day, which made the tempature and the hike more pleasant.

Fortunately, the trail was so well-marked that even I could follow it without incident.

The canyon is spectacular and it seemed that I was stopping at every turn in the trail to pull out my camera and attempt to document its beauty (just for you, my dear readers.) After a couple of hours and a descent of several thousand feet, I got my first glimpse of the Colorado River at the base of the Canyon.

And after a couple more hours, and a couple thousand more feet of descent, I arrived at the base. It was hot down there!

But, fortunately, the campground was right beside a lovely creek.

After a pleasant evening, I awoke this morning to clear skies and set out for the rim on the Bright Angel Trail. This was another spectacular walk, and my legs were tired but my heart was happy when I reached the top.

Looking back, I realized that I had come a long way!

Prior to the Grand Canyon, I had an opportunity to visit Cris and Dave, good friends from Atlanta, who now live in Flagstaff, Arizona. It was great to see them and also to experience some of the excellent climbing around Flagstaff. In fact, I was fortunate enough to enjoy a day of trad climbing, a day of bouldering and a day of sport climbing.

Paradise Forks is a basalt crag about 45 minutes west of Flagstaff, the climbing is pure crack climbing on columns reminiscent of those at Devil's Tower (although the rock felt considerably slicker). This place was rad, and I would have loved the opportunity to spend more time there.

The next day we visited Kelly's Canyon for some fun, sandstone bouldering. It was like being back in the South for a day!

Cris on a fun slab problem

And, finally, on Sunday we visited the Peaks for some sport climbing on dacite(?), a type of volcanic rock that was new to me and that I don't know how to spell.

Cris on the fun upper section of a thin 11a

And now, I am headed West to a place that I have wanted to visit for a long, long time...Yosemite National Park! But first, I'm going to finish this Americano...

Rocky Mountain National Park

Hello, friends! Today I'm writing to you from Prescott, Arizona where I'll be spending the next few days visiting with my mom and grandparents. (The grandparents live here, while Mom flew in from D.C. for a visit.)



Before heading out here, I spent the last few days in Rocky Mountain National Park and was really taken with that place. It was definitely my favorite, of the areas in Colorado that I had the opportunity to visit.






There is something about the mountains that has really gotten under my skin. They are just beautiful and spectacular and I can not come up with the proper adjectives to do them justice. More of my time recently in the Park was spent hiking and scrambling around on my own as opposed to climbing and there was plenty to see. The hike out to Sky Pond which sits in a beautiful cirque at the base of Taylor Peak, Thatchtop and the Petit Grepon was particularly enjoyable and is well worth the trip.

View out from the Lake of Glass, just before Sky Pond

Ditto

Some falls along the way

Thankfully, I did manage to squeeze in one more day of climbing at Lumpy Ridge. Mandi and I returned to the Book, where Megan and I had climbed previously and did Pear Buttress, a fun four-pitch 5.8. The third pitch is a ridiculously fun 140-foot 5.8 finger-to-hands crack on perfect granite. Highly recommended!

Mandi figuring out the fun and exposed feeling traverse moves at the top of the 3d pitch




We topped out fairly late in the day and were rewarded with some beautiful light on the surrounding mountains.

I am finding in my travels that for all the routes I get to climb, there are just as many new areas and new routes to add to my "must do someday" list. I had wondered prior to starting out on my travels whether climbing so much would leave me feeling burnt out on climbing. In fact, just the opposite is happening. After a day or two off from climbing, I am even more fired up to get back out there for more. For every place that I have the opportunity to visit or route that I climb it seems that I am exposed to even more possibilities. And on that note, here are just a few of the things in the Park that caught my eye:

Hallett Peak

The Diamond on Long's Peak

Petit Grepon

So, you can see, there are plenty of reasons to return to the Park in the future!

More Fun in Colorado

Good evening, friends. It has been quite a few days since I last updated the blog and I have been doing a good bit of climbing out in Colorado in the meantime. I wanted to give a quick update about the past few days but primarily wanted to share some photos.

I have had several days of climbing in Eldorado Canyon with Megan and with Sunny, a friend from Atlanta. Sunny spotted Megan and I climbing from across the canyon one day and made his way over to meet us as we were descending from our route. The climbing in Eldorado has been good and the routes are too numerous to list but some of the classics we have done include:

Calypso (5.6) to Reggae (5.8 alternate 2d pitch to Calypso)

Bastille Crack (5.7, 3 pitches)

Yellow Spur (5.9, 4 pitches; Followed Sunny up this route, the last pitch was spectacular, 5.10 face climbing on a very exposed wall followed by easy but even more exposed and runout climbing on an arete to the top. Unfortunately, I forgot to bring my camera the day we climbed this route.)

Handcracker (5.10a, again followed Sunny)

Leading the first pitch of Calypso

Sunny on Mail Ridge (5.9)

After a few days of climbing in Boulder, Megan and I took a day off from climbing to hike two 14'ers, Grays and Torreys Peaks. This was my first 14er and it was a rewarding experience. The hike to both peaks was about 8 miles round trip and we started at close to 11,000 feet.

The next day Megan and I headed up to Rocky Mountain National Park. On our first day in the park we bouldered in Chaos Canyon, pictured below. Bouldering at 10,000 feet is hard work! I would find myself quickly getting out of breath on even the easiest problems.

The next day we headed for an area in the park called Lumpy Ridge which has some beautiful long crack climbs. We chose a formation called the Book.

We had originally planned to do Pear Buttress, a 5.8 line that had been recommended by some local climbers, but as we approached the Book, a long and beautiful hand crack caught my eye and we opted to climb Femp (5.9, 4 pitches) instead. The second pitch of this climb was a fun 160 foot hand crack and was probably my favorite pitch climbed in Colorado so far.

Megan following the 2d pitch of Femp

That evening we returned to Boulder to meet up with 3 more friends (Andrea, Julie P. and Mandi) arriving from Atlanta for a few days of climbing. Everyone was interested in climbing one of the Flatirons, which stand just outside downtown Boulder, and Megan and I had been looking forward to the climb for several days. We decided to divide and conquer and Mandi and I climbed the First Flatiron while Megan, Andrea and Julie climbed the Third. The climb is over a thousand feet long and took us several hours, thanks to my route-finding "difficulties." It's hard to see in this photo but Mandi has mapped out (in red) the approximate route that we took.

You especially astute readers will notice that our path actually often angled away from the summit and was more horizontal than vertical. Oops. But we found our way eventually. We reached the ridge (at a point near the small cluster of trees just below the second step in the ridgeline) in 5 nearly full-rope-length pitches and then had 4 pitches of fun and exposed climbing along the ridge to the summit.

For the weekend, we all headed up to Aspen and between some wet weather managed to visit the beautiful Maroon Bells:

And enjoy some fun cragging on the nice granite of Independence Pass, right outside of Aspen:

Tomorrow Mandi and I plan to head to Shelf Road, which is a few hours south of Boulder for a few days of sport climbing. Tonight is my last night at the condo in Boulder as Megan heads back home tomorrow, so it will be back to Home Sweet Tent for a bit from here.

Would you rather...

My brother and I made up this game when we were younger called Would you rather. The game involves presenting the other person with two equally unappealing options which they must then choose between. You know you've come up with a good one when both options make the other person cringe but then it takes some time for them to make their choice. (Don't ask me when or why we came up with this; I honestly can't recall.) I was reminded of the game earlier this week while driving across the country for the third time in a little over a month. That's when I came up with a real winner: Would you rather drive across Kansas or drive across South Dakota? Ouch. For anyone who has experienced it, the thought of each makes you shudder. Each presents 400+ miles of sheer boredom. I have been pondering it for a few days and still haven't been able to make the call. Two equally unappealing options. Perfect. Fortunately, I'll have a few weeks before I must make that decision. Please feel free to weigh in with your thoughts, dear readers.

But, on to more interesting things. My second trip across Kansas in just under a week brought my friend Megan and I to Boulder, Colorado where Megan's parents have a condo which they have kindly agreed to let us occupy for the next two weeks. On Wednesday, our first day of climbing here, Megan and I headed to Boulder Canyon which, as you might expect, is literally just outside of downtown Boulder. We spent the day at a nice buttress right off the road called Cob Rock.

The crux of the day was actually getting to the crag. Some kind soul had set up a Tyrolean traverse to allow us to cross the stream and get to the rock. Fortunately, Megan went first to show me the way.

We started on a route called Empor which is a fun two-pitch 5.7. We opted for a direct start to the climb (as opposed to the typical start from atop a large boulder) which felt 5.8-ish.

We got in several more pitches including a fun wide 5.8 crack that required use of the techniques I recently had a chance to practice in Vedauwoo. Fortunately, the granite in Boulder Canyon was a little more friendly on the skin.

After a good day at Boulder Canyon, our original plan for today was to climb the Direct Route on the First Flatiron. However, after oversleeping and seeing the morning's cloudy skies we opted to head for Eldorado Canyon instead. Eldorado Canyon is a place where I have wanted to climb for a long time. As some of you may recall, Megan and I had a previous trip to Boulder to climb here last Thanksgiving. Unfortunately, I broke my foot a couple of weeks before we left, and so I was on crutches last time we visited the canyon. That was not exactly the way Megan and I had envisioned it when we planned that trip. So, needless to say, we were both eager to get back and actually climb there. We decided to start on the Wind Ridge on Wind Tower and opted for the 5.8 start which goes directly up the ridge.

Megan on the first pitch

The route continues for two more pitches of easier climbing (5.6) up the ridge.

Atop the second pitch with part of the Bastille visible in the background

Headed up the second pitch

The entire climb was a lot of fun and is highly recommended. After a bit of scrambling on the summit, we managed to locate the rappel/descent and arrived back at our packs just in time for the start of a light rain. We called it a day with the intention of going back to Eldorado tomorrow to climb a couple of routes that we scoped out this afternoon. Megan and I both found the climbing at Eldorado to be more interesting than at Boulder Canyon and there are a number of routes that we are interested in returning for, so long as the weather cooperates.

It seems that going to so many new areas and having the chance to lead some of the good moderate climbs in those areas is finally starting to make me feel more comfortable while leading. Each new place presents a new type of rock, route- and descent-finding, and other unique challenges. It is a good feeling (and a nice change for me) to feel more comfortable and confident about those unknowns when heading out into new territory on lead.

As always, thanks for reading. More to come.

Home Again

Welcome to Vedauwoo! (Don't look, Mom.)

Hello to all. This post is coming to you from Atlanta, Georgia, to which Thomas and I have safely returned after our month in Wyoming. As you may recall from my last post, our last stop in Wyoming was in Vedauwoo, which is in the Southeast corner of the state. Vedauwoo is made up of a number of what appear to be large granite blobs, with giant boulders stacked in improbable positions. The result is some funky formations and some funky climbing. My conclusion after our first day of climbing there was that it was difficult and humbling. That did not change after four more days of climbing there.

The climbing at Vedauwoo is known for its wide cracks. Wide cracks are difficult to climb. Some people say there is a technique to it. Ha. The only technique I ever came up with was to shove as much of my body in as possible and try not to get spit out. This "technique" may also be referred to as groveling. It results in a lot of scrapes and bruises. It also results in extremely slow progress, or it did for me at least.

Thomas proved to be much better at these things (no surprise there) and so I spent much of our time in Vedauwoo following him.



One of our favorite climbs was a long 5.9 called Coffee Grinder which was essentially a 200 foot-long chimney (Note to my non-climber friends: a chimney is a crack that is wide enough to fit your whole body inside and is climbed by using the opposing pressure of your back against one wall and feet against the other.) to the top of the Reynolds Hill formation.

The Reynolds Hill formation turned out to be our favorite at Vedauwoo and we spent two days doing a number of excellent and long climbs there. One highlight was a small section of the cliff which had three beautiful lines right in a row which got progressively harder (5.9, 5.10c, and 5.11a). Here's Thomas leading the 5.11 line:

Our second day at Reynolds Hill was shortened by rain but one of the climbs we did that day was a unique pitch callled Labyrinth (5.8). The climb is formed by what is essentially a triangular-shaped tunnel up through the rock, and we were not sure whether we would actually fit until we had each worked our way through it.

We spent our last day at Vedauwoo climbing at the Nautilus area. Thomas led a steep and sustained 5.10b called Flying Buttress which offered some unique climbing:

Another great line we did in that area was a 2-pitch climb called Middle Parallel Space (5.9). Much of the first pitch is a hand crack which is also climbed with the aid of chimneying or stemming against another block behind the crack.

The first pitch ends at the top of this block. The second pitch required stepping off from this block back into the crack on the other face, a bit more crack climbing, and then an easy but very exposed move over a small roof and to the top of the formation. This climb was a lot of fun and is highly recommended, and Thomas and I agreed that it was a good one on which to conclude our trip.

The next morning we began the 2-day trip back to Atlanta where we are now. The month passed quickly and we are both big Wyoming fans now. It was definitely a month-long learning experience for me. The process of going to a new place, figuring it out and climbing there is challenging but good.

Now do not despair, dear readers. I am not in Atlanta for long and there will be more tales of coming news (and more importantly, more pictures) in future days. I will be leaving tomorrow morning for Colorado and more climbing with my dear friend, Megan. We are hoping to climb in Eldorado Canyon, Rocky Mountain National Park, and maybe a few other places as well. As always, I will keep you posted! Thanks for reading!