Winter Springs

 Winter has been an illusive thing this year. The idea of waist deep turns is something I try to push out of my mind as I stare up at the sparsely covered hills. A few days back I snuck out with a friend who was in town for a quick little climb. The only problem was I forgot how fast it gets dark in the winter...

Run for Cover 5.8

Pulling onto this three pitch climb above the Jobsite Wall in Rock Canyon was a definitely a good time. There were a few roof pulls along the way that made it a lot of fun. Route finding was easy and the rock was great. I will be back for a repeat of this one for sure.

Brain Full of Spiders 5.9+

 

I suddenly looked up to see Tanner free falling into space. The rope suddenly went tight and pulled me into the wall arresting his fall. The rock on these south faces is always suspect because of ice breakage during the winter months. Tanner's hold had broken off causing him to peel off the wall. The difficulty rating of this climb, 5.9+, is definitely a little vague. The first pitch was harder than we both thought it would be. The moves were awkward and the rock was crappy, but the rest of the climb made up for it.

Tanner pulled himself back to the spot where he fell and started his way up again. Just as he passed the hardest part I looked up to see yet another falling human figure, this one wasn't Tanner. Suicide? This would be the place I guess. As this dark figure plummeted I saw his parachute begin to pull. The snap of his chute scared the crap out of Tanner. He looked back down at me thinking he had knocked a huge rock off the wall.

It is always fun to get out with Tanner, he is probably one of the most mellow guys I know.

The Story

She had no idea it was coming. After getting home from Timp Wednesday morning I grabbed my paycheck and headed over to Wilson Diamonds where my good friend Matt Wilson works. Neena and I had stopped by a few weeks back on our way to the restaurant next door, so we both had a little bit of an idea of what she wanted. I was at the register pretty quick and it suddenly hit me what I was doing... I started freaking out inside. I walked out of there with a ring and everything got real... Really real. After getting permission the night before from her Dad, I started scheming.

The next day I tried to make things seem as casual as possible. We met at Costco so I could buy some dog food and we grabbed a bite to eat. The wind had kicked up blowing branches from trees and filling the air with dust threatening to foil my plan, but I was set on making it happen. She was being a champ and going along with my idea of going climbing in a storm. 

As we drove up to Rock Canyon the wind suddenly calmed, I definitely had some help from above. We have done the climb I selected a couple times now so it just seemed like a routine thing. As I climbed past her onto the second pitch the sun started to set painting everything gold. The minutes ticked by and it just kept getting prettier. I was surprisingly calm as she came up the last bit of the climb. 

I told her to grab her camera out of the bag and to snap some photos, meanwhile I was pulling the ring out of my pocket. I then proceeded to say a bunch of mushy love stuff and then I asked her. She cried and nodded her head a lot before being able to say yes. We are now engaged. We sat and enjoyed the sunset before heading down.

Rock Canyon Lately

 The past few weeks have been cold and wet, but there have been windows of opportunity where we were able to get out and climb. Rock Canyon is home to some amazing climbing and is only a stones throw away from home. We were able to sneak up there twice this week to do some fun multi-pitch routes on the northern side of the canyon.

The first day took us up Trilogy Buttress where Blake, Jeff, Parker and I climbed two separate routes. I let Jeff and Blake take the better more "Fun" route. Parker and I took the other way up which is exposed and thin on protection. We only did the first pitch and then rappelled off of the side while Blake and Jeff climbed on.

Cosmic Space Dust Lasers was the next climb we got to do. Yesterday was perfect for climbing. It drizzled slightly for a moment, but that was all we got while we were up on this three pitch climb. This was Neena's first time going up multiple pitches and this route couldn't have been more perfect. It was simple and fun. She did great and led the second pitch, which had one of the cooler sections of climbing. We had a good group and Parker shot some great photos.

 BABE.

Coming down the last pitch of Cosmic Space Dust Lasers.

Practice for Towerland

"Aid Climbing is the technique of using gear to support your weight as you climb."-The Freedom of the Hills pg. 272

Eric Montandon and I went to practice our aiding techniques on a bolt ladder up Rock Canyon this past Monday. Aid climbing is very different from your normal pull on rock and climb your way up. You use your gear to get you up. A bolt ladder is one of the simplest forms of aid climbing but it is so far removed from anything I have done before that I wasn't about to go do a desert tower this weekend without practicing.

I brought Dave. He was great! he just sat there and hung out while we climbed.

Eric on his way up.

First climb of 2010

Wow. I can't believe how long it has been since I have been climbing. I had to make this video for my video journalism class. I figured I would throw it up on here to see what ya'll think.

Such a nice morning!