Catching up...

It has been a long time since I have posted anything on here. So much has been going on, I dont know where to start. I guess I will just share some photos of things that have happened in the last 10 months.

Me sending Mo

Hannah climbing at Wild Iris

 Flashing Cowboy Killer

Suicide Point

 Amazing

 Mdub on Wind Drinker

Much more to come.

Southern UT

LG, Mdub, Victor B., and I finally escape Vegas and make it to the real desert. Mdub found us a beautiful bivy spot in some Joshua trees relatively close to all the Utah Hills crags. VB and I head  over to the Black and Tan for a few "easy" pitches. I have never been to the B and T, and I pretty much got bouted, but can't wait to get back there.  We went back to camp and on the way ran into BJ, he barely escaped the snow and road closers in Wyoming.

    Camp

Leif and Lindsay joined us in the morning at camp for some coffee. We got to watch the the whippet boys chase nothing around the desert. After we got them back, we headed to the Simian Complex because it was close and a lower elevation...it has been kinda cold on this "spring" trip. We had a good crew and we were psyched to get some things done. We warmed up slowly, and moved on to try something new. Leif and Lindsay were psyched on Nic'o'Fit, and VB and Mdub resurrected some 12s that hadn't seen much traffic lately. Everyone killed but me, all-in-all we had great time in the Utah Hills. Will be back for more.

                      Mdub hiking the route that he Resurrected

                      Leif and Lindsay

Victor B. and I wanted to check out one more place before we had to leave. Where to...? Simian...check, Black and Tan...check,VRG...too loud, Cathedral/Wailing Wall....too cold, Turtle Wall...why not.  We are true sport climbers... complain about everything. We figured that Turtle Wall was a good choice because it was on the way home, near St. George, skin friendly, and warm. Turtle Wall is pretty much located in St. George, just past the Chuckawalla Wall. After warming up, we all jump on the classic jug haul, Banana Dance. Holds so good that you want to take them home and I am sure that someone have. VB and Mdub flashed Tortuga and I did an nice little jug haul on the far left of the wall.

Good time here, but it is just a scene with all the beginners and spray. I swear that I have seen almost 3 deaths at this wall now. So many families and youth groups go out there without knowing much more than a figure 8. Mdub and VB shared some knowledge with them and taught them a few things. Good to share thoughts/technique/beta with people, that is a big part of climbing.

    Banana Dance

    VB giving a little Banana Dance

    Mdub and VB on Tortuga

Vegas Baby!!!

Hannah willing skipped some classes and drove me down to SLC so I could catch and early morning flight to Vegas. Thank you Cody and Beth for giving us a place to crash! My flght was to depart at 8:30 in the morning. I was psyched when I was finally taking off the cold and snowy SLC International Airport...destination Vegas!Victor B, LG and MDub picked me up from the airport and headed straight to Red Rocks.

    Beautiful untouched wall on the wall to the Trophy

   LG, Mdub, and Victor B. at the Trophy

   LG sending Pet Shop Boys

After warming up, we headed over to the Trophy Wall. This wall is amazing, it sits high up on a slab and has long and short steep routes. The wind was very heinous(30mph), it blowing GriGris and rope bags around and kinda killing the motivations. Even with the wind, we all manged to do Keep Your Powder Dry and LG sent Pet Shop Boys 2nd go. We were sick of the wind and bailed back to Vegas for some dinner and chilling.

The next day we got up and were going to finish the Vegas portion of the trip with one last sesh at Red Rocks, but someone mentioned Mount Potosi. We were psyched. I was psyched to get back on limestone and Mount Potosi was a famous old school sport crag, a little chipped still fun as hell. We finally got to the parking area (thanks to LG's mad 4 wheeling skills) and the wind was calm and felt nice out. We underestimated the hike, it was ended being a 45 min trudge. For those of you  who climb in Lander, it was like hike up to Fairfield West...twice. Sorry, but climbers aren't that great at cutting trails, there were switchbacks every 3 feet. We finally made it up to the massive Clear Light Cave, pretty impressive.

  Clear Light Cave

 We warmed up on the Porcelain Wall then headed to the cave to find something. VB and I were psyched on Moment of Clarity, one of the best climbs I have done.  It was had pockets, tufas, crimps, and even a nice little knee bar to clip the anchors. Psyched do get it done, because the temps dropped to about 35 degrees F and even snowing a little on us. Luckily, some of the locals started a nice fire to keep everyone warm and sending countinued. I will come back to this place.

   Mdub on Moment of Clarity

    

 

    Victor B. hiking down with the Porcelain Wall and Clear Light Cave in the background

We head back in to nasty, busy, Lost Wages (Vegas) for some pizza and drinks and headed off to St. George. 

Bishop...but first

We had a very hard time deciding where to spend our spring break. We talked of Vegas and St. George, but I was heading there within 2 weeks to climb with some other friends, Joe's was being bombarded with wetness, and everyone was too broke to go to the Red. Where could we go that was warm, dry, and where we could run into someone we knew?....Bishop! Hannah, Mayla, and I packed up the car and headed towards sunny California. We made a quick 3 day visit to Hannah's father's house near Placerville, CA on the way. We drove 13 hours the scenic way around Lake Tahoe. I have never been to Tahoe before, it was quite impressive. We got to drive through the Cave Rock, a place that I have always wanted to climb at, but is now closed. There is quite a scene in Tahoe, with all the people running around, skiing, vacation, spas, casinos, and just spending money. I would like to go back sometime during the summer and check out some of the climbing there.

Tahoe

  

One of our days there, Hannah's father (Bill), took us to Sacramento and showed us around the old part of town by the river. Great place, lots of culture and tons of old little shops. We stopped and checked out Coloma on the way back to Placerville. Coloma was where gold was first discovered in California and where people flocked to during the gold rush.

   Old Sac Town

    So green around Coloma

It was a great that we got to spend a few days with Hannah's family and I'm glad that her sister was able to make it up to see here. I hope she gets out of California before it goes bankrupt. Good times and I know we will be back that way soon, but onwards to Bishop.

Good Times

We just finished up the first comp of the 307 Bouldering Circuit. It was a pretty small turn out and most of the people just got into climbing, but everyone had a great time. The theme of the comp was Gumbies on Parade (well named if you ask me), but fun none the least. Hannah and I hosted the after party...good times. The next morning we all struggled out of bed to get an early start to Sinks Canyon outside of Lander, WY. There were so many people up there and the motivation was high. Here are some pics from the day:
                                                 

                                                1 Degree

                                   Steve on Bloody/Baby Endeavor

                                Hannah destorying

Finally Home!

Hannah, Josh, and I headed to Salt Lake City, UT, to see the new movie Paranormal Activity and to check out a haunted house. I also finished off my little project in Echo on the way. The movie was great and the haunted house was fun, but that wasn't the whole objective of the trip. One added bonus was that we were finally pick up our newest member of our family, Mayla, our whippet puppy. Mayla was born on September 1, 2009 in Clovis, New Mexico. Her parents were bread as champion show dogs, instead of racing dogs. I hope this lowers her prey drive, for we have 3 cats and a ferret. She has already taken a liking in the ferret and the cats are warming up to her. We have been kind of dealing with some weaning problems, so she sleeps with us and we spoil her slightly. She has been dealing with the cold weather pretty well. Not bad for a gangly whippet from New Mexico. Can't wait until spring, so we can take her outside and have her run around a little more. We are happy to have her home!

Mayla waiting to come home

On her way home

Weather is bad...but keeping the psych up!

The weather this year has been weird. Just a week ago I was hanging my draws on a new project in Lander. We had a great day climbing in the warmth and were ready to get back up to Sinks to finish all our projects. We woke the next day to almost 3" of snow and no chance of letting up. We all headed home feeling frustrated and teased. The weather still hasn't let up and it might not for a few more days. But, we are still keeping the psych up. We have been exploring new potential routes and boulders, even getting to sink some bolts in on some rad lines. It's great to put up new routes and problems. It takes a lot of time and energy, but gives you something to get psyched about. It's great to give back to climbing and put up new routes for people to do. We will be heading to American Fork or to explore Echo Canyon, Utah tomorrow.Hopefully get on the other side of this storm system and get some climbing in.