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.

Hannah destroys...Im working on it.

Hannah and I head to beautiful Lander to climb with a Bryan, Charlie, Carrie and Lea. We ended up climbing at Sinks because it would probably been too cold to climb at Wild Iris. Plus, I have been more psyched on the longer/less tweaky routes at Sinks. On Saturday, after a few warm-ups, and dispatched her 10d mini-proj first go of the day and third over all...Super psyched for her. Charlie worked on her 10b project, getting a few more moves worked out. She knows its all in her head and I am sure she will send next go. Bryan tested out his injured hand (wrecked on his curiser bike, great story) on by flashing the 10d and a 11a. Hannah tried a fun 5.11a called Powderfinger and had to lower because her feet hurt to bad. She is trying to break-in a new pair of shoes. Charlie lent Hannah her shoes that were a little big on here and sent the 11a second go! Mad props! We called it a day and headed to Gannett Grill for some food and drinks.

On Sunday I made a solo trip back to Lander to climb with Bryan and Victor B. I arrived at wolfs house around 10am and the weather was not looking all that great. VB called us from Killer cave sounding pretty optimistic and told us to sackup. So, with nothing better to do, Bryan, Carrie, Lea, and I hiked up to the crag in the rain to meet up with VB. As soon as we got the the cave it stopped raining and the sun came out. Vance and I warmed on on some 10s and 11s and headed into the cave. Bryan took the rest of the crew to a cool 5.8 and a new somewhat dirty 5.9. Vance took a lap on Bush Doctor 12a, Blue Moon 12a, Killer 12c, and ??? 12b that ends before the business in the high roofs. I followed up with a repeat of Blue Moon 12a and flashed the 12b. I was pretty psyched because I haven't climbed any 12s in almost a year and felt like I was getting back in shape after the surgery. We all ended the day on some moderates and headed back to the Grill for food and drinks. Great times.

Rest In Peace Casper

A few months ago I got a phone call from my parents in Colorado telling me that our beloved family dog Casper was not feeling too good. He was not really wanting to go on walks and kind of getting lazy. He has had problems with his liver and seizures in the past. Hannah and I saw him a few weeks ago and he seemed some-what normal....maybe a little more tired and not quite as social. I kept telling myself and my parents that he had a couple more years in him.

Yesterday, on my way home from climbing in Lander, I received a phone call from my dad with an update on his condition. He informed me that Casper wasn't doing too well and were planning on putting him down the following day. He said that he hasn't been eating and barely drinking. He would just lay in the shade by his favorite tree. They said that they spent their every minute with him.

Hannah and I decided to pack up and make the 4 1/2 hour drive to say our goodbyes to Casper. We were just getting out of town when my dad called back and said that we may be too late and that they were going to put Casper down within the next few hours. A few hours later I received a phone call that he had passed away. The vet came over and helped him along his way in his favorite little spot by the tree in the front yard.

Some would say that we were crazy for driving over 300 miles to say goodbye to a dog. But Casper was more than a dog, he was a friend. Casper will be deeply missed and I know that some things will never be the same with out him. My heart goes out to my parents and neighbors that were graced by Caspers friendliness and happiness. Some say he was the luckiest dog in the world....I think we were all lucky to have him. We love you Casper.

It's been a long time...really long!

Wow!!!!It has been over 7 months since I last posted something and so much has happened. I finally had my wrist surgery, it sucked. It was suppose to be a simple surgery to take about 6mm off my ulna and add a temporary plate. It was suppose to be an hour surgery and the recovery should only be about 4-6 weeks. When I woke up from the surgery they laid on the bad news...While they were checking my carpals, they found that I had completely ripped a tendon in my wrist and they were pretty much floating around. They cut some tendon from my forearm to rebuild the one missing in my wrist, and then they added a pin to keep me from moving my wrist. I would have to be in a cast for 10 to 12 weeks...ugh! I tried to stay positive and take advantage of the time off, doing a lot of one arm climbing, but then things got worst again. I found it very difficult to straighten my arm and open my hand, I almost lost my mind and I was worried that I may never be able to get things working right again. The doctor said that it was probably happened because the tourniquet was on too long...somewhere around 12omins. They gave me about 18 months to gain everything back, so I started physical therapy right away. It took about two months to straighten my arm, and three to open my hand. After about 11 weeks, I finally got the cast off and the pin remove. I ended up doing 4 more months of physical therapy to get my thumb working and to get my range-of-motion back. In the end I still have very little range of motion and my thumb is pretty weak. I still have time to get things back and I will be getting my plate removed in December.

May came around and we were off to Yosemite California to attend our good friends, Cody and Beth's wedding. On the way, we stop in El Dorado to see Hannah's dad, then back on the windy and pretty back roads of California. We weaved through cool little towns and wine vineyards. We finally pulled into the Valley and we were speechless. The place is so majestic and intimidating, it was hard to take in. We met up with Beth, Cody, and other friends and got a little tour of Camp 4. We ended up staying at a camp site that was reserved for us that night. We would be screwed for a spot the next night, so Hannah, Steph, and Jesse got in line for a spot in Camp 4 at 6:30am. We luckily got a spot at $10 a night and it would be our home away from home for the next 4 days.
Camp 4 was a pretty crazy place, lots of weird characters there. IT was like being in a different country, there were people from all around the world there. Yosemite itself was a happening place, there was probably 1500 people in the valley. It was nice to be staying in Camp 4 because we were 10 seconds form the best greasy bouldering in the world. We bouldered almost everyday and got a lot done. Hannah discovered what is was like to use horrible polished nubbins for feet, but it gave her more confidence. She climbed everything she could up to v3 and I got what I could with my bum wrist (here come the excuses). We felt a little out of place coming all the way out to Yosemite do climb on little boulders. We did however get some easy routes done on the Swan slabs, great fun. Love to get back and do some longer routes.
One day we hike up to El Cap to check out the Alcove Swing. This thing is sick, you are about 100 or so feet up, attached to this 80m rope with a GriGri. Then you just run down this slab and swing out over the trees, one of the funnest rest day things I have ever done. Hannah had a blast and she probably could have done it all day. Love to set up something like that around Wyo somewhere.
Wedding finally came around and was held at the beautiful Ahwahnee Hotel. The ceremony was great and Beth and Cody were awesome. They are a great couple and I wish them the best! For more on the wedding check out bethandcodylivethedream.blogspot.com. Hannah and I hung out a bit at the reception and headed back up through Placerville to say hi to her dad again, then a long drive back to Wyoming.

Project Sent!!!

I finally finished my Green project back at the end of November. After about 6 good days of effort over the course of about 6 months...it went down. I am calling it Physics Unknown ~v10 from the stand. This thing was a huge challenge for me, very techy and sustained, not my style at all. It is about 13 moves long and a every move is pretty hard, lots of tension! The problem has been tried by two other strong climbers so far, so I am very confident about the grade. I need to go back sometime and work on the sit start, it will be easily add a grade or two.

Return from France!

I have just returned from an amazing trip to France. I went with my girlfriend Hannah, and my friends, Stephanie and Kelsey. We spent about 8 days there, four of which were spent climbing. We did the whole site seeing thing in Paris, like the Louvre, the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe, the Seine, Notre Dame, the Catacombs, and even stopped by the cemetery where Jim Morrison was buried. Paris is a beautiful, clean city, that never really sleeps. Everyone is really dressy and always seem to be in a hurry, but they were some of the nicest people I ever met. Everyone is so friendly in France, everyone is either greeted with a handshake or kisses to the cheeks. France actually made me feel a little sorry for Americans, where everyone is so loud and ignorant. We were very happy that we got to be exposed to another country/culture. The people and the food were amazing, and the climbing was unbelievable!
After a few days sight seeing in Paris, we took a 30 min train ride to south of Paris to the little town of Fontainebleau/Avon.
We didn't have a clue of what we were doing. We got off the train and walked to the first little hotel we saw. It was a nice little place ran by an older couple. The rooms were cozy, but I am pretty sure that mine and Hannah's room was haunted. The place was only about 17 euros per person, and they served breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Hannah and I got du chocolate chaud about every morning and night before we went to bed. Fontainebleau itself, is a really laid back town built around the Royal Chateau de Fontainebleau. It's a beautiful palace that the kings used to stay at while they went hunting in the forest.

The bouldering in Fontainebleau is unreal, there is so much for everyone to do. We had to take taxis to the bouldering areas--which was quite an adventure in itself. The first and main area that we climbed at was the Bas Cuvier. There were so many boulders, we just ran around like crazy-foreign idiots. The girls had tons of options and I climbed just about every problem I could. Hannah flashed a v3...it was her goal to just complete one. I fired off Cortomaletse on my thrid go, and I finished a v7/8. I worked on the crazy jump/campus problem L'Aerodymaite v9. I was about two moves away from finishing it in about an hours time. I wasn't able to finish because of my wrist injury and time. I'm sure we will be back there within the next year to give it another go. We were planning on only staying in Font for a few days then heading over to Switzerland, but Font was so great we just stayed put. There was sooo much climbing there, we could have easily spent a month there and would have been plenty busy.

Our time was short and it was soon time to leave. We headed back to Paris for one last night of chilling and site seeing. We hiked up to the second platform of the Eiffel at night. We spoiled ourselves and splurged on a nice dinner. Hannah and Steph got their first taste of escargots.

France was a great eye-opener and this will open the doors to much more traveling.