Moab, Utah

Bouldering in Joe's Valley near Orangeville, Utah, has been as good, and better, than promised. We put in 4 full days before being forced to take a rest due to Mani's inability to climb. But more on that later. Joe's Valley is in the middle of nowhere Utah, Salt Lake City is about 2.5 hrs drive away. Orangeville has everything you need though, and the free camping and fires make the valley pretty attractive. It's also a very happening  place, with bouldering bums occupying most of the available campsites. This has been great for socializing while working on problems together, and Ryan always has someone else to project hard stuff with. I am in full bouldering mode now, sport climbing is at the back of my mind and I just wanna send, send, send. Luckily this is easily done at Joe's, where my first V5 ever I flashed and subsequently got my first V6 in two tries. Soft grades much? I think so but I'll take it. Or maybe we are just in great shape now, it is the end of our 3 months-climbing-almost-every-day trip. Ryan has ticked off several V7s and a V8, and I'm sure he'll be adding to it when we get back there in a couple days.

For now we are sitting in a coffee shop in rainy Moab, killing time and resting my finger. (I sliced a lot of skin off sending a V5, aka the biggest flapper ever). So it's been game over for me for climbing for a while, I figure I'll climb on it in a couple of days since it will have all the time in the world to heal once we're heading home. I'm enjoying this last bit of our trip though, Moab is great to check out. Lots of mountain bikers here, it is supposed to be world renown for biking. Of course there is lots of splitter crack climbing here but we are not on that train. Only on the bouldering train. We've camped beside some boulders up the Colorado River in a beautiful canyon, unfortunately the wind and rain is keeping us from checking things out around here. Hopefully tomorrow will be better so we can see Arches.

This may well be the last post and since pictures tell more than my silly stories here are some to look at:

The picturesque Zion

The hardships of bouldering

Ryan on Big Joe V7

Colorado River from our campsite, outside of Moab

Moab sandstone, not as good as Joe's!

Hot days in Sin City

We're back in the city of sin again. Just can't seem to stay away from all the slot machines and black jack games. No really, it is kind of fun and as long as we get more free coronas than the amount of money we're losing it's all good. We feel to have come out on top.
The days have been hot here in Vegas, we have actually busted out our shorts. This warm weather is making us lazy and so we have gone bouldering most days. Ryan has topped his best bouldering problems by sending a V8 today. This is cause for more gambling and free drinks at the Red Rocks Casino.
Before coming back to Vegas we were in and around St. George. It seems our expectations for the area was too high, as we didn't get too motivated or stoked on any of the routes/areas. I think we're just getting picky, having come from some of the other areas we've loved so much.
So the trip is coming to an end pretty quickly, and our motivation level to climb along with it. Truthfully we are already dreaming about getting on some hard routes in Revelstoke. Before heading home though we'll be bouldering in a place called Joes Valley. Free camping and apparently some of the best sandstone bouldering awaits us.

Vegas Con't

It's been a while, and a busy few weeks, since the last blog post. I guess 'busy' for us means climbing all day, every day, and not venturing into town to get internet. We are super sore now though and a few rest days are definitely in order.

Ever since Valentine's Day we've been camping at Red Rocks, where climbing on sandstone has been a new and exciting experience. The possibility of alternating between sport climbing days and easier multi-pitch trad days has lead to an awesome 10 days stay. After a few days of checking out the climbing our friends Meaghan and Nic flew down to meet us. We were both really excited to have some other people around, after about 6 weeks on the road with no one else to talk to but each other. The weather was nice and sunny every day, so warm in fact that we even seeked some shade.

The last couple weeks can be better described through pictures, since there's only so much to write about when you're climbing every day.

Getting on to Fear and Loathing

Last climb of the day, Fear and Loathing

Pitch 2 on Dreaming of Wild Turkeys (10 pitches, 10a)

Climbing over the bulge on Dream of Wild Turkeys

Onsight on Steep Thrills (12a), Nic

A different angle on Steep Thrills, Ryan

On Sunny and Steep (11d), Mani's proudest onsight

Vegas, Nevada

Jacks Canyon has been our favourite sport climbing area so far. It reminds one of being in Thailand, powerful, over hanging climbing on limestone pockets. The rock is a lot grippier, however, and there are some super nice facey climbs as well. In any case, 5 full days of climbing resulted in getting super confident and strong again. Ryan climbed the highest concentration of 12s in that time, and I got my confidence back leading 11's. All in all we had a great week, with some really hot days in the canyon.

After running out of food and water we left Jacks for Flagstaff and the Grand Canyon. Flagstaff basically redeemed Arizona for me, it is the coolest place with lots of coffee shops, outdoor stores, and restaurants all in a downtown core. It was also wintery there, lying at an elevation of 7000ft it snowed on us there. There is lots of climbing around Flagstaff but it was too cold for us, so we moved on to somewhere even colder...the Grand Canyon.

We spent 2 nights in the Grand Canyon, making full use of the free, and heated, shuttle bus service all around the rim. We did hike down into the canyon a ways but didn't see the river. For that all we had to do was drive for 15 min and look over the rim in the right place. We thought that was pretty funny, oh well at least we got some exercise. The second night we got snowed in with a few inches of snow. It was time to leave the Grand Canyon and check it off the list.

Getting out of the cold we headed for Vegas. The Hoover Dam was next on our list of rest days/touristy things-to-do. It was incredibly busy there, but definitely worth to check out. We drove over it to find free parking on the other side, avoiding the $7 tourist trap parkade. In the old(er) days the highway used to go right over top of the dam, however due mostly to safety reasons they have built a bridge to avoid the dam. It was only completed in 2004, although it has been in the making since the 60s.

Vegas lured us in, we checked into a hotel and were grateful for a bed and shower after over a month of sleeping in the van. Hotels are relatively cheap here although food and beer has been pretty expensive. We've discovered slot machines and 2 for 1 (still expensive) martinis. Vegas is definitely a different scene, as Jacks Canyon reminded us of Thailand for the climbing, Vegas reminds us of Bangkok, only more 1st world. It is also easy to get turned around in the never ending slot machines and stores, nothing is like a circle in a mall, you walk one way and get completely turned around. We've covered a lot of ground just walking around all day. A little break in the hotel now and then we'll be off again for more Vegas time. I'm looking forward to the camping life again though.

Jacks Canyon, AZ

We had about enough Cochise time after a week of trying to figure out what the completely out of date guidebook was trying to tell us. Plus the routes were all soooo sandbagged (graded easier than they actually are). So we'd get up something, barely, and then figure out the grade was something in the 10 range. After a while we figured it out, everything should be bumbed up a couple grades, AT LEAST, to be somewhat correct. Anyways we did meet some nice horsey people from Peachland. They pulled in their motorhome, with a horse trailer, on a pretty rough 20km gravel/washed out road. We thought that was pretty funny, apparently the trail riding in that park is amazing. So one night we got invited for a beer (into the warm motorhome!) and they wanted to know everything about climbing. We would spend the day climbing right beside/above their campsite and they were pretty intrigued.

Now we're staying in another National Forest, camping on the rim of Jacks Canyon. The climbing here is great, limestone pockets and steep, short routes. Just what we needed after a demoralizing times in Cochise. The canyon is in the middle of nowhere though and at about 6500 ft it gets pretty cold again at night. The closest town is Winslow, a really rough, run-down town with a giant state prison. In fact the prison is the first thing we saw on the horizon as we drove in from our campsite! Good thing we are at least 20 miles away from that.

Not many people seem to climb here in Arizona. No one else is camping at Jacks and so yesterday we were also the only ones climbing. It's pretty sweet having a place to yourself I guess. I didn't mind coming in to town today though, a bit of civilization feels good, even if it's a derilict Route 66 town.

Cochise Stronghold, Arizona

Joshua Tree turned out to be pretty awesome. I must say I really warmed up to the place. I even lead a 5.5 pitch on gear, after about a week of Ryan dragging me up the wall I got really good at taking cams out, not so much placing them myself. So I just started getting confident at leading cracks when we decided we had about enough of the constant wind. Also Ryan got pretty confident on gear so we seeked out some harder lines. Ryan's highlight was redpointing a 5.11c crack. Bouldery (V4) start with 5.9 finish. So right up his alley. We also had a cheering crowd of three guys who thought Ryan was just amazing. We tried telling them people climb much harder trad lines than that one but they were still impressed nonetheless. So we left JT on a high note and headed for Arizona.

Driving on what I am now calling the "Canadian Highway" (I-8) towards Yuma I almost jumped out the window when I saw the first Canadian license plate. Turns out this was no spectacular event, as most of the cars headed towards Yuma are Canadian! The novelty and excitement wore off after a while. So we blasted through Yuma and made it to Tucson for one night, staying in the Santa Catalina National Forest. The cacti in Arizona are pretty funny, they look like they're fingering the world. Which down here is somewhat appropriate. We've gotten stopped three times now by the Border Patrol. (We also saw a never ending stretch of wall delineating the US-Mexico border). We can't believe they set these control points up, even on the major highways! Basically every highway heading North from the border they'll have a checkpoint. I have yet to see a woman working that job. They always ask if you're American citizen or not. We said no we're Canadian and a fat guy barks, "Where are your visas?" Ahmmm duh! We are Canadian! Ryan had to repeat that one a couple times, "We are Canadian we do not need visas." Anyways I could rant for a while about this border patrol business, we're just getting used to it now.

For the last few nights we've been camping in Cochise Stronghold. Lured by the supposedly amazing climbing we had to make some safety decisions. Most of the routes here are long multi-pitch trad routes, slinging chickenheads for anchors, etc. Since we haven't really aquired this aspect of climbing and didn't wanna risk getting on a wall we couldn't get off of, we've kept it to just doing the bottom pitches. Climbed the hardest chimney-type-wedge-your-whole-leg-in 5.8 yesterday. Tomorrow we will leave for Tombstone and a place called Isle of You. There's sport climbing there which is a bit more up our alley. The days are beautiful down here though, climbing in a t-shirt every day is pretty nice.

Ryan Campground in JT, taken from Headstone. Can you spot the minivan?

Headstone SW Arete, goes at 5.7 but felt pretty hard to me...This was taken a few days after we climbed it.

Cactus overlooking Tuscon, AZ

Since internet, including good coffee shops, are few and far between in Arizona we will probably be off the radar again for a week or so. Our plans are to head up to Winslow after Isle of You to climb at Jacks Canyon. Then onwards, hopefully thru Grand Canyon way, into Utah and towards Vegas.

Strong winds = scary crack climbing

The few days spent camping at Joshua Tree National Park have been crazy windy! The gusts are so strong that even our boulder pads are getting blown away. This makes crack climbing a little daunting, especially as this is not our forte. So due to the wind we spent the first day bouldering, getting a little lost and cursing the poorly drawn maps in the guidebook. Coming from Bishop its hard not to compare the bouldering here compared to there. The rock is ultra grippy granite and has been shredding my fingertips, and topping out on slopers is scary! Ryan's still doing well though and getting a little less frustrated because he can actually get off the ground on a V0 problem!
We spent yesterday doing easy trad routes (5.4-5.8) and it got my confidence up again, somewhat. I tried leading one and got a cam stuck/overcamed. After that I didn't lead anymore, I really need to work on my trad climbing skills...Hopefully we'll have some more nice weather here soon, it's windy again today which is starting to get annoying.
We ran out of water last night because a bird had somehow managed to peck into the container which made it leak. We came back from climbing and all our water was gone. Little rascal, we were not impressed.  

Start of Gun Smoke Traverse (V3) and the infamous Joshua Trees

Higballing it on a 5.6, remember this Nic?

Sand Dunes in Death Valley

Tasting the Salt Flats...yep sure are salty!

J-Tree

After a night spent in Death Valley, tasting the salt flats, and having encountered the lowest place in the USA at -86m below sea level, we've made it to Joshua Tree. The weather is remarkably warm here, as it was in Death Valley. Hopefully I won't have to wear all my layers to bed anymore...
The first impression of Joshua Tree is very different than Bishop. Here there seem to be a lot of snowbirds and inactive Americans. The climbing should be good though and after two days of rest we'll be ready to climb again tomorrow.
 

Heading South

After over a week of climbing our bodies need a rest. We packed up camp today with the intention of making it to Yosemite. The winter only road has been opened thus far, but there's a snowstorm on the way so as a precautionary note they closed it down. We were already headed that way before we found out the road is closed. A coffee stop in Mammoth (at 2400m) reveals no snow in this ski town. They are desperate for snow here so hopefully this storm will bring some precip. Since we don't have our skis we've decided to head south, maybe stop in Death Valley and then on to Joshua Tree. In any case my body is appreciating the rest.

Bishop, CA

After leaving San Francisco a week ago today, we've been staying in a little town called Bishop. Despite the cold temps in the evening and overnight, we're embracing the camping lifestyle. At $2/night camping at the "Pit" is not so bad, although we only lasted 2 nights in the tent, the van is a lot warmer! Last night was the coldest night yet (~ -10 C), everything froze and we gave up trying to make breakfast and headed into town.

Bishop is a climber's paradise, with world-class bouldering and some sweet sport climbing at Owen's River Gorge. We've been climbing every day since we got here. Mostly bouldering with a couple days rope climbing. My fingertips held up pretty well until we went up to the Buttermilks where the granitic rock is a lot rougher on your fingers. At about 1900m this famous area offers some of the best bouldering in the world. After a hard day up there we enjoyed a two hour soak at a local hot springs pool. This is were most climbers go who are also in need of a shower (aka Ryan and Mani).

On one of our mornings this past week we we're barely up and making breakfast when a truck pulled into the campsite beside us. It seemed to us an odd time to show up a the "Pit" and they definitely didn't look like climbers! As they started unpacking it became apparent how prepared these two were. They had everything imaginable for a comfortable camping experience. Turns out Chris and Brian were here to fly fish. At least Chris was the driving force, Brian seemed to be there both to get away from his family for a few days and to sharpen his fishing skills. They told us this trip is a tradition for them, and they always invite their families. Surprisingly they always end up on their own. Thanks to Chris and Brian we enjoyed a few warm nights around their campfire, having drinks and sharing political views.

These are some of the tallest boulders at the Buttermilks, Grandma and Grandpa Peabody, see Ryan for scale. We DID NOT climb these :)

 Well, the sun is beckoning us to hit the rock again for day 7 of climbing. We will stay in Bishop for a bit longer until the rumoured storm hits. There is still sooo much to climb around here!

Sunny San Francisco Days

After arriving in San Francisco last Thursday afternoon, we've been checking out this beautiful city. Mostly it's amazing how warm it is here, although everyone is decked out in coats and scarfs, we've been cruising around in our t-shirts and light sweaters. I guess this is 'winter' here for everyone who hasn't come from rainy, snowy and cold days in the bush, or shoveling snow in the Selkirks.

We arrived exhausted after two long days of driving, looking a little grungy as we searched out Virginia, Ryan's aunt, at a fancy hotel downtown. Apparently there are over a million dollars worth of fancy chairs in this hotel lobby and of course our first thought is: 'How many climbing trips/gear could that buy us?' Feeling a little out of place there we dashed up (very steep hills) to Virginia's apartment on top of Russian Hill.

Day 1 SF:
An early start and a fancy breakfast at the hotel (lots of yummy croissants) got us on our way the first day. Wanting to do something a little cultured we checked out the SF Museum of Modern Art. We had free tickets, probably good since we can't always see the art in a straight black painting, or a black circle on the wall. My favourite exhibit (probably Ryan's too) was the photographs of Francesca Woodman, who took lots of (naked) pictures of herself before she killed herself at the age of 22.

Day 2 SF:
I wake up thinking it's cloudy outside and won't be sunny today, but I'm shortly assured it will be sunny again. The weather has yet to fail us in California. We took a drive over the Golden Gate Bridge and up the mountain side and down to a beach. It was so beautiful and warm. We just walked along and admired the crashing waves.
At night we ventured into North Beach where one Italian restaurant after another fill the streets. Some of the coolest bars are in this area and what better then to go into a 150 year old bar called The Saloon. This tiny bar presents some of the best live music in town. It's a blues bar, with two bartenders that are jokingly; 'as old as the bar itself' according to the musicians. The music was incredible and we had more drinks than were needed. Every gin tonic was stronger than the previous one I ordered, you definitely get your bang for your buck. We managed to find our way home, but not before going up the hill opposite the one we were meant to go up on. Yes there are a lot of hills in San Francisco.

Day 3 SF:
A bit hungover we went for a Sunday stroll to Fisherman's Wharf and the 'pirate ship', renamed so by me. We needed more books so walked to the famous City Lights bookstore. This place has some history with authors getting their start there, including Hunter S. Thompson and Jack Kerouc. I could've spent hours in there but we each picked out a book headed home.

Day 4 SF:
Alcatraz was on the list today. I was sceptical about doing a touristy tour but I loved it! We got boated over to Alcatraz Island, which is now a National Park, and toured the old prison. We walked around with headsets on, listening to the story of the prison life, inmates, escapees, and the community living on the island. The prision cells were fascinating and the stories even better. Since the island is in the bay there was a great view of the city and both the Golden Gate and Bay bridges.

Tomorrow we are off to Bishop to hopefully get on some snow free rock. It seems to be a mild winter this year so fingers crossed. Funniest and stupidest thing heard thus far...'Where is British Columbia, is that a state?' and 'Oh, I thought BC was another name for all of Canada...'

Ryan handled that conversation...