Down with the desert

 

 

 

There really is no place like Joe's. The 'scene' seems to be growing, but surrounding the hundreds of visiting climbers and the micro town of Orangeville is a captivating environment. At first glance I'd have thought a four week stay in Joe's Valley would be too long -or- less than ideal...nearly eight weeks later I finally left.

 

Chad Parkinson, looking cool and sending 'The Happy Spaniel' v6 or 7ish

I had been bouldering A LOT since December 1st. Hell, I'd been bouldering A LOT since September 1st... Then I turned 30. Not surprisingly, I found myself pretty worn out and injured for about three or four of the weeks I spent in Utah. When I first felt the pain of the 'old(er) guy gunning too much' tweaks I thought about calling it quits for a bit and taking off...after all, I'd been out in some form of the desert for too long already. I weighed my options for a few days and decided I would wait it out another week to see if I started getting better. Great friends and fun visitors were constantly cycling through and at least I could always hike around and look for new rocks. Besides, Orangeville has great spring weather, it's inexpensive to live, super relaxing, and happens to host a few boulders with some of the most gorgeous holds and rock and lines imaginable!

See what I mean...the perfectly sculpted features on 'Kill List' v11ish

 

 

PERFECT grips on 'Lonesome Animals' v12ish

 

 

 

'Jitterbug Perfume' is a RAD book, and happens to be the name of a problem full of equally rad holds

In the end, climbing through injuries can be a positive and productive thing for me. Sometimes I just need to tone it down a notch and having a limiting injury makes me happy to be able to climb on and enjoy the less difficult and less committing climbs. While I dreamed of my projects and waited for my body to heal itself I sought out and climbed on tons of problems I would have otherwise missed out on. Plus, higher mileage days are some of the best training days in my opinion and rarely climbing indoors makes it more difficult to have high volume sessions sometimes. My mental state and energy toward climbing also benefit when I break my focus for a while and pay closer attention to how much fun I have pursuing any and every part of climbing. I am truly in awe of how lucky we are to have the opportunity to experience all the things that climbing on rocks provides. The places, the process, the adventure, the people, the solitude, the psyche, the feeling, the moment, the hang, the failure, the search, the success...it's all sorta magical or something!

Had some wet weather during my final two weeks...it made for some nice sun sets and sun rises

 

 

Lindsey T. being hip one moment before gunning down 'Wills a Fire'

 

 

One of the best problems...ever...'#tall'

 

Check out this link to an iphone productions clip of a really nice problem called 'Radiant' near Price.

 

https://vimeo.com/65618202

 

I narrowed my focus during my final two weeks in Joe's. My injuries were almost gone and I started pushing a little harder every day without feeling any painfully familiar pain. I was super psyched to be able to go try and to actually finish every problem I wanted to do plus a few extras before I hit the road. I drove away in a state of elation, sifting through memories and feeling ridiculously high from having 'the moment' upon me all day. As I capped my time in Utah, I could hardly harness the excitement I felt to be en route to another very special place...I was Tahoe bound!!



Pain, Patience and PSYCHED in Utah!

April 8th...it's been exactly 130 days since I set sail on an open road. I've exhausted my mind and my body too many times to count since then...chasing after something that isn't really there outside of my personal motivation.

I trudged up the steep hillside, trying to avoid the patches of snow that threatened to take my feet out from under me. The goal was to check out a new problem the famed Griffin Whiteside had established last fall in the Left Fork of Joe's Valley. Griffin named the climb #tall... As I approached the base of the problem, I stared long and hard in an attempt to soak up the first impression left by the towering black and tan streaked face in front of me; I knew instantly this was a special one. The rock, the holds, the movement, the line, the situation...every aspect was perfect and beautiful to me.

 

 

If pictures could only do it justice...#tall looking like a dream

 

Big boulder problems tend to be more inspiring than the average rock climb. A friend of mine once said, 'the beauty of a line often outweighs the consequence'. I can't exactly pinpoint why, but I tend to agree; there really is something incredible about the aesthetics of a grand line that's difficult to resist. The level of commitment they often require, the idea that failure is not an option beyond a certain point, and the way the nerves feel when I'm contemplating such a climb keep me searching for the next 'good one' that screams 'BEAUTY' and makes me tingle inside. When I find a climb that 'takes me there' it grabs ahold of me until I've completed the circle and sent the problem...most climbers have hopefully experienced this 'pull' and would probably agree that it's a force that can defy gravity.

 

EMA, fighting gravity moments before he got psyched enough to overcome it!

 

 

 

Beautiful desert hiking in Pine Creek Canyon

Pine Creek Canyon is found at the end of the scenic loop drive in Red Rocks, Nevada and twists and turns deep into seemingly endless mountains of sandstone. It's quite impressive and somewhat extra special that such a serene and alternate world can be found just a few miles outside of the insanity that flows forever within the city limits of Las Vegas. The sound of the stream is calming as the hike continues below beautiful red rock walls towering hundreds of feet above both sides of the narrow canyon floor. Eventually, a giant boulder of the highest quality sandstone sits perched on an embankment along the right side of the canyon. Ariana beams with beauty...the kind I can't look past.

 

 

 

 

 

Several different views of 'Ariana'

 I was even more nervous after rappelling the line and rehersing the crux move a number of times behind the safety of the rope. This problem was different than anything else I'd pursued. The boulder itself sits at the bottom of a gentle slab and the landing only extends from the base of the problem for a mere seven feet or so. At this point the landing drops down another ten plus feet into a chasm of rocks. Ariana stands approximately 30 feet tall if you were to measure from the ground to the point of security...missing the small landing pad is not an option from high on the climb, but I was pretty certain it would be possible to fall from the crux move and still land in a safe place... 'Safe' meaning facing the possibility of a plunge from above twelve feet. If I did stick the crux move, I figured I could not fall safely above it so I tried to rule that out as a possibility. The mental battle presented itself. My finger tips were sweating. Kona whimpered and paced, letting me know she did not approve of the anxiety she must have sensed...

I left the ground and floated through the type of moment I spend so much time searching for. Nothing went through my mind and it was as if my surroundings disappeared. All of the built up emotion and desire faded away and I was climbing. I scampered up the slab on top of the boulder smiling. Ariana was the most committing boulder problem I'd ever tried...it ended exactly as I'd hoped it would and the experience qualified as one of those 'moments in climbing I'll always cherish'.



Sending shot...photo: Jake Novotany



I chalked up at the base of #tall. As I climbed through the first crux and headed higher I felt the same rush I've grown familiar with. Every move and hold felt as it should and my confidence grew as I approached the final difficult reach maneuver...In my mind I was executing the move and soon to be topping out when my left foot slipped off it's hold and I plumetted to the pad from too high up. I walked away that night, battered, fatigued and fueled with excitement to return the next morning for another attempt. I awoke the following day to find my name scribed on the injured list. My knee ached and I couldn't straighten it all the way. Something was also wrong with my left hand. Making a fist was extremely painful in the center of my palm...I figured I must have tweaked it on the odd gaston pocket grip at the crux...I wondered how badly I was hurt and how long it might take for me to heal.

All I can do now is wait. I'll fill the days on the bench with icing, reading and lots of fluids to hopefully speed the healing process. I can tell I'm on the mend, waiting patiently to return healthy enough for another attempt.

 

My view from icing my limbs in the frigid river water...#tall sits up on the hillside just to the left of the center of this photo

 

Scott's AMAZING new problem 'Lonesome Animals'...SUPER PSYCHED!!

 

 

Drew going 'Beyond Life' in front of a small Spring Break! audience

 

 

'Trent's Mom'...one of the greats!

 

 

Shannon Joslin crushing on 'Resident Evil'

 

 

Ian McIntosh climbing 'BMOS' on the new-ish Smile Boulder

 

 

Tired spaniel #desertdog

 

 

New problem Colby and I put up called 'First Impression' on the Nerf Wall.  How can pockets that cool even exist?!?

 

 

Best. Pad. Ever!

 

Thankfully there is no shortage of fun to be had here and great friends to explore and climb around with while I'm mending! Orangeville happens to be one of the more relaxing places to hang, camp and climb that I've visited. Recovering from injury can be a bit maddening while on a climbing trip but I believe it's a message from my body telling me to be more careful and perhaps slow down a bit every once in a while...     

Hueco Wrapped Up

El Paso Texas does not make the list of beautiful places to visit in America. Honestly, it can be a pretty grim hang. Aside from the daily sunrise and sunset against the rolling hillsides, and the world class rock climbing, there's not much there that jumps out screaming 'that's awesome'. I fought with myself and the decision to even make the trek for an entire month. Eventually I decided I would NOT go to Hueco...after all, if my heart is not into something, I usually listen.

As most climbers know, there are some rules and restrictions at Hueco Tanks State Park that make it unlike any other climbing destination in the world. My unwillingness to go was drawn largely from the rules that I figured I would not and could not look past.

1. No dogs allowed

2. Only a limited number of people are allowed into the park at a time...this means reservations need to be made well in advance, or you need to wait in line to get in on the chance that someone who did make reservations does not show up for the day.

3. You must pay for a parks pass ($80 per year) or purchase a $5 day pass once you do make it in each day.

4. Three of the four mountains (hosting hundreds of climbs) require a certified guide to accompany your climbing party...a guided tour costs $15/day even if you purchased the annual pass

5. The park has limited hours so you can't ever climb before 8 AM, and you must be out of the park by 6 PM.

After considering these restrictions and weighing them against everything I love about climbing, I convinced myself that place was not meant for me. The day after my decision to NOT go was final, three different friends of mine said just enough to convince me to bag up all of the reservations I had about visiting and change my mind. I was on the road, en route to a historic, beautiful, AMAAAAZZZZING place...

Heart Shaped Holds

Lindsey T. practicing her Animal Acts

Cory looking fashionable while cracking The Egg

Life in Hueco is simple. Climb, rest, eat, sleep, repeat. Thankfully there is a whole clan of climbers that flock to and live in Hueco every season, many of them for months at a time. I was lucky enough to settle in and park my vouse (van/house) at my friend Andy Klier's land (Shindagger) outside the park where I resided for 30 nights with an amazing crew of fellow climbers from all over the world. Meeting new friends is always a component that accompanies travel and climbing in general. At Shindagger, we were not just friends, but became somewhat of a 'family'.

Andy's land and/community

The Man himself, Andy Klier, doing his thing at the cheff-ing table

One of Andy's amazing concoctions...Crushing Fodder

Close round...best rest day game

Mornings with 'The Family' at Shindagger

Sarah hiking a tire to toss off Shindagger Mountain...desert fun!

Andrew Rothner getting way strong on a rest day

The climbing and the rock in Hueco is crazy! The landscape is relatively flat surrounding the park with some rolling hills and some limestone outcroppings popping out of the hillsides here and there. The state park itself is made up of a one square mile pile of rocks with endless caves, caverns, walls and boulders. Unlike most granite areas I have visited, the roofs in Hueco host and boast the most solid rock and the wildest features that produce interesting, thoughtful, powerful, 3-dimensional climbing; the top outs on almost every rock are full of chossy and friable rock but the climbing to get there is so good and so unique that it's easy to look past the crappy stone.

Hueco Tanks State Park in the distance from the top of Shindagger Mt.

Rothner's training pays off on Right Chupacabra

My expectations were blown away and my attitude toward Hueco adjusted after being there for a few days. The restrictions were easy to manage, limited people in the park made for less crowded climbing days, and there was never a shortage of inspiring climbs at every area we checked out. My main motivation was to climb as many appealing problems as possible. I didn't get roped in to any 'projects' and I didn't try a single problem more than two days the entire 33 days I was there. To me, this was the perfect scenario...every day I had the opportunity to do nothing but new (to me) climbs. By the end of my trip I completed 87+ boulder problems that I had never done before and was able to send all three of the ones I had high(er) hopes of completing during my visit.

 

The Power of Silence...RAD

The Power of Landjager...also RAD

I took a step outside my comfort zone in the middle of my trip and competed in the anual Hueco Rock Rodeo. This was the 20th year the competition has been running and it was set up and run beautifully this year thanks to the efforts of Adam and Melissa Strong and the American Alpine Club!

Pre-Rodeo breakfast at the Rock Ranch

Raging at the Rodeo after party



I don't possess much of a 'competitive spirit', especially when it comes to climbing. For me, this was simply going to be a fun day out and an opportunity for a great training day! We were given roughly 20 or so climbs to choose from in the comp and the top 6 problems we were able to complete would make up our final score for the day. It was indeed a big training day...a test of patience, endurance, and how high the psyche could stay as fatigue compounded. Despite a rough start to the day, I felt like I climbed really well, endured the day, and left the park with my psyche still soaring...success! My finger tips have never stung as badly as they did for the two days following the rodeo...I still had a blast and it was well worth the pain and suffering!

Last day best day on East Mt with great friends!

My Hueco experience was an amazing leg in my journey. I enjoyed everything about it (minus the fact that Kona wasn't able to come climbing with me...she enjoyed being part of the dog-pack at Andy's), and I look forward to returning soon! Again, to all the new friends I made and to the ones I was able to see again, thanks for the fun times and positive vibes...the negative vibes were entertaining too...can't even do it!               

Until next time Hueco!

Hueco Tanks

I paid my first visit to Hueco nearly seven years ago. I remember how excited I had been to have the chance to see such a historic and beautiful climbing area. I made a loose goal for that trip to climb a Fred Nicole problem and instead ended up flailing all over the gymnastic roof climbs with no strategy or experience whatsoever; I had a blast getting my ego checked at the park entrance that year and leaving after my week long trip with four huge flappers and less sending than I had anticipated...

 

Drew, with an audience present, steps up to the plate on Full Service 

 

Drew crushing it!

 

It's like having new eyes for an area when you put so much time and experience between visits. Having the freedom to stay here for a few weeks this time has given me the ability to take it slow(er) and smarter to start, with hopes of warming up to the rock and the brutal climbing style here. Hueco boulder problems not only require lots of strength and crazy climbing techniques, but also demand that you try REALLY hard.  Sometimes it's less about finesse and making it 'feel' easy and more about just bearing down and gritting through the pain...I can tell climbing here makes you stronger! 

 

James Lucas stepping high up Bloodline

 

 

Tim droppin a knee on Best of the Best

 

 

Drew enjoying the sun on East Mountain. Look closely to find the 'creativity of the natrual'

 

 

Kona dog enjoying a rest day hike with me

 

 

Ana B. gunning on Whispers of Mortality

 

There are so many fun and beautiful climbs to see and try throughout the rock mazes and SUPER good people here to share the climbing days with!  

 

Here's a link to a lil iphone productions clip of me climbing a beautiful highball problem on the back side of the Theater boulder called 'Mojo Rising'. Sorry for the vertically oriented clip...

 

https://vimeo.com/59604626

 

This problem is an old top-rope climb on the front side of North Mountain and I believe the first person to boulder the line was Chuck Fryberger. There is a single buttonhead bolt with a rusty, flimsy hanger right over the lip but I wouldn't trust it! I enjoyed climbing this crazy obscurity because it just looked SO nice I had to climb it...