Workin' Man!

Looking down at the Wailing Wall and surrounding desertscape.

Well it's true...time to return to work. After almost 8 months of climbing, traveling and loving life it's time to once again return to the world of alarm clocks, regular showers and uniforms. Yes, the reality is daunting, and I'm hoping to make the most of my last week and a half of freedom and put down my project: The Cross at the Wailing Wall.

Since last post Melissa and I have finished off our Red Rocks streak, went to Washington, returned to do a couple weeks of projecting at the Virgin River Gorge, and now become psyched on the Cathedral/Wailing Wall area. There is so much amazing climbing in this small little area I can't believe it. If the temps could be like they are now year-round I don't think I'd ever leave.

As for work, Melissa and I both ended up getting jobs at the Zion Lodge and as a result will be living the summer in Zion National Park (since both of us are working at the Lodge we'll get to stay in the employee housing). Originally things were a bit uncertain because Melissa had been offered a job but I needed to find some sort of employment and then we needed to find housing. I managed to land a job my first day, but housing turned out to be difficult. What we could find was usually somewhat inconvenient based on location or layout, and cost upwards of $800 a month. One day a phone call came and Melissa needed to commit to taking the position or not; she ended up telling them our situation and that as a result things were up in the air. One thing led to the next and suddenly I was being offered a job too. So now I find myself also a Lodge employee, scheduled to work the coffee bar two days a week, the beer garden two days a week, and the full service bar one day a week. Thanks Mel:)

Other recent highlights include watching Melissa send High Flames Drifter at the VRG and Sound of Power in Red Rocks, two of the hardest 12c's I can remember, having my sister come out for a visit from Ohio, and finally putting down Monster Skank, surely the hardest route I've done in my life.

Thank you for reading. Looks like I've been taking mostly non-climbing shots recently so please try to enjoy.



Beautiful sunsets at the Wailing Wall courtesy the Utah/Nevada desert.


Beautiful desert colors...


Be free tumble weed, be free! What else can you do in a windstorm?


Watching the Joshua Trees go by while exploring the Nevada desert with my sister and Melissa.


Swamp Cave in Arrow Canyon. Lisa on the far left, and Eric on the far right. The winds that day were horrendous and we all bailed after one route. Hopefully returning soon because this place is magical.


Action photography courtesy Ula, my favorite sister ever;)

The New Year

First day in Red Rocks. Didn't climb but did admire the views. Since then I've seen zero snow and managed to get a good tan going.

Winter is here! December came and went, January ran along too quickly, and I now find myself surprised to realize it is already February! I've managed to score the most fantastic accommodations here in Vegas, and can actually say I'm 'living' here without having to add the small print that I'm living in a van. Yes, local climber Heather has graciously let me rent out her other house and Melissa and I have been living the dream there since the start of January. Currently (the real) J-Starr and Kristen are enjoying the luxurious life too. With features like a shower, electric fireplace, 5 burner stove and hot-tub, we find ourselves sad to have to move on here shortly. Yes, it truly is a miracle, and for the price I've now earned the distinction of dirtbag guru according to some people. Haha!


My landlord Heather on Nothing Shocking at the Gallery.

Not too much to complain about in life. I ended up taking December off due to a bumming elbow but it still hasn't healed and as a result I'm only climbing every other, or every third day. I'm trying to send a route named Monster Skank here in Red Rocks and it is hard! Everyday of work has ended in me feeling beat up and destroyed. Small links are coming along, but all-in-all my hopes are a bit low. I think I summed it up best after one of my goes: "The Skank has fucked me silly." All worth the effort as it is one of the best routes I've ever tried.


In other climbing news Melissa has been crushing! Everyday has been sweet, and I'm constantly getting super psyched watching her figure things out and then progress. So far due to sickness and an unfortunate scrambling incident that left me gimpin' for a week we've only managed to do one long route together. We're trying to get everything on track though and tick at least a couple more long things before our days are out.


Melissa on-sighting Running Man at Red Rocks. Made it look easy!

And Kevin has been here bouldering on the weekends and wowing all of us. Climbing with Kevin is like watching a climbing video: hard problem, lanky skinny guy, show progression, send. And it's been taking Kevin sub 15minutes to send some testpiece boulder problems; most impressive feats include sub 30minute send of Stand And Deliver (V11), sub 10minute send of Progressive Guy (V10) and second go effort on Fear of a Black Hat (highball V9). This last weekend we did burn out a bit on bouldering and decided to embark on a mission to do Rock Warrior, a route that is supposed to be bold and 'only' 5.10b. Long story short we started up incorrectly, Kevin linked Rock Warrior into Sandstone Samurai, creating a 5.11 slab crux about 50 feet up with no gear, and then linked back into Rock Warrior creating another exciting, insecure 30 foot traverse from a bolt. And all the effort led to me getting half way up the second pitch, about 30 feet up and 20 feet left of the last bolt, only to get get hit by hail and snow and have to make a ball-shrinking downclimb on wet rock. We bailed, but it was a sweet adventure, and hopefully we can return soon to finish it up.

Besides that there is not much else to report. Life is pretty simple. Climb, eat, drink, sleep, repeat. Soon I'll have to work though I think, so maybe the next post will have something to do with that. Whats next? Probably a little Bishop and Owens River Gorge, and then maybe Smith, maybe the Red, maybe Washington...? Life is sweet. Thank you for reading.


The life! Crashpad sofa, camping furniture! Big screen plasma TV and surround sound!