We are currently stationed at Smith Rock in Oregon, and besides the weather being subpar it has been great. However, I think the best way to recap the journey so far, is to highlight the best thus far.
1. William.
We've named our faithful van William. So far, he has performed without a hiccup and been a fantastic home. He carried us twice over 11k feet, once through snow, when traversing through Coloroado, handled the dirt roads to get us to our crags and campings, and kept us comfy through all sorts of weather. Thank you William. Please carry us through our closing month and then I promise I'll love on you a lot.
Home sweet home.
2. Kings of Rap.
I hadn't tried Kings of Rap in over three years, but the last time I did I'd fallen on the closing moves, for about the tenth time. This trip I returned, and was intimidated to get on the climb again. The moves down low were powerful, leading to an insecure roof section and finally the pumpy headwall I'd never been able to link. One of our first days here I got on the route and hung my way to the roof. It was cool to remember the moves, and look at the foot holds that terrified me before; the moves felt easier than I expected and the dreaded smears looked decent. The next day I decided to give it a go, and taking Melissa's suggestion of "just try and see how it goes" I found myself pulling the crux, getting through the roof and suddenly on the headwall with no real beta. I remembered a hard high step lurked somewhere, and something about a cross move, but other than that I was clueless. I surprised myself when I clipped the anchors. This route was perhaps the biggest unfinished chapter in my climbing life, and to have closed it so easily was a huge relief. It is nice to see progress.
On Kings of Rap over three years ago; past the roof and milking the rest at the start of the headwall.
3. Nevada desert.
I love the desert. This year, when traveling between the VRG, Saint George, Las Vegas and Red Rocks I feel I got to see a lot of it. Camping in the desert and waking up to the perfect panoramas is something that will always bring me back. After our stint at the Promised Land we also took the Extraterrestrial Highway over to Bishop. Such a desolate part of the country seems an impossible contrast to the bustling Las Vegas that lies less than two hours away.
The view from one of my favorite camp-spots. The cows get to wake up to this everyday!
Entering the extraterrestrial highway.
4. Melissa sending Erotic Jesus.
This year's VRG season was fantastic. First we visited the sunny side, which was nice in January when everyone was freezing in the shade, and then when we returned in February, we were treated with the warmest February anyone could remember. Some days were slimy, but the good conditions were there when needed and both Melissa and I managed to put down our projects. Melissa chose to try Erotic Jesus, a beautiful line on the right side of the Blashpemy Wall that has a reputation of being a major sandbag. The route took a few days, and early on there was a move that was shutting her down but I tried to convince her that eventually it'd come together. A few days later Melissa styled the thing and even 'man'd up' and skipped a clip when she found herself linking the crux. She got to the marginal rest, and kept her cool to finish the remaining 30ish feet of tricky, insecure climbing. I am so proud of her, she didn't take nearly enough credit and tried to brush it off as no big deal.
5. Family get-together.
My whole family got together about a week ago in Smith Rock, Oregon. This usually only happens once a year at Christmas, so this was a nice treat. Smith holds a special place in my heart, and I think this is partially because my dad took me here when I was young. At the time my dad did some climbing as part of the WSU Alpine Club, and I remember swinging around on a rope at Granite Point with my dad and some of his friends. We went on a trip to Smith and did some hiking, but I remember seeing the huge faces towering everywhere and being mystified by them. To now be able to spend time here to just climb and get to know all these faces is incredible. I believe my dad loves this place too and it was uplifting for him to return as well. Thank you dad for the early memories. The rest of the family, my mom, sister and two dogs seemed to enjoy the trip as well, maybe we can make this a tradition... I love my family, we have our issues but as a whole I think we are the only family I'd ever want.
The family.
Entering the irrigation tunnel at Smith during one of our hikes.
6. Rude Boys.
Just yesterday I managed to redpoint Rude Boys at Smith Rock. Much like I was mystified by Smith Rock as a kid, I was mystified by this route when I first climbed here. I never imagined I'd be able to climb this thing, and remember being on Dreamin' to the right and thinking it looked deadly difficult and scary. This trip I unlocked the cruxes low, and only needed 9 tries to find myself at the chains. The windstorm and threatening rain added to the excitement. One off the lifetime list...
7. Visiting the Freese's.
Back in Colorado when we were climbing at Shelf Road we took a break from the rocks, escaped a major snow storm and visited Jarred and Hannah Freese, along with their new additions Noah and June. I hadn't seen Jarred in a couple years, but when he lived back in Pullman he was a bit of a big brother to me. As always it was nice to talk to him and Hannah about life, how it changes, and how it goes. As an extra bonus we also had a fantastic snowball fight in the 14 inches of snow that fell, and we were introduced to Carcassonne, potentially the best board-game ever for two people.
Noah, Jarred and I face-off in a snow ball show down.
8. Promised Land.
High above Red Rock's sandstone sits a little chunk of perfect limestone known as The Promised Land. This area is seldom visited, and those who do usually come for one route: Confrontation, a superb pitch with perfect rock and wild moves. This crag also involves hiking over an hour to get to it and little in the way of easy mileage pitches. Huge thank you to Melissa for hiking up there with me so I could take Confrontation off the lifetime list as well. In the end, I don't know who was more excited when I managed to do it my second day, and didn't need to hike up there again.
The Promised Land. Beautiful rock...Confrontation takes the fat light blue streak on the left side.
9. Community.
The climbing community is fantastic. First, huge thank you to Greg for letting us crash in his driveway right now.
Melissa has made friends at Greg's place.
Everywhere we go we see faces we know. Sometimes we plan to cross paths, sometimes we are equally surprised to see each other. Just this year, I saw Conrad, an old friend from Pullman at Shelf Road, and Josh from Moscow at Owens. We've crossed paths with Clay and Rosie at the VRG, then Clay, Daniel, Luke and the Canadians in Bishop, Mark Rohr at Shelf Road and then Vegas, Lindsay in Vegas, Ben and Tiffany in Smith, Django at the VRG, at countless other faces. Sometimes it is like seeing old friends, and sometimes neither of us can remember where we've met before, but continually we are reminded that the community is small, but thankfully it is a great community. These people help to keep us psyched and it has been great seeing all of you.
10. Bouldering.
And lastly, Melissa and I went bouldering in Bishop. Usually the transition between sport climbing and pebble wrestling is difficult, but with the amount of amazing problems in Bishop we had a bunch of fun doing the easy classics. Melissa did manage to put down 'Bachar left' at the Buttermilks, and problem so heinously crimpy that I swore it off along with Clay and others. Maybe sometimes we'll return for a proper bouldering trip. Bishop is beautiful and we loved our time there.
Melissa with a crashpad, a rare sight!
And this about covers all the highlights. Pictures coming next rainy day...
My sister lowering at Smith! Yeah sis!!!!
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