I finally ponied up and threw done for a new 17″ Macbook Pro, which along with a copy of FinalCut Studio 2 has given me the ability at long last to edit some of the video I’ve been shooting this year. Of course, this purchase also comes mix-exam season; further ensuring my imminent failure in law school.
Enough of my whining. Here’s a little diddy I threw together from our Spring Break trip to Indian Creek last month. It’s a little rough, but I really ought to stop tweaking and study. Enjoy.
Life has its lessons, and this trip’s lesson was the importance of rest days. Being the unthinking brute that I am, I managed to muscle my way through ten straight days of climbing without a single rest day all trip. The result: some really average days where I didn’t climb much anyways and a lot of almost sending.
Nevertheless, The Creek did not disappoint. And you don’t go there to send anyways (unless you’re this guy), you go there to get your ass handed to you on a dusty sandstone platter. If you’ve never woken up to a desert sunrise Read more…
We were still a little beat when Sick and I awoke for our last day in Zion. Our sights were set on the 2nd pitch of Organasm. Organasm is originally a four pitch aid line at 5.8 C2, but the 2nd pitch features a large roof which goes free at 5.11. Since both of us wanted the lead, and neither of us is generous enough to give up on such a sweet line, we farkled for it. My superior rock-paper-scissor skills were vindicated, so Sick led the 1st pitch of awkward wideness, and I set off on the stellar 2nd pitch. Here’s a little video of yours truly on the onsight (the video is admittedly crappy, but until I get a proper editing platform that’s just the way it is):
We then rapped off, shed our harnesses, had a quick snack, and hit the road for Oklahoma; driving straight through the night for 18 hours. A perfect ending to a fantastic trip! Thanks to the Sicklers for putting up with me and giving me the chance to crank on some splitter desert sandstone!
This last Saturday I drove down to the Wichita’s to meet up with a cadre of midwesterners who had retreated to them thar hills for the weekend. After wandering around the refuge for a few hours in vain, I finally caught up with them down in the boulderfield. Apparently Jeremy Collins had found this roof crack a while back, and was psyched to work it. I told him I’d give it a few goes, and here is the awkwardness that ensued (note the “futuristic” start and “inventive” belay technique):
The morning of the 21st saw us sitting at the base of Monkeyfinger 5.12, staring at a slow moving party on the second pitch and weighing our options. After they still hadn’t begun the third – and crux – pitch in almost half an hour we decided to bail and go do Touchstone 5.9 C2 (not a bad consolation, considered by many to be one of the best aid/free climbs anywhere). This meant we had to run back by camp to pick up our aid gear, and of course by the time we go back to the base of Touchstone, another party was starting.
The Sicklers picked me up from the Albuquerque airport at 10:30 PM and we hit the road. We rolled into the Park at around noon the next day, pressing our faces to the windows as we tried simultaneously to take in the amazing rock and keep the truck on the road. For the uninitiated, Zion is a literal canyon that sits below ‘ground level,’ this is somewhat hard to believe when you’re down in it since it is so vast. The road that enters from the northeast travels through a mile long tunnel – with occasional glimpses out carved windows – before bursting into the brilliant canyon.
