Termination

El Fin. Our last blog post:

Red Rocks is a marvelous climbing area. Here, we climbed Prince of Darkness (10c, 6 pitches) and a dozen or so steep sport routes in the 5.10-5.12 range. In between hot and sunny days, we experienced a rare Las Vegas hail storm which brought frozen ice pellets and 50mph winds - toppling many tents in the campground. 

The endless incut edges on Prince of Darkness

Sunny and steep

Vegas has been hit hard by the persistent recession. Half of all mortgages are in negative equity and the unemployment rate is one of the highest in the nation. Cookie cutter houses are empty, buildings are left partially constructed, and strip malls vacant.  Vegas ranks lowest on our move to list.

Today is the last day of our trip together. We’ve climbed hundreds of pitches, visited eight states and Canada, and explored many places of possible future residence. 10,000 miles later the minivan is still going strong. We’ve been able to maintain a moderately luxurious travelling lifestyle for just under $1100 per month. I’ve actually been able to save some money!

In a few hours Dan departs on a jet airplane, returning east for the winter and spring. He’ll be coaching a high school Nordic ski team and working at the Burlington Eastern Mountain Sports.  I’ll be heading back to CA to sell the van, buy a small car, and find a place to live in Lake Tahoe, where I’ll be working with a non-profit environmental org for the next year. We’ll both continue to review gear for Supertopo. Dan will be tearing up the slopes in the latest and greatest ski jackets, ski pants, ski gloves, and will be digging snow caves to test bivy sacks. I’ll be doing zero degree sleeping bags, four season tents, softshells, and gps units.

Here ends our trip and thus our blog. We’ll leave you with a shot of us modeling softshells. 

Happy Thanksgiving.

T-minus one week and counting...

In the last week, we have closed down one of the coffee shops in Moab 3 out of 4 nights, splurged and eaten 3, count them, 3 meals out (what?!), and, oh yeah, we climbed a desert tower and some of the most classic climbs at Indian Creek too.

In short, our Moab/Indian Creek adventure was great fun.  We met up with friends we had made in Maple Canyon, Chelsea and Laura (pictured in the last post trying to catch snowflakes with me), who also happen to be on a West Coast rock climbing road trip, with a schedule very similar to our own!  Turns out they (and Laura's 2 dogs Titan and Star) have hit many of the same spots as us, as well as some other spots that we didn't have time for.  They are on a break from college (Cal Poly in San Luis Obisco), and are making the most of it.  

Chelsea showing us gumbies how it's done on Incredible Hand Crack (5.10)

One of the days that it was snowing and cold, Max and I drove up to Arches National Park and went on a great hike through the park.  The snow only added to the beauty of the natural arches and the surrounding landscape.  

Arches NP and the mountains beyond

Max running to try and join me for a self-timer photo in Double-O arch

The following day we tried our luck on our first desert tower.  These towers tend to be made up of very soft, crumbly rock, and one of the pitches was actually referred to in the guidebook as the "Mud Chimney."  People don't climb these towers for the rock, however, but for the amazingly scenic 360 degree view summits.  The tower we chose, Ancient Art, also has the added benefit of extreme exposure, as the last pitch brings you across the "sidewalk" (a narrow ledge with huge drops on each side), then up and over the "diving board" (where the preferred approach is to straddle your way up), and then finally up the dramatic corkscrew finish.  

Max humping his way up the diving board

Max after topping out on Ancient Art

My turn

 We then returned to Indian Creek for two more days of great climbing, getting up some classics at the Blue Gramma Wall and at Battle of the Bulge.  Sorry, no photos from either of these days. Yesterday (Monday), we were planning on doing one more day of climbing before getting on the road again, but we got steady rain during the night and didn't want to wait for the rock to dry out...  So we made our way North to Moab, went out to breakfast, and started driving.  Now we are in St. George, Utah, and will continue on to Las Vegas (our final destination) tonight.

T-minus one week and counting for me!

Sunset over Indian Creek

The Desert

We have a little bit of catching up to do. Here's an update and some pics that I took (thus none of me). Excuse the odd formatting.

After leaving Rifle, we went to Boulder for 6 days. Here, we stayed with Kim short, a past Hampshire student, and her 6 female housemates. Our time in Boulder largely consisted of late nights, many movies, lazy mornings, and a whole ton of gear review writing. We made it out climbing for two half days, doing the Bastile Crack (5.7, 5 pitches) in Eldorado Canyon and Cosmosis (5.9+) in Boulder Canyon. 

Perhaps my favorite part of our entire time in Boulder was the day we did Bastile Crack. We intended on getting up at a reasonable hour and departing by 10am, but tea and couches delayed our departure until 11 or so. When deciding which route to take to the canyon, which is only four miles away, we opted for a mountainous dirt road filled with hairpin turns. An hour later, Dan and I were carsick and Kim was completely nauseas. Lost, we stopped along the highway to recoup and decide if we really wanted to continue with our search for the supposedly obvious canyon. Snack time behind the van brought apples, oranges and hilarious conversation. Dan decided to start listing all the words he knew for throwing up. After a warm up with “Puke,” “Vomit,” “Up chuck,” I inserted a heaping sporkful of Costco creamy peanut butter into my mouth. This was like taking a bite of the desert- a grievous mistake.

Dan continued his list, “ralph, yak, loosing your lunch, worshiping the porcelain god.”

Kim was laughing while I was trying to swallow the peanut butter as fast as possible to avoid choking. 

Dan kept going, “Out of all of these, my personal favorite is BLOWING CHUNKS.” 

At this point I was on the pavement drooling, with tears in my eyes, trying to contain peanut butter mouthed laugher. Dan kept his list going, acting rather stoic, and pointing and questioning me about my odd location and asking me why this was so funny. I remained on the ground in a partially muffled yet uncontrolled laughter.  Sometimes he is just so funny.

A waving crowd (literally) saw us off as we left for Durango, 7 hours away. There, Dan checked out a place of potential future employment and assaulted the ski shop employees for advice on a new pair of all mountain boards. I wrote the Best In Class Review for sleeping bags. We then listened to economy podcasts all the way to Mesa Verde National Park.

Mesa Verde NP

The economy podcasts resumed for the majority of our night’s drive to Indian Creek. Here we are now, many splitter cracks later, with sand in our shoes, ears, and tent, happily hunkered down in camp. We’ve reunited with some nice people we met in Maple a few weeks ago.

Indian Creek

CLIMBING. Two days ago we were warming up on a few 5.9’s when a local guide commented on my style, “ I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone face climb that crack before.”  

Later in the day, crack warfare continued with Generic Crack (5.10-, 120ft). This splitter ranged from 1-4” in width and had a few super awkward wide pod sections. Cakewalk for the experienced, torture for the unaccustomed.  

Generic Crack (5.10-, 120ft)

Yesterday we did a big hike in Canyonlands National Park and today we climbed the Incredible Hand Crack (5.10, 100ft).   Cold all day, it finally began blowing snow as Dan lowered off this route. Currently we are escaping the cold by holing up in a wonderfully warm coffee shop in Moab.  In the days to come, we will continue doing warfare with the cracks of Indian Creek, but hopefully under more favorable conditions.

Canyonlands NP

The pre-snow Indian Creek scene. Someone is struggling up an offwidth while Dan ascends the Incredible Hand Crack (left).

Incredible Hand Crack

Snow!!

The Desert is absolutely gorgeous.

Continuing East

After two great days of R & R in Provo, Utah with good hosts and great brownies, Max and I were ready to hit the road again.  Before we left, we convinced Julia, our good friend Jeshua's amazing wife, to take part in a little photo shoot.  Looks cozy, huh?

Julia in the Mountain Hardwear Phantom

From Provo, we drove through the night and into Colorado, stopping in Grand Junction for the night and then continuing on to our next destination, Rifle Mountain Park.  Rifle is known as the best limestone sport climbing in the U.S., and it impressed us both.  

The style of climbing there is truly unique and is some of the most interesting either of us have ever done. Due to the way the rock has formed there are very few downpulling holds, rather upward progress is made by using blocky sidepulls and cool aretes, zig-zaging your way up the route.  There are no easy routes there, though, and most of the routes are at least somewhat overhung, so it made for pumped arms and tired bodies.  

Rifle also gave us our first real taste of winter, with sub-freezing temperatures 2 of the 3 nights we were there.  I took this opportunity to try out the bivy sacks I am reviewing.  In this photo, you can see my tiny bivy sack dwarfed by one of the 4-season tents that Max is reviewing...  Max also slept on a bed of sleeping bags (4, I think?).  I suffered through my cramped bivy as he slept lavishly, sipping Earl Gray and laughing at me.  Actually, the bivy's performed beautifully, and, despite being a bit coffin-like, were quite warm and comfortable.  

The MSR Asgard tent and the OR Alpine Bivy

We stayed at Rifle for four days, then continued East into the fun, hip, and forward-thinking city of Boulder, Colorado.  We are staying in the house of Kim Short, a former Hampshire student, and loving the city.  Our first day Max and I toured Boulder on borrowed bikes.  Mine was pink.

Taking Boulder by storm

Max's acrobatics (in skinny jeans, no less!)

Tonight we are going out to eat at a Nepalese restaurant called Sherpa's (http://www.sherpaascent.com/restaurant.htm),and the next few days we hope to sample some of the local rock climbing, spending a day at each of the local areas.  Each looks stellar.  Tomorrow we'll likely do the Bastille Crack, the most climbed crack in Colorado!

Neither of us have ever been to Colorado before, and it is definitely living up to our expectations...

EASTBOUND

We left Yosemite, crawling up and over Tioga pass, with snow falling on our rear bumper. Down, into, and across Nevada, we drove into the night heading East. A titanic full moon illuminated our passage through the high desert on Route 6. This infrequently travelled two-lane road cuts through the heart of the Basin and Range Province of south-central Nevada . Route 6 has a 150-mile section of nothing. No houses, no people, few trees, and no gas. It’s also has spectacular roadside geology. The drive goes like this: up a high pass, down the other side, and across a flat basin. Repeat ten times, add a stretch break/ photo shoot, and we were in Utah. 

Into the Nevada by moonlight

150 miles of nothing

Yoga by a salt flat

Desert flora

What a good looking van.

And so far Utah has proven to be wonderfully scenic. Winter is sprinting after fall, leaving the deciduous in full bloom and snow flurries on our tent fly.

 

At Maple Canyon, a big, chossy overhung and uninhabited climbing destination that’s surrounded by dozens of large and disgusting turkey farms, we met some other climbers and made a big breakfast. Then we went climbing for a few days. And then we drove to Provo where we type from the comfort and warmth of our dear friend Jeshua’s house. Tomorrow we will clean out our home (read: van) and reorganize our lives. We’ve found that this takes less than three hours. Can you clean and reorganize your home in three hours?

Maple Canyon

Breakfast

Overhung cobble jugs. The opposite of Yosemite granite.

Farewell Yosemite

Today we bid Yosemite ado.  But we are going out with a bang! Over the last few days we have done some of the most classic free climbs in the Valley.  We did Royal Arches (5.7, 15 pitches), the East Buttress of El Capitan (5.10b, 13 pitches), and today we climbed our favorite Yosemite climb yet, the combination of Serenity Crack (5.10d, 3 pitches) and Sons of Yesterday (5.10a, 5 pitches).

Now we are trying to escape through Tioga Pass before the weather comes in and snow blocks our path East.  We will bust through Nevada, heading straight for Utah, hoping for sun.  We will spend a day or two climbing at the steep, juggy Maple Canyon (about as different from Yosemite climbing as you can get), and then we will be paying our favorite Mormon (Jeshua Wright) a visit up in Provo, Utah.  We are especially psyched to see his prego wife, Julia!

The Mighty El Capitan.  The East Buttress Route goes up the more featured and shorter East (Right) side.

Dan "walking the plank" on the final pitch of Sons of Yesterday (5.10a).

Max following on Sons of Yesterday after leading all three pitches of Serenity Crack (5.10d).

More from the Valley

We’ve been in Camp 4 for a week and some now. The place is completely packed with climbers from all over the world. Austria, Germany and France are the big three, but a crowd of Canadians has also been sharing our site most recently.

Camp 4

We’ve been doing a ton of moderate classic climbs. Many three to five pitch adventures and a few longer highlights too. One of these was the Mathess Crest, a 2000-foot long ridge traverse near Tuolumne Meadows. Dan and I bivied in the meadows, watching shooting star television while our noses got covered in frost. A couple hour hike brought us to the base of the route, and from there it was a bunch of high elevation (the whole route is above 10,000 ft.) scrambling.  A super cool day.

Tuolumne Meadows showing true fall colors

Mathess Crest

Dan checking out the North Summit

Max scrambling along

Dan marching along with his nalgene

 

Now we're back in the valley, typing up gear reviews and helping to research our next shipment of gear (hard shells, 4 season tents, bivy sacks, GPS units, climbing pants, and light fleeces). We’re hoping to do some more longer routes while we’re here and then head to Utah before the passes close and block our escape.

-MAX

Gear Reviews

We’ve mentioned gear reviews a few times in our writing here.  Some more details:

Dan and I are Gear Reviewers for Supertopo.com. We use and abuse gear items and conduct moderately scientific experiments on some of the most popular outdoor gear items. I reviewed sleeping pads in August. You can see my review here. Now we’ve been collectively charged with tents, sleeping bags, stoves, water filters, small backpacks, and more is on the way. As you can imagine our road trip is the perfect testing environment because we're exposed to a variety of climates from the wet PNW, to the dry desert, and high and snowy alpine areas. Testing the gear uses up little free time, but writing reviews and shooting pics is a part time job. When we aren’t climbing, we’re entirely consumed with  reviews. We are becoming experts on things people obsess over and vehemently dispute on a daily basis. These reviews are paying for our trip, providing us with all the best gear, and allowing us to save some money for the future. This is the perfect job for us. 

Chris Simrell cooking testing the MSR Dragonfly

 Dan and I are currently finishing up reviews on backpacks and stoves. We’ll post a link here once they’re online. These pictures (above and below) are two of my favorite from the stove review.

The Optimus Crux

-MAX

Blissful Annihilation

annihilate |əˈnī-əˌlāt|

[verb] destroy utterly; obliterate; defeat utterly

blissful |ˈblisfəl|

[adjective] extremely happy; full of joy

This post serves to update you on our recent happenings and introduce those unfamiliar with rock climbing to the world of crack climbing.

We’ve spent the last ten days in the Bay Area and in Yosemite. The Bay area brought friends, family, and music. We switched out some gear and visited with Susannah and Olivier (cousins) in Mill Valley, dropped off some gear with Chris McNamara in San Rafael, and spent three days writing gear reviews and attending the massive Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival in San Francisco. My other cousin Caitlin generously put us up for our time in the city. My sister Mari also visited for a brief time too. 

San Francisco, how many cars do you have?

Hardly Strictly Bluegrass

Heavy rains in Yosemite postponed our arrival, so we hung around in Marin living out of the van, writing gear reviews from 9-5, and exploring the area’s social scene.

We’ve been in Yosemite the past four or five days. Camp 4 is mobbed with climbers taking advantage of the perfect fall weather. The forecast for the next five days reads perfectly sunny with highs between 76 and 79 and lows in the 40s. Perfect.

The valley

In our first few days here Dan and I have repeated a bunch of climbs that I did in the spring. We spent two days cragging and one day on the East Buttress of Middle Cathedral (10c, 11 pitches). Today we moved on from easier climbs to some real crack climbing at Cookie Cliff. This easily accessible place offers a stout lineup of one or two pitch 10+ cracks plus a few bolted lines. Cookie Cliff kicked our butts.

Blissful

Both Dan and I are well versed in the simple art of sport climbing. We’ve been all over the US and abroad and can crank on down pulling holds, do some heelhooks, and mantle, all with acceptable style. Yosemite, however, presents an entirely new style of climbing, virtually unknown to us. People come from all over the world for the slick granite, featureless cracks, burly offwidths, and sketchy pins scars that cover the massive walls that surround the valley. Most of the people here have years of experience tackling these climbs, but we are total yosemite gumbies. Our first day on these real, true to the grade, routes was nothing short of an annihilation. Today, I attempted to warm up on an 11a hand crack, but flailed miserably. Thirty or forty feet up, when the face edges disappeared, my hands groped the slick interior of the perfectly fractured granite, becoming ever and ever sweatier. I peddled my feet upwards- inserting them vertically then twisting horizontally- in hopes that the sticky rubber on my grungy climbing shoes would keep me in. Another 30 feet later, after a few strenuous placements, I retired from the battle. My forearms were swollen with lactic acid, my hands were barely able to move, and sweat dripped into my eyes. Stopping and hanging, breathing in the crisp Yosemite air, and taking in the view of the Merced flowing by in it’s fall low flows, I recovered enough for another battle of vertical progress. I have never “warmed up” on such a strenuous climb and I’ve never been so exhausted after a single pitch. That day continued with more brutally awakening climbs, a swim in the mind numbingly cold Merced, followed by pizza, beer, and internet in the Valley. Blissful annihilation.

Annihilation

 I’ve begun to loose track of time.

-MAX