The CragBaby

Prior to traveling through Ireland in 2006 I posted up on the Irish climbing forums in search of climbing partners, hoping to hit up a couple of the crags on my visit. Dave (who I reference as H.I.P. #2) was living in Wales but had seen the post and inquired why none of his friends had yet to respond. A couple of them then reached out to me and we arranged a way to meet up and climb in the Burren over one weekend, that just happened to be a weekend when Dave was visiting from Wales.

The H.I.P. nickname came about because as we were climbing in the Burren the weather included the usual drizzle and cloudy skies. The rain would have definitely stopped me from climbing back home in Utah, but the whole Irish crew was somehow super psyched on the wet holds. That evening the rain and wind really picked up and I quickly hopped into my down sleeping bag as the Irish team happily sipped tea in the torrential weather.  Whew… so much more hardcore than I. So from there on out I started to call them the Hardcore Irish People (or H.I.P.’s for short).

My friends Neal (H.I.P. #1… the number difference being solely because I am able to chat with Neal more regularly) and Dave (H.I.P. #2) continue to impress me. I joined H.I.P. #1 in Thailand where he just kept on sending project after project, redpointing his first 8a and continuing to be super psyched the whole time. Then this week on H.I.P. #2’s blog he posts up this entry on his first E7 (8a) . What the hell is he even holding onto on this climb?! And how in the hell is he placing gear?! You really must check out the whole post .

I seriously have no idea how he is staying on the wall with that foot and hand hold.  And I love this line, "Ignore the crap ropework… was more concerned with staying on!"

The first mono in a sequence of mono pockets. Whew… hardcore Irish people! If I read his post correctly, I believe he hit the redpoint on this climb. Congrats, my friend!

This past week I gave my 2 weeks notice to my employing firm. I have been extremely fortunate to work for my employer and will actually continue to work with them for the next couple months, but on a part time rather than full time basis. Why? Because as of August 1st my main focus will be on climbing and traveling for the next 4 -5 months. And yes, I am super psyched. =)

The game plan (which is completely open to changing) is to stay in Utah for the month of August to hopefully work through many of the details of these books.

In September, I am thinking about heading to Kentucky to work on this book.

Then in October and November these books.

And then, depending on how I feel, in December to work on this book.

Yep. I am pretty psyched. =) If any of you readers are also going to be on the road or just want to meet up, let me know.

The other day I came home from work to see a postal package sitting on my doorstep. I couldn’t remember ordering anything online so assumed it must be for Shaft. I picked it up and saw the name of a long time friend written in my hand writing, yet hadn’t been in touch with this friend for many years for the sole reason of simply losing touch due to geographical location changes. I took a closer look at the package and noticed that the postal stamp said August 3, 2005!!!! I continued to examine the box and saw that it was sent from my old apartment, where I had lived the past three years, and that the return address was correct. Yet somehow it had just never quite made its way home until now.

That evening I called my dear friend and chatted with him. We laughed at the postal package and figured it truly had been approximately three years since we had last spoken. We quickly exchanged our past couple year life summaries and made plans to catch up for dinner for the full update after I returned from my Squamish vacation. On the way home from Squamish we exchanged some texts confirming our dinner appointment in a week’s time. And when the night of the dinner rolled around I thought I should confirm again and sent two text messages, only to not hear back from him this time. His lack of response was a little out of the ordinary as he usually was quick to respond, but I figured his plans must have changed and that we needed to reschedule.

The next day one of his siblings surprisingly called me at work to inform me that my friend had been missing for the past week and that the family had shown up to our dinner meeting place in hopes that he would appear, to only be sorely disappointed.

Over three weeks have now passed since my friend’s disappearance. The family has filled out the missing persons report, pulled his financial and cell phone records and yet have been unable to discover any trace of him. I have called him daily since I was informed of the news only to repeatedly hear the message that his voice mail box is full.

Dear friend, if you happen to see this, I sure do wish you would come home. Your postal package continues to patiently await.

Shaft, SP, Murphy, the CragBaby and I headed up to the Uintas to meet up with a crew of our friends (Severhead’s rowdy bunch and HappyD’s crew) in celebration of Independence Day and Severhead’s birthday. It was yet another perfect Utah weekend of sunshine and climbing.

We spent the first day climbing at Stone Garden and the second day at Notch Lake. Here is the CragBaby relaxing from the 2 - 3 mile hike into Notch Lake. Shaft and I later decided that CB is surprisingly the ideal crag dog. She absolutely loves to hike, can easily squeeze her way under logs, quickly scrambles up boulders, never gets too warm, dares to fight off creatures of all sizes, seems to have no fear of heights and, when necessary. can easily fit into one’s jacket.

This was our first time to the Getaway Wall at Notch Lake and it is my new favorite Uinta crag. The scenery was beautiful and the crag offered classic lines ranging from a 5.6 to a couple 5.11d’s . My favorite climb on the crag (note that I only hopped on 4 of the lines) was the Wine of Purity (5.11a) that pulled a roof and then followed horizontal crimps to the anchors. There was also a fantastic 11d, Tipping the Vessel of Knowledge, that included a roof, crimps, long reaches, jugs and a mantel all within its 4 bolts and anchors. For shorter people like myself, it also entailed a dyno. Superb!

Shaft warming up on Sport Rappelling is Neither (5.9) that we later learned was bolted by Heath. =) Fun climb with some spice from the last bolt to the anchors.

Aaron running the Neophyte (5.10b). Moves included a heel hook and crimps.

Silhouette of Aaron on Tipping the Vessel of Knowledge (5.11d).

Part of the crew: Shaft, Aaron and Happy D.

Shaft and I enjoyed the best camping food of any of our trips yet. One night consisted of delectable corn on the cob (trust me, I am a corn on the cob connoisseur) and fired baked fillet mignon wrapped in bacon (the bacon being held on with widdled sticks). The next night we had spicey sausage and fried vegetables thanks to SP. We were definitely living the dream.

The bugs were a little out of hand, which seems to be common in the Uintas, but as shown in this picture can be "killed dead" as advertised, allowing Shaft to smile in spite.

Shaft, SP, the CB-gbers, Murphy and I headed up to Moosehorn area on Sunday as none of us had climbed in this area. The climbs we were hoping to ascend were unfortunately still covered in snow. So instead we did a couple short sport routes, carried Murphy in a backpack and watched the CB-gbers chase rocks down the snow field.

Murphy, SP’s Jack Russell, joined our trip last minute. The poor thing had a rough weekend, being bitten by one of the numerous dogs, completely tuckered after our 6 mile round trip hike into Notch Lake and then had to be carried in the back pack across an exposed section at rock.

The alpine chihuahua soaked up the last bit of sun after another great weekend.

Last year I received the best postal package from my friend H.I.P #1 that included his own personal boomerang that had accompanied him in his travels. The Boom then accompanied me through my climbing adventures (for instance in Joes Valley ) and was of course included in my recent trip to Squamish. Here she is smiling across the Canadian border. This pic is for you H.I.P. #1.

Shaft, the Cb-gbers and I took a two and half week climbing vacation in Squamish, Canada. British Columbia receives a fair bit of rain during the month of June, but we luckily encountered cooperative weather allowing us to climb everyday.

Driving through beautiful Oregon. At this rest stop we happened to meet a trucker who also owned a chihuahua.

The coastal views on the way to Squamish. In this area, scuba divers congregate to explore two sunken ships.

View of The Chief. While taking this picture a car stopped and the driver warned us of an approaching bear.

The Pemberton landscape.

Squamish and the outlying areas house thousands of routes and boulder problems. Shaft and I alternated between bouldering, trad and sport lines, taking one rest day to hike to the top of the Chief.

Me working ‘In Your Face’ in Pemberton.  This extremely fun v3 was on the Yosemite boulder that sits adjacent the railroad tracks.  The guidebook states to hide if a train is coming due to access concerns.

Shaft warming up at the SuperFly boulder in Squamish.

Shaft sending ‘Sloppy Poppy’, known to be one of the most popular v4’s in Squamish.

Me warming up on the Warm Up Traverse.

Me working ‘Bo Jo Jones’.  This problem consisted of numerous heel hooks. =)

Shaft roping up for routes at the Smoke Bluffs.

Me on Ancient Heart. This climb alone was worth the 15 hour drive to Canada. The 9 bolt 11c showcased numerous heel hooks, a boulder-y slopey crux and a crimpy top out. Pure magic!

Shaft on the third pitch of Deidre, our final climb in Squamish.  We had wanted to run it the day prior but were rained out, ending up bouldering instead.  We thankfully waited one more day, finishing up our trip beautifully with this classic line on The Chief.

Besides numerous days of setting up ropes and throwing out bouldering pads ….

Shaft continually munched on wild raspberries.

I made a new best friend.

We happen-stanced many bear sitings, two of which included dog-bear chases. For the record, the bear surprisingly ran away on both occasions.

We spotted logger truck collision signs.

And saw the biggest, ugliest slugs!

By the time we arrived home, the sweater-clad Cb-gbers was tuckered out, a sure sign of a successful trip.

I recently posted about Lauren Yant’s startup, Ruthie Pearl . This year she has a booth at the Farmer’s Market and due to her presence there was picked up by the Daily Style on Dooce.com . Superb! And now she is all sold out on bags and quickly sewing more. Ha ha… congrats!

If you haven’t yet, you should check out her site and try to secure an order before she sells out again. =)

Every once in awhile my tiny little feet are advantageous. I might not ever be able to find shoes for work, but on occasion I find climbing shoes on sale. Prior to my trip, I picked up a pair of Anasazis and Methos for $90 total, when they usually retail for $120 per pair. Oh yeah… thank you little feet.

Sorry for the lack of posts lately. I am on vacation with my friend Shaft and the CB-gbers in Squamish, British Columbia. It is so beautiful here, the climbing is superb, the temps have been good, and the surroundings remind me of Valdez, Alaska. Plus, we have seen MANY bears. I might post a couple posts while here, but perhaps not. It just isn’t a priority right now as I am focusing on relaxing in the sun and enjoying the view of The Chief.

In response to my previous post, thank you all for your support on the loss of my car. This past Wednesday it was found half a mile from my house with only the stereo gone and the glove box shuffled through. Can you believe that?! My good friend Mark went and identified it for me and lined up the towing (it is in drive-able condition but I took the key with me to Canada…doh! … and though I had mailed it to Mark, the car was found before the key arrived). It is now just waiting for me at his parent’s house. Thank you all for your support and for offering up your vehicles. And thank you Mark for taking car of all the details while I am away. I am truly lucky to have so many great people in my life.

Ok, I am off to go climb. =)

Sigh.

Once again I was the victim of theft.

I thought I handled it so well this time, but as I write this I am quite bummed. I have lived in Salt Lake City for six and a half years, in many different locations, and out of those six years I have lost six big items. Yep, that means I am batting approximately one big loss per year. Today’s theft was the worst as the item lost was my car.

Sigh.

To date I have lost the following items, none of which were returned.

• mountain bike - I used to have a real nice bike that was stolen from my backyard. This was a painful loss, leaving me to feel so violated.
• car stereo - this one wasn’t a big deal. I actually was going out to the car to uninstall the stereo in order to give it to a friend. Yet, someone had beat me to the process.
• cruiser bike - this one wasn’t painful at all. In fact, I didn’t know it was missing until months later. It was a beater bike that needed some tuning and I found it missing when Spring arrived and I went to do the necessary work. It was given to me and was a quirky bike.
• wallet / phone - this one was truly painful, causing months of identity and credit worry. The items were stolen from my car while I was bouldering at Cabbage Patch in LCC. The Cabbage Patch boulders are seriously right off the road, maybe a 20 foot walk. Yet somehow the perpetrators broke a window and took the items unbeknownest to me. The person was found and prosecuted, but who knows where my credit cards ended up.
• scooter - I cried for days on this one. I bought a scooter, similar to a Vespa. and truly loved the thing. It was part of my identity and at the time scooters were rare in SLC, which made me like it even more. I truly loved this thing. One day it had some problems as I was driving home from the gym and I had to park it in the parking lot of an antique shop. When I went to retrieve it the next day, it was just gone. The story is long and convaluted, but in essence the lady of this store had given it to her friend who was then wanting a ransom for it … blah, blah, blah. It truly is a real weird and long story that ended in me never getting my scooter back in one piece. Funnily, the antique store went out of business about a year later and I believed it was karma.
• car - today the good old faithful Honda Civic was gone. She wasn’t real pretty with her huge dent, but I adored her. She ran so well, even in her old age.

The faithful civic with H.I.P. #1 on the Salt Flats.

The worst detail of the car situation was my car insurance. Please read: ALWAYS HAVE COMPREHENSIVE INSURANCE. My little Honda was a 1991 and pretty banged up, so I figured I would only get liability coverage. In my mind I thought comprehensive would be real expensive and not worth the investment for an old car. I WAS WRONG!!!! I found out from co-workers that the premium insurance is usually only dollars more as the main expense lies in the collision insurance. I was so shocked at learning this fact that I called my insurance company back to learn the cost difference, the total being… get ready for it… $30. By paying $30 more per year I could have recoupped the cost of my vehicle whereas now I have nothing.

Sigh.

This fact really is bothersome as I research out all areas of my life, analyzing the best deals and thoughtfully planning how I spend my money. Somehow it had never crossed my mind to see the cost difference between the two insurance plans. Why the insurance agent didn’t tell me about my options when I bought my policy? I don’t know. It actually makes me angry because isn’t their job to be… "my agent"? However, the main fault is mine as I didn’t do my damn research. How in the world did it slip my mind to ask when I am usually so diligent?!

Sigh.

Ok … enough of the pity party…. I’m back to the giggly self with a newfound insurance lesson.