The CragBaby

This past weekend I jammed my schedule with climbing as I felt like I had a little steam to burn off and because I wanted to focus on some new local projects. Saturday morn I headed down to Division in American Fork with Shaft, Severhead, Ms. Pear and Amy H.

Litmus Test (a classic route) got a run from everyone in our crew. Ms. Pear had redpointed it last week and on this day Shaft and Severhead got the flash and I snagged the redpoint. Pictured is Severhead pulling the crux.

Shaft is usually belaying me as I completely trust him with the dynamic belay; however,this also means I get very few pics of him climbing. Here he is on Remote Control.

I am mentally still fighting the broken ankle and as a result take numerous practice falls each day I go out climbing. Shaft got this picture of me taking a practice fall on Isotoner Moaner.

Later that evening I had plans to run a trad line with Hardcore Jared. We decided on Pentapitch with the Sasquatch variation.

I have been working the climb Right Pile for over a year. The climb had become my nemesis for not only had I attempted it at least 30 times but it was the route that I broke my ankle on earlier this year. However…. this past Friday the redpoint finally took place, being the hardest redpoint I have achieved to date. And I giggled.

Anya Hindmarch created a bag that has seen wild success, selling out in London and in America. And according to the website, “Due to the unprecedented demand for I’m Not A Plastic Bag in South East Asia and our concerns for our customers safety we will be cancelling the launches at the following stores: Anya Hindmarch Beijing, On Pedder in Shanghai and On Pedder in Jakarta.”

I have seen the story in the news and wanted to congratulate the entrepreneur for her success with the launch of this product. I have also had friends mention the desire for this particular bag and actually saw a variety of, what I thought, were cool comparables at the local Ten Thousand Villages store. Check out the alternatives that provide the same utility, added social benefit of fair trade plus allow you to have a different bag than the thousands of English and Americans. =) Ten Thousand Villages new address is 1941 South 1100 East with the grand opening happening today.

Utahns celebrate an additional July holiday on the 24th in commemoration of the settlement of the region by the pioneers. Neither Shaft nor I had to work, so we drove to Joe’s Valley on Monday night to get a day of bouldering in at Joe’s Valley.

Shaft completing a fun V3.

Me on a stellar crack system problem.

Me being shut down by the CaveMan. This problem is real enjoyable but has a tricky transition that is quite shoulder intensive.

salami, that the package reminded us was made with pork. =)

CB hanging out on my pad. I have been meaning to write a thank you to the Grayhghost on my blog. Not only did the Grayhghost line me up with a good deal on the pad, but he drew this fantastic graphic on the right corner. Upon seeing it I was so amazed by what I thought was Black Diamond’s creativity; then he told me he had hand drawn it on there as a surprise. It was very nice and I have always wanted to post a thank you on this blog.

Shaft and I finished a problem and moved around the corner, at which time I realized I had forgotten the guide book. I walked over and saw CB swatting at something (which she does often with flies). And then I saw the slither inches away from her paw and froze in my steps. I yelled her name and the rattle sound began. I kept saying her name and slowly she backed up. Shaft came around the corner, thankfully picked up the dog (as I was still frozen in my steps) and we took a couple photos of the predator. Whew… close call.

For the past five years I have done either a solo international trip or moved to a new destination in the U.S. for the summer. The line up so far has been:

• 2002 - Lived in Denali Park, Alaska
• 2003 - Backpacked through Europe for 6 weeks
• 2004 - Lived in Chicago, Illinois and worked on the Chicago Board of Options Exchange
• 2005 - Backpacked through China for a month
• 2006 - Backpacked through Ireland for two weeks

This year I was hoping to find a travel friend (and ideally a climbing friend) who was jazzed about joining me on an adventure. And somehow I was lucky enough to find one! My good friend HIP #1 from Ireland is currently living in New Zealand but making a move back to Australia around mid-September. In between the move we are catching up for approximately two and half weeks in Thailand. Sometimes I feel so lucky!

Saturday’s enjoyable adventure of the limestone jug haul resulted in a craving for more. So Sunday afternoon Ms. Pear, Mathias and I cruised down to The Division wall in American Fork where we happened to meet up with Hardcore Jared and his friend.

On Saturday a small crew of us (Shaft, Ms. Pear, Severhead and I) headed down to the Membrane wall in American Fork to pull on some limestone jugs. Along the way we ran into Boulderer J and Boulderer A who joined us, plus caught up with Mr. Math and his crew.

The usual self portrait. One of Mr. Math’s crew (Heather) in the background.

Mr. Math warming up on my project.

Boulderer J onsighting my project. Fantastic!

Severhead happy that we brought a 12-pack of PBR considering he couldn’t find beer anywhere in Highland. Welcome to Utah County!

The crew at the end of the day: Ms. Pear, CB, Me, Shaft and Severhead.

I apologize to any readers that follow both my blogs. I have started implementing trackback posts if I want readers to read a post on my other blog. However, I felt like the subject of this entry was so cool that I wanted to re-post.

I stumbled upon the great site of Tom’s Shoes due to a post on the Lifehacker blog. Tom’s Shoes, a company founded by Blake Mycoskie, focuses on addressing poverty and health issues by donating a pair of shoes to a child in need for each pair of shoes purchased.

The concept was conceived as Blake was traveling through poor villages in Argentina and realized that he could create a difference by establishing a shoe company. He decided to fashion the shoe after the local alpargatas but with bold colors and artistic styles. He spent two months seeking Argentina fabric and shoe makers and debuted a collection of 15 styles in June 2006. By fall of 2006 he had sold 10,000 pairs of shoes and gave away 10,000 pairs with a handful of volunteers alongside 2,200 miles of Argentinan countryside.

As of February of this year the self-financed company had orders from 300 stores and was turning a profit. On top of that, 240 customers had offered to pay to go volunteer resulting in Mycoskie starting to create a sister company that will offer $2,000 vacations consisting of two days of sightseeing and 4 days of volunteering.

At the beginning of this year I organized an event for a local non-profit. The experience was invaluable and I greatly appreciated the opportunity; however, after that event I went on a two month hiatus from volunteering. I was burnt out and a little cranky with the non-profit model.

This past Sunday I ended my volunteering hiatus and have returned to my typical schedule of volunteering once per week. I believe the two month break was a good idea as this past week’s experience was completely refreshing.

The temperatures in the Uintas have been quite a bit cooler than Salt Lake City, so the crew headed back to the Uintas for a second weekend in a row. This time we hit up the Stone Garden area for a day of bouldering and a day of routes.

My reaction upon seeing the picture Shaft took of the ice in the men’s toilets.