The Wasatch….

Me stretching at The Gate. This is actually a pre-season pic.

Me on “Surfboard”.

The grit crusher cruising the granite lines.

Ben on “Butt Trumpet”.

Ben on “Gecko Grips”.

Me on “Tom’s Problems”.  Good line.

Nathan Wind’s hiking shoes.

The grit master at The Secret Garden.

The King of Caley on “Copperhead”.

Me at The Gate.  Please notice the awesome pink tanktop that says Bishop, California.  Cheers again, Steve.

Yet another beautiful LCC sunset.

Ben going for the redpoint attempt on ‘Social Values’ in Causey.  Such a great line!

The view from Dog Lake trail in Millcreek Canyon (in Salt Lake).

Pang insisting that we do all crack boulder problems in Joes.  I insisted on all crimp lines.

Josh in Indian Creek. Yes, we climbed there in August.

Ben on a variation of ‘Variety Delight’ in Little Cottonwood.

Guillaume bouldering in Big Bend.

Pang on ‘Big Man on Campus’ in Little Cottonwood Canyon.

The Lil’ Chicka working a climb in Maple.

Me working ‘Rug Right’ in Joes Valley.

Guillaume climbing in Millcreek Canyon (in Moab).

The view from Porscha’s house in Castle Valley.

Melissa has three pit bulls of her own, one of which she has nurtured back to good health from his battle with an auto-immune disease.  She contributes numerous hours of volunteer work with No More Homeless Pets and Best Friends, being a constant representative for animal rights and adoptions.  I highly recommend her for your beloved pet’s needs.

For further information, visit her site, blog, or call her at 801-419-2464.

One of my favorite photos from the trip. Photo credit: Frank Wu.

CB.  Photo Credit: Elliot Warden.

On this solo adventure (well, solo except for the inclusion of my chihuahua, CB, during the US portion) I explored the following destinations:

Utah

• Joes Valley
• Triassic
• American Fork
• Maple
• Big Cottonwood
• Little Cottonwood

Wyoming

• Wild Iris
• Grand Tetons (this stop was for volunteer work, not climbing)

Colorado

• Rifle

Kentucky

• Red River Gorge (trip beta)

North Carolina

• Boone (trip beta)
• Rumbling Bald (trip beta)

Tennessee

• Little Rock City (trip beta)

Georgia

• Rock Town (trip beta)

Alabama

• Horse Pens 40 (trip beta)

Arkansas

• Horse Shoe Canyon Ranch (trip beta)

Texas

• Hueco Tanks (trip beta, classic problems)

New Mexico

• White Sands National Park

California

• Joshua Tree
• Bishop (trip beta, classic problems)

France

• Lyon
• Fontainebleau (trip beta)
• Paris

England

• Leeds (trip beta)
• London

The Fontainebleau Forest.

My top three favorite spots out of the trip were:

1. Fontainebleau, France – This was hands-down my favorite destination.  Everything about this place was ideal: quantity and quality of rock, ability to meet someone from a new culture daily, cheap and delicious wine, hour proximity from Paris, etc. =)
2. Bishop, California - mmmmm…. Buttermilks!
3. Chattanooga Area – Chattanooga allows easy access to Little Rock City, RockTown, and HorsePens40, each place providing a unique climbing experience.

If you are planning a trip to visit any of these areas and need additional beta, please feel free to reach out to me.  Or, if you have additional information excluded from these posts, please comment and / or email.

My friend Melissa and I volunteering with No More Homeless Pets in Utah.

I am an avid volunteer, but to date have published few blog posts concerning my weekly service.  I have decided to start posting where I volunteer each week in hopes of spreading the organization’s mission and encouraging others to get involved.  Previously any volunteer entries were put on this blog, but I have decided to transition the majority of my future posts to my Wasatchgirl blog.  If interested in these volunteer posts, please stop by and read about this week’s service at No More Homeless Pets in Utah.

Hello faithful readers! Please take less than 10 seconds out of your busy days to vote for No More Homeless Pets on the rescuesite.com’s Shelter Challenge.

Go here, and then type in No More Homeless Pets in Utah- 1 click, and Voile! you’re done. No registration required.

Thanks for supporting our local awesome no kill program! We will receive a $20000 grant if we win.

I initially had a couple hiccups when trying to vote, but noticed that the shelter name should be “No More Homeless Pets” and the State needs to be Utah. (I was trying to enter “No More Homeless Pets in Utah” as the Shelter.)  If you did it correctly you will see the following box.

After that, just hit the “Vote” button.

Thanks for your support.

I am not a backcountry snowboarder (yet) as I have yet to take my avalanche safety classes nor have I cut my spare board in half.  However, this below alert by Save Our Canyons still intrigues me for a couple reasons.

1. Why would the Powderbirds or any organization be given such a long permit?  Why not have a necessary annual renewal measuring impact?
2. This is the third time within the last 2 weeks that I have received an email along the lines of possible negative environmental impact, but for some odd reason I only have a couple days to respond.  WTF? Is this a lack of organization on the non-profit side? A break down in communication between the parties involved?  A marketing tactic to try and get people to respond since the deadline is looming? Seriously… why are these issues not thoroughly addressed to the people who will be affected?!

Here is the info from Save Our Canyons about the Wasatch Powderbird Guides.

The Forest Service is seeking comments regarding the renewal of Wasatch Powderbird Guides (WPG) permit. The renewal would allow WPG to operate until 2020 without the requirement of an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). We feel that there are significant impacts that should be considered in the decision of permit renewal. We are asking for you to submit your comments.

The deadline for comments is this Friday, December 19th. PLEASE let your friends and skiing buddies know that they should send their comments in too! This is a critical decision, and it will affect the future of the central Wasatch for decades. Make sure your friends don’t miss this deadline!

Your comments don’t have to be lengthy or complex – they just need to be written and sent. The suggestions below should help you write an effective comment.

Submit comments to Melissa Hearst, Salt Lake Acting District Ranger 6944 So 3000 East, Salt Lake City UT 84121, fax 801-733-2684, or via e-mail at comments-intermtn-wasatch-cache-saltlake@fs.fed.us.

SUGGESTIONS FOR COMMENTING ON WPG’S PROPOSED 10-YEAR PERMIT

The way to make comments more persuasive to a government agency is to clearly address them to the questions the agency must ask itself when considering an action that might affect the environment. These questions mainly revolve around a) whether the agency must analyze the impacts of a proposed action and document these in an environmental impact statement (EIS), and b) what the analysis in an EIS should include, if the agency decides it must prepare one.

The questions the Forest Service (FS) has before it in this case are:

1. Can we use a categorical exclusion?
The FS wants to use a new Bush regulation, called a categorical exclusion (CE), that allows it to avoid doing an environmental impact statement (EIS). But the agency can’t use the CE if a) impacts from WPG’s operation are “significant” or b) impacts have increased significantly since the 1999 EIS, or will increase significantly before the end of the new 10-year permit (2020). So the number one thing anyone could say is to the effect of “based on the growth in BC use I have observed over the last _____ years, the 1999 EIS could not reflect the impacts occurring today, and there is no way that impacts will not increase dramatically before the end of the term of the proposed permit.” Focus on noise and safety impacts, since, arguably competition for ski terrain is not an environmental effect, so not something the FS has to care much about. Remind the FS that it did not do any new analysis of impacts on other backcountry users in the 2004, so the most recent analysis of these impacts is already nine years old and, under the new permit, WPG would be operating TWENTY-ONE YEARS after the last analysis.

2. Should we prepare a new EIS?
Urge them that the backcountry has continued to get more crowded so they need to take another look at noise and safety impacts because, with increased congestion in the BC, these impacts are significantly greater than they were during the 1999, or even 2004, EIS.

3. What should a new EIS analyze?
Suggest what effects of WPG’s operations you think the FS should consider before it decides whether to issue a permit to WPG or what limitations to impose on it. Examples: perform noise measurements/mapping, perform backcountry use measurements/mapping, require WPG to provide number of individuals served, determine presence of and effect on sensitive, threatened, or endangered species.

4. Should we continue to issue these permits to WPG, or tighten restrictions on it?
Argue why heli-skiing is an inappropriate use of public lands, or appropriate only with certain operational restrictions, etc. On this point, regarding claims that WPG’s operations are “elitist,” keep in mind that the FS tends to see non-heli backcountry skiers/riders/snowshoers as just as elitist (“physically endowed” vs. “financially endowed”). Good points to make in favor of eliminating or restricting WPG are that the overall benefit of the permit to the public is disproportionate to the adverse effects, and that the adverse effects to the public are asymmetrical—experienced only by one group, non-motorized forest users.

Use this link to view the scoping notice: http://www.fs.fed.us/r4/uwc/projects/wcnf/proposed/salt_lake/wpg_final_10_year_scoping_notice.pdf

For information about this issue and commenting, please contact Carl Fisher, Executive Director of Save Our Canyons, at carl@saveourcanyons.org or at 801-363-7283.

My Thoughts

Since I am not a backcountry snowboarder I have very little to opine on this subject. My initial response is I don’t care if everyone wants to play in the backcountry as long as it can still be safe for everyone and that the terrain isn’t being ruined. I do think that such a long permit is a poor idea as the Powderbirds will know they are locked in and can become complacent about how they treat the environment and locals who bust their butts hiking up the hill.

Is this an ignorant way to think? If so, please comment up and let me know.

For Shaft’s birthday we completed 41 boulder problems in Price and Joes Valley, split over the 16th and 17th of August.  Our range of problems was from v0 to v4, with an outlier v5 and one v7.

Shaft at the Price Boulders.  I spotted a desert whale here… he, he, he.

Me on the classic Riverside Rail.

Shaft rockin’ the mandatory cowboy hat on the warm-up.

The 18th was my birthday. Even though I had spent the previous two days bouldering I wanted to complete my birthday challenge of 28 routes in a day.  Prior to this birthday, the most routes I had done in a day was 10, so 28 was kind-of a big reach.  I was joined by a local SLC climber, starting the day at 8:30am and finishing at 10:30pm, with only an hour break for lunch.

Real smiley after the completion of all 28 routes!

I must admit I was real fortunate to have a climbing partner psyched to help me with this challenge and who willingly hung all the draws, especially since I was very powered down from the previous two bouldering days.  Our routes ranged from 5.6 (including all 3 pitches of Steort’s ridge) to 5.12b (Right Pile), mostly sport routes with a handful of trad lines.

Yes, this is a CHART of my routes.  I work in finance… what can I say?  I like excel.

By the time the night of the 18th rolled around I barely had enough energy to eat 2 pieces of pizza and take a couple sips of beer.  What a fantastic birthday weekend!

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. =)

A fellow SLC climber and friend, Lauren Yant, has started her own business, Ruthie Pearl , selling fashionable, earth-friendly shopping bags and gift bags. Lauren is highly earth conscience and taken her activism to the next level by creating quality products with low impact, while offsetting all business energy consumption through wind power credits, reducing and recycling wastes, and educating others on global impact and how they can have a positive influence.

She was recently quoted:

"A lot of people think that environmentalism is a political movement, but it really isn’t -climate change is something that affects us all. People in my generation look at our grandparents who thought nothing was wrong with smoking and think they were crazy. I think that’s the same way that our grandchildren will look at us."

"They’ll wonder, ‘What were they thinking?’ If there’s anything that I hope people learn from what I’m doing, it’s that anyone can make small changes to help the world become a better place – and you can even look cute doing it. I simply hope that people start taking small steps to make smarter decisions for a better tomorrow."

The current selection of bags can be seen on the site and at the upcoming Farmer’s Market . Lauren has offered a 20% discount for any of the CragBaby readers. Just enter CRAGBABY as the discount code at the time of checkout. And then of course let me know which bag you purchased, as I am still trying to decide…. =)