I was so incredibly excited to catch up with my friends Simon and James while in London.  I had met these two boys in China in 2005 and had not seen them since.  Simon graciously came and picked me up from my hostel, took me to James’s house, and cooked James and I a great stir-fry accompanied by Asian beer (how thoughtful!). We sat and reminiscenced about our time in China, then Si gave me the printed out directions to my next destination, and they both dropped me off at the bus stop.  What incredible friends! It honestly was one of the top moments of my 10 month trip….

But even better was the fact that Si got us lost in London on the way to James’s house. =)  You have to understand that Si was the one who kept J and I in order while in China.  He always knew the itinerary, always knew where we were going.  I must admit that this moment was fabulous.  Oh Si… I adore you.

Ha ha… and I must share one of the rain videos.  Ah, the “perfect gritstone weather”.

Tacos, a very kind, quiet girl, was planning on traveling for a bit through the US prior to heading back up to Canada, where she had been working. But this past week, en route to Alberta, she was in a horrible car accident, resulting in a broken neck. She was flown to Casper Medical Center in Wyoming where she underwent surgery for the broken neck, but currently has little movement from the shoulders down. She has regained some feeling in her toes and fingers and her breathing has become easier over the last few days. She has also gotten help to sit in a chair for a few minutes per day and is remaining positive that she will recover and be able to rock climb again in the future.

Her home is in Japan and though she has health insurance, it does not cover the cost to fly her home. In her current situation she will need help covering the cost of the 3 first class flights (necessary due to the 2 caregivers who must accompany her) plus the wages and expenses for these caregivers. Also, her insurance does not cover physiotherapy, which if not started soon can impact her chance of full recovery.

The exact cost is unknown at this time, but it is estimated that she will need approximately $10,000. Please consider helping out a fellow climber and making a donation to the cause.

To donate, click on the “ChipIn” button above.  All donations are directly deposited to her paypal account.

It would also be great if any of you readers could help spread the word. If you are a blogger and want to add this widget to your blog, there is a copy button on the widget or feel free to email me at wasatchgirl at gmail.com for the appropriate code.

Rob (also referenced as Shaft)

Rob is one of my dearest friends and helped me out a bunch while on this trip. Not only was he always supportive and encouraged my decision to travel, he was kind enough to store some of my belongings, gathered my mail, and provided me a place to crash whenever I stopped back in SLC.  He was always there to drop or pick me up from the airport and would give me advice when car troubles arose.  I truly don’t know what I would do without him in my life.

Enjoying martinis at the Red Door.

Melissa (also referenced as Lil Chicka)

I met my friend Melissa right before my road trip and she became one of my dearest friends while traveling.  Sometimes life on the road can be rough …. I know that sounds silly, but sometimes it truly can get bumpy.  It was nice to have a friend who understood “road living life” and who always had a store of advice when needed.  She seemed to always have the ability to pull my perspective back around and realize my fortunate way of life.  Now that I am home, she is such a fabulous climbing partner with amazing stick clipping abilities. =)

Melissa impresses me with her love of animals and now has her own pet walking and sitting business.

Guillaume

I didn’t know Guillaume when I rolled into Fontainebleau, yet he still opened up his home to me for 3 weeks.  It was such a kind gesture and he quickly became a good friend and an excellent bouldering partner.  He even introduced me to the movie “Out of Africa” and would sing countless rounds of “Girl from Ipanema”.  I really can’t think of how my time in Fontainebleau could have been any better, thanks to Guillaume.

Showing me how to operate the grocery carts in France.

Ed

I met Ed days before my trip, but he became a friend during my travels, sending me pics of his latest adventures and giving me advice on injuries.  When I wanted to head overseas for 6 weeks he generously offered to watch my little pup.  He was only supposed to watch her for 3 of the weeks, but asked to keep her the entire 6 weeks. He then took her to the vet when necessary and continually sent me pictures and movies to let me know my little one was well.  CB is of the utmost importance to me, and having someone be so kind to her while I was away was so incredibly nice.

I don’t have a pic of Ed, but this is one of the pics he sent me while I was away. His dog Cleo and CB became good friends.

Steve (also known as the King of Caley)

I met Steve in Bishop, where we had a lot of time to get to know one another due to our concurrent injuries.  When he learned I had booked my ticket to Europe, he offered to show me around the grit stone if I wanted to swing through England.  I, of course, took him up on the offer and had two splendid weeks in England visiting the Yorkshire and Peak crags.  Not only is Steve a fellow climber and extremely witty, but he truly is the only person I have ever met who can fully understand my family situation.  Our family situations are so similar we can honestly complete each other’s sentences. I can’t tell you how nice it is to have someone understand me in this area. On top of all that, he won the Twitter climber pickup contest with the line, “Do you mind spotting me as I am about to fall for you.” Classic! =)

This is one of the few “smiles” he let slip by on camera. =)

Pang

I met Pang on my very last days in Bishop, which were also my last days of the US portion of my trip. He became a great sounding board, listening and giving me good advice about a wide range of subjects.  He continues to be a dear friend and is kind enough to be my continual grammar pro, reviewing my resumes, cover letters and blog posts.  Plus, he is one of my favorite Scrabble partners, though I am pretty sure he lets me win just to keep me smiling … =)

Pang letting me win at yet another Scrabble match in the Tetons.

Thanks, everyone!

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!

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.

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.

I crashed up in Brooklyn at my friend Josh’s house. It was extremely kind of him to offer up his place, which was perfectly located for easy access into the city. This picture was taken when we were enjoying an excellent brunch at Miriams.

My Seattle-based friend Warren suggested I catch up with his friend and avid NYC tour guide, JP. JP was seriously hilarious and gladly showed me around the most interesting sites of Union Square: the man selling the carrot slicer, the sock shop with a very diverse sock offering, the gym where JP enjoyed running on the sidewalk racing the folks on the treadmills, a comfortable couch outside of a furniture shop, but mostly the fantastic Japanese restaurant with a cotton candy machine. Good times!

I was able to meet up with my good friend Robb for drinks at Floyds, catching up on life while watching endless games of Bacci ball. He then joined me on Saturday for my walk across the Brooklyn bridge and strolling through Soho.

The busy, busy street in Soho.

After meeting up with my business friend Sam, I caught up with Justin for a quick drink

Later on Saturday night I hung out with a bunch of friends from SXSW including Alex and his wife, Orian, Charlie and his girl Meredith, and a couple of Charlie’s other friends I didn’t get the time to really get to know. A handful of us then headed to Yuri’s for a party, but I am not used to the late night lifestyle of New York and so didn’t stay very long. The next day I gathered all my stuff together and flew home in the early afternoon.

Wow, who would have known?! I love NYC!