The CragBaby

A couple weeks ago I redpointed my hardest climb to date, Left Pile. I was so ecstatic, even doing jumping jacks after the send, with an overflow of excitement that did not dissipate until approximately noon the next day.

Me drinking the celebratory Pabst that Shaft secretly brought to the crag.

Yet, the taste of victory lingers only until the next time on the rock. Left Pile was a climb of my preferred style: steep, big jugs that turned to crimps and then a fun dynamic throw to a huge sinker. But this year I am trying to expand my climbing abilities to include areas where I am not so comfortable, especially trad climbing and slab faces…. and it is SCARY!

Triznut on Stone Ground at The Millstone.

Within days of sending Left Pile, I headed up to the Millstone to be completely scared on Cat Juggling (5.10c) due to a single slab move. I finally finished the lead, but only after whining and moaning for a good 20 minutes (or more!). Soon after I went to Industrial Wall to come down early from Assembly Line, a mere 5.7 slab lead, completely scared of the possible fall. And then the next day I shakily lead a beautiful 5.8 trad line on Stiffler’s Mom, almost hyperventilating in the process. Damn… sometimes I suck at climbing! =)

Slab Master Shaft uncoiling our rope at the Industrial Wall.

But, perhaps climbing is fun due to these reasons… the extensive variety of climbs available, the continual intense mental game, the awe of watching friends crush routes that scare me .. and just the continual reminder that once I think I am getting stronger, I am quickly dished out a spoonful of humility. =)

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.

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. =)

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.

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…. =)

I truly love Salt Lake City. It is a fantastic place housing numerous top notch outdoor recreation possibilities, a handful of great theaters, an excellent symphony (plus opera and ballet, though I don’t frequent those nearly as often), a good number of great restaurants … while still maintaining the small city feel. Living here truly is superb. Summer, though, is my favorite season as the city comes alive with the following events.

The Gallery Stroll , actually occurs all year round on every third Friday of the month, but I participate only in the summer as it is by far more enjoyable (in my mind) to check out The ArtSpace, Broadway, Pierpont Strip and individual galleries in the summer evenings.

The last Gallery Stroll in May showcased plates (a square sheet with two hole punches near the top) at the ArtSpace.

Farmer’s Market is held every Saturday morn starting on June 14th and and goes until completion in October. Over 70 Farmers, non-profits, and artists house booths to sell products and/or inform the public. A friend of mine will be there this year selling her Ruthie Pearl bags . Must see booths include KCPW where you can opine on local debates, the Salsa King (yum!) and all farmer booths were fresh local produce can be purchased. Or, if not wanting to show up weekly at the Farmer’s Market, the Community Supported Agriculture program is a fantastic alternative.

Every year the Farmer’s Market has a fantastic posters, which I proudly hang in my home.

Gallivan Concert Series is held every Thursday from July 10 - August 28th. It is amazing the line-up of artists the city brings in and provides to the public for free. Last years highlights included Michael Franti (who always puts on the best shows), Peter Bjorn and John and Yo La Tengo. The 2008 line-up includes Andrew Bird (yayayayayayay!), Josh Ritter and The Roots.

The audience at one of the Michael Franti shows. Franti came both in 2006 and 2007, but unfortunately (truly unfortunately) will not be in the 2008 lineup .

Sundance Outdoor Film Festival can be enjoyed in Sundance, Park City or Salt Lake City. In years past it seemed to show more actual Sundance films from the annual film festival, where now the mix seems to be more broad highlighting a variety of independents and classics. The 2008 schedule includes 2008 Sundance film Adventures of Power, classic Raising Arizona and a handful that I have yet to see. I have to date only viewed films at the SLC Gallivan Center where movies can be enjoyed while kicked back on the lawn, munching on any food or drink carried in.

Shot from the film Adventures in Power.

For more event listings, visit the Downtown Alliance , the City Weekly or even the Visitor’s Guide .

I rarely post the same information, let alone the same post, on both the Wasatch Girl and the Crag Baby. I like to keep the sites distinctly different, but make an exception on certain occasions. I consider this to be one of those occasions. Here is the last post from the Wasatch Girl .

As many of you local readers and twitter-ers already know, one of the fellow technologist in the area, Phil Burns , learned this past week that his 22-month-old daughter, Serenity, has leukemia. Incredibly heart breaking news, but with the upside that she has immediately started chemotherapy and should be able to survive. His previous business partner, Jesse Stay , has created the Chip In Widget where donations are directly deposited into the Burns’ paypal account. The goal has been increased to raise $1,000 by June 23 and Jeff Barr has committed to donate an extra 15% to the final amount. I have integrated the Chip In Widget on both of my blogs on the right hand column.

I have gotten to know Phil through a handful of his startups and by following his online presence. He is a good guy willing to take the continual risk of being an entrepreneur in order to provide innovation to many. I would urge you to help him out in this time of need.

For the past couple climbing seasons I have strived to travel out of the Salt Lake area frequently to explore the dozen+ other crags within a 5 hour driving radius. This year is quite different. I realized that I am in my 5th year of climbing and have yet to explore numerous lines right here in Salt Lake City. I will definitely get out of town on occasion, but am pretty psyched on checking out all that the local crags have to offer.

A couple weeks back Shaft and I headed up to the S-Curves with the sole goal of hitting up a handful of the lines we had never tried. The S-Curves are in Big Cottonwood Canyon located, unsurprisingly, at the huge curve in the road that resembles an S. The crags in this area include the Pile, New Cliche and the Lower and Upper S-Curves.

The above pic shows the view of the lower S-Curves from the road. The big roof houses three lines, none of which I have ever done: Dog Eat Dog (three star 5.13d that is the front picture of the Wasatch Guide), S-Curve Overhang (two star 5.11c) and High Life (two star 5.12c). The first pitch to all three of these climbs is a 5.4 trad line. Hmmm… I didn’t realize this until writing this post. I should definitely go check out the 11c.

The S-Curves can be quite deceiving. For instance, Ionic Binding is a 5.9+ on the lower wall that I often use as a warm-up yet have never climbed without getting a flash pump. There is the poorly bolted 5.11a, Megalopolis, that I have only hopped on once and never returned, noting in my book “pretty burly!” And then there is Madison Avenue, 5.10d, that I have ran twice and still described in my book “weird holds.” Basically, you just never know what you are going to get.

Shaft at the top of Geronimo, hanging out on a fantastic belay ledge. Across canyon snow still lingered with the Millstone being completely covered.

This particular day Shaft and I only had a couple hours so did a lap on Clean Underwear (5.9) and Geronimo (5.8) and then did a couple laps each on the upper pitch of Geronimo named High Dive (5.11b). High Dive was extremely fun, resembling a Black Monday, but with more traverse rather than vertical moves. Most of the holds were huge jugs with a cruxy and crimpy little top out finish. Fun, fun, fun! The book gave this climb one star, but I would up that to at least two.

Me real smiley at the top of Geronimo.

I like to try and support the local entrepreneur, especially considering I work in venture capital . The local establishment of highlight today is 4th Street Laundry located on 4th East and 1700 South.

When I moved into the area I decided I would try out this laundromat to wash a bunch of sleeping bags. Like every laundromat I have ever frequented, it was pretty (to be honest) ghetto when I walked in with the somewhat dirty floors. However, I was pleasantly surprised on my return visit. I had forgotten my sleeping bags and had to pick them up the next day. Upon walking in the lady behind the counter immediately said hello and introduced herself (her name being Rita) and told me how she had owned the establishment for 30 years. She was so extremely friendly and had gone out of her way to ensure my sleeping bags were completely dry and bagged up for me. I had brought some dry cleaning with me to drop off and she insisted that I just pay for the sleeping bags when I pick up my dry cleaning as it would be more convenient.

The service of 4th Street Laundry is phenomenal and their dry cleaning prices far beat out Red Hanger.

Shaft bought me the nicest gift, The Free Spirit. She is a beautiful cruiser, previously owned (my favorite type of gift), purchased from craigslist, a little rusty, only has one gear but now (thanks to Shaft) fashions a basket, bell and kickstand. I love her.

Whew. Pure beauty! I was so thrilled upon receiving her as it was completely unexpected and exactly what I had been looking for on craigslist.

Ever since I received this beauty, Shaft and I have cruised to the our local coffee shop on the weekends. CB typically trots alongside, but I have started to train her to actually lay in the basket (with a little mesh covering protecting her) in prep for the longer ride to the downtown Farmer’s Market (which starts in a couple weeks). Yeah, we somewhat resemble the Wizard of Oz..