"International" Climber's Festival 2010 and the resolve of the Dissapearing Fish

Rick sending Ewanimity, .11b.

Ricardo and Thomas gearing up for 2 Kinds of Justice.
A classic route.

Jerry P. hitting it hard at the Zorro Wall.

Ricardo cocks the hammer on The Guns I'll Never Own, .11c.

Myself on the start of G.I.N.O. – a sweet boulder problem...with bolts.

Getting spanked on a rad .12a. Some days are certainly better than others.

I hit the Lander climbing festival this year for the first time in a few years. It was a good reminder of why Lander has always held a special place in my heart when it comes to climbing trips, which numero uno being the quality of stone and routes. Secondly, the atmosphere and local scene. The town seems to embrace climbers as well as host a healthy lifetsyle – without the attititude of other outdoor towns in the region (ahem, Jackson).

My goal for climbing on this trip was more mileage and sampling of routes as opposed to trying to redpoint "hard". Out of the 15-20 routes I got on, only one was bunk (don't do the new .11d to the left of Saddle Tramp...it sucks). Plus, I knew going there that for me to climb 4 stright days that my body wasn't going to be able to project. So I had fun keeping it chill.

Highlights: Good temps; Low crowds; Good friends at the Festival; Onsight of Zorro (classic route!), Hanging at the Ganite Grill; Ricardo enjoying his first trip to Lander and Wild Iris; Watching Tom eat a large pizza by himself; Hyroplaning on the way home near Pinedale in a few intense rain storms.

Oh yeah, and I need to retract my accusation of our cat in a previous post: We found the dried up remains of Damage nestled in one of Ethan's stuffed animals. It found out the hard way that fish are meant to remain in water.