Da' Roost!

Ethan "Da Roost" TeNgaio

Our first 'Hawk.

Auntie Charish and 'lil Madi scoping the fireworks.

Madi and her friend Emily – inseparable.

A few late pics from Independence Day weekend. The kids were treated to constant playtime with the arrival of their friends from Mtn. Home. Amazing how fast a clean house can become not.

Ethan went for the mohawk and earned the nickname "Da' Roost" (rooster). Madi did her best impression of a crazy chicken – running around, non-stop playing with her bud Emily. Britt's folks threw their annual July 4th BBQ with the usual ono-licious food. We got to view the fireworks show from our friends folks house which is just about right on the river – UNREAL! Thanks Josh and Randi!

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Huck You and the Disappearing Fish

First Ascent Fever: Troy Neu, Tom Smartt and myself.

Yesterday Toma and I hooked up with Troy for a Fins session. The weather is getting very warm and the Fins are the perfect place to climb in the heat of it all.

The walls face east and go in to the shade at 1 p.m. making for great climbing temps. It's not uncommon for me to pull out my beanie and light jacket to stay warm at times as the temps can easily be 20˚ cooler than that of the desert floor below.

With help from Tom and Troy, I was able to finish bolting a new line on the Solstice Wall named "Huck You". It's an .11a 6 bolt arching route that has a somewhat big move at the end, or "huck", to get to the anchors. We all shared in the fun in doing a shared First Ascent. Thanks for being so patient guys. I think it was well worth the extra time though as it will make a great addition to what I hope will be a complete wall someday.

Afterwards we moved on down to the Discovery Wall to: 1) get Trot back on Martini so he could annihilate it and; 2) add mid-way anchors on a route.

We got the mid-way anchors in on an open project called Route of Discovery. The reasoning behind this was that this route has fantastic power moves for the first 50', then cuts hard right on a traverse that no one has been able to free yet. It's seriously blank, I'm not kidding. Easily upper 5.14 but no one has got it yet. So with permission from route equipper(s), we added anchors at the 5th bolt making it a rad 4 bolt .12d/.13a that will now very likely see much more traffic and people sending. The original route is stil there so it's still open season for the full Route of Discovery. We'll think of a name for the bottom pitch soon.

Troy hit the Martini route and almost sent (he did do it clean on toprope though). For the first time out there this season I think he did great. Added to that is that fact that he spent the whole day before moving into his new house. Hey, just another reason for him to come out there again!

On the way home Brittany called me asking me if something had happened to Ethan's goldfish because he wasn't in his fish bowl. I told her I had fed the critter the night before but hadn't checked it the next morning. After much discussion and investigation we are convinced that our damn cat ate it the bloody thing!

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Lagoon!

Last weekend was spent at the madness which is called Lagoon. It was nice to be in 85˚ weather but I forget how crazy it is there until we go back. Cousin Legend (whom Ethan worships) came with us this time which gave me a break from the rides. Madi hung on all day keeping up with the madness.

Highlights: Madi's ice cream cone that was bigger than her head; Ethan, Legend and Britt going on the Wicked; watching mom and the kids get soaked on Rattlensnake Rapids; putting down some serious grinds at Dave's Famous BBQ in Layton!

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F.U.N.

Rick doing "The Virgins of Howe", .11d

Tyson pocket pickin' on Ghosts in the Shell, .12a

Tom rapping into the Solstice Wall (the wall is not a slab, btw)

Sunrise from atop the Headwall at the Fins, looking south. Big Southern Butte is on the right skyline

This past Sunday I was able to complete a project route named Al's Diner at the Fins.

Redpointing .13a for me is something that is well within my abilities but often times eludes me. Just like everyone else I've got the same excuses, (family, job, injuries, age, blah, blah, blah) that keep that carrot just out of arms reach. This time, however, the carrot tasted pretty sweet. Plus, it got me thinking more about the whole concept of "projecting" a route.

In the 11 or so years that I've been hugging rocks, I've seen some climbers get so wound up about sending their projects that it's made me wonder if they've forgotten why they started climbing in the first place. I've seen grown men and women on the verge of tears because they fell and didn't send. I've seen seemingly mature adults throw toddler-like tantrums when success was not the outcome on a route.

Which brings me to my point: Isn't this supposed to be fun? I will admit that I too get bummed when things don't work out but the most important lesson I've learned is that even if you are successful on a route, life goes on – you still have to mow the grass, pay the bills, clean the cat box, etc. To me, what makes a better person is someone who can learn from their failures and keep smiling. It's not worth getting bent out of shape when things don't go as planned. Which bring me to another point – Don't "plan" on anything other than walking away from the crag with a smile on your face.

Oh, and Tom also walked away with a smile on his face too – and the redpoint as well on Al's Diner! Good work T-Rock.

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Reconnecting

Scott crankin' down as Izzy-dog ponders the meaning of life

Scott dishing it up on Al's Diner, .13a

Yesterday Scott Gardner, Tom Smartt and I hit the Fins for an excellent mid-week session. It was Scott's first time up there and I believe he walked away with a very good impression of the place.

It was Scott's 3rd time back on rock this year after about a 6 year absence from climbing (he was mtn. biking hardcore during that time) The dude is an animal. The warmups out there are mainly 5.11 and Scott seemed to get to the anchors pretty easily, which is not an easy feat out there – especially if you have never been there before. It was inspiring to watch someone who has been climbing way longer than I have but has been out of the game a bit just seamlessly flow back into the movement, rhythm and mental structure of climbing. I can tell the technique, but most importantly passion, is still very much alive in Scott when it comes to climbing.

The definite climbing related highlight yesterday was Tom's sooooo close send of Al's Diner. The last move on the second crux is so critical on getting into a very hard to see left foot and then being able to hang on while stepping up on that tricky left foothold to get your right foot up onto a crimp. Your right arm is burning and your core muscles are very worked by then. He was seriously about 1/2 a move from exiting the crux. Pretty impressive for a "kid" that wrenched his ankle this April and hasn't done a whole lot of climbing since then. I tried Al's on lead but had a few hangs to get to the anchors. It was a high gravity day from me. However, I wanted to kick myself in the ass as on my next run as I opted for TR but then sent Al's clean – on TR though. Freakin idiot.

BTW, in regards to the title of this post: It was a pleasure climbing with Scott again (and Tom, like always) and catching up on friends that I haven't seen in years. Scott's always been this friend of mine that I've thought of as "someone who gets it". By "it" I mean that he understands reality – he isn't living to keep up with the Jones', keeps his shit together and hasn't succumbed to the mundane even though (like me) he has a family, house, job, etc. Plus hanging out with him reminded me that Britt and I need to make more of an effort to reconnect with old friends because we have been really bad at doing so. We've had some memorable times in the past with some of these people and we'd like to keep the friendships alive and healthy…even with life as hectic as it can seem.

And next time Al's Diner is going down.

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Breakfast of Champions

My friend Tom and lil' Madeline powering up with some Cinnamon Toast Crunch
before a big day on the rocks.

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Let There Be…NO RAIN (Finally)!

My cheeky helpers.

Showing off the goods while project manager Izzy-dog looks on.

Navigating the mud/horse poop and searching for snails.

Little Madi almost to the Weeping Cave.

The "Weeping Cave" climbing area.

Yesterday the skies finally cleared enough to keep the damn rain away and let us get outside to work and play. I know that Memorial Day weekend is traditionally a wet weekend but, good hell, part way through Saturday I thought we were going to have to build a bloody ark!

Ethan and Madi helped me finish the landscaping in the front yard by repeatedly filling the wheelbarrow and getting all the leftover mulch spread over the flower gardens. We did a big clean up project in our back yard flower beds about a month ago, cutting back/removing the jungle that had grown over due to neglect and indecisiveness. We opted for a clean slate and low maintenance, just leaving a few big trees and laying down fabric with cedar mulch on top. It took about 11 cu. yds to do everything – that's a lot of wheelbarrows. We ended up with extra so we just did the front yard as well and it all looks pretty sweet. Now it's on to the next project – the deck.

After yard work we were all itching to get away from the house and into the mountains so we made a mad dash to Palisades Cr. in Swan Valley.

We made a goal to hike to a wall I've been bolting that I named "Weeping Cave" (there are seeps in the limestone allowing for water to drip in spots onto the floor and parts of the wall that look like they are crying, hence the name). It's only 2 miles from the trailhead and anyone who's hiked the lower part of Palisades Creek knows that the trail is very easy – perfect for a 3 and 7 year old. I was impressed with the kids hiking all the way in and out on their own, especially Madeline (o.k., I did carry her a little bit on the way out).

Once home for the evening, it was chillaxin' while watching one of the Indiana Jones' movies. Ethan is currently OBESSESSED with Indiana Jones and Star Wars movies that he's starting to quote from them. To me, it's a blessed relief from the animated kids shows that currently saturate the market. Plus, who doesn't like Indiana Jones?

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HAPPY 7th BIRTHDAY ETHAN!!!

Ethan's ad in today's paper

Grandma Tam and Madi-cakes

Happy birthday to our "Big E" who turns 7 today. We love you Ethan Rewi!

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Moab, Part 2

Madi and a content Izzy

Indian Writings

You guessed it…

Corona Arch

Bowtie Arch

So we've been back for 3 days now and I'm finally getting a few minutes to jot down the second part of our trip.

After our day trip to Goblin Valley/Little Wild Horse Canyon, Tuesday night was spent hoping the damn trailer wouldn't blow away in the 50 mph gusts of wind that reeked havoc outside. Ethan kept asking us if we were going to blow away and die, lol.

Wednesday morning the wind was still howling so we took our time getting ready for the day. Going into town was starting to become bothersome with the hordes of rock crawling rednecks. (Note to self: never go to back to Moab during Jeep week). Mullets have given way to goatees to hid double chins on aging men. Despite the weather and visions of mullets, we headed to the trails along the the river road.

First was a jaunt up to see the dinosaur tracks at the Poison Spider Mesa pullout. However, it was the Indian writings that really caught our attention their. Next, we headed about 20 miles upstream to the Fisher Towers trail near Castle Valley. ET, Izzy-dog and I made a short quick hike to inspect them while Madi and Britt napped in the truck – I can't believe people actually find joy in climbing those crumbling, petrified mud-laden towers. I'll take Idaho limestone any day over that nonsense. To end the day off we stopped at the Negro Bill trailhead and slowly made our way uptrail. This trail is really mellow and has a creek flowing through it. Izzy can smell water a mile away and she was begging to be taken off the leash. So I let her go for it and man she went lolo! She loves water and hasn't had a chance to swim in a long time. Of course, you know what happens when a dog gets out of the water – roll in anything and everything. Needless to say she was a dirty but happy dog.

When we awoke Thursday, thoughts of languishing in the desert sun were once again annihilated by the BLIZZARD that swept through the area. We had to get out of the trailer so we went to town and played tourist. We even made the drive to the Hole-in-the-Rock store but quickly realized how much of a tourist-money-gouging-trap it is. So to lift spirits we headed to the Moab Brewery and enjoyed a glass of Moab-brewed beverage. Plus, ate the best hummus plate I have ever laid into. That place is rad. Afterward, we decided to say "screw it" and headed up to Deadhorse Point. The weather cleared when we got there (it was still cold though) and I thought Britt was going to have a heart attack due to Madi and Ethan getting so close to the precipice. If you happened to go over the brink, at least there would be enough time to enjoy the view before you know what. And that was how we spent Thursday in Moab.

Friday brought clear skies and a lot less wind so we headed to check out an arch named Corona. We had originally planned on doing Delicate Arch but both Britt and I had already been there and we wanted something a little less popular. So on a tip from our West Valley, UT neighbors at the RV park, we went for it. And it was good.

The hike is 1.5 miles one way and you only gain 400 feet. Super easy. Madi walked the whole thing (at least on the way in). There is an adjacent arch there as well named Bowtie Arch but the business is all in Corona Arch. There is a picture in the diner in Moab of some chap flying his single engine plane through the arch! Lolo for sure brah! Anyway, it didn't let us down and we highly recommend it to anyone who likes to see cool things.

Afterwards, it was one more quick bouldering session at Big Bend and then off to town to the brewery again for our last meal in Moab. As far as the bouldering at Big Bend goes, I don't see why some call it "world class" 'cuz it ain't. Not bad and sure, there are a number of problems I can't do but I certainly would drive all the way to Moab just for bouldering (plus the locals are kind of stuck up).

Overall the trip was a success in terms that the kids both loved it and I'm quite sure it left a positive impression on them because they didn't want to leave.

If you want to check out all the pics from the trip I've got them on our Picasa Web Album here.

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Moab, Part 1 Video

Here's the video I tried to post a few days ago of the first half of our Moab trip.

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