Tommy's Yosemite

Yosemite. The place has been described in every way imaginable, and all are true. To sum it up quickly, it has huge granite peaks, large vertical faces, and breathtaking views. It is a cool place to rock climb.

George and I in front of El Cap.

Our buddy Tommy got a job in the park, and we had to visit him. Tommy is new to climbing, but he is a natural. He also has an attitude that makes him try harder than any other person on rock. He screams and hollers from strain, and always tries hard routes. 

The second pitch of Central Pillar of Frenzy. Tommy came with us and hollered his way up his first finger crack.

We had the fortune of climbing with Tommy in Yosemite. His passion served as my inspiration to keep on working in the month of grape sorting that I was about to do. I was inspired by the vision of being there again.

The last pitch of CPF. We were all pretty pooped after this.

Tommy on the first rappel.

See you after wine season.

Trout Creek

After spending one and a half weeks on a vacation from climbing, we finally got back into our harnesses. We went to a newly established area called Trout Creek. Trout, is a unique climbing area in the Central Oregon desert. With basalt exposed throughout the area, Trout Creek has become a mini-mecca for splitter crack climbing. Like the sandstone cracks of Utah, Trout cracks are hard and exhausting, you still need a lot of gear to climb, you have to haul all thst metal up to the crag, and to make it worse, you have to climb from 5:00 AM to 12:00 PM in order to avoid the one-hundred degree heat in the middle of the day.

Basalt splitter cracks. Photo courtesy of Larissa Pfifer.

Our first day in Trout Creek was spent lounging in the river because it was already too hot to climb. The next day we got up dark and early and marched 45 minutes uphill to the crag. Upon reaching the cliffs, a climber is overwhlemed with hundreds of cracks within a quarter mile strip of rock. The approach to the cliff base however is a little tricky, because there are massive boulders strewn about the base that make the approach more of an exposed boulder jaunt than a hike (dogs have actually fallen through the boulders and died).

We fished in the river on our first day at Trout with lures made out of wire, rubber bands, and pipe cleaners. We didn't catch any fish.

Me, trying to think like a fish in Trout Creek.

Most climbing areas around the world have guidebooks to accurately depict where the routes are and how hard they are, but Trout Creek is a little different. Trout Creek has a free online guidebook or a 'crag copy' of the book. The 'crag copy' can be found in the 'crag box,' which is a large plastic tub hidden in a cavern under the boulders at the base of a particular route. Inside the tub, one may find a beer, some dope, bandaid's, tape, the guidebook, an emergency blanket, and a note written by a witch that warns all climbers of the dangers of abusing the box. All of the items in the box are available for public use, provided the user does not deface them or take something without replacing it. We found the 'crag box,' and put it to good use. It was nice knowing that we did not need to buy a book for the area, and it was even an updated color version.

The Crag Box and the Crag Book.

After days of demoralizing hard-crack climbing, early wake-ups, and a grueling there-and-back hike every day, the climber gets to come back to camp at 1:00 PM to relax in the river. With a chair propped in the river and a beer in one hand, the climber may expose themeselves to excessive amounts of sun without knowing it.

Myself, George, and Jason, excited about the amount of crack in the area. Photo courtesy of Larissa Pfifer.

Unfortunately Trout Creek left all of us exhausted and discouraged. I even injured my shoulder to the point where I had to take a week off from climbing just to have enough courage to use it again. We left trout Creek for Smith Rock, for some much needed Sport Climbing and 'rest.' While Trout Creek has some hard climbing, it is one of the best crack climbing destinations we have seen since Indian Creek, and I will definitely be returning to it for a longer stay next year.

Jason, leading the off-hands section of the classic JR Token.

Lacey on JR Token.

Lacey, looking out across butresses filled with hundreds of splitter cracks.

Crux of the Day: Volkswagons

George and I keep a special journal of the trip. The Journal is titled 'The Crux of the Day.' In this journal we use one sentence that highlights the most challenging part of the day, our crux. Occasionaly we try to impart this journaling method onto our friends. On our way to trout Creek in Oregon, we traveled with our Colorado friends Lacey and Jason. They drive in a Volkswagon Eurovan. On our travel day to Trout Creek, we had 'Volkswagons' listed as our crux of the day!

Their van broke down, and Jason painstakingly worked on the underside of the van to fix it. After several hours on the side of the road in the seedy outskirts of Portland, and a full coating of greese, Jason fixed the van. We had to stay in Portland that night, but we made it to our destination the next day.

Jason, looking into the depths of his van.

I know absolutely nothing about fixing cars, but I try. Jason has a lot of experience and is a great auto teacher.

After tinkering for the better part of a day, the alternator came out. Apparently there was a nest inside the van's engine. The alternator and Jason were totally fried.

Vacation

Rock climbing in Squamish got us down. The climbing got harder, and we thought that we were getting better, but we were repeatedly shut down. We were supposed to have a little vacation from rock climbing after Squamish, so we decided to get started on it a little bit earlier.

We had some friends in the San Juan Islands, just outside of Seattle, and we gave them a visit. We were met by welcoming hosts, that let us sleep on their porches, eat their food, drink their beer, and stack their wood.

Our days were spent enjoying anything but rock climbing. We did everything from chopping a winter's worth of wood, to crabbing and slurping up oysters on a half-shell, to being surprised guests at a wedding. Every night was special with our hosts, and they made us feel like royalty.

We now have some amazing friends that have given us so much, and I am incredibly thankful for the week I had with these wonderful people. Thank you to all members of the Bryant and Meyerott families!

We ate more blackberries in one week than I have in 4.5 years.

George, Royce, Laila, and Moey at the Friday Harbor Farmers Market.

One of the families we stayed with choses to move their lives to the front lawn in the summer. This is their kitchen tent and the washing station at the far right.

This is the best camping kitchen I have ever seen!

When not going to surprise weddings, crabbing, or getting haircuts, we lounging on the beach watching beach volleyball. We had a picnic this day with fritata, cake, mamosas, and fruit. It was actually freakishly hot, and there was no way that we could move from under the umbrellas.

Breakfast picnic.

Being a good practicing gastronome, we checked out some of the local food on the Island. We went to a local Oyster Farm for some treats. Above is a film of George and Laila enjoying their oysters.

Geo, on a boat!

Myself and Royce on the way to our crab pots.

Laila with one of our catches. It actually took some effort to pry this creature off of her hand.

George and Laila pulling up a crab pot.

Pulling the boat out of the water. I'm not one to complain about bad hair, but this is bad hair!

The end result of cooking crabs.

Our host Royce, showing us how to weaken crab shells.

Due to the bad hair, we got haircuts before moving out into the world. Moey trimming Geo's hair for the Johnny Depp look.

The aftermath. This is one of the best haircuts I have ever had.

While we were exploring a local dive-bar one evening our friends Jacob and Hiedi from CSU came in. Before the surprise of the meeting wore off they told us that they were getting married. When we heard this, we asked if we could come to their wedding. They had two people who could not show, and we got to take their places.

The wedding reception was held on a boat that toured the surrounding islands.

Galmorous does not even begin to describe our partying!

George even got some time in the sunset with the bride.

Every afternoon in the Islands ends like this.

Pardon the Wait

I have finally reached internet! For those of you who have demanded posts, I apologize for the long wait. Starting today, I will begin new posts from our travels in The San Juan Island's, Oregon, and California!

Waiting...

SQUAMISH

We had a great time in Squamish. The rock is impeccable and the weather was unusual for Canada. It was dry the whole time we were there except for a couple of drizzles over our last week there. Here are some pictures from the trip.

George on top of The Chief for the first time. Downtown Squamish is in the background.

George and I on the incredibly crowded Rock On. We waited on a small ledge with four other people to climb to the top of this route.

Me, checking out the exposure on top of the Squamish Butress.

A buddy of ours 'cleaned' and put up a new route in Squamish called La Gota Fria. George and I knew that it would be a very hard climb but we tried it anyway. George on top of pitch 4.

We had to bail off of the route because it started to rain and we did not feel like waiting it out. George, rappelling down the slippery rock on La Gota Fria.

Rock climbers tend to have the impression that being the first to climb something is glamorous and cool. Well let me tell you, in Squamish it is not. The climate in Western Canada is conducive to vegetation, and plants will grow just about anywhere. To put up a first ascent in Squamish, you are required to spend countless hours cleaning, brushing, and cutting away plants. You are also excpected to make your route safe for others who climb it. Our friend Chris who put up La Gota Fria put 2 years of work into building this route, and he did a good job. Read more about his unique experience on his blog gumbiesoncrack@blogspot.com.

We decided to tackle our goal for the trip on our last day of climbing in Squamish. Our goal was to climb The Grand Wall, which is one of the 50 greatest climbs in North America. The climb is characterized by steep climbing that drops off into oblivion. George before the beautiful Split Pillar pitch of The Grand Wall.

The Split Pillar.

Our buddy Mike climbing the Split Pillar after the rainstorm.

Mike and the amazing exposure of The Grand Wall.

Shaking out.

Due to a rainstorm we got held up with some French Canadians on top of the Split Pillar, on The Grand Wall. This is right before The Sword pitch, which is the cru of the route. George, Aryan, and Yan having fun on the party ledge. George and I actually got stuck on a ledge once before with Aryan, which only added to the fun of being stuck hundred of feet off of the ground surrounded by unclimable wet rock.

This pitcure was taken after the crux pitch. The entire pitch had this type of exposure: sheer drop off to the ground.

Perrys's Layback on The Grand.

This is called the Bellygood Ledge, and it is the topout for The Grand Wall. It is incredibly easy to get past this section but it is a seriously small ledge, hundreds of feet of the ground.