apAdventures

For Paul’s first Father’s Day, I thought it might be a good idea to round up other fellow climbing fathers to spend the day climbing with, while us mamas looked after the babies. So Tom, Mia and Henry joined us up at The Helmet on Mt. Lemmon for some route climbing today. And we had fun!! …but I think I can speak for the fathers in that these two bouldering-boys need some more endurance! haha. 🙂

The fathers getting serious to climb some routes: Tom & Paul

Mama and her baby: Mia & Henry

My baby: Silas

Posted by arr

“Goin’ Vertical.” This is Paul’s classic phrase when standing under a route climb, tied into the sharp end, ready to ascend. We’ve all heard it, we all know it. Classic Paul. Problem is, it’s been soooo long since we’ve put a rope on that this phrase seems a bit old-school….or “80’s” as our friend Mike so bluntly put it – hearing it for the first time last weekend. Ok, so maybe that’s a bit exaggerated. It’s been a while since we route climbed, but not decades. I think our last roped adventure was Indian Creek…3 or so years ago. In the grand scheme of things, that’s not so long…is it? Well, if you compare it to 9 months of pregnancy, yeah it seems like forever!!

Which brings me to the “Why.” Why routes now? Why ditch the bouldering and have to deal with the bothersome logistics of gear, ropes and oh-so-boring belaying? Why? Because this chickie here ain’t havin’ fun on the boulders no more – that’s why! 16+ extra pounds with a big ‘ol belly in the way of my hand-foot-matches and abs barely strong enough to sit myself up in bed at night is just plain crampin’ my style! Yeah, that’s why! Solution: My fancy new full-body harness* and route climbing…err, easy route climbing, that is. And top-roping of course. Now let’s just see how much longer this full-body harness will fit me and the bambino….

Paul on Delirious, 5.12a Mt. Lemmon, Arizona

Paul belaying Holly on just another Mt. Lemmon slab. Bored?

Me and the bambino hanging out under the Enchanted Tower, New Mexico

The Enchanted Tower, NM

Boulderers in route climbing gear! Gah! We’re not in Hueco anymore, Django. Mike (climbing), Jeff, Paul and Raquel

Mike sending Humpty Dumpty, 5.12a at the Enchanted Tower, NM

My Morgie

Morgan’s buddy Django

Mike cleaning Rubber Mission, 5.12b after Paul’s send of the extension to the top of the Tower, Mission Impossible, 5.12d

A view from the Tower down to our cozy little campsite (see the van?)

posted by arr

* Note: For the non-climbers reading this blog, a full body harness secures the climber around the shoulders and legs verses the waist. Top-roping provides a method of climbing where you are secured to the rope at all times and do not fall when you let go from the wall. This allows the climber to continue to comfortably and safely exercise with zero impact to the belly.

I’ve mentioned before that I’m a climbing news junkie but I haven’t posted anything recently about climbing current events. So, I found an opportunity to summarize in one entry. So, here! Check out the newest video from Big UP Productions and Sender Films. I believe it captures some of the hardest climbs ever with some of the best footage I’ve ever seen. These climbs have been completed over the last year or so and if you’ve been paying attention to the news the limits of our sport have been broken! V15 and 5.15a are now the upper end. Based on the rumors I’ve heard I think we will see these limits exceeded, very soon.

posted by pjv

Our Thanksgiving weekend was spent chillin’ in Utah with good friends, good food, good scenery and most of all GOOD CRACK(s). We maximized our short time getting schooled on some of the most amazing crack climbs in the country. It was awesome and we’ll definately be back for more. Click on the photo below to watch a short video documenting our fun adventure.

Just a few updates on some things. Over the past week, Paul and I have made substantial progress toward deciding on our dream car that we’d like to get soon: A campervan! A Sportsmobile, to be exact. The perfecto climber-mobile. For the obscene amount of climbing roadtrips we rack up per year, I think it’s the general consensus that we’re long overdue on this one. We’ll keep ya posted.

Last weekend we actually decided to bail on Hueco (gasp!) and headed up to Flagstaff instead for some Priest Draw bouldering. We left late Sat morning and got up there around 3pm. With only a few hours of daylight left, we had decided to take along some warm clothes and our headlamps with us for a little ‘evening session’ of night-bouldering. It was quite pleasant – the woods were all quiet, the air was crisp and the stars were amazing. For those of you that have bouldered with us at the Draw over last two summers, you’ll be pleased to hear that I finally ticked off Badass. It’s about time!! 🙂 Paul gave some good sending go’s on The Receptionist, but was sadly shut down once again – falling after the “answering the phone” move. I again worked Anorexic. I’m able to link up all the moves, but not start-to-finish. If we would just spend a few consecutive weekends at the Draw, I might be able to report some more exciting sends to you. Ah but alas, so many projects, in so many places.

We’re running again. Neither Paul nor I had ran a step since the Grand Canyon Adventure . The minute our feet hit the final south rim of the canyon back on October 1st, we jumped head first into climbing-mode and let the running fall by the wayside….the Grand Canyon being our grand finale for the year. But that has now slightly changed. Just slightly though. We’re still in full-on climbing mode, but we kinda sorta just want to do some running too. On the side. Like icing on the cake. Little runs. For fun. Cause we like it. 🙂

And here are some crazy upcoming plans of ours that will surely knock your socks off. Due to ridiculous airfare prices this year (and our lack of pre-planning), Paul and I will be staying west for the Thanksgiving holiday. We’re a bit bummed out by this one. Ok, a lot bummed. Nothing quite compares to spending the holidays with family. :-\ So to cheer ourselves up, we’ve of course made some sort of climbing plans. That’s what climbers do when they have a 4 day weekend and can’t go home, right? Now, where to go, where to go…..Hueco?…nah. Joshua Tree?….nah. Flagstaff?…nah. Indian Creek?! WHAT?! Hold up. Did you say Indian Creek??!!!! As in, sandstone splitter cracks? Handjams? Trad gear? No crashpads? Yep.

These two boulderers are going crack climbing this weekend. Stay tuned….

Our friend Courtney has been unable to enjoy the sport of rock climbing for a long time due to some horrible wrist pains. He took a big step today, went in for surgery…what came out is pretty crazy. Check out the piece of bone or cartalidge that they pulled out. Hopefully it won’t be long until he is back in action, climbing, training, and enjoying his passions without nagging wrist pains.

….finding a two week and one day old hamburger wrapped in tin foil in the lid of your climbing pack and thinking it was a dead animal.

Sick.

Disgusting.

Absolutely revolting.

A gag-reflex parade.

Can the backpack be saved?

Coffee doesn’t have much of an effect in terms of waking you up once you’ve had a million cups during the work week. I tried drinking an additional coffee on the way to Jacks Canyon last Friday night, to stay awake but it didn’t do anything for me. April and I were both exhausted. We bailed on the idea of driving all the way to Jacks to camp. My driving reaction time just wasn’t good enough to deal with elk dodging on the dark road. So, we stayed at Motel 6 in Payson.

Our weekend objective was to escape the heat of Tucson and get away from hot stuff, like the neighborhood blaze that nearly burned down our house. Since I’m so honest I told the attendant at Motel 6 that we have a dog and they kindly said, “Sure we allow pets. But, we’ll have to put you in a smoking room.” After a night there I smelled like “that guy” who sits down next to you after a fresh smoke. I always had that luxury when I was in lecture, in college.

Anyway, we left Payson on Saturday morning and drove up to Jacks. Since we were in total coffee withdrawl we got to the rocks around 12PM, lazy and with nice pounding headaches. Getting to the crag so early allowed us enough time to get in 3, count em, 3 Jacks Canyon routes! With just three routes to brag about at least April can say she…..onsighted a 5.11a!!! Nice.

Once the afternoon monsoon lightning storm passed we surfaced from the canyon to see that several forest fires were starting to burn on the horizon. Wow! Actually, once you’ve been living in Arizona for a little while, you see one fire, you’ve seen them all. Forest rangers were on their way in to put out the blaze as we drove out.

Drove out? Yeah, we bailed. We decided to head back to Tucson. Not! Ha ha. That’s not us. We stopped in Pine AZ and had dinner for starters. When we realized that there was a little cabin in the back that you could rent we couldn’t resist. Check out our photos and you’ll see, our weekend was all about chillin’, relaxing and then climbing hard at Jacks on Sunday.

The fire that is in the photo above is the view from highway 87 coming into Phoenix from Jacks Canyon. We saw the amazing forest fire as we drove back on Sunday. As we left the cool temps and returned to THE DESERT BLAZE.

April and I think the pictures we all took throughout the 10 day Maple Canyon trip, best summarize, the loads of fun we had. We’ve included descriptions of each photo so spend time, relax and enjoy the slideshow. Click on any of the photos shown below to access the photo collection.

Sport route highlights and summary:

“Unknown” = 5.11a:
In the area called the “Pipeline” Vince and Tammy pointed out a super cool .11a that they had both done on a previous trip to Maple. Both April and Marcus managed to quickly send the line that was short, steep and classic. Hopefully, when a new guide comes out for the area we’ll be able to figure out what it’s called.

“Unknown” = 5.12a:
Congratulations Tammy for completing the line several climbs over from the .11a in the Pipeline. Tammy had previously worked the line but had to leave it as unfinished business on a past trip. She quickly remembered her sequence and sent the line with style. April will do the same when we return to Maple, considering she quickly lead up to the crux before getting stumped.

“The Lost Letter” = 5.11b
Marcus and Tammy get a lot of credit for both sending this line. It is a beautiful .11b in an area called the Maple Corridor. In working the line Tammy took a nice whip and tore her pants. We got a great picture of her right butt cheek too. But, after a few tries Tammy and Marcus both climbed the line and got the send.

“Zoaster Toaster” = 5.12a
“49” = 5.12b
“Lunchables” = 5.12b
“Ground Work” = 5.12b
“The Put Down” = 5.12c
My screwed up middle finger was definately feeling better on the trip so I climbed harder routes than I originally planned on climbing. But…I didn’t plan on having any endurance. Somehow I pulled off the 5 climbs listed above, all on onsight. I guess I was psyched to see the Minimum wall and use my bouldering juice still left from Hueco.

“Captain Bullet” = 5.13a/b
Vince and I worked on this one for a couple days. Since we were both lacking the endurance to do it quickly we had to work out the precise footwork and technique in order to save energy and complete the bouldery crux. Unfortunately I can’t say that we sent as a team. I got the redpoint after figuring out some critical beta and Vince came soooooooooo close. He definately gets credit for trying really really really hard. ha ha. Wait until we post the video of his attempts. They are crazy! He’ll send next try.

“Min Meditation” = 5.10c
April and Marcus casually onsighted this climb near the end of our trip. In fact, they did this one last. The climb is very technical and has a tree close by which you think if you fall you’ll hit. That’s not the case but it messes with your mind. With this climb April proved that she is gaining the confidence in leading and is ready to really crank it up in the next few weekends and go for her goal of 5.12. For Marcus, this was his hardest onsight to date. Definately another stellar climb.

“49” = 5.12b
Every year on some guy’s birthday he bolts a new line. 49 is one of his lines which is a beautiful climb on the Minimum wall that basically stays at the same overhanging angle for almost 90 feet. Vince can now say that he sent the line with perfect style after just a few tries. Nice job man! And, he sent after working Captian Bullet with me for days, tired from all the effort and in front of an intimidating crowd of super strong girl climbers. Everyone was impressed!

“Lunchables” = 5.12b
Right next to 49 was a climb called Lunchables which Tammy picked, worked and sent. Nice! I didn’t think she was going to do it at first. I thought she got sucked in because it looked so stellar. I climbed the line myself and thought it was tricky and exposed. I never thought I’d hear the sending scream come from Tammy’s mouth. But I did. And I heard it from a crag far far away. This was a new level for Tammy and a great trip highlight to talk about.

“Zoaster Toaster” = 5.12a
Even though April and Marcus didn’t send this one they both lead it and made it to the anchors. If you see this route you’d know why it was a trip highlight to just get to the top. It is an ultimate classic, steep climb which goes about 80 feet up the Minimum wall. As you climb and place your feet you get quick glimpses of the insane amount of air below. I get goose bumps just thinking about it. Way to keep the lead head together guys!

I could probably keep writing until my fingers tweak out but I’m not. I can’t possibly convey how much fun we had over the 10 day trip. Enjoy our photos and go to Maple Canyon. It is AWESOME!!!! I know we’ll be going back.

posted by pjv

We’re back.

We spent like 16 hrs. traveling today. It was totally worth it! The climbing at Maple Canyon was…uh…STELLARRRRRRRR!!! I really feel like we just went on a true vacation because I can’t remember when we started out. It seems soooo long ago. Over the next few days we’ll have pictures, video and the full trip report with highlights up. For now, April and I are going to sleep and recover and try to get back into the routine of…work. 🙁

posted by pjv