apAdventures

Itching to stretch our muscles after all our eastern-ly travels, we wasted no time after arriving home and headed up to Flagstaff this past weekend. Paul is eager to tick some of his long-standing Priest Draw projects and I’ve committed to running the Imogene Pass Run in Colorado this September. So Flagstaff is the place to be. We met up with our friends John and Mandy and their three little ones (I talked Mandy into running Imogene too!…not that she needed any persuading) and had a fabulous time, despite the torrential monsoon downpours!

Ivan, psyched to be out on another big adventure

…but not quite sure which activity to try first: bouldering, trail running or investigating his newly found fingers/hands

Silas’ choice is simple: Diggers. All the time diggers.

…or picking flowers for mama again

Ivan enjoying the bouldering

Silas too

And let’s not forget mama

Now dad’s turn

Paul working out the moves on BK Broiler, v10

More BK Broiler

Construction / snack zone

Tree hugger

My Morgie

Paul on Lolita, v10

More Lolita

Attack of the Silas! (Silas loves to jump on dad after dad falls off the boulder)

Don’t throw rocks please

Away from the pads while dad is climbing please

Me and my boys

“Baby Ivan sooo cute”

Are these what I think they are?

Yes! The fingers I’ve been drooling over all day!

Hey, mama’s sending! Doesn’t anyone care?

Silas with his new friend Mia and her ponies

posted by arr

posted by arr

posted by arr

Since our last post we’ve been heading up to Flagstaff every chance we get. The monsoons are here now though and Mt. Lemmon has opened back up as of this weekend (hooray!). Chances are however, we’ll continue the trips north. Once we have the Flag itch we just can’t stop. 🙂 Even the baby is addicted…as you can see:

Checking out the holds on Super Roof, v4

Super Roof, v4

Hanging out up on Mt. Humphrey’s waiting for dad to finish his run

Breakfast at the campsite

Walking miles and miles following Silas

Silas telling his friend how to say “Rock!”

Off to the next climbing spot

Man’s best friend

Another friendly dog

Kids turn to climb

Typical Silas on the drive back home: zonked.

posted by arr

The Coronado National Forest is in lockdown. No camping, no picnicking, no hiking, no climbing, no trail running, no nothing. Do not enter. The Coronado National Forest encompasses all mountains surrounding Tucson. This means no Catalinas (i.e. Mount Lemmon), no Rincons, no Santa Ritas, no Chiricahuas, nada. Seriously. Due to the extremely dry conditions (and no doubt the fact that the country’s firefighters are all busy fighting other AZ fires), we can’t risk a spark. The mountains are closed until further notice. Read: Rain. And the monsoon season is at least a month out.

We’ve been turned away from the cool forests during the hot summer before – Flagstaff has closed the Coconino Forest in the past (i.e. no Priest Draw), but never on our home turf. And now hanging around the house on this lazy Sunday with the temps cookin’ outside Paul and I are at a loss of what to do to. It just so happens Paul decided to sign up to run Colorado’s Imogene Pass Run this fall to enforce a serious rest from climbing to heal up his elbow tendonitis. Not good. If one can’t get on the trails and run up the mountains, how exactly does one properly train for a 17 mile race that runs from Ouray to Telluride up and over a 13,000+ foot pass? Dunno.

With each southwest summer and the smothering 100+ degree temps it brings, I like to try to compare it to the coldest of cold winters in the Northeast. Only the tough will survive. Only the hardcore will dare go out it in. Only the crazy will actually ..gasp.. enjoy it. So I remind myself of this as I put Silas down for his afternoon nap and glance at the thermostat that reads 102 degrees, and then proceed to go outside into the oven to campus. Tough, yeah. Hardcore, yeah. Crazy, yeah. My mantra has never been so necessary as it is now. What other option do I have? How else can I train? Dunno.

The one thing we do know is that they haven’t closed the Flagstaff forests. No yet anyway. So probably like all other Tucsonians that need to escape the heat we’ll be heading back up there very soon. Here are some photos from last weekend’s trip:

Silas giving his go on a variation of Bat Roof, v3

Contemplating the day’s climbing

Awaiting his power breakfast – hurry it up, Dad, I’m ready to go climbing

Warming up

The usual cuteness

More climbing

Are we heading to the rocks soon?

The drool kiss. I love it.

Finally! We’re at the rocks. Now get climbing mama!

Singing itsy btsy spider on top of his trusty friend

Mama being all spider-like on Meateater, v7

Meateater, v7

posted by arr

We headed up to our old stomping grounds last weekend for the long weekend, Priest Draw in Flagstaff, AZ. The mission was 3 days of hard bouldering on the limestone roofs. The reality was only 2 days of bouldering (whew! those pockets!) followed by a “rest day” summit bid of Mt. Humphreys.

Yah, rest day, haha. The original intent was just a nice little walk up the Mt. Humphrey’s trail with little Silas and Morgan. Just a couple miles, short and easy, and when we got tired we’d just turn around. We weren’t even all that prepared to be out hiking in the first place. We had no formal footwear (just our chacos), we didn’t have Silas’ big, bad Sherpani hiking backpack (just the little ergobaby carrier, primarily reserved for short grocery store jaunts), and once again we found ourselves without Morgan’s backpack so that she could carry her own water (reference The Playpen (34.5lbs) Goes to Maple…). Oh yeah, and it was well past noon and we had planned to be back home in Tucson (4 hours away) at some sort of reasonable hour.

I’m sure you all already know where this story is headed. You’ve heard it from us before. And shouldn’t be surprised. Yeppers, so in typical apAdventures style, no more than 20 minutes into the uphill slog, we declared we were going for at least the saddle below the summit. After all, it’s just a “hike.” It’s not like we’re trying to summit the North Face of the Eiger or something.

So Paul, myself, baby Silas and brown dog Morgan trudged uphill in our sandals all the way to the saddle in between Humphreys and Agassiz at 11,800 feet. The hike turned out to be quite pleasant and not as insane as originally imagined (or intended, haha). I’ll admit though, we were a bit weary of popping out above treeline onto the saddle in front of the Labor Day hordes with a little 10 month old in tow: the crazies strike again. But those thoughts quickly vanished as we rounded the saddle and saw another couple posing for pictures with a 2 year old and a 4 month old. Amusingly, the mother immediately acknowledged our presence as a confirmation that she too was not crazy.

Paul and Silas at the Priest Draw boulders

Silas loving the green stuff

Our campsite up on Mt. Humphreys

Fueling up for the day

Resting between go’s

Getting a power-spot from dad on Floor Pie, v7

Discussing beta

Now dad’s turn on Lolita, v10. Beta sequence.

Silas isn’t impressed

Chillin’ by the fire after a hard day of climbing

Let’s hike!

The saddle. Note Silas’ disappointment that we decided against the full summit.

The whole family at the saddle. Morgan too – she’s just off making friends with the other hikers.

Another saddle shot and the view of the Mt. Humphreys summit

Pit stop on the trail

Playing with dirt above 11,000 feet….

…is fun!

Boulder field on the trail. On a good day you can see the Grand Canyon.

Morgan posing for the camera, again pleased that she didn’t need to carry her own backpack

Posted by arr

Well, sadly, our summer fun with Holly (my sister) has come to a close. She’s done with her summer internship and heading back to upstate New York tonight. And…well…we’re just a little bit depressed around here. Ok, a LOT. It’s been a great summer and we’ve had loads of fun….climbing, climbing, and climbing some more. We’ve spent most of the summer bouldering up in the cool pines of Flagstaff; mostly at Priest Draw. Holly ticked some real classics over the last couple of months and it’s been super exciting to see her progress and enthusiasm. The three of us (four, counting lil Morgie of course!) made a pretty sweet crew this summer and we’re really bummed to see her go. Hands down, there’s nothin’ cooler in the whole wide world than crankin’ with your own sis.

Here are a couple of pics from our last stellar weekend. Holly’s boyfriend Joe flew down from Colorado and we all headed up to Flagstaff for one last horrah.

posted by arr

Another awesome weekend! Here is a little video of a session I had at the Mars Roof. What an amazing boulder! It’s my favorite at The Draw. Stay tuned…we have a few more videos to post.

posted by pjv

Last weekend when the temps in Tucson exceed 100 degrees we packed up our pads, rounded up a crew and headed north to Priest Draw in Flagstaff Arizona. Our friends were psyched, the 25 oz. margaritas were half off and the sending conditions were prime. Check out what happened…

April’s sister Holly is back again with us for the summer. Last weekend we took her up to the Gloria’s bouldering area in Flagstaff. She’s pullin’ down pretty good…..for a snowboarder, haha.

posted by pjv