October 25th, 2016
We had another birthday recently. Is it just me or are the birthdays ticking by at a faster and faster rate??!!!!
Silas is now 7. SEVEN! And for his 7th birthday he wanted to go to Joshua Tree and do 7 climbs (no doubt the idea coming to him from Linda’s 35 route attempt on her 35th birthday back in February). The trip was a success…well, wait a sec…I’m not going to sugar-coat it here people. The presents did travel well without being peeked at or destroyed, the cake assembled beautifully and tasted delicious, and the seven climbs were ticked. The not-so-fun parts were it being INCREDIBLY windy all day Saturday (not just breezy or even gusty, but that super annoying dusty desert wind that blows crashpads and small children away and hair into your mouth and dirt into your eyes and grains of sand into your ear canals such that you just want to yell at the wind! Or your kids. THAT kind of wind!), and burned pizza. No, really burned. Really, really, really burned pizza. Pizza that we had been looking forward to feasting our dusty wind-blown faces into after a long, tiring, angry at mother nature kind of day…cooked over the campfire in our sweet little dutch oven. The birthday feast! Burned. And then add to that two kids that were amped up a notch higher than usual, exacerbating the frustration of the whole day. Not one of our best days out climbing for sure.
At the end of that fine day, with wild kids finally asleep in their sleeping bags and Paul and I sitting outside the van, looking at the big beautiful full moon with cups of wine in hand (cause as all desert climbers know, the blasted wind of course stops when it’s now too dark to climb), Paul says to me “April, this is why parents don’t do this.” (referring to the day’s drama). We sat quietly and pondered that thought a moment. And then broke into hysterical laughter.
It’s October and all Joshua Tree camping is full. Standard protocol: BLM land outside the park.
But then we snag an open campsite the next morning! Score! (Note, this is the calm before the storm, literally about 5 minutes prior to the wind just suddenly kicking up and then remaining at full-throttle for the entire day)
Climb #1
Little brother follows
Ivan has declared that he’s only doing 4 climbs today. Hmmm, wonder why? haha
Forgot to snap a pic of climb #2, so onto climb #3. Yes, we’re getting as much mileage as we can out of this boulder since it’s the only one in all of Joshua Tree with actual holds on it.
Climb #4. Yeah slab climbing.
And climb #5, which is a proper guidebook-documented V0 boulder problem. Nice Silas!
Calling it quits early for the day and moving on to dinner and birthday party celebration. The pizza baking in the dutch oven.
Dinner…which was essentially just salad. Take a gander of the burned hot mess on the corner of the table
Cake! Time to turn this party around!
…and then mother nature digs a little deeper and blows the candles out! Grrr. Completely unfazed, he goes ahead and makes a wish (the cake is a solar system, by the way)
Silas opening Ivan’s card
Homemade with love
A very exciting gift. The biggest magnifying glass ever! Thank you grandma and papa!
We give up on the wind and head indoors. This is the big gift – Paul’s rock collection he had as a child (well, half of it that is. The other half will be saved for another small boy later)
I love these photos
Their socks are completely knocked off right now
The next morning: a movie on the computer paired with the favorite gifts of last night – the rock collection and a book on gems and minerals. Silas is SOOOO into rocks right now.
Building the psyche that this day will be a little more fun. This is the day of Silas’ actual birth so how can it not be!
Looking good….
A fun little find on the approach
Tying in
On belay
Little brother waiting patiently for his turn
Climb on!
Climb #6, done!
View from the summit
Ivan’s turn
The rest positions these kids find on their climbs cracks me up
Ivan summits!
And finally, the big climb #7. We offered up the option of Silas doing the previous climb twice to finish out the 7, but he wouldn’t have it. He wanted to do the big one, “the one parents do.”
Go for it buddy. …it’s only a 5.10a 😉
A little tug from dad through the crux…
…and…
…he’s got it in the bag!
Belle Campground, where we camped, in the background
Send!!
I love this photo too – the climax of the trip. Paul and I often refer to what we’ve dubbed the “misery-to-joy ratio” for moments such as this. When hauling the whole family around to do what we do, a high degree of misery must sometimes be endured. But all it takes is that one moment of pure joy to make the whole experience worth it. This is exactly one of those moments. What a perfect birthday.
posted by arr
October 18th, 2016
We’ve made a few trips up to Flag this late summer/early fall to kick off our winter bouldering season. Feeling strong! Woohoo!
Paul on a quick tick of Luke Cockstalker, v10
Ivan on a first ascent (and despite the concerned look on his face, I can assure you he is having fun. Immediately after this was snapped he got in trouble for impatiently trying it again without a spotter)
Silas’ own variation of Bat Roof
Michael on Carnivore, v8
“the race”
Raquel styling The Hermit, v5
Me on The Hermit, v5, which I came back and sent next trip, first try.
The kids using ‘rock walkie-talkies’
Paul on The Egyptian, v11
Send!
Ivan sitting a time-out, not at all contemplating the massive amount of dirt on his hands. Gross!
Paul working out the moves of his next victim, Chandler Dub All-Stars, v9
Ahh, autumn.
posted by arr
August 15th, 2016
A couple days drive east takes us to our next destination, Coopers Rock in West Virginia. Coopers is a place that we climbed at often back when we lived in Pittsburgh. Paul LEARNED how to climb at Coopers! Neither of us had been here since we moved out west, 13 years ago. It was quite a treat checking out our old stompin’ grounds and showing the kids around. We met up with our long-time climbing buddies that still live in the east, making it all the more special. And even the weather cooperated with dry, mild days! A good time was had by all.
Paul on the v5 start of Roof Problem
Jen’s turn
Brian going for a repeat of the stellar Shadow Boxer, v6
Ivan eying up Seb’s delicious looking pizza
Oren with rockin’ long hair
Paul on Death Block, v6
Brian gives a go
Paul sends
Ivan on a perfectly kid-sized boulder
Ivan tops out! While Silas and Rhys explore in the background
Paul sending Ship’s Prow, v5
Erin giving Ship’s Mantel, v2 a try
Seth sticks it and sends
Kids build a teepee
Paul gets his one shot in a lifetime to send Tomb Raider Roof, v7, because it’s ALWAYS dipping wet!! But not today. 🙂
Me on Raiders of the Lost Tomb, v5
Paul sends. I do not.
The kids abandon the teepee and build a log cabin instead, complete with flower garden
…while little Ezra just hangs out lookin’ darn cute
The end of our Coopers Rock portion of the trip. We take the kids to the Overlook and savor the green landscape
posted by arr
August 14th, 2016
[We’ve been having technical difficulties here at apAdventures. Everything should be working now. I hope! Sorry for the delay in the summer road trip posts.]
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Next stop on our 2016 summer roadtrip: alpine bouldering on Mt. Evans, Colorado. This was more of a test mission than a sending mission for us. Having last been here 8 years ago (pre-kids), we wanted to see if the little guys were ready for the 3 mile approach to these boulders sitting above 11,000 feet elevation. Psychologically and logistically prepped for a heinously long and grueling day, where the potential of kid-carrying on shoulders was extremely high, we were almost a little disappointed in this turning out to be quite an uneventful day. We left the Echo Lake campground around 7am (adding an additional mile to the approach by not driving over to the trailhead), hiked up to the boulders, climbed all day and hiked back. Back at camp that night around dinner bowls of warm chili the kids were their wild and energetic selves, getting scolded for too much goofing off around the dinner table, not phased a bit about the 8 mountain miles they had just hiked. Just another day out bouldering! Haha.
Echo Lake, Mt. Evans, Colorado – the evening before the big hiking/bouldering day
Site #2 at Echo Lake Campground
Hitting the trail at an alpine boulderer’s start of 7am, haha
Still hiking…
Ivan stops to pick a seeded dandelion so he can make a wish
…many steps later he’s still trying to decide what to wish for. “It needs to be a good one!”
Crossing the log bridges was definitely the highlight of the day for the little guys. We let them cross completely on their own…because, well, they can probably do it without falling in, and also honestly, how’s a person actually supposed to help a kid across a precarious log bridge without the both of you falling in anyway?
Finally at the boulders. Me on The Ladder, v2.
Me about to flail on a v1. Ahhh, granite.
Paul going for a repeat of The Dali, v8
Paul sending Downtrail Face, v6 on the Gateway Boulder
posted by arr
July 4th, 2016
We’re on the road! …climbing, camping and visiting friends and family. First stop is Priest Draw in Flagstaff with the intent of finishing off the boulder problems we had tried a couple weeks prior. Paul succeeded. I need to go back.
Early bird gets the worm (or The Anorexic Roof all to themselves)
Paul sending Cosmic Tricycle, v10
The Anorexic Roof
Me NOT sending Meateater, v7
posted by arr
June 13th, 2016
After a pleasantly mild spring, the Tucson summer has officially arrived. We can’t complain, seeing as we made it all the way until JUNE before the thermometer hit the triple digits. I heard on the news this hasn’t happened since the 1980’s! What a treat.
So now that the heat is here, we naturally either head to the pool or to the mountains. Here are some photos of a couple recent trips to Flagstaff. School is out for the summer now too and it’s nice to have our three day weekends back again. 🙂
Intense play: We’ve got a sushi food truck teetering off the edge of a massive cliff, requiring immediate helicopter evacuation! Wait a minute, is that a flying car coming to the rescue!??
Brothers goofin’
Look, National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation
Campsite in the pines
Silas climbing at Priest Draw. A favorite boulder you’ve seen many times here at apAdventures.
Absorbed in sketch
Silas climbing some more. This is a perfectly child-sized boulder that I used to jokingly refer to as the “kids boulder” every time we passed it…back before we had kids!
Topping out the “kids boulder”
Little brother’s turn
Evening fire
Me on Twister, v6
Paul on The Egyptian, v11
Silas’ first ascent of his very own “L-Traverse” which he has deemed “v7 at least!”
And Ivan’s first ascent of his very own “Crusher Climb” which he is still debating the rating. And in case you’re wondering, the answer is yes. They picked out, climbed, named and rated these lines all completely on their own. Paul and I just keep quiet and chuckle amongst ourselves when they’re not looking.
A climb that I’ve been meaning to get serious on and send for nearly 5 years now, Meateater, v7. After two weekends on it, I can confidently say I’m FINALLY serious! Woo! Time to finish this thing already!
And Paul on his latest obsession, Cosmic Tricycle, v10
More Cosmic Tricycle
Ahhh summer: cold forest, warm fire, kids staying up late
A tag-team trail run on the Weatherford Trail on Mt. Humphreys. One of us runs…
…while the other hikes with the kids, and then we switch.
And then we all picnic together in a postcard-picturesque spot such as this. We are loving’ up this summer for sure!
posted by arr
February 5th, 2016
The Birthday Girl: Linda
The Mission: 35 pitches in a day (for her 35th year of awesomeness on this planet)
The Support Crew: Her fiance Ty, friend Cat, and Me, Paul, Silas & Ivan
Joshua Tree, California
First stop, The Hemingway area
Ivan is confident in Linda’s hardcoreness
Silas is psyched on J-tree’s endless supply of fun play areas
Ty and Linda scope routes and Cat hydrates while Paul tries to remember what the heck an ATC is
Linda rockin’ the trad
Next stop, The Real Hidden Valley
Linda banging out routes on The Thin Wall
My cute boys observe
Silas studies the guidebook
…and then can’t take it anymore. He needs to climb too so Paul runs back to the van to grab his gear. If the kids are psyched to climb, we jump on it! 🙂
Meanwhile, Linda still crushing in the upper left of the photo.
Assessing the day’s progress. I think she has something like 19 routes to go at this point, and it’s late afternoon.
Decision made to push on and see how far she can get
Final stop, Trash Can wall for some easy climbs that she can run up quickly
…the sun is waning…
…and she calls it a night. Decision made to party with friends versus push on in the cold and wind and darkness. Here we are huddled in the warm van feasting on chips & salsa, fresh salad, stew, bread and birthday cake.
Total pitches climbed: 24
Total amount of agave spirits drank that night: LOTS
The next morning we rise to sunny skies despite a threatening forecast
We light a campfire, fix up some french toast
and then the promised forecast moves in
We hike and play around on the boulders a bit after breakfast
…as the storm approaches
And then the wind and rain engulf us and we all run top speed back to our vehicles, soaking wet and laughing hysterically. What a birthday adventure!
posted by arr
February 4th, 2016
How lucky can one be to climb on warm and sunny boulders in the morning and build a snowman in the afternoon?
Me warming up on the Marble Cake boulder at Hairpin
Silas finds a climb of his own
Ivan finds a feathery piece of nature that matches his hair
and Paul finds a project
The sitstart Tough Landing
Higher up the mountain we dive into the white stuff and have a blast
And as if this day couldn’t possibly get any better, Mother Nature treats us with a gorgeous sunset as we drive back down the mountain toward home
posted by arr
February 2nd, 2016
I’ve somehow only managed to snap pics of the kids lovin’ up Hueco this winter. None of climbing! Whoops. I’ll try to mend that soon…and hopefully with some sending pics. I’ve officially committed myself to getting the Bloody Flapper Traverse, v9 finished. Paul’s grade-breaking send has got me a bit envious. I really want one of my own! Wish me some cold-temperature days please (this climb bakes in the sun). 🙂
posted by arr
