apAdventures

The first stop on our list is Priest Draw. Although we’ve bouldered here many, many times before, our journey routed us right through Flagstaff so why not stop, even if just for half a day? We decided to climb around and on ‘The Island’ with ambitious hopes of getting on Wife Beater, v8 as the day’s primary target.

If you can believe it (cause I still can’t!) I tweaked my back WARMING UP!!!!!!! Those that know me well are aware that I have a cranky lower back that likes to shift out of alignment every now and then over the simplest of movements. Whether I lay around in pain for a day or a week it just requires a trip to my DO for a quick manipulation to get me back up and running. Once he works his magic I’m ready to roll in 24 hours, usually less. This, unfortunately, was one of those times.

Heading back to Tucson to visit my doc was out of the question. Okay, maybe not completely out of the question but certainly not the ideal plan. So we came up with Plan B – find someone here in Flagstaff that could fix me. After much googling, we settled upon a chiropractor. Now, I’ve never been to a chiropractor but this was the only option given I was to be a walk-in on a Friday afternoon. I went in, waited an hour while the guy tended to all his scheduled patients, and then crack pop and I was done. My back felt better already.

In retrospect, what we should have done next was stay in Flagstaff another night to let my back heal some more, but what we did instead was jump in the van and start heading north to destination #2. Needless to say sitting and bumping along in the van prolonged it’s repair, but I’ve still been able to climb (and send!) in mild-to-moderate pain since.

Mama’s broken back doesn’t ruin Silas’ day at the boulders. He finds an existing teepee and makes it home.

posted by arr

This October 2nd will mark TEN YEARS of marriage for Paul and I. Although ten years does kind of sound like a long time, to me it feels as though Paul and I have been together much longer. I reason that it’s probably because we’ve done a lot since we first met – a lot of climbing trips, moving out to Arizona together, a house, even more climbing trips, and now kids. We’ve really packed it in over the last decade. So ten years of marriage isn’t so mind-blowing to me right now. What IS mind-blowing to me though is the fact that Silas was born half-way through that ten year duration. That’s the fact I’m trying to come to grips with. My baby Silas whom I can clear as day picture as a newborn in my arms just yesterday is somehow turning five years old this October! Ten years with Paul I get. Five years with Silas I’m still shaking my head over in disbelief. I’m only just starting to understand the phrase “they grow up so fast.”

Paul and I decided this year’s anniversary we needed to do something adventurous. Not only because it was our 10th, but primarily because since we had the kids we haven’t really done much for our anniversaries, other than maybe toast with a glass of wine. I know, LAME! Here’s a recap of anniversaries past:

1st anniversary: Yosemite. We hiked to the top of North Dome and ate our wedding cake on top, with a magnificent view of Half Dome. (After our wedding in upstate NY my mom had saved the topper of our cake in the freezer, then shipped it to us in Arizona in dry ice a year later and we packed it in the cooler and took it with us to Yosemite, then hiked it to the top –a travelin’ little piece of cake that was!).

2nd anniversary: Grand Canyon. Having recently gotten psyched on long-distance trail running and completed Imogene Pass Run in the San Juan Mountains of Colorado for the first time just a few weeks prior, we decided it’d be fun to run across the Grand Canyon and back. It was both fun…AND HARD! And we loved it.

3rd anniversary: Long’s Peak. Hiking/running it, not climbing it. Hiking proved to be almost as epic as climbing might have been though because I got altitude sickness and we had to turn back below the summit. Still a great time though and we redeemed ourselves with some Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP) bouldering the next day.

4th anniversary: Bishop. This anniversary was spent in the midst of our dreamy six month Colorado-Pittsburgh-Rocklands-Marathon New York-Bishop-Yosemite trip. Basically the entire six months was a big anniversary celebration that year. 

5th anniversary: Mt. Lemmon hike two weeks prior to Silas’ grand arrival. I was ready to pop! I remember doing a short little hike and then eating a cookie at the Cookie Cabin that I immediately went and upchucked in their bathroom.

6th anniversary: Can’t remember. My webposts around this time don’t even give me a clue so chances are we did the whole “cheers with a glass of wine” deal.

7th anniversary: I was pregnant in my first trimester with Ivan. If I had to guess I was probably vomiting most of that day. (Pregnancy was not good to me with either child).
8th anniversary: These were sad times as Morgie had passed away. ‘Nuff said about that.

9th anniversary: Feeling that we owed it to ourselves to do something (anything!) for our anniversary that year we arranged for our dear friend Linda to babysit the kids while we went out on the town. Unfortunately Linda fell ill and had to cancel last minute. So we instead gobbled down the homemade mac & cheese I had made special for the kids and the four of us were all in bed by 8pm.

So in classic apAdventures-style, we’re gonna go big this year. For our 10 years of blissful marriage we’re going to boulder at 10 blissful bouldering locations throughout Arizona, Utah and Colorado over the course of 17 days. Stay tuned. We hope to be able to do some posts along the way.

posted by ARR

We’ve decided to call it quits on Hueco a few weeks early this year. We’re tired and/or injured, and have some big home improvement endeavors that we’d like to get started on. [We’re getting air conditioning in the house!!!!! Wooo!] So to wrap things up we banged out two back-to-back weekends…with the intent I’d have a shot at squeezing in a send of Bloody Flapper Traverse, v9 of course, haha.

The big news from the first weekend was that Paul sent The Flame, v12, sore finger and all. This one surprised me. I figured he’d have at least another working session on it, and that day he had already tried it a half dozen times. Apparently he was just warming up because after a lecture by Silas on how “practice makes perfect” when it comes to climbing to the top of rock climbs, he put his shoes back on and climbed it to the top. Woo! “See dad, practice makes perfect!”

Last weekend turned out to be very special due to our old El Paso friend Raquel (who now lives in Austin) being in town and joining us. The boys absolutely adore her, as does she them. We had an outstanding day trying some of the climbs-less-traveled and sampling projects we’ve already picked out for next season. And then we topped it all off with some delicious bibimbap at a Korean restaurant.

As for Bloody Flapper Traverse, I didn’t do it. I gave it 13 goes over the course of 3 separate days and fell at the last move every time. This isn’t earth-shattering news by any means since I’ve been falling from the last move since the spring of 2008. Yes, 2008, really. Well, minus the baby off-time of course…but still! I have some theories as to why I can’t pull it off – a mixture of lack of psyche when I pull on (cause I’ve pulled on with the intent to send soooo many times) combined with muscle memory I’ve probably built up of falling from the move versus sticking the move (cause I’ve fallen from that move soooo many times). Whatever the case may be, I’ll go back to it in the fall. Walking away is not an option for me. I’ve never put this much time and effort into a climb and not eventually done it. I can say that now since I sent Better Eat Your Wheaties. 😉

In the meantime, amongst the home-improvement chaos, potential surgery on Paul’s finger and summertime fun with the two little monkeys, Paul and I have already started crafting trip plans, boulder problem tick-lists and training schedules (in that order). RMNP, Hueco, Bishop…all three? We’ll see where this year takes us, after our “off-season” is over here in hot Tucson.

Pit stop on the way to Hueco

Silas and Ivan reenacting The Three Billy Goats Gruff (their “horns” are up and they’re getting ready to butt the troll off the rock, I mean, bridge)

Paul ticking off Russian Woman, v9 on the Acme Roof

more Russian Woman

Ivan finds a hueco

Silas playing mama with Franklin

Shhh, Franklin is asleep

Ivan our blondie. I could stare at this tousled mess all day. Love it!

Silas our climber kid

Yeah boy

Who wants a drool kiss?

Traffic jam back at camp…

…tequila…

…and a dump truck being bossy to a defenseless jeep. Such drama.

Dad showing off the results of all that front lever and planche training he was doing most of the winter when he couldn’t climb on account of his finger

Our view of choice to wake up to in the morning: Hueco!

Raquel on The Weenie Roast, v4

more weenie roastin

Storytime at the boulders

Paul sampling The Ugh, v11, which is on the same boulder as the 4-star classic The Egg, v8. Wanna make a guess as to what’s on my next season’s ticklist? 😉

posted by arr

Another trip to Hueco last weekend gives me another big send to add to my ticklist! I did Mr. Serious, v8 first try of the day! Woohoo! This climb was the other biggie I had my sights set on this season. I was hoping I could clean it up quickly having just completed Better Eat Your Wheaties and thankfully I was right. Now I’ve got a nice chunk of time still this season to devote my attention back toward another long-standing project: Bloody Flapper Traverse, v9.

I’m not greedy, just motivated! I swear! 😉

Mr. Serious, v8. Done.

And now let me bring you up to date on Paul’s climbing. He’s been ramping up very slowly since January in attempt to take care of the finger, climbing with “the brakes on” and choosing his problems wisely so as to ease back into the small crimping. Brakes on and all, he’s managed to impress me with the climbs he’s pulled off (which can be hard to do after 11+ years of climbing together, hehe).

Two weeks ago he did Sub Zero, v11, a compression climb next to Glas Roof that lives up to it’s cold and windy name…bring your puffy if you’re ever asked to spot someone on this one, brrr! Anyway, in classic “Paul-style” when it comes to the easier double digits, he projected it one day and then came back and sent it the very next day. Not bad.

Paul ticking off Sub Zero, v11

This last weekend though I think Paul’s send of Scream, v10 (the stand) trumped mine of Mr. Serious (even though I opened this post writing all about me, me, me. Ah, the risk you run when you let your wife do all the talking, hehe). Scream is one of those climbs that packs a heck of a punch in just a couple of moves. It’s hard. It was a climb that Paul had tried last season and failed. Note, I wrote ‘LAST’ season, as in LAST season when he was climbing pretty darn strong, cleaning up a new boulder problem a day it seemed and making progress on Nagual, v13. LAST season, he couldn’t do it. And now THIS season, having taken the majority of last summer and the fall off from climbing and only just getting back into it a mere 2 months ago, he sends it! Go figure. Actually, we did go and figure. We thought about it long and hard on the drive home. And the conclusion that we came to was that all that front-lever and planche training he was doing during the time he wasn’t able to climb really paid off for a climb like Scream. Scream didn’t require crimp strength…just pure core and shoulder power. Cross-training….yeah baby. 🙂

Paul balled up (look at the location of his feet!) and sending Scream, v10

So what does Paul have his sights set on for the remainder of the season? Well, unfortunately the finger issue is not 100% resolved. The harder he tries climbing on crimps, the more the pain starts to creep back in. He’s now scheduled for 6 weeks of physical therapy. In the meantime, his interest is in more non-crimpy boulder problems. He tried The Flame, v12 last weekend and has it mostly worked out. I’m thinkin we’ll probably go back.

Faced with the crux of The Flame, v12

And finally, what’s a good climbing-status post without cute photos of the bambinos? Here ya go…enjoy!

posted by arr

Better Eat Your Wheaties. Done.

Last Thursday may perhaps hold the most memorable send of all time for me. I finally (FINALLY!) completed a boulder problem I’d been dreaming about doing for a long, long, very long time: Better Eat Your Wheaties, v8. This is one of those climbs, maybe the only climb come to think of it, that I vividly remember walking up to for the very first time. I suppose most climbers have one of those moments at least once. First thought: What is THAT climb? Immediately followed by second thought: How hard is it? (Not because harder is better but because it’s nice to know if it’s in the immediate realm of possibility).

At the time that I first laid eyes on Wheaties it was not in the realm of possibility for me. It wasn’t even close. I was barely making my way to the top of v4’s and 5’s with a lot of work. Wheaties was a dream climb. A “someday” sorta climb. A “if I send this one I’ll be satisfied for life and will quit climbing and move back east” kinda climb. I’m pretty certain that on that first day I was standing there gawking at it I really believed it was a climb I’d never do because it was too hard. That day was November 20th, 2004. I know this because I’m an obsessive climbing nerd and keep a climbing journal.

One year later, climbing not much harder than v4’s and 5’s, I got on it for the very first time. It was a moonlight tour with Paul, our friend Grit from Germany, Tammy and Vince, and Sam and Ana. I remember Ana running up it and then insisting that Tammy and I give it a try. So we did. And we got our asses handed to us on that incredibly hard first move.

Two years after that (now the fall of 2007), a bit stronger and bit smarter on how to train, I went back to it to see how hard it felt. Four days on it over the course of four months and my assessment remained the same: yep, still too hard.

Then came our big trip in 2008 to Rocklands, South Africa where I sent my first v8, Minki. At this point I had a nice base of quality v6’s from a variety of crags and even a few 7’s. Now we’re talkin! But, before I could get back to Wheaties, along came Silas. I’ll take Silas over Wheaties any day.

Now it’s the Spring of 2011, with Silas toddling around under the boulders and me training like a madwoman to get back in shape ASAP. I stick the first move of Wheaties for the very first time. This is HUGE! The climb has now been unlocked and I start working it in earnest. But alas, summer comes too soon and it gets hot. And then but whom should come along after that: Ivan. And I’ll take Ivan over Wheaties any day.

Fast forward past all the getting back in shape again and it’s now the fall of 2013. I’m finally able to stick that first move again. Game on. I quickly start linking pieces of it together over the course of a few weeks and by December am giving it full-on sending go’s. I was truly convinced I could pull it off before the holidays. I was wrong. On our final day there before heading east for 3 weeks to lounge and gorge over the holidays, I fell off the last move.

So here we are now at the end of my Better Eat Your Wheaties journey. Nine years, 34 days of effort, 2 babies and a whole lotta late-night training later, I pull on and…

effortlessly…stick…every…single…move. A climb that had been so impossibly hard for so long now felt easy.

Pulling over the top of the boulder I was positively beaming. I could faintly hear Paul’s and a handful of other dude’s whoops and hollers below and may have uttered a little “wooo!” of my own. Standing up I almost got emotional as tears welled up in my eyes. But then I remembered the handful of dudes below, quickly composed myself, climbed down, and hi-fived the crowd. Wheaties is mine.

Cheers!

posted by arr

Amongst my many failed attempts at Better Eat Your Wheaties last weekend, we decided to seek out a bunch of new stuff. Not new as in new climbs that have recently been put up but new as in new to us. So maybe I should call it different stuff. Either way, getting on a climb that one has never seen let alone tried before is always fun. Especially when one is failing miserably on one’s project (me) or getting back in shape after much time off (Paul). And the kids always love a new area to explore too.

Due to the East Spur being jammed with just about every tour that was out that day, we found ourselves reluctantly calling in an area we hadn’t been before. S-Curve and Friends. Sure, why not. If it’s difficult to get to at least it’ll pass some time while the climbs we wanted to get on freed up. Turns out the approach was a breeze…just a few hundred yards from Moonshine Roof, no scrambling or kid-shuttling required. Upon arrival we were immediately star struck by this beautiful house-sized boulder sitting in the middle of a pretty little meadow. On it was Mr. Freud, v4, 3 stars. Tell me again why after a decade of climbing at Hueco have we never been here?! The climb was excellent to say the least.

Me pulling on to Mr. Freud, v4

From there we checked out S-Curve, v6, an interesting, technical, smear-y thing that is very atypical of Hueco. Paul sent. I wasn’t in the adventurous mood and thus declined to try.

Paul’s send of S-Curve, v6

After that it was on to Lung Fish, v7, an exciting ditty with big explosive movement (for me anyway – the book says you can find some kneebars to help you through the crux but I could not, hence the big explosive movement). Paul cleaned this up quickly. I’ll need to go back.

A fun setting at Lung Fish, v7

Big move to a good crimp

The crimp

And then another big move (or two if you need an intermediate) to good holds before a creative topout that transfers you to another boulder

And finally on to the real gem of the weekend, The Slopey Rail, v8. It’s exactly what the name implies and Paul and I both LOVED it. This one may take a little more work on my part, or a random strong day. Paul of course did it within a few tries.

Paul on The Slopey Rail, v8

The weekend also included some other moderate sends for Paul as he ramps back up into shape:
a repeat of Slim Pickins, v5
Beer, Pizza and a Three Foot Toothless Girl, v6
Meddle Detector, v6
Nobody’s Funky, v7
and Sledgehammer, v8.

Paul sending Sledeghammer, v8

And let’s not forget our newest climber in the family, Silas. He was INSISTENT on getting his turn to climb at every area. Meanwhile Ivan just hung around lookin’ darn cute.

posted by arr

…before you go climbing and forget a critical item. “Critical” as in the outing is either completely unsalvageable or at the very most, extremely uncomfortable. Like realizing you forgot your water when you’re three pitches up on a sunny fall day in Red Rocks, Nevada. Or forgetting to toss that bug repellant in your pack when climbing at Rumney, New Hampshire in May. Or how about our most dreaded worry of forgetting our climbing shoes when headed to Hueco (where there are no gear shops in El Paso). No, we didn’t forget our shoes. It was worse than that. We forgot our food bag while out bouldering for the day!

Ahem, let me clarify – PAUL forgot the food bag. And this just happened to coincide with Paul’s first day climbing again after his broken finger hiatus; the day we decide to get all crazy and venture up into the Maiden Gully on East Mountain for the first time with the kids. Now, as if the Maiden Gully itself isn’t epic enough with children due to all the scrambling and tunneling through the gully’s labyrinthian jumble of boulders, we had accessed it via the steep slabs at the end of Water Dog Wall which required shuttling of heavy pads and kids. And then to top it all off, once we had arrived at our destination (a boulder problem called Beer, Pizza and a Three Foot Toothless Girl, v6) we were essentially in a windy icebox. It was here, once we’d arrived after a good 40 minute approach, once we’d dropped all our heavy gear down, bundled up the kids in their winter clothes and let out a sigh of relief that we’d made it without mishap, here, that we realized……Paul forgot the food bag.

Great. Now what? Plan B? IS there even a Plan B? Or was this a case where the outing is completely unsalvageable and we had to turn right around and head back to the van?

We decided we had about an hour or so before the kids would realize the severity of the situation. We sprung into action: Paul quickly threw on his shoes and started warming up while the kids and I got out the toys. Off to a good start, they were warm and happy. Soon though it was my turn to warm-up and sure enough they started inquiring about the forgotten snack bag. Luckily Paul was able to divert them back to the toys. Whew. We both ticked off Dreamy, v2 and felt warm enough to check out Beer, Pizza…. So far so good? Eh, not quite. The demand for the snack bag started to escalate and Ivan began tearing through all our other bags looking for it. (Note, it *was* still before noon and we had had an enormous breakfast, so it wasn’t like they were starving). Re-direct, re-direct. I managed to get them interested in a make-believe band. I was on drums, Silas played trumpet and Ivan played whatever instrument it was he was trying to play, we never did quite figure it out. We jammed on and off while Paul worked the moves out on Beer, Pizza…. Yeah baby, we’ve got this. Now it’s my turn to climb. Ivan immediately protests and heads for the gear, beginning his quest for the snack bag again all zombie-style. Sigh. Thankfully though Paul is a freakin’ genius and contorts himself into a human junglegym. The kids go wild. I put my shoes back on and start sampling the moves on Beer, Pizza…. By this point though I’m chilled to the bone and finding it very hard to climb hard. I decide to call it quits on this climb for the day. Paul is able to give it a few more tries while the kids and I sing songs. And finally, alas, finally….just as we’re all about to reach our tipping point but with juuuuust time enough to spare for the hike back…we bail and head back to the van (where we then gorge in a back-to-back lunch/dinner combo).

When all was said and done we put in about a half-day of climbing. The kids never quite broke down (beyond their usual crankiness here and there). And we were psyched to have gotten to climb on some new boulder problems in an area we hadn’t all been to before. We got out the next day too (WITH THE FOOD BAG loaded to the brim!) and enjoyed some good moderate climbs. This was Paul’s first weekend out, I was battling a cold, and we both still had plenty of Christmas cookies to work off after a 3 week rest so no hard sends to report. Despite my slight lapse in fitness I did get on Better Eat Your Wheaties as motivation to get back in tip-top performance shape quickly. Let’s just say I’ve been training like mad all week. 🙂

In the windy icebox of the Maiden Gully trying to look all cheery despite the forgotten food bag

Paul warming up. First rock climb of his comeback!

Paul part-handjamming and part-laybacking the first section of Beer, Pizza and a Three Foot Toothless Girl, v6. Next comes a roof and then a headwall which we failed to get photos of

Day 2. Me gettin’ all spiderwoman on a warm-up

An owl in a tree

Silas was more adamant than ever about wanting to climb on this trip

and so we go with it!

It’s when he’s not climbing that we really need to watch him. “Here Ivan, just touch this little pokey right here. That’s it, right here. It won’t hurt at all I promise.”

Me sending The Mini Bathtub, v2. Excellent climb! I can’t believe we’d never come to this one before

Paul on Meddle Detector, v6

Soon after these shots were taken another tour came up and gave us some better beta – going right hand instead of left on this move, for one

posted by arr

Our big multi-week stay at Hueco Tanks with Brian, Jen and fam has now come to an end. Both of our vans are currently on I-10 headed home, but our’s is headed west and their’s east. We’re of course sad it’s over but at the same time happy to have had such a blast with them…(not to mention being happy with a few more sweet rock climbs that have been added to the ticklist).

The last time I posted I was gearing up for more sending go’s on Better Eat Your Wheaties, v8. Turn’s out this coincided with our buddy John and brother-in-law Phillip’s visit to Hueco to get some photo/film coverage for their newly founded Three Peak Media venture. Get great footage they did…but not of me sending. I continued to fall from the last small crimp move. Grrr.

We climbed through the weekend, then all headed to Tucson for a rest week, then came back this weekend for the final hurrah. We again went back to Wheaties. I again tried to send. I again was falling from the last small crimp. “If I can just stick that crimp I’ve got this climb.” I’d done the crimp move in isolation. It wasn’t a hard move, just hard to stick after all the other moves. I took a nice long rest. I basked in the sunshine to warm up a little more. I tried one last time. And…and…I STUCK the last small crimp!!!!!!…but THEN FELL going for the final big flat edge!!!! Noooooo!!!!!

Being so close to completing it, the thought of having to wait until January to go back is killing me. The upcoming few weeks being filled with holidays, family time and lots of wickedly delicious food and drink does make me cringe just a tad. My timing couldn’t be worse, haha! But it is what it is. Having been training hard since August for this trip my body is desperately in need of a rest anyway.

Stiff-and-sore-fingers crossed I’ll jump right back on it in January and climb that boulder to the top. ☺

For those that have been to (or dreamed of) Hueco Tanks, you all probably can guess the small crimp on Better Eat Your Wheaties that I’m referring to due to the climb’s popularity. For those unfamiliar though, here’s a pic of me falling from it. The “small crimp” is just above my left hand. As stated above after finally sticking this small crimp I fell going to the larger flat edge shown directly above it. I don’t doubt I’m probably the ONLY climber in ALL of Wheaties history to FALL this close to the finish! Ahhh, story of my climbing career – falling from the last hold seems to be my trademark, haha.

Meanwhile Jen ticks off Meatmaker, v5 (a climb next to Wheaties) to pass the long boring rest time between all my go’s.

Brian attempting El Chupacabra Left, v10 as Paul jealously looks on

After the sun goes down the temps drop fast at Hueco in the winter. Without the luxury of a kitchen-equipped van, Jen and Brian brave the wind and cold over a coleman while Paul and I do our cooking inside our cozy warm van. To avoid complete van chaos with a guaranteed meltdown finale by either Ivan or Silas, we let the children watch a movie during dinner prep.

In Tucson for a rest week, Jen and I run up my favorite trail – Douglas Springs

and Oren has a birthday!

And then we’re back at Hueco

Checkin’ out aquatic life in the huecos,

loungin’ in the sun,

and climbing of course!

The “little crushers” (as a fellow climber dubbed the kids in passing) climbing on East Mountain’s Kid’s Stuff Wall

The first (crux) move of Hobbit in a Blender, v5

Which I send for the first time

and then Jen follows soon thereafter. Grrrrl power.

Silas reaches his limit after 2+ weeks of climbing and cozies up in a crazy creek for a 2 hour nap. I’m so not even joking.

Paul scopes the holds for me on Tri Hard, v4

and I give it a handful of tries. No send though. Too tired.

Oren impressing Ivan with his apple eating skills

Silas mow’ing PB&J

Ivan with his adopted mama. By the end of the trip he was going to Jen for his “all better” kisses after tripping or banging himself up. Sheesh!

Snack session

Yoga session

Balance beam session

Brian eyeing up McBain, v8 while we all heckle him about how much he hates toe and heel hooks. C’mon dude, it’s Hueco! (and then he promptly shuts us all up by sending it next try, WITH the toe hook beta).

Two families

that are OBSESSED with climbing rocks!

posted by arr

In the dark wee hours of the morning I awoke with alarm to the hard pitter patter of raindrops on the van’s roof. Noooooo!!! Today was supposed to be my chance at sending Better Eat Your Wheaties! Grrrr. Good things come to those who wait….I hope??

Stuck in the van

posted by arr

We’ve had a GREAT last couple of days here at Hueco. Brian ticked off West Mountain’s 1969, v9 in a day, Jen sent Sex After Death (her first v8!!!), as well as the notoriously stout El Burro, v3, AND See Spot Run, v6! And I fell from the last hard move of Better Eat Your Wheaties, v8 four times!!!! Ahhhh, I’m sooooo close!!!!! Hopefully today’s rest will secure a send for me tomorrow. …if it doesn’t rain, that is.

Brian and Paul on a “dad’s day out” at West Mountain

Brian’s send of 1969, v9

Silas atop his favorite rock climb of the day

All the rocks are Ivan’s favorite

Seb working out his beta on Donkey Show Arete, v0-

Me sampling Left Donkey Show, v5

Jen sends Sex After Death, v8!!!!!!!!!!!!

Windy topout of Incredible Pix, v1

Me midway up Better Eat Your Wheaties, v8

Jen sussing out the moves on Animal Acts, v5

Jen atop See Spot Run, v6…yeah!

This little bird hung out on the van windowpane for most of the morning, watching us eat breakfast. Silas immediately befriended him and lovingly named him Pecker…….(cause he ‘pecks’ at the window of course!)

posted by arr