Arg! Not Again.

Just before the pop.

It was sunny when we woke up today. Everyones' spirits were high. We lounged around in the sun, eating breakfast, building up our energy for the day's sending.  The warm-up went well, the temps were good, the skin was hard, and the muscles strong.  Kevin sent his project, "Trent's Mom" and can now die a happy man. I had the chance to climb a relatively new problem called the "Gurkha Knife," which was on my tick list.  I had first seen this problem on YouTube and was not disappointed when I saw it in person. Later in the day we all congregated at the "Big Joe" wall.  Kevin, Ryan, and Wick came close on "Nerve Extension," which is the the extension to "Big Joe," one of Peter's projects. I busied myself with "Smoking Joe," which went pretty quickly. Time for lunch.

After a siesta, we all headed back down the left fork so that the guys could try "Worse Case Scenario." After a brief session there we all walked over to "The Wind Below." This problem sits high atop tick list because of its grandeur and beauty. It doesn't hurt either that the moves on this problem are really cool too! Kevin, being the only one to have done (or even tried) the problem before went first and quickly repeated it. Afterward, I quickly booted up and hopped on.  The first couple moves went well, I then set a right heel hook and began to rock over to a crimp that is utilized by the left hand. I came up a bit short but tried to reel it back in for a second attempt at the reach. That's when I felt (and heard) a distinct popping in my knee. I immediately dropped off cursing.

Fortunately the popping was not the tendons in my knee, but rather my hamstring (Kevin said he thought he heard a hold break). I think I have a severely pulled hamstring and I'm not sure if I'll be climbing anymore this trip. I'm resting tomorrow and maybe the next day and then I'll re-evaluate. I'm extremely frustrated right now but I'm thankful that it is not another finger injury. I guess I'll just have to wait and see. Fuck.

Congregating

Wounded by "Pocket Rocket"

Wick, Peter and Ryan have all arrived.  Yesterday we got a couple of hours of climbing in with really nice conditions until it started snowing around 3:00pm. It didn't bother me much because I had already taken care of my agenda for the day, Resident Evil.  I came painfully close to flashing the problem, which would easily have been my hardest flash to date. I fell on last move. Its not the crux by any means, but it isn't a very intuitive move. Oh well. I actually ended up doing the problem twice, which was nice. Today is supposed to be the last day of marginal weather, then the rest of the week it will clear up. Still very psyched.

Kevin set to launch on "Pocket Rocket"

Poo

I've had it with people that don't know or are to careless to poo properly in the great outdoors. I've been seeing more and more toilet paper strewn about in the brush and more and more loosely stacked rocks barely concealing piles of shit. It also seems to be happening closer and closer to the boulders, not to mention rivers and streams. To top it off, I had a most revolting experience at Ibex. 

After breakfast and tea, I hiked away from the boulders to take care of my morning movement. I found a spot that I thought was suitable because I was out of view of Kevin's prying eyes. I went to pick up a smallish rock, shaped like a spade, and perfect for digging a little hole. As soon as my fingers wrapped around the stone I knew the worst had happened. Moist TP and feces on my finger tips...a perfect antidote for tender skin. I wanted to vomit, but even more I wanted to kick the fucker's ass who so thoughtfully left their shit for me to discover.

So for those of you who don't already know how, this is how you make brownies in the woods:

1. Find a spot at least 100 feet from any body of water (yes dry stream beds count) and away from places people and their pets congregate.

2. Dig a hole, six inches is good although sometimes rocky soils make this difficult. Try your best.

3. Poo.

4. Either burn your toilet tissue or pack it out in a zip-lock bag. 

5. Bury your poo. If you want extra credit, stir some soil in with your poo with a stick to help it decompose faster before burying it.

That's it, not so bad eh? Happy pooing everyone.

Ibex

The hardpan

To break the drive up a bit Kevin and I decided to meet up at Ibex, just inside the Utah border, to spend the night and get a day of quartzite bouldering in. I had never been to Ibex before, but had long desired to visit. It was beautiful and the bouldering was excellent.  The routes look good too! I actually met the author of the guidebook, James Garrett, out there and he was nice enough to give me a free copy so long as I put it to good use.  Now I'm obligated to return. There was a third party out there climbing (he's old) that he's seen some climbing routes at Ibex that he didn't know. Awesome.

The view from above Austin, NV along "the loneliest highway in America" 

The main buttress at Ibex

Kevin on "Ju"

Stay Tuned For Joe's

Leaving for Joe's Valley tomorrow. Actually, going to Ibex first then Joe's after a day or two.  If all goes as planned I'll be meeting up with many friends over the course of my stay and we'll all be sending hard. Hopefully I'll be able to post while on the road so stay tuned. For now, I leave you with a blossom and an ant from our backyard.  

New Laptop!

I have my very own magic box

Snow Shoeing

On Monday I took a rest day from bouldering in Bishop and strapped on my snowshoes. When Turtle and I set out I didn’t really have a destination in mind. I thought it might be nice to skirt the base of Mt. Tom a bit, but I just figured I’d see where my whims would take me. Upon reaching the moraine between the base of Mt. Tom and the base of Basin Mountain I noticed a black block protruding from the snow near the base Basin Mountain. I recognized this block from several (~5) years ago when I spied it through my friend, Eric Schmidt’s, binoculars. At the time I thought it looked like the size of a box car. I don’t think Eric agreed, nor did anyone else I ever point it out to. Well, I now had an objective.

After much trudging, and pondering the scale of my ‘new’ block, Turtle and I finally huffed our way to the “Ice Cube,” as I’ll refer to it from here on out. Well it wasn’t as big as a box car but it was damn close. Two sides overhang just slightly, one is vertical, and one is slabby. The entire boulder is made up of super clean, super fine grained and polished white granite. If I’d had rock boots I would’ve stayed longer.

Ice Cube

In hopes of someday convincing friends to go up there to boulder I’ll refrain from disclosing how long it took me to get to the Ice Cube or how tired me and Turtle were after our day of snowshoeing. Just know that I will go back at some point, but probably when there’s a little less snow.

Leaving the Ice Cube