Levitation 29 and not Cloud Tower

Time for another climbing mission. A mission is a climbing trip that is very objective oriented and usually involves big routes and long drives. There is typically an early morning wake-up and a walk back to the car in the dark. Climbing missions are for weekend warriors, which is a term that adequately describes me these days. Climbing missions usually account for groggy Monday mornings.

And there is no one more fired up for a mission than Lauren Goddamn Ditolla. These weekend she and I pointed her Jetta South and ended up in Red Rock National Conservation Area, just outside Las Vegas. We were set up to climb Levitation 29, a route put up by Lynn Hill and John Long way back in the day (1980) and Cloud Tower, the "Astroman" of Red Rocks. It was a fairly ambitious plan, given that both climbs are .11+ and I only climb 5.10. That, and the fact that each climb is guarded by a death march. Death marches...what good can one say about death marches?

Lauren is a super good climbing partner. She's always fired up for climbing, drinking red bull or beer, or hanging out with buddies. She and her husband Mike are dear friends and people that I really look up to.

We left the SLC at 4 p.m., undaunted but daunted by the 7 hour drive to Red Rocks. The camping scene at Red Rocks is perhaps the most pitiful patch of gravel ever to be called a campground. No trees, no shelter, no shade, and no courtesy from the 105-year old campground "hosts" who drive by every 5 minutes in their diesel Ford F-5Millon. Try as I might to look upon the place with optimism, it resembles a barren wasteland in every sense of the word. We slumped into the campground at midnight after blitzing through the neon lights of never-ending Charleston Avenue. We threw the sleeping bags on the ground and were out for the night.

Which wasn't all that long, mind you. We were up and driving at 6 a.m., headed for Oak Creek Canyon and the approach. The approach to Levitation 29 is gorgeous; though long, it takes you up a winding, boulder filed sandstone canyon, with rock walls soaring precipitously upward. I have never seen so many flowers in Red Rocks. The desert was going off! We took some photos of the creosote bush in bloom, yucca in bloom, and some other plants that I don't know the name of.

Three hours after starting the hike, we arrived at the base of the climb and started. The first pitch featured some of the most bullet-hard varnished sandstone ever. Chocolate-y goodness, that had some long reaches past blank sections. I was able to lead through it okay, figuring out the balancy-techniquey sequences slowly but surely.

Lauren took over for the second pitch--a dramatic funky roof that is ever bolt clippers idea of a good time. It actually had a stalactite coming down from the roof, although I can't figure out how it formed. Pimping a flake through the overhang while focusing on good feet solved the puzzle and led to the third pitch.

Which was thin 5.8 trad, very enjoyable and mellow. The 4th pitch was good edges, with a thinnish 5.10 crux on verticle edges. We linked the 5th and 6th pitch (.11c and .11a). I sent the crux, which involved overhanging wide fist jams and a big reach, but took a fall on the enduro crimpfest above. Crap.

We fell asleep on the top of the 6th pitch on a shitty sloping ledge. We we're both freaking tired and needed a break. We probably rested an hour before climbing the next .10d pitch, which was pretty burly. Damn, now I was really tired. We linked the last 2 pitches, a .10a and .9 with some crap rope drag and called it a day. Nine raps later we were at the base, back in comfy shoes and eating snacks. We hiked out, got back to the car at 9:30, and got beer and pasta at the store.

Back at the campground, moving super slow in a haze of exhaustion and jubilation, mouths full of pasta and Fat Tire, Lauren spoke:

"I've got about 3 minutes before I faceplant into my pasta" Well put. Bed time.

The next morning we easily gave up on the plan for Cloud Tower, sent Starbucks and Trader Joes instead, and got the hell out of Vegas. I felt a little sheepish about backing out on Cloud Tower, but we were both freaking exhausted.

And it's always going to be there...

Lander Weekend

This weekend Jess and I cruised up to Lander to visit Steven and Sarah. These two are getting married on May 30th, and I'm acting as the officiant, so we needed to meet to hash out details.

On Saturday Jess and Steven and I went up to Sinks to do a few sport routes...good times. I'm total weak sauce.

Then we had a BBQ with some Antelope and Elk. Steven is getting me all psyched on hunting. The next morning we did have our conversation about the wedding ceremony, which was good. Jess and I drove back around noon because the weather was threatening.

It was a short trip, but a good one. We were able to get out of the house and spend some great time together.

Cheers,
Nate

Search for Lone Peak Cirque

Lone Peak Cirque is a climbing area high above the Salt Lake Valley. It's home to numerous multipitch granite climbs, many of them super classic (like this one) from what I hear. Hiking up to it is, in the words of a trusted source, "a fucking bitch". Okay then. Jess and I decided to go scout out the approach tonight. We ran/hiked for a couple hours, but I still can't say for sure if we were on the right track. It was fun anyway, and we took some photos. Then we ate some fatty burritos.

For the next few days we found ourselves sore as hell. Running straight downhill like we did really beat up the legs!

My Name is Pjess

Dear Blog,

I’m being positive!!!

Hi, I’m being positive…positively positive. On opposite day I would be being negative. I am not not positive. I am not not not negative. SOOOOOO friggin positive that I shock the hell out of negative people.

Love, Pjess ( I am no longer Jess, I am Pjess…the P is for Positive).

Proposal Anxiety

It's getting a little bit down to the wire...the dissertation proposal that is. After several months of focused work I finally turn in my proposal to my committee tomorrow. It's pretty good I think, but unfortunately what I think doesn't matter too much. It's what the 5 people on my committee think that will make the difference.

Each of them has two weeks to read and evaluate it. Then, on April 30th, I defend it in front of the five of them. It should be just fine...I know that in my head. But it's a terribly unnerving process to have to go through. I appreciate it to some extent, and know that the appreciation will grow with time, but a big part of me just wants to be done with it.

Any study or thought piece I publish in the future will not be held up to such scrutiny. This is the longest research publication I will ever have to write. I will never have to synthesize so many different bodies of literature as I have in the last several months. It's just a big project with so many people who can shut it down.

Oh well. Clearly I can't be that worried about it because here I am, blogging about, and it's due tomorrow!

Cheers,
Nate

Sawtooth Canyon

This weekend I taught a rock climbing training course for the indoor climbing wall staff at Westminster College. We went to Sawtooth Canyon in the House Range of Western Utah. The House Range is one of my favorite places to climb. Granite slabs, challenging cracks, and patina edges characterize the routes. It's also a good place to take institutions, because rarely are there other climbers there.

The course went well. Students learned about protection placement, anchor construction, top-rope site management, and institutional climbing standards.

I also got to hop on my favorite climb: The Optimizer! The Optimizer (.11c/d) is eighty feet of quality jamming. It's one of those climbs that doesn't really have a crux section, just requires endurance and a plethora of jamming techniques. A little bit of chimney, a bunch of hands, some challenging off-width, and flaring cups. It's not terribly hard at any point, but a powerful journey. I read Pat Ament's description of climbing The Crack of Fear in Estes Park. He remarks about how he returns to the climb year after year. It's a ritual for him. I feel the same way about the Optimizer. It's a part of my soul.


The students from the course were good. It was great to soak up their psyche for climbing. They vary in skill and ability greatly, and most of the challenges of teaching this course stemmed from that problem. Some of the students were up there at midnight top-roping The Optimizer by headlamp. How cool is that! I may have been up there with them as well if not for sore elbows that are tweaked after a difficult day on Sunlight Buttress in Zion.

When I returned home from the course, Jessie had made me the best chicken enchiladas. She had even purchased some full strength Pete's Wicked from the State Liquor Store to compliment them. What a treat!

Cheers,
Nate

overthinkingoverthinkingoverthinking

I just got back from a meeting with the girls. I love them. We filled out our administrative survey together and it’s good. I am excited for the long-term effect but worried about the immediate fall-out.

I think I’m nervous about something. Maybe that Nate now has a lot of free time. Maybe I feel insecure about that. Will he stick around now that he doesn’t have to? I wish I didn’t feel an emotion so intensely before I had a chance to figure it out.

I think I want to make an art room. I want to print out all of the neatest images we have (patterns in nature), frame them, and hang them up. I also want to make a collage out of circulars that come in the mail.

I sat on the couch all afternoon after my episode and surfed the web. Paid a few bills and looked at pictures. I sent out a neat album of my kids at arches.

Tomorrow night is the auction. I wish Nate were going.

Ok, that’s it.

Jess

Rocky Mountain Association of Experiential Education Conference

This weekend Jess and I went down to Gunnison, Colorado, for the Rocky Mountain Association of Experiential Education conference. This was the culmination of a semester-long project that I've been doing with the undergraduates in my Foundations Experiential Education class.

Throughout the semester we've been interviewing lifelong experiential educators who have worked with either NOLS or Outward Bound. We compiled the results into a presentation that we gave at the conference entitled "Exploring Experiential Education from the Vantage Point of Lifelong Outdoor Educators". The presentation centered on what students get out of an outdoor education experience and how those benefits are attained.

The conference room was packed! The students did such a good job presenting to about 30 people. I think it was a valuable learning experience for them. I gave the introduction, reviewed the methods, and concluded. They gave the meat of the presentation. So good.


Tom Zimmer, Jessie, and I also got to go climbing for a little bit. We did Otto's Route at Colorado National Monument, another desert tower. It was very cool. Four pitches, and exciting little move onto the summit, great hike in, and good times.

Tom Zimmer, Laurie Brown, Melissa Hough, Adrienne Cachelin, Jeff Rose, Wynn Shooter, and Keri Schwab also presented. The University of Utah represented itself pretty well. Good weekend.