Exodus Ending

Our time wandering in the desert is coming to an end. Since Jan. 6, Cam and I have been chasing the sun in hopes of warmer weather. Our next destination marks a few changes. One, we are headed to cooler weather for the first time. Two, we are in search of longer climbs. With the exception of Cochise Stronghold, Cam and I have been focusing on harder, single pitch climbs (or boulder problems). It is now time to take all those gains in strength and technique and apply them to the big stone. Yosemite National Park, the birthplace of big wall climbing and the single most influential climbing area on the climbing culture of North America, if not the world. Needless to say, my psyche is at an all-time high. In many ways, the entire trip leading up to now has really only been training for what is to come.

Our final hoo-rahh in the desert was an amazing ascent of the North Face of Castleton. The North Face has to be the best climb I have ever done. The aesthetics, exposure, sustained difficulty, and location are beyond description. To top it off, we ran into an awesome couple on the summit. Mike, a fellow Mines alum, and his wife Jen completed the mega-classic and incredibly sand-bagged Kor-Ingles route on the south side of Castleton. Our two groups paired up for the raps in order to speed things up and decrease the cluster. Noob-0saur me, dropped his belay device on the final rappel of the descent. Mike and Jen graciously gifted me a belay device to use for the final rap as well as the remainder of our trip. Not only that, but they shared "victory beers" with us back in the parking lot. I am super thankful for their generosity and look forward to putting my new belay device to good use in the Valley.

Well, enough with all the text, you guys want and video. So here you have it. And Yosemite here we come.

Feeling Creeky

We've been here in the Creek for almost 2 weeks now and rigors of crack climbing is starting to takes it toll on our bodies. Fortunately and unfortunately, it looks like we are about to have 2-3 days of rain and snow, forcing us to take a few days off from climbing. I just keep telling myself that once the rain passes, I will be climbing even stronger after the rest.

For those who live for the spray (read Mike and Sean) here is a recap of the climbing we have done here thus far. And for those who live for the photos, just skip past the text and enjoy.

Day 1: Original Meat Wall

The Sickle (OS)

Ladies First (OS)

Wee Doggie (OS)

Day 2: Way Rambo

Way Nutter (OS)

Blue Sun (OS)

Unnamed 5.10+ (1 Hang)

Rochambeau (OS)

Day 4: Supercrack Buttress

Incredible Hand Crack (RP)

3 AM Crack (OS)

Supercrack of the Desert (RP)

Keyhole Flakes (1 Hang)

Day 5: Scarface

Wavy Gravy (OS)

Scarface (3 hang)

Black Uhuru (OS)

Day 6: Blue Gramma

Petrelli Motors (OS)

Blue Gramma (HD)

Mexican Unicorn (RP)

Unnamed left of Mexican Unicorn (RP)

Day 8: Way Rambo

Desire (1 Hang)

Serrator Crack (3 hang)

The Monk (1 hang)

Slice and Dice (TR w/ hangs)

Day 9: Donnely/Battle of the Bulge

Generic Crack (RP)

Ruins Crack (2 hang)

Day 10: Second Meat Wall

Evening Ecstasy (OS)

Two Timer (OS)

Two Timer II (TR w/ hangs)

Tube Steaks Tomorrow (1 hang)

Day 12: Battle of the Bulge

3 Strikes Your Out (2 hang)

Swedin Ringle (TR w/ hangs)

Cave Route (TR clean)

Digital Readout (TR w/ hangs)

Our Piece of Real Estate (TR 2 hang)

Day 13: Scarface Wall

Big Guy (HD)

Unnamed or Pop Quiz (TR 2 hang)

Big Guy (TR w/ hangs)

The Sicillian (TR w/ hangs)

Day 14: Supercrack Buttress

Supercrack of the Desert (1 hang at start)

Fingers in a Lightsocket (TR clean?)

Coyne Crack (TR w/ hangs)

Something I have learned here in the Creek is that it is hard to increase your onsite level, by climbing at your onsite level. This is mainly due to the fact that many of the climbs in the creek are 1 sized. And to jump from a 5.10+ onsite to a 5.11- onsite, requires learning a whole new size of crack. This revelation has cause me to set aside my pride and start top-roping climbs instead of leading everything. Sure I can monkey my way up a 5.12, but I'm really not learning how to ring-lock by doing 2 ring-locks in a row and then hanging on a piece.

In this respect, it has been really cool to climb with people who are stronger climbers than myself, and have the possibility to climb some harder stuff (hence the many TR toward the end of the last 2 weeks). I am super thankful for the community of the Creek which is always very helpful and willing to share a top-rope...but I can let myself become a Top Rope Tough Guy!

Serrator eating me alive

Hanging out at the crag

Cam back on the sharp end

Buddy onsiting Scarface (he really likes thin hands)

Sarah working Slice and Dice (such a rad line)

What would it be like to pee off that...oh wait Cam did

Welcome to the Creek!

After spending three nights and two quality days in Indian Creek, we find ourselves evicted by some snow and the increasingly evident need for showers. While still recovering from messing up my wrist, I have been on full blown belay duty for the past couple of days.

Matt is quickly flying through the easier routes here (keep in mind that no climb at the Creek is easy). Spending a day at the Original Meat Wall and the Way Rambo Wall has produced six onsights and one effort that ended four feet short of another. Basically, the climbing is going very well.

Although I would like to sit around eating all day, the prospect of climbing in Yosemite has spurred a strong training stint. Our goal is to be in peak shape before we head back to California -so we can climbing some of the coolest routes in the world.

Below are some pictures of Indian Creek.

The Creek will wear you out

The very important Bridger Jack toilet

p.s. Thanks for reading everyone!

Bryce Canyon, Capital Reef, and Canyonlands National Parks

Hopefully a few photos will suffice for a few days cause I'm lazy. But here are a some photos from our trek through a few national parks. Today is a double post, so after checking these photos out, be sure to scroll down and enjoy the latest post about Zion. Peace.

Limestone hoodoos and towers of Bryce Canyon

So I get a bit bored while hiking...

Slot canyons of Capital Reef National Park

Gettin' horizontal in the Crack House

Awe inspiring overlook in Canyonlands NP

Balance Rock, Potash Road

More views of Canyonlands in unfortunately flat light

Farewell Zion

Our brief stay in Zion came to a bittersweet end.

First the bitter. As most of you all know, Cameron has been fighting off a tweaky wrist, so climbing in Zion was fairly limited. Surprisingly enough to me, Cam has been handling it pretty well, and has even managed to stay active during this time.

Now the sweet. Although most would consider bailing on Spaceshot a disappointment, just the experience of being on the wall was an accomplishment for me. Going into the climb, both Drew and I knew we were idiots for wanting to haul on Spaceshot (due to the traversing and slabby nature of the first 3 pitches). But I could pass up the opportunity to practice hauling. And there is no way I would pass up the opportunity to sleep on a portaledge, hanging 400 ft off the deck. I learned so much on the first 4 pitches of Spaceshot, the experience was well worth the suffering.

Finally durring our last days in Zion, a few friends from Golden were passing through from California. This made for a good time hanging out with familiar faces, and a good reminder of real life.

Our next major stop after Zion is the place that holds both mine and Cameron's hearts....Indian Creek. I have been dreaming about going back to this place pretty much since we drove away 2 springs ago. The reunion has finally come, and i couldn't be more psyched. But first we have a few short stops, Bryce Canyon, Capital Reef, and Canyonlands.

First Days in Zion

This is going to be a poor introduction to one of the more beautiful areas I have ever seen. The sandstone wall go on forever. The Virgin river divides the tower cliffs and provides water for the lush flora and fauna that call Zion home. A real oasis in the middle of a barren land. It is no wonder why people have been calling this place home for thousands of years.

As far as the rock climbing is concerned...it is super RAD!!! Since Cameron is out of commission for a few weeks with some tweaked tendons, we spend the first few days in the park just hiking around. Luckily due to the interwebs, I was able to hook up with Drew, a fellow Texan, and do some climbing. The first day climbing, Drew, Chris (a friend of Drew), and I got to climb The Headache. This thing was awesome. Three pitches of great crack climbing. A good intro to Zion rock.

The next day, Drew and I decided that we are going to hop on Spaceshot. So in preparation for my first bigwall, I climbed the first pitch of Cherry Crack and practiced hauling (read lugging 100+lbs of rocks in bag up the wall). Long story short, it was quite difficult and a giant cluster, but I learned a lot. I think things should go smoother tomorrow when we get on the wall.

The plan is for me to free climb the first 3 pitches and haul, and then we will switch leads and Drew will lead the next two aid pitch. From here we will set up the portaledge and hunker in for the night. The next day we are going to blast to the summit and hopefully be down for victory beers well before dark.

It is going to be epic, but I am super stoked to sleep on the wall. I bringing up the gopro with me as well, so look forward to some videos to come.

Bye Bye Pebble Pinching...Hello Splitter Big Walls

Our time in Bishop has come and passed. I have to say, Bishop proved to be the most surprising stop of the trip thus far. Surprising on account of the awesome times and killer climbing! Originally we planned on mostly sport climbing in the Owens River Gorge, but ended up spending the majority of our time bouldering in the Happies and the Buttermilks.

Don't tell Mike Johnson, but I really enjoyed bouldering for the last 2 weeks. I guess, when you compare the Hueco Tanks and the Buttermilks with the Black Hole in Morrison, it is easy to see why my passion for bouldering was suffocated until now.

As we were driving out of Bishop, I made Cameron come and spot me just a few more time on Serengeti. I had tried this climb for 3 days prior and kept getting shut down at the very last move. There are two distinct ways of doing Serengeti and supposedly both are the same difficulty.

It is generally thought that the left is the easier way for shorter people to do the climb. Well, I'm short and it just wasn't working for me. So I started trying the right variation and sent it shortly thereafter. Then we loaded up the crashpads, stuffed away the downturned shoes, and pulled out the widgets for the gnarly sandstone splitter cracks of Zion National Park.

Sticking the Crux of Serengeti

I am glad we got to spend some time getting strong in Bishop as well as ticking off some uber classic boulder problems, but the time has come to start jammin'....good-bye welded tuft, hello windgate sandstone!