Shift 4 & Red Rocks: Wonder and Gratitude

Red Rocks has EVERYTHING, and it is EXCEPTIONAL. Moderate multi-pitch trad, uber long alpine start trad, moderate sport, and crank your socks off sport. We spent most of our time on the moderate multi-pitch routes...geeze louise, I am in love.


It's really difficult to capture what you see on the wall due to the next canyon wall being so close.



Kate’s best friend from college is one of my dear friends in NC. I heard about Kate well before I thought I would be working in wilderness therapy. We had a grand time climbing together this weekend. There are few lady climbers out here. As Kate told me “this is the wild wild west”. We took advantage of the estrogen supply and giggled, cheered, and fem-botted our way up the mountain!! Unfortunately, Kate works on the opposite shift as me, so we don’t get to combine our feminine powers too often.



Anthony is a seasoned and super strong climber. He’s also a great and patient partner! Thanks for all the tips!



This is from a crag in St George. I didn't want to clip my own first bolt, but Dave and Anthony persuaded me otherwise. Certainly made for a better picture!


Ridiculous. Michael, thanks for making us look good with your camera skills.




I completed shift four, my first week as a full fledge staff. The first three weeks, staff are “interns” and don’t have as much responsibility. This past shift I returned to a group I worked in my second shift, a great group of guys. It was nice to go into a group where I already had rapport established. My DAPS were super.(We call the clients we are assigned our “DAPS”. Clients also call the staff they are assigned their “DAPS”.) It was gratifying to connect with them, challenge them, encourage them, and watch their growth and change.

A theme that seemed to develop in the backcountry and continued into the front country was wonder and gratitude.

One night a client led an AA group on spirituality and the step focusing on realizing that there is something more powerful than yourself. For many this means a belief in God or a higher power. For others it may be nature or simply the AA group. One of the guys talked about how when seeing a sunset, tree, or fire, he can become overwhelmed with gratitude. In these moments he says a deeply genuine “thank you”, even though he isn’t exactly sure to whom or to what he is saying it. At the end of the group the sky looked like delicious rainbow sherbet. The guys called an “appreciation moment”. We stopped, wondered, and awed over the sunset.

After the shift I headed to Red Rocks. At the top of a classic five pitch, 5.6 route, I was hit with a deep sense of wonder and gratitude. I am so grateful I made the decision to move out here. Grateful that God unsettled my heart enough to do it and for the support you all have given to help me follow through. I am grateful for and in wonder of the ability and privilege to climb so high and to have such a view. I am in wonder of the beauty of the mountains (though frustrating that I can’t capture them with words or my point and shoot), and a community of beautiful friends. I think wonder and gratitude are some of the most spiritual and noble emotions we humans can have.

Let me not give a false impression. I am not always struck by wonder and gratitude out here. When it’s in the single digits with 20mph winds, when my water bottle freezes during the daytime within 15 minutes, or when someone steals my mom’s purse with her wedding rings in it, my springs of wonder and gratitude are barren. Thankfully, things are always changing and eventually the sun comes out and the winds slow down.