Last days in southwest Utah

For my last few days in the southwestern corner of Utah, I wanted to soak up as much of Zion as I could. The climbing is INTENSE here, filled with loose sandstone, stout grades, and very few routes that I can lead. AND, it's beautiful, full of adventure, inspiration, and calm. I love this place; it's sacred.

Naked belaying: We needed something to make us feel bad to the bone after having to bail on Riddler's Delight. We went with naked (aka shirtless) climbing.

A peak view from mid-way up Iron Messiah

New Chapter

Though it may not seem like it, I actually do work. Fortunately, I have a job that allows me to both play and work hard....from pretty much anywhere.

Since May, my time in the field has been much less as I began to focus on my role coordinating the research study. This coming week will be my last week in the field. It has been a beautiful and rich experience working in the wilderness with hurting and troubled young people, and now I am ready to jump full fledge into the research part of my work.

Because the people I work for are awesome, and because the nature of this work is mostly conducted over the phone and internet since I am managing four different sites, I can work nearly anywhere with phone and internet service. I have chosen to move to Boulder, CO where the climbing, culture, coffee shops, and company abound. I am very excited about this new chapter.

Though I am absolutely passionate about it, the research piece of my work is usually more difficult and less exciting to explain. If you are interested though, below is a link to our new Research Outcomes webpage that summarizes some of the preliminary results of the pilot study.

http://adolescents.snwp.com/research-at-second-nature/

Red Rocks...J Tree...Red Rocks

After taking a day to recover in Mammoth Lakes, CA we showed up at Red Rocks and it looked like this. Beautiful, and 70% chance of rain two days straight.

So, we went for a bike ride around the loop. It was glorious and I sang really loudly.

Then, we picked up this girl, Kate - the coolest gal around - and headed to Joshua Tree.

We got there and there were no campsites!!! We parked and slept illegally. In the morning, it was so windy we couldn't even set up tents. So, we went to a wind proof coffee shop and to the J Tree Saloon where it was karaoke night. Kate and I sang "Fancy".




Though still windy, the next two days looked like this, which meant coffee making and climbing!!

The Flake, 5.8. It has a fun chimney start, to a nice hand crack, and then finishes with some scary slab moves. This may be one of my proudest leads.

I suggested Anthony do a headstand. I didn't mean on the edge of the belay!!


After J Tree, we went back to Red Rocks where the weather had made a turn for the even more beautiful, just in time for my birthday!


Saturday morning Kate had birthday hats, a tiara, and grits waiting for me.


This was something like the climb of my life! Every pitch and move felt perfect, confident, and solid. I led the three pitches of Cookie Monster and then linked up to Cat in the Hat to finish up on its the 4th and 5th pitches. I've had beef with the Cat and the Hat as I have done it twice before, but never been able to finish the last two pitches due to weather.



Then it was game time with my Auburn Tigers.


After cookie ice cream sandwiches, Kate, Anthony, and I went out on the town.

Yosemite

I know there's California, Oklahoma
And all of the places I ain't ever been to but
Down in the valley with
Whiskey rivers
These are the places you will find me hidin'
These are the places I will always go
These are the places I will always go

Yosemite was inspiring, majestic and humbling.

My first trad lead was less than a year ago. I've felt that my progress as a climber has gone fairly well over the last year, and even the last 2.5 years since I began climbing. Yet, despite this, in Yosemite I learned that I am a runt, an absolute baby and weakling in this world of climbers. Folks here climb HARD and really TALL walls. You see free solo’ers that move like honest to God ninjas. People spend weeks on the wall hauling up not only themselves, but also water, food, and any other life necessities. Folks fly up routes placing sparse protection covering hundreds of vertical feet with just a few hours of daylight left.

Climbing in Yosemite has been a blast and a dream. Even if scrambling up 3^rd class freaks me out, leading a measly 5.8 makes me the happiest lady in the valley, and top roping a 5.9 leaves me utterly wasted. To work your body to exhaustion on inspiring cracks and see the most spectacular views from a perspective that few ever will, and then stuff yourself with pizza, beans and rice, and cookies….oh geeze, it’s a dream.

We covered a total of 6,850 vertical feet between Tuolumne Meadows and Yosemite Valley. Though two of our compadres couldn’t make it at the last minute, we were blessed with new and old friends with whom we shared food, laughter, and campsites.

It was SO beautiful our first day on top of Stately Pleasure Dome.

We had some weather to move in while in Tuolomne. It got real cold and wet!
This double rainbow was a real treat though.

The jorts...watch out, they are coming back!

The King kept our vittles safe and secure.

I supported my Auburn Tigers in spirit and by wearing my pin both Saturdays. War Eagle!

A fabulous 5.8 handcrack! I felt like a rock star on this baby!

This is from the top of Reed's Pinnacle, right after the rockin 5.8 handcrack. This climb worked me like no other climb ever has. I wasn't sure if I wanted to hyperventilate or cry.

The Nutcracker, my favorite route of the entire Yosemite trip. Five pitches of high quality fun!

The sun was setting when we arrived at the top. It was majestic.

We met Ilona and Yoav when, fortunately, going to a dome we didn't intend to go in Tuolumne. We shared a campsite the rest of the week.

It was awesome to spend the last day climbing with two lovely ladies!!