Gadget’s Airstream Chronicles

Yesterday went too quickly.  Errands in the morning, laundry, web clients, database clients….and oh yeah, some climbing at the end of the day.

The morning felt like a constant stream of tedious little tasks.  I hit the laundry room with my laptop in hand.  Re-designing another web site for one of my regular clients.  At least laundry went quickly because I was on the computer designing the whole time.

After “fun with laundry” I headed into town to see if my database client could meet early.  They weren’t in, so I occupied myself for a little while.  No great photos though.  Too bad.

The clients were available by 1:00, so that’s good.  That allowed time to climb afterward.  Oh, and here’s a funny side note.  While I was waiting on my clients the new part time job called.  They needed someone in.  I let them know I had a meeting and couldn’t.  Here’s the deal……1 hour consulting on databases pays more than 7 hours at the new part time job.  Which option would you choose? 

Once I returned to the Airstream Andy called.  He and Brooke were parked at Bob’s.  I was still waiting for Matt.  A quick set of climbs in the Granite Dells were on our agenda.  Since Matt is still learning the Dells offers a lot more variety, and it’s an easy walk out.

Matt, Bob, & Andy climbed Perfect Idiot first.  The climb has been on Bob’s mind.  While they climbed I took photos.  No climbing there, not in the mood, and I’ve got that one down.

After the climbs were done we headed over to Time Zone Wall.  As we approached we met a guy walking up in climbing shoes alone.  Chalk bag, shoes on, he said hello and chatted for a moment.  Then he climbed right up a 5.6 with no rope, belayer, etc.  Free Climbing.

As we set up to climb the mystery free climber popped back down and we all got to talking.  Go figure, the climber was Bill Cramer (author of one of the local guide books here).  Nice guy.  Fun to meet the person who put up a lot of the climbs here!

Matt and Bob got a good bit of climbing in.  I did one lead, then stuck to taking photos.  Big fun!  Below is another gallery loaded with Matt & Bob’s climbs.

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Yesterday was another day in the Promised Land.  Matt had called on Friday to see if we were on for Saturday.  Whoops, I didn’t remember planning to climb on Saturday, but guess I did.  Hmmm……senility sets in.

Matt showed up at the Airstream around 9, and we headed over to Andy and Brooke’s place.  As we pulled in Brooke was heading out.  Andy explained something had come up at work, and Brooke was heading in, not climbing with us for the day.

Also, Geordie was coming along too, so we were waiting for him.  He arrived moments later, and we got ready to head out.  4 people, 2 dogs (Geordie & Matt’s dogs came along).

The weather was great yesterday, not too hot, not too cold.  The rocks that were in the sun were definitely toasty, and climbing in the shade was more comfortable.

Andy led a 5.8, then Matt got to give it a whirl.  This was Matt’s 3rd time out climbing, and first time in the Promised Land.  I think he had fun.

While we were doing our climbs another group of people from Phoenix were also enjoying the area.  From the 5.5’s to 5.12’s, they were covering everything.  Fun to watch other folks out!

I’ll be posting more photos of the Promised Land over on the ClimbAZ section of Hikenbike soon.  Sorry, negligent on the posting there.   Hoping other folks will post there soon too.

Today’s photo gallery is just of Matt.  Thought he’d like to send the link to family and friends to share his new hobby.  Enjoy the gallery Matt!

Oh, and for his third time out he led his first climb!  Way to go!

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For those of you who have followed along for a while, you’ll remember Bob.  He’s back!  For those of you who’ve only joined in recently, you’ve got some catchup reading to do.

Yesterday afternoon Bob gave a call to let me know he’d pulled into the park, and asked me to come up and give a hand unloading.  Can do!  Glad to say, Bob is still Bob.  He’s got an injured shoulder now, and we’ll have to wait and see how it affects his climbing.  Surgery was advised months ago, but he didn’t want to deal with the recovery time of 6 months.

After visiting for a while Bob got back to organizing and getting his 5th wheel all set up.  He leaves the rig here year round, but spends some time out fishing for the summer.  Pretty nice setup he’s got.

We arranged to head out to the Promised Land late this morning.  First, a stop by the Subway to say hey to Brooke & Andy.  Bob grabbed the usual (tuna sub) and we were off for the long ride to the Promised Land.

Gear was tossed in the back of the truck, so we had stuff to climb with if we wanted to.  Once we arrived we decided a climb or two would be good.  Of course, we started off light on the easiest lead in the canyon.  I led first, and then set up the top rope.  Bob hasn’t climbed in a while.

He enjoyed his first run up.  Nothing too shocking, an easy climb.  On his first ascent though he put too much pressure on the bad shoulder and let out an exclamation.  At first I thought he was about to fall, braced myself, then realized nothing was happening.  Just the shoulder.  Oh no, hope he can work with it some more.

In the end, Bob took a second climb up.  When he found a comfortable ledge he told me to grab the camera.  Document the first climb of the fall season for him.  After he came down I took one more run up, took the quick draws off the rock, clipped into the top bolts, and finally rappelled back down.  Slow paced day.

Happy to say I’m feeling better.  Saturday I felt off, Sunday I felt downright sick, and Monday too.  Seems to have passed or at least settled.

Below you’ll find another gallery.  Some shots from today and Bob’s return.  Also a few night shots from last Thursday.  Enjoy.

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Oh, comments are back on for the time being.  We’ll see if the spam continues.

Things are coming along well at the stock photo site, Dreamstime. This morning I got confirmations on 14 more photos. All accepted! Nice. So, while I was running slow yesterday (understatement) my photos were moving along quickly.

Today is a dental cleaning day.  Woohoo.  Oh, well not really.  I miss my old dentist Dr. Scott.  Let’s hope these folks are as nice as the folks at his office.

© Photographer: Gadgetat | Agency: Dreamstime.com

If you click on the photo above you can see the latest updates to my portfolio at Dreamstime.  Enjoy!

Go figure, I thought I’d do a fun post picking on Andy first.  But here I am, doing a whole post for my friend Brooke.

The other day I dropped off a CD of photos Brooke has taken on our climbs.  Andy pointed out that the last gallery posted here didn’t have any Brooke photos.  He was right.  Our last climb had very few Brooke photos.  While I belayed her Andy took a few shots.  Then he went off to belay Geordie.

So, there were very few photos of Brooke’s climbs.  Fortunately our previous outing in the Promised Land I took several good shots as she climbed what we figure as a 5.8 or 5.9.

I’ll tell you, for a person who was uncomfortable with heights in the beginning Brooke has become a great climber, and improving with each climb.  Same goes for Andy, but I don’t want to bloat his ego too much. 

So, without further delay, here’s some of Brooke’s recent climbs…..

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Alright everyone, if you want an all Andy post, let me know in the comments on this one.  :)  By the way, you can’t vote multiple times Andy, I’ll know!

Finally, a full blog entry again!  But oh no, it’s another one of those climbing entries!

Saturday was a day in the Granite Dells, and Sunday was a day in the Promised Land!  I probably should have kept it to one day, but I did two.

Geordie & Matt showed up on Saturday and we set out into the Granite Dells for a few climbs.  Unfortunately Matt didn’t get Andy’s shoes Saturday morning, and nothing we had fit him.  We tried, and the shoes were too tight.  Tight shoes for climbing are good, but super tight doesn’t lead to a good time.  So Matt didn’t get to climb.  Sorry Matt, next time!

We hit the Time Zone wall, Perfect Idiot, and then one climb on Thor’s Wall (can’t remember the name).  Gotta say, Geordie is a great climber!

Here’s the whole gallery from this weekend, including our time in the Promised Land yesterday.

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As you can see, the climbs in the Promised Land were great yesterday.  I only did two climbs.  Tired, very tired.  And my left arm locks up pretty quick on these arm heavy climbs.  Ah well, something to work on still.

Andy & Geordie did some amazing climbs.  Andy is getting really good an confident with leading now.  Geordie is clearly comfy with leads.  And Brooke had some amazing climbs too!

Overall, a great weekend.  Now it’s back to reality, interviews, and some decisions about the Phoenix job.

The past few posts have all been about scams and spam, haven’t they?  Ah well, it happens.  Lack of massive inspiration on the blog.

I can say, things are happening.  The other day a regular reader of the blog and member of the Digital RV Forums popped by!  Good to meet him and his pup.  Wouldn’t you know, I’m lousy with names, so drop a comment and remind me (it always takes me 3 times with names for some reason).

Andy, Brooke, and Jordie (featured in the photo) did a short climb in the Dells the other day.  Unfortunately the days are getting shorter, so we didn’t have much time out.  But I was happy to get the photo of Jordie (I’m probably spelling his name wrong).

The past few days have found me on the phone a lot.  The Phoenix employer only wants to offer part time, which implies no benefits.  Ah, that’s not setting so well with me.  Other options have presented themselves, and we’ll see what comes of them.  Nothing more will be said on that topic.

Yesterday I got it in my head to take a ride out to Skull Valley again.  The drive out is interesting, landscape is a little desolate, and I like it.

The one gas station in the town of Skull Valley presented an interesting photo opportunity.  All the colors seemed just right.  Of course, I’m just a fan of the blues and yellows. 

And last evening before sunset I took a few photos of the moon.  Half way there.

Well, off to get ready for a climb.  I was supposed to be hitting a blogger get together in town today, but Matt and Jordie got in touch to see about climbing.  I haven’t been out much lately, so take the opportunity when it’s available.  I’m sure I’ll meet up with the other bloggers again in the near future.  :)  Sorry for missing the event all.

Today there were no turned ankles, additional tail bone injuries, etc.  Just limping along with what I’ve already done! 

Matt popped out here at 9.  He’s a friend of Andy & Brooke, and tried climbing with us the other week for the first time on Thor’s Wall.  Ah, nothing like taking a newbie and putting them on a tough route.  He did well with it, moved a fair distance up the wall, and had his first climb.  Today we did something a little different….no hard stuff up front.  But we did work up to it.

We headed over to Time Zone once more.  It’s a great wall, pretty tall, and let’s you work into the climbs.  Plus you can set up top ropes from two different fixed anchor points on top.  So we headed up to the top of the wall first to set up.  Matt’s dog buddy was along for the morning, and he did great.  Lab / Shepard mix.  Buddy’s face reminded me a lot of Dana, so he was an instant pal.

After setting up we made our way down the walk off to the bottom of the climbs.  First climb for Matt was a 5.5.  The climb (if you’ve got the Prescott Bouldering guide book handy) is #7 on Time Zone, labeled “Can’t Wait, Gotta Go.”  Matt did well with it, finished quickly, and then it was my turn.

I spent a while talking about the belay before he went up, and then again when he set up to belay me.  No real worries, these climbs are easy and it’s pretty hard to fall on Time Zone.  You can always stop yourself.  A little more than 10 feet up I shouted falling (I’d watched his belay as I went up), and I dropped backwards.  My fall was slowed, but I looked down and saw him struggling.  2 things happened.

• First, the initial jerking movement pulled him forward and shocked him a little.  So he took a few steps forward.
• Second, the shock of the movement made him take his right hand off the belay, and he was holding both sides of the rope with his left.  Not a safe position had I really fallen hard.  He would have had rope burn or bloody hands, and I would have made a crater.

I could see the surprise on his face, and I wasn’t worried.  Where I was I could stop myself.  That’s why I did it there.  He got his right hand back on belay.  And my other test falls were properly arrested.  His belay improved immensely.  Ah, I wonder if my instructor and friend Eric ever saw that type of surprise on my face.  Probably given he spent 15 minutes screaming at me one day for looking away!  :)  Just how you learn.

I’ve found that everyone who starts belaying does it wrong the first few times (me included).  Once you get used to it belaying is second nature.  But the first few times you can get hurt, and the climber on belay can get hurt.  That’s why you practice in easier areas, let the belayer know, fall, get caught, and practice some more.

After playing around with belaying, falling, and some initial climbs we moved on to other climbs.  Each one was a change and Matt could tell the differences pretty quickly.  Nice to feel like you’re working up to something.

Our other climbs for the morning included:

• Minute Man, 5.5
• Quartz Movement, 5.7
• Hour of Power, 5.8
• And finally, my favorite, Nick of Time, 5.8/.9

In addition to helping Matt get his first series of climbs in, I also had a good day.  My confidence is totally back on the rock, free climbing areas doesn’t freak me, swapping from bolt set to bolt set is easy now, and I know that I can catch myself if I have to.  I think more leading is in my future.  Now I just gotta get some more arm strength going (left arm specifically).  Looking forward to another foray into the Promised Land, and redoing our last climb there.

For my last climb Matt belayed me, I cleared off gear, and then went up and over the top.  Cleared off the webbing, and then walked off the climb.  Once I got down we wrapped up the rope, and got under way.  I was hobbling due to the left foot (yesterday’s blunder), and Matt was going slow after hurting his knee cycling the other day.  Tons of self abuse going around.

Buddy the dog was not hobbling, stayed off the rock and away from bikes, and is clearly smarter than us humans.  He curled up in a shady spot, watched us climb, greeted us after each climb, and returned to his rest.  Yeah, dogs are smart.

So, another good day.  No photos.  No third person for the camera.  When you belay you can’t shoot.  And when you’re climbing you have other things on your mind.

Well, off to sort photos from the other day.  The wind is blasting today, the Airstream is shaking, and I’m feeling restful.  Just might nap for a few and be rocked to sleep by the swaying of the Airstream.

Oh yeah, and the foot and backside still hurt….so glad I spared myself anything new!

After so much driving to Phoenix over the past week I decided to stay out of the truck today. I must say though, the new tires do offer a wonderfully smooth ride……but I skipped rides today!

Late morning I decided to take a walk into the Dells with the camera, my climbing bag (full to the top), and work on some stock photo ideas I’ve been having. While I like the concept of the shots I think the lighting was all wrong. I need to go earlier.

It’s funny. The idea for the shots has been on my mind for a while. Some climbing gear, the backpack, etc., just sitting among the rocks. But not just any rocks. A very specific spot that I thought looked great one morning while we were climbing. So I lugged everything across the Dells to take a few photos of gear.

You know, my Airstream is backed right up against some really cool rocks. But they’re not the “right” rocks. The ones I wanted to use were way out there. So, a full pack for no climbing. Odd, but true.

As I made my way out into the Dells I had a real ankle turner. You always roll your ankles scrambling around in the rocks, but this ankle roll was on par with a few from years ago. When I recovered myself I was happy to see the ankle still intact. I rolled so hard I hurt the whole side of my foot as well. There’s some swelling…… oh, and I’m climbing tomorrow.

Yes, I’ve got ice handy.

After getting to my designated shoot spot I broke out the camera and started playing around. A few photos I like. 203 shots once again (filling the card in RAW format). But the lighting would have been better 3 hours earlier. Maybe tomorrow when we go climb I’ll have “that” light.

I spent a little while shooting, playing with slings, cams, stoppers, and my pack. Trying to get the bland yet not bland shot of gear. Stock photography is different. And I’ve been toying with other ideas for doing stock. I’ll be toying some more.

After shooting I packed up and started to head to another area to take photos. Then I stopped myself. No hurry, nobody’s schedule today, no calls needed. Nothing. Instead I plopped the pack down, watched the water from the cliffs, enjoyed a light breeze and a shady spot. Stayed for about 45 minutes.

With my super rest in the rocks done I headed off to another spot where I thought the mid-day light would be better. Shade hitting just the right way. I finished out my camera card there and packed it in.

If anyone was out watching me today they’d wonder who the hobbling guy is with the heavy looking pack. One thing I can say about the ankle roll is that my mind is completely off whatever I did to my tail bone. Trading one medium pain for a larger fresh pain really works. Is that why people re-couple quickly after a divorce? Whoops, thinking out loud there.

Several hours after setting out I returned to the Airstream, and did the “digital developing” routine. Several photos will be submitted. Many were deleted. There’s still a few on my hard drive that I’m puzzling over. They’ll remain there forever, because you always puzzle over them.

More on gear

As I worked on the photos I realized that I wanted to share more on the gear for the Airstream, climbing, and all of the rest. So today I’m sharing some information on camera protection.

Protecting your photo equipment while traveling can be tough. Protecting your equipment around people (Andy) can be tougher. Always keep a spare lens cap or two, or better yet, a shiny object or two in order to distract those folks……

During our last excursion into the Promised Land I found that my camera protection was beyond necessary. Slippery rocks, quick sand (several weeks ago), ankle rolls, etc. All of these things try to help you destroy your camera. But you don’t want it destroyed (unless you dig wasting big money). Every slip and fall I take I find myself grabbing the camera, and raising it up, out of the direction of my fall……works so far.

So, how can you keep the camera safe while slinging it all over the place?

For me I’ve re-discovered Zing Cases. I had one years ago. Every camera store I’ve walked into lately doesn’t carry them. So, a few months ago I did an online search. And they still exist! By the way, the photo above was taken a few feet from my trailer…..kept the hobbling to a minimum.

The Zing cases are made out of Neoprene. You know, the funny wet suit stuff? Yup, that’s the stuff. It handles minor impacts, keeps your camera from getting scratched, and helps to keep the dust and dirt out while wandering around in the woods (desert, arctic, rain forest, etc.).

As you can see in the photo above, my case already has a little hole in the front. Just a tear in the outer fabric, the case is fine. But that tear came from the camera swinging into a rock when I was scrambling over it weeks ago. The zing took the impact, the camera was fine. And the gray case is my normal “climbing” case, so it’s designated “abuse me.”

If you’re really into bomb proof protection there’s always a Pelican Case. They make the water proof plastic cases. Computer cases, electronics cases, camera cases, etc. If you think you’ll get wet, stumble down a snow covered pass several thousand feet, or you’re worried about being bombed, this case is for you.

My Pelican is many years old. It holds 1 camera and 3 lenses, along with a few extra junk items. It never ventures out on the trail with me. It’s better suited as a travel case. It’s also perfect for folks who are into water adventures. Airtight seal, floats, has a seal valve. The works. It’s also really hard to open after descending several thousand feet. That’s what the valve is for.

Both the Zing and Pelican have worked great for me. If you’re looking for some extra protection while tromping around, look for a Zing. If you’re looking for a bomb proof camera and lens travel case, Pelican.

Alrighty, enough posting from me today!

This morning I headed out to meet Andy & Brooke. We were finally going to try a climb or two out at the Promised Land. And we did just that.

I was in Chino a little before 10:00. They’d just returned from taking the dogs to the park. Currently they’re watching 3 pups for Andy’s mom. So the dog total at their house today was 5! Lots of wagging and greeting when I arrived.

After the dogs were squared away we headed out. The drive in takes forever because of the crazy roads, but it was worth it!!! First we hit a 5.7 for a lead. I went up first, and played around a bit as I went up. Looking for places to practice placing gear again. The route was bolted, but it was nice enough that you could really rest, hang out, and look at cracks to see about gear placement.

In addition to a fun climb, we could also photo from different angles on this one. There was a way up the side of the climb that was safe enough to climb without protection or a belay. So Brooke went up and shot, and I went up and shot. Very nice indeed!

Since we’re new to the Promised Land we also broke out the helmets today for leading. Hey, better to be safe. Plus if gear drops, or rocks drop (which did happen as I came down from shooting) you’ve got a little more protection. Once everything was set up and known to be good, no more helmets. As you can see with the photos of Brooke, no helmet hair for her.

While we were climbing another group moved in (3 other people). They set up on a 5.9 near us (the photo above is of the group near us). Right behind them came another group of 3, and they chose to work on what looked to be 5.12 upside down deal.

One of the problems in the Promised Land is the lack of documentation. The wall we were on, and the one to our left is documented. That comprises about 15 climbs out of 46 we recently documented. Hard to know exactly what you’re working on.

After we finished out 7 we checked across the canyon to a crack problem. Andy and I weren’t thrilled about leading this one yet, so we moved further into the canyon. And we found what we were looking for. One of the last walls we found the other week has some interesting stuff. We picked a climb, and Andy led it. We’re figuring it’s a 5.8 or 5.9. There are a few areas where it’s clearly a 9.

Andy did a great job on lead, and made it about 80% of the way up the climb. I then followed the same climb, and had two points where I popped off. The rock is super smooth!!!

Oh, I’m the one in the orange harness.

Brooke followed up as well, and set her own route for part of the climb. She cut right where we cut left, and went left where we went right. Overall we all had a really good day.

In the end we all finally realized what time it was. Set out at 10 a.m, and after 3 we were all very hungry. You know, everyone needs their soy & rice! Ah, joking of course.

I think Promised Land will now become a weekend regular for us. There’s a ton to experiment with, a different style of rock, interesting canyon (complete with dive bombing owls)….the works.

That’s all for tonight. I’m exhausted.