I received a note from my friend Bert this morning wondering where I’d gone to.  A few days with no posts here.  It happens now and then!

The past few days I’d been wrapped up with contract stuff.  Nothing big, just distracted.  After doing the site surveys I return to the Airstream, spend an hour or two putting together a package on the site, and sending it off to the company I’m contracting for.  Sorting photos, creating graphical layouts of the site and the buildings, writing up recommendations, etc.  By the time I’m done I don’t feel like tinkering with the computer any more.  Or sorting photos, blogging, etc.

Yesterday was extra long.  I drove into Mesa, AZ.  Left at 7:30, arrived there at 10:00.  It shouldn’t take 2.5 hours given the distance, but the traffic on 101 was just plain dumb.  Dead stop traffic.  After sitting in gridlock we finally started moving (40 minutes of 5 mph).  The hold up…..?  A cop giving a ticket on the other side of the road.  Once I passed that scene we cruised right along.

Incredibly enough, the return trip also took 2.5 hours!  I returned to the trailer and just wanted to flop.  But instead I compiled all my data, wrote up the site survey, etc.  Made for a long day.

Andy called to see if I wanted to climb.  Not really, I was tired and a little zoned out.  But in the end I decided to head out with him.  Big group for some late climbing.  Andy, Brook, Hailie, Beth, Scott, and Andy’s friend Matt.

I headed out on to the rocks a little before the gang arrived.  It was hard sitting on top of Thor’s Marbles.  Blasting wind and quite a chill.  But it was worth it.  The clouds were doing some interesting things to the sun…..

Unfortunately we didn’t start until after 5.  60mph gusts, cool weather, loss of sunlight.  It made for an interesting scene.  And I was a touch chilly.  I ended up not climbing.  I belayed several times, took a few photos, and kept saying, “Wow, it’s chilly!”

This was Matt’s first time climbing, and we brought him to Thor’s Wall.  Uh, what a way to start!  5.10 for your first climb???  Whew!  He did manage to move a good distance up the wall, and I think he’ll return to climb again.  Glad such a tough start didn’t discourage.

When we finally headed out it was a little before 7:00 pm.  Dark, cold, and hard to see where you’re going in the rocks.  I need to keep a headlamp in my pack from now on!

After getting in I settled down for the night.  Rice, soy cubes, and a little flavoring for dinner.  Been cautious again with food after last week (several BAD days).

Well, now that I’m all caught up I think I’m going to stretch out on the couch and listen to something mellow.

Once again, 55 inside the Airstream currently. It will warm up, it always does.

The blog is behind once again, but I’ll catch it up quickly now.

Thursday (yes, a little behind) I took another ride to Phoenix. I’ll know the results in a few weeks. Nothing like suspense. Actually, I could do without suspense thank you very much.

Thursday afternoon I went for a short climb with Andy & Brooke once again. We headed into the Dells, looking for something new to do. We’d checked out 3 waterfront climbs several weeks ago, and decided to try those out. Right on the water there’s a 5.8 (I think it’s harder than that), a 5.10, and 5.11.

Andy worked these climbs out pretty well.  Personally, I wasn’t a fan and felt awkward on this rock.  But that’s me.  Brooke got further along as well.  But Thursday’s climbing was Andy’s day.  Way to go!

I will say that I wouldn’t recommend the waterfront climbs at the Granite Dells.  There are plenty of other climbs that you can do there.  Brooke literally pulled pieces of rock away, and as Andy climbed a good deal of debris fell down to the ground with each move.  A flakey climb, that’s for sure!

Friday morning I met up with Brooke & Andy once again.  This time we were doing a bike ride near Granite Basin.  The approach came from outside the park, and gave me a new view of the mountain.  If I had more time to stop I would have shot more photos below the mountain.  I’ll return again, as I saw some very pretty scenes worth shooting.

We headed up to an old set of ruins.  Very interesting.  Not much remains of the ruins, but you can tell someone lived there quite a while ago.  Someone still lives nearby as well (large McMansions on the next ridge over).  An interesting scene!

I cut the ride short after a weird fall.  Bloodied my knee and really wrenched my ankle good.  Stopping hard in soft sand is not advisable.  Ah well, these things happen.

Thursday and Friday covered.  That leaves yesterday……whew!

Saturday morning I awoke to blue sky out my window.  I’d heard rain overnight, but figured it was done.  We’d be heading out to the Promised Land to give a 5.7 a whirl.

Once I pulled myself out of bed I took a look around outside.  Suddenly gray, and sprinkling.  Then a down pour.  No climbing for the morning.

As it turned out the entire day was all about rain.  Downpours, small rivers going by my trailer, some wild winds, the works.  The Airstream didn’t float away, and I remained safe, dry, and relatively warm inside!  All good.

So, yesterday was an indoor “rain day”.  What can you do on a day like that?  How about re-watch the series “Heroes” in preparation for the new season.  It’s the only show I follow now, and I haven’t watched it on TV.  Rather, I’d downloaded it from ITunes.

As an aside, did you know Apple & NBC had a falling out?  The new season won’t be downloadable from ITunes.  Great, just great.  The ITunes downloads are very convenient for me.  I’ll have to work out a new system, but I’m very disappointed in Apple and NBC.  Work out the finance issues guys……

So, yesterday was nice.  Cooking a big meal in the trailer, reviewing a fun series, and letting my poor ankle (still hurts) rest a little more.  Guess no climbing was ok after all.

There we go, all caught up!

Talk about a busy weekend. I’ve got a ton of catch up to do today!

Friday I hit the Promised Land with Andy, Brooke and their pups. We spent hours looking around the canyon spotting bolted routes. Made for an interesting day. I kept the GPS handy and marked all the walls that had climbs, and I’m currently working on a new map of the area!

After an eventful Friday, Saturday continued the trend.  Morning boredom led to an afternoon trip to Sedona.  Hey, it’s right around the corner, take advantage of what you have available.  One of the many benefits of being an Airstreamer I think.

Finally, yesterday was another busy day.  This time we changed things up and returned to Granite Basin to do a little climbing.  We haven’t been there in months to climb, so it was about time.

I drove out early to meet Brooke & Andy in Granite Basin.  Arriving more than 30 minutes early I decided to head in and setup the climb before they arrived.  Hey, you can get right to the climbing then!

After making my way to the top of the climb, setting up the anchors, and pitching the rope down, I kicked back with some amazing views.  The wind was blowing gently, clouds raced across the sky, and views were amazing!  What a nice morning.

Around 8:45 I heard a distinctive muffler in the distance.  Andy’s car!  They were a little late, but no big deal.  I made my was down from my perch and a few minutes later they came marching in.  A lot of teasing went on between them about being late, but it was no big deal.

For our first climb of the morning we did an interesting 5.9 crack problem.  A very short climb, but challenging as well.  The crack isn’t as deep as it looks, and the guys had an issue getting a good handhold after the entrance.  Honestly, the climb reminded me of a fun one back in Pawtuckaway, “The Horn.”

Brooke did an amazing job on this climb.  She “schooled” Andy and I on it big time.  Ah well, we’ve been schooled!

After a few climbs each we headed around to the area we first started climbing together.  First an easy slab, then the 5.11 that had driven me nuts months ago.  Amazingly enough, the “easy” slab got me good, and I’ve been nursing a bruised shin.  It got Andy as well, left shin as well.  For a simple slab the rock is really slippery and really sharp.  Seems we always leave skin at Granite Basin.

The morning was great once again.  A little afternoon we all felt we were done, and called it a day.  Ah, great weekend, don’t you think?

Hey, where was the post yesterday? Well, I spent part of the day in Phoenix. Interview, and I’ll have a follow up next Wednesday. Also I was waiting on my friend to fly in later in the day. Unfortunately stuff came up at work, and she couldn’t fly out. Ah well, stuff happens.

Alright, what’s up with the title today? Well, Andy, Brooke, Riley, Emma and I headed back to the Promised Land today to see how many climbs there really are. We walked well into the canyon, and we found 46 bolted sport routes in there! You heard me right, the count we came away with was 46. Almost 50, but not right there. Of course, looking around there are many other route possibilities that climbers could protect themselves, so clearly there are more than 50 climbs in the canyon.

We spent several hours hiking in and out of the Promised Land. On the way in I had my handy dandy GPS out, and I marked each of the major walls we found. And along the way we also found many unique features within the canyon, including many nests built into the rocks. Amazingly enough, several climbs were right next to such nests!

Brooke & Andy’s pups enjoyed the hike in as well. Several spots along the canyon still have deep pools. The dogs were always ahead of me, but I knew when they found the next pool. Big splash!

After hours of marching around we headed back to the truck.  Everyone was pretty spent.  The dogs and the humans.  Oh, and along the way Andy was using the camera and dropped the lens cap into one of the many pools.  So, Andy had to do a little stomping around in the water…..

The rest of the details about all the cool climbs can be found later today at ClimbAZ, once I sort through all of the photos. 

Great day!  Nice hike, and wonderful company!

Ah, yet another climbing post. Shouldn’t this go on the new Climb AZ site? Sure, it will, but it’s also part of the Airstream Chronicles (especially this one). So it goes here too. Hey, content can cross more than one site folks!

Brooke & Andy popped over this afternoon for a little climbing. No beatings on Thor’s Wall today. This time we picked a different challenge back on Time Zone. Yes, I know, Time Zone has easier climbs, so what gives? Simple, we were practicing leading sport routes today.

Before I get into all that, we’ll rewind. I’ve had several notes from folks curious about climbing, what you bring, etc. So, this morning while cleaning my gear and checking it I took a super sloppy photo to show you what goes into the bag. Here’s the photo…..

So, what are you seeing here? Well, the braided items are slings that are used as anchors. 4 of them, 30 feet in length, but doubled up, so only 15 feet each in reality. All of the clips with straps and clips at the other ends are called “quick draws”. You use them to clip into bolts for protection when lead climbing. In total, 16 quick draws with two clips (beaners) each. Pretty darned heavy. Then there’s my climbing shoes, harness, chalk bag. The two sacks behind that stuff has 60 feet of static rope (for creating anchors as well), many locking beaners, extra belay devices, etc. In total, about 40lbs of gear in my pack. Oh, so what’s the pack look like?

My pack is a nice little Osprey day pack. Not huge, but not tiny. It’s a comfy pack, and best of all there’s an air cooled mesh screen on the backside that you can slip your water pack into. Very nice! But lately the pack seems very heavy.

So, there’s the answer folks. Gear and pack.

Now, on to today.

As I said earlier, Andy & Brooke popped over and we headed out to Time Zone again. That wall has several sport climbs, and we were going to re-do them, only this time leading them. Normally we top rope there, and leading changes the dynamic a lot. Top roping means you create an anchor on top of the climb, run your rope through the anchor, and climb. It means that if you fall, you only fall a short distance.

Leading you climb up to a bolt (place in the rock), put a clip in, and then put the rope through. If you fall before the bolt, you fall! Once you’re clipped to the first bolt you climb to the next, and clip in again. If the bolts are 10 feet apart, and you fall right before your next, you will fall 20 feet, plus some slack. Long ride down.

So, the dynamic of the climbing on a favorite wall changed for me today.

As we got ready to climb Andy decided to break open a snack.  You can see clearly above Andy used his “extra special” mind powers to open the wrapper and start in on his treat.  If you didn’t know, Andy’s a “special” guy.  Now you know a little more! 

Andy did the first lead on the same 5.5 he led the other week.  No surprises, no twists, no turns.  Then I headed up and cleared off the gear so he could do another.  He led a second route, this time a 5.6, and no surprises there either.   I went up after, and cleared the quick draws off once more.  Then it was my turn to lead the 5.5.

While I got ready, Brooke shot the photo above.  Andy loving on his “guns” as it were.  Hmm, I’m glad I don’t see everything all the time…..

I headed up with no troubles (although I was wondering it Andy was posing some more).  But I’ll tell you, I was nervous.  I haven’t led in forever.  And doing this style of climb is working without a net.  Top roping you know, falling isn’t a big deal.  So I kept telling myself to be sure I’m happy with every spot I placed a foot, thrilled with every handhold.  A little extra adrenaline to say the least.

After my first bolt and quickdraw I continued up.  2 more bolts, then the pair at the top of the climb.  Everything went fine, but it’s been a long time since I’d done this, and much had changed.  While confidence is being restored, this type of thing really calls it into question.  And it did that for me a lot today.

Moments like the shot above are the ones where you’re trying to work quick.  The last point of protection is a ways below you.  You’ve gotten a quickdraw into a bolt, the rope isn’t in there yet.  You’re not safe yet.  Unnerving.  Yup, that’s about it.

After I popped down from my first lead in forever Andy did another.  Then I did another.  Then Andy did one more.  Back and forth.  For both of us, today held the most climbs in one day.  We did many back and forth.  Finally Andy led the 5.8 (near Nick of Time).  He did well with it, so hoorah Andy!  I then went up afterward, clearing off gear so that we could wrap up and head in.

At the top I had an interesting experience.  I’d already hit the top several times, and removed the last quickdraws from bolts at the top of the climbs.  You get to the top where a pair of bolts lie.  You clip a small sling to your belt, then to the bolts.  You then take the quickdraws out, take yourself off the rope (hanging by your sling now), and feed the rope through the bolts in order to rappel down to the ground.  No problems, right?  Wrong.

On the last climb I cleaned up.  I got to the top, beaners on both sides of my harness, and I hooked in with my sling to the bolts at the top of the climb.  I untied the rope and felt uncomfortable, and ill at ease.  But I’d done the same thing 15 minutes earlier.  Hmmph!

If you drop the rope before you feed it through the bolts you’re screwed.  No rope, no way down.  I put the rope in my teeth while I rearranged.  Then I started feeding it through.  My sling was secure, but I just wasn’t happy.  The rope wasn’t going through the bolts fast enough, and for the first time in a long time I wanted DOWN!  I talked to myself about it while I was working and reminded myself this was an easy thing quite a while ago.  And I’d just done it.  No biggie.  But still, the adrenaline hit there, and it hit hard.

I finally got everything fed through.  Next big challenge, set up my own belay, make sure it’s good (while remaining calm), unclip my sling and head down.  It all got finished just right, but man, for 2 minutes I was well over the edge of my comfort zone.  Haven’t been there in a long time, nice to say.  All the same, I did it.  I’ve led again, I’ve unhooked on a wall again, I rapped off a climb again.  Progress, albeit uncomfortable progress.

So there it is for today.  I’ve been happy to regain so much that was toasted the past few years.  And some of it comes at the cost of extreme discomfort (believe me, there’s been a ton of that).  Today held another one of those moments.  And doing this stuff, it’s serious.  If you mess up it’s a long way down.

Well, I’m spent.  Glad to get out with my friends again.  Glad they pushed me to do more again.  Necessary, even if it didn’t all feel proper. 

That’s right. What would Labor Day weekend be without some recreational labor? It seems this is the weekend everybody gets their big recreation in before Fall and Winter settle in. Somehow I think it will be a little different here in Arizona, as the weather is a little more constant.  That just means a longer outdoor season for me! 

Andy’s brother Todd came up for the weekend, and came out with us for another morning of climbing.  We headed into the Dells a little after 8, and it was already hot.  Really hot!  Brooke broke out her umbrella fast!

After we got unpacked Andy led the 5.5 sport route at the end of the wall.  Why go up top to hang a top rope when you can just head up and use the paired bolts?  No reason other than wanting to stand around in the sun up top for a while!

We did several climbs on Time Zone once again as a warm up.  Todd hadn’t been out climbing since his last trip up here in May.

After we finished up at Time Zone it was time to move on to Thor’s once again.  It’s an interesting challenge.  Andy, Brooke, & Todd did very well on it today.  We won’t comment on my performance. 

After some time at Thor’s we finally wrapped up.  I’m a little sore to say the least (an incident with my harness).  But it was another good day in the Dells.  We’ll probably go out again tomorrow afternoon too…..

 Today was an active one.  This morning I took a hike along the Peavine trail.  I headed out too late, and it was TOASTY out!  Tons of water drinking this morning.  Nice to have ice cubes in the water bag, as it rests against my back. 

After the walk I returned to the Airstream for a while.  Some web work, uploading a new server (you’ll learn more about that later), and then cleaning myself up after the walk.

I decided to head into town this afternoon to see the latest “Arts Fair” on the town square.  Lot’s of little vendors, nothing that I needed for the Airstream.  I did stumble across a person selling banzai trees, and I was tempted.  Way back in high school I had a wonderful banzai for years.  Unfortunately while out of town for a few weeks my mom took care of it and over fertilized it big time.  Whoops!

The town was pretty well packed.  I parked several blocks away from the downtown, as it was so busy!  Walking around the square I had to navigate around blocks of people.  Pretty darned packed.

After spending an hour seeing what was available I ran over to Granite Mountain Outfitters.  I needed a few new stuff sacks.  Every time we climb my gear gets everywhere.  A few stuff sacks will take care of the issue of disorganization in my pack. 

Granite Mountain had just what I needed.  Several Granite Gear lightweight sacks in hand, and for a reasonable cost.  After my “micro shopping” I headed home.

The new packs worked out well.  3 separate ones take care of slings, quick draws, beaners, my harness, static rope, etc.  Nice.  Tomorrow a well organized pack for climbing.  :)  Still a heavy pack though……hmmmm, lighter climbing gear?  Maybe I’ll just make Andy carry it.

After resting for a few hours this afternoon I headed out into the Dells again to roam around and see if there were any good photos waiting to be taken.  I didn’t find much.  Several climbers were out on Time Zone this afternoon, so I sat and watched them for a few.  Looked like they were having fun.

Before I headed back to the Airstream for the evening I saw a very light rainbow in the distance.  The photo above has it in there, but it’s hard to see the whole thing.  Can you see it?

Tomorrow another day of climbing with Andy and Brooke.  Andy’s brother Todd is coming out too, and he’ll be climbing with us again too.  Should be fun!

Ah, I think we’ll roll the dice and go with a climbing post. Enough about those dirty “phishers” out there, right?

Andy & Brooke popped out this evening for another fun climb. This was a later expedition, as Andy needed to get one of those $300 haircuts today. If you hadn’t noticed in recent posts, his hair had gone wild (I worried he was on his way to hippie fast).

We decided to go back to Thor’s wall, and give the hard stuff another whirl. It was worth it, but a much shorter climbing experience.

Brooke really laid into the climb again today. And she got further than last time out. Actually, we all did, so that’s a positive.

I was the next up after Brooke, but didn’t get super far. My arms were still sore from trying out a new way to strengthen them (hmmm). So, my first shot was short, but the second worked out much better. Next time I’ll get a little further once more.

Andy basically completed the climb today. It might have to do with his more aerodynamic hair, or just that he really pushed through the climb. Probably a little of both. Way to go Andy!

Of course, in the end Andy found himself climbing through a large segment of bird poo. Yup, you heard me right. Something I’d like to avoid climbing in personally.

After we wrapped up we walked back up onto one of the ridges in the Dells, and we were treated to quite the view. A storm had been brewing all afternoon, and the skies were very dark. Except in one spot, and it made for a great photo!

What a fantastic site!

There’s the climbing wrap for the day.  As always, click my flickr badge in the right column if you want to see more shots from today!

This morning the wakeup time was earlier than 6. Get the day started early.

Andy, Brooke, Hallie, Beth, and Scott were slated to be here around 7:30. Almost everyone arrived just a bit after that time. Early day of climbing. Beth & Hallie needed to be back to their school in the afternoon.

After today’s climbing I think Brooked joked that the blog entry should be all about Hallie. Pretty accurate as far as the climbs go. Andy and Brooke are still new to the sport, Beth just started, and I’m restarting after a few years. But Hallie was all over the climbs today! Way to go!

We started the morning out on Perfect Idiot once more.  Just a climb that really sticks with you.  Andy, Beth, Hallie, and I all climbed it.  And I finally climbed it clean.  I figured out the secret watching Andy today.  1 simple move, keeping your left hand to the left before crossing over.  Finally got that stupid climb’s number!

Beth got up Perfect Idiot today as well.  I think she’s been out 3 times now….hmmmm.  She’ll be moving right along for sure.

We then moved over to Thor’s Wall.  Harder climbs in there.  We climbed between Thermocouple and Monarch.  They were rated 5.11 for Thermocouple, and 5.10 for Monarch (we stayed more toward Monarch).  And got a first crack at it, and found the entrance to be a pain (so did I for that matter).

Hallie took a shot at it next, and with a few harder points, finished out the climb.  Actually, she’s the only one who made it all the way up.  Pretty cool too!

Brooke also headed up the route.  I’m going to say she made it 50% of the way.  Through the entrance, past a really strange spot, and about to the middle of the climb.  And I really messed up on the photos of her and every one was in the “blurry zone.”  Sorry Brooke, I owe you some good photos.

I took my shot as well.  Through the entrance, although I picked a different way to enter.  About 25% of the way, then that was that.  I really need some more upper body strength, so I’ll see what I can do about that.

Beth reached about the same point I did as well today on Thor’s Wall.  Andy took another ride, and went past the halfway point.  He also illustrated why being a little taller is a cool thing for this particular climb (that extra reach in one spot).

Overall, another nice day out in the Dells with a great group of people!

Oh, and by the way…….many of these photos today were shot by Brooke.  When I’m belaying Brooke is the designated shooter!  Thanks Brooke! 

Yesterday I made plans with Andy and Brooke to take a climb in the Dells today. Hooray!

As an added bonus, we now have some new climbing friends to head out with. Today we met up with Hallie & Beth. They live less than an hour from Prescott. Hallie has been climbing for a while, and Beth is learning and clearly enjoying it as well.

For our first climb of the afternoon we hit the Perfect Idiot once again. We haven’t done that one in two months, and it showed with me. My first go round with it went very poorly, and the second was still rough as well. That darned entrance is a bear. Let’s think……other excuses…..the rock seemed pretty greasy……the rocks were super hot and radiating heat big time…..the moon is messing with my sign…..

Brooke was the smart one in the crowd today. No messing with the Perfect Idiot. The rest of the group all took shots at it. Only Andy cruised right up it with little trouble. Go Andy! Oh yeah, Brooke’s going to need to deal with his ego tonight!

After playing around on the Perfect Idiot we headed over to Time Zone again. We’ve been there a good bit, but Perfect Idiot mellowed us a bit for the day. While Andy setup near our favorite 5.8 / 5.9, Hallie led the 5.6 that Bob had gotten me started on several months back.

Brooke had no trouble with “Nick of Time”, and Hallie had a good climb up “Can’t Wait Gotta Go.” Afterward Beth took a climb up and cleared off Hallie’s gear. The photo above shows Beth on the left and Brooke to the right, both finishing up their climbs. Dueling climbers.

We all rotated through several routes, and it made for a good afternoon. It was especially nice when the sun eased up and the rocks stopped reflecting so much heat!  Andy had an extra bonus today.  He led “Can’t Wait Gotta Go,” and did it in style!

The shot above is Beth working out the 5.8/9.  For somebody starting out she did a great job, stuck with it, and finished out the climb as well.  I think today was her second time out.  Pretty good, eh?

Summing up, it was a pretty good afternoon.  New friends, added abuse on Perfect Idiot (I didn’t smack my knee), and then running between two climbs on a familiar wall.  I think we’ll be doing this again Friday too.

Almost time to get some rest.  Night all.