road trip baby!

A trip west turned into an impromptu road adventure, passing through amazing national parks and forests characterized by towering trees and insanely deep snow packs... ofcourse there was plenty of climbing along the way. This marked my first climbing trip ever!! See below:

LOST ROCKS - Bouldering in NOCAL

The beach was lined with boulders....the water teaming with dolphins! i swear i saw a whale but that hardy seems realistic.



he made the send look easy...

so many boulders, so little time.

i worked the easy stuff trying to get more comfortable off the ground...

A little nap and then time to eat! high style livin!

FLAGSTONE

Tucked away in the forest, this massive and super solid rock formation appeared as we ascended a tight, twisty and short muddy trail.


we started on the hydrotube, a solid 5.9 slab with small edges - stem, mantle, repeat! this was my tallest and most difficult route yet being a sustained 100' of 5.9 climbing. Bowers coached me up in spirit (Don't look up, it's all feet - find your feet!).. and i was lucky enough to have a super patient and supportive belayer (thanks michael!!)... (left - me at the base, right - that spec at the top is michael after leading the climb).

being gumby, it took me a few tries to get through the crux (just above my head in this pict). finally i got it. right - michael at the anchor.

Acne problem - a fairly straight forward 5.7+

learned how to clean an anchor, then repelled down.

The view from the top was spectacular as the sun was setting (picts thanks to michael!)

SMITH - Ropes

there were serious crowds working the easier routes on the weekend. we tried to find out of the way climbs using the guide book...

there are over 1800 routes at smith... we did some walking to find what we wanted...

birds nesting in the textured rock.

A straight forward, yet kinda sketchy / chossy 5.6 called lounger. Marked by hollow flakes and lose ledges.

Have rope, will travel.

Being tourists...

there was a small class 4 scramble to the other side of the park. serious wind and my discomfort in clunky boots yielded a decision to climb elsewhere for the time being.

A beautiful place to hang...

SMITH - Bouldering

The bouldering at smith is stellar... no really. this is what it's like.

Even more stellar, the camping - including showers!!! It rained all night this evening but the rock dries fast in the desert type climate. RIGHT: There are a lot of boulders at smith but i found the rope climbing more fun.

Search and send baby!

Not so bad for my first climbing trip ever! I've got the bug... give me more!!