The story you are about to read is mostly true-names have been changed to protect the guilty.

I decided to head into the park to get down on some canyoneering. Along the way I met Bodysuit-Man hanging out by the side of the road.

We happened to have a permit for Keyhole Canyon and it was right there so we figured we would go for it. Three times. That may seem arbitrary at first but as it turns out, we are required to have three descents of Keyhole to advance to the next level of guide status, so it seemed fitting to get it all done in one fell swoop.

The first go-round was basically just getting me acclimated to the lay of the land, which Bodysuit-Man was very patiently willing to help me with. I bumbled about in my dry suit, feeling like I was wearing a full-body diaper, in awe of Bodysuit Mans uncanny ability to navigate the twisting and frequently awkward terrain. The first time through I led, the second time through I brought the camera and attended mainly to that. The last time through was a speed trial and we went car to car in 34 minutes flat.

On the approach hike we came across a naturally occurring bonsai tree. It was about a foot tall and absolutely intriguing.

Bodysuit Man rapping into the canyon

The remaining images were shot through our second descent of the canyon. Most of my posts are word-heavy; it may come as a relief to note that this is an exception. I am humbled by the scale of natural wonders, excited to be working in this environment and thankful for the patience and kindness of friends and loved ones, without whom I would not be here.

Hank, setting up a rappel while I shoot.

Hank dropping in…

Ok…this photo is not an award winning shot from an artistic standpoint, but you MUST recognize the inherent illness of Bodysuit Mans full body press across the gaping chasm of 49 degree water. Props to this soft-spoken super hero.

A moment of reflection while in the frigid bowels of the earth

I am looking forward to more adventuring and climbing with Hank. Good times, for sure. Also a shout out to Frank Sanders for getting me into the world of guiding and Zeke and Seth from PCGI who I had the privilege of learning from again this week during the SPI course. For those of you reading who don’t know an SPI from a PCGI, just know that I have been learning from some really awesome mentors who literally give 110% of themselves to help people become better climbers, guides and people. Last but not least, Jonathan from ZAC took a chance on me by bringing me into this organization, one which I would not have taken on myself had I been judging in his stead…

Work hard, play hard, then work some more. Till next time…

I have been frightfully busy of late after months of vegetating and watching multiple episodes of Maury, interspersed with bits of climbing and bouldering in the greater San Diego area.

As you may or may not know, I have relocated to Springdale UT, just a minute outside Zion National Park. I got a job back in the winter with Zion Adventure Company and so now I am working and training out here. I am almost constantly in photogenic locations from my morning commute to my job. I finally decided to break out the camera to have a few pictures to write a short blog around.

More or less I am very busy- today I finally had some free time to go into the park and boulder. Zion is not famous for its bouldering but there are some definite gems here, some very tall too!

I have gotten to assist with several trips over the last few days (the weeks prior were training and WFR course training) and starting tomorrow through monday, I will be taking another PCGI course with Seth, so I am working solidly till tuesday.

I dont wish to go on and on with this, just wanted to let anyone who cares know that I am enjoying this job although it is very challenging on every possible level. I also really love the people I am working with-which, as anyone who knows me will recognize, is no small thing since love is a term I don’t use lightly and I dont tend to like most people in more than small doses.

I will be writing more about Zion Adventure Co at a later time and tell you all about my new friends and the job.

I have to say that as much as I am liking the new challenges of this job and my new friends, I really am not settled into this place without my better half, who will hopefully be joining me out here in a short while.

Yesterday we went to Pacific Beach and saw a bunch of stuff and things and people. The stuff and things were neat, the people were slovenly and largely forgettable.

And then we went home and ate some KFC.

Big things are happening in my world. It seems as though I will be working in Zion National Park in less than a month, as an apprentice guide for a reputable outfit whose designation as such I do not wish to tarnish with a mention in this sultry publication…

I was invited to be a dummy for my man Franks (a la Devil’s Tower) lead guide assessment this past week and that experience will actually be the focal point of the text of this entry in the ethereal journal.

Wed-Thurs were the intended assessment dates, so I traveled up on Tuesday night, later than I had anticipated, getting into Joshua Tree about 2 AM. It was raining lightly in town and I headed up into the park to camp anticipating a miserable night. My suspicions were confirmed and then some as I discovered the fact that drainage systems do not exist in desert counties; rather, water covers the road and people just plow on through in the rare instances of wet weather.

I got to my intended camp site at 2:35 in the morning and found it in full alpine conditions. I slept fitfully in the front seat of my faithful little Tercel envisioning myriad scenarios in which Frank and his assessor keep showing up dressed in mountaineering garb, insisting that it’s not too cold to climb. I cry out that I haven’t slept more than 30 consecutive minutes over 3 hours since I pulled into camp; they each drink another gallon of scalding coffee and proceed to build an improvised 5:1 hauling system to extract me from my car. ‘We are climbers’ they say. ‘We have to be prepared for contingencies like this.’

I start awake for the 40th time and realize that the cold, dank sensation plaguing my feet is not in fact the result of having been summarily levered out of my car by two fascist climbers by rather a sad reminder that driving through multiple puddles yields saturated floor mats.

Looking out of my windows I can see several inches of wet snow blanketing the surrounding landscape. It is surreal and I am really wishing that I could summon the sack to put on some clothes and get out and take some shots of a snowy desert. Ten minutes of idling the car has failed to generate enough heat to pull me back from the brink of hypothermia and I am no longer concerned with scenery.

It occurs to me that if I get a move on I might be able to get to McDonalds for breakfast where I can put my nightmares behind me and perhaps even summon the strength to make up some lie about how my car blew up and I wouldnt be able to make it out of San Diego if indeed they planned to go ahead and climb in purely miserable conditions.

As it turned out, my fears were allayed=-Seth and Frank were not going to be climbing in such weather and decided to postpone. Aside from the fact that the people in the 29 Palms McDs have NO idea how to stir coffee or how to put sufficient cream in it, my day was off do a pretty good start.

Being a kind individual Seth invited me to come over to his place where Frank had been staying. Here I met Seth’s girlfriend Sara(h?) whose name I am going to risk misspelling because I have never seen it in print. I know a few Saras and they are all pretty touchy about the omission or inclusion of the letter “h” and so I am setting myself up for a fall here no matter what, but such are the risks of being a writer…

Long story short, my faith in climbing humanity has been restored. Not only was it a treat to be entertained by Frank for the two days following during which the weather improved to the point of tropical beauty and warmth but I was treated very kindly and with extraordinary warmth by Seth and Sara who invited me to join the party at the “Sethspool” as his abode is known. I will mention here and now that my dreams are never accurate anyways, so I was not LITERALLY expecting to awake to a hauling system extracting me from my car that morning…So we all just hung out and waited for the weather to pass.

Oh, well we did pass the time by digging a ditch for the new water lines at Sethspool, but I agreed to the task and it built character. Later that night Frank took us all out for a wonderful Sushi dinner. The next morning Frank and I were awoken by an a cappella serenade of “You are my sunshine”, performed by the Sethspool residential staff. The closest thing I think I have gotten to this type of wake up was when I had an alarm set to play “Kyle’s mom’s a bitch” in D minor…so yeah, it was super cool!

Two days of climbing and learning during Franks assessment were totally awesome. I didnt get any shots of the climbing but let me say that Frank is one Bitchin’ dude, for those of you not aware. I also learned a great deal, technically, which will no doubt be a huge boon in the upcoming months.

We hung out, watched a movie one night, and Seth read us a few chapters from his book about the life of a meth-head the next. Sara made us an amazing dinner too and we were regaled with tales of desert life and adventures. I decided that a book of short stories will be in order after hearing the one about ‘butchering an emu we found wandering around in the desert with a leatherman and a shovel’.

While the desert is not an oft romanticized location, the fact that everyone out there seems to have these amazing nicknames like Jewboy-Johnny, Dick the Butcher and Chili-Dog (to name but a few) makes this barren landscape come alive in my minds eye; it burns with color at the telling and my only regret is that my fragmented memory will not serve to do it justice in the recollection.

Thanks again to our kind hosts for being real kind people when no one would have thought less of them for just being normally disengaged. Big ups to Frank for getting his Lead Guide cert!!!

With employment scarce and the need for entertainment high, the possibility of another Joshua Tree outing began rising to the fore. I needed to practice guiding and I had been contacted by a friend, Chuck, who wanted to give outdoor climbing a try. Once I found out that Frank (of Devils Tower fame) would be there at the same time practicing rescue skills with one of the PCGI mentors, a plan was hatched:

Go to the desert, get some quality practice in on the rock with a mock-client and some simulated rescue scenarios with the man that lit the fuse on the powder keg that is my prospective guiding career.

Shortly after this plan was established, I broadcasted it to the entire Facebook community; a sort of smug chest-thumping, letting everyone know that I was going to be enjoying the world class ambiance of the desert in winter while most of my friends have been relegated to pulling on plastic in gyms. One exception to this was Steve, who I had met back in South Dakota, in the Needles. Turns out he is in San Diego, living on a boat and feels like doing some climbing too. Game on.

The drive up was filled with anticipation and waiting, since I took a wrong turn that cost us about an extra hour of drive time. Upon arrival we met up with Chuck at the local outfitters. The three of us must have looked like quite the odd lot, based on the looks we got from the folks behind the counter. They kept giving me sidelong glances which I interpreted as either a fear that I would steal something or perhaps a general dislike based on the fact that I display my gumby-like qualities in public without remorse.

In the space of my three minutes I heard every plainly visible employee rattle off lists of their hardest red-points and onsights; chanting this mantra eventually had the desired effect as we all ran out of the store, covering our ears and screaming.

We decided that the best place for such unworthies as ourselves would be the eastern end of the park in Belle Campground; amongst the elderly RV drivers, displaced drunks and the raucous ravens we would dwell. As it turned out, Belle was cheap at 10 bucks a night, nearly empty, and had routes within spitting distance from our campsite. Not to mention, we also had a kickass neighbor who we became fast friends with the following morning.

A few night shots of the Belle CG scenery…

Peter (our new neighbor friend) hooked up with Steve with some climbing while Chuck and I went out and did battle with some fun routes in the Stirrup Tank region. The second day climbing we stayed closer to camp and explored Belle CG a little more in the morning and then checked out Live Oak area in the afternoon and did a fun 5.3 route up a decent sized slab with a heinous descent.

Steve working a project in Belle CG- I believe it is a hard 11 if memory serves me correctly

Steve (standing) and Peter, lighting up a fire

Peter, looking to see if my part time job as a beverage container collector is likely to bump me up into a higher tax bracket…

Beautiful fire, lame fire ring. Patented by an Iowan, this fire ring sits just high enough off the ground to reduce the possibility of warmth being transmitted to those around the fire. It was clear that the people who selected these units for installation had little concrete understanding of the nuances of burning things.

Chuck had to go home after day two and so Peter and Steve and I went out to get in a few more fun, short routes before the night fell. Once back from conquering a short but stout 10d, we decided to go into 29 Palms to get some firewood and a few supplies. At the local market I was immediately aware that this was the sort of place the inventors of car locks must have had in mind; I was certain to apply mine very deliberately. We entered what looked to be a post-apocalypse setting inside the store; shelves were stripped bare of all but the most objectionable food items and the refrigerated section was completely empty.

Small notes placed conspicuously around the facility apologized for the state of affairs and attributed them to the broken refrigeration units. I, while trying to imagine a similar scene but with better stocked shelves still adhered to my original misgivings. Back out in the parking lot, Steve and I were so overcome with excitement about our good day climbing that we were able to easily ignore the tweakers with pitbulls who were nipping into the market for some victuals and cough syrup.

So gleeful were we, in fact, that I managed to shut my keys in the car I had so carefully locked after putting the wood and food into it. Without going into a complete excess of detail, let me just say that I am glad Steve had AAA…I had it as well but I was so insanely furious and frustrated that I most likely would not have remembered it until the transients and scofflaws shook the card out of my wallet after robbing me…

Steve on lead, earlier in the day

Steve relaxing on the crash-pad

Shadows and flame

Day three I met up with Seth from PCGI and Frank to work on rescue skills. This was a really eye opening experience because I discovered that I have the basic systems and processes down pretty well but am in need of greater efficiency still. It was a real treat to be on the rock with Seth and Frank-I am still excited about getting better and getting my skills totally up to speed so that certification will be all set.

Additionally I would like to add that anyone who has never climbed with Frank might well take the chance to do so if not for the obvious fact that he is a fabulous guide, but for the fact that he is more entertaining than a South Park marathon and a several orders of wings. I have tried both and there is no comparison. It is always inspiring to watch someone who is a virtuoso ply their craft without effort. I had the benefit of two such individuals and if that doesn’t make you want to get your skills dialed and improve then perhaps you should check your pulse…

After a day of serious bidness, it was back to camp for some lighthearted foolery. It seems that our site was the social apex of Belle CG for the duration of our stay; guests stopped by on our final night and joined us for a nice big fire. One guest in particular had a fondness for whiskey and I had the task of escorting him back to his expedition sized tent across the street once his thirst was thoroughly slaked. The good news is that I carried his guitar for him, so it was not broken underneath him when he fell walking back. The bad news is that carrying a guitar can really complicated catching a falling body.

Our final day out, we got up and climbed a quick 5.7 on our way out of the park. It was a nice way to cap off a great mini-trip. Steve led it-a heady lead, 4 bolts on 35 meters of climbing. Peter and I got to enjoy top rope rides on it and a good time was had by all.

More pictures are pending since there were some taken by Steve,Pete,Frank and Chuck that I do not have as of yet.

Good friends, old and new together in a beautiful setting-just one more thing for which to be thankful.

Since Joshua Tree, there has been a bit of the mundane interspersed with the traveling and climbing that has been documented here. To make a long story short, we (Stef and I) have relocated to San Diego and will be here, staying with Christie until…

I have been asked how long we will be out here and I can’t say for sure- just that it will probably be for a while and it is permanent. This has not, however, put a damper on travel plans and expeditionary loomings. I am looking at a trip into Wyoming and perhaps beyond this summer- Bugaboos anyone?

Also, it would be hard to ignore the lifetimes of rock that await in the Sierras right here in Cali…Also, the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) will likely see some of my time at various points.

For the present, I am exploring San Diego County and the plethora of seemingly unknown desert rock locations which are in prime season right now. I am writing for examiner.com as some of you may know, and I will be reviewing each venue in that online column with pictures and run-down and all that good stuff.

Examiner.com is slightly different than this blog as it is a bit more formal, more “informative”. Oh, also I get paid for that writing, thus it is “real”. To be fair it pays usually less than 50 cents a day, but it’s something. I would appreciate any subscribers…cough…cough…and checking in every now and then.

Some recent adventures at Santee…

Interesting perspective on jamming a crack (photo by Stef)

Christie got some new kicks and has been breaking them in on the Santee Slabs.

And Christie pulling hard on the West face of the Ampitheater

Look for more of same in the near future…and more other…stuff.

After mastering a handful of Mission Gorge 5.7 routes it was decided that “Team Big Mac” would head for the wilds of Joshua Tree National Park which will henceforth be known as JT for the sake of brevity.

Sponsorship pending

With little relevant preparation we headed out to see how real hard-climbing athletes winter.

By the end of our weekend we had developed a close personal relationship with the McDs staff

In all seriousness, the ladies wanted to climb and I wanted more practice guiding. For this reason, we were somewhat more focused on getting climbing in than stopping to take pictures, so the photos for this post are a bit more concentrated on a couple of areas where we were climbing, not spread about through the entirety of the park.

This was the first time I had been in a major climbing area on a weekend with the purpose to climb- most times Stef and I have cruised into our destinations on Monday or Tuesday to enjoy the deserted classics left vacant by the weekend warriors. Welcome to the other side of the coin.

We headed out to Stirrup Tank, in the central portion of the park to begin our climbing. The rock quality was only so-so, but there was little crowding to worry about so we gave it a go.

Christie following Deja Moo (5.3), a nice little warm up climb on the back side of Bovine Dome, just off of the road.

I have mastered the art of the uncomfortable belay. I can turn a Lay-Z-Boy into an Iron Maiden…I swear I don’t know how it happens, but every time I belay I wind up doing some yoga pose.

Christina came next and then Stef followed last. I got to use several techniques I learned in the guide course and that was pretty satisfying.

Once everyone was up we did a simple walk-off to get down off the back side of the formation and it was time to tackle something a bit more challenging. We moved from the sunny south side to the north west side where it was a bit colder. We decided to climb “Where two deserts meet” a 5.8 crack, named for the fact that it is located in the transitory area where the higher Mojave Desert merges with the lower Colorado Desert.

I set up the ropes to climb it in the caterpillar style which actually was pretty simple. Each little pile of rope is set up for each of us, laid out so that it would not knot or snag, but feed freely as each of us climbed up.

Tying Christie in- I think both Christie and Christina learned their figure eight tie in knots now!

If you can dress yourselves, step two is dressing your knot! Make it pretty!

Starting up, Christina giving a good belay

Stef getting artistic

A much less awkward belay here! Bringing Christina up second…

Once Christina was up and anchored (on the top and out of the cameras view) Christie came ahead, making short work of this fun little route.

The rope that Christie is trailing here is connected to Stef, on the ground, who will climb last after Christie is anchored on top.

Once everybody got up top, we elected to walk off again, only this was a bit harder than anticipated, so we walked as far as possible, found a good spot to anchor and I lowered the girls from there on the rope down to the ground and then cleaned up the gear and down-climbed the rest of the way.

Stepping lightly…

And the final grunt and thrash down a wide crack

All preceding photo credits go to Stef (obviously?)

We ended day one by going to check out some areas to climb on day 2.

I was a bit euphoric that I managed everything safely and without incident so I was too excited to properly adjust the light metering…thus my photos were sort of salvaged, like that sheet of cookies that are too burnt to serve to your guests but too tantalizing to just throw away.

A cholla cactus

Christina being silly. This was not the first instance of this, nor was it to be the last.

Day two…here is the short version. “Marley and Me” was on HBO. By the time we cleared out and got to climbing it was 12:30. We decided to try a neat looking little 5.6 that brings you up to the summit of Stirrup Rock and would allow for a fun rappelling lesson in the process.

We forgot to bring a camera on the climb so there are no pictures of us going up. At the top of the second pitch I discovered that it is a lot colder in the desert in November than I had anticipated. Also, four people on a small summit is pretty crowded.

All told, the girls did a fantastic job and incorporated a bunch of new skills very well into the multi-pitch climbing and the rap down to the ground was the high point…since it was WINDY as hell on top. I set up my first pre rigged rappel and it could have been worse, so I learned a lot and we all had a blast.

Christie rapping off Stirrup Rock.

Christina on rap

A short free hanging section was a good bit of fun

Good times with good people.

After a nice quick wrap up shot and a little debriefing we made our final sojourn to McDonalds for a celebratory meal.

Over all it was safe and fun. I feel like I am actually starting to “get it” about the whole guiding mentality. Not there yet, but I have a rough idea where “there” is on the map, at least. We are all excited to do more climbing together; Christie got her own harness and is going to get shoes when we come home for Thanksgiving.

Wednesday the day after tomorrow Stef and I are flying back to NY and we’ll be there for a while…when Christie comes out for Thanksgiving we will introduce her to some Gunks climbing!

So, I took the guide course. Now what? PRACTICE- and lots of it! The good news is its fun for me and gives everyone around me a chance to climb and get a relative semblance of a guide for free. Everyone wins!

I have been practicing my rescue scenarios and skills in the living room, hanging off the stairs, using a loaded backpack for my passive client. Constructing load-releasable hitches till my fingers bleed is a daily affair- but the training I underwent seems to have taken. I have been able to do all of the requisite rescue drills with a minute to spare, which is a pretty big accomplishment for me.

Better even than this is just the feeling of skills which only a couple weeks ago were foreign, now coming into focus with the bigger picture of a day of climbing. To be honest, it is very nice to go out climbing armed with knowledge, not just the will to thrash up a piece of rock.

Today was my first chance to get out and practice with honest to goodness people since the course in Bishop. Stefanie brought her friend Christina along and of course Christie came too. All told, the common phonetics of their names proved to be the biggest challenge of the day.

Belay instruction to kick things off with Christina

A nice little crack where we practiced removing (cleaning) gear

Belaying, it seems, is fun.

Stef and Christina followed the route after I led it-pretty quickly too. I set up a top rope and rappelled off so that Christie could give it a go and so that we could all get more comfortable with the climbing rather than go strictly for maximum pitches. Christina was a natural at belaying and Christie decided she wanted to try rappelling. I rigged a tandem rappel up so that I could go along with Christie for the first time.

Explaining the finer points of anchoring to Christie

Within a short time, everyone was crushing this 5.7d testpiece and running laps for added dominance. Once the top rope was set up and well under way, I had a bit more liberty to get shooting with the camera. Everyone climbed really confidently and claimed to have learned something from my blathering. I choose to believe them.

Christina, patiently belaying

Christie after cleanly sending 5.7, her hardest climb yet!

5.7 A0

Mission Valley

Christina climbing

Pulling through the crux!(the hardest moves of the climb)

Trying to see if I can make her laugh and pitch off at the crux. Christina hung on though, so either she is pretty strong or I’m not funny. Perhaps both.

Over all, it was a great day out. The girls learned the basics and made a lot of progress with climbing. I felt pretty confident with my efficiency any organization- the upper belay was actually pretty comfortable and there were no major wastes of time. Next weekend we will descend on Joshua Tree National Park and will build on what we began today.

Many people talk about how their lives are so different from what they envisioned for themselves as a child- usually as part of some liquor-sodden diatribe which traces a downward spiral that started with a poor career choice out of college punctuated by ill advised relationships which crescendo into years of regret.

When I was but a young lad I tried to see into my own future and saw little more than a haze. Oh. I did anticipate growing a beard, but once I was old enough to understand careers I felt no real inclination towards any job. College left me with a strong desire to be a vagabond; at one point I seriously considered being a street therapist; dispensing advice in exchange for canned food. Once I began climbing, all these derelict tendencies began to make sense and I had found the career that I never knew I wanted.

Fast forward through several years of entry level jobs which were not unpleasant but always seemed the equivalent of rubbing sticks together while everyone else was getting on well using Zippos. Add a healthy smattering of travel and wandering plus one marriage. Now the career-sauce thickens.

Enter the idea of becoming a climbing guide. Ok, clear as mud. A little research in this direction reveals a morass of ambiguity cleft by one clear-cut path of classes and certifications that cost as much as a law degree and preparation you for a career which usually pays little more than fast food service.

Nevertheless, with inspiration from Frank and from my wife who invariably helps me find ways to inject enough reality into my dreams so as to make them carry over into waking life, I decided to try a side road, a different approach to certification.

PCGI, Professional Climbing Guides Institute is an up and coming certifying body; a company whose relative youth is proving a selling point. When I began making contact with my course mentor, I expected our interaction to revolve around lists of gear, prerequisites, fees and standards. While these issues were dealt with, they were not placed on a pedestal; rather my own vision and development through the process were in the foreground.

So with all these existential thoughts coursing through the vacancies in my brain I set out for Bishop to meet with my mentor, Zeke and the other people taking the course. For four days we would brave the elements and demystify the development of a good climbing guide.

Zeke and Dan, my fellow participant setting up anchors for rescue skills, day one. This was all ground school, and the weather was mercifully balmy.

Zeke explaining the finer points of anchoring

Four days and nights were spent camping in Buttermilk country just outside Bishop. The commute to “class” was a five minute jolt over dirt roads whose underlying rocks jutted out like the sickly concavities of an emaciated body. Nights were cold- sleeping in my car I awoke to frozen water, frozen self and frost on the windows…

The weather after day one was COLD and really the only downer of the course. Day two, which started like this…

Was rescue drills and scenarios and was so frigid that picture taking was the last thing on my mind. Jamie (the other participant, not pictured) had a rough time being my victim, as I raised, lowered and rigged his rescue as he hung in the bone chilling temperatures. Every now and then the wind would stop and it was nice.

We finished up in the afternoon at Zeke’s house, working on anchors he had set up off beams in his house-again, no pictures because I figured Zeke might not want his house plastered on my blog…

The following two days were devoted to guiding. We hiked out to the Windy Wall and Zeke demo-ed a myriad of techniques which accentuated efficient safety.

The rock was cold…but this little 5.8 number was really fun!

Dan on route, Zeke belaying

Most people know the Buttermilk country for its bouldering- of which there is a LOT, but the crags are pretty sweet and sport some amazing views of the Sierras.

After Zeke led us up a route, Dan and I each got several opportunities to act as guides and use some of the techniques we were learning.

When my turn came to mock guide my first route, I took the opportunity to make a typically colossal blunder. Let me preface this confession by saying that in three years of climbing I have never dropped anything while climbing. That said…in one day I managed to brain my “client” Dan with a granola bar and my mentor with my brand new belay device. The funny thing is that the granola bar made much more noise on impact than the metal belay device. When the granola bar went airborne I hesitated for a second to deliberate over whether to yell “rock” (the standard ‘heads up’ command) or to specify that it was in fact a bran-missile.

The belay device came away like it was slow motion, dropping silently from my belay stance and whistling gently down till it ricocheted off the base of the cliff, missing Zeke’s head by less than a yard. Maybe even less than that. When it rains, it pours.

Zeke gives an attentive belay

Zeke follows and gives feedback on gear placement and many other things…

Dan and I just before we head back to our respective dwellings…tired but excited…

I have been back in San Diego for less than 24 hours, and my brain is still full. I have a great deal of practicing to do before being able to take the assessment and obtain certification. I won’t attempt to go into the specifics of all we learned but I can say that if I never guide a day in my life and only retain half of what I learned, this course will still have been a very worthwhile investment.

It is heartening to have my work cut out for me and to see the next steps necessary to take in the process of becoming a guide. What once seemed like obscure tricks have been illuminated and the best part is that we got T-Shirts and Bumper stickers!

I had a little free time at night so I took some pictures to pass the time…

Birthday Boulders!

I forget which boulder these are…I could look them up but I have little motivations to do so…

Sunset over the Sierras

Once in a blue moon a picture this good comes along…

A portrait of the artist…10 sec timer and then run like hell- after which, holding your breath for the 15 second exposure proved to be pretty tough work…

Mt Tom at night…

From up here, the future looks bright…even if it’s night-time.

Santee:

Haltingly progressing forward we lurch
Into a parking area packed with
Obviously cherished vehicles which starkly contrast with my own;
The failing sunlight belies the haste we must make
Crossing four lanes of California traffic
In time to rendezvous with our old friend gravity

We talk like we drive
We’re moving. We’re staying. We might be; perhaps not.
Maps are drawn up and set to flame all in the same turn
Simplify.
Breathe.
Gravity.

So many avenues explored
As memory lapses and she forgets her shoes
I climb alone
At times with polite observers
I am higher than I’d like to be
With diminishing options for retreat
I brace myself to be acquainted with the stone in a most disagreeable manner
My predicament crystallizes the sounds of aloof distraction below
A strangers dog is enjoying my water and no one notices
Im about to pitch

Too much abstraction can be a bad thing
Here is me flailing on a project as Christie looks on.

A very unique area
Smooth rock which plays on taught nerves
Cinched down like piano wire
Making your hands sweat all the way back home.

Marital Bliss!

10.17.09

Wardrobe credits belong to Christie!

Getting off the road seems to generate a lot of sloth on my part. If it were not for the fact that I have a goal to work toward, I would likely spend every waking moment watching re-runs of Curb or Seinfeld whilst refreshing my facebook.

Fortunately my decision to pursue a guiding certification has given me a bit more impetus to prevail over the incumbent habitual laziness. This coupled with a few opportunities to take Christie out climbing while we are here has been really rewarding. So far we have all climbed at Mission Gorge together twice but the pictures have been fairly sparse, as you will see, because we have been more focused on fun than documentation…

Christie on Knob Job, 5.8, learning the ways of the frictionless rock of Mission Gorge

I was able to talk Stef into leading a sandbagged 5.4 called Blocks, her first trad lead!

Mission Gorge isn’t a total loss in that it is close to the house here (about 15 min away) but the routes are short and the stone is like soap. Very polished and not at all aesthetic.

In hopes of getting to do some better climbing, I decided to take a solo trip up to Bishop, the home of tall boulders and breathtaking scenery. I had a project to work on from last year called Jedi Mind Tricks.

This problem goes up the right side of this block on thin edges and requires a lot of delicate balance. The fact that it is close to 30 feet tall adds some spice to it…

All told, I made some progress on it but have yet to wrap it up.

Being in Bishop alone was pretty lonely but it did afford me a bit of time to take pictures of the scenery and do some exploring. On the way up, I checked out Alabama Hills which is about 50 miles south of Bishop and is similar to the rock of the Buttermilks. There is more sport climbing in the Alabama Hills so I was anxious to scope that out. It looks like a great deal of good rock with a breathtaking backdrop of the Sierras, so it will be hard to go wrong there.

Lone Pine Peak

Lone Pine Peak with the Alabama Hills in the foreground

Whitney Portal

This is (one of) the Inyo Face. For those of you who don’t get the wordplay, this bit of artwork is found in the Inyo National Forest, which gives rise to such local business names as “Inyo Cup” and so on…

Owens River Valley from the Buttermilks (Bishop)

Sierras from the Buttermilks

A few night photos

Mt Tom

I forget the name of this ridge

Before I left I took a few shots of the Peabody boulders

After a couple days in Bishop I am now back in San Diego since my guide course begins on Monday and I need some time to relax and prepare for it mentally…Might get out and do a bit of bouldering at Santee which is close to here as well as a few more outings to Mission.