Joe's Valley

People often ask me where my favorite place to climb is.  I usually respond with an "Ahahaha, oh gee, well that's a tough question they're all so amazing and different.  Uh, I guess maybe Yosemite."  That's usually a satisfactory answer.  You really can't go wrong with that one- massive walls of immaculate granite, pristine setting, world class trad, sport and bouldering, waterfalls, very conveniently located to the Bay Area and San Luis Obispo, mangy deer, bold critters who try to steal your food, the list of merits goes on.  But today I was thinking I might have a new favorite, one that is more decidedly a favorite and less of a default answer.  

Similar to Yosemite, it is quite picturesque: middle of nowhere Utah, men in camo shooting guns and riding ATVs, mines and mining equipment, giant bobbing cricket rigs extracting oil/natural gas/some other substance from the earth at all hours of the day and night.  Ahh, bliss.  Those things are just small aspects of Joe's Valley that contribute to its character, and in their own way, make me like the place.  The actual reasons I love Joe's are the perfect sandstone- beautiful streaked rock with unique features and perfect and imaginative lines, the river flowing down the canyon, the varied types of trees dotting the hillsides, the freedom from regulation, and of course, the Food Ranch.  Honestly, just give me the Food Ranch and I'll be happy.  In all seriousness, I've never had a bad time climbing at Joe's, and I've been there quite a bit.  I can always get psyched there, the rock is more or less kind to your skin, and there are lots of great problems in my range of difficulty.  

This trip started with a snowstorm and a few days of festering in the van while the rock dried.  We met up with Kevin again and he and I went out and scoped out some problems while Chelsea went on a six mile run in a blizzard.  On our reconassiance mission Kevin and I ran into our good friends Trevor, Jake, and Mackenzie.  Sweet!  The whole trip was filled with the coming and going of a great crew of friends, which kept things fun.  We met some other sprinter dwellers too, including Autumn from Georgia and Jesse from Canada.

Our first day on the rock was a little lackluster after a bit too much eating and sleeping during the storm.  After that, things began to pick up.  Chelsea sent an old project from a previous trip and I started working on Chips, something I had looked at on a previous trip and deemed too hard for me.  After a session and a half of working out the beta, I sent Chips on my first go  of my third day on it.  Progression! I think Chips may be one of my favorite boulder problems I've ever done.  The moves felt so cool and perfect when I did it, like it had been made just for me.

Another definite sign of improvement for me was sending Dirty Harry.  It represented a conquering of a mental block for me.  The crux was towards the top of this fairly tall boulder, and the fact that I was able to commit and finish the problem was exciting to me, especially after taking a huge fall from the top.  It's great having encouraging friends like Kevin who say things like, "if you don't commit to this move, I'm going to punch you in the face."  Thanks Kevin!

The whole time we were in Joe's was pure fun.  We sent some old projects and checked out a ton of new things.  I was loving the shit of van life, making delicious food, sleeping 12 hours a night, hanging out with amazing people, and climbing awesome rocks.  What could be better?  So maybe I do have a favorite place to climb, and maybe it is Joe's Valley.  With so much rock out there that I have yet to climb, there are still plenty of opportunities for me to find a new favorite, but Joe's will always be a special place to me, and always somewhere I look forward to returning to.   

Adventure On.  LP     

        

Life on the Road- The Evolution from Then to Now: Part 1

The first time I ever climbed outside was with my friend Kelsey.  She had seen my flailing around in the gym and taken me under her wing, guided me, and helped me become a better climber.  Eventually she deemed I was ready to try the real stuff.  I borrowed my dad's Audi, I had heard the road to Castle Rock was a windy one, and thought his sporty car would handle the curves well.  I picked up Kelsey, who was shocked, although she didn't tell me until months later, that I was belting out an off-key version of the  Kelly Clarkson song that was pounding out of the fancy Bose speakers.  I passed the drive this way, winding around turns, singing loudly, excited for my first outdoor climbing experience.  The actual climbing experience turned out to be pretty uneventful.  We had one tiny crashpad, Kelsey showed me a few easy climbs, and we quickly grew cold and decided to go eat.  On the way home, Kelsey's head bobbed a bit more, she mouthed a few words of the familiar songs, and a bond began to form.  This bond, now as familiar to me as the back of my hand, was foreign at the time, but it would shape my next decade tremendously.  The bond that forms between the road, the rocks, and the people by our sides had planted a seed in my young, 17 year old mind.  

The first time I drove a good, long distance to go climbing was right after I had graduated high school when my boyfriend and I decided to go up to Oregon and climb at Smith Rock for a week.  We loaded up my CRV with all sorts of stuff.  We drove, sang along to the radio, marveled at the beautiful scenery unfolding before us.  We set up a six-person tent for the two of us, inflated a queen-size air mattress and camped in style.  We grilled up steak and made mashed potatoes on the camp stove we had borrowed from our good friend.  I remember looking at that stove, seeing all the dings, little pocks of rust on the green exterior, small signs of years of use, and thinking, "wow, this stove, like the friend I borrowed it from, has been a lot of places."  And that was one of those moments, a little flicker of inspiration, the awareness of something inconsequential like dirt on a stove, that ignites something inside you, that nudges you, and makes you say, "I too shall go many places."  

That trip was great, and it did inspire me, and make me want to get out and climb more.  Soon I took a trip to Thailand, and spent time climbing in the paradise of Tonsai.  The following summer, my first real climbing road trip would take place at age 19.  My friend Jen decided to move to Colorado.  No sooner had she told me, than I was volunteering to accompany her on the drive.  "I'll go with you!" I had said excitedly.  "We can stop and climb in all sorts of places on the way!"  It didn't matter that it was the middle of July, and that we would be driving through the desert.  We were psyched and we began planning.

Looking back on that trip, I wonder how we accomplished anything, how we ever found any of the climbing areas we were looking for, how we didn't starve.  At the time though, it was the adventure of a lifetime.  We were on a budget.  We didn't use the A/C so we could get better gas mileage, even when we drove through the sweltering heat of Nevada and Utah.  We bought food before we left- a few Clif Bars, some dried fruit, and a jar of peanut butter.  Those snacks would sustain us through four states and six climbing areas.  When we were hungry, we would get out a spoon, dip it into our jar of peanut butter, have a scoop, and go back to driving or climbing.  

We didn't have any maps, just a faulty GPS, and a few old guidebooks.  Somehow, we made it from one place to the next.  From Big Chief in Truckee to Maple Canyon, to Joe's Valley and on to Rifle.  From Rifle to Boulder.  In Boulder to Clear Creek and the Flagstaff Boulders.  We had the time of our lives.  The joy of the open road had fully affected us and we were giddy with the freedom that came with it.  We experienced the now familiar, then quite foreign, dilemma of finding somewhere to sleep.  On a particularly long drive from Joe's to Rifle, we stopped at an information center to ask about camping.  The women suggested we sleep at the dog park at the end of the road.  We ran back to the car, holding our breaths, containing our laughter until we had shut the doors and driven out of the parking lot.  Then we erupted, tears rolling down our cheeks, laughing as we got back on the highway and continued driving into the night.  

It was cemented then.  The Climbing Road Trip.  It had become a full-blown thing, something I needed as much as food or water.  I had experienced the intriguing tastes of it with Kelsey, with Tim, and then got a full entree of it with Jen, and by the end of that summer of 2008, I was hooked.  In the upcoming years, I would face a few difficulties in fulfilling this insatiable desire to get out, to drive, to climb, to make connections with whatever wonderful human being was in the passenger seat.  I went away to college and suddenly knew no one, had no climbing partners, I lost my greatest climbing partner, Tim, in 2010.  Slowly though, I started making connections in my new home.  I met Ben and we made a journey to Joshua Tree for spring break where I did my first trad lead.  I met Ian, Casey, Lisa, Alex, Eric and Trevor.  Most importantly I met Chelsea.  The perfect road trip co-pilot, who had the same drop everything, let's hit the road attitude as me.  And then a new era began.  

Moe's Valley

Moe's Valley is in St. George, Utah, a mere two hours from Las Vegas.  We arrived there with plans to stay a few days and try to put some projects to rest that we had started on a previous trip.  Moe's is a great little area, very laid back, with some high quality sandstone and lots of moderates.  We spent a week walking the red dusty trails and sampling some really stellar climbs.

I had my eye on Underwhelmed, a really cool V6 that follows a horizontal roof out to an arete.  I was able to do all the moves except for one.  I must have tried that single move at least 30 times in one session, but still was not able to stick it.  Nevertheless, I was happy with the links I made on the problem and the fact that I got all the other moves figured out.  The climb is kind of my anti-style, big powerful moves, versus the more techy climbs I usually favor.

The other climb I wanted to do was Sichuan Peppercorn, V5, and possibly Kung-Pao, the V6 that traverses into the 5.  I decided to figure out Sichuan Peppercorn first and then try to do the additional moves at the start.  The features on this climb are so unique and I kept finding myself doing a right knee-bar, which put me in a natural body position to bring my right hand up to a positive crimp.  Unfortunately I needed my left hand there.  The knee-bar was so cool and I wanted to use it so bad, but eventually I had to train myself out of using it and go up left hand.  After a few sessions I sent the problem.  I then did the moves on Kung Pao, and went almost to the top of the problem, moves I had done so many times on Sichuan, but I ran out of gas before I could top out.  I was still psyched to have Sichuan Peppercorn in the bag though!

Chelsea did numerous really cool V3s and made good progress on some 4s.  The days passed by lazily as we enjoyed the sun during the day, and took the dogs on evening runs once the temperatures cooled down.  We ate well, got lots of sleep, and met some cool crusher kids from Salt Lake City.  After a week in Moe's, we woke up to a sudden downpour, lightning, and hail.  We jumped in the van and headed out, of the Valley, not wanting to test Silas' ability to climb the steep dirt hill once it became mud.  A few errands in town, and we set our sights east towards Joe's Valley, where we are currently residing and waiting for a storm to pass so we can get out on the rock!

Adventure On. LP

Red Rocks- Part 2

After enduring a dishearteningly long day at the mechanic, the van was (hopefully) in tip-top shape and we were able to focus on climbing again.  Unfortunately, the friends we had made in Red Rocks were all slated to hit the road in a few days.  Their departure made us antsy, not to mention that we were no longer splitting the cost of the overpriced campsite, and we started talking about moving on.  Before we could leave, we hoped to send a few more climbs.  

It was another incredibly warm day at the Kraft Boulders, when Chelsea and I headed out to the end of the canyon to try to finish her project, Monkey Bars, and mine, Monkey Bar Traverse.  We waited until later in the day for the temps to cool down and started putting in some effort.  We were both feeling a little low energy.  I still hadn't stuck the last hard move on the traverse, and decided I needed to focus on figuring that sequence out before taking burns from the start.  I had been trying to make a huge jump move to a precise incut hold.  I pretty quickly determined that after doing the traverse there was no way I was going to be able to make a powerful, long move like that.  I set out to find new beta.  I figured out a new sequence, that involved a match which made the next move much smaller and fairly easy with solid feet.  After a few more tries from the start, I sent the problem!  The send go again felt wonderfully smooth, and I stood on top of the boulder feeling elated.

After I sent, Chelsea was feeling the psych and jump on her project, Monkey Bars.  Before we knew it, she was topping out.  The moves that had been hard before flowed well, and Chelsea executed each sequence perfectly.  Solid day!  We decided to spend two more days in Red Rocks and see if we could complete a few more things. 

The following day we hiked back out to Oak Creek Canyon so I could try to do All Nightmare Long.  I jumped on from the start and got about halfway through the problem.  The problem is powerful, and definitely at my limit, so after each try I had to rest for 20-30 minutes before I felt strong enough to give it another go.  I had the moves totally dialed, all I had to do was execute.  On my best go, I made it almost to the top, to the moves that should have been easy, and popped off for some unknown reason.  I had been feeling incredibly good up to that point and I'm still not sure quite what went wrong.  Unfortunately, I was completely gassed after that attempt and couldn't summon enough strength to send the problem.  It was a great learning experience, however, and it was awesome to project something at my physical limit and see myself make progression on it.

On our last day, we went back out to Kraft.  Chelsea quickly put down Potato Chips, a climb that she had been unable to start at the beginning of our time in Red Rocks.  I decided to give the Pearl one last attempt.  I had tried it briefly on two previous days, and honestly wasn't a huge fan of the movement.  The climb gets 3 stars, the highest quality rating in the book, which is surprisingly stingy in doling out stars, but I wasn't feeling the quality as much as I was feeling pain from the sharp left hand pocket that you start from.  

My first few attempts were really awful.  Then the rock cooled down a bit and i started making progress.  Soon, I was matching the good crimp and going for the huge jug.  Not too long after I stuck the jug and took it to the top.  I was glad to have this one under my belt so I wouldn't have to try it any more!  With that, our climbing in Red Rocks was wrapped up.  There is endless more climbing to be explored, and we will definitely be back in the future.  But the time had come for us to hit the road again and see what was around the next bend.

Adventure On. LP