Warm-Up

I was faced with a few minor hiccups before getting on the road- costly van repairs, selling my car took longer than I thought, etc., but once everything started wrapping up my friend Eric gave me a call and made an exciting proposition.  He had just been relieved of his working duties and was psyched to head out to the desert.  I was still waiting for Chelsea to finish up her employment and join me in the wonderful world of retirement, so I jumped at the chance to hit the road with someone for a month before the holidays.  Winter had not started taking shape in California yet, so we still had climbing on our minds and decided to hit up the desert for a while.  I packed up the Silas and headed for Tahoe to pick up Eric.  I jumped out of the van on Donner Summit, let the dogs out, and spent the next three hours hiking over pebbly granite, through thick trees, past several small lakes, and breathing deeply for what felt like the first time in a long time.  The sense of liberation of being on the road hit me immediately and I smiled and felt very simply happy.

Eric and I left on Thanksgiving day, which turned out to be slightly problematic because we hadn't stocked up on provisions and couldn't find any stores open, so we were on a granola bar diet for the first two days of the trip.  We had our sights set on Ibex, right across the Utah border after driving Highway 50 across Nevada.  Ibex was unique and very intriguing.  We only spent a day there but it is definitely somewhere I would return.  The rock was very featured and the landscape made me feel like I was walking on the moon.  I could feel how out of shape I was, but Eric went on a sending spree all over the boulder field.

After Ibex we headed to Moab, where we spent a day bouldering at Big Bend.  The boulders here are beautiful and STOUT!  I didn't feel bad getting shut down on most things I tried because the movement was fun the location was gorgeous.  I couldn't help but stare up at the walls all around us and get excited about roping up.  I haven't spent any significant time on a rope this year and I was anxious to see how hard the Creek would kick my ass this time around.  With our psych high, we loaded up on groceries and headed south.

I've been to Indian Creek in the Spring and in the Fall and in both seasons have experienced snow and 85 degree temps.  This was the latest in the year I had ever visited, and I was wonderfully surprised on the perfect temperatures and the complete lack of people.  We met some great new people, met up with a couple of old friends, and had a great time filling the short days with splitter cracks.  One of our new friends, Adam, celebrated his 25th birthday by climbing 25 pitches in one day (video coming!).  It was awesome to watch him complete his 25th lap in the dark on Incredible Hand Crack.

After about a week in the Creek, we headed over to Joe's Valley with our eyes on some old nemesis projects as well as a long list of new things we wanted to try.  We quickly found out that the forks were FREEZING and only got about 10 minutes of sun a day, which tamped out my motivation pretty quickly.  New Joe's was quite pleasant, and Eric and I both put down an old project each before deciding to head back to the Creek for warmer temps.  After a few more days of Creek climbing, rain was in the forecast and a big storm was projected to be coming through Tahoe.  Suddenly, thoughts of powder days consumed our minds and we were back in the van headed for Truckee.