Friday, May 25, 2012

VIDEOS!

We finally got an internet connection fast enough to upload a couple of videos...So here they are. One is Krissy sending Wills of Fire (V6) in Joe's Valley, Utah. The other the the morning after a very windy/cold night in Hueco Tanks, Texas.

We are currently still in Maple Canyon, Utah trying to get in sport climbing shape. Both of us are very close to sending our main objectives for this area. Krissy has managed to link large pieces of Sprout (5.13a) and the send could come at any time. I have managed to one-hang Millenium (5.14a) twice in the last two days...I'm hopefully it will go down soon! These two climbs are both LONG and STEEP - they take alot of energy each red-point attempt, therefore we only get to try them two, maybe, three times per day.




Saturday, May 12, 2012

Maple Canyon - The Pipe Dream

Our first week in Maple Canyon has been pretty awesome! It has been pretty rough getting in shape for the pure endurance routes here (see photos!). Our fitness has started to get to the point where we can actually start trying things in the Pipe Dream Cave - you must be in "Pipe Dream Shape" according to the guide. The guide states that Dream Pipe will "reward the fit and punish the flabby". The Dream Pipe is home to numerous STEEP 5.13 and 5.14s ranging from 20 to 30 bolts long - 100 feet or so of upside down climbing....Getting ridiculously pumped is the name of the game here.
no hands rest on Sprout 5.13a

"full on double knee bar"

the entrance to Box Canyon

resting after massive amounts of steep climbing

Sprout 5.13a (photo: John Cooper)


Pipe Dream head wall - yup, still steep....(photo: John Cooper)

Prepped for battle

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

From Joe's Valley to Maple Canyon


A lot has happened since our last post. The heat came quick in Joe’s Valley. Our friends Regan and Josh went back home to Calgary and Ben’s old climber buddy Brian came from Calgary for a little climbing vacation.  Brian was down for about a week, and most of that time the three of us spent the day hanging out in Brian’s air conditioned motel room watching Million dollar rooms. $20, 000 doorknobs, futuristic Jetson’s style kitchen, and a ball room/garage…none of this compares to our hundred dollar room with a view!  

The kitchen
Ben, pre-coffee
Today we feel like enjoying breakfast outside.
This is our reading space/tanning salon
 
But for a change of pace, hanging out in a motel room with air conditioner, running water, toilet, shower, tv, beds and a fridge was pretty nice. The night sessions were fun too (we saw a scorpian!).
Ghislain arrived for the weekend and he brought some cooler temps with him. So we went from night sessions back to full day climbing. 

Ghislain sending Stir the Pie V9


Krissy on the Angler V2




The heat was on its way back so we took a couple days to finish up some projects. Krissy sent Wills of Fire V6, Vertical Ice V6, and Baldwin Bash V7 on her last day and Ben sent Beyond Life Sit V12 on his last day.  
"Hey everyone, come see how ripped I am!"

Sending Baldwin Bash V7!
Before we left, we checked out some of the beautiful sights of the San Rafael County. The petroglyphs and pictographs were amazing and mysterious; the Wedges Overlook was just beautiful.  

Rochester Petroglyphs in Utah

Very cool!

Close-up of some of the characters

Hippo?
What is the story here?
Pictographs! The chests of these were etched out...reason unknown

San Rafael country
Wedges Overlook, Utah


Holy cow!
The huge coal power plant outside of Castle Dale
So we packed up and barely fit everything in the car (we acquired an extra crash pad and table from Regan and Josh).  Maple Canyon was our next stop. Switching it up with a little bit of sport climbing, something we haven’t done since our honeymoon last August! 

Time for a change of scenery...jam-packed!

 
A pass on our way to Maple Canyon (this one was 9655 ft).  Still lots of snow in May!
 Maple Canyon, what can we say. The rock looks bad, but climbs amazingly. It’s a little weird climbing on cobbles that look as though they would break off at any second, but they don’t! Not usually. The well traveled routes are pretty solid, but the newer ones may have a foot break here or there.
Endurance climbing is the name of the game here. Very different from what we are used to in Rumney. We’re having a lot of fun here, so this may turn into a three week stay rather than one.

The cobbles, so weird, but fun to climb on.

Too hot for pants, too cool for a t-shirt!
Climbing the cobblestone at Maple Canyon, Utah.
Our current home.

"Hey everyone, come see how pumped I am!!!"

The top of the climb named "49", graded 5.12a. Pumpfest for about 90ft.
Rest day activity



    
Looking across the valley toward Maple Canyon.
A very lucky woman.