California's Tri-City

I have been to the top of Berkeley. And I have seen friends from Oberlin I haven't seen in a long time! Starting with a sneak-paparazzi attack on Katie Mellman, it was nice hanging out with her and getting to know just how awesome and changing her life is! From New Zealand months to dolphin and turtle intuitive eyesight, I am constantly jawdropping and laughing. At least for all my travels now I have her anti-advice off going up when in doubt!
Down the list of people we go, to a swinging birthday party for Sarah Rizik-Baer, where we met the likes of Louisa LeMauviel (I owe you a late night drive!), Naomi, B-Lowe, Quentin Jones, and so on! It's nice to see that the greater San Francisco area can house so many great people! I hope they take advantage of that! I sure hope I did, in the measly but wonderful three days I had to roam here! I actually grew to like the windy sun days in SF where you are frequently unzipping and zipping your outer layer to adjust your comfort level! Here's a shot of people having fun. Don't let their listening faces fool you! They're having a blast! Cuba is probably reciting Jay-Z's lines with insight and some good cooking flavor!In later news, twas a special prize I was awarded by the mayor of funtown to greet and escourt my sister and her fiance from the Oakland Airport as they made a life-changing move to Berkeley, CA. Berkeley has a lot going for it and doesn't seem to slip under the shadow of SF, at least in my view. In fact, quite the contrary! San Francisco ofttimes will be shadowed by the Berkeley sunlight that doesn't make it through San Fran's impervious cloud system! Why, even tonight, on the fourth of July, the cloud systems were doing what they could to shadow fireworks! But the clouds don't get these two down. O contrare! This was the first thing we saw as we snapped a picture from the car window of these two wildcats! Wish them luck in their triathlons!
To compare, apparently we stayed happy the entire visit because here is the last thing the camera saw of us together:One of the highlights of tonight - July 4, 2008 - was seeing my cousin, Christopher. He looks like my brother! It was great to catch up and reconnect after what? Five years? More? That's too long! Maybe he'll just have to visit us in Copper-land, Chile! By maybe, of course I mean indubitably. Really, it was nice to seem him on two good feet, broadening himself bit by bit!
It's been three days in Berkeley, Oakland, and San Francisco, California. We've walked a lot. Hills: dirt hills, under construction hills, sidewalk hills, meandering hills, up hills, down hills. You name it! Although, I do love hills if not for the great benefit of a view at the top. That's part of the joy of climbing anything, really. It makes the effort worthwhile. Here's a lovely picture of Alisa hiking in the bleach-blonde hills that I adore, if I do say so myself! And I do!
We have repacked our car, purchased Crepe mix in hopes of having a luxury camping breakfast experience as long as some local stores will allow us to buy eggs in pairs, relaxed, tried and thus far failed to fix a clogged shower drain, made a killer, radical, superb trail mix, if I do say so myself. Some people love cooking. I enjoy cooking but I really enjoy making a great trail mix, too. It's quick, fun, and lasts a long time! Maybe I will take friends' advice and sell it as some point!

In the meantime, though, I look forward to a mix of trails in JTree at 4pm tomorrow, where I'll meet my long lost Maine School of Science and Mathematics (MSSM) buddy, Kevin Wilcox. He's busting out the big guns to meet us there for a few days off from work, on for fun!

I just hope the temperature in Joshua Tree National Park will be much less than the record high of 119 and much closer to 79 degrees Fahrenheit. Either way, for the pure enjoyment of Shawn Larson, the head routesetter and hefty biker at Stone Gardens, I will bring an egg for the sole purpose of cracking it open on a rock to see if it will fry in the sun. And there will be a picture of it.

So stay tuned!

-Your Day 5? Landescaper, N8

Day 1, 2

Day 1 of The Big Trip will go down in a rush of thunderous last-minute action shots still-framed in our immediate memory bank. How else do we store moving days? We will pack our car. No, we are not merely going to organize our belongings and put them in the car. We will pack our car. That's right. Floor to ceiling. The only place we will forget to stuff our stuff will be in between the ceiling and the outer sunroof.

It will be sad saying goodbye to everyone we have come to know and like. But we will be comforted in knowing that we'll meet up again, perhaps in Patagonia (hint hint), which would be fantastic and magical. Leaving with an already activated plan to stay in touch makes leaving almost fun! This much has happened. Plus breakfast at Smith Rock State Park. Mm..Mm, instant oatmeal! But I'm getting ahead of myself or at least the current state of this chronologically-dependent story! Let's backtrack, shall we?

It's a month ago and I'm guessing we'll arrive in Smith Rock at 2am because my Junior Kids Program class at Stone Gardens runs from 5-7pm. And, with a drive enduring six hours, what else would one expect? Really, though, it's 1am a month later as we pull up and in a rush, put headlamp on and trek over volcanic-esque rocks to the bivouac area where we promptly set up tent and fall asleep in our Sierra Designs two-person backpacker award tent by 1:38am. The tent is nice because a) it's very lightweight b) without the rainfly, it functions as a stargazing, bug-denying window to the world you're sleeping in, and c) it still has a rainfly and takes 2.2 seconds to set up, and that's when it's a pitch black solo setup with no headlamp!As predicted, the next morning at Smith Rock State Park will be full of hurried hiking to get to what I like to call Worldtop Boulder. This name derives from tabletop, except it's on the world, not on the table. The Worldtop Boulder sits atop one of the massive rock formations that comprises the rock climbing at Smith Rock State Park. There is a problem there that has big moves to get through and over a roof section and the boulder overlooks a lot of nice climbs at Smith, so I wanted to get a picture of it that I had notioned into existence for quite some time.
We did. It happened. And along the way, we found a great picture-taking spot where I made Alisa stand for a split pea second! We wanted to leave SRSP around 8am. After showering and jazzing some rock, clocks showed a solid Noon. It must have been taking pictures whilst hiking that slowed us down... NOPE! Could it have been the driving? NOPE! With shared driving, we arrived in Berkeley - or is it Broccoli? - California at 8:30pm, half of an hour ahead of scheduling. Then, pasta at Mom's Place. Excuse me, mom's place. Where's mom? Mom? Maybe she's at class. Or maybe she's in NY! Either way, thanks for letting us borrow your apartment, mom!

For now, on with our travels! To everyone back in Seattle: Miss you guys already! Also, if you see Johnny G, tell him congrats again from me. If you see Dave, tell him happy birthday mom in Darrington and hurry up and climb that ladder! And if you see Jeanna, tell her she def. needs to visit! And make it contagious! I think I want that to be a theme of life: make it def. contagious!


-Your Worldtop Broccolihead Landescaper, N8

Go Time!

The plan worked. And how! I'll say! Don't you know? Haven't you heard? Five crash pads are better than one! Three voices of encouragement are better than one voice of stubborn motivation! Waking up at 4am to climb is better than waking up later if it gets hotter the later it gets! As a sidenote, waking up at 4am is better if you don't drink and party with friends until 2am. OOPS! But a nice morning drive through some BBQ'd and sauteed towns leads us to a really deep-fried area, and then to the bouldering, which feels like a raw island of its own, untethered and overrun with nature.No OOPSies on the climbs, though! Let's see, what should the three of us warm up on? Hmm...Oh - I know! Let's go try Sobriosity and then see what Five Star Arete (both V6's) can give us for warming up! Then we can go just to the left of the Five Star Arete, on Ross Bongo (V10) for the camera and see if Sammy Boy Johnson and Gabe Cisneros can work it out!
And see we did! Gabe got all of the moves down! Annoyingly and awesome enough, Gabe's crux is the first big move. Getting it out of the way quickly, he sets up so as to glide up the rest of the otherwise difficult moves. Can someone pass him a tall glass of lemonade to sip from for the rest of the climb? Or is that aiding? Go for it, Gabe! Holler if you want a drink or a napkin to dab your forehead since you're climbing hard in the sun!
And Sam, who claims to have never done a V6 outside came dangerously close to making me call him a liar today. And why shouldn't I? I just saw him nearly send two classic, amazingly spread out V6's on the largest boulder in the northwestern US I've seen! I'm trying to remember if he took a well-deserved nap at that point or if he took his shirt off and started smashing the first handful of moves on R.B.... Oh yeah - He smashed 'em!

Needless to say I consider myself quite lucky to have finally climbed with both of these guys on Team Inspiration and witnessed some extremely aggressive and hearty efforts on wonderful routes that can't help but be loved by all. By all except for the birds who drop present-bombs from the tree on top of the boulder, that is! LOOK OUT BELOW!

It was nice to see Sam creek-crossing in style and Gabe rushing to get back to his family and a birthday party, packing the pads away to end the climbing day from 5am-2pm. That's what I call a good old Rally Climbin' day!

Later on I hope to receive the video footage Gabe took of me sending the problem (although this time it's cut from pieces) as well as pictures! For now, stay tuned and enjoy your sun. And then your sunburn! And then you can check out the pictures Gabe posted of us for the online guidebook, Mountain Project by clicking this: THANKS, GABE!
-Your Rally Landescaper, N8

Return to R.B.

4am is early. Even if you know you're going to do something you love doing after a half-hour drive to pick up two crash pads that Johnny Thank-You-G left at Stone Gardens and gas-up stop and a hike through a raging creek, inevitably soaking one foot, 4am is early.
Even if during your drive there the sun pokes you in your Achilles' heel - your eyes - to keep you awake and sometimes sifts through mass quantities of cirrus, cumulus and a few contrails - which means dry air: a good sign for climbing! - you know that 4am is early.

Even if your favorite band's CD is in the player blasting for half the drive and your hands are half on the steering wheel, half going through the motions of the problem you're about to hop on, and you're thinking about how excited you are to climb, when you realize that it's almost the case that your hands are the ones most excited about climbing, not you; even when you know that your hardest climb lies just a few feet in front of you, and you have enough time to climb it; even when there are no ORV's buzzing around but only oriole-wannabes gossiping about how they've had the idea for years pertaining to digital cameras that know your geographical position and can wirelessly submit photos to your storage device,

4am is early.But you know what? Returning to R.B. is worth it. My P.R. is R.B., or as referred to before this post, Ross Bongo. Even though I didn't top it out, I consider myself to have climbed it because the reason that I didn't top it out was this: by the time I got to the slabby-er topout and entered the point of no-easy-return, I looked down and saw that if I slipped on this uncleaned, mossy top, the three crash pads were not beneath me any longer! They had only protected the V10 part of the climb. So it is that I left without getting on top of the Five-Star Boulder via R.B. but rather via the reverse walk-off instead. But if I want to, I can complete the "V0+ topout" as KellyHowesSheridan puts it, on Saturday when I return to the Five-Star Boulder with Sam Johnson and Gabe Cisneros... If I want! Again, leaving at 5am! Didn't I learn?

Boy am I tired! But alas. For me, there is nothing more calming and simultaneously invigorating as a hard send.

More to come, certainly,

-Your calm and invigorated Landescaper, N8

Dinner with Dave & Co.!

Dave Thompson invited me to dinner. Correction: Dave Thompson graciously invited Alisa and me to dinner. As it turned out, it was even nicer than expected, which is to say that it was very nice. Not only did Dave do a great job cooking and hosting, but it was nice to see Aaron and Jeanna and Drew as well!
Oh yeah, and Aspen! Good 'ole Aspen! I think Aspen occupied a good 28% of all conversations! Way to go, Aspen! NEW RECORD!


In the meantime, catching up and talking about the future and finding out just how much in common you have with friends that until now was undiscovered leaves you with a feeling that your tree trunk just gained a ring of wisdom and security. Time to drop some leaves and move trunk stump to Patagonia! If I were a tree, I'd try and be the first to jump ship! Inspiring is hearing stories such as those engulfing Jeanna and Drew regarding there recent forages into Indian Creek and Yosemite or Dave's three 12's in a day stories! Thus, the dinner was successful, because inspiration is success.

In fact, the dinner was so successfully that at least Dave and I found ourselves eating leftovers for a good one meal afterwards, and I tried to weasel my way into another dinner with Dave!

On the most positive side of it all, I feel quite safe in saying that we'll all meet up again sometime soon; if not in Patagonia or somewhere in South America, then maybe in a farmer's market or local crag east of flatlands, World!

'Til then, Rock the Power, Crew!

-Your well-dinnered Landescaper, N8

Ross Bongo!

Ross Bongo. I drive to Gold Bar. My eyelids keep stretching in the wrong directions. So I eat a blueberry muffin for my second breakfast. I'm not going to park in the usual place for Gold Bar climbing. I'm going to park in a place I've never seen, and hope it's the right place, across from a creek. I'm tromping through the woods and the path I was told I would find soon peters out at a campfire now just burnt logs and wet newspapers. This is where my shoes start getting soaked through to the socks and my pants turn from a tan to a dark brown. I don't know how my arms are not more scratched. Just because I don't know doesn' t mean I'd rather have them scratched and know! I don't question good miracles, no matter how small if it means not reversing them! Just like I don't question the need I have to go try

Ross Bongo. I find the path again. It's huge. It's a dirt road, not a path like I was following in the woods. I move onward. I'm anxious to find this boulder, this five-star boulder, The Five Star Boulder. It's huge. It's unmissable. I come around a corner and I find the unmistakable boulder in question. All that separates me is some brush. Ten more trail steps finds me another trail that leads me to the boulder and the image that I've been told is, "Totally your style; You'll love it!"

Ross Bongo. Click! I take a picture. It's awe-inspiring. It's overhung, big moves, decent holds, feet are, feet are, feet are... find 'em! Use 'em how you can! They're there somewhere: on the arete, on the tiny edges, on your hands! They're good. I waste no time. I have no time to waste. It's 11:00am. I have to leave at 1:30pm to be back in Seattle in time for a 3:00pm Climbing 101 class I have to teach. That leaves me 2 1/2 hours to tryRoss Bongo. Try and try hard! It's a V10! My would-be first V10. It's just right for me. I get started. Good climbing conditions are slightly cold and definitely dry. It's cool and drizzling. Close enough! I chalk any hold I can reach that may be damp. I try and brush the moss on top but it's too far to reach. I don't think it'll matter. Time is passing! Set up the crash pad. I try and problem-solve the moves of the route and examine the holds to see which ones I'll use and how. It seems by looking that I can skip some holds that others have used and use some that others have skipped. It looks like my beta for the route'll be different. That makes me happy!

It's 11:32am and Ross Bongo has already allowed me to do each and every move on it some in groups, crux and all, just not all together yet! The first times of doing the moves, my feet cut sometimes, and I'm strong enough to let them and and pull some moves I wouldn't ordinarily. Click! You can see this in the self-portrait below. Thank you Mr. Funky Fresh! You allow me to climb so much harder! I take a break, grab some Sir Strawberry, a favorite juice of mine, drink some and snack a little, too.
After regaining my breathing and working the route from the start a bunch of times, I come really close to sending. I keep falling at the crux before it gets easy for me. My right thumb is starting to throb thanks to keeping half my weight on a sharp thumb hold pinch for the time span it takes me to make three moves. For today, for the first 2 1/2 hours of working the route, I don't get closer than doing the route in two parts, complete with all of the moves.

But hey, tomorrow's Monday. Maybe my thumb'll be strong. Maybe I'll be fresh. Maybe it won't be drizzling or raining. Maybe it'll be cold. Maybe I'll give Ross Bongo V10 a run for it's money!!!

In the meantime, I can think of a great and short day I had working a really fun and challenging route on the most classic boulder I've come across to date. I need to get back! Who wants to come with me and bring a crash pad so I'll feel more OK with taking those big moves over the moat of piranha rocks below!

This 2 1/2 hour session was well worth the 1 hour drive each way! I don't mind teaching a 101 class dreary-eyed, saggy-armed, soppy-socked, dirty-shirted! The inspiration shines through thus. The love-of-it is wrapped in packaging just like this. More to come, maybe Monday!

-Your love-of-it Landescaper, N8

I'm drunk off of chocolate milk!

And this is what I do when I'm drunk off of chocolate milk!

Before:

During:

After:
And now Alisa is ecstatic. And I feel much lighter. And through the phase where I want to grow a beard. And ready to move on to the phase where I want to climb all over the world!

Stay tuned for the next epiphase!

-Your Beardless Landescaper, N8