CliffSnaps

Heaven on Earth?

2008-05-28T19:05:00.000-07:00

What is the most awesome situation you can imagine? Some people I know might answer it's all the beer you can drink!

Well, that is exactly what I encountered when I went to visit my friend Wendy in Hawaii! Wendy's husband Rich is the head of the brewery operations at Kona Island Brewery. Can you imagine having your very own "kegerator" in your home? Wendy and Rich do! We should get one if we ever settle down in a house again!

OK, so besides the beer, Wendy's son supplied us with endless stories to entertain us. In the afternoon, I went down to pick him up from preschool in his red wagon.
Every day in Hawaii is a day at the beach.
One day we saw 3 sharks snorkeling, which I'm told is a very special event, as even some locals haven't seen them. Lucky for me, one of the volcanos in Kona is currently erupting and smothering the island in VOG (=volcanic smog), which saved me from getting too sunburned. We escaped the VOG on Saturday by heading north to Popolu Beach (left). We stopped to eat at "Bamboo Restaurant" on the way back, where I met my downfall, the"Lilikoi Margarita", otherwise known as the "Passionfruit Margarita". The Lilikoi has taken a very prominent role in my life since that fated day. On Sunday, we took a short hike at Honualua, where we saw some beautiful ferns, orchids and !lilikoi!!

New addictions from Hawaii:
1. Lilikoi Margaritas
2. Sudoku
3. Sriricha sauce

Tamo

2008-03-20T22:07:00.000-07:00

For the past month, we've been enjoying the climbing at Tam O'Shanter, the center stage of the biggest controversy in Arizona climbing. Crooked politicians, political rivalries, big mining and not to mention the heated opinions among the climbing community itself! It's the stuff made for a political thriller. In any case, we loved the climbing there so much that I made a movie (some photo credits go to Mike also!). Click here to watch.

My Photo Debut!

2008-03-10T16:25:00.000-07:00

One of my photos made the headlines at Stonemaster Gear! Click here to check it out!

Ragdoll Climbs Moby Dick

2008-02-04T13:44:00.000-08:00

There I was; dangling 150 ft above the abyss with a gale force wind tossing me to and fro like a tumbleweed in the dust bowl. I was petrified and all on my own to get to the bottom. Just minutes before Mike had dropped over the edge on rappel with some sage advice for my imminent rappel, but I could barely catch the words through the roar of the wind even though we were barely two feet apart.

I had just stepped over the edge and promptly got my carabiner stuck on the rappel chain link, so I struggled to get my weight off the rappel chains so I could unclip my carabiner and start down. As I was struggling, a NOLS instructor was ascending up his ropes which were anchored next to the chains. He greeted me cheerily as if it were perfectly normal conditions, which comforted me a bit.

The rappel was overhanding but jutted out at the bottom, so I couldn't really see what was down below or how far I had to go. All I knew was that there was a lot of open space between me and the ground. I slowly started lowering myself, but the rope below billowed out to the left I couldn't slip it through the rappel device easily. I started to spin like a ragdoll as often happens on an overhanging rappel. Finally, in desperation to keep the rope from escaping, I wrapped my legs around the rope. This helped me stop spinning and made me feel like the rope wasn't going to blow away.

The climb, called Moby Dick and although quite enjoyable, paled in comparison to the adventure on the descent.

West Cochise Stronghold is notorious for strong winds, especially in the winter time. So if you'd like to have such an adventure, I believe the conditions are often ripe for wind there and would be easy enough to recreate. All you have to do is show up and climb!

The West Stronghold is extremely beautiful though, and there's loads of interesting climbing and adventure to be had. One morning I woke up to this lovely moon setting over the mountains right outside our window.

Our Adventures Chapter 3: by Mike

2008-02-04T13:27:00.000-08:00

Granite Mountain
So on our way across the bleak desert landscape and alkaline flats we stop to see if we might pick a couple nice pairs of shoes from the rare though flourishing Shoe Tree (right). Though there was nothing that suited our size or fancy I thought we might stop up the road at the Underwear Tree (I was guessing there must be one further on), Marin was skeptical. Well, sure enough not another mile or so up the road there it was and while not as mature as the Shoe Tree, it appeared to be fruiting well and with good variety. We thought it wise not to linger here and moved on our way satisfied in our assessment that “You have to be one shoe shy of a pair to be living in the desert around Amboy, CA.

We arrived in Chino Valley, AZ (near Prescott) and mooched a patch of dirt to park our Kontiki with some old friends of mine, Chris and Janice Dunn. We arrived in the evening, set up and visited with Janice (Chris was in Vegas) before racking out. The following day Marin discovered her purse missing - though logic did once again prevail and it was tracked to our burger stop at Topock, AZ, not far the AZ side from Needles, CA. (about a three hour drive). I was on it! Dashing madly to gather her purse and return to Chino in time for BBQ’d elk. Prior to my departure, Janice, while dancing about with their two lovely daughters sprain her ankle and was hobbled pretty effectively. While I drove hard to Topock and back and though missing dinner did scarf down some great elk burgers and a couple beers. Chris, knowing too much about me from our climbing days, told Marin an evenings worth of tall tales, truths and disreputable stories of younger days. Fortunately, I didn’t really have any explaining to do as it was so long ago it could all be attributed to the poor judgment of youth.

Granite Mountain was every bit as imposing as I remembered. Stiff, very stiff, grades on beautiful and very climbable granite. Once Marin caught her stride she and I managed a number of outstanding routes. The highlights included Coatimundi Whiteout to Candyland finish 5.9 (above), Chu Hoi 5.9 (below) and Marin’s bold leads on all pitches of Falling Ross 5.10d (5.11 anywhere else). The climbing weather became very up-and-down with several perfect days and several very windy, cool-cold days. Nights were quite cold consistently. It was clear we were head into winter weather patterns. Then the first big storm hit and we were graciously afforded lodging in Prescott with another old friend Brent Roberts, Denise and Brent’s two charming girls. We were fed very well and had a soothing soak in their hot tub (so sweet!). And, sadly determined to head south to the desert climbing near Phoenix.

Our Adventures Chapter 2: by Mike

2008-02-04T12:57:00.000-08:00

Well, where were we now? Headed back to Yosemite I believe, and that we did. It was all a little disappointing though as we the weather was frequently marginal, our moods were a bit down and attitudes not the best (I think I was kind of stressed by the time in big cities and all. Anyway we didn’t get on the longer routes and actually left after having been there about a week.

Owens River Gorge
So we drove over Tuolumne and through Tioga Pass and onto Bishop, CA and prepared for a little sport climbing action at Owens River Gorge. While I was still stuck in a funk, Marin seemed to excel on the sport routes in The Gorge, firing many 5.10s. While I just could not get into the climbing there, I did hone my belaying skills rope handling for Marin.
The rock there in The Gorge was a volcanic tuff that, while looking like a choss heap (as most sport areas do to me anyway) it was in reality quite sound. And, the Gorge itself is quite an impressive feature…the hikes into the various sections were attention gitters. Though we met and saw climbers everyday it did not feel overly crowded though I can imagine popular areas sometimes feeling a little busy. This is I think were we first encountered “gang climbing”. See, you have your pairs or threesomes and a group of 8-12 people appear and never split into smaller groups, rather they all do the same one or two climbs and are often a little over stimulating. We would see this again in Joshua Tree, the next stop.

Joshua Tree National Park

Once a National Monument, Joshua Tree is now a National Park since, I believe, 2004. It is beginning to look like one too! More paved roads, paved parking lots, crowds (huge on the weekends), pay to get in, pay to camp and water you can buy for about fifty cents for roughly twelve gallons at the main entrance (have your jugs open and catch all you can while the water spills forth). Not having been here for roughly 25-years these were big changes to me (especially the crowds and roads with large paved parking lots). The Winnebago surfing still lives though…some things never change. Still beautiful too, especially in the evening (see the intro photo and the photo to the right).
Now, almost every evening as the sun approached its resting time near all people made a brief pilgrimage to their vista point. Some climbed high while others moved to the border of rock and desert. There was no wrong place to be at that time of day. It really was something to see so many people sharing those most inspiringly beautiful and quiet moments of the day. Sad to think though that the frequency and intensity of these most remarkable evening displays may have a great deal to do with the proximity to LA’s air pollution. I tried not to think about that too much.
We met several Australians and a number of Canadians along with some of the more local climbing crowd. We find that in large measure people are tending to keep to their own groups. We did though meet some very nice folks while there.

As for the climbing…well let me tell you a thing or two or three about that. The weekends were overrun with climbers and tourists (they're not pets you know!). The classics of the old days were rarely crowded and seemed harder than they used to be (Marin following Diamond Dogs 5.10 at left. The rock was as coarse and hard on the hands as it ever was. And, you can still wander for near the entire day looking for some routes (like in the Wonderland).
The weather was amazing and we were sorry to leave but thought we should get some climbing time in at Granite Mountain (near Prescott, AZ) before the run of good climbing weather and temperature turned the corner toward winter. That will come in Chapter Three which is on-belay and following quickly (if not immediately).

East Cochise Stronghold

2008-01-26T16:33:00.001-08:00

We decided to head further south, to the Dragoon Mountains, so called for the soldiers who were sent to hunt down the renegade Chiracahua Apaches. Cochise Stronghold, obviously, is named for the Apache warrior Cochise, as he was able to escape the US military by hiding out in the maze of valleys and mountains. It's also the pride of Arizona climbing, so great prized by southern Arizona climbers that only a few of the many routes done here are documented. The rest they leave up to your ingenuity to find or perhaps you can have your own adventure.
I decided to climb the route "Nightstalker" on Owl Rock (shown to the left). There are only 4 bolts on the entire route, which is a little sparse. I was able to get in some good gear and tie of 3 or 4 chickenheads to protect the rest of the route. It's a great route and I recommend it if you're in the area.
We only stayed in the east a few days because the sun went over the hill pretty early in the day which made for some cold late afternoons and nights. Now we are in the west, which has sun longer in the day and thus it's much warmer.

Pictures of My First Route

2008-01-26T15:59:00.000-08:00

This is me drilling a bolt at the top of the route.
And here is me climbing the top of the route. And below is a full picture of the route, which you can follow by the rope running up the rock.

To Catch a Mouse

2008-01-17T13:44:00.000-08:00

Inspired by Mike, I decided to try my hand at route development also. I picked out what I thought would be a good route while waiting for Mike to finish his route. Since this was my first time drilling bolts (BTW - we bought a power drill!), Mike drilled the anchors for me.
Then I rappelled the route to pick out the bolt placements, and clean some of the loose rock off. I was ready to start drilling, but I wanted Mike to check out the bolt placement first, to make sure they were in a good location for clipping, and also to make sure the rock was solid. So he rappelled, and adjusted some of my placements, then gave me the go-ahead to start drilling.
I got on rappel and went down to my first location. I used a prusik to back me up at the spot, and I also wrapped the rope around my leg to hold me in place.
The first 3 bolts drilled relatively quickly, for a novice like me. But the last bolt gave me a heck of a time! First, it was in a location where I had difficulty getting leverage on the drill, and the rock was particularly hard there. It took me probably 2 hours to get it drilled properly. I was worried that the hole wouldn't be straight or too wide due to drill wobble, but Mike checked it out and pronounced it OK! So I tapped in the last bolt and headed up on the first ascent.
Apparently the route still needed some cleaning, because the rock broke between the first and the second bolt and I fell on my first bolt! Luckily, it held my fall!
I call the route "To Catch a Mouse". The picture uploading isn't working on blogger at the moment, so I'll have to upload pictures later!

Fossils and such

2008-01-12T12:57:00.000-08:00

One of the cool things about the Homestead rock is the all the fossils and shells in the limestone. You can see complete crynoids sitting on the rock like in the photo to the left. Also, there are really cool shells and other fossils everywhere. These two fossils were at the top of the cliff on the new routes Mike put up. But you can see them all the way up the climbs and in the rocks along the creekbed up to the climbing area.

New Year, New Routes

2008-01-10T16:40:00.000-08:00

After Christmas, we returned to the Homestead for some more sport climbing. Although a staunch trad climber, Mike decided to put up some new routes. To the left is Mike drilling the hole for the first bolt hanger. On the right, Mike blows the dust out of the drill hole. Unfortunately, we only have a hand drill and so it takes quite a long time. Things would go a lot faster with a power drill. Each bolt takes close to an hour to place, which means for hand drillers like Mike, it takes almost a full day to finish a route. Mike made me do the first ascent of this route, which he calls "Pocket Mouse", probably rated 5.8.

Today he did the first ascent of another route he put up, which is yet to be named. I think it will be rated 5.10b. I was unable to get photos of the first ascent because I had to pay close attention while belaying.

What a cold, dark month it's been..

2007-12-27T09:43:00.001-08:00

We've spent most of December chasing the warm weather and sitting out the winter storms. We started off in the McDowell mountains near Scottsdale, where Mike showed me some of the old climbs he used to do. Left is a picture of me on top of a big boulder near Pinnacle Peak in Scottsdale. We then took refuge for 5 days at Mike's friend's house in Phoenix to escape the heavy rainstorm.

We then headed to Queen Creek, which is reportedly Arizona's premier sport climbing area. Again, it was quite cold, and the volcanic tuff was rough on our hands. Also the campground was quite sketchy - perhaps the proximity of a large urban area to a free campground attracted many undesirables. We worried about leaving our trailer during the day without supervision since every ratty car that drove by stopped and stared for a while.

One of the local climbers told us about a limestone sport area called the Homestead, which is at a bit lower elevation. So we decided to try our luck there and jackpot! We found an area we liked! The cliffs mostly face east and north, so we concentrated on the east facing cliffs where the weather was quite comfortable until early afternoon. It's a fantastic area, but it doesn't see much traffic - I think because it's a little farther away from the major urban areas and because it requires a four wheel drive truck to navigate a pretty rough road. Here is a picture of Mike on the Welcome Wall.

The last week we've been in Taylor, AZ, spending Christmas with Mike's family. It's definitely nice to get out of the cold for a while. We will probably head back down to the Homestead area tomorrow as the weather is supposed to warm up again.

"Are you sure you want to do this?"

2007-11-30T11:53:00.000-08:00

Mike asks as I start up the first pitch of "Falling Ross". We're at Granite Mountain near Prescott, AZ. I did want to do it, but Mike was making me nervous by asking me such questions. I decided to continue, despite my doubt. It's a difficult first pitch, and a harder second pitch. The crux about a third up the climb, and when I get to it, it takes me a while to figure out how to get through it. It's a long pitch too..about 140 feet. After I make it through the crux, there's no turning back, and although the difficulty eases off a little, it's still a bit sketchy and a bit run out. After a fair amount of squealing, I make it to the top without too much more trouble. However, the second pitch is considerably more difficult and it takes a quite a while to work through it and get to the top. I am sympathetic with the pitch namesake "Ross", as I fall quite a bit on the second pitch as well.

In any case, the climbing here at Granite Mountain is spectacular despite some desparate groveling through the pitches. To the left you can see part of the excellent quality rock you can enjoy here. In fact, there are not a huge number of climbs, but almost all them are worth doing. The weather has been mostly sunny, but the wind has been quite cold and it's very cold at night, so we are about to move down to lower elevation even though there are still several climbs I'd like to try here. The campground hosts a pack a feral cats, one of which Mike tries to convince me to adopt and take on our trip with us. I don't think it's such a good idea, so we had to desert "Mr. Coyote Bait", as Mike refers to his hopeful pet. Since yesterday, we are lucky to be able to take shelter indoors, with one of Mike's local friends. Tomorrow I think we'll head south. I sign off, in search of better weather.

And that's what Wonderland is all about..

2007-11-23T10:03:00.001-08:00

Mike replies as we trudge out of Wonderland (one of the climbing areas) after a hard day of scrambling. I commented, "it seems like a lot of work for a few short climbs.." We had just spent the entire day scrambling through boulder fields, literally over, under and through tunnels to find our target climbs - and we ended up only doing 2 short climbs!

It's my first trip to Joshua Tree and while the camping and the weather are quite nice, I'm not so enamored with the climbing. If long scrambles through huge boulder fields to get to a few scrudgy, short and generally run out climbs is your cup of tea, then Joshua Tree is the place for you!

On the positive note, we met some nice people (including rockgrrl! where there should be a picture of Mike climbing), saw some beautiful scenery and in town, they have a great climbing shop and a bar with wireless Internet access. The campground is also quite nice, the picture to the left shows a campground cliff where people climb up to watch the sunset.

We are currently on our way to Granite Mountain, near Prescott AZ, so I sign off now in search of better climbing!

Owens River Gorge

2007-11-10T16:26:00.000-08:00

We spent one week at Owens River Gorge during the last week of October. I think it was a perfect time to be there. The altitude is quite high, so it was very cold at nights. The rock quality was excellent and as I mentioned before, very well bolted, which was a very nice change from other areas we visited. Mike is climbing here in the Cental Gorge - I forget which climb. There are so many climbs here you could spend a lot of time perusing them all. The access is nice too - although you have to hike down some steep trails to the gorge, it doesn't take too long. The camping here is nice too - first, it's free because it's in the National Forest. You can see a picture of our campsite to the left. If you get bored you can go into Bishop to enjoy some of the restaurants and also a good climbing store.

Owens River Gorge

2007-11-05T16:49:00.001-08:00

After a week back in Yosemite, we decided it was time to head over the pass before it closed. I wanted to do some sport climbing for a change, so we spent a week at Owen's River Gorge outside of Bishop.

It's a veritable sport climber's paradise, although I guess I don't have too much to compare to since I've only been sport climbing at two other areas - Snoqualmie (which doesn't really count I don't think..) and Smith Rock, where I only spent a few days. The rock is relatively steep, and mostly edgy with some cracks (lined by bolts of course!)

In any case, it was bitterly cold at night, but warm during the daytime in the sun, which of course it was sunny everyday. The gorge is quite deep and the sun passes over quickly, so you're either in the hot sun or the cold shade. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the week we spent climbing there. I could have stayed a few more days, but Mike was anxious to get to Joshua Tree, where we are now. It's a lot warmer here, which is a nice change from all the places we've been in the past couple months.

Will post photos and more info later - we have to get back to camp before dark!

Our Adventures #1 (by Mike)

2007-11-03T18:44:00.001-07:00

Marin beginning the fingers crux of Dancing Yogi, Paradise Forks, AZ
So After I had made the drive to Arizona (over many days) and picked Marin up at Sky Harbor in Phoenix we spent several days in Taylor, AZ. to be a part of my sister’s wedding. It was great to see the family after such a longtime away. I did, however, leave with a nasty respiratory bug which left me somewhat debilitated for the following couple of weeks.
We then traveled to Paradise Forks where we found a wonderful (and free) campsite on the edge of a nice meadow near a spring and a short walk from the climbing. We only had one good thundershower display which was a little disappointing. The climbing here spanked us and spanked us hard! We both struggled to climb 5.9 cracks and took many falls over the week spent here. We did manage to do some harder climbs and a tough top-rope or two though still left quite humbled. Visit this link for more info and a cute forum string called “Spanking at the Forks.” The experience was a stark reminder of the stiff rating as well as the standard of climbing I was able to do in younger, stronger days (or perhaps Paradise Forks remains one of the last bastions of old school bravado). At any rate, it was pleasurable to find things hadn’t changed much at all since I had last climbed there in 1986.
While there we also dug up a couple old friends in Flagstaff and had a nice dinner. Connections with other friends we will see on our return to AZ were also gained. Our next stop is Yosemite.
After a long haul to Lone Pine, CA we made camp in the Alabama Hills below the Eastern escarpment of the Sierra. It was the last free camping we would see for sometime before paying high rent in Yosemite.
Alabama Hills with Lone Pine Peak (left) and Mt. Whitney (right)
Tuolumne Meadows was kind of a bust. I was still feeling lousy and Marin seemed to be succumbing to my illness. When camp was set we thought it best to take the next day as a rest day. We had no idea that it was to be the last nice day in the Meadows for some time. The following day was cold, windy and eventually snowy. Though we climbed nothing in the Meadows it was a treat to be there for the first snow. It also turned out to be a good opportunity to mentor Marin in the fine art of being a skilled “scumbag climber.” As the exodus of campers began and continued for several days we scavenged firewood and miscellaneous other items abandoned. Marin quickly gained proficiency and became a skilled firewood collector. We also were honored to have nightly visits (and an occasional daytime visit)
by a rather handsome bear. On our first meeting Marin had proclaimed that the bear was not a pet AND, could snap my neck just-like-that! All while I’m encouraging her to get a closer photograph. The next day the bear was boldly patrolling our camp and Marin smartly held a pot of beef and rice out toward the bear while banging it with a spoon to urge him on to other camps (or was she calling him to dinner, I’m still unsure). After a few days trying to wait-out the weather we packed it in and headed for the warmer Yosemite Valley.
Marin atop the Five Open Books after completing The Surprise 5.10
Of course the Valley floor camping was booked but for a couple of days here and there. So, since we did not want to pack up camp every couple of days we took a site in Crane Flat CG and did the daily 15-20 minute drive to the Valley climbing. Many pitches of climbing were done (46 in all) during the 11/2 to 2-weeks we were there, the longest being the Royal Arches (very crowded). Marin did several amazing and very bold leads. One, in particular, Goodrich Pinnacle (5.9+R), on Glacier Point Apron. The descent from Goodrich Pinnacle (right). She led the fourth pitch, a desperately run-out slab of perhaps the most slippery glacier polish I have encountered. She was kind of freaked after passing through the crux with a couple of falls and seeing the long (though easier) run to the belay. She has true courage and will! Some other fine climbs we did included The Commitment, Chicken pie, Boneheads, The Surprise and La Casita Right. On our return October 21 we will hope to do some longer routes on Middle and Higher Cathedral Rocks and perhaps a short wall on Washington column.
Next, San Francisco and the flight to Austin, TX to attend Marin’s sister’s wedding. We stayed in San Francisco with another of Marin’s sisters and her family which was very nice. A year or two ago Marin and I had visited and built a small climbing wall for their kids which I hopped on several times since arriving. Anyway, we are in S.F. now and will leave for Yosemite tomorrow (Oct. 21) and stay until either the weather is unbearable or the rangers toss us out. Then….who knows???
Marin leading on the crux pitch of The Commitment

I love San Francisco!

2007-10-28T18:33:00.000-07:00

The week after the wedding, Mike and I stayed at my sister's house in the SFO area. I met Alyson and Melissa in the afternoon in SFO. We walked up Fillmore Street, which is the Pacific Heights area to do some shopping. It had great stores and it was our lucky day as they were having a cocktail party at Betsey Johnson's with our favorite black cherry Effen vodka. Here is Alyson, modelling one of Betsey's dresses.

I thought this sheep herder vest would be a perfect outfit for Melissa, but she thought it was ridiculous.

The shopping was excellent. For example, if you go there you can buy cute little trinkets like this:

Later we headed to PlumpJack to meet Shelly for a delicious dinner. We thought we would like to live in one of the cute apartments in Pacific Heights like this. Maybe someday...

The Wedding..

2007-10-24T16:23:00.000-07:00

Miracle of all miracles, the wedding went off flawlessly. Melissa and I never thought we would make it, but in fact it was perfect. Here are some of my favorite photos from the wedding. Mike took most of them because I was in the wedding.

First off, the bride is escorted down the aisle. Note, my mom made this beautiful wedding dress. Very nice handiwork!

Next, the sisters snuggle up with the bride and our new brother-in-law.

Lanie poses with me and the cake. Although I was the primary cake maker, almost everyone helped out with the cake, so I have to give everyone several credits for helping with the cake. Aunt Helene did the flower decorations, which helped cover the many imperfections! In the end, it was delicious, and we had so much cake left over that we saved to the top 2 layers! The happy couple froze the top layer for their first anniversary. I hope it freezes well!

The happy husband says, "Awesome! I'm married!" Felipe is excited to be married to Lanie.

To top off the night, the bride and groom kick off the dancing.

They had a great band, and we had an excellent time dancing for the rest of the night.

The Preparations..

2007-10-17T11:09:00.002-07:00

I arrived in Redwood City,CA on October 2nd, to head down to Texas for my sister's wedding. I was going down 10 days in advance to help prepare - I had three main tasks: to make my bridesmaid's skirt, make my sister's bridesmaid's skirt, and to make the wedding cake. I thought I would have plenty of time...
Luckily, my Mom and other sister arrived the same day I did. So there were three of us down there (besides the bride!) preparing for the wedding. We all worked furiously to get our chores done.

The bride also had a lot of work to do. She made her veil, and here's the bride sewing the ring bearer pillows.

Mom was trapped in the bathroom for two full days working on the flower arrangements. She did almost all of the flowers for the wedding, and the remainder were done by our Aunt.

Melissa silver leafed the cake platter that Dad made. Here are Melissa and Lanie showing off their handiwork. The cake platter subsequently exploded due to unknown complications. Luckily, that happened after the wedding was over!

Melissa arranged the bachelorette party on Thursday night before the wedding. Our target dance floor was the Broken Spoke, a famous two step bar in Austin. Felipe was on call to bring friends down to dance with us. Reliably, he kept his word and showed up with friends in tow. I'm not sure the bride and groom should be dancing at her bachelorette party, but it was nice of him to watch out for us!

The rehearsal and subsequent dinner was on Friday. Here Dad practices walking Lanie down the aisle. Notice her cute matching bag and gloves. We were all frantic about the remaining chores, however, we took a pause to enjoy a mariachi band at a delicious Tex Mex restaurant. The rehearsal party was arranged by Felipe's parents and was a nice break.

After a very late night by all, the bridesmaids went downtown to get our hair done for the wedding. Here's a lovely picture of the bride getting her hair done. And of course, the baby bridesmaid is below.

I still had lots of work to finish on the cake. In fact, I had to assembly the entire cake and decorate it. I was a bit desperate, and everyone was rushing around to help me finish. In fact, I finished it up about ten minutes before the ceremony was about to begin. It seemed like a miracle that we completed the preparations on Saturday, but we did. Next up.. the wedding.

2007-09-17T12:59:00.000-07:00

After a week at the Forks, both Mike and I are exhausted. The climbing here is super steep and strenuous. This is the Prow area, which although we didn't climb it, it should give you an idea of what the various climbs look like, since they pretty much all look like this. My whole body hurts and I have little gobis (gobi = open wound) all over my hands. I have one minor achievement on my last day: I managed to push and paw up two climbs without whining or whimpering. As I took this picture, we watched two climbers rappel down to do a climb on the Prow, and noticed they had forgotten their climbing rope at the top of the cliff. We found this quite amusing since just two days prior, I had done the exact same thing!

By Saturday, we have taken as much beating as we can endure. So we packed up on Sunday and started the drive to CA. We are camping just outside of Lone Pine in the Alabama Hills and we'll be heading to Tuoloumne Meadows later today.

Paradise Forks

2007-09-14T14:47:00.000-07:00

After the wedding, we headed to Paradise Forks which is just outside of Flagstaff, AZ. It's a basalt canyon with some beautiful cracks.

The first day we headed to the Pillow area. And here's a picture on our first climb of the trip. It doesn't look too hard.. but I'm finding the climbing here extremely challenging! The cracks are really smooth inside, so it feels slippery to both my hands and feet. So far I haven't climbed one climb without falling! On the bright side, hopefully this is a good lesson for me in crack climbing. Mike used to climb here when he was in college and actually developed some of the climbs in this area, so he's enjoying being back here.

The area is on Forest Service land, and we found a beautiful camping spot. Right now we're in the monsoon season here, so we've had a couple days where it rained in the afternoon. I'm not sure when we're moving on..we might head down to Prescott or we might head to CA to get to Tuoloumne before it gets too cold.

Taylor, AZ

2007-09-12T17:24:00.000-07:00

I flew down to Phoenix on Wednesday, where Mike picked me up at the airport. We spent the next 2 days finishing up odds and ends and helping get ready for Mike's sister's wedding. Here's a picture of the beautiful bride.
On Sunday we headed off towards Flagstaff to climb at Paradise Forks. Unfortunately Mike has picked up an illness, which has hampered our climbing a bit.

My Last Day @ MS!

2007-09-04T08:54:00.000-07:00

Has finally arrived! I won't spend too much time here talking about MS, but I'll just say it's been a very enriching experience both personally and professionally.
マリンとマイクロソフトの時代が閉会します。またよろしくお願いします！

Tomorrow I'm heading off to Arizona to meet Mike and start our climbing journey. It's hard to imagine that after today, I'll no longer be coming to work everyday. I am sure I'll adjust. We're first headed to AZ to attend Mike's sister's wedding. Then we'll spend some time climbing around Flagstaff and Prescott before heading up to Yosemite. Tune back in for more climbing stories!