Devil's Tower, Chapter Five; Lindsay and The Infamous Jump Traverse

Reliving the Glory Days

Here's one of my favorite pictures of me. Wisconsin Beef in 2004. Photographer: Erik Krantz.

A Refreshing Climbing Blog from Across the Ocean

This guy in Wales has a climbing blog I aspire to: many pictures, few words. And isn't "Advanced State of Refreshment" a great title for a blog about climbing? He also has a climbing shop. So if any of you happen to be in North Wales, stop by.

Devil's Tower, Chapter Four: Durrance, part 2

Devil's Tower, Chapter Four: Durrance, part 1

Lindsay, Joel and Mark swapped leads up Durrance. All three were climbing strong and good energy swirled about them.

Missing the Hills

Just got an email about the upcoming coalition meeting. Sounds like folks are getting ready for the new season and route repair. Maybe discussions about which routes to do, which ones shouldn't be tampered with, yadayadaya...sound about as fun as painting parking lines with a plastic fork, but I miss it. I want to be at the Gaslight being irritated or amused or proud. I want to be planning being out on the rock. I want to be out on the rock. I want to see the vista driving around the corner at Mt. Rushmore. I want to see my friends.

It seems an easy enough thing to accomplish for the apparently unfettered, like myself. It's my other wants that are causing me trouble. I want to make a living. I want to be near my family. I want to figure out something. I want to figure out what it is I need to figure out.

Geez. What a crybaby.

A Little Heat In the Shadowlands

This picture was taken almost 2 years ago by my friend Cindy. There are many good reasons to love Cindy, but just having taken this picture would be enough for me. I never knew I could look that hot. I imagine myself looking at this picture when I am very old and thinking, "My goodness, I was hot when I was a young thing in my 40's."

For best results when climbing in Spearfish Canyon, it's nice to have a ropegun with you. Brent was ours that day and got us up numerous routes. I can't remember the names of any of them. I don't think I made it up anything clean, but was extremely proud whenever I managed to claw my way to the top after a couple or a dozen hangs along the way.

Skip, Cindy, Tara, Brent, Adam and Shay were my cohorts. I am so glad this picture is reminding me of that day. What a pleasant memory. It lightly rained for a brief moment, which tends to slime up limestone a bit, but it went away.

And I love that three day feeling of jello arms that a good hard day of climbing in the canyon can give a girl.

Devil's Tower, Chapter Three: Sundance

The very first bit was that lovely dancey balance-shifting sort of face climbing that I love so much. That lasted for about 10 feet. Then the meat of the climb required wide angle stemming for, say, the next 100 feet or so. You know, the hip-popping calf-cramping variety. My mantra up the crack was "I'm so glad I'm not leading this, I'm so glad I'm not leading this." Not that there was ever any chance I would. I felt so tough, and relieved, when I finally crested the huge ledge where we united with the Durrance party.

Devil's Tower, Chapter Two

The clouds parted before us as we drew near the Park entrance. Soon we were at the base of the Tower, racking up. 5 can be an awkward number, especially when dealing with post equinox daylight hours and starting after 11 am.

We broke up into 2 parties. Lindsay, Joel and Mark swapped leads up the Durrance Route, while I followed Peter up Sundance. The two routes converge a pitch or two from the top.

I liked this plan for a couple of reasons. One, I had wanted to climb with Peter ever since meeting and climbing briefly with him at Skeletal Remains a few years ago. Two, I had this whack notion that I didn’t want my first climb on the Tower to be the Durrance route, because everybody climbs it. The thing I forgot to remember is that sometimes everybody climbs certain routes because the routes are really cool.

Letters from Falling Rock

So I get this note from Pam that it was 50 degrees awhile ago and she and Ron took her son Ray climbing for the first time. Falling Rock is an interesting choice for someone's first climb. I've done that to people before, too. Apparently Ray is making his way up Garden Party. I remember climbing that when I first got to town. I think I didn't climb again for 5 years. Take the pumpy nature of Falling Rock and add the death grip common to many beginners and a pair of slippery tennis shoes for help and you'll understand why I couldn't use my arms for the next couple of days. Good thing Ray's tougher than that. Pam says they were just climbing something in the South Seas and that he did well on one of the Shark things. It was her first time back since breaking her wrist earlier this winter.

While it's somewhat painful to hear about the good climbing back home that I am missing, it's good to know people are out enjoying it, and it certainly brings back good memories.

Devil's Tower, Chapter One

October 17, 2007, 7am. The dense fog showed no signs of dissipating. It did not appear to be an ideal day for climbing, but everyone knows conditions can vary greatly by location, and fog often burns off as the sun ascends. I had been wanting to climb the Tower for a very long time. Thanks to Mark, schedules had been matched up, plans made, and our party organized. Riding to Spearfish together, Mark, Joel and I sparkled with excitement and anticipation to climb Devil’s Tower for our first time.

We met Lindsay at her new home in Spearfish. Mark entertained the dog outside, we popped quickly in and out of doors to keep the cats inside. Lindsay began the time honored tradition of sorting gear, making piles of nuts, cams, hexes, draws.

The fog now alternated between heavy mist, or what a pessimist might refer to as “light rain,” and a simple grey sky. Without the sun, the air was a bit chill. Lindsay, who had already been on the tower numerous times, suggested we go for coffee instead. Perhaps try the tower another day. We smiled at such a crazy suggestion.

Peter arrived, we stood in our jackets, hands in pockets and looked at the sky some more. Soon, but not what you’d call “early,” we loaded gear and selves into Mark’s rig and headed west.

*Note: The picture is not from this trip; the sun was a bit higher by the time we got there. Photo by Tony Bubb and found at Mountain Project

Remind me tell you about this sometime...

What? More Fun Without Me?

From the BHCC Newsletter:

The BHCC is sponsoring a FUN EVENT (as opposed to
serious) Bouldering Competition and climbers gathering
and pot luck at the Athletic Club on Sheridan Lake
Drive on Saturday, January 19th. Bring your own pads
if you have them. We will have door prizes and other
swag. Free for BHCC members, $5 everyone else.
Starts at 4 pm with the competition ending at 6:30.
Pot luck begins at 7:00 pm, We will also have a very
short coalition meeting to vote on next years Board of
Directors. Everyone out by 8 pm.

Climb Hard and Climb Safe

Listen. I have enough reasons to miss Rapid City. There's no need to go staging these kind of things. And I heard chili and beer were being provided. No fair.

At Least 4 Posts Behind

No, that's not the name of a route anywhere that I know of. It's just the number of good stories I can't seem to write down. Hopefully I may someday tell of my first (and only) climb up Devil's Tower, a road trip with Erika to Grand Junction and Moab, a couple of plastic ventures in the flatlands, and maybe by then I will have climbed a few palm trees. Who knows. I also have some old pictures that Cindy took that make me look like a bad-ass. I'll definitely have to put up some of those.