My Thoughts...



Risk is essential.
There is no growth or inspiration in staying within what is safe and comfortable.

Not all who wander are lost

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Happy Birthday?


Pics from the trip...


Paul's 1st Lead

Pat starting Amarillo

Drew on "Bulldozer"

Me on "Significant Other"

The best pizza in the world




Well good morning everyone. I am currently sitting in the usual spot, not drinking coffee however watching rock climbing. I am not as excited about this as you all may think. I should be leaving right now to go rock climbing in Cincinnati, however I am (and have been since sunday) sick. I figured I would update people on the climbing trip last weekend since I will be sitting here for the next 24-? hours.

So at 5:45am last saturday my alarm went off and immediately told Jenny that I had dreams about the red. She shook her head in confusion/disgust and we got up. I was excited not only because I was going to the red but because Jenny was going for the first time. Also it would be Paul and Drew's first outside climbing trip which is just awesome. We got on the road at 6:45ish and made it to the red at about 10. For this trip Pat (usual climbing partner) and I decided we wanted to go somewhere new. I had never been anywhere in the Southern Region of the gorge and Pat had only been to 1 area once. So this was our plan. The directions to get to the crag we chose include things like this, "After 0.3 miles the road turns to gravel and heads down a steep hill," and "Continue on the main road until the road narrows and becomes more of a trail." Promising right? It also says..."cars are known to not get back out of the gorge," and "if you are concerned about your car making it back out climb somewhere else." We had faith in the Nitro so we pushed forth. They weren't kidding. The hills were so steep it felt like our car was going to flip forward, not really but they were quite steep and there were HUGE trenches in the path because of people getting stuck going out and just digging their car into the road. We finally arrive at the parking area and make the short hike into the walls. The first was called the Shire which had 3 nice warm up climbs which all were good candidates for Paul and Drew's first lead.

We climbed our first route and then headed to the a nearby wall which had a specific route that I have been wanting to climb called Amarillo Sunset. It had been featured in the Photo Edition of Rock and Ice magazine and looked awesome, but hard. So we got there and stopped dead in our tracks, it was beautiful and intimidating. It was in this huge amphitheater oven a ravine. AWESOME Since it was my desired project I went first. The moves were all doable but hard to string together. I made it through the first 3 bolts before I fell, which I was excited about. The guidebook describes Amarillo as this..."Destined to be a classic. Start from a ledge just right of a large ravine. Move up through 65 feet of big pumping throws to big holds with excellent exposure. Save some gas to clip the anchors." Even the description was intimidating! I made it through with several falls and was very content. Hopefully I will send it the next time I go. As the guidebook said, Amarillo starts on a little ledge 20 feet or so off the ground. Once on the actual ground it thins out to a little ravine. Therefore when you are 30 feet up in the climb you are actually 60 or so feet off the ground. You feel quite exposed. Also I will take this time to thank Jenny again for going and for being such a good sport. You were awesome and hopefully it wasn't too painful for you. The red just holds such as special place in my heart that I wanted to share it with you. Anyway after Amarillo we climbed a few other cool routes and headed back to Miguel's for pizza. 3 hours after that we were home sweet home and 3 hours after that I started to feel sick, and now 70 hours after that I am sitting here, still feeling sick. Hope everyone has a great day!

Jenny, Me, Pat, Drew and Paul at the Sore Heel Parking Area

Amarillo Sunset (Next 3)

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

New Mexico Spring Break Trip


Hey Everyone! I am now enjoying a relaxing evening at home with beautiful miss Jennifer and the animals. Since I obviously didn't have my computer while exploring NM I wrote things down on the back of a form the technically I should have kept clean in case we (the OPC) needed it, but who am I kidding it's not like I am employee of the year. Anyway here is what I wrote.

Hello All!

I am sitting in a tent in southern NM right now
getting ready for bed. This is the 1st blank paper I've had available, obviously I will later transfer it to the computer machine. I'll catch you all up.

The 1st day of driving (March 6) landed us in Oklahoma City. The drive went fast and all was well. The group was uncharacteristically quiet and hard to read. The next day we finished the drive with a stop in Roswell...which sounded cool but sucked. I was very excited but it turned out to be very boring and kinda trashy. After our 30 minute (also 30 minutes too long) stop we continued on and got Brantley Lake State Pa
rk right at sunset. It was beautiful and I was able to fire off a few pictures before setting up camp. See Below.


Afterward we got word that a serious weather advisory was coming for us; 50mph wind and golf sized hale. We then tore down tents and took refuge in the van or under the picnic shelter (Drew and I wanted to watch the lightening.) Winds were strong and a bit of rain came but the storm missed us to the South. That night was loud (The wind did blow 30-40mph) and I had my tent to myself. I slept ok but not as well as I would have liked.

The next day we got up and drove to the Carlsbad Caverns. They are amazing and too big to describe. They are located in the Guadaloupe Mountains. We did a guided cave tour (lit by only candle lanterns) as well as explored by ourselves. It was a cool tour but our guide was annoying and in less than good condition. She described a dangerous part of the cave that had been coined "the death hill" that had me very interested. When we approached the death hill i immediately realized that me stepping up into my car is as physically demanding and dangerous as "the death hill" Needless to say the tour wasn't strenuous although the caves were awesome. We did do a "total blackout," which means since there is no natural light in the caves, when our candles were blown out we were in a literal blackout. They described it as seeing the cave in it's natural state, which I thought was really cool. I was holding my hand directly in front of my face and could not see it at all. It was really creepy and awesome! Your mind really plays tricks on you when you are in total darkness. That night we got word of a worse wind storm and made the last minute decision to stay in a little cabin near our campsite to stay out of the weather. They were small but nice and had a hottub...sold. Nothing like roughing it in a warm cabin with a hottub outside. I showered quickly after the Hottub and dried off with paper towels from the bathroom (no towel) then went to bed.

The next day we drove to White Sands National Monument...about 3 hrs away. We drove through some mountains on the way which I naturally thought were breathtaking. Sierra Blanco was on our right and was just demanding my attention. When we got to White Sands we were all amazed. Itw as way cooler than we could have imagined. It really is just flawless white sand dunes in the middle of the NM desert, surrounded by mountains. We were able to sled down the dunes, which got boring fast so we invented our own game. We would just jump off the side of the sand dunes. Yep it is just as it sounds. See pictures...








Sierra Blanco


When we grew weary of beating our bodies mercilessly we headed to the City of Rocks. I instantly fell in love with it. Just endless possibilities for lines harder and bigger than the one you just tried and fell in love with. Well as we arrived, yep, you guessed it. Weather advisory. Wind. The 1st hour was spent chasing tents and trying to stake them down with giants rocks (still unsuccessful at times). The rain started soon there after. We hurried through dinner (cold and wet...See Picture) and retired to our tents...8pm. Oh also got a good sunset pic.






8:02, realized that my ipod was in the van...F. Nice night filled with howling winds unable to be drowned out with Pearl Jam. Terrible night of sleep. 6am, wake up to watch sunrise Beautiful but frigid with more wind...0 degrees with wind chill? Here's the sunrise

We gave bouldering a go, unsuccessfully. Too cold and ripped the tow on a warm up climb...not pleased. After breakfast god felt bad for us and let us have some sun. The bouldering was amazing once the weather started cooperating. Pockety face climbs with cool huecos, and tons of it. Playland? Yes. We found a huge beautiful boulder in a field by itself in front of Cook's Peak : ) and it had my attention. With little intention of really climbing it I started up a perceived route. Before I knew it I was trying to solve the crux sequence (also happened to be the last few moves). The climb felt great and with the resumed 1st ascent I named it Megatron Falls.25-30ft V3. When my heart slowed back down to a human rate I was in the middle of lunch...approximately 24 minutes later. After dinner I looked at the stars and now here I am. More to come. Jenny, Sharma and Boss, I miss you guys. Love you so much and wish you were in my tent with me...well in theory...it would be a tight squeeze and with the animals fighting I feel we would get very little sleep. Goodnight.






Megatron Falls


March 11
I am back in my tent getting ready to hopefully get some good sleep because last night didn't cut it, again. It dropped to about 20 last night before warming up to be a beautiful morning this morning. After breakfast we bid farewell to the City of Rocks. Our drive to Gila National Forest was short but the final 20 miles were beautiful. Winding roads through the mountains really do it for me...until we found our campsite and it looked like we walked onto the set of the new Texas Chainsaw Massacre film. It was this creepy little farm that's welcome sign looked like it was made by the Cady brothers, aka bad, terrible, whatever descriptive words you want to use. We finally found the site and Hot Springs area and they were surrounded by these weird bone like things hanging and other creepy and strange decorations. Once settled in it didn't seem as creepy anymore, which was nice. I actually ended up really liking it. After we had lunch we split up into a hot springs group and a hiking group. Maxam and myself took the group out for a quick 5 mile out and back. Beautiful weather, I hiked in Chacos. The mountains here are beautiful. When we got back we made Guadaloupe Chili Pie. OH MY We always make it on these trips and this is why. First is a layer of tortillas, then a layer of beef, then a layer of homini, then a layer of green peppers, then a layer of onion, then a layer of beef, then a layer of cheese, then more cheese, then a layer of cornbread. Then it is cooked in a dutch oven (Cast iron pot that you put charcoal on the top and bottom of to cook all the way through.) So good. Afterward I got into the hot springs which were amazing. Really hot and right next to the river. Afterward we hung out by the fire, swapped stories and gawked at the stars. Now here I am. I set up m tent on the sand 5ft from the river. It isn't a bad place to say goodnight. Love you all at home.

The final day was spent relaxing in the hot springs as well as hiking to see the native american's cliffside dwellings. Very cool. We woke up bright and early the next day to drive back home. 32hr drive. Long but worth it. Here are some more random pictures!


Carlsbad Caverns


Megatron Falls...again


Cliffside Dwellings


Gila National Forest


Drew, Maxam, Vossler and I in the Hot Springs


Campsite in Gila

City Of Rocks (Megatron Falls in the background)

Drew looking like he should be in a Black Diamond ad


Sand Couch

Drew and I in front of Sierra Blanco



Sand Couch




Hiking in Gila


Drew and I at City of Rocks after a great climbing day

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Ohio and Beyond


Good morning everyone!

I am sitting in my chair having coffee and watching climbing since I have the day off. It's been a while so I figured I would update everyone on current happenings and future happenings. This past week I took a group of fraternity pledges down to the red river gorge for a search and rescue trip. My job was to hike one of their actives out into the gorge and hide him. We hiked out at about 4pm into the balmy wilderness (27 degrees). I got him out there in a timely fashion and started hiking back out of the gorge to "run into" the group searching for him. At this point I had hiked 3.5 or 4 miles. I ran into the group with no problems and told them I had not heard anyone was missing and followed them to the PLS (point last seen). They found him with minimal issues and started building their gurney to carry him out. The biggest problem is the treacherous hike out of the gorge. The first 1/2 mile is steep hiking with fairly steep cliff lines lining the trail. This would not be that big of a deal if there wasn't snow and ice everywhere. Being the medically trained person out with the group it was my job to make sure people were safe and treat people if something were to happen so this ascent was a mentally draining thing for me. It was getting colder and starting to drizzle which was less that exciting for me and I'm sure the rest of the group. I look at my clock, 9pm. Good god. We aren't even out of the gorge portion of the hike yet (the first 1/2 mile). They still have another 1 1/2 once out of the gorge. Their gurney breaks probably 5 times and they finally just carry the "patient" in a tarp. Not exactly by the book but for the circumstances it was fine. We got back to camp at 10:30 and then had dinner and debriefed their experience with them.

This week I am busy trying to finish up things for our spring break trip. We have planned an awesome Moab UT trip. Unfortunately Moab is under a foot of snow and temps are mid 30 and maybe 40s...during the day. This will not bode well for our participants so now were are stuck planning a new trip in a matter of 3 or 4 days. What we have come up with is this...

Sunday...arriving in Carslbad New Mexico
Monday...Going caving in the Carlsbad Caverns
Tuesday...Drive to White Sands National Monument and camp outside Las Cruces
Wednesday...Boulder at the City of Rocks and camp
Thursday...Camp in the Gila National Forest near the Gila Hot Springs
Friday...Hiking and Hot Springsing and checking out Native American Cliffside dwellings

We think it's ok for last minute plans.

When I get home my next trip is to Joshua Tree and Bishop California in April. The 9th through the 15th. Both Jtree and Bishop are world class bouldering areas and should be amazing. Bishop is known for high ball bouldering surrounded by the snow capped Sierra Range. Jtree is desert landscape with some small peaks and tons of boulders and nasty trad lines. Hopefully some hiking in jtree to summit Monument Mountain or Ryan Mountain.

After that (May 8th through 15th) I will be in Vail with family and Jenny and Jaime. This should be an awesome and relaxing trip. Hopefully with some summits and possibly some sport climbing. Can't wait. Going to be an exciting few months. Hope to hear from colleges soon.

PS can't wait to move to CO with Jenny. So excited. We are officially on the waiting list for our apartment. Fingers crossed everyone!

Check out some pics...


Bishop Bouldering

White Sands National Monument

City Of Rocks NM

Joshua Tree CA

Carlsbad Caverns NM

Disclaimer: These are not my pictures (I don't want to be sued)