Never Eat Soggy Wheat (Chex)

North, east, south, & west.  We are all over the place...

I just spent a wonderful week in Costa Rica with my dad, brother Joe, sisters Kate & Elly, and niece Adira.  We did all the must-do's:  zip-lining through the rain forest, surfing, hiking, lying on the beach, a crocodile/bird-watching tour, and a bit of snorkeling.  Adira loved rolling around in the sand and playing in the water, and was all smiles the whole time.  Joe treated us to a night of his delicious custom homemade pizzas.  We celebrated my dad's birthday in Manuel Antonio National Park, and tested out all the Kosher ice cream shops we could find with Kate.  And Elly & I spent a little too much time in the sun for our poor Irish skin...  We also decided we need to get our dog Gabe a pet sloth.  Zero maintenance - they sleep all the time, poop once a week, and are extremely cute.  I think they'd be a great pair.

The fam on our crocodile tour.  We touched a croc's back as our guide fed him raw chicken!

Dad'l zipping through the trees

In the meantime, Juan was climbing in Red Rocks then visited Portland for several days, which he'll tell you about below.  When we met up at the Las Vegas airport this past Monday night, we decided to drive down to Tucson, Arizona that same night!  We packed up, said our goodbyes, and began the 8-hour drive, immediately almost running out of gas in NW Arizona.  But we made it, and met up with Juan's good friend Adam in Tucson.  Since then the three of us have been climbing the stunning but fingertip-bruising gneiss on Mt. Lemmon overlooking Tucson.  We're camping up there too.  Ha, if you're reading this, your hobo-pie maker made us some exquisite tuna melts around the fire last night :)

That's all for now,

Marie

PS Soggy Wheat Chex are the best




What a way to end a heck of a week!  So much stuff crammed into 7 days I can hardly believe it.  Let's see, last week I was able to climb one last day with my friends Isaac (who crushed the face off some routes at Sunny and Steep!), Dave, and David before they headed back to Portland.  I also had the chance to meet a wonderful couple from Tahoe, Colleen and her husband (so sorry I've forgotten his name!) who were on vacation enjoying the warm weather.  By this time Marie had already left for Costa Rica to be with her family.  I had one last day to climb at Red Rocks before my short trip to Portland, so I set off for the Gallery to score a partner and hopefully get in a nice half day of climbing.  I met up with some really nice climbers on spring break, Lars from Norway, his girlfriend Janice from California, and their friend Sarah from New York.  We had a blast climbing at the Gallery and Black Corridor and afterwards they invited me out the campground for beers and food.

Dave, Isaac, Marie, David, and myself in front of a cut-off Stalin statue at the Mandalay Bay's Red Square.  (A tourist took our photo)

Afterwards, I drove clear across town to visit my friend Mike and his wife Stef for dinner and left their house around 12:30 am back home to pack and make my 6 am flight to Portland. 

The reason for my short visit was because I was attending and filming my friend Scott Tse's wedding, and since I was in town for a day before and a day after, I got to stay with and spend a little time with my friends Todd and Amelia.  It was great to stop in at Stoneworks and see some of our good friends, like Matt, Michelle, Josh, Ike, Jaime, Skyler, and John.  I got my butt handed to me on some great boulder problems and before I knew it, I was on a plane back to Las Vegas to meet up with Marie and began our drive to Mt. Lemmon outside of Tucson, AZ.  

Since then, we have been shredding our little digits to pieces on some sharp but super sticky edges and crystals.  This time we are joining my friends and photographer extraordinaires Adam Bove and Ali Vagnini whom I met a couple years ago in Mexico, and later again Portland, and later still in their home town of Denver, Co.  The weather is somewhat hot in the direct sunlight, but perfect in the shade which made it possible for Marie to nearly redpoint a beautiful line called Holy Moly 11d/12a on the New Wave Wall.  A slightly overhanging brownish wall with great big splotches of lime green lichen, and long whitish veins.  At this same wall, I was able to scream and fight my way up a very demanding 12b/c called Tsunami, which seemed nearly impossible on the onsight attempt, with its dynamic reaches, finger locks, and micro crimps.  But, I was able to redpoint on my second go with nothing but fumes in the tank, even after botching the start a little and nearly fully out of energy after the crux.

Adam warming up on Steve's Arrete (5.11-) on the Hunchback

Juan kicking ass on Tsunami (5.12b/c) on New Wave Wall

We've also had the opportunity to break in brand new pairs of climbing shoes from our friends at ClimbX.  Most recently, I've been crushing routes in the upper 12 range in the Rock Star Lace-up and Marie is enjoying the sharp new edges on her second pair of Redpoint NLVs.  Yesterday we also decided to give our trusty green rope, the Petzl Nomad 9.8, a break after a month of heavy use in Red Rocks, and break out a new one, the Sterling Evolution Velocity 9.8 which Marie bought last summer while working over at US Outdoor Store in downtown Portland.

It's been really exciting to climb on new rock and to be in new surroundings after nearly a month in Red Rocks.  We've really welcomed the new challenges presented to us by unfamiliar rock and I for one am happy to see Marie's progress and willingness to fire away at harder projects, and equally happy to see that we have both developed a no-retreat-no-surrender approach to our climbing that has vastly improved our mental game even under stressful situations.  "Listen to what you know, instead of what you fear", that's what was written and placed inside my fortune cookie, and when I read it, I felt like it put words to the mental skills I had been trying to hone on this trip.  To me, it means what I had been taught almost a decade ago by Molly, and by watching confident climbers like Matt Spohn, Brian Smith, and Mark Cartier to name a few, "learn to separate the elements that you can control during your climb, and once you leave the ground do your best to discard those elements that you can't".  I know that I can choose who I climb with, and I know to be honest with myself about what I can and can't do according to the skills and experience I've acquired, and the risk that I'm willing to take.  Upon leaving the ground I know that I can't control the size of the holds, the angle of the wall, or the space between the bolts, and since I've made the commitment to leave the ground, I've no need to worry about them.  I believe practicing this sort of attitude in conjunction with the things Marie and I learn from each other's climbing, is what's been raising our personal bests and lets us focus on the satisfaction that we take away from difficult climbs, rather than the fear one is more commonly left with after a struggle on the wall.
-Juan