Friends From All Places

Set 'em up for the Dead End Kids! 

I don't know what that means but it's a line from the movie The 25th Hour and I've had it in my head all day so that's what I'm starting my post with.

Today marks the end of our 3rd week here in Vegas and the good times just keep on rollin'.  This week we finished some great projects, made lots of new friends, visited local friends, and had friends from out of town drop in and visit us. 

On Tuesday we finally broke out the crash pads and took them for a test run in the Kraft boulders and along the way met a cool dude named Ben who was new to the climbing scene.  He works for the Nevada Conservation Corps and was introduced to climbing by some of the workers in his crew.  He traded in his sleeping bag for a pair of shoes and chalk bag soon after.  He joined us for an afternoon of fun and mellow bouldering and hooked us up with a few micro brews after the session.  Thanks Ben!

Ben on the Warm-Up Main Boulder

Juan on the classic Odyssey (V3)

After our bouldering session we ran home to change clothes, scooped up my brother, and headed out to my favorite pizza joint to have dinner with my old high school friend Arieanne and her boyfriend Armando.  After a lot of food and a long time catching up, we talked them into joining us for a climbing session in the coming week.  They have never climbed outdoors before and we're excited to show them around the park come next Tuesday. 

MMMMM...Armando, Arieanne, Noe, Marie, & I chow down

Wednesday and Thursday were rest days.  We hung out at the house resting achy muscles and tendons for the day when we head back to the Cannibal Crag to finish up our toughest projects on this trip so far.  On one of our rest days, my sister came over, we watched the unfolding tragedy that is Charlie Sheen on TV and then went out for a nice afternoon walk to my sister's old elementary school.  We played around on the jungle gym while Marie showed off some gymnastic skills on the bars.  As we were heading back to the house I spotted the ice cream man and chased him down for two blocks so we could have some tasty treats for the walk back home. 

Friday was game day for us and now that we were well rested we were ready to bring home the gold.  We showed up to a semi crowded Cannibal Crag where we met some really cool climbers from Utah and some other climbers that were on a road trip all the way from South Dakota.  After our usual warm ups, I was first up and after a disappointing 1st and 2nd try, I finally sent my first 12d on the 3rd go.  Then it was Marie's turn to bat and she knocked her 11c out of the park 1st try, incredible!  As if that wasn't enough, Marie went on to grab the onsight of Elbows of Mac and Ronnie 11a, and I grabbed the onsight of Man Eater 12a.  To wrap up an incredible day of climbing, we went over to my buddy Mike's house, whom I've known since the 6th grade, and chowed down on burgers, hot dogs, 10% alcohol beer, and big slices of Oreo Cream Pie. 

At that point our weekend was just beginning, but I'll let Marie catch you guys up on that.
-Juan




I was just thinking that our blog's name has not really been too accurate so far - I mean, for now, we're staying with Juan's mom, and we don't even have a van, it's in the shop!  Tomorrow we're supposed to get it back from the mechanic, after a week and a half of borrowing Juan's family's car and bumming rides from friends and family (thanks to everyone!).  We thought we were bringing it in for a simple tune-up, but that turned into a ~$1000 fiasco when the mechanic found oil in the antifreeze - a blown head gasket.  So we're tightening the belt where we can to cover the unexpected costs.  Soon enough, these van-less climbers will be crammedinavan again...

So Saturday morning our friend Ha, visiting from LA, and his friend Mike, who flew in from Chicago, picked up these two dirtbags and we headed out to climb!  I was asked to plan an itinerary, and I think my plan scored about a 70% - the warmup spot was mediocre at best, but the day's main crag (the Holiday Wall) was a blast.  Since the Holiday Wall was all 11's and 12's, I thought we could warm up on some 10's nearby at the Hidden Corridor.  Unfortunately, Mike & I found ourselves on a sandy, somewhat sketchy 10b, and Juan & Ha on an unknown ~11 that was not much of a warm-up at all (though it was quite fun)!  The only other routes there were in a section of the corridor so narrow and leaning that a small fall could send you into the wall behind you, so we all ran up and cleaned those two routes and continued on.

Ha tackles the unknown

The Holiday Wall, about a 25 minute hike from the third pullout, was super fun and we all got on an assortment of 11's and spent the rest of the time joking around about Mexican Judo and other nonsense.  My favorite route was one called When the Cat's Away, where you start by climbing into a kind of notch, then turn around, and climb back out!  That night, we headed back to Ha's dad's house to cook dinner, only to find that his dad had left us a delicious traditional Vietnamese dinner of fried fish with garlic sauce, eggs, and rice, which we enjoyed with some salad and wine.  We watched some crazy bastards like Alex Honnold and Dean Potter free-soloing in the movie First Ascent, then called it a night.

Peekin' out of the notch on When the Cat's Away (11b)

This morning Ha & Mike picked us up again and we headed out to Cannibal Crag.  My old friend Josiah from high school days had just arrived for a few days from southern California, and he met up with us there too.  We had a great day climbing every which side of the crag.

Josiah cooling down on A Man in Every Pot at the Cannibal Crag

Dancin' up the rock

Ha & Mike had to head back to LA in the afternoon, but Juan, Josiah, & I grabbed some hot 'za at Metro Pizza before heading home.  After three days on, Juan & I are looking forward to resting tomorrow and maybe taking in a matinee of Battle Los Angeles, which Juan can't stop talking about ;)

Peace,
Marie