Free-Solos, and Other Free Things

(Editor's note:  this post was actually written last night, until the authors were rudely interrupted by huge sprinklers going off under the very picnic table where they were sitting!  After mad dashes to the van with wet electronics in tow, and thorough inspections, they are happy to report there was no lasting damage.)

Marie here with the non-climbing news!  In between climbs, we've had a really wonderful, relaxing week...

The weather has been beautiful, if a little hot, topping out at 90 degrees, but with a breeze or in the shade even the hottest days felt really nice.  Our rest days have largely been passed at the big city park here in St. George, where the list of free things to do goes on and on:

• cooking/picnicking
• foraging for pecans
• washing dishes in the bathroom (you gotta get used to a new standard of cleanliness on the road) using the free water (when $0.80 for two gallons is a lot you know you're broke!)
• slacklining and hackey-sacking (dirty hippies)
• laying in the grass, spacing out, talking, or reading
• playing cards - rummy is the game of choice and we also love the card game Ratuki that our friend Glen and his daughter Alyssa gave us before we left
• playing Angry Birds on Juan's ipod - we are obsessed
• using the free wifi and charging our stuff on the many outlets (which i discovered this week - no more buying the cheapest snack just to use a gas station's wifi!)
• watching movies off the hard drive our dear friend Todd put together for us on our "couch" in the van while chowing down on half-price chocolate Easter bunnies
• people-watching, such as for the occasional fundamentalist Mormon family (i'm not gonna assume polygamous, but you know the look) play on the swings
• be tantalized by the ice cream truck that circles the park about 3 times a day blaring off-key music, until we finally dig through our change bin in the van and "nickel and dime" ourselves a popsicle
• throwing around the floppiest frisbee ever made; we are lucky to get two catches in a row
• enjoying the kindness of strangers, like the local family celebrating a daughter's birthday who shared with us some incredible homemade carrot cake

Slacking

 When we haven't been at the park, we've strolled around the quiet streets, gone for a short run, and tried to beat the heat with deals like 2/$1 frozen yogurt at one little nutrition store and free smoothies at another little nutrition store.  Things are a little busier around St. George in the last couple days due to some graduation ceremonies and the Ironman Triathalon going on this weekend.

Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers out there - I know that among our followers there are at least two, my sister Kate, and my friend from way back when Heidi.  I hope you all do something sweet for your mums this weekend.  I know mine is watching over me from above and I miss her every day.

Mom & Me

All the best,
Marie




Well, time sure does fly when you're having fun.  I can't believe the adventure is more than halfway over with only about 5 weeks or so left in the trip before we head back, hopefully, to a sunny Portland, Oregon. 

We're bringing to a close a 2-week stay here in St. George, UT and the climbing has still been nothing less than fantastic (almost).  After Marie's day out at Snow Canyon and one rest day later, we met back up with our friend Brent over the weekend to do some climbing in the Utah Hills.  The destination for the weekend?  Cathedral.  We had heard from several locals that if we were looking to do some steep climbing on grade-A limestone then this was the place to go. 

Saturday morning after breakfast, we packed up the van, met up with Brent and cruised 45 minutes out of St. George on old Highway 91 to dirt road turnoffs not meant to be traveled by green minivans.  Soon we were parked at the foot of the Utah hills near a small creek in what is known as The Welcome Springs campground.  As we waited for the dust to settle from our vehicles, we set about readying backpacks and puffy jackets.  Some locals at Chuckawalla had warned us that the elevation was much higher, and with no sun reaching into the Cathedral, it would be wise to wear layers.  There were other cars already parked at the camp with climbers milling about and as we approached the nearest group a familiar face emerged.  It was my friend Scott whom I had climbed with a couple of years ago in Yangshuo, China!  Hands were shaken, groups introduced, and next thing you know we were all battling the heinous uphill approach to Cathedral. 

Once we got to the top, we were greeted by a cavernous section of white limestone that started as slab and swept up and out in a massive overhang filled with flakes, huecos, small tufa rails, sharp crimps, and jugs.  The wall was so steep you had to be careful not to fall over backwards from craning your neck to see the finish holds on the headwall.

The grand Cathedral

A group of climbers with an early start were huddled in layers of fleece, sweatshirts, down jackets, and mitts, so it took me a moment to realize that one of the trio was none other than strongman John Garcia.  A mutual friend of mine and Adam Bove's whom I met and climbed with in Mexico a few years back.  Well it was getting to be quite the reunion festival at Cathedral but before too long, we donned harnesses and set off to send some sick looking lines.  3 bolts into the warm-up, my hands resembled something akin to rigor mortis as I clawed and meat-hooked my way up the last few holds to clip the anchors.  The rock was so cold that it only took a few moves before losing all feeling in both hands.  Such a strange feeling to see yourself grabbing something but no matter how hard you squeeze, you just can't feel if you've actually got a hold of it. 

That pretty much set the tone for the rest of our day at Cathedral.  The lines, impressive as they were, were difficult to really enjoy because climbing with numb extremities is just not that fun.  In fact, I think a high motivator for onsighting routes at Cathedral was just so we didn't have to freeze our butts off trying them more than once.  Marie, who is pretty small to begin with, has a pretty hard time regulating body temps when it's that cold out, so even with her fleece, puffy, and hood all on at once after only a couple routes she opted to take a knee and instead shot pictures of me and Brent as we took on a couple more lines before moving to the sunnier Wailing Wall next door. 

Brent is Worshipping the Limestone Gods (11b)

The Wailing Wall by contrast was a much sharper grey limestone that cut into your fingers like tiny piranha teeth but made for some super sticky rock almost impossible to slip off of.  Though it was still mostly in the shade, it did offer a very sunny ledge to belay off of or just hang out and get the feeling back in your extremities.  By this time the wind had died down quite a bit and made for a pretty enjoyable afternoon.  Tired and a little beaten down from Cathedral, I hung at the top of Pocketline to the Moon to take pictures of Marie onsighting the diagonal maze of sharp and tricky pockets.  Brent got himself a little jumbled mid-sequence but finished the route strong after one hang.

Marie on Pocketline to the Moon (11b/c)

 After a big bonfire in which my friend Scott lost a puffy jacket due to a wind gust (that hurt the wallet), and some really good Easter candy after dinner, we got a great night's sleep and woke up excited to travel a little farther into the Utah Hills in search of Kelly's Rock.  Scott tagged along for the ride with Brent, Marie, and I and soon we were climbing on some of THE SHARPEST limestone we have ever gripped.  Motivation alone for not falling on routes, was the thought of nicely filet-ing open fingers, palms, and knees should you make a mistake and fly.  This stuff was stickier than fresh tar on a hot day but required the gentlest touch lest your fingers end up like lil' pin cushions.  Nonetheless, the routes were far more enjoyable due to much more manageable weather.  We climbed such classics as K8 (named one of the best routes in Utah and renamed Broken Glass Bottle by Brent), Czech Frogs Say Qua, and a very, very fun steep line called The Zealot.  After a great day of climbing, Brent treated to some hot Little Caeser's pizza.

Juan on Zealot (12c)

On Tuesday, we revisited Turtle Wall where there was a line I was interested in free-soloing (forgoing rope, harness, and protective gear), a very fun route I had previously done with Marie called Banana Dance.  The particular formation of the rock at Turtle Wall actually lends itself to a pretty nice top-out, making it unnecessary to downclimb some of the routes.  But as it turned out, Banana Dance had a pretty nasty top-out at the anchors and so instead I soloed the route next to it called Farmer's Market, which had a really fun stem (standing with your feet propped between two walls) in the middle of the two half-arches of Turtle Wall at the top-out.  Because of the obvious risk in soloing, it not something I practice often, but when I get psyched to do it, it is a really fun experience.

Free-soloing Farmer's Market (11-)

Brent again joined us later in the day with his Salt Lake City crew in tow.  And of all the places in the world to run into people, we met a very nice couple who own a bouldering gym in Colombia and as it turns out, I had climbed with friends of theirs in Bogota and Bucaramanga last year.  We were all spread out at the crag sharing beta, and conversing in Spanish and English, when all of a sudden, tired, and a bit uninspired from previous falls, Marie all of a sudden up and sent her 2nd 12a!  A bouldery line called Tortuga that opened up with gently overhanging huecos, to a nasty little finger slot and full on jump to a flat, greasy ledge, and finishing up on vertical side-pulls and edges.  Way to go!  I tried my hand at a equally vicious line called The Actual Parchment 13a, on very overhanging terrain with pretty small edges and pockets on either side of a big rest in the middle.  I worked it down to two cruxes but the route is still a project for the future. 

Thursday was a low motivation day for the both of us, due to 90 degree weather.  It was potentially my last climbing day in St. George because I'm heading to Vegas for the weekend to celebrate my friend Ryan's 30th birthday and Marie and I wanted to see if we could shut down one last project each.  I gave the 13 a few solid goes but the combination of heat and lack of energy shut me down, and after a long walk back out towards Marie's intended project at Chuckawalla (Pilgrimage 12a) we decided to keep walking to a hot spaghetti dinner with Little Caeser's pizza spice instead.

Marie warming up on Director of Humor Affairs (11a)

 -Juan