Separate Ways

Ahhhh!!  We are so behind on our blog.  The last two and a half weeks have been completely packed, with the big photo shoot, family, friends, and great climbing.

After climbing at Dierke's Lake, Juan & I headed up to Boise on Monday for a night, to shower, go out for some drinks, and break up our drive.  Juan found a spot called the Red Feather Lounge, and we lucked out by having a really cool bartender who was into climbing and was planning a trip to Smith soon!  We talked with him a lot and gave him all the local beta, and in thanks he comped us a round of delicious cocktails.  The next day we drove about an hour and a half to the no-stoplight town of Jordan Valley just over the Oregon state line, where we were to meet up with the Vibram crew for the photo shoot.  That afternoon their cars rolled in:  Mark & Chantelle, the husband & wife casting/photo team, and their assistant Sam(antha) from Portland; Georgia, Jon, and P.J. (the third model) from Vibram's Boston offices; and Rafaela and Irene from Vibram Italy.  We were so excited to meet everyone after all the anticipation and planning of the last few weeks!

After getting a bite at the JV Cafe, I was handed a trail-running type outfit and a pair of Vibram FiveFingers to change into, and we set off for our first shoot!  We left our van in Jordan Valley, as it would not be able to handle the off-roading, and carpooled in an SUV and a truck.  The first shots we did were of me looking over the edge of a beautiful gorge on our way to where we were going to camp for the night.  Thirty miles of rugged dirt roads and a few river crossings later, we'd arrived at our first campsite, the Three Forks site along the Owyhee River.  Our jaws dropped when we saw the river canyon, and Chantelle pointed out some beautiful waterfalls flowing into the Owyhee on the other side, saying we'd be doing a lot of shooting there the next day.  And, wait for it...those waterfalls flowed from hot springs!  So basically we were gonna be playing in hot springs in a stunning, remote river canyon, getting our pictures taken, and getting paid for it.  Best.  Job.  Ever!!!!

One of several river crossings on our way

Stunning view over the Owyhee

View of the hot springs across the Owyhee Canyon

The next couple days were a blast.  As the cameras snapped away, we kayaked across the river, hiked the hot springs, swam under waterfalls, cliff-dove into the freezing Owyhee River (Juan), and chilled around the camp.  The down time was fun too, especially with Chantelle's delicious homemade cooking (sample dinner menu:  vegetarian chili with cornbread, spinach/onion/roasted hazelnut salad, and strawberry-rhubarb pie), free flowing alcohol (she even brought everyone margaritas in our tents when the weather was stormy the second night!), and a really interesting group of people with amazing stories to tell.

Our tent village

Getting ready for the first day's shoot:  (l-r) me, P.J., Sam, Georgia, Jon, and Rafaela

Mark shoots Juan under a waterfall

The third day after getting some morning-light shots, we packed up the gear and set off for our next location.  However, since it had poured the night before, the already steep, rocky roads were now extremely muddy.  We fishtailed left and right the entire way out, and were all white-knuckled a couple times, bracing ourselves as the car veered dangerously close to cows and ditches on the side of the road.  It was an impressive feat that both Chantelle and Mark managed to get us all out of there unscathed!  The cars looked like they had just been mud-wrestling.  We dropped off the Boston/Italy crew in Jordan Valley, as they had flights to catch out of Boise, and drove out to a place called Leslie Gulch.

Juan & I were so pumped when we learned we were going to get to visit, and possibly climb at, Leslie Gulch as part of this job.  Back at Dierke's Lake, local legend Dave Bingham had sung its praise and implored us to go there when we were in the area.  Sure enough, when we got there and saw all the volcanic tuff rising out of grassy hillsides like castles, we felt strangely at home.  The area reminded us of our home crag, Smith Rock, but had its own unique features too.  The tuff had more huecos, with many entire walls full of them, and many free-standing spires and pinnacles of all shapes and sizes.

We didn't end up climbing in Leslie Gulch, but we had a great time hiking, scrambling, and chimneying our way around.  We set up a long slackline between two huge boulders and Mark got some great shots of us walking it (as well as falling off!).  He also took some fun ones of us goofing around the campsite, with Juan slinging me over his shoulder and running off, me doing handstands, etc.  We enjoyed a last dinner and wine with our fellow Portlanders before heading our separate ways the next day.

Mark getting a worm's-eye view

Juan hiking in Leslie Gulch

If I were a photographer, I would want Sam as my assistant!

It was such a privilege to be able to work with such a professional yet fun group of people in such incredible locations we might never otherwise see.  Without a doubt, the funnest job we'd ever done.  Thank you to all the Vibram crew, Mark, Chantelle, and Sam, and perhaps most of all Juan's good friend Jackie back in Portland who alerted us to the casting call for this job!

After hugs and goodbyes, we headed back to Boise.  I showered, for the benefit of my family, who hadn't smelled seen me in a while, and we got our "leaving-town" ice cream at Ben & Jerry's.  Then Juan dropped me off at the airport to go to my brother's graduation in Ohio, and he started the long drive to Colorado.

Memorial Day weekend, for me, involved a refreshing dose of family (my dad, brother Joe, sisters Elly & Kate, bro-in-law Rob, niece Adira, grandma, and Aunt Paula) and food (barbecues and pizza, mostly!).  Joe has finally finished at Oberlin College - congratulations JoeBro!!!  He was involved in many different activities on campus, and we got to experience a lot of them with him that weekend, including break-dancing, swing-dancing, soccer, cooking pizzas both at the Kosher/Halal co-op on campus and at Magpie Pizza where he worked, and more.  A major highlight was seeing Adira walk (she just started a couple weeks prior)...she is a bundle of joy!  The graduation ceremony itself was long, as they all are, but we got to play with "Diri" the whole time, so no complaints.

Out for pizza at Magpie (l-r Joe, Elly, me, Dad, Aunt Paula, & Nana)

Joe busts a move with a young fan after his hip-hop show

Rob, Adira, and Kate at Joe's place in Ohio

Adira walks with her grandpa!

Playing with Adira at the graduation ceremony

I flew back to Colorado with my family, then spent a day and a half with Juan, Adam, & Ali in Denver (he'll tell you about all that) before re-joining the fam in Fort Collins.  Kate & Diri visited for a few days after the graduation before heading back to St. Louis.  We kept busy:  we brought Diri and our dog Gabe to every park or playground in a 5-mile radius of the house, I worked on continuing my mom's scrapbooks (it was her passion and she was unable to finish them when she was sick last year), filing my taxes (I got an extension) and just relaxing with my siblings.

Joe & Diri at the playground

On Saturday, I went bouldering at nearby Horsetooth Reservoir with my friend Le, a local I met at Inner Strength climbing gym last year.  It was a beautiful sunny day, and not crowded.  No big sends for me - the fun Punk Rock Traverse (V5) remains a project for now, though I am really close to getting it.  If you plan on visiting the area, check out the awesome free guidebooks available from the Northern Colorado Climber's Coalition.

Le on Corner Lunge on the Eliminator Boulder

Me on Curving Crack

That night, the doorbell rang and it was Juan!  He arrived just in time to chow down on homemade Muddy Buddies and watch a movie, and gave me an excuse to postpone finishing my taxes :)  On Sunday we took Diri and Gabe on a hike down to the water at Horsetooth, brought Diri to a petting zoo/farm, Joe cooked us all pizza (YUM!), Kate & I made a chocolate cake, and we had a family party.  The party was a combined celebration (in the traditional Brophy style!) of Joe's graduation, my (belated) birthday, Kate's birthday (June 14th), and Father's Day.  Juan also gave the van some much-needed TLC:  a wash, an oil change, and a thorough vacuuming.

On Monday, after bringing Kate & Adira to the airport, Juan, Joe, Elly, & I went out for ice cream and a stroll in downtown Fort Collins, then met my dad for beers and pool at Old Chicago before coming home for more beers, "Wedding Crashers", and pool - I think the score was as follows:  Juan 2, my dad 1, Joe 0.  Impressive, as my dad is quite the pool shark!

Hike at Horsetooth

At my dad's

On Tuesday, Juan, Joe, Elly, and I slid down just about every slide at Water World and it was the best rest-day activity I can imagine for a 90-degree day :)  One of our favorites was The Revolution, which Juan described as "being flushed down a giant toilet bowl".  On Wednesday we went out to climb with Le at the Upper Echelon wall in the Poudre Canyon (details in our next post), and we are so psyched for the weekend, when our friend Todd is flying in from Portland to visit!

Till next time,
Marie




After dropping Marie off at the airport in Boise, I started the long drive to Ft. Collins. The plan was to get there and hang around until Marie got back in a few days from her brother's graduation and continue climbing.

A few miles after I had crossed into Wyoming I got a call from my buddy Adam, who lives in Denver with his girlfriend Ali. I thought I might be able to meet up with him for some limestone climbing in Ten Sleep but it turned out there was a bad weather system moving through.  Instead he offered me a spot in his friend Jaime's Element and a chance to go climbing with them in Penitente, located in south central Colorado, and then onto New Mexico before heading back to Denver. The only problem? They were leaving the following morning around 7a.m. The GPS gave an ETA of 3:30 a.m. from where I was at the time of the phone call, and Denver was still a good hour away farther south than Ft. Collins. Well, I should have expected this. The last few times I've met up with Adam, they've all been on the heels of other climbing trips involving heinous back-to-back travel times to meet up and climb. There was the time I got off the plane in Portland from Colombia only to get in the car a few hours later the same day and drive to Wyoming for a weekend of climbing in Ten Sleep. Or the time Marie and I got off the plane in Las Vegas and got in the car for a drive to Tucson to climb with Adam in Mt. Lemmon. But, climbing with Adam and his friends is always a guaranteed good time, on great rock, and lots of laughs, not to mention the chance you'll get your picture taken by one of the best photographers in the biz.

After waking up from a 3 hour nap at a rest stop, I reached Ft. Collins in 2 hours, dropped off some of Marie's things at her father's house, grabbed some lunch meat and snacks from the fridge to keep me awake, and 15 minutes later I was on my way to Denver, nerves shot and bleary eyed to meet up with Adam and Jaime for the 4 hour drive to Penitente.

Los Hermanos de la Weenie Way, Jaime and Adam

If your preferred style of climbing involves caves, or steep terrain, mini-jugs, and bucket holds, then Penitente will beat you down harder than a Chuck Norris ground-n-pound. However, if you like vertical climbing on mega technical terrain, with shallow crimp pockets and forced sequences with the occasional flake or blank slab to lure you into more menacing terrain, then this is your palace. The canyon is made up of two sides of welded tuff boulders ranging from 40 to 60 foot routes all containing the previously mentioned terrain. The climbing is tough on the tendons and relentless on the mind as you drag your belly up hold-your-breath sequences to the anchors. I still managed to walk away with a few decent sends on some really beautiful lines like Sister of Mercy 12b, Los Hermanos de la Weenie Way 11c, Rocket Man 11c, Not My Cross to Bare 11a, and Dazed and Confused 12a. You can read and see more pictures about this peculiar canyon in Adam's blog here.


On our third morning at Penitente we decided to skip New Mexico due to Adam's finger injury on Sister of Mercy. We hung around to watch Brett "Diesel" Merlin make an epic send of one of Penitente's most proud lines and pure lines, Bullet the Blue Sky 12c (sandbagged).

Adam on Sister of Mercy, the route that did his finger in.

Back in Denver I had a couple days of rest playing with Adam's dog Hank and meeting other kids in Adam's Colorado crew. We went out to have a few drinks in different local spots around town, including dangerously delicious Moscow Mules served in cold copper mugs at the Providence Tavern and plenty of good store-bought beers enjoyed cold down by the Platte river, where Hank would dive in the water and retrieve anything you tossed in. It was at the Platte that I got inspired to do a little "urban climbing" after scoping out a neat line across the river by way of a curved I-beam that supported an overpass. After closely inspecting the intended route, we agreed to come back another day so Adam could photograph it.

On Tuesday I picked up Marie from the airport in Denver. She was supposed to head straight to Ft. Collins with her family and I would catch back up on Thursday, but as bad luck would have it, I had locked my keys in the van on Sunday and Marie had the spare. We came back to Adam's house and had a little cookout with Adam and Ali's friends and we broke out the Mole enchilada recipe for everyone to enjoy. Later that evening, moments after getting in bed, I heard Adam outside catching a couple of punks breaking into his car (for the 2nd time). I ran outside to help my friend and after a short foot chase we managed to scare the little bastards off...never a dull moment with this kid I tell ya.

Wednesday afternoon brought us to the Wall of the 90's located in Clear Creek, a conveniently large canyon with many crags located just a half hour from Adam's house. Even though he had an injured finger and was unable to climb, Adam was still a really nice host offering to take us up to one of his favorite walls and the home of one of his current projects, 10-Digit Dialing, 12c. His buddy Connan, whom I met in Penitente along with his lovely girlfriend Ashley, met up with us for some sends as well. Marie gave an impressive performance onsighting the balance-y Reefer Madness 11a, Curvaceous 11c/d, and very nearly making her first 12a onsight, Wet Dream, falling on a techy crux very near the anchors. After 3 goes, I managed to bear hug my way past the slopey crimps and clip the anchors on the physically demanding crux of 10 Digit Dialing, 12c.

Catching some air on 10-Digit Dialing

Best buddies

Wednesday involved a trip back to the airport to meet Marie's younger sister Elly and her older sister Kate and little niece Adira. Marie would be catching a ride with them back to Ft. Collins while I hung around to do a little stuntin' on the Platte River overpass the following day. After hellos and goodbyes I headed back to Adam's place for more R n' R.

Thursday was "D-Day". Around 7:30pm, Adam, Ali, Connan and I gathered under the overpass to bring our plan for free-soloing the overpass to fruition. You can read about and see pictures of our shenanigans here.

My last day of climbing involved a trip to the infamous Flatirons, huge slabs of hard-as-steel sandstone and conglomerate sandstone tilted upwards by tectonic plate action. Adam was the tour guide and with Connan and his two dogs Kaia and Fred, Adam's dog Hank, and the special guest Tina A.K.A. The Red Panda, whom Ali was watching for a co-worker all headed up the trail towards Dinosaur Mountain. Like a complete idiot, I left my camera at the house so I have no pictures to illustrate how amazing this place was, which of course is to be expected considering that Adam will only take you to top quality crags with 5 star routes and a view to match. Since this is pretty much a home crag among many for Adam, no guidebook was needed. Connan and I got on plenty of super cool overhanging routes with holds ranging from flat shaped, diagonally pointed ledges, to Red River Gorge-like pockets and huecos. Among the highlights was Touch Monkey 11b, and an onsight of The Shaft 12b.

At the end of the day we celebrated Bret "Diesel" Merlin's birthday in Boulder, bar-hopping until the birthday boy puked in the bushes of a pretty upscale hotel before calling it a night.

Saturday Adam and I forwent the Bouldering World Cup at the Teva games due to our laziness and instead spent the day at Connan's cabin building zip lines, slack-lining, and eating McFlurries. In the late afternoon, I got a ride back to Denver and started my drive back up to Ft. Collins to meet up with Marie and her family for a party on Sunday and as Marie mentioned above, a day of water sliding at Water World.

Our stay in Colorado has been a great way to bring this trip to a close. Marie has been spending a great deal of time with her family, and I've been getting no less than royal treatment touring some of Colorado's finest terrain with Adam, Ali, and their hilarious crew of Denver friends. With less than a week left in our journey I'm glad that we have been able to spend as much time as we have with friends and family and hope that we are able to return the favor the next time any of them are in town visiting us.

-Juan