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clausti
Dec 31, 2006, 5:19 PM
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Episode I
Balancing a redbull on my knee, I pop the top with one hand and steer with the other. My phone is in my lap, my ipod on the dash, trailing tether to the tape deck. I am in southern Georgia, around mile marker 50 on 75 North. What this means is that I have already been driving for two and a half hours, I have 300 more miles of I-75, in GA alone, and I have three more states to traverse before I stop for the night. And so begins my trip, on December 28, 2006. Origin: the dirty south. Destination: west, young man. the great unknown.
I’d hung up my shiny new college diploma at my parents’ house the day before. It was the icing on my meticulous packing job for three small bins, seven large bins, and one cargo box with everything I was going to have for the next eight months. I had, concealed in the containers, an immaculate trad rack, a well loved sport rack, and two crash pads.
The two crash pads have some interesting decorations—original art. My sister painted a dragon on each to represent fire and ice. To her dismay, I promptly named the male fire dragon Seahorse, since she wouldn’t paint me dragon puppies to go next to him. The lady ice dragon is FebTober, in honor of all “Months that start with Feb.”
I met wjca along the way for coffee, several states into my trip and in dire need of a break. After a frantic, ranting phone call concerning which highway joins with what where and exit numbers towards downtown, he suggested that perhaps a beer might be better than MORE caffeine. I agreed that a hamburger and a beer sounded like a good idea, and we went to a neat pub and proceeded to have dinner like normal human beings. Wjca! a normal human being! Scandalous.
Finally pulling into a fellow climber’s apartment as a waypoint for the evening, deep into corn country, I stopped for the night. Three short hours in the morning and I’d be to my grandmother’s house, where I’ll stop for a couple weeks and hang out with my corn-country family. And then! Colorado! Magical land of hope and wonder! chhhharrrrlllie.
To Be Continued….
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lisamariewillbe
Dec 31, 2006, 6:17 PM
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In reply to: Wjca! a normal human being! Scandalous.
You wont be saying this when your trip report includes Austin  ... it will appear more like...
In reply to: Ummmm Lisamarie uhhh cant put it in print as it may be illigal in 28 states and Im not sure which ones 
Have a safe trip and give me a few hour notice so I can have some non-road food ready for ya. 
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rock_fencer
Dec 31, 2006, 6:18 PM
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ah the joys of leaving South Carolina! Have fun
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ryanb
Dec 31, 2006, 7:18 PM
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Those unicron's are off the hook!
'tis the season for roadtrips. So Cal for me then who knows. Have fun on yours.
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wjca
Jan 2, 2007, 2:14 PM
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clausti wrote: we went to a neat pub and proceeded to have dinner like normal human beings. Wjca! a normal human being! Scandalous.
I'm not sure who you had dinner with, but it certainly wasn't me. How would anyone believe I was actually a normal person. You must have been imagining things. Good luck on your trip nonetheless.
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flamer
Jan 7, 2007, 10:37 PM
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clausti wrote: And then! Colorado!
When you make it this far (or a couple days ahead of time!)
Drop in to the Front range partners thread and let us know...there's a good group there. You'll find partners and maybe place's to stay.
Unfortunately this site chased most folks away...so you might try the front range thread @ "splinterchoss.com".
Good luck and have fun.
josh
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anykineclimb
Jan 7, 2007, 11:06 PM
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um, thats splitterchoss.com
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clarki
Jan 8, 2007, 12:08 AM
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Hey,
I am so glad to see you happy and on a road trip!! After watching you nearly end your active life last fall at Hound Ears it is awsome that you are climbing again!!!!
Just watch out for those Hillbilly hot tubs eh?
John
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clausti
Jan 8, 2007, 2:55 AM
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hey dude!
i will be damn sure to drop a line in when i am headed out to CO in spring/summer.
i thought i was going to be up in ouray for a bit via durango and playin in the snow, but no snow angles for me.
be in hueco the night of the 13th though.
clarki- i'll be back to NC once i properly learn to get my trad on. :D
(This post was edited by clausti on Jan 8, 2007, 2:58 AM)
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flamer
Jan 8, 2007, 2:31 PM
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anykineclimb wrote: um, thats splitterchoss.com
OOPS! Thanks bro!
josh
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shorty
Jan 8, 2007, 4:43 PM
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clausti wrote: And then! Colorado!
flamer wrote: Unfortunately this site chased most folks away...so you might try the front range thread @ " splinterchoss.com".
anykineclimb wrote: um, thats splitterchoss.com
Crafty use of diction by flamer, or innocent typing error. You be the judge.
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flamer
Jan 9, 2007, 12:39 AM
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shorty wrote: clausti wrote: And then! Colorado! flamer wrote: Unfortunately this site chased most folks away...so you might try the front range thread @ " splinterchoss.com". anykineclimb wrote: um, thats splitterchoss.com Crafty use of diction by flamer, or innocent typing error. You be the judge.
...come on everybody knows I can't type!!
josh
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clausti
Jan 20, 2007, 3:10 AM
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Episode 2
They were all in love with dyin’ they were doin’ it in Texas…
I had the best directions in the world to Hueco Tanks. yay mapquest. I had them all written in my notebook, down to the mileage and everything every road was called. Apparently Texas and Florida had a conference where they decided to name every non-interstate by four 3-digit numbers and a dead guy. The sad part of my directions was that the morning I was slated to leave Illinois, (after spending a very enjoyable 24 hours with neuroshock enjoying Chi-town pizza and China-town specialties and a less consistently enjoyable but still worthy 2 weeks with family) there was this ice storm. Big nasty ice storm sitting on I-44 west. The very sad part of my directions was the 740+ miles that I was supposed to be on I-44 west. Lucky for me, I had “real time tech support” in the form of Camhead and his internet, weather.com and more mapquest. He directed me farther and farther south to miss the storm, concluding my first day 15 hours into the drive in Waco, Texas. I said goodnight to Camhead, “Don’t get snowed in!” and crashed in the first hotel I’ve ever checked myself into alone.
From Waco, I cut out on a Texas highway aiming to pick up I-10 due west. This started out a four lane thoroughfare but swiftly became something that, to all appearances, was solely dedicated to ranch access and oil trucks. I have never seen a two lane road with a speed limit over 55. This one was 70, I was doing it, and I got passed. By the one car I saw going my direction in one 60 mile stretch. The geography slowly morphed from recognizable if a little scrubby to what I can only relate as utterly bizarre. Stratified hills broke flat, flat expanses and the ground was covered in “crappy little bushes” everywhere. My mother laughs through the phone at me, in between losing my signal 15 times. It is still cloudy, with the remnants of the morbid ice storm from farther north (39 dead last I saw a newspaper) obstructing my view of the fabled west Texas sky. Eventually I hit I-10 and the sky makes up for its sullenness through the rest of my trip by breaking clear as I crest a rise and setting in colors I’d only seen on movie screens. Even pictures from my cell phone are enchanting. The truckers and I play leapfrog into the night as I proceed to El Paso, skirt the city and head back out into the cold desert toward the Rock Ranch.
I get the directions to the Hueco Rock Ranch totally correct except for actually turning into the campground from the dirt road it sits on. I creep farther down the road, peering for signs and remembering everything everyone said about it being hard to find in the dark. The signs were clear till this point, and I figure I won’t miss it. The road becomes a trail. I look at it and decide that it is a far better road than the switchbacks to Rocktown before they paved them, and that it could conceivably still shelter a climbing scene. Half a mile down the trail I conclude that I am dead wrong, curse my two wheel drive CRV and the 11 hours I’ve driven that day to make me hazy. I flick on my brights, searching for a place to turn around, even something wide enough to execute a million-point turn. Nothing, and then I come upon a wash that I can’t clear. I pull my car as far to the side of the rut that I can, suck it up, and pray I don’t kill any of the poor, crappy, little bushes in my U-turn. Drive back up the road, and my lights fall upon a man, standing at the end of his driveway, holding what I will swear is a lasso. Maybe it was a dog leash, but it looked like stiff rope. “Hey!” I call, “do you know where the Rock Ranch is?” “Sure, see that light? the yellow one. Pull right up there and you can’t miss it on the right.”
Pull up, stumble in, find out I pay for camping in the morning, am graciously offered beer by one Gail (not Australian Gail for the Red River-ers). Hang out for a bit, ‘bout pass out in a chair and go outside to explore. I find the barn, and find out it has internet. Because I am a huge dork, that is how Camhead finds me. Sitting on the couch in the barn, on the internet.
It is freezing-ass cold, and proceeds to be freezing-ass cold through the next two days of climbing. Day one was sunny and warm enough, day two was pushing it with the clouds.
Climbing: I had climbed once (at the LRC comp) since my accident in October and the resulting back injury. I hadn’t let my feet get more than 5 feet off the ground. In Hueco, I eye the warm-ups, none too easy for me in my present condition, and higher than I’m psyched about to top out. Camhead looks me in the eyes and earnestly swears he has my spot, on anything I want to top out, at any point I feel like down-climbing. He proves his word through the rest of the day of working ourselves to death on the unique Hueco stone. The hardest thing I did that day was V2, but I was sore and proud.
Paul during the 5 minutes of sunshine in Hueco
Day two, more warm-ups and one of the most beautiful hand cracks I’ve ever seen. ~30 feet of arching onsighted perfection that the guidebook gives V1.
Day three: even colder. We spilled water on the tailgate of his truck and it froze slick and black in minutes. We decide that it’s a rest day, head into a crowded coffee shop, and check out the ever-worsening weather forecast for El Paso. Arizona, we decide. It looks sunny and warm. Too bad I picked up a screw in my (flat) tire on the way to Tucson for a guidebook to Cochise Stronghold and we waste the next morning at a scummy but surprisingly friendly truckstop-tireplace-diner getting my tire outpatient surgery.
Guidebook obtained in Tucson via a call to Curt for the name of an outfitter, we roll into the campground for east Cochise Stronghold at dusk, and setting in with visions of granite to dance in our heads. Still cold but soooo much warmer than Hueco. Camhead comments that snacks like the peanut butter and nuttella I’m slathering my graham crackers with are even more awesome for “winter camping” I look at him and denounce THIS as “winter camping.” Water froze=winter. Duh.
Dawn comes like the seal on a lover’s promise. The granite is cool, but the sun comes out in tender patches. We alternate leads onsighting 3 single pitch 5.9 trad lines, getting used to each other’s style and commands, with Camhead taking the first lead. It’s short, but all the good pro is in the first half. He ekes out one more marginal placement and sings dippy songs to allay nervousness (his and mine). He lowers, and I try a slightly more direct line to the anchors, which would have been headier, but not harder. Luckily, with such little pro on the top of the route, I had a great amount of freedom of movement to find my own route, even if I was cleaning! Second lead, mine. The dome is named for this climb “Bat’s Line.” The first 45 feet are the most beautiful hands-to-fists crack behind a ramp. two cruxy moves to clip a bolt, and then the real fun begins. The climb is very moderate technical slab climbing with little pro but a clear line of least resistance up until 10 feet from the anchors. At that stance, I can slap my hand up and it falls 18 inches shy of my chains. My last pro is a #5 BD stopper 15 feet below my feet balanced between two crystals in a groove. “Maybe it’s a mantle!” Camhead yells. “It better not be a damn mantle!” I cry. It is a damn mantle. The high step, thump press, high hand on nubbin type of stare at the ground shit your pants mantle that you really would rather not do on your first lead in 4 months with the pro you know you (don’t) have, but hey. you’re 10 feet from the damn anchors and you should just breathe. I step up. As proud as I have ever been of myself, I do not grab the chains. Me and Mr. Nubbin still best friends, I clip the anchor and whoop to below.
Camhead follows flawlessly, and leads the next climb, the hardest of the three so far. As I follow, I see a second set of anchors above a face line I want to try, so I do. It isn't in our guide, but we both best guess it to be ~10+ (top-rope flashes). It was a fantastic, physical finish to a fantastic day. The sun sets as we roll into town for water and beer. Yippe ki-yay indeed. Fire here we come. Beer, here we come. Too bad it would rain tomorrow…
To be continued….
(This post was edited by clausti on Jan 21, 2007, 5:31 PM)
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tradrenn
Jan 20, 2007, 3:52 AM
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I'm glad you are having fun.
Any chance you will come visit us in Ontario ? ( once it gets warmer )
WR
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curt
Jan 20, 2007, 4:38 AM
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clausti wrote: ...Climbing: I had climbed once (at the LRC comp) since my accident in October and the resulting back injury. I hadn’t let my feet get more than 5 feet off the ground. In Hueco, I eye the warm-ups, none too easy for me in my present condition, and higher than I’m psyched about to top out. Camhead looks me in the eyes and earnestly swears he has my spot, on anything I want to top out, at any point I feel like down-climbing. He proves his word through the rest of the day of working ourselves to death on the unique Hueco stone. The hardest thing I did that day was V2, but I was sore and proud.….
I guess the El Murrays were out of the question then, eh?
Curt
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bandycoot
Jan 20, 2007, 5:31 AM
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So, is that "immaculate trad rack" from the first post less immaculate yet? Are you going to make it out to California on the road trip? That's where all the GOOD trad is....
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clausti
Jan 20, 2007, 8:07 PM
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Episode 3a
Nothing says southern Arizona like 2” of snow…
One brilliant day on granite, and one day of rain so far at Cochise Stronghold. We eat meatloaf and chicken-fried steak at a charming diner in Sunsites, AZ, and on the way back to camp, we’re slipping around on the dirt [“Use at your own risk! Road not regularly maintained!”] and Camhead (Paul) says “Is that snow?”
“Is that snow?” is not what I want to hear less than 50 miles from Mexico. Especially when it is, in fact, snow. Especially when it keeps snowing all night, and you wake up in the morning to between 1.5 and 2 inches on all exposed surfaces. I flip out. I’ve seen this much snow only once in the last ten years, and, damn it all, it is NOT supposed to snow here. I run around like an idiot with my camera snapping pictures of snow covered cacti while Paul scoops up snow to melt for coffee and hot chocolate (his and mine, respectively, as I don’t actually need caffeine to be a hyper in the morning), and so then I snap pictures of that and giggle at melting snow.
How much snow was there??
snow covered cacti!
proof we were actually in AZ...
water not from our jug...
Once the OMGSNOW has worn off, and we come to the painful realization that we are not climbing today, we call Curt. We bitch about the weather, and beg dirtbag couch surfing privilege at his place, and a bouldering escort for tomorrow. He says sure, come on up, and off we go….
To be continued…
(This post was edited by clausti on Jan 21, 2007, 5:35 PM)
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clausti
Jan 20, 2007, 8:12 PM
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bandycoot wrote: So, is that "immaculate trad rack" from the first post less immaculate yet? Are you going to make it out to California on the road trip? That's where all the GOOD trad is....
some of it has a little love on it now! but all of the routes that we lead the first day at cochise were pretty R, so not much of it, hehe.
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sidepull
Jan 20, 2007, 9:45 PM
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fun read - nicely written.
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mr8615
Jan 20, 2007, 10:01 PM
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I miss you, cla! I hope your adventure continues safely! Gimme a call sometime.
Mark
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bandycoot
Jan 22, 2007, 4:44 AM
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Sweet. If you make it out to J-Tree let me know. Maybe I can show you a few good crack climbs that aren't R rated. As for the "sport" routes, I can't say the same thing. J-Tree monzonite is great for marking up gear by the way...
Josh
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climbsomething
Jan 22, 2007, 5:05 AM
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So, did you cats make it to Oak Flat this weekend? If you did, well... uh, at least you had Curt to hang with! (it's choss but it's his choss)
As Curt has since figured out, I couldn't convince Alex to leave his Warcraft and AFC/NFC conference championship games to leave the Casa de Hillary... which is hemmed in by knee-deep snow, growing deeper with every key I strike.
BUT we are in fact coming to his birfday party in a couple of weeks with other rc.com glitterati. In the weekend in between, I'd like to invite you and camhead to come up north and play on some Jacks limestone, if it isn't too cold. Jacks is about 1,000+ feet lower in elevation than Flag, so the snow accumulation is much less. Freezing one's balls off is still a distinct possibility, though. But keep an eye on the weather and think about it! We will have fun.
And if it is too cold to climb, come anyway, we'll go play in the snow- sledding, snowshoeing, and XC skiing are all open for business. Don't know if the downhill resort will be open by then, but I am a sad individual on alpine skis anyway. I am a total gumby on snow in general but I have a tendency toward embarassing myself in front of rc.com visitors so whatever. I have spare snow pants and long janes in size girls' small (for clausti, not camhead- sorry Paul, I know you'd love to strut in my pink lacey-cuffed long janes) and a few neck gaiters, gloves, etc. We have a spare bed and bath and some loving kitties who would love to purr on some different heads. We also have a BVB and the Monte Vista lounge, neither of which should be missed.
So yeah... doo eeeeet. Flag rules, all year round.
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climbsomething
Jan 22, 2007, 5:26 AM
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More for the OMG SNOW rib-poking...
http://www.flagstaffnordiccenter.com/
You can also XC ski and snowshoe in the open forest but since I'm a hapless n00b I'd need rental gear and supervision. Sledding is also free for the most part. But let's not be ghetto and tube down the drainage behind the Motel 6. Ew, frozen bum piss.
I don't have any current snow pics but it's knee-deep in town, more or less. It's been on the ground since November and I'm still not over it.
The cats are, though. This is early in the season, when we still had porch steps...
*poke poke*
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acacongua
Jan 22, 2007, 3:40 PM
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clausti wrote: We eat meatloaf and chicken-fried steak at a
Paul ate that?
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