Indian Creek and Canyonlands!

Yay we're in the Creek!!! Yippee! Yay Horray!

We arrived in the creek on Tuesday the 12th... A week and 2 days ago I guess that is. We have done A LOT since we've been here. Two wonderful hikes, one in Canyonlands National Park and the other to some ruins at the Sparks wall in the Creek, pictured above. We have been cragging a bunch in hopes of remembering how to crack climb... It's going pretty well:)

#1 Thumbalina

#2 Sparkling Touch

"Second tower today... Suckers"

#3 Easter Island

The previous three pictures were taken atop the summit of Liesel's first three desert towers. On April 20th we summitted Thumbalina, Sparkling Touch and Easter Island all on the Bridger Jacks Mesa in Indian Creek! Yay!

Random Photos

We have been trying to keep the photos organized but it is getting hard to keep track of some of our favorites. I'm gonna post some here so they are easy to find and you can enjoy them.

Alex Bridgewater on the Southwest Arete of Grandma Peabody in the Buttermilks. Dave and I are peaking over the edge.

Tom Seymour rockin a serious 80's style on Jedi Mind Tricks.

Siebe Vanhee atop Grandma... Alex and I climbing down... Dave is already on another climb!

The highstep on Jedi... I loved that thing so much I did it twice:)

A beautiful angle of Alex sending Jedi with a setting sun.

Rest, Relax, and Reorganize!

Ahhh Bishop:)

I am blown away by how fast time is flying, it's already April! I suppose that's just how it goes when you are on the road. It's now on to the second part of the trip, using actual ropes and getting

on some walls! What a great time to reflect on the great experiences we have already had.

We found ourselves leaving Bishop and making our way to the front range for a few errands which couldn't be forgotten (i.e. registering the car). On the way we stopped in Salt Lake City to visit with some friends and family which allowed us to climb in Little Cottonwood Canyon for a day, and spend a few days in Joe's Valley.

It's fantastically wild to return to Colorado with wonderful weather when we left it with feet of snow just a few short months ago. Spring is truly here, and I'm loving every day of it. We have had a few days to rest and relax, perhaps do a little climbing as well. Since we have figured out what we really truly need this has also been the perfect opportunity to do a little reorganization and ditch the less essential things.

We are off to Indian Creek... Tomorrow!

This blank wall is Stained Glass (V10) after Kevin sent it... 2 week project!

Working Moon Arete (V9) at Horsetooth Reservoir in Fort Collins, CO.

Beautiful Joe's Valley sandstone!

Little Cottonwood, UT!

Friends are Here!

Admittedly I have been slacking on updating this thinger here, but the climbing has been SO GOOD! We have been very busy climbing here in Bishop during the past month and especially the past 2 weeks or so. We have been lucky enough to enjoy the company of a whole slew of friends both old and new.

The weather has also been somewhat fickle of late and today we are forced to spend the day indoors for a much needed rest day to regrow skin and psych. It's not hard to be psyched when you are surrounded by such a great community of climbers. This week has been somewhat of a reunion of climbers I met during my time abroad last winter in both Spain and Mexico. It is a wonderful thing that people from different places and backgrounds are coming together, motivated by climbing these rocks and sharing intercultural experiences with one another... It's

just neat:) The campsite is crowded with people speaking different dialects of English and many different accents, I think there were 13 of us around the campfire last night! It's wild how small the world seems when I'm running into the same people coincidentally in different countries and on different continents.

The picture above and the two below were expertly taken by our friend Steve Marcil.

If you're bored to death at work or something, check out our friend Christine's Blog.

http://christinebalaz.blogspot.com/

Also David's blog is pretty entertaining sometimes.

http://varmlandsmaskinen.blogspot.com/

One Month on the Road

Yesterday marked one month since we left Durango on our winter trip 2011. We have been hanging out in the Buttermilks of Bishop, CA for the most part.

Bouldering is the name of the game in Bishop, we have yet to rope up in the nearby Owens River Gorge due to the mass amount of high quality boulder problems found in the hills around Bishop.

I guess this is an opportunity to spray about the sends we have each had on the trip:) For me it has been a great chance to push grades in bouldering and get stronger. I am happy with the progress I have made this first month in anticipation for the next 2 months ahead. So far this trip I've sent 3 V8 problems, 4 V7 problems, about 10 each of v6 and v5 problems as well as more in lesser grades. Highlights for me are Strength in Numbers - V5, Saigon - V6, High Plains Drifter - V7 and a flash of Tut Traverse - V8. I also was happy to take the North Face Direct (V2) to the top of Grandma Peabody, it's about 35 feet high! Pictured above is one of my proudest send of the trip, Brian's Project - V8.
Liesel has been crushing as well:) She quickly dispatched all of her left over projects from the spring including classics Solarium - V4 and Hauck a Loogie - V3. Just yesterday she sent her first V5 of the trip Milk the Milks (stand) in good style, the picture above is during the send. She's now got her sights set on Saigon, a beautiful and tall line standing above the Buttermilks 25+ feet and going at V6.

Much love to our friends and family, it was a great vacation from the vacation seeing Jim (Liesel's dad) in Las Vegas... Cirque du Soleil's production of Ka is totally sweet!

Resting...

Liesel and I have been in Bishop for a week and a half now, the climbing has been AMAZING and the community and weather have been equally wonderful. We have been on a schedule of two days on, one day off for climbing. On rest days we generally go for a run, for the rest of the week we will be going one on, one off in hopes of doing some real recovery from the beginning of our time here in Bishop.

This morning I stumbled across a blog posting from Chris Sharma that touched upon this subject, he wrote:

"It's nice to find this balance here. One of the biggest challenges living here in such a climbing mecca is that its easy to end up climbing too much. It's normal when you go on a trip and you want to climb everyday to maximize your time and get as much in, in the 3 weeks that you have. But being here longterm I often find myself so beat up from so many day and months in a row with very little rest. For me learning to not feel obligated to go climbing even though there are 50 projects waiting to be done right out my door, has been key to sustaining my motivation over a long period of time."

We have only been here for a week and a half, but I am really focused on sustaining the psyche and motivation required to achieve personally high level goals. I have not specifically bouldered this much ever, I have not purely climbed any discipline as much as I have for the past year and a half. So basically this all boils down to today we are resting... tomorrow BUTTERMILKS:)

Here are some videos from Jason Chinchen of the climbing in the Tablelands of Bishop:

http://www.deadpointmag.com/climbing-videos/watch/strength-numbers-v5

http://vimeo.com/18961597

And check out Jason's ongoing blog at

http://www.sierrasalve.com/sierra-salve-blog.html

and pick up some Sierra Salve at your local gear shop... Durangotangs can find it at Pine Needle Mountaineering and the Rock Lounge climbing gym very soon.

Now everyone motivate and have a rest day!!! from whatever your doing:)

We're in Bishop, California!

We've made it to Bishop, CA where we will be calling home base for at least the next 4 months. Along the way we stopped for a short bouldering stop in St. George, UT. On the first morning we were there we ran into Dovid, Bumby and their two house mates Elizabeth and Andrew. Dovid and Christine (Bumby) are some great friends I met out in Spain, it's always great to make unexpected encounters on the road.

Dovid made quick work of Bazooka Tooth (V10) and everyone had a great day of bouldering, mud skating and hiding from the desert sun. It was a shocking transition from 20 degree Durango to 60 degree St. George, the desert sun is STRONG!!

On Monday evening January 18th we arrived in Bishop and found the Buttermilks to be too snowy upon arrival so off to the Pit for us and a day at the Happy Boulders!!! (Not too bad a consolation from the Buttermilks:)) The Happies are a Welded Tuff climbers dream! Within an hour of climbing in the Happies we had already made friends, met climbing partners and run into old friends we didn't expect to see along the way. Local climber and business owner Jason Chinchen let us in on some of the new stuff being put up and we enjoyed another hot day in the desert sun. Liesel and I both sent our leftover projects and the highlight for me was a sunsplashed send of Karma (V6/7)... AMAZING!

-Kevin and Liesel