Back at It!

Well, this summer went by amazingly fast and now the season of work is over and my bank account is once again comfortably in the black. I guess its time to go have fun.

I am still in Alaska finishing up a few things, waiting for a few stars to align and making sure my life isn't too complicated before I embark south. Due to a few extenuating circumstances I have managed to remain in Anchorage until the snow has flown and the roads are no quite slick, not really unexpected by mid November. Checking with a few well placed sources scattered about the lower 48 I'm hearing the weather and conditions are good at my "planned" destinations.

While my plans for work to do what I did last summer never blossomed like I had hoped I found another opportunity in the tree service industry which fit my needs while allowing my to remain in Anchorage to continue climbing and retaining a social life which I never really capitalized on until way to late. Such is life. I do get to start this climbing trip in far better climbing shape than I did last year. I'll really only know how much better when I get down there of course.


Another addition/change from last year will be me having a climbing partner for the beginning of my winter in the south. My buddy/climbing partner/colleague will be joining me on my ventures for the better part of the first month. We'll chase summer south and get this ring-tailed lemur of a man on some real rock. Should be fun for all involved.

Well, this will be the trips first blog hopefully followed by many more entertaining entries during this winter sabbatical into maturity avoidance.

North to Alaska

This is it, at least for this trip, this time. I'm leaving North Dakota after visiting family and relaxing after a quick winter of climbing and fun. Back to Alaska I go where I must procure the funds for the next trip. I'm leaving here Monday morning and should be back in Anchorage around the 5th or 6th of March. Its been a fun trip and this last long haul will get me home.
Until next time.

The Long Road Home

Ah, the end is near and with that the long trip back up north approaches quickly. Though, not without a few stops along the way. Since last time I have managed to stay quite busy having fun climbing, skiing and whatnot hence the lack of update.
Where did I leave off...
Bouldering in Bishop was fun along with a little bit of sport climbing in Owens River Gorge. The weather was beautiful and it was hard to leave the climbing and friends there in Bishop but I had prior commitments for a week of climbing in Red Rocks with Kerry.
While Redoubt never blew, there was another sign of the second coming I witnessed in Vegas. It rained and snowed for several days. Red Rock Conservation Area was covered in snow and Vegas received several days worth of rain. I arrived several days before Kerry got in and even got to climb a few routes, the day she arrived the rain was coming down in sheets. This went on for a couple days and while is was expected to clear up for a few days more rain was on the way and sandstone can't be climbed when remotely wet, those bolts and anchors have a tendency to come out when wet.
We even resorted to climbing in the gym one day just to say we climbed. A look at the weather told us Red Rocks wasn't going to happen on this trip and the only other climbing nearby with decent weather was going to be Joshua Tree. So it would be, we headed south passing through the Mohave Desert, which oddly enough was covered in snow we made it to J Tree where we got in several days worth of climbing. The weather was sunny for the most part but the shade and any wind quickly cooled us off. Kerry had never been there so quickly learned to readjust herself to the rating system there. 5.6s had a tendency to show me whats up and 5.8s would give me a serious run for my money. Anything in the 5.10 arena was just a humbling battle from start to finish, but hey, it was all fun climbing, at least thats how I remember it, perhaps not what a witness might remember. I think the cursing actually helped me get up.
We made it back to Vegas for the return flight for Kerry and Jose, I spent the night at Red Rocks and the next morning I started north. Spent all day Saturday driving through Utah and spent the night in Rifle Colorado where I had a chilly night before thawing out the next morning during the short leg to Denver where I met up with Eric and Sharon, now living there. We spent the day bouldering at Flagstaff mountain in Boulder, which is quite the college/hippie town.
Eric worked the next day but had the following days off, we were nearly blown off the rock face trying to climb in Eldorado Canyon, we made it three pitches up before enduring an epic bail event. One rope, a terrible guide, and downclimbs, side climbs and unknown rappels made for an adventurous day. We made it back and enjoyed a not so quiet evening at Denver's Coyote Ugly. A very entertaining bar where we enjoyed a evening of drinking, pool, dances, body shots and overall fun atmosphere. Perhaps more fun for some than others. I had fun.
The early morning came mighty quickly the next morning where had planned on going skiing and with an amazing overcome of the desires to continue sleeping Eric and I got up and headed off to Keystone. They had just recieved snow the night before so got to enjoy excellent snow conditions on which we quickly sloughed off our hangovers somehow at 11,000ft. That night though we turned in early though.
I now continue on Northward to North Dakota to visit family for short bit before continuing on to Alaska.
What can I say, this trip has been fun. Way fun.
If I don't write again, see you all when I get back.
Josh

More Bishop please...

Ah, more beautiful weather is being had here in Bishop. It started to get a little chilly about a week ago during the night but has steadily gotten warmer over the past few days. It has been quite pleasant in the sun without making the rock blazing hot. I've been chillin here for the past few weeks, met up with some friends I met the last several times I've pasted through so we've been enjoying the weather, climbing and each others company while camping in the Pit. I've been throwing down the bouldering as much as I can, the fingers have been taking some real punishment.
I've enjoyed the local hot springs here in Bishop. After several days of climbing it was found to be quite relaxing, relieving the muscles and stress of this road trippin lifestyle. Well, not a lot of stress was relieved but I felt better afterwards.
We got to rope up in Owens River Gorge the other day and as I suspected I have no endurance past 5 moves. This could prove a real problems with my plans to do some serious trad climbing in Red Rocks in about a week. I plan to go back to Red Rocks Monday or Tuesday and remedy this as much as I can before Kerry comes down from AK in a week. That is assuming of course that Redoubt behaves itself for the next week. Good luck with that AK.
The end of the trip and this lifestyle is quickly coming to a end, I've been slowly planning my return to AK, still aiming for early March. I plan on making some stops in Colorado to visit friends, ski hills and rock and of course some family in ND. After that it should direct cold shot back north hopefully just in time for some good snow.
Thats about it from down here, hope all is going well for everyone.
Cheers!

This was a video I through together with photos I got from a Canadian fellow I climbed with for a few days. As it says this was only a few attempts of many but it got when I finally sent it. It was a cool V2 that I found much more difficult than the V4 right next to it. I got that much earlier.

Summer returns!

After a quick jaunt north to the land of snow and ice, which was oddly found throughout Oregon and Washington I have caught word of summer's return. I spent the week in Salem with the weather a vast change from the ice and snow it was a mere 10 days before, it was now back to its usual paces of wet and windy. I had a quick house sitting gig keeping eye on a couple of dogs and the cable TV during which I came down with some sort of chest cold that took me down. A week and a half later I still feel the lingering effects of it.
I have returned to Bishop where the weather is quite warm and sunny. The other day it was 70 degrees and the other days not far from that. Getting back into climbing has been once again a humbling experience, I hope its mostly due to the cold I suffered through, I don't have quite the strength I did weeks ago and the short approaches are really kicking my butt. It deters me little and each nice day I wander into the boulder fields and throw myself around with reckless abandon. I have to get myself healthy and back into shape with Kerry on her way back down to Red Rocks with some serious routes on her mind. I hope not to slow her down. I've got some work to do.
Hope everyone had a good new years, I spent mine in Bend where I ODed on my favorite beer ever, Bend Brewing Company Hop Head IPA. She was a wicked mistress, luring me in giving me comfort, funny feelings, hope. Then I didn't feel so well. I have yet to touch beer since then but rest assured it was mostly due to the cold, I'll find my mistress again.
Just a quick shout out to my old man, hey dad, Happy Birthday, he turned 50 the other day. Thats old. Real old. Good for you man. Just food for thought but some of my first conscience thoughts/memories of him he was my age now... hmmm.
Well, I got to get back to climbing and living... I'll post when I can and get some pics up when I actually take some.

Merry Festivus!

Tis the holiday season and I hope you all are enjoying family and friends and gifts given and received. Since my last post I have left Joshua Tree and headed north hoping to catch at least one more day of climbing but it was not to be. I got into Bishop late and with the weather clear I spent the night, found some friends still in the area and planned on climbing the following day. It was a cold night so half the campground gathered around our campfire and as we drank into the night thinking of a warm sun the next day a light flutter of snow began to fall. And continued to fall which we would discover throughout the night. We awoke to several inches of snow and with no hope of climbing that day or days to come.

Mission Ridge Ski Area

I met up with Keith and Lisa in Bishop and they were kind enough to give me a place to stay with the snowy conditions and all. Keith had hopes of making it up to Mammoth mountain to check out all the newly fallen snow. I decided to stick around a couple extra days before continuing north towards Oregon. We spent a full day in Mammoth skiing. It was my first time on skis in 15 or so years, I had switched to snowboarding after several years of skiing. Well, after that first day I discovered I wasn't terrible at skiing but that I also had a long way to go before I could fully utilize my randonee setup. Also that my legs through having carried my large ass up to the base of many climbs in the last three months were in fact in no shape for skiing. I could barely walk the that night. It didn't help that the mountain was above 9,000ft which made sense after getting winded hiking up fifteen feet to retrieve a lost ski.

After a good day of skiing I continued up north towards Bend and Salem. After driving through quite a bit of snowy roads and icy passes I made it to Bend which had very little snow. I had actually hoped to find a partner the next day to maybe get a climb in to two. Again I awoke to several inches of fresh snow and more falling in Bend. A quick trip into town and checking the weather, it called for more snow and also none of the nearby ski areas were not quite open yet. They were hoping to open within a couple days. I headed to Salem to bug Paul and Shawana during this peaceful holiday times. I hung out a few days as more snow falled, my hopes to head further north were being impeded by the road conditions but more importantly the crazy drivers of Oregon and Washington whom were apparently not well versed in snowy conditions. After a couple days seeing it not getting better nor a whole lot worst I continued on to visit a buddy of mine, Chris living in Wenatchee, Washington. The trip from Salem to Portland was interesting with a good amount of snow falling and the interstate was far from clear, of snow crazy cars or truckers. Past Portland the roads were better and after 8 hours, which should have taken 5 I arrived in Wenatchee to a Bad Sweater party. Drinking was done, friends were made and the next day several of us headed to Stevens Pass for a day of skiing. After a rough start of a refresher I picked up where I left off and started making headway with my skis.

Chris around sunset

The following day we "borrowed" some season passes of friends out of town and hit up another ski area, just Chris and I and had another great day of skiing. My legs were quite sore this time. Christmas eve we attended another party, this one more family and friends, not mine but I think everyone else knew each other. It was hosted by a family from whom the husband/father was quite the local climber who had set up quite a bit of the Leavenworth climbing scene and who was also in the middle of putting together another guide book for the area. It had in his backyard a small barn which had turned into a bouldering gym, I'll get pictures later, where I proceded to spend the entirety of the party at climbing with the kids and later some adults. We had previous knowledge so I came prepared with shoes and chalk. Besides a nice assortment of climbing holds on the walls and structures in the middle he had taken various rocks and glued them to his walls which really added to feel. After several hours there I was able to run inside before departing and have some food and meet the hosts again.
Chistmas day was quiet, Chris and I went skiing again and now my legs are very sore.
Hope everyone is enjoying the holidays.
Catch ya later,

Summer is over

Well, I chased the summer for all I was worth and willing to follow south. I've been carrying skis and a snowboard on my truck for nearly three months without dipping them in any snow. Its time to switch gears and head north into what snow I can find. I have defied the gravity and rock gods with climbing, its now time to test them on the slopes of powdery fun.
Spent the last week climbing here in Joshua Tree and when the wind isn't blowing its quite nice. The wind really picked up today and the forecast is for rain and cold. If I'm going to be cold and wet it needs to be from being cruising through powder. Going to head up to Bishop again and see if I can't get the best of both worlds with a little more climbing and skiing in the nearby mountains. If both are no good I'll head East to Utah and maybe Colorado. Got to find winter somewhere out here.
Climbing has been good with no real injuries yet, the closest thing was the boulder incident, and I have hopes of resuming climbing within a couple weeks. Met a lot of cool people climbing, some out for the weekend, others for longer trips. Some chasing summer while running away from having to get a life. Like myself.
Just a short one, if anyone knows where the snow is good drop me a note, I'll keep in touch when I can. Hope everyone's holidays are shaping up well,
Enjoy