Anyway, I just entered this video in the American Alpine Club video contest — the video with the most views between now and Feb 15th wins some cool stuff, and is featured on the AAC site.

Sending on Reservoir Wall and Cat Wall -- Watch in fullscreen and HD for best effect

[Click on any of the photos below to launch [...]]]> Words, words, words.  I have a habit of writing too many.  This time, I’ll try nothing but pictures and video.  Enjoy this quickie!

[Click on any of the photos below to launch a slideshow starting there]

View from the base of Think Pink (5.11-) on Battle of the Bulge

Tad onsighting Pente (5.11-) Awesome climb. I can't believe how good this climb is!

Colin flashing Pente (5.11-)

Tad goofing around at the base of an Unnamed 5.11 (climb #23 from Bloom 2nd ed) on Reservoir Wall while Colin hangs his way up on toprope

Sunny on Tom Cat (5.10)

Clowning around at the base of Kitty Litter (5.10+)

Tad laybacking up Kool Cat (5.11), Cat Wall

There are more pics on my Picasa page.

So all you basking in the glow of florescent light, here’s your dose of what it’s like outside your self imposed jail.

Until next time,

-Tad

Hanging in Moab, after cranking hard in the ‘Creek for the past four days.  Whoo, perfect weather, splitter cracks.  What more could you ask for?

[Click any picture to launch a slideshow starting there]

Tower shadows

Haven’t cranked out a large number of pitches yet, but I’ve been working to [...]]]> Yo Yo,

Hanging in Moab, after cranking hard in the ‘Creek for the past four days.  Whoo, perfect weather, splitter cracks.  What more could you ask for?

[Click any picture to launch a slideshow starting there]

Tower shadows

Haven’t cranked out a large number of pitches yet, but I’ve been working to redpoint a bunch of previous projects and get on some new stuff.  So far, it’s turning out well, and I even have a new project for the next trip (Fingers in a Lightsocket).

This trip is a bit different than my previous ones, where I was with a crew of friends from home.  This time, I’m climbing exclusively with friends I’ve made during my climbing trips, primarily from Yosemite back in the spring.

Tad at the base of Fingers in a Lightsocket (5.11+), Supercrack Buttress

So far, my muscles are doing fine, but my tips and cuticles are starting to hurt and get shredded.  Yeah, that’s finger cracks for ya.

The ticklist to date:

Day 1: Donnelly Canyon (with Sunny)

Sunny following Unnamed #12

• Generic Crack (5.10) (redpoint)
• Mr. Peanut (5.11-) (redpoint)
• Unnamed #12 from Bloom 2nd edition (5.10) (onsight)
• The Naked and the Dead P1 (5.8) (redpoint)
• The Naked and the Dead – 5.11 tips variation (TR – 1 hang)

Day 2: The Battle of the Bulge (with Sunny)

Tad redpointing Think Pink (5.11-)

• Railroad Tracks (5.10) (redpoint)
• Think Pink (5.11-) (redpoint)
• Crack Attack (5.11-) (redpoint)
• Pigs in Space (5.10+) (flash)

Day 3: Bridger Jacks (with Sunny)

Sunny and Tad on the summit of Easter Island

• Sunflower Tower – East Face (5.10+) (I onsighted the crux P2, Sunny led P1 and P3)
• Easter Island – Thunderbolts (5.10) (I onsighted the 5.8 P1, and followed the 5.10 face P2 clean)

Day 4: Supercrack Buttress (with Colin)

Colin psyched at the top of his first ever IC climb (Supercrack - 5.10) after onsighting it

• Supercrack (5.10) (Colin onsighted, I followed clean, easily)
• Fingers in a Lightsocket (5.11+) (I led with many hangs, then TR’d with the gear in place with 1 hang at the top)
• The Wave (5.10+) (redpoint) – I cruised it this time, with very little trouble.

That’s it so far.  I’m heading back into camp tonight.  I’ll be back to civilization in about another 4 days or so with the next update.

You know you want to join me here.  I’m climbing until the 20th of October, so pack it up, load it up, and hit the road.  Bring your desert rack and let’s get on some hard pitches.  Stop by the message board at the Beef Basin and UT-211 intersection to find my note about where we’re camped and climbing.

So all you cubicle pukes — it’s a beautiful day outside, and life is passing by.  If you can’t get yourself out to the crags, at least live vicariously to keep your psych up.  Yeah.

Sunset behind North Six Shooter

-Tad

The drive to Indian Creek from home is about 16 or 17 hours. I split it across two days, with an overnight in Las Vegas. Bored during the drive on the second day, I found [...]]]>

On the road from Las Vegas, NV to Moab, UT -- Watch in fullscreen and HD for best effect

The drive to Indian Creek from home is about 16 or 17 hours. I split it across two days, with an overnight in Las Vegas. Bored during the drive on the second day, I found a new “continuous” mode on my camera. This mode keeps taking pictures as fast as the camera can, as long as you hold the shutter button down. Anyway, enough words. You can see the results above.

Enjoy,
-Tad

Here are some pics from the drive from Las Vegas to Moab. No climbing yet. Barely made it out of Yosemite before the roads closed due to snow!

I’d been out to climb Matthes Crest (5.7, according to [...]]]> [Note from Tad:  If you are more into pictures or video and less about the words, just skip down to the youtube video below, and give it a look see.  I Guarantee you'll enjoy it.  For best viewing, I recommend watching it in fullscreen HD.]

I’d been out to climb Matthes Crest (5.7, according to Supertopo, but if so, only a few moves of it) car-to-car, earlier this summer with Derek (see my earlier Matthes Crest and On The Lamb blog posting for that trip report).  We had a blast, except due to some bad food at El Jardin (we suspect) the night prior — we felt like crap, so we rapped from the top of the North Tower (where the Supertopo ends), and skipped doing something on Cathedral on the way out as per the original plan.

Matthes Crest with omnious clouds from basecamp on Saturday Sept 12, 2009.

Danielle saw the pictures, and was immediately enthralled!  This, from a mostly non-climber (Triathlons are what get her going).  She was so psyched, that we almost went back the next week.  However, in the meantime we found three other friends Clemens & Josan — another couple, and Anthony, who were also interested.  Even better, we all had a common weekend in September free!  Whoo, the game was set and we were pumped to go.  It worked out great, because that gave Danielle and Josan time to ramp up their climbing to be strong enough to have fun for a full day out on the rock.

We decided instead of doing it car-to-car, that we would make a leisurely (hah!) weekend of it, and backpack out to a basecamp near Echo Lake on Friday, climb on Saturday, then relax back at basecamp Saturday night before hiking out on Sunday morning.

Did I mention this was supposed to be a leisurely weekend?  Anyway, Danielle and I arrived early enough to secure backcountry camping permits for the trailheads that we would be heading in on.  Around 5:30pm, Clemens, Josan, and Anthony arrived, and we hit the trail at about 6:15.  The goal was to establish basecamp near Echo Lake via the Cathedral Lakes trail.  This saved us about 1,000 feet of elevation gain at the expense of a longer hike on an established trail.

Danielle at basecamp drinking horrid coffee on Saturday Morning

Around 10pm, we had passed Cathedral Lakes, climbed out of the basin and were on our way down into the basin containing Echo Lake.  We found a nice flat beautiful spot to establish basecamp in the woods at the edge of a gorgeous meadow, with running water nearby.  The crew was tired, so even though we didn’t make it to Echo Lake, we decided good enough, and pitched camp.

As we were making dinner, the second inkling that perhaps this wasn’t gonna be such a leisurely weekend.  While Anthony is setting his tent up, he notices … he forgot his sleeping bag!  Damn, here we are at about 9,300 feet of elevation, with forecast nightly lows down into the mid-to-high 30′s, and no sleeping bag!  Luckily most of us brought enough extra layers that we donated a bunch to him for the evening.  That coupled with a hot water bottle re-warmed several times throughout the night made it bearable — if not particularly restful for him!

We got up around 6:45am, as the sunlight began to creep across our meadow.  Chilly in the shade, warm in the sun, we were psyched.  Peering over at Matthes Crest this morning was the first time Clemens, Josan, and Anthony had ever seen it, and they were suitably impressed!

By the time we got to the start of the crest it looked like all hell was about to break loose.

After breakfast, we packed up and hit the trail by 9am (not an alpine start by any stretch!), and made it to the start around 10:30am.  This is when we noticed things starting to go wrong.  The day started out beautiful, not a cloud in the sky.  By the time we started hiking there were some little wispy things here and there.  By the time we got to the start of the crest it looked like all hell was about to break loose.

Bummer.  We waited around for a while, watching a team of two young women simul-climb the start, using our superpowers to will the bad weather away.  Instead of getting better, it only got worse (so much for the superpowers).  Steadily increasing winds, no sun, rainstorms hitting the ground in at least three places visible from our viewpoint.  Tantalizing patches of blue sky getting smaller and further between.  With our tails between our legs, we decided the best thing to do was to head back to camp, and live to try it another day.

With a different set of partners — we might have made a different choice, but for our group, this was the only rational one to make.  Between the five of us, I was probably the one with the most alpine experience.  All of which I gained this summer on a grand total of about 5 routes, starting with the East Buttress of Mt. Whitney (5.7) in July, bailing off of Fishhook Arete (5.9) two days later due to extreme cold and wind, followed by Matthes Crest (the first time) later in July, then Red Dihedral (5.10b) and Bear Creek Spire North Arete (5.8) in August.

Thunder and lightning on our way back to basecamp confirmed our choice as the correct one — even if we didn’t get rained on except for a few sprinkles. Danielle and Josan napped in the tents, while and I lounged around, enjoying the scenery, watching the clouds and photographing anything that caught my eye.

Anthony and Clemens — on the other hand — eschewing the leisurely weekend aspect of our trip, decided to hike out to the car and back.  Clemens rationale was that he barely made it out to basecamp on Friday, so taking the climbing gear back on Saturday (since he and Josan were heading home instead of making another attempt) would make the hike out on Sunday that much easier.  It may have been true, but at what cost, man!?

Anthony had a valid reason, his sleeping bag was back at the trailhead in the car.  And he still wanted to do Matthes with Danielle and I on Sunday.  That worked out great for us, because we were practically out of food, so we suckered him into bringing some energy bars back for the climb on Sunday.  Now, you might think that he would have hiked out with a light pack, and hiked back in with a barely heavier one.  But, there you would be wrong.  He made the entire trip out with a gigantic rock in his pack!  At least the hike back to basecamp was easier — no rock!

We all turned in as darkness crept across the valley.  The goal for Sunday:  up at 6am, hiking by 7am, at the base by 8am.

Close!  We left basecamp around 7:10am after a quick breakfast, and arrived at the base of the climb at 8:05.  Not bad — we cut about 35 minutes off our our approach time from the day before.  I was racked up, tied in, and leading the first pitch by 8:35am.

Not much to say about the climb itself, except it was as fun as I remember it being!  We climbed on one rope as a team of 3.  Danielle tied in about 30 feet above Anthony for the first pitch, and about 40 feet above me for the second pitch.  It only took us two pitches to get to the crest instead of the three shown in Supertopo.  We simul-climbed most of the crest with me in the lead until shortly before the South Summit.

After the first two pitches onto the crest Danielle was tied in at mid rope (30m from each of us), and was able to get a front and/or back belay whenever she was sketched or one of us thought her safety required it.  There were  perhaps only once or two locations that she called for back belays, and likewise a couple that required front belays.  I was impressed, she did great for someone who admits to fear of heights and especially exposure!  The entire climb is super exposed, with the crest dropping off for hundreds of feet on both sides.

Anthony took over the lead for a couple of ropelengths down through the 5.2 downclimb into the notch between the South and North Summits.  I gave Danielle a back belay for the downclimb, then led us across the notch onto the big ledge at the base of the North Summit.  At this point, it was around 4pm, so we decided to end the climb there.  We downclimbed to the first rap station, and we built a second rap station out of some new webbing and the remains of an older station that was well hidden and contained mostly ratty webbing.  We touched down by about 4:45pm, and were on the trail back to basecamp by 5pm.  We arrived there around 6pm.

Danielle and Tad hiking back to basecamp

Striking camp and packing up took about 45 minutes, and we were back on the trail by 6:45pm.  hightailing it homeward, we tagged the car two hours later at 8:45pm.  Phew, yeah.  Leisurely — my ass!  I didn’t even do the extra 10 miles that Anthony and Clemens did, and I was pooped!

Danielle was a rockstar!  Not only on the climbing, but I had to work hard to keep up with her on the way back down the trail.

Anthony was a lifesaver on the drive home.  I made it to Oakdale before I didn’t feel safe enough to drive anymore.  I climbed in the back, and passed out immediately.  He took us home in great time.  Danielle and I were home and in bed by about 1:45am.  Phew!

One apology is reqired:  I didn’t think to turn my cell on until we were back in Oakdale — we should have called or texted Clemens to let him know we made it back to the trailhead safely before heading out.  Clemens, sorry dude!

L to R: Tad, Danielle, Josan, Clemens, Anthony

-Tad

Layton Kor (yes, that Kor) is in need of a kidney transplant, and help with medical costs that are not covered by his insurance.  In exchange for a $25 donation, you can win a day of climbing a Kor route wth a famous [...]]]> Yo folks — public service update for a legendary climber in need.

Layton Kor (yes, that Kor) is in need of a kidney transplant, and help with medical costs that are not covered by his insurance.  In exchange for a $25 donation, you can win a day of climbing a Kor route wth a famous climber:

• Castleton Tower with Steph Davis
• The Cruise with Jimmie Dunn
• Kor’s Flake with Tommy Caldwell
• Kor pitches at the Gunks with Eric Horst
• Washington Column with Conrad Anker

In addition, with each donation you are entered into a chance to win a package of cool gear.

Check out the website for more info and to donate: http://laytonkorclimbing.com/

-Tad