Utah in Photos...Mostly.

Jay and I had been planning a trip to Utah for about six months. We have been there together twice before, and on each of those trips we got our butts kicked for a variety of reasons. The reasons that immediately come to mind are; an overloaded station wagon starting on fire, both lead ropes getting core-shot halfway up Spaceshot and a general malaise/lack of motivation that neither of us can seem to shake when in the state together. Despite all of this, those two trips remain some of the most memorable of our lives and served as the basis for what has become an important friendship existing in the space beyond the carefree days of youthful climbing adventures in what has become the (occasionally all-too) real world we both inhabit in the present-day as adults with lives beyond the cliffs.

Morning Alpenglow on the Six Shooters

During those first two trips, our youthful exuberance was our biggest asset, while our corresponding inexperience was our biggest liability. We thought we would give it another shot and let our older, wiser and more experienced selves have a crack at it. We thought it would be different this time...we were wrong. In the end, we adjusted our agenda to meet some unforeseen circumstances, re-visited some prior epics, shared some laughs and climbed a few good routes - all things considered (it is Utah after all) we had a good trip.

WAGG Day 8 - Goes 25-27

Jay was in town last weekend and he coaxed me into a day at Necedah (the coaxing did not take a large effort on his part). I was psyched, but tentative about getting on Whiskey after a long hiatus over the winter. I had been training, but not enough, and did not want to feel like I had gone totally backwards on the thing. I decided to put a top rope on the route and see how things went. I took my time rapping down the route; cleaning holds, hanging draws and trying to remember all of the route's intricacies along the way. As I descended familiar holds triggered faint memories of the movements that would link them, my muscles twitched in anticipation and my mind slipped easily from its chaotic wanderings into a calm and focussed state. I have completed each of the movements to link all of those familiar holds. Taken as individuals, or even as pairs none of them is too difficult, but stacked, one-after-the-other, for fifty unrelenting feet, with virtually no chance of rest - well, one comes to understand how a candle can melt without ever having its wick set aflame.

Opening Weekend at Devil's Lake - March 7-8, 2015

The weather over this past weekend was amazing! On Saturday, I met Matthew shortly after noon at the CCC parking lot, and we headed up to the East Bluff for an afternoon of fun in the sun. It was a little chilly in the valley, but by the time we made it to the top of the CCC trail we were sweating. The sun was out, the rock was warm and we were psyched.

Hope on the Horizon

Which horizon you ask? The 10-day forecast I reply.

Intellicast is calling for great weather in Baraboo next Friday-Sunday (March 6-8). Sun and temps at or above the freezing mark. If this forecast holds it will be officially rock climbing season at Devil's Lake. I am writing this for myself, I need to believe.

The Winter of 2014/15 (so far)

So far it has been a mediocre winter for climbing in southwest Wisconsin, and real life has kept me from traveling too far afield since my trip to Jackson Falls over Halloween weekend. A quick check of my records shows only forty "pitches" in the last three months, more than half of which were laps on the short waterfall at the head of Cox Hollow in Governor Dodge State Park. I have been doing a lot of running, lifting, skiing and training on my campus and finger boards, but that is a weak substitute for the real thing. The ten-day forecast does not inspire any confidence either, and I think I am coming down with a solid case of cabin fever (despite seventeen-odd miles on skis and/or foot and about 400 feet of climbing in the last week).