Our summer has been incredible!! We have lots of catching up to do. In the meantime, here are some pictures from Bunker Creek, our favorite local bouldering area lately. It's beautiful and there is a lot of potential for development still. During our "week off" of vacation (we have the life!) we spent a few evenings at the Meadows and the Springfield area. Summer bouldering can be tricky anywhere, but we've had fun and managed to snag a few sends despite the hot temps.
I can't ever resist a picture of a wildflower. We live in a beautiful world!
Casey climbing a cool v5 we found at the Meadows
A v3 on the right side of the same boulder. It has a nice vertical face with quality, pocketed problems! We were happy to find it!
Casey on Steel Cage Death Match v11 at the Springfield area.
Cameron climbing Batman. A great v2 also at Springfield.
Casey's project, a low start to Flaming Mo.
Cameron working Abu. A fun V3 on the boulder facing Flaming Mo.
Johnno making his way up a tall slab.
We've started cleaning some new lines to further develop the area.
This is Johnno on a cool looking new line!
As sad as it is to see our road trip end, we are excited to get back to finish up some old and begin working on some new lines at Bunker Creek and the surrounding areas.
The week after Flagstaff we made the transition from bouldering to sport climbing by taking a trip to Maple Canyon. It's a beautiful place overflowing with an abundance of trees and cobblestone cliffs. This year we were also accompanied by lots of little critters! Yellow monarch butterflies were fluttering everywhere, the squirrels would NOT leave our camp alone, and our bread and bagels were stolen from our cooler by raccoons!
On our rest day Casey and I decided to hike the loop trail. It was a pretty steep incline but the view from the lookout was pretty incredible.
We were excited on Friday and Saturday to be joined by Tommy, Bridget, Kara, and Casey's parents. It's always fun climbing with friends and family!
I reached my goal of becoming a 5.13a belayer!! As Casey accomplished his goal of redpointing Sluggo. It was an awesome send!
We are back from phase one of our summer adventure 2012 and it was AWESOME!! We have been going to the Priest Draw the last week in May for the last three years and we love it. We wish we could go a little earlier in the year, because the hot summer temperatures are not ideal for climbing, but it's nice to wait until I'm through teaching so we can have a nice, long, relaxing, beginning of summer celebration! I would say this year was our best yet, mostly because we had plenty of time so it was easier to pace ourselves and get some great sends. We quickly got into a routine of waking up early to climb, then killing the hot hours of the day playing chess, watching movies, soaking our feet in the lake, and hiking, then climbing again in the evening! It was all very enjoyable.
Here is some of the video footage Casey edited for your enjoyment!
As you can see, Casey tore the place up! He sent several classic problems V5-V10. My best send of the trip was the Coffin V3 which gave me a little more trouble than I expected this year, but it is such a great climb that I didn't mind spending more time on it. So fun! One of the best things about climbing in the Draw is figuring out the unique body movement required to send such steep, slopey, pocketed problems. Toe hooks, drop knees, heel hooks, knee bars, bicycles...you name it! It seems like it takes us a few days to get into the groove before we can really start seeing success. We were tempted to stay another week because of that reason. I got really close to sending a great V5 called the Hermit our last evening there. It's hard to leave something when you come so close! Hopefully we'll be able to make it back soon.
Here is a bucketload of pictures we captured during our week!
We like to stop at Marble Canyon for lunch on our way down. It's a cool place and this time we even spotted a few California Condors!
We always start our warm up on "the Brain."
The Hermit. A V5 on the Puzzle Box roof.
Setting up for the double toe hook on the Coffin.
This roof is so neat. It's perfectly horizontal with no features at all except for a hueco shaped like a baby coffin. You start the problem with a double undercling, make a big throw to a pocket right under the lip, get a double toe hook to bring your left hand out to the lip, then the tricky part for me was bringing my right foot out by my hand without my left foot falling and hitting the pads.
The highlight of the trip was definitely Casey's send of Cosmic Tricycle. It is an incredible climb! He was able to figure out the best beta and work his way to the top even in the bad conditions. My husband rocks!
Casey on "Our God is Neither."
Tomorrow we're packing up and hitting the road again on our way to Maple Canyon! Stay tuned for an update of our next week's adventure.
Because the temps in St. George are getting really hot, Casey and I decided to try climbing in Crawdad Canyon. We went a few Saturdays ago for the first time, and actually really liked it! It's a pretty canyon with a lot of climbs and easy access. The cost ($8 each per day) seems high, but the temps were good, the environment was pretty, and the rock is good. Maybe next time we'll take our swimsuits for a soak in the pool and a burger!
Casey's birthday present, a beautiful new rope!
Sorry no pictures of climbing again... we've been bouldering in Paragonah a few times and snapped a few there. An update of that will be coming soon!
A few Friday's ago Derek hosted a comp at his house as a fundraiser for our great friend Corbin and his family. It was a blast! Casey, Derek, Sam, Rob and many others worked hard to make it possible, and after many hours of them cleaning holds and setting I thought it turned out really great. Plus there was a yummy barbecue with lots of great food! With great climbing, great food and great people you just can't go wrong! There was a good turnout and it was a lot of fun climbing, sharing beta, and cheering for everyone. And, as an awesome bonus, Rob managed to round up some really great prizes. Thank you to everyone who worked so hard to make it so awesome!
There was also a bouldering comp the following day at SUU, but we left Friday night to travel to Northern Utah for a meeting. It was fun having a chance to spend a few days with Casey's family. We wanted to go sport climbing with them while we were there, so we decided to try out a crag in Draper. We figured it would be an easy place to get to with a few easy routes. Our experience in the nutshell of a photograph went something like this:
Holy cow was that place crowded! It is a small crag anyway and there were at least 40 people there. People in every direction and ropes everywhere! The routes we managed to squeeze a spot on weren't too great either. Plus it was hard to hear the climber you were belaying. It was kind of disappointing, but still nice to be outside and with family.
He's a geologist teaching science to 7-9th graders. She's a kindergarten teacher. We like to climb rocks and go on adventures! This is a little taste of life with the Webbs.
"You cannot stay on the summit forever; you have to come down again. So why bother in the first place? Just this: what is above knows what is below, but what is below does not know what is above. One climbs, one sees, one descends, one sees no longer, but one has seen. There is an art of conducting oneself in the lower regions by the memory of what one saw higher up. When one can no longer see, one can at least still know." ~Rene Daumal Deseret News
