We’ve been desert hopping our way through
Arizona, Nevada and California, and have just rolled back on in to Las Vegas.
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| Desert toes |
We left Arizona on January 17th
and headed north west to Red Rocks just outside of Las Vegas, Nevada. Over two
and a half weeks we had quite a few rain days – and rain on sandstone means no
climbing for 48 hours. Fortunately, we had met back up with Sam and Steph (our
friends from Bishop) and met some awesome new friends as well: Ruth, Chris,
Jared, and Rosco! We established a small climbing commune on some BLM land and
had plenty of fun together, climbing and otherwise…
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| Our climbing commune |
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| Our climbing community |
I hardly climbed in Red Rocks as my finger
was still feeling pretty bad, but I eyed up some lines to add to my wish list
when we return. Graham snagged a few awesome sends and spent some time working
his wish list item, Monster Skank (5.13b). Unfortunately though, my slowly
healing finger was too good to be true for us, as Graham injured his pinky
finger A2 pulley on our third day there. He’s been on the road to recovery for
nearly 4 weeks now…
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| Graham flashes New Wave Hookers (5.12c) |
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| Finishing up the final moves on Monster Skank (5.13b) - hoping for a send next time!! |
On February 4th we headed back
to Bishop, California. We spent a day in Death Valley National Park on the way through…
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| Graham tests his balance on the salt crystals in Badwater Basin (282 feet below sea level) |
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| Mmmmmmmm tasty |
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| Dune Master #1! |
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| Dune Master #2! |
We reunited with Steph, Sam, Ruth, Chris,
and Jared in Bishop, and many other new and old friends. We were also so lucky
to get to spend time with Yannick, Emrys, Alison and Cory as well as a bunch of
other crushers from Victoria and Vancouver!
The injured fingers turned out to be a
blessing in disguise as we used them as an opportunity to climb many
three-starred problems and explore areas more thoroughly without focusing on
projects. On Sam’s birthday we all hiked up to the Druid Stones – a heinously
steep approach to a stunningly beautiful area.
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| The Druid Stones |
Graham and I did a “big day” in the Happies
one day, where we cumulatively climbed 101 problems in a single session. WOW
this is exhausting, even at V0 and V1!
Despite the finger injuries, we also both
finished our 10 days in Bishop with new personal bests. Graham sent Return Jedi (V10) in just two goes –
his quickest send at that grade yet! I also sent my first ever V6, The French Connection – a beautiful,
balancy climb that doesn’t require a left ring finger crimp! Woohooo!
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| Graham sends Return Jedi (V10) |
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| Kim sends The French Connection (V6) |
And of course another highlight has been … PUPPY CUDDLES
TIME!
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