Doing Mexican Crack

I headed up Little Cottonwood Canyon before the weekend of snow came and enjoyed an afternoon of warm climbing. I spent the first hour babysitting, but babysitting on the side of a mountain isn't so bad. Where are these boys' mom? Here she is two thirds of the way up Mexican Crack. Jennilyn has her kids trained pretty well to play happily for an hour or two on belay ledges. It does mean that we have to pack them, their snacks, and their toys up to the crag and back again. It was the back again that was actually the hard part because they were both tired and screaming at that point. While they were climbing and I was babysitting I spent a little time practicing my trad gear placement. Mark told me after that these were all good.

This was the view from the bottom of the route where I played with the boys.

This was the view from the top of Mexican Crack. Well these are the anchors. I forgot to leave the camera at the bottom. This is the view from the top. Very nice. It's amazing the difference there is between the two sides of the same canyon. One was warm and sunny and full of happy climbers and one was cold and snowy and covered in ice.Here's a picture just for you squeemish folks. I've always liked the look of blood on chalky hands, even though my hands aren't so chalky in this picture. This was only one of the 5 places I was bleeding from when I came down. My mom told me a few days later I have disgusting looking hands from all my climbing. I think some of my climbing scars are permanant so it's too late to stop now. Then Mark went up this 5.12 route that I will probably never even attempt. I learn a lot just from watching him climb so I'm not complaining.

THE END

I "heart" Arizona

I got to escape the snowy cold weather in Utah for a sunny weekend in Arizona! It was so much fun! Alicia wanted some help making the drive down to visit her family with her two boys and I was more than happy to be the second driver/minivan maid in exchange for so much fun.

Never has such a long drive seemed so short. We got to drive over the Hoover Dam, eat a lifetimes worth of gummy bears, and somehow the stars aligned and everyone's bathroom breaks coordinated with gas and meal breaks...except once. I did take a hilarious picture of that but at the risk of ruining my friendship with Alicia I'm not going to post it on my blog.After spending a day swimming there was a surprise baby shower for Alicia. It was so fun! Good people, good food, good times, and lots and lots of loot for baby Zoe. I like the snow and all but I must say I wouldn't mind being able to blow bubbles and read my book on a lawn chair in the backyard year round. We had a Valentine's Day party and did some other fun stuff I didn't take pictures of.

My last day there Alicia's parents took me out to see the Superstition Wilderness. They must have known how much I would love it. I wish Alicia and the boys could have come along but while I was out there all I really wanted to do was look out the window so it was fine. It was hard enough to stay in the car and not run off down the first trail I saw but maybe I'll get to go back some day.

They took me out to lunch at Tortilla Flat. (Arizona in the winter is really full of old people as you can see from all the flip up sunglasses in the picture above.) In the restaurant we ate at the bar to avoid a wait. The saddle bar stools got kinda uncomfortable after awhile but it wasn't something you do everyday. We got sasparillas so it looked like we belonged at the bar. The entire place is wallpapered with dollar bills so we made one to get hung up somewhere. After lunch we took an awesome dirt road out to see Apache Lake. It was gorgeous. The road and the lake.

Alicia's mom was telling me that this is called a cowboy cactus because cowboys would fall on it and get impaled and die. I didn't listen too good because I impaled my arm 2 seconds before taking this picture. It was the third cactus that got me that day. Hopefully if I ever do come back here again to go hiking I'll be more careful around the vegetation.

I couldn't get enough of this landscape! I was taking so many pictures out of the car window I almost made myself sick. Look at those clouds! It couldn't have been more picturesque. Someone got her shadow in this one...Alicia's parents were so nice and such great hosts while I was there. I couldn't thank them enough for the awesome day and the super fun weekend. My last night Alicia and I went with her boys to a cool restaurant where you can eat outside and make smores at your table. It was nice to be outside, especially at night. It was also really sticky.

I think I like Arizona. (Or as Quinn says it Arizoooooona) I was sad to fly back home to Utah and back into winter. I wouldn't mind going back again. Thanks for inviting me along Alicia. I know you think I was technically doing you a favor but it was more than worth the drive.

Adventures at lunchtime

Much like the kids who say recess is their favorite part of school, one of the things I like best about my job is taking breaks to walk on the trails behind our building. The Bonneville Shoreline Trail runs just above us and I can walk from Red Butte Canyon to Emigration Canyon when I can get away for long enough...and when the weather is nice. Today however I found that it's not just the weather that needs to be nice, but the trail conditions as well. This isn't the first time I've returned to work from an afternoon walk covered in mud (or soaked from falling in the snow, or sweat from running back, or even just really jittery from barely missing stepping on a snake) I've yet to learn my lesson that when the trailhead looks like a waterfall or an ice skating rink at the beginnning, it's not going to get any better the further I go up.

The ice covered trail above is the entrance and the one below is a waterfall as the entrance trail hits the Shoreline trail. This was as good as it got along the Shoreline trail today...not good. Things get tricky at this spot due to the construction of the new Natural History Museum. This sign was new since the last time I came this way....does it seriously say "habitat restoration" and "building construction" in the same sentence??? I'll spare you any jokes about how BYU people are smarter than U of U people here...it's not my style, but come on...

Close calls at the climbing gym

This little worn down carabiner with the super sharp edge turned an everyday fall at the climbing gym into a close call for me. As someone else said when I told them about it, "That would've broke you into pieces only the kings men could manage to get back together." I'm glad I was just at the gym and I'm glad I climb with such experienced people. RIP blue rope, better you than me.

Cold finger climbing on 9th Street

We decided we couldn't wait for summer...we couldn't even wait for spring. We were tired of climbing in the gym and wanted to get outside. Jennilyn, Mark, and I headed up to 9th street in Ogden for some winter climbing. Mark stuck some hot hands packs in our chalk bags and were good to go. Jennilyn and Mark are way better climbers than I am. They warmed up on this 5.9 route and then each climbed a couple more difficult ones. I on the other hand, warmed up and burnt out on the same first climb. They coached me through a few moves on the harder climbs but then I had to settled for taking pictures. They're awesome teachers and I'm slowly gaining on them, but it'll be awhile before I'm as good as they are...if that ever happens.

Then it was Jennilyn's turn to give up. I think this was the only time I've ever seen Mark top rope something and the only reason he did was because neither of us could make it to the top of the route to get the gear off and he had to do it himself. The view behind him was awesome. Maybe someday I'll see it from the top.

I can't wait for summer!

Coldwater Canyon Overlook

A few weeks ago Andy and I got together for our Monday's off work and snowshoed up to Coldwater Canyon Overlook in Weber Canyon.

We found a few winter friendly geocaches along the way...

We followed some ski trails, some snow mobile trails, the powerline trail, then eventually we found someone's one way snowshoe trail to the top. Hoping he wasn't the avalanche victim from the day before we followed it to the overlook. Almost there, the top was just past these trees. Andy's making the final accent below. There were perfect views in every direction. It was worth the effort to get there and we made it just in time for lunch. I started to walk out on the cornice but wasn't feeling too confident about the snow or my lack of avalanche skills so I came back.The end. (Thanks Emily for watching the kids while we went)