Still working on these night exposures...

Haven't quite nailed it yet, maybe next month I'll have better luck... But at least you can see the flowers that were blooming this week. Pretty wild to see a big field of flowers like that in the middle of the desert.

Snowed Out.

I woke up this morning to an inch of snow, and another inch fell while I was cooking breakfast. I took it as a sign, packed up the van, and headed back to SLC. I had to be back by Friday anyhow, as I have to catch a flight out to Florida to meet the fam at Disney World.

So I'll be taking a long-overdue week rest, and soak up some Florida sun. Then it's back to the Creek for a last show down with a few remaining projects, then off to the Valley...

Photo contest... Me vs. Me vs. Me.

For every picture you see posted here, there are probably 60-80 that don't make the cut. Granted I'll take 50 pictures of one person on one climb, and I'm only hoping for one or two good ones, so the constant failure isn't too soul crushing. But it's still a lot of work sorting through it all. And sometimes it's hard cause the shots can be real similar, and maybe I have a top three, but I can't decide which I like the best.

Hopefully you all can help. Take a look at the three pics below, all of Nate on Wigglin Worm. You've seen one of them before, but the other two are new. I like them all for their own reasons, but let me know which one is your favorite. (Let's assume for a second that I can photoshop my stupid foot out of the first one... Give me a break, I'm still learning.)

Another Week in the Desert

Another week in the desert... I've discovered that unless you're here, there isn't much exciting news. We climbed a lot of cracks, had a few campfires, and met some more weird desert folk. I managed to finally send Way Rambo, which I've been looking at for a while now, so that was cool. Here are a few more shots of the action:









Nate looking at the roof on Wiggling Worm. Manos perfectos! He fired it.










The crew hiking down from the Way Rambo wall.













Can't seem to get enough photos of Swedin Ringle... Here's Megan cranking.

Update: Carhartts 6 Month Challenge

So far, the Carhartts get a mixed review. It's been a no-holds-barred month of climbing on them, and yes, I've managed to wear them every day. (But they've been washed a few times, so don't worry.)

The knees are seeing most of the wear, and sadly, they're already starting to fail. The sides of the knees have three layers of canvas, and I've already worn through the top two.




After half a dozen offwidths, the sides of the knees don't look so good...








The fronts of the knees are already getting threadbare! Bummer...


But they've been super comfy after they broke in, and it's been a pretty intense month, so you gotta give them some credit for that. Right now they're at a 3.5 out of 5, but I really can't seem them going the whole six months. Could any pair of pants? Probably not.

Rainy Days are Rest Days

It's raining here in Moab, which means some much-needed rest time. My muscles need time to rebuild, my gobies need time to close, and my knuckles need time for the swelling to go down.

Yesterday we climbed some finger cracks at the Battle of the Bulge, and I found a new project: Digital Readout. It's pretty tight fingers, but there are some feet, and it's short. Which is good. I'll grab some pics next time I'm over there.

In the mean time, I'm sitting in the Mondo, drinking too much coffee and reading fark.com...

Only 8 Days Left

This trip is flying by way too fast. It seems like I've only been out on the road for a week or two, but the one month mark came and went a few days back.

So far the weather has been mostly great, the climbing has been excellent, and the company has been prety killer as well. Good to see a lot of my SLC friends down here in Moab.

But I've only got eight days left in Indian Creek. That's pretty wild - I've still got a few outstanding projects. Tomorrow we're going up to the Way Rambo wall, and hopefully I'll tick two of my remaining projects. Then, it's off to my super secret proj... wish me luck on that bad boy, and if I manage to send it, I'll tell you all what it is. Oh and here's another picture of Elliot working on his outstanding project, Sweedin Ringle:

More Desert Fun

So I've decided since I'm not going to send anything hard this trip, at least I'm going to get pictures of other people doing so. I spent the last few days with a bunch of strong climbers, and got a few shots that I kinda like. Check em out -

This is John on the Serrator - it's fun 5.11 offwidth to about 40' of easy but kinda scary climbing up the "serrator" feature. It's a little hard to protect, and even if your pro held, that serrated rock edge might just snip your rope...





Here's John on Slice and Dice - 5.12 green camalot finger stacks. This is a super rad route, but I was having trouble getting a good angle to shoot it. There's a little bit of lens distortion in this shot, but it really is steep right there.




Here's Paul cruising Layaway Plan - 5.11 red camalots through a big roof. I was bracketing, and this shot came out overexposed, but it snapped at just the right moment, so I did what I could to fix it. The result is kinda interesting, but I wish the exposure had been correct the first time.









Another climber named Mike in roughly the same spot. Different day though.







Mike taking a little ride at the crux...








Then sending in style on the second go.








Stay posted for more pics...

Working my way back up

I ran into two climbers named Michael and Christina on this last creek visit. We had a good time chilling together in the beautiful desert weather, and we even got a little climbing in. Both of them are strong climbers, and it was their first visit to the Creek. They both killed it, and I have photographic evidence...

Left to Right: Michael sending Supercrack, Christinia on the first moves of Coyne Crack, and Michael fighting the good fight on the upper section of Coyne Crack.

Starting my outdor season at Indian Creek has been a test of patience. I ended last season climbing fairly strong (unless you count that last trip with Elliot, Zac, and Ashley where I didn't redpoint a single route...) After bouldering in the gym all winter, I had hoped to come out of the gate even stronger this spring. And if I were climbing at a sport crag, that might be true. But not at the Creek.

The endurance required on these super physical routes is just unreal. And there's no practical way to train for this stuff, other than just getting out and doing it. It's been hard to get my rhythm going in the Creek - the only other place I've climbed full-time is Yosemite, and it's a bit harder to work yourself into the ground there. But in the Creek, you can completly toast yourself in two or three routes. It's awesome.

My body is slowly remembering how to do this "crack climbing" stuff, and my muscles are slowly adjusting to the punishment they're getting almost every day. I'm also learning how to take more down time, and give myself a chance to recover fully.

Meanwhile, I'm learning more about this new camera. A few lessons from today:

• It's hard to get an even exposure in direct desert sun.
• My new wide angle lens is so frickin wide, I have to crop my feet out of most of the shots
• Pay attention to where that pesky autofocus is focusing...
  

If It Was Easy, It Wouldn't Be Fun

I was joined this weekend in Indian Creek by SLC friends Elliot and Bonnie. It's always a good time hanging out with those two, but whenever Elliot comes down to the creek, I'm gaurenteed not to send anything. I had a big "excuse gumbo" going on this weekend, including, but not limited to:

• This crack is frozen
• My hands are frozen
• All my drinking water is frozen
• I skied too hard on Friday
• My tape is coming off
• My hands are busted
• This crack is too big (small) for me to get good finger locks
  
• I should be resting today

So yeah, it was a killer good time. I'm coming to terms with the fact that all the gym bouldering I did this winter really doesn't help my crack climbing at all. But that's cool - if it was easy, it wouldn't be fun.

Midnight Shot of the Bridger Jacks

Took this one on Friday at midnight under a huge full moon. It came out a little blurry because I was balancing the camera on some books on top of my van instead of using a tripod. But I still kinda like the shot, and I hope you do too cause it was really really cold lying on top of the van.