Sports Climbing in Saint George

My gobies from last week needed some time to heal, and my buddy Phunk got a free weekend, so we lined up a trip to Saint George, UT. It didn't hurt that the forecast looked beautiful - 70's and sunny. So we packed up the car and motored down there.

On Saturday, we went up to climb some limestone in the Utah Hills area. Here's a picture of Genevieve on the first route we tried that day - a cool 10c at the Soul Asylum. The start was kinda wild stemming up through this tube type formation - definitely unique for limestone. Even though the rock was sharp and hurty, we had a good day.

On Sunday we went out to the Chuckwalla wall. Soft rock and big pockets offered a bit of relief for our skin, which is still baby soft this early in the season. Chuckwalla is a place I probably shouldn't like - it's grid bolted, crowded, close to the road, and full of gumbies. But I had a real hoot there anyway. Here's a rare picture of yours truely, screwing around on an 11b. Shortly after I got off this one, a climber came over with all his draws racked up on one side of his harness, ready to lead a climb. He was just wondering if we could remind him of how to tie a figure 8, because he knew "it's the most important knot." We wanted to leave so we wouldn't ruin our clothes carrying his bloody body out of there 15 minutes later. This is the kind of thing you should expect at Chuckwalla.

And this is the kind of thing you should expect if you try to get into the tent when Phunk is blogging. Apparently there's lots of WiFi around Saint George.