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5-31-09

climbed with Christine tonight at the gym. First time in a long time. She is a fun partner. We could have climbed together last weekend. She asked me and I had to turn her down because of a previous comittment to the hardies.

Mark and Marty asked me to help teach the trad class to the hardies last January, but I will never do that again. I thought I would need partners, but this spring I have lots of partners. The weekend with the hardies wasn't all that bad. Marty sent me off with Phil, who was so good he didn't need the class. He was just like one of my normal partners, better even than some as he led South Face of Jello, and second pitch of Angel, both steep and committing routes.

He also followed Damnation, which I finally led clean. God that thing is pumpy down low. That hard off hands section just goes on forever. I managed to stay on it, and get up to the good hand jams before all my power faded. The secret is to slam in lots of big pro like 4 friends, and 3 and 4 camalots, then keep moving up. Don't stop to doddle, keep moving up to the good hands and the right foot chimney stem. Memorial day I climbed all 4 days with Sue, Clint and Craig in Leavenworth. Then the weekend before I climbed at 38 with Christine, and the one before that I had Pneumonia.

Thursday I still hadn't heard from any hardies who wanted to car pool. I texted Christine and Vladi seeing who was going where, but they already had dates. Chris told me tonight that she was really mad that I'd turned her down on Wednesday, when I was the first one she asked, then tried to accept her invitation on Thursday, after she had groveled with her second and third choice partners.

The whole thing was really awkward. Chris is my favorite partner, after my family of course, and to have to turn her down to climb with strangers in the hardies was...just not good. It came down to my word. I'd given marty my word that I'd do the hardy thing back in January...and I have a rule of never bailing. Still, Marty promised me a pro-discount to get me to teach, then after I'd paid my $70 membership, he called and said they lost the pro deal. So Marty flaked on me.

5-18-09

Climbed with Christine Sunday at exit 38. It was fun to get back together with her for some climbing. We have a tendency to bicker over really dumb things, almost like a couple of siblings. I'm sure it's just me and my bad communication skills as I've had this same problem with my old buddy Dave. Anyway, we got along great Sunday and did a ton of sport climbs. She is my favorite partner of all the people I've climbed with over the last year, with the possible exception of Paul Bailey, who is always out of state.

One of the reasons we make a great team is we are coming from a similar background. We both have steady jobs, are happily married, and have no major issues, other than a thirst for climbing. What's not to like? She inspired me to climb several grades harder than I normally climb. I walked under a 10c that I've always liked, but had never considered leading. Chris looked up at it and said, "let's do it!" Same thing happened on a 10b. She led it, gave me the beta and the pre-hung draws. I started up it, complaining all the while that I wasn't a 10b leader, and I cruised it. Fun day!

Happy birthday to me. I'm old as the hills now. Can't do nothing about it. I hang out with 20 and 30 year olds, so I tend to have a warped perspective on aging. Life is good though. Who would have thought I'd still be having this much fun this old?

Saturday I spent building this new video page.

5-10-09

Climbed with Tyler at Castle, the pinnacles and the icicle last weekend. I led South Face of Jello clean, first time of the year. We got rained off soon after that and drove over to the Peshastin Pinnacles east of Leavenworth. I took Tyler up Tunnel Route and Martian Diagonal which were a lot of fun. Pictures are on Facebook. If you aren't on Facebook, you should be.

At 6:30 there was still plenty of light and I got this bright idea to climb Washboards. I thought about climbing Potholes and toproping it, but chose the "manly" route instead. There was a party rapping down it at the time and I figured I they could rescue me if I got stuck before reaching the first bolt at 40 feet up the route.

It turned out to be a moderately dangerous runnout up to the bolt. There is one move where you just have to free solo if you want the route. The move is only 5.6, but you are high enuf' where a spot would be iffy...call it bouldering. Above that there is pro for the last couple moves up to the first bolt. From there on up it's safe enough, if you are comfortable making a hard move with just one bolt 40 feet up.

I fell a bunch of times, and grabbed several slings to clip, but I felt that was better than taking a longer fall while clipping the rope. In short, it wasn't a clean ascent, but it was still fun as hell. I can't wait to get back on it and send it in better style. The next day I led Meatgrinder cleanly, talking my way up the moves with Marty and Lemon for an audience. They are a bit scared of the route due to it's reputation, but I think they could lead it fine as they have all the skills. It has awesome rests every 10 feet.

I had the sniffles all weekend but was climbing very strong. Sunday night I had a bad cough and by Monday at 10 AM I had a rising fever. I called in sick and called my doctor, worried that it was swine flue, which has been in the news. By the time I saw my doctor my fever was 103. She told me I had pneumonia, gave me antibiotics, told me do take mucinex and drink 2 quarts of water a day.

I went back to work on Wednesday so I could teach my flash 3 class, but was exhausted by the end of the day. Thursday after work I tried to change my oil, and was completely done in afterward. Now it's Sunday and I'm still hacking stuff out of my lungs. I'm much better but still glad it's the weekend and I can lay around.

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