Testing Limits and Mondays turned into Fridays

A laptop, two pairs of climbing shoes, my dSLR, a 70-200 telephoto lens, climbing harness, chalk bag, swim trunks, two daisy chains, two atriers, all topped with a beer. That is what I rode home with in my bag last night from perhaps the last Brock pool party of the summer. I felt like a swiss army knife ninja turtle. I did manage to get some great pictures of Rick's doggy trio.

I depart for Arkansas tomorrow morning for the 24HHH comp. A few days of climbing and shooting and planning before the comp will do a body good. I am pretty sure my fingers will be bleeding by friday. A good afternoon of work with Malone today, Friday greeted me this evening with a bunch of worrying and packing for the weekend. Tah tah for now. I'd love to post day to day while down there, but I don't think it's a possibility. woot.

Shrinkage (Ego) Factor on the Naked Edge.

A quick trip to Colorado this weekend left me aching, bleeding, and grinning for more.

Chris, Jesse and I shot out on Friday afternoon to CO, driving 75% of the time through the rain we arrived in Boulder with enough time to stop at REI to get me a new harness. I had somehow worn thru about half of my belay loop and no one was liking the idea of me belaying them. We found out that you can return anything to REI, including climbing gear, without real question. Satisfaction guaranteed. So sweet. We stayed with the always hospitable family of Paul. Paul always greets you with a smile, a handshake and a Bass beer. And you better damn well take it. Rusty showed up later that evening after finishing his lecture.

Awaking early, coffeed and muffined (yep, those are verbs), finalized our racks and packs and walked out the door to go get more coffee and breakfast before driving into Eldo. Chris and I climbed the first 3 pitches of T2 to P1 of the Naked Edge and Jesse and Rusty did some less than desirable approach that gained them a better position on the already busy route. Our efforts to get there early were ideas shared by many others.

We had to do our fair share of waiting but we eventually got rolling. Without going into great detail, that route kicked the crap out of me. I got rocked on all of the 5.11 pitches and bonked completely on the final pitch. While pulling the corner to the 'naked edge' I lost it and fell into the empty space beneath. With rope stretch I ended up falling about 12 feet into nothing. 600 feet of air beneath my heels. With no way of getting back on the route and out of ear shot with Chris, the team that was behind us tossed me their line and I got back on the route and struggled to the top. It was a horrible experience, yet I cannot wait to do it again.

We all were thoroughly rocked by the edge and decided to stay off the Yellow Spur.

My fingers since I can't crack climb.

After a nice dinner at Paul's, Chris and I met up with Adam and Arnold from P&C and cruised Pearl street for a few great hours of drinking. It poured most of the night, so our chances of climbing on Sunday were looking thin.

We awoke to a wet Sunday with no possibility of climbing so we helped Paul with some furniture moving and packed up. We dropped the Rustinator off at the airport on the way out.

On a 'small world' note. Paul gave us a stack of Alpinist magazines and while Jesse and I pawed through the climber porn, I recognized photo of a guy in the latest issue. It ended up being a article about the two guys that were climbing behind us on the Naked Edge and bailed me out from my void fall on P5. Seems both are extremely talented climbers with the Italian born Rolando Garibotti putting up first ascents in Patagonia (among other places) and completion of the Cerro Torre traverse, and Bruce MIller is considered to have one of the most impressive alpine climbing resumés in the US of Aye. Always fun to share a belay with a great couple of guys to then open up a magazine and find out that they are a couple of modest elite athletes.

On an even more amazing note, when we stopped at Subway on the way home, each of us won a free meal item off the menu. Jesse a sandwich, me a drink and Chris a cookie. Stellar.

I once again managed to return home from Colorado without getting left on the side of the road! I'll call it a good weekend.

Jesse on P3.

Working thru dinner.

EB and I enjoyed a satisfying working dinner out at Granite City one evening. Idaho nachos, Tomato and smoked bacon pizza and a BBQ chicken pizza. Way too much food -- so we were forced to polish it off with a pitcher of Black and Tan. Caught some of the Tour of Missouri of the tele as well.

Friday Night Full-Body Workout.

Note: There are certain steps to this program that I am pretty sure can be substituted for other variables, but this is how I did it this last Friday.

1. Go to Lincoln and check into a pretty nasty motel. Make sure it smells damp, the mints on the bed are wet, and the comforter blankets have oddly colored stains on the underside. The added effect of the pipes in the bathroom sounding like a jack-hammer is a  true bonus!

2. Go to a wedding rehearsal. Mine was Catholic, but that may not matter. After the rehearsal attend a family BBQ with really good food, but don't eat too much, you will need to eat dinner again later that evening. 

3. Meet up with another bride of a wedding you will be shooting later this month for dinner and eat at least 3 to 4 plates from the salad bar on top of ordering a burger with fries. Don't fret, you can take the burger back to the motel to eat later.

4. Return to motel, hang out, and do some work only to find that you ate too much and cannot bring yourself to get anything accomplished. Proceed to lay on your sides, curled in a small ball remembering to switch sides occasionally -- this is your warm up.

5. Go to bed and not sleep very well. Toss and turn to get that circulation going. When the time comes, get into the bathroom and do your duty but realize that this isn't really making you feel any better.

6. Go back to bed and continue the bad sleeping and side to side rolling. 

7. Return to the bathroom. Drink a little water and become angry that the real workout is about to happen. You may want to remove your shirt and my personal preference is to put a towel down on the floor and have another one handy.

8. Puke your brains out. 

This will be done in multiple sets with little recovery time. You may find that you think that you are done, but another set will sneak up on you and kick your butt. You will find an immediate source of relief after the main meat of the workout is over. 

9. You will probably feel like cleaning up a bit. Do so as necessary. Crying, pouring cold water on your head and the want to sit on the bathroom floor are normal. Do not forget to brush your teeth while recovering from your workout.

10. You can now go to bed and sleep somewhat comfortably. 

In the morning, you will wake up and feel completely rocked. Your full body workout will make you sore from head to toe. You will be dehydrated and barely able to really function! This means the workout really paid off. 

Wanna go the extra mile?? If you are not a photographer yourself, find one to follow around all day while the photographer takes photos at a wedding. This will likely be a 12 hour event and really push your limits! You won't feel like eating and everything will be a chore, but you won't have a choice but to trudge on and do your job. I personally find that you will feel better by the time sunday rolls around, but the achy body will linger. Feel free to take a walk/ run to try and make yourself feel better. 

After a bit of studying and research, I have found another name for this workout. Many people call it food poisoning or "getting sick." Very provocative! 

Days of Labor

Here be dragons and the images I took from the trip. Sorry there are not more. I carried around a lot of heavy equipment for almost no reason at all. Suck an egg. 

|| Labor Day Images ||

|| The Mud, the Blood, and the Beer ||

After yet another stunning and heart warming episode of Sex and the City, I decided to curl up under the covers to hide from the brisk weather and report on the weekend.

My ventures took me to HCR once again, though it has been almost a year since my last visit. I was accompanied by half of the population of Omaha. Rick, Ron, Bill, Jesse, Sarah, Rachel, Eric, James, Chris, Nicole, Israel, Marydale, Justin, Laura, Scotty, Sarah, Teddy and ME. Christos! I couldn't remember the last one. Yes, that is 18 people. We invaded the Canyon for the long weekend and had a great time if I must speak for all. 

Where to begin.

Saturday, we split into groups as to not overwhelm the place with our honky behavior. (OK, there is a fog horn that keeps going off in the distance, I just may be in a harbor.) Chris, Nicole and I reported to the Titanic to begin our day followed by a hike to Prophecy where I worked Granny Tranny -- my jump into 5.12. We worked our way through Ren and Stimpy then on down to Walls of Moria. We ran into Jer Collins and Travis which were as goofy as ever. Chris and I then meandered down to the Crack House to get our last fix of stone for the day.

With so many people, we had the great luxury of getting a cabin. Dinner was prepared and the wine and beer began to flow. I promptly left not really feeling the crazy behavior. I was pretty tired and wandered over to Jer's cabin to chat, talk 24HHH, and other secret things that I was sworn to secrecy about. Jason Roy popped in and filled me in on some of the latest ranch happenings. By the time we got kicked out, the party at Long(something) cabin was over and I quietly flopped into bed.

Did I mention it was hellaciously hot? I had to change clothes during the day, and after every climb, I was soaked head to toe, chalk bag not really filled with chalk - more of a paste, and my belayer in need of a rain poncho. Sunday Chris and I joined Mr. Collins for some crack climbing. I opted to take photos and didn't really climb until that afternoon. I was only kind of enjoying taking photos due to the fact that I am now spoiled by using other people's gear and mine pretty much sucks. I know that if I had better gear, I could be capturing much better images, but I am stuck making do with with I have. I know it's holding me back, and that is pretty frustrating. 

Jer was short on time, so we made the most of it then headed down for lunch then over to the '40 to meet up with the crowds. After minor dispersion, Chris and I ran up Sonnie Jim and the freshly bolted Summer of Storms put up by Jason Roy. Pretty good route. Ron joined us for the ascent of the Storms. After that it was back over to Prophecy where the whole gaggle of gang was. We met a climber named Shane there that was a pretty strong SOB. He mad quick work of most of the wall. A real nice fellow. 

Monday took some of us back to Titanic where Cracked Rib was torn out, chewed to a polish and then played with like a toy. It saw red-points and flashes by Nicole, Sarah, James and Ron. Pretty impressive. I on the other hand wasted most of my time setting up to shoot Port Side only to have my camera equipment malfunction and not save most of my shots. The climbing day was pretty much a wash for me. What a lousy way to end the trip. 

The drive back put 4 big, strong guys in a Ford Focus and two little ladies in a sports car. We carpooled and caravanned back to NE. I was at least able to process the few photos I did take on the way home since I jacked up my lappy top with RAM. It was sad however that I didn't take more photos. There were a lot of good faces, and I really didn't take advantage of it. Yep, I am a spoiled boy. I wasn't feeling it when it came to my sub-par equipment and I let it get to me. Pisses me off just thinkin' about it. I'm done.