In the beginning of November, I took a trip back down to my childhood home in Arkansas to visit my parents. It had been a couple of years since I had been back to visit, so I figure a trip was overdue. Normally, I try to visit during this time in lieu of Thanksgiving or Christmas because I have a holiday off work (Veteran's Day) and generally flying to Arkansas is much cheaper at that time. In addition, I can catch the end of the autumn foliage, as well as get some perfect climbing temperatures.
Read MoreClimbing
A Birthday in Bishop /
Birthday's for me have always been pretty lame. Simply put, it's the curse of the December birthday. Christmas looms in the background, where little baby jesus waits to steal your thunder. You get the dreaded combined birthday-Christmas present. It's far too cold to have a pool party. You get the idea. During my 27th birthday, for example, I ended up taking a solo trip to Lost Rocks because no one was able to take time off work since they were already taking time for Christmas. I ended up seeing a bear and getting thoroughly freaked out. This year, I wanted to make sure 28 was special.
Read MoreJoe's Valley Bouldering /
Several months ago, my friend Chris approached me at the climbing gym, psyche-level at an all-time high. "Dude, we need to recreate the Bishop magic, and I need you there!" Of course, I give a verbal, purposely half-committed, "Sure, that sounds fun! I could get down." I mean, Bishop was a lot of fun. And I love climbing. But October was several months away, and I am a chronic non-planner. "How about Joe's Valley?" Chris continues, confirming that, with my half-ass commitment, there would be at least three of us going. Little did I know this was just the start of amassing an entire crew of Portlanders to head out to the Utah desert. I am not sure how a random group of 15 people all got off of work the same random week in October. With different jobs and life activities, I thought it would be impossible to reunite everyone. I believe this shows how the sense of adventure ties all of us together.
Read MoreLabor Day in Leavenworth /
A short post this time! Over the long Labor Day holiday this year, Leavenworth was experiencing some relatively cool weather for September, so I grabbed my friend Jenn and drove up. We met up Kevin, who you may recognize from other adventure posts, as well as some other Portland folk who also made the trek up to utilize the nice weather window.
Read MoreWeekend Bouldering - Squamish! /
A few weekends ago, I grabbed my passport and headed up to Squamish for a long weekend of bouldering. Squamish is located an hour north (or 41 miles... or 60 something kilometers) of Vancouver, BC just off of the Sea-to-Sky highway on the way to Whistler. The city itself is located on the banks of the Howe Sound, and is a climbing mecca. It's prominent feature is the Chief - a large granite monolith. There are a plethora of routes (trad) up the Chief, as well a dozens of boulders strewn along its base. Nearby are a lot of other quality granite sport and trad routes. Pretty much everything you can ask for!
Read More