It seemed to be a good idea to compensate the work trip to New Mexico with a few days of climbing in the desert. Ben had made a reservation for a campsite at Sheep Pass a while ago, so Wendy and I left the Bay Area southwards on Sunday morning after I had gotten back on Saturday afternoon. We'd meet up with Ben, Naja and Jun at the campsite later that night.
The drive was rather eventless, we just had a brief stop in Bakersfield to refuel, since we had a huge breakfast at Stacks before we left town. Somewhere between Bakersfield and Mojave Wendy becomes very upset, because she had forgotten to bring the backpack with all her climbing gear in it... Big Bummer!
She decided on the spot, that she wanted to replace the essential items (harness, shoes) in the climbing store in the town of Joshua Tree. Amazingly the place was still open, when we pulled in the parking lot at 6 pm. The rest of the drive was pretty quick after the short shopping stop. We reached the campsite where Jun was working on the campfire, around 7pm. While Ben took care of dinner (grilled salmon and baked potatoes with rosemary) Wendy and I set up camp.
The night was pretty windy, and I was glad that I was spending the night in a tent, which is quite unusual for me. The wind was so hard though, that the tents wall was banging against my back pretty violently. The experience made me wonder how mountaineers in the Himalayas or in Alaska can endure the rough conditions out there.
The morning was rather sunny, but rather chilly. After a quick breakfast we headed to the Lost Horse area, where we climbed 'Men with cows heads' and 'Solar Technology' on Atlantis Wall (the later twice) and 'The Swift' one of the few multi-pitch climbs in J-Tree on Short Wall. We finished of the day by climbing 'Rainy Day Women' on Mindless Mound.
Dinner this night was outstanding! Fresh, selfmade sushi! In the middle of the frickin' desert! AWESOME! We didn't last too long after dinner due to low temps and high winds. The sleeping bags were definitely the most comfortable option for the evening.
One objective for Ben and me is it to climb Half Dome in Yosemite this year. Since neither of us has done any aid climbing, we figured that some aid practice close to the ground would not be the worst of idea. So Tuesday morning saw us heading to Beaver Boulder, where Ben and I did the A1 boltladder, while Naja, Wendy and Jun climbed 'Nutcracker' on the closeby Caprock.
Neither aiding up the ladder, nor jumaring the fixed line afterwards was bad, so we got brave and decided to do the RURP Romp, an A3 on the other side of the boulder. This was a good piece of work but still a lot of fun. I think we're well suited for Half Dome. The next training will be the South Face of Washington Coloum on the first weekend of May.
Wendy and I headed over to Echo Cove, where we climbed 'Fun Stuff' twice. Twice because the rope got stuck pulling it after rapelling off...
This night it was our job to take care of dinner. We had some pasta and stuffed eggplant. Pretty yummy!
Before dinner though we set up a slackline between two of the tables...Can you spell FUN?
It took a while to get a hang of it, but after a few trys I made it across... Ben was the master though...We threatend him that he would have to have dinner on the line, if he wouldn't stop showing off :-)
Wednesday was our last day. We did two fast climbs on Thin Wall in Real Hidden Valley before leaving Joshua Tree around noon. The drive back was pretty smooth, with a dinner stop at the burrito truck at the intersection of HW58 and I5. I love that place...The guys there don't speak any English, and they have pretty exotic stuff... like tongue and brain. I am sticking to chicken though :-)
The upcoming weekend should be fun...tomorrow night is the Banff Mountain Film Festival at Santa Cruz. And there has been talk about climbing in the Valley on Saturday and Sunday. If that doesn't happen I am most likely to head to Aptos to see "Sharkwater" with Lesley.
For Monday night I am planning to see Michael Pollan talking at Stanford...So there are a few busy days ahead...
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Carlsbad, NM
Ok, as mentioned before the town of Carlsbad sucks.
No questions about that.
BUT, just after I wrote the post about New Mexico, I got my hands on a copy of the 'newspaper' of the Carlsbad Caverns National Park. It had some amazing information about guided tours through the caverns lasting between 2 and 4 hours, involving squeezing, etc. That definitely sounds like a lot of fun! The same publication had some info about the Guadalupe Mountain National Park, which seems to have some interesting hiking. I passed through GMNP on my way from Carlsbad back to the airport in El Paso, TX. I eyed the cliff of I guess Guadalupe Peak for quite a while...I was wondering if there are some routes up that face. It would be a waste if not!
The NPS webpage says, that rockclimbing is rarely done, due to the "limestone character" of the rock. Hey, the whole Dolomites are made from limestone. Does that keep people from climbing there? More to investigate!
One really cool thing about Carlsbad was the full lunar eclipse, which was perfectly visible, while it was hidden behind the clouds in the Bay Area... I don't know yet if the pictures I took turned out well. If so, I'll post them soon.
No questions about that.
BUT, just after I wrote the post about New Mexico, I got my hands on a copy of the 'newspaper' of the Carlsbad Caverns National Park. It had some amazing information about guided tours through the caverns lasting between 2 and 4 hours, involving squeezing, etc. That definitely sounds like a lot of fun! The same publication had some info about the Guadalupe Mountain National Park, which seems to have some interesting hiking. I passed through GMNP on my way from Carlsbad back to the airport in El Paso, TX. I eyed the cliff of I guess Guadalupe Peak for quite a while...I was wondering if there are some routes up that face. It would be a waste if not!
The NPS webpage says, that rockclimbing is rarely done, due to the "limestone character" of the rock. Hey, the whole Dolomites are made from limestone. Does that keep people from climbing there? More to investigate!
One really cool thing about Carlsbad was the full lunar eclipse, which was perfectly visible, while it was hidden behind the clouds in the Bay Area... I don't know yet if the pictures I took turned out well. If so, I'll post them soon.
J-Tree inventory (re-visited)
I spent a few days climbing at J-Tree after coming back from New Mexico.
Here's the addition to my inventory:
2008
February
A report about this amazing trip and an account of my second week at Carlsbad, NM will follow soon.
Here's the addition to my inventory:
2008
February
- Men with cows heads
- Solar Technology
- The Swift
- Rainy Day Women
- RURP Romp
- Beaver Boulder Boltladder
- Fun Stuff
- Ain't nothing like a J-Tree thing
- Almost Vertical
A report about this amazing trip and an account of my second week at Carlsbad, NM will follow soon.
Sunday, February 17, 2008
New Mexico
Work took me to Carlsbad, New Mexico for two weeks.
Although New Mexico is considered the Southwest, and therefore a potential playground, that doesn't really hold for the area around Carlsbad. Ok, there are the caverns, which are truly amazing (I visited them on my first trip here a year ago.), but other than that, there is not too much going on here. Also it doesn't help that I have to get up at 5:15 every morning (4:15 today), and that I do not have a car here, otherwise the Guadelupe mountains to the South and Sitting Bull Falls (?) might be worth a visit. On the way from the airport in El Paso I passed Hueco Tanks, where I will stop by on some other trip. Yup, those trips out here will be more frequently in the future... So I guess there are some things to do here, but the town of Carlsbad itself??? No thanks!
Very limited dinning options, not quantity wise, rather quality wise...and the lack of a coffee shop with decent hours do not make for a good destination. A bonus is the sunset as viewed from the living room window though... some pics will follow!
Although New Mexico is considered the Southwest, and therefore a potential playground, that doesn't really hold for the area around Carlsbad. Ok, there are the caverns, which are truly amazing (I visited them on my first trip here a year ago.), but other than that, there is not too much going on here. Also it doesn't help that I have to get up at 5:15 every morning (4:15 today), and that I do not have a car here, otherwise the Guadelupe mountains to the South and Sitting Bull Falls (?) might be worth a visit. On the way from the airport in El Paso I passed Hueco Tanks, where I will stop by on some other trip. Yup, those trips out here will be more frequently in the future... So I guess there are some things to do here, but the town of Carlsbad itself??? No thanks!
Very limited dinning options, not quantity wise, rather quality wise...and the lack of a coffee shop with decent hours do not make for a good destination. A bonus is the sunset as viewed from the living room window though... some pics will follow!
Last week at the Pinnacles
Due to a work related trip to New Mexico it took me a while to post this report of a climbing day-trip to the Pinnacles last weekend.
Ben, Sam, Wendy and I met at my place at 8am, and decided to go to the Westside of Pinnacles National Monument. On the previous trip we had been to the Eastside, which was pretty crowded, and Sam had never climbed in the western part of the park. (Is a NM considered a park???) The ride down there was pretty eventless. We stacked up on some sugar for the day at a store in Soledad and pulled into the parking lot at 9:45.
The first objective for the day were 'The Flumes'. Here Sam and Ben teamed up to start on 'Knits and Bits' (Name in the new guidebook by Brad Young, in the old book by David Rubine it's called Bits and Pieces). While I lead 'Bits and Pieces' (according to the Young guide) next to it. From the top of the first pitch I started up 'Rebacca's sailing' (?), which had a nice overhanging block up at the top. Both of the routes are nicely bolted though. I felt quite good about leading these two 5.9s as the first climbs of the day. I seem to get my lead-head back...or am I getting one? After rapping off, we toproped the 10a on the formation, (I forget the name right now, and don't have the guidebook handy...) before doing another route on the second tier of the rock. We essentially climbed all routes on the (East?)-Face of The Flumes.
Happy about this, but not ready to call it a day yet, we headed over to Machete Ridge... Ben had been studying the guide well, and found a line to the top of Badman Mezzanine. It started up "Lucky 13" (5.9, 13 bolts really tightly placed, actually so tight, that I used the lower 4 or 5 as a bolt ladder), countinued on the 2nd pitch of a traverse to a 4th class chimney behind the Mezzanine to the big ledge above it. From here it we continued up another 5.10a (again I do not have the name :-(). The beginning of the route seemed to be much harder than 10a though. It seemed as if some holds had broken off...Anyway, we made it to the top (Ben's lead) and rapelled off. We briefly contemplated to do a quick easy route, to give Wendy some lead practice as well, but the sun was pretty low already, so that we decided against it.
The drive back was as uneventful as the drive there, but seemed to be waaay longer, which it wasn't.) Wendy and I closed the day with a dinner of salad and pizza...and a 'fake margarita' :-)
Ben, Sam, Wendy and I met at my place at 8am, and decided to go to the Westside of Pinnacles National Monument. On the previous trip we had been to the Eastside, which was pretty crowded, and Sam had never climbed in the western part of the park. (Is a NM considered a park???) The ride down there was pretty eventless. We stacked up on some sugar for the day at a store in Soledad and pulled into the parking lot at 9:45.
The first objective for the day were 'The Flumes'. Here Sam and Ben teamed up to start on 'Knits and Bits' (Name in the new guidebook by Brad Young, in the old book by David Rubine it's called Bits and Pieces). While I lead 'Bits and Pieces' (according to the Young guide) next to it. From the top of the first pitch I started up 'Rebacca's sailing' (?), which had a nice overhanging block up at the top. Both of the routes are nicely bolted though. I felt quite good about leading these two 5.9s as the first climbs of the day. I seem to get my lead-head back...or am I getting one? After rapping off, we toproped the 10a on the formation, (I forget the name right now, and don't have the guidebook handy...) before doing another route on the second tier of the rock. We essentially climbed all routes on the (East?)-Face of The Flumes.
Happy about this, but not ready to call it a day yet, we headed over to Machete Ridge... Ben had been studying the guide well, and found a line to the top of Badman Mezzanine. It started up "Lucky 13" (5.9, 13 bolts really tightly placed, actually so tight, that I used the lower 4 or 5 as a bolt ladder), countinued on the 2nd pitch of a traverse to a 4th class chimney behind the Mezzanine to the big ledge above it. From here it we continued up another 5.10a (again I do not have the name :-(). The beginning of the route seemed to be much harder than 10a though. It seemed as if some holds had broken off...Anyway, we made it to the top (Ben's lead) and rapelled off. We briefly contemplated to do a quick easy route, to give Wendy some lead practice as well, but the sun was pretty low already, so that we decided against it.
The drive back was as uneventful as the drive there, but seemed to be waaay longer, which it wasn't.) Wendy and I closed the day with a dinner of salad and pizza...and a 'fake margarita' :-)
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
Gorgeous!
A day of mid-week skiing!
What a good decision to go skiing yesterday!
Granted it was hard to get up at 4:30 after only about 5 hours of sleep, but it was worth it.
We left my place around 5:15 towards Kirkwood, where we pulled into the parking lot around 8:40, after having stopped for a breakfast ABC (Apple Fritter, Bearclaw, Coffee) at Starbucks in Stockton.
The weather was perfect! Temperatures in the high 40's, sunny, blue skies. The snow conditions were superbe as well... Nice groomed runs, and lots of untouched powder... And the best part: No crowds! After a warm-up run off chair five, we headed up 'The wall' for a few runs, before going to the Backside. Perfecy conditions everywhere! After a quick lunch break we went back to the Cornice, were we did a few runs... On those runs I finally felt the return of my skiing-mojo! I was able to stick nice conected turns on rather steep terrain...
A few fast runs, with nice wide turns off chair 5 finished of the day.
The drive back was nice as well, back at my place at 5:45pm. Great 12.5 hours!
What a good decision to go skiing yesterday!
Granted it was hard to get up at 4:30 after only about 5 hours of sleep, but it was worth it.
We left my place around 5:15 towards Kirkwood, where we pulled into the parking lot around 8:40, after having stopped for a breakfast ABC (Apple Fritter, Bearclaw, Coffee) at Starbucks in Stockton.
The weather was perfect! Temperatures in the high 40's, sunny, blue skies. The snow conditions were superbe as well... Nice groomed runs, and lots of untouched powder... And the best part: No crowds! After a warm-up run off chair five, we headed up 'The wall' for a few runs, before going to the Backside. Perfecy conditions everywhere! After a quick lunch break we went back to the Cornice, were we did a few runs... On those runs I finally felt the return of my skiing-mojo! I was able to stick nice conected turns on rather steep terrain...
A few fast runs, with nice wide turns off chair 5 finished of the day.
The drive back was nice as well, back at my place at 5:45pm. Great 12.5 hours!
Monday, February 4, 2008
Lessons learned...
...from yesterdays race:
A next race might be the 'Across the Bay 12k' mid March. I'll see what the weather will be like in the next few weeks, since that determines how I feel about running. Also I do not want to "have to run", which I felt before last weekend. For some reason my motivation for the Kaiser 1/2 was not as good as for Las Vegas... Must have been the weather!
- If entering an endurance race, go to the bathroom before!
- I can run a 1/2 marathon pretty much any time, just checked my trainings logs. Between the LV 1/2 and yesterday I ran a total of seven (7) times.
- I need to set some time goals to motivate myself, merely finishing doesn't do it.
A next race might be the 'Across the Bay 12k' mid March. I'll see what the weather will be like in the next few weeks, since that determines how I feel about running. Also I do not want to "have to run", which I felt before last weekend. For some reason my motivation for the Kaiser 1/2 was not as good as for Las Vegas... Must have been the weather!
Sunday, February 3, 2008
San Francisco 1/2 Marathon
Today I ran the Kaiser Permanente Half Marathon in San Francisco.
I drove up to the city at 5:45 after a breakfast consisting of two bananas and a cup of coffee.
As it turned out that was a little on the early side. Despite rain the drive went by smoothly. Also parking was not an issue, as the directions provided by the organizers were flawless. In the beginning I was really impressed by the organization...Lots of shuttles, good service at the sweat drop-off, good water/Gatorate stations and a nice course. Later on I had my doubts though...later more...
The start was at 8 am on MLK drive, heading out of the park down to the Panhandle, and back to the Golden Gate Park. The stretch back to the park was a slight uphill, not bad though. After a loop around the DeYoung museum it was back across the start line and down MLK drive to the Great Highway. By now it had started to rain a bit, but seeing the ocean with pretty good waves was impressive. At this point, about 7 miles in the race, is where my problems started. I was going at roughly a 8:20 pace. But all of a sudden I had to go to the bathroom...like badly...
The problem: No restrooms on the last 6 miles... Around mile 9 I spot bathrooms on Ocean Beach. Relieved I run across the street, only to find the doors locked. Bummer! Also no McDonalds, BK, or any other restaurant along the road. I was not really able to run the last two miles, but walked instead. By now the weather was also really bad! Heavy rain and hail were topped by heavy winds...headwinds that is...I was really happy when the finish line came into view. I finished in 2:05, something. Not what I wanted, but regarding the circumstances I think it's still ok.
In summary...a nice race, well organized, but there could have been more restrooms on the second half of the course...
Now, about 4 hours after getting back home, my right ankle hurts slightly.
I drove up to the city at 5:45 after a breakfast consisting of two bananas and a cup of coffee.
As it turned out that was a little on the early side. Despite rain the drive went by smoothly. Also parking was not an issue, as the directions provided by the organizers were flawless. In the beginning I was really impressed by the organization...Lots of shuttles, good service at the sweat drop-off, good water/Gatorate stations and a nice course. Later on I had my doubts though...later more...
The start was at 8 am on MLK drive, heading out of the park down to the Panhandle, and back to the Golden Gate Park. The stretch back to the park was a slight uphill, not bad though. After a loop around the DeYoung museum it was back across the start line and down MLK drive to the Great Highway. By now it had started to rain a bit, but seeing the ocean with pretty good waves was impressive. At this point, about 7 miles in the race, is where my problems started. I was going at roughly a 8:20 pace. But all of a sudden I had to go to the bathroom...like badly...
The problem: No restrooms on the last 6 miles... Around mile 9 I spot bathrooms on Ocean Beach. Relieved I run across the street, only to find the doors locked. Bummer! Also no McDonalds, BK, or any other restaurant along the road. I was not really able to run the last two miles, but walked instead. By now the weather was also really bad! Heavy rain and hail were topped by heavy winds...headwinds that is...I was really happy when the finish line came into view. I finished in 2:05, something. Not what I wanted, but regarding the circumstances I think it's still ok.
In summary...a nice race, well organized, but there could have been more restrooms on the second half of the course...
Now, about 4 hours after getting back home, my right ankle hurts slightly.
Saturday, February 2, 2008
Pre-race day
A few days ago I was asked what my pre-race day routine is.
I didn't have an answer. Mostly because I've only done one "race" in the past 10 years or so.
But it got me thinking... Did I have a routine in my track and field days. Definitely on race day, but the day before?
I guess I watched my bed time...but other than that? If the comp would be on a Saturday, I would go to Friday night practice, have a light warm-up, chat with my buddies, and perhaps have a few beers before heading home to sleep. Yes, these were the days, when on or two beers were performance enhancing... I don't know if one can call that a routine.
As for today...After having a slow morning at home, cleaning, etc. I am at a coffee shop right now.
Later I'll do some work, before going to the gym to do some boulder problems.
I only climbed once this week. But it was a good session. Did several 11a's, a 11c and worked on a 11b... Fun routes all together. I'll have to get to the gym a bunch next week, since I won't have any chance to climb in New Mexico, where I am going next Sunday. Hopefully I might be able to get some running in though...
I didn't have an answer. Mostly because I've only done one "race" in the past 10 years or so.
But it got me thinking... Did I have a routine in my track and field days. Definitely on race day, but the day before?
I guess I watched my bed time...but other than that? If the comp would be on a Saturday, I would go to Friday night practice, have a light warm-up, chat with my buddies, and perhaps have a few beers before heading home to sleep. Yes, these were the days, when on or two beers were performance enhancing... I don't know if one can call that a routine.
As for today...After having a slow morning at home, cleaning, etc. I am at a coffee shop right now.
Later I'll do some work, before going to the gym to do some boulder problems.
I only climbed once this week. But it was a good session. Did several 11a's, a 11c and worked on a 11b... Fun routes all together. I'll have to get to the gym a bunch next week, since I won't have any chance to climb in New Mexico, where I am going next Sunday. Hopefully I might be able to get some running in though...
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