Utah 2008: Part I

Lyn on the "White Arete" v7

Ahh, Utah. That's where we find ourselves on our first climbing trip out of CA in over a year. First stop: Ibex. Coincidentally, Siemay, Noah and Chilly had arrived the day before us, a perfect case of serendipity. Scott Chandler and Monica rolled in around noon to round out the day's posse. After a leisurely warm up, everyone jumped on the Red Monster and the sending began. Ibex rock is fine grained and very skin friendly. For someone used to Yosemite granite or the harsh holds in Bishop, it's
a welcome change. And the footholds! I could go on forever extolling the virtues of real footholds as compared to the little divots we try to convince ourselves are usable, but will resist. Highlights: Paul flashing Big Gulp, Scott doing the White Arete, and my send of Blue Flowers. The climbing definitely deserves a stop off the loneliest highway in the US.


Here's Paul racing out into the dried lake bed with his eyes closed.

Once we had exhausted ourselves climbing, Paul and I drove out to the Candy Land area where Scott Frye was camped out with friends Jeff Webb and Nat Smale. The beer had been flowing freely and we walked into a spirited game of Hearts. Scott was in high spirits and his joyful cackle could be heard ringing through the valley, especially when he laid the queen of spades on Jeff for the win. Earlier, they had been busy putting up a new problem on a high and impressive boulder. It was another case of "coulda been Scott's" but Scott still had the honor of naming it "Gerry's Kids" after what he dubbed their geriatric climbing crew (Jeff is only an honorary member since his age starts with the number 4). Scott graciously invited us to raid his pantry since he was returning to the Bay the next day and fed us dinner before our takeoff to Joe's. The perfect end to a great first day of vacation.


Scott Chandler topping out "Ian's Dyno" v6

Now settled into our ginormous L.L. Bean tent that reaches up over 6' at it's apex and having met up with Patti, Andrew, Scott and Monica, the meat of our climbing trip began. Day 1 at Joe's started appropriately enough at the Warm-Up area, home to classics such as Better than Coffee and 3 Weeks. The sandstone is a lot of fun to climb on and offers a range of climbing from technical and facey to steep and gymnastic. There's also a great range of boulder heights to suit everyone's comfort level. In comparison to Font sandstone, it doesn't hold a candle, but the dollar is certainly a lot stronger in Utah than in France at the moment.


Scott Chandler on "Michaelangelo" a tall & perfect v3 slab.

Moving onto the Man Sized Area, we checked out "Finger Hut" where I rapidly dismissed any notion I may previously have held of doing said problem. That thing is crimpy! And steep! With a long first move! After resolving to work on my crimp strength when I got home, we moved around to the backside of the boulder and climbed "Michaelangelo" and a similarly tall climb to the left. Scott has that bunny face in the picture above for a reason. The holds are sparse and the fall potential is great. Fortunately, no one tested the pad placement, with half the group declining to give the problem a try even after repeated assurances that it was MUCH easier than we had made it look.

Here's video of one of my favorite sends of the day: Patti sending with authority on the "Brawny Dyno" v5.





Happy Easter! Patti plays the Easter Bunny.

So, what I want to know is, who, when presented with a chocolate easter bunny on easter morning doesn't start gnawing on it right away? And doesn't peanut butter make it more legit as a breakfast food? Patti, one of the very nicest and most thoughtful people I know, kindly picked up easter bunnies for everyone in our group! I enjoyed mine right away and I swear my climbing was all the better for it. Or not, since Paul and I took a rest day. But we did make it out to watch the crew crush it out at New Joe's where Patti and Andrew sent "Self Service" and the uber-classic "Pimpin Jeans". To finish off the day, Patti mined the guide for fun sounding mantel problems. This led us to a problem with a clown face icon, "Happy Mantel," which should have been an immediate tip off. The results are below for your viewing pleasure.

Lyn on "Happy Mantel" v3 doing it the clown face way. The crux is to keep from laughing yourself off the boulder.


Andrew on "Happy Mantel" v3 doing it the hard way.



Scott Chandler cruising up "The Angler" v2

Day 4 of the trip started at the Riverside boulders, home to some fun climbs that unfortunately had snowy and muddy landings. One gem, Kelly's Arete v5, is definitely worth climbing if any of you ladies find yourself in that area. I can't recommend the K-Town slab, which I found very sharp for shorties - it gave me a big split and it was only the second climb of the day. The true disaster occurred at the Trent's Mom boulder where Paul, who on his first try of the day looked really solid, injured his forearm on the evil left starting pocket. Needless to say, he was staring down a solid few days of no climbing, but took it with his usual good form. After the other boys tried cracking the problem to no avail, we moved onto the Jordan boulder where Scott sent with some untraditional beta and I spent, oh, twenty tries or so to figure out how to do Wills A Fire. Of course, Paul came to the rescue with some key undercling beta and sweet success was mine.

Scott using some short Coloradan dude beta on "They Call Him Jordan" v7


Lyn laying the smackdown on "Wills A Fire" v6


A newer area, Eden, was nearby and Noah and Siemay who had finally deigned to join us were psyched to check it out, even though they were on a rest day. Here is video of a few cool problems in the area:

Scott Chandler sends "Eden" v10 fourth try


Scott Chandler figures out the tall beta for "G2-07" v8, there's also great short beta!


Lyn on "External Tulips" v7



Siemay Lee works the moves on "Finger Hut" v10

Thank god for people with strong fingers and abs of steel, they kick ass on hard problems and inspire the rest of us to greatness. The crew swooped in to put the slap down on Finger Hut and though many did quite well on the problem, sendage eluded us. The non-Finger Hut crew worked on the two aretes to the left and right of FH, which are both good lines in their own right and worth a few burns. Once everyone's crimpers gave out, a few hardy souls headed to the Scrawny & Brawny boulder where Noah did a funky climb that Paul had sent earlier in the trip.

Noah on unnamed v9


The rest of us braved the long trek to the UMWA boulder where the approach defines epic. This boulder is home to some of the highest quality moderates I've climbed in Joe's with the highlight being the truly excellent "Rug Rats" v5.


Andrew Descalso overcomes the fear on "Smoothy" v5

Noah finished off the day with an exciting send of the most Font-like top out I've seen. The landing below is really miserable so falling with his foot so high is not a pleasant option. The climb is left of the stellar v3, "Don't Reach Around".



Today, we are relaxing in luxury after washing off an accumulated week of grime, visiting my mom in Grand Junction. The day's high was a perfect 70 degrees, we had hamburgers & milkshakes for lunch and I took a nap on the couch in the afternoon. Heaven. Tomorrow, it's back to the coal mines where Paul will test whether easy climbing will be accepted by his injured forearm.

-Lyn