I like this

from an article in Discover Magazine by Jared Diamond:

Commitment is incessantly urged upon us fin de siècle twentieth- century Americans. Commitment to our spouses, our children, and our careers is held to be virtuous; lack of commitment is a common criticism. Yet commitment should be seen as morally neutral. After all, what one is committed to might be either good or bad; commitment to a destructive relationship, an unsatisfying job, or alcoholism deserves no praise. Often, commitment can mean nothing more than an involvement that has outlived its original justification. All of us have at one time or another felt trapped by such a commitment, longing for a happier, though uncertain, state of existence but fearing the short-term pain required to reach it.Commitment is a big issue not only for us as individuals, but for us as a culture as well. All human societies have many apparently arbitrary practices that persist for centuries or even millennia--writing systems, counting systems, sets of number signs, and calendars, to name just a few examples. At one time there existed alternatives to the system that we eventually adopted. Were some of these alternatives better than others? Did we in fact end up committed to the best ones? Are our alphabets, decimal counting, Arabic numerals, and Gregorian calendar really superior to Chinese logograms, Babylonian base-60 counting, Roman numerals, and the Mayan calendar?

professional development

Haven't felt much like writing since I got back from Indian Creek.  I have a to-do list that's longer than I can ever remember it being, but mostly with little things that need to be done, like getting my car serviced, fixing my camera, etc. Stuff like that.

I hadn't climbed outside either since IC, and had only climbed in the gym 2x.  I got back after a 4 week absence and there were only, I think, 4 new lead routes at Pipeworks.  Demoralizing and depressing.  I really do enjoy climbing in the gym, but the enjoyment is dependent on the number of new routes to try.  I'm not much of a gym projecter...1-3 times max is the limit of my attention span.  So I've been riding my bike, doing spin classes and pilates classes.

Last weekend I went to SF for a day to check out the Cherry Blossom Festival parade.  We biked from the Mission to Japantown and back, and everything went fine up until we were headed to Dolores Park to drink beer in the afternoon.  My front tire got stuck in the transit rails and I went down pretty hard.  Mostly just a few bruises and a couple of scrapes, but I must have whacked my ankle, sprained it or something like that on the way down.  I could barely walk on Monday, so I went in and had an x-ray.  Fortunately, nothing is broken, so naturally I didn't rest it but a day or two.  It kinda still hurts.

This past weekend I went to the Valley to meet up with Joe to do some routes.  It was kind of epic finding a partner, so I was psyched to get in touch with the crusher.  We went to the cookie saturday, TRed Outer Limits to start, and then Joe tried the Cookie Monster to the top...I guess the 13C section is all chossy, dirty, and glued together.  He figured it out on his 2nd go, but painful tips made him less psyched to try to redpoint.  I tried Cookie Monster 2x.  There are two big moves on it.  I fell there both times.  Blah.  I should try to get a little more sport fitness, but I kind of just don't care.  Then Joe ran a lap on Crack a Go Go with his Freerider soulmate, Nick from SLC. Then a TR lap on Red Zinger, which I was hoping to do clean.  I made it thru the tips section and fell in the .5 offset splitter section.  I figured out a way to get around that section with a face foothold and a big move into the pod...hopefully I can remember what the hell I did.  

So beer and pizza and Joe convinced me to do Free Blast Sunday.  Joe wanted to do the friction slabs and make sure they were wired so that he could feel better about Freerider.  I wasn't terribly excited about it...I don't think that Free Blast is a super classic amazing and delightfully enjoyable route, but whatever.  In the end I decided to just pull on gear to do it quickly and support Joe, which actually made it significantly more enjoyable. Sadly, Joe whipped on the first slab pitch and threw an amazingly impressive wobbler, after which I had to make fun of him.  He took it well, but was rightly demoralized.  Guy can crush 5.13 crack onsight, but can't do an .11- valley friction slab.  I empathize, but it is kinda amusing.

Fernando and this other dude were behind us, which was kind of cool. I hadn't seen Fernando in a while, and he's always pretty psyched.  At the base they were talking about doing the Salathe in a push...but they were moving pretty slowly.  Joe and I were definitely moving more quickly.  We said they could pass, but they never really caught up.  Oh well...it was cool to chat with Fernando at a couple of the belays.

So yeah, I don't really like the Free blast that much.  Perhaps if I could waltz up a friction slab, I might enjoy it a bit more.  But it's always fucking windy, it's typically a cluster fuck with other parties, 200 feet of friction slab wears me down mentally, and my feet are always killing me by the end.  I think I prefer rock climbs with holds on them, or if there is going to be a friction slab, maybe something easier and single pitch, or better yet a v0 slab boulder problem.  Mind you, a DO-ABLE v0 boulder problem and not a sandbagged one.

Oh yeah - and the half dollar pitch really sucks.  That pitch is so lame.  I freed it following with a pack on and a shit load of gear, which I guess was productive.  But it still sucks, and I was NOT in my happy place when I was in that goddammed chimney.

In addition, words of advice: if you book a site in the pines and don't show up the first night, call or they will sell your site for the second night, despite taking your money.  Fortunately this nice group of RVers let me pull into their site and sleep in my car.  So in the end it worked out.  I just felt bad because I told Lyn and company that they could crash in my site.  oops.

Today I'm pretty sore, despite feeling good after we got down.  I think that if I'm really dehydrated throughout a day of climbing I end up a lot more sore than I would be if I had been drinking a lot of water.

And now I'm in my cubicle, fantasizing about gym climbing and other such low-commitment endeavors.  I think I might be over trad climbing for a little while.  It kinda hurts.  

I'm working on my "professional development", something my advisor informed me I need to do.  This coming Sunday I'm flying to Albuquerque for a conference (Western Division of the American Fisheries Society) for which I earned a travel grant of $600.  I'm going to be presenting some trout work, so it's gotten my ass in gear to write this manuscript as well.  It's definitely coming along, which makes me happy.

Frustration

I'm starting to get very frustrated at the difficulty in finding partners to go to Yosemite.  After a dream trip to Indian Creek where finding partners is never a problem, it sucks.

What the hell?  Why is it that hard?  When people go to Yosemite, unless they are bouldering, they usually have a plan.  People want to get shit done.  This is why sport climbing and climbing at Indian Creek are so amazing.  There is something for everyone at every wall.  

I would boulder, except that I sprained my ankle in a bike accident and don't want to land on pads.  I think routes would be ok.

And continuing on my rant: It's freakin' impossible to find people to train on routes with at Pipeworks.  Even if I could find someone, they haven't set any new routes in over a month.  I was gone for 4 weeks, came back to the gym and there were only 3-4 new lead routes.  And they're by Peter, who typically sets crap.  It's frustrating being back.

9 things rock climbing has taught me about life

This video is completely amazing.  Thanks Townsend for finding it!

I'm a complainer

I drove into Moab today because it was raining.  Upon arrival, naturally the rain stopped and the sun came out.  So I was thinking that everyone I'm camped with was probably climbing, and that I should have stayed to climb as well.

But honestly I don't really want to.  My hands hurt SO badly.  The thought of putting them in a crack makes me want to cry.  

The time when I need to be back in Davis is approaching.  Maybe this is part of my lack of motivation.  That combined with the pain of crack climbing.  

However I don't really want to go home.  The only people who I'd consider my friends in Davis, or in the Bay Area for that matter, are people who probably would never contact me if I didn't make an effort.  And I'm starting to get a little bitter about it.  I'm tired of being peoples' fucking charity case, or at least feeling like it.  Everyone has their own glorious lives.

I guess the weather and the inevitable return to "real life" has gotten me down.  And by being down, I don't feel like doing what I came here to do, which is climb.  

Is this what happens when we get older?  We just sort through all the crap and and put things into little piles of differing priorities?  I miss genuine people and people who aren't so fucking distracted all the time.  But we get older and we get/or get out of relationships, have obligations and need to make money in order to survive and have money to eat and live and maybe some extra in case we get sick or something fucked up happens, but we also need to be happy, and enjoy the moment and value our friends and respect our elders (even if they don't deserve it) and take care of ourselves and get enough sleep, but not so much that we miss out on what's going on and we can't be too straight edge, because then we're not "letting go" and getting outside of our "comfort zone" - but not too much! - everything in moderation.  Not to mention we have to be environmentally conscious, not drive too much, especially don't drive and SUV, be politically conscious, but not just about the US - be politically conscious about events around the world, eat right and turn off the lights when we aren't in the room.  It's a lot to take on.

So I suppose I can understand why I have to be the one to initiate hanging out.  Or maybe I just suck.

Way Rambo Part III

Only one climbing day since my last post.  

We went to Way Rambo yesterday, and I warmed up on the Cockometer, which I'd never done.  Then I TRed Slice and Dice Clean, tried to redpoint but slipped while pulling the roof.  Walked over to the right side and onsighted The Inhabitants, and thin hands changing corner crack.  After that I TRed The Hostess, which btw, is a RAD route!!!

I think I'm starting to be influenced by Tom's choice in routes: pick the ones that vary.  Splitters and corners get boring.  I do love the splitters and corners, but some of the varied routes are so WILD!!  The Hostess has a block start to a corner, then you traverse under a roof to another corner (this is the crux), and then you go up a varied corner to a short offwidth  section.  It's safe and fun and super cool.  I think it's safe to say, however, that I'm done with Way Rambo for a while.

I just got this in my inbox today.  When I first started going into the infusion center in Davis, I met Melanie.  She was upbeat and friendly, and I had plans to stay in touch with her, but I really never did.  In fact when I was in there getting my infusions, I kind of hoped that she wouldn't show up, because she was always talking about these crazy treatments, and it was just so hard.  Anyway, I feel horrible about not putting more effort into the friendship.  I'm sitting here in the coffee shop with tears streaming down my face like an idiot.

Hi Mandi,

   I hope that you don't think this is weird.  I don't know you but Melanie would speak of you and the struggles that you both were enduring.  I thought that you should know and maybe you do already, that Melanie passed away on February 21st.  She was such a fighter.  The cancer had spread to her brain in December.  She had radiation for 2 weeks and had to be off chemo for that time.  After completing radiation, she had a scan that showed her lung tumors had grown larger, with one measuring 9 cm.  Melanie went back on chemo but it had little effect.  She began to have pain in her lower back from the cancer in her spine which we couldn't control very well with pills.  Her doctor decided that we needed to just keep her comfortable and took her off chemo.  She was put on a morphine drip in early February which gave her the ability to somewhat control the pain.  Over a period of a couple of weeks we had to keep increasing the dose to keep her comfortable.  At 6:35 am on Saturday morning she took her final breath on this earth. 

   We had a beautiful Memorial service for Melanie on Saturday, March 7th.   The kids are doing as well as can be expected.  I will miss her.  She was my best friend.

   Thank you for your friendship and support.

Take care of yourself,

Kevin Gibbs

Quick update

I'm in the Love Muffin Cafe again after 3 days on.  We finally had splitter weather until today (it's windy as hell outside right now), so I felt obligated to take advantage, and now I'm suffering for it.

Anyway, on Sunday, I left Moab and drove back to the creek to climb at Way Rambo Wall in the afternoon.  There was still a ton of snow, so I was skeptical that it would be good.  Fortunately, it was perfect in the sun.  I did a toprope lape on the 5.9, the 5.10 to the right of it called "Fuzz" and Way Rambo (which I sent on TR - yay!).  Then I tried Slice and Dice, fell early, and then had a hard time getting psyched to try hard for the rest of it.  By then it was getting dark, so I ran a quick TR lap on it while I was still pumped, got worked, and then belayed Seth on Way Rambo.  As there were no sends, I hope that we go back up there before I go back to CA.  I'd also like do to this thin hands crack called "The Inhabitants" that I remember toproping 3 years ago.  I recall it being difficult.

Monday we went to Second Meat Wall, and I led Cube Steaks, which is a cool .10+.  After that I tried T-Bones Tonight (see previous post for a photo), fell low, and then hung in the roof.  I tried it again, made it through the bottom, and took the winger out of the roof after a desperate and valiant fight.  By now it's become clear to me that I was much much fitter last year!  I guess that given the health issues I had in my past year, it's not too unexpected.  After that I ran a toprope lap on Top Sirloin, a corner thin hands splitter that I'd done last year.

Tuesday I was feeling pretty rough when I woke up.  In fact, I woke up in the middle of the night groping desperately and blindly for aleve, neosporin, and band-aids.  I felt a little better in the morning.  We decided on Scarface wall, and I decided that I was going to love the toprope.  I toproped an unnamed 5.11 thin hands crack to the left of Big Guy, then I toproped Steel Pulse, an .11+ that is super hard!  there's an awkward start to an offset .5 splitter over a roof.  As soon as I saw Tom put in .5s in that section, I knew that I was going to bring cams to aid that shit if need be.  The rest of it was greens and reds through a small roof and a flare, and that was fun.  Seth and Steve had put a toprope on Torque Wrench by that time, and I was convinced to toprope it.  I think that Torque Wrench is my favorite route in the creek now.  It's 150 feet long!  It starts in a varied lieback up a face/arete, and then you get into a rad chimney, and then you're climbing on the right side of this huge fin that's wedged into the rock.  You jam the steep right side of the fin, stem your left foot waaay out, and desperately get higher until you can reach a jug on top of the fin and pull yourself up on to it so that you can squeeze it with your thighs, and subsequently hump it to get on top.  Then it's a lot more of a corner crack that varies and has lots of holds and feet.  Epic.  Oh and then I tried some .10+ crack which I whipped on the bottom of called Dirt Cheap.  Fitting, because that's how I felt by pitch for on day 3 on.  I'm seriously wrecked.

Today I rest.  I'm hoping that I'm not coming down with a cold, because that would suck.  I also hope that the heinous winds that came up today stop, and I hope that it doesn't rain on Saturday, which the forecast says it's supposed to do.  At the moment, I want to do as many new routes as possible.  I dream of sandstone.

Right now I'm looking out of the window at clouds of dust blowing by, and it's not making me psyched to get back to the creek.

Flint's photos

I stole these photos from Flint's page: 

Kasey and her prized Valley Giant cam.

Jeremy on T-Bones tonight...I fell when my foot was where his hand is going...one day I will crush the big hands roofs!

me on Slice and Dice. no send. I was much fitter last year.

Again displaying my man-arms.

Erika on the big hands roof: 4x4

Trout, Joe, and Joe's dog Boone.

More snow.

Once again I am stranded in town, except this time the weather is a bit more epic.  We knew that a storm was coming in, but I wasn't expecting this much snow:

  Check out the North 6-shooter!

Grim.  Super grim.

I woke up, got pissed at the weather, and drove into town.  At 7:30am I was the second person to drive from the creek back to 191, and the road was covered in a couple inches of snow.  Even on 191 there was a ton of snow.  The driving conditions were treacherous for this Central Valley girl.  The road didn't get clear until a few miles outside of Moab, and even then it was still bad.  

I rested yesterday, knowing that I have only a week left.  My hands are super fucked up:

 my toes hurt, and if I'm going to spend another week here, I'd like to actually send something. 

On Thursday I went to the Fin with the midwesterners and Seth, Evelyn and Tom.  I started out on Fin-tastic, which had a sketchy reachy move off the deck, and then tried to do Hot Fun Sunday.  My notes from last year on that climb say "got schooled on lead".  It's comforting to know that not much has changed I guess.  I got schooled on lead, then I TRed it and fell, and then sent it on TR the third time.  That thing is kind of a sandbag I think.  Not only is the crux thin and somewhat powerful, but it widens out to tight #4 camalots at the top.  This gave me the opportunity to practice my armbar/elevator door combo that I pioneered on King Cat.  It worked well!  I'd be pretty psyched if I went back and sent that thing.  

So that was 4 pitches.  

Then Seth and I went over to the Virgin Voyage, a 5.10++ finger crack.  I made it almost to the end and fell.  On a 5.10!!  Then again, it was a ++ according to the pitch.  I TRed it clean after that, kicking myself for falling.  Honestly though, I climbed for quite a distance on small gear, and that was the goal.  The climbing is never the biggest challenge for me here.  It's the leading. 

So that was 6 pitches.

Then Evelyn put up The Felcher, which has a super cool bouldery start and goes into a shallow thin-hands corner with feet!  That was a cool climb, and I was psyched to toprope it.  Seth OSed Skid Row, which is a .5 corner that goes out a roof.  It looked cool, but I was toast.

A 7 pitch day!  Not too bad for IC.

Ken and the midwestern boys, plus the Boulder crew that rolled in for a few days bailed that night in attempt to avoid the incoming storm.  It was a huge bummer saying goodbye to the tent...I mean Ken.  Yesterday Seth and I drove out to the Needles Overlook and the Anticline overlook to get some good views of Indian Creek, Hart's Draw, the Six Shooters, Moab Valley and the Colorado river.  Plus the ultramarine-blue potash mines.  

After going back to the Creek pasture, Jeremy, Morgan and Elaine showed up and broke out the Maker's Mark whiskey, and cooked sausage in their rental SUV.  The weather had already turned to shit, but they got some good climbing in at Donnelly Canyon.  Today I am here, and hopefully tomorrow will be climbable by the time the afternoon rolls around.  Otherwise, it woudn't hurt to take 3 rest days, honestly.  I think I'll get a hotel room tonight, and savor sleeping in a real bed, with a real toilet nearby.

Also, here are some photos of me on a climb called Run Like Hell at The Wall.  I'm hoping to get more photos of me climbing, but since my camera is down, I'm depending on other folks to email me photos...and you know how that goes.  I stole these from Maki's FB page.

And now for my wish list for the last week here:

Second Meat:

Sesh One Cooking

Cube Steaks

T Bones tonight

Broken Tooth:

Polygrip

Heat Searcher

Broken Tooth (please someone put a TR on this for me?!)

Way Rambo:

Slice and Dice

4x4 (only if we get a hot day!)

4x4

I'm not sure if I'll get to go to all of these places, and even if I do, if I'll be able to do all of these climbs...but it never hurts to wish.

The weather is bad

The last time I wrote I wasn't so sure that it would be climbable on Monday.  As it turns out, it wasn't, but we climbed anyway.  I woke up to this:

 

and this:

(* miraculously, my camera still takes pictures even though the LCD screen is broken.  Now it is a true point and shoot)

Around 2pm I went up to Supercrack with Ken, Blake and Greg (the guys from the midwest/Kentucky), and fired Coyne Crack in windy, cloudy, sub-40 degree weather (freezing with windchill?).  I came down with the worst brain freeze of my life.  It felt like I'd shoved ice cubes up my sinuses and down into my lungs.  It was so FUCKING cold.  I ran down to Blake's Sportsmobile (Blake is a quintessential redneck intellegentsia, and if you have never heard that moniker, I'm making it up - so now you have), fired up the JetBoil, and downed a bunch of hot soup.  COLD.

Tuesday was another slow day, but we made it up to Cat Wall before noon.  I got pretty psyched and jumped right on King Cat.  I made it through the wide section with a left fist/right chicken-wing armbar/left kneebar shuffle, but the I fucked up while I was racking up and didn't have the right gear for the layback section.  It wouldn't have mattered anyway, because I can't do the roof.  I cannot find the mythical "bomber fists" that Shannon told me about.  Damn.  Pulling the roof is NOTHING compared to trying to jam it.  Oh well.  Maybe I'll get psyched again some other day.  Then I aided up Cat Burglar to put a toprope on it.  I even sucked on toprope.  Splitter yellow aliens and I just couldn't get good fingers.  Maybe I need green aliens?  I was fine when there were feet, but as soon as the feet dropped away I was hopeless.  On the bright side, I got to do a new route at the Cat Wall, a 5.10+ climb called Kitty Litter that was pretty fun.  Today I'm resting, because the weather sucks AGAIN.  Tomorrow is supposed to be gorgeous with Friday and Saturday turning to shit again.  I hope that we can make it good.

Oh yeah - and I bought another set of cams... .3 through 3.  Hell yeah!