Allez Ceuse!

We arrived in Ceuse three days ago after making a "power move" (not a "power decision" like I said earlier). Apparently power decision sounds super dorky. But hey I'm a dork so I don't really care.

Anyway, Les Guerins is almost completely empty now so we almost have the place to ourselves.  Interestingly though, the crag is pretty crowded. I think this might be because even though it's early season, the sun is on the crag most of the day (until about 5pm which seems to be the theme in Europe in the springtime) so people get concentrated on the walls for those few hours.

The first day we went up to the biographie wall and I did a couple of slabby climbs and Ethan put a toprope on La Femme Noir and it was fucking hard ("7c" apparently).  Ethan happens to be extremely good at this type of climbing and I happen to be extremely bad.  I can reminisce about my amazing day in Oliana where the jugs were huge and the routes were extremely onsightable.  No more of that stuff now that we are in Ceuse.  I should go to Greece and Turkey instead so I can restart my 8a and fluff my scorecard.  I hear that's what some of the pros do. Good thing I'm keeping my day job!  That means I can flail happily no matter where I go.

Hoping for some shade, we went up to the Cascade wall yesterday. We got there at 1130 hoping for some shade, but the wall was just going into the sun. I think we'll need to rearrange our schedules to be more compatibly with mornings at the Cascade. The problem is that there are a few hours of sun before the rest of the cliff goes into the shade, so you roast your ass of anyway.  I did find a project though - Super Mickey, a 7b+ that is miles of buckets to a hard boulder crux (at least the way I did it). I tried it in the full sun so I'm hoping that when we go back tomorrow and it's shady it will feel easy and I'll do it second go.  Doubtful, but totally possible. There is a 7c+ to the left of it that is recommended, plus I'd like to try the runout yet (everyone's first 7c+ route) Makach Walou (Ethan's translation: My cock, will you?).  Supposedly it's just resistance to the top with no moves as hard as the boulder crux on Super Mickey. I'd also like to do Petit Illusion and this awesome-looking 7b+ up an amazing blue streak.

Ethan is working on a project called Three Degrees that has not been repeated since Sharma did it.  Ethan has done all the moves in the past, but he'll definitely have to work on it to get the send.  Hopefully he'll do it while I'm here so I can see the glory.  Here are a few photos of him on the route, plus a view from the cliff. It looks fucking horrendous:

I have 2 weeks here (if we stay) so hopefully I can tick some routes. The hike is definitely long and tiring, but spending so much time in the sun is by far the worst part. It saps all of your energy pretty quickly. However I'm a lot leaner than I normally am, which is probably why I feel pretty strong. Hopefully all the butter, cheese, wine, pastries and chocolate that we eat doesn't cancel this out.

Today we are in Gap using the free Gap wifi, buying pastries (Financiers and croissants) and going shopping. Plus we are going to seek out Tourtons which Ethan has been gushing about for weeks. I'm psyched. This is my first real "French experience." It's cool, except that I REALLY don't like not being able to speak the language.  In Spain I could get around really well (all things considered), plus the Spaniards are friendly and are psyched to try to practice their English. French people, not so much. I'd like to get a phrasebook or something - I think I could pick up some basics fairly quickly, and that's all I'd need. Part of the problem is that French is not pronounced the way it is written, which I find annoying.  Spanish is far far easier.

As for the lifestyle, we wake up around 10, have a casual breakfast, coffee, lounge, get ready and hike up to the cliff, climb till dark (which is about 9 these days), hike down and then eat at 1030, and go to bed around midnight.  Basically it's the complete opposite of my life in Davis. It works though, especially with the timing of the sun on the cliff...you just can't get there any earlier (though we can and will for my projects at the Cascade).  You just roast your ass off. But then you can sit in the Cascade and cool off, which is pretty nice.

So that's it for the first update from France. I took some other photos but had to reformat my camera's memory card so I lost a couple.  I'll take more, and hopefully get some of me climbing at some point.

Au revoir.

American Invasion, and on to France

We left Margalef on Tuesday and headed to Oliana.  We had to stop at Chris's house because Ethan has some stuff stashed there.  We drove up and opened the gate and looked around but nobody was home and all of the doors were locked.  Apparently some Americans were staying in Sharma's guest house, but they'd locked up and there was no key to be found anywhere.  Since we had nowhere else to go we just decided to hang out.  These are some pictures I took there:

Spring is full-on here, even though it feels like summer.  I went back to our car to put on some shorts and I heard a car drive up.  Chris and Daila drove up and looked at me like "who are you and what are you doing in our driveway?"  I just said "uh...I'm with Ethan!" and then they were like "oh oh ok."  I'd met Chris before but not Daila.  It was an uncomfortable moment..I felt kind of bad.  Chris probably gets weird people talking to him all the time. Anyway, it was all good and we had some cold beers, chatted about climbing shoes (well, Chris and Ethan chatted, I zoned out and tried to tan my legs), and then talked about how hot it was. Unfortunately there was no key to the guest house, so Ethan still couldn't get his crap. We were offered a spot on the floor in a room attached to the guesthouse, but it's still under construction and neither one of us really felt like sleeping on the floor.  I mean, I have a job, I have money and I'm going to spend it on this trip.

We drove on to Oliana and looked for camping, but we couldn't find anything and ended up in a hotel in Coll de Nargo, the next town North of the town of Oliana.  The next day we tried to track down some camping but had no luck, so we drove up to the crag.  Lo and behold, an American invasion. The crag roasts in the sun until about 3, so that's when everyone shows up. I was a little taken aback to see so many Americans!  Clay and Rosi, Joe and Collette, Emily and Same...plus Andrew, Jen, Elly and Keith at Chris's house. It's a full-on American invasion. Our German friends from Margalef showed up yesterday and were like "I can't believe there are so many Americans!" Apparently we (Americans) say "like, like, like" all the time.  I know I do, and I'm not even going to try to fight it even though Ethan tried not to say "like" for about half an hour before giving up.  Like, it's what we do.

We drove BACK to Chris's house after not climbing (too hot, we wanted to rest) and stayed in a campground near his house.  After cooking dinner and relaxing it was already midnight so it was too late to try to get Ethan's crap.

Keep in mind the whole time we're talking about how we need to find cooler weather because it's fucking hot here. Oliana is awesome, but it goes into the shade so late that you don't get much climbing in - mostly just sitting around all day waiting for shade. Chris wanted Ethan to stay because he's working on his house, so it works out for him to work on his house and then climb in the evening.  But it's too hot. So we took Joe's advice "Power decisions man, gotta do it. Power decisions are the way!" and decided to go to France.

We decided to go to Oliana because Ethan needed to get his draws off of a route he was working on. So I got to climb at Oliana for an afternoon.  It is AWESOME! I'm so in love. Love love love.  Jugs, buckets, steep long routes. HUGE feet.  It rules.  In fact I had a great climbing day: I onsighted a 7a, flashed a 7a+ and then "pretty much" onsighted a 7b/+.  So after not climbing well at Margalef, this was great. I think that Keith Ladzinski got some photos of me on the 7a+, so I'll try to get some and post them  here.  Here are some crappy photos that I took of Oliana yesterday:

 View from the crag

 view of the crag

 Ethan eating yogurt and cookies and doing his best ET impersonation

 American shit show

 The obligatory Sharma shot. Everyone else was taking photos of him so I jumped on board.

 Another view of the crag

German astrophysicists. The guy studies black holes and the girl studies gamma rays

So that's it for Spain. I'm sitting in a cafe right now and we are about to pack up and head to Ceuse, which Ethan guarantees is the best sport climbing in the world. I am psyched. There is a big hike every day up to the crag so you get super fit. It's supposed to be awesome and beautiful and muy tranquilo.  I'm psyched.

Off we go!

I meant to blog more than this, but you know, I'm on vacation.

So this is our last day in Margalef (yesterday was our last climbing day). It was so hot that we spent most of the time at La Finestra, which sees quite a bit of shade throughout the day.  I put work into this 7b+ but didn't manage to seal the deal and didn't even try it yesterday, opting for mileage over failing at redpoint attempts.  Ethan fared better, onsighting a couple of 8a+'s and sending an 8c second go. It's so hot that we are going to head to Oliana for a few days so Ethan can get his draws off of something, and so that I can swing around on tufas.  Then we're considering going to France.  Ceuse, or St Leger possibly.

The living situation has been interesting. We've had Team Japan move into the Refugi with us.  I feel kind of bad because I know that terrible things are happening in Japan right now, but they are pretty funny.  They have plugged more shit into the outlets than I ever thought possible. I meant to get a picture but they started unplugging everything before I got a chance.  There are 3 younger people (maybe early 20s) traveling with Mr. Miyagi. This old guy "teacher" is probably about 65, plugs away on his ipad, and is generally just awesome...except that he snores, and his many electronic devices bling and ring at night and somehow he manages to sleep through it all. Still, I'd be psyched if I was getting after it as much as he is at his age.

We also got to hang out with a nice German couple...I was excited to learn that they are astrophysics Ph.D. students (well, the guy is, and the girl is still finishing up her M.S. I think).  We had some late night conversations about nuclear power, gamma rays and black holes over beers.  The best part of climbing trips is meeting and talking to new people. I can't get enough of it.

The other crew that I got to hang out with was a group of Spanish climbers from Cuenca and Barcelona. My Spanish is way better than I remember it being (it's still bad, but I know a lot of words). Most of the Spanish climbers I've hung out with on this trip have been super cool and very quick to laugh. One particularly funny moment involved me trying to remember the word for "throat". I remember in Costa Rica I always mixed it up with "gangreja" which actually means crab.  Garganta is the word for throat. Anyway, I was trying to explain that Ethan had a sore throat (he's had a cold for the past few days), and we went into "this is the word for throat, etc etc." in Spanglish. Then the guy that our friend was belaying said "GARGANTA PROFUNDO!" His belayer, who speaks pretty good English said "hahah, you know what profundo means? It means...deep."  It took me a minute to register, but at any rate now I know the Spanish phrase for deep throat.  Super useful.

The other cool thing about hanging out in Spain is all of the aromatic plants. Rosemary, thyme and what looks (but doesn't smell) like sage is everywhere. Plus it's spring so all of the fruit trees are blooming. It's strange (to me) that pretty much the entire landscaped is terraced and planted with olives and what looks like some sort of prunus trees.  Yet in such a made landscape, it still feels quite natural. It's very different from the American agricultural paradigm where anything that is planted is flattened and made square or round for irrigation, planting, and harvesting purposes, so that everything can be done by machine.  There would be no way to automize harvesting and planting here. It's interesting to think about.

Alright, we're going to clean up and get out of here. I'll try to take more photos.  I'm so bad at taking photos.

Spain - finally!

I made it to Spain! yay!

Ethan and I met in the airport with no drama, but finding the car was a pain in the ass because I booked through Travelocity with a company called "Payless" which actually turned out to be Sixt.  It took quite a while to figure out that Payless was Sixt, and I had to talk to pretty much every company at the airport, INCLUDING Sixt, who didn't know that they were also Payless before I got the car.  It all turned out ok though, because I think that they may have screwed up and given us a nicer car than I booked. We ended up with a diesel-hybrid VW Passat, which is the sweetest car I've ever shared or ridden in in Europe. I'm actually not sure that it's a hybrid, because it never runs just on electricity, but if it's in drive and you stop, the engine turns off.  The reason I think it was a mistake is because Sixt emailed me and said they had a computer error and asked for my license plate number.  Oh well, not going back to Madrid to get a cheaper car.  Plus it seems like a really good deal since it's about 340 euros for a full 29 days.  Doesn't that seem extraordinarily cheap?

update: I found the car on the webs. It's not technically a hybrid, but does get great gas mileage.

Anyway, traffic was horrendous because the Spaniards apparently like to do roadwork on Sunday afternoons.  We made it to Lleida, drove around for a while until I saw a sign that said "hotel".  By this time Ethan was driving because my brain had turned off, so we found this building that was by and large completely dark. I bet him 10 bucks that it was closed, and he bet me 10 euros it was open.  Surprise, the door was unlocked, but it was fairly dark and there was definitely no lobby.  And it was super creepy.  However on the way out we noticed this ATM-style machine and Ethan started poking some buttons.  As it turns out, this hotel is completely automated.  It's the weirdest thing.  No wonder Spain has high unemployment.  So we booked a hotel room via a machine, and it spit out a key. Ethan said "well, we could get a really good night's sleep, or we could get hacked to pieces." We took the elevator up, and when you get off of the elevator the hallway is completely dark until you step out, and then lights turn on as you walk down the hallway. So weird.  Fortunately we ended up with a good night's sleep and did not get hacked to pieces. I'm sure that if you are aware of automated hotels, and are used to this sort of thing it's not very weird, but I am not, and it was creepy.

It's a good thing that we did not try to find Margalef in the dark, because many of the roads are not signed. We kept cross referencing our crappy Sixt map which did not have the necessary details, Ethan's iphone which had the google maps directions, and my laptop which had a map that also did not have enough detail. By some sort of miracle we found Margalef and were climbing at the Finestra by the afternoon.

Since we have no camping supplies to speak of, we're staying at the Refugi, which is kind of ok.  I like it, but we have to share the actual sleeping room with other people. There's a nice place to hang out though, and they have wireless, which is sweet since I have a lot of work to do.  Here are a few photos I've taken so far (none very impressive, and they are mostly of birds and stuff. Sorry about that, but if you are reading this you are used to it by now.)

The climbing is tweaky sharp pockets, and I definitely need to warm up to it a little more. I did find a good tufa-y 7b+ to try (Montgronyeta), and I think I'll do it pretty quick (hopefully). Ethan is still shopping around for a project, though he did try some hard shit on the steep wall at the Finestra.  It looks heinous.

Today we are going to Lleida to get groceries, petrol and a stove. Fortunately when we arrived at the refugi, some folks were leaving and they gave us all their food.  Unfortunately, 3 more people have moved in, all Spanish, and Spanish people are fucking loud. This one chick said "aiii" about like, two dozen times when she woke up this morning between yawns and coughs.  Hmm.  That's all part of traveling though. We may get a cheap tent and camp out, but who knows at this point. It's super nice to be warm and dry at night, and have readily available showers as well.

I swear I had more to write about, but I've forgotten. I'll update regularly I'm sure. For a completely different take on the trip, check out Ethan's blog.

Pig Hunting!

It was looking like a pretty grim weekend. A huge storm was coming, it was cold, several people canceled due to the weather.  But somehow we prevailed and killed two pigs.

Kevin, Kris, Ben and I walked around the ranch (me on a bum ankle) for about 5 hours and saw about a dozen deer, lots of cows, a cool mushroom...but no pigs. As we were heading home though, we snuck up on some and Kevin and Ben each got one. At that point, watching them get killed and the fresh carcasses, I decided that I liked the idea of hunting way more than hunting itself. I think I'd be happy to go along any time, but it's pretty gruesome.  Don't scroll down if you are squeamish.  But hey - if you eat meat, you may as well have a look.  Following are some photos I took:

Not a double rainbow, but very pretty.

There was a spicy stream crossing. It rained so much that all of the creeks were running higher than I've ever seen them.  Plus the rocks were slick and wet and I was a bit concerned about my ankle.

The requisite mushroom photo. This was a large artists's conk.

The actual hunting was a bit chaotic. Kris and I hung back while Kevin and Ben stalked up the road so that they could get a good shot of the pigs.  There at least a dozen, everything from tiny piglets to big sows. Pigs are stupid, and they can't see very well, so they were easy to get close to. Kevin and Ben crept up and Ben took a shot, but his rifle isn't shooting true so he missed it and the Kevin took the pig down. The pigs scattered, squealing and running.  Ben took off up the hill and shot a sow in the ass. This was funny because the whole time, from the drive up to last night to the walk today he was talking about how he wanted a small pig. The pig he shot stood there looking at him, and he shot it in the shoulder, walked over to it and cut it's throat. For all of that planning to take a little pig, he took the biggest one down. Pretty classic. Here are photos of the post-shoot fun:

Kevin and Ben dragging the sow down the hill.

Wet and bedraggled. The bottom of my rain pants was full of water from the last stream crossing. My feet were already wet so I just charged it.

More photos. Ben was still dubious about his huge pig with the ass shot out. He said "now the fun ends and the dirty stuff begins." Unless you're me and you say "nope, I don't want anything to do with this anymore."

Kris had a smudgepot in the shop that he lit for heat. We were all wet and cold by this time.

 Setting up to hang the pig for skinning.

Carcass. I was a lot better with the pigs after they stopped looking like pigs. Maybe I'd had time to get used to the idea.

This was a super fun weekend. It's always nice to hike around the ranch when it is pretty and green, even if it is muddy and raining 50% of the time. I would have been happy if we hadn't shot anything at all (especially since I wasn't carrying a gun).  I don't feel bad about shooting pigs.  Their population is pretty high right now and they do a lot of damage (and they are not native). They can have at least three litters a year, with up to a dozen piglets. The pig population will be fine. On the other hand, it's definitely a visceral (not necessarily positive) experience to watch something die in person. It's not altogether pleasant, and truly it shouldn't be. We were discussing this on the way back. I wondered if it was so unpleasant because we are so distant from the process of killing even though many of us eat animal products. However one of the things that comes very naturally to (many) of us is empathy. I wonder if we are born naturally empathic and then culturally desensitized to death if we are exposed to it (as in cultures where hunting and slaughtering animals is the norm). Of course other cultures have gone the other way and maintained their natural-born empathy (such as vegetarian cultures in India). Like most things there is probably a range of "normal" behavior, both culturally and genetically driven. 

I know that for me, I won't be picking up the gun any time soon, but I will go over to Kevin and Ben's house for dinner.

Oh fucking well, may as well hunt a fucking pig.

That's a lot of f-bombs.  I am inspired my Misty Murphy's blog. It's hysterical.

So it's raining. This has been a very rainy winter.

Since there is to be no local climbing outside (even Bishop looks spotty), I'm taking two guys out to my family ranch in Mendocino County to hunt pigs.  In the rain.  It's probably going to be pretty miserable, but I can handle a few hours out in the rain. It's nothing I have never done for the love of mushrooms.

I'm not actually going to carry/shoot a gun. I don't know the first thing about guns. But my friends are hunters, one is an avid duck hunter and the other grew up hunting deer.  I'm just the hostess.

It's funny the only time I'm ever outside and not climbing, it's usually raining. Not too surprising I suppose.

If we shoot a pig, then we'll skin it and quarter it there, and then bring it back home to do who knows what. I'm not entirely sure. Kevin and Ben are stoked to butcher it - fine by me. Kevin found some instructional youtube videos.  You can find ANYTHING on youtube now.  What a world we live in.

Finally, I'm going to Europe in ONE WEEK OMG SO STOKED.  I have about thirty quickdraws (including some sweet Petzl logos (thanks E), a relatively new pair of shoes, and a crappy rope.  I need a new rope. Hmmm. Better do that soon. The car is booked, we're sussing out the living situation at the crags.  The best option may be to rent a house with some other climbers. This could be extremely awesome, or it could be a weeks-long soul killing sprayfest. My favorite.

I need to get some software installed on my laptop so I can work on this phylogenetic project that I'm doing...

On strength. Am I stronger or weaker than I think?

Sometimes I get reminded of things, as we all do, that are upsetting.  Upsetting even after I've categorized it, dissected it, stomped all over it and filed it away as far back in the recesses of my brain as possible. Something will trigger a wave of emotions, or my stomach will drop. It's a very physical emotional response.

It sucks.  I hate it.

I was talking to Karrigan about it, and he thinks it's sort of a fight or flight response, a bit like a PTSD thing. I'm reluctant to say that I have any kind of PTSD given what people who really have it have been through, but the principle is the same, just at a far milder level. Life isn't black and white, and there are many shades of experiences, and they are all relative to what one has experienced before.

It's probably fair to say that I've had some traumatic experiences, relative to someone who has never been diagnosed with a disease, lost a sibling, or had traumatic relationships (friendships or otherwise). But to think that things so far in the past can still bring up feelings that dwell in my subconscious is depressing. I want to be free and easy!! I want to not ever have bad thoughts!  I want to be calm and cool and collected! I want to never have self-doubt!

Karrigan suggests to take a meditative approach, and observe that it isn't a real feeling and let it go.  However I find this a bit depressing as well, because then I'm admitting that I have feelings that aren't "real", or aren't really applying to anything in the here and now. Just ghosts of emotions in the past. I know that's a defeatist way to approach it, and that he's right. Somehow it just trivializes something that is so real. I have to try to reconcile the two realities: the reality of the past and what happened and the reality of what the present is. Because they are inseparable, and trying to categorize or make something either this or that is not working for me. It's a very simple way to look at life, but it's not operationally useful...you don't really get anywhere with that paradigm. Time for a shift.