Still Snowing…

We now have about 8 inches at our house, which is less than 100ft above sea level. And it’s still snowing.

Snowy house

To distract myself from worrying about my flight tomorrow, Maddy and I went sledding. It was sweet.

Maddy also built a snow daschund, which is also pretty sweet.

Setting up for the yearly Christmas photo for my mom. The dogs are Charlie, Zoey, and Wally (from left to right)

The snow daschund

You know you’re missing out.

Maddy and Wally

Getting good use out of my new DAS Parka 🙂

Lizzy

Things to Do When It’s Snowy Outside

Watch funny videos on the internet! These are two of my absolute favorites and I hadn’t watched them in a while, but they’re just as good as they were the first time I saw them.

Enjoy!

Here’s the original, “Lazy Sunday”:

Vodpod videos no longer available.

And here’s the West Coast response, “Lazy Monday”:

Vodpod videos no longer available.

Lizzy

Snow in Washington

The forecasts came true and now there is snow all over Washington. I think the Arlington area got the most – over 2 feet according to the news. Redmond, where I grew up, got around a foot. Here in Poulsbo we only got a couple inches, but everything still looks beautiful. Some photos:

These photos are a view from the front of our house. The water is Hood Canal and the mountains are the Olympics.

Right now we just have cold weather (the daytime high is below freezing) before some more snow tomorrow. Check out what NOAA says about what’s coming in:

“STRONG EAST WINDS WILL PREDOMINATE SATURDAY THROUGH SUNDAY. THIS
MEANS THAT THE HEAVIEST SNOW ACCUMULATIONS WILL MOST LIKELY BE
OVER THE KITSAP PENINSULA AND ALONG HOOD CANAL…WHERE THE EAST
WINDS WILL ENHANCE THE SNOWFALL BY CREATING UPSLOPE CONDITIONS AS
THEY ENCOUNTER THE OLYMPICS. SNOW ACCUMULATIONS HERE COULD RANGE
FROM 6 INCHES TO A FOOT AND A HALF.”

Interesting… hopefully I can make it to the airport on Monday night, although it’s not supposed to snow as much there.

Best,

Lizzy

Vertigo

This weekend Lizzy was away in the Field but I got to spend one day at the Riverside Quarry before getting a bad cold. I drove up with Leah who sent her project, Vertigo 13a. We also met up with a fun crew from the LA area. All photos have been post processed and I am interested in opinions of how they look! Based on my terrible originals I have a lot to learn. I just got a bigger memory card and going to start shooting in raw to make post production easier.

Derick beginning a hard section of Vertigo.

Leah works through the lower section of Vertigo.

Leah makes the first hard reach.

Leah sets up for the last move of the crux.

Another version of a previous shot.

The first shot without the blur.

Enjoy,

Luke

 

 

It’s Finally Winter in California…

After weeks and weeks of sunny weather and 80-90 degree temps, we were beginning to wonder if “winter” just wasn’t going to happen in SoCal this year. But now, apparently, it has arrived. As I’m sitting here in Luke’s (cold!) house in San Diego, it’s raining and windy outside in a way that makes me feel like I’m in Seattle, not San Diego. Out in the desert on Saturday, it was so windy that I was worrying that pages would get ripped out of my notebook and I almost got knocked off the outcrop several times. Check out this crazy weather.

Also, there’s an 80% chance of snow in the greater Seattle area on Wednesday. I am still young enough to think that this is Really Awesome as opposed to Unfortunate or Annoying. Because it doesn’t snow a whole lot in the Seattle area. And we rarely get such good probability of snowfall.

Check this out, too:

The only unfortunate part about this Awesome Weather is that I’m supposed to fly to Seattle on Wednesday. The day with the snow. Oops. Hopefully I can actually get there to enjoy the snow.

Anyways, Luke and I will be out in Virginia for Christmas and then exploring the climbing around St. George for New Year’s, which we’re pretty excited about. Hopefully everyone has a relaxing, safe, enjoyable (and snowy?!?!) holiday! I have less than 6 months til I graduate!

Lizzy

Vertical Hold Renovations!

So our gym in San Diego is getting some Christmas renovations. Louie Anderson and Matt Hulet in addition to the Vertical Hold staff and my volunteers have been working hard to add a new boulder and give a makeover to three of the other walls. 

 

Many long hours have been worked so everything has happened pretty fast. It is really exciting to see the new terrain and that we will have some new angles to play on in 2009!

 

 

 

In addition to the new boulder and the new walls we had some basic improvements to our bouldering areas. Overall there will be a lot more usable square footage now! This update is sure to give us some extra motivation for the winter training!

Enjoy the photos, I will post some more when everything is textured after Christmas.

Cheers,

Luke

Facing forward while looking back.

This past Sunday on my 4th try of the day, after a nice nap, I lead Equinox without falls. In the same fashion as my previous attempts I preplace gear from TR and then clipped all the cams on lead placing one final cam before topping out. In the way that I climbed the route on top rope 3 weeks ago it flowed and felt perfect. My foot slipped once but I hit all the jams and made all the clips. Earlier in the day I refined my sequence and the new way worked! I reached the top a bit tired but not too pumped. Back on the ground I joked about doing it again since I felt so good. 

What a perfect splitter!

This route has been a big deal for me, a pure hard crack and a test of my endurance.  Sending this climb has been a big priority for 2008 but even though I sent I can’t stop thinking about it. I want to keep working on it even though, for now, I am done. It is a mental struggle to want something and invest all your time and energy. Training for the moves on Equinox, spending each weekend driving out to and working on it, visualizing the sequence and replaying all the moves. I am ready for a break from that routine, happy to have no definitive objectives, yet I still desire the redpoint.  I don’t want to have to make excuses about pre placing the gear to bring the climb down to my level. I want to have the mental and phsyical ability for a proper redpoint.  But I know with time fitness will come and I can wait until Lizzy starts leading Equinox before I start working on it again.

Back in November working on the Equinox.

The next few weeks should be interesting as success from a long term project sinks in. Dave Macleod has talked about an emptyness following a long term investment. I wonder if projecting Equinox was the way to fill a hole after I sent Control Freak back in September.  Will our trip to the Virgin River Gorge fill the hole that Equinox will leave?

No matter it has been an excellent season. After the summer season sport climbing we had an awesome fall in Joshua Tree.  The weather is far from cold but the day light hours sure cut into the weekend. I was up by 6:30 both Saturday and Sunday!

On Saturday morning I attened the Riverside Quarry Cleanup and saw many of the San Diego climbers from the gym. We made a big dent in the trash with multiple truck loads going to the dump. While I have only been climbing at the quarry for the last 18 months Stein tells me there has been a huge reduction of garbage. It was also fun to help build trails for a new area at the far right of the quarry called Schoolhouse rock. 

This new area, with freshly built trails, has slabby routes from 5.0 to 5.10+. This addition by Chris Miller and Louie Anderson gives a place for budding leaders to climb in a predomintantly 5.11+ crag. The routes range between a week old to just over a month old so they are still cleaning up. Be careful of loose rock since they not seen many ascents. 

Lizzy is out in the field so I am bouncing between partners for the weekend. Hopefully the weather will stay warm enough and I’ll get in some climbing. 

Cheers,

Luke

Bishop In Photos.

Lizzy Boulders!

Last time I tried to post a bunch of photos I ended up talking too much. I’ll try to keep this simple.  The weekend before Thanksgiving we met up with some of my high school friends, Jamie and Hartley, in Bishop. We did a bunch of bouldering and had a blast before going to Seattle for turkey! We spent Day 1 at the Sads, Day 2 at various out-lying  Buttermilk areas and Day 3 at the Happys. Lizzy really stepped it up this trip and took some amazing photos! Enjoy!

Jamie gets some cuddle time with Belmont after re-sending Molly V5 and Strenght in Numbers V5

Jamie making quick work of Pow Pow V7/8

Jamie with the Send face on.

Hartley cruising the Edge of Reason.

Belmont surveys his Buttermilk Kingdom.

Hartley attempting Rose V5

Luke on Slashface of the Buttermilks V5

 

Spencer working the full Painted Cave V6

Sunset from our campsite at the Buttermilks.

Jamie on Atari V6+

Jamie making his way to the top of Atari

Spencer sending Atari

Sending  Atari is quite the experience and Jamie and Spencer are happy to have made it.

Lizzy flashing her first V4, Hard Crack

Lizzy topping out at the Tablelands.

Luke finger stacks his way through Hard Crack.

Hartley on his way to a send of Hard Crack. Due to different hand sizes we each used unique beta.

Spence continues his sending spree on Action Figure V6. Earlier that day he did Rave Sit V6/7, Atari V6+, Gleaner V7, Disco Diva V8, and The Hulk V6. 

Lizzy works on Action Figure

Byron on Action Figure

Jamie figuring out the beta for Cholos V9

Jamie trying hard on Cholos

Jamie reaches!

Our time in Bishop was very fun. My fitness was a bit lower than I would have liked due to lots of endurance training. While I didn’t send anything hard I experineced a bunch of new problems and gained motivation to start bouldering more. 

– Luke

5 Reasons I Love the Pacific Northwest

I really like visiting Seattle and the surrounding region. Here’s why:

1. Moist air – great for the skin
2. Trees – they’re green and they make the air smell nice
3. Clouds – I miss them here in SoCal
4. Friends and family – it’s nice to catch up with everyone
5. Rock climbing – just being closer to Index, Squamish, and Smith Rock makes me happier

But, alas, we are now back in the hot dryness of SoCal. At least I only have one week of class left and not much in terms of finals. I’ve only got one school application and 2 fellowship applications to go. And in a week and a half I will be out in the field working on my project. Which is awesome because fieldwork is much more fun and exciting than homework.

Hopefully everyone had a great Thanksgiving! Luke and I had fun in Bishop before heading to Seattle. I even flashed my first “V4” – Hard Crack at the Happy Boulders. It probably wasn’t V4. But it was awesome and the fall would have been scary, had I taken it. A longer TR with lots of photos to come soon.

~Lizzy