Home, Home Again

I have decided to adopt this as my blog.  I realized I enjoyed writing about my adventures quite a bit, and this will keep me writing.  I am going to keep the name and domain, but it will just  be me updating on it.

Since i've been home (about a week now) ive been rather busy.  Ive been ticking off some projects, and gaining more.  At haycock, the home area, Ive sent Meeker v5, Rubbin' the Nubbin' v5, Jungle Boogie v6, and Slap and Tickle v6.  Slap and Tickle is a new problem a friend of mine, Ben Salser, put up recently and had been awaiting a second ascent despite effort from a few people.  Its a super fun sloper lip traverse that is consistently hard, and requires quite a bit of tension.  It took me a few hours of throwing myself at it.

In other news, I have organized a Top Rock Climb and Clean on May 5th.  It will be a fun day cleaning up trash and climbing with friends.  Organic Climbing is donating a chalk bag to raffle off and Ben Salser gave me a large metolius hangboard to raffle as well.  Should be fun hope to see you all there!

Some Photos from Joes / Homeward Bound?

Hey everyone,

So we left jackson and headed south into Utah to Joe's Valley; which is loaded with killer sandstone boulders.  Every single line is stellar, and the temps were awesome.

On our first day we were climbing at a warmup area, when we ran into friends from hueco; Jesse, Angus, Brad and Vera. I was psyched! it was great to see some familiar faces, especially after we were bombarded minutes before by some provo dudebros.  i sent my second v7, planet of the apes, an awesome line that didnt let up, "wills of fire" the classic v6 at joes, and one of the best lines of my life, as well as "kelly's arete" and "Kill by numbers" both of which go at v5 and many other beautiful lines.

We met new friends as well, Tom and Charlotte from Leeds, who were on a month trip to joes and bishop, and they were awesome to climb with.  We also met Dave and Matt, who were very cool dudes.  it was just great to have a crew of people who were psyched despite the cold cold weather. 

On Thursday, we started out the morning at the food ranch, the hangout on rest days, and left to climb at around noon.  It wasn't until friday afternoon that Eric realized his laptop was missing.  He went to the food ranch to see if it was there, but it wasn't.  so he basically wrote it off.  when we pulled into town yesterday (saturday) he got a text from some chick who said she had it.  but she was in class until 430 (mind you it was 1:00) so we waited, postponing our leave for breck.  430 turned into 6pm and we finally got the damned laptop, which despite flying off of the jeep, because he left it on top (Remind anyone of other instances?) still works pretty well, its just pretty broken.

We pulled into breck at midnight and were welcomed by conrad, and a Kyle Hollingsworth show, a good way to start the stint in breck.

I cant believe we are heading home on thursday morning, and driving straight through the 27 hour haul home.  God save us.  Its been an incredible ride, and i am probably going to be doing it next winter.  This will probably be the last post, but who knows i may adopt this as a photo journal.

Peace!

(the last two boulders are just awesome, despite not sending them i put up the photos to show the variety of joes)

Check out Angus's Blog for some sick photos and videos from this season
Vagabond Climber

Photo: Angus Lewis

"Planet of the Apes"

Eric working "Planet of the Apes"

Lee on "Wills of Fire"

"Water Paintings" v7
 Photo: Angus Lewis

"Maxipad" v5

lemme get them corduroys brah!

hey there my names lee,
 so we left tahoe on saturday, and initially planned on making it to portland by 9ish.  on a two lane road in the middle of north california, we were pulled over for no reason, and the police officer was looking for something to cite us on.  He was shaking the jeep asking about how the suspension was going to hold up, and we told him we would make it because we made it this far.  that is when irony set in.  We drove about 45 mins from our blue suited friend, hit a bump and heard a loud noise out of the back of the jeep.  both of us looked at eachother and were freaked out.  we pulled over, to see that the wheel was disconnected from the hub.  We were lucky to be on a back road and not the highway, but nonetheless it was stressful.  We got out to realize we sheared a lug bolt, but luckily due to the aluminum spacers, (that were probably the original issue) only one bolt sheared and we were able to throw the wheel back on and keep moving.  But due to our delay we decided to go to bend, not a hard decision.  We went to the silvermoon brewery, and caught a bluegrass band.  It was a cool town, lots of cool people, and we stayed at the walmart astoria that night.  (parking lot).

The next morning we headed to portland to check it out and get some food, and it was an awesome town.  It is exactly like portlandia for all of those who watch it.  we made it to seattle around 6.

Howdy Yall

Coming from the land of Jackson Wyoming. So we had to change plans a little bit due to the weather at Mt Baker and decided to head to Jackson Hole a little bit early.  Even though Seattle's weather is a pretty depressing in the winter, it was great to stay with a good friend Tim wenner. His mother and him fed us allowed our dirt bagging selves to shower and stay with them for a couple days. We tried making it to the Olympic National Forest to see the only rain forest in the U.S.  We never made it. Because of the lack of direction and laziness on everyone's part we drove about 3 hours to find a truck abandoned in a park in a forest, gutted and stripped by the forest dwellers (may or may not be human).  On a successful not we saw a herd of elk. . . that lee scared away by slipping on a log... from 30 yards away.

On the 12th we left for Jackson hole, driving through Idaho, Montana, and a little bit of wyoming. Idaho never seems to get talked about a lot but it is a very beautiful state. The forests on the rolling mountains seem to all run into either a river or lake at some point and it made for the one of the more scenic drives we have had since the coastal drive in California. Montana is a state of mountains and more mountains. Everything in Montana seems like its a full on backcountry exploration and i plan on making some more trips to that state.

We arrived in J hole about midnight, posted up in the jeep in a hotel parking lot and successfully rolled out in the morning without any hassle from the employee's.  Our main goal for this trip was to ride with our friend and manager from buckmans, Chabot. Riding here has been fun in full on spring conditions. Yesterday, the 14th, Chris Mechanish and i were able to meet up with a local rider and may have ripped the hardest lines for both of us including a 25' and 30' cliff drops. It was good to be pushed to my limits again and have some one to ride with during the run. We have been riding and staying with the entire Buckmans Crew for the past few days and its been great to get out with everyone and get to know them a little better. Thank you to Mr. and Mrs Buckman for dinner last night and to everyone in the Chabot house for putting us up.

Today we head to Joe's Valley in Utah. I believe it is in between Moab and SLC. Great climbing down there. We will be there for about a week then its to Breckenridge then home!
Time is moving too fast now. . . .

Eric Setting up at Squaw

Lee getting fresh at Homewood

Roadside Breakdown

Jurassic Park?

Buckman's Jackson Hole Crew

 

Whats this White Crap?

Hey Friends,

Today we are relaxing in Nat's Lake Tahoe house, finally getting some rest after three days of hard pow boarding.

We left bishop on tuesday? night and arrived around 11pm in tahoe city to a snow storm.  a stark difference from the 70 degree and sunny day we just left from.  The last week of bishop was filled with projecting.  We climbed a few days at the happy's so eric could work "The Hulk" including a night session, and climbed the rest of the days at the milks.  unfortunately for me, i did not send my project, "High Plains Drifter" due to the last move crux that thwarted me every time.  Its a long sustained line with crimps that wear your fingers raw, so i could only give it a few solid attempts each day.  I was psyched on the line and really wanted it to go, but sometimes that's how it goes.  it looks like ill have to come back next winter... damn. Eric sent his project the last day in bishop, it was awesome.

Bishop is a great town and once again we met some awesome people from the area who made the trip quite a bit of fun, we also ran into friends from other areas we've been.  Its an awesome feeling to be a part of a community that enables friendship in so many different areas, all due to the fact that we climb rocks.  Ive met people on this trip who i will never forget.

So tahoe is an awesome place, we were welcomed into a warm house filled with more great people; sans nat of course.  The first day we went to Alpine and caught the freshest snow, rode beautiful glades, and dropped some fun cliffs. that night we went to see moe. and it was an awesome first day.  the second day eric and i went to squaw, which is an impressive mountain.  Its filled with natural terrain that will accommodate any level of skier,  ranging up to todays most important backcountry riders and skiers.  it was wild.   The third day we went to homewood, and caught some of the best glades of the trip, due to the untracked lines, and tight trees.  It was stellar, ive never taken so many fresh lines in my life.  so many faceshots.

Today we are leaving tahoe to head to portlandia and then to seattle, and then to mt baker.  its going to be an interesting week of traveling.  

Auf Weidersein
Lee

Lee on High Plains Drifter

Lee on Done with the South

Lee, Scooter, Garreth, Pat and Roy on Grandma Peabody

Eric sussing out beta during the night session on the Hulk

Bishop and the Sierras

Hey Everyone!

So its been a few days since our last post, and since then Eric and I (Lee) took a drive from Eric's (Wysocki) apartment to Venice Beach and then up the pacific coast to Big Sur.  (By the way, Jeff has been in Joshua Tree since we left and was reunited with us in Bishop.)  It was a beautiful drive and it was surreal to be on the beach in 80 degree weather, with our feet in the sand and a frisbee in our hands.  We got to big sur a little after dark, and set up camp with an incredible view of the ocean.  We woke up and did some hiking in the national forest.  It was awesome to have a lush forest to hike through, and even more beautiful was the coast, abundant with bluffs and coves.  From there we made the horribly long drive to Bishop, a drive we realized that despite being only 200 miles as the crow flies, was a 400 some mile drive that took us withing 130 miles of LA.  not very good planning on our part but its all part of the experience. 

We pulled into the pit at 11:30pm, our home for the next two weeks, and crashed in the jeep for the night.  I woke up, looked out the window, and saw the beautiful sierras towering over the campground.  That day, tuesday, we went to the happy's.  It is a valley cut into a plateau, filled with hueco like volcanic boulders.  We got on some very cool classics, and i managed to send Rene, v5, in three tries.  Its a really nice 15 degree face that stands at about 18 feet.  It all comes down to locking off a two finger pocket crimp and standing up to a crimp rail.  Eric was close, but was having trouble getting his alleged sausage fingers into the pocket.  so he shotgunned a beer to dull the pain, and jammed them in, but didnt quite send.  He is close.  We have all racked up projects and were hoping to put them down and gain some more. 

 On Wednesday Eric and I went to mammoth due to 9" of fresh snow on tuesday night, and skied glades and fresh snow all afternoon.  it was a nice change of pace, despite being way expensive. 

We are waiting for better weather to head to the buttermilks, due to it being set in an alpine meadow, and thus conditions are always colder.  in due time. 

Big Sur

Happy Boulders Parking Lot

Lee working "The Clapper"

Lee sending "Rene"

Eric bearing down on "Rene"

Top of the Plateau

Afternoon Moon

Jeff working "Solarium"

Eric sussing the beta on "Serengeti"

Jeff working a v4

Greetings from Hotel Wysocki!

So since the last update, i realized i slightly tweaked my wrist on a top out, so i took a few days off.  Eric, Brianna, and I went for a day hike up Big Horn Mountain and saw the amazing view of the park from one of the highest points.  I believe we gained in between two and three thousand feet of elevation.  One of the nights, (wednesday?) we went on a pseudo-caving adventure through one of the piles of joshua tree rock.  we left camp at around 10 pm and the catch is that once you're out of the car no headlamps are allowed.  The entire thing is based on feel and instinct. Pat led the group to the entrance and then led us through each obstacle, including dropping off of boulders, climbing up others, climbing tight chimneys, and the birth canal.  A slot you must squeeze through; the only option being to lay flat on your back with your arms stretched out above your head, and push through to the lip with your feet and then pull once you get to the lip. it was awesome, for most of the chasm you could not see your hand in front of your face.  We got to the top, savored the moonlight which seemed so bright after pitch blackness, and then dropped back in to finish at the bottom.  It was an exciting experience, one that i don't feel many people get to do unless they meet someone who has done it.  however i dont believe i could find the entrance again...

On thursday we bouldered.  I sent a few things, including sloper safari v4, raspberries? v6, sawaxing on the DL v5, and newtons Law v5.  Jeff sent sloper safari and DL both of which were projects for him, Eric sent sloper safari

Friday Eric and i did routes, starting with a 5.8 hand and fist crack; albeit its shortness (35 or 40 feet) was super fun and had great jams.  We then did Stitcher Quits, 5.7 the classic run out joshua tree slab.. It was 100 feet with 4 bolts, and once you get to the anchors at the top, you basically solo up to the top (easy easy slab) and then walk off. It was super fun.  We then did the Headstone at Ryan Campground.  Its the prominent feature in the area and i had been eyeing it up since we got to jtree.  It was fun, a little exposed, but great climbing and it was stellar to be at the top of this cruiser.  We wish we had spent more time on routes, but due to my wrist and what not it ended up being a neglected part of the stay, just all the more reason to come back!

Friday night Brianna Eric and I made our way to Hotel Wysocki in the valley above LA.  He put us up, gave us showers, carrots and hummus. what more could a drifter ask for?  we went out in town friday night and i woke up after a few hours sleep to drive Brianna to the airport.  It seemed like her being here flew by and i cant seem to figure out where the time went.  It was so fun having her for this leg of the trip, with beautiful weather and sun.

We went for a hike saturday afternoon in the Angeles National forest.  The hike turned out to be an 11 mile loop that climbed a mountain for 6 miles. We saw so many different forests on this mountain it was wild;  spruce forest, areas of mainly bushes and underbrush, and other huge deciduous forests.  It was a nice change to see a lush green deciduous forest after spending so much time around cacti and other plants that aim to kill you.

We stayed the night last night and this morning we are headed to the beach, yep venice beach, and then driving up the coast to Big Sur for some hiking tomorrow morning and bishop on Monday!

Lee sending Newtons Law

Jeff Sending Sawaxing on the DL

Eric and I climbing the Head Stone

Packing it in

Sunset on Erics Hike

Top of Big Horn Mt.

Hello from Joshua Tree

Hello from Joshua Tree National Park, California. Jeff here, this place is awesome, definitely the most scenic place we've been so far. At night the combination of boulders, stars, and of course the Joshua trees create the feeling of existing on another planet, its wild. The sounds of howling coyotes greet us in the morning and sound us to bed at night. As far as the climbing goes, it's varied which is awesome. The rock is sharp, no joke but consistent and fun to climb. I sent a 23ft V3 "Satellite Left" which was most exciting, sent a V4 "Yaba Daba Don't," very cool climb. I also have three V5 projects going in one area which is exciting. Again we are meeting new awesome people, we've been climbing with our neighbors Roy and Pat from Maryland and Jidae (He-day) from Japan who has an amazing story. He has been traveling on a bicycle for almost three years now, we will actually be with him for his last days of his trip. He traveled through Argentina, Mexico, British Columbia, Alaska to here, quite inspiring. He is quite the spirit to have around, Roy and Pat took him while he is here but needs no one to depend on. With an apparently vigorous work out and stretching regiment he is a strong climber with only four months under his belt. Saturday day night was possibly the coolest night we've had. With new friends and some strangers hanging around a camp fire, the language of spanish flying all over, we had a great night of music from Barcelona and from our neck of the woods as well. Feeling good, feeling fine, here's to next time.

Hello Lee here, Josh is a very cool place.  As jeff said, it seems to be from another planet... or the land before time... or the Flintstones.  This leg of the trip has been very good so far, starting out with my birthday on friday.  We went to the 5.10 outlet in the redlands, and got two new pairs of shoes, because all of mine are on their way out.  on saturday we climbed with our delaware friends along with Jidae, the three of which were camped next to us but we ended up meeting at our warm-up boulder.  They gave us a very good introduction to the area, including the classic "yabba dabba dont", "not so thin lizzy", "thin lizzy", and "White Rastafarian":  The proud 25 foot arete with a committing move to a sloper gaston, that moves into an exposed top out.  I was aware of the potential consequences of the move; a friend from home, Brad Frankenfield, fell from the move and tore ligaments in his ankle due to landing past the pads on the ground.  So i knew i would either feel comfortable and send or have to bail risking injury.  I pulled on and every move felt awesome, i stood up to the big move, and executed, and flashed the problem.  I felt rather comfortable throughout the whole thing.  I believe it was a situation where everyone on the ground was much more uncomfortable than I was.  We then went to stem gem to close out the day, and i didnt send but was very intruiged by the balance of the problem.  We had a great fire that night with such a good energy brought on by the vast range of people we were with.

Yesterday we climbed in a different area and It was very good however i was pretty tired so tried a number of things but didnt spend too much time on any one thing.  Eric and i did however find an interesting boulder not in the guide that had really interesting movement, we think it goes at v2 but in josh style it requires a lot of beta.

I made contact with Eric Wysocki a friend from highschool who know lives in LA and we will be meeting up with him on friday night to go out on the town.  So expect more pictures and an update then!

auf weidersein.  

It's Eric. I'm gonna make this short and sweet. Like ginger ale. California is totally awesome. Dude, the people are so rad and mellow. Man, the climbing is like .... Wahpow! It's gnarly brah! It's like ... Mars man, totally far out.
On a more serious note I really do love California. Between the landscape here and the vibe of the people I can already see myself moving to this state so I am excited to see what the rest of California is like. The rock here is great to climb on and I'm pretty stocked on sending some crack routes on gear tomorrow.

Love, peace, and chicken grease.

Jeff on Yabba Dabba Dont

Lee sending White Rastafarian

Eric working Pig Pen

Saturday Night Fire