jason started reading the Da Vinci Code .. he couldnt put it down. photo taken at michelle and keith's house!
walked around Lava Butte with my family .. mannnntle ;)
this guy is the bestest, most awesomest person in the whole wide world! love you bro!
my little cousin alison posing with the Lava Butte sign at the top of the butte -- hahahah! there were a bunch of cousins that took that same silly photo -- of all ages! cousin karen, i mean you!
another walk along the river .. i am not happy about those darn mosquitos!
outdoor family bbq
my family is so cool ;) my bro is so silly!
jason .. trying so hard to be my bro ..
we got in 2 days of climbing at Smith Rocks. what ive heard of the place is true: straight vertical and small holds. the climbs we got on were fun and had good movement - super balancy and trusting those feet. we'd like to go back one day and spend more time there. it was just blazing sun and way too hot to really do anything more. before leaving, we did hike around the area and check out the history of modern day sport climbing ;)
Watts Tots, 12b - first sport climb in the United States!
Smith Rocks
and more ..
Monkey Face crag (do you see it at the top?). right in the middle of the white face is Just Send It, 14b or something .. the original "hardest sport climb" in America. funny thing, a few weeks later, we met the second ascensionist (ever!) of this climb - Mark Le Menestrel! haha, he told us his send story -- called in sick to work, etc. we all understand this addiction ;)
our next stop was City of Rocks - Idaho. as we're driving in, passing these rolling plains of grass and shrubbery and only seeing continued hills ahead of us, we're wondering .. where are these supposed rocks? and out of nowhere, there it is .. The City. quite beautiful. ive heard that its more known as a trad place, and after visiting, i agree. i'm not sure that i would recommend the place to my sport climbing friends. however, please take this with a grain of salt. i only climbed a few sport climbs of the area, and surely there are more. but, of the sport climbs that i got on .. whew, scary! and i mean like "decking potential and really hurting yourself" kind of fear. the first climb we got on had the first bolt at least 25' off the ground. now the terrain to get to the ledge was fairly easy, but the bolt wasnt even right there. you still had to pull moves off the ledge (which wasnt truly great great.. it still sloped slightly downward) to clip the first bolt! what??! however, then, the rest of the climbing to the top was actually really fun! another climb we got on had a 25' runout between bolts! the moves in between the bolts were not difficult, but why the runout?? just drill in one more bolt. come on, just for safety! haha, anyway, i had to laugh it off - altho is it really funny? ;) when i return to the area, ill visit with trad in mind. :)
City of Rocks
jason is cleaning off his last climb. he saw a photo of this climb back when he started climbing in the 90s .. and hes re-creating the image .. silly!
