Last Sunday I went whale watching for the second time in my life, I used a Groupon deal and invited an old roommate of mine out for a bit of adventure. My excuse to get her to come out this way was it was for her birthday (though her birthday was in November).
We set off from Channel Islands harbor, and immediately spotted some dolphins playing near the surf before we even got around the last breakwater.
After that, our captain decided to make for an area he normally doesn’t go to because he’d heard humpback whales were spotted there. We spent some time cruising along at a fairly brisk pace, fast enough that a group of kids at the bow let out some whoops and yelps each time we hit a swell.
My friend had applied a seasickness patch prior to the trip, during one swell I turned to her, “Just pretend you’re riding a horse!” She did fine, though it was probably more due to the patch than my advice.
For awhile we just saw the ocean, the distant islands and oil rigs through the morning haze, and seabirds. And then… we saw the whales. “Thar she blows!” someone shouted. Ok… no one really shouted that. But someone did point excitedly to get the captain’s attention. After a bit, the captain idled the engine and the magic started to happen. We had come upon two very curious humpback whales. They seemed to want to check us out as much as we wanted to look at them. They circled around our boat and even went under it. At one point, one was pretty much floating exactly perpendicular to our starboard side, and stuck part of its mouth out of the water.
A humpback whale says hello in rainbow language
Then the whales started spouting at us. So much so that those of us on the bow all ducked under the spray. It was hilarious fun… though I must say, whale’s breath is one of the less pleasant smells I’ve experienced. Don’t they have a baleen brush or something? When I got home and read about humpback whales, I learned that their breathing is voluntary, that they possibly only turn off part of their brain when they sleep because of this. So if they breathe voluntarily… were these whales purposely giving us a spray?
The whales stuck around for quite some time, though aside from that one moment I had with the whale which gave me a rainbow show, they were constantly in motion.
Finally they moved away. I was sad to see them go. Then, perhaps for one last show, they started breaching. First one and then the other breached as they made their way away from us. Our captain said, “You see this every day!” in a joking tone of voice. At one point, I heard him say as he was leaning out of his window with a camera, “I hope someone got this because I ran out of memory!”
We were late getting back into the harbor. But it was well worth it.
I’ve included a slideshow of my shots below, you can click on a photo to see it in my adventure photography gallery where you can view it larger and purchase prints.
I have a 2 year old nephew (his birthday was a few days ago) who loves to climb on things. He scared my brother and my sister-in-law by climbing to the 2nd floor on the outside of the stair railing. While this is a rather admirable feat for a then less than 2 year old, my brother and sister-in-law have been wondering when he’ll learn that sometimes height can equal hurt.
1. Carefully places his feet. Great footwork is the foundation of climbing.
2. Finds out that if he doesn’t have a good foothold, he may not be stable enough to get the next hand hold. Climbing is a process, learning the sequence can be the key to a successful ascent.
3. Reasons that if it is not safe to continue*, it is sometimes better to down climb. Downclimbing is a valuable skill.
4. After downclimbing, takes a look at his route again. Analyzing your route is a good way to see if you can spot something to try next time.
5. Goes to get a hug after his climb from the camerawoman (his mom). Everyone needs a little encouragement sometimes.
*the word my nephew keeps saying is, “High!” this is what his mom tells him as a warning when he is too high or on something not really possible for him (for example, I noticed my sister-in-law tell him this when he was on some strangely shaped bars meant for big kids).
I can’t wait to see what other things I’ll learn from my nephew as he continues his climbing career!
PS - I wish they had climbing hold playthings in public parks when I was growing up!
I don’t qualify for this but I know at least one of my readers is on a youth competition team and some others have kids who are climbing. The application isn’t due until July of 2012, but you need to list your accomplishments “in the past year” so that’s a little more incentive to enter competitions starting now. Winners get $400, 2 pairs of shoes, a shirt and hat, and a one year contract on Team Five Ten. The prizes for runners up are pretty cool too.
This is probably the closest thing I’ve seen to a climbing “scholarship”
Here’s the press info below:
Five Ten announces FIVE TEN CORE AWARD for youth gym teams.
Five Ten, the leader in high-friction footwear, announces the CORE AWARD ™. The Five Ten CORE AWARD is designed to support athletes who embrace adventure and push their personal limits. This series focuses on aspiring young climbers.
Climbing is on the fast-track to become an Olympic sport, and Five Ten supports this future-generation of Olympians with the new Five Ten CORE Award™. Five Ten created the CORE AWARD to support love of adventure and pursuit of excellence: qualities that we know Five Ten climbers will bring to not only the Olympic Games, but all of the Worldʼs Greatest Sports.
To encourage young athletes to pursue their dreams, weʼve created five awards of $400 each to help with coaching, training or travel costs. Weʼll pick one first place winner from each of the 5 USA Youth Categories, and three runners-up in each category.
First place winners will receive $400, two pair of Five Ten shoes, team shirt and hat, plus a 1-year contract on Team Five Ten.
The three runners up in each category will receive two pair of shoes, T-shirt and a spot on the Five Ten Youth Development Team.
Five Ten CORE AWARD winners will be announced in August, 2012. All applications must be submitted by 15 July, 2012.
Athletes must be 19 years old or younger and have been competing in youth or junior categories.
In order to apply for the Award:
Application must be accompanied by a letter of recommendation from Team Coach or athlete mentor.
Application must include a brief (250-300 word) essay on athleteʼs accomplishments in the past year.
Application must be accompanied by one photograph of the athlete, wearing Five Ten shoes or logoed apparel.
Application package must be submitted in complete form to: Nancy Bouchard, Five Ten Sponsorship Director, nancy.bouchard@fiveten.com. Please include CORE AWARD application in the subject line. Once submitted, all application materials are the property of Five Ten.
Application:
Climberʼs Name:
Date of Birth:
Address/Email/Contact Info:
Name of Gym where climber trains:
List 6 competition placements/athletic achievements in past 12 months.
Coach recommendation: (Coaches may recommend up to 4 kids per team).
Essay by the applicant: How Climbing Has Changed My Life (300-500 words).
Five Ten reserves all-rights to use application material.
In August I got to attend the Outdoor Retail show for the first time. The show is a convention for the Outdoor industry to show off their newest and/or up and coming products, it occurred from August 4-7 this year and attendance was approximately 25,000 retailers, exhibitors and media. The OR Show also happens to be a fun time for the industry to get together in Salt Lake City, Utah.
I left my schedule pretty much wide open for the show but I was also checking out the first ever Outdoor Photography Expo, put on by the same people and held in a hotel walking distance from the OR Show. Additionally, K and I were staying with friends of ours who we hadn’t seen in person in years so we wanted to spend time with them as well.
Rather than give you a blow by blow of the experience (which I can sum up by saying I had a blast at both shows, at the parties and with my friends) I thought I’d list some of the highlights and companies and products I checked out.
Outdoor Demo Day - Jordanelle Reservoir
The highlight of this day activity wise was trying stand up paddle board for the first time. While some may groan about SUP seemingly taking over the human powered water sports world, I have to say that after trying it, I can definitely see why. I found it challenging (though that could be a factor of the windy conditions I went out in) but also satisfying and pleasant. It reminded me of ocean kayaking but involved my whole body and demanded a lot of more from my sense of balance. Thanks to _ for providing SUP boards and instructors!
Going around the tents. I stopped by:
Chaco: they showed off some funky toe enclosing colorful shoes which were for water sports.
GoPro: they showed off a 3D camera set up (you enclose two GoPros into it and use software to process).
BugBand.net: You can read a bit about my experience with their product here (basically it works but not for very long, however it’s a natural alternative to deet).
Brooks-Range Mountaineering Orienteering Race: They provided a navigation class which I enjoyed, and they let us keep the map tool afterwards. It was supposed to be a race, but it was more for learning than for competition.
SweatyBands: Non slip headbands, they gave away product and I snagged an extra to giveaway to you guys! (watch for the upcoming give away post).
I also spent some time looking for my sunglasses which had slipped off of my head… luckily after some time I found them.
Convention Days
Tweetup - I had a great time meeting up with fellow Twitter folks even though I had forgotten my id and had to go back for it.
Honey Stinger - Loved their mint chocolate flavor
Klymit - I’ve heard about their Inertia X sleeping pads before but they’ve expanded their offerings and this was my first time seeing them in person. I have a review coming up on one of them. First impression made on the OR Show floor: they are thicker than I thought and comfortable. I’m amazed how small and light they pack up, even with the pump included.
Climbing Specific
Black Diamond's magnetic locking carabiner
Black Diamond - Sat down and talked to the magnetic carabiner engineer. This little guy comes out in Spring. My initial concerns about the magnet affecting a compass and grit sticking to the carabiner were put some what to rest. The magnet is only strong enough to affect a compass if it is right next to it. And should any grit stick to the magnet it is more easily cleaned than a normal locking carabiner (they buried the carabiners in dirt to test).
The action on the carabiner is pretty darn smooth I must admit. It is easy to open and close and the weight (another initial concern of mine) is not noticeably different than a normal locker. I am not sure if I’ll really like them in real usage, but I am more favorably inclined towards them than before, particularly since they do indeed seem less likely to get “sticky” from dirt like some of present older locking carabiners that I own.
Kong - Their alternative to the BigBro was demoed to me. It’s called the Gipsy and it looked pretty slick and can be
Kong crack gear
deployed one handed (so they said, I had a bit of trouble with it, though of course I didn’t have any practice time with it). I still found it quite intriguing though.
Five Ten Coyote Canvas shoe
FiveTen - The new shoe coming in Spring of 2012 is a canvas version of the Coyote shoe. It’s washable. Maybe they read my stinky climbing shoes post? Other differences from the regular Coyote show is a lower ankle and slight padding.
Treadwall - This is just what it sounds like, a climbing wall that rotates. I climbed it a bit while at the Sierra Nevada party it was fun even though the motor wasn’t running so it just was being pulled down by my weight.
Me "leading" on a Treadwall
Other
80’s Dance Party by Teva - Just plain fun. Though a bit crowded.
Tweetup at the Red Door - Great to meet Twitter folks from #climb and from the outdoor industry. Unfortunately I had arrived late and many folks had already left.
Google+ Photographer Meetup - Had dinner with a few “strangers”. I’m finding Google+ pretty darn fun and already connected with some photographers in time to arrange this meetup.
Free Concert at Snowbird - This was not part of the ORShow or Outdoor Photography Expo but I went with my Utah friends. Quite cool to have a free outdoor concert in a pretty venue!
Outdoor Photography Expo - This deserves a separate post but I’ll at least mention it here… highlights were meeting Jimmy Chin, seeing some vendor stuff in person (for example the Spider holster system) and getting general inspiration. K won a free seat to the two day video workshop and learned a lot.
Saw Lynn Hill and Chris Sharma close enough to say “Hi” if I had known what to say (and I hadn’t been rushing around).
Photos and More
Be sure to check out my photos which tell more of the OR Show tale. There were a lot of vendors I didn’t mention in this quick write up but that you will see get a post of their own once my reviews are done on products I got from my Utah trip. Next time I go I’ll try and blog each day of the show so I can keep on top of it all!
It all started when I got an email from my friend Su:
Hey Eileen,
If you’re free on August 13-14 and can cook a gourmet meal in the wilderness, you might want to apply for a spot in this trip I’m going to with the Sierra Club…
My mind started spinning as she described dishes done on past trips. I also noted that the trip started off in an area just off Tioga Pass Road, just below the entrance to Tuolumne National Park, and included a summit of North Peak (Elevation 12,242 feet) via a 3rd class route in which the trip leader wanted everyone to bring a climbing helmet. I shot off my application email with some recipe ideas and, at my friend’s suggestion, an outdoor resume of sorts. I was hoping my climbing and photography abilities would make up for any lack in my proposed menu.
It must’ve worked because I got in. It was explained in my acceptance email that the 3rd class ascent was to be scrapped for an easier one and thus helmets were not going to be required. After a flurry of emails in which I saw the list of fellow group members, Su and I met the group for the first time in person early Saturday morning. As we walked up to a group of women and introduced ourselves one said, “Great, we’re all here, we can go, all the guys bailed.” I thought it was a joke at first. There was still at least 10 minutes left before the official departure time, and surely not all the guys had bailed? But no, it was true, of the 12 originally going on the trip, all four of the guys (including the trip leader who unfortunately had a family emergency) had not been able to make it, so it was to be an all female group, with another experienced Sierra Club backpacker taking on the lead role, with another gal as her second.
Hiking around Saddlebag Lake
Two of the group went off taking the water taxi through Saddlebag Lake (I later realized why they had opted to do this, they were carrying monster packs and more food than we were supposed to bring as well as surprise goodies), the rest of us hiked on the trail around the lake. The going was easy though it unexpectedly included a few areas where we had to cross snow fields. There was a lot of snow on the ground for August, the past snow season had been a heavy one and I guess made for a late spring, pushing everything back a few months, including the melting conditions. The result was a gorgeous, snowy and green hike along a full lake.
Once we were around Saddlebag Lake we were greeted with green meadows with wandering streamlets. The temperature was great, though I started to realize just why we had all been told to bring mosquito head nets. The first wrinkle of the day was in finding the two folks who had gone across on the water taxi. Apparently there was some vagueness on where base camp was to be set up.
We hiked on to Greenstone Lake and ended up going even farther and then searching for quite a while. The scenery was gorgeous, and while personally I had thought the hike in was a little short, I soon found we were adding in extra mileage looking around while still wearing our packs. Eventually a gal who was with us just for the day was the one to find the missing women, and camp was set.
North Peak soon beckoned so as a group we set out again. There was some concern about the amount of snow on the slopes, but we thought we might be able to find a clear way to the summit. It seemed while everyone had hiking poles no one had ice axes or crampons (these were not supposed to be necessary).
Unfortunately we had another setback, one person had forgotten something in camp, gone back to get it, but then… didn’t show up again. We were all confused, though we were not on a trail and on uneven terrain, we had only been yards away from camp. This turned into a search. Eventually the person was found, actually ahead of the group, closer to North Peak. After some discussion it was decided we’d leave North Peak for the next day and we had a little snack break of beet cupcakes instead. The beet cupcakes tasted like a cross between chocolate and red velvet cake. Delicious! After more hiking, most folks went back to camp and took a short nap. Su and I had driven late into the night on Friday, and others had done the same. The official name of the trip was Decadent Wilderness Weekend IX, so a decadent nap was right in line with that in my way of thinking.
Our camp was set up overlooking a small lake (our water source) and we could also see Greenstone Lake, which we had passed hiking in. After nap time, many of us pumped water and then it was time to start cooking.
Modeling mosquito nets during the Beet Cupcakes break, that's me in the bottom left corner. North Peak is behind us on the left.
The menu for the trip had been kept secret, per the original leader’s instructions. Only he had known in general what things folks were bringing. The requirements had also changed a week leading up to the trip. We were to bring an appetizer, an entree, and a beverage to feed two people, three if you were making a breakfast item. I had a breakfast item so was not cooking that evening. I did break out my beverage offering… hot chocolate with Bailey’s Irish Cream, but the late afternoon temperature was still too hot for it, and folks mentioned it’d be better at the end of the evening. So I mainly assisted, took photos, and tried to stay away from the many mosquitoes. I was glad for my mosquito net. I seem to be very attractive to mosquitoes, one gal noticed I had about 50 of them on my shirt sleeves trying to get at me, she even took a picture of it. My shirt weave was tight enough that the mosquitoes couldn’t bite through, I had long pants on, and a mosquito net, however I had been reluctant to put too much repellent on my hands so I was getting bit on them. Luckily I had picked up a sample while at the OR Show of a bug repellent called Bug Band based on Geraniums, it was effective, though it didn’t last long, and it was natural enough that I didn’t feel so squeamish about having it on the back of my hands while I ate. Fortunately for one of the other hikers, who was allergic to Deet and other repellents, I had an extra sample to give her. She was very happy with it. In regards to my hands, you might ask, why didn’t I just go without anything? Well, I mentioned the 50 bugs on my shirt, but I can tell you that it was worse than that. I think there’s only ever been one other time I’d seen so many mosquitoes, and that other time was also on a Sierra backpack trip. I will say a mosquito net works wonders, and hey, maybe we’ll start a fashion trend?
Cooking in camp
As the cooking went on, the smells around our chosen cooking area were exquisite. For appetizers we had Alaskan Smoked Salmon in Pasta Shells, Kale Pasta Salad with Greens (a vegan raw recipe by the way), Cherry Soup (it may sound a little odd but it was wonderful!), and Bruschetta with homegrown tomatoes and basil, the bread toasted to perfection. We even had a palette cleanser, a drink of honeydew melon and mint. I was full before the main dishes came out. We had: Korean Savory Pancakes with imitation crab meat, green onions and other vegetables with a pickled salad side, Beef Stroganoff, Red Potato salad with vegetables, Jalapeno Quesadillas, and Seared Ahi Tuna. After that we suspected that maybe one of the missing guys was supposed to bring dessert, but we still had Lavender Cake (and had eaten the Beet Cupcakes earlier in the day). Beverages included wines, a Guava and Limeade mixed juice drink, San Pelligrino sparkling water, my hot chocolate and Bailey’s offering and a mystery drink which turned out to be homemade honey mead! The cooking had started with the sun still up in the sky but the eating went on well after sunset. Even with a short break, I thought I was going to burst. I know many folks had brought more than enough to serve just two people, and everything tasted so good, it was a shame for any to go to waste! Plus, everyone wanted to make room in their bear canisters
The conversations at dinner were also satisfying, we had women from Southern and Northern California attending. One lady was also a long time climber so we talked about climbing for a while. Another gal was a self proclaimed peak bagger, having bagged 35 peaks prior to this trip as I found out later. She was currently living in Independence, after realizing her accounting business could be operated from there with only a little bit more difficulty than from the LA area. Mainly though the conversations were just about having some fun. At one point, realizing we had so much extra food, the group leader, wearing a chef’s hat by the way, decided to try and find a fellow camper to surprise them with quesadillas, we thought we had seen a tent earlier in our roaming. So we set out to find them. They must’ve moved on though, as we didn’t see anyone near by, even when we went up to a lookout point to look around us. Their loss though. Can you imagine the look on their faces if someone in a chef’s hat had came out of the woods and delivered, still hot, gourmet cheese and jalapeno quesadillas? I had my camera on video mode in case we found them.
I went to sleep that night, wondering if I was going to wake up to bears roaming near the cooking area.
After a bear free and fairly pleasant night’s sleep [on a sleeping pad I'm testing out by the way, review to come], I woke up early because I wanted to climb North Peak. It had been decided that I should make my breakfast item as a brunch item instead so we could get going to North Peak as early as possible. I think this decision was also made because everyone was so full that night, and we had so much left overs, that no one wanted to think about an early breakfast! Some girls were still asleep but the leader was up as well as Stephanie, the lady who lived in Independence. We decided it would be best if those going to the peak officially sign out of the Sierra Club trip to tackle the summit on our own so that the Sierra Club would not be liable for us and thus an official leader would not have to go with us as they were needed to hike out with the rest of the group. In the end Stephanie, Su (who had woken up by the time we had decided all this), and I were the only ones going. We had an official errand to run though, add a new peak registry to the summit.
With Stephanie in the lead we went off quickly. She had not done this peak before but had the topo map of the area and had also been close to bagging nearby Mt. Conness so knew the general area at least. We were off trail and soon found there were quite a few little lakes between our campsite and the base of the North Peak. We made our way around these and around or through a few snow patches before finally starting our ascent.
At times we found part of use trails heading our way, however large snow patches on increasing inclines made us hesitate. We chose to traverse some of them carefully, but hiked completely around others. This added quite a bit of mileage to our approach. Our earlier estimate of two hours to the summit was more than fairly optimistic. There was so much snow that we found ourselves heading more towards Mt. Conness than North Peak, as a direct line up would’ve been straight into snow fields [which, for you ice climbers out there, I only just found out today apparently is an ice climb in the right conditions!]. As the going got steeper, looser, and included more bouldering moves, our pace slowed. At one point we came upon some guys on their way down wearing harnesses. They had been planning on going up to Mt. Conness but decided to turn back due to weather.
We had noticed more numerous, and darker clouds coming from the direction we were heading. To our right the sky still contained blue though. We decided to make for the saddle and see what we could see. The guys wished us well and we continued on. The saddle itself was a bit of a chimera, I thought I had seen the ridge from where we had talked to the guys, but we passed another duo of guys and yet another snow field before we actually got to it. Thankfully though, once there, we saw that blue sky was once again on the horizon. We pushed on. Finally we were at the actual ridge, we could see the broad saddle and ridge line. And unfortunately it seemed like a large bit of snow was on this ridge. We took a break and then Stephanie went up to investigate. She said it was doable to a small rock formation and then we could take the base of that on to drier ground and a clear, snowless last ascent to the peak. We carefully made our way across the sun cupped snow pack, at times following crampon tracks. After we all made it over, we discovered strong winds on the dry part. We huddled, sitting against a boulder, taking a drink of water, before the last push to the top, which, after we discovered a little trail, was looking to be the easiest part of the whole day’s worth of hiking. Stephanie was ahead of Su and I after we had made one additional stop so Su and I were the only ones to greet a lone guy descending from the trail, he had been the one with the crampons. He said he’d thought about doing the traverse to Mt. Conness but didn’t feel right with the winds and being solo. He wished us well though, and we were on our way again. We saw one more pair of guys before the top, but it was windy enough that Su and I just waved at them, not really stopping in our boulder hopping ascent.
At the top we found Stephanie, smiling but huddled near some rocks, the wind was not as fierce as below but still strong and cold enough that one didn’t really want to stay standing for long. Stephanie had added the registry to the tube on top and already signed it so Su and I added our names to the new registry as well. This is when I learned that Stephanie had done 35 other peaks, since she had written the number 36 under a mountain symbol next to her name in the registry and Su asked her what it meant. I also learned, after I named a few peaks I have been on, that I have done at least 4 qualifying peaks, so I put a 4 down next to my name as well.
Me with summit chocolate! Don't mind my hat, I had to squash it on to keep it from blowing away!
It was Su who reminded Stephanie about her summit chocolate. Stephanie had told us about it the other day, saying she kept special chocolate to eat as a reward for summiting. She gave us each a piece of course. It was an excellent and appropriate way to celebrate a peak summited during the Gourmet Backpack trip!
After some quick photos (I mentioned it was windy and cold up there, right?). We were really feeling the time crunch, as Su and I still had a long drive home. We had hoped that we could come down a more direct way from the summit, but Stephanie had talked to the two guys Su and I had just waved at and it turns out they were guides and did not suggest going down a more direct way, due to the snow. We ended up going back the way we had come, traversing the snow again on the ridgeline. We did end up traveling a bit on one plateau area following a use trail for a little while but soon realized it was heading towards a water fall which we had seen from a distance… which we knew to be surrounded by snow and cliffs on either side. So, we still had to go the long, round about way we had come in. Only towards the very end did we try to go more directly to our camp, sometimes down-climbing random stuff, which I double checked to make sure the others could come down as well (I was leading some of this part).
We finally made it to camp and hurriedly packed up, hoping against hope that we could still make the water taxi. But it was past five o’clock which seemed like the logical time for it to stop running. We saw the dock on the way out, no one was on or by it. Since we had come back a slightly different way, we had a bit of stream crossing to do, and sadly, we were not able to do it with dry shoes. So the last bit of the trip was a soggy hike back around the lake again.
The trip description originally mentioned stopping at Woah Nelly Deli on the way home (a natural for a gourmet trip right?), but it was really just too late for that for Su and I who faced a 7 hour drive, plus we weren’t really that hungry yet. We told Stephanie were just going to drive straight for Southern California, so said our goodbyes in the parking lot. It had certainly been a harder peak than we had thought it would be - and I’m sure is much easier (and shorter!) in warmer weather with less snow - but we had done it, and we had tasted the sweet chocolate victory of success.
Select Slideshow (click on an image to see it bigger in my gallery):
Mixing it up with older and newer climbing shoes (actually this climber had to do this when one of his shoes got a hole in them)
So one of my friends on Facebook (who shall remain nameless because I don’t think s/he’d want me to incriminate him/her) was asking about getting rid of climbing shoe funk. I started to reply and realized I was getting rather long winded and also realized others might want to read and share their own solutions so I made this post.
Dealing with or Preventing Climbing Shoe Stink
The best solution I have found so far is to have multiple pairs of climbing shoes. This works in terms of not getting them too foul to begin with (rotation of shoes) and also… if one pair does get bad, I hang them up and forget I have them for about a year. Come back and they’re ok.
Bag the shoes and put them in the freezer. This is one way to kill bacteria, it may or may not work depending on how bad the shoes are.
Store dryer sheets in your climbing shoes. This solution isn’t so great as it just masks odors, also you don’t want the sheets to rub too much on the shoes as I hear it makes them feel slick. I’ve only done this briefly so didn’t notice it on my shoes, but just touching dryer sheets (and knowing that it can clog up wicking shirts) I can tell it probably would make ones shoes really slick.
Baby powder on feet and in shoes before wear. A friend does this and it seems to work for him. I’ve tried a light sprinkling in my shoes but I don’t like it because it makes them a little slick inside, also it seems to me that it was most sanitary to then scrub out the baby powder after a session and that was just too much work.
Wash your shoes. I’ve heard folks throw climbing shoes in the washing machine. Personally I’ve only ever tried to sponge clean my shoes. I’m too afraid of warping them to truly give them a dunking. I now own one pair of synthetic shoes though so I might try it with those if they get really funky. I would not try it with leather at all.
Wear socks with your shoes. I’ve only done this when I was renting shoes as a beginner or desperate to use a pair of shoes too big for me. Frankly, I just can’t feel the rock or feel secure in my shoes if I wear socks with them.
Chemical solutions. I’ve heard tell of washes or sprays that can kill microbes (think bowling shoe sprays) but haven’t tried any myself, partly because, as mentioned above, I’m not too keen on completely immersing my shoes.
Have you tried any of the above methods? Have any to add? Post in the comments!
If you’ve seen me outdoors, you’ve undoubtedly seen me with a camera in hand. Combining outdoor sports with photography is sometimes hard, but always rewarding.
One thing that makes it hard is handling and securing photography gear. When I first saw an R strap I was pretty excited, they are made by a company called Black Rapid as a more comfortable and quicker way to hang a camera on your person. If you’ve ever had a DSLR on your neck for any length of time, you’ll realize that the common neck strap just doesn’t cut it for very long, much less in situations where you may want to hike, scramble or otherwise move around quickly or unevenly.
The R-strap’s solution has you wear the camera in a sling position, thus putting the weight on a shoulder at all times, rather than on your neck. Black Rapid’s innovation is to couple this sling with a carabiner type device for fast attachment and a sliding system which lets you move from camera at rest position to shooter ready position without adjusting the sling… and not ever having your camera not secured to you.
The RS-Sport R-Strap version has the above conveniences plus a more comfortable strap and the addition of an under-arm safety tether, helping secure your camera during uneven ground situations as well.
I’ve been using my strap for months now and really love it. I actually feel free to move away from my camera bag while at the crag now that I don’t have to constantly think about where the camera will be (it’ll be on my person!). I’ve also used it while hanging from a rope set up to shoot climbers below as well, the strap is just the right size to feel secure but not be too bulky.
For your amusement, I’ve made a short video showing the strap, which is available via Amazon [affiliate link].
EDIT: For those with Point and Shoot sized cameras, Black Rapid also makes a neat strap/case combo, you can see that here[affiliate link].
PlanetGear is another limited time, deep discount (up to 70% off), shopping site for outdoor folks. They operate on the membership model where you must be a member to join, but you can relax, membership simply means that you have created a free account with them.
According to their site they offer “gear, apparel, and travel destinations at prices up to 70% off on most leading outdoor brands. Sale events start daily at 8:00am PST and last up to 72 hours.”
I heard about PlanetGear because Tawnee Madlen and Veronique Markewitz (founder) emailed me. I checked their site out and noted that they seemed to have a female centric offering (at the time it was all female apparel/gear being featured). Now they have stuff for men, women and kids up.
I emailed them back and asked them when they had started since I hadn’t seen them around before, “We started on April 2nd [2011], because we didn’t want to be a joke and start on the 1st.”
I also learned their first sales were “Mountain hardware and Ski Utah (it was a backcountry expedition tour)” which supports their claim to offer travel as well as gear deals.
PlanetGear is also a member of 1% for the Planet and is working with IMBA (International Mountain Biking Association) to raise money to preserve trails and IOWC. All good stuff in my book.
Lastly, the ladies also wanted to extend a prize to the Rockgrrl community, a $30 credit to use as you wish!
How to Enter:
Comment on what your favorite item is from any of PlanetGear’s currently offered sales.
You must comment by midnight, PST, Tuesday, May 17th. Winner will be notified on Wednesday, May 18th via email or Facebook messaging system so please be sure you fill that in on your commenting profile here.
You will need to have a free account to see the PlanetGear stuff.
You can use my invite link here. Disclosure: If you use my invite link you’ll get a $10 credit when you place your first order and I’ll also get a $10 credit at the same time.
You can also just sign up without an invite from their homepage.
Right now PlanetGear is featuring Kelty and Rossignol, but next week I hear they’ll have Sierra Designs and K-Swiss so I’m sure you’ll still be able to spend your credit on good gear if you win.
My mind has been in the visual space lately, how could it not be, five days spent in breathtaking Yosemite will do that to you.
Suffice it to say that I had a great time at the YosTweetup, Luke and Lizzy were fantastic organizers, even in the face of unusual weather (it rained every day even on the extra days K and I had tacked on to our trip). We still got some climbing in, plus hikes and a lot of fun with friends, old and new from all over the US. Tweetups are wonderful things, friendships can indeed spring from 140 character messages.
I have more words that will follow but for now, here’s what my time spent in my visual brain produced:
Select Slideshow (view it large here, or just watch below)
Mixed Media Video (4 min 30 seconds, available in HD so be sure to choose that option)
For you tweetup goers who are most likely to want to see all of my pics, here ya go (also feel free to right click and download ones of you for personal use on your site).
For anyone, tweetup goer or not, who might want a custom framed print of my photography you can see Yosemite photos here and here and soon you’ll find some pre-framed art here.
“I can do this,” I said out loud. There was no one who could hear me. Perhaps the two flies buzzing around me heard, but if they did, their only reaction was to buzz me again. I idly swatted at them, while simultaneously thinking that I shouldn’t let them bother me, and more importantly that I should ignore them and concentrate on keeping my feet smeared on the rock.
My left foot slipped a little. This was the second time it had done that. I looked down and to my right at the runner I had clipped into the one bolt on the route. It looked far away. It would be an unpleasant fall if I came off. I wanted to go back down to recompose myself, but down climbing might be just as hard if not harder than moving up.
One thing was certain, the longer I stayed where I was, the greater the chance I’d come off.
“I can do this,” I said again, “I can do this.” I looked to my left to make sure I hadn’t gone on another, harder route that had bolts. I saw multiple bolts there which matched up to the harder route description, I was definitely on the right route.
I needed to move. I pressed my chalked right hand on an indention on the rock face and stepped up. My breathing was not even, but I was still breathing. I made another move and then another. Nothing was solid yet. My feet and hands were on holds that had a bit of chalk on them, I wondered if I had succeeded in greasing them with my half-hearted hand hold attempts from earlier. I moved up again, and again. The rock felt more like Yosemite granite than the famed grit of Joshua Tree. Finally I attained my goal for my right hand, a slope with a small seam in it. The seam was not big enough for my fingers, but it was more than a dimple smear at least. I still needed to step up though. I maneuvered so I could leverage my left foot up.
I made the move for my left foot and then performed a balanced standing move to get my right up. I was on the ledge of sorts, there was finally a crack starting up again, about chest high to my 5′ 4″ frame. I got a two finger jam in it. It was the most solid hold I had felt since before the small run out section prior to the bolt. I said to myself, “I’m not done yet.” Then I placed a cam in the crack near my hand hold and clipped it.
A sigh of relief. A shake of the arms and a bit of mental chalk applied. I moved upwards again. The crack was back though, it was my friend. After another move I placed a piece, extended it and clipped in then moved up. I was focused on finding the belay bolts, but there was a slight slope on the top of this crack, and I didn’t see any bolts.
“There better be bolts there,” I said out loud again, the rock seemed unperturbed by my threat. My nerves were pretty tired and I didn’t have much gear left if I had to make my own anchor.
Fortunately the bolts were there. I clipped in and made an anchor with an unnecessary back up.
Thus ended the first pitch of “Right On”, the longest climb in Joshua Tree according to Randy Vogel’s latest Joshua Tree guide. It used to be called a 5.5, the newer book puts it at 5.6. with the 5.6 portion being on the first pitch. Comments on Mountain Project mention 5.7 R for the whole route and I noticed a notable climber posted about slipping before the bolt. I call the pitch, Class 2 fun and definitely not 5.6, at least not that day.
K and I were doing “Right On” on our 4th consecutive day of Joshua Tree climbing. We didn’t know much about it except what it said in the guide book Randy had given me just two days ago at Flander’s Fundraising party. We had picked it partly because it was near Ryan campground and partly because we thought it might be a nice relaxing, easy multipitch and looked like an aesthetic line with a great view.
One thing about Jtree, is that scale is sometimes hard to make out from a distance. Sure we have funky flora like Joshua Trees, but they don’t register as things that loom very tall in the way that pines do. When I’d said I’d take the first pitch of the climb I had known that it would probably be a little run out to the one bolt on the climb, but I figured, well it’s “5.6″ it’s probably got big holds on the run out, and it doesn’t look that far.
I should’ve closely examined a picture I had taken of Saddle Rock the day before this. There are two climbers at the base of the climb in it; climbers who I’m guessing are taller than me. Maybe then I would’ve guessed that the distance was farther than it looked, maybe I might’ve seen that the rock wasn’t as featured as I had hoped. Maybe, but maybe not.
K and I had already planned that he would combine pitches 2 and 3 (it was suggested in the guide that two of the pitches in the four pitch climb be combined) but after he came up to me on that belay station, he congratulated me on the lead, told me he had been scared for me while doing it, and then that he wasn’t decided yet on if he would combine the next pitches or not.
The belay station was slightly under the route of the 2nd pitch which went up and over a bulge before settling into a crack. I belayed for a bit, hearing breathing sounds and clinking of gear, eventually I heard K call out that he’d string the pitches together but also something about watching him. There was more breathing and less clinking of gear, and very shortly I couldn’t hear him at all anymore. Eventually I heard him call out an “off belay”.
The second and third pitch were very interesting. After getting out from the belay area, the crack slanted up and away in a book like formation which I climbed using part crack climbing technique, part chimney, part layback, and part over hanging technique. I guess a shorter way to say that would be proclaiming it was closer to off width technique than anything else. It took a lot of energy. I got to a certain point where I was secure and K took a picture of me before I had to stem over a chasm to reach the belay station. I was a little nervous because my legs seemed like they might be a tiny bit too short to wedge me securely but I got through it. Apparently K had used some of the face to my left to climb this pitch, which made it a bit run out for him and I’m sure much scarier.
K took the last pitch as well, it looked pretty easy, though he had a small bit of route finding and both of our nerves were a little frazzled due to the surprise difficulties on our pitches. I followed up no problem and then we were treated to a fantastic view of the park. We were already starting to forget the Fun Class 2 portions of the climb, but were not quite ready to proclaim that we’d to it all over again. It was enough to enjoy the view before attempting the down climb to find some rappel anchors that were supposed to be around.
How’s the saying go? At the summit, you’re only half way done? Fortunately the down climb was easier than it looked, and once I was off belay I found the anchor bolts right away. We rappelled one 60m rope length down then had a bit more scrambling to do before getting to the level of where the first pitch started.
By the time we got back to the car, we were already talking about how great the climb was.
Arriving in Joshua Tree - April 1, 2011
K and I arrived on Friday, two of our friends had already gotten a site in Ryan Campground after having had to spend the night in a motel Thursday night, it was a “zoo” they had said, not even Jumbo Rocks campground had had spots. We told them it was Spring Break and that with over 140 people RSVP’d for Flanders (Doug Nidever) Fundraiser party at Todd Gordon’s house, perhaps a lot of folks were out for the weekend for that too.
After K and I unloading some things we all went over towards Headstone rock, where our friend had said he’d seen some interesting cracks on the shady side. Shade was key, it felt pretty warm in the sun, temps were high 70s, low 80s. Sure enough, there were some fun looking cracks. Our friend took one, and I decided I’d like to give another an on sight go. It looked like a fist jam sized crack with a sloping crack a definite ledge to rest on and then a crack finishing off with a gentle slope. As I started up it, I realized it was pretty gritty, probably not one that was climbed a lot. I got to a part that was on the slope which turned out to be slightly harder than I had predicted, mainly because of the body positioning it put me in with my arms forward and my feet a bit back. After that it was back to a crack.
Suddenly, I felt a sharp pain in my right hand, “Ow!” I said, “Ow, Owww!” I jerked my hand out of the crack, examining it, “Something stung me!” I said, suspecting that perhaps one of the bees that were buzzing around the bushes as the base of the climb had somehow flown up to get me. I stayed on the climb though. The pain faded and I finished.
K laughed, “Eileen is the only one I know who says, ‘Ow!’ when she gets stung, anyone else,” he said, “would be cursing.” I smiled, I suppose it might be true, and it wasn’t that I didn’t curse, but well, sudden pain I guess just makes me say what I mean… “Ow!”
Down on the ground after a short down climb, I took an allergy pill, I always carry at least one with me because I am hyper sensitive to all insect bites (and stings). I was already suspecting that I wasn’t really stung though because I didn’t see a tell tale bump or stinger. I thought maybe it was a spider bite or maybe even a stinging nettle type plant that had fallen in the crack. At any rate, I was happy my hand wasn’t turning baseball mitt sized (which is what happened the first time I was stung by a bee).
I ended up trying two other routes on the formation, both fun and worth doing. We didn’t know the names of the climbs, but there was supposedly some 5.8s, 5.9s and one 5.10 on this side of the formation. It was fun to just do them and climb in the shade. We tried to find a site in Hidden Valley, but weren’t successful.
Todd Gordon’s Party / Flanders Fundraiser - April 2, 2011
One of the reasons I’d been excited to go to Joshua Tree during this time period was because Todd was having one of his famous parties. Mutual friends of ours had attended these in the past (and we’d been invited) but timing had never quite meshed. Now ironically two of our mutual friends were both out of town so we’d be going on our own. A bonus though was that Randy Vogel would be there and he had a book for me since I’d just interviewed him. I recognized a few other names of folks on the RSVP list but one had called asking us for a ride which we unfortunately couldn’t provide so I wasn’t sure if he was going to make it either. Anyway, we were all still game to go, and I even had a shirt to donate to the cause, so we made it part of our Saturday plan.
First we wanted to get some climbing in. We went out to Hall of Horrors and all four of us did “Nurn’s Romp” and then when 3 of us rappelled down to “Exorcist”, I stayed up with the rap rope and rigged it so I could take photos of leaders on the route. “Exorcist” is a great line, a 5.10 crack that ends with a small blank area (it has one bolt here) and then a jug before finally finishing with another, bigger crack to the top. Even though I’ve climbed this cleanly, I have not led it yet, as I still need to figure out the bolt area to my satisfaction (only other climbers I’ve seen lead it can all reach the jug before I can). Today was picture day though so I literally hung out and jugged up and down my rope using a Gri Gri and a Tibloc. I did get one top rope run on “Exorcist” at the end.
After climbing and a short scouting hike to see if we could squeeze one more climb in, we parted ways so my friends could resupply before the party and K and I could see if we could get a better campsite. By the time we made it to the party it was 7pm. We parked a bit away from the house after a line of cars but could still hear the band playing. Fortunately I was still able to include my shirt donation for the table and we found Randy right away. The party was a lot of fun, we saw two live bands and a slideshow and bumped into more folks we knew than we thought would be there. We also made new friends and chatted with some true old school climbers. We wished we had arrived earlier so we would have had more time to chat, it was pretty inspiring to hear the BITD (Back in the Day) stories and to see these guys still partying. It was comforting because I’ve recently come to realize that I might actually need “real rest” days on multi-day trips which made me feel “old” - but here were folks older than me and still going!
April 3, 2011
Our friends had to leave earlier than they expected. K and I packed some of our stuff up, thinking we might relocate to Hidden Valley campground. As we did we saw some of our friends who had been at the party drive by, one rolled down his window and invited us to join them on the back side of Snickers. We said we would after we cruised over to Hidden Valley to check for sites (and to see if Diane and Charlie Winger - climbers and authors of The Trad Guide to Joshua Tree - had arrived). K and I went to HV and left a note for the Wingers then we headed to Snickers. Unfortunately we overshot the parking lot and ended up parking at Barker Dam. However this turned out to be a kind of happy accident as we ended up talking to a guy who had just pulled into the space next to us and was looking for rock climbers to photograph just for the day. Now, since I’m usually the one with the camera, I thought it’d be fun to actually be in some pictures this time so we said he could come along with us as we were looking to join more climbers.
By the time we got to Snickers we didn’t see our friends, however we did see a climb I thought I recognized called “Funny Bone”, which also had another climb right next to it that I hadn’t done before. As we eyed it some guys came up with the Trad guide book and we were able to verify that it was indeed “Funny Bone”. We offered the climb to the guys who had shown up since we weren’t on it yet, but they said they were a party of three and didn’t mind waiting. So K and I went up, no problem. I didn’t lead it after K had done as I was conscious of the guys waiting for it and thought I’d just lead it after they had finished. However we did set up a top rope for the 5.10 something climb near it so we could do that.
Well it turns out the guys had also gone to the party but had left early so we hadn’t met them. K did recognize one of them from SuperTopo though, and oddly enough, one of them recognized that I was on Twitter because “Steph Davis retweets you”. I found it funny that we were connected to these old school climbers due to internet message boards and Twitter. Who says technology divides the old and young or even outdoor and indoor people?
Back at Ryan Campground, K and I decided to do a quick run up Headstone to watch the sun set. Headstone, famous for its exposure, can still get the blood pumping even if you’ve done it before. The top of it is not a bad place for sunset watching, not at all.
April 4, 2011
This is the day K and I did “Right On” which is the story with which I started this article.
Prior to leaving for the climb, K and I had found a site in Hidden Valley campground, went back to Ryan to pack up and then headed to the climb. After getting back to the new campsite at HV, we started unpacking. Two figures came out of the darkness. It was Charlie and Diane. It was fun to meet them. I’d interacted with Diane on the Rockgrrl forums (as far back as the first incarnation of the forums even) and also on Twitter. This was further proof that technology doesn’t have to be something that outdoor enthusiasts curse but something that can bring us together instead.
April 5, 2011
K and I were thinking around this time that we hadn’t really had a rest day as we had planned. We had prepared for staying in Jtree for about 9 days like our previous trip but wanted to have a real rest day because we both felt we paid for it when we didn’t have one on that trip. However, we wanted to climb with Charlie and Diane so were game to go where they wanted. Some in their group wanted to go to Hemingway but Charlie and Diane wanted to head to Rock Garden Valley, which is where the four of us ended up heading. As we climbed and scrambled higher towards the walls, I couldn’t help but note that Charlie was like a mountain goat, he had no problem with the boulders and quickly did the route finding up the approach. K told me later than he figured out Charlie is 75 years old. He is one spry old goat if so! And talk about multi-day trips, he had come to Jtree from Death Valley and was going off again from Jtree to go to Red Rocks!
I really had a great time at Rock Garden Valley, the climbs were really nice. I led “Double Dog Leg” (not technically an on sight because I took a few pics while Charlie led it) and at one point on it, I had to adjust my thinking because it wasn’t a climb where you had to use the crack the whole time. We also climbed “Young Lust” though there was some debate as to which climb that was as Randy’s book looked like it conflicted with the Wingers’ book and memory. K and I ended up doing 4 routes each, with an added pitch for K on top rope. I want to go back and lead more in this area. While we were up there, we met two climbers from San Diego, one did his very first trad lead, which was “Double Dog Leg”, and his 2nd trad lead on a crack we were guessing was a 5.8. Here we were again at the intersection of new and old. From Charlie’s umpteenth trad lead to another’s very first. All while the rocks look on, for the most part, frozen in time.
April 6, 2011
It started to rain early in the morning. It was a light rain, but the dark clouds above us did not seem to be in any hurry to leave. We had heard rumors around the campground that the weather for Saturday was going to be a high of 50. We didn’t know if that meant this rain was going to stick around till then or if strong winds were on the way to accompany such a drop in temperature. K and I at first tried waiting it out, finally taking that rest day we had talked about. The Wingers, we figured were also figuring things out. Finally we saw them drive by, they told us they were headed into town for food, showers, the internet to check the weather and maybe a movie. K and I stuck around a bit longer. The rain started to come down in heavier squalls. Our immediate neighbor had left for town and had come back, his news wasn’t that cheerful, he confirmed the 50 degree high and added that wind was coming, he and his dog were leaving. K and I decided to pack up and then decide in town, we needed to buy groceries anyway. After we packed up though we decided to hike around to try to find some Joshua Tree climbers’ points of interest.
On our last extended trip we had finally been successful in finding the Chasm of Doom, something I had done once years ago but that K had started to think was a myth. This time around I was able to lead us right to another interesting place, the Iron Door. We also found a Hobbit Hole and a bunch of cool boulder problems. Eventually though we left for town. We checked the weather once there and found a dire prediction of 80 mph winds for the next day followed by a chance of snow for the weekend!
We both agreed that it might be neat to see and photograph snow on the weekend but it wasn’t worth sticking it out for the rest of the rainy day and then have to survive crazy winds for another whole day after it. We were going to get our “real rest” day after all, it would be spent driving home.
Conclusion
I didn’t really push myself grade wise at all during this trip, but I felt it was great mentally. My very first climb of the trip was an on sight, one that none of us even knew its name or rating. Though it was probably a 5.8 or maybe even a 5.7. I think it was a good thing for me to do (despite getting bitten on it) because it helped put me in a leading mind set for the rest of the trip. It was great meeting other climbers too who helped me see that it’s not all about modern grades and that one can keep climbing and finding adventure everywhere… which was definitely proven by “Right On”. It may have once been called “just a 5.5″ but it was definitely an old school route and needed knowledge of many types of climbing to climb it well.
I came away from this trip both humbled and encouraged; and with photos and fond memories of old and new friends. What more can you ask from a trip to Joshua Tree?
~ Eileen
I have trip photos up here and here’s a video I put together with some of my pics and some pics taken of me by my friends.
