Blog #5

Bringing in a new year usually affects me to a certain extent, but perhaps due to the overwhelming anticipation of Change on the part of the Obama presidency, my need to self align and redirect focus came at me clear as day in order to start 2009 out on the right foot. One of my main goals for 2009 is to improve my personal ability to finish stuff I start. Sounds simple, but in reality I seem to struggle more than I'd care to admit in a wide variety of examples. 

            I decided to apply my new goal towards a project of mine I had started a few months ago, but hadn't actually finished yet. The story goes like this: In mid-2008 my girlfriend Jodi and I decided to take a hike up into some mountains about an hour north of Las Vegas to search for some new unclimbed limestone caves I had heard rumors of. After nearly 2 hours of a grueling nearly vertical hike, we found a really cool little cave. I came back over subsequent weeks and months in between trips around the country and around the world, and eventually completed bolting and cleaning three really cool routes in this little cave just around Christmas time. To cut the hike in half, I had to make a new road across the desert which resulted in two flat tires and eventually a whole new set of tires. 

            On New Years Eve, Jodi and I found ourselves hiking up to the cave with a couple bottles of Champagne on ice (yes I carried a cooler) and a few candles. We had a uniquely romantic night together sleeping up at the cave much like last New Year camping in the snow, except this time we toasted to the great opportunities 2009 has to offer.

            In the morning, to start the New Year off with the new year's goal in mind, I started trying the routes which were now finally cleaned up, bolted and ready to go. The first two routes were 5.11 and 5.12 respectively, so other than MULTIPLE days of bolting and cleaning, they didn't take to long. 

            I tried the hardest route in the cave several days over the first week of 2009 and I dispatched it on a weekend when my parents happened to be passing through town. They hiked up along the steep mountainside along with Jodi and I actually finished what I had started up there. Naturally, I was psyched. I called the cave, "Companion Cove" and the routes go from 11c ("Twilight"), 12c ("Medium Pace"), to 13c ("She's a Stuna") from left to right.

            I was very psyched to finally finish something I started, but after such a rewarding feeling of completion, I felt compelled to start something new. No time to waste - so the day after I sent "She's a Stunna" I began searching the nearby mountains searching for caves. For several days in a row I drove gnarly dirt roads, scrambled hillsides for several hours each day, and checked out firsthand about 15 new caves. Obviously the goal wasn't to hike to 15 new caves, I would have been plenty happy finding what I was looking for on the first day, but unfortunately none of these amazing cliffs I was finding were yielding the next amazing line I was looking for. Unfortunately most of the nicest sizable caves were virtually hold-less with huge blank sections, others too dirty, too short, too far, or already taken by others. 

            One of my hometown buddies (Shane) from growing up in Ramona flies around in helicopters for a living these days. He had a couple days of helicopter time he needed to burn up, so we took this sweet little R-22 two-seater for a 2-day spin. I was on the FULL LOOKOUT for cliffs. The first day we cruised out over northern AZ around the Grand Canyon area. We came up on a lot of wildlife and some spectacular views. The second day we flew around a bunch of cliffs just north of Vegas. I got to fly the thing around a little bit which made me appreciate how cool the helicopter invention idea really is. ENDLESS amount of fun to be had with one of those toys.

Flying 100MPH very close to the snow....

 

Scaring the shit out of cows!

 

Was that a Coyote? Wolf? Fox?

Beautiful wild horses running on the range. Looks like a Wells Fargo commercial.

 

Parked on the edge of the 1500 foot cliff to take a picture. 

 

            To feed the cliche, it's always the last place you look when you find what you're looking for. After a week of solid discouragement hiking and flying all over the mountains, I set out in my truck alone. My destination was a place where I knew there was a cliff I'd seen in the distance, but hadn't had the energy to walk to it in previous days of exploration. I took a small day pack and set foot for the cliff. To my satisfaction, I felt like I could see a wonderful little cliff transpire from some serious hard work and dedication. I realized the scope of the undertaking, and called it my next project. I hiked right back to my truck, grabbed my drill, and hiked back up to the cliff and started bolting immediately placing 30 bolts in the first 2 days. I can't wait to complete this new mission I have embarked upon. So far in the last three weeks I've put in four lines, and my two other buddies have bolted a new route each at the cliff in which we are now calling, "The Ballin Alley." It will be a work in progress for quite sometime to come, but it's a challenge I'm happy to take on. Hopefully every route turns out to be perfection!

     Besides hiking, bolting, and climbing, I made it out snowboarding for a couple days with Jodi. We hit up Brianhead in southern-Utah one day and had a monster snow day at Snowbird in Salt Lake City. Enormous amounts of powder is always a pleasure. I was out in Salt Lake City visiting my sponsors at the semi-annual Outdoor Retailer Trade Show. I also visited my buddy Scotty on the slopes up in Park City and got a taste of the Sundance Film Festival. We watched a world premier film, saw some actors, and went to a hip-hop concert at the Harry O's nightclub. Overall, it was a fun-packed weekend.

            I went bouldering the other day at Red Rocks and nocked down a couple 1st and 2nd Ascents at a new boulder field. Thanks to Tom Moulin for the tour! Photos courtesy of: John Heller