The Haystack

New Year, New Blog

2010-01-02T13:28:00.001-08:00

Okay folks-- this is the last time we're switching blogs. Sorry to make you go in and change your links:

www.thepostitnotenovel.blogspot.com

That is, "the post it note novel" dot blogspot dot com

uh, see ya.

Home for Christmas. . .

2009-12-31T07:16:00.000-08:00

Five days in North Carolina was not enough! We flew in Christmas Eve and got there at about 3pm-- everyone else was already there and the house was buzzing. We had a great program that night and Christmas morning was amazing!! One of the best I can remember.

Everyone eating Christmas dinner:

The girls singing at the program:

Christmas morning-- my parents are looking at a calander they got of my sister Sarah's family:

Everyday we did something different-- volleyball, basketball, frisbee golf, running, swimming, temple, playing Ticket to Ride, making struddel, eating at Maggianos, playing mafia. . . Here is everyone (I'm taking the picture) at one of the holes during disc golf.

Brian and Spencer:

Allyson with all the wrapping paper Christmas morning:

Me and Adrienne:

Volleyball game:

Making Struddel before church:

Snow days!

2009-12-09T09:27:00.000-08:00

It has been amazingly beautiful here! Moab had it's first snow day (I think in like 25 years) yesterday. . . I woke up to find about 9 inches of snow covering everything! They weren't planning on plowing the road until noon, so I strapped on my cross country skis and took off!

Brian climbed with Skyler Monday morning, but it was so cold that they both called it quits after one climb. Good thing, because about an hour later it started dumping snow. We went and did the devils garden loop at arches-- probably the only day all year that you could do that hike and not see a soul.

Thanksgiving!!

2009-11-27T08:26:00.000-08:00

Brian's family (Allison, Sarah and Matt) along with Lindsey (my sis) all came down for Thanksgiving! We were joined by Pete and Jacqueline (Brian's friend from Grand Canyon and his wife). We hiked in the Fiery Furnace in Arches, hiked the Lathrop trail in Canyonlands, made a KILLER thanksgiving dinner, read Lincoln's thanksgiving address, cut down a Christmas tree in the mountains, played games, sang, and played Ninja Destruction (you have to ask B about that. It's his new favorite game). I LOVE FAMILY!! What would the holidays be without them?

Matt-- is brian's younger Brother. Believes life is an experiment, reminds me a lot of my Dad for those of you who know him. For example, Matt makes his own yogurt, deodorant and sprouts. He is currently testing the freezing threshold of flowering peas at his BYU apartment. Matt is also like Indiana Jones-- teaching us how to fight Ninjas (in the game Ninja Destruction), hunt down the perfect Christmas tree and find every good deal known to man. There is much more to Matt. He's still available and at BYU for all you ladies.

This is Brian's Mom, Allison. She never fails to bring us the best food, all the things we forgot to buy or don't have (including a keyboard and folder of Christmas music this year) only because she "understands our Spartan lifestyle" being an Park Service mom for so many years. Doesn't mind following her crazy sons and daughters up mountains and through narrow canyons. Plus, what a bonus for me that my mother-in-law doesn't mind having thanksgiving in a shed?

Sarah is Brian's younger sister; freshman at BYU this year and has the biggest "lexicon" of any 18 year old I know (who uses the word "nonsequiter" in a sentence)? Amazing. She is just as outdoorsy as her bros, but unlike them can bake the meanest apple pie in all of ISKY (and the surrounding 5 counties of course). Speaks German, sings beautiful and boosts the moral (and self-esteem) of any group by always laughing at their jokes and winning the "most happy camper" (yes, staying at our house is basically camping) award.

$3 dollar award to anyone who can accurately guess the shadow line-up below:

Lindsey is my younger sister; also known as Deaner (which Sarah informed me also means "servant" in German. . .how fitting). Lindsey comes to visit me to borrow my clothes and compliment my wife skills. Lindsey thinks she's Asian (as seen in the photo below) and frequently says "Nee-how" to inanimate objects. She is always making us laugh and adds to every group she's in.

Everyone in front of our thanksgiving shed:

This is not a photoshoped picture. Just a strategically placed chock stone in the Fiery Furnace.

celebrating TWO

2009-11-08T19:38:00.000-08:00

10 pairs of running shoes now worn out

9 moves

8 rock towers

7 new jobs

6 days with no cell phone or internet (until now)

5 kids waiting in Heaven (wink, wink)

4 breakdowns (good ol' 286,000 mile Jeep)

3 States we've lived in

2 years

1 happy couple.

Happy Anniversary to me and B!

I love living somewhere where fall is actually as long as it's supposed to be.

2009-11-04T13:34:00.000-08:00

Not a cloud in the sky. . .

2009-11-03T15:10:00.000-08:00

I came into the library after a day of canyoneering. I was feeling so happy. We had two friends from Rocky Mountain come in and stay with us and I had a GREAT time playing the "Red Rock Guide" to all that is abrasive and up high. But when I got here, I saw on display a book with "Mormon" in the title. It caught my attention and I read a few pages in it. I detailed the experience of a "Mormon" girl in New York City and basically how she lost her faith. I wandered around a little more, loosing myself for moments at a time as I scanned pages of a few other books; jewish thief, how to make kids eat tahi food and not just grilled cheese etc. I sat down and started to read my email. After a few minutes I stopped and thought to myself, "Man. I feel so weird. I feel sad. Why am I in this mini-funk?" And it hit me! Those few pages that I had read about the girl in NYC were completely devoid of light and truth. It sucked it right out of me and left me feeling dry and helpless. In short, it made the spirit leave and I felt it. It wasn't because it challenged an illusion I was living in, it wasn't because it was written well-- my soul ached because her actions were so clearly off and all that is good within me knew it! Then, I noticed a letter from Mary Hall. Mary Grace is on her mission in Guate-- and as I read her letter I was overwhelmed with the contrast. It changed my insides in a few seconds. After reading her short letter, I was beaming. It was pure truth, and truth is light. It was 15 minute lesson to re-affirm all that I already know.

Feeling American . . .

2009-10-28T16:55:00.000-07:00

Nothing like spending time in one of America's most historic cities to leave you feeling patriotic-- corn fields, waving flags, historic sites, apple picking, Amish country and family fun. I spent about five days in Philadelphia (although my trip was over a week with driving and time w/ Deaner in P-town. . .the other P-town). Catherine and I even found ourselves singing "I'm proud to be an American" while grocery shopping (for Mexican food ironically). Here are a few photos:

The first day we went to Independence-- the most historic 1/4 mile in all of the US. Both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were written and signed here. We saw the liberty bell, Congress Hall and the quill that was used to sign the document.

Cath and I pledging allegiance to our country in Indy hall.

I must admit that all of my current knowledge came from the stellar Disney flick, National Treasure" and it's hero Nicholas Cage (oh dear). Yes, we rented it following our downtown tour.

Another highlight was getting to meet my adorable nephew Spencer and niece Allyson. They are SOOOOO cute and so much fun. Emily is five years older than me and has been the heart and spunk of our family for as long as I can remember. She's tiny, but packs a punch (and makes the best cinnamon roles ever), has a lot of energy (but always denies it) and is so much fun!

Catherine also came up to meet us in Philly. Catherine loves fun (as do I) and we can be equally as intense. Sometimes good, sometimes bad. Cath is hilarious, gracious and an incredibly happy person. She doesn't like to miss out on anything and lives life to the fullest. It was so sweet to get to see both of them!

At the arboretum.

Apple pickin'!

Allyson discovering the bad apple in the bunch.

Amish country, Lancaster, PA

The old barn was full of birds including two peacocks! It was on a dairy farm where we ate the best ice cream EVER-- maple walnut. It was run by an Amish family.

Ally and I sitting on the hay. How cute (and posed).

Cath, Ally and I spent time playing the corn fields while em fed Spencer. The perfect chance for cheesy photos.

I had a great time! If there was one thing I could change, it would be to have Brian come with me. For those of you who don't know, B and I moved back to Moab about three weeks ago. I love being here. It felt like coming home. I love this place. Seriously. And it is so nice to have friends in the area! Alvin and Laura came down last week and so we all got together (with Clay and Leslie too). Big thanks to Clay and Les for the awesome meals and teaching me how to boulder. It was SO fun!

Ignore my buck teeth and the next photo is pretty cool:

GO Phillies!!

2009-10-27T11:38:00.000-07:00

Apple picking in Pennsylvania

Last week I went to Philidelphia to visit my sister Emily and her family that live there. Catherine flew up from NC and we had a great time! I forgot to bring my camera down to Moab, so this is the only picture I have from when I was there-- more to come!

What's a vacation?

2009-10-13T13:05:00.000-07:00

Brian and I have a problem. We don't know how to relax. We had a conversation recently where we jokingly questioned whether our mutual intensity was a benifit to our realtionship. We were kind of worn out and exhausted after our season at Rocky and so we decided we wanted a vacation. My stipulations were that it had to be 1)warm and 2)beachy (after wearing my puffy in every week of every month of the year I wanted at least a short stint of being down rigtht hot). We decided on Hawaii b/c it met my request and we could also visit Brian's dad in Oahu. Here's the breakdown in photos:

The first couple are just scenery shots:

We went kayaking with Brian's dad out to a sandbar. It was beautiful!

After two days in Oahu, we flew to Kauai. It's a much smaller island and has a totally different feel. It is very polynesian and called the "garden island" b/c it is a straight up jungle. Seriously. Complete with thousands of feral chickens and goats. I really loved it.

We wanted to hike the Na Pali coast (several movies were filmed here including South Pacific). 22 miles of up and downs (5,000ft one way-- the same as hiking out of the Grand Canyon), but in 100% humidity. It was actually tons of fun. The trail follows the cliffs and you're in and out of the jungle, crossing streams, lots of waterfalls, jungle vegetation, turquoise water crashing below, the smell of rotting guavas all around, torrential rains, red mud and beautiful beaches.

The beginning.

Brian show-casing beads of sweat. I was soaked too. I haven't sweat like that since I was trying to mow lawns in North Carolina in July. Wow.

The trees and plants were incredible! They were all huge and looked like something you'd find in a Dr. Suess book.

Part of the trail.

This is a photo of Kalalau beach-- our destination. It was honestly the most beautiful beach I have ever seen! On the cliff side there was a really tall waterfall (which you'll see in a few photos) and towering cliffs above the beach. So cool. We camped right on the beach in the photo below:

we've arrived!

So the next morning when we woke up, Bry and I were walking along the shoreline and found this coconut that had washed up on the shore. It had an adress label with illegible scrawl and on the bottom was a hole that had been glued shut. We were determined to open it-- expecting to find goodies from a new Japanese pen-pal or something. Scroll down to find out the real contents.

Yeah, so we finally got it open and realized that they were creamated remains! YIKES! Brian freaked out and chucked it back into the ocean. Ha!

We also found this amazing fresh-water cave right on the beach. I'm imitating Ariel.

We snorkeled several times and saw the COOLEST fish! They were all so brightly colored. This was the least colorful of all the fish I saw, but the only one I could photograph b/c it had died on the sand. I still think it's quite pretty. I even got to see sea turtles swimming while I snorkeled.

This is our shower. Pretty sweet, ey? Someone even carved a soap dish holder in the rock. It was 30 seconds from the beach where we camped and so tall you could see it from anywhere!

After we got off the Na Pali coast, we headed to Queen's bath. It is a lava bench with these amazing pools that you can swim and snorkel in. The surf was really big and the waves were crashing over the pools, but Brian was brave and jumped in while everyone else just watched! Eventually me and several others jumped in too. It was one of our favorite parts! You can see the Napali coast in the background of this photo.

This is the pool behind me. It was also full of tropical fish so we borrowed someone's snorkel mask to check them out for a bit.

Brian and I attempted to surf with the locals. Brian acutally did pretty good-- but the waves were pretty darn big and intimidating! I tried several times, but couldn't get up. I think my board was a little short.

We hiked to the bottom of this 170ft. waterfall. It was soo cool. Plus we were the only ones down there. For the Full House fans out there, this is the waterfall that Jesse "jumps" off of when the family goes to Hawaii on vacation. They say locals jump off to prove their man-hood, but Brian wussed out (just kidding. I would never let him do that).

Feel free to make fun of this last picture. Haha!

Some Perks of the Job...

2009-09-26T18:27:00.001-07:00

It's easy to stay awake at your desk when a medevac ship is landing on it.

You don't have to search the closet for what to wear in the morning.

Focus group meetings are pretty laid back.

Transportation for business trips included.

Sure, go ahead and wear red boots and black pants to work.

Free ice in the break room.

Views from the office are pretty good.

The view out your other window is also pretty good.

Coworker that's a total babe, definite plus.

You don't have to wonder what the weather is like outside.

Free stairmaster sessions with air conditioning during work hours.

Waist-deep in alpine brush; better than waist-deep in paperwork.

No crowds in the lunchroom.

Spouses welcome in your cubical.

Rocky Mountain Desktops

2009-09-26T18:22:00.001-07:00

Download if you want them. Free, courtesy of Mother Nature.

Oh, to be a Hatch Girl

2009-09-14T17:54:00.000-07:00

About a month ago, three of my sisters came up to visit and go backpacking with me through the park (Emily couldn't make it because she had to take care of her kids). We hiked to a backcountry cabin and spent the next two days exploring the area. My mom even hiked up to meet us the last day! It was great. Being a Hatch girl is pretty much the coolest thing ever and if you backpack with us. . .

You wouldn't be eating freeze dried pasta and granola bars-- you'd get french toast, sushi, pasta alfredo and bagel sandwiches!

You'd be too adventurous for the trails and you'd have your very own NPS backcountry guide to the prettiest alpine lakes in the park.

You'd take an average of 356 photos over 48hrs. That's one photo every 4.5 minutes of daylight. Nothing in your life would be documented better.

You'd dress with style. No further comment needed.

And of course the only silence on the trip would be the half second after someone says "Smile!" and snaps a shot.

My mom also came to visit that weekend and she was a trooper! We did an 8 or 9 mile hike up to Sky Pond on Monday after our backpack. It was so GREAT to have her here! It's hard being so far from home all the time-- What a treat!

Hay Clan

2009-08-31T11:18:00.000-07:00

Before my ancestors came to America from Scotland, we didn't have the last name of "Hays". Back then, it was the Hay Clan. Mom and Sarah came for a visit a few weeks ago to escape the desert heat. Rocky is more like Scotland than the Mojave Desert for sure. Hay Clan reunited.

Some lucky guy is going to eat pies like this for the rest of his life.

Allison, Brian and Sarah at Bear Lake, with Long's Peak in the background.

They say Diamonds are a girls best friend

2009-08-24T18:29:00.000-07:00

but after last Monday I would seriously reconsider the validity of that statement. When Brian and I got married I requested a modest 1/5 carrat-- and I've got to say I never expected Brian to request a diamond from me. . . especially not 1,400 ft of solid, verticle rock. But he did. And I agreed. The Diamond is the east face of Long's Peak and the coolest and hardest climbing in the entire Rocky Mountain region. I'm so happy that it's something I can say "I did." instead of "I'm doing." Whew. It was tough despite the 5.10a (but mostly 5.9 or 5.8) rating, but don't let that fool you. After hiking 6 miles up hill to a bivy spot, sleeping restlessly all night, waking up a 4am, scrambling across tallus, crossing a slippery glacier (thank heavens for the fixed rope), climbing 800ft of 5.4 at 4.30am and then you arrive at the base of the darn thing that sits above 13,000ft! Brian and I were the first party on it out of about 8 parties going for it. We barely made it before them (by about 10 seconds) and arrived to the top by 1pm. We brought our 70meter rope and finished the climb in five pitches. The climbing was seriously stout, not to mention the lack of oxygen. When we topped out, we headed over the top of the mountain and back down to our stuff, packed up and hiked out by 6pm. What a long day!!

Luckily we had been given gift certificates by someone we helped off this very mountain on a Rescue (he had a broken ankle and ribs), so we gorged guilt free on piles of meat the local BBQ place in Estes Park.

There's so much more to say! We've had a busy two weeks. Brian's family visited, then mine came (and we did an awesome backpack), I went on a three day bushwack adventure for work and moved us to a new apartment, went on another SAR and climbed and played with Brian. More posts to come!

R&R

2009-08-11T18:15:00.000-07:00

NO, the title is not in reference to the common use of this two letter acronym (although I wish it was, I'm in dire need of a little "Rest and Relaxation" myself), but instead it refers to a new world I've entered-- that of "Rules and Regulations." Now that I've been eating, breathing, working and sleeping the National Park Service for the past three years, I've noticed a few things about the organization (and myself) recently. But for this to make sense, I need to preface what I'm about to say with a little bit of background info: I don't like stupid rules. They really really bug me. I've never liked being told that I can't do something. My parents could attest to this. In Kindergarden I refused to draw a nose on my portait because I didn't like them, despite being sent to principles office. Why? Because I didn't like noses and didn't care what the artistic authority had to say. I'll spare you the details of my teenage years, but will share that when I suggested to my mom that I might serve a mission her response was, "Well honey, do you really think you could follow all the rules?"

Since joining forces with the NPS, I find myself cringing daily. Buzzwords like "compliance" "incident" "offender" "mitigate" come up in daily conversation. Rangers really ENJOY telling people what to do. "Don't walk across the tundra" "Don't pick that flower" "You can't park here." But I'm not here to point fingers at anyone but myself. That's the thing-- scariest part of this new world I live in is that I AM THE ONE enforcing the rules! I see a little boy attempting to feed a chipmunk. Inner conflict begins. I remember my first trip to the tetons when I was 8 years old. I fed chipmunks with my grandpa at the waterfall. Do I remember anything else? No. But I remember I fed chipmunks and it was the coolest thing ever. Has the chipmunk population in Grand Teton Nat'l park died because ignorant visitors fed them for generations and now they don't know how to find food on their own? No, I don't think so. There is a healthy and thriving population of chipmunks. Suddenly my lips part and I hear myself say, "Did you know you can't feed the chipmunks? If you do, they'll become dependent on human food." Oh no! I did it! The boy quickly puts away his handful of peanuts and says sorry. I keep walking wondering what has happened to me.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not turbo-ranger by any means. I let the occasional thing slide here and there. But I have realized that the cruelest irony of adulthood is becoming the very things we despised in our youth. In my case, the enforcer of stupid rules.

No good deed goes unpunished

2009-08-03T13:27:00.000-07:00

"No good deed goes unpunished", sort of a pessimistic phrase, but I've got two classic examples from this summer:

1. Our first weekend here we volunteered to clean up the chapel on Saturday morning. Angela and I got there early and volunteered to do yard work outside. We weeded, picked up trash, cleaned up fallen branches, etc... A day or two later I noticed I was getting itchy on my arms, legs, face, and elsewhere, and thought, "hmm, that's funny, this feels like poison ivy..."

I asked a local friend if there was any poison ivy in Lyons, the town where our chapel is located, and he said "oh ya, Lyons is covered with poison ivy, its everywhere."

Needless to say, some poison ivy grew its way onto the church grounds, found its way onto my skin, and then tormented me for the next week and a half.

2. I was at work driving between one place to another on a dirt road and saw a medium sized ponderosa pine branch that had fallen onto the side of the road. I almost passed by, thinking it would just get run over enough times to obliterate it, but then thought better of the idea and stopped to move it. I picked it up with both hands, then realized my mistake. I chucked the thing off the road, then spent five minutes trying to get two handfuls of sap cleaned off before I got it all over myself and the car I was driving.

Anyway, just two funny ones. And I actually do think that doing good deeds is the right thing to do, but there is truth to the saying that no good deed goes unpunished.

What's your funniest good deed punishment story?

Brian

Weekend Warriors.

2009-07-27T18:45:00.000-07:00

I know I've been posting nothing but adventures and pictures, and feeling a little guilty too. I mean, afterall you know exactly what you're going to get when you open the haystack. Another post about another hike somewhere and a bunch of mumbo-jumbo about it that really doesn't matter. I've been feeling the urge to post something really insightful and interesting, but I figure that's what winter is for because right now I've been beating my body to a pulp hiking, climbing and exploring. THIS time, however, my sister Sarah came up to climb Long's Peak Keyhole route. She is a serious go-getter and set her mind to climbing a 14er-- so we planned it out. Fate tried to undo our plans (the night before I was called on a SAR on Long's Peak and didn't get home till midnight, slept for 4 1/2 hrs and then hiked back up there again). Here are the highlights from the first sister summit of Long's Peak this year (speaking of which, we were the only all-girl party up there). Sarah did a GREAT job!

tough chicks, tough faces.

passing through the keyhole about 12,500 ft up the mtn. This popular feature marks the entrance to the "technical portion" of the hike.

on the other side.

the Narrows-- quite a big drop off, but luckily you won't fall unless your hand falls off.

Sarah on the Ledges-- a 3rd class section of terrain with the amazing rockies all around.

Lindsey, this is for you. Who said white girls can't jump?

Sarah and I totally started a jumping picture summit trend. There were probably 50 other people on the summit and they all started rockin' the jumping pictures. I can't blame them!

lunching on the summit.

Heading down the Homestretch. The last technical portion.

Sarah and I in the meadows.

The obligitory wildflower shot. Chiming bells, oh how I love thee!

Sarah and her husband switched places. She got home Sat night to watch the kids and James came up to climb Long's Peak-- the Kiener's route, with Brian today. This route has a little bit of everything. Technical climbing, steep snow, crampons, ice axes, rappelling and hiking. James and Brian got up at 3:45am, weathered lightning, hail and rain-- andtotally rocked it!

gearing up the night before.

James on the Lamb's slide.

This boy is such a STUD!

James heading up the 5.4 rock part. Brian said that some of it was 5.7, not an easy feat at 14000ft!

The view down. The Diamond, a 1000ft wall is below brian's boot.

James' rock star summit pose. The girl behind him is totally jealous of this sweet gear.

Brian staring.

What a great experience to climb with family! Next up, tomorrow is a three day horse patrol through the mtns! I LOVE my JOB!!! If only I could work for more than 5 months a year. . .

Mountain Madness

2009-07-23T16:05:00.000-07:00

We climbed the Petit Grepon, an 800ft route in the park. We woke up at 3am which explains the strained look on my face in the photo below. It was a great climb and we even made it to Andrew's 3rd Birthday party that evening in Co Springs!

This past Monday Brian and I climbed Blitzen Ridge, the one on the right in this photo. It took all day, but it was totally worth it. Afterward, we went down the left ridge and then spent a while lounging at the Spectacle Lakes-- one of the most beautiful areas of the park!

On Tuesday and Wednesday I went on a patrol with Michelle in the backcountry. Once again, it was beautiful and a lot of work. Aren't the wildflowers AMAZING???

I feel like we've been so busy lately! And my job is so exhausting that I'm dead by the time I get home. Being here feels funny-- it's such a short season with so much to do that every second we're on the move. Work has been great! Today I rode a horse up to rescue a guy that sprained his ankle.

tree trunk legs and sore backs. . .

2009-07-06T13:49:00.000-07:00

Our jobs are going GREAT here at Rocky! It's been an exciting two weeks. We got assigned to removed an abandoned camp (these guys left TONS of junk! Tent, cast iron pan, quart of oil etc) and so we hiked in and got it. This is us on our way to Ouzel Lake last week.

We also had a pretty killer lightning/hail storm:

And I've get assigned to hike in to these amazing cabins and spend the night. There are five on the east side. So far, Brian has been a true to his marathon status and hiked in the 7 miles (up hill) after work and then down before his next shift. This is us at Thunder Lake cabin. . .probably one of my favorites but definitely the most cold! My job has been so awesome; climbing patrols, horse patrols (I got to go to a horse trainig last week that was SO cool-- I felt like I did at nine), and tons of hiking.

What happens to a dream defered?

2009-06-28T14:00:00.000-07:00

Brian and I hiked Dream Weaver last monday-- it was great. We went with Jason, one of our co-workers. It is a ice/snow route that takes you right to the summit of Mt. Meeker, the second highest peak in the park just below 14,000ft. You can see the route in the second picture right to the left of the buttress that sticks out far.

Our house. . .

2009-06-15T09:58:00.000-07:00

in the middle of the campground.

Here is your very own virtual tour:

The view from the porch (I zoomed in to avoid the orange cones and numerous dead trees that have been cut down all over the place due to the pine beetle. Elk are often grazing in the meadow and people are usually there watching/photographing them).

Our house. Our "new" car in in the driveway.

our kitchen.

Here is the front room right when you walk in.

Our bathroom.

Our bedroom that is accessed only by going through the bathroom.

The Gems of our 1930 house:

Strange flooring. I really can't figure out the color and the steel nailed to the floor is also unique. The paint on all the floors is chipping and lead. Kind of interesting.

Apparently pie-racks were the rage back in the day.

our sweet non-working NPS rotary phone.

Brian and I took a walk on sunday. . . it was beautiful and sunny!

Long way to Long's

2009-06-10T17:15:00.000-07:00

Bry and I climbed Long's Peak-- over 14,000ft and the biggest peak in the Park. It has been staring us in the face since we got here (literally! Our house looks right at it!) and we finally decided that no matter the weather, we were going to conquer on Monday! We woke up at 5am and summited just before 11am. It was AMAZING!! I really thought it was better than I was expecting. It was also my first time using crampons. The slope was steap and I was planting my ice axe every time with a huge cliff face below! We went up the Keyhole route and down the Loft route, which actually took us around the entire mountain. I have to say I LOVED it! We hiked about 17 miles total.

The next day (yesterday) we went on a SAR that lasted from 2:30 pm until midnight. A group of four (roped together) fell down a snowy couloir about 500ft and we treated, packaged and carried the two patients out over snow, talus, dirt and rock. One had a spinal injury and the guide had a broken ankle. The other two were unharmed (miraculously) except for bruises and scrapes on their faces.

El Capitan

2009-05-29T16:18:00.001-07:00

El Capitan. The Nose is the prominent buttress on the sun/shade line.

Sam and I racking up. Our haul bag was about 100lbs on day one (48 lbs of water, plus bivy gear, plus clothes for storms, plus food).

Picture of me leading in the Stoveleg Cracks taken from El Cap meadow - telephoto lense. (The guy on the right is from a different party. They are bailing down the rap route after getting soaked in a thunderstorm.)

Picture taken from El Cap meadow of Sam and I with a huge telephoto lense.

Mmmmm...breakfast on El Cap Tower. This was our bivy for the first night. Top of pitch 14.

Nother shot of El Cap Tower.

This is me lowering out for the King Swing (top of pitch 16). I lowered out about 80 feet, then ran back and forth like mad to get over to the next crack system. It took me about 7 tries. I finally made it after running as hard as possible and screaming out at the top of my lungs; Ahhhhhhhh, got it.

Sam leading pitch 17.

Sam leading the pitch below the Great Roof.

Camp VI bivy. This ledge was the size of a small kitchen table.

Looking down from Camp VI. My shoulder basically hung off this during the night, but I slept well (securely tied in). The Nose route begins on the buttress sticking out way below.

Sam leading the second to last pitch.

My yellow helmet from a belay.

Me leading the last pitch and looking down 3,000 feet.

We were benighted on the route down and bivied here on the East Ledges desent.

Most awesome rock route I've ever done. It ended up being a little harder than I thought, but we did free about half the route. We were rained on (+ hail and lightning and 35 mph gusts) on the first day, and on the 2nd-4th days we were climbing by 6 am about every day, but had to climb late every day. We didn't reach Camp VI until 11pm.

Beautiful route. Probably the hardest physical thing I've ever done. It wasn't easy to wake up on day 3 and 4 and still have thousands of feet to climb.

Loved it. I have wanted to climb the Nose since I first heard about it as a teenager.

3 days, 3000 ft, 21 pitches led, two sleepless nights thousands of feet high, bloody/bruised/swollen hands, and a successful attempt on El Cap?

2009-05-26T19:16:00.000-07:00

Brian bagged it. Good job babe! You're a real ROCK star!!

Needless to say I am OVERJOYED to have B-honey back at rocky. Despite the lack of privacy, our new home has actually really grown on me! I'm loving it-- plus I had an anonymous doner offer me a few dollars for a rug and some flowers. Amazing the difference that can make!