Requisite butt shot - Wendy climbing Intruding Dike
Wendy, obsessing with the dirt on the van.
Andy: Finally, a beautiful day. Crisp, clear, and cool - but no rain in sight - yahoo! A great day of climbing - A Finer Niner (5.9 *), Tennis Anyone (5.10a **), Intruding Dike (5.7 **), Bloody Fingers (5.10a ***), and New Toy (5.10b *). We're ready for lunch by 3pm and delude ourselves into thinking we'll climb more after lunch. Grand plans! 1000 calories later, including a root beer, and food coma sets in.....afternoon climbing becomes a distant memory.
After a great week in the City of Rocks, its time to head west. The plan is to meet Wendy's brother at Smith Rocks, Oregon (near Bend) on Friday, and we want a few days of kayaking - so off we go. First stop, Boise. On route we poach some free water from an RV park (much easier to fiill up our van from a city water connection than manually with a funnel), remove the coat of dirt from the van, and start driving.
Wendy: It was an incredibly beautiful day, clear blue all around with a bright shining sun. We woke up, figured it must be cold and sat in the van for 15 minutes with the furnace on before one of us ventured out to find it was about 70 degrees (no heater necessary; I think we emitted steam when we stepped out of the supervan). Pretty neat that we have a furnace...we'll be ready when the real cold kicks in.
Warm and sunny translated to shorts and t-shirts, which was fine for the first couple of climbs in the sun. When we went into the shade, however, it was a bit more cold. Andy belayed me in the shade while I climbed in the sun, and when he got to the top of the climb he was shivering, even with his beanie hat. We sat in the sun for a minute, taking in the blue sky views, and then headed down to get sweatshirts and admit that we can't read weather very well.
Requisite butt shot - Wendy climbing Intruding Dike |
Wendy, obsessing with the dirt on the van. |