BLK1021

desert, landscape, rivers
Natalie and I made a day trip out to the Idyllwild area to climb at Black Mountain. Black is one of my favorite places to climb, and Natalie had never been, so I was looking forward to sharing it with her. It was a beautiful day and the area wasn’t that busy. We mostly worked on Tour and Cracker Boy (redacted haha). It was a nice day – glad to get outside before I leave for Japan. After the Utah trip and the road to Black, I need to wash the truck.

ZION1005 II

desert, landscape, rivers
For our anniversary trip, Natalie and I took a week off of work and drove east to southern utah. The plan was to climb at red rocks, moe’s valley in st. george, and also visit zion. we camped the first night at red rocks, but got a late start so drove straight to moe’s. we climbed until sunset and then headed to our abnb in la verkin, which we later had to evacuate because of a strange gnat problem. we spent the next two days at zion hiking angels landing (natalie was too scared to make it to the top so we stopped after the first chain section), riding e-bikes around the canyon, and we rode horses along the river trail to the court of the patriarchs. the next day we spent at moe’s and then drove to vegas to climb the last day, although it was a little too hot. natalie got device ignitor and made some really good progress on huntsman. I got the goose, and a handful of other stuff, and made some progress on whiskey rail.

ZION1005 I

desert, landscape, rivers
For our anniversary trip, Natalie and I took a week off of work and drove east to southern utah. The plan was to climb at red rocks, moe’s valley in st. george, and also visit zion. we camped the first night at red rocks, but got a late start so drove straight to moe’s. we climbed until sunset and then headed to our abnb in la verkin, which we later had to evacuate because of a strange gnat problem. we spent the next two days at zion hiking angels landing (natalie was too scared to make it to the top so we stopped after the first chain section), riding e-bikes around the canyon, and we rode horses along the river trail to the court of the patriarchs. the next day we spent at moe’s and then drove to vegas to climb the last day, although it was a little too hot. natalie got device ignitor and made some really good progress on huntsman. I got the goose, and a handful of other stuff, and made some progress on whiskey rail.

LT0625

lakes, mountains
Last weekend we made the drive from San Jose to South Lake Tahoe for the weekend. We met up with the friends and climbed at Beavers area and Christmas Valley. My finger was still in pretty bad shape so I didn’t climb that much, but managed to send Arsenic Sauce and Tall Boy in the valley. I got close to Beaver Cleaver but my hip kept locking up on the mantle. Despite the incoming Summer heat and the mosquitos it was a good time. Def want to come back a few more times; Tahoe has so much to offer.

RR0527

Uncategorized
Natalie and I went up to Red Rocks for Memorial Day weekend. We camped at the campground 3 nights, and got one night in a hotel. It was pretty hot (high 80s/low 90s), so we climbed in the evening and night. We both sent Sorange, and Natalie made progress on The Pearl. I sent The Wave, and tried The Dead Heart on the Outback boulder. Since this was Natalie’s first time outside since her hamstring injury, we sort of took it easy. One day we tried to find The Stone Age traverse in Calico Basin, but didn’t climb high enough to see find Alternative Crag. I’d like to try to go find it again when the weather is cooler. Also on one of the days, I helped the Rangers catch some kids that had stolen a gun from the parking lot in Ash Spring. There was a helicopter search and everything.
I dropped the Z7II on the first day, and it wasn’t recognizing lenses and the backscreen wouldn’t function. I thought it was pretty damaged. I cleaned the contacts and eventually it started working again. In the meantime we took some photos on the phone.

YSMT1006

forest, mountains
Just two weeks after our last visit, Natalie and I made the trip back to Yosemite for our actual elopement. We got a really nice AirBNB in Yosemite West for two nights, and camped for the rest of the weekend. Marissa, our photographer, took photos of us on Thursday in a couple of places. Friday I was able to send Housekeep Face – Natalie resent it too. We had some fun on an easy traverse and checked out Pathway Arete (traverse?) V3 – definitely want to finish it, but would feel much more comfortable with another 2 pads and 2 spotters. Saturday we hiked to the top of Vernal Falls via Mist Trail, which was a bit much for Nat. We then reluctantly hopped on Angler in Curry Village – couldn’t make much progress on it given our tired state. Looking forward to seeing the photos from our elopement. Also couldn’t be more excited to be married to Natalie. Life’s good.

YSMT0916

mountains
Natalie and I recently went to Yosemite to look for photo locations. We hiked up to Inspiration Point and then started Four Mile Trail, but turned around after about 1.5 miles because Natalie got tired. I think she had mild altitude sickness. Will probably do the 3 mile hike to Union Point next time. We bouldered a little bit in the valley too. Oh, and a bear snuck into our campsite and stole/destroyed one of my plano totes. My Snowpeak titanium mug survived, along with my other coffee stuff. And then on the last morning I accidentally drove halfway to the valley with my backpack on the roof of the truck. Later that afternoon I couldn’t find the fuji camera and thought it may have fallen out of the pack, but I found it eventually and was relived. It rained that night and the next morning.

YSMT0311

mountains
Late thursday evening, natalie and I made the drive from san jose to dry gulch campground, just outside of yosemite. This would be nat’s first time to yosemite and I was excited to share my favorite place with her. we checked out a few bouldering areas around the park; curry west, camp 4 (center and east), housekeeping boulders. The way the sun hits the valley this time of year sort of splits the two sides into separate seasons; the south side stays winter, while the north is warm and feels like spring. I managed to send nothing, and my elbow started hurting again like it did pre-surgery which was a little unnerving. Natalie sent housekeeping face (v2), and we had fun on kevin’s traverse. we also got on circuit breaker (which is an insanely photogenic rock, sitting all alone underneath staircase falls), zorro, and chapman overhang. Got pretty close on zorro (v4), maybe next time – need to throw right to the rail, not left. Just wasn’t climbing strong that weekend. We also made the small hike to mirror lake, and lower yosemite falls.

Oh, I also proposed to natalie -she said yes. I love her more than anything.

RR0203

desert
Thursday, Feb 3rd I drove out to Vegas and picked up Natalie at the airport. We camped at Red Rocks for two nights, and stayed a night at a nice hotel to relax. Natalie has two new projects now that she’s super close on; pearl(v5) and tied to the whipping post(v6). She split her right index finger working pearl on friday and couldn’t really climb much saturday without making it worse. I was able to send tied to the whipping post but didn’t work much else. Also realized I’m getting kind of lazy with photos/editing for this site now that it’s mostly a personal blog.

JT0121

desert
Natalie and I decided that, for 2022, we would do our best to climb outside together at least once a month. January’s trip was to Joshua Tree – this was Natalie’s first time to the park. We stayed mostly in The Outback section. It was really windy towards the end of the day. We sent Yabba Dabba Don’t and an Unnamed V3 by Voices. Natalie want’s to go back to project Roof Romp.