Arizona and Priest Draw

Grand Canyon B&W

Matthew, Cassie, Yolanda, Zsa

We had a great visit to the Grand Canyon with Matt's mom and friend Yolanda. We walked along the rim, went to a number of great overlook points, watched the sunset and had a great time catching up with Zsa. We enjoyed the comforts of a hotel room, hot showers, and someone else doing the cooking, all of which Zsa was kind enough to put us up in. Thank you, thank you!!

Matthew and Zsa overlooking the canyon

Always good to know the park service will try to keep us from our own stupidity

After a quick visit, we made our way down to Flagstaff and the bouldering at Priest's Draw. We arrived on a Saturday and thought it might be pretty busy since we'd heard so much about the climbing here. We were a little worried about if we'd be able to find climbs we were interested in since we didn't have a guidebook, but met some people who gave us the general overview, then as we were climbing, we kept meeting people who were incredibly helpful in showing us what was what and giving beta and just generally really friendly nice people who we enjoyed talking to. We found the bat roof our first day which has one of the most amazing roof V3 climbs you will ever see. Completely horizontal, with holds where you can use your feet in ways you didn't know were possible, hooks, cams, etc. Very fun unique climbing.

The Fin

The next day we found the roof which has Anorexic V6 and Carnivore V8, both classic roof climbs we'd heard about before we arrived. We both worked Anorexic which at first seemed completely impossible with small painful pockets and big throws. Jim, a local who we'd met the previous day was there again and was happy to share some key beta with us, which made all the difference. We would likely never have thought to use our feet in some of the ways he suggested, such as the move pulling the lip where you have to do a heel toe cam above your head then reach way out around the roof. Somewhat scary, but worked very well.  We were both too tired to finish it that day, but came back after a rest day to complete it. Matt finished it with ease on his first try. It took me a few more attempts, but was able to finish it before we needed to leave.

The crazy top out of anorexic

Anorexic

We left mid-day in order to drive to Cornville where my Aunt Darlene and Uncle Henry live and we were going to see them and meet up with my parents as well. We're there now enjoying their company and beautiful sunny house. It feels great to be in a warm desert environment in the springtime.

We're leaving here tomorrow for what for us will be a marathon two day drive to see Matthew's step-dad Don in Arkansas. We don't frequently cover some many miles in so short a time but after our visit with Don, we have two weeks to get to Ohio where we're planning on hitting a few of the prime SE bouldering areas. We're pretty excited to see some new parts of the country and getting quite excited to go abroad again!!