The City substitutes Vedauwoo

Well we were all set to hop in the car and head to Wyoming to see how we fare at the off-width capitol of the world, but at the last minute we got the call that it was canceled. Apparently 46 and raining doesn't make for very good climbing. Oh well, since we had the car totally packed we checked the weather in the City (the city of rocks that is). It was 85 and sunny without a cloud in the sky for the forecast all weekend. So before you can say granite we were on the road to Idaho. The City is one of the coolest areas we've ever climbed. It's not built for the sporty climbers (which we typically are) but is rather an area that climbs well with traditional protection such as nuts, and cams. We haven't climbed a lot of trad or granite so we were both excited to get more experience. We've agreed to just do easy climbs until we're more confident and precise with gear.


The City was only 50% full when we got there so finding a campsite was easy. We camped up by "The Finger" which, if you happen to go there, is a place you should check out if you like solitude. Not a single person was camped in either of the 4 sites so we had a few square miles to ourselves. Mojo got to run and play so he was happy as well. Since we had the Mojo we opted to just do climbs that we can rappel off of (severely limiting our options) because last time we climbed at the City he guarded the base of a multi-pitch we were doing and we felt pretty awful that other climbers couldn't get on it. So this time we just did a few easy climbs and hiked around to get to know the area better.

All in all we had a great weekend with fun easy climbs and great meals.

I guess we'll just have to reschedule our off-width experience for some other time.

Cedar City part deux

Last weekend we headed back to Cedar City for more climbing. Our previous trip were super stoked on the volcanic tuff climbing. We enjoyed the routes a lot, and we left with some climbs we still wanted to complete. So, this most weekend we headed back to finish up our projects and makes some cool sends. This time we went with our friend Paul, Mojo and a dog named Aeschylus (pronounced eskalas). We had a weekend of perfect weather at 11,000 feet. It only rained a tiny bit and the climbing was nice and cool. We warmed up on Saturday with some climbs to get us ready for Sunday since Aeschylus kept us up most of the night Friday while camping. You can't really blame the dog though, who wants to sleep when there's so much nature to sniff and pee on? Saturday night we cooked over a campfire and burned basically everything except the corn. Maybe I need some more practice cooking campfire food.


On Sunday we awoke after a good night's sleep to perfect temps. Climbing quickly ensued and everyone sent something they were stoked about. Paul onsighted his first 10a. It's a fun climb called "Willie the Pimp". Cassie redpointed her first 11a named "Pumping out of Gas" and I got my first 11c called Howard Hughes.

Check out these fun pics


For the next week I'll (matthew) be in Ohio visiting family. After that we head to Vedauwoo to get our bums kicked on some offwidths! So check back soon for more fun pics. Also, as always, there are more pics of the trip on our Flickr account.

The overlook

Last weekend we headed out on a climbing club trip to the overlook near Cedar City. Normally I wouldn't think of southern Utah as a good place to go in the middle of July, but this place was up in the mountains above Brian Head Ski area at about 11,000 feet, cool temperatures and beautiful!

We arrived mid-afternoon on Friday since I'd already worked too much last week (floating down the Green River so I can't really complain) and had Friday off and Matthew was able to leave early. We got on a few fun climbs right away then tried to scramble over a few rocks to another climb around the corner when we had a good scare. We heard a strange noise behind us and turned around to see Mojo tumbling down the hillside and falling over a small cliff. We were pretty sure he was going to be pretty seriously hurt or worse and ran down the hill to get to him. We found him standing up, a little dazed looking, a small cut on his eye and paw, but otherwise, amazingly okay. He's still a little tired and sore from the adventure, but I don't think I could have walked away from that fall as easily as he did.

We camped in this beautiful meadow above the cliffs which you can see is called the overlook for a good reason. Amazing sunsets and views of Cedar Breaks National Monument and the valley below. The rock there reminds me a little bit of climbing at home at Smith Rocks, it's fairly different than anything else in Utah we've climbed on with all these little pockets and edges that make for really fun climbing. Matthew proved he was the master of stemming by flying up this corner / crack with ease while the rest of us flailed. Overall a great weekend in a beautiful place.

This week we have the strange Utah holiday of Pioneer Day or pie and beer day which I think I like better. July 24th when the Mormon pioneers came upon the Salt Lake valley and decided this would be their new home. It's a day off work and as big of a deal here as the 4th of July if not bigger. So, for us it's a good excuse to get out of town again, probably down to Maple Canyon.