Congrats Sally!

We just want to send a "Big Ups" to Sally Jewell for her recent confirmation to the office of Secretary of the Interior! Sally is a longtime friend of the Rainier climbing rangers, even letting her son work with us for a few years. We wish her all the best in her new job.

Photo courtesy of Biden office

The Apprentice... aka ice skills again

"Apprenticeship is a system of training a new generation of practitioners of a structured competency based set of skills."











Ice climbing is a subtlesport. At first glance it would seem to be all strength andbravado.



It isn't. Knowing the difference between a high volume flow and a low volume flow can not only save your life it might well tell you where the best line on the falls will be or tell you whento climb or not in a snow storm or bright sun light instead.



Having an "eye" to know where the quality of the ice changes and will most effect screwand tool placement is not something you can learn in a day's outing. It is just a start. Most will need seasons, or moving to Canmore to accumulate that education.



Pulling plastic has about as much to do with ice climbing as playing basket ball. Both will get you in shape if done at a high enough level. Neither skill will mean squat when you clip on a pair of crampons.



Ice climbing is alsoextremely gear DEPENDANT. I have said many times any old club will do in place of a decent ice tool if your skills will. That is true. But miss match boots and crampons and having the ability to do a gazillion pull ups won't help you for long.



I know for a fact having good rock climbing and rope skills will make you a better ice climber. For no other reason than it will allow you to manage the rope systems easier and quicker.Basic rock climbing skills on how a rope runs or should run are required on ice just as they are on rock.



But being able to lead 5.12 trad (and few really do) isn't going to help you much on ice if you have never placed a screw. It is simple right up until the point it isn't. Why anyone would ever put in a bad screw is beyond me.Finding poorly placed screws while following simply dumbfounds me. Either the leader is WAY in over his head or they are an idiot. Take the time to learn how to put in perfect screws while on theGROUND. Then never, ever put in a bad one. Learn what it takes to accomplish that. It aint rocket science but then it isn't all that easy either with out some practice. Your first grade 4 pillar is NOT the place to belearning how to place screws.



Just as your first 5.10 hand crack isn't the place to learn how to place your first cam. Hello!



I learned to climb ice with a couple of friends who had also....never climbed water fall ice. The sport was new then. The original screws and ice pitons seldom worked. We learned together as the ice climbing standards became more difficult and the gear better. We paid our own dues. Luckily none were costly. But they easily could have been. I can still honestly stay I have not taken a lead fall on ice. But only through the grace of God.



The skilled ice climbers I am lucky enough to climb with can all generally claim the same. Only "modern mixed" has changed that. Even then a smart man/woman will go to great extremes not to fall with a pair of crampons on. You down climb. You hang on the rope, your umbilicals or a screw. You DO NOT fall off.



Remember, "it is a all fun and games until someone loses and eye." Fall off and it just may be your eye!



These days "ice climbers" seem to be born in a gym. Falling is a way of life.



Don't get me wrong...nothing wrong with falling. I have done my own share learning to lead well enough to put up trad .11s and 12s. Andthere were a lot of falls involved both on a top rope and on lead.



You must learn how to DOWN climb.



Climbing up something you can't easily down climb is tantamount to swimming off shore and well out of sight of land. Better to have a safety net. A big one if you can't down climb easily and quickly what ever you climb up. Sure you'll do leads that you can't easily reverse. But they should be damn few and far between. If you can lead grade 4 ice in comfort, you should be able to easily and quickly down climb grade 3 ice. Grade 5 ice on lead then Grade 4 ice should be an easy down climb.



Picked out climbs make you lazy. Make an effort to get on ice climbs that aren't just "sport ice" and totally picked out with foot steps and pick hooks up big sections of the climb. I like that kind of fun climbing myself, "hook and book". But it is TERRIBLE for the techniques required to climb virgin ice.

Get on new ice when you can. You might find Grade 3 ice is hard enough again to get your attention and still be really fun.



Following? If you can't follow any ice pitch faster than your leader can run it out......you REALLY NEED TO STOP AND ASSESS you own skill level. Reality needs to meet ability. Because one of two things is happening here. You are either attempting to climb way out of your skill level or the leader has skills you are a long ways from attaining yet. Nothing wrong with either......it just makes a hard day (and possibly dangerous day) in the mountains for leader and follower if that difference isn't recognised and understood. Just be honest with yourself and your partners. Always push yourself on a top rope or as a2ndto go faster and climb better. You can bet that is how the otherguy got thatmuch better.



Danger? Yes, ice climbing will get youkilled if you aren't careful. It aint the gym or the local cragging area. Things go to shit quicklyon ice and snow. Lots of pointy things to poke holes in your own personal meat bag that can cause problems. Lots of things falling down for one reason or the other. Climbers at drastically differing skill levels put the responsibility (and the majority of the safety issues) on the more experience and generally faster climber.



Leading? Leading isn't a big deal. Falling off and getting injured is. Who do you think will have to haul your sorry ass off the mountain if you take a winger? Better hope your partner is up to the task.



No one has the "right" to lead. You earn that right through experience, patience and skill. You may know how to clip on a pair of crampons. But do you know how to actually fit them? You can buy all the cool gear, read of the books or pump your instructors and partners for infobut if you don't know how it works and most importantly UNDERSTAND the gear/info what good is it when the shit starts to fail?



And all of it will eventually fail, including your partner...



You better have a good plan.



Soloing?



If you want to climb in the alpine fasterand climb more difficultwater icelearn how to be confident soloing in your comfort level of technical skill. In the right conditions WI3 should be casual. The same bullet proof ice in the alpine might well take a belay, the rope and protection. Know the difference. Learn how to simul climb and more importantly...when you should and should not simul climb.



Grades on ice and in the alpine mean very little. Conditions generally mean everything. Think condition, then the technical grade if it is a concern.



You don't yet know what you don't know. Again, nothing wrong with that. But time to open your eyes if you fall into that category and start paying more attention. We all "fall" into that category in case you are still wondering. Including me as well as everyone i climb with. Work harder at going faster, being more aware of your own and your partner's skill setand over all safety. Learn how to down climb among other things. Up your rock climbing skills and over all climbing SPEED in the summer. Better and faster belays, not just your pure climbing speed. It will help your ice climbing and alpine climbing next winter.



Back to the Apprenticeship?



It is asystem oftrainingthe practitioner ina structured competency based set of skills.



To get good and stay safe ice climbing (or alpine climbing) you need to serve a Apprenticeship.



Either get some good professional instruction or find a friend (or a long list of friends) who has/have the ability and desire to pass those skills on to you.



I am still asking questions and learning every trip to the ice. Are you?



Days are long past that I would suggest a few buddies teach themselves how to climb ice....if you want to stay safe while learning our craft.



This post has been called a rant. Fair enough, but IMO more an impassioned plea.But rather a rant to wake some up than stone silence and let them get hurt.

GRIP :: Day 1 of Classes

Today was greeted with anticipation and trepidation - it was the first day of classes. After returning to campus last night, I tried to get some sleep as Dr. Jones had recommended but sleep wouldn't come. After tossing and turning for a while I decided to read the syllabus for Monday's class. I'm glad I did, it helped.



Dr. Jones started the class off by saying that there was a schedule for his talks - four of them for today - but by the end of the day we would be behind schedule. And, boy, was he right about that! He also said that by the end of the week all material in the binder would be covered so we won't miss anything! And there will be homework starting tomorrow (it's optional but highly recommended).



After a round of introductions - who we where, where we were from - the work began.



The first segment was all about Knowledge. Terminology was explained and examined and discussed. Examples were shown. Exercises were completed. Minds were confused. It was all about the building blocks of research: Sources, Evidence, Analysis, Correlation, Hypothesis, Conclusions, Case Building, Proof.



It was amazing how quickly the time passed. It was interesting to see how everyone approached the questions we were asked and how the answers to the same question were different.



Lunchtime came around and we hadn't even gotten through the handout for that first session. Can you say intense?



The afternoon continued with the terminology and examples and exercises. We also made it through the second handout about developing research questions and hypotheses. By the end of the day, I was mentally exhausted and physically tired. I decided to forgo the evening workshop on writing a family history and returned to my dorm room after supper.



The "plan" was to read the handouts for tomorrow's classes but weariness won out and I laid down for a short nap. Two hours later I woke up. I still haven't read all of the material for tomorrow but it's time to get some more sleep!

Re-shaping Deformed Leather Saddles: Trying the 'Blocking' Technique

Some time ago I acquired a vintage Brooks Colt saddle. The original Colts are pretty rare, so I was excited. Unfortunately the saddle was deformed, sporting a prominent ridge down the center. On top of that, the leather was hard as a rock. The saddle was outrightpainful to ride for more than a few minutes.



To deal with the ridge, I was encouraged to try the blocking technique: soaking the saddle in water to regain its original shape. And I received just as many warnings against trying the blocking technique: The saddle could snap in half or become even more deformed I was told, I could ruin it. So I will preface with a caveat: As I understand it, blocking has a spotty success rate. To be safe, I would suggest trying it only on a saddle that is already ruined and unridable, as mine was.



There are different variations of the method, and the one I initially used was as follows: I soaked the saddle under the faucet, both the surface and the underside, until it was evenly wet. I then wrapped it in a wet towel, wrapped that in a plastic bag and let it sit. Two days later I unwrapped the saddle to check on it and was stunned to discover that, while wet, it was still hard as a rock. The moisture did not seem to be soaking through at all. So I wrapped it back up and left it for an entire week. When I unwrapped it again, the saddle was a bit softer, but the ridge showed no signs of diminishing. I thought that if I left it in there any longer the saddle would start to rot. So I installed it on a trainer bike and tried riding on it, thinking I could now flatten the ridge that way. But it was too painful to ride and it wasn't working. Eventually, I gave up and decided the experiment was unsuccessful. I treated the saddle with a generous dose of Proofide and put it away in a box, not sure what I'd do with it.






Some time later, the Co-Habitant needed a saddle for one of his bike builds and I said he was welcome to give reviving the Colt another try. At this point, our collective memory of what exactly was done is less clear, but we agree that it involved yet more soaking. The way I recall it, this time he left the saddle in a sink filled with water overnight. Possibly more than once. Eventually the saddle did begin to show signs of softening, and when this happened he installed it on his bike and went out riding.




The Co-Habitant weighs over 200lb, and I was worried that this was exactly the sort of situation where a soaked saddle might snap in half. However it did not snap, but began to straighten out under his weight. After a couple of rides and much Proofiding the deep ridge was flattened and now there are only a couple of gentle dimples in the sitbone areas. He says that the Colt is now very comfortable. It certainly looks nice and healthy: The colour is a rich warm chestnut and the surface is much smoother than it had been when I first received the saddle.




As our experience demonstrates, there is no one formula for this and you sort of have to play it by ear. The John Spooner description I linked to earlier suggests stuffing the saddle with newspaper after soaking it, but this did not seem appropriate in our case since the saddle was hardly soft enough even after excessive soaking. In general I'd say see how the leather behaves once you begin, and go from there. Start off conservative as far as water exposure, then get progressively more aggressive if that doesn't work.




All things considered, the Co-Habitant's opinion is that the blocking technique is more trouble than it is worth and he does not recommend it. My opinion is that it really depends on how much you want to rescue that particular saddle, and how prepared you are to potentially ruin it in the process. I am glad that we revived the Colt and now have this beautiful, functional vintage saddle. What has been your experience with blocking or other saddle reshaping techniques?

The 1913 Hoffman Family Reunion

This article (and a second one) was brought to my attention a few days ago by Bob Hoffman (see this post), courtesy of the two wonderful ladies who volunteer at the Columbiana County Archives and Research Center.



The Chronicling America website (part of the Library of Congress) shows that The Mahoning Dispatch was published weekly on Fridays in Canfield, Mahoning County, Ohio beginning on May 4, 1877 with the last issue printed on April 26, 1968. The site currently has digitized issues available from October 2, 1908 through September 30, 1921. I haven't yet taken the time to go through all of the issues but a search for Hoffman and related surnames provides quite a few hits.



As a side note, there are two options for downloading the images - a high quality, large "jp2" file and a smaller pdf file of lower quality. After downloading the jp2 file I discovered that I didn't have a graphics program that would open the file! A quick search showed that Irfanview along with a JPEG.. plugin will open the downloaded images.



The article consumes the entire first column of the first page and a small portion of the second column so it had to be "clipped" in sections. It includes quite a few surnames, some of which I recognized from information that was given to me in September .. by Stephanie Martin Shively. She is a descendant of Daniel Coy, half-brother of Catherine Coy who married John Hoffman. Catherine and John are my 4th great-grandparents.



Stephanie had some information on all of the eleven children of John and Catherine, more on some than on others. This article contains quite a bit of information on the family of John Hoffman, Jr., which is one of the children for which Stephanie had little information.



Since obtaining the article two days ago, I have found quite a bit more information on the family of John Jr. and have been able to trace all of his children and some of the grandchildren through census records from ancestry.com as well as marriage and death records from FamilySearch. but still have a few holes to fill in. Several passages have been emphasized in bold and will be discussed in future posts, as will other portions of the article.




The Mahoning Dispatch ~Canfield, Mahoning County, Ohio ~Vol. XXXVII

Friday, August 15, 1913




WASHINGTONVILLE

Bright, Breezy Paragraphs Telling

The Happenings in the Village on

Mahoning's Southern

Border.

By Peter M. Herold.




Hoffman Family Reunion.

When we asunder part,

It gives us inward pain;

But we shall still be joined in heart

And hope to meet again.




The largest family gathering held in Washingtonville for many years assembled in town hall last Saturday, when the Hoffman family held their annual reunion and picnic. Other families have had larger gatherings, but they are held statedly in groves especially fitted up for the purpose; while that of the Hoffman family held last Saturday was all under cover and had the privileges of the town property and the school grounds.



The out-of-town members of the family came by electric line and automobiles from Cleveland, Chagrin Falls, Canton, Homeworth, Alliance, Freeburg, Paris, Salem, North Lima and Leetonia - the Washingtonville kinship being divided among the Weikarts, the Bostons, the Hilemans, the Fitzsimmons' and their intermarried relatives, so that when dinner was announced 138 relatives surrounded the tables and partook of a bountiful meal, which none can prepare and enjoy than persons of German extraction. Before adjournment everybody present was served with ice-cream and cake.




Order being restored, the meeting was opened with devotional exercises conducted by Rev. S. Z. Cowgill of Salem, whose mother was a Hoffman. Then followed the following program, conducted by Mr. and Mrs. Howard C. Hoffman, president and secretary of the reunion:
Piano solo..... Marie Weikart


Recitations by Willie Bowker and Ethel Weikart.

Vocal solo..... Thelma Bossert

Recitation........Helen Woods

Song - "Count Your Blessings," by Dr. H. K. Yaggie of Salem, whose mother was a Hoffman.

Recitation....... Mary Grim

Piano duet... Ruby and Marie Weikart

Recitations... Rose Woods and Glen Van Skiver

Piano solo......... Freeda Paisley

Recitation....... Dorothy Woods

Vocal solo..... Mercedes Gilbert




Short talks by Rev. S. Z. Cowgill,J. R. Hoffman and others interested and entertained the audience. Some of these talks were for the benefit of the family historian who is preparing a book of some 800 pages and dates the family tree to Germany in the 17th century, when Adam Hoffman and his brothers Michael and Robert sailed for America, locating in Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania.Another branch whose paternal head is Didrich Hoffman (first son of Michael Hoffman) was born in Philadephia, Pa., and located in this part of Ohio. He owned the Cherry Valley farm now covered by the coke ovens. The brown stone marker in the Lutheran graveyard at Washingtonville bears the following inscription:



"In memory of Didrich Hoffman who was born June 23rd, 1751, and departed this life on the 10 of March A. D. 1826, aged 74 years, 8 months and 13 days."



His son, John Hoffman, sr., owned the Fairview farm north of town and his son, John Hoffman, jr., resided in Washingtonville; was thrice married, all of whom bore him children - Mrs. N. C. Fitzsimmons of this place being by his first marriage with Nancy Koons. His second marriage was to Tabitha Crane, whose sons were here from Cleveland at the reunion. Of his third marriage with Elizabeth Hess are Mattie and Curtis Hoffman, both married. Mattie Graduated from the Washingtonville high school in the class of 1890, and was afterwards married to Grant Greasel, now of Cleveland. Curtis was in the employ of the Brown-hoist Co of Cleveland and represented his company in Cuba for a while, then in Russia and in Egypt. Both were here Saturday.And inasmuch as many of the Hoffman family attended school here, A. L. Taylor of the school board opened the new school building, and all those in attendance went through the various rooms, and some from basement to bell tower. Curtis Hoffman was one of the Hoffman Bicycle Co. a few years ago, but now resides upon a small farm near Chagrin Falls. When going through the various school rooms on Saturday with his wife and three children he remarked to "Buck" Taylor that after all the carving he had done, getting his name and initials, upon the seats and benches in the old building, it was a pity to have all his labor destroyed by fire. So that it can be seen that C. C. Hoffman was much like the average boy of his day.



It should have been stated in the proper connection that the elder John Hoffman and his wife Catharine are also buried in the Lutheran grave yard with the following inscriptions:

"Catharine, wife of John Hoffman died Feb. 10, 1857, aged 77 years."

"John Hoffman died Feb. 8, 1869, aged 80 years, 3 months."



John Hoffman, jr., was buried in the Odd Fellows (or Oakland) cemetery west of town; his first wife having been buried in the Methodist grave yard. His third wife was at the reunion on Saturday and enjoyed the day's proceedings with her children and grandchildren.



A business session was held near the close of the reunion. The old officers were retained for the coming year and Washingtonville was unanimously chosen as the place of next meeting to be held the second Saturday of August, 1914. A collection was taken and enough money was raised to pay for the use of town hall and other incidentals, leaving $6 in the hands of J. C. Weikart, treasurer of the Hoffman Reunion.



Relatives visited both church yards after adjournment, and while they found the names and dates they sought for, they found neither grave yard in an inviting condition. They may get some needed attention before next year's reunion.

Gunks Routes: Splashtic (5.10a) & Nice 5.9 Climb

(Photo: Gail about to make the crux move on pitch one of Splashtic (5.10a).)



What happened to my Spring season?



When I got out to climb with Maryana in late April I was feeling pretty good. After warming up with Gaston, I followed her up Obstacle Delusion (5.9), thenwe both cleanly toproped Teeny Face (5.10a).After thatI led Directissima (5.9) from the ground to the GT Ledge in one pitch and we both one-hanged Ridiculissima (5.10d) on toprope. Finally, Maryana redpointed Retribution (5.10b). I wanted to try leading it too but we were out of time, so I just followed it. It was a good day.



And then I got so busy I couldn't find time to climb. Trials at work, plus a home renovation that required us to pack up all our belongings and move, meant I couldn't find a day on which to play. I couldn't even find time to write a blog post about Directissimaand Ridiculissima.



The weeks flew by.



Memorial Day was fast approaching.I was headed to Utah with my wife and kids for a destination wedding in Park City. I had plans to stay in Salt Lake City afterwards for four--FOUR!!-- days of climbing with Adrian. I was excited to climb with Adrian again, and to see him for the first time since he moved back to Vancouver in February. The trip promised to be a climbing dream come true, but I didn't want to arrive feeling out of shape on real rock.



I was desperate to go to the Gunks. I needed a tune-up!



As is my wont, I hatcheda plan: I would tack an extraday onto my Memorial Day vacation and go to the Gunks right before we left town.



In many ways this wasn't a great idea. The forecast was not good. It had been raining for several days. And I needed to be back early. Plus I had no partner.



No matter. I decided to go for it. Iharassed Gail until she agreed to climb with me for half a day. At first she begged off, saying some nonsenseabout deadlines and proposals. When I told her this was important, that I really needed to climb to be prepared for my trip, she said that some different explanations for my behavior came to her mind. And then she used some ugly words. Words Ihesitate to repeat,like "obsession" and "compulsion..."



Luckily she is just asfixated on climbingas I am.She eventually agreed tomeet me. (She had work to do but brought her laptop computer to the cliff. Talk about obsessed. I think that woman has a problem: she works too hard.)



In addition to the climbing, I decided to cash in a gift certificate Adrian had given me for a free weekday rental from the Classic Car Club in Manhattan. At no cost, I got to drive to the Gunks in a 2007 Porsche Cayman S. So even if our day turned out to be a bust, I could at least enjoymy timedriving aroundin a realprecision speed machine.







(Photo: My ride for the day. Can you believe it?)



It had been a long time since I'd driven a stick shift. I was afraid that the Classic Car Club people would immediately discover my incompetence with a manual transmission, rip up the gift certificate,and send me packing. But even though I stalled out three times on the test drive, they nevertheless(unaccountably) let me leave the lot with this gleaming whitepriceless sports missile.



"Suckers!!" I thought as I drove away, trying my best to appear as ifI belonged in this car.



Imade believeI was an investment banker with a pocket full of Viagra.



I took corners in third gear.



Ipassed people on the right.



I think I got away with it. That's what happens when you drive this kind of car. People expect you to be an aggressive asshole and they get out of your way. I could get used to this kind of driving. It felt really good.



Isped up to the Gunks in a wet mist but by the time I picked up Gail in Gardiner the rain had stopped and the sun was beating down. It was a bit hot and humid, but hey, I wasn't about to complain. We were going to do some climbing!



I pulled my Porsche into the nearly empty West Trapps parking lot and we set off to look for something dry.



We didn't find anything dry.



There was wetness everywhere but the cliff seemed tobeless soakedas it got higher.We decided to do something with an easy start. Strictly From Nowhere was open, so we did Strictly's to Shockley's. We were using Gail's 70 Meter rope; I knew I could get from the bolts atop pitch one on Strictly's all the way to the top of the cliff in one pitch. I felt greatleading both pitches. I was so comfortable,I was unfazed by the copperhead I found nestled in a crack halfway up Strictly's. I wasparticularly happy with how Shockley's went; I managed the roof with much less awkwardness than in the past and got to the finish without any significant drag.



I wasn't so out of shape after all. Maybe it was time to try a 5.10?



We were close to Splashtic, a climb I'd glanced at a month earlier with Maryana. It looked dry now. Gail encouraged me to try it, saying she thought there was pro for the crux and that if I decided to bailI could escape around the corner to the right. And the 5.10 bit appeared like it would be short. It seemed the steep wall which began the climb was only about 30 feet high. After one or two hard face moves between horizontals itlooked likethe whole thing eased off to a low-angle romp.



I had no intention of doing the R-rated 5.9 pitch two. I didn't know how we'd get down without doing another pitch but Gail said she thought there was some kind of fixed anchor up there to the left.



I racked up and did it. My analysis: I think this is a pretty good easy 5.10. It isn't a great pitch by any stretch of the imagination. But if you are trying to get your feet wet in 5.10, as I am, Splashtic provides a short steep face with just a couple of hard moves on it.



You can come into the middle of the face from the right or the left. The right may be a little easier but there is no pro for the move that gets you established on the wall. I came in this way at first but couldn't work a C3 into the only little crack that is available. So I stepped down andtried itfrom the left, where there is a good slot for a cam and a hard, steep move to get up on the wall.



Then it's just a few moves of nice climbing to the jug below the crux. I got a nice piece in the obvious slot just below the jug. Don't block this whole slot because you might want some space available there. I don't want to give the move away so that's all I'm saying about that.



Also, because I'm a chicken (and a safe chicken at that),I placed two more small Aliens in another horizontal a few feet over to the right and a foot or so higher. These cams took a little more work, because thehorizontalis sort of flaring. But I thought they were good.



With three solid pieces in, I felt ready for the crux, which is a long reach to the next horizontal.



I stepped up and gave it a whirl. And I almost made the reach but didn't quite have it.



So I stepped back down, not weighting the rope.



Trying again, I made it! Whoa, my second 5.10 onsight, just like that.



Once up above the steep face, I moved left to the Gorilla My Dreams corner instead of right to the former Gaston belay, since I knew from my previous trip to the Gunks that the Gaston station was gone.



As Gail had remembered, there was arather small tree with some good-looking slings and rings in this vegetated corner to the left. I put in a piece to back up the tree while Gail climbed the route but then she went ahead andremoved the piece after she finished climbing, usingthe fixedstation alone for lowering.The stationseemed good enough for body weight, certainly.



With not much time left in our half day I suggested we do Nice 5.9 Climb, another 5.9 tick on my list that I hadn't led yet. I had done this one on toprope a few years ago with Nani and I had struggled at that time with the crux move, falling several times before finally getting it. Earlier this year I had done it in wet conditions, again on toprope, and it seemed much less mysterious. I figured now I would lead it quickly-- it is short--and we'd go on home. It was on the way out right at the beginning of the cliff.



Inone sense Nice 5.9 Climb resembles Splashtic as a good introduction to its grade. The crux is just one move, an escape out of a corner with an overhang,and it is well-protected. (There is an upper crux but it is just a little bit of 5.8 steepness, much easier than the lower crux, in my opinion.)



In another sense, however,I don't think Nice 5.9 is a great introductory 5.9, because that one crux move is really pretty tricky. It is a stand-up move in which you have to get your weight over your high foot just right. If my memory were erased and I had to onsight it right now I'm not sure I'd get it clean the first time.



But last Wednesday with Gailit went fine, although as with Splashtic I had to step up, step down, think it over, and try it again. At which time I got it, without ever weighting the rope.



And so I went home happy with my climbing, and ready (I thought) for Utah. Little did I realize that the granite slabs and cracks of Little Cottonwood Canyon would humble me, making this day in the Gunks seem like a distant memory.



Stay tuned. I'll tell you all about it next time.

Central California

Okay, now that I'm “caught up” with posts from before the Jamboree we'll get to the more recent stuff though now I'm even further behind because of the lack of internet access. (Rant: it's extremely frustrating when a place – any place – says they have wifi available but it doesn't work! Yeah, they have it, you just can't use it! Sigh.) Due to where I've been, I don't think that I would have had internet access even if I had an “air card” or some other techno thingy.

Anyway, back on June 15th I left the coast near Ventura and made my way north and east to central California. I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that it was cool on the coast but it was hot once you got a few miles inland. A short stop in Maricopa left me drenched in sweat and the van was hotter than an oven after just 10 minutes of it sitting with the windows closed. Dry heat or not, it was still HOT.

That night I stopped at Kern River State Park just west of Bakersfield. In addition to the river, there was a lake in the park also, whose name I don't recall and didn't write down. The campground was huge. But it was empty except for one site, which had several adults and a bunch of kids of all ages. I selected a site along the river about in the middle of the campground a little ways from the occupied site. There were several cars that drove through the campground later in the evening but none of them stopped for the night.

I thought it was a little strange that with the heat there weren't more people at the campground taking advantage of the river and the lake. However, there were several groups of “tubers” that floated by. The river was high and the current was fast. The other strange thing was that no one ever came around to collect the camping fee and there was no self-serve pay station.

It was a pretty park, well maintained and clean and I didn't have any “bad vibes” about the place. Large trees provided plenty of shade from the hot sun and there was a nice breeze. All in all it was very pleasant.

The rather idyllic view across the river from my campsite.

The next morning I was up early and on my way by eight o'clock, going northeast on California 178. And what a beautiful drive it is! Following the Kern River to Lake Isabella the highway twists and turns, winding its way through the narrow Kern Valley with the river on the left and the mountain walls hugging the highway on the right.

Beyond Lake Isabella, Mountain Road 99 takes you up into Giant Sequoia National Monument. Now, why the government did this, I don't know, but it probably has something to do with how the land is used by the different agencies. We have Giant Sequoia National Monument and Sequoia National Forest. Then you have to drive 100 miles or more west, then north, then back east to get to Sequoia National Park, Sequoia National Forest (again), Kings Canyon National Park, Giant Sequoia National Monument (again), Sequoia National Forest (a third time), and finally, to Kings Canyon National Park (again). The latter “string” of Parks, Monuments and Forests are all connected, starting and stopping seemingly at a whim. It's very confusing! But it is an amazing and beautiful area of the country.

All of the rivers and streams in that area are full to brimming, flowing swiftly. There were quite a few waterfalls as well, many with several cascades, such as this one at South Creek Falls on Mountain Road 99 in the Sequoia National Forest.

A little further down the road, in Giant Sequoia National Monument, was the Trail of 100 Giants, which was a paved trail about a mile long that wound its way up, down, and through a forest of (what else?) very large Sequoia trees. It has been 30+ years since my last encounter with these magnificent things and I was impressed all over again.

There is no way that you can capture their immensity in a photograph. Of course, that didn't stop me from taking pictures!

At one time, these were three individual trees. I found it interesting that Sequoias gain their full height in the first 300 years at which time they aren't all that big around. As the years pass, they (like most of us humans) get bigger around. And, if they are growing close to others, they could, as these have done, join together. The boy standing between the two trees on the left is about four feet tall.

One of the things that surprised me regarding these trees is that the bark (or outer layer) is spongy. It gives when pressed upon. This tree has a portion of the outer bark layer missing, but it was still alive and growing.