coming to the end….

Today is slowly but surely becoming an emotional roller coaster! Last night, we all wrote Jan a note because Jan made varsity tennis and may or may not be with us next year, thus putting the team in a rather somber state. The wall reflected our mood today.

 

We woke up pretty late, and making plans was rough on Kyle and I, with so many people wanting to go to so many different areas! We agreed on everyone but Dominic, Nerr and I going to the Phantasia wall. Starting with my group first, we showed up with the intentions of Dom and Nerr running their projects one time, then heading to meet the other group, with me there mainly as a supervisor. So I’m walking around when I hear Dominic complaining about the wall being wet, to which I reply with various comments about him being a baby, until I also got to the wall. The holds were literally dripping wet. Our day quickly went south from there. After warming up, Dom got on Omaha, where the 45 degree part of the wall, which is never ever wet, was dripping wet, making the route impossible. Tuna was the same story unfortunately, with both of them taking awkward falls from just wet firing out of random holds. We then headed over to meet the other group to discover that their day was very similar, with the only available route, a 5.9, was still dripping wet. So every single person got on a 5.9. K Dawg, Ariel, Sam P, Niko, Erica, and Ellen went to Military with hopes of being able to climb something. K Dawg did some work on Tissue Tiger; memorizing the moves for one more run before we leave town tomorrow. Erica did the same, doing all the moves, with hopes of dryer holds tomorrow! Ariel got to the chains of (wet) Fuzzy Undercling, with another run coming tomorrow morning. Sam P also got to the top of Fuzzy, his first 11 outside! Niko sent Fuzzy Undercling under the harshest conditions possible, while Ellen wet fired out of Reliquary, but she says she’s getting revenge tomorrow! I seriously cannot express enough how awful these conditions were. I’ve been coming to the Red since I was 10 years old, and I have never seen the wall like this; the humidity and fogginess was out of control. Kyle, who has been coming for 15 years, has also never seen the walls like this. We decided around 5 to bail and go cliff jumping!

We went to a new jumping area, where the swim to the rock was 20 seconds versus the normal 20 minutes; making me happy! This cliff was probably 25 feet tall, and close enough for Kyle to throw a football for us to catch while jumping off. This became a game for everyone until Kyle’s arm began to give, with all the girls catching some balls as well! David and K Dawg were the only two brave enough to do something other than just jumping off, with K Dawg doing a backflip and David doing both a backflip and a front flip!

 

As our trip comes to a close, so does our unspoken bond as bloggerz and readerz; I don’t know which one is sadder! I can legitimately say that this has been one of the funnest trips I have ever been a part of; the way these kids interact with one another is like nothing I’ve ever seen. On most of the other trips, you walk into the barn, and see a slew of lots of different cliques, whereas on this trip, you walk in and see two groups: those playing cards and those playing chess, with everyone mixing between the two. Everyone really just enjoys everyone, no one has enemies, and almost no drama has arisen, which has NEVER happened. Normally these trips are like going through high school, but this trip has been like a fairy tale with a happily ever after ending!  I sincerely thank all of the parents for allowing this group of kids to come on the trip; I couldn’t have picked better group for this trip. As far as I know, this is my last trip with the team, and I can genuinely say, that I’m glad that I’m ending it on an all time high.

Makin it Rain!

Today was a day where we never got to sit down, however, ironically, we really didn’t do that much. We started our day off pretty late, around 10:30, with pancakes made by Morgan and Co. Unfortunately for me, I woke up pretty early, and missed the pancake memo; filling up on cereal…. That didn’t stop me from eating a few pancakes though. After breakfast we went through our usual rest day cleaning schedule, doing chores and what not, then Ashton and Nerr did an extreme sweeping of the barn. You can now still see the ground when you look at it (that was supposed to be a joke, because the normal saying is that you can see your reflection in it….please laugh…).Aanyway! After that we were off to our new favorite grocery store- Kroger! Morgan and Co. have now familiarized themselves with the store, so the meltdown this time was not as great. The kids got a good chance to charge their phones finally in the store, so hopefully you got a call from your child! Sorry mom, I totally forgot and I promise I will call you tomorrow!! After the store we drove back to camp with hopes of going cliff jumping. Of course, it proceeded to pour on us. My instant thought? What are we gonna do about s’mores?!?! We then unloaded groceries, and decided to head to the bowling alley where we found the tow truck guy. This bowling alley was thirty minutes away, and in classic team Texas fashion, we just assumed everyone was open for us, therefore not checking their hours before taking two vans thirty minutes away-it was closed. We then headed back to camp, making fun of Kyle the whole time, not taking responsibility for also not checking… we got back to camp where Alex made his newly famous Barbeque chicken, which has become a large favorite among everyone. After that, with rain drizzling, Carson, David and I made a fire with wet wood that ended up being just enough to get everyone in on s’mores with little difficulty.

 

Something fun that happened tonight is that something went very wrong with our septic tank, flooding the bathrooms. The cabin lady has someone coming out tomorrow to fix it, so hopefully we won’t have to use the shell station as a bathroom much longer!

 

Tomorrow is our second to last day of climbing, with the goal of going to whatever area the kids have projects at to get as many done as possible, so tomorrow will hopefully be a busy day!

“I only took one time, it was at the chainz!!!”

After our late night last night, a late start today was inevitable. We got up around 9:45, ate breakfast, got lunches made, and got on the road as fast as we could. The two areas we went to today were The Gallery, and Drive-By. Dominic also took Nerr and Natalie to the Lode for one try a piece on their project.

 

Natalie ended up crushing Tuna Town (12d) and taking a huge victory whip off the top! She then onsighted Check Your Grip (12a-at Drive by). Nerr got a few holds below her high point on Tuna, and Dominic got a new high point on Omaha Beach!

 

I went with Franny and Lindsay to Drive-By; obviously I drove, so Alex didn’t lose yet another vehicle. Anyway, Sam started our day off right-sending his second 12 (Check Your Grip) second go! Sam didn’t stop there; after three heartbreaking runs and falling off the chain clipping holds of Naked Lunches (12a), Sam seemed trashed. I then spent my next ten minutes begging Sam to get on again-he finally gave in. Low and behold, next run, Sam sent his third 12 in two days! Erica kept the momentum going, sending Spirit fingers (11c) her second ever! Ashton and I had a battle today that ended up being a win-win. She got on Breakfast Burrito (10d) and cried the whole way up. She begged me to not get back on it for a while, but I held my ground. After about an hour, she comes up to me, and says, “I don’t want to get back on the route” leaving me saying “Uhhhhhhh……..*looking off in the distance*” to which she replies “So I’m just going to send it.” About thirty minutes later she comes up to me and she says, “Tiny I only took one time! It was at the chains!” Niko got on literally everything at the wall, ranging from Breakfast Burrito, to Check Your Grip (10d-12a). K-Dawg had a similar day;  just trying to get fit by running laps on Check Your Grip. Ellen did an 11a, 11c, and got to the chains of Naked Lunch for a sizable second day on. Jan had a good day, getting to the chains of the 11c, and if he only had time for another run, I would be saying sending instead of chains. David has continued his quest to climb literally everything available, to the point where we have to ask him not to climb! He came dangerously close to sending the 11c; falling grabbing the jug that pretty much ended the route. Lemon battled her way up the 11c, and the 11a, finding two stopper moves that she couldn’t get pass and taking some sweet falls in the process. Carson held the fort down for the day, orchestrating belaying and such, all while finding time to do the 10d, and 11a. Grace E had an awesome day, flashing both Breakfast Burrito, AND Whipstocking, all while saying “Ahhhhh I’m so pumped!” the whole way up.  As for me, I got to the last clip of Thug Life, 13d twice before falling, then did Check your grip in my chacos.

 

Over at the Gallery with Kyle and Morgan, everyone crushed! Jess sent all the routes there, except for one 10b, which means a 10b, 8, and a 10c, however she did one of the 10bs twice! Ariel has been fearless thus far, skipping the 8, flashed the 10b, worked the 10c, and sent the other 10b second try. Maddawg was herself, and sent the 8 in her Chacos (my followers are growing!!) then another 10b! 2 Chainz took some more huge falls, but still had enough courage to do the 10c, and two 10bs; keeping it together after taking a fall that had Kyle on the edge of his seat! Rachel crushed! Sending all the routes (10b, 10b, 10c, and 8) with absolutely no hesitation! Delivery had another amazing day, sending all the routes as well and on lead too! Keep in mind, she has led like two times before today, so doing all the routes is incredible!! Sam P worked a 10b, and got to the top of the other as well, along with the 8. Kaylie led again today, climbed the 8, 10b, and sent the other 10b; all while trying her absolute hardest to hold back the tears, despite Kyle’s best efforts. Maxime lead/sent all four routes! Wesley became a “pro” today, sending the 10b, 10c, and 8, all on lead!! Wes also learned how to lead on this trip! So leading these big scary walls is ridiculous!

 

Earlier tonight we went to Miguel’s and ate before doing anything else because we were all starving! After though, we played some interesting Knock Out in the dark. No one had depth perception, and no one could see; it was pretty classic. Now we’re back at the barn, and the showers/ card games have started. 13 has climbed back into the spot of dominant card game, and everything is back to normal. Tomorrow is a rest day, and I bargained with Kyle to make S’mores, so t

Larry the Cable Guy

Lindsay and Franny here! Guest blogging for the night. Today started off like any other, but quickly took some strange turns. The day started off at 8:30, a little early, because Kyle had his dentist appointment to check up on his tooth issue. We proceeded to do our daily routines to get ready for climbing. We drove to the Zoo to check out the 20 new routes put up. The 11’s and 12’s were really good but the 10’s were not, so I (Franny) took the 5.10-ers to the Shire, to have a good day.

 

We drove up and shared the wall with a Slavic family that spoke zero English. They quickly bailed, and left us the wall to ourselves for a time. Everyone did awesome! Whistle led all three routes today and sent all three! 2-chainz strung his first route. Every single person sent up to 5.9. There were no tears and Jess, Kaylie, Maxime, Wesley, Ariel, Delivery, Rachel, and 2-chainz were all psyched to climb, and there was no rock kicking. So all-in-all a good day.  Driving out however, we had an incident. More on that later.

 

At the Zoo, we had a rather productive day too. Fortunately, we were the only people at the area (except for some Tarzan looking guy who was wandering aimlessly), so got to wreck shop on the wall. Grace sent “Skin the Cat” (10b) and “Monkey in the Middle”- an über fun and jugtastic 11a. She also strung Lynx Jinx (11c, and her first route to string ever) and took a massive fall while trying to make a clip. Like a trooper she boinked back up (for the first time ever) and finished it out. Ashton sent the 10b, and after working “Monkey in the Middle” for a bit, she managed to push through her fear and sent it like a boss. Nico and Janby, in an equally boss-like fashion, sent both of those routes as well.  Sam P. crushed the 10b. Bigelo cruised “Monkey in the Middle”, even though she was terrified of the wasps’ nest at the anchors. Carson worked both the super classic 12as: “Hippocrite” and “Scar Tissue”, and was taken on a bit of journey by me (Lindsay) while he was belaying me as I was cleaning the 11c, and accidentally pulled him off a ledge and into the forested abyss; he took it like a champ though. Erica had a pretty amazing day; she sent “Monkey in the Middle” and “Lynx Jinx”- her first 11c outside. Way to go Erica! But wait, she wasn’t done yet; she also worked “Scar Tissue” to the chains and cleaned it.

 

Tiny back! My day had some fun parts that I will soon get to, but lets start with the climbing! As Lindsay said, we started at the zoo, which by the way, to get to, was not a regular hike. I think most kids got their climbing warm up from the hike. Upon arriving at the area, Ellis and I went to go explore the new parts of the area to find some more climbs for the kids. We quickly realized that it didn’t matter how cool the routes were because it was next to impossible to hike to them! Anyway, we get back to the regular area, and I head over to the two 12’s as previously mentioned, I strung them both (in my Chacos!) then became a fan. K- dawg had a heartbreaker, falling on the right one three times grabbing the holds you clip the chains from. In frustration, she climbed the three 11s in the area with a lot of force. Ellen had a very similar day, falling one hold away three times. Natalie fell on the first move, stepped right back on a sent second go. The other twelve was a bit harder, the moves were gigantic even for me, so all these small girls were severly disadvantaged. Carson though, manhandled both, getting to the top of both routes. I then walked over to the newer side of the area, where Dominic crushed pretty much everything, onsighting a 12b, and two 12c’s, then fell on a 13b. he came down furious with me because we didn’t have enough time for him to go on it again. Sam had a slightly significant day. Sam did this little thing called sending his first 12 outside!! He didn’t go for an easy point 12a either, his first twelve outside was a 12b, that spit almost everyone else off of it, sending it second go. David started with Dominic at the newer area, but then went back to the older side to do all three 11’s. David also did all this while slightly inured. As I said earlier the hiking was rather treacherous, and David took quite the spill. A laughable sight, but his legs were both nice and bloody. Nerr started her day off right by onsighting the 12 that I was referring to earlier, but then got spit off two other twelves in the area, but giving them very full efforts.

This is where our day starts to get spicey. Maddawg comes up to me around 5:30, and tells me that Kyle went to go help Franny un-stuck. I knew the road to the parking lot was not awesome, but not terrible, so I thought this wouldn’t be a big deal. We end up getting down to the van around 7, with no sight of Franny or Kyle,, leaving me thinking they had just gone to the barn. We start driving, and get about a mile away from the barn when Kyle calls asking me to come back and get him. I drop the kids off, and me carson grab a light and head back to help. We get all the way back to the parking lot, where Carson and I get out, and Franny takes his crew back to the barn. So up to this point, I know just as much as you do. Carson and I eagerly walk up the hill, just waiting to see what is going on that has caused such an issue when Kyle drives up and picks us up. Kyle then does his Kyle way of explaining things where he assumes I already know all the facts. After lots of digging we finally get to the bottom of things. Basically, when you drive out of the parking lot, there’s this really sharp turn, a two pint turn, and  Franny was driving out, when all of the sudden the ground beneath the tires give out, and the van starts going down the side of the hill, into the forest. At first it wasn’t that bad, I realize after what I’ve said it sounds terrible, but the van is 70% on the road, it was just scary. All the kids get out of the driver side door, and Kyle is then called. Kyle gets there with the beast (the truck) and they rig up a tow line first, which almost immediately snaps, then a static line (a rope that doesn’t allow for stretch), chains, and a few quick draws between the two vehicles, which also snapped. He starts going, and the RPM’s start going up, when the quickdraws, and rope snap, which sends the van further down the hill. Fortunately this time, they were prepared. With Franny in the driver seat, and the door open for a quick escape, when the rope snapped, he was out. It was just a slight shift down the hill though; the van is now probably 30% on the road, held up by two trees against the passenger doors. Then another truck shows up, and offers a hand. We now have two trucks, with two static lines, and dynamic ropes reinforcing the static lines, pulling this, when all ropes snap. And that’s when we got called. SO, we go to the nearest sign of civilization, a bowling alley right off the road. We walk inside and ask if they know a tow truck guy, there ended up being a tow truck guy bowling! He gave us his buddy, Larry’s, number who agreed to come meet us. This is where my day goes way south. Kyle starts freaking out that all of our gear was still in the van, and he didn’t want anything stolen, so he sends me to go keep watch. I get dropped at the top of the motherlode hill at around 8:30 to begin my mile hike uphill to the parking lot. Im walking for maybe five minutes when I realize its starting to get dark, and for those of you who know me, I am not a huge fan of scary things, I.E. the dark. So I hike all the way up to the van where I get to see the van in its entirety. I wait there for probably thirty minutes before it gets really dark and I start panicking. I start texting Kyle and Carson excessively asking where they are. It was all fine though, they showed up around 9:30 with Larry the tow guy. He was about as red neck as you can get. Needless to say he was great fun. He then just put his hooks on the back of the van and started pulling it out, lifting the two back wheels off the ground a foot, all with Kyle inside of it. Eventually we get it all the way out, and the only thing wrong with it, is the side mirror got shattered off.

 

Carson, Kyle and I finally get back to the barn around 11, and then take down four burgers each really fast. Also, I am going to apologize now for all the bad grammar and misspelled things, I wrote this as fast as I could to get to bed at a reasonable time! Please contact me if something doesn’t make sense!!

 

We all learned today that people come first, and while our situation was scary, and unfortunate, no one got hurt. We consider ourselves extremely lucky that we escaped with no injuries, and only a broken mirror.

Bloggin, Birthdayz, and barbequez

Time for blog number 2 of the day! As our second rest day comes to a close, the kids are hitting the showers, and Morgan and Co. are working on dinner. Grilled cheese and tomato soup are among the only items on the menu. Also, for those of you who don’t know, Ellis Whitson, who has been hanging out with us, and is the former coach of Earth Treks, had his birthday today! More importantly, what that means is that I get cake tonight!!

 

Anyway, like I was saying earlier, we had French toast this morning; starting our day off right. After breakfast, we re-cleaned the barn, did dishes, and then hit the road. We went up to a barbeque in Muir Valley with hopes of supporting the local business, but they seemed skeptical with the amount of food they had, and as a growing boy, that’s worrisome to me. It all ended up being ok though, all the kids got fed, and everyone was pleased.

 

We were then off to go get groceries, but not like normal. We threw Morgan and Co. off their game today by shopping at Kroger instead of Wal-Mart. Grocery shopping was fairly unexciting, and I think as the money stacks get smaller, the note prop buying also gets smaller. Regardless though, the kids never give up an opportunity to make other people look ridiculous, so we’ll see how tomorrow goes.

Most of the kids were pretty tired for the whole day, with some dozing off on the car ride back; however, most of them woke up for another game of ultimate Frisbee. We played a game to five originally; once we got to five though, no one was done. We lobbied with Kyle to play to ten, and he finally agreed (I think his hunger was getting to him….) my team ended up winning, 10-9, a close and extremely tiring game where Sam was dethroned in a sporting event for most likely the first time in his life.

It should be noted that we fooled Ellis with the classic smell the cake joke, getting his face completely smashed in the cake.

Since the game, the competitiveness has not stopped. Games of 13 have begun, and Kyle had to buy another chess board to accommodate the line of chess players (it would appear that my worst fears are coming true). Hopefully, due to all the running from the game, they’ll pass out early so that I can fall asleep; I’m exhausted! Tomorrow we become rock climbers again! Better than that, is that we’re going to a new area called The Zoo, which has routes ranging from 5.9-5.13, which excites me. We’re bringing the whole crew there, so tomorrow’s blog will more than likely be rather long!

A little party never killed nobody

As most of you know, we went to the drive in last night, which is why I am now posting the blog!

Yesterday we all slept in until about 10, which was glorious, and to top it all off, Morgan and Co. had made breakfast tacos. The bad part comes next where once everyone is done eating and we’re all excited to go do something or go into town, but the barn and chores have to be done. Rest days are kind of a double edged sword. On one hand, we get to go do awesome stuff, but on the other, it’s always a massive cleaning day. Other than gear, everything got done pretty quickly, and the reason gear took so long is because there were some very necessary cuts that needed to be made to the ropes. (When ropes get fallen on a lot they become “dead” in a certain section, which essentially means the core has become frayed and lost its ability to stretch safely, thus us cutting them to a safe point.) So after about an hour of nonstop choring, we get loaded up, and head to pick up Ariel and Sam; conveniently in two different cities. We then went to a laundry mat so the kids (myself included) could hopefully cease smelling awful. The laundry mat is always fun, but not because we watch clothes go in a circle for an hour and a half, but because of the peddlers mall-essentially an extremely large thrift shop. The best buy in my opinion was a switch blade comb, (it’s exactly what it sounds like) paid for by Wesley, he used it not only to make his hair look nice, but to scare people, and pretend to stab them. I spent my entire time trying to figure out how to transfer 500 raw photos to jpeg format, a task that proved to be extremely difficult, and if anyone has any suggestions they would be greatly appreciated! We “had” to stop in Lexington, right next to a Chipotle, and oh would you look at the time, lunch time. Kyle has been Chipotle deprived now for about five days, and was on the verge of going insane, so luckily this spot was found.

 

 

After Chipotle we went to the pool that we went to last year. It has 3 diving boards, some slides, and two alligators (could be crocodiles though I didn’t get a good enough look-check the Instagram for photos and videos!).  Far too many games of king of the alligator (or crocodile) got far too out of hand. Leave it to us to find a children’s toy, and take it too far…Also, as a recent adult, I can now say how amazing adult swim is! Not because I want the pool to myself, but because I can brag to all the kids how nice the water feels, and continuously ask them why they aren’t swimming.

 

After swimming came the fun part. We had the most awkward amount of time to drive to the drive in. It was 8, and the movie started at 9, and we were thirty minutes away from the barn. We came to the conclusion of the proceeding plan: drive to Stanton, and stop at a Kroger so Morgan could buy popcorn, Oreos, chips, etc, while we filled up gas. In excitement, we left the grocery store as early as we could; forgetting Lindsay and Morgan. We then pull over, send one van to get them, and the other to the barn to grab the rest of our food, meeting at the drive in at 9:10. The workers let us in, then explain to us how the movie we wanted to see “White House Down, didn’t start until 10:45…..so we then had a choice to make:” Smurfs 2” or “The Conjuring”. Most of the kids decided on” Smurfs 2”, however, a few brave older ones(approved by  Kyle)  went to “The Conjuring”. I was one of the people at “The Conjuring”, and this time, I watched the whole movie! Not that scary…..Anyway, this movie going experience ended up way better than our previous one.” White House Down” was pure action packed and explosions, with Channing Tatum running around in a sleeveless shirt, wrecking shop on the kidnappers of the White House. What else could you ask for in a movie? It was maybe 10 minutes of plot development, then an hour and 50 minutes of action. Genius; pure genius. We then end our long day back at the barn around 1:30, with all the kids crashing hard. (other than the ones who saw “The Conjuring”; they probably couldn’t sleep for a while) We have now started rest day #2, with Morgan and Co. making French toast, a feast I cannot wait for!

Team Texas does a Drive in!!

First of all, all children are well and ok, Ariel and Sam are safely in our care! Second of all, we are doing the drive in tonight! That basically means the chances of me getting an actual blog posted tonight are very slim. One about today’s day will be posted either in joint with tomorrow’s, or tomorrow morning, with the one for tomorrow coming tomorrow night. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions!
-tiny

Hikerz by day, ballerz by night

Other than me having to pour little bits of water on Nerr, Ashton, and David, getting to the wall today was pretty normal. We got to the wall around 10ish. Alex, Morgan, and Lindsay took a crew to Muir Valley, while Dominic and I took the other crew to the Lode.

 

 

The Muir kids started at Johnny’s Wall, well start is an exaggeration. What actually happened is they showed up at the main Muir Valley trail, which then splits among all the crags. Close to the beginning of the trail, there’s a fork; one going left to Bibliotech wall, and one right goes to Johnny’s Wall. Now, keep in mind that they are pretty much the two furthest crags away from each other possible and on complete opposite sides of the valley. Maddawg and Jess were very strongly advocating to go right, towards Johhny’s wall, however Franny decided to ignore them. They then walked the long way to Bibliothek, just for Franny to immediately start apologizing and admitting defeat. The walk back to the fork was a long one, where the anger was highly visible within everyone hiking. After that though, their day got a ton better! At Johnny’s Wall, there were four routes; a 10b, 10a, 10c, and 9. Kaylie sent all four of them, but she didn’t stop there. With pure determination she tied in, and led the 10a; crushing it the whole way with no issues. Maddawg was classic Maddawg, leading all four with ease. Jess was the same story, with the two of them setting the example for the little’uns by climbing with lots of confidence and joy. Wesley didn’t lead today, but he did send all four routes, and came away from the day pretty much over top roping and ready to take the next step with his lead climbing. Maxime’s toe was hurting him the whole day, but he wanted to climb so bad that aside from all the grimacing while putting his shoes on, he stepped up and ended up sending two of the 10’s! Rachel split the four, leading two and top roping the other. Rachel’s game has pretty much been, “ Oh what’s open? Is it top rope or- wait I don’t care, as long as it’s open.”  Grace has kept her leading momentum going, leading two of the routes-slowly but surely working her way into being a full-fledged lead climber! She’s getting really excited about the leading, which is good for us so we don’t have to get her as scared as often.  Ashteezy led all four no problem, and then also learned how to clean from Maddawg and Jess. 2 Chainz had an interesting day to say the least. He led all four routes, however he had one teeny tiny little slip up. While panicking, he started to down climb; dropping with the rope behind his leg and giving him a pretty nice rope burn. In classic 2 Chainz style, he flipped upside down, and proceeded to make jokes about him being like Spiderman. Then after all that, Franny taught him how to clean, and he then cleaned the 9!

 

 

The rest of the kids at Muir had a gooooood day of hiking. After warming up at Johnny’s, they then walked all the way back to Bibliothek to climb their projects. Grace Embry sent the 10b, called “The Short Happy Life of FRANCIS Macomber”, and then worked “100 Years of Solitude” (11a).  Lauren sent the 10b no problem, and then got dangerously close on the 11a, however, no send sadly. She can’t wait to get back there though to fire the rig! Jan had the same story, rolling the 10b, and then finding some issues on the 11a-feeling the effects of yesterday for sure. David had an awesome day, sending both the 10b and 11a, and then worked an 11c called “The Unbearable Lightness of Being.” Erica sent the 10b, and then got to the chains of both the 11a and 11c. Carson is starting to help me start the new sport of Chaco climbing, climbing three 10’s in his Chacos; perhaps the most notable sends of the day!

As I said earlier, me and my five kids went to the Lode for a bittersweet day. Dominic started off the day getting one hold away from the rest on Omaha Beach, getting him a new high point. Nerr then had some unfortunate runs on Tuna. Run one was a warm up; just getting her beta dialed. Run 2 she battled to two holds before the jug rest. Run 3 she was crushing. I thought it was a done deal, when all of the sudden I see her falling with a hold in her hand that she had literally ripped off the wall. Then run 4 she battled to a little below her first run. Sam had, I think, the saddest day of all, falling two times literally one hold from the chain clipping holds on Chainsaw. Ellen gave herself a fitness day, stringing Chainsaw; then running Tuna to the top; then running Chainsaw again. K Dawg learned that taking three weeks off of climbing can throw you slightly off your game. She gave Tuna two really good runs; she just felt a little rusty. She thinks given a few more runs she’ll be back in contention for sure! Natalie (Natality ) surprised herself on her three runs of Tuna, getting to the last bolt on her second run, just running out of juice. I kept up my Chaco climbing, sending 40 oz of Justice (13a), and Tuna Town (12d) in my Chacos!

We ate at Miguel’s for dinner, however the main attraction seemed to be Knock-Out. Knock-Out is a very simple game where you shoot the ball, and if the person after you makes it into the basket before you do, you’re out. This game had a line that was, no joke, 15 people long. It was mixed between a few locals, and all of us Team Texans. Maddawg and Wesley were our only chances at winning the game; they both somehow made it to the final three almost every game. Tomorrow is the start of our much needed double rest day. We plan on going to the pool with all the diving boards (pictures obviously to come) then to the drive in! For an old guy like me, and all my brokenness, I cannot wait to pretend to rest while being extremely active these next two dayz!

Boot Camp and Big Rigz

Well, today we accomplished one of our goals; we were the only ones at the wall, however, we woke up way late this morning…. So after a late start, we got all the draws and ropes loaded up, waited on the kids to make their lunches for a while, and then we were finally off to military!

 

The Military crag has a wall of 10s, and a wall of 12s with an ultra-classic 11 called Fuzzy Undercling. For the wall with 10s, all the kids had a big day. Wesley had more success on lead today- crushing 10 after 10. Maxime and Delivery lead some more today- getting more and more comfortable with it with every run. 2 Chainz is starting to limit his freak outs on the wall-sending all the 10s without too much difficulty. Kaylie has continued to go on lead with fairly little hesitation, pausing on very few sections, but pushing through every time. Rachel did all the 10s for another day of great rock climbing! She did some top rope today, but only because Morgan and I made her. Jess did all the 10s and was very generous with her patience with the little ones, and her time as a belayer/encourager.  I was manning the 12 wall for most of the day, which didn’t see as much success, however there were still some notable accomplishments. Natalie onsighted Gung Ho 12b, Tissue Tiger 12b, and Fuzzy, 11b, for a rather notable day. Nerr fell off the last move of Tissue Tiger, forgetting to bring her foot up to grab the chain clipping jug for a heartbreaking letdown. Jan worked Gung Ho, doing all of the moves and getting it down to just a few falls, so he’s psyched to go back. Erica had a good day, working Fuzzy all day, giving it one burn at the end, and just rolling it to the chains no problem. Grace Embry, after sending all the 10s, had Fuzzy to where if she could stick the initial crux, she would send it, but just unfortunately couldn’t piece together the puzzle. Lauren got to the chains off Fuzzy after sending all the 10s, but then gave Fuzzy another shot and sending it! David did all the 10s, and then got on Fuzzy. Maddawg tried for a long while, but Fuzzy won yet again. She did send all the 10s though.  Ashton did all the 10s and then got on Fuzzy. Carson was a boss as usual, doing all the 10s and did Fuzzy. Carson also had the most remarkable note. After seeing The Conjuring the night before, dolls have become really creepy to him, so naturally a doll showed up in his bag this morning, with blacked out eyes and a creepy couple catch phrases to it. Ellen had some heartbreaking falls on Reliquary, 12b (considered the hardest of the three) falling literally one move away from 5.8 climbing to the chains two times. Dominic and I had a fitness day. Dominic got on The Legend (a 13b that has now had two key holds in the opening crux break, thus making it at least 10 or 100 times harder) and got to the chains; getting on it again and falling at the opening boulder problem (suggested at V10). He then proceeded to do Reliquary twice, Gung Ho, and Tissue Tiger. I got to the top of the Legend twice, then did Gung Ho once in normal shoes, then in my Chacos, then went for the wall. I ended up doing Reliquary in my chacos, then Tissue, then Fuzzy. Overall I’d say it was a pretty good day for me! We also had the pleasure of Kiara’s company for the day. She happened to be passing through when we were here, so she came and climbed with us today. We also picked up K Dawg from the airport!

 

Back at the barn, chess is becoming more and more popular; where I fear tournaments are going to start and less people will want to play cards with me! Spades has now been taught, and is becoming more popular. 13 is still dominant, but I think its unwavering control is about to be broken. ERS has also made a rather violent and heated appearance. Morgan and Co. obviously did a good job with tacos tonight-the food just melting in your mouth. Notes today were less spectacular than last time, but they were more heartfelt and genuine-lots of hugs at the wall today. Another positive note on the day is that as guides, we all became professional photographers today, having one of us on a line at all times throughout the day taking photos, hope you like your kids looking super jacked!

 

We all went to get ice cream at the local Shell station, but what we found was something much better. Some awesome red neck had his big rig which he said could easily squash the vans and let us play around in it! He even turned it on for a bit just to scare the kids/entertain Kyle.