BOULDERING BOULDER PICTURE POST: COUNTDOWN TO THE END BEGINS

[introduction by panic at the disco]



niles & jenna atop flagstaff mountain








sussing it out








almost there (first overhang)









it looks like i stuck it, right?
(not like niles did, 3rd GO)









eldorado canyon trail









eldo










me, jamie, eric, jenna, niles









i am a champion!

WHEN IT SNOWS IT POURS (1/2)

[insert favorite song here]

in retrospect i feel like i left bishop too early (definintely could have used 2 or 3 more weeks there); not completely in my (present) control as my past self made plans to be here in boulder, co this week (6-12) as i (decided to go to joes for a week and) have previously mentioned; which is about the only thing i am super-psyched about in the here-and-now (but that's the next post-thought, 2/2).

but... i'm glad i spent the time to check out joes valley. this is definitely a place to get back to:


i arrived in joes valley on monday around noon and found brian, eric & jamie. i was feeling bummed about my newly busted finger and decided not to climb for yet another day (making 5 days off since the pulley tear). we checked out the new joes area, including



THE RIVERSIDE BOULDERS,








WORST CASE SCENARIO,






TRENT'S MOM, and THE ANTI-FUTURE PLAN before heading back to


camp







for dinner and a movie.

after seeing the rock and doing some approach-shoe warmup climbs i decided to tape the hell out of my finger and go for it the next day. and i'm glad i did.


we ended up going to AREA 51 (on tuesday) and doing some fun stuff (some easy and moderate stuff -only thing i know the name of was pocket rocket), and then ended up deciding that we were all (having each been on a roadtrip for anywhere from 4 to 6 months)







not motivated anymore & needing to do something other than rockclimbings for a little while.







the highlight of the day was getting on RESIDENT EVIL and doing all the moves except for the top-out.

the next morning (wednesday) jaime and eric decided after a nite full of snow, that it was time to move on. brian stuck around long enough to hike around a little looking for some problems on the right fork. by the afternoon it was still snowing, and cold. brian left that afternoon and i, not wanting to go to denver yet, decided to stay the nite and see how thursday faired.

the next day was warm again and the sun was peering out behind only partly cloudy skies. i went and tried MAXIPAD, which ended up being harder than i thought.


after getting shut down i made the short drive to new joes and area 51, to get back on RESIDENT EVIL. i couldn't do the first move that day, but was able to do the (i guess) stand start (someone told me they call it an 8). i was happy about the 2 day progress and wished i had maybe one more day to do the problem proper... maybe next time.

so friday i left around 10am and made the 7ish hour drive to denver (hoping to go to the denver art museum the next day), arriving just in time for rush-hour. then met up with a couple friends and cooked dinner and watched a movie. we all went to bed waiting for what was supposed to be a snow storm -only ended up being a dusting.

saturday made it to the DAM (denver art museum) for "free day" (1st saturday of the month) and walked more than i'd walked in a long time. my hips hurt and after having not slept too well on a too-short couch i was hungry and ready for a nap.

the no-storm was a relief for me seeing as how my end-stop was to hang out with some friends from back east for the week in where i finally made it to after the next post...

MR MIAGI AND A BROKEDOWN MELODY (2/2)

[tom traubert's blues by tom waits]

so apparently if you run over something in the road it has a chance to flatten both tires on the right side of your vehicle. luckily, it only flattened one of mine, and only made an impact bulge in the other. and then to add some icing to the proverbial cake, my spare tire apparatus under the backside of the van decided it was time to break. so at 6 pm on friday nite i would have been found laying under my van trying to figure out how to either 1) get the apparatus working or 2) get the spare tire off any way i could figure out.

the first hour was filled with wiggling, pulling, pushing, cursing, praying, and walking 2 blocks to the (as i was soon to find out, closed) bridgestone tires store. on the 2 block walk back from a shot-down dream i happened upon AUTO PARTS & SERVICE, hopefully looking into the store-front window for a sign of life. what i found was more so a sign of life than i expected.

as i knocked on the window and saw an asian gentelman not looking up, shaking his head "no". i noticed the refrigerator, the counter top, table & chairs, and what appeared to be a little family seemingly making dinner. so i walk down to the locked front door and try knocking again. as i wait the door cracks open... and that's when mr. miagi peeked his head out and asked if he could help me.

the next hour was spent trying to cut with wire cutters (not bolt cutters that i asked for but couldn't receive) the metal cord that held my spare tire dangling in a neverland of help, not low enough to get off -only inches from being able to allow me to drive out of town, as mr. miagi complained about how cold it was. after convincing me to drive with the flat back to his shop by offering the spare that he had on an identical chrysler t&c lxi; cranking down what should have been the spare only turned out to be thin air.

"whoops. i guess there no spare. sorry."

eventually we worked the tire low enough to get an air-powered tiny hand-held circular saw of sorts between the tire and the bottom of the van to cut the cord and free my spare.

not accepting any money, mr. miagi welcomed my thank you's and sent me on my way. 2 hours behind (not really much of) a schedule, i finally left denver and arrived in boulder in record time to meet ander and brain for a homemade alaskan moose meat and mashed potatoes dinner. and finished up the evening meeting the rest of the nite's crew over at robin's apartment for drinks and shots before going down to pearl street for more drinks and a long, much needed nite of dancing and letting loose.

so i'm sitting here in Big O' Tires in boulder, co waiting on what's grown from 2 new tires into a new air cooler compressor kit or something, new rear brakes and rotors, serpentine belt(& belts), and what-do-you-know, they'll throw in a new air filter for free, along with whatever else they can apparently think of that i undoubtedly feel like i need to insure i get back to wherever safely!

after all of this i totally forgot about having to think over whether or not to get a warranty on what would have been 2 seemingly inexpensive little tires. if i were still thinking about this decision my thought would be that lightening doesn't strike twice in the same place. i would say that at least that's what i've heard, but more importantly, that's what i believe.

so apparently this time "something you run over in the road" and being able to leave with "peace of mind" only costs upwards of 1000 dollars. kind of like the south park episode where kyle and cartman find out with magic johnson that the cure for AIDS is a vaccine of cash injected directly into the blood stream.

at least my breaks didn't lock up after having my air compressor (that runs everything with the engine) go out, after my serpentine belt breaks and having another flat tire all the while, and get stranded somewhere in the middle of the desert on my way to who-knows-what's-next... which as i check my roadtrip funds, is enough to drive back east to kentucky and hopefully sell my car:



the shark

LUCKY DENVER MINT

i've been in joe's valley all week. which means no communication with the outside world- or the cloud-world of the internets, for that matter.

it was beautiful: whether it was snowing and 30s day 2 and 4, or if it was sunny and 60 days 1 and 3.

it seems a lot had happened during those few days: 22 unread emails, lots of texts and a few voicemails, and some psycho-break-down from a "hard" climber and "professional" developer on my friend from the garage.

i am going to "free day" at the denver museum of art today and will make my way up to boulder tonite.

then i will recap what you've missed from my side of the divide by monday.

and then welcome niles and jenna to colorado for the week; can't wait.

with love