Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? (Part 1)

 The mark of any enduring blog is an apology or (at the least) acknowledgement for time away. In this one's case, an acknowledgement spanning a 2+ year gap. So, where am I going, where have I been? Well, this write up certainly won't collect the accolades of Joyce Carol Oates' short story, but I do hope it's a little easier to follow.

I have long believed that the single most influential change in my life was being gifted a car when I was 16. For years, my aspirations had far exceeded my means, because I was too young to work and too dependent to act on the whims of my psych. My tiny two door Scion tc changed everything. I got a job at a Panera Bread, and no one ever felt so rich making minimum wage as this young kid. The only thing that surpassed my sentiments of subjective wealth was the love I felt growing for climbing - a feeling that 7.5 years later has changed form, but never stopped growing.

The reason I bring this up is that 1.5 years ago, I sold the tc to a friend from high school (still running great with 299k miles and countless trips logged), and upgraded to a Ford E150 cargo van. Four days of hasty trial-and-error style converting later, I drove it from Georgia to Washington, marking the start of a new and profoundly more independent life for yours truly. 

That was September 2019, where I spent 4 weeks working long days on a wind farm near Ellensburg, WA, and drove my new home on wheels to new-to-me crags on the weekends. First up was Smith Rock and Trout Creek. Unfortunately, Smith was hot, my visit coincided with the AAC craggin classic, and (worst of all) I was climbing with a pretty horrible partner I'd linked up with via Mountain Project. These things aside, I was especially impressed with Trout Creek. I saw wild horses, bathed in a sweet cold stream, and climbed a TON of splitter basalt columns.

The real highlight of these 4 weeks, however, was spending the next 3 weekends at a very special crag called Equinox, where I was able to climb some total gems, as well as log my 100th route 13a or harder (173 as of today). From here, I joined my good friend Josh and we drove south to Yosemite for a couple of weeks. Josh had just spent a summer in Squamish, and I was excited to share one of my favorite places in the world with him. 

The Valley proved to be unfruitful, and I learned one of the most valuable lessons of vanlife - be careful who you share your van with. Our friendship was tested after spending every minute of the day with each other for 2 weeks. I ended up bailing to Vegas for a bit, while he went to SLC. 

I ended up working once again for a few weeks in Texas, and then migrated back home for the winter. Home was different without the comfort of indoor plumbing, Mom's fridge, and room to stand. Yet these were such minor luxuries to trade for the freedom that came with my life in the van. They still are. 

Highlights that winter were the following:

Trad: 

Banshee (13a R) https://youtu.be/qIMav_VAlno

Sport:

Silence Between the Violence (13d) https://youtu.be/UHVOICw68Ns

Injective (13d FA)

Back in the Day (13d/14a)

Prodigal (13d)

Trebuchet (14a)

Mon Pote Assis (14a)

Reverse Polarity (14b) https://youtu.be/JQ59-Pb29SE

Boulders:

I Think I Can (V9) https://youtu.be/ODvHlU4KgIY

Gross's Roof (V10) https://youtu.be/3vosAI5qE4Y

The Womb (V10) https://youtu.be/x8eT0c68eKU

Honey Child (V10) https://youtu.be/xOntOwYEZLs

JH (V10) 

Buddy (V10)

Fred's Roof (V10)

My proudest sends that season were certainly the FA of Injective and the send of Reverse Polarity. Perhaps expect some write-ups on these later. I also would like to think my sends of Back in the Day and Prodigal spurred the several repeats they got the following season. They deserve every bit of traffic - they are hard, quality, and must-do's if you climb the grade IMO.

Following that, I spent an entire summer working on the Raider's stadium in Las Vegas. It was an incredible job, with good people, good work, and good money. By the end of July, I had a fair bit saved, and needed more than anything to get outside of the city/desert. I spent a week in the Wind River Range, mostly simulclimbing a few classics with my friend Brandon, which was tremendous when we climbed, but I felt a bit dismayed at how crowded the Cirque of the Towers was, given that we had driven 2 hours on dirt roads, hiked 10 miles, and were based at 10000 ft elevation or so.

After this, I spent 7 weeks in Boulder, CO. I had the objective of trying China Doll, a 14a trad climb in Upper Dream Canyon. More on that to come, but (spoiler) I didn't send and although I was quite motivated and close on the route, pretty much everything else about Boulder was unpleasant. 

Following a summer of work, very little climbing, an alpine trip, and 7 weeks of stemming/crack climbing, I wasn't feeling my strongest. I was, however, a little worn down from partner searching and learning new areas. So I drove to the Red and posted up for almost 2 months. I had never climbed 5.14 in the red, and was really hoping a 2 month stint would be enough to whittle one or two big rigs down to submission.

These "soft jug hauls" proved quite formiddable. I was most psyched on Southern Pump - a Dani Andrada link-up of the classic Southern Smoke and 50 Words for Pump. About 3 weeks of effort later, I was still at a mere 2-hang, and temps hovered high. I had to leave this one undone, and left the red with my tail between my legs.

Thanksgiving rolled around and marked the "true" start to my season. Temps dropped and I went to the New to join some very stoked friends for the week. This proved to be the best week of sport climbing I've likely ever had, doing a new Cirque route second go every day. That week, I climbed Proper Soul, Lord Voldemort, Freedom Tree, and Ride the Lightning. Some of the best rock climbing in the country packed into 4 brilliant days with some equally brilliant people. Wild and wonderful indeed.

With my self worth restored, I came back to Chatt for some time. A successful season ensued, with these as the highlights:

Little Tokyo (13d 4 tries)

Oracle (13d 4 tries; would've been 2 if I had a second kneepad!)

La Bomba (13c 2nd try)

Washed in Blood (13c 3rd try)

To the Bone (13d 2nd try)

Lucid Dream (13d 3rd)

Biggie Shorty (V10)

Adactyl (V10)

White Face (V10)

Certainly my greatest efforts this season were spent trying Tears of Unfathomable Sadness, but that rig is just SO. GOD. DAMN. HARD. A similar number of days were spent trying Hit Strips, an incredible V10 crimp/roof boulder. These two are top priority next winter. But there's a lot of work to do until then. Stay tuned.

One final note - I always drew a lot of inspiration and psych from blogs, especially anything that spoke to routes in our precious southeastern corner. Chattanooga doesn't have a reputation for being the most welcoming, and when I began frequenting as a novice climber from out of town, I got no warm welcome. So instead of people, it was these dated blogs that fueled, and in some cases formed, my desires to climb these special routes. My hope is that some of yall can find a similar purpose in my writings here, whenever it is you read this.