Golden Chasm

This past weekend Ben and I decided to check out somewhere that hadn't burned in a brush fire -- or at least, not recently -- so we headed out to Golden Chasm, which is this area near Upper Oso, off Paradise Rd. The approach to the crag was epic: hot, no path, bushwhacking, sandy soil, rocks that weren't. We decided to deviate from the destination to check out this other crack and that sapped more energy. Eventually we got to where the routes proper were supposed to be, only to find the rock super soft, and the bolts super rusted. We decided we weren't up for the risk, and turned back, for the epic de- or re-proach.

We rounded out the day with a phenomenal lunch at the Los Olivos Grocery Store, and a bike ride up Foxen Canyon to Fess Parker for some wine tasting.

Forgot to mention that I did my second lead at Crag full o' Dynamite a couple weeks ago. It wasn't The Good, The Bad and The Ugly (which I've toproped several times now), but rather the shorter, but, in my opinion, prettier route to the right of it. Left of Tuco and left of the super short one, I think. Anyway... Yesterday evening Ben and I went up to Fire Crag and I led the super easy 5.7 on the left. Two bolts. Sigh... Then I couldn't do the 5.10 that comes out of the cave to the right of the gully and left of Grib dat Hole. Double-sigh... My head wasn't in it. It was the most gorgeous sunset ever, though!

This weekend we're planning a trip to Bishop. We're going to try to stop at the Eureka Dunes for a day, or maybe overnight, and then head to Owen's River Gorge for some sport climbing. There's so much good stuff up there! I'm looking forward to hitting some hot springs, too!

San Ysidro and Gibraltar

We climbed in San Ysidro on Saturday and lower Gibraltar yesterday. San Ysidro was actually mobbed, but it turned out OK. Yesterday's climbs were really really beautiful.

Doctor leader

Defended on Friday. Led "He who double crosses me and leaves me alive, he knows nothing of Tuco. Nothing." today.

The beginning

I should probably start logging my climbing exploits at this point. Spent all day at San Ysidro yesterday, with Ben and Dima. I did 4 routes to their 6. There's a really gorgeous 5.10a I want to try sometime... Only got up to 5.9- yesterday. A little sore behind the knees today, but not too bad.

Bouldering

My fingers are raw from bouldering. What a lightweight I am!

Rock II

Wil and I are taking Rock II and then the lead climbing clinic. I think I might also do the climbing competition, because they're raffling off some pretty cool gear. So, anyway, the point of this post was to express a) my utter delight at loving building anchors, and b) my utter amusement at climbing lingo. On the second point: I've now learned that very strong anything (anchors, bolts etc) is "bomber"; information is "beta"; artificial protection is "pro"; and so on and so forth. The whole thing is pretty entertaining :-)