A Desert Rose

the Rainy Pacific Northwest

2011-07-08T07:58:00.006-07:00

My friend Liz and I planned a trip to a world famous climbing area outside of Vancouver, British Colombia called Squamish about 6 months ago. It's a fantastic climbing area, granite rock, with incredible cracks for climbing; but I wouldn't know since we sat in a tent in the rain the whole time. It's also famously rainy; I mean it is right on the coast. If you are lucky enough to get to climb (which many are, just not during the month of june) you can see the ocean sound from the middle of your route. We spent 1 rainy day riding the ferry to a small island on the Sunshine Coast off of Vancouver. That was fun....for a day. We pirated some internet outside of an adventure rec center that evening and found ourselves staring at a very dismal forecast- rain, rain, and more rain. I think that up there it's always misting with periods of thicker mist and heavier rain. I'm told that august and september are actually beautiful with sunshine and puffy clouds. I don't believe it. Anyway, with the moisture getting us down we decided to drive south back into Washington, to a little town called Leavenworth.It's on the eastern side of the cascades and thus has stable, sunny and warm weather. It is one of the cutest little towns ever! it has a Bavarian theme and is very touristy. however the Wenatchee National Forest borders the town and that is where we actually did get to do some climbing. We climbed a route called Outer Space, and it's one of the best routes i've climbed anywhere, ever. So we did end up getting to do a little climbing after all.

coming back liz couldn't fit everything into her bags so she carried on her sleeping bag. we tucked ourselves in for a little nap.

Liz and I at the top of Outer Space with the Leavenworth valley in the background

This is the mountain goat who greeted us at the base of the climb. We named it Patches. When we summited he was there too! (or it could have been his twin...)

our friend Lacy who lives in Bellingham drove over to climb with us for a couple days too. this is on the summit of Outer Space with Prussik Peak in the background.

Liz coming up on the best 5.7 pitch i've ever climbed. The route is called Outer Space, it's about 800 feet tall, rated 5.9 and so much fun!

Liz, Lacy, and I

Patches and Lacy scrambling to the start of the route

Hiking in

On the day in Squamish when it was raining we took the ferry to the Sunshine Coast to a small town called Gibsons. It wasn't that great. We found a park and i found this park bench where i proceeded to read the guidebook about climbing in squamish since i wasn't able to climb in squamish...

We also found this hat shop in gibsons. it was pretty fun trying on all those hats.

The ferry ride...and the dark skies above!!

Snow Style-y

2011-06-19T15:26:00.003-07:00

It was raining today. And yesterday, when the weather was perfect, I was sick. So I started the day pouting. but Eric and I quickly got to talking about our upcoming trip to Chamonix, France in August. Talking about what routes we want to climb, where we are going to stay...all the fun things you think about before an actual trip. Then we started talking about how we are going to get to the climbs we want to climb....and the words 'ice ax' and 'crampons' started getting thrown out there. Then I started to get scared. :) So we took the middle part of the rainy/snowey day (in june!!) to learn the art of Self-Arresting. or basically : how to stop yourself when you are flying down a slick and hard snowy hillside at an ever increasing rate before you wet/soil your pants. i'm not a fan of mountaineering- too much futsing and too many details that just bog me down. but i have to concede that we will be crossing snow fields and glaciers while in France. therefore, I need to figure this thing out. Mission accomplished!

Colorado White Water

2011-06-19T15:17:00.003-07:00

I just returned from a 3 day, 2 night white water rafting trip with my family around the Buena Vista, Colorado Arkansas River. It was an amazing trip. While the exact canyons we were hoping to float were closed due to unseasonably high water due to snow-melt, we floated other sections of the ARkansas River which proved to be as much excitement as we needed! My Uncle Larry and Aunt Jan and two of my cousins came down from the SEattle area. so we had a little family reunion to boot. The scenery was breathtaking, the water very cold, and the rapids quite fast with 6-9 ft standing waves. We had a fantastic guide who took good care of us, and even had breakfast, lunches, and dinners made for us!

a fresh spring bubbling up next to the river

the Family

relaxing during a rare moment of still (ish) water

in and around the Collegiate Peaks area of the Rocky Mountains

modeling our lovely wet suits

Mom and Dad

Nelson trying to pull harder!

cousins Mari-Grace and Mike

Bike. Climb. Bike

2011-06-05T19:31:00.003-07:00

Eric and I have, for over one year, wanted to participate in a 'Human-Powered Climbing Day" where we ride our bikes up into one of the cottonwood canyons and climb a route. Today was the day! We biked from our house to Big Cottonwood to the base of a 400 foot climb called Outside Corner and back home again! It was about a 13 mile bike ride, one way. the rout was 400 ft, and I don't know the elevation gain (it was a lot). We are both very tired tonight, but very happy to have powered our own climbing today!

What would the day be without at least 1 flat tire? Thankfully this happened only about 2 miles from home and Eric is really good at changing flat bike tires (since he has them all the time!)

Two Days, Two Towers

2011-05-25T10:02:00.003-07:00

Last weekend my friend Liz and I and her boyfriend Greg and his brother Grant travelled south to the desert towers outside of Moab, Utah. It's a place called Castle Valley, famous for its severely eroded, wind swept, decaying, beautiful, delicate desert sandstone towers. The hikes to the towers are fairly strenuous and the climbing is not easy, but the views are incredible. It is most certainly one of my most favorite places on earth. I've wanted to climb on a couple different towers for a long time, and have just now felt up to the task. It was a perfect weekend!

Liz and I showed up wearing the same outfit. Not surprising, really.

at the second belay on a route called Jah Man, located on the Sister Superior tower group. This might be my favorite climb of all time.

comparing what I see to the route topo

pretty much the best summit jump shot OF MY LIFE!! We climbed the tower in the background on the far right the next day. The summit here is only about 8 feet wide and 15 feet long. The tower itself is about 300 feet tall.

sunset hiking out.

Castleton Tower

First belay, squeezed inside a chimney. What we couldn't see was the boiling, black clouds building on the other side of the tower.

By the time we reached the summit rain was spattering everywhere and we were greeted with static electricty and this view. The sun broke through for a moment. It's scary when this happens since we were standing on top of the tallest thing around for miles. We hunkered down under the only rocks we could find up there, waiting for Greg and Grant so we could all rappel down quickly.

waiting to rappel

signing the summit log

My Birthday Adventure

2011-05-17T07:47:00.003-07:00

Eric and I spent my birthday in Salt Lake, climbing in Little Cottonwood Canyon. The weather was perfect, warm, sunny. So we decided on a long multi pitch route. About 500 feet up the forecasted 20% chance of rain turned into 100% chance of lightening, thunder, and rain. Our route was not supposed to be rappelled, but we managed to get off in record time, stretching our 70 m rope to its max, rappelling off trees, and connecting as many bolted rap stations as we could. We were both soaked, and I was freezing cold! By the time we made it down to the parking lot the sun was just about shining again, and our friend Mark (who was also rained off a different climb) was grilling sausages in the parking lot. He grilled me a happy birthday sausage, which warmed me right back up. It turned out to be a perfect day!

warm and happy....before the storm!

ahhh the desperate rappel as the lightening was striking.....

this pic doesn't do justice to how completely soaked we were..

Zion Free Climbing

2011-05-11T19:42:00.000-07:00

Free climbing, as opposed to aid climbing, in Zion National Park is a little bit like going to Indian Creek to boulder. You are in a mecca of sorts for amazing, challenging, beautiful aid climbing. and yet we chose only routes in which you 'free climb' (ie use your hands and feet to ascend a route as opposed to pulling on gear to ascend). The Zion free climbing scene is currently developing. It is highly adventurous. It still has many unknowns. It is still very dirty. and it is hard.
and beautiful.
and inspiring.
and i can't wait to go back!

We were shut down by winds gusting up to 47 mph (how they got forty-SEVEN as opposed to "about 50 mph" is beyond me), and a rainy sunday afternoon and all day monday rain. We made the most of it though; climbed through the wind and the initial day's heat, then hiking through the rain, then driving home through the rain. It was a fantastic trip. Just what I've been needing.

Wonderful photos generously donated by Eric Dacus.

Need More Posts

2011-04-28T20:10:00.013-07:00

Yep, It happened. The blog died. or is at least trying to die. got a bit uninspired there during the winter- lots of sitting around and wishing my ankle wasn't the size of a grapefruit. Ankle is back to the right size and actually mostly working well. ice climbing happened in mid february, Skiing started in late february, climbing started in late march and april was full of both. maybe some photos to prove that it happened? Okay!

Ice climbing in Ouray, Colorado with our friends Zach and Leigh:

skiing in February, first time out!

St George climbing with Jamie:

Ski Touring in our lovely Wasatch Mountains:

a return to St George with Eric, Chad and Tamara:

Eric had a birthday:

Then I faced my worst fears and returned to the site of the crime: Red Rocks, Nevada- where I broke my ankle in october. my brother Nelson met me again, and this time we actually got to climb!

How's that for a little blog CPR?

**all the good photos were made possible through a generous grant from Eric Dacus, Photographer Extraordinaire and Husband

Been a while

2011-01-08T19:19:00.002-07:00

Well, I haven't posted in a while. I haven't been doing much because of the ankle situation. It is taking much much longer than anticipated to heal. i am 10 weeks out from the injury, and still having difficulty with pain-free walking day to day. hiking is sitll out of the question as i can't handle the uneven ground. i attempted skiing a couple weeks ago and paid for that by limping and swelling for the next 10 days. this is such a long process! it's been difficult to sit by and watch the snow fall, all the while never taking my season ski pass to Alta out of its squeaky new package. i think this injury has been so much harder b/c i spent all my positive energy on the hip recovery; and now i am hit with another long recovery so soon on the heals of the hip. it's been a long winter for me and it's not over yet. i am expecting a 4 month recovery time, putting me into march before i get to really play outside again.
today eric and i hiked up a groomed cross country trail, which gave me even footing and a wide trail. it was incredible to get into the mountain air again- it's something i plan on making a habit until i can ski again. oh how i do miss my mountains.

what to do with time

2010-11-05T11:31:00.003-07:00

i've got plenty of time recently.... and i'm a productive person by nature. if all you can do is sit around and elevate your leg what better way to pass the time then cultivating the hidden artist within?

do you need anything painted? b/c i'm available!

the walking boot

ready for ski season!

Picture worth how many words?

2010-11-02T14:38:00.003-07:00

photo taken 2 days afterwards

Last friday i flew to las vegas and was greeted by my brother Nelson and his wife Krissy for a 4 day climbing trip in Red Rocks. Red Rocks is a beautiful area just outside of the craziness of Las Vegas. the cliffs are over 1,000 feet tall with superb climbing. i've been there a couple other times. the very first day we were hiking towards a climbing area. We had to do a bit of bushwhacking and were scrambling down a very steep creek-side. I took a wrong step, fell just a bit, and created the perfect recipe for a stellar ankle injury. I felt like as i stepped forward and down that I had left my left leg behind me, so to speak. then i heard a horrifying 'pop!' and had instant pain, then numbness in L ankle. nelson and krissy came running back up the slope to make sure i was alright. i kept saying 'give me a second i'll be better. i'll be ready to climb in just a minute...'. nelson removed my shoe and said, 'you need to start getting up this hill, right now'. i replied with the moment's current mantra: "i'll be better in just a second. i'll be climbing, just give me a minute'. nelson insisted upon helping me up the hill 'while my adrenaline was still running'. good thing, we removed my shoe and there was a lump the size of a golf ball on the outter part of my ankle. the pain really wasn't too bad, and i even tried to hike out, for a second. nelson ended up giving me a piggy back ride for about a mile back to the car. things just went downhill from there. i did the right things: ibuprofen, rest, ice, compression, elevation (you know, the whole nurse thing came in handy). i changed my flight back a day early. it was a bit challenging trying to camp with the ice bag, the bathroom 50 yards away.. nelson gave me plenty of piggy-back rides over the next day and a half.
i finally got xrays yesterday-- to find that i have broken my ankle. i cracked/fractured the bone on the outside of the ankle. i have an appointment next week with the ankle specialist in town, but until then i can't put any weight on that foot. the soft tissue swelling is horrendous, and it remains to be seen how damaged the ligaments are in the ankle. no real good news there. didn't i just come from here?! wasn't i just using these crutches? wasn't i just hobbling around a second ago? i can't express the disappointment and frustration i feel. my climbing had never been better, i've never been stronger, my plans for climbing never been brighter.... and all that has faded to gray with the past friday's events.
i've spent a fair amount of time crying. i haven't yet accepted the fact- still seems like it could, possibly, be a dream.
it sucks.
i'm kinda depressed.
i'm pretty down.

how i traveled all weekend.

me, krissy, nelson

visiting a state park north of las vegas. i don't know why i look so happy in this photo; because i wasn't.

our campsite and my assumed pose the whole time. oh yeah, a beautiful rainbow the next morning

how i felt on the inside.

Fall Cookies (or a good reason to eat 2lbs of icing...)

2010-10-26T18:37:00.001-07:00

my friend jamie loves sugar- in almost any form. she especially loves frosted sugar cookies. she is leaving for a 2 month paragliding-travel adventure in colombia next week, and we weren't going to be able to decorate christmas sugar cookies this year. so today we decided to make fall holiday cookies. i threw in a couple christmas ones to keep everyone on their toes. Eric assisted with the decorating as soon as he got home from work. little did we know he had such mad sugar-cookie-decorating-skills. he put us both to shame. although i win the prize for most cookies decorated, if they weren't necessarily the most detail-intensive.
we represented halloween, thanksgiving, christmas, and a couple spring-fever cookies to boot.

the blue-ish picture in the foreground is one of eric's masterpieces. it was a fall tree loosing its leaves under the crescent moon. i'm not sure how he managed to represent all that with our limited media and small space. but he did. i already ate that cookie.

Indian creek, version 2.0

2010-10-25T11:58:00.009-07:00

if i laughed more than i climbed on the first trip, then i made up for it on the second trip by climbing nonstop. i returned to the creek about a week after my girls trip for 8 days. Eric was able to join me for 5 days, which was fantastic. he also brought he fabulous photography skills to the creek, which made the documentation of this trip pretty phenomenal.
we met our friends BJ and Lacy from washington there. and made a new friend from washington, Dave.

my next trip this week is to Red Rocks outside of las vegas, nevada to climb with my brother Nelson. i'm really excited about this trip. nelson has recently started rock climbing and i'm looking forward to sharing the rope with my brother!

dave hauling his pack to the crag. i guess the real question here is not how heavy dave's pack was, but how heavy (or light) mine was.... ??
i think dave may also have been imitating one of the near-by cows here too...

gotta have a rainy day.... we still got in 3 climbs this day though- the standard indian creek daily quota. seems you just can't c limb more than 3 routes in a day down there. of course some of the routes are 160 feet and count as two. but mostly the climbs are just so stout (hard) that you can't physically do much more than that. plus, it leaves time for just laying around in the sun...or shade. depending on the temps.

everyone needs a 'whip it' outfit. this is mine.

E and me

this is quite possibly my favorite picture of the entire trip. indian creek has a problem with human waste. there are 2 portapotties in the whole canyon, and this one is the closest to all the climbing/camping. so everyday, like clockwork, between 9-10:30 am climbers line up to do their daily business. the line can get quite long- especially on the weekends. this particular weekend we were all waiting in line and it was just comical- people from multiple states and at least 3 countries were represented. i rallied everyone to jump for the photo- it was bonding. we don't even know half of the ppl in this picture...

excuse station. 5.11

Pente. 5.11

Eric, Dave, and BJ.

Lacy and I. it was so hot this day, we were hiding behind a small boulder trying to find some shade.

Lacy getting her lead on in the Creek!

this is me impersonating a 'wilted flower'. it was so HOT! we all wilted that afternoon and couldn't even climb... all i could think about was shade and water.

coyne crack simulator 5.10/11?
eric's photography is awesome!!

yoga poses at the base of the cliff

REI catalog shot!!

Lacy and I

Scarface 5.11

Pop Quiz, 5.11

Team Girl Squad does Indian Creek

2010-10-25T11:36:00.003-07:00

it's not called "Rocktober" for nothing. it's been one busy climbing october and it isn't over yet. to start the month off i went down to indian creek with 3 other girls, tamara, liz and jamie. i had the funnest trip i've ever had to the Creek. we giggled, talked, laughed, danced, sang, and climbed non stop for 3 days straight. my body was sore from the laughing at the end of the trip! i've never had so much fun!! we did so a fair bit of climbing, but the pictures were spread over 3 cameras, and i only have my pics to post.
we had a dance party one night and got voted off the campground island the next morning by near-by campers. they did ask us nicely to not be so loud the next night. the next night we had karaoke, but wrapped it up by 10:30 so as to not make the neighbors more mad. we met a swiss german named Krischa, who had dance moves straight from the European dance clubs. we ate like queens, slept in a 8 person festival tent, carried heavier packs than any of us had ever carried before (ie- no boys around to pack-horse the load), and got attacked by viscous goatheads (a sharp thorn from a weed). we took a lot of video, and laughed a ton. it was perfect. i was sad to leave.

my dear friend Jamie belaying. and this photo proves we did do some climbing.

Jamie and i reproducing her classic "happy deer in the headlights" look. we think jamie walks around with this expression permanently on her face.

the four of us. this picture more correctly depicts us than the next one where we are actually posed. we basicaly didn't stop giggling and/or talking the entire time.

we are so cute! go team girl squad! from top L : Tamara, me, Liz. front: jamie

what is actually happening here is jamie is trying to hand liz an extra piece of gear to help with the next person top roping the route. but we asked liz to strike a pose and this is what she did. we call it "interpretive lowering"

liz and I

classic

Teton Tails and Bunny Rabbits

2010-09-22T12:55:00.005-07:00

Mid august eric and i went to Teton National Park to climb. WE met up with our friends Wes and Steph and attempted the full exum route on the Grand Teton in a day. everything would have been perfect, except that the night before a huge snow/ice storm blew across the higher elevations, creating a perfect icey layer over every piece of rock on the mountain. We started our day at 2:30 am, leaving their nice, warm, safe home and started on the hike at 3:30am. 7 or so miles later, we were at the lower saddle, at the base of the grand teton, at 8 am, in 2-3 inches of snow. We watched as the guides retreated from our proposed descent route, saying 'it will never go today, too icey and snowey'. "aww", we think, "but our route will surely get more sun and will warm up. plus the ice will be gone by the time we need to descend". we were wrong. but we go for it anyway. the base ramps leading up to the first pitch were complete ice-fall. so instead of turning away we just belay them out. our first pitch is a shaded chimney- absolutely no melting out going on there. but we decide to do it anyway. i have an incredibly tough time leading it, get my rope slotted and am unable to make any forward movement. i belay eric up to me on a totally sketchy anchor and he leads out the rest of the c limb. we both fall a couple times. i'm scared. i start to cry. sob is more like it. i haven't sobbed like that on a route since my very first trad lead ever when i thought we were all going to die. and it was COLD. soooo cold. and my fingers hurt, and my toes hurt, and my most-of-me hurt. eric got us to the top of the second pitch when we looked at the veritable waterfall that was the third pitch. that was it, we were bailing. that was exactly the right move to make. as we descended we looked back at our next available exit point on the mountain, a feature called "wall street" b/c it is so wide and a nice easy ramp. it was completely snow and ice covered. no one summited the Grand Teton that day. and we would not have been able to descend wall Street- even with a belay. we were all very happy to be getting off the mountain, although very disappointed that our attempt went so thwarted.
I'm discovering that when climbing in the mountains, i seem to get shut down because of weather about 40% of the time. i'm learning to accept that, know that the mountains will always be there, and i can return another time. you know, a few weeks after the fact, i had a great time. in fact, i'd do it again!

the next day we wanted sunshine and straight forward climbing. Baxter's Pinnacle provided us with just that. it was fantastic!

brrr..my hands are already getting cold- and this is just the approach hike!

aww the sun!! surely our route will be warm, dry, and easy...

the approach ramps...or ice-falls. guess it's time to start belaying!

hmm..that first pitch sure looks like it's shadey...
that's because it is!

top of the first pitch in the sun. i'm actually crying in this photo..and putting eric's glove over my half frozen foot.

steph and I on top of pitch 2. we are bailing!!

E and I.

aww- warm and sunny Baxter's...and a sandbagged "5.10" on the second pitch

amazing final pitch to Baxter's

jumping in Jenny Lake after it all!

our adventure should have mostly ended at this point, all we needed to do was drive home. we drove our brand new toyota Yaris up to jackson since it gets such great gas mileage and it was all road driving. we are in the exact middle of nowhere Idaho at 9:30 pm on Sunday night when we hit an innocent bunny. we laughed, make a joke about how i'm not the type of gal who minds hitting small furry creatures, when our over-heating engine light comes on. we pull over. that said innocent bunny was still stuck to the outside of our grill! our little yaris was no match for that big bunny!! it knocked the radiator off and caused our engine to overheat, blowing the head gasket, ruining the pistons, taking out the condensor and the starter. did i mention it's 10:00 pm on sunday night? we pull the car over at a burger drive in by Bear Lake and camp in the front yard. the owner was still around and nicely called us a tow truck in the morning (of course eric's schmansy iPhone didn't get service up there...). we have it towed 50 miles to Logan, Utah to a dealership where they suppposedly fixed everything (taking 2 weeks). as soon as we got the car back i immediately thought "something doens't sound right". sure enough, we take it to the dealership here in Salt lake where we bought it and they run some tests.
yup, "your car is idling high and 2 of the 4 cylinders are not functioning properly. you need a brand new engine"
back to the insurance claim (b/c this was considered a collision!). and our sweet little car is currently still being worked on today. it's been down for about 5 weeks now.

that was a big rabbit.

or a small car.

not sure which one :)

Sundial Peak

2010-07-30T12:34:00.002-07:00

my friend Brian and I climbed Sundial Peak in Big Cottonwood Canyon (one of the canyons right next to salt lake) this week. it has a 3 mile/3,000 vertical feet hike in to a lovely lake- Lake Blanche. then the peak rises out behind the lake. it's true adventure climbing- rated about 5.8, no real map for where to go, no anchors set up, kinda loose rock... we had a great time. it was so nice up there- right in our back yard.

this is why I love living in Salt Lake:

Happy 4th of July!

2010-07-06T20:26:00.005-07:00

eric and i stayed close to home for the 4th of July, in an alpine kind of way. Lone peak is a beautiful granite cirque just south of salt lake. we can see the long ridgeline leading up to the cirque from out our back door. I've always wanted to go up there and climb, and we finally made it last weekend. It's not a hike i'm anxious to repeat. it was one of the toughest hikes i've ever done in my life. about 5 miles with over 5,000 vertical feet of elevation gain- with some miles having less than 1,000 feet gain and some miles having more. some miles included hiking straight up a drainage ditch. no switchbacks to be found. it was tough. and then coming down we ran almost the whole trail. believe it or not, running was easier. although today (a day later) my quad muscles are sore to a light touch. the climbing was spectacular, the setting was stunning, and the company splendid!
we climbed 2 different routes in the cirque, both which topped out at different places. you could see the entire salt lake valley below, which is both neat and un-cool at the same time. for all that uphill (and downhill!) effort it'd be nice to not see any sign of civilization. but it was interesting to see the whole valley where we live that way too.

hiking out

happy to be back in the tent

squeaking across a snowfield towards the tent.
this trip had more mountaineering than i was comfortable with. 45 degree snow fields guarded the bases of all the routes, which without crampons, made for a very exciting approaches. eric kicked steps for me the whole way, which made it a lot easier but still a mental challenge to not think about sliding the whole way down and then flipping over backwards when you hit the boulderfield below...

learning to glissade

the descent

happy couple on the summit

on top of the world!!

classic.

high up on the 4th pitch of the Center thumb, 5.9

following eric on the Center Thumb

eek! snowfield!

waking up in the morning...

going to bed at night...

the campsite. we climbed the cliffs in the background.

beer donated by local climbing friend.

re-racking on the summit

preparing to lead the first pitch..

as soon as we reached the cirque and our campsite i promptly fell asleep on a rock.

summer stuff

2010-06-25T20:28:00.002-07:00

Back yard BBQ Parties! Katie, Tracy and I:

Bike Commuting! my most favorite and needed part of the work day:

Climbing Trips

2010-06-25T20:16:00.004-07:00

well somewhere in the past month or so i've been climbing! Indian Creek happened late this year- in mid May which is usually flaming hot down south. it was a fantastic trip, but all the pictures were taken with Liz's camera (that's what happens when eric doesn't come along!) and i don't have the pics to post. we also enjoyed climbing with our friends Dave and Allie, a new couple for tripping to the creek with!

I spent the next couple weeks after indian creek just trying to get in laps around salt lake climbing. i realized i had lost more strength than i thought. i just couldn't keep my arms above my head for very long (as evidenced by all the falls i took while in indian creek in may) so a few different partners, including Liz and Jamie, have helped me get my climbing arms back above me.

eric and i just went to a somewhat local climbing mecca in southern idaho called City of Rocks. it's only about 3 hours away, which makes it feel quite close. it's got a lifetime of granite climbing. infact, we were there almost exactly 1 year ago prior to my big hip surgery. so this was an important trip for me. i returned to some of the climbs i had done previously, and climbed them even better than i did before the surgery (no thanks to the surgery however. i think the real reason is that i've had all this time to sit around and think about climbing and not get to. so that when the opportunity finally arrived i was just so stoked to be out that i went on a sending spree. i, in fact, do not have increased range of motion at all in my hip. it's actually more restrictive than before due to the soft tissue issues - such as capsulitis and inflammation in general) i am not back to my pre-surgery flexibility (which was poor to begin with) and don't have better use of the hip. i experience more pain than i did before the surgery as well. BUT (and it's a big but!) i am hiking and climbing and for that i am so thankful, excited, and STOKED about. i'm not complaining anymore, i'm just climbing!!! here are some pics:

E and I on top of Morning glory Spire

and I packed my angry face to show the cold, windy, rainy weather when it showed up...

following Skyline on Morning glory spire

mmm, broccoli for dinner!!

Snakes and Ladders, run-out 5.9

the climb I'm most proud of for the weekend: Double Cracks, the sandbagged gold standard 5.10a in the City

hard to see the bird that i'm mimicking in this picture....

me: "Look Eric, Booty!! I LOVE free cams! and even better, it's a brand new #4 camalot- very expensive and coveted!"
Eric: "ya... i think it's those guys who just now rappelled down. you should probably give it back"
Me: Angry face!

it turned out alright though. i returned this cam only to find another one on a different climb later in the day.

Barfy Boise

2010-06-07T10:04:00.001-07:00

I recently returned from a trip to Boise, Idaho to visit with my sister after the birth of her new baby son, Seth. I always forget how much energy children require- i was exhausted after only a few hours. The kids are really great though, and I enjoy watching them grow up. My mom was up there too to help take care of the chitlens and miranda, as she had a c-section. so i got to visit with lots of family! the visit was going swimmingly, until i caught some stomach virus/flu bug thing the night before i was supposed to leave. i spent the night throwing up and feeling quite ill. strange thing is, this happened last time i was up there in february. now i can't help but associate visiting the kiddos with barfing. i told miranda the next time i visit i am going on a complete fast for the duration of the visit. that way if i get the crud again i won't have anything to throw up. it still was a good trip, just ended in a not so good way. i guess this was the second Barf Fest 2010, the first being in february. thanks nephews and neice, i don't want another invitation.

me and seth, pre-barf

the Month of May

2010-05-19T18:31:00.005-07:00

may is a great month in salt lake. the weather alternate between crisp dry air and rain- both of which i love. the wisteria plant blooms in our front yard, as do all the tulips and random other plants. the green returns to the mountains and the valley. it's a good time. it's also my birthday month, which makes it my favorite. i celebrated my birthday in Indian creek, as we are having a cooler than usual spring, it is still good climbing weather in southern utah. eric didn't get to come on the trip, which means i didn't have a camera to take pics. my friend Liz took some though, so i'll post if i can steal her camera. before the trip though, i had a 4-Square birthday party. very fun.
the hip is coming along- nearly pain free!. the quad muscle has settled down... i am back!

the beautiful wisteria blooms! this vine grows across the front of our house- i love it!

my friend Jamie threw me a 4-Square birthday party. it was a total blast and brought back all those grade school egos...

plannig out perfect square....

drawing out the perfect square..

nice moves kids!

May Powder

2010-05-10T00:40:00.003-07:00

we had a fantastic powder dump at the beginning of may...at least 30 inches in 3 days. eric and i got out on May 1 for a short, but epic tour. it was hard to believe i was skiing down fresh powder when just 2 days earlier i was climbing in a tank top in the sunshine! i've never seen a snow dump like this in may before. it was great!

Red Rocks 2010

2010-05-06T15:20:00.008-07:00

My friend Jamie and i spent a week in the desert outside of Las Vegas climbing at a national rec area called Red Rock Canyon. It's beautiful down there and only 6 hours away from salt lake! the first couple days were windy, cold, rainy, and even a bit snowy. we did some 'urban hiking' down the las vegas strip, which was more mentally taxing than any of the climbing we did! we did get in 4 perfectly sunny days of climbing and had a blast. ye ole' hip actually did quite well. my body is still figuring out how to manuever- feels like i got the tires changed and haven't quite figured out how to use them. i'm still struggling against some limited range of motion and quite a bit of residual pain in my quad muscle. i hope these are just time things though. my head is in a really good place for climbing, and the trip felt like a huge success.

of course the images are in reverse order, but you get the idea.

sad b/c it's leaving time

the pink tourist bus- they pack them in here like clowns and then off load at every scenic view..it's quite funny to watch them all pile out of this bright, pink bus

yummy mac'n'cheese with sausage dinner

There is a sign at one of the stops on the scenic loop that goes around the rec area that explains rock climbing and protection and ropes etc. the title of the sign is "cliff dancers". i was just busting one of the many dancing moves we climbers do....
??

Pasta Primavera dinner!

Herd of Mountain goats- about 10 of them! i was literally just saying how much i wanted to see this animal when we suprised a herd of them on the trail. they are amazing creatures!

Top of Olive Oil.

Teen Girl Squad goes rock climbing!

mmm quesadilla dinner! yum!

Quincy, the camp cat.

Jamie and I at the top of Birdland- we did actually climb!

stopping in to apply makeup in Sephora on the strip. no climbing trip is complete without a makeup store stop.

giant moss ball in the Belaggio... i don't understand...

a telling sign during our urban hike

can't climb when it looks like this...

it's rolling in..

our first evening meal. we ate so well we took pictures of every meal

the new dining room...and sleeping room...and do everything in room b/c it's the only place that blocks out the wind...

Return to climbing and trips!

2010-04-16T16:54:00.004-07:00

well alright, it's time this blog start to be regularly updated with trips and pictures etc. it's been a long season of life for me- a season of activity, but not necessarily the activity i looked forward to. i got in 2 weeks of great spring powder skiing in the wasatch- not that i skied the great powder greatly, mostly i fell down the mountain trying to figure out where in space my body was. but i smiled all the same.
eric and i went down to the desert outside of moab for the official return to climbing trip. we climbed a route in Arches National park and then another classic in the fisher towers. i had climbed in the Fisher towers about 3 years ago, and this time around the climb was both easier and harder than before. eric did all the leading- thank you! i had a very hard time figuring out where my body was in relation to the rock and the next move i needed to make. my right hip was so guarded that mentally it was a battle to make it move to the next foothold. but eventually it came around and i had a virtually painless experience! yay! i'm still working out some pain in my quad muscle i've had since the hardware removal- i have no idea what that is and it's very persistent. and i'm very uncoordinated on the rock- kinda like when you first begin climbing. but i know, deep down inside, that it's going to come back. the desert sunshine and red sandstone was EXACTLY what i needed.
i've returned to riding my bike to work, and in the evenings on myw ay home, i can take deep breaths of satisfaction and joy- that i live where i do, that i can ride a bike, and that life will, in fact and against all odds, return to normal.

in the vein of returning to normal, this week i am headed to Red Rocks outside of las vegas, nevada for a climbing trip withm y friend jamie. jamie had an ACL surgery in february, so we are about the same speed these days. we are both going to be figuring it out, taking it easy, and returning to climbing.
here's to climbing, trips, and travel!!!!!!!

and here's some photos:

Owl Rock in ARches National Park

Our new favorite trip dessert, dark chocolate wrapped in a baguette.

the top of Ancient Art in the fisher Towers

relaxing on the ledge, waiting for the previous party to finish the summit

eric and i on the ledge

the first pitch

the Fisher Towers at sunset

Yay i climbed again!!!

Status Update

2010-03-09T20:52:00.002-07:00

I finally had my MRI and the news is NOT good: here are the radiologists exact words:

Impression:
1. Bucket handle tear of labrum, new finding since comparison of 1/09.
2. Persistent anterior-superior labral irregularity. Difficult to assess in location given prior surgical intervention. Irregularity may be entirely postoperative.
3. Resection of the ligamentum teres with edema in the medial acetabular wall at site of normal ligament attachements. Edema likely reactive from prior hip disarticulation.
4. Prior femoral osteoplasty, proximal femoral osteotomy and acetabuloplasty.

so, in normal speak, i have a new tear in the cartilage of the right hip socket, plus i also have adhesions between the hip joint capsule and the femoral head. all in all: the hip is tight, is painful, has a new tear, and i'm worse off. maybe i shouldn't be posting right now when i'm so bummed out. it just sucks that i still have the same problem i had pre-operation and in total the hip joint hurts way more. I have an appt with my surgeon next week to see what he thinks about the whole situation. i have no idea how i re-tore the cartilage. pretty low right now--- and just anxious about the whole thing- will i be able to climb? will i have pain for the next ever? will i ever be able to sit in the same position for longer than 10 minutes without needing to stretch the hip? will i ever stop limping?? i guess the answer is all the same: time.

Big Ole Picture Post

2010-01-31T20:14:00.005-07:00

Pictures from the past couple months:

Christmas with the Dacus family. Jesse and Tera Shea- my soon to be sister-in-law!

me and Mom Dacus

Eric and I in Arkansas- it'd been 3 years!

Dad Dacus and I eyeing their plot of land.

next up: The yurt trip at Norway Flats in the Uintas:

Eric and I on the way back out.

Toasting our general health

Happy camper inside the yurt. it was cushy!

Brian and I finding the way....our REI catalogue shot for the adventure.

And my one and only day skiing this winter!! Eric pieced this picture together with several that he took as i skied down. It was a great day out!!

Another Winter Hike

2010-01-22T16:32:00.002-07:00

pausing in the sun

my REI catalogue face

it's been a while! A couple trips here and there. We met my family in Zion National Park for thanksgiving. it was great. We hiked Angel's Landing, which was a big success for me (and my 5 year old nephew who made it to the look-out before the hike gets truly scary)!
We flew home to arkansas to see eric's parents. It was quick trip for me as I worked both the christmas and new year's holidays. Sometimes, nurses really don't have the best schedules.
The snow in utah has been pretty poor this season.I think it's b/c i am secretly doing the 'no snow dance' so I don't feel like I miss out this year. ha. We have gone on a few hikes though, which has gotten a whole lot easier for me. We stayed in a yurt in the Uintas- which was perfectly lovely. Then, i even made it down the ski hill!! I haven't downhill skied yet this year, mostly out of fear of what my hip would or wouldn't do. it actually performed perfectly with no pain! it was though, my first and last (at least for a couple months) ski day.
I am having the two screws that are in my hip taken out on monday. This is so we can get an MRI of the hip and try to find out why i still have so much pain there. I've been doing a lot of physical therapy, hip socket mobilization, massage, and exercising these past 2 months with no significant improvement in the flexion, range of motion, and pain in my hip.
so, there you have it. the screws come out in a simple procedure (still considered surgery however). then i have to take it easy for 6 weeks (ie- no skiing, or activities where i could fall as the bone has been tampered with and could break more easily right after this surgery). but nothing i have to take work off for or anything. i'm hoping this really just won't be a big deal and maybe, even, hopefully, my hip will feel better with the screws gone. i can feel them from time to time, especially when we hike. i'm glad they are coming out and i'm glad i'm getting it done now as opposed to next winter or something when i'd be truly bummed about not skiing for 6 weeks (i'll be doing the snow dance next season for sure)

My goal now is to make it to april, when i have decided to start climbing again. i'm pretty much just set on it- i don't care where i am in recovery, or how it feels or doesn't feel. i'm done not doing the activities that i love. so april, here i come!

i am visiting my sister in boise, idaho for a few days in february while i recover from the screw removal. then maybe i'll do a little more skiing in march.

all in all, i'm doing well with the hip recovery. hurts more than i'd like it to. i still have moments of sadness and hopelessness that i'll ever feel normal again. but i think it's normal to feel that way. they only last for a bit, then i learn how to move on again.

so just a couple more months in my mind and then i'll have all the restrictions taken away. i can't wait!!!!

The First Snow

2009-11-24T10:46:00.003-07:00

This was the first major snow dump of the year. Normally I'm pretty much jumping for joy and trying to figure out where I am going to ski the next day. But this year, alas, I have given up skiing for the healing sake of the ole hip. plus, telemark skiing is pretty much the worst thing i can think of trying to do with a weak and inflammed hip joint. as for a hip update, i am doing alright. started a strength training program to get my hip muscles back on track. they are still incredibly weak. and i have a funky problem going on in my groin still, i can't do a straight leg lift b/c of the intense pain there. i see my surgeon on dec 2 and we'll what he thinks. we are unable to do any imaging of the hip and surrounding tissue b/c of the screws in place (they cause artifact in the images). so it's really just a guess. we thought for a long time it was hip flexor tendonitis. and maybe it still is. but i've rested it for months now with minimal improvement so i don't know if i believe it is tendonitis anymore. anyway, the point is, it hurts. a lot. and still hinders my movement. my range of motion is improving, very slowly. i'm hoping to see some great improvements in my strength with the weight training. i am only doing weights twice a week. trying to hike one day a week, and swim one day a week. that's my goal for the winter anyway. i just got a nasty cold which hindered any movement whatsoever this week though. i am 6 months out from my surgery, i thought i'd be farther along. but shoot, i thought i'd be climbing by now too. and possibly skiing. so no skiing this year, but the hike on this day, up Little Cottonwood Canyon, was lovely and adventurous. I even jogged down hill on the way back. it wasn't pain-free, but it wasn't too bad either. i'm hopeful. jury is still out on whether i think this surgery helped me, or hindered me. sad thing is, i can feel my other hip impinging daily. but i'm not thinking about that right now.

Rock-tober

2009-10-28T11:32:00.001-07:00

Well, It's October and that almost always means Indian Creek rock climbing. Not to be put off by cranky hips and night shift schedules, I made the trek down last weekend. We met our good friends BJ and Lacy there along with Heidi and Max and spent the weekend soaking in the red sandstone, sunshine, fresh air, and yellow-leaved cottonwoods. It was beautiful! I swear, i only climbed with one leg. I even left my hiking shoe on my affected hip side so i wouldn't be tempted to use it climbing. my surgeon has said that rock climbing is 9-12 months out from the surgery date, as it is one of the most intensive things i could put my hip through. but i've got to say, just putting my hands into a crack and touching the rock down there this weekend was so good for me. i had a good cry too while i was down there, but mostly i was just very happy to be there. eric and i also brought the road bikes but i got a flat just 5 miles into the ride and we had already used our spare tires. so we just drove into canyon land national park and had lunch, dorked around moab for a bit, and came home. the hip wasn't even a bit angry after climbing (i was very good to it though and didn't use it a bit). i'm hopeful this week about my range of motion. slowly ever so slowly i am improving. I'm about 5 months out this week- seems like a long time and yet, not enough time to be healed.

ahh Indian Creek: the reservoir, the six-shooters, the bridger jacks...and me!

Our friend Max had a shoulder injury and also could not climb. It was nice to have a fellow gimp along.

yay! i just climbed in indian creek!!!

How to climb with only 3 appendages.....

Lacy and BJ and the classic tape glove.

Happy Halloween!

2009-10-14T20:18:00.001-07:00

Bet you can't figure out which one is mine and which one is eric's.... :)

Return to Camping....

2009-10-12T21:24:00.003-07:00

Last weekend Eric and I took a trip down to Bryce Canyon National Park. We are trying to take this opportunity to visit the non-climbing parts of Utah. Bryce Canyon is totally worth it! This was my first camping trip since the surgery. I slept on two thermarests and two pillows, and actually, it wasn't that bad. i've slept much worse, and i've slept better. so pretty par for the camping course really. it felt like i had never stopped camping/roadtripping. it was great to get back out into the sunshine, desert air, blue sky, and camping food. we took the road bikes and biked to the different view points on sunday and hiked around on saturday. i'm not up to hiking even small hills yet, so we stayed on the rim, which still had the best view. Bryce is an amazing spot!

The Rim from Bryce Point

Different part of the rim

Look Ma! No Hands AND a bad hip!

Bristlecone Pine....somewhat dead. okay, a lot dead.

Eric's sunrise shot of the ampitheater. I was still tucked into bed with my mound of pillows, thermarests, and sleeping bags.

a daring traverse...

Have you taken the picture yet?

On the rim trail

Despite what it looks like, i actually did NOT base Bryce Canyon

Ahh Yeah!

2009-10-08T10:46:00.002-07:00

My sister is staring them early!!! This is my 1 year old niece, Esther. Miranda sent me this picture with the title "Eat your heart out Aunt Polly!" i LOVE it!

New Shoes and Hurry up and Wait

2009-09-30T20:57:00.003-07:00

"Why?" you ask? Why did you ever buy such ugly shoes?! Because they are supposed to be the best thing for professionals who are on their feet all day. and that's what i am. i currently wear Danskos, which are basically the unofficial official health care professional shoe. or at least they are in the University of Utah Hospital. Nearly everyone in the hospital wears Danskos. and i'm a big fan, i've worn them for 4 years and they've done my feet right. oddly enough feet crave hard, stable foundations such as what the dankso offers rather than the soft cushion of a tennis shoe or running shoe. i know b/c i've tried to wear a running shoe at work and my feet hurt so bad at the end of the day i'm begging eric for a foot rub (okay, i beg for a foot rub regardless of what shoe i wear...) recently my heels have been hurting a bit after a 12 hour shift and i've seen acouple people around work wearing these shoes. They are called MBT shoes. I don't know what that stands for, other than it should stand for "missed but trying". They are pretty much the ugliest shoes i could have ever imagined, and now i own a pair! people at work swear by them. they are supposed to rocker you along, all the while increasing calf strength and easing lower back strain. they are also a cool $260. I did't pay that though. they were on sierra trading post and a friend at work had a coupon, so i sprung for them. i'm hoping they will make my 12 hour shift fly by even faster....i'll keep you updated as to whether or not you should buy said ugly shoe.

other news: saw my orthopedic surgeon last week. he was happy with my progress and said i was actually doing just fine if not better than most patients. I had a steroid injection in my hip socket 2 weeks ago to alleviate some of the inflammation. it actually worked really well and my activities of daily life (getting into a car, walking up/down stairs, getting into bed ) got a lot easier. however any sort of physical activity still remains out of my reach. i biked to work 2 days last week (6 miles each way with minimal elevation gain) and my hip had a hard time with it. ican't really describe the feeling b/c it isn't out right pain, but it is sore and it is tired after biking like that. it's like i can't get all the muscles in the hip organized to fire at the same time so when i first start walking after sitting down it's like i'm dragging that right hip behind a little bit. someone at work even noticed and mentioned it to me. that made me sorta depressed b/c i was so excited to start riding my bike again to work, but if i am dragging that hip it means i should probablay stop that activity. so i'm not biking anymore. i still have a lot of pain in the front part of my hip, and i'm worried i have retorn the cartilage in the socket. i don't know how i would have done that and the surgeon said he's only seen it one other time....but i still have some of the signs and symptoms of a torn cartilage. the pain in my hip is way worse now than it was before the surgery, rock climbing it out of the question. my surgeon actually gave me a time frame for that though-9-12 months from the surgery. sigh. big deep sigh. i want to heal though, and i want to get the whole thing healed properly the first time. so i will cease and desist. i am not going to try to rock climb until next march. that's hard to write/say. in fact, it also means i won't be skiing until that time either. i tried a bit of easy yoga the other day and it proved too much for the hip too. it's hard to know what to do these days- some exercises need to be done to strengthen the hip. but if those exercises then make the hip inflammed and difficult to organize, then they are counter-productive. swimming is still my best option, but with the weather turning it's harder to get into a cool-ish pool. plus, now i don't get those great tan lines either..... i am hoping that what i am dealing with is just massive, global hip joint inflammation. i'm hoping and praying for that b/c the other option is the retorn cartilage and that makes me want to cry.

Basically i am in a game of "hurry up and wait". that's what i tell my ER patients all the time. "we've done all we can right now and now you get to hurry up and wait...wait for labs, xrays, radiology, etc". i've got to wait until december when i see my surgeon again and we decide whether my pain is coming from inflammation or cartilage issues. if it's cartilage issues we'll have to do some minor surgery to remove the screws in my femur so we can re-image the cartilage with another MRI. so i am simmering until december. no pushing it. no doing anything that causes my hip to feel tight or painful. in the meantime i've got swimming, the awesome sports massage therapist i've been seeing, and eric to cheer me up. we've got a couple trips planned in october. trips that we've meant to take all along but haven't b/c they didn't invovle climbing. trips like going to see Bryce Canyon National Park. there's no climbing there, so i've never really wnated to go. now is a perfect time to visit. some friends are going to indian creek in late october. that's a hard pill to swallow b/c i think we are going to go, and i'll pack my road bike so i can at least move through the canyon walls, but i won't be climbing them. actually, i'm considering some form of one legged crack climbing, along with some major assistance form the belayer and my rope... i might make it a couple yards. i think it'll be hard to be in indian creek and not be climbing...but then again, it is a magical and spiritual place with or without the climbing. just being in the red utah desert does good things for my heart. i'm also focusing on baking and cooking- so i'm updating my cooking blog often if you want to try some new and delicious recipes.

i've also attended a knitting class the last 3 weeks. i have one more week of class and then i might sign up for a more adavnced class after this one. i suck at knitting. in fact, i've always hated it and not had the patience. tonight i started my first project though and i'm proud of myself for sticking it out. eric's getting a scarf for christmas, of course.

it's been a tough last few weeks. ups and downs for sure. i road my bike home last week and upon arrival at home threw the bike down and burst into tears for a solid half-hour. eric was great and just let me cry. sometimes, you just need to cry.

13 Weeks Post-op

2009-09-07T20:23:00.003-07:00

And look what i can do!!!

I wouldn't say I have returned to climbing, b/c this was one of the first and easiest climbs i ever did in the Wasatch. However, it was technically rock climbing. it was mostly very easy, but that right leg/quad doesn't want to cooperate all the time. We climbed 3 routes yesterday, and my hip was pretty sore last night. i recovered well today though and we tried one of our favorite hikes in Big cottonwood Canyon- I didn't quite make it to the lake at the end of the trail,however. The 'ole hip started to get pretty sore about 2 miles into a pretty steady uphill hike. Still, what a tremendous weekend! climbing and hiking... maybe i really will actually get better after all! i also biked to work this week as well. major mile stone.

i am seeing the PA/surgeon this week because of my hip flexor tendonitis issue. it has refused to get much better and i am interested in what they think. i have been a very good patient and have only done exercises that do not affect the hip flexor so i feel that i have adequately 'rested' the hip in all the right places. i'm anxious to get the hip flexor taken care of. it is popping quite loudly at night when i roll over in bed and has started to become mildly painful with the popping. this concerns me a bit more.

i'm having a few more 'down' days this past week. it's starting to get harder to remain positive all the time during this plateau. i've come so far, and yet i feel i have so much farther to go yet. most days i do a great job of looking at the positives and feeling great about how i can move. but some days i am tired of being satisfied with a little bike ride or a swim. i want to climb! and not just top rope some 5.6. when i think about my recovery only taking the prognosed 6 months i feel kinda hopeless. but if i think about my recovery taking 9-12 months i am encouraged with where i am at. i think my surgeon was a little optomistic about my recovery rate. or may be he just didn't understand what 'recovery' means to a rock climber. probably some of both. recovery isn't just riding a bike around or doing a moderate hike. recovery is tucking my hips into the overhanging wall and lunging for a hold just out of my reach... recovery is hiking 10 miles in with a 40 pound backpack and climbing a steep rock face at an altitude of greater than 10,000 feet....recovery is ski touring a 11,000 ft peak and tele skiing the powder all the way down...recovery is squatting in the back yard garden to clean out the dead vegetation from the summer...

sigh.

recovery is also taking small steps forward and at times, steps backward. recovery is also being grateful for the movement i do have. recovery is swimming. is biking. is moderate hiking. recovery is standing in the kitchen and making dinner. recovery is being able to clean the house. recovery is walking without assistance. recovery is HARD.

i blog this for myself as much as anyone else. i need to remember what i could do at certain times for myself and for a possible future surgery. i need to remember how hard it was and what i learned. i need to remember the patience required to heal. both inside and out. i need to remember.

A Not-so-Brief Progress of Time

2009-08-29T21:56:00.003-07:00

Yesterday I biked myself to the gym, swam my mile, and biked home. i was so proud. my first bi-sport day!
Today before work Eric and i biked all the way to the hospital, just to be sure i could do it by myself. now, i can return to biking to work and i am so pleased about that.
i'm not using my cane at work anymore either and i have no noticeable limp (except when i get up out of a chair for the first few steps). I've started seeing a massage therapist who i am really excited about. She knew all about my condition ( FAI) and was able to work a bit on my lower back. she described my hip as " you have a lot of scar tissue there that needs to be organized" i love the idea of 'organizing' my hip. it sounds like preparing myself for the freedome of movement that has been my dream for so long now. i also had acupuncture last week, but my hip was so tight that one of the needles actually came out during the session (i guess my hip rejected it or something and actually pushed it back out) all this is a bit costly so i'm deciding to forgo the acupuncture and stick with the massage. i've also started taking an herbal supplement called pycnogenol that is supposed to have strong anti inflammatory properties. i like this idea better then doping up on ibuprofen and aleve all day long and running the risk of ulcers.

the swimming is going great. in fact, i'm considering entering a triathlon as part of a relay team (no way am i running right now!) i'm not that excited about competing itself, but i like the idea of swimming with a goal in mind. there's a half ironman tri in las vegas in october. if the stars align and i have the time off (and so do two other women) we'll go down and have ourselves a blasT!

so the days march on. i am 3 months out from my surgery. i'm still battling the hip flexor tendonitis. it's pretty painful, but only with flexion- my hip is tight so putting my sock and shoe on can be a challenge but i have faithfully done my PT every day since i have been allowed. i think it shows in the fact that i don't have a limp. i have been trying so hard to remain positive about this experience. i learned something new last week. i can only compare myself to the way i was 2 weeks ago. and next week i can compare myself to last week. if i try to compare myself to where i was before the surgery i get down. i am nowhere near my activity level before the surgery. sometimes i get down thinking its' been 3 whole months since i had the surgery and i'm not even thinking about climbing yet. and yet,it's only been 3 whole months and after my surgery that's not very long. so as long as i have made progress since 2 weeks ago i am going forward. i don't know when i'll climb again, but i am completely positive that i will some day.

right now i can't think about having my other hip operated on. i think i have to know that this surgery worked and was effective in the way i want it to be. i am thinking i need to put my new hip through its paces before i commit to tearing the other one open. plus, i think i need soem time to restore the positive energy/vibes so i have an adequate amount to put toward the other hip. so, i'm not sure about the other hip just now.... i wold still like to have an MRI done so i know what's going on in there, but as for surgery, let's slow this train down.

The Gluteus Medius

2009-08-18T10:28:00.002-07:00

Who knew a gluteus medius could be so painful? Who even knew you had a gluteus medius?!

This muscle is the one muscle that is so weak on me. It's affecting that darn hip flexor and making it work overtime. Yesterday in physical therapy it got worked- hurray! today i'm sore specifically in my gluteus medius and i couldn't be happier b/c it means it was well targeted and well-worked.

Yesterday I swam one mile. then i went to PT. I was so proud.

Sunday Eric and I went for our first real road bike ride. clipped in and everything. even wearing the outfit. I'M RIDING A BIKE! I am Operation + 10 weeks as of yesterday. Sure, the bike ride was mostly flat. Sure i was only out 30 minutes, but i felt the wind and sunshine on my face and i was joyful inside.

I'm using the cane less and less. in fact, i don't use it at all around the house. my limp is much less pronounced and i don't have to think so hard to walk correctly. my glut med is still very weak, and my hip flexor is still very angry. i'm still limited in my range of motion severely, but my physical therapist showed me my range of motion numbers yesterday and i was improved substantially in all areas. far from normal yet however, making progress. i'm taking anti-inflammatories around the clock to see if that helps the flexor at all.

i asked him (the PT) about the hip flexor. he said it was still too early to tell- i am only 10 weeks out. i think i now understand why parents always give the age of their child in weeks- you are counting baby! i am counting the weeks post-op and i suddenly feel like a parent. 10 weeks is such a long time and yet such a short time at the same time. 10 weeks of my life pre-operation would feel like a long time. 10 weeks post-operation feels like no time at all. i think i was hoping to see significant improvement in activity level at 3 months. and really i have made significant improvement since i came home on cruches. but secretly, deep down inside, i thought i might have put a climbing harness on and tied in at 3 months. i'm thinking more like 4-6 now. so it goes. slowly, slowly. and, by the way, i have put on the climbing harness- and then sat down on the couch and enjoyed the feeling.

A Bike Stroll

2009-08-12T23:48:00.002-07:00

Eric and I will often go for walks around the neighborhood after dinner- especially as the evenings cool off and the summer light lingers. I am not up to walking very far yet, but I thought i could manage a stroll around the block on my bike. It was nice to get out around the neighborhood and talk and laugh with Eric.

Nelson's Wedding

2009-08-01T20:16:00.005-07:00

My brother Nelson got married to Krissy in Oceanside, California a couple weeks ago. It was a beautiful wedding next to the ocean, and I'm very excited to have Krissy be a part of the family. It was also great to see some of my extended family there as we are all spread out over the greater united states.

while driving through california eric saw a sign for 20 avocados for $5!!! unfortunately, the day we were leaving the avocado stand was not there, so we didn't get to bring any back with us.

on the recovery side of things: I'm still using a cane but walking with only a minor limp now. i started physical therapy (Yay!) and am getting stronger by the day. I also started lap swimming and riding a stationary bike- both activities feel so liberating and good for me. i'm doing extremely modified yoga for myself- just trying to stretch the ole body back out. i still can't touch my toes on the right side and have considerable pain attempting a straight leg raise. My physical therapist believes that i have now given myself an over-use injury in my right hip flexor. b/c all the other muscles in my hip are so weakened from the surgery, the hip flexor has been doing overtime to help me move. now it's pissed. so i have some inflammation there along with quite a bit of pain. its' frustrating though b/c what hip muscle strengthing exercises don't involve the hip flexor? so how to strengthen the hip without affecting the hip flexor?? i'm realizing patience will be my biggest step toward total healing.

here are some of eric's photos of the weekend in california:

Baby Esther- she never did smile for the camera....

trying to capture the moment with a wave in the background.

Eric and I- our 4th year anniversary!

Nelson and Krissy

The Family

My nephew Elliot

Cousins

Mom and I after the rehearsal

Eric and baby Esther

My sister Miranda and brother in law Darin with a squirmy baby!

My dashing nephew Adrian

This one is my favorite!

cousins!

My Uncle Larry helping Mom out with the moves

Penguin Game!

2009-07-12T21:21:00.002-07:00

Any time I have needed just a little stimulation for a brief(or long!) period of boredom, the penguin game has come to my rescue. I was never allowed to play nintendo growing up, and i thought that now, at the ripe age of 26, it would be a good time to learn. we've had trouble trying to round up a genuine old super mario nintendo game and system however. i tried nintendo 64 and couldn't figure out which way was forward or how to use the wand/paddle thingie and my hope was dwindling for learning the nintendo art. eric saved the day with introducing the penguin game to me. it's exactly like mario brothers except it was reverse programmed with linux (however you spell it) and a penguin is the star, not a little man named mario. except for that everything, absolutely everything is exactly the same. eric got it offline somewhere so i play iton the lap top with the arrow keys and have passed eric in the number of levels i have dominated (i'm pretty proud of that) my mom was afraid i was getting addicted, but i'm pretty sure i'll be fine without little penguin guy when i can actually walk.

one more level before bedtime please!!

sweet! i'm about to get flower power! (remember, the power to shoot the little bad guys?)

i had my first day back at work last saturday. it was long, but mostly pain free and i was very excited and pleased at how well it actually went. i'm working in our 23 hour short stay unit until september when i will hopefully be running around sufficiently to work in the main ER. still on 2 crutches awaiting july 22 when i have my post-op xray to show my bone completely healed. then i'll start physical therapy. yeah!!

Signs of Recovery

2009-07-04T07:56:00.003-07:00

This is Eric again, and I wanted to put up a quick post to say the Polly is recovering well and has been up and about and also able to sit for longer spans of time (going out for dinner, games of Settlers of Catan, etc). Thanks for the continued support!

Settlers!

You know Polly's feeling better when she's in the kitchen!

Being Post Op in Salt Lake

2009-06-29T20:17:00.004-07:00

I'm improving. the nights are still very long and i can't sleep through them because of positioning and comfort. I've gotten out a bit more though- my mom and i went up to the mountains last week and she pushed me around the one mile long wheel chair accessible hike around a lake. it was so incredibly nice to breathe the fresh mountain air and see the snow covered mountains again. that same day i also made my first foray back into grocery shopping... on the electric grocery shopping cart! that was the highlight of my recovery thus far. i got some strange looks in the grocery store though.

we've had a few friends over here and there and have been playing many games of Settlers of Catan. It passes the evenings quite quickly, my mom is quickly becoming a pro. ha. we've also introduced my mom to facebook, at which she is not quickly becoming a pro. ha.

i hosted our sporatic and random clothing exchange last week as well. a bunch of friends and i clean out our closets and pool the clothes so we can all pick and choose over which of each other's clothes we like. it's a great, free way to get 'new' clothes.

my sister also visited with her 3 toddlers. that made the week go by even more quickly- a visit to the park (pictured), the pool for a swim lesson, the zoo (in a wheelchair) all made the days fly by.

the last pic was taken of me in the hospital. i only stayed 2 nights. i kinda missed that hospital bed- it was so comfortable and convenient! (i think only someone truly sick or injured could say that....)

so really, the past 3 weeks have gone by relatively quickly. there are hours that last days and days that last years, but somehow the time is passing by much faster than i anticipated. eric gets to come home for lunches most days so it's a nice break in the day. and my mom and i have tried to do something each afternoon which helps the day along as well. i got myself into bed for the first time yesterday...yay!

we're planning on another mountain adventure this week, to get into cooler temps and fresh air.

My wonderful mother who came out all the way from arkansas to take care of me

The clothing exchange. My friends and I clean out our closets and bring the goods together to pick and choose to suppliment our own closets.

There have been many games so Settlers of Catan. I have lost many of them (thus the sad face)

Even Cowgirls get the Blues

2009-06-20T14:09:00.003-07:00

Well, it's about time i post. but i don't have any fun pictures to put up. and i really don't even have any fun stories to tell. i mean, how interesting is: I made it down the stairs to the basement today. or I get my stitches out this Wednesday.

My sister and 3 toddlers just left this morning. leaving us a very quiet, lonelier, and cleaner house. I miss them already though because they made the week go by very quickly. I don't have any measure against which i could compare my healing/progression, but i think i'm doing well. I have been off narcotics for a week now. i was never taking very much, but what i did take affected me quite strongly and negatively (fuzzy headed and dizzy all the time). i'm getting around much better and am more comfortable in general. I still can't sit in the same position for too long, and standing on my left leg doens't last very long either before i get tired.

i was actually very positive about it all until about 30 minutes ago when i committed an error. i think. i started browsing blogs and found a few friends blogs i didn't know existed and checked up on a few friends that i regularly follow and discovered that everyone, absolutely EVERYONE on this planet is having a fantastic, fun and adventure filled, ACTIVE, and fabulous summer. except me. because i can't even walk. now i'm having a full fledged pity party. really, i was proud of myself because yesterday i crutched the farthest i have yet to crutch. about 100 yards. to the bathroom at the park. and i thought that was so good and i was doing so well. and maybe i am. maybe i'm healing by leaps and bounds. but nothing speeds up the 6 weeks it takes until i can walk on my leg again. or the 20 session of physical therapy i have to have afterwards to get my leg actually working again. nothing speeds up the 3 months i have to wait to ride a bike. nothing speeds up the 6 months i have to wait for full recovery and a climbing harness.

This is just a vent post. i'm sure i'll be feeling happier and more positive in a few moments and life won't seem so.... sendentary.

all you who can bend, twist, cross your legs, pick something up off the floor when you drop it, run, climb, bike, hike, MOVE or WALK..... please be grateful. and think of me.

okay a positive- my mom is still here. and we're going to get italian hot chocolate this afternoon at a cafe b/c i'm feeling up to it for the first time. as long as we bring along a pillow for me to sit on.

Recovery

2009-06-14T12:18:00.003-07:00

This is Eric, and I wanted to put up a quick post that Polly is recovering well (has good parts of the day and less comfortable parts of the day). She was able to stand and make a latte this morning and get into and out of a chair for breakfast. Thanks to everyone for their thoughts and prayers, care packages, flowers, and support visits. It really is amazing the difference all that makes for Polly. Feel free to come visit or to call and say hi.

Thanks again!

All tucked in, but smiling!

City of Rocks

2009-05-18T19:29:00.006-07:00

this past weekend eric and i went to a national reserve area in southern idaho called City of Rocks. Greg and Liz, our friends from Salt Lake went with us. My sister Miranda and Darin and the 3 kiddos came down from Boise and met us fora night of camping. It was a great weekend. I got to do some great climbing, for which i am thankful since this will be my last road trip for climbing before the surgery.

chillin' on top

happy birthday cake that miranda made for me!

the family in a covered wagon at the visitor's center

bloody fingers

setting that nut!

More Photos at Eric's Photostream

My Birthday Present

2009-05-04T23:20:00.002-07:00

Eric bought me my birthday present just a touch early. i have been using a sunbeam we received when we were married for the past 3 1/2 years, and while it mostly worked it also mostly didn't work. i was constantly frustrated with how weak the motor and beaters were and had been longing for a stronger, smoother, faster, better mixer for quite some time. i got it! i finally got the kitchenaid artisan series mixer for my birthday! i found it used from our local news station's web site and i am so happy i've got it!!! Thanks E!

Operation Walk 2009, El Salvador

2009-05-02T13:29:00.004-07:00

I just returned from El Salvador last week where i participated in a medical charity called Operation Walk. We take a full team of anesthesiologists, surgeons, nurses, scrub techs, and physical therapists down and replace worn out hip and knee joints. This was my second time to go with Op Walk and I was very excited about the trip. We replaced 59 joints in 42 patients (so several were receiving bilateral joints) in 3 and 1/2 days. We were busy! But the local staff was very helpful and I feel were able to learn how to care for our type of patients. There is no option for having a total joint replacement in Sonsonate, El Salvador so we were providing a service for these people that would otherwise never happen. We basically took over the hospital there. The nursing staff I was working with had never had patients with these particular surgeries since the operation isn't even available, so it was great to work with them and teach them how to care for the patients. I found that the vast majority of the patients had an incredible pain tolerance. They still hurt, and for good reason b/c that surgery isn't a small one. However, they seemed to walk faster, farther, and better than most patients i have experienced in the united states. They were so very grateful and happy to have had the surgery done. I came back very refreshed about nursing. After all, this is why I wanted to be a nurse: to help others with less opportunity-specifically in third world countries. it was also a great opporunity for me to practice my spanish. it re-awoke my love for the spanish language all over again. We are hoping Operation Walk will become a yearly endeavor and i look forward to our next destination.

The Ladies gathered outside the patient ward to get some fresh-er air

The coffee plantation with our one and only REAL coffee and latte experience during the week.

A sweet woman who was a patient 2 years ago with our first Op Walk. She returned and made us the most delicious 'pupusas'- the regional food which is basically a corn tortilla stuffed with beans and cheese and fried fried fried. She made us dozens and returned just to say thank you and show off how well she was walking. It was very encouraging.

Ever and I. Ever was a jehovah's witness and very worried he might receive a blood transfusion during the operation. He waved me down multiple times to make sure everyone in the group knew he didn't want the transfusion. He was a very nice patient and had his other hip replaced by us 2 years ago.

Two women with replaced knees from 2 years ago returning to show off their gaits and scars.

These sweet men wandered out into the courtyard just outside the men's ward to get some air. It was really hot-around 90 degrees- with minimal ventilation, no AC, and high humidity. phew! i did a lot of sweating that week.

Putting on the anti-clot stocking. that was hot work! and yes, fanny packs are all the rage now-a-days.

a patient with bilateral hip replacements walking with Physical Therapy.

Flowers in the courtyard outside the patient ward.

Patients awaiting to be screened on the first day. we had to turn many away.

Surgery

2009-04-15T03:11:00.003-07:00

So I found out this past february that i have a problem in my right hip. i've had pain in my hips for several years now, associated with activities like running, yoga, horse back riding, climbing, skiing- pretty much everything i do. i finally went to a sports medicine doc after one particularly painful run in january and a few visits and an MRI later we discover that i have torn the cartilage in my right hip. the reason why i torn the cartilage is that my right hips is 3 degrees off in alignment. that mal-alignment is causing the front of my femur to hit against the rim of my acetabulum (hip socket) and causes pain and damage to the soft tissue (cartilage). the fancy name for this is Femoral-Acetabular Impingment (FAI). FAI only occurs in active individuals, and i was told i wouldn't even know i had this problem if i wasn't as active as i am. where it comes from is still under research- possibly it is congenital, possibly it develops in young children who spend any amount of time with deep flexion and internal rotation of their hips (think hocky goalie stance or, in my case, long hours horse back riding). all of this results in needing a fix to that damaged cartilage. i would have said no thanks i'll be just fine except that with the initial damage done and continuing to worsen basically every day and every activity, i will eventually progress through all of the soft tissue protecting my hip socket and start to wear bone on bone (osteoarthritis). at this point the pain is usually so bad the only option is a total hip replacement. I thought that was fine too b/c many older people have these. but i was told that my progression would actaully happen so quickly i would have the total hip replacement by the time i am 40. now that's a different story. i still want to be climbing and skiing and hiking and hopefully running when i am 40- not recovering with artificial hips! so surgery has become my reality. on june 8 i will have an open dislocation and debridement of my right hip. basically they cut a 6-8 inch incision on my hip, physically dislocate the hip joint, suture/sew the torn cartilage back in place, shave down the rim of my acetabulum, and shave down part of the femur. a pretty gnarly surgery. i'll be staying in the hopsital 1-3 days to recover. crutches for 6 weeks. cane until i stop limping and full recovery expected in 3-6 months. PER HIP. i have the exact same symptoms/pain/problems with the left hip as well but we have not imaged that side yet so we can't say what's going on. but 99% sure that i have the same problem and possibly worse on the left side. sooo, i'm looking at taking a full 12 months off from my almost daily life activites. sad. i've spent a lot of time processing this and preparing my mind for the change in lifestyle. i've never been so active before in my life as when we moved to utah. i love, absolutely love, climbing and the acitivity and exercise it brings me. but i am looking at this surgery as taking 1 year off now to save 40 years later on. this surgery will hopefully stave off having a total hip replacement, perhaps permanently. i may be able to ride a bike and maybe do some easier climbing and light hiking somewhere in that 3-6 month range. i'm hoping to have the second hip operated on in january. i've tried a few things to possibly avoid the surgery- namely some body work called Structural Integration or "rolfing". it is similar to deep tissue massage except that it focuses soley on the fascia(the connective tissue encasing every muscle) in hopes that i might be able to correct the 3 degrees and losen the hip socket to stop grinding away my cartilage. i'm half way through this rolfing process and i've still committed to having the surgery done. unfortuantely cartilage will never heal itself and that torn cartilage needs to be tied down so it will stop causing damage within the hip socket. so i recommend structural integration to anyone and everyone- we could all use some re-aligning and releasing within our bodies and i am seeing many positive changes from the rolfing. but i don't believe it can change the damaging process going on in my hips.

my mom is coming out for the month of june to help out as i am taking a full 5 weeks off of work to recover. it'd be hard to adequately work in the ER on crutches so i'm hoping to be off of them in the 5 weeks and return to our 23 hour short stay unit with a cane and then back to the full ER as soon as i can limp without assistance. the summer has drastically changed in light of my recovery. Eric and i changed our vacation plans and went to Red Rocks last week as a grand finale. i've got one more climbing trip planned to a nearby area in southern idaho and then i won't be climbing for a few months. lots of things will change, but hopefully it will be for the better. hopefully my hips won't hurt anymore. hopefully i'll be able to high step while rock climbing. hopefully i will run again (although the surgeon wasn't very positive about that. i guess running is just a pretty rough activity on our bodies). hopefully my hips won't hurt while ski touring. i'm hoping a lot of good will come of this- both short term and long term.

this is a fairly new diagnosis in the medical world. as in within the last 10 years. there aren't a lot of doctors familiar with this pathology or where it comes from. the surgery itself is still being pioneered. in fact, most insurances won't pay for the surgery at all. so i guess i am being a bit of a guinea pig with this, however, my particular surgeon has been studying on this very thing (FAI) for the full 10 years and i believe he can do a perfect job. i'm thankful i even have the option for the surgery.

so i will let all know how the surgery goes, recovery, physical therapy and the like. and if you have any hip pain at all you should get it checked out!

Spring Holiday

2009-04-15T01:18:00.003-07:00

Eric and I spent a week climbing in Red Rock Canyon, Nevada. Nelson joined us for a day of multipitch climbing. The weather looked so great on the forecast- temps in the 60s or low 70s but i missed the wind forecast. it was WINDY! and the wind dropped the temps about 15 degrees. i was cold and annoyed at the wind 90% of the time. but i still had a good trip climbing and hanging out with eric. one night the wind was probably gusting around 50 mph b/c it was slamming the side of the tent into our faces and we had a bent tent pole the next morning. we're lucky we didnt' blow away. but i guess the proximity to the desert with the cool nights and warm days creates a perfect environment for wind. it's a beautiful place with thousands of climbs. we'll be back!

weather moving in

summit pic

climbing to the anchor

where should we climb next? AND avoiding the wind inside the tent!

My first Dim Sum experience. I'd like to rate this as 5.12 Dim Sum (on a climbing scale) Dim Sum is where they bring the chinese food by your table on little carts and you pic what you want. mostly it is composed of dumplings and the like, but the waiters were yelling about what they had and what you should choose in complete chinese and i had absolutely no clue what i was eating. i ate about 10% of it- i had a strong aversion to the texture of most. eric ate more.

nice weather setting in. of course it was probably extremely windy at the taking of this picture, but you can't see that.

first pitch of Dark Shadows

Last pitch of Birdland

Nelson, Eric and I on summit of Cat and the Hat

Eric and I on summit of Cat and the Hat

Nelson and I on summit of Cat and the Hat

Belaying on Cat and the Hat

blooms and spring!!

2009-04-13T19:58:00.005-07:00

We left on a spring holiday for a week and came back to a bursting of color around our house. it was a lovely thing to return to. These are the pictures of the weeping cherry tree in our front yard. it only has these white blooms on it for about 2 weeks in the early spring, and the rest of the summer has only green leaves. the daffodils are going crazy, the tulips are just barely opening, and the hyacinths are still coloring the lawn too. i planted my peas, onions, and lettuce in the vegetable garden and started organizing my drip system for watering. it's so much fun to see what has popped open every other day.

Eric and I spent a week climbing outside of Las Vegas, Nevada at a place called Red Rock Canyon. my brother Nelson joined us for 1 day of climbing, other than that it was just the 2 of us. it was a great week and pictures will follow later. the weather was a tad cold and a lot more windy than i wanted, but at least there was sunshine to go around.

the weeping cherry

More photos here

Snowbird on a Powder Day!

2009-03-29T21:07:00.003-07:00

Eric and I went up to our ski resort, Snowbird, on a sunday with actual powder! it seems to never really dump on the weekends around this place, so it was a nice treat- especially for eric since he can't get up there during the week. we had this tease of warm weather last week and the week before, and now it's nuking snow like it's january. march is actually a big powder month here with some of the best skiing to be had.

"I'm cold. no more pictures"

Eric, the beloved husband and photographer.

Let there be more usable space in our house...

2009-03-26T12:37:00.002-07:00

We have finally finished the lighting in our front room. we haven't been able to use this room very much during the winter months b/c it is so dark in there and we didnt' even have a lamp. last night eric and our friend BJ finished installing track lighting and eric and i found a couple lamps to help light the way. i'm so excited! it's been a lot of fun to 'nest' in the house and add a few pieces of furniture to make it a home.

Tales from Joshua Tree

2009-03-10T15:40:00.004-07:00

Last week Eric and I and my friend Jamie road tripped out to Joshua Tree National Park and met my brother Nelson and his fiance Krissy for a long weekend of climbing in the park. I developed a rather nasty head cold pretty much the day before we left and continued to feel miserable during the whole event. you can see my very red nose in the pictures from all the nose-blowing i had to do. :( We still had a great time. Joshua Tree is only 1 1/2 hours from where Nelson lives in victorville, CA. it was his and krissy's first climbing trip or experience ever and they did great. Eric took lots of great pictures for us. I've been checking the weather in Joshua Tree since december and it's been about 70 degrees. so the day we got there brought a cold front and we faced temps in the 50s and clouds with some sun while we were there. boo. and it was a bit windy. it's always a bit windy there though. nelson got to do his first lead climb ever, krissy developed sick rock climbing skills, and jamie- my friend who mostly boulders- got better on the roped end of things. Joshua Tree is about 10 hours from Salt Lake, so it's no small drive. the quality of climbing and the beauty of the area make it worth it though. i'd like to return again when i feel myself and climb more routes there. having a cold puts a pretty big damper on my motivation, energy, and spirits. i received the "complainer of the day" award for making sure everyone there knew just how bad my cold was. what, me complaining? never! :) i'm excited that my brother is getting into climbing and interested in doing more trips with us.

me on 'fun stuff'

a scenic view

Jamie pulling down

me pulling down

me looking unreasonably worried on a 5.7 climb :)

belaying with plastic smile

approaching a climb

sunset

nelson's first lead!

Jamie concentrating very hard on chopping those peppers!

fireside chats

me thinking "it's a long way down and more slab climbing ahead!"

krissy, jamie, and i

jamie and i being silly. wait, when aren't we silly?

krissy, nelson, me and eric. someone didn't tell me they were taking a picture...

little climber on lots of granite rock!

Backcountry Touring and Such

2009-02-22T10:14:00.004-07:00

A couple weeks ago a few friends went ski touring to Monitor Bowl in Big Cottonwood Canyon. It was a snowy day, and the powder turns were awesome. Unfortunately, at the farthest away point at the bottom of the bowl our friend Brian's ski broke in half. The ski was already on its death bed, but the powder overwhelmed the fix job. That was a long tour back out on a broken ski.

Yesterday Eric and I toured up Circle All Peak in perrrrfect weather. I mostly enjoy ski touring on bluebird days when I don't have to deal with wearing goretex and trying to stay warm and dry. We enjoyed a beautiful view of the surrounding peaks from Circle All Peak. I've never stood on that summit before and it was a pleasure to look at the various mountain tops i've heard of and finally identify them for myself.

Monitor Bowl Telemark Turns

Powder!!

The Summit of Circle All Peak

Skinning towards the Aspens in Circle All Trees

Removing the skins on the summit Circle All

Millcreek Yurt and Tour

2009-02-01T13:37:00.005-07:00

This past week Eric and I and two of my friends from work, Jamie and Dennis, toured up Millcreek Canyon. Millcreek is an extremely close canyon to the city and eric was able to even work half days both thursday and friday. the yurt is located 4.5 miles up a groomed cross country track, so the going was easy. we stoked the awesome pot belly stove with tons of wood and had the yurt piping hot by the time we all went to bed. the next morning we woke up and toured up a small hill by the yurt. it was a beautiful blue bird day with light, fluffy snow. eric and i had to get back down into the valley for work, etc but dennis and jamie stayed up in the hills skiing the rest of the day. yurts are fantastic. they are basically a wood latice structure coverd with a heavy canvas. a huge tent big enough for 12 people, a picnic table, a wood pile, and wood burning stove and all our skis and gear. the forest service maintains this particular yurt and provides dry wood for the stove and a portapotty bathroom right outside. we melted snow for our drinking and cooking water. i felt like we had real 'back in the day' experience with keeping the fire going and continually melting snow for just the basic needs of water. it was great to wake up that morning and step outside to glistening snow and total solitude. all just right outside out backdoor.

Touring up Millcreek canyon to the yurt.

Inside the yurt

the yurt

preparing for the morning powder turns

up the hill!

Eric and I on a mini summit. That's Dennis' dog.

Coming down through the trees.

Yay for aspen groves!

meaningless blog post

2009-01-28T00:07:00.003-07:00

I've been enjoying my homemade lattes recently. they take me about 5 minutes total to make, including the warm up of my machine and clean up afterwards. and so i get out of the routine of taking the 5 minutes to make them. but recently i've taken the time and i think the quality of my mornings has improved. my little 8 oz mug only holds one shot of espresso and 7 oz of milk. i like my lattes plain- no flavoring, no sugar. just skim milk and a shot of espresso. so i don't actually get addicted. i just enjoy the taste. Eric and i bought this Starbucks home espresso maker over a year ago, and it's well worth the money!

Hope you enjoy this pretty meaningless blog post. it's 1 am and i'm on a night shift. i can blog about what i want to.

the 8 oz line marked so i get the correct amount of milk. you can see the steamer straw in the picture too.

my sweet mug

Avalanche Safety Course

2009-01-26T11:25:00.002-07:00

a snow saw!!!!

After travelling in the backcountry around the Wasatch and tempting my fate with avalanches, i decided to get myself educated. i took an Avalanche 1 safety course this weekend (there are 3 levels of saviness). we spent 2 days and one evening in lectures, field work, and a tour into the mountains. we had a "lovely" weekend here- with 30 inches of new snow predicted to fall in the mountains over the 2 days, and not a bit of sunshine, and wet snow falling every second we were outdoors. i came home sopping wet each night. boo. i hate being wet and cold. however, the class was invaluable. priceless. and i feel like a totally different back country skier now. i am so glad i took the class, as now i feel i can travel more safely through avalanche terrain, and do my best and make sure my partners do their best to avoid avalanches. i think this class is MANDATORY for those wanting to backcountry tour. i took it through Utah Mountain Adventures. I'd highly recommend them- the guides were fantastic and the curriculum well planned. okay, enough of my new soap box of avalanche safety. but seriously, consider it.

Hooray for Ouray

2009-01-19T11:52:00.004-07:00

This should be a picture of me ice climbing in Ouray, colorado but.... eric's camera promptly died upon arrival so we have no recorded pictures. boo!

Ouray, colorado might be one of my new favorite places. it is a very quaint mountain village(not even a town) nesteled in one of the tightest canyons i've ever seen a village in! at the end of the canyon there is an 'ice farm'. people have rigged a system up to drip water down the very narrow canyon walls to create large waterfalls of ice. then, ice climbers from all over the world make the journey to climb up the sheets of ice. it's fascinating! there is an ice fest there every year with serious competitions and serious ice climbers. i am not a serious ice climber. what is nice about the ouray ice park is you can top rope everything. meaning you can drop a rope down from an anchor on top of the canyon and rappell down into the canyon. then you can climb back out, all the while being kept safe by the rope. as opposed to leading things where you have big fall potential, top roping is extremely safe. well safe if you consider that you are holding two ice tools and strapped to your feet are crampons with 12 pointy things. ice climbing is pretty different from rock climbing, although the gear knowledge and anchoring systems translate quite nicely. still, i was scared of the climbing, scared of the equipment, scared of the ice.... just like it was to first rock climb i guess. it's been a while since i've felt that way about rock climbing, so it was interesting to be back in that 'total novice' category with climbing again.

eric and i stayed at a bed and breakfast and let me just tell you they are fantastic!!! i've decided when we retire i'd like to move to ouray and run a bed and breakfast. ouray is mostly a summer tourism town, so we got a killer deal for the winter rates. we were the only guests there on friday night. they opened a bottle of wine for us each evening, and we had the outdoors jacuzzi to ourselves the first night. and the breakfast each morning was amazing- so much food that we skipped lunch each day.

i would highly recommend a vacation to ouray. in the winter you can snow shoe, cross country ski, back country ski, ice climb, or ice skate. in the summer you can hike, mountain bike, road bike, and camp. the winter rates are much more reasonable though it is cold. but it is beautiful!! and you should stay at the Black Bear Lodge. :)

holidays!

2009-01-04T19:59:00.005-07:00

hurray for the break in snowy weather that allowed us to make it to boise for my family's christmas get together! Eric and I braved the closed highway, swirling snow storms, and blowing snow to make it to Boise to see my sister, brother in law, mom, dad and the kiddos. the weather actually wasn't so frightful. my brother chose to avoid the travel hustle and stay in california (where he got engaged on christmas day!) it was a great time of eating, eating, and more eating. some sledding. and gifts. advent. reading. playing with toy cars, more cars....and cars. some leggos too. it was a great time and i'm so happy to have spent the time with my family! for once i was off of work and the weather permitted travel. this is the first christmas we have actually spent with family on christmas day. all is as it should be! :)

sweet baby esther

elliot peeking in his stocking

darin and adrian sledding

Elliot and I

Eric and Elliot walking to the sled hill

Miranda, Esther, and I

Mom and Esther staying warm by the sledding hill

The Fam on Christmas

salt lake city fire department fun

2008-12-15T21:11:00.002-07:00

for work i spent a day riding with the fire department. it was super fun getting to put the head set on and ride around down town with the lights and sirens on (with reason of course). people do some really dumb things when an emergency vehicle puts on lights and sirens. just pull right people. we had people making their left hand turns through the intersection right in front of us instead of pulling over or just waiting. i'm suprised more engines and ambulances don't hit more cars. at the end of the day they needed to test their truck after maintenance so i got to ride to the top of the basket's reach- 10 stories! it was a fun day and the firemen were great. no serious emergency calls though.

i'm way up there in the basket. we were 10 stories high at the basket's max.

Merry christmas!

2008-12-01T22:32:00.001-07:00

Merry Christmas!!!!

Kiddos and Dinos

2008-11-23T17:33:00.005-07:00

Miranda, Darin, Adrian, Elliot, and Esther came for a visit! We spent saturday in the 'world's largest dinosaur museum' down at Thanksgiving Point, and Darin and Eric went to a Coldplay concert that night. Miranda and I made the 'world's best apple pie' and a fantastic pizza for dinner. They are the first family to come and stay at our house with us, and it was great! Eric was impressed at the amount of energy that is required for young kids. He'll warm up to it one of these days..or years. :)Here are some pics from the dinosaur musuem.

Never tell a climber not to climb the rocks...

Shenanigans with my great brother in law, Darin.

Elliot. What a cutie.

The great hands on part of the museum- the water erosion table!

Can't tell if he's having a good time or not..

Adrian LOVES dinosaurs!

Last Weekend in the Desert

2008-11-23T17:26:00.007-07:00

Liz and I went down to Castle Valley outside of Moab in November and climbed a couple desert towers. My camp stove stopped working, the rappel off the tower got a bit mixed up, we hiked down in the dark with no head lamps, and we met a not very nice female climbing guide, but other than that the trip was really great. Liz is one of my favorite people to road trip and climb with.

Liz and I on top of Owl Rock in Arches National Park

at the second pitch belay ledge with Castleton Tower in the background

I'm scoping out the route

the awesome approach. we climbed the face in the sun of the tower directly behind Liz. the route is called Fine Jade, 5.11 on the Rectory (that's the name of the tower. there's also the Nuns and The Priest-two other small towers behind the rectory)

The Rest of the Story

2008-11-05T21:15:00.007-07:00

At the beginning of the month, Eric's parents came out for a brief weekend visit. Unfortunately, it was raining the whole weekend! but that didn't stop us from getting out on a rainy, cold, and snowy hike. During the weekend we planned a progressive dinner on bikes with a bunch of friends. we all live relatively close to each other so we had the bright idea of having appetizers at one house, salad at another, entree at another house, and finally desert at another house. since we live so close we all biked between houses. it was a blast!

Finally, towards the end of october a whole crew of us went down to the desert yet again. and as always, the desert was best enjoyed with the company of many. eric got in a few good pictures too. enjoy.

yellow marks the trail

Cary and I hunkering down in the rain

Mike, Cary, and I

The whole gang at our house during the progressive bike ride dinner

Biking between houses

This is where I spend all my time...the impressive Indian Creek Valley

A few of Eric's handy work pictures. me on Excuse Station, 5. 11

Desert Trip 1

2008-11-03T16:29:00.005-07:00

In the middle of october I went on a stellar girls trip to the desert. My friend Jamie from work and Jen and I went down to moab specifically to mountain bike and climb. Jen is our resident expert female mountain biker so she chose two mountain biking trails to take us on. Jamie and I are not so expert mountain bikers, but we gave it a lot of effort! The views were incredibly beautiful from the trails, even if i did have to walk parts of them! we spent two days mountain biking in Moab and two days rock climbing in Indian Creek (just south of Moab). This was the girls first time to go crack climbing, and they gave it a lot of effort. I was pretty worked after this trip though- it felt like 4 days of a jane fonda total body work out! but it was great time spent in my favorite ecosystem(the desert) with even better friendships and conversations enjoyed.

At the end of the trip we all demonstrated our climbing ability. except Jamie who had a bad attitude about how painful crack climbing can be...

Jamie and I were psyched that our wag bag was attached to the outside of the car... Wag bags are basically ziplocked bags that you must use to pooh in when camping in the desert. As you can imagine, they don't smell very good. But they are helping protect the fragile desert environment, one pooh at a time. :)

The girls at the base of Coyne Crack in Indian Creek. Jodi (on the left) was our token canadian that we met while climbing the crack (indian creek is such a popular place that we almost always meet foreigners climbing there. Jodi was great- she was on a trip with a couple of guys and was so happy to climb a bit with girls. she said she had forgotten how great it was to climb with just girls!) Next is Jamie, then Jen, then I.

This is me climbing Coyne Crack, 5.11. I remember struggling on this climb just 1 year ago, and this time around it was just simple, pure FUN!

This our explosion of mountain biking gear in the parking lot after riding the classic slick rock trail in Moab.

Jamie and I on the slick rock trail.

Jen and I goofing around during the lunch break on the slick rock. you can just see the snow covered La Sal Mountain range in the back ground.

Shadow Fun!

Jen and I jumping for joy at the top of Amasa Back, another classic Moab mountain bike trail.

Whirlwind October

2008-10-29T09:31:00.003-07:00

October has been a very busy month for me! It started with Baby Esther- she arrived in Boise, Idaho September 26. I arrived 1 week later to support the troups. My mom flew in as well to help my sister with all the chores and visit with her grand babies. I was impressed with the amount of energy children require to bring up! This is my sister's third child, and she was so precious. I also enjoyed getting to play with my two nephews, adrian and elliot. they are such great kids, and my sister and brother in law have put their heart and soul into raising them as loving as can be.

This is the first adventure of the month. More to come!

A couple generations there... Mom, Miranda, Me and Esther

the Proud Aunt Polly with Baby Esther

Labor Day and Such

2008-09-10T08:11:00.004-07:00

Over Labor Day a crew from Salt Lake went up to City of Rocks, Idaho. This is a national recreation area that is formed of a bunch of blobby granite rocks. they aren't more than 100-maybe 200 feet tall, but the climbing is stellar. there is also a lot of hiking around too. it's this oasis in the middle of farm land and desert. you are driving a long and then suddenly bam! a bunch of rocks! it's a fun place. Eric and i and our friends Sam and Heidi went up there and met a couple other friends from salt lake for a hopeful weekend of climbing. unfortunately the weather moved in saturday night/sunday morning and we only got to climb 1 day. we bailed and drove the 2.5 hours back to salt lake and enjoyed the rainy weekend from the warmth and comfort of our homes.

This past weekend my good friend Tracy got married in Livingston, Montana. Our whole salt lake friend group made the trek up there and celebrated with she and scott. it was a great outdoor wedding, with the weather holding off just long enough for scott and tracy to get hitched. it was a long drive though..one of those times where you are actually in the car longer than you are there... but weddings are worth it.

Me on Thin Slice, 5.10a City of Rocks

I can't remember the name of this climb now...it was some 5.8 that eric and sam climbed first and then eric took some pics. Heidi is belaying me.

City of Rocks, Idaho. The weather is moving in!

Katie and I at Tracy's Wedding in Montana. This is what i call "plastic smile". it happens when i say, "hey eric, take our picture" and we immediately strike a cute pose and smile. but he has to change and fiddle a few things on the camera first before the picture will be right. so by the time he takes the photot we have 'plastic smile'.

The Salt Lake City girls at Tracy's wedding. from L to R: Alyssa, Katie, Tracy, Me, Jen

Eric and I at the wedding

Jen and I at the wedding with a narrowly avoided plastic smile....

Hooray for Gardens!

2008-08-13T18:28:00.002-07:00

Flowers from my lawn

Russian Sage with a bee. The Sage literally buzzes with insects during the day.

Tomatoes!!!

My little green pepper plant. apparently, green bell peppers are difficult to grow here in utah. mine never really took off. so what you see here is actually about 2 feet tall growing miniture bell peppers. bummer! i love fresh garden peppers.

My new fall addition to gardening: mums.

eric took all these photos, developing his new favorite hobby: photography. thanks e!

Rocky Mountain National Park and what we did there

2008-08-01T19:57:00.007-07:00

Eric and I recently went to Rocky Mountain National Park outside of Estes park, Colorado. it was really to celebrate our third anniversary, although we came home before the actual date (i had to work). we had a spectacular time! we met up with eric's brother jesse for a couple days and attempted to climb a hunk of rock called Spearhead at the end of Glacier Gorge. we put forth a good effort, hiked all our stuff in and slept in a rocky bivy cave, but the weather did not cooperate the next morning. when you start climbing above 10,000 feet you just have things like that happen. mountain rain/lightening storms can be very serious, and it's not something to tempt. so when we all awoke to a very cloudy sky and a few omnious rain drops we called the whole climb off. we were very disappointed as jesse had come up from winter park and this was going to be his first alpine climb, but there will be another time. it was still a beautiful environment to have spent the night.

After the hike out, i got to meet up with my dear friend Linsday Porter from Denver. as always it was refreshing to spend a few precious hours with such a dear soul.

the next day eric and i hiked in a different canyon up to sky pond and lake of glass. our goal was to climb the petit grepon, one of the 50 north american classic rock climbs. the climb is 8 pitches long, and about 900 feet tall. it was a similar hike to before, we slept in a wonderful bivy cave, and awoke to a blue bird day and...two other parties on the route. everything went perfectly all day however, and even though we waited a total of over 3 hours at different belay ledges waiting for the slower party ahead of us we still had a great time. it was the first alpine route eric and i have done together, so it was a fun and learning experience for us. the pictures are out of order but enjoy.

we ended the trip with a couple days in cabins along the river out of estes park. i think rock y mountain national park may be one of my favorites. and estes park is certainly one of my favorite mountain towns. it was refreshing, relaxing, and a perfect vacation.

me peeking out from the chimney on the petit grepon

eric and i on a belay ledge far above the canyon below

the summit! it was about 30 feet long and 6 feet wide- very narrow and exposed. great 360 views though!

Rappelling the route- that's a long way down!

the actual climb. we climbed to the top of the pointy mountain in the middle of the grame. it's called the Petit Grepon and is rated 5.8. it was first climbed and rated a long time ago and it proved a challenging climb for both eric and i. however, the entire experience: hiking in, bivying in a cave, waking up before dawn, and getting to the very pointy top was an incredible experience and we had a great time!

The Bivy Cave by Lake of Glass under the Petit Grepon

After the first pitch on the Petit.

Eric and I somewhere on the Petit.

Looking up the route!

The Bivy Cave with ERric and Jesse. You are not allowed to put up tents in these canyons b/c they are not technically part of the backpacking circuit. So to keep the hikers jealousy in check, they ask the climbers to not put up tents and attract attention to the camping area. instead, the many climbers who have passed that way before us have laid smooth stones down under a big boulder like this one. it actually is quite cozy!

Eric and I on the morning of our climb. Look at the sky! We did not end up climbing this day b/c of the weather.

Hiking in to Sky Pond to climb the Petit Grepon.

Hiking in by Mill's Lake with Jesse

Looking up at our climb, Spearhead at the end of the Mill's Lake (Glacier Gorge) Canyon

spending quality time in my sleeping bag at the end of the hike in.

Keeping the mosquitos off with my jacket and watching the storm blow in

House!

2008-07-06T02:17:00.002-07:00

We moved into our First house at the end of May. What an experience! I am so loving having our own house. Especially the garden. it has become my new hobby, and man do gardens take up time! i have a small vegetable garden i planted this year with beans, cucumbers, zucchini, tomatoes, onions, and peppers. but the previous owner has spent many years planting a low water/xeriscaped front and back yard. i have walked into a virtual low-water jungle so to speak and i love it! there are flowers everywhere, it seems every day something new is blooming. my challenge so far has been figuring out what needs more water or less. it is so hot and dry here in salt lake that i can't even fathom the amount of water needed to keep even the 'low-water' plants alive. it has been time consuming but very worth it. and eric has enjoyed taking pictures of all the plants.

Eric has more pictures of the inside of the house posted on his blog if you care to see it. I am 6.5 miles from work, mostly flat-ish/uphill so i've been riding my road bike. i've enjoyed the time it takes to slow down and plan out that time, and have been listening to sermons and good music on the ole ipod. Eric has been carpooling with a co worker just down the street so most days our lil subaru just sits in the driveway. i am very excited about that!

we are starting to feel that this little house is home now. we've had several neighbors come by to introduce themsevles, and have even gotten a couple desserts out of the deal. we don't have a lot of furniture just yet, and we are trying to be very careful about what we purchase. we have decided that sustainable and local made is the way to go. however, that is always the much more expensive route as well. so we are taking longer to fill the house, but filling it with things that will be much loved and used, with multiple functions and long lasting. currently the only furniture we have is a bed, dresser, and table. so the living room may not be cozy, but our hearts are always open! oh, and the bed the previous owner left us. it's great to have a guest bedroom! it was already used for the first month and a half of our life in the new house by sam higby. he recently moved to salt lake and just moved into a new rental with a few friends.

summer seems to be off and swinging. eric and i have a couple more trips/vacations planned. we are headed to rocky mountain national park in a couple weeks for another week of alpine climbing. then to the wind river range of wyoming for some climbing/backpacking in august. and finally to montana for a wedding in september. my newest addition to our family will be born (to my sister! of course!) at the end of september in boise so i'll be journeying up there for that too. and by then it will be fall and climbing season down south will start.... and we all know how that will go from my other blog posts :)

we've had a lot of turn over at work recently, and many night nurses have left or have gone to day shifts. so me, being low on the totem pole, have had to suck up the night shifts. i've been doing quite a few over the summer, and still have more to come. it's more than a little rough, but eric has put some of the moving boxes cardboard in the windows of our bed room (which is in the basement so it's actually cool and dark during the day!) and i have been sleeping quite well. i never feel refreshed after sleeping after a night shift, but at least i'm not waking up every 2 hours from that weird feeling of "this isn't right". it's got me a little wacked though. in fact, i am at a night shift right now and it's actually not too terribly busy. work is going wonderfully. i am fitting in, and learning amazing things and becoming more proficient at being a nurse every day. it is a good feeling to go to work excited about your job and what you do for the world and people in general. i am still trying to understand what love is, and how to show that to some of the most unloved and unlovable people. my work challenges me on almost every level. i try to leave my emotions out of it and not take it home.

this post is too long. next time i'll do more pictures, less talking.

Yosemite Holiday

2008-07-06T01:46:00.016-07:00

Eric and I recently went to Yosemite National Park in California for a real deal, take-1-paid-week-off-of-work vacation. We met my brother and his girlfriend Krisi and my parents and spent the week camping, climbing, and hiking. It was so much fun. This really is the first time Eric has taken a paid week of vacation, and the first time we have done that together. Unfortunately, we arrived in California just as the first of the current 1,000 forest fires started. we had one day of clear viewing of the yosemite valley and then the smoke rolled in so thick you couldn't see the huge monoliths of rock from almost right below them. that was a huge bummer, plus not being able to breathe very well with that sort of smoke. we made the best of it though. we spent a few days with my family in yosemite valley and then a couple of days in tuolemne meadows- which is still part of the national park but is higher in elevation, cooler, and not so smokey. we met up with our friend's mike and joy and camped a couple nights together. it was a great trip!

i also went to hawaii with my friend katie at the end of may/beginning of june. i'll post those pics when i am on my home computer. we went surfing, ate a lot of fruit and smoothies, snorkeling, and hung out with katie's sister. it was a great week in hawaii, but i must admit that after that week it was solidified that i am a mountain girl, not a beach girl. beaches are great and all somtimes, but i mean...just look at the pics below! how can you not want to spend always there?! :)

The Family hiking Yosemite Falls

Eric and I from Cathedral Peak

Eric on the summit of Cathedral

Eric's View from the Summit of Cathedral Peak

Climbing Cathedral Peak in Tuolemne. So Beautiful!

Hiking in to climb in Tuolemne Meadows. What a view!

Me on Grant's Crack, 5.9 Yosemite

It's never too late for your first climb! My mother begins her climbing career at 62 years on a fabulous Yosemite climb 5.6!!

Ahh, vacations! There's always time for a nap!

My brother Nelson fly fishing the Merced River in Yosemite Valley

The top of a climb with Half Dome in the background

The Yosemite Valley. wow!

A Happy climber with Yosemite in the background

A big chunk o' rock and a small Polly thinking, "when will i climb that?"

That's Way Rambo

2008-05-08T08:20:00.003-07:00

These pics are from last weekend at Indian Creek. We met a climber who wanted to take some photos of someone on this climb, and i happened to be leading it next. so i got my pictures taken! it was really fun, and it's even more fun to see what you look like when you are climbing :). the climb is called Way Rambo, 5.12-. it's a stout climb, as you can tell by my face the whole time.

What You Can Do- Simplification

2008-05-06T09:32:00.003-07:00

This is an awesome website. Click on the presentation, and after you have watched that, click on the 10 Things You Can Do. The presentation takes about 15 minutes, however it is well worth your time. I think we all have to be on board with taking care of our planet, and consuming less. Putting yourself on a budget is a great way of helping yourself consume less and save more! As we have been packing up to move, i've been thinking a lot about stuff. we have so much of it, and i'm not even a pack rat. actually,, i'm rather ruthless when it comes to throwing things away (eric watches my every trash can). but not having stuff also helps simplify life. i want to look around our house and see that every thing we have has a function and purpose and is used very often, if not daily. i've already made several runs to the thrift store with stuff, and every box i drop off is a load off my mind. i can't believe how i have come to value things and what they supposedly make me. i'm feeling more and more simple with every thing i give away. i've also given a lot more thought to every thing i buy. i want to buy only the things i need and the things that serve daily purpose in my life. that way both my mind and my life maintain a clutter-free environment. please go to the site!

www.storyofstuff.com

The Rest of April

2008-05-04T21:08:00.007-07:00

At the end of April, my friend Joy and I climbed Angel's Landing- and not from the hike up side! We actually climbed the vertical face right up to the top of mountain! It was such a great time, and I learned a lot about myself, about heights, and about climbing in general. The rock is so steep and featureless at times that it is not possible to climb to the top of Angel's with only your feet and hands. You must ascend by what is called "Aid Climbing". Aid climbing invovles using webbing ladders to step your way up the climb. You must still place removable protection in the rock, but this can be tricky at times b/c the rock doesn't have much in the way of available places to put the protection! so you must carry a lot of gear. you can see in the pictures that we are covered head to waist in gear! Usually Aid climbing takes a lot longer as well, so you plan to sleep a night on the wall- with what we call a port-a-ledge. it's a big canvas cot that expands on the wall and hangs from a carabiner. you are always in your harness, even when you sleep so the risk is minimal indeed. We call this kind of climbing "Big wall climbing" b/c it is a big wall and requires more than 1 day to do. this was joy's first big wall to do on her own, and my second ever. to do this climb as a team of women was awesome! we had a spectacular time! Being able to figure out all the ropes, gear, and protection on our own is something to be proud of. We'll be doing more of these for sure! Our climb was called Prodigal Son, and was about 900 feet long to the top of Angel's Landing.

This past weekend Eric, Sam, and I headed down to our favorite place, Indian Creek, for some stellar desert climging. Eric took some great pictures, but they still need to be processed so I'll post those shortly. It's been a cold spring here in Salt lake, with snow dumps of up to 2 feet in the mountains. I could still be skiing i suppose, but the warmer southern weather and climbing was calling to us.

In between these two trips, Eric and i bought a house! Our first house ever!! We are really excited. We move in May 24th. The housing market in salt lake is interesting, and everyone across the nations will tell you a different story about when to buy and what the prices are doing blah blah blah. if you find the right house and the right price then it's a good time to buy! so we found darling cottage in the heart of salt lake. it's 6 miles from work for me, so my birthday present this year was a road bike. whohoo! it has a big enough yard for me to start a vegetable garden, it already has a clothes line in place, and the front yard is xeriscaped! we now have an official guest bedroom so anyone is welcome!! We feel that one of the big reasons for buying a house is to have it open to anyone in need passing through this part of the country. so if you or someone you know needs a place to rest a weary head while on travels, our cottage is always open. we'll post pics when we move in!

These climbing pics are in opposite order, but that's the way blogger uploads them and it was too difficult to switch them all around. so you'll have to enjoy the pics from the end of the climb to the beginning!

After the climb- tired but proud!

The view of our climb. The top of this rock is called Angel's landing. We climbed a line that is just to the right of the shade on the face.

Joy leading the final pitch. She was a trooper and lead most of the pitches on this climb. she's done quite a few more 'big walls' than i and was feeling her oats for most of the climb. she's a great partner!

Joy and I at the end of our climb! we are so psyched!!

This is what i looked like hiking down off of Angel's Landing. We arrived at the top in near darkness and had to hike the 2.5 miles down to the road in the dark. we were afraid of missing the last shuttle bus out of the canyon. so we were half running half walking, both of us carrying an absurd amount of gear on our bodies. At this moment in time we were not thinking that big walls were so much fun. but the next morning we woke up and couldn't wait to do our next one together!

Our View off the port-a-ledge. About 300 feet off the ground!

The morning light after a restful night's sleep on the ledge.

Me leading the 5th pitch.

Joy and I, happy climbers on our ledge.

Me ascending the line after Joy lead a pitch. I'm using my webbing ladders to stand up on and ascending devices that grip the rope help me inch my way up the rope. tiring work!

Joy leading the 4th pitch- a scary step over into a new crack system- and it's getting dark!

Joy and I before our climb- we're still clean with two feet on the ground!

Joy hiking our haul bag up to the base of the wall before the climb. in order to get all the stuff you need to live on the wall (sleeping bags, pads, water, stove, fuel, food) you have to haul it up the wall after you have climbed it. you do this in pitches so you always have whatever you need with you. but it can be tiring work to haul up all that water so sometimes a mechanical advantage is used with some dedicated climbing gear. it all works out in the end! but that's a big, heavy bag. i'm glad joy carried it. she said she was just training for her ultramarathon at the end of the summer. i gladly let her 'train'!!

Me leading pitch 3.

Desert in SpringTime

2008-04-01T13:17:00.004-07:00

March brought two trips down to the desert. The first to Indian Creek with a crew of friends, and the second to a place outside Moab called Castleton with Katie. The Indian Creek trip was great, but the Castleton trip did not invovle so much climbing.

Me on Quarter of a Man, 5.11++ in Indian Creek.

Me on SoulFire, 5.11 in Indian Creek. That's Greg taking my photo climbing! I'll post those when i get them from him.

Katie on our hike/approach to Castleton/Sister Superior

Katie and I in front of the Rectory. Such beautiful country!

Me pointing at Sister Superior- where our climb was. We took some advice from a trail crew guy in the parking lot- the number one mistake to make as a girl climbing team. Men often want to offer advice to me when I am climbing with just another girl. I should know by now not to take such advice (b/c more often than not it is wrong!) but Katie and I listened. alas, his advice was bad and we never even made it to our climb that day b/c our approach/hike was so long and over some sketchy scree with no real trail. We were super bummed but had a good time in the desert anyway.

Katie following the only pitch we climbed that weekend on Sunflower Tower, Indian Creek.

Our friend Sam recently moved to Salt lake City and is staying with us for a little while. Yesterday we both had the afternoon off so we went for a little tour up Little cottonwood canyon. There was about 10 inches of fresh, untracked powder awaiting our uphill efforts!

Sam on our day touring up Little Cottonwood Canyon.

Me at the top with some warm tea!

Adventures in and around Joshua Tree National Park

2008-03-06T16:07:00.010-07:00

My friend Liz and i recently went to Joshua Tree National Park in southern California on a climbing trip. it was a great trip, but the climbing was harder than we expected. The beginning of the climbing season is always a little rough, but it was particularly rough in Joshua Tree. The grades of the climbs were steep and the climbs did not always have protectable starts. We still had a really great time though. I used to work with Liz when i worked at the orthopedic center and she's a great road tripping and climbing buddy. She's also who i went to Devil's Tower with last september.

A surprise stop at my brother Nelson's house in victorville! We didn't realize how close to victorville we were passing to enter Joshua Tree. It was great to see him!

Nelson fed us a wonderful dinner- the steak was nearly as big as me!

Liz and I. The weather was crazy- i'm wearing flip flops and a warm jacket. One moment in the sun it was warm, the next the wind would blow and it was freezing!

well, of course this is sideways.. We did a fantastic climb up the arete (an exposed outside corner of a rock) of a balanced boulder. The picture doesn't really show it, but the rock is about 60 ft off the ground, hanging over another boulder. it was scary, but fun!

Here you can see the exposure. this is the other side of the boulder of the previous picture.

Liz, sweetly dreaming of her next climb in Joshua Tree..

These Next few pictures need some explanation. We had 3 days to climb in Joshua tree. the first day was great- warm with a cool breeze. the second day was brutal. we slept fitfully all night due to the flapping of our tent tarp in some crazy wind gusts. the next morning was freezing! the day continued with gusts of wind up to 50 mph. liz and i were not going to be blown off a climb, plus our hands were so cold we could barely light the stove to warm up some tea. so, what else do you do on an off day? take pictures and explore the surrounding area!

we did a short hike up a paved path to an over look. if we thought it was windy before, we got it handed to us here. we both just about got blown off the top of the mountain. i guess the wind farm in the valley below should have warned us...

here's Liz being blown over...

the middle of the road.yeah!

playing by a Joshua Tree.

yes, an explanation is needed here. what, climbing in joshua tree? what are they doing in a pool? well, with the wind and the cold we went to a nearby spa/hotel we heard about from the local climbing shop. supposedly the pools were warmed by a natural hot springs nearby. we were skeptical. here, in the middle of the desert, was a pure oasis with random people from all over? i mean, who goes to these things?! since it was spa too the whole place smelled like old lady perms or something. it was a bizarre experience. we had driven 10 hours to go climbing, and ended up in a hot tub in the middle of the desert with a bunch of strangers. oh yeah, and the man wearing a speedo.

Liz and i are our campsite. it was uniquely beautiful in Joshua Tree.

We actually did do some climbing...and it was hard! this is pretty much the first lead of the season for me, a 5.7, and it was scary! Joshua tree was established as a climbing area in the early sixties. that means all the climbs were rated when the hardest thing anyone had ever done was a 5.9. so a rating of 5.7 is really more like a 5.9 by today's standards. at least, that's what we told ourselves the whole trip :)

hmm, where can we go next that has a bunch of 5.7s- the only thing we can do here?

Liz hiking out from one of our climbs. Joshua tree just has these blobs of rocks everywhere that you can get to in about 5 minutes from your car. that part of the place was really nice. We met a random climber who needed a partner on this day, his name was Ted and he was from Bellingham, WA and is about my parent's age. he took a lot of our pictures. you can just see him behind liz here.

Me on seriously the hardest 5.7 crack ever! this is the only one that i actually remember the name of, Double Cross. an ex-yosemite climbing ranger was climbing next to us when i did this and he agreed that this was the hardest 5.7 climb anywhere!

Me higher up on Double Cross.

Liz on a hard sport route. Go liz!

me on a pretty, long crack.

what trip isn't complete without some shopping? Liz and i couldn't resist stopping at one of the outlets in vegas on our way home. this was the zappos.com (an online shoe megastore) outlet and we had too much fun with the stuff. that purse i'm holding costs $455!! no i didn't buy it, or those shoes!

Liz is on her way to being a shoe model....

Getting People the Things They Need

2008-02-12T11:13:00.001-07:00

My upcoming medical mission trip to El Salvador was cancelled last week. I was schedule d to go to El Salvador in March and work as a post-operation nurse with the University of Utah's Operation Walk. Op Walk is a national organization of medical missions comprised of Orthopedic surgeons going to third world countries specifically to replace worn-out and malfunctioning knee and hip joints. In the united states having this type of surgery can cost from $15,000 to $30,000. We do it overseas for free. Until this year. the DOJ(dept of justice) has recently decided to crack down on 'gifts' given to Orthopedic surgeons due to some corruption that has occurred in the system. When a knee implant is deigned, often there is a design surgeon on the board giving his/her input into the designing of the knee. When the knee comes out and is approved by all the red tape, this surgeon will often place only this type of knee in his patients. he is receiving a bit of a kickback for using only this knee, made by this company. the DOJ decided that was wrong, b/c maybe that particular knee is not right for that particular patient. the truth is is that there aren't that many types of knees or hips out there and in general, what's out there works for most people. patients are not getting screwed out of a healing surgery, they still get up and walk without pain for the first time in many years. this system works. well, when the DOJ decided to crack down on the orthopedic industry, they said 'no more gifts to surgeons or doctors in the ortho industry'. this means no more gifts of cruises or farraris to docs for using a knee system. okay, that's alright, most docs don't really need that. however, it became personal when we cannot now get the needed knee and hip implants donated to our group. b/c it is a gift. b/c the DOJ has decided that is not right. b/c we are part of the orthopedic industry. no implants. no mission. no healing surgeries. no walking el salvadorians.

let's talk about socialized medicine. if we go there, more of this will happen. docs will leave the united states b/c of the regulations imposed upon surgeries. b/c the kick backs will be less. and other countries will give that to them. the most specialized and best surgeons will leave the US. it will become like the veterans hospital. routinely i see vets in the ER who come to us b/c the VA refused care. or b/c the VA had a 6 month wait to see the next orthopedic guy and they hurt right now. the VA is socialized.

however, let's talk about the ER. we are part of a broken system in the United States. I bet half of the patients i saw last weekend did not have insurance or any way of actually paying the bill that will soon be arriving in their mailbox. however, they still received care- good care at that. we didn't refuse them an Xray or a CT scan b/c they didn't have an insurance card. who is paying that? i am. you are. someone is and it isn't them. we can't continue this way. i have to ask myself, " is being healthy and receiving health care a human right?". i don't know.... if it is, surely our government should do something about it. but if it isn't, then maybe the world should continue on like it has for the millions of years before i walked on the planet. natural selection? it sounds harsh. i don't think we should go that far. but a balance is needed. health care is nearly unaffordable and people are not taking care of themselves, and then turn up on our doorstep asking for a better heart since they didn't take care of the one that was given them.

all this sounds harsh, yet my daily battle when i walk into work is to love the people i meet there as jesus would have loved them. how come there are no parables about jesus loving on total drunks or complete druggies? would jesus just listen to them, give them some juice, and tell them it would be okay? or would jesus say, you are not taking care of the body given to you, shape up or get out. maybe jesus would just lay a hand on them and they would be cured of their addiction. i'm not jesus, and my hands don't have that kind of power. what about the mentally ill? jesus just cast the demons out of the guy by the heard of pigs. is this the case with so many patients who come in in some type of psychotic crisis? what if i just started casting demons out in the ER? .......so i look hopelessly at the drunk and silently pray for them. i look hopelessly at the druggie and silently pray for them while i push yet another round of IV pain killers. how would jesus love these people? i'm looking for the answer every day.

i am part of a broken system. I am deeply saddened to not be going to El Salvador. I am a christian. I want to love people more completely. I am in process.

where i've been

2008-02-06T10:38:00.000-07:00

Early in January Mark, Katie, Eric, and I decided to do a 'dawn patrol' ski tour where basically we meet up before dawn and decide to skin up a big mountain and ski down. we started in pitch darkness and worked our way through a beautiful sunrise. it was glorious!

skinning up for Dawn Patrol

Katie, Mark, Eric, and I on the summit

the best part- coming down through the aspens!

Then a bunch of us (8!) from salt lake traveled over to Glenwood Springs, CO for a 3rd annual Glenwood Ice Festival. Lest you think this was a public event, it wasn't. Just a few (20+) friends everywhere from Washington to Utah to colorado got together to climb ice and go backcountry skiing. It was a blast!

waking up on saturday morning. that's (L) joy, katie, lacy and me

many ice routes were right next to eachother. then all the girls got really hot (b/c believe it or not the temperatures were rising in the sun, then the ice melted, then the shirt you were wearing got soaked anyway so what was the point?) what's better than all doing it together?!

Eric and I goofing off a the entrance to the canyon with the ice climbs.

if you turn your head sideways that's the way i actually climbed the ice....

We had a big party saturday night with friends from all over colorado coming to Mike and Joy's house (that's where we stayed in glenwood). Sam Higby got to meet up with us agaian! It was all going very well until i came down with another horrible round of the flu! the festival would have been much more enjoyable for me if i had gotten to partake in more than one day. that's why there are no more pictures b/c i laid in bed all day sunday and monday. i let the flu go for 24 hours until i almost passed out from standing up. it had been 24 intense hours of losing fluids from both ends. luckily i had 2 nurses to take care of me! joy(whose house we were at) and lacy arrived home from backcountry skiing to find me worse off than whenthey had left that morning. Joy works on a labor and delivery floor so she ran to her unit and 'stole' me some IV fluid and and IV start kit. Lacy, my friend in salt lake, works at the Pediatric ER right down the hill from where i work. Lacy started an IV in me at home and they gave me 2 liters of fluid right there. the bag was hanging from a plant hanger in the ceiling...it was crazy. but it was life saving as well. i was very sick. this all happened sunday night so monday i woke up better, but not well. that's when a couple of us decided to head back early to salt lake while the rest of the crew went ice climbing again. my crew got stuck in a horrible snow storm which closed the road we needed to get home. by the time the ice climbing crew made it to the road closer point it had opened. in the meantime we had secured a hotel room int he nearest city. the ice climbing crew decided it was time to push on so into the snow storm and the barely opened mountain pass we went. it took forever to get home from colorado to say the least, and i was still feeling pretty lousy. i can't believe i came down with another flu bug! i still had a good time in glenwod, but eric had more fun b/c he actually got to play inthe mountains. i'm lucky i had two nurses to help me get better though!

eric and i ended the month up with some turns at our own resort, Snowbird.

we were supposed to ski into a mountain yurt last weekend with katie and mark, but another huge snow storm blew in and we all decided that breaking trail through 3 feet of snow for 6 miles was not our version of a fun weekend. so to the resort eric and i went. i hope next year the yurt will work out.

that pretty much sums up january. now it's back to work until the next round of fun begins!

is it over yet?

2007-12-27T22:22:00.000-07:00

well, let's wrap this december up in true fashion- how about some merry christmas flu? i've had mine thank you very much. i started working nights on the 23rd, got paid the big bucks on the night of the 24th (holiday pay and all), and was supposed to return to work on the night of the 25th. well, return to work i did, but as a patient not a nurse! i woke up in the middle of christmas day with a horrible bout of flu. i kept at it until later that night when i called all of the urgent cares (which are closed on christmas for future reference) and finally had to resort to my own dear ER for treatment. it wasn't cheap. but i was badly dehydrated and needed something to make me stop throwing up. a couple of liters and some meds later, i was gorked out and getting better. the next morning we awoke to find eric's grandmother in the hospital in the town we were all supposed to be meeting up in for a late family christmas in colorado. our christmas trip was canceled, i was still contageous and we didn't know the full story yet with his grandmother. this is certainly not an afterthought of the day after christmas when all this happened, but my grandfather also passed away on this same day. he is finally with jesus and with his beloved bride; my grandparents were some of the most wonderful people on this earth and they are dearly missed.

i am still in bed today trying to fully recover. the bug doesn't want to quite let go yet. eric's grandmother will be alright and is being transported back to a lower elevation in texas. this certainly was not the christmas we were planning for. in fact, it feels like it may not even have happened. so many of the family traditions both eric and i have grown up with went undone this december between my family trip and eric's business trip, work, and then being sick. we tried to do advent together at night when we were together, which is one of my favorite family traditions. but things just really never came together for us this year. we will have to celebrate christmas the whole rest of the year then, which is the way it is supposed to be anyway.

sorry, no new pictures from this fabulous week. i know, you're disappointed. actually we did manage to take a photo of the gigantic icicles hanging off the back of our house. we definitely had a white christmas!