The Rest of April

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

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

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

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

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!