Need More Posts

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

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

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?

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...)

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

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