Gear

There are a few trusty, dusty souls out there that will make do with just about anything. And I think that most of us will make do if we have to. You know the type, and maybe you are one, the guy with the 20 year old boots, fraying plaid work shirt and trucker ball cap someone gave him in 1987. There he is mixing it up in the mountains just like you (and me). The difference is you have on a $35 wicking poly base layer, under your $200 soft shell jacket that's paired with $60 hiking pants and $220 boots.  Not to mention the GPS device and ultra lightweight trekking poles, juxtaposed with his stuck he picked up somewhere on the trail making him look like a latter day Moses. I love the mountains enough to be that guy, but I'm not.

I'm lucky enough to be in a position to pick up some really cool gear here and there. We budget for new gear in my house and love each piece we pick up. It might be a nice down jacket, shiny pair of crampons or a great new climbing rope. I think it's as fun to get the new gear as it is to use it, well almost. I know there are a lot of gear hounds out that there that have to have the latest, greatest, lightest, strongest, whatever. They're almost like a Rodeo Dr. shopper buying that new pair of shoes that she'll only wear twice before they're out of style. I'm not this guy either. I think the main reason that I enjoy new gear so much is that I can hold in my hands my next big adventure, or a Summer's worth of outings in the mountains. It's like buying a dream, a dream that will most likely happen because when I look to the east I see the place where my live out my dreams, the Wasatch and Uinta mountains.

A new pair of Scarpa Mont Blanc boots isn't just a heavy pair of brightly colored orange boots. They're the gateway to ice climbing in Provo Canyon and topping winter peaks. Overnighters in the backcountry and limitless trekking wherever I want to go. If you just dropped a Franklin on a new set of quickdraws you might like the new unblemished shiny-ness and the lightweight dynex runners, but what you hold in your hands is hours of fun high up limestone cliffs. Climbing until you can't grip a thing and laughing with your friends.

I'm a bit excessive when it comes to checking on reviews for gear. I do a lot of internet searches for everything I buy. The things I'm concerned with are: Cost, value for money, quality, durability, fit (clothing) real world use of the product. I'm always most concerned with quality and value for money. I know that there are always going to be really high quality things, but often these are almost double the price of other products of a very similar quality. If I can decide that the loss of quality is not too detrimental I'll go with the lower priced product. If though the best product really is the best and others just don't even come close I'll usually save up and buy the best stuff. It usually lasts longer and offers me a better user experience.

Anyone that has read this blog has probably noticed that I try to highlight some piece of gear that I've used in a recent outing. I've found in my years of researching products that I really like to read blog reviews of products. You tend to get a more authentic review with the pros and cons of something. I hope that my blog can be of value to someone who happens to be researching reviews on a certain product. I'm going to try to do more of this in the coming months. I spent the last year replacing a lot of old gear and adding gear for new hobbies. I hope to have lots of photographic and video evidence of the gear being used on the mountains or crag.

Upcoming reviews:
Black Diamond Epic 45 winter backpack
Petzl Ergo Ice Tools
Five Ten Anasazi Blanco climbing shoes
Petzl Sama Harness
Black Diamond Storm and Spot headlamps
Goal Zero Nomad 7, Guide 10, Light-a-life, Estrella, Sherpa 120
DMM Alpha carabiner
Blue Water Lightening Pro 9.7 rope
Marmot Trient jacket

And a lot more. It's going to be a good Winter.

Crusher In The Tushar

This is about mountain climbing, but not in the usual sense. I'm signed up for an 80 mile bike race through the Tushar mountains of southern Utah. When you think of Utah mountains you usually think of the prominent Wasatch mountains that dominate the eastern view for most of the residents of Utah. However, down south near Beaver Utah you have the Tusher Mountains and Utah's highest road, Big John Flats, that tops out at 11,500 ft. I'm confused a bit by the "Flat" part of the name, but there are a lot of names around here that don't make sense. Normally I wouldn't post "cycling" things on this blog, but would post on my other blog www.crossthemountains.blogspot.com, which covers my infamous results and other details during the cyclocross season.

However, since I've been training hard and heavy for this race I've been spending a lot of time in the mountains. And staring at all the alpine views made this post seem more applicable to this blog. Most recently I put together a 74 mile training ride with about 6,000 ft. of climbing. The mileage was close, but the climbing is nowhere near the 12,000 ft. of climbing that "The Crusher" course will include. I took off work a little early on a Friday afternoon so I could get in the ride before we left for vacation the next day. I rushed home, got ready and then found I had a few things to get done first. Finally I left the house about an hour fifteen min. late. I've been riding the Alpine Loop quite a bit, which goes up American Fork Canyon and drops to Provo Canyon near Sundance, for training so I stuck with the usual first part of my ride which took me to the AF canyon entrance, then headed west to ride around the frontage road to Draper and the first big climb of the day, Traverse Ridge Road. It's not super tall, about 1800 ft. but it is unrelenting and in the hot afternoon sun it was pretty demoralizing. I finally made it to the top and loved the wide sweeping curves of the downhill. I had run out of water and my head felt like I had a major fever so I stopped at a gas station for a Slurpee. I started to suck it down and got the worst brain freeze of my life so I had to slow down. The Slurpee was pretty sweet so I filled up my water bottle with cold water too. I ended up sitting there for 20 min. sucking down blue Slurpee and 2 bottles of water.


I felt a lot better now and hit the road. I headed up the American Fork Hwy, with my legs feeling every bit of the 35 miles I'd already done. I got in a good groove and worked my way to the summit. This ride was much cooler than previous rides because most of it was done in the shade of the late afternoon and evening. In fact it started to get cool enough that I realized I was going to be in trouble once I hit the summit. Normally it's quite a relief to make it to the 8,026 ft. summit sign, but this time I knew I would be utterly frozen on the way down. I was cold to begin with, covered in sweat and cool temps, then the wind started. Despite adding to the cooling effect with speeding wind I tried my best to get down the road as fast as I could. I knew I could pop into Sundance for a minute once I got there. It seemed to take twice as long as usual to get there. Finally I rounded the last corner and got inside to the hotel registration lobby. They set me up with some hot cocoa and I warmed up as much as I could. It was then that I realized my next big quandary. I only had my prescription sunglasses with me and it was past dusk now and starting to get pretty dark. If I waited around much longer I'd be in big trouble riding blind. I got back on my bike, still cold, and started riding. Since it had gotten pretty dark I took my sunglasses off and rode half blind down the road. I was doing pretty well until I got a bug right in the eye. Then I started hitting swarms. I had to put my sunglasses back on and do my best to make out the pits and cracks in the road. I knew from previous rides that the coldest part of that canyon is about 1.5 miles below Sundance. I think it must be the raging creek right next to the road, but even on a hot day it gets pretty chilly right there. Soon enough I was shivering and slowly working my way down the canyon hoping that Provo Canyon would be warmer. After an eternity I made it to the highway.

Now, I was no longer really cold, but it was now pitch black and I had cars going 65 mph to deal with. The first part of the ride has a decent shoulder so it wasn't too bad. People often like to honk in the tunnel that you hit part way down and this night was no different. I could have killed them when they laid on the horn as I pedaled through that dark canyon. I was starting to get pretty darn nervous but I kept on. Now the shoulder got smaller and would be ok, except those rumble strips are placed right down the middle of it so you have a choice of riding in the 1 ft. space between the rumble strips and the car lane, or in the 1ft. space between the rumble strip and the road barrier. Obviously you want to get away from the cars that are speeding toward you in the dark. The only problem is that the far right side of the shoulder always has loads of debris on it. I was cruising down and saw the usual gravel, then bits of glass then I came across what looked like a overturned bucket of blood. Really, what are these people doing?! I was totally freaked out by now and had decided to just ride over the rumble strips because I was scared to go too fast anyway. I could barely make out any obstacles before I ran into them so speed was not my friend. Tires, 2 x 4's, junk and what was up with that bucket of blood. I'd also like to ask what the deal is with the huge pile of giant carp along the side of the road. I couldn't see them this time, but I sure could smell them. I had spotted this big pile of rotting fish on previous rides, truly bizzare. And why is this canyon taking so long to get down. By now I had pushed my sunglasses down my nose so that I could peer through them if I needed detail but they weren't blocking my view and making things even more black than they already were. Not a great way to ride, but it was better than choosing one over the other. Suddenly screeching tires right behind me, uncontrolled urination...almost. Did I mention that today was a bad day to put on the black cycling jersey? I'm not sure what the deal was with the car that apparently almost hit me I was afraid to stop or do anything other than continue in a forward motion.  Finally I got to the bottom and a street light. It was glorious! Then the lights ended. I'd like to ask Provo and Orem, what they have against street lights because the entrance to a canyon seems like a good place to have a few lights. I pedaled home grateful that I wasn't dead and pretty sure that I'd be able to make it there now.

Rock Climbing

Haven't posted anything in a bit, mostly due to the fact that I've slacked on gathering any photographic evidence of my adventures lately. I've been doing a fair amount of rock climbing in Provo's Rock Canyon, along with a trip to Draper Red Rock, a small crag developed by a local dentist. Red Rock was fun, though a bit crowded, especially with boy scouts kicking small rocks and pebbles onto us from the rappel they were doing near us. I'm always amused by the names that routes are given and since these routes were put up by a dentist the route names are fairly cringe inducing: Face Plant, Dry Socket and Bloody Impaction, just a name a few.

I've spent most of my time in Rock Canyon, a canyon made up of quartzite and limestone. I believe most of the routes were put up in the mid-90's, but a ton of work has been done in the last couple of years by Darren from the Mountainworks climbing shop. From what I hear he's just about doubled the number of routes in Rock Canyon, that's a lot of time and money. Thanks Darren. This also means there are a bunch of undocumented routes that you have to learn about from word of mouth or websites like mountainproject.com.

When the river was a bit lower we worked on The Appendage, a quartzite cliff.

I believe the route in the photo is a 5.7, but I don't remember the name. It was fun and seemed to have at least one or two broken holds as it blanked out once or twice. There was a lot of hold checking since some of the obvious holds were rather dubious and pretty loose. I also saw my first big horn sheep (minus the big horns - female or young male?) True to form it was up on some tiny ledge eating nubs of grass.

A bit further up the canyon is an area known as The Wild. It's a cool limestone wall with lots of small pockets. The pockets are fun to grab and use as holds. Though you have to be wary of the mud puddles that might be there after a rain, as well as the very sharp edges that start to cause a lot of pain if you find yourself hanging for more than a few seconds.

We headed up to The Wild with my brand new Blue Water Lightning Pro 9.7 rope, which by the way was fantastic. Very supple, nice to handle and worked very well in the Grigri. Go over to Mountainworks and buy one.

This is a 5.6 that we used to warm up on and set the top rope.

We played around a bit on this 5.6 and the 5.7? crack to the right then moved to a 5.9 that proved a bit of a challenge. The start is slightly overhanging and has poor feet. This is one area that the sharp pocket edges cutting into your fingers start to weaken your resolve to hang on for just a little longer.  This particular night was fantastic. We climbed until we were just plain tired then packed it up. I'm sure there will be more Rock Canyon to come in the months ahead. In the immortal words of The Carpenters - "We've only just begun"

Thanks to Rick Miske for showing me the ropes (pun intended) at Red Rock and Rock Canyon.

Goshute Cave - Going In

CLAUSTROPHOBIA! That was my main fear when I told my wife's uncle Dan that I'd be up for the trip to Goshute cave. I've never been in a real cave. All of my experiences have led me to the tops of mountains not inside of them. I knew I didn't have big issues with claustrophobia, but I've felt mild to increasing anxiety in tight spaces before so knew I'd probably be ok, but didn't want to freak out or anything.

We left Orem at 7:30am and buckled up for the 3 1/2 hour drive. The Goshute cave is located about 70 miles southwest of Wendover, which lies on the Utah-Nevada border. If' you've never been to Utah, then you're probably unaware of Wendover. Its the home of Utah gambling. Literally just on the Nevada side of the border. The town is a testament to Utah gambling, there's no other reason for the town to exist. I understand that it used to be a way-point for people traveling across the desert. But now it's just a dirty miniature Las Vegas. Head out of the city and you'll find the Bonneville Speedway where all of the land speed records are made and broken each year. You'll also find some decent rock climbing in nearby mountains and Goshute cave, the reason for my visit.

We finally made it out to the trail-head for the short, but steep, 3/10 of a mile climb up to the cave entrance. I saw the big, round, black hole up near the top of the 500 ft. tall summit we would hike too and got a little excited. There were 3 adults and 4 kids(ages 7-12) in our group. We took our time on the climb up, the kids, including the visiting sea level Californian were breathing pretty hard. When we got to the big hole in the rock I looked up in the dark end where I could no longer see around the corner. One of the kids, who had been here before informed me that it was not the cave entrance. She pointed to a small, 3ft tall crack in the rock. Oh boy, it was going to be fun from the start.

After the initial crawl through the cave opening the room opened up quite a bit so that we could all stand up quite easily. First we went into "The Dance Hall" a large mostly featureless room. We then doubled back to the first room and then started our slow walk into the depths. Uncle Dan said it was the wettest he'd seen the cave in the 16 years he'd been coming here. We mostly slid down the damp and muddy 200 ft. ramp called "Devil's Slide". Then we came to the rim-rock pools. Dan said he hadn't seen water in them in 10 years, so it was pretty cool that they were full that day. It did make the passage through a little more interesting. If you didn't want to walk through 6"-8" pools of water you had to carefully walk along the 3" wide limestone and calcium rims that the pools had made over thousands or millions of years they'd been there. At one point the ceiling was pretty low and just as I was about to put my foot on the next ledge my head hit the ceiling and my foot plunged into the water. I tried to pull it out quickly but just repeated the same action. I am happy to report that the waterproof claim for my Scarpa Kailash boots is accurate. My feet stayed nice and dry.

We made out way through various tunnels and rooms, checking out the cool mineral formations. Everything from typical stalactites to crystal formations that looked like sea urchins and coral. We came to the first real belly crawl of the trip. I took off my backpack and pushed it forward as we squirmed our way up a 30% twisting tunnel. It was about 10 ft. long and I managed it just fine without freaking out or feeling the walls close in on me.

As we worked our way through the cave we started going through more and more wide but short areas where crawling on hands and knees or stomach was required. Uncle Dan had conveniently forgotten to tell the rest of us to bring knee pads. I managed to find all of he bumps, scrapes and cuts the next day in the shower when the soap started stinging little spots all over my legs. We eventually came to a tiny hole called "The Toilet Bowl" it was more or less conically shaped with that tiny hole at the bottom. What I didn't understand is that we would be going down that hole, which I didn't think even a tiny Chinese gymnast could make it through must lest a very un-limber 6'3" man. I watched as Dan worked his legs down through then informed us that you had to turn your head sideways to make it through the hole. Then with is arms over his head he slide down through. We each took our turn and somehow I made it through. 
My next thoughts turned to how in the world we'd make it back up through the hole. We worked out way to the end of the cave and ate our lunch slouched under a short roof and looked at the various signatures of the early cave explorers. It made me think and wonder about these people that had gone through the cave with their old carbide lamps and decided to explore these cramped caverns and tiny passageways.

After a little break we reversed our way, somehow making it up through the Toilet Bowl and back to a side cave where Dan had dropped the rope bag for later use. We made our way through a few more narrow tunnels and found the 50 ft. tall wall that we had planned to climb if we had time. There was a bolt at the top, but no other way of placing protection without the full 50 ft. of exposure. We let Dan lead, since he's had a long and full life, while the rest of us chickens waited below. Dan set the rope we each took our turns climbing up. I was the first to take the optional 90 ft. rappel down the chute on the other side of the wall. I dropped off onto a fairly flat space with a drop to a lower cavern down below. I waited for someone else to join me for a while but no one came so I headed down on my own. The room had some really cool formations. Sadly, some previous explorers had managed to break off a bunch of the smaller stalactites when they tried to work their way into a smaller cave.

After spending about 45 minutes by myself Dan and his son-in-law Greg each made their way down to where I was. Dan had simply tied off the rope above and lowered himself down without a harness. Dan is old school. The rappelling didn't look too dangerous, but Greg and wondered how Dan had managed to get back up without a belay. We let him go first since he had put himself in that position and watched as he held one hand on the rope and the other grasping at greasy glassy holds. Greg went next and when I was my turn the rope was tossed town and got stuck about 20 ft. up. I didn't want to my wife to hate me for becoming a paraplegic by making a stupid decision to climb unroped above large mineral blogs that would have surely broken my back in a fall, so I very carefully made my way up the first section of the climb. One side of the chute was covered in flesh ripping sharp crystals, like a coral reef, the other side was mostly smooth glassy blogs that were made all the more slippery by the thin coating of mud that covered everything in the cave. I made it up to the rope, but was in no position to stop and tie in so I kept going, hoping for ledge of some sort. Every time I reached what looked like a nice ledge from below, turned out to be yet another steep slippery slope. I finally reached something that gave me reasonable footing so I tried to bring up the rope to tie in and found it stuck on the sharp crystals below, no amount of tugging could break it loose. I opted to just tie in with my ATC rappel device so the I could at least stem a fall if something happened. I just about had it clipped in when the ATC dropped and pinged down to the bottom. I heard chuckling from above and informed them what happened. I finally just climbed the rope hand over hand until I made it to the top. I tied in to the other end of the rope with a figure 8 and rappelled back down to retrieve the rope and my ATC. I found it at the bottom of one of the lower caves, tied into the rope and started climbing again. By this time I was hot, sweating and tired of climbing. I managed to scoot up the chute and rappel down the other side.

Dan and I climbed out of the cave and out into the snow that was slowly coming down. I was happy to see light and was surprised when I looked at my watch to find out that we'd been in the cave for 6 hours. At least we made the trip out there worthwhile.

I had a great time on my first caving experience. I wouldn't call myself a spelunker just yet, but I've got my eye on the Red Baron cave in Rock Canyon. A 50 ft. rappel over a thousand foot cliff before you swing into the cave entrance. Sounds like a good time to me.

First Peak Of The Year

A couple of weeks ago a friend and I set off to climb Mt. Timpanogos, the beautiful mountain that overlooks the Provo-Orem Area. We headed up one of the two trails that would take us to our campsite for the night. After about an hour or hour and a half of hiking the trail just disappeared. We had a swampy mess to the right and thick trees and shrubbery ahead and to the left. We plodded around for about an hour, even following some moose tracks at one point, in a effort to find the trail. We were only a half mile or so from our destination, the saddle of Big Baldy and Mt. Timpanogos. Eventually we decided we had to give it up and head back to the car.  So much for that.

Yesterday I decided to head up the Dry Canyon trail, the trail on the other side of Big Baldy, to both scout out that trail, as well as get in a good workout. It's a great trail and I was making good time when I came to a fork in the trail and followed the hoodoo trail marker left, it looked like the direction that I remembered seeing on Google Earth. After I headed up that trail for a little bit it became apparent that I was on the wrong trail, but I decided that I'd stay on it as it appeared to go to the Big Baldy summit. I'd never been to the Baldy summit and it sounded like fun.

The trail got really steep really fast; tight switchbacks that looked more used by deer and goats than humans. I was awfully glad to have my Easton Trekking poles. I had to stop frequently to catch my breath and keep the sweat down. Once it started to get dark I decided I'd better find a suitable spot to sleep for the night. I kept heading up but everything was so steep that I didn't feel comfortable sleeping there. Luckily it was a fairly warm night, I only had on my micro-weight Smart-Wool long sleeve shirt, which kept me comfortable.

I looked up and saw that I was closing in on the Baldy summit and the ground looked like it leveled off about 30 ft. below the summit so I figured I'd just keep going up. My legs were getting pretty tired by now and pretty soon every last bit of light was gone. I spotted an old gnarled tree down on the ground and decided that it provided enough protection to keep me from rolling down the mountain in the night.  I threw down my nylon tarp and sleeping bag. I had been craving the candy bar, that I picked up on the drive to the trail head, for the last hour but I didn't want to break into it until I was in my sleeping bag and settled for the night. Finally I was in my bag, the ground had a few more rocks that I had counted on so it wasn't the most comfortable spot, but I didn't care. I tore into the candy bar and probably ate it in two bites. Then I tore into the other one that I had bought just in case I needed something in the morning.

My bivy elevation was about 8400 ft. The night was long and fairly sleepless. I did get tired enough to sleep for about 3 hours at one point. Around 5:00 am, the wind picked up and was whipping my nylon tarp, which I had placed under and over my sleeping bag. It was at this point that I realized just how much I liked my Big Agnes Storm King down sleeping bag. I've tried using mummy bags in the past, but I'm too big and I feel way to restricted in them. Not to mention that I toss and turn a lot in my sleep so I never stay on my sleeping pad. The Big Agnes sleeping requires you to slide the sleeping pad in to a flap on the bottom of the bag which keeps you from sliding off. The bag was roomy, but still plenty warm. I was able to roll around in the bag and sleep whichever way happened to be the most comfortable at the moment. I also have to mention how durable the bag and the Big Agnes insulated dual core sleeping pad.are. I slept on some sharp rocks and the tree I was up against was covered in splintered wood and sharp broken branches. When I checked the sleeping bag and pad yesterday everything was in perfect condition despite rubbing against sharp objects all night.

Around 7:00 am I finally got myself out of bed, besides nature was calling. I got everything packed up and decided to head for the summit. I left my pack where it was, got a big drink of water grabbed my trekking poles. The lack of a 35 lb. pack made the going much easier, but it was still steep and slow. I finally got near the summit and found, to my dismay, That the actual summit was about 300 meters further. Pretty soon I reached the snow line and had to work through knee deep snow for a while until I found some footprints from someone that had probably been there the day before. I used those footprints to keep from adding to the snow that was working down into my hiking boots. The day before I wasn't sure I liked my Scarpa Kailash hiking boots. They have a Gore-Tex layer which makes them waterproof, but also contributes to swampy feet in warm weather. Except for the snow that was slowly melting in my boot, my feet felt warm and dry, even after going up and down the mountain in shin to knee deep snow. I now know that I have a great waterproof alternative to my Scarpa Mont Blanc mountaineering boots when I know I'll be hiking in deep snow.

I finally got close to the summit and found the snow on the ridge line to be nicely compacted and wind blown to a hard crust. This made me feel at ease with regards to avalanche danger and made climbing the last hundred yards much easier. I made the summit, It's not much to speak of. In fact I lived here for 8 or 9 years before I even found out that Big Baldy had a name, it was just a steep mound in front of Mt. Timpanogos. The summit elevation is about 9000 ft. I managed to get a few photos of Mt. Timpanogos and the Everest Ridge line that I want to use when I summit that peak from the west face.

Pulling Plastic

As I mentioned in a previous post, I've always loved climbing. When it was a kid and even through most of my adult years it wasn't really difficult climbing, but I've always been drawn to the vertical walls of rock and finding out if I could climb them. Well, it's winter now so I've been doing all of my climbing in the gym. My local climbing gym is The Quarry in Provo. I've seen worse and I've seen better, but it's a pretty good climbing gym. There's a great area for bouldering upstairs and the rope climbing has a lot of variety for top roping and even a few lead climbing routes. They've built in cracks for the "usual" crack sizes, which only reinforces the fact that I have much larger hands than are "normal" My fingers don't fit in the finger cracks and the hand cracks are more like ring locks or some sort of finger jam.

I know it's kind of wussy or whatever, but I enjoy top roping. It's nice to be able to work on tough routes and holds without any fear. It doesn't bother me one bit to fall off the wall and either climb back on or get lowered down.

The bouldering area is where I do most of my climbing, mostly because other people have lives and can't go climbing every time I want to go. Though my climbing partner is pretty good about fitting climbing and other adventuring into his schedule. If you walk into a bouldering area in a gym it's a lot like the free weights area in a health club, people are posing and checking out what everyone else is doing. I'm very unconcerned about what anyone thinks of me, but even I don't want to appear too weak by doing a fun easy route in front of a bunch of bouldering jocks.

I've seen people try to explain why they're drawn to climbing rock and no one really has a good explanation. I think because there isn't a good explanation. It's mostly a pointless endeavor. Though I feel my heart beating pretty hard at times, it's not much of a cardiovascular workout. I'm not making any scientific exploratory observations in the cracks of the rock or nooks of the plastic holds. It think it's just a place where a person can test their mettle. It's both physical and mental. You're slowly losing your grip and your arms are pumped, can you mentally hold on for just a moment longer until you can move to that jug and get a chance to rest? You make the hold and finish the climb and feel that much stronger.

Rock climbing shoes make my feet hurt. I recently got new shoes, La Sportiva Tarantula, and I like them, but I can last maybe 30 minutes before taking them off. Tight shoes make edging a small hold so much easier, but it's barely worth the pain. I'm glad these new shoes are velcro, makes it easier to whip them off when I can't take the pain anymore . That said, they are pretty comfortable as far as climbing shoes go. I've worn other shoes that are like water boarding for the feet. I think the companies that make climbing shoes try to make them as comfortable as possible, it may just be that my paddle feet (as my wife calls them) just don't fit a lot of styles very well. Since one of my daughters (as my wife points out) also got my paddle feet, she'll probably have the same problem I have, sorry.

With spring slowly creeping in I'm looking forward to heading out to the local crags to climb rock instead of plastic, Rock Canyon is only 15 minutes away.  I've been looking for a new harness, one that was padded well and had leg and waist straps that would allow me to open them fully and put it on without having to try to slip crampon covered boots through the various loops and straps. Something that I could use for both rock and ice climbing. The climbing shop, Mountain Outfitters, really more of mountaineering shop, located in the same building as The Quarry climbing gym just got in a great new Wild Country Vision harness; exactly what I was looking for.

 Thick wide straps that can be totally undone to be put on over winter clothes if needed. It has great gear loops and even a wear guide to warn you when you need to replace your harness or risk breaking through a strap during a fall. I've had a chance to wear it a few times and it's worked out great. It's a tad heavier than other harnesses, but if I was that worried about hauling a few extra ounces up a wall I'd cut out my evening ice cream habit. Which reminds me, I'm out of Thin Mint ice cream, better head to the store before they're out of it for the year.

Snowshoeing

Whenever I heard of someone going snowshoeing I always pictured Jeremiah Johnson with giant beard and matching giant woven snowshoes. Most likely made from supple willow branches and buffalo intestines. A couple of years ago my wife asked for a pair of snowshoes as an unlikely Valentines gift. My wife goes for romantic type stuff too, but I was quite happy to shell out for some outdoor gear, especially when I found out I wouldn't have to string up the snowshoes with some fresh buffalo guts. We found a good deal on some Atlas snowshoes made for Cabelas. They had nice features and weren't extremely pricey. She started going out snowshoeing on Saturdays with the Utah Velo club and had a lot of fun, but I was still sceptical of her inner Jeremiah Johnson.

After another winter of watching her come back from having a great time out in the snow filled canyons near our home I decided I'd like to give it a try. We headed back to Cabelas and bought a set of snowshoes for me, the same model, only bigger. Now we have a pile, really, literally a pile of snowshoes from which to choose on any given day that we go out. I only have two pair, sounds silly just typing that; only two pair, ha. My wife has 4 pair with another set on the way. Granted, most of these she has acquired as a product tester for Triedge.com, so it's not as if our children's college education has been reduced to the pile of snowshoes in the gear area of our basement. It's amazing how different snowshoes perform in different conditions. My Atlas are great for deep fresh snow, the kind I like to hit after a new snowstorm.

My other set, with their beautiful shining crampons covering the length of the platform, and which I have named "The Snowshoes of Justice" are from the Tubbs flex series. These don't perform as well in deep snow, but really shine when going up or down steep hills, and over technical terrain. I really like how they grip logs and other oddities that I encounter as I march around wherever I want. They're light and don't make a lot of noise. They also don't shoot show all over the back of your legs and back like my Atlas.

What I really enjoy about snowshoeing is that I can walk wherever I want. I enjoy hiking, but you're more of less confined to actual hiking trails. This is due to a combination of thick vegetation and a moral obligation to not trample small animals, insects, plants and other forest dwelling things. I also try to keep trails from getting wider and wider by staying on the existing path. In winter all bets are off. Snow covers everything. Vegetation is safely under a crust of snow and I can walk anywhere, including up very steep hills because of the crampons of justice that adorn my snowshoes. If regular hiking is freedom than snowshoeing is the William Wallace of hiking. Taking freedom to a whole new level. Want to get closer to that stream, walk on over. Want to see where those deer tracks to, head on out.

My favorite place to go snowshoeing is Big Springs up the South Fork in Provo Canyon. Sadly it's also popular with a lot of people. It's not uncommon to go up on a Saturday and mind hoards of BYU students with rented snowshoes packing down the trail. Because of this I usually try to get out first thing on a Saturday morning to beat the crowds. Even then sometimes I find I really have to head off trail to find some snow that isn't packed down so much that a pair of hiking boots would suffice. I can usually find something. Even when the trail gets somewhat packed down it can still be a lot of fun, especially when you're willing to head out really far. Just like hiking most people don't go out further than one hour will allow so if you just push on you'll find some great snow eventually. It's also a great cross training activity for cycling. I don't manage to get on my trainer much during the winter so I have to do something to keep my cycling muscles from disappearing.

Snowshoeing is eons away from the burly mountain man activity that I always envisioned. Go rent or buy some snowshoes, or if I really like you I might have a spare set somewhere to lend to you. Just stay out of the Big Springs area because someone keeps packing down all the new snow.

Ice Climbing - Provo Canyon

Years ago, after stopping to look at a photo of someone climbing a waterfall, my wife asked me if I would ever go ice climbing. I think she was hoping that I'd say no, and that's exactly what I said. But it was more like, "Are you kidding me? Those guys are nuts. They're just waiting for a crampon point to slip or a giant icicle to take their head off."

Fast forward a few years and I'm totally hooked on climbing ice. I'm not sure what it is, but it probably has something do with the fact that you don't need a hold to move up the vertical face of the ice, you make your own. It's almost like being Spider-Man, only Spider-Man is covered in spikes that could sever an artery or tendon if he takes a fall. I'm not sure how I made the move from being scared to death of climbing ice to staring out of my cubicle window at the frozen mountains and wishing I were up there kicking and stabbing the ice.

I'm fortunate to live in a really great area for outdoor recreation. I'm just 10 minutes from Provo Canyon and 15 minutes from Rock Canyon and American Fork Canyon. Three playgrounds full of rock climbing, mountain biking, skiing, cycling, mountaineering and snowshoeing. Provo Canyon is probably my favorite, it's not only close, but it seems to have the widest variety of things to do. This is also where you can find a lot of great ice to climb. We have an excellent ice formation that comes in each year called Stairway to Heaven. The bottom pitch is a large thick apron with bolts above for top roping love. It's a great place to hone your skills and get into early season condition for tougher and sketchier ice. Depending on the year and the height at which the ice forms, Stairway to Heaven has the potential to be the longest ice climb in the US, 800 ft.

Along with Stairway to Heaven, there are at least 4 other decent pitches of ice to climb in Provo Canyon. On cold Saturday mornings every inch of ice is covered in climbers, too many for my taste. I usually go climbing after work, which means by the time I hike to the base of the climb daylight is pretty much gone. This means solitude and and no one knocking ice on you from above. A good headlamp is all that is needed, you're only working in an 8 ft. space of ice anyway. Everything above and below is extraneous and not to be thought about anyway. Many times I've been up on the ice and heard cars honking as they drive by on the highway several hundred feet below. It must look like quite a site from below to see an illuminated sheet of ice with some crazy person on the wall like some deranged fly on a wall. I wonder what they think when I take a fall?

I've been lucky to have discovered the joys of ice climbing in the modern times. Ice climbing gear has seen a lot of advances over the last few years. I've recently acquired some new crampons and ice tools(ice axes for technical ice climbing). If you're not in the ice climbing circles then you probably have no idea of the current debate of whether crampons with mono or dual points are better. I went back and forth between the two when trying to decide which to buy for my new set of crampons. I found the solution, local gear innovators Black Diamond have created the Cyborg crampons which can switch from dual to mono with the twist of an hex wrench and a spacer. I haven't switched to the mono yet as we've had warm spells and the ice has been mushy in parts and I've wanted the security of dual points. If we don't get a good cold snap I may just switch to the mono-point when I do some dry tooling or mixed climbing in spring.

I really love these new Black Diamond Cyborg
crampons, especially for the variety of conditions in which I've climbed recently. They come complete with anti-balling plates for glacier use as well as just keeping the snow from collecting underfoot on the trek from the car to the base of the climb. All this gear costs a lot of money it's nice when you get the product and use it and don't wish you had your money back.

Adventure in the Mountains

All of my favorite adventures seem to be in the mountains. My earliest memories of exploring and really feeling alive are from my time in the mountains. From my 8th birthday trip to Yellowstone to the trips to the summit of Willard Peak. I loved the variety of things the mountains had to offer, raging waterfalls, animals big and small. My favorite thing has always been the high overlooks and cliffs where you could see for miles and miles out over river basins and farmland. I recall being amazed that the mountains I could see from my home were not the end but just the start of of the great Wasatch Range. I wanted to see was behind each wave like ridge, what sort of things would I find in the valleys.

I've always loved climbing rocks and boulders. Even as a non-rock climbing adult I often felt like a kid as my family and I ventured out in the area canyons and I soon found myself scrambling up easy 5.3 and 5.4 type walls. Working out moves and holds just always seemed like so much fun.

As I've become more adept at the various types of climbing I've found even more joy in realizing the opportunities that open up because of my new found talent. Mountaineering and heading off into the wooded hills and snow clogged chutes is a lot more fun now that I have some knowledge and experience to back it up. Learning the technical nature of ice and rock climbing keeps my mind working as well as my fatigued limbs.

I hope to be able to chronicle my various adventures and do a better job of getting photographic evidence to share the beauty that is to be had in the Utah mountains and the mountains all over the world.