Valley of the Sun

With final exams over and a brand new set of picks it must be time to climb. Brenden, Kevin, Kyle, Ryan and I went to the north ghost on Saturday. Plans were to do THOS but we picked the Valley of the sun to avoid conversing with other parties that actually listen to SRD road closures. I’m sure the trout thank your selfless trek to and from mile marker 39. Does head shaking and finger wagging keep your ass warm?

The climb was great except the last pitch on the side at the top which was super brittle and platey so we left it alone. It’s super cool that someone decided to steal one of the two hangers of each of the two lowest rap anchors. I have dreams about the day I catch somebody stealing bolt hangers…don’t let it be YOU! ‘cause stealing hangers is so not cool.

Way to go shoulder

After more than a month off climbing I finally felt like lifting my arm above my head so Chris and I went to King's Creek. Cold enough that we both got the barfies but my shoulder was feeling great.

Accidents

Accidents happen all the time and they invariably always lead to injuries. A sore shoulder has started me thinking about all the injuries i've had. It seems they pile up, some never getting worse but never getting better. But where do all these injuries come from, could they be related. It's not as though i've been in some terrible accident that has scarred me for life, wait a minute... there was that time, on that mountain road

...and we slid off
and rolled a couple dozen times till we got to the bottom of the mountain.

It's not that i forgot it's that we all walked away (sans seatbelts). I had a cut lip, no big deal. Then there was that time i t-boned an aerostar full of natives in my pickup at 80.

I have a sore neck. All the time, especially when i have to look up. So I don't look up. Now I find out I have a winged scapula. Sounds super cool I know, but its not. The PT i'm seeing says that my rhomboid and serratus aren't strong enough so i'm supposed to do stupid arm lifts to try and fix it. I try to do the lift, my shoulders hurt. So i don't do it. Turns out that winged scapula can be caused by nerve damage in an accident. So I guess it's off to the doctor. But i'm going ice climbing first.

Aid Climbing, Wasootch

I tried aid climbing for the first time. Lots of fun but it takes forever. We only did one short pitch each, and i did it on TR. I don't think I can afford to start aid climbing, but all that gear sure would be cool. Used ballnuts for the first time, i definitly need a set of those.

Mt. Baldy

Mount Baldy scramble, 5 hours. Richard, John Fell, Lilly Goga, and JP Borget






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