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The end of the guiding season marks the beginning of climbing season. Packing the car with stoves, jackets, all the cams possible- and launching into a reality truly limited only by your own imagination. It is an exercise of boundlessness. And of focus. When the possibilities are endless- it is too easy not to commit to any one thing. Luckily, there were plans to constrict the “ADD” wandering. The Fork, the Canyon, the Creek, and the Valley may sound like jargon to some- but are all definitive places where I chose to satiate my endless need for adventure.

It started in the Fork- the top secret gem you will have all to yourself. Valley like granite rises above a thundering creek. The climbing forces you to balance on thin granite nubs and fiddle with tricky, thin gear. The Tyrolean and mandatory chimney climbing to get back to camp necessitate a highly physical day- no matter how you swing it. But no place I’ve ever been to feels more magical.

Then the Canyon, where another river rages at the bottom of huge granodiorite and pegmatite walls. The climbing here is not for the meek. Soloing up to the first pitch of Trilogy (IV 5.12) dirty, sweaty, and scared, I  remembered that this was the usual state of being in this place. Its real, committing climbing where if you back off, you have to ascend two thousand feet up a chossy gully and leave tons of gear as fixed anchors are rare. A few of us girls: Kremer, Majka, Danika,  and Sarah, our bachelorette- met here to climb and hang for a few days. The party was beyond fun- after a great day of climbing and the best dinner filled with colorful vegetables we lit a fire and got tribal. Singing, tree climbing, and dancing around a fire trying not to burn our clothes.

Sending Trilogy’s 5.12 steep finger crack crux was a highlight for me.  Collectively we climbed Journey Home, Scenic Cruise, Trilogy, Comic Relief, Casually off Route, Astro Dog, No Pig Left, and Escape Artist. Quite proud.

The Creek. This name is simply representative as my digs ended up being Aimee’s trailer park- and the creek was not actually the base of operations. I finally got to climb on some cutler formation- the classic Ancient Art and the shorter but no less impressive Cobra.  Cutler is the soft sandstone the makes up the Fischer Towers and others in the region. Sometimes scary to climb, but always an adventure. Then a few days on the harder and splitter Wingate to satiate all our crack climbing needs. A highlight was climbing Infrared (IV 5.12) and Lighthouse. I was suffering from a lung  

cold wondering if really I should be taking a rest day. But the climbing on Infrared reminded me that I am a crack climber first- the movement was fluid- the climbing exciting- we got down ready for more. So we tromped over to the backside of lighthouse for a little more. ?

And the living was far from shabby. We had gourmet group dinners, debate parties, and coffee in the driveway. Aimee taught me that buying a new sponge is better than getting a new husband and Gowler hooked up the satelite to communicate with dirtbags in other worlds. The climbing’s been so good, I can barely wait for more.

Now, as the rain falls hard in Moab, I will head for the Valley.  Hopefully, I’ll find some rocks to climb there.