Adventures in Kansas and Nova Scotia

Well I’m back in the old routine. Interesting and fun weekends followed by normal, and much less exciting, week days. I did get to Arkansas that weekend… and it did, unfortunately rain. It was raining when we awoke on Saturday so noone made what could be described as a quick start. We did eventually make it to the rock and I lead Swamp Rat for the third time as it had, somehow, stayed relatively dry. Giving it was wet and I’d already led it as a trad route once I lead it as a sports route for the second time. I then lead and cleaned the one other sports route in that area that I’d not done before.

We next headed over towards a route called Horseshoes and Hand Grenades and which a couple of us had been planning on working. Unfortunately it was still a bit wet so one of the others led a nice looking 5.10b arete but unfortunately it rained before any one else had a proper chance to do it. This also led to some interesting attempts by Mary Ashley to get to the top and clean the route. Given the rather wet situation we called it a day and headed back to camp and beer.

On Sunday we again woke up to rain but thankfully this time it started to clear and we were heading to the rock by the middle of the morning. Four of the seven of us had already decided to head home but they missed out as the rest of the day stayed dried. I started by belaying on and then leading a nice 5.9 arete which was a little damp but I still managed to get it. Mary Ashley then did her first ever trad lead. She was all nice and calm doing the route but then got scared at the anchors which was a little odd! Still a very impressive first trad lead. I led a couple of 5.10as in the middle of which I tried, and failed miserably on, a 5.11. We then headed home, stopping for food on the way. All in all it turned out to be a good weekend despite the rain. We didn’t get as much climbing done as I’d have liked but leading the two 5.10as made up for that. Photos are here.

I’d been hoping to get to Arkansas the next weekend and by coincidence Carol asked me if I wanted to go even before I got the chance to ask anyone. Carol was, and still is, broken but she’d already arranged this trip with a couple of friends of her. We headed down to Sam’s Throne were we ended up climbing both days. Miles had only climbed outside a couple of times before and his girl friend never had so he put up a couple of top ropes and I led several trad routes. I led four 5.7s including the one I’d flailed around on with couple a couple of months earlier. This time I had a foot slipping fail on one of the first moves but come back down, removing my gear, and did the whole route clean. I also tried a 5.9+ that Miles had put a top rope on. No way it’s a 5.9+. Really quite powerful with some hard moves as well. I got to the top but I’m not sure I did all the moves as I had a pretty tight rope.

The KU rock club was also at Sam’s that weekend and as Carol and Miles were both ex-members we all wandered along to their campsite for a bit in the evening. As it was their first trip of the year they were doing introductions around the campfire. Made me feel both old (bad) and experienced (good).

Sunday we had an inadvertent late start as none of us realised quite how late it had got. I led another couple of 5.7 trad routes before getting on a 5.10a sports route. Mucked up one of the first moves, thankfully after I had got the first bolt, but I came back to the ground and did it in one go. Given the hour we then headed home. All in all another good weekend. I feel like I need to get on some harder routes but still enjoyed doing a lot of trad. Photos from this trip are here.

This weekend there was no climbing but this was intentional as this was the only weekend when my soccer team had games on both the Saturday and Sunday. Yesterday’s game started with my team only having nine players on the pitch and we were 3-0 down by the end of the first half. The second half things got better as we did, by then, have eleven players and we were more organised so we only conceded one more goal.

Today my thigh muscles were pretty sore (I think I may have pulled one a bit) and I was hoping that we may have some subs so I didn’t have to play the whole game. Not to be however as this time we started a player short. We were soon up to a full team and for a short while we even had one sub until they injured themselves so again I ended up playing the whole game. Was much tighter than the day before although we still lost, 3-2 this time. Was pleased to find that people were planning on heading to the bar after this game so got some food and a couple of drinks. Was all enjoyable and I think it’s definitely done my general fitness some good even if I am now quite sore.

In other news I’ve met my long term weight target. I’m now 12 and a half stone (175lbs for my American friends). This is a 25lb lost since I got back to the US after Christmas and is the lightest I’ve been in over a decade. I’ve been down to 12st 10 before (178lbs) but I also know I’ve not been much below that since before I lived in Bath (i.e. 2001) where I remembering being about that weight. Am rather pleased about this and my general state of fitness. 12 and a half stone still gives me a BMI of 24 so I’ve now set myself a target of 12 stone (168lbs) although I’m not going to go quite so mad as I have been in my attempt to reach it as I think my energy levels have been a bit down recently due to not eating enough. We shall see how things go.

Nothing much else to report. Work is going a bit better although I’ll be a lot happier once I’ve fixed the problem I’ve currently got as then I’ll hopefully be able to get some final results and write a paper. Still trying to finalise plans for the next few weekends so not sure what I’ll be up to – you’ll have to wait until my next exciting blog post to find out.

I haven’t updated this blog in a while largely because I spent two weeks in Yellowstone and Grand Teton with barely any internet access. Yellowstone and Grand Teton were both brilliant and even after spending two weeks exploring them there’s so much we didn’t see or do that I could easily spend far longer there. They’re now at the top of places in the US I want to go back to. No idea when I’ll be able to but hopefully it won’t be too long.

A full trip report is here so I’ll just put a brief summary in this post. Photos are both linked to in the report and are available directly in the gallery. Jen was with me on this trip and and no doubt she’ll write about the trip at some point and hopefully put some photos up as well. I’ll try to remember to add a link here when she does. Having company for the trip definitely made a nice change and I’ll have to see if I can find people to go with me on future trips.

Highlights of Yellowstone to me were, predictably, the thermal features and the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone and its waterfalls. Of the thermal features Mammoth Hot Springs were definitely my favourite although I may be biased by the fact that they wee also the fist ones we saw. We saw most of the main thermal areas in the park but by the end had started to have enough of looking around really touristy features similar to other ones we’d already seen. So if I do make another trip there’s even more thermal features to see.

The Tetons are stunning looking mountains and I need to go back and hike amongst them more as well a hopefully climb one or two of them. The climbing planned for this trip didn’t happen largely due to Jen’s bad blisters, although we were both also tired by that point from two weeks on the go so that may also have influenced our decision to turn around.

On the way back from Yellowstone I dropped in at the garage repairing my car. They’d finished repairing it so I paid them and left the car in a parking lot for collection the next day. A large chunk of my Saturday was then spent walking, on greyhound and in taxis to get my car back.

Sunday was spent catching up on work although I also played in my first soccer game since Spring. It was very noticeably my fist soccer game since Spring as my touch and reading of the ball were both dreadful. I think, however, that my getting fit regime probably helped with the general running around aspects so it wasn’t all bad. The game finished in a 1-1 draw.

Since then I’ve largely been back in the old routine, mainly work with climbing indoors Tuesday and Thursday evening and swimming the other days. I should be off to Arkansas this weekend but the weather forecast isn’t great so we’ll so how that goes.

Again nothing much exciting happened midweek but this weekend more than made up for it as I managed to get to Arkansas climbing again. A group of 9 of us headed down on Friday evening. The trip down to Horseshoe Canyon went quickly although I doubt the driver of the car I was in would describe it as a good trip thanks to the speeding fine he picked up on the way. This time we were even there early enough to have a couple of drinks before heading to bed which was a very definite win.

Next day we all headed to North Forty. This was one of the more popular areas and also had quite a lot of easier routes. On this trip, unlike last time, there were quite a lot of people who hadn’t climbed there so it was a logical place to go. A couple of 5.6 top-ropes were put up, one by me, to give the people new to outdoor climbing something to try. I also led the other 5.6 when I cleaned it once we were done and this turned out to be my 2000th route outdoors since I started recording them which was a nice milestone. I then crept of to do a couple of trad routes, both apparently 5.7 although the first one was much easier than the second.

Next we all headed to an area of very new climbs which I think we’re only a few weeks old. I led a couple of 5.8s before deciding to have a go at a overhung 5.10b. This had been left with the fist clip clipped and quickdraws in after one of the others couldn’t do. The other two that could have done it had already done it so I thought I might as well give it a go before making one of them do it again although I wasn’t really expecting to get it. I then rather surprised myself by getting it clean. Having the quickdraws in helped as it was rather pumpy but I was still really chuffed to get it and still will be even if it is later downgraded as it really didn’t suit my style. I then top-roped a 5.10a and 5.10b, clean again, as by this time I was getting a little pumped and didn’t fancy leading them.

We all then headed to the river for swimming, cooking and drinking. This was made a little more exciting by uncertainty over whether one car would make it down to the river and back up so nine of us piled into the car for the last bit. Somehow we all survived and a good time was had. We then headed back for some more drinking before I found myself in bed at 10:30. Hadn’t realised it was that early but it had been a long, and incredibly good, day and I needed my bed.

Everyone was a little slow getting up the next day but we eventually got going and we headed to an area I’d been to last time. Here we found a large group hogging the three 5.6s that were there and they were unwilling to give even one of them up despite knowing we wanted to do one. How anti-social! Didn’t effect me that much but certainly mucked up other’s plans. I had my eye on leading a 5.8 on trad. This has now been bolted and I’d lead it as a sports route last time but as it was originally a trad line I fancied seeing how it would go. The gear on it was a bit awkward at times but it went without any real problems.

After moving to a different location and I led a 5.9+ although not exactly in good style. It was slightly overhanging and a combination of tired arms and big moves, where you couldn’t really see what the hold you were aiming for was going to be like, left me lacking confidence, although I did manage to finish it. I then did a new line (probably about 5.9) and again had to take a rest before the crux final move due to tired arms.

All in all a really good weekend that left me wanting to do more climbing outside soon. Photos – most not taken by me – are in the usual place here. Things only got better on Monday when I realised I’d lost more weight and that, for the first time in about a year, I was not technically overweight. Have now lost 21 pounds since Christmas and 9 since I got back from the UK which I’m really pleased about. I’m now heading off to Yellowstone and Grand Teton for two weeks and hopefully things will continue to go well and I’ll have a great time.

Well the main thing to happen over the last two weeks was me being an idiot. A very big idiot. But we’ll get to that shortly…

To be honest there isn’t much to report about mid-week going ons. I’ve been to work, I’ve swam, I’ve climbed. That’s about it really. All the swimming and climbing seem to be having some effect as I’m losing weight and seem to be getting stronger which is good. Less good is my inability to find anyone to go away climbing with. I’m itching to get outside again.

As I couldn’t find anyone to go climbing outside with last weekend I decided to go hiking 2-3 hours away from Lawrence. I left on Friday evening, arrived, slept and spent the next day hiking at two different state parks. The first (Wilson Lake) I would rate towards the bottom of the hikes I’ve been on in Kansas (photos). It had a couple of nice views but not much else. After that I went to Mushroom Rock State Park which is tiny but has some pretty cool rock features (photos). There was even a couple bouldering on one of the “mushrooms”. Well worth the short detour to see.

Kanapolis was all a little more exciting (photos). The hike started down a valley with some reasonably cool rock formations with the path winding between these and the stream in the valley. Although the path was reasonably overgrown it was still enjoyable. At the end of that section I crossed a stream through knee deep water and hike several more miles through quite varied terrain (at least by Kansas standards). At the end of the hike I had to cross the same stream again except here it was much wider and almost up to my crotch which made it fun to say the least.

Done with hiking I headed back to my campsite. My plan was to spend the night then head back to Lawrence Sunday morning for some lead climbing at Ibex on Sunday. As it was too windy at my campsite to enjoyably cook I decided to drive back that evening and get some food on the way. However not long after I got some food my car gave up on me in quite spectacular style. It would appear to have run out of oil. Not sure if it had a leak or I just hadn’t checked it enough, either way the (very) intermittently on warning light should have given the game away. However the dash electronics have never been 100% and as it was only very intermittent I decided to sort it when I got back to Lawrence. I AM AN IDIOT.

I called the recovery service provided through my car insurance but they would only tow me 15 miles which left me stranded in a motel in Abilene for the night. Abilene is nearly two hours from Lawrence and is reasonably small with no taxis or the like. So next morning I tried to work out how I was going to get out of Abilene. This was much easier said than done. After a long time trying to work out my options and speaking to various people I had a plan. This involved ordering a taxi to come and get me from a bigger town nearby (expensive), and waiting nearly 6 hours for a greyhound bus. While waiting for the bus I, thankfully, managed to arrange a lift from Topeka to Lawrence which meant I’d be getting home about 9:30 rather than in the small hours having gone via Kansas City. So after a lot of faffing I was finally back home.

I rented a car on the Tuesday and got my stuff back from my car on the Wednesday. I eventually managed to sort out getting my car “repaired”, where by repaired I mean new (old) engine. This would probably work out cheaper than a new car of a similar standard and is certainly less hassle even if it won’t be ready for a couple of weeks which means I’ll have to rent a car again for my Yellowstone trip.

Yesterday I went for a short hike near Lawrence and did not a lot else. It was all through quite boring woods so no photos. Today my plan was to go climbing outdoors with a lady I’d briefly met at the climbing club meeting on Thursday. Just after I left to pick her up I got a text questioning the weather. After some more texts and a phone call we decided not to go. I’m still uncertain whether this was the right decision as it came out nice later but the weather websites suggest it didn’t come out nice where we were heading to gone midday so it might have been the correct decision given that it was a two and a half hour drive each way. Still hasn’t dealt with my need to get outside however. Oh well at least there’s been fairly definite discussion of an Arkansas trip next weekend.

So, instead of heading outdoors, I headed to the climbing wall to enter their bouldering comp. I was told to enter the intermediate category. This was definitely the correct category as I got several of the problems in this category but did mean I had no chance of winning as there were several much better climbers than me in the same category. Did managed to win a couple of T-shirts and a climbing pass as a door “prize” so wasn’t all bad. “Prize” is in quotes as they had so many prizes everyone that entered got something!

The bouldering comp and my recent climbing form both suggest that my attempts to get better are being some what effective although I’m interested to see how I perform outdoors. Can’t think of anything else worth saying so so that’s it for this post.

Well I’ve been meaning to update the blog for awhile but have only just got round to it so this may be quite a long post.

Things got interesting on my trip back to Kansas after I’d left Dublin. About forty minutes into the flight there was a request for a medical doctor and ten to fifteen minutes later we were diverting to Shannon. Turns out someone was having a fit. Apparently they’d had one a few days before but had been cleared to fly. From what I could gather they came round just before we landed in Shannon and that they’d be OK despite the length of the fit. Once the paramedics had removed the poor woman we continued to sit on the tarmac for quite some time. Turns out that although they’re allowed to land the plane that heavy (because of all the unused fuel) they have to get it checked out by engineers to ensure they hadn’t done any damage. Once this was done we then had to refuel which added more time. Of course no complaints for me – I’d want the same thing to happen if I was taken ill on a flight – although apparently one fuckwit was moaning about how they’d miss their connection. Some people. So, my second diversion into Shannon having been diverted there when I was 13 on the way back from a family holiday in Florida when there was an unexpected headwind and we had to stop and refuel. Also my second time of just sitting on the tarmac at Shannon. I’ll have to add it to my list of places I want to go to to see if it’s actually a nice place!

Paramedics got called to the flight for a second time when we arrived into Chicago. There’s a reason why they say “please be careful opening overhead bins”. Someone wasn’t careful and someone got bashed on the head. Much more minor this time and thankfully didn’t really hold things up. After an uneventful trip across Chicago and flight down to Kansas City I finally got back to Lawrence – thanks to Carol for the lift back from the airport. Was a very long day and doing it the way I did it meant it was longer than it had to be but at the same time saved me several hundred dollars so it was worth the extra time.

The day after I got back I went climbing indoors but this was more to be sociable than to actually climb as, unsurprisingly, I wasn’t really up for much climbing. Thursday evening I had a similar problem but this time because I had developed a cold and I ended up packing myself off home after only three routes. Other than struggling to get back into the swing of work nothing else exciting happened those first few days back.

That weekend I had arranged to go to Arkansas climbing with Carol and possibly some relative beginners. In the end none of the beginners could make it and so it was just Carol and I. I decided that my cold was probably getting better and so chanced going and I’m glad I did as the cold did indeed get better and I had a good time. We drove down Friday evening and, as we’d made an early start, stopped off for Indian food in Springfield which was both good and filling but on the down side took some considerable time. The crag we were aiming for was in the middle of nowhere requiring driving 12 miles of gravel roads and we didn’t arrive until about midnight. Finding the “campsites” was difficult and we ended up camping in a small clearing. Next morning we did find the proper campsites but where we chose to camp was probably better. In future I think I’d just follow the guidebooks other suggestion as to where to camp and camp by the parking.

Stack Rocks came as a bit of a surprise even having read the guidebook description. It’s a large circular lump of rock sitting on top of a mountain. There’s currently about 170 routes there but I suspect there could be quite a few more with a lot of cleaning, although that would probably ruin the character of the place somewhat – it doesn’t get much traffic and the adventerous nature of the place definitely added to the appeal. Carol and I were both aiming at 5.9s and under – Carol because she’d hurt and her finger and me because I’m not really climbing harder than that at the moment. The guidebook gave four recommended 5.8 and 5.9s to do and we did all four. The highlight as far as I was concerned was the 5.8 trad route that Carol led and which I now want to go back and lead as it was a really nice route and somewhat overgraded at 5.8. Standing on top of a rock pinnacle after another 5.8 (not one of the recommended routes) was also special – think the pinnacle at Rivelin only taller and with a larger flatter top. Very cool.

Having decided we’d done all we really wanted to do at Stack Rocks we headed to Sam Thorne’s as after much guidebook searching we decided there wasn’t a crag nearby that Carol hadn’t been too (lots) and which suited our aims for the weekend. I’d never climbed at Sam Thorne’s but it was somewhere I wanted to climb as it had a lot of trad routes. I started by leading a 5.5 which proved to be more exciting than I was expecting (although still not difficult) and then had a mere leading a 5.7. I just couldn’t commit to the early moves which involved some semi-thin crack climbing. Once I committed it wasn’t too bad although I needed to take another rest due to the pump I’d got going. Seems my leading head still isn’t completely back. Last up was a lovely 5.7+ corner, which was meant to be harder than the previous route but which I found much easier. As Carol’s finger was hurting her, I clearly wasn’t climbing well and it was getting towards the hottest part of the day we decided to head home. All in all a very good weekend despite not being quite what either of us had hoped for.

Last week was a pretty normal week with nothing exciting to report, I worked and climbed indoors on Tuesday and Thursday evening. This weekend I’d hoped to be able to get outdoors for one day but couldn’t find anyone to go with so instead headed to Ibex (the further away climbing wall) on Sunday. I had a good session and this time managed to pass the lead test relatively easily. Given how much further away it is I’m not sure how often I’ll be going but the fact that I can lead there now will definitely give me more reason to go.

On the climbing front, as I posted on facebook, I’ve decided I’m going to climb harder (or at least do my best to do so). The main reason for this is that I realise I’m missing the sense of achievement from doing something I found hard and in noticing myself getting better. Too much of what I’ve found hard recently is stuff that I shouldn’t have done and so doesn’t give me the same sense of achievement. Another, smaller reason, is that there is so much more to go out around here if I can get to climbing even in the low 5.10s and I’m confident I should be able to get at least there. Don’t get me wrong I still have days when I enjoy romping up easy stuff but in the past I’ve enjoyed a mixture of pushing myself and doing easier stuff and at the moment I’m missing half that combination. Now I’ve just got to work on getting there. One thing I know I definitely need to work on, especially after Sunday, is finger strength. I’ll let you know how things go!