Climbing Seminar

We finished up our womens climbing seminar and the real course starts tomorrow. This was a great low-stress way to get myself back into the NOLS state of mind. Though this was the comfy version of NOLS - fresh fruits and veggies, two-burner stove, and cold beers to come back to after climbing. There were four of us - one instructor, three participants. We were climbing in Cochise, the West Stronghold. The weather was perfect for us, but getting hotter every day so it's gonna be brutal when we go back in a few weeks. The climbing was fun - granite, lots of slab and some cracks. We built a bunch of anchors, did some top-roping and mock-leading, sport and trad. I'll get to the real leading during the longer section in May. Three full days is not nearly enough time to spend in that place. The landscape is gorgeous, with sunsets and night skies worth dropping everything for.


De-issue and cleaning after returning to base is always fun. It actually went really quickly since there were only 4 of us. One of the most exciting parts is cleaning the groover (our portable toilet). Oh yeah. You get decked out in full protective gear - rain gear, goggles, masks, rubber gloves. It's great fun. I've heard lots of horrific groover stories, but as of yet I have no personal tales of groover tragidies. Sorry to disappoint those waiting for it, but probability says I'll have a groover story one of these days. The only unfortunate thing that happened to me yesterday was locking my keys in my car. Thankfully the drivers door wasn't fully closed and I was able to borrow a coathanger and eventually get in without damaging anything. Whew. Maybe that was my car trouble for this trip. Fingers crossed.