Restless Rumblings

Well, I’m back. Missed me much??

Actually, there is a very good reason for my prolonged absence. I made a bet. With a girl. Oh yeah.

So I promised not to blog for the duration of th fall term, which I have kept. Now however, it’s time to bring everyone back to speed with my boring life. So, rewind 4 months ago…

My last post found me wandering around the grove city campus bemoaning my forced cohabitation with other mortals. My attitude towards other people changed slightly during the past semester. I studied less, played more, and overall, I had a better time. But all was not well.

As I studied less, I began to rock climb more and more. Soon, I was climbing 3 or 4 times a week, sometimes for as long as 3 hours a night. The more I studied, the more I needed to climb, and the more I needed to get out.

My captivity at college wasn’t too bad in hindsight, but it felt worse at the time. A brief recap of my term is as follows: move in, start class, sister gets married, midterms, sickness, thanksgiving, start work at Banana Republic, finals, first snow, last final, long drive to kansas, the end. The final outcome of the term: a 2.95 gpa. That stupidly low gpa can be placed directly in front of my demonic french teacher. I can rant for hours, but that would give her a modicum of importance in my life, and that I will NOT do. The witch can get run over by a white, middle class male for all I care.

Anyway, back to the topic. So I was rock climbing a lot, and becoming thoroughly consumed by mountains. I was reading mountain books, watching videos, blogging, planning for my winter trip, and all around day dreaming about climbing some of them. K2 is still top on the list, but the list has gotten MUCH bigger!

I began to plan for my trip to Colorado. My plan was to climb some winter 14ers, and hopefully get the angst out of my blood. I can say in all honesty that the only thing that got me through that term was knowing that a few days after christmas I would be climbing mountains. Sure enough, on the 28th of december I was driving to colorado!

I was planning on going with max, but the idiot buggered up his knee skiing the week before. I’m not actually mad at him, just upset that we couldn’t hit some summits together. maybe next year. But i’m getting ahead of myself.

So I went alone, much to the chagrin of my parents. I spent most of my time at the Slushers, and a few days in the Sawatch range. I climbed Pikes Peak on New Year’s Eve, and boy was that amazing! It was long, cold and my first cold weather climb. I almost didn’t make it. Almost. When I finally got to the summit, I just about cried. I was windblown, dehydrated, and couldn’t feel my feet. But inside, my heart was pumping with the thrill of having climbed a 14er in the winter! I was hooked.

I hoped to do another, but Mr Slusher had to work on some home projects, and I didn’t feel comfortable doing any solo climbs yet. So I sat out the week enjoying the Slusher’s marvelous hospitality…and all the food that came with it!

Monday, I went skiing, and that night drove to the town of Alma, where I slept in my car. I met a guy from texas, named Christian. He is about my age, and was pretty psyched about climbing. We had an ambitious plan to try a 3 peak set. We would climb one, take two saddles to the other two peaks, and descend back to the car. I felt that physically we could make it, but the weather decided that it didn’t like us. That morning was beautiful, but the peaks were covered in gray clouds. The winds were ridiculous, and the spindrift was insane.

We amended our plans, and decided to focus on Bross, the closer of the 3 and see what happened. We set off at 7:30 and made good progress to the Northeast slope that would be our ticket to the top. As soon as we reached the treeline, we were buffeted by strong winds. we climbed together until 12,000 feet. After that, we split up because I was moving faster. I was making good time until I crested the slope to the North ridge where I was smashed by 70-80 mph winds.

I almost turned back. Indeed, the remaining 1000 feet would be both a physical battle to summit, and a mental battle to persevere. In the end, I made it. I stood on the summit and roared. I made it, and felt so alive! The winds were insane! I had to jam my camera between two rocks, and weight the strap down with two more rocks just to keep it from blowing away!

I really, really wanted to climb over to cameron, which was only a mile away, but with my partner a 1000 feet below me, and the fact that I couldn’t see Cameron, I decided to descend. We got back to the truck at 1:30, and drove to Buena Vista.

We camped at Bongo Billy’s parking lot for lunch, and the used their wifi. I planned on resting the next day, which I later regretted, nevertheless, we decided to meet in Fairplay at 6:30 thursday morning for an attempt on Sherman.

Wednesday dawned and I slept in, I drove over to the swhela’s cabin, where I took a much needed shower. I spent the rest of the afternoon bouldering at the local wall, and then heading into town to use the wifi. I then discovered that Christian had returned to Texas, and that thursday was supposed to be nasty. I tried to get a girl from Boulder to come down, but the weather in Denver was too bad. I decided not to climb at 14er thursday, but decided to give a local 13er a try.

I woke up to a cloudless day, and got geared up for the climb. I was excited about it because it was a pure solo attempt, and there was no trail. I set off into the woods on my chosen line of approach, and after 3 hours of climbing realized that I had come up the wrong damn side of the mountain. I was cut off from the summit ridge by a nasty ravine. I made a couple of bad decisions, and ended up totally buggering the whole climb. By 11, it was obvious the only option was retreat.

I got back, and decided to return to the Slusher’s early. I did, and spent the next day hanging out with Tessa and Chrissy, and then going out for Chrissy’s 18th bday party! I had an absolute blast, but it had to end. Tessa and I drove back to Kansas on Saturday.

I felt strangely peaceful after this trip. I hadn’t climbed near enough 14ers, but I was calm on the inside. I’m pretty sure I’m going to work in Colorado this summer, and I’m totally stoked about the idea of working at 7,000′ and climbing 14ers on the weekend!!! AHHHHHH!!! that would be the bomb!

So all in all, the trip had accomplished it’s purpose: keep Caleb in college.

Well, Caleb is going back to college, and is excited about it. Unfortunately, I’m now possessed by winter mountaineering. I was watching a movie tonight, and feeling very peaceful, when I read a trail report from a guy who climbed Holy Cross. It was breathtaking. For 1o minutes, I was back in the mountains, climbing a frost-bitten peak, in the cold. And then i woke up, and I was sitting on the couch, eating reduced-fat Wheat thins. Curse it all. I could have survived, but then I read another, and saw this picture, and then the next…

I about cried. The urge was back. The angst returned. I need another week in Colorado. No, another month. Curse it, I needed a whole bloody life! Bugger it all, I’m going to explode.

I’d go on, but it’s late and I work tomorrow. You can expect another post soon about my thoughts on Mountain climbing. In the meantime, I need to say a few final things.

First, and MASSIVE thanks to the Slushers for their hospitality.

Second, I have moderate frostnip in my toes from Pike’s. It’s cool.

Third, well I just forgot. This really cool song came on and it’s sung by a really pretty girl, and suddenly I completely forgot all about what I was going to say…oh well

Lead with your feet and love the madness