Sunday 19 June 2011

On the road!

This post is coming to you live from Starbucks in beautiful South Lake Tahoe CA. 

Gotta love Starbucks - free wi-fi + a double espresso mocha decaf frappucino with whipped cream and car-mel (not free). Mmmmm.  Just missing the bacon & maple syrup.

So much has been happening!

We've spent at least a week out of our first two weeks in the US at Joshua Tree National Park.  Yep, we've been climbing when we should have been out looking for vans.  But its all turned out for the best - we got more climbing done than we thought we could in the first few weeks (weather has been sensational) AND we got an awesome van!  Its a 2002 VW Eurovan with a poptop (sleeps 4 - snug!!), cooker, fridge & shower (note: "shower" is a hose attached to the back of the van).  I love it nonetheless.  I was so excited when we got it that i couldn't sleep on the first night.  We can't get any good radio stations, but the feeling you get when you drive this guy is just awesome.



"The Van".  We don't even have plates yet, so we have the dealer labels on it called "poptop heaven"!!
Mars below a climb called Dung Fu - named after the bats that chill out in the cave/off-width at the top
 
The Mofo's at J-Tree! As you can see my 'fluro' tan is still in full force.

More cracks at Joshua Tree - "White Lightening".  Met an Aussie guy at the base of this climb.  Its amazing the people that you meet in the most remote locations.

Classic Joshua Tree.  Apparently there is a booming drug business here.  Who woulda thought.

Our travels have taken us north from Joshua Tree to find some cooler temps. We stopped in at Bishop CA. Its definitely a boulderers dream, but the climbing there is pretty adventurous too. We also stopped in at Owens River Gorge. It was a super hot day and we completely messed up the walk in and ended up boulder hopping at the base of canyon for about an hour rather than doing the leisurely 10min walk in. 

The view of Owens River Gorge from the top.
Some of the really amazing rock architecture at Owens.  Actually, most of the top part of the cliff looked like it was about to fall down at any moment!  Yes, we wear helmuts.


And now at beautiful Lake Tahoe - surrounded by the majesty of snow capped mountains and lush pine forests.   

This is where we are climbing at the moment - "Lovers Leap".  We did a climb on this cliff (you're up about 450 ft before you even start) that goes up the corner just left of centre on this cliff.  It was just a little exciting! There is still a little bit of snow around at the base of some of the cliffs too.  And the odd Rattlesnake.  Yep, we've seen a baby one - assume the rest of the family wasn't far away :(

Awwwww.  Some happy Mofo's at the top of 'Bears Reach' at Lovers Leap on Mars' birthday. 

Mars is doing a sensational job of leading my ass up some great classic climbs and I've had the pleasure of leading him up lower grade almost-not-worthy climbs :) 

Hope all is well with our family & friends!