Devil's Lake, May 2010

Above - Katie following me up some easy thing at the Railroad Amphitheater.

I had a completely wonderful weekend in Devil's Lake last month, and the wonderfulness went so far beyond the amount of climbing we did. It was a sheer pleasure to drive down there with my friends Shawn and Katie - with whom I have shared so many great climbing adventures. Just travelling together, camping together, hiking together... And we managed to find the Lost Face on the West Bluff (which was an accomplishment in itself). It was just great to be outside with friends. A restorative experience and one I wish I could have every weekend.

Hiking to the Railroad Amphitheater, a site of some great climbing routes.

Gear, beautiful gear!

Me following the Lost Face Overhang. Supposedly 5.8?!! Ha!

Shawn leading Lost Face Overhang. Did an awesome job.

On being a rope-gun

I have to admit it - I LOVE leading. I feed off of it. It makes me so happy, adds that extra frisson of excitement, commitment, even danger... Although I am NOT a dangerous leader, perhaps even to a fault. I could be faster, and be a better leader. But that is indeed part of the great growing and learning cycle that is rock climbing. There is always room for improvement, but equally there is room for enjoyment and joy in pushing the limits.

As I've gotten more leading under my belt and started climbing with a couple of women who had not done as much, I've become the designated leader. Being put in that position has caused me to grow, perhaps even in a way I wouldn't have if I had always climbed with the same strong partners.

Last summer I got on Roofburner at Red Wing, on lead, without ever having been on the climb before. This is something I can't imagine I would have tried a year or two ago. And I don't think I would have dared had I not had the experience of needing to get on the sharp end. More recently I stepped up to the lead on The Daily Grind at Willow. Admittedly I only led half before I backed off, but it was a huge step for me. I worked for that confidence and it feels great to have it.

I've been doing a lot of climbing lately with a newer woman climbing partner, and I feel that part of my ropegun confidence and supportiveness is going to give her the confidence to do her first trad lead. For me, anyway, being a ropegun goes hand in hand with fostering ropegun-ship in others.

Spring is the best time ever

I am in love with spring. I am wallowing in it, delirious with it, soaking it up and spitting it out. I am savoring it like a fine wine, and guzzling it as if it was going out of style. We had an early spring and a lot of warmth which made it easy to shrug off the constraints of winter and revel in the lack of snow... but it may also be that I'm just more appreciative of spring as I get older. Lame thing to say, perhaps, but I do notice changes in the way I think about things, and in a lot of ways those changes are good. I feel wiser and better able to appreciate spring.

The colors have been spectacular as we phased through the crab apple and cherry blossom and into the lilac season. Most annuals and perennials are not quite producing yet, but things will change rapidly and constantly as we get into some more much needed warmth. I started a bunch of seeds (mostly flowers) and I can tell that they're just dying for a blast of heat to kick 'em into high gear.

I have had three delirious days on the rock since spring landed; three trips to Taylors Falls with four women... which brings me to another thing, another change that seems like a wise and wonderful thing - I have female climbing partners now like I never have before! It makes me so happy! Which is not to say that I don't love the male climbing partners I have, but I honestly spent the first ten years of my climbing "career" climbing mostly with men, and this change was something that I had gradually been wishing for. What is it - an evolution in my awareness of gender, or an evolution in my role as climbing partner... in any case, I love you, climbing women. You make me feel strong, supportive and very happy to be a climbing woman, too.

I've spent a lifetime being my own weird sort of individual without thinking too deeply about why. Why was I not very "girly"? Why did I want my hair short? Why did I dress in an androgynous fashion? I just knew how I wanted to be even if I didn't know what I wanted to be, or why. Now all these years later as a happily (deliriously happy) married woman with female climbing partners I still don't have all the answers, but I have accepted myself as a strange bird and I feel more in touch with being a woman on my own terms. Having female climbing friends - especially the strong, accomplished ones I've got - is part of the package.

Ah my darling

P1010030, originally uploaded by Kirious.

El Potrero Chico, Nuevo Leon, Mexico

OK. So here it is; a brief synopsis. Got here. Culture shock. Got used to it. Started using some rudimentary Spanish. Got on the rock. Loved the rock. Went to sleep. Got up and hiked up a canyon and got on lots more rock, and loved it more more more. Took pictures. Drank beer. Ate breakfast burritos. Climbed more rock. Knee hurt. Knee got better. Went to sleep. Ate, drank coffee. Climbed all day long. Had dinner. Climbed in the dark. Slept the sleep of the dead. Woke up late, had breakfast, hiked long and hard, climbed long and hard. Now sitting typing on Jeff's computer, at a table with Aaron, Steph, Amanda, Jeff, Adrian, Shawn, Katie, Glenn (already left), and me. Tomorrow a lot more climbing. Margaritas, maybe some slacklining. The next day... the last day of climbing!!!!! Argh!

The cold

I have one word to say.

Fuuuck!

It is cold. It is biting pain cold. It is numb toes cold. It is "cover your skin" cold. It is cold.
It is down jacket cold, it is puffy mittens cold. It is extra layers cold. It is creaky snow cold.
It is frozen eyelashes cold. It is "can't walk into the wind" cold.

January!

Stayed up too late. But it was a good party. Fun games with new people. Silliness. Good scotch. Good music. Woke up too early and now I could really do with a nap.

I hope, in this year, to run a half-marathon... something I've been talking about for years and yet not doing. The key seems to be having some discipline and building my mileage up at the appropriate rate.

I want to be more positive this year. To not get frustrated in traffic. I want to do more art, and have a more productive attitude when I come home from work. And if my job goes away, I want to be positive and proactive about my next career move.

I want to cultivate old friendships and new ones.

Christmas

We drove up to Ross' mom's house on Christmas eve. Planned to leave the house by 2, and it was closer to 3 when we left. Then the traffic on 94 was hellish. For some reason everyone was driving out of town on Christmas eve! Imagine! However, we got there, helped Sara install her new blinds in the main room, and she cooked a delicious meal of tenderloin. Stayed the night and in the morning we took Toad and Clio out to the horse farm to go for a relatively short walk in the cold - it was 1 degree out. Warmed up a bit walking through the barn and saying hi to Hawk (Sara's horse) and then we said hi to the "babies" who were in the outdoor paddock. Toad actually touched noses with one of them! I think he wasn't as freaked by their smaller size.

Then to Ross' dad's house, where there were many people who all loved Toad. Susan's sisters and families were there, and Ross' two brothers. We sat down to brunch. Hung out, chatted. Opened presents. As the evening approached we packed up and drove back to the cities. I think Toad was very happy to be home; he sacked out on the couch for the rest of the evening.

Well, I'm not on top of it

Not blogging every day, by god, but here I am making an effort.
Today was a day of wasting time and pooping around. I had a goal of dropping some books off at the library and hitting the REI clearance sale. Ross decided to come along as long as the trip would include coffee and a book store. The trip ended up including HOM furniture, IKEA, Borders, Southdale.... argh! Too many people! Too many shoppers!

We hit IKEA because we've had thoughts of upgrading to a queen size bed someday. Of course we walked out of there with several other items and not a queen size bed. Hit Southdale because Ross wanted to get Mille Bourne for Billy, and of course the game store didn't have it. So instead I bought a pair of jeans at the Gap. Ha ha.

The lesson is: buy everything online.