This, That, and the Other

 Here’s a quick recap of the latest and greatest events that have shaped history since my last post.

I met my friend Peter for 2 days at the Obed.  It had been quite a long time since I had last been and I had forgotten how good the climbing is there.  Plus hanging with Peter is always a blast so the weekend was way fun.  We spent a day at Y-12, mostly climbing on the Vision Buttress, getting pumped on the steep jugs.  The next day we journeyed to North Clear, an area I had never really climbed at.  We started with two long, airy, and excellent routes, Saddam Hussein and Rumors of War.  From there we headed up to the Rasputin Ledge.  It was my first time on the ledge but the logistics were pretty obvious and not as annoying as they could have been.  After doing Scalded Dog we had had enough of ledge life so down we went.  Both of us wanted to leave earlier than later for the drive home so we headed toward the hike out and the Inner Circle.  Four quick routes there and we were homeward bound, tired but happy.

The Rasputin Ledge.  Image taken from Mountain Project

For Mother’s day we hosted Theresa's mom and dad, her sister, husband, and daughter, and my parents.  We were in charge of the food and booze and managed to pull everything together with mostly success.  The menu was heavy on finger food with 5 different sandwiches.  I was less than pleased with some of these, too much time in the oven on warm left the meatball sliders a little dried out.  A three tiered chocolate cake for dessert put everything right and overall I think everyone had a good time.

This last weekend we went to Las Vegas, staying at our usual haunt the Flamingo.  Despite having been there many, many times, we still love Vegas and have a great time.  There’s so much to do and so much energy in the air that we never fail to have a good time.  On this trip we experienced some interesting weather dichotomy that only the desert can provide.  On Saturday we hung out at the pool, trying to avoid getting too sunburned while sipping fruity drinks.  Sunday we drove out to climb at Mt. Charleston, 45 minutes from downtown.  With highs forecast for the 70s in Vegas, I knew that it would be cooler at Charleston as we would be climbing at 8000 feet.  The weather turned out to be cold rather than cool with snow on the ground, highs in the (low?) 40s, no sun and high winds.  We had fun but thoughts of the previous day’s poolside warmth certainly were not far from our minds.

Perfect place for cool drinks.  Unfortunately, we forgot the beer.

Playing with the camera's timer.  Note the hand in motion, I'm quick like the Flash!

Random artistic shot.  45 minutes from Vegas yet it feels so very different.

This weekend I’m headed up to the New River Gorge’s annual fundraiser, the Rendezvous.  It’s been many years since I was last at the New so I’m very stoked.  Hopefully my next post will be a recap of that with more pictures.