Sunday, October 31, 2010

Planned schedule

We bought our tickets from LAX to Singapore so our international plans have begun.  We are super excited that Ram will be joining for the first month of our trip!!  We can't wait to be back on the beach in Thailand!!!  We would love it if more people came and joined up in our international adventures.

Oct 31- Nov 2 - St. George Area climbing
Nov 3 - Kevin and Lauren's house in Venice
Nov 4-5 Anja LA for conference
Nov 4-7 Ken Jtree climbing
Nov 8-16 Unsure (likely Red Rocks, Moab, and/or Indian Creek)
Nov 16-Nov 22 In Boulder
Nov 22-Dec 25 Anja Vermont
Nov 22 -Dec 8 Ken Vermont
Dec 9-Dec 25 Ken Boulder
Dec 26-Jan 1 Boulder (ski hut trip there somewhere)
Jan 1 - Jan 12 Unsure activities
Jan 13 - Jan 20 Florida
Jan 20 - Jan 23 LA
Jan 23 - Jan 29 Singapore
Jan 30 - Feb 6 Kuala Lampur/Malaysia 
Feb 7 - Mar 7  Thailand Ton Sai climbing on the beach (come join us! check out kathailand.blogspot.com for our 2007 trip)
 Tenative Plans
Mar 7 - Mar 14 Hanoi Vietnam (Hong Long Bay climbing)
Mar 14 - Mar 17 Beijing (Great Wall, Tienanmen Square, Forbidden City)
Mar 17 - Mar 20 Xi an (Terracotta Warriors and silk dress)
Mar 20 - Mar 30 Yangshou climbing
Mar 30 - Apr 27 Nepal (Annapurna trek)
Stop in India to Taj Mahal
Maybe go through Cairo and see the Pyramids
maybe climbing in Antalya, Turkey
May - Kalymnos, Greece
June - Italy

Saturday, October 30, 2010

Ibex Shadow Buttress - October 13, 2010

We got up in the morning and headed east on hwy 6 to climb at Maple Canyon.  As we were heading there we took a look at an Utah Bouldering Guide we had a realized that we would be passing only a few miles from Ibex; a well known climbing area so we decided to stop and check it out.

We pulled off hwy 6 on the gravel road and then the next turn took us onto a dry lake bed.  Then the lake bed started to get wet and Ken got pretty scared and pulled back into where it was clearly dry and Anja got out and walked to find a good route through the lake bed.  The walls behind Ibex were impressive and pretty large in the 500-600 ft range.  We pulled up to only about 200 ft from the base and were once again at a climbing area without a guidebook so we drove up and down the base trying to figure out where we should hike up to and look for climbs. 
 
We chose one of the big rock formation (later discovered to be Shadow Buttress) and headed up there to try to find a bolt line to head up.  Ken found two bolt lines and headed up the easier looking of the two bolt lines.  It turned out it went for around 180 ft.
Ken at the top of the first pitch, it was really fun and the bolts kept going so Anja gave the start of the it a shot; Ken tried too no go. 
The views back down to the van and part of the lake bed.
Luckily we found some rap anchors off to the right.
On the walk down we came across this crazy spider.
When we got down Anja tried the second bolt line; Ken tried too.  No go.

Friday, October 29, 2010

Sonora Departure - October 12, 2010

Well it was time to head out of the Sonora/Yosemite area.  We had spent 21 days from September 21 to October 11 in the area and about two weeks of that at the Burhoe's.  We were sad to leave the Burhoe's but excited to head to Salt Lake City area.  
We miss Gander.
We miss Goose more!  Jump Goose, get the dot!

We headed out and drove over hwy 108 to the eastside of the Sierra and kept heading east into Nevada.  We found a nice sleep spot off hwy 6 in Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest.  When we got to camp Anja wanted to have a glass of wine but when she had it she said it wasn't as much fun.  That is when we realized we really missed the Burhoes so sad.

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Another undisclosed location - October 11, 2010

We headed out to another climbing area we cannot discuss the location of but it wasn't that far from Sonora so we decided to take Goose and Gander.  It was also another location without a guidebook so we were left with just Burhoe's recommendations to start at the right by the tree.
Anja and Gander were excited about the climbing above.
Anja picked a steep looking chalked up climb that looked really fun and it was really fun.
Ken lead up the route after Anja.
Anja then picked a route further to the right which did not have a ton of chalk on it.  About half way up Anja started commenting to Ken that he should move over because the rock seemed a little chossy and loose.  Anja lowered off and used the sling trick.
Anja then found another harder fun looking chalked up route.  She headed up and got to a committing move at the fourth bolt and wasn't feeling it.  She was still feeling mentally exhausted from all the climbing on Pangea the days before.  Ken offered to try so she lowered down and Ken went up to give it a shot.  The move was committing and a little thin but Ken got it done.  This was a first for our relationship Ken finishing a steep sport route for Anja.  Anja top roped and had fun but was really tired. 
Gander and Goose were having so much fun.
To end off the day Ken top roped an extra steep route.
The wall was big and steep.
Views were great.

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Lost World Pangea 5.10c - October 10, 2010

We headed into the Lost World on the correct trail this time and made it down into the Lost World.  We wondered down canyon and found Pangea but since it climbed out of the canyon Anja wanted to checkout some of the other routes there.
Ken following one of the 5.10 sport routes we found.
I guess Burhoe was worried about us because while we were on the route he buzzed the canyon overhead and saw us climbing.
One of the climbers from the campfire the night before on a 5.8 crack to 5.10a bolted face.
Pangea what we had come for starts on the wrinkles at the bottom right and a consistent endurance climbes up and left for 180 ft to a belay at on a small ledge.
Anja in the first half of pitch 1.
Anja nearing the top of  pitch one, about 15 ft to go.
Pitch 2 was 160 ft and climbed up face, a mini roof with a crack move to some slab with good but very slopey holds and then moves right to a roof move.
The views down the canyon from the top of pitch 1 were great.
Anja on the roof move of pitch 2.  We had planned to continue up two more pitches.  Anja started up the 3rd pitch but the bolts had changed from 5-15 ft apart to being 15 to maybe 30 ft apart.  Anja made it to the second bolt on pitch 3 and third bolt was far away so she asked Ken if he wanted to lead but Ken said he was too tired to get on any runout climbing.  Luckily we had brought a few bail biners so Anja lowered of and we rapped down using the bail biners.  We made the right call as we hiked out and got back to the van right at nightfall.
Here's the gps track:Climbing at the lost world, Sonora, CA at EveryTrail
EveryTrail - Find the best Hiking in California

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Lost World - October 9, 2010

Burhoe kept talking about the Lost World off hwy 108 so we headed up there to check it out and climb Pangea a four pitch 5.10c sport climb.
 The van at the end of the 1.8 mile dirt road.  The guidebook said to park at the end of road 5N06, hike over the dirt berm, up some slabs and to the other side of the slabs and follow the obvious trail.  From the get go Anja was in a hurry seeing that it was already 2:30 pm and we had an hour approach to do so getting the climb done would be tight.  So we charge up the slabs and across them.
The views were great as we were hiking but we didn't have any real distinct trail so Ken was feeling like we had lost the trail very early on.


At this point we could see the road closed dirt road coming down and we were pretty sure we had messed up the approach.
 We traversed around and made it to the edge of the canyon of the lost world and Anja wanted to get in so we tried to set a rappel off a tree and rap in but it didn't work so we decided just to hike out.
 Anja disappointed that we could not make it to the base of the climbs to at least check them out.
From where we were we had a great view over to Atlantis Wall.  It is pretty cool sounding grade V wall (about 1,500 ft) which you have to use a boat to get to the base of.  The hike backup to the top of the dome was pretty easy and we got back to the van no problem.  Two other climbers were there and had a fire started so we grabbed a few beers and joined them at the fire.

We had only planned to be up there one day but we wanted to do the climb and had the van so we stayed the night.  Anja was worried Burhoe would be concerned about us but I told her it would be fine.

Here's the gps track:
Trying to find the Lost World at EveryTrail
EveryTrail - Find the best Hiking in California

Monday, October 25, 2010

Glory Hole Biking - October 7, 2010

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Saturday, October 23, 2010

Glory Hole Biking - October 6, 2010

The weather still looked poor and all of our gear was still wet since it had been raining everyday so we went for a mountain bike ride at Glory Hole National Recreation Area.  It was about a 30 minute drive away.

 

The sky didn't look so agreeable.
Anja was excited because it was her first ever clipless pedal ride.  Bill had hooked us up with a pair of shoes and old pair of Ritchey WCS pedals.  She took to it pretty quick and was excited for the new bike control and pedal power.
The trail was great hard packed so the rains had little effect on the trail conditions.
At the start of the Buck Brush Loop it started to sprinkle but we wanted to ride so we kept going.
The Angels Camp trail was really great fast and flowy.

As we came around to the end of the loop the weather started to worsen and thunder and lighting a little so we rode back to the van quick.  Just as we got back to the van the rains really opened up and gave us a quick little dousing before we could get the bikes attached to the rack and jump in the van.

A map of the trail system and our ride about 7.8 miles.

Anja also went for a run before the bike ride.

Running in Sonora, CA

Running in Sonora, CA at EveryTrail
EveryTrail - Find the best Hiking near Sonora, California