Geode Cutting and Packing up - October 31, 2010

Anja went for a run on a dirt trail in Dimple Park.  The park runs East/West with views of the Wasatch Mountains as you run East.

And other great views.

Anja went back to cutting more geodes we had got from Dugway Utah and Ken worked on packing up the van to hit the road.

After finishing we washed the geodes and set them out to dry over night.

We ended up with just a few geodes.

Real Estate Shopping - October 30, 2010

We went out and checked out the real estate market in Sandy. Ken figured out a tour of open houses going on and we headed out to see about a half dozen houses to check out the market in Sandy.  Anja was exited and took pictures of the first house we went to but soon realized house shopping is a little boring when you are not looking to buy but over all it was an interesting afternoon looking at $220,000 - $420,000 houses 2,000 sq ft to 4,500 sq ft on typically 0.25 acres lots.  These houses are five minutes to the climbing we did the day before and 20 minutes to Snowbird ski resort.

Little Cottonwood Canyon - Gates Buttress - October 29, 2010

By the afternoon the day was looking nice and most of the snow was gone so we headed up to Little Cottonwood Canyon to checkout the trad climbing there. We headed to the School House are which seemed to have a high concentration of well rated climbs.

We hit up Bushwack Crack, a two pitch 5.8 crack.  Ken lead it and when he got to the anchors he linked up the second pitch.  It would have been an ok 2 pitch climb but as a long full pitch it was awesome.

To get down we rapped over a 5.11, 5.10, and 5.8 so we top roped them quick before the sun disappeared.

Cutting Geodes - October 28, 2010

Anja wanted her turn cutting geodes so we got her suited up in her rain gear and she sat down and cut a bunch.

The look of Anja having fun! :)

Now we are just trying to figure out what to do with them all.

First Geode Cut and Hobby Lobby - October 26, 2010

We took a rest day from climbing and Ken cut the first geodes with the tile saw.  It worked great except you get soaked when cutting.  The cut geodes were exciting and look great.

The weather was poor again in the afternoon.

Sushi and the gym - October 24, 2010

Since it had rained hard the day before and the weather didn't look any better we headed back over to the climbing gym.  Anja was excited to try out her 4 almost new pairs of climbing shoes.

After the gym Ken tried another food creation of Sushi Anja would eat.  Anja loves fresh veggies but is not a fan of seaweed or raw fish.  So Ken tried making up something without these with a cucumber roll, an avocado roll, and a "california chicken roll."

It was ok but not nearly the success of the Thai Spring Rolls.

That evening it snowed about 6 inches in town but we were hopeful the weekend would be nice.

Used gear sale - October 23, 2010

REI was having it's used gear sale so we set the alarm for 6:30 am and headed up to the Salt Lake REI.  We got there early expecting a line but no one was there.  Someone said there was a parking lot sale going on at Black Diamond so we headed over there.  The Black Diamond parking lot swap was crazy with tons of people selling there stuff out of the backs of there cars.  We found lots of lots of stuff.  Priority one was a to find Anja a rain jacket.  We found two almost right away.  We're not sure who some of these people were but there was lots of brand new gear begin sold for very little and Anja got 2 Patagonia jackets for $50. Then she found some ice screws, a couple packs.  Then we hit again finding someone selling rock shoes in Ken's size and Anja's size.  Shortly after we left it started raining hard so we had timed things just right.  The list is below:

Black Diamond Parking lot Swap:
Patagonia Spraymaster Jacket $20 R - $300
Patagonia Women's Rain Shadow Jacket $30 (found $10 cash in pocket) = $20 R - $150
First Ascent Top $5 R?~$30
black diamond magnum pack $10 R$50
2 x Omega Pacific Ice screws $12.5 each R - $50
Outdoor Products Mojave H20 Waist Pack $5 R$22
Trango Squid stick clip top $5 R - $30
Bolle Cylon Goggles $5 R$17
8 x Black Diamond Dynex Dogbones $2 each = $16; R $6 each = $48
Adidas gel-1140 $10 R$80

Ken
La Sportiva TC Pro 95% of sole left $70 R$170
La Sportiva Tradmaster 50% of sole left $5 R$110
La Sportiva Slipper 40% of sole left $5 R~$100

Anja
Scarpa Vision NEW $15 R$130
Scarpa Dominator NEW (Rand cracking) $10 R$120
Scarpa Unknown New $15 R$100
La Sportiva Venom $30 R$100
Spent $261 Retail Value Over $1500

After the Black Diamond sale we headed back over to REI to checkout what they had and found some good deals there too.
 Osphrey Kestral 38 $54 $139
La Sportiva Mythos size 42 $40 R$130
La Sportiva Trango GTX 44.5 $115 R $290
PMI belay gloves $10 R$32
Pearl Izumi Select Bike Gloves $10 R$22
Spent $230 Retail value $613