I am currently posted up in the Orangeville Library, as the weather refuses to cooperate. It is a modest little building but has a decent selection of books considering half the town can barely spell their own name. But on a rainy day it makes a good spot to stay warm and dry, while contemplating what to climb when the sun shows its face again. Plus, the rain gives me that extra little shove I needed to update the old blogeroni.
After leaving Elko, NV we hoped on the 80 and pounded pavement all the way to Salt Lake City, UT. There I might up with a lady I had found on Craig's List and purchased a nearly complete rack. As a good friend of mine told me when I mentioned my purchase, I am moving up in the world :) This latest purchase coupled with the crash pad I bought in Joshua Tree a few weeks earlier, and I am beginning to feel, and perhaps look, like less of a gumbi. For those non-climbers reading, gumbi is a term coined by experienced climbers for those who are either new to the sport, or an ever dreaded poser.
From Salt Lake our little caravan continued on to the small, but welcoming town of Orangeville which is a mere ten minutes from Joe's Valley. Now, I had never been to Joe's before and prior to this trip I had been warned of its highly addictive nature. Originally I had shrugged off the warning, after all, climbing in of itself is addictive. What could make this place so special? Well, let me tell you. The rock here is sandstone which equates to fine grain sandpaper. Super good for your skin. "Feel good climbing" if you will. Plus there is a ton of it. Everywhere you look there is another boulder begging you to come climb it. The rock is broken up into three main realms, the Left Fork, the Right Fork, and New Joes. These are subdivided into areas, which are further broken down by specific boulder. So far I've done some climbing in each of the three, but not enough to pick a favorite. However, I'm sure I will be willing to play favoritism by the end of the month!
Day one of climbing was spent primarily at Boysize Area which is not far from camp. This spot has a wide variety of difficulties, ranging from the easiest warm up climbs to those that Chris Sharma might warm up on. It was there that I discovered my first project, a V6 called Eurosize. I have never conquered a V5 before, much less a V6, so this is a tall order. But after giving it some good tries it feels like it might go. Eventually.
The next day was a bit toasty so we immediately set course to the Riverside boulders. The main boulder there is half in the cool blue water of the river (thus the ever creative name of Riverside). It was here, on the slabby face of the K-Town boulder that I realized the true splendor of sandstone. Suddenly the tiniest of ripples in the rock was a sturdy foot. Every time I grabbed a hold, except for the occasional skin-awakening crimp, it was like my skin was getting exfoliated at the finest of day spas. Even after a solid three days of climbing my skin looked magnificent, a big feat for any climber! I wish I could strap one of the boulders to Shark's roof rack and drive it back to Cali with me!
When we made our trip into town to pick up dinner supplies at the Food Ranch, we made an exciting discovery. Next to the parking lot sat a cooler full of food with a big sign saying FREE. To a hungry climber the only thing better than free food is climbing, so needless to sat we jumped on this opportunity. A note inside the cooler read "Enjoy this food and when you're done pass it on. Climb hard and send!". Also in the cooler, amidst the Mac N' Cheese and cans of tuna was a little bag of ganja. All I have to say is, climbers are an amazing community of people!
In order to bring this blog to a timely close, I will conclude it with a list of sent problems. Made the list from memory so I probably left out a few, but my favorites are definitely all here.
Obsolete V2
Regular V2
Warm Me Up Scotty V1
Powerade V3
Shit V4
K-Town V4
B-Town v3
Chexmix V3
Toy Truck V0
Tonka V0
Tweakers V2
P.S.
Sorry I don't have any pictures to post yet. I promise that eventually I will remember to take my camera out of my backpack.
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