Randomness

It's been a while since my last update, but I'll keep this one (relatively) short. After leaving Squamish last year, I went to southern Arizona for a month or two, drove to Florida to visit my folks for Thanksgiving, and then drove to Boulder, CO around the end of the year. I've been in that area since, climbing a little and looking (a little) for work.

While in Arizona I sprained my other ankle (other, as in the one I didn't break the previous year). I did a bit of damage to the ankle and it has taken a long time to heal; as I write this in June, some 8 months after the injury, I still have problems walking down stairs. I haven't done a lot of climbing since arriving in Boulder, despite being surrounded by an abundance of awesome areas. And I haven't been able to do any long hikes or any fourteeners. (A "fourteener" is a mountain of over 14,000 feet; Colorado has 53 of the 66 fourteeners in the contiguous U.S.) But I've met cool people and continued to be blessed by exploring amazing and varied landscapes; a few of those follow.

Climbing at the Cochise Stronghold, Arizona. For ten years in the mid-1800's, Chief Cochise and up to 1,000 tribe members used these formations in the Dragoon Mountains of southern Arizona as a base of operations, planning and carrying out sorties against the militia and local towns. Chief Cochise was buried in a secret location in the heart of these mountains.

Climbing is possible all year round on the Front Range, the eastern slope of the Rockies. Shelf Road (pictured here) is sunny and somewhat warm even in January. When the sun is shining, even a T-shirt will serve in 45 degree weather. The sun was not shining this day!

Tina's trailer was a great escape from frigid nights!

Tina and Oli keeping warm at Shelf Road

Me climbing in Boulder Canyon. This is less than a ten minute drive from downtown Boulder.

Indian Creek, Utah

A close-up view of the cracks at Indian Creek

A pleasant evening at Indian Creek.

Onions tremble at my knife-wielding skills

Climbing in New Mexico

The Rio Grande serves as the border between Texas and Mexico, but from there it cuts straight up through New Mexico to its source in Colorado. This is near Taos, New Mexico. It's amazing to think back upon all the geography lessons in school and actually get to see some of the places that I had only known from books. From the Rio Grande to Alaska, climbing has taken me to some idyllic lands.

Unaweep Canyon in Colorado, near Grand Junction (western side of the Rockies)

This long, narrow canyon, only a small portion of which is pictured here, is reputedly the only canyon in the world to have a river running out both ends.

Climbing with Sam and Brie at Unaweep.