Vegas to AZ

Catch-up again........

Left Vegas on Friday May 14th. Went to Bootleg for some riding while Bowman finished up w/ work. Rode 3 laps- once down Armageddon to warm-up (w/ Snakeback all the way down to Reaper). It was actually flowy and I didn't have to dab or get off once. Then I tried Ginger. Still having a couple of spots that I can't "man up" on. One is a steep chute w/ multiple ledges, and the other is a steep, multi-tiered rock section w/ mega consequences. I'd need full body armor and another buddy that was talking shit to me to try those sections!! Finished the day off w/ Snakeback to Kevorkian and hit the 30' gap, then into the Love Channel (rock wash that swoops back and forth). Lily took a couple of runs and cleared more stuff w/o any carnage this time (she had a lot of bruises from not making a switchback corner). We jumped back in the van and zoomed across Hoover Dam. They're making a separate bridge through the area so you won't drive across the actual dam anymore, and traffic was a bit of an annoyance.

Once into AZ the traffic moved a bit better, and we charged along onto Hwy 40 towards Flagstaff. Near the town of Williams we made a turn north and drove some FSR's for a bit until we found Brian off to the L of the road past the normal parking area for the Paradise Forks. We hung out for a bit, then crashed in the back of the van. Woke up and headed out from the campsite to the climbing directly after some granola and coffee. You had to hike through a couple of dried up waterfalls and along the top of the cliff band. A canyon w/ basalt columns/cracks emerged from within the ground and split in two different directions up the valley. We rappelled in off a tree and began "warming up" on 5.10+ cracks- Torpedo, Retard's Recess, and another one that Lily scraped her way up (you had to climb out) that had a ledge half way up. I fell at the very top of that one- trying to make a move on face holds instead of staying in the crack- that's what I get. I made a prayer of a send on RR- a bulge at the top that required some flaring hands- Brian grunted his way through it so I knew I was in for some business. Sandra cruised all of them w/ grace, style, and barely a huff or puff. Then we moved over to the Prow area. Brian set me up so I could solo climb w/ his Mini Traxion device. You just had to use that and some "shock cord" that you looped through the device and put around your neck. The only caveat was that you couldn't lower yourself down- at all. I tested it out on the Prow-11a. There was some super solid crack climbing down low, then it turned into "ring locks" where you couldn't slide your hands in the crack, but it was too small to use fingers. You had to counter-oppose thumb and ring/middle fingers- making an A-OK sort of sign. It felt really insecure and I peeled off a couple of times. The feet were really small and required smearing along the lip of the crack- which was super polished. It was really strenuous and I was grunting, sweating, and cursing my way up it- but I made it!! Then as Brian was working his project I moved the rope over and did Jolly Roger (5.10). It was really cool- had some roof moves on big face holds, some pure hand jams, some stemming, and topped out on broken blocks. I was pretty happy to end the day on a send. Lily split out early after her rappel meltdown and working over on the one climb she got on. She graciously made a huge veggie saute, pasta, and red sauce and greeted us w/ a big salad too. We partied down for a while, then the girls crashed and Brian and I stumbled around in the dark for a while before returning to camp and crashing.

The next morning (Sun. May 16th) I felt like someone ran me over. Full body edition. Getting into all those awkward, contorted positions took its toll on my weak, unconditioned body. Everything hurt. I limped around getting breakfast, slugging down coffee as fast as I could. We made our way back to the first zone again, and Brian was already sussing out the moves on Paradise Lost (5.12a) when we finally staggered up. Lily and I sat on the other side of the canyon in a daze for a while. I was going to get some shots of Brian on rappel but he was too amped to send and charged up it before I could set up. He sent and we moved back over to the Prow area. I set Jolly Roger back up and he set up next to Mayflower. Lily and I rapped in and I went up first. I struggled a lot more than the day before- probably b/c I was climbing at my limit for a warm-up. The bulge resisted me mightily, but I found the key foot and pulled through the crux before finally scraping myself over the blocky exit moves. Lily took a LONG time on the climb and finally resorted to jugging her way up the rope. She was rightfully frustrated and gave back up on climbing at the Forks. I lowered myself back in to the climb next to it. It had a brutal roof boulder problem at the bottom that I wasn't prepared for. I struggled and had some laughable (later) moments since I couldn't lower myself down- dangling a few feet above the ground while a couple other parties sorted gear nearby and looked back occasionally. Finally I pulled through it and the climbing relented back to a reasonable level. We called it a day after Brian sent his project (I got some video on Lily's camera b/c mine died). We said our goodbyes and packed up the van- heading to Sedona next. We cruised to the 89a exit off of 17 and wound our way down Oak Creek Canyon- the red and white spires and rock bands unfolding before us like the pages of a familiar book. We passed Red Rock Slide State Park and then onto the tourist mecca that is Sedona. They changed the roads up a bit and now have roond-a-boots (round-a-bouts in Canadian) that are more easily managed. We rolled up to Mountain Bike Heaven at around 6PM and ran into George who hurriedly sold us a one page map for 6$ and shooed us out the door. We went a few doors down and ran into Kevin who had a lady friend over (he got divorced and didn't have the now 10 year old daughter around). We had some Sangria and some laughs before jumping in the van and cruising out to FSR 525 where we found a spot to crash for the night. SEDONA!!!