Transition

Friday morning at Vedauwoo.

Seasons change quickly in the Rockies and it seems I mark each change with a transition. My kayak is in the garage now, the rivers are low. Ben, Xavier, and Ryan are still kayaking in California. I've been daydreaming of big wilderness kayaking trips but they'll have to wait until next season. It's dry and hot. Fall is when I hang up my paddle and get out the climbing rack.

Yours truly thinking sticky thoughts. Spider God. 11b.

Karl Rigrish. You should see his serve.

Last Friday I headed up to Vedauwoo for a day of climbing with one of my main climbing partners over the last couple of years, Karl Rigrish. Karl is incredibly strong and loves to climb at Vedauwoo. Which is good because he just started Nursing school in Cheyenne. Karl is quick to laugh and has a unique, dark, and cynical sense of humor that I appreciate. His enthusiasm for crack climbing, hunting, and guns is limitless. He reminds me a lot of my friends and I when we climbed at Vedauwoo during high school. I love the photo below of Karl in Wormdrive which was taken last fall. Wide cracks at Vedauwoo can be pretty ferocious but to be a true Vedauwoo climber you have to like them.

Soul climbing at Vedauwoo. Wormdrive. 11b.



Lightning, thunder, and rain ended our day of climbing early but not before we did the classic 5.10 hand crack, Beefeater. Here is a nice sequence of Karl.

Not for Vegetarians.

It was good to be on the rock again. In a few days I leave for the Wind Rivers. We are headed into the heart of the range and dreaming of some new alpine rock routes here . . .

Stay tuned.