LaDuke Adventures

Proxy Falls - McKenzie River Highway

2012-02-08T16:34:00.000-08:00

I've been really busy lately with a move to Oregon yet still working in Washington. Despite the inconvenience this has opened a whole new chapter of adventures for me! Before I moved down earlier this fall I made a trip to Proxy Falls along the McKenzie Highway. If you're passing through and don't take a moment to stop and hike up to it you are really missing out! Check out the link above for the article I wrote for Eugene Outdoors to get the adventure specifics.

Joshua Tree National Park

2012-01-02T09:25:00.000-08:00

Wow, what a whirlwind this winter has been so far! I'm a few adventures behind still and wanted to share a few quick snaps from Joshua Tree National Park in November before I go bury myself under a pile of work for the next month! They've been having 80 degree weather this December while I'm up here in Spokane freezing my butt off. It really isn't fair, is it? Regardless, enjoy my adventure by taking a look through my lens.


Dead Snag at J-Tree


Weeds


What's a J-Tree post without a Joshua Tree?

This next photo was an extra special treat. I rarely see sheep on my adventures and there's guys were only about a mile off the road on a popular loop trail. They were weary of humans, but not nearly as much as the ones I have seen up north.

Big Horn Sheep

Honestly I can't wait to go back, I could spend days or even weeks exploring the modestly sized playground. Next time I'm not going to forget my climbing gear though! The granite there is otherworldly!

Paulina Lake - Newberry Crater, OR

2011-10-17T15:13:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I jumped at the chance to take a road trip around Central Oregon. My first proposed stop was a visit to The Newberry Crater Volcanic Monument just south of Bend, OR. The crater is actually a 17 mile wide caldera of a 500sq mile super volcano that once covered a large chunk of Central Oregon.

It was dark and as we drove up the crater to get to Paulina Lake in search of somewhere to camp we realized that the landscape around us was changing and before we knew it there was frost and snow to greet us. It was COLD! Thank god for 0 degree down sleeping bags! The weather was calm though so there was no chill breeze freezing us while we took night photos.

Paulina Peak over Paulina Lake at Sunrise

Paulina Lake at Sunrise

At sunrise the next morning we were talking with a few fishermen who said that East Lake (Paulina Lake's sister lake within the crater) was stocked with Atlantic Salmon, it seems odd to me, but it might be the sort of fact that a fisherman might like ot know before they head up.

We went in October and didn't see anyone aside from a couple of guys with little fishing boats. The bathrooms and dumpsters were locked, as was the gate to the top of Paulina Peak.Plan accordingly for seasonal closures.

If you're in the area and the roads are free from snow it is definitely worth seeing. Also don't miss the obsidian flow, it's a 50ft thick glassy patch of lava that covers nearly a square mile in the crater. There are also hot springs, ice caves, several camping areas and a waterfall all nearby.

Autumn Adventure

2011-09-23T13:44:00.000-07:00

There's a chill in the air that motivates me to put on my hiking boots a brightly colored scarf and venture out into the mountains. The warm inviting colors in the trees and the smell of the damp earth call to me almost more urgently than the first signs of summer do. Right now I'm sitting chained to a desk, working my butt off but in the next two weeks I am determined to show you some fall colors and drip my aching bones into a nice warm soak.

The change in seasons comes and goes quickly in the northwest and winter will be here soon so these few weeks while the autumn shaded leaves are still on the tress is a magical time.

Get out and enjoy it if you can, it will be gone before you know it!

Dear Ocean....

2011-08-16T16:01:00.000-07:00

...I miss you.

Oregon Coast at Sunset.

Hello Milkyway

2011-08-02T16:16:00.000-07:00

Saturday night I went out to Dee Wright Observatory which is the highest point on Mackenzie Pass to watch the meteor shower and shoot the milkyway. It was cold and breezy and I was beat from a day of hiking around Clear Lake & Proxy Falls. I snapped a few shots and came up with one I liked:It's definitely best viewed on black.
If your monitor is calibrated properly you should be able to see the Sisters in the foreground. Here at work I'm not able to make them out unfortunately.

Kirkham Hot Spring - Lowman Idaho

2011-06-29T12:14:00.000-07:00

Kirkham Hot Spring is located just outside of Lowman, ID on the scenic South Fork of the Payette River. The pools and waterfalls are visible from Highway 21. There is a campground at the spring that is usually packed. Expect to be sharing your soak!

The campground does have picnic tables and pit toilets. It opens officially on May 20th and has a camp host on site, so behave yourselves! There is a small camping fee and a $5 parking fee during peak seasons.

This is a high visibility soak and swimsuits are required. If you aren't looking to get into the pools or stand under one of the many hot waterfalls cascading down the hillside there is also a short interpretive trail about the eco-system.
Please be respectful of the area and pack out any trash that you find. Leave the springs looking better than when you arrived to ensure their beauty for the next visitors.

Mudslide Leavenworth - It Happened Again

2011-06-13T10:17:00.000-07:00

Mother Nature strikes again, Icicle Creek in Leavenworth again is her target.

I had been planning to post a blog for about a week announcing that they had cleared the massive early spring mudslide on Upper Icicle Road. They accomplished this feat in a single work day back in May and were just waiting to repave the road. Unfortunately I waited too long and it has happened again.

On June 11th yet another slide came down from the saturated hills and blocked the road, this time trapping about 30 campers and recreational users above the slide. The slide remained unstable through the night and the campers, hikers, and climbers were forced to wait until the next day when crews were able to bring in heavy machinery and create a narrow path for cars to drive out through.

Icicle Road remains closed at 8 Mile Road until further notice. Officials expect more slide activity before the area dries out for the summer. Keep checking back here as I will post updates as they become available to me.

At-Vantage; subtitle: Fail Trip.

2011-05-17T13:48:00.000-07:00

Vantage (aka Frenchman's Coulee) is a great poor weather destination located in the middle of Washington state. It's almost equidistant from Spokane (140mi) and Seattle (145mi) so it's also a good place to meet up with my west side friends. The winter are mild, and it is usually dry when Seattle or Spokane are being dumped on.

Initially I was going to post a trip report on my visit a few weeks ago but due to a cold, a bad hangover and a sand storm I really have nothing interesting to share aside from a couple of short routes and a visit to Blustery's for their famous Logger Burger (oh and shakes that are to die for!). So in lieu of a complete trip report I figured I'd take my standard approach and just show you some pretty pictures.

(As always, clicking on the photos will take you to a variety of different and interesting outside links)

Mudslide - Leavenworth, WA

2011-04-12T14:04:00.001-07:00

Generally when you think Leavenworth, WA you think of one of two things. Either the gaudy Bavarian theme that the entire town prides itself on, or the world class granite boulders, sport climbing, and trad Leavenworth has to offer.

Unfortunately if you are planning on climbing in Icicle Canyon this year be prepared to be stopped short of several popular areas. This is the scene that greeted us this weekend after a landslide covered a 1/4 mile stretch of Forest Road 76 (Best known as Icicle Creek Road) just upstream from 8 mile campground. Several campgrounds, trailheads (Stuart Lake & The Enchantments) and the upper put-ins for kayaking the icicle are all effected.

Mother Nature has greatly reshaped the landscape by adding some extra trees, giant boulders and tons of mud to the crucial road. For the foreseeable future plan on only having access to climbing and bouldering areas south of 8 Mile Campground along the Icicle. (The slide can be crossed by foot which means that the JY boulders and Carnival Crag are still relatively accessible) Mad Meadows and Forestland along with several other small areas are not effected.

Never fear though, the Tumwater side is clear and mostly dry (the trail to The Beach was wet and snowy but the rocks were free of snow in the landing areas) and Mountain Home will be clear enough to drive up to soon, although we were met by a snowy muddy mess that sent us packing.

Searching for Sandstone

2011-04-05T12:31:00.000-07:00

Every spring I make a pilgrimage to the desert in search of sunshine and warm sandstone to run my fingers across. This is no small undertaking, it usually results in a 10 day trip to visit as much of this beautiful skin pleasing red stone as I can find.

(To see all of the pics from my adventure click on the photos until you see my portfolio show up)

This year our first climbing stop on the spring 2011 Epic Adventure was St. George, Utah. More specifically we stopped out side of St. George near Leeds to camp at the Red cliffs Campground. It's a long standing favorite place of mine that is managed by the BLM and is just gorgeous. Camping costs $8/night but space is super limited. There's also camping down the road at Quail Creek Reservoir. It's not nearly as scenic but there's a lot more space there.

This shot is from the hike that is north of the camping area at Red Cliffs, it follows a seasonal creek up to a slot canyon. It's shady and pretty and has a few nice swimming holes even.

This next shot is the only one to make the blog post cut from the Green Valley Gap. We had a bit of trouble finding a convenient trail to get into the gap itself but the anchors were everywhere so we decided to rappel in and worry about it later. The rock was solid, the sun was super hot and there wasn't a breeze to be found. We knocked a couple of routes out really quickly and found a nice class IV hike to get out on the gap (in hindsight not everyone in your party was as capable of doing that hike as one might hope and we wont be putting ourselves in that situation again.)
Another object of note is that someone had set up a zipline across the gap which was pretty neat to watch.

We also made a stop at the Black Rock which is an easily accessible TR/Sport area just outside of St. George (About a mile north of the parking for Chuckwalla and Turtle Wall). The rock is basalt columns and it seemed to be very clean and strong. We stuck to the sunny side despite the fact that we forgot out sunscreen and we ended up looking like lobsters. Bring your own sunscreen! We paid $13 for a bottle in a grocery store in St. George, it was crazy!

This is a pic of the Shady Side, I didn't catch the names of this group but they are from SLC and actually knew some people that I knew which was kind of neat.

Jessi was a trooper even though we put her on routes way over her head all week. She probably worked twice as hard as anyone else.

I just included this as a beta photo of the sunny side of the Black Rock area. The routes aren't super tall but there is an abundance of different routes at all different grades. The approach is easy and the rock was nice and warm even if it was still winter time.

On our adventure we found what may be the only mud puddle in Southern Utah and felt the need to drive through it, due to this escapade my Xterra is still red. We all got a laugh out of it, especially when we had it valet parked at the Bellagio, but that story is going to have to wait for the next blog when I cover the Red Rock Rendezvous.

Beacon Double Down Hoe Down 2011

2011-03-30T15:58:00.000-07:00

It was a long weekend but I decided I needed to leave the house and clear my mind with some fresh air and the promise of bikers hurling themselves through the air so I hopped on my bike and rode down to the Double Down Hoe Down.
I actually missed a significant portion of the racing but there was plenty to see afterward, here are the results.

The rest of the photos can be seen on my portfolio here: DDHD 2011

Also digital files for use on social networking sites are available with watermarks. Shoot me an email and I'll get you a low-res copy.

Oregon Coast - Florence to Newport

2011-03-11T13:00:00.000-08:00

This one is a bit late but the adventure is still fresh in my mind. I wanted to post something nice to look at before I head out for 10 days to the Red Rock Rendezvous.

Joe and I left Eugene and headed westward to Florence, OR. There we spent the evening sleeping in the car at Honeyman Campground I can't attest to the quality of the facilities because we arrived very late and escaped with the sunrise into Florence to find some food and comb the beaches and intertidal zones.

Our first stop of the trip was at the overlook for Heceta Head Lighthouse. We snapped a few shots, checked out the sea lions who were chilling on the rocks below us and then headed to the lighthouse to hike around and we took the free tour.

I love me some tide pools. Anemones are pretty much one of the coolest tide pool creatures ever, I love their colors and I love my waterproof camera.

Next up we cruised up the coast until we came to Stonefield Beach (which was unfortunately closed, it appears the parking area had washed away) but I couldn't resist a beach that I'd never been to before so we pulled over and got out to check it out. It was very pretty and empty since the parking area was non-existent.

Also this was the maiden voyage of the new road trip machine. I'd like to introduce all fo you to the Xterra. I haven't named her yet, nothing has really come to me yet. I'm open to suggestions though. It's not as simple as naming the Subarus, as they basically named themselves. Either way she exceeded our expectations and she'll see many more road trips to come!

Shaniko & Painted Hills, OR

2011-03-01T15:06:00.000-08:00

I ran out of town like my hair was on fire on a Friday night to cram in a mini-adventure. The result was a couple of days spent in the cold and snowy Oregon high desert.

I met up with a friend and we ventured around Shaniko ghost town and the Painted Hills Area outside of Mitchell, OR.

It was cold and snowy and windy but it was just what I needed. I was out of town with my camera in hand getting in a little adventure between my weekly stints as a responsible adult.

I'm looking forward to a visit in the spring when the grass is green and the snow has melted.

Also I did a more thorough write up on the trip for a friend's blog so you can check out his site to get a little more information:
Eugene Outdoors

Big Announcement! (And a pretty picture!)

2011-02-08T10:13:00.000-08:00

There's been an absence of new adventures on this site for a while now and that's been because I have been working with a friend to create a new website for my professional photography and it has been eating up a lot of my free time.

I'm finally proud to announce the launch of the new LaDukePhoto.com so if you are looking for an fun and adventurous wedding photographer, or someone to get out and take some pictures of you getting out and enjoying the great outdoors go have a look around and send me a message or give me a ring to set things up!

Now that my sales pitch is done here's a preview of my weekend adventure. I went down to Eugene to meet with my awesome web designer Nate (who also runs Eugene Outdoors) so we could get in some outdoor time in some decent weather and he and Laura decided to give us a grand tour of the Eugene area which included a great breakfast, a trip to Sahalie Falls where I took the photo below, a visit to Clear Lake and a soak in Cougar (Terwilliger) Hot Springs.

The lake and waterfall were a bit cold, seeing as it was snowing and all, and the hot water of Cougar Hot Spring was eagerly awaited but apparently we weren't the only people with that idea. The 5 tiered pools were insanely over crowded with people of all shapes and sizes and tons of smoking teenagers. I'd love to go back sometime when the spring isn't attracting the masses. Maybe a weekday morning if I'm ever down that way mid-week.

After our inland adventure we stuffed ourselves at Sushi Domo (which was fantastic) and then headed toward the coast. I'll have pictures from Florence north to Lincoln City coming up next!

If you'd like to purchase a print of this photo or to see the rest of my waterfall gallery click here.

Biking Oregon

2011-01-25T11:10:00.000-08:00

Well, I dug into the archives to bring you another post from the past in my attempt to broaden the horizons of the blog. I'll have some new stuff up soon, I just need to find the time to get out and enjoy an adventure or two.
Pretty much this is just bike porn. Enjoy!

Peter Jantz on a ladder drop at Post Canyon in Hood River, OR.
I'm not sure which trail it's on, it's near the top of Family Man.

This is Mike, he's a cool dude but he's insanely accident prone. He managed to wipe out pretty good on this trip and then not long after hurt himself again and was out of the game for a while.

Dread and Terror section on the North Umpqua Trail, this was easily the most pretty stretch that we rode, unfortunately we didn't get to ride the whole thing. It was early in the season though so we had the whole trail to ourselves.

Step-up jump at Post Canyon. My attempts at panning at this point were pretty mediocre. The colors are nice though.

Evan doing some of his very first log rides at Black Rock, he was definitely a natural. He's also a bad ass photographer, you can check him out at www.evanmoodie.com.

New Year, New Direction

2011-01-17T10:57:00.000-08:00

I'm working on some big things for my photography website right now with integration being the goal, so in the spirit of having everything all in one place I'm going to steer the direction of my blog toward being more 'all inclusive' as far as my outdoor adventures go. Climbing is my first love, but what do I do the rest of the time? I mountain bike, hike, camp, road trip, soak in hot springs, white water raft, road bike, etc. So with that said, here goes nothing in my attempt to broaden my blogs adventure horizons.

Last fall I decided to kill two birds with one stone by taking my first overnight backpacking trip to my first undeveloped hot spring. The destination: Stanley Hot Spring.

It took us about 4 hours to get down to the trailhead after a long day at work and a long day of driving we parked and slept in the car for a fresh start in the morning. It was cold and miserable andthe car was a bit cramped. We woke up cranky and were super ready to get on the trail.

(Hey look, it's me!)

The hike starts winding through the giant Wilderness Gateway Campground and rises quickly above the Lochsa river.
Up, up, up, the trail is pretty smooth but at least the first 3/4 of it is all uphill.

Eventually you come to a split in the trail and wind your way down a rocky trail to the banks of boulder creek where we were able to pick our way across by rock hopping in late September. Rumor is though that until after spring run off the crossing is too dangerous to attempt. Be careful!

On the banks of Boulder Creek

A small tributary of Boulder Creek, despite the distance from the spring it had a few little warm spots.
Finally! Stanley Hot Spring, 3+ tiered pools from a 120 degree source that issues from a canyon wall. The top pool is REALLY hot, the largest pool is just right and has space for probably 8 people.

The good soaker, nice hot water, sandy bottom, flat rocks to sit on.

The small version of this photo doesn't really do it justice, but c'est la vie. This was a cold wet little tent where we slept like rocks after our nice long hike. The best thing about waking up cold in the morning was hopping out of the tent, stripping down and diving into the hot spring.
I wasn't going to include this but I figure hey, it's educational. When in Rome and all...
The trail description said that swimwear was 'superfluous baggage' but I brought it anyway, but I didn't feel like being the only prude in the pond so I chose to forgo the swimsuit and bathe au natural.

Thanksgiving Mess

2010-12-14T13:15:00.000-08:00

Well, despite out better judgment Joe & I ignored the blizzard warnings that were blaring all over the news and took the only route that was open and headed south for Thanksgiving. We took off Tuesday night and were greeted by snowy icy roads, ditched trucks and white-out blowing snow. No big deal, we persevered until we reached La Grande, OR where they had the road shut down to clear an accident. Against our will we spent the night in the CRV in the cold. Everything was good to go the next morning and all of the closures along I-84 had been lifted.

Nothing incredibly interesting happened for hours on end (minus cold snowy icky roads and people driving like fools)

Finally after much trial and tribulation we arrived in Leeds, UT, home of Red Cliffs Recreation Area. (Pretty much the coolest campground ever.)

We still hadn't completely escaped the chill, but we slept really well in the 20's instead of whatever the temps were up north in La Grande.

I'm always excited to wake up at Red Cliffs, it's gorgeous!

A little bit of scrambling and bouldering before breakfast.

Trip mascot, The Pirate Duck! Arrrrgggg!
Silver Reef Overlook

So we played around at St. George for a bit but decided it was a little bit cooler than we wanted to climb in so we headed down toward Vegas! Since it was Thanksgiving we arrived and set up camp then ate some stuffing and chicken and decided to go check out the strip since we didn't have enough daylight left to climb anything.

This was the only thing I cared about seeing on the strip, it's a Chuhuly piece that is inside of the Belagio.
Finally, on to some rocks!
First stop, the Panty Wall, we opted for some easy lead to warm up for the day...unfortunately so did EVERYONE else, we were the 2nd duo to the wall and it was all downhill from there. We all got our turn to climb but not without stepping on some toes and upsetting some other people who weren't great at sharing.

Eventually the company became too much to bear so we took off to catch some lunch (yay for leftover stuffing and rotisserie chicken) and stopped at the Sandstone Quarry to play around on the only boulder they had there. It may have been the only boulder but it was big and pretty fun to play on.
Once the daylight had left us we ran down to Calico Basin to get a few more problems in before it was too cold to feel our fingers, the boulders were busy and we met people from all over, Tuscon, the Carolinas, Montana, Colorado, etc. We shared our crash pad with a couple of awesome people who had come down from Indian Creek because the weather sucked.
Nancy trying to get reacquainted with top-outs, me up on a rock taking photos so I could huddle into the fetal position to stay warm under the guise of taking shots for posterity.

We climbed to our hearts content and then realized that our campsite at Red Rock had long since been pirated so we took off to the Luxor to meet some friends who were down to celebrate a birthday, after a little bit of pleading and begging and submitting to a makeover (sorry those pics aren't on here, haha!) we got a free night in the room with them. It was so nice to sleep in a bed and take a shower before heading back north the next morning.

We did have to make one major pit stop along the way though, on the way down we had stopped at Meadow, UT to search for a hotspring that was in the middle of no where in the dark in the cold. After a bit of hiking in -9 degree weather we located said hotspring and opted to go with our judgment and not get in, but on the way home it was 20 degrees out and sunny so it was ON!

At this point Joe and I swapped seats and I took over behind the wheel. I drove from Meadow, UT to Deer Lodge, MT. It took about 11 hours with stops for gas and to preserve sanity. Almost immediately after swapping back to having Joe drive this is what we drove into...
We made it home early on Sunday, nerves fried, both of us sick from sleeping in the cold and decided that if we got through that we can survive any road trip that gets thrown at us.

Last Leavenworth Trip of 2010

2010-11-10T11:28:00.000-08:00

The leaves have changed and mostly fallen to the ground and there is a bite in the air, it's time to send those projects before the snow flies! The granite isn't going to get any more grippy!
This time we slept in style, we rented a 'cabin' (read as: very nice house) in Plain, WA with a loft and a hot tub and we spent the weekend enjoying warm showers and hot meals.

I failed at putting things in chronological order but I doubt any of you would notice. Here's the action from Mad Meadows:

And a little fun around the Straightaway Boulders (Once we finally found them!) This little V3 down the hill from WAS is super photogenic but I had wayyyyyy too many people milling about to get the look I was going for. I do plan on going back next year though for a late night shoot.

IS on WAS (I think?)

Backdoor Ass Attack (v5) at Lower Forestland.

Mad Meadows - V5 next to Drug Store Cowboy, the name escapes me but congrats to Jake on smashing it!
Josh on Sword Fish (v2)
And a little taste of fall that is probably already long gone.

Excuses Excuses....

2010-10-13T14:09:00.000-07:00

Well, it's happened again. Spring and Summer have come and gone and you've hopefully all been playing outside so you didn't notice my lack of blog updates...I feel like I owe you a few blogs so we'll start back with a trip to Leavenworth in April. There was actually snow all over our campsite still, but the weather was good despite a the weather forecaster's threatening rain.

Day #1 we headed out to Carnival first:

Ian warming up at carnival boulders

Ian's brother Gabe was a natural

Molly took her turn and did great for the first time out of the year as well.

Joe gave the Rib (v4) a go and got shut down, but at least there is something to go back to

As usual the Rib also kicked my ass. I am so close I can taste it but it's still eluding me

Ian giving it a go as well. I believe he finally got it.

Pad People! (Headed up to Mad Meadows)

Sarah on Pockets (v4)

Joe grabbing the finish hold only to suffer a weekend-ending cut on his hand.

Ian fighting No Pain No Grain (v5)

Matt getting on his old nemesis...he finally sent it and insists that he's never going ot do it again.

Obligatory hand photo at No Pain.

Jake (I have a definite b/w theme going here)

Stephen in Swiftwater Cave

Jake FINALLY smashing Bubbles (v0-)

Kale getting the onsight

Joe at Barney's Rubble

And I shall end on this shot...this is what happens when one (namely me) lies out on the LZ pad while the boys restlessly mill about waiting for me to get the send so we can go get chicken nuggets and head homeward bound. Needless to say the v4 I was working on didn't go and eventually after much screaming and wiggling I was released.

Red Rock Wrap Up

2010-04-28T11:07:00.000-07:00

All great adventures must come to an end, here is the wrap up on the Red Rock Rendezvous Adventure 2010. I am way behind on my other postings so I need to get all of this out of the way!
I'm already counting the days until next years adventure!

The Wall of Confusion is very aptly named, it took a bit of wandering and scrambling to figure out where the heck I was going.

Our main motivation for going to the Wall of Confusion was so that Matt could get on Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (5.12a). There was a bit of a line but this guy from California hung the draws and then everyone got on it.

While we waited out turn we climbed the vertical crimpy nonsense to the left of it. I liked it and therefore the boys weren't amused. Joe did manage to lead his first 10b. Pretty good for learning to lead the week before the trip.
These photos of Matt on Fear and Loathing were taken by Joe while I belayed.
It didn't go clean this year but now he has something to look forward to next year.

Clipping:

After Matt had his fun we headed back to the Sweet Pain Wall and climbed one of the most fun routes of the trip, I believe it was The Gambler:

Joe's turn:

My turn, it's nice to have a few shots of myself this year! (Damn I look buff in this shot!)

The next day on the way out of town we decided to stop by Red Spring and boulder a little bit. The motivation levels were low and we didn't accomplish a whole lot, but it was still a good way to cap off a great week. (Followed by a 50pc chicken mcnugget of course)

The Red Springs Boulder

Matt on a v3 on the Red Springs Boulder:

Myself on the Sundial:

Admittedly Joe got the first send of this problem after a lot of struggling and hard work then I followed up it next.

UP NEXT: Deep Creek!

Red Rock, Day 3

2010-04-14T12:37:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the delay, sometimes life happens. This is the 2nd to the last posting of photos from my trip, which is good because I'm going to be leaving for a trip to Leavenworth this weekend and taking several more photos to edit.

On the 3rd day in Red Rock we headed to the Calico Basin for some sport climbing.

Matt on "Have a Beer with Fear" 11b on the Cannibal Crag.

Me leading a route that felt like a 10a, I'm not sure what it was.

Matt on Beer with Fear again. It was a very photogenic route.

Up towards the top if it. I don't remember if he got it clean or not. Either way I appreciate him playing rope gun the whole trip.

Joe giving it a go, him and Matt really liked it, I was a little less in love with it. That seems to be the way things work though.
After Cannibal crag we went up to the Kraft boulders to check out the Monkey Bar Boulder. It was awesome! A lot of climbing went down but not many photos. I think there may have been a few on Matt's camera that may never see the light of day. Either way, here's the boulder:
And a nice Red Rock sunrise the next morning when we got up to work camping check in.

Sin City - Finally!

2010-04-06T11:10:00.000-07:00

After the short drive from Saint George and a few pit stops because my car sickness finally hit we rolled into Vegas. After fighting with the GPS because we knew where we were going and it wasn't amused we arrived. Rather than find somewhere to sleep we opted to head straight to Calico Basin and take advantage of the setting sun to get in some bouldering.

Straight out of the gate we headed to the Potato Chip Boulder to warm up and stretch out after the car ride.

To the north-west of the Potato Chip there is another boulder whose name escapes me right now. Last year we never tried it, but it proved to be pretty fun. The start was awful and we each had our own variation.
I *think* I was the first one to make it up, thanks in part to my love of awful crimps.

Matt's take on it.
Just a little subtle photobombing....
Topping out on something slabby on the back of the Potato Chip. The book said v4, I feel like I took a v2 variation on it.
After the sun ran out and we were tired and hungry we decided we should try to find a motel and get a nice shower and a good nights sleep before the Rendezvous. This proved to be a bit more difficult than anticipated but eventually we found a room for $60 at The Suncoast Hotel & Casino. It was worth it for the shower alone!

In The Black Corridor the next day.
The stereotypical sport climber. V-neck, Sunglasses, Flip Flops, all we are missing is a triple shot espresso from Starbucks.
I can't remember, I think this is Friend 10.d.
Blinky, Pinky, Inky, Clyde...and Joe of course on belay.
Back to Bonnie Springs just in time for a really awful storm to roll in and rain and blow and freeze us while we worked camping check in for Thursday night.

Saint George - Sport Paradise

2010-03-30T10:51:00.000-07:00

After leaving wet rainy Moab we took our overheating over weighted unhappy car and ventured on down I-70 toward Price. We had little hope by this point of actually getting to stop at Joe's Valley and Triassic because the weather had been forecasting snow. Once we reached our turn off we made the unanimous decision to continue on the road in search of warmer climates. We hadn't driven 16 hours to freeze our fingers off, we could do that at home.

We continued on down I-70 past a sign that said "Next services 130 miles" We had a half of a tank and should have been fine. Unfortunately the sign did not say, "130 miles of windy mountain passes covered in ice and snow." If it had said that we may have topped off the tank and may not have run out of gas 5 miles from the nearest gas station. We nearly made it when we came chugging to a stop. Thank god for AAA. Also thank god for my car's mysterious magnetic properties. Matt left his phone on the hood and it was still there after 5 miles at 75mph.

Having a drink, waiting for AAA:

After that little fauz pas we were a bit more careful about watching the gas gauge. We continued on the road to I-15 South where we made the democratic decision to skip past Cedar City's bouldering because the ground was still covered in white. Onward we went to Saint George.

We rolled into town at about 3:30am and went in search of camping. After very little luck we pulled into Denny's and after a minor misunderstanding in which the staff thought Joe was homeless we got directions to Red Cliffs Campground in Leeds, UT. It was gorgeous!

I woke up before the boys and had a chat with the camp host who coincidentally was from North Idaho. She sent me off in search of a waterfall.

I suppose this might be what constitutes a waterfall in the Utah desert:

And let's get artsy one more time here:

We adventured up the slot canyon for a while just checking everything out, there were lots of cool features and fun little scrambles. It must be a popular hike because on the way out we passed a TON of people. I guess we got there just early enough to have it to ourselves.

After adventuring up the slot canyons around our campsite we headed out to The Chuckwalla Wall for some sport climbing. There aren't nearly as many pictures as one might expect because we were just having so much fun climbing that we didn't stop and shoot.

Matt warming up on a high 10.

Joe on "As the Crow Flies" 11b. This was one of my favorite climbs this trip. I wish I would have lead it!

Back at camp we bought some real beer, steaks, mushrooms and green beans and settled down to stuff ourselves. We started a small fire to cook our steaks and joe found an unamused guest in out wood pile. Matt named him Snuggles.

After a night of stiff drinks, a pillow fight and some pissed off neighbors we got up and headed for The Prophesy Wall.
None of us really liked the rock here. It was okay but it was just this weird varnished sandstone with lots of crimps and really sharp features. After a small fiasco in which we named outselves "Team Clusterfuck" we wandered down the wall and go onto a reallllly long 5.9. When Matt lead it on the 60m rope he took up about 15 feet past the midpoint and definitely made us a little nervous. Thankfully once he was up and clipped and the slack was pulled out everything worked out just fine.

The view from the base of the 5.9:

And it's never a trip until the Subaru gets stuck. I am just thankful that she is light and the jack is always easily accessible. It only took about 5 minutes to get out of this jam so we definitely couldn't complain.
After the liberation we went to Starbucks and then decided it was time to get the car checked. $150 and 7 hours later we had a new thermostat and were finally on the road to Vegas.

In Search of Sandstone - Moab Edition

2010-03-26T10:55:00.000-07:00

After months of anticipation we finally took off on our long awaited trip to the Red Rock Rendezvous with planned stops along the way to Moab, UT, Joes Valley, Triassic and St. George. It didn't exactly work out like that, but we still had a blast.
We left Spokane at 6pm en-route to Moab, UT, 16 hours away. Sometime in the wee hours of the morning the car began to over heat so we ended up rolling through Salt Lake with snow on the ground, the windows down and the heater all the way up. After a pretty uneventful and uninspiring sunrise we rolled into Moab and went straight to Pancake Haus for breakfast followed by a trip to GearHeads to pick up the Utah Boulder guide. Then rather than sleep we headed out to Big Bend.

Joe looking like a ball of sunshine after being up for 30 some-odd hours:

Matt warming up on the Sandy Traverse Boulder
This is just a fun problem:

Joe climbing, Matt dismounting, I could not be more pleased with the weather that day:
Toppin' Out

Joe is a big fan of things that make him look taller, like wide lenses and standing near me:

After getting our fill of the Sandy Traverse we moved northwest of it (I can't remember the boulders name right now) to a fun problem that i just couldn't quite get when I was down there in November. I think I was suffering a mental block, but either way this time with a little work it went down:

Joe did work on it too, but he is going to have to re-visit Moab to get the clean send:
Every time I go to Utah or Nevada I am so happy to see all of the red rocks and cacti. Including both in a photo just makes my day, soooo pretty!
Success!

Matt smashing a problem that plagued me, big surprise:
This guy was there from Cheyenne with his girlfriend. He and Matt worked Circus Trick v$ for a while, to no avail:
Mmmmm.....huecos are nice for barefoot heel hooks:

Toward the end of the day we were getting tired and hungry and losing motivation, you'd never guess though....

This problem was on the south face of this same boulder, it was crimpy and balancey, just my style!

Finally once we were completely trashed we wandered back into Moab and got a cabin at the Lazy Lizard where we ate some food and sat in the hot tub and marinated until the thunder and lightning started. The rain hadn't let up the next morning so we decided to pull up our roots and venture on down the road toward warmer drier climates.

Vantage version 2.0.

2010-03-12T11:03:00.000-08:00

Purging the rest of my Vantage photos before I leave this afternoon for more sandy pastures. I'm headed down to Moab, Triassic and Red Rock with Matt and Joe so if I don't post these now they may never get posted at all!

I climbed up to the top of The Feathers with my trusty 7D and anchored in for a photo session. It seems like I was up there for DAYS! My legs went numb while I danced around waiting for Sanders to teach a lead climbing/belaying clinic. Sarah was the first one up:

Jared....screwing off? Who'da thought? At least he's not on belay. I'm just teasing, I love that guy. Definitely the coolest weirdo I've met via Facebook.

Joe doing a mock-lead for his first time, he's learning quickly:

Alyssa doing her mock-lead as well and making it look good! I love when someone is easy to photograph, it makes dangling there with my legs going to sleep go much more smoothly.

Kaitlyn isn't quite up for a lead yet, but she was able to keep up this weekend, she did really well for her first time on real rock!

Rezzy is also kicking ass for only having been climbing for a couple of months. Here she is hanging out at the top of Don Coyote (5.9)

Alyssa doing her first actual lead, she did great! Now she just needs to take her first whipper!

Matt, my awesome climbing partner/rope gun. It's nice to have someone who is always willing to hang your draws no matter what you throw at him.

Again, Jon and his awesome shirt.

Good lighting, fill flash, blue sky with happy clouds and an awesome sweater. Nope, not much can improve upon this photo.

On the way to Blustery's (No Vantage trip is complete without a burger and a shake!) We got lost and wound up on Mars or something....This guy made his astronaut suit from duct tape, pretty impressive really.
The whole gang:

Up next: UTAH!

(Not so) Screaming Barfies

2010-03-07T09:54:00.000-08:00

February 2010. I am so thankful for an unseasonably warm and dry winter. Last year we hit Vantage early in the season and froze nearly to death. This year at the encouragement of the crew from the westside we decided to give it another go since it had been long enough since the last unpleasant experience that it was no longer as vivid a memory in our minds, Just flashes of campfires, unicycles and a rockin' spodie.
This year's intro to the outdoor climbing season was much more pleasant. Sun, sun and more sun!

Day one: Sunshine Wall

Sarah playing rope gun on her first lead on the Sunshine Wall:

Jon Jantz; photographer, dirtbag, future millionaire. Slaying hipsters since before the thrift store clothes they like were considered vintage.

Kaitlyn- She totally kicked ass on her first time out on real rock!

Vantage Point 5.9(?) It may be an 5.8, I can't remember. This is one of my favorite climbs on the sunshine wall. Alas, we never go on it because it was so high traffic the whole weekend. There's always next time though.

Matt playing the part of belay slave. Thanks for being a rope-gun all weekend!

Hakuna Matata 10a. Another Sunshine Wall classic. I think everyone in our group made it up it.

Joe enjoying the view of Echo Basin

Not a lot of Climbing photos from the Sunshine Wall, I was busy climbing! We all soaked up the sun and had our fun then headed back to camp for some warm food and refreshments. A big "Thank you!" to the guys in the next camp who allowed us to commandeer their campfire while enjoying the aforementioned beverages.

The scene the next morning:

Watch this space for Vantage pt. 2 "The Feathers" I've got a ton of climbing photos from Sunday that I'll post when I find the time!

(Not so) Screaming Barfies

2010-03-03T08:21:00.000-08:00

It's coming...

Still Climbing....

2010-02-22T12:37:00.000-08:00

....just not updating as frequently as one might hope. It's been a mild winter, I should be back outside soon. Until then please enjoy some photos from our Moab trip over Thanksgiving weekend.
Some photo credits belong to Glenn Landberg and others to Evan Moodie (with probably a couple from Jesse and Phil too.)

Car #1 was Myself, Phil and Evan. Car #2 was Glenn and Jesse. Definitely a fun group to travel with.

Phil Sanders, Poster child for "Unicyclists Gone Wild"

Jesse Warming up on a V1(?) Traverse at Big Bend

Me! November, in a tank top, on sandstone, life is good.

Phil boulders, Glenn channels his inner terrorist:

Jesse on a V2 or 3, I forget the ratings because we didn't have a guide book with us.

Evan on the same boulder:

A better shot of me on said boulder:

The gorgeous (over-saturated) view:

Jesse on some slabby crimpy nonsense.

Mono-pocket heaven:

The next day after renting some bikes we went to Day Canyon in search of Pocket Rocket (10c sport) and it was super fun! The bottom is the crux and even then it's only a little heady. Definitely worth looking up if you are down there:

Glenn trying to understand our fascination with climbing:

Over all it was a great trip with amazing weather and good climbs and great biking. I can't wait to go back!

Also mad props to the one armed mechanic who replaced my axle and to the Lazy Lizard Hostel for putting us up!

Another shameless shout out to Zax in Moab for feeding us so much gourmet pizza, soup and salad that we couldn't move for two nights in a row.

Excuses of a Downtrodden Photographer

2009-08-18T11:53:00.000-07:00

I am a bit behind on the blogging, I haven't felt like taking pictures or working on them since my 40d broke in June. I got it back in July and it broke again almost immediately. I've been without my primary camera all summer and it's got me pretty bummed. With that said I have been working on a new site to sell my prints from, LaDukePhoto Working on the new site has forced me to go back through hundreds of old photos and edit and pick the best to post. Here are some previously unposted photos:

These are from Deep Creek in June:

Rock Dogs!
Sully:

Twiggy:

Reena leading the Roach:

Sarah's attempted onsight of the Roach:

Noah on Belly Rubber (?)

WTH? Phil and Noah

Sarah:

Red Hair?

Noah on belay:

More photos to come as soon as I find the time. While you wait for a new blog you really should support a starving artist and buy a print from me, I'll even give you a discount if you ask for the coupon code. www.ladukephoto.zenfolio.com

Shredded Tips - Leavenworth

2009-07-17T09:22:00.000-07:00

The bosses went out of town last weekend so I took the opportunity to take Friday off and run off to Leavenworth for some quality time with some good friends and good granite.

I carpooled with Sarah and Kara and we beat the boys out there by about 6 hours. We decided to go hit up the Carnival Boulders and play around on "The Rib" V4

Me on "The Rib" I didn't finish it this time either, but I definitely made progress. I definitely want to revisit it next time I am out there, I think it might finally go:

The "Girls Only" Group photo:

Next Stop, Swiftwater Picnic Area

Phil warming up on "Schisthead" V2 this fun problem has a high throw to a blind jug that is pretty unnerving:

Nick also on "Schisthead"

Some people said it couldn't be done...Kara on Bubbles (V0-)

Kris sent the V6 in Swiftwater Cave while we were there, it looks like an awesome problem. Kneebar!:

The next area that we hit up was "The Beach" which is just outside of Leavenworth on highway 2 in Tumwater Canyon.

The walk to The Beach area is long, but very scenic, Attack of the pad people!

Phil was hesitant to try the V2 arete for fear that he'd have wet shoes all weekend. His fears were realized:

Kris' shoes stayed dry:

Nathan came out from Wenatchee to join us for some climbing on Sunday, here he is working Toto V4 at Forestland Boulders:

Heil Heildleburger! No trip is complete without a burger from the local burger joint, thanks for another fun filled trip guys!

(L-R: Nick, Kris, Phil, Kara, Sarah, Me)

Climbing at Banks Lake

2009-06-25T09:25:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the blog about a cold wet and windy clusterf*ck. Honestly it wasn't THAT bad, but it was a poor consolation for the trip to Utah that we had planned upon being on.
The weather on Saturday was perfect, not too hot or too cool and pretty calm:

We headed out to Jones Bay and found that all of the camping was either sub-par or full. After a long wait someone vacated their spot and we snagged it. Once camp was set up we headed out to climb some rotten granite.

The Inland Northwest Rock Climbs Guide is a little difficult to interpret since it is a few years old and a lot of bolt lines have gone up and a lot of bolt lines have been chopped. We settled on something that we couldn't find in the book. It felt like a 5.9, but after staring at the book for a while we determined it was supposed to be a 10c:
Gotta love that wide angle lens:

For most of the weekend Matt was the leader, Andrew the follower and I came up last and cleaned, apparently I should have been leading more pitches since the slabby crimpy sharp granite is more 'my style':

On the top of the 2nd pitch, there was a 3rd pitch but it looked pretty brutal and we weren't feeling that adventurous. Turns out is was a 12c (If I remember correctly).

Andrew striking a pose:

That night it got a bit breezy so we made a fire, rearranged some picnic tables and sat down to drink some coronas and eat some steaks. It was a reallllly good meal.

The next morning was a bit overcast. The boys got up, made some sandwiches, went back to bed, got up again, we made pancakes and then yet again they passed out, this is the definition of 'motivation' right here:

Next up we went to Northrup Canyon and climbed a really strange slabby ramp thing with a ton of underclings, I left my camera in the bag because we were on a precarious ledge and I wasn't sure I wanted to drop it trying to get a shot of someone's ass.

Andrew then took charge and was determined to find a route in the book called "Red Roof Inn" on Roadside Rock. After a retarded approach we found it...well, we could see it anyway. We weren't quite willing to backtrack to get to it so we settled for another 10c up high on the terrace. I think it was called Red Violin?
Andrew took first lead and had a rough time so Matt finished it out for him, by this point I was freezing so I decided to TR it, I wish I would have led it, it was super fun :

After this we went back to camp we sat around and waited for the rain to start. Apparently any card game can be adapted to be a drinking game, including War. It's a good way to get trashed before dinner. My tent still smells like Corona.

Our Sweet Ride:

Matt Belaying on the last climb of the trip:

After this it started raining so I put the camera away and we did another pitch in the wind and rain...after several small delays that amounted to me stuck on a ledge for a half hour and poor Andrew stuck in a hanging belay in a sleeveless t-shirt for just as long untangling ropes we finally finished it out, rappelled off and got the heck out of there.

Deep Creek - Main Wall

2009-06-18T09:49:00.000-07:00

We've been braving the mosquitoes (they are so thick they block out the sun) and the stagnant water and the risk of unintentionally going swimming in the creek for a couple of days a week for the last month or so. Finally the water is receding (although the mosquitoes aren't going anywhere) and the bottoms of all of the routes that we've been working via the stick clip - swing - shimmy up the rope method are finally becoming accessible.

Reena on The Roach (11a) - I know, I'm getting sick of seeing the Roach too, maybe once it's dry down there we'll try something else!

Andrew working on his attempt at it:

Jake doing his first lead attempt of "Overhangus Interuptus" 11c.

Matt past the crux on the slabby part (the no-hands resting after the side pull pinch is my favorite part, haha)

Reena giving it a go on TR, it's so pumpy at the bottom.

Matt clipping off of the crimp on the Roach before the crux:

I didn't catch this guy's name, but he had a cool dog named Apollo and has apparently seen the blog before which is kind of cool. Here he is on Red Hair:

The Roach, different angle:

Serra warming up on Overhangus:

Leavenworth II - Rockfest

2009-06-14T21:01:00.000-07:00

I liked Leavenworth so much that we decided to go back the next week for Rockfest
put on by Feathered Friends. It was a smaller group on a shorter trip but it was still pretty fun. Unfortunately I hurt my foot the day before we went so I was a bit more passive and ended up shooting mostly.

The first night we rolled into town, met some friends at the Safeway and then went and set up camp on the big rock across the Icicle from Bridgewater campground. As soon and our sleep spots were lined up we headed up to the Forestland Boulders for some night bouldering with the gas lantern and some coronas.

Matt on the Arete on the Shield boulder:

Phil working on the same boulder:

The next morning we headed up to Mad Meadows for a rematch with "No Pain, No Grain" (V5). It didn't got and I was so sick of shooting it (see previous blogs) that I took a crash pad nap while they played on it for a bit. It's just no fun to start that it's impossible to get stoked for.

Kara playing on the hueco problem:

Phil totally climbs for facebook. ;)

Noah working on a low-ball problem:

Artsy:

Noah on Crimpsqueak or Pimpsqueak or something. I'm not sure which was which.

Crashpad shenanigans prior to trying (and failing) to find the Pretty Boulders

Matt on a V3 at Upper Forestland

Noah on "The Physical"

Same problem, different Peller:

There are a lot of shots of Noah this trip because he was definitely climbing hard, some of us were far less motivated this time around:

Some of the local fauna:

High feet!

Noah on a V7:

That's the majority of the shots from last weekend, on deck I've got bouldering at McLellan and some sweet Deep Creek action.

Team Epic Fail

2009-06-11T10:03:00.000-07:00

We spent a lot of time IN Deep Creek on this trip. Matt, Jake and Rena all ended up completely soaked, the rest of us ended up at least a tad bit damp.

Rena on the Roach (11a) (She had an amazing first burn at it!)

Andrew on the crux of The Roach:

Holy crap, it's a photo of me climbing!

Clipping:

An ode to Kara:

Matt on his project, "Overhangus Interuptus" 11c. It's going to go soon, he got it with only one rest last time:

Jake...being Jake I guess.

How to avoid ending up in the creek:

Me getting in a little TR action on Over Hangus (Matt ALMOST dumped me in the creek on TR)

Jake climbing:

Rena being nearly torn in half while Andrew was trying to dyno past the crux on the Roach.

Oops! Missed one!

2009-06-09T14:45:00.000-07:00

I just realized that I had edited photos from an outing in early May and hadn't posted anything about it! I've got a head full of rocks lately. These were supposed to go up a few days before the Leavenworth trip.

My pretty new rope that I bought on an impulse from the Mountain Gear Warehouse sale:

Andrew warming up on Dolly Parton (Is anyone else sick of seeing pictures of Dolly yet?)

Who knows what's going on here, I'm probably yelling at Matt to stop taking pictures of me:

Matt at the top of Dolly:

Contrastyness (Yes, that is really a word, I swear!)

Brian Belaying in pretty light:

Another shot of the pretty new bi-color rope:

Perfect belay technique:

This is actually when I hurt my ankle about a month ago...It's feeling much better now though, almost 100% The Young and The Pampered (10a)

Brian on something on the Garden Wall:

Another sweet still life climbing photo with a little "Outdoor Ridiculousness"

Brian on Fearless Leader:

Brian on the top hold on Fearless Leader:

Artsy or just crappy focus...who knows...

Now that that's up I can hopefully finish up the rest of Leavenworth, Deepcreek and Leavenworth 2 and get them posted!

Leavenworth

2009-06-02T09:32:00.000-07:00

This report is mildly delayed due to the immense volume of photos that I took coupled with the fact that the weather has been in the high 70's for the last 2 weeks so I haven't been hanging out inside much. Here's a sampling of the 90 or so photos that made the cut to be edited and posted for everyone to enjoy. There will probably be another blog or two on Leavenworth once more photos are processed.

We had a crazy amount of people turn out for the Memorial day weekend. I can think of 30 off of the top of my head plus Audrey and her friends from the west side and all of the people who were just coincidentally there from Spokane. It was pretty much pandemonium.

Dis be nature, bitches:

Got Crashpads?

Noah on "The Rib" V4 at The Carnival Boulders.

Jared on the slopey side pull on "The Rib" V4

Alicia on the "Underpants Boulder" at The Sword area (A bunch of easy warm-ups on a slab) :

Noah(s) climbing "The Sword", a highball V3 with a sketchy slabby top out.

The group that was there on Friday morning, in no particular order (Kind of left-ish to right-ish) Gerry, Jason, Noah, Alicia, Matt, Myself, Jared, Blake and Andrew.

Jared on what might be the easiet V3 I've ever climbed outdoors, fun none the less, we had about 15 people lined up for a turn on it!

Andrew rockin' the beanie and the huge bicep vein on the same V3:

Jeff on "Pockets" v4, this was a really cool looking problem.

Deep Creek - First Time Out!

2009-05-14T11:07:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday (5/10/09) we made our first trip of the season out to Deep Creek. We went with every expectation of climbing at The Pit, but decided to go down to the Main Wall to see how high the water was. (That and Jared had never been to Deep Creek so we wanted to give him the full tour.) When we got down there we decided that The Roach (11a) would be too fun to pass up so we rigged a stick clip with a conveniently placed stick:

Then we made a nice anchor to the dog bolt to prevent the climber from dragging their ass through the water and to prevent the belayer from getting dragged into the water in the event of a whipper (or in my case in the event of the climber sitting down to rest.)

Me belaying Matt:

Matt on his first attempt at the Roach, he did pretty well for never having worked it before:

Andrew had a go at it too, he made some progress over where he was last year, I think he made it through the crux and then ran out of juice:

"Belay Hammock" Just another example of things that you should never do while belaying.

Andrew powering through the crux into the second flaky bit:

Matt:

A slight cleaning mishap, I'm not entirely sure what this clusterf*ck is. Draws hooked into draws into draws. (Check out Matt's awesome new rope, Mammut Tusk, 9.8, it wont be yellow for long, haha.)

Matt and Andrew lounging around waiting to see if Bill was going to kill himself doing a really big swing.

Bill and I trying to plot a method to reduce the risk of him falling before getting high enough to swing.

Going up the stupid 10 on the right side of the pit:

Weeeee!!!
Bill swinging while Matt, Jared, Alicia and Brian watch:

Q'Emlin Park

2009-05-12T09:04:00.000-07:00

For once the planets aligned and the weather cooperated and we got a nice weekend of climbing in with lots of available partners. It has been a rare occurrence lately that I hope continues for the duration of the summer. Jared drove over from the west side for a couple of graduation parties some climbing (unfortunately he dislocated his shoulder within minutes of getting into town). Despite his injury he did a little light climbing and kept us company all weekend.

Getting up Saturday and feeling nice and 'fresh' from a night of beer and nachos and staying up late BS-ing over at Jesse's we headed out to Post for some fun sport.

Andrew picked the first route, I don't remember the name, it was a couple to the north-west of Fearless Leader.

Next I followed, I'm not sure of the route rating, maybe a 5.9, it was a fun warm up:

Since we were right there we decided to do the route right next to it, Andrew led it, I TR'ed it because I still haven't figured out how to do the first few moves.

Serious Concentration:

The Petzl Nomad is one sexy rope...

Jared attempting Fearless Leader(11c)....he decided against doing it due to his shoulder injury though. Another big thanks to him for being the belay monkey all weekend.

I'm kind of glad Andrew was belaying, it's never fun to have someone fall (or let go intentionally in this case) and swing into you

Andrew's rippling back muscles:

Another example of questionable belay technique...I may have to create a whole blog post dedicated to it.

A moment of reflection (in Jared's aviators) Jared is belaying Andrew down in upper fifth canyon:

Some people are just attracted to shiny things, we can't help it!

Jared on crack:

Still more examples of questionable belay technique. I bet this made Andrew feel safe and secure while attempting a clean lead of Dolly Parton:

Climbing; A still life:

Jared (?) on Dolly:

Jesse came and joined us after he got off work and he hopped on Dolly as well:

Andrew on his nemesis, Dolly Parton:

Something down in Lower Fifth, I really should be writting down route names!

Stretcccchhhhh:

And finally some nice HDR'ed Arrow Leaf Balsam Root flowers for you, see, sometimes I shoot stuff other than climbers!

All in all, Post Falls was fun, as were the parties later that night...I'll be posting up the photos from Deep Creek the next day shortly!

Ten Fingers of Fury Wrap-Up

2009-05-07T21:04:00.000-07:00

Here are the last of the photos from the Wild Walls "10 Fingers of Fury" climbing competition on April 25th. Enjoy!

Hydrotherapy 5/5/09

2009-05-05T20:49:00.000-07:00

This is a little different... I shot the HydroTherapy kayak competition with the INPA. I told the competitors that I would post the photos and the links to the other photographers on this blog.

Tamara Hensley

Kjrsten Smith

Shayne

Matt Leitholt

Steven King

Donna Rae

and last by not least, you have me!

Lacey LaDuke

Sorry if I forgot anyone, just let me know and I'll add you!

Post Falls Again

2009-05-04T21:44:00.000-07:00

Thursday I rushed out to Post Falls after work to catch up with the boyfriend and some long lost climbing partners.

Curtis on Dolly Parton (There's a bit of a trend here, everyone loves Dolly's big jugs.)

Phil giving it another go, still not clean, but he's getting there:

Curtis belaying Phil

I gave Dolly another attempt too, this time I actually fought my way up it...on top rope. I guess it's a little progress.

Later in the afternoon we went down to Upper Fifth and climbed Mangled up in Blue and something else to the east of it.

A big thank you to my friend Jesse Coble who came out and shot some photos of us climbing. Click here to see his photos.

And an additional HUGE thank you to Josh who went back the next day and retrieved my top rope set up from Mangled up in Blue. We were so eager to get out of there that we forgot it.

Dolly Parton 4/26

2009-05-03T10:27:00.001-07:00

I'm a few trips behind, forgive the slacking but I've been outside climbing. I'm not sorry. :)
Last week Phil, Andrew Caraballo and myself climbed out at Post Falls. I didn't take many photos, but here's what I have from them leading Dolly Parton (10b).

I am amazed at Phil, he hasn't climbed in four months and can count how many lead climbs he's done on his fingers and he hopped right on.

After a false start (That's Andrew getting intimately acquainted with the bush that we later tied back) he did really well.

Throwing for the big move:

Little bit of stemming:

All things said and done he did really well for not having climbed in months and not having climbed the route before. He is aiming to get it clean next time.

Andrew's Turn, hooking the start:

Sticking the big move, no problem:

Andrew's first big whiiiiiipppppeerrrrrrrrr!

Ten Fingers of Fury

2009-04-27T18:49:00.000-07:00

Trying something new this time, here's a slide show of the photos from the final rounds at the 10 Fingers of Fury competition at Wild Walls .
I've got a lot more photos of the qualifying rounds to post up still. Keep checking back for those.
I'm sorry that I didn't catch everyone's names. As they become available I'll update the captions.

Vantage Day 3, Sunshine Wall

2009-04-26T08:26:00.000-07:00

Here is the final installment of the trip out to Vantage last week. The long awaited Sunshine Wall.

The first climb we did was Hakuna Matata. It's another classic in my opinion. I climb it almost every time I go out there.

Kara:

Here's an awesome belay face for you:

This is Jared's friend Joel, apparently he'd only been climbing 2 or 3 times before this. He did pretty well!

Me leading Vantage Point (5.8). Definitely a fun climb. It's a cake walk the whole way up and then there's a strange move to the chains. (Matt as the belay monkey again)

Clipping the chains:

Me, Kara, Matt and Phil hanging around the base of Vantage Point:

Alicia tearing it up leading Vantage Point:

Kara and Jeff, welcome to the Gun Show. Haha.

Jared getting ready to hang draws on Hakuna Matata, Matt belaying.

Same story, different angle, plus Blake:

Blake basking in the Sunshine:

Me, smiling like an idiot, like usual. Look closely the smile is there, I swear...

Me on Hakuna Matata. Can you tell we spent some time on this route?

Andrew Climbing:

Andrew trying not to throw up because he was just a little dehydrated:

Matt, not on belay for once:

Blake lounging on one of the basalt dishes:

This is Kara in the narrow passage to get to and from the Sunshine Wall:

Never leave your camera unattended:

This wraps up the Vantage trip. I had a ton of fun and look forward to going out with all of you again. Keep your eyes open for the next trip. We've got a few big things coming up on our calendars!

Coming up next on the blog: Wild Walls' "Ten Fingers of Fury" Competition shots.

Vantage 2

2009-04-24T08:05:00.000-07:00

Here we go again! These are some more of the photos from Saturday and Sunday out at Vantage. We had a few more people show up. (Thanks for coming out Kara, Alicia & Jeff) The weather was warm and sunny and we started climbing as soon as breakfast was done and kept at it all day.

This is Jared on Dance of The Shaman:

Blake and Kara racing up the westernmost climbable pillar on the south side of the feathers. (I think they were 10a and 5.9 respectively.)

I'm not entirely sure what brought this on, but I'll let you draw your own conclusion and pick your own captions (Matt, Phil & Jared)

We did stop for food around 5pm or so and decided to give Blustery's in Vantage a visit. The burgers are really good and the shakes are amazing. It was actually so good that we went back the next day too!

This is me doing my thing (photos by Blake Decker) on top of Satan's Little Helper (5.9) While Alicia climbed Satan's (insert noun here). Formerly known as "Satan's Wagon, 10b" Jared renamed it about 50 times of the course of the weekend.

Some of the resulting photos from the shoot from above:
Alicia on Satan's Wagon:

Jared:

Matt climbing something to the west with a guy we met out there named Aaron:

Little bit of sun flare and a climber silhouette:

My point of view:

Matt on Satan's Wagon, looking really determined:

Andrew on Satan's Wagon as well:

Jared looking a little worried while climbing the face of Satan's Wagon rather than the Arete:

Jerks always getting in my shots....I told them to move, it motivated them to be in the way that much more:

Matt clipping on something, I'm not entirely sure what:

Andrew molesting Matt's phone for some unknown reason:

The compulsory 'shoe shot' by Matt:

I think that wraps up "The Feathers" coming up next, The Sunshine Wall!

Adventures at Vantage

2009-04-23T15:18:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the delay on the posting, but I wanted to go through all of my 400 photos from this weekend before putting anything up. I picked the best of them, here they are for your viewing pleasure.

I have no complaints, the weather was awesome, the climbing was productive and the company was super fun. If you ditched out you really picked a bad weekend to miss out on. Hopefully you'll all make it out next time!

Phil got to go out for the first time in about a year and hopped right back into things on the Feathers, he even hung his own draws for the first time. He'll be sending 12's in no time.

I'm not sure of most of the ratings on the routes on The Feathers, but I know everything is under 5.11a.
Here I am leading something on the south side, Matt got to be belay monkey, it's a common theme in the photos from this trip:

Same Route, different angle:

This is a self portrait by Jared. He is crazy but he hung draws and cleaned routes all weekend so I can't complain!

Matt leading Don Coyote (5.8) This is one of the 'can't miss' routes at Vantage

After climbing Phil and I decided to cook up some elk steaks and the others took off to do some climbing in the dark. I couldn't pass up the chance to do a long exposure shot of the Feathers in the dark:

Shenanigans after the night climbing:

Another shot of the Feathers in a 5 minute exposure. I was teaching Jared a bit about photography:

And the group photo from the first night, from left to right, Blake, Phil, Jared, Andrew, Matt and myself.

There are about 50 more pics to come, I am trying to divide things by day so I don't have one overwhelming posting. I should have another post up tomorrow ideally, keep your eyes open for it!

Red Rock, The Artsy Stuff

2009-04-09T10:20:00.000-07:00

I promised a blog of the non climbing photos from the Red Rock Rendezvous so thanks to a slow day at work here they are:

Dead Duck at Sunrise, somewhere in southern Idaho:

Detail shot of the rock in The Black Corridor (2nd Pullout)

Tent City at Bonnie Springs Ranch. Probably the worst place I've ever camped. It was fine until the wind picked up and then we got buried in sand from the corral. Sand and little bits of horse shit. Everywhere. This is the calm before the storm.

These guys were camped near us. It totally looked like an advertisement for The North Face or REI or whatever. The column of light you can see to the right of the shot is the light on top of The Luxor:

This may have been on one of the blogs already, but oh well. This is Cannibal Crag at Calico Basin, we climbed on the back side of it.

And finally a Red Rock sunset:

This concludes all of my first string photos from RR. More may pop up here and there when I am bored, but until then this is all you get.

McLellan 4/4/09

2009-04-06T18:38:00.000-07:00

Matt and I decided to try to go out to McLellan despite some sketchy road reports. (Ranging from, "yeah there is a puddle," to "bring a row boat, you'll never make it.") I should probably go take a picture of the car, even the roof is muddy, but we made it in.

We did a bit of a loop, a lot of stuff was wet and mossy but Matt hopped on a couple of routes and then we got fed up with the muck and decided to go boulder.

Bring on the sweet flannel pictures,
At Head Wound Cave:

This was a project of mine from last year, I'm sure it'll go this year though, god I hope so anyway:

Same boulder problem:

No idea why I'm posting this, it's not really a picture of me doing anything cool:

Matt coming out of the cave onto the traverse:

Onto the traverse...it was a bit wet.

Me on my thing again, if only I could get the bump!

Doing it over again in flip flops:

Calico Canyon and Cannibal Crag

2009-04-05T10:58:00.000-07:00

After a ridiculous delay here are the pictures from bouldering at Calico Canyon and the one route we did at Cannibal Crag.

The Cube

Matt on The Cube (I forget which problem)

Sarah on the Cube:

The inescapable shoe shot:

Matt on the Potato Chip Boulder:

Sarah on the same boulder:

I am not sure of the name of this boulder, but it was north east of the Potato Chip boulder. Matt was the only one who made any progress on it and even then it wasn't much:

This was a fun one that I flailed on for a few minutes before giving up and letting Sarah and Matt crush it:

Cannibal Crag:

Sarah on her first outdoor lead:

And a group photo:

I've got one more set of photos from the trip, all of the artsy pretty ones that aren't really all that climbing related. They will go up soon so I can get caught up and post my latest trips.

Red Rock Rendezvous 2009

2009-03-28T19:55:00.000-07:00

Matt, Sarah and Myself decided to drive down to Las Vegas for the Red Rock Rendezvous 2009, put on by Mountain Gear.
On the way down we went through Kennewick on the suggestion of a friend and it seemed like it took for-freakin-ever. The traffic in the big cities was to be expected and the cuisine wasn't four star food, but we drove all night and got to Salt Lake City and caught breakfast at Dennys. (After a huge loop and a change of drivers.)

Somewhere in Utah before we hit Salt Lake:

Poor Sarah put up with us well all things considered. She still doesn't seem to want to speak to us though.

Excited to be one state closer to Nevada:

Duck was our co-pilot, take that St. Christopher!

Finally we arrived at Red Rock Canyon at about 4pm on Thursday and had a little bit of time to kill before our volunteer shift started at 7pm that night, so we set up the tents and we tried to pass out. I slept for like an hour and a half, it was nice. After not having slept or eaten for hours and hours I had a beer, got a little buzz and went off to keep everyone company at the camping check in tent.

The next morning, finishing up our volunteer shift:

This is pretty much the most epic climbing car we have ever seen, aside from the sweet paint job and camper they have all of their snowboards, bikes, long boards and other gear somehow stuffed into it. It was parked in the athlete/vendor campground but I never got around to asking who drove it.

Once we finished our volunteer time we went to Desert Rock Sports and bought a couple of guide books, then we were FINALLY off to the rock.

We took the scenic drive to the Second Pullout and wandered around trying to get our bearings. Finally we walked past the Sweet Pain Wall and asked someone a good place to find some fun 10's and 11's. He pointed us to the Black Corridor, there were a TON of people in there!

Matt belaying Sarah on TR on Fool's Gold 10b. She hadn't quite gotten over her fear of leading outside, but she took care of that the next day!

Sarah getting ready to go up (Look at all of the people crammed in this corridor):

My turn to lead up and clean it, I really liked the route, it wasn't super challenging, it was just fun to do. The second bolt was pretty much the crux minus a few long reaches at the top.

I can't get over how much I love sandstone!

Matt led another climb in the Corridor, it was an 11, the name escapes me at the moment but he whipped off it a couple of times and finally made it up it. I tried to follow on TR and couldn't get up it for the life of me. Kudos to him though. Sarah made it up on TR too so I guess she gets props as well.

Okay that is all you get for today, There will be more to come with my next posting including bouldering the Kraft Boulders at Calico Basin and routes on Cannibal Crag, some night shots and the drive home.

Vantage!

2009-03-16T21:42:00.000-07:00

Wind, rain, cold and snow couldn't keep us home!

Justin

Sarah on something easy, like a 5.8.

Phil and Justin enjoying the Feathers

Javier getting friendly with Phil (Who probably did the most climbing and cleaning this weekend)

Not entirely sure what's going on.

Phil unicycling on the slackline, bad ass. (Jordan and Gus spotting, thanks for the wood guys!)

Weeeeee! (And to think, I can't even walk on the thing)

Slackline compliments of Gus's sweet off road skills.

Had to do something artsy

Javier obviously deep in thought...

Whole bunch of crazy mo-fo's on top of the Feathers.

Boy on Boy action....eek.

Some goofy boys

And girls...

Bouldering Minnehaha - 2/28/09

2009-03-05T15:54:00.000-08:00

Sarah on Smokey on Fire (V6)

Noah goofing off.

Noah on Smokey

Workin' it

Slapping granite

A self portrait compliments of Noah

Sarah on The Tarantula Traverse (V3)

Me on the Tarantula too.

Devoted

2009-02-01T13:18:00.001-08:00

Climbing at Post Falls on 1/31
It was a bit cold to say the least.

Matt Freezing his fingers off.

Jesse cleaning a route for me because I wussed out when I lost feeling in my fingers.

Something Scenic

Sarah trying to keep warm

Matt resting and trying to defrost

Zach on The Great Controversy

Hookin'

Matt

Like, OMG Shoes!

"Proper" belay technique anyone?

No Climbing.

2008-12-21T20:30:00.000-08:00

It's officially Winter. If we wantto climb outdoors we're going to have to travel.
In the mean time enjoy some snow.

This is from Friday, it's still snowing.

I wish...

2008-12-04T20:44:00.000-08:00

I wish it was still July. I miss the sun. I'll probably be picking through my old photos from warmer times the next few months.

Little bit of McLellan

2008-11-15T09:21:00.000-08:00

These are nearly two week late, I just wasn't excited about any of the shots....

Sean trying the nearly impossible traverse.

Curtis throwing:

McLellan Bouldering

2008-11-01T10:53:00.000-07:00

For whatever reason every time I shoot at McLellan I want to make all of the photos dark and artsy. Maybe it's just the vibe the place gives me. These pictures are from Sunday, 10/26. The weather was decent and the bouldering was great. It's just kind of depressing because we can see that the outdoor season is drawing to a close.

Phil revisiting a big throw that was giving him tons of grief last time we were out.

Curtis playing on a sweet powerful lowball that Sean found.

Lowball

Traverse

Sean

Bloody Knuckles

From in the cave

John is Expressive...

2008-10-29T22:32:00.000-07:00

I swear if you taped his hands together he couldn't speak because he couldn't gesture.

I think this is the only worthy picture from our Saturday trip out to Post Falls to climb.

Bouldering at Liberty Park

2008-10-18T21:39:00.000-07:00

Phil

Phil, Sean, Curtis, Seth

Sean

Also, This is Cliff Drive, we hung draws on every route there and did them all. It was fun.

Dolly Parton 10b/c

2008-10-14T21:37:00.000-07:00

Classic Belay Face

Curtis Haulin' on Jugs

The Boys

Rope Drag Anyone?

Serious Face

Dyno?

I think I've gone far enough...

Heel Hook!

Ugh...I think I need to wash my rope....

Banks Lake, End of September Thing.

2008-10-01T23:06:00.000-07:00

Ruth

Curtis on the roadside boulder

Sean making the throw look easy

Me Sticking it!

Ruth's bouquet-o-flappers

What happens on the boulder pad stays on the boulder pad.

Crazy back muscles

Ruth = A walking poptart

Flippin' Out

2008-09-22T08:24:00.000-07:00

On the Pend Orielle River, just across the trail from the rail yard at Laclede.

Old Deep Creek Photos @ Noah's Request

2008-09-21T14:14:00.000-07:00

These somehow got lost amongst the camping trips and such,

Jeff belaying Kevin up The Roach

This is Noah, he's kind of weird. ;)

Curtis and Jeff belaying

Noah TR-ing Belly Rubber, its a 12 something, I forget the letter.

Curtis on TR on Belly Rubber, he sent it a week later I believe.

Strange Silhouette (Noah is part spider monkey)

Laclede

2008-09-20T22:37:00.000-07:00

Bouldering at Laclede

Sean

Throwing for the pocket

Me!

Two problems, similar starts

Curtis

Group Photo

Laclede, kind of.

2008-09-17T08:31:00.000-07:00

If you have ever climbed at Laclede you know there are are main walls on one side of the road and the rail yard and the Pend Oreille river on the other side.

On the river side there is a small rock that is decent for jumping off of. Unfortunately it tried to tear off my toe!

#1 is from the night before, we drank too much wine and I kicked a rock in my attempts to not trip over a log that was sticking out of the fire.

#2 & #3 are where the skin pulled away creating a lovely little flapper when I jumped off of the rock.

The actual climbing pictures will come later, this is just to gross you all out, and to hopefully make you think about wearing shoes while cliff diving.

McLellan

2008-09-12T15:57:00.000-07:00

Bouldering at McLellan Rocks. It's a pretty awesome place, lots of opportunity.

Choss?

2008-09-12T15:21:00.000-07:00

The Pit at Deep Creek last week.

Vantage (Finally)

2008-09-07T08:43:00.000-07:00

I am sorry for the delay, but you know how it goes. The sun has been shining so I've been climbing as much as I can and avoiding the computer. It's getting dark earlier and earlier lately.

We went to Vantage (AKA Frenchman Coulee, The Gorge or Echo Basin) on the weekend of August 23rd as a sort of last outing for our friend Jared before he took off to basic training for the Marines in California.

We started off on "The Feathers" with Jared on Don Coyote (5.8) and Curtis on Dance of the Shaman (10b)

Sean on Wind Talker or Night Bird (Both 10a)

Me top roping Hardening of the Arteries (10c) I didn't lead as much as I should have this trip, but there is always next time.

The crew for that weekend

Boys are terrible at planning, all they brought was beer and steak so we had to go into Vantage to search for food, there we found a wall that people were jumping off of, DWS anyone? ;)
Sean topped out, everyone cheered. (The Curtis bailing out into the water)

I honestly don't know...

Larsen, I'm not sure what she's climbing, something on the north side of the Feathers.

Here's where things got strange...once we returned from swimming the boys decided to climbing in their underwear (which apparently is very comfortable, I wouldn't know I stayed dressed)

Sean

Desert shield (5.9)

This has been dubbed the Child Molester picture, I guess that's what happens when you start drinking at 9am, are drunk by noon, pass out, wake back up and then decide to go climbing in your skivvies.

Curtis on Blood Blister or Satan's Wagon, I'm not sue which:

This is Sara, A Rock Climber Girl I am fairly certain that she was mortified by my friends in their underwear. It was a pleasure to meet her, kind of strange too. We've corresponded through our blogs this summer but are on separate sides of the state, She and her friends just so happened to be working the route that we wanted to be on (Satan's Wagon, 10b)and she recognized Jared and recognized my camera. Small world.

Boys back at Camp

I don't know who took his, probably Larsen, but it is yours truly belaying Curtis down on the sunshine wall.

Jared and Larsen right before we abandoned ship in favor of Milkshakes and heading back to civilization.

Slacking....

2008-09-01T22:15:00.000-07:00

There are photos forthcoming from a trip to Vantage, climbing at Dishman and another set from Deep Creek. I took the last week to drive to California and take a break, I'll get back on the ball now that I'm home!

Bouldering Post Falls

2008-08-22T18:21:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the delay, when it rains my borrowed WiFi connection goes down the crapper.

Conveniently placed boulder:

I told Jared he was in the shot and rather than getting out of the way he started posing.

Where'd he go?

Jared

Upper Fifth 8.17

2008-08-20T21:49:00.000-07:00

Sunday we went out to Post Falls. I took so many pictures that I am dividing the trip into two blogs. One for bouldering and then this one with everything else.

Jesse and Jared took most of the photos on this one because I was climbing.

My blindingly white self with Jesse and Shawn preparing to climb a 10a(?){I'll get route names later when I'm not too lazy to go out to my car}

If there were a "Gay Belayer Magazine" Jared might make the cover, haha.

Curtis heel hooking

Curtis and myself climbing side by side. Me on toprope because I was feeling like a chicken.

Dirk Diggler

2008-08-20T21:37:00.000-07:00

Last Friday we bouldered around Minnehaha a bit, a couple of V2's and then Curtis made another attempt at Dirk Diggler (V5?)

Curtis on some weird Traverse-y thing behind the Don Quixote Face.

This is Melissa, apparently Curtis topped out on something and she was just sitting there. She took a pretty gnarly fall and missed the crash pad...guess someone should have been spotting.

Dirk Diggler

Dismount

Vantage - March 08

2008-08-16T23:25:00.000-07:00

I promised to upload these so Curtis could see them, so, true to my word here they are...

I went camping out at Vantage at the end of March with Mark and Tricia. Despite the beer stew and talk of colonoscopies I had a good time, it was my first time going outdoors this year.

This photo is HUGE and will probably get cut off, this is the Sunshine Wall.

These are the "Feathers" by moonlight

Tricia

Mark climbing something on the Feathers (Possibly Don Coyote 5.9)

Mark on "Don Coyote" (5.9)

Clipping

Tricia belaying Mark

Ozzie!

Tricia's Turn!

Use Your Imagination

2008-08-15T09:20:00.000-07:00

Due to technical difficulties (read: Someone left her camera batteries at home.) The photos for this blog will have to be brought to you by your imagination.

Invision:

We went back out ot Deep Creek, I lead "The Roach" (11a) but not very smoothly. I'll get it next time.

Curtis sent "Naked Man" (12a) and started working on "Belly Rubber" (12b?)

Larsen came to watch.

Jared and his friend Shelby top roped some 10 on the blobolith that I lead.

Lauren and her friend worked "The Roach" for a while.

Jeff Crawford climbed like seven pitches and made me look like a wuss because I was beat after 3.

I promise I'll keep extra batteries in my climbing pack.

Deep Creek 8/10

2008-08-12T23:09:00.000-07:00

We've been spending a bit of time at Deep Creek lately. Curtis wants to 'send "Naked Man" (12a) and I'd like to at least TR "The Roach" (10a) smoothly. Curse that crux! I can get up it I just hate having to rest on the rope.
On Sunday we (Shawn, Curtis & myself) headed down there and were later met by Jeff and Melissa.

Working on "Naked Man"

Shawn hanging out

BFFs, I guess they didn't think I was looking.

Jeff Crawford on "Overhangus Interuptus" (11c)

Melissa Main clipping on "Belly Rubber" (12b)

Shawn on the crux of "The Roach"

Melissa on "21 Run" (12d)

Jeff on "21 Run" (I think)