Stuck in Melbourne :(

On the 5th of April, we finally arrived in Melbourne, Australia. Our plan was to get a car and take the ferry to Tasmania, where our climbing will begin. We thought it would only take a few days to find a car, and it did. But since we accidentally arrived at the beginning of the Easter weekend, we were unable to withdraw money for the car until a week after we arrived. To make matters worse, the car has to be inspected and registered before we leave for Tassie and these things cannot happen until tomorrow (Wednesday).




The charm of Melbourne wore off by about the 3rd day here, now we just want to climb. Our remaining days of good climbing are quickly decreasing, and all we can do is wait around in Melbourne and try not to spend money. Melbourne (pronounces "Mel-bun") is a charmingly bright, clean, cosmopolitan city with heaps of international food that we can't afford, plenty of posh drinking spots that we're trying to avoid, and many lovely tourist activities that don't fit into our budget. Judging from the complete lack of homeless in the city, we may just be the poorest people here. We are sufficiently dissoriented as pedestrians in this upside down world of right hand drive cars. And did I mention our hostel smells like feet? But we're ok, it's a cool experience and climbing will feel just that much better after having been starved of it for so long. My phone won't work until I can charge it in our new car tomorrow, but Lila's new Australian phone has free incoming calls and texts. Her number (as dialed from the US ) is 011-6-1449-173-356

My New Contact Info

Hey everyone, I just wanted to let you know, our cell number in Australia will be 37253216460 for calls and 37253399460 for text. I have free incoming calls and free incoming text messages thanks to the coolest gift ever, an international sim chip!!! You can also text me for free from the website travelsim.com and click on the "free sms" link. My email address is still captainropegun@gmail.com, I'll check that more often than I update the blog. And, of course, you all are welcome to contribute to the blog whenever you want. Feedback is good. If any of you have cool pictures I might want to see, POST'EM! this blog is as much for us to stay in touch with you as it is for you to stay in touch with us.

Getting a Taste for Mountaineering on Mt. Shasta

We camped safely below treeline for the first two nights while waiting out a massive snow storm before hauling our camp up to 9800'. With calm winds, clear sky, and solid snow under our crampons, we left camp at 1:00 AM to ambush the 14,179' high summit with sharp, stabby climbing tools. As we climbed Casaval Ridge, gaining hundreds and hundreds, then thousands and thousands of feet of elevation, we knew we were going to dominate that mountain like a fat kid on a cupcake; we could taste the summit, until, unexpectedly, we were cliffed out on one side and the only way up was to traverse a gigantic, poofy, avalanche slope to the neighboring ridge. Then we remembered that we were only up there to have fun and the summit wasn't worth risking being burried in an avalanche and crushing all the unsuspecting townspeople below us in it's unforgivingly poofy fury. So we retreated to high camp, took a nap, packed everything up, and glissaded back down to the base. A good time was had by all and Lila and I learned a lot of valuable information about mountaineering to take with us to New Zealand.

Joshua Tree and OA Reunion

Due to excessive fear and attentive belaying, no pictures were taken from Joshua Tree. Please enjoy this artist's conception of what we probably looked like while climbing...




After a couple of good climbing days, We met up with many of Lila's old friends from "Outdoor Adventures", the outdoor program in UCLA she used to guide for. Pictures would have been nice, I don't know what we were thinking. I promise we'll take more pictures in the future.

Here's a consulation Joshua Tree!!!



As planned, we then headed up to Mt. Shasta (14,179') with a couple of experienced mountaineers from OA.

The Majestic Zion National Park

Unfortunately, we didn't have time to hike around in the famous slot canyons of Zion, but at least we were able to drive through the canyon. These breathtaking cliffs must be experienced up close; pictures do not do them justice.

Indian Creek

March 17th, 18th, 19th: Like most climbers' first experience at Indian Creek - the land of perfectly parallel cracks sans face features - we found very little that we could climb without looking foolish. Superb crack-climbing technique is essential here. Thus, we spent a day flailing on easy hand cracks, borrowing duplicate cams from nearby climbers. We went back to camp early to tend to our bloody hands.



Determined to put one successful desert tower on our resume, we set out the next day to climb the South Six Shooter. This impressive peak requires an hour or more of 4x4 obstacle course driving and an hour-long uphill slog to get to the 30-minutes of vertical climbing. Luckily, for Alex's low-riding sports car (Seacrest) , we were able to jump in the back of another climbing team's truck. This was after a harrowing attempt to drive Seacrest over the unrelentingly pitted, rocky road-like clearing. We flew up the easy, 3-pitch 5.8 to the summit.










Distraught with the paucity of doable climbs in this breathtakingly gorgeous region, we made one last attempt at some impressive leads at an easy-access crag called Wall Street. We both got some much-needed crack climbing practice in, thanks to some top ropes set up by a local outdoor school, and to Alex's impressive 5.10 trad lead. Then it was ice cream and a long drive to Zion National Park.

MOAB!!!

March 16, Friday:
We were humbled by the Kor-Ingalls route on Castleton Tower in Castle Valley, a 4 pitch 5.9+ offwidth fest. Lila fumbled up the 5.5 chimney sections of the first pitch, treating onlookers below to a euphonic string of grunts, moans and curses. Alex reached a new level of sketch while leading the second pitch, which goes at 5.8 and consists of an offwidth lined with slick-as-glass calcite. Without any cams bigger than a 4, we were ill-prepared to finish the crux 5.9 calcite-lined offwidth pitch. Mostly we were just damned scared! We admitted defeat, rapped down, and enjoyed the spectacular view that our long hike to the base of the tower allowed us.