Springboard to Excellence

Voyeurs!  After much time away, I'm imbued once again with some fine story fodder.  This journey winds westward, past the Colorado Plateau and Utah's vibrantly painted Swell.  I-70's serpentine tarmac paints a black strip across some of the most amazing scenery in America, and if you care to pay attention to vaulted sandstone and endless sky, you might remember that landscape until your death.  Old Edward Abbey wasn't wrong, and so pining for our lives to mirror his novels, Seth Finkelstein and I  made tracks.  Officially, the final destination was Las Vegas.  The worst city in America.  The sprawling arm pit of vapid spec-builds.  The mile after mile of Geography of Nowhere, manifest.  Ultimately, though, Vegas is the only real launching point to Red Rocks National Conservation Area.  And that, my friends, is vere ve do zee freiklettern.

Rainbow Mountain.  Levitation climbs the back side of this peak.

Like any good voyage with a Brother Finkel, our space ship was disguised as a van.  This time, Starship Enterprise was Seth's loaded Ford Sportsmobile, a lovely van with a minor drinking problem when compared to Wally's diesel efficiency.  Plush captain's chairs and panoramic windows allowed us to take in that Utah scenery en-route to Nevada.  Somewhere between Richfield and St. George, I realized that my plans for 2011's climbing achievements had started in earnest.  I'm looking forward to tons of sends and adventures this year, and as we blasted off towards our sandstone objectives of the week, the trip was dubbed the "Springboard to Excellence."   It might look better as a slogan for an elementary school, but I see no reason to ignore the fact that the Red Rocks trip, complete with sun and warm air, was a perfect start to 2011's campaign.

The main objective that I was ultimately fixated upon was a famous multipitch sport route called Levitation 29.  Seth, too, had his eyes on this well known line, so on the first day after our arrival, we set the alarm for 5 AM.  Unfortunately, we didn't change the time, and forgot that Vegas is an hour behind.  We were greeted with the darkness of a coffin's interior, and a groggy sense of confusion.  Normally, an early start is a good idea for longer routes with a complicated approach.  4 AM, though?  Jesus.  That's too early. 

Levitation takes the plumb line up the center of Eagle Wall

As you'd expect, we were the first ones up to the wall.  The walk in was absolutely stunning, and probably worth the inhumane wake up on its own.  Recent snow and rain left Oak Creek Canyon running with crystal clear water, and the polished stones looked remarkable as the icy runoff washed the scene to perfect natural crispness.  When we started climbing, Seth and I casually swapped leads for pitch after pitch of fun.  I got things started with some thoughtful 5.10 mixed climbing, and then Seth easily danced over the incredibly featured roof of the harder second pitch.  The third and fourth went quickly, leaving us dangling below the crux pitch.  To be honest, I was really excited to get a chance to onsight it, and dropped into Try-Hard gear just to make sure.  For the whole route, the second was climbing in a heavy synthetic jacket and still shivering, so from the anchors above the crux, we started rappelling back to the bags.   As a sign that he and I are in pretty decent shape at the moment, we finished these pitches just after midday.  The whole route is really fun, but Levitation 29's crux delivered my favorite moment of the day.  The feeling of pulling athletic, difficult moves WAY up on a sun-drenched (but still chilly) wall was pretty amazing.

Smiles after Levitation 29

The rest of the time, Seth and I were hanging out with the fearless Bodhisattva himself, Mike Patz.  The three of us concentrated on enjoying the sun while sending sport climbs, doing some bouldering, and reading The Diamond Sutra, a text on the perfection of wisdom.  Hanging out with Mike is always inspiring.  He is someone I can unabashedly point to as an inspiration.  Mike is a friend whose insight into the world and faith in my abilities have made me a happier, better person.  He makes me want to try harder in everything I'm doing, and I had a great chance to do that while we were sport climbing at The Gallery.

At that cliff, I managed to send a couple of great routes.  The Glitch is an arching arete that climbs up a series of big holds with fun, bouldery moves between good rests.  The Gift is a legendary single pitch that dances up a lightly overhanging panel of varnished rock on perfect small crimps, finishing with a hard section that spits off plenty of would-be ascentionists.  Additionally, I was able to onsight a few other low end 5.12's, and felt the passion for life flowing through my veins each time I'd lower down from the anchors to the high fives of my friends.

Seth on point at The Gallery

Our group's energy eventually faced the realities of work, school, and the siren call of other adventures.  I  had to mosey back home, while Seth stayed out west, still tempted by Red Rocks, Bishop, and maybe even the Pacific.  Mike headed back to Harvard and his anesthesiology rotation.  But the fantastic days spent playing outside, best friends alongside, is everything that Abaluba is all about.  Life is a wonderful gift, and I'm so thankful for it.