Tomorrow Jason and I embark on our longest van trip together - three weeks in search of multi-pitch rock climbing routes, fresh powder to ski, and splitter (climber lingo for impeccably parallel) cracks (in the rock, not in the van). We will spend about a week at each of the following climbing (and skiing) destinations: Red Rock Canyon, Nevada, Salt Lake City, Utah, and Indian Creek, Utah. We are able to take this trip because I am blissfully bopping between life stages - I just finished my PhD in Materials Science at Colorado School of Mines, and I am waiting to hear back about an NRC fellowship to do research into high resolution X-ray spectroscopy. As for Jason, he received some time off as well, and has timed it perfectly to coincide with my gap between jobs. Adventuring we will go!
Last night (after seeing an opera for the first time, which was my christmas gift to Jason) we gathered in my room and crafted a fairly comprehensive packing list on my whiteboard:
I had to clean off my whiteboard for the first time in years for this. Worth it.
You might be wondering why I’m wearing a scuba mask and snorkel below. While we are in Salt Lake City, we will take a small detour to visit the 90F waters of the Homestead Crater where I will meet with a certified SCUBA diver to sign me off on my final certification dives. I started my SCUBA journey in January, where I received instruction at a pool in Denver, and in February I performed my first certification dives at no other place than the Denver Aquarium. The dives in Salt Lake City will mark my final open water certification dives - and I will be able to dive without an instructor after that!
Having fun while packing - one of the days of our trip is scheduled for the Homestead Crater, where I will finish my Scuba certification!
We have assembled quite the motley crew of cams deriving from various decades. Pictured below are some cams that Chris kindly let us borrow* ("just keep them - as you can see, I’ve barely used them in years”*) with an interesting two-stem body that have been replaced by a single stem on the ever-popular Black Diamond Camalots.
But even older still are some cams that Jason borrowed from his friend Tyler. Those cams have “Chouinard” engraved into the lobes of the cams, which raised my curiosity to investigate if Black Diamond Camalots were initially made by the one and only CEO of Patagucci.
Old-skool DMM cams from Chris. Thanks Chris!
Some random but necessary tasks included taking my beloved circle-leafed plant (and new pothos plants courtesy of Tina and Jeremiah) to a friend to water them while we are gone. I really toyed with the idea of biking them over to Cass, but Jason intelligently urged me not to bike with the plants if “ I cared about them”. Good point. In the red rocket they go!
Taking plants to Cass so she can water them for the next three weeks. Thanks Cass!