Each year I try to do a challenging birthday challenge. I started this when I was 58 and like the 24 hours of Horseshoe Hell, I have learned a lot about what is possible and have tried to up the challenge each year. The following is more for my own records (I am getting old and the memory isn’t what it used to be) but some may find it interesting.
Past Challenges by age:
58 – 10 x 5.8 in the dark at HCR
59 – 59 leads of routes at HCR but multiple laps were allowed
60 – lead 60 different routes at HCR with nothing less than a 5.7
61 – 61 routes 5.10 or above in a gym with laps allowed – some lead, some toprope (in Phoenix)
62 – 19.3 mile hike/run up Mount Charlest on in 5hrs 1 min followed by 62 toprope laps in the gym on 5.10 and 5.11 with up to 10 laps on each (in Las Vegas)
This year:
63 – goal to lead 63 pitches of 5.10. On my 60th birthday I had a crew following and cleaning anchors but this time I only had my devoted wife as my belay slave. Therefore, doing laps made it so that the time cleaning the anchors would not be as much of a factor.
Rules:
Every lap would be leading. If I fell, pull the rope and start again.
Five laps max on 5.10a
Ten laps max on anything harder than 5.10a
No whining
An added challenge was to do most of the laps on routes Nat and I had just on-sighted the day before. So, first up was a 5.10c, Sonrisa Loco, on the Kindergarten Boulder.
Ready to start with my official Cole Fennel stag party t-shirt!
Overhanging with sharp holds, it was much like the routes on Magoo Rock. All went fine until lap number 4. WHIPPER! Hmmmm. Maybe I bit off more than I could chew. The fall calmed me down and got me to focus more on the task at hand. This was going to be a challenge! I finished my 10 laps and moved on to the Land Beyond area.
Ten laps on Tembertantrum (5.10b), Five on Sendtember 5.10a, and finally a tough 10 on Dog Crap Broken Fingers (5.10c).
Dog Crap Broken Fingers - pretty burly
Dog Crap Broken Fingers 5.10c
Reed sending one of his three 5.11's (Brat Hole) for the day including Taliban Soup!
At this point Nat jumped on a toprope on a 5.11 that Reed had just lead and flashed it!
Nat tr flashing a 5.11 (Brat Holes) that she lead the next day.
So, stupidly, I thought I would try to lead it and add that to my challenge. FAIL (we both did red-point it the next day).
Optimistic start to the Brat Holes but reality set in and I went back to my original plan.
So, I moved around the corner I did five on Panty Moth Invasion (5.10b). It was tough so I kept it to only five laps.
Keeping track. It's easy to loose count after three or four laps.
Panty Moth Invasion
Panty Moth Invasion
My dedicated belayer and wife, Natalie
Big thanks to Reed "Bubba" James for shooting all the great shots in The Land Beyond
With the new routes behind me, I ran up five laps on Sons of the Soil (5.10a) to get ready for the real test.
CRIMP SCAMPI (5.10d) was to be my real challenge. I planned on trying to get three laps in. Laps one and two were number 46 and 47 in my challenge and they were tough. I took a break before the last one and got in five laps on the neighboring Private Property (5.10a). That is a pretty sustained and strenuous route so it might have been a mistake to not do all my laps on Crimp at once.
Mid crux on Private Property
But, I got back on for number 53 on Crimp and barely got through the crux.
Last lap on Crimp Scampi
Crux of Crimp Scampi
Lap 53 and I'm running out of steam but reach through to the jug
Thank God forearm rest after the crux
I knew the next 10 laps would be easier and realized that I could achieve my goal
Nat gave me a break and took a lap on Crimp
My superwoman wife.
Nat demonstrates the short-girl beta on Crimp
Her method is much better technique than my tall-man stretch method.
Soooo smooth
With the hard stuff out of the way, I did 5 laps on Towely (5.10b – but not the way I do it) and was thinking I had to now do either Season of the Storm or More Better. But, I forgot all about Count Chalkula (5.10a). I was happy to use this as my final set since the crux, though hard, was short. The last lap was uneventful and the Ozark Café beckoned.
Last lap on my last route. Count Chalkula was my 63rd
DONE! I'm getting too old for this! Thanks again Nat
Guess who was belaying!
Final stats:
5.10a – 20 laps
5.10b – 20 laps
5.10c – 20 laps
5.10d – 3 laps
Time: 9 hours 30 minutes
Special thanks to Nat for giving up her climbing day for me (she did climb 3 routes including a lead of Crimp Scampi and a toprope flash of Brat Holes 5.11a) and to Reed James and his son Reed “Bubba” James for taking pictures.
I am writing this to chronicle my first calendar year in Las Vegas, January through December. It has been a eventful year for me and this will help me keep track of what happened when. Like my annual birthday challenges, I want to make this an annual process i.e. review and chronicle each year. I hope it doesn't come off as too much spraying but this is more for my personal reflections and a record for me and my friends and family than a normal trip report type of blog. As such, it's all about me, my experiences, and my achievements!!!
Sport Climbing
January brought my sport climbing mentors, Nick Martino, Jenn Fleming, Adam Peters and Caryn Courcier. I learned more about sport climbing during their stays than all the years before. It culminated with this:
I later returned and on my third trip to finally sent Yaak Crack clean (5.11c) and was able to send it two more times after that. I was also treated to Adam and Caryn sending "The Gift", 5.12d on consecutive burns.
Caryn on The Gift.
Adam on The Gift
I got to watch Nick working and sending 5.13.
Nick on "Beyond Reason" 5.13b
Nick gave me a full session as a belay slave and taught me how to work a route (I was doing it all wrong). I was also able to cleanly lead "Marshall Amp" 5.11b, after first being a weenie and top roping it clean.
Nick on Marshall Amp
Jason Roy and Josh McKinnon make a quick visit just to try Yaak Crack (or maybe to get out of the crappy Arkansas winter)
Cochise Stronghold
January also brought my first trip to Cochise Stronghold to climb "Ewephoria"
Nat on the hike to the smooth granite of Cochise Stronghold.
Joe on the final pitch of Ewephoria
Hiking
I also got to experience hiking in the Superstition Mountains with Natalie.
Whale watching.
Another new experience was to see west coast whales and dolphins and to see San Diego for the first time.
Adventures with Dave (part 1)
When Dave visits, I get to climb some awesome routes that are beyond my current pay grade! I will lead a pitch here and there but generally, Dave acts as my own personal rope gun on his visits.
Adventure Punks (Adventure Yuppies for us since we skipped the 10d offwidth final pitch) Below a visiting Brit climbs the awesome hand crack.
Challenger - 5.10d roof.
Texas Hold'em - we stopped before the 5.11c pitch
Rainbow Wall - we only did the first pitch - 5.11c/d A party of 3 jumped right in and came up to the first pitch belay and actually asked to pass so we bailed.
Plan B became Nightcrawler - 5.10c (amazing stemming)
Yosemite, Sequoia, San Francisco, San Diego
May brought a long awaited trip to Yosemite and Sequoia NP.
Natalie the tree hugger.
Our first views in Yosemite were pretty wet but amazing.
When the weather cleared we got a tastes of the slick Yosemite granite. First on El Cap.
Then by Yosemite Falls
The hike up to the top of Yosemite Falls was also unforgettable.
Another new experience on the trip was ocean kayaking into sea caves in San Diego
Maura moves in.
One great addition to my house this year was Maura!!! She loved Kappy and was my built in dog-sitter when I wanted to take a trip.
5.12a!!!
Maura and I made a day trip to Crawdad Creek in Veyo Utah in order to do some sport cragging. The result was my first and only 5.12 redpoint. Admittedly soft for the grade with a short sequence boulder problem made easier with a tall man's knee bar, it was still listed as a 5.12a
Nat's boys visit.
Natalie's boys visited her in Scottsdale and made a side trip to Red Rock to experience some multi-pitch climbing. We took them up Johnny Vegas to give them something to remember.
We also had to show them sport climbing so we brought them to the Black Corridor with Kappy.
HCR Via Ferrata
I took a quick trip around the 4th of July back to Kansas City to visit the kids and to see Ashley's new house.
We also got a chance to get some previewing in at HCR and to experience our first via ferrata. You climb on rock, rebar rungs, wire bridges, and into caves while attached to a cable next to the route with special leashes.
Ashley's Birthday Trip
One of the best times of the summer was when Ashley came out for her birthday. We both got to go board surfing in San Diego. What a great thing to share with her.
We also did some hiking and celebrating.
Mt Charleston (round 1)
Our hike took a bit over 8 hours. It convinced me that this hike would be a worthy challenge for my birthday.
Birthday Challenge
Next stop: 62 !! It was time for my annual birthday challenge. This year it was the full 18+ mile round trip hike/run of Mt Charleston (the highest point in southern Nevada) followed by 62 laps on routes 5.10 or harder at the Red Rock Climbing Center.
On top of Mt Charleson. Time for up the south trail and down the north: 5 hrs 1 minute 6 seconds.
I was pretty wasted at the end but knew there was still the climbing session. Thankfully, it took about and hour to get to the gym so I had some time to recover a bit. The rules were that I could do up to 5 laps on any 5.10 or 5.11 with the extra 2 laps needed had to be on 5.11. There were a limited number of routes of this grade in the gym so I had to make do.
One of my repeats on a 5.11. Just when I thought I was going to cruise, I fell on my 61st route, a 5.11. I tried again and again fell. I tried another 5.11 and again failed. Finally, I picked the easiest one and got in my last two climbs.
Bridge Mountain
It was full on HOT summer time so part of the training was long hikes with Maura. The best by far was Bridge Mountain, the highest point in Red Rock. After a long boring hike on a road, you reach the trailhead. A couple of miles of hiking get you to the overlook where you can finally see your goal. Bridge Mountain has a huge natural bridge and an awesome, non-trivial scramble to the summit. The best non-technical summit ever.
24HHH
The 24 Hours of Horseshoe Hell would be special since Maura, Nat, Kappy and I were going to make the road trip in Maura's van then Maura was going to team up with Humberto to experience 24HHH for the first time. We went whole hog with hair cuts, costumes, arm wrestling, and a bit of ROCK CLIMBING.
The western contingent in the super van
Chin strap haircut
Getting the game hair right
Nat on Crimp Scampi
Crimp from above! Hey, where did my hair go?
Natalie won first in Advanced Women, Maura won third in Intermediate Women, and I won the Social Security division (as if there was one). Nat really stepped up her game this year with 95 routes - 35 5.10's, (2 10d, 6 10c, 13 10b, and 14 10a). My results were 94 routes, 37 5.10's, 1 5.11, 34 5.9's. Nat redpointed Cracked Rib during the comp and I redpointed Port Side. Those sends were highlights for us both. But my most memorable experience was a long, drawn-out arm wrestling match with Brent Perkins (the overall winner of the comp). I didn't know who I was matched with until later but this old man was able to eek out the win. I was wondering why so many people were going nuts in the audience. Alas, the next round brought on the non-climbers and soon all the big footballer types rolled over the skinny climber guys. Our little van of westerners came back with quite a haul from the swag table since they gave swag for haircuts (me), anyone that had done the 24 all 6 years (Nat and me), arm wresting (Nat got second female) and, of course, placing in your division (Nat and Maura).
Time to slooowwww down and semi-relax for a bit. As much as it would be nice to take advantage of the fitness from the 24 training, it was time to ease off a bit and recharge the batteries. Maura moved back to San Francisco when we got back to Vegas (was it something I said?) so I no longer had a live-in climbing partner. But, then the high-light of the year came with Natalie moving from Phoenix to casa Dower (now casa Dower/Neal)
Dave and Callie - round 2
The food chain, Kappy, Pente, Biner
Power Failure
Leading the scary first pitch of Unimpeachable Groping (long way to the first bolt).
Shut down on the off-width part of Out of Control (one hang)
Thanksgiving - we host 20 people, most of whom we don't know, for a great feast but also were able to treat Jim Davila (Nat's former Phoenix climbing partner) to his first multi-pitch trad climb, Birdland.
Jeremy finally visits.
Jeremy Collins, his wife Tricia, Rob O'Blennis and his wife Lori came in town for the Rock n Roll 1/2 marathon and a bit of climbing and Vegas fun at the beginning of December. The weather didn't cooperate so big plans became short windows of opportunity.
Jer rope guns on Ying Yang - I hung but found out I need to work on my crack skills.
Great evening at "O" with Natalie, Jer, Trisha, Kurt Smith, and Elaina
Race night was cold but I ran 1:41.43 for the best time for anyone over 55 from Las Vegas. 8th for 60 and over male. Averaged 7:46 per mile. A bit disappointed in the time but considering my lack of training mileage I really can't complain.
Bridge Mountain round 2
It was not Nat-friendly weather but she was willing to do the Bridge Mountain hike even with cold and snow. We didn't summit because of the ice but she got to see our hiking goal for the spring.
I got an early trip to KC for Christmas with the kids.
And Ashley's boyfriend, Brian.
One really fun time was to get Ashley to go to Ibex and try climbing again. This was the first time since she was about 10 and she was able to look good on 5.7's.
When I got back to Vegas, we got a short, pre-xmas visit from some of our favorites, Kurt, Ryan, and Maura. Weather wasn't great but we got in some sport climbing, some multi-pitch, and some gift exchanging.
T-shirt weather at The Gallery
Early X-mas
Maura and Nat teamed up for Rawlpindi and Kurt and I teamed with Ryan for his first muti-pitch trad climb, Birdland.
Nat and Maura on the left with Ryan leading Birdland on the right.
Nat steps up her game leading the runout Rawlpindi with Maura.
So, what more excitement could crop up as 2011 comes to an end? I had done sport climbing with Nick, trad climbing with Dave and Jeremy. all I needed was to add to my climbing repertoire with get some bouldering tips. Not to disappoint, Paul Robinson and Alex arrive just as 2011 ended. Kappy got to go on a session to Kraft Boulders.
On New Years Eve I got to witness the way boulders attack their projects. Paul sent an existing project for a first ascent (estimated V11).
Nice way to end the year. Paul is staying at casa Dowre/Neal for most of January so I should be able to pick up a pointer or two.
There were many other climbs during the year, such as Crimson with Joe and again with Maura, Frogland with Nat, Group Therapy with Nat, Varnishing Point with Maura and Nat, Topless Twins with Nat, Purblind Pillar, 1st pitch of Plan F (5.10a trad), and some tough on-sights of sport climbs at the Second Pullout - Burros Don't Gamble 5.10c, Burros Don't Fly 5.10b, Foe 5.11a, Nightmare on Crude Street 5.10d, The Runaway 5.10b, American Sportsman 5.10c, April Fools 5.10b
