I found out later that day that my 90 year old Grandfather had passed away just shortly after I finished the race. He had suffered a crippling stroke a few days before and as a result of his own wishes his feeding was stopped over the weekend. The Siegrist family is close, and my Grandfather was loved by all. I immediately headed back to visit my extended family, celebrate the great and long life of my Grandfather and pay my respects. A lot took place in just a few days, and I returned home inspired although of course still a bit saddened. I send my best wishes to my Grandmother, and the rest of the family during this time of mourning.
I flew back on Saturday night and early Sunday morning I was packing my Subaru to take a quick trip up to Wyoming. My buddy Ben and I arrived late at night and crashed at the awesome, free and convenient camping in downtown Lander. Our plans were to explore a cliff I had heard so much about called Baldwin Creek. Unfortunately the mid-May road opening was apparently pushed back and we found ourselves locked out early on Monday morning. So we decided to crag at Sinks, which has become a favorite spot of mine (as you all know by now), plus Ben had not yet seen the cave. This ended up being the spot to be because mid-afternoon storms rolled in and we were sparred from soaking by the steepness of the Killer Cave. Ben sampled a bunch of the classics and I took a couple burns on an incredibly desperate, short and powerful BJ Tilden route called, 'Organics' 14b. Upon doing every move (there are very few) my motivation for really trying on this heinous pocket route improved and I ended up leaving some draws hanging. I chucked a few laps on some pumpy Killer classics before we wandered into the pouring rain and heading back to camp.
Little did we know that the rain would not stop. No, in-fact it would continue, and then continue some more, and then some. It RAINED. We left. Crap. But, I suppose one day is better than nothing right? And living in the west we really should worship the rain. As for now, I am tired of moving around, and excited to get some days of route setting in and maybe watch a couple movies, get out to the farmers market and ride my mountain bike. A little home time should be great. I'll be keeping my eye on Wyoming weather and plotting another trip soon. In the mean time I will pull out that short list of front range climbs I want to get after... Stay tuned.
-P.s. Ever wonder how big people can go in a Kayak? DUDE. Watch this.
