Monday, May 9

Trucks and stuff

I've been fortunate to travel a lot during my lifetime; I've lived in Asia and Europe, I've visited nearly 30 countries and driven all over the US - travel has been a passion of mine since long before I started climbing. The perspective and education I've gained from said experiences is invaluable. Nearing the end of every trip I'm always excited to return to the comfort of a place I call home - something about familiarity has always been easing after the rush and uncertainty of an adventure. I've always looked forward to coming home to Boulder, at times I literally couldn't wait.

pimpin' the new Tacoma! Andy Mann photo

For years a certain part of me has been afraid that I could never totally leave the comfort of this place.. that every adventure would start and end from here. Something changed last month when I was packing up to leave Vegas. I thought to myself, 'you know, I could be psyched to just keep going.. just drive to the next spot... and just keep going.' For the first time in my adult life I feel prepared to escape from a fixed address and have an extended adventure. Not a couple months, not half a year, but an extended adventure. In this spirit I'm preparing to make some bold changes and dive into this next phase of my life. I bought a truck, I'm moving out of my place, and filling my calendar, preparing to hit the road on June 1st!

spring in Estes

In the meantime I've been steady training indoors, enjoying some bouldering at the Spot and some burly routes at the BRC. I've been running in the mountains, setting routes and organizing my life as well as working on my new TRD Tacoma!... getting it prepared for many nights on the road. I spent a few days last week up in Estes Park plugging gear and putting down a Lumpy Ridge classic that I've wanted to climb for a long while , 'El Camino Real' 12c, a burly layback that stood as one of the last aid climbs until it was freed by none other than Bernard Gillett in '92... rad climb!

I'm psyched on the arrival of the new issue of Urban Climber featuring an article I wrote about climbing in Las Vegas - have a look and please tell me what you think! Also Maxim ropes will be releasing an exclusive video that Andy Mann and I put together about Vegas and the VRG, including some rad footage of Necessary Evil, Planet Earth and Horse Latitudes - should be out this week on their brand new website.