Thursday, July 22, 2010

The Upper Room.

For those that do not know, Desiree and I follow the IHOP [International House of prayer] in Kansas City. We believe that IHOP has a lot of strengths where most churches are week. This group is honoring God by giving him 24 7 worship and pray in a harp and bowl style, like the book of Revelation mentions. I think that it is right on to follow and learn from the upper rooms that were mentioned in the Bible. Check it out at www.ihop.org. They have a free live video cast of their 24 7 prayer room.

Desiree and I heard from IHOP that they are in relation with a pastor/missionary in Egypt. Egypt has a large Muslim community, and it is illegal to preach about Christ. This pastor was not worried and was preaching about what he loved, Christ. His people and he were being thrown into prison. This has been going on for a while, and this Christian group just thought that they were suffering for the name of Christ. One day this pastor/leader of this group had received a vision from the LORD, and the LORD told the pastor to stop doing this to his people. It is not their job to suffer for Christ's name for Christ already did the suffering. The LORD told the pastor to start an upper room, and to start praying and interceding for these people. This pastor did some research on the upper room and started harp and bowl prayer, worship, and intercession. Nothing happened for the longest time, but after a while of crying out to the LORD to have Him come and show Himself to the Muslim community, He did exactly that. The Muslims started to have dreams and visions about Christ, and God started to do things, and the LORD was given the glory for these people starting a relationship with Christ.

The questions I find myself asking, Do Christians have the wrong idea for evangelizing? Why have Christians not given the upper room much thought before? Is it not awesome that we cannot take the credit if someone comes to Christ because He came to that person in a way that we humans cannot?

My challenge to all and especially to Churches is to START AN UPPER ROOM. We need to start to intercede for people. Prayer is so powerful. We need to be crying out to the LORD for our cities, country, and the world as a whole.

Monday, July 19, 2010

First Year Together.

Desiree and I just had our first year anniversary. It was awesome to be together this weekend. We booked a bed and breakfast in Niwot, CO. This town is about a 2 block historical town. It is pretty much in the middle of nowhere. We were a little nervous about what this bed and breakfast had in store for us. This was because most bed and breakfasts are very cheesy. They have this old country style look to them with beds that creek just by looking at them. I just cannot do that kind of style of B&B. I would not be able to relax, and I would feel very out of place. Maybe I will feel different when I am 60. Because of my feelings for this, Desiree and I do a lot of research before we book a place. We really did not know what to think of this B&B in Niwot. We were a little afraid that it was going to be out dated like the rest.


When we arrived we could not believe what was in front of us. The place was beautiful, and looked like it was refurbished into cabin style lodging. We were still ready to be a little disappointed. I was thinking that they put all their money into the outside, but the inside is still going to be outdated. We parked our car in the back, and walked in, and I was shocked. The placed was still beautiful. There was an immediate peaceful feel as soon as we walked into the place. It was quiet, and they had back ground music that just made me want to fall asleep. There were about four or five different seating sections around the small, but very quant building. These seating places were awesome if you wanted to read a book, or just get out of your room for a bit.


We went to the front counter and waited for the house keeper to check us in. Lynn was doing the dishes, and then noticed that we needed help. She came and checked us in, and then gave us a tour of the place. She showed us where the lounge was. It was very nice and cozy. There was a hug fire place right in the middle of the far wall. There was all kinds of seating around the room. There were tables that fit four, a couple that fit two, a bench, a couple couches, and a couple of elegant single person chairs. Behind the one couch there were snacks. They had some roasted nuts and chex mix on the one side, and homemade cookies on the other side. Then Lynn showed us a table that had coffee and tea available for whenever we wanted. The last table that Lynn showed to us had wine, cheese, and crackers that were available all night until 10pm. This was my favorite table, and I knew that it would not be long until I came down from our room and visited this room again.


Lynn took us up to our room. Right in the middle of the building there was a hug stair case that brought us to the upstairs. The whole building was open. The second floor was a circular walk way along the walls, but the middle was all open to the lower floor. This gave a very nice atmosphere to the place. We were staying in the room in the far North East corner, room number 9. Okay, so at the point I really am not expecting the rooms to be quality since the rest of the place was so amazing and beautiful. As Lynn opened up our door, I really was in awe. The furniture all had this matching log cabin look. The bed was a raised bed that was about 3.5 feet off of the ground. There was a fireplace in the room, and a flat screen TV. It was awesome, but the best part of the room was the bathroom. The toilet seat was heated, and there were about 10 lights that you could adjust the dimming on. There also was a heater just for the bath room that you could adjust. There was a wood counter, and a handmade forged sink. Now let’s talk about the shower. The shower was defiantly the high light of the room. There was the biggest rain shower head that I have ever seen. There also was a separate detachable shower head that was bigger than any of the shower heads that I have ever owned. The best part was the steam. The shower was also its own steam room. You could adjust the temp to whatever you wanted. The wall of the shower that you entered was all made of a modern style of glass, and the other walls of the shower were made of river bed rock. It was the coolest shower that I have ever been in. The place as a whole was absolutely beautiful inside-out. It had such a relaxing homey feel to it. I was so happy that Desiree and I could share the night at such a place as this bed and breakfast. At this point I forgot that I had gotten Desiree a dozen of roses and had them delivered to the room. Desiree saw them and said, "Hu, what are these flowers for?" She walked up to them, and read the note that said, "I love you Desiree, from your bud." She was so happy, and it was a great feeling to be able to surprise my wife with something nice.

The room.

The roses I had given to Desiree.

Desiree and I got our stuff out of the car and got all set up in the room. Desiree and I like to relax with a drink once in a while, but we don't like to spend the money at a restaurant because it adds up real fast. We brought some of our own, and started to relax as soon as our room was organized. We went back down stairs and had some wine, cheese, and crackers. Lynn informed us that there was an Italian restaurant right next door, and people say that it is very good. Desiree and I went back upstairs and got ready for dinner. We walked to the restaraut and decided to eat on the front patio. It was not that hard to decide what we were going to get because on our honeymoon we had calamari, and clams. We have now started a tradition, because that is exactly what we had this time around too. Although this time I had the calamari where the whole squid was on the plate, and was surprised at how much I liked it. It was a very nice restaurant and the food was great.

My beautiful wife at the restaurant

An indian carved into what was once a tree.

This town of Niwot was very cute and funny at the same time. What makes up this historical town is about a whole four blocks, but it was still very nice. The best part about it was that we were really getting away from the craziness of Denver, and life for the two days that we were there felt like it had almost stopped. Desiree and I had a great night, and the next morning we woke up and had breakfast in the morning. They had a pretty good variety, and they even made us a homemade waffle. After breakfast we got ready for the day, and left the B&B for home.

I will finish this post with: I LOVE YOU DESIREE.

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Desiree's first multi-pitch

I, Adam, can ponder about a dream or a goal a lot until it happens. I actually like completing my goals because it puts my mind to rest. One of my goals was to guide Desiree up her first multi-pitch. I did some research and found a perfect 370 foot, 4 pitch, sport climb in Clear Creek Canyon on the Creek Side wall called Playing Hooky. For those that do not know what a multi-pitch is here is my explanation.
When rock climbing, the most common lengths of rope used is 50, 60, and 70 meters of rope. Out of those three the 60 meter is the most popular. [The 60 meters is the length of rope that I have as well.] Almost every climb can be done with a 60 meter rope unless the climb is over 100 feet and is only a 1 pitch climb. 60 meters is just shy of 200 feet. This means that you can climb a max of 100 feet. The reason why you cannot climb the whole 200 meters, if you don't have two ropes, is because you need a way down. If I were to climb a 100 feet, there would be 100 feet from the belayer up to me, and then I would need another 100 feet to go from the top back down to the ground. To understand this best let me explain the different types of climbing as well. The three that I will describe are top rope, sport, and trad.
Trad is the type of climbing that takes the most work out of the three. This type of climbing requires you to use cams, or nuts. Nuts are a piece of meddle on the end of a small cable loop. If I were to use the nut, I would find a crack that has an opening big enough for the nut to slide in. Then I would pull it down to a tapered part of the crack where the crack gets small enough that the nut cannot pull out. If I fall on the nut most likely it will not fall out, but it is not always certain. Cams are devises that you put in cracks. They push against the rock in opposite directions, and they are made so that the harder that you pull on them the harder they push against the rock. In trad climbing this is your real main protection. You don't need to try as hard with cams as you do with nuts. This is because cams don't need to find that tapered part of the crack. Learning how to place nuts can help your skill with cams, and it can decrease the chance that the cam pops out when a fall happens. Don't be fooled though because people still fall on this equipment all of the time. Sometimes they pop out, and sometimes they don't. If a cam pops out it is not that big of a deal, but it is scary. If you place gear well your next placed piece should hold you. When trad climbing not only are you on rock that is very hard to climb, but you are also caring a lot of gear with you which adds a lot of weight. One of the climbers starts the climb out by staying on the ground with a belay device. The other climber is tied into the very end of the rope. The distance from the belay device from the climber starts at a very close distance. As the climber climbs further away from the ground, the belayer gives more rope. The climber, as he gains height, continues to look and find places in the crack to set his gear. Falling is always a part of climbing. It you are not falling then you are not pushing yourself. When the climber falls the distance above the last placed gear is the distance bellow that gear that you fall to. If the climber is 8 feet above the bolt then he will fall a total of 16 feet, 8 feet below the last placed gear. At the moment of the fall the belayer needs to lock off the rope with his belay device, so the climber does not fall any further.
Sport climbing is very similar to trad climbing, but it is not as technical. With sport climbing you do not have cams or nuts. Instead climbers see what looks to be a beautiful line, and they see it in such a way as a painter sees a great piece of art. To share a beautiful line with other climbers, someone spends the money, time, and hard work to drill holds and put bolts in the rock. The rule is that you normally do not bolt a crack. Why scar the rock and puts bolts in it, if you can climb it with trad. Most lines that are bolted are those that are not able to climb with trad because a crack is not available to place gear. Sport climbing works very similar to trad, but the pro is fixed, and you know where it is. When you reach the bolt you take your quick draw, which are two carabineers with webbing between the two. You clip the one side to hanger that is bolted to the wall, and the other side you clip your rope to. Like with trad, falling is very likely if you are pushing yourself. However high you are above your bolt you fall double. The belaying works the same.
Top roping can be use in all three types of climbing. The key to top roping is that you need to get to the top of the climb up to the 100 feet. You set the rope up, and throw the two ends down. Just like trad and sport, the climber is tied into the end of the rope. Instead of the belayer letting out rope to allow the climber to get higher, the belayer takes in the slack. The rope goes from the climber already to the top of the climb, or part of the climb if it is over 100 feet. Then the rope goes back down to the belayer. In this type of climbing falling is not a part of it. I mean you still can be too tired to get to the top and slip off of the rock, but when you let go you only drop the distance that the rope stretches which is no further than 6 inches.
Now a multi-pitch is where the climber stays at the top and hooks into the two anchors. Anchors are normally two extra long bolts that are drilled into the rock. Anchors are always on the top of a sport route, or pitch. Some times trad will have anchors set, and other times you have to create your own anchors with your gear. To use the anchors a climber would attach from his harness a locking carbineer. From the carbineer he would attach a sling, which is a loop of skinny webbing. From the sling the climber would attach another locking carbineer. Each climber would have two of these set-ups to attach to each of the bolts. Now the climber attaches a type of locking belay device to one of the anchors, and he would back it up with another quick draw or sling to the other anchor. The climber will back his rope up now to his harness, or the anchors with a clove hitch knot. This step is important because if you lose your rope, you are either up there until your partner can run and get someone to belay him up to you, or you solo without a rope back down, and hope that you don't fall. Once the rope is backed up, the climber would until the rope from himself and run it through the belay device. Now the climber on the wall is going to belay the climber on the ground. This is where top roping comes into play with sport climbing, and in the same way for trad. The climber has the rope going from him to the top and to the belay device. Now there is not any falling possibility besides the stretch of the rope. As the second climber makes his way up, he unclips the quick draws from the wall, and clips the draws onto his harness. This is how it works with trad as well, and how you get your gear back. When the 2nd climber gets to the anchors he will clip into the anchors in the same way as the first climber. Now if this was a single pitch the climbers could put the rope through the anchors and lower the two ends to the ground. Then the climbers could repel down with their belay devices, but if this is a multi-pitch then there is more climbing to be done. The climbers at this point could keep the same man leading, or they can switch it up. I think that it is much easier to switch it up because the belayer is already set to belay, and the 2nd climber has all the gear, so he mind as well keep climbing.
Monty on March 18, 2010.
Playing Hooky, www.mountainproject.com 

This is exactly the type of climbing that we planned on doing. We did about a 370 ft 4 pitch, sport, multi pitch. Desiree, which I did not find out until later, only had a 10% desire to really want to get up and do this climb. She informed that I pushed the rest of the 90% to get her out of the door. I did not know that I had this much influence over her. We gathered all our gear, and were on our way to Golden to meet up with Danny. Danny had some of my gear from the Devil's Head trip, and I needed as much as I could get to do this climb. The free guide online, called Mountain Project, stated that you needed about 14 quick draws for the entire climb. I only had 10, but then could make another 4 with my locking carabineers and slings. This only left us with two more slings to use to hook into the anchors, and we needed four. Danny was going to take us to a climbing store where we could buy a little more gear, but it ended up being closed. Danny had a concert he was going to so he was not going to come, but he is a crazy, laid back man. Danny just shrugged his shoulders and said lets go and climb this thing, all three of us. We threw Danny's bike into our car and we were off to the wall. We did not really know how to cross the river to get to the wall. The water was high, and we had to sit and look around a little, but found a way across if we walked back toward the bridge. There was an AKA path that did lead you to the start of the route, but it was rough. I think that all of us lost our balance at one time, and I know that I fell a few times.
There we were looking that this large piece of rock and the route "Playing Hook" in front of us. We got all set up, and Danny started off leading the first pitch. Danny had two ropes attached to him, so that he would belay both Desiree and I from the top. It was so funny because tourist would stop and watch us. They would even take pictures. Desiree started to climb next, and I started closely behind her. I was amazed at my wife. This was a 5.9 pitch, and it was one of the hardest 5.9s that I have climbed. Desiree was kicking butt even though she did pull on a draw once, and fell three times on the first pitch. The rest of the pitches she on-sited, and flashed. It was after the 2nd pitch that Desiree's mind realized that we cannot just turn around and be on the ground in no time, but that we would have to do a little bit of work to get there. Her mind started to wig out, and she was getting just a bit nervous, but continued on.

I love my wife. She is so awesome. She had to pee and she did not have much of a problem at all with squatting on the ledge 200 feet up and letting it run. We were up the second half of the third pitch, and we came to a little bit of a difficult part for Desiree. You could tell that the height was messing with her mind a bit, and she was starting to get a little sloppy in her climb. Once again she got through, and she reached the belay ledge for the last pitch. I soon reached the ledge after her.

Desiree was still tied into the rope, and Danny gave her a quick safety line by clove hitching the rope to the anchors just off of her knot about three feet. Danny had his safety lines already set up. I got carried away in the excitement of the climb and getting so high that I forgot about my responsibilities as a climber, and did not give myself a safety line. I did not know it at the time. When I looked at the anchors I saw a clove hitch with the same color rope that I was tied in to, and thought that Danny had given me one. Danny took everyone off of belay and started to set up for me to lead the last pitch. At that moment I noticed that my heals were hanging off of the ledge that we were standing on, and I thought that it was amazing. A year ago there was no way that I would have been standing over this edge even tied in. I would have been shaking out of control in fear. When I stand on a ledge and hooked into the anchors, I have been leaning back and putting wait on my slings. I started to rock back slightly, but realized that my line was not loosing slack and rising like it normally would. At that moment I stopped to double check that I was tied to the anchors. I then realized that the knot that was tied in was not for me at all, but for Danny. I said out loud, "Am I tied in right now?" When I said this Desiree's hand reached out and grabbed my pocket so I could not fall back. I then gave myself a clove hitch. At the moment I laughed it off, but it could have been a fatal fall. All that I was tied in to was a 200 foot rope, and my friend Danny was tied in on the other end. It would have most likely been a fall to the death. If I would have fallen, I would have started to tumbling down the slab. Most likely I would have hit my on a rock before I even finished falling the 200 feet, and could have died from the blow. I was not going to let my mind take over, and freak out about the situation because there was more climbing to be done ahead.

It was my turn to lead, and I was a little nervous for the climbing looked to thin out ahead. I started up the wall with much control, but I did indeed hit some thinned out parts. I had reached the bottom of the last 20 feet, and this was the most vertical part of the whole climb. At that moment it started to rain on me. It was not just a little rain either, but it was really coming down. I was trying to clip my last bolt before the anchors, and I had a possible 20 foot fall if I fell before I clipped in. It sure was wet, and I was trying to chalk up my hands as much as possible, but I still was having a hard time griping the rock. I did not feel confident with any of the holds that I grabbed, but had to pick one. I was nervous. I transferred my weight over my legs as much as I could, and I reached way right to clip the draw. I missed it the first time, and the second attempt was golden. I climbed my next 4 feet, and was at the summit. I set up my belay station, and had Danny and Desiree up the rock before long. It is just a very neat feeling when you are on top of a climb with more than yourself, and you are all looking over the beautiful view. When climbing single pitches, climbing is a single person game. When you change it to a multi pitch the game changes. The climb is no longer a one person game because you need at least two people to finish the route. It was awesome to know that we all made it to the top as a team.
Rich F. on Aug 15, 2010. Playing Hooky, www.mountainproject.com

It was time to get down now, and the work was not over. Danny and I tied the two ropes together, and fed the rope through the anchors. Danny was on his way down the first 200 feet. I looked at Desiree, and she sure was looking a bit nervous. When Danny was off of the rope, I set Desiree up, but she did not want to go. She looked at me like she was asking do I really have to. She slowly started to let herself over the edge, but she caught herself and walked back to me. Desiree started to cry with anxiety. "It is okay and you have done this several times. You have this." I tried to convince her. Don't think that this is easy though. When you are 370 feet off of the ground your mind is in a different place than it normally is. It is a very different feeling. It feels like your mind can physically take over your thoughts and emotions, and you really need to fight it to tell it that the rope, gear, and my own physical ability can be safely trusted to lower me to the ground. Desiree did great. She fought her mind and slowly lowered herself to the 2nd belay station. It did not help that she did not put her hair up, and the wind was blowing it into the belay device. She had to stop and pull her hair out of the device twice on the way down, and that was not keeping her calm or relaxed.

When there was slack on the line and I heard a faint OFF BELAY being yelled, I hooked into the rope, unhooked my safety line from the anchors, and I was on the 2nd belay station in no time. We all repelled the last 200 feet, and we on the ground at last. We were all proud of ourselves, even though Danny was thinking ok there was the warm up, where is the real climb? What a good day of climbing.

That night Desiree and I were having a difficult time sleeping a little because we were thinking about the terrible situation that could have happened if I would have fallen. I think that it is good though that I did not get terrified while I was on the wall. I could just picture myself freaking out, and wanting to be on the ground right at that moment. This was not possible though because we were a whole 300 feet off of the ground. I could just picture myself making another mistake if I would have let my mind get a hold of me. Instead I kept it cool, and kept to the route. Desiree and I were talking about it and she asked if I thought it is good that we were making a big deal about it. I think it is very good. The respect for the danger and the heights needs to be there. I now am going to use this situation, and since I am letting it get to me a little it will motivate me to double check everything while I am on the wall. In my book the safety needs to be first, and the fun comes second.

Monday, July 12, 2010

4th of July Camping and Climbing with Danny

Can I say that I have the best wife in the world. Desiree asked me what I wanted to do for the weekend of the 4th. I told Desiree that ever since we started rock climbing I wanted to camp and climb. Desiree was not sure if she was up for it, but she always tries to please me. I could tell that she was trying to rap her head around it for me during that week before.

When Thursday came along we were all packed up, and immediatly after work we headed down to Castle Rock to meet our friend Danny. We finnished getting some random things from Wallmart including: bug spray, drinking water, and two multi spoon, fork, and knife tools. We were on our way up into the mountains. The plan was to Drive up into Rampart Rd, find a place to camp out, and then go climbing in the morning. As we were climing in altitude up the windy road, I got this amazing feeling over me. I have not had such a feeling as this since I was in school. It was the same feeling when the day of school was over on a beautiful day, or the feeling the last day of school gave me. I felt so free, and alive. I think that my life right now has made me feel stuck in so many ways. Don't get me wrong, I love my life, but I do miss the freedom I had in high school and college. I was not tied down, and I did what I wanted to. I miss that. It was so refreshing to feel free.

We saw a hot dog stand once we got onto of the top of the front range, so we stopped for a dog. I have not ever done that before. I have never spontanusley stopped for a random food stand. Awesome. We arived to Rampart Rd. and were going about 30 mph up and down the dirt road, but watching out for the wash boards at the terns. We were getting closer and closer to Devils Head and found a beautiful campsite in the middle of a bunch of boulders. It was so much fun just relaxing around a fire outside with my wonderful wife and good friend Danny. For Dinner we had some pb and j sandwitches, baked beans, rice, dried friut, and trail mix. It started to rain that night, so we hurried up and put everything away. We got in our tents and called it a night. The ground was not very soft, and we do not have sleeping pads yet. Desiree and I both did not get very good sleep, but were still up a little after 7 and started getting ready for the day. We had some oat meal, bacon, and dried fruit for breakfast.

We packet up the camp, and headed for Devil's Head. The night before Danny, being the people person that he is, befriended this family and the father happened to be a guide back in the day for climbing. We got some tips on a 5.7 rated trad climb that went up this chimmny on the Devil's Head Campground Crag. Once we hit the parking lot we grabed our gear, and headed up the short trail to the head of the climb. Danny sended the whole 200 feet with both of the ropes for Desiree, and I. We saw him on the last part up the chimmny, and we were nervouse because it looked hard. Desiree just was not feeling it. She started the climb, and just did not have her eyes open. She was climbing very sloppy, and I new that she was way better than she was climbing. I helped her through it, and we got into the start of the chimmny. This is where she fell apart. Let me take a side note and remind everyone that Desiree is a very good climber. She normally is having fun on the wall, but today she was just not feeling it for some reason. We both think that it was the poor night of sleep, and climbing so early in the morning that could have caused it. I was trying to help Desiree through it and we did make it up the whole 200 feet, but it was a rough one. Some times going camping/climbing is a form of marrage counseling for us.

Devil's Head Campground Crag; We climbed the furthest left crack.

It was time to get down, and Danny informed that the guy the night before said there was a way off the back side, but we were not finding it at all. We tied our two ropes together and repelled off of the top. This was the first time that Desiree has repelled, and it freaked her out a bit, but she did an awesome job. Desiree and I were pooped and ready to be done, but Danny had other plains. I just could not say no to Danny, plus deep inside I wanted to climb more.

I asked Danny, "How far is the hike to the Crag Ranch?" Danny answered, "about a mile." I thought, no big deal. If Desiree wanted to be done with climbing and just do the hike then she could go that route. We started out on the hike, and just a little ways into it I saw a sign that said that the hike was 1.5 miles. I thought, Danny was close, it is not that much longer than he said. The hike was switch backs up this side of this mountain, and it was tiering. Desiree was struggling a bit, and we had to wait for her several of times. I felt bad for her, and felt like a terrible husband to make her follow us men and do all that we were doing. She looked sick, but I kept encouraging her on. "Good job Des. You are almost there," I would hope. So we finally got to the top. To the left was a fire look out station, and all round there were rocks. I did not see any bolts in the wall though, and Danny had said that we would be climbing sport. We kept hiking, and kept hiking. We had to have hiked another three fourths of a mile before we arrived at the wall. Desiree's toes were killing her from now hiking back down hill. Every step and our toes would jam into the front of our boots.

We did finally arrive after what seemed like an entire day already. We all laid down in exhaustion, and started to fall asleep. Danny and I did not not rest for too long until he pointed out a beautiful 5.9 line to me. It was a straight vertical 100 feet of climbing. It sure did look hard, and I was doubting my ability as a climber to on-sight this one. This means that I would climb the route first try, no falls, or beta given. We got set up, and there I was on the wall. It was very difficult in parts, and other parts was very easy. I felt different on this route though. Most routes are very awkward to climb and you fell like a mess sending them, but I felt different this time. In the cruxes, the hardest part of that route, it was a little awkward, but then it would pull out to very smooth climbing again. I felt like a dancer sending up every move of this route. Then there I was at the top. I sure enough lead and on-sighted this 5.9. I was stoked and felt great, even with the lack of energy that I had.

I went over to where Desiree was, and she was knocked out. Desiree sure was tiered, for she laid down for a few minutes and she was out cold. I had to wake her up though. "Desiree, Desiree. I know that you are tiered, but you have to climb this. It was amazing." I exclaimed to her in the quietest voice that I could. I was surprised by her willingness, and almost joy to get back up and climb. Desiree taped her toes, and was about to take this climb like a champ. She jumped on this wall and did about three moves and hit the first crux and fell. I wanted her to get this climb so bad, but it made me nervous. I could not help but to think that she was going to quit before she gave it a chance. Desiree took a look at the holds, and gave it another go. She struggled a little, but in no time passed the first crux up. She was on her way up to the next crux. Desiree was looking great, and I was so excited for her. "Yeah. Way to go." I shouted up at her. Where she was at this point of the climb there was a double intermittent crack system that was slightly leaning to the left. It was about three big moves from the left crack, to the right crack, and back to the left. Desiree took about 12 falls. I was getting nervous again that she was going to give up.

Working the crux by the intermittent double crack system

Desiree kicking butt

I was on the ground with our baby. I mean... our Cannon Rebel, and taking photos of Desiree. Danny was belaying Desiree from the ground. Really though. Danny was lying on the ground. I turned from Desiree's climbing for just a second to take a picture of Danny.

Danny belaying Desiree with his grigri lying on the ground.

"Adam did you see that." I heard being yelled above me. Aw, I missed it. Desiree gave another hard try for the moves, and got pass the 2nd crux. She was on her way with ease here on out. She was taking her time and puzzle piecing it together to get up this 100 foot climb. I was so proud of her. Desiree sent her first 5.9.

Danny wanted to climb something a little harder for he is a great climber. He picked the route just right of the one that we climbed, rated a 5.11d. Taking pictures of climbing is not fun a lot of times. This is because you are stuck on the ground and do not have many other options for angles to shoot besides the angle of butt. I have mentioned to Danny that I would love to start taking pictures like the pro climbing photographers. Danny and I planed on Desiree belaying Danny, and I would do exactly what I was hoping for. Danny has a belay device called a grigri. It is a very nice piece of equipment because when you are using it to belay a climber and the climber takes a fall, it auto locks. With this piece of equipment and others like it, climbers started to do what is called top rope soloing. This is where one end of the rope is tied to the climber. Then the rope goes up to the anchors at the top of the climb and back down to the climber. The grigri is attached to the climbers harness, and the rope feed through it. There I was set up to top rope solo with my camera on my back. I would climb up the rock, pull the rope's slack through the grigri, and continue to climb. I climbed about a 3rd of the way up the same 5.9 route that we climbed before. It was awesome. I fell on purpose and the grigri auto locked, so I could just hang on the rope.

Danny started to climb, and he was doing awesome. He came to this point of the climb where he had to dyno. A dyno is a climbing term which means that he had to jump, completely leaving the rock of the wall, and flying in the air to grab his next hold. Danny, just by a very little bit, did not make it and fell about a good 10 feet. Desiree locked the end of the rope to stop Danny from falling, but Danny's weight and momentum caused Desiree to shoot up into the air, and she slammed against the wall. She did great, and did not get hurt too bad. She did get a little bruise on her butt. Danny got back up, and finished the climb.

I felt legit up on the wall taking good angle shots. I was able to capture the face, the emotion, and something other than a butt. I can not wait to do it again. I would even love to go out and give climbers a photo shoot.

Danny taking off for the Dyno

Danny establishing the side pull

Just hanging out

Danny relaxing before he takes on the rest of the route

We relaxed for a bit more, and then packed all our gear. The hike back we were not looking forward to, but we were trying to keep good attitudes We got back to the top, and decided that since we were up there, we had to hike up to the fire watch station. The view was beautiful and you could see in every direction. There is a man that works up there. It is crazy. He lives in a house up on this mountain and he walks the stairs every day. He just sits up there and looks for fires. In a way he is also a tourist guide. He has to deal with all the tourist and people that ask him questions after questions. We walked back down after some good pictures, and were on our way to the car.

From the top

Some more

We three before we hiked back to the car

It was so good to be sitting in the drivers seat. I was tierd and so was Desiree. The water sitting in the back of the car never tasted better. It was a good 4th of July weekend so far.

Monday, July 5, 2010

The Rest of the Trip

Once the Tennessee trip was ending it was hard to say goodbye to the family, but not as bad as it could have been. Desiree and I still had a couple more days of vacation. We headed to Wisconsin with Aaron and Krissy to see where they lived?

In May, Desiree and I headed out to Nebraska to visit Ethan [my youngest brother] to see where he went to school. It was so awesome to see Ethan in his own element. Most of the time Ethan is my younger brother, he does what I do, he tries to act like I act, and he never likes to leave my side. I have been away from Ethan for a little while now, and he sure has grown up. He has a girl friend now, and is his own man. He does things that I normally would not do. For example he joined the improve group at his college. I saw a show that they put on, and it was awesome. My brother was really funny. It was a side of him that I have not seen before. It was a very neat and awesome trip. I had so much fun. My little brother became a big friend. I love that brother of mine.

The trip to Wrightstown Wisconsin had a lot of the same feelings that I could compare to the trip to Nebraska, but they were all very different at the same time. I really did not see Aaron or Krissy in a different way as I did Ethan, but it was amazing seeing Aaron and Krissy in their own elements. Aaron is a pastor of the Church, and Krissy is Aaron's secretary. I got to see Aaron preach to the Church on the Sunday that we were there. You could tell that people love Aaron, and respect him as a man of God. I am so glad that others see my brother the same way that I see him. After the church service we went shopping for some food. We made sandwiches, and left their adorable house to go for a picnic.

Aaron and Krissy live in Wrightstown. Wrightstown is this little farm town that is about 30 minutes away from Green Bay. It is the cutest little town with the cutest barns, and farms. My favorite part of the town is that it gives the most peaceful feeling. Small little farm towns just seem to be like that. I felt so calm the whole time that we were there.

After the picnic, we played 18 holes of disc golf. The course was the best disc golf course that I have played on yet. It was a lot of fun. Aaron and Kissy drove us down a road that had very expensive houses on it. They were incredible. Some of them looked like castles in a Dutch country or somewhere. We were driving a long and Aaron pointed out an eagle that was fishing. I have not seen many eagles in my life and since I am a photographer, I have this desire to capture a shot of one. Aaron told me about this big nest across the town. We drove to the house to get the camera, and they took us to see an eagle. We did happen to see one, but it was just sitting on the nest. It was too far away to get a good shot even with the telephoto. We did continue down a path to see if we could catch any eagles flying in the air, but after a little while we gave up and headed home. We made some drinks, and played some cards. We climbed some trees, and sat and talked. [Of course I had to try to keep up my climbing somehow]. It was the most relaxing night that I have had in a while. Aaron and Krissy made asparagus, sweet potatoes, and stakes. Umm, it was an amazing dinner. We had fun around a little fire, and then watched a movie.

In the morning we headed for Milwaukee. Desiree and I flew out that afternoon from the Milwaukee airport. We hung out for a little in the town. We went out to eat on a restaurant by the river side, and went to this food market place. We had such a great time with Aaron and Krissy, but it was time that was taking Desiree and I back to Colorado. It was hard to leave all of my family.

Aaron and Krissy,

I think that you two are amazing people, and I am so grateful to call you my family. Thank you for ministering in that part of the world. I love you, miss you, and cannot wait until next time we are together.