Wyoming, Pt. 3: Grand Tetons and Devil's Tower

I've been back in Duluth less than 24 hours, and jumping back into "real" life is, as always, a little jarring at first (running water?  Carpeting?  Dishes that are actually clean-clean, and not just "camping" clean??).  The end of vacation went by in a complete blurr, but I'll recount our last days here before they turn into the happy lump of memory known as "summer vacation".  

After we excited the Cirque of the Towers, our bodies begged for true healing time.  We stopped for the first shower in a week at the Pinedale Aquatic Center, took full advantage of the hot tub, and ate a lot of burrito goodness at one of the local dives before heading up to Jackson, WY to get ready to enter the Tetons.  

We took a couple of days to be tourists in Jackson and Jackson Hole, visiting the Million-Dollar Cowboy Bar (where there are saddles instead of bar stools), grabbing our backcountry permit from the ranger station, and checking out the newest Batman movie during a particularly rainy afternoon.  After proper rest, we headed fresh and ready into the Grand Tetons!  We have an extremely careful process to pack our gear, of course:

I'm really glad we saved this hike until last.  It wasn't the longest hike we did, but in about 6 miles we gained around 3,000 ft of altitude.  Having the experience of hiking into the Cirque at altitude was a great way to make this hike not seem nearly as bad as it could have felt.

It was like the uphill hike that never ended, and it only got steeper the farther up you went.  This is us, still cheerful, before the going got tough. :)

We ended our day at the Petzoldt caves- actual caves that you can get permits to camp in!  I really liked our cave- it wasn't very tall, but it went back far enough that you could stretch out your sleeping pad and not worry about rain or wind.  We just had to make sure not to sit up too fast when we woke up, or you'd have a nice gouge in your forehead.

We shared it with a Pika- a high-altitude creature that made loud noises and looked like a small chinchilla.  Cute, but pretty stinky.  

I made sure to get in some "extreme knitting" in the caves, though this would prove to be the only real "extreme knitting" I did this trip.  No hanging off a belay this time (next year!).  

After some fantastic backcountry food, we went to bed with the sun for our early morning wake up!

Our plan was to attempt the Grand- the biggest spike of all in the range.  The climb itself can actually be made fairly simple if wanted- there's a route that goes all the way to the top which is 5.5, seeming like a pretty big ladder.  We were hoping to attempt the Direct Petzoldt Ridge, a more exposed 5.7 that eventually linked up to the Upper Exum route leading to the top.  From the start of the route to the peak and descending would be around 10-12 hours, plus at least a couple hours hike on either side, so we had to get up alpine-early.

This is what 4 am looks like in the mountains:

This is what 5 am looks like in the mountains:

We reached the crest of the ridge between the Middle Teton and the Grand Teton around 7 am, and as we walked up past snow we got blasted by a freezing cold wind coming over the ridge.  Scott wrapped his one layer of fleece closer, and I zipped my rain coat up tight as we trudged up to the bottom of our ridge.  Two figures passed by us on their way down wrapped in fluffy down jackets, then skeptically questioned our lack of "proper" warm gear.  I retorted "We're from Minnesota" before they laughed us off and told us that it was a lot colder and windier up on the mountain; their reason for bailing.  

We hiked the rest of the way up the approach, stopping on the snow that covered the bottom of our route to regroup and discuss something we didn't want to- bailing.  The wind was relentless- pushing and pulling and freezing your hands on any attempt to extend them on a hold.  My teeth were chattering and I was trying to keep from shaking.  

Scott looked me in the eye and asked, "Do you really want to do this?"  I looked straight back at him, told him, "Yes," trying to control my voice from betraying how cold I was.  After a little more discussion, we decided that it wouldn't be safe for us to attempt the route in the cold and wind. 

The descent was quiet, as neither of us were happy about having to bail off of a route.  After hanging out at camp for a little bit we decided that we were going to hike out of Garnet Canyon and seek out warmer climbing spots.

Grand Teton- next trip!

Barely a day later, we found ourselves looking up at the Devil's Tower in eastern Wyoming.  We made coffee in the parking lot, racked up, and walked around the paved trail at the bottom of the tower to reach a route called Soler.

Scott led the first pitch in his trademark effortless style:

And I got to finish it up on a great 5.9 hand crack, checking out the view as I belayed Scott up.

That climb showed us how destroyed our bodies really were after 3 weeks of relentless hiking and climbing. Even my knees hurt as I was wedging my feet into the crack.  

As we walked around the base of the tower back to the car, we decided that our trip was done.  We had visited 5 climbing areas in 3 weeks, hiked in much farther for longer and with a lot more gear than last year, and we were ready to head back home.

We stopped in my hometown to say hi to my folks before driving back to Duluth, and were greeted by the familiar sight of the city unfolding below us as we came down the hill.

I have a lot going on next week: getting back to work, teaching every day at dance camp, and working on my syllabus for my classes this semester.  I'm also participating in Ravelry's knitting games, though not with the project I originally had in mind.  I'll talk more about those for now, but it was amazing to let these posts linger on the incredible fun I had on this trip.  

After all, what kind of life is it without crazy vacations? :)

Wyoming, Pt. 2: Wind River Range

It's been a crazy week since I last wrote.  We spent from Monday through last night in the backcountry, hiking out past dark with headlamps on as lightning and thunder threatened on the horizon.  It was completely worth it, though- 40 pound packs beside.  ;)

We hiked first into the Deep Lake area, bringing with us two friends-of-friends of S's brother who wanted to try climbing in the backcountry.  

Cody had been climbing for six months, and had "taken the last month and a half off".  Oliver was pretty exclusively a boulderer, so we had an interesting combo that turned out to be great company.  We were often regaled with tales of their antics, and had to watch for "herds of moose" whenever dinner from the night before made a noise en route.  After hiking in, we climbed two routes on Haystack mountain- the North Face and Railroad Tracks in two days.  

We learned when climbing North Face that when the guidebook says, "start early due to afternoon rainstorms", it really means "start early due to afternoon rainstorms".  

Note the fashionable sock mittens I was using to keep my hands warm at the belay!  We reached the summit as the clouds were darkening on the horizon, and the wind was whipping hard enough to make even S and myself a little nervous as we negotiated our way around the 4th class slabs.  It began raining on the descent, but by the time we made it down to the slabs the rain had stopped and at camp it was full sun again.

Railroad Tracks was in great weather, but the cracks were a bit mungy, more filled with grass than with great spots for hand jams and cams.  S and I swapped leads on what we quickly learned was a 50 meter rope (normally we'd climb with a 60 m, but that's the "extra" rope that the boys brought).  What was supposed to be a chill handful of pitches up to 5.8 grew into 8 pitches, plus scrambling at the top for the summit.  We were pretty excited to be up there, as you can tell:

and when we got back down to camp it was almost 12 hours from when we started.  Doing a route with a 4 person belay takes forever, and I doubt we'll do it anytime again soon.  Dinner that night was inhaled rather than eaten.

After Deep Lake, S and I said adios to the boys and headed to the Cirque of the Towers, the crown jewel for climbing in the Wind River Range.  You can see Warbonnet as the peak with the sheer drop off the right hand side here:

After a grueling hike, we climbed one of the most popular routes in the Cirque- the South Buttress on Pingora.  Unfortunately, my camera died before I even reached the Cirque, so I'll have to get pictures next time.  The climb itself was spectacular, with incredible cracks and alpine granite towering above the valley floor.  S and I swapped leads yet again, scurring up the cracks and laughing like kids in a candy store.  We had another unfortunate run-in with the weather as we descended, resulting in wet ropes and bad rappels.  It didn't cloud our experience of the climb too much, though, since the climb itself was fantastic.  After we hiked down and back to camp, we packed up and headed back out of the Cirque, ignoring unhappy ankles and knees as we booked it to the trailhead in the twilight and increasing darkness.  When it got truly dark, we sang Cake songs back and forth and worked on our own climbing version of "Oh Give Me A Home"- lyrics forthcoming. :) 

It was an incredible time, and we already have a list going for the next climbs we're going to do back in the Cirque.  For now, a couple of rest days (though this time they're more like 'healing' days) and getting ready for the last section of our trip- the Grand Tetons!

Wyoming, Pt. 1

It's been crazy for the last week and a half or so.  I'm currently writing to you from Pinedale, Wyoming, after the first third of my summer climbing trip.  It's been fantastic so far- S and I have done 6 straight days of climbing, and only now can we stop and let our bodies recover for a couple of days before we head out on the cliffs again!
I'll do a few blog posts to cover the big spots that we hit.

S and I spent a whole day laying out all of our gear, packing, figuring out logistics, running errands and getting the kittens' stuff together before heading up north to drop the kittens off with Scott's Mom, their official kitten-sitter for the next month.

Neither of them were excited for the car ride, despite their new luxury accommodations in the form of a large dog kennel.  :)
We spent the next few days jumping in the Temperance River, hiking into Carlton Peak to climb, and helping the kittens get adjusted to their home for the next month.
After the down time, it was time to head off!
We stopped to say hi to my Mom in the Twin Cities, then spent a very long time driving across South Dakota, watching corn fields rush by.  We made a stop at the Corn Palace in Mitchell, mostly to see what all the fuss was about and for a chance to stretch our legs.

We really had to stop when we hit Spearfish Canyon near Mt. Rushmore, because there was a big concentration of sport climbing that couldn't be ignored.

It was a great chance to start climbing at altitude.  Duluth is at around 700 ft. above sea level, so Spearfish Canyon at 5,000 feet was a good start for the bigger peaks we were going to hit up later.

We did three straight days of climbing in Spearfish- really awesome rock and routes with beautiful views.  The weather never got too insanely hot, which was a big plus for us. Sport climbing also means no heavy trad gear- just a rope and some draws, a couple liters of water and snacks.  Great way to ease into the trip.
After a great morning of climbing, we packed up our gear and headed out again, aiming for the Wind River Range.  After Casper, we took a small detour to a canyon we had heard had great climbing, and were in absolute awe when we got there.

100-500 foot cliffs with beautiful crack systems running from the river straight up to the edge of the cliff.
We had to stop.
We really didn't have a choice, being crack climbers and all. :)

The rock was incredible, with great crack systems heading up and down all around us.  We got up with the sun, climbed until the temperature was past 90 degrees and we were sweating out of the cracks, then had a siesta nap, lunch, (a movie one day at Casper's little movie theater), then back to the cliffs when it started to cool off again.

Words can't even describe how incredible the rock was.  We did both top-rope top-belay and trad from the bottom, though we have no pics of trad climbing since there were only two of us climbing and we both needed to pay attention during that part.

On our sixth straight day of climbing, we were dirty, sweaty, covered in bruises and cuts, and completely sore all over.  We climbed a few more routes before finally calling it, succumbing to the incessant whining of our bodies that enough was enough.  We grabbed some huge burritos from Pacho's Tacos on the way out and have spent the day driving to Pinedale, WY for a full rest day today, including laundry, cleaning out my car ABE, showers (we badly need them!), and planning for the next part of our trip.
Monday morning we'll wake up, pack up, and hike into the Cirque of the Towers in the Wind River Range for another 5-6 days of climbing peaks.  Most of them top out higher than 12,000 feet, with incredible views and hopefully not too many mtn. storms.
Hopefully my next post will be next weekend from Jackson, WY, after our Cirque trip and before our trek into the Grand Tetons.  Until then, I'm off to find a shower and get a nap in.  Rest days really are important, as much as I don't want to take them when I'm surrounded with such incredible climbing all around!

Snowflakes in June

The last few days have been deathly hot up here in Duluth.  I realize that what I take for "deathly hot" is probably "warm and humid" or even "not that bad" for most of the rest of the country, but when it gets above 80 degrees my body shuts down as my skin turns pink and breaks into a sweat when I try to move. (The only way I can justify this is that I do incredibly well at the opposite end of the spectrum- when the temp is below zero and the windchill is at -30, I still happily bundle up and bike to work.)
Yesterday, for example, it topped out at 88 degrees with humidity to boot.  My bike ride home was blisteringly hot and sticky all the way uphill, and when S got home from four days in the BWCA later that evening, he found this scene to meet him:

Maeby and I both succumbing to the heat, spreading our poor bodies out on the floor in an attempt to cool off.  I couldn't do more than lie on the floor with a fan on me, reading a book.  Maeby was dragging herself from spot to spot and just flopping her little body down.  Albert was hiding in any cool, shaded spot he could find.
Our little black kittens are definitely slowing down a lot in the heat.  I don't blame them- I don't have a black fur coat and I couldn't deal with the heat yesterday.
One nice thing about the blaring hot sun is its ability to dry the last of the snowflakes, and this morning I spread them all out to happily behold my progress.

Aren't they pretty?

I love that there's so many unique shapes, and some of my favorite shapes have doubles!

I still have a lot to go on this project- knitting the hexagon background around each of the snowflakes, grafting all 13 hexagons together, then knitting a border around the edge of the whole she-bang- but just being able to finish all the snowflakes before I head out for a month is a big relief for me.  It makes this project feel attainable, not just something huge and foreboding.
More heat today, but luckily I got a nice long bike ride in early this morning before breakfast and my regular ride to work.  Getting an early workout makes me feel less useless later on in the day.  I'm having to start earlier and earlier- yesterday morning I started my run at 7 am to avoid the heat, and started to overheat as I was finishing up.  Probably 6:30 tomorrow to escape the heat!
At least all this heat is a good excuse to eat more ice cream.
Pistachio Pistachio, anyone?

Birthday Weekend!

I spent my weekend down at my parent's house in the Twin Cities, and was treated to a few fun surprises!  I got to check out a small-town fair, complete with an amateur waterskiing exhibition.

It was great fun to watch- they did a great job with all their tricks, but sometimes it was even funnier when someone would fall off and a whole pyramid of people would collapse in the water.  Great fun!
The Twin Cities is also consistently about twenty degrees warmer in temperature than Duluth, and it actually felt like summer down there.  I wore my shorts and tank tops, and felt hot for the first time.  Luckily my brother had a fun little ride to cruise around in, courtesy of his roommate!

It's a little "Midget MG", and I have no idea what year or any other info about it, but it was great fun to zip around the back roads of the island, laughing at the ridiculous little car.  I could touch the back wheel from the passenger seat!  Now that my brother is an engineer with an official job, he joked that his first "fun" purchase may be one of these little cars.  I'd have to borrow it for joy rides, though that means I'd have to learn to drive stick... bleh...

It was even warm enough to go out on Lake Superior on my aunt's pontoon boat for some hang-out time with family and extended family.  My cousin B and I were brave enough to jump in Lake Minnetonka, with our thick Duluth blood making the water seem balmy (after that first initial jolt of f*^%ing freezing chilly water)!

My birthday was on Monday, and my Mom had to make me the traditional angel food birthday cake that coupled well with raspberries (and later lingdonberry jam when I got home).
Monday was a relaxing and fun birthday day- I had the day off, and got spoiled by S.  He made me french toast in the morning, stuffed with brie and raspberries!  We did some climbing, went to Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter, and got fancy dinner at the Zeitgeist before a beautiful evening bike ride home.

S got me the perfect gift for our upcoming adventure- a 3.5 pound Granite Gear woman's pack, with comfortable shoulder and hip pads that fit my long torso perfectly!  I've been using my Men's medium ice climbing-specific pack for backpacking trips so far, so having a real backcountry backpack is like a breath of fresh air for me.  It makes me even MORE excited for Wyoming, which is quickly approaching!
All in all, a pretty fantastic weekend followed by a chill and fun birthday Monday.
A girl couldn't ask for much more. :)

EDIT: Sorry for using the adjective "great" so much.  I should make a list of "positive" words and continuously go off of that instead of mentioning that everything is always "great".  Bleh.  :)

Rainy Day Activities

While the rain poured down outside, I was able to get more snowflakes knit and blocked for the Snowflake Shawl!

I only had room to block four at a time, and with the humid, damp air it took a long time for them to dry.  I have two left to block, and only ONE left to knit before I can start working on the background for them!  Suddenly this project doesn't seem quite as ominous as I first thought.
One of my favorite snowflakes so far has to be this one:

Lots of pretty points, and a smaller point inside each one makes for a beautiful piece of art.  If I had any extra time (and yarn), I would make some of these to just hang up around the apartment for Christmas decorations (high away from kitten paws).  We'll see if that actually happens.
Remember awhile back when I made this cowl for my brother's girlfriend as part of a barter?  Well, over Grandma's Marathon weekend she came up and delivered my painting!

I absolutely love it- it's about three feet high and a foot wide, and depicts the northern lights above a tree line.    There's a textured cliff on the right side of the painting.  It goes perfectly next to the dining room table, and I couldn't be happier with this particular barter!
I'm heading to the Twin Cities this weekend to spend time with my Mom and friends, and I'm really looking forward to a break from work and some hang-out time by the lake.  My birthday is Monday when I get back, and after a week of work I'll be off on my summer climbing trip to Wyoming!!  I can't believe summer is going by so fast already- before I know it, I'll be preparing my lessons for the school year and working furiously on my sweater for the Ravelympics.
When I think about that, I'm glad that I take time off for a long vacation to really get out and enjoy myself. :)  I'm extremely lucky that I have a job where I can take that time- and goodness knows I take advantage of it!
Have a great Friday, everyone!

Duluth Flood

It's been a wild couple of days up here in Duluth.  We've had some unrelenting rain over the last few days coupled with thunderstorms, and last night into this morning the city literally couldn't take it anymore when the sky opened up and torrential downpour consumed everything.

Duluth is built on a giant hill, and unfortunately that meant that everything flowed down hill- everything from sand, rocks, to chunks of pavement.

Sinkholes appeared, swallowing cars whole.

The parking lot by the Duluth Co-op (about a five minute bike ride from my house) collapsed at one end when the creek finally broke through.

The creeks running through town exploded in size, overrunning their banks onto lawns, roads, and finally dumping into Lake Superior.

All the pictures above were taken within the last day or so, and all but the one of Chester Creek (that one I took on my bike ride to work!) are from MPR's website where people have been uploading pictures all day.  I had to bike in to work this morning through more rain, being careful to avoid traffic, giant puddles that could be hiding sinkholes, and being incredibly thankful that I live higher on the hill than most.  

West Duluth is flooded, the mall area is flooded (seen above), and people are kayaking and canoeing down main roads.  I've never seen anything like it.
Interstate 35 was even shut down- the tunnels were completely filled with water and sediment.

We're pretty good at dealing with really cold and blizzards, but with something like this all you can do is pick up the pieces and see what you can do to help.