We ended up not climbing today, due to a variety of reasons, not least of which were the forecasted afternoon thunderstorms that have now finally materialized.
We spent several hours at the Climbers' Ranch sorting gear and dialing in our systems. Here are a few more pictures of the place:
As we were finishing up, a guy struck up a conversation with us. He was clearly pretty knowledgeable and gave us some great pointers. We started talking to him about his background, and he mentioned he had just returned from a solo trip to Baffin Island. Baffin is up in the arctic circle and is one of the least hospitable places on earth: like a frozen Mordor with polar bears instead of Orks. We did some homework, and it turns out he was the recipient of the AAC's 2009 outstanding young climber award - before he made this expedition. The trip report (1) is one of the most jaw dropping things I've read. I'm calling it now that this climb wins several awards this year.
After a few days of inactivity, Clark and I are itching to go and will be on the 7AM boat (2) tomorrow across Jenny Lake headed towards some big rocks.
Your man rubbing shoulders with rock stars,
Jay
Notes:
1 Note to my dear mother (my primary reader base): that's a hyperlink. Click it.
2 Not exactly an alpine start, but we're getting warmed up
Good move on footnote one. Necessary. I grudgingly acknowledge your wisdom in your choice to use footnotes.
ReplyDeleteLooks awesome...glad that you got out there today. Keep rubbing shoulders with rockstars...make sure to give them pointers on sneakers, though, you got that down now.
ReplyDelete