Found Keys of Adventure

Back from an amazing trip to the Valley and here is the bare bones breakdown.  First let me say I bought new keys to adventure and hit the Valley packing a double set, new rope, new shoes, new harness, and new draws, even new chalk bags thanks to Gina and Frank.  Yup I was that guy.    Roll into the Valley Sunday afternoon, sit in the meadow gaze at the Captain.  Make camp Sunday night and crash.  Sleep in Monday morning and casually cruise to Nutcracker and pass one party.  Kate led the alternate start and P3. Walk off and run up Haleys Comet.  Back to the Meadow.  Tuesday up early and over to Royal Arches.  Parties stacked up in front of us again to the alternate start and Kate started the day again.  We blasted up the route, passed all five other parties in what I thought was a very polite and classy way.  3/4 of the way up decided to let go of the plan to do Crest Jewel after hearing the descent might be snow packed.  Opted to rap instead.  No problems until a minor wrong turn at the last rap forcing us to rap off of dead tree and through a waterfall.  Tag line got stuck and had to lead up the actual waterfall to get it un-jammed.  Then a refreshing dip in "the Devils Bathtub".  Weds another casual start and over to Reed Pinacle and a run on Reeds Direct.  Kate again took the first pitch and cruised, I thoroughly enjoyed the second/crux? pitch.  From the big ledge we planned on doing the 5.9 finish but were stymied by the squeeze chimney and ended up battling up into the offwidth finish... don't climb chimney or off width with no shirt!  What a battle, physically daunting and somewhat intimidating running it out over small cams.  Back to the Meadow and ran into Kates friends and straight to the Pizza deck!  Thursday and we headed over to Middle Cathedral and head up the Kor-Beck on the recomendation of our friend Maura.  What a great adventure, today I led pitch one and the adventure only grew.  Kate overshot the belay on her lead almost linked two pitches.  I punched it and linked the crux and the last pitch for an amazingly long run out pitch!  Amazing view and quite the belay ledge.  A wild and adventurous, but safe route, and best of all no lines!  Friday move into Camp 4, a several hour long ordeal, but at least we got a site.  After lots of shuffling and logisitics we walked (farther than I remembered!) over to Bishops Terrace and squeezed in one route with Kate leading B.T.  What a classic route.  Saturday wake and head back to the Cathedral area and hike up to Lower Cathedral spire and have a splendid day on South by Southwest.  Again Katie led first, but somehow linked the first two pitches and found a much more difficult and challenging variation to the first pitch.  It was truly the closest I came to falling and the most scared I was all day... following.  Linked Pitches 4 and 5 for a truly memorable long enduro pitch, 10d boulder problem was the technical crux on the 4th pitch with the 5th being hands to fist 11a enduro.  Next time better use of slings and maye more than one #3, pretty pumped and run out by the time I realized I had passed the belay and had to down climb!  Kate led P6 to the summit and we soaked in likely the best view of the valley I've had yet.  Back to the meadow for one last glimpse of the sun setting on the Captain and then Sunday we were off.  All in all a grand outing, absolutely no problems or glitches.  We never waited to get on a route, never epiced, and never were without food, beer, wine, or whiskey!  Next trip Astroman and the Steck Salathe?

Losing the Keys to Adventure

     I had hoped my next entry would be Part II of the canoe, dog, posse, trip, but I was lax and in the interim I lost the keys to adventure.  Let me explain.  Several weeks ago I was surfing the ole Facespace and saw that my friend Molly had experienced a series of set backs.  She and her girlfriend had been in Costa Rica when someone slipped into their hotel room and stole their passports, ID, and money from beneath their bed... while they were sleeping.  After resolving that nightmare and returning to the states Molly's garage caught fire and burned to the ground, taking with it many of her personal belongings.  As I listened to Molly she described the items she had lost and the emotional ramifications of losing items that we bestow with a sense worth.  Of course it struck a nerve when she told me that her motorcycle had been uninsured and had been smothered by the burning building, but what really hit home was when she described finding the charred scrap of what she assumed had been her North Face bag.  At its most fundamental a backpack or duffle bag is nothing more than a fabric vessel that is used to transport items.  But when we examine it closer this item, this piece of gear, is more than a simple vessel, it is a key to adventure.  With this item, or items, we are allowed to open ourselves to the wider world, whether it be via athletic pursuits or world travel or what ever endeavor that we embark on that sends our heart racing.    What is the Kayaker without her boat, what is the cyclist without his steed, the photographer without their camera, the climber without his rack.  Even the most independent or minimalist still relies on a piece or pieces of equipment to assist them in their exploratio of our world or themselves.  Even Dean Potter wears shoes... most of the time.  Our "gear" is our key, our body the hand that turns the key and with it the world throws open the doors of adveture.