Chris and Lynn Wedding / Bouldering at Taylors 8/25/2007

Today was (some of my climbing friends) Chris and Lynn's "big" day -- they tied the knot and are now married. Chris and Lynn are big time climbers so they decided to have the ceremony outside at Taylors Falls and they encouraged all their climbing friends to come out early and boulder with them in the park before the wedding. I drove up with Eric, Dillon, Nic, and Alisha and met Scott and Chris in the B2 Bomber pit for some relaxing climbing. We mainly all just screwed around climbing stuff we'd done before and trying the prow problem to the left of B2 Bomber.

After hanging out there for a couple hours, we headed over to the Armpit area where Lynn eventually joined us. By this time, quite a crowd started to gather to watch -- mostly relatives and friends of Chris and Lynn who were around for the wedding who had apparently heard about their climbing but this was apparently their first time witnessing it.

Nic jumped on Shrimp Tempura -- a highball crimpy face problem to the left of Ben's crack first put up by Pi. He took a few giant falls off of it onto the pads - and after about 6 or 7 tries nabbed the second ascent.

After a bit, it was time for the wedding and we all ran up to the area behind the park office and watched the ceremony. Took about 5 minutes and it was done :). Afterwards the guests all drove out to Chris and Lynn's house for the reception where the main topic of conversation it seemed for all the guests (non-climbers included) was the giant climbing wall they just built in their backyard -- 45 degree overhanging and 12 feet tall by 24 feet wide or so.

All in all - probably the most unique wedding experience I will attend and a great day. Congratulations Chris and Lynn :)

The groom-to-be Chris on the prow problem to the left of B2:

Chris on the top of Twinkle Toes:

Nic way up on Shrimp Tempura:

Scott and Eric discussing beta:

The newlyweds:

Sawmill Creek Dome / Palisade Head - 8/15-16

I headed up Wednesday night to Sawmill Creek Dome with Nic Oklobzija and Dillon for some climbing. We made it up there around 11pm or so and since the temps felt good hiked right up to the boulders. We climbed until about 2 am before hiking back down to hit the tent. I tried the V7 Sticky Icky but only stuck the first move once. Dillon and Nic worked on Amateur.

The next morning we headed to Palisade Head to check out the boulders in the talus field at the base of the cliff. There are a lot of big boulders down there and we did find a fair number of lines to do. Nic got two likely first ascents. The first - he called it 'Prince of Palisade' - climbs out this cave type area using cool slopers and heel hooks before turning around an arete out onto a face to top out. Great, great line. Probably V8 or V9. After that he did an arete line -- called 'Hi Tide' (as in 'hello' as we had to time the start when the waves were low) -- that has a combination of fun moves on crimpers and a sloper that's partially over some water for added value. This was comes in around the V5/V6 range. I was fortunately able to repeat this line and it was really fun.

We were all totally exhausted after scrambling around on the talus all day and headed home Thursday night. We stopped at Fitgers in Duluth for a nice meal on the way home.

Hi Tide:


Prince of Palisade:



Random Water Shot:



Dillon trying The Amateur: