We arrived Saturday afternoon and after setting up camp at the Joe's Valley Resevoir campground still had a few hours of daylight to start climbing. We began by going to the Mine Cart boulder since it had a number of easy climbs on it that would get us warmed up nice and easy for the trip. Here's Chad on one of them:
There are about 6 or so problems on the boulder from V0 to V3 or so and we all got off to a good start by sending them all.
The second day was rainy so we ended up heading out to an area called Triassic which is about a 20 or 30 minute drive from Joe's. I was pretty amazed with this area. There are boulders stretching out for as far as the eye can see and it appears that only a fraction of the area has been developed by climbers yet. We hung out in what is known as the Main Area and climbed for a few hours. I ended up borrowing a pair of shoes from Chadly (since I thought it was a rained out rest day) and doing a really fun V3 called Wham! and an unnamed arete problem that I estimate to be around V4. The arete problem I barely pulled off as it started to rain as I finally sent it. Eric also sent these two problems. Here's Eric on Wham:
Our third day was our first full day of climbing. We went to the Big Joe area of Left Fork to try the problems there. Today we started climbing with 4 cool folks from Portland -- Josh (whom we met in Bishop), Kendra, Jon, and Jen. We warmed up on a few really nice V0s and soon set to work on the problem Big Joe. This is a pretty powerful roof problem with a crux sequence moving through a small 2-finger pocket. I couldn't quite pull through the sequence but Eric came agonizingly close before pulling something in his arm while hanging on the pocket. Unfortunately, this injury kept him from completing the problem and would cause some problems the rest of the trip. Hopefully it heals quickly! Here's me doing the big reach move into the pocket on Big Joe:
After trying Big Joe, I went up to try Scary Monsters - a crimpy V6 up the hill. After awhile, I figured out a pretty easy way through the bottom part by using some of Kendra's beta and started working on the huge reach move between crimps at the top. Didn't quite make the move today but came close. The Chads did a couple of nearby problems -- Lefty Loosey and Righty Tighty that looked pretty cool. Chad J and myself also got the nearby problem A Bobcat in the Kiparoo which was pretty cool. Here's me on Scary Monsters:
Our next day was our first full rest day which felt really nice after climbing at least parts of three days in a row. We spent it in Price and had a great dinner at El Salto -- a really great Mexican restaurant -- and watched the movie Ghost Rider. On other rest days we would watch Wild Hogs and 300. Here's Eric about to enter El Salto:
The following day was back to climbing. We went to Area 51 at New Joe's. This is a very cool area with four very large boulders all very close together with lots of problems. We got to walk up and look at the classic Black Lung -- a pretty famous V13 put up a couple years ago by Ben Moon. Very impressive to look at that. We started by doing Joe Cool -- a nice and high V3. Chadly ended up getting probably the biggest fall of the trip off this boulder problem when he fell off one of the higher holds -- fortunately he was fine. I worked on Big Boy for awhile - another V7 roof problem. It felt pretty close but I didn't pull this one off either. I ended up just running around and sending just about everything I could find in the area in the V4 and lower range. Highlights were the highball problem - Scary, Super Sloper, and Phoney Baloney. The other guys all sent quite a few problems today as well. Here's Eric on Snakebite:
and me on Scary:
Our next day ended up being snowy in Joe's Valley, so we went back to Triassic:
I did a very reachy V3 called Whoa, Oh, Oh, It's Magic and then went to do an impressive line called Golden. Here's Chad on it:
It started to rain after this so we all packed up but it quickly ended and so I decided to try a V6 called Boogie Nights. Josh, Kendra, and myself started working it. It felt very hard at first -- I struggled to pull off the ground on the starting holds or even make the first move. Fortunately I was eventually able to bear down and make the move and after working the rest of the problem was able to send it after about a half hour of work. I was very pumped -- as this was my first outdoor V6. Here's Josh doing the first move:
The next day was another rest day spent in Price and exploring some bouldering areas we hadn't seen yet.
Our final day was a pretty full day. We started by returning to the Big Joe area. The first thing we all did was the super-classic V2 called The Angler. It's a beautiful line that tops out over the water when the river is high. It wasn't on this trip however. All of us did this line. Here's Chadly on it:
I did it several times it was so fun. Eric then worked on Big Joe some more and I went up to do Scary Monsters. It felt easy today. I fell of the second move on my first go but jumped back on from that point and made it all the way to the lip before downclimbing and jumping off -- the topout looked hard and was very high so I didn't want to risk it on a go that wasn't actually going to be a send. The very next try I did the whole thing, however. I must have been in the zone because on that go I felt no pain on the crimper holds that all previous attempts had hurt so bad. I was excited to have a V6 feel that easy. Makes me believe that alot harder climbing is possible for me. After a bit at this area we went over to the Right Fork to climb at the Moby Dick area. We started out by all doing Skins Game - a nice easy V3. I then tried Black and Blue - a beautiful V6 prow. I almost did it but couldn't quite stick the big move on it and the very sharp holds were starting to really hurt. So after giving up on this I went to join Eric on Team Effort - a sweet looking V8 prow:
We didn't quite do it but I felt close enough that I believe I could do it with a bit more work. After this, we went up to the road to try the classic V4 Frosted Flakes but by this time we were all completely exhausted and none of us had the energy to do this one.
So our trip came to an end. We drove to Price after climbing to stay at a Best Western and enjoyed the pool and hot tub. The next morning we got up and drove back to Salt Lake City and flew on home. It was an amazing trip to a place I'm definitely going back to. Everybody seemed to have a blast and it was great having the chance to see the Chads climb outside for the first time in such an amazing place.
