Woodbury Road Crag

We went to the Woodbury Road crag today, and after forgetting that Amy and Mark didn't have a guidebook (which sent them down some dead ends --sorry guys!!!), we all ended up at one of my favorite crags of the trip. Even the moderates were fun, with huge chunky runnels everywhere. Here are some shots of the left hand side:




Zoe was, as usual not in the mood for sleep, but I *almost* got her to sleep in the tent a few times

My favorite of the crag (and the trip) was the 11b that starts off the big boulder:





which is absolutely stellar. I noticed some other climbs to the right hand side which were unfortunately not in the guide book. One of them looked super cool, but turned out to be a little harder than what I wanted to get on that day, was sort of a choss heap, and as a final kick in the teeth had rap anchors, which made cleaning this steep route a bit of an adventure.



Here is Zoe, happy to be back at the car after a full day of eating Cheerios off the tent floor


Unfinished business: The rest of the right hand side of the wall and of course the Black and Tan Wall.

The Diamond

I had been intrigued by a crag in the Utah hills called "The Diamond" since our last trip here. It's a huge limestone cliff that dominates the Utah Hills and can be seen from almost any of the other crags. Looking for a change of pace, I thought the Diamond might offer up some nice technical limestone, so Amy and I drove to the parking area and within ten minutes or so realized that the topo guide was wrong, and we were looking at a pretty nasty thousand foot uphill slog on limestone scree. It reminded me of the Ceuse approach, but without a trail. We eventually made it to the crag and hopped on some fun 9's and 10s before packing up to get back to the spouses and children. While we were on the climbs, we saw how the topo guide had drawn the map incorrectly, so the descent was a little easier, even if we did both fall over a few times. The Diamond was cool: not a style that I am particularly at home at, but great exposure and bullet rock. The whole crag had kind of a spooky feel to it though, and I definitely did not feel comfortable pushing my limits there.
The Diamond (I think)

Zion, The Narrows

Chloe took Zoe for here first pool experience this morning, which she absolutely loved.


here is a small movie

Later that morning, we drove to Zion for a walk up through part of the narrows. I'm definitely not a fan of the shuttle system, but the Narrows themselves were beautiful. I would definitely recommend renting the 5.10 river shoes and neoprene socks rather than soaking your own shoes though.













Zoe managed to produce a spectacularly smelly poop on the shuttle ride back to the visitor center. I feel a little sorry for the German tourists who were in the seat in front of us.

escape from the hotel

We escaped from the utter shite "America's Best Value Inn, St. George" with its lax attitude towards hygiene and scary caretaker guy and checked into the wonderful Ramada inn, St George. After moving our stuff and stopping by the excellent gear shop (The Outdoor Outlet), where we bought a tent for Zoe to play in, we drove to the Chuckawalla Wall and off to the Turtle Wall, which none of us had been to yet. After setting up the tent



and warming up on the 5.8, Chloe and I led Director of Human Affairs





and the 10s to the left of the Banana Dance cave

and then on to Banana Dance, which was really fun. Almost horizontal moves on big jugs for miles. Unfortunately, I forgot that my phone was in my pocket, and it fell out of my pocket and smacked the red sandstone after a 15 foot fall. Amazingly, the iphone survived yet again, with just a small crack in the LCD. After seeing my phone fall to what I assumed to be it's demise, I pulled myself together (with some tough talk from my belayer) and sent. That's definitely up there with my proudest climbing-focus moments along with the time that the front of my shoe blew apart on a a climb in Omblexe but I still finished the climb. You have to celebrate the small victories, I guess. Here is chloe seconding the climb:





A crew of Germans on a worldwide climbing trip were on the next climb over, which ended in a somewhat startling stem

We ended the day by unlocking the sequence of Tortuga

after a few tries, and then going on for a sweet end of day RP


Chloe also got on it and was inches away from getting the crux


Amy also gave it a valiant burn


We packed up, but not before leaving a chalk tattoo on chloe

and letting ZZN sleep for a little longer