Adventures of the Dashboard Deities

This piece was posted on my instagram, but for those who don't follow me, I think it deserves a place here as well- The crow rose upon a thermal to meet my plane of sight as I stood on an airy spur of stone, the horizon's edges catching aflame at all corners of the arching sky above.  "Come fly with me", he said, his sleek black body banking toward my perch. His right eye, scarred and searching, found my gaze, its amber depths hinting at stories far beyond my human understanding. I sit down at the edge, air yawning beneath me, and lower my head in apology at my earth-bound status. "Come fly with me", he urges again, his body now positioned level with my forward gaze, that alert amber stare piercing my mind.  "Together, we will fly as far as our bodies will carry us. We will fly till the Earth is upside down, and oceans drain to the clouds below. We will fly to a place where rivers are known to tire of their banks, and, by the glow of moonligh

I need to write a new blog post. Here it is. Life continues at the same relaxing (yet simultaneously hectic) rate that traveling seems to curate. Climbing has been going well since my last post, and work on "Throwing the Houlihan" continued until (as most of my belayer would have predicted) I ended up with a finger injury(s). So, unfortunately, my season on that particular project is over. It was hard to let it go, I've been dreaming of that route for years now, but torn pulleys have a way of convincing even the most stubborn. But, on the bright side, I can still climb (and even pull somewhat hard!), with a healthy combination of ibuprofen and buddy taping (more of the former than the latter). Got some mileage in today, and topped it off with a second-go send of one of the coolest roof routes I've ever been on, "Calamity Jane", 5.13b. I see (belay) partners in my future (frickin finally), and perhaps even some visits to different crags...can this Wild I

 I've been at this post for awhile, so hopefully you'll all enjoy it! My first big send at Wild Iris went down on the 4th, a route called "Rodeo Free Europe", my first 5.14a. After which I, fittingly, got to experience both my first rodeo, and the explosive insanity of Lander on Independence Day. My efforts are now focused on the ultra mega classic "Throwing the Houlihan", a STOUT Todd Skinner 14a, which feels difficult, but (with a stroke of luck!), possible. The brutal monos in its middle crux have been causing some considerable pain to my fingers, but I guess they made tape for a reason. Thunder storms have prevented any more than some self-belayed single move attempts today, but hopefully some progress will go down in the next few days. Until then, enjoy the rest of the post, it's been some work to write up, but I'm pretty happy with the result.        When the boy looked out his window, he gazed upon his mountain. Each morning, the sun bake

Just passed the two week mark, and Wild Iris is still the frustrating, painful, amazing entity it always has been. Progress on "Rodeo Free Europe" has definitely slowed, although I can now consistently one-hang it, and hopefully it'll go down soon (so I can move on to "Throwing the Houlihan", and other crazy cool things). But here's a little something I wrote up, that I can't really think of a good transition into, so hopefully you all enjoy my ramblings! (I don't have service to upload pictures at the moment, so they'll be in the next post.) Said the flower to the tree, "Why so tall?" The tree, in response, simply turned its wizened gaze to the mountains above, rising from rolling plains like the teeth of a slain monster. Said the tree to these mountains, "Why so far? Why is it that I must live in your shadow, and not upon the snowy peak above, reaching towards the heavens?" And the mountain, in a low, gravelly grumble, l