Kolob.

Our intreprid guide Randy asks his smartphone device the question on the mind of all sentient beings: "What should I do next?"  We are at DeDe's in Cedar City (voted 3rd best restaurant in Utah!)  fueling up with some blueberry pancakes.  We're on our way to Kolob Canyon in Zion National Park to try a very long sport route called Namaste 5.12a...

A view of the canyon at the beginning of the hike.  The morning sunbeams were beautiful and auspicious.  We aimed for the very back of the canyon.  It took about 45 min to an hour of hiking.

John ascended first... we had an 80M rope, but I think 70 would have sufficed.

Randy getting lowered.  You can see the extent of the overhang at the start of the route.

Some shots of me on my flash attempt.  It's a long route.

 All in all, a magical day.  We had the canyon to ourselves the entire time.  I would highly recommend a visit if you are passing through because it's so accessible.

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Burn food then climb.

 Not too happy with my hamburger.  Just tossed the whole shebang into the campfire.  I obtained my calories from beer instead.

A v3ish thing at Rock Creek.  It's granite with knobs protruding.  Very high quality.  There is a creek there that requires crossing.  It was a little tricky with two dogs.  Ice cold water was experienced.  

Big Dune.

Finally decided to check out that "Big Dune" on 95N on the way to Bishop.  It's actually sort of intriguing.  Above, Othello joins me on an exploratory jaunt.  He did not enjoy the hot sand, and promptly retreated back to the shade of the car.

I've never been to the Gobi desert or the Sahara but I figure it's like this multiplied by a gajillion.

P on top.

Tank Boulder.

After May Lake, making our way to the tank boulder in Tuolumne Meadows.  Can't believe I'm walking this far for one lone boulder.  

We were stopped by at least three parties on the way past the lake, each inquiring as to the purpose of the crashpads.  Next time, instead of explaining, since to most people climbing = Mt. Everest, we might employ "rough butt sex" as the answer.  Followed shortly by, "Would like to join us??"

A VB-V0 on the tank boulder.  The rock quality is as high as the top out.  

One 12b. 12d compton still outta reach.

On 9/11 i sent my 3rd 12b... then tried Straight Outta Compton 12d, pictured above.  Surprisingly made it past the last bolt only to fall a move below the anchors.  I hope gods of weather allow me a few more chances at Mt. C this year before it gets too cold... 

These photos were taken by Scott visiting from SLC.  Thanks Scott!

This hold is my nemesis... so hard to clip off that bugger.

Prior to the first big move.  Sadly, now I'm in NYC getting fat in front of a computer while gorging on coffee, pizza, chicken wings, beer.  Rinse, repeat.

More projects. Ugh.

My friend Randy is good enough to wait the gajillion hours it requires for his HD videos to upload to vimeo.  Sadly, no sendage leads to more projects.  Amazingly enough, the problems are so good, I would actually slog the hour or so to this singular boulder in Tuolumne Meadows.  That's saying a lot because when it comes to bouldering, I usually avoid anything longer than 20 minutes from the road, uphill hiking, talus hopping, and top outs covered in lichen or moss (although I think I just described bouldering at the gunks.)

Bouldering at Rock Creek boulders at the Big Meadow campground.  Some V4s.  High quality, clean lines.  It was getting dark, but after moderate sport at Dike Wall, we were still hungry for more climbing after we returned to our campground.

Video of Randy, John, and I bouldering at the Tank Boulder by May Lake in Tuolumne Meadows, Yosemite.  We all fall of some v5/v6 thing, but Randy repeats a V7.  It's a perfect boulder, perfect height, with problems from VB to V7 and above, climbable on every side, with a variety of holds/features.  Unbelievable.  The gunks sometimes makes me forget how good granite can get.

Il Bucco again.

Every sunset here is majestic.  

The surveillance camera attached to this old church kept its stygian eye on the crowd.

I like this shot John took.  It has the feel of a painting.  The primitive human structure in the foreground gives it something.  

This is me working an 11d/12a.  It was 26 meters tall, which added to the excitement.

At the top of the climb.  The roof is totally blank.

Heading to Rome...

At Rome. 

Monte Faito [sic?]

Monte Faito.  Tallest point in Amalfi.  Limestone crags in a pine forest shrouded by fog.  We were limited to the roadside crag because the trail to the moderate crag was guarded by hectares of thorn bushes about one story deep.  There was also a fiery sword spinning in all directions.

The italians like their saints.  They place icons everywhere, especially inside caves and crevices that look like they would make stellar sport climbs.

Here's John messing around an 11d we climbed.  They lower drops you into the road and consequently, oncoming traffic.  But from what I gathered about italian driving, they are more than prepared for a climber being lowered onto their windshields.

Sorry about the lack of climbing shots, but it was just the two of us... in order to get anything useful in a safe fashion, the climber went in direct and ideally the belay side fashioned a makeshift anchor, but it wasn't always  there.  

More Italy.

Day two was a rest day.  We went to a private beach that looked upon Naples and Mt. Vesuvius (the volcano that destroyed Pompeii.)  We didn't visit Pompeii.  I was there to climb and eat and not ponder ruins, which always seem to me to require a very capable, if not hallucinatory imagination to appreciate, since you're looking at mere remnants or traces that signify nothing to the untrained eye.

I also didn't realize the Mediterranean was salt water.  My excuse is that i'm american.  We hung out with a good friend of John's named Simona, adorable in all regards.  

Mediterranean beaches have a tendency towards the sizeable limestone pebbles and rocks instead of sand, which is a take it or leave it kind of thing... I left my chacos on.  

John duly noted that the ingenious sun shade design of the orange beach chairs allows you to hide from your enemies.  Unless they recognize your farmer's tan and hairy shins.

Amalfi Coast, Italy.

Decided to check out the limestone crags at the Amalfi Coast in Italy.  My friend John had hooked up free housing, so it seemed like a good idea.  Here's John at Franco's Pizzeria in Sorrento.  Look at all that prosciutto!

Don't let the look frighten you; on second thought, perhaps you should.  John is prone to possession.  I felt safe in a public place though.  If you receive 'the look' from John in private, you are permitted to flee.

Climbing day 1 = Il Buco at Positano, or "The Hole".  An impressive limestone (everything was limestone... if you flooded las vegas with sea water up to 7 or 8000 feet and just left the limestone cliffs at Mt. Charleston exposed, then built houses on said cliffs and dumped a gaggle of german and british tourists on to it, along with a millenia of catholicism, and you have the Amalfi coast) cliff running north south.  There is a huge hole in the middle about 30 meters tall flanked with deep runnels and lo and behold, sport bolts.
Here's John on a 10c or 10d warmup.

I would advise against a summer visit if you want to climb here.  It's a wee bit hot and humid.  We called up the guy who wrote the guidebook and he was up in the dolomites when he answered his cellphone.  We did not see a single other climber the entire time.  In fact, we didn't see hikers either.  In fact, most people looked at us like we were martians as we headed up the trail from town.

Here's John messing around in some of the huge limestone runnels.