Bishop thus far has been pretty sweet indeed! Really needing to find some work around here, so hopefully that'll happen soon, but until then, I'll just keep trying to get good shots, which shouldn't be to hard if I'd ever pull my camera out!

Guess where we are now...

Guess where we are...

Here's some panoramics from todays road trip through Sedona, Arizona.

foggy entrance
church built in the mountain
sweet bridge over a gorge
top of the mountains

and one more of some pit puppies in Phoenix, just because they're so darn cute!

Here's some shots of Lamar's back porch and all the pointy things behind it.





Just waiting on this laundry to dry, then it's up to Flagstaff, Grand Canyon, Hoover Dam, Vegas, and finally Bishop.

Here's a shot of a Saguaro. For those of you who don't know much about them, they only grow in one area of the world, known as the Saguaro Valley, extending from Arizona down to Mexico. These cacti only grow an inch a year, and don't branch off until they're at least 100. Just to give you an idea of size, the one in this photo is about 25 feet. Fixing to be on the road up to Flagstaff, so hopefully you'll be seeing plenty more shots of these before the days over.

Dropped off the Slovenians at the airport this morning, now it's time to see what I-10 West has to offer. Next stop, Phoenix, then shortly after, BISHOP!!!

Today was spent on the east mountain with Rick, Deano, Chris and the rest of the New York crew, wandering around, hitting up all the classics, including the warm-up boulder, Dragonfly, Backdoor Man, and a brand new line, spotted by Deano, with John Cooper getting the first ascent. The new line is called Uncle Drunkie, named after our favorite Rock Ranch host.







I didn't do to much (any) climbing today. The goal was to get several good shots of new lines, and I'm pretty sure I accomplished that. The main reason as to why I wasn't climbing is described in this photo...



The tick pattern on my arm represents all the problems I crushed in one day, much like the decals on the side of a B-2 bomber. This is known as 'the wanker 101' which entails doing 101 problems (v0 to v2) in one day. Although the grade of the problems isn't to difficult, it's the quantity that gets you. By the time I was at 70, my feet were just about to swollen to fit in my shoes and the skin on my hands was on fire, but if you look closely, you can count one hundred and one ticks on my arm, and I've been proudly sporting them since! Pardon my french, but that was a shitload of climbing!

Enough rambling. Time for more photos.

Haven't been taking to many shots lately, more or less been spending my time looking for some cash-in-hand work while I wait on my taxes to come in. That aside, I'm going to take this advantage of having a strong internet signal to post the top 5 shots of this excursion, so here they are...

#5-Bryson trad climbing at Red River Gorge, KY

#4-Little naked statue at the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, NC

#3-Cody on the Egg at Hueco Tanks, TX

#2-Panoramic of Hueco from the north mountain in Hueco Tanks, TX

#1 David on the Comet at Rocktown, GA

Rain rain rain. All morning long with no breaks, then come noon time, the sun comes out and Deano shows up with a party in a truck! Thank you Deano, for giving the ranch a truly enjoyable rest day, full of blue skies, dancing hoops and plenty of beer, all thanks to the New Yorker!









Cheers to all from the Rock Ranch!

Ended up stumbling across some more pictographs today up on the north mountain. Here's a few shots of the find.

Self Portrait time...

Here's a few from last nights throw down...

Found myself a new occupation... Snake wrangling! Sorry mom, but I gotta do it.

Right now, I'm sitting here in line at the front gate to Hueco Tanks with a van packed full of Slovenians, all of whom share in our common goal of crushing some rock, but the weekend wait is taking it's toll on our aspirations to send those outstanding projects we've made for ourselves. This week, however, has seen some impressive feats of strength already though. With David laying down Deans Journey and Loaded With Power, and Oyvand sticking the dyno on Free Willy from the sit start, today could just as easily become a rest day with minimal impact to our psych, and the 8 vehicles in front of us in line almost assures that another day off is indisputable, but still we wait. Texas state park rangers with bushy mustaches and orange vests now hold all the power. The reflection in their mirrored aviators cast a slideshow of broken dreams and shattered hopes as the weekend warriors fall out of rank one by one, bringing us that much closer to the front and a chance of actually touching rock today. Stubborn and steadfast, we wait.



Down time around the Rock Ranch usually consists of epic foosball and ping ping tournaments, bruising slackline sessions and some serious alcohol consumption.The stories acquired from the experiences are unforgettable, but tend to be forgotten quickly if there's no camera around to make notes. Unfortunately, I'm usually slacking when it comes time to document these shenanigans, but I have managed to get a few incriminating photos here and there, be it from one of the worlds strongest climbers proudly sporting his hippy heritage to the ever changing outfits of Scottie. There's always something going on at the Ranch, and it's probably better that I leave the camera in the bag. Tonight, being Saturday, means it's time for yet another shindig, and with the theme of this one being 'beach party', I'm pretty certain that there's going to be some interesting images to come...

Not to much going on other than climbing these past few days. Getting closer on my project, so here in the next couple day's, there should be a nice sequence of shots of me sending Barefoot (v-12). That's gonna be sweeeeet! Here's two shots of David and Chris Lindner sending Loaded With Power (v-10) and Loaded Direct (v-12).





And here's just a few more of Devon and Max on Martini Left.