Crossed the boarder around 4:00 this afternoon. Ate some tasty pho at a Vietnamese restaurant in Vancouver around 6:00 this evening, now, at 10:23, I'm hanging out with some buddies of Gord and Chris, drinking french beer as my laundry dries. Still no photo's though. I turn the camera on tomorrow, the day we drive up the breathtakingly gorgeous 'sea to sky' highway into Squamish. Either I get there and let out a sigh of relief, take lots of photo's, and save up to buy a van, or I curse my actions for a good bit and proceed to work my ass off to buy a new camera. I'd much rather buy a van, but we'll see what happens tomorrow...

This morning, we woke up, packed up camp and headed down to the beach. Unfortunately, the storms hitting the northern Cali coastline brought in gargantuan waves, making the beachside boulders unclimbable, yet it was still an incredible sight. We spent the better part of 2 hours walking around, watching wave after wave crash against the rocks, snapping several hundred pictures of the whole ordeal. Although our plans of climbing fell through, the morning was still spectacular.

While searching for new angles, I found a nice perch on top of a boulder that stood about 35 feet out of the sand. The angle was amazing, and the shots I was able to get from there were breathtaking. Unfortunately, I misjudged the power of the ocean, and after about 2 minutes of shooting, a wave heaps larger than the others, crashed on my podium, engulfing me and my camera in salt water...

I have since dried, but I am extremely worried about the d300. It might as well have been submerged. I've taken it apart and dried it out as best I could, but I don't see how any electrical device, no matter how well sealed it is, could make it through that situation without at least one drop of moisture getting somewhere it has no business being. Needless to say, I'm scared. Very very scared.

Now I play the waiting game. Waiting until I feel it's safe to put the battery back in and turn on my third eye. 72 hours minimum. The anxiety is killing me, especially as we drive further north on the coastal 101 through Cali, Oregon and into Washington, passing some of the most photogenic scenery I've seen in a long time. This is hard. This is frustrating. I really hope this situation will turn out for the better...

And so we arrive in Humboldt... First stop, the Pacific Ocean, just to be able to say we've gone as far west as we can go by car


After that, it was time to go into the forrest. You see, we've been living in the desert for the past 3 months, so the closest thing to tree's that we've seen have been overgrown shrubs. Kinda makes these tree's look pretty big... that, or they're just really big!





Now, camped in the Redwood Forrest, we wait for morning, and hopefully a bit of sunshine, so we can climb on some of these amazing beach boulders that were so highly recommended to us.

I'm going to start this post off by saying that I've been messing around with double exposures a good bit lately. Here's two examples, one of Thomas and another of our campfire the other night.



And here's a shot that I know my mom's not going to like seeing. Found some more rattlesnakes, this time, wee little babies. Once more, I've been out wrangling...


And now for the point of the post. As I type, I'm riding through Reno, Nevada with Gord and Chris, on the way to Humboldt, then Squamish. My time in Bishop, as of 3:30 this afternoon, is over. There was a little bit of frustration upon leaving, seeing as the only project I had left for myself (flyboy sit) got the better of me. Oh well. Next time I'm in Bishop, I'm going to lay down that spooky dyno with no ifs, ands, or buts! Chris completely CRUSHED his project today, High Plains Drifter...


Now, with everything packed into the SuperVan, Driven by the scariest Canadian you'll ever meet, we make our way onto the next.



So long Bishop! You will be missed!


(you MUST click on this image to see just how beautiful the sierra's are)

When in Bishop, California, and looking for something cheap to do on a rest day, just take 395 north towards Mammoth until you come to a big, green church on the east side of the road. Turn right, go across 2 cattle guards, then look for the small parking lot on the left. Walk about 200 yards till you find a gap in the fence, then take that trail the remaining 100 yard, over the bridge and through the snowfield, till you arrive at your destination...

Here's some of the most recent shots from Bishop, including great sends, interesting lighting and more big names...






And here's one of last nights cloud coverage.


Now it's off to Mammoth for a nice, relaxing afternoon in the hot springs...

Learning a good bit about photoshop lately. Still got a ways to go, but it's nice to finally know how to remove those 'annoying' spotting arms from a photo!

Before:
After:

Sorry David. You're arms are nice and all, but they're just a bit of a distraction!

Yesterday, as beautiful as it was, saw the departure of David, which brought a damper on an otherwise amazingly lax day. David has been with us, keeping the psyche alive with his comical antics and invigorating passion on and off the rocks since the beginning of the trip, in October. I was lucky enough to witness some of David's epic sends first hand, such as Loaded With Power and Deans Journey, both in Hueco Tanks. I feel honored to have been able to go so far across this nation with such good company, and will truly miss his presence in the months to come. With any luck, we'll be seeing 'Skittles' again in the dense, rainforest of British Columbia, to continue the mission of gaining knowledge and strength on all the different types of climbing this continent has to offer. Be well, be safe, and be happy, David! Go crush some sandstone, and then get your 'sweet hawk' back up Squamish this summer! Cheers to you!

In recent news, I headed out to Dales Camp today with Øyvind and Camilla to watch Øyvind lay down the Xavier Roof, only to find out that when it's 73 degrees outside, the last crimp before the jug becomes the worst hold on the climb! Two solid burns from bottom to top, but the send was not within reach this afternoon simply because the winter is slowly making it's way off the mountain. Lesson learned, Xavier Roof is a late afternoon problem. Next time, good sir. Next time!

With the sun ruining any chance of having a big send day, the rest of us decided to beat the heat in town at the local Starbucks, splurging on the caffeinated beverages, air conditioning and wireless internet. Today was apparently the right day to show up at the Seattle based corporation, because it seems like every 30 minutes an employee is walking around with a tray of samples including chocolate croissants and chilled caffein, coated in chocolate and whipped cream. Hooray for free samples! I now sit happily at the handicapped accessible table with Chris, Gord, Dev, and Thomas, typing away franticly due to an abundance of espresso that keeps getting handed to me like clockwork, without the first complaint coming from either myself or any of my tweaked-out compadres. I will now wrap this post up, due to the fact that my fingers are getting to jittery to type, and yet another frozen frothy beverage awaits me to my left. Cheers!

Lucky day today. Thomas let me use his macro lens, and what came out of it was me getting extremely wet in hopes of getting shots of an icy creek.

Had a little adventure into Death Valley the other day with 3 Canadians. 1 car, 4 individuals, and 5 cameras. Funny how some things work out.



Finally reached the bottom, which also happens to be the lowest point in America. 265 feet bellow sea level. We went out and played around the sand dunes for several hours, snapping photo's of each other (as we do), all while enjoying the abundance of oxygen we just don't seem to get at 7000 feet.







All in all, it was a pretty awesome way to get my mind off of the boulders and allow myself to regrow some skin! The following day, which happened to be another 'no climbing' day ended up working to my advantage again when the San Diego chapter of Asana crushers showed up to work some projects. I took the advantage of yet another photo opp.






Cheers!

When going to premier climbing destinations, it's a given that you're going to run into some big names. Today we had the privilege of climbing on Evolution with Wills Young and Lisa Rands, two super-crushers of the climbing world, whom also happen to be some of the most pleasant and humble individuals we've met along the way. Thanks guys, for the spots, the pads, and the beta!




Tomorrow, rest day in Death Valley. Should be fun...

Ah, Bishop. Wonderful, wonderful Bishop. Phenomenal climbing, amazing wildlife, and down-to-earth people. Yup, Cali is not a bad place at all...






... not bad at all...