Except maybe climbing with people as stellar in character and ability as Emma and Brent. And what's even better than climbing with stellar Emma and Brent??
Answer: climbing with stellar Emma and Brent at Castle! that's what!
The photos you have before you are meager evidence of a truly stupendous week of Climbing in Idaho. It was a week of firsts for me. My first time ever climbing trad (yikes!), my first time on a multi-pitch climb (and I seriously doubt I'll ever convince Emma to go with me again :) ) AND, it was my first time reaching into a hand hold and latching onto a bat!! Unsure how to move past that part of the climb without using the aforementioned hold, I clung to the rock, and stared at that dark little hole until the mammal emerged. He sat there at the mouth of his miniature cave, looking at me and shaking all over. I didn't know whether to interpret the direct eye contact and shaking as fear, or rage. I was contemplating my options, when after nearly two minutes of the two of us gridlocked in a staring contest, he flew suddenly at my head and frantically flapped around in front of my face before flying off. No doubt as the third human to stuff their hand into his home, I was the last straw for the little guy. I'm a little proud that I didn't fall off the climb.
Here are me and Brent on a trad climb.
One of the cams was stuck purty darn good. I had to take a picture as a memento when I finally pulled it out!
I like this picture of Brent. I think he looks stoic. Brent is pretty much my hero. Not only is he an incredible climber, but he's extremely patient with posers like me. We get to climb harder stuff when Brent's around to set all of our climbs for us! :)
There were wildflowers everywhere and it was SO green. It was ridiculously pretty.
Me and Emma smiling on top of Big Time. Emma may disagree, but I thought this climb was a blast. The polished limestone we have in Logan can start to get kinda old after a while. But this was true friction climbing for 5 pitches! A VERY different deal, and totally worthwhile.
Haha! Do I look hard core?
Brent taking on a roof.
Emma climbing like a champ. Here she is, climbing with a confidence and finesse well beyond my abilites.
Brent climbing.
Emma on a crazy hard, crazy fun route! This was probably our favorite discovery of the entire trip! A short way up this climb all the features disappear and all you've got to work with besides very vertical very smooth rock face are some tiny flakes, about as deep as halve a finger width. With concentrated effort you can inch up to said flakes and do some pullups, smearing your feet, to more tiny flakes above. If you ever go to Castle, check out the Gully.
We also found some fun climbing in City of Rocks, got to relax in the hot springs, and cooked gourmet burgers over the campfire, and spotted weasel! (I've never seen a weasel in the wild before.) Who could ask for anything more?
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