Blood, Sweat, Fears, and Tears

September 9th, 2010 - Thursday

The fact that we know own a jeep and that it is all ready set up to handle rock crawling has been playing at my mind since we bought it. Every time that I drive it I have the desire to take it up to some steep mountain and see what it can do. Today was especially bad, that was all that I could think about. I had had it, Suzy and I were going to leave to go camping tonight but because I had an opening social for my major we decided to stay tonight and leave tomorrow. Now was our chance, I texted Suzy and got a not so reassuring 'uh...okay...'

Around 7:00 pm we found ourselves at 5 Mile Pass, an area for ATVing and off roading about 20 miles west of Lehi. Suzy was nervous about off roading and it was obvious. It took her a moment to calm down once we had started and after a few moments she was even more into it then me. For example we came to a steep turn. It wasn't really wide enough for us but just to the left there were some rather large rocks. I asked Suzy what she thought we should do and to my surprise she said, "Let's see what Victor can do!" (Victor is what Suzy named the Jeep).





September 10, 2010 - Friday

My little brother (Colin), Suzy and I all headed up to Castle Rocks Idaho this morning. After getting mixed up by the maps and confusing road signs we traveled about an hour on dirt roads, pushing our way through cattle to make it to the booming town of Almo.



After filling up our empty jeep we headed straight for Castle Rocks. We got onto an easy multi-pitch, a route that is climbed in sections because of it length. It was 4 pitches and was about 400 feet tall. We started out and everyone was doing great and now for a bit of more climbing lingo. Suzy lead the next pitch which means that as she climbed she had to place her pieces of protection and if she fell it would result in anything from a 5 to 20 foot fall. Scary for almost anyone. About 200 feet off the ground Suzy hit the crux (hardest part of a climb/pitch). She got sewing machine leg (imagine the needle of a sewing machine going up and down uncontrollably). She made it to the top of the second pitch and I arrived at the top next to her only moments later. Still shaking and on the verge of tears she tried to find comfort by sitting down. Now, I don't know about you but for most it is usually fairly difficult to be comfortable in any way, shape, or form 200 feet off the ground hanging off the side of a cliff.

We started the third pitch. Colin lead this time and I was right behind him. As Suzy started to climb and after climbing only about 5 feet she slipped scraping her knee and her leg (remember that she is more than 200 feet in the air). That was it, Suzy lost it, the exposure (the felling of having nothing around you to help you, just feeling exposed) and the height and taken their toll. The rest of the climb Suzy was scared and not quite her self. After a little bit more climbing and some rappelling we were back on the ground, Suzy made it all the way.

The crux

Colin belaying

Landscape

What kept us from dieing

First Pitch


September 11, 2010 - Saturday

We found a lovely campsite at City of Rocks, a neighboring state park.



We went back to Castle Rocks to climb, but we weren't really in the mood to climb. So after a climb or two we ate lunch in a local restaurant (the only one for miles on end) and then we headed home for the holidays, well, maybe just for Sunday.