penitente and witch's canyon - san luis valley, co

what a crazy week! after spending two "work days" in the san luis valley, i've been running around trying to catch up on the photo business. i still have a ton of photographs to edit from the trip but will add at least two today.

the san luis valley is incredibly beautiful. while there, the weather was awesome; a bit hot during the day, but there are plenty of rocks to be found in the shade. witch's canyon seems to have the best shade areas. there were two huge youth/school groups around on monday which made penitente canyon a bit crowded. it took some patience to find less busy areas. some of the climbs we tried on monday include the serpent (5.7), the breeze (5.2) - which i toproped. my first. toproping can be a bit scary, even on an easy grade climb. it was exciting to do successfully. we (erik and his friend todd) also worked on thank huecos a 5.10c(?). erik was the leader and also cleaned the route since todd and i couldn't get up. we did manage to get about a 1/6th of the way up before some fancy layback* techniques were required. (* "technique of pushing on a face with feet while pulling with the hand on an opposing edge or crack")

we grilled some of erik's great food on monday night and then crashed in the back of his truck. talk about cramped. imagine three dudes in the bed of a truck with sleeping bads. ive never humped a wheel well so much.

tuesday morning erik and i tried a 5.10a. i didn't get very far, but liked knowing what's technically ahead for me. after returning to the camp site and meeting todd, we went over to witch's canyon. we did two 5.9s and and tried a very slaby 5.10c, and another 5.10a. i can't do 5.10s yet, but feel i'll get there soon. we left witch's at around 7pm and made the drive back home after a beer.

is this getting serious? i joined a climbing gym today. rockin' and jamin' of thornton. i did some bouldering for about an hour and took advantage of their summer promo. prepaid membership for 6 months, off hours, $189. my goal is to make it there 2-3 times a week. i'll write about the gym experience soon.

some photos from the trip.