Coldclimb's Long (Long) Road to Moab
So after a year or so of preparation, the trip has finally begun! Kelsey and I took off from Anchorage Friday afternoon with my wife Tracy, and our friends Richard and Jess, headed south for the Shootout. Without much ado, I intend to keep a nice thread going of our adventures along the way!
Things started out quite predictably. We crammed four people into Richard's little Kia and took off to Anchorage to get Kelsey in Anchorage. Sure enough, five people don't fit into a Kia very well with ALL of their gear, so we had to make a few changes.
We also had a bit of trouble with a hole in our engine coolant overflow container, but that was no biggie. We fixed it with epoxy and a bike tire patch kit, and kept rolling. :rofl
Kelsey's dad got out of bed to help us with our project.
Shasta has been along for many of our adventures, but today she's only here to say goodbye. Evidently some people go to school and stuff.
Kelsey applies the finishing touches.
And now we're ready to go!
With five drivers, we were able to drive through Canada without stopping overnight, but it was a bit tiring. Here's dinner our first night in Glennallen, still well inside Alaska.
Some buffalo lounging in the shade alongside the highway.
So we drove some uncountable miles to Liard River Hot Springs for our only big stop in Canada. Arriving there, we had some food, and I must confess we shared some with the squirrels.
And lastly for today, the only excitement in Canada: The hot springs.
Now we're in Montana, heading further south in the morning, at a much more leisurely pace. Enjoy the pics, there should be more soon!
Things started out quite predictably. We crammed four people into Richard's little Kia and took off to Anchorage to get Kelsey in Anchorage. Sure enough, five people don't fit into a Kia very well with ALL of their gear, so we had to make a few changes.
We also had a bit of trouble with a hole in our engine coolant overflow container, but that was no biggie. We fixed it with epoxy and a bike tire patch kit, and kept rolling. :rofl
Kelsey's dad got out of bed to help us with our project.
Shasta has been along for many of our adventures, but today she's only here to say goodbye. Evidently some people go to school and stuff.
Kelsey applies the finishing touches.
And now we're ready to go!
With five drivers, we were able to drive through Canada without stopping overnight, but it was a bit tiring. Here's dinner our first night in Glennallen, still well inside Alaska.
Some buffalo lounging in the shade alongside the highway.
So we drove some uncountable miles to Liard River Hot Springs for our only big stop in Canada. Arriving there, we had some food, and I must confess we shared some with the squirrels.
And lastly for today, the only excitement in Canada: The hot springs.
Now we're in Montana, heading further south in the morning, at a much more leisurely pace. Enjoy the pics, there should be more soon!
John Borland
www.morffed.com
www.morffed.com
0
Comments
Portfolio • Workshops • Facebook • Twitter
This is going to be good.
Coming through California at all?
I think the photo of Kelsey looking just like his dad is pretty darned hilarious.
Photos that don't suck / 365 / Film & Lomography
Probably on the way back. JTree should still be plenty warm!
Schmoo: I didn't even notice the resemblance until just now. They DO look alike at that angle.
www.morffed.com
Remind me in Moab.
After leaving Montana we headed down to Idaho and visited Craters of the Moon National Monument. It doesn't look like too much driving by, but when you stop and check it out there's some awesome stuff!
Here's a couple people journeying up a volcanic hill to get a view of the lava fields.
After checking out some of the sights, we made our way underground into the lava tubes. There's some pretty cool stuff to be found down there!
Things get a little tight, squeezing through one tube to get to another exit.
Richard, Tracy, Kelsey, and Jess, all following me through the squeeze.
Jess climbs out the exit hole.
We stayed in one tube for a while playing with some long exposures (Check Kelsey's thread for those) and had a good time painting pictures with headlamps! Kelsey shows Tracy one of our genius creations:
We camped overnight, and moved on in the morning to City of Rocks, near Almo, Idaho. Jess had a nice introduction to climbing, having never tied into a harness before.
Under the watchful eyes of Master Kelsey.
Kelsey scopes out his route.
Does this look like fun?
Jess took a few minutes to teach herself liebacking.
To be followed up the same route by Richard.
Kelsey, Smuggy, and City of Rocks.
That wraps up another day. We camped out, and woke to yet another gorgeous day's climbing, starting with a visit by a snake.
We hit up two climbs side-by-side, with myself and Tracy on one, and Jess, Richard, and Kelsey on the other.
Jess works through some beautiful moves on her route.
Tracy and I made it down first, here's the others working their way back to the ground.
Jess and Kelsey eye the world from above while waiting for Richard.
Later on, Kelsey and I worked some quite difficult climbs. Here's Kelsey working into the crux on a 5.12c/d called "Liberator of Baghdad."
The next morning Kelsey kept up the hard climbs, working his way through "Electric Avenue" 5.12a.
Richard belays dutifully, despite morning grogginess.
After leaving Idaho we headed to Richard's grandparents' place in Utah and spent some time fixing our car there. Then we headed out the next day for Maple Canyon and the unique rock available there. Here's Richard climbing a 5.10b/c with his twin sister Kristina at the belay. He thought he was on an easier climb nearby, and we didn't tell him different until he gave up.
Kristina jumped on a climb nearby, and about that time Kelsey tipped me off that his white balance wasn't set right. Good thing... neither was mine. I fixed it, and shot Kristina a few times.
That's all I've got up to this point! We left Utah this morning, and as I said above, we're currently the sole occupants of a mansion in Las Vegas, and we're still going on and on and on!
www.morffed.com
Richard cleans our gear off an anchor and rappels to the ground.
Here's a silhouette of Kelsey working through a climb in the Black Corridor, a narrow slot with good climbing and great shade all day long.
www.morffed.com
We hit Zion late at night and found our campsite with some help from a couple who got their car stuck, and were flagging down help. The campground doesn't have a sign, and the only time we've visited was two years ago, so the flashing headlamps and waving arms helped guide us down the little dirt path into the woods. In the morning, we woke slowly.
We chose to take it easy on the climbing for a day, and hike the narrows, one of the famous features of Zion National Park.
Cascading water reflects the red from the cliffs above and turns into gold as Kelsey walks by.
The immense walls of the canyon are incredible, towering hundreds of feet overhead in all directions.
Kelsey finds a bit of climbing on the walls of the canyon.
Creatures in the desert often adapt to their surroundings by changing their colors to match the environment.
Kelsey peers down for some holds on a bit of bouldering.
Water makes incredible rock art on the walls.
www.morffed.com
The mid-afternoon shadows chase Jess from her warm hole in the wall.
Richard poses on the sandstone walls.
Kelsey took a couple of leaps from this ledge. Here's one.
We paused for a bit to shoot some lizards who were friendly enough to pose. They tired of it eventually.
www.morffed.com
Sunlight filters down through the sandstone walls of the canyon.
Handprints from many travelers hiking the narrows.
We reached our turnaround point and headed back, trying to get out of the narrows before the sun set completely.
The next morning we headed to the Organ near Angel's Landing for a bit of waiting for another party to finish the climb we wanted to do. Here's some sandstone.
We played with lizards. I shot this one-handed.
You and what army?
Scaly portrait.
I've found that I'm not as good as I want to be at shooting things like old gnarly wood, so I'm practicing.
We finally got onto the rocks, and talked ourselves into going all the way despite the mental difficulties we experienced.
The sun went down while we climbed. Here's Kelsey following me up the last of the aid climbing.
And to wrap up this post, we stopped off at bryce, where I found my 40D does a MUCH better scenic shot than my old Fuji F700.
Stay tuned, we'll have more coming for sure!
www.morffed.com
How the heck to catch those lizards?
Oh, that's right, you guys are still young.:D
It looks like you guys will have a trip to talk about for years to come.
See ya in Moab.
Basking in the shadows of yesterday's triumphs'.
SmugMug Technical Account Manager
Travel = good. Woo, shooting!
nickwphoto
they welded their own luggage rack on their crappy ol kia, fixed a coolant leak with a bike tire patch, drove for 24hrs straight outta alaska, and then pulled over to eat bisquick.
then they found buffalo, went caving, and climbed impossible mountain faces.
and this dude Kelsey can apparently talk to animals.
that is amazing. I wish I could be like you.
My Photo Blog -->http://dthorpphoto.blogspot.com/
We're in Moab now, and met a bunch of smuggers today. A bunch are out at the moment working on blowing away my star shots of delicate arch, I'm sure, but here's what I've got from the last few days of adventuring!
We rolled into Moab on a rainy weekend, and every single campsite was full. At length, we found a climber's campground with room, and threw our tents together in the dark. The next few days were spent checking out some local climbing areas and eating some good food.
Here's some Moab sandstone:
The day before yesterday we went into Arches and did some climbing and touristing for the whole day. Kelsey is in this photo, climbing Owl Rock, but it's tough to make him out. He's just inside the right edge of the tower.
Kelsey tops out. Turns out I picked the wrong angle for decent lighting, but the right angle for this shot!
Kelsey maneuvers into position for some shots of Jess climbing.
Our summit shot on top of Owl Rock. What a bunch of weirdos.
Another tough angle at Turret Arch.
Kelsey inside Double Arch. We'll probably see plenty of shots of all these arches from everyone soon!
Nature makes some of the coolest art.
www.morffed.com
Evening light, red stone, and Kelsey make for some heavy saturation!
We stayed late and tried to improve our star trail technique. It's not quite there yet, but I'm still happy!
www.morffed.com
Our new friends' names are Jeff, Jess, and Dennis, and they take off, firing up the route in excellent style and fixing ropes behind for the rest of us to self belay or toprope as we wished. Here's Kelsey following me through a tight spot.
Kelsey again, pulling through some slack on his self belay on pitch 2.
Jess started enjoying herself about halfway up.
Kelsey followed me, so most of my shots are of him. Here he is again on the third pitch, with the exposure beginning to show below.
Jess fired through the crux of the whole route with great style, belying the fact that this is only her sixth day climbing.
The summit is an awesome place, with open air and huge exposure all around. Views like this knock you reeling on every side.
www.morffed.com
Kelsey peers over the edge to shoot Jess as she reaches the summit.
The rappel is a breathtaking one. Exposure locks your mind up and makes you tell yourself you'd rather stay safely on top forever.
More to come soon, of course! Thanks for checking these out, and keep the comments coming!
www.morffed.com
My Photo Blog -->http://dthorpphoto.blogspot.com/
I'm certain that he will have more stuff...some pretty funny...soon
Too many favorites to list, but the shots from your hike in the canyon are really, really good - including the stitched jump shots!
moderator of: The Flea Market [ guidelines ]
I took a moment from teaching our climbers to shoot this one of Schmoo on one of the desert sandstone cracks we climbed.
Fellow DGrinners in the pre-dawn light. We got up at way-too-early and went out to Deadhorse Point. I'm certain you'll all see much better landscapes from everyone else, but I got one or two I like.
Kelsey watches the light grow across the landscape.
Ivar gets his shots.
Kelsey needs new shoes.
We made a bit of a friend.
Bribery makes a quick friendship, but loyalty is lacking. He didn't stick around long.
Probably my best landscape from the morning.
Kelsey had borrowed Ivar's fisheye lens and was having a blast with it. Then we started shooting our little friends, and I challenged him with getting a good shot of a 3-inch long chipmunk with the fisheye, with the reward of a milkshake if he managed. He borrowed my trigger to do it, but he got his milkshake.
Later that day we rigged a rope jump at Gemini Bridges. We had a bunch of DGrinners out, but they decided not to take the leap. Instead, here's Jess roped up for the second jump on our rig.
It took her a while to push through and actually do it, but she did! Twice! This is her on her second jump.
Kelsey followed up with a backflip off the cliff.
I don't have today's shots edited yet, but they'll be coming along soon. Hope you all thoroughly enjoyed this installment.
www.morffed.com
mAN
This is one great post on your trip.
Thanks
http://danspage.smugmug.com/
Scratch Nikon I switched to
Canon 5d mark II
Great meeting you guys--I split this morning and just got home...apologies for not saying good-bye.
SmugMug Technical Account Manager
Travel = good. Woo, shooting!
nickwphoto