So, my friend Lisa is always telling me that there's so much to Mill Creek, and really, I've never really gotten it. I mean, I pretty much just go to the Wicked Crag, and it doesn't seem all the extensive. So where was all this fabled climbing?

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Yesterday I decided I needed a change of pace, so I decided that I was going to do a classic road bike ride here in Moab. The ride is about 65 miles and it goes up past Mill Creek (5000 foot gain), then loops around through Castle Valley (past Castleton Tower) and down the river road, past Big Bend.

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So, the big exciting news of the week is that I've decided to call it quits on Learning to Fly until fall. Temps are heating up here in Moablandia, but that's not really a good excuse. Actually, I think the crack has gotten bigger. No, really. Everytime I go to clip I can feel my ringlocks sliding out. It's terrifying, and really, the only possible explanation is that the crack has grown.

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So, my finger was starting to feel better, and the majority of the swelling had gone down. I did some moderate pitches in the creek day before yesterday and all felt well. And of course, being down there made me antsy to get on my project again. So off I set, back to Learning to Fly. And that route HATES me, I decided. It's so frustrating. I felt like I was pretty close to sending within a couple of tries of the thing, but it's basically a boulder problem for me -- which means low percentage -- and I mess something up every time.

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Well, the verdict is in and I seem to be a wee bit injured. I had spent a few days working on Learning to Fly. It's pretty hard for me, because it's gray BD's, which means my fingers go all the way in and I end up trying to do a pseudo ring-lock. In addition, the route is steep, short, and powerful -- not my style -- and I found myself needing to basically campus on these weird ring-locks. (The feet on cracks this thin, especially in the desert, are pretty slim to none).

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Things are always busy this time of year, aren't they? Taxes, springtime, lots of friends in town, spring cleaning, etc.
So, I spent the week working with Mike Call, doing a bunch of filming down in the creek. We got some great footage of Alex Honnold climbing From Switzerland with Love and Belly Full of Bad Berries, not to mention stuff of Matt Segal sending Dean Potter's roof crack boulder problem here in town. It's been pretty inspiring stuff.

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So, I don't know if any of you speak French, but if you do, here's a link to an interview that I did with a French Magazine, Escalade.
http://www.escalademag.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=823...
Cheers and happy climbing!

After a couple of snowy, cold days in Moab, the temperature has again begun to climb, leaving us with pink cheeks after a day in Indian Creek.

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Spring is ticking away in Moab, and sometimes it just overwhelms me how amazing this place is that I get to live in. For starters, the other day I went dirt biking with a friend and we rode for five hours, way into the canyons behind Moab, where I had never been before. The trail wound around cliffs going up on our left and dropping away to our right. The scenery here just never ceases to amaze me. I know for some people it seems a little barren, but for me, the desert is where it's at. I just feel like everything is bold and magnified in the sparse landscape.

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