just because

This is what happens at 30,ooo feet over Nebraska with airline radio after I have some Coke (cola!) and Christine has a bottle of wine. Yes, we are dorks and i'm sure you had to be there. 10 days of really bad British accents, none stop climbing action, and lots of "donking" (cameo of the Donk at the end of the clip) may have contributed to our madness. I do feel sorry for the people who sat near us on the flight from Ohio to Utah.

country roads

Seneca Rocks is pretty cool. It offers a great low key scene, tight knit community, and some amazing scenery. The climbing is pretty cool too. Our group dynamics this trip made the experience of Seneca Rocks more memerable than the climbing itself. This is the first time Will Mayo and I had a chance to tie in and climb together. He and I see each other at different events throughout the year, but we've never just gone climbing together. He's inspiring and motivational for sure! Our small crew also included Chris Goplerud from Colorado. Chris is a long time climber, now in his 50's. He has seen the evelotion of climbing for many decades and shared stories of famous climbers and the traditions of yester year with us thoughout the week. He and i also had a chance to climb several routes together. He's strong willed as well as physically and climbs with grace and confidence. Chris climbed in Seneca back in the early 70's and this was his first time back since 1978. I enjoyed following him around as he remenissed of experiences from all those years ago.

We also got to know some of the locals and a few of the area guides. Rumors of out of towners sending many of the difficult routes was fueled by our screams of desperation ringing through the trees as we fought with the routes and encouraged each other. One local guide said that "those screams" were all his clients could talk about all day and they too became fueled with motivation to try hard.
We climbed some pretty amazing routes. My favorite route was the 5.4 notch to south summit. Nathan and I first down climbed this fin after photographing a route on the Green Wall. We were both so inspired by it that we went up the next day and I cilmbed it again and then down climbed it. I also sampled the local project that was equipped two decades ago and found it to be steep and hard! We climbed a beautiful powerful and very overhung 5.11 thin crack and i even flashed a steep and pumpy 5.11cX route then finished up with another 5.12a flash late in the day. I'm pretty excited about this as i'm now just starting to feel like i have gained some fitness from a long climbing dry spell during the winter.

We joked around, poked fun at each other and continued to have a great time while at Seneca. I am pretty sure most of the locals thought we were a bit over the top with our silly British accents and primal screaming, but it wouldn't be us without it! Likely our craziness was fueled by our need for energy drinks and the funny buzz you get from them!

I'll be back in Idaho tomorrow and looking forward to spending time with family and friends.

Christine Balaz

the local slang

me and Chris at the base of the Green Wall

for my mother

Hi Mom!

If i could i would

"I could have done it if ________ (fill in the blank with any reason why you didn't). Fear is an interesting thing to me. We all have it. Some of us carry fear with us more than others, but we all have it. The reality is that if you are saying the above sentence, you did not do it and regardless of the reason for not doing it, you still didn't do it! I was not afraid to fall off. I was not afraid to pull hard with the intension of sending a route. I simply just lacked the fitness to push my body all the way to the anchors. That's pretty much it. No "i could have done it if...." excuses. I just couldn't do it! In trying hard and failing i gained more fitness and desire to get more fit.

The Red River Gorge is pretty darn amazing! The climbing is some of the best power endurance i've experienced. The climbers here try hard... damn hard and only give up when gravity becomes more than they have in fitness to battle it. I was inspired by both the men and women who where pushing, fighting, and flying up and off of routes. I can see how comfortable i have become saying "take" when things feel too hard and the outcome of success is uncertain. The power of others trying hard found it's way to me and despite the possibility of hitting a very large boulder, i continued fall 20 ft, swinging wildly close to a large leg breaking boulder, yet still didn't send the rig. Oh well, it was a cool route anyway! I'll come back someday and hopefully be a bit more fit than i am now.

Dog Leg 512a

Me on another incredible 5.12a

project belay madness

His and hers energy drinks... got BAWLS??

The route i was projecting at the Bob Marley Crag

The "Welcome to Seneca Rocks" sign!

We arrived at Seneca Rocks in West Virginia late last night. This place is pretty cool. We've explored some of the local flavor while resting and waiting for better weather. It was actually snowing here. The weather does look better tomorrow and through the rest of the week. It may even be too hot by Saturday. That would almost be a welcome change from the constant freezing days and nights we've had this trip.

We've been burning down the days from both ends with copious amounts of energy drinks, hard climbing, social hours post climbing, and long talks about life, love, and tragedies. I've reflected a lot on my past and continue to see the future with clarity. I love and miss my wife, Heather and value the freedom and trust she gives me to be who i am. She, like me, lives without fear or a need to control someones actions or desires. In return it keeps me coming home to a happy and healthy relationship. Our time together is wonderful and those times we are able to travel with others, keeps the love and respect between us very much alive. I am a lucky man.

Red River Gorge, Kentucky

Christine Balaz and I arrived in at the Red River Gorge a few days ago. Her bag were delayed on the first leg of our flight from SLC and the desire to climb was greater than the need of extra clothes, sleeping pad, stove and quickdraws, so we jumped in the rental and busted a move to the Gorge. The first crag we walked up to, Christine connected with some friends from her last trip here a few weeks ago. At the second crag, i ran into Ben and some other friends from Alabama. We all cragged together the rest of the day. Despite serious jet lag from our 1am departure from SLC and the effects of sleeping pills, we managed to climb well. I have not done any sport climbing this season yet and managed to flash a couple of the 5.12's we got on! I was pretty surprised given my current fitness...

Packing at Chirstine house

The hub of Red River Climbing


Christine on a route at the Motherload

a really cool 5.12b

Christine on Chainsaw Massacre 5.12a

It's been really fun the last few days climbing and hanging out with friends. I can now understand why so many climbers rave about this place... it's freakin' amazing! I would really love to come back to this place with top endurance fitness and sample many of the longer and more challenging routes here. Perhaps this autumn??

Sweaty Palms

I'll be on a plane headed to the southeast with friend in crime Christine Balaz in just over 24 hrs. Needless to say i am pretty darn psyched! We've got a whirlwind up all night, party every day schedule until we wheel our exhausted bodies back on the plane at the end of this month. If this trip ends up anything like the last one to Devil's Tower, i would imagine some of the locals are gonna wonder what the hell just happened to them and if in fact the British really are invading! The addition of our Donk part way through the trip will bring a highly anticipated fun factor to the trip! Look out Red River Gorge and Seneca Rocks...

Heather and I have have been training hard in the gym and we are both starting to feel some sort of benefit after a very long winter of skiing and little to no climbing. A few weeks ago, Heather sprained her ankle while working on a project of hers at the gym. Just a few day's later she and I were in Moab with friends and she attempted to crack climb with a jacked up ankle. She did well and even bouldered a little at Big Bend. She healed quickly and has been spending a lot of time in the gym during my various travels. We were able to climb together in the gym on Monday and just a few short minutes into our warm up, she fell off and landed on the edge of the pad; spraining her other ankle... It didn't swell immediately and some Vitamin I kept the pain down. She iced her ankle with my remaining Monster Energy Drink and cheered and encouraged everyone the rest of the night. By morning her ankle was black and swollen. Likely she'll be unable to do much other than upper body workout's for the next few weeks. She's pretty bummed as she's been super psyched to get back to Crank Cave and work hard on finishing up Riff Raff (5.13a?).

I'll be back in Idaho on the 26th and will travel to Boise for a slide show on May 1st. Heather should be mostly healed by then and we can spend a few days climbing in the Boise area with friends. Maybe we'll see some of you there??

We are excited about getting strong and having projects this year. And just as excited to get our friends excited about getting strong and having projects this year! I've even gone as far as to appoint projects for some of my friends! It's kinda like the Nazi Projecting Plan - YOU WILL SEND or get sent to that place where people don't come back from!! All in good fun, trust me!

I watched some vids and looked at some photos from our stint at the Riggins Cave last summer. It got me super pumped up and will leave this image with you as the inspirational photo of the day...

My uber RAD wife on The Devil Drives a Deere 5.13a

Joe's Valley madness

Do crash pad's float?

Warm up exercises

Flashing a really cool V5 highball called Twilight

Working on a new problem high up in the left fork

Camp Idaho in Joe's Valley

Blake H. making faces on Low Tide

Matt working on a different kind of Dyno start!

A fast and fun filled four days of bouldering in Joe's Valley, Utah. We drove in at 2 a.m. on Tuesday and headed for home early, early this morning. I learned a lot about bouldering and will definitely go back for more. I've got some things i want to finish up down there and i'm sure there are many other beautiful problems to check out also.

It was fun to road trip with Hanamaikai again. We seem to work well together on the road and both share a passion for exploration and rock climbing. She keeps me in balance nearly as well as my wife! She's been really sick for a long time and spent a lot of time dealing with debilitating symptoms all winter. She is just getting fit again and as always full of motivation to try even highballs with scary landings! Nice work Hanamaikia!!

I made some new friends and got more acquainted with some of the guys from Idaho Falls that i don't know that well. I've always been impressed with Chad, Blake, Matt and that whole crew of talented boulderer's. I felt instantly accepted and was motivated by their kindness. Bouldering is fun with these guys and i look forward to climbing with them again in the future. I'm gonna work on my rock throwin', leg humpin', and off the wall dyno's so next time i'll feel comfortable enough to join in!

Christine and her friend Ian were also in Joe's. It was fun hanging out with those guys too. In just a few short days, Christine and i will be on the red-eye out of SLC - headed for Kentucky and West Virginia until the 26th! YEEEHAAAA!

The Local Scene

"Characters Welcome" This is what the guidebook should say! We bumped into a friend and fellow Idaho Falls strong man, Chad Parkinson and several of his friends. They stayed with us last night at our camp and showed us around today. Not only did they take us to all of the must do problems, they showed us how "locals" do it at Joe's!

Firearms and PB&J

Steep crimpy boulder problems

Our own personal bodyguard

Slopers anyone?

...and of course more shooting!

All in all, a great day bouldering at Joe's Valley. The weather was good. We climbed some awesome problems, watched V12 in action, and shot up the country side!

Life on the Road

Apparently my office on the road comes with cases of Busch Lite!

Too bad i don't drink???

This is the first time I've taken a road trip to just boulder. Yes you read that correctly - i am on a bouldering road trip! Does this compute, well I'm still trying to figure that one out.

H. Hanamaikai working a problem on the UMWA Boulder in Joes Valley. This picture may seem a bit washed out but is in fact taken during perfect sending conditions which means a full on white out blizzard. SICK....

This evening after our attempt at pebble wrestling, Hanamaikai and I check out the local burger place in Hunnington called the Star Grill and Fun Center while waiting to hear from Christine Balaz. The folks at the Star greeted us with warm hospitality, amazing food, and great entertainment. If you're spending any time at Joes Valley please stop by and visit Percy and his wife Janice. They are quality small town folks with great stories and a willingness to help in any way they can. I found their menu price friendly for traveling climbers on a budget. The building is an old bank built in 1907 and which boasts an encounter with the legendary Butch Cassidy. A tour of the old bank and it's basement vaults is a must for a rest day activity.

Wednesday nights at the Star offers an amazing old time country band of locals who rip it up and sing as good as Jonny Cash. Bring some extra cash for a tip as you will feel inclined to keep them coming back again and again.

I'll post again in a few days. Hopefully the weather will be a bit nicer tomorrow.

Desert Mice

Our Hold on the Wall Gang

Making the "too wide to jam" face on Black n Stacks - Offwidth City

Justin and Emily on a great route at the Shipyard - Long Canyon

Heather and I along with half a dozen friends and their kids made the pilgrimage to climb desert cracks this past week. Many years ago, i was invited on a trip with Brian Poulsen and his youngest daughter for a week of parenting skills and desert crack climbing at Indian Creek. It was four dudes and a two year old baby girl. Needless to say i learned a lot about parenting while in the desert.

That trip left a lasting impression on me. Not just how amazing kids can be, but the whole desert experience with close friends and the spirit of that journey burned deep into my soul. I wanted to feel that experience again as well as pass it on to others, so Heather and I invited many of our close friends from Idaho to join us for spring break in southern Utah.

We dealt with wind, snow, cold nights, and three kids - all under the age of 3. Despite the weather issues, we climbed, bouldered, hung out around the campfire and told stories of years past. The power of the desert touched all of us and the bonds of friendship and the desire to climb were strengthened. I personally came away with a renewed energy for friendships, partnerships, and a reminder how special kids really are.

I titled this post "Desert Mice" as we are more mountain people and not full fledged desert rats! Some day maybe?? BP - thanks for the desert vision.

Justin, Beth, Chad, and Heather around the campfire.