Lander

Cody and I left Boise once we had finished sheeting the bouldering wall with beautiful baltic birch plywood. You can see the (almost) entirely complete gym here.

We headed back to Lander, to help our good friend Bryan Wolfe move in to his cute new home. It's been nearly two and a half weeks that we've been here- but the time has flown. I've painted his kitchen (a rusty red color, to accent his granite countertops,) and his living room an olive green. Cody's built an adjustable climbing wall in the garage, a design copied from Sus, the guy who will be the general manager of The Front Boise, who was kind enough to put us up while we worked on the gym.

While Lander has some of the best sport climbing crags in North America not 45 minutes from Main street, the little mountain town is also surrounded by the Wind River Range, which has some incredible alpine trad routes climbing it's many peaks. We decided to spend a week in the Cirque of the Towers with Bryan, climbing the numerous peaks that encircle a grassy, stream-filled, boulder-strewn valley. We arrived at the Big Sandy trail head around 10am, shouldered our packs, heavy with climbing gear, camping gear, and food for a week, and began the 10 mile hike into the Cirque.

Pingora Peak and wildflowers

Just as we had finished dinner that evening, the thunder began. The Winds, and especially the Cirque, are known for weather that changes in moments, and also for afternoon thunderstorms. We hunkered down in our tents for a dark and stormy night. We slept poorly, kept awake by the wind and lightening. The storm was still blowing the next morning, ruling out any possiblity of climbing. We sat in the tents for most of the day- napping, reading, looking out the plastic window at the fog. Boring!

Pingora and the fog

The next day, we awoke to a chilly, but clear morning. We cooked breakfast and waited for the sun to hit the route. Once the sun had risen enough to warm the granite, we headed out, making the short but steep approach to the South Buttress of Pingora Peak. We encountered a few other parties, but didn't have to wait long to begin the route. Three pitches of beautiful granite trad climbing later, we stood atop the summit, enjoying the broad views and the sunshine. We rapped down, hiked back to camp, and scarfed a quick meal, (chili and rice- yummy!) and were in the tents by the time it started to rain again.

Belay 2

The Summit!

The view from the top

The next morning, I woke up with the sunrise, and despite my wool socks, long johns, and my 5 degree sleeping bag, I was freezing! Looking out our little window, I could see the rain from last night, frozen on our tent. Cody and Bryan woke up soon after me, and after a short discussion, we decided to pack up and head back to Lander for some warmer weather and sport climbing. We ate as much food for breakfast as we could- in an attempt to lighten our packs for the hike out. We had planned for a week, but had only eaten three days of food. As we cooked around our little campfire, it began to snow. Yeah. Snow.

Cody warming up and looking disgusted at the weather...

We hiked out in full rain gear, the storm blowing sideways. It was warmer and much dryer at Big Sandy Lake, a popular campsite, roughly half way between the trailhead and the cirque. We drove back to Lander and were met with sunny weather. After some hot showers, real food and a rest day, we hit the crags.

We're sad to be leaving Lander, but this weekend we're heading up to the Pacific Northwest. We're stopping in Boise, to climb around there and check in on John and the Gym. Then it's on to Bainbridge to spend some time with my family, and then to BC, to climb in Squamish.

Life is good when you're livin' the dream....

Currently...

Sorry about the delayed posting- We've been home for a few weeks now, and are falling behind on current events!  Hopefully we can get all caught up to the present soon! For now- since it's past my bedtime, I'll just let you all know that we're in Boise, working on a climbing gym with Cody's former employer, John Stack of Vertical Solutions.  Check out their blog for photos and info! 

I'm off to live the more literal dream...zzzzzzzz......

Photo Update: Segovia

Segovia

Yum!  Sangria with a view of the Roman Aqueduct in beautiful Segovia.

The view of the street and cathedral from our pensione. 

The beautiful Spanish countryside as seen from the castle.

Our Pensione.  

(Just kidding.  This is actually the Royal Bedroom in the Castle of Segovia)

I don't think this was made for a child... there are actually spanish people of this size.

Can you find Beth?

Surveying the kingdom from the top of the castle.  

Photo Update: Valencia and Madrid

On the train to Valencia, watching the Mediterranean fly by. 

Delicious Horchata de Chufa- A Valencian Speciality.

(Those little nuts are chufa- they're kind of like little sweet dried potatoes.)

The enormous market in Valencia.

The National Library in Madrid. 

(¡Me gusta los libros!)

Patatas Bravas in Madrid

(Potatoes covered in a spicy tomato sauce)

Plaza Central in Madrid

Amazing Peacocks in the Royal Gardens of Madrid

And their friends, the devil swans. 

(Just kidding. The black swans were very friendly.)

The Royal Palace of Madrid.

Photo Update: Barcelona

Inside the Sant Josep Market on La Rambla

Lots of amazing food!

Lunch

(After shopping in the Sant Josep Market)

On our way to the beach.  We had such beautiful weather!

At the Plaza de Catalunya

Overlooking Barcelona from the top of the Cathedral de la Sagrada Familia

 

Beautiful fountains on the way to AC/DC!

Angus (not-so) Young. 

But still kickin'. Literally. 

   

Back in Black. 

Segovia, San Seb and Speg Bol!!

Beth and I are back in Barcelona for the last couple of days of our trip. We are staying in an out of the way hostal just relaxing as things wind down. But here is what has happened in the last week and a half or so.

In Madrid we we started running into a lot of Australians, first two Keith Urban looking guys, then a really cool girl that has been traveling Europe for a long time and before that, she traveled southeast Asia. Then another girl, fresh off a tour of the UK. None of which really knew who Keith Urban was, despite the striking resemblance of the to Aussie boys. We thought nothing of it

On our last day in Madrid we went to a really cool Palace and the best parks we have seen in Spain. Beautiful pools, ponds and fountains. Not to mention that one was full of peacocks and black geese. We left for Segovia the next day. The city is small in comparison to other cities we have been in. I asked a man the bus how many people lived there. He said 55,000 and then started speaking at Beth speed and I lost him. But Beth translated bunch of other cool information. Segovia's wonders start with the 30m.(almost 100ft.) tall roman aqueduct which flows past a towering cathedral to the Castle at the end of the hill. This castle inspired the castle in Disneys Sleeping Beauty. The castle is truly built for function as well as beauty. It is perched on a very steep hill/cliff, the only spot you can really access it is a drawbridge across a very deep moat. After crossing the drawbridge you enter the castle to see brilliant courtyards, ornate halls, towers and gardens. Anyway I could write a whole page about it, it was cool. Another great thing about Segovia was just the feel of the city, very tight streets old buildings, and a generally slower feel.

After spending the night in Segovia we headed back to Madrid and spent one more day there before waking up early and missing our bus to San Sebastian. We caught the next one and we were on our way. When we got to San Sebastian we were greeted by a guy named Lewy, another Aussie, and he told us about a cool hostal he and his friends ran. We had place reserved for the night but told him we would see him tomorrow. The next morning we called Lewy and he walked us to the "hostal". He had been explaining that they had a big party the night before and it was a little dirty. It was an interesting bunch of people, most worked for the company that also owned the hostal. Almost all Australian. Only one out of the 10 or so could speak Spanish despite all of them working in Spain. This is were we learned the truth about Australians: they are serious about partying, they don't learn other languages, and have very low standards for cleanliness. They also just randomly decide to abbreviate things like San Seb., Air con, Speg Bol (spaghetti bolognese), and other random common words.

We spent most of our time in San Sebastian on the beach, eating pinchos, and learning about Basque culture. The city is known as the culinary capital of Spain and the food was delicious! There are two awesome beaches, one with waves and surfers, another for swimming. The water was a little cold but not too bad. One day we went up to a castle on the hill that was controlled by Napoleon's troops during a battle for the city. San Sebastian was our favorite city in Spain.

After San Sebastian we headed to Bilbao for an afternoon. After seeing a little bit of the city and the Guggenheim Museum we got on the night bus for Barcelona. And after a sleepless night we arrived back where it all started and in two days we will be home.

The rain in spain stays mainly in the plain.

¡Hola from Madrid!

Sorry about the long gap between postings- We´ve been busy.

After four days in Barcelona, we caught a train to Valencia. It was a beautiful ride along the Mediteranean coast with the azure water often just outside the window. We had looked into stopping at one of the small towns between Barcelona and Valencia, but there wasn´t anything affordable- lots of big hotels and private bungalows on sandy beaches, but alas, no cheap little hostels. Once we arrived in Valencia, we headed to the Red Nest hostel, a funky, brightly painted and spacious place, full of young travelers. Perfect!

Valencia is a beautiful city- the architecture is embellished and impressive, the beach is nearby, and a park that was once a riverbed runs through the center of the city. We ate lots of tapas, (especially dates wrapped in bacon- Yum!), did lots of walking, drank the delicious local horchata, and swam in the almost warm Mediteranean. We both loved the "Ciudad de los Artes y Ciencias" or The City of Arts and Sciences. Located near the park, this collection of super modern buildings houses an opera house, an imax theatre, a science museum and an aquarium. The buildings are truly incredible; elliptical in shape, covered in white mosaic tile and surrounded by shallow pools of turquoise water, they look like some far distant city from the imagination of George Lucas- all but ready to launch off into space. Our roommate at the hostel, Silard, from Hungary, had planned to spend a month in Spain, but once he arrived in Valenica, his one month stay became five, and now he does odd jobs for the Red Nest, like playing guitar and serving free sangria at the Friday night hostel parties, for a free room. It doesn´t seem like a bad life.

After five nights in Valencia, we were ready to move on. We decided to go inland, to Madrid. We´ve been here for a few days, visited the Prado Museum, (Goya, Velasquez, Bosch...), the national Library, and the Royal Botanical Gardens. Another beautiful city- but with more heritage and history. We´re thinking of heading up to San Sebastian and Pamplona next... We´ll keep you all posted when we can!

I promise some pictures are coming soon!

Love from the LTD team!