A Long Awaited Outdoor Climb at The Grotto, Nov 30

It has been since early August since I last climbed outdoors, so I was very excited as we made the drive out to Table Mountain early in the morning.  It was a nice big crew joining along as we greeted the horses at the parking lot and made the long approach to the cliffs.  We climbed a bunch of trad routes I had done before, and I finally lead a climb on Ort Wall across the way.  It felt very gym like and easy for a 10b.  Best of all, I finally got a burn on AC Devil Dog after years of wanting to try it.  First, I belayed Cori up it, who finished it, making it her hardest outdoor climb yet.  I didn't feel up to leading it given the insecure nature, so I went for it on top rope, having 1 fall, and slapping a lot of arete edges.

After a while at the cliffs, Chris and I headed up to Welcome Wall to setup an 11b, Uncle Remus.  Chris was rock solid on lead until the last move, where he took several short lead falls.  Upon finish it, he was sketched out by the anchor, which was fine for top roping, but would prove to be sketchy for rappelling due to the very rusted lap links.  As it got dark, I went past lichen covered holds, piles of bird shit, and surprisingly interesting moves before struggling through the crux.  The anchor proved to be as bad as Chris had said, and as I fiddled with leaving a biner and sling to backup the bad chain, I got several face fulls of rust dust.  Needless to say, I was happy to be back on the ground after my rappel.

We hiked out in the dark, admiring the clear skies and stars that we normally don't see in the Bay Area.  We stopped in Oakdale for dinner at a Mexican restaurant that served portions 2-3 times larger than expected.  Needless to say, we had leftovers.

On the Mend at The Hook, Nov 16

It has been over a month since my last post, which reflects how hard I succumbed to my persistent cough and subsequent excruciatingly painful rib injury.  Two weekends ago was the first time I felt well enough to do anything for along time, and Cori and I went on two long urban hikes, including going up Mount Sutro, which was surprisingly pretty and devoid of people, and not surprisingly eerie in the dark.

Now that my ribs have mostly healed, only the funniest Arrested Development jokes send pain down my side, and even though I can't sleep on my stomach, I can apparently surf reasonably well.  I tried my new 7'2" hybrid at the Hook on Saturday since Cori and I were down in Santa Cruz for a concert on Friday.  It was extremely crowded, but I caught a few, and really enjoyed the lower volume, more responsive feel of my new board.

On Sunday, I climbed for the first time in many weeks, which resulted in a bit more rib pain, but left me feeling good with a handful of v4s under my belt in a surprisingly good session.  I might try running this week, which would be a first since my foot started hurting after Bay to Breakers.  The lack of exercise has really been getting me down, and I am determined to turn things around.  The real icing on the cake would be to get out climbing in the Sierras before the snow and rain keeps most crags unclimbable.

Bolinas, Oct 14

I finally has a good surf session!  It has been a while, but the waves were pleasantly in the waist+ range at Bolinas. I had a 3 or so hour session with two very nice long lefts and a variety of decent rights and shorter lefts. 

Surfing after work, Oct 4

I was excited by the warm weather and decent waves, so I left my dark cubicle and headed to Linda Mar. The waves ended up looking pretty bad with closeouts and long lulls across the beach. I opted to surf near the south end, but couldn't catch anything decent. I moved to the Docks area where there was some competition from longboard ers. The waves were clean, but weak and I couldn't catch any.  I left the surf as it got dark, empty handed. 

Surfing, Sept 14, Sept 22, Sept 29

Ok, I had to write about my last three surf sessions.  I've gone the past three weekends, with a mixture of waves.  This weekend, Cori and I had some decent waves at the southern most part of Linda Mar when everything else was closeout.  Last weekend, I went out to Linda Mar by myself while Cori was in NJ, and it wasn't huge, nor very good but I caught a nice few waves in warm weather.  The weekend before that, I went to Bolinas where there were beautiful peeling lefts at the Channel, with a large group of good surfers at the one takeoff spot.  I didn't catch any good ones, but I went to the patch and paddled hard for the soft rollers, and caught a nice 30 second unbroken left.

Burning Man, August 28-Sept 1

I went, and it was more awesome than I expected.  The scale of everything (artwork, sound, lights, number of people, effort, etc) was awe inspiring.  I wrote a long post about it, but I'm going to hold off throwing it up here.

Perhaps The Last Routine Surf Report - Linda Mar, Sept 8

Surfing is becoming a more common thing these days, and I'm not sure every single session on small closeouts at Linda Mar warrants a blog post.  That being said, Cori and I got out at sunset for a quick surf in heavy fog.  The waves were barely rideable, but it was nice to get out since neither of us had been surfing since Baja.