So, I meant to post this a little while ago but never got around to going to the webternet cafe.
It's raining. It's not snowing then melting, or snowing with a bit of rain, it's fracking raining. In Colorado, in the mountains, in Ouray. The ice, it is wet, dripping and melting. Ver', ver' upsetting.
Also suck is the fact that the video uploader isn't working right now. I guess you'll have to wait for the video tour of our flat and such.
BIG NEWS! I put my camera through the f****ing washingmachine. It's trashed. I think best buy is going to replace it (I bought a thingy plan?) but I'm not sure. All my photos and videos are gone, and I just moved out of the flat (am on the road to las vegas as I type) and so I can't give the video tour or anything. It was all witty and stuff - I even laughed a little.
So here's a little update on what we've been up to in Ouray.
-Climbing in the ice park. Lower in on perfect ice route number four hundred and x, climb out. Rinse and repeat. Great fun.
On one occasion I decided to lower my new pal Dan (from flagstaff, and the dude that is driving with me to vegas right now) a WI5 (well, an "Ouray WI5"), saying if he snuck his way up it and avoided the steeper it would be easier, and he would pull it off. I was wrong.
Is nthis what Aceto dreamt of? A top-rope epic? The route was at the alcove, where there was no ledge at the bottom, and no walk off. So I lower him in just as the pipes start making the glugging noise that tells you you got 2 or 3 minutes before water starts coming out the bottom of the pipes, about 30 mins before the sprayers come on (and I don't mean angry or churningindawake).He lowered in and started to climb out.The whole climbing thing didn;t last all that long really, instead he decided to try his hand at prolonged extreme-hanging. What happened next confused me. There was lots of hanging, lots of swearing, lots of shoutings up of [resigned voice, with a hint of "high maintinance] "I caaan't dooo it!!" and such the like, but eventually he did top out, and what a site it was. He just looked at me, with one of the lenses of his glasses missing, one of my ice tools missing, and a small piece of his ear missing.
He had fallen off, leaving a tool behind, and the rope had knocked it out of the ice. The first time he caught it, the second time it happened he didn't, and it went straight into the rapids.
Niether of us are quite sure how he managed to know out his right lens and cut his left ear at the same time, but some how he did this and had the ice axe go behind him.
We also decided to go and climb the classic route "Stairway to Heaven" at Eurika. I'm almost certain that we picked t single worst day of the duration of my stay in ouray to do it. Tons of powder, some of the worst spindrift conditions I've ever had, and just general shiteness on the weather/conditions front. What took Pierce 4 or 5 hours earlier that week (before the snow fall) took us around 12+ hours, and to be perfectly honest the majority of that was walking. Well, maybe walking isn't the word... Flailing comes to mind.
The climbing was excellent, though, and I still had a great time. It's been a while since I grinned so hard for the duration of a lead that my jaw hurt a little, but the climbing was just plain and simple great fun, with that hint of mild terror that spices it up nicely. An interesting incedent occured when I was looking to set up a belay after leading pitch 3, which finishes on a long, loose snowslope (like 4/5 feet of powder with uneven rock along the bottom - I crushed the tip of one of my axes). I was literally 10 feet from the next pitch of ice, with a tempting and well protected little spot beckoning to me, when I ran out of rope. Hualing my fat ass's full momentum against the rope couldn't get me to the ice. Even when Even took me off belay to give me and extra foot or two, I fell just short, leaving me only one option - digging for gear. So I started digging, and by this time the wind was whipping the snow about so roughly that I probably had to dig a hole and a half from it being filled in. Luckily I hit some solid ice under the snow, and got a bomber screw in. I gave up f**king with the V-thread, though, since it was filling with spindrift faster then I could empty it.
Top route. I highly reccomend.
Every saturday night a chap Dannon Nicks would play a little gig at the silver nugget. He crushed
So I just arrived in Las Vegas, and I have to admit I'm impressed. I didn't think I would be, having seen all pictures and CSI and stuff, but seriously - the stuff here is huge. Unnaturally huge (and not just the casinos - I already ran into like 4 or 6 creepy cougars or waitresses who had clearly... invested serious amounts of money). Everything pure flashes lights and stuff at you telling you what to do and advertising with shameless trashiness. It's like the internet, but in real life - though I've yet to run into prince azkabar the 2nd, who needs my bank details so he can transfer THE SUM OF FOUR HUNDRED AND FIFTY FOUR THOUSAND US DOLLARS for a business deal to it.
It was actually a little depressing, walking throught the casino floor. I saw one lady who seemed remarkably close to tears pouring money into a slot machine. Her face lite up, once or twice, as the first few rollers matched, but then the last one or two would inevitably be out of sync and her face would contort back into the resigned and hopeless face of loss.
On another note, I saw the biggest douchebag I have EVER seen in my life. We were sitting in the car at a traffic light when we heard base so loud it hurt our ears (and we had been BLASTING xm liquid metal for around 7 hours). This dude was in a convertable two lanes over and the music he was playing seemed to just be a base line, I heard no lyrics, melody or rythm. would turn down the music and scream "oh yeah! Fuck yeah!" then blast it back up again. He looked 40 and really really assholish. When the lights changed he gunned it, got a slight wheel spin, then had to brake 10 feet later to turn left. Then he gunned it and spun a bit more and was gone. His sunglasses (it was afgter 1 AM) looked expensive.
I was kinda gutted to leave Ouray, and I'll miss Craig and Sarah from the nugget, and Pierce and Cory and Ela, but I'm also super stoked to see more places and meet more people.
rc.commers I met:
Corynauman, real name cory - super cool guy. I stayed with him, on his sofa bed or floor, for the duration of my time in Ouray (the whole month). He was dead on - a strong climber, a great banterer, and a fellow video game nerd. Definitely gunna climb with this guy again.
OriginalPmac, real name Pierce - Also worked at the nugget. Played guitar excellently, and climbed at just as high a level. He's also heavy into backcountry snowboarding. I think he's hanging in Ouray for the whole winter.
Well, I thought it was like 2, since it was still super busy downstairs in the casino, but I guess it's actually 4:30 so that all for this post but... so many people still feding the slots at 4 am?
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