Taos, the land of the Earthship...

After leaving Sarah and Dan in Albuquerque, we headed north, following the Rio Grande, to Taos.  Our primary motivation for stopping in Taos was to visit the headquarters of Earthship Biotecture, a sustainable architecture group based there. 

We spent an afternoon touring their visiting center, which is a fully-functional earthship, and looking around an active construction site.  The surrounding landscape and the structures were absolutely beautiful and definitely left us even more inspired to pursue our own earthship construction project in the future. To find out more about Earthship Biotecture, visit http://www.earthship.org/

A soon to be completed Earthship, currently under constriction...

(note the foundation of recycled tires, and the beautiful recycled glass bottle brick work)

The Earthship Biotecture International Headquarters

An adobe finished, recycled glass bottle wall

That evening, we camped just south of Taos on the shores of the Rio Grande.  Our campsite was beautiful and only a stone's throw from the river. 

to Albuquerque and beyond...

After a month of Idaho hospitality and experiencing what 562 inches of snow per year felt like, we packed away our skis and returned to the southwest.  Driving south, we watched as winter shook out her last few feet of snow on Utah, and before we knew it we were back in the desert.  Our friend and mentor, Sarah Councell, lives outside of ABQ and it was from her futon where we enjoyed this past weekend.

Sarah lives outside of ABQ on a beautiful parcel owned by her employer, Albuquerque Academy.  She serves as the current caretaker of the property, and in return is provided with a fantastic house in a beautiful canyon! With her own private set of boulders and a small, mountain waterfall, she resides there with her garden and her fiance, Dan.  We felt really fortunate to catch up with Sarah, while be able visit such a  special place and take in the beautiful views...

We spent Saturday clipping bolts along side the Rio Grande on some very cool New Mexican basalt.  The climbing was really interesting, with sharp, clean edges and cracks.   Somewhat reminiscent of the Gunks, but with bolts abounding.

All in all, Albuquerque was wonderful and it felt really great to do some cragging after a month of skiing, especially with Sarah! 

until next time...

and then there was Jackson Hole...

In order to effectively celebrate Caitlin's birthday weekend, we decided to drive the 33 miles from Driggs to Jackson to spend the day doing some of the most intense resort skiing imaginable.  To ensure that my point is understood, it is not just the terrain and snow that is intense at Jackson, but the sheer development and "resort-ee-ness" is a spectacle to behold.

The day goes something like this:
1. Park your car in one of the many, massive Jackson Hole parking lots
2. Put on your boots, because you will not find traditional lodge space in which to do so once you leave the refuge of your car.
3. Since none of the shops, salons or restaurants that Jackson Hole Resort has to offer will provide you with a place to store anything, look at the backpack full of food that you brought with you from Idaho and resign yourself to the fact that skiing with a backpack is annoying and that by the time lunch arrives anyway, it is usually difficult to enjoy what were once the separate components of a satisfying midday meal as smashed together dagwood sandwich.
4. Check to make sure you have cash, card or better yet, both.
5. Board a shuttle and moments later arrive at the tram loading station...

6. Ride the Tram with 99 other eager and riders to 10,400" and enjoy!

7. Ski until you can't stand...only to realize you still have another 2000 vertical feet to ski...

And that was how our day in Jackson went.  It started off with heavy snow in the morning and gave way to a beautiful blue bird powder day.  And although we have become comfortably accustomed to the private, peaceful feel of Grand Targhee, it was an extremely enjoyably day of resort skiing, that we were even able to cap off with an order of Truffle Fries.  Fantastic!

until next time...

Since leaving beautiful Utah, we have been enjoying more of this fantastic country in "Wydaho"!  We are currently living in Driggs, Idaho with our friends Evan and Caitlin and skiing almost everyday.  We've done a little bit of backcountry skiing but have mostly been skiing at Grand Targhee, the mountain on this side of the Tetons, just across the border in Wyoming.  The skiing here is unlike anything either of us have skied and it will surely not be our last season here!  Since arriving we have been getting a serious storm at least once a week and have been able to ski powder almost whenever we want.  It's really a skier's dream!  We've settled into the ski bum life here and are also loving having a beautiful house to come home to, complete with incredible friends!

Here is the view of the Tetons from our front porch

Here we are enjoying a tour in the Tetons

Nyssa putting her new AT bindings to use

The lift service skiing isn't too bad either...

Nyssa and Evan take in the Grand Teton from the slopes of Grand Targhee

life elevated in Utah

After five beautiful days in Moab, we headed north to Salt Lake City.  The last five miles of our drive were in a very welcome snow storm.  We arrived Monday night, March 7, and when we woke up on Tuesday the 8th, we were welcomed by 18 inches of snow to enjoy!!!!

Jeff took us on a beautiful backcountry tour in Big Cottonwood Canyon where we would be safe from avalanche danger and be able to enjoy the new powder in some fantastic open glades.  

Below, Jeff and Mike take in the scenery and all the snow...

Nyssa approaching the final ridgeline with all the glory of the Wasatch behind her.  

Here is Nyssa and Rich at the summit.  We skinned to about 8600 feet, which is the highest either of us had ever backcountry skied (that is until we made it to Idaho...). 

Though the temperatures had risen to the low forties in the sunshine, the snow was still incredibly fun and still came up to at least the knee, if not the the chest in places.  Nyssa is enjoying some of her first powder turns here...

Rich dropping knees in some of the deeper stuff...

After our wonderful backcountry introduction to Utah, we figured we had to experience some lift-access skiing as well.  So on Tuesday, March 8th, we headed to Snowbird for a day of lift-service.  Our SLU friend Blake Harris works at Alta and he was able to meet up with us for yet another day of incredible Utah skiing.  Snowbird's Tram takes skiiers and riders to 11,000 ft, which was the highest lift-service skiing Nyssa and I had ever done. 

All in all, Utah was a wonderful place in which to reacclimatize to the United States.  We had a fabulous host, Jeff, who we had met in Mexico and who showed us all there was to enjoy in Moab and Salt Lake.  We were able to do some fantastic rock climbing and incredible skiing, and the whole time we were able to relax because we were back in a country where people have their driver's licenses and obey traffic laws.  We were even able to visit American grocery stores and drink beer that was dark enough that you couldn't see through the pint glass (even if it was only 3.2% by volume)... 

life back in these United States...

After a wonderful seven weeks in Mexico, we returned to the homeland to continue our travels and adventures north of the border...

The first stop was with our friend Charlie Harman in Austin, TX.  Although we were unable to do any climbing this visit, we did have the pleasure of spending time with Diego the Australian Mastif; who clearly took a liking to Nyssa.

As we headed west through Texas, it seemed as if the boredom might never come to an end.  When all of a sudden we found ourselves in a slightly ironic landscape for Texas... a massive field of Wind Turbines.

And finally after two days of driving through fairly bleak portions of our country, we arrived in Moab to a beautiful sunset over the sandstone cliffs.

And to the west the La Sal Mountains glowed...

We awoke our first morning in Moab to find ourselves in a serious "room with a view". Through the window you can see Castle Valley, home of the infamous Castleton Tower.

Our first day in Moab was spent climbing at the very "Dr. Seussical"  Fisher Tower.  We attempted to climb Ancient Art; however, we were unfortunately rained off the route.

Below, Rich is belaying our good friend and excellent host, Jeff on the first pitch.

Our second day in Moab was spent 40 miles south in Indian Creek, the land of splitter everything, and on this fine day we were able to have it all, splitter weather and splitter cracks. Below is the Supercrack Buttress, where it all began in the Creek.

And for all you trad climbing enthusiasts out there... the Indian Creek obligatory rack. 

Rich giving his damdest effort on Generic Crack (5.10)

And despite the beautiful crack in front of me, I had been climbing in Mexico for seven weeks and could not resist the urge to crimp as hard as I could on the smallest face hold that I could find... oh well...

Nyssa trying to gain as much surface contact as possible... she fit a little bit better in the crack than I did...

Sunset illuminates the silhouettes of the North and South Six Shooter Peaks of Indian Creek.

Our third day in Moab was spent at a truly beautiful and extremely easy to access crag called Wall Street.  The photograph below does an excellent job of illustrating the name... world class single-pitch sport and trad climbing... easily belayed from the back of your car... Utah is a wonderful place!

Rich trying to push the carrying capacity for appendages on this sloping crimp rail on Nervous in Suburbia (5.10a)... and even the locals told me it was a sandbag...

In standard Utah fashion, right across the street from the climbing a breath-taking view featuring the Colorado River awaits...

On our final day in Moab we climb The Looking Glass Arch (5.4) This line offered fun slab climbing to a beautiful summit and an extremely rewarding rappel.  Below Nyssa, Jeff and Mike climb the second pitch.  

And after all the work, the reward... a 185 foot free hanging rappel that actually starts off by moving through a hole in the summit of the arch! Once again, Utah is so cool! Below, Nyssa enjoys the glorious ride.

We finished off our final day in Moab with a visit to Arches National Park, another strangely beautiful and "Dr. Seussical" landscape.  

Nyssa and Rich in the South Window arch. 

The North and South Window Arches at dusk.

And finally, the license plate featured attraction of Utah, The Delicate Arch.  Being a big fan of Edward Abbey, and Desert Solitare in particular, visiting this fantastic place provided a great deal of perspective into the sublimity of the landscapes that he described with such admiration. 

And so as not to deviate from precedents set... more local wildlife photos... here a lizard makes sure our climbing gear doesn't completely deprive him of his favorite sun-bathing rock.  

until next time...

all good things must come to an end

...only to be followed up with a lot more good things. But more on that later...

Our time in Mexico came to a close on February 28th.  I am well aware that we are a bit behind on our postings, but still wanted to give you all a glimpse of what our final days at the Potrero were like.
We have abstained from posting any photos or making much comment on Mexican culture thus far; however, to gain a better sense of where we spent our seven weeks south of the border, I wanted to share some photos from the public market that comes together every tuesday in the small town...

From fresh fruit to push-up bras, the market had what you didn't know you needed until you saw it, and even then you weren't sure if you needed it or if you were simply hypnotized by the display...

A young proprietor cleans prickly pear cactus...

Though we still aren't entirely sure what was being fried in the vat, this gentleman was extremely enthused to have his picture taken to promote his mystery fried meats...

With average temps coming in between 95 and 100, the weather took a serious swing towards the uncomfortably hot and motivation levels plunged to an all time low in our final days.  Even the locals began to find the heat intolerable...

The heat did not however prevent them from coming out to the canyon on the weekends to enjoy the scenery, compete with friends as to who has the best system, drink and spectate the crazy gringo climbers...

In this photo, Nyssa, Josh and Mitch acted as models to illustrate some of the less desirable aspects of the potrero, i.e. grid bolting.  Though we certainly benefitted from the unregulated new-route development that takes place in the potrero, the lack of oversight has negative effects as well.  Climbers who have bolts and a drill, but lack the motivation to seek out new lines that are worth developing will often squeeze new routes in between old routes, making for potentially unsafe and most certainly unnecessary routes.   

Though technically on different routes, Mitch and Josh are climbing in the exact some crack in order to progress up the climbs.  Both of them are clipped into seperate lines of bolts, and if so desired, they could have been clipping one another's bolts. 

But don't worry, we were still doing plenty of safe and extremely enjoyable rock climbing. Below Nyssa is standing up and reaching up on nothing to the miracle hueco on Milk Cow Blues (5.10c)

Nyssa embracing the space between bolts on Mugre Mugre (5.10d)

Nyssa approaching the chains on the top pitch of Mecasuit (5.11a).  Leading 5.11 was Nyssa's goal for this trip and clearly she had success!!!

Rich trying to fight the excruciating pump and prevent the vertigo in the crux corner sequence of Don Quixote (5.11d).

The really fun thing about limestone is sometimes lucky climbers have the opportunity to pull on tufas! This makes for really fun movement and represents very well the drastic potential that exists for the features on limestone.  You will certainly not find anything like what I found on Tufa the Price of One (5.11c) in the Gunks of the Dax.

Rich trying to stay as tight as possible and embrace the really teenie tiny holds on XL Puff Sneaker (5.11d)

We were fortunate to have our friend Josh Potter come down and spend our final stint with us in the Potrero.  Josh is a very strong climber and came down to crush...here he is only having to try a little bit on El Balota (5.12a).

And because it seems appropriate, here is one final Mexican wildlife photo...

until next time...