Miraklet i Drammen

Kom över en hoper mycket intressanta bilder från en god vän. Måste säga att det ser ut som ett fantastiskt mirakel, hade du varit religös (vilket jag hoppas att du inte är) så hade du antagligen sett det som en “gåva från Gud”. Med tanke på allt letande och rensande jag gjort på egen hand runt om i dom Värmlänska skogarna, så är jag minst sagt förvånad. Jag är också otroligt glad för dom lokala förmågorna som har möjligheten att klättra på en så fin linje som verkar innehålla så unika formationer och grepp, för det är minst sagt ovanligt. Men det är klart, det är ju ingen Drammengranit i Värmland så vad vet jag, kanske bara borde hålla käften. Jag kanske helt enkelt letat på fel sida gränsen? Eftersom det verkar finnas ett fantastiskt undantag även i Drammen så  borde jag kanske bara flyga hem och fortsätta leta.

Känns som att man i dagsläget måste vara lite försiktig med att trycka på vissa punkter som av nån konstig anledning kan vara ömma för vissa individer. HA, jag menar, man vill ju inte riskera att göra någon ledsen. Dom kanske till och med lämnar “scenen”, eller varför inte lämna landet? Har du hört nått så konstigt!? Man vet aldrig. Men OM nått så fruktansvärt skulle hända, vad i alla sina dar ska vi då ta oss till?

Det finns gråzoner överallt och jag jobbar själv med att bemästra en för tillfället eftersom jag är i full gång med att etablera och utveckla nya leder och klippor. När jag blev bekant med begreppet “hammerbrush” här i Tensleep,WY (Dom flesta grepp på leder här har blivit skrapade för att överhuvud taget vara greppbara utan att riva upp sig) insåg jag snabbt att jag borde sätta någon form av standard på vad jag tycker är OK eller inte. En lätt uppgift i min mening och det är bara att försöka minimera antalet snesteg under loppets gång så ska det nog gå bra. Men som vi alla vet så finns det åsikter både för och emot, så det är väl bara en tidsfråga innan jag blir dragen bakom en häst genom stadens alla gator som ett exempel. Det läskiga med gråzoner är dock att man aldrig vet vem ryttaren är. Frågan är vad jag då ska göra?  Jag får väl bara följa trenden, lägga hatten på hyllan och tacka för mig. Om jag sen tror att någon stackare bryr sig är det mitt och ingen annans problem.

Baldy Mtn

This one is for Peo Chefen Nilsson.

Baldy Mountain,  8914 ft / 2717 m, 5 mile/8km hike one way

The Kick Ass Business

My new best friend, Kevin, and I started a business. It’s called “The Kick Ass Business” and we are slowly starting to get in to the daily routine. Kevin, or “Mr. Wilkinson” (which has become his recent title) is the the man who “pulls the strings,” if you know what I mean. I, “D.Sjöquist” hold the assistant position and I basically help with getting the job done. Our office minutes are 09.30 – 09.40 and that’s when we deal with all the paperwork and planing for the work day. So far, we have been on one field trip to get oil for the chainsaw, which we used to take down and cut up a big, old tree. The tree cutting will continue in the near future  and we estimate that, by the end of this phase, $2500 will have been saved. I guess our business plan is to SAVE money rather than make, that’s when our ladies come in to the picture.

I inherited a drill from Kevin. This is probably going to be “The Kick Ass Business” biggest and most consistent job in the future: bolting routes and building trails, SWEET, what a good business, I look forward until this business really gets going!

   

   

51 Gophers – Check

Most of today was spent in the back of a pick-up, cruising the field of the ranch with a .22 rifle, with one goal in mind: get as many gophers as possible. In Montana gophers are considered rodents, which basically means that they are “pests” for ranchers, which also is kind of funny to think about, and a different story I don’t want to write about now. Anyway, as long as you have a permission from the rancher/cowboy, you’re good to go.

Ten Sleep, Wyoming is our next long term stay!!! Sport climbing!!! Really looking forward to being at one place for a longer amount of time and staying in a HOUSE(!!!) the whole time! 4 total months of climbing, training, gun shooting, climbing,raining, bolting, “manning out”, training, climbing and bolting, bolting, bolting… Here we go!

Western Boner 2

SO, I’m back from the desert. I have a pretty big love-hate feeling for the desert. There is not a lot of feelings involved, it’s pretty simple. I guess it’s beautiful, and you can do a bunch of stuff, if you’re in to the stuff you can do there. To me It’s hyped up and people that give the impression that “the desert is SO chill, dude” should settle down. It’s a fucking dessert(PERIOD) Nothing around except old balls in their big-ass RV’s and Boy Scouts whose leader tells them “the first rule is to STAY CLOSE”. The only thing that keeps the love in  the love-hate feelings for the desert is, plain and simple, the Cowboy/outlaw boner that keeps going strong. Aside from that, desert, I’m not impressed.

Scroll over photos to read about them, get it?

Western Boner

In order for Christine to start the process of her new book project, “50 Hikes in Utah”, we had to go on a research trip to collect material like pictures, GPS information and plain old impressions. Our goal is to run/hike through 20-25 hikes in 8 days which will end up being around 100 total miles (160 km).

Two days have passed, and so far we’ve been in Zion National Park, Red Canyon and Bryce Canyon. The 6 coming days are going to be spent in the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, Capitol Reef National Park, Canyonlands National Park, Arches National Park, Moab, and Castle Valley.

For me, a guy with a huge Cowboy/Western boner, this is pretty much the best place  to be. To be running on the “Cassidy Trail” feels pretty cool. Even if I’m moving on his land with my fucking Five Finger Shoes, a Camelback, a running hat and a dumb, dumb Ziplock bag with a fruit mix. Holy shit, he and his gang would probably shoot me right on spot, tie me behind a horse, and drag me around.  I guess I’m lucky  that he’s not around anymore.

Here are some photos of the past two days:

Zion National Park

   

   

   

   

   

Red Canyon

   

Bryce Canyon

First day in Whiskey

YES! First time in Whiskey today for some bouldering, and yet again my expectations were way off. I’m sure we just saw and climbed on a small % of whats already been established, and it seems like there’s a bunch more, just in this area, that needs to be climbed. I started cleaning one pretty cool looking line (picture below with a pretty weird perspective), fixed the landing etc. It’s a medium tall boulder, or maybe slightly on the taller end, and it looks like it will climb well. Even if its not the cleanest looking line on the planet, it definitely doesn’t feel contrived. I would guess it has about 10-13 moves before sloping off to easier terrain. We’ll see if it’s a classic or not!

All this rock around here really makes me want to find more. The country here is pretty damn big so it’s mostly a matter of how long you are willing to drive/hike to find stuff. Everything within 3 hours around here seems to be considered local, though. One thing is for sure, the odds of actually finding something worth going back for is WAY higher here than in Värmland.

We are going back to Whiskey in a couple of days and depending on whether I get capped by some crazy militia guy, I’ll keep any weirdo reading this posted.

Natural Bridge

Everything I’ve heard about sport climbing in Montana has mostly been bad, so bad that it made me embarrassed knowing of its existence. The first two days back in MT we checked out two of the local crags (Natural Bridge and the Hanta Virus Cave) around here and those rumors do not match up at all. It’s obviously not a world class destination. The limestone around here is, for most part, really chossy. On the other hand, it would be a world class destination if the rock were a little bit better, because holy shit balls, there is a lot of rock around here.  Anyway, it is what it is. I had a lot of fun climbing and I’m sure it will stay that way. There is already a lot of  routes here AND even more of them that are in the process of being put up. You have to take it for what it is and enjoy it, even if its not fucking Ceuse around the corner.

I guess the plan is to keep visiting more of the spots around here, PSYCHED, everything is new for me and as long as the weather keeps being weird for this time of the year, I’m psyched. Folks with skis, Fuck’em!

   

   

Bishop to Bozeman via Vegas

I guess we ended up being in Bishop the same amount of time that we had originally planned – which was one month. But because of some changes in our plans (or maybe “ideas”), we saw an opportunity to stay until the hellhole (Bishop that is) got too warm. As it was, we actually could have stayed all of March, even longer if we felt for it. This whole idea of a plan got fucked up, mostly because I basically couldn’t climb during the whole stay because of my shitty skin that never wanted to heal. Even with multiple, longer non climbing periods (5 days to a week). I LOVE Bishop but this trip fucking sucked climbing wise. As a result, the general morale with the whole camping thing took a turn for the worst because of not being able to do what you came to do. I have promised myself NOT to go camping anymore for more than two/three weeks. I’m over it. The past two years have mostly been lived out of a tent or a car and I would lie if I say that I really enjoy it nowadays. I obviously don’t regret any of it, all I’m saying is that I want to change the floppy tent to a not as floppy house. All those physical and mental failures made us want to change location and take a trip down to Las Vegas to see if the sandstone would treat my skin differently. Guess what!?, HA, 15 min into the warm up my skin splits again on two of my fingers. Not more than one hour after that we are in the car, pointed toward Bozeman, MT. I guess it was worth a try though, and there is a limit on the time you can spend waiting around for things to get better. In this case a month was my limit.

Oh well. We are back in Bozeman and I’m super psyched to “start over.” Let my skin issue take care of itself somewhere other than in a car and start the process of getting in shape for the long stay in Ten Sleep, Wyoming this summer. Boohyeah, Cowboys, gun shooting and putting up as many routes I’m allowed to is on the agenda.

Here are some photos from the last days in Bishop and the day in Vegas:

   

   

   

   

   

Bishop #2

I’m at Starbucks enjoying the coffee. By the way, what’s up with all the hatred toward the American coffee? I mean, if you are on a road trip in the US, and 90% of all coffee you consume during the trip is from different gas stations, you are obviously going to leave this country with a bad experience. All I’m saying is that its not that bad, and if you are Norwegian, you should probably think twice before you open your freaking mouth.

Anyway, still in Bishop, and this place has been treating us well when it comes to weather etc. It has definitely been too hot for my taste. Shorts and t-shirt – no problem! Still doing the one day off, one day on schedule. That is pretty much what my skin can take right now, if you want to climb up in the Buttermilks. It’s definitely worth it, though. I think I’m going to change tactics; climb until I feel like I can’t lose more skin for the day, rather than stopping when when other parts of the body say stop. I feel like the skin is the main thing to take care of around here if you want to be able to climb somewhat consistently, so, we’ll see how it goes. If I know myself well enough, there is probably no fucking way I will ever say – “Ok, I have climbed 2 hours today, and my skin is starting to say “hey hey hey,”  lets just keep watching for another 4 hours”. Oh well. It is what it is, I guess I could try at least.

We got a 10 punch pass at Bishop Fitness Center, it’s perfect. Once a week, we can walk around in there among all the war vets with sketchy mustaches, trying not to make eye contact because I would never win a staring battle. Holy shit, picture me taking a good old shower around all those meatballs. It’s a pretty nerve-breaking experience, and we’ll see if I manage to stay alive through the remaining times we “have” to go there. In the end, I do get a shower and I guess that’s worth something.

Mkay, I’m going to finish up this rest day with a movie theater visit. Underworld: Awakening is playing, PSYCHED!!

More later!

   

   

   

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