A month of wandering....

Little trips to different places. That's what the last month has had in store for us. An eventful trip up Mt. Slesse near Chilliwack, B.C.--a grand and giant buttress of granite rock of less than perfect quality but without a doubt providing a big adventure for the summer thus far. A week of climbing in Squamish, B.C., made all the more fun with visits from Chris & Trista and Zac & Brit. Nothing better than heckling on the rock. Unless it's heckling on the ultimate frisbee field. Kelly got some of that in too, with a three day tournament at ECC in Burlington, WA with D'oh. With a pleasant surprise, she realized she still remembered how to play, and how to have great fun doing so. As Kelly played ultimate and then headed up for a fantastic and relaxing four days with her close girlfriends in the San Juan Islands, Michiel kept at the climbing, and got in some great routes at Washington Pass with Zac and the Bugaboos with Dave. We made the best of some unplanned rain and spent a little more time in Seattle preparing for our Cali/Utah/Red Rocks trip coming up.

Now, the truck is being packed up once again--and this time the gear includes such luxuries as pillows. You would think we would have figured that one out a long time ago. Pillows, high density foam mattresses, a wok, a sponge for dishes....we are going to be set this time. No curtains though. The next segment includes "the Valley", Tuolemne Meadows, high sierras, Utah desert towers and Red Rocks Nevada. Mostly climbing, sprinkled with a little ultimate. Mid-august through mid-November. Then we are back in Seattle, Michiel excited for work back at Puget Sound Solar, Kelly for the unknown. That'll be a shocker.

Below are some photos from the last month.....

Slesse, viewed from the descent. We climbed the long buttress on the left edge of the mountain.

Kelly on the summit ridge of Slesse.

Kelly on a traversing pitch on Squamish, on a day we climbed in three parties of two and laughed all day long.

The approach to the Bugaboos.

Dave Burdick climbing up towards the white headwall South Howser.

Bugs.

East Creek bivy in the Bugs.

Zac on a money pitch of Chianti Spire in the North Cascades.

a week in the North Cascades

We couldn't plan a long climbing trip and not spend some of that time in our own backyard. So after returning from Colorado, we packed up the car yet again for a 5 day jaunt in the North Cascades. The first and main objective was Liberty Crack on Liberty Bell up at Washington Pass. This is a climb that has been on Michiel's mind for the last 3 years. This is the rightmost spire in the photo below, viewed from highway 20, and we climbed the 1200 foot East face. This is considered a North American 50 Classic, and they weren't lying. Oh man what a climb.


Liberty Crack is a 11 pitch 5.10 C2 climb, but most people climb it as 5.9 C2. This climb contains 3 pitchs of solid aid, Michiel's second time aiding, 3 pitches of solid 5.10 climbing, 2 pitches of 5.9 and then easier going on a long crack system climbing the main face of Liberty Bell. This climb has gone free once in the past, and we were able to see the second free ascent.


Since this was our first real aid climb, and unsure about our speed we decided to fix the first two pitches the afternoon before, and came back to finish the climb on the second day. Below, on the first day, Michiel is nearing the top of the pitch C1, while Kate Rutherford is heading up over the roof to meet up with Mikey Schaeffer while they were working on freeing the roof. The next day we witnessed Mikey freeing the roof, which goes at 5.13b, making him the second person to have freed it.

Michiel working his way over the Lithuanian Lip on the second pitch. This was one of the best parts of the climb. It was even fun for Kelly to jug up, who swung out across the face every time she cleaned a piece of gear.

After fixing the first two pitches and rapping off. Kelly and I went to our campsite, made dinner and went to sleep. We had stashed our gear at the base of the climb so that the next days hike in would be easier. We had an easy morning hike in to the base and began jugging our fixed lines to the top of the second pitch.

The third pitch also goes at C2 with an apparent hook move that Michiel never found, leading to the base of a sweet 5.10 hand crack.
After a long 165 foot 5.8, 2 5.10 pitches and a long 5.7 we came to Kelly's starring pitch. A long 180 foot 5.9+ pitch that took us to the top, and Kelly to the edge. After climbing and jugging up 1000 feet of rock of hard climbing, Kelly got to finish it off with a long lead at the top end of her abilities. Way to go!

Kelly starting her way up Pitch 9 of Liberty Crack--quite steep but lots of fixed pins.

After a stiff climb, we knew we'd be tired, but wanted to get out and explore a little more of the North Cascades, so we picked out a new area to head into. Michiel has been near this area a couple times, but for Kelly it was a first. From Marblemount, we headed up Cascade River Road for 19 miles, then hiked our way 5,600 feet up through big cedars, large boulderfields, heather meadows, and then gained the Eldorado Glacier before setting up camp on Wednesday night at the base of Eldorado. We thought it was a little early in the season to try for Early Morning Spire, which seems like a fun climb, so we aimed for the mellower Southwest Buttress on Dorado Needle. However, Thursday morning we woke up and some clouds had rolled in. It still looked okay, so we set out across the glacier. Only to find that 30 minutes later, at the col at the edge of the large Inspiration glacier, much more menacing clouds had rolled in, and stormfronts coming in from the south and the north seemed to be converging above us. We could hear the crackling of electricity in the rock beside us, and lightening was striking just over a mile away. Rather than get stuck on a long rock route should the storm hit, we turned around and headed back to camp.

After waiting it out for a little while, we decided the window was at least big enough for us to run up Eldorado Peak looming above us. So we booked it up the East Ridge and gained the crazy summit--which is a snow knife edge, though easy because many climbers before us have kicked out solid footsteps. A group of four other climbers had converged on the same mountain, having also backed off their rock objective. Rather than get rained on when we had brought up only one bivy sack between the two of us, we headed back down the long approach that afternoon, conspiring to crag at Index on Friday before heading back into Seattle for a couple days, which has stretched into a week with Michiel putting in a little time at work. It's all good, and now we are off to British Columbia for a couple weeks. What do you think of that, eh?

Evening sun on Forbidden (the peak at right) and Moraine Lake below it, all just east of our campsite.

About to set out from camp, on the rock, on Thursday morning, headed for Dorado Needle. Viewed from the north. Our approach was from the south.

Some of the menacing clouds over us on Thursday as we changed objectives. Definately a change in the weather forecast from when we'd seen it last....

Colorado: Eldorado Canyon, the Rockies, and more...

Two great weeks in Colorado hanging out with Michiel's brother Sebastiaan and his girlfriend Jamie really kick-started our climbing trip. We drove down after a fun wedding weekend in Bozeman (thanks and congrats to Hannes and Laura!) over the 4th of July. After a full day's drive we arrived at the doorstep of their little house that sits next to the creek in Eldorado Canyon, a world class climbing site. Being in Colorado, we had to get used to how dicey it can be to climb with the possibility of storms in the afternoons. Being halfway up a tall spire with a lot of metal dangling from your body during a lightening storm is not such a good idea. So that made early morning alpine starts a must.

Thankfully, with Sebastiaan and Jamie's doorstep only 10 minutes by foot from the sandstone climbing of Eldorado Canyon, we were still able to, some days, enjoy both a lazy coffee-filled morning and quality climbing. Eldorado Canyon has sandbagged ratings, fairly polished though solid sandstone, and some finnicky gear. Large towers in the colors of warm sunsets rise up on either side of the creek, and are covered with florescent yellow lichens. Quality multipitch cragging routes are bomber here.


We hit some great routes in Eldo, the favorite being the 7-pitch Yellow Spur a Grade III 5.10b (Michiel's second time on the route, Sebastiaans's 5th), where we forgot to take a camera and document Kelly's onsight on the highly exposed crux pitch 800 feet up. And the 5-pitch 5.10a Handcracker Direct.



We also got into Rocky Mountain National Park for a few alpine climbs. Started with the Petit Grepon, heading in with two parties of two--Michiel and Kelly on the South Face, one of the most popular alpine climbs in the country and immortalized in the 50 Classics of North America, and Sebastiaan and his buddy Chris beside us on the Southwest Corner. Amazingly, the four of us had the mountain to ourselves that day, and did not have to leapfrog around other parties. That's when climbing in the alpine is at its best. The South Face was a fun route, pretty low-key and enjoyable.


The boys gearing up on the Petit Grepon at dawn.


The crazy profile of the Petit Grepon from the base. The face steadily narrows into a tiny blade of a summit.




Climbing up easy chimney sections.

Kelly attaining the summit.




Our next main alpine climb was on Hallett Peak. We headed up there with Chris Taylor to tackle this imposing 1100 foot face via the Culp-Bousier route, Grade IV 5.9.

Leaving Boulder at 2 in the morning and the car at 3:45 we got an early alpine start and were greeted with a beautiful sunrise before hopping on the climb. Although not much higher by grade than the Petit Grepon, it is a much more committing climb. Fun, but mostly full length (200 foot), pitches combined with two ropes added up to a lot of rope drag. We enjoyed the quality of climbing on this one for sure though. Luckily, we narrowly missed a thunderstorm complete with hail and driving rain which came in as we were descending down the gullies and boulder field.




Michiel leading the crux pitch of the route.

Chris bringing us up to the summit in a rope-stretching pitch with some wet sections.

Our last Colorado climb was probably the best for both rock quality and challenge presented to all of us. Michiel, Sebastiaan and Kelly headed out to the park one last time to tackle the Barb on Spearhead, an 8-pitch 5.10c. The approach was gorgeous, especially once we got to Black Lake (below).

Spearhead sits in a beautiful cirque of peaks at the backside of the Diamond. It is the pyramid-shaped mountain behind Michiel and Kelly as we make sandwiches for the next day's climb. Soon after, we called it a day and crawled into our awesome little cave of a bivy spot protected from the strong winds of the day.






Mac started us out on the climb on a fun little section although fingers were still a little numb.

Kelly leading her first 5.9 alpine pitch, a fun traversing fingers crack.

Sebastiaan on the fun 5.9+ hand traverse before the roof on pitch 5. This long sustained rattly hands pitch that brings us up to the crux. The belay spot is about the size of a postage stamp and we are all hanging on gear as we shift climbers.

Then Michiel takes us on the 5.10c crux pitch with a fixed piton in it. Starting out with a 5.9 section of off-fingers to a hard section just barely large enough to fit fingertips in, the crux, and then easing off to a fun 5.9 crack that brings us around to the North Ridge. From here we belay to the summit.

The Colorado trip was a blast. We would spend our evenings eating meals at the house, having nice dinners in Boulder (hooray for happy hours) or seeing Jamie at work at the bar. Two weeks was not long enough, but the Cascades and a couple of engagements were calling....

Transitioning to North America

Apparently we've been neglecting the blog since embarking on the North American part of our trip. There is something about travelling overseas that makes blogging more enticing. Even if only to assure our families that we are alive and well. The novelty of travelling somewhere new does it too. You are presented with all sorts of cultural situations and exotic landscapes, as well as the conflicts of emotion presented by each of these situations. The greatest moments of cultural exchange prove to be some of the hardest bits, maybe even the ones that provoke you to keep moving on....

But all that is a memory now. (For more photos of Africa though, see Kelly's facebook page. Easier to post there.)

We've been back in the USA for a month and a half now. We talk about Obama a lot less here. Although the focus of our trip has shifted from travel to climbing, our identity as dirty bums has not seemed to change much. We are still mostly living out of our tent and going days between showers. But we are a lot more fit. Walking around loads while travelling, coupled with the occassional bike rental, is okay. But it just doesn't compare to spending all day climbing and hiking, almost every day of the week.

In order to jumpstart this change in fitness requirements, we knew we were going to have to get into shape. Our running shoes had been stolen in Madagascar, so it had been a long time since we'd hit the pavement. Michiel was getting really amped, pounding his fist in his hand when he talked about our upcoming workouts. But we do have different styles in this respect. A few days after getting home, we had already flown across the country to Vermont for our friends Marion and Ethan's wedding. We decided to hit the hills around the farm for a morning run. (One of the things I miss about college is the amazing running on Vermont farm roads.) We lace up and quickly realize that the only option from the farm is downhill to the left or downhill to the right, which of course means that the long haul uphill comes at the end, always a little daunting. We take the left route. We jog downhill at an even pace, but by the time that I'm ready to turn around, Michiel hasn't gotten enough out of it so far. So he decides he's going to sprint uphill all the way back to the barn, while I jog back up at my slow but steady pace. He started off strong, leaving me in a tiny cloud of dust. But guess who made it farther uphill before slowing to a walk?

So...by the time we get back to Washington he's of course so amped for some climbing that it's almost unbearable. I 'let' him go out with another buddy in order to get a little fix. That gives us a little more focus as we take a couple days to see families and friends and get all of our gear together to prep for the first roadtrip of the summer.

We're currently in Seattle for a couple of days, but since Vermont, we have spent a week warming up in Washington's mountains, then headed east for another fun wedding in Montana over the 4th of July, then down for two awesome weeks in Colorado to hang out with Michiel's brother Sebastiaan and his girlfriend Jamie, and get lots of climbing in. We came back for another week in the North Cascades of Washington. The next stop is British Columbia. Our plan is to continue posting onto the blog occassionally with some pictures and climbing trip reports. More details on Colorado and the North Cascades forthcoming.....

Back in the USA

Better late than never. We never finished up our posts for the Africa trip because we had to keep it under wraps for a while in order to deliver a surprise.

From southwestern Uganda we decided to make our way to the eastern African coast, to visit the island of Lamu. Getting to Lamu involved 4 long days in the bus from one stop to another. One particularly fun busride, overnight from Nairobi to Mombasa, featured a loud beep that sounded every second or two. It sounded like the alarm when a large truck goes in reverse. But it never stopped. We finally asked about it i15 minutes into the bus ride, and the guy told us to just forgive and forget about it. I'll tell you, by the time we rolled into Mombasa 8 hours later at 6am, we definately had not forgiven or forgotten.

Lamu is an carless island just a few miles from the mainland, shaped from 13 centuries of trading with Asia, Persia and countries up and down the African coast. It is predominately Swahili and Muslim, with palm trees and mangroves and sand dunes. The town of Lamu is ancient, with tight little alleyways winding a maze through buildings constructed of coral bricks and fine white cement and boasting intricately doorways.

We wanted to see a little of the coastal culture and soak up a little more sun before we departing for the States. We also headed there trying to find a woodcarver that a friend had studied under 9 years before, in order to bring her something back for her upcoming wedding. We spent about 6 days there, and succeeded on all accounts.

We spent a couple days out in the traditional dhow sailing vessels, all wooden construction and that keep sailing to the basics. These trips involved sailing, some fishing with line wrapped around small pieces of wood, beachside bbqs of the fish we had caught, and swimming. Kelly proudly caught the first fish out of the mzungus, to Michiel's chagrin.

The bulk of our time, however, we spent winding our way through the alleyways of Lamu town, and searching for this woodcarver. With the help of a local boy whose help we enlisted, who spoke Kiswahili and knew his way around town, we did manage to find him on day #3 of our search. We had only come with a couple clues, so were delighted to be successful. Finding this guy made our trip to Lamu special not only because we had a mission after months of relatively aimless traveling but also because he took us in to show us a side of Lamu that we would not have seen as standard tourists. Such as a 4-hour ride by donkey to a town on the other side of the island. In the pouring rain. And let me tell you that donkeys are not very comfortable. And they can tell when you don't know how to ride them. My donkey learned early on that I did not want to hit it hard with the switch, and took full advantage of me.

After departing Lamu by boat in another bout of pouring rain, we had another couple long bus rides and then a day and a half to wrap up things in Nairobi. Including a cool trip to a local baby elephant and rhino sanctuary, very well run by an organization taking in orphaned animals and returning them to the wild.
We touched down in Seattle, had one day to repack our bags, and then flew back the same direction to Vermont to join our friends Marion and Ethan at their wedding. After a beautiful, fun and personal wedding, we spent a few nights camping around Vermont with them and cooking hobo meals in the fire. And now, we're briefly back in the Seattle area, trying to see family and friends and whip ourselves back into shape for cardio and climbing.

Finally some photos.....

Well, our journey home starts tonight. Here's a few photos from the last couple months. We'll share more soon.....

the silverback mountain gorilla. michiel had a special spot for him.
michiel eating local ugandan grub.
kelly and white rhinos in kenya.
brothers. fully wild.
our tent within the masai village.


avenue d' baobobs in western madagascar

going down the tsiribina river in madagascar

Uganda

Believe it or not, I found a hairier being than Michiel. Yup, had to come to Uganda to find it. And, I fell in love at first sight too. Maybe there are some parallels there? Can't read into it too much.

We entered Uganda and set up camp in the first main town we came to, Jinja. Jinja bills itself as the adventure capital of East Africa, and there is plenty to do, but it is also a low-key place to hang out. We spent a day getting thrown out of a raft in class 3 to 5 rapids on the legendary Nile, and decided we wanted to keep nursing the adrenaline kick. So we jumped into kayaks for a few days to learn just how big that weany class 2 rapid looks when you are that much closer to the water. In the end, we ended up surfing a few. Nice warm water, and not even very many crocodiles. The campsite bar was perched high above the Nile so we could enjoy deserved late afternoon beers with an unrivaled view. A week later we were ready to hit the road again.

We've really enjoyed Uganda. It's lush and green, which pleases our Seattlite senses. And the people are friendly, open and candid. Conversations take unexpected turns, and people don't hold back in asking pointed questions. "Do you have cows in America?" is pretty easy to answer, but "Are you going to try to have kids as soon as you get home?" is a little tougher.

But we came to Uganda with one particular thing in mind above all else. It required us to travel to the eastern edge of the country, to the afromontane rainforest bordering the DR Congo. After an extremely long and dusty bus ride, where all we had to eat was skewers of liver which we promptly threw back out the window for the dogs, we arrived in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park.

After a morning of very extreme birdwatching, we were able to mark off lots of new species. It was crazy. Kelly was holding the binos as Michiel would go through the bird book. Michiel recieved a papercut and Kelly got an elbow sprain. You have never seen such extreme birding before. This was a 4 day event.

Later the first afternoon we visited the local traditional healer who taught us what ailments all the local plants, trees, and barks can treat. He was clothed in goat skin and came from the DRC. He had 2 posters and a button on his shirt of the American Healer, Obama Man!

The pygmies tried to show Michiel how to make fire by rubbing 2 sticks together, but as a white suburban kid, he had no luck. But we are real pros at buying lighters.

After the stop to the local banana gin distiller where we tried the local wine and gin we happily and merrily skipped over to the local resturant and at a nice meal with some locals of the village. The dinner comprised of matoke (mashed green plantains), posho (maize flour and water), and some meat. It was good. We laughed and joked with a local crafts woman and shared our banana gin with others in the 8'x8' room.

Then finally, it was time for the grand finale. It was our turn to see the gorillas. We woke up with a smile, and hopes to see the gigantic hairy human like creatures. We were going to trek through the impenetrable forest to see our cousins. After about 1.5 hours of an uphill hike through thick brush and shoulder high ferns, and bugs the sizes of golfballs, the guide pushed back some grass and revealed the silverback. A 440 pound, 200 kilo, giant. After admiring him for a while and his ability to pull down trees we watched an 8 year old male in a tree eating some leaves. He would stare at us as he ate his morning brunch. Eyes fixed on us, he then swung himself to the ground with a thump.

I could swear he was eyeing me. He was looking right at me. He was just beautiful. He ambled over and sat right next to me. Just inches away. It took all my will power not to reach out and touch him. It would be against the gorilla-tracking rules, for disease transmission among other reasons. But you could not wipe the smile off my face. This little guy was so curious, it was so evident in his eyes. And so close...

As I, Michiel, stood away by about 3 feet, I saw that he was eyeing my prize. But the experience to see an 8 year old gorilla, jump off a tree, to meander over to my wife, and sit right next to her as if he wanted to start a conversation, was spiritual. Can't really get much closer to feeling one with the earth than that.

In total it was a pretty small gorilla family--only about 8 individuals. We moved over to watch a mother with her baby for 30 minutes. The baby was born on November 4, 2008. The guide wants to name him Obama. We're crossing our fingers.

Overall, seeing the gorillas was so much more than we had expected.