My Brother

The whole inspiration for this blog was my brother. He started up a blog months ago, when he began travels in Peru. So check his blog out: bigwaternate.blogspot.com. You'll find reflective stories of living and studying in Cusco, as well as plenty of tales of hairy kayaking adventures. Currently, my bro is roaming Peru crushing the steep creeks and notching up first descents.

Here's Nate, bringing the service and goodwill. What a great brother!

More Italian Fun

The photo below is from Finale (the pics of which were in the last entry). I just thought it was interesting climbing culture. I didn't know this, but in Italy, and I think other European climbing spots, it's the norm to paint or somehow label a route at its base with the route's name. At this particular crag, they got pretty crafty. What do y'all American climbers think of this practice, eh?Ahhhhh, some mellow bouldering in Val di Mello, in the Italian Alps, 1 km from the quaint little villiage of San Martino. I camped out here, under a boulder. I enjoyed rain and one sunny day on which a few good boulders dried off. I also made a wonderful Italian climber-friend who invited me to his house, fixed me gnocchi, and played me some banging techno. What a guy!A view of some of the higher peaks around Val di Mello.Andrea singing up some Italian hospitality on a rainy in day in San Martino/Val di Mello.Below is a friendly party at Giudetta's very modern flat in downtown Genova. Giudetta was an incredibly hospitable professor working for the Clemson program Maggie was a part of. More climbing? Yes please! Andrea invited me to go with him and some friends on a weekend climbing trip to areas around Albenga. Albenga is another giant limestone area, down the road from Finale. Here, Andrea is negotiating the first route of the day (notice the rock to the left of the orange features; unfortunately, this entire wall of top-to-bottom collonettes was wet). Chiocco (pronounced Kee-Ko), a friend of Andrea's, climbing an excellent route.Dinner party after climbing. There was lots of fun, loud talking with big hand gestures and great local food.The (inadequate) Italian breakfast.
The next day we went to a beautiful orange crag with multi-pitch routes. We only went two pitches up, and then climbed other single pitch stuff. This is me on a climb called Alien--que bella!

Italian Travels

I leave in a few days, but the past two weeks have included spending time with new friends in Genova and taking short climbing trips around Northern Italy. Here's some assorted photos from all over:

Me climbing up a very pockety wall at Finale(Finale) My Italian friend Fabio climbing the same route (you must turn your head sideways)

(Finale) Climbers of all ages were at the cliff climing 5.10 with ease. This guy could have been my Dad. He and his wife were out for a little weekend climbing.

More Photos

Here are more images from the trip. The first is from Ireland, the rest are from Fontainebleau.

Climbing a nice pillar-like boulder east of Galway, Ireland. This was just off the road and also had a nice slab problem on the back.

It's the morning, and it's raining. I'm standing under a historic problem in Font., Le Toit du Cul de chien (the roof of Cul de chien). Later, after the rain stopped, Cul de chien dried off enough to climb.

Maggie on a wonderful little boulder at Cul de Chien.

Doing a great problem on the red circuit while David, an excellent and friendly guide, gives an exemplery French spot. I did this one only after David showed me the correct "phooot" placement.

Another red circuit problem.

Maggie on a blue circuit boulder. You can see other boulders and climbers in the rocks behind.

A perfect boulder, this one offered five or six classic problems. I am doing a red circuit problem here.

I'll post some more soon...

Travel Photos: Ireland

Howdy. These are just a few of the photos from our recent crump ova Europe trip. Sorry for the size, but I'd be here all night waiting for the larger ones to load.

A view of Dublin and the Liffey River

Check it! Maggie riding shotgun in our rental, the efficient Toyata Yaris

Maggie with some of her distant cousins. They're sitting in the families original farm house, which still has a thatch roof. This is the kitchen. There are two more rooms, both smaller. This farm house held Mom and Dad, plus eleven children

Hopping out of the tractor is Paddy, the only son of those eleven children. He runs his small cattle and sheep farm single-handedly, excepting the help of two incredible dogs. When Maggie asked him what breed of dog they were, Paddy paused for moment and then said, "Oh, they're just Irish Sheep Dogs."

The Cliffs of Moher

There wasn't a bull for miles, only another view of the Cliffs of Moher

That's all for now. Photos of France and Prague to follow. Tomorrow I'm off by myself on a trip to the mountains of Northern Italy and Southern Switzerland.

crump ova Italy VI: Back in Genova

Okay, I'm back in Genova with Maggie, who is beginning the end of her semester here. Today I went climbing at a huge and sprawling limestone sport-climbing area just west of Genova. The area is called Finale. I went with nice Italian fellow named Fabio. I met him through Maggie's friends. The climbing was quite good, quite technical, very pockety, and overall of a different quality than anything I've climbed on (I've never climbed on limestone--we ain't got that shit where I'm from). All the Italian climbers I met were exceedingly nice and helpful.

As for the crump ova Europe trip Maggie and I recently returned from, it went well. The only hindrances were standard travel problems (botched itineraries, no hotels, drunk people, etc.) and bad weather. We visited central Ireland, coast to coast; in France we visited Paris, and then Fontainebleau for bouldering; and finally, we rushed Prague for two days. How about doing each country in five sentences or less? Okay!

Ireland: After landing in Dublin and crashing in the lobby of the (fully booked) Handel Hotel, we drove out the next day--on the wrong side of the road--to visit some of Maggie's extended family on a farm in central Ireland. The visit was warm and charming and by the next morning we were armed with enough travel recommendations and traditional Irish soda bread to explore the Burren Peninsula and the drasitic and dramatic Cliffs of Moher. We crashed in Galway, whose sites we enjoyed the next day, and after briefly exploring some bouldering west of Galway, we rocketed back east across Ireland (stopping for a Guinness) to make our flight the next day. We crashed in a Church parking lot. In the morning, on our way to our flight out of Dublin, we drove through the beautiful but windy-rainy area of Glendalough (home of Ireland's best bouldering area).

France: Late in the evening, we flew into Paris, which we explored for most of the following day. In the afternoon rush hour, we Fiat-crawled out of the heart of Paris for the forest of Fontainebleau, navigating evil gauntlets of baguette beatings, Parisian traffic circle insanities (where car horns are a legitimate percussive instrument), and fine, moldy cheeses everywhere. After a two-day rain cleared--along with a two day psychological depression--we enjoyed the bouldering of Fontainebleau (which is pretty good) for three days. At the end of the third day, we flew to Prague.

Prague was a blip in the trip, but an interesting one. There were the buildings of the old town, with their interesting and varied influences; there was the hill-top castle, with its beautiful cathedral, among other things; and there was our hostel, a combination three-star crack house and affordable travel hostel. Nice! Prague would be nice to return to to sample some of its current cultural offerings, which we unfortunately could not squeeze in.