Saturday, March 22nd, 2008

Climbing: Germany to Pinnacles

It is a beautiful day. I can’t believe that we almost decided to stay home this morning when we woke up an hour after our alarm went off. It felt so comfortable to just lie in bed and maybe even go back to sleep for a little longer. But since we told Uncle Stinky on the forum that we would be at Pinnacles for him on Saturday, we tore ourselves from the bed and got on our way. Although later it turns out that he did not make it to the Pinns, bathing in the sun, I feel thankful to him for us being out in this beautiful place.

We just got done with Wet Kiss and Big Pucker at Discovery Wall. A young couple walked up from the trail. The guy had the new guidebook in hand looking left and right searching for something. “Are you looking for any particular route?” “Oh, yeah, I’m looking for Broken Arrow.” We gather from our conversation that they are from Germany. It’s wet and cold everywhere in the Europe, so they’ve decided to go a little further to the sunny California for a weekend of climbing. They flew in on Friday and will go back on Tuesday. It sounded that the guy was inspired by the pictures of Broken Arrow and Heat Seeking Moist Missile. I don’t think he recognize me in that picture of Broken Arrow because I am wearing a hat, sunglasses and a different hair style. But it doesn’t matter (and even better this way). I just thought it was interesting how a picture can inspire a person to adventure to an unfamiliar place, which reminded me how two years ago, one article in Climbing Magazine drew me all the way to Vedauwoo.

It has been a long time since last time Erik and I climbed in a party of two. So, despite a late start, we managed to get ten routes in. We went home very satisfied.