Last weekend I went out and did my first multi-pitch outdoor climb, my first 'trad' climbing (following Andrew, cleaning protection gear as we progressed up the rock) and it was pretty awesome.  I thought paddling was a gear-intensive sport- climbing appears to be another.  A 'complete' trad rack is really expensive, yow!  And as we found out, sometimes it can be really tough to get those cams out of the cracks in which they're lodged.  Before I go and throw down a grand on trad gear, I think I'll get a dozen draws and just climb 'sport' (where the safety points are already set).

 

I've been bouldering and gym-climbing for a couple years now, and I've been rationalizing it as 'the stuff I do to keep fit for paddling'.  ...and although that's true, I'm also sorta turning into a bit of a climber.  On a good day I've sent ('send' is climberese for 'doing it successfully', as near as I can tell) V5 and 5:11d problems... but I can't honestly say that I've quite yet identified as a 'climber'.  I'm a paddler who climbs, or at least that's how I think of myself. 

 

Whatver.  The difference is semantic, and not really all that interesting.  But I did have fun.

Who knew?  The 5th of July JP and I headed out for a bit of creeking, carpooled to save gas, and we didn't see a single other boater up there.  It was madness.  So... we did 2 laps.  ...and we had the good fortune of being the object of some kindly folks with a good camera and the kindness to share the results:

 

As you can see, I was sporting the shorty.  I wouldn't have... but I forgot my regular drytop.  Turns out I was toasty, apart from my exposed skin- which was pink.  Right here I'm driving over the right-hand side of the entry to Roadside Attraction's runout- those right-hand eddies are too fun to miss.

 

Halfway down Limbo.  Love the way this shot compresses such a long rapid.

 

JP charging out of the bottom hole at the crux of Limbo.  It looks like he's side-surfing, but he's carrying speed here.  Which is a good thing, because I'm following 10 seconds after. :-)

Such a sweet run.  I would do it again and again.