Some of you may know I am headed down south to Argentina- to climb in Patagonia in a few weeks.

I have been training fervently, and imagining the possibilities… but the truth is I really don’t know what to expect.
I don’t even really have a committed partner yet. As for what I hope to climb- at this point it is ANYTHING! Anything dry, anything beautiful, anything inspiring to me. The dream is Fitz Roy… but I don’t plan to hold too strong of a grip on this, being my first trip. Sometimes when I am open to anything happening, the more spontaneous and adventurous the results are.

This last weekend, I hit the Wichita Wildlife Refuge in southern Oklahoma for a great session of granite crack climbing with the crew from Oklahoma City. I love the beautiful, lichen-covered rock and golden plains down there. I have recently seen an influence from my visits south in my tree paintings. Oftentimes you see a lone, pale Juniper tree accenting a horizon of golden prarie grasses with nothing but blue sky all around. These lone trees are so inspiring to me— symbolically testifying to endurance, strength, as well as the immense beauty and quality found in solitude.

The Bison(not “buffalo”, I asked) roam free on the refuge and may appear randomly, alone or in herds, as you are hiking in. Sadly, I did not see any in the back-country on this trip as I usually do.
Here are some shots taken by my good friend Ben Rodda of me training on Crab Eyes Dome. The routes are “Power Series”, a fantastic 5.10 flared handcrack, and “Moby Dick” a steep 5.12b face climb. Ben and his talented wife Kym just moved their photography business from Evergreen Colorado, to Fayetteville, Arkansas.

Tags: climbing, inspiration

This entry was posted on Saturday, January 3rd, 2009 at 7:43 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.