Okay, now I'm sure we are into our last week here in Kentucky. I've been working that one route for I think 10 days now and while I haven't had optimal conditions I might have to leave without doing it. It's a little frustrating but at least the last week has been really good weather and Audrey has been having success on her projects. Now we are the only ones left camping at Lago Linda's, which is nice but a little weird, especially at night walking between our campsite and the restrooms.

This past Monday we drove into Lexington to run some errands and picked up all our stuff that we had been storing at Edward and Allison's. We were hoping to make a quick exit but my pathetic attempts on Lucifer have stranded us here a little longer. On Tuesday I rested another day to let my finger heal while Audrey climbed at an area called the Left Flank. She had tried a 5.13a route called Table of Colours last time she was there and wanted to get on it again. It's the hardest route she's ever tried to project so it worked her pretty good. She has a good sequence and on her second go she made some pretty good links.

On Wednesday we warmed up at the Motherlode and Audrey tried a different 5.13a called Snooker, and again on her second go she made some great links but all these powerful routes are wearing her out pretty quick. She's looking really strong on it though. After Audrey climbed for a bit we went back to Purgatory where I tried Lucifer twice. I finally managed to figure out some good beta at the 7th bolt, which is pretty pathetic since I've been on the route more than 10 times, and the next go I clipped the 7th. I had told people, and myself, that if I clipped the 7th I'd redpoint sure... but nothing is for sure and "it ain't over 'til it's over", and I fell at the next move...

On Thursday we did pretty much the same thing as on Wednesday. We started at the 'lode' where Audrey tried Snooker a few more times and fell right near the top! Hopefully she can redpoint this weekend. After that we went back to Purgatory again and I just couldn't climb well. I fell going for the fifth bolt which is a really hard move for me, I actually fell there twice on Thursday. The first time I fell, I pulled Audrey right up to the first bolt and I was stopped basically by the ground! There we were, my feet on the ground and Audrey at the first bolt! Fortunately I wasn't hurt but I was shaken up a bit. We filled a backpack with rocks and strapped Audrey to it. The second go I fell there again but this time ended up about 10' off the ground. The third go was my best go and I again clipped the 7th but fell on the next move...

I need one more day of good conditions but we might not get it. This weekend it's getting cold so we'll see how things go on Saturday.

The weather has been one thing that we can't complain about for the past week, it's been perfect climbing weather. We climbed Tuesday and Wednesday beneath crisp blue skies, maybe a little too crisp in the shade but Audrey managed to make me look bad again by redpointing her main project on this trip while I'm still floundering.

On Wednesday night we made the 6.5 hour drive up to Clevelend to spend Thanksgiving with her family. I have to say it was really hard being around all that great food and trying to hold back from gorging myself. I love turkey, I love pumpkin pie but spending time in a van driving back and forth is no way to stay in shape :). On Thanksgiving we had an afternoon meal at Audrey's grandma's place which was fantastic and then on Friday we had another meal at Nicole and Danny's place (Audrey's sister and brother-in-law). Again the food was amazing. Sooooo much food and great desserts. We left Friday night really late to make the drive back down.

The last two days have been perfect weather and I really should have redpointed that darn route but, alas, I suck. I tore a chunk out of my ring finger last week and it didn't heal properly so I've been fighting with tape and a bleeding finger for the past two days. The weather is turning cold and chances are we're out of here this week.

On a positive note - some friends from Vancouver were down for the weekend (Jeremy and Nikki) so it was great to see them, and then today Kenny Barker (another poor soul trapped at Purgatory) redpointed his long standing project and made it look easy. Congrats Kenny!

The whole last week has been about getting ready to leave. Derek and Michelle have already left, headed to Hueco to do some bouldering. Unfortunately the weather looks like it might be improving just as we are getting ready to leave. Audrey and I'll be heading up to Ohio to spend Thanksgiving with Audrey's family.

Not really too much to report. On Thursday Audrey went into Lexington with Pete, Sygney and Kevin while I stayed at camp and worked. I guess they went to a really good pub called Shamrocks that had great burgers, good beer and Irish Nachos (waffle fries, cheese, bacon bits and jalapenos)! Audrey was super sweet and brought a burger back for me, but they didn't get back until after 10pm so I had already eaten. The burger still tasted good warmed up the next day so I can't wait to go back there and try one fresh.

On Friday Audrey and I climbed with Bruce and we went back to Purgatory where we took some video of the area. It wasn't a great day, we kept numbing out on everything. Then on Saturday we decided to warm up at the Gallery where Audrey did a 12c second try but was upset she didn't onsight it! That's how far she's come at this area, she's already getting upset at not onsighting 12c! Crazy girl :)

Now we are into our last week. We haven't decided if we'll come back after Thanksgiving or not. We're both looking forward to heading south and climbing in some warmer weather.

The final word is that the van is okay. Yeah the transmission is getting old but we'll probably wait for it to fully kick before getting it rebuilt. Hopefully it'll last until we fly to Australia, which by the way is on February 19th, and after that we'll either have lots of time to get it fixed or Audrey'll try and sell it.

All in all we spent three nights in Lexington but thanks to Alaska Bruce and Drew we managed to get out climbing. Actually we climbed Wednesday with Bruce, then Thursday we rented a car (poor car) and went to the Shady Grove and Purgatory. I ended up resting and working Friday but Audrey climbed since the weather was great and the weekend wasn't looking so hot. We drove back up to Lago Linda's in time for a communal dinner put on by the hosts.

When we woke up Saturday it was pouring rain. For some silly reason I thought it would be fun to join one of the local route developers (Kenny Barker) on an exploratory walk. I knew we would get wet I just didn't realize how wet and how muddy. It pretty much equated to four hours of slogging through wet undergrowth, trying not to slip on logs, rocks or mud, and just walking cliff lines. Every so often we'd come across a nice overhanging area where at least we weren't getting wet, and usually it was protected from the wind. Unfortunately we didn't find a new Motherlode but at least I have a better sense of what people go through to develop stuff around here. Near the end of our hike we weren't really sure where we were, the temperature had dropped and the wind had picked up. We decided to hike to where we thought the road was and fortunately for us it was less than a kilometer away. Walking around turning cliff lines in dense forest is a great way to get disoriented...

Today was pretty uneventful. Audrey decided to rest an additional day and I went climbing with Bruce. After warming up at the Motherlode we went back to Purgatory where I got on an open project called Lucifer (no I didn't name it). I had been on it before but hadn't done all the moves and wanted to try them one more time before deciding if it was worth committing any more time to it. The good news is I pulled all the moves, the bad news is I pulled all the moves... now I've got that bug to go back and do it but it'll be really hard for me. Oh well...

A whole lot has happened since the last post, most notably is Audrey flashing one 5.12c and redpointing several others! I'm psyched for her. For you non-climbers who are reading this I'm sorry that these posts are so climbing related but, well, we are on a climbing trip.

We've been resting or driving more days than we've been climbing. We arrived in Kentucky on October 16th and in the past 23 days we have only climbed 9 days... for me that's the equivalent of torture. Somehow we've also been exceedingly busy with trips up to Cleveland and I'm still working on the road. I don't think we've spent a single day just sitting around the campsite.

This past weekend was a classic example. On Saturday night a friend of mine (Matt Brotherton) was having a wedding reception in Lexington. He was married in Dallas but was having a reception in Lexington for all the people that couldn't make it to Dallas. I was fortunate to be in the area for this and I was also pretty psyched that a whole bunch of people from Toronto were flying down. The reception was great and even I was overwhelmed by all the climbing talk. Congrats again Matt and Nicole!

So Saturday we spent the day in Lexington running errands. Sunday we wanted to climb but got caught in a traffic accident on the freeway (we weren't involved) but it took us three hours to go about a mile, another day down the drain. So a whole weekend with no climbing.

We climbed Monday and I managed to redpoint a route called Thanatopsis (5.14b) the hardest 'rated' route here at the Red. Although it's not even close to as hard as Dogleg. So I'm looking to try out a few open projects that are kicking around and seeing if I can maybe do the moves on one of them.

We are resting today to take the van in for an oil change and we've been hearing some weird noises (klunking) from the transmission. I was supposed to drive to Nashville to run a clinic on Saturday but now it looks like the van is out of commission for a few days. Fortunately we have friends in Lexington that we can stay with and drive back and forth to the crags with.

Oh yeah, just to confirm the rumours... Edward beat me fair and square in a pull-up contest. I did my max, about 15 and he did 16. There I said it.

Audrey and I spent the past weekend back up in Ohio where we celebrated both her and her father's birthdays. I think her family really enjoyed having her back for her birthday for the first time in several years.

We returned to Kentucky on Sunday to find ourselves bathing in blue skies, a nice change from the day we left. We went to the Drive-by crag with a whole crew of people and warmed up in the sun. For the first time since we arrived out east it was actually warm out. After the Drive-by, I went up to the Bob Marley wall to try a route called Ultra-Perm (5.13d), a route reputed to be the best at the Red. I'll be honest I was hoping to flash it, but that was short lived once I got up into the crux section. One of the super strong weekend locals, Bentley, was giving me beta and his beta was great, my strength and fat fingers failed me. There was a slot that you are supposed to get three fingers in but I could only get two so on my first attempt I wasted all my energy trying to get three in... oh well. Ultra-Perm is quite different from many routes at the red, the holds are funky, there aren't many feet and there are zero rests through the steep section. I managed to redpoint it next go which I was really happy about.

While I was putzing around at the Bob Marley wall, Audrey had gone off to the Motherlode to try a route called The Stain(5.12c), that she had tried on our last day. She didn't do it but she did work out some better beta for the crux moves. This steep climbing is taking her awhile to get used to and it was pretty funny when she remarked to someone that "When I'm pumped those holds don't feel as good!" as if trying to enlighten us on an all to familiar plight here at the Red.

We climbed on Monday but we mostly just tried to climb a lot of pitches and push our bodies. That whole day was a pretty low energy, or low intensity day at the crag. Most people had toned it down a notch and were trying to put in some miles with painful skin and sore muscles.

For Halloween we had a rest day which allowed me to get some work done. In the evening we had a potluck dinner for all the climbers here at Lago Linda's. As is generally the case with a potluck there was way too much food, but it was all delicious and we had a grand old time.