Minnie Holland Rocks, 09/11/2011

On September 11th, Davi and I braved Hwy 1 and the hordes of flag sporting Harley riders for a little boudlering on some out of the way rocks off the Mulholland Highway above the Santa Monica Mts. The spot is named "Minnie-Holland" rocks.

These are a scattering of 5 or 6 decent rocks with highish top-outs. The rock is the same pockety stuff found all over the range: Camarillo Grove, Purple Stones, Echo Cliffs, Malibu Creek, etc...

We had a real fun day falling off rocks when we didn' manage to get up them. Sun, coastal breezes, and a little climbin'.
At the end of it, I'd gotten a nasty dose of contact poison oak. The stuff had apparently been all over Davi's gear and it stuck to me. I got a bit steamed about that, but hey, I should have known better than to haul around his gear given that doesn't get poison oak and therefore doesn't even think about such things. My bad luck, but let's not detract from a fun day.

Pine Mountain and Environs, 08/28/2011

I am still relishing every second of not working on my house anymore. In that vein, and having done a full day up the Matilija furnace yesterday, I thought I'd head to the highest hill I could find. It's telling, I guess, that on a day when half of SoCal was headed straight for the beach, a true mountain boy turns his head (and steering wheel) in the opposite direction. Charlie don't surf!!
After several hours of bouldering in the pines my forearms ached and my tips were raw. I just couldn't believe how nice a day it was, too good to say, "Okay, done bouldering, headed home."

I just had to start taking some pics (you should be able to click on the pics to enlarge them).

Above: The boulders of the the "picnic area"

Below: I gotta try this. He was taking off just as I rolled by. He eventually caught a thermal that put him up, I would guess, at 10,000 feet.

Below: Ventura and the Oxnard plain.

Below: Lockwood Valley and the Cuyama Badlands

Below: the Pine Mountain and Reyes Peak ridge

Pine Mountain, 07/09/2011

Saturday morning I shot up to Pine Mountain to do "a little" bouldering with Davi Rivas and his 11 year old son, Carlo. Man, it was just a great day from the start. We fooled around for the next 7 hours on a bunch of V-easy stuff (V0's,V1's, & V2's). I love bouldering. . I love being cordless, putting the moves together, that unnerving tingle when you know you're high off the deck. A day full of bouldering is all the fun I need.

Pine Mountain is home to about the only notable bouldering in Ventura County, but what's there is good, clean fun. Some problems are easy, but tall. Some are short but hard. It's a good mix with a little something for most folks.
I find myself, when talking about climbing, wishing I was younger. As in: uninjured. Unfortunately, I have to climb within certain restrictions that accommodate my extensive list of chronic injuries. The real problem is that if I pull down too hard or crank wrong with my right arm, I could wind up blowing what remains of right my biceps tendon. This is a bummer, but I'm learning to just enjoy a day on the rock for what it is. My days of hard climbing seem to be behind me. I've known that fact for years, but between the injuries and my other interests I'm learning that anything in life that affects me starts with my perception, and since I got really hurt over a decade ago I've slowly rediscovered the joy of moving on rock, regardless of how easy or hard it is. Nowadays I can usually look at a climb or boulder problem and decide to climb it or blow it off, makes no difference to me. I'm there to have fun. No need to prove myself if it means that I'll end up in an OR with some dead person's tendon in my arm. Because that just doesn't sound like as much fun as walking a little further to climb something easier

A special "Thanks" to Carlo for hanging out with the cameras all day. He took the first photo on this entry.