The Organic Climber – Vegetarian running, cycling, swimming, rock climbing and raw foods.

Since I started dating my current fiancée we started off our relationship long distance, so my opportunities to go climbing had decreased since we were spending our weekends together. But, this past weekend we both packed up the Subaru and drove north to the Ozark National Forest in Arkansas for a weekend of climbing. It had been several months since my last trip up there; so needless to say, I was pretty psyched to get back up to the climbing area I had been helping to develop.

The biggest downside to the trip was having a nine-hour drive, as opposed to the five-hour drive from Dallas that I was accustomed to. But, having an awesome traveling companion helped the trip go by fast. We even had a dine-in rest stop along the way and still arrived at the mountain with plenty of daylight left.

Upon arriving at the campsite, we promptly threw on the climbing pack and headed down to the climbing area. Our friends Gary and Mark had already been there, and passed us on our way down. Gary was grabbing new batteries for the drill to install bolts at the top of a couple of new routes, so we waited at the top of the cliff for him to return and enjoyed the views. Despite the cloudy haze over the mountains it was an enjoyable sight, with crisp pine scented air. After Gary arrived back at the top of the cliff he drilled holes for two routes and installed the bolts on one of the routes. After he finished up we headed back to camp to set up the tent and make dinner.

Upon unpacking the gear to make dinner I realized I was missing the hose line to the propane tank for my Coleman stove, so we ended up having to use my backpacking stove to make our quesadillas. The two-cheese blend along with a Texas style hot sauce made for a scrumptious meal. My evening meals are typically my only cooked meal while camping. For breakfast I will usually eat fruit and sometimes pack a smoothie for the first morning, and I will snack on fruit and nuts throughout the day.

The next morning we arose early, Kristy hadn’t slept a wink so decided to go for a hike, rather than risk poor judgment on the climbing wall. This weekend trip to the crag was the first weekend we had newcomers come out to enjoy the fruits of our development. It was fun watching other climbers enjoy (and struggle on) our established routes.

Most people stuck to moderate climbs, I opted to re-climb a moderate 5.7, that was the first climb I established, but ended on a 5.8 climb to the right. I ended up failing on the send though. I couldn’t commit to the crux move. Even though it was well protected with a number six Black Diamond Camelot, my mental game was not there. Gary then finished the route for me and I cleaned on top rope, sending past the crux move without a problem. Had I been consistently lead climbing for the past few months I’m sure I would have pulled the move on lead.

After about a half hour of resting I ended up climbing an easy 5.6, mixed trad and sport route. It was a climb I had never been on before and is probably the most well protected climb at the crag. I sent the climb without any problems. Compared to the rest of the climbing area this one is over bolted, which was great for me seeing as how I hadn’t lead in quite a while.

The next climb I did was Spearhead Arete, an FA (as the second) for the trip. Gary was celebrating his 50^th birthday and wasn’t going to let the weekend slip away without another FA under his belt. Having finished the route, his belayer offered me the follow. I respectfully tried to decline, but ended up being on rope. The climb was a 5.10a that was fairly sustained and started off with a heel hook move onto a ledge. After pulling onto the ledge you have to move around the corner of the arête and work your way up on delicate feet. After moving further up you can either move around the arête again and pull a roof using an under cling, or you can go straight up on small holds and no feet, only smearing. I made a few attempts at the overhang, but ended up going up the face, spearing on the lichen covered wall, just praying my feet didn’t slip out from under me.

Upon making it to the top Gary and I set up a top rope and let others be a part of the FA ascent. Three other climbers made there way up the route, thus getting their name in the guidebook as Gary’s Birthday Bash FA for Spearhead Arête. After finishing up this climb we made our way north to the most newly developed climbing area. While other climbers enjoyed a couple more hours of sends I decided to go back up to the campsite and join Kristy who was back from her hike.

That evening we enjoyed a “dump”, which was basically crab boil, shrimp, snow peas and venison all boiled together. I occasionally will eat seafood so took place in enjoying the dump, sans venison of course. I did end up with a small stomachache though, likely from the juices of the venison. The food was delicious though, and beers enjoyed by all. A lot of the climbers stayed up later into the night around a campfire, but Kristy and I retired fairly early due to a sleepless nigh for her. Sadly, that night ended up being somewhat sleepless for me, as I tossed and turned all night.

The next morning we got off to a late start and arrived at the base of the cliff around 9:30 a.m. after lots of bushwhacking through trees and bushes. It was hard for me to find my way around with all the overgrowth of trees. The last time I had been out there was during the late winter, so finding my way around was easy.

Upon arriving at the wall a couple of climbers were already on their way out but had a rope on a climb I had established earlier that year, so Kristy and I decided to make this our first climb of the day. Kristy made it up the route without a problem – not bad for a girl who hasn’t climbed in over two years. After finishing the route I jumped on and had another fellow climber give Kristy a lesson on belaying, seeing as how we will be climbing a lot more in the future.

The climb was slightly different than I remember, but the crux move was a layback with a toe jam into the crack. After making this move you sling a tree growing out of the rock, grab the tree, layback and pull a tiny roof. After this, the route is pretty much over, only two moves left to the anchors. The fist ascent was a ground up establishment though, so the anchors ended up being in a slightly different place than where the route actually finished.

After finishing this route, we move into the shade and watched others take turns climbing Natural Ice, a 5.8 dihedral with a V0 start. The climb got its name last January when we attempted to ice climb. The dihedral was iced over very well, but nobody was able to make it to the top. But, that is the reason for the climb’s name, “Natural Ice.” After the other climbers finished I had my turn and grunted my way up the sustained 5.8 climb. It’s definitely not something I would have wanted to lead that weekend. I’m just glad I was able to make it up and not be humiliated by a climb that is well under the grade I am capable of.

After finishing up Natural Ice it was time to head home, so Kristy and I made our way back to camp and broke everything down. Before leaving I took a “hobo shower” from the well pump next to camp. I always try to do this before leaving sense the rock here is so dirty; I always finish up with my arms and face covered in dirt and lichen. Cleaning up before leaving makes for a more enjoyable drive home.

The drive home seemed to take a lot longer, but perhaps that was because half the drive was after dark. It feels good to be back home in Austin though and getting back to work. Well, working on getting work is a better way to put it, but I’m really enjoying live here and I’m glad I can call Austin home now. Really, the only down side to living here is that I’m further away from some of my favorite climbing areas, but I’m sure I will grow to love the climbing areas around here, not to mention the great cycling routes, and greenbelt access

Climbing, Trip Reports by OrganicClimber
arkansas, camping, ozark national forest, rock climbing, sport, trad
5 comments

---

Whenever people think of ice climbing Arkansas is probably one of the last that would come to mind, but that is exactly where we went this past weekend. Gary, who headed up the trip had been watching the temperatures over the past couple weeks and noticed there had been several day with temperatures below freezing and would continue to stay that way through the weekend we would be there. Despite knowing this I was still skeptical, after doing numerous Google searches for Arkansas ice climbing and turning up nothing I really began to wonder if our weekend adventure would allow us to dig an ice axe into a frozen waterfall.

Our adventure started at 6 a.m. on Saturday with a temperature of 6 degrees. After gearing up and eating breakfast we headed out to High Bank Falls near Cass Arkansas. This was the prime location we hoped to find ice to climb, but as we neared the falls it was very evident we where not going to be climbing ice here. There was plenty of ice at the base and the top of the falls, but it hadn’t been cold long enough for them ice formations to connect. So we did some more exploring in the area but didn’t find much of anything other than small ice flows across the Mulberry River.

But not wanting to give up we started back down the road we headed in on to check out some of the ice flows we saw on our way to Twin Banks. We ended up finding what looked like a good line heading up a dihedral. The ice was solid and connected all the way to the top of the cliff line, but would likely require just a little bit of dry tooling. Somehow I was suckered into being the one to go set up a top rope along with two other guys from the group. The task was not easy, the top of the cliff line was very steep, requiring three of us to rope up and simulclimb along the ridge to reach the top of the climb.

The process of setting up the rope took way longer than it should have. Two hours after we began making our way up the cliff line we reached the base of the climb by rappelling down a fixed line just right of our climb. By this time, the climb had already been baking in the sun for some time.

Despite the climb spending so much time baking we all had a chance to climb on the ice, but after each person climbed the more dry tooling was required. Each climber pulled off sections of ice. Had the climb not been in direct sun the ice would have been pretty awesome all the way to the top.

After finishing up on that climb we decided to inspect another area near by that Gary knew about close to the Ozark Highlands Trail. To our surprise we found quite a few ice flows, ranging from 20-60ft tall. So, we decided to head back the next day and climb the routes we found.

This time we decided to wake up earlier since we where going to be heading home that afternoon. After eating breakfast at the Waffle House the employees began warning us of sasquatch, aliens, white panthers and bears. Apparently all of them shared a home in the Ozark National Forest. But the folklore didn’t scare us away, we trotted off into the forest to climb the ice we found the previous day. The start of the morning was gorgeous, we were at a higher elevation, so there was snow covering a lot of the ground, I have found I really love the sound of snow crunching under my hiking boots as I walk over it.

This time setting up ropes was a bit easier, we were able to walk right up to the cliff line and set up anchors off trees. One of them was hard to set up, but still didn’t take as long as the day before, and we put up three climbs. After all of us rapped in we began climbing a line with a really hard and thick sheet of ice straight up a dihedral. The climb was dead vertical, likely a WI4+, but that is coming from the guy who had never climbed ice before that weekend.

After watching Gary climb and taking photos I decided to throw on the crampons and climb the route I had set up around the corner. At this point it had been baking in the sun for a while. At first glance the climb looked good, so I roped up grabbed the axes and threw in the pick only to see a large sheet of ice move, so I pulled my axe out and the sheet of ice moved away from the wall. An ascent on this route wasn’t going to happen, too bad too the upper section of ice was super thick and very solid. It’s a shame, because the day before after it had been in the shade half a day the ice was very solid. An afternoon trip that day might have been better.

So, after the other climb was free again I got on rope and began my ascent. I had a lot harder time than the previous day. My crampons wouldn’t stick quite right and my axes kept pulling out of the ice. The ice in this particular section was mostly clear, and from what I read later on clear ice isn’t exactly good ice. But after numerous tries I made my way past that section and up onto a ledge that began the dead vertical ice pillar inside a dihedral.

At first I really felt like I was getting the hang of it and began moving up the pillar, but then stared having the same problem of my axes not sticking. This time my crampons seemed solid though, but every time I would stand up and the slightest bit of pressure was taken off the axe I would go flying away from the pillar. Eventually I gained some more height by using the side of the dihedral, turning it into a mixed climb.

After gaining some more height I moved back into the pillar and gained some more height without the help of the rock face off to the side, but eventually I got to a place where I couldn’t find a good place for my axes up high and kept falling off the ice when I stood up. So after numerous tries I finally gave up and lowered off the route. I did get to experiment with placing an ice screw before lowering off though. It was actually easier than I thought it would be, but of course I wasn’t doing the placement on lead.

After everybody else finished climbing this route Naren, the only person in the group who had any real experience ice climbing decided to attempt to climb the largest ice flow we found, the only bad part was the bottom was very thin. After moving up a few feet and inspecting the thin curtain of ice more closely Naren decided to back down. Even though the ice past the curtain was extremely solid the risk of having a curtain of icicles fall on his head was far to great.

My first ice climbing experience was actually quite enjoyable, despite not doing very well at it aside from the first day. The climb we did wasn’t exactly a good beginner ice climbing route, but I enjoyed it enough to plan a trip to Ouray in late February, so if you will be around let me know and we can meet up.

We discovered that Arkansas DOES have ice, not just rock climbing. You just have to know where to find it. Other large ice flows were spotted from the road; we just didn’t have time to go check them out. I also discovered from online forums that the Buffalo National River offers some ice climbing. There is even a book called Sothern Fried Ice that features Arkansas ice climbs. But conditions have to be perfect for it. Some of the flows we found would have easily been climbable given more time to form in freezing temperatures. Now weather I will venture back to Arkansas for ice climbing is yet to be determined. I guess it will all depend on how addicted I get after visiting Ouray.

Climbing, Trip Reports by OrganicClimber
arkansas, crampons, High Bank Twins, ice, ice axe, ice climbing, rock climbing, southern, tools
2 comments

---

I’m usually not much for “teaser” blog posts, but I was too excited not to share this. Although our ice climbing trip to Arkansas was not was eventful as we hoped, I did get to slap on a pair of crampons for the first time and dig some ice tools into an a couple of ice flows. I liked it so much, I plan on going to Ouray in February.

Look for the trip report later this week.

Climbing, Trip Reports by OrganicClimber
arkansas, Climbing, crampons, ice axe, ice climbing, ice tool, ouray
1 comment

---

This past weekend was perhaps one of the most “forgetful” trips I have ever had. I packed in a hurry, boasting to myself how great I had become at packing; but the day I left and all throughout the trip I kept remembering things I had forgotten. One of those things being my sleeping bag. So, rather than making the journey back home during my work day I decided to just swing by Wal-Mart on my lunch break and pick up a cheap sleeping bag. My plan was, and still remains to return the bag from whence it came, thus “Redneck Rental”. The name also will grace the name of a climb I established (5.10 direct start, 5.8 alternate start) out there this weekend. It awaits an FA (First Ascent) when I return in the Spring.

It was a beautiful weekend for climbing out in Arkansas. Three new climbs were established, two of the ground up FA’s. I seconded on both climbs. Another previously established climb received an FA as well. Gary lead, I followed.  Warm Up Burn (5.9) mixed trad-sport pictured above (and below) unfortunately did not receive a clean ascent this weekend. It remains open for our rag tag bunch of climbers to send this coming Spring.

It was a beautiful weekend for climbing, the temperature was perfect! The only thing I could have asked for better was full color on the trees, but unfortunately the leaves dropped the week before we were there. Two weeks prior to that when we were there the leaves were about at 20% color. It’s amazing how fast the colors turn and fall away. Sadly though this was our last weekend at our little secret stash until next Spring. I’m looking forward to some more Texas and Okahoma climbing though. I’m starting to miss it.

In other climbing news, I recently found out my “local” crag may be re-opening in the near future. Paradise on the Brazos is just over an hour from my front porch, making day trips a breeze. As of now it looks like things will go through. I am really excited about this because it means I will be able to get a lot more climbing in and still be able to be home some during the weekend.

Climbing, Trip Reports by OrganicClimber
arkansas, rock climbing
No comments

---

Last weekend I spent my Saturday up in Arkansas doing a little bit of rock climbing. We didn’t climb as much as planned since one of our other climbing partners decided to bail. So, while my climbing partner took some time warming up back at camp I went on a hike and took some photos of the fall colors that were starting to come out. I would say the color was at about 20%. When we go back in November I am hoping to see the trees at full color. Here are some of the photos I took.

Sorry there were no climbing photos to share for this trip. I would have had some great shots had another person joined us, but it’s pretty hard to take photos when all you do is climb and belay. Hopefully we have three or four people on the next trip though so I will be able to get some good shots.

Climbing, Trip Reports by OrganicClimber
arkansas, Climbing, colors, fall, leaves, mountains, nature, photography, trees, Trip Reports
2 comments

---

A mere few hours before I was to leave for Horseshoe Canyon Ranch people in the group began to email back and forth about the horrible weather forecast. One person bailed and decided to just head up to Oklahoma (but they also ended up getting rain) and another jumped ship completely. As the trip coordinator I had to head down early to snatch some camping spots and pay our fees. By the time I was ready to leave I still hadn’t heard from everybody but ventured out on the road anyway, just praying at least one person would show up. Thankfully almost everybody decided to chance the weather, and we are all glad we did.

I arrived early on Friday afternoon (and the weather was gorgeous), anxious to climb I hoped I would be able to bum a belay from other climbers, but fortunately I ran into some other climbers I new from Dallas and was able to join up with them. I squeezed six climbs in that afternoon, most of them on lead. This made for a nice warm up for the next day, my 30th birthday and my “Birthday Challenge”. My goal was to climb 30 routes (plus one to grow on) by the end of the day.

Waking up early Saturday morning I was super psyched about the day and the sky was clear, so I just knew I was going to be able to complete my challenge, however I wasn’t confident the people in my group would be willing to continually belay me throughout the day. But to my surprise they were very encouraging and patiently gave me belay after belay.

However, my hopes were nearly shattered when it began to rain. All of the climbers in the area took shelter under a nice overhang and waited out the rain. It wasn’t too long and we were back on the rock sending more routes. At that point I was only around 18 climbs and had plenty more to go. At this point I knew I was going to have to start running laps on some routes I had already lead. My own personal rule was I had to lead the route first and could then top rope it again as many times as I wanted.

After running several laps on Sun Dial (5.7) I pulled the rope so I could move on to other 5.7 climbs on the same wall but the rope snagged in the anchor. I couldn’t believe it, I didn’t untie the bite from my figure eight. So I once again jumped on the sharp end and lead the route again. I wasn’t excited about it though; this sand bagged route felt more like 5.9 at the start.

Once I got to the top of the route I saw the other end of the rope actually did not have the bite in the rope, it was simply kinked. All I had to do was give it a nice hard tug and the rope would have been free. After cleaning the route I looked behind me to see a sky full of grey clouds just laughing at me. I had just finished my 26th route and as I was being lowered the sky fell out. Once again we found ourselves under the overhang trying to wait out the rain, but there seemed to be no end in sight.

So, we had to leave the crag with only 26 routes under my belt. However, I am considering this a victory. I still completed my goal within 24 hours. I had climbed six routes the prior afternoon, bringing the grand total up to 32 routes. Although I wish I could have had them all done in the same span of daylight I know for sure I would have finished so I won’t be too down about it. Maybe I will try this again at 40.

Now, you may be asking yourself how I was feeling the next day. Well, honestly I felt pretty good. I was sore from fingertips to shoulders though, but overall I felt great. In fact I achieved my hardest trad lead to date. I lead Gilgameck (5.9). The morning had started off rainy, but once it let up we decided to gear up and head to an area called the Confederate Cracks because another guy and our group wanted to get some trad leads in. I had pointed him to Tree Beard (5.8) but after seeing the width of the crack he decided he wanted something easier.

As we headed down the train in search for an easier trad line the rain began to fall even heavier and it didn’t appear there was going to be any dry climbs. I brought our crew to an area called The Hanging Gardens were there was an overhanging 5.12. We contemplated stick clipping the second bolt and playing around on the route, but I wasn’t feeling up for it, my main goal of the day was to shoot photos. Naren didn’t really want to either.

Then we spotted Gilgameck – fifty-five feet of awkward crack and chimney climbing to an anchor. And on top of that an overhang protected it from the rain. Seeing how Naren was the one excited to trad lead I told him to rope up, but somehow he convinced me to jump on the sharp end. As I peared up into the crack it appeared to protect really well (and it did) and had plenty of rest stances. It didn’t take long and I was psyched to lead the climb.

What seemed like an hour latter I reached the anchors! I remember looking down at my belayer numerous times, seeing the rain pouring down on his face and apologizing to the group for taking so long to lead the route, but they just kept encouraging me on. The result was an onsight lead for my first 5.9 trad route. Never have I lead anything that hard, and will likely be a while before I do again, but on the bright side my confidence level is building. This was the only climb we got in this day, but it was well worth it.

I am very pleased with how the weekend went. I feel that in some ways I am more physically fit than I have ever been before in my life. I remember days feeling more sore after only climbing a hand full of routes. The fact that I am able to sit here and type this up two days latter amazes me.  It also lets me know I won’t have any problem climbing for an entire week in Colorado. Now hopefully my partner will be in good enough shape.

Bellow is a list of the routes that I climbed for the challenge including the ones I had done on Friday. Most all of them I did at least twice (except for Friday’s) so I could clean the anchors.

In no particular order:

• First Normal Form 5.9+

• Green Goblin 5.8

• Summer Rain 5.7 (climbed it in Chacos)

• Cotton Candy 5.6

• The Controversy 5.9-

• Dancing Bears 5.7 (Trad)

• Strongman 5.9+

• African Herbman 5.8+

• Leonid 5.9+

• Girth Hitch 5.7

• Sun Dial 5.7 (sand bagged start)

• Tres Equis 5.8 (sand bagged, or very contrived route)

• Groovy 5.8

Other Highlights

• Being lowered off the first climb only to discover the rope was not long enough. I had to climb back up, and set up a single line rappel, then re-lead the route.

• Dancing Bear 5.7, the one trad route of the day

• Taking a big whipper off a 5.8 that I actually thought was a 5.10 from just looking at it. It rattled my nerves a bit

• Having to re-lead Sun Dial (5.7) after I thought the rope was stuck in the anchor, but it actually wasn’t

• Sending Local Hebrew 5.9 three times. (one of my all time favorite climbs)

• Feeling the stinging/tingling sensation in my arms around climb 19. Shook it off and kept going though

• Horses trying to eat Candace’s tent on Saturday morning

• Horses trying to eat Candace’s tent on Sunday morning

• Number one highlight for me was sending my first 5.9 trad route

Well, I hope you have been enjoying the blog so far. Sorry if the current post seemed a little disorganized; the short time I have this evening is all I will have for the rest of the week. I have recently managed to get some work done on the new design though, but the process is coming along slow, but eventually the new layout will be here. In the mean time I will continue to post. Also, please send me ideas of anything you would like to see here.

And thanks to Jen for taking the photos of me on Strongman. She is a great photographer, check out her work. I am also jelous of her digital Leica.

Climbing, Trip Reports by OrganicClimber
arkansas, crack climbing, horseshoe canyon ranch, rock climbing, trad, trip report
8 comments

---

This weekend I will be headed to the land of rednecks and hillbillies. The difference between the two I don’t really know, but I have been told there is a difference.  A group of us from the Texas Mountaineers will be headed to Horseshoe Canyon Ranch (HCR) for a weekend of sprad climbing. That’s right, sprad! HCR offers both sport and trad climbing routes.

HCR is one of my all time favorite climbing destinations. The sandstone rock is beautiful to the eyes as well as the touch. The gritty, yet soft rock is easy on the hands and makes climbing all day much easier than on granite or limestone.  Not only that, but the Buffalo National River is just across the road and offers a great way to cool down after a long day of climbing in the heat. The bluffs along the Buffalo River are massive. Unfortunately climbing is not allowed here. There is so much potential for climbing there.

Climbers also often take a trip into Jasper to dine at the ever popular Ozarak Cafe. I have not been here though since becoming vegetarian so it will be interesting to see what they might have… After taking a quick peak at the menu I see they have a veggie burger that sounds mighty tasty. I also know they have a large salad bar as well. Can’t wait to try it out.  Unfortunately they will be closed on Memorial Day. Last year we tried dining here for breakfast on our way back home but the whole town had closed down for the holiday.

The train, or should I say hatch back, rolls out early a.m. tomorrow morning. I will be driving solo on this trip, meeting the rest of the gang at the ranch. I’m coordinating the trip so have to get there early to reserve campsites. I don’t mind it though, I actually enjoy traveling long distances by myself. It provides ample time to think and process. Plus your on your own agenda and can stop as you please or keep plugging along if you so desire.

Oh, Saturday is also my 30th birthday. So hopefully I will be doing a “brirthday challenge”. The plan is to climb 30 routes in one day, and likely one to grow on. So, wish me luck. Hopefully I have willing belayers.

Climbing by OrganicClimber
arkansas, Climbing, horseshoe canyon ranch, sport, trad
6 comments

---