Tom's Maple Canyon Page - May-June 2006

Thorsten on the upper part of "functional idiot"

In late May, Ted and I headed up to Maple Canyon in Utah for some cobble climbing. We drove slowly to improve the mileage, especially for Ted's Winnebago Warrior. (18 mpg on a good day). The climbing at Maple is on cobble conglomerate and takes a bit getting used to. It is hard to tell if a particular hold will be a polished smooth sloper, or an incut jug. Sometimes you have to crimp on the edges of broken cobbles, or on the bottom of what we call anti-cobbles, the holes left after the cobbles fall out. I haven't pulled off anything bigger than a pebble yet, but it is a bit of a mystery how some of the cobbles haven't been pulled off. The climbing we have been doing tends to be overhanging, which makes it very pumpy and tiring, but hopefully good for building up our endurance.

On Memorial day weekend, Matt and Nandini came to visit. They were treated to some surprising snow, but it warmed up again in a few days. The valley below the canyon is agricultural land, with a surprising number of large turkey farms. We have yet to investigate the possibilities of outlet turkey sales though. Internet access is in Ephraim at the Snow College library, thanks guys.

With the 'bago available we have been living well, with lots of semi-gourmet food and ice cream as well as watching movies and the playing the occasional game. Ahh, the great outdoors. Sorry the pictures aren't all that great, but I wanted to get some posted to illustrate what I have been up to.

Nandini, Matt, and Ted enjoy the late May weather

The last two days we hiked up to the most impressive Pipedream cave. The routes across the ceiling are way out of my league, but even the ones up the sides are impressive and difficult. I took my first fall while pulling up the rope to clip with the rope in my mouth, but my plan to scream if that ever happened worked like a charm, and I spat the rope out long before it came tight and ripped out my teeth. We might take 2 days off this time (the double bubble) due to the excessive wear 2 weeks of overhanging climbing have taken on us. We keep thinking that maybe we are getting stronger though.

Ted climbs in Box Canyon
(Derek's Photo)

Unknown climbers on "Grip Tease"
in Box Canyon

Tom on "49"
at the minimum

Looking out from the monstrous pipedream cave

Upper box canyon

Mike "rests" on "Millenium"

Ted looking good on "rucksack wanderer"

Ted not looking so good off "rucksack wanderer"

Ted left because his shoulders were starting to hurt. Hopefully he will recover fully in Tuolumne for more steep pulling in the fall at the Red. I am trying to put my endurance to work. I have felt somewhat stronger on the steeps, and even have managed to recover enough on big holds to continue on up the climbs sometimes. This is a welcome change from the usual terminal pump I get.

Maple makes your back look strong.
(pulling the crux on "sweet peas")

I took a break and hiked up and down various trails. I saw an arch, and lots of vistas. Then I headed to Price to visit Matt and Nandini before they moved to Oregon. The other reason for this break is that my left ring finger was hurting. It appears to be my A2 pulley is what is hurting, mostly if I push on it, but it also started hurting when I crimped with that finger. This hurt before, but it didn't really effect my climbing. Hopefully it won't become a recurring problem, or I'll have to find something else to do. We also checked out some of the bouldering at Joe's Valley.

After the Price trip, I climbed for quite a bit more, mainly working problems on the minimum, pipeline, and pipedream. I even managed to send a few projects before I left despite the heat.

A little rubber boa rescued from the road

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