Penitente Canyon,

Memorial Day Weekend Climbing Trip

What a super weekend! The trip was organized by the Tuesday crew: Todd Felix, Wally Malles & family, Dave Champion, Jerry Nortshire, Beth Sholes, Bob & Lisa. Kira and kids also joined us. I carpooled there with Todd, Jerry and Dave - hilarious company. Had a blast around the campfire every night especially with the game figliano, beatleman (?), & swartz. The kids helped us channel Jerry Springer and updated this game is a very interesting way! What a blast.

Penitente climbing is short but hard! I loved the hueco climbs but found the thin climbs coupled with run outs very mentally challenging. Ultimately, I didn't manage to really overcome and lead strong. Next time! Fortunately, the other folks in our group are very strong climbers and I got a chance to climb some of the best climbs in the canyon. Two stellar ones are Not My Cross to Bear and Break Down Dead Head.



Couldn't find all the names of the climbs this weekend but here's my best reckoning:

Day 1:

L: How The West Was Won (nice way to start the weekend!)

L: 7/11, 2 takes (ignorantly was on the 11 side...good to know the name of this one before heading up it!)

TR: Concupisent Curds (hard time starting this but did ok on the rest of the thin climb)

TR: ? 10+ across the way and up the canyon a little from 7/11 (also a hard start and swam the rest)

TR: Looney Tunes (yet another hard start! The rest was thin and nice...fingers hurting now!)

TR: Not My Cross to Bear (almost flashed it! Completely lost gas 6' from the anchors and had to take 3 times!)

Day 2:

L: Mr. Wind

Nearly rained out, but wait for an opening and got a very short respite.

L: Ms. Cool, another spooky lead

Strung up the anchors to the left so we could TR that one...big mistake! The skies really opened up at that point. A small production to clean the route of our gear. It was a slightly overhung thin climb...could not get any where on my own and had to aid up to clean it. Lesson learned!

Day 3:

L: What the Hey (An 80 ft climb w/ 4 bolts...you do the math!! Scary for me and thin on top. Did it but can't say I felt any confidence booster afterwards)

TR: Break Down Dead Head (What absolute fun!! Very much like a gym jug haul climb. Screwed the crux near the top but finished easily)

L: ? climb right of Mysterious Redhead, bailed after bolt 2. Got very thin and just couldn't pull any of the moves clean, even on TR. :(

On the way home with Beth, we stopped off at Buena Vista to lunch at Mothers Bistro...literally the BEST quiche I've ever had. So light and tasty! A must stop anytime I'm ever remotely close!! I brought a slice back to Fred...yummmm he reports. :)

My Ongoing Adventure - Climbing @ Eldo on Tuesdays

Didn't think I could swing it this season but have managed to join the climbing crew and their Tuesdays @ Eldo. It's been great for me! Last Tuesday finally got to climb The Bastille Crack, an amazing classic. I lead p2!! The only other lead I've done is Boulder Direct, a very easy and benign climb. I'll have to back track and try to document all my other climbs this last month...but not today. Might start using fb to do that...hmmm...

Anyway, didn't make it out today with them, very bummed. But I clearly have climbing on the brain since I'm writing this. :)

Off to a 50th b'day celebration. What a daunting milestone. I had a little trouble with "40" (which surprised me!). What else to do but embrace it. Sigh.

My new adventure...IfThenRadio.com

I've been meaning to update my blog about this but finding the time lately is challenging!

I’ve gotten very involved with a tech association in Colorado, CSIA, and long story short, I’ve started a new podcasting venture with a friend called IfThenRadio.com. This is in addition to my primary business with Fred, VeriPoint. It’s been an amazing 5 months since we started in January. Though I never had any ambition of becoming a “podcaster”, I’m meeting so many great people through it and am enjoying it immensely. We are also so very fortunate that Fred’s brother, Will, has radio, music, and film experience. It’s completely because of him we have such high quality recording and mixing.

The podcasts to date are about technology companies and their affiliation with CSIA’s annual events. So far my very favorite podcast is one of newest releases on Kathleen Morten (included in the below newsletter) a local teacher who won “Top Tech Teacher of the Year” and her students. We have a couple of other podcast series in the works. One will focus on high level business trends and “Lessons Learned”. The other is an education series focusing on outreach programs for at risk or low income kids. A couple of the non-profits already lined up are OpenWorld Learning and JAG. In fact because of all of this activity, we are helping to organize a call to action and fund raiser for OpenWorld Learning. The best part is that up to $30,000 will be matched 100%! So if you’re feeling altruistic and want to give back to the community, please donate a few dollars to a great cause and an amazing program.