18 days, 3200 miles, snow storms, cold feet and all the wonders of the desert – it was a wonderful time!
Flying into San Fran in the afternoon we managed to battle all offers of a car upgrade and took our soon to be faithful Ford Focus (which is really a Mondeo) straight to Yosmeite. Arriving in the dark and searching for a grubby looking 6′ tall climber in Camp 4 is kinda tricky. Walking round speaking British didn’t alert him to our presence either and so with a little help from my good friend Aaron a loud call of “Mason!” sailed through the quietening 10pm Camp 4 air. He was there.
Racking and packing went really easily the next morning and we were at the base of the Nose about 2pm for a quick fix to Sickle Ledge. After a brief chat we decided that freeing these pitches held less interest than flying these pitches and so we made it up all 4 of them in 45 minutes including passing another team – Hell Yes. The haul probably took us longer but the bags all arrived safe and sound and we flung down our lines without further ado. A good meal and a catch up with young Ben Ditto then back to the base of the lines with a
larms set and some of our tummies a flutter.
5 am – dark. Mason manages to motivate and jugs first followed without hitch by Kate. I spent my time jugging learning to enjoy Tiblocs less and was in all honesty a little frazzled when I arrived at the ledge! The next 6 pitches went perfectly smoothly and we were a pitch below Dolt Tower by 1pm.
There we resided for an hour while the team above died a little in the final pitch of the Stovelegs. Eventually Mason managed to get some space and fired up to the tower. Sadly however there had been too much time to think at the belay and we had to call a halt to the proceedings so as to preserve our relationship. Mason stripped the pitch and after a little issue where our ropes were 4 feet short on the first rap, we cruised down lines fixed by the ever helpful Steve Schneider. After yet another well priced meal at the Lodge we headed to bed in Masons tent while he slunk off into the boulders to mourn his first proper El Cap bail. In the night 
however all was forgiven as we were awoken by snowfall which lasted for a good portion of the night! In the morning the Valley was soaked and we heard later that 3″ of snow had settled on the ledges of the Captain. So after showers and emotional goodbyes we started to roll towards our next destination.
We drove all afternoon, stayed on the East edge of Nevada in a truly wondrous and magical town of Hick-Nowheresville and then drove for 12hours the next day on some very straight very empty roads to arrive in Moab just as night fell. 
The next day we were so excited to go ride bikes that we were up a little early and so got very cold riding from the hire shop until the sun managed to heat the freezing night time desert temperatures that we now understand.I don’t know about anyone else but when I w
as just getting into mountain biking SlickRock in Moab appeared to be the most famous trial in the world to me. This was further ingrained by the first catalogue I ever had showing a couple on Trek Y-3′s grinding up an impossibly steep and smooth piece of sandstone. Thus for the past 12 years or so I’ve been ready and waiting for it. And let me tell you, the first 30 seconds on the trail was pretty special, I plain couldn’t stop giggling. It is a style of riding unlike any other and to start with we both felt like complete beginners. As the ride went on however something just clicked and all of a sudden I felt like a changed man and it became probably the best days mountain biking I’ve ever had.
After that we toured Arches National Park which was a lovely days hiking before putting in a 7 hour drive to get to Denver. Here despite a complete change in agenda we had a wonderful time meeting new friends, catching up with old ones and eating just enough! 
We also got to climb in Eldorado Canyon for a morning which has some truly beautiful rock and was, compared to ours, a mind-blowing local crag!
After Denver we were planning to visit the Grand Canyon but it turned out this drive was a little too much for even us, and on top of this Kate had almost fallen completely in love with a puppy whose owners were going to Indian Creek for a few days. This seemed like too good an opportunity to pass up and so we headed back on to I-70 and right back to Moab. Driving into the Creek gave a hugely impressive and very suprising vista, it’s much greener than I thought it would be! It really is a beautiful place and I don’t th
ink I could contain my excitement for the following day. In the campground we met a stand-up Canadian chap called Simon who, after we couldn’t find our friends in the morning, offered to show us round a little. He was unbelievably good to us, letting us use his properly sized Creek rack and showing us just how to climb those cracks. I spent the day in full punter mode so as to assist him in his mountain guide training, or at least that’s my excuse. After my ‘warming up’ on a 5.10- I realised that this was a place that I might enjoy just a little. Simon ‘
warmed up’ on a route like none I had seen before, 120′ of perfect green and red Camalots in a beautiful corner. In the book it gets 5.11++ but “it’s really 5.12 eh”. Simon lent me his shoes (what a gent) so that I could learn to jam my feet properly and by the top of the pitch I was both sold on the creek and boxed out of my brain. For the rest of the day I tried to learn as much as I could by top-roping until I was completely cooked, the climbing is so fantastic I can’t wait for next October!! Our new friends did arrive in the 
day and they fed us a mind-bending meal of frog legs followed by jerk chicken, without doubt the best I have ever eaten on a camping trip!
So more goodbyes had us on the road to Vegas for 3 days proper holiday, where we checked into out seriously posh hotel covered in desert grime and proceeded to enjoy as much of the city as we could. That place is a different world but a lot of fun, 2 full days there was t
he perfect amount and then we drove home up Highway 1 which takes in the beautiful coastline south of San Fransisco and flew home without a hitch. The trip was a great proof that just going with the flow and saying yes can lead you to completely unexpected and wonderful things, and that the people along the way are what really make things fun!