Ok, grab a cup of coffee or something.... this will probably be a bit long due to lack of entries for a while.
For starters, it was GREAT to be home. To all of the folks I DIDN'T get to see.... I am truely sorry. I figured 3 1/2 weeks would be MORE than enough time.... but apparently I once again got caught up in the whirl wind of life. For all of you who offered beds, work, etc... thanks very much. I know I ended up NOT taking advantage of such hospitalities as much as I had planned, but to be honest I never realised how much I missed my fam until I was actually there! Once I had them, I really felt perfectly happy to hang on to them while I still could.
So the meat of the vacation was bumbling around... hiking, rock climbing, catching up on cold beers and the friends that go with them. I did do some work, both on my own and with the old crew, to make the spending money neccisary to continue my extravagent adventure lifestyle while I was home. I have to say, it was good to see the old crew and laugh about the new one a bit (6" chipper jokes will NEVER get old for a bunch of tree guys!).
The big social event of the whole vacation was OBVIOUSLY the Holmes Safari. For any of you who HAVEN'T been in the loop for the past 8 years.... Holmes Safari is the greatest party in the world. It is thrown annually up in North Conway by my bestest bro, Nick Steglich. I guess it is a birthday celebration for him, but it has also become SO MUCH MORE. It is THE time for all of the "Holmses" (a ever expanding circle of friends, all some how relating back to Nick- the man, the myth, the alien)to get together, party like rock stars (or rock climbers!) and catch up on what's been going on with everyone else for the past year.
This year was good as ever. I headed up a few days early with my friend Kim in order to get some proper climbing in with out feeling I was being TOO anti- social. We showed up Thuersday night, split some of the firewood I had cut on the "pre-holmes prep mission" and them preceded to drink by the fire with the other early birds. Friday was spent oogling gear at IME (my favorite gear store), buying new toys and then off to Cathederal Ledge for some multi-pitch trad climbing.
We chose to do "Bombardment" as our first climb which was 2 piches- one of scary, un protectable slab and one which was a BEAUTIFUL, but somewhat scary, cresent shaped crack that sliced up the rock face for 90 feet. At the top of this climb, we opted for "Upper Refuse," which is 4 piches and tops out at over 450 feet but is technicaly a fairly easy endevor. After the first pitch, which I lead, it started to sprinkle.... "aut oh!" The second pitch was Kim's lead and half way through it.... it started to POUR! We had 2 options- bail and leave gear on the wall or push on through the storm and get to the next major ledge where we could safely rappel down from a large pine tree. Good on Kim... she said "F*ck it... I want this thing!" After a bit of "un family show" words later and a wee bit of slipping and sliding... we both got to the ledge and rapped off to the ground. What had started as a beautiful, fun climb was quickly becoming a rather impressive waterfall before our eyes (literally BEFORE our eyes, as that we were rapelling straight through it!).
The rest of the weekend (the actually party portion) ivolved a lot of short adventures to the river (it was hot as blazes!), a few short bouldering/ top rope missions and of course, socialising (a.k.a. drinking). It was great to see all the old faces and welcome all the new ones. I knew I was looking foreward to Holmes, but after being away from everyone for so long it was that much more special for me.
Anyways.... I can honestly say the trip was a complete success. I got back on the plane (ah... the plane) and headed off for another 48 hour mission knowing that it had all been worth it. There was a slight change in shedule due to bad weather in Aukland, so I got the pleasure of an unexpected 2 hour lay over in Figi (wow, what a "swell" airport). Apon arriving in Palmy, I was picked up by my buddy Claydon who promptly handed me a cold NZ beer and a good cigar. After unloading the car and a quick kiwi lunch (ah, good ol' fish and chips) we decided the best thing to do while I was still sleep deprived, slightly buzzed from all the airline bloody marries and the recent addition of the cold beer, and DEFINITELY starting to feel the effects of the jet lag was to...... go climbing. There has GOT to be something wrong with me! Anyways, we went to my local boulder and i sent a problem Claydon had been working on for quite some time. In the spirit of fun first ascent names I decided to call it "Jetlagged!"
That's me...... thanks for reading it through.