Globetrotting

Two weeks have come and gone since our last post. Since Kalymnos we saw the city of Athens, Greece built around thousands of years of ruins. Touring Athens gave us a glimpse of the birthplace of democracy as we walked among the fallen buildings of an ancient society. The first part of Chanuka was also celebrated in Greece which is quite apropriate considering it is the celebration of the miracle of the Macabee victory over Helenistic forces in the 2nd century BCE. 

From Athens we flew to Israel to see family and tour The Holy Land! The last three days of Chanuka were spent living in the old city of Jerusalem. The sites of Jerusalem are endless and date back to before the existance of the ancient city of King David. We also toured the tunnels of the Western Wall of the ancient Temple. With all of the walking we did in Jerusalem we needed our fill of falafel and schwarma, the national foods of Israel. 

Of course, our trip wouldn't be complete without some rock climbing so last week we headed to Wadi Rum, Jordan. Along with all the incredible climbing, Wadi Rum is also full of many warm and welcoming people. The Bedouins of this desert village were not apprehensive about inviting us into their tents for tea and teaching us about their culture. Our last night in Wadi Rum was spent sleeping at the summit of Jebel Rum after completing a climb called the Pillar of Wisdom, a 350 meter vertical adventure. Yesterday we crossed the border back into Israel with some new friends and plenty of incredible new memories. 

Post swim in the cold and refreshing Aegean Sea

Our family for the first 3 nights of Chanukah

Athens! 

At the gates of the Acropolis watching a storm roll in

Athens synagogue, a great place to spend the 6th night of Chanukah

Chicken Schwarma in Israel! Finally!

Chanukah with family in Kfar Sava, Israel

The last night of Chanukah at the Kotel. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lit the last candle on the giant chanukia on the left. 

Navigating the water ways beneath the old City of David

Our luxurious accommodations in Wadi Rum, Jordan

Getting a lift through the Jordanian desert 

The most distinguished Mr. Camel and a couple of intruding tourists 

On top of Jebel Rum where we spent the night beneath the stars after a very long day of climbing

Crossing the border back into Israel

To Athens!

Today is our last day on Kalymnos and we did not climb. We also just barely climbed yesterday or the day before. It seems that winter has truly arrived to the island and that means rain, rain, rain, thunder, lightening, and more rain. Mixed in with that is howling wind. It's definitely time to pack up, head to Athens for a few days of culture and then to Israel for a month of exploring, climbing and seeing family and friends. More pictures and stories to come!

Climbing with the natives

The rocky hills and cliff-side caves echo with the sound of goat bells in the morning as we make our morning "commute". Most of the climbing here is within about an hour hike of our studio. We spend most of our climbing days below massive limestone caves dripping with stalactites that resemble a page out of a Doctor Suess book.  The rock climbing here is absolutely amazing! It is long, thoughtful, creative and full of unimaginable formations.

Throughout a day of climbing we will hear one or two lone goats venturing into the upper gullies and cliffs. The large bells around their necks ding and dong as they graze on the thyme and sage bushes. Having been born and raised in Kalymnos, they seem to navigate these hills with a confidence we have yet to attain. We eat lunch and scan the hills for them as the sun wraps around the island and spills across the Aegean. The afternoon is filled with final attempts on our projects in hopes that we will send and tomorrow have a new vantage point for the days beauty.The evening hike back to the tiny village of Masouri is like a sunset concert as we navigate a mass exodus of free range goats. For dinner we eat fresh bread and feta cheese and listen to the sounds of the sea below our patio never too far from the iconic, Kalymnian sound of these native "climbers".We have two more weeks of this simple paradise and we will board a boat for Athens to see the ancient ruins of Greece.

Another incredible meal!

Grand Grotto cave with Dr. Suess stalactites

Not a bad view for the belayer 

An old olive tree

A very free range goat 

The gorgeous sunset we see every night

You know you're in Greece when...

...every single house is white with blue trimmings, olives taste almost as good as dark chocolate and the view out the window is of a picture perfect Aegean Sea...only it's not a picture! Every day we say, at least once, "are we seriously here??? this is so crazy!!!." It really is unbelievable that a few hours and 3-4 modes of transportation will bring you from Madison, WI to Kalymnos, Greece. We are so lucky. In the morning, we wake up in the tiny studio to a gorgeous view. We make coffee on a tiny electric stove with two burners. We walk to a huge cave with gigantic stalactites and climb there all day. Then we stop by a tiny market or produce truck to buy groceries for dinner. It's still doesn't seem real.

Kalymnos is all about climbing. The locals, even if they don't climb, are all about it. Restaurants are decorated with old climbing shoes and projectors play climbing videos on the wall. "Climbers Welcome" signs are everywhere. It's strange and wonderful that climbing put this place on the map and now so many people will experience it's charm and beauty.

Second to last leg of the journey: a ferry from Kos to Kalymnos with Keith and Jonathan

Luckily, the studio comes with a shower- but it's only 3 feet off the ground and we have to remember to remove the toilet paper before starting the shower

Classic Kalymnos tufa wrestling

The front door and kitchen (on the left)

The Aegean Sea through a picturesque courtyard

Our studio looks out on the Aegean

The perfect lunch: home made bread, feta, arugala and olives with figs for desert! Patrick: "stop taking pictures and let me eat it already!!!"

From plugging gear to clippin' bolts (finally!)

About a month ago we came to the sudden realization that, despite climbing for 2+ months straight, we somehow lost ALL of our endurance for overhanging routes. Since we were going to be spending a month in Kalymnos, known for VERY steep climbing, we went on the fast track to regaining endurance. Starting in Red Rocks and then heading to Red River Gorge, we hit as many overhanging pumpy routes as we could. Some highlights include sending long standing projects like Gung Ho and Mercy the Huff. But the biggest highlight by far was spending time with family and climbing with some of our favorite people. We've spent the last few days back in WI catching up with friends and trying to fit all of our gear and clothes into the least amount of bags while frequently weighing our luggage so we don't exceed the airline's limits. This is no small task since we thought we already had everything consolidated as much as possible and climbing gear is heavy (duh). As crazy as this feels to us- tomorrow we are headed for Kalymnos, Greece for one month. Greek food, steep gorgeous climbs, old friends and hopefully some new ones...we can't wait! 

Here are a few pictures from the past month. Yes we did also climb...but it's hard to belay and take pictures so these are all on the ground!

Red Red Red Red Rocks

Red Rocks is known for having some windy days!

SO excited by the small amount of gear required to sport climb!

Our buddy Diana belaying on Tuna Town

Grandpa! We almost convinced him to try climbing!

Our friend Hilary and Jed's dog Lincoln (on the right) showing off his sharing skills.

Updates, updates!

Where have we been??? Climbing! After a brief stint exploring San Francisco, we headed back to Yosemite National Park, this time to the famous "home of the birth of modern rock climbing" Yosemite Valley! Now, ordinarily we would rattle off what we climbed, how amazing and beautiful and incredible it was and post some picture. But- last week I spoke with my good friend Kileen and she said these posts are boring and I need to spice them up. So here goes....

Yosemite Valley is almost synonymous with "climbing". Nearly every climber has either climbed there or wants to climb there. So when we drove into the Valley it was like driving into Disney as a kid, only better. We drove in at 9 pm so it was dark with the exception of the moonlight and headlights. We casually drove the twisty roads in anticipation and then, suddenly, we came to a screeching halt! "IS THAT IT??? OMG OMG OMG OMG! It's SOOOO BIG! I CAN'T BELIEVE WE ARE HERE!!!! OMG OMG OMG!!!! WOOOOOOAH! Are those headlamps?? Yes! Wow, cool!!!!" We were staring at the silhouette of El Capitan a HUGE 3000 foot granite wall and it was looming over us dominating the horizon. So, see the Captain...check. Now-  time to find the R&D headquarters for modern rock climbing equipment, the home for more climbing bums than any other place on earth, the most famous climbers campground in the world- Camp 4. As expected it was full and we slept in the car so we could be up at 5 am to stand in line to get a camping space. Yes, we got up at 5am- not to go climbing, not to catch a flight, not to get tickets for some crazy concert, but to secure a small patch of dirt to call our own... and a bear box to hide our food in.

Camp 4 was home base for the next two and half weeks. We climbed as much of the classic stuff as we could. Our tick list ranges from single pitch to 14 pitch routes. Some of the cracks were so little we could barely fit our fingers inside and others were so big we could barely span them with our bodies. Some days we got up at 4 am just so we could finish the days climb before nightfall. Most of the climbing was definitely Type 1 fun (when you realize you are having fun while it is taking place). Some of them were Type 2 fun (when you realize later that you had fun). And then there was The Northeast Buttress of Higher Cathedral Rock. This climb could possibly be categorized as Type 3 fun (when you never quite realize if you had fun or not). Overall we felt we had the true Yosemite experience- tons of amazing climbing and lots of humbling experiences.

We said good-bye to the drastic peaks and valleys of Yosemite and headed down south to Joshua Tree. Here we spent five laid back days climbing single pitches on fantastically frictioned rock. Our favorite part of J-Tree was the high desert environment. We've never seen anything like it- desert sand, the coolest looking trees ever and piles of rock everywhere. And now- we are in Red Rocks, NV soooo excited for some sport climbing! Hope everyone back home is doing well!

Here it is! El Capitan! We climbed the very right side of it (can't quite see it here). Climbing the actual wall can take many days. 

On Middle Cathedral. No, I did not photoshop myself in!

Patrick after climbing Snake Dyke on Half Dome. Beautiful!

We climbed the right side of Half Dome. A 6 mile hike to the base, 800+ vertical feet of climbing and a 9 mile hike back to the car! It was a long day!

Climbing the East Buttress of El Cap.

We (kinda-sorta) summited El Cap!

Type 3 fun...we may never realize it really was fun.

The end of a 14 hour day...huuuungry!

Trying to be a Joshua Tree

Lots of piles of rocks...hmmm, which should we climb?

Lots of updates!

Since Smith Rock our adventures have taken us to Lake Tahoe, Tuolomne Meadows and San Francisco. In Lake Tahoe we met up with my sister, her husband, and their two amazingly adorable children. We climbed, swam, cooked and played- oh yeah and we got to shower, do laundry and sleep in real beds! Luxurious!

After Lake Tahoe we headed up to Reno for Rosh Hashanah then to Tuolomne Meadows. The absolute highlight of Tuolomne, and perhaps of the climbing portion of our trip, was climbing the Third Pillar of Dana. Although we don't have pictures of our own, here is a description of the route and below are a few we grabbed from the internet. The climb involved a 3 hour uphill hike, a one hour, exposed, fourth class downclimb, 5 pitches of excellent climbing and a 1.5 hour hike back. All in all it took nearly 12 hours to complete the adventure. It was beautiful, stunning, challenging, inspiring and many other things that words cannot describe. 

It looks like a giant pile of rocks, but it's really an incredible route!

An incredible location!

Lake Tahoe + my sister

Thanks Walmart for the overnight accommodations

On top of Daff Dome- our first climb in Tuolomne

yeay we summitted! it's so pretty!

so much granite!!! hiking off Fairview Dome

Drug Dome- Ounce/Gram Traverse

One of the coolest cracks ever!