Birthdays have always been a big production. Growing up we stayed half of our time at Anna’s with a bunch of other kids so we had out first birthday there. Then we would get to have a family birthday at home with aunt, uncle, and cousins. THEN we would have a friends birthday with a friend of two from school that would come and stay the night. This whole ordeal would last up to or over a month although, I have managed to get it down to about a week of birthday fun now that I’m older. My mom did such a good job with birthdays, I always felt so special. It’s kind of ruined me as an adult thought because everyone hates birthdays, and getting older. I hate that time happens so quickly but I do not wish to stop it entirely.
This year was no exception, I had an amazing 27th birthday week. This year it even got to start five days early. I ended up working 12 of the 14 days leading up to November 12th and I was dog tired by that point. Monday morning, Ryan and I moseyed out of bed and high tailed it to Harrison Hot Springs, BC Canada. 
There’s a resort spa there, Harrison Hot Springs Resort & Spa (go figure). We stayed in a room with a little balcony overlooking the lake. There are four pools and a really nice hot tub there. Three outdoor pools, one inside with the hot tub. We spent quite a bit of time in the hot tub and indoor pool, it was characteristically chilly and wet outside. The outdoor pools are heated of course but when raining you have to hang your towel and robe a good 10-15 feet away from the pools entrance…YIKES! Bounching back and fourth from the very hot hot tub to the pleasantly tepid pool was perfectly fine by me. Tuesday’s weather was lovely. Ryan and I woke up and got coffee at the make shift Starbucks they had at the resort. They called caramel macchiatos “caramel Macs”, so silly. After that we went on a walk around the area. There is a very short and developed path that you can walk to the hot springs origin, that was pretty neat. Theres a small drain pipe leading from the original natural spring pool out to a pond, you can touch the water. Its hot enough though that you would not want to hold you hand under for any length of time. I took a little and sipped it into my mouth really quick, I’m hoping its the fountain of youth or something. 
We kept wandering past the original hot springs and found a little sign marking Sandy Cove Trail. I announced that if I hadn’t been wearing my puppy boots I’d definitely want to hike it.
I’m glad that we did the little hike. It was a winding little trail that had a peeking view of the water, a marina across the bay and foothills off in the distance. After about 15 minutes we made it to the beach. It really was a beautiful sandy cove. I walked along the beach finishing my Canadian Starbucks, taking in the views. Ryan and I were able to pick up all the visible trash and stash it in our empty cups and carry it out to the trash. Rubber ducky and all. On the way back I found a few boulders! People definitely visit them but not climbers. With a lot of scrubbing they have potential, enough that I was bummed I didn’t bring my shoes. Maybe next time. I really should just get my ass to Squamish for a weekend..
After three awesome days relaxing with my honey I came home for one night. The very next day I met up with my BFF and hopped on a plane to Vegas to climb for the weekend. We made it there just before 8PM and hightailed it to REI to get a new rope (didn’t want to fly both ways with it, and needed a new one anyway). Friday morning is the 16th, my birthday. We planned to do a birthday challenge, climbing a many pitches as years we are old. Marco’s birthday was in August and he didn’t get to do anything so he decided to do his own as well. Getting to the park at 7am and meeting up with my local buddy Brandon was step one, from there he would be our guide.
We started off in the Black Corridor, such an awesome spot. I instantly fell in love, cannot wait to go back. Brandon says this is a very popular spot so we did our best to be one of the first ones there. The bright red walls and blue skies and silky red sand was enchanting, and we had a lot of wall to cover. We got on a few warm up climbs right away and I got shut down pretty hard. I was feeling shaky and scared, unsure of my feet. Discouraging feeling right off the bat, but I was there to have fun and I was with some of my favorite people. I had nothing to complain about. 
The climbing here was really fun, with a good mix of thuggy and technical moves. I don’t really like sport climbing below 5.10 range. There are so many options for hands and feet I can get confused and lost pretty easily. I feel silly having that as a problem but there’s something satisfying about having a single sequence with very little room for variation that you can either do, or not. We spent a good part of the day here and climbed harder routes than originally intended. I started a route tally on a apiece of sandstone so that we would be able to keep track (no one had a pen). I think my favorite route of the day was around number 5 or 6, a 5.10c with a funky start.
By 2PM we still had a LOT of climbing to do. The corridor was filled with some 20 or so people, mostly Canadians. Go figure. Everyone was very friendly, I even got Happy Birthday sung to me. I felt super special. I was not however, feeling very strong. Anything with an overhang made me instantly pumped. I hadn’t been climbing or in the gym consistently and it was showing. I was not feeling confident at all that I would be able to hit 27 routes on this day. Around 3PM after 9 routes we decided to retreat to the “weeny” wall and try and bust out some pitches. The walk to the other wall was lovely.
By 4PM we were at the base of the Panty Wall. Finally alone and in the sun for just a little longer we found a long, easy route and started the push. The climbing was very easy and sequential. like climbing a ladder with funky holds. We estimated that it was about 70′ tall, a solid full pitch. We decided to climb each route we found on this wall five times until we hit our goal. We started off strong, making good time. As it started getting dark we had completed around eight more routes and was feeling determined. We only had one headlamp but didn’t let that detour us. Brandon had left us around 2pm and planned to meet back up around 6 bringing coffee, snacks, and stoke. He also brought my favorite puppy Sophie.
I really don’t know how we pulled it off. My wrists could barely support my body weight as I tried to pull myself up one move at a time. My feet were simultaneously swollen and on fire. The number one motivator for me was Wahoo’s Fish Tacos, the only thing I asked for for my birthday. I was and always am SO excited to Wahoo’s.
On Saturday we were feeling pretty dang spent. I was sore ALL over. The plan was to meet up with Brandon and his girlfriend Lisa and rope climb again. We quickly realized that rope climbing sounded terrible and begged them to boulder instead. Didn’t take much as they prefer bouldering anyway. I barely got any pictures from this day because we were doing more failing than sending, all in good fun anyway. I have grown to love the Kraft Mountain and Gateway Canyon areas. Nothing notable happened on the rocks but here are a few pictures from past trips of my favorite problems that I did get on. The first is Butterfly Kisses, my favorite way to send this problem is to invert!
My favorite problem in Vegas that I haven’t sent yet is the Campus Problem, V5. Authentic pebble wrestling, at its finest.
Sunday we didn’t have a ton of time, we needed to be at the airport by noon. We decided to go back into the park to see the Stratocastor wall, the whole reason Marco wanted to go to Red Rocks in the first place. Parked the car by 7 and started our trek three tiers high up the mound. My dumbass forgot to change my shoes before I started the walk, puppy boot adventure it is!
Quite the scramble it was! I really enjoyed every minute of it though. Hands and feet though some-most sections. Working our way up and up and around to a beautiful secluded wall, over looking the Red Rocks Scenic Loop.
We climbed one route up there that looked like huge jugs, playful movement. Got on it and found that it was a bit deceiving . The start was very overhung, and it had a huuuge move that slapped up to a slopey jug. Once we struggled up it we each repeated it a few times, I personally really enjoyed it. I was feeling stronger as I climbed. My muscles felt sore and weak but when I was climbing I found I was able to pull hard when I needed to, for longer than I thought that I could. Super convenient. I’m sad that we had to leave already.
Over all I had an amazing birthday week. My shoulders are still messed up from climbing so much. I still wish I was poolside in Canadia. Time is going WAY too fast.
whoscaitlin 