happy st valentine's day!

schmeebot@gmail.com — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 09:16:39 -0800

saddle rock heart 07 feb 2013

a serendipitous moment seen while hiking down the mcmenemy trail last week. after taking the picture, i climbed on to the rock to say hi to the couple and offered to send them the picture. this is part of the reply i received: "...we are both photographers and both agree you captured a great photo on many levels. Well done." gee, thanks.

scenes from sunday

schmeebot@gmail.com — Mon, 02 Jul 2012 22:31:39 -0700

schmee monkeying on oranguhang

sunday orion invited me and jg to climb with him and his peeps at san ysidro. we met at the trail head at 9:30 am sharp.

orion's brother isaiah

i might have been even happier than isaiah. i was in total disbelief that there's climbing to be had within five miles from my front door! after ten minutes of hiking, we set up shop at the main wall. the base of the rock was perfectly sheltered by oaks and bays.

orion shows jg how to tie a rappel break

while bree, wife of isaiah, starts the morning right with some vodka

i hung with bree while the a-team scrambled up the gully to set up anchor. isaiah was the first to rap down. he was a pro.

jg rappelling for the first time under orion's watchful eye

isaiah was the first to climb oranguhang, a 5.7 route. he made it look very easy. jg climbed next. i belayed him.

jg struggling at the gully

schmee and orion aka team birthday

bree on the rocks

schmee's turn

a shout out to orion's sister corey for manning the camera while everyone was climbing. jg and i were belaying each other all day so there would have been zero pictures of us if it wasn't for her.

taking a breather after flailing past the gully

orion leading peels of laughter to the left schmee still flailing on aranguhang to the right

schmee on peels of laughter, 5.6 photo by orion

we all climbed peels of laughter, a longer route but much more fun and varied than oranguhang. we called it a day after orion swam to the top of a couple of 5.10 routes. we all watched in awe.

orion on amish in space, 5.10a!

a very fine couple

back at the trail head some five hours later

we played kick the spider for a few minutes before going home. perfect end to a great outing. i still can't get over the fact that we didn't have to drive 4+ hours in order to climb. on quality rock, too. i hope to climb it every weekend!

for the win

schmeebot@gmail.com — Fri, 29 Jun 2012 17:33:40 -0700