Joe's Valley March 2012

My friend Rachel said that her and her boyfriend Tom were going to Joe's for spring break. I instantly said yes. A ride to Joe's, sign me up. Although the trip was short, I had a blast. I have been to Joe's a couple other times. Over the previous two years I have spent a little over a month there. I feel like I have really gotten to know the area and have slowly ticked off most of my favorite lines.

On this trip I wanted to check out some new areas. The new guide book came out with some cool new lines I didn't know about and some I had over looked.  First we headed to Dairy Canyon.  Going strait to the Lactation Station boulder where Tom and I went to town flashing a tricky Vertical Ice v6 on the boulder below. The wall is awesome, starting as a roof then rounding the bulge to slopey top-out.  The holds mostly consist of friendly pockets and slopers. I worked my way across the boulder climbing most of the lines.  First, I flashed Rabbit Fur v6, Dyno v7, and Baldwin Bash v7. Tom also climbed them. I climbed Cow Bell v8 after some deciphering. Then a cool guy named Jess showed up. Jess his friend and I started to session Lactation Station v10. After some work we climbed it back to back.
Feeling good about the day already we headed down to Stir the Pie v9 thinking it looked flashable. Once again me and him flashed it back to back followed by his friend after a few tries. We were thinking more like v7/8 for the grade. It's days like this I climb for, sweet new lines, beautiful area, and good people.

The last day of the trip turned out to be the best. Feeling like I wasn't living up to my expectations I needed to climb some hard lines before I left. So we headed up to the Raiden boulder. Were we warmed up and I climbed Raiden v6  and a perfect underrated line called Reduced Fat Milk v8 on the back side. I looked at Dunkin Donuts v8/9 (given v10 in the book) and thought it looked flashable. One solid try and I was standing on top. Though it is clearly not v10, the line is still really fun. While Tom and I where climbing Rachel was climbing on a small boulder just east of us. I wondered over there and found a good little line with surprisingly fun moves, so I cleaned and climbed the first ascent of Tom Likes Hairy Men v6/7ish (video of climb after the credits). I named it after a conversation Tom and I had.  We then bickered over where to climb next. I had given them the last two days to do whatever they wanted in exchange for me being able to climb on my projects the last day. So after climbing on the Raiden boulder they had decided that was enough of my time. I had been wanting to get on Beyond Life sit all week and I needed there pads but they were unwilling (They had also left me at a boulder I was trying a couple of days before, luckily a guy I was climbing with gave me a ride so I didn't have to walk the mile back). So I told them just to drop me off at camp so I didn't have to worry about being left behind. That act probably made my trip.

The day before, I was hanging out at camp at the Halloween Town parking lot when Scott Hall and Chad Parkinson showed up and disappeared up hill. I went wandering after them, they were trying this perfect line. They told me Isaac Caldiero had climbed it a week earlier. I was a little bummed because I had spent hours hiking the hillside looking for a line this good coming up empty handed. So I watched them try the first move, the crux (a drop knee big move off good holds to a slot micro crimp, a very precise move which required bearing down on the micro crimp, and then jumping to a sloper). After I got dropped off at camp I figured I could at leased climb this beautiful little line. So I got to work falling repeatedly on the first move but I felt close, I surprised myself by climbing it in about twenty-five minutes. Happy with the fact that it went down so fast, I crossed the hillside hoping I might also bag an ascent of The Scull v11. Such a fun burly three mover. Once you pull your butt off the ground it is on you until you are on top. After about the same amount of work I was sitting on top of the boulder, bagging another sweet line.  Both lines are perfect little overhangs on black rock,  pure lines with great movement. The top sloper on The Scull is perfectly sculpted for your hand. People over look these problems because they are small, but the lines are to good to be missed.  Later, I stumbled in to camp feeling great about my last day best day.

The ride home sucked, they stopped to tour the temple (amen) for two hours. Tom then blew up on me saying that they had been taking care of me the whole trip but when I gave a rebuttal the only thing he could come up with was he bought me a dollar McMuffin. All that for a dollar. It was awkward to say the least. Note to self, don't go on trips with people you barely know.

When I got home I contacted Scott about the name of the line that I had climbed. He informed me that I had actually made the first ascent. I was ecstatic. I had just put up Inception v12 in Little Cottenwood Canyon the birth place of my climbing and now this. A little after that I saw a video of another guy climbing the line about three weeks after me thinking he had gotten the first ascent and calling it Lost and Found v12. I decided to change the name to The Curious Case of Benjamin Herrington to clear up any confusion about the fa. As for the grade, it feels in the same ball park as The Scull but I could see it being v12 so I left it were he graded it. The climb also suited me perfectly so it's hard to say.

All in all it was a fun trip minus the drive home.  Im really excited I left my mark with such a good line. Joe's never lets me down, I always have a good time.