Debby and I flew out on Thursday evening after work and met up in Salt Lake City Airport with Alex who flew from Los Angeles. Having suffered a few days of sleep deprivation, all I managed to do before passing out was throw myself horizontally to the back seat of our rental Ford Explorer. They took turns behind the steering wheel and after five hours later, we were at the Newspaper Rock Campsite. Amy from Albuquerque, NM had secured a wonderful spot next to the Indian Creek. It was almost 4 AM. We were up by 8 AM on Friday and after a relaxing breakfast, we all marched to Supercrack Buttress, where we shot Alex up The Incredible Hand Crack (5.10) and The Wave (5.10+) with a rope for the rest of us to follow (ever heard of the term rope gun?), which was a pattern to be repeated for the next few days. He even did the unthinkable — hanging in his harness next to a climb just to take pictures of us following. When the sun crept over the cliff , we decided it was time for a siesta and retreated to the campsite. Three hours of chattering later, we had came to know each other’s lives pretty well. The day finished with us climbing at Donnelly Canyon, where I led Generic Crack ( 5.9+/5.10-), Debby led pitch one of The Naked and the Dead (TNatD) (5.8/5.9), and we all TR’ed the p1 variation of TNatD (5.11+).

When we woke up on Saturday morning, the size of the group at our site had doubled as Mark, Dave, Mike, and Jessica arrived around midnight from Albuquerque, NM. Heading toward the shade, we found ourselves at Second Meat Wall. I led an Unnamed (right of Family Home Night) (5.10), when Alex led Cube Steaks (5.10). My 5.10 was much easier than his 5.10, for which I felt very grateful. Mike attempted the Unnamed #39 around the corner, but the coalition force between the beaming sun and the offwidth start proved to be more powerful than our seemingly undefeatable Mike (you’ll know what I mean if you see his muscles). Sometimes, we just have to acknowledge of the power of nature. Fleeing the heat, we skirted the wall to the left, where Alex led up Tofu Crack (5.10) and then did another unthinkable — leading up an offwidth (to the right of Rude Dudes) that was not in the book. Could this be a first ascent? The offwidth looked strikingly beautiful, but most people were smart enough not to be enticed by its beauty… most people except me, Mike, and Debby, who got sucked into the suffering that only such a beautiful offwidth crack could create. A few days later when I went to work wearing a short sleeve T-shirt (I wasn’t thinking in the morning), the scrapes and scabs that the cracks left in my arms raised quite a few suspicious eyebrows and quite a few more sympathetic stares (I hadn’t even shown my legs yet). However, all the memory of that suffering was thrown out of our minds when we returned to the campsite, where Mark, the chef in charge, offered a gourmet meal that consisted of appetizers of various kinds, a stew of vegetables and chicken breasts, and a freshly baked apple pie with ice cream.

As the saysing goes, unless one has done all three classics (Generic Crack, The Incredible Hand Crack, and Supercrack), one cannot claim to have been to Indian Creek. The one missing on our list was Supercrack (5.10). No worries, because that was the first climb we bagged on Sunday. Alex led it first, and then did yet another unthinkable — finished the stout crack in 45 seconds on top rope. Afterwards, we swung over to Battle of the Bulge Buttress, where again Alex did everyone a service by putting up a rope on Crack Attack (5.11-) and Pigs in Space (5.10+). Calling the climbing day short, we drove to Moab, where plans for the next day were carefully made among eight people. For a while, the plans almost sounded too complicated for me to comprehend. But eventually, we managed to settle down to another gourmet meal that Mark put together including a freshly baked upside down pineapple cake with ice cream. Hmmm.. yummy.

The NM folks, in Debby’s word, are a group of climbers with “a mountain biking problem.” They lured Alex into joining them on the famous Slickrock trail on Monday morning, while Debby and I stubbornly drove north and west to seek more rock. We arrived at Maple Canyon to find ourselves and many climbers in the pouring rain. Without hesitation, we turned and headed north to American Fork. Again, rain. Many climbs were steep enough to stay dry, but nobody was there climbing. The steepness of the routes looked too insane for sane people like Debby and me to bother to try. We returned to our car. But right then, our luck turned. The climber-mountain bikers caught up with us and showed great enthusiasm in going to a SiChuan restaurant in Salt Lake City, Kylen, that Debby had heard about. Unlike the weather, the food did NOT let us down (Debby’s note: all the good Sichuan food at Kylen is only available on the chinese menu!).

On our flight back, Debby said to me something like “it’s your turn to write a trip report. … Well, I don’t really know what to say about the trip.” I felt the same way back then. But now, I am working hard to prevent it from turning into another long one like many of my others trip reports. There are always things to say about a wonder trip, I learned.

And now, you have to click here to check out Alex’s photos! Otherwise, the sky will collapse!

I knew that I had just gone to the Lynn Hill Camp only recently. Both financially speaking and vacationally speaking, I really should not go to this camp. However, having never had been to Indian Creek, and not seeing myself going otherwise in the near future, I knew that the camp was the only opportunity for me to do any climbing at Indian Creek this season, so I grabbed it. Indian Creek, in many climbing photos, is a serenely beautiful place. My heart reached there before my arrival.

First day, I joined Micha and Brittany at Battle of the Bulge Buttress, and top roped 9 climbs that featured finger and tight hand cracks. The big guys eyed my thin hands enviously (I think). By the end of the day, there might have been bubbles hanging above my head saying “Ok, I’ve done thin cracks. How about taking me up some wide and offwidth?” Or otherwise, Jim somehow read my mind and recruited me into his posse for some wide crack climbing next day. Noddy was sent by Montrail from England to experience climbing at Indian Creek. Before he knew it, he was recruited as well. And then, of couse the tough guy, Malcolm, joined the force too. (He has an incredible and inspiring survival story that you can find here.) Therefore, on the 2nd day, we set out for the left side of Battle of the Bulge Buttress. On our approach, I felt like a soldier on a special mission thinking “yes, I must conquer those wide cracks.” It rained on and off, but we still sneaked in 5 to 6 climbs. I did two laps on Think Pink. (If you’ve seen Return2Sender/Parallelojams, you’ll know what that is.). But the most memorable was the Hole in the Wall (I’m not 100% sure about the route name as I don’t have the guidebook), which is a brutal route featuring long sections of flaring chimney. If Noddy had hated me in his battle up this climb (he probably did), I would not have been surprised nor offended — I, while clawing my way up, almost hated myself for wanting to do such kind of climbs . But of course, after I successfully top roped it, I loved the climb and myself.

The 3rd day would have had found Micha, Noddy and me on the top of some beautiful tower if the weather had not gone south; instead, seeing the clouds blanketing the sky in the morning, we teamed up with Brittany and others and had a short, but quality, day of climbing on Cat Wall. It turned out to be a smart idea as a thunder storm swept by at noon before the sky became blue again.

The trip ended with Jessy and Kirra giving me a ride from Moab to Grand Junction, a 4 hour drive round trip. I’m forever indebted to them for their generous help and fun company.

I could end my trip report right here, but the camp was not just about the scenery and the climbs, which were beyond my words anyway. What made the memories of it so fond consisted many other things, some big and some little. First, the people — we were brought together by the same passion, which immediately bonded us into a close community. Ahhh… the meals, taken care of by Lisa and her friend Mel, were almost better than what I cook at home (that is, if I cook. And I’m not a bad cook, if I may say so). Getting goodies was always fun, and we had such fun every day at the camp. Malcolm also brought the new Trango Max Cams for us to try out. But I was too focused on climbing, and I now am kicking myself for not having spent more time playing with every piece of them. And still there were more I’d like to tell you about, but midnight is approaching, so here is THE END.

Note: All the climbs I did were on top rope as we could not lead due to liability reasons (like in any other climbing camp).

Meet the camp

It was a big camp with 20 clients, and the days went by so fast that we didn’t even get a chance to take a group photo. Fortunately, I managed to take a photo of everyone who worked hard at the camp to make it successful:

Jim Donini: known as the the ‘ageless hardman’, one who will climb as long as his hands can still touch his knees.	Malcolm Daly: many people’s inspiration (want to know why? A google search will give you the answer.)
Jay Smith: he is known for many of his bold ascents	Angela Hawse: can you detect the tough woman who summited Everest behind the comforting smile?
Brittany Griffith: life must be easy for her because she is always laughing, and her laughters are contagious.	Micha Dash: he is young and he is strong. Look for him in Return2Sender.
Emma and Dave Madara: hey, need a guide in the Moab area? No need to look else where.	Lisa and Mel: miraculously they managed to feed 30 mouths in the harsh environment and made everyone’s stomach happy too.