it's been a while

i had an internet crisis when i returned to idaho, and as such was without internet for a good two weeks. i decided to just hold off until i got to montana.

but anyways,

the holiday break was all over the place. revisiting stonewalls, meeting up with friends, yet another cancelled indian creek trip... basically shenanigans galore.

-stonewalls (the IF climbing gym) is always fun to come back to. before bozeman, that smelly building was like a second home of sorts, i used to spend so much time in there. but yeah, mostly i just wanted to see how the finger is doing. i don't feel the need to tape my finger anymore when i climb, definitely a good thing, and it no longer takes 3-4 days for my finger to recover from a 2 hour session! very good. actually i climbed a good 4 days in a row without really noticing any pain.

i also set some new routes, some of which got mixed reviews, but whatever, the gym needed some new lines, and i liked all the routes i set.

(so to all who may go to stonewalls: if you see any routes in there with "ninja" names, let me know what you think, i hope you enjoy them!)

also, i was meaning to do some sort of deep reflection on some of my favorite climbs of the past year... oh well. but here is a small piece of that.

my favorite climb of 2009:

soul slinger, v8/9, the buttermilks (near bishop, california)

"wave-police" down at crank cave came in a very close second. both climbs are pretty brilliant in their own ways, but soul slinger is far more aesthetic, both in rock quality and scenery.

-on to other news, because as this is a climbing blog at heart, and as one cannot climb all day, every day(although i did try).

i did manage to see most of my friends over the break, some a bit too briefly to really catch up, but it was definitely good seeing everyone.

i also played 5 games of risk over the break. it was almost like too much of a good thing in a way. i found myself thinking in terms of moving armies via dice rolls, among other strange things...

the seeds of an epic were planted as well. pedro and i are planning a huge peak bagging trip across 4 states that will take roughly 2 weeks to complete. more on this coming in the summer time.

i feel like this was kind of rushed, but it'd be hard to sum up in a single post. anyways, i'm heading off to montana tomorrow, or actually later today i guess, ready for another fun filled semester! (or something like that)

cheers,

tom