climbergirl blog

On Thursday night, we left Inyokern around 8pm. The drive up to the Needles wasn’t bad, we listened to music on my shuffle and Walter was wide awake giving me directions. We got to the pullout around 10pm and quickly got to sorting gear for the next day. With the packs all set for the next morning, I ate a snack, braided my hair, and got my outfit all set for the early morning wake-up at 4:40am.

I was super excited about the climb the next day, so I read a little to calm my nerves. It was on the warm side in the camper, so Walter elected to sleep outside on the ground (with a camp pad)-traditional California climber methodology! I was a little nervous about him being out there because we had seen a skunk hauling roadkill off for dinner about half a mile from where we were! (more…)

On Sunday, I picked Walter up at 6:15am. It was already hot (85!) in Ridgecrest by then, so I was happy to be going into the mountains. Walter drove us up to the last hairpin turn approaching Whitney Portals while I tried to catch up on some sleep. (more…)

I’m an avid fan of Anthony Hopkins. Since he’s in this movie, I figured it would be good. It’s better than good though. I’m not really a motorcycle enthusiast, but anybody into cycles, would really love this movie. See, I loved it because I can relate to the desire, the need really, to push limits. (more…)

Last Wednesday night, I made a grand defensive play on the Ultimate field resulting in a very bruised and battered index finger. Since it is my right index finger, I decided to forgoe the “Premier Buttress” route Walter and I had planned to do over by Mt. Whitney. It would be very painfull for me to place gear with my finger in it’s current state. SO, we headed up to The Needles-a popular summer destination for climbers everywhere. Thanks to Walter we have pics from the hike as I didn’t have a camera! (more…)

A year after starring in the first Star Wars movie, Harrison Ford jumped right into this role. He’s a hot to trot military commander-set out with a mission to blow up a bridge in enemy territory (Germans). For the times, the special effects were pretty good. The music sounds almost exactly the same as the music from Star Wars (or ET at times!)…and in some scenes, I almost expected to see a wookie or ET pop into view!

The best part of the movie is the ending. The last line of the movie leaves the viewer in a chuckle. There are a few classic scenes throughout the movie, like when the explosives expert infaltrates the german supply shop. He needs a dolly to carry out crates of bomb material, and so he walks over to the german floor manager and grabs the dolly. Ignoring the managers abrupt german reprimands, he flips the guy the bird, and walks off with it anyways! F-U-N-N-Y!!!

My favorite quote of the movie paraphrased as follows “We better take off like ducks in a lightning storm” said by one of the Brits in the movie. I hadn’t heard that one before.