This picture is from Colorado National Monument near Grand Junction. I finally got to take a work break from Miami and was in CO for a couple of days working on a small project. Grand Junction is in a pretty awesome location. About 15 minutes from the monument and excellent climbing. Great proximity to fly-fishing and skiing, but it’s Colorado, there’s no surprises about that. On a side note, I’ve never met nicer people ANYWHERE IN AMERICA than in Grand Junction, CO. Those guys got it going on!

It doesn’t feel anything like winter for me… For several reasons:

1) I’ve been practically living in Miami for work. I’m pretty sure they don’t know the word ‘seasons’ down there. They just have ‘hot’ and ‘unable to wear clothing’.

2) It’s not even cold in Tennessee. I’m not asking for 30’s and powder every night, I know where I live… But I’m still running in short sleeves in late December.

3) As far as I know, I won’t be skiing or boarding this winter. Huge bummer…

I do, however have a pretty big trip coming up: I’m doing a 4-day ice climbing course with Southwest Adventure Guides in Ouray, CO north of Durango. I leave January 31 and return February 6. Since it’s about a month out, I’m starting to go through my gear to see what I may need.

Other than that, just been doing as much training: running and gym climbing as my body can handle, experimenting with different diets, just trying to get into marathon shape. Hope everyone has an excellent Christmas! More to come soon!

During the thanksgiving break, some of the family and I drove up to southern Illinois to Giant City State Park. There are a couple of fun top-roping spots and some good bouldering. All was well until the bouldering pad moved out from under me.