Sam's Misadventures - Thanksgiving on Castleton Tower

Over Thanksgiving I toodled out to Castle Valley to climb some desert towers before fully embracing the winter.

After raging out in the Previa my friend Luke and I joined a whole posse at a friend's family house across the valley from Castleton, psyche was high! After much beer drinking, catching up and geeking out on all the desert climbing in the area we narrowed down our options based on limited motivation to drive, short daylight hours and collective skillz that for Thanksgiving day it would be a good idea to climb Castleton via the North Face as a party of five.
 In order to do so we had a couple people that were dedicated to leading and fixing every pitch with a couple of people in reserve to the schlepp beer up to the summit. It was a bit chilly with screaming barfies (the sensation of frozen hands thawing that makes you want to simultaneously scream and vomit) but the bitchin' climbing was worth it with no one else on the route. We submitted without any problems, shockingly enough. On top we signed the register, listened to the hand crank radio that is kept on top, called our families and instagrammed the shit out of that moment, after waving at some telescope wielding friends across the valley and an obligatory summit selfie we began the descent. Rapping down included whisky drinking and stuck ropes and some educational moments with maximum safety standards maintained by all. We returned to the our base camp after sprinting down the talus cone (a 40 minute walk reduced to 25 minutes) to gorge ourselves on all the traditional Thanksgiving day fixin's.

Gear used included:

BD Camalots,

Sterling and Bluewater ropes

Gri-Gri 2

Osprey Rev 12 Pack

Patagonia Nano Air

Petzl Meteor

Summit view to the west.

Summit view to the East 

Summit view to the South.

The Van Life Eats

One of the foremost topics on my mind is food because,  if you're anything like me when you get cold your body kicks it's metabolic activity up a notch or ten in order to keep you warm, as a result you need more calories. Food in the van, especially during the winter, can be quite the logistical challenge. I guess I should rephrase that, food that you could serve your mom and be proud of is a challenge. I suppose one could live off of those dried backpackers meals that only require the addition of hot water, note this is not an option I have ever exercised while in the van. I, instead choose to eat food that I have prepared and can control the flavors beyond adding hot sauce. I’ll admit I do use instant mashed potatoes from time to time because of their convenience. I digress, when you get down to it meals in the van are influenced by logistics and personal practices. I’ll mostly be focusing on what I've been doing for my winter meals, to remain consistent with my previous posts of course (but perhaps there will be a warm weather cooking themed post in the future).

I have found that I pretty much cook breakfasts and dinners in the van, leaving either left overs for lunch or, more often, I find myself cruising by the grocery store for discount groceries. I'm sure my co-workers will confirm that I am a master of finding the managers special items. Favorites include salad kits, racks of ribs, chicken tenders, unhealthy amounts of Italian sausage and brats.

Shizzam, it's pavlova!
Photo Credit: Meril Shane

While it is not impossible to eat luxuriously in the van a few of the set backs that I have encountered over the past couple years have included a longing for a few kitchen appliances that I just can't fit or run in the van. Those appliances include and are limited (by my memory) to: an oven, blender, kitchen aid and a crock pot. To compensate the lack of these amenities I'm sure to take advantage of them whenever I have the chance whether it's to bake a quick cake or whip up a pavlova.

That being said I’ll share some wisdom that I was sent off to college with and has certainly held true after moving in the van. If you want to eat well, a well stocked spice cabinet is a necessity.

Recent menu items include:
Cream cheese stuffed jalapeños wrapped in bacon
Spicy Italian sausage w. colby jack on hoagies
Grilled cheese supplemented by instant oatmeal
Penne with red sauce and an unhealthy amount of cheese
Mashed potatoes with shredded turkey and cheese
Eggplant Parmesan with grilled asparagus
Rotini with sausage and red sauce
Moose chili, of course sprinkled with some sharp cheddar

Can you tell which of these were made and eaten within a conventional house and which were eaten with snow falling and winter winds rocking the van?

Chicken Cordon Bleu with grilled veggies made over the Coleman,
 utilizing the 3rd burner option.