The Art of Choosing a New Van.

The Art of Choosing a New Van...or Home on wheels.

Oh man this winter has brought nearly endless day dreams and discussions with fellow dirtbags and van livers. Diagrams have taken care of a number of trees (of course they were all drawn on pre-used paper) while pondering new setups, alterations, ways to maximize storage as well as figuring the finances of buying a new van, building it up, making necessary repairs etc.

After months of planning and figuring out what kind of van would be the next in my fleet, as well as combing through Craigslist emailing and texting folks about vans and after spending a month traveling all over the place drooling over vans with rims and spoilers, vans of the perfect dimensions and vans already built up to live in I returned to Glenwood ready to upgrade. After spending another week chasing leads and trying to fix the old van and with a climbing trip looming I knew not to let desperations get to me.  So one day while perusing what Craigslist had to offer Taryn walked up just as I saw this crazy looking van slathered with bumper stickers and half joking I showed her the monstrosity I’d found.

Long story short, one blown water pump, giving in to my desire to spend a week and a half climbing rather than dawdling around Glenwood and a little price talk down I found myself in a new van with exception headroom, a comfy bed and insanely poor fuel efficiency out in the desert, needless to say psyche was high. However, now that I’m in the process of moving in, rearranging and redesigning I guess I more fully understand the saying about battle plans being great until the battle begins. So now I have scrapped all the previous plans and am working with what I have, while also thinking about the van I really want.

 So now I’m challenged with the task of building up the new van in such a way that I might (if I can find an even better van) easily transfer and reuse the get up for the ultimate van build up. That’s not to mention the hours spent cleaning the van with pounds of dust, hair, dog food and trash removed to give it the ol’ livable feel.

Here is what I am working with, let me introduce Sabrina the Frankenvan.

Luckily for me the game of Mooseballs got thrown in as a bonus.
Photo by Taryn Pearce.

Indian Creek, Rifle and the Black Canyon...sounds like an Enormocast episode

Since I last updated I have moved on from the Creek after spending about six weeks (read not enough time) there after getting snowed out and having work commitments in Carbondale.

Before I left

As I left (looking up canyon)

Also as I left (looking down canyon)

Basically my last few weeks at the Creek I ticked fewer than anticipated climbs off of my to-do list as a result of establishing and finishing more new routes. The most recent and greatest of which was the Battle of Wits that I did with Dan Hughes, (which still needs a little work) but the pitch by pitch break down goes something like this: P1: ledgy climbing to a bit of 5.11-R which takes to to an alright belay stance. P2: Climb past some protection bolts and a slightly expanding flake into a flare and pull on fingers through a roof to a gently overhanging off fingers and .75 splitter (5.12). P3: Do a V4/5 boulder problem off the belay to gain a tips crack to easy and varied climbing to the belay ledge(5.12).P4: The best finger crack I have ever done, go through a few crack changes up a slightly overhanging headwall that ends in some thank god stemming and chimneying that leads to the rim(5.12). This thing is bomb.com

When not climbing my friend Jack and I honed in our hatchet throwing skillz. Note the mulch at the base of the post.

Hatchet throwing highlights included a five rotation throw that was maybe 30-40ft back. and Cutting the underwear in half and pinning them to the post.

Since I've set up camp in Glenwood I have been feasting on humble pie while sport climbing with Kevin, Liesel, my uncle Mike, Taryn and a few other folks. Basically, sport climbing vs. trad climbing(what I normally do) is climbing routes with bolts, used for protection and usually safer than placing gear as you go. Most people climb harder while sport climbing than trad climbing, but not this guy so I'm working hard to improve and balance out the two. I've been climbing so far just at a local crag called the Puoux and in Rifle Mountain Park where I've climbed up to 5.11+.

Tomorrow I'm looking forward to meeting my friend J in the Black to do some longer routes and do a little adventuring. Hopefully this works out better than the last Black trip I tried, could be dicey as we got some snow last night but I'm optimistic.

Waking up at CMC to Mt. Sopris after a delightful nights rest.