Disaster struck swiftly!!
No. No not really. That was just to get your attention and clear my mind.
And then the fire spread to our tents!!
Hmmm….also a lie. But maybe you’re interested now. Or maybe annoyed.
You see, the problem with writing a trip report about a wonderful, fun, meetup to rock climb is, unless there’s some disaster, I don’t think I’m going to hold your attention.
Then Kevin broke his leg and a bear ate our spare tire!!
You see, that’s much more exciting. But there were no bears or people named Kevin on this trip.
What is a tweetup? It’s a meetup, or meeting, organized on Twitter. Last year someone said, “Hey, let’s go rock climbing at Joshua Tree National Park in November.” And someone else said, “Ok”. A wiki page was started to help coordinate things and, BOOM! The first annual #JTreeTweetup was born. This year, history repeated itself with much larger results. About 23 people showed up to four campsites in the deserts of California.
And you should have seen the mastodon skeleton we unearthed!!
Yes, I’m going to keep doing that. The weekend for me was a mixed bag. When asked, I usually reply, “It was awesome and I had a really great time but my climbing absolutely sucked.” This confuses many. How can it be better than sliced bread (which is just about awesome) when the rocks probably still stink from my repulsive flailing attempts to scale them? The answer is simple: Because these rock climbing tweetups (I’ve been to three this year) are not solely about kicking ass and crushing rocks. They are also about the camaraderie of the climbing community, time spent in camp around a fire and the general enjoyment of being outdoors playing on rocks.
Suddenly Patrick found out he was missing his camera, phone and iPod!! He proceeded to drown his sorrows, getting drunk, only to find out the next day they had been turned in by the people he hitchhiked with!!
(Ok, that one really did happen)
Why did my climbing suck? Because I didn’t get in proper shape. And because I have more learning to soak up. I wrote about that problem in my post here. I also wasn’t in a groove and had trouble popping myself into one because I also wanted to take photos. I need to learn that balance. But I was fortunate enough to be surrounded by a wide range of climbers and I fit well with this group. We had rank amateurs, who had only donned rock shoes a handful of times, all the way up to people who easily onsighted 5.11s and built a solid anchor at the top out of five alpaca hairs they found floating on the breeze. Even though my climbing ability sucked this weekend, I never felt I had to live up to anyone’s expectations or skill level, and that is, indeed, a great group to climb with.
My thanks go out to Eileen from RockGrrl.com for organizing this tweetup. She rocks hard and made the logistics smooth. Annnnnddd I just realized I owe you $10 for the last night of camping. To Katie Beth, Josh and Tiffany for the fun road trip from Fresno, thanks. kelp (not his real name) for the lend of your car. That was huge and it was fun to go 100MPH again. Thanks. Liz and Jesse, thanks for a place to crash in San Fran before and after the weekend. Jesse, sorry you thought I was an intruder.
It was great to see all the friends I had met and got to know in person before the tweetup, like Laurel, George, Adrienne, Patrick, Aleya, Bill, Chadcat and Kristy, even if she only popped into camp for bitchin’ campfires and a laser light show. It was also cool to meet some new freaks; Dave and David (“We are not of relation”), Tizzy, my new archenemy in the friendliest of manners, and Michele who has the best looking back muscles and chalkbag color coordination of any particle physicist I know(rowl). Ben and Kat, seemingly normal folk, kinda. Rick and his telescope with views of nebulae and Jupiter (and lend of his tripod!), Mike the other dude who cashed out, quit his job and has done a bunch of traveling, and The Other Peter for his work in helping us find stuff and put up ropes.
Oh my God!! A shark! Behind you!!
(are you still reading) Lastly, thanks to our sponsors. Sponsors? Yes, we had sponsors for this trip and some mighty fine products. Thanks to Clif Bars for the ClifShots. I actually liked the lime version. Action Wipes, Boulder Canyon, Coach’s Oats and Eastern Mountain Sports. You’re all swagalicious. Oh! And Backclip.com, because George rocks, as well as Urbanski Farms for the tasty maple syrup.
WOMBATS!!! On a falling Redwood that’s about to crush you!!! While you receive a tax audit!! Underwater!! In the snow!!
Ok, I’ll stop.
LOL thanks for the laugh Peter!
Aha! That explains why the tally came up short! Just get to me at the next #climb Tweetup. I know you’ll be there. You’re addicted, I can tell.
On a serious note, thanks for taking such rocking shots, it was really nice to have another photographer around. And hey, did you like how I played Director and got us girls going on the Girl Train on Gunsmoke? ;)
sounds like fun – wish i had been there ;)
Don’t make me turn surly!! Here’s the link I sent you before with all future and past trips. One in Yosemite soon! http://climbingtweetup.pbworks.com/w/page/16025920/FrontPage
I have never seen that link before my friend!!!! But thanks :)
On an overhanging grease fire WITH scorpions AND LAVA!!
I think we climbers are prone to exaggerating in a thinly veiled cry for attention. I need a hug.
I want to be around that campfire right now! It’s cooooold in San Francisco.
Great post, Love the very embellished element of mayhem you added, I was on the edge of my seat. The mastodon skull looks lovely over my fireplace i might add.