Glinting Q. Formalize ([info]ilanarama) wrote,
@ 2007-12-11 21:31:00
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Cochise Stronghold trip, Thanksgiving 2007
I, um, just remembered that we took a bunch of photos of this trip. Me, Britt, Kristen, Rolfe, and Gregory went to Cochise Stronghold, which is in southern Arizona about a million miles eleven hours south of here. We'd intended to do a bunch of climbing, but the weather got sucky; we climbed What's My Line (5.6 A0) in cold, windy conditions and then bailed on doing anything other than hiking around a bit the next day, because it snowed. Phooey.


Kristen climbing


Britt rappelling


Me in a horizontal chimney (possibly the exit of Inside Passage, possibly just some random squeeze)


Me, Gregory, Kristen, and Rolfe around our campfire

Seventeen pictures here on my flickr page.

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[info]de_wynken
2007-12-12 05:01 am UTC (link)
eek! and people say my smoking is dangerous!! :)

great piccers!

I'm all for hiking and campfiring and r.o.l.f.'ling but not so much on the climbing bit.

(I actually read Rolfe around as "rolfeling around" and liked the expression :) )

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[info]ilanarama
2007-12-12 02:49 pm UTC (link)
Hee, I'm going to have to start calling Rolfe "Rofl." He's also not into climbing, really, but we made him go up the rock anyway.

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[info]de_wynken
2007-12-12 06:54 pm UTC (link)
you should! I mean..how many people in your lifetime do you meet with that name? Perfect opportunity :)

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[info]jeddy83
2007-12-12 09:37 am UTC (link)
Amazing photos. I'm always amazed at the shapes rocks get worn into. It looks like a great weekend.

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[info]ilanarama
2007-12-12 02:50 pm UTC (link)
Thanks! I don't know if you've ever been to the southwestern US (Arizona, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico) but the rock formations are spectacular here.

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[info]delurker
2007-12-12 09:47 am UTC (link)
That's a nice picture of you in the chimney! It's always nice to see people enjoying themselves. :)

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[info]ilanarama
2007-12-12 02:50 pm UTC (link)
Thank you! I love getting out and hiking in cool places!

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[info]fabu
2007-12-12 11:53 am UTC (link)
Wow! These are great - you all look like you're having so much fun. (And I *really* love the one of you in the chimney - very cool.)

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[info]ilanarama
2007-12-12 02:51 pm UTC (link)
Thanks! We are having fun, mostly - it was really cold on the day we climbed and so you can't see us shivering :-)

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[info]arwencordelia
2007-12-12 03:23 pm UTC (link)
Oh, these make me want to go climbing again! Also, is that a Bibler tent? *is insanely impressed*

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[info]ilanarama
2007-12-12 04:03 pm UTC (link)
Hee, that is a Bibler, but it's Kristen and Rolfe's, not ours. They totally love it.

This particular route is really cool because it's relatively easy, very steep but with enormous chickenheads to grab.

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[info]chickwriter
2007-12-12 03:25 pm UTC (link)
Cool pics! Although the one of you in the chimney is causing me a claustrophobia attack. I'm srsly claustrophobic. Looks like you don't have that problem. ::g::

Mind if I share the pics with a friend/coworker who is a climber?

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[info]ilanarama
2007-12-12 04:05 pm UTC (link)
Heh. I get a little weirded out by being in a skinny spot where I can't see the exit, but this wasn't bad. The hard part was shinnying up and out of the squeeze to the next level.

And feel free to share!

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[info]jereeza
2007-12-12 03:27 pm UTC (link)
Hee, these photos evoke both claustro- and acro-phobia in me --- and are so exciting and tempting at the same time. Looks like a fab time.

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[info]ilanarama
2007-12-12 04:14 pm UTC (link)
Oh, the "Inner Passage" is totally an acroclaustro adventure. It squeezes you, but you also have to scramble up rocks, and sometimes both at the same time - held in the chimney while you look down into a deep, dark crevasse... Um, it's fun? Really?

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[info]alembicresearch
2007-12-12 05:11 pm UTC (link)
Cool pics! I love pics!
W00t!

Is that a mountain lion walking around behind
you in that chimney photo? Or just a rock that
looks like one?

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[info]ilanarama
2007-12-12 05:18 pm UTC (link)
Hee, it's Gregory's dog.

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[info]ptyx
2007-12-12 08:08 pm UTC (link)
Wow, amazing photos! That looks like a quite exciting trip. You're a brave woman :-)

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[info]ilanarama
2007-12-13 12:36 am UTC (link)
Thank you! I know that not everybody loves camping and scrambling on rocks, but I sure do.

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[info]noblerot
2007-12-12 08:14 pm UTC (link)
Wow. Just wow. Can I be you? This is a serious query.

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[info]ilanarama
2007-12-13 12:37 am UTC (link)
Well, let's see. You write, check. You like to travel, check. You have awesome hair, check. I think you're already me.

(and ps of course you are welcome to come to Durango on your travels. We have a spare room. We can go hiking in the mountains or desert, depending on the season!)

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[info]nos4a2no9
2007-12-12 10:26 pm UTC (link)
Wow, those are some beautiful shots, and the climbing looks like it's a lot of fun. Between you and [info]callumvixen I'm getting an itch to try it in the actual outdoors and not on a fake wall. And thanks for linking me here! I miss camping and outdoorsy stuff fiercely, and it is great to live vicariously through flickr accounts!

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[info]ilanarama
2007-12-13 12:43 am UTC (link)
Hee, this particular route was probably closer (in a technical sense) to indoor climbing than most, because of the enormous chickenheads that we used as holds - if you look at the flickr page you'll see some of them close-up. But of course climbing five pitches outside (in frigid wind!) is very different from climbing indoors.

I totally recommend climbing, though - it's great fun and a real mental as well as physical challenge. And yay outdoorsy stuff. I am very much an outdoorsy girl, and it makes me sad that few others in fandom are.

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[info]nos4a2no9
2007-12-13 03:59 pm UTC (link)
*g* Well, we write about being outdoorsy :-) I didn't come by it honestly, believe me - my dad is a big survivalist/adventurist and he would drag me along with him until I got too old for it. Having lived now in such a heavily developed urban area, however, I realize how much I do miss hiking and camping. We don't have a car so I can't really indulge right now, but once I get to a place in my life where I can do the outdoor thing, I'm definitely going to pursue it.

And I'm dragging my kids along with me :-)

Oh! [info]scarfe's parents just bought a sailboat, and I think they're going to try to take us out on it soon. Over Christmas, maybe, if the weather behaves, or when we visit again in the spring/summer. I've never been sailing before and I can't wait!

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[info]ilanarama
2007-12-13 11:39 pm UTC (link)
Ooh, where are they? What kind of boat (you probably don't know the make, but what about the size?) Can I come? :-)

Our sailing blog, if you hadn't already discovered it, is at http://windom.cybox.com/index.html. And if you look at my other lj under the tag 'balance' you should find a link to a pdf of a preliminary version of the article I wrote for Cruising World which was in the September issue. Just to whet your appetite!

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[info]lim
2007-12-13 07:55 pm UTC (link)
Ohhh, good pictures. *scrabbles longingly at the colours and textures* Outside!

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[info]ilanarama
2007-12-13 11:40 pm UTC (link)
Outside is yay! The colors and textures of the desert southwest are like nothing else.

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[info]traveller42
2007-12-13 11:03 pm UTC (link)
Looks like a great time.

Last climbing I did was on military duty.

There are plenty of fen that get out. A couple around here (Detroit) make it a point to visit as many of the National Parks as they can.

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[info]ilanarama
2007-12-13 11:42 pm UTC (link)
We used to climb a lot in Boulder, but when we got the boat we'd climb up the mast and that was it :-) There isn't as much climbing around here: there's a little toprope area we've been to a couple times, and some other stuff we've thought about trying but haven't yet. Cochise Stronghold is amazing, but kind of far!

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