Here, there, and a bit of everywhere

Around the time that I got back from Moe's Valley, I became sick with a cold, and so I spent the first month of December recovering from it and finishing up the end of the semester. I also ended up running into some car trouble. A while ago, I beefed up my car's underbelly since the plastic skid plate isn't doing much protection against what you can find out on the forest roads. I took it recently to a shop to have my car serviced and I'm not saying it happened due to the service, since it can happen anytime, but my front metal skid plate fell off when driving on the highway and was bent out of shape. Anyhow, my December wasn't starting off in such great shape. 

Nevertheless, my month continually got better. As I slowly recovered from the cold, I also took some time to take trips out to the burrow to finish digging out a project on the right-most side of the roof that starts in the far right and climbs straight out into the exit of Sectumsempra. After a few days of effort, I was able to finish the digging effort and got the first ascent of Mischief Managed. 

Big lerp move

Crux finish

I then decided to go on a little bit of a vacation and go around trying other lines. During my school winter vacation, I spent a few days climbing with Bobby on other developed roofs in Northern Arizona. One highlight out of those days was being able to climb (and finish) the world-class (in my humble opinion) Kudos near the Relic Roof, probably one of, if not the grandest, features in Arizona. Kudos is a true 3-D type of climb, climbing through drippy tufas, pinches, and slopers with some classic unorthodox roof beta. It felt like a true anti-style line, so I'm glad I've gotten better enough to sort it out. 

Miso wondering what kind of contraption I'm putting on my leg

Bobby airing out Bootstrap, FA by Matt G

Bootstrap, FA by Matt G

As snow now settles in, I've been spending a bit more time in the desert trying to figure out some old projects of mine in the Superstitions. Most recently at the Fortress, I have been working on sorting out the harder variations of Mother of Invention. I was able to implement some kneebar wizard beta from Jack Lester on the extensions of the Mother of Invention lines, the Mother of Extension V8 & Father of Destruction V11. Mother of Extension starts on the holds of Misadventures of Captain Stabbums, and climbs directly from the back of the roof all the way out. Father of Destruction reverses Shrink-Ray and links into Mother of Invention. The full link on FoD still remains quite elusive but it's satisfying finally having the good sequence on these boulders. 

Starting sequence on Father of Destruction

Kneebar isn't as free as it looks

I also ended up scoping out a few other old projects that I may end up giving some effort on, depending on where the psych goes. I've noticed that this year, goals aren't a good guiding point for me, as more often than not, I do things that I would've never thought that would be on my radar, while things that I have put on the to-do list fall by the wayside. But that's not a bad thing, as I've learned. 

Anthony trying Mother of Extension

Going big on Starseed

In other news, I have a kitten now. She was found on the side of the freeway, and she now has a home with me. She's quite the handful, but it's nice having someone else around in the house. I may upload some pictures here or there as time allows.