Work Ethic

In the middle of April 2019 I found myself standing in line at the outhouse at Indian Creek near Moab Utah, a place which had been on my list for years (the Creek, not the bathroom line, to clarify). This daily bathroom line could be rather awkward as we do the head nod to others in line and wait for athletic dudes to do their business (which seems to take a ridiculously long time) one at a time. This morning was a bit extra peculiar. As I was standing there, a car drove past with an older woman and two dogs. I followed the car with my eyes thinking, “Dang, that’s cool! Climbing into your later 50s?! Two crag dogs?! She’s kind of awesome!”

My assumptions were wrong, though, when she pulled over at a campsite and unashamedly called “Bob!! Bob! It’s your mother!!” To be honest I don’t remember the name and would obviously not post it even if I did, but I do remember a disheveled looking young man stumbling out onto the dirt road from his tent/van/hammock or whatever he had slept in the night before. “You know there’s no phone service out here so I couldn’t get a hold of you so I thought I’d just swing by!” At first I started laughing to myself. How embarrassing for this climber dude and how awesome of her!! This place is like 1.5 hours from civilization, there is no "just swing by!!" 

“I thought we might spend the day together!” she added. When she said that my heart dropped. Obviously I don’t know the whole story and I try not to judge anyone, but from the looks of it, he left his mother hanging and thus here she is, looking forward to time with her son, whose mind is currently very selfishly oriented towards hanging out and climbing rocks.

In my own life, my mother knew exactly where I was going and when I was coming back and gave me a box of chocolates and a few pears and told me happy Easter as I was leaving. She told me maybe I'd make some extra friends via giving them chocolate. You see, I tried the nomadic lifestyle rather briefly. I tried “living the dream” and to be honest it wasn’t all that dreamy to me. I used to be frustrated by the Midwestern side of me who couldn’t live like that. I am almost unable to forget an obligation, I text everyone back, I have only called in sick to work like twice in my life, I keep almost no secrets from my parents, and am happiest when I have structure and purpose. I swear I come from a family of reasonable, grounded hobbits and the Midwest is actually the Shire. I used to think this direction was why I am not a true alpine climber or a 5.13 climber, but on this trip I realized that that is far from true.

The desert primrose - a beautiful flower which I only noticed in the morning and evenings. I learned later that it doesn't bloom during the day, totally opposite of most flowers where I'm from. Like the morning glory's doppelganger. I was brought up to notice and appreciate things like this.

This trip was monumental to me because I have come a long ways in climbing both mentally and physically and for the first time I found that I had enough confidence in myself and my experience to go somewhere solo. About two months before leaving, however, I had a bit of a panic moment where the realization that I was investing in a trip to a stout and physically demanding climbing area and did not feel in shape set in. I was feeling buried in schoolwork and spending hours slaving away at my job and thus prioritized sleeping and resting over “training”. In that moment, though, I realized all the small time intervals that I could be spending getting back in shape and a flood of motivation came rushing back to me. From then on I stopped projecting hard climbs and focused on endurance climbing and core work outs. I didn’t need to go to the creek and push grades, I only wanted to go with confidence in the abilities I already had and the ability to climb long routes. I knew I was going to be spending time at altitude with long approaches and heavy backpacks so I made sure to fit in a few trail runs. I also knew I had an exam the day I got back so I recorded all my notes on my phone to listen to them while driving. In two weeks I was feeling back to normal and in two months I was confident that I was as ready as I could be. Any guilt of laziness was gone! 

The Cave Route is an amazing, beautiful climb, and aptly named!

Something changed too, though, in that I realized that my “training” was probably over kill. I found inner strength and reminded myself that a few days off does not decrease strength, it’s just a few well deserved days off. It would be a rather unforgiving and bleak world if my abilities were punished for going on a motorcycle ride and hanging out with a friend rather than training at the gym for a night. I have not found the "laws of training" to work that way. A positive mental state gained from making a new friend or having an inspiring evening at a show can totally bump my climbing grade up at least a letter grade. So, for the last couple weeks I enjoyed our new spring weather more than I trained at the gym and I had absolutely no regrets on that one! As I was leaving not only did I feel ready for the uncertainty and challenges up ahead but mentally prepared, happy, and healthier than ever. I wasn’t just looking forward to getting on hard stuff, but the adventure of a long drive and meeting new people and exploring a new area.

On day one I wandered up to an area and bummed top ropes off of some French Canadian guys and a group from Grand Junction CO. Humbly I had no real idea how well I would climb in the Creek, but I kind of thought I was going to be a 5.10 climber, now was time to find out! I had a great time chatting with people at the crag and learning what they were up to and where they were from. I then zoomed up their top ropes effortlessly! Grateful for the chance to get on some routes right away, I thanked them and said perhaps I’d see them around! Being from the Midwest I think people were quite surprised to see a Wisconsinite scramble up boulders easily and then sail up a sustained crack as if we had all that in our backyard!

After an afternoon of top roping, it was time to spend a full day out at the cracks. I packed away a quadruple rack in my pack and a rope and set of for the Second Meat wall with a couple of new friends I had met. My pack was heavy, but it reminded me of being a student with NOLS followed by working as an instructor for NOLS. The approach was fairly long, but I’ve totally done longer and it really didn’t bother me because thoughts of pushing myself on things that a few years ago would have terrified me kept me going! This day I got my first two sends, both on-sites, on 5.10 cracks. It was bold to look a 100 foot long 5.10 crack and hop on it, but I didn’t feel scared. The gear was so good and the falls were clean, but more importantly I knew I was strong and smart and I totally trusted myself.

Meeting up with this girl and her dog seriously made the trip what it was!

The French Canadians put a #6 cam between the wall and that large block to my right... We gently made fun of them and also stood nowhere near the block when they did that...

A highlight of the trip was a bold onsite attempt on Scarface, 5.11-. Scarface is a beautiful and picturesque crack that starts with a thin hands / finger crack and finishes with a long, splitter hand crack. It’s hard! Confidently and with desert sun beating down on me, I started up the crack. To be honest, I don’t quite remember where I fell or how many times, but I know I tried harder on gear than I ever have before, had little fear of falling because the moves took all of my focus, multiple times thought I might fall but kept going instead, and I took only once near the top due to sheer exhaustion. It was one of my coolest moments in climbing thus far!

Scarface, 5.11-

During that day, talking to people at the crag, I learned how many of them were between jobs or had just graduated college. I learned some of them lived on the road and some were on extended roadtrips. There is absolutely nothing wrong with living on the road for a while or even forever if it is what makes one happy. Travel is invaluable, but for once I had absolutely no envy of #vanlife. What I once thought was holding me back on my outdoor adventures was totally making me a better climber. Climbing is so mentally demanding and having a home, family, supportive community, consistent job, and purpose has allowed me to embrace the uncertainty, adversity, and physical demands that climbing entails.

This was a fun rest day full of banana pancakes, omelettes, and salad!

By the end of the trip I was seriously excited to be heading home. I missed my climbing partners, friends, coworkers, and family from Milwaukee. Nowhere else have I felt this supported and loved in a climbing community. Some people at Indian Creek looked at me like I was crazy for tolerating a 24 hour drive each way for just 3.5 days of solid climbing, but for the experiences I had in Utah, it was totally worth it. You see, the value of the experience of a single afternoon, or three days of climbing, or one silly or inspiring thing someone said, or one afternoon of hanging out and collecting rocks by a river on a rest day is underestimated, but I find the people of the Midwest are often willing to put the effort in to make these experiences happen. We don’t have everything at our doorstep, so we have to invest in experiences, enjoy the little things, hope the weather will be mostly good, and commit. I have found the climbers in Milwaukee to be some of the most committed, reliable, supportive, hardworking, and inspiring climbers I've met (outside of like professional climbers of course) along with simply being fun to hang out with.

The Midwest has a sweet and simple charm.

My last night on the road I was feeling rather awful from a ridiculous amount of driving and I stopped around 8pm at a state recreational area I found which allowed camping. Being the totally not lazy person I am, I got up the energy to make myself an amazing sweet potato, fish, vegetable dinner made of leftovers from the trip. I hate wasting food so it felt good to eat some of it and it hit the spot far better than any fast food would have. I enjoyed about an hour of soft sunset over the Platte River in Nebraska before I passed out in my car, absolutely exhausted.

Loved seeing the flooding along the Platte River. My dad had just asked me if I had noticed it and then I found this gem of a spot! Don't know why there were no mosquitoes, but I'll take it!

Simple things make one of the best evenings of the trip.

When I got home, my mom made me dinner and I spent the next morning cleaning my car out in my parent's driveway. When I arrived in my apartment I saw she had left me homemade tofu and rice, which was amazing since I had no time to grocery shop or cook in the next couple days. I have never felt so grateful for the strong sense of commitment, humility, and work ethic that was instilled in me, probably since I was born. The amount of support I have shown others has been reflected back at me tenfold. I have dabbled in many different walks of life, and there are many ways to move through the world, but complacency has never suited me. We actually have lots of time to blow up our Instagram with places we’ve been and things we’ve done, but life is too short not to care.

Here's our little family for the week!

Here are some words of wisdom from my currently young 27 year old high-on-life mind:

1. Commit fully to whatever is in front of you, and learn from it, but don’t be afraid to make changes when necessary.
2. Do things that scare you that help you grow
3. Be absolutely grateful for every opportunity you have. I have realized how privileged I am to be able to spend my free time selfishly, but feeling guilty about it did not build community or promote positivity in the world, so I choose gratitude and commitment instead
4. Be totally psyched and proud of your accomplishments – whether you sent it or just tried hard, if it meant something to you, it meant something to you! Someone will always climb harder or be smarter than you, so don’t be so humble or hard on yourself that you’re afraid to be proud.
5. And finally, love the people around you, especially those who support you the most but also those from totally different walks of life than yours. Make them laugh, listen to them, learn where they come from, see the wisdom in them, support them, take pictures of their moments so they can remember them and brag about it, flake their rope, and extend your psych for your own accomplishments to them and their projects. Empathy is invaluable.

Getting in the head of a fellow climber and belaying them and sending them the best vibes you possibly can while they are pushing themselves is a very gratifying experience.

Corbin bravely moving up and facing her fears on Battle of the Bulge! 

I don't think I will ever fit a #2 cam in my mouth, but I won the competition due to the fact that BOTH my climbing partners HAPPENED to have lock jaw.

With that, thank you for reading and here's to all the weekend warriors and climbers from looked over towns and cities across the Midwest and elsewhere! May you totally blow people away when you show them your inner strength!