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Click to read
our individual diaries:
Meghan
Danielle
Rory
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Rory O'Leary
New York,
NY
Birthday:
September 4
Hometown:
Boise, Idaho
Bio:
Click here
Contact:
Rory@alt9.net |
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DATE:
July 12 |
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ENTRY:
After a little breakfast and showers we
headed out to meet up with Meg's Dad in
Billings, Montana. At one point during
our drive we stopped at a rest
area. In about 10 minutes the wind
starting getting really powerful
and then we found out that a huge storm
was coming in right where we were!
Like 80 mph winds and recommendations to
get out of vehicles and into cover.
So instead we got into our vehicle and
drove away from the storm ,luckily in
the same direction we needed to go
anyway. But it was pretty awesome
anyway, we still experienced some
pretty strong winds. It was really cool
seeing the corn stalks sway
sideways and in waves as the wind blew.
It was also exciting feeling the
car sway in the wind as well. We also
saw a couple huge dust clouds
sweeping across the land, kind of like
in the movie The Mummy. A couple
hours later we arrived at Meg's Dad's
house in Billings. Visited and had
some pizza.. played some cards..and
watched yet another movie, this one
being The Longest Yard.... it was pretty
good but I liked Mean Machine
better, it being the soccer version and
also being made first. |
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DATE:
July 11 |
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ENTRY:
We
arrived at Meghan's other sister, Lisa's
place last night. We visited with Lisa
and her husband, Mark. They hooked us up
with a little dinner snack of
fruits, brownies and cheesecake. Plus we
got hooked up with lots of
slobbering kisses from Bell, the
resident lab. After eating we put
on Terminator and fell asleep to it.
Then we finished it this morning, along
with watching T2 right afterward. Nice
little movie spree. We then took off
to the lake for a swim, bringing Bell
along whom loves to swim. That was
awesome, I have been wanting to take a
swim for just about the entire trip
but just haven't until now.
Unfortunately it was cold enough to keep
me out of the water most of the
day. After the lake we headed back for
dinner. But before that, Meg gave
me another great haircut. And I decided
to get rid of my mustache and
beard. So throughout this trip I have
gone from a mini fro with facial
hair to short hair with a clean shave...
it must be the heat. Anyway, after
our little spaghetti dinner we headed
out for a mountain drive to try
and see some mountain goats. We ended up
seeing some deer and a hundred
head of elk instead. That was really
cool. Then we watched yet another
movie: Alien... being in the mode after
watching Aliens at the Keefe's. |
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DATE:
July 10 |
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ENTRY:
Before we headed out to Montana from the
Keefe's. They continued to spoil
us with more good food. We also watched
a bit of Aliens with Melissa,
Danielle (Keefe) and Sheila. On top of
the great hospitality, they hooked us
up with some winter hats and socks from
GetAKlu, which they are the owners
and operators of and then sent us off
with fresh cookies, banana bread and
poppy seed bread! Thanks a lot to all of
you; Kevin, Sheila, Allicia,
Melissa and Danielle. I will definitely
be visiting you all in the future! |
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DATE:
July 9 |
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ENTRY:
So
we decided not to head out to watch the
world cup. Instead, we went
climbing with Kevin Keefe, his family
and friends, which are a fun bunch
to hang out with. We went to the Bread
Loaves area and set up a 5.10b to
climb. Everybody had a go at it. All you
guys did really well too. And
don't worry about the long belay Allicia,
it was no problem. While that was
going on Meg and Kevin hit up a trad
route. After the top rope was set,
Danielle and I followed. Being
rewarded at the top with a great view of
the City of Rocks. For our last
climb we tried the 5.11(c?) right next
to the 5.10b. I got up it but had
to rest once at the crux. Soon as we got
done with that climb we set out to
the Keefe's place which amazingly is in
Idaho Falls, the exact direction
we were going anyway. They invited us to
stay for the night. I just have to
say that I haven't eatin soo well in
forever! Sheila had soo much good
and fresh food. The best salads I have
ever had, full of garden grown
greens. Plus a plethora of other healthy
foods. Thanks a million, that was
awesome! |
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DATE:
July 8 |
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ENTRY:
We
headed to an area called the Inner City,
within the City of Rocks,
and we were planning on hitting up a
couple classic climbs.
Unfortunately we had to pass on them
because of all the people... so we
ended up doing this 5.9, a slabby no
hold, balancy double rappel route. Meg
led it and at one point had to skip a
bolt. It made me a bit nervous because
it would not be a fun fall. Fortunately
she didn't fall. Danielle followed
and brought up the next line (Meg
belaying from the top). By the end, all
three of us had made it up the scary
route. That climb took up the morning,
we headed back for lunch and decided to
go get some gas and find a place to
watch the world cup for the next day. Oh
and on the way back to the car we
came across Caitlin (whom I met on the
plane) and her friends. Anyway, I
missed the first lonely pump that was
close (4 miles) and ended up driving
like 30 miles to the first, kind of,
real town. There we got our gas
and found out that the closest place to
watch the game was like 50 miles
away from our camp. Maybe, maybe not.
After dinner I headed over to
Caitlin's campsite to hang out for a
bit. We threw back some brews, ate some
fresh chocolate cherry cake and had a
good time :). Thanks for the beer and
cake guys. |
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DATE:
July 7 |
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ENTRY:
Today we headed out to the City of Rocks
(southern ID) and when we arrived
it wasn't looking too good. Turns out
you have to make reservations
ahead of time and on top of that every
campsite was reserved (which we
didn't know about at the time). We
started driving around and hoped that
Caitlin and her friends had already
arrived but they hadn't. So we kept
driving from campsite to campsite hoping
for an unreserved spot. No luck.
Fortunately this cool guy Kevin chased
us down after we drove through his
campsite. He told us we could share his
site. He had seen our NY license
plate and didn't want us to have driven
all this way for not. Very awesome.
Then it just got better because we
didn't have a guide book but then we had
Kevin, who is practically a native to
the City of Rocks. |
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DATE:
July 6 |
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ENTRY:
Today we went and saw MI3 at the $2
theatre, sometimes I miss home,
which was ok. The first is definitely
the best one. We also brought my
Polish brother Thomas. Our first reunion
in almost 3 years. Then we headed
back to the homestead. From there I
coordinated the family to get together
for dinner, which was a good time. Its
good and hard to get everyone
together at once, plus to have my two
best friends with me, it was pretty
awesome. After dinner (thanks for the
dinner Mom! and the girls send their
thanks as well :), we played a little
frisbee. Shortly after that I headed
out with my two bro's to watch some
Family Guy and drink some beers. Nice.
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DATE:
July 5 |
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ENTRY:
I
have been really excited to get back on
the trip and the day has now come!
Meghan and Danielle arrived in
Boise, ID last night...( I was flying in
from Seattle last night, returning
from a visit to my Dad's, and sat next
to a cool girl on the plane (hi Caitlin)
who happens to be going to the
City of Rocks during part of the same
time we are. Anyway, this is kind of a
long tangent but... as we were
flying towards Boise, the crew served us
some 2004 Wine (great year, haha),
but it was a good time to celebrate
since it was the 4th and all. I
conveyed to Caitlin how I haven't seen
the 4th in 2 years and it was
looking like it was going to be a 3rd
because I was on this plane during
dusk. But it turned out to be a really
awesome 4th because as we were
descending to land at BOI, we could see
fireworks going off city wide from
all of the family firework shows. It was
a pretty awesome sight and a sweet
perspective. Sooo, then we landed and I
didn't think to try and call Meghan
and Danielle, so they ended up
staying the night in a Super 8 parking
lot, sorry girls!!)... so now back to
today, Meghan and Danielle met up with
me at my Mom's place, then after
hugs and talk we headed out to see the
World Cup Semi Finals. I have
never really been into watching sports
on TV but for some reason I am now
starting to get into a couple, those
being Futbal (what the world
considers Football) and Hockey. After
the game we headed to a climbing
gym in Boise, ID that I didn't know
existed. It was built after I
moved away :(. From there we headed back
to the pad to eat some late dinner
and shower and sleep. |
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DATE:
June 20 |
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ENTRY:
Alright, today I am flying from San
Fran. to Boise, ID in order to spend a
little more time with family and old
friends. I am pretty excited to see
everyone and actually have
some time to really reunite. My last two
years of visiting have been pretty short
trips, basically consisting of
saying hi and bye to as many people as I
could before getting back on the plane.
So I will be rejoining the STS
trip soon as Meghan and Danielle make
there way up to Idaho. I will be
missing the beaches in Cali and San
Fran. But you can't always have it
all... oh well. |
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DATE:
June 19 |
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ENTRY:
Bishop (cali) is a really awesome place.
Thus far it is my favorite visually.
Barren landscape with monstrous boulders
scattered everywhere on rolling hills,
plus huge snow capped mountains in
the background. Quite beautiful. The
climbing is a bit intimidating...
good but scary. Many 40 ft. boulder
problems, some being slabby. Then if you
do fall, not only do you have a
long drop but you also get to scrape
your body all the way down. Fortunately
none of us had to experience that.
Oh and the wind is pretty strong.
Another element to deal with while
climbing slabby, balancy problems. A
couple times it felt like the wind
was going to blow me off! Anyway, with
all that said I still liked Bishop
a lot. The plethora of climbs and
beautiful landscape make it a
worthy destination. |
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DATE:
June 17 |
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ENTRY:
So
we checked out some of the boulders next
to our campsite and they pretty much
suck. Not only is it hard to find
problems but its way hard to do the ones
you do find. The surface just breaks
apart on you. So with that we decided to
head on. The drive and view was
worth the stop anyway. |
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DATE:
June 16 |
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ENTRY:
We
drove up this crazy road to get up Black
Mountain in Cali. Our crashpad carrier
scrapping along the ground every so
often due to the pothole ridden road.
Luckily the carrier has some give in the
hitch so it moves with the ground
whenever it touches down. Further
up the mountain we found this really
great campsite. Right next to a bunch
of boulders and with a great view. We
decided to just chill in the sun and
read a bit. A welcome rest day. |
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DATE:
June 15 |
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ENTRY:
Last day of climbing at Priest Draw. We
rework some of the cool problems that we
liked and I filmed Danielle and Meghan
climbing this ridiculous problem.
Its a 6 finger campus move for the
start. Nuts. Those girls rock for
sending that one! And Meghan sent
her second outside V5 on her last try on
the way out of Priest Draw. It was
awesome to see. Not only could I not do
it, I have a hard time taking big moves
off of little tiny crimpers, but
it was really great to see the happy
face and ecstatic attitude of Meghan
:). It is always cool to see a climber
send a much worked on problem. After
Meghan's sweet send, we headed
back to Zak and Rachel's. I am thinking
its time for one more game of
Starcraft before we jet and Zak
immediately agrees. |
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DATE:
June 14 |
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ENTRY:
We
took Felicia and Mark out to the Island
at Priest Draw for an outside demo.
Felicia could be a rock superstar! With
her little body having like no fat
and all wirey muscle due to her
gymnastics background and active
lifestyle. She flies up a couple
climbs to get her warmed up. Then we had
her work a long, challenging traverse
with a high top out. She got it on
her second try. Nice! Likewise, Mark
shuffles up the rock pretty well.
His ability surprising me in comparison
to his age, I won't say what age, but I
was impressed. After the half day
of climbing, Mark took us out to dinner
again (very awesome!), this time
we ate at the Olive Garden. Nothing like
some good pasta after climbing. Oh and
throughout the day I was teasing Felicia
about keeping her sunglasses, which fit
me surprisingly well. They have a
little fairy sticker on one lens (I
think the one from Peter-Pan).
Anyway, after all my teasing I ended up
actually keeping them, forgetting to
give them back after we say our
goodbyes. Looks like I'll be sporting
them for a while. |
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DATE:
June 13 |
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ENTRY:
Climbing at Priest Draw is pretty
awesome. Zak and Rachel took us out to
show us some great problems. A couple of
my favorites in the area being one,
a V2 overhang that involves two hand
heel matches, a couple reachy moves,
touchy footwork, then a controlled
swing at the end of the overhang, then a
thrown heel to catch the face in
order to top out. Very sweet. The other
problem being another overhang, a
much much longer one, at Bat Roof. A
nice long problem with lots o pockets
and a few sweet places for foot
jams. Proving to be not so sweet
afterwards when I felt a pain in
the top of my foot. Zak tried to show us
the beta but I would forget what was
next after about 4 hand moves (with at
least that many more remaining). Ya it
was a long problem. But for our
last problem of the day, we worked a V6.
Beginning with an overhang to be
supported by two small 3 finger pockets.
The second one being an overhanging
undercling, for 3 fingers. And
small. I ended up slightly pulling a
tendon in my ring finger. Time to
tape it up and take it easy. Still a
great day of climbing however.
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DATE:
June 12 |
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ENTRY:
My
little sister Felicia and her dad (Mark)
happened to be on there own little road
trip and just happened to be passing
through Flagstaff the same time we are
here. Which works out nicely. So I
hooked up with them and we went to the
local climbing gym (Vertical Relief) for
just that. I teach Felicia and Mark some
of the basics of bouldering...
like this is a crash pad and this is the
V rating system, along with
coaching them through a couple V0s and a
V1 for Mark (nice). Afterwards we all
went out to dinner for some good
Mexican food on treat from Mark (thanks
man!). Then we went to an Irish
pool hall after our meal where Felicia
did a great job at kicking our ..... ,
well you know. All the while I was tired
of watching the white ball go around
the table and occasionally in a
pocket more than any other ball. Maybe a
little exaggerated but that's
pretty much how it went down. |
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DATE:
June 11 |
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ENTRY:
I
found out that I am not the only
climbing 'nerd' out there. Zak seems to
be as much into Starcraft as I am.
Sweet, time for some quality downtime!
And with Zak being a
representative of Redbull, we have all
the wings we could want for our
late night gaming. |
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DATE:
June 10 |
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ENTRY:
We have
arrived in Flagstaff, AZ. A climbing
couple, Zak and Rachel, have been kind
enough to give us a place to stay for
our duration in Flagstaff. Way sweet. |
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DATE:
June 9 |
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ENTRY:
So we were supposed to meet up with this
guy in El Paso. We drove an extra 4hrs
to do it. The guy never got back to us.
That's when we decided it might be a
good idea to make a run for the border.
It was short lived but pretty fun... now
its on to Navajo Nation where a nice
cool house waits for us to sleep in,
thanks to Meghan's sister. You are
awesome Brook!
Today we
went out to Canyon de Chelly. Not only
was the drive out to the national
monument breathtaking (beautiful
expanses of changing landscape colored
with earthy reds, oranges, yellows
and contrasted by the perfectly blue sky
with bright white floating clouds)
but of course, the monument itself was
breathtaking. A huge canyon with
sheer rock slaps, gigantic pillars, and
many seemingly perfect angles. This
canyon also carries a spiritual
history of the Navajo from the past and
present. This adds an extra element of
feeling to the view. Quite a sight to
see. |
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DATE:
June 8 |
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ENTRY:
We arrived at Stoneworks only to be
greeted by the owner with the dismal
news of the power being out. What
perfect timing..... But that feeling was
shorted quickly because he invited us in
to take a headlamp tour and to sleep,
refresh, shower or whatever we needed to
recuperate. (Thanks Glenn!). We shared
some stories, watched Pilgrimage out in
the back patio with a cool breeze in the
high 90 degree weather. Then after a few
hours of relaxing the power was
restored! So we jumped on to some
boulder problems but that was about
it.The heat kind of sapped the energy
right out of us and we needed a relative
break from climbing, to heal our muscles
and fingers, so we didn't actually climb
the tall routes. So if you ever asked:
"Who goes to the tallest climbing gym in
the nation and only boulders?" you can
say Rory does. lol. |
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DATE:
June 7 |
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ENTRY:
It is really hot in Texas. It is hot
sleeping in the car during driving
breaks. And Texas is too flat. But I am
looking forward to stopping by
Stoneworks climbing gym just north of
Dallas. It was the second climbing gym I
ever climbed at. My Dad introduced the
sport to me in Killeen, TX, where I
undoubtedly got addicted to it. I wanted
to climb at more places so we drove up
to Stoneworks. It kind of symbolizes the
beginning of my climbing exploration.
And it will be cool to climb the nations
tallest wall again :) |
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DATE:
June 6 |
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ENTRY:
HP40 is worth the money we spent staying
there. Which is quite a statement
because I am broke and still spent $33
for 3 nights and 4 days of climbing. I
really enjoyed working on a couple
classic problems there: Bum Boy (V4) and
Centipede (V5). Both a couple of really
cool sloper problems. I am liking
slopers more and more lately. Meghan and
I worked on Bum Boy for an hour or so
before I sent it, thanks to my length.
Then we had a couple of relative locals
give us the real beta. Which involved a
really high step at an awkward angle (I
originally avoided that part by just
jumping to the hold, lol). With this new
beta and Meg's unfailing ability to high
step, she finally sent it. Nice Meg,
nice. Even with the correct beta, Bum
Boy is still a reachy problem… All the
while we were working on this problem,
Danielle was doing an awesome job at
getting some footage for the DVD! It is
pretty weird for me though, I still
can't be natural in front of the
camcorder. I am only truly natural when
I don't know I am being filmed (of
course) or when I am really working a
problem. Anyway, HP40 is way cool.
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DATE:
June 2 |
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ENTRY:
Rocktown (Georgia) was a blast for the
few climbs we did before the storm! We
drove up this
switch-backing steep gravel road with
potholes all over the place (fun) and
then walked about
a mile to the crag. Did a little
climbing and then I spied out some intruders! Yup, 4 teenage
kids trying to sneak up on us (playing special forces or something). I told
them their cover was
blown and better luck next time. Anyway,
continued working on a nice little
problem that ends
with a slappin sloper (I think I am starting to feel that technique).
Finally I pulled it off.. it is such
a great feeling. All the while a mean
storm was sneaking up on us and we had
our SLR and
video gear with us, bad news bears. Very
easily we decided to get out of there
quick. I grabbed
up the rain sensitive equipment and
began to run back the mile to the car
(in flip-flops!, don't try
that at home, lol). It began to downpour
just before I got there but the gear was
ok. Meg and
Danielle were trailing with the crash
pad over their heads (crash pads are soo
versatile) but the
rain was kinda coming in from the side,
so they got soaked. I am pretty happy
about my car
having waterproof seats and flooring..
very nice on a trip like this. That just
about sums up that
entire destination :) |
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DATE:
June 1 |
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ENTRY:
Foster Falls (Tennessee). Time for a
little more sport climbing...and being a
little more scared once again. The route
was a 5.9b, first route of the day.
While I was climbing it I decided that I
wasn't really into sport climbing soo
much... let me tell you why: I was
leading it, which is fun except when
there is a tree just behind and below
you. I was not in the mood for getting
impaled that day. And it was hot, soo
hot that I was sweating profusely and my
hands were not staying chalked. Sweaty
hands on crimpers are not fun,
especially then. I did finally make it
without falling. What a relief. But don't worry you sport climbers... I
changed my mind about sport
climbing on the next route when the
'stakes' weren't soo high. |
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DATE:
May 30 |
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ENTRY:
Little Rock City (Tennessee). What a
cool place, the rock formations are very
cool. They also have a nice texture for
when you need that all important
friction. I was upset to find litter
here and there. Not cool at all. Access
is really in our hands. Respect what you
have. Anyway, I really enjoyed working
on this mean traverse. It was a V5 and I
had it pieced together, unfortunately we
ran out of time to finish it. Turns out
however that we were working the
traverse from finish to start! Oh well,
still a lot of fun. |
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DATE:
May 25 |
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ENTRY:
The Red (all sport except like 3
boulders) has some beautiful climbs.. my
favorite climb thus far is Crazyfingers
(juggy fingers
and hands and overhanging). Beautiful
weather as well, for the most part. The
last night there it rained and we had to
hit the
road in the morning so we threw in all
our camping gear wet and jetted, hoping
for drying weather in Nashville, TN. Oh ya...
before we got to the Red I did a great
job of getting us lost! I effectively
doubled the driving time needed. Meg and
Danielle were
asleep so they couldn't confirm my
action (I thought I was going the right way
but didn't realize otherwise until
wayyyyy too late.) Man it sucked. But
anyway, we made it and the Red was a good little sport climbing destination
so it was definitely worth it. |
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DATE:
May 21 |
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ENTRY:
Departure day for the Red River Gorge...
many thanks to Kirk and Wurst for the
good times ;).. hope to see you around
soon Nate G. and Eric. And all you guys
and girls who put on the New River
Rendezvous.. it was absolutely awesome!
You are all awesome. I will definitely
be coming around to the event next year
and any climber who hasn't been. I
suggest you roll that way. |
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DATE:
May 20 |
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ENTRY:
Ok, comp day.. I partied way too hard
the night before... god where is the
water and a little food! Thankfully I
regained my voice from the festivities
and a little sanity as well. I also
gained a huge sunburn on my back along
with those forearm cuts from toping out
during the comp. I thought I was going
to break my arm at one point as well. I
was on this cool problem called
(something birth) at Hawk's Nest...
starts out as this touchy, balancy
problem... then you have to 'birth' your
way out through
this little hole at the top where
another boulder becomes adjacent to the
one your on. Well if you can imagine
yourself coming out the whom and the
many contortions possible.. well, I was
like that (Kirk shot a lot of photos of
this failed birthing, dude you got to
email them to me!) and basically could
not get myself through. In this failed
process I ended up getting my left
arm stuck and I was pretty high off the
ground. I was soo scared! I was afraid I
was going to break my arm
and probably my ankle on the landing as
well. For a while I couldn't get myself unstuck and finally I just came down
somehow. Landed just fine but was so
freaked that I collapsed anyway and just lay there being soo happy to be
grounded and safe once again! Thanks to all the people trying to will me up
through that damn hole... next time I
will
own it, instead of the other way around!
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DATE:
May 19 |
ENTRY:
I checked out some bouldering with Eric
(from Go-Vertical) and Nate at Burnwood...
its got some pretty sick stone. Some
nice juggy overhangs... some not so
juggy overhangs... some technical
problems... my highest boulder problem
to date (pretty easy but i was using
about ten times more energy than needed;
i did not want to fall, it was high,
like really high..
and all we had was this little pad that
was basically a glorified carpet... Eric
knows what I mean) anyway. Some
good stuff. Hopefully more to come. |
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DATE:
May 18 |
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ENTRY:
Now we are at the New River Gorge and
its time for a little bit of
pre-party/comp relaxing and then a
great little Rendezvous to kick off our
trip! Hopefully this weather clears up a
bit though... this rain sucks... |
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DATE:
May 16 |
ENTRY:
Although I
really like NYC, I am no native... my
heart remains out in the realm of the
untainted Earth. Specifically connecting
my mind and body with a few boulders in
relative seclusion. With that said I was
soo siked to get the hell out of NYC for
a while and slow down the pace a bit.
And for 2 and a half months! what is
that?! I still can't believe it but ya,
its happening so I am sure I will be
seeing some of you out there on the
road!
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(The writings in these
blogs are our personal
views, not those of any of our sponsors,
so
please don't send them any nasty
emails!) |
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Favorite trip music:
Bloc Party
Favorite climbs:
"Bumboy" V4 (HP40)
"Crazyfingers" 5.10c
(Red River Gorge)
Favorite Snack:
Craisins
Sandwich:
PB & J (lots of both)
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