The other half of break

Andi from Austria on the left and THE ANDY Reather on the right. We are at Red Rocks just outside Vegas and going to put some gear in the cracks! Andi was my main climbing partner while I lived in Salzburg, Austria a few years back. He is on the road living the dream and it was great to have a day cragging with him. Andy Reather is a good buddy and I wanted to visit him this winter. By the way Andy R still crushes rocks. That is all that I have to say about that.

Me on something fun and pumpy at the end of the day.

Andy R onsighting a sketchy 5.12 gear route. I was proud. My little Andy is growing up and plugging the gear into the rock with great skill and confidence! Kim is on the belay his wonderful lady!

Andi, Kim and Andy. It was a little nippy, but we survived, made it to three crags in one day and then destroyed some amazing pizza in town in the evening!

Andi from Austria taking care of business on some fun arete. This was the last route of the day and we were so tired from all the pitches and battling the cold.

piz : )

Turkey Day

Running the Turkey Trot along Cleveland Stadium along Lake Erie. There were about 6000 people running in the rain with us.

Ken, Jane and I at the start of the race. It was cold and wet. After the first block though I was too warm and had to shed my had and open the pit zips on my raincoat. Then, while next to the lake I had to put my hat back on because it was blowing so hard!

An Orchid on Jane's birthday : ) Kinda funny it is sitting on the columbine plate holder.

Jane and I after the race. She took third in her age bracket and I took 48Th. We both ran sub 8 minute miles during the 5 mile race. She beat me by a whole mile!

Prerace Jane. Getting in the zone or was it sleeping from arriving late the night before.
Then we went to my parents to see the rest of my family and do some eating and celebrating!

piz : )

Whew

Nelson and his boom. The Hilti box is a weight for the end that he steers, while the camera is on the other end floating in space.

Me, sitting at the base of the sandstone wall, with all my warm clothes on waiting to give the route another try. My feet are wrapped in a fleece and I have the warmest Arcteryx goodies on possible!

Nelson, taking care of business high above the valley floor in Cuchara, CO.

Dan and Nelson on the way back to the car. It was much nicer hiking out on a packed trail. I had them wear red, so I could find them if they got lost!

Well, suffer we did. Nelson forgot to tell Dan that he needed snow shoes and not snow boots, so at 6am saturday morning we left Nelson's and stopped at Dan's to pick up his pair. Three hours later we arrived at Cuchara, CO and saw lots of snow. Now it is at an elevation near 10,000 feet so we knew there would be some, but the approach was through three-four feet of the white stuff.

I broke trail and it wasn't one of the easier snowshoeing adventures that I have been on. At the cliff's base there was plenty of dry space to change out of my soaking wet clothes into the dry and warm stuff, I waited nearly forty minutes for the others to reach me.

Then it was time to climb the route for video and stills.

Take a peek at http://www.dangpix.com/peacock/index.html for Dan's photos and keep an eye on Deadpoint Magazine for a video of the day in the coming weeks.

The highlight of the day was taking the big whip from the last possible move on the route. I fell nearly the height of the wall only to be caught by Dan. I then booted him in the head as we came together in mid air just a few feet above the ground. Good times. The air temperature was around the upper 30's or even 40 so it was really perfect for climbing. I hung out in all my clothes while we changed angles for the cameras, but it really was quite pleasant out in the snow.

Thanks to Dan and Nelson for coming out to play.

Enjoy my photos and Dans and the 5 minute video short that Nelson and Chuck are putting together.

I am really glad that you have visited my blog.
Thanks and I hope to see and hear from you soon.
Rob Pizem

And last but not least, don't forget to check out my favorite sites:

http://www.scarpa.net
http://www.arcteryx.com
http://camp-usa.com
http://sterlingrope.com
http://ColoradoMountainJournal.com
http://www.wunderground.com
http://climbing.com
http://rockandice.com
http://deadpointmag.com
http://urbanclimbermag.com
http://andrewburr.com
http://ladzinski.com