If there was a heaven on earth...

it would probably look like this.

Photo by Adrian

I've been back in the US for about a week and a half now, and it sure feels great to be home!  I flew back to the US from Taipei via LAX, and got to see Seb and Caty again for a couple of hours.  Apparently Caty had been on a boat circling around the Pacific for about the same amount of time as my Beijing trip, learning about microbes in different areas of the ocean.  I can't imagine being out at sea for more than 30 days though, I would probably get really seasick.

Following LAX, Max and I had planned to meet up at the DEN airport to go climbing in Utah.  I had no phone with me, so we had to rely on a little bit of luck and our reliable flight schedules.  We were glad to have found each other within the hour.  I was somewhat delirious when I first saw him.  Aside from speaking to Caty and Seb for a few hours, I really hadn't spoken in English for a while.  Plus, I was jet lagged from my trans-Pacific flight and didn't sleep much in Pasadena.  Caty and Seb even wanted to take me to the climbing gym that night, but I had to politely tell them that I was REALLY tired.

How tired was I from my flight?

Well, I passed out like a sack of potatoes the instant I sat in the rental car.  The drive to Moab was around 6 hours, which Max did on his own.  I really didn't remember a thing.  One time, I woke up briefly, and mumbled something to him.

Did you just talk to me in Chinese?  He asked.
Oops, I totally did.  I'm glad I didn't even remember what I said.

The first night, I went to bed at sunset (around 8:30 or 9), and Max still managed to get up before me in the morning.  He likes to sleep outside just in a sleeping bag, while I snooze in his tent.  (This also coincided with the one time that I dutch-oven-ed him in my sleep while we were sharing a tent last summer).  Regardless, what we woke up to in the morning was a scene so beautiful, it looked something along the lines of this.

Photo by Adrian

You will get to see more of the climbs from our trip in the slide show that we are having this Sunday at his place.  So I'm not going to get into all the details of what we climbed.  I just have to say that the first day we climbed a 4-pitch tower at Castleton (North Chimney, 5.9-), and I was REALLY winded just from the approach.  Apparently Max timed us and said it took us about 30 min., but it felt like 2 hours to me.  Despite of making a lot of effort to stay alert, I almost nodded while belaying Max on the second pitch of the climb.  My body was screaming for rest and I resisted.

The second and third day, we climbed at the famous Indian Creek.  People are really friendly at the crags and would lend each other trad gear, because one would need somewhere along the lines of seven BD #1s just for one crack climb.  I couldn't really practice crack at the gym in Beijing, so I struggled up most of the climbs that Max cruised up (since he would do 10 laps around the one at Metro crack, crazy).

We also met up with my buddy Adrian and his friend Carlos on the third day at the Creek.  Adrian came all the way from Oakland and met up with Carlos in Colorado and drove down on the awesome 1989 Hwanda Civic.  I had told Max about Adrian from a long time ago, and he was really looking forward to meeting him in person.  I had also seen photos from Adrian's climbing trip at Bugaboo with Carlos, and was looking forward to meeting another fellow trad climber.  My little circles of friends seem to be slowly becoming a bigger circle.  I should make a diagram out of it. 

Photo by Adrian - Carlos leading Coyne Crack (5.11+)

I really welcomed Adrian and Carlos's arrival.  Carlos brought a Coleman stove and was making breakfast burritos in the morning.  I drooled all over their food until they got uncomfortable and kindly asked me if I wanted some.  So shameless, RM.  What can I say, we ate PBJ for the last few breakfasts and lunches.  They also made a yummy dinner at the campsite that night, which I was grateful for.  Dinner was an amalgamation of nutritious deliciousness: sauteed asparagus and zucchinis, spicy sausage from Colorado, and pasta coated with some scrambled eggs.  Add a little bit of olive oil, salt, and pepper:and there you have it - it was definitely the best meal I had for the last few days. 

On the last day of our climbing trip, we parted ways with Adrian and Carlos and headed over to Ancient Art at Fisher Towers.  Max is becoming obsessed with spires and I was glad to go along with it, though I seem to be a bit afraid of heights.  Not for Max, he climbed buildings before he climbed towers.  The higher, the better. 

Google search Ancient Art at Fisher and you will find a series of images with people on top of the 'corkscrew.'  The experience, even from a belaying perspective on my end, runs a gamut of emotions ranging from being cautious, nervous, fearful, somewhat nauseating, almost close to death, then exhilarating.  This is because before going up to the corkscrew, one must pass over the 'diving board', which is a long, skinny traverse with steep drops on both sides.  Imagine being on a gymnastics beam except that the ground is at least 500 ft. below you on both sides.  Max thought that he was going right across the diving board, but I saw he instantly sat down  and humped his way across.  I don't think I have never been so nervous for him before.

Then from the peak of exhilaration while standing at the top of the corkscrew, you come back down to fear very quickly when the wind picks up a few knots and it feels like you are about to be blown off the corkscrew with a few old pitons and slings holding you, and possiblly a pendulum fall with at least a 40 ft. swing.  Mind you, I watched all of this from the belay anchor on the 'safe end' of the diving board, I didn't even want to toprope the last 30 ft.  I was empathetic enough from watching Max's movements that the climb was scary as shit.

After rapping down to the ground, Max and I gave each other our usual 'yay we did it!' hug.  I gave him a long, tight hug.  I was sincerely worried for his safety, and was glad that he was unharmed.

It was all going to be fine again. 

Tomorrow, we will forget the fear we had up at the tower.  It will become memories of accomplishments.  And we will continue to experience new forms and textures, new emotions, and greater heights.