Bishop Christmas Crush

We planned to avoid the snowy weather by driving South and avoiding the high elevation passes that were sure to delay us as we headed cross-country on a time limit. We left immediately after Joel's final and had to make it to my interview in Las Vegas less than 2 days later. Murphy's law held true, and just about everything possible went wrong. The giant red pickle van lost power only about 100 miles south of the cities. Was it broken? Was it out of gas? Was something frozen? We didn't know. The gas gauge was broken and it was -20; our calculated mileage was around 8mpg. We gambled optimistically and kept going. We then hit snow and ice storms through Kansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico and Arizona, stressing a bit as we saw about 30 cars in the ditch. We stopped at a truck stop to shower, I changed into my suit in the van, Joel de-Rocco-haired me with a tape roller as I rolled into my interview only 5 minutes late and on a few hours of quality van sleep. Maybe in retrospect, we might have planned it a bit differently. But, we made it, safe and happy, to Bishop, CA. We joined Team Minnesota in the Bishop Christmas Crush!!

Danette on "The Hulk," a super-classic 4 star boulder problem at the Happies that is really sweet. But hard.




Mike on Red Rum, his proj.











Lynn at the optimal angle to photograph Joel in the silly furry hat Danielle gave him on the problem next to Red Rum. I forgot what its called.











Trinh on The Cave Problem, V6. I loved this problem, and worked on it my entire time in Bishop, but never sent it. I've got some unfinished business; all the more reason to make a return trip to this beautiful place.

Joel, getting the butt spot on Kyle as he tries The Mandala, V12, his proj.















Alex flashing High Plains Drifter, V7, on her first day in Bishop.

Interview Trips

I heard someone refer to residency interview trips as our victory lap around the country for doing well in medical school. I suppose you could say that . . . the interviews were mostly relaxed and low-key and I did get to visit some really cool places and mix a bit of business and pleasure. Here is Lisa, one of the British girls I climbed with during my one-day stop in Hueco. She is proving that short people can indeed do the first move on Babyface, though maybe not the second.

This is Hueco, the cutie pie little pup that George, one of the guys staying at the Rock Ranch this season, adopted. He has the exact same shape, pencil tail and giant bat ears as Rocco when he was a baby. Awww.

My first look at the amazingly majestic Yosemite Valley. Someday, someday, I will climb these granite behemoths. First, I've got some work to do on my weak sauce crack climbing skills.










The boulders, too, were awesome. I didn't actually see anybody bouldering at the Camp Four boulders, which kind of surprised me because there were a lot of tents. So, I had to boulder sans-pad on the short ones so as not to re-break myself. But, I'll be back . . . mwahaha.







I think this may be the first time ever in my life that I've taken a picture of a rainbow and it has actually showed up in the picture. This is Yosemite Falls, which I hiked up to when I got bored of bouldering by myself with no crash pad. It is absolutely beautiful and gives you some amazing views of the valley, especially Half Dome.



Portland, Maine is a really, really cute and picturesque little city. Really, with all the cobbles and tranquility, its hard to imagine a crime being committed there. Which makes it probably not the ideal place to train for Emergency Medicine. However, I think it would be a fun place to live. The residents all have Maine Medical Center biking jerseys and go on long rides twice a week. They pride themselves on being the happiest residents in the nation. It would be a fun group of people to train with.

I mean, really, is this even real? It looks like a painting. Or a postcard. I think my mom would paint a lot more if she lived in Maine.

Winter at Sandstone

It was a sunny, snowy November day at Sandstone. About 25 degrees. Climbing weather, right? I did boulder with my socks on and my wingers were just a bit chilly, but we had a great time. I was afraid the little Rocco man would fall through the thin ice, though. He really did not understand about the ice, even when it was cracking.



Shirtless on the river boulder, Joel tries voraciously to prove that Minnesota really is seasonless in its incredible climbability.











Me, with my 4 toplayer, two bottom layers and socks in my climbing shoes. A little more of a freeze baby. Or a seasonal realist, see it as you will.

The Amazing Case

The Amazing Case is a sweet urban treasure hunt/pub crawl sponsored by Summit brewing company. Janet and I did it two years ago with her brother and sister in law and had a ton of fun. This time, we were back in business with our team, the "Cheesy Poofs." My bro, Derek, Janet, Mitch and I ran from bar to bar and did various challenges ranging from pole dancing to pin the tap on the keg. There was also a photo scavenger hunt where the boys got a Hooters girl while Janet and I coaxed the valet at a fancy hotel to let us in to photograph some fancy cars.

We had a great day and made it successfully to the finish line. I should have stopped drinking a little bit earlier, though, because I was hurting the next morning at work. Also, I hadn't thought about the fact that it was night and I had biked there, leaving my car at my brother's house. Which I was far too drunk to drive. Luckily, Joel went to get my car and pick me up!

Tracy came out to meet us at the finish line and celebrate.

Halloween Comp

Lynn as "Dot" in the first annual Halloween Costume Comp at Lynn and Kris's wall. Kris set a ton of awesome problems for the comp and we had an absolutely perfect day for it.












Jess and Trinh (the Asian beetle).

















Rocco as the cutest little dinosaur monster ever.






The wall may not have won the "best woody" contest in Urban Climber, but it is surely way cooler than most of the ones I have ever seen. Or the ones that won for that matter, although apparently painting clouds on it makes it better.

"Hula Joel" did win best costume with my bikini top on.














And my M&M costume was awfully hard to climb in. But the day was super fun!! If I'm not in MN next year, I'll have to try to come back for the tradition . . .

Med II, My Last Rotation!

Whoo hoo!! I am done with medical school! It has been a long haul, occasionally rough but mostly pretty fun. Inventing the exclamation point t-shirt, though, might have been an easier way to make money and make people feel better. My last rotation was half ICU, which was fun because to try to manage the Uncle George's that come in and still kind of overwhelm me when I see them in the ER. I got to practice breaking down their problems into manageable problems. Working in the ICU makes you REALLY not want to be full code, after seeing so much money and resources be spent on patients with a maximum of 6 months left to live. The thing is, it is great to be able to prolong life. But medicine can't fix everything and ultimately, you have to accept death. And I don't want a tube down my throat so I can stay in the ICU for thousands of dollars a day too doped up to be conscious of my last 6 months of life. I'd rather accept death. I know I can't make that decision for everyone, but I do know that its frustrating when you try to ask patients' families if they are full code and they get all offended, like you are telling them that their grandmother's life isn't worth saving. I want very much for their grandmother to live, but the fact is she's going to die soon. I may be able to give her a short artificially prolonged indian summer of life before death, but . . .

Fall Climbing

Newly legal, Sandstone is some of the best bouldering in MN. Some of the boulders are located on private land and access is a bit tenuous, but how can you help but get obsessed with these sweet lines? Here is Lynn on a cool V5ish problem.

Me on the same problem, I don't know the name. The area can be kind of wet and mossy, but its really beautiful.



Here's Joel on the 30 degree wall. The wall itself isn't especially photogenic, but look at the gorgeous forest you are climbing in!!











Here's Lynn on our favorite proj, Pocket Hercules, V8. So good.















Brotherman at Taylor's Falls, tearing it up.



















He's more powerful than I am at bouldering for sure. If he worked on a little finger strength, he'd outclimb me one of these days ;)













Rocco at Willow River State Park, one of his favorite places second only to Hueco Tanks and Petie's house. He can smell when we're getting there, he huffs his little nose in the vent and when he figures out where we're going, he stands up and gets all psyched.






Jess at Sandstone on the warm up boulder.

















Lynn and Jess hiking in on the beautiful banks of the kettle river.