Wednesday 8 June 2011
Fly to France. Weather is ordinary in Calgary so I forget about spending the morning wandering around the city and just stay in the airport until my flight leaves. Connect through Frankfurt with only a 2 hour layover, so most of the time is on the plane.
Thursday 9 June 2011
Arrive Lyon 10am. Catch shuttle to Grenoble and meet Clay at the bus station (gare). Have lunch at a nice restaurant with him and a work colleague, who doesn't speak a word of English, then we go back to his work site and I help him install a lift. It's a very fine-tuned process with exacting standards, and interesting work. Move some furniture around in preparation for the arrival of the family members for the wedding. We need three air mattresses at the new apartment, which will house all the Australians (Clay, Kelly, Mum and cousin Shane), and the Mexicans will stay at the old apartment (Katya, her mother Esther, her sister Soe, and Soe's Italian boyfriend Jean-Franco. Clay's new apartment has some wonderful views of the mountains, and much more space than the old apartment. Nearby is a huge Carrefour shopping centre and a couple of good patisseries / boulangeries, as well as a small park. I think it will be a good location for raising the baby.
Friday 10 June 2011
Drive to Paris with Clay and Katya to pick up Mum, Kelly and Esther (Katya's mum) from Charles De Gaulle airport tomorrow. Arrive in Paris late evening, and check in to the Ibis hotel at the airport. Have dinner there also. The train station is right down stairs from the hotel, and we can take the inter-terminal train to terminal 2 to collect Mum and to terminal 3 to collect Esther. Much easier than driving to each terminal and trying to park.
Saturday 11 June 2011
Go to one terminal to pick up Mum. Clay wasn't expecting Kel to come, so he was pleasantly surprised when she arrived with Mum. Have to go to another terminal to get Katya's mum. Take a bus to the Arch de Triumphe and have lunch in a cosy restaraunt. Drive back to Grenoble and settle in; the Mexicans in Katya's old apartment and the Australians in the new apartment.
Sunday 12 June 2011
Big brunch at the old apartment. Clay's Spanish is quite good so he's able to talk to Esther reasonably well, with a little help from Katya now and then, and Kelly knows a bit of the language also. Climb with the 2 Julians and another friend Olivier. The climbing here is just as I rememeber it; polished and hard! Hopefully we cqan check out some different areas for climbing while we're here.
Monday 13 June 2011
Shopping for a suit for Clay, and a France SIM for me. Katya, Mum and kelly also bought new clothes and shoes. Played a great new card game called "Bohnanza" (originally a German game) that everyone back home will love. I'll have to try and get a set.
Tuesday 14 June 2011
Shane arrived from London for the wedding. We took Mum up to Chartruse to see the mountains and monastary museum. Katya's sister Soe and her boyfriend Jean-Franco arrived late in the night from Barcelona.
Wednesday 15 June 2011
Climb at Le Coup de Sabre area in the Vercors. Onsight 'Surprise Sur Prises' 7a. Really interesting limestone formation, with lots of flat ledges and sloping features. The rock here tends to be layered in sloping beds, so the ledges aren't horizontal. This makes for interesting upward progression because you are fighting the slope and the subsequent barn-door that threatens seemingly at every step.
Thursday 16 June 2011
Drive around Grenoble and visit some more tourist sights. Old church etc. Lunch out with everyone. Practice speaking French by ordering coffees and asking for a knife, etc. I'm not really remembering much French that Clay is teaching me, but there are a few phrases and words I can manage to get out on accasion.
Friday, June 17, 2011
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Canada
Monday 23 May 2011
Climb at the Pit with Patty, Mike and Matt Laessig. Send "Excalibur" 5.12c first go, so 5 shots or so over 2 days. Loving the slyle of climbing at the Pit, but it will be good to get to other areas and improve at different styles. I don't want to become a climber who can only perform on a certain rock type, and who gets freaked out on others.
Tuesday 24 May 2011
Plan to leave for Canada today, but synching the iphone to itunes on my laptop for the first time has created problems. I seem to be locked completely out of the phone (reset to factory settings after backing data up and installing new update.), and AT&T are no help. Seems like I need to get the phone unlocked (jailbreak) from its Australian factory restrictions again so it will work with a US SIM.
Wednesday 25 May 2011
Spend the beautiful day playing frisbee golf with a bunch of the Flagstaff locals and lounging by the pool at the country club. What a great lifestyle! I've never been good at the whole "walk in and pretend you belong even though you don't have a membership" thing, so I just kept my head down and followed the others in. We never got bothered, and an evening spent by the pool was perfect.
Thursday 26 May 2011
Continue to try to fix phone problems. Eventually get a T-Mobile prepaid phone until I can get the iphone unlocked. Ditch AT&T prepaid SIM. I'll try to get the iphone unlocked in Salt Lake City (only city big enough on my way North to have a service who unlock iphones) on my way to Canada.
Friday 27 to Monday 30 May 2011
Leave Flagstaff for Canada. Drive over 4 days, through northern Arizona, Utah, the east end of Ohio, Montana, and then up into Alberta Canada. Got iphone unlocked in Mormon town Salt Lake City. The locals I spoke to didn't have much to say in favour of the more hardcore LDS proponents! After the desert of Arizona and Utah, Ohio and Montana were mainly farming with a bit of forest and mountain thrown in.
Lots of little oil wells peppering the landscape of northern Montana. I had a few visa issues (on the US side) entering Canada but, once through, it was reset the GPS to metric and drive baby drive. Its not far from the border to Calgary, and my friends like close to the city. Catch up with Rich and Giselle at their wonderful house in Cochrane Alberta. Only 40 mins outside of Calgary and a nice little town.
Thursday 2 June 2011
Head over to Canmore to check out the climbing scene. Went to the Canadian Alpine Club and asked about local climbing, and at a local gear shop. Posted notices and got a couple of names. Went to the bouldering gym and had a session by myself, but it was pretty quiet.
Friday 3 June 2011
Supposed to climb with a French guy who had a notice posted around town looking for climbing partners, but he bailed. So looks like another day sitting around watching it rain! I'll just go down to Canmore tomorrow anyway, and if he bails again I'll just look at the crags for partners. How hard can it be in such a popular area?
Saturday 4 June 2011
Climb at Grassi Lakes near Canmore Alberta, with Edmonton crew Wallace, Sheelah, Zoe, Dan and Anthony. The Frenchy bailed again, but luckily I found some friendly people to climb with. Try to onsight a 12a, but fell on last hard move. Found the limestone climbing there a bit harder than down in the States. Camped in Banff National Park at Two Jacks campground with the Edmonton crew. Banff and surrounds is so amazingly beautiful!
Sunday 5 June 2011
Climb at "Back of the Lake" area near Lake Louise in the Banff National Park, with the Edmonton crew.
The quartzite rock here seems to suit my style pretty well. Onsight a 12a, and get very close to onsighting a 12b. Climb a cool but hard and scary 12c ("Dynomite") with 3 falls. Hard 2nd clip that would put you on the ground if you blew it with rope out. I fell higher up, and a tight belay put me into a roof lip and caused some nasty shin pain. I guess good climber-belayer dynamics are formed over time!
Tuesday 7 June 2011
Cook San Choy Bow for Giselle and Rich. Last night in Cochrane before flying over to France. Unfortunately the wedding coincides with Logan and Rob's trip to Ceuse, and it looks like I won't be able to participate in both. I would have loved to see Ceuse, but it may have to be a different trip.
Climb at the Pit with Patty, Mike and Matt Laessig. Send "Excalibur" 5.12c first go, so 5 shots or so over 2 days. Loving the slyle of climbing at the Pit, but it will be good to get to other areas and improve at different styles. I don't want to become a climber who can only perform on a certain rock type, and who gets freaked out on others.
Tuesday 24 May 2011
Plan to leave for Canada today, but synching the iphone to itunes on my laptop for the first time has created problems. I seem to be locked completely out of the phone (reset to factory settings after backing data up and installing new update.), and AT&T are no help. Seems like I need to get the phone unlocked (jailbreak) from its Australian factory restrictions again so it will work with a US SIM.
Wednesday 25 May 2011
Spend the beautiful day playing frisbee golf with a bunch of the Flagstaff locals and lounging by the pool at the country club. What a great lifestyle! I've never been good at the whole "walk in and pretend you belong even though you don't have a membership" thing, so I just kept my head down and followed the others in. We never got bothered, and an evening spent by the pool was perfect.
Thursday 26 May 2011
Continue to try to fix phone problems. Eventually get a T-Mobile prepaid phone until I can get the iphone unlocked. Ditch AT&T prepaid SIM. I'll try to get the iphone unlocked in Salt Lake City (only city big enough on my way North to have a service who unlock iphones) on my way to Canada.
Friday 27 to Monday 30 May 2011
Leave Flagstaff for Canada. Drive over 4 days, through northern Arizona, Utah, the east end of Ohio, Montana, and then up into Alberta Canada. Got iphone unlocked in Mormon town Salt Lake City. The locals I spoke to didn't have much to say in favour of the more hardcore LDS proponents! After the desert of Arizona and Utah, Ohio and Montana were mainly farming with a bit of forest and mountain thrown in.
Red Canyon Utah
Border crossing
view of the Rockys
Lots of little oil wells peppering the landscape of northern Montana. I had a few visa issues (on the US side) entering Canada but, once through, it was reset the GPS to metric and drive baby drive. Its not far from the border to Calgary, and my friends like close to the city. Catch up with Rich and Giselle at their wonderful house in Cochrane Alberta. Only 40 mins outside of Calgary and a nice little town.
Thursday 2 June 2011
Head over to Canmore to check out the climbing scene. Went to the Canadian Alpine Club and asked about local climbing, and at a local gear shop. Posted notices and got a couple of names. Went to the bouldering gym and had a session by myself, but it was pretty quiet.
Friday 3 June 2011
Supposed to climb with a French guy who had a notice posted around town looking for climbing partners, but he bailed. So looks like another day sitting around watching it rain! I'll just go down to Canmore tomorrow anyway, and if he bails again I'll just look at the crags for partners. How hard can it be in such a popular area?
Saturday 4 June 2011
Climb at Grassi Lakes near Canmore Alberta, with Edmonton crew Wallace, Sheelah, Zoe, Dan and Anthony. The Frenchy bailed again, but luckily I found some friendly people to climb with. Try to onsight a 12a, but fell on last hard move. Found the limestone climbing there a bit harder than down in the States. Camped in Banff National Park at Two Jacks campground with the Edmonton crew. Banff and surrounds is so amazingly beautiful!
Sunday 5 June 2011
Climb at "Back of the Lake" area near Lake Louise in the Banff National Park, with the Edmonton crew.
The quartzite rock here seems to suit my style pretty well. Onsight a 12a, and get very close to onsighting a 12b. Climb a cool but hard and scary 12c ("Dynomite") with 3 falls. Hard 2nd clip that would put you on the ground if you blew it with rope out. I fell higher up, and a tight belay put me into a roof lip and caused some nasty shin pain. I guess good climber-belayer dynamics are formed over time!
Tuesday 7 June 2011
Cook San Choy Bow for Giselle and Rich. Last night in Cochrane before flying over to France. Unfortunately the wedding coincides with Logan and Rob's trip to Ceuse, and it looks like I won't be able to participate in both. I would have loved to see Ceuse, but it may have to be a different trip.
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