Color Me Rad - Race Entry GIVEAWAY!!!!

Last minute GIVEAWAY!!!!!

I've got 2 free registration codes for the Color Me Rad race in Salt Lake City next weekend (June 22, 2013). If you are in the Salt Lake City vicinity and would like to run with me and my kiddo - ENTER NOW! I'll have the giveaway open til June 17th and pick 2 winners at midnight. Winners will be notified and will have until June 19th to register for the race. 

Since Rafflecopter sucks now, I'm going to do the giveaway the old fashioned way! Comment in the blog post if you'd like to enter! Additional entries for liking my facebook page, following my twitter account, liking Color Me Rad's facebook page, and following Color Me Rad on twitter and by tweeting the following "@climbrunliftmom is giving away 2 free race registration codes for Salt Lake City's @colormerad5k! ENTER NOW - http://bit.ly/11womi2". Comment once below for each item you've done. On June 17th at midnight I'll choose 2 winners from the comments using Random.org.  

A little about the race:

When Zoloft and balloon animals can't seem to raise your spirits, the best way to brighten your life is to run Color Me Rad 5K. 

Historically, running has only been acceptable when trying to escape the law, personal responsibility, the truth, and grizzly bears. 

Instead of running FROM something, get ready to run FOR something at this year’s Color Me Rad.  Run for the Hell of it.

Color Me Rad is coming to a town near you with a tsunami of color that'll make colored tears of joy run down your cheeks and will renew your will to live.

After 5K of color bombardment, we guarantee your outlook will be brighter, your boyfriend will be more affectionate, your girlfriend will be less needy, the hair on your head will grow back and the hair on your back will fall out, your black and white TV will turn into 720p HD (I know you w

ere hoping for 1080, but we organize races, we're not miracle workers), and your gray outlook will turn green like a spring morning.

You’ll start off with a shirt as pure and white as your grandpa's dentures and you'll soak up enough color while running to change your skin tone forever.  You'll wind up looking like a pack of skittles – just make sure not to “taste the rainbow.”

So cast your DYE and get red in the face from Color Me Rad, and not from the embarrassment of passing up on the run of a lifetime.

How it works:

Start out as clean as a newborn babe, and throughout the run, you'll coat your chaffing thighs with Color Bombs of blue, green,pink, purple, and yellow until your face, shirt, and body come out silk screened like a tie-dyed hippy on the other side.

Each section of the run adds a new explosion of color to your clean, painter’s palate until you cross the finish line into a final blitzkrieg of color. 

Beautiful Failure

As I type this I'm currently in migraine limbo, my eyes are strained and slightly painful, yet I've still got a smile on my face from this last weekend. It was a weekend of firsts for me. I attempted my first 14-er. And I also had my first experience with backpacking.

View from the drive in

Our weekend started off with the odds against us, which is actually the norm with most of my adventures with The Alpine Hack. We left home at around 12:30 am with about an 8 hour drive ahead of us. The destination was Mount Sneffels in Colorado. We arrived in Ridgway, CO at around 9:30 am, and after walking around town for a bit and stretching our legs from the long drive we continued the drive to the trail head.

Crossing one of the many log bridges on the approach

Photo courtesy of The Alpine Hack

The Alpine Hack - Professional Post-holer

After getting our packs loaded up and taking a few goofy pictures we started the hike up. Our plan was to hike into Blaine Basin and camp for the night. It's only a 3.2 mile hike but we figured with how sleep deprived we were it would take around 5 hours. Needless to say, we were pleasantly surprised to find we made it to camp in just 3 hours. After stripping off most of our sweaty clothes, grabbing a quick snack and refilling the water bottles we both practically passed out right on the spot before even getting camp set up.

View from camp in Blaine Basin

We managed to wake up long enough to set up camp and make dinner for ourselves while talking about the plan for the next day. The alarm was set for 3:30 am and we were passed out in the tent by 4:00 pm. The night was unfortunately less than peaceful. My Klymit sleeping pad decided to magically deflate leaving me extremely uncomfortable (note to self - invest in a RidgeRest). Thankfully my Teton Sports sleeping bag kept me super warm so it was only half miserable. Regardless, after a long, sleepless night when the alarm finally went off neither of us were ready to get up. We finally got up around 6:30 am and started up towards the North Buttress about an hour behind another party who were heading up the Snake Couloir.

Photo courtesy of The Alpine Hack

After some bushwhacking we made it to the snowfield. Looking up it looked like we still had so far to go, but when I looked back down and realized our tent was just a tiny speck it made me feel like we were at least making good time. My eyes had already been bothering me for a while from my contacts. I normally just wear glasses and hadn't worn my contacts in a good 2 months or more. I knew I needed to wear sunglasses though so the contacts would be necessary. Once the sun came out, my eyes started to hurt more and more and it gave me a pounding headache. Things were starting to become not fun, but I wanted to keep going because we were getting so close and I didn't want to let my partner down. Luckily, I have an amazing climbing partner who recognized how much pain I was in and said we should go back down.

My high point

Photo courtesy of The Alpine Hack

The hike back down wasn't too bad, we even practiced glissading and building snow anchors since I really had no experience with it. We got back down to the tent and realized that it was only 9:30 am and we actually cruised up to the point where we had turned around. After a quick snack and packing up camp we started the hike down. My eyes were feeling a little bit better because the sun was to our backs and once we got into the trees it was pretty shady. When we got back to the truck I took my contacts out and things seemed like they would be ok. However, on the drive out, my eyes started to hurt quite a bit again. We still decided to stop and grab a bite to eat and a few drinks at a dark place in town before our drive back to Utah. Upon walking out of the restaurant and into the sunlight I was instantly blinded and in excruciating pain. I decided right then that we would be paying the ER in Montrose a visit before leaving CO.

Looking back up... I will be back.

The ER doc diagnosed me with UV Keratitis and after a few rounds of (amazing) numbing eye drops and some pain meds I was sent on my way. I followed up with a local ophthalmologist the next morning and he concurred with the diagnosis and I got a lecture about proper sun protection for the eyes when at altitude. And after talking with my friend Melissa from Adventure Tykes she informed me that the cheap sunglasses I wore can actually be worse than not wearing sunglasses at all. Lots of lessons were learned from this trip, some were learned the hard way. It was a fantastic weekend up until the eyes bothering me though and the scenery was absolutely gorgeous so I can't really complain too much. My partner and I are already trying to figure out when we can make it back up there to try again. So hopefully you will have a successful trip report in the very near future!

Camping at The City of Rocks

I've recently teamed up some other outdoor bloggers to talk about our favorite campgrounds in North America. At the bottom is a list of links to other other bloggers favorite campgrounds. Maybe you'll discover someplace new!

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It’s nothing new to anyone who’s been reading my blog for any amount of time, but the City of Rocks in Idaho is one of my favorite places – anywhere. It’s just that awesome.  And not just for the climbing. Don’t get me wrong, the climbing is nothing short of SPECTACULAR  Traditional climbing, sport climbing and bouldering… All your climbing needs met in one place. But today I want to talk to you about just being at The City.

The City itself has always been a magical place to me. You drive through rolling brown hills filled with nothingness for a while and then, BAM! This amazing “city” of granite domes and other formations starts to come into view. As you get closer it just starts to look more incredible, and that incredible-ness is even no match for what you’ll see when you finally get into the park itself.

I suggest before heading into the reserve once you get to the area, you go into the quaint little town of Almo. Stop by the Visitors Center and chat with the rangers, pick up a map and learn a little bit about the amazing history of the place. After that, stop at Rock City and visit with the friendly ladies there while picking up any last minute items you may need. And if you don’t need anything, you may want to make plans to go back for dinner one night, their homemade pizza is literally one of the best pizzas I’ve ever had.

Now I should mention the camping... I’m not normally a fan of paid campgrounds; when I have the option, I’ll choose free BLM camping almost every time. The City of Rocks is one of the exceptions to this. Their campground is AMAZING. You basically have your own bouldering area right at your campground for only $12.72/night. And with the shrubs and rocks everywhere it really gives you a sense of privacy despite being a full blown campground. I highly recommend having a reservation before you head up there, because in the summer, it fills up fast. They have both pull in and walk in campsites available and you can make reservations easily online. And another side note - Weather can vary greatly up at The City so be prepared for all conditions. I've been through a blizzard in June there before. Expect the unexpected.

I’ve taken trips up there with my kids where we’ve done no climbing and between all the hiking, exploring and scrambling around we were never bored. There are incredible rock formations for your family to explore and the area is rich in history as well, with old writings from westward bound emigrants written in wagon wheel axle grease on some of the rock formations. My kiddos think the place was just as magical as I do and we get up there as often as we can. If you are in this area of Idaho I highly suggest checking this wonderful place out. You can follow the rangers at the Visitors Center on Facebook for daily weather updates and other awesome pictures and check out the City of Rocks National Reserve website for more info as well.

PS - Another little tidbit. Castle Rocks State Park is right next door to the City of Rocks and is equally amazing. There is a $5/day use fee at Castle Rocks, but you will not be disappointed if you head over there. Also, if you are in the area in September and you are a climber, trail runner or mountain biker, it would be well worth your time to check out the Idaho Mountain Festival as well :)

Outdoor Bloggers Other Favorite Campgrounds:

Family Adventures in the Canadian Rockies - The Best Provincial Park Campgrounds in Southern Alberta

Kid Project - Sandflats Recreational Area, Moab, UT

Brave Ski Mom - Best Campgrounds in North America: Western Colorado Edition

The Campsite - Top 5 Backcountry Campgrounds in Banff National Park

TravelingMel - Yellowstone Campground Review

Adventure Parents - Classic Campsites: Murphy Hogback Campground, Canyonlands National Park

Mommy Hiker - West Coast Campground Review - Sweet Summer Spots to Relax & Recharge!

Val in Real Life - North America's Best Campgrounds - Elkmont

GA Family Camping - Cloudland Canyon

Adventurous Moms - Dolly Copp Campground

Odyssey Outdoors - Best Family Campgrounds of WA

OurBoler - Best of West Coast Camping

The Kid Project - Climbing and Camping in Maple Canyon

Outsidemom.com  Our favorite campgrounds in the Western US

Indian Creek - Trip Report(s)

Spring of 2013 has started out with a bang. I have been lucky enough to sneak down to Indian Creek to climb for 3 weekends already. In those 3 weekends I have been able to catch up with some awesome friends, meet up with new friends and had gotten in some equally amazing climbing in. I feel like there was so much awesomeness that I should break it into 3 separate trip reports, but that's a whole lot of red rock to be dumping on you. So bear with me :)

Trip #1

The first weekend back down in the Creek for 2013 started out late. My friends Scott (The Alpine Hack) and Messa and I headed down late on a Friday evening. We were meeting up with a new friend that we had met ice climbing in Cody, WY this last winter and a few of his friends. After stopping for a quick break at Woody's Tavern in Moab (it was a long ride!) and getting lost while trying to discern the location of the campground on the note left for us, we finally pulled into camp about 2 am.

Camp for trip #1 (Photo by Messa Rasmussen)

After a rough night of sleeping in the car, we had a not-so-early start and headed over to Blue Gramma wall. We started on some fun little 10's that were the perfect warm up for the start of rock season. We had the most amazing crew of people; when we weren't climbing, it was nonstop laughter. After a day full of climbing we headed back to camp started early with the St. Patty's Day celebrations. The next morning we woke up early and headed up to Selfish wall, our friends had never been there and there was a route there I really wanted to try leading. After getting on a few stellar routes that I hadn't climbed before, I finally took the sharp end. Granted its a short, easy route, but I have been struggling with my lead head since the climbing accident last year. So when I made it to the top I was pretty stoked. 2013 was starting to look pretty damn good.

Cody reunion in the Creek!

Trip #2

The second trip was a tweet up of sorts. I had planned on meeting up with friends Terri (@rockmaven57) and Eileen (@rockgrrl) from twitter. Terri had done some virtual math tutoring with me via Skype and Eileen was my graphic designer for my awesome blog logo, so I didn't feel like I was meeting up with strangers at all. We arrived late again on Friday, but early enough that our friends were still awake and greeted us with a quick hug before heading off to their tents. My friends had seen pictures from my previous trip to Selfish wall and wanted to head that way themselves. So in the morning we packed up and headed out there. Luckily I was able to get on a few new routes that I had never done up there and was able to lead the same route I did last time, but this time I walked away with some amazing pictures of the climb!

(Photo by Terrell Berry)

(Photo by Terrell Berry)

The next day we ventured up to Way Rambo hoping to get on a few classics. I had my heart set on climbing Blue Sun and Way Nutter. After getting up there we realized there was a massive group of almost a dozen people and we realized there was no way we were getting on either of those routes. Luckily Rochambeau and The Fuzz opened up and I was pretty certain I could lead Rochambeau.... Until I seen the route. The girl leading it before us said something about wanting more #3's and knowing that's my least favorite size, I instantly decided that I would just top rope it. I was glad I did, it wasn't tough but it was awkward and kept pushing me out onto the face and out of the crack. After 2 days of climbing I was completely exhausted by the time I started The Fuzz and bailed at the slightly overhanging part (which I seriously regret.)

(Photo by Terrell Berry)

(Photo by Eileen Descallar)

Trip #3

This trip felt a little different than the others. I was finally feeling more confident and my lead head was coming back. We had planned to meet up with quite a few people but as it worked out, no one was able to come together. After listening to where other climbers were planning on heading in the morning back at camp we decided that Way Rambo might not be that busy and we'd have a good chance of getting on the routes I was denied last time. We were in luck! There was another big group up there, but this one was so friendly, they let us get on a couple routes they had strung and put our own ropes up after they were done. And two of those routes just happened to be Blue Sun and Way Nutter! And they were every bit as awesome as I thought they would be. Pretty sure my next creek trip will involve me leading Blue Sun, it was such an incredible route. For our last route of the day we decided to go do an easy, hidden chimney climb called Closed Course. Since it was so easy I decided I'd just lead it. I should add that this was my very first chimney. Ever. So it was quite interesting. Add in the 100 mph winds shooting through and it was downright terrifying at times. After climbing it twice (had to come down for more gear, bad beta) I finally decided I had had enough. I bailed bout 10 ft from the anchors. Luckily my friend Scott (The Alpine Hack) was still in the mood to climb and he finished it up for me. 

Blue Sun (Photo by The Alpine Hack)

Climbing up the chimney

The next day our friend Cara had met up with a few other friends, so Scott and I decided to take the day and head out to climb the South Six Shooter. I had been wanting to climb the Six Shooters since first seeing them on my Creek trip last fall. And having never climbed a tower, there was added motivation to tick one of them off my list. After getting semi-lost on the drive and losing the trail a few times on the hike up, we were finally there. Along with about 8 other people. Luckily 2 of those people were Beth & Forrest from 3UpAdventures! So while we were waiting we got the chance to chat with our new twitter friends (when Forrest wasn't off free soloing the first pitch, lol). Before the climb, I had actually decided I would lead both pitches since they were so easy and Scott wasn't feeling the greatest. After leading the first pitch and dealing with serious rope drag despite running out gear, I was kind of cranky. I muttered a few 4 letter words and handed over the rack to my partner. However, when I finally arrived at the summit and looked at the view, I realized all the trouble was worth it. No more crankiness. It was the perfect end to an amazing weekend.

Photo by The Alpine Hack

Yup. We climbed that :)

Smartwool Review (& Giveaway!)

Recently I've had the opportunity to review some items of clothing from SmartWool. I had heard and read many good things about the brand name but hadn't had the chance to try it out for myself until now. Must say... I'm a fan. I received a SmartWool Palisade Hoodie Sweatshirt and a pair of socks. The hoodie is made out of merino wool, which is super soft and not itchy like the old wool sweaters we have nightmares of from our childhood. The merino wool is also temperature regulating, moisture wicking and odor resistant.

Palisade Hoodie in action on a 

chilly Spring day in Little Cottonwood

The first day out wearing the sweater was actually in desert. Yes, the hot, sunny desert. Even though the day started out warm, I was glad to have it in my pack when the sun went behind the clouds and it started sprinkling. It kept me nice and toasty when it got chilly and the sprinkles of rain beaded up and rolled right off of it. At when the sun came back out and the wind picked up, I was still comfortable in it. Later that evening at camp it provided the perfect layer under a light puffy to keep me plenty warm. Could have happily worn the sweater all weekend! And FYI - the socks are pretty awesome too. Kept my feet warm at night and were super comfortable hiking in to climbs.

Nice and warm on belay in Indian Creek.

Photo credit: Messa Rasmussen 

After spending multiple days in the sweater climbing or just wearing out and about (because its just so darn cute) I have to say I've become a huge fan of SmartWool. Its super comfortable and technically does exactly what it claims to. My only "problem" is how wool in general washes. Even washing it in cold water and not putting it in the dryer, it shrunk. Luckily I had anticipated the problem and ordered a size up and everything is still fantastic. So that's just a thought when you're buying a SmartWool sweater for yourself. 

Head on over to Sierra Trading Post now for a chance to win a SmartWool product of your choice!

They also have 25% off all SmartWool products right now if you're not lucky enough to win! 

Check it out :)

You can find an awesome selection of SmartWool socks and clothing at Sierra Trading Post. 

The awesome folks at Sierra Trading Post provided me with SmartWool goodies free of charge. 

All opinions are 100% honest and my own.