A few weeks ago I went to Colorado for the first time! We (and by that I mean Chris, his sister, and his dad) drove to Ouray [pronounced your-ay] on a Wednesday. We stopped to get dinner at a run down Mexican restaurant and apparently, I was convinced that sitting in the car for six hours would make me starving so I ordered a ginormous meal. I ate half of it and the rest sat in the car...and then the fridge...and then, after a few bites, the trash can. But I digress.
Last summer Chris asked me if I wanted to go ice climbing during the winter. I jokingly said that I would if we were still dating. Ha. Chris' dad has some doctor friends who are ice climbing junkies so they get a big group together and go every year. So I added my newbie self to the mix. Once we got to Colorado, our days looked like this: Wake up. Eat a huge breakfast that we didn't have to prepare. Ice climb. Eat lunch. Ice climb. Come back. Play hearts until our hands our shaky and we can't grip our cards. Sleep. Repeat. After the second morning, my body was like
"whaaaaat are you doooing to meeeeeee." Maybe I should've trained or something? We took a fancy camera with us but once we got to the climbing area, we realized we left the memory card. In Utah. So iPhone photos it was! Enjoy the over filtered, pure high quality snapshots ;)
^setting up. felt utterly useless during this part but i was more than happy to leave the tying/knotting of our lifesaving ropes to the experts.
^yay for doctor friends :)
^Friday morning was crowwwded. It's hard to tell but there are ropes going down about every six feet. the little red person at the top is Chris!
It's terrifying feeling like the only thing preventing you from dropping 80 feet are your two axes and crampons. Yes, there's a rope you're dangling from and it's similar to rock climbing and rappelling but
...it's different! My form was all over the place but somehow, I made it to the top on multiples routes. Only took me fifty years but I was still pleased with myself. When Chris saw the giant purplish-green bruises on my knees, he explained to me yet again that I wasn't supposed to bang my knees against the ice. Logically, I knew that but mentally, I needed to know that something other than two little axes and flimsy crampons were supporting all of my weight.
^the awkwardness is tangible.
^Chris doing a mixed route. thanks to global warming, there wasn't as much ice this year but that didn't stop people. nope, not at all.
^it's a pretty good feeling to get to the top. just saying.
^Colorado, you are beautiful.
^just a few photos of Ouray. such a little, quaint touristy town with laid back hours ;)
Overall, it was a great trip! Despite the stress and mountain of homework I came home to, it was worth it. And although I don't think it will become my passion, I'm excited for next year!
