Professional development and a road trip? Yes please!

In my quest to become a real adult I have realized that the nomadic lifestyle can only last so long.  This spring I decided to work on continuing my professional development and get in a nomadic roadtrip at the same time.  In the future I am hoping to get a more full-time position as an outdoor educator and having an AMGA certification would certainly help out.  So off to J-Tree I went to take my Single Pitch Instructor course.  

J-Tree evening climbing

One of my main climbing buddies, Keith met me down there and took the course with me.  I've been climbing for over seven years now and this was my first actual professional development course.  I started climbing with Colgate University's outdoor education program, so learning within an institutional setting definitely taught me good some practices, but it has been a while since I was a staff member there!  The course was a incredibly beneficial and requires one to learn a lot of new techniques in just three days.  Luckily I was knowledgeable on the basics, and most of the skills were just putting a bunch of various tricks together to accomplish rescues or build various anchors.  This made the course run pretty smoothly for both Keith and I.  That's a good thing too, because though the AMGA recommends six months between the course and the assessment I was doing them only a week apart.  

Keith stoked on Ball Bearings, The Real Hidden Valley

After the course in J-Tree, Keith and I drove all over the west climbing (actually really just practicing for the assessment!), visiting friends, and getting denied from Vegas clubs.  We climbed a half day the Monday after our weekend SPI course and then headed to Vegas for the NCAA championship game.  Living in small towns all winter, Vegas was a huge change.  Keith and I got all dressed up and were ready to hit the town, we even had on fancy button down shirts!  My team won the game and off to the clubs we went.  Apparently dirtbags aren't allowed in Vegas clubs though… at least not while wearing approach shoes. Who knew that there was a dress code for clubs?  Not Keith and I! 

SPI practice in Red Rocks

With our Vegas experience not being what we expected, we climbed another short day at Red Rocks then got back behind the wheel and headed to Mammoth Lakes, CA to meet up with a friend from Alaska.  We were amazed by the beauty of the Sierras and definitely glad to be back in the wilderness instead of the big city.  We found a sweet little crag with a killer view of the Sierras and got in some more SPI assessment practice.  Then back to the road and a tour of the west with a long drive from California to Denver. 

Sierras from the Brenton Crags

Must return for the alpine rock!

One last practice day in Boulder Canyon and it was assessment time!  I took my SPI assessment with the Colorado Mountain School and spend the weekend showing my competence in the material I had just learned the weekend before.  My assessment leaders were surprised I had just taken my course and I could tell they were apprehensive about it, but the weekend went well.  In two weeks I flew out to J-Tree, took my course, drove 2500 miles through the west, completed the assessment and am now a certified AMGA Single Pitch Instructor!  Next step in the Rock Instructor… once I have the $2000+ it requires...  Keith and I finished up the roadtrip with a snowy drive back north to Montana.  Two busy days there we spent packing gear, mounting skis, seeing friends and then it was time to get back on the road.

Not psyched on fresh snow for the 10 hour drive

Keith was staying in Montana, so the next road trip would be a solo effort.  A long one too, as I was driving up to Alaska for the Mount Huntington trip and work for the summer.  The truck was packed with Christian's gear, basically everything I own and even some of the girlfriend's stuff, and then I was headed North to the Future.  Four days on the road through the snowy Canadian Rockies, past the massive ice flows of the Icefields Parkway melting in the sun, dodging moose and jack-knifed semis alike and I was back home in Seward.  A great way to finish up my winter season.  And now its all about gear and food preparation for the Mount Huntington expedition! 

Curtain Call still standing

The Shooting Gallery. Site of my coldest ice day ever.