April - Climbing, kayaking and SKIING?

Skiing down Nuther Mother at Pajarito
Hiking up, just east of Chair 2

Me rappelling

Me, excited to rappel

Tiff on her rappel

Tiff getting prepared to rappel

Me in the pool session in Alb

Michael and I practicing in the pool

Michael practicing his paddle stroke

Spring in NM is a time of variety, as the weather could bring just about anything, and the last two weeks have proven this to be true again this year.

Easter weekend it snowed, and snowed and snowed. Climbing class was cancelled on Saturday so Sunday I went skiing (after church of course, it was Easter you know). Having only skinned up once before, during the MTR class I was thankful when I ran into Rachel Richard and her husband in the parking lot. We all skinned up Pussycat and then Rachel and I headed back down Nuther Mother, the snow was very heavy and turning was a challenge but it was nice and soft and deep when I fell. Rachel and I split up the second time and I went up and down Aspen (a little ipod action and the sun peaking out made it a really peaceful experience.

Friday April 17th it snowed like crazy again, we thought for sure climbing class (April 18th) was going to be cancelled again, and myself, Krista and Diana all have Plan B figured out to ski again. But as luck would have it, it cleared up and climbing class commenced. In fact it turned out to be a beautiful day. Class was extended until 3pm so that we could work on some of the things we missed the week before. We met at the Y climbing area this time. We had different stations set up to learn to Rappel, catch leader falls (with Ludwig, a 150 lb device that simulates the calling weight of a climber), placing and cleaning protection, and then just climbing. It was a lot of fun to try the different things out, and have a fuller experience in general. We ended the day with a beer and nachos with some of the instructors and other students.

Sunday, April 19th was a shift in directions. Michael Forster mentioned to me at one point that he would like to learn to kayak so that he could take advantage of the nice little play areas in the San Juan river near his house in Pagosa Springs. As you can probably guess you should never tell me you want to do something and expect me to just leave you alone about it (as Michael is finding out). So on Thursday I went to Alb and Michael and I went to a class on Intro to Kayaking, and met Kelly Gossett who recently brought his kayak instruction business to NM. I had found Kelly on the Internet and sent him an email with some questions, and he gave me a lot of great information. I think he will end up being an amazing resource. Sunday I met Michael in Alb again to do some pool instruction with Kelly. After nearly 3 1/2 hours we learned wet exits, and many useful paddling strokes. This class was to prepare us for the next class on the river (State Park on the Rio Grande), next week. Kelly has a wide variety of boats to try and more classes and trips to join. I am hoping that I can learn to roll, since that is this elusive skill that I was never able to conquer when Josh Smith was helping Tina and I learn to kayak so that we could go on our sea kayak adventure years and years ago.