Weird Water

Here we are on-top of Weird Water, a classic at Rushmore that offers a 140 feet of crystal climbing on an exposed granite face overlooking Highway 244. It was our first experience with motorist parking their cars to gawk, honk, and wave for our attention...a true rock-star moment.

We joined up with a local from Hill City (Chris) who helped us find/lead the climb.

Cheese Pizza

In an effort to curb our day-to-day expenses, we're limiting our drinking/dinning-out...cheese pizza with olives, a pretty solid meal to grill on the cheap-cheap. We're one step closer to becoming a self efficient van-dwelling unit.

Sarah wanted me to mention that her frazzled appearance is not the typical norm, but the result of hard climbing in the 80 degree heat and the late afternoon dip in a no swimming area on Horse Thief Lake.

Hangdogging

We've had a few questions regarding our blog address and its meaning.

Hangdog: to slowly work one's way up a climb, bolt by bolt, resting repeatedly and spending significant time hanging on the rope rather than climbing from the deck to the anchors without a rest or fall.....describes my climbing style pretty well. Sarah, on the other hand, has been climbing strong and all her previous work at NHRG really shows through as she's gripping the smallest crimps and placing her feet on the tiniest chips with resounding confidence and placement.

Gossamer

This climb is called Gossamer, a mixed route with both gear placements and bolts, it's located a mile behind the Mount Rushmore National Memorial. Sarah is pictured, just starting her rappel down. Despite being a sunny morning, the weather was cool and we were later shutdown due to rain....we're averaging more rainy days than sunny days in SD.

Here is another look at Gossamer, a really neat climb on a granite fin that follows the arete on the right and over the hollowed-out picture window.

Week 1 recap

Putting a few more stickers on Betty's rear end.

 

We would like to add a special thanks to Dana, Megan, & Jim S. for their help in creating the bed frame and mattress-stays, Craig and Stacy with the auxiliary battery and cooking supplies, Jeff and Shari for the power inverter, and Mark and Kathy & Jim and Faye for their help and support in making this sweet trip possible.

 

Adding the finishing touches on the van, our shelving unit. This is how Brent drills :)