Ouray Ice Fest Ladies' Weekend

Dana Richardson, a friend from Boulder, recruited Sarah, Tracy, and I to volunteer for her at the Ouray Ice Festival this weekend. While we thought we might actually have to work, she had in mind for us to hang out, socialize, smile, and participate in the myriad fun ice fest activities. And fun we had! She treated us to a hotel, great food, and introductions to many new fresh faces. Not one of us did a single pitch of climbing, but we still had a blast.

Sarah Selling, Dana Richardson, Tracy Wilson, and I on Saturday hanging out in the AAC booth. It was sunny and warm!

Tracy and I.

New friends Stephen Koch and Vijay Vsomething (turns out Stephen knows my folks-small world).

Dancers at the Saturday night Petzl/Arc'Teryx party. I actually stayed up and danced until 1:30am, way past baby's bedtime.

I ran into an old friend from Bozeman, Whit Magro. His wife Kimberly is also preggers, due about 4 weeks after me!

Dana working (it) at the door. It was a beach themed party, hence the costumes below...


Some were great,



Some were amusing,


Some were goofy,

And some were just utterly tasteless. This guy initially entered the party sans the black pants, but the bouncer at the door took his job VERY SERIOUSLY and made him clean up his costume. Luckily, I only saw him after the bouncer met with him. (Tracy, send me the REALLY tasteless costume photo and I'll post it.)

Sarah and T relaxing post "work", pre party.

Pretty icicles hanging off of our hotel balcony.

Tracy is always cold and likes to walk around dressed like the Pillsbury Dough Boy. Here she shows that she is wearing 7 layers: sport top, wool tank, wool long sleeve, 2nd wool long sleeve, soft shell, down jacket, synthetic puffy jacket. It was 35 degrees outside. We still love her.

Happy volunteers.

It's a . . . . .!!

It's a Baby!! With two arms AND two legs! And hands! And feet with very tiny toes attached!! And two eyes and a nose (despite the fact that I dreamt it was nose less) and a mouth that opens and closes. We shielded our eyes when she measured the femurs so we wouldn't see the goods--that took A LOT of will power. Later, when she was working near that same area, the kid conveniently was grabbing its own package as if to hide it ("Sorry, mom and dad, you have to wait to see!"). So far, everything looks good and we'll get the official report later this week. My due date will stay the same, April 11th, as the sizes of everything today matched up with the date we had.

A perfect little footprint.

The munchkin's profile--eyes, nose, mouth, neck, and chest.

Mike and I went elk hunting from dawn to dusk on Saturday and saw nothing but prints. Mike saw two deer within about 25 yards and was VERY tempted to shoot one. The thought process went... I should shoot this deer, but I can't tag it. No tag means no getting it butchered. I don't have a garage to hang it in but I suppose I could put a tarp on the carpet in the living room...but Joy would probably then have ME butchered..." So we have no meat. Bummer, next year we will also have deer tags! We saw elk tracks everywhere as well as lion tracks. Mike had been out in the same area nearly every day last week after work and there were many lion tracks on top of his boot prints. I was glad to have a large caliber rifle in my hands. The area also happens to be a place where I trail run often, alone, and with headphones. I might think twice next time (or at least bring a slower friend with me).

Maybe the reason we didn't get anything is because I...

...like to take naps instead of hike around.

Definitely not the clearest print we saw, but you get the idea. This is not a house cat!

Mike and his friend Chris Van Leuven have been working every weekend on a new route in Glenwood Canyon. They are calling it "The Horse and Pony Show" and if you know the two of them, especially together, it describes them PERFECTLY. They are a hilarious duo. The route is really hard (5.12a), mixed sport and trad, and about 500 feet long. They have put many hours into this project and Mike comes home after working on it all day as happy as he can possibly be! They leave the house by 7am on weekends and usually get home after 8pm.

Chris showed up at our house Sunday morning with a nice little scarf on.


So, Mike insisted on wearing a scarf as well. He took my fancy Irish scarf and returned it in perfect condition. I just thought it was so funny that these two boys were out being as tough as can be...and wearing scarves. Here's Mike with his serious face on, holding his big drill, and wearing his wife's scarf. What a cutie!

The route has great views of Grizzly Creek.

Another weekend in the Dez...

We Schneiters love weekends, especially ones spent with friends climbing in the desert. We left Friday evening and met about 17 friends in Indian Creek to climb. Here are pictures from the trip.

Evening light on the gorgeous sandstone.

Most of our group, from L to R, Tracy Wilson, BJ Sbarra, Sarah Selling, Derek Hanrahan, John Connor, Dave Meyer, Kristen Pogue, Steve Smith, Joy Joy, and Mike.

I thought Mike looked hilarious sleeping by the fire.

The belly is still growing!

Tracy and Sarah, two of my best gals.

Mike decided to make a feast for the whole group. Here are the foil packets filled with potatoes, peppers, onions, corn and spices. He BBQ'd burgers and brats and I filled the dutch oven with green bean casserole. We ate it all! It was a delicious meal! Cooking in the campsite is one of my favorite parts of Indian Creek. The unregulated camping is all on BLM land, so there are no campgrounds, no water, no picnic tables, etc. It's all free and we love it.

Steve and Mike goofing around. They were happy boys this weekend because they brought the drill and were able to put up 3 new routes.

BJ in his pirate vest. He also had a sword and flag, and his dog wore a breast plate. He had to bag the eye patch because it made the climbing a little difficult!

Panorama from the 4x4 wall.

I am still climbing (though not leading).

Courtney, Dana, and Tracy. T dressed up as Rainbow Brite. This is a bad picture of her costume, but she had on a blue felt dress with white fur trim and striped tights and arm warmers.

Dana sends!

Ladies' weekend in the Creek!

This weekend was a blast! 13 women, splitter sandstone cracks, fireside conversations, incredible moon and stars, and desert camping--life does not get much better. Stef and her friend Lindsey showed up on Thursday and we left Friday for the weekend. They really wanted to learn how to climb cracks, and this was the perfect opportunity! So, we loaded up Stef and Wes's veggie-mobile (it runs on recycled veggie oil that they get for free from local restaurants) and drove to Indian Creek, about 50 miles south of Moab. We got there late and rolled out our sleeping bags under the moon and stars, which were so bright we had to cover our eyes to sleep. The next morning, we found the rest of the crew, a large group from Durango headed by Lauren Heerschap, and hiked up Donelly Canyon to start climbing. It was about 75 and sunny, and we climbed until our feet and hands were so sore we had to quit. Back to camp for yummy tacos and a warm fire we went before falling asleep, exhausted from the great day! Stef and Lindsey were psyched at their crack climbing success, as was I. I resisted the temptation to lead anything per my midwife's advice, but had a ton of fun toproping. Sunday morning, we hiked to the Optimator Wall where Lindsey led on-sight her first 5.10--Lady Pillar, 120 feet. That was a huge accomplishment for her and only gave her more confidence to come back and try to step it up next time. That afternoon we all did Soul Fire, 5.11, which Linds toproped twice (she intends to come back and lead it next time!). Stef also vastly improved her crack skills and discovered the pure joy that comes with a schtonker hand jam. Here are some photos from the weekend (as always, they are concentrated in small areas because I always forget to take out my camera!).

Stef, me, and Lindsey--laying on the ground before bed, night #1.

See why we love this place?! This is a view of the valley from the Optimator Wall.

Stef and I.

Me on Soul Fire, 5.11.

Lauren leading Generic Crack, 5.10.

Stef cranks on the bottom of Soul Fire.

Stef sinking her hands and feet into the jams.

Stef shows us her stemming and drop knee skills on Lady Pillar, 5.10.

Happy Joy.

Me, high up on Soul Fire. Check out the beautiful rock above us.

Disco Inferno, Baby!!

Mike and I met up with our good friends BJ and Tracy for a weekend in Zion National Park. It was their first big wall experience, and we picked a doosie! Disco Inferno, for those of you that know Zion, is just to climber's right of Desert Shield and is on the shield itself. It is definitely a true Zion route, with lots of sand and scariness. Anyway, here are a few pics. I had a suggestion for fewer "mountain climbing" pictures and more of friends, etc. They are on the way, I swear! I think thus far, the only time we've remembered our camera is on trips.

Happy climber! This is me jugging the third pitch. You can see the Virgin River below.

BJ and Tracy cozy up on their portaledge. Don't worry, mom, we can't roll out of bed whilst asleep--we have multiple safety points tying us to the rock.

We actually brought a 12pack with us and didn't finish it. So, we left a present at the bivy for the next party. There is actually an old stove converted into a BBQ hanging from a drilled ice screw on this ledge (that is what the beer is sitting on) about 500 feet off the ground. It is a tradition to bring some charcoal and burgers up there. Unfortunately, we forgot that detail until we were already up, but our beans and rice was delish.

BJ, Tracy, me, and Mike after our climb, back on the ground. We went pretty much up the middle of the shield-shaped buttress behind us.

And so begins the blogging...

So, here is my first real blog. Mike does a lot of info sharing on our website, mikeandjoy.net, but I never really contribute. Considering all the blogging hype (everybody that's anybody's got one!), I thought I'd give it a try. Please post a comment if you read this!
Mike and I had a fantastic three day weekend with our SLC buddies Mark and Katie in Castle Valley. We started off with a bang, with Katie and I roping up together to do Fine Jade. It is a classic 5 pitch 5.11 desert route on the Rectory, and was the hardest route either of us had done as an all woman team. It was pretty sustained, with 10+ OW right off the deck, lots of 5.10 fingers, and a crux 5.11 thin fingers bulge. We felt like champs for completing the route on our own! Sunday, Mike and I simuled the North Chimney of Castleton and relaxed in the sun on the summit before heading back for beers and burritos. Monday, all four of us did Ancient Art, another desert classic in the Fisher Towers. The last pitch is a convoluted corkscrew that tops out on a summit the size of a pizza pan. Yowser! It was awesome! We finished up the weekend with a dip in the Colorado before heading home. A good time had by all.
Beyond that, Mike is busy with his Master's work, and I have one final left before my semester ends. We are taking off again this weekend for a trail race in Buena Vista, the Collegiate Peaks Trail Run. I'll write about it upon our return. Until then, cheers!