every other orange

So running into mark today made me think about how big my little climbing community is becoming... so on that note, I thought I would make a little history of my climbing and and all the wonderful people that I have climbed with.

• so it starts... 7th grade camp... with my cabin mates on 'the wall' - a little 60' tall wood wall they had set up at this YMCA camp that every Dexter 7th grader attends. Yes, the beginning of my climbing was one little climb on wood... but it made an impression that I have yet to forget.
• Some number of years later, Dad, Cynthia and the Horwitz boys in this tiny little gym in Hendersonville, NC
• Another year or so, Dad and I went to the equaly tiny Ann Arbor Climbing Gym
• Now we reach High School- Chad and I go looking for the Ann Arbor Climbing Gym only to find that it has recently closed... we instead make the wonderful discovery of Planet Rock!
• Planet Rock now dominates my climbing for a number of years... so we will say from sophmore year to freshmen year at MSU I climbed with a good amount of people there. Sorry if I forget some people. There was ofcourse Jess and two other poeple that I can't yet remember who got to climb for free (i was jealous). Adam, Craig and Adam's ex...whos name will come to me later and i wont be able to believe that I forgot it... Matt, who was always ready for a religious 'discussion' with me, even while climbing. And lastly, jenny, who helped me think up blind fold climbing.
• Grand Ledge!!! (the exclamation points are only to emphasize how much this place sucks) This was my first outdoor climb, which did create a need for more, but will not be counted as actual climbing. Many thanks though to my fellow members of the MSU Outing Club for introducing me to this place.
• Galyans was a good place, free indoor climbing when the weather was crap. Renee was always much better than me, and a huge hippie. When she first met me she asked to see my hands and then exclaimed "We are a Match!"... I'm still not completely sure what she ment by that.
• During the next two years I climbed nowhere but Planet Rock and with no one but Adam about once a month...although there were quite a few months where I did not have money. And then at the end I convinced my mom to climb with me. She and Dad both came once or twice.
• Mike... I am most fortunate to have met Mike. He lived above Adam and invited me to go on my first and then second climbing trip to The Red and then Niagara Glen... the catalyst to my move. Because of him I climbed with Brian, Brian's sister, Rhonda, Anthony (the squirrel), Top, Shannon, this 60 something year old who could still climb 12s, that really good kid and a few other guys and girls whose names I don't remember but faces I will never forget.
• Right before I moved i climbed with Jess and her friend at the climbing gym in ...where ever she lives
• Climb4Life, Salt Lake City- right after my move. This list could get long so I will keep it to only those whose names I remember... Rich, Nikki and Lindsay who made me feel like I was climbing with a group of my best friends. Jess, who I offered sharing my bed with (something that made Dave rather uncomfortable). Ali Rainey, Jen, Mike, Andy, Stephanie and Anne. Katie Brown, Nate Gold and Adam Stack... I would never have known that they were pro climbers if I had just gone to the club with them... but since I did know I could not help but feel incredibly special.
• Sarah and Megan took me on my first trad climb and crack climb just after Climb for life...we visited Little Cottonwood Canyon and then Sarah and i stopped in Vedauwoo on the way home. She also introduced me to Eldorado Canyon and took me on my first multi-pitch (Calypso)
• Jaime was the first Boulderite that I climbed with... I was supposed to do my first multi-pitch with him but accidently slept throught my alarm clock.
• I met Jim at the Spot and after he recovers from his surgery we will hopefully climb again.
• Chris took me to Flagstaff for the first time... but I don't think that he will ever climb again.
• Horsetooth Reservoir! This was a great day- i met Natasha and this other woman who climbs with her daughter and I placed third in their bouldering comp :) I also won this really awesome bouldering pad.
• Mike from climb4life, some of his friends and I went bouldering in Big Elk Meadows, just outside of Lyons.
• Next weekend was a big trip back to Salt lake City. i climbed with Rich in American Fork Canyon and Little Cottonwood then we went with Carter to Indian Creek. That is where we met his sister Lisa(?) and her husband Jason (a really awesome sponsored climber) and their son who is 10 and can climb just about any crack (quite cocky too). After that Rich, Carter and I climbed the North Chimney of Castleton Tower.
• That next week I met Ethan while climbing with Elliott at the Spot.
• Mike, Andy (Climb4Life) and I went bouldering at Mount Sanitas.
• Next Weekend I met Andy and we drove down to Indian Creek again to meet Rich, Carter, Jason, Lisa, Sarah, Lamont, Kevin and Kevin's wife? and David
• Now all of everything is getting meshed together. There was climbing in Boulder Canyon with Ethan and Justin. Toproping on Flagstaff with Justin and Ethan's roommate. Bouldering on Flagstaff with Ethan. Climbing on the Bastille in Eldo with Mike. Climbing the third flatiron with Ethan and Justin. Going back to Castleton with Andy. And tonight I will climb at the BRC with Mark.

There has been so much great climbing and there is so much more to come... I know it :)