Pervertical Sanctuary

Madaleine and I climbed Pervertical Sanctuary yesterday on the Diamond of Longs Peak. It was rather incredible. I had wanted to do that route for seven or eight years specifically because I wanted to lead the 10c splitter hand/finger crack. I felt like crying just before I started it because I was so excited to be up there, half way up a stunning, 1000-foot granite face, climbing in the sunshine, and feeling great. The pitch was stellar, perfect ... I couldn't ask for a better lead. And it felt great to be leading 5.10s again after a long stretch of nine months of not leading anything harder than 5.9! I'm hoping my shoulder holds up for a while. I'm getting back on the Diamond next week, and then hopefully some more Park time and then the Black Canyon at the end of the month. I'm trying to fit in one day of climbing per week, in between working on my new compost and recycling business and finishing up a bunch of writing jobs that I have.

I'm going to slowly work my way out of the writing business, for the most part. Of course, I love writing, and will always write, but I'm going to stop begging for low-paying magazine work and instead just focus on the fun stuff, such as writing website and brochure articles for Planet Bluegrass. Now that is enjoyable. The folks over there are easy to work with, and we work on the barter system, which I like. Next week is Folks Fest, and I plan on interviewing Brett Dennen, Gillian Welch, and Ellis, among others for both video and potentially written articles. I'm really looking forward to doing that. And I'm looking forward to just hanging out for the week at Song School. I'm going to be taking some vocals classes. Fun. I have just discovered a new love of singing. And I will be delving into the history of Song School for an article, which should be fun.

Life is good. I'm off to bed. Good night!