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Indianclimber
climber
Las Vegas
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Mar 21, 2007 - 11:27pm PT
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Was at the campground today ,sign said Campground full,looked like a lot of spaces being held.Time to double up.
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Nefarius
Big Wall climber
Fresno, CA
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Mar 27, 2007 - 07:54pm PT
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A little mini TR, of sorts, of the weekend at the Rendezvous.
I'm sorry for all of the folks who weren't able to make it to the event. It was good times and you missed out!
Afer reading here on the thread that I might be interested in going, Ammon hit me on the cell to see what was up. I'd been debating whether or not to go to the event and had pretty much decided not to go. How could I turn down a bro in need though? So, Friday afternoon when the work timer went off, signalling the start of the weekend, I threw on the proper driving to the desert attire (shorts, chacos, etc) and was on the road. Only 6 hours to go... Make it 6 1/2 (stop for gas and Red Bull and another for a sandwich at Kramer Jct.)
I arrived at midnight, after having talked to Ammon about an hour earlier. "Call me when you get here, dude....." Ring, ring, ring... WTF? As I pull into the lot, I asked a girl I saw walking, "Do you know, or have you seen Ammon McNeely?" "Um, no... there are some people over there (pointing) who are a little drunk and singing" "Is he talking like a pirate?" A little confused, she said, "No...?" "Oh, that's not him... Thanks."
Thinking it was late and that Ammon had gone to bed already (I Mean, I'd *hear* him if he was still up, right?), I parked the truck and climbed in back to get some sleep.
6:55AM:
My phone rings, it's Ammon. "Dude, are you up? The van leaves in 5 minutes!" "Shit! I'm up now, I'll be there in a couple of minutes." As I walk up to the van line, my phone rings again... "Dude, you missed the van. Just catch the next one. We're at the first pullout." No worries...
After a little confusion, where it appeared that I might have to drive my own vehicle out and pay the $5.00 to get onto the loop, someone mentioned they were headed out to "Willow Springs, with one" the guy I was talking to turned and asked if there was room for one more. "Yes." As I turned to head in that direction, I see that I'll be riding with Peter Croft! Sweet! Great guy! Really nice. We talked a little about the event, real estate, climbing and assorted other things on the drive out.
Of course, being in a hurry, and never having been to the Fixx Wall before, I take the "shortest" path I can find, which also turns out to be the hardest, with a little soloing involved.
Time to get to work now.....
The Players:
Ammon McNeely - Apparently doing his early morning Tai Chi...
Seedy (Cedar Wright) and Cheryl (She keeps Ammon together and in line)- Chattin' it up while everyone else does the hard work ;) hah!
And well, me. I've spared you all the pain of having to see my mug though!
After Cedar and I finished setting up the anchors and ropes on top, the students started arriving and the day began...
The class...
They are riveted, aren't they! Actually, this is a portion of the class. We averaged 8 students per class and had them working on 3 different lines. Jugging/Cleaning, Leading and the Deucy.
A little jugging instruction
Ammon demonstrating the Deucy:
One on one instruction with badasses:
Group Instruction:
Ammon holding court at the pullout - The bus driver admantly told everyone, "BE HERE AT 4:00!!!" Since the clinics actually ended at 5:00, we sat there for an hour... What a terd-burglar!
And the highlight of the day..... It's not just a rumor or a dream, Seedy actually *can* fly!
Actually, it was tough little penji that had to be done to setup the deucy again, after each person lowered off. Both Ammon and Cedar made it look a lot easier than I did, that's for sure. Note that Cedar is wearing flip flops too. What a stud!
Conslusion:
The class went well, the weather was great and it was great to see old friends, as well as meet some new ones. I wish I had more pics, however when we got back from teaching the clinics it was pretty much dark and all that was on my mind was putting that wrist band (free beer and food) to work!
We all worked hard and had a great time. The FiveTen folks told Ammon that quite a few of the students stopped by and were super psyched about the class and thought it was really rad. Ammon really did a good job with them. I think we all learned something, no matter how much climbing we'd done. Cedar only had one student the first morning, then had to head out at lunch time to work on a project for TNF, so we combined his class with ours.
The evenings were pretty much what you'd expect: Climbers having a great time. There was a wall setup for climbing and a dyno comp.
The next day we only had a morning clinic to teach and the camera stayed in the vehicle for the day. Sorry, this means you miss out on seeing the lovely TallChick looking nicely tanned and honed after a couple of weeks at the Creek, who came out to help us that day.
There was a jugging competition in the afternoon, as everyone was starting to take thigns down, and Jenna, a hottie from Suunto, held a Yoga class in the court area right afterwards.
After chillin' at camp for a few hours, it was time to hit the road and head back to the world for work the next day. Work sucks.
I'd seriously recommend to anyone who has a chance to make it out there next year, do so. $75 for two four hour clinics with the likes of Croft, Sharma, Rands, Ammon, Cedar, the Caldwells, Kevin Thaw, the Benegas Bros, Mal Daly, Trotter, etc... Well, that's pretty f*#king amazing! It's definitely money well-spent. Not to mention everything going on back at camp.
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Ammon
Big Wall climber
El Cap
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Mar 27, 2007 - 09:09pm PT
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WoW!! Nice TR, I didn't realize you took so many pics. I've got some goofy expressions on some of those, haa haa.
Thanks again for everyone who helped with my clinic (you know who you are)... and thanks for the companies that make it happen.
Good times!!
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Jason Martin
climber
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Mar 28, 2007 - 05:35pm PT
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I work as a guide for the American Alpine Institute and run our Red Rock Canyon program as well as work as an administrator for the Red Rock Rendezvous. In any case, I heard feedback on a lot of clinics, athletes and guides...and I have to say that I heard A LOT of positive feedback about Ammon's course.
When the bus snafu happened some instructors just sat around and didn't do anything. But Ammon grabbed his students, took them off to the side and kept teaching. That is what I'd call professional instruction.
Ammon, we really would like to see you back next year. Thanks for doing an awesome job!
Jason
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Crimpergirl
Social climber
St. Looney
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Mar 28, 2007 - 05:46pm PT
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The Rendezvous was a blast. I'm still recovering today. The climbing, the people, the clinics. And it was great to meet Ammon and a few other tacos too. I'm bummed I missed many that I hear were there though.
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