Quote Mr. E: We regret having to dispel the myth, but someone had to do it. Sedona climbing isn't all scary and loose and hard. (Unless it's a Grossman route). There are some parts that aren't hard, they just happen to be the scary and loose sections.

The folks at the Flagstaff Climbing center were nice enough to throw a book-release party for us this month to celebrate the long awaited publication of the new Sedona Rocks! climbing guide written by David Bloom and my other half (Mr.E), so we hit the road and headed out to Flagstaff/Sedona AZ. Of course our "business trip" was only a thinly veiled excuse for some quality time with our AZ friends, drinks at a real pub and some climbing on some quality choss.

We booked (pun?) out of LA after work on Thursday night planning to drive as far as possible. Around midnight we crashed in a dirt lot off the highway. Night-time temps were hovering at 100 degrees. Welcome to Arizona.

Friday: Morning we headed into Flagstaff and set up camp off A-1 Mountain Road on top of the Arizona divide. Popped the top on our new rig and Choss-Camp1 was ready to go.




After heading into town and tracking down Bloom, we spent the morning slumming the streets of Flagstaff trying to pawn off the stack of books/ballast."Hey little girl.. wanna buy a book? Got some quality choss right here for ya". Eventually we were run off by authorities. This is Flagstaff.. your choss ain't welcome here. Git

So we took the tour to Sedona for the day. High temps eventually drove us up Oak Creek to the The Doctor's office for some climbing. The deep, shady slot-canyon that is the Doc's Office self air-conditions and was an excellent choice to escape the heat. Our warm up, Free Refills, was one of the most bizarrely featured climbs I've ever had the pleasure of blowing dirt off of. Mr. E sent some poor unsuspecting kids up a nearby sandbag. They pulled a some rocks off, but we reassured them that they wouldn't be harmed since the rock is so soft it just powderizes on impact.

Inside the Doctor's Office





Better pic- stolen from the guide. Cody Lane on Free Refills. Tree points right at it BTW.







Cleaning the slippery slab dihedral at the entrance. Way harder than it looked.







Saturday: We headed out early to Paradise Forks for some old-school trad pummeling. No climbing area on earth has ever so thoroughly handed me my ass on a plate as The Forks BTW. I think I was in some kind of confused masochistic fugue-state when I suggested we go there.

...and We still didn't beat the stupid local morning commuters:






We rapped in the Sine Wall, then MrE got in a wrestling match with one of the stiff-looking 5.10s by the rap line. A wee #3 stopper caught not one but two whippers off the crux before E tried a new tactic that succeeded. I decided to give my torn bicep a sympathy-pass and took the walk of shame out of the canyon. We shot a few pictures for the (future) Flagstaff guide and headed out to get ready for the party.

Pics of Paradise Forks:


Rapping into the Sine Wall




Mr.E heading for the whipper-flake:



Guy on the Prow




Hot girls climbing hard stuff:





The first order of business was to break into PennsylEnvy's house and get showers, but first we had to get by his guard dog "Big Gay Snook". Now this may not sound like a very tough dog, but just look at the fierceness in these eyes!






Saturday night Chossapalooza. The American Alpine Club brought a snazzy entrance canopy and a keg of beer (that was completely empty within an hour). We hung around. Rubbed elbows with the the local Arizona hard-men, played beanbags. The local roller-derby girls showed up in costume. When the sun went down there was a slide-show. Bloom took the mike, and actually pulled off some entertaining quips in between the "check out this death-route" narratives. Afterwards was the pub and beers.




Beanbag toss:




Mr E and David Bloom with hardman JJ Schlick




Roller-derby girl Dawn who is also a bad-ass climber-chick.




Bearded-man Jefe and Pennsylenvy there in the background





Start of the slide show:






Sunday:


We lured Jefe and Rosebud back to our camp with a bribe of good coffee and a bacon and egg breakfast come morning-time.

Jefe and Rosebud Sunday morning:




A bunch of our peeps were heading out to the Hobo Jungle to climb a rare treat of dacite. Jefe, Bloom, Pennsylenvy, and a handful of our other AZ friends converged on the crag for a great day of climbing. It's not pretty, but it's sure fun to climb on.

The Hobo Jungle:














Me and E- picture shamelessly stolen from Jefe's Facebook





We had a totally awesome, fun day of climbing with great people. Days like that are days to cherish and remember. Thanks to all our friends for such a wonderful weekend. It was great to see Mr E and David get some accolades for the many years of hard work it took to produce the Sedona Climbers guide.



Monday: Well... the beer keg was empty and the roadies ran off with the Derby-girls. Time to go home, so we packed up Choss Camp1 and drove back to LA.





Mr E. : "Sedona is fine climbing for anyone not offended by loose rock"

There are really only four rules:
1. Be prepared
2. Make sure you know how to get down
3. Everything is suspect
4. When in doubt.. pull down, not out

Shameless plug for my honey for any of you interested in reveling in the loose and red - book available here:

http://www.amazon.com/Sedona-Rocks-Climbers-Guide-Volume/dp/1453727884