The weather continues to treat us very well, and I've been having a great climbing trip here in Bishop. Looking back, I realize that (for the first time ever), I've enjoyed a full year of climbing without any major new injuries. This is huge for me, and I attribute it to nearly a year of focused training and stretching.

For the first time ever, I can try hard, and try hard having had more than a month or two worth of fitness under my belt. Here's to another year without playing catch-up!

That said, David has been suffering from non-stop, terrible, fingertip skin splits, as well as a minor hand injury. This has basically stopped him from trying any of the problems he intended to get on, and has even stopped him from climbing altogether for 10+ days. He really can't even warm up when his fingertips are bleeding before he can put his shoes on.

Needless to say that when one person is suffering from never-healing, bad skin, and the other is only climbing but four hours, every other day, this whole "camping" thing starts to seem pretty tedious. Especially when the nights are long, cold, and windy. And we (two people and one dog) are sleeping in a passenger car.

Given this, we considered bailing (16 hours) north to Montana to recover. But yesterday we purchased a small, cheap tent at K-Mart. Suddenly, for just $35 (plus tax), we now have a place to store our extra goods, and a shelter in which to cook. Though this sounds stupidly simple and obvious, our newly emptied car and our windless breakfast were hugely morale-boosting.

I'm at the beginning of a 4- or 5-day rest period. My body and mind both need a bit of a break. David climbed for the first time in a while yesterday, somewhat without pain. He did suffer from one split fingertip, but he still climbed himself sore. He'll climb tomorrow, and we'll both have our fingers crossed for good skin.

Below are some photos of our first trip to the Druid Stones, as well as a short video I took of myself when I sent the Croft Problem (a V8 on the Lower Smoking Boulder, in the Buttermilks) all by my lonesome a few days ago.