Sterling Rope Goddesses on the Rock
Joshua Tree April 19 - 20, 2008
This
weekend was the annual Sterling Rope women's weekend down in Joshua
Tree. It was my 2nd event with Sterling Rope but my 1st time in Joshua
Tree. First, Joshua Tree was amazing! There is so much rock that you
could spend a lifetime down there and never exhaust your possibilities.
I was paired up with Diane Kearns of
Seneca
Rocks Climbing School, which was awesome for me. Diane is an
excellent and well spoken teacher and I didn't mind helping her out. In
fact, since I don't feel like an expert in traditional climbing
techniques or gear management, I
deferred most things to her. Our girls were signed up for a two day
course. We had 5 girls ranging in experience. We also had designated
riggers who put the ropes for us so we didn't have to deal with that
part of logistics. Everything went over smoothly. The first day the
girls learned the A-Zs about gear and we focused on gear placements from
the ground and on mock lead.
The
second day, we went to a different area and focused on gear placement.
This was a day for them to practice what they had learned and get direct
input from Diane, who was on a line next to them. This worked really
well. The girls would go up at different rates and Diane would be on the
wall swinging between the two to watch and comment on their gear
placements. We heard resounding appraise for this effort. I took the
task of logistics management on the ground and made sure everyone was
secure.
The
sun was out both days but I didn't mind because I heard it was snowing
and hailing in Seattle. Everyone was getting red from the
exposure, but, like me, no one complained. The desert was in full bloom,
too, so there were unusual colors all about.
Saturday evening was a dinner and raffle. Sterling's raffles are done to raise money for Hera Women's Cancer Foundation, which I knew little about until working with Sterling. You can follow the link to learn more, yourself. Saturday night I ran into Alan Jolley of Colorado Mountain Guides. I've been thinking about becoming a guide but need to save up the $ and make the time. Alan is my first point of contact into that space and it was an unexpected surprise to find him there. Apparently, he had been climbing around Jtree for the last month! Lucky. :) At the end of the evening, Arno Ilgnor of The Rock Warrior's Way gave a short presentation about his philosophy and course offerings. The talk resonated well with me that I had a wonderful conversation with him the following evening. Even though I'd taken the course and read the book and think I'm applying the principles, I realize there are layers to the learning. I had forgotten some things and was not applying the principles I'd learned in all situations. If you haven't taken a course from him or read his book, it's worth the time.
Sunday
was the end of the event and the weekend seemed to fly by. We ended on
time, for a change, and had the opportunity to hang out and socialize
with participants and athletes as they returned. It was also a last
chance to hang with friends and say farewell until we meet again.
