Last Chance Canyon, December 15-17, 2006
As soon as school let out for winter vacation, Aaron, Peter, and I headed south to Last Chance Canyon. The weather was very, very windy, but the climbing was fantastic. The only bad part of the weekend was an accident caused by a very reckless driver who nearly took Aaron's head off with a bulldozer blade, and pretty well totalled his truck.
Aaron at breakfast.
Last Chance has some nice steep routes on juggy limestone. Here I am on a really fun one. Photo (and the next): Peter.
Peter on the same.
Aaron belaying.
Peter in the steep part of the climb - jugs!
Peter says you haven't really sent the route unless your feet cut on the last move, a big throw over the lip.
Peter on "Ein Von Frei," another fun route that ends with roof moves. The common name for this route around Last Chance seems to be "The Santa Fe Route," since Aaron and Peter put it up.
Peter.
Aaron fetches a stick clip for me.
The first bolt used to be closer to the ground, but the heavy rains from 2 years ago have eroded away the base to make the first clip much higher. (You can see where ground level used to be. Photo (and the next 3): Peter.
Amy.
Aaaand....falling!
Aaron climbing as the shadows get closer.
Aaron.
It's not a great picture, but you can see just how steep the roof is!
Peter took some pictures at the accident scene, which has turned out to be a very good thing. We were driving along on the narrow, nearly deserted two lane road towards Queen when we saw a truck coming; it looked like a perfectly normal truck, just two headlights visible. When we passed the truck's headlights, suddenly Aaron and Peter could see that we were about to be struck by a bulldozer blade that was hanging off the truck into our lane. There was no time to swerve to avoid the blade. After the crash, the driver stopped in his lane without pulling off the road; this is nice because it shows just how far into OUR lane the bulldozer's blade extends.
Amy and Aaron beside the blade.
Amy checking out the truck. As you can see, we were very lucky that the damage wasn't much worse---and that the blade wasn't any lower.
Aaron talks to our insurance guy while Peter waits. In this picture, Aaron is still picking glass out of his hair from the shattered driver's side window.
Peter and the rental van.
©2006 Amy Jordan; Email Me.