Some Shots from the Road

I'm wrapping up four weeks in the States and it's safe to say the trip hasn't quite worked out as expected as a broken computer kept the blog silent and a broken van curbed movement and climbing.  So it goes.  I'll catch up with some retro-posting soon and in the meantime here are some shots from the road.

I drove through this little town in California where I'm kind of a big deal.  

Just south of Walker (the town, not me) on Hwy 395 is a lone boulder that offers a perfect pit-stop.  I stopped for a quick session and ended up getting sucked in to trying a project for 4 hours.  Fortunately my buddy Tom randomly drove by and stopped to join the fun

Tom on the awesome project that took a long time to figure our.  By the time we had all the beta we were too sauced to send but I'm certain Tom will fire it when he returns.  

The Tungsten City boulders is a rarely visited area outside Bishop I decided to checkout.  It had a nice little circuit and you can't beat the approach.  This was before my van started giving me trouble

Traveling without the family means dinner can be thrown together last minute.  Sometimes I don't want to put in much effort.

And sometimes I happen upon a sweet Mexican restaurant. 

Fellow van dwellers enjoying some spiced whine after a day of bouldering

The crew trying to stay warm

The Sierra Nevada mountains catching the first rays of sunlight as the moon descends.

Catching the moon.

Some photos from Cornwall

Apologies for the lack of action on the blog.  My computer decided to tank on me and everything else seems to be keeping me busy.  Such is life.

Anyway, just in case anyone still follows this blog and to get things up and rolling again I'll post some pictures from a recent trip we took down to Cornwall.  Hope you enjoy.

The coastline for much of Cornwall is pretty dramatic as rugged walls rise abruptly from the sea.  The battering of waves and fluctuations in tide has created some pretty awesome formations and plenty to explore.

While Cornwall's natural beauty attracts plenty of tourists there is no shortage of cool historical spots to check out, like Restormel Castle. 

The remnants of Cornwall's ancient tin mining industry are hard to miss as many old smokestacks remain.  It's also good to know that plenty of mineshafts are also left behind so be careful when exploring the ruins.

There is also no shortage of lighthouses along the Cornish coast.  I reckon a good number of seamen are extremely glad for this.

A Cornish sunset.

I'll post a bit about the climbing we did in Cornwall in the next couple days.......

The Kearneys do Ireland

A few weeks ago 15 memebers of the Kearney clan rendezvoused in Ireland to drink Guinness, visit castles and get in touch with our Irish heritage.  It was primarily a family vacation but you can't take me anywhere without expecting a little climbing to be squeezed in.

The family had rented a castle which seems a little over the top but if you're going to do Ireland you mind as well go big.  Complete with a suit of armor, our spacious accommodation had us feeling like medieval lords and I half expected a mob of angry peasants to storm the castle in protest of our decadence.  Fortunately society has come a long way since the dark-ages and we enjoyed our week of luxury without a single uprising.

The Lisheen Castle was our home in Ireland.  Pretty awesome.

I went to Ireland without doing much research (very uncommon for me) so the few expectation I had were solely the product of long held stereotypes.  I figured if I got lucky I might meet a Leprechaun that would take me to his pot of gold, or at the very least share some of his lucky charms.  But seriously, I wasn't quite sure what to expect as I figured I'd be hanging with my family and doing some touristy stuff.  So here are a few of the things I observed while in Ireland.

Castles:  The fact that we stayed in a castle only added emphasis to the ubiquitousness of them.  Everywhere we went there would be some kind of impressive ruin of sorts.  And I'm not talking about the castles that will inevitably be included in the tour of every city/town you visit, I'm talking about driving your car in the middle of nowhere and seeing a dilapidated 3 story stone structure in the middle of a field.  Maybe not all these ruins weren't technically the remains of castles but they where impressive none-the-less and the only ones that seemed to appreciate them were the tourists taking an unscheduled stop and the cattle grazing in their shadows.

Just some random ruins off the side of the road.  Things like this were everywhere.

Guinness:  We've been told that "Foster's is Australian for beer" but I've never met an Australian that actually drinks it, and I imagine that a foreigner visiting the USA might wonder why everyone isn't drinking Budweiser (maybe it's because it's a horrible beer...).  Well the stereotype that Guinness flows like water and is the national drink of Ireland seems fairly accurate.  Guinness accounts for over a quarter of all beer consumed in Ireland and was once famously recommended to  Irish women during pregnancy.  So it's not just the tourists that are slamming back pints of the dark brew and we certainly did our part to fit in by consuming at least one Guinness a day.

Björke getting in touch with his Irish roots and halfway through his quota of Guinness for the day

Accent:  I'm pretty well traveled and I've been living in England for the last couple months so I thought the Irish accent would be just another little twist on the English language that I could attempt to duplicate to the annoyance of the locals.  I wasn't quite prepared for how difficult it would be for me to understand and my standard response in any conversation became a blank stare and a polite request to repeat what they said.  It didn't help that people are very friendly and you'll find yourself having conversations with everyone (or trying to have conversations). Toward the end of the week I got better at inferring meaning from the situation but it was still a struggle.  Just another note, my favorite word in an Irish accent is "turdy"  (that would be the number 30) and I found myself asking people what time it was on the half-hours just to hear them say it.  Good times.

There is so much more to say about Ireland but I'll leave it at that.  As for my take on the bouldering I did in Ireland..........I'll comment on that in the next day or two.  Here are a few photos from the trip

Autumn defacing an ancient structure with a disappointed father looking on.  We can't take her anywhere.

Autumn and Heather do their best Leprechaun jumps. 

Another Guinness?  Yes please. 

The Kearney clan at our humble abode in Ireland.  What an awesome trip!

Life in America.

So we been Stateside for a couple weeks now but still haven't quite "hit the road".  We've been using this time to visit family and slowly transition to life in an RV.  The weather has also cooled down considerably since our arrival and my little family, not being as climbing obsessed as me, appreciates the prolonged stay in my sister's warm house.  Fortunately the sun is shining and the road is calling so we'll be leaving for a week of bouldering and tower bagging around Moab.  Good times will be had.

Here's some pictures from our adventures thus far.

You can see fellow passengers cringe when our little family lumbers onto a plane.  Unfortunately for them it's too late to upgrade from coach but the good news is our kids are rock-stars when it comes to flying.  I almost always receive compliments on my kids when exiting the plane as people say they barely noticed their presence.  I like to think it's the excellent parenting but we may have just hit the lottery. 

The perks of seeing Fart-fart (aka Grandfather).  The sugar intake is definitely up.

And Farmor (Grandmother) with the obligatory pie in Pie Town.

My little family with Farmor in Pie Town

Björke gets used to an American breakfast.

Breakfast burrito.  Oh how I missed you.

The new whip.  We are borrowing this 21 foot Toyota Dolphin from Fart-fart.  Traveling in comfort and style.  Here we are in perhaps the lamest monument in the world, 4-corners.  We were unwilling to pay $5 each to see a spot where arbitrary lines meet.

The crew in Moab, UT

The Aunties meet their nephew for the first time 

Moab is beautiful.  We'll be hanging around for a bit.  

Climbing posts up next......

Born again and Stavsjö

The dry-spell is over!  This is the longest Kearney Journey has gone without a post since I started the blog in 2007.  There are a multitude of reasons for the lack of posts.   The usual suspects of work and laziness were certainly involved and while competing in Ninja Warrior Sweden over the summer was exciting I'm not allowed to talk about it until the program airs.  (in the spring I think).  But the primary reason for the break was the arrival of the newest member of the Kearney Clan (Björke Shine Kearney, born Aug 3rd).

Now that we're getting the hang of having a baby again I'll get back on the occasional blogging and on Nov 2nd we'll be back in the States for the annual winter trip where I'll have ample time and plenty of content to post.  In the meantime here is a random photo to get things back on track.

 Björke a few days old.  He is the primary reason for the break in the blog.  If you want more baby pictures check out Hammie's blog.

Awhile ago I took a weekend trip to Norrköping to check out a little area called Stavsjö.  I was impressed with the quality of rock and problems and while my skin didn't allow for much climbing (bad skin sucks) I saw plenty of things I'd like to go back to.

Pyssel on the Hulk, one of Stavsjö's gems 

Sammy recently did the stand to this problem but the sit is undone and one of the better looking projects I've seen in Sweden. 

Tumle cleaned up a this problem and established a nice new highball.

 Aleksej on the classic highball Köpman Wighart

Bad skin is a curse and has ruined more than a few climbing days for me

Björke chilling with his dad

Highs and Lows

As my brief time in Tennessee has come to an end I once again begin to reflect on the trip, areas visited and general experiences.  It's also interesting to compare current impressions with those from 10 years ago when a much younger me last visited the area.  Before I get too much into my take on the bouldering I thought I'd list a few highlights and low-lights from the trip.

A few Highlights (in no specific order)

• Getting hissed at by a opossum.  What a nasty little creature.  Still made my evening to encounter something that is best described as a "giant rat that hangs in a tree".
• Southern BBQ.  Delicious, what more can I say.
• Southern Hospitality.  Climbers in general are generous and at times I felt like a bit of a charity case as I surfed coaches, loaned an assortment of gear (tent, stove, pads, guides, sleeping bags, etc...) and hounded folks for beta.  I guess having an adorable 4-year old along tends to soften hearts and we are ever so thankful for all the wonderful folks out there.
• Southern Accent.  The opportunity to listen to folks talk had me looking forward to even the most mundane encounters.  "Would ya like paper or plastic?"  Oh, I don't know. Can you ask me again?  And even in the rare cases when someone was being condescending it still sounded so sweet that I couldn't even get irritated but would simply respond with a goofy smile.
• Climbing.  More on that later

A few Low-Lights (also no specific order)

• Mexican Food.  I knew mexican food in TN would be bad but I didn't know the extent of it.  Maybe I just found the worst restaurant possible but it's safe to say I won't be eating any more tacos until I return to the Southwest.  
• Weather.  We actually had quite a few good days but no trip to the South is complete without being chased away by rain.
• Pay to Play.  It seems that many of the areas in the South require a user fee.  Don't get me wrong, I think it is awesome that climbers have good relations with landowners and a small fee can be appropriate but $5 a day starts to add up.  
• Poison Oak.  For some reason I was under the impression that I didn't need to be on the lookout for poisonous plants this time of year.  Well apparently the don't lose potency after a freeze and it is a hard learned lesson.
• Vomiting.  Don't think this one needs much clarification as being sick on a climbing trip just sucks.  My girls definitely got the worst of it.  

So that's just a few things that stuck out from the trip and I'll be posting more about the climbing soon.  

Poison Oak sucks.  The spot on my back is the worst but legs arms and stomach weren't spared from itchy torment either.  I've found it hard to sleep with all the burning and itching, but fortunately it should go away in a couple weeks.

Chris knows the importance of hydration.  Maybe that's why he was the only one from our group of 4 to not lose his lunch.

When not hindered by rain or sickness there was a good deal of climbing.  More on that soon

Pop goes the knee: Dealing with injury

Sometimes when climbing we have to bend and tweak limbs in unnatural ways.  Occasionally our bodies decide they want to make it very clear how unnatural these positions are and communicate it with a loud pop and shearing pain.  Two weeks ago one of these unfortunate reminders from my knee and between the brooding, complaining and worrying I've also been reflecting on how I deal with injury.  So here is a standard chronological(ish) take at how obsessive climbers (or maybe just me) respond to injuries.

1. Panic is almost always the initial reaction and it happens instantaneously.  Along with the requisite profanities and/or shrieks of pain the first thoughts are of how long I'll be out of climbing.  This concern over when I'll be able to climb injury free is immediate and remains in the forefront for the duration of the injury whether one day or one year.  For myself and most obsessive climbers I know the idea of not being able to climb for a day due to bad weather send us into grumpy mode so you can imagine the utter terror at the idea of being out of climbing for an extended time.  "Am I out for an hour?  Four weeks?  Four months?  Longer? Should I cancel my trip to Tennessee?  What the hell am I going to do if I can't climb?"  
2. Denial.  Once given a couple moments to compose myself I put aside the thoughts of never being able to climb again and hop right in to denial.  "That nasty popping sound was nothing.  I'll just walk it out and be back on the rock in a minute or two".  The denial period is short lived as misguided attempts to put climbing shoes back on only result in unbearable pain and we fall back to panic mode. The luxury of denial is of course never afforded to the most serious of injuries as it's hard to sugarcoat bone sticking out of skin.  Denial is not limited to the initial incident but continually pops up throughout the healing process.  Denial (or maybe it's just extreme optimism) causes delusional climbers to start cranking before the injury is ready and is generally counter productive, resulting in re-injury, more time off from climbing and a return to panic mode.
3. Anger at myself general pops up as most of my injures could have been avoided with a little preparation/foresight.  "Why didn't I just scope out the top and make sure it wasn't wet."  Hindsight is after all 20/20 and it's best to get over hating yourself or the road to recovery is going to be rough.  Take a few lashes and move on. 
4. Acceptance has to come sooner or later.  The first minutes or so after an injure are generally a dizzying cycle between panic, anger and denial and it's exhausting and not at all productive so moving on can be refreshing.  Acceptance starts with properly assessing the injury/situation which for me often involves a call to friends/family in the medical profession to see if they can provide some expert insight (thanks to everyone that tolerates the climbers in their lives using them for free medical advice).  When assessing the injury I'm also confronted with the practicalities like "can I hike back to the car?" and "will I be able to work?".  These concerns are important but generally just a distraction from my big question which is "when can I climb again?".  This latest injury was of enough concern that I even went to the hospital and get my knee looked at.  On a side note, this is only an option for me since I live in Sweden as I'd never go to the emergency room in the States unless bone is sticking out and I had a good bankruptcy lawyer.  Acceptance is something I'm getting better at but it's still not easy as I've never been good at "taking it easy" and constantly want to "test" the injury (see Denial and how productive that is).  Once I've accepted the reality of my injury it comes down to the hardest part.
5. Patience can be hard when it involves not doing the thing you're passionate about but for most injuries it's just a waiting game.  Now I just need to give the injury the time it needs and do some rehab to help it along without spiraling into depression.  Waiting has never been something I'm good at as I general try to start climbing on my injuries too early (again, see Denial) and they therefore take their precious time getting better.  As I get older I do realize the need to be nice to our bodies if we want them to preform and I'm getting better at finding distractions while I recover.

So that was a simplification of the initial process without going into battling depression and trying to maintain fitness during injury.  Maybe I'll do a post about that later since I can't climb I have to find other things to do, like write a windy blog-post pertaining to nothing of importance.

Hope everyone stays injury free

And for those that are interested, I tore my lateral collateral ligament (LCL) and while it doesn't require an operation the time-frame for recovery is generally anywhere from 3 to 12 weeks.  It's been two weeks and doesn't feel much better so I'm not holding out much hope for the 3 week recovery.  I guess it could be worse.  I'll hobble around and just hope I'm able to climb a little by Nov 11th when I fly to Tennessee.

A little of this, a little of that

Been slacking off on the blog as of late.  The inactivity doesn't have as much to do with a lack of climbing (I'm still getting out a bit) but more with  the more boring things in life like work .  So it goes.  I've got a backlog of photos and videos to go through (particularly from Rogaland) and hopefully I'll come around to going through them soon.  As the daylight hours begin shortening here in Sweden I'll need to find a way to occupy the time once filled with climbing.  I guess blogging is one way to stave off the darkness.

In the meantime.....

Working isn't all bad as blue skies makes for awesome tree work.  Here Johan tops a tree with a swipe of his saw.

Henrik on the striking (and scary) Flykten från jordens medelpunkt in Lyse Kyrka.

The Last Leg

I'm fast approaching the end of my time in the States.  It has been an excellent 4 months but now it's time to go home.  My last week in the States is unlikely to hold any climbing as I'll be saying the final goodbyes and preparing for the return to Sweden.  A little rest is probably for the best as I left Joe's Valley on the verge of a physical breakdown with an injured finger, throbbing elbows and achy knee.  Getting older is rough as I guess I'm not meant to climb every day.

All-in-all the trip was great.  I managed to maintain motivation at the old stomping grounds (Hueco and Bishop) and I visited some new areas (Black Mt, Joe's Valley) that had me running around like a chicken with my head cut off.  I seem to be in great shape as throughout the trip I managed to tick off old projects and make quick work of many new ones.  I just hope things go as well for me back in Sweden.

Our little family continued to dial in the van life as it only gets easier the more we do it.  Hammie is becoming more self-sufficient and is an absolute joy to have out at the boulders, and Lina and I get closer and closer to finding the perfect balance of climbing.  For the most part the weather was very cooperative and made for lots of climbing and comfortable camping.

The biggest downer of the trip actually happened in Sweden as Lina broke her foot upon her return home.  She left the States in her best shape in years but now has 6 weeks in a cast and the subsequent rehab.  We'll try to maintain fitness and climbing motivation in the coming months.

For the time being Hammie and I have 6 days left to soak up as much freedom as possible before heading home.  Good times.

 The open road

 Our winter home

An apple fritter as big as your head for 75 cents.  The price of freedom and a ticket for type 2 diabetes 

The Dreaded Remains

According to most it was long overdue.  Now I won't be mistaken for a Spanish gypsy.  

Jump for Joy

My sister Prairie and I jump for joy in Black Mountain.  Looks like one of us needs to work on flexibility