Vegas

When it's snowing and cold all over the country, you can always count on Vegas to be... less cold and snowy. It seems everywhere in the west got pummeled by a massive storm recently, and Vegas was no exception. It dried up though, and the climbing has been great since.

Getting dark while on Progressive Guy v10

Photo Axel Perschmann

I was able to finish up some climbs I didn't do last spring including the amazing Americana Exotica v9/10. Sorry, no pictures or video. Then I got food poisoning or maybe a stomach flu, and vomited all night. The next day I tried to climb this a cool problem called ultraviolet, and got totally shut down. I guess some rest was needed.

Karma had been nursing a leg injury for the last few weeks, so I tried keeping her on a leash most of the time for a week or so to see if that would clear it up. Unfortunately I noticed she was still limping a little at the end of the day so I decided it was time to take her to the vet.

The vet figured out that her knee was the culprit, and suspected a torn ACL. My brother's dog, and several friend's dogs have had this happen, and it is a costly and long recovery. When the x-ray results were back, I was happy to find that she did NOT have a torn ACL, or at least not fully torn. She could have a partial tear, or something else could be injured in her knee.

The vet recommend that I restrict activity for a week or two. Of course I had already been doing that, but when she said to keep her from going up and down steps if possible, I realized that leashed hiking through canyons instead of unleashed hiking through canyons, probably doesn't constitute the kind of restricted activity the vet had in mind.

So now I have Karma confined to the car and short walks for a couple of weeks, and then probably back to the leash until i'm confident shes back in top form. Poor little doggy.

Karma protesting me putting her on my lap to keep warm, by not posing for the camera.

Photo Axel Perschmann

Having recovered from illness myself, I was able to get back and finished up Book of Nightmares v11/12. Book is a very nice arete climb that involves a combination of technique and power. After falling once after the crux (3rd move), I was able to seal the deal a couple tries later.

Book of Nightmares from Paul Nadler on Vimeo.