Saturday morning we slept in, late. Waking up at 8:30, I felt still tired, but refreshed enough for a fun and work filled day. A quick breakfast and some house chores, we piled into the car and went downtown to check out the local Missoula Farmers Market. It was schanzzy.
The farmers market is broken up into three different areas, two of which we checked out, which each being a few blocks from one another, it helps to facilitate business throughout downtown as well as the markets. After a quick lap around the first market, we split to grab some food, elevensies, and relax on the grass in the midmorning sun. The beautiful sun kept us warm, the sounds of the morning market filled our ears, and flavors of the food sensationalized our taste buds. Bellies satisfied, we made off to the other market while Max’s sister, Meghan, went to run errands.
Wandering around the second market, it was a drastic change. Gone were the vegetable and huckleberry venders, swapped out with jewelry makers and rock peddlers. This was an artisan market, with charkas off every color, shape and variety. From custom hats, to leather goods, rocks and gems to Native American crafts. The market was beautiful, and a great compliment to the traditional farmers market just a few blocks away.
Some local ice cream and our morning was wrapped up. We returned to the house to find Max’s truck filled with the first of many batches to be taken to the new house, as moving day was tomorrow. Deciding to get out of their hair for a bit, Max and I moved the truck load into the new house and headed off to go do some single pitch climbing in the afternoon. Having had more than our fair share of adventure climbing, some single pitch felt sport felt like more than a good idea.
Max knew of a good place not too far away that he’d been to previously with easy sport routes that would be a good place for him to learn how to lead climb, and further work on lead belaying. A short drive into Lolo National Forest, the all too familiar dirt pull off that looked like nothing, and a 10 minute walk yielded the shiny bolt hangars that were our signal.
I’ve had the opportunity to teach many people how to lead climb and belay, learning good techniques along the way, and making my fair share of mistakes as well. Thankfully, I’ve been at this, not as just a teacher but a practitioner as well, for many years now, and knew the best and most efficient way to go about showing him the basics. With questions answered, skills tested both verbally and through action, he began his first lead climb.
It’s always great to share your passion with other people, and watch them take off with the skills you’ve given them. Max sailed up the climb, moving slow and steady, bolt to bolt, and setting up a bomb proof anchor. Lowering him down, he had an ear to ear grin the whole way. I lead the climb as well, for mileage and for fun, but left all the gear as to also teach him how to clean, another crucial aspect of all climbing. With confidence high, but time and energy low, one more route seemed a good idea. We wandered around the crag looking for a bolt line that looked reasonable, settling for one with a sketchy first 3 bolts before turning to slab that would couldn’t see.
Shoes on, draws racked, helmet dawned, deep breath, Max went off again. Balancing delicately on small hands and smaller feet that slab offered, he made it smoothly to the second bolt before getting freaked out and taking his first sport lead fall. WOHOO! A few more goes and he made it to the top, tired and happy. I also lead the route, cleaned it, and we packed up. No idea what we climbed or what grade, we were safe, happy, and learned a bit more today. But it needed to be an early night, for tomorrow was moving day, and it was going to be a long exhausting mess of running around wondering which way was what.
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Alarm clock screaming in my ear at 8 am, I popped out of bed, thinking I was late, but quickly found I wasn’t. Cleaned up and ready to rock in 10 minutes, we jumped in the car and ran, moving day was here. U-Haul and donuts acquired, we had all the essentials to make this move work. Thankfully, Max’s brother in law, Ross, was gifted with real life tetris, and stuffed the U-Haul to the brim with every piece of large furniture in the house.
While Ross and Max went to unload, I stayed behind to disassemble various items, pick up our friend Kristin who was visiting to adventure for the week, and get the all-important mid-move pizza. Delivering Kristin and the pizza to the new house at 2 pm to famished bellies, we took a break for food, and returned to fill the house to again fill the U-Haul. Our tetris skills not as good as previous, but still enough to fill it to the brim, we made the second and last trip to the new house to frantically unload while we still had energy.
Retuning to the old house for our final night, with only the bare essentials left, it was time to set up “camp” in the basement. Going through all the gear we would need for our trip this week, we packed up, and quickly passed out from exhaustion.
Another hyper-productive day moving nearly a whole house as quickly and delicately as we could, and dreams of what the week would be. It was awesome to be able to help the people who were doing so much to help me.
