Fred

A Portrait of Fred Nicole from Prana Living on Vimeo.

Chuck Fryberger shot this well stylied short about Fred. By the way, his camera is so high tech it looks like an underwater boom box. Check it!

Snowpocalypse

Natural Disasters are not the end of the world. But the last few weeks it seems mother nature has flexed her biceps and reminded us just how fragile our existence is. After the news about Haiti landed on my internet scene, my eyeballs were glued (torturously so) to all the images from the devastation that is Port au Prince. From the first moment I saw the photos I felt summoned to help. That's when Flagstaff got our own taste of El Nino.
In one day, 3 feet of snow blanketed Flag in white. The next day, it dumped 2 more feet. With interstates closed, and buildings collapsing what is a person to do but go sledding, build five room igloos or perhaps just snowshoe down to a friends house for hot cocoa and a jam sesh. Ava (my daughter) kills it on the harmonica.
Driving through the desert where the houses look like hobbit holes and little lights peer out of buried windows. The usual browns and golden tans have been replaced by sparkling white and I feel like I'm in a whole new place. I didn't have to travel far, like a 360 degree circle I landed in the same place I started but a world apart.

Dear Martha

Since the snow has made the top outs untop-able I have decided to become better acquainted with my kitchen. My first project was to find the perfect recipe for baking chocolate chip cookies at high altitude (we live at 6500 ft). I had always heard to add more flour (makes them very dry and crispy), add less flour (makes them thin and crunchy), don't add as much baking soda (blah)... I decided to try this recipe that was buried deep within the archives of Cooks Illustrated. If you've ever attempted any of these recipes you should know that Cooks LOVES butter. How wrong could it go really? And they turned out to be the best cookies EVER. So here's the recipe:

Warning: Do not bake cookies in batches!!!! Bake them separately!

Be amazed, not afraid, of the size of the dough balls you place on your cookie sheet.

Makes 16 cookies. Published May 1, 2009. From ATK Books.

Avoid using a nonstick skillet to brown the butter; the dark color of the nonstick coating makes it difficult to gauge when the butter is browned. Use fresh, moist brown sugar instead of hardened brown sugar, which will make the cookies dry. This recipe works with light brown sugar, but the cookies will be less full-flavored. For our winning brand of chocolate chips, see related tasting.

Ingredients

1 3/4	cups unbleached all-purpose flour (8 3/4 ounces)
1/2	teaspoon baking soda
14	tablespoons unsalted butter (1 3/4 sticks)
1/2	cup granulated sugar (3 1/2 ounces)
3/4	cups packed dark brown sugar (5 1/4 ounces) (see note)
1	teaspoon table salt
2	teaspoons vanilla extract
1	large egg
1	large egg yolk
1 1/4	cups semisweet chocolate chips or chunks (see note)
3/4	cup chopped pecan or walnuts, toasted (optional)

Instructions

1. 1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 375 degrees. Line 2 large (18- by 12-inch) baking sheets with parchment paper. Whisk flour and baking soda together in medium bowl; set aside.

2. 2. Heat 10 tablespoons butter in 10-inch skillet over medium-high heat until melted, about 2 minutes. Continue cooking, swirling pan constantly until butter is dark golden brown and has nutty aroma, 1 to 3 minutes. Remove skillet from heat and, using heatproof spatula, transfer browned butter to large heatproof bowl. Stir remaining 4 tablespoons butter into hot butter until completely melted.

3. 3. Add both sugars, salt, and vanilla to bowl with butter and whisk until fully incorporated. Add egg and yolk and whisk until mixture is smooth with no sugar lumps remaining, about 30 seconds. Let mixture stand 3 minutes, then whisk for 30 seconds. Repeat process of resting and whisking 2 more times until mixture is thick, smooth, and shiny. Using rubber spatula or wooden spoon, stir in flour mixture until just combined, about 1 minute. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts (if using), giving dough final stir to ensure no flour pockets remain.

4. 4. Divide dough into 16 portions, each about 3 tablespoons (or use #24 cookie scoop). Arrange 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheets, 8 dough balls per sheet. (Smaller baking sheets can be used, but will require 3 batches.)

5. 5. Bake cookies 1 tray at a time until cookies are golden brown and still puffy, and edges have begun to set but centers are still soft, 10 to 14 minutes, rotating baking sheet halfway through baking. Transfer baking sheet to wire rack; cool cookies completely before serving.

Have fun!! Bon appetit.

This was a miniature photo in the last UCMag...

misguided

My favorite way to see the back country in Hueco is to just throw down the extra cash for a commercial tour. That way I can go wherever I want with my friends. When Andy Klier is my guide I pretty much just let him show me around and we usually end up in some far reaching obscure area on West mountain. The approach is usually the warm up: Climbing up 5.8's, leaping over crevasses, and traversing exposed ledges with a crash pad strapped to my back. The time it takes to get to the boulder problem is one of the best parts about climbing in Hueco. I like to call these adventurous meanderings, "Misguided Tours".
On one misguided tour we found ourselves on all manner of "trad" boulder problems. The fin next to Uncut Yogi for example, Nick actually taped his hands to hand jam. We all did the "hourglass", I arm jammed to finish a beautiful v7 called Belly of the Beast because I couldn't reach the positive crimp another 6 inches away....the list goes on. So, if you come to hueco and you "aren't a boulderer" cause you've been trad climbing or whatever, keep in mind that the only four star problem in the park that Fred Nicole hasn't done is a 35 foot roof crack on north mountain called, "The Morgue" (v5). Happy hunting!

8a

8a has always seemed to be a really big, unattainable, almost mystical number to climb. Lately, it doesn't seem so far fetched for me to picture myself completing a climb with a number like that.
Since I can now say that I climb v10, it seems silly that I have never even attempted anything harder. I've always had, and continue to have, this attraction to climbs that just happen to be rated v10. I'll walk up to something really pretty and invariably it always is rated v10. So naturally, thats all I've climbed. Since my spree earlier this month I have made it my small quest to break out of my habit and try an 8a or v11.
I started thinking to myself about all these hard climbs that I wanted to do that I didn't know the ratings for (all turned out to be v10 by the way...). So I started asking people who climbed harder than myself what some of their favorite climbs were. This inquiry turned to whether or not any of them were actually v11's.
"You should try Rumble in the Jungle." One friend said. "That's a v12." I replied.
It felt wrong to skip v11, 8a, all together and go to v12. So I began my research for a v11. I looked in my Hueco guide book and found that after v10, the amount of climbs that exist at the v11 rating or higher drops considerably.
"v12 in Hueco is easier than v11 anyway. You should just try a v12." my friend said...
WHAT.
I can't believe that. What is wrong with v11? In Europe there are tons of 8a's. You could say it's a popular grade. So why are there so many more v10's?
Is it because they are easier?
Do people just not like uneven numbers?
Whats the deal?
So, I am now on my search for the perfect v11, for me. I don't want a gimme either. I don't want to hear ANYONE say, "Oh that thing is really v10."
The search is on.

Fulfilled

Happy holidays to all, I've had my hands full as of late but here is what you missed!

My last post was of a beautiful day of sending double digit boulder problems. I took two days off then headed back out to the Priest Draw with Jill Church. It was a very very crisp day and we struggled to stay warm. I have a little vid clip of Jill looking like a masked bandit that I'll embarrass her with on another day...
We kidded around for most of the day but because of my send day I was ampted to try my long time project, The Receptionist. So I lit the burner under our feet and we booked it down to the Mars Roof. On our way I spied a heart shaped rock. Now I have to preface this occurrence by saying that I see hearts everywhere and I have been known to hold certain superstitious attitudes. I commented to Jill on what I had seen followed by, "I'm not sending the receptionist today. Everytime I see a heart shaped rock something goes wrong." And she replied, "That sounds to me like a self defeating prophecy." We'll see, I thought.
Walking up to the Mars Roof we were greeted by a runway strip of pads already laid out beneath the climb. Wow! I'm usually there all by myself without a spotter let alone three extra crash pads! Word.
I hadn't been out there in more than 2 months so I attempted the end first. I didn't catch the crux hold until my second warm-up attempt but thought it best to try it from the bottom anyway.
Walking up to those holds was like being home.
"Hello, my old friend." I whispered to the rock.
There is something about being out at that roof. The trees speak in hushed rustles and there are always hummingbirds (save in the wintertime). I've often imagined Navajo or Hopi tribes having large meetings and sitting on the perfect thrones around the roof.
I set up my brand new camera, pressed record, walked to the start holds. The others were talking about a new area near Sedona when I started climbing. I tend to like having a distracted audience.
I bounced through the beginning moves with a well rehearsed rhythm. When I latched the telephone (the crux hold of the climb) I bore down. Even though I hit it low I thought to myself,


"Just don't let go!" So I moved with measured preciseness, I kept my breath strong. It was a blur throwing for the top jug but when I hit it, I awoke with a holler!!! YEAAAAH. haaaaa.
I just sent The Receptionist!
F-yeah. I'm 5'1" and I can't tell you how many times I've heard that I'm probably too short. Or that I need to use the heel beta (which I can't reach) or try another climb on that roof or whatever. Who cares. I did it. And I can't help but think that it was something in my mind that was holding me back all the time. Jill mentioned to me once that I tend to "savor things." Meaning that I work and work and work on things that I could really just send. That week made her statement sound too true for me to not accept. Thanks Jilly for being so wise.