R & R

After a ridiculous eleven straight days of climbing we were really looking forward to some time off. We headed down to Seattle to visit Dan and Allison, old friends of Jason's and recent emigrants from Ottawa. They treated us to a lovely tour of the city and we thoroughly enjoyed our stay (though NBC's Olympic coverage leaves much to be desired).

Initially, we had big plans for climbing in the Cascades, but the temperatures were looking uncomfortably hot and we opted instead to take advantage of some of the lakeside climbing at Banks Lake in central Washington.

The only problem was that most of the climbs required a boat to access. We searched most of Wenatchee (Apple Capitol of the World!) before finding a kick-ass rubber dingy and then spent two days rowing around the lake, swimming, deep water soloing, and attempting to climb out of the dingy. Here's Jason tied in and ready to go.

And me, belaying.

In case you're in the market for a new boat, the digny is not really the ideal belay vessel. It never tipped, but sharp granite and an inflatable boat are probably not a good combination. Here is Jason swimming out to and climbing a cool overhanging crack.

Here I am taking a cool refreshing dip to escape the heat.

After taking in all the sun we could handle, we went to check out the Grand Coulee damn. The best part was the air conditioned visitors center.

While driving through central Washington we saw this large glacial erratic from the road, which of course we had to go check out.