Climbing: Halloween Happiness

Toward the end of climbing camp, it was time for Halloween. We had a grand celebration complete with ghost stories (as told by Fabio), a flying witch with a burning broomstick (played by Dee), and CANDY.

We all had a good time trying to be inventive enough to come up with costumes. Since we didn't have much to work with, we had to be creative. 

 Kelly and Shannon showed up to the party as Bees. Ben was the avant garde Drom Man. Later, he was to mesmerize all of us with an original poem recounting our adventures so far on the expedition. Paul and Nick dressed up as the California raisins, while Brooke and Marthe appeared as Rappers.  They later performed a special rap created just for the occasion.

   

Kevin and Dee braved the chilly temperatures and made a fashionably late appearance as Adam and Eve.  Clay in his imaginative rendition of Bobby's Sock also braved the cold.  Unfortunately, because of site restrictions, we can't show their costumes here.

 Jason, just back from Nepal, and Alisha, who was taking a well-deserved break from the Twig, joined in the festivities too. Allison dug deep into her pack and found suitable attire as well. Bobby posed as a Tim imposter, Tripp was Pappa Smurf, and Ryan L was Backwards Guy
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Not to be outdone, Tim played the part of a blue stop sign and Ryan S pulled himself together as a cactus. In an ironic twist of fate, Ryan had yet another encounter with poisonous substances when he accidently fell onto a cactus later in the evening. Also pictured here, we have Ben in another version of Drom Man.
Nick did a wonderful job of carving us a jack o'lantern. Boy did that watermellon taste good!

   

Later on in the evening, we learned how to play the infamous game of Cheek Darts.  Some of the creative mantras devised that evening were "All Hail to Michael Cheek," "Sneak a peek for Michael Cheek," and the risque "Tight and Deep for Michael Cheek."

 

Katherine (aka Drom Man's Greatest Fan) and Kevin racing to drop a quarter in the coffee mugs. Dee gives Paul encouragement as he tries once again to improve his aim.

It was a great evening and all the sugar kept us up pretty late. But we were up early the next morning, to break down camp and begin hauling all the equipment out to the meeting area. After getting everything all squared away, some folks went back up the canyon for a last swim.   The rest relaxed in whatever shade we could find and listened to Fabio's tunes.

Shortly thereafter, Paco and Lymon arrived with the makings of a fantastic barbeque. Salad, fruit, hamburgers, hotdogs. It was the first meat we'd had in more than a month. As you can see, Tim really savored his hamburger.

 

All too soon, we had to say good-bye to our climbing instructors and to beautiful Diablo Canyon. I don't think that any of us will ever forget our time there.
As we made our way across the lake bed, we stopped to take one last look at Diablo peak.  How amazing to think that the group had been there just a few weeks before. So much had happened since then -- and now we were off to yet another type of adventure... braving civilization on our two day ride south to the kayaking section.

 

For more on climbing, choose a segment below.

Sheer Perseverance

Desert and Canyon Serenity