Cross country travel is always full of surprises, it’s hard to really foresee where one might end up on any road trip really. When my friend Bill and I traveled across the United States to Portland, Oregon to attempt to climb Mount Hood. Unfortunately Mother Nature was not kind to us and we had to bag the summit attempt on Hood, but on the bright side, we did get to successfully summit Mount Shasta in Northern California on a beautiful bluebird day in June.
On the way back across the United States while looking for a game plan when we found ourselves approaching Reno, Nevada. Much to our excitement we discovered that there is a two pitch artificial climbing wall attached to the side of the building above the famous Reno arch. That climbing wall at Basecamp Reno was at one point the tallest in the world, and I have to say, it was pretty intimidating. I lead the first pitch to the top of the first wall and belayed Bill up. Bill lead the next pitch which narrowly ascended to the top of the building. Hanging on to the side of a building in a major city unnerved me a bit, but the view of the city was incredible. I don’t know what it is, I can climb as high as the sky on any natural rock feature, but put me on an artificial wall, and I get shaky feet.
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