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I am a committed first ascent seeker because I love the adventure and adrenaline you get when climbing a route for the first time. Hence, it was with great excitement that I located our first new, previously undocumented site of the Black Canyon gilia. I was hooked. Even when out for a run in the evenings after work I kept scanning cliff faces in search of this elusive little plant.<\/p>\n
The task of relocating previously documented sites, the climbers’ equivalent of a repeat or second ascent of a route, was also a thrill. My first 10 hour day was filled with rappelling, climbing, scrambling, hiking many miles and carefully scanning cliff faces with a spotting scope but without finding a trace of the gilia. The difficulty of the task was immediately exciting and every time I spotted one of the little things I was filled with excitement.<\/p>\n
I hope to do future work in this field and have had some discussions about future projects. In a way, I found it a way to make a more useful purpose for climbing and that alone has helped hook me into the work.<\/p>\n
For more, check out Bernadette’s botany blog post<\/a> or my gallery of pictures<\/a> from the experience.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The idea of getting paid to climb in the Black Canyon almost sounded too good to be true. But, I found myself on the North Rim of the Black Canyon in early June to meet my friend Bernadette, a botanist … Continue reading