Update: This hike was 13 miles long and after all was said and done I think Mom may have been the least tired.

Yesterday I met Steve at 5:30am and we drove down to Blodgett Canyon to climb the southwest face of Shoshone Spire. Rock Climbing Montana says it is 8 pitches, 5.10. It is definitely the tallest climb I have ever done.

The pitch length and difficulty of our route varied quite a lot from the guidebook’s. However, it was freeing not knowing exactly how hard what you were climbing was or how long you should go before setting up the next belay. Big ups to Steve for leading all the hard stuff.

I had a bit of a scare on the first pitch, taking a 20 foot lead fall/slide on a slabby section (apparently there was some slack in the rope, none of my pieces popped), and was both grateful and proud of myself to be caught by a #3 stopper I had put in a fairly shallow crack. (A piece of metal a little smaller than a jellybean with some metal wire attached to it.)

The sun was out and we didn’t have any other major incidents, and were back to the car around 7:30pm.

We drove up to Glacier. Everyone was feeling groovy.

Mom and Dad came to visit. One day we took a walk. Dad was not feeling well so he did not go.

Sweet rainbow that was outside our front door earlier this week.

Highlights from Sunday included LCD Soundsystem, Pavement, Massive Attack, and Booka Shade.

I have been a Pavement fan for a long time and was great to see them play. It was Steven Malkmus’ birthday.

Massive Attack was unreal.

Some pictures from the first day. This was my 3rd year spending Memorial Day Weekend at Sasquatch. Highlights from Saturday were many. Brother Ali, Broken Social Scene, The National, Vampire Weekend, and Deadmau5 were all excellent.

Saturday was the annual Garden City Brewfest in downtown Missoula. The weather was on a 30 minute cycle of sun and rain that seems to be quite popular this time of year. When we got there the band Secret Powers was covering the entire Beatles’ album Abbey Road. I had forgotten how much I enjoy that record.

President Obama speaking today at the University of Michigan’s commencement ceremony. See this article in the New York Times for more information.

If you have 30 minutes I highly recommend listening to the whole thing, it is quite remarkable.