Trip reports

For a place not known for its winter, it seemed like the colder months had been rather dark in San Diego. Heartbreak, injured and graduating partners, car troubles, and work-related difficulties had kept the crew in something resembling hibernation pretty much since October. Of course, there were plenty of local outings, but somehow the fire just wasn’t there. But the uneventful and altogether depressing season had an upside: turns out, it made for fertile training ground. ...

Certain primal fears are dominant in the human race… for example, the fear of creepy crawlies. A strong primal fear I have is cold weather. Having been born and raised in a tropical paradise in India, this is a fear I was exposed to very late in life, with very little know-how on how to tackle it. Every time I have come face to face with it, it has left me scarred. It has left such a lasting impression on me, that when I applied to grad school in the US, I specifically chose places in California just so that I need not suffer from the cold. ...

Davide was finally back in town, and we had a free weekend to do some chill tradding. This could only mean one thing: Idyllwild! Forecast looked autumnal: comfortably above freezing at night, but certainly breezy. Maybe a light drizzle at night. Daytime was gonna be in the 50’s. My trad gear was in Orange County with Andrew (this had almost ruined the previous week’s much less silly outing), so we invited him as a third for Saturday and for camping. Hopefully, this would provide sufficient incentive to give me back my cams. We posted in the chat, and Carrie happily joined us on the ride over — she had invited a few old friends to join us for camping. I booked a campsite, and we were off to the races. We, as always, met at Higher Grounds (now renamed ‘Pure Coffee’ — I refuse to use the new name). Andrew arrived, Carrie’s friends arrived. We handed them our guidebook, and headed on up! On the approach, the views were spectacular. The trees were above the clouds, and the typical socal desert was completely invisible. Fall colors were peeking through, and Idyllwild was as beautiful as ever. ...