When would be ideal if we were looking for a West Coast trip? This would be shorter (3 months) and mostly involve ropes and stuff so big I need to go to the toilet just thinking about it.
(Naranjo is in Picos.)
November: Moab, Zion, desert towers etc? Sell van in Vegas. get that pesky wedding out of the way by means of a drive-through chapel (seriously considered this option), fly home for Xmas
+1 to the old men's warnings about doing something big whilst you can. If you're getting into a career when you get back you never know when you'll get another chance. I've not done a trip longer than three weeks for many years and don't see it being likely in the next ten either. And I'm my own boss.
that's fine, however if finances dictate that it HAS to be Europe I'd rather get that under my belt rather than none of all.
Since it looks as thought you'd be looking to leave some time in November-Januaryish, much of the west coast is out. Starting out during this period your best bets are Heuco for bouldering, or starting out at El Potrero in Mexico, then coming back to the states. El Potrero is really cheap and would be great in Jan/Feb except for the shorter day. Awesome long multipitch sport stuff = Great for building up day-long fitness for long stuff plus getting multipitch logistics down. Then head to J-tree/Red Rocks/Bishop, then to the valley.I'd imagine you could do 6mos pretty cheap if you did:Jan/Feb - El Potrero - Cheap campingMar/April - Red Rocks (nice blend of sport,trad and boulder and long and short) - If you look for it you can find free desert camping.April/May - Bishop (Yosemite for short spells) Bishop is cheap with free camping and easy access, yosemite is expensive.June - Squamish (nice blend of sport,trad and boulder and long and short) - If you look around you can find free/cheap camping or couch surf with a local.
Would the main point of the trip be "long stuff" i.e. mulitpitch, bouldering, Sport, Tour of everything?
I'm open to suggestion but "The best of the best" seems about right.
Hueco - in spite of the regs, North Mountain is pretty easy to manage, and has plenty of quality.
Quote from: Sasquatch on September 14, 2012, 07:15:46 pmHueco - in spite of the regs, North Mountain is pretty easy to manage, and has plenty of quality.Its not just the entry passes that put me off, the whole scene sounded like my idea of bouldering hell.