Talk about a stupid move. I went to Smart Climb 3 without my camera. Smart Climb is an anual event put on by Adventure 16

Smart Climb is cool but you don't actually get to climb, atleast as part of the event. A 16 gets a bunch of vendors and famous climbers to come out to Josh and talk about various topics. For instance, the workshops I attended were Big Wall, Anchor Placement,and Self Rescue. Alot was review but I remembered some stuff I had forgotten and even learned a few things, particularly in the Big Wall class. The best part was the full moon all weekend. Dave, Newshaw, Tina, and John had come up for the weekend as well. This meant climb all day, climb all night. I hooked up with some new friends from Big Bear which helped me with this task.

I drove up Friday night with Dave, Newshaw, Tina, and John. They went to the Ryan campground and I went to the group campground with A 16. This is were I met the group from Big Bear. I slept outside under a rock. I had to because the moon was so bright it was like daytime. The coyotes were out howling all night long.

In the morning I went and registered with A 16. I sat through the classes and had a good time. The Big wall class was great. I actually sat through it twice over the weekend. Saturday night the guest speaker was none other than Dean Potter. How cool is that. This was just a short time after he had freed El Cap and Half Dome in under 24 hours combined. His slide show was cool.

The next night, the group from Big Bear decided to climb Cryptic on the Headstone. By this point I was fried. I had been climbing round the clock for the last two days. I went with them to offer beta but didn't bring my harness or anything. We got to the bottom of the headstone about 11:30 PM. Shortly there after Dean Potter came up to join us. This was so cool. He was bare foot and with out a harness. That didn't stop him from putting a Bowline on a coil and climbing cryptic in the dark while barefoot, and slightly intoxicated. He had never climbed it before, yet he was still very smooth like he had climbed it 100 times before. It was amazing to watch him. Some think he is crazy because of the free soloing he does. After watching him that night I realized how good he is. Freeing the Nose was nothing for him. For him to feel challenged he has to push the limits. I expect to see him redefining climbing, if he hasn't already.