Thanksgiving :)

Is there any snow yet?! No, not quite yet (or not enough at least), but maybe soon.
But it is Thanksgiving soon, and it looks as if we may get some snow then. And along with that, I can at least be thankful for coming to an end of a crazy year for Chloe and I and being almost done with school! Thank you to my mom and dad for their support and a little financial aid at just the right time through this year of craziness, as well as their patience with my unrelenting schedule. Thanks to Corine and Olivier for their support and in helping us acquire a computer at a critical time (essential to my schooling this year). Of course thanks to Chloe for being the most exceptional person I know, in helping me and still accomplishing amazing things on her own.
...But enough of the touchy feely thing: we went climbing last weekend!!
This posting is pictureless, which is kind of sad, but I apologize for forgetting the camera on our last little excursion this last weekend. We went climbing at Joe's Valley which is lost in the middle of Utah near a small town by the name of Orangeville. Not much there in the way of city life, but a kick ass place to climb indeed. The climbing here is bouldering (as opposed to routes). We were there all weekend and took advantage of some great climbing weather, as long as we were in the sun that is. With the clear blue skies of winter over us, the sun warms the rock nicely, and makes for perfect midday climbing conditions. Chloe sent a classic highball (meaning high) V6 called "Wills of Fire" and I did some some random stuff and got really close to a couple classic V10's called "Beyond Life" and "Trent's mom." I'll have to go back to finish those for sure. As the sun would lower in the sky, the shadows would reach accross the valley and blanket us as early as the mid-afternoon, in some places, and unleash upon us the frigidness of winter. Just as an idea as to how cold it would get, on our last day there, at the end of the day (about 5:30pm), I flashed (meaning did it first go) a fun V6 with a big dyno (jump) move near the top. I stuck the move and cruised to the topout of the boulder using the good final holds. By this time it is so cold that one's fingers freeze almost instantly, and one simply just gets used to the burning feeling in the finger tips as they rewarm right after the climb. It was after all my other digits had rewarmed, that I noticed my left middle finger was oozing with blood. As it turns out, when I stuck the dyno move, a sharp portion of the rock ripped out a nice little chunk out of my middle finger pad. In climbing, this is called a "flapper" when the piece of skin is still loosely attached. I rinced my finger with some water out of our water bottle and by the time I was done washing it (a couple minutes), the water that had fallen onto the crashpad and the ground was already frozen solid! Chloe braved the cold for couple final climbs and then we hike home (to our truck w/flip pac) with the final rays of light, and had ourself a good classic climbing dinner: pasta with chilli, cheese and wine. Oh, and lets not forget the Eclairs for dessert, or did we have some chocolate "rochers Suchards" that night? Well, we eventually had both anyways.
I'm currently finishing up my last few hours for my internship at WECAD, and then next week is my last week of class, and testing!! Wish me luck, and hopefully all goes well.
Oh, and Sunlight mountain (where we patrol) opens on Friday December 5th: let it snow!!
Happy Thanksgiving, or just happy days to all!!
-Brendan