I miscalculated how early I'd be able to ditch school, so I had an unexpected few days free to pack and make sure I had everything ready before leaving the triangle, NC.
Before embarking on my international travels, I visited some family in Alabama and went caving with a friend nearby. Alabama is the A in T.A.G, which is a world-class caving area due to the density of caves in the area, with caves numbering in the thousands!
I dropped two caves with my friend and attended a burn pile at his home with several of his friends. Unfortunately, we weren't able to bottom either of the pits, one on purpose because we needed to be out in time to make the bonfire, and the other because we overslept. Classic.
I'm still proud of the second cave, though. I passed through the physical crux easily enough, so easily I wasn't sure if I had even done it or not. I wasn't able to test myself against the mental crux of traversing a cave over ~5-6 hours and a watery crawl, but I hope to return one day.
Read about the story in detail at the links below!
2022 Solo Summer
United States
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Brazil
My time in Brazil was split between hanging out with my family on the farm they own in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul, and in Rio de Janeiro staying with my aunt and cousins.
On the farm I didn't do much but go for runs, vibe with family, and read. I got the flu part way through and I was laid up for the better part of a week with absolutely no energy, but luckily I was better before heading out to Rio.
While Rio is the Brazilian climbing mecca, I was able to get half a day of climbing done about an hour away from the farm! I wasn't able to meet any of the local climbers because I was only able to make it out on a weekday, but the rock was very cool.
In Rio I biked all over the place and did a good bit of solo climbing, but I also linked up with some locals and another traveling climber to get some partnered climbing in!
I was able to climb all the big classics in Rio: K2, Chamine Stop, and Via Dos Italianos (the latter was solo, too!)
As you can see, my climbing in Brazil was somewhat sporadic. A couple days during my stay in Rio were rainy, which is common for the area, and at least once I was tired beyond belief and took a rest day.
The 18 pitch day, easily the most pitches I've ever climbed in a single day, came from rope soloing Via Dos Italianos, normally 9 pitches. The rope solo tehcnique necessitates climbing each pitch twice, so I had to do what I had to do!
Norway
Visiting Norway was the original reason for my summer trip. I spent a month doing a workaway where I took care of a team of husky sled dogs and helped with chores around the house, and in return I got food and board free!
I got to do some climbing around the workaway, bond with the dogs, learn about how to control a group through presence, and made good friends with the owner of the dogs, Eve, who is an incredible lady.
The ORIGINAL original reason to visit Norway was to visit my friend from High School who is moving to Norway. Our schedules only lined up for one weekend, but I'm glad we had it!
After the workaway, I hitchhiked my way North, making for the Lofoten archipelago, which is home to some world class granite cliffs soaring up to over 1,000ft! I stopped by Galdhopiggen, the tallest peak in Northern Europe for my first glacier traverse before thumbing it the rest of the way to Lofoten. After climbing and living in my hammock for a couple weeks I was off to Germany!
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I did a fair amount of solo climbing in Lofoten, but I was also able to luck into several partners. One of them I really vibed with and we climbed efficiently together, allowing us to do a lot of climbing in one day.
Furthermore, because I was camped a 3 minute hike from a 3-pitch wall, every time I soloed one climb there, I climbed between 4 and 6 pitches, so that kept my solo days pretty close to par with my partnered days.
Germany
Germany wasn't originally in my plan, but my friend extended an invite to a music festival. I'd never been to one before, and it seemed like a good time so I accepted and bought tickets!
I had an exercise in flexibility and frugality when I arrived in Hamburg a few days before the festival and found that I had nowhere to stay. I ended up stealth camping in a small wooded area for a couple nights and had a blast exploring the city nearby.
The festival was a great time; I met lots of great people, danced my butt off, got to try moshing, and didn't get covid!
After the festival I took a train laiden with exhausted festival-goers back to hamburg. I was so tired and the train was so packed that I fell asleep balanced across two bicycles belonging to unknown strangers.
I hurt my toe at the festival, making me a cripple, so I spent most of my few days before heading back to the US hanging about a hostel downtown, but I did get a cool tattoo! I got back 4 days into the semester, which was a surreal transition.
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