> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://blog.novaugust.net/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # The Gypsy and the Philosopher - URL: https://blog.novaugust.net/the-gypsy-and-the-philosopher/ - Published: 2016-08-22T19:36:00.000Z - Updated: 2020-10-20T17:55:54.000Z - Author: Matt Enlow - Tags: Climbing, @jahncke, post, Wild Iris, @octaviangeagla, Lander, #Import 2026-06-21 14:43 - One of three posts on [July trips to Wild Iris](https://blog.novaugust.net/wild-summer/). - All the [Wild Iris photos](http://photography.novaugust.net/Stories/Wild-Summer/?ref=blog.novaugust.net) --- The first Iris trip of the year, later than usual thanks to a great trip to [Ten Sleep](https://blog.novaugust.net/moments-of-fleeting-success/). Will (A.K.A. *[Wilhelm von Smeegleburger-Fahrentoffensvopperwille](https://blog.novaugust.net/wildest-of-is/)*) is becoming an old hand at the Wild I, but for Boulder-based Octavian, this was a first. The same could probably be said about many Coloradans that Fourth of July weekend. ![Wild Iris main lot](https://storage.ghost.io/c/9b/95/9b955960-2312-4b04-8b46-7e66317cd0ed/content/images/2016/08/P3250181.jpg) *Main lot overflow* Never in all my summers at Wild Iris have I seen such crowds at Limestone Mountain. Shit's blowing up! With such an audience around, I couldn't help spraying nonsense at the crag. Turns out OG is an olympic level banterer too. Our blab ruled the crag that weekend. For sure, everyone was impressed.. ![Matt and OG](https://storage.ghost.io/c/9b/95/9b955960-2312-4b04-8b46-7e66317cd0ed/content/images/2016/08/P3250685.jpg) At one point, when Will was failing to live up to his beard in front of a pretty lady, I told him to stop being such a quitter and send. OG backed me up: > Yeah Will, quit *flicking your quittoris* and get up there. A quote for the ages, I'd say. ![OG Smiley](https://storage.ghost.io/c/9b/95/9b955960-2312-4b04-8b46-7e66317cd0ed/content/images/2016/08/P3250671.jpg) *The Romanian Devil - Will's photo* ### Diamonds and Rain OG and I put down some 8 routes that first day, with two of those ups being on **Diamonds and Rain**. I learned the betas in the morning, then came back for the [send in the evening](https://vimeo.com/179566949?ref=blog.novaugust.net). ![Diamonds and Rain crux](https://storage.ghost.io/c/9b/95/9b955960-2312-4b04-8b46-7e66317cd0ed/content/images/2016/08/P3250353.jpg) *8/23 moves into the crux of Diamonds and Rain* It did not go, which perhaps is not a shock. Your 12a redpoint attempt probably shouldn't be your eighth route of the day. I did, however, float through the very sequency crux - *iron cross, mono, right foot smear, hand-foot-match, lock-off, mono, sloper crimp, shitty pocket, mono, ...* \- which was a good sign for next time. ![diamonds and rain crux elongated](https://storage.ghost.io/c/9b/95/9b955960-2312-4b04-8b46-7e66317cd0ed/content/images/2016/08/P3250354.jpg) *15/23 moves through the crux. You will notice my right foot hasn't moved.* Sometime before all that I got to watch Will take an epic Wilhelm 40ft pinball-clanger off a 10b. Only Will.... --- In the evening we did what you do camped at the OK Corral: walk down the washed out road, ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/9b/95/9b955960-2312-4b04-8b46-7e66317cd0ed/content/images/2016/08/P3250600.jpg) enjoy the Oregon Buttes, beer in hand, ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/9b/95/9b955960-2312-4b04-8b46-7e66317cd0ed/content/images/2016/08/P3250610.jpg) and watch the sunset over the winds. ![og sunset closeup](https://storage.ghost.io/c/9b/95/9b955960-2312-4b04-8b46-7e66317cd0ed/content/images/2016/08/P3250603.jpg) ![og sunset with car](https://storage.ghost.io/c/9b/95/9b955960-2312-4b04-8b46-7e66317cd0ed/content/images/2016/08/P3250605.jpg) ### In The Aspens In an effort to avoid the crowds we'd run into the previous day, Will, OG and I went to The Aspens on Sunday the 3rd. ![Will and flowers](https://storage.ghost.io/c/9b/95/9b955960-2312-4b04-8b46-7e66317cd0ed/content/images/2016/08/P3250628.jpg) ![Will on a 10b](https://storage.ghost.io/c/9b/95/9b955960-2312-4b04-8b46-7e66317cd0ed/content/images/2016/08/P3250646.jpg) That day I began reworking **Butch Pocket**, finding a secret hold and seemingly-backwards series of movements to move me through its crux. I was much lower percentage (meaning, fewer attempts succeeded) on this crux than **Diamonds and Rain**. ![butch pocket](https://storage.ghost.io/c/9b/95/9b955960-2312-4b04-8b46-7e66317cd0ed/content/images/2016/08/P3250800.jpg) *I got very good at this whipper over the summer: *Butch Pocket** After ruining myself by cooling down on an 11c I hadn't touched before (**All He's Got** \- and it was) we hiked the crest back to our car. ![sunflare flowers](https://storage.ghost.io/c/9b/95/9b955960-2312-4b04-8b46-7e66317cd0ed/content/images/2016/08/P3250904.jpg) ![tree](https://storage.ghost.io/c/9b/95/9b955960-2312-4b04-8b46-7e66317cd0ed/content/images/2016/08/P3250883.jpg) Back at camp that night, drunk on a bag of wine and a bottle of Will's home-made mead (a toast: *Here is to bringing friends together, getting to know them better, and being tired at the end of each and every day.*), we spoke philosophy. Will told me that my worldview had (unsurprisingly) already been thought through much more seriously than I ever bothered to do, and was called Existentialism. > ... that each individual—not society or religion—is solely responsible for giving meaning to life and living it passionately and sincerely, or "authentically." ![og backpacker](https://storage.ghost.io/c/9b/95/9b955960-2312-4b04-8b46-7e66317cd0ed/content/images/2016/08/P3250903.jpg) I quoted some of my non-Wikipedia philosophy back at him. > As soon as you're born you start dying, so you might as well have a good time. I think that one's called Hedonism? ![the winds and sundogs](https://storage.ghost.io/c/9b/95/9b955960-2312-4b04-8b46-7e66317cd0ed/content/images/2016/08/P3250895.jpg) ### Next Time, Space Cowboy Octavian and I split ways with Will on Monday, warmed up at Main Wall (this was the only time all summer I hit Main Wall), then got stormed off of **Hot Tamale Baby**. We took that as a sign that our time was up and left, satisfied with our weekend and psyched to come back the next. ![og hiking portrait](https://storage.ghost.io/c/9b/95/9b955960-2312-4b04-8b46-7e66317cd0ed/content/images/2016/08/P3250939.jpg) We popped out of the car forty miles from Rawlins to stretch our legs, and ended up hanging by a fence to enjoy another great Wyoming sunset. ![og fence sunset](https://storage.ghost.io/c/9b/95/9b955960-2312-4b04-8b46-7e66317cd0ed/content/images/2016/08/P3250941.jpg) ![og fence silhouette](https://storage.ghost.io/c/9b/95/9b955960-2312-4b04-8b46-7e66317cd0ed/content/images/2016/08/P3250946.jpg) Four days later, OG was back in Ahab and we were back on our way to the Iris. ![ahab outside rawlins](https://storage.ghost.io/c/9b/95/9b955960-2312-4b04-8b46-7e66317cd0ed/content/images/2016/08/P3250974-1.jpg)