Posideon

Here is a cool shot of me not sticking the crux move of Posideon (V9), far above The Hulk in Right Fork. A few tries later I got the 4th ascent. Big ups to Paul Nadler for sending me this shot. More to come!

Joe's Valley

I have been in Joe's Valley since Thurday night and plan on staying for another day or two. Its been a bit hot but much, much cooler than Yosemite and its perfect conditions in the mornings and evenings. I have sent a number of amazing problems including Worst Case Scenario (V9), Posideon (V9), a flay of Dirty Harry (V7), and Worm Turns (V11). I have also come oh so close to Beyond Life and Battletoads a number of times. I have met up with some rad guys from California and Colorado who have been sharing a lot of new stuff and I am more psyched on this place than ever. I have gotten a lot of very cool pictures and will share with as soon as possible.

Hot Hot Hot in Yosemite

Yosemite was an amazing experience but it turned out too hot to stay motivated. After Rich and I did the Rostrum, we were not able to muster the motivation to do another big climb. It was 95 every day and even the shade was a bit much. I did manage to do some good bouldering early in the mornings and at night. My best send being Golden _______ (V10). Rich, Kevin and I then decided to go up in elevation in order to stay a bit cooler. On Wednesday before heading to Utah, we all climbed the Red Dihedral, an amazing 12 pitch 5.10 on the Incredible Hulk formation. It was a beautiful day and a great way to wrap my time up in California.

Yosemite

I have been in Yosemite for five days now and it has been amazing. Did Midnight Lightning my first morning here and then yesterday did the north face of the Rostrum. Internet is limited so more will have to wait for later.

Another visit to Leavenworth

Bryan and I headed over the Cascades for one more trip before I drive south to Yosemite. We arrived in Leavenworth just as it was getting dark. We both sent a cool river block called The Fin (V7) before calling it an early night. After warming up the next morning, we both sent Bananas (V8). Bryan worked the Teacup (V13) a bit but it was in the sun and was feeling pretty hard. Then we moved over to Abstraction (V11), an amazing shaped suspended block. The movement is powerful yet very technical and I am happy to say Bryan and I both sent. This is my first hard block in a couple months and it is nice to be feelig fit again. After sessioning a few other problems, the thermometer read 92 and our skin was fried. On the way home we stopped in Index and we both did J-High (V7), an amazing river polished block.

The Teacup

Abstraction

Gold Bar

Bryan and I went to Gold Bar today. It was a bit foggy on the drive out but it dried out by the time we neared the boulders. Due to some ancient history involving oil pans and the Gold Bar road, we decided to hike from the parking area for the Five Star Boulder. It took us about an hour and fifteen minutes to reach the boulderfield, which turned out to be a pretty pleasent hike due to the early morning cool temps and lack of buzzing dirtbikes. We immediatly headed into the shade and warmed up on Dookie's Pinchfest (V8, not a great warm up). Bryan and I both sent, but not without some serious effort. Next up was Funpuppet (V9) and Wheel of Darma (V11), two problems starting on a little pod and moving up a just barely overhanging face on tiny crimps. We made a bit of progress on both but no sends. Then it was to Doja Direct (V11), which we decided we did not have enough pads for and Voilition (V12), which is both very hard and very ghetto (although beautiful). Then we headed up the Sanctuary, where Bryan sent a cool V8 I forget the name of and then we both gangled our way to the top of Metroid Prime (V7).

Dookie's Pinchfest (Washington's V8 version of NMGG)

Funpuppet

Wheel of Darma

Leavenworth

On Tuesday, Bryan and I made a day trip out to Leavenworth. I always thought of Leavenworth as a bit far from Seattle for the day but realized on Tuesday it is almost an hour faster than going to Evans from the Springs if you include the hike. We warmed up at Mad Meadows. There we tried Cloaca (V10) a couple times before checking out The Sail and The Ram. Word had it that a hold had broken and it appeared that it had but without much consequence to either problem. I did the Sail to the lip (V9) and Bryan did The Ram (V12) to the lip first try. Both problems we had each respectively done before. Then I tried The Peephole (V11) a few times before agreeing that my previous conclusion of this climb being too ghetto was correct. Next up was Superman (V10), a powerful problem using underclimgs and a lot of compression out a roof. It was cool but neither one of us was close to doing it without a bit more effort so we moved on. We stopped at Droppin' the Kirshbaun (V10) and worked it for about an hour before giving up. Continuing up Icicle Creek Canyon, we stopped at the Cottonpony (V10). Bryan did it his second try. Despite hitting the good hold at the lip eight times in a row, I was never able to actually hold it. We then moved to Batman (V8), a cool problem with some powerful moves leading to a very hard mantle. Last time I tried this problem it was 95 out and the slopers were in the sun. After chalking the holds up I was able to send. Finally, we went to a problem neither of us had tried before, Spanman. This is a very cool compression problem out a streep prow to a committing top. I figured the moves out but was not able to put them all together. Overall a very full day of climbing, which left me sore the next day, something bouldering almost never does to me. We are hopefully heading back out tomorrow, likely to Gold Bar, then I am off to Yosemite on Monday.

Superman

Spanman



The Cottonpony

Colorado College Alpine Journal

This summer the Climber's Association of Colorado College finally got our act together and published the 2007 Colorado College Alpine Journal. I have no idea how many hours I put into this calling printers, learning publishing formats, and and trying to make decisions with five other people all living in different places but we did it. Special thanks go out to Michael Wejchert, Joe Forrester, Dave Hoven, and Matt Franco for all their hard work. We have set up a much better organized set of procedures to ensure that the 2008-2009 school year journal is printed in early 2010. Stay tuned. Overall, the journal came out beautifully and I was happy to have a photo I took of a sunset over the Bridger Jacks and North and South Six Sooter be used for the cover image. I also wrote a short trip report on my sophomore year winter break trip to California, where a huge winter storm that dumped 4+ feet of snow on Bishop drastically changed my plans. Accompanying the story was a photo that Ryan Nieto took of me on Evilution. If you are interested in a copy of the journal, please feel free to contact me.

Updates

I have been slow to get this up on my blog recently. I have been climbing on ropes this last week, trying to get my fitness up for Yosemite, where I will be in less than two weeks. I have given two top rope burns on Brad's route, Mr Furious (5.13a), up on old stage road. The next time I try it will be on the sharp end placing gear. I also went up to Elevenmile Canyon to check out the Ice Box wall and the Sports wall, neither of which I had been to. Both were very impressive. Chris Barlow sent the jewel line of the Ice Box wall. We are not sure what it is called but it is around 5.13c. There are some other great, unbolted lines on this wall that we are keen to put up soon. I also tried a 5.12+ finger crack at the Sports wall that was very good. Hopefully I will get back up there today and give it another burn. Besides this, I have been climbing in the gym a lot in order to get some of my power back so I can also do some bouldering in Yosemite. More updates to come soon.

The 13c route Chris sent follows the red line. Heading straight up where the line cuts right would increase the difficultly and straighten the route out.

Dickfist and Beatnuts

I meant to post this a while back but did not get around to it and then forgot. This is a short film of climbing in Southern Colorado. Some of the footage is better than other parts, with the highlight being the very end where Dave gets the FA of the Green Lantern (V11) at Ute Pass. Enjoy.