Zion and St George

Next it was off to Zion to do a bit of backpacking.  We headed to Kolob Canyons, which was some of the most beautiful terrain I have ever seen.  We found some truly AMAZING boulders in the backcountry.  Everything from compression blocks over the river to crimp lines up amazing 20 foot aretes.  We had some good sessions but did not top anything out.  Next, it was off to the Saint George area, where Ben Tim and I met up with Lauren and Brian for some pulling on immaculate limestone.  We spent a day and a half at Gorilla Cliffs and a day and a half at the Cathederal / Wailing Wall.  These are some of the best sport crags and I have ever been to and I would love to return one day.

The view from one of our camps in Zion Canyon

Pierre and I chilling at the Gorilla Cliffs

Sunset from Highway 91 near the Cathedral

Lauren warming up on an amazing 11c

Children of the Corn

One of the things Tim and I were most excited for in Ibex was trying Children of the Corn (5.13a). This route gained some fame when Tim Kemple soloed this and in the process made himself sound and look a bit foolish (in my opinion) during a section of Dosage 3.  It is essentially a very steep crack of almost every size with reasonable jams that has a face climbing section at the top that is hard cause you are pumped.  While we did all the moves, neither one of us sent. But we certainly had a great time trying such an overhanging trad route.  Here are some photos.

Red Monster

Our first stop of Spring Break was Ibex.  It was particularly windy, but everyone had an awesome time and Ibex got the approval the group, most of whom had not been there before.  I climbed on Bruce Lee for a bit but never came super close to sticking the crux left arm bump.  Here are a few photos.

Gripped Photo Sequence

I am happy to share that I recently got a sequence of photos published in the Canadian magazine Gripped. This marks the first time I have had something printed in a major climbing publication and I am very excited about it.  The sequence is of my good friend Bryan Boyko doing the Index classic Lego My Ego last summer, shortly before crushing his left ring finger off in a canary accident in Alaska.  I am very excited for Bryan, as his finger had recovered very well and he has started climbing again in the last couple months.

Updated: Ute Pass

On Friday, Byron, Brian, Than and I met up at Ute Pass to get a short afternoon session in.  The weather had temporarily turned cold, and between snow flurries, we got some great climbing in.  After two years without trying it, Byron did Bloody Arete Stand (V8) first go without warming up.  Despite the sit move being left arm intensive, I convinced Byron to try it.  He only gave it two goes but came very, very close to sticking the move.  Next, we headed over to The Gusher (V11).  I sent this one two years ago but was not able to pull a repeat off today.  We then moved our attention to a line I put up to the right called Beyond the Clouds (V10) .  I would say this is top three lines at the pass (along with Bloody Arete Sit and The Green Lantern) but despite this, it has not seen a second ascent from the sit.  We worked it for a while and out of no where Than pulled off the third ascent of the stand, Above the Cloud (V7).  Below is a video of the days happenings.

Project Wall and other updates

Things have been good in the So Co recently.  The weather has been a bit on the warm side but we have still been getting out a lot.  We have been working on some nice projects up in the Splatte.  Below is a video of a nice block I found a bit ago.  The center face is about 18 feet tall and 15 feet wide with a beautiful line right up it.  All the moves have gone but no one has linked it together yet.  Probably around V8.  There is also a nice climb moving out left from the same start that is a bit easier, maybe V7, which has also not gone.  You can also watch this video in high definition here. In other news, Tim, Nathan and I went back to Triple Exposure today and Tim had a good link from the ground into the crux of the crack.  I got some great telephoto video from across the way and coupled with a good continuos shot from above on a rope and I will have the material to put a nice piece together on the climb.

Five Ten Treasure Hunt

Check out Five Ten's website for more information.

Updates

          Been climbing outside a lot recently.  The theme has been exploration and I have put a number of off trail miles on my Freerunners. I am continually impressed at how comfortable and versatile this shoe is.  I can do everything from long trail hikes, to tricky talus jumping, to warming up in them.  The difficulty of much of Southern Colorado is getting close enough to a boulder to actually be able to see it.  Much of the time, the forest hides even the largest of blocks and it is very energy consuming chasing every potential lead you think you might see.  Byron, Brian Rhodes and I went to Elevenmile on Sunday to do a bit of exploration and cleaning.  We brushed up a large 15 footer that I found last week and climbed two lines to the lip but no one had it in them to turn the lip with the horrid landing.  With a few more pads it should go and you can expect a media update when it does.

          Then on Tuesday, Tim and I went to Garden of the Gods to try Triple Exposure.  Neither one of us had been on it and were both eager to see what it was like.  The first pitch was not quiet as chossy and everyone had said and the second pitch was perfect, powerful fingers.  I would like to avoid the hanging belay between the two pitches and do the route in the style that Brian did this summer, which goes at 5.13a.  Here is a photo of Brian on it, courtesy of Keith Ladzinski's website.

New Link

Check out the new link I have added on the right.  It is to my buddy Dave Jones' (aka Lordscience) website.  He is an awesome artist and super psyched climber.  Check it!

New Crack Boulder

A bit further down canyon from the new 45 line I found is this boulder.  Its about a 10 foot tall crack.  The first 5 feet are tight hands then it moves to bad fingers at the back of a wide offwidth that one must grovel to the top of to get another reasonable hand jam before moving left onto some faces holds to pull your body out of the depths of the crack.  Cool moves on a few painful locks.  FA goes to Tim Gibson at around V5.

Chill Style Left

Nathan finished off Chill Style Left on Friday also.  He used very different beta from how I did it and eliminated a number of hard moves.  We thought it was around V8.

Smoke Signals

Both Nathan and Tim sent Smoke Signals (V7) at Elevenmile quickly on Friday.  Nathan used the standard beta of throwing to the lip off of the last reasonable sloper with your feet low while Tim came up with some crack technique to static through the crux.  With the thin (and painful) handjams, Tim said it felt around V4.

Updated: Elevenmile Project

Byron, Brian and I went back to this guy on Sunday afternoon.  It was the third time I have looked at it but I still have not tried it.  It is eight feet of 45 to 6 more of vert on small incuts. Based on established things I have seen of a similar angle and hold size, this one has to be at least V12 or V13.   If anyone is interested I will take you to this guy.

Elevenmile

Yesterday Byron and I went up to Elevenmile with the intent on exploring a bit.  The warm weather has not allowed the normal ice bridges over the river to form and therefore changed our plans.  We went up this not so promising hillside and ended up finding a number of reasonable blocks.  The rock quality varied from good quality to normal crumbly splatte rock.  I did find one particularly nice line up a swooping wall that changed angles from 45 to about 15 degrees.  The block is about 12 feet tall and climbs on small incuts.  It probably clocks in somewhere in the V10 range.  After telling Byron about it, we tried to head back only to get disoriented.  We walked in circles for a while but never located it again.  I plan on returning soon to climb on this guy, hopefully with better luck finding it.

Hueco Rock Rodeo

Having not been to Hueco for two years it was super sweet to return, even if it was only for a long weekend.  The Hueco Rock Rodeo is coming up in two weekends and, as usual, should be lots of fun.  I climbed in the Rock Rodeo four years ago and had a great time and plan on heading down for a three day weekend to participate again this year.  There will be lots of great climbing to be had, sweet Five Ten shoe demos, and of corse a rocking after-party.  Hope to see you all there.

Hueco Tanks Continued

Since it was everyone but my first time to Hueco Tanks, we toured all of the classic stuff in the first couple days.  I had not climbed in two weeks and both my knee and pinkie were usable for the first time in a while, which was very exciting for me.  My trip consisted of repeating a lot of classics I had already done and trying a lot of the cool hard lines I have always looked at.  I got on Right Martini, Chablanke, Diaphanous Sea, Power of Landjager, Full Monty and Dark Age all for the first time.  I did not send any of them but it felt good to get on hard climbs again and make progress on them. Below is me on Baby Martini.  I have done the line before but fell matching the finishing jug on this trip at the end of the day.  Shortly after this my camera ran out of battery and I was not able to get any more photos. 

See Spot Run

We had an excellent crew of dudes on our Block Break from school this last five days.  Nathan Tim and I headed out and picked up Dane in Albuquerque then Blake at the El Paso airport.  We spent our first day on North Mountain.  The highlights of the day was Dane sending his first V5, Lobster Claw, Nathan's flash of See Spot Run, and my blind football throw and Tim's subsequent catch between two corridors where we could not see each other.  Shown below is Tim working the moves out of See Spot Run.

Updates

Sorry I have not posted too much recently.  Between my pinkie and knee, climbing has not been a great option.  Tonight I leave for 10 days in Hawaii for my Volcanology class.  We will be on the Big Island, mostly around Volcano National Park, but should get to see a good chunk of the island.  I return next Wednesday and immediately head down to Hueco for five days.  It will be the first time I have climbed on problems not graded by myself or others I climb with and I am very curious to see how things feel.  My knee should be better by then and I will also be able to use my left pinkie again.  I will post a bunch upon returning to the Springs.

New Look

Another Injury

Just as my pinkie is starting to feel better it seems that I may have seriously injured my knee.  Ander, Byron and I went to the Winter OR Trade Show with no music but the radio so we went to make a quick stop at a record store on the way out of Salt Lake when I slipped on some ice running around a corner.  At full speed, my right knee plowed into a cement curb and it immediately began to swell up. Shown below is my knee this afternoon.  I plan on seeing a doctor tomorrow.

Updates

Ander got into town at 4 am this morning.  Headed out somewhere after class today then tomorrow we are headed to Utah for the winter Outdoor Retailer show.  Hopefully we can squeeze in some time in Little Cottonwood before spending the day at Joe's on Sunday.

Winter Session at Ute Pass

Corridor Blocks

Yeah, so my finger is broken but I am starting my recovery period after this weekend in an attempt to finish up some business. Today, Byron, Noah and I went to Elevenmile to try our luck at some new lines. A while back, Byron spotted a huge, yet hard to spot arete in some talus about the road in Elevenmile Canyon.  We stopped to take a look and upon realizing the 40+ foot monster with a horrible landing was actually a death route, we started walking around to see what else may be laying around.  It turned out that we did find a few hidden gems, with climbs that were very reminiscent of Mt Evans.  Media has been slowly leaking out onto the web of this area since it was first found so here it is, a video of the goods.

Looking to do a bit of a warm up, I brushed up the first line in the video and quickly made the first ascent at around V2.  Due to the reachy beta that both Noah and I used, I named the problem Snoop Style, in reference to the lankiness that Snoop Dog is.  Just to the right of this problem is a highly featured wall that will yield a number of cool moderates in the V7 range but we were not able to unlock them as daylight faded.  However, the main attraction is a stunning arete that has been dubbed the Gin and Juice project.  Imagine a steeper Bloody Arete with a much worse landing.  The problem revolves around a huge move to the lip off of a horrible wrap.  I am starting to think the stand alone might be V10.  There is also a clear sit, with even worse pinches and wraps moving into the stand holds, which will most definitely be southern Colorado's hardest when it goes.

Broken Finger

I got a call from my doctor today.  Turns out my left pinkie is broken and I cannot climb for one month.  SUPER BUMMED...

Wintery Conditions

While Seattle warmed up and everything got wet, Colorado Springs stayed cold and despite icicles and snow on many problems up at the Pass yesterday, the rock was dry and crisp underneath.  I cleaned off all the ice that was over the top out of the Talledega Nights project and chalked it up.  I plan on heading up to the Pass again tomorrow to either try Talledega Nights or the Horseshoe Stratler.

Erie lighting just after sunset.

Icicles sticking to the lip of the Talledega Nights boulder.  The line starts on the left side of the jug and moves up and right on stupidly small crimps using a large heel hook.  While I have topped the problem out from a good incut below the lip at around V6 and Ben Snyder made it to this same hold from the start only to fall trying to top out in the rain, this problem has not seen a first ascent after three years of effort.

In the SoCo...

Just arrived back in Colorado Springs. PSYCHED PSYCHED PSYCHED! I have not touched rock in two weeks and am on the verge of freaking out. Going out climbing with Byron tomorrow. Updates to come.

Injured Finger

About five weeks ago, I hurt my left pinkie finger at Triassic. When my friend Ted fell and his head was going straight for some talus, I reached out and caught his shirt, where my pinkie got wrapped up and twisted very badly. After not being able to use the pinkie for the last five weeks, I decided to go to the doctor and see if they could tell me anything. Luckily, there is no tendon damage and the bone is not fractured. Just a really bad sprain to the joint nearest the tip. If I can keep from jaring it, I should be able to start using it again in a few more weeks.

2009 Goals

So the tick list was fun and all, but a bit much to keep track of, espeically without the aid of an 8a spraysheet. So for 2009, I am going to share a brief list of significant things that I would like to accomplish. It is finally starting to feel like the end is near for my time in Colorado. I have accomplished a lot in the last two years, but there are a number of prizes still out there which I would really like to finish up. Also, if I was to characterize 2008 for myself, I would have to say it was the year of the gear climbing and I would like to continue broadening the spectrum of climbing I do in 2009. With no more adieu, the goals are:

-Free climb Liberty Crack (6 pitches), Liberty Bell, North Cascades Traditional 5.13-(?)
-Climb a 5.14 (something beautiful, steep, and endurancy)
-Climb the Squamish Grand Wall, Half Dome, El Capitan, and the Incrediable Hulk
-Do a big free route in Yosemite (Freerider 0r Regular Route of Halfdome?)
-Climb a roof offwidth upside down (potentially Belly Full of Bad Berries, Trench Warfare, or Bad JuJu Roof)
- Continue searching for that King Line boulder problem out there in Southern Colorado, and keep establishing things along the way
- Finish Seraut, Wrist Rocket, Bushpilot, Muddy Waters, Gin and Juice, Walk Softly Sit, "Hayden's Project", Horseshoe Stratler, Talledega Nights, and the Green Lantern

2008 Final Report Card: D

Since it appears the weather in the Northwest is not going to allow for climbing until after the New Year, I have calculated the results from my 2008 tick list challange. Under the rules established by Sock-lord-choss-crunch, I tallied all problems flashable for me and harder that I attempted this year and found I had a score of 58.4% where completeing a problem in one session gives full credit on that problem, while each subsequent session reduces the credit. Under the grading rules established by Colorado Colllege, this gives me a D. While I did manage to get a passing grade for my climbing in the year 2008, I hope Rylan and Jaeger fare a bit better. I will say though, I gladly accept my D in conjuction with the time I put in finding and establishing new problems in Southern Colorado than an A from just repeating previously established problems. Excited for what lies ahead in twenty-o-nine!

Snow Snow Snow

After a bit of an epic in the Colorado Springs airpot, not even due weather but rather mechanical malfunctions, I arrived in Seattle last night. Almost immedialty I realized that climbing would not be happening today. Washington has had a very snowy winter and there is more snow on the ground in Seattle then there is along the Front Range right now. With another week of snow in the forecast, it is unlikely I will be able to get out on any blocs this break. If things do clear up, I will take the opportunity to head out to Index and try to get on some trad lines and boulders. Here is a quick shot I took of the snow outside my house:

Updates

        Yesterday, Byron, Dave and I headed up to Ute Pass with the goal of trying the long standing Horseshoe Stratler (v13?)  Both Byron and I made significant progress, albeit with very different beta.  I even almost grabbed the second hold correctly.  Check Dave's photo page for two shots of us trying it.

       Tomorrow I am headed back to Seattle for the holidays.  It has been a bit cold and snowy in Washington as of late but the forecast is for good weather tomorrow and Saturday.  Bret and I are heading to Index with the hopes that conditions might make things feel better then this summer.  Updates with photos and video to come.

From the Archives: Weekend Mission to Joe's

Here are some shots from a trip I made with Carlo, Conner, David, and Joe.  Rode the bus up to Boulder Friday afternoon and got back to campus around 3 am before class on Monday.  Pictures below is Carlo on They Call Him Jordan, Beyond Life, and Nerve Damage.  An interesting trip to think about...  the days when a V6 could still shut Carlo down.

Back in the Springs, Back at the Pass

Yesterday, Tim, Sam, Byron and I met up at the Pass to do a bit of bouldering.  Despite it being December, Tim's thermometer read 66 degrees when we got back to the car at dusk.  WTF???  Just as I walked up the Prow area, Byron turns to me and asks for a brush and a spot.  After disappointing him with no brush, I gave him a spot and Byron immediately crushed the crux move of Daddy Fat Sacks.  Let me repeat.  Byron, after being injured for almost two years, crushed the move of a boulder problem, that at the peak of my fitness, I only ever stuck once,  using that beta.  WTF!!!  Psyched to see Byron climbing so well so quickly and psyched to see him so psyched.  Shortly after this, Tim cruised through Ship's Prow stand.  For equally as long as Byron has been injured, Tim has been falling off the mantle jugs out of being so pumped.  Then just as the light started to fade, Tim fired off what I refer to as The Black Dahlia, an undercling traverse in the corridor between Cool Cuts and Ship's Prow.  Maybe there is something to be said for climbing on real rock for 12 straight days then taking a rest day and coming back to your projects.  Here is a ghetto photo of Tim on The Black Dahlia.

Echo Canyon

To keep up with our pace of climbing every single day of our 12 day break, we decided to check out a cobblestone conglomerate crag that is located along I-80 near the Wyoming border.  Tim had checked it out on a previous drive back to school and it turned out to be a very fun spot to stop for a few hours and split the drive up a bit.  Reasonable rock quality (better than Castlewood, not as good as Maple) with mostly big moves and good holds, making the climbing mostly about endurance.  Shown below is Tim doing Graffiti Patient (5.12b/c) second go.

Work Update #2

Shown here is Tim on Someone's (name anyone?) Jump. It is located a few minutes downhill from Prime Rib.  Starts on two incut but slightly painful crimps, and dynos to a massive jug. A similar move to the throw on the Dali but a bit harder.  Took me a number of tries, but I was able to send.

Prime Rib

Update for Byron at work!  Here is Tim on one Little's best, Prime Rib, located in the Upper Wasatch Resort area.  It is a bit of a hike for LCC standards but well worth it.  A striking compression arete to what is hopefully as easy of a mantle as Ben Moon makes it look here.  However, neither Tim nor I got up there to see what it was actually like.

Crimp Face

Pictured below is Tim on an unknown V6 crimp face.  The problem starts matched on the hold Tim's left foot is on.  The crux is holding a bad pinch on the slab and doing a committing throw to a jug.  As the weather moved in (i.e. humidity), we found ourselves without a brush or rubbing alcohol and could no longer hold the slimpers.  Nevertheless, a sick problem.

The Wilderness of Zin

About a mile of Freeze Creek in Emigration Canyon, a overhanging limestone outcrops for about 100 meters.  The rock forms cool little incut crimps on the 25 foot overhangs but can be prone to breaking.  Tim informed me that one of the bolted lines may still be a project and we went to work on it.  The next day, Tim fired the line off at something around 5.12c. Immediately following this. I broke a key crimp that you match on a few feet below the chains.  Probably a bit harder now but who knows.  The described line goes up the steepest section of rock to Tim's left in the foreground.

Wrist Rocket

This is another one I first saw on MVM and knew I wanted to check out.  This stunning line starts with some moderate lie-backing and moves into dynamic compression climbing with a tricky mantle.  After about an hour, I was able to get to the mantle but could not stand up on my feet.  I have to say, this is now one of my five favorite boulder problems ever.