Punching Bag

I'm done peddling my wares at OR in Salt Lake now and I'm ready to give everyone the updates. But first we have some climbing to talk about!

The day before I left for SLC we had a nice group head out to the lake. Somehow the weather found a way to drop down to 65 degrees on Saturday and we couldn't waste that weather in July!!!

Katie and I met Gabe, Aaron and RV at boulders and went out to find Anchorpoint.

Well, first things first. I have to reserve a little bit of space for our own little punching bag, RV. He's one of my best friends and takes the punishment better than anyone else I know. Most times it’s not his fault but sometimes he goes above and beyond and gives me material that I couldn’t even try to make up on my own. He went and did it again on Saturday when he gave himself a haircut the night before. Grim.  

It was kind of like a mullet....sorta...

He thankfully shaved it later on Saturday night but the damage has been done. Sorry, RV. I had to.

Alright. Back to climbing. We made our way up to Anchorpoint to find Mr. Eggbert at the boulders having already repeated Anchorpoint. He went on to repeat the problem again to show us his beta and finally a third time to get pictures! Burly! He claims it’s his new favorite at the lake now. Well done! By the time he was done he was bloodied and bruised though.

We warmed up and tried a couple of the problems there with Anchorpoint getting relatively few attempts. Everyone was more focused on the more moderate problems, it seemed. I took a few minutes and cleaned off a phenomenal new traverse that climbs on slopers to a pumpy finish. Very cool and definitely worthwhile. Everyone took some laps on that and we packed up for the next area.

RV on his send go, I believe

Aaron getting oh so rad

Gabe also getting rad

I was able to coerce the group into letting me go up to Alpine Club and try it a few times. I couldn’t have gotten better conditions in July if I’d asked for it! I did remember how finicky the right hand was though and it seemed great on some goes and heinous on others. Towards the end of my time on it though it cooled off about 5 degrees and you could feel it get better out. I gave it three super solid attempts and got closer than I’ve ever gotten to it. I think I was just getting too excited.

Oh well. For once the problem feels very doable for me. Can’t wait for temps!!!

RV looks very unimpressed at my failures

Yup.  We're awesome.

A cloudy day at the DL

After that we drove over to the North Shore parking lots and hiked up to Venus Rising. I was planning on sitting out that part of the day but got sucked back in after RV FINALLY re-sent Venus Rising. He’s looking strong right now and it’s probably good that he’s going to India for a month so I can build up a sizable advantage upon his return.

A few minutes before the eventual send

Gabe, Katie and Aaron continued to siege the boulder and got closer and closer as they went along. Gabe made great progress on it and was close to getting ready to throw for the dish. Aaron seemingly should have finished the problem 8 or 9 times by now but somehow landed on the pads each time.

Aaron looking just absurdly close on Venus Rising

Katie, not believing that he didn't get it

Katie’s got some weird finger issues going on right now from Anchorpoint and seems to have the bottom of Venus Rising figured out. The long reach to the double crimps is testing her right now but I think she’ll be in good shape once she gets there since the high feet won’t be quite as high as they are for everyone else.

I got on and gave it some really solid efforts and somehow got all four of my fingers into the topout dish. Sadly my fingers forgot how to grab and I fell off pretty quickly. I felt as good as I’ve ever been on it though and it’s definitely added onto the Birthday Challenge.

A nice little sequence of one of my many failures.  Thanks RV.

I still can’t believe how good the weather has been this summer for climbing! 65 in JULY!!!!! Absurd.

Here are some more pictures for you to peruse.

Aaron being awesome

RV covered up his haircut with Katie's beanie...so cute.

Katie thought this was hilarious.  Packing at the north shore.

Dumbfounded

Aaron looking all sultry and stuff

Chris's hands after Anchorpoint

RV trying to imitate Aaron

An old soup can below Anchorpoint

Katie and Gabe taking a nap at Alpine Club

Sorry RV, I had to.