Fall Recap

Well, the wisconsin bouldering season is all but over and lots of shit went down! I always like looking back on things and you guys seem to put up with my ramblings rather well.

I had a couple of predictions coming into the fall season and while I wasn't totally on point, I was pretty damn close!

1 - Alpine Club will be climbed two more times before year end.

While it did get climbed by Mr. Nic 4 times in rapid succession, I'm not counting those towards the count. I gotta give credit to Sweaty for figuring out a way to bump his way through the problem and tick this thing off his list! Well done sir! Sad to say that this one didn't get a second send this past fall. Remo, Dobbe and myself all threw ourselves at it to no avail. Jeff also came close but he'll have to make a return trip soon to clean house.

2 - Beautiful Soup will be climbed 3 more times before year end.

Well, we got close! Again, I overguessed by one person! Chris and I were lucky enough to send on our last day out and I thought Remo had it in the bag but he couldn't quite muster the crux throw. He came as close as someone could!! The first time he sticks the rail it's done!

On a more personal note, this problem meant a lot to me and I'm very happy that I was able to finish this one off. After falling on the last move four times in a row I wasn't sure about it. Huge thanks to Remo for figuring out the finishing move! I feel like i've got the problem on lockdown right now. It's a good feeling to have!

3 - Keymaker will get its second and third ascents.

Big ol' thanks to Nic who came into town and had a phenomenal day. He cleaned up Keymaker after splitting a tip and opened that thing back up to us. Sometimes all it takes is a little chalk and everything seems so much more doable.

Jeff came really close but couldn't quite lock into the high right hand at the end of the day. I had my chance as well and I'm happy I was able to link up to the crimp. I'm confident it'll go next year!!

Again, so close!! Only one off!

4 - Perfect Medium will get sent twice by year end.

Well, this one I got right! Actually under guessed! Peter sent it in late summer and then Gabe and Remo both cleaned this one up as soon as the temps fell a bit. Nice job boys!!!

5 - The Greatest Show on Earth will get done at least once.

Well, that one didn't get done. It seemed that every time I got remotely excited to clean it off I was able to find something else I'd rather do! Even with Nic badgering me twice weekly to clean it off I never really found time to get over there. Oh well.

6 - I will finally re-find Massive Vertigo

Check! That thing got worked over! Sweaty, Remo, Chris, Dobbe, Jeff and Nic all sent it this fall. Big thanks to Jason for some directions!

On top of that the whole area surrounding Massive Vertigo had a bit of life breathed into it! New problems, old forgotten testpieces and futuristic projects were all found in the area. As we walked down on our last day we all made a resolution to come back to the area next spring. I love seeing excitement like that!!

7 - RV and I will finally do Sandstone Violence

I gotta say, my excitement for Dodge has never been lower. I'll head back early in the spring and finish up SV with the brown kid, but I keep on finding my motivation for spending any amount of time there severely lacking. The climbing at Devil's Lake is just so good and you can't dispute the rock quality. It's amazing!! The problems are classic and the atmosphere is fairly incredible. I've never been as excited to spend time at DL. It's just so good!

There were a few things that I didn't see coming on my radar though. Sex and Chocolate getting sent by pretty much everyone (Aaron, Gabe, Dobbe, Remo, Am I missing anyone???) and I definitely didn't expect Jenga to get as much traffic as it did! Remo, Tony, Myself (finally), Chris, Brian, Aaron, Nic and Sweaty all sent this classic and it stands as one of the best problems in the park! On top of that, I believe 4 other people from the Chicago area also sent this rig! Proud!

I definitely didn't see myself sending what was the Squeeze Project. Moj came as a beautiful surprise and is the highlight of my entire climbing season. It's something I hold very close to me and means more than I can ever hope to express in words.

That lone problem is my mark from the 2009 season. I feel very fortunate that I am able to be here during this renaissance of sorts. We're in the midst of something fairly big and unique for the midwest. We are our own generation.

That makes me very happy.

I think we can all agree it was a good year.

I've got more coming down the pipeline, including a 7 day onslaught of pictures from this past year. Get ready people.