Shoe Dork

So being the shoe dork that I am I saw this thread on Mountain Project and thought "Oh, cool. Sportiva fixed the Solutions heel cup.". Then I looked closer...


And saw that it looks like a velcro version of the speedster. Note the forefoot rubber toe cap that was mostly cut out of the shot and it's got the Speedster heel cup. Some people will be very psyched about this....some will not. Who knows though. Maybe they have some other cool shoes too. We'll know soon enough.

Also, I'm glad to see people are all for Aaron having Mutton Chops. Nice to see some votes for the single side Mutton Chop too. Pulling for that one!!!!

Katie Told Me A Good Title But I Forgot What It Was

So Katie came up with this great title for a blog post last night but I forgot what it was. Just like she said I would.

We had another nice day up at the lake last Saturday. I'm still out of commission so I made this:


Long I know, but I've been bored so deal with it. I've personally been running more lately which has actually been surprisingly fun. Found some nice trails near our house and I'm pretty psyched about it. Hopefully I'll be back climbing soon though as this summer has been full of oddly good conditions. It hasn't been crazy hot so far and Katie has been able to get out a ton this year.

A few weeks back I made this:


Awesome, I know. I'm psyched that I'll be winning all the Emmy's this year. Prolly a few Tony's too.

And if anyone is in Chicago you need to go to this place. I don't care what Sweaty says. It's amazing. They freeze the ice cream IN FRONT OF YOU!!!! WITH MAGIC SMOKE!!!!!! For real. Go there. Way mo better than Frozen Yogurt of some crap like that.

Finally, here's the question of the week - Should Aaron grow Mutton Chops? Isobel is out of the country at the moment and I really think it'd kinda badass. Go!

Smooth Moves With The Gentleman - Milk Your Mustache

With things being slow round these parts and summer officially setting in I thought I'd dig out the next volume of Smooth Moves With The Gentleman. So sit back, grab a bottle of bourbon and enjoy the drop of knowledge.

So homeboy from out of town broke his leg at the gym a couple months ago. I was there. It was gross. I almost threw up in my mouth. For real. I thought it was a hold snapping. Turned out it was a tibia. Every one ran away. When I saw it, I wanted to tell homeboy, “hey, legs aren’t supposed to look like that”, but he was all sweaty and in shock and then I was on the phone with 911 and Bucky was splinting his leg and all, so, you know, I’m telling him now. Dude. Don’t break your leg at my gym again.

People want to blame bouldering, saying it’s dangerous. Psshhhffttt on that. Bro needs more milk, it’s got calcium, that shit is good for bones.

This isn’t the first time this happened. One time, a girl fell in the cave and busted her elbow. Straight up not cool. I really don’t want to go the gym, expecting a nice, low key night and then have to look at you, all broken up, freaking out, waiting for a paramedic and ambulance. You know what? If you drank more milk none of this would’ve happened.

Another time, I wasn’t even there and this dude apparently blew his leg up while bouldering and tried to have his friend carry him out to his car because he was too cheap for ambulance or didn’t have health insurance or something. Dude. You don’t need insurance if you have milk bro. So stop being cheap and go buy some. I’d recommend Whole Milk with Vitamin D.

That’s what I blame all the people that hurt themselves at our gym on, not enough milk. Definitely wasn’t the fact that no one ever asks for a spot and people fall like a drink down a flight of stair.

Don’t get me started on the time that that girl in Mrs. Gnar’s beginner climbing class had her foot come off.…..

Milk probably wouldn’t have helped that. Probably.

HAH!

Egghead wanted something posted.

1 - He finally did Jenga. Bout freaking time too. Think it took him less time on Sandstone Violence and B Soup. Though it sounds like it was a pretty clutch send so that's cool.

2 - Katie snagged the FFA of Hungry Hippos and has her eyes on the sit now.

I'm still up in the mini apple and Katie's gonna head up here tomorrow afternoon. She wants to try and finish off the cave trav after doing all the moves a few weeks back. I'm still out so no climbing for me unfortunately.

Nic, she doesn't get here till later tomorrow night. You should take me out to eat some foods.

Weekend Updates

Two updates from the weekend.

1 - Jeremy had a great day and did Jenga in two tries and Hungry Hungry Hippos in a total of about 4 tries I think. That includes him doing the stand. Then he went down the hill and did Moj in maybe 30-45 minutes. Very nice work and I think it's safe to say we're all happy for him. Days like that are rare and should be cherished.

2 - Ellen and Pat both did Whiskey A Go-Go it seems. At least according to the bookface and Mr. Narcs pics. As far as I know this is its FFA and I'm supremely impressed with Ellens work on it. I had no clue she was even working it but that some proud effort for sure. I was surprised and psyched when I saw the pics today.

Well done Ellen and Pat. Also, Pat, do you seriously skip the right hand gaston?!?!?!? Christ...Lanky bastard.

Sounds like Eggnuts is up at the lake with Katie and company. Hoping Katie does Hungry Hippos. She's very close on it.

Thanks Hurty

Since Brian decided to crash our party and send a bunch of peeps this way I figured I'd post the video of him on Tunder Tighs. It's only fitting.

Thanks for the shout out Brian!!!



So many dry fires...

Group Leader

It's funny how injuries line up sometimes. My last major time off lined up with the first snows of 2009 just as work was getting crazy as Janice was out on Maternity Leave. This time around my time off has lined up with the first 90 degree days just as work is getting crazy and Janice is out on Maternity Leave. Not sure how I feel about it all.

I've been slammed and haven't really had time to come up for air here. Then two things happened.

1 - I looked at my site stats today and somehow there's been 2,000 visits in the past month.

2 - Katie sent me a picture while she was out climbing wondering if I'd seen a certain prow she just climbed. I had. It was Group Leader.

As far as number 1 goes, I think it's rather cool. I know Brian probably gets that many visits every 5 minutes but for this little site I think it's pretty nice to know that you guys have felt compelled enough to visit this place more than 2,000 times recently. 100% of the credit goes towards the renewed energy at the lake.

That makes me happy.

I'll be honest and say that I feel totally out of touch right now. I'm not ever up at the lake and I'm barely at Boulders anymore. Work has taken over lately and as much fun as my job can be times like this tend to be somewhat trying. I try to live through my friends that still get to climb but when it comes down to it what I miss most is the 'hanging out'. I miss being able to go to boulders and just joke around.

It makes me happy to know that we've got friends that aren't JUST climbing partners. It makes Madison a much cooler place.

And for Group Leader, well, that was just a fun coincidence. And really unexpected. Group Leader was something that wasn't exactly super memorable in my eyes, just something kind of cool that I did in 90 degree heat, alone with one pad. Just by myself for a day.

I don't even think I mentioned it here anywhere.

But apparently it's a fun problem. And about a V4. And kind of classic. Thinking back on it, it always seemed like a cool little boulder problem. I'm glad someone else finally did it.

Sweaty, Katie got you a gift. Get psyched.

Punt Of The Month - May

And there we have it. It's official, Sweaty's a punter. A no good dirty punter.

He got hurt playing soccer.

He's done multiple triathalons and wants to do more. (WTF?)

He no longer climbs and is a pro air hockey player or something like that. Not even sure anymore. Maybe it's Foosball?

Sweaty, I'll get your prizes out asap. Dobbe's even using his! Nic, you using your neck strengthener yet???

Punt Of The Month - May - Community Decision

I'll be honest, I was all set to let Katie write something up for punt of the month. I'd had a couple people tell me that I'd won no doubt but then Sweaty came into play and reminded me he had quite the month too.

As he said, he doesn't climb anymore, he did a triathalon(for a second time, god knows why) and he hurt himself playing soccer. All valid points.

As for me, I was able to get a cup out of our cupboard yesterday for the first time in weeks so that was pretty cool. Shoulder is doing a bit better but still angry. On top of that I really have no clue what actually hurt it. The climbing or the riding of the bicycles. Either way it was stupid.

So you decide. Poll on the right. I'll leave it up for a couple days. I'm beginning to like polls.

Also, Katie and I saw this over the weekend. Totally random. We were in a park and turned around to find some incredibly large dudes rolling tractor tires around. Pretty sweet if you ask me.






http://www.fordsgym.com/sminfo.htm

So that was cool...

When Good Climbers Go Bad

I really only have Egghead to thank for this little gem. Oh Sweaty...at least you're not throwing a dinner plate around...Number 3 is my favorite.







Stress is starting to set in. Guess that means it's time to sell clothes.

Updates All Round

Well, Katie is coming back from another successful day at the lake. Last Saturday a hold on the topout of Anchorpoint broke off upping the difficulty/commitment a touch. I haven't personally seen it but it sounds like it added a bit of challenge to it.

It sounds like both Katie and Ian have done it now without the hold but I'm not sure if it upped the anty any with the grade. Who cares really? I'm honestly glad to hear that it still goes. I've got fond memories of shutting Kelsen down on that thing and that's all that matters, right?

Sam is apparently close on that and she's working on Jenga. It's cool to have seen her get so strong recently.

What has everyone else been up to? My shoulder is doing better but still angry. Dobbe did Grimace down south apparently but I haven't chatted with him yet.

Go. Entertain me.