Good Night

Perfect Medium
Alpine Club
Jenga
Venus Rising
Bulbous
Beautiful Soup

Last night was yet another good night at the lake. Feels great to say that again.

Met up with Sweaty and his buddy Keith late in the day at the CCC lot. Just before we went up the trail Paul and John K came by and let us know they had an ill fated hike to the reserve and that everything is currently soaked up there.

We got to Fat Pants first and I went up top to film a bit and as I moved around the corner Sweaty came motoring up and topped out. I figured he was trying the finish moves a little but nope, he fired it off first go from the start. Atta boy

After a bit of trying Keith was able to piece it together rather quickly and made a very strong effort. A few minutes later Chri$ showed up and after a short amount of time and some solid progress on refiguring out the moves, he sent without a whole lot of effort.

As we went down to pack up our stuff Chri$ stopped us and hilariously admitted that he had been the one that broke off the side pull crimp thing last fall. He said he couldn't admit it until he had finished the problem but that when it broke he was on a solo mission with a couple of pads but ended up flying off of the landing and rolled down the gully 30 feet below the problem. He said that after he stopped rolling around he actually started checking himself to make sure he wasn't paralyzed.

It sounded absolutely terrifying at the moment, but looking back it's downright hilarious.

After all that we went over to Bulbous to finish off the night. Aaron, Dobbe and Andrea were on their way up to join us so we were getting excited to have another nice crew.

There are a handful of problems that I first tried or saw in the fall of 2005. That list that you see up top is a list of problems that mean more to me than I'd like to admit. At the time they represented a level of climbing that I previously thought was unattainable so it's always an enjoyable experience to notch another one off the list. It's an experience that's tough to explain because with almost all of them I don't think I can do them until the moment I top out. It was that way with Perfect Medium and it was that way with Beautiful Soup. Even with Bulbous I didn't think it was possible until I linked into the crux for the first time last Saturday.

Up until Saturday I actually never thought that I would ever experience the full line.


And that's what made the moment in this picture so nice.

It's rare that I get to finish a 7 year project. It's even rarer that I get to finish one of the "2005" projects. To have it feel so casual made it that much sweeter. It was one of those rare, light moments where everything feels incredibly easy. The crux felt solid, the lip felt good and I even hung out on the lip for a little bit to chalk up. Maybe the best part was how perfect the topout and mantle felt. Last night was a damn good night.

Soon after I finished it up both Keith and Sweaty pulled through with very impressive, and quick sends of their own. Both of them used Runnells beta by using the high left hand pinch instead of the low that I used.

After them, Chri$, Aaron and Dobbe all came very close to sticking the crux but couldn't quite get it right. Bulbous truly is the boulder problem of the week. After only receiving one ascent since 2004, it's been done 5 times in as many days, with more on the horizon.

On the way down we made a pit stop at Rail Gun so Andrea could try it a few times. Even without a proper warmup she fell with her hand on the jug 3 times in heartbreakingly close fashion. She should go up very soon to finish that one. I'm sure with more time she'd do it easily.

So there you go. A random Wednesday night in the middle of March. 2 problems were sent. 4 different people did a boulder problem. 9 total people were up at the lake bouldering.

All of this happened 2 calendar days before Katie and I had our first day at the lake last year at Magnum PI, and 7 calendar days before Nic busted his shit and had to go to the hospital.

Good stuff.