Soup!!

Aaron trying to crush my skull

Oh man, what a good day Saturday was!!! So psyched about it right now. I was vibrating with energy and excitement on Saturday night! I felt like Remo!

We had a nice sized group come together for Saturday with Me, Katie, Ellen, Aaron and Chris Esser. We had a bunch of pads, tons of energy and shit got done!

Aaron met us at Boulders with pastries in hand and we went up to the North shore to warm up and wait for Chris and Ellen to meet us. We ended up spending close to an hour and a half warming up on the great moderates there. It's funny but I used to hate that spot for some reason. Now it's easily one of the best places to get nice and warm. The problems are tall with fairly good landings and the holds are absolutely huge on the V0's. It's great.

Aaron on a cool slabby warmup.  Note his extra fast shoes!  

The other Chris E. on one of the best warmups at the lake

Aaron being all 'Gentleman-y' n stuff

Chris having to try a bit on the slabby crimps

After watching Aaron try the worst eliminate at the lake, Welcome to the Lake, we moved on and drove over to the cottages. A quick hike found us at the base of Beautiful Soup. I pointed out beta for everyone and got the pads set.

On Friday Nic was nice enough to send me a little pep talk. In short he told me to sack the hell up and get rid of this mental punt that I've had going on for so long. I think I idolize so many of these problems that I just expect to fail on them. I've seen them for so long and in many cases I first saw them when I was climbing V3 or so. I never actually thought I'd be able to do any of them back then and I've just grown to expect failure.

Beautiful Soup has been just that for me. A mental punt. I've been there so many times and I first saw the problem back in 2004. It was so far out of my league at the time that I never even tried it. Since 2005 I've tried the second move over and over with sporatic efforts and have never come close to latching the rail. It wasn't until this year that it seemed at all possible.

I stepped up to the start holds and the first try went perfect. I latched the rail and just as my feet came into the wall I came off of the crimp. I swore a bit and then, after I calmed down, realized I'd do that move today. A couple of bad goes went by and I got a bit nervous. Then on my 4th or 5th attempt I stepped up and latched the rail with confidence.

It felt easy. Piss.

I matched the holds and felt something I hadn't felt before. I couldn't believe it, I was stunned. I'd tried that move so many times and up until now I'd never seen the top of that hold. It felt foreign and unique. I was so happy! For a second or two I stayed there and relished that moment. I heard the pads moving below me as I wiped my sweaty hands on my pants. I couldn't help but smile a bit.

I took a quick look up to the small crimp on Keymaker and wondered if I should just try and go up instead of right. It just seemed more natural!

I put that thought behind me for the day and started moving right. The holds were greasy and unchalked. I did my best to fix that but it came to no avail. I grabbed the high sidepull but didn't have my right foot on the rail way out to the side. I tried to kick it out but came off in an excited flurry of chalk and pads.

So psyched!!! I've never been that psyched to NOT finish a problem!! Deep down I knew that I could start working Keymaker soon...

Everyone cycled through their own efforts on the problem with Chris ending up very close to the rail. I gave it another three goes before my tips could handle no more. Each time I stuck the move with greater ease and felt more comfortable on the upper holds. I got closer and closer to the finish rail but in the end couldn't quite get enough distance on the huge reach.

Soon. It will go. I'm planning on coming back with a rope to try that move and to also try the upper moves on Keymaker. I've can't remember the last time I was this focused on something. I want Keymaker so bad.

Not wanting to take anymore time at the problem and seeing that my right index finger was starting to bruise rather than split, we packed up and walked to Moj and Jenga.

Both Aaron and Chris put some great burns in on Moj and Chris basically stuck the crux move. Aaron had something happening to his left hand where it'd just slide down the sloper on Moj. It was kind of funny actually. I put on my shoes to try and show everyone "how this thing gets done!". I was a bit more tired than I thought and I only had one good try on it. Kind of sad actually.

Aaron feeling the crux move on Moj

Ellen trying out the move

On...

And Off!!  And Aaron treating me like the Pillsbury Dough Boy. 

I called it quits after my right hand fired off of the start hold and I fell into a pile of self misery and horrible pain. My skin wasn't too happy with me.

At about 4 we walked to Jenga and everyone tried that while I took pictures and spotted. We had an almost perfect landing with all of our pads and everyone was very excited about the problem. Katie had a couple of good efforts between her "all points off dyno" attempts. Aaron and Chris kept on getting closer and closer. Chris took a quick break and then tried hard on his absolute last go and went to the top! Very cool!

Aaron stepped up a minute after that and, in one of the most adrenalized situations I've ever been in, sent the problem to bring up the send train kaboose! So sick!!!

Katie on her first go before realizing that pinching the start hold helps

And again 10 minutes later trying the elusive 'All points off dyno to a sidepull sloper arete pinch'.  It did not work so well.

Aaron sticking the move in isolation a few minutes before the send

Chris also sticking the move in isolation before his send

We hiked out in increasing darkness and Aaron joined us at the Weary for a fantastic dinner. So yummy. I also wiped the floor with Aaron and Katie in scrabble. A rare feat for me as I've only beaten Katie once before.

Katie toying with Aaron up at Moj

Good day!

Quickie

Not a whole lot went down yesterday. My skin was still a little thin from Beautiful Soup and I didn't want to risk an even worse split so I didn't try it. We warmed up at the North Shore and then hiked straight up to Moj.

I messed around on the project directly left of Moj and got SHUT DOWN! I couldn't even stay on the wall long enough to try a move. It's kinda crazy. All the handholds are good crimps or sidepulls but the feet are f-ing horrible. They're like Perfect Medium style footholds on an overhung wall. It's incredible.

I definitely think that the moves will go but I'm not sure how hard it will be. Barndoor moves on bad feet aren't my specialty and I'd love to work it with some other folks.

In the time that I tried those moves, and failed, I had apparently gotten completely cold. Katie had shoved herself into her jacket and my big puffy while I was hanging out in a t-shirt.

I was kinda frustrated that I couldn't do any of the moves and just wanted to do something! Anything! So I moved the big pad over to Moj and quickly repeated the crux move on Moj two times in a row. It felt good yesterday and both times I actually missed the jug and stuck the sloper edge of the hold instead. I think I've just got that move wired right now.

After that we packed up a left for home. A nice relaxing day.

In other news Remo finally sent Moj! Congrats man! I'm glad you got it done! He also found a bunch of very cool looking projects up in the East Bluff Talus fields. I'm very excited to check those out soon!

This weekend looks like it might be promising if the rain holds off for Saturday. Let's hope!

We Got Lucky

You know, throughout all of my bitching and moaning this fall about weather we've actually been really lucky. We had a nice, fairly cool summer and have had a number of good days this fall to get out.

This past weekend we got another dose of luck. Near record highs in the upper 60's brought a bunch of people out to the boulders. Katie and I planned on going out both days as the weather looked absolutely amazing.

Saturday we found ourselves driving up with our sights set on the West Bluff. Freaney had called me the night before and threatened to join us but that proved to be an idle threat. HAH!

Anyways, after a quick warmup at the North Shore we drove over and schlepped all of our Organic pads up the short approach to Beautiful Soup. I'd gotten psyched out a couple weeks back with only a couple pads and wanted some extra coverage for the crux throw. I did my usual routine of putzing about before I finally started to sack up and really try.

I've been trying harder and harder to actually 'try'. I must say, it's got some advantages.

I've never been this close on Beautiful Soup. Each attempt got better and better and I finally figured out just where I had to latch the sloping rail so I could still reel the swing back in. Each time my feet would get closer and closer to the wall before I exploded off. The problem had never felt so good!

Finally, after 6-7 close calls, I had whittled myself down to an all or nothing attempt. My skin was horrible and I knew I only had one or two more attempts before I split my right index finger. I loaded the holds and hit the rail perfect. On the swing in I felt my feet touch the wall and then I was off. Both hands exploded from the holds and I tumbled to the pads, eventually rolling off of them and into the pit at the base of the problem.

Devastated, I looked at my tip and I was done for.

Katie gave the problem a few attempts while I licked my wounds. Once she started paying attention to her feet she got the first move no problem but she was super stretched out and had some troubles matching her feet.

Then on one go she looked really strong. She was on...


And then she was OFF!!!


I think it was one of the worst unexpected falls she's ever had. As she was matching her feet her right foot popped off and she loaded the right crimp trying to hold it. Her hand quickly popped off and left a good deal of skin up there for her next try. It looked REALLY painful. That crimp can bite back, for sure.

Katie inspecting her own wounds

A little bit after that we packed up, stowed my full pad/half pad combo at Alpine Club and hiked our way up to Moj. Katie wanted to get a feel for the moves before winter set in and I'd been intent on looking at a possible sit start. Well, the sit start isn't great looking. It might just bastardize the line and seems like there is a more natural line instead of trying to work into Moj.

That said, I'm really psyched about the new line!! It should turn out to be a fun, hard problem! The landing still needs to get fixed up a bit but it should be pretty easy to fix. Very psyched!!

Katie tried Moj a couple times with a power spot just to feel out the movement and started to get used to the body position needed for the crux. I'm excited to see her work it some more soon. We're gonna go back on Wednesday and put some more time in on the wall. Should be good!

We hiked ourselves out and got outright terrified on the leafy talus by the Dumpster boulder. SKETCHY!!

On Sunday we were planning on hitting up both the Lake and Dodge.

We went up super early to meet a couple of other people at the North Shore. While we were waiting in the car 4 other vans and trucks pulled up and about 30 people piled out. Eventually a single pad found its way out and onto the ground and Katie and I feared that all of those people would rally around that lone pad. After a flurry of confusion, patagonia fleece and Clif bars everyone but one guy piled back into the cars and took off. That lone boulderer walked over and started warming up.

Funny, to say the least.

Eventually we met the lone climber, Mike, and the rest of our group made the hike up to Monolith. We set up by Bark Biter and and started trying those problems. I quickly sketched my way up the left arete and topped out after almost greasing off the top sloper. Katie had her sights set on doing Bark Biter, knowing it wasn't going to be that physically difficult but instead more of a mental problem.

Bark Biter gets its name from the tree that follows your back the whole way up the problem. A fall would probably not result in a collision with the tree but it's always on your mind. She quickly figured out beta and made her way up to the jugs up top but couldn't muster the courage to roll over. She swore a bit, sketched her way down and jumped off. She vowed to come back when she's feeling a bit more adventurous and confident.

Soon after we moved everything over to Shawn's Slab and started messing around on that. Everyone had a good time on the fun and tricky slab. After about a half hour we had to start packing up to meet Vera and crew at Governor Dodge. Just as we were packing Chris and Sarah came up the trail. We were sad to have to leave them but Katie was jonesing to climb with Vera. Apparently I don't fulfill the "climbing with chicks" need all that well. I do try though...

Katie trying to find a 'head jam' on the blank slab

Katie at the topout

We made the nice drive over to Dodge in about an hour and I was surprised at how enjoyable the drive was. It was a nice break in the day and takes you past a couple of Frank Lloyd Wright homes in the process. Kind of cool.

We were meeting Vera and a gaggle of ladies at Deer Cove. They were already there and Katie was getting visibly excited as we got closer. We arrived and heard the ladies down at Big Jim. Neither of us had tried any of those problems before and they were fun to mess around on.

After about a half hour we moved ourselves up to Grounded For Life. It's one of my favorites in the park and I wish there were more features like it. Katie was set on trying to repeat it and after figuring out her beta she did so rather quickly. She's climbing really strong right now and is super motivated. It's fun to watch and makes me want to try harder just to keep up.

Vera and Lisa also started working it fairly hard and after finally convincing Vera that she had to heel hook she stuck the big horn and mantled through to the slab.

Vera hitting the juggy horn

Starting to mantle...

And done!

I booted up and threw another lap on it as well and was once again reminded of how fun this problem is. Love it!

Katie and I were wiped out and we packed up and left for home. Such a good weekend!

We're heading up tomorrow and are gonna hit Beautiful Soup and Moj again if anyone wants to join us! Looks beautiful!!!!

Dear RV,

Suck it.

P.S.







Update coming soon...psyched on lots of stuff right now.

Weekend Plans

This weekend looks amazing and I'm pumped to get out to the lake for a couple of days.  We've got a couple things on the list for Saturday but I'm curious what everyones plans are?  

Who's getting out?  Who's getting rad?  Both days look perfect, if not just a little on the warm side but it should be one of the few perfect weekends left.  

Who's in???

In the meantime here are some pictures that I never posted from the summer and fall.  Enjoy.

Trying Alpine Club at night

Loving the ferry rides

Another from inside the car on the ferry

Remo in the West Bluff Talus on the day he showed me what eventually became 'Moj'

At Beautiful Soup a couple weeks ago

Hiking out at night at DL

Sunset on the ferry

All About The Beta

Days like yesterday make me really realize that I'm just not that talented of a climber. I'm cool with that but wow, we had another fantastic day for the lake with me sending absolutely nothing.

There'll be a day that I'll come on here and spray and spray and spray. It'll be great. I'm very psyched for that day. Until then I'm happy to ferry others around to all the classics and watch them send. It's fun

Nic came through town on his way to Horsepens 40 for the Triple Crown. Along for the ride was Jeff Sillcox from Mammoth Lakes. Poor Jeff flew into Minneapolis and had to drive down to Alabama with a hyperactive Nic.

We all ended up meeting at Massive Vertigo around 2 or so. Katie and I had lightly warmed up at the North Shore and then played around on Massive Vertigo for about an hour before Nic and Jeff showed their faces. I got close but dry fired once more off of the left hand as I came into the decent sloper. After that I just sort of gave up until the two others showed up, hoping that some amount of motivation would magically appear.

Nic got set and without warming up nearly flashed it. Somehow he fell off going for the third jug on the topout. He figured out amazing kneebar beta and did it quickly on his second go. He took off his kneepad and gave it to Jeff who also made quick work of the problem and did it in about 3-4 tries.

Nic, trying hard 'n stuff

Jeff on the first moves

Nic threw the kneepad to me so I could give that beta a go and I did the move first try. Piss. I sat down and gave it a try from the start and did that move no problem. I just didn't have enough gas in the tank to release the knee. It was too solid! Off I came. I gave it a rest and then tried again but my energy was done and I didn't even stick the kneebar move. 

Next time. God I say that a lot.

I'm gonna try and make a cheap and easy kneepad tonight and hopefully it'll go down on Saturday. I cannot believe how much easier it felt with the pad. Blown away.

Nic had been eyeing up the line straight up from the start holds of Massive Vertigo since we first arrived. He somehow convinced us it'd be a good idea to try it and we lined up the pads.

I think everyone who's been to Massive Vertigo has eyed up the line but took one look behind themselves and moved on to safer things.

Nic just didn't want to move on. I went up top as Nic scouted it out once before committing. After getting a couple pics I came down and climbed in the tree to the right of the problem to spot his sorry ass.

Nic looking a bit skeered

Aside from one of his feet cutting on one move(which made us all pause a little bit) he made it up no problem and we had a new addition to the lake. Yay, Nic. Thanks for not dying! He named it 'Death of a Traveling Salesman' and put it at V5 X. Destined to be unrepeated until Jeff comes back and does it out of spite. I like Jeff.

We packed up and slid our way down the leafy talus field and hiked ourselves over to Alpine Club and Beautiful Soup/Keymaker. Nic was dead set on repeating both of those and I was hoping Jeff would help make my predictions come true.

Nic worked out the moves on Alpine Club again and ended up absolutely pissing on the problem and repeated it 4 times in a row. Punk. It was actually good for me to see someone do it over and over again. I've got ideas in my head and now I just need to get better at the whole rock climbing thing.

Nic on the first move

And the second...

And, boom!

Jeff got really close but we ended up going up to Keymaker before the light got too dark to work it. Jeff worked the throw a couple times and I got inspired to try it a little bit. I was shot and still feel like I'm not fully recovered from last week, but I wanted to try it anyways. I got close on the first try but I wasn't warmed up and my fingers felt like they were going to fall off. I didn't really try it again but Jeff started trying my beta and thought it was easier. He did the move a couple times and started trying Keymaker from the start.

He had a couple of really good goes but on his best attempt he made it to the small crimp above the rail and came about 2 inches short of the next hold on the Keymaker! So sick to see someone get so close!! Jeff said a couple times that he wants to come back and finish it and I hope he does.

Nic got power spotted through to the jug and tried the move on Keymaker again and came down somewhat surprised at how hard it was. Good to know it's hard!

One thing that we talked about a bit at dinner was how odd it was that we've got this one world class hard problem at the lake, seemingly out of nowhere. We're incredibly lucky to have an area this good with so many classic problems to try. I often forget how good we have it and days like this are a nice reminder of that.

Little Flatiron

As of right now Katie and I are enjoying a couple of rest days.  It's been a while. Too long in fact.

Last week I spent an inordinate amount of time at Boulders getting the place ready for the comp. Dobbe and Justin pulled together a great comp and I was glad to help as much as I could.

Personally I was really happy with how mens finals turned out as we had perfect separation with Kelsen taking second and John taking first, with only an onsight of mens #2 separating them. Perfect.

Womens was a bit muddier as we set the problems a bit too hard. It's always tough. This spring they were too easy and this fall they were too hard. Oh well.

Earlier in the day Katie and I made the drive out to Devil's Lake for a hopeful session on Massive Vertigo. It was pretty clear that I wasn't at full throttle that day and after a slight detour we decided to go up to the Flatiron instead.

Katie spent two quick, time crunched days on it in the heat of the summer but never committed to the last move to the lip. With cool temps I figured it'd go quickly.

Katie prepping the crimp

She quickly warmed up as much as possible and fought through the biting wind to get some good early attempts in. Pretty quickly she'd figured out her old beta and got to her highpoint, the high right hand, and came down confused. I took a quick look at the left arete and suggested she tried that.

Katie giving the problem a bit of scale going for the crux crimp.

Reeling in the crimp on one of her early goes

After a break she hopped back on and gingerly tried reaching out to the arete. It was a reach but she eventually got it and came down not knowing what to do with her feet.

We discussed a couple options and she got back on proclaiming that it was her last go. The sharp crimps had taken their toll and motivation was waning. After quickly getting to her high point she reached out and grabbed the left arete.

She hiked her feet and got ready to go for the lip and then they popped. She put her feet on again, readied and they popped again.

Out of nowhere she said "I think I'm gonna come down.". Then, even further out of nowhere she just campused the move to the lip. Again she muttered something about coming down and I told her to reach up to the massively incut jug above her left hand. She did just that and then jumped up top.

BOOM! Done!!

Post send forced photo op

Katie came down happy and excited to get into a warm car. This was a pretty big hurdle for her due to the problems height. She's not big on highballs and this was a good one to help her get over it a little bit. On top of that she had to add in another crux move right at the lip. I'm very proud of her and glad she stuck with it in the end.

It's not every day that you get to do a John Gill problem and we should consider ourselves lucky to have one nearby. The Flatiron is a testament to what the man was, and not just because of who he was. It serves as a lesson to every single climber who walks past it on a busy Saturday as well as to everyone who reads about it in Stone Crusade.

It serves as a lesson to why we should never chip holds. John Gill, the man who invented/popularized modern bouldering learned his own lesson on one of the most travelled pieces of rock at the lake. I really hope that everyone who spends a day bouldering at the lake  jumps on this problem once or twice. We're lucky to have it.