Assault

On Sunday the three of us made the trip up to the lake again to try and finish off Venus Rising. After the hike up I gave it one go without a warm up and quickly limped my way over to Shawn's Slab to climb a couple things first.


While I was topping out I heard Katie yelling at RV for a couple seconds and then the tell tale silence after a fall. Apparently RV hiked his foot way the hell up and was centimeters from doing the problem again! As we found out through the rest of the night RV gave his best go right away. Sad. He should do it next time, but he always seems to find new ways to surprise me.

Katie gave it some more goes and ended up finding a weird toe cam for the first couple of moves. We were all pretty tired though and were climbing somewhat half heartedly.

After a bit we packed up and hiked over to Sex and Chocolate. I'd split the top of my finger somehow during the previous day and it only took one go before I knew it wasn't going to happen that night. RV also gave two or three goes and we packed up and headed back to the car in the dark.

While it was fun to get out again it was still a little demoralizing considering how tired we all were. My flash was being difficult so I didn't take too many pictures. Here are a few from the day before though!

It looks like we're gonna head up to Anchorpoint later on this afternoon. I'll try to take a bunch of pictures!

Gives some perspective to the climb.  The direct is a project still.

Katie looking strong on the first move

Chris, right before he sent

Sorry RV, I had to...

Slow and Steady Climbs the Rock

After we were sufficiently frustrated on Bark Biter we packed up our things and walked over to Sex and Chocolate. I was particularly interested because it'd been so long since I'd been on it. For those of you that don't know, S & C climbs up a blunt arete on really bad slopers and crimps. With a height of maybe 15 feet to the big break it's still only about 4-5 moves depending how you do it. A really big dyno or a long, drawn out mantle are the only ways around the final big move.

We layed our pads down, booted up and promptly got shut down. I made it to my last high point with relative ease and soon we were working on the big move again. A couple times I was able to stack my middle finger onto my index finger and start to tenuously ease my way up but each time my ass would pull me back down.

RV, Katie and I sat there confused, wondering if there was any other way. We just couldn't see the movement. It was just how I remembered it from a couple years ago.

A few minutes later though a good friend of ours came around the corner. Chris was gonna save the day for sure! He put his shoes on and promptly got to the same spot as us. He did seem to have his foot a little better than either RV or I though. It seemed like every go he got a little closer to standing up and pretty soon he was starting to throw a little. Chris got close a couple of times but needed a break.

We all sat on the rock hoping he'd pull it together and step it up for the group. We were ALL about the group send at that point. We totally helped.....but only if he did it.

He pulled on, placed his foot and with seemingly no effort at all mantled past the balance point and just stood there for a second completely extended. Then he just sort of reached up and grabbed the finishing jug. Rather anticlimactic if you ask me. He made it look like it was V1!

He came down and I gave him some quick history on the problem and let him know that he is probably the only person in the last 5 years or so to have done it. There have been some VERY strong climbers that have gotten royally shut down on this problem and I was so happy to have seen it completed.

All in all this past Saturday was one of the better days we've had climbing this summer. The wind was blowing through really nicely and it felt like fall out there. On top of that, it was beyond cool to see three separate groups make their way up to the area to boulder! I think that might have been the best part of the day for me! As many of you know I've been trying really hard to inject some life into the bouldering at the lake because I really do think it's just so so good! I'm glad to see more people out there climbing! I love it!!!

Sunday night Katie said something about how nice it was that she was marrying the bouldering guidebook for the lake. I dunno about that but it made me laugh.

More to come tomorrow and hopefully with pictures this time!!

Slow and Steady Wins the Race

After hiking up to the Monolith Area this past Thursday, Katie really wanted to head back and try some of the problems up there. We picked up RV at Boulders and made our way up to the Merrimac Ferry. I've grown to really love taking the ferry and we haven't gotten completely sandbagged yet. Plus, there's Ice Cream on the way back.

We got to the Lake and were surprised at how few people were up there at 10:00 on a Saturday morning. Surprising to say the least. There was a really nice breeze coming off the lake and we were hopeful that it'd make it's way up to the boulders. After a nice slow hike up to the area(Remo, you hike much too fast for our tastes) we dropped our pads at the warm up boulder and couldn't have been happier that there was a strong breeze coming through the entire area.

After waiting for a stick bug to pass we warmed up a little bit. Our wind was blowing away all of the bugs and it was surprisingly pleasant out. No bug juice, no swatting and more importantly, very little sweating.

A tough to see stick bug.  Katie liked it a lot.

We found our way over to Venus Rising and Bark Biter, moved the pads around a bit and I got ready to take a few pictures. RV decided that he wanted to run up the slab to the right of Bark Biter quick. With surprising quickness RV botched the sequence and started sweating a bit. Katie, somewhat jokingly, pulled a half pad over to cushion him should he fall. He ended up eventually sketching his way up the thing but along the way I snapped this shot of him looking very confused.


With that absurdity out of the way we got down to bidness! Kind of. I'd heard rumors that my key foothold of radness had broken off and I was expecting to try and figure out different beta. Well, it was still there but I ended up doing the moves in a completely new manner. I will say, though, that when that little left foot does eventually break off we are ALL massively screwed and the problem will be so much harder!!!



Katie started working out the moves and made reasonably quick progress on it, figuring out the first couple moves very fast. Instead of using the firs left hand pinch as a, well, pinch she's using it as some crazy sidepull "lobstah craw" grip. Weird, but it works for her. She has now gotten stupidly close to sticking the crimp multiple times and she should be at the same spot as RV and I soon. I'm predicting a First Female Ascent sometime later this summer or fall.

Katie using the "Craw" technique.  Super effective.

Katie and I were both blown away by how obscenely wired RV has the moves on this thing wired. Well.....all but one that is. He makes the climbing up into the crimp look like V0. It's very impressive to watch, to say the least. We're both having troubles with the last move though. I think that we've both figured out our own beta that will work. I'm hoping to get this one figured out again and toss it on to the final Birthday Challenge list.

RV getting about as close as possible on Venus Rising.

None of us actually sent the problem but I had forgotten how good Venus Rising really is. It really reminded me how good the climbing is at the lake. Such good problems and it's always nice to climb and not have anything break under you. We'll have our second installment of "Slow and Steady Wins the Race" tomorrow. Just a teaser but the problem below gets sent by someone....

More Crying Than Sending

So, it's time to catch up, huh? Last week was super busy with the first trade show of the season and I sadly didn't get a chance to update on our time at Dodge.

Back in February or March John "Sweatpants" Freaney sent me blow by blow beta for Strong Men. I was very thankful and hoped to get on it soon after that. Well that never happened and for whatever reason we decided to get on it in the middle of summer instead.

We got about as lucky as could be and found it first try thanks to Katie's phenomenal sense of direction. Just look for the broken tree that looks like this:


First thing's first though, the problem is definitely cool and very worthwhile! Just maybe not during the summer and in no way does it rival Sandstone Violence in difficulty and quality. Nonetheless, a very cool and hard climb.

I tried to memorize John's beta as best I could and it all seemed there, but hard. I was able to figure out the move out left to the crimp relatively quickly, though. After adjusting my right heel a little bit I linked through a haze of mosquitoes into the next move before falling off. Summer temps were fighting hard.

One of my better goes

RV gave it some good tries before he abandoned my beta for his own bump beta up the arete. This seemed to work better for him and also seemed like the option for Katie too. I was, and still am, opposed to the bump as it hurts my baby soft hands a little too much. Boo hoo. They are apparently much tougher than I am.

I stood aside and took pictures as Katie and RV sieged the problem and tried to work it out. RV stuck the bump a couple times and Katie came close after insisting that she wouldn't get the first move.

RV, before he got all smart and stuff

I hopped back on but my skin didn't want to play nice. We all called it a night and started the drive back to Madison.

I tried the "All points off dyno back to the pads" technique but it didn't seem to work that well

Night sessions have become increasingly nice lately. They're so much better than going into the gym and it's seemingly always a surprise somehow. We ended up going out twice this past weekend and had maybe the best summer weather I've ever encountered at the lake on Saturday, but more on that later...

A Return to the Perfect Medium

I've got a couple posts that I've wanted to put up for a while now but that'll have to wait till next week or so. We have more pressing cases of radness to go over right now. I've been too busy/lazy/tired to post our update on Strongmen Also Cry but I'll have it up soon. Nic yelled at me last night to update the awesomeness here since he's bored. So, here you go.

Nic, Remo, RV, Katie and I left the ORA tradeshow in Madison at about 5:30 last night and booked it up to Devil's Lake to get in a quick session at the Monolith Boulders. We all wanted to get Nic on Perfect Medium and both Remo and RV needed to finish it off. I'd also been interested in trying to repeat it in preparation for the Birthday Challenge of next year.

We got up to the warm up area and actually warmed up! This was a welcome change from jumping on the project of the day and just warming up on that.

Nic on his new V1 testpiece. It's waiting for you...

After watching Nic get about as rad as could be on some random V1 in a pit, we walked around the corner and stacked the pads for Perfect Medium. Remo gave it a couple quick goes and kept on coming off the sloper. Turns out 70 and humid isn't the best for that hold. RV came off at the same spot and we waited for Nic to hop on for his flash attempt. He grabbed the crimp, set the foot, hit the sloper and.............punt. Off he came and everyone got back to the bidness of trying to simply do the problem.

I came down from my perch after a few more minutes and taped my tips and booted up. It actually felt good to get on the problem again. The high foot and left crimp felt better than I remembered but the sloper felt like pure shit. Slimy and gross didn't make for the best chances. Take off another 30 degrees and I think all of us would have sent.

On the bright side, we did get some cool pictures. Maybe if I get bored enough today I'll update on our trek out to Strong Men.

Nic's valve caps

On the ferry

Remo and Nic taping up and RV staring at me.

Remo, trying hard

Sticking the first move with ease

Nic standing on the Organic Brushing Table of Death

RV gettin' after it

As soon as the temps drop below 50 RV is going on a rampage at Monolith

Nic on one of his later efforts. Close...

John Bachar

Having been lucky enough to share a rope with him a handful of times, I just can't believe what I'm hearing. He forced me into doing the climb of my life and I'll be grateful for the opportunity for as long as I live.

Rest In Peace.

John Bachar Memorial

Rattlesnake Mound - Not a Summer Destination(AKA Ticks Suck)

I always like days without plans. They're lazy and fun and you really don't have any expectations. Last Saturday Katie and I went to a coffee shop near our house and just had a super lazy morning. It was supposed to rain but that didn't seem to be happening. It was sunny and breezy which was a nice change from the 95, humid and stagnant of the week before.

On a whim we decided that Rattlesnake Mound might actually make for a good summer spot because of the lack of trees and high winds. We picked up our stuff from the gymnasium and started the drive up.

We obviously forgot how awesome the dells are during summer when we stopped to get gas.  I got to add two more oversized roadside objects to the list.

A nice bear with graffiti inside of him

And a dinosaur sticking out of a gas station

I truly love Wisconsin.

Well, we got up to Rattlesnake and were blown away with how different it was during the summer months. It was so much more prairie like than either of us expected. The grass was about knee deep and it was beautiful out. There was a nice wind and I kept on thinking to myself that climbing conditions were fantastic!

You can practically see the ticks in the weeds

We spent a couple minutes warming up and then hiked around looking for the Start Destroyer boulder. There was a nice looking V3 and an undone project. I'd heard conflicting rumors about the project. One saying it was amazing and another saying it was choss. After seeing it myself, I like to think it was right down the middle.

The project was supposed to traverse a small seam right above a featureless roof. While that line would be proud and probably very hard, it was most definitely an eliminate. The lip of the boulder is well within reach and it'd be madness to not use it.

Katie set to work on the right line, which looked ok in its own right, as I started pulling ticks off of my legs. Katie did the line quickly but the topout looked less than enjoyable. I asked her how is was and her reply was a distinct "one star".

Katie came down and started pulling ticks off of herself while I got the pads set for the left hand line. It starts on a pretty cool left hand gaston and goes up to a crimp right under the lip. The way that I worked it followed both the lip and the seam and seemed like it'd be a fun addition to the area. The topout could use some more love and next time I'm out there I'll pull the tree off of the topout, but after that it'll be a nice problem. Probably V5 or so?

I only had 4-5 goes before it started to rain and we decided to take off. Making sure to brush the ticks off of our pads we started our way back to our car. It seems that we walked through a neighborhood of ticks though and we ended up running the last 100 feet back to the car. I think we counted 6-8 ticks on my legs when we got back out to the road.

Most of them were big things and were pretty easy to get off of us. We did see one really really tiny one though but didn't think much of it. Fast forward to yesterday and Katie started getting a fever and a headache. In the afternoon she went to a doctor and they pulled a tick out of her neck! She's got the meds now though and it should be out of her system in about two weeks.

So Rattlesnake is definitely not the place to go in the summer. I still can't believe how many ticks we ended up pulling off ourselves. The total easily went into the dozens. Never thought it'd be that bad!

Here are some other pictures from the day.

Katie on Star Destroyer right

Katie attempting the elusive "Double Heel on the same hold" technique