What Are YOU Doing With Fall??

Well, out with it! With fall finally hitting us here in Wisco it's time to sack up and finish up all the projects you've been working on during the summer.

Seemingly overnight it's gone from 85 and 100% humidity to 55 and crisp. It's even supposed to get down to 34 degrees tonight! My allergies will be nice and happy if we get a good frost!

Just last week Katie and I went up to the Squeeze Project and I got supremely close in the 100% humidity I talked about above. It had just rained and was so sticky it felt like July. I barely missed sticking the crux move when my heel blew off at the last second. I was pretty pumped since it was only my second day on it so far. I'm hoping for a send tomorrow in the cool, dry conditions we're supposed to have. 60 and sunny. LOVE IT!!

We've been lucky this year, to say the least. One of the only days that it really felt like summer at the lake was this past Wednesday!

I've been thinking lately about all of the undone projects in the West Bluff and I can't really believe it. We have it SO good! I can think of up to 10 different projects just waiting up there. Some may go, some may not. Either way, it's nice to have them there for us to play with!

I've put together a little list of what I'd like to do this fall and I'm curious what you guys are all working on!! So post up here and lets take advantage of the weather!!

- Squeeze Project
- Beautiful Soup
- Massive Vertigo
- The Zipper
- Roof Traverse Project
- Axiom of Arete Aesthetics
- Greatest Show On Earth
- Sandstone Violence
- Half Dome Project
- Alpine Club

Wow. Thats a lot more intimidating when I write it down.

Honeymoon(point5): Day 6

Katie, surprised and happy that the copious amounts of tape and Krazy glue actually held.

The night that we arrived back in the Taylors Falls area Katie made one final attempt at mending her finger enough to actually climb. She brought out all the stops after 3 full rest days and she hit a bit of luck!

We woke up the next morning and her finger was in the best shape I'd seen it in all week.  A quick 5 minute drive brought us to the Cave Boulder.  I warmed up on the jugs to the left and went through each move on the traverse and did them with ease. I felt strong and motivated and thought that it'd go quickly.

I rested about 20 minutes after each try to make sure I didn't get overly pumped and each go felt a little better than the previous one.  I hate resting that much but it seemed to work well.

After about 3-4 attempts I made my way past the sloper and into the first good crimp.

I thought to myself, "DONE!" and tried to slide my toe hook into place but couldn't seem to find the bomber hook that I'd found every other time I tried that move. I just scummed it somewhere and as I went for the next good crimp it slid out and off I came. I just couldn't hold the barn door.

I was PISSED! I honestly don't think I've ever fallen off of that move, even going back to my first day on it this past spring. I could not believe that I'd fallen there! On that move! What the hell?!?

I seem to be all about the punting lately. I hope to change that very soon.

Oh well. I took off my shoes and picked up my camera to finish off the day as my skin was done.

Katie moving into the sharp pocket.

After the match...

And again...

Katie put in some good work to figure out the midsection of the problem and is set to come back and get the rest of it fairly quickly.

We'd both lost plenty of skin so we started the drive home. Trips are always bittersweet but I was glad that this one wasn't over too quickly. As I type this I keep looking down at my ring and smiling uncontrollably.

Could. Not. Be. Happier.

5.10 Team Shoe

I wanted to throw my opinions of these shoes out into the world since there are a lot of questions surrounding them at the moment and not a ton of answers. So here it goes.

First Impressions:

Fit - Out of the box I was very impressed with their fit. They sucked up nicely under my arch and the heel cup fit better than either the dragons or the Jet 7's. It still has that nice narrow profile to the heel but seems a bit more sculpted than before. The toe box fit, dare I say it, almost perfectly! No real dead spots and a nice close fit everywhere. I was very impressed and they were maybe the best fitting shoe I've tried on, out of the box. The only real tough spot was my left pinky toe which was a bit snug. Not bad, but noticable.

The one thing that people need to realize with fit is that this is a SLIPPER. They are a bit tough to get on at first, just like the old V10's were. Once you get them on though, they fit fantastic. Well, at least they fit me fantastic.

Of note is that these fit almost identical in length to both my Dragons and Jets. Not in my perception but in actual measured length of the outsole. Just an FYI.

Build - When I showed them to Katie the first thing she said was "They look like they're......well built. What gives?". They look just a touch more polished and well put together than what I've seen in the past from Five Ten. The toe rubber is glued down nice and clean and the velcro strap is sewn down tight so that it won't rotate. Thank you, Five ten. I was really hoping for that.

The only thing I seem to dislike about the shoe is that they went to the pull tabs on the Jets instead of their traditional Anasazi/Dragon pull tab. It's a bit thin and I'm curious how it's going to hold up.

Overall though, the build is much much nicer than any other Five Ten I've owned. At least my pair is!

Second Impressions:

Fit - I've climbed in them for about 2-3 weeks now and the fit has only improved. My heel is still locked in and the toe box has stretched maybe a 1/4 size and is just about perfect now. I have gotten a couple of small blisters on my middle toe of each foot. First my left and now my right, but it's nothing major and is going away already.

They're pretty much broken in and are one of the best fitting shoes I've ever had. Fantastic.

Build - They're holding up fine so far. The one interesting thing is that you can see the midsole and where it ends. Seeing it made me want to rip apart a shoe. I will do that soon.

Performance - Close to perfect. I'm really impressed with how these climb. They're a nice mix of sensitive and stiff and seemingly do pretty much everything well. The toe rubber works very well, and is a welcome change from the slab of rubber that was tossed onto the second edition of the V10's. Heel hooks feel fairly secure so far and the velcro on the top is a nice addition. On top of that the velcro actually stays in place!

One thing I want to mention is the rubber/midsole combo. It seems that they've hit a nice little sweet spot with their new bottom package. 3.5 mm Mystique along with a fairly thin midsole seems to give a lot of sensitivity while still being able to hold its own on more vertical terrain. It's a really nice combo and, in my eyes, is a better package than what's currently on the Dragon and Jet 7's. It'd also be interesting to have this shoe without the midsole, but that's just my own weird idea.

All told, I'm a huge fan of these things so far. As everyone knows I'm a bit too much of a shoe whore for my own good and I'm incredibly impressed by how much I like them. They took a near perfect shoe with the original V10 and improved every single downside of that shoe. They added velcro and a really nice toe cap along with fixing the heel and adding more rubber to that as well.

I was definitely underwhelmed when the Jet's came out as the V10's replacement. They just didn't seem worthy of taking over where the V10 left off. The Team Shoe seems to have finally picked up where its predecessor left off.

I'm curious what I'm going to think as I use the shoes more but I'm very happy so far.

Sizing info:
Street shoe - 8.5-9

Team Shoe - 8
Dragon - 8
Jet 7 - 7
Project - 6.5
Anasazi Velcro - 8

Testarossa - 37.5
Solution - 37.5

Booster - 38

I think that my perfect bouldering/spurt climbing quiver is going to end up being the Projects, Team Shoes and either Dragons or Testarossas. Just a nice mix of three very different shoes and styles.

Honeymoon(point5): Days 3, 4 and 5

After the crushing blow of never ending pump on the Cave Traverse(I really need to work endurance!!) Katie and I took a rest day and went down to check out the Organic Climbing Shop Full of Softness and Bright Shiny Colors.

We parked and started walking around the old converted factory. After one wrong turn we walked past some windows with foam piling out of them and walked inside.

Josh showed us around their two room setup and bought us some coffee and a rice krispie bar that was far too large and way too tasty. Josh and I shared some "Muffin Top" banter as we ate the treat and we hung out and talked shop for an hour or two. I think the highlight was getting to rifle through all of the chalk bags and chalk pots and see how many different designs there are.

We got to see his piles and piles of foam and also checked out the difference between his foam and his competitors. It's amazing how much nicer his foam is. I also found out that his Full Pad comes in $10 bucks cheaper than I had previously thought, so it's an even better deal!

Had to get the Organic plug in there again!

With that, Josh drew us a topo to an apparently cool roof on the way up to Duluth. Sadly we had to bypass it due to time constraints but we're definitely excited to check it out next time!

We had to take pictures of this little guy.

I made sure his belt buckle was nice and shiny...

And Katie made sure he didn't feel singled out.

We made it up to the North Shore and got ready to check out Sawmill the next day. After a nice hike in, and a bit of bushwhacking, we found the boulders and set our stuff down.

Katie on the trail, Fit Pad in tow.

My first impression of Sawmill was that the lines were really nice and aesthetic but the rock was really sharp. The rock is a type of Granite called Anorthosite and while I'd climbed on it before I didn't recall just how sharp it actually could be.

I warmed up on a short mantle near Jaws and then started trying Jaws a bit. I could never really get the momentum right for the crux slap so I moved on to Sticky Icky just around the corner.

I got past the first couple moves on my flash attempt but fell off trying bad beta when I followed someone else's tick marks. After a few more tries, I gave the correct beta a try and sent next go. Katie gave it a couple of goes but the small start holds proved too small for her split tip.

Doing it the right way.

Katie channeling Nic's foot first beta.  It did not work.

See, he likes to do stupid stuff like that.  I've got proof.

It felt really good to actually climb something, I will say.  If nothing else Sawmill gave me a decent idea of ratings.  It seems that everything at the lake gets sucked into a vacuum and comes out sandbagged a grade or two.

And yes, I know that I tried to get an extra sit start going on the topout. I had lost enough blood and went with the "More Steve on the Rock = More Friction = Less Falling = Less Blood" strategy. Funny moment, nonetheless.

After that I was bleeding from my right knee and both of my forearms so we decided to walk around a bit and see what else was there. We found the second cluster of boulders but not the third. Again, the lines were all really good and they all looked really fun but I wanted to try to have skin for the next day so we took off for town.

I literally grazed the rock with my knee and it started bleeding.  So Sharp!!

We relaxed for the night and took a quick trip to a nearby lighthouse to take some pictures. We were both continually blown away by how beautiful the North Shore always was. I'd seemingly forgotten since my last trip up there.

After another nice hike in I gave Nic a call trying to get beta on what all of these problems were. Both Nic and I couldn't believe that I got any reception up there, and in fact I got better reception at the boulders than I did in town!

He gave me a blow by blow tour of the area and gave me a better idea of what I was looking at. It was great! Thanks a ton Nic!

My skin was looking and feeling pretty thin so I wanted to try two problems before I left. I wanted to try and do the Onion as it looked very doable and I also wanted to try Foreplay.

I started out on the Onion and was able to figure out all of the moves quickly aside from the left hand slap up the arete. After a few more tries and even more diminishing skin I figured that one out and started trying from the start.

The temps were good and I figured it'd go quickly if my skin held up. Sadly the sharp right hand edge took its toll after a few slaps and a split started to form.

It was cold and windy and Katie couldn't really try anything because of her finger. We packed up and headed down the trail to the car.

We definitely both want to come back in the fall or spring though. It's by far the highest concentration of "hard" problems for the midwest and all of the climbs are really aesthetic. I definitely had to manage my skin a bit but in cold temps the friction must be insane!

Excited to come back, for sure, and thanks to all the locals who offered help with beta and such. Mucho appreciated.

Aces.

Katie likes having her own camera.

That's my "Baby Soft Skin" face

Honeymoon(point5): Days 1 and 2

With all the stress of preparing the wedding behind us Katie and I were looking forward to getting out of Madison for a bit. We pulled out our new GPS, thank baby jesus for that, and drove to Taylors Falls.

For some reason we'd thought that Taylors was 5 and a half hours away. Turns out we were very wrong and after an easy 4 hour drive we got a hotel room and passed out.

The next morning we rolled out to a lazy 11 AM start and drove over to the Cave Traverse. A quick hike to the base and I locked in a nice little excuse with the humid conditions.

I warmed up on the jugs to the left and Katie diligently glued and taped her fingertip into place, hoping that it'd hold. I did all of the moves again, rather quickly, and figured it would go that day no problem. Boy was I wrong.

Soon after, I tried it from the start and noticed something in my forearms. It was this weird stiffness. Felt almost like I was getting pumped! Absurd! I looked down to my waist and didn't see a rope attached so my confusion only grew!

I sat down in a confused bubble wondering why I was getting pumped without a rope on! Apparently I'm only good for 6-8 moves before I start to get a debilitating pump. Absurd.

Katie finished her taping and decided to throw herself on the Pharoah problems to get warmed up. We tossed the pads down to the base and I grabbed my camera to witness the devastation.

She cruised up the first couple moves and then came down with a bit of a yelp. I silently knew what happened but waited to see it for myself.



There it was, through about 8 layers of tape and another 3 of krazy glue. Blood. Katie's tip had torn open again and her day was done.

I gave the Cave Traverse another go but fell off at the sloper in a cloud of pump and bad technique. We packed up and headed down to Stillwater to get some Quikclot and check out the town.

I'd only been in Stillwater once before and had obviously forgotten how cool it actually was! That one time though, I went sport climbing at a local area called Boomtown.

When Katie and I drove in we noticed a sign for Boomtown and the memories floated back to me! We stopped in town for a bit and then drove out to check it out.

Boomtown is very Midwest. I love it. The routes are all 4-6 bolts long and about 20-30 feet long. They're right on the shore of the river and it's a very cool setting. If only the rock was a little better. Oh well.

Katie and I walked the length of the cliff, or what I thought was the length of it, and then turned back. The whole time we were joking back and forth about climbing in the midwest. Joking about how many bolts there were and just enjoying ourselves.

It was only later in the week, after a stop to see the Organic Super Crash Pad Shop of Doom, that we found out who bolted all of the routes and just how many there were!

Apparently when Josh was 10 or 11 his parents gave him and his brother a Hilti and a box of bolts. They went all crazy nuts on the cliff and bolted something like 180 routes throughout their younger years in Stillwater. Impressive, to say the least!

It was definitely fun to see the climbing again and to just sort of hang out. With that though we went back to Taylors, found a campsite on the river and set up the tent. Midway through putting up the tent Katie caught her fingertip and it opened up again in a blood gushing sort of event. She jumped around a lot and squealed a bit before I believed it was serious. I suck, I know.

We ran and grabbed the QuikClot and man, I'm impressed. It stopped the bleeding in about a minute flat. Very impressive and something we should all have around. Neither of us could believe how fast it worked.

With that, we set up camp with relative calm and passed out, again.

The next morning I tried the Cave Traverse again, with the same amount of success as the day before. Motivation wasn't exactly at a high point at any time during the trip. We definitely used this as a time to relax so I wasn't too worried about whether I actually climbed anything or not.

We went down and spent the rest of the day in Minneapolis and then spent the night at a very cool Bed and Breakfast in Stillwater. Can't say enough how cool of a town that place is! We loved it there!

More to come soon!

So Much to Digest

Wow. What a week and a half it's been!!

I'll start with the wedding cause I don't know where else to begin!

In short it was amazing and I've never been this happy. Ever! It did not go without some excitement though!

The morning was going smoothly and I was pretty relaxed. Katie called me up and said that they had gotten the reception set up and that everything seemed to be coming together. I picked up the flowers and RV and I went to have lunch with Sofie.

There we were, sitting at BD's Mongolian Grill having a fine time and I got the text. "Do we have any QuikClot at the house?". I wrote back that we didn't and then promptly wondered why she needed military grade blood clotter. I found out later that she'd tried, in a feeble attempt to get yet another excuse in her repertoire, to cut off her left ring fingertip.

Yes, you read that correct. On her WEDDING DAY she almost, accidentally, cut off her LEFT RING FINGERTIP. You know, the one the ring goes on.

Luck is not Katie's strongest ally.

Everyone pitched in and she eventually stopped the bleeding enough to get a clear band aid on it for the ceremony. The ceremony itself was amazing and perfect. It's a feeling I'll never forget. Amazing.

That's all for now but I'll have many more posts this week! So much to write about!!!

Perfect

There's only one way to describe how Saturday was and the title says it all. More soon.