climb8a

Climbing in January

2012-01-16T10:13:00.000-08:00

When friends wanted to climb last week, I was eager but skeptical since it is still January. Tyler Austin and I biked out to Fossil Rock, for only my second visit there. We were surprised to find other climbers there, but there were plenty of dry routes to get on, and it was surprisingly nice in the sun. I was feeling a little out of shape, I fell on an 11c to left of Battle of the Bulge, which I know I would have done with ease if I was climbing regularly. But still managed to get up some other fun routes. We had one golf ball sized pebble pop off and nearly get me, but despite that constant threat, I still enjoyed the climbing. I'm keen to get back there, there's a good handful of routes that I've yet to get on, and now I know that its fine to climb there in the winter.

Austin sending Battle of the Bulge

The view from the crag

Me enjoying the vertical crimpy test pieces

Dry Spell

2011-12-26T17:22:00.000-08:00

The blog has gone a bit quiet recently. I'd like to say its because I've been too busy climbing to update, but the truth is that I've had a bit of a dry spell of late. I know its not really an excuse, but I have been absolutely loving teaching, and giving it my all pulling long hours has left me exhausted on the weekends. Its been just too hard to consider a weekend trip to Smith or Vantage. People have told me that its been one of the driest Falls in recent memory, but I just haven't had the time/energy to enjoy it. Hopefully I will be able to find a better balance this upcoming winter/spring.

I have managed one day out recently though. It was a crisp, clear Saturday in December, and Jeremy, Derik, David and myself headed up to test the friction at Gold Bar. I've always been skeptical of those who swear by bouldering in near-freezing conditions, but I've got to say, after this trip I might be a convert. I had been thinking about a certain couple of V6's on the Five Star Boulder ever since I was last there back in 07 (wow i feel like an old man saying things like that). My goal was to climb at least one of them. It was too cold to consider warming up, plus the boulder doesn't really have any warm ups, so I got straight on Green Padded Ass. The starting sloper rails felt like jugs with the cold crystals gripping into my dry skin. As I climbed higher the slopers got worse, my feet cut off, but there was no way my hands were losing contact with the rock, then I was topping it out on icy jugs. My first climb of the day, and I'd already met my goal. I almost sent Five Star Arete as well, but the finish jug was a little too damp to allow me to hold the swing. We then moved on to the river boulders at Index, my first time there and I was impressed. I got on the excellent Leggo my Eggo, and some river polished boulders that were HARD! It was fun taking turn and sessioning with the guys. I'm looking forward to getting back to these areas, especially since I now know that Green Padded Ass actually starts with a V0 sit-start, so I can't quite add it to my scorecard just yet. I'll just have to make sure I get back out there in equally cold conditions, otherwise I might have to try a bit harder.

Jeremy floating up the Five Star Arete, the rock is as good as it looks!

The hold just above his right hand was just damp enough to shut us down.

The picturesque, but deceptively hard River boulders. It is waay colder than Derik's and David's attire suggests.

The ever faithful Sasha! The river wasn't too cold for her.

South Sound Pull Down 2011

2011-10-26T19:52:00.000-07:00

Another year has gone by and its comp season again. The big (and only) climbing competition of the year in Olympia is the South Sound Pull Down, its usually a big deal in the local community and this year was no exception. With Jimmy at college up in Seattle the setting duties fell to Derik, Jeremy, Drew, Lisa, Laura, Chas, Chris and a few others, sorry if I didn't mention you by name. They did a fantastic job and everyone had a great day.

I don't really consider myself much of a boulderer nowadays, I haven't made a single Leavenworth bouldering trip this year. But I feel I can still hold it down on the boulders when I want to. Going into the comp I had flashed a few V6's in the gym, but hadn't really tried anything harder. I entered the Male Advanced category and thought I'd have a good chance at the title.

A harder problem I completed, a 800 point burly roof problem to a nasty crimpy finish that weighs in at around V6.

On comp day a number of out-of-towners showed up, which was great to see. In my category there were a couple of strong guys from Tacoma competing against me. I kept my eye on them, and we were pretty much neck and neck until I managed to unlock a tricky high scoring slab problem, which put me over the top. Just like last year though a competitor from the Intermediate category somehow beat my score (by only 10 points!), but I wasn't too concerned as they still called me out first when it came to the prizes and I picked up by far the most valuable prize, a gift certificate to a course offered by the American Alpine Institute worth $790! I plan on using it on a Single Pitch Instructor course which I'm really looking forward to. Thanks again to Sierra and everyone at the gym for organizing such a great comp and getting such awesome prizes!

Stoked about my prize, and the medals were a nice touch!

Fall Weekends

2011-10-26T19:36:00.000-07:00

Its been a little while since my last post, and looking back at my previous one, it feels like a lot has changed. The rain has come and we are deep into fall here. I've been climbing more indoors, but have still managed a couple of weekend trips. A few weekends ago Tony and I drove out to Vantage and met up with some other folks there for a fun weekend. I was pretty tired from work, so didn't really feel like pushing myself, but I never really do at Vantage. It was nice just to be outside having fun with friends.

Tony showing us how to "plank" on top of The Cob at Corn Wall

Last week I made it out to Tieton and met up with a good group from Olympia. It was many peoples first time climbing at Tieton so we started out at The Cave area which had something for everyone. We managed to avoid the dozen or so rattlesnakes we encountered and I did a few new (to me) routes there, which were really fun. After an excellent campfire Saturday night, Chas and I got our trad gear out at The Bend. According to the notes in my guidebook, it had been exactly 5 years and a week since I last climbed at this crag. I don't know why I hadn't been back since, because the routes are great. I felt pretty challenged warming up on a 5.8 hand crack, but decided I'd be more comfortable on a 10c finger crack. There was one point up high in the climb where I was in a sketchy spot above a half-set small nut and a tcu with only two lobes in. I swore at myself for putting myself in that situation but I managed to get through it and can now look back on it and laugh. Chas opted wisely to just top-rope that one. After that experience it may be a while til I get my trad gear out again, but most likely I'll forget about it until the next time I do a route like that. Here's a few photos of the Tieton trip from Tyler.

The routes on the middle wall at The Cave are phenomenal, I just wish there were more of them.

Mark's Wall at The Cave has some pretty awesome routes too!

I don't think I've got many more climbing trips in me this year. Maybe a Smith trip in November. I'm loving teaching but it leaves me pretty tired on the weekends, and its nice to able to have a relaxing weekend in town, like I did this weekend.

Escaping the Heat

2011-09-13T18:03:00.000-07:00

It definitely wasn't the last weekend of summer last weekend. Saturday and Sunday were hot in Olympia, it was one of those weekends where I really felt glad to be living where I am, especial when I talk to my folks about the weather back back home. On Saturday Steve and I got out climbing at Amazonia at Exit 38. It is one of the coolest (literally) places to climb in the area. It was completely shaded and in great condition. I finished the last routes I had left to do at that crag. Some of which were great (the 10d on the far left) and some not so great (the 10d on the far right). We also climbed Giant one of my all time favorites routes at the Actual Cave.

On Sunday I headed out to Lake Cushman with a few others from Olympia. In all my time in Olympia I had never made the 1 hour drive out to Lake Cushman, and now I really regret it. I can't think of a better place to go to escape the heat in Olympia. There is even some climbing there, its not great, but the swimming and sunbathing defiantly makes it worth the trip. Unfortunately the weather this weekend doesn't look as promising, but if its dry I plan on getting out somewhere.

Justin at Lake Cushman

Not the best climbing, but worth bringing a rope for.

Last Summer Weekend

2011-09-08T15:40:00.000-07:00

It certainly doesn't feel like summer is on its way out right now. But last weekend was my last before I started teaching full-time this week. I'm enjoying teaching a lot, and hopefully it wont stop me from getting out climbing a lot. If you want to follow what I'm doing in class check out my teaching blog. It was a great weekend in Mazama with Steve and Austin. We climbed at Gate Creek, chilled by the river and did the classic 11-pitch 5.9 up Goat Wall called Prime Rib. Here are some photos.

Austin gives Steve a good belay on the bouldery start to a new route at Gate Creek, (11dish?)

Typical Steve pose 3 pitches up Prime Rib

Austin gets good practice managing ropes, while Steve follows up pitch 5?

The Awesome long 6th? pitch 5.8

Austin seconding, Steve thirding

Me leading up Pitch 11, the hardest at 5.9 (but still pretty easy)

We did it in almost exactly 10 hours car to car. And when we got back a friendly local rewarded us with a cold can of Rainier, it never tasted so good. Perhaps I should have worn more sunscreen, oops!

Squamish Bust

2011-08-24T22:03:00.000-07:00

I was hoping to write a blog about how I climbed amazing long routes up The Cheif in Squamish, but my trip didn't quite work out that way. On my first day there, I met up with Micah, Jimmy, David and his brother who were all psyched on bouldering, so off we went into the forest. I've got a lot of respect for boulderers, some say they are the most ADD of climbers, but I think it requires a huge amount of patience and drive to try the same move over and over. I know my attention span is not up for it which is why I prefer routes, and rarely try the same route more than once or twice. I didn't get to boulder much, I flashed a V4, got worked on a V8, then literally on the next problem I tried tragedy struck.

David working his nemisis, Mantra (V8)

Well maybe I'm being a bit dramatic. We were trying Superdyke (hardest V3 ever), I was on the crux rockover, only about 6ft above the pads when my foot popped and the next thing I knew I was rolling on the ground in agony. Luckily newly-certified wilderness first responder Micah was there to administer some much needed Rainiers, which really helped with the pain, as did the 20+ Ibuprofen's I took that evening (I was in a lot of pain). Thanks to David for giving me a piggyback out of the forest, and to Jimmy for exacting revenge on the problem for me.

The trip wasn't a complete bust though. When I was hanging around the campground I saw Kristen Kreuk an actress from the TV show Smallville heading up the tourist trail to the top of the Cheif. I had the hugest crush on when I was a teenager, in fact I think a poster of her might still be on my bedroom wall in Scotland. I'm certain it was her, she was looking good! I was too paralyzed to talk to her, I think I may have creeped her out with my staring though. For the rest of the trip I just chilled by Murrin Lake with my ankle in the water, read some books and daydreamed about meeting Kristen again.

The swelling has gone down a lot in my ankle now and I can walk again. I got it x-rayed today and they confirmed that it is just a bad sprain. I'm supposed to keep it in a boot for a couple of weeks, but hopefully the swelling will go down enough to fit it into a climbing shoe soon. Just no more bouldering for me, at least not anytime soon.

Mazama

2011-08-09T17:15:00.000-07:00

I have known about the climbing at Mazama, and have wanted to make a visit for a while now. A couple of years ago I met Bryan Burdo (the developer) at Little Si and he was practically raving about Mazama. The main obstacle to me making a visit was the 5 hour drive from Olympia, the same distance as Squamish and Smith. Laura, Austin, Chas, Cori and I were all able to do a three day weekend, so we headed out Friday night. The drive wasn't too bad and there was plenty of free camping that was easy to find.

Warning, the water is MUCH colder than it looks!

Austin being brave, not only because the water was cold, but because it was only 3ft deep here.

The first morning we climbed at the Rhinozone at Mazama Rocks, the main area. The walk to that crag makes the Quarry approach look tough, it was sweet. The climbing in these areas is moderate and blocky, similar in some ways to Exit 38, but the rock was a little different, more like basalt. To be honest, none of the routes we did here were spectacular, but it was fun getting some mileage in. Early in the afternoon the crags get in the sun, so we retreated to the local general store/cafe, which has a great shaded courtyard where they serve beer and ice cream. The river across the road is really nice as well, the river was a little too cold to hang out in for long, but it did do a good job of cooling our beer. At 5pm the crags come back into the shade so we were able to get a few more pitches in.

Not a bad way to wait out the mid-day sun

The next day we checked out Prospector Crags which is described in the guide as perhaps the best moderate sport crag in the state. We only managed to get on a few climbs since once again the sun warmed it up pretty early, but didn't think any of the climbs were worth getting too excited about. Another dip in the river and evening session at Fun Rocks followed, so far I hadn't gotten on any hard routes, or any routes that were worth writing home about, but that was to change the next day.

At 5pm at Fun Rock, right when it gets in the shade.

Austin and Chas on some samey 5.10 slabs

Monday morning we headed up to Gate Creek Crag, which has one of the longest approaches at around half an hour, but its a pleasant walk. When we arrived I wish I had brought more layers, as it stays quite a bit cooler since it gets a lot of shade and has a creek close by. We climbed at Fire Wall which is a very impressive limestone wall that raises up 200ft with some pretty steep angles in places, it reminded me of a mix between Astral Wall at Tieton and the Big Show at Checkamus, but better and on limestone. There are not a ton of routes up there, but whats there is very high quality and there is potential for a lot more. There wasn't many easy climbs but the 11s and 12s were excellent. Austin sent his first ever 11b, a sweet route called Urban Refugee (first half). I went up Firestarter a 12c the guidebook describes as "hard for the grade", I got up to the last move and was staring down a big tickmark, but I pumped out, after feeling the hold I really wish I had committed and thrown for it, because it is huge! I sent it next go, I think its one of the best I've done at the grade anywhere. The extension "The Eighth Rule" is an incredible looking 13a that I definitely need to go back for. Who wants to come next time?

Limestone 11b at its best!

Infinite Bliss

2011-08-04T23:45:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Esteban, Micah, James and I climbed Infinite Bliss up Mt. Garfield, the longest sport climb in North America, it weighs in at 23 long pitches of 10c or less (mostly sub 5.9), 2,600 ft of climbing. I'm still tired and sore from climbing the route, too tired to really write the full blog post it deserves. It was a great experience but one that I am unlikely to do again. I loved the long granite sport pitches, but the 300 ft solo across a sea of choss was one of the scariest things I've had to do, and the fun climbing does not outweigh that fear I had doing it. All in all the 4 of us took 8 hours to climb it from base to summit. 17 hours from car to car, we started out pretty fast and simul-climbed up the first 10 pitches in good time. I was skipping a lot of the unnecessary bolts to save time and to be able to simul climb several pitches at a time. I found the bolting peculiar. Anything that was slightly hard was really well (over?) bolted to the point where I could have z-clipped on several occasions, but the easy pitches had very few if any bolts, I would have done it differently. What took the most time was rappelling back down, even though it was a Wednesday it was crowded with 10 people on the route, at one point we had 7 people at one anchor station. We had a couple of snafu's with caught ropes which slowed us down, but we made it back down eventually, even if we did have to bust out the headlamps. We were the first up and down, I don't envy the other climbers who were only half way down well after dark. Overall it was a good experience, but I look forward to some single pitch action this week. I whipped out my camera a few times during the climb, here are a few shots. Once again check Micah's blog for a much more in depth report.

James and Micah starting out pitch 1

We unroped and soloed this part since there were no bolts

Esteban keeps his cool while soloing

James seconds up the really fun crux 10c pitch

The view from the top of pitch 18. There are 7 climbers visible in this photo, can you spot them all?

James celebrates reaching the summit

Now time for 20 or so rappels to get back down

Micah and Esteban trying to dodge falling rock on the rap back down

Rappelling side by side was a big time saver

Sending Season

2011-08-02T16:35:00.000-07:00

Its that time of year, when fitness finally catches up with expectations and projects start to fall. On Saturday a big Oly crew headed up to Little Si where conditions were prime. Lisa finally managed to take down her long-term project Psychosomatic, likewise Nick with Propaganda. I don't have a big project at Little Si, but I wanted to get back on Dairy Freeze a 12b I tried and failed on back in 07 and 09. I put the draws up and felt the moves, it didn't feel nearly as hard as I had remembered, and I managed to finish it off next go. I started off a sending train with Jimmy and Nick getting it straight afterwards. Its not often that we come away from Little Si with any new sends let alone a handful. That night we all went out in Seattle to give Micah a good send off.

After a well needed rest day, Jimmy Lisa, Kevin, Micah and I checked out Rosario a crag up on Whidbey Island. I was skeptical since I had never heard of it before, but it was well worth the drive. It is a small 40ft overhanging cliff with about half a dozen good independent lines (and a bunch of random bolts smattered in between). What makes this crag unique is its beautiful surroundings. I can't think of a more picturesque setting for a crag. The climbing is very fun as well, bouldery powerful routes, very gym like. After warming up on a couple of moderates I managed a 2nd go send of the crag classic Sissy-Boy. It felt basic for 12d, but I'll take it. Jimmy managed to flash it, and Micah, Kevin and Lisa all made really good progress on it. Jimmy also managed another 12d, which I got agonizingly close on, but no send. I look forward to coming back to this crag though. For more (and better) photos check out Micah's blog.

Lisa working Sissy-Boy

Kevin and Micah belaying

The view from the crag

We couldn't have asked for a more perfect day

Shangri-La

2011-07-29T18:05:00.000-07:00

I check out a new area at Exit 38 called Shangri-La with James yesterday. There's some information here and here about this new crag. I had heard tales of this rock being amongst the best quality at 38 and comparable to Index, with long routes and even some trad. So we went with high expectations, and we were not disappointed. The routes are long and very involving, and you need your full bag of tricks for them.

James at Shangri-La. Its hard to get a good photo of the crag.

We warmed up on a 10cish climb called Crouching Tiger, it was a really fun technical route on grippy slopers. Next up was History Book a 10a corner crack. I had to do a bit of gardening on my way up (its much cleaner now), but it was still pretty enjoyable, despite my at times questionable gear placements. My favorite route on this wall was Hidden Dragon, a long and devious 11c or so. I had to use every inch of my 5'8" +1 reach on a couple of spots. It was so much fun to be climbing pure onsight, with not a dab of chalk on the route, figuring out moves and improvising beta on the fly. The most challenging route I did was Hypertension, which starts up a V4ish boulder problem start that involves a painful pinky jam, that I finally figured out after using an excessive amount of tape. Its not over there though, it makes you think all the way to the chains, where I opted to reach out left manteling bad slopers to lunge for a thank god jug, I normally climb quietly and efficiently but this route required a couple of power screams, I'm glad I didn't blow it at the end. This route gets 5.11+, but it'd be one of my hardest ever 5.11's. I think 12a may be more appropriate.

James follows up Small Arms Fire

We checked out the rest of the routes there, some of which look very good, some of which need a lot more cleaning, there is potential for even more routes there. We finished up on a fun 10b Small Arms Fire, which is a rap in-climb out, route, a great way to finish off the day.

My 100th 5.12 and Monkey Space

2011-07-23T18:08:00.000-07:00

The weather in Washington has been pretty bad this summer so far and I was getting tired of climbing at Little Si. So Chas, Jimmy, Lisa and I headed down to Smith Rock on Wednesday night seeking some better weather. I've never climbed at Smith in the summer before, but this week was unseasonably cool, and in the shade the temps were perfect. I checked out some areas I hadn't been to before; the lower gorge, upper shipwreck, mesa verde, and the monkey face, and was not disappointed by any of them. At the lower gorge I managed to climb the amazing stemming route Pure Palm on my second attempt (note to self don't climb at the gorge in the blazing AM sun). At upper shipwreck I surprised myself with an onsight of Undertow a very fun gym-like 12b. According to my scorecard that route marks my 100th ever 5.12 or harder. Starting with my first one back in September 2005, I've climbed 52 12a's, 22 12b's, 17 12c's, 6 12d's, and 3 13a's. Pretty cool huh?

Lisa manages to climb Pure Palm without all the whining

Jimmy shows us how not to climb Smith 5.11s

Lisa making 5.13 look cool but hard

The highlight of the trip was definitely climbing Monkey Face though. I had often admired the 350ft free standing pillar before but had never gone up it. Chas who had been up via the Pioneer Route, encouraged me to go for the all-free Monkey Space route which is named for the super exposed 11a pitch which traverses out into a scary position high on the face. The first couple of 5.8 trad pitches were a lot of fun, we each took a lead. When it came time for me to go for the airy third pitch I was prepared for the worst. The holds which started out great soon turned pretty bad, but I took solace in the not-too-badly spaced bolts. The crux involves pulling over a bulge on sloping holds with awkward feet, I looked down to try to get my feet placed well, but seeing all the air below me made me a little queasy so I focused on my hand holds and managed to pull through. I guess the pitch is technically mixed, but I didn't read the description very closely so was forced to run out the 20ft flake to the mouth of the cave, since I didn't bring gear for this pitch. It was awesome! Once we were in the cave Chas tried to send me up what he was "sure" was our next pitch. I started up it, but the lack of chalk and crappy bolts led me to think this wasn't it. After checking the guidebook later, we found out the route was a sketchy 5.13 project, I'm glad I didn't get much further up it. Instead I took a look up the other side of the cave where I found a well chalked line of holds that looked a lot more like the 11b that we were supposed to go up. Although the hard climbing on this pitch only lasts for 3 bolts, it packs it in there, and I'd be lying if I said I didn't think I was going to fall. But I pulled it out, latched the victory jug and romped up the final 5.4 section to the top of the Monkey Face. Success! It was a great trip with Chas, Jimmy and Lisa, and it has me excited for upcoming Fall trips back down there now that I know what some of the other areas at Smith have to offer.

We should have read the description a little closer before heading up

The view looking up from the base of Monkey Face

Chas getting sunburned while waiting for me to follow him up pitch 2

Starting up the airy 11a pitch. Its hard to tell, but I'm actually very scared.

After the crux, holding on to a huge jug.

Chas following the 3rd pitch. This photo doesn't do the exposure justice.

Chas and I on the summit of the Monkey Face.

Propaganda

2011-07-12T23:21:00.000-07:00

I had an amazing day of climbing today at Little Si. It was one of those days where everything just clicks, and you are so grateful that you are a climber. I knew it was going to be a good day when I made it up the hike in without getting totally out of breath and with minimal sweating. Nick was back in town, it was great to catch up with him, and feed off of his motivation. Nick was psyched to get on Propaganda, he had all the beta mapped out on a piece of paper (which he left in the car!), so after a quick warm up on Aborigine we hopped on it. On my first go I got schooled, I couldn't fathom the crux, and was pulling up on draws the whole way skipping over hard sections. Nick helped me figure out a few moves, so that on my second go I managed to come up with a way that got me through the crux. It involved a heinous fully extended double gaston move where you then had to hike your feet up and stab for another gaston. I can't believe it worked, but it did. I still struggled a lot on the rest of it, I think I probably 6 hanged it that go. After Nick had his go on it, and did considerably better than me, and I rested some more, and tried again. Somehow my crux beta worked, and I was up at the no hands rest. I was stoked to make this much progress, and I figured I better try really hard on this attempt since I might not make it up there again.

This time I climbed it much more efficiently and even figured out some better beta on the fly. Next thing I knew I was at the chains. WOW! Did that really just happen? I went from flailing all over it, to the send so quickly. Unfortunately Nick didn't get the send even though he probably deserved it more than I did, but I can tell he took a lot of pleasure from my send though. As for the grade, I don't know, but when I was working it, it felt so much harder than Gerbil Killer the 13a next to it. As an added bonus, I ran into the extremely talented and very friendly climber Jonathan Siegrest again and got to see him get the second ascent of Wide World of Fitness 14b/c!

I'm headed back to Little Si Thursday, and I've got a good vibe about it already!

Two Weeks in Tensleep

2011-07-11T14:08:00.000-07:00

I’m back from Tensleep Wyoming, it was such a fun trip, I feel that I can’t do it justice by just writing a few paragraphs about everything we did here, but I’ll try. We took our time getting over there, stopping to climb at Post Falls Idaho and in Montana so Chas could attend a wedding. On the way over we could see the extent of the flooding that has affected large areas of the country, the raging rivers overflowing onto the floodplains were pretty incredible.

This is real America, the Tensleep (pop. 304) 4th of July rodeo

Chas on a 10b at Post Falls Idaho on the way over

In Tensleep we checked out some new, and new to us areas. Home Alone, Hound Dog Crag, Downtown, and the Godfather boulder amongst others, and to be honest we didn’t climb at an area we didn’t love. The first day there I wasn’t sure how I would do, since I hadn’t been in the kind of route shape I was hoping for. After warming up, I managed to onsight a 12a, then I sent a 12d on my second go. I wasn’t expecting such a quick send, and to be honest it didn’t feel that hard. The next day I onsighted a 12a, then tried another 12d, hoping to start a trend. This one however felt really hard. I didn’t really like the pressure of redpointing, and I could tell Laura and Chas were bored as I dangled on the rope trying to figure out moves. I decided that for the rest of the trip I would focus on onsighting easier 12’s. I loved the fight of a good onsight attempt, although I managed to pretty much onsight all the 12a’s I tried (there was one route I technically redpointed because a hold broke on me) each one of them gave me a good run for my money. I also managed to onsight a couple of 12b’s, and a 12c although I think the later was pretty easy for the grade, and got another 12c second go. In total I sent 15 5.12’s.

Laura negotiating the cruxy start of Moltar (12a)

Laura higher up on Moltar

Chas blew us away with his improvements this year. While last year he was struggling on 5.11’s here, this year he looked like a different climber cruising up 5.12’s. His training and traversing has certainly paid off, he flashed or onsighted a handful of 12a’s, redpointed his first 12b then got his first 12b flash! Laura was climbing really strong as well, she came within a couple of moves of sending a 11d/12a and looked really good toproping harder routes than she normally gets on.

Chas goes for the flash of a 12a at Home Alone

We met a lot of really friendly climbers from all over the US. In general we found that the further people had travelled to get there, the friendlier they were, although the Wyoming and Colorado climbers were also very friendly. We also got to meet a couple of the route developers, Aaron Huey and Mike Decker, both of whom were very nice to us, it was obvious they were both very passionate about Tensleep.

A patriotic American on an excellent 11d at Hound Dog Crag

Hound Dog Crag was one of my favorite areas

We were there over 4th of July Weekend, easily the busiest few days of the year there, compared to last year it was crazy. On Saturday night there was a big bonfire where about 80 climbers turned up. We talked to a ranger who estimated there were about 400 climbers that weekend, which seemed like a bit of an overestimation to me, but there were certainly a ton of climbers. The forest service are coming up with a plan for how to manage the influx of climbers there, pit toilets are needed to mitigate the effect of climbers on the environment. We did our part by leaving our campsite cleaner than when we arrived, and picked up three large black bags of trash from the main climbers parking areas on a rest day.

Laura on Cocaine Rodeo one of the best routes I've ever been on

Chas at the bottom of Cocaine Rodeo

I know that this will not be my last trip to Tensleep, there are still hundreds of routes I want to get on there, and at the pace that new routes are going up its hard to imagine running out of routes to try there. After talking to some other climbers there I’m looking forward to checking out some different climbing areas as well. Right now I’m really psyched on climbing, so if you want to get out climbing with me drop me a line, I’ll drive!

Chas on a fun challenging 10a on the Godfather boulder

Me flashing As Wicked As It Seems (12a) on our last day

Let Summer Begin!

2011-06-18T23:05:00.000-07:00

I've been really busy over the last few weeks. I finished up my student teaching and graduated with my Master in Teaching degree from Evergreen. I was lucky enough to get a teaching job at a great school here in Olympia which I’m really excited about. My parents flew over from Scotland for my graduation and we’ve been hanging out over the couple of weeks so I haven’t been climbing too much recently other than a couple of lazy sessions at the gym, and an easy day at Little Si. I’m not in the kind of shape I was hoping to be at this point in the summer. On Thursday I’m heading out to Tensleep Wyoming for 2 weeks with Chas and Laura. Last summer we had such a good time and vowed to come back, we had hoped to bring more people with us, but it looks like its just going to be the three of us again. It'll still be a lot of fun. A couple of months ago I came up with the goal of climbing 5 routes 12d or harder on the trip. In the shape that I’m in now that seems pretty ambitious, but I’m still going to try. Whatever I end up climbing I know that I’m going to try really hard. I’m keen to see how Chas and Laura get on there, last year they climbed some personal bests, doing a bunch of 5.11’s. This year I think they’ve both got the potential to break into the Tensleep 5.12’s. It’ll be exciting to see. Tensleep will probably be my big climbing trip of the summer, but that’ll by no means be the end of my summer of climbing. I start teaching in September, and in July and August I’ll be doing a lot of planning, but I’m still hoping to get out climbing a lot. So far my wish list is; Infinite Bliss, trad up at Squamish Index and Leavenworth. Bouldering at Gold Bar, and of course cragging at Little Si and Exit 38, and maybe a trip to Horne Lake. It’s going to be a great summer, I’m so glad to be here.

With my parents at my graduation

She-Bear Photos

2011-05-22T23:11:00.000-07:00

Got out to the She-Bear boulder today again to do some more scrubbing and work on projects. I cleaned up a few good moderates. Snapped a few photos, I'll let them do the talking.

The She-Bear boulder from the parking, its about 20ft tall

The She-Bear Slab an awesome tricky V1

A welcome jug high on the slab

Kevin on a crimpy V8 on the main face

Lots of good crimps

The stand start here is an amazing V3

The top out is perfect, but not the way Kevin does it

Working a tricky arete, will probably be V6/7

Yes the rock is that good! This is starting hold to an amazing V6 sloper problem.

Kevin on Pooh Bear a fun V8, he sent it next go

Find of the Year

2011-05-21T19:16:00.000-07:00

Wow I haven’t been this excited about bouldering in a long time!

Let me explain. So recently a lot of the Olympia bouldering crew (Jimmy, Jeremy, Derik, Miles, David, Kevin, Chase and others) have been scouring the forests around Olympia and clicking through Google Earth in search of rock to climb on. Until recently their search had returned very little worthwhile. Then last week while turkey hunting in Capitol Forest, Chase stumbled upon a moss covered monster boulder. Pretty soon the boulder crew had waged war on the moss and an excellent boulder emerged, they dubbed it the ‘The She-Bear Boulder’. All week rumors have been circulating of a boulder so good it puts the blocs in Leavenworth and Squamish to shame. So today I thought I’d take a break from schoolwork and see what all the fuss was about. Half an hour after leaving downtown Oly I was standing under one of the best boulders I’ve ever seen! The rumors are not exaggerated, this boulder is something special. The crew have done a great job of cleaning it, dragging up their sledgehammers, chainsaws, leaf blowers, crowbars, and machetes to clear away the vegetation and remove the ‘loose’ holds. There is still more work to do and a major tree to take out, but it is very climbable in its current state. Jimmy has snagged most of the FAs, although there are a couple of hard ones and eliminates still to go.

Today I climbed a few of the future classics. Most of the problems I did were graded anywhere between V4 and V7 depending on who you ask. The hardest I did was an amazing sloper problem called Gummy Bears that felt around V6 to me. And I got the first ascent of a fun link-up that weighs in at around V5. I’m sure we’ll get a grade consensus soon. There are about 10 independent straight up problems, most of which have been done at V0- to V7, with potential for another 20 or so link-ups and eliminates. Most of the boulder is slightly overhanging with lots of small crimps so it lends itself to problems in the V4-V7 range, with a smattering of easier warm ups and at least 2 classic HARD lines that will be in the double digits for sure. Its certainly going to keep me busy this summer. I can’t stop thinking about a couple of projects that I need to finish up before someone else does. I’ll be headed back up Monday or Tuesday for an evening session depending on weather if anyone wants to join, as long as you don’t steal my project. Oh and I’ll bring my camera this time.

Working on my tan at Tieton and Vantage

2011-05-07T18:53:00.000-07:00

For the last few weeks I’ve been super busy with school work, but I’ve still managed to make time for climbing on the weekends. Two weeks ago a group of 10 of us made our way down to Tieton, and last weekend we rolled 14 deep at Vantage. It was actually really nice hanging out in a big group, there were plenty of ropes to hop on and lots of wood to feed to the fire.

Joe flashing a really good 10c at Vantage

In Tieton I definitely felt like I was filling in the gaps in my guidebook, doing the climbs I’d overlooked before. At Lava Point I finished up a couple of routes I’d skipped over in the past, so now I have the crag ticked which is a little sad knowing there’s no new routes for me to do on this awesome wall, dream wall nearby just doesn’t compare. I also climbed at The Chunkyard for the first time, a crag so new it there were some guys bolting a route on it out left as we were there. The rock doesn’t look the most appealing but it is actually pretty fun climbing. I’m getting to the point at a lot of crags in Tieton where I’m running out of new routes to try. I repeated a few routes, but I don’t get the same enjoyment from repeating routes as I do from climbing something for the first time, partially because I know its not contributing to my long term goal of climbing 10,000 routes. But its something that I probably have to get over if I’m going to climbing at the same crags in Washington. I actually think there is a lot of potential for new routes at Tieton. There is so much rock there, not all of it is solid, and some of it would be a bit of a hike, but I’ve got a feeling there are a few quality crags still waiting to be discovered there, particularly sport routes. Just walking around the Cave area, which is one of the more popular areas I could see potential for new routes. I would love to get a drill and put up my own routes sometime, for now the cost of it and the time involved seems prohibitive.

Not sure what climb this is, they all seem to blend together

At Vantage there are a lot more routes to get on, so even though I’ve already done a lot there, there is still plenty to get on. On Saturday I teamed up with Joe, we got an early start and before we knew it we had climbed 6 routes and it was only 10am. We figured we’d try to keep up the pace and see how many we could rack up. Fatigue caused by the blazing sun and running out of water slowed us down towards the end of the day, but we still managed 19 routes that day, 16 of which I had never done before, I onsighted or flashed them all including a few trad/mixed routes. My previous record was 13 routes in a day at Post Falls last year. It was one of my best climbing days in a while, Joe and I seemed well matched in terms of our drive to get a lot of mileage in. We were talking about how at the right crag, and with the right preparation 30 routes in a day is probably possible. Laura had a pretty good day flashing another 5.11, to add to her long list, she did a couple in Tieton the week before as well. We topped it off with a big fire, some music and a lot beer. Sunday was understandably a little more subdued, but I still managed to get a good amount of climbing in, including a few 5.11s at the awesome Jigsaw wall. The warm-up Jigsaw Direct may be the best route I’ve done at Vantage, I’d highly recommend it. On the way back we stopped by a brewpub for a well deserved meal, we were all glowing from a great weekend outside in the sun. I tried to absorb as much sun as I could that weekend since I don’t think I’ll make it outside climbing for a few weeks, I’ve got way too much schoolwork to do. But in just a month I’ll be graduating with my Masters degree which is pretty exciting/scary.

About to head home after an awesome weekend at Vantage

Mileage

2011-04-17T18:51:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I went climbing at Tieton and Vantage, putting a lot of miles on my car driving solo. I've added 15k to my car since getting it in August. The climbing trips have been worth it, but at current gas prices I'll need to carpool more. On Friday I drove down to Tieton and met up with a couple of Olympia old-timers Doug and Duke. It was a lot of fun climbing with them, and we got a lot of routes done for climbing in a threesome. They showed me Moon Rocks and The Chunkyard, both nice little crags which are definitely worth a return trip. I cruised a fun 10a trad route at The Cave, and sent another 10a crack at Moon Rocks with a lot more effort. I’m loving trad climbing right now, but its nice to mix it up with sport routes as well, which seem so much easier in comparison. Having said that I did fall off of an 11b at The Cave called Casting Stones. I don't normally fall off routes this grade but this one was pretty tricky, I had to do a full-reach deadpoint to a mono at the crux. Felt at least 11d to me, but it was nice being challenged and good for me to clean it up on my second go. Friday night a group of Olympia folks were headed over to Vantage, and the weather was looking a lot more promising there. So I said bye to the guys and drove the hour and a half up the road to meet everyone.

A few moments before falling off of Casting Stones, 11b

A 60m isn't quite enought to toprope Moonstruck (10a trad) so I had to belay from this tree. The jacket is Duke's.

At Vantage on Saturday we climbed at Fat Man Wall and M&M wall which were not nearly as crowded as some other areas. It was me, Sierra, Melody, Laura, Gretchen, then Shannon and a couple of her friends joined us out there, then Micah and Steph met up with us later that night. Despite waking up with a bit of a cold, I got a lot of routes in. Some of my favorites were The Pod, Cold Cut Combo, and Ridin' Sidesaddle. Although a lot of the routes at M&M seemed pretty tough for the grade. I finished up the day with a smooth send of Snake Crack a fun short 10c layback crack.

Sierra, Me and Gretchen having a good time at M&M wall.

Sunday we weren’t sure what the weather was going to do so we headed over to Zig-Zag Wall in case we had to make a hasty retreat, but the weather turned out to be perfect all day. Zig Zag doesn’t have the most solid rock at Vantage, but despite this there are a few worthwhile routes. I got 10 routes in that day including all the bolted routes at the crag that were in my guide, and one that wasn’t. Nothing hard, but it was nice to get a lot of mileage in. Special mention should go to Micah who managed to get up quite a few routes, despite having to climb in a hefty boot because of his injury. It was a fun first big group trip of the year, I’m looking forward to more to come. This weekend I had to stay home and get school work, but I’m hoping if I pull 12 hour days this week I should be able to get out next weekend. Its only 7 weeks til I graduate, then I’ll have a lot more time to climb. I’m feeling pretty strong right now, which can only mean good things for the rest of the season.

The obligatory group shot

Trad is Rad! Sport is fun too.

2011-04-04T22:40:00.000-07:00

Trad climbing is awesome, especially the next day. Yesterday Chas and I tradded it up at Vantage. We started out at Sunshine Wall which was a circus. It seemed like every climber in seattle and his girlfirend was out there. Chas and I both led the classic Party in Your Pants 5.8, then I did a good 10b crack. I felt good on it but there was a lot of loose rock in the crack so I wasn't to confident in my gear. It was pretty hot out in the sun and the crowds were rediculous, so we headed to Middle East Wall. I'd never climbed there before, but its a sweet wall, stays a lot cooler since its north facing, and there was barely anyone there. We led an awesome 10b finger crack called slim and curvy, we both loved it. I did a 10d trad route next, it was pretty tricky. The crux was in a shallow corner double gastoning in tiny crack that was just big enough for a size 1 nut, but not for my fingers, I was ready to take a whip, but I held it together and somehow made it to the chains. I wasn't having fun at the time, but thinking about it now my hands sweat and I want to do it again.

Today Chas had to be back in town early, but we still got out and did some fun sport routes. We did 5 routes at Moonshine Wall and Fat Man Wall and made it back to Olympia by 2. They were all really fun routes, it was a totally different feeling from climbing trad though, I actually enjoyed myself while I was on the route. I have another spring break this week, so I'm hoping to get out on another short trip later in the week, I'm psyched to get on more trad, but I'd happily settle for sport. And maybe this time I'll remember my camera.

Quick Trip, Quick Send, The Quickening!

2011-03-21T22:02:00.000-07:00

What was supposed to be a week-long spring break trip to Smith turned into just a 3 day trip, but despite the occasional hail storm I still managed to get a good amount of climbing in. I got down there Thursday morning and joined Nick, Andrew and Scott. It was pretty chilly so I warmed up on a route with lots of ledges to defrost numb hands, Middle Aged Vandals (11c). It’s a fun route that I’ve overlooked in the past, but its definitely worth jumping on. I then did a couple of nice easy routes with Scott to keep warm. Then within about an hour, we went from shivering in our down jackets to sweating in t-shirts when the sun came out while we were on Morning Glory wall. I wanted to try some harder routes out, so hoped on Churning and Taco Chips, both 13a, but I got shut down hard on them. Nick made really good links on Churning, and it was obvious that it would just come down to whether he would have enough time this trip to link it all.

Warming up on a fun 10b. There's still plenty of these left in the park for me to do.

Scott giving me a solid spot on the start of Taco Chips (Thanks Nick for the photos)

The hard route I really wanted to get on was The Quickening in Agro Gully. I got on it the next day, it is a really fun sport climb with two distinct cruxes. The first is pulling over a roof making dynamic moves off of 2 two-finger pockets. I love two-finger pockets so had no problem with this crux once I figured out the beta. The next crux comes midway up the head wall where you have to bust out left to a very small, but very good crimp, get your right foot up high in a pocket then lock-off and make a huge reach with your right hand to a slopey pocket. I couldn’t make the span, but I was able to reach a tiny triangle pinch just below it to lock of on and reach through to the pocket with. It was an unlikely looking move, but it worked for me. After that the route eases up and finishes on some fun 5.10 climbing on good holds. I had pretty much sussed out the all the beta, so got Nick to go for the flash attempt, unfortunately after a hard day of projecting he got spat off at the first crux, but dogged his way to the chains, and confirmed the quality of the route. I was psyched to give it a good 2nd go attempt, but a snow storm swept in so we made a hasty retreat to the campsite.

The start of the first crux of the Quickening

Setting up for the throw.

Latched it!

Ahh Jugs! (Photo sequence courtesy of Andrew)

Saturday was a beautiful sunny morning and I was psyched to get back on The Quickening, but had to warm up and wait for Andrew to get done stalking Paige Claassen (a hot 5.14 female climber) to get a belay. I felt really confident going for it, which is a nice feeling to have before a hard climb. I sailed through the first crux, got a bit of a shake, then nailed the second crux sticking to my beta. I was climbing great, then the flash pump hit me, my forearms were bulging, I couldn’t close my hands to chalk up, but I knew I couldn’t live with myself if I fell off the 5.10 jugs. I barely managed to clip one of the anchor draws before my hands opened up. Phew, I did it, just! I was stoked to have sent this Smith classic so quick, it gave me renewed confidence in my ability after a spell of not climbing outdoors. In my guide The Quickening gets 12d, but in the new one its 12c. And if I am being honest with myself there is no way I am in the kind of shape to be sending 12d so quick, so I’ll take the 12c grade. For the rest of the day I was content giving Andrew belays on his 12a project which he sent! I drove back up to Olympia that night with a huge grin on my face. You know it’s a great trip when you’re already planning out your next one.

I should be climbing right now

2011-03-15T19:45:00.000-07:00

Its my spring break, and I'm sitting at a computer looking outside at the rain. The plan was to spend this week climbing down at Smith Rock, but the weather has just been terrible. It looks like Thursday things might get a bit better, so I think I'll head down then, and hopefully get at least a few days of climbing in.

I've only gotten outside climbing once in the last 3 months, and I am missing it badly. I haven't been doing much other than schoolwork and drinking, often at the same time. And its surprising that I'm still in pretty good climbing shape. I've been bouldering well indoors recently. I've probably sent more V6 boulder problems at the warehouse in the last few weeks than I have in the last few years. My finger injury is more or less gone, although I'm still taping it, just in case. I haven't been psyched for getting on a rope indoors, but I'm hoping (perhaps naively) that my route fitness will come back pretty easily as soon as I get outside. I've had fun playing in the snow though, a couple of weeks ago I went skiing for my first time ever. It was so much fun, I know this is something that I will be doing a lot more of in the future. And last week I went snowshoeing, which was less fun, more hard work, but getting to hang out in the hotsprings with friends was worth it. I'm done with the cold wet weather though, I really want to get outside on some rock.

Me enjoying the snow at White Pass

I had a multiple page ticklist for this smith trip, but I'm now having to edit it and decide what I really want to get on. I'd be psyched to get on The Quickening, a route I've often looked at, but never tried. It looks like it'd be really fun , I found what seems like good beta for it online. I haven't done anything harder than 12b at Smith, so it'd be awesome to do this route. I'm also psyched to get on some trad as well. We'll see what happens, right now any dry rock climbing would be awesome.

NC3 UW

2011-02-13T23:48:00.000-08:00

I'm back from awesome weekend up in Seattle. I went up to compete in the University of Washington climbing competition ‘The Rain City Send’. It was the 3rd round of the NC3 competition series (my 2nd). I was feeling more confident this time, my finger has gotten a better recently, I only have to lightly tape it now. And just a couple of days beforehand I flashed a V6 and got another one really quick at the WRG, it was the first time in a while that I’ve bouldered that hard indoors, so I was feeling confident. I started out the comp strongly flashing a 910 and an 860 point problem. I then spent the next hour working some other hard problems, but to no avail. It got down to 40 minutes left, and I still only had 2 of my top 5 problems done, so I lowered the bar a bit and flashed some easier problems that probably weigh in at V4ish. I ended up with a decent top 5, but I always feel I could have done a little better. When all the scores were tallied I ended up in 8th place in Men’s Advanced. I was surprised not to finish higher, but there was a lot of strong competition. Jimmy ended up taking 2nd overall, Morgan just missed out on open finals in 4th, Kevin took 5th (I think), Sergio a new strong climber who is at Evergreen for a semester from Spain came in right behind him in 6th (I think), and Andrew put in a good performace in Men's Advanced as well. It was a really good comp, well organized with excellent setting. And best of all they had tons of prizes. I walked away with a baseball cap, a jansport backpack and pair of evolve flip flops as well as the comp t-shirt. And today amongst other purchases at REI, I scored a pair of almost new Anasazi Slippers for under $20! I’m looking forward to the next few NC3 comps, I’m hoping to compete in the one in a couple of week down at OSU.

My photos turned out pretty bad, but here’s one of Jimmy, and a video of him on the last problem in open finals, nobody got it.

Jimmy flashing the first problem in Open Finals

Ten Years In It: Coming to America 2006 - present

2011-02-02T20:48:00.000-08:00

This is the final installment of my recollections of the last 10 years of climbing.

I didn’t know what to expect when I came to the US, but getting out climbing a lot helped with the transition. Laura’s mom got me the Falcon guide to Climbing in Washington. It’s a really bad guide, but it was really useful for us at the time, we used it to find our way out to Exit 38. The first ever route I did in the US was a route there called Glom Job. It’s a route that climbs a crack formed between the concrete foundations of a bridge and a rock, so your essentially climbing on concrete for half the route. It was very bizarre, it probably wasn't the best route to start out on in the US, it made me wonder what climbing was going to be like here. Down in Olympia we didn’t have a car, but I found out about the quarry in Tenino on the internet, and contacted some people and was offered a ride by Doug, a good friend from Olympia. The quarry was another kind of bizarre venue, in someone’s front yard, with benches to belay from, there was certainly nothing like this in Scotland. But the community at the quarry was very welcoming, I met Off, Jimmy, Duke and Ed, the same regulars who climb there today. The first route I did there was Hercules a sandbag at 10b, it didn’t help that nobody gave me any beta, they just watched and sized up the new guy. I made it up it but it wasn't pretty. Every Wednesday Doug would give Laura and I a ride down to the quarry, and that summer we went on longer trips to Vantage, Tieton and Squamish with him. Without Doug we really wouldn’t have gotten out much at all that summer, we really owe a lot to him. I thought the climbing around here was awesome, and there was so much of it. In Scotland because of the strict bolting ethic there was not much sport climbing. Here though it was fair game, it seemed at the time that there were more sport routes than I could ever hope to do.

Getting to know the routes and the locals at The Quarry June 06

Braving the heat at Vantage August 06

Onsighting Flying Circus a 10a route at Squamish July 06

Towards the end of the summer I found a job, which limited my climbing, but we got a car which made us more flexible. We would get out on the weekends and I was getting the hang of sport climbing around here. One weekend I decided to get on a 12a at Exit 38 called Culture Shock, I was pumped out of my mind, but I somehow managed to onsight it! This was a major breakthrough for me and made me wonder what I could do if I found a project to work. Laura was working at the climbing gym at Evergreen where she met another keen climber Micah. We arranged to get out climbing at Little Si the next weekend. Micah looked like a really strong climber, but he spent most of the day hanging on a 10b, while I onsighted another 12a Rainy Day Women. Nevertheless we were to become great climbing partners and pushed each other to climb harder over the next few years. Once winter rolled around I started climbing indoors more at the Warehouse Rock Gym, where I would climb more with Jimmy. Back then he was just a weak kid, I remember thinking I could do any boulder problem he could set, I wish I could still say the same. I also met another good friend there Nick, despite him calling me the wrong name of the first few weeks of our friendship we got on great together. Together the four of us Micah, Jimmy, Nick and I would push each other to climb hard and we all improved our climbing levels immensely over the next few years.

Enjoying the Sun on Ride Em' Cowboy 5.8 at Vantage June 07

On a sweet 10d at Cheakamus BC, June 07

Right after flashing my first ever 12b at Smith March 07

Flashing Rawhide 11d at Smith May 07

Laura and I had plans to move to Portland together when she graduated, but by that point we had made good friends in Olympia, and I was enjoying my job, so we decided to stay. I’m glad we did. That summer George and another friend from Scotland Rob, came over to visit and spent 6 weeks climbing in the NW, mostly up at Squamish. We had a really good time together and shared a lot of good memories. That summer I spent a lot of time climbing particularly at Little Si and pushed my level from 12a to 12d in the space of about 6 months with Micah. My ascent of Psychosomatic (12d) was another big milestone. That was about the same time I started documenting my climbing on this blog. Since I've already covered the rest of my climbing on this blog, I wont go into too much detail. But highlights have been my extended climbing trip to Europe, discovering bouldering at Leavenworth, and getting out to new venues further afield such as Bishop and Tensleep. I've made a bunch of good friends in Olympia through climbing, too many to mention here, but I appreciate how each of them have had an impact on my climbing and have helped mold me into the climber I am today. I’m really glad I have this blog to look back on some of my old trips and good memories.

Flashing Rio's Crack V6, at Bishop December 07

Trying to find out where I am in Fontainebleau, April 08

Negotiating the Steepness of Kalymnos May 08

Bouldering in Ailefroide, France June 08

As for the future, I discussed my plans for 2011 here. And looking towards the next 10 years, I see a lot more climbing. I’ve been getting in a lot of volume in recent years and hope to continue to do so. I think I’m going to get more into trad routes, multi-pitch routes and perhaps even alpine climbing. I would really like to get a drill and start bolting my own routes in the future. A couple of years ago I got recognized by the website 8a.nu for having one of the most registered ascents on my scorecard. At the time I had a little over 500 routes and boulders combined. I now have over 1000 routes. Over the last 3 years I’ve been averaging more than 200 new routes a year. I plan on climbing as long as I can which will hopefully mean another 30+ years. A lifetime goal I’ve set for myself is to climb 10,000 routes, only counting clean ascents, no repeats. This may sound like a lot, but I’ve done the math and I think it may be possible. If I achieve this it will be a huge accomplishment, it may mean climbing more routes than anyone else in the world, or at least having documented it, which would be pretty cool. If in another 10 years I still have this blog and can write about another great 10 years of climbing I'll be happy.

10 Years In It - The College Years 2002-2006

2011-02-01T22:27:00.000-08:00

This is the second installment of my climbing story, celebrating my last 10 years of climbing.

When I started university at Stirling I immediately got involved in the Mountaineering Club, and met lots of other enthusiastic climbers and found new places to climb. Best of all was finding out there was a cool bouldering spot only a 20 minute walk from campus. That began my 4 year love affair with Wolfcrag, a small but fun quarry with some bouldering and traversing. It has probably had the biggest impact on my climbing than any other venue, I attribute my crimping skills to the chipped holds there. I also made a trip out to the boulders at Dumbarton Rock with Anthony who had started uni at nearby Glasgow. I remember it was a freezing December day and when we got off the train we immediately bought santa hats from a nearby shop for one pound to stay warm. When we got to the boulders the only other climber was the guidebook author Dave MacLeod, he had a good laugh at us in our santa hats. We were really impressed by the boulders there, they were way bigger than they looked in the topo, we were too scared to top anything out, but we had fun messing around on moves low to the ground, we vowed to return in better weather. Soon after I made the tough decision to shell out on a bouldering mat, back then bouldering pads were pretty new and there wasn’t that much choice, but I bought the biggest one I could find which set me back £130. I still have it today, but it looks puny compared to new mats nowadays.

On Gorrila V4 at Dumbarton March 03

On White Streak V3 at Dumbarton March 03

Once I had my boulder mat, I used it a lot. I went to Wolfcrag several times a week, and ventured back to Dumbarton in the spring. We slowly worked through the grades at Dumbarton, I did a problem called White Streak for my first 6a (V3) then a few months later managed Gorrila 6b (V4), which was my first ‘hard’ boulder problem, I had been working it for a while, I still think its still one of my favorite boulder problems. At Wolfcrag, I was climbing lots of problems up about V3, but there was no guide so it was all just word of mouth. In the spring of 2003 I sampled some of the best quarry climbing the central belt had to offer going to places like Auchinstarry, Limekilns, Rosyth, and Cambusbarron where I would lead up to VS (5.8 trad). I was still scared to push myself harder on trad, and rightly so given my gear placements. Over the summer I was back up in Aberdeen working and climbing. I got out a good amount with Anthony and Craig, I led my first HVS (5.9 trad) at the Pass of Ballater a great corner route called Little Cenotaph. Then achieved a milestone for me when I climbed my first E1 (5.10a trad), Black Custard. I remember thinking my gear was good for a change, but when I got the crux of the route I hesitated, I could hear Anthony taunting me from below, thinking I was going to bail, but I committed. I think it was the first time I was willing to take a fall on lead, but luckily I didn’t. I it must have been pretty hard since Craig had to hang on the rope seconding it. That was a big step forward for me in terms of my trad climbing, but I wouldn’t push myself harder on trad for another couple of years. Later that summer Anthony and I decided to take a road trip around the West of Scotland to check out some of the new bouldering areas that were just being developed at the time. It was a great trip, we would sleep under boulders and climb in the sunshine all day long, we checked out the boulders at Glen Croe, The Brack, and Glen Nevis. We made a return trip to The Brack, where we camped out for a few days putting up some first ascents, we had the place to ourselves, with a whole hillside of untouched boulders. We climbed up to 6b (V4) and established a bunch of problems up to 6a+ (V3). There hasn’t been much more development there since, I need to go back there some time now that I’m stronger and can try some of the steeper lines we saw. Back at Uni I climbed more trad, and finished up some more routes up to E1. That winter I heard about some new bouldering at Portlethen not far from where I lived. I checked it out, and although it was pretty cold I knew I could spend a lot of time trying some harder problems here.

On my FA 'No Bellylop Required' V0 at The Brack, September 03

Working Vietnam, an awsome but hard V4 at The Brack

Early in 04 I heard about Bennybeg a new sport climbing venue only about half an hour from Stirling. At the time it was controversial to bolt a crag like that since it was all easy routes, and there was very little precedence for easy sport climbing in Scotland. I loved it even though it’s a crappy little crag, I managed to flash all the hardest routes there, which were only up to 6a (5.10a), but at the time it was a big deal for me, this was more than 3 years after I first started climbing. It made me want to search out the few moderate sport climbs available in Scotland so a few months later I checkout Ley Quarry, where I managed to onsight some (but not all) routes up to 6b (10c). I also spent a lot of time working a harder route, which I returned to a few weeks later and finished off. It was __ a 6c (11a), for me this was huge accomplishment, 6c was a big number for me at the time, this was around the time I set up my 8a.nu scorecard.

Discovering the bouldering at Portlethen December 04

At the end of the school year, I was climbing indoors at Glasgow and I was trying a crimpy problem when I heard a loud pop in my finger and immediately had a burst of pain in my finger, I had popped a tendon. I tried denying what had happened at first, but I was seriously debilitated. In one way though it was a good time to get injured, because I was about to leave with my sister to visit my grandma in California for six weeks where I knew I wouldn’t be able to climb much. I think I went a whole two weeks, the longest period in the last 10 years, without climbing at all. Eventually I ventured in to a local gym, with a severely taped up finger, and played around on a little bouldering area near where my grandma lived. When I returned to Scotland my finger had more or less healed, so I got to work on the boulders at Portlethen. I worked my way up through the easier problems, eventually sending The Prow, a powerful short font 6c (V5) my first of the grade. Anthony and I were climbing at a similar level, so there was a lot of competition to see who could do it first.

Having fun at the Bowderstone in the Lake District November 04

Doing laps on Malky the Alky a fun E1 at Cambusbarron, November 04

Making the most of some winter sun while belaying on some easy trad at Rosyth January 05

Messing around on some beach boulders in the South of Spain while on a Science Field Trip February 05

Back at Uni, I started climbing with some guys who pushed my to try harder, namely George and Paddy. They were hot on my heels working the same hard boulder problems at Wolfcrag and Dumbarton. In early 2005 we decided to try some harder routes on trad. At limekilns I went for the onsight of an E3 called Grasp the Nettle, in reality the route was no harder than 6a (10a) but run-out and on bad gear, physically this route was well within my limits, but I had to push my limits mentally. I managed the onsight, which made me wonder what else I could do on trad if I tried harder. George climbed it straight after me, it was only his second ever lead climb! George and I got out to the local crags and worked some harder trad routes, we would practice them on toprope figure out all the gear, then lead it placing all gear on lead. Some memorable routes we did were Gobi Roof E2/3, (10c trad), Looney Tunes E4 (6c trad/solo), Chisel E4 (6c+ trad), often these routes were quite dicey, but we had practiced them so much our margin of failure was small. These routes culminated in my boldest route to date Nijinski an E5 (6c+ solo) at Auchinstarry, this route was different from the others in that I opted to solo it, the gear was worthless, and it was outside of my comfort zone. I managed it, but it was very scary, a fall from the crux, would have meant broken legs or worse. I got away with it, but I’m glad I didn’t continue to do hard routes like these. Ironically these trad routes and solos were physically harder than anything I had done on bolts at the time. Over that summer I climbed more at Portlethen and did Lurcher a 6c+ (11c) sport route there, which was my hardest sport route to date. Then in September 05 I got out to Ley Quarry with Kris a new member of the Mountaineering club, he was a strong sport climber and showed me a hard route there called Nirvana it was really hard for me, but I managed it by the skin of my teeth. It was my new hardest route.

Yet to place any gear, onsighting an E3 at Limeilns, April 05

On Hard Cheddar an awesome V2 at Dumbarton on my 21st Birthday 05

In 2005 had another big change I started dating an American girl called Laura who was studying at Stirling for 9 months. I got her into climbing and she got good pretty fast, achieving what took me a few years in less than one. That last year at college I visited more areas around the UK, including Reiff, Northumberland, the Lake District, and The Peak District. Mostly just bouldering, and doing some easy trad, towards the end of the year I did another E5 (7a trad) Purr-Blind Doomster which was a great climb, bold but safe. I also ticked a couple more 7a+ sport routes at North Berwick. A dozen or so of us from the mountaineering club took a trip to El Chorro, Spain to sport climb, it was an awesome trip, it was almost overwhelming being surrounded by so much climbing. I only managed routes up to 6c (11a), the heat and unfamiliar rock type made it hard, but I had a blast. I graduated in June of 06 with a BSc (Hons) in Environmental Science, but didn’t go to my graduation because I had already left to start a new chapter in my life in the United States.

Climbing in El Choro, Spain April 06

Enjoying the awesome trad at Reiff April 06

On a 7a+ at North Berwick, April 06

10 Year In It - The Early Days 2001-2002

2011-01-31T11:11:00.000-08:00

This week (give or take a few days) marks 10 years since I first started climbing. Since then barely a week has passed where I haven’t climbed. Getting into climbing has been the best decision I’ve ever made, it has taken me to some amazing places all over the world, and I have made a lot of great friends through climbing. I’ve decided to recount the past 10 years of my climbing here with some old stories and photos to accompany them. Sure it’s a little self centered, but it feels great to look back on it all.

I started climbing back in my hometown of Aberdeen, Scotland in early 2001, I had already been into outdoor activities, and I’d done a good amount of hillwalking, in fact my dad and I had just gotten back from climbing Mt Kilimanjaro. My good friend Anthony asked if I wanted to check out the climbing wall at the local leisure center, he had checked it out for the first time a few days earlier. I was 16 and didn’t have much to do, so it sounded like fun. The wall there is typical of the early 90’s style climbing walls, it’s completely molded (no bolt on holds) with real pieces of rock glued in to the wall. My first time out there I was in my sneakers and somehow managed to climb to the top of the 20ft wall, Anthony was impressed since he hadn’t managed that yet, but when I got up there I was so gripped that I couldn’t come back down, I spent about 10 minutes hanging on before my arms eventually gave up and I jumped/fell back down. Despite this I was hooked, and went straight to the climbing shop in town (where I was to work a year later) and bought my first pair of climbing shoes for £25. They were the cheapest I could find, pretty old school with a high ankle, but at that point any climbing shoe would have made a huge difference. Anthony and I went down to the wall every chance we had, it cost £3.25 to get in, but we became pretty good at sneaking our way in. A month after I started out climbing for my 17th birthday my dad bought me a harness, I had no idea what to do with it though. So for a while I would just wear it while bouldering at the wall.

Then at the beginning of the summer my dad thought it would be a good idea if we got some formal instruction. We hired an instructor for a few days, to show my dad and I how to belay and climb on rocks. We climbed a bit on the sea cliffs and at the Pass of Ballater where we mostly just toproped easy routes. After that intro I had a much better idea of what climbing outside was really like. We bought a rope and a few pieces of gear that we used to set up topropes. Me and Ant would get out and explore the local cliffs with another friend Craig who had just started climbing as well. Looking back on it now some of the stuff we did was really sketchy, we would swing about on a toprope that was set up with only a single nut. But we had a great time exploring new areas and being outside on rock. One of our first times out, we were climbing on some seacliffs just outside of the city and a pod of dolphins swam right into our little inlet and watched us climb, it was a perfect moment. Over that summer I added a few nuts and slings to my rack and started leading some really easy routes, my gear placements were pretty bad though, and we were climbing slabby routes where a fall would be messy. I’m lucky I didn’t have an accident back then, as it probably would have scared me off climbing, and I wouldn’t be where I am today. I didn’t really push myself, so I progressed pretty slowly, a year after I started climbing my hardest leads were V.Diffs and Severes (5.6 and 5.7 trad).

I would read everything about climbing I could get my hands on, mostly climbing magazines and websites. I found out that there were climbing competitions down in Edinburgh, three hours drive away, so over the winter Anthony and I would make the drive down. It was a reality check, I realized how much of a beginner I really was. At one of my first comps, a professional climber, Ben Moon, was there to hand out prizes and sign posters. I remember being in awe seeing how effortlessly he climbed, it made a big impact on me. To this day I still have his signed poster hanging on my bedroom wall. I really wanted to try bouldering outside, I saw photos in magazines that made it look really fun. But back then bouldering wasn’t nearly as popular as it is now (especially in Scotland). There were no established bouldering areas nearby, and barely any sport climbing so I just had to make do with what I had. In the summer of 02 I found out about a new bouldering spot that was being developed just 10 miles from my home, so I checked it out with Anthony. It was a cool place, the boulders weren’t too big and there were nice grassy landings, which was good since we didn’t have any mats. We managed a few problems up to 5b (V1), and a 5c (V2) that was probably soft. We even put up a FA of our own, its in the guidebook as 4b (V0-), but its still pretty tricky. The summer of 2002 we spent lots of time there as well as doing more easy trad, we also checked out a place called Cambus O’May which had the only sport climbs in the area, but most of the routes were too hard for us to try. That summer I worked in a climbing shop, which was great since I could get a good deal on more climbing gear, but ironically it also took away from my climbing time. I was to be exposed to a whole lot more climbing soon though, at the end of summer I moved down to Stirling about 3 hours from home to go to University. Unfortunately I don’t have any photos on my computer of my earliest climbing adventures, but maybe I can get my dad to scan in some old photos of me soon. Here are a couple from a bit later that’ll give you a taste of the next installment coming tomorrow, The College Years 2002-2006.

My first project 'The Crack' a V1 at Wolfcrag, November 2002

Working an awesome V2 at Wolfcrag, February 2003

NC3 WWU

2011-01-23T17:31:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I competed in the first Northwest College Climbing Competition (NC3) of the year up at Western Washington University up in Bellingham. I’m not climbing really strong right now because of my lingering finger injury, but a group of guys from Olympia were headed up so I tagged along. Chas, Morgan, Micah and I represented Evergreen. Jimmy and Kevin climbed for SPSCC, and Andrew came up with us climbing for UW. The gym up at Western is not the biggest, so it was pretty crowded with a couple hundred students from the major colleges around Washington, Oregon and Idaho. The comp reminded me a lot of the university climbing competitions I went to in the UK, there was the same excitement, team outfits and fancy dress. But in the UK there was a lot more money in it, back then our university sports association would pay for our flight and accommodation and we weren’t even that good. I think if the NC3 comps stay this well attended, they should move them to bigger gyms.

Micah deafens onlookers with his power scream

Chas almost sticks the second dyno

Morgan respresenting Evergreen in Men's Open Finals

I climbed alright, I had good strategy and got in 5 kinda hard problems. I liked the fact that they had a 30 point bonus for flashing problems, I think 4 of my top 5 were flashes. But a major criticism a lot of people had with the comp was that they didn’t allow any smearing at all! This made the problems really awkward and contrived, and the rule was really hard to enforce. I ended up taking 7th in advanced, if I were in better shape, I think I could have challenged to get top three, the standard wasn’t all that high. Chas and Andrew climbed well in advanced category as well. Micah climbed strongly but struggled to finish off the hard problems and ended up ripping up his scorecard and just climbed for fun. Jimmy, Morgan and Kevin climbed awesome in open. Jimmy and Morgan got 2 of the 3 spots in the open finals, a guy from the UW took the third spot. While they were in isolation there was a dyno comp, I entered and made it past the first round, but the next dyno’s were huge, it was really fun to watch though. Then open finals came, they were closely matched until the steep and slopey final problem, which I knew would suit Jimmy’s style. And sure enough he flashed it to win! Here’s a really badly shot video I got of it.

It was a great way to spend a Saturday, and I think I’m going to compete in some other ones throughout the NW in the next couple of months. I missed the pre-registration for the one in Spokane next weekend, but I heard from a guy from Central that Vantage is dry, so I think I know where I’m going to be next weekend if the weather holds.

Team Oly (minus Chas) at Boomers in Bellingham afterwards

2011

2011-01-18T10:29:00.000-08:00

Well it’s another new year, and that means I need to post my goals for the year. Looking back 2010 was another great year from a climbing perspective, I got out to new places, climbed hard and had a lot of fun. I climbed 191 new routes, which was less than what I’d done the previous two years but its still a good amount considering it rained for half the year. My 8a.nu route score went down a little, but I still had a pretty solid base of 12a onsights, and I managed to redpoint a 5.13a for my third year running which I’m really proud of. I got out bouldering a few times, and even though I wasn’t taking it as seriously as in previous years I still managed two (albeit soft) V8’s in Leavenworth. I did a handful of trad routes, but didn’t really get into it until towards the end of the year, my flash of Wartley’s Revenge at Smith has really got me psyched for getting on harder trad this year.

2011 is going to be a big year for me, I predict a lot of changes in my life. I graduate in June, and I’ll be looking for a teaching job. Where I end up will have a major impact on how much I climb and what kind of climbing I do. I would love to land a job in the Olympia area, but with the way the job market is now, that looks very unlikely. I will most likely have to move to get a full time teaching job, I’m just not sure yet how far I’m willing to move. One thing I know though, is that wherever I go there must be good climbing close by.

I know where I’m going to be the first half of this year though, and while I’m here I want to make the most of it. I hope to get out on some early season trips out to Vantage and Smith Rock focusing on trad. I’m planning a week-long smith trip for spring break, where I want to get on some harder trad routes, like Sunshine Dihedral, any other trad recommendations? Then once the weather gets better I can see myself spending a lot of time up in Squamish, goals are to get more efficient climbing longer trad routes, like Angel’s Crest, Squamish Buttress and The Grand Wall. And try to improve my trad onsight and redpoint levels. Over the summer I’m also keen to get on some big mountain routes in the Cascades, something I haven’t really done yet. I’m also really excited about going back to Tensleep WY, the climbing there is so much fun. I think the style suits me, and if I am in good shape going into the trip and spend a good amount of time on a project I think I’ve got a good chance of climbing my first 8a (5.13b) there. I think the theme for this year is to push myself mentally and physically to break boundaries. Here are a handful of my goals for this year, I think they are pretty ambitious.

1. redpoint 5.12c trad
2. onsight 5.11d trad
3. climb 5.11 trad multipitch
4. onsight 5.10 trad mountain route
5. redpoint 13b (8a) sport
6. climb 300 new routes clean
7. climb 30 pitches in a day
8. have fun bouldering with friends

What do you all think of my goals for this year?

Bishop over New Year

2011-01-03T18:05:00.000-08:00

Just after Christmas Chas and I headed down to Bishop California for a week of bouldering. It was a cold week to be down there but we still ended up getting a lot done. We set up camp at the Pit, and ended up climbing only at the Happies all week, the Buttermilks were snowed out. I was worried about my injured finger, but I taped it up pretty good, and tried to avoid anything crimpy. Hanging off pockets didn’t hurt it, which was good because the Happies are all about pockets. On our first couple of days we managed a quite a few V4’s and V5’s pretty quickly. Chas was climbing really well for his first real bouldering trip, we didn’t find anything project worthy though. The temps were chilly, it was nice in the sun, but it was really tough when a strong wind was blowing. The forecast looked called for very cold temps and strong gusts, so we thought it would be a good chance to drive up to Mammoth to visit and old friend of Chas’. It was nice to sleep indoors and have a hot shower, but Mammoth was a little too crazy for me, and I was glad to return to Bishop the next day.

Chas sending a V4 "one finger!"

Me pulling on pockets on the west rim

We returned to the Pit to find my tent missing! It had blown away and was lying in a heap a hundred yards away, some people had pinned it down with big rocks. Apparently there had been crazy gusts and lots of people had lost tents, boulder mats and other things during the night. We decided it would be a good call to go in for a motel for the next couple of nights. It was definitely worth it. With a rest day behind us we were climbing really well, at least we thought so when I thought I had flashed a V7! And Chas was close on sending it too, but after about an hour of effort he checked the guide again and it turned out what we were doing was a undocumented traverse into a V2 that probably only clocked in at about V4. We were pretty bummed, but I did manage to flash a couple of V5’s afterwards and then we found a sweet V6 to work on. Its called WORK is a four letter word, up on the west rim. It starts with a powerful steep move off small pockets to a left hand sloper, then you work your feet over and slap again to a slightly better sloper, hold the tension and bring your right hand up to a slopey dish then slap up to better holds. It was really sweet sequence with each move close to our limit. Chas came the closest to sending, but as dusk approached and the temps dipped below freezing , we knew we’d have to wait on it. That night for new years eve I enjoyed a couple of beers in the motel room and we watched a climbing movie, it was pretty low key, but we knew we had to save ourselves for the project.

The first powerful move of WORK is a four letter word

The next day we had one goal in mind, and after a quick warm-up we headed straight to it. With the beta wired, I knew all I had to do was execute the moves, on my first go I got to the last hard move, then on my next go I got it! I was pleased to have done it quick so I could try some other things. Chas however was getting frustrated on the problem. He worked it for a couple of hours with not much progress. Eventually, much after the point at which I would have given up, he summoned all his strength and got up the thing! I was just as pleased for him as he was. With not much time left in the day or skin left on my fingers, I taped my fingers all the way up and worked on pulling on the pockets as much as I could. I had a ton of fun working a V5, but I couldn’t link it all together (see second video). With another storm forecasted to be on the way, we decided to hit the road that night. We were both really satisfied with our sends. It was just exactly what I needed to get out for a quick trip before school starts up again, thanks Chas!

Me thinking I flashed a V7!

Almost sending a V5

The end of a good trip!

Injury Frustration

2010-12-12T11:22:00.000-08:00

Since getting back from the Dominican, I've had a lot of free time, and I've been trying to focus my energy on climbing. I've been in the gym every single day since getting back, and would love to climb more and and for longer, but I've got a really annoying finger injury. The pulley in my right hand middle finger is inflamed. I think I picked it up in Smith, but it didn't seem too bad at the time, pocket pulling in the Dominican didn't help, and now that I'm climbing in the gym all the time its gotten a lot worse. I've applied an anti-inflamatory gel to it, and have been icing it and taping it when climbing. I know what I really need to do is rest it, but not climbing right now doesn't seem like an option. I'm in a time crunch because I'm headed on a trip down to Bishop with friends on the 26th-3rd, and really want to be able to climb hard without the pain then, but its asking a lot to recover from this in such a short period of time. Thoughts?

Dominic in the Dominican

2010-12-09T12:16:00.000-08:00

I'm back from a two week visit to the Dominican Republic. It was quite a shock to go from snow and rain here in Olympia, to the sun and heat of Santo Domingo. It was really interesting visiting such a different city, but it seemed to me such a chaotic place. Driving around was scary, the drivers pay little attention to the rules of the road. I was wondering how there weren't more traffic accidents, then one night we were hit twice, and a couple of days later we witnessed the aftermath of a terrible accident where are car was wrecked so bad it was split clean in two 50 yards apart, and the drivers dead body was lying in the middle of the road for everyone to see.

I do bring back a lot of good memories though. Scuba diving with my dad was really fun, the water was probably the warmest I've dove in. And I played a lot of beach volleyball at a resort we stayed at for a few days, which was awesome, I really wish the weather was good here for beach volleyball. My sisters wedding (which was the main reason I was over there) was beautiful, she looked great in her wedding dress.

Me and my big sister Luisa

And I even managed to get some climbing in there as well. I met up with some Dominican climbers and they showed me the local crag, which was actually really sweet. It was a short steep limestone cliff stacked with stalactites, tufas, and pockets galore. It was tough climbing in the heat and humidity, but I managed to get up a bunch of 5.10's and 11's. A big thank you to the Santo Domingo climbing community for showing me around. If anyone is looking for information about the climbing there, look up the dominicanclimbing yahoo group and they will take care of you. Unfortunately I broke my camera early in the trip so not much photos, you'll just have to use your imagination.

Front Page News!

2010-11-16T16:31:00.000-08:00

Smith Rock

I just got back from three days of fun at Smith Rocks. It was just Me Laura and Chris this time. Everyone else was put off by the thought of November weather at Smith, but it was actually some of the best conditions at Smith I've experienced. Temps were pretty much perfect, it was cool, but never cold enough for my fingers to go numb, and we never had to worry about chasing the shade.

Chris headed up the awesome Heresy

Laura on the long sustained Morning Sky (10c)

On Saturday after an early morning drive we warmed up, then headed straight to Chris' project, Heresy. A short but very stout 11c. After a couple of falls on the last the move it didn't look good, but after figuring out some crucial foot beta, he sent it on his third go of the day! We finished up the day catching the last of the afternoon sun or morning glory wall, where we all led up Morning Sky, an awesome long 10c. Its hard to believe, but that was Laura's hardest send at Smith, it just goes to show how hard the smith routes are. We celebrated the day with some awesome food and beverages at the pumphouse in Terrebonne.

Me about to tackle the steep crux of a 12a route

Sunday we got a full day in, with the new guidebook we were able to get on some new routes, and figure out whats what in terms of some old routes we thought we'd done previously. I did a bunch of new routes from 5.8 to 12a, including a flash of the ridiculously thin Zebra Direct by headlamp after dusk. Yesterday, Chris wanted to make use of his trad rack that he'd been hauling around with him, so he led up Moonshine Dihedral a classic 5.9 corner crack. I probably wouldn't have done it if he didn't get on it, but I'm glad I did because it was so much fun. It gave me a taste of trad climbing and I liked it. So I decided to get on Wartley's Revenge the classic hard trad test piece at Smith, it used to get 11b, but in the new guidebook (which is awesome) it gets 11a. I had seen some people on it before so I knew some beta, I found it to be pretty manageable, I got bomber gear in and cruised through the steep crux. I felt really smooth on it, and before I knew it I made the last big throw and was clipping the chains. It felt really good to tick the climb, my hardest non-prepracticed trad route to date, but it felt even better getting it with the ease that I did. There was no sketchy-ness or panicking like my last hard route at Leavenworth. I felt like I still had some power left at the end and could climb harder. And to make it even better, a photographer from the Bend Bulletin took photos of me on it and I made the front page of the newspaper today which is pretty cool. We finished up the trip with an ascent of the awesome long 10c Nine Gallon Buckets. It was a great finish to an awesome trip, I can't wait to get back out to Smith in the spring now, thanks Laura and Chris for such a fun trip!

Chris starting up Moonshine Dihedral (5.9 trad)

Me on Wartley's Revenge

The South Sound Keeps Pulling Down

2010-10-30T16:36:00.000-07:00

Last weekend was the fourth annual South Sound Pull Down at the warehouse rock gym in Olympia. It was a hugely successful competition, with more entrants than ever before, and tons of awesome prizes. A big thanks goes to everyone at the WRG who put it on especially Fawn, Sierra and Jimmy.

Having claimed the title of best Olympia climber in 07, 08, and 09. I really wanted to keep up my streak, but I also knew that I hadn’t been bouldering as much as I had in the past and I was up against some really strong competitors, so I wasn’t too disappointed when I didn’t win. I finished in 3rd place in the Men’s Advanced category just two points (one fall) behind Eric and Olcay who tied for first. But I was also beaten by a few who entered Men’s Open, including Micah and Nathan. I was happy with my performance though, and I got a sweet prize. Laura did awesome as usual and easily won her category. This comp has got me excited for climbing indoors now, and I think I’m going to enter the Seattle competition this year as well. Check out Micah’s write up about the comp for a much more interesting report.

Laura sending her hardest problem of the competition.
Photo Credit: http://www.patrickpenoyar.com/

Mind Games

2010-10-22T17:20:00.000-07:00

I had a great time in Leavenworth this past weekend. The company was fun and I had a couple of sends that I’m particularly proud of. I drove over with Laura, Boon and Esteban in my car. And we met Micah, James, Melody and Gretchen out there. Friday night Micah got us a prime camping spot at the free campsite and plenty of wood keep us warm until the Rainier put me to sleep. Saturday, we headed to Castle Rock to climb some trad routes, along with Ian, a visiting climber from Salt Lake who we met the day before. I warmed up on a 5.6 and a couple of 5.8’s then Ian and I decided to try some harder climbs. I went for the onsight of The Nose, a classic 10d trad route. It wasn’t pretty to watch, I was probably up on the route for 45 minutes, climbing up and down, but I managed the onsight. Thinking back on it now, it was one of my funnest and most memorable sends of the year, but while I was on it, it was anything but fun. I was sketching out, pumped and not-confident. My gear was actually really good, but I couldn’t get the image of me falling and stripping my gear out of my mind. I have a love hate relationship with hard trad climbing, I really want to climb more and push myself harder. But when I’m actually on hard trad routes I scare myself silly. Ian gave it a shot after me, for an 11+ trad leader he was pretty sketched out on it as well which made me feel better for struggling a bit. Although it was almost as scary belaying him on it as it was leading it. Saturday night we had a good fire going but I guess I’m getting old cause I couldn’t stay up as late as some others in our group.

On Sunday we headed out to the boulders, I felt a lot stronger than I normally do on my second day climbing, I guess combining trad and bouldering works pretty well. After warming up on a few easy classics, we met up with Nathan who was in Leavenworth that weekend as well and we projected The Jib (V8) together. I say project, but really he flashed it while I worked on it. Last time I bouldered out here, I flashed the first move, but couldn’t do the rest. This time the end felt pretty straight forward but I struggled on committing to the first move. Another guy pulled over his mat as well, and he tried it, he soon decided he didn’t like it so was about to take his mat away, I knew I just had one chance before there wasn’t enough pads for me to feel comfortable on it. I committed to the move and dispatched it easily. It’s funny how something that you project, can feel so easy when you actually send it. It’s cool to have sent two V8’s this year, but apart from those two my next hardest is a V4. What’s up with that? I’m not too concerned though, I’m just glad I’m starting to get my boulder strength back, just in time for the South Sound Pull Down!

Me onsighting The Nose 10d Trad at Caste Rock, Leavenworth

Nathan on the sit start to Spongebob Squarepad (V5)

Boon on an awesome V2 at Mad Meadows

Making time for Climbing

2010-10-03T21:36:00.000-07:00

I've been pretty busy recently, but I've managed to make time for climbing. The past couple of weekends I've managed to squeeze in some time. Last weekend I finished all my school work on Saturday, so headed out that night and met up with friends at Vantage for a good campfire and a fun day of climbing. It was still pretty hot out there to try anything hard, but that didn't stop Laura from onsighting an 11a.

Sierra trying an 11a on a sunny day at Vantage

This weekend, after getting my work done Saturday, I headed out to Leavenworth late that night with Tony, slept in the car and got some awesome trad pitches in on Castle Rock the next day. A few weeks ago when I was in Leavenworth, I looked up at Castle Rock and thought wouldn't it be fun to be up there on those routes, so that's what I did. This crag is awesome, my kind of approach (short), and really good varied rock climbing. I like trad routes that aren't just boring cracks, I like lots of features and holds, with good gear, Castle Rock delivered. First I warmed up on a really fun 5.8+ the South Face of Jello Tower. Then did Angel Crack, a short 10b glassy finger crack, which was pretty good. Then we headed up Canary a 3 pitch 5.8 route to the summit. It was great, good rock, nice exposure, not too hard. This was exactly was I was hoping for. We got back down and made it back to Olympia by 9. It was fun to climb with Tony again after a while not seeing him. He is a great climbing partner that inspires confidence in me, I'm looking forward to the next time we get out together again.

Tony heading up the excellent first pitch of Canary

Me about to do the exposed 'scary canary' move at the start of the second pitch.

Phew, that wasn't so bad!

What I've been up to

2010-09-25T09:58:00.000-07:00

Summer is officially over, whether it ever arrived is still up for debate. I haven't been climbing as much recently. After my Ten Sleep trip, my parents visited from Scotland for a couple of weeks. This was their first time visiting me since I moved to Washington in 2006. We had a great time, they liked Olympia, and I showed them around the NW a bit including some places I had never visited before like Mount St Helens and the Oregon coast, both of which are beautiful. When they left, my student teaching placement started up, and I've been busy with that since. I'm at a High School in Tacoma, which has been difficult at times, but I'm really enjoying the experience. I did manage to get out a couple of weekends ago to Leavenworth bouldering which was a lot of fun. My bouldering strength is not what it should be, but I just renewed my membership to the Warehouse, so that should improve soon. I'm probably not going to get out as much this fall since I'll be pretty busy, but I'm getting out climbing at Vantage tomorrow, and I wouldn't miss The South Sound Pull Down for anything. Below are a couple of photos from Leavenworth, a shot I forgot to include from Ten Sleep, and a funny video from Ten Sleep.

Jimmy takes it to a whole new level on The Practitioner

Laura works a sweet V4 The Lobster

Totally Flashed this photo. Ten Sleep, we'll be back!

Nine Sleeps in Ten Sleep

2010-08-17T10:11:00.000-07:00

My muscles are still aching from our trip out to Ten Sleep, Wyoming. More than one rest day in a row makes me feel guilty. Ten Sleep Canyon in Northern Wyoming is one of the new big up and coming crags of the West (8a.nu ranks it as the 4th trendiest crag in the world right now), with 700+ climbs established currently and more being put up every week, a new guide has to be published nearly every year to keep up. The climbing is on limestone and dolomite, that I would describe as a mix between Smith and Ceuse. Most of it is generally off vertical (usually no more than 10 degrees either way) technical and pockety. I've been to some crags (cough Ceuse) that claim to be pockety, but they are really just slopey crimps or huecos, this place IS pockety. The name of the game here is sticking your fingers in deep, usually two and three finger pockets and mono's and yarding off of them, I love it. The only thing I didn't like about the place is how far it is from Olympia. At a little over 1000 miles each way, it took Laura, Chas and I driving in Chas' car 17 hours to get there. I would happily do it again though, the climbing out there is so much fun. When we arrived we found a nice campsite near some Australians Lee and Sam who were on a long road trip. We crashed and rested ready for some rock crushing the next day.

Laura absolutely flourished on the well bolted, fingery technical climbs, which is to say all of them. Before this trip she had redpointed a handful of 11b's, at Ten Sleep she onsighted many 11b's and 11c's and flashed an 11d! Chas did really well too, onsighting his first 11b, and flashing his first 11c! I know what you all must be thinking, this place sounds soft. But I don't think so, I found the grades to be pretty spot on and a lot more consistent than many other crags, but the style definitely favors climbers who are good on small holds and have good footwork. As for me, I managed to onsight or flash everything I tried 12a and below including 5 12a's onsights, but failed on 3 different 12b onsight attempts. My closest was Happiness in Slavery where I was staring down the chains, and could have grabbed them with my teeth, but I was too pumped to hold on and screamed like a girl as I took the whipper. I did manage a 12c/d (more like a c) 2nd go, but got shut down on a 12d, the harder routes there definitely require a lot of work.

There are so many stories to tell about lightning storms, spiders down clothes, dubious climbing ethics, you'll just have to ask me in person, but for now I'll just leave you with these photos and videos. I'll definitely be back next summer, I want to go for a month, get on more hard climbs, and bring a big Oly crew with me. So Olympia climbers, put it in your calenders. This is THE perfect pocket pulling paradise for mid 5.10 to mid 5.13 climbers.

Just some of the rock in Ten Sleep Canyon, those cliffs are about 200ft tall.

On my first day I managed an onsight of this beautiful 12a on Slavery Wall.

Laura flashing B-1 Bomber Dude (11a) on our first day there.

The small holds and plentiful clip suit Laura's style.

Laura flashing the awesome steep 10d School's Out

The town of Ten Sleep, population 300 or so.

Chas and Laura enjoying Dirty Sally's Ice Creams, Laura's holding mine as well as hers.

A common sight driving through Wyoming. This is America!

Just up the road from Ten Sleep at 9500 ft elevation

Don't expect the local auto shops to have open open slots. Here Chas supervises as I rotate his tyres.

This is what I call a mono. You had to yard off this thing to get off the ground on a 10d.

Chas enjoying the view.

Laura flashing Save the Best for Last (11c). This is not a slab as it appears, but a steep wall.

Laura flashing an 11b/c on the Circus Wall, a great little wall.

Me trying to onsight a 12b, it felt a lot steeper than it looks.

Chas heading up Killer Karma a stout 11d roof climb.

Laura onsighting Vitamin K (11c).

This photo doesn't do it justice, but this climb Great White Buffalo 11b is amazing!

Laura flashing Circus in the Wind (11b), I took the video because I thought she was going to take a fall on the pumpy top, but I was sorely disapointed.

Me redpointing Napalm Death (12c). I don't normally wear a helmet, but I was a little worried about the swing if I fell, luckily I didn't.

Hitting my Stride

2010-08-01T17:43:00.000-07:00

I sent my summer project yesterday, Gerbil Killer 13a. Its my 3rd year running climbing a 5.13, and I feel like I really deserve this one. Over the past few weeks I've been getting in good shape by climbing regularly at Little Si, and it paid off yesterday when I practically floated up Gerbil Killer. Well not exactly... on my first redpoint attempt yesterday (of about 5 or 6 total) I felt really good. I climbed the intro moves smart and conserved energy, I managed to shake out well on the rests, so that when I got to the crux I felt as fresh as if I had just stepped off the ground. Unfortunately I guess a had first go nerves, and while I was focusing on getting my right hand just right, my left hand popped off and I was sent flying. I was frustrated, but I could take comfort knowing how good I felt on it. I rested for a good hour before getting on it again. This time I felt pumped going into the crux, but it was a controllable pump. I love that feeling when you know you can do it, but you know you have to fight for it and everything has to go just right. It did, I got got my feet up on the little spikes, reached out for the crux crimp, latched it, set myself up for the big thow, and hit the victory jug perfectly.

Shoes that climb 5.13

Working the projects on WWI

It was a busy day at the crag, and lots of projects went down yesterday. Most impressive for me was seeing Jimmy climb Flatliner, 13c. Everyone at the crag was surprised when he clipped the chains, including him I think. Laura also managed an impressive redpoint of the really thin and technical 11b on the far left end of WWI, her third 11b of the year. It was a good mini-project for her, she went from not being able to do the moves, to going bolt to bolt, then one hanging it, and sending it in the space of a couple of hours. We are both climbing very well right now, which is perfect timing because on Wednesday we are heading out to Ten Sleep, Wyoming with our friend Chas for a week and a half of limestone sport climbing. I can't wait!

Summer Days

2010-07-28T14:43:00.000-07:00

I've been enjoying the summer here in Olympia recently, and with my new car, its been a lot easier getting out on day trips. We've been down to the quarry every Wednesday, and I have revisited some lines I haven't done in a while now that the far left routes are drying out. Jimmy is bolting his first route, which will most likely be a stout 12d, I'm not even close to doing the moves on that one. But there are a couple of other lines at more amenable grades that I've been working on, and would love to bolt one before the season is over.

Jimmy placing his first bolt on his project at the quarry

My new car!

We can rely on Little Si to stay cool in the shade, so we've been getting up there a lot recently. On Monday I headed up with Jimmy, Nick, Micah and Antonio. Antonio is a visiting climber from Mexico who I met at the gym, I've taken him out to the local crags and he's done well, on Monday he onsighted Aborigine at Little Si. I had a pretty good day up there too. I warmed up on Technorigine, which didn't feel that hard, then did Viagrophobia (12d) a mini-project first go of the day, and finished up the session with a 12a and a 12b, to climb 5.12a-12d in a day, I feat I hadn't done before. I'm feeling in pretty good route shape right now, but Jimmy is really tearing it up. A couple weeks ago he hadn't climbed 5.13, now he's done three of them including a 13b. He's overtaken me as the #1 route climber in Olympia, according to 8a.nu rankings, and he deserves it. I could see him bagging some more 5.13's before the route season gives way to bouldering again. Nick has maintained his good route form and sent a 12c on Monday, he has one more week in Olympia before he heads back out east, so hopefully we'll climb a few more times with him, and he'll send his project. The weather for the next couple of weeks looks like it will be more of the same, so I hope to keep getting up to Little Si and work on some new projects, and maybe get out on a longer trip next week.

Jimmy working Chronic (13b) at Little Si before the send

The familiar walk back from Little Si at dusk

4th of July Weekend

2010-07-08T13:37:00.000-07:00

Welcome to my new look blog, I thought I'd brighten it up a bit. The banner photo is courtesy of Micah of a 12c that I flashed this weekend, thats right flash! I had a great 4th of July weekend, at one of my favorite places in the state, Tieton. On Saturday after a late-ish start and getting a bit lost, Micah, Laura, Jimmy and I eventually made it out to the sector called The Oasis. There was a 12a I wanted to get on there, after a quick warmup (Laura onsighted a 10d) I got on it, it was a battle fighting the pump and the greasy crimps in the full sun. But in the end I fell off at the last hard move on the onsight attempt. Micah fell on the same move, then with our beta, Jimmy stepped up and flashed it. We also checked out Dream Wall for the first time, I was a bit dissapointed, it wasn't quite up to Lava Point quality, but still had fun routes nonetheless. That night we stayed up late and had a blazing fire, check out the pile of wood we gathered.

The following morning we headed straight to The Cave area, where we climbed in the shade at Oak Wall. I did a few routes I hadn't done before. After onsighting a 12a Jimmy abbed down a 12c there ticked some holds put the draws on flashed it like it was no big deal! It was very impressive, I was psyched to get on it too and with his streaming beta, I managed the flash as well. It was a really fun route, 5 clips up an overhanging wall/arete, on small and sloping holds, I'd highly recommend it. We finished off the day with some really good routes further left. I'm impressed with how well Jimmy is route climbing right now, I need to step it up, otherwise he will take my #1 spot in Olympia. I put our 8a.nu rankings back up on my blog to try to generate some more competition. I'll update it frequently, I can see it changing a lot, especially with Nick coming to town soon and Andrew hot on the heels of Laura for the #5 spot. Below are a couple of shots of Micah working the 12c.

Back on the rock

2010-06-28T17:02:00.000-07:00

Its been a while since I last wrote a blog simply because I haven't been out much lately. In fact I think I had four weeks without any climbing outside, which is unheard of for me this time of year. There's a few reasons, the main one being the weather has been pretty atrocious here for the start of summer, we don't have a car so have to rely on others for rides, I was really busy with school at the start of June and since then the world cup has taken priority over some climbing days. Enough excuses, I hope to be getting out a lot more this summer.

I went climbing at the quarry for only the second time this year on wednesday, it wasn't completely dry, but it was getting there. It was good to get the feel for the routes there again, Laura redpointed The Manly Wham for the first time, I wonder what else she can send down there this summer. Then on friday I climbed up at Little Si with Jimmy, Lisa, Laura ,Andrew and Micah. It was a good day out, mostly dry. I realized I need to improve a lot on my stamina, I couldn't even repeat Technorigine, but I did manage to figure out how to do the crux on Chronic, I'm still a long way off that though. Andrew has been climbing really well recently and sent Aborigine on his second go, Laura should have sent too, but she took on the last moves, the redpoint crux.

Then on Sunday I got out to Exit 38 with Laura, Sierra, Melody, Justin, Sara, Sarah and Erica. It was a really good day out. We hung out at Interstate Park which everyone seemed to like, I finished up a few routes I hadn't done there before, including a couple of new ones that aren't in the guide. I did a really steep burly climb that was a lot of fun, I reckon it was 11+ish, but its hard to say. Laura did well, cleaning up a 10c that she had tried previously, and climbing her first onsight of an 11a! Justin and Sierra also got flashes of the 11a, so it was a good day all around. We finished off the day stopping off at the Harmon Brewery in Tacoma for some delicious microbrews and all you can eat fish and chips mmm.

I plan on getting a car soon which will make trips a lot easier and now that it seems like the summer has finally arrived it should mean a lot more climbing, especially as the world cup winds down. So, hopefully it wont be as long a wait til my next blog entry.

Procrastinating at Leavenworth

2010-05-25T16:09:00.000-07:00

I probably should have stayed home and done school work this weekend, but its hard to say no to a ride out to Leavenworth. We headed out Friday night and barely managed to get a spot at the free camping spot, it was packed. On Saturday we met up with Jeremy and Derik, and later Lisa as well which made for a good group sending psyche. Laura sent another V4, The Real Thing a long term project of her's that she made look pretty easy this time, and also a great tall V3 Arrested Development. The highlight of my trip was sending The Cattleguard Arete only my third V8 at Leavenworth to date. To be honest it didn't feel that hard, but then again it repelled the efforts of Jeremy, Derik and Lisa and they're no slouches. I think it just fit my style/size well. Saturday night we met up with Whitey at the campsite, and we played a game of whiffle (sp?) ball with some other climbers, we totally kicked ass. On Sunday my skin and energy was low, but I did manage to squeeze out a redpoint of The Physical a tough V4 that I had tried previously, it was nice to put that one to rest. Right now its time to hit the books, I don't think I'll be getting out again for a couple of weeks until school gets out for summer. Derik sticks the crux match but can't finish off the Cattleguard Arete V8

Whitey on Fedge a cool V2 highball slab

Micah reaches precariously near the top of Bad Moon Rising perhaps the best slab problem I've climbed

The Slow Loris Strikes Again

2010-05-16T19:32:00.000-07:00

The awesome threesome did it again for a Saturday Little Si/Exit 38 combo. It was a beautiful day and not surprisingly the parking lots were overflowing, at Little Si so we were forced to park illegally (and get a ticket). It was the busiest I had ever seen it, but I guess they were all hikers because miraculously when we got to World Wall I we had the place to ourselves. Laura riding her new wave of confidence got a clean toprope of Psycho-Wussy then got on the sharp end and fired it off with no problem. This is a pretty big deal considering she's been trying it since 2007, its only her third ever 11b, and probably her hardest route to date, but the ease with which she climbed it makes me think its just a stepping stone to harder things at World Wall I. She made good progress on Rainy Day Women as well, one-hanging it on toprope, so you never know. I suddenly feel like a slacker. At Exit 38 we checked out the Neverland area, which I hadn't been to before, it was worthwhile and we did a handful of 5.10's. I think doing both little Si and 38 in a day is a good way to keep it interesting and get a lot of stuff done. Here's some portraits I snapped of the awesome threesome.

Laura the Slow Loris
Micah the Orangutan

Dom the Koala

Season Opener at The Quarry

2010-05-13T17:54:00.000-07:00

Last night was the first Wednesday climbing night of the year at The Quarry. The Tenino Quarry is Olympia's local climbing spot just 25 minutes drive from downtown. It's on private property, but luckily for us it is owned by a local climber Off White. He built his house right next to it, so he literally has a sport crag a stone's throw from his doorstep. Once you sign a waiver you're welcome to climb there if you call ahead, and every Wednesday evening a group of climbers from Olympia go down for some after work climbing. This is the 5th summer Laura and I have been climbing there, back when we started it was just the regulars; us, off, duke, ed, doug, and jimmy. But recently word has been getting out and more Olympia climbers are discovering it. I've done all the routes there, there's around 30 between 5.9 and 12c. I think I was the first to tick the crag about a week before jimmy last summer, but its still great to get out there regularly for training. Last night there were 12 of us out there climbing, it was a lovely evening, warm but not too sunny with good friction on the rock. There were a couple of new additions to the quarry, Off upgraded all the chains on the right side so they now have fixed biners to lower off from, which is really nice. And Off installed a little art piece up on the cliff, it adds a nice touch. I got in 7 pitches last night which takes my tally to over 100 in 2010 so far which is pretty good going. Laura continued her run of good form, with her second ever lead of the intimidating Hercules (10b) and finally figured out beta that worked for her on the top (V2?) crux of The Governor (10c) for her first lead of that, as well as toproping The Manly Wham and Confucius (11a and 11b) clean. Its just a matter of time before they go as well. There was a good vibe out there last night, I think this summer out at The Quarry will be a good one.
Here are a couple of photos from last night, they are not the best.

Off showing Kina the beta on The Manly Wham

Sierra and Chris at the top of their routes, with Off's new Lizard sculpture between them.

adVantage Laura

2010-05-12T13:26:00.000-07:00

We got out over the weekend again, this time to Vantage to do some sport climbing. It was Laura’s birthday on Saturday so after climbing all day we celebrated with some beers and cupcakes that Sierra made. Melody, Micah Laura and I climbed on Saturday and we were met out there on Saturday night by Sierra and Ian, and Justin and Sara, and we all climbed together on Sunday. The weather was pretty good for the most part. Saturday was a little overcast, which was nice for us because it kept the temps down, otherwise it would have been very hot, it rained for about 10 minutes in the evening. But we were done climbing by that point anyway. Sunday was a beautiful sunny day, and it got hot towards the afternoon, everyone was applying the sun screen pretty liberally. We climbed on the lower tier of Sunshine wall, which has a ton of excellent short sport routes. I have a slight ache in my left shoulder and wrist, I think its from pushing myself too hard bouldering indoors, so I tried to avoid climbs that would hurt it, but I still managed to get about 20 new routes done total, including a handful of 5.11’s. Laura was climbing awesome, she onsighted a bunch of 10's and flashed another 11a with ease. She is in the form of her life, and the way she was climbing at the gym last night as well makes me think we’ll see some harder 11’s from her this year. Everyone else had a blast, for most of them it was their first time at Vantage, and they certainly got a good first impression. I really want to go back soon and get on more routes I was scoping out, but its only going to get hotter there, so it might have to wait until the fall. Here are some photos that give a better picture of the weekend. They are all mine apart from the last one, which I stole from Sierra.
Horses in the valley below made us feel like we'd stepped back in time to the wild west

Micah checks out more routes at Millenium Wall with The Hen House in the background

Laura and Melody walk out on Saturday afternoon with rain clouds threatening in the background

Sunday morning breakfast at the campsite getting ready for a busy day of climbing

Sara looking relaxed on a 5.9 toprope
Ian belaying Justin on the start of a fun 10a

The whole crew flexing our muscles on the way out at the end of a great weekend!

Weekend Warriors

2010-05-03T19:59:00.000-07:00

I didn't think I'd be getting out climbing this much while at school, but its amazing how much work I can get done during the week if it means getting out climbing on the weekends. Micah and Laura picked me up straight after my last class at noon on Friday and we headed out to get our climb on. We headed up Little Si despite a downpour and got on the two climbs that were dry. I got on Chronic, I'm pretty sure I did more pulling on draws than pulling on holds, but it was good to check out the upper part. There's no doubt that this is a great climb, but it seems way above my level for now, theres still sections I don't know how to do. It could be a good summer project though. Despite the rain it was still pretty fun hanging out at World Wall I and having the place to ourselves.

I think this was the only draw I clipped without grabbing it on Chronic (13b)

From there we headed to Laura's Dad's cabin, on Lake Cle Ellum for a night of wine steak and ping-pong, it was awesome. In the morning we headed to Leavenworth, we had a good time bouldering there the previous week so decided to go back for more. I did a lot of easy things, mostly repeats, but did a few new things like The Rib, a great V4 at the Carnival Boulders and projected some harder things, Scrambled Eggs (V8) and Joe's Crimper (V7), a little more core and they should go. Laura was the star of the weekend though, with impressive sends of The Pocket (V4) and a couple of V3's for a very productive day. I said a few weeks ago that I didn't think I'd get out on more overnight trips until the summer, but it looks like I was wrong. This weekend I think Vantage is on the cards.

Me on The Rib, contender for best V4 at Leavenworth

I forgot my camera again, so all photos are courtesy of Micah. Check out his blog for more excellent photos.

Leavenworth Routes

2010-04-25T19:14:00.000-07:00

You read right, we went to Leavenworth and climbed routes instead of bouldering for the first time. The brand new Leavenworth route guide just came out which is really good, so the awesome threesome (Me, Laura, and Micah) headed out there and packed the ropes and rack this time. I forgot my camera so I just stole this one off of Micah’s blog.

We did stop off for a quick session at the Fridge Boulder as well, perhaps the best single boulder in Leavenworth? I took care of some unfinished business with quick ascents of the Fridge Center and Right (both V4), problems that had eluded me in the past. The Leavenworth routes took a little getting used to, even leading 5.9 sport routes required a lot more focus than I’d normally expect. I did a few trad routes but nothing harder than 5.8+ (probably around HVS in old money). There were some really nice lines, but a lot of them seemed very samey, slabbly cracks with friction for feet. Not that they weren’t enjoyable, but I think they might get old after a while. Placing gear was great fun I had a few nervy moments, but thinking about it now a day later I really enjoyed the added pressure and heightened awareness of those routes. Locking off on one hand while you try to fiddle in gear with the other, or running it out after a placing a bomber piece to the next good stance. I’m looking forward to getting back there and exploring more crags, but I’m not sure where to go since it seems there are so many options. Does anyone have any recommendations? I’m looking for vertical non-friction climbs with good gear, thin cracks (up to one inch) on good quality rock and footbolds are preferable. Is that too much to ask?

Weekend in San Francisco

2010-04-21T10:32:00.000-07:00

Laura and I had a great relaxing weekend down in San Francisco visiting her sister Erin, and Ben. We packed a lot in to a little amount of time. The highlights for me were visiting the California Academy of Sciences, which was really interesting, I could have spent a lot more time there. Playing squash was a lot of fun, Laura and I are complete beginners but it was still fun playing against each other, if there were courts in Olympia I would definitely consider taking it up. We played board games accompanied by some delicious home made food, including spring rolls, and home made guiness-chocolate ice cream. Here is a photo of the four of us at the California Academy of Sciences.

Thanks Erin and Ben for showing us around, its always a lot of fun whenever we visit. For now its back to the books, I've got to get a lot of work done before another climbing trip this weekend.

Another Day Another Dozen

2010-04-12T09:04:00.000-07:00

I thought I wasn't going to get out climbing this weekend, then Josh and Chris came to the rescue and offered Laura and I a ride with them out to Vantage. The forecast was for mid-50s and cloudy, but like I say the sun always shines on Vantage, it ended up being really hot. Chris and Josh headed straight for Sunshine Wall to get their trad on. But Laura and I took the long way around to climb first at Riverview Park. I'd climbed here back in 2006 with Doug, but never made it back, maybe because I remembered something about a sketchy approach, but the way we went was fine. At Riverview Park and the areas nearby Millennium Wall, Corn Wall etc. there are probably a hundred sport routes, mostly 5.10 and 5.11, and from what we sampled yesterday, very high quality. I ended up leading 12 new (for me) routes 5.8-11b, Laura led 11 including a 10c onsight and a 10d and 11a flash! We had a blast, among my favorite routes of the day were Heel Higher Crescent (10a), Human Corn (10a) and Crescendo... (10d). Once our forearms couldn't take any more we packed up and headed up to Sunshine Wall where Chris was finishing up his last route, a 5.8 trad route, his hardest to date. It was great exploring a different part of Vantage, and riding out there with Chris and Josh, I definitely want to come back this year. I didn't take many photos of Laura and I climbing since it was mostly just the two of us, but here are a few quick snapshots.

Taking a break in the middle of the day at the base of Millennium Wall

Laura resurrects her really small old five ten climbing shoes, look at the pain on her face

Chris finishes up the day with an ascent of Party in Your Pants (5.8 trad)

48 routes later

2010-03-27T11:25:00.001-07:00

What a good Spring Break, 8 days out east climbing and camping with friends was just what I needed after a busy quarter at school. We climbed a lot of routes (I managed 48 new routes clean on lead, hence the title) and had a lot of laughing and joking around the campfire. In the end we visited four different crags; Deep Creek near Spokane, Post Falls just over the border in Idaho, and Banks Lake near the Coulee Dam and Goose Lake near Moses Lake in Central Washington. We sport climbed at all of the crags but they each had a very different feel to them.

Micah on a warm-up at Deep Creek, check out the sandy landing!

Laura, Micah and I drove out Spokane and headed straight to the camping in Riverside State Park near Deep Creek, it was only a 4 and half hour drive (hmm weekend tripable?). I had heard a lot of good things about Deep Creek, but even so I was blown away by the atmosphere and climbing there, especially at the Main Wall. Gently overhung routes up to 80 feet tall, but they feel even longer because they are so sustained with very little rests. The holds are generally pretty good, but there are so many of them its often hard to know what sequence to use which makes onsighting difficult. We spent two full days climbing there which was enough to give us a good taste of the area, but there's still so much more I want to get on there. Micah onsighted some 11s, Laura couldn't have been closer to redpointing a hard 11a, but just couldn't clip the chains, and I managed to onsight or flash everything I tried including a 12a which was a real fight. I would love to come back to this crag sometime, I really like this style of climbing.

Micah about a third of the way up The Lizard, an amazing 11a.
Micah showing Laura the beta on a short 11a on the Mushroom Boulder (how come all my photos are of Micah?)

On Sunday we packed up camp and headed west to Banks Lake, it was a beautiful drive through a part of the state I had never seen before. Coincidentally we drove through the town of Rearden, WA which is the setting for a book I just read for my class over the weekend The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, I'd definitely recommend it. Anyway, we arrived at the campsite at the same time as Melody, Erica, Sarah and Megan our friends from Olympia and got out climbing straight away. We started out at Highway rock, which had something for everyone, the 5.8's were really good, Micah swears the 11c he did there was the best route of his life (it was pretty good), and I did a 12a second go. But I almost got blown off the top when a freak storm hit and chased us away to a bar, it didn't last long though we were having a campfire a few hours later, and that was the only rain we were to see the whole trip.

The crew on a few routes at Highway Rock, Banks Lake about an hour before a storm hit.

The next couple of days we climbed at Golf Course Rock and Northrup Canyon. The routes were really good, but the setting was incredible, and amazingly we had the whole place to ourselves, we didn't see any other climbers the whole time at Banks Lake. For the most part we stuck to easier climbs, which were a lot of fun, if not a little grainy. But Micah and I both managed a fun 12c as well, Baptism by Whipper. It climbs a well bolted overhung wall with good in-cut holds and a few big reaches. It was a really fun route, but to be honest its probably the easiest 12c I've ever done, but there has to be one right?

Megan on a fun 5.7 arete at Golf Course Rock

Micah headed up the long and exposed route Dr. Ceuse

Erica about halfway up an awesome looking 10b, that I didn't get around to trying in Northrup Canyon, Banks Lake

Once we got sick of Banks Lake we headed back east to climb at Post Falls, which is just over the border from Spokane in Idaho. I didn't really have much expectations, but this crag really impressed me, I just wish it were closer to Olympia. The rock is a much more fine grained granite that sometime seems a lot like the rock at North Bend. The routes are never too long about 40-60 feet, but always really good quality. Its the type of crag where you don't want to stop, you just want to climb route after route, and thats exactly what we did. I got in 13 routes that day, which is a personal best for me I'm pretty sure. Everyone loved this crag, especially Laura who managed 8 leads, all flash or onsight up to 10d. We would have loved to climb at this crag again, but the forecast didn't look good, so we headed back west again, this time to check out a new crag, Goose Lake.

Micah on a fun 10b at Post Falls with a steep crux

Laura flashing a really good 10c at Post falls
Me warming up on a steep 10b (that felt more like 11a) at Post Falls

Goose lake is a new bolted moderate sport crag similar in style to the Feathers at Vantage. Most of the climbing is up basalt pillars, but unfortunately since the crag is so new and doesn't get much traffic there is still quite a lot of loose rock, which made it hard to enjoy the routes. Nevertheless we did manage to get up quite a few routes here. We were thinking about camping at nearby Vantage and getting one more day of climbing in, but by this point we were all pretty worn out, so decided to head home, but not before stopping for dinner at the North Bend Bar and Grill for one last celebration dinner. All in all it was a really good way to spend my spring break, I can't wait for my next big climbing trip, and I wouldn't be surprised if I made it out to some of these crags again this year.

Micah doing his best not to shower rocks down on Erica at Goose Lake
Micah on a 10d at Goose Lake, probably the best route we did there

Group Shot. Starting with Micah looking disgruntled on the left and going clockwise, Micah, Me Laura, Sarah, Melody, Megan and Erica.

Looking Ahead and Looking Back

2010-03-17T13:06:00.000-07:00

I just finished up with my second quarter in the Masters in Teaching program here at Evergreen. I'm really enjoying it but it is a lot of work. Last Saturday I managed to get out climbing with Dave and Lisa, and her son Sky to Vantage. It was too nice a day not to be outside climbing, I managed to get in 7 routes out in the sun. It was a really mellow day which is just what I wanted. Vantage is a really fun place to climb, and there is still so much there that I've yet to do. Here are a few photos from last week.

A busy day at The Feathers

Dave clipping the chains on a 5.9

Dave belaying Lisa up a really fun 5.5 chimney

Now that I'm done with the quarter I can start thinking about our spring break trip more. We leave tomorrow to Spokane. We're going on a 10ish day tour of some of the best crags of Eastern Washington, from Banks Lake to Metaline Falls up north to Post Fall, just over the border in Idaho, and a couple other places in between. I've looked through the guide and made a ticklist of all the classics that I want to get on. I'm not sure what my expectations should be. I've been climbing a lot of routes in the gym, so hopefully I'll have decent stamina. But my overall fitness feels pretty poor since for the last few months I've done a whole lot of nothing in terms of other physical activity. I'm going to get on some 12+ routes and try to onsight some 12- routes, maybe I'll get lucky but maybe I wont. There will be a big group of us out there so I'm sure we'll have a great time. I think what I'm looking forward to the most is hanging around the campfire under the stars with a good group of friends.

Climbing outside again!

2010-02-21T12:58:00.000-08:00

I got outside climbing yesterday for the first time since November. The weather in Olympia has been beautiful for the past few days and Little Si was no different. It was sunny and the temps got up to the mid 50s, we were climbing in t-shirts, Micah even went shirtless. It felt really good being back on rock and getting some long routes done. We managed to warm up on Rainy Day Women, I was pleased that I didn't get too pumped, but my movement and footwork was very rusty. It was pretty busy at the crag, so we decided to hop on Graven Image, instead of queuing for one of the more popular climbs. There's a reason Graven Image doesn't get climbed much, cause its a big choss pile and not very fun to climb, but it is 12c and I hadn't done it before so we got on it and tried to climb it without knocking too many holds off. Micah had done this climb last year, so he worked on linking the start of Jealous God (12a) into Graven Image. After a couple of go's figuring out the crux he managed to send it, followed by me sending Graven Image. It was a good confidence booster knowing we could still send 12c pretty quick. I just wished we had called it a day then. We finished up with some of the worst displays of climbing we had ever done on Psycho-Wussy and Aborigine, I don't know why we struggled so much on them, but it felt like we were climbing them for the first time, except I think the first time I did them I found it easier. Hopefully the weather will stay good, and we will make it outside more and get more comfortable on the rock, but regardless of our performance it was still a great day out climbing.

New Year, New Goals

2010-02-03T10:06:00.000-08:00

I've putting off writing a blog post about my goals for the year, partly because I haven't had the time, but mostly because I'm not sure about what to say.

2009 was a great climbing year for me, although I didn't break any new personal barriers I still maintained a high level of in both sport and bouldering and got a lot of volume in. I didn't boulder much throughout the year, but I started and finished the year strongly. In March I managed to finish off Busted (V8) a long term project of mine at Leavenworth, as well as doing a few 6's and 7's. But I didn't boulder again much until November when I took a trip down to Bishop and to my surprise was still able to get up a V7 and a few V6's. Most of the year was spent sport climbing. I got out to a few crags in Washington that I hadn't visited before, such as, Fossil, Index, Ozone, as well as the usual spots namely Little Si and Exit 38 and longer trips to Smith and Squamish. Highlights for me were Crawling from the Wreckage a sweet 5.13a, a couple of 12d's at Little Si, as well as a 12b onsight at Ozone. And an 11a trad onsight and a 23 pitch climb up at Squamish which was my longest to date. According to my scorecard I climbed 207 new routes in 09 from 5.5-5.13a, which doesn't beat my 2008 tally when I went to Europe, but I think that's pretty good for just sticking around the northwest.

For the past couple of years my goal has been to redpoint an 8a route, but it hasn't happened yet. So maybe if I don't make that my goal this year it'll happen? Who knows, but to be honest I'd be happy if I achieved the same level as I did in 09. I hope to get out to more new crags throughout the state and beyond. We are already planning our spring break trip which should be good wherever we go. My masters program has taken a lot of my time away from climbing, which is ok now that its terrible weather out, but I'm sure it'll be a lot more difficult when its sunny outside and I'm stuck inside working on a paper. How much I get out this year and how hard I climb really depends on what I end up doing over the summer. If I get a job that takes up a lot of time, it'll be hard to keep up my level of climbing. But if I just climb over the summer I'll be able to really push myself and check out other crags. So its really too early to tell. But I'm sure whatever happens it'll still be a great year.

Colombia Video

2010-01-17T13:26:00.000-08:00

I was looking through my Colombia photos and couldn't help but laugh when I watched this video clip. Its a little video I took of me, my brother, my sister and my little cousin Nicholas playing about in the pool in Colombia. One of those priceless moments where I was glad I had my camera out!

Christmas in Colombia

2010-01-09T17:40:00.000-08:00

Happy 2010 everyone! I'm back in Olympia after spending 2 weeks on a family holiday in Colombia. I would have written a blog earlier or while I was there, but my USB cable for my camera along with a few other things were stolen from our house there. It was a minor setback on what was otherwise a very fun trip. My parents and my sister are there for 3 months and my brother and I flew down from opposite ends of the US so we could all spend Christmas together. It was the first time we've all been together in Colombia, and I think the longest in almost 20 years, since my brother left Scotland, that we've all been together. Here are some photos with captions that will give you an idea of what I got up to down there.

Me walking back from the new swimming pool that was built 5 minutes up the road. It was in the 90's (35 Celsius) everyday, so it was nice to jump in the pool or go to the beach to cool down.

On one of the first days there we met all the kids in the village during their Christmas party, my mum volunteers at the school teaching English, she's behind all the kids.
Me at Taganga beach, its a smaller beach just north of town where my dad and I went diving. For some reason all the American and European tourists come here, but you wont see them anywhere else.
Me and my brother would go up to the village at nights and play pool. We played this weird form of billiards where you use the 3 ball as the cue ball, and the balls were set up along the cushion on the outside of the table. Rickie would always beat me.

Troucou-Trou the dog was still hanging around the house, despite no one living there for months. He looked pretty skinny and scabby, but after a couple of weeks of eating our leftovers he's looking a lot healthier.

Here a photo of me with my brother and sister and my cousins who I met for the first time. Gloria in the middle is my oldest cousin, she is the oldest of 12 in her family. And my cousins Pao and Kike who are my age, and my mum in the background.

Although I didn't climb the whole time I still got plenty of exercise, here I'm playing in a tree with Nicholas, my cousin Gloria's grandson, he's 4.

Nicholas and I would play in the river, but there had been a 4 month drought so the river was way lower than it was last year. It finally rained about a week into my stay there.
My brother and sister and I on Christmas Eve, here they celebrate it on the night of the 24th.
There wasn't much Christmas decorations compared to in the states, but I saw this Santa Claus near the mall.
One of our neighbors is rearing pigs, they are the cutest. Don't get fooled by my clothing its still really hot, I just had to wear jeans cause in the movie theatre where we were heading they blast the air conditioning.
Rickie, Nicholas and I at Rodadero beach, a very popular beach.

The old folks relaxing in the shade at the beach.

An underwater photo of Rickie Luisa and Me.

We tried to take a photo of everyone on a timer, but Troucou wouldn't stay still. In this photo is another new cousin of mine Nelson in orange and my uncle Moises next to him.

A nice family photo. Thanks Mum, Dad, Luisa, and Rickie for such a great Christmas!

Bishop Videos

2009-11-30T11:52:00.000-08:00

Here's a few videos that I took on my little camera, they're not the best quality but they give you a flavor of some of the problems we tried.

Me on Seven Spanish Angels a V6 that I did on my first day. Its a really cool problem climbing up an overhanging wall on slopers and crimps with a dyno or jump to a huge jug on the lip.

Micah getting really close on Cayla (V7) at the Druid Stones. This problem was absolutely beautiful, he makes the moves look a lot easier than they actually are.

Some guy on Checkerboard (V8), we tried it but kept falling off at the same point, its really crimpy.

Some other guy on Solitaire (V8) a two move power problem, Micah also got pretty close on this one.

George repeating Rene (V5) a cool thin overhanging wall on small sharp pockets. I got lucky on this one and managed to flash it.

Callum sending The Beekeeper (hard V6), a really long and high climb, he topped it out but he spent about 3 minutes on the top part so I didn't film it all. Micah got a good video of it too.

Beer can crushing (V8?), harder than it looks. I didn't manage the flash.

Giving Thanks for Bishop

2009-11-30T10:49:00.000-08:00

Well the Bishop trip was a success, Micah and I made it back safely to Olympia on Saturday after seven awesome days of climbing. It was really fun to hang out with the Brits George, Dave and Ben again. We joked around the whole week, they said they saw a different side of me with Laura absent, maybe they were referring to my flatulence issues (note to self, cans of corned beef and raisins doesn’t make a balanced diet), but we certainly had some good guy time.
We made it to Bishop!

The trip almost started with disaster after Micah and I almost spun off the road driving over the snowy mountain passes in Oregon, we arrived a bit later than we hoped on Saturday afternoon and the rampage began. George showed us the beta on the V6 classic Seven Spanish Angels and we promptly crushed. Micah should have flashed it, but wimped out on the committing last move and had to settle for a 2nd go send, and I sent it soon afterwards. I also managed a quick send of the Cave Route a burly V6. That afternoon we met another Brit out there Alan, a small guy of 49 who had just arrived from Yosemite where he had been onsighting 5.13 trad! It was awesome to climb with him, he had a great attitude and is one of the most technical climbers I have ever witnessed. He would find different beta on every boulder problem we tried, it usually involved a heel hook behind his ear or some other contortion.

The giant boulders at the Buttermilks

On Sunday we got on a few harder things like Checkerboard and Solitaire, I didn’t push myself too hard on things that I didn’t think I could do quickly since I knew I’d have to save my skin for the rest of the week. We cut the day short and headed into town where the guys found a church that was serving free thanksgiving dinner, and we were more than happy to take advantage of their generosity.
The jumbled Happy Boulders

The next day we headed to the Happy Boulders to get on a few things we had our eye on. We did a team ascent of The Clapper, a V6 George said was really easy, it may be easy if your 6ft+ but Micah and I had to work it for a while before we topped out. Next up was Rene, a highball V5, I managed to flash it which was lucky cause the holds were razor sharp pockets that would rip your skin with repeated attempts, Allan and the rest of them thought it was pretty hard for V5, but like I told them its hard to tell how difficult the problems are when you flash everything. My other projects in the Happy's such as Rave and The Hulk didn't feel doable though, but Micah finished off Acid Wash Right for his first Bishop V7! We celebrated that night with half price dinner at Whiskey Creek.

Dave topping out The Clapper

Tuesday we decided to check out the sport climbing in nearby Owens River Gorge. I was impressed with how large an area it is. We only visited one small part of it, but there were enough routes there to keep you busy for a long time. After a quick warm up I got on a really cool 12b called Enterprise, it climbed through a roof for a few clips on pretty good holds, then had a crux turning the lip of the roof before a tricky headwall. I came pretty close to onsighting it, but fell off at the crux, I was able to send it second go though, along with Alan although he used crazy beta and did it a completely different way to me.

Me on the start of Enterprise (12b)

Micah on a less steep route at Owens River Gorge

The next day I felt surprisingly good and was psyched to get on more boulders, we made the long hike up to the Druid Stones Area, which was tough but so worth it. The boulders at the Druid Stones are simply amazing, like the Buttermilks but more featured, and on a scenic plateau overlooking bishop. We warmed up on the Thunder Wall where I flashed a tough V3 and V4 that climbed up immaculate overhanging patina, before we moved on to the amazing Skye Dance Boulder. We all worked a V6 called Skye Dance which may be the best boulder problem I've ever tried. It starts out on an undercut boulder on slopey huecos, you get a heel up in the hueco then make a burly move out to a undercling, match it, reach up to some good crimps then bust a hard move up right to some juggy patina, and top out. We all worked it for about an hour before Micah got the first send followed by George, Me, and Allan. I really wanted this problem and was really psyched to finally get it. We played around on a few other things up there before we headed back down and got a roaring camp fire going.

The immaculate patina of Thunder Wall at the Druid Stones

On Thursday we set about getting on some of the classics at the Buttermilks that we really wanted to try. First up was Jedi Mind Tricks, a super classic highball V4. I managed to flash it, it felt pretty steady if you are good on crimps and don't worry about the height. We then tried a V7 Cindy Swank on the Honey Boulder. I got on it and realized it could be doable. It starts standing with a couple of powerful moves on good incut holds on an overhang to reach a jug on the lip, to here its probably only V5, then comes the crux, you have to bone down on a small grainy crimp over the lip while highstepping to reach a bad sloper, get a high foot perched on the jug, then snatch high up right to hit a victory jug. It took me a few goes to figure out the beta, but once I got to the last move I fully committed and latch the jug! It was awesome to do a V7 relatively fast, it definitely suited my style. Micah sent as well a few goes later.
Dave trying The Beekeper at The Buttermilks

Later that day we headed to the High Plains Drifter, we knew it was our last day at the Buttermilks so we sacrificed our remaining skin. We didn't manage to send it but Micah couldn't have been closer, he fell off the last hard move after fondling the finish jug. We also did a really fun V1 to finish off the day called A Birthing Experience, its a trick problem that starts lying down in a giant hueco and you have to use a shoulder jam to reach a jug. Once the sun went down we headed back to town where we treated ourselves to a motel and a lot of beers.
Me on my highpoint of High Plains Drifter

George showing us how its done on A Birthing Experience

Friday morning we were all feeling a bit worse for ware, but we wanted to get a bit more climbing in before we headed back up the road. We headed up to the Rock Creek area, which is a small area with fine-grain granite blocks at about 8,600ft. It was pretty chilly up there and our skin was absolutely trashed at this point so everything felt hard, but I did manage to get up a V2 and V3, they felt really hard though. Before we left we made some additions to their van (see photo below) and said our goodbye's. George and Dave are headed down to Baja California for some R&R in the sun, then who knows where next. I'm kinda jealous, although I think one week with them was about all I could handle. Now I'm back home catching up with all my schoolwork, I think its going to be a long winter before I'll get back climbing outside again, but at least I'll have the memories of Bishop to hang on to.

The Crew

The Van

Countdown to Bishop

2009-11-20T09:48:00.000-08:00

There's only 3 hours of class standing between me and the road down to Bishop. Micah is picking me up from Evergreen at 4pm today. Right now I'm trying to think of all the things I might have forgotten, but I think it might be to late for that. I'm really psyched for this trip, but part of me is going to miss my classes, sad I know.

I haven't been preparing at all for this trip. The last month I've spent far too much time sitting on my ass studying and drinking beer (not at the same time usually). I've only been going to the gym once a week, and havn't climbed outdoors since Smith. I feel really out of shape, and have probably put on 10 pounds since my peak in late summer. So basicly what I'm saying is I'm praying for a miracle to be able to climb anything hard in Bishop.

Nevertheless I'm going to try hard, and maybe with a bit of luck I'll get up a few things. Two years ago when I was there I climbed a V7 and flashed two V6's, I'd love to repeat that performance. I really want to climb 5 problems V6 or harder since my top ten bouldering score on 8a.nu is pretty weak. I have 5 hard problems on it that I did in Spring of this year at Leavenworth and Castle Rock. But since then I haven't really bouldered at all.

Here's my ticklist:

Cave Route

Shelter from the Storm

Pope's Prow

Saigon

The Hulk

Seven Spanish Angels

Fly Boy

High Plains Drifter

Rave

Disco Diva

Gleaming the Cube

Fly Boy Sit Start

I have some reason for optimism, George who's been down there for a few weeks now, texted me saying he's done Cave Route, a V6 on my tick list, and says its piss and I should flash it. That sounds good, but then again George is climbing strong right now. Micah has a pretty ambitious tick list, he's been training a lot more than me, so hopefully that'll translate to some hards boulder problems down there for him. I also want to check out some other places like the Druid Stones, so maybe I'll find some stuff worth projecting there. And I'm also quite keen to get on some routes at Owen's River Gorge, hopefully I'll get up some 5.12's. I might have the chance to update the blog while I'm there. If not expect long blog here in about a week and a half.

Oly Comp

2009-10-21T04:01:00.000-07:00

This weekend the Warehouse Rock Gym in Olympia hosted the eagerly anticipated South Sound Pull Down. This was the third year they have hosted this comp and each year it seems to get bigger and better. There was 70 competitors and more spectators making for a packed atmosphere, the energy was really high and it seemed like everyone had a great time. I had high expectations going into the comp, 2 years ago I held off some strong competition from other Olympia climbers to win, last year I was pipped by 3 strong Seattelites who came down and took the prizes and this year was a similar story. I finished 6th in the Men's Open category, behind a some strong climbers from Seattle and Portland. I kept up my record of fishing first in Olympia, but only by the narrowest of margins, Micah and I both climbed the same problems, but he took two falls and I only took one. Full results are up on Jimmy's blog. Laura climbed out of her skin to win the Women's Advanced category. As she said later that night after a couple of pints "it was my best day climbing ever", it was certainly her best comp performance ever. To put it in perspective she beat the next placed female competitor by 900 points would have finished 5th if she had entered male advanced! She was well rewarded winning a voucher for a free pair of 5.10 shoes, worth up to $140! I picked up a $20 gift certificate for a BBQ place down the street. Thanks again to Jimmy for organising the event, and the rest of the Warehouse staff for all their hard work, I'm looking forward to next years one already!

Here is a video of Micah sending a 1200 point problem, his hardest of the comp.

October Tan

2009-10-12T19:25:00.000-07:00

The Dutchess, George Ben and Dave's van/home for the next 6 months.
Me repeating the really fun route Heresey

Me leading a 5.8 in the Red Wall area wearing Laura's shoes that didn't fit my feet, its a long story.

This will have to be a short blog since I've got lots of homework I should be doing. I wasn't sure if I was going to get out climbing this weekend, then I got a call from my good friend George from the UK. He had just arrived in the San Francisco for the start of a 6 month climbing road trip with two mates a few days earlier. For reasons that I wont go into they had to drive up to Oregon in their newly aquired van so decided to stop off at Smith Rock.

Laura, Sarah and I drove down for the weekend to meet them. It was Sarah's first visit to Smith and I think she was impressed. Hanging out with George and his mates Ben and Dave was a lot of fun, being around a good British accent and British humor makes me miss home. They were looking a bit haggard from driving around and sleeping in sub-freezing temps in their van for a week, but their psyche was high for climbing. They had been there for a few days already but with only the old guide for reference they had gotten on some pretty old-school chossfests like a multi-pitch on Picnic Lunch Wall. They were glad to have some local knowledge and I pointed them at some more popular classics like Toxic, Five Easy Pieces, Crack Babies and Heresey. We got on some new things as well, Laura had her Smith lead head on and did well flashing a 10b and onsighting a 10a (these are Smith grades remember). After getting on a lot of easy stuff I decided to ger back on Latest Rage a classic 12b arete that I had tried a couple of years earlier, I didn't remember much about it except that it felt really hard. I was feeling good when I got on it and the tiny crimps and pockets felt surprisingly good, before I knew it I had made the crux move to the jug rail high above the last bolt, from here most people place a good cam in a pocket, but I hadn't brought one because I didn't really expect to get that high on it, I ran it out and managed to keep my calm facing a 40ft whipper if I had blown it. It was a really good feeling to have finished off this classic line so easily and it has me psyched for harder stuff at Smith. I finished off a great weekend with an ascent of Vomit Launch one of the best 5.11's I've climbed anywhere and a cool repeat of Crack Babies a steep 12b. It was really fun hanging out with George again and meeting Ben and Dave, I'm really jelous of their trip, but at least I'll be able to keep up with them on Georges Blog he'll have some hilarious stories for sure. I can't wait to meet up with them again next month in Bishop!

Sandstone or Sandbagstone?

2009-09-28T11:29:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Laura and I had a nice day out just the two of us up to Port Angeles. We borrowed Jimmy's Olympic Mountains climbing guide and checked out the sport crag Elwa Wall. It was a two and a half drive to get there, but the drive up the Olympic Peninsula was beautiful and listening to NPR made the ride go by really fast. The approach to the crag is awesome, you get out of your car walk across a dam (which is slated to be dismantled soon) and your there. It is a beautiful crag, a very scenic setting with cool rock formations. The rock is sandstone which we don't get to climb on much around here. However the rock is not of the highest quality it is very sandy, which makes the routes feel quite a bit harder than they should. For example what should be a good flat jug feels like a nasty sloper covered in ball-bearings when its sandy. We warmed up on a 5.9 that I had to shout down to Laura to watch me on it a couple of times (not a good sign), she led it as well but decided she'd be happier on toprope for the rest of the day. There were some great climbs though, I did one called The Breeze which the guide lists as 5.10, it felt about solid 10c to me, great steep climbing on a meandering wall that gives a good pump. I also did a fun 5.11 (felt about 11c) called 'It Goes' that had a bit of everything, thin face climbing, jugs, and gave a good healthy pump. The most memorable route of the day was Empty Space which the climb lists as 5.10b?, and says "The most outrageous climb at the Elwa! Undercling the roof's edge until your feet are above your head-then what? Local beta may help on this one." I got on it and managed to get to the chains with a combination of body bars, head jams, horizontal mantelling and a very painful wide stem. The only thing I've done that comes close to it would be the 5.12 horizontal roof climbs at Ozone, but this one felt harder! This climb is the definition of a sandbag! Below are a few photos of me cleaning the draws on it on toprope.

I lead 8 climbs in total, which is pretty good for a few hours. It was nice just going out the two of us, since we climb very efficiently together and its less stress. We had dinner in at a place in Port Angeles called The Cornerhouse which I would recommend before we drove back down the road to Olympia as the sun set over the mountains. It was a good day out.

Project Frustration

2009-09-23T18:59:00.000-07:00

Q. Why haven't I written a new blog in a while now?

A. Becasue I havn't climbed anything new, I keep falling off the same climb over and over and over and over.

If you got shut down by a love interest time after time would you still go back for more? Probably not, neither would I, at least I hope I wouldn't. Then why do I keep getting back on my project at Little Si over and over again even though it keeps shutting me down?

Ever since I sent Californicator about 5 weeks ago (although it feels like 5 months) I have been trying (either literaly or in my mind) its extension Californication. On paper it doesn't sound too hard, 12d climbing that I have dialed to a great shake out at the chains then you head into the extension of Technorigine which is 12c climbing that I've got pretty wired, in fact I've warmed up on Techno couple of times this week. Add to that the fact that that when I sent Californicator I continued and got through the Techno crux and fell off just before the chains of Californication, I should get it done pretty quickly right? Wrong! I've repeated Californicator more times than I'd like to count, well I might not like to count it but I do - 5 times. And I've fallen off trying Californication over a dozen times. I was hoping to write a blog post today celebrating my successful ascent, but now I just have to wallow in my self-pity. Yesterday I got on it for the 3rd day in a week, I got to the Californication chains rested up then went for the crux move, which shouldn't be that hard, missed the hold but managed to catch my fall on the jug, I went for the hold again hit it and came off! I had a mini-tantrum hanging from the rope to let off some frustration (sorry guys). It wouldn't be so bad if I didn't do the exact same thing on Sunday and then again on Wednsday of last week. What makes it worse is that I feel like I have a lot of pressure to climb it soon, school starts up in a week and I don't think I'm going to be able to make it out there as much. When I send it (not if but when) it'll be one of the most gratifying climbs I've done, its easily now the most effort I've put into a project.

I just got a text from Micah asking if I wanted to get back out there tomorrow, I want to but I don't know if I can take the rejection again, I feel like the victim of an abusive relationship. What do I do?

Me on the cruxy cross through move to the typewriter hold at the seventh clip of Californicator, a move I am now far too familiar with.

Chasing the Shade at Tieton

2009-09-15T08:13:00.001-07:00

Well if the theme of last weekends trip to Tieton was dodging the rain, then this weekend it was seeking the shade. Micah and I decided to head back out there just the two of us since there was still so many crags there we wanted to check out. Laura couldn't make it this time because she had already committed to play a gig with her band this weekend. We left Oly around 4pm on Friday, and had just enough daylight when we arrived to get in a couple of pitches at Lava Point. Micah managed to onsight an 11d there, which is a big deal for him, it was good to see Micah keep his cool on the onsight. We set up camp at a sweet free spot we scoped out last week and got a raging fire started when our friends Greg and Sarah arrived.

Saturday morning we decided to take Greg and Sarah up to Lava Point, we figured it was a good intro to Tieton. They got in a couple of pitches each despite suffering from giardia. Unfortunately we couldn't stay there long since it the cliff was basking in the sun, the guidebook lied and said its shady til noon. Micah and I did get in another 11d though, a hard bouldery start to a cruiser finish, we both sent it second go. After a midday siesta we headed up to a new crag South Fork. The approach was a lot more involved than we expected, it took about 45 minutes from our campsite most of that on dirt roads. It didn't leave too much time for climbing which was too bad cause this cliff is amazing. Its 100+ft tall and gently overhanging, very reminiscent of Word Wall I at Little Si, but maybe even more inspiring. Micah and I warmed up then got on a sweet 14 clip 11b which Micah onsighted. There were a few projects with hanging draws to the right that looked in the 5.12 range but we just didn't have enough time to check them out if we wanted to get back to the car before dark. Definitely a wall to come back to.

Sunday morning we said bye to Greg and Sarah, and headed down the road to check out another new crag, Rainbow Rocks. The guidebook describes the approach as 20 minutes hike up a game trail, which is seriously misleading. I would describe it as a 45 minute slog up loose rubble, it was brutal. When we finally got to the cliff I wasn't even psyched to climb. The climbs were decent I guess, I would probably go back if it were roadside. We got a few pitches in before the sun hit and we hiked/slid/fell back down the slope. In the afternoon we headed up to Honeycomb Buttress to get on the 5.13 project there that was in the shade. I got on it and was immediately impressed, the first move is a huge reach (or dyno) from jug to jug, then its 3 clips of powerful yet intricate 5.12 climbing with strenuous clips, at the forth bolt there are a series of bad slopers on an overhang with no feet. I hung a lot here and couldn't pull off the moves, after that there are a few more hard big moves then another 5 clips or so of sustained 5.11+ climbing which feels pretty hard when you're pumped. We worked it for a couple of hours and I managed all the moves on it except for the heinous sloper sequence at the 4th bolt, definitely an inspiring line and one to come back to when I'm stronger. Micah wanted to get in another climb so headed up a nasty 11b slab which he pitched off of below the chains, I went up to finish it and just barely held on, it wasn't pretty. That evening we decided would be our last here so we collected a ton of firewood and got a raging fire going, I had an 18 pack of Keystone Ice we had to get through, we made a valiant effort but it was probably a good thing for our climbing that we couldn't finish them all.

Monday morning we woke up surprisingly sober, the cooler temps and refreshing breeze helped. We packed up and headed out to The Cave climbing area. The Cave is a sweet crag that has three distinct walls, all of which are good, and hard no matter what the ratings say. Micah struggled up a 5.8 and fell off an 11a, while I had a battle with a 10b, I got up it but I swear it must be a typo in the guidbook it felt 11b at least. The Oak Wall was in the shade so Micah picked out a hard looking 12a to go for the onsight of. The bouldery crux was low on this climb and you could stick clip the first bolt. Micah screamed his way up it, I was sure he was coming off on every move, but he held it together for the onsight! Probably his hardest onsight to date, to say he was pleased would be an understatement! We finished up the day with a couple more 11's, there are still plenty more to get on here, some of which look absolutely amazing. All in all it was a productive trip I got in 20 new routes which takes my tally for the year up to 188 and counting. Below are some photos from the trip that I'm too lazy to caption, so you can make up your own captions.

Dodging the rain at Tieton

2009-09-10T14:29:00.000-07:00

I couldn't believe it had been 3 years since I was last at Tieton with Laura and Doug. For one because it doesn't seem like I've been living in the States for that long, and for two becasue the climbing there is so good, I shouldn't have waited so long to get back there. Micah, Laura and I headed out there on Thursday night for a 4 day weekend. On Friday we sampled the great rock at Lava Point, its a type of textured basalt with lots of small grippy edges, and small gas pockets. We warmed up on a 10a, then Micah put the draws up on an 11a, which Laura promptly flashed, it was some tricky climbing up to a really reachy move, to some more tricky climbing. We got 4 routes in before it started drizzling, the dampness only lasted a few minutes, but we took the opportunity to head back to the campsite to have some lunch.

Micah warming up at Lava Point

In the afternoon, we went to Honeycomb Butress, see Micah's blog for some great photos of this crag. The crag has horizontal pillars piled on top on each other that keep going up for over a hundred feet. We warmed up on an 11a slab, then I climbed a 2 pitch 11c 11a linking it into one monster pitch that was pretty full on. Next up was the 12a slab there, which I managed to onsight without too much difficulty. Micah also got it on the flash. The crag is also home to one of the most inspirational lines I've ever seen, an overhanging blocky arete with a lot of bad holds and the occasional jug. its listed as a 5.13 project in the guide, but it has hanging draws on it now and it looks very doable, I didn't get on it this trip, but it feels like I have given the amount of time I've spent thinking about it. We finished off the day at the Beehive across the road where Laura onsighted a 10d! At this point we were feeling we accomlished quite a lot for the day so headed back to the campsite for a raging campfire.

On Saturday our friends from Olympia, Erica Melody Sarah and Caitlin joined us, but they brought the rain along with them. It was really wet, we had no chance of climbing so we headed to Yakima for some wine tasting instead, so the day wasn't a complete write-off. The next day was more of the same weather-wise, I felt pretty bad inviting the girls out here just to have it rain all weekend. Laura and the girls went out for a walk in the rain while Micah and I moped around the campsite. In the afternoon the clouds parted very briefly and we got a call from Laura saying she spotted dry rock further down the valley. So we picked her up and ran up the hill to a crag called The Oasis, the other girls were skeptical anything was going to be dry so it was just the three of us. I literally ran up the first route a fun10c, grey clouds were looming above us so we didn't know how long we'd have. We did get a little rain, but we found a climb that stays completely dry in the rain called King Tut's Tomb, it was an 11a and one of the best climbs I've done at the grade, or maybe we were just so happy to be climbing that day. Laura managed the flash of that route and onsighted a long 10c afterwards, spirits were so much higher than just a couple hours earlier. We were headed back down the hill as dusk approached, when we realised that we can't pass up a dry moment like this so we ran up one last long 5.9. It almost turned into an epic involving stuck rope, loose rock and downclibing in the dark, but we all managed to get up and down it safely and headed back to the campsite. When we got to the campsite the girls had packed up and decided to cut their losses and head back to Olympia. We decided to wait it out and hope for more dry weather on Monday.

Micah on King Tut's Tomb at The Oasis.

The Fan Route on Jack-O-Lantern Wall that we squeezed before it got dark

It was a good decision, Monday morning we woke up to sunny blue skies. We headed back out to Lava Point and got in a bunch more routes. Laura managed to lead her second ever 11b, on her second go, a crimpy technical masterpiece called Long Strange Clip, this was now officially her most successful trip ever. I think the key for her was taking a fall at Nevermind a couple of weeks ago that has done wonders for her lead head. Six amazing routes at Lava Point later we decided to hang up the ropes and finish off the day bouldering at the Caldera.

Me onsighting a juggy 11d at Lava Point

The photos of the bouldering in the guide looked really good and we were not dissapointed. The Caldera is one of most scenic areas I've bouldered at and its only a 5 minute walk-in. The rock quality is variable from great, to a bit snappy, and there is not a huge amount of harder boulders, but we had fun climbing on the established problems, I think I did 2 V0's, a V1, a V2, 2 V3's, a V4 and a V5. It was great way to finish off the trip. Reading through the guide book back at home I realised how much more there is to check out, so expect to hear more trip reports from Tieton this fall.

Laura bouldering on the Nakedness Boulder at The Caldera

Micah on a fun V1 arete

Group Shot

2009-09-01T15:07:00.000-07:00

Here's a cool photo I stole off of Erica's Facebook page of our group that got out climbing on Sunday.

We went to Exit 38, it was a pretty chill day, I think most of us were still recovering from Sarah's birthday party the night before. Nevertheless we got a lot done. I got in some good 5.10's and 11's that I hadn't done before at Nevermind. Laura did a new 10b, c, and d in a day. Melody led her first 5.9, and Bill showed us how it was done with some relaxed flashes and onsights of everything he tried up to 12a. Its been really fun to go out climbing with more people and a more varied group this summer. I hope we have more days like Sunday. Here is another photo I took on Sunday of Laura at Nevermind.

Payday at Little Si

2009-08-17T11:18:00.000-07:00

Yesterday felt like a payday at Little Si. All my work on I have put in on Californicator this summer (and last) finally paid off with the send. In the end it didn't feel that hard, its funny how something can change from feeling absolutely desperate to not that bad at all.

Laura and I decided to head out to Little Si just the two of us, since we were up in Seattle for the weekend anyway. We warmed up in the woods area, where we ran into Andrew, his girlfriend, Eric and Jimmy, and Micah and his brother and cousin. It felt like half of Olympia was out at the crag. Laura's main objective of the day was to get on Violent Phlegms, an 11b that she had toproped a week ago, and felt pretty good on, potentially her first ever 11b lead? I put the rope up and she toproped it again, rehearsing the moves and the clips, she said it felt a lot harder than she had remembered, but it is 11b so it should feel pretty hard. When she was happy with her beta she pulled the rope and tied into the sharp end. She got off to a shaky start at the first crux, where she almost came off on a greasy hold, but she held on and kept climbing. This climb is fairly sustained, there are about 4 crux sections you have to battle through and its not over til you latch the jug at the end. It looked like she was off again after she almost barndoored at the last clip, but she got it clean. Way to go! It was her hardest ever lead, and it was a long time coming having already done 11 11a's in the last couple of years, a well deserved send.

After Laura's big send it was my turn to get on my project so we headed up to WWI and I hopped straight on Californicator. On my first go the moves flowed really well and I floated up it without overgripping or feeling too pumped, I got to the typewriter hold feeling good, crimped hard on the smiley face hold, crossed through to the sidepull, but my feet weren't set up right and I barndoored off. I really thought that was the go. I clipped the chains in one hang came down and rested for another attempt. On my next go I wasn't quite feeling as smooth, and had to try a bit harder to stay on, I got to the typewriter hold, made sure my feet were right, crossed into the sidepull, got my feet up, made a couple of crimpy moves and latched the jug rest. I knew I had it in the bag, just another 3 clips of 11b-ish climbing, I wanted to make sure though so shook out on the jug for a good 5-10 minutes, its such a good jug its hard not to hang out on it and recover. By the time I left the jug I was feeling totally recovered and the top part felt easier than it had ever felt before. I got to the chains, and it was kind of an anti-climax, I didn't even feel that pumped, so I shouted down to Laura "I'm going for the extension". The extension Californication (13a) is the top part of Technorigine, a climb I had done a couple years ago, but hadn't really got on it since, its basically another 4 clips of pumpy 12c climbing. I shook out on the jug at the Californicator chains for a couple of minutes then busted up into the 12c climbing. I was able to remember the moves pretty well and it wasn't as bad as I had expected, I made the first and second clips then kept on fighting through the steep terrain to the third, and fourth clip, I was getting pretty pumped by this point, but I could see the chains just ahead. I just had a few crimpy moves to get through, but I couldn't remember the sequence at all and the holds felt pretty bad, I tried to pull through, but I got spat off. Oh well, I can't really complain, I wasn't even planning on going for the extension so its really just a bonus to get that far. Now I have to decide whether its worth the effort to put in more work to finish off Californication or move on to Chronic, or give Little Si a break and check out other crags. My routes score on my scorecard is looking pretty good now, so I feel like I have more options for what I want to do next, its a good place to be.

The view of Californicator from below.

Back on Top

2009-08-12T11:47:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I had a great day out at Ozone. It was hard to find partners to to go with, so it ended up just me, Jimmy and Eric, from the climbing team. It was Eric's first time doing routes outdoors, I kind of felt bad for him knowing that most of the day was going to be me and Jimmy projecting 5.12s. But he had a great time, he got on quite a few routes including his first lead, a 13 clip long 5.8 called No Nuts, and got a taste of some cracks on toprope.

My main objective of the day was to go for the onsight of Grace the 12b there. On my last trip there I had gone around the corner when Jimmy was working the 12d which shares some of the same moves so I wouldn't see any of the beta. I'm glad I did because I managed the onsight! It was a battle, the first part took a lot out of me then I figured out an opposing heelhook sequence to get through the main crux, and from there I was able to keep the pump at bay before I clipped the chains. It was a really good route, maybe the best I've done at Ozone so far.

I also tried the 12d, which isn't too bad, but has a very powerful crux that I couldn't do. And I went for the onsight of Angle of the Dangle, the 12c roof crack. I got up to the the crack and was feeling good, but at that point there is a fixed micro cam that you have to clip that protects the crux. I was very weary about falling on the cam since it looked pretty frayed and unsafe, I ended up just pulling on the gear to get past this part, and I got to the chains. Its a shame there isn't a bolt on the roof instead of the fixed cam, cause I felt I could have committed and really gone for the onsight. Jimmy decided to go for the flash since he saw me manage all the moves. He got up to the roof clipped the fixed cam, but couldn't commit either, he decided to just lower off the cam and clean the draws below. Just as he cleaned the last draw and was about ten feet off the deck the cam snapped! He landed on top of Eric who was belaying him, luckily they were both fine, but I'm glad I didn't commit to the crux and fall on that cam. I inspected the piece that broke and it was actually the wire stem that severed, I guess it was rubbing against the edge of the crack, it didn't look in good shape when I saw it up close on the route. The head of the cam is still stuck up in the crack, which blocks any other gear from going in there, I hope someone just sticks a bolt up in the roof, fixed gear on routes is whack.

Me on Angle of the Dangle

What was left of the cam after Jimmy decked on it

After that our motivation was pretty low, but I led a fun 5.9 trad finger crack, and Jimmy flashed Grace the 12b, and gave the 12d another burn. The 12b flash for Jimmy will help his score on 8a a bit, but my onsight of that route, and with the 12a onsight I got at Little Si on Sunday and the 12a I onsighted at Squamish last week has put me back at the #1 spot in Olympia in the route rankings on 8a.nu. We both still have some room for improvement, so we'll see what happens between now and the end of the year, no doubt it will be close!

Slipping on a Banana Peel

2009-08-10T16:34:00.000-07:00

I started writing about my accident on the route Banana Peel (8 pitch 5.7) at Squamish on my last blog, but it took up most of the post, so I thought I write about it separately, so it doesn't overshadow the rest of a great trip. I was climbing the route with Sarah, and we were making good progress, Sarah was doing great considering her lack of experience on multi-pitch routes. We were about half way up the route and I was linking the 5th and 6th pitches together. I figured I could just about manage to link them with with a 60m rope, but I didn't quite make it. At the top of the 6th pitch after some 5.7 climbing I placed a bomber hex under a flake then ran it out up a blank slab. I was almost within reaching distance of the big tree on a ledge to belay from but I ran out of rope so I put a sling around a tree root and decided to belay from there until I could climb up a few feet higher to the more secure tree. Sarah took me off belay and started climbing up. When I had a few feet slack I pulled up on the tree root (which was about the same thickness as a steering wheel, so pretty chunky) that I was slinged into to get up to the tree. One second I was pulling on this seemingly solid root, the next I was flying backwards down the slab, the root had broken off in my hand! I wasn't clipped into anything now, and I wasn't on belay but I was still tied in. I didn't have much time to react, my instinct was just to reach my hands out and try to catch on to something, and luckily the angle of the slab wasn't too steep and I was able to create enough friction to stop myself on the slab, I fell about 20 feet total. If I hadn't been able to stop myself, I would have kept on falling past my last piece of gear, another 10ft below when the rope would go tight on Sarah, for a total fall of something like 60ft. I probably would have been fine, but it would have been very scary. As it happened when I came to a stop my right arm was scraped up and I had a nasty flapper on the tip of my thumb that was bleeding a lot, but other than that I was fine. I regained my composure, assessed my injuries and figured the best plan was to try to get back up to the tree ledge and continue up the route, there were just two 5.4 pitches left. I belayed Sarah up from the big tree, and when she got up to the ledge, she could see all the blood on my hand and my spooked expression. I didn't explain to her exactly what happened then, I figured it would be better to explain when we got off the route. I think she could tell that I just wanted to get up and off the climb at that point. The next two pitches were fine, I was able to climb them without really having to use my thumb. When we got to the top, Nick and Erica were up there, having just finished their adjacent route Diedre, so I filled them and Sarah in on what happened.

My thumb, the next day after I cleaned it up.

I learned a few things from this accident. 1) Don't be so complacent on easy routes, most accidents happen not from the difficulty of the climbing but from other factors. 2) Place lots of runners even on easy terrain. Luckily I was climbing with Sarah and I placed lots of runners to protect the second. When I did the same route the day before with Nick I placed a lot less gear, including the bomber hex I would have fallen on. If I had fallen all the way with the gear I had in the day previous it could have been a 100ft fall. 3) Don't trust tree roots so much, especially after a record breaking dry summer. 4) Don't try to link pitches to save time, when your not sure if your rope will make it.

I also think I made a few good decisions on this accident that are worth mentioning as well. When I fell I instinctively tried to reach out and grab anything to stop the fall, that was a good reaction that saved me taking a much bigger fall. After the fall I was able to maintain my composure and think through what to do next rationally, I think a common reaction after taking that fall would be to panic which wouldn't have helped in this situation. And my decision to continue up the route was the right choice, rappelling off from this high on a route with two other groups below and with another climber inexperienced in rappelling is just asking for another accident to happen.

In retrospect I'm almost glad I had this accident, I have climbed for a long time without any serious mishaps, it reminds me that I'm not invincible. I feel liked I learned a lot more from falling on this route, than I would have had I climbed it without incident. Here is an quote I heard recently that seems appropriate: 'Good judgment comes from experience and experience comes from bad judgment' - Fred Brooks.