More Morristone

Sunday finally brought around some weather warm and dry enough to go pull down a bit outside!!!

Obviously all the time spent indoors has warped my fragile little brain (as seen below).

Diggs, Fiona and I spent some time messing around on old and new projects and just getting some burns in.

Diggs is getting VERY close on Cytogrinder (V8) leaving us to joke that she is going to follow in mercedes footsteps and skip V7 all together.

CRUSH DIGGS CRUSH!!!

I enjoyed getting back on Pop Goes the Weasel which I had been working a bit in prior weeks. I'm very proud (at least as proud as you can be about an eliminate / variation) to have finally sent with some Pavol beta and some nonsense mixed in. I also enjoyed repeating old stuff and trying more on CJMD. The thing is a kick in the pants for me, but I love it. Good temps, good folks, and good pulling make any Sunday noteworthy!

Activity Update

Ahh yes. It has been a couple weeks since my last update.

Well, it's been mostly work, Morrison's black hole, and resting since then, but I have older and newer news for updating purposes...

Before my trip to New Mex. as documented below, I had the pleasure of joining some old Paradise crewmembers for a sweet session at Scott's place down here in Colorado springs.

Scott got ahold of some of the old paradise gym's wall panels and holds when it was taken apart and built a rad 13 foot wall in his garage that is more than enough to get a good session in on. He held a BBQ to get some of the old crew together, and (as expected) fun and shenanigans were enjoyed by all in attendance.

The "rock climbing" eventually turned to "rock-screwing around" and dynos were going off like mad. This one was my favorite...mattress jump to super-jug! RAD!!!

Scott eventually sent some stuff that caused some trouble for most of us. Above, Tammy is questioning how he could possibly have missed a hold that she could almost grab from the ground. Well... it's a big jump.

Yes, that picture is oriented correctly. It is also a big swing. Scott and Ross both stuck it, in good style and especially good fun.

I also had the good fortune of a weather window to rope up with some people from work in the Garden of the Gods recently.

Above is one of the only known photos of me in a harness. I can't tell if my facial expression is one of sport route on chossy goodness, or total disgust.

When noobs grab the camera from out of your bag, you are forced into "i'm climbing up this by walking" waving shots. Good times!

Me lowering. I can honestly say that I prefer to downclimb or jump to the pads.

All in all, not a lot going on. I'm looking forward to Hueco in February BIG TIME!!!!! I just hope this doesn't fall through for any reason.

Hope everyone is enjoying their offseason as much as I am!!!!

Andrew vs Water (Frozen edition)

Last weekend, Andrew was kind enough to show me the boulders at East Draw, at the base of Eldorado Canyon. It was really sweet to find dry rock baking in the sun on a day where most of the front range areas were just beginning to melt out. It ended up being pretty amazing with 35 degree temps and tons of sun. I really liked the problems at this area.

Below is a picture of myself on The Infinite.

Andrew on the very classy Pig Dog

Though it was a great day, it wasn't all Lions and Turkish Delights. We noticed huge icicles hanging at the top of the cliff. They weren't going to keep any climbs from going down, but after a while the icicles in some spots started melting enough that the fell from up above. This seemed scary to everyone.

This gave Andrew a chance to test his theory that you can solve any problem by throwing rocks at it... It also gave both of us a chance to really freak out a friendly Boulder local named Chad.

Below you can see Andrew sizing up the target, 4' long icicles at the top of the cliff.

Andrew lets loose. I love how you can see the rock flying towards the ice...

And we have contact. Just be sure you run away before you catch any of the raining ice that follows.

Very stick send Andrew...

Land of Entrapment...

After an 8 day work-week, I jumped in the ole Subaru and headed for my home and native land... Albuquerque New Mexico. Due to working retail, I will be industrious over thanksgiving and wanted to take this opportunity to see the family before the madness starts.

On the drive down, I learned that if you consume enough red bull in too short a time, you will actually start to see sounds and hear colors. These photos are an artist's rendition of the psychedelic drive I had between Trinidad and Santa Fe. Rad huh?

I decided to bring the shoes and chalk and check out a bouldering area I was a little too weak to enjoy when I lived here. U-Mound!!!!

It is a pretty condensed area on large-grain granite, and good for a few quick burns after work in the V2 to V7 range. Here are some problems and grades...hope you all enjoy!

Manatee Traverse v1

As I mentioned, large grain granite. Sharp. Crimp crystals and good pointy crimpers. FUN FUN FUN!!!! Jelly Bean Traverse v2

V0 sit start... Dumpy, short, turd burglar and the most fun you've ever had looking less-than-gnar for the camera!

The Situner mom was on hand, enjoying shooting the camera like crazy, and even managed to do a bit of scrambling!!!! Sick!!!

How could I resist doing a problem called "Knob Problem" v3 It also happens to have one of the coolest granite features EVER!!!

Wounded Knee v3 / v4 Small Crimps and a deadpoint to a jug! One of my favorites of the day!

Wounded Knee Arete v3 / v4

Driftwood Direct v7 (This thing took some tries!)

There were some other good problems interspersed in there too, but the whole point was to get out, get some mileage, and have fun.

Mission Accomplished!

P.S. The pictures look terrible when uploaded to blogger for some reason. Hopefully you all see them in regular resolution and clarity. Also, JJ, I have scoped everything v7 and harder for a quick-send filler on your scorecard! Maybe even dirt-burglar traverse into said problems potential. PSYCHED!!!!!!!!

FLANIMAL!

Beautiful forecasts for Saturday enticed fools to head to Newlin for a session as a send off for Flan's finger before she undergoes surgery tomorrow.

A sight rarely seen the past few months - Flan putting on climbing shoes - behold:

Broken finger? No problem! Just a little spit, tape, and chalk to hold it together:

Nevertheless, in typical Flan style, she crushed. Everything. Riders on the Storm, Tojo Rising, and the v9? left start to Tojo went in rapid succession.

Just imagine how strong she'll climb in another 3 months when her appendage is healed!

(artists rendition of Flan post-surgery)

photo borrowed from Chuck Fryberger's Flip Off For Flan! Campaign May 2009

BEST OF LUCK FOR A SPEEDY RECOVERY FLAN!

The mind worms are sneaking in...

Marcelo Delovitch once shared his theory on the positive relationship between spending time at work, and the ease of entry for "mindworms" into the brain.

Between the snow on days off, and a schedule of doom in preparation for the holidays, I've not had a lot of climbing time...hence no blog updates. I've got worms friends. BAD.

Thankfully, my weekend off is coming up, and the forecast is looking promising!

Keep your fingers crossed, the mindworm-exterminator is on her way.

Grettings from Newlin Creek!

As I reported, the session was at Newlin this Saturday, but no one reminded the weather not to suck for a few days leading up.

After hiking all the way to the new sector, we learned that 4 inches of snow and seeping holds were to be found on EVERY BOULDER. We resigned ourselves to a chilly picnic of Fiona's homemade banana bread and hung out... But wait... could there be dry boulders elsewhere? YES YES YES!!!!!!!

Atari Arete and surrounding blocs were indeed dry and climbable! Yay! Session Saved!!!

This photo caught Rich and Fiona in some sort of strange warm-up ritual. Weird Eh?

That, or he is issuing the worst wedgie ever to Thomas who is laying on the pads at his feet. He looks guilty. I bet that is the real story.

I believe it was Fiona's first try on this thing and she crushed it. Sending in only a few goes!

Check that GRRRRR face!

We all used Atari as a warm-up before moving on to Geiman In A Blender.

This was a sort of side-project for Rich, and he was able to polish it off. NICE JORB DOOD!!!!11!

Diggs also made some solid goes at it but didn't quite pull it off. IT WILL TOTALLY GO!

Fiona also made some strong efforts, and was wearing a great T-Shirt for pictures. Excellent execution on both counts Fi!

After repeating Geiman, Thomas and I jumped on The Green Iguana.

Thomas sorted out the beta, and I was able to pull through and finish it after him.

Really fun moves, and a little scary at the top. What more could you want out of unexpected extra rounds of bouldering!?!?

We finished the day with Thomas cleaning and working the arete to the left of Iguana. Some interesting power moves off of a large sloper lead to thin holds and a big move for the top. FUN FUN FUN, but it didn't go down that day.

A pretty rad day for what looked like a long hike when we arrived at the new area. Thanks to the usual suspects for showing up and pulling down! You guys rock!