Straight into yer face lam

Photarz phor Phoolish Phacez!!!

2011-06-12T08:58:00.007-06:00

No two ways around it... my injury time has made me weak. I have been getting some time behind the camera though... check it:

Eric on the Girl Dyno: (Red Cliff)

Happy Diggity:

Diggs working Rupture: (Morrison South)

Eric on Rutpture:

Diggs finishing Return of the Jedi (Red Cliff)

Eric on "Jedi"

TJ coloring outside the lines:

Sarah working Squirming Coil (Morrison South)

Eric finishing Disani (Morrison South)

Erica crushing Star Crossed Lovers (Red Cliff)

Eric getting a feel for the moves on Star Crossed Lovers

Eric burling through the opening moves of Minturn Mile (Red Cliff)

OH YEA! I actually went sport climbing with TJ yesterday... and now have a rope project to finsih. I'm SOOOOO weak after all the down time! Ahh well, it's good to be pulling a little bit again. PSYCHED!

Eldorado Canyon

2011-04-28T18:25:00.003-06:00

Due to my retail schedule, I had this past Sunday off for Easter. What the heck else would I do but go climbing????

Eldo Canyon was pretty chilly for this late in April, but the temps were perfect for bouldering. Our first objective was the Gill Block where we warmed up on jugs and then got distracted with the IMPOSSIBLE V3 slabs on the front side. Those of you who have ever tried to photograph TJ know why this shot is significant. (Mainly the fact that it exists for the rest of you.)

Diggs used her little monkey fingers combined with some solid footwork to top out "Crimp me silly" V3

TJ and I tried (and failed) to follow in her footsteps but the slab was just not our thing... TOES HURT IN BOULDERING SHOES ON SLAB!!!!

Diggs and TJ were psyched on some other lines on this boulder, and made some progress. Diggs was trying 606 (V10) and moving through the starting moves very well!

Unfortunately she only gets a few goes because the holds are so heinous! (I agree with Ben Elkon's description... INSULTINGLY SMALL.)

TJ messed with "The Grinch" (V11 / V12) and got a feel for the holds.

I was psyched on a problem called "3 feet high and rising" (V7) further down canyon, and once their skin was feeling the crimpers we headed there.

A couple tension moves lead you to a big throw to a sloper. SUPER FUN!

TJ (re)sent quickly and although I did it in overlapping parts, could not put it together. I also seem to have hurt my left shoulder a little bit, so lets hope this is just a tweak and not something serious!

Psyched to go back and send sometime, and super psyched our Easter session didn't get rained out! Where's everyone headed this weekend?

Just a few photos i'm psyched on...

2011-04-23T09:34:00.002-06:00

Best/Worst idea ever:

Situner in Clear Creek... Photo by Danny Madson Situner in Clear Creek... Photo by Danny Madson

Diggs in Joe's Valley... Photo by Danny Madson

Situner in Joe's Valley... Photo by Danny Madson

That's right... Danny's got some skillz with that magic picture box.

Springtime Newlin

2011-04-23T09:08:00.002-06:00

Thanks to those of you who have read this blog in the past and are giving me a foot in the rear to get going again!

This past weekend was all about getting SHUT DOWN at Newlin but having a good time anyway.

Diggs was messing with a line known as "Bear Trap" V7 and can do it in two parts. Unfortunately the link-up didn't come on this trip.

The crimp is SOOOO wicked! I worked on "Old Guard" a bit, also making progress, but no sends in that dept. either. Not a terribly productive two day trip, but certainly nice to be outside and even climbing in shorts and a T-shirt at times again!

Hurry up alpine season! We're waiting.

Sub-Freezing climbing weekend!

2010-12-07T18:31:00.003-07:00

Saturday was all about freezing at Big Elk Meadows and Boulder Canyon...

Nothing went down at big elk, but Diggs, Erika and I all pulled out sends of "The Citadel" despite shivering and running for puffys between burns.

Sunday was supposed to be nicer but we headed to the refrigerator that is NEWLIN CREEK!

A quick start to the day on the Nickness boulder where I flashed Optical Reverb (V5) and JJ worked out some of the moves to B3PO... Witness the wicked double toe hooks: Erika had not yet tried Atari Arete, so we headed to the midway boulders where diggs did a quick repeat...

And Erika sent in only a few burns! Nice jorb ladies!

JJ was psyched on working "The Green Iguana" V8 and I tried to help remember beta while he cleaned the holds.

Here is a terrible photo of what is a very entertaining problem to climb:

We finished up the day in the new sector where diggs and I had some old business to attend to: Uncivilized! I'm VERY psyched to say that we both sent, and Erika was doing well working out the moves.

Despite the freezing cold, a pretty successful weekend! Double sends on projects? You BETCHA!!!! Anyone getting out this weekend?

Danny B-day C-wood sesh...

2010-11-30T19:07:00.003-07:00

Due to recent snowing in other front-range climbing areas, Danny's birthday session was brought to the humble venue of Castlewood Canyon. Although this particular auditorium was not built to hold such psyche and awesomeness, below is the unfolding of the days events.

We warmed up at the Buddha cave where Danny proceeded to flash pretty much everything... Including this shot of "REAL SPORTS ACTION".

From there, it was up to the Berthoud caves where we messed around with the thuggy roof lines and spent most of our time with our butts in the dust. Danny made it his personal goal to find all of the huecos of the cave that were social and stick his head in them... Freud would have a field day with that one.

On the way in, I had pointed out to Danny a couple boulders that I had always walked past, but never went to look at. He was psyched, so on the way back to the car, we hiked past the cows that were inside the park boundary (WTF) and scoped them out.

One boulder did yield a highball choss problem that we both sent, and enjoyed the sunshine and views afforded by the area.

I'm not sure it had been done before, but it will likely never be done again as it was raining choss the whole time, the landing sucks (we didn't even bother with pads) and the holds are less than solid. Ahh well. It was still fun and certainly got the heart going!

Happy birthday to Danny, and thanks for coming out and making it a really fun sesh at the Ole Wood!

Snowed out at Emerald... Play ANYWAY!!!

2010-10-12T20:24:00.004-06:00

This past weekend, we got snowed out at Rocky, but we still had a great time messing around in the middle of the road below the bear lake lot...

Mercedes was a good sport about posing down and jumping around like a mad-woman!

Merc has some serious hops!

Later we ended up at big-elk meadows where Merc fought through the "Campus Problem" and I had a good time knocking off the moderates on the block.

Psyched to be trying "Get over it" and making good progress... A little cooler temps, and I think its there!

PSYCHED PSYCHED PSYCHED for fall, cooler temps and fun sessions!

Vacation Photos

2010-08-30T14:53:00.004-06:00

As I sit here and type, vacation is coming to a close...

It was awesome! This shot was from a bar in San Diego where they were giving out porno-mustaches... I collected a few from friends and came up with a face Kevin could be proud of.

As we had hoped, we had a great time surfing. It took a go or two to remember how to stand up, here diggs is wiping out big time. PROUD. Diggs on a good one!

OHHHH YEAAAAA!!! PSYCHED!!!!

Diggs had quite a few fun rides... Check out that smile!

Sunset at Pacific Beach.

We went out to the Stone brewery and took the tour which included beer sampling (yay)!

Mike smelling the hops Stone throws into their Ruination and IPA brews. MMMMM.

Diggs going "Blech! That's strong!"

We went to Balboa Park in SD and had a great time running around. Here diggs takes a run at the camera on the "Lawn Bowling" court.

Ahh yes. Gotta get a bouldring fix in somehow. Teva flip flops edge almost as well as Mad Rocks! (nyuk nyuk nyuk)

Too cute to live on the lawn bowling court.

I took away a cool shot at dusk at one of the museums in balboa park...

We got home Saturday evening and headed out to Lincoln Lake with Jaeger on Sunday for a little climbing.

Sends were enjoyed by all... Diggs got Chalk on Rock v8, Jaeger nailed down sea bass? v8, and liquid peanut butter v7 (pictured), I knocked out vaporizer v7 and liquid peanut butter as well as JJ's warm ups; Irish coffee v4 and Mimosa v2...

A great way to end vacation, and a nice reminder why we choose to live in Colorado. BECAUSE ITS AMAZING HERE!!!!

Lincoln / The Park

2010-08-23T17:54:00.003-06:00

Saturday: Lincoln

Sunday: The Park

Didn't shoot any great photos, but it was fun to give Franchesco a tour of a couple great areas here in Colorado!

I got to finish the project on Saturday and knocked out "The Anvil" as I'd hoped. Psyched!

Diggs flashed "For Irie" V6 in short order! Proud! Her hardest flash to date!

Sunday we went to lower chaos where it was hot and humid, not great climbing conditions. Time was spent on various projects, but nothing was sent.

Evans area A tomorrow! Digging the vacation time!

Eventually, better photos of Lincoln will be found on Jaeger's blog.

Last Weekend Lincoln Lowdown... and guanella too.

2010-08-20T20:02:00.006-06:00

This past weekend was NOTHING BUT CLIMBING!!!!!! Amazing. Lincoln lakes was very warm, but it was still a very productive session!

We arrived early with Jaeger, who immediately made use of the roadside facilities... (shudder) After trying the hike in from the East side of the canyon we headed to "Small Arms" where Jaeger put in some excellent efforts but no sends. To his credit, it was WARM.

I have officially dubbed "chalk on rock" an es-tupid climb, and I will not be devoting more skin or time to it. This is a really nice shot by diggity however...

This V5 shares the name of the road sign above and it is probably the best of grade I have seen yet at Lincoln! Diggs crushed it in good style.

Tom on "Northern Aggression"... This line has great moves low and turns terrifying above. Tom and I shared a high-point and Jaeger went on to send. Nice jorb dood.

OMG!! OMG!!! OMG!!!!! I'm psyched to get back to Lincoln this weekend and finish this problem!!! It's called "The Anvil" and goes at about V7. Definitely worth a visit. (can't get a great idea of the line from photo, but I assure all... IT IS GOOD!)

Sunday was spent driving up the back way to Guanella and playing on the new moderates that Thomas Betterton and Rich Haas cleaned up and sent.

Diggs warming up at Guanella:

The lines on the "Mind Matters" boulders are GOOOOOOD! It's amazing no one has taken the time to clean them up prior to this!

Thomas on "Blocky Matters" V6-ish.

I didn't get a lot of great photos of these problems due to the CRAZY HIGH-ENERGY SESSION THAT WAS SURROUNDING THE BOULDER WITH MADNESS, but I will be sure to get some next time I go back.

I'm now looking forward to 10 days of climbing, surfing, and just plain having fun! Updates on how that works out to come...

Photo Update

2010-08-05T16:48:00.016-06:00

Updates seem to be coming slow these days in the climbing blogosphere...

But here are some photos of different things I've been up to lately.

I took some photos of bikes for a friend who is doing custom powder coating work...

He's building some really pretty one-offs that I'd be psyched to ride.

View into Lincoln from the road on a stormy day.

Laughing with the boys.

Diggs with new betas for "The Idiot". Nice send lady.

Sillyness mostly.

Jaeger on "Unshackeled" at Lincoln. He sent.

View up canyon from the ridge above area A at Evans.

Diggs getting warm.

Situner finishing up old business. (Diggs Shot)

Diggs on Ludder's Pinch.

Sunset from the Dali wall.

It's been a good summer so far. I'm looking forward to working less, and cool fall temps! All on the way, and all in good time.

Red Cliff / Happiest Place On Earth / Foolish Faces

2010-07-08T18:30:00.022-06:00

Night one: We arrive in Red-Cliff and meet up with several fool-faces who are drinking boxed wine, psyched on PBR, and ecstatic that we are all enjoying red-cliff together... could this go awry?

NO!!!! We awoke to nice cool conditions and no hangover and EXTREME PSYCHE from Josh (below) and almost everyone in attendance!!!! (notice the happiest place on earth hat!) Most of the crew started out in the main cluster while I laid on a pad and napped... it was about 1000 degrees above normal climbing psyche temps and I wasn't about to waste skin.

Later in the afternoon, we headed to the aircraft carrier boulder where everyone was psyched on different lines... Diggs spent some time with "Star Crossed Lovers" while Annie and I messed with "Romeo" and Matt Battaglia worked "Mercucio" (a new line put up by Merc.)

While Riley (dog) slept, Annie, Matt, and myself enjoyed sends. (diggs got distracted and only tried star-crossed twice) Matt is a beast. I don't know if you know that. Here is his glamour shot by yours truly.

He put up a problem a while back called "Dem Apples". It is about V9 and on the way to the Aircraft Carrier boulder.

While he went for the Media send, I was fortunate enough to shoot these stills...

The problem is obviously very tall, but the crux is very low, and I'm psyched to try the problem the next time I am in Red Cliff!

Nice Work Matt!

Sunday morning dawned waaaayyyyy too early, and diggs and I arose to try our projects for the weekend. (Merc insisted on doing foolish face training and pretending to be a ninja)

I worked "Immortality" while it lay in the shade, and had the good company of Rich and other foolfaces. I stuck the pinch (pictured) which is a new high-point, but didn't get it quite right which led to not sending.

Diggs put the burl down on "Return of the Jedi" and although working through all the moves did not put up a send. (Damn Warm Red Cliff)

By midday Sunday, the crew was WIPED OUT!!!! It was time for heading home / hanging out by the creek drinking beers for several hours.

While most of us opted for the latter, some headed back. Either way, I think we would all agree, this was one heck of a fun red-cliff weekend!!!

Annie, pictured below playing with a "Callipitter", was on hand for the nonsense, and we're glad you came lady!

Thanks to all the fool-faces who came out and made this one of the most fun trips of the summer! You all ROCK!!!!!

Is anyone up for Rocky camping / climbing next weekend?

Mid-Week Lower Chaos

2010-06-24T18:38:00.008-06:00

Good news friends! Lower Chaos is good to go. With the exception of the warm-up boulder, everything has been dug out or melted out and is prime.

There is probably 12 feet of snow still up against the warm-up and potato chip. Anyone that psyched to dig? Rich and I warmed up on this Arete to the left of "Deep Puddle Dynamics". After doing some research, I can't figure out the name or grade, but it's probably V4 or V5-ish and REALLY FUN climbing.

I'm happy to say we both sent.

We spent a few frustrated minutes on Gang Bang Arete before heading down to Mckayla for Rich to give it some goes.

I did the top again while Rich messed with the first move (crux). He was generating up to the hold no problem by the end, and just didn't have the skin to hold on. Looks like that one will go in short order.

Way better than a day at work, and psyched alpine season is on! If anyone knows the name of that Arete, please share! I needs to know.

Where have I been?

2010-06-20T15:41:00.021-06:00

So, it's been mostly crazy lately in my world. Lots of work punctuated by "f-around as hard as you can" sessions! It's all been one hell of a great time though!

Since last post, I have visited the "Gateway to the West". Ahh yes. That wonderful city of St. Louis!!!! I had a great time with my old friends Kevin Mech and Andy Elliott as we ran all over the place drinking beers, hanging out, and just enjoying ourselves as much as the heat and humidity would allow.

We visited the Budweiser brewery, which was pretty damn impressive, and had a sampled beers that we have all had several times over. (worth it) As you can see in the photos, we all developed the "I'm having fun" face at some point in our time of being on the ham-side of the camera.

I had the great pleasure of going to a Cardinals game with Kevin and Andy (above) where we drank beers, roamed around, and tried not to get my ass kicked for wearing a Rockies Jersey. (at least it was Matt Holliday's Jersey...he now plays for St. Louis)

Although I got flipped PLENTY of shit for the Jersey, we had a great time and made it out alive. I've been getting out climbing lately as well! (psyched X10 if you can't tell). I've been to rocky and Evans already this season, as well as several B-Side areas throughout the state. It was super cool to get up to Emerald Lake early and work Whispers of Wisdom and Real Large while Diggs took down "The End" in quick order. Alpine season has arrived friends, and it's just as good as we all remember! Unfortunately, no sends were recorded for me at Rocky, but lots of progress on lines I'm interested in.

I got out to Evans with Lucas and Rylan and tried Silverback quite a bit before realizing I was horribly outmatched! The boulder / Teva Games crew was on hand at the Dali boulder making it a fun day. (wink, wink, nudge-nudge for those of you in the know) As I mentioned... there are some incredible B-Side areas that are PRIME right now. I've been up to Three Sisters with Diggs and other crews lately, and had great sessions and enjoyed sends every time. This is Rich on "Your Orders" which is MUST DO for the area. I'm happy to report he sent, and I encourage you to go to this incredible area if you have never been. (hell, invite me and I'll give you a tour!) What else in CO is looking good right now? Well... we THOUGHT Newlin Creek. However, it is sweaty at best, and swimming in a 300LB woman's taint the rest of the time.

Thomas, T.J. and I still had a great time warming up on Tojo Rising and Riders on the Storm before heading over to Megaladon to try our luck. No sendingness due to it being V7 / V11, but still a great time. You can see my RAGE face below at trying to best this beast. After working at Megaladon, we went down to the Nickness boulder where T.J. tried William Shatner while Thomas and I worked the stand start to the Nickness.

So yea. Busyness defines my life lately. Thanks to everyone who has invited me to sessions, and tolerates my nonsense!

One last thing: Can anyone tell me how to clean out my camera properly? I've tried wiping the lense (both sides) with the special cloth, and blowing off the mirror, but I still have the nastiness below showing up in even photos. Any ideas on how to clean?

Thanks for checking my blog friends!

Last Sunday Session...

2010-05-17T19:02:00.002-06:00

Sunday sessions seem to be a bit of a trend lately...

LAST weekend, diggs and I had the pleasure of joining Lucas, Asher, and Mercedes for a nice session in boulder canyon.

I sent "standard bulge" in quick order, and diggs messed with it a bit before rolling an ankle coming off.

I'm really psyched on "The Citadel" (?) which is just to the right of this photo. SO close! Don't know grade, but probably like 7 or 8. I'd be psyched to get back up soon and send!

Hope you're all getting out and wrecking skin! ...Alpine season is just around the corner!

Sunday Session

2010-05-16T21:08:00.002-06:00

YAY FOR SPRING!

Thanks to whoever sent the memo letting spring know it was long overdue! The weather today was amazing, and Matt and I took advantage of it and headed out to Three Sisters to get in an afternoon session.

amazing shot of a great warm up by Situner

Matt is super close to sending "The Pearl". He found himself precariously perched on the the top out slab at least three times today. It's only a matter of time...

My project of the day was "Your Orders". I too was shut down despite reaching the "it's over" jug... Send photos next time...

Hope everyone is enjoying Spring!

DBC Comp Photos

2010-05-11T13:45:00.022-06:00

Oh man. It was rad.

If you were unable to make the DBC comp this past Saturday, you missed a fantastic time! I shot photos like crazy, and here are a few of the ones I liked the most. Thanks to Rhino for sponsoring and hooking up the CRAZY lighting!!!

Full Comp Results can be found at http://www.denverboulderingclub.com/

There are MANY MANY more photos to be seen, so if you were competing or in attendance, check out situner.shutterfly.com for the full roll. Surely you were caught by the lens at some point!

Big thank you to Lee, Kevin, Thomas, and TJ for putting on the comp as well as the volunteers that showed up to make it happen!

DBC Comp This Weekend

2010-05-03T20:21:00.002-06:00

Oh yes. Be there.

I'm super psyched to be a very small part of this, and all you foolfaces should show up and pull down! (or sideways, or however your preferred method of pulling gets you through the problems)

Plus you get beer, and a screening of CORE. Just for you.

Come on. Organizing your stamp collection can totally wait till next weekend. Your mom said.

See you there!

Joes Valley (sunshine edition)

2010-04-19T19:09:00.014-06:00

Last weekend I made it out to Joes Valley with Lucas, Merc, and Hannah for an amazingly sunny trip. Temps were bordering on hot, but after the freezing adventures experienced in Utah of the past month, we were all loving it!

Fun was had. Stuff was sent. Everyone is psyched to go back to work on more projects.

Mercedes and Hannah are both climbing strong coming back from the injured list... watch for superb sendage in the near future! Lucas set himself up for a great trip next time he's in Joes... he's SO CLOSE on EVERYTHING he's working.

And now, the pictures...

SENT: rock skipping (and photographing rock skipping) by the riverside.

SENT: Diggs on Hooters V9

SENT: Hannah on Skins Game V3

(Merc also sent this rig from the lower start) SENT: Merc on Self Service V5

SENT: Lucas on The Angler V2 (no hand on the rail version)

Projects for next time:

Lucas on Hydrogenated Oil V11

Hannah on Self Service V5

Diggs on Chips V7

Lucas on Worm Turns V11

Merc on The Angler V2

Lucas on Jitterbug Perfume V10

Lucas on Ghost King V11

Merc on Big Joe V7

Thanks for a great weekend guys!

Yea. That's climbing sometimes.

2010-04-17T15:43:00.009-06:00

As elegant, beautiful, and enjoyable as climbing has been described, sometimes we do things that are downright silly, unnecessary, and ridiculous.

Ahh yes kids. If you can't laugh at yourself, who can you laugh at?

Yea, above you can see T.J. levitating. He is doing so because it is about 10 degrees outside. He's jumping in attempt to warm-up his body enough to climb. (why did we get up early for this?)

Next up is sillyness. (Can I fit in that hole? YES... The answer is yes.)

We hate to admit it, but yea. Photos make the blogosphere go round. Sometimes you DO have to move that mess of gear out of the background to make a good picture. Yay D-SLR's. Raise your hand if no one has ever pointed out a hold for you. Yea. I thought so.

Raise your hand if your altruistic efforts have never ended in almost being kicked in the junk. Yea. I thought so.

Pointing, spotting, pseudo-spotting, and picture taking. And some of you called this a REST DAY! (LOL- yea. That's climbing sometimes)

My personal favorite... for vanity reasons. Sometimes the environment is ugly, the problem is a dirt burglar, the camera is in your nose but you still come away with a great image and a memorable session. WOOT.

Deny it all you want. That's climbing sometimes.

Ft. Collins is looking better on Friday...

2010-04-03T19:51:00.013-06:00

Famous last w3rds. Somehow I talked the TJ into joining me for a drive to Poudre canyon on Friday for what we thought would be sending temps in sunshine.

Instead, we got crazy winds, blowing snow, no sun, and this shot of TJ looking at the holds of the warm-up going "Really? I have to sack up and pull on this coldness? F-that."

Well, warm-up we did, and then got directly on Scarface. It's a good thing I had TJ with me, because I was discussing bail options before we even warmed up. A few burns (in all the clothing I had with) yielded some warmingness and beta remembrance.

Oh my god did it hurt like hell though.

Those are genuine "I'm psyched this hurts more than I can possibly imagine faces"

With skin apparently intact...though I couldn't feel it, I tried again and it went.

Yay scarface!... TJ wasn't so psyched, so we headed to "Sharma Lunge" to try his luck.

While fun was had with me at the camera, and him freezing ass, no sends were recorded.

He looked solid, but I can't express how much psyche the cold was stealing every second!

We decided that "Scuba Steve" V5 was an appropriate objective in these conditions, and TJ sussed the beta while I shot Photos.

Rad.

That move was hard kids. Harder than 5. Just sayin.

We both had a great time doing this problem...with COMPLETELY different beta. It was cold as heck, and we spent the rest of our sesh looking at Gandalf, and other boulders.

Re-Psyche for the Poudre has begun kids. Who is psyched for a camping / drinking trip soon? Uncle Matt wants YOU!

C-Wood summer sessions resume

2010-03-31T16:18:00.005-06:00

It's certainly been warm enough kids... I hope you are all getting out.

I had the pleasure of catching up with K-Diggs at the font area of Castlewood for a quick afternoon session this past Tuesday!

The "stage" boulder was crushed in every way possible (not unlike a Pueblo Prom Queen) and then we moved on to a classier line (not much... think Canon City) "Cave Route Direct"!!! Diggs was pulling all the moves, but didn't quite figure out high enough feet for the dyno move. Close though. Real close.

Nate happened to pop up, and spent some time on the line. No send, though he is clearly strong enough to overpower it. (Commitment issues...what dood doesn't have them?)

I re-sent the old direct, with the usual ass dab. Then started working the "lower" start and brutalized my right ass-cheek to the point I walk like a crochety old man today.

Loving every minute, and regretting nothing. (Thanks for the fun sesh kids.)

We're Sinking...

2010-03-22T17:48:00.025-06:00

Chip, Rich, other readers... (yea...right) Here is the post you've all been anxiously awaiting. Here is the proof that smallish stones were climbed in Utah recently by those possessing the sick-rad-gnarness known as "psyche". Here are the photos and stories from MOAB and JOE'S VALLEY, UT.

Our story begins when our heroes find themselves in the big bend bouldering area on a fine Saturday morning. It's cool out, it's dry, so what to get on? HOW ABOUT HELL BELLY BISHES??????

The rad-man formerly known as TJ challenged this retarded-hard climb and came away with some good progress. Proud TJ. Real Proud.

(he also made this progress while a fun dood from grand junct. sprayed about various pro-climbers falling off and calling the problem an ES-tupid climb)

As far as Moab goes, I had one real objective. CHAOS. I'm proud to say it went kids. And yes. I topped out. (I just want to thank Jaeger, because I've been climbing on Choss (Chaos-heh heh- get it) since I cut my outdoor bouldering teeth, and loving every second! Yes...The experience helped.

We also flirted with Phantom Fighter Dyno, which didn't go particularly well. However, it was a fun way to spend the afternoon.

After deciding neither of us was "Retard-strong" enough to send, we decided that saving skin for Joe's was a better plan, and we should pack the car and head out.

Unfortunately, Mother Nature hates me. I forgot to mention this to TJ, and God bless him, he thinks she actually hates HIM!

Our drive to Orangeville was slightly delayed by worsening clouds, snow, and overall not good weather happenings. When we arrived in Joe's, we were greeted by the following sight:

Yea. Bad news Bears. TJ looked for dry climbs while driving (scaring the piss out of me in the process) and eventually settled on checking out "worst case scenario"...how appropriate.

However, no dryness was to be found today, so we decided to hit the food ranch, warn incoming climbers, and grab some food.

Upon returning to the valley to make camp, we decided that the 4X4 of TJ's truck would be more than enough to handle a little snow... we were WRONG. We pulled in to the main campsite in the right fork and made it about 30 feet before stopping. My comment to describe the sensation... "We're Sinking."

We dug the car out (where I say "we" there read: "TJ") and headed up the left fork to ultimately set up camp in the pullout for the mine-cart boulder. Epic.

The following day, everything was covered in snow, wet, and the weather was threatening so we decided to check out TRIASSIC. Bad Plan.

The roads were muddy as hell, we slid TJ's AWD 4Runner no less than 3 times (one almost catastrophically) and we even hiked through tons of snow for the wrong look at the boulders. FAIL.

On the upside, TJ did shoot this excellent photo of me trying to boulder INTO the car without stepping in 6 inches of mud.

So with Triassic out of the question, Psyche at an all time low, and my thermals smelling like bad meat mixed with good cheese, TJ decided to man up and start the climbing.

He jumped on Worst Case Scenario and did all the moves (easily from my perspective) but decided that tweaky, cold, wet soreness was not worth it.

So what to do? THE DAMN DIRT-BAR IN ORANGEVILLE AT 2PM ON A SUNDAY THAT'S WHAT!!!!!!!!!!!

We hit up the bar (Chick's) with the intention of killing a couple 3.2 Bud Lights and then getting some food. What happened instead cannot be described. (mainly because I can't remember most of it)

We started drinking a beer. Then Bob (red shirt below) offered to buy us shots. TJ was out, and I tried, but he wasn't taking "no" for an answer. They ran out of his shot, so he bought us a beer. Then we started playing pool.

Then I broke a window-trim piece at the bar, blamed it on his friend, talked a LOT of crap, drank some more beers, took a shot with Bob and company, made a "screwing guys" joke, almost got hit in the face pretty hard from the guy on the right, played more pool, reassured TJ we weren't going to be murdered, met up with RYLAN and LUCAS (woot!) and eventually left the bar.

TJ's telling of this is much more entertaining, and here is a shot of how the evening might have turned out for me:

So yea. After gas station Hot-Pockets and a Pepsi I managed to shoot this photo of TJ and Rylan "tent pole fencing" as they set up camp in the mine-cart pullout to join us. (notice no blurring- I'm pretty proud of that given my state at the time)

The following morning dawned cold and windy as hell, but clear, and we sat in Rylan's car for a while before deciding SENDING TEMPS WERE TOTALLY PASSING US BY!!!!!

We headed up to the EDEN area where Lucas CRUSHED G2-07 (V8) in only a few burns. (and immediately after putting on his pair of 5.10 Dragons Rylan might add...)

I got on an old flame called External Tulips (it looks like a vagina...ha ha). I'm glad to say I can add it to the send list.

From there, it was on to New Joe's where we hit Chips, I'd Rather be climbing her, and the following problems:

This is TJ. He is one strong bish. This is TJ on black lung. I can assure you that just pulling off the ground on this problem is an accomplishment. Well done dood. Well done.

TJ and Rylan spent some time working out the opening moves to Black Lung while I sat lazily shooting photos.

Both looked strong, and had a good time (minus the pain of pulling on those holds) working the problem.

I got excited about Resident Evil after watching Lucas mess with it, and had to give a few burns...

This one is definitely on the project list now. SOOOOO GOOOD!!!!

Rylan had one hell of a good "last-go-best-go" on black lung and stuck the first move and then almost got the second! That was rad to watch man!

A pretty great trip by my standards. Yea, we might have been snowed out for a day and a half, but we sent the "get hammered with locals" problem in the best way possible!

Big thanks to TJ, Rylan, and Lucas for being good friends, tolerating my dumb-ass, and climbing on amazing rock in UT for the weekend!

Big "Wish you were there!'s" to the usual suspects.

For those that don't know, this is Rylan. He shoots photoz way better than I do. You can visit his blog HERE. (Do so for more photos of this great trip, and his extended coverage after TJ and I left)

Thanks for checking my blog foolfaces! Hope you enjoyed!

here's the deal...

2010-03-20T15:34:00.001-06:00

I left my camera in TJ's truck when coming back from Moab and joe's... I know. FAIL.

Amazing postingness will follow as soon as I can get my fotoz from da magicked pitcher box.... Heh-yuck.

Probably tomorrow kids! Check back soon!

The journey ahead...

2010-03-11T15:42:00.004-07:00

T.J. and I leave tomorrow mid-day for Moab / Joe's. However, the highway has totally taken a beating from our beloved rocks.

Are they scared of our treacherous plot to climb their chalky faces? Are they simply protesting man's hubris at the thought of taming the wild? Doesn't matter. Either way we're going. Hopefully crews will open two lanes of I-70 by tomorrow as planned. If not, its a loooong detour.

Utah, here we come.

Core

2010-03-08T19:27:00.006-07:00

Chuck Fryberger

International Foosball champion

Cigar Aficionado

Filmmaker

He is at least one of these things, and damn good at it.

Check the trailer for his new climbing movie HERE.

CLICK THE LINK... you know you want to.

Diggs Sent CYTOGRINDER (V8)!!!!

2010-03-08T19:18:00.005-07:00

I was not in attendance, so the photos are not send photos... BUT SHE TOTALLY SENT!!!!!!

To the best of my knowledge, this means that Diggs totally skipped V7 and has officially sent her first V8! NICE SEND DIGGS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Probably the best photos I've ever taken

2010-03-08T19:04:00.004-07:00

Rich and I were not excited to leave Moab. Instead, we pulled over and took a couple photos of weird clouds, and fun times.

In the middle of the road. Epic good times. I miss Moab man. I miss it real bad.

The day of sendingness / the rest of Moab

2010-03-01T19:53:00.020-07:00

The rest of the Moab photos... in no particular order.

Alexis day 4...

Elizabeth working Army of Darkness... Asher sending "army". It's what the Shay-Nimmerows do.

Flailing on Choss (Spelled Chaos)

Diggs crushing project "Block Party"

The Flanimal on the Rehab...(for injuries)

Elizabeth pretending to heel-toe cam, but just being tall instead!

More Diggs Sendingness...Brown Power anyone?

Mom's blocks have given me a compulsion...

Ahh yes. Gotta love "Washed Up"

Elizabeth. Basketball Diaries.

See Above.

Who the "F" is this "A-H"????

Rich Crushing on Choss... (Chaos)... Why did we drive so far when Castlewood is so close? (nyuk nyuk nyuk)

More of Rich Getting it done.

My courtship was short lived...but BEAUTIFUL!!!!! (For real though...looking forward to sends in future trip)

So...Asher. Yea. He might be the next Daniel or Paul. Way to come off of injury and almost send a SOLID 8. Jealous dood. Jealous.

Elizabeth on "washed up".

So. Yea. As I said. One heck of a trip. Thanks to all the fool faces who showed up and threw down!

And thank you to Diggs and Elizabeth for photos!!!!! You Rock!

Moab Day Two: The day of Laughingness

2010-02-25T16:25:00.011-07:00

Day two dawned cloudless, sunny, and psyche filled. The photo below is just a random sample of the excitement felt amongst the crew.

Diggs, Asher, Flann, Elizabeth, and Alexis all showed up in the early morning and after some coffee and breakfast were READY FOR SENDING!!!

We started out at the Black Top boulder for warming up and then headed down to the silly wabbit arete where a few battles occurred...

This thing is definitely not V3, but it saw quite a few sends from the crew anyway.

From there it was on to Circus Trick where the girl squad had strong showings. Here, the Flannimal is rehabilitating that finger in STYLE.

Asher and I got interested in the Phantom Fighter Dyno, but really just did a bunch of rock jumping-off. Not sending.

Red point of the trip for me was probably balanced stick brush to single flip to balanced stick brush. Proud.

As circus trick wound down, Elizabeth Flashed Split decision. NICE!

We decided the day wasn't quite over yet, and all headed over to the Basketball Diaries boulder. Below is Alexis sending the slopey goodness of the boulder's namesake line.

This was old business for Rich who did the crux 3 FREAKING TIMES in the SAME BURN before sticking the jug and pulling through to the topout! Hard Fought Send!

Unfortunately, "Army of Darkness" was covered in snow, so my proj was off the list. IHowever, as I brushed snow off the top hoping for a dry topout the following day, Asher became interested in the V10 extension to Basketball Diaries called "Return of the Jedi". Lots of try hard yielded no sends unfortunately.

Once we were all tired and satisfied with our day we gave in to our growling stomachs and headed back to camp and town for food.

End Day Two. Up next, day three. The day of sendingness.

Moab Day One. The day of Soggyness

2010-02-21T18:45:00.011-07:00

Ahhhhh Moab. The land of milk and honey. Shangri-La. The chosen place... FOR OUR ROCKING WINTER CLIMBING SHENANIGANS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Friday, Feb 12 two goofs pile into a Subaru and head for Utah. These goofs are set on climbing pebbles. Big ones. And they are set on doing this in Moab.

Rich and I arrived in Big Bend around 3 and decided camp could wait. There were rocks to be climbed! We warmed up, and then messed with Blankity Blank and it's arete brother.

Sends were enjoyed, and it was a good opening to the trip. However, Rich made a HUGE sacrifice. He threw his pad in the puddle so that we could climb those lines.

We also got on Chaos and started messing with different beta for hopes of mid-trip sends.

This ended up to be a running joke for the trip. (yes, that is Rich attempting to remove mud from his crash pad using an ice scraper...and it worked!) Once camp (creepy) was set, we headed to town for dinner and called fool-faces who were en-route for the weekend.

Diggs, and the Shay-Nimmerow mutants (Flan and Asher) showed up that evening and enjoyed swapping stories and ribbings by the fire.

So yea... That's it. End of Day one. How can I have a climbing post with only one shot of climbing in it you might ask?

Easy. I'm saving all the Gnar for the future posts. Here's a preview:

Rich has clearly had too much coffee, and me... NOT ENOUGH.

Even though I started the day on the slow train, more climbers arrived in the night, and some seriously fun times ensued the following morning.

Exhibit A:

Oh yes. The climbing went down. Just wait. You'll see.

P.S. That makes TWO climbing shots for the post. (LOOK OUT!)

Photos by Situner and Diggs

Remember Berthoud and Buddah Caves?

2010-02-11T16:18:00.011-07:00

Well, guess what? They're still there!

This past Saturday, I had the great pleasure of sneaking out of work early and heading up to everyone's favorite choss pile; Castlewood Canyon! I met up with Shawn, Alexis, and Elizabeth who all had psyche levels running high, and their game faces on! We warmed up at Buddha cave with everyone making quick ascents of the usual. EVERYONE flashed Buddha. PROUD.

Elizabeth make quick work of Phillips Problem V4 and Alexis worked moves on a tougher variation while Shawn and I messed with an obscure v5.

From there, it was up to Berthoud Canal. Alexis was making good progress, and Elizabeth came EXTREMELY close to sticking the big move on link.

When I say EXTREMELY, I mean she was all over it but couldn't contain that crazy swing. She'll be sending next time for sure!

We also messed with After Berthoud V8, and Placenta V6 with Shawn pulling a nice last go send of the latter. The rest of us pulled roof moves until we were totally wiped out.

Nice job Shawn!

I pulled down on an old project (Berthoud Hips) but by the time Beta was remembered, the core was giving up.

Ahh well. Id be psyched to go back sometime soon! I like berthoud a lot and it was a beautiful session of T-Shirt climbing in the middle of winter. PSYCHED!!!

Speaking of excitement...This weekend is MOAB!!!!!! We leave tomorrow morning, and climb through early next week! All are invited and all will enjoy. Hope to see you out there!

Yay Eldo!

2010-02-03T15:26:00.010-07:00

Sunshine, smiles and sends perfectly describe this past Saturday which I had the pleasure of spending at Eldorado Canyon with a psyched group of new and old friends.

We all warmed up at the Gill block and had a great time playing on the non-snowy front side. Elizabeth pulled out a "soaked topout" ascent of the back-side V5 which was awesome to watch. NICE!

Ben Elkon played a bit with "606" but found that the holds felt like gummy bears. (except for the part where they are tearing at his fingers) We decided a change of boulder was in order.

My project for the day was "Resonated". Ben and Rich were also psyched, so we rolled down to the stream bed to try this problem while the iced over landing was still solid.

Ben sent this rig in a single session and in COMPLETE control. Very cool and fun to watch.

It was my second day on the problem and though I struggled to remember beta intricacies at first, I was able to ride Ben's send-train and thrutch through all the moves.

I'm REALLY psyched to have finished this problem, and especially with the amped crew that was around.

After the sun was going down, we decided to go support TJ on a rad project in the canyon. Unfortunately, it required an epic Ice-Bridge river crossing, some serious postholing in talus, and a good attitude to stay psyched.

TJ climbed strong, which was awesome (no pictures due to spoting duties... sorry) and then Elizabeth and I tried a V4 / V15 on the same boulder. Her hands were too cold to feel the holds, and my feet too cold to tell if they were solid or not, so we decided it was time to call it a day.

Thanks to everyone who came out and was psyched this weekend! I had a great time!
Also: Moab climbing trip coming soon, and media to follow. EVERYONE IS INVITED, and should come!

First photo and photos of "Resonated" courtesy of Elizabeth.

Gummy Bears and Ice Climbers

2010-01-18T17:24:00.003-07:00

On Sunday, I got my first tour of Eldorado Canyon with Rich and 2x Matt M. (Matt Miller and Matt Merrell). We started with warm ups on the Gill Block. Despite the slippery texture of the holds, all of us put some effort in on the V6 crimpfest. Situner fired off the only send, and then got out the camera to take pictures. Rich working out beta: I am really psyched to go back and put more effort in on this one! It's a really awesome climb, but wears through skin quickly!

Next up was Resonate (V9). Matt and Rich and Matt spent some time on this one, and sends are definitely coming soon.

Weird for a climber to say, but hopefully it stays cold and snow enough for the river to stay frozen and have this one be climbable...

Matt and Matt worked out some semi-skin friendly beta.

Determined that commitment was the answer, Rich got on Germ Free Adolescence (V5). He was rewarded with a proud winger from the lip. Both the climber and spotter walked away with relatively minor scraps and bruises... and a story about the REALLY BIG ONE! (photo evidence proves it's not an exaggeration)

Matt decided to give this one a go and pulled off a flash (much to the relief of everyone below!) Nice job Situner!

I was a bit wary after watching Rich's big fall, and although I got on, I definitely didn't have try-hard to want to get to the lip, let alone pull over! I might take advice of Brian Kimball and try this on top rope before going for the gutsy mantle...

Awesome climbing day!

Happy Birthday Rich!

Utilizing Bob Horan Tactics...

2010-01-14T16:31:00.004-07:00

No climbing friends could be pulled out of the woodwork for Thursday sessioning, so I headed out to my new Castlewood / Morrison / Haunt, GARDEN OF THE GODS!!!

It was back to the snake pit to finish up something I had been messing with last time. It was beautiful out, and I was the only person around. RAD. Utilizing Bob Horan inspired tactics, I was able to create a few self portraits of me pulling down on some problems. (the main difference between Bob's photos and my own is that I actually CLIMBED the lines I am pictured on)

The one below is a really squeezy arete on poor slopers that has an ass-dragger start. All the makings of some solo-session fun! After figuring out some body position issues, I pulled the crux move, and got to enjoy the next 10 feet of easy, enjoyable climbing. Definitely my favorite way to spend a day off!

I have at least one day off this weekend... can anyone tell me if the Kahuna boulder is still submerged, or if it might be climbable?

Saturday Beer Sesh Installment

2010-01-13T12:47:00.003-07:00

This past saturday, the stars aligned. The weather was warm, it hadn't snowed, and I got out of work early enough to hit up a quick beer sesh. in the Garden of the Gods.

Not a lot to report. Did a 7 and a 6 and some fun zero and one problems. It was cool to watch my buddy Nate do his first outside boulder problem. Now I understand why I was so entertaining to Jaeger when we were starting out.

So much psyche!!!!

Suffer for it installment...

2010-01-07T16:19:00.011-07:00

BURRRRRR!

Last Sunday, Rich Diggs and I headed out the the Millennium boulder in search of sunshine, sends and glory. Instead, we had clouds, snow and a little progress.

See Rich's fingertip up there? Yea. Gross. How did that happen? Well, he was working Ghost Dance when he did a one handed clap off of the starting hold and nearly exploded his hand. I thought sendage was imminent, but numb hands mixed with small holds didn't give it up.

On closer inspection, it looks like a blood-blister forming UNDER a normal blister! WOAH, and GROSS!!! Hope its healing up well dood.

Rich was understandably bummed after this development, but still continuted to climb. What a trooper!

I tried to mimic Rich's bummed face, and instead looked like a movie scene where the guy in the bar fight gets hit over the head with a bottle, and stands there wobbling before passing out. (Rich's Description)

Then came the pleading "please don't post that" face. I post both here to beat diggs to the punch :)

I had a great time making very good progress on Cannibal Dance Sit and also thought a send might be achievable.

Unfortunately, the small right hand crimp tore a hole in one of my pads, and I had to call it a day. But at that point, we were all becoming human Popsicles and were ready to hike back.

Diggs climbed a bit as well, trying the V7 start to Ghost Dance, but figured out more quickly than Rich or I that it was a bit uncomfortable climbing in such cold, breezy weather.

We all had a great time though, and any day out is always better than a non-climbing day! What has everyone else been up to?

New Stone (New to me anyway)

2010-01-05T16:18:00.006-07:00

Last day of the year, 2009 Rich played hookie from work, and I had the day off. What else would we do but go climbing?

I wish all boulders in CO were this close to the parking! We went up to Eldorado canyon where I had not yet had the pleasure of bouldering... We started out on the Gill Block... which was absolutely FREEZING, but had fun doing a couple easier problems for warming up purposes. From there we headed up into East Draw to give Rich a few goes on his mini-proj. Pig Dog.

He had the thing wired from a previous session, and sent in a couple-three goes. NICE WORK DOOD!!!!

By totally ignoring Rich's well-thought out and well-executed beta, It took me several goes to figure this thing out and send. I'm totally psyched. It was a lot of fun!

After our sends, we messed with The Infinite for a bit and got it mostly figured out before having too sore tips to pull out a send. We both did the warm-up thing to the right of pig-dog and called it a day.

Good to be out pulling, and good to squeak one last new tick in before the New Year!

More Morristone

2009-12-14T14:00:00.005-07:00

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

2009-12-10T12:13:00.012-07:00

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)

2009-12-08T06:29:00.003-07:00

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...

2009-11-20T16:18:00.014-07:00

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!

2009-11-08T15:58:00.003-07:00

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...

2009-11-04T15:29:00.005-07:00

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!

2009-10-26T16:31:00.015-06:00

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!

Get Excited

2009-10-23T14:22:00.005-06:00

I was going through some older photos from Newlin to generate some PSYCHE for the upcoming weekend....

Just thought it might be nice to share.

I'm really pumped to get out this weekend with any and all foolfaces who care to be in attendance! To those on the Joe's train, have a great time!!!! To those uncommitted either way, COME TO NEWLIN!!! Even if you just hang out, you will still have a great time!

Who Turned Up The Suck???

2009-10-16T16:48:00.004-06:00

Newlin.

Newlin apparently has stronger gravity on October 16 than anywhere else on the planet. T.J. and I had the misfortune of learning this first hand.

After battling the warm up boulder in shaky, thrutchy style, we went on to have our asses handed to us the rest of the day.

We both got on and tried old guard, and the thing to the right for quite a while before figuring out workable beta. Then, I was too tired to do it and T.J. had other aims. Double Mild Weak Sauce.

T.J. spent some time with Jaques Cousteau and was getting very close to sticking the big move before tearing holes in his fingers and feeling too sore and non-motivated to try more. We ended up going to Megaladon to try out the moves and got bouted there as well.

This photo pretty much sums it up. Staring at the boulders wondering why they are keeping their secrets today. Maybe getting reacquainted with the holds and style was necessary?

Who knows. The good news is we still had fun and there are plenty of days of Newlin ahead. SENDS COMING SOON!!!!

Precipitation Frustration

2009-10-13T15:05:00.003-06:00

The past weekend along the front range was absolute crap as far as weather goes. There was supposed to be a glimmer of hope for Sunday, but it never materialized.

While moving to the springs, I had ample time to consider what the ice-storms and freezing yuck were doing to the boulders. Never even made it to the gym, but got some good exercise lifting boxes. Hoping to check the wall at the sport climbing center tonight.
SIGH.

I'll let you know how it goes. STAY PSYCHED FOR PLASTIC!!!!!!

Curiously WRONG

2009-10-09T18:23:00.006-06:00

Exhibit A:

You might have guessed...but there is a story behind the above picture...

It was a Fromunda cheeze factory sort of day at Evans, and JJ's hands were not sticking to the holds. Some discussion of cooling techniques yielded the idea of hands in snow.

Now, how to do that without getting your skin wet? AH HA!!! Put a snowball in a bag and clutch it with your sweaty palms! JJ did this with his usual enthusiasm for all things madness and the scene was just too crazy not to stage a wild picture.

Thank you for being a good sport Jaeger!!!!

So the truth of the matter is that a couple Sundays ago we did a grueling hike up to Evans area B and got on "Curiously Wrong" (my Problem) and "Curiously Strong" (JJ's goal for the day). More fun than hard climbing yielded a great session.

We both sent, and had a great time. The pictures were too good not to share.

You can also find a pretty entertaining video HERE.

Click the link bishes. You know you want to.

Lazy Saturday SoMo Beer Sesh and Jamboree

2009-10-06T16:10:00.017-06:00

I think this picture pretty much sums up what this blog post (and blog in general) is all about.

Good Friends, beautiful days and chalked hands clutching chilled beers.

Saturday Morrison South Beer Sesh. Dave, you're doin it right.

First thing is first however. KUDOS TO BIGGITY FOR SENDING HIS PROJ!!!!!

He totally crushed Rupture in control and in good style. This set off an almost full-crew send train that was a hell of a lot of fun.

GREAT JOB DOOD!!!!

ASHER WANTS YOU... to know you missed one heck of a good time. We spent the usual warm-up time at the blocks mid-way up the hill, and were far more interested in bullshitting and drinking Fat Tire than actually getting down to business.

Matt staring down the slopy pinch on Rupture.

AHHH yes. Andrew was on hand, and stirring up the mud, so there was definitely some shenanigans to behold.

The requisite lap up Breashears.

It's fun to see the Alexa monkey not only out climbing on ACTUAL ROCKS, but trying tough stuff! She made a couple solid efforts on Rupture that have her psyched to return.

Biggity wants to know why you weren't at MoSo sending this saturday.

This is Alexa's epiphany that you actually CAN crimp slopers if temps are right!

Notice the psyched disbeleif!

Ahh yes. I have to post an embarassing shot of me if i'm going to make fun of all of you.

I really am a goofy, lanky bish.

Proof?

EXHIBIT A:

Hand making out, blowing a kiss, smoking, french blow, or all of the above? You tell me.No argument that Rich had his priorities straight.

(The rest of you should be ashamed of yourselves.)

It was fun to see the crew get psyched on the Slappy Dyno. Many sends, and many close-to-sends on this classic turd. (Nice job again Biggity! You had a heck of a day!)

We finished off the day with a send-train on Dasani. Alexa got psyched on this thing too!?! What's going on with this chick? Must be the Wahl training.

Blue-bird skys, no bugs, crisp temps and a crew to enjoy it all with makes Matt a psyched guy.

Worth The Wait

2009-10-01T17:29:00.006-06:00

As many know, Kristen has struggled with Helicopter for a LONG time. Its been 21 months since she first started working it!

Due to a threat of poor weather, I found myself spotting her on it today, and I'm EXTREMELY proud of her right now.

SHE TOTALLY CRUSHED IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Worked the bottom, worked the top, then sent. NOT A SINGLE FALL!!!!

NICE SEND KRISTEN!!!! And Congratulations. You can totally tell she was psyched with a smile like that!

Ahh fall. Gotta love it.

Climbing IceCapades

2009-09-27T07:13:00.017-06:00

Wow it's gotten cold and snowy at Mt. Evans in the last couple weeks!!!!

The hike wasn't too bad. Just some ice and snow in a few areas, but the talus fields up above a were absolutely treacherous!

The T.J. was on hand for the early morning shenanigans and fun was had by all.

Although no pictures to confirm, our day started off with a very novel experience... After only minutes of hiking up the road, a kind lady whose family owns one of the cabins on the road let us ride on her tailgate as she tore ass up the road. Sketchy for sure, but better than walking!!! This caused us to arrive at the boulders before the sun had come all the way into the canyon, and it was decidedly too cold for climbing yet.

Luckily, it was the perfect temperature for messing around. As we played Bruce Lee and broke up pieces of ice like total badasses, the sun finally made its way up and started the warming process.

T.J. crushing with his head! Sick!

Once again, T.J. put forth an alternate reality in which I sent 2nd go.

He was wrong once again unfortunately.

I sent on go # 4.5.

Actual send photos below.

Rich showed up just a few minutes before the send burn. I owe T.J. many many thanks for the days he spent under this with me, and to Rich and Dave for all the spots and encouragement.

"Don't screw up, Don't screw up, Don't screw up"

Genuine psyche!

The rest of the day was spent rock-shopping in the scary talus field above area a.

Not much was found, but T.J. did locate, clean and send this problem. It has a scary landing that the pictures do not convey, and the heel-hook is pretty committing.

No photos of the actual send due to spotting duties, but it is a very cool line and will hopefully draw some repeats!

In typical T.J. Humility, a grade has not been assigned. It sure looks tough.

GREAT WORK MAN!

How was every one's Saturday?

I'm headed up to Evans again today with "Sir Hands of Soxley".

Check back for more photos.

Raining = no sending.

2009-09-25T12:17:00.004-06:00

Colorado weather is unpredictable at best.

The last few days have definitely been a testament to that. No getting out due to rain = no sending.

It is looking better today, and the forecast for Sat. and Sun. continues to improve.

(That's good news)

So here is the question...

Should I head to Upper on Saturday and try to finish an 8, or go to Evans and try to finish a 9. I'm SOOOO close on both.

Decisions, decisions.

Evans...Again...Cuz It's Awesome...Shut-up.

2009-09-18T17:49:00.012-06:00

Ok Kids.

I don't know if you can handle this, but this is a CLIMBING POST!

Tried bierstadt again on Thursday. T.J. set forward an alternate reality...In which I sent first go...and which SHOULD have been actual reality.

Bummer. Didn't happen. Oh well. There's more juice where that came from right? Wrong. Dave was looking extremely strong on the problem, and I thought he was going to send right away too. Wrong.
Suck.
Anyone seen Boondock Saints?
"Wyatt-Fucking-Earp" Anyway, we ended up enjoying another "suess the beta" session immensely. There is no such thing as a bad day bouldering when it is cool out, sunny, and you are around people that make you laugh to the point of urinating your prana pants.
No, REALLY. We climbed the thing for hours and are both prepared for a rested assault with what we have learned.
(Mainly, we learned this bitch is within reach, and we both need to do it.)

T.J. spent some time with "ground control", which was close, and was climbing. I think he was mainly trying it so that Dave and I didn't feel guilty that he sat under our project all day, but whatever. So this piece of chos...AHEM...granite-heaven turned out to create a mini-epic for us.

T.J. and Dave spent some time cleaning up holds, and then tried it out.

Unfortunately, after sending the stand start, Dave tried the sit and broke a hold off into his and T.J.'s faces, cutting the top of Dave's wrist pretty severely, and T.J.'s ankle a bit.

Sketch.

After patching Dave up, he stopped bleeding enough to hang-out for a while. (he's a trooper)

Dave ended up with a few stitches in his arm, and a pretty F-ING SWEET campfire story for years to come.

We also ran into Chris Shulte while we were up at area B, and got to watch him send a pretty sweet new arete problem.

This thing looks like so much fun! The pictures don't convey the striking nature of this feature. It is freakin COOL!

The good news is, he reports it as being between 7 and 10. Maybe in my "kill-zone", maybe not. Either way, I'm psyched to try, and it's a pretty damn cool line!

Nice Work Chris!!!!

So yea... Another amazingly beautiful day at Mt. Evans. The season is growing short kids. If you plan on getting up there, you better do it soon. As you can see in the photo, the scrub-oak is shedding leaves, and the aspens are turning.

IT IS THE ELEVENTH HOUR!!!! HOPEFULLY SENDS COMING SOON!

The times they are a changin...

2009-09-15T17:49:00.006-06:00

Wow. It's been a LOOOOOONNNNNNNGGGGG time since the few readers who check this have had to suffer through a post from me.

Hopefully this will be a taste of more to come. It may not always be climbing, but I will attempt to keep it entertaining.

This past weekend, I had the pleasure of enjoying an amazingly snowy day at the park on Saturday, and an absolutely gorgeous day on Sunday at Evans. Yea, the forecast was bad, and yea, we risked it, but it was one of those magical days where it all works out, and you climb with no one else in sight the entire time!
Justin and TJ were on hand in full shenanigan mode, and we had a great time sending "Oreo toss direct" (V7) and "Oreo bounce" (V10 Flash)
Oh yea, and some climbing happened too. Jaeger impressed us all with his climbing prowess while removing his shirt (a-la Chris Sharma during "just do it") during an epic send of the ladder. Sorry ladies, he's taken.
I worked the proj. (bierstadt) and sorted some beta and hope to send sometime soon. The season is getting short, and alpine temps are prime with friction right now. It's comforting to know that the more things change, there will always be friends and fall temps to look forward to.
Stay psyched kids!

Under Pressure

2009-08-19T17:02:00.003-06:00

Mercedes seems to do extremely well working under pressure. When she found out she was going to Austrailia and wasn't sure exactly when she was supposed to be back, she went into full scale project-send-mode, and the two of us when full scale for an epic climbing weekend! (two weekends ago) Starting on Friday night at Morrison, she did Tendonitis Traverse from the low start first try, in the dark (no pictures). It was 82 degrees when we got back to the cars at 9:30PM. JJ will back me up on giving Merc double points for her send in the heinous conditions.

The next day we went to Red Cliff where she finished off Return of the Jedi V8. In two burns. It was her first V8... she skipped V7.

Alexa joined in on the fun and worked Minturn Mile. She actually does climb when Lucas isn't around.

On Sunday Mercedes and I headed to Emerald to try The Kind. I apparently need more pressure, as I failed to send yet again. I'm going to use the "it was my third day on" excuse for this one...

SO - Congrats to Mercedes! We can't wait for you to come back!

Upper Chaos Canyon

2009-08-02T10:59:00.005-06:00

On Saturday, Matt, Fiona, Karyn and I got our first tour of Upper Chaos Canyon from Dave and Kevin. The hike is long, but the views are spectacular.

The meadow boulder couldn't be in a more beautiful setting. We ran into the Fort Collins crew, and had a great time climbing all day with perfect temps. Karyn, Fiona, and I tried the prow up the center of the meadow boulder...this thing is hard when you can't keep feet.

I was chucking for the hold, but to no avail...

From there we moved on to Skipper D.

Fiona working out the starting moves...

Kevin is getting close, trying to figure out which of his 6 variations of beta is the way to send.

Dave started the send train before I could get the camera out.

Collin made quick work of this awesome line.

Jason borrowed a velcro shoe and sent once the heel of his shoe wasn't popping off.

Matt's proud send...

And one more (because I spent a lot more time taking pictures than climbing)

We also stopped by El Jorge, where Dave put down the far Left El Jorge. He managed to avoid the camera all day...

Today we are tired.

The Happiest Place on Earth...

2009-07-22T16:12:00.002-06:00

No, not Disneyland...Red Cliff! Rich, Matt, Fiona and I had a great weekend camping trip. What does Red Cliff have that Disneyland doesn't?

Crash pads to sit on...with a beer...

hammocks...with a beer... Subaru tailgating...

big boulders to stand on...and no one's mom telling Rich hip thrusts are inappropriate...

OK - the number one thing Disneyland doesn't have is climbing. Fiona warms up on the boulder in the campsite...

Rich nabs a sick FA on the boulder...

Matt needs tall man beta for Immortality...

Mercedes came up late Saturday afternoon to work Return of the Jedi - she's super close to linking it from the bottom.Dave Wahl is back in the game, working projects again.

And...Red Cliff is my happiest place because...

Diggs sent Minturn Mile!

Projects....

2009-07-17T08:48:00.004-06:00

Short sessions to work on projects... Matt is getting close on "Laying in Wait" at Mt. Evans...this thing is trecherous! Cooler temps would be better...

Asher getting the moves dialed on "Live Strong" at the double wide boulder, Guanella Pass.

Lucas working "Mind Matters", Guanella Pass.

Diggs, still trying to get the heel hook to stick on "Ninja", Guanella Pass.

Proof that Alexa does climb - a flapper stopped the send of Pineapple Express, Newlin Creek.

We've come to the conclusion that this is the summer of "I'm not climbing that much" and that equates to "my project feels hard"... but it's always fun!

It Matters...

2009-07-05T20:44:00.002-06:00

Rylan sent Mind Matters (V11/12?) at Guanella pass! Really cool, REALLY tall, proud line! Congrats!

The rest of us went for the opposite end of the height spectrum and tried the lowest of lowballs, the ninja pony... (seriously, does anyone know what the original name of this problem is? Amy Carden remembers it having the word ninja in the name, and it evolved to include pony when people were topping it out and sitting across the horn...)

the pad is for show, we actually pushed it back so we could roll in the dirt and still dab.

Hopefully everyone had a wonderful 4th of July weekend!

Watch out for Rylan...

2009-06-28T18:36:00.003-06:00

Rylan made me run down the fire trail to aviod the tourists. The damage that resulted:

Rylan will also suffer damage next time I see him: (it's really not very painful, but I still blame Rylan for the cankle)

the update you've all been asking about...

2009-06-28T08:11:00.009-06:00

Between weather and work schedules, we've had far fewer climbing days than we'd like, but here are some shots from Colorado's most beautiful alpine climbing areas.

Matt on Mind of a Goldfish, Evans Area B.

Diggs, trying to figure out the short-person beta for Mind of a Goldfish. Steph, crushing as usual, repeating the climb to show how it's done.

Matt decided Seurat, Mt. Evans Area A, is an es-stupid problem and pulled on this far...

Rylan takes time to sit and "reflect" under Dark Horse, Guanella Pass.

Ben on Dark Horse

Rylan, working Dark Horse.

Rylan focusing on the crimp, in spite of whatever Ben is doing laying under the reflector at Matt's feet...

WTF?!?

Matt seemed to enjoy it (or at least think it was funny!)

Asher crushing the Kind, RMNP, right before he sends Mr. Wimpy, the harder, righter variation.

Tommy, the hilarious Tennessee guy, working Whispers of Wisdom, RMNP

Rylan cruising the sequence on Whispers of Wisdom - this problem is going to go for him very soon!

Diggs working the Kind - continuing the trend of falling even closer to the end, just when you thought I couldn't get any further without actually finishing the climb.

There you have it! I did it all by myself. I will try to update more often - Matt has been spending ridiculous hours at work, and barely has time to climb, let alone update a climbing blog. I hope he knows how much everyone misses climbing with him!

Getting out a little...

2009-06-04T16:00:00.015-06:00

As most of us on the front range know, the weather lately has been less than stellar. That combined with an epic work schedule has kept me off the rock.

However, the ladies have been getting out...

Diggs on Warm-up, Dino Mtn.

Diggs with some tomfoolery at the Woo. Diggs on the back-side of the warm-up, Dino Mtn.

Sara preparing to launch in the Woo.

Fiona Enjoying the Organic Slab, The Woo.

A rare "Conner-saur" sighting, Dino Mtn.

Alexa starting into the Organic Slab, The Woo.

Tuna on Edging Edgio. Dino Mtn.

Alexa riding high on the organic slab, The Woo.

More flailing on Edging Edgio, Dino Mtn.

Alexa Working the Squirrel, Dino Mtn.

Kristen also working the Squirrel, Dino Mtn.

Alexa enjoying the last hold before the mantle, The Woo.

Sarah enjoying what is quite possibly the best problem in the Woo.

Pray for sunshine kids.

Weather blues

2009-05-02T12:31:00.005-06:00

It seems that Colorado has been in an unfortunate weather pattern for the last few weeks. Gorgeous all week, and then rainy yuck throughout the weekend.

A few brave souls have still got some sessions in though. And this is their story.

In an effort to resurrect the C-Wood after work sessions, I met up with Derek Highland to give a tour of the Font area at the wood.

He enjoyed pulling on some grade-A choss and I had some fun repeating old lines and chewing up the tips on everyone's favorite conglomerate turds. It was a fun session and we ended up meeting Belkon and Diggs for a lovely Tick-Infested session at the Punani boulder. Good times were had by all.

That weekend, some brave souls rolled the dice and ended up down at Newlin Creek for some wicked bouldering on less-chossy rock.

Here, Diggs warms up on the "old guard" boulder in preparation for a session that was absolutely going-off!

Here, Fiona can be seen working the "Uncivilized" line and enjoying what turned out to be a beautiful day.

Beyond this, it has been Morrison's black hole for me. But alas, even that has been productive! Good times and getting psyched for alpine season.

Anyone know how Evans is looking yet?!?

mmmmm. So Pretty.

2009-04-23T11:45:00.003-06:00

WANT.

Having no climbing news sucks.

2009-04-12T15:52:00.004-06:00

Here are a few random pictures to compensate.

Retribution

2009-04-03T16:22:00.005-06:00

You might recall that I posted a few pictures of a monstrous little Kristen a couple months ago.

These are some pictures of how cool I was NOT in mid/high school:

Woah bleached hair. I still do the "I'm having fun" look.

Before I had discovered climbing:

Yay horray, it went!

2009-03-20T17:32:00.006-06:00

I had the great pleasure of knocking off one of my current projects today!

Turning Point!

(photos by diggs)

It was UGLY, thrutchy, and mostly accomplished by try-hard, but it felt GREAT to stand on top. Definitely the hardest thing I've done since coming back from the blown up finger.

PSYCHED!

In related news, diggs sent a small project of hers just below turning point right before!

WOAH double send day!

Nice work diggs!

Soulja Boy Dyno (project)

2009-03-17T08:31:00.012-06:00

That's right. A groundbreaking new Dyno project has been discovered in the famous Satellite bouldering area of the flatirons.

However, this news will have to wait. Why? you might ask.

Because Steph Marvez SENT HER FREAKING PROJ, THAT'S WHY!

Yes, that is correct. She took down Captain Hook in good style.

Smooth as butter sliding across glass on a velvet counter top.

CONGRATULATIONS STEPHERMIE!

Ok, back to the Dyno. A talented young Zissou...ahem, I mean climber named Rylan envisioned this new exhibition of human fitness.

Unfortunately, he was unable to complete the line. He felt it should not be bolted and brought down to a "jaegerian" level...if you will.

It should be saved for the next generation, and it should be finished in Rylan's preferred style. (balls out, no pro, gnar gnar, i'm in the mags, Badass style) This line is for a new level of climber the world has yet to even think possible.

Though it has seen another couple suitors, no one has come closer than Lukas (the lady-slayer) Hardman.

Lukas gave several efforts over what...maybe ten minutes?

However, he used a technique previously thought impossible.

He hucked his gul-dum meat at that shit like there was no fricking tomorrow.

Many have argued that he is the chris sharma to rylan's boone speed.

Many have speculated that he is the mutant offspring of Superman and Jesse James' sister. 100% strongmo, 1brazilion% of the time.

However the line did not accept his advances. He came close. Closer than most will ever hope. Close enough even to say; "just the tip. just for a second. just to see how it felt."

Is the there an individual equal to the level this line represents?

Time will tell.

This is just a photo of me standing around making excuses for not sending Purity Control.

Who know diaper butt could be so sexy?

Satellite Boulders

2009-02-23T08:49:00.006-07:00

Following a quick after-work nap on Sunday, diggs and I headed up to Boulder to meet up with friends and enjoy a sesh at the Satellite Boulders.

Turning point is now added to the project list. It is a pretty line (though admittedly dirt burglar and es-stupid) and I can't wait for a chance to try it when it is not totally seeping.

Flannimal had a good day. She knocked off Captain Hook and spent some time working Flesh Fest. BElkon also put in some good burns on Flesh Fest and seemed to be making progress.

Sarah and Kristen fought with this slabby devil for a bit but were not able to figure it out.

I didn't try it, but the girls both said that it felt like you were putting 200 lbs of force on your left foot to start. Ouchies.

Definitely a cool area, and I'm psyched to go back and give Turning Point some attention now that the finger is feeling better.

More From Carter:

2009-02-11T14:12:00.005-07:00

I'm always injured during Carter season and I'm so jealous.

Kristen has started wrasslin' the Big Kahuna. She's making progress!

The treacherous youth movement is in full effect. Asher made short work of Kahuna. All those spotters for nothing. So sad.
NICE SEND DOOD! Ahh yes. More shenanigans on the rock throwing front. Here, Steph and Diggs are pillars of strength while Asher tries to launch a rock at something.
I believe this to be the work of the evil-chuck in the picture who is whispering direction. And what were they aiming at?
I can only guess: Horray climbing. Horray snowboarding whiplash preventing you from gym climbing! Snow sliding session with Jaeger-dad ends in ouchies. For realz.

Throwing like a girl...

2009-02-08T10:02:00.004-07:00

Clearly, chuck has tossed some eggs at houses and lemons at little kids in his time.

It's a textbook throw. Feet shoulder width apart, arms balanced, and focus on target.

I'm sure the analysts at sports-center would agree that Digg's delivery is a little... ahem... nontraditional. She looks like she's about to stab Nelson (below) in the head with an invisible knife not toss a stone into the sunset. I'm not even sure where to start with this one Steph.
It's almost like that nightmare I had where Randy Johnson (look it up) was throwing cups of J-E-L-L-O at nursing home staff while trying to climb the couch and relive the "glory days".
And are those eyes closed!?! Sadly enough, I couldn't throw further than either of them.
At least I have a spot on the Rockies roster if I can shoulder the shame.

See what I mean?!?

2009-02-04T09:52:00.002-07:00

This is the picture we were discussing at dinner last night.

See what I was saying about the suspenders?

Oh, and I'm sure Diggs would want you to notice that SWEET bandanna and binocular set that her sister is sporting!

Gotta love the little letters on her shirt as well!

I'll have to see if I can dig up some embarrassing pics of me as well.

You guyz are my budz

2009-02-02T19:12:00.001-07:00

Thanks for bein' my budz. And where was everyone on Sunday at Morrison????? I forgot my PBR's and then nobody had any!!!! WTFWTFWTFWTWFTWTFWTFWTFWTWFWTFWTF

Situner's B-day Tomorrow

2009-02-02T16:26:00.002-07:00

My how time flys.

Go Team

2009-02-01T13:38:00.002-07:00

Not my team, but still not a big Steelers fan.

Good news

2009-01-27T10:30:00.005-07:00

Doctor took another look at finger today and gave the go-ahead to start climbing SUPER JUGS in the gym with long rests in between.

Really good news! I'm still a little bummed, as I will not be attending the bouldering sessions like the black hole winter one below for a while. Oh well. At least its climbing.

Oh, and someday Kristen really is going to send helicopter. Really really.

Super-Jug Top-Rope for life!

Carter Lake Session

2009-01-20T09:34:00.011-07:00

Carter lake is an amazing winter destination. Provided it is not windy, it can easily reach 70 degrees on a sunny day in JANUARY.

Unfortunately, this past Sunday it was windy. Although I froze my butt in shorts, it was a fun session and good to be out "rock shopping".

At one point during the day, the wind drove the ice sheet on top of the lake against the shore and broke it all to pieces. For lack of anything better to do, I hiked down to see and it was pretty sweet. Like plate-mail all flexing and moving against itself in the waves.

Anyway, the usual clowns were in attendance. This is Rich right before jumping on "Buddha belly" and declaring it an es-tupid problem. As I mentioned in a comment on the Hueco post, Flakey roof is VERY fun. Although the crux move is a bit reachy, here is diggs pulling off a quick ascent of the problem on Sunday.

Seriously, if you haven't done it, you should.

It sits uphill and to the right if you are facing skunk-rub.

I remember feeling that "Daily Chuck Dose" which climbs out from under the middle of skunk-rub was very difficult. It saw several flashes on Sunday and other red-point ascents by Fiona, Sarah, Kristen, and I believe Rich.

Unfortunately, Sarah injured her middle finger of her right hand (i think) during the send. Kristen passed along the news that it seems minor and should heal quickly. Especially because she stopped climbing immediately. GOOD DECISION SARA!

Once again, I have compiled a list of problems to do at Carter once my finger heals.

Lets just hope it is still cool enough outside to do so!

Stick send everyone!

Digg's Hueco Trip

2009-01-13T11:35:00.009-07:00

As I mentioned, Diggs enjoyed a few days at Hueco over the new year. I was working and have never been to this wonderland, so i'm incapable of commenting on these photos.

Without further ado, here is the commentary on Hueco by Diggs:

Fiona almost didn't make it out of Hueco alive. We had to beat her to get her into the car for the drive home. Notice the Jaeger look-a-like photographer that was admiring our mad skills.

Fiona almost got her daily dick dose in Hueco...ask her to tell you the story.

More classic warm-ups - Voltron!

Steph sent hyproglow - only slightly dislocating her hip.

Choir boys almost gave Fiona satisfaction...

Sign of the Cross - super classic!

And projects to go back to...Steph on Baby Face.

Things to do besides climbing installment

2009-01-08T15:49:00.004-07:00

Sport Hiking

I haven't hiked for the sake of hiking in a LONG time. In my mind, it is just a necessary evil to reach the boulders. Karyn gave me a much needed foot in the ass and we enjoyed a beautiful day watching her doggers go ape-nuts crazy and hiking around the boulder foothills.

Good to be out of the house.

But it is STILL sport hiking...

Thing to do besides climbing installment

2009-01-04T10:47:00.004-07:00

VIDEO GAMES!!!

I really went through the trouble and 1.5 hours of nonsense to create a "life like" Tiger Woods '09 game face. It wasn't worth it.

Yes. Video games can fill the void in ANY climbers life. Rylan has been so kind as to spend over 30 hours playing various games with me while we both wait to heal.

Now here is the suprise... GIRLS SECRETLY LIKE VIDEOGAMES!!!!

Alexa and Fiona were arguably more addicted to killing terrorists than Rylan and I were!

I know, I know. You never thought this possible. But I assure you, get some females in the game and it will be that much better.

I miss climbing kind of a lot.

How's everyone doing?

I got left in Denver while the crew and Diggs went to Hueco.

I = Loser.

Things to do besides climbing installment

2008-12-30T08:17:00.011-07:00

Clear Creek Caving-

This past Sunday, Marcelo talked a few of us into an underground excursion in clear creek. A fun little fault cavern with several small squeezes offered up a couple hours of non-climbing entertainment. Yes. "Mano". Hand.

Everyone was psyched at the bouldering potential found both near the entrance and exit to the cave. Maybe we should take some pads up sometime!

The pinches and confinement begin right as you drop through the entrance and underground.

If you are at all claustrophobic, this little trip is not for you.

Yes, this is an actual pinch that you squeeze through. Marcelo squirmed through inch by inch and I followed.

It leads to a fault about a foot wide that runs for 30 feet. Very cool.

Strangely enough, Marcelo has to go down and under the block frank is standing on to get to him. It's a labyrinth down there!

This photo was shot by frank back down towards where I was at in the previous photo.

There is quite a bit of graffiti in the cave. Frank is dropping down into the biggest room which is close to one of the entrances.

Pretty freakin cool. Though admittedly not as cool as bouldering.

Doc said the finger MIGHT be ready for super-jugs in February.

Until then, no straining the finger and rest.

Suck.

More "things to do besides climbing installments" coming soon.

Add another to the Disabled List.

2008-12-29T08:11:00.006-07:00

Our very own Rylan has suffered a finger pop in Hueco on the first day of his 8 day trip.

He was on his project for the trip (I don't know the problem name) and suffered a finger injury in his middle finger just as I have.

This is turning into an epidemic people.

So far, the tally goes...

Rylan

Frank

Andy Mann

NARC!!!

Myself

Please please please kids, if your digits are sore, take a couple days off instead of a couple Advil. You'll thank yourself.

It's CARTER SESON!!!!!

2008-12-17T09:34:00.008-07:00

Although winter brings the closure of our favorite alpine areas, it opens up some of the local possibilities such as CARTER LAKE.

Some of the crew escaped up to Ft. Collins to enjoy Carter this past weekend. As usual with our crew, there was a lot more shenanigans than climbing.

Fiona is getting STRONG again. She's pulling moves in the gym that I cannot touch and sending everything in her path.

Here she is cruising the moves on Kahuna Roof. She fell off the top, but it will go soon for sure!

Ok... It appears that the swashbuckling Black Beard has cornered Rich with a stick-brush saber. She allegedly is trying to help him with a case of "mud-butt" he came into during a tumble down the hill. I don't blame him for being scared. This appears to be Lee and Steph. in the middle of a choreography session for the upcoming Kahuna Roof production company's version of CHICAGO.

Not entirely sure. Maybe a scene from Jurassic Park?

As I understand it, Steph. and Flan came up with a scale of difficulty as related to "smelling" objects. On this scale, S0 (S-Zero) would be like an onion, and S11 would be smelling water. Here, the girls are sampling one of the finest S7s in the state!

Back to the climbing...briefly. Lee is crushing a line that I have not been on, but assured by many that I would "LOVE, CRUSH, FLASH"... you get the idea. All I know is it looks SICK.

I can't wait to heal up and enjoy a session at Carter. It really is good, and I REALLY need to finish Kahuna!

Satellites...

2008-12-15T12:32:00.002-07:00

Before the pop, Diggs and I had the pleasure of a Satellites tour from Sara and Chuck.

It is an excellent place for climbing and letting chuck take pictures that make a sandwich look 3X the size of your head. SICK
Upon Healing, I will require "tall" beta for turning point.
Just sayin.

Fail.

2008-12-10T08:43:00.007-07:00

Climbing in the gym last night I suffered the first "Pop" I've experienced in a finger while climbing.

Yay 3 (minimum) weeks off.

It was the textbook example. Crimping hard, feet cut, try to hold it, SNAP, hand goes limp and fall. I iced it immediately. Today it is swollen, VERY tender, and weak. It does move back and forth, but it is unpleasant to do so, and it doesn't close all the way.

Looks like I will be working out my thumbs a bit through Christmas. Anyone up for some video football? I've been meaning to re-play through the Metal Gear series. As good an opportunity as any I guess.

There are also the fringe games I haven't been playing. PSYCHED!

In short, this sucks on a level I never thought possible. If your fingers are sore kids, do yourself a favor.

Skip a session or two.

I would be happy to hear treatment plans from anyone who has endured this sort of bullshit in the past. My health insurance hasn't kicked in through work yet, so I am wary to go to the doctor. It doesn't appear to bowstring so maybe it is not TOO bad?