The In-Between Times

WARNING:  the following blog post contains no media and has very long and to some peope boring route descriptions of new climbs I have bolted in Sitka.  Reader beware. 


Thought I would write a quick post on how the crag development is going.  In the last five days I have put in all of the bolts I ordered which gave me a total of three new sport routes to choose from.  The most exciting of which is a route on a new wall literally 30 feet down from Whale Wall (formerly Shitballz wall).  I'm probably the most psyched for this line even though its not the hardest.  It takes you on a sweet journey up the wall via large flat holds and ledges that eventually leads you to a technical slab sequence, and then finishes off with a very nice juggy overhanging section.  Its around 65-70 feet in length and is a true classic.  The bottom part is still a tad dirty, but with a little brushing and some more traffic this is going to turn into an everyday-afterwork-must-DO!  I placed the bolts very liberally so that beginner climbers could have a taste of what leading is all about without pooping their pants.  It took a long time to rapp bolt this thing because I was also cleaning the line as I went down.  I got really lucky in some places because I had only rapped down the line once and hadn't really tried any kind of sequence on TR before.  However, this rock is really interesting.  Its almost perfect for climbing, meaning it has holds in all the right places and the variety is astounding; pockets, crimps, sidepulls, slopers etc. etc.  I am very happy to have my name on this line, which I named 'Medicine for the People' after a band that came through and played at the local music festival here called Homeskillet.  They were easily the best band of the night and a few days later we got to hang out with them at a bonfire on the beach while they played some of their music for us. 
Anyways, I am happy to report that my new line has been getting some traffic and even had its first whipper!  Thank god the bolt held :) 
Besides the new line I have also finished bolting some older lines that I had been doing on TR.  One is an amazing line that takes the path directly up the center of Whale Wall which I have been calling Sitka Sounds.  I have done the line on TR many times and it feels like 5.11a/b, but I have yet to try it on lead.  I think it might turn into my favorite line on this wall because it has some of my favorite movement. 
Sitka Sounds route description:
The route is slightly overhanging the whole way and starts off on easy 5.8 climbing to a nice big jug that is flat on top and incut around the sides.  From here you get your feet up high on some foot smears and drop knee making a big move to a very weird little three finger crimp.  You then latch your heel into the side of the jug locking oyu into the wall, grab another small flat crimp and scamper your feet up onto the jug.  From here you have an awkward rest (if you are short) with your hands in a deep undercut and a really sweet little sidepull.  Again you have to get your feet high on a slopey ramp and lock off the sidepull reaching out right to a couple of really neat almost incut/flat finger jugs.  This is where the route gets really cool, you start to follow this slanted rail that has neat incuts, pinches, and flat jugs.  You follow this rail to it's apex where a perfect incut gaston and a four finger notch await.  From here there is either a really hard shouldery move to a small three finger crimp, or a a BIG committing move to one of the coolest incut crimpers I have ever seen.  I mean, this hold is like a gym hold its so perfect.  After latching this incut, you have to make some really difficult feet adjustments while at the same time locking off to a sharp pocket, a gaston pocket, and then finally the route finishes on really neat flat rails and jugs.

The other line I bolted is called Whale Song and is a true crimping masterpiece on a slight overhang that takes a clean line directly up the left side of Whale Wall.  I'm proposing solid 5.11d for this one, its got a very sustained section of hard crimpy moves and at the very end there is a low percentage deadpoint to a good rail. 
Whale Song route description:
You start on easy 5.8 climbing that gets hard very quickly.  You leave the easy climbing to gain a really neat pistol grip sidepull and a crescent shaped incut crimper.  These are your last 'safety' holds for a while.  Crossing to a very small crimper you make a lunge out left to a pill shaped sloper.  This is the most technical of the two cruxes, you have to adjust your feet getting almost horizontal with either a downward pulling toe or a heel hook and bring your right hand into a almost full pad incut undercling crimp.  From here you have to get your feet underneath you to establish in the undercling before punching to a good sidepull and then again to another good side pull.  You squeeze these two opposing sidepulls and maybe get a quick shake here before reaching into two sets of perfectly horizontal crimpers.  One crimper broke and got a little better but the other three aren't the best.  The feet aren't very good either but once you establish on the last set of crimpers you need to get your foot on a high 1/2 mm edge and make a very low percentage deadpoint to a really sweet rail.  From here you gain jugs until you climb back into the ending sequence of Sitka Sounds, where the rail comes to an apex. 
Unfortunately I ran out of bolts while bolting this last line so the only part that is protected is the crux section which is three bolts long.  AFter hitting the good rail you have to run it out a bit until you climb back into the finishing sequence on Sitka Sounds, both lines share an anchor.  There is also a variation to Sitka Sounds which will make the grade solid 5.11b, and even makes for a better line with a really neat drop knee move on crimpers and a crux deadpoint to a cool rounded incut crimper. 
So basically, the three independent lines on the wall have finally been bolted, and now all thats left on Whale Wall are the variations and linkups.  I'm busy right now with trying to raise some money for a new batch of bolts but once they get here I have several more lines already picked out.  There is a stunning exposed arete at the very top of a cool juggy face climb just to the left of Medicine for the People, that I am foaming at the mouth to equip.  I've started to call the wall that MFTP is on the Jah Wall.  There are two, maybe even three more lines on this wall that hold a lot of potential.
PLUS, the area I am excited about the most is right next door to Whale Wall and is an impressively overhung wall with two very distinct lines.  I'm going to call this overhanging wall The Frontier Wall.  There is so much potential!!!  I love it here!  The best part about all of this, is of course the proximity of the climbing to the road.  Its ROADSIDE!!  And, its literally five minutes away from where both Steph and I work.  Stpeh is working at a local boat engine repair shop while I am busy learning the secrets of the perfect brew...
Summer has been very good, with the exception of the weather.  We really don't see much of the sun here, and it doesn't get all that warm either, but I'm not complaining.  Life is too good to complain. 
I will try to get my camera out the next time we go climbing so my very small audience will have some eye candy.  I'm hoping to get out to the wall today and put down both of the new routes I bolted so maybe some pictures of the first ascents will surface in the near future.  Thanks for reading! 

Alpine Adventure Run 2012

The Alpine Adventure Run took place this past weekend here in Sitka.  It's a seven mile race that takes an interesting path up a large hill and around a spectacular ridgeline.  The majority of the race is in an alpine setting and this year there was aneerie ethereal type myst that hung about the scattered snow fields we found ourselves running/sliding over. 

The beginning of the race.  I'm the man in black on the far left.

Crossing the finish line.  Psyched!  This was hard.  My time was pretty non-competitive (1hr49mins, for comparison the first place runner's time was 1hr08mins), but I had a personal goal of finishing in under 2hrs with a sub goal of trying to make 1hr45mins so I was definitely happy. 

Look at all those extremely fit people. 

Frontin'

Yesterday was a beautiful day. Today there was an eternal blizzard.
Yesterday I got to play with space-aged-barbarian-looking power tools. Equipment you might find in the arsenal of a space marine, used to slice through the grotesque and bulging arm of a space orc.
Today I played in the snow. There was too much of it. Slow, wet, cumbersome. Yet, I had fun.


I finally landed the fallen tree jump! I did a big frontside 180 but had to slam on the breaks hard and fast because I was feet from hitting a tree. Psyched!

It's spring break now. In 3 short class sessions I will finally be done with the EMT course and (hopefully) become a certified EMT in the state of Alaska!!! Psyched!!

The Flux Capacitor

A couple of sunny days here is all that it takes to remind you of how endlessly beautiful this place can be.



Steph and I have now been living in our new little cottage by the sea for the last month. October came and went like the leaves on the alders and maple trees. I have been busy at work as a para-educator, filling in at the local Highschool, middle school, and elementary school. I even applied for a job as a para-professional at the elementary school and will find out if I got it (after an intense interview by the school board) on Monday, so wish me luck.



I have really enjoyed my new life here in Alaska, but it does leave me pining away for the basalt, granite, and rhino rock of Washington. Hell, I even find myself day dreaming about pulling plastic :) The weather here has turned very rainy, and while we did get a stretch of beautiful weather last week, it looks as if there will be no more tales from the Whale Wall, at least until the Spring, maybe. I was pretty psyched about the possibility of bolting this wall, and it still may happen, but for now, I turn my prospects to other endeavors.



Steph and I have been volunteering at the local Search and Rescue chapter here, and in January the free EMT class starts that we have both signed up for and have been eagerly awaiting.
Even though there is really no climbing up here, or even a decent climbing gym (there is a dead vertical 30 foot wall at the community center that I work out at, but its really not made for training, if you get my drift) I still try to stay in shape. I have been purchasing monthly passes to the community fitness center here which has a lot of really new equipment, a basketball court (damn you basketball!!) and later this month they will start to install something that I am very excited about, a bouldering wall! I've asked to be on the planning committee for the wall and met the person who is spearheading the project and it seems like it will be a pretty sweet little addition to the gym. They received a grant for developing the center and have something like $1,500 to play with. For now it sounds like the most expensive part will be purchasing the lumber, and I would love it if anyone out there reading this has a good lead on cheap holds. New or used.



So, besides the new bouldering wall that has yet to materialize, the only real climbing I have to look forward to will be on my return trip to Washington this December for Christmas. I'll be arriving Christmas eve, and staying for two weeks! I'm so stoked to hang out at Stone Gardens and check out the SBP which I have never been to. Plus, I can't wait to break in my new snow board at the resorts. The back country here is starting to expose itself, but so far the only option is Bear mountain which is a pretty involved day, and Steph and I just haven't had the time. However, Verstovia is starting to accumulate some nice base layers so hopefully I will have some sweet backcountry reports in the near future. For now, I have been rediscovering my hiking bug and making the trek up to Picnic rock several times last week after work. The sunsets have been spectacular, the views have been bewildering, and I have yet to come face to face with a wild bear (fingers crossed).







The atmosphere in this town is very different than a lot of places I have lived. The people here like to shoot things and eat them. I'm no vegetarian, and I certainly enjoy plunging my dull omnivorous teeth into a nicely cooked hunk of venison, but it is odd to be surrounded by so many guns sometimes. I went to the range the other day with Steph and our friend Adam who is a straight up gun connoisseur/enthusiast. It was a blast (did everyone get that pun?)! I got to shoot a 9mm glock (very fun), and an AR (even funner!), as well as Steph's new rifle, a sweet 23. We were actually trying to site her new scope so we could engage in the rampant killing that takes place here ourselves but something jut wasn't panning out. On a trip to Orien's, a sporting good store here in Sitka, where our friend Adam works and was kind enough to site her rifle for her for free, a father and his two daughters walked into the store. The two little girls couldn't have been more than 10 and 8 respectively and the father was asking for deer tags for the pair of them. The guy behind the counter grinned and turning to the two little wide eyed girls, probably with a combined weight of 90lbs, said "Are you guys gonna kill Bambi?". That made me laugh.



But that's just what I'm getting at here, the culture is just different. Little girls here play with barbies, and wear pink; and at the same time they know how to work a single shot bolt action 22 to push Bambi's wig back and bring back a few pounds of venison for the parents. It's a culture of hunters and gatherers. People collect berries and shrooms in the summer, and hunt deer/ducks in the Fall and Winter. Do they need to to do this to survive? I guess not, I mean, there's a completely functioning grocery store here, in fact there's two of them. I guess the argument is that we live on an island and anytime you can cut down on spending money on food that's brought here by barge, ferry, or plane you kind off feel good about yourself.




I have had more than a handful of meals here that were completely homegrown. Meaning the bulk of the meal was either caught here, grown here, or harvested here by the people who made the meal. I think my favorite has been either deep fried duck tenderloin, or golden chanterelle pizza.



Well, I was going to plunge into some weird philosophical rant about misconceptions, guns, and hunting, but maybe in a later post. I'm more prone to keep talking about what's on my mind and what the future looks like.
One of my favorite things to think about lately is where we will be moving next. At first it was going to be somewhere far away and semi-exotic, but instead, after a climbing drought such as the one I'm experiencing, we have talked about moving to Bishop, California. If all goes according to plan we would leave Sitka late August/early September and make our way down to the bouldering mecca. Stopping of course in Squamish, Leavenworth, Smith, etc. etc. on our way down, only to arrive at the beginning of the season in mid October. I really have no words for how psyched I would be to live in Bishop for a year. To have those boulders at my fingertips year round, not to mention all of the other amazing climbing destinations a mere car ride away, is kind of mind blowing to conceptualize. On the other hand, it's not as easy as all of that. There are jobs to consider, living accommodations, and planning how this could contribute to the next step in our lives. But for now, I love to think about waking up every morning to a blue bird sky and couple thousand boulder problems on perfect rock.

Mushroom Hunting

The fall is starting to rear its adolescent head. The mood of the weather is angsty and cold, and we recieve the silent treatment from it for days at a time. Still, as the snow line creeps ever lower, along with the temperature, the weather, for the most part, has still been mild. We took advantage of some of the sunny weekend days to get out and hunt for mushrooms. The ever-coveted golden chanterelle's were high on our hit list, and being the novice mycologists that we are, experimenting was the name of the game.
Bear mountain is a beast of a mountain and it's rocky tendrils spread out in all directions creating several low angle ridges. Its forested fingers, dense, moist, dark, are perfect habitats for several species of edible mushrooms, so Steph and I decided to try there first. We had to walk along a forest service road that skirts the perimeter of the mountain for an hour before we finally headed up into the woods. The sun filtered through the trees on a beautiful Sunday afternoon and we jumped over creeks and fallen nurse logs looking for a mushroom line. As we made our way up over some of the sleepy ridges we saw clumps of Winter Chantrelles and other species of non-edibles and knew we had found a good spot. As we crept up the ridge line near a gushing creek bright orange/yellow patches could be seen peeking their heads sheepishly out of dark caves created by the massively tangled root systems of giant spruces and hemlocks. Like tiny little mushroom farms dispersed sporadically throughout the forest we hopped from miniature cave to miniature cave collecting our golden bounty.


Delicious gold!



Our second time to our 'secret spot' we came away with nearly 3 pounds of goldens.


We also collected some winters and a few hedgehogs.


So far we have used them in spaghetti sauces, on top of pizza's, in salads, and eaten them by themselves with some butter and garlic.
The mushie season is pretty much over. We received our first freeze of the year but today is a nice mixture of clouds and sun, so we may head out to gather some more spongy gold.

From Squamish to Sitka

Squamish was great. I couldn’t have asked for a better trip really. I made it there with little to no road rage, border was good, wasn't made to strip down and grab my ankles, and my car wasn’t asked to do the automotive equivalent of a strip search, so I was happy. Why is it so comforting to pull into the Squamish parking lot on a sunny day? I have so many fond memories of Squamish, from the very first time before I knew jack shit about bouldering or the profound impacts it would have on my life, with Dom and Laura and Rob and George, to Nick and Jimmy, to the most recent trip with Ty, David and Jimmy and Dom.
I pulled into the parking lot and immediately felt at home. I felt welcome. I felt ready to climb, and laugh, and drink and eat, and sleep in the car with the hatch up, drifting off in a comfortable haze under the star bright Canadian sky with the Chief looming in the background like a watchful and loving parent. I walked through the forest with a smile.

The first people I ran into were a worn out Jimmy, Ty, and David. They had been in Squamish for the last 8 days and were ready for a rest.

I found them standing and watching a group of french Cnadian climbers tackle the low start to a problem called Mr. Bigglesworth. I’m not really sure what they were doing at this particular boulder, since none of them were climbing, but it served me well as a warm up. Mr. Bigglesworth is a pretty sweet V.6 I had never even laid eyes on before. I gave it a few burns before finally leaping to the finishing incut crimp at the lip while the two French guys in the background shook their heads with disgust. The French are much more statically inclined, probably has something to do with their roots in the mime business. I gave the low a once over and approved of the intro, but maybe next time. We scooped up the pads and sauntered through the woods struggling to make up our minds as to what to get on next.

Hunt’s arête? No. Sharma traverse? The Bulb? No. No. The Rookie? YES! Last year I was thwarted by this problem. My access to the upper crimps was repeatedly denied by a lack of confidence in my heel hook and a fear of landing on my back. This year I jumped to the sloper, reached out right and locked off on the crimper, reaching upwards with ease and finding good crimps waiting for me. I hit the jug at the top and then was faced with a boulderers’ nightmare, a blank top out. I had to think about it for a while before finally switching my hand into a palm press and rocking over on a good foot ledge. Whew! It was done! I was psyched out of my mind to have sent a V.8 in Squamish on my first bouldering trip of the year, not to mention my first bouldering trip since I had torn my Achilles. It felt really good to have a couple hard problems under my belt on my first day in Squamish and I was nothing short of pleased and psyched for the rest of the trip. I made it my goal to try and tick all the V-grades from V.0 to V.8. So far, the hardest parts were out of the way but I still needed to find a V.7 that would let me have my way. Enough about that.



Dom had driven up the night before, somewhat intoxicated, so he was napping in his tent. We ran into him later in the afternoon while I was having a go on Mantra. I made some good progress and should have sent. I latched the slopey pinch at the lip but gave up on trying to get my heel high enough to rock over to the finishing jug. There are so many problems I am psyched on at Squamish, I really cannot wait until next summer to come back for an extended (hopefully two week) stay.


We stopped climbing in order to have some dinner in the fading summer sun, but got back to work when the evening cool set in. We had finally congealed as a group and the first boulder we stopped at was the Super Dyke boulder. A viciously crimpy and technical line that has a tree right at your back during the crux sequence. Everyone started shredding what little skin they had left but I only tried it once.


Ty on Super Dyke (V.3)





Dom reaching and balancing on Super Dyke.





Just before the crippling fall!


The above picture is pretty much how the rest of the trip went for Dom. He sent Rainier after Rainier, and then tackled the aspirin bottle which he flashed.

The one huge disappointment of the trip happened on this very problem. Dom had gotten through the crux on Super Dyke but fell on a vicious barn door move coming down awkwardly on his ankle. It was hideously swollen in a matter of minutes and it was clear that his short trip to Squamish was over, at least in the climbing department. We scrambled about looking for a makeshift crutch for him before we finally decided to just put him on our backs (literally), or at least David’s back. The evening sesh ended with beer and a couple of The Fuzz sends. It was great to be back in Squamish. The next morning we splintered into mini groups. Jimmy and I headed to Check Canyon, David and Ty went bouldering at the North Walls, and Dom, well, Dom went to Murrin Park to sit by the lake and read, and not die from an aspirin overdose.


I had an excellent time sport climbing. I started the day off with a super classic .10b at the Forgotten wall called the Voodoo That You Do. Next up I went for the onsight of .12a called Got Pull? It didn’t look exceptionally tricky but I was definitely struggling on some of the moves just out of sheer fear of the unknown. It turned out to be quite easy. A couple big pulls in the middle made up the crux, but the start and the finish were probably 5.9? It’s not a super proud .12a, but I was still really psyched to be able to just hop on a .12a and send. Jimmy flashed, then I tried the .12b next door but it was awkward and crimpy and I just didn’t have a good time climbing on it. Jimmy nabbed the .12b and then stepped right and onsighted a sweet looking .12a called Trunk Monkey. I really regret not trying this line, it looked great. I was kind of saving my energy for the Fleeing Heffer, but I started to get in the groove and everything looked appealing to me (I love that feeling, the fear melts away and all of sudden you want to climb everything!). The sun was not cooperating so we retreated to a shadier spot near the Circus wall called Toxic Lichen wall. I onsighted a really crimpy and technical .11c there called Mutation which is given 4 stars in the guide book. It was not my style at all, and I didn’t enjoy it at a 4 star level, but it is definitely a classic. Jimmy onsighted another .12a called Ms. Negative and after watching Jimmy on it I decided to pass this one up as well. Infact, I was feeling pretty tired so we just packed up and left without even getting on the day’s main objective! Oh well, next year (I said that a lot on this trip).



I wolfed down a foot long from Quizno’s and then we headed to the lake to meet up with the rest of the crew. We dipped our feet in for a while and then, accompanied by a woozy Dom, we made our way back to the Chief parking lot. I was on a mission. The sun had started to slowly dip behind the elegance that is the chief and I was loading my back pack with beer. Jimmy, Ty, David, and myself headed into the woods to see what we could find.

(There was supposed to be a video of the send here but my internet connection is fucked!)

Another failed sesh on Mantra led me to Breakfast at Tiffany’s, just what I was looking for. The holds are all really good, and so are the feet, perfect. I can usually tell right off the bat whether or not I have a good chance of sending a boulder problem, and with this one I not only thought I could send, but I really felt like I could flash this. In my overenthusiastic flash attempt I pulled on way too relaxed and watched as my foot slipped right off the starting foot ramp. Oh well. I figured out some better foot beta for the first move and I had my hand sequence absolutely dialed. For extra encouragement I decided to perch my camera on a nearby stump and get some video footage (I was also by myself, so I thought it would be good to have some evidence of the send in case there were some haters). I pulled on and nailed my hand sequence and the new higher foot I used kept me on quite nicely. Everything was working out swell, I had to make a harder than I thought from the ground stab to a slopey side pull but once I stuck it, in typical Squamish style (hand slaps rock and slides down a good 6 inches from where it started before sticking in place from pure friction and will power), I grabbed some incuts and started pull my girth over the slopey bulge that is the top out. Uh oh. I couldn’t quite get my right foot onto a huge foot ledge at waist height. Crap! I was starting to overgrip, plus there was noone spotting me. I tried to stab for higher ground with my hands but no dice. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a guy jump over rocks and downed trees to come to my rescue. That definitely took some of the fear out of my grip and I finally relaxed enough to grovel the rest of the way up. I had completed the V.7 for my collection! YES!


David on a sweet and burly V.3 traverse.

Now it was time to sit down, stop shaking, and drink the pain away. I cracked a cool Rainier and sat on my crashpads soaking in the streams of light that made their way through the dense trees of the forest. Cheap beer has never tasted so good. I think the last time I had bouldered it had been in the Fall, almost a year ago, and this trip had absolutely infected me with the bouldering bug once more. I sauntered through the woods looking for my wayward friends. I found them monkeying around on an obscure boulder above Mantra, which was actually home to a splendid V.4. I ticked one more number off the list. I gathered my friends and we plodded through the forest stopping whenever we saw a line we wanted to climb on. This worked quite well actually. We kept stumbling upion really sweet low balls. The first was a traversing line on good incut crimpers across an otherwise blank face. The straight up version was V.3, check! Just over a dead tree laid another sweet looking line that was V.2, check! David took us to an awesome low ball roof called Diabolica. With some toe hook trickery I was mantling my V.5, check! We wandered on down the trail and stopped one last time at another traversing line that was really good as well. I still had a V.1 and V.0 to do but I wasn’t worried. We kept walking down the road to the powerline boulders but didn’t climb anymore that evening. What a day it had been.


Sport climbing, bouldering, the only thing I was missing was multi pitch trad climbing, but since Dom had fucked his ankle up beyond belief I would have to do without. I decided since I was going to be pretty much sedentary for the next few days that I would wake up early before my long drive to Prince Rupert and hike the Chief trail.


I had always seen hordes, masses, swarms of people making their way up this trail but had never let my curiosity run away with me. My plan worked well, I woke up at 6:30 and by 7 I was on the trail. It was absolutely abandoned except for two people, who quite frankly looked as if they were not going to make it, and they were only 10 minutes in (or at least I was only ten minutes in when I ran across them). The hike was steep but on all sides of me there was immaculate, soaring walls of tan, salt and pepper, and almost a smokey colored granite. I liked being the first on such a popular trail, it felt serene and calm amongst the sleeping giants.



The view from the second peak, Squamish in a nutshell.


I did the first peak, had a good look around, then hiked the second peak. I guess you could say I was procrastinating a little bit, since I wasn't entirely thrilled about hopping in my car and driving for 18 hours, but I eventually managed my way back down the trail (which was now swarming with people) and said a fond farewell to my friends who I probably won't see for quite some time.



Mt. Geribaldi



Leaving Squamish behind, far behind...


Aaaahhhhhh, finally, Prince Rupert!! This was the view while I waited to board the ferry.





And finally, presenting, SITKA!! This is the view from the library where I spend a lot of time on line, reading, writing, and looking for jobs! I was so stoked to finally get here. Rolling off the the ferry at two in the morning was a very surreal experience. Luckily, Sitka is not very big and it was easy to navigate my way to Steph's place. I've been here for three weeks now, and well, I guess you'll just have to check back in a couple of days to see what I've been up to...