Your Favorite Blog Name Here

Dom contemplates the deeper complexities to the fine art of scampering up boulders, while Rita reads in the background.

I’m watching the 2009 NBA playoffs and I’m pretty sure it will come down to a battle royale between the Cleveland Cavaliers, and the Los Angeles Lakers. What a game it will be!!
Anyways, just got back from my first trip out to Leavenworth for the 2009 climbing season. I haven’t really been out bouldering since the last time I was there in November of last year and the whole car ride down I had butterflies of anxious energy fluttering about in my brain. I hadn’t grown to fully trust my healing finger so I wasn’t quite sure what the results of this trip would be. My car was packed with pads, food, tents, and two dudes who go by the name of Jimmy and Dom(a.ka. Youngblood and the Dominator). The weather was perfect, of course, and we rolled into Leavenworth on fumes, almost. After filling up my near empty tank and avoiding an embarrassing phone call for someone to bring me gas, we hit Forestland where gobs of boulderers were waiting to meet us. We had around 10 people from Oly alone, not to mention all the other boulderers who were there. It was good to be in such a big crew, but after warming up on some of the usual problems Jimmy and I split for the shade of the upper forestland’s mother boulder. I had gotten really close to sending a cool two move power problem called bananas over the summer and was eager to get back on it. Jimmy was amped as well and we got to work. Jimmy sent in a matter of tries, nice, but my head was swimming about in the murky waters of hesitation. I decided it was not to be and we moved around the corner where a sweet problem called Kobe Tai lay in wait. This problem is on an overhung face with some of the nicest little crimps you could ever imagine.


Lisa attempting Kobe Tai(V.8)

After making some hard moves and a lock off bump to a good flat hold below the lip, a sketchy top out awaits that involves committing to a good pocket/crimp and rolling over on a slab with small edges to help you on your way up. There is a myriad of different ways you can do the moves to the lip, but I found the best way for me, and it ended up working quite nicely for Jimmy, who sent first, as well as me who shakily pulled over the lip and shouted with triumph. My one goal of the trip was to see if I could still send V.8 and doing it on a awesome boulder like Kobe Tai was pure joy.
The rest of the Oly squad eventually made their way up and reports of sends started to poor in. I decided to take a break and check out some of the other boulders in the uppers that were left out of the guide. One of the most inspiring lines I saw was a boulder called Cobra Con. A proud line with chunky crimps and a nasty sloper guarding the top that made its way up a tall off-white boulder stood proudly out of the jumble of boulders. I can’t wait to get back and try this line. I also saw the Tea Cup, super sick!!! I hope I can get strong enough to do that problem some day.
After my wandering was over we packed up our things and made our way to another awesome boulder.


Lonely Fish boulder from the road.

A huge boulder just off the road called the Lonely Fish boulder. Home of my first V.10, the stand start to Dirty Dude. I was really enthusiastic about getting back on the boulder’s namesake problem Lonely Fish, since trying it with my friend Nick over the summer. I knew it was doable but I just hoped I could pull it off and keep it together tot op it out. The landing zone is a bit treacherous with minimal pads, but luckily we had three triples and two doubles at our disposal and we turned the nasty landing into a gym floor. I gave it a few burns getting farther than I ever had slapping the flat jug over the lip but falling each time. I finally got the balls to latch that wonderful shelf and with a concentrated amount of sketchiness I pulled and slapped my way into the slabby dihedral and topped out some 25 feet above. Damn, that felt really good. I had a good victory howl on top of the boulder and then came back down to spot. Lisa, Jimmy, Dom, and myself were all knee deep into the session when before you knew it a sending train started to emerge.


Dom on the first moves of the Lonely Fish(V.9)

I sent first, followed closely by Jimmy, and then out of nowhere Lisa gave a growl of effort and finally latched the victory jug and scampered up the dihedral like a chipmunk on crack.


Lisa on the road to victory, the Lonely Fish(V.9)

Before this problem she had only ever managed to send V.5(?)!!!!! This ascent was probably the most impressive thing I have seen in real lie, Lisa just keeps on impressing me with her stunning sends lately, before this trip we got out to Little si where she man handled Rainy Day Woman for her first 5.12a lead outdoors!!! Needless to say high fives were being handed out like glow sticks at a rave. Dom, who had been lodged in a tree during the send fest came down to try his luck. He had the beta and knew what to do. He pulled through all the moves to the very last throw for the victory jug slapping the flat jug only to rash off and fall. Literally having the flash slip through his fingers. Aaaaahhhhhh!!!! I’m positive that he will get this very quickly next time.


Jimmy testing the waters of Dirty Dude Stand Start(V.10)

Well, the hype died down after Lisa departed back to Oly, and us boys were left to our own devices. We played around on a cool V.7 called Bombs Away that involved a basketball jump to a cool crimp rail and nasty grovel/hump fest up and over a dirty slab at the lip. Jimmy clinched the send and Dom and I came close but didn’t manage this one. Jimmy, I never said the problem sucked, I just hated getting my shirt dirty and coming away with no send; I’ll definitely come back and finish it off(maybe). I also gave Droppin’ tha’ Kirschbaum a look over and realized this one might have to wait for another year or so, yikes! It is an endurance power marathon. We finished off the day at a boulder called Starfox whose salt and pepper face had seen better days.


The Starfox boulder at dusk.


Some pretty little spring flowers.


Most of the holds had broken off leaving nasty razor blade crimps and a huge move with a boulder breathing down your neck. It was good to get this mystery cleared up since I had always wondered about this boulder problem. That night Dom reenacted Dante’s inferno in our fire pit and I just enjoyed being back at a nice Leavenworth campsite under the stars with a hot bowl of chili.


Bridgecreek.

The morning brought clam chowder and the packing up of our camp site. Our first stop, The Pretty Boulders. The hike was steep but I love this area. The rock is grade AAAAAAAAAA, very purty, and home to the sweetest V.3 around, Pretty Girl. I did the usual warm up circuit with minimal pain from yesterday. Jimmy ticked the pretties, and then we loaded up for Pretty Hate Machine. The initial moves are not too hard but I always get shut down at the dyno. It was pretty much the same old story for me, I’m still psyched to come back and send, but Jimmy dispatched in a handful of attempts. Looking really strong he got to the dyno every time and when he finally sent he turned into Inspector Gadget and pulled out the go-go gadget arms. Nice job Jimmy, the only problem he didn’t manage was Pretty Boy but he sent everything else at the area.


Jimmy on Pretty Boy(V.7)

We were going to head to Mad Meadows but ran for Tumwater canyon instead to seek out some shade and cooler temps. After watching my crashpad fly off the top of my car roof nearly killing everyone driving behind us, or should I say luckily not killing anyone behind us, we arrived safely at the Swiftwater picnic area. Dom and I monkeyed around on some of the easier problems at the picnic area and then we all tried a cool V.6 lip traverse on sandstone-like granite. Really cool slopey/grainy holds led straight up to a powerful top out.


Joel's Traverse(V.6)

I came sooo close on this one but eventually gave up due to lactic acid build up, and a severe case of vaginosis(medical term). Jimmy gunned up this one as well and tried a V.8 jump problem that looked cool but climbed kind of awkwardly. It was a nice setting, I just wish some of these boulders had more features; the rock quality for this kind of granite is out of this world!!


Chicken Man(V.8)

We got back to the car and felt the sting of little to no skin and decided to head home with the traditional stop at the Heidleburger and an intense game of name that grade/area/boulder problem/first ascentionist. I’m very pleased with what I got done even though I feel like I could have pushed harder at times. This season looks to be a very promising one, Jimmy is climbing harder than I have ever seen him climb before, Lisa is coming out of her shell and turning into a scary rock crushing monster, and Dom, well, Dom just likes to put things down his trousers, who can blame him?!! Just kidding Dom, in all honestly everyone climbed harder than I have ever seen them climb, even if the sends don’t show up on the scorecard it doesn’t mean a lot of mileage and knowledge wasn’t gained. All I hope for is to have as good a year sending as I did last year and to have twice as much fun in doing so. I’m also psyched for the return of long lost friend and climbing compadre Nick Madness, I can’t wait to see what he gets done this year as well. I’ll see everyone soon. PEACE!

The SmithRockWay

My phone rang and the voice on the other end could have belonged to anyone. In the end I found myself two days later driving down to Smith Rocks with a car full of friends, new and old. Dom, Laura, and the voice on the phone Jerod who I had met at the WRG before but had never really talked to that much. He turned out to be a funny, and psyched climber, and with a car full of chatter, laughter, rainbows, and kisses, we made it to Skulls Hollow in good time with just enough night left to enjoy a dying fire and a cold sandwich. Our friends from Oly had already been enjoying the tuff of Smith for the last week or so, Jimmy and Jeremy arriving two days ahead of us, and Jeremy’s girlfriend arriving early in the week. So we were glad to have a campsite and company already locked down.
We woke up the next morning to the sun playing hide and seek behind the clouds, which actually made for perfect conditions once we were at our first stop of the trip, Morning Glory wall. Now, it had been some time since I had been to Smith (i.e. read previous blog please) so I had many things to choose from. Jimmy and Dom, already connoisseurs of what Smith has to offer, were quick to make suggestions and eyeing their first one, Cool Ranch Flavor, I thought why not. As a warm up it is pretty good, lots of fun jugs for the first 40 feet or so, and then right at the last bolt the crux sets in and you have to make a tricky traverse out right and bust up a couple of crimpy moves to the large pocket finishing jug. I hung out on the last jug before the crux for some time figuring out my plan of attack and then crimped into action pulling the crux and clipping the chains not even thinking about going after the .12a extension. Needless to say I was pumped and I felt like I needed to take a good fall to get the shakes out of my system but it wouldn’t happen for another route or so.


Jerod top ropes Cool Ranch Flavor(5.11a) with a local on 9 Gallon Buckets, and Dom nearing the top of Full Overboard(5.11c).

I leaned up against the fence waiting to de-pump and watched as Jimmy ran up CRF, and Dom onsighted Overboard full. After seeing Laura work Overboard on TR, I decided to go for it on lead since the draws were already up. Nice incut finger jugs, crimps, and laybacks led me up the wall and the consistency of the route was incredibly fun and pumpy. I clipped the chains and was psyched to have another .11 under the belt; it was a good start to the trip. Another .11 that started up Overboard and wandered left at the third bolt was getting more traffic than I-5 at 5:00, and was called Magic Light, or Traffic Light as one of the locals referred to it because of said traffic referred to earlier. I was also getting the spray down from a couple locals who said it was easier and better than Overboard. I jumped at the chance to get on it. I fought through a couple heinous crimpy lock off’s with smeary feet, sometimes spread out between two huge sidepulls, and other times crimping and smearing, but always pumped. As I neared the last clip I was just too pumped to make another hard crux move on a slopey sidepull and threw in the towel. I originally said take, but maybe I said it a little too soft for my belayer to hear and as I let go was greeted with a rush of air and a nice little lead fall.
Uhhh, to come so close to completing three nice .11’s in a row was hard to swallow, but I can’t be mad at the two that I did get done. It was just nice to get out on some real rock after not climbing outside for 5 months, and there were no complaints about the weather so far. Another notable ascent was Jerod onsighting 9 Gallon Buckets full, a super long pitch with a pretty tricky and crimpy crux section half way up, sandwiched between awesome sections of large huecos and honeycomb pockets. This was Jerods first trip to Smith and to put down a sweet route like that was impressive to watch. After collecting our belongings from the dusty walkway, strewn about amongst dogs, fence posts, water bottles, rope bags, myriads of climbing shoes, grigri’s, and the dozens of down jackets discarded as signs of a climbers absence from waiting purgatory. We finally set off to tackle the ‘most recognizable arête climb in the world’, Chain Reaction.


Jimmy on Chain Reaction(5.12c)

Smith had not changed one bit since the last time I had been there, and I have a feeling it probably hasn’t changed in the last 10 years, and won’t change in the next 100. Walking along the base of the broken walls, each sector unique in its own right featuring slab climbs, dihedrals, face climbs, cracks, laybacks, arêtes, double arêtes, overhangs and underhangs. The crowds of people were all too familiar and the sounds of someone struggling up their first 5.7 on top rope to the ear piercing power scream of someone heinously clinging to the rounded crimps of a well traveled Smith classic blended together to form a chorus of climbing history. This is what draws people to a place like Smith. It is the community of climbers, the horseback riders, the hikers, the campers, and even the people who walk along the trail of the Crooked River just to catch a glimpse of a tiny human figure making its way up a sheer orange rock face and shake their heads in amazement.
We landed at the flat face of Heinous Cling and Darkness at Noon, whose torn edge was the sport of our fancy. Luckily out of all of the climbers there on that day noone was attempting this popular climb, so Dom laced up his climbing boots and got to work. The first bit is like a 15 foot V.1 boulder problem until you hit a sinker four finger jug and make the first clip, then you can start unclenching your butt hole, but not for long. Another sinker finger jug lets you clip another bolt before powerfully slapping up a rugged arête leading you to a powerful jug encounter at the lip and a throw for the victory jug. Dom literally cruised up to the very last move for the victory jug but fell inches away from grabbing it.


Dom using his heel for the last move on Chain Reaction.

Jimmy was up next and hung once in the middle but fired the rest flawlessly. I tried my luck for the first time and got thrown by the power moves at the arête. Jimmy was confident about the redpoint and after I got down he got back on. He really hung on for dear life in some spots because his feet cut but would not let go. He made it to the last move and just hucked for the jug latching it pulling over the lip to clip the chains of his first 5.12c! I’m glad I got a front row seat, plus I can take some credit because I was belaying him, right? Good job Jimmy!


Jimmy grappling with the arete on Chain Reaction.



Jimmy cuts loose while grabbing the victory jug on Chain Reaction.

Dom tried it a couple more times but got stopped at the midpoint. He will definitely send it, I know because his first go on it showed his understanding of the route. I got a tad bit farther but I think I’ll just have to figure out my own beta, Chain Reaction is the sort of route that you have to figure out on your own sometimes. Well, Jimmy was pretty pumped up after his send and got on Heinous Cling going for the flash. I had to make a stop at the bathroom and on my way back I spotted him from the trail half way up this super vertical and notoriously run-out pitch. I’ve seen a few good lead falls from the crux and when Jimmy came to the point where you either have to commit or take a twenty footer he simply leaped to the jug rail and continued up for his second twelve of the day. It was turning out to be a highly productive day for him, so far redpointing Chain, and now with a flash of Heinous Cling.
We were all worn out, and decided to make a run for the gullies. Next up on the list was a stellar .10b, Chicken Nuggets, tucked up inside of the dusty nostril of Cocaine Gully. We tentatively made our way up the dusty and loose approach trail settling comfortably at the base of yet another cool vertical, semi-vertical, less than vertical pebble encrusted wall. Dom hitched up his harness and led his way up Chicken Nuggets. I laid on the rock above and took some pictures.


Dom on the first little bit of Chicken Niggets(5.10b)


Dom on the last little bit of Chicken Nuggets.

Now, there is a little debate in our tribe about what the best .10b in the park is, not that we have come close to doing all of them, well maybe Dom and Laura have, but my vote is for Chicken Nuggets. In my opinion it has everything, a cool overhung start into a neat crack, a traverse onto a face with pebbles and pockets, a little slab action and then another vertical face with chicken heads and pockets, what more do you want?!! Plus it’s a nice long pitch with a stellar view. I guess I’m the only one who can appreciate true beauty, but with all of that being said I opted out of the repeat, instead belaying Laura up it on TR, while Dom tried to make a bold onsight of what looked like an incredibly stout .12a just to the left of Vomit Launch.


Jimmy at Cocaine Gully.

Jimmy decided he had room for one more .12 and since Crack Babies was just up the trail we walked up and I sprayed him down with the beta as he roped up. This steep line is pretty juggy but powerful in places, like the crux, but Jimmy grunted his way through it only to fall at the very last clip. In the words of West Coast Gimps, Jimmy ‘you nearly had it done!’. It was cool to see his effort and to almost get another .12 flash, if he had polished this one off he would have sent .12a/b/c in one day at Smith, pretty incredible. I stepped up to the plate next, and made it through the crux but gave up. It took a couple hangs before I was at the chains but I do feel like this one will go next time, I need to get on it early in the day.
We were done for the day, and headed back to the parking lot after removing a couple of pounds of dust from our eyes and boots due to the decent from Cocaine gully. It had been a pretty sweet first day back at Smith for me, I’m really glad I got on all of the things I did and it makes me realize that I have a lot to look forward to when I return. That night the weather turned from better than nice, to torrential down pour, to snow, and back to nice but cold. We spent the duration of the downpour at the Terrebonne Depot where the server assigned to our table berated us for smelling like a camp fire. I had an amazingly good greek pita and we all bathed in the warmth and ambience of the climber owned restaurant. When we got back to camp I found a little water in my tent and decided I would spend the night in my car. It turned out to be a nice little sleeping compartment and I woke the next day feeling rested, but a little soar. We had breakfast with everyone, and then split to the Smith parking lot where we made our way to a sector of Smith I had never been to before called Northern point.



A really cool crag on very different rock, textured basalt. The climbs were shorter but still packed a punch. On my warm up I got shut down, but came back for the redpoint on my next go. It was an interesting .11a; I didn’t really enjoy the moves that much but it was still fun. Dom was raving about the .11a that he had just warmed up on and after Laura tried it on top rope and Jerod almost got it on lead, I belayed Jimmy up it and then went for it myself.


Jerod attempts Lady in the Meadow(5.11a), at Northern Point.

It had crazy cool features, really nice grips, pockets and holds with lips on them, so far I was really impressed. I got shut down again though at the crux and regretted cleaning this one because I should have got back on it for the redpoint. As I came down I heard the news that Dom had just flashed this cool .12a around the corner called Torrid Zone, a route that Jimmy had onsighted on the last trip. I took a look at the route as Dom gave me beta and decided to try it as well.
The moves were awesome, the beginning crux involved a sweet dyno from a jug on a slab to a huge jug on the more overhung section of the climb. After that it was establishing in some underclings and then making lock offs on crimps to a slopey jug, and then hiking the feet way high to get some leverage on a side pull you stab to some flat jugs and the chains. It was a really good route but I didn’t manage to send it. I pulled the draws and came back to the main area where Jimmy was attempting a sweet overhung .12b. It looked pretty stout, the crux involved some serious two finger pocket pulling to a slopey crimpy match and neither Jimmy nor Dom was able to get the redpoint. All in all Northern point is a pretty sweet crag, yet another amazing and unique sector to add to Smith’s roster. I’m psyched to come back, so much more to do. We packed up after that and headed back to the main parking lot where we decided it was best to just go home. We said farewell to Jimmy and after a small lunch hit the road, leaving Smith in our wake.


Our motley crew of climbing fanatics.

My First Time...at Smith

With all this talk in the air about Smith Rocks and my friends taking a weekend trip there at the end of this week (I can't go because I have to move) I started to look through the remaining photos I have left on my computer. After a slight technical glitch(read:me being a dumbass and accidentally erasing 90% of all of my sport climbing photos) I had no choice but to peruse the only photos I have left of Smith, which are subsequently of my first time visiting the colossal crag, known for the first .14a on American soil, tiny edges and knobs, run out bolts, and the free camping at Skulls Hollow.


This is me after my first climb at Smith, Walking While Intoxicated. We had just arrived in the middle of the day to find Travis and Melissa hanging out in the shade of the Ship Wreck Wall. Travis immediately threw me the end of his rope and said, "Climb". I tried my hardest and came out with an onsight and a terrible pump, and was just glad I didn't fall because I was trying to look like an experienced climber in front of my friends.



This is me on my second ever Smith climb, Blue Light Special. I got spanked on the beginning, middle, and end, hanging on almost every draw before clipping the chains. Classic. After that, Travis decided to show me around.


After a quick tour he asked me what I wanted to get on. I was so overwhelmed, the towering orange walls that seemed to go on forever, the myriads of people everywhere, and observing a guy take a massive whipper on Rude Boys was a little much. I finally pointed at the pocketed wall of the Churning buttress. "That one looks good." I said, pointing at Churning in the Wake. I had no idea what I was doing. The first clip was heinous, and I realized that the pockets looked much deeper from the ground then when I tried jamming my fingers in them. I managed to make the second clip and after that it was hang dog, draw-grabbing fest. I took a few good whips, but overall I got shut down, and rightfully so. Lesson learned.




This should be self-explanatory.


Me on my fourth ever climb at Smith, the extension to 9 Gallon Buckets. No I didn't manage to send this one clean, falling at the crux, but I did make it to the chains hauling at least 20 pounds of draws with me. This climb concluded my first full day at Smith and what a day it was. The next day Travis and Melissa split and feeling a little awkward without them I tried Heinous Cling, leaving a draw at the first bolt, Ring of Fire, another hang dog fest, before retiring to the Phoenix crag where I did the Phoenix clean before heading home. Looking back on this trip it went way too fast but I had a great time getting my ass kicked on almost everything I got on and it was awesome to get out to a world famous crag only a few months into my outdoor climbing debut. My second ever trip to Smith was a longer one, about 5 days or so, and I climbed as if the rock was made of scorpions, and lazer shooting lava monsters. I was scared. Not sure why, probably because this had been the first trip outdoors since the Winter and I just did not have very much experience climbing outdoors at all. As much as I hated it at times this second trip was responsible for really instilling in me a love for camping, climbing, campfires, hanging out with friends, and lit a fire under my ass to get out more and climb. Out of that trip I grew into a pretty decent climber, and I learned to love those moments when you don't know what the next hold will be like, or where the next bolt is, and to love the adventure behind climbing at a new crag or on a route you've never climbed before. Just the challenge of conquering something you've never done before was thrilling, and each new climb I did thereafter I tried to tackle with that same enthusiasm.
Now I'm staring down the barrel of my third outdoor climbing season and all I can think about is what to project, and how long I want to spend at Squamish this summer, or when the next Leavenworth trip will be. Scouring over the pages of my Smith Rock guide I can only help but to get psyched on all of the possibilities that await this season, I just hope I'm strong enough, physically and mentally to climb some of them.


Crack Babies.

RawCandy

Well, well, well. It seems as if Olympia isn’t quite boulderless after all. I had heard tales of rock sightings at a place called Rock Candy Mt. just 10 minutes or so from Evergreen but didn’t think they would pan out until my friend Kyle showed me a video of a mutual friend of ours doing a boulder problem on what appeared to be perfect granite. He told tales of another boulder as well, smaller in size but promising and another boulder trapped in the confines of a locals backyard. That was all I needed. I swooped up Kyle and we headed out to Rock Candy Mt. to see what fortunes we could find. First we checked out the boulder in the backyard of a rather large man’s property. His pit-bull chained to a line that ran horizontal along his property in order to create a moving, and biting animal fence. The dog was all front though as he buckled before my unwavering sense of pack leadership, yeah I’ve seen an episode or two of the dog whisperer. It turned out the dog was the least of our worries, the rather large man shot down our attempts to scope out the lonely boulder that stood slouched in the corner of his property begging for our attention. It wasn’t exactly an amazing piece of rock, besides the fact that it was at least 8-9 feet tall and looked like it had some promising lines up a nice overhang on bullet stone granite. We gave up on that prospect and headed to the boulder I had seen in Kyle’s video. Up and over some steep muddy roads we finally arrived at the pinnacle of Rock Candy Mt. with a great view of Mt. Rainier and a nice little boulder just off the side of the road.


The majestic Mt. Rainier, almost brings me to tears.


Our little boulder, awwww.

Kyle gave me the run down of the line he and his friend Evan had established on it. A cool little traverse that ended on a slab. The rock quality was amazing, salt and pepper granite very similar to the kind of granite in Squamish and Mt. Home road. A nice jug undercut to a big flat jug side pull, led to the crux pull around on crimps to a cool little slab finish, not bad. I flashed the problem as a warm up, felt pretty hard, I’d say on par with many of the V.2’s I have done. Then I did the slab by itself, a cool V.0, and then I manufactured the direct finish to the traverse utilizing a cool pinch and a high step, probably soft V.2.



Me on my direct finish, Right Handed Pinch Shooters


Kyle on Left Handed Six Shooters(V.2)


Comin' round the Mt.


Almost...



























It's slab time, yeeehaw!


All in all not a bad little boulder at all, after running a couple of laps and Kyle coming close to sending the traverse, which his friend Evan, the first ascentionist called Left Handed Six Shooter because of the shallow divots made by drunken locals blasting their ‘six shooters’ at the poor boulder.
Kyle wanted to show me the other boulder they had found at the base of the mountain. He told me it wasn’t as good as the previous boulder but worth a look. We arrived, and he was right, but I could spy a short one to two move problem on the steeper side of the boulder, which was also of extremely high quality granite, a little darker though. Perched on a small mound of weeds I plopped down chalked up a small slopey right handed pinch and a crimpy slopey pinch for the left and tried beasting it to the lip.


GET SOME! Take that boulder!


I think I'll just take a nap.


I didn’t manage to send so we packed up yet again and went marauding about the various dirt roads that swirled and intersected up the Mt.’s face. We found nothing, unfortunately, but it was a beautiful day and I was just glad to get out and do some climbing on a nice granite boulder and pleased my finger didn’t give me any trouble. In the end, if you’re looking for a good V.2 drive up there and check out this boulder. Don’t be afraid of the random gunshots in the distance, or the pit-bulls on chains, they’re just there to scare rock starved climbers away.

Electric Mayhem

Yo yo yo yo! Wazzzzup to all my dogs in tha’ house?! Throw your hands in the ayer, and wave them like ya’ just don’t cayer! C’mon now, ya’ll know me! Well, I guess it has been a while. All my fans are stark raving mad because I haven’t posted in such a long time, but we discussed this in the beginning. This is a C-L-I-M-B-I-N-G blog, and well, in the last two or three months I just haven’t been doing a lot of the stuff. Inside climbing yes, but I don’t really count that as ‘real’ climbing.

I have finished my first quarter as a true blue grad student, and am currently half way through my second quarter, yet another excuse for not blogging as much as usual.


My professor holding up a dead chinook, god I miss this class


a foot print

I’m trying to remember all the intricate details of the last two to three months in order to convey them in written word so as to entertain any of my ‘readers’. I guess I’ll pick up where I left off. Returning from the year’s last trip to Leavenworth. I couldn’t actually believe we got any climbing in for November, usually a very wet month here in the Northwest. Of course it was the last bit of climbing for me anyway for the last three months. December was a wretched blizzard, more snow than I’ve ever seen here in Washington, or at least this part of Washington. But the sessions at the Warehouse were pretty sweet. Nick came in from the east coast and showed us all why taking three months off to go to nursing school was well worth it by sending problems I could only dream of projecting. He also set some pretty sweet routes before returning in early January to DC to start his second quarter in pursue of his BSN.
Jimmy, well, I don’t really need to say anything about Jimmy, his climbing has done all the talking lately and he and his rock crushing sister are off to Boulder, Colorado to compete in Nationals. I predict they both will do very well and represent Olympia to the fullest.
Dom and Laura both got jobs (finally!) and Dom actually got out climbing on one of the more perfect days a couple of weeks ago in January, due to another bit of odd weather. He managed to tick all the Gritscone routes and solo Rough Cut.
I, on the other hand, have been suffering from old age related injuries (shoulder and finger) and have greatly missed out on some nice weather in January and some good sessions down at the Warehouse. I did however; manage to hike to the top of Little si, a feat I had not yet accomplished. I’ve probably walked half the trail, just to get to World Wall One, 50 or 60 times easily in the past two years but never realized the other half is quite a nice hike. Not to mention the view from the top, pretty amazing. I also grew a crazy beard, shaved it, did yoga for the first time, found a new place to live, finished the first draft of my candidacy paper, rescued my cat from behind a water heater, and scratched my balls.


picture of said 'crazy' beard


picture of the winter wonderland that graced the NW for a few weeks

Currently I find myself sitting in bed writing this blog and bitching and moaning about my damn finger that just refuses to heal so that I can get back to training for the upcoming climbing season. Speaking of which I just couldn’t be more excited about. I had compiled this huge list of tentative goals for the year but I decided that my main goal is just to stay HEALTHY!!! In fact if anyone reading this has any tips for avoiding injuries, specifically finger injuries whilst training for power crimping, please drop me a line. But, I guess I shouldn’t leave you hanging in the goals department, I know Dom is clawing at the screen right about now. I’ll just give you a quick run down: Chronic, Propaganda, PC7, hopefully a trip to Mazama, Sesame Street, Mind Bender, Golden Boy, ATD, The Back Seat, Defenders of the Faith, Droppin’ tha’ Kirschbaum, Lonely Fish, Atomic Energy, Musashi, Batman, Smith Rock (anything), and hopefully, maybe, another trip to Bishop. But this is just a short list, I’m sure I’m forgetting a lot of things and I’m sure that a lot things on this list will have to wait for many, many years.


Little si trail


Fall on the TESC campus trail to the beach


Little si again

So, to end this post I think it would be fitting to re-cap the 2008 climbing season’s achievements to give some perspective to the 2009 goals. Olympia was represented quite proudly by everyone this past year.
Jimmy: Sent multiple .12’s outside, including a flash at Chekamus. Absolutely killed it bouldering, sending a number of hard V.8’s and V.9’s including a V.8 flash, sent his first V.6,7,8 at Squamish plus a stout flash of Tim’s Sloper Problem, and helped establish some nice lines at Rattlesnake lake. Now, he is dominating the comp scene and is off to Nationals.
Nick: Sent his first V.9(Coffee Cup) before sending his first V.8(Resurrection), cleaned up multiple projects at Squamish including Gibb’s Cave and Golden Boy, as well as a sweet send of the Doja at Gold Bar and made an impressive solo pilgrimage to Bishop. On the rope he sent .12’s at Red Rocks including a flash of Fear and Loathing, here at WW1 he cleaned house, Techno, Psychosomatic, Hydro, Viagrophobia, and made some nasty links on Californicator, in one day he managed to send all the letter grades in the 5.12 range.
Laura: while on her Euro climbing tour sent a staggering amount of routes and boulder problems, including numerous 5.11a flashes, as well as numerous V.4 flashes, by far the hardest she has ever climbed. I’m jealous.
Dom: pre Euro trip sent in one day V.4,5,6,7. While on the Euro trip turned into a crazy onsighting mad man with onsights of .11d through .12d, and came back with his first .13a. Post Euro trip came back and quickly dispatched an old Squamish project Immunity Challenge (props), then cleaned up some classics at 38 and 32, Stihl Fingers and Passage, plus Hydro at WW1. Best year on the rope? I think so.
Whitey: Went on the Euro trip as well and came back with a smile and his first .12b’s including a .12b flash (I haven’t even managed that feat), and his first .12c in three goes (!!!). Post Euro trip, came with us to Gold Bar and sent multiple V.4’s and his first V.7, GET SOME!
Me: Became addicted to the Leavenworth day trip, sent 10 V.8’s, 5 V.9’s and an unconfirmed first V.10, and got busy on the rope with Techno, Hydro, and Viagrophobia.

Okay, that’s enough from the master spray lord I have become. I know I have left out many climbers in Olympia that are now stronger than me, but their accomplishments outside are still waiting to be seen. Super duper props to everyone at WRG and a special thanks to the people listed above for setting the bar high, really high! Can’t wait for camp fires at Leavenworth, no hospital trips in Squamish (Nick!), a new generation at Little si, working bathrooms at Vantage, a trip period to Smith, and a chance to blog about it all right here.

Disappearing in a Fog

After a couple of weeks of rain, the sky opened up and we decided to caravan our little behinds out to Leavenworth for some good old fashioned granite groping. We piled as many people as would be comfortable in my Suba-ru and made the red eye drive to L-town, arriving at 9:00 in the morning. It’s a three hour drive, you do the math. Groggy, yet feeling unclogged after a nice stop at the Safeway we headed to the best spot in Icicle, Forestland. We were supposed to meet up with four other guys, Jesse, Al, Mika, and Evan, all greeners and all around good guys, but they were still packing up camp seeing as how they decided to come down the night before, bbbrrrrrrrr! They eventually made it to the spot and we all congealed to form a bad ass bouldering blob of goodness. On a strange note, the weather was not cooperating at all, and while the boulders were bone dry and velcro in a frictionable nature an incessant fog blotted out all hope of a sunny escape or any chance of seeing the beautiful Fall scenery. First time I have ever been to Leavenworth and not been bathed in the wholesome goodness of the sun. Oh well, it didn’t do much for my psych, but we all got off to a good start.

Evan on The Real Thing

I ran laps on my favorite problem ever, The Real Thing, while Dom sent the crouch start to One Summer, and Jimmy ticked off Drill Sergeant and the broken version of Busted. We all eventually gathered around a cool problem called Feel The Pinch and everyone in the group worked on de- mystifying the sequence, nice send Jeremy! I gave my work horse a few beatings, which means I did The Shield a couple of times (get your mind out of the gutter!!). We also gave Cruise Control a go or two before eventually heading to the uppers.

Dom reaches on Cruise Control

Upper forestland is where it is at! Huge boulders with tons of problems on them. We ran laps on Lovage, one of the best anywhere, I committed to the highball slab Fedge, as well as everyone else, and then we slapped the heinous slopers of The Physical around for a while.

Mika tops out Fedge as we all gawk in amazement.

These three pictures are all of The Physical:

Jesse

Mika

Dom

We then moved to a sweet round boulder with sweet round slopers and incut jugs. We ran laps once again on Sunny and Steep, and then a few of us managed Funny and Cheap, a sweet dynamic problem with awesome slopey holds and rails. A good time was had by all, and while I didn’t manage to really get into the hardcore focus of sending anything gnarly, I loved just climbing all of these wonderful boulder problems. I have a new found respect for Forestland and will always love the boulders here.

The crew.

We packed up with very little skin left and headed to the Scrambled Egg boulder. More good times ensued as we sent a cool slab thingy, and a sweet little slopey arête next to it. Then everyone gathered around Twisted Stone and wasted what remaining skin they had left by crimping hard and slapping for victory on the perfect grained slopers and crimps of this light blue giant. It was a good way to end the day and I’m excited about getting back out here in the Spring.