Area 57

photo courtesy of bloodyflapper.com

I went to Area 57 today just north of Austin. Area 57 is this sick limestone cave 30 ft deep and 150 ft across. The weather turned even colder with temps in the 30s and no sun. It was difficult to warmup considering the fact that there is nothing easy here. The warmup called Bitch Tested Slut Approved is probably a litte easier than Anorexic at the Draw. I was able to repeat it in a few tries. I found a few subleties that made it climb a bit smoother. I climbed on Subterranean for a little bit, but didn't make any progress.

Roger's Park

I went to Roger's Park today in Central Texas. The weather here has been strange as of late. It was 78 degrees yesterday and today the high was in the 40s plus a lot of wind. Needless to say it was miserably cold, but Flag has somewhat desensitized me to it. I climbed on my roof project out there and made a lot of progress. Dry holds and good temps do wonders. I was able to link from the bottom out the tufa section and bumping section to the first crux. The first crux is releasing a toe hook. I have the climb in 3 sections now. The second and hardest crux is the long lock off to the lip. I was able to do this move without a powerspot this time. This climb is sick. Once again I wish I had some more time.

Hueco Tanks Part II

It rained on Wednesday night so I took an additional rest day after my volunteer tour. I wanted to let the lip hold on Shake N Bake dry out. I knew if I climbed on it right after the rain it would break. I went to it on Friday and made progress. I was able to do the transition foot moves into the crux move from the start. I wish I had more time now that I have the Hueco psych back.

Hueco Tanks Part I

Best of the Best

So I arrived at the Hueco Tanks Thursday night. I hung out with RickyO the legend, Adam Wood, Kim, Jay and Claire, and a few other friends that I haven’t seen in a while. The next day I went on RickyO’s volunteer tour. We went to Belly of the Beast first. I almost repeated Belly of the Beast first try. I was able to do it next attempt. I started working Burden of the Beast. Jay told me some beta that made the crux easier, it involved dropping the right foot and using just a left heel to do the move. I figured out some beta for the post-crux section. It involved turning around and toe hooking in front of me, climbing feet first. After a couple of tries to link the climb, I stuck the crux move and finished the climb. We went over to Star Power and I was able to repeat it. Star Power climbs out a steep roof that is about 30 feet long. It is probably a 25 move super classic. The next day I took out a tour on East Mountain. My friend Marlon came along as a second guide. We started the day out at Warm-up roof and then moved over to Hardman Rock. I warmed up on the climbs in the corridor behind it, and then repeated Dragonfly. I took the group to the Darkheart and climbed on Shake N Bake. I was able to do all the moves, the crux of which felt impossible at first. We finished the day out over at the Blender Boulder. I still can’t figure out Try Harder, but I climbed Hobbit and the Ostracizer again. The next day I took a group from Tucson out to West Mountain. They were pretty cool people and it made for a great rest day. On Monday I went back to Shake N Bake with Dave, Tash, and Bob. I was able to do the crux move every time, but I found the hardest part to be the foot transition into the crux move. It involves smearing on nothing feet on a roof to get a heel hook. I think it will go on the next day. We climbed all over East and the East Spur that day. Bob and I did Ultramega, which climbs like a limestone sport route. Dave and I did Backdoor Man. Bob did The Tall Cool Red One, an impressive highball. We finished the day out on the Egg and in the Gunks. The next day Dave, Tash, Bob, Andy, and I went to West Mountain. We warmed up at Star Power and then went over to Adventureland. We climbed on Best of the Best. I was able to do all the moves with the beta Yuri gave me last year. My high point was one move into the crux section. Best of the Best climbs up this overhang with unique holds. It has a pretty bad landing. It was put up by John Sherman back in the day. Nobody would go up there with him to spot the gently rising rocky landing. So he did it with pillows stuffed in his clothes and a helmet. It is definitely one of the best problems in the park. After that Andy and I showed them Animal Acts, Between the Sheets, and Bodysnatcher. It feels great to have a break from school and not worry about anything for the next month.

Draw

Pat and I went to the draw today. It's finally starting to feel like winter in Flagstaff. The high today was 41 degrees and it felt great. We climbed at Anorexic roof. Pat started trying Meateater and came really close to doing it. I worked on BK Broiler for a little bit without making any progress. Before we left I repeated Meateater. I forgot how power-endurancy the problems on this roof can be.

Kelly Canyon

Pat, Eric, Zac, and I went (or tried to go) to Cherry Canyon Today. I have only been to Cherry once, and that was back in June. We drove around for a while and I couldn't find it so we went to Kelly Canyon. We warmed up in the trailer park area, and I did a new climb. I did the steep overhang 2nd try. It was a pretty good climb. Then we went to Dope Lounge. Dope Lounge is by far one of the best climbs in Northern Arizona. I repeated it, and Eric was super close. Pat and Zac were getting to the crux throw. It was pretty cold down in the canyon so I tried to do it static to stay warm. After a few tries I was able to do the crux throw by locking off. I found new beta for the top too, which is much easier. My feet don't even cut on the climb anymore. Then we went and climbed on a semi-steep wall halfway back to the trailer park area. I worked on this compression problem with a strange toe hook for a bit. I was able to do some of the moves, but it will definitely take some work to figure out the rest.

Commitment

So last January I decided that my goal for 2008 was to run 1,000 miles. This morning I hit the 1,000th mile. It feels really good to have finished such a long goal that I dedicated myself to nearly a year ago. There were several mornings where I just didn't want to get out of my truck or bed and go running. Sometimes it was too hot (TX mornings), or too cold (Flagstaff mornings), or I just didn't want to get up (Hueco Tanks) but I finally finished.

Here is the mile count:
January-76.95
February-50.50
March-90.05
April-85.50
May-102.15
June-100.60
July-106.00
August-90.95
September-91.80
October-118.15
November-76.2
December-12.15 to date.

I'm formulating a new goal for 2009. I think that it's going to be to visit 15 new climbing areas, local or afar.

Priest Drawing

Pat and I went to the draw today. I haven't been to the draw in 2 weeks because of my trip to Bishop. It was really enjoyable to climb back home, away from the crowds, number chasers, and beta sprayers. We climbed at Puzzlebox. Pat made significant progress on Pufferfish. I tried Huffalufagus. I was able to get through the knee-bar crux, and I fell on the redpoint crux of the climb on my first attempt. The next two attempts were lame. I had a foot pop, and then on the subsequent attempt my hand dry fired out of the undercling. On my last attempt I got through the kneebar crux but my heel-toe cam blew out a few moves after that. I ran my circuit over there and then went home. Hopefully I'll be able to post pictures soon. My computer is in the shop being fixed finally.

Bishop Part III

It rained on Wednesday, making cause for a rest day. It messed up my schedule a little bit, because I was supposed to climb Wednesday and rest on Thanksgiving. So giving in to the inevitable I took a rest day. On Thanksgiving I climbed at the Buttermilks with Ryan and Andy. There had to be at least 100 cars up there. I don't even want to think about what Friday and Saturday were like up there. We went to the Get Carter boulder, because it is a little further up the road, and out of the main area. There were still 10-15 people there the whole time, as well as about 5 dogs. It was a cold overcast day, so warming up was a bit of a slow process. After warming up we got on Seven Spanish Angels, also known as The Ruckus. Seven Spanish Angels climbs up this slightly overhung wall on cool crimps and slopy pinches, with a throw to a bucket at the top. Andy and Ryan kept getting to the last move, the same spot they had been stuck on for a few days. Somehow I managed to flash the climb. The climb is super classic and got me psyched on the Buttermilks for when I go back to Bishop. I also climbed on Get Carter, which is on the other side of the boulder. It climbs up this short overhang with some slap moves and then a semi-tall head wall with crimps. I was able to do all the moves, but didn't bother linking it up because it didn't seem like all that great of a climb and the people trying it were dabbing like crazy and continuing to climb. I saw more than once gravel and even a pad go flying. When you kick gravel or a pad you're supposed to step off Dumbasses! The last climb we did on the boulder was this tall arete, that was super good except for one awkward move in the middle. We headed back to The Pit to drop Ryan off so that Evangeline and him could go to Thanksgiving dinner at her sister's house. Andy and I went over to the Happy Boulders at that point. I tried Grindite, but got too sketched on the top so I downclimbed. We went up the hill and I tried this line on Therapy Roof which proved to be sharp and cooler looking than it actually is. After that I got shut down on Toxic Avenger after a few goes, so we went to seek out Rio's Secret Arete. It was getting dark and once again I got shut down. Then Andy and I went to Sizzler for Thanksgivning Dinner thanks to his parent's credit card. The next day I went to go check out the Eldorado Roof in Owen's River Gorge. The Gorge is a massive sport climbing crag, but based on Andy's description of this roof I wanted to check it out. The roof is a few hundred feet wide and 30-40 feet deep. The right side is around 4-5 feet off the ground, which makes it a good height for bouldering. I hiked 45 minutes with 2 pads to get to the roof. I warmed up on this super sharp lie back flake in the roof. The roof hadn't really been bouldered on in years. I cleaned up this line that started back another 10-15 feet and climbed into the previous climb. The problem had some crazy moves and took a lot of figuring out. It started with two jug sidepulls and slapped up to a crimp rail under this block. I then did a dropknee to match. That set me up for a slap to an intermediate sloper with the right hand, and then a bump to a good hold. I walked my feet out and then climbed leftward. I bumped my left hand three times along this rail to get into an awkward jug that torqued my wrist. I swung my feet over to the left and put in this heel-toe cam that consisted of a great toe hook and a bad heel scum against the polished back wall. I did a weird back flag into the corner of this block, and matched to do a hard unnerving cross under the flake to a crimp for the right hand and then a jug for the left hand. Then I bump my hand back to the jug that my right hand was just in. I push off this great foothold that feels like it's going to break with my right foot, and reach under the rock to this jug in the seam. I swung my foot down to the other wall and did a slap move to stop the swing, and then climbed the rest of the flake to the jug at the end and dropped off as a bloc problem. This cave is crazy because it has all these weird blocks sticking off the roof. It creates some truly unique climbing that is very hard to describe in words. It is a possible FA, but I seriously doubt it. I'm sure that with guys like John Bachar climbing here back in the day, it had already been done and forgotten. After that I hiked back up the hill to my truck and drove out to the Sad Boulders. I tried the new parking area down the hill on Chalk Bluff road because I was going to the South end of the Sads. I went to Kung Fu Grip and got very unmotivated after two tries, so I went to Anti-hero. It is a really cool cave climb with some unique holds. It would be better if it weren't so dabby. I had to use a headlamp in that cave, because of the fading light. By the time I was done it was dark out, but I still wanted to try Rio's Crack. I was surprised that the beginning moves didn't feel bad. I got up to what I believe is the crux, and peeled off. I didn't really try it after that because I was worried about the rock to the left on the landing. I'll have to go back to that climb with a spotter. The next day I went up to the Druid Stones with Andy, Bob, and Tash. Ryan and Evangeline met us up there. The approach to the Druids is a 30+ minute uphill hike with an elevation gain of over 1,500 feet ending up at over 6,000 feet. Despite this sort of approach the Druids were crowded, and I'm sure the other publicized areas in Bishop were worse. We warmed up on one of the first blocks we came to. On the backside there is this climb called The Sloth. It starts on this good rail and climbs out the roof on small crimps to a tall blank-looking finish. I only gave it a few tries since it was my first time at the Druid Stones. I definitely want to go back to put more work into this climb. I climbed on Arch Drude down the hill. I was able to do the original, and the left start first try. At this point I was pissed off and very cynical, because I was sick of the dogs, crowds, number chasers, and beta sprayers. I stayed and climbed a few more though. I looked at the Thunder Wall, but didn't climb on it because the climbs didn't look very good. I went around the corner and tried All Fired Up, this nice looking arete. That proved to be my only attempt on it however because it is sharp. After that I managed to flash Sky Dance, which climbs out this cool roof to a tall top out with lock-offs between good crimps. At that point my skin and muscles were trashed so I headed back to Flagstaff for exams and crowd free bouldering areas.

Bishop Part II

I climbed yesterday at Rock Creek with Ryan and Evangeline. There are a couple of cool granite boulders there at 8,500 feet. Needless to say climbing at that elevation at the end of November is cold. I did a couple classic climbs including A Boy Named Sue, Osama, and this arete that I don't remember the name of. On the way back to the pit my Flashed pad flew out the back. It was quite epic attempting to find it at night. We drove all the way back up to Rock Creek Lodge, and then back down with no luck. This morning I went back up to find it, but was turned around by a heinous snow storm. If the pad is still somewhere off the road, it's likely buried by snow now. So I'm in the market for a new pad. I may buy a Flashed Ronin pad off my friend Kody. If that doesn't work I'll likely buy a Flashed, Voodoo, or Revolution pad to replace the other Flashed pad.

Bishop Part I

I arrived in Bishop on Friday night, and I'll be staying here for the rest of this month. When I got here I went straight to the Sad Boulders. It was after 9 PM when I arrived, and it took me a little while to find the boulders since I was going off my memory from almost 2 years ago. I took several wrong turns, but after a little while I was able to find the parking for the Sads. I warmed up on a little block right outside the Ice Caves, and then went to climb on my old project Beefcake. I was able to do all the moves again really quick. I got past the crux and fell on the last hard move on my next two attempts. I didn't try it again that night. I felt like my body needed sleep, food, and water (I hadn't had enough of these that day, and was tired from the drive). I went to sleep at the K-mart because I was too lazy to go find The Pit campground in the dark. When I woke up in the morning I went straight to the Sads to finish up Beefcake. It was really cold down in the cave when I got there. It was actually dark enough in the cave for a headlamp to be useful. I quickly warmed up and tried the climb. I fell earlier than my attempts the night before. I decided to rest for about a half hour. I sent the climb on my second attempt and when I finished the climb my hands were numb, because the rock was so cold. After that I went over and climbed on Pow Pow, but was unable to figure out and efficient way to do the crux move. I was able to campus the move in isolation, but I don't think that would be the best was to link the climb. I took a break in the middle of the day, then went to the Happy Boulders in the afternoon. I climbed on Morning Dove White, which was taller than I thought. I was able to do most of the moves, but my skin was trashed at that point (thanks Priest Draw). I climbed on Cholos next and could do a couple of moves. I think I could potentially do all the moves if I had good skin. I went back to The Pit after that, and camped out with some old friends from Hueco, Ryan Good and Andy Glover. The next day I went back to the Happies. I warmed up near Slow Dance and climbed on Acid Wash. I was able to do the Jug-start to Acid Wash Right (yes that's actually the name of the climb) in a few tries. I worked on the now start, but just don't have the lock-off strength to do the first move. Then I walked over to a cool little roof called Monkey Hang. I climbed Monkey Hang, and then did a cooler variation that took the climb rightwards through the roof. For the rest of the day I climbed a bunch of tall easy problems in the Slowdance and Jesus Chrysler Boulders until it got dark and I headed back to camp.

An Old Project Dies

I went to the Draw today to climb on Cosmic Tricycle SD. I invited a bunch of people out like I always do, but everyone ended up coming today. Pat, Bryan, Steven, and I rode out there in my truck, and Eric and his friend met us out there. Pat and I were the only ones to go over to Puzzle Box. I first tried Cosmic Tricycle SD on my first visit to Flagstaff. I was able to do all the moves quickly so I thought that I would finish it fast. This wasn't the case. I didn't do it that trip, nor on my summer trip during School Orientation. I tried it when I got here in the fall, and the kneebar was too painful. On my first attempt today I fell on the last move to the lip bucket. I rested for a half hour and then sent on my second try. I started working the moves to Huffalufagus, the extension that finishes on PuzzleBox. I think it will go, but it definitely feels harder than Cosmic Tricycle SD. Pat made progress on Pufferfish. He did the crux, and still has a few more moves to decipher. Then we headed over to Floorpie. That's such a good rock climb that I hadn't done in a few weeks. Pat started working Floorpie and also Twister. Twister is really cool too, but it has a kind of sharp pocket on it. I was able to repeat that one too. We finished the night out over at Antimatter. I wasn't really serious about trying the climb, but I just wanted to toughen up my tips for Bishop this next week.

The Weekend

Eric, Bryan, and I spent the night down in Sedona on Friday. We slept in a Bashas parking lot because we couldn't find a place to camp. On Saturday morning we went to the house of a Vedic monk who fed us breakfast. It was a really cool experience seeing the way that he lives his life, his religion, and his beliefs. We then headed over to the Anvil Boulders. I had previously tried to go to the Anvil Boulders, but wasted my time hiking around trying to get to them. The directions from Vertical Relief are complete shit. The real directions take about a quarter of the time. I saw Terry out at the blocks. He showed me around and I climbed on a bunch of really good warm-ups. I tried this crazy problem that involves a hard stem called Stem and Seeds. After that we headed over to Alien Baby. I was able to do it in a few tries. Then Eric did this highball around the corner. We finished the day out on Free Willy, also known as Lip Service. It was almost a waste to try this climb because the sun was on the start holds and the slopey lip. It's definitely a cool feature though. We camped at Groom Creek Saturday night, and climbed there Sunday morning. We didn't climb as much as the previous day, but we just ran around in the boulders climbing whatever looked good. We finished the trip off with a visit to Golden Corral before the drive back.

Priest Draw

Last night Pat and I went to the Draw. I haven't been to the Draw in 2 weeks, which is kind of weird considering the fact that I live 10 miles away and love climbing there. Pat was able to finish Puzzle Box. It was only his second day on the problem. He did this crazy beta where he basically threw right hand to the lip and swung out. The landing isn't the best considering the fact that there is a drop off right behind the landing that goes down a small hill littered with little boulders. I climbed on Cosmic Tricycle SD and made considerable progress. I was able to pull through the crux once, and I fell a few moves from the end of the climb. This climb will go in one of the next few sessions, hopefully before I head out to Bishop. After that I ran the PBR (which doesn't involve beer)circuit and called it a night. It's amazing that we're still able to climb at night in November. Maybe this winter won't be too cold.

The Hueco Tanks

Last weekend I went to the Hueco Tanks for an extended weekend. Pat, Eric, and Zach came and we camped out at the HRR. We got there around 1 AM in the morning and set up camp. In the morning we woke up and I took those guys out on tour as well as a few of Fish's friends from Phoenix. I made my first income in months, $30 for going climbing. We went to the Gunks to warm-up and I got on Rumble In The Jungle, a cool cave problem that I've been working for a few years now. I was able to repeat all the moves, but didn't make any progress. After the Gunks we moved down to the Maze where I didn't climb too much but we fooled around on Slim Pickens. After that I repeated Jigsaw Puzzle and had to call it a day. The skin on my fingertips just isn't used to be used anymore from all the climbing at Priest Draw. On day 2 I decided to take a rest day because I can't climb 4 days in a row in Hueco, whether it's because of lack of skin or just getting tired. I took the guys out on an exclusive tour of West Mountain. We hit up the Round Room, Bodysnatcher, and Between The Sheets. Day 3 we had reservations to get on North Mountain. The reservation system changed this year. Reservations can be made with a Texas State Parks Pass instead of a credit card, which helps a lot with the bullshit of refunds. The only downside is the reservations expire at 10 AM instead of noon, so you either have to get over there by 10 or call the park and tell them to hold your reservations. We warmed up at the top of the chains and then hit up Nobody Here Gets Out Alive, and classic juggy roof. Then we headed over to the Terminator area so I could climb on Predator. I met up with an old friend named Vijay that I hadn't seen in a few years. We ended up trying Predator once before determining that it was a chosspile. We got on the Governator, and that climb is amazing. It climbs way different than it looks. It has this huge drop knee that sucks your body into the wall. Zach climbed on Serious Attitude Problem and almost finished it. After that we hit up Ghetto Simulator and hiked out. On our last day we warmed up at the Summit Boulders. We climbed a lot of classic easy warm ups before going back to serious attitude problem. Zach was looking strong and almost did it until he tore a huge flapper on one of his fingers. Then we met Matt over at Martini Roof. He was working on Left Martini and getting pretty close. I climbed on Right Martini for a little bit and did all the moves again, but by then me skin was shot. I was feeling strong through the beginning however. Eric and Pat made good work on Baby Martini but seeing as it was 4th day on for them they were pretty trashed. We hit up T-bone Shuffle with Nikkias, and then Melon Patch before doing the drive back to Flagtown in the dark. We got back and I didn't even end up going to sleep because it was pretty late already and I had a Stats test in the morning. Time to return to reality unfortunately.

Epic

So yesterday I went down to Sedona to check out the Anvil Boulders. I used some directions from Vertical Reliefs website, and I must say they suck! I hiked around on the trail for about two hours with three crash pads trying to find the small trail which leads to the boulders. I could see the boulders, I just couldn't find a way to them. The directions that Andy Klier told me when I spoke to him on the phone matched up with the directions from Rockclimbing.com. Those directions are much easier than the directions from Vertical Relief. Anyways, it was a cool hike which would have been a lot funner if I could have climbed and/or not hauled around 3 crash pads. Maybe this will just make the boulders seem that much better when I finally do get to go climb on them.

Groom Creek

So I went to Groom Creek again this weekend seeing as the temps were a bit lower than last time I was there. I had a lazy morning on Saturday killing time so as to get there when it was cooling off. I arrived around 3 PM and found the campsite before it got dark, and then headed over to the boulders. I warmed up by wandering through the boulders and climbing whatever looked good in my trail shoes. I climbed on this boulder with a series of jug flakes running all over it in different directions. I repeated Moonstone after doing some warm-up climbs. I had my sights set on finishing up New Moon, or Eclipse as most people call it. I dispatched it first try and was surprised at how easy it felt. I then set my sights on the link-up of Moonstone and Eclipse. I was able to do most of the moves, and my skin wore too thin once I started to figure out the feet for the throw into moonstone. I went and climbed several easy problems as daylight was fading. I wish I could have climbed more but my skin was so trashed at that point, so I headed back to camp. The weather for camping was perfect down in Prescott National Forest, as it is about 1,000 feet lower than Flagstaff. I slept for nearly 11 hrs that night. As I was heading out in the morning to go climbing I received a phone call from my friend Kody. He was heading up to Kelly Canyon from Phoenix and was near Camp Verde when he called. I decided that my trashed skin would appreciate sandstone much more than the harsh granite so I met him there. When I pulled up it seemed like half of Flagstaff was at Kelly Canyon. I went down there and climbed a few warm-up problems in my trail shoes. We went down to Transversity which Kody repeated while I learned the moves. I gave it a few goes where I fell at the crux. Then it started raining to the point that we couldn't climb anymore so I headed back home to allow my skin to grow for the Anvil Boulders in a few days.

The Plan

So here's the loosely defined plan for the next couple of months. I've been traveling a lot lately and I'm going to do a big road trip during my winter break.
November 1-2: Groom Creek
November 4: Anvil Boulders
November 6: Local Spot (probably the draw)
November 8-11: Hueco Tanks
November 13: Local Spot (probably the draw or kelly canyon)
November 15-16: Undecided, maybe JTree, Moab, Groom Creek, or the Anvil Boulders
November 18, 20: Local Spots
November 21-30: Bishop
December 1-11: Local Spots until the semester ends, will probably climb every other day, maybe go to Anvils/Groom on the weekend
December 12-19: Hueco Tanks
December 20-22: Austin, Texas
December 23-28: Chillin in DFW, might go to local areas or gym
December 29-31: Chattanooga, TN
January 1-6 Rocktown
January 7-9:HP40
January 10: Moss Rock Preserve

This will probably change but I'm really psyched on climbing right now, so I'm going to climb as much as possible.

Priest Draw

I went to the Draw last night with Pat. We climbed at Puzzle Box Roof, or as people have started calling it lately PBR. I went to work on the sit to Cosmic Tricycle. I did all the moves a while ago, but I stopped trying it because it has a super painful kneebar that basically bruises and cuts my knee after about 3 attempts. It takes about three weeks for the cut to completely heal. So I decided to buy a French-yuppie knee pad from the Canadians so that I could do this climb. I only used the knee pad under my pants, because I didn't want the extra friction or rubber all over the hold. I just want to be able to climb on this problem for more than 3 tries. The kneebar was still painful, but the kneepad allowed me to climb on it and focus on the moves instead of the pain. I have the climb down to two sections, and the crux is taking out the kneebar. Before I could send I tore a flapper in my left index finger on the 3rd pad. It was a clean tear and didn't bleed but I had to stop trying my project. So I decided to run my circuit at that roof before we left. It consists of:
Pufferfish
Unknown climb to the right of Pufferfish(similar difficulty)
Belly Sidepulls
Puzzlebox
I may expand the circuit at that roof as time goes on. There are so many lines there that have gone up recently. All of the new lines are pretty cool even though most of them are link-ups or variations. Pat climbed on Puzzlebox and made pretty good work on it. He nearly flashed it but then had trouble figuring out the end. I'll have at least a week for the flapper and knee to heal up before I head back because I'm heading to Groom Creek for the weekend to try Eclipse, and then on Tuesday I might check out the Anvil Boulders as long as it isn't too hot in Sedona.

Kelly Canyon

Eric, Pat, and I headed down to Kelly canyon to climb on some Arizona sandstone today. I'm all psyched up on sandstone right now because of Joe's Valley last weekend. I went out there to finish Donkey Punch. We hauled 7 pads down into the canyon so our landing was pretty much bombproof, which was good because I fell off the topout several times. It probably took me 6 or so tries to figure out the top out. Donkey Punch climbs this slightly overhanging face with good edges, and finishes with a hard top out on slopers. I cleaned off the top and chalked up the slopers which were difficult to see when on the climb. To do the top out you have to walk your feet up really high while holding onto the terrible slopers and do a mantle. You're feet are probably fifteen feet off the deck and there is a rock under the landing that can be made safe with enough pads. I was able to finish Donkey Punch just as it was getting dark. After Donkey Punch we climbed on Dope Lounge. That climb is sick. It climbs this 40-45 degree overhang with good holds all the way up. I had done it before, but I was so tired it took me a few tries to repeat. Eric almost finished it, so we'll be heading back when he's not sick and when we have more daylight. I'm really psyched for Kelly Canyon. As we were walking through the canyon I saw a bunch of cool looking lines that I'd like to get on.

Joe's Valley

So this past weekend I borrowed Jamie's Prius to drive up to Joe's Valley. I must say it is a damn good car. I averaged 47 mpg going there and 56 mpg coming back. I only spent about $55 dollars on gas for the weekend. In my truck it easily would have been two or three times that amount. I met my good friend Shannon up there from SLC. I got there on Friday night and wanted to go climb on the full Resident Evil. So I hiked around New Joes in the dark trying to find it but afraid of getting lost. I didn't find it, so I'm definitely not going to try another night session there until I know that area a little better. We camped up the Right Fork at the Mansize area and Joe's know has port-a-pots there and at the Buoux area thanks to the SCC. In the morning we headed down to the Riverside area to warm up. I had forgot just how good the warm-ups there were. We climbed the Angler which is a quality boulder problem right by the river. Then we headed back down the road so I could jump on Worst Case Scenario. That rock climb is awesome. I was able to do all the moves in a few minutes. Worst Case Scenario has a pretty bad landing and a horrible fall zone that could leave you dropping about 15 feet into the road. It has a cool tufa feature in the beginning and then it busts right on some crimps to a jug. I gave it a few good tries and almost did it before the skin on my fingertips wore too thin. It seems that the Draw has left me without good fingertips. Then we headed up the road to the Buoux area to do a few climbs. We did a climb on the backside of the boulder with the highball Speed on it. From there we headed over to New Joes to some more climbing. I climbed on the full Resident Evil which is cooler than it looks. I was able to get into the start of the stand up a few times but it was afternoon and the sun made it hard to see some of the holds. We did a climb called Cool Joe? which was really cool. It wasn't very hard but it was definitely tall. It's really scary because about 15 feet up you have to grab onto a chossy jug and work you're feet up while hoping that it doesn't break. After that I did a climb on the back of the Resident Evil boulder which was called Big Boy. It's really ugly rock but it has good movement. Shannon climbed on this thing on the opposite side of the boulder which started in some underclings and climbed up slopers. He finished it up the following day. When we were finished in Area 51 we headed up the hill to Planet Of The Apes which is a full value boulder problem. It starts with a comfortable knee bar and moves up some compression moves with a slopey rail for the right hand and some crimps for the left hand. It finishes with a hard mantle. I gave this a few tries and got up to the topout once but couldn't figure out the mantle. I decided to call it a day as we had been climbing for over 9 hours at that point. We went back to camp and chilled out for the night with our trashed skin and fatigued muscles. On Sunday we woke up and got going a little faster. We went back to New Joes and warmed up near Pimpin Jeans, an awesome crimp problem. We did a climb opposite that which looked really cool, but was actually really lame. Then I went up the hill and finished up Planet Of The Apes. We headed back down to Area 51. I gave Resident Evil a few tries and got back to the same point. My fingers were so trashed and I was so tired at that point that I decided to call it a day after doing a cool warm down problem called Warm Me Up Scotty. I headed back to Flagstaff and I'm going to try to make it down to Groom Creek next weekend.

Draw Update

Pat, Jamie, and I went to the draw last night. We went to Bat Roof where it seems like a million other people decided to show up. Jamie made a lot of progress on the Bat Roof. After climbing there for a bit we headed down to Anorexic Roof. Pat finished his project Anorexic within a few goes. Nice work Pat. I climbed on BK Broiler and managed to make some progress. I can link all the moves from the start to the last hard move. I still haven't done that last move though. Basically for the end you have right hand on an undercling and left hand on a really sharp crimp in the roof. You have to walk your feet out in front of you and bury a right toe hook, which you use to bump your left hand to another bad crimp. Then you throw the other left toe hook and have to let go with your right hand and fall in to a bad pinch. The move is a little scary because if you miss it you fly down the hill, not to mention the fact that you're horizontal about 6 feet above the pads. I started to learn the move so we'll see what happens whenever I get back out there. I'm headed to Joe's Valley for the weekend.

REI Garage Sale/ Groom Creek

So this previous weekend Jamie, Sarah, and I headed down to the REI garage sale to pick up some cheap gear. We camped out in front of the store the night before. By 8 AM that morning the line had grown to over 150 people. Since we had camped out the previous night we were within the first 20 people. I had never been to an REI garage sale previously, and I must say it is worth it. The garage sale is a mad house and it's really funny to just step back and watch the madness unfold as manners go out the window and people will do whatever it takes to get the gear they want. I did manage to get a North Face Tadpole 23 tent for less than $50, which I was very psyched about. I also got a few cheap shirts. After the garage sale I was happy to get the hell out of the shit hole they call Phoenix. It was over 95 degrees by noon, and that's in October! So we headed back up to higher elevation. We went to a Prescott local spot called Groom Creek which sits around 6,000 feet. It's really good granite although it was still a little warm for good friction. We climbed at the Island first where we warmed up and Jamie and Sarah did a cool climb called Zorro. I did a few warm up climbs and a couple of classics. Face Lift and the Fang were both really good moderate classics for that spot. I scoped out the Crucible and am definitely going to give it a try once it cools off. We also met a Prescott local named Jared while we were at the Island. After climbing there for a bit we headed to the one of the main areas. There I dispatched a climb called Moonstone after a few tries. Moonstone is a classic climb that starts under a low roof and climbs out on slots with poor feet at the end. After doing that one I turned my attention to a climb to the left called New Moon, also known as Eclipse. I was able to figure out all the moves, but by that point I ran out of time and was too tired to link it up. I'll be back for that climb and also the link-up of Eclipse and Moonstone. Currently I'm recovering from an upper respiratory infection, but soon I'll be back to climbing. Hopefully I'll get to climb at the draw on Wednesday and then maybe Joe's Valley this weekend.