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.