The Next Chapter

I started sport climbing today. I went to Vertical Relief with Eric. I'll be sport climbing for the spring and summer, so this should be interesting. More to come......

Rocktown Video

Since the climbing around Flagtown has been snowed in and the weather has been rainy I've been doing some video editing. Here's a clip from my 2 days at Rocktown a few weeks ago.

The Hueco Tanks Again

Arch Project

Down In Flames

Patrick on Between The Sheets

Jamie on Max Bedroom

Steven on Star Power Short

Full Service

Scream

The Umbra of Discontent

Anvil Boulders

Eric, his friend Preston, and I went to the Anvil Boulders last night at 9 pm. We got down there and pretty much all got soaked in the river on the way across the wood balance bridge. We climbed on Free Willy and some other tall slabs around that boulder. We also saw a scorpion on one of the climbs out there, and I think the stars are even brighter down there then in Flagstaff.

Back in the Hueco Tanks Part II

I climbed 2 more days in Hueco before heading back to Flag. I went to East on the first day, and West the second day. On East I failed miserably on Shake N Bake. I did some new rock climbs at the top of East. I did The Fin and Winged Victory at the Aircraft Carrier. The Fin is a super classic rock climb that climbs an overhanging feature with a sloping landing. Winged Victory is a steep climb with a big move off of a toe hook. I couldn't get the toe hook to stay so I ended up campusing the crux. I typically try to use my feet and technique first but it seems that this wasn't the case on this rock climb. Later we went to a cool boulder that has Lithologic and Bulb of Percussion. Both these climb up a 40 degree overhang with cool moves and nice scenery. On the day I went to West we warmed up at the Round Room, and then went to Adventureland so I could try Best of the Best. I managed to do it second go of the day, although it was definitely a fight to the end. After that we climbed Life Begins At 40 which is cool roof bloc that never gets wet. Then we went to Camel Toe. I repeated Camel Toe since I haven't done it since I was 16, and then started working the extension. I managed to do the extension first try and finished it feet first. We hiked up to Bodysnatcher to end the day. On the heinous hike up there we saw a cool looking arch with a bunch of chalk on it. I definitely want to check it out next time I'm in Hueco.

Back in the Hueco Tanks

So there is no Rocktown Part II because it doesn't exist. The weather turned to shit when the rains came. It didn't even rain that much, but when it wasn't raining the air was still and this strange fog/mist settled low to the ground so that the rock couldn't dry. I'm psyched for the southeast and saddened that the weather didn't hold up. We formed a plan to drive to the Ozarks for a few days until the weather improved in the Southeast. We arrived in the Ozarks to find that the rock was wet and the condition were hot and humid. So I kept driving west to end up in the Hueco Tanks for the rest of my break. I went climbing the past two days, once on the spur and once on west.

Rocktown Part I

After climbing in Dayton, Chris and I headed down to Rocktown, GA for the next week. This place is very cool and definitely lived up to the talk that people gave it. Rocktown is a maze of sandstone boulders with everything from roof to slab. There are a lot of quality problems here. On the first day I did the Vagina, Brown Hole, Sherman Photo Roof, Nose Candy, and Idiot Roof. The second day I did another variation out the Idiot Roof and started working Tractor Traylor. This is one of the best problems out here. I'm also working on the Orb and Sherman Roof Traverse.

Dayton Pocket/ Laurel Falls

Chris Hluchan and I headed out from DFW a few days after Christmas. We drove 800 miles to get to Chattanooga, TN. We tried to camp at Chester Frost State Park, but were turned around because we were too late to register for camping. We stayed at an RV park that night. The next day we went to Dayton Pocket/ Laurel Falls to climb on this massive roof that I've been hearing about. The roof is probably about the size of Mars Roof in Flag and has a lot of similar holds. I started the day off climbing on Reconciliation which starts part way out the roof and does some big moves on jugs. Then I climbed on Sandblasted which climbs from the right side of the roof out to the left side. It's probably 25 moves long. I was able to get through the crux, but failed at the end. I had to do the crux differently than the standard beta because of my tweaked right knee. After that I tried Honeycomb Roof which started in a decent undercling partway back in the cave and climbed out slightly left into the start of Reconciliation. I was able to do most of the moves. At the end of the day we climbed on Torpedo which climbs cool crimps out a long rail. I almost did this climb but was too tired to finish it. I couldn't do the end the obvious way so I ended climbing with toe hooks first. I'll have to get back here in the future because this place is amazing.