Ten Years In It: Coming to America 2006 - present

This is the final installment of my recollections of the last 10 years of climbing.

I didn’t know what to expect when I came to the US, but getting out climbing a lot helped with the transition. Laura’s mom got me the Falcon guide to Climbing in Washington. It’s a really bad guide, but it was really useful for us at the time, we used it to find our way out to Exit 38. The first ever route I did in the US was a route there called Glom Job. It’s a route that climbs a crack formed between the concrete foundations of a bridge and a rock, so your essentially climbing on concrete for half the route. It was very bizarre, it probably wasn't the best route to start out on in the US, it made me wonder what climbing was going to be like here. Down in Olympia we didn’t have a car, but I found out about the quarry in Tenino on the internet, and contacted some people and was offered a ride by Doug, a good friend from Olympia. The quarry was another kind of bizarre venue, in someone’s front yard, with benches to belay from, there was certainly nothing like this in Scotland. But the community at the quarry was very welcoming, I met Off, Jimmy, Duke and Ed, the same regulars who climb there today. The first route I did there was Hercules a sandbag at 10b, it didn’t help that nobody gave me any beta, they just watched and sized up the new guy. I made it up it but it wasn't pretty. Every Wednesday Doug would give Laura and I a ride down to the quarry, and that summer we went on longer trips to Vantage, Tieton and Squamish with him. Without Doug we really wouldn’t have gotten out much at all that summer, we really owe a lot to him. I thought the climbing around here was awesome, and there was so much of it. In Scotland because of the strict bolting ethic there was not much sport climbing. Here though it was fair game, it seemed at the time that there were more sport routes than I could ever hope to do.

Getting to know the routes and the locals at The Quarry June 06

Braving the heat at Vantage August 06

Onsighting Flying Circus a 10a route at Squamish July 06

Towards the end of the summer I found a job, which limited my climbing, but we got a car which made us more flexible. We would get out on the weekends and I was getting the hang of sport climbing around here. One weekend I decided to get on a 12a at Exit 38 called Culture Shock, I was pumped out of my mind, but I somehow managed to onsight it! This was a major breakthrough for me and made me wonder what I could do if I found a project to work. Laura was working at the climbing gym at Evergreen where she met another keen climber Micah. We arranged to get out climbing at Little Si the next weekend. Micah looked like a really strong climber, but he spent most of the day hanging on a 10b, while I onsighted another 12a Rainy Day Women. Nevertheless we were to become great climbing partners and pushed each other to climb harder over the next few years. Once winter rolled around I started climbing indoors more at the Warehouse Rock Gym, where I would climb more with Jimmy. Back then he was just a weak kid, I remember thinking I could do any boulder problem he could set, I wish I could still say the same. I also met another good friend there Nick, despite him calling me the wrong name of the first few weeks of our friendship we got on great together. Together the four of us Micah, Jimmy, Nick and I would push each other to climb hard and we all improved our climbing levels immensely over the next few years.

Enjoying the Sun on Ride Em' Cowboy 5.8 at Vantage June 07

On a sweet 10d at Cheakamus BC, June 07

Right after flashing my first ever 12b at Smith March 07

Flashing Rawhide 11d at Smith May 07

Laura and I had plans to move to Portland together when she graduated, but by that point we had made good friends in Olympia, and I was enjoying my job, so we decided to stay. I’m glad we did. That summer George and another friend from Scotland Rob, came over to visit and spent 6 weeks climbing in the NW, mostly up at Squamish. We had a really good time together and shared a lot of good memories. That summer I spent a lot of time climbing particularly at Little Si and pushed my level from 12a to 12d in the space of about 6 months with Micah. My ascent of Psychosomatic (12d) was another big milestone. That was about the same time I started documenting my climbing on this blog. Since I've already covered the rest of my climbing on this blog, I wont go into too much detail. But highlights have been my extended climbing trip to Europe, discovering bouldering at Leavenworth, and getting out to new venues further afield such as Bishop and Tensleep. I've made a bunch of good friends in Olympia through climbing, too many to mention here, but I appreciate how each of them have had an impact on my climbing and have helped mold me into the climber I am today. I’m really glad I have this blog to look back on some of my old trips and good memories.

Flashing Rio's Crack V6, at Bishop December 07

Trying to find out where I am in Fontainebleau, April 08

Negotiating the Steepness of Kalymnos May 08



Bouldering in Ailefroide, France June 08

 As for the future, I discussed my plans for 2011 here. And looking towards the next 10 years, I see a lot more climbing. I’ve been getting in a lot of volume in recent years and hope to continue to do so. I think I’m going to get more into trad routes, multi-pitch routes and perhaps even alpine climbing. I would really like to get a drill and start bolting my own routes in the future. A couple of years ago I got recognized by the website 8a.nu for having one of the most registered ascents on my scorecard. At the time I had a little over 500 routes and boulders combined. I now have over 1000 routes. Over the last 3 years I’ve been averaging more than 200 new routes a year. I plan on climbing as long as I can which will hopefully mean another 30+ years. A lifetime goal I’ve set for myself is to climb 10,000 routes, only counting clean ascents, no repeats. This may sound like a lot, but I’ve done the math and I think it may be possible. If I achieve this it will be a huge accomplishment, it may mean climbing more routes than anyone else in the world, or at least having documented it, which would be pretty cool. If in another 10 years I still have this blog and can write about another great 10 years of climbing I'll be happy.