Newhalem for a day

Last weekend I had an awesome long day trip up to Newhalem with Kevin, Austin, Jordin and Jimmy. Newhalem is a fun granite sport crag in the North Cascades National Park. The routes are typically pretty long and often very crimpy and intense on rough rock. My tips got shredded pretty quick from trying harder routes, but my that was my goal. I ended up not sending the harder routes I tried, but I got a couple of fun 5.11's. Kevin put down a sweet 12b that we were all trying, and Jimmy made short work of a powerful 13b, very impressive! It was quite a drive for a day trip, but I'd happily do it again with this crew. 

Kevin on 12c for a day

Great rock

Kevin on a crimpy start

Summer Climbs

I feel that my summer has been surprisingly busy for a teacher. In between working science camps, studying for the GRE's, and putting together new curriculum for the fall I've been able to get out climbing a bit. Recently I climbed a "V7" on the She Bear, that Austin and I felt was more like a V5. Took some students out to the far side for a taste of outdoor climbing. Last week I climbed after work with Sierra, Justin and Sara and did a handful of surprisingly good routes on deception wall. And this last weekend I had an amazing weekend in Tieton with Kevin, Austin and his friend Rob.

Butterfly's everywhere

I have been thinking of Astral Wall since climbing there last summer. It's like nothing I've ever climbed on before, and despite talking the wall up the whole drive there, the guys were not disappointed when we arrived. I guess word is getting out on this crag, because we found ourselves amongst a dozen climbers sharing astral wall. Or maybe it was the fact that while it was 90 degrees down below in the valley, it was cool shaded and breezy up on the wall.

Austin on Whitewashed, the hardest established route on the wall.

I did the longest route on the wall, Astral Cloud all the way to the top. What an incredible route! It is the longest single pitch sport route I have ever done. It climbs for over 50 meters (170ft) up a vertical to slightly over hanging wall with jug after jug. Its so hard to grade a route like this since there are so many amazing rests, but it falls somewhere in the 5.11- range.

Austin about halfway up the wall.

We camped at a sweet spot up there and got on a few more routes on Sunday morning, before heading to Honeycomb Buttress to get on the hard line there. I had last been on it almost 4 years ago, but it had stuck in my head and I was even able to remember a lot of the moves. I'd heard it had been done by a local and given 13c, I was skeptical of the grade, but after getting back on it I realized the moves by the fourth bolt are actually very hard. It was really fun taking turns with Austin and Kevin and sharing beta. Kevin made good progress on some of the really hard moves that I just can't do, but even if I can't send it, it's the type of route that you just want to get on and work. I'm sure I haven't seen the last of that route.

6 days in Vegas

I found myself back in Las Vegas last week in a very different mindset from when I was there a couple of months ago. I had got time off work and booked this trip a few weeks ago, but as the date approached I was regretting my decision to book it for that long. In the end though I had an amazing time! I flew down with Austin, and met up with Kevin who was staying there with his Aunt. We had the perfect balance of a taste of Vegas living in the hostel on the strip, and delicious homecooked meals every day after climbing courtesy of Kevin's awesome Aunt. We climbed 3 days on, had one wild night out on the strip, took one rest day, then climbed another two days, it worked pretty well.

I could go into details about what routes we got on each day, but its so hard to capture the feeling, so I'll let the photos do the talking. In summary, I climbed a LOT, mostly steep juggy sport routes which I love. I sent a handful of easy 12's quickly, and worked a few 12c's and d's but with no send. Austin climbed out of his skin, he managed a 12a flash, and gave double digit attempts on a hard 12a and 12b, but didn't manage to get the send. Kevin was climbing strong, and managed to climb his first ever 12a, then his second, then his third! If both these guys build up their endurance they could be sport climbing machines! I'm already looking forward to get back out on a rope with these guys, it was so much fun!

Flashing the Red Rock classic 12a, Fear and Loathing.

Improvising a stick-clip.

Drinking a beer trading beta on a hard project.

Working an amazing 12c roof climb.

Another 12 that got away.

A familiar feeling for Austin, hanging on his project.

A really fun 12b that eluded Austin.

Cool Shadow.

Trying a steep 12b on the last day.

Sending Season

Its that time of year, when fitness finally catches up with expectations and projects start to fall. On Saturday a big Oly crew headed up to Little Si where conditions were prime. Lisa finally managed to take down her long-term project Psychosomatic, likewise Nick with Propaganda. I don't have a big project at Little Si, but I wanted to get back on Dairy Freeze a 12b I tried and failed on back in 07 and 09. I put the draws up and felt the moves, it didn't feel nearly as hard as I had remembered, and I managed to finish it off next go. I started off a sending train with Jimmy and Nick getting it straight afterwards. Its not often that we come away from Little Si with any new sends let alone a handful. That night we all went out in Seattle to give Micah a good send off.

After a well needed rest day, Jimmy Lisa, Kevin, Micah and I checked out Rosario a crag up on Whidbey Island. I was skeptical since I had never heard of it before, but it was well worth the drive. It is a small 40ft overhanging cliff with about half a dozen good independent lines (and a bunch of random bolts smattered in between). What makes this crag unique is its beautiful surroundings. I can't think of a more picturesque setting for a crag. The climbing is very fun as well, bouldery powerful routes, very gym like. After warming up on a couple of moderates I managed a 2nd go send of the crag classic Sissy-Boy. It felt basic for 12d, but I'll take it. Jimmy managed to flash it, and Micah, Kevin and Lisa all made really good progress on it. Jimmy also managed another 12d, which I got agonizingly close on, but no send. I look forward to coming back to this crag though. For more (and better) photos check out Micah's blog.

Lisa working Sissy-Boy

Kevin and Micah belaying

The view from the crag

We couldn't have asked for a more perfect day

She-Bear Photos

Got out to the She-Bear boulder today again to do some more scrubbing and work on projects. I cleaned up a few good moderates. Snapped a few photos, I'll let them do the talking.

The She-Bear boulder from the parking, its about 20ft tall

The She-Bear Slab an awesome tricky V1

A welcome jug high on the slab

Kevin on a crimpy V8 on the main face

Lots of good crimps

The stand start here is an amazing V3

The top out is perfect, but not the way Kevin does it

Working a tricky arete, will probably be V6/7

 

Yes the rock is that good! This is starting hold to an amazing V6 sloper problem.

Kevin on Pooh Bear a fun V8, he sent it next go

NC3 WWU

Yesterday I competed in the first Northwest College Climbing Competition (NC3) of the year up at Western Washington University up in Bellingham. I’m not climbing really strong right now because of my lingering finger injury, but a group of guys from Olympia were headed up so I tagged along. Chas, Morgan, Micah and I represented Evergreen. Jimmy and Kevin climbed for SPSCC, and Andrew came up with us climbing for UW. The gym up at Western is not the biggest, so it was pretty crowded with a couple hundred students from the major colleges around Washington, Oregon and Idaho. The comp reminded me a lot of the university climbing competitions I went to in the UK, there was the same excitement, team outfits and fancy dress. But in the UK there was a lot more money in it, back then our university sports association would pay for our flight and accommodation and we weren’t even that good. I think if the NC3 comps stay this well attended, they should move them to bigger gyms.

Micah deafens onlookers with his power scream



Chas almost sticks the second dyno

Morgan respresenting Evergreen in Men's Open Finals

I climbed alright, I had good strategy and got in 5 kinda hard problems. I liked the fact that they had a 30 point bonus for flashing problems, I think 4 of my top 5 were flashes. But a major criticism a lot of people had with the comp was that they didn’t allow any smearing at all! This made the problems really awkward and contrived, and the rule was really hard to enforce. I ended up taking 7th in advanced, if I were in better shape, I think I could have challenged to get top three, the standard wasn’t all that high. Chas and Andrew climbed well in advanced category as well. Micah climbed strongly but struggled to finish off the hard problems and ended up ripping up his scorecard and just climbed for fun. Jimmy, Morgan and Kevin climbed awesome in open. Jimmy and Morgan got 2 of the 3 spots in the open finals, a guy from the UW took the third spot. While they were in isolation there was a dyno comp, I entered and made it past the first round, but the next dyno’s were huge, it was really fun to watch though. Then open finals came, they were closely matched until the steep and slopey final problem, which I knew would suit Jimmy’s style. And sure enough he flashed it to win! Here’s a really badly shot video I got of it.

It was a great way to spend a Saturday, and I think I’m going to compete in some other ones throughout the NW in the next couple of months. I missed the pre-registration for the one in Spokane next weekend, but I heard from a guy from Central that Vantage is dry, so I think I know where I’m going to be next weekend if the weather holds.


Team Oly (minus Chas) at Boomers in Bellingham afterwards