Octoberfest!

Katie and I crashed Morgan and Tara's anniversary trip to Leavenworth. It was fun to show some Leavenworth newbie's around the familiar boulders, and see their excitement for bouldering grow.

 

Smokey Leavenworth

I decided to head out to Leavenworth with a big group of people at the last minute over the weekend. I had a good time, checked out a few different crags, and climbed some fun routes. Icicle canyon was eerily quiet because of nearby fires. We saw the flames close up when we were going over Blewett Pass, it was scary how close we got. Throughout the weekend the canyon got more and more smokey, it cast a red hue on everything which was pretty cool. The highlight was climbing Condorphamine Addiction with Tony. Its a 7 pitch bolted 10b, we linked it into 4 pitches and got a crux pitch each, I would highly recommend it.

At the top of Condorphamine Addiction, notice the smoke in the background.

By Sunday it started getting really smokey.

Mind Games

I had a great time in Leavenworth this past weekend. The company was fun and I had a couple of sends that I’m particularly proud of. I drove over with Laura, Boon and Esteban in my car. And we met Micah, James, Melody and Gretchen out there. Friday night Micah got us a prime camping spot at the free campsite and plenty of wood keep us warm until the Rainier put me to sleep. Saturday, we headed to Castle Rock to climb some trad routes, along with Ian, a visiting climber from Salt Lake who we met the day before. I warmed up on a 5.6 and a couple of 5.8’s then Ian and I decided to try some harder climbs. I went for the onsight of The Nose, a classic 10d trad route. It wasn’t pretty to watch, I was probably up on the route for 45 minutes, climbing up and down, but I managed the onsight. Thinking back on it now, it was one of my funnest and most memorable sends of the year, but while I was on it, it was anything but fun. I was sketching out, pumped and not-confident. My gear was actually really good, but I couldn’t get the image of me falling and stripping my gear out of my mind. I have a love hate relationship with hard trad climbing, I really want to climb more and push myself harder. But when I’m actually on hard trad routes I scare myself silly. Ian gave it a shot after me, for an 11+ trad leader he was pretty sketched out on it as well which made me feel better for struggling a bit. Although it was almost as scary belaying him on it as it was leading it. Saturday night we had a good fire going but I guess I’m getting old cause I couldn’t stay up as late as some others in our group.


On Sunday we headed out to the boulders, I felt a lot stronger than I normally do on my second day climbing, I guess combining trad and bouldering works pretty well. After warming up on a few easy classics, we met up with Nathan who was in Leavenworth that weekend as well and we projected The Jib (V8) together. I say project, but really he flashed it while I worked on it. Last time I bouldered out here, I flashed the first move, but couldn’t do the rest. This time the end felt pretty straight forward but I struggled on committing to the first move. Another guy pulled over his mat as well, and he tried it, he soon decided he didn’t like it so was about to take his mat away, I knew I just had one chance before there wasn’t enough pads for me to feel comfortable on it. I committed to the move and dispatched it easily. It’s funny how something that you project, can feel so easy when you actually send it. It’s cool to have sent two V8’s this year, but apart from those two my next hardest is a V4. What’s up with that? I’m not too concerned though, I’m just glad I’m starting to get my boulder strength back, just in time for the South Sound Pull Down!

Me onsighting The Nose 10d Trad at Caste Rock, Leavenworth

Nathan on the sit start to Spongebob Squarepad (V5)



Boon on an awesome V2 at Mad Meadows



Making time for Climbing

I've been pretty busy recently, but I've managed to make time for climbing. The past couple of weekends I've managed to squeeze in some time. Last weekend I finished all my school work on Saturday, so headed out that night and met up with friends at Vantage for a good campfire and a fun day of climbing. It was still pretty hot out there to try anything hard, but that didn't stop Laura from onsighting an 11a.

Sierra trying an 11a on a sunny day at Vantage

This weekend, after getting my work done Saturday, I headed out to Leavenworth late that night with Tony, slept in the car and got some awesome trad pitches in on Castle Rock the next day. A few weeks ago when I was in Leavenworth, I looked up at Castle Rock and thought wouldn't it be fun to be up there on those routes, so that's what I did. This crag is awesome, my kind of approach (short), and really good varied rock climbing. I like trad routes that aren't just boring cracks, I like lots of features and holds, with good gear, Castle Rock delivered. First I warmed up on a really fun 5.8+ the South Face of Jello Tower. Then did Angel Crack, a short 10b glassy finger crack, which was pretty good. Then we headed up Canary a 3 pitch 5.8 route to the summit. It was great, good rock, nice exposure, not too hard. This was exactly was I was hoping for. We got back down and made it back to Olympia by 9. It was fun to climb with Tony again after a while not seeing him. He is a great climbing partner that inspires confidence in me, I'm looking forward to the next time we get out together again.


Tony heading up the excellent first pitch of Canary



Me about to do the exposed 'scary canary' move at the start of the second pitch.



Phew, that wasn't so bad!



What I've been up to

Summer is officially over, whether it ever arrived is still up for debate. I haven't been climbing as much recently. After my Ten Sleep trip, my parents visited from Scotland for a couple of weeks. This was their first time visiting me since I moved to Washington in 2006. We had a great time, they liked Olympia, and I showed them around the NW a bit including some places I had never visited before like Mount St Helens and the Oregon coast, both of which are beautiful. When they left, my student teaching placement started up, and I've been busy with that since. I'm at a High School in Tacoma, which has been difficult at times, but I'm really enjoying the experience. I did manage to get out a couple of weekends ago to Leavenworth bouldering which was a lot of fun. My bouldering strength is not what it should be, but I just renewed my membership to the Warehouse, so that should improve soon. I'm probably not going to get out as much this fall since I'll be pretty busy, but I'm getting out climbing at Vantage tomorrow, and I wouldn't miss The South Sound Pull Down for anything. Below are a couple of photos from Leavenworth, a shot I forgot to include from Ten Sleep, and a funny video from Ten Sleep.

Jimmy takes it to a whole new level on The Practitioner



Laura works a sweet V4 The Lobster



Totally Flashed this photo. Ten Sleep, we'll be back!



Procrastinating at Leavenworth

I probably should have stayed home and done school work this weekend, but its hard to say no to a ride out to Leavenworth. We headed out Friday night and barely managed to get a spot at the free camping spot, it was packed. On Saturday we met up with Jeremy and Derik, and later Lisa as well which made for a good group sending psyche. Laura sent another V4, The Real Thing a long term project of her's that she made look pretty easy this time, and also a great tall V3 Arrested Development. The highlight of my trip was sending The Cattleguard Arete only my third V8 at Leavenworth to date. To be honest it didn't feel that hard, but then again it repelled the efforts of Jeremy, Derik and Lisa and they're no slouches. I think it just fit my style/size well. Saturday night we met up with Whitey at the campsite, and we played a game of whiffle (sp?) ball with some other climbers, we totally kicked ass. On Sunday my skin and energy was low, but I did manage to squeeze out a redpoint of The Physical a tough V4 that I had tried previously, it was nice to put that one to rest. Right now its time to hit the books, I don't think I'll be getting out again for a couple of weeks until school gets out for summer. Derik sticks the crux match but can't finish off the Cattleguard Arete V8

Whitey on Fedge a cool V2 highball slab

Micah reaches precariously near the top of Bad Moon Rising perhaps the best slab problem I've climbed

Weekend Warriors

I didn't think I'd be getting out climbing this much while at school, but its amazing how much work I can get done during the week if it means getting out climbing on the weekends. Micah and Laura picked me up straight after my last class at noon on Friday and we headed out to get our climb on. We headed up Little Si despite a downpour and got on the two climbs that were dry. I got on Chronic, I'm pretty sure I did more pulling on draws than pulling on holds, but it was good to check out the upper part. There's no doubt that this is a great climb, but it seems way above my level for now, theres still sections I don't know how to do. It could be a good summer project though. Despite the rain it was still pretty fun hanging out at World Wall I and having the place to ourselves.

I think this was the only draw I clipped without grabbing it on Chronic (13b)

From there we headed to Laura's Dad's cabin, on Lake Cle Ellum for a night of wine steak and ping-pong, it was awesome. In the morning we headed to Leavenworth, we had a good time bouldering there the previous week so decided to go back for more. I did a lot of easy things, mostly repeats, but did a few new things like The Rib, a great V4 at the Carnival Boulders and projected some harder things, Scrambled Eggs (V8) and Joe's Crimper (V7), a little more core and they should go. Laura was the star of the weekend though, with impressive sends of The Pocket (V4) and a couple of V3's for a very productive day. I said a few weeks ago that I didn't think I'd get out on more overnight trips until the summer, but it looks like I was wrong. This weekend I think Vantage is on the cards.

Me on The Rib, contender for best V4 at Leavenworth

I forgot my camera again, so all photos are courtesy of Micah. Check out his blog for more excellent photos.

Leavenworth Routes

You read right, we went to Leavenworth and climbed routes instead of bouldering for the first time. The brand new Leavenworth route guide just came out which is really good, so the awesome threesome (Me, Laura, and Micah) headed out there and packed the ropes and rack this time. I forgot my camera so I just stole this one off of Micah’s blog.

We did stop off for a quick session at the Fridge Boulder as well, perhaps the best single boulder in Leavenworth? I took care of some unfinished business with quick ascents of the Fridge Center and Right (both V4), problems that had eluded me in the past. The Leavenworth routes took a little getting used to, even leading 5.9 sport routes required a lot more focus than I’d normally expect. I did a few trad routes but nothing harder than 5.8+ (probably around HVS in old money). There were some really nice lines, but a lot of them seemed very samey, slabbly cracks with friction for feet. Not that they weren’t enjoyable, but I think they might get old after a while. Placing gear was great fun I had a few nervy moments, but thinking about it now a day later I really enjoyed the added pressure and heightened awareness of those routes. Locking off on one hand while you try to fiddle in gear with the other, or running it out after a placing a bomber piece to the next good stance. I’m looking forward to getting back there and exploring more crags, but I’m not sure where to go since it seems there are so many options. Does anyone have any recommendations? I’m looking for vertical non-friction climbs with good gear, thin cracks (up to one inch) on good quality rock and footbolds are preferable. Is that too much to ask?

Breakthrough

Yesterday I had one of those days when everything seems to go just right, the projects fall and you wonder why it had taken you so long to do them in the first place. I sent my two longest-term bouldering projects The Sheild and Busted at Leavenworth.

We headed out to Leavenworth with the car packed full of mats and camping stuff, ready for a two day climbing trip, I was looking forward to a chill trip and maybe getting on some routes at Leavenworth for a change. Things were going well, the free camping was open so we set up our tent next to where Whitey and his buddies were already set up. We then headed to Forestlands where we met up with one of Micah's friends from Evergreen, Greg. We warmed up on some easy stuff and I did some laps on the excellent Arested Development. I was feeling pretty good, so decided to slide the mats over to try The Shield (V7). If you've been following my Leavenworth blogs you'll know that The Shield is something I get on every time we're there and every time I throw myself at it only to get shut down time after time. I've probably tried it close to 100 times, no exaggeration, the first move is the crux so its easy to try it over and over. I've stuck the crux move once before, only to fall off on the big move to the lip, so I know I can do it, the problem for me was 90% mental. For some reason yesterday I felt a lot more confident trying it. On my first attempt I pulled on and got my hand fully on the hold. Pulling off the starting crimp with my left hand was a bit sore because of a lingering finger injury so I knew I shouldn't give it too many attempts. I knew on my next attempt I could stick it, so I went for it latched the hold perfectly and held the swing! This was it, I tried to keep my composure, but I couldn't remember exactly what to do next, but luckily I managed to stay on and grovel my way over. I had done it, I stood on top and thought to myself why had it taken me so long? It didn't even feel that hard.

Micah on Arrested Development

I was glad to be done with that project and I was riding on a wave of confidence, so I hopped on The Drill Sergeant a V8 to the right. I was climbing pretty strong on it, but I didn't quite have the reach for it. I wasn't too into doing that problem, besides I really had my eye on Busted. The saga of Busted is a long one so bear with me. On one of my early trips to Leavenworth I did The Rubb' Dyno (my first V8) then did Busted. It turns out after seeing videos of the problem and talking to others I didn't do it from the proper start, I started crouched on the flake rather than sitting on the holds below which adds considerable difficulty, so I took it off my scorecard. To make matters more complicated a few months later the loose flake busted off leaving small crimps making it even harder, it was still climbable though and V9 was suggested by other climbers on 8a. I had been trying it before and after the break, and it certainly feels harder, but certainly not V9 hard. I would say it is now solid V8 (Font 7B not 7B+, but thats a whole other can of worms) neither hard nor soft for the grade. I managed to refine my sequence, and just last week got really close to finishing it off, coming off the last hard move. So yesterday I worked on it methodically making sure I had the last move and the top out dialed, then went for the sit. After about half an hour of attempts I made it through the opening moves, set up for the big throw and SLAP! stuck the hold perfectly, I topped it out and ended a 18 month long project!

Me trying The Drill Sergeant

I was back climbing V8 a year and half after doing my last one, I was so happy I didn't care what happened during the rest of the trip. Luckily for me I finished off these project pretty quickly, cause soon afterward the sky's opened and it started pouring. It became apparent pretty quickly that everything was getting soaked and there was no point in hanging around, so we took down our tents and headed back. We stopped off at the Schist cave at Swiftwater on the way back, because it is so steep it stays dry even in a downpour. It was pretty fun monkeying around on the big holds in the steep cave, and I managed to link together all the moves on the right hand line in the cave, to below the lip, I couldn't top it out since its was soaking wet. It felt about V6 to here, but would probably add another grade to top out. Here is a video of the climb, its 2:45 in to the video.

All in all I can imagine the trip must have been a bit of a disappointment to Laura and Micah. But I don't think I would have changed a thing about it. These sends come at an important time for my psyche, I was starting to think I might be resigned to being a V6 climber. But now I know with a bit of confidence anything can happen.

LW

Sorry for the delay in this blog post, but some of us have jobs ;) (at least for a little while longer!)


Last Saturday Micah, Jimmy and Me headed out to Leavenworth for our first bouldering trip of the year! A lot of impressive stuff went down, Jimmy and Micah picked up right where they left off last year and sent a few V8's and a V9, see their blog for more details. Lisa impressed us all with an amazing send of The Lonely Fish V9!!! To put it into perspective before Saturday her hardest send was a V4! I actually got close to flashing the Lonely Fish, but it wasn't meant to be. I'll definately be back for it though. I managed to send Cruise Control a sweet V6 at Forestland though which I really liked. And I repeated some great problems V5 and below. We also met Jeremy out there and he sent his first V5's; One Summer, and Arrested Development Variation. But enough about grades, here's some photos I'll let them tell the story of our weekend.

Lisa on Arrested Development a fun highball at Forestlands that feels a whole lot easier with a bunch on pads down.

Jimmy negotiates his way up the technical corner of Pretty Girl at the Pretty Boulders. Contender for best problem in Leavenworth?

Jimmy denied by the slopers on Pretty Woman on his flash attempt.

Lisa focusses on the big throw on The Lonely Fish.

Micah slaps slick slopers at Swiftwater.

Jimmy commits and latches the jug of Pretty Hate Machine.

Lisa on a possible FA in Upper Forestlands on a really sweet boulder.

(Insert your own caption here)

Dyno Comp and the last trip of the year

I had a pretty good weekend, on Saturday the Warehouse Rock Gym had a party to celebrate their 4th birthday, there was a cool slide show by Jim Yoder, Jimmy showed his climbing movie on the big screen and there was a dyno comp. Jimmy set all the dyno's. At first glance I thought he had set them way too hard and no one would send them, but it turned out that they were doable and a lot of fun. Me, Jimmy, and Whitey all completed 6 out of the7 (dyno #7 was huge!) Jimmy and Whitey did them with less falls than me. Here are a couple of videos I took of the dynos, the first is a short one of me almost latching the jug on a running start, and the second is of whitey doing dyno #4.

On Saturday we decided to take advantage of the break in the weather and head out for one last climbing trip before the snow, a day trip bouldering out at Leavenworth. Micah drove and we had a full car, Me, Laura, Jimmy and Jeremy. With gas so cheap right now and the car so full gas money was a fraction of what it cost us a couple months ago. We met up with some guys from Evergreen as the so there were 9 of us in total. When we arrived at Forestland it was cool, probably in the high 40s, and very misty, we thought it might burn off later in the day but it was just like for pretty much the whole day. We warmed up with a few of the classics at Forestland, Breadline (V0), The Real Thing (V4), Feel the Pinch (V4) and I did One Summer from the crouch start for the first time which goes at V6. The friction was so good it was hard to fall off. Well it wasn't that good I guess, cause I did manage to fall off The Shield (V7) and some other stuff a bunch of times . Jimmy made impressive sends of The Bedroom Bully (V8) and Busted which is a hard V8 now that the big flake has broken off. I'm keen to get back on those two problems again in the spring, cause I'm fairly close. We headed up to Upper Forestland and took our turns of some of the classics like Fedge, Lovage, The Physical, Sunny and Cheap and Funny and Cheap (all V2-4). It was fun to be climbing in a big group and giving encouragement to everyone trying the problems, it certainly turned what could have been a misty gloomy day into a fun time. Below is a video of me repeating Lovage (V3).

We finished off the day in the Scrambled Eggs area where I wanted to get back on the V8 I had come so close to completing last trip. But my skin was too thin by this point and the crimps hurt too much to really try hard, so I was content to leave this one until spring as well. I did do a couple of V3's there which were a lot fun. It was great to be out climbing at Leavenworth in November, I didn't really expect to get out so it felt like a bonus. Now I have to brace myself for a long winter of climbing indoors, and hope that I remain uninjured and strong for spring.

Jesse on Twisted Stone (V3)

Laura showing the boys how its done

Eastside Climbing

In the last week or so I’ve made a couple of trips out over the mountains to the Eastside. Last week with Laura down in San Francisco visiting her sister, Micah and I decided to have a guys trip out to Leavenworth again. Jimmy and George from Olympia, were already out there so we met up with them at Mad Meadows. I flashed a cool V5 ‘The Undercling’ there, its one of the few things that I hadn’t done already. It was getting pretty warm, so we huddled under the Hanta Man roof in the shade, despite all the heat Jimmy managed to link all the moves and sent Hanta Man (V9). Next at the Sword area Micah got the Prism (V9) pretty fast, we all tried it, it didn’t feel too hard, I just need to grow a couple of inches to make the span. On the second day we played around in the beach area, I did the (shallow) water solo Beach Arete (V2) which was fun, but I guess I was a bit disappointed I didn’t fall. So we all jumped off an even bigger boulder nearby into the river, which was a lot of fun! Micah put together a cool video of the trip here, and here’s one from a couple of weeks ago.

Laura checking out the view at Frenchman's Coulee

A typical bolted arete at Frenchman's Coulee

A few days later Laura got back and the 3 of us headed out to Frenchman’s Coulee near Vantage. Laura and I had been here before, but it had been a while, and it was Micah’s first visit. It was cool to be in the sun in the dusty desert just 3 hours after leaving rainy Olympia. Because Vantage is in the rain shadow of the Cascades it gets very little rain, it feels like a totally different country out there with tumbleweed blowing. We pitched our tents, and got out to Sunshine Wall, where we warmed up on Easy Off (10c) a typical Vantage bolted arete, and one of my all time favorites. It had been a long time for Micah since he last onsighted routes, but proved that he still had it with an impressive onsight an 11c at Jigsaw Wall, it was really fun to watch since it gave good battle. We did a couple more routes there before it got too dark to climb. We returned to the campsite to a good fire and some country music on the radio, it felt appropriate. The next morning we made a b-line for the powerhouse another powerful sport crag, we had a bit of a fright on the way over when Laura came very close to stepping on a rattlesnake. At the powerhouse Micah worked on (and almost sent) a cool 12a, King of the Ruins. He gave me streaming beta and I managed to flash it, and we did a few other things there before we pumped out. We ended the day at The Feathers, a really fun easier area with bolted pillars. That night at the campfire we met Dave another westsider who was out here for a few days working on the only boulder problem here, Merciful Fate, a 30ft long V7. He described it as ‘the best boulder problem in the state’ and got us really psyched for trying it with him. The next day he led us to the boulder problem, which was pretty treacherous just to find in the first place. It was really cool endurance problem starting with a sit-start then went up 45 degrees on slopey holds to top out pretty high above a sketchy landing. After getting the beta from Dave, I managed to flash it to the midway rest, which is given V5 in the guide, but I was too pumped/scared to continue above. It was a cool climb but we all agreed that it probably wasn’t the best boulder problem in the state. With that we headed back over the mountains to Olympia, where we were all looking forward to a well-deserved shower

Sun, Scenery and Slopers

Since Laura and I have been back in Seattle we've had a busy schedule looking for a place in Olympia etc. So we were very excited when Micah suggested a 4 day trip to Leavenworth. We headed out in Micah's new Forester, with a triple pad strapped to the roof and 2 more inside plus all our camping gear it was still very spacious and comfortable. It was a welcome change from trying to squeeze all our stuff in our accord. 3 hours after leaving Seattle we were pulling into Icicle canyon, I had forgotten how beautiful this part of the state was, I can't think of a better place to go climbing. First thing we did was to claim ourselves a campsite at eightmile campground, we knew on the Thursday before Labour Day weekend they would go pretty fast. And the last two times we camped in Icicle we ended up having to share with RVers, not because we turned up late, but because they decided since we were just 'tent camping' there would be plenty of room to share.

With that taken care of we headed to the Forestland boulders where we all had some unfinished business to take care of. I got shut down on The Shield (V7), but Micah showed how his training had paid off with quick sends of Backdoor Ass Attack (V7), and The Drill Sergeant (V8), and Laura also showed her improvement with a fine send of Lovage an excellent V3 that had spat her off in the past. We returned that night to an empty campsite (score!), Laura proceeded to cook us up some fine burritos, Micah provided the beer and I started a campfire to be proud of. There's nothing quite like sitting around a good fire, beer in hand talking climbing. Usually around the fifth beer comes the sweeping generalisations, like Micah claiming that Washington State has the best bouldering in the whole US (despite him only having bouldered at one other place in the US - Bishop). We awoke the next morning a bit later than planned, but hey were on holiday. We switched on the radio to hear McCain introduce a woman as his VP running mate, was I still dreaming? I guess not, but with that in mind we headed to the boulders thinking maybe anything was possible, but grades don't lie and having not trained in months I was finding everything pretty hard. Over the next couple of days we checked out some new areas, The Hueco Crimper, and Machine Gun boulders really good, The Labyrinth boulders not do good. Micah continued his good form with a send of The Cattleguard Arete (V8), and Saturday as dusk approached we returned to The Hueco Crimper (V6) so I could work it some more, and Micah could work the low start that goes at V9. Micah's powerful heel-hook beta wasn't working for me so I figured out a toe-jam and bumped through intermediates to get past the big sloper, it was a very impressive send and one of the coolest boulder problems I've witnessed. With that we headed straight to Gustav's in Leavenworth to celebrate with some fine eating and some local ales (they didn't have PBR).

On Sunday our final day we were all feeling a bit sore and our skin was raw, but nevertheless we headed to Mad Meadows where we met up with Jimmy who had made the day trip out here from Olympia. He was obviously climbing very strong and psyched as he made an impressive flash of The Jib (V8), a one-mover above a terrible landing. I managed to find a problem that didn't hurt my fingers, it just hurt my whole hand instead, a hand jamming roof crack called No Pain No Grain (V5). It was actually really fun, a very unique problem, I'm glad I did it. And Micah finished up Crimpsqueek (V7) and WAS (V8) to cap off a great trip for him. He's done 15 problems V8 and harder in the last 6 months which is an amazing feat. I managed one more V5 The Footless Traverse at Swiftwater before we grabbed some cheeseburgers at The Hiedelburger and said goodbye to Leavenworth. It was another great trip, we all had a blast, I'd be surprised if its our last time here before the end of the year.

For photos check out Micahs blog.

Preparation for the Big Trip

With our jobs quit and our lease almost up, Laura and I decided to do one more trip before we headed off on the big one to Europe. Our ever faithful climbing partner Micah was eager to climb too, so we headed back to our favourite haunt - Leavenworth.

The Sit Start to Spongebob Squarepad -V5

When we arrived at Leavenworth we were please to find it in perfect conditions, warm and sunny but with some snow still on the ground. We headed up to Mad Meadows to try some problems we hadn't done up there before. The boulders up there are top quality. Laura impressed us with a couple of proud V3s that were no pushover, particularly the great arete of Spongebob Squarepad, which is quite committing. Micah and I worked out the sit-start of this problem which we were surprised wasn't in the guide, since its a top quality problem and only went at about V5. Its got to be one of the best V5's in Leavenworth (see photo). Micah then made an impressive flash of The Hole V6. I couldn't quite make the span using Micahs beta, so I figured out my own technical sequence using an intermediate crimp, and sent it soon afterwards.

Pretty Boy -V7

It was a similar case when we tried Pretty Boy, an excellent V7 further up the valley. Micah quickly dispatched it using his basketball skills to jump to the crimp. No matter how hard I tried I couldn't stick the crimp (as I demonstrate in the photo above), so I figured out a sneaky highfoot and technical layback to reach through to the crimp statically. We then walked up the hill to do Pretty Girl V3 and Pretty Woman V5, two top class problems on perfect rock. To top off an already great day, Micah managed a quick send of Scrambled Eggs V8. He was climbing strong, he stuck the hard crimpy moves, and held it together on the heady topout. I tried this problem quite a lot but couldn't keep the body tension.

Me on Pretty Woman - V5

With the campsites closed cause they were buried in snow, we were glad to be spending the night at my friend Miles' house in nearby Ellensburg, where he cooked us up some nice enchiladas, thanks Miles. But I obviously hadn't leaned my lesson in Squamish last summer that the words 'box' and 'wine' don't go well together, and I was paying for it the next morning. We spent most of the day at the Forestlands where we had plenty to work on. Laura came agonisingly close on The Real Thing probably the best V4 in the northwest (yes that's right), but it'll still be there when we come back. And I finally stuck the big move on The Shield V7, only to fall off the slopey topout. But it was such a great trip it didn't really matter.

Micah repeating The Shield -V7

Once again Leavenworth didn't disappoint. Thanks again Micah for hauling our asses out there. In a few days Laura and I will arrive in Scotland for the start of our 18 week European adventure! First stop Scotland, then Fontainebleau, then Kalymnos, then ... well you'll have to keep reading to find out!

Jumping on the Sending Train

On Saturday Micah, Tony, Laura and I made an extreme day trip (3 and a half hours each way) back out to Levenworth to go bouldering. The forecast was excellent, cool and sunny. We got there around 10am, it was pretty cold when we stepped out of the car, but the sun came out and it started to warm up. We went to Barney's Rubble first, a small roadside area with a few great problems, and warmed up on some V1 and 2 slabs. I decided to get back on The Rubb' Dyno, the V8 I got so close on a couple of weeks ago but fell off and hurt myself on. Its such a nice problem, technical and thin, then an improbbable lunge to the lip, it doesn't feel doable until you go for it, and you really have to go for it. I gave it a few goes to get into the feel of it and to remeber the movement. Then Laura climbed on top of the boulder, to get a video of it. Click on the video below to see how I did. (you might want to turn the volume down)

As you can tell I was fairly pleased, it was my first ever V8! Once that was in the bag, we headed up the hill to forestlands were we basked in the sun and I basked in my glory.

The 2 main boulders in Lower Forestland are made for climbing, they're perfect in every sense. Pristine featured granite, perfect height (tall, but not too tall) and perfect landings. Laura and Tony worked The Real Thing, an awesome technical V4. Tony got it after a few tries while Laura got close, but will have to wait til next time. And Micah made the crouch start to One Summer which goes at V6 look easy, its not easy I tried it. I got back on The Shield, the V7 I got so close on before, but still couldn't latch the big move. Here's a photo of me almost latching it.

Dom on The Shield V7

We then went around the corner and tried a hard V4 Feel the Pinch which took me a few goes. We met a guy from Seattle called Ryan, and invited him to climb with us for the rest of the day, he had a couple pads which were very welcome. Micah and I worked on a sweet V8 called Busted. We had seen a video of it on youtube and thought it looked doable, so we got to work on it. It goes up a tall fat arete, with lots of dynamic slapping on generally good holds. It starts off on a flexing flake, then you slap around the corner to good open hand slopers, bump the right hand up to a good sidepull crimp, throw a left heel on, and work up the arete, you have to bring your feet up high and make a cruxy throw up left to a good incut, from there you just have to keep it together and finish up a V3. We played around it for a while and manged to do each of the moves individually. This'll go! We thought, and started to get excited! Micah was able to link the moves a lot better than me, this problem really suited his style, i knew it was only a matter of time before he sent it. And he did, after working it for only about 20 minutes he was standing on top, it was his first V8 as well! It was definitely a good day. Micah was really encouraging me to do it as well, I wasn't so sure, I was having trouble with getting my feet up and making that last throw. I rested and gave it a good attempt, I got up to the throw and stuck it! YES! I thought, but my hand was slipping, I need to match, I brought my other hand across but I was off, NO! I thought I had it, I got soo close but that's the way it goes. I rested some more, but wasn't sure if I would try it again. The Forestland started to get busy, a big group of young guys from the Vertical World team in Seattle turned up and a couple other groups. This was the busiest I'd ever seen it here. With the extra audience, I decided to give it another go. I got really psyched, got up to the crux and blam! I stuck the hold, I got it good, there was no way I was coming off this time, I matched and worked up the arete to the slopey top-out, YES! my second ever V8, both in the same day. Here is a photo of it, and a link to the youtube video of it if anyones interested. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmRZsVD3dSs Busted is the one about 1.10 minutes into the video.

Dom on Busted V8

Fresh off that success we headed up another couple minutes to upper Forestlands. We started on some easier stuff, Laura flashed a highball V2 slab called Fedge. She made it look pretty easy, so I got on it, but man it was scary at the top, I had to top out, there was no coming down and it was too high to jump. Micah and I were thinking of getting on a highball V6 called The Ruminator, but upon seeing it in person we decided against it. Its a 45 degree overhanging crack with good holds, but above a terrible landing and a sketchy top-out at 30 feet. Think Evilution but with jugs above a bad bad landing. Just when we were about to move on the Vertical World guys came over and asked us if we wanted to combine our mats and go for it. We kind of shrugged, but i guess they took that as a yes and started putting down mats. I think we had 9 mats down in total but even then a fall from the lip was unthinkable. We all stood around hoping someone else would go for it first, then Micah decided to bite the bullet and got on it. He muscled his way through the first moves getting higher and higher, the rest of us ran around frantically rearranging mats as he went up. He made a couple sketchy moves at the top and was over the lip. I think all us spotters down below were more relived than him. It was a very proud send, and only his second ever V6 flash! He started off a sending train. One by one each of the Seattle guys cooly took their turn and flashed it. It was very impressive, but keep in mind these guys are climbing V9+. It came round to my turn after half a dozen or so of them had done it, I surprised myself and got through the beginning tough moves, I think I was hoping I'd fall off low down. But I was too pumped, and I was too much of a wussy to finish it off so I dropped off from a jug, i think i made the right decision a fall from the lip would have been horrible.

Laura flashing Fedge a highball V2 slab

We decided to get on some lowball stuff after that, and did some easy slab which were a lot of fun. We finished off the day with a visit to the Straightaway boulders, which are really cool. it was a great day for everyone, but it'll go down as an especially historic day for me breaking into the V8's!

Return to Leavenworth

This weekend Laura Micah and I made the three and half hour drive out to Leavenworth again. The weather this weekend was much better than last, it got up into the 70's and sunny all weekend. First off we went up to the Clamshell Cave area, where we warmed up on a few easier climbs, the best being a V3 called Crimp, Crimp, Slap, Throw. And Micah and I also flashed an easy V4 next to it.

Dom setting up for the throw on Crimp, Crimp, Slap, Thow V3

Next we headed down to Barneys Rubble a new (to us) area. On the south side of the road we found a cool V5 that goes up a small dihedral on a tall boulder, I got it second go after figuring out the beta, it was a lot of fun. Then we checked out the boulder on the beach that had a V7 and a V8 on it. The V7 was slopey and powerful, we spent a lot of time falling off of it and probably wasted too much time on it. The only other chalk on the boulder didn't seem to match the description of the V8 on the boulder, but we tried it anyway. It started on some slopers, then campused up to a good slot then a crimp then finished up on jugs to top out. After a few goes I stuck the first crux move then cruised up to finish. Micah got really excited thinking I'd done my first V8, but I'm pretty sure the V8 is just to the right and this is a problem not in the guide, it felt more like V5. Micah got it straight afterwards and agreed with the V5 grade. I put it on my scorecard as 'Sandy Campus' not very original I know.

Laura on Cleaver Crack V0

We then headed over the road to the north part of Barneys Rubble, where we worked on a cool looking problem called The Rubb' Dyno V8. It starts off on a crimpy sidepull on a slabby/vertical wall, you cross through to tiny credit card crimps, and tiptoe your feet over on even smaller footholds, where you have to stand up and jump diagonally up and right to the juggy finishing rail. It looks easy but then you get on it and realize how small the holds are. After working it for a while I got to the dyno position and to my surprise I was able to slap just below the jug. I decided to really go for it, and gave it everything. I got up and latched the jug! I got my whole hand on it, then I felt my feet swing from under me and the momentum took me flying off. I managed to clear both mats and spotters and landed hard on the boulders downhill. I banged my knee pretty bad, but was more disappointed about getting so close on what should have been my first V8. I got back on it, but couldn't commit to the last move, and by that point the sharp crimpers had given a bloody flapper on one of my tips. So I hobbled on to the next problem. As a consolation Micah and I both flashed a V6, our first V6 flash for both of us. The problem was a sit start with a lot of chalked holds up a short wall to a tricky top out. Micah studied the holds for a while. Then managed to lock off and skip half the holds and did well to keep his cool on the top out. Micah's beta worked really well for me but it was still a struggle, but with a bit of encouragement I managed to grovel over the top. It was good to have at least one hard send in the bank from this trip.

With fading daylight we quickly drove down to the road for one more area, The Sword. At the first boulder in the sword laura made a proud flash of a V3, a technical slabby highball, her foot popped right near the top, but she held the barn door and topped out for only her second V3 flash. In the Sword area had some cool looking problems but they were mostly highballs, some of them way highball. Micah threw himself at a jumpy V7. But it was getting dark, so we did a V2 then headed into town for dinner.

Micah working Cattlegueard Arete at Mountain Home Road

The next day I woke up with a sore leg but some skin left on most of my fingers, so felt optimistic about getting stuff sent. We checked out the JY boulders, which were cool but pretty rough, it was tough to get used to it. We all flashed a V2 there, but weren't so successful with the rest of the stuff so we decided to go to a different area. We went to Mountain Home Road which lies apart from the rest of the boulders a few miles drive away. It has a much different feel than the Icicle or Tumwater canyons. Its out in the open on the side of a hill, and feels quite remote. We felt pretty exposed when we were told by some other boulderers to watch out for hunters, who were hunting cougars and black bear on the same hill. We didn't know what to be more weary of the hunters or the cougars and bears! The boulders here are more like Squamish granite, very rough on the skin and not many features. And the ratings here for the most part felt pretty stout, I got shut down on a V1 slab here, but Laura managed to flash it, so I guess it couldn't have been that hard. I did manage a couple of 3's and a 4 but by this point my skin was too sore to pull down hard on small crimps. Laura also managed a V3 here second go, she could have flashed it but I might have given her bad beta, oops! We decided just to head back from here since we were all feeling a little sore and weak at this point. It wasn't quite the sendfest weekend we were hoping for, but you can't complain about a weekend in the sun in a beautiful place like Leavenworth.