Summer Days

I've been enjoying the summer here in Olympia recently, and with my new car, its been a lot easier getting out on day trips. We've been down to the quarry every Wednesday, and I have revisited some lines I haven't done in a while now that the far left routes are drying out. Jimmy is bolting his first route, which will most likely be a stout 12d, I'm not even close to doing the moves on that one. But there are a couple of other lines at more amenable grades that I've been working on, and would love to bolt one before the season is over.

Jimmy placing his first bolt on his project at the quarry

My new car!

We can rely on Little Si to stay cool in the shade, so we've been getting up there a lot recently. On Monday I headed up with Jimmy, Nick, Micah and Antonio. Antonio is a visiting climber from Mexico who I met at the gym, I've taken him out to the local crags and he's done well, on Monday he onsighted Aborigine at Little Si. I had a pretty good day up there too. I warmed up on Technorigine, which didn't feel that hard, then did Viagrophobia (12d) a mini-project first go of the day, and finished up the session with a 12a and a 12b, to climb 5.12a-12d in a day, I feat I hadn't done before. I'm feeling in pretty good route shape right now, but Jimmy is really tearing it up. A couple weeks ago he hadn't climbed 5.13, now he's done three of them including a 13b. He's overtaken me as the #1 route climber in Olympia, according to 8a.nu rankings, and he deserves it. I could see him bagging some more 5.13's before the route season gives way to bouldering again. Nick has maintained his good route form and sent a 12c on Monday, he has one more week in Olympia before he heads back out east, so hopefully we'll climb a few more times with him, and he'll send his project. The weather for the next couple of weeks looks like it will be more of the same, so I hope to keep getting up to Little Si and work on some new projects, and maybe get out on a longer trip next week.

Jimmy working Chronic (13b) at Little Si before the send

The familiar walk back from Little Si at dusk

Back on the rock

Its been a while since I last wrote a blog simply because I haven't been out much lately. In fact I think I had four weeks without any climbing outside, which is unheard of for me this time of year. There's a few reasons, the main one being the weather has been pretty atrocious here for the start of summer, we don't have a car so have to rely on others for rides, I was really busy with school at the start of June and since then the world cup has taken priority over some climbing days. Enough excuses, I hope to be getting out a lot more this summer.

I went climbing at the quarry for only the second time this year on wednesday, it wasn't completely dry, but it was getting there. It was good to get the feel for the routes there again, Laura redpointed The Manly Wham for the first time, I wonder what else she can send down there this summer. Then on friday I climbed up at Little Si with Jimmy, Lisa, Laura ,Andrew and Micah. It was a good day out, mostly dry. I realized I need to improve a lot on my stamina, I couldn't even repeat Technorigine, but I did manage to figure out how to do the crux on Chronic, I'm still a long way off that though. Andrew has been climbing really well recently and sent Aborigine on his second go, Laura should have sent too, but she took on the last moves, the redpoint crux.

Then on Sunday I got out to Exit 38 with Laura, Sierra, Melody, Justin, Sara, Sarah and Erica. It was a really good day out. We hung out at Interstate Park which everyone seemed to like, I finished up a few routes I hadn't done there before, including a couple of new ones that aren't in the guide. I did a really steep burly climb that was a lot of fun, I reckon it was 11+ish, but its hard to say. Laura did well, cleaning up a 10c that she had tried previously, and climbing her first onsight of an 11a! Justin and Sierra also got flashes of the 11a, so it was a good day all around. We finished off the day stopping off at the Harmon Brewery in Tacoma for some delicious microbrews and all you can eat fish and chips mmm.

I plan on getting a car soon which will make trips a lot easier and now that it seems like the summer has finally arrived it should mean a lot more climbing, especially as the world cup winds down. So, hopefully it wont be as long a wait til my next blog entry.

Season Opener at The Quarry

Last night was the first Wednesday climbing night of the year at The Quarry. The Tenino Quarry is Olympia's local climbing spot just 25 minutes drive from downtown. It's on private property, but luckily for us it is owned by a local climber Off White. He built his house right next to it, so he literally has a sport crag a stone's throw from his doorstep. Once you sign a waiver you're welcome to climb there if you call ahead, and every Wednesday evening a group of climbers from Olympia go down for some after work climbing. This is the 5th summer Laura and I have been climbing there, back when we started it was just the regulars; us, off, duke, ed, doug, and jimmy. But recently word has been getting out and more Olympia climbers are discovering it. I've done all the routes there, there's around 30 between 5.9 and 12c. I think I was the first to tick the crag about a week before jimmy last summer, but its still great to get out there regularly for training. Last night there were 12 of us out there climbing, it was a lovely evening, warm but not too sunny with good friction on the rock. There were a couple of new additions to the quarry, Off upgraded all the chains on the right side so they now have fixed biners to lower off from, which is really nice. And Off installed a little art piece up on the cliff, it adds a nice touch. I got in 7 pitches last night which takes my tally to over 100 in 2010 so far which is pretty good going. Laura continued her run of good form, with her second ever lead of the intimidating Hercules (10b) and finally figured out beta that worked for her on the top (V2?) crux of The Governor (10c) for her first lead of that, as well as toproping The Manly Wham and Confucius (11a and 11b) clean. Its just a matter of time before they go as well. There was a good vibe out there last night, I think this summer out at The Quarry will be a good one.
Here are a couple of photos from last night, they are not the best.

Off showing Kina the beta on The Manly Wham

Sierra and Chris at the top of their routes, with Off's new Lizard sculpture between them.

Summer Has Arrived!

I got out to The Quarry (aka, Hercules #2 Quarry in Tenino) yesterday for the first dry Wednesday evening session at the Quarry this year. It can only mean one thing: Summer Has Arrived! It is a later start to the Quarry season than normal because of persistent rain, and bad timing. But last night was prime Quarry conditions, all the routes on the right hand side were completely dry, the wet streaks by The Bolted Flake and Dead Low Tide are still soaking, but apart from that everything else was pretty much dry and the friction was good. It had been a while since my last visit to the quarry, about 16 months, since last year we spent pretty much the whole summer on our Europe Trip. But it was great to be back with all the regulars there; Ed, Duke, Jimmy, Lisa, Doug and Off stopped by. There was even one newbie, Sierra who got in a few routes at the end of the night, for her first visit, I think she was impressed.

Duke belays while Ed gets spat off of Virgins (11b)

For those of you who don't know, The Quarry is Olympia's best and only local crag, a mere 25 minutes drive from downtown, there's about 30 or so bolted routes between 5.9 - 12c, most are hard 10's and 11's. The crag is on private property, but luckily for us its owned by a fellow climber Off White who invites local climbers to come climb every Wednesday and other times by appointment. If you want to climb there you'll have to contact Off and sign a waiver first. The routes there are a ton of fun, but require a lot of technique and mental strength, (aka they're sandbagged) so don't expect to climb your hardest on your first visits.

Jimmy working his project Legends (12c), he's going for the lead next week

Last night I got a lot of routes done, 10 pitches in just a few hours by my count. I mostly climbed with Doug, it was great to reconnect with him. Doug first introduced me to the Quarry when I first arrived here in 06 and took me and Laura out to a lot of the crags in the area. I haven't managed to get out with him much recently, but hopefully that'll change this summer. We got on all the crag classics like Hercules, The Governor, Calvin and Hobbes, and The Manly Wham. I did one new route that I hadn't led before; Rubber Boa which goes at 11c. It was crimpy, smeary, balancy and pumpy all at the same time, so pretty much like every other route here. Jimmy sprayed me down with move by move beta which made it a whole lot easier. All in all it was a great night to be back at the Quarry, the weather is looking good this week, so hopefully next Wednesday we'll all be back again.