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.

Eatonville Adventure

On Thursday Micah, Laura and I made the drive out to Eatonville to check out the crag there. I heard about it when Jim Yoder came and gave a talk at the WRG, him and Marlene Ford bolted it a few years ago. A couple of friends from Olympia had checked it out and said some good things about it, so we thought why not? It is about a 50 minutes drive from Olympia, so not exactly local, but it was a beautiful drive with great views of Mount Rainier. The directions were good, but after we parked we walked down the wrong trail, and ended up at a chossy cliff under a bridge. It was obvious we were not in the right place since it was nothing like what we had heard it described as. We searched around for a bit, Laura and Micah wanted to go home, but I could sense we were close. We headed down another path and found the cliff basking in the sun.

It was pretty much what I imagined, a short slabby basalt cliff with lots of bolts. Its about 30m long and 5m high, with 13 little routes packed in. The routes are about 3-5 bolts long which makes this cliff one of the most densely bolted pieces of rock I've ever climbed on. They looked like a lot of fun to climb though, so we got started. We started on the left and worked our way right, we got 9 routes over before we stopped cause the base of the furthest right routes were in the river. After much discussion we reached a consensus on the grades of the routes we did, they varied from 5.7 – 5.10b. Although the ones on the right that we didn’t do looked like they could be a little trickier. It was a pretty fun day for all of us, it was nice to get a bunch of routes done and trying all new stuff. This crag is definitely never going to be a huge destination by any stretch of the imagination, but its great for beginners since the bolting is so friendly and the grades are easy. I'd definitely recommend it to climbers in the South Sound area, who are looking for an chill day out in a great setting. I'm pretty sure I'll be back later this summer to finish off those last routes on the right when the river is lower, and when its warm enough to take a dip in the river too!

Little Si-ne Die Weekend

I know, lame blog title, I was trying to come up with a witty way of combining Little Si and Sine Die (last day of legislative session).
Anyway, I just had a pretty awesome weekend. The weekend started with my last day of work at the House of Representatives on Friday. I was sad to be leaving cause I had such a fun time working there, and learned a lot. Working on an appropriations committee really gave me an insight into how the budget process works. I would have blogged more about my work, but my position was non-partisan and I was privy to confidential information, so I thought I'd better not. One thing that impressed me a lot with was just how hard working the legislators and staff are, I would often arrive into work at 8am to find fiscal staff asleep in their offices after working all-nighters. I think they get a bad reputation in the media, but in reality they are some of the hardest working people I've come across. Saying my goodbyes on Friday was sad, but I also felt excited to be moving on. On Friday, I also submitted my Masters in Teaching application to Evergreen. I am hopeful that I will be accepted starting this fall, and I'm really excited to go back to school and look forward to being a teacher. Thank you very much to those of you who have helped me with the application and support.

Friday night we went out and celebrated Arts Walk in downtown Olympia. It was a really good vibe and the weather was beautiful. We saw lots of different performances and exhibitions. Even the lobby of our apartment complex was an art gallery for the night, which was really cool. Nights like these I really love living in downtown Olympia. The highlight of the night was definitely dancing at The Loft with friends to Laura's old time music band 'The Grizzle Grazzle Tune Snugglers', they were awesome.

On Saturday I got an early start and went climbing with Micah and Mika at Little Si. The crag was really dry and cool (maybe a little too cool). Micah made amends for his actions earlier this week and returned some draws. Read here to get the full story. I felt good to be doing longer routes, I managed to repeat a lot of classics from 11b-12a without too much effort which is promissing for the summer ahead, my endurance can only improve from here. Micah and I got on Dairy Freeze, an overlooked 12b on the left hand side. I had tried it a couple of years ago, but didn't remember much other than it felt really hard at the time and that I had really weird beta. It took me a couple of goes to remember my beta for the crux, which is hard, so now I think I can get it if I go back again. Micah finished it off which was a good morale boost for him. We returned to Oly in high spirits and met up with friends at a Mead tasting party.

Sunday I woke up with a nasty Mead hangover. Nevertheless it was a beautiful day outside, BBQ weather. I went over to Jeremy's BBQ first and had some awesome ribs, then Ian's BBQ and filled up on steak, mmm. Then as the evening approached I walked up to the Capitol Campus in search of some Sine Die parties. The mood at the Capitol wasn't good though, they had managed to negotiate a compromise on the Budget which many thought would need a special session, but some other important bills like the renewable energy bill and budget bond bill were stalling cause they didn't have the votes. Governor Gregoire is holding a press conference today to announce if there will be a special session, it looks likely since these are important bills. Its really too bad after seeing all the hard work the fiscal staff put in to be able to finish in time, they deserve a break more than anyone. I'm glad to be done now though, I have a lot more free time now and the weather looks good, which can only mean one thing, lots of climbing, so watch this space!

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)

Smith Again

Last weekend we got back down to Smith Rocks. I wasn’t planning on a trip, but a bunch of people from Olympia were heading down and a couple of days before I found out I didn’t have to come into work, so I had no excuses. Micah, Jared, Laura and I headed down after work on Friday and met up with Jeremy Erica and Jimmy who had already been there for a few days. We were glad to have friends down there already since Skull Hollows was packed, and its always nice to arrive a warm fire on a chilly night. On Saturday we started out at Morning Glory as per usual, I warmed up on Overboard to the top chains a fun 11c, that’s really just a whole lot of 10a climbing with a tricky V2 barndoor crux. Laura did a good job on Overboard, one-hanging it on toprope. I also got in a repeat of Nine Gallon Buckets to the top chains as well, it was great to get in some good milage on these long routes, 35 and 30 meter pitches. Micah did well with a couple of relaxed flashes of 11’s, and Jared proved he wasn't scared of Smith with an onsight Nine Gallon Buckets (10c) as his first lead at Smith!

Laura belaying me on the start of Overboard

Once we were warmed up we headed over to dihedrals and I hopped on Chain Reaction. I had gone over the beta in my head a lot since last trip a couple of weeks ago, and it paid off as I cruised past the crux and up to the jug on the lip, with just the one more move left to a jug before the chains I came off. I didn't leave enough room for my heel to rockover on the jug, and I ended up heelhooking on top of my hand bloodying up a finger and falling off in the process. I tried again but didn't manage to make it past the crux. I'm not too keen to get back on it but its one of those routes you just have to do. Congrats to Jimmy who sent it on his second go of the day (6 go's total?), it suited him down to a tee, it was his first 12c, but I predict there will be plenty more the way he was climbing. We finished off the day in Cocaine gully, where I did Chicken McNuggets which is a good route, but its no Walking While Intoxicated. I wanted to get on Vomit Launch, but people were on it, so I settled for Freebase the 12a to the left. It was a fun climb, but I got shut down on the reachy crux. We returned to the campsite where we got a good fire started and cracked open a few PBR's, minutes later a nasty storm blew in and it began pouring/hailing. We escaped to the Terrebonne Depot, where we enjoyed some good food, but it wasn't the same as hanging around the campfire. Some other friends were on their way down from Olympia, but they had to turn around cause of the weather. Luckily for us the rain stopped so we returned to the campsite, with hopes it would be dry in the morning.

Jared On Wedding Day

We woke up on Sunday to blue skies, and dry rock, we shouldn't have worried after all. A few of us were interested in checking out Northern Point the place we went at the end of the trip last week. As I said last time (below), I really like this place a lot. Maybe its just more my style of climbing, where the holds aren't just tiny pebbles, and you can actually hold slopers. I fired off a couple of 11a's Woman in the Meadow and Limbo which were great, and flashed the 12a that Jimmy did last time, it was really fun, I just wished the routes lasted longer. Jimmy and I tried a 12b there as well, but the deadpoint crux to a two finger pocket was a little too reachy for me. After that we decided to hit the road back to Olympia. All in all it was a fun weekend, good to get out climbing with lots of friends. I'm looking forward to the next trip already. I didn't take very many photos, but for more check out Jimmy and Micah's blog. Also I think I figured out how to upload my photos so you can click on them to get more detail. I'll do that from now on.

Jimmy about to pump out on Crack Babies

Me trying a 12b at Northern Point

Smith

This weekend we finally got out on a climbing trip down to Smith Rocks, Oregon. We were debating cancelling the trip when we heard the reports on some weather sites forecasting a 90% chance of precipitation on Saturday (FYI, when checking Smith weather, weather.gov is way more accurate than weather.com). But our faith was justified with dry and and at times sunny weather. Laura, Jimmy, Jeremy and I all crammed into our Honda with all our stuff on Friday after work. We were pleasantly surprised to wake up on Saturday morning to no rain, so we made the most of it and got out to the park early, we left Skull Hollows campsite before 8am, which is a new record for me I think. We met up with Nick and Scott at the parking lot, it was great to see them again they are always fun to climb with, it had been too long since we had last gotten together. We headed down to Picnic Lunch Wall which we had all to ourselves. We started out on a 10a and 10b that go up huecos and a slab, they were a lot of fun. Jimmy got tired of waiting for his turn to climb, so he hopped straight on Five Easy Pieces a 5.12a I had done previously and recommended to him. He proceeded to cruise it onsight, showing how much he had improved since last time he was here. Jeremy also made an impressive start to the trip, it was his first time at Smith and only his second time climbing routes outdoors, he got straight on the sharp end with an impressive flash on Teddy Bear's Picnic the 10b, which even I found a little scary. Scott toproped both the 10a and b clean for a good start to his trip. I tried a 12a to the right called Appian Way. It looked like a lot of fun, it had a bouldery start which you could protect by stick clipping the high first bolt, then it looked like easier ground to the top. It turned out to be a lot harder than I expected though, and I ended up dogging through the start. Its a great 12a to try if you like pinches and laybacks, and its very safe.

Walking into the park on Saturday morning

Jimmy onsighting Five Easy Pieces

Once we were done with that area, we decided to chase the sun so moved over to Morning Glory Wall. I repeated a few of the classics lines like nine gallon buckets (10c), cool ranch flavor (11b). Laura did really well on cool ranch flavor on TR, she did the crux with a lot more style than any of us guys could muster. I wasn't feeling the vibe to try anything hard really, I was just happy to be out on rock in the sun. We drifted over to the Dihedrals, where I decided to give Chain Reaction another try, I had tried it once before, but it just didn't click then. This time I hung and figured out the moves, with helpful beta from Nick and Ryan a local climber, it felt a whole lot more doable. I even figured out a different sequence after the lip, where I heelhooked the 'monkey bar' jug and rocked over to the finishing jug. Its really powerful though, so I didn't really have it in me to give it a good redpoint burn. But now that I know the beta I feel pretty confident for next time.

See it was sunny for a while

Nick on Chain Reaction

We finished off the day doing some fun moderates on the Pheonix Buttress, I really like the rock here, it is sharper with good holds, and some fun pocket pulling. I egged Nick and Jimmy to do a run-out 10d there, they both did it, but thought it was way scary. I then wished I hadn't recommended it when it came my turn to lead it, but I managed to keep my cool and finished it off, I think it was one of my favorite routes of the trip. All in all I got 9 and a half routes done that day, which I'm really happy about considering I was worried about not being able to climb cause of the rain. That night we returned to the Skull Hollows and finished off the day with a few cold PBR's around the campfire.

Laura on Bunnyface

Scott on the sharp end at the Pheonix Buttress

The next morning we rolled up to Smith and it felt a bit colder with a bit of a breeze, a local climber Teagan offered to show us around Northern Point, a smaller area with basalt sport routes that is sheltered from the wind . This crag has a totally different feel to the main areas at Smith, because of the different type of rock, and the style of the routes. It was a really beautiful place to climb, with tan and gray streaked rocks. It reminded me of the sport routes at Vantage, but of a much higher quality. I did a couple of 10c's and an 11a which were really fun before the drizzle started. Jimmy managed another 12a onsight right when it started raining. We decided to pack it up and head back up the road a bit earlier since it looked like everything was getting wet. But Northern Point is definitely somewhere I'd return to. We stopped off at a Mexican place in Madras before we started the long drive back. It was great to get back down to Smith. Although I didn't get to check out a lot of the areas I had hoped to, it was still great to be outside climbing with friends again. I'd really like to make it back to Smith at least once more before the summer heat comes. There's certainly enough stuff there for me to try now.

Me at Northern Point on Sunday

Psyched for Smith

This Friday we’re heading down to Smith Rock in Oregon for our first overnight climbing trip of the year. Its been a while since we were last there. In 07 when we discovered it we probably went 4 or 5 times, but last year we didn't make it out there at all. I really like Smith, but its old school bolting can give it a fairly intimidating feel and there is not a lot of moderates to warm up on. I haven't really done anything hard at Smith, I've onsighted or flashed a bunch of 12a's there and flashed a 12b, but it seems like anything harder than that seems really intimidating. I would like to send some 12+'s, but this is probably asking a bit too much for a weekend trip. We’ll meet Nick and Scott down there and Jimmy, Jared and maybe Jeremy are coming down as well (anyone else from Olympia want to come?). Unfortunately Micah can’t make it cause he has to move that weekend. I really want to get on some new routes so I've been doing a bit of research on areas at Smith that I haven't really explored yet. Here's a few areas I'm keen on checking out:

Picnic Lunch Wall - This was the last area I climbed at at Smith, I only did one route, Five Easy Pieces, which was really good, and had really interesting rock. I remember the routes to the right looked really fun. This online guide shows there being a few good looking 10's and 11's there to the right of it on big heucos, so I definitely want to go back here.

The Red Wall area is up the hill and to the right of Picnic Lunch Wall, away from the main areas, I found this updated topo online. It looks pretty good, it has a bunch of good 5.10's, and I might even bring my trad gear to do Super Slab, which is supposed to be an amazing 5.6 multipitch trad route. It also conveniently tops out at another crag I want to check out Easy's Playhouse.

Easy's Playhouse (pg 178 in the guide) is somewhat of an obscure crag at Smith but it sounds really good, the guidebook describes it as 'overhanging, closely spaced bolts and athletic moves'. It has an 11d, 12a, 12c and 12d. My friend Daniel has done the 12a here, which he described as a 'bolted pull up contest' which sounds pretty good to me.

Another area I'd like to check out is the upper area of Shipwreck Wall, there have been some (semi) new routes put up there, including Tsunami a 15 bolt 12c jug haul that goes through 3 different roof systems. Sounds like an amazing route, and the type of route I did well at in Europe over the summer, there is also some 10, 11's and easier 12's to try there as well.

As well as these new areas, I'm sure we'll end up at the dihedrals like we always do. If I'm feeling brave I might try Full Heinous Cling, I've flashed it to its first chains which is 12a, but its a long way to the second chains and its run out. While I'm here I might try Chain Reaction again, its THE classic route at Smith, I've tried it before but it felt really awkward then, so we'll see.

I'd also like to go back to Cocaine Gully to do the classic route 'Vomit Launch'. At 11b this is one of the few moderate classics I've yet to try. Right next to it is Chicken McNuggets a 10b that everyone says is really good, so I've got to get on it. And to the left of Vomit Launch is a 12a called Freebase, which I've never really looked at but the guide makes it sound pretty good, so maybe if I have time.

And if anyone else has any recommendations for routes I should try, especially 10's and 11's I'm open to suggestions. The ticklist above is pretty ambitious, but I'll just try to do as much as possible. Even if I don't get around to trying many of these routes I know I will have a great time just being there and hanging out with friends. I'm sure I'll get on a lot more different routes than these, it seems like each time I go to Smith I end up on coming back with more projects than I left with. Below are some photos of past smith trips to whet the appetite.