The Slow Loris Strikes Again

The awesome threesome did it again for a Saturday Little Si/Exit 38 combo. It was a beautiful day and not surprisingly the parking lots were overflowing, at Little Si so we were forced to park illegally (and get a ticket). It was the busiest I had ever seen it, but I guess they were all hikers because miraculously when we got to World Wall I we had the place to ourselves. Laura riding her new wave of confidence got a clean toprope of Psycho-Wussy then got on the sharp end and fired it off with no problem. This is a pretty big deal considering she's been trying it since 2007, its only her third ever 11b, and probably her hardest route to date, but the ease with which she climbed it makes me think its just a stepping stone to harder things at World Wall I. She made good progress on Rainy Day Women as well, one-hanging it on toprope, so you never know. I suddenly feel like a slacker. At Exit 38 we checked out the Neverland area, which I hadn't been to before, it was worthwhile and we did a handful of 5.10's. I think doing both little Si and 38 in a day is a good way to keep it interesting and get a lot of stuff done. Here's some portraits I snapped of the awesome threesome.

Laura the Slow Loris
Micah the Orangutan

Dom the Koala

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.

adVantage Laura

We got out over the weekend again, this time to Vantage to do some sport climbing. It was Laura’s birthday on Saturday so after climbing all day we celebrated with some beers and cupcakes that Sierra made. Melody, Micah Laura and I climbed on Saturday and we were met out there on Saturday night by Sierra and Ian, and Justin and Sara, and we all climbed together on Sunday. The weather was pretty good for the most part. Saturday was a little overcast, which was nice for us because it kept the temps down, otherwise it would have been very hot, it rained for about 10 minutes in the evening. But we were done climbing by that point anyway. Sunday was a beautiful sunny day, and it got hot towards the afternoon, everyone was applying the sun screen pretty liberally. We climbed on the lower tier of Sunshine wall, which has a ton of excellent short sport routes. I have a slight ache in my left shoulder and wrist, I think its from pushing myself too hard bouldering indoors, so I tried to avoid climbs that would hurt it, but I still managed to get about 20 new routes done total, including a handful of 5.11’s. Laura was climbing awesome, she onsighted a bunch of 10's and flashed another 11a with ease. She is in the form of her life, and the way she was climbing at the gym last night as well makes me think we’ll see some harder 11’s from her this year. Everyone else had a blast, for most of them it was their first time at Vantage, and they certainly got a good first impression. I really want to go back soon and get on more routes I was scoping out, but its only going to get hotter there, so it might have to wait until the fall. Here are some photos that give a better picture of the weekend. They are all mine apart from the last one, which I stole from Sierra.
Horses in the valley below made us feel like we'd stepped back in time to the wild west

Micah checks out more routes at Millenium Wall with The Hen House in the background

Laura and Melody walk out on Saturday afternoon with rain clouds threatening in the background

Sunday morning breakfast at the campsite getting ready for a busy day of climbing

Sara looking relaxed on a 5.9 toprope
Ian belaying Justin on the start of a fun 10a

The whole crew flexing our muscles on the way out at the end of a great weekend!

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?

Weekend in San Francisco

Laura and I had a great relaxing weekend down in San Francisco visiting her sister Erin, and Ben. We packed a lot in to a little amount of time. The highlights for me were visiting the California Academy of Sciences, which was really interesting, I could have spent a lot more time there. Playing squash was a lot of fun, Laura and I are complete beginners but it was still fun playing against each other, if there were courts in Olympia I would definitely consider taking it up. We played board games accompanied by some delicious home made food, including spring rolls, and home made guiness-chocolate ice cream. Here is a photo of the four of us at the California Academy of Sciences.

Thanks Erin and Ben for showing us around, its always a lot of fun whenever we visit. For now its back to the books, I've got to get a lot of work done before another climbing trip this weekend.

Another Day Another Dozen

I thought I wasn't going to get out climbing this weekend, then Josh and Chris came to the rescue and offered Laura and I a ride with them out to Vantage. The forecast was for mid-50s and cloudy, but like I say the sun always shines on Vantage, it ended up being really hot. Chris and Josh headed straight for Sunshine Wall to get their trad on. But Laura and I took the long way around to climb first at Riverview Park. I'd climbed here back in 2006 with Doug, but never made it back, maybe because I remembered something about a sketchy approach, but the way we went was fine. At Riverview Park and the areas nearby Millennium Wall, Corn Wall etc. there are probably a hundred sport routes, mostly 5.10 and 5.11, and from what we sampled yesterday, very high quality. I ended up leading 12 new (for me) routes 5.8-11b, Laura led 11 including a 10c onsight and a 10d and 11a flash! We had a blast, among my favorite routes of the day were Heel Higher Crescent (10a), Human Corn (10a) and Crescendo... (10d). Once our forearms couldn't take any more we packed up and headed up to Sunshine Wall where Chris was finishing up his last route, a 5.8 trad route, his hardest to date. It was great exploring a different part of Vantage, and riding out there with Chris and Josh, I definitely want to come back this year. I didn't take many photos of Laura and I climbing since it was mostly just the two of us, but here are a few quick snapshots.

Taking a break in the middle of the day at the base of Millennium Wall

Laura resurrects her really small old five ten climbing shoes, look at the pain on her face

Chris finishes up the day with an ascent of Party in Your Pants (5.8 trad)