Scotland

I returned to Scotland for a 2 week visit after a year and a half away living in the US. It was great to see the family especially my brother who had come over from Florida, his first time back since he left 14 years ago! My copy of the new bouldering book 'Stone Play' was waiting for me when I got home. Its a great book, but the fact that there is a pic of me (page 119) may bias my judgement. While I was home the weather barely let up from rain, sleet, and snow but it did let up a couple times to let me go out. I got out to Portlethen on a sunny Sunday morning. Portlethen was an old haunt of mine when I started climbing in Aberdeen, and I had a some of unfinished business I had to see to here. I went out with my friend Anthony who I started climbing with back in 2001. He couldn't climb cause of tendon injuries, but was keen to see if I'd really improved as much as I said I had. We got down to the boulders to find the sport wall soaking wet, which was a bit annoying as i was keen to get back on 7a+ I was close on before i left. But the Broccoli Garden boulder was in the sun, so we did some stuff on that. After a quick warm-up I managed Slap and Tickle a classic 6b+ (V4) after figuring out a good sequence. I had played around on this problem before, but never really attempted it properly. Its given 4 stars (out of 4) which I think says more about the quality of problems at Portlethen than the quality of this problem. I really wanted to try The Pit, the classic of the crag which I had worked on a couple of years ago but i never really got close on. My first go I pulled on and got to the underclings then my foot popped. My second go on I pulled through to the crimp and latched the lip, I had sent it! I was very pleased to have sent it so easily, it was a long term project of mine a couple of years ago for me so it was nice to have done it so easily. I tried The Buzz (7a+) next to it briefly and made some good progress, but i didn't have much time to work on it, and had to get back home.

Sending The Pit (Font 7a) at Portlethen

A couple of days later I headed down to Stirling to hang out with some friends from uni. I was really keen to climb at Dumbarton and get back on some of my old projects there. Despite the gale force winds and heavy rain I headed down with George and Dave, hoping that the weather might let up. We'd barely gotten out of Stirling when Dave's courtesy car broke down, not a good sign. We eventually made it down there about 4 hours after we first set off. When we got to Dumby it didn't look good, it was freezing cold with sideways rain. Despite the terrible conditions I managed to find a dry problem on the side of the Eagle boulder, Zig Zag. I made a feeble attempt at the sit start which goes at British 6b (about V5), but settled for just doing the stand at V1. I nearly got blown off the top of the boulder, getting off the boulder in those conditions was a bit of a nightmare. So we decided to just go to the sanctuary of the Glasgow wall where we met up with Paddy. I was a little dissapointed not to climb more at Dumbarton, but you can't say I didn't try.

A wet Dumbarton

I'm back in the US now and I'm looking forward to hopefully another great year of climbing. I improved my climbing level in 2007 more than any other year. And i'm going into 2008 injury free and in good form. My blog readers can look forward to reports from more exotic locations this year and maybe just maybe i'll climb my first 8a!

Bishop!

Last week Laura, Micah and I made our eagerly awaited pilgrimage to the bouldering mecca that is Bishop California. We left Olympia on Monday afternoon and 20 hours and a few energy drinks later we pulled up to The Pit Campground near the Happy Boulders, pitched our tents had a quick bite to eat and headed out to the boulders! The Happy boulders area is basically a mini canyon in a volcanic tableland, with a jumble of free-standing boulders in the middle and on the sides of the canyon. The boulders have a good range of lowballs and highballs, with nearly all perfect sandy landings and are heavily featured with pockets and huecos. When we first entered the canyon and all the chalked up boulders came into view we were overwhelmed. We ran around exploring the overhanging faces and running up to the top of the boulders to get better views. After a quick warm up we found ourselves at the Central Happiness area, the epicenter of the happy boulders. There was a large crowd there with several mats under The Hulk (V6), there was even some guys with a tripod filming. Then some guy shouted out to me ‘dude, I see you everywhere’ he was from Tacoma and had seen me around at Smith and Little Si. I have to admit it felt pretty good being recognized in Bishop, it just goes to show it’s a small world in the climbing community.

Laura on the excellent Solarium V3

There was a long line on The Hulk, everyone seemed to be falling of the big crux cross-though move. I watched a few people on it to get the beta and waited my turn in line. From the sit I got through the first few moves, but the cross-through move felt pretty burly to me and I quickly found myself on my ass on a large pile of pads. I talked Micah into trying it knowing it would suit him down to a tee. He made it look easy and cruised though the crux move, only to fall off the next move hitting the wrong part of the next hold. He got it with ease 2nd go impressing everyone else who was trying it. We also did the awesome Solarium nearby which has to be one of the best V3’s I’ve ever done. Technical vertical moves up to a punch for a jug on the lip, then finishing on great jugs. Laura came agonisingly close to latching the jug, but came off from the crux move again and again. Eventually we decided to move on and explore more of the canyon. We were really impressed with the quality of the problems and how densely packed the area was. Pretty soon we were jumping on anything and everything we saw, trying to flash as much as possible. Micah and I searched around for some good looking harder problems to try to work. We got on Disco Diva a classic V8 featured in the best climbing movie ever - West Coast Gimps. It starts low on a thread in a large hueco, then goes up a steep wall with big moves on crimps up to another hueco and the top. After working it for half an hour or so, I figured out good beta that got me through the first 4 crimpy moves, then you have to make a big throw a sloping hueco. I couldn’t even get close on this move so we decided to save our energy for other problems. On our way back down the canyon, we spotted a well chalked up hard looking line. A quick look in the guidebook showed it to be a V7 called Froz. It starts low in good pockets with a heel hook, then you make hard crimpy moves up left and snatch for a good right hand sidepull crimp. From here you turn the right heel into a toe and make a hard throw way out left to a decent pinch on the arete, you then get another heel on and slap up on opposing holds then one last lunge up left to a good hold and top-out. It sounds like a lot of moves but its actually quite a short problem compared with some of the other boulders. Its cramped and crimpy just my style. After 20 minutes of refining the sequence I latched the big throw to the pinch. Then pop, my right hand greased off the crimp. I thought that was my go on it, but I knew I could get through those moves again, so I took a minute then got back on it and dispatched it. YES! Bishop V7! I had completed my goal for the week in the first day. Micah didn’t really like the cramped nature of the route, so we decided to call it a day it was getting dark and cold. Back at the campsite we got a fire and some food on, it was getting cold really fast. As soon as the fire died down we got straight in our tents and tried to get some much deserved sleep. The next morning I woke to find out that Micah couldn’t handle the cold, and had perished during the night…only kidding, he got really cold so bailed and booked a room in the Motel 6 in town for the rest of the week. Fair enough, he was rested and ready for the next day at the Buttermilks.

The Buttermilks

The Buttermilks is a couple thousand feet higher in elevation and it was cloudy, so it was pretty chilly. We drove up the dirt road and parked right across from the giant Grandpa Peabody boulder. We were immediately drawn to the classic steep problem Evilution. I stood up on the cheat stone (pile) and felt the first holds, not bad I thought, then I saw how far it was to the next holds. At that point a friendly guy from Truckee came up and started telling me the beta, I guess I look like a V12 climber. I quickly explained to him I wasn’t quite climbing that grade. He gave us some good recommendations for some problems for us to try. The first boulder we climbed on was the Green Wall boulder, a midget boulder compared to the rest of them, but it felt plenty tall to me. We did a tough V2 on the left side of the boulder, then after a few tries I finally got the crux high step and sent Green Wall Center a cool V6. We walked around some other boulders, but unlike the Happies it’s a bit of a walk between each boulder. Micah and I then decided to try the super-classic High Plains Drifter (V7) which must be one of the best problems of its grade in the world. We worked it with a Quebecois guy, we were struggling to do the first move off the ground, then I figured out it was easier to just campus it. The first few moves are really good, once you hit the first crimp, you get your heel up to the starting hold, then make couple powerful moves out right on good positive crimps. You then have to reposition your feet and get a big incut right hand crimp, then throw up high left to an open hand sidepull and make a couple more moves on grainy slopers up to thank god jugs, and a 5.6 (or so they say) highball top-out. I didn’t manage to get it in the end, but its something I’d definitely like to go back for. Here’s a video of me getting to my highpoint.

High Plains Drifter V7 (almost)

Next we walked over to the cave area, there were some guys trying The Buttermilker (V12/13) which was cool to see. We did Inner Sanctum (V2) and Micah worked on a doable looking V8 on nasty slopers and huecos called Gleaming the Cube. I tried it but I couldn’t pull of the ground. The guide said ‘a high start from the better slopers is an excellent V6’ so decided to try that. I managed to pull off the slopers into the big hueco, and before I knew it I'd flashed it! It was only my second V6 flash ever, I was really pleased! Meanwhile Laura was struggling on the Buttermilk Stem a classic V1. Micah and I walked up thinking, ha we’ll show her hows it done, ten minutes later we were still on the ground and stumped. Eventually we figured out some tricky beta for getting off the ground, and we all sent it, but a redpoint of a V1 isn’t going to look good on the scorecard! We walked around the boulders for a while longer, but it was feeling a bit cold to put our shoes back on. So we gladly took Micah up on his offer of dossing on the floor of the motel room. Warm showers, cable tv, and a mini fridge to keep your beer cool, what more could you ask for.?

Dom on Buttermilk Stem V1

The next morning we were feeling a lot more refreshed after a good nights sleep. We decided to check out the Sad Boulders, just down the road from the Happies. We got there pretty early and had the place to ourselves apart from an English couple. On first appearance the Sads is just like the Happies except for the the obvious lack of crowds. It’s a lot more jumbled and harder to navigate though, we walked past quite a few boulders before we finally recognised an area from the guide. There are a few gems that should be sought out, but there is a higher proportion of chossy-looking problem than the Happies which I guess is what puts people off. One of the gems we found was a awesome looking V6 Rio’s Crack. Its an undercut boulder with a diagonal finger crack cutting right across the face, its basically big moves between shallow finger locks with very poor feet. Micah tried it first but struggled and made it look pretty hard. I got on it and managed the first moves into the finger locks, got a tenuous heel on, then snatched up higher in the crack, I got my feet high on some decent smears and reached up and latched a bomber ring lock, from there I just had to reach up and top-out. Nice, another V6 flash! We checked out some other stuff further up the canyon, but we weren’t that impressed so we decided to sack it back to the Happies. The Happies were buzzing, but it was cool to get some psyche from other groups around, there were some guys who were doing some filming on Serengeti (V5) and they offered a their pads and beta on it. Micah waved away their offers of beta and flashed it anyways. I fell off a couple times trying it Micah's way, then used their beta and got it, it was really good! We lazily did another few things at the Happies, and found some other cool problems to try the next day.

Micah trying a V7 at the Happies

On Friday we headed back to the Happies, and started out in the headbanger cave and managed to flash everything in it (the hardest problem is V4). We were starting to feel pretty comfortable at the Happies now. Micah and I decided to try something a little harder, we found Rave a 3 star V7. It is quite a long problem, it starts out with a hard move to get off the ground where you have to deadpoint a small crimp, then a big out left to a decent shelf. From here its V5 to the top, but still not easy, you have to throw a heel up high and reach up and use two bad slopers, rock over into a shallow gaston and stand up to reach a good heuco. After working it for a while I had the V5 stand start wired, but couldn’t do the first move off the ground. Micah on the other hand could do the sit start almost every time but couldn’t keep it together on the easier upper part. After failing on it repeatedly for about an hour we decided to move on. Its definitely something I’d like to come back to though. We tried some easier problems and goofed around a bit, (see photo below) then Micah decided to try a V6 he liked just next Morning Dove White. My skin was pretty sore by this point so I didn’t try it. But Micah soon got it by means of a cunning drop knee. He was pleased with his 2nd V6 of the trip. But it was getting late and time to go back to the motel.

Micah at the Happies

On Saturday, we packed up our stuff from the motel and headed back out to the Buttlermillks for our last day. The skies were blue and it was warm and sunny, which was a nice change from the last time at the Buttermilks. We headed straight to the Iron Man Traverse, the iconic buttermilk problem. Its one of the few problems in the Buttermilks that isn't highball, and the holds are all skin friendly which I'm sure adds to its popularity. I got psyched and went for the flash. It starts out on a big rail with good feet, then the further right you traverse the smaller the holds get. There is one good incut hold about 3/4 of the way along, then the feet disappear and you have to heel hook and use crimps. Then just about when you're ready to come off you have to lunge out right to a jug on the lip and try to top out with style. I managed to flash it just, but i made a bit of a mess of the top out and it was a bit scrappy.

Micah on Iron Man Traverse V4

Micah struggled on the finish, the culmination of a 5 days bouldering was starting to catch up with him. He gave it a few goes but eventually moved on, we did a few other things in the area on the King Tut boulder and Bowling Pin. My favorite of the day was the excellent Bowling Pin Arete, which somehow only gets 1 star in the guide. Here's a video of it.

The Bowling Pin Arete V4 flash

Before we left, Micah wanted to get back on Iron Man, he knew he couldn't go home with this unfinished business. He refined his sequence and sent it with style, then did again for fun before we had to hit the long road back home.
Heading back home we talked about about the highs and the lows of the trip. Micah said having been to a world class venue like Bishop he rates Leavenworth even higher now. And Laura said she has a new found appreciation of the lowballs at Squamish. Nevertheless we all agreed that Bishop is an amazing place and vowed to return sometime. Having climbed on such quality problems I feel like every other place I visit will pale in comparison. But who knows? The next entry in my blog will most likely be from Scotland!

Laura and Dom at the Buttermilks

Smith Rocks!

Last weekend Laura, Nick and I got down to Smith Rock in Oregon. One of the premier sport climbing venues in the country. It was the first time down there this fall for Laura and I, but Nick had been down a few weekends before and sent his long term project the Smith classic Chain Reaction. It was his first 12c (7b+) and since my last visit in March my redpoint level had increased from 12b to 12d, so we were pretty excited to get on some new hard things. Our photographer Micah wasn't with us this trip so most of these photos are from earlier this year, apart from the last one Nick took on his cell phone.

Morning Glory Wall

We drove down after work on Friday, and 5 hours later we had met up with our friends Philip and Ryan from Oregon huddling around the campfire at the Skull Hollows campground. It got pretty cold, well below freezing, but we prepared and wore a lot of clothes. Saturday morning once the sun came out it got pretty warm, and we were shedding our layers fast. I was surprised how warm it was there still, in the high 60's in the shade, and it made climbing in the sun hard.

Laura on a route in the Chritian Brothers area

We got out to the park pretty quick and Laura and I warmed on the easy classics at Morning Glory Wall, Five Gallon Buckets 5.8, Light on the Path 5.10a (6a), which we both led. I wanted to up the level a bit and get on Nine Gallon Buckets or Magic Light, but they both has queues, so I hopped on the route to right of Nine Gallon called Cool Ranch Flavor, I was told it was 11a (6c) to the first chains, then 12a (7a+) to the top chains. It was a fun route and I climbed it pretty smooth, I got to the first chains still feeling pretty good, and there was hanging draws on the top part so I shouted down to Laura that I was going for the extension. After the chains the climbing turns into to typical Smith crimping on small holds, but no really hard moves just sustained, I kept the momentum going and before I knew it I was at the chains. Nice a 12a onsight! That was a good start to the trip. We hung around on Morning Glory a while longer and got a couple of laps on Nine Gallon Buckets (10c) before it got too hot, then found some shade. Over in the Christian Brothers Philip led Dreamin the super scary 12a which goes up this huge runout slab, a fall on this would be bad. Nick toproped it clean but didn't feel up for the lead. From there Laura and I headed down to do the classic Smith 10b Barbeque the Pope. We had wanted to get on it for a long time but it always seemed to be busy. This time no one was on it, so we took our chance. We got out our brand new stick clip for the first clip. But it didn't quite reach, the first clip is high! I managed to clip it by climbing up the first moves and clipping from there. I didn't enjoy the route at all though. I know it's a classic but that doesn't mean its good. In fact at smith it usually means its polished and scary runout. I got up it and put it on a toprope for laura, she was glad she decided not to lead it. We headed back to find the rest of the guys. Nick was going for the onsight of a tall dihedrals arête called Vision. He came off at the crux slapping around the arête on bad holds. He clipped the chains, and came down feeling pretty good about it, he thought it felt pretty easy for a 12d, then I told him it was only a 12b! I went for the flash, but even with Nick's beta I came off at the crux, I blame my shoes. I didn't want to go for the redpoint it felt pretty hard, and scary up top. But Nick went for it again and came pretty close, but came off at the crux again, he stripped the route and we moved on.

Laura on Shipwreck Wall

On Sunday we got out pretty early again and warmed with a couple of routes on Morning Glory Wall. I did Cool Ranch Flavor again to put the draws up for nick to try. He got past the first chains but came off on the upper section, he hung around, figured out the sequence and dispatched it second go, which was made even harder by the heat. Dreamin was in the shade, so Nick decided to get back on it. He looked focused and kept his cool on the run outs and clipped the chains, it was very impressive. I hopped on it on toprope but I don't think I'll be leading it anytime soon, its way scary. Good Job Nick! We were thinking of walking over Asterix Pass to the back side, but we weren't really feeling psyched. So we got on Balshphemy a new 11a on the Christian Brothers. It's a really sweet climb, I'd done it before but I'd definitely do it again. Its very un-smith like, very technical with no positive holds at the crux.

The Dihedrals

We then decided to head to the other side of the park, to Picnic Lunch Wall to check out a climb we'd heard about called Five Easy Pieces. We weren't sure where exactly it was cause it wasn't in our guide, so we got on a cool looking climb that had the most chalk on it. Nick started up it but had to hang to figure out the sequence, as he was on it a local named Calvin came over and confirmed to us that it was in fact Five Easy Pieces. Laura had a go on toprope and Calvin hopped on it as well, then it was my turn. It starts out on really featured rock, a cool tufa feature, then up through pockets and a couple of deep mono's before you have to step left and go up on opposing sidepulls. At this point you're above the last bolt, and you have to make a burly move up to a juggy hueco. I knew I had to do the move one way or another to get the draws out so I thought I might as well go for the flash and committed to the move. I latched it, I had 3 more bolts to go before the chains with no rests. It was a fight, but I kept it together and used my last reserves of energy to get to the top. I was psyched to flash this as my last climb of the trip it, it was a really cool climb to finish of a really cool weekend.

Laura Me and Nick at the end of the weekend

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!

King Lines and Committed Movie Reviews

I rushed home from work yesterday to find my package from bouldering.com had arrived, the 2 climbing dvd's I ordered. So I called up some friends and invited them over for the Olympia premiere of the most eagerly awaited climbing movies of the year, King Lines and Committed.

We decided to watch King Lines first. What a movie! Straight off the bat, our jaws were on the floor. Amazing cinematography, stunning routes and Chris Sharma! What more could you ask for? It was obvious that this movie had a large budget, from the private planes with bids eye views of the crags, and flashy camera effects. But I didn't realize how much of a sharmafest this movie was going to be. It is all about Sharma, it even has him doing trad! They show a few other climbers but only breif clips when they're climbing with him. Not that I mind that being a big Sharma fan. Going into the movie i was a bit worried it would just be another dosage movie cut to fit together, but that wasn't the case at all. The theme of Sharma searching out 'King Lines' worked well and it was really smooth. But it does lead to some awkward moments. There's one part where it looks like the filmmakers told Sharma to stand up on the podium next to the winners of bouldering comp in Spain even though it looks like he didn't win. And when Pringle tops out on the FA of a Butermilk highball ahead of Sharma, you almost feel like he didn't read the script to the movie. The only 'fast forward' part might be the Venezuela section which dragged on a bit. It seemed like they put so much money and effort into going there then when it rained they felt they had to use the footage anyway. One part of the movie I thought didn't really fit was the blatent advertising for Evolve half way through when they try to show Chris helping design new climbing shoes, but it comes accross as fake, and just put in there to please the sponsors. But apart from that the rest of the movie was first class. The highlight of the movie for me had to be the footage of Sharma working his project at Mt Clark, its really mindblowing. When the credits came we burst out in aplause. A sign of a good climbing movie is if you can watch it over and over again and still get psyched, i've already watched it twice and I've barely had it for 24 hours. Its definately up there with West Coast Gimps as a contender for my favourite climbing movie.


I almost felt it a bit unfair to watch Committed straight afterwards. But we were psyched so we put it on. The contrast between the two movies was obvious. The energy level went down when we watched Committed and there was a lot of conversation going on while we watched it which shows it wasn't really engrossing. When compared with King Lines it seems in a totally different league, it didn't have the polish of a high budget movie, but even simple things like not having the whole climb in shot took away from my enjoyment of the movie. I think the biggest detraction though was the poor commentary. In King Lines Sharma did narration where necessary but it was kept to a minimum, whereas in Committed the narration almost gave it a documentary-like feel, and at times it felt like they were dumbing it down explaining some climbing terms. It also became a bit of a distraction at times, in King Lines they would just show Sharma screaming his way up a climb with good music in the background whereas in Committed you've got a rather dull commentary that makes it hard to get psyched even though the footage was gripping. There was some great footage captured for the movie. James Pearson on The Promise was awesome, but it was over too soon. And my favourite scene was of Jude Spanken onsighting the E6 in Wales. One aspect that the hotaches guys did well in E11 was showing the buildup to the climb and a bit of the background of the climber. But in Committed that was missing, it would have been more interesting for the climbers to describe the the climb themselves in their own words rather than the over the top narration. For all this criticism i did enjoy committed a lot, i just don't think it lived up to my high expectations, especially with such a great trailer. I'm glad i bought the DVD and I'm already eager for the next installment of Committed.

Oh and the extras are pretty good on both DVDs. The 'Keen Youth' extra on Committed is really cool, too bad there was not more like this. And on King Lines you get to see other people like Dave Graham and Jibe Tribout climb hard in the Additional Footage section. And the outtakes are pretty hilarious especially the part with Dave Graham rambling on about being a climbing superhero or something like that.

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.

Rainy October Weekend

Fall has definitely arrived here in the Pacific Northwest, the rain poured and the prospect for climbing outside didn't look good. Perfect timing then for the first annual South Sound Pull Down, the eagerly awaited climbing competition here in Olympia.

The warehouse crew Steven, Daniel, Nick, Jimmy etc. did a great job of stripping all the bouldering walls and setting 55 problems the day before. They were hoping for 30-40 entrants, but with the bad weather a total of 65 turned up, which was a great turnout. Despite Nick and Jimmy setting problems there was still a strong field in the male advanced category. The favourite going into the competition had to be Micah, who is on fire both in routes and bouldering at the moment, and has a good taste for plastic from working at the evergreen wall. Then there was George and Whitey having climbed indoors all summer and looking very strong. Then there was me, who apart from the past 2 weeks hadn't climbed indoors all summer. Plus any unknowns who might come to the comp. Unfortunately Laura had to work that day, so couldn't compete, but would have certainly finished highly in the womans category.

A busy day at the Warehouse

At 2pm the climbing started, everyone got off to a good start with some big cheers for George and Whitey for sending some hard stuff early on. Micah was a little worried after struggling on some problems he should have done with ease. After flashing a couple moderate problems. I decided to try some harder problems, and flashed a 590. I was really pleased with the flash and thought that might just put me ahead of the rest of the crowd. But soon after George and Micah also flashed it easily and whitey got it second go. Uh oh, I thought these guys are strong! Next up was a crimpy 600 which Micah cooly flashed, he was back on his game. I managed to flash it straight after him using his beta. I was in a good position at this point.

Each competitors top 5 highest scoring climbs would count towards their overall score, with a 5 point deduction for each fall. At this point I had 5 climbs rated 530 and up, with just one fall. As far as I could tell I was just ahead of the pack having done all the same problems but with less falls. There was only half an hour left. There was one hard crimpy problem worth 610 points that I tried at the start which I thought might just go. I knew it was my style, technical balancy and crimpy. I got on it. I got past the first crimpy moves, got my feet up, stemmed and matched on the last slopey crimps. I could see the finishing jug, I lunged and latched it, YES! Everyone cheered, there were more people watching than I thought. I knew that would probably be the winning send. In the last few minutes a lot of people tried the problem but no one else succeded, even in the comp after hours no one could get it. With that climb done I handed in my scorecard. Once the scored were tallied the results came out as the following:

1st Dom 2905

2nd Micah 2840

3rd David 2810

4th George 2800

5th Whitey 2755

Dom latches the finishing jug that wins the comp

Its was a great comp and credit should go to the staff at the warehouse for putting it on, I'm looking forward to the next one already.

To top off a great weekend I went out to Little Si with Nick the next day and sent Technorigine a 12c (7b+). I had been climbing well at Little Si recently, I got a 12b (7b) second go last week and flashed another 12b the time before, so I thought I should try something a bit harder. Technorigine is one of the classics of the crag, it's a 30m route that goes right up the middle of World Wall One, overhanging just enough so that it stayed dry even though it was pouring rain. It starts up Aborigine a great 11b (6c+), just after the chains it busts straight into a tricky V4 crux, and from there its another 3 clips of airy steep climbing on big holds over an awesome exposed bulge. I had played on the route a few times before, but never really tried it seriously. On Sunday, I surprised myself by cruising the crux first go then I hung and figured out the sequence above. I dispatched it send go of the day. I got through the crux smoothly again, then got in the zone and cruised the top part, it was so much fun. I clipped the chains leaned back and got soaked from the rain getting lowered down, it was great. Nick did well considering it was his first time on the route, he managed to link past the crux, now he just has to finish off the top section. Its probably my new favorite route at Little Si. Having done this route so quickly its given me renewed confidence for what else I can do there. The Little Si season is not quite over yet!