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Smith Rock

I just got back from three days of fun at Smith Rocks. It was just Me Laura and Chris this time. Everyone else was put off by the thought of November weather at Smith, but it was actually some of the best conditions at Smith I've experienced. Temps were pretty much perfect, it was cool, but never cold enough for my fingers to go numb, and we never had to worry about chasing the shade.


Chris headed up the awesome Heresy

 

Laura on the long sustained Morning Sky (10c)

On Saturday after an early morning drive we warmed up, then headed straight to Chris' project, Heresy. A short but very stout 11c. After a couple of falls on the last the move it didn't look good, but after figuring out some crucial foot beta, he sent it on his third go of the day! We finished up the day catching the last of the afternoon sun or morning glory wall, where we all led up Morning Sky, an awesome long 10c. Its hard to believe, but that was Laura's hardest send at Smith, it just goes to show how hard the smith routes are. We celebrated the day with some awesome food and beverages at the pumphouse in Terrebonne.

Me about to tackle the steep crux of a 12a route

Sunday we got a full day in, with the new guidebook we were able to get on some new routes, and figure out whats what in terms of some old routes we thought we'd done previously. I did a bunch of new routes from 5.8 to 12a, including a flash of the ridiculously thin Zebra Direct by headlamp after dusk. Yesterday, Chris wanted to make use of his trad rack that he'd been hauling around with him, so he led up Moonshine Dihedral a classic 5.9 corner crack. I probably wouldn't have done it if he didn't get on it, but I'm glad I did because it was so much fun. It gave me a taste of trad climbing and I liked it. So I decided to get on Wartley's Revenge the classic hard trad test piece at Smith, it used to get 11b, but in the new guidebook (which is awesome) it gets 11a. I had seen some people on it before so I knew some beta, I found it to be pretty manageable, I got bomber gear in and cruised through the steep crux. I felt really smooth on it, and before I knew it I made the last big throw and was clipping the chains. It felt really good to tick the climb, my hardest non-prepracticed trad route to date, but it felt even better getting it with the ease that I did. There was no sketchy-ness or panicking like my last hard route at Leavenworth. I felt like I still had some power left at the end and could climb harder. And to make it even better, a photographer from the Bend Bulletin took photos of me on it and I made the front page of the newspaper today which is pretty cool. We finished up the trip with an ascent of the awesome long 10c Nine Gallon Buckets. It was a great finish to an awesome trip, I can't wait to get back out to Smith in the spring now, thanks Laura and Chris for such a fun trip!

Chris starting up Moonshine Dihedral (5.9 trad)



Me on Wartley's Revenge



The South Sound Keeps Pulling Down

Last weekend was the fourth annual South Sound Pull Down at the warehouse rock gym in Olympia. It was a hugely successful competition, with more entrants than ever before, and tons of awesome prizes. A big thanks goes to everyone at the WRG who put it on especially Fawn, Sierra and Jimmy.

Having claimed the title of best Olympia climber in 07, 08, and 09. I really wanted to keep up my streak, but I also knew that I hadn’t been bouldering as much as I had in the past and I was up against some really strong competitors, so I wasn’t too disappointed when I didn’t win. I finished in 3rd place in the Men’s Advanced category just two points (one fall) behind Eric and Olcay who tied for first. But I was also beaten by a few who entered Men’s Open, including Micah and Nathan. I was happy with my performance though, and I got a sweet prize. Laura did awesome as usual and easily won her category. This comp has got me excited for climbing indoors now, and I think I’m going to enter the Seattle competition this year as well. Check out Micah’s write up about the comp for a much more interesting report.

Laura sending her hardest problem of the competition.
Photo Credit: http://www.patrickpenoyar.com/

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!



Nine Sleeps in Ten Sleep

My muscles are still aching from our trip out to Ten Sleep, Wyoming. More than one rest day in a row makes me feel guilty. Ten Sleep Canyon in Northern Wyoming is one of the new big up and coming crags of the West (8a.nu ranks it as the 4th trendiest crag in the world right now), with 700+ climbs established currently and more being put up every week, a new guide has to be published nearly every year to keep up. The climbing is on limestone and dolomite, that I would describe as a mix between Smith and Ceuse. Most of it is generally off vertical (usually no more than 10 degrees either way) technical and pockety. I've been to some crags (cough Ceuse) that claim to be pockety, but they are really just slopey crimps or huecos, this place IS pockety. The name of the game here is sticking your fingers in deep, usually two and three finger pockets and mono's and yarding off of them, I love it. The only thing I didn't like about the place is how far it is from Olympia. At a little over 1000 miles each way, it took Laura, Chas and I driving in Chas' car 17 hours to get there. I would happily do it again though, the climbing out there is so much fun. When we arrived we found a nice campsite near some Australians Lee and Sam who were on a long road trip. We crashed and rested ready for some rock crushing the next day.

Laura absolutely flourished on the well bolted, fingery technical climbs, which is to say all of them. Before this trip she had redpointed a handful of 11b's, at Ten Sleep she onsighted many 11b's and 11c's and flashed an 11d! Chas did really well too, onsighting his first 11b, and flashing his first 11c! I know what you all must be thinking, this place sounds soft. But I don't think so, I found the grades to be pretty spot on and a lot more consistent than many other crags, but the style definitely favors climbers who are good on small holds and have good footwork. As for me, I managed to onsight or flash everything I tried 12a and below including 5 12a's onsights, but failed on 3 different 12b onsight attempts. My closest was Happiness in Slavery where I was staring down the chains, and could have grabbed them with my teeth, but I was too pumped to hold on and screamed like a girl as I took the whipper. I did manage a 12c/d (more like a c) 2nd go, but got shut down on a 12d, the harder routes there definitely require a lot of work.

There are so many stories to tell about lightning storms, spiders down clothes, dubious climbing ethics, you'll just have to ask me in person, but for now I'll just leave you with these photos and videos. I'll definitely be back next summer, I want to go for a month, get on more hard climbs, and bring a big Oly crew with me. So Olympia climbers, put it in your calenders. This is THE perfect pocket pulling paradise for mid 5.10 to mid 5.13 climbers.

Just some of the rock in Ten Sleep Canyon, those cliffs are about 200ft tall.

On my first day I managed an onsight of this beautiful 12a on Slavery Wall.

Laura flashing B-1 Bomber Dude (11a) on our first day there.

The small holds and plentiful clip suit Laura's style.

Laura flashing the awesome steep 10d School's Out

The town of Ten Sleep, population 300 or so.

Chas and Laura enjoying Dirty Sally's Ice Creams, Laura's holding mine as well as hers.

A common sight driving through Wyoming. This is America!

Just up the road from Ten Sleep at 9500 ft elevation

Don't expect the local auto shops to have open open slots. Here Chas supervises as I rotate his tyres.

This is what I call a mono. You had to yard off this thing to get off the ground on a 10d.

Chas enjoying the view.

Laura flashing Save the Best for Last (11c). This is not a slab as it appears, but a steep wall.

Laura flashing an 11b/c on the Circus Wall, a great little wall.

Me trying to onsight a 12b, it felt a lot steeper than it looks.

Chas heading up Killer Karma a stout 11d roof climb.

Laura onsighting Vitamin K (11c).

This photo doesn't do it justice, but this climb Great White Buffalo 11b is amazing!

Laura flashing Circus in the Wind (11b), I took the video because I thought she was going to take a fall on the pumpy top, but I was sorely disapointed.

Me redpointing Napalm Death (12c). I don't normally wear a helmet, but I was a little worried about the swing if I fell, luckily I didn't.

Hitting my Stride

I sent my summer project yesterday, Gerbil Killer 13a. Its my 3rd year running climbing a 5.13, and I feel like I really deserve this one. Over the past few weeks I've been getting in good shape by climbing regularly at Little Si, and it paid off yesterday when I practically floated up Gerbil Killer. Well not exactly... on my first redpoint attempt yesterday (of about 5 or 6 total) I felt really good. I climbed the intro moves smart and conserved energy, I managed to shake out well on the rests, so that when I got to the crux I felt as fresh as if I had just stepped off the ground. Unfortunately I guess a had first go nerves, and while I was focusing on getting my right hand just right, my left hand popped off and I was sent flying. I was frustrated, but I could take comfort knowing how good I felt on it. I rested for a good hour before getting on it again. This time I felt pumped going into the crux, but it was a controllable pump. I love that feeling when you know you can do it, but you know you have to fight for it and everything has to go just right. It did, I got got my feet up on the little spikes, reached out for the crux crimp, latched it, set myself up for the big thow, and hit the victory jug perfectly.

Shoes that climb 5.13

Working the projects on WWI

It was a busy day at the crag, and lots of projects went down yesterday. Most impressive for me was seeing Jimmy climb Flatliner, 13c. Everyone at the crag was surprised when he clipped the chains, including him I think. Laura also managed an impressive redpoint of the really thin and technical 11b on the far left end of WWI, her third 11b of the year. It was a good mini-project for her, she went from not being able to do the moves, to going bolt to bolt, then one hanging it, and sending it in the space of a couple of hours. We are both climbing very well right now, which is perfect timing because on Wednesday we are heading out to Ten Sleep, Wyoming with our friend Chas for a week and a half of limestone sport climbing. I can't wait!