Blog #2 July

Yesterday was the first day in over two months that I managed to complete an entire climbing session without feeling any pain.  And that's not the first time in the last two months that I've proclaimed something to that end.  My finger injury was beginning to turn into somewhat of a plague aided by my inability to stay away from the climbing gym.  Climbing competitions don't help either.  But ice does.  Three times a day I would soak my hand in ice water to increase blood flow to my fingers.  Not to say that I've been skeptical in the past, but more than ever I believe that some form of ice therapy is the "way forward" for both expediting the climbing injury recovering process and keeping injuries from happening.  Rest is good too.  But I'm really bad at that.  After the World Cup I swore that I would take at least 2 weeks off before climbing again.  Four days later (which honestly felt like 2 weeks to me) I was back at The Spot, pretending that everything would be ok as long as I gave up crimping again.  It's odd to think that a history of pulley strains could actually change your style of climbing.  Four years ago, I used to climb best on crimps and the occasional sloper, and I sucked at pinches.  Then I experienced my first minor ring finger pulley strain.  I have had at least 3 minor strains since then.  Now I suck at crimps and have developed what we have deemed as "Gecko Strength"-the ability to pinch practically anything.  I even pinch crimps now.  Crazy!

Moving on from the random ponderings, here's a little rundown of what I've been up to since my last post.  After the World Cup I directed my focus to completing specific boulders in the Colorado Alpine.  I quickly learned that my pool of projects was significantly smaller due to my inability to crimp.  Colorado is ALL crimps.  The exception was this project at Mt. Evans that I'd only seen photos of--a perfect 6-inch, sloping, and vertical rail out a gigantic otherwise blank overhang.  After finding the damn thing, which took forever, I went to work.  About a week later, an hour after I took a heartbreaking fall from the last move, Nalle managed to nab the first ascent of Sunseeker.  I was able to pull off the second ascent 2 days later.  It is the best boulder problem that I have ever done.

After the "process" of Sunseeker, it was back on plastic (yes the finger was still fucked) to train for the Mammut Bouldering Championships at the Summer OR.  Also, somewhere in there I was hired as the Head Routesetter for The Spot.  Very psyched on the position and continuing to evolve as a routesetter.

Fast-forward to the Tradeshow.  Big thanks to Steven Jeffery and Ashley Gish for letting us crash at their place in SLC for the hundredth time.  The Bouldering Championships went extremely bad for me.  Not in the game.  I had fun watching though.  Lots of strong up and comers.  Psyched to see continuing progression in our sport brought on by a new generation.  As for the Tradeshow, it went...

I am now back in Boulder.  A few days ago I purchased a new HD video camera.  In a shit turn of events, my last HD and my dSLR were stolen from my car.  $2000 down the shitter.  But I will recover.  I am excited to continue to kick it up a notch with the semimonthly videos that I produce for this site.

The future looks promising.  I will be spending a lot of time in Rifle in the upcoming months.  As well as the Fortress of Solitude to finish up Kryptonite once my endurance gets up to speed.  I will also most likely be purchasing a hammer drill so that I can contribute during my fall travels for sport climbing.  Right now my psych lies in attempting to repeat certain routes at Mt. Clark and spending some quality time at the Red.  And Bishop, always Bishop.  Until next time...

Also, because of a lack of media in this post due to certain stolen items, I've uploaded a few old clips that I think are quite interesting/ funny.  The first one is from the day I climbed Nuthin But Sunshine in RMNP.  It showcases the crux move done in an atypical manner.  Yesterday I got close to the one arm catch...so stay tuned for that sometime.  The second clip takes place in Clear Creek Canyon in the winter.  I'm pretty sure it doesn't need a description...