Blog #3 October

 

It's been awhile.  I know.  It's not like I haven't been busy though.  In fact, this might be the busiest my life has ever been.  I'm consistently amazed at how many separate things I've been able to juggle over the last few months (I'm horrible at multi-tasking) and still maintain my sanity and continue to progress as a rock climber.  Looking back on my last blog, I noticed that the first point I made pertained to the new found health of my left ring finger.  Well, scratch all that.  Here's a little piece of advice.  It's NEVER healthy until you can climb for at least a month without a hint of pain.  Until then, there's no such thing as giving it 100%.  So, I guess that's the first thing I'll point out about the last few months.  I've been somewhere between 60% and 80%.  Some days maybe 90%.  Not the best way to spend the summer.

None the less, here's the recap.  Early August, I was scheduled to climb a few boulders for a Louder Than 11 film entitled Colorado Glow.  Day 1, we headed out to Boulder Canyon to film Cage Free V11, a climb that I've done probably 300+ times.  In fact, a few years ago I managed the dyno at least 30 times in a row and then in approach shoes.  So filming it should be piss this year, right?  Not.  It was at least 80 degrees in the canyon and that granite was slick as fuck.  I ripped off that dyno probably 30+ times, or so it seemed.  It was a struggle to get the footage, but I managed the boulder a few times by the end of the session and we got the necessary footage.  So when you see the footage when it comes out in October, remember that you're watching a whole new Cage Free.  A properly lubed one. 

Day 2 was staged in the park.  I headed out earlier than normal, by myself, and met the crew in Upper Chaos under Riddles In the Park.  It had been a while since I had climbed it.  2 years or so.  But the moves came together fast and soon we were checking that one off the list.  Next up was Nuthin' But Sunshine in Lower Chaos.  As we made our way through Middle Chaos, I decided to give a few burns on Top Notch V13, a boulder that I had tried in the fading light a few days earlier.  Temps were not particularly good but I wanted to give a few attempts on the crux first move, to see if I could discover something that would allow me to stick the first slick edge.  The hardest part about this boulder for me at the time was the fact that it centered around left hand edges.  With a pulley injury on the left hand, pinching the crimps was the only option.  For about 20 minutes, I hucked myself at the first move to no avail.  It's a vicious one.  Then, on one particular burn I managed to stick the edge for a moment.  Progress!  Luckily the cameras had been pulled out, cause on the next burn I stuck the edge and took it to the top.  I can honestly say that I've never really surprised myself as much as I did with my Top Notch send.  I hadn't really been climbing much prior to the send and my finger was at about 60%.  A send seemed all but possible.  It's nice when surprises happen though.  It's motivating and it causes you to approach the future with wider eyes.  Suddenly things become more possible.  Maybe training harder isn't the answer.  Motivation and psych goes a long way.  Hopefully I can use some of this insight as we delve deeper into the fall.  

Around mid-August, Alex and I ventured down to Texas for our yearly visit.  I made it a point to NOT climb as much as possible for the 9 days that we visited, which is quite difficult cause their isn't much else to do down there except to climb in the gym.  I guess that's probably why such strong youngsters pop out of there every year.  Another thing I couldn't help but notice once again, is the lack of a really good climbing gym.  I know we're spoiled in our choices of gyms in the Front Range, but the booming metropolis of Dallas (though supporting many smaller gyms), could sure use a "Touchstone" style gym in my opinion.  Seriously.  If someone built something like that, they could make a killing.  It also occurred to me that this is probably true of many major metropolitan areas in the US.  Denver, Chicago, etc, who's next for an upgrade?

So not climbing led to a lot of swimming, then some wake-boarding, then sore abs, then many late nights out, and a little bit of climbing coaching here and there.  Regardless of my general "neutrality" towards the state of Texas it was a great time to relax.

The rest of August sort of flew on by without any significant happenings.  In the beginning of September my brother Giovanni flew out for a visit and also our good friend Kevin Jorgeson arrived for his month in the Front Range.  "G" managed a quick ascent of Automator on his first day in the park this year, after much projecting in previous years.  It was an inspiring send none the less.  It's always nice to see someone accomplish something that they really want to do.  And he destroyed the thing.  I also have to mention that I was very impressed by his overall strength as a climber these days.  Living in Santa Rosa and trying to progress is a hard thing to do.  From the sound of it, he'll be spending a lot of time in Bishop this year and I wouldn't be surprised to see a V14 out of him.

After Automator, Kevin, G and I spent some nice days outside in a variety of settings.  Stress Factor saw its 1st and 2nd ascents.  The video currently resides in the DPM HDTV player.  Check it.  VERY, VERY cool line.  Not very hard, but very spicy.  The landing is bad enough to break legs from the crux and pads are pretty meaningless.  Below you will find a video of me on the 2nd Ascent.

It's a bit hard to tell in the video, but it took awhile to get psyched up for a climb like that.      Basically the moment you pull on you have to go to the top.  Lesson in committing 101.  No doubts can exist.  It's definitely a type of climbing that I enjoy.  Autopilot.  That type of mental control is useful in all situations.  Whether you are 30 feet off the deck or 5, most of the time your body knows how to climb much better than your brain does.

Mid-September, In a spur of the moment decision, Kevin and I took a trip out to Rifle.  It was supposed to be a 2 day adventure to get back some endurance in the forearms.  We ended up beating the shit out of ourselves so bad on the first day, that we drove back to Boulder that night.  Not to mention that I climbed like a complete idiot.  After warming up with a few laps on the best 12a in the world, Defenseless Betty, I gave a serious flash attempt on Apocalypse '95.  I easily made it to the chains only to find a piece of shit slopey edge to clip them from.  I nearly had the rope in the anchor draw before exploding from the wall with a locked up right arm.  I was a little disappointed but      the climb was merely meant to be a test of route reading ability rather than right arm lock-off ability so I shook it off.  Second go in the bag.  Kevin got close on Simply Read 13d in a few tries and I think he actually got a little psyched on sport climbing.  Maybe.  Just a little.  Maybe its because he accepted that the routes are too big to boulder.  But then I heard him mention the long term possibility, and I stress possibility, of a 5.14 free solo.  And then that got me thinking...

We ended the day at the Bauhaus and I gave 3 worthless attempts on Huge 13c.  I know you might ask why the fuck I would get on Huge after completing its harder counterparts Benign Intervention 5.14 and Girl Talk 5.14c the year prior and in very quick fashion.  And my answer is I don't know.  But Huge is becoming a huge epic.  I've never fucked up so much beta that I know by heart in my entire life.  But I guess that's just how it goes...

Just before Kevin was scheduled to leave, we spent two consecutive days at a bouldering area near the Summit of Mt. Evans.  It's a large talus field of boulders located in a 1000+ ft. ditch at the western end of Lincoln Lake.  There are lots of climbs on these boulders.  Most are tall, proud, and moderately to extremely hard.  I see this area becoming popular in the years to come.  It's also interesting to note that this might have been one of the first areas to be climbed at in the Mt. Evans area.  Surprising considering the amount of potential and the complete lack of traffic it has seen in the last few years.  A very nice boulder was climbed by Kevin and I during our first mission into the ditch.  The footage is/will be available in the HDTV player.  The ascents were essentially made ground up and I happened to film the 25 or so minutes of sussing that preceded the sends.  Very interesting time-lapse if you ask me.  (see below)

The fall temps are arriving.  Actually they are here.  It's been snowing up high and it was pretty damn cold today in Boulder.  I've been setting and stripping lots of plastic and I'm pretty sick and tired of it.  I've got a whole comp season to go, so the motivation better arrive soon.  As the rock gets stickier, I find myself dreaming more and more about the Red River Gorge.  It's safe to say that I have A LOT of fun climbing there and from what I hear shit's about to hit the fan in that area of the country.  Something about 5 Esperanza's in a row...

Until next time.  Enjoy your fall climbing season.  

 

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