Long Time Away

My goodness, its been so long since I did this I m not sure I'll remember how. since the end of our trip in May... damn.... I went back to work for Tiger Tree for the summer spraying trees all over Wyoming. I helped run a crew this year with Rose, we had a team of four, being Rose Derek Dustin and myself. We were put on a truck dubed the Turd, because, well it wasn't pretty. The 'turd' was a '98 ford F550 (I think) utility truck from Texas. She was a little slower then the other trucks but had lots of room for all our stuff. Through the summer so much stuff happened I dont remember most of it but I know we all had lots of fun, all hated our jobs, enjoyed each others company, and all had our disagreements throughout the year. When i first walked in the TT door this year I knew it was going to fly bye faster then ever, and it did. I lived out of my car for a month or so and stayed with friends periodical until I was able to move into Jeff and Emily's old house with my buddy Andy. The house was a good call this year, it was very nice having a room and shower and a place to relax after work every night. I was able to spend a lot of time with my guitar this summer too, because I was to tired to do anything else most of the time, haha. This was a great summer of working, hanging out and leaning that Wyoming's not All just flat and windy. The north west part is my favorite.

After TT was done and over I moved back to the farm to start work on the corn maze. I'v been doing that for then till now and still doing. It s fun work though, building and designing things with one purpose, to scare people.... that a good job right there. And i get to work with my friends even if i do have to redo a lot of stuff.... but hey, it all fun and good learning too. The maze opens on Friday and every thing should be up and running on time but only time will tell. After that I'll hopefully finally have time to climb, which i have done almost none of since may. Its been so long I'm not sure if all remember how. or maybe the break was good since I spent * month doing nothing but climbing. with South Africa coming up soon I'll need to start training and ... no I'll just climb a bunch training is to much work and I am tired of working. Hmmm, for those who didn't know that I, we are planing a south Africa tour starting in June... Ian and I are planing on going to South Africa in june and staying for three months (donations appreciated). This is the soul purpose of me working all the time if it weren't for SA I would have a nice Martin Guitar , some new Lenses for my camera, new tires ... i should probably get those actually. But I will save for that stuff later.

Ian on the other hand has been climbing and crushing all over the place. He's been in and placed well in comps from coast to coast, he's actually in Boston Mass. right now at a comp. He's been doing good of the plastic as well, with sends in Rifle, Mt Evens and well all the other places he's been too, I don't know precisely where it all is.... cause I .... well you know.

Anyways, here's some pics from throughout the summer-

Rocky Season

Rocky Season
Climbing is unique in the sense that there is a competitive side, but also a relaxed side to it as well. For me climbing incorporates every aspect of that, being way up in the Rockies where not many people enjoy the rock the same way “us climbers” do, to the energy/psych the comp scene brings; new problems, the crowds, food, and fun what’s not to love?
The Next two months are filled with numerous comps and festivals around the country and I plan to attending every one that I can. It’s hard to compete when” Rocky bouldering season” is in full swing. Typically, 3 months of climbing and 9 months of depression (snow and off season), is our ongoing joke.
So many projects it’s hard to stay focused on just one. Top Notch is my main goal and Blood Money and Wild Cat are also high on the project list. Getting shut down over and over again can be frustrating but all part of the process when climbing “Hard”
Matty Hong now lives in the Fort, attending C.S.U is a BAMF and never forget it- he still has yet to take me to a collage party!!! Thanks to My Home boy James Hickey, training, project setting and private sessions in an amazing gym come hand in hand, you’re the man Hickey! James and I go way back to the 8th grade where we may have duked it out a few times and songs may have been warped, but that’s all in the past now lol. James, in this last month has “taken off”, crushing his project up at the park, he’s now looking at Two Tone Tong and Suicide Season which are both amazing climbs at Upper Chaos, also very high ball!
This next week is going to be filled with power endurance and mad run outs, Rifle here I come. This trip is much more laid out then the last trip, much more focused this time Girl talk and Lung Fisher are my 6 day goal. I would also like to Send Living in Fear on the project wall.

Rifel

Climbing here is hard core.. skipping clips and run out cruxes every ting that I think is scary! Matty Hong is the man crushing almost every climb in the canyon, very impressive athlete I have to say!! Hoping to crush my projects starting tomorrow! Psyched to get home and put work in at Lincon and RMNP!!! Top Notch is going Down this month!!! I hope Blood Money and Taradacitl are scared because I'm coming back for more!! Much of my time this last week as spent trying to many climbs and not focusing on one thing like Matty did the end result was no sending but lots of climbing. Mattty coming to FoCo really really psyched about that!!!!!

We have been making our way to Bishop for the last week or so by way of the coastal highway 1 and 101. Sleeping, climbing, and just hanging out on beaches along the way, the way a road trip is suppose to be. First night was in Ventura, we were lost for lack of sleep and in our quest to find a place to sleep we encountered a yellow vested night guard patrolling in his golf kart. He rolled up and asked what was up, he then told us we could sleep there for the night if we left early in the morning. In the morning we made the final push to Mogli does place in Brentwood, but not without stopping at a vineyard to go to a wine tasting. Ya we went to a wine tasting, five bucks each got us (Mogli and I) each more then a couple glasses of nice wine that we could never afford, it was awesome. After that Ian took over the wheel and we dropped the camper cleaned the van a bit and hit the road again for more beach fun. Castle Rock was the first stop, it was all wet, which was a major bummer because the climbing there is very unique the rock is sandstone like no other I’ve seen all green and mossy, it would have been a great day of pebble wrestling but… we didn’t want to break any(more) rock. Moving on, we made our way to Sand Point and Fort Ross, both about 2 hours north of San Fran on Hwy 1. Sand Point was sandstone as well but it had been in the sun for a day and was climbable. We found one problem on this really sloppy arête that was pretty fun. Fort Ross is an old Russian fort (or so I’m told) with boulders right on a black sand beach with one amazing 5 star anywhere boulder, but it was soaking wet from the rain and high winter tide. From there we hit a place called Goat Rock, another interesting area one of the oldest bouldering areas in NoCal with black and white rock with patches as smooth as obsidian in some places. We climbed there for quite a while, meet some locals out top roping, they were very jealous of our life style and psyched that we made a stop at their local pile. After that we decided that it was Bishop time! after multiple quarters and hours in a laundry mat. Many thanks to Mogli’s parents for letting us keep our camper at their place and feeding us while we were there. BISHOP!

Bouldering @ Salt Point





Mogli at Salt point

Ian bouldering at Goat Rock

Moving On

On the road

We no longer reside in Hueco. We left in the afternoon on the I.C.R. what day of March, after Ian worked on his project Terre de Skin which he “almost” did, I say almost because it consists of five or so moves with the first being the hardest. A scrunched explosive very low percentage stab to a minuscule left hand crimp, on top of all that other hard stuff you must also grab it perfectly, on one try he snagged and held it for what seemed like he was going to send it, but the move is, really hard. After that it was time to save the skin for bishop, so we packed up and left for the next place. That my have sounded pretty exiting an’all (and it was) but, in our last days we had lotsa fun playing pocket tanks, ping-pong, golf, and foosball. Yes, golf, tee off and putt in golf, but its all on dirt no grass. Very fitting for a golf course at Hueco Tanks, not something you’d expect either. Enough Hueco for this season. From there we made our way to Joshua Tree. Holed up, I forgot we have a new travel partner, Matty went to another completion to hopefully win some funding, Mogli one of the first to settle in Hueco this season also wanted to go to bishop, so we said he could help with our gas bill for sure. On our way to J-tree we stayed at a friend’s house in Phoenix to cut the driving up a bit. Thank you Gustavo and wife. When we got to J-tree it was very exiting, in the rangers station we learned two thing one, we didn’t have to pay thanks to Mogli, his extractive recycling efforts during his stay in Yosemite earned him free national park entrance coupons, yes that was awesome. And two, we entered the park at the south entrance, the nice lady at the counter told us all the climbing was in the northern part of the park, she did not tell us that it was 34 miles. So when we made it to the climbable region we were way psyched. Everything played out pretty perfectly after that. The weather was nice the first half day we were there, but the day after, which was the day we would have climbed, it was windy, we hiked around Hidden Valley climbed some boulders, well... if it wasn’t windy we would have climbed more, anyways Joshua tree is a beautiful area which we will defiantly return too. Maybe next time we won’t have to pay the ten dollar camping fee in quarters either, I’d like to see someone eles try fit that envelope in that little slot.

(I.C.R= i cant remember)


10 dollars in quarters

Joshua Tree

Honey wishing we would pull over

Camping in J-Tree

The last send in Hueco, Ian on the Arch Bishop

Requesting a fly by

[Down in Flames] photo: Matty Hong

So much has happened since last time i don't know where to start. Lets see... the original crew is back, both Ian and Matty are down here again so I'm no longer by myself in the camper. Since they've been back we stated crushing again. First off we went to East Mnt. were I sent "Jamoca", one of my projects that had flaunted my best efforts before. Its this roof with a few big moves to the lip then a traverse with a jump at the end, sweet. Next both Ian and Matty sent an awesome line called "Down in Flames" at the Aircraft Carrier, a very impressive 20+ move indero roof climb with the crux at the end (of course). They sent nearly back to back making the sixth and seventh accent of a beautiful line. As awesome as it is one thing about the "D.I.F." is the landing, multiple pits need to be filled with crash pads to make the landing safe/comfortable, so lots of pads are needed, meaning everyone needs to carry at least two pads. Which isn't that bad but the "Carrier" is located on the top of the mountain. So you have to hike multiple pads strapped to your back up a semi intense slab. I think most people would call us crazy, but we love it and now we are all in great shape as well, an added benefit. Also at the Carrier a man named Dino chalked up a possible line a few weeks ago on the right side of the boulder where the landing starts out flat then rolls down to a pretty steep slope. So multiple pads would be needed for this climb as well. We had 13 pads (carried up by six people in one trip by the way) to make the landing for Down in Flames. So one of the fellows with us, Neil, decided that we had enough foam to make the lading for that one safe as well. We built the landing and he tried it a few times, got to the lip and then Ian tried it a few times, got to the lip and pulled over for the first accent of what he called "Tomcat" v4+. Another fine addition to Hueco.


[Tomcat] and the padded landing


Neil Kocurek working TC




Ian on [Down in Flames] (both of the above)

Ian on the "FA" of [Tomcat] photo by Matty Hong

[Tomcat] photo: Matty Hong

Cooper on [Down in Flames] photo: Matty Hong

Hueco trip is coming to an end and we are gearing up to climb In Bishop for the rest of the month. We had a good day of climbing and both Matty and I sent Down in Flames 6th and 7th ascent. We are psyched and tomorrow might be are last day here. Matty and I both have projects and are ready to send. If we send We leave If we don't then we might still leave. Today also we got film of this first ascent we put up (Tom Cat) it was really cool and kinda high off the ground. Bishop

Chech out my new website www.better-faster-stronger.com

Injury Strangth

About eleven days ago i started to feel a slight pain on the top of my left middle finger. Needless to say i didn't climb for quite a while. Yesterday was my first day back, and as the day started i was sceptical about what would happen and how i would feel. We started the day at a classic warm up area called the "Gunks", which is also the home of one of my long standing Projects. After warming up thoroughly, due to the finger, I sat down at my proj and nearly sent it first try. I was very pleased, all those days off actually made me stronger not to mention I was climbing with D. Woods and my buddy Cooper, its hard not to be psyched while climbing with them. I finished off the day by completing a three climb circuit called the "The Mark of the Beast" because it's three classic v6s (the Hunger Artist, that Hi-pro Glow, and Uncut Yogi) that you have to do in one day, but I'm going to rename it the "Three-6 Mafia" circuit. In conclusion I had one of best days climbing since i got here. I needed it too, up to this point I've had a lot of "almost really good days" but that is only fun for so long if you know what I mean. We all come out here to hang out, have a good time, and climb. I had been doing so much of that that it had become almost not fun and I needed a change of pace. Back to the injury now, the day i hurt my finger was quite a good day as well. Cooper and I climbed around North Mountain checking out a new problem dubbed "Blood Line" a sweet vertical tufa line. Then we went to a line that has a really hard pull off a three finger left hand pocket, so ya, that was it. The days that followed where fill with lots of excitement and boredom. I spent a majority of my time reading! I know right, me! reading! like i said "excitement and boredom". The book was called East of Eden, and when i picked it up I had know idea what to expect, except that it was the name of one of my first Trad leads. Which means you climb a wall using only protection that you bring with you. At first it was slow reading, because, well at first it was boring, but as i got into it i kept wanting to know where it was going, what where the people in the story going to do, and how do all these different people connect in the end. I still haven't finished it, but it's a long book and I've only been reading for little over a week and... I'm not Anna. Other than the reading I've helped start construction of a gazebo for the Ranch, and one of my other friends Brett and I built a hatchet range out side my trailer. It has brought many hours of enjoyment to my life of leisure. The target is really cool looking and is made out of an old telephone pole, three 2x4s and three 2x6s and buried two feet in the ground. All the way at the back corner of the Ranch is where it's located so it doesn't bother any of the other campers, which is good because not many people are as excited about it as me and Brett. It's wired to me though, I mean who wouldn't want to spend a day learning how to through an Ax, that's true blooded fun right there. I like to think that it's the 970 contribution to the Ranch, hopefully after we leave other people will be as psyched as us and to continue to use it. It's raining right now and is said to keep raining for the next couple days, which means no climbing but i can finally climb now... long live the Rest Day.

One week alone

The New Year is and has been here for a couple of action packed weeks now. I have been on my own for most of it since Ian has gone back to the Front Range for a bit of recovery and to compete in a completion out in Utah, more on that when he returns. For me, I've been hanging out and climbing with the seasonal "locals" of Hueco. All great people who love to party just as much as they love to climb. I was down here last year for New Years and the party was bump'n, (if that makes sense, if not go to my last years blogs). The party this year was a little more low key, still a party but not as crazy. we started out with burgers for all then moved on to booze for all which i had a hand in because i help at the bar. I helped till I had my fill then moved out to the fire with the rest of the party where we proceeded to throw everything in site on to the ragging inferno, including a TV. Upon waking up the next day we slowly started to realize that we burnt... everything, so we had no fire for a couple days. We all climbed our harts out until the next party, a theme party, with the theme being "Pimp's and Ho's"... interesting party. In the days following that party I've climbed and hiked a lot, up to the top of East with two pads, exploring North for new climbs, finishing old and finding new projects. All the mountains and even the different sectors on the mountains are so different and unique its hard to go back to climbs undone. You always seem to find something new and awesome that you haven't seen before. But a month has already gone and past with another close behind. Its getting down to the wire, we all need to find and finish our projects then go back out and repeat.