Regardless of their devotion to climbing, everyone, I'm sure, has a ticklist of some sort. Inevitably, climbs make their way on to that list that are a) way too hard, b) way too far away, or c) way too blond. But therein lies the point of the ticklist: passing time thinking about amazing boulders (or routes, I guess). The classes I am currently enrolled in require a good deal of time sitting in the back thinking about problems I'd like to try, and today I came up with this, my North American All-Time Ticklist:
Slashface, 8B, Hueco Tanks.
Black Lung, 8B, Joe's Valley.
Nothing But Sunshine, 8B, RMNP.
Circadian Rhythm, 8B, Poudre Canyon.
No More Greener Grasses, 8A+, Mt. Evans.
The Shield, 8A+, Little Rock City.
Eclipse, 8A+, Little Cottonwood Canyon.
Wet Dream, 8A+, Red Rocks.
Right-Hand Mini Problem Sit, 8A+, CATS.
Something From Nothing, 8A, Great Barrington.
God Module, 8A, Horse Pens 40. Notice: video contains invalid ascent. Put them feet on the wall before the first move, son!
Haroun and the Sea of Stories, 8A, Bishop.
Drive On, 7C+, Yosemite.
Golden Harvest, 7C+, Rocktown.
Obviously, most of these climbs are far beyond my limit. Furthermore, it can be a heavy financial burden to take the necessary time off from work and school to travel to all of these areas, not to mention dealing with the swollen price of gasoline and data plans (for updating 8a from the iPhone, of course). I know that I’ll never see some of these climbs, and I’ll send fewer, but what matters is that making these ridiculous lists and thinking about these amazing climbs keeps me motivated, keeps the psyche level high. Why else spend so much time hunkered down under the steep wall at CATS, groping greasy pinches and fingering heinous crimps while spandexed children hurl themselves screaming down the runway and into the air with all manner of flips and spins and crash breathless onto the foam mats inches from the finish jug of Epic? That, and it also helps pass the time while the Professor explains multiplying fractions or details the many rules of run-on sentences. So win-win, really.
10.30.2009
10.26.2009
Ahhh, Noy...
...another Joe's Valley post. But this one's from a different weekend, so everything's cool. Justin Jaeger, and his wonderful dogs, were my companions as I pointed the Black Whale westward for a few days of sandstone.
Despite rolling in at 2:00AM and sleeping for just a few hours, Justin had already sent five problems before anyone else had awoken. I think he was psyched.
Of course, the highlight of the weekend was spending time with Brew and Kai, who, as usual, were on their best behavior.
Joe's continues to produce good times and great lines, and I hope to return soon. Several climbs weight heavily on my mind...
Despite rolling in at 2:00AM and sleeping for just a few hours, Justin had already sent five problems before anyone else had awoken. I think he was psyched.
He proceeded to have a pretty good day, firing Jitterbug Perfume in the morning and making quick work of Eden later in the afternoon. I'm sure all sorts of media of those climbs will appear on the pages of his blog for the next month or two, so here are a few pictures you might not see:
Of course, the highlight of the weekend was spending time with Brew and Kai, who, as usual, were on their best behavior.
Joe's continues to produce good times and great lines, and I hope to return soon. Several climbs weight heavily on my mind...
10.22.2009
Impending Doom
Things have been going well lately. I'm psyched on climbing (as always), school is a breeze, work has been enjoyable, and I've had plenty of time to deal with all the responsibilities on my plate. Clearly, now would be the time to put all that in great jeopardy. Enter NaNoWriMo. Exit freetime. Perhaps I'm being overdramatic, but producing a 50,000+ word novel in thirty days isn't exactly easy. Though when broken down it doesn't seem too bad: 12,500 words per week or 1,666.67 words per day or 69.44 words per hour or 1.15 words per minute or .019 words per second. Of course, these words have to be somewhat intelligble, and have to have something that resembles a plot. Other than that, no big deal. Right?
10.20.2009
A Brief Moment of Self Aggrandizing Glory
Normally I try to keep the spray to a minimum here on the site, but today is different. Today (yesterday, actually) I sent Purity Control at the Millennium Boulder. Big deal, you might say. Quite a few people have done this problem, and the grade wasn't even cutting edge a decade ago. Well, I don’t care. To my best estimate, I have spent thirty days trying this boulder. Thirty days over three-ish years. And now it’s done. I used to have a piece of paper stapled to my wall that I would write on every time I tried the problem. After eighteen days I tore the paper off the wall, as every entry said something like “stuck first move two out of twenty tries then tore massive flappers.” Rage! Today, though, I stuck the first move seven out of eight times.
Climbing can be such a difficult mental challenge and it is hard for me to be patient and really make every attempt count. Usually when I get remotely close to doing a problem I’ll go into attack mode and throw myself at the problem until it gives in, but today I knew I had to try a different approach. I told myself that if I was patient with the set-up for the second move and if I focused all my attention on the hold I was going for I’d do the problem. When I pulled on the wall for the eighth time I made sure my feet were in the proper location and my weight was balanced correctly before I moved to the left hand pocket. Amazingly, my hand hit the hold in the perfect position and I didn’t need to readjust. I brought my left foot up to the edge, making sure it was set before rolling my left hand into a crimp. I looked up at the right hand slot/edge and told myself to focus on that hold and that hold alone. An instant later I was watching my hand grab the edge and I continued to watch it as my legs swung out from the wall. The swing was greater than I expected but I knew there was no chance of falling. I brought my feet back onto the wall and had to push aside thoughts of relief and success so I could concentrate on the remaining easy moves. When I grabbed the lip I started laughing. I had imagined this moment for almost three years, and it felt better than I could ever have thought.
Purity Control is neither the hardest nor the best problem I have done, but it does have a special place in my mind. It was the first legitimate hard climb I ever tried, years ago when it was well above my ability level. I’ve tried it in every season in all conditions imaginable, with too many different people to count. I’ve watched the segment in Colorado Daydream hundreds of times and dreamt about sticking the second move before I’d ever sent V8. I’ve watched Chuck Fryberger do the climb completely static two times in a row and I even (randomly) saw Fred Nicole fire the rig in the most graceful series of movements I’ve ever witnessed. And now it’s done. Sending the problem felt good, but I also felt that I did the problem well; that I executed as flawless an ascent as I could manage. I have never felt this much satisfaction from a climb, and the Pumpkin Pie ice cream cone I had from Red Trolley afterwords was well deserved.
Climbing can be such a difficult mental challenge and it is hard for me to be patient and really make every attempt count. Usually when I get remotely close to doing a problem I’ll go into attack mode and throw myself at the problem until it gives in, but today I knew I had to try a different approach. I told myself that if I was patient with the set-up for the second move and if I focused all my attention on the hold I was going for I’d do the problem. When I pulled on the wall for the eighth time I made sure my feet were in the proper location and my weight was balanced correctly before I moved to the left hand pocket. Amazingly, my hand hit the hold in the perfect position and I didn’t need to readjust. I brought my left foot up to the edge, making sure it was set before rolling my left hand into a crimp. I looked up at the right hand slot/edge and told myself to focus on that hold and that hold alone. An instant later I was watching my hand grab the edge and I continued to watch it as my legs swung out from the wall. The swing was greater than I expected but I knew there was no chance of falling. I brought my feet back onto the wall and had to push aside thoughts of relief and success so I could concentrate on the remaining easy moves. When I grabbed the lip I started laughing. I had imagined this moment for almost three years, and it felt better than I could ever have thought.
Purity Control is neither the hardest nor the best problem I have done, but it does have a special place in my mind. It was the first legitimate hard climb I ever tried, years ago when it was well above my ability level. I’ve tried it in every season in all conditions imaginable, with too many different people to count. I’ve watched the segment in Colorado Daydream hundreds of times and dreamt about sticking the second move before I’d ever sent V8. I’ve watched Chuck Fryberger do the climb completely static two times in a row and I even (randomly) saw Fred Nicole fire the rig in the most graceful series of movements I’ve ever witnessed. And now it’s done. Sending the problem felt good, but I also felt that I did the problem well; that I executed as flawless an ascent as I could manage. I have never felt this much satisfaction from a climb, and the Pumpkin Pie ice cream cone I had from Red Trolley afterwords was well deserved.
Photos, Psych, and Tortas by Ash
10.19.2009
Escape
Writing trip reports is not fun. But for Jaeger's sake, I'll do my best. Or rather, I'll do my best to write up the most ineffective, brief, and uninformative trip report I can manage. Here goes:
This past weekend yielded a quick trip to Joe's Valley, Utah. After a summer in the Park climbing mostly longer endurance problems, it was nice to get on short, powerful climbs, such as Skeleton Key.
There was a good crew assembled, and many ridiculous discussions were had. Is it better to crimp with three fingers or four?
Flannery says four, Jamie says three, but I'll just let James be the judge of that.
Also present was Hayden Miller, who was quite psyched to get an early start Sunday morning. After a quick warm up of Breakfast Skittles and tea, Hayden sent some slab, then nearly did The Ghost King in twenty minutes. Impressive.
The drive home was uneventful, save for a pleasant and brief interaction with a polite young Emery County Sheriff's Deputy outside of Castle Dale. Suck.
This past weekend yielded a quick trip to Joe's Valley, Utah. After a summer in the Park climbing mostly longer endurance problems, it was nice to get on short, powerful climbs, such as Skeleton Key.
There was a good crew assembled, and many ridiculous discussions were had. Is it better to crimp with three fingers or four?
Also present was Hayden Miller, who was quite psyched to get an early start Sunday morning. After a quick warm up of Breakfast Skittles and tea, Hayden sent some slab, then nearly did The Ghost King in twenty minutes. Impressive.
The drive home was uneventful, save for a pleasant and brief interaction with a polite young Emery County Sheriff's Deputy outside of Castle Dale. Suck.
10.12.2009
Big Apple
No, not that one. I'm referring to this behemoth:
The infamous Honey Crisp, by far the largest apple I have ever seen, though probably not as large as this guy. Anyway, some comparison shots:
The infamous Honey Crisp, by far the largest apple I have ever seen, though probably not as large as this guy. Anyway, some comparison shots:
I did not eat this apple for some time after I bought it. It stayed in my refrigerator, lording over all the other fruits. Whenever I would reach for it a strange feeling would overtake me and I'd grab something else instead. It was growing a personality. Over the next six days we became fast friends. I even got it to proofread my midterm essay.
However, it's time finally came, and it is with a tinge of sadness that I announce that I ate the apple today. It took 18 and a half minutes to consume. Seriously. And it was delicious. Quite possibly the greatest apple eating experience I've ever had. As with most things worthwhile, the experience was fleeting, and now I look to the future for further explorations in apple eating.
Adventures of Lil' Buckaroo, Chapter One: Elevenmile Canyon
Escaping the icy gloom of Denver, Jaeger makes some impressive links on the Dr. Hahn testpiece "Anger Management."
Sadly, it was not to be.
Regardless, I was impressed when, after falling off the final move in freezing pre-dusk conditions, Justin called it quits despite having remaining daylight, skin, and energy. Usually JJ throws himself at a problem until it either submits to his will or breaks him entirely. This day, he walked away sendless but content with his progress. Now you're learnin'.
Sadly, it was not to be.
Regardless, I was impressed when, after falling off the final move in freezing pre-dusk conditions, Justin called it quits despite having remaining daylight, skin, and energy. Usually JJ throws himself at a problem until it either submits to his will or breaks him entirely. This day, he walked away sendless but content with his progress. Now you're learnin'.
Numero Uno
The first post is critical; one must establish the tone of the page, as well as lay the foundation for what is to come. Long have I contemplated how to start this blog: a climbing picture, perhaps? Weak prose and food review? Or maybe a ridiculous picture of Jaeger? Well, there are sites featuring all of these things, and the purpose of this site is to bundle them all together, into one tasty package. Gaze upon these posts, ye who enter, and despair.
Ryan Silven warming it up
Total media coverage as Justin makes the historic first ascent of "The Malcontent"
More to come...
Ryan Silven warming it up
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