Showing posts with label joe's valley. Show all posts
Showing posts with label joe's valley. Show all posts
4.08.2010
4.07.2010
4.06.2010
4.05.2010
Wait, what?
This last week I was in Joe's Valley, climbing on fantastic boulders with great friends. Sobe's were drunk, shit was talked, whales were shallow, and less-than-spectacular food was consumed.
It's kind of ridiculous to think that I spent five days climbing on two boulder problems, but I seem to operate best when my focus is narrowed down to a few specific goals. In this case, those goals were Trent's Mom and The Ghost King. One of these goals was accomplished, and one was not, with Trent's Mom being the one that got away. I climbed on Trent's Mom four days last week and three days on a previous trip this year, and each day went about the same: hike to the boulder in the morning, warm up on the juggy moves, climb to the crux move from the start ten or so times, fail to lock down on the right hand and fall. My first day on the problem this trip I managed to latch the hold, but my hand exploded off as I was setting up to make the next move. The problem feels mechanically easy, but I've acquired such a mental block that execution remains elusive. I blame myself. Jamie suggested many times that I get pushed into the top so that I could figure out the finish and gain confidence, but I stubbornly (and prematurely) declared it "in the satch" and ignored his advice. Seriously, get a slight power spot through as many moves as possible before getting serious about trying from the start. And always, always, always do the topout first. I did Ghost King in a few tries after getting pushed into the top crux and doing the topout, and the confidence gained from doing so proved to be the key to success. But Trent's Mom, man, I've let that thing take over, and it's a complete mental battle to get psyched up for each attempt. Which isn't to say I'm not psyched. Indeed, psych couldn't be higher to finish this excellent boulder. I'm just sayin' that there is a strategy that works for sending projects, and ignoring that strategy usually doesn't pay off so well. Learn from my mistakes, children. Learn well.
Anyway, there will be future trips to Joe's, and many more chances to fall off the top of Trent's Mom. In the mean time, I hope to put some effort into lingering local projects before the alpine season opens up. The Trifecta awaits...
It's kind of ridiculous to think that I spent five days climbing on two boulder problems, but I seem to operate best when my focus is narrowed down to a few specific goals. In this case, those goals were Trent's Mom and The Ghost King. One of these goals was accomplished, and one was not, with Trent's Mom being the one that got away. I climbed on Trent's Mom four days last week and three days on a previous trip this year, and each day went about the same: hike to the boulder in the morning, warm up on the juggy moves, climb to the crux move from the start ten or so times, fail to lock down on the right hand and fall. My first day on the problem this trip I managed to latch the hold, but my hand exploded off as I was setting up to make the next move. The problem feels mechanically easy, but I've acquired such a mental block that execution remains elusive. I blame myself. Jamie suggested many times that I get pushed into the top so that I could figure out the finish and gain confidence, but I stubbornly (and prematurely) declared it "in the satch" and ignored his advice. Seriously, get a slight power spot through as many moves as possible before getting serious about trying from the start. And always, always, always do the topout first. I did Ghost King in a few tries after getting pushed into the top crux and doing the topout, and the confidence gained from doing so proved to be the key to success. But Trent's Mom, man, I've let that thing take over, and it's a complete mental battle to get psyched up for each attempt. Which isn't to say I'm not psyched. Indeed, psych couldn't be higher to finish this excellent boulder. I'm just sayin' that there is a strategy that works for sending projects, and ignoring that strategy usually doesn't pay off so well. Learn from my mistakes, children. Learn well.
Anyway, there will be future trips to Joe's, and many more chances to fall off the top of Trent's Mom. In the mean time, I hope to put some effort into lingering local projects before the alpine season opens up. The Trifecta awaits...
4.04.2010
3.20.2010
Joe's Valley
Usually when the spring weather in Colorado sucks the best thing to do is bail to Joe's Valley. This was not the case last week, as somebody must have hijacked Cobra's Weather Dominator and used it to devastate Utah with snow. Lots of snow.
On Monday the tops of the Jordan and Eden boulders were buried under a foot and a half of snow. Blackout was obscured by a two foot thick mound of ice, though the Gentlemen's Project was completely dry. The Masterpiece was under so much snow that the entire boulder blended into the hillside. Trent's Mom had a waterfall streaming down from the topout and the start holds were seeping.
Though the holds on Worst Case Scenario were dry, the top was a sheet of ice. We had to camp in the left fork, as all the parking and camping sites in the right fork were inaccessable. Hiking up to Battletoads/Playmate of the Year would involve post-holing up to your thigh, and anything past the mine was approacable only by snowmobile. Ghost King had a nice drizzle of snowmelt covering all the holds, and the other lines on that boulder were 100% wet. Nevertheless, our small posse saddled up and rode into New Joe's, where there were dry boulders to be found.
On the plus side, I got to check out a few problems I'd never seen before: Black Dahlia, The Obelisk, Groundation, and Prince of Thieves. I've always been interested in Prince of Thieves, but I must say that I lost most of that interest upon firsthand inspection. Several of the holds are sharp and uncomfortable, and the line is less obvious than I imagined. Also, it's quite tall and the landing is not exactly a confidence booster. Still, it has nice black rock and would be a very worthy send, should the mood strike. The other three problems looked very good.
On Monday the tops of the Jordan and Eden boulders were buried under a foot and a half of snow. Blackout was obscured by a two foot thick mound of ice, though the Gentlemen's Project was completely dry. The Masterpiece was under so much snow that the entire boulder blended into the hillside. Trent's Mom had a waterfall streaming down from the topout and the start holds were seeping.
Matt Miller sends Chips
I Would Rather Be Climbing Her
Resident Evil
The rest of the week was a frustrating battle with conditions. Despite lots of snow removal, the start of Trent's Mom remained wet until Friday. The Jordan boulder was 90% wet when we left on Friday, and there looked to be enough snow left on top to keep it that way for another week or so. Eden never dried out while we were there, though there wasn't any snow left on the topout. Ghost King was dry on Friday, until another snow storm blew through and soaked it again.
On the plus side, I got to check out a few problems I'd never seen before: Black Dahlia, The Obelisk, Groundation, and Prince of Thieves. I've always been interested in Prince of Thieves, but I must say that I lost most of that interest upon firsthand inspection. Several of the holds are sharp and uncomfortable, and the line is less obvious than I imagined. Also, it's quite tall and the landing is not exactly a confidence booster. Still, it has nice black rock and would be a very worthy send, should the mood strike. The other three problems looked very good.
I didn't get to climb nearly as much as I wanted, as most of the things I was psyched on were in some stage of weather-based unclimbability, but it was a good time with good friends, so I can't complain too much. Too, I got to play with my camera a bit more than usual, which was nice.
Matt really needs a cowboy hat, and a blade of grass hanging from his lips
As a warning to anyone heading out to Joe's in the next week, be careful! Every boulder has been soaking up water for the last week and holds are waiting to explode. They Call Him Jordan has already broken, and we all know what happened to The Knocking Room. Also, the hillsides, especially in the left fork, are very unstable. Each day the road was littered with fresh rockfall, and throughout the week we could hear the rumbling of rockslides. Spooky.
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...
10.19.2009
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.
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