Smith Rock

Well, as usual, I’ll begin my blog post by apologizing for not updating it in a month.  I guess I only think of writing a new post when something cool happens.  Nobody wants to read about my boring day to day life.  This time, the catalyst for writing is to report on our trip to Smith Rock, Oregon last week.  This has become a yearly ritual for Jess and me.  It seems that aside from the masses from Portland and Seattle, Smith is a largely forgotten destination.  Kids these days prefer to test their mettle at more powerful areas like Rifle, Maple and those places with a bunch of little practice rocks and scattered about.  Just as well, there isn’t one spare parking spot at Smith on the weekends anyway.

Beautiful Smith Rock State Park

So, Jess and I headed out after work two Friday’s ago in our newly purchased (and massive by the way) cargo van and drove west.  After a night spent at a Washington rest stop, we arrived at Smith on Saturday afternoon ready to climb.  After succeeding on a handful of 14s at Tensleep this summer, my goal for the week was to put some work into a Smith 5.14 to see how it compared.  It seems like every 5.14 I’ve done has some speculation around it as to whether it’s soft or not.  What better place than Smith to try and do one that has none of that controversy?  I realized this could end in defeat as last year I tried hard on the route White Wedding (13d) and could just never put it together.  I decided to try the route Badman (14a) in the Aggro Gully.  The route was put up by J.B. Tribout in 1991 and has held its grade ever since.  Jess had a couple of 12s she wanted to try, especially Latest Rage (12b), which she’d tried last year, but never got.  The Rage is a beautiful arête featuring a 20-30 foot runout from the last bolt to the chains.  The last hard move comes with your feet well above and right of the last bolt.  Excitement!

The spacious new van!  Still a bunch
of work to do inside, but it's great for now.

After warming up on a few Morning Glory Wall classics, we headed into the Aggro Gully for me to give a first go on Badman.  I always find it interesting to see what comments people put down on routes they enter into 8a, so I of course had looked at Badman before we left Bozeman.  With comments from the likes of Mike Doyle and Alex Honnold alluding to the route’s difficulty, I must admit I was intimidated and hoped I wasn’t getting in over my head. The route is made up of three hard cruxes stacked on top of each other with no rest.  You then get to a full, no-hands kneebar rest (yes I brought a kneepad to Smith, are you surprised?) and then finish on a hard 12c headwall with two moves that would prove to repeatedly spit me off even after hanging.  After two goes on this thing, I was worked.

The next day, I headed back to the route and gave it two more tries.  It shut me down big time.  I could only do about two moves at a time before fully pumping out and things were looking dire.  I told Jess the route was too hard for me and that I should look for something else to work on.  This revelation was frustrating, but not completely surprising to me.  Jess convinced me to give it a couple more tries the next day, just to make sure I thought it was too hard.  So, with low expectations, we returned to the Aggro Gully a little earlier the next day for my beat down session.  To my total surprise, I climbed to the first crux, fell off, messed around a little at that move, and then climbed to the chains.  No idea where this came from.  My next go, I got the true one hang.  Totally mystifying.  With newfound, albeit confused, confidence, I went into our rest day knowing that I would keep working on this route.

In the meantime, Jess put a quick 2^nd go smackdown on a slick, stemmy, smeary route called Panic Attack (12a) on our second day and then moved on to start working Latest Rage.  The moves on Latest Rage were definitely coming together on toprope, but the idea of leading the route with its runout to the anchor was really getting to her.  I kept convincing her she knew those moves and likely wouldn’t fall, but that didn’t help much.  It was time for a rest day, both physically and mentally.

We spent the day in Bend and took a sweet tour of the Deschutes Brewery.  For anyone looking for something to do in Bend, this was a really cool tour and included four free beer samples, all for free!  After that we walked around town, took a little hike and had dinner with local honemasters (sorry, newfound love of this word) Ryan Palo and Tara Reynvaan.  By the way, Ryan just did a hard first ascent in the Aggro Gully called Sure Shot and did the third ascent of the Jerry Moffat route Jam Master J.  What a badass!

Back at the crags the next day, we headed up to the gully to see if my previous progress on Badman was just a fluke.  I gave it several good tries, but wasn’t getting through the first crux.  Oh well, still plenty of time to get it done.  We moved over to Latest Rage and Jess put it down first go of the day!  This is totally Jess’ style. She’ll worry about something being too hard for her, and then she’ll do it effortlessly, resting in the places she thought were hard previously.  Jealous.  She moved the rope over to Watts Tots (12b) and gave it a couple toprope tries.

On Thursday, we warmed up on the Morning Glory wall and I was not feeling great.  I just felt stiff.  I’ve come to realize that this is not necessarily a bad thing though.  I’ve done some hard routes on days when the warm up felt horrible and in fact, when I did F’d in the A, I felt like I should be taking on the first three or four bolts!  We headed up to the gully and I got on the route.  I made it through the first and second cruxes and then made a stupid mistake and fell of right before the third.  It was really frustrating.  I rested for a while and belayed a guy named Kyle who was trying the route.  After that, I stepped on the route and sent!  There were a couple desperate moves, but it all came together.  I couldn’t believe it.  Definitely more proud of doing this route than any other route I’ve ever done.

We then headed to the Dihedrals and Jess put in some work on Watts Tots.  This was one of the first sport routes in the US, but remarkably, it isn’t too runout.  In between her tries, I tried Chain Reaction (12c), the iconic arête climb.  I’ve been attempting this thing on and off every time we come to Smith and I’ve never been able to get it.  I spent one try figuring out the moves, fell once at the top on my next go and then sent.  Almost felt more satisfying than Badman……almost.

The next day, I decided to see if I could do Aggro Monkey (13b).  We had decided we wanted to spend our last climbing day doing some cracks in the Lower Gorge, so this would be our last day climbing in the main part of the park.  The pressure was on if I wanted to do this thing.  I figured out the moves on my first try, fell off one of the long moves on my second, botched the crux on my third and then finally sent.  This thing is really good and highly recommended!

Crankin' it on Aggro Monkey.

With the sun still beating on the front side, we walked over to the Phoenix Buttress to try a 12a called Lama Sutra.  I was able to do the route second go and then Jess was ready to get on Watts. We headed over to the route and Jess wasn’t feeling very confident.  She had one hung the route on toprope, but she had never reached the crux feeling very strong.  She stepped on for her first attempt on lead and guess what, she sent!  It was cruiser!  Three 12s in a week!



Latest Rage is the arete on the right and
Watts Tots climbs the slab on the left.



We spent our last day in the Lower Gorge climbing the amazing basalt cracks.  All the routes we did were great, but the one that stuck out was Morning Star (10c).  If I ever get to do a “best 5.10 ever” article, this will be the featured route.  We drove partway home that night and finished the drive on Sunday.  This was one of our best trips yet.  We were both successful, we had perfect weather, we met some great people and most importantly, we had a ton of fun!  Now we’re back in rainy, soon snowy Bozeman.  We hope to get outside some more, but I fear it may be time to restart the gym memberships.  Get out and climb while you can!



An update - finally!

Well, as you could probably tell, I seem to be a pahetic blogger.  I guess I've been climbing too much.  Rather than writing about everything that's happened since my last post, I thought I'd give an update on our last trip to Tensleep.

Jess and I headed down to Tensleep last Thursday night.  On Friday morning we headed up to the Supererratic.  After a warmup on Big Yellow Butterfly, we tested our slab skills on Black Slabbath (12b/c).  Turns out it wasn't as bad as it looked!  I was able to onsight it and Jess put it down on her second go.  Jess' goal for the weekend was to try and send Neutral Spirit (13a).  I put draws up on it, remembering how heinous the mono move is.  Definately shut me down. 

Then it was on to my objective for the weekend, He Biggum (13d).  Even knowing the route is partially manufactured, it is hard not to want to climb this thing.  It is a streak of beautiful, smooth orange stone.  My first go went pretty well.  The route features long pulls between good pockets with bad feet.  Then at about 3/4 height, there is a hard deadpoint move.  By my 4th go of the day, I was able to get the route down to one hang.

Jess tried Neutral Spirit several times, but had a hard time with the mono move.  She left draws up on it, but wasn't sure it would be doable for the weekend.

On Saturday, we headed back up to the Supererratic.  My first go on He Biggum, I got to my highpoint from Friday and fell at the deadpoint move.  I got the move worked out and amazingly was able to send the route my second go of the day.  Despite it's chipped nature, this is a really cool route and I am psyched to have done it.  Jess decided to throw in the towel on her project and focus on something else.  I put draws up on Walk the Dawg (12c).  Jess did pretty well on it her first try, one hung it her second go and then sent!  It's a really techy, slabby, thin route and this is turning out to be Jess' forte.

Kevin Macartney was down in Tensleep for the weekend and was trying The Increadible Horsecock.  He made some great progresss on it and ended up sending on Sunday.  Nice work Kevin!  Kevin had tried Tatonka (13a) earlier in the day and gave me the beta he'd figured out.  I gave it a flash go and was able to make it through.  It's been a long time since I've flashed or onsighted anything hard, so I was really happy with it.

On Sunday, we checked out a new area, Downtown and the Cigar.  This is a sweet option for the morning because the climbs are on the shady side of a freestanding pillar and climbs well in the morning.  We started on the slab behind the pillar which probably goes at 5.10.  I then got on Floyd Direct (12a).  I pulled through the tough two finger move at the bottom and got to the top.  I sprayed Jess down with the beta and she flashed it, her first 12a flash!  I then set my sights on The Gravy Train (12b).  This thing felt so hard!  There are some really long moves at the top!  I still squeaked out the onsight, but barely.  Jess gave it a go on TR.  Next was an onsight attempt on The Name of the Game (13a).  Another guy climbing at the wall had the draws up on it, so I figured, why not?  Amazingly, I made it through for an onsight.  I was really psyched.  I've only onsighted a few routes at this grade.  I finished the day off by flashing Have a Sneegar (12c) to finish off the formation.  Good day! 

In other news, I had to work some overtime a couple weeks ago and used the money to order a drill!  It's a 36v Bosch compact and it comes on Tuesday. I can't wait!  I was also able to get out and try a route I bolted about a month ago and I think it's going to be pretty hard.  We'll see when I get back out there

Fall weather is here, so get out and crush some rock!

Another amazing weekend of climbing!

For the first time ever, Jess and I passed up on the opportunity to spend a three day weekend in Tensleep, instead deciding to stick around and focus on some local projects.  At the Cube, Jess has been working on Strawman (13a) and I've been getting bouted trying to climb Occam's Razor (13d).  On Thursday after work, we headed up to the Cube to continue our attempts.  Jess was able to get a one-hang and amazingly things started to come together for me and I was able to get Occam's Razor down to two hangs!  On both routes, progress comes slowly so any improvement is welcome.

Friday, we packed up and headed over to Natural Bridge to spend a couple days on some projects.  I had tried Isla de los Locos (13d) last weekend and was really impressed.  This route is as good as anything out there, so I was really psyched to get back on it.  Jess had a couple of easier 12s she wanted to get done and also wanted to work on Pageant of the Transmundane (12c). We warmed up and I hung draws on Donkey Kong (12a).  Jess had been on it the weekend before and was able to send it first go of the day!  It was a battle and was probably the most inspirational bit of climbing I've seen in a long time!  After that, it was time to get on the Locos.  When I tried it last week, I figured out most of the moves, but there was a section in the middle that I could not figure out.  On my second go of the day, my knee randomly slotted into a kneebar and the move became clear to me.  At this point I figured I could put this route together, however it started raining and I decided to wait until the next day.  Jess was able to get all the moves figured out on Lion's Den (12a) and then we called it a day.

We woke up on Saturday to blue skies and we were psyched.  We warmed up and then Jess sent Lion's Den first go of the day.  I got on the Locos and made it part way through the crux only to flame out.  My second go was a little rushed and didn't go well.  After Jess did a little more climbing, I got back on and fired it off!  This is such a beautiful route and is definately the best thing I've done in Montana.  Nice work Kyle!  There are a couple of other bolted lines to the left that look really good and a couple of other potential lines that need to get bolted.

Isla de los Locos (13d)

Jess gave some good tries on Pageant in the afternoon and I took it easy and climbed a couple of easy slabs.

On Sunday, apparently we hadn't had enough, so we headed back up to the Cube.  I think we were both feeling pretty worked being 4th day on, but what the hell.  We warmed up on Uber Ass and then I got on Occam's Razor.  Amazingly, I didn't feel too bad and two hung it.  On my second go, I fell off midway through the crux and then got back on and finished the route for my first one hang.  My third try was as close as you can get to sending.  I made it to the last clip, which I think is the hardest single move on the route, and just didn't have it in me, so I grabbed the draw.  I've got the top pretty dialed, so it wasn't too bad to get another one hang.  I did try it one more time, but it was pretty worthless.  Jess also had a great day and one-hung Strawman a couple of times.  She's really close and I think she's going to get it very soon.

Today is a rest day as we're both feeling pretty worked.  We leave on Saturday morning for a week of hanging out on the beach in Michigan, so we're both hoping to put these projects to rest before we leave!

Now that's my style!

It's been a while since I posted anything here, so I figured it was time.  Jess and I have been getting out climbing a bunch and spent the last two weekends in Tensleep.  I have to say, Tensleep has to be my favorite climbing area for sure.  The amount of rock there boggles the mind, the wildflowers are out right now and oh yeah, the rock there is absolutely amazing!  The style of climbing also suits me perfectly. 

Two weekends ago, Jess and I headed down in search of projects to work on for the summer.  I climbed Goldmember last year and wanted to step it up a notch, so I thought I'd try to tackle one of the 14as at the French Cattle Ranch.  I had originally thought I'd try Doomsday, but draws were hanging on Galactic Emperor, the extension to Sky Pilot, so I gave it a go.  The boulder problem at the beginning is pretty rough, followed by a good rest, some moderately difficult climbing and then a final thin crux at the top.  The route is incredible and amazingly, I was able to redpoint it on our second day!  Before we headed back for Bozeman, I was able to try Doomsday (14a), which is also amazing and get most everything figured out.

Last weekend, we headed back down and my goal was to try and finish Doomsday.  After one burn to remember all the moves and another falling off the second to last move, I was able to pull off another send on this beautiful wall.  With that project out of the way, I moved on to my real nemesis, Blue Light Special (13b).  Despite being almost a full grade easier than the previous projects, this thing totally kicked my ass.  I would hang all over it multiple times.  Luckily on Sunday, I managed to pull off the send.  With that one under my belt, I felt that since I had the Sky Pilot boulder problem relatively fresh in my mind, I should try Private Halfenheimer (14a).  This route pulls the SP boulder problem to a rest and then tackles the upper half of General Litzenheimer, an absolutely impossible looking 14c that begins with a V13 boulder problem.  As with Galactic Emperor and Doomsday, my first try left me discouraged thinking it was way to hard and that the pump would keep me from pulling difficult moves high on the route.  My second go, I managed to pull through the initial boulder problem to the rest.  I barely remembered any of the upper part and quickly fell off.  Our last day in Tensleep, we were graced with overcast skies, meaning the wall didn't bake in the morning sun.  After a warm up, I got on and again was able to pull through the boulder problem only to fall right after the rest.  Another try spit me off in the middle of the boulder problem, so I came down, rested about 10 minutes and on my last go of the trip, managed to send!  Holy crap, I couldn't even believe it.  I had no confidence going in that I'd be able to pull this one off on my third day on.  I'm super excited about doing all three of these difficult routes.  I feel really priveledged to be climbing well enough to be able to climb on this gorgeous wall.

Back in Bozeman, I've been focusing my attention on Kyle's heinous arete route, Occam's Razor (13d).  This is by far the hardest route I've ever been on and definately seems more sustained than some of the shorter routes of the same grade I did at American Fork back in the day.  There is not a single easy move and I'm still totally clueless about making one of the clips.  This one is about as far away from my style as you can get.  Stay tuned for a progress report, this one is a stunner!

More linkups in the cave!

Last week, with imposing clouds hanging over the Gallatin Canyon, Jess and I jumped ship on our plans to climb at the Cube after work and headed to the cave instead.  Since it's been raining so much this spring, we've been climbing at the Cave a ton and I've repeated everything there multiple times.  This time I wanted to do something different.  Certainly there must be another linkup to do!  As it turns out, climbing Weapons into Hantavirus is a pretty fun route.  I climbed Weapons to the third bolt and then headed left to the fourth bolt on Hanta.  It feels harder than Weapons and definately easier than Hanta, so I think it probably comes in around 12d.  I've never heard of anyone climbing this linkup, so I'm going to go ahead and call it Influenza.  A couple nights ago I was able to link it into Bi-Winning.  I'm still trying to figure out what to call it.  Maybe Droopy Eyed Armless Children? 

I've also been bouldering some more.  I headed out to Whiskey last week to try and finish off Boogey Monster, which I'd put some work in on a couple weeks ago.  It took a little figuring out, but I was finally able to put it together and send.  I also did a little wandering around and found a new boulder and put up a V5 called Redneck Yacht Club.  There's a cool problem with a two finger pocket next to it that I need to go out and finish off as well.  Here's a video I made from the day.  Enjoy!

Bouldering!

Well, it has certainly been a while since I posted last.  For all two of you out there that noticed, my appologies.  Jess and I have been getting out to climb quite a bit no thanks to all the rain we've been getting.  Lately, with the colder temeratures and the threat of rain pretty much every day, we've been doing some bouldering, which is not our typical routine.

A few weeks ago we headed down to Cody, WY to check out the bouldering there.  We had a really good time and climbed a lot of great problems.  I was able to tick off a couple of V9s at the Antelope Boulder, but the highlight of the trip was sending a V5 on the UFO boulder.  A normal strong-guy boulderer could have pulled hard off the starting holds and tossed for the lip and topped out.  I however am not a strong-guy boulderer, so my sequence involved tossing my foot up first, matching with a double toe hook and THEN bringing my hand up.  Super weird and super fun!

On Friday, I headed out to Whiskey for a little solo session.  I was able to finish a crimpy traverse problem on the Wave boulder that has taken me forever and then I moved on to the Green Monster (V9).  I've put a few days in on this thing so I wanted to see if I could finish it off.  After a little while, I managed to finally stick the crux and finish it off.  I am really psyched to have done that problem, it's classic!  Jess and I went out to Whiskey Saturday as well and had a good time.  Jess did a V4 on the Wave boulder and came really close to doing Opiate of the Masses (V4) on the Pope's boulder.

On Memorial Day, we decided to brave the horrible weather and see if we could get any climbing in at Yankee Jim.  Most everything was wet, so we got pretty shut down, but I was able to climb Sir Moves a Lot (V4) and the variation to the sit start to Way Out (V6).  The variation to the sit involves starting on a sloper for your left hand rather than an undercling.  The difference is pretty minimal, but the undercling way felt utterly impossible, while the variation wasn't so bad.  Funny how one slight difference for one hand can add two whole number grades.  I decided to mess around with shooting some video, so here is a quick one I put together.

Indian Creek!

Jess and I and our friend Ryan headed down to Indian Creek, UT last week for some sunshine, beautiful scenery and of course, the most amazing splitters to grace the surface of this glowing blue orb we reside on.  Climbing at the Creek is so amazingly different and humbling from any other climbing out there Jess and I can never resist heading down there for our annual spring trip.  There are plenty of other places we'd like to check out, but the Creek keeps calling.

During our week of climbing, we sampled the goods at Broken Tooth Wall, Second Meat Wall, Battle of the Bulge Buttress, Supercrack Buttress, Pistol Whipped Wall and Scarface Wall.  Highlights for me were Rock Lobster (5.11), Top Sirloin (11-), At Your Cervix (11), Supercrack (10), Incredible Hand Crack (10), Spaghetti Western (11), an attempt on Extra Lean (12-), and onsights of Sig Sauer (12-) and Not That Funny (12-).

Giving Extra Lean a go.

Ryan throwin' the gangsta' lean on Supercrack.

Crankin' on Scarface.

Jess heading up Battle of the Bulge.

Getting shut down on Swedin Ringle.

Jess on just another amazing unnamed climb on the Scarface wall.

Probably the biggest highlight of the trip was getting our broken down van started with a rock.  Yes, you read correctly!  After an awsome day of climbing at the Second Meat Wall, we walked back down to the car by the light of our headlamps.  We were, as always, the last ones out and were really looking forward to some dinner.  I hopped in the van, turned the key and.....nothing.  After some brainstorming, we remembered we'd seen someone camping up the other fork in the road, so Ryan and I trekked over to their site to see if they'd give us a jump.  What we encountered was a group of guys who were single-handedly keeping the Pabst Brewing Company in business and they were more than happy to help us out.  They drove us over to our van, hooked up the cables and.....still nothing.  Shit! 

While we let the battery charge a little longer, I was thinking about how we were going to have to get somewhere where we could call a tow truck to come bail us out.  During this time, the ringleader Scott proclaimed "you're going to get into your car and turn the key and nothing is going to happen.  Then, I'm going to bang on your starter with a rock and you've got a 40% chance of starting the car."  This seemed like complete lunacy to me, but what the hell.  To my absolute amazement, he hit the starter with a nice chunk of wingate sandstone while I turned the key, and VROOM, we started right up!  Good god, I wouldn't have been more amazed if he had turned that piece of rock into solid gold, this may as well have been black magic.  After a night spent in a Moab mechanic's parking lot, we were back out climbing the next afternoon.

Red Vines and PBR = CRAZY DELICIOUS!

It was a sweet trip and I can't wait to get back down to the desert.  It's such a beautiful place to climb and the cracks are endless!  For now, it's back to Montana climbing and snow.  It's tough to come back to crappy weather after climbing in the sun for a week, but we'll make it work.