Oh boy!

As you can see, my blog has a new banner!  What do you think?  Also I recently received some fantastic news: the remaining 7 courses I need to graduate will be offered winter and spring quarter so I can take fall quarter off for another climbing adventure!  That's right, 3 more days of class, 3 finals and then I am off until January 2012!

Any suggestions?  I have been throwing around the idea of another US trip including the Red River Gorge and the New River Gorge and much more, a possible trip to Turkey to check out the sport climbing, and recently someone threw out the idea of Rocklands.  Wow!  The possibilities :)

Yosemite Video

Here is a video I put together of my last weekend in Yosemite (I'll be writing a post on it soon!)  It isn't a very good video because I wasn't using a tripod and I didn't have a ton of footage, and let's be honest, trad climbing isn't always the coolest thing to watch!  But, what the heck, I'll post it anyway :)

Lazy Days in Yosemite

After much debate, Chelsea and I found ourself in the car on the way to Yosemite again.  The reason for the debate was that 1. we were both out of money and 2. I felt really bad leaving the dogs at home again.  However the perfect weather, beautiful granite and need to escape won out and with friends Kent and Cori in the car, gas was manageable.

Kent and the Captain!

We slept under the stars, and woke up Friday, the 29th, which is Tim's birthday.  (For those of you who don't know, my friend and climbing partner Tim passed away last year.)  So, basically I needed to escape from reality, pretend that everything was great, and do some climbing because that is what Tim would have wanted to do!

Pretty much sums up our weekend- laying in the meadow eating ice cream

Chelsea and I decided to climb Munginella, a popular 5.6 in the Five Open Books area.  It is a three pitch climb, but we decided to combine it into two.  The first pitch was great and super cruiser.  The second pitch was my lead and I accidentally went completely off route and climbed a blank, almost unprotectable face instead of an easy crack system.  Ooops!  As I was climbing I was thinking that it felt a bit harder than 5.6, but all ended well as we topped out the climb and hiked down.

Me going off route on Munginella

The descent happened to involve rappelling down a waterfall.  Our rope got completely soaked so we decided to grab an Its-It ice cream (best ever, you must try one!) and head to El Cap meadow for a nap.  We had an awesome afternoon in the meadow and got to see a few parties on the Nose.

Headed to the waterfall to rappell

On Saturday we redeemed the free breakfast that I had scored from a friendly climber in Camp 4.  It was a coupon for the Food Court at Yosemite Lodge and we were psyched when we found out it was worth $13 and we could get anything we wanted!  We got waffles, eggs, bacon and chocolate chip cookies.  Properly fueled up, we headed to climb Central Pillar of Frenzy (5.9) on Middle Cathedral.  The base of the climb was completely covered in snow and we pretended we were Ueli Steck climbing the Eiger as we kicked steps (well Chelsea kicked the steps and I followed) up the snowy slope, using branches as ice axes.

This is me coming up the second pitch, look at all the snow on the bottom!

At the base of the climb, we found that there was a huge abyss between the snow and the wall.  I balanced precariously on the snow and put my climbing shoes on.  I spanned the gap (not gunna lie... super sketchy!) and somehow got onto the wall without falling into the hole below.  The first pitch was thrutchtastic!  I was scootching up a weird chimney offwidth thing, throwing in gear, scoot scooting, getting my shoulders stuck, making funny noises, and whew, finally at the anchors!

Me on Central Pillar

I brought Chelsea up and then she led a sustained finger crack for the next pitch.  When it came my turn to follow the pitch I was really cold and stiff for some reason.  I made it up and met Chelsea at the anchors.  For some reason we both had the shakes and just weren't feeling super psyched.  We decided not to climb the next three pitches.  We rappelled down the snow bank, laughing all the way.  Another adventure!

Rappelling down the snow

Naturally, we found ourselves back in El Cap meadow and slept for about three hours.  Feeling slightly unproductive, we decided we needed to get in a few more pitches before the day was done.  We went over to After Six, a climb we had done on this very weekend exactly one year ago.  The climb went well, but it got extremely windy the higher we got.  By the time we were topping out five pitches later the wind was howling and we were ready to run down!

Me and Half Dome

In the morning we decided to go cragging with Kent and Cori.  We headed over to Pat and Jack pinnacle and I got on a sweet 5.10b face climb.  The first two bolts were definitely the crux, very techy and balancy.  The rest of the climb was big basketball jugs- super fun!  I then led Suds a 120 foot 5.9 that was a little dirty and sharp, but fun anyway.

The Captain looking quite nice

The sun was getting hot, and we were all getting tired so we decided to call it a day and hit the road.  It was another great weekend in the Valley and a nice escape from reality.

Pushing the Limits

Lessons Learned in Yosemite Valley

 VALLEY, VALLEY, VALLEY!  It had been so long since I had last been in Yosemite.  On Thursday, before we left I was beyond excited.  There was no use in focusing in class or trying to read or study.  All I could do was pack my gear and twitch with excitement until it was time to go.  My English class was miraculously cancelled and Chelsea and I jumped in the car and sang our way to Yosemite.

Camp 4... feels like home

We were back!  It was Thursday and we were cooking dinner in the Valley.  Ahead of us were three full days of awesome climbing on awesome granite.  Yes!  Finally, after months and months we would be placing gear and tying into ropes.  The last time I did either of those things was in Indian Creek (yes that’s right, the Creek!  Way back in November!) We were joined by Max, who we met in Utah and now lives in Tahoe, and Eric and Fabien the crushers from Reno.    

Note: the following is a very long description of a climb.  If you would like to skip it, go past all the blue text.

On Friday, Max, Chelsea and I decided to do Serenity Crack (5.10d) and Sons of Yesterday (5.10a).  Serenity is three pitches and leads up to Sons, which is another five.  I hadn’t looked into the climb too much, but I knew that it was one that Chelsea was always talking about and really wanted to do.  I also knew that the first pitch was a bunch of pin scars that are notoriously hard to protect until you are about 30 feet off the ground.  Needless to say, we gave the first pitch to Max. 

Max cruised up easily and then brought Chelsea and I up.  I loved the pitch!  The pin scars created weird vertical pinch type holds and I motored up to the belay with a smile on my face.  I led the next pitch.  It started out pretty mellow and about halfway up there is a tricky traversing face move.  You have to leave one crack and do some delicate movement on a hold-less slab to get over to another crack.  I happen to love slab climbing and found the section to be a very satisfying challenge.  The upper crack was a bit harder and I had to push myself and my trad climbing abilities to make it cleanly up to the belay. 

What's going on up there?

As I was climbing, I was feeling very happy with myself.  I was leading a 5.10a, on gear, IN THE VALLEY!  If you have ever climbed in the Valley, you know that everything is hard, hard, hard.  You don’t take Yosemite grades lightly.  In almost any other place that you climb, you would think nothing about running up a 5.8 or 5.9, but in the Valley even 5.6 can be serious business!

Anyway, I reached the second belay very happy with myself for leading my hardest trad climb to date in the Valley.  My happiness soon vanished as I struggled heartily with rope management.  Bringing two people up a climb at the same time on two different ropes is hard work, especially when you have a normal ATC and not one of the fancy ones that clips into the anchor and makes your life much easier. 

Not to worry, there was tons of fun climbing to be had!  We went up the third and final pitch of Serenity, which finishes with an awesome finger crack that pumps you out quickly.

Chelsea coming up the last pitch of Serenity

On to Sons.  We hustled up the 5.5 ramp and I decided to lead the next pitch.  One of the first moves involves reaching around a slabby bulge to get into the crack.  I found that scary, as I hadn’t placed any gear yet.  I started up the crack and threw in a .3 camalot.  I climbed up a couple moves and suddenly the crack got very greasy and before I could do anything about it, I was falling.  Ack!  I took a decent sized whipper!  Good thing my gear was bomber. 

I continued up, did a funky mantle over a tree that was growing out of the crack and about halfway up the pitch I decided that I didn’t seem to have the gear I wanted.  We had only brought singles of most sizes and I had placed my .5 and .75 and looking at the crack above it seemed that I would want more of those.  I was definitely at my limit in terms of what I can lead on gear and not having enough pieces to feel really comfortable was a roadblock in terms of me finishing the pitch.  I contemplated for a while and then decided that in the interest of time I should be lowered back to the belay and have someone faster and more confident finish the pitch. 

I wasn’t discouraged though because I had survived a whipper on gear and pushed myself in my abilities.  Chelsea took the sharp end and cruised up the pitch with her mad jamming skills.    

A dorky picture of our first time in the Valley together

When it came time to follow up the pitch, I realized that I was very tired.  It was a pretty committing move to jump on an eight-pitch climb, at the highest grade in the Valley I had ever attempted, on my first time back on a rope in four months.  I pressed onward and struggled up the pitch.  Many grunts later I arrived at the belay.  We still had three pitches to go!

The next two pitches were pretty awesome hands, but at the point my hands were feeling sore and my feet were in extreme pain from jamming them into cracks all day.  Nevertheless, I made lots of noise and thrutched up the pitches.  Despite the pain, fatigue and general struggle, it felt really good to be at both my physical and mental limit.  Every fiber in my being was completely exhausted but I kept pushing it.

We made it to the bottom of the final pitch and since we would be rappelling down, I decided to wait at that belay station instead of climbing the last bit.  It was a very short pitch with a cool zig-zagging crack that becomes a wide off-fists crack at the top.  That size is horribly hard for me so I was glad to sit it out. 

Chelsea loaded up with gear and smiling on Ejesta (previous trip)

Soon we were rappelling down the climb and into the sunset.  What a glorious day!  It was super sunny and warm, NO ONE else was on the climb the entire day (which is good because we were moving very slow and they probably would have been angry with us), and the climb was dry.  Chelsea and I simul-rapped the route, which is always entertaining.  On one pitch we both rolled around a bulge and ended up in a tree.  Eventually we made it back down to the ground and to the car.

The next day I woke up extremely sore (mostly in the calves) and sunburned.  Chelsea and I decided we deserved ice cream for breakfast and got mint Its Its.  Yum!  I was fairly lazy that whole morning and Chelsea had to leave to lead a hike with a group from school, so I mostly sat on a rock in the sun and tried to stretch. 

Eventually Max, Eric, Fabien and I made it up to Cookie Cliff where Eric and Max both flashed Cookie Monster (5.12), which is an awesome bolted line that follows a thin crack up a corner.  I did the climb on top rope and absolutely loved it!  Then it was back to Camp 4 for a bit of bouldering and then off to sleep.

Camp 4 bouldering is great!

 The following morning, Eric and I got up early to climb Nutracker, a super classic 5.8 that takes you up five pitches of excellent climbing.  The first pitch was slightly wet and I was surprised at how tired I felt on it.  However, once the sun hit me I felt much better.  We leap frogged pitches with Eric taking 1, 3 and 5, leaving me with 2 and 4.  Pitch two is super cruiser and before I knew it I was taking the sharp end at the bottom of pitch 4.  The pitch started out with a bang.  I got to go over a small 5.8 roof and then climb thin cracks the rest of the way up.  I felt really good on this pitch.

The view from the top of Nutcracker

The last pitch starts with the crux of the route, a scary and very tricky mantle move.  I was really glad that I didn’t lead this pitch!  Moments later we were on top of the climb eating peanut butter, banana and honey sandwiches.  We had finished all five pitches in less than three hours. 

Long, moderate trad routes are definitely my favorite type of climbing so I was in an excellent mood.  I finally felt like I was back in the right mindset for climbing.  Lately I have been so caught up in this competition series (blog coming on this, I promise!) and more recently with training and stressing out about Nationals that I forgot what it feels like to be truly happy while climbing. 

This weekend in the Valley could not have come at a better time.  I am so glad to have finally made it out there, to have pushed myself, and to be able to walk away with a better understanding of who I am as a climber.  I finally got a taste of trying things above my ability, of really testing my limits, and at the same time sticking true to my enjoyment of climbing for climbing, not for grades or for glory.  

Chelsea on Jam Crack

So beautiful

Note: all the pictures except for the one of Chelsea on Serenity are from previous Yosemite trips!  Didn't bring my camera for some reason...

Spring Remodel

Spring quarter starts tomorrow, but let's be honest, I'm not thinking about English 310.  I'm thinking about all the wonderful adventures that spring time will bring!  So instead of sharpening my pencils and buying a notebook the day before classes start, I went to Home Depot and bought some wood and did a slight remodel to my trusty wheels.

Introducing...

my new sleeping platform!

Don't mind the dirtiness of the car people, I just got back from the snow!  Ta da!
Room to sleep and room to store things.

Notice the poop shovel in the seat-back pocket and the Urban Climber in the other side.  So prepared.

An awesome non-permanent modification to my car.  Yippie!

Bishop Bouldering

Although I tend to think of myself as a rather independent person, I was still fairly hesitant about embarking on a solo weekend adventure to Bishop.  Would I be too scared to climb without spotters?  Too shy to make new friends?  Could I motivate myself to climb alone?

My fears turned out to be unfounded.

We received 32” of snow between Thursday and Friday morning so I decided it was necessary to take a few ski runs, and after doing so I jumped in the car and headed towards Bishop.  I sang loudly in the car and watched the beautiful scenery pass by as I cruised down the surprisingly dry roads on 395. 

Not related to climbing in Bishop, but a picture from the snowy portion of my Spring Break 

I arrived in Bishop around 4:30 and decided to stop at the Happy Boulders for a bit of climbing before it got dark.  I warmed up on some of my favorite slab climbs and then jumped on a cool V5 that I had attempted a few times on a previous trip.  The climb is low to the ground, traverses a lip, and finishes with a very difficult mantle (mantles are one of my biggest weaknesses in climbing).

After a few tries, I was at the end of the lip, poised for the mantle!  I bumped my hands around, adjusted my heel hook and rocked over and partially onto the boulder.  I was so close!  I was also so stuck.  At this point in time, I would normally jump off the boulder.  But instead, I felt something I have never experienced before in my bouldering.  I was thinking!  In my head I heard myself say, “don’t let go, take a deep breath.”  So I didn’t let go, and I breathed.  “Finish this.”  I awkwardly flung my feet around and switched from a right heel hook to a left and did a funky beached whale movement and suddenly I was standing on top of the boulder!

I did it!  I used my head and my willpower and I didn’t give up and I sent the problem.  I was psyched!  I went on to flash a super cool V3 called Slap Happy and enjoyed it so much that I repeated it right after finishing it.  The recent time change meant it was light enough to climb until just after 7.  What a great day!  I went to sleep happy and psyched for the next day of climbing.

Some crazy cloud action going on at the Buttermilks

 Yesterday, I woke up and decided to head to the Sads.  I arrived at the parking lot to find that it was EMPTY!  Quite a contrast from the last time I was there where there was no space to park.  I enjoyed the solitude for about an hour before one more person showed up.  It was crazy!  So quiet and peaceful.  I climbed around and worked on Erotic Terrorist V6.  I feel like I can definitely send this climb but the boulder right behind the line causes you to dab almost every time you get on it.  As the day went on more people showed up and the Ice Caves became crowded. 

Time to head to the Buttermilks to see if they were dry!  The forecast had been saying rain and snow for days and it was supposed to rain while I was there but it turned out to be nothing but blue, sunny skies.  The Milks were dry and I met up with a friend, Mike, and one of his friends and we jumped on the Roadside Highball V3.  I watched Mike do it and decided to give it a shot.  Soon I was up quite high and decided I definitely didn’t want to fall from this point.  I was scared for a minute, but pulled myself together and ended up flashing the climb.  I was so psyched!  It is always a huge victory for me when I can overcome my mental blocks while climbing. 

Mike on Roadside Highball V3

After that we tried a few more things and as the temperatures dropped, I decided that rather than camping and climbing a bit more in the morning, I would just drive back to SLO.  I loaded up my tired puppies and motored on home, not stopping once during the 6-hour drive, somehow using only one tank of gas.    

So there we have it.  I went skiing for spring break and enjoyed every minute of riding in fresh powder every day (122” was the storm total for the week!)  But most importantly, I went CLIMBING.  And I loved it.  

(Note: sorry for the lack of pictures!  I was intending to make a really cool video but then my video camera stopped working)

Lost

There’s plenty of trouble to be had when you define yourself by one thing.  For me, that thing is climbing.  When people ask, “what do you do?” or “what have you been up to?”  my answer is always climbing.  Climbing trip this, climbing trip that, this boulder, that crack, this sport route, that project.   

But lately, that hasn’t been true.  I have not been climbing.  Not in the gym, not outside, not on buildings, not up trees.  The last time I went climbing was in Bishop.  Yes, remember that, way back in January? 

[Disclaimer: ok I’ve done two competitions in the past month for the Collegiate Climbing Series, but I’ll get back to that in another post.  And I went climbing (inside) yesterday.  But other than that… none]

So now when people ask me what I’ve been up to, I don’t know what to say.  Actually, people don’t even ask me that.  They cut straight to the chase.  “Been climbing anywhere cool lately?”  “You must be crushing, right?” 

…no

I feel lost.  What is it that I do?  I try to think when people ask what’s going on and I really can’t come up with much.  Well, there’s school but I don’t put in too much time there.  I ride my bike, but it’s been windy lately so I haven’t been on it too much.  I play with my dogs.  Eat, sleep?

Help!

Who am I?!

Who do I want to be?

I am a climber!  Or am I?

I want to be a climber!  I think.  I am trying to figure out if it has been a conscious choice not to climb or if has just somehow happened.  I know why I don’t climb in the local gym, I am just not motivated there.  But why haven’t I been on trips?  Why hasn’t every fiber in my being been craving the adventurous lifestyle that I used to embrace?  Why haven’t all my resources been funneled into making climbing happen?

Here are some theories:

1. I am burnt out

2. The weather

3. School schedule

4. Something is wrong with me!

If I was in Thailand, I'd probably be psyched

I am still interested in climbing.  I still go on Dead Point and the Bishop Bouldering Blog way too many times a day.  I daydream about long trips to the Red River Gorge or many of the climbing destinations I have yet to explore.  I ponder myself placing gear on fun new routes.  But yet, here I sit in my bed, with a final exam in Marketing looming just 10 hours away, with no studying under my belt, thinking about why I am not climbing.

Bouldering in Bishop.  Definitely better than studying.

I think as climbers we do sometimes wonder, why do we do this?  But in the end the conclusion is always the same- because its rad, it’s beautiful, it makes me happy; it is liberating and detoxifying and pure and perfect.  It really is all those things, so I can’t fathom why I am not out climbing every second of every day. 

Clearly, I am not motivated by grades in my climbing as I have been on an ever stretching plateau for what seems like years.  I think that I have chosen to accept this though, as most people that I climb with will attest to the fact that I don’t actually try very hard (as in I don’t train, and I giggle way too much).

Very dirty. Very happy. Lovin' life.

I think a huge motivating factor for me is the people who I climb with.  But recently one of my really strong and inspiring climbing partners threw me for an unexpected loop that made me look at climbing in a really strange way for a few days.  And on top of that, I miss Tim so much it hurts!  Tim and climbing were always synonymous for me so that connotation is always present when I climb.

Getting motivated.  Send train on Molly with Alex

So, where am I going with all this?  I have no idea.  That’s the point.  I’m lost.  And I really do sincerely apologize for this depressing post since I am usually a very, very happy person. 

I think I need to decide something about climbing.  What that is, I don’t know.  All I know is that spring break is coming up and every person I know is going climbing.  Except me.  I am going to go skiing.  This is just ludicrous…

Last spring break I went to Red Rocks and the Creek

I want to be a climber.  I want that to be my definition.  I want to go back to the Fall and Summer when all I did was climb.  But for now, what do I do?  Should I make a commitment to train hard, and try hard, and get better?  Should I take it as it comes and go on the sporadic, low-key climbing trip?  Or should I take a break?  Like a real break where I find myself a new definition for a while? (I’d like to think that the answer to that last one is NO!)  I think I just need to get on routes.  Maybe if I didn’t boulder for a while and did some routes… 

Placing gear would likely solve all my problems

I just don’t know. 

And speaking of things that I don’t know… I don’t know anything about Marketing so I should probably stop babbling and start studying.  I'm sure that in the morning it will all feel ok again.