Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Siemay continues to destroy



Siemay sends Fly Boy V6.  She also sent "Seven Spanish Angels" V6.  Both problems have long dyno moves for their finishing moves.  Siemay is quite short at 5'1" and dynoing is not her strength, so these sends were momentous for her.

I felt sick this last week and was unable to regain my highpoint on "Fall Guy" let alone send it!  I did manage to do the likely 2nd ascent of "A Grand Day Out" which I felt was about V7.  The guidebook has it listed as V10, but for my height, this is not an appropriate grade.  Wills is going to go try it and let us know his thoughts!

**CLARIFICATION: I started "Grand Day Out" by stepping onto the boulder from the natural start off the other boulder.  When talking about it with Wills, I realized that it is supposed to start 2-3 moves lower, from the start of a v4.  I actually went back pulled on to the v4 and broke the starting hold!  ...It didn't change much, unless v4 is your limit.  now it's a small(er) crimp. The opening moves were cool enough that it made sense to start where Wills describes it in his new guide to Bishop, but it only adds a v3 opening sequence which is more balance than tugging.  I think this is a 3 star boulder problem.

UPDATE: Siemay sent "Devoted" V8 and "Fly Boy Sit" V8 this last weekend.  CRUSHING!  Going to Joe's for 3 weeks...

Noah

Seek perfection of character. Respect others. Try Hard.

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Rainbow, J-Tree, Bishop adventures

Our weeklong roadtrip was rad.  We took the truck camper to a sweet little zone in Southern Cali that is privately owned.  It has a reputation for being a fun spot with exceptional rock but a bummer of a situation in that it is privately owned and not open to the public.  This is understandable though; if you had your own bomber area, you wouldn't want the worry of liability and trash and abuse.  You'd want to enjoy it with your friends, much the way the owners of this great property have.  Someday, after all the lines are done and the area is done being developed, the current owners plan on somehow giving the land to climbers everywhere.  These are good guys!





Above is a rad 2nd ascent I did of a sweet Chris Sharma squeeze problem.  It looks and climbs way better in person, but the video gives you some idea of the climb.  I thought V9, maybe harder.  Across from this climb is Klem Loskot's "Crowbar" one of the best V12s I have ever seen!  4 stars.  The rock is very much like Rocklands in it's texture, but it is granite.  It is very featured and textured with ergernomic holds.

The highlights of this trip were Dave Hatchett sending "Redneck Fury" a sick V8 that was a little too hard for me to do in a session.  He also almost sent "Under Pressure" a sweet V9 that his brother Mike had put up many years before.  This line is amazing 4 stars and TALL!

Siemay also sent many of the classics here.  She almost did the FA of a sweet V10 that none of us could touch!









After a way-too-short Rainbow trip, we soujorned to J-Tree.  After some classic warm-ups and a fun flash of "High Noon" Highball V5, we made our way to our main focus, Chris Sharma's "Iron Resolution" V12/13.  THIS CLIMB IS AMAZING!  (and it fit me.)  I actually tried really hard and had a couple of goes that felt like they could have been send-goes.  Here's a pic of me falling:


I felt strong, but after this lucky non-injury fall (look at my right heel!!!) I decided to rest and try to come back and send the next day.  BTW, Big Up to CRAIG GILBERT for an awesome extendo-hand spot on this fall that saved my hide!!  Thanks homie!

When we got back to camp, we heard that a storm was moving in, so we rallied with our friends Keita and Kristine and went out on a night hike/bouldering sesh!  I did a cool V9 called "Thin Lizzy" 2nd try and it felt like V8 to me, although it also favored a tall bastard...  You decide.
Sure enough, the next morning it was pouring...  In J-tree??  Yep.  It rained all morning and got super windy.  Horrible conditions.  So, we bailed.

Last leg of our Journey was Bishop again where we hooked up with our close friend Justin Alarcon.  Justin was keen on finishing off Matt Wilder's "Haroun and the Sea of Stories" V11.  Yeah, he did it first go that day!  I had never even done the stand start, a classic in its own right, "The Fall Guy" V9.

Here is a crazy video of me falling after pumping out.  At least I have the beta and will finish it off soon!



Anyway, It was a mega-week.  Super fun and good training for 3 weeks at Joe's which is right around the corner.

We'll be in Bishop this Weekend from Thursday to Sunday.  I may do some ER work down there!
Lastly, a big shout out to my friend Daniel Woods.  Daniel is getting married!!!

Hope everyone is healthy and well!

Noah as usual

Seek perfection of character. Respect others. Try Hard.