Team Tuesday Climbing

Groom Creek

2011-09-21T12:47:00.000-07:00

A short weekend trip to Groom Creek, outside of Prescott, AZ. Just me and my tripod...

Winter Plans

2011-08-13T08:51:00.001-07:00

Adrift in a sea of desert choss, a few gems are likely to be found....

A hillside of Silverbell-quality volcanic boulders. Moderate approach. North facing. Surprisingly little cholla. Looking forward to cooler temps!

Life On The Road

2011-07-15T12:17:00.000-07:00

The only thing as thrilling as life on the rocks....

California-

A Pre-Summer's Smorgishborg

2011-06-02T16:24:00.000-07:00

This video encapsulates all the best climbing that I captured on tape over the last few months, a period during which there was no time allotted to leisurely editing because of a hellaciously demanding semester. I hope it makes you want to brave the heat and get frisky with some stone.

Arizona Bouldering Remix

2011-05-23T19:15:00.000-07:00

After watching this video, on ClimbingNarc.com last week I got inspired to get out for one more day of bouldering and filming and put together the Arizona Bouldering Remix.
I believe it is healthy for a person to have a song playing in their head that makes them feel like a badass at least 70 or 80 percent of the time. Any less than that and it's time to change the soundtrack, brother.
I hope this video puts a badass tune in your head.

Trying Hard

2011-05-23T11:49:00.001-07:00

Three dudes, three pads, one dog and a streambed full of boulders.

Phase 1

2011-05-15T14:27:00.000-07:00

Is now complete.

Construction of phases 2-4 will commence when I stop giggling about how fun this wall is to climb on.

P.S. - www.boulderingtucson.com has been redesigned a little bit. Check it out and give some feedback!

AZ Limestone

2011-05-08T21:42:00.001-07:00

A quick purge of some photos taken a few weeks back at The Dry, a scruffy band of limestone southeast of town.

Team Brazil vs. Team Canada on Way To Dry, steep 5.11

Spinal Twist, mega-classic 5.12

Some lanky dude making Rocket Man look real ugly.

Slideshow and New Gym Preview

2011-03-21T10:48:00.001-07:00

Any locals reading along might want to check out this very cool event coming up in a few weeks:

"You are all invited to a slide show and party in Tucson on April 15th at 6 pm: The Golden Age of Arizona Rock Climbing.

Slide Show presented by Arizona climbing pioneer Peter Noebels with Steve Grossman, John Steiger, and Paul Davidson. Bluegrass music by 'Drops in the River'; food - think BBQ; raffle - prizes from Xoom Juice, Access Fund and Summit Hut; and other fun - feats of strength. Meet and heckle some old school legends. Join Tucson's eclectic climbing community for an historic and super fun event.

Slide show and Party is located at 244 S. Tucson Blvd. in the under-construction StrongHold Climbing and Fitness. Be first to see the space that will house Tucson's finest bouldering facility BEFORE the climbing walls go up. We will be officially opening the doors to the public some time in 2011.

Admission is $8 in advance or $10 at the door. Purchase advance tickets online at www.strongholdclimbingandfitness.com or in person at CrossFit Works (204 S. Tucson Blvd.). Also, check it out on Facebook if that's your thing."

I'm pretty excited about this event and what it is bringing to Tucson. I'm always eager to learn more about climbing history, especially from local legends like the ones who will be presenting the slideshow. Each of those guys left a big mark on SoAZ rock climbing, and should have some pretty fascinating tales to share. Of course, if Grossman goes into too much detail about some of the bold runouts he is known for, some of us boulderers and sport climbers might start dry heaving.

I think Tucson needs more community events like this, so let's hope for a huge turnout to encourage more of this type of thing. Plus, live music always makes for a great party.

Last, but certainly not least, this will give us a chance to check out the space that is the future home of Stronghold Climbing and Fitness, a new bouldering facility that will be open this year. A centrally located gym dedicated to bouldering and training, this will be a great indoor option for those of us looking to improve and keep pushing ourselves to climb better, stronger and smarter. The walls are not up yet, but hopefully we'll have some more details soon!

Also, Banff Mountain Film Tour will be in town this Friday at the Fox Theater! Get tickets at Summit Hut or summithut.com. I've been trying to check this out annually for many years now, and they always put on a great show. It's guaranteed to have you planning half-baked adventures of your own - just make sure you invite me along for giving you the heads up.

Secret Gully

2011-02-20T12:30:00.000-08:00

It's been a while.

Life has been moving at a breakneck pace lately, and I've been trying not to get left in the dust. I have been getting out climbing, but haven't been able to find much time to share. The camera keeps getting left behind as well, and I'm certainly not a good enough writer to justify a blog post without some sort of eye candy.

Last weekend Clayton and I took advantage of a gorgeous February day and headed up to the Secret Gully. This is one of the more concentrated bouldering areas on Mt. Lemmon, but a bit of a 'shwhack to get to. It is visited infrequently, so the approach and boulders are covered in manzanita and cat claw, making getting around a difficult task. Technical granite skills are at a premium here. Thick callouses also help to keep whining to a minimum, otherwise the sharp and gritty granite will break your spirits quickly. A spotter is also a good idea - many of the landings are less than ideal. My first two trips down the Gully were solo missions, and I felt a little limited without a spotter (although, I am not the bravest of boulderers). Having just one spotter was all the confidence we needed to try a few of the lines that were a bit intimidating before.

We worked some excellent problems, including a few on the Swamp Boulder, and the Buttermilk Boulder. I came depressingly close to sending Swamp Thingie, a simple yet deceptive problem I've tried each visit down there. It is a one move wonder v9 (a little inflated, and easier for the tall and lanky) into a v3ish topout. I've never managed to come close to sticking the hard first move - match your hands on a thin edge, good feet way underneath the overhang and fire for the sloper lip. I finally stuck the move, but flailed on the topout. The finish isn't hard, but I failed to scout it out, didn't find the good hold, and couldn't find my balance to rock over onto the lip. I definitely learn more from my mistakes, though, so chalk up another one in the lesson department...

Clayton put in a proud performance on the Snail Traverse, a slopey lip traverse above a sketchy tiered landing. his first go he fell from the crux with me behind the camera instead of spotting. I was certain a fall from there would be disasterous, even with three pads, but Clayton managed to land the awkward fall unscathed. He tried again, but this time I came out from behind the camera to spot, making sure we didn't press our luck too much. He sent in classic end-of-the-day style, pulling out every last ounce of energy to pull through and summit the boulder. Nice work!

Another goal for this day was to work on my videography skills. The brain trust of Team Tuesday has some MASSIVE plans for this year, so trying to become a better cameraman was my highest priority of the day. I'm not sure there is any hint of improvement in this short video, but I worked on some skills that I'll need to be able to apply to our big project this year. More details on the project coming soon....

In the meatime, here's Clayton and I in the Secret Gully:

High Elevation Bouldering

2010-12-20T20:55:00.000-08:00

Way up on the mountain, tucked away in a gulch......

Back To Basics

2010-12-15T12:27:00.000-08:00

Although I've been enjoying sport climbing more and more, at heart I am still a boulderer. With some cool new areas to explore, I've been getting out on the blocs a little more lately. Here are some photos and a short video of some new stuff, with another video in the works. Sadly, none of it is well shot - mostly crappy attempts on a tripod, but I'm pretty psyched on the stuff I've been climbing, so I'm going to share anyways....

LIZARD BOULDERS

Sucka MCs

Futile Devices

Sweet Arete

The General

GANDALF'S GORGE

Deep Water Dreaming

2010-11-29T12:13:00.000-08:00

A few hours into a 10 hour, cross-Atlantic flight to Croatia, my mild claustrophobia started kicking in. With a 25o plus pound man to my right, encroaching on my limited space, the man in front of me sleeping with is chair tilted all the way back in my lap, and both Kerry and the man to her left sleeping, I was trapped. My pulse quickened a bit, and I started taking shallow, desperate breaths. Anxious, and afraid I was going to freak out on the plane, I had to take control. I closed my eyes and took slow and deep breaths. Most importantly, I refocused, trying to ignore my pinned legs and inability to move, and imagining what was awaiting us at the end of the flight. I let my mind go, and it landed where it usually lands - at the base of a rock climb.

I pictured myself climbing out of the ocean, and starting up a gently overhanging wall of limestone. The idea of deep water soloing and everything it symbolizes for me - unencumbered movement, freedom, endless possibilities - seemed to be a perfect counterbalance for the my current situation, and my panicky state slowly subsided. Thoughts of perfect limestone, blue seas, and a new culture to absorb helped carry me through the rest of the flight (with a little help from some bad in-flight movies).

Deep water soloing has always been the form of climbing that has most captivated and amazed me. I grew upon the river of the Texas Hill Country, and spend a large chunk of my youth splashing, jumping and snorkeling in the Frio, Guadalupe and Medina Rivers. Being in the water is second nature to me, and I've always found being in a body of water liberating in much the same way I feel about climbing. So when - after having started climbing a couple years earlier - I first heard the term 'psicobloc', and saw video of Klem Loskot climbing 60 feet above the ocean in Mallorca, Spain, I was immediately floored. This was the purest, most exhilarating thing I could imagine. A whole new realm of possibilities opened, and I knew this was something I had to do.

And now, I was travelling across the globe to fulfill those fantasies. While the karstic coastline of Croatia offers almost limitless potential for DWS, there were two main spots I was hoping to check out. Sustipan - a smallish cliffband, but just a 10 minute walk from where we would be staying in the city of Split - and Cliffbase - a limestone paradise on the island of Hvar. Unfortunately we may have been a bit optimistic in our hopes for the weather, and planning this trip in November (the only time Kerry could get time off, though). The conditions weren't ideal this time of year, and we had a few days of rainy and windy weather severely limiting the amount of time we could climb, or even just swim in the stunning Adriatic Sea. Despite the chilly water, and cool temperatures, I was determined to get some climbing in. After our potential climbing days in Split were all rained out, my fingers were itchin' for some crimpin' by the time we took the ferry ride to Hvar Island.

Once on the island, we made a beeline for Cliffbase, which might be the most dream-like place I've ever visited. After a 15 minute hike in from the small village of Sveta Nedjelja, you arrive at a small house sitting below an endless band of limestone. This is the home of Miroslav, the owner of Cliffbase, and also a climbers hostel of sorts. Cliffbase is an ideal spot for adventurers of all kinds - there are over 100 sport routes here, fantastic snorkeling, slacklines can be rigged over the ocean, and maybe half a mile of DWS cliffs. It was time to have some fun.

We swam across the sheltered cove created by jumbled boulders rising from the ocean, and positioned ourselves on a nice large boulder near the base of some of the best looking limestone. Despite how the rock looks in pictures, it isn't sharp at all. It surprisingly had a slightly polished texture, but the abundant features, incuts and meaty slopers make up for the less than perfect friction (but with wet feet and hands, friction is never ideal while DWS). The climbing style was my absolute favorite, a style I tend to call 3-dimensional climbing: climbing big features, moving between different planes of undulating rock, using lots of push-pull opposition, heel hooks, knee bars and all varieties of interesting body positions and techniques.

Exhilarated to finally be here, living this dream, I started climbing. The thrill of new stone, intriguing movements, taking on the postcard-perfect scenery, gaining elevation above the calm, blue sea, reaching that one last jug and then....the splash. I climbed several outstanding lines, the easiest being about 5.10ish, the hardest being 11ish, but all would be good climbs regardless of their setting. I was psyched, and ready to climb until my fingers bled and my skin was pickled from the salt water, but I knew this day wouldn't last too long. Kerry was already sitting atop the boulder, shivering, and I could feel my body temperature quickly dropping. I tried to generate some body heat by doing long traverses at the base of the climb before climbing up, but that didn't seem to help. After squeezing in a about 12 climbs, I was violently trembling as if I had Parkinson's disease. We swam back to the land, dried off, bundled up and hiked out.

A few days later we took advantage of off-season rates and rented a tiny little boat and took it out for a cruise. We puttered along a few islands within sight of Hvar City, but then made our way to the coastline west of the city, where there were some obvious cliffs jutting out of the water.

The rock on these cliffs was a bit different, a few tufas and features, but in general a little sharper and crimpier. Unfortunately I hadn't brought my shoes, which would have helped a lot for these balancy face climbs. Still, I jumped off the boat and had some fun.

Our last day in Hvar I was determined to make it back to Cliffbase, but the weather didn't seem to want to cooperate. It was overcast and gusty, with an afternoon forecast for rain. As usual though, Kerry obliged my compulsions, and we drove to Sveta Nedjelja hoping for the best. Along the coast, we ate a picnic of fresh fruit, cheese and salami purchased from the farmers market, watching to see what the weather would do. It obviously wasn't going to get any better, but I was stubborn and desperate to squeeze in a few more climbs. We stepped out from our sheltered picnic spot and were greeted by powerful winds and ominous clouds rolling in from the south. A bad idea just got exponentially worse. I had to concede this one, and we packed up the car and drove off.

All told, I didn't to climb nearly as much as I had hope this trip, maybe 20-25 climbs in the two days I was able to climb. Each climb I did, though, was a true experience and something to keep me inspired for a long time. This trip will keep my imagination fired up, and keep alive that spark that drives us to chase after crazy ideas and seek out adventure. I've already got some ideas on how to make my next trip a little more successful, and even if I never do make it back here, I will never stop planning my return.

To see non-climbing pictures from Croatia, check out my pictures on facebook: Croatia pics.

A video of a few climbs from Cliffbase:

I Found Cochise, Finally

2010-11-20T11:38:00.000-08:00

Photos by Andy, Clay and Dustin.

I've been living in Tucson for two years now and have to say I've been missing out. In all that time I never once climbed at Cochise Stronghold. In my own defense, most of the climbs are mixed and I've only recently started placing gear, but that's no excuse. The rock is so good, and there is so, so much of it.

Day One

Wednesday the 10th of November saw Clay, Andy and I leaving tucson in the wee dark hours of the morning. Headed for the west side of the Stronghold, we had our sights set on the Sheepshead - a 700 foot hunk of a rock with around 20 routes on it, most of them mixed, and all of them scary. The bolting ethic of Cochise has always been one of discretion; bolts are placed only where removable gear cannot be. Add to that the fact that many of the routes were put up in a ground-up fashion on-stance by very hard men, and you end up with some scary, fun, and rather run-out climbing, usually on slab.

The first day we decided to hop on Absinthe of Mallet (5.10- mixed) which is apparently the longest climb on the Sheepshead and one with some history.

From the Mountain Project description:

"This Cochise classic had a reputation as a death route because of the sparse bolting on the long stretches of face. It was recently retrobolted (by Scott Ayers, the FA, so don't you dare chop anything..) so it no longer deserves an 'R' rating. The climbing is still a bit spicy is you are used to indian creek or Urioste red rocks pro, but it's standard fare for Cochise. The rating is on for Cochise 9+, but it can feel stiff if you're used to softer areas. The route is much more serious feeling than Peacemaker (6p 10a) just to its right.

Finally, be forewarned that Scott is a straight-bolter. Just because the bolt line is railroad-straight, it doesnt mean that you won't be traversing back and forth and all over the place to find the path of least resistance. You can't fall asleep and follow his routes like a sport climb, and in return you'll get little or no rope drag through the face pitches.

Props to Scott for putting up this Cochise classic, and for adding impeccable bolts to allow mere mortals safe passage."

Props indeed. I led the second pitch: 160 feet, two-parts bolted face climbing on rounded edges and one-part 5.10 crack climbing. Absolutely amazing.

Clay starting up the fourth pitch dihedral.

The last pitch, the one recently added to the route by Scott Ayers, was an exposed rounded arete devoid of holds to speak of. Climbing it involved the use of your palms as much as your feet, doing what I can only describe as a kind of stemming motion. Props to clay for the windy lead.

Atop the Sheepshead we each drank a Schlitz and signed the summit register. With sausage Jambalaya and pepper jack quesadillas on the mind we made our decent down the gully between the Sheepshead and the Muttonhead. Stella, my dog, who we'd last seen chasing and playing with another crag dog, met us about halfway down the trail, foreshadowing what was to happen the next day.

Day Two

You know its going to be a great day when breakfast includes a pound of bacon and a dozen eggs. After wolfing down breakfast we sorted gear and decided to attempt another 5.10 mixed route at the Sheepshead, Climb Too Tough To Die.

At the base of the cliff we left Stella with tons of water and in the company of another Australian Shepherd mutt. The wind thus far had been pretty calm, and the temperature couldn't have been lower than 75 degrees. Clay and Andy felt comfortable enough to leave behind their jackets. I however, being the scrawny excuse for a man that I am, brought my windbreaker and was even wearing long underwear under my jeans.

Clay on the first pitch.

Pitch 3

Andy on Pitch 5

Prepping for the summit push, wishing it wasn't windy.

As I started heading up the ramp of the last pitch, in between the roaring gusts of howling wind, I heard the faint jingle of Stella's collar, which sounds amazingly like the sound of hexes dangling from a harness. I tell myself this fact, and keep climbing. About 10 seconds later I am staring at my dog atop a 700 foot cliff, her hair blowing in the wind, her body crouched against the rock but head raised in an attempt to get a better view of us. She had followed the descent trail back up to the summit and had followed our scent back to the anchors of Absinthe of Mallet.

Stella on top of Absinthe

I kept climbing, maybe a little bit faster than before, but not much. Even thought the pitch is bolted, I was petrified. The raging wind wasn't easing my mind at all, and as I pulled the lip of the blocky roof pictured above I discovered that the last 35 feet of climbing was just like the last pitch of Absinthe, bare and exposed. The next bolt was about 5 feet above my head, and the last was out-of-sight below the lip and my feet. I lay my chest and cheek against the rock for a few minutes looking at the half-moon rising above my dog and the summit, just waiting for a break in the wind. When it came I made the open-hip baby steps up to the next bolt and clipped it using my whole left hand in a smearing fashion against the rock. I repeated this sequence three more times before finding my dogs paws inches away from the anchors of the climb. She was shaking, both cold and scared, just like me. I comforted her for a bit before repeatedly sending her back from the edge and setting up belay.

As the Sheepshead turned its famous salmon/purple color with the setting sun, I belayed Andy up to the summit while looking at the this:

Psicobloc!

2010-11-15T08:59:00.000-08:00

A few quick pics from the limestone heaven that is the island of Hvar, Croatia....

More (including video) to come! We are heading back to this area, called Cliffbase, today for more fun. The tricky part this time of year is managing to stay warm enough to climb for more than an hour. With the air temperature and water temperature both hovering around 65 degrees, our bodies get cold fast, severely limiting our time in the water. Totally worth it though!

Batch of Fresh Baked Boulders

2010-11-03T12:16:00.000-07:00

ahhhh yeah!

There is a little chalk on this nice face:

Short, wierd roof:
Two views of a huge roof! Over a body length long, and about 9 feet off the ground:

Leaving for Croatia on Friday. When I get back, we need to round up a bunch of pads and climb that roof!

Orifice Season

2010-10-20T11:36:00.000-07:00

IS OVER!

Hoping to squeeze in one more day on our projects, Geir and I packed a bunch of layers and headed to the summit. My last visit was about 10 days prior, when stormy conditions and cooling temps forced an early retreat. I made decent progress on my one proj attempt that day, and was optimistic that if I could get about 4 or 5 more runs in, one of them could be a redpoint. Geir had been getting heartbreakingly close to sending Orifice Politics, and just needed one solid run.

We bundled up in belay jackets and beanies, and went to work. After two quick warm up burns, I hopped on Granite of the Apes. Sadly, it wasn't meant to be. My fingers just couldn't stay warm enough to pull through the first crimp-nasty 40 feet. Moves that I had pretty wired and had been feeling easy felt super strenuous, and every clip was a battle unto itself with no sensitivity in my tips. After three fruitless, frustrating burns, I realized it was not to be. I had to fold my hand and walk away from the table. Maybe next summer.

After I fumbled my way around on my project, Geir crushed his. He made a very impressive ascent of the uber-classic Orifice Politics. It was a perfect way to end the summer summit season.

Until next year!

CROATIA!

2010-10-14T12:53:00.000-07:00

There are road trips, which is probably my favorite phrase in the English language. And then there are dream trips. Destinations so distant, novel and exciting that you are not sure you will ever find a way there. In a few weeks, I am lucky enough to be heading out on a dream trip.

Kerry and I are off to Croatia.

"Croatia???", followed by a weird stare is the usual response when we tell people where we are heading. And even for climbers, the place is somewhat off the radar. When we were looking at options for a November adventure, one place stood out as the obvious choice.

(all photos stolen from interweb)

We have two weeks to play - exploring Old World Europe, sea kayaking between small islands, eating tons of fresh fish, speaking poorly worded Croatian phrases to the locals, hopefully catching a Hadjuk Split soccer match, snorkeling. And of course, climbing limestone above the Adriatic Sea!

Those aren't the best pictures I could find of Croatia DWS, but most of the other photos involve some horrific Euro banana hammocks. I'll spare you the horrifying images from the online guide I found. But if you are looking for a lifetimes worth of untapped DWS potential, Croatia might be the place. The Dalmation Coast of Croatia is lined with small islands, many of which are surrounded in limestone cliffs rising straight from the sea.

The above photo is of one of the many islands found in Kornati National Park. Unfortunately it is a bit further north along the coast than we are going to be, but it is where boundless climbing could be done. I am already plotting trips here, if anyone knows how to captain a boat.

We will be dividing our time between Split and Hvar, two coastal cities with rich history, local culture, and lots of limestone. There will be plenty of photos taken (Kerry is coming along, after all) and numerous over-excited blog posts to come.

Week 2 Training Round-up, or Give Me More of Those Juicy Hot Sweet Flappers

2010-10-10T10:20:00.000-07:00

I've been thinking, lately, about two art projects I did sometime back in my pre-school days. One involved tearing long strips of orange construction paper, smearing them over with Elmer's Glue and sticking them onto styrofoam cups to make shaggy jack-o-lantern faces. In the other, I ripped little pieces of thin cotton and canvas to glue onto poster boards for texture. The emphasis of my reveries is on the sensations of tearing things-- things that I ripped up for some lofty goal like art or self-expression. These days I still tear things up for reasons equally as nebulous. The sensation of skin peeling back off your hand, incidentally, isn't too far removed from the way ripping construction paper or canvas feels. It hurts a hell of a lot more, but that comes a second or two after the feeling of it actually tearing away from the rest of your tissues.

I've said it many times before, but there's just not a much better representation of what climbing is all about than a fat, bloody flapper waving around on your crankin' finger. For example, no matter how many hamburgers you throw against a rock, the rock will never break. Hamburgers don't get back up and give it another go when they get spit off their project and busted all up. Also they can't do heel-hooks. Climbers, on the other hand, sometimes climb so hard the skin on their hands curls up, bleeds and falls off. Climbers don't break the rock, but we also don't usually get completely broken by it either.

The point being, if you have flappers on your hand you are not a hamburger. It is possible that you are a climber if you have flappers on your hand, but further testing may be required to make a definitive claim.

Exhibits A and B: photographic evidence that I am not a 1/2 pound char-grilled angus patty:

Awwwh Sookie!

I got this puppy Thursday afternoon bouldering at the U of A Rec Center. This is my second week of trying to stick Eric Horst's 10-week 5.12-training regimen. The first four weeks are all about mileage to build up endurance. So, this week I hit the gym on Tuesday, but only put up about six routes due to the unfortunate time constraints of being a full-time grad student and working. Thursday I cranked at the Rec Center doing lots of long traverses and trying to crank out as many problems as possible. You can see what happened.

Wednesday, though, I went to The Loft for the Reel Rock Tour to re-up on my rock-horny. Jesus. That's all I can say about that. Sicker 'n hell!!!

It'd be hard to ask for more inspiration than that. I was so pumped to hit the Rec Center on Thursday I climbed until my finger burst. I think I've written about this before, but my dream, the idea that really makes my heart quake in the dark hours of the early morning, is to climb so hard that I explode. Not pop, like a sausage, but to climb like a meteor in reverse, moving so fast that the friction of my skin against the atmosphere and of my hands against the rock creates so much heat that I burst into flaming plasma and shoot into space. You'll be able to find me, if I ever stop, heel-hooking a meteor somewhere out by the Horse Head Nebula.

Now, and this is a little bit of a spoiler if you haven't seen the tour, what I just said was way cooler than what Dean Potter says about what he does in the tour. Even if what I DO is a lot less cool than what he DO (hint: things get really good at about 2:10).

Yesterday, Saturday, I turned back in to the gym-- with heavily taped fingers --to, again, try and crank out as many problems with as little rest as possible. Joe joined me after I'd been going hard for about 40 minutes or so and already had a decent pump. The gym held a comp on Thursday night so there are sick, sweet problems all over the place-- a bunch of which Dustin put up. I gave as many as I could a solid go and felt pretty strong, but realized that even with what I felt like was a good showing I probably wouldn't have even placed in the comp.

To top things off I had Joe time me on two sets of hangboard pyramids right at the end. I managed to hang on some tiny, tiny crimps (4 seconds) and even if the first pyramid didn't feel too hard the second round drove me right into the ground.

Here's a video of what I aspire to on the hangboard:

Got training tips? Pictures of sick-ass flappers? Brutal hangboard workouts? Tell me all about them in the comments sections below.

Training in Tenochtitlan

2010-10-01T14:12:00.000-07:00

When the Aztecs popped over that ridge back in 1325 and looked down on the Valle de Mexico they saw an eagle sitting on a cactus eating snake. Something about that tableau stirred up warm fuzzies in the breasts of the Aztecs-- evoked memories of a homey place where screaming raptors decorated the shrubs with reptile innards, and they decided to stay. They called it Tenochtitlan and today that place is right at the heart of Mexico City.

A few weeks ago, after spending eight hours doing homework on a Saturday, I decided I needed to take myself out to Gate's Pass and get grounded in the real world of rocks and snakes and cacti again. Sometime during the summer, after an initial surge of hard climbing days, I lost the climbing plot, and stopped getting out.

Dustin and Joe climbed harder than ever this summer, and I watched an embarrassing amount of Dual Survival and Man, Woman, Wild. So, it was special and refreshing to load up the dog and crash pad in my old truck and head to the hills for a solo sesh.

On the trail between my old truck and the boulders the dog caught a whiff of something and shot off between the saguaros after it. My dog moves pretty quick, but whatever she was onto moved even faster. From a fifty yards back I saw a streak of black and the shock-green limbs of a palo verde tree start to dance. The dog circled the base of the tree, sniffed once and then trotted off to gnaw on the dusty bone of something old and dead.

I took a few pictures.

The snake seemed like a good sign. Those kinds of snakes eat the rattlesnakes that I'm not convinced my dog has the wits to avoid. And it was weird and strangely beautiful up there waving in the breeze.

I cranked out a handful of easy problems at the upper boulders. Thinking that if I was an Aztec I would set up a city here, and cram the cut-out hearts of my sacrifices into huecos at the tops of all the boulders instead of building a temple.

The holds felt warm and happy in my hands. Except for the dog, I had the place to myself, as I almost always do, and it was good. Instead of cutting the hearts out of captured enemies I resolved to make time to climb more and to train more in order to be strong to be motivated to climb more and climb harder.

I resolve to do these things about twice annually, but since then I've been in the gym three times and have climbed at the U of A's Rec Center at least that many times.

It's a start.

Yesterday I went to the gym with Paco and tossed off six routes (5.7, 5.8, 5.9. 5.10a and 2 x 5.10b) and finished up with five laps on four other routes from 5.6 to 5.9. I plan to do something similar next Thursday but perhaps also trying to extend the upper-end range of difficulty to 5.10c and/or .10d. Paco agreed when I offered up the idea of loosely following Eric Horst's 10-week training cycle from his book How to Climb 5.12. The Horst cycle starts with four weeks of endurance training. As a way of increasing both the amount of time I spend with this blog and the amount of time I spend training for climbing I'm aiming to complete Horst's 10-week cycle with at least 10 accompanying posts documenting my progression.

I'm looking for training tips, too-- on motivation, on training for endurance, on training for finger strength, and on making time to train. Anybody who wants to share: throw me some tips in the comments section of this post.

Where's your Tenochtitlan?

Stoney Point And The Price Of Vanity

2010-09-27T15:05:00.000-07:00

Packing for a spur-of-the-moment family trip to SoCal, tossing my shoes and chalk bag in the car was a no-brainer. The next step was figuring out how to carve out a little time to climb, and decide where to go. I hadn't done much research on LA area climbing, but I knew there had to be something in driving distance, or at least a gym nearby. Then I remembered Stony Point, an old stomping ground for rebellious LA teenagers who would go on to become some of the leading pioneers of Yosemite climbing. A quick google map search told me it wasn't too far from where we were staying in Santa Monica, and a plan was hatched.

After a couple days of beach bumming and my first attempt at surfing, I got up early on morning to check out the urban sandstone of Stony Point. My bro-in-law John and my son Asher got up with me, and we made the drive across Topanga Canyon to the San Fernando Valley and Stony Point. We arrived to find a big dome of featured sandstone, with boulders scattered around the base. Despite the urban appearance - and warnings of gangs, glass, and homeless residents - the place looked promising for a good session of bouldering.

For anyone interested in climbing history, Stony Point is worth a visit just for the chance to pull on some of the same polished holds as many of the pioneers of our sport : Royal Robbins, Bob Kamps, Yvon Chouinard, John Bachar, John Long, John Yablonski, and many, many more. Many got their first taste of rock climbing top roping the sandstone cliffs, and went on to hone their skills on the technical boulders below. One of the facets of bouldering I've always enjoyed is trying the classics established by previous generations - I've been fortunate enough to attempt Gill problems in at least four states, and Murray problems all over the SW. This was a chance to spend all morning smearing my feet in the same spot as the California legends I've been reading about for years.

A Young Royal Robbins At Stoney Point
Photo stolen from supertopo.com

I was immediately impressed by the quality of the rock and the aesthetics of the climbing. The first boulder you arrive at is a big square block of sandstone sitting in flat, empty expanse. Nice sandy landings tempt you to keep climbing higher and higher, even as the holds start to disappear up high. Pockets, slopers, crimps, and jugs, the rock here seemed to offer a little bit of everything. Years of use have given some of the holds the polished sheen of marble, but elsewhere the sandstone is finely textured and sticky (and a relief after climbing at The Steep a few days earlier). Like many urban areas, eliminates and variations abound, and nearly every possible hold on every rock is chalked up. This doesn't distract from the obvious and stellar lines found around every corner.

While we only hit two boulders - Boulder 1 and Turlock - I managed to get on a few of the classics of Stoney Point. Every problem I hopped on was fun, and every problem seemed to have unique and memorable movements. On Boulder 1 I did Three Pigs (cool fingerlocking in pin scars), The Nose (slopey arete), Leaping Lizards (featuring what could be the worst sloper west of the Mississippi) and Boot Flake (a sweet dyno down low into a tall and insecure topout I backed off of). For someone who hadn't climbed in a while, John looked pretty solid on the rock, and pulled off a few good sends.

Following these problems, we headed over to Turlock, where I was especially excited to try Crowd Pleaser, an gorgeous overhanging arete with a crux at the very top. Walking up to it, the problem was definitely taller than it looked in photos, but was an undeniably striking line that had to be climbed. Originally climbed by John Yablonski, and today given a rating of v2 (cough cough SANDBAG! cough cough), Crowd Pleaser followed good holds up an arete to a powerful lock-off and reach for a faraway edge. Hopping on the problem, I moved up the arete in characteristically clumsy fashion, then found myself at the moment of truth. I made the first committing move to the slopey knob at the lip, matched my left foot with my left hand, rocked up and grabbed the good but distant edge. Whew! Not too hard, but definitely glad I didn't blow that move. Especially with only a new and still stiff Metolius pad way under me.

John standing below Crowd Pleaser

John on Hoof And Mouth

photo by: Asher

Next I did The Corner (an easier but thuggish arete), Hoof And Mouth (which climbs through a huge hueco) and Slime (a polished classic). John worked on Hoof And Mouth and Slime a bit, but couldn't quite figure out the tricky sequences of the problems. The sun was starting to get hot, and we had a day at the beach ahead of us, so we decided to start packing up. I was just about to put my shoes in my pack when I looked back at Crowd Pleaser with a plan.

"Hey John, will you take video of me if I climb this problem again?"

It was such a good problem - it would be a classic anywhere -I figured I needed to get a video for all the loyal readers of this esteemed climbing blog. Or maybe after a couple of days in Santa Monica, a little bit of SoCal vanity was rubbing off on me. Either way, I needed to get this problem on video.

Confident and sure of myself, I climbed the bottom part of the climb much smoother this time. Slapped the knob at the lip, hiked my left foot up, rocked over, reached for the final edge and....whoa, where is it? Wait, that thing?? It's so far away!! Let's try this again....nope. Damn. Somehow I just couldn't reach the hold this time. Maybe I didn't get my foot in the right spot, maybe I was tired. I dunno, but even after resetting a couple of times, it was clear I wasn't going to reach the edge. I looked down at the pad below, dangled my feet, then dropped to the pad. And just as I was afraid of....I rolled my weak ankle. I paid the price for my act of vanity, and limped back to the car.

While certainly not a destination area, Stoney Point is a great local area worth a visit for anyone visiting LA. And with a free place to stay 6 blocks from the beach of Santa Monica, and a bit of the surfing bug, I will certainly be back.

All in a Day on Lemmon

2010-09-23T17:13:00.000-07:00

A video of the new slack line set-up between North Fin and South Fin, and a few boulder problems at Wilderness of Rocks.

Enjoy.

Mt. Lemmon High Line, Wilderness of Rocks from Dustin Payne on Vimeo.

Who's Got ADD?

2010-09-18T12:36:00.000-07:00

Trad, trad, trad. TRAD!!

Those have been my thoughts for the last few months. Out of all the wonderful aspects of this sport, its the fright of being out on the fringe that I'm most addicted to. Body-lengths above my last piece trying to convince myself that I'm good enough, composed enough really, to climb the 5.8 that is making me piss my pants, thats the state of mind I appreciate the most. Since I purchased my rack a few months ago, I hadn't bouldered at all, and had sport climbed only twice. Last Sunday though, a few friends and I went to go work the infamous Bob Murray problem Jewel Thief, and my interest in bouldering was revamped entirely.

All of us made good progress that day, and all four of us slapped the lip of the boulder at least a few times, but nobody actually weighted the sharp crimp we would need to send it. We left that day determined to come back later in the week for a late afternoon session.

Thursday saw us driving up the mountain, hoping for good conditions on Lemmon while it was still 104 degrees in Tucson. Oddly enough the temps were perfect up on Windy Ridge and the air was dry. We wasted no time at all. Aaron made the first run, and weighted the crimp, and after that, though no one would say it outright, we knew it was going to happen.

Both Aaron and I sent Jewel Thief second try that day, putting the number of ascents at or around 8 in total. While Ryan and Andrew made progress by linking the first move, arguably the hardest before the top-out, with the rest of the face moves.

So here it is, an overly-dramatic video of one of Tucson's proudest and oldest boulder problems. Enjoy.

Jewel Thief from Dustin Payne on Vimeo.

The Summer Fall Season

2010-09-06T15:50:00.000-07:00

A month with no updates??? Bummer. I've been real bad about dragging the camera along lately, and pictures are usually what motivates me post up here. I guess a few words will have to suffice for today.

For me, this has been the summer of trying hard. Not just attempting harder climbs, but pushing myself to try as hard as I could every day and every attempt. Trying to say 'take' as little as possible. Committing to solid onsight attempts. Squeezing in a extra route into each session, instead of kicking back and soaking in the views. Not being intimidated by difficult climbing, or intimidating runouts. Trying to really go for it, which hasn't always been a strength for me.

The results? Well, the first result is through repeated whips and dogging at the Orifice, I trashed a rope in just over a month. At the beginning of July I bought a brand new 9.5mm Mammut rope. Since then it has logged innumerable falls, and I've already had to cut both ends off - on one end it was tattered so badly that the core was exposed. Yikes. The middle of the rope still looks brand spanking new, but my new 70 meter rope is now down to about 65.

The next result has been results. I've managed to tick off my three hardest redpoints and my hardest onsight this summer. It's been a nice feeling to see a convergence of psyche, training and experience finally paying off. Climbing with a diverse group of talented and unique climbers has also been a huge factor, as I've managed to learn a lot from watching so many different people. I've been slowly getting better as a climber the last few years, but this summer I have really felt like I've been making big strides. Lots of trying, lots of falling, but then the rewards. This also helps create a positive feedback cycle, and helps keep the motivation for climbing and training riding high.

Hopefully the camera will find it's way back into my pack soon. And maybe I'll even get to climb with the posse again - DP (who, after crusing a bunch of 12's, decided sport climbing is too easy and has been freakin TRAD CLIMBING!) and C-Money (who has been too busy monitoring the police scanner in the newsroom to come play with us).

After a summer of sport climbing, the boulders are starting to call my name again. I've got my eye on a few problems and a couple potential new areas, so stay tuned...

Summit Trip

2010-07-29T09:11:00.000-07:00

Last week I remembered to bring my video camera up the mountain, and took some footage of the day. The photos I take and post of the summit never seem to do justice to the beauty of being up there, and I was hoping a movie would. There is a little bit of climbing action, but mostly the video is about the experience of a day on the summit of Mt. Lemmon. Enjoy, and if it isn't the default setting, make sure you check it out in a higher resolution.

An Ode to the Summit Gods

2010-07-26T10:37:00.001-07:00

Weeks like these don't come often.

In fact, I'm having a difficult time trying to think of the last time I felt so battered and defeated. It's probably been years.

Most weeks are dull, with prescribed spikes in excitement which, although satisfying and adrenaline packed, are short-lived and only punctuate the doldrums of regularity. But every once in a long while a week comes around where I am rewarded and overwhelmed with more action than Arnold in the 80's.

Now, before we get to my wallop of a week, which started on Sunday, I have to talk about the show that prefaced it (Warning: no climbing porn here). Gabriel Sullivan and the Taraf de Tucson played Saturday night at Plush. Allow me to set the stage for you: sixteen musicians, a full horn section, cello, bass, two violins, a lap-steel, up to four guitars, one of which played by Brain Lopez of Mostly Bears fame, and the operatic, rapping vocals of local legend Salvador Duran. The genre could be described as funk mixed with Mexican folk, mixed with cowboy rock and tango, and is absolutely impossible not to dance to. They played for almost three hours to an ecstatic crowd of Tucsonians and put on easily one of the best shows I've seen here in the Old Pueblo. Thank you Gabriel Sullivan and Friends, thank you. Now, on with the climbing stuff.

The Orifice, Murray Wall, and something about a King

On Sunday the 18th I set out for The Fortress with fellow Rocks and Ropes employee, Sean Harris. We headed straight to The Orifice and hopped on Hard Day at the Orifice. It was my second day climbing at this uber-exposed crag, and the style of climbing coupled with the airy views of Rappel Rock and Tucson was still difficult to handle. In fact, last time I left The Orifice I decided I never needed to go back, because honestly, the climbing scared me too much, and there are plenty of other 5.12s on the mountain that don't make me pee my pants. But despite the urging of my instinctual brain, I made it to the chains, resting a few times of course. And this time when I left, I felt like I might be able to send Hard Day in a few more attempts. Vamos a ver.

Last season Sean had almost finished Hard Day but had fallen at the red-point crux, a massive cross off an undercling-horn and literally the last move above 5.9. On his second burn he managed to get out of the Orifice (the actual crux) without any trouble at all, sticking a dead point move to a burly gaston. The rest of the climb he seemed to have down pat, now it's only a matter of stamina and time.

Before we left The Orifice I did the coolest thing I have ever done in my entire life. Some of the kids on the Rocks and Ropes climbing team were also climbing at the orifice on Sunday, and instead of crushing the hard 12s and 13s as a few of them regularly do, they were taking it easy and had set up a gigantic king swing from the top of the highest route out there. There's nothing quite like being the weight at the bottom of a 120 foot pendulum that hangs on the side of a 200 foot cliff on the top of a 9000 foot mountain. It's more fun than any roller coaster, and cheaper too. If you'd like to see a video of this check out the POV of Joe's wife Kerry letting go.

On our way back to the car, still feeling the adrenaline from the swing, I decided to go for the onsight of a 12a called Forever In Blue Jeans at Murray Wall. I had been told before that the climb was a gimmie for the grade, and it looked like my type of climbing. It is. I sent it, and certainly would't say it was my hardest onsight; that award goes to Loc-Tite 11d in Queen Creek. But, that being said, Forever is exactly the style of crimpy, balance-oriented climbing that I live for, and is probably 12a.

Wilderness of Rocks

Part One

On monday I went back to the top of Mount Lemmon, this time alone. With just my shoes for gear and my dog Stella for company I hiked out the Marshall Gulch trail into the Wilderness of Rocks. When I made it to the first set of boulders, I climbed some of the easier classics at the AC/DC wall, and then free soloed a few 5-7 bolt 5.8s, and one harder climb nearby, maybe a 5.10. I was having a great day with perfect temps, and after climbing for a few hours I hiked down to the Lemmon Drop pools and swam and drank wine while purifying water with iodine (not recommended in this area, apparently). Then I went down trail a little farther and found a campsite with already gathered wood and a nice fire pit. I set up camp and went to explore some nearby boulders before dark.

(Photo Disclaimer: In the interest of weight I didn't bring a camera with me, only my phone, so bear with me here.)

The Fortress, The Ravens and Rap Rock from my campsite.

Awesome wildflowers throughout the gulch.

Part Two

When I had left my house in the morning the forecast had listed a 30% chance of rain. So at 6:30, as I'm enjoying dusk with my Trader Joe's canned turkey chili and the cheap wine I stole from my roommate, I keep thinking how well the weather is cooperating. I am especially satisfied because I hadn't brought a tent or a tarp with me, only a sleeping bag and pad, and had no way of staying dry. Now, it's monsoon season here in the Arizona desert and I knew exactly how stupid it was, going 4 miles into the wilderness with no shelter, but I did it anyway, just hoping for the best and thinking to myself: it's only one night, I'll survive. So with a small feeling of accomplishment I fell asleep around 9:00.

I woke up, some hours later, still dry but stab in the middle of what sounded like three different storm cells competing in a thunder and lightening competition. Regardless of the winner, I was the loser. Normally I'd have been up and packing, and headed for the rocks in search of a cave. But I was still dry and still a little drunk and therefore still able to fall back asleep amidst the crashes of thunder and bright silent flashes. The next thing I knew, some wet, furry animal was burrowing inside my sleeping bag, my face and hair were drenched, and the ground was shaking. In no time I was up and out of my bag, pushing Stella aside before untying her. Then in less than 20 seconds I had all my stuff packed, lantern out, and I was headed for the boulders I'd scouted just hours before. With a vague recollection of a large suspended roof, I tore uphill able only to see a few feet ahead through dense sheets of water. I kept looking back fearful I might pass the boulder, and on the fourth glance back I saw it, just downhill and to the right. It rained until 4:00 am, and Stella and I, with not a dry item in our possession, nor wood to start a fire, shivered in and out of sleep. Here are some pictures of my shelter taken the day after:

Living in Arizona, it's not often I yearn for the sun to come out; overcast days are uniformly cherished. Needless to say, I wanted nothing more than the sun to warm my bones and dry my clothes. When the rain finally stopped and the first blue of sunlight had shown through the black clouds I set out for the highest point possible to await the sunrise. From this vantage I was able to scout even more boulders, and as I warmed up, I realized there were a lot of potential problems laid out before me. Once the sun was up, I wasted no time. Here are some pictures of the boulders I scouted. I highly doubt I was the first to climb them, but I cant imagine why these weren't included in the old McMillen guide. Stella is in some of these for size comparison, she stands on all fours at about one and a half feet.

This boulder has at least four good lines on it. Two on either side of the arete, both easy. Then a V4 on the left of the face and a V3 on the right that share the same scary top-out, straight through the bulge. A hard (V10?) project adorns the left corner of the overhanging side.

This awesome feature sticks out of an overhang, though the problem it's on would be kind of contrived.

This problem starts underclinging the right boulder, with your feet on the left. You work out to the corner, set a knee bar, and then go for the arete and follow it all the way to the pinnacle. Really fun.

The Spike. Unfortunately I didn't get to climb the 20 foot V0 that starts on this thing, I sprained a tendon on the next problem pictured right before I found it.

Tall, scary slab, starts with tension moves underclinging the arete.

V0 arete, and V4 face climb.

Believe it or not, this boulder is well over 30 feet tall.

Pockets, on Lemmon? Yes, indeed, lots of pockets.

This problem involves a big move from one hueco to another, probably V3.

This is a freestanding spire about 40ft tall. This side is overhung already, and then like a wave the top curves out. It's mostly choss though.

With an intoxicating mix of fatigue and excitement, I left Wilderness of Rocks that afternoon, having found at least 5 problems well worth coming back for with pads, and 20 or so other shorter and easier lines worth doing. Also, I was stoked that I'd be returning in 2 days with my brother Jared, who had previously only climbed Lemmon granite once, at North Fin. Our plans had, at this point, yet to solidify, but I knew we'd be coming back out through the Gulch and into the Wilderness. What I didn't know was that we'd be making that hike in the dark, during the last night of our trip, after spending the better part of two days hiking around in the rain waiting for a small, dry, window in which to climb Steel Crazy.

The Fortress and Steel Crazy

Jared and I have been climbing for about 4 years. Sport climbing that is, and bouldering too, but no trad, yet. Also, before this, we had never attempted a multi-pitch. We had thought about it on multiple occasions, once in Ton Sai, Thailand when we were both relative beginners, but had never committed. This time, we were committed.

Steel Crazy is a 5.9, four pitch, 450-foot climb that goes up the tallest side of the Fortress, the same chunk of rock that houses the Orifice and the king swing mentioned above. It gets 3 stars in the guide, is considered one of the best 5.9s on the mountain and luckily for us, is bolted.

Day One

We got an early start on Friday, hoping to beat the early forecasted rain, and then retreat to Wilderness of Rocks and set-up camp before the afternoon monsoons started. Driving up Catalina Highway I caught glimpses of the summit, still clearly visible and apparently dry, while Jared slept. Before we could get to the parking lot at the trailhead we were stopped by a man in a reflective yellow vest sporting a large radio. He informed us that due to construction, we'd have to hike up from here, adding another 3 miles to our approach, round trip. With a little hesitation we decided to push on.

When we reached the top of the road, and the would-be parking lot, we got the first glimpse of what should have been a spectacular view of the mountain's canyons descending into the city. Instead, we could see about 75 feet in front of our noses.

A fog engulfed the summit, as dense as a swimming pool, and made the morning silence all the more eerie. As we grew closer to the Fortress I tried to point out Rap Rock and the Ravens but they were barely visible at all, and only for brief moments. From the Murray Wall, we looked over towards the Fortress and saw nothing but white. But, still dry, and still determined we started unpacking and racking up gear, and then scouted the descent down to the south face of the Fortress.

The silence was first broken by a horrible tearing sound coming from the sky. Only after this higher pitched shrill did the booming thunder come through and shake our previously unwavering spirits, and the ground. Rain came soon after. When the rain let

off a little, enough for me to hike to higher ground and look out, I was elated. "Blue Sky!" I cheered back to Jared as I smiled at a widening hole in the fog and clouds, thinking the worst was over.

Four hours later and my patch of blue was still hovering above, but the rain was still pouring down and the fog was still thick; the only thing that had changed was the temperature, now getting down to around 60. We decided to find better shelter under the Murray Wall, to have a fire and eat some lunch. Afterwords, unable to stay inactive any longer, we climbed Forever in Blue Jeans up to the wet, vertical section above, and left a bail-biner behind. Jared, who had never attempted to climb a 5.12, surprised himself by working through the steep and balancy bottom section with relative ease. By then it was around 3:00 and our chances of getting on Steel Crazy were dismal.

We decided to return and regroup at my house rather than fight through the rain and camp-out that night in Wilderness. By 8:00 p.m., absolutely exhausted from the lack of sleep the night before, and the rather unnecessary and fruitless hike that day, we were both fast asleep.

Day Two

Saturday we awoke knowing that we had to redeem ourselves, that we had to conquer that mountain and its weather system bodyguards, we had to climb Steel Crazy. Again on the drive up, with Jared asleep, I scoped the Summit. It sat in the dark, under looming, malicious, grey clouds, just taunting us. I woke Jared up and pitched the idea that we admit defeat, that we go down the mountain a ways, where it's slightly less likely to rain, and resort to the single pitch, easy to bail-off-of routes of Middle Earth. He wouldn't hear it, and by the time we reached the parking lot (at least this day the road was open to the top) I had convinced myself that climbing in the rain wouldn't be so bad, it's only 5.9, right?

As bad as Friday went for us, that's how good Saturday was. By 12:30 we we're basking in the sun at the base of our climb, and racking up the 20 draws and 5 or so slings we would use to safely scale it. The clouds and the sun fought back and fourth all day, but the rain never hit us on the climb.

Steel Crazy For Real from Dustin Payne on Vimeo.

A look up The Fortress from just right of Steel Crazy. If you look closely you can see some climbers on Fort Stress, a scary looking 5.8+. Steel Crazy goes just right of the black streak on the high left face.

The First two pitches are the longest, at about 160 and 130 feet respectively, and are the most fun, each with long runouts on easier climbing and decent cruxes. I led the first, and jared the second. The views of Tucson and Rap Rock were even more impressive because yesterday we could only imagine that both those things were actually there. The sunlight, all the more glorious because we hadn't seen much of it at all in the last 24 hours, joined us at the top once again.

Along with a baby rattle snake. No harm done though.

After we gathered all of our stuff, we went back to Murray Wall and I climbed Forever In Blue Jeans again, and got my carabiner back.

On the trail out to my car thunder finally boomed from the northern ridge. But we didn't care, our day was mostly done and we had finally succeeded. Now we just had to hike out to Wilderness of Rocks, set up a tarp, gather wood (hopefully dry), and get water filtered all before dark.

Orifice Dispatch : Day 3

2010-07-12T09:14:00.000-07:00

I'm trying to contain my enthusiasm for the start of Orifice season by not posting here after every trip out there, and not tweeting after every attempt on my project : "OMG!!! held the fred nicole crimp. 2 close 4 wurdz!" But last Friday was a great day out with Pete and Kerry, and we got some good pictures and video, so here's what's going on.

Pete and I have been working on Coup de'tat, probably the hardest and longest established line on the wall. Coup share about 2/3 of its climbing with Orifice Politics 12c (my big project and eventual send last year) before branching right. Once Coup splits from Politics, you are faced with a technical and crimpy boulder problem that clocks in at probably v5/6 by itself. Keep in mind that this hard boulder problem is preceded by about 70 feet of steeply overhung climbing, and followed by about 40 more feet of slightly overhanging climbing. Coup de'tat was first climbed last summer and given a grade of 13a/b. This will definitely be my hardest redpoint, but it is going to take lots of effort to build the requisite endurance to finish this climb.

Dropknee on the lower crux:

Starting the upper crux:

Three days on the route this summer, and it seem to be coming together. Pete and I have both pulled the crux, and are linking the bottom section of the climb all the way up to the crux. We both need to iron out our beta a little bit, and build up enough endurance to finish the marathon route. It will take some serious effort, but I think both of us should get the redpoint this summer.

Pete in the headjam rest (which, like the kneebar below, I cannot use....):

Business time:

The best part of last Friday was finally getting to take Kerry up to the summit and the Orifice. After driving up from Tucson, exploring the summit area is like a whole other world. You enter deep into a landscape very different from the Sonoran Desert below - pine stands, lush fern meadows, expansive views in all directions. From our airy perch on the Orifice Wall, we can watch falcons and swallows nimbly swooshing and diving. In the valley below we see discriminating monsoon storms dump sheets of rain on select patches of city. It is a beautiful setting for the inspiring climbing of the Orifice.

Orifice Wall behind my rope bag:

Using the cable to get to the wall:

We got Kerry on the bottom part of Coup de'tat, which is tricky, overhung 5.11 climbing. She did well on the first long move right off the ground, but kept falling at the second long move a little higher. With a large swing after each fall, it was getting harder and harder to get back to the wall. I lowered her to the ground, ready to give her the next big challenge for the day: The King Swing.

Kerry breathing deep, counting down:

And she's off:

Kerry warming up at Murray Wall:

Starting up Coup de'tat:

Pete and I finished the day by climbing on a couple of the shorter 12a's at the wall.

The road home, with the next trip already on my mind.....

The Elusive Catalina Butterfly

2010-06-30T12:39:00.001-07:00

Another blistering hot Tucson Tuesday with only one route for escape - drive fast and high up Catalina Highway. Todays destination was the Butterfly Wall on Mount Bigelow, with a cool elevation of over 8000 feet and the ability to chase shade. Routes range from 9+ to 12+ on stellar rock that is pretty unusual by Lemmon standards.

Standard first disclaimer for people going to the Butterfly Wall - THE HIKE IS A MISERABLE, ULTRA-STEEP, THIGH BURNING, HEART EXPLODING SLOG.

Standard second disclaimer for people going to the Butterfly Wall - MAKE THE HIKE, YOU WON'T REGRET IT - THE CLIMBING IS THAT GOOD.

I first heard of the Butterfly Wall last summer from our local guidebook author/prolific FAist, who plainly stated that it might be the best wall on the mountain. High praise, indeed, so I was excited to finally get to check the place out this month.

Towers on top of Mt. Bigelow:

From the top of Mt. Bigelow, you descend the ridgeline following ever steepening switchbacks, trying to use the expansive views as a good distraction from the pain your thighs feel as you hike. While looking out at the summit of Mt. Lemmon to the east and distant ranges to the north, you pass through stands of pines that were ravaged by the 2002 forest fire.

Life is resilient, however, and wildflowers and wildlife are abundant.

Bear scat:

Besides the physical toll the approach takes on your body, there is another side effect of this hike. The trail is composed of very loose and fine grained soil which is easily kicked up into cloud of dark dust. Let's go ahead and call the end result the Butterfly Tanline:

After about 30 minutes of downhilling, you are rewarded with this sight:

The left arete is Firefly, 12c, and to the left is Iron Butterfly, 12a. You cannot tell from this picture how steep they are (especially the arete!), but they are certainly as tall as they seem. Even with a 70 m rope, it requires some trickery to reach the ground when lowering from these climbs. Both are about as good as sport climbing gets. The pinnacle poking over the trees in the bottom left of the picture is also home to some amazing and unique climbing.

The pocketed face of Trundle Pinnacle:

The leftmost line of pockets is 5.10 (and a solid contender for best 5.10 on Mt. Lemmon), a little left-of-center is 11-, in the middle is a 10+ trad route, and the pocketed face on the right is 11+. All are excellent climbs, especially considering they are the only routes with true pockets in the Catalina Mountains.

Looking up at Firefly:

This classic endurance climb starts off with some fun, tricky slab climbing up to a good rest. From there you have about 90 feet of hard climbing to clip the anchors, getting progressively harder and steeper all the way to the final bulge. This climb requires the full package of skills: power, technique, endurance, a cool head, and lots of will power to keep hanging on. If you are lacking in any of these on your attempts, you will be thwarted (this day I was lacking in most of those areas).

A peregrine falcon, who wasn't too excited about our presence:

After three 5.11's and on go on Firefly, I was beat and ready to go. I won't go on and on whining about the hike out the Butterfly. Sure, it's tough, but by then you are a solid believer in the second disclaimer - Hell yeah, the climbing is worth it!

P.S. - Big thanks to Chris P. and Brent S. for rediscovering this area and all their effort in establishing both the trail and the great climbs.

P.P.S. - Clayton - I have about 5 of your draws, and they've been used at some cool places the last week.

P.P.S. - It's Orifice season! Screw you falcons, let's go climb!

How To Celebrate Father's Day

2010-06-24T13:44:00.000-07:00

This Father's Day my parents decided to spend some time in Sedona, meaning two things for me. First, that I'd be taking a much needed road trip with my dog, and secondly, that I would get to boulder at either Kelly Canyon or the Anvils. Plus, having to drive through Phoenix on the way meant I would get to crimp on the dense, dark granite of my old stomping grounds, Beardsley Boulder Pile. And, although I didn't know it when I left, I would also get to boulder in Prescott at Groom Creek and night-climb a slab 5.11b dihedral in Oak Creek Canyon. Overall I didn't climb that much, but it was a healthy sample of Arizona rock, and the drive itself was worth every minute.

SUNDAY: Beardsley Boulder Pile

We went out late, around 5:00 pm, good thing too because the boulders get shade around 3:30 but are still hot as frying pans 'till at least 4:00. Nevertheless, by 8:00 our tips were raw and torn, and with little light left we walked back to the car, deciding on Indian food for dinner.

I sent several problems I had never tried before, including the following Dyno and V4 slab, and made some progress on a layback V5 (not pictured), which had thwarted every one of my previous attempts.

Jared and Shane on Double Clutch, V3, Dyno

Megan and Shane on an unnamed, hard, V1 on the Monkey Lust Boulder

Shane on Pencil Thin Left, V4

MONDAY: Groom Creek

I decided, at the suggestion of my brother, to take the long way up to Sedona, through Wickenburg and Yarnell, and then into Prescott. The drive was amazing, really awesome, but also took a lot longer than I thought. I was left with an hour and a half to check out the granite of Groom Creek; simply not enough time. My day went something like this: Find V2, barely make it up in three tries. Find V0's, gain confidence. Search out V6 to finish up on, find V6, lose confidence upon sight. Find V5, fail, lose confidence. Find V3, fail, lose confidence. Finally resort to nearby V2, get spanked, cry, tear off shoes, pack up. Then, on my walk of shame back to my car, I decided to attempt yet another V2. This is the first one pictured below and is pretty scary when your climbing sans spot. I made it, surprisingly, and hurried back to my car, 3o minutes later than I'd planned.

Fingery, high-crux, layback V2s.

V2 Arete

V1's

TUESDAY: Kelly Canyon

The climbing in Kelly Canyon is spectacular. Great quality sandstone in a beautiful location make it one of my favorite destinations, and considering this was only my second time, and both times I've gone with just my dog, that's saying a lot. This time, however, I met two flagstaff climbers named Evan and Dave who seemed happy enough to have another spot. This place is awesome, there isn't too much more I can say about it, I'll leave you with the pictures and hope they can do it justice.

Triangle Arete, v3

Sadly, although they look kinda like lichen,
those are paint splats from little, soulless, bastards.
V3

V7 or V9, depending on the top-out

Pictures by me (dp).

Check Mate

2010-06-24T13:23:00.000-07:00

Mount Lemmon is generous with its gifts. Every time I meet a new wall on the mountain I'm thoroughly charmed, and it was no different Tuesday when Joe introduced me to the Chessmen.
"The approach is short, but it's steep," he said. That's generally a trade I'm willing to make and I'm trying to say 'yes' more in life and climbing so we grabbed some draws and a skinny pitbull and went out to get pumped.
I didn't take long either-- warming up on a couple of low-angle 10's in the shade of the first formation we came to after a slog up the hill. The warm-ups, that I'm lazily not even going to look up the names of, got the pumps primed with some tricky slabs run through with fingertip flake-cracks, little roofs and a flaring chimney where you can cool your heels and enjoy the view.
The real juice, though, is Two Kings and a Pawn- 5.11- which Joe touted as maybe the best 11 on the mountain.

Pete on Two Kings and a Pawn

I don't disagree with Joe's assessment, either-- the route is an unstoppable good time. The first crux involves high feet, a middle-finger mono sidepull and reaching for a flake. The second crux involves a blind reach-to-match on a wee, little crimp and then dancing your feet out from under a roof and onto a sexy little arete. Taken all together the climb is about as much fun as an orgasm at Chuck E. Cheese's.
Chasing shade at the Chessmen is fairly easy, too-- just warm up on the slabs, climb the best 5.11 on the mountain then mosey around a little higher up and find yourself on a sick belay ledge with shady, sick views of Bear Canyon and a clutch of shady sick sick sick sick routes including Serfs Up 5.12- which starts on an even shadier even sicker belay ledge!!!

Joe and Pete on the Serfs Up sick belay ledge

The other Joe giving Pete a sick-ass belay

I didn't work Serfs Up-- by the time I'd pulled on Two Kings and a Pawn, the warm up climbs and another juggy 5.10 on the shady-sick belay ledge I was cashed. I limped up a second, blocky, cracky, sickly awesome 5.11 on top rope and folded my cards for the day. But Serfs Up has now officially been added to my long list of must-do climbs-- along with Demolition Derby at the Helmet, Delirious at Middle Earth and Hard Day at the Orifice at the Orifice (ha!).
From the looks of the list I'll be logging lots of airtime this summer.
I can't wait.

What It Takes

2010-06-21T12:15:00.000-07:00

Joe's got what it takes-- Ian, too. Here's a look at them putting in the requisite mileage on No Climb For Old Men a week before Joe snagged the FA of this 5.13a beast at The Helmet.

Arizona Blackwater Bucket Jumpers

2010-06-17T12:15:00.000-07:00

I met up with Reggie Vasquez and Regal McNutt of the Arizona Blackwater Bucket Jumpers the other day at an undisclosed desert oasis. These guys make it their business to find the sleekest, sexiest swimmin' holes in Arizona and jump into them. I don't usually endorse non-climbing activities, but after watching these guys work I cannot deny they are on a noble quest. Enjoy.

Summer in the Arid Zone

2010-06-16T20:50:00.001-07:00

The days are heating up, which means that dry, cold, Arizona friction is fading away. I can only hope that the monsoon season kicks in soon. Even though rain certainly wont help with friction, it'll make the summer more bearable and even enjoyable. Climbing in Arizona is possible no matter how hot the forecasted temps are for Phoenix or Tucson. Us Tucsonians have it best I believe, with the 30 minute drive required to reach nearly 9000 feet of elevation, 75 degree weather and the refuge of Mount Lemmon climbing. And during the winter months we can stay at the bottom of the mountain and chase the desert sun; the best of both worlds. Flagstaffers don't have it bad either, with sport crags and boulders of excellent quality sandstone and limestone, and basalt crack climbing as well, all within 30-minute's drive. This summer, between Kelly Canyon and Middle Earth alone, I shall have no shortage of projects.

For most of May and June Team Tuesday has been climbing at the Helmet. Practically grid-bolted with chain-draws, it's not the cleanest of the crags Lemmon has to offer, but the climbing is also of a pretty unusual style for the mountain; steep, horizontal actually, and juggy. A few weeks ago Joe sent No Climb For Old Men, a year-long project and, assuming the grade of 13a, his hardest send(?). Ian Evans is close to making a send also and linked every move to the crux, a large cross pictured below, before falling. (For more on No Climb see Joe's post: Ian on No Climb) Meanwhile, Clayton and I have been working on Demolition Derby, 12a. In sending this route I finally got over, at least partially, my irrational fear of lead falls, and have since been climbing with a lot more confidence. This was my first clean 5.12 lead. Clayton is also making quick progress this season and is poised for a red point attempt next Tuesday.

And finally, one more thing to mention. Southpark and Middle Earth are F*@king amazing! That I had gone over a year, almost two, of climbing on Mt. Lemmon and not spent one day at either of these two crags is absolutely ridiculous. To be honest I'm kind of ashamed. Unfortunately, for now I have only one picture of both of these crags. Many more to come, I assure you.

Photos by Dustin Payne (dp) and Joe Kriedel.

Pumphouse Wash, Oak Creek Canyon

Joe on No Climb For Old Men

Demolition Derby

Ian on No Climb For Old Men

SCS On-Sight Regionals at Rocks and Ropes

Southpark

Delirious 12a, at Middle Earth

Desert Madness

2010-06-10T12:42:00.000-07:00

This evil heat. My brain is wilting. I'm inside, and just looking around my house everything is bathed in a shimmery, mirage-haze. My dog sizzles like a frying egg when she lays down on the tile. I have to use a custom designed 36-inch spatula to scrape her up off the floor is she stays on one side too long. The whole house smells like singed hair and brimstone.
I know that sometime, a long time ago, I lived in a place where the water actually stood on the surface of this parched earth, or is that just the cruel imaginings of a mind brought to ruin by Desert Madness?

Lake Climbing Slideshow from Erik Moore on Vimeo.

Ian on No Climb

2010-06-03T12:14:00.000-07:00

With the summer heat quickly reaching triple digits, trying to climb has meant trying to find shade. And while the Summit Crags are still closed for falcon nesting, one of my favorite spots for good temps and steep climbing is The Helmet. Between my out of town trips, I've spent most of my climbing days the last two months hanging out at The Helmet, mostly projecting a route I started last summer, No Climb For Old Men.

The Helmet is a granite cave shaped like a helmet. Imagine your standard granite dome, but with a huge square block cut out of the bottom, forming some serious overhangs and roofs. On the left side of the cave, the lip of the roof is highly featured and climbable for about 30 feet. Chain draws have been hung along the lip, which dangle straight down into open air, and this section of the roof has been dubbed 'The Chain Gang'. Below the beginning of the chain gang starts a route called El Torito (12-), a slightly overhanging route that allows passage to 'The Chain Gang' section. Starting on El Torito, and climbing the 30 feet of pure horizontal climbing of 'Chain Gang' forms the route No Climb For Old Men. Truly unique for Mt. Lemmon, this climb has captivated me for almost a year now.

No Climb breaks down like this - 35 feet of 12- climbing of El Torito, into about 20 feet of dead horizontal 12- climbing of Chain Gang into a final boulder problem that is about v5, but feels much harder after all the serious climbing that precedes it. I've been fortunate enough to have other people psyched to climb at The Helmet, and last week I was able to film Ian on a pretty solid attempt of No Climb. I was dangling from above, being blown by the wind and spun by the weight of the rope below me, so the camera work is not too good in parts of the footage. Despite this, I was able to get most of the real action. Ian is super close to sending, and should get it next trip out.

Before the video though, HUGE CONGRATS to Dustin, who sent his first (of many) 5.12 this same day. He crushed Demolition Derby, a powerful and pumpy climb on the right side of the cave. Old footage of Clayton working Demo Derby is here, and hopefully Dustin will soon post the pics I took of the send with his camera to his photo site. Strong work Dustin!

Ian on No Climb For Old Men:

Should have some footage of Clayton, Dustin and I bouldering up soon as well!

Red River Gorge

2010-05-03T09:12:00.000-07:00

Planning climbing trips to the midwest is always a dicey proposition, especially in the springtime. Rain falls hard and frequent, leaving any plans at the mercy of the weather - especially concerning since there were about 15 of us planning on travelling to the Red. Most were making a six hour drive from St. Louis, but with three heading down from Boston, myself from Tucson, and two coming all the way from France, we were really rolling the dice with this trip. 10 Day Forecasts looked good, then bad, then good again. Hoping for the best, I loaded up my brand new (and free!) Osprey backpack, and headed to the heartland.

Then the worst happened - Eyjafjallajökull! With consequences as terrible as its name, the Icelandic volcano shut down European airways, making it impossible for Team France (Sophie's newphew and his wife) to make the trip to the States. We were down two already, but they remained with us in spirit, and also in cardboard.

Fabrice and Manon peering through the window of Miguels Pizza

The rest of us arrived safely, but with with a growing sense of concern about the trip. The forecast was getting worse and worse. I arrived late Wednesday night with Angie and Calvin, set up my tent and tried to get some sleep. Restless from the time in the car and anticipating all the sandstone goodness to come, sleep did not come easy.

I awoke the next morning and happily greeted everyone who was sleeping when we arrived the night before. Our posse rolled deep - Sophie (the remaining member of Team France), Capt. Burke, Calvin, Angie, Tall Tim, Yusuf, Dane, Little John, Yoli, Christian, Josh, Catherine, Woody, Thom, Kristin, baby Carrig and myself. A unique and diverse group including 2 doctors, a pilot, a lawyer, 3 math nerds, a lizard killing scientist, a waiter, a couple students and a few other random professions. These are the fools of Team Saucisson, and a truly incredible group of people to share 4 days in Kentucky with. We climbed hard, and laughed harder.

The first day we were blessed with perfect weather - blue skies and cool breezes. Perfect spring climbing weather. We headed down to the North 40 area and used this day to get reacquainted with the sandstone of the Red, and shake off the sluggishness from travelling. The following three days were not quite as nice - we were faced with off and on rain, and the looming threat of torrential downpours. We had laptops and iPhones all checking different weather forecasts, looking for one to be hopeful about.

The good news never came, but not to worry, as we had two things on our side. First, the Steepness. We knew that as long as conditions were good enough to make the approach to a crag, we would be able to find dry rock. The Red has numerous crags that stay dry in just about any condition. Secondly, we avoided staying at the classic Red campground, Miguels Pizza, and instead stayed at Lago Linda Hideaway. When the rains came, instead of our tents becoming islands in a pond (which is what happnes at Miguels), our tents stayed nice and dry underneath the sweet pavillions we could camp under. With an adjoining pavillion with picnic tables for cooking and hanging out, we only had to venture into the rain if we wanted to use the excellent bathroom facilities or head over for morning pancakes cooked by Linda. Delicious!

Over the next three days we sought out dry crags and classic climbs, all to great success. We climbed at Roadside, Drive By, Curbside, Bruise Brothers, Boneyard and Midnight Surf, each having many high quality climbs that stay dry in the rain. We threw ourselves at many fantastic climbs, including AWOL (10a), Breakfast Burrito (10c), Pocket Puller (10d), Fire and Brimstone (10d), Amarillo Sunset (11a), The Return of Chris Snyder (11d), Check Your Grip (12a), Ro Shampo (12a), Tic Tac Toe (12b), Iniquity (12b) and Beer Belly (13a). We had many successes, including Dane sending Ro Shampo, Krisitin crushing a 10c 3 months after having a baby, Sophie climbing strong after a recent injury, Burke going hard just a couple weeks after a bad fall....and many, many more. I climbed four days in a row (and did 30 routes in 4 days), and I can't remember the last time I did that. It was a blast climbing so much, but a week later I am still feeling it in my arms.

One of the best things about climbing is getting to test yourself on the unique climbing styles at different areas. Coming from Tucson, the climbing is a huge contrast from the technical granite we typically climb. The climbing here tends to be on gently overhanging rock, with juggy huecos and pockets, horizontal ledges, and iron plates. The routes are usually straight forward with easy to read sequences, except for on some climbs which are so featured and pocketed that you waste all your energy searching for the best holds. Fancy footwork isn't required too often, but you better be ready to face the pump factor, which sneaks up on you and hits hard. This style of climbing is more my style and preference over the vertical, crimpy granite of Mt. Lemmon. I really do enjoy the problem solving aspect of our more technical routes, though, and have learned to appreciate that more after four days of straight pulling.

Fortunately, we had many cameras to capture the action, including a couple high quality cameras and a couple of great photographers. Here are some of the best photos from the trip, blatantly stolen from Yusuf, Sophie, Yoli and Calvin. Thanks guys!

John on Iniquity 12b

Yoli cranking at Curbside

Calvin trying decipher slopers

Dane on the beautiful Amarillo Sunset 11a

Yusuf under control on Tic Tac Toe 12b

Beautiful backdrop for climbing

Sophie on the classic Ro Shampo 12a

Cell Block Six 12c, Midnight Surf Wall

Bruise Brothers Wall

Ro Shampo and Tic Tac Toe

Josh pulling on immaculate sandstone

For more photos, check out Team Saucisson, and for those interested in a good look at the Red, check out this excellent video put together by Yoli.

Another Lovely Evening at Joe's Anti-Grav Bar

2010-04-08T17:10:00.000-07:00

New Personal Best at Gates Pass

2010-04-02T13:28:00.000-07:00

There are no words for the feeling when you haven't been able to get out and work your favorite problems or routes for as long as I have. School and life, it turns out, take a lot of attention and time-- more even than my new pitbull demands.

So, it was beautiful when I got out to Gates Pass on Wednesday and finally put to rest my blood feud with the Low Travers-- V5. It was a personal best for me as well and, thus, doubly gratifying. The video can be viewed as a kind of condensed version of my relationship to this route. For more background refer to my summer of unfulfilled ambition.

Crickets

2010-03-30T12:54:00.000-07:00

I recently received this message from one of our more regular readers (maybe our only reader?).

"Not much blog activity. Getting out much?"

Good question. I haven't been too productive with internet output lately - on this blog and with the boulderingtucson.com website. Things have been busy, and while I have been climbing regularly, I haven't been able to squeeze in time to document it. I've been trying to find the time to add more to both sites, but with no luck. I know Dustin and Clayton have been super busy as well, so things have been a little slow here lately. So here is a quick and dirty run down of recent climbing exploits, and a couple sources of eye candy.

With all the recent rains we've had in Tucson, most of our stream beds have been pretty flooded, meaning most of our low elevation boulders are now islands. So for the time being I've switched back into sport climber mode, and have been mostly roping up lately. Have spent a lot of time at the Sun Spots Crag, a great winter crag with a good variety of challenging sport and hard trad lines. One exciting development there is a new line we have been toproping, with the intent of bolting it up next fall or early winter. The line follows a dead vertical, thin seam system for about 35 feet of DESPERATE climbing. It starts with a technical and very thin section, leads to a decent left layback, into a section of very powerful and tenuous right laybacks. The hands are good to decent, but the feet are nearly non-existent, forcing you into strenuous opposition moves up to a sharp, painful slot, and then to another section of hard, hard laybacking. Once you manage these moves, a fun section of 5.10 climbing leads you to the top. This route is probably the hardest vertical, technical climbing I have ever attempted, and will almost certainly be in the 5.13 range. I had tried it a few times without getting to psyched on it, then I discovered some really wild and cool beta that was much more fun, and am pretty excited to try it on lead next winter.

I've made a couple trips up to the Super Mega Secret Show And Tell Area (aka The Chessman), and have really enjoyed the routes up there. Two Kings and A Pawn might be the best 5.11 on the mountain, and Serf's Up is an incredibly fun 12a. I've got my eye on Kings Arete (5.13a), a beautiful green lichen streaked arete, but have so far not gotten on it.

We made a trip to The Helmet WAY too early in the season, and nearly got frostbite trying to do a 5.9 warm up. Once the sun hit us, we had a pretty good afternoon. I worked on No Climb For Old Men, I made progress, but I'm still not sure how old is too old. Do I need to get the redpoint before I turn 33? Apparently this amazing climb had not seen an FA, which I find odd, since it is such an inviting climb. 40 feet of 12a/b lead to the beginning of the business - 30 feet of pure horizontal roof climbing. Last year I tried the route a handful of times, but could never even get to the last draw and attempt the crux. This day I managed to figure out the beta for the difficult boulder problem at the end of the roof. Amazing movement and crazy exposure, I really want this route. It's so much fun, but having the endurance to do the last boulder problem after 25 feet of roof climbing is going to be difficult to build. Here are some photos Dustin took from that day: THE HELMET by DP

Dustin is becoming an extremely good climbing photographer, and also a super strong climber. After The Helmet, we headed up to the Matterhorn Boulder so he could try his hand at Jewel Thief. This is one of Tucsons most classic and difficult boulder problems, with a tall and intimidating crux way above the pads. Dustin has made quick work of deciphering the beta for this line, and was hoping to send. Unfortunately, his second try he fell making the last hard move, missed the pads, and jacked his ankle a bit. He will get this problem soon, though, and it will be a proud, proud ascent.

Lastly, I finally edited together some of the footage I took while in Hueco Tanks last month. I ran around North Mountain like a junkie in search of a fix, trying my hand at as many of Huecos classic problems as I could. My goal was to send one hard problem and then tick off as many 3 and 4 star problems as I could. I pretty quickly sent Daily Dick Dose (v7), which fulfilled my first goal. After that I tried a few more hard problems (namely Babyface, Baby Martini and Mexican Chicken), but mostly climbed moderate and easy classics, such as No One Here Gets Out Alive, T-Bone Shuffle, Lobster Claw and Melon Patch. Here is a short video:

Tamo - High and Low Expectations

2010-03-22T18:07:00.000-07:00

This is Tam O'Shanter Peak:

On the left there you can see a portion of one of the many quartzite crags surrounding Tamo. The reason these cliffs have seen any development at all is pretty unusual. A few years ago a mining company set it's sights on extracting the vast copper deposits below some of the amazing climbing at Queen Creek, just 30 minutes north of Tamo. In an effort to appease the climbing community they paid John Sherman and a small crew to bolt anchors, scout boulders, and to write-up a guide for the cliffs around Tamo. The mining company also planned on buying up the private property necessary to secure 2WD access to Tamo, and proposed to turn the area into a State Park. The last two parts of their plan never happened, leaving hundreds of established trad and sport routes and countless boulder problems without legal, or by any means easy access. The link for the guide that Sherman wrote was quickly removed from climbtamo.com.

This spring break, when plans to go to Joe's Valley didn't work out, my brother and I decided it was time to get out to Tamo, finally. We eagerly contacted anybody who had been there via Mountain Project for directions and road conditions. We were surprised to get the guide emailed to us so easily; 40 pages of color photographs and descriptions for around 80 routes got us psyched for a new type of rock and an area that according to a man who has climbed in all fifty states "boasts arguably the finest stone to climb on west of the Mississippi."

The Road
We had read a trip report from 2007 that stated that access could be gained without opening any gates or crossing any private property signs. Armed with satellite images from Google and a printout of this trip report, we headed out early Thursday morning. The dirt road was paved for the first 2 miles, hugging the foothills of these limestone cliffs:

Soon we came to a locked gate marked "NO TRESPASSING." We backtracked to a turnoff for a small jeep trail and started up some tight switchbacks. The road was pretty bad. Granted our truck, a Chevy diesel is pretty wide, we found ourselves constantly checking the tires. To our left was usually a scary steep hillside, while on the right we were trying not to scrape the tires and wheels on large or sharp rocks.

The Rock
We arrived, set up camp, collected wood, drank a beer and bitched about the cold wind that was steadily gaining force. We then set out for the nearest crag, which happened to be a shady and sheltered top-rope area called The Corridors.

We did several routes, most of them overhung, and then went up a slab 11a. The rock features everything from sloping edges to boxy pinches, to sharp and round pockets. With mostly short routes on awesome rock, we walked away that night with mixed feelings about what to expect the next day when we would walk the mile long main wall, down to the ultra-classic 5.10, Mi Gusta.

The Main Area
The next morning, having still not seen the main cliffs, we wondered down the hillside above them, looking for the cave that would take us through the BBQ Gully. Once we made our way through a small chimney we finally got a glimpse of the cliffs and of the many large boulders below them. We started climbing pretty quickly.

The large red face on the left is the Overlook, over 100 feet tall and located on private land, and currently not developed.

The Red Wall, over 85 feet tall, sustained overhang with three truly aesthetic routes, 12+, 13+ and unknown.

When we finally made it to the day's goal, the "***OFF THE CHARTS***" 5.10 that Sherman dubbed Mi Gusta, we found a beautiful north facing cave filled with grass that sees no sunshine. We also noticed orange-colored water seeping out of the walls. The dogs were super stoked on the grass.

We ate lunch, and then got our asses spanked by Mi Gusta. Some of the moves are so long and committing and the holds so elusive that even the steady 5.12 leader would have trouble getting the onsight.

We honestly were completely unimpressed with the climb; outside of rock quality, meaning simply hardness, we couldn't understand the "***OFF THE CHARTS***" rating. At about 3:00, we left Tamo, utterly disappointed at least with the roped climbs (we didn't hike down to the boulders), and determined not to waste the last two days of our trip. I must say that if Tamo had received the attention (read funding) that it was originally supposed to get, if the road was easily navigable in a Civic, and if there were about 400 more routes, then it might be worth it to go there.

Sadly we still had a good two hours between us and our next big goal: cheap and awesome Mexican food and margaritas at Los Hermanos in Superior. We were headed to the Rhyolite climbs of Queen Creek, safe in the thought that Marty Karabin, one of the main developers there, had never let us down before.

Devils Canyon
The first route we decided to do in Lower Devils was an eight-bolt 5.8 called Hidden Splendor. To get to the climb you have to climb a chimney that involves a freestanding pillar no more than 3 feet in diameter. The approach comes up the center of the following photo, about 30 feet of unprotected 5.6 climbing, and lots of fun.

The route itself climbs through about 90 feet of awesome, sustained 5.8 climbing, and in our humble opinion deserves about 20 more stars than Mi Gusta at Tamo; Hell, I'd even give the approach as many stars as that 45 foot climb.

Having climbed in the shade all day we decided to go find something in the sun. Our search for warmer walls paid off with this:

Texas Duo, 5.10, climbs through 9 bolts of slab, overhanging, and exposed rock. While many of the holds sounded hollow, nothing broke, and the friction and shape to them was just incredible. In Queen Creek, hold grabs you.

Alien Abduction and The Bamba Wall
On our last day we decided to check out a V3 boulder problem that we had heard a lot about, called Alien Abduction. It climbs an overhung face with sinker pockets, friction crimps and several jugs. The top-out is actually the crux, requiring some small crimps and the use of a vertical crack. An awesome problem, and a good warm-up for our next stop.

An amazing sloper-pocket-pinch on a nearby stem-problem.

Next we went to the Bamba Wall, an amazing wave shaped rock with numerous top-ropes and two sport routes. The easier of the two routes is rated 12c and climbs a beautiful line up the face and finishes up a crack and dihedral. The crux seemed to be moving into the crack using small crimps.

We finished up the day by climbing as many routes as possible at the Davey Jones Locker and the Girls Locker room. While there I surprised myself by sending a problem that seemed impossible the last time I saw it, two months ago, no idea of the grade or the name.

In reluctant conclusion I have to say that even if Tamo was carried out to fruition it could never hope to replace the amount and quality of climbing in Queen Creek. I realize that one starred route and a few top-ropes is not really enough to judge an entire area, but with such short routes and quite a bit of bad rock I just don't see that much potential. It will be sad to see many of Queen Creek's areas disappear into the pits of mines, but at the same time, if we can preserve Devils Canyon, Oak Flats, The Pond and Atlantis, then I am more than happy to part with The Mine Area and Euro Dog Valley, especially if it means even a small number Arizonans get steady jobs out of it.

Extreme Makeover - Backyard Edition

2010-02-17T10:38:00.000-08:00

The weather has been surprisingly uncooperative lately. But I have been outside a little lately - a day bouldering at Oak Flats, some time up at Sun Spots and a little bit of bushwhacking and exploring for new boulders. And making lots of enemies in the world of internet ethics police - wheres my pad???

The most exciting thing lately has been the construction of a small woodie in our backyard. I've been contemplating this idea for a while, but usually get bogged down in the planning process when I remember that I have no carpentry skills. This time when I started mulling over the idea, I forced myself into committing to the project by running to Home Depot and buying a bunch of wood. HAHA, take that common sense! You won't win this time!

With the limited space in the backyard, I'm decided to build an 8'x8' main wall, with a 2' kicker at the base (a short vertical wall for starting with your feet). The wall will overhang about 35 degrees, steep enough to be hard, but not so steep that every hold has to be a jug. Eventually I hope to enclose the sides in with two vertical walls for the kids, but that will be a little later.

So far the kicker is complete, t-nuts and all. The main wall is framed, and ready to be mounted. Hopefully I'll have some friends swing by tomorrow and help with the heavy lifting involved in that step. Then once Kerry gets the plywood painted, we can mount that up and start setting! I've got some holds coming from Contact Climbing, a local company that makes excellent holds. I would have bought from them just to support the local guys, but fortunately they really do make some of the best holds on the market. I also got a couple good deals on ebay for a few more holds, so by next week I should have 60+ holds ready for action.

At this point I figure I will be getting stronger one of two ways: 1) climb on the wall a lot, get stronger, or, 2) lose a finger in sawing a 2x4 and gain superhuman powers like Tommy Caldwell. Win-win!

THE FREAKIN HOMESTEAD

2010-02-02T10:30:00.000-08:00

CAPS LOCK ON!!!! WENT TO THE HOMESTEAD LAST WEEK!!!!! HOLY CRAP!!!!! THAT PLACE IS RIDICULOUS!!!! LIMESTONE EVERYWHERE!!!!! IMMACULATE GRITTY GREY LIMESTONE!!!!! WHITE LIMESTONE WITH TUFAS!!!! ROOFS!!!! SO MUCH TO DO!!!! NO PICTURES BUT THEY WOULDN'T DO THE PLACE JUSTICE ANYWAYS!!! ONLY 2 HOURS AWAY - LET'S GO!!!! LET'S GO!!!!

Sun Spots Crag - Twilight Zone Edition

2010-01-27T09:59:00.000-08:00

Arriving at the Sun Spots Crag on Tuesday, I had the odd feeling of being somewhere familiar, yet somehow completely different. With a recent spate of actual weather, Mt. Lemmon had somehow turned into a Bizarro version of Mt. Lemmon. Looking across to the north slope facing us, there was an odd coating of powdery white stuff covering the ground and the scrubby desert plants. In the bottom of the valley between the crag and the powdery white slope, was a torrent of liquid flowing mightily across the landscape in a serpentine path. What were these Bizarro phenomenon we were observing?

Ignoring the eerie backdrop, we commenced climbing. Mike and I started up English Breakfast Crack, a nice 5.9 tips crack. It was nice plugging some gear again, something I always resolve to do more of, but then end up scaring the crap out of myself and giving up that crazy ideal. Mike is usually an instigator for my trad climbing, but he usually picks out awful choss piles for us to try...fortunately this was a great climb. Very aesthetic with great climbing - a mix of finger tip jamming, laybacks, and using the arete out left. The rest of the crew - Geir, Christian and Eric - warmed up on a short and bulgy 5.10 around the corner.

After warming up, the other guys joined us near the base of Breakfast Crack, where there are two other great climbs next to each other. Solar E-Clips is a fantastic 11b/c sport climb, and next to it is Rehearsal of Fortune, a powerful and difficult 11+/12- gear climb. I headed up E-Clips, a pumpy and interesting climb I had tried once last spring. Hoping for the redpoint today, I started up the initial chimney. This route is one of the most varied single pitches I have ever done - it truly has a little of everything. Finger locks, gastons, technical laybacks, feet-cutting-pulling-through-the-roof moves, CHIMNEYS!, powerful press moves, high steps, underclings under a roof to a blind reach for a crimp, awkward rests in a chimney, two short sections of jug hauling, foot jams!!!! Sadly, I don't think I utilized a single heel hook, but other than that, this route is amazingly diverse for only 80 feet, and one of my favorites on the mountain. It will also pump you silly, which resulted in some serious hangdogging trying to flush the lactic acid from my forearms. After figuring out the moves, and some key rest beta from Eric, I sent next go.

Solar E-Clips:

Meanwhile, Geir was attempting to finish off Rehearsal of Fortune next door. He'd been projecting the route, hoping today would be the day. This is a really quality climb - except for one bolt down low is all gear protected, but has dynamic and sporty moves. Geir looked super solid down low, but fell on the upper crux on both redpoint attempts. Next time!

And continuing the Bizarro theme, all of a sudden some dude was climbing in leopard print tights and a tiger striped helmet. Whether he was trying to conjure animal spirits in an attempt to send, or just pick up girls, I will never know. But the damage done to my corneas will never be undone.

A Day at The Dry

2010-01-26T19:21:00.000-08:00

Mondays. Mehhhh.....

I mean, MMMOOONNDDAAAYYY!!!!

This semester Mondays aren't so bad for me. Last semester I had class at 9:00 am. Now I don't have class until 5:00 pm. This means I can leave in the morning, around eight or so, be climbing by around nine, hiking out by 3:00 and back to the house with plenty of time to finish homework and drink a beer before class... Or so I thought, leaving my house yesterday morning, headed for a south facing limestone crag just an hour and a half outside of Tucson called The Dry.

The day started out slow but interesting. We'd been told the road is passable in a capable 2wd vehicle. But with the weather we've been having recently the road was coated in thick, slick mud. The road isn't terrible, but it includes some steep very steep slopes. Luckily we were driving Beto's dad's trusty old Jeep. We slid down hills so steep the road would disappear from view beyond the hood. Finally we turned around a hillside and saw this:

That's right, it's snow.

Neither Beto or I had been to the Dry before, but I had heard a lot about one route in particular named Spinal Twist. A steep and fun 12a that includes an over sized spine-shaped tufa and a steep roof. Unfortunately the rock on a lot of the steep stuff was shiny, wet, slippery and most importantly, too weak to climb on. We still managed to get on a few vertical climbs that were amazing and tricky.

Broken Biscuits (10d) includes fun climbing up to a juggy roof, finishing with a short layback.

The roof makes for a fun free rappel coming down.

We also did Last Call (11a), which goes up a shallow dihedral to a thin, white face, and then finishes on an awesome 20-foot crack/dihedral. The pictures just don't do it justice.

Stella is part Mountain Goat.

By the time we left the crag it was 3:40, and by the time I got back to the house it was 5:20. I was 40 minutes late to class. The best part: it didn't matter at all. I love community college.

Down in the Basin

2010-01-18T15:16:00.000-08:00

Friday found us enjoying a perfect January day at the boulders of Molino Basin. Dustin and I were joined by Pete (a strong sport climber trying to rebuild some strength after a few months off recovering from a broken foot) and Jonathan (an aspiring pro cyclist, here in Tucson for the winter for training). The weather was warm, 70 degrees, but absolutely perfect conditions in the shade of the canyon for gripping onto the water polished boulders of Molino.

It was nice having a few pads and spotters, as there a few problems here I've been wanting to get on, but have always put off climbing them without good protection. So after a few quick warmups, it was nice finally getting on Moonboard (v4, or v7ish from the low start) and Battle Tackle (v4). I had hoped to work a bit on Hammer of Hate (v8ish), but a headache slowly building up throughout the day cut my climbing a little short.

Molino is one of my favorite places on the mountain to boulder, with great rock, fun problems, and an idyllic setting. I only wish there were about 10 more good boulders down there. Here is a short video of some of the problems we did:

Sixty Megaton F-Bomb

2010-01-07T11:17:00.000-08:00

The City of Rocks, New Mexico sprouts up out of the desert like a gaggle of tumescent warts on an otherwise pristine cheek-- unexpected, disturbing and fascinating all at the same time. The volcanic bulges, pockmarked with huecos and pockets, are as pleasing to ogle and photograph as they are to climb. The rocks sing with a straining, tenuous energy that embodies the uncontrollable forces that made them burst out of the earth in the first place, millions of years ago, like some kind of terrestrial ejaculate.

Deming, New Mexico, twenty-five miles away and the jumping of point for exploring the City of Rocks houses a similarly seminal epicurean experience-- the green chile-salsa-smothered, tortilla-wrapped delights of Tacos Mirasol (309 East Pine St. Deming, NM) Located less than fifty miles from the green-chile capitol of the Free World, Hatch, New Mexico, the flat-grill artists at Tacos Mirasol miss no opportunity to bathe their wares in green fire. The tacos al carbon swim in chile, cilantro and lime in a kind of mystical goulash that will open doors in your mind to other, as-of-yet un-glimpsed dimensions. They are the perfect fuel for scaling the tumultuous blobs at the City of Rocks.

On our most recent trip, en-route to Deep East Texas for Christmas celebrations, Katie and I found ourselves dabbing green-chile salsa from our chins around four in the afternoon. We were aware of the existence of the City of Rocks but had never visited and it seemed an ideal spot to stop off for the evening. By five o'clock or so we were pulling into a campsite at the City of Rocks and with a few minutes were off exploring the boulders.

Wind and time have sculpted the thumbs of volcanic stone at the City of Rocks into rounded, bulbous nodes supported by thick columns. Many problems overhang slightly to a lot and in often times down-climbing a problem proves as cruxy as scaling it in the first place. Unimpressed with the sketchy down-climbs, Katie left me to dabble with the problems in the fading light and went off to shoot some beautiful sunset photos.

As night settled in I finished off a handful of problems-- just enough to whet my appetite for the place --and wandered back into camp where Katie waited with a bottle of wine and expectations of veggie chili. I was more than happy to oblige.

When we settled into the crashpad in front of the fire happily clutching our dinners and libations the first, cold stars had begun to pierce the fabric of night. The only sound other than the crackling of our fire came from a lonesome coyote somewhere out on the plain.

And then, from nowhere, a great, rumbling green behemoth lurched out of the darkness and into the campsite just adjacent to us. It smelled of fried potatoes, pot and patchouli and when it opened its maw it disgorged as ragged a bunch of hillbilly hippies as has been seen since Willie Nelson's last picnic in Lukenbach, TX. Their first move was to find the singular, dead oak tree up amongst the boulders and stomp it brutally to the ground before dragging it, in its entirety, back to their fire pit. They carried on loudly in a overly-gregarious way like people going through the motions of having a raucously good time for the benefit of outside observers. I recognized the paces because I have been through them before, myself.

The wine and the fire and pleasant warmth of Katie beside me on the crashpad as we gazed up at the stars kept the edge of irritation I might have felt from creeping to far up on me. The band of modern-day Merry Pranksters lit up their oak tree and produced a guitar and several drums and commenced to hammer out every David Allen Coe tune that the grizzled old bastard ever turned out. In a display, too perfectly apt for words everyone joined in on a rousing, howl-at-the-moon sing-a-long of "My Long Hair Just Can't Cover up My Redneck."

"Maybe we should wander over and introduce ourselves," I mused to Katie, but she remained unconvinced, sensing the slight undercurrent of discord that the wine had made me forget. A girl in the group whose voiced stood out amongst the din had popped up several times over the campfire bacchanal to snipe at one or another of the menagerie. They covered it well, but there lingered, like an aftertaste, the sense that life on the road might be unraveling a little bit.

We went to sleep, though, on the ground under the stars and the hippies quieted down to a low murmur of voices behind a wall of rocks from us. Falling stars scored the night's sky and we drifted off as a layer of frost began to descend on us.

When the girl began to yell she sounded like a fourteen-year-old boy-- quivering, voice cracking, and enraged.

"I hate this f@#$ing bulls#$@!" She screamed. "F@#% you! Just get me the F@#$ out of here!"

Owls hooted from the rocks when she yelled. Other owls answered from far away.

"Shut up you evil f@#$%@g c@#t! Get back in your bed!" The man had a voice like a hibernating bear being dragged from his cave by the balls.

They did their verbal sparring right there in front of the stars and coyotes and everyone. Sixty megaton F-bombs detonating in the atmosphere burned up all the oxygen even in that cold air and the only things left to breathe for those of us in the blast zone were hate and vitriol.

"You're an evil f@#$%#g bastard! I hate this f@&#$*g crap!" she wailed. There came a scuffling sound and then the man roared.

"Why would you do that? That's my f@#$%&g life! My f@#$%&g is in that backpack! You evil f@#$%&g b@#$h!"

Still interred in my mummy bag, like a blind grub searching for food, I lifted my torso and craned my neck to peer around the boulders that separated us. The man danced around their fire that was now burning with a strange color and intensity. His hand snaked out into the flames several times but came back empty until finally he snatched the flaming backpack from the fire. He stomped it out and, strangely, that seemed to be the end of it. He climbed back into the school bus where, presumably, the whole band huddled together for warmth.

The girl stayed outside weeping in the night. I settled back onto my sleeping pad and gazed up at the stars hoping for sleep to return. Then she began to puke-- long hard, retching horks that sounded like they rent her body completely apart. The splash of her guts on the rock was the last sound I heard that night.

In the morning, I made every effort to create as much racket as possible slamming doors, bouncing loudly in the bed of my truck. No one seemed to notice from the school bus, which in the daylight I could see had been painted green and from which hung all sorts of hippie adornments and bicycles. It had been converted to run on vegetable oil and painted above the windshield in black lettering it said: "The Green Team." I resisted the urge to walk over and a put a few pistol rounds through the engine block while they slept off all their David Allen Coe-inspired good cheer. It seemed a moot point, anyway, I didn't think the Green Team, in its current incarnation, would be rolling on too much longer.

Instead, I treated Katie to a grand-slam breakfast at Denny's with lots of extra coffee and bacon. And then I drove us to Texas.

The City of Rocks at Sunrise

The City of Rocks at Sunset

The campsite where F-Bombs cauterized our sleep synapses.

In Search of Cochise

2010-01-05T20:10:00.001-08:00

After a great day of climbing at Milagrosa Canyon today, I am frantically trying to find all the warm coats, hats and mittens that get neglected here in Tucson as I pack for a trip to St. Louis. I am also questioning my sanity, leaving Tucson at it's finest for the sub-arctic weather of the midwest. When I get off the plane tomorrow, the high will be about 15 degrees, not factoring wind chill. Holy crap.

Yesterday Clayton and I took advantage of the amazing weather and headed out to the east side of Cochise Stronghold for some bouldering. Scattered around the campground, and a short hike away, are a good number of fantastic granite boulders. We got worked pretty hard on these granite eggs. While they are not steep, the climbing is very physical, with lots of powerful squeezing and pressing involved. Every problem we got on was great, with a variety of interesting features to keep things interesting. I could go on and on about how cool the place is and how much history the place has, but I gotta keep this short to finish packing....so here's the video....enjoy!

Hairpin Boulders

2009-12-31T07:52:00.001-08:00

This week was a special one because our old Team Tueday co-conspirator Tyler was back in town. I got to climb with him at Ventana last week and Silverbell on Monday, so it was great catching up and climbing with him again.

This Tuesday found us at the Hairpin Boulders after we got scared a little by the weather forecast. We had planned on heading out to Cochise Stronghold and doing some bouldering there, but the forecast didn't look too good for anywhere in Southern Arizona. So we decided to stay close, and not risk waking up extra early then driving an hour and a half and being rained out. IDIOTS! We woke up to perfectly clear skies and perfect temps. Oh well, off to Hairpin.

I've been to Hairpin a few times lately, but was excited to go back and take care of some business. First, I needed some pictures for the website, and a little more reconnaissance for making a topo of the area. I also needed to finish a project, the unfortunately named Cop Killa. This problem is a slightly contrived variation on the Hairpin Roof, but has outstanding moves. My last visit I got the moves worked out pretty quickly, but kept falling going for the last tiny incut crimp. I managed to send first go, but we didn't get any footage of it. Oh well. If you want to see Cop Killa and a few of the other harder problems at Hairpin, you can check out this video from the mutant strong Matt Fowls on vimeo. See if you can catch the cameo from Asher...

After Cop Killa, Dustin worked on Widowmaker, a cool but very committing problem over a pretty bad landing. It is a problem much scarier and a little harder if you are not tall, and scarier with just two pads. He'll get it for sure with a little more foam under him.

We then went to the other side of the roof, where there is a cool juggy, v1sh overhang. Having not climbed much this semester, Tyler tried valiantly to link this one together, but couldn't manage to send. Dustin and I worked on the low start, which supposedly has thwarted some strong climbers, but we figured it out pretty quickly. Then we made up a pretty sweet dyno we dubbed Archaeopteryx. This is a sweet dyno because it is not real far, but is very steep, requiring good technique and precision to nail the lip.

Check out some of the results of the day below:

Ventana Canyon

2009-12-21T15:42:00.000-08:00

Here is a video from last Friday's Ventana Canyon session.

Winter Wonderland

2009-12-17T17:34:00.001-08:00

Ahhh, winter in Tucson. While I keep seeing news updates about feet of snow covering parts of the country, we are still wearing shorts. The days are shorter, but the temps for climbing are perfect. Sunny and warm, with a cool breeze giving the air a crispness and the making friction excellent. This is a;so why the town also is filling up with snowbirds, escaping all those places getting hit with winter storms. Old folks rolling into town with Minnesota plates, stepping out of their Town Cars wearing shorts and sandals with socks. Welcome back!

We've been getting more done at Panther Peak, and there are close to 50 problems there now. Along with Panther, I've had a couple sessions out at Hairpin Boulders with kids in tow. Hairpin is about as good as it gets for bouldering with kids. Easy approach, big sandy areas for them to play, and plenty of kid-sized boulders for them to scramble around on. Asher has developed his own bouldering circuit near the Hairpin Roof, and Adelaide likes taking pictures of everyone. They get excited about going there, and have a blast being out there. Fortunately, everyone I've been out there with seems pretty patient and tolerant of them being out there.

Here are some photos from the last couple of weeks.

Panther Peak:

Hairpin Boulders:

Tomorrow we're heading out to Ventana Canyon, another spot with a bunch of new boulders. While Ventana doesn't have as many boulders as Panther, the quality/quantity ratio at Ventana is as high as anywhere in Tucson. More on that soon...

Happy holidays to everyone out there. And if winter weather is getting you down, you know where to come!

First and Last Ascents

2009-12-09T17:13:00.000-08:00

Two years ago, on this day, I was in southern China making my way east to Yangshuo for the last bit of climbing on a 4 month backpacking trip with my brother. Two weeks later I would be flying out of Hong Kong, headed to Hawaii and then back to Arizona. I had only started climbing during the semester before embarking on this trip, but still managed to find room for my first pair of climbing shoes in my 28 liter backpack (actually they were usually stashed on the side, in the bottle-holders). After about two months of traveling we arrived in Ton Sai, Thailand, and climbing became our main concentration. We purchased a rope and a rack of draws the second or third day, and climbed pretty much every day there for the next month. But before Thailand we spent most of our time reading, eating, and visiting temples if we felt like actually doing something, and we only managed to climb one day.

That one day was spent at 15,000+ feet, bouldering some of the thousands of rocks blanketing the slope of a mountain overlooking the Lhasa river valley in Tibet.

Lhasa River

Lhasa

We took a ride in the back of a farmer's truck to get up on the foothills of the mountain, about a ten minute ride. Then we hiked through a six hundred-year-old maze of a monastery for around 30 minutes, the buildings getting older and less restored as we gained elevation.

Finally, we were rewarded with this:

The yellow square below is approximately what is shown above. And the Google image below is maybe 1/20th of what surrounds Lhasa.

Some of the boulders right above the monastery were over 40 feet tall. Unfortunately, rock around there are "sacred" so we hiked quite a bit higher, until the prayer flags thinned out.

I only climbed three short and easy lines out of potentially thousands. Grazing around us were hundreds of wild yaks, probably some of the corpses we saw later, skinned, decapitated and piled on the sidewalks during the evening. When we got up to where the above picture was taken the rocks shrunk a little smaller, along with the level of oxygen in the air. With spots in our eyes we decided to retreat back down to the monastery. We made it back at sunset, with bells ringing we assumed some sort of service was starting.

To get from the monastery down the hill to town, where we could take a taxi back to the hostel, we rode on the back of a Tibetan's motorcycle, one at a time. After getting up some speed, the man turned his bike off, including the lights, and coasted the winding road down the forested hillside at night, and I thought of Space-Mountain.

According to the last email I got from our embassy in China, foreign travel to Tibet has been stopped since September of this year. When we were there they only required a 40 dollar permit, which we managed to avoid getting. We also met a French dude who had been camping and hitchhiking throughout Tibet for three months without one. But needless to say, getting caught would be pretty unpleasant, and you'd be blacklisted from China. Hope for the autonomy of Tibet, the return of the Dalai Lama, is pretty much a dream, Lhasa is a military state, and I'm sure by now it is much worse than when we were there. It is beautiful though, and there is a ton of rock.

On a cheerier note:

From an artificial mountain in Beijing.

Japan, Rearry?

I leave you with a crazy ass Japanese toilet, and implore you to enlarge the image and check out the options on the armrest.

More Early Christmas Presents

2009-12-03T21:08:00.000-08:00

Panther Rhetoric

2009-11-22T08:24:00.001-08:00

Here at Team Tuesday the excitement is palpable. Panther is the word on every tongue. Everyone sees their own private masterpiece when they look at the Panther Boulders-- slick new lines, slick new videos, a view that stretches from Marana to Mexico... If Panther Rhetoric resides, as Jean Genet said, not in elegant discourse, but in strength of affirmation then here I present, as forcefully as I can, my own affirmation of all things Panther.

Some Much Work To Do

2009-11-20T21:27:00.000-08:00

Today I went back out to the Panther Boulders for an afternoon sesh. Paco and I arrived at about 1:00 but didn't start climbing until around 2:00, we just wandered around checking everything out and picking out potential projects. There are still so many problems to be cleaned and sent, the task is kind of daunting. (I look forward to the day when we have enough problems to fill the pages of a guide, and when I can flip through it at the base of these boulders). We found too many options, and finally settled back at our starting spot: The Meatwad.

Standing at about 40 ft at the tallest point, the Meatwad is a monsterous block with steep walls on two sides. The parts that aren't steep are just barely slab, and are also the tallest faces. Its scary to look up at all the watermelon-size blocks that may or may not break while climbing them. Two new problems were born here today, but only one was sent. Mechanical Mannequin V0, is Paco's first FA, and is pretty damn fun (watch below) . Pocketmaster 3000, the project, is likely to weigh in around V5 and is painful (Video will come as soon as a send does).

Panther's New Groove from Dustin Payne on Vimeo.

Two Quick Panther Vids

2009-11-19T15:45:00.000-08:00

Hmmm, can't figure out why these won't get smaller....but if you click on the videom it will pop up in youtube and you can watch with no problems.

Dustin on Zig Zag

FA of Righteous Beast

Team Tuesday vs The Panther

2009-11-14T15:24:00.000-08:00

Team Tuesday posse was in full effect yesterday, and we put the smackdown at Panther Peak. 7 FA's, including a stellar new line put up by Dustin. Fat Hunk of Burning Love (v4) goes up the obvious overhanging prow that you walk under as you enter the HUB. This steep bulge is a striking and inviting line, at least until you spy the landing. A dynamic fall from up high could spell disaster, but Dustin held it together and sent his third try (his first try ended quickly when the lip of the starting pocket broke and Dustin fell six feet square on his back - watch the fall below).

There are about 25 established problems at Panther now, and a faint trail is beginning to form, so the approach is getting easier and easier. We've created a little momentum, now hopefully we'll get people coming out, climbing our problems and establishing new ones. There are more than enough new problems here for anyone willing to put in the effort. If you do happen to check out Panther, I'd love to hear your thoughts on the place.

In related news, I've started up a Tucson bouldering website. Inspired partially by a renewed enthusiasm for bouldering and the development of at least two quality new areas, I felt Tucson's climbing community and all the lonely, neglected boulders of Southern Arizona would benefit from such a site. I hope it will become a community effort, with anyone who is passionate about our sport free to contribute to the site however they they see fit. There isn't much content on the site currently, but feel free to check it out and let me know what you think, and check back later for more good stuff. BOULDERING TUCSON!

Here is some video from yesterdays throwdown:

Welcome to Panther Peak from Joe Kreidel on Vimeo.

Inside the Confessional

2009-11-12T19:46:00.000-08:00

The fact that climbing has become the most important thing in my life is a problem. School has been unintentionally neglected. On homework, I just can't focus. You might think this is due to climbing too often (which, on second thought, seems impossible), but I've usually only climbed two days a week this semester. Compared to last semester that figure is about half.

What is it then?

Well, I'll tell you. It's only the prospect of climbing that has taken over my life. I am so enamored by rock that I spend the rest of the week just researching and daydreaming of it. In fact I'd go as far as to say that not climbing as much as made my work output less. You see, weekend trips are usually planned, and therefore able to taunt me, throughout the week. Whenever a browser is opened on my computer, to do homework mind you, my motivation gets derailed by Mountain Project, and all that energy gets drained into scanning through the thousands of Arizona rock climbing pictures, or checking on the development at the new Panther Peak boulders. Then, all of a sudden, its time to make dinner. I am addicted. And this semester is wasted.

Well, it could be worse, Mom.
It could be heroin, right?

Anyway, here are some photos from the Homestead 80's weekend that went down last month. I believe the last head count was somewhere around 25, which has got to be a record for that place. Enjoy.

Dick and Harry 5.10c FA.
See that horizontal crack there, you go to it with your left, match it, then move up to a really good ledge. The Crux: Move over to the right on the edge, get a high left foot jammed somewhere, and fire up left handed to a little, high-friction pinch. The real hard part is getting your feet up because the pinch and the next hold are so close to the lip.

Larry is on the left, he bolted Dick and Harry the day before, and he is watching me climb it now.

Underclinging the crack.

The baby we found, abandoned, up at Welcome Wall.

It's spandex, not leather.

The route on the right is Milk Bone, a three-bolt, 40-foot 5.10a at Bone Town. Imagine three limestone blocks stacked on top of eachother, each the size of two rubix cubes, and you'll have an idea of what the hold is like. For the unimaginative, just know that it is glorious.

All photos by Paco Galvan.

More From Panther

2009-11-06T06:18:00.001-08:00

We opened up two good new lines today, and temporarily lost a great one. We also started to clean and work a short overhanging wall that will have at least six good problems.

A problem we started to work on Tuesday, in the cave below the finish of Righteous Beast, was dispatched pretty quickly, and is now Nautilus (v3, FA Chris Prewitt).

Nautilus from Joe Kreidel on Vimeo.

We then walked 100 feet downhill to the Monkey Skull:

Curious George (v3, FA MAtt Fowls) climbs the bulge of the right side of his mouth, topping out through his right eye. The problem is steeper than it looks, with your body at one point being dead horizontal. Some great moves and fun heel hooks on this problem.

Getting o work on a short overhang on the back side of the Pyramid:

And on Righteous Beast, the fantastic long roof I sent on Tuesday, we made the decision to clean of a large and important jug cobble. The cobble at first seemed super solid, but after repeated attempts on the problem, and lots of weight being put on it, it slowly started to flex more and more. Rather than risk this rugby ball-sized cobble breaking off in some ones face, and knowing it would eventually come out anyways, we decided to pry it off. The line is now more difficult for sure, but is even better than it was before. Instead of 20 feet of roof jugs to two hard moves, you now have twenty feet of jugs into a series of hard moves that could be considered a quality boulder problem unto itself. We worked out the beta, but no one could manage a send. This will be a proud and hard line, for sure.

Matt working out the beta on the lower sections of Righteous Beast:

When cleaning lines at this place (or anywhere), it is a thin and difficult line to walk when decided what stays, what goes, how best to clean, what to do about landings and vegetation, etc. It was a bit heartbreaking to see the large cobble go on Righteous Beast, as this was my proudest FA to date. And while it is not something I really like to see, and something I had wanted to avoid at this area, I have to admit I was quite tempted to reinforce the cobble with glue. But there is plenty of that already on Tucson's boulders, and really should be a practice of the past. So while it was hard to do, I went ahead and broke the cobble loose. The result is another stellar, proud FA up for grabs.

Panther Boulders

2009-11-03T17:50:00.000-08:00

I first made the long trek out to the boulders about 10 days ago, and posted a few photos and one crappy video. I scoped out a bunch of quality looking stuff, but only climbed one ok roof, because it was lowball and pretty safe to climb with one pad and no spotter. It could see the potential, but didn't experience it. Today I went back with my friend Chris (no stranger to Team Saucisson, as Chris is a fellow midwest refugee) who had originally spied the boulders using the incredible satellite images from Microsoft Bing. We had a great day, and I am only more certain in the fact that this place is for real.

The boulders here are of a massive scale, which was evident from the satellite images. These boulders are STEEP, with overhangs of every angle. Many of these boulders are tall, and will require rapping in to clean and inspect holds. Right now the biggest downside to this place is the rock quality. There is a lot of choss, but with a little work, most of the lines are cleaning up nicely.

The rock come in two basic varieties: 1) volcanic conglomerate - this rock is the chossiest stuff, but also has some of the coolest features - cobbles and bricks of all sizes welded into the matrix of the rock. This rock requires the most cleaning, but after getting cleaned and climbed on, should be pretty solid.. And 2) Silverbell-quality bullet volcanic. This is similar to the real hard and solid (and often sharp) volcanic rock found at Silverbell Boulders, which aren't too far away. There are a some fractured pieces that need to be cleaned, but once the loose stuff is cleaned, the rock is bomber. Fortunately, on many problems the lower part of the problem will be on the weaker conglomerate, and the topouts will be on the bullet rock. Pretty reassuring once you are well off the deck.

Today we started at the Quivering Beast boulder, where Chris had cleaned and established a fantastic and long roof problem. It goes at around v4, and tops out after about 15 feet of horizontal climbing. While this problem itself is a worthy climb, there was an obvious extension that was our main objective for the morning.

Quivering Beast starts on the bottom right of the boulder, and climbs the underbelly to the jug pockets right of the woody bush in the photo. The extension keeps going, topping out left of the arete:

After working the problem in sections, it became a matter of having the gas left to stick the final crux throw after 20+ feet of roof climbing. With your left hand in a shallow pocket - and a key thumb catch - you bump your right hand along a sloping lip. You get a solid heel hook, then make a long move to a small crimp on the lip. Careful - if you miss the hold your heel is liable to stay and you are likely to go head first into your pads. Chris pulled this awesome feat off, which was only slightly less dramatic than Dustin's full gainer into a belly flop from a similar heel hook at Hairpin...

After dialing in all the moves, and with the sun creeping up on us, I managed to pull out a send, nabbing the FA of this incredible problem. In keeping with the Beast theme, I named it Righteous Beast, and I think this problem might be one of the best in all of Tucson.

Chris at the crux:

We then went to work in the cave just down and left from where Righteous Beast tops out. There was an intriguing line of underclings and pockets up the short and steep face, and after just a few minutes of brushing it was ready to go. Starting with a right hand underling and your left hand gastoning a sloping pocket, you pull up and make a LOOOOONG move to a good, sharp pocket.

Bump your right to another sharp little pocket, set a wicked drop knee, and make a LOOOOOONG move with your right hand to another pocket.

The hold I am gunning for isn't even visible in this picture:

We both had limited success on this problem, but hasn't seen a solid send. Chris sent using slightly different beta, but with the pad checking his swing. I thought I had it, nailing the long throw and holding the swing, only to have a huge chunk of the pockets lip rip right out from under me. This will be another quality dynamic problem on this boulder, with an FA up for grabs...

After the Beast we headed up to escape the unseasonably fierce sun in the shade of the mighty Split Boulder.

Actually two boulders separated by a large split, the Split Boulders have a lot of potential. Chris has sent a line on the left boulder (the north face), and had his eye on a tall problem on the right boulder (the south face). He had worked out the beta for the bottom, but without a spotter committing to the tall topout wasn't a good idea. He set up the pads, Chris pulled on and sent easily. He made it look easy, and I flailed a bit on the bottom before moving on to other problems. Now dubbed Cig Machine (v4ish), the bottom of the climb has excellent dynamic moves requiring precise body tension and a high pain threshold. After a handful of long, powerful moves, you reach some sharp jugs that lead you up the easier topout. A high quality problem for sure, and one I'll have to send next time. There will also be a few variations on this problem that should be fun as well.

Me on Cig Machine (photo by Chris Prewitt):

After Cig Machine, we worked a couple of lines to the right. There was an obvious line starting on two underclings and moving through real cool pockets. This start proved a bit too tough today, and we did an easier variation using one undercling and a good cobble. Then I spied a great looking feature - an overhanging arete/prow - that unfortunately had crappy rock. I cleaned it a bit, climbed it (with more holds breaking) and named it Disasterpiece Theater (v1). Hopefully it will clean up nicely, because it is a great and obvious feature, but climbing through all the junk kinda sucks.

Feeling a little gassed, we headed down to Ol Snaggletooth, a nice gentle overhang with lots of good jugs and a couple easier lines. Before we tried the Snaggletooth lines, we cleaned the south face for a while, which had some cool holds and a few good looking lines. Unfortunately the rock at the top was pretty bad, and will require a bit more cleaning. Climbing the established lines on Snaggletooth was a great way to end a fantastic day.

Hiking out we scouted out a couple more boulders, and surveying the boulder-filled valley, I was filled with anticipation. The weather will only get better for a couple months, and these boulders will only get better over that time. It is exciting to be on the ground level of developing this area, even though all the work involved - cleaning loose blocks, brushing dirty holds, grooming landings, marking trails - seems a bit daunting. And of course we have to try to do all this while making minimal impact, as this area is in a near pristine desert environment, and is actually within Saguaro National Park.

The reward will be worth the effort, as Tucson will have a killer new bouldering area, with a high concentration of problems across the grades, with beautiful, compelling lines of all shapes and sizes. There are more than enough FA's to go around, so come on out, find some lines, put in a little work and make your mark on Tucson bouldering....

Silverbell Ringin'

2009-11-02T07:05:00.000-08:00

It is hard to beat a Friday afternoon bouldering sesh. It doesn't matter much that the Silverbell Boulders leave my hands resembling the leftovers from a rabid heyena's midnight snack or that I always burn myself out on the lower boulders before getting to the hard stuff up top-- this place is great. On Friday Trevor-- a long-lost brother now living as an economic refugee in Utah --was back in town, temps were down in the low 80's or maybe even high 70's and the sun was out. One day, sooner or later, I'll get out to the Silverbell Boulders and crush all of my as-of-yet-unsent projects. Until then, though, the joy is in the process and (admittedly) in documenting the process. Stick around to the end of this video to see Dustin floating across The Rails, Silverbell's uber-classic V6-- beautiful stuff.

Somewhere In The Tucson Mountains....

2009-10-23T08:16:00.000-07:00

Just Daydreamin'...

2009-10-20T12:30:00.000-07:00

The life..... and I like things with production values.

Ahhh, Limestone

2009-10-14T10:21:00.000-07:00

It dawned on me a few weeks ago that it had been well over a year since I had laid my hands on any limestone. Having started climbing in central Texas, where limestone abounds, I have always had a soft spot in my heart (and calluses on my fingers) for calcium-based rocks. Having just watched the Reel Rock flicks with footage of incredible Spanish limestone, I was jonesing for some limestone. Fortunately the stars aligned, and I was able to head out to Dry Canyon with some friends to sample the finest limestone in Southern Arizona.

We spent our day in the Spine Cave, home of some fantastic climbing, including the classics Spinal Twist and Loose Stools (both listed in John Baker's list of "Best Low 12's in Southern Arizona"). Christian and Dan worked the right side of the cave, while Ian and I worked on the left side. We started with some really nice - but difficult - 11's. The limestone here is actually pretty easy on the hands, with no sharp pockets or crimps. The rock is very features, with smooth and slopey ledges and nice incuts, facilitating great movement on both the vertical and steep sections of wall.

Dan on Loose Stools (12a, but not too steep):

Ian and I threw ourselves pretty hard at Spinal Twist (12b), but unfortunately after four tries each, neither of us managed a send. It's a very physical climb, but also requires real precision and technique, and is truly a classic climb. It has a bit of everything - gastons, pockets, heel hooks, toe cams, deadpoints, a tiered roof, and even a spine-shaped TUFA...

Ian on a burly gaston:

Moving into the roof:

Pulling the roof involves some unique an exciting moves, and took a bit of sussing to get the beta figured out. From a horizontal break below the first big tier, you reach your left hand way out to a small two finger edge. Using this for balance, you do the 'twist' - bringing your right foot up and in, and throwing a wicked drop knee, you slowly twist up into a good incut right hand. Matching the incut and then clipping, you still have two more powerful moves with decent edges but poor feet. The first long move was more difficult for Ian, but the second proved to be the crux for me, as I couldn't utilize the good feet Ian used. Instead I figured out a dropknee that gave me balance, but zero ability to generate momentum with my legs. And on my third an fourth attempts, just didn't have the juice left to pull that hard with my arms. Spinal Twist is now on top of my project list, and I think it should go fairly quickly next trip. Thankfully, it's early in the season, and we have all winter to get out there.

A ringtail who came to say hi: