Groom Creek

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

Winter Plans

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

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

California-

A Pre-Summer's Smorgishborg

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

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

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

Phase 1

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

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

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

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: