Scott was here!

So on Sunday Scott, who I worked with the past two summers at Sanborn, was up with his family to the park so I tagged along with him. We tried to make a hike up to a lake in the park but because the weather ended up being crappy we had to come down and settled for a real touristy hike around a beautiful lake called Bear Lake. After that we all went down the road a little ways and with the art supplies that Scott's family had made at a recent trip to Michael's we all painted a landscape of Long's Peak. Pretty cool, and fun, except Scott's painting had a frowny face in it. After that we went and had a bite to eat and parted ways.

Monday, though, Scott came back up in the afternoon with his sister Brittany and we hung out in a room I was able to get for free here at the Y and just enjoyed the evening and each others company. Tuesday morning I had to work though and after that we all packed up our things and headed up to the Monastery to do some camping. Upon Scott's insistence we headed out ridiculously early, 3 p.m., and were extremely bored all afternoon so I ended up reading a little bit more on my book "Around the World in 80 Days," by Jules Verne. When dark finally came around though we were lucky enough to get some really clear skies and had some awesome star gazing and satellite watching. On Wednesday, we all then ended up heading into the park and hiked up past Bear Lake, this time to another lake called Emerald Lake. It was beautiful, but on the way down we got slammed by a storm and were stuck under a pine tree with this really cool family for like 30 minutes until we just decided to make the last mile a run for the cars. After that we headed back to the Y where I had an epic trying to find a comp night room and thankfully Joey came through and let us use one of her comp nights so Scott and Brittany didn't have to pay for a room. Joey is great!

That leads us to yesterday which was pretty awesome. I got my roommate John to cover my afternoon shifts and Wayne, Abbey, Lyndsey, Matt, and I all headed down to Boulder to do some shopping and head to Morrison to listen to James Taylor play at Red Rocks Amphitheater. It was awesome! We didn't have tickets so we hiked up on the hill that overlooks Red Rocks and could hear perfectly. Towards the middle of the second set though everyone was getting a little tired so we started to head down. Just by chance I wanted to run in and see if I could catch Scott, his sister, and Elliot, who I worked with two summers ago, and it happened. I cruised right through the gates and for some reason found Scott on his way to the bathroom. I was then lucky enough to SEE some James Taylor and give some proper hellos and goodbyes.

These last four days have been insane for sure and I really can't wait to get back home, get my wall setup, and start climbing and working on some new projects at Jackson Falls! I'll be seeing everyone soon!

Suzuki Boulder's Again

Well yesterday I went back into the park and did some bouldering at the Suzuki Boulder and the boulder that is downhill from Suzuki whose name I don't quite know. All in all I think that the session went quite well. We started out working this V2 that pulls out of a little roof and then makes a throw off of slopers out to a good jug and out the top. Starting out was frustrating because I just couldn't get the opening move to go. After reworking my beta a few times I finally was able to put things together and get that problem all sorted out and sent! Next, there was a V4 around the corner that I had worked on a day in the past but couldn't even pull onto it. Frustrating. Well after flailing on it for a few goes I finally, with the help of Wayne, was able to figure out the foot beta that lets me move off of my crossed hands and up to a small sharp left handed crimp. From the left crimp you stand hard on your right foot and the move right hand up into a good undercling pinch and the from there you take some small crimps out the top keeping the problem pretty sustained. So, that's two V4s sent here lately and I'm pretty psyched! It's great to feel and see yourself getting a little strong and your technique improve.

On another front, this summer hasn't quite been the luckiest I've had in respect to LCD screens. About a month ago I was getting out of Drew's jeep after running to town and then I slammed my phone in the door and shattered the face of my phone. It sucked. Well the day before yesterday I was getting ready for bed and kicked my laptop right onto the floor shattering the screen. It sucked too. So now I have to Blog and surf the net from a roommates computer and if anyone feels generous I'd be more than happy to take some donations to help towards the new screen which should cost about $150.

I hope everyone is doing well though and I only have two weeks until I'll be back home. Crazyness. I can't wait to see everyone again!

So, I hiked again today...

So this morning my friend Josh and I woke up at 3 a.m. and headed up into the park to climb Long's Peak, the highest point in the park. So after getting on the trail at a little after 3:30 Josh and I were able to successfully summit at 6:50. Pretty awesome hike and I'm super psyched that I was able to make it as quickly as I did. It is definitely one of the fastest summit times out of anyone to climb it from the Y this summer. Here are some pics from the rest of the hike:

This is the part of the hike called the Keyhole. You hike up a boulder field and through the keyhole out the other side.


After hiking out through the keyhole you head into an area called the ledges. It's a little bit of rock scrambling but all in all pretty easy because you lose some elevation.


The ledges lead into an area called the trough which sucked. It's just a loose scree field and I started out not switchbacking so I tired myself out pretty quickly but got the picture towards the top.


The trough puts you out into the next area called the narrows which is about 5-8 ft. ledges that are really nice and comfortable to hike on as long as you can stand the exposure. Evidently some people lock up at this point.


Finally this is looking down from the top towards the last area aptly called the home stretch. It's a pretty cool slabby area with some fun little slab moves that made me feel like I was climbing. It was without a doubt my favorite part of the hike although at altitude it was freaking hard.


On the way down we found this really friendly chipmunk. I felt bad about feeding him though. That's not too ethical.


Here is a shot of me in front of the diamond. It is the burly face of Long's Peak. It would be pretty awesome to climb that one day.


Finally we made it back down to tree line, cooled off in this nice creek and finished out the day in time to be back at the Y at noon for dinner!

Suzuki Boulder

Today Joey, Jeremy, and I headed up into the park and went bouldering at the Suzuki Boulder. It was looking pretty rough leaving and we really thought that we might not have too much of the afternoon to boulder hard so as soon as we got there Jeremy and I started working the V4 that has put me off every attempt...until today. After the first two tries I was able to remember all of the beta and then after a few sloppy heel hooks and a few desperate throws I was finally able to put everything together and pull out of the top! Send! I'm psyched again for climbing!

After that send we all chilled and worked a few other of the problems for the rest of the evening and headed back to the Y with Jeremy nabbing a repeat send of this really dumb V3.

Not me but Marty is here pulling the crux move which is a throw to this pinch off of a crappy left crimp:

Cottontail

Well after work was rained out today I headed out to the Cottontail Crag with Wayne, Lyndsey, and Rob to hit up Arms Race 5.11b and Pay At The Pump 5.11c. After not having climbed for a full six days lets just say that I felt...refreshed.

Rob ran up Arms Race real quick and set the draws and then it was my turn to give things a go. The route starts out with a cool little .10a section pulling up over a little bulge at the bottom and the moves up through some easier moves to pull onto a ledge. The ledge is bomber so I took a second and chilled out and stretched to forearms to try and get myself fully warmed up since Arms Race is the easiest route at Cottontail. After that you pull up on some small crimps through another 5.10 section and then you're at the next bulge. From there you clip the next bolt and traverse left along a line of good crimps and then get a high right foot to reach for a decent edge to help pull the bulge the rest of the way. From above the bolt you move through a series of crappy pockets up to a sloper where I heel in with the left and move out to the iron cross crux move. The cross is made to a good crimp wide enough for both hands so you match, readjust feet and then nail a crimp and take slopers to the top. Sent! Which I was super psyched about and it's nice to know that my one 5.11b send wasn't a fluke. Also, the fact that I feel this route was a little harder is nice since it only took me 5 goes to get the send where the last one spit me off like 15+.

Next, we went over to Pay at the Pump a 5.11c crimpfest which I was able to work through with only two takes (sitting on the rope when I get stuck). I'm pretty psyched and the moves definitely seem like right at the upper levels of my ability. Maybe I'll even be able to head back and get that one for the redpoint here soon!

Well it's nice to have my psyche back and I hope that I can get this blog back on track with good climbing news. Preferably with lots of news of sends!

Things I resent the most...

1. Texans
2. Texans in Colorado
3. Pushy Texans in Colorado
4. Pushy Texans wearing hair gel in Colorado
5. Pushy Texans wearing hair gel and talking about Texas football in Colorado

Also it turns out that I won't be getting out of work on the 8th of August to go to the Red River Gorge with Drew after all. It sucks and it really messes up some of my plans for the summer. I'll just have to figure something out to make up for not being able to climb at the Red.

The Crew...

Well, I haven't honestly been climbing here very much over the last few days mainly because I'm just feeling exhausted and nearly climbed out. My body aches in odd places and my fingers feel fried so the last three days have been strictly rest time (except for a stupid workout Drew suckered me into). So, just to have something going on on the blog I figured that I might make a post with a picture of the crew that I've been fortunate enough to have all of this time to climb with this summer. So, in no particular order!

Emily:


Kevin: Came from Missouri without climbing for a few months and gets here and still kicks most peoples butts. Also, in the background of that picture is the Diamond which is the gnarly face of Longs Peak.


Robert: Most psyched climber I think that I've met this summer. I think the last count was like 9 consecutive days without a rest.


Jeremy: Climbs hard and makes the most ridiculous faces that I've ever seen from anyone climbing. Look how crazy he can look while even just belaying!


Drew: The one and only Dude Bro, and probably the person that I've climbed the most with this summer. Dude's strong.


Wayne: A super psyched boulderer from Arkansas. Climbs hard to boot.


Gabe: Should I have to say anything more?


Justin: Also known as Mardy for some apparent reason. He used to be a boulderer but thankfully we've converted him to a sport climber and now the dude has blown up. Real strong. I don't know what the eff he is doing in this picture though. haha


Joey: Not a climber so much as our photographer. A crap ton of my pictures come from this super cool Malaysian and she's without a doubt one of my favorite people from the summer!


Tim: Another strong climber from Arkansas. A usual quote from Tim is, "just dyno it."


Lastly, I got suckered in to taking some stupid pictures on the slackline with a monkey from some group.


I think that it was a pretty good feat of balance if I do say so myself!

Anyways, I hope that everyone is doing fine back in KY, and I'm glad to say that mom is back safe and sound so watch her blog for when she starts throwing up some of her like 2000+ pictures she took while in Europe!