Spring Break

Well, it is officially spring break at Murray State University and I was able to kick it off with a proper 10 hours of sleep last night.  Not too shabby I'd say.  

Climbing plans are quite murky right now though.  We've been getting rain here since last night so it is going to take a day or two more for Jackson Falls to dry up.  I'm looking at heading up there ideally on like Tuesday night or Wednesday morning to meet up with my friend Kevin Martin from Truman State, up in NW Missouri.  Let's just hope that we have some cooperation from the weather.  

I've been slowly easing back into pulling harder on my wall and yesterday I was finally able to actually hit a smaller crimp and not have it just be excruciatingly painful.  Thats awesome.  Unfortunately, I still don't think that I'll be able to do any really hard climbing over break since there is still a considerable amount of rehab that the finger needs.  

In other news, Mexico for the fall isn't going to happen.  Luckily, I've found all of this out in time that there is still quite a good chance that I'll be able to get my student teaching placement and still participate in the Belize student teaching program.  I'm pretty pumped.  I got all of my paperwork for the Y yesterday too!  Things are finally falling into place!

Active Rest

So, today was my first real day of 'active rest' where I starting in doing a little bit of climbing to start working the finger back to strength.  It feels good too.  I just hovered around on jug for a while and got to work out the upper body quite well.  Definitely a nice afternoon!  Things are looking pretty good for possibilities of sends during Spring Break!

Updates...

Well the finger seems to be healing up pretty quickly.  It seems to be really good and strong anytime I'm applying pressure with all four fingers.  When I switch to a three finger open hand though it is still quite tweaky though.  I'm just planning to keep on resting it up so that it'll be back to 100% hopefully by the time Spring Break rolls around.

Speaking of which the itinerary for the trip is looking something like this:

• Leave for Conway Friday and get in some night bouldering at Fountain Red.  Camp there
• Drive to HCR Saturday morning and climb there the next two days.
• Monday head back to Conway and maybe rest.  
• Tuesday Petit Jean or go solo to FR.  
• Wednesday, rest.  Drive to Jackson.
• Thursday-Sunday climb at JF with Kevin Martin
• Friday evening, Lindsay and Wayne roll in.
• Sends

I'm pretty excited to say the least and while I plan to try and push the limits some I'm definitely going to mind the finger quite a bit.  I'm not ready for an epic finger injury.  Tape, tape, tape.  

Some big ticks that I'm hoping to knock off of this list over the break are:

• Lavender Eye .12a - HCR
• Even Dirtier V5 - HCR
• Always Lead the Possum V6 - Fountain Red
• Grungesex V6 - Down South
• Horseshoes & Hand Grenades .11a - HCR
• Newton's Law V6 - Fountain Red
• Gak Traverse V5 - Fountain Red
• Hidden Treasure .12a - Jackson (Has finally reached the status of EPIC!)
• THC Sit V5 - Jackson (Did the stand right before I messed the tendon)
• OBD Left & Direct V4 & V6 - Jackson

I'd be happy to tick off any other random sends too.  These are just of priority!  Definitely want to  get some good things down before it is off to Colorado, and then off to Mexico!  So much to do, such little time.

Congrats to Wayne for a sick weekend too, with sends of Orbital Mechanics V8, Even Dirtier V5, and Hammerhead V7.  Probably something else sick too.  He's tearing it up.  Lindsay finished up Always Lead the Possum V6 too.  Sends can only be expected to be increasing once this weather clears up too!!!!  Best of luck to all.

Pictures from last weekend

Calvin, who went climbing with us last weekend ended up putting some pictures up on the facebook.  Here are the shots.

Jackson Falls 2.15.2009

Good day.  Started out with some bouldering and I flashed a cool little V2 or V3.  Then we moved over to the Yosemite Slab area and messed around of that.  Then we rolled over to Reefer Madness boulder and I ran a lap on Ghetto Life V1 and Juicy Fruit V1.  I messed around on Wolverine V6, a cool big dyno and latched the top a few times but couldn't quite pull it out.  Then I started working Juicy Fruit Sit V6 and was able to get that sent after about 5 or 6 goes.  Pretty psyched on that one.

Next, we went over and I gave Hidden Treasure three more goes.  No cigar though.  Figured out new beta though and it should go hopefully first go next weekend.  Fingers crossed!

Non-Updates

Well, there have been few updates lately because there has been very little climbing done.  Last weekend I went up to Draper's Bluff for a day and didn't do anything note worthy.  Been climbing outside on the bouldering wall a lot too.  Putting up some really cool stuff.  Training a lot for endurance too.  I finally made it to the point where I can hang on the wall for a little over 3 minutes.  Granted I'm using big holds mostly, but still at the angle of my wall I think it is a somewhat noteworthy accomplishment.  I use small holds in between too...

Tomorrow though I'm heading to Jackson Falls with Mike C. and a friend of his.  I'm going to jump on Hidden Treasure or Everybody Needs Friends for sure, but with the high at around 39 degrees it's going to be a pretty cold day.  Not the best for the crimps on Hidden Treasure.  We'll see how things turn out though!  I'm hoping for the best!

Ice Storm of the Century, Part Dos

Well, I suppose that I asked for it. The weather came and it was heinous. Fortunately, things weren't so bad in Murray, but my mom is still at home without any power. Predictions for some of the more rural areas on Western Kentucky are still looking at around another week and a half for power. It's pretty devastating.

Anyways, we were fortunate enough to be able to make it out of town Thursday morning and made it to Nashville safe and sound where we then headed down to Foster Falls for climbing on Saturday and Sunday. Here are some photos from Ice Break 2009.

ICE!!!


Powerless but warm on Wednesday night:


Heading into Land Between the Lakes on our way to Nashville:



The waterfall at Foster's Falls:


The cool bridge over the creek fed by the falls:


The creek again:


Chris and I:


Twist and Shout 5.9+:


Just a cool picture:


Rapping in to a route:


Things went pretty good the weekend too. I onsighted a few .10b's and a slew of .9s and .9+s. Got an interesting .11a called Junkyard clean on TR. Someone offered their rope up to me because I was gawking so that's why I didn't lead. Also gave another really cool .11a, Snake Charmer a go. It's about a 20 ft face to a huge roof then another 20ft of headwall. Pretty cool, and got it with two falls. Should go next time now that I've figured the beta.

Pretty good time though, and now school is back. Might be heading down to Foster's again this weekend though, because of the weather. Can't wait!