Chaos Again...

Well, of late I've been kind of fighting off this little head cold.  Nothing serious just some extra drainage and a little sore throat.  It wasn't enough to keep me away from Chaos on Wednesday though.

I had the intent to try and find some new stuff to work on since I was going up with a new crew of people, but since they hadn't been before we hit the same old stuff.  I got pretty frustrated too, I couldn't repeat Revenge, V6.   However, everyone else had a killer day with a couple of V7 sends being done.  A buddy from Bulgaria, Emiliyan, crushed Tommy's Arete in two goes.  He's pretty strong.

I have two days off in a row next week so if I can find someone to go with me I might try and take a little adventure somewhere.  Tons of options.  I'd really like to get out and see a few things that I haven't been able to see in a while.  Maybe central Colorado and a few new 14'ers?

Choas

On Saturday I finally had a day off, in what seemed like an eternity since my last.  Thankfully, I was able to capitalize on this opportunity with a days trip up into the park to Chaos Canyon with a strong crew of people.

We started off and spent most of the day hanging out in an area known as Lower Chaos, mainly because it would be the most likely place to get any climbing in because of the large amount of snow that is still on the ground at that elevation.

We made good time and were at Lower Chaos by 11:30 a.m.  We did a few little warm-up things on the top of a problem and then I proceeded to send a classic V5, Autobot, second go!  I was pretty pumped about that, and then we did a little bit more stuff to try and get a little better warmed up for the main goal for the day Revenge, V6 which I was consequently able to knock out in a quick 5 goes!  I couldn't have been happier!

We then worked on a couple more V7's through the day, Mikala and Tommy's Arete.  Both of which I'm pretty excited to finish up and hopefully sends will come soon.  Weather permitting I'm heading back up there on Wednesday with Emillyan, my bud from Bulgaria!

Chaos

Going to Chaos Canyon today with a good crew of people and hopefully I'll be able to finish off a problem that thwarted me last summer, Revenge V6.  Fingers crossed.  Also going to be doing some work on one of the problems I'm psyched to project, Tommy's Arete V7.  I'm taking the camera and hopefully I'll get some videos and there will be lengthy update to come soon!

The Happenings

Been busy with work the last few days and I just completed a Wilderness First Aid class yesterday, which was a great refresher for the WFR class that I took Spring Break '07.  

I've made it out a few times since the last post too.  One day I went up to the Suzuki Boulder in the park with a new kid named Evan, so that I could try and finish off the dang V3 that had been rejecting me for the last year.  I gave it quite a bit of time and eventually got frustrated and moved on.  Resent the difficult V4 on the Satellite Boulder, again, and then coincidentally ran into a friend of a friend named Nick, whom I was introduced to last summer by my buddy Drew.  He wanted to see the V3 so I decided one go real quick wouldn't hurt and I sent!  I was pretty pumped!  Now I need to send the V5 and there are two more V3s that I haven't worked and the Suzuki Boulder will simply be a workout spot for me!  

Today, Wayne and Lindsay from last summer are rolling into Boulder and will be hanging out around Estes for the next week!  I'm pretty psyched to run up to Chaos Canyon with them one day if I can bust out of work a little bit early!  This after noon I'm going to be driving a little bit south to check out the 'Wild Basin Boulder' which has quite a few classics on it and hopefully I'll rack up a few points!  A new friend Emillienth (sp?), who I met at the gym, and is from Bulgaria, will be accompanying me for the trip.  Kid is strong!  

Hope all is well, and my grandma's flowers are looking awesome!  

I'm so lazy.

Things have finally started to pick up around here with work, and so here I'm sitting in bed at the butt crack of dawn trying to  type something up, since I haven't in such a long time. 

Not too much has honestly happened on the climbing front either since the last update.  Sunday, I went down to Boulder with Tim and Joey to get gas and then make a trip over to the Flat Irons for a little bit of climbing.  Things were pretty cool and I managed to send through the grades V1-V4.  THEN after that, we went back up to Estes and decided to go climb in the gym for some odd reason since were weren't obviously worked enough already; it was probably the best day of climbing I've had since in Colorado though, I was worked.  

I'm taking a few days off now though to rest up the shoulders and then hopefully it will be off to somewhere cool this weekend.  I'm really liking the idea of going and getting my butt kicked on some sport climbs at Clear Creek Canyon.  That trip would confirm just how bad of shape that I really am in!  

I haven't been taking any video of late unfortunately, but I'll try to when things start heating up with some good hard sends!  Hope all is well with everyone!

Training

Today, unfortunately, I'm going to have to pile into a car and head over to the wasteland that is Snow Mountain Ranch for another week of work training.  I'm honestly not too psyched at all.  The weather here has been pretty dismal the last few days, but with that said the temps have been great and the bouldering really couldn't be too much better.  

Here in a few I'm going to be heading over to Lumpy Ridge with a few people for a morning session, and I'll hopefully get some good work in on Angry Man V7.  Also, I really want to finish off another problem that has been a thorn in my side on the Jaws Boulder today too.  

A good thing about being at SMR though is that I'm going to have plenty of time to chill and relax.  I went to the library in Estes Park yesterday and checked out some interesting reads that I'll ideally finish up a few of during the week.  I already busted through half of "This Side of Paradise" yesterday, an old F. Scott Fitzgerald novel.  

Hopefully at SMR I'll be able to get ahold of some of my friend Brian's photos from the summer.  He takes some great snaps and if I can I'll do my best to post some up on the blog!  Happy Memorial Day to all!

Updates...

Finding time to update hasn't been nearly as easy as I had expected it to be. Work has been super busy the last week, and then when we aren't working there are tons of things to climb, new people to meet, and lots of food to be eaten. The crew out this summer is pretty similar to the group of people last summer but with the addition of a few newer people, naturally. 

On the climbing front I've already made a few trips up into Rocky Mountain National Park, climbed on grounds quite a bit, and hit up Lumpy Ridge for a big session. Sends have been coming and going and I've been able to find a good amount of projects to work on so I can get back into shape and be ready for everything up in Chaos Canyon starting probably in around 2-3 weeks. Nothing really too noteworthy other than that has been going on. No big sends, but when I start getting close I'll get some videos rolling! Here are a few pictures that people have snapped throughout the last week.

Repeating the V4 on the Suzuki Boulder.

Watching Chris do some work on a V3.

Trying to get the send, but failing.

Everyone doing some bouldering on grounds.

Bouldering at Lumpy.  What a view?!

Trying the mantle on grounds.