Fossil Rocks! Sort of...

Chossy, Ticks, crap rock, these are only some of the rumors surrounding the Thurston County climbing area. I went for my first time this Sunday and it was, well fun! The rumors are true but not to an extreme extent. After meeting up with Duke in Tenino, we drove on out and made the cool bike ride(ok, the first part of the ride isn't too bad but then it gets steep, really steep) When we reached the top we chained up the bikes and warmed up on a 5.10b. It was balancy and took awhile to get used to. After onsighting this we moved over and tried P.O.T. a balancy 5.11b. I managed to stem and reach my way out of the crux and it was an ok climb. Wes arrived and gave it a burn and did quite well. He's climbing stronger than I remember from last year.
Then we moved over to the area classic Battle of the Bulge 5.11a. I managed another onsight and the day was feeling like it was gonna be a good one. This climb was completely solid except for one or two flakes.
Next up was Sketch Master 5.12a. I went for the onsight and got stuck 3/4 way up and took a hang. Then I clipped the chains and dispatched 2nd go. It is a very Smithy(Smith Rocks) climb with a balancy(nightmare) middle section up to a decent rest. After this there is one more balancy move and then campusing on jugs! It was a good route but the finish was a little scary cause of a bunch of decent sized rocks looking poised to go at any moment.
Then a Jared and Bryan showed up and we moved back to the main area and they did some easier stuff . I also tried New Age Technician a manufactured route trying not to use the bolted on holds. It would go probably at 5.13- but there are also drilled pockets. Oh well...
Then a Local Jim(not Yoder) showed up and started climbing. He bashed the WRG so in an attempt to flash his project I fell and sent Second Go. (Damn!) (He still is an OK guy he just has his Gyms mixed up, ;)
Over all Chosil Rock isn't that bad. A couple guidelines: 1) Bring Tick spray and use it! 2) Spread out your weight, don't dyno to a knob. 3) Stay on the chalk and it is pretty much solid. Don't stray too far and you will always knock off small stuff with your feet but most of the hands are Really Solid. There is also some bouldering potential i will explore in the upcoming months depending on school/climbing schedule! So I suggest that If you are a solid leader go and check it out. Almost guaranteed to have the place to your self on a week day too...

Quarring

The time honored tradition of climbing at the Tenino sandstone quarry is upon us once again. The weather has been good so far and the future looks bright, (literally). On wed, Dave, Duke, Ed, Lisa myself and two others were there havin' a blast. I finally led Futility Bill 5.11d, after re-learning the crux beta. I am also pretty optimistic that The Riddler 5.11d will go next. Also the TR Evil Calvin 5.12b/c will be bolted. It has a V5/6 crux at the top but both Lisa and I managed it. Lisa uses a crimp/nothing and I use a sloper with a couple big bumps to a better sloper. And also my Video is coming shortly!

Tripple Eights and Two Aces

Read Em' and weep. This weekend a good size crew from Oly made the journey out to Leavenworth. I left with Dom and Micah, Lisa went up with my Mom. Jeremy came up with Luke and Jena, and Erica came with and James and a dude and his girl from the gym also came with James. Whoooh, a lot of people. Our first stop was forestland where previously I left Bananas and Kobe Tai undone. We warmed up in Lower forestland and Jeremy and Luke wandered on up. After the warm up laps Micah and I were super phsyced. So we made the henious three minute journey up to the upper forest land and threw the pads down at he base of Bananas(V8). After seeing Micah's beta for Bananas I gave it a few goes and topped it out (I hate scary top outs w/ bad landings) The top out wasn't to pretty but I did what was necessary to get to the top! Then we shifted the pads over to Kobe Tai(V8) and gave it a few goes, getting close to the good jug. I was tryng it my way, going left and doing a bunch of stupid moves while Micah was doing the right way, which I then tried and sent.(I also did the hard move my way later). While we were gettin' phsyed Lisa and Dom took a mellow approach and Lisa cleaned up one summer(V5) while Dom did Cruise Control(V6) and almost did Busted(V8). Then after spending half a day at Forestland we migrated to the Lonely fish boulder where Oly history was made!
We set up the three tripples and two doubles and started throwin' ourselves at Lonely Fish(V9). Micah got on it and we were all getting close falling on the last hard move. Then Micah got his guns loaded and stuck the jug and topped 'er out. Then I managed to latch the jug and sketched my way to the top. And then for a grand Finale Lisa stepped up to the plate and sent The Lonely Fish (V9). Her hardest RP to date. Her second hardest red point was a V6 she FA earlier in the day! Her training like crazy 2 days a week+Weights 2 days a week+volleyball 3days week=hard climbs ticked OFF! Dom also came hella' close to flashing this climb but slipped off the jug and he'll clean this up next time. After we gathered some wood we had a big fire and rested our numb paws...(Bombs Away is a cool V7 no matter what Dom and Micah say, it just has a hard/uggly finish)

The second days was bright with the sun shining and flowers blooming and problems being Crushed!!(well most of them) We started for the Pretty boulders and I sent everything there minus pretty boy (but more about that later). Pretty girl(V3) was fun but not my favorite. We tried Pretty hate machine and first go I got half way through the dyno. (The route starts on a juggy undercling with crap feet. You then move to a good left hand jug and grab a crimp on the corner. Then throw up a heel, rock on the heel to a pinch, bump left to crimp smear smear and bust to the lip) A couple go's later I slipped off the finish and started to suck. Then I gave it my full extension and latched the jug and rolled over the top very pleased.
Next I went and tried pretty boy(V7) which is a dyno to a decent crimp but my raw fingers wouldn't let me grab on so it will go next time (also Dom and Micha got bored and started playing w/ sticks and........) I got really pissed because I knew I could do the problem but my fingers wouldn't crimp. Then we had an exciting drive to Swift Water for lunch and gave some final burns on Joel's Traverse(V6) which I tried 3 years a go(Pre-guideook) and this time after losing a bunch of skin I latched the finish rail and groveled over(another hard and awkward top out but at least this one had a nice landing).
All in all this was probably one of my best trips ever. Last year I started with 7,7,8,8and this year it's 8,8,8,9 so I'm feelin' a good season coming both in sport and bouldering. I'm also NOT phscyed to climb in the gym right now because the sun is out and all I/(every climber in the world) wants to do is climb in the sun with a good group of friends and enjoy nice cool mountain air and some crisp mountain boulders. But in reality you'll see me settin' more W-stupid problems at the gym but this summer I'm only working two days or so a week and climbin' and bikin' the rest. Next stop is either Leavenworth on Little Si after the Edgeworks Onsight Comp. Sorry no photos but there will be a short video soon(as you can guess, I climbed a lot this trip) For photos check out Dom's and Micah's blogs. So get out there you gym rats, buy a guide, grab some pads and I hope to see you crankin' out there this summer...

Bridge of the Gods/Comp

Lisa, Eric, Zan and Nicholi and I all crammed into the tiny Camry to go bouldering on Saturday with two pads doing flips on the roof(yes, we stopped and all of us grabbed a strap and held the pads down for 1/2 hour) Once we got there, the threat of rain was postponed so we hopped on the V9. We were warmed up because we did a comp right before, so who needs to warm up! right? We all left the comp at the end of climbing so I'm pretty sure I tied for second and Lisa won. On a side note, some parent was talking about the WRG Team! (we now kick ass!, or at least some! ;)

The Bridge of the Gods is a cool bouldering area on the Washington side of the Columbia River. The rock is like sharp Smith Rock tuff in a basalt lava field. (No pics cause Lisa left the camera in the van) After trying the V9 we moved over to an awesome V7 that goes up a left leaning arete. I got half way up and couldn't move my left foot higher and fell. Eric made an impressive flash of this climb. he was pulling strong outside, just not in the gym. Good job Eric! Then Zan showed us this scary V4 and Eric went for the committing dyno a couple times and got within an inch of the victory jug. Taking some nice ten foot falls (his feet were at the ten foot mark). Zan and I found a Lowball and it was very fun. A pillar fell over long ago and made this nice three mover compression problem. After playing on this for a bit the unavoidable rain started so we crammed back into the car and strapped the pads correctly so no numb hands and headed back to Portland. I definitely want to come back here and with some brushes and the oly crew. do some explorin and boulderin'....

Tying up Loose Ends

School Sucks, first day back at classes and I can only wait till summer. And this past trip to Little Si only increased the need to CLIMB on the real stuff. The original plans were for a Leavenworth day trip fell through so for a consolidation prize we headed over to Little Si. Micah, lisa, Eric Givins, and I all got ionto the forrester and scrounged for a parking spot. Once we did the gruelling and tretchorous hike/trek/nightmare up to the crag there was only one other group there. Micah warmed up on Rainy Day and, yes no one is going to believe this (the photos of truth are coming soon) Lisa Led Rainy Day 5.12a OUTSIDE. She acttually took the sharp end becaused we refused her the TR. After this millestone in Lisa'a climbing life I warmed up on Techno, 5.12c. Then put up a cool and balancy 5.11b then it was time for physco. I got up to the sidepull crux but had my feet in the wrong spots. So next go I sent and it was over. I finished the day with sa burn on Rainy Day. so a,c,d in a day, (not a-d like Nic did but he's a crazy endurance god so i'm not too worried). ;) Still can't wait to boulder though, soon, so soon! Enjoy the sun (mon-tue) and get climbin'n...