Little Si: Another hot one...

Sweating while attempting to shake out half way up ww1 is not high on my to do list. I have to say this is probably the last time I'll go to little si in 80 plus temps. Lake coushman seems more inviting from now on. But regardless of Washington summer heat, it was still a good day. We had a good oly crew compromised of me, Dom, Micah, Nicholas, and Antono. Nicholas sent Graven Image 12c, I sent Bust the Rhythm 12c and Viagro 12b, Dom sent viagrophobia 12d, Antono onsighted abo 11b. All in all an ok day.

Little Si: New Proj.

This was the first time driving solo to north bend. The plan was to pick up Nicholas and then go to either 32 or 38. Well due to some rather hot temps, we decided on a WW1 day. I got back on flatliner and up to the gaston and then let go. I'm just going to have to commit and huck to the micro crimp and see what happens. I also decided to try Vanilla Ice 13a but whimped out at the runout crux. Alex Fritz arrived and after sussing the beta, sent 2nd go! I'm glad that this line shouldn't take to long but I'm not too worried either way. Then I'll have to give black ice a few burns once vanilla ges. So the line up is flatliner, vanilla ice, black ice, oval orfice or something. By the way, one month(or sub 70 temps) and counting till return to the boulders...

Little Si: 8a

chronic finally went yesterday! I'm really glad to have sent this rad line and plan on trying the variations later. Now I really want to start working flatliner and send(hopefully) by end of August.

Meanwhile Lisa and Micah made outstanding progress on Cali. and both one hanged it. As of now, it's to close to call who'll send first but my money is on Micah because it'll be awhile till Lisa returns.
Nicholas and myself are heading up to crawling tomorrow and i'm excited for this line. so the little Si line up is Flatliner, Vanilla Ice, Bust the rythm/dreadlocked But i'm not too picky anymore and I might just end up trying the other 13a's until something comes along I really like...

Little Si: Phobias...

Monday was a surprisingly chilly day and only the trio(Dom, Micah, Myself) were able to make it out to WW1. (We learned 3 people suck when projecting because you get to cold before you have to climb again). After a normal warm up of pyscho-wussy I gave Chronic a burn and finally managed the 1 hang! I fell due to pumpage after the middle crux which isn't to reassuring but I figure I'll find some other stuff to try while upping the enduro. Micah gave Californicator 12d a couple good burns and figured out why he was sucking this year. On a crucial crimp need to access the 'typewriter' hold, he was grabbing the flat part instead of the incut! Now his psyche is reborn and I see a send in the future! Dom wanted to keep his title so he began sessioning Viagrophobia 12d. He gave it to solid burns but got pumped towards the top and couldn't move his feet and fell. Since I've never done this route, I tried the slightly easier version, Hydrophobia 12c, the Rainy Day 12a extension. With some encouraging beta and some taunts I powered my way to the chains of this cool, yet tricky, route. After this successful send I decided to go for the harder version up viagro and after some long rests on the route, clipped the chains as well. So now the current line up is Chronic 13b, Oval Orffice 13a(maybe), Flatliner 13c, Vanilla Ice 13a. We'll see what happens...

So now on 8a.nu, the FRIENDLY Oly competition, I have now taken over Dom's endless #1 spot on routes and unless he dedicates more of his time to hard routes(less quantity) I'll never give it back. I personally feel he slacked off this winter(training wise, the team missed ya) and I also surprised him with some quick sends this summer. I expect to see him at climbing team work outs this fall/spring...

Video: Lisa on Culture Shock

It's been awhile since I made a vid and just recently I started bringing my camera with me. Currently I'm almost done with Micah on Pyschosamtic and Andrew and on Virgins. Enjoy...

Culture Shock-5.12a from Jimmy C. on Vimeo.

Little Si: Gerbil Killer

So this was my fourth day on and I wasn't expecting much after beating myself up at gold bar. Well Nicholas, recent town arrival, and Micah, and I headed out to the normal twice a week destination, WW1. After a rather pumpy warm up on Pyscho-wussy I Decided to give Gerbil Killer a go and see what happens since my draws are on it for the summer(or 'till the Oly crew sends it). This time i listened to the ample recommendations to do the first 3 clips of Psycho-wussy instead of gerbil due to the better 5.11 climbing. I said why not and stripped the first three draws. Then I headed on up psycho with the long draws and began the gerbil experience. I did the underclings fine then blanked out on the last moves of the slab forgetting a key hand hold. After this I did a quick shake on the 'jug' and did the uber lock off and the nthe crimp to the pyschosamtic jug. Now came the hard part. I did all the moves here clean but my forearms were pushed to their limits! I just kept my hands in the crimp position and threw the shoulders to the left and hit the jug! YES! Another climb form the list down! Nicholas had another good day re-sussiing the Chronic 5.13b beta and looking strong. Once he joins the ranks of oly/little si regular he'll be unstoppable and will most certainly finish off some Little Si Classics. Micah had an off day but will send his stuff soon, i think he just needs a mental boost. So, now the list looks like Chronic(3 hanged) 13b, Flatliner 13c and maybe Oval Orffice 13a. Back on Monday...

Gold Bar: Mo' Progress

On Thur, Meg, Kevin and I went to the Upper Gold Bar boulders. After some trail finding difficulties(which involved an improntu trail run) we made the not so bad hike to the top. Our trail beta is to park in the first pull out past the 5 star boulder and the sign 'trail crossing' Then take the first trail on the left to the amazing ORV road bad the 5 star. Continue up this road until a stream/road appear on the left and take this to the switchback and continue up the logging road. Once at the top I did some new warm ups. The rock was feeling a little warm so we headed up the fto the forest and i sessioned out Lighten Up V9. I stuck the dyno in a few goes and then completed the start to the dyno. On my best go I came within inches of the victory crimp on the dyno but my right hand greased off! Next time. I plan on coming back when the temps are lower...

Little Si: Breakthrough...

O.k. Don't fall here, trust the sloping foot, o.k., now left up to hand hold crimp. Right hand gaston, left to jug CHAINS! YES, I just sent the extension to Californicator, Californication 5.13a! Now my year is complete with a 7c+ bouldering and sport climbing! Lisa and I headed out to little si to meet up with some good Friends from the comp scene, Alex Fritz and Sam Wolf. Alex is an amazing sport climber and Sam is a, ah, boulderer. Needless to say, he sent techno with his own(wrong) beta and with messing up every other crux with out resting still crushed. Then Alex wanted to 'train' on Chronic, got to chains And then kept on going. Not to long after he clipped the chains of Lizzard prince 5.13b! First go! I then scooted on over to Gerbil Killer 13a and sussed out the beta taking at each clip to find the dang holds. Armed with some very helpful beat from Tyson I pulled the rope and gave it a good Red point burn. I managed all of the Gerbil parts clean but just couldn't recover on Psycho and fell off the dang crimp feet from the chains! So close to two 13s in a day! Next time. Lisa made good progress basically one hanging Prop. and Cali. I'm really proud and excited at have doing both 7c+ on ropes and boulderingin a year. I'm really really liking my fitness level right now and i'm now in love with little si. A new door into the13s has been open and there are tons of new problems to do and project! Next up is a day at gold bar working some tens and (hopefully) a nine to finish off the scorecard. Then fri. is crawling 13a and little si to follow. So the line up at little si is Gerbil Killer 13a, Chronic 13b, Flat Liner 13c and lizard Prince 13b. We'll see how many get done...

Gold Bar: Progres...

On Sunday Kevin and I decided to go to the 5 Star boulder out at gold bar after a brutal trek in with 5 pads we made to the boulder. after a quick warm up Kevin began projecting the 5 Star Arete V6. With Josh's beta he then sent for his first V6! I then gave Ross Bongo V9 some burns and with more good beta from Josh managed to get past the first move and got to the last hard move! I have some crazy beta for the middle and I sure this line will go in the fall with sub 80 temps. With all the breakages the line is probably easier for those with reach but I feel it's still V9. Next we headed around the corner to Sobriosity V6 and Kevin began working it. I tried a few times before the beta came back to me and then I can say it is a V6(way harder to onsight though). After watching Josh send Ebriosity V11 I got pyshced. Armed with the beta I managed to get half way through the problem! Then after the crux Iron Cross I hopped on here and did all the finish moves! Then I tried to suss out the crux but with the temps increasing my heel wouldn't stay but I managed to do one more move, leaving only one left! I'm really pysched on trying hard stuff now because they appear doable. One more day of bouldering is on the schedule for thur. at the upper area and then it's back to ropes to get Californication 5.13a sent(it feels like a cloud over my head that i need to send quickly before i forget the moves) Then once this is accomplished I think It'll be Chronic, Gerbil Killer, Flat Liner. We'll see...

Little Si: Hot!

So on Friday the Oly crew decided to climb at WW1 on the hottest day of the year so far. Needless to say we had the crag to ourselves and the rock was greasy. Besides that, I tried flat liner, 13c, and managed to work half way up it. I'm looking forward to giving this line some serious effort in the near future.
Also on Wed, two new/retro routes were established on TR, Pete and Ted's True Stories 11d/12a, and Never Give a Shit 12d/13a. I'll have to get Dom to help hound out the final grades of theses new lines that are set to be bolted shortly. The future looks like, gold bar Sun, Crawling on mon, quarry wed, gold thur/fri, Little Si Sun... I (heart) my driving license! I'm looking forward to sending the projects at Little Si now so I'm predicting a fun and pumpy end to summer...

Tieton: No hangs, no snakes

Dom Taking pictures of Micah on Trigger Finger
Micah approaching the chains on Trigger Finger
Micah on Trigger Finger
After the warm up....
Early Picasso...

This was, by far, one of the funnest climbing trips I've been on in a long while. For the Saturday and sunday of the 4th of July weekend, Micah, Dom, Laura, and I all South to try some of the more moderate routes available at Tieton. For Micah and myself, the weekend began a day earlier with some Mo' Little Si Action on Friday. I sussed out the beta for Chronic, 13b, and now have decided and 3 projects in this order, Californication 13a, Gerbil Killer 13a, Chronic 13b, and maybe Flat Liner 13c if enough time. I also lead 12a/b/c/d and Friday for the first time ever too! So after sleeping in on Saturday and scrambling to pack all my things we headed out around 11:00 and set up camp next to a meadow. The first crag encountered was The Oasis and Dom, Micah, and Myself all wanted this 12a onsight. Dom went first and fell at the last hard move, Micah went next and found some better beta but took a hang or two, then it was my turn armed with both Dom and Micah's beta I gave it a flash attempt and sent! It was a cool climb but no stand out. Our next stop was the Dream Wall located next to Lava Point. the sun was starting to set behind the trees so we only squeezed in two pitches apiece on some rather neat 10's.

Sunday's plan was to go to The cave wall. This was a nice crag with shade options all day long. We started off at the Oak Wall, and I did a cool overhanging 10d as well as a 12a onsight. Then began the adventure of ticking and putting the draws up on the 5.12c, trigger finger. To do this I headed up a slightly run out 10c slab and almost barndoored off a hold but kept it together. Then I lower off on the overhanging side and placed the draws checking out the amazing crimps and holds on the arete. After the inspection I got ready and headed up. I managed to do most of the moves how I intended but found some easier beta up high. Then at the last bolt I was on a sloper and an ok jug my right and only foot popped and sent a square 50 cent sized chunk hurtling towards Dom. He took immediately and dodged the bullet while pulling me off. I then began yelling 'I'm still on' and he then gave me some slack and I successfully clipped the chains for the flash. Next up was Dom whom with the running beta and some improvisation flashed as well! Next were some cool 5.11s and out of nowhere Micah pulls off a 5.11d onsight! Way to go! We then piled into the Subaru and headed back to Olympia through the rain and clouds.