Leavenworth: The Practitioner...

Ah, it's nice to be back in Leavenworth, well, for the most part. As the years have passed, so have the amount of new problems in the valley for me and Micah to try. Micah, Dom Luara and myself made the trek over Snoqualmi pass and landed in 70 degree temps! Friday was just Micah and myself and we decided to hit up Forestland. After doing the normal warm up we tried a new V9 called The Crimpy Thing. It seemed hard and neither of us sent but it didn't feel impossible. After this we moved up to the Practitioner V11. After a mess up on the flash attempt I managed to get right below the final crux slap to the lip second go! If I had better beta I have no doubt in my mind this would of went second go. But, due to some soreness from Wed.'s ring workout, it had to wait till day 2.

Saturday was a different story. After a few warm up burns I sussed out some new beta for the finish which involved a heel hook to move my left hand to the good hold, which was my original beta minus the heel hook. Two burns later I was proudly standing on top! This is a really sweet compression problem that is right up my ally and I'm so glad I had enough juice and strength to send it. I knew spending all spring in the gym would have benefits but I never expected anything like this! So, just like the ropes wave, I'm going to ride the boulder wave all the way to Bishop...

Dom and Micah also had some close, but almost, sends as well. One notable attempt was Dom coming out of nowhere almost flashing the jib! After doing the crux, according to me, he fell on the difficult finish moves and afterwards didn't have enough juice to put it together. Also, he took a nasty fall on to me and Micah will have footage posted soon. Micah was an unmotivated Jimmy and repeated some classics but other than that was constantly thinking about Californication 13a. This would be an awesome first 13a for him. It's not the hardest 13a around if you have the proper endurance and Micah is ready to send! Hopefully he'll send this soon so I can get my boulder/spotter back! And, thanks again to Micah and his Subaru because with out them I wouldn't have been able to do over half of the climbs/trips. Thanks bro...

There will be a trailer for Crunked Climbs 20-10 soon!

Updates: Good Bye Summer...

Well, the summer has finally gone away for another year and fall is slowly rolling. Just look out the window and you'll see the ever present rain and gray, gray clouds. After Squamish I went back to Little Si twice and felt really unmotivated and decided to call it quits for 2010 at WW1. It was a fun two month ride and I really enjoyed it and plan on repeating the process next summer. Congrats to Micah on sending his long term project, Cali 5.12d!

With the rain comes plastic and I have been less than motivated for that as well. I plan on finishing the traverse within a month, good goal no? The new climbing team finally came together with a few new faces too. They'll do fine again this year and they'll be fun to watch as well. Also, we now have an after practice ring session and it was brutal and good. I'm planning on this workout to help me get a little more power for bouldering and it is fun, if not historical at times, too. The best way to train and improve is to surround yourself with other climbers who are just as psyched and motivated to do so. They don't have to be pulling 5.12 or V13, but it certainly helps, but just plain PSYCHED! Last night seeing a dozen eager faces all wanting to get as strong as possible has re-amped my psyche and has kept me motivated to stay with the gym, working as well as climbing. I feel the investment is worth it. If the community isn't there, someone has to build it right? Just my thoughts...