Joe's Valley II

I guess it's only been a little over a month since I returned from my Fall trip to Joe's but it feels like at least a season, or two, has passed since then. The post is really late, I know. I've been too busy and too lazy, see-sawing between the two. Below is a nice video I made from footage from the trip. I wanted dual angles but this is what we captured...




This time the trip was composed of me, Keath and Brittany. Due to a snow storm the trip was cut into two parts with time spent in SLC in the middle and ends. The first half of the trip was fun with warmer than expected temps but a good fire was a requirement for when the sun finally dipped behind the plateaus.

Keath's friend Traughn working Lactation Station

The trip started at a new area for me called the Dairy Boulders way up right fork. The area consists of super soft and super hard problems for the grade but really good movement. After a very poor warmup session we jumped on Stir the Pie v9/6. while falling on the big move, my pinkie was jammed into the best part of the good right hand slot and as I was falling I heard a crack. When I landed my pinkie finger hurt a bit and a there was a rushing warm feeling. Because I just drove 13 hrs the previous day, and heard a 'crack' not a 'pop', I decided to tape up and managed to send 2nd. Go! (1 month later the pinkie still hurts, but not the pully).I decided to just pop some Motrin and the problem will work it's way out when I get back. As it turned out the pinkie didn't hinder me from sending, I just hindered it form healing, priorities right? I also tried Lactation Station v10 and managed to get up to the crux and found a way but will need to come back. Classic sloper groveling!!

Brittany sending Dunkin' Donuts

It just sorta happened that the theme of the trip, for me at least, was to check out new areas in the guide that we skipped over in Spring. This required some hiking and once we did the hike(s) up we found some more internal incentive to send, if you know what I mean. One such boulder was the Dunkin' Donuts boulder with the v10/8 namesake line. Well, the rumors of it being soft were a little too good to be true. Later online I found out we used a different sequence and the line felt v8ish we all agreed. It has a cool toe hook but other than that there was nothing special about it. Now Raiden v6, on the other side of the boulder, is an excellent line and took more tries too!
With warnings of a storm coming we broke camp and headed to SLC. We spent some time in LCC and I finally did All Thumbs v10 in two parts!

Keath contemplating his 'rest day'

We eventually returned to our campsite and tent life for a couple more days. I managed to send a few more things but began to feel the previous 6 days of climbing. Like last trip, we climbed way to many days in a row.

A nice campsite in the SUN!

I personally feel that a lot of the crimps on the Joe's Valley sandstone are tweaky and require some intense finger strength to pull through the mirco-ness and the irregularity of the hold. I have recently began the 4-3-2-1 training cycle and have found, through weighted deadhangs, that being able to hang onto smaller holds for longer, even microseconds, makes a huge difference. I have an upcoming trip to LA to visit some family and play on some chossy sandstone and hit up JT for round II. I know how fast time can fly but I can't wait till the end of march for another spring trip. Joe's is on the top of the list but I think a return trip to Bishop might take the top spot. Till then lots of Leavenworth weekends on some Post-Guidebook problems once the rains let up.

Until, then Happy Training, and Christmas!!

P.S. Well looks like Winter in Levy is over and I'll be posting a video of Lisa and Me climbing some stuff over Fall/Winter.

Five Fun Fall Days

Wow, after driving over Hwy. 2 so much over Spring and Summer I began to get bored of the drive with the potential new granite hidden behind thick green bush, and lots of it. This time though, with fall colors raging it was pleasant and awe striking drive. The crash of white granite with orange leaves made for some amazing Scenery!

Washout Boulders, Leavenworth WA

The weekend began with a long drive through traffic down to Portland to stay with Lisa for the Portland Boulder Rally comp. The comp went alright. I managed a good flash of one of the top ten problems and then it went downhill from there. I began bouncing all over the points spectrum falling on the last moves. Lisa did well but was one away send away from finals. Results can be found here RESULTS  After the comp a bunch of us decided to play pool and kick it till 2:30. Afterwards, because three of the climbers had plane flights at 6:00, we stayed up till 5:00 AM and dropped them off at the airport.

PBR Women's Final #1

Sunday morning after getting a few hours of sleep Lisa had to do the PCI clinic so I kicked it at the SW Circuit for a couple hours and then decided to go to Carver, the local bouldering area. The temps were great and I managed a two sends and got close on Angry Squirrels, a v9 traverse and got to the crux of the Cedar Project, v10. After returning back to Portland it was a very long drive back up to Seattle to get some sleep before heading out to Leavenworth. I was already feeling sore by this point but decided to push hard anyways and get in some more climbing.

Lisa prepping for the finish of Angry Squirrels, v9. Carver, OR

Me feeling the perfect, basalt, slopers of The Cedar Project, v10. Carver, OR

Leavenworth was fun with most of the time being spent at the washout boulders and the bulge boulders. On the second day Lisa put together the Lion's Den, an excellent v9. I then managed to send Kelly's Bulge, v9, and Lisa did all the moves save the first. Next time. We finished Leavenworth at Filibuster where using a knee scum I was able to get farther on the finish!! Should go down next time I'm on it!!

Lisa finishing The Lion's Den, v9. Leavenworth, WA

Working the moves of Johnny's Bulge.

Filibuster, new beta with the Knee-Bar pad. It works!!

That night we drove to Index to jump on the river boulders. It was a cold day and after sending a tricky rail feature I finally jumped on All of the Above v12 and did the intro moves. For more punishment we moved over to Haga and I finally stuck the big move out and moved a lil off of it! Yeah!!! After playing around on it for a bit I raced home, took a 15 min shower, and zipped off to work to belay kidos for an hour and a half!

Lisa on the Tricky Arete. Index River Boulders, WA

Working the intro moves of All of The Above.

Summer

I've been bad at updating the blog lately and will try to get better as things work their way into a routine. For starters I finished off my Undergraduate College education at UW! With all this free time now... Yeah. Right. I feel just as busy if not slightly less so than last fall. Working only part-time at Stone Gardens has left me 4 day weekends filled with climbing, training and job apps. Dang applications take forever to fill out! Back to summer though, when I wasn't doing HW I managed to get out to Squamish and rope up a couple times with the SG crew. I didn't send anything hard but did complete a few new things and send a handful of new sport climbs. I also did one new 13a at Little Si keeping the tradition alive!!  Below are some pics from over summer!

 With a fire closing Lil Si, Nevermind became the place for Seattle sport climbing.

 A new project for me in the Apron boulders of Squamish, Black Hole v11

 Chekamus!!

 I also managed to check out the Booka Boulders, Thanks goes to the Oly crew for their hard work making the aproach trail and scrubbing the unique lines!

 I finally returned to Newhalem as weel (twice!). Here Kevin is about to put away 12c for a day, 12b

 Ah Rat Cave, Only managed a few hours this year. Made progress on Tuff Nerd and Lisa had a no fall day!

 Due to a family emergency a year ago, we finally closed down the Tenino house, which was home for 23 years...

 It's now fall in Leavenworth, more on that to come!!

End of Spring Updates

This blog may have been inactive for the past 5 weeks but I can't say the same for myself. Teaming up with Keath or Amber I've been roaming the Cascades bouldering like crazy. We stumbled upon some untouched boulders in a talus field beneath Mt. Baring. While sadly not granite, the plus side is that we can retain skin while scaling tall boulders composed of Little Si-esc rock. I also spotted a few big boulders in a Talus field near Wellington. I looked for photos of the area but due to no trails in the vicinity it was a trek trough rough brush when Amber and I ventured out to the. We stopped at the first talus and found some smaller stuff on cool granite boulders. We'll come back for the gems later this summer. The scenery was beautiful with white granite talus, green shrubs, grey granite walls topped off with crisp blue skies! Besides expouldering we also managed an index and Leavenworth day. Index was a fun day with no sends but Leavenworth Keath and myself busted out a send of Aggressive Reject, v9, a gnarly crimp line I never thought I would jump on. The move is cool and the holds are the perfect size so all in all it was a pretty cool two mover.

I also attended Graduation and if I don't mess up my three summer classes will have successfully acquired a Bachelors of Science in Civil & Environmental Engineering. To get ready for fall and psyched for summer gym climbing I started a 4-3-2-1 training cycle. I'm currently in the 3 week phase and already feeling good about my climbing. I just need to spend more time in the gym which will happen after Aug. 23 when I will be officially done with Undergrad!!

 College Educated, probably should've spent less time doing this (Below) ...            ;)

 The Secret Window, Barring. Cleaned the top out now to project the 45 degree granite column!

 Me gettin' my crimp on Aggressive Reject, Leavenworth

The giants of Barring. Not granite but they are skin friendly boulders. Can't wait to FA some beautes!

Staying Local

This blog might have been inactive over the last month and a half but my climbing sure hasn't! Since spring break I've gotten out almost every weekend to one close climbing spot or another. It's been fun cleaning up projects that seemed too hard or were just out of reach. As mentioned before I've met Keath but also Amber, who drives me/us to a lot to the areas, Thanks!!, Sunshine and their friends. It's been nice having a crew all around my age, it makes for fun times post-sending ;)

 Cotton Pony Done!

 Musashi, fell from finish pinch, Next Time!

 Andrew? Bouldering? Yep! The Real Thing

 Keath putting away The Coffee Cup

 Finally did the start moves of Lighten Up

 Eva getting creative on Summer Solstice

 Kevin working his way up Chronic

 Lisa on Ross Bongo

 New? stuff literally right off of I-90, some easy stuff and a hard slab not shown

 Keath hatin on Cave 10, messed with lighting with Nikon Software

  Dispatching Cave 10? Now I need a new rainy day option...

 Getting closer on Dirty Dude!!

Sequence 2b from Jimmy C. on Vimeo.
Sooooo I just found out how to edit/produce in HD with FCE4. Only took me a year and a half to find where to click...

Leavenworth: Found a fun new warm up circuit in Forestland starting with a lap or two on Breadline, then traverse the top from breadline to the down climb. Next is The Real Thing followed by The Shield and Busted. After this I'm ready for anything! Also managed to but away Cotton Pony v11 from the minus bar and send the cool 10? line in the Schist Cave. Also did a scary ascent of Answer Man, v6, a rad line in the Straightaways with cool moment over a split level landing. Yikes! I now have a few projects lined up for Fall, Turbulence v12, Beautification v11, Dirty Dude v10, Musashi v9. Psyched to train over summer and get ready to put some burns in!

Gold Bar: Hiked to the top with Amber, Megan, Eva, Sunshine & Keath. Finally was able to put away Lighten Up v9 which took so long due to the intercate-ish start. The dyno was just as fun as I remembered! Next we moved to the clear cut where we caught some rays and greased some holds up. This fall I'm willing to make the hike for these problems, Green Goblin v11, Equinox v10, Twisted v10, Rubiks Cube v9 & Brick Layer v1. Also Mercedes v10 at the 5 star!

Little Si: Well my enduro is decent but needs some work if I'm going to send stuff....
It was fun to climb here again and Lisa did well cruising through Propaganda with just a few quick takes. It was nice to climb with her again and can't wait for my knee pad to come in and hit up RC in Portland!!!!!

So now I just need to convince my self to train for fall, sport climb and find/clean/FA new stuff around Seattle. We've already found some close stuff and it's awesome having a Geographer in the crew to help find stuff. Amber is turning into an excellent Expoulderer!! Get out there and Enjoy dry the weather why you can! -JC

Joe's Valley

 On Fingerhut v10, fell here twice... Next Time!

 Alex on Worst Case Senario v9

 All thumbs climbs the lip and up the arete, another climb I have to come back for in LCC!

Well it finally happened. For my last spring break as an Undergrad I made it to Joe's! The trip was very fun in the end and luckily Alex Keath and I became better friends instead of killing each other over the 10 days spent together in the Utah wilderness, rural and urban.
After driving through the night and a quick nap we headed to New Joes and dispatched most of the classics which was a great feeling, having everything be new to climb and try!!
The big downer were the cold nights and the only way to stay warm was to climb sooooo the planned rest days might not have happened. We returned to Salt Lake to finish off season two of The Walking Dead that we began in the car while trying to stay warm. It felt good to return to LCC where Keath showed us some classics and I managed to squeak out some sends from my very reluctant muscles.
This trip has revamped my bouldering psyche and I hope to start filming some more of my now weekly daytrips to Leavenworth which have been as fun as they have been productive.

UW @ Leavenworth

James on Sorrow Bird v9

Last Saturday I rallied the motivated members of the UW Climbing Team and headed out to levy for a dytrip as well as met up with a few Stone Gardens peeps. The highlights were a send train of Dangle v7, a nemesis of mine for a long time. After discovering a wet Coffee Cup we moved on to The Lonely Fish/Millennium Boulder. Keath and I squeaked out a send of Sorrow Bird v9, a rad and slightly high addition by Brian Smith. Beautification felt hard so we moved onto Atomic Energy where Karl and Keath quickly dispatched and James repeated. All in all another fun day with another daytrip to follow this weekend. Hopefully I'll get on Cotton Pony and some new stuff recently put up for some harder sends. Psyched! Now for that HW...

Winter Quarter and Boulders...

Keath on an unedited, pre-send burn of Giant Slayer, a good dry problem at the end of Feburary, crazy!

 The view from the top of Mt. Erie

 v10 sit start to Spirit of the Stone, Can't wait to come back for this!

 Keath on the warm up
Well the quarter is almost over and I can't wait till Joes in little over 2 weeks! Two weekends ago Keath was itching for some rock and I was ready for an adventure. After getting denied by snowy passes from the webcams we headed to Anacortes  to a boulder David from Oly told me about. I also recalled that it sits in a mini rainshadow. Guess what, it was dry! We had a fun time playing on an easy , Giant Slayer v7 and its evil(harder) brother Spirit of the Stone v7. The latter has some henious crimps! I'm psyched to come back for this one and it's sit.
After wining the University of Idaho comp {I finally got an Asana chalk bucket Yeah!} last weekend I zipped out to Levy and had a fun day repeating problems in Forestland. We eventually ended up at Beautification and I made some progress after making a killer landing! This trip has rekindled my psych for bouldering that school has all but blown out. Though I am enjoying my timber design class, can't wait to build a killer home wall in the future!!

 Lizah killing it!

 Gluelams!!

 EP walls, at least it's steep!

Keath on Beautification v11

And on the Shield v7