Season Opener

This past week began the oficial start of the rope season for myself. It started off with a re-season opner at the quarry on wed. with an outstanding 19 participants. Sadly, half the problems were wet. Some notable sends were Luarra's and Sierra's red points of The Manly Wham, 5.11a. Also Victoria from the climbing team ventured out onto the real rock and Tr flashed Calvin and Hobbes and did all the moves on The manly wham! I, cough, finally, cough, sent all the established problems at the quarry. It took a year longer than it should due to my preconceived worries of the 5.11c Riddler. They proved unfounded and after watching Dom cruise it I sent! Now to do them all in a year!
Next was a Friday trip up to little si, my 4th climbing trip with ME driving. With only a minor red light sudden deceleration the trip went flawless and i enjyed the company and catches from the likes of Dom, Luarra, Lisa and Andrew. It was a good first day back with some good burns on Pyschosamtic, Techno' and Californicator. I have a good feeling 'bout Califonicato and hopefully it'll go soon. Andrew managed the send of Abo'. I'm now looking forward to some more clippin' action!

Signs of Summer: L-twon part II

The Tree Problem-Leavenworth from Jimmy C. on Vimeo.

Well last weekend wasn't enough to satisfy our craving for granite blocks so Micah and I headed back out to finish up some business. The first stop were the sword boulders where I messed around on zorro some more then after playing on a few others I steered Micah towards the Tree Problem, V8. After an almost flash, he sent shortly after and I managed to make one of my best vids ever! After this success we packed up and made the hike to the Bond Boulders above the Fridge. We threw the pads down and began hucking off of From Russia with Love, V9. Then Micah remembered the key toe hook and the problem became doable. I was managing the first move pretty well and was hucking top the sun-basking lip, slipping off and landing 2-3 past the pads on the nicely built up landing(Which freaked out Micah every time but I'm over my fear of falling while bouldering). The climax was the desperate two hander that failed. After sticking the lip for a few seconds then falling I called it quits and it was off to Geronimo.
Once here I gave it a good burn and managed the send first go of the day as micah was about to take out the camera, oh well. Then at Yoda The brutal huck-fest began again but this time Micah pointed out a small left foot and, well, a few burns later and I was up on top! Micah came close too a lot of times the sun peaked over the boulder and zapped the phsyche right out of us. We then decided to throw in the towel and a good successful last L-town trip and started planning the Little Si summer. I'll probably be back to Leavenworth with the family but ideally not till October...

Ropes & Boulders...+Video

Geramino V9 from Jimmy C. on Vimeo.

4 years ago form this weekend we pulled into the swiftwater parking lot for my first taste of leavenworth granite(pre-guidebook). Using the free topo from climbingwashington.com we meander around finding some contrived lines and falling in love with the place. I had the same feeling when i reluctantly left late Sat. night. Friday afternoon Lisa and I piled into the Pilot. First stop was supposed to be Poison Ivy Crack, but due to private property dwellings we couldn't find an aproach trail. So option b was attempt the small crag on the eastside of Madesen's Buttress. I gave La cucaracha, 5.10d trad, a go and after a long couple minutes scraped my way to the top for the hetchy-sketchy onsight. I learned for parallel cracks, cams are needed... Next was a bolted line not in the old guidebook that looked 5.9 but is accutally a 5.12a. Lisa went for the onsight and hung down low and I managed a beta flash! Next up was the 5.10 looking mixed climb and lisa gave a burn but downclimbed. I put in my two cams at the start(I needed one size up though) and headed on up the climb, comitted to the move that I thought was a match in a shallow pocket, BUT I chickened out attempted to down climb, fell and one cam popped but the back up held! This now is my second ever trad fall! This ended our rope adventure and we headed to the campground...
The following day we met up with Micah at JY. First, Lisa and I stopped at the Sword Boulders where I messed around on Zoro some more. This line will probslly take a whole day to complete. Once micah arrived we headed over to the Strainer, a powerfull lokking V9. I managed the send in a few goes and deffinately see how taller people could considder it soft. I personally liked it because it was a sustained powere problem to the very top(just ask Micah ;) ). After a couple more goes Micah hit the finish nob and sent his first hard problem of the year!!!!!
Next up was the forestland fiasco then we headed over to Mountain Home Road to try Geramino V9. This is one of the cooler looking aretes around. I'd lost a lot of my psyche by this time but still managed to slap the finish a couple times. I'm looking forward to the send next time I'm here. But micah looking really strong kept it together and sent! his 2nd V9 of the Day! Next we went on an exploritory trip then headed to the star wars boulders and began projecting Yoda. It is surprisingly doable and i was coming an inch within the jug.
All in all it was a good vacation and it was like old times bouldering with Micah in Leavenworth. Once little si dries out it will be rope season but till then more L-town and Gold Bar, and Squamish is just around the corner!

Movie of Micah on Geramino coming soon!

Non-bouldering Leavenworth

The view from the crag of the enchantments
Yeah, that's the road and creek waaaayyyyy down there

Awesome but slightly dirty wall

I finally deiced to check out what all those other people do who go to Leavenworth and wonder why we 'play' on the short stuff. This weekend was dedicated to doing Outer Space on Sun. and trad/rope stuff on sat. with Keenan, a trad junkie from climbing team. Saturday we started at the sword boulders because keenan wanted to try the old school 5.11 the Sword V3. He sent after a few goes and a commitiing move to the top! Meanwhile I walked around the corner and flashed the Tree Problem, V8. A simi-cool short thing by the boulders down climb. Afterwards I played on zorro and found beta that works and I'm looking forward to sessioning this one in the future. So, now time for the ropes. We decided to check out a new crag called Lucky Dog. 1.5 hours and 3 ticks later we arive at the base of the 'alpine' sport crag. This so far was the farthest I've hiked for climbing. 'Hiked' is used liberally since the trail disappeared halfway up so we bush wackked up to the white wall. The first clmbed we did called JBT something and it was a good 5.11b/5.9. Super soft with a small coating of sand on every hold. Besides that though the route was very city of rockish and if roadside would be very popular. after slipping our way to the top we decided to move on to another, more clean area. As it turned out the clean area had a scary runout out the beginning so we called it quits and headed over to the offwidth Carnival Crack 5.10d visible from the boulders.
After some effort to set a Tr Keenan attempted the first moves but got stuck there. Next I tied in and managed to pinch the right side, palm the left side, and scoot my thigh jam(which left some marks) up the crack to the mid level slab. To get to the slab i busted my right heel out onto a ledge and heel hooked up to the last 8 foot section. This i decided to lay back off a good foot, hit a crimp on the face and slap to the top. 1st go! I was almost more surprised than Keenan, who knew?

Day two crux was the second class pitch of the classic Outer Space 5.9. It killed me but I managed to do it with a few falls. When we arrived at the base Snow Creek Wall it seemed smaller than what I imagined. The first two pitches we simuled and Keenan lead us too high. so after an impromptu belay and down climb we arrived at the base of the crux pitch. We broke up into 2 seperate pitches and I took the first. After a slip an' slide layback I reached the mid belay below a roof and built my first ever rad anchor. It consisted of two bomber nuts and a 3/4 lobed #2 Camelot. It held Keenan's slip so I think it passed...
Next I followed the curx and it seemed easier than I was told but the holds were flexin' more than any boulder I've done (Don't know how they're still there). Up next was the 5.6 pitch I lead to the Library ledge with a natural seat!
I (heart) Grigri. Self portrait on library Ledge.
Later Keenan brought up a good point that we were both constantly doing 15-25 foot run outs. The rock is so good up high and placements so bomber it didn't really manner. (Now I know how the Marc guy solod it) The final headwall was awesome sans my untaped hands which got destroyed. I loved the unreal chicken heads and only used the crack a few times (whatever). Keenan had the great idea to summit and we hiked an extra 50 yards to the top and the view was impressive. I could see the Straightaways to Forestland To Madmeadows, the town of Leavenworth, and out towards Pesachtin Pinnacles. Pretty damn awesome!

Now the tricky part was the descent, basically 3rd and 4th class scrambles where slippinig isn't recommended. After a short random rappel we hiked on out and headed on home. It's cool cause now I can point and say, 'yeah, I've been up there' I'm looking forward to doing some more trad and learninig how to properly jam(I would be screwed in Indian Creek). But all in all the past weekend was very fun and adventurous to say the least. It's Tue and I'm still recovering getting ready for either a sport sess. in spokane or (almost better) Weekend in Leavenworth WITH the pads being the main focus (Lisa doesn't know yet but she'll have to belay me on some trad though). I'm getting pretty exited for squamish, boulder and sport then easy trad on the rest days(or swimming weather permitting)

Rain City Send-fest

If you've been climbing long enough you will stumble upon certain people with unbelievable finger/contact strength. Those who can hang on to the smallest of holds and fall solely due to technical errors. Saturday, I was in a car with two prime examples of this phenomenon. Andrew Hou and Kevin. Saturday was the annual UW Rain City Send, a college only comp. It was broken up into two sessions and Andrew and I were in the first. I didn't know what to expect since the comp was set by college setters and I was basing my perception off of Evergreen(no disrespect Micah) so I wasn't prepared for the awesome routes! I only cheated on two of them, doing it with Jimmy Beta. I spent the good part of the Red Point qualifiers sending the hardest problems except for the one, 890(hardest), which probably could go down in a couple days. Meanwhile Andrew was busy crushing all the moderates, thin techy problems on slightly overhanging walls. Next up was Kevin who has only been climbing for two years and this was his first comp. I first met him in the gym when he was crushing my V5s and V6s! So after a little persuasion he decided to help represent SPSCC. He did great for his first comp, getting close on a lot of V7s and running out of time to complete a fourth problem(I placed 2nd to dead last my first comp!).
So when the dust settled I came out on top and was set to go first in finals. The first problem startted with low hands, a high foot, then a super cross-over behind the head. I finally managed the first move on my 2nd go and then got stumped on the third and fourth moves not making it to the bonus hold! ZERO points! I was like 'f***, i just lost the comp in 5 f****n' mins'. (So, finals were Euro style where halfway through the route, there will be a 'bonus' hold worth 1 point and a finish hold worth 2 points) Next up were Brian froom central and Jake from a community college and both managed to get to the bonus hold. Now for final prob#2, I reset mentally and gave it a good go. The problem was my style and after a brutal one arm lock off dyno to an overhanging pinch, iron cross a 5 foot span, and then duke it out heelhooking slopers. Well I came within 2 holds of the finish. OK. now I felt like I stood a chance. 1o antagonizing minutes later no one else stuck the dyno to the pinch. O.K, so now we each have touched one bonus hold, but the second one was worth more! Win! All in all an awesome small comp with just some minor glitches in the final. (final routes should get harder as you go to eliminate people and make for a better show, not ridiculous hard starts). This comp and Darth Vader have re-amped my psych for bouldering so I have no clue as to whether it'll be little si or Leavenworth for future trips. Either way its going to be a fun packed summer with a road trip in the works. Mostly vacation with a little Yosemite hopefully. One last shout out to Community Colleges!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 1st and 3rd in open and ex-community college 1st in Intermediate!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

See ya on the rocks...

Return to Leavenworth

On Sunday, Lisa and I headed back out to leavenworth for another day trip. First stop was Egg Rock, Lisa hasn't been there before. After a short warm up we both gave Jerry Garcia a couple burns from the 'low' start. A nasty upper gaston and lower sidepull. This line will definitely go for lisa from the proper stand if not the low. Its cool, but a Little too balancy for my taste. So I ventured up to Musashi. The first sloper was in the sun so I started projing the stand and managed to do all the move save the first 2. I felt confident that it'll go when the temps are favorable(or summer night sessions!). Next stop was Mad Meadows where Lisa got back on Hanta Man and made some good progress but she still needs to suss out the crux. While she was proj.ing I headed up to the Playground Point Crags and solod a short 5.6 crack. There are a bunch of moderates I plan on doing up here while Lisa is in the process of sending Hanta Man.
Next was a quick stop at Dirty Dude where I made some really good progress. After a few burns I managed to touch the bottom of the crimp rail! This line should go after a few good campus board sessions. All it is is one BIG move.
Finally we finished the day off at Mountain Home Road. This area has the best views out of all of Leavenworth and as mentioned before, one of my dream locations for a house. Lisa got to work on Emperors lightning but she was pretty tired after Hanta Man sess. I began working Darth Vader(v10) and was able to do the burly undercling move on my second go. Then cam the crazy duel heel hook sloper matching up to a micro crimp and, ah, mantel. Lisa caught me a good 4 times, rolling off the top, grating up my right leg, and falling on too the pads. The sloping landing makes the spotter necessary. On my final burn I managed to get to the lip, got a super close heel hook, and pushed and pulled my way over! My right heel stayed put! (don't put your leg down for top out, this is what causes the fall i found out 3 times) YES! Finally a V10 that fit my style. I think boudlering is going to be on pause and its finally time to break out my new rope and see if I can nab a 5.13a in the same year. twenty ten has been a good year bouldering for me and I'm curious to see how it plays out on the sharp end...

(No pics or footage, once again my camera spent the trip in the car...)

Bishop Media

Here are some of my favorite photos, still missing 1/3 from Amanda.

Lunch of champions, red bull and builder bar
The get carter boulder, stood on top 3 times, buttermilks
Jimmy on the cool Charlie Brown, V3, Painted Cave Boulders, Buttermilks
The hike(until we did the druids approach)/scamper to the happies.
Local Cactus.
Justin after the warm up on our last
Lunch after the Druids
Blurry but still a bad ass photo, me projecting Acid Wash, V10
On a hike to locate Solitaire, V8, Now wheres that dang boulder?

Another pic from Acid Wash, next trip...
Iron Man Traverse, duh,
The ride to the Buttermilks from camp, w/ 5 people in the Jeep!
Day 1, Ryan attempting the critic Green Wall Essential, V2, Buttermilks.
Me on a V6, above of Acid Wash, like the photo.

And I forgot, we hiked up to the druids one day which was a minor rest day for me, sending only Cayla, Arch Druid, Arch druid left, and kredluf. All awesome climbs. Also, for the hardest send of the trip Jimmy fired off thunder V3 and Cory did Arch druid minus the top out. Video online now on vimeo and below.

Bishop Spring Break 2010 from Jimmy C. on Vimeo.