Squamish: 10 Days!

Tyler on Viper

Squamish was fun, really fun. It had it's up and downs but both David and I managed a lot of new sends. It was a surprise to see Micah as well. He crushed for being out so long and I can't wait to climb with him next summer.

Rosario Beach

ROADSIDE!
Picturesc
Micah on Sissy Boy 12d
Kevin on Sissy Boy
Small but packs a punch. Rosario Beach is by far the best little crag I've been to yet. Roadside with bathrooms and water and swimming all right there! Dom, Micah, Lisa, Kevin and I had a blast trying the routes and interpreting the bolt lines. The routes feature mainly sidepulls and pinches which I enjoyed. After the warm up we got to work on sissy boy 12d and Dom managed a second go send and later I followed with a flash. It's a good route consisting of two boulder problems separated by a bad rest. Lisa and Micah came really close to sending and will no doubt come back and send. Kevin was destroyed from Infinite Bliss but made some good links as well. Towards the end of the day I got on the 13b and can't wait to come back and finish it off. Rosario is a sweet little secret spot that stays shady all day!

The rock was sharp, finished the climb to get draws back. Only a tiny scratch but lots of blood!

Smith: Christmas in July

Pretty! Agro gully
One of Lisa'a P-town friends on the Quickening, one of the 6 climbing it that day
Agro...
Chas on an 11a
Dom on the same problem

Well, not exactly. It was only 70 in the shade and jackets were needed in the mornings and evenings. For this spur of the moment trip, I was accompanied by Dom, Lisa and Chas. Day 1 was sunny and we accidentally went to lower gorge. After going through my options I decided to give Badfinger a burn. It is a stellar 10b crack and I fell at the crux(3rd trad fall ever) and took once more but did all the moves. It was real fun and I would like to come back for the Red point. Next we headed over to the Pheonix Butress and I got destroyed on a techy 11c. I wasn't to psyched on the whole smith rock pebble smeary techy thing...
Day 2 was better and after warming up we headed to agro gully where armed with beta I managed a flash of the quickening, 12c. Then the day heated up and we finished it off watching Lisa hike Henious Cling 12a for the onsight! I might return in fall but we'll see...


In other news I'm almost done with the Olympia area bouldering guide. Turns out there will be aprox 100 problems spread throughout the county with even more rock outcroppings for those willing to hike. If all goes well I'll be attending UW this fall and that will be the guides release date, ideally. Fossil Rock bouldering isn't included due the horrendous approach, poison oak, ect. Here are some pics from the Skookumchuck crag.

Wet, but could clean up nicely, bout 20-25 feet, overhanging basalt, just need to remove grass from top, could also be a high ball wall.
But might just go to the gym...

Rat Cave: Knee Bars and Stick Clips

This past weekend Lisa and I ventured on south to spend a weekend on the steep basalt crag of Rat Cave. We started on Friday and after getting close to onsighting the 'warm up' I tried a couple of other lines. One line I like was Shitfire 5.13b/c. This line starts up a good 5.12a and veers straight up some steep bulges. After going clip to clip I managed all the moves but the route was gonna be a race against the clock. Lisa then sent the 5.12b second go and returned to her propaganda-esc 12c.
We came back on Sunday depumped and armed with beta from the locals. It was nice. The weather was just cool enough and after receiving the correct sequences managed a send of shitfire 3rd go of the day. The route comes down to big moves off of pinches, underclings, and the ocasional sloper and crimp. The blockiness lends itself to many, many drop knees and these were key to the send. Another thing we learned is it is the norm to stick clip the first two bolts here. I also sticked clip a pre placed draw for the first time, on the 7th try! Lisa made great progress on Shitfire and she'll be returning to the crag all fall. I'm planning on returning too later this ummer to finish up some of the other good lines. If you like steep and bouldery, this is the place for you. But there is loose rock, trains yards away, a highway in the background, rats...

Also, Dom, Lisa and I meandered up to Little Si yesterday. Oval was wet so I worked my way up Gerbil Rising 13c and was able to get my beta back and could everything except for the Flatliner crux. I'm psyched to send this by the end of Aug. Dom is also ready for a change so for the next couple weeks we'll be venturing out to some new crags and try some new stuff!

Leavenworth: Sun

Sunset

This was my last spring trip to Levy. It was spent mostly in the sun adsorbing the rays till the sun reapers on the west side...

Slingblade V6 below. The low start should go. Begin w/ left hand on crimp in the 'crack' and right hand on a sloper, then work into slingblade. Would love to see the sit start go!

Little Si

A little blurry but this the Derik sport climbing Reptiles!
Ah, sport climbing season. Yesterday, Derik, Kevin, Andrew and myself all made it out to little si. After a warm up on Psycho Wussy it was a group consesus that today wasn't going to be a sending day. After we all got scared on lead I work my way up techno and Andrew did all the moves on TR! I feel that I'm lacking the enduro I had from last year but overall I feel good. Hopefully after a couple sessions I'll get my endurance back and start putting some work in...

Rat Cave

On Friday, lisa and I headed out to one of Portland's cooler sport climbing areas. The rat cave has around two dozen steep, confusing, and fun lines. What it lacks in rock quality it makes up for in the 30 foot roof! We first tried The Maverik 5.12b for the warm up. I managed to onsight the 12a part and went for the boulder problem extension and was just able to hang on! Then after a 1/2 hour break to let the flash pump go away Lisa sent the first part 2nd go. Next was a steep 13b which has hard to decipher from the guide. As it turns out I projected up a dumb link up. After some better hunting, I took my way up the correct line which is a pinch fest utilizing a kneebar. The route never lets up and is going to be a good one to project for awhile. Here are some pics...
The 12a follows the R-L crack but the cave routes look amazing!Close ups