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

Bishop, J-tree & 2012

Me on the last move of checkerboard, so close....

Steven on Go Granny Go Right

Unkown cool guy repeating Center Direct

Micah on the Croft Problem

Well after a 10 week hiatus I readily exchanged plastic for granite. I finally got to check out my new strengths in the wonderful playground of Bishop over Christmas break. For the drive down I caravan'd with Jack from portland and the trip went really smooth only hitting major snow in the city of Kalamath Falls, (I almost slid into an intersection and Jack almost rear ended me). On the first day we ran into Linus and his crew in town and decided to head out to the milks with them. I wanted to put some effort into Center Direct v10 and after giving it a few good burns I managed to get all the moves save the middle throw but psyched none the less as it was a new highpoint. We then checked out Checkerboard v8 and after a couple burns blew the last move because I was not going to huck up there and miss the landing, just gonna have to get stronger or braver, most likely stronger ;) .
The next day was spent at the sads and we tried some of the harder mid range climbs, Los Locos v7 and Lawnmower Man v7, yikes! I could get to the finish of locos and fell in the middle of lawnmower man and called it a day.
Disaster struck the next day when we attempted to go to Xav's roof. After driving the 'road' to the stream the pilot made it across but the oil pan didn't. After a two and a 1/2 hour tow/chain pull and two days later thankfully the Pilot was back in commision! As fate would have it Jack injured his elbow and had to head back early. Luckily Mat Gerloch, Rat Cave CEO, was there and was able to drive me around and let me crash at the house he was staying at. Also, Rob D was supposed to get a ride form the airport from Steven Meinholtz but his vehicle was out of commission at Klamath falls so Mat picked him up as well.
The rest of the trip went pretty well after this. Matt was projecting Aquatic so I joined him in the Ice Caves and gave Aquariam v12 a few goes but kept falling going into the jug, ahh downclimbing... To make up for it I started distracting myself with Shizam Sit v11. A wierd 4 move wonder. I surprised myself by pulling off the hard heelhook and realized that it could go. With another guys beta and many burns later I made the big huck and latched the stand stat jug!!!!! Yeah!!!! A hard send, finally. After this we were starting to pack up but Matt wanted one more burn on Aquatic Hitchhiker v10, lo and behold he sent! Right as the sun was setting in the caves, it was real inspiring to watch.

Matt cruising the top of Suspended in Silence

Next we headed back to the tablelands but the Happy's were on the menu today. After a long warmup the crew jumped on Acid Wash v10. With a quick beta adjustment from Will I managed to send in a few goes this year by dynoing the start. I will try the drop knee one day... For a change of pace Matt, Brean, and I headed to the Pollen Grains for scary day. All three lines I did that day were excellent, Suspended in Silence v5, Drone Militia v6, Jedi Mind Tricks v4. I finally managed to get on Jedi, a lifetime project, it was so good! On Christmas, Micah, Steven, Will et. al enjoyed good tidings at the Buttermilks with me closing up Center Direct!! and Steven making quick work of Brian's project v8, a really fun(sharp) compression problem. All in all it was a fun trip only marred by the $1000 auto bill which meant 4 days in Lakewood with the fam instead of 7 days in Vegas crushing, one day I'll make it down there....

Long Beach

But on the plus side it was nice and sunny in Lakewood CA and it was nice not to be shivering or being soaked, like now, in the NW...

Pumping Monzonite

The theme of the day, punting from 16'

In the wash

One day my mother and I headed out to J-tree to do some bouldering. I managed to download the DR. Topo guide and made Pumping Monzonite v7 the goal. Well I got to the top but had no clue how to get over, next time I'll top it out! Same for a v6 in the wash area of Cap Rock, I saw the top but couldn't get there... Joshua Tree is a really cool place with unique scenery and plenty of boulders to play on. When I come back the trad rack will be in the bag though, so many lines!!!!!!

2012 was a good year but didn't included as many climbing days as I would've liked. Now the plan is trip focused with lots of training for 9 more weeks then playtime at Joe's. Time for Homework & Hangboards...  

Other Boulders I - Olympia

Since school has started I have yet to venture out but have finally found some time to finish editing the second of three videos that I've been sitting on. The first was a short of gold bar, this one is of some local stuff and the third is of a trip to Lost Rocks/Yosemite. At the end of summer Kevin Quinn and I ventured on down to Yosemite and decided it was too hot and headed to the coast. More on this trip soon when I finish the third video. Right now I'm in the midst of mid-terms after taking the FE exam to become an Engineer in Training! Enjoy ~

Gold Bar

With the weather cooling down I've managed to get out to Gold Bar twice. The approach isn't as bad as many think but the best solution we found was many people and everyone just caries a double. Less weight and still enough foam. On the second trip we checked out some new stuff by The World's Best V7. The climb was super fun and after a few goes a send train rolled into town. Once it left I began messing around with a low start, pinching and squeezing a sloper. Well with david's kneebar idea, Kevin's footmatch, and my far right foot, it all came together and was sent! Worlds Best Low Start at a V8 or so. Gold Bar West has many cool problems that I'm excited to try over the year!

 David crushing Hagakuri V8 up in the Sanctuary

 Chase on the V5 left of Road to Zion -super cool pinch hold-

 Kevin dispatching World's Best V7 and below on the Warm Proj a super fun eliminate
                                                                                                            - no pocket/aretes -

 Quinn on Doja V7

 Me back on Green Goblin, V11

 Crimp, Kevin/Quinn working with the camera

 Quinn on Sobriosity V6, me working with the flash

Portland II

A couple weeks ago I headed back down to Portland to visit and climb. I like visiting the city once at the beginning of summer and once at the end of summer. I plan on doing this for years to come. On the list this time was Rat Cave, Frenchies, and Sweet Home. Rat cave was fun but I only did a 12c, Fully Warmed, and called it good, saving some energy for the rest of the trip. I look forward to coming back and finishing off the right side of Rat Cave. The following day we invited Joe and Naomi along. It was a fun filled atmosphere with me getting my crimp on and sending a new 5.12, BSD, and then jumping on Psoriasis, a pumpy 12d. With some more enduro it should go. The route consists of tiny crimps then some shouldery throws followed by more crimps, yikes!
On Sunday Lisa and I ventured out to Sweet Home to do some bouldering. The drive is pretty far to be a Portland area but the approach was nil! The area is small but densely packed with many problems. There are still ample unmossed classics that I will have to return for. The problems are fun even though the rock is basalt. All in all it's a nice area, shaded, with swimming minuets away.

 Lisa the gimp pre send of Shitfire, 5.13c -notice the duct tape-

 Stick Clip!

 @ Frenchies on Psoriasis -before-

 -after-

Lisa squeezing on a V7 at Sweethome as Eric watches on.