Smith III Chalk and Draws

Ahh, Smith in the Sun. I was lucky enough to spend the first half of my spring break at Smith Rock State Park. We left on thur. and my last final was on wed. Jeremy swung by my house at an unprecedented 5:30 AM, (yes in the morning) to get an early start and be able to climb all day. Once we reached the campsite, we tied up Sasha (Jeremy's nice dog) and headed off to climb. I thought that my pack was light this trip and it was a fact, I left all 18 draws at home hanging from the bookcase! Luckily Jeremy had 12 from Bill, Thanks!, and Chas let us borrow his set of 10. So after we hiked down the trail we met up with everyone at Ship Wreck wall and climbed with Chas, his uncle Mark, Erica, Her two Friends, and Jeremy. We had a nice big group. I did the BEST 5.10b at Smith, Walking While Intoxicated. Hard moves with big holds and only 5.10b, and (yes Micah, it is better than Chicken McNuggets). The next day, Friday, was sunny and 60. It was awesome to climb in shorts and shirtless for most of the day. We met up with Chas and his uncle again at Morning Glory and Some random dudes got stuck on Overboard and they asked Mark who asked me if I wanted to get there draws fro them(Personally, I saw them struggling and was hoping for a free draw cuase I left mine at home) I said yes and onsighted it to the first chains and enjoyed the route quite a lot. After basking in the sun for a couple hours we found some shade in cocaine gully and I hopped on Chicken McNuggets for an ere adventure and an "Don't Blow this Clip" moment. After clipping the chains, everyone took a turn and fought through the crux to enjoy the upper section and the knobs a glory. we finished the day around a raging fire waiting for Dom, Micah, Luara and Jared to make their entrance.

Jeremy on(I Think) Cool Ranch Flavor 5.11a, Then Dom on Chain Reaction 5.12c

On Saturday with the whole crew, play time was OVER! We warmed up on Cool Ranch Flavor and Full Overboard before heading off to Chain Reaction. Dom gave the first burn and got close again. I tried it and messed up the pinch on the arete, and clipped the chains for the first time. I felt good and knew it would go. After getting the start beta from Dom I cruised up to the second bolt and made the move to the arete, and delicately hucked to the horn. First crux done, I cruised on up again to the throw to the 'monkey' bar. I left out the gaston and in desperation hucked for the jug and got it. Then the huge move finish seemed not too bad an very cautiously tip toed around the corner and clip clip sent Chain, My hardest to Date! I wasn't done so after giving White Wedding, 5.10b, a burn I was debating whether or not to hop on Heinous Cling. (By the way, Jared Nice lead of Wedding Day, scarrrry!) So After some peer pressure I got up on Heinous Cling 5.12a. At the crux there were two nasty crimps and a huge jug I was told about, so with a little run out I dynoed to the Jug and sent. (Now Climbing Team, See, Dynoing does work:)
After this and looking at the extension, next time, we went into cocaine Gully to try Crack Babies. A sick overhanging route (that Richard from Tacoma sent earlier with a broken foot). I gave it a whirl and got through the crux but i left a nice searing pump so when I reached the jugs below the finish I couldn't squeeze worth a damn and I skipped the last bolt and took a ride. (It will go soon when I have a fresh start) On Sunday we went back to northern point and did some classic 5.11s as well as a 5.12b. The twelve didn't go but I'm definitely returning for it. A cool huge lockoff to a pocket and another off of the pocket to a crimp. On Sunday, Dom, Luara, Micha and Jared had to leave and the Crew that was left was Jeremy, Erica, Luke and his girlfriend who apparently were hikers and decided to hike AROUND all of the climbing instead of actually climbing on the rock. The plus side was that I got to see the Monkey face and realized that I'm not in bad as shape as i thought, due to my biking. Monday was another gorgeous day and Jeremy and i were supposed to leave early. I did the best route that I have ever tried called Headless Horseman. It starts with a 30 foot solo of 5.6 trad up to the first bolt. Then it goes up this pillar for roughly 70 feet of vertical/slab face climbing. What I really liked is that i Could lock off the good holds and skipped the bad ones and reach to next good one. It was a fun adventure going up a face, around an arete, onto another face, then back onto the arete, then back to the original face to the chains. AWESOME. Good exposure and 10 or so feet between bolts makes this route a 5 star problem, also to get to the ground I needed all 70m of my rope. We finished the day on Heresy, Jeremy almost flashed on TR but had his heel to far away for the last move.
The Trip was a blast and smith isn't too bad anymore but still not my Fav, It's going to take forever to depump and it hurts just typing this post! So all you get in the Gym and start getting ready because Spring is only a few minutes away...
The late Sunday Crew!

Return to Smith

Last weekend Nicholas flew in from DC and Scott picked him up for a Smith Rock Trip. On Friday Dom, Laura, Jeremy and I all crammed into the little Honda and began our trek to smith Rocks. I've been to smith before once about two years ago, and had a bad first impression of the place(to blancy, to crimpy, to scary). Two years later(read +2 years of training) I wasn't too phsyed but ready for some sport climbing. So early Saturday morning waking up with a crazy dog barking and 5 generators going, we headed off to meet Scott and Nic in the parking lot. after our greetings we headed over to Picnic Lunch Wall to do some warm ups. Scott did an amazing warm up of a 5.10a redpoint on TR, his hardest to date! I got bored of waiting so I asked Jeremy for a belay and jumped on a cool 5.12a Dom was talking about. A couple minutes later and 10 painfully frozen fingers, I onsighted 5 easy pieces(the first pitch only) 5.12a. Now I'm thinking Smith isn't so bad. After this send I did the 10a slab and realized how much I dislike/uncomfortable slab climbing is because I feel like there is nothing to hang on to.
We moved to Morning Glory Wall and met up with Ryan Palo and I tried to onsight the extension to Cool Ranch Flavor. Well I fell in the middle of the extension due to forearm failure but the 5.11 portion is an excellent climb with a tricky/pumpy crux. Jeremy did the full 9 gallon buckets with a hang at the crux and did an amazing job here for his first trip to smith.
After a little break we played on Chain Reaction and then finished the day on Phoenix Buttress and afterwards Scott and Nicholas surprised us at camp with Pizza. THANKS!!!!!!
On Sunday it was cold and windy so Teagan, a nice local gal, showed us Northern point which is similar to Vantage I'm told. After doing some blancy and good climbs I managed another 5.12a onsight which the finish was soaked due to the rain but I was NOT going to let go.
I now have a new appreciation for Smith and realized 'bicep' routes do exist here and the balancy ones are fun if I can trust my feet. A video is coming soon as always. Spring is almost here so get ready for the '09 Season. -jimmy

F.I.N.A.O.

Look, I got bloody, Fawn at the end of TR Mambo Jambo 5.10b Trad
Who's that sexy belayer? Jared catching Fawn on Psycho-Wussy 5.11b
Lisa and Fawn getting ready for the 5.11b TR, Smile!!

Falling Is Not An Option. This past weekend Fawn, Lisa, Jared and I all went out to Little Si in North bend for a day on the ropes. It was the most beautiful Saturday in a long time so I was psyched to climb! As usual with Little Si, the main parking lot was full so we parked almost in a driveway in the new parking lot and the incredible/hard hike began. My cardio sucks horribly so Jared and I started up the trail. Lisa managed to get lost so it took her and Fawn an extra1/2 hour to reach WW1. By the time they got there I had already put the draws on Psycho-Wussy. By the time I clipped the chains my fingers were way too cold to try the extension (Next time!) Lisa managed to get this clean on TR and Jared and Fawn worked there way up it. All they need is some outside endurance. After this we tried BLM-3. A cool balancy 5.11b I managed to flash which was good for me because it wasn't my style. After a second lunch break we stopped over by the classic Rainy Day Women (5.12a) and Lisa managed a clean TR and Fawn worked her way to the crux. The day ended with some trad climbing on the lower crags where me, mister boulder, busted out mambo jambo(5.10b) trad route on TR clean as a whistle. Can't wait to get out to Tieton and Vantage! After a quick stop at the Dairy Freeze for shakes we headed home after an awesome day of sport climbing in the middle of February....

National Weekend Pics

These photos were taken during open finals! More Pics coming.

Nationals

Fun. If Nationals had to be summed up into one word it would be fun. My sister, mom and I all went to Boulder Colorado for ABS 10 Nationals. We flew in on Friday and went to pick up our open finals tickets and to watch open qualifiers. Hannah from the Circuit was competing but the qualifiers were hard, really hard. They also changed up the scoring. You only get points for sending the problem or reaching the halfway point hold. Slip off the finish jug you do as well as the person who only got to the halfway hold. Also a lot of people ended the day with zeros. The next day Saturday, is when youth qualifiers were happening. Lisa was in the second session and I was in the third. Lisa did awesome in the qualifiers sending the first two, then one hold away on the third one, and one hold away on the fourth one. She qualified sixth and went on to compete in finals on Sunday. Me on the other hand, flashed the first and the second problem, tried to dyno the third one and got 3/4 of the route. The fourth one was slopey and precise but i managed to get 3/4 of the route done. The first five competitors or so in my category flashed all the problems. I took 15th out of 34. That day I was bummed because I was hoping to qualify for finals since last year I was one away from qualifying. Then we watched open finals and we managed some sick seats and it was a blast watching these climbers send so hard.
Then on Sunday, Lisa went into iso and we all watched as she flashed the first one, almost flashed the second one, forgot the heel hook on the third, and gave her all on the fourth one. When the dust settled she took 12th in finals which is very awesome for a part time climber in nationals. After finals, Lisa, Me, Eric, Zan, Slaten, Paul, Zac, and Sarah all went to Flagstaff Mt. in a caravan of rental cars. First stop was the monkey traverse area to warm up and send some high sketchy V1s and a cool V3/4 in a hidden alcove. After exploring we moved to Cloud Shadow and tried some of the test pieces there. Eric and I went to work on Trice V12. We could stick the pocket, get the heel on and were going for the shitty left hand crimp. I also gave the Lower End Traverse V9 a couple goes and got halfway through it. We had to leave to go watch Zan and Lisa at awards so we reluctantly left and got there to to late, oops! Then Eric, Zan Me and Lisa returned to the boulders and we went up to the North overhang where some dude showed us some sic problem and the V10, There Will Be Blood. The problem to the left of the V10 was a cool V9 with crappy feet because the huge rail was off. Zan managed to get halfway through this a couple times and I managed to get half way once. Then we decided to use the rail and the problem was a cool V5 with perfect incut granite crimps on a steep wall with a hard top out and down climb. After climbing we all went and got pizza and then when hot tubing/swimming/huge water fight. Then got up at four the next morning to catch the flight back to Portland.
All in all Nationals was a blast after qualifiers. There is nothing better than climbing outside in the sun (shirtless in Feb.!!!!!) with cool friends discussing the days problems and just having fun on hard problems. Then relaxing in the pool afterwards. Can't wait to get back out to Leavenworth and also bring Eric, Zan and Matt and see what damage they can do. Hopefully this weekend a Little Si trip is in the works. Lots of photos coming too.

Chulich's Again

This past weekend the WRG Climbing team sent 7 competitors down to the Circuit Bouldering Gym in Portland OR for ABS Regionals. It was a fun day with lots of hard sick problems. At the end of the day Jimmy came away with a third place finish and Lisa, his sister, an impressive close second place finish in her age group. The WRG climbing team as a whole took 9th out of 16 teams. Good job everyone!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This season the team consisted of a lot of beginner climbers who have gained the necessary experience and I'm looking forward to seeing them crush next season . The weather has been rather unusually sunny so i might get a chance to catch few falls and snag a few 12s soon. Vid. of this weekend coming soon!
-jimmy

Tick List for '09

Since every one else has an '09 wish/tick list I thought that I would hop on the bandwagon and make one too!

Routes
Anthing, Anywhere, 5.anything
Little Si
Physcosamatic 5.12d
Techno 5.12c
Hang it Out to Dry 5.12b
Hydrophobia 5.12c
Chronic 5.13b -'10
Bust the Rhythm 5.12c -'10
Exit 38
Goblet 5.12b
Solo the 5.11d at Gritstone
Gun Show Full 5.10b
Leavenworth
Phirana 5.13a
Roothless 5.13a
Toothless 5.12d
Gut Buster TR 5.12d
Classic Crack 5.8
Doin'n Dishes TR 5.12b
Zwebies 5.12b
Rock n' Rattle 5.11c
Tenino quarry
Legends 5.12c
My slab project 5.12+
Walk the Plank 5.12b/c
Manly Wham Direct 5.12+

Bouldering
Gold Bar
J-High V7/ low V10?
Ross Bongo V9 -'10

Ground Zero V8 -'10

Eberosity V11 -'10
Leavenworth
Cotton Pony V11-dyno '11
Dirty Dude V10
The Sail V9
Heaviness of the Load V10 '11
The Peephole V10
The Lonely Fish V9
The Millenium Traverse V8 09
Scrambled Eggs V8
Banans V8-should go quickly
Kobe Tai V8
See Lisa do Kobe Tai!(Well she did the lonely fish instead)
Squamish
Worm World Cave V9
Sesame Street V9
Gib's Cave V8
Any classic problem no matter what grade.
Some problems might be out of reach but it's good to set high goals, gives me something to train for at my home gym(WRG). I can't wait till spring. Side Note: Regionals for ABS are this weekend and the WRG climbing is providing 3 competitors, Jimmy, Lisa and Russ. Good luck all and hope to crush the competition! Or just qualify, ;) -jimmy