First climbing trip of 2012.

Okay, maybe not the "first". The "first" trip I made was to Cody for some bouldering, but the weather, however, had other plans so I did no climbing.

I had been DYING for the feel of rock on my fingers, and was tired of not climbing. I text my friend Ryan saying we should go out. The reply I got was "Ya come to Ten Sleep with me on Tuesday - Thursday!" THANK GOD. Immediately afterwards, I started packing my gear.

When Tuesday rolled around, I couldn't stop thinking about the fun to come. Ryan pulls up in this giant monster of a van, and I threw my stuff in the back. When I went to get in,   all I saw was a butterfly chair behind the driver's seat. No seat belts. And as he first pulled out of the street, I about tipped over. I could tell it was going to be an interesting drive.

After a quick gas up, and a beer run, we departed. The drive was pretty standard. We got into the canyon around 11 p.m. or so. One thing we weren't aware of was that the climber campground was closed for wildlife preservation, so we had to go elsewhere. We checked a little campground in Leigh Creek a little lower in the canyon, but it was full. Luckily for us, a friend has a cabin in the canyon, so we crashed there.

Wednesday comes, and we roll into town before climbing to get somethings at the convenient store. Fast forward: Find friends, park, hike, decide where to climb, hike, climb.

Ryan, Dustin (other guy), and I stopped at this "5.9a" that Ryan said we should warm up on. So I get on and hang the draws. The first few bolts on the climb were pretty casual, then it breaks right a little and got kind of thin. After lowering down, I say to Ryan "Is that really a 5.9??" "No, its an 11.b" he replied giggling. So I warmed up and flashed an 11b. Ryan fell on it. HAH! After we all warmed up, we headed to Valhalla. As we all figured out who was climbing with who and what, Ryan and I were like "Lets get on this."
This was a looooooong 12a called Cocaine Rodeo. But damn, that was a fun route. Its starts with a few small pockets, into a HUGE move into a slopey jug. Once you get past that, you get a few more moves into a beautiful standing rest pretty much. Then its onto the next hard little boulder section. Then another rest! Then another boulder problem... Then you're almost at the top. I was feeling pretty good. Until I got to the second to last bolt. I was soo pumped, and I only had two more bolts to go! But I had to take. Once I figured out some beta and ticked some feet, I got to the anchors. This route is definitely on my project list now. I'll just need a little bit more endurance when I get on it again. Dustin got on after I did, and flashed it. NUTS!! Way to go, D! Fast forward: hike to Slavery, decided not to climb due to a mob of people, hike down, set up camp, town, food, camp, sleep.

The next day, everyone voted on going to The Arc. I was not to stoked however, due to the gnar hike. But we went anyway. We took a back way, that was crazy! First we hiked through this nice meadow, then lost the trail, bush whacked through forest, traversed scree piles, and after like 45 minutes of silliness, we made it. But my motivation wasn't too high. We warmed up on a couple 10's, and I was definitely not feeling the area. I think it was just the rock. It was this dirty brown and weird texture. Ryan kept saying we have to get on a 12something called July Jihad. I looked at it, and wasn't really feeling it. Shane (another part of the group that I forgot to mention) hopped on it first. He got pretty far. Fell at the crux. Same went for Dustin and Ryan. I didn't jump on it. Exciting, I know. The hike out wasn't as bad as the hike in was. At least it didn't seem as bad. When we got back to the cars, we hung out for a bit, then left.

So all in all, it was a pretty decent weekend. I'm glad I finally got to climb. In one of my most favorite places, none the less.

RMNP! (Once again)

I finally got climb in RMNP (Rocky Mountain National Park) for the first time this season! It was good to be back. It was the usual Dan Squared (Dan Baker and I) and one other. Emmy Voigt! It was her first time going to RMNP and she was super stoked! But unfortunately, she was sick. :( We got into the park probably around 12 or 1 at night. We luckily found a nice campsite in Moraine Park, even though a sign said the camping area was full. We woke up pretty early and drove up to the parking lot at Bear Lake and began our hike. For some reason, I was really exhausted when we got to the boulders even though I have done the hike before. It was like I was hiking there for the first time again. We warmed up on the usual warmups, nothing special. Emmy got on Potato Chip (V7) and gave it a few tries. After we were done warming up, we headed over to the Gang Bang boulder. Baker, Emmy, and I tried it a few times, but no sends. There were some guys from Boulder working on The Marble V10. It looked really cool and I wanted to try it, but when nobody else was there. Emmy wanted to see Autobot (a really long V5 with a deep/scary landing) so we talus hopped to the boulder. But not without skipping rocks on the gorgeous Lake Haiyaha first. We got to Autobot and looked at it for a second but didn't get on it. Instead, I tried Pistol Grip V8. It has a pretty hard start and an awkward landing. Theres this weird rectangular block that you kind of undercling, then a slopey pinch with a decent thumb catch. You throw up in a space between boulders, then throw out to a huge sloper. Baker got on it (sending it the trip before) and sent after two tries. Then I got on it. The block had really sharp edges that dug into my palm, and after a few tries, cut a small chunk of skin out of my palm! :( Then to add insult to not-sending-injury, it started to rain/snow/sleet. So we decided to head back to town. Before we departed Lower Chaos, we stopped by Geeks Of The Industry V7 to show Emmy. We got back into town and ate at Ed's Cantina. I had an amazing cheeseburger!! I suggest if you're ever in Estes Park, you eat there. After Ed's we had to find a new campsite, and we luckily got one in Glacier Bend (or something like that) .So we went back to camp, hung out, and went to bed. Nothing special there, either. Next morning, we woke up, and went bouldering.

We warmed up, Emmy tried Geeks, and we decided to try to find our way to Upper Chaos. We had no idea where the trail to get up to it was and no prior knowledge of where the boulders were. We went on anyway. We did a bunch of talus hopping, and finally found a huge boulder with a gnarly high-ball with a super sketchy landing. To the right, was a pretty decent looking problem. I decided to hike up a little bit more to see if I could see if I could find some more boulders. I did. It was a really hard problem that was wayyyyy cool! I yelled at Baker to come check it out, and moved up a little more. I found the most amazing thing ever. A giant raspberry bush. Anyway, I went back down and convinced Baker to try the problem I found. He got on it and sent in three tries like a super boss! You go girl!!! After he sent, I got on. I'm not going to go into details, but I got shut down times a million. Fast forward: hike down, dinner, camp, sleep, wake up, camp tear down, leave for Wyoming. All in all, it was a pretty unsuccessful trip for me. But I did come out with one awesome thing. This;

Probably my most favorite photo yet.

1 down, 5 to go.

Great White Behemoth 5.12b

I finally got to return to Ten Sleep! After a Summer and Winter of missing, I came back. And with a vengeance.

Dan Baker (my usual partner), Aimee Stafford, and I left Casper at about 10:00 or so. I got to ride in Baker's new Lincoln Navigator. Its RAD! We showed up in Ten sleep at about midnight. We drove up the old highway where all the climbers camp, trying to find a camp spot. Emphasis on trying. There were soo many people there! Its kind of nice to see a lot of people there to climb in Ten Sleep. We found a weird little turnout and setup there. We made food, a fire, and a lot of fun conversation. I got tired so I went to bed. Nothing new. But I slept really well that night. Didn't wake up once! We woke up at about 8 or 9 and drove into town so give some stuff to Alli. But when we got to her house, she was already gone. So we gassed up and drove back into the canyon.

Due to the Big Horn's record snow pack, there was a lot of run off, so the creek was insane! The log crossing shortcut to the Superattic (where we were going to climb) was under raging rapids. Or gone, I don't really know. So we had to take the long hike from the Slavery wall parking lot. On our hike up, we saw a moose! A MOOSE! We came up on him eating, and he just looked at us like "Whatever." and kept eating. When we got to the crag, Alli and Kevin were there! Kevin gave me the best man hug, and I got to show him a picture I have of him out of a climbing magazine. I think he enjoyed that. We warmed up on a couple times and got Aimee on the wall. She did really well! I warmed up one more time, then we headed over to The Great White Behemoth, which had perfect conditions! Plus it had draws on it already. As we were getting ready, Cedar Wright, Matt Segal, and some crusher kid named Stefan came up. So I get on, not remembering any of the beta, holds, or anything like that. I wish I could go into minute detail of the climb, but I phased out and just climbed.

On my first go of the day, I sent T.G.W.B.

I was really excited! I only got really pumped at the top, as apposed to the usual in the middle pump out of the climb. And about halfway through, I started to talk to Cedar as I climbed. It was kinda silly. But I was really relaxed and in the zone! After I got down, I asked Baker if he wanted on. In a very reluctant voice, he replied "Yeah?" So he tied in and got on. He got 5 bolts up to a good rest jug, but didn't rest. He shook out once and kept going. I got a couple moves up and had to take. He stretched himself out on a move, and was having trouble with the sequence. But after a little thinking, he made it to the top. He came down, rested for a bit and tried again. But I think he got too tired. We hiked down to the Slavery and did a couple 5.7's for Aimee. There, I met Christine Balaz, who has been recently crushing a majority of my projects. After we were done, Alli and Kev came by to meet up with Christine. Baker, Aimee and I went into town and had a couple brews and a pizza. I had two 1554's. I really like 1554. The pizza was really good too. Afterwards, we went to Alli's and hung out for a bit, then went and played in the gym. Alli, Kev, Christine, a guy named Billy, Baker, Aimee and I were all having a super fun time. Campusing, laughing, and falling a lot. It was a super way to end the day! But sadly, we had to leave because AIMEE HAD TO WORK!! So we left. On our way back, we saw a little porcupine! Aimee named him Pickle. Awesome! haha

The end.

Me on Animal Acts V5

Happy late New Year!

So for Christmas this year, I got a trip to Hueco Tanks National Park, Texas for a present! And it is the best present to get ever. I just wish I could have gotten more time to stay!

Corry Cummings, Dan Baker (a friend I went to Rocky Mountain National Park with a lot this summer) left for the Tanks on Monday early in the morning. We got to Hueco at midnight and found a spot to camp that probably wasn't a camp spot. We moved to an actual spot next morning, an WENT CLIMBING! We went to East Mountain, which had the project that was on the top of my list; Power Of Landjager (V11) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4sdmg16EKk). But we started out warming up at a problem called Uncut Yogi. But it was a V6, so it wasn't a very good warmup. After a few bad attempts, I decided to save my self for later climbs, but Dan sent it! We went to the Maze which had a ton of problems, but we were there for a guy that wanted to work on Nagual (V13). It was pretty cool watching him work it, but there was no send! Cory, Dan, and I worked on a 9 I tried 2 years ago called Glas Roof. Cory and I were having troubles, but Dan was making good progress. But we had to leave so he didn't get to send. We made our way to Power of Landjager. There was a couple other guys working on it, but they didn't stay long. I stuck the first part of the crux twice, which made me extremely happy. Only problem was my skin was hurting, and I was getting bruised tips on the fingers I had to use on a sharp crimp. If I had more time, and more tougher skin, I could have sent! Our guide was really cool! His name was Cory, and it was his first time guiding, but he did a good job. Next day was a North Mountain day! North Mountain is a sector that you guide yourself. I had only one climb on my mind: See Spot Run. See Spot Run is a 25 ft tall V6 classic of Hueco Tanks. Luckily, there was a ton of people there so we had literally a gym floor of pads. Dan and I got on a couple times, and shortly after Dan sent. Then I sent! Cory gave it a few goes, but no go :(. After that, I told Dan he had to get on another classic called Baby Face (V7). I did it two years before when I went and it was the first V7 I ever did, so I was really excited for Dan and Cory to get on it. We hiked over with a few of the guys we worked See Spot Run with, and got to work. Well, they did. I got on top of a boulder with my camera to take a photos.

Dan on Baby Face V7

Cory on Baby Face V7

No sends though. Which is kind of a bummer. I was sure that Baker was going to send it. Baker and Cory wanted to go to Martini roof (I think) to work on a problem. There was a really strong chick working on Esperanza (V14). Baker started to try Baby Martini (V6) and was looking really solid. But I don't remember if he sent or not. Cory got on it too, but due to an ab injury (Baker turtled him and he tweaked his ab), he couldn't really try much. After a little bit, we left. Enjoyed a normal night of hanging out, but I went to bed. Next morning, we went to East Spur I think. The previous night, Baker and Cory met a really cool couple from Australia that was in our group! We got to try Better Eat Your Wheaties (V8). Vince (guy from Australia) sent! Baker and I tried a couple times, but no go. Then we went to Animal Acts, which is a cool V5 and a Hueco classic! I got on and did it first go. Baker did it too. Cory didn't get to, because of his janked ab. We left and went to another boulder that had a really long roof with a V6 on it I think. Baker really wanted to do it, but it started SNOWING!! So we left. By the time we got back to camp, there was about 4 inches of snow on our tents. We brushed it all off, and departed back for home. We snagged a little hotel in El Paso, then left on New Years day. We didn't want to drive ALL the way back to Casper, so we stayed at Cory's relative's house. And enjoyed a little New Years partying. But the next day, we made it back home. I miss Hueco!!!!

Xbox red ring of death

More like the xbox red ring of gayness! If you haven't caught on yet, my xbox red ringed. Probably (sadly) 60% percent of my life died. Only a year old too. I've treated it so well too! Not once did I take it for granted. I feared that one day this would happen, which made me appreciate my xbox to a great end. Two things that make it worse are: I bought it off of ebay, so I don't have a warranty to fix it, and I don't have a job to buy a new one. So until money grows off of trees, I get a job, my mom or dad decide to grace me with a new one, I'm S.O.L. Plus some of my friends are gonna pass me in rank on Halo: Reach. GAY!

Another great weekend in...... RMNP!

Gang Bang V8

Yes! Another weekend in Rocky Mountain National Park! Great weekend at that. My partner (Dan) and I woke up early and departed for RMNP Saturday morning. It was a pretty good drive most of the way, until we got in Estes park. All the tourists vacationing for Labor Day weekend, gaping at all the elk (one or two) and holding up traffic while doing it. Has nobody ever seen an elk? I guess its just part of living in Wyoming I suppose. Since it was Labor Day weekend, a lot of the campsites were full. Except one... Timber Creek, a 40 mile drive from Estes!!!!..... So we get our camp spot, and its actually pretty nice. The campsite wasn't full up, and there were actually A LOT of spaces left. I start putting my tent up, and Dan asks "You're putting your tent up?" I reply "Yeah, aren't you??" He was scared someone would take his tent! But we both get our tents set up, and we head out to go climbing. We arrive at the parking lot at 3, and got a pretty good spot, which was nice. The hike was actually really short this time, time wise. Dan and I warm up at the same boulder, and there was a couple Boulder that were there too, but they weren't being to friendly. We said hi, but they didn't really talk to us. I do a couple laps on a problem and try to do another one, but the guy in the couple wouldn't move from the start, and I didn't really want to ask him to move, so I did another run on the warmup. Afterwards, we headed to Tommy's Aerate, so Dan could send. There were two other guys there that were working on it, and they were super friendly. When Dan got on, he turned on the burner. First try, and he finished the whole thing. No warmup go's on it, just got on and sent. It was awesome!

Dan on the send

Dan, the two other guys, and I decide to go check out Deep Puddle Dynamics, a V9. We get there, and it looked super hard. You start on this under cling, and move up to this sloper thing, match, move your feet around, lurp up to a bad slopey pinch thing. Once I hit that, I would have to deadpoint to another sloper thing, toe hook so I could move off of the slopey pinch thing, and match the sloper. A couple of the moves after that were easy, giant sloped jugs, and then a crazy overhang with a crimp rail and a bird beak like pocket thing. Thats where it got scary. Plus the two other guys left, so we only had two pads and I was sketched. So we decided to move on to Gang Bang. I gave it a few tries, then got my groove and it was on.

ME ON THE SEND!!!

Thats right, I sent Gang Bang. I was soo stoked about it too! Dan gave it a couple tries, but wasn't feeling it, so we hiked out. In the dark again too, but this time we were prepared. We brought headlamps. I'm gonna fast forward here... Hike down, car, drive, camp, food, sleep. So while we're going to sleep, there were elk in the area bugling, all night. What an incredible experience! Too bad it was ruined by a couple having sex.... Yeah, we can hear you two! The guy sounded like he was having some troubles. And he was grunting and moaning more than the girl! So hilarious. But the bugling elk made it better. So the next day, we go back up. But parking was full, so we had to park at some pullout, hike to a trailhead where the free shuttle stopped. Fast forward; parking lot, hike, warmup, douche bags from boulder (different douche bags), gang bang. Since I had done it the day before, I was just chilling. But another couple came up, and acted like they were waiting for us to leave, like they can't climb when there are other people around. So I tell Dan "We should just stay here" and he like the idea. So the waited like, 20 minutes... AND LEFT! What dickards. Dan came real close to sending Gang Bang a couple times. A little after the gay couple left, two guys came up. Drew and Alex. These guys were super chill. Really friendly and super stoked. They gave a couple tries on Gang Bang with Dan, then we started trying this crazy hard 6. But I gave up, so we left. Fast forward; hike down, wait for bus, parking lot, hike, car, Eds Cantina, douche couple that can't climb around other people, drive home.

Rocky Mountain National Park

Rocky Mountain National Park

So this weekend, I went to Rocky Mountain National Park. It was an awe inspiring experience, thats for sure. My partner and I arrived in Colorado at like five and went up to the trail head to the heinous hike up to the boulders. We had NO clue where we were supposed to go or where the boulders were. But we saw a guy with a pad and asked him if he could show up. He ended up being Nick Duttle, (he's done Esperanza (V14) in Hueco Tanks National Park) and he guided us up to Lower Chaos. But we went up at 5..... So we arrive at the boulders and warm up on some weird thing, do a V7 that felt like a four, then headed off to a really cool boulder. The boulder had an 11 called Bush Pilot that had a hard start move into an awkward aerate. Nick was projecting Freaks Of The Industry, a James Litz boulder problem. He worked that until it got dark enough to motivate him to leave, and we hiked out with 5 minutes of daylight left. As we hiked on, the light died a lot. It made it really hard to see, but you could see a white-ish glow of the rocks on the path and a dark spot in between them, so you could kind of see where you stepped. One thing that was awesome about hiking in RMNP at night was the starry sky. It was a humbling feeling looking up seeing the crimson sky with all the stars and the silhouette of the mountains in the background. After what seemed like an hour long hike, my partner and I made it back to the parking lot. We drove back to Estes and tried to find a place to camp. We barley found one in a campground that was full, but we snuck in, woke up, and snuck out without paying. The next day, we went up for a full day of climbing. We warmed up at the same boulder, no big deal, then we went on to Tommy's Aerate, a 14 move boulder problem going up an overhung prow. It was long, but fun! Two cool pinches, a huge jug rest, and a scary landing. I sent after maybe 10 tries, and my friend worked it with all his might. But then it got a little crowded, and he lost his psyche, so we moved on. The next boulder we went to had The Centaur, a Dave Graham V12 or 13, but it also had an 8 called Gang Bang, and a 9 called Handicaps, and an 11 I think. We worked on Gang Bang most of the time. It was also on an over hung prow like thing, but the moves and holds were harder. The move that was most intriguing was a throw to a sloper. You would go from two crimps, and a slick foot, throw, hit the sloper and you have to fight a helicopter swing.

Gang Bang V8

Once you control the swing, you have to do something with your foot, which is hard, because there ARE NONE!! But I found one I had to press hard on, but I could make the next move. I tried a lot to get it, but I worked all the moves all the way to sticking the sloper and the dish next to it. But I could never get my foot up on to a hold after sticking the two holds. After a bit, more people came so we left. We drove to town, and ate at Ed's cantina. There were two girls that we met earlier at Tommy's Aerate that worked there, so we got a little special treatment. I had a DELICIOUS cheeseburger that made me a very content boy. When we were done, we tried to find a place to camp, but all the camping areas were full or too expensive, so we decided to head to Casper. I fell in love with RMNP, and would loooove to go back sometime.