Trendspotting 2012

Making bold predictions is what we are all about at MCPOD as you probably already know. We thought we should kick the year off with some gems that we think are gonna be hotter than Newt Gingrich at a Mormon bar-b-que in South Carolina in the middle of July. Look for these trends at a crag or gym near you in 2012

Spandex is not only back it's here to stay as spotted by Todd on a recent trip to Stone Gardens OG.

Rad climbing gloves & vests. Not only matching man/boy vests but also hard core weight vests. You have seen "The Rooster" rock them now look for the trend to explode.

Ranger cans are back and huge in the outdoors in 2012. Don't litter lest you deal with Ranger Todd, and he don't take shit from no one.

And last but not least a growing trend we think will be huge amoung female climbers this year. Long, ponytail-less locks as spotted below at Stone Gardens OG on Tuesday. That's right gents no more buns, ponytails, or three man weaves just au natural flowing and blowing in the wind manes.

(Photo Credit: Owen Lars)

“I'd tried to straighten him out, but there's only so much you can do for a person who thinks Auschwitz is a brand of beer.”

Three weeks ago I decided to throw my hat into a new ring and officially become a competition climber . At the ripe old age of none of your f’ing business I qualify for the “Masters” division in this weekend’s “Battle of Champions” at Stone Gardens Ballard(home court advantage plus old geezer status, you don’t get a more winning combo than that outside of the Taco Bell #5 w/ a Mt Dew, do you?). The masters division conjures up visions of old timers in plaid trousers playing golf at a snail’s pace, but unfortunately for me I think the crowd I’ll be lumped in will likely be a bit more spry.

Like every great athlete in the prime of their game I strategically surrounded myself with the best only coaching team possible  available. Sam and Ben agreed to come on board immediately. They crafted a  training regime that would not only cater to my strengths(post climbing frosties) but also eliminate my weaknesses(slopers, pinches, anything hung over overhung, smearing, problems with bad feet, not breathing and anything reachy)  to the point we all thought it was completely reasonable for me to dominate finish the top 25 of the old man division.

Sam and Ben devised a 2 tier approach to training that centered around 3 Tank Top Techno Training Tuesday workouts (aka Ben Moon’s campus board routine) along with losing 4 kgs. We also snuck in a trip to Gold Bar that I posted some pics from earlier where I climb real hard all day but never topped out. Mentally you don’t want to go outside and be topping out a bunch of v6 and v7s right before a comp where you won’t have to top out a single problem. As it stands I made it to 2 out of 3 TTTT workouts and have lost 2.5 kgs. TTTTT’ng has become a way of life and probably the best part of the whole experience. Another post at a later date of the benefits of  water campus boarding.

So with only 3 days until comp time the stars are lining up well. The last tick on the list is securing that ever important sponsorship deal because what am I if not a caricature billboard of myself walking around in hippy sandalshoes spraying about how rad my radass sponsor is. Don’t worry if you haven’t heard from me yet you may still have a chance. Likely the aforementioned purveyor of fine Mexican will fill my major donor spot aka “Nacho BellgranDonor” but I’m also hopeful in helping another burgeoning local company make it to the spotlight on Saturday at the “Poco Gordito” level.

See all you blue hairs on Saturday!

The Great Debate

To gym or not to gym that is the question. The great debate, or non debate as some are calling it pits Stone Garden versus the new kid in town Seattle Boulder Project. It's the wild West vs the Southies,  old vs new or as I like to see Rocky vs Ivan Drago.

Let's face facts SBP is the equivilant of a tip top state of the art cold war Russian training facility.(complete with super strong Russian girls crushing v9***) Although not quite a barn Stone Gardens is in the middle of nowhere and boast large trees for lifting in their weight room or at least its been rumored.

Noticeable differences can be seen across the board but does this give the average Terry Boulderer a distinct advantage? Let's weigh out the differences....

Space... SBP has all the space in the world but with all it's newness it's more crowded than the latest hipster bar in Capitol Hill. Stone Gardens on the other hand is a veritable ghost town. The down side of the ghost town is there are a lot of first timers blinding walking around trying to help people break ankles. The other noticeable difference is that SBP seems to be pretty hot, and I'm not talking hot like your hipster girlfriend in skinny jeans. I'm talking Arizona in July at 7pm on a Tuesday hot. This one goes to SBP only because I'm claustrophobic.

Ratings(aka Making Me Gooder)... If you are or were a SG regular you know the ratings their are schizophrenic today's v3 is tomorrows v6. There is also the ever present v4 aka v2-v7 rating which seems to be doled out whenever it's convenient not to climb your problem but rate them anyway. Still there are some great problems there ... Dave T is a personal favorite and Scooby sets some good ones too. Over at SBP though things seem to be fairly well tapered, v6 is nothing if not consistent but let's face it SBP has gone with the feel good rating style because I should not be flashing v5 and v6 on a regular basis. SG may be all over the place but the reality is NW granite is too. All the new flashy holds in the world on soft v6's won't make you an outdoor v6 boulderer in Leavenworth. If you do work you get stronger. There is something a bit more primal a la Rocky with the log on his back in 3 feet of snow at Stone Garden, so this one goes to the Garden for all your wackiness we salute you.

Height & Padding... Fact: Climbing at Stone Gardens is sometimes like climbing outside without a pad. Fact: I've only had one friend wounded in boulder combat indoors in the least year and a half and it was at SBP. Even with the recent ankle roll I'm giving the safety factor to SBP.

Beer... Clearly having frosties at the gym gives SBP a clear advantage... or does it. Unless SBP puts together the beer selection that Kiss Cafe Noble Fir is currently offering it's even Steven. Convenience vs selection is a zero sum game so this goes as a toss up. (I'm assuming the beer thing is going to happen at SBP and this is not just a pipe dream)

That makes it Stone Garden 4 vs SBP's 2, giving the clear advantage to Stone Garden. Look for more on this arms race as a new Vertical World opens in the coming months. Until then get out and get some granite because when it comes down to it all the plastic v6s in the world don't amount to a hill of granite v3s.

***Side note if you are or know a strong Russian girl that would like to donate a picture crushing v9 let us know we think it would make a great addition to this post.