Spotted in Gold Bar

Recover Like an Olympia

In the world of old man climbing there is no better friend than the post crush IPA and ice bath for the hands. You take that, put it on nuclear steroids in a Star Trek looking cylinder, subtract the hopps and you in end up with this...

Train like an Olympian

Lots of talk across the blogosphere about training these days. I've got my own routine that I've been perfecting with some of the MCPOD Team which we'll get to in a few days, but here a short video on the new regime of possibly the greatest Olympian of all time.

"Insanely difficult form of rock climbing called BOULDERING"

If Brian Williams says it's insanely difficult who am I too argue. It's a bit ironic that he chose that as his segue for a story about a 5th grader that dominates the sport. It seems kin to calling a perfect game in bowling Mt Everest and then flashing the stats on all the Joe Average Bowlers that put down 3 hundo a year, but whatever he's the pro.(the number of amateurs that roll perfect every year is so high that I would challenge that bowling is a sport). More good press for climbering and pretty cool watching Ashima climb with old man prowess. (Side note - It's not OK to cut your bangs to look like your 5th grade prodigy's bang Obi)

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Hot Virgin Bouldering

A little mental vacation to the islands for those of you in the Northwest enjoying this quality 50 degree and rainy June summer day.

Alpine Lake Iceberg

There was a short blurb in Urban Climber(yes I read the tabloids) this week about Leavenworth as a destination. The picture by Steven Gnam(his blog is worth a look) below along with another of Steve Dimmit on Pimpsqueak were part of the article. Anyone been on this or know where it's at?

May the Fourth Be With You

What better way to celebrate May the Fourth Be With You and Cinco de Derby than a few quality days in Leavenworth. This perfect storm of holidays also happened to coincide with my first trip to Mountain Home, which I have to say was pretty great. Lots of good quality problems in all ranges and a total change of scenery from Icicle. The problem of the day there for me was the low ball V4, Barn Door Arete. A great mix of core tension and a lot of figuring out what is going to work for you. It’s fat guy bouldering at its best which is why it’s right in my wheelhaus, in fact I will claim that I own that wheelhaus. Other notables for next time would be getting down to the South Seas as well as Darth Maul, which saw some good sends but wasn’t in the cards for me. “It’s a bloody hard V4” - Blue

We also made a short stop at Geronimo, the now famous Jessica Campbell problem from Western Gold.(If you haven’t seen this yet you should download it. There are some slow sections but overall it’s quality boulder porn in our backyard) Blue and Gabe both made quick work of it which is impressive to see(didn’t get a single vid of the sends but again Western Gold if you fancy). I struggled on the start but finally found a way up to the high slopers and touched the second to last hold. It didn’t’ go but I this along with Obesity are my 2 top projects for 2012. A lackluster session at The Sword not being able to pull off the ground to start Off The Couch rounded out the day

Sunday started with a Seattle reunion breakfast at The Sleep Lady and ended with some low quality flailing on the new washed out boulders. In between we hit the Egg boulders like Tina Turner on a hung over Saturday in the 70s. Smokestack Lightning, The Weather Report, Jerry Garcia and a lot of warming up went down. The Weather Report is pretty sweet and a great fat guy problem at V3. I blew my tips on the start hold of JG which is to say I touch them a few times. Look for a video of JG going down like power windows later in the week. The washed out boulders are pretty sweet. The  V4/5 with a medium throw outside the Lion’s Den will be a good problem to come back too . The jump start V1 to its right is an instant fat guy 3 star classic with a nice shoulder move to a good top out.

Great weekend, great people, some not too bad weather and as much fat guy bouldering as this kid could handle. Maybe the only thing that kept me sane with the ladies out of town.  Now on to the pictures you ogling monkeys…

 

Leah on Darth Maul

Leah, On and off the top of Darth Maul

Blue, Barn Door Arete

Gabe, Geronimo

Leah, Geronimo

Leah, Joe's Arete (I think)

Blue making sure Jerry Garcia doesn't fall over.

Truc, Smokestack Lightning I

Truc, Smokestack Lightning II

 

Truc, Smokestack Lightning III

Truc, Smokestack Lightning IV

Cheeky Seattle Smack Down Top Out