My "sister is packed and ready":http://www.livejournal.com/users/fuzzyfruit/512978.html. I'm nearly packed as well, and excited as hell. After all the crazy shit of the last few weeks I can't wait to have a few days where I do nothing but climb 5.10 jug hauls all day and scoop monster pots all night. I'll do my best to keep both climbing and poker journals, so I can satisfy all 4 of my readers equally.
I think I had almost forgotten that "my sister":http://www.livejournal.com/users/fuzzyfruit/ and I had planned a trip out to Vegas this fall. I sort of panicked when I realized that the dates were almost here, so I now have flight, hotel and car reservations. I went budget all the way, since the hotel is only going to be for sleeping at night. We're staying at the "Golden Palm Casino":http://www.goldenpalmlv.com/, which I never even heard of before. (Apparently it used to be the HoJo's?) The purpose of our trip is two-fold: climbing and poker. With "Red Rocks":http://drtopo.com/nevada/redrocks.html just about a half hour away from downtown, the plan is to climb in the mornings, then head back to town to shower and hit up a cheap buffet for dinner. I expect it will be thoroughly exhausting and thoroughly enjoyable. I haven't been on a rope in months, so the next few weeks I actually need to start getting my ass to the gym; at the very least to do 4x4s to build up some semblance of endurance (and callouses). My sister has been out of practice too, with some issues that have kept her from climbing. We'll both be flailing our way up 5.9s and 5.10s, but apparently Red Rocks has them in abundance!
This weekend I went with "Paul and April":http://apadventures.net/ and their friend Miles to check out Jack's Canyon, up in the north part of the state. I had heard that it was a completely manufactured place; just a cliff line that had been grid-bolted, each line 5 feet to the left of the last one. I was pleasantly suprised to find a good variety of climbs there. Yes, there were lots of drilled pockets. But that didn't change that the quality of the rock and the climbs themselves were pretty darn good. Several of the climbs actually reminded me of some routes at Summersville Lake/New River Gorge. Best climb was an 11c that I was way too out of shape to do, but could see myself struggling up in pretty short order if I keep going to the gym like I plan on. There are "some pictures here":http://www.flickr.com/photos/apadventures/sets/506775/, including a "fantastic shot of the sunset":http://www.flickr.com/photos/apadventures/21831256/in/set-506775/ made all the more impressive by all the wildfires in the area.
Last night was my inglorious return to the world of route climbing. Some serious life shit going on, so it was nice to go and sweat and grunt and try to not think about other things. Today my hands hurt, my shoulders are sore, and I'm eager to do more of the same.
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The whole "tags":http://flickr.com/photos/tags/ thing "seems to":http://www.metafilter.com/tags.mefi have "taken off":http://www.technorati.com/tag/.
Pictures are "posted":http://feralboy.com/photoalbum/photos/?folder=20041126_thanksgivingathueco. Full trip report and Thankgiving menu breakdown coming shortly.
Finally got my home computer up and running (I've been -surfing porn- working only on my work desktop since I got here), and dug out my movie archives. I had tried to save most of the good video clips from the "now-defunct climbxmedia.com":http://www.rockclimbing.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=46006 while it was still un-defunct. I'm going to give all the "post-Dosage Vol 1":http://bigstone.bizhosting.com/dosage_dvd.html videos to Paul so he can "make a DVD":http://feralboy.com/log/archives/001171/ out of them. For anyone who remembers the site I'm posting a few of the better clips:
"Dave Graham and crew tear it up at Rumney":http://feralboy.com/climbx/rumney.mov
"Klem Loskot deep water soloing in Spain":http://feralboy.com/climbx/psicobloc.mov
"Joel Brady on a cool project in New England":http://feralboy.com/climbx/stereo.mov
"Some Cockney dude on his woody":http://feralboy.com/climbx/splinterbig.mov (heh heh heh)
Paul and I just put the last plywood sheet into place, and we're ready to start setting routes and climbing on the thing!
"All pictures here":http://feralboy.com/photoalbum/photos/?folder=20040925_woody.
This past weekend Paul, April and I headed down to a little-known climbing spot just outside of El Paso, Texas: Hueco Tanks. *Update:* Vince sent me some pictures he took as well. "See those here":http://feralboy.com/photoalbum/photos/?folder=20040919_hueco2.
"All photos I took here.":http://feralboy.com/photoalbum/photos/?folder=20040919_hueco We drove down late Friday afternoon, and got to the campground by about 11:30. The drive was uneventful, although I can tell you that El Paso is a crappy shitty stinky town. As soon as you hit the outskirts, you pass by a waste-treatment plant (think of the "one at my work":http://feralboy.com/log/archives/001079/, times about 1000), and then a high-density feedlot. Yum. Anyway, get to the site, pull out the tents, and rack out.
Next morning was bright and clear. Our friends Vince, Tammy and James (along with Tammy's son Mars and friend Chris) were already there as well.
We get to the "state park":http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/park/hueco/, get checked in, and I get to watch an orientation video! Whee! "Don't step on plans, don't disturb wildlife, yadda yadda." Ok, done. Set up at our campsite inside the park, some awesome breakfast burritos and tooth brushing, and we're all off to hike in.
The warmup area is called Small Potatos, and has some small-ish rocks. I do my very first climb at Hueco, and then do a few other warmups in the area, and then an ultra-cool V2 called French Fry.
After the warmup we stopped at a climb called "No One Gets Out Alive", which is V2 or V3. Then up to the "Track 2" area, where they have "Daily Dick Dose" (V7) and some other fun things. I took a crack or two on DDD, but realized that I need a whole bunch of training and not eating if I want to have a good winter.
Paul quickly knocked off "P.F.O.S.", (V9), and we went around the corner to a cool highball arete called "Baby Face" (V7?). I took pictures of everyone trying it, and also a few shots of the awesome view.
Next up was Martini Roof, which was an awesome cave with all kinds of good huge jugs in the roof, with a few problems scattered about. A V5, a longer V6, and an ass-hard V10. Everyone was working on the 5, for the most part. I was close, but couldn't control my swing when I got near the end. It was a great workout, tho.
Last stop was Hebrew Sausage, an awesome V5 that's all slopers and heel hooks; really cool movement. The heel hook was starting to give me some trouble (I have a bit of a trick knee, and heel hooks and descents screw it up nicely), so I called it a day. We headed back to the campsite, cooked up dinner, and had pizza and beer.
Middle of the night it started raining! WTF? It was the first rain I had seen since I moved, and of course I didn't put the rain fly on my tent, so at whatever time in the morning it was I was running around like a maniac trying to get the cover on so I wouldn't get soaked. Paul and April were in the same boat, so I didn't feel too dumb. Heh.
Next day there was still lots of rain, and cloudy skies as far as you could see.
The access issues at Heuco are strange: you have to have a guide for 2 of the 3 main areas, so luckily we had one Sunday to go see parts of the park that Paul and April hadn't seen yet. Luckier still we had a guide who was a hardcore climber, Anna Burgos. She's strong as hell, and cute as a button, but she "sounds like Shelly from South Park":http://feralboy.com/muzak/spears.wav. "Shtan, I'm going to go lishten to my Britney Schpears recordsh". Sorry Anna!
We checked out all kinds of stuff. The warm up area "called 'The Warmup Boulder', interestingly enough" had some great climbs, including an awesome V3 I did with a big dyno move on it.
Then on to some other stuff, including a cool 45-degree face with 2 awesome climbs on it.
Then on to a different area which had "Full Service" (V10) and "Dragonfly", which was an AWESOME V5. Crazy highball, cool moves. I can't wait to send it.
Last place we went had just one climb, "Ultra-Mega", which was a steep V7 with some really cool-looking holds on it. Paul and Anna both took some whacks at it, but Paul sent at the end.
A last stab at Hebrew Sausage for a few people (with James sending in fine form), and then we were on our way back.
In summary: Hueco is an amazing place, certainly on par with Bishop, and I can't wait to get strong by going there every weekend.
"All photos here.":http://feralboy.com/photoalbum/photos/?folder=20040919_hueco
Paul and April took me on my first outdoor climbing excursion yesterday. We drove up to the top of "Mt. Lemmon":http://www.rockclimbing.com/routes/listArea.php?AreaID=416 to check out what the local crag had to offer. First of all, the drive up the mountain is totally amazing. The desert floor drops away, and you completely change scenery going from saguaro to scrubby pines to full trees as you get higher and cooler (totally forgot to bring the camera). To get to the areas, you drive nearly to the very top, and then hike down, past the cliffs you're about to climb on. After a decent hike in, we tried out a few "warmup" problems (easy 11s). The type of rock on Mt. Lemmon is totally different from what I'm used to at the New River Gorge. The rock here is very sharp, with lots of quartz crystals. This is good because you can make use of a lot of blank-looking sections because of the friction, but bad because I don't have very good callouses built up right now, so today my tips are _blown_.
After the warmup we hiked a little further down to head to an area called "The Orafice". There were a few problems there that Paul and April wanted to work on there. To get there you have to shuffle across a foot-wide ledge, and then go around a corner and hook your harness into a safety line. P + A started across, and I looked and looked and looked and bailed. We were at least 500 feet above the rocks below, and one slip meant you were dead. I had visions of a foot giving way (it was sort of loose-looking choss), or a strong wind coming around the corner or something. That plus trying it with a loaded pack did not sound like my idea of fun, so as crappy as it made me feel I stopped. P + A were super-cool about it, and told me their first trip there they had bailed too, until some guy came and basically made them go across it.
Instead, we went down a really steep section of the cliff, past where a lot of the fire damage was from last year (burned trees and blistered rocks everywhere), and did a HARD 11 which was super-exposed, with a gorgeous view of the other mountains in the range, and all of Tucson spread out below that. Paul got the redpoint, and April and I both went up on TR. By the time I got to the top (long route, like 14 bolts or something) I was wasted. Not tired, so much, but no skin left, so all the prickly holds at the top felt horrible.
It was a fun place, but I'm still in bouldering mode, which is great because we're going to Heuco next weekend!!! Hot weather be damned, we're going to try and find all the shady spots, and just walk around and pick out some projects for the fall and winter. I've heard so many cool things about Heuco, combined with the video that P + A shot there, that I can't wait to see it!
Paul and April sent me the homemade DVD they put together of their climbing trips in the spring. It made me even more excited to get out there than I was already. It's a cool video, and I've probably only seen the first 1/3 of it. You'd swear it was a "BigUp(BigUpProductions)":http://bigupproductions.com/ video; all kinds of cool slo-mo stuff introducing you to the area in the beginning... good music soundtrack and some great problems that I can't wait to go send. It even had a real DVD case with pictures and stuff! ;-)
*Update:* Copies available for $5. Post a comment and I'll get you info.
If you see that basically a "frickin' tornado":http://www.dominionpost.com/a/news/2004/05/22/ab/ has blown through the night before, chances are the climbing at "Coopers":http://feralboy.com/log/archives/000505/ will be wet. No need to drive down, park and hike in to see.
Good weekend, overall. Nothing too exciting happened Friday night, except I went to happy hour with some coworkers at "Kaya":http://www.bigburrito.com/kayawebs/. Some belgian white was drunk, and probably some inappropriate comments were made. All in all, a fun night. Saturday was an "alleycat race":http://www.pabstville.20m.com/ around Pittsburgh. An alleycat, for those of you who don't know, is an underground bike race, organized and mostly run by "messengers":http://messengers.org/.[1] "Everyone":http://feralboy.textamerica.com/?r=565079 "met":http://feralboy.textamerica.com/?r=565089 at The Point downtown around 2, we each paid $5 ($6 if you didn't have a helmet), and we were off at 2:30. The format of this race was a little different than the one I did "last time":http://feralboy.textamerica.com/?r=448441; the previous one laid out your route along with your checkpoints, but this race you were just told what your 15-odd checkpoints were, and your final destination, and you had to figure out the most efficient route yourself.
"Brian":http://ankle-biter.net/log/ "was there":http://feralboy.textamerica.com/?r=565095, which was good, because I had someone that knew parts of the city that I didn't, like the North Side. Also, he was riding his "fixie":http://www.fixedgeargallery.com/2004/janaszek.htm, which meant that me riding my bike with all the gears had at least a chance of keeping up. There were checkpoints in all of the neighborhoods near downtown, so we hit them in this order: South Side, back Downtown, Strip District, North Side, Bloomfield, Squirrel Hill, and then ending in Oakland.
We got a little lost on the South Side, and ran into a messenger from Columbus named Randy. He had gotten separated from his buddies somehow, and was totally lost in an unfamiliar city, so he came along with us. Actually, it was Brian and Randy leading, and me gamely puffing along behind. Randy also provided me with the heart-stopper moment of the day. While going over the 16th St. bridge he was riding no-hands and hit a pothole and veered right into the bridge guardrail. Somehow he managed to straight-arm the guardrail and snap himself back upright, but I had visions of him getting splattered all over the road.
The rest of the checkpoints were uneventful, and it was a nice tour of the city, going from the "historic" adult Garden Theater on the North Side up to the beautiful campus of CMU, and everywhere in between. I guess our route wasn't the most efficient, because there wasn't anyone there to give us paper slips at the last two checkpoints, so we just headed to the finish, which was in "South Oakland":http://www.soufoaklin.com/.
The finish was at someone's "house". I use quotes around "house" because it was a "house" only in the sense that it had a door, walls and a roof. Inside it was the most disgusting thing I'd ever seen. "Utilitarian" would be way, way too kind. There was a half-assembled bike on the living room floor. That was the only furniture. The back porch had about 5 trashbags full of empty "PBR":http://www.pabstville.20m.com/ cans. The stove was beyond description, which is why I took "a picture":http://feralboy.textamerica.com/?r=565503. I braved a trip inside to get us some "victory" "beer":http://feralboy.textamerica.com/?r=565499. The "victory" was in that we didn't come in last in any of our particular categories: fixie, regular, or out-of-towner. (BTW, pounding a beer as a water substitute is a Bad Thing(tm))
Yesterday Brian, Jen, "Seb":http://ankle-biter.net/anklebiter/ and I went bouldering at Pioneer. It's not my favorite place to climb, but the weather was so beautiful for a change that it didn't matter at all. Didn't do anything exceptional, save for a cool V5 cave problem that involves doing a _long_ throw to a small crimp edge and pulling off of that, pretty much one-handed. I was feeling the effects of the race still, so a pretty low-energy day. Stopped at Sheetz on the way home (MTO, baby!), and then settled in to watch Sopranos and Deadwood. I'm still not convinced about Deadwood... the characters are really starting to develop, but I don't know if the underlying story is going to be enough to hold my interest.
And finally, I slept like utter poo last night. I think the "stress":http://feralboy.com/log/archives/000978/ of last week finally caught up with me, and I had fun sinus issues Saturday night and all day Sunday that finally turned into a cold last night that kept me up most of the night. Argh. I can't wait for spring to be here for good. Every year I have sniffles pretty much from October through April, but I'm hoping that the clear Boulder air will do me good. Oh, I have news on that, too... but that's for another update.
fn1. If you want to see some alleycat footage, check out "this guy's site":http://www.digave.com/videos/. Of particular interest are the "drinking and riding" and "NYC" videos. The NYC one especially is some of the scariest footage you'd ever want to see.
This applies to "crappy Matrix movies":http://feralboy.com/log/archives/000624/ as well as other things.
Right around the time that the "local gym":http://theclimbingwall.com/ was completing their "new bouldering area":http://feralboy.com/photoalbum/photos/?folder=20031116_abs_comp, we got a letter from the building owner where we were sub-sub-sub-leasing our space. There was a new tenant coming in; they wanted the whole floor, and we had to vacate. Luckily, we were able to sell all our "holds":http://pusher.com/ to the gym, and just in time for a big "climbing competition":http://rockcomps.com/rockcomps/comps/event_details.cfm?id=513. It worked out perfectly for me, because with the new area open, there was much less reason to go to the co-op, but I certainly didn't want to back out, because I still went in to "campus":http://www.franklinclimbing.com/2002/get_stronger.html on occasion, and also didn't want to leave the remaining folks with a larger share of the rent.
So, last night was the first big night of trying to tear down the wall, which was "highly over-engineered":http://feralboy.com/photoalbum/photos/?folder=20021027_shop when we first put it in. All the nasty cummy mattresses were moved before I even got there, but we managed to get all but one piece of the plywood off, as it had like 4 stripped screws in it, and then called it a night.
From the "Fark":http://www.fark.com/ Photoshop Contest entitled "The last thing you'll ever see"
I put up a 2nd gallery of photos from Bishop; these were taken by "April":http://feralboy.com/photoalbum/photos/20031105_bishop2/011_11.jpg and "Paul":http://feralboy.com/photoalbum/photos/20031105_bishop2/010_10.jpg on a film camera and scanned in at the developers. "They looks great":http://feralboy.com/photoalbum/photos/?folder=20031105_bishop2!
Well.. the climbing "competition":http://rockcomps.com/rockcomps/comps/event_details.cfm?id=513 at "the gym":http://theclimbingwall.com/ was yesterday, and I had a really good day. I paced myself well to get 10 good problems complete. Having thick callouses from my Bishop trip helped a lot, I think. It was a pretty crowded event, but no real ringers from out of town. I think I placed 4th, but that's just a guess. There was one last problem at the end of the day (that I should have tried sooner) that I kept getting closer and closer, but couldn't quite get. It was getting me so frustrated that I was pounding the wall and screaming with each failure. I _never_ care about problems that much, but this one was dancing just out of reach. I know I can do it, and when I go in on Tuesday and warm up, I know I'll walk it, but it would have been a nice capper on the day to get it. I'm feeling pretty strong these days, and with the new area of the gym open, I'm hoping that over the winter I'll be able to get some work in. Then, when I go back out to Bishop in the spring I'll be able to put my projects to bed without too much difficulty.
Diary is going slower than I thought, but I figure if I post a link, that will drive me to work on it faster. Plus, I have a buttload of new pictures from Paul and April that I can use to illustrate and make pretty. So, "here is where(Matt's 2003 Bishop trip diary)":http://feralboy.com/matt/climb/bishop2/ I will be making updates/revisions/etc. while I get everything all commited to 1s and 0s.
Still working on my trip diary, but in the meantime my "pictures from the trip are up":http://feralboy.com/photoalbum/photos/?folder=20031105_bishop, and "Brian":http://ankle-biter.net/log/ has already posted "his impressions":http://www.ankle-biter.net/log/archives/2003_11.html#000286 of the trip.
Sitting in the coffee shop on main street. Climbed the last two days, and going out today, weather permitting. I'll have more in-depth journal entries when I get back, but just wanted to let everyone know I haven't died. Oh, and Las Vegas has the Weirdest. People. Ever.
